Forty-Five

"Quiet." The whispered command froze both Diur and Kon as they stopped mid step. Alice was taut as a tripwire, her eyes were wide open as she looked back and forth. She inhaled slowly, deeply, through her nose, head cocked to the side. Her axe was in hand as she looked at the forest to the side.

The moment stretched out as the three of them looked at the empty forest. The sudden adrenaline spike sent his heart hammering as Kon looked over the area. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"When I say run, you all head East. Find the edge of the plateau and descend. Evelyn will find you," Alice whispered. Diur stiffened and gulped loudly. She looked to the side at where Alice was staring.

"Oh,no," Diur pleaded quietly. Kon strained harder to look harder at the blank space, but there was nothing there but the shadows of the trees.

Alice burst forth in violet light, blazing across the world as runes burst around her in a halo of dancing arcane symbols. She slashed with her black axe and one of the runes ignited and with a line of fire split the world, shearing through the gap in the trees.

Trees were cut in half, wood burning instantly as the blast of power shot forth. A wall of black-red energy snapped into being, Alice's slash blew apart into a half dozen puddles that began to burn slowly. The bubble of energy popped and the old packmaster stood there, glaring with his one golden eye.

"You think you could lead me around like I was some pup? That my nose is blind? That I can't feel your energy from halfway across the world? That I can't smell my nephew's blood on you?!" The old lupine growled in rage as he stalked forward.

He looked worse for wear than when Kon had last seen him. His armor was ragged, shattered in parts, a single axe in his paw. It was the twin to the one Alice had won.

"You're on your last legs, old wolf. This planet will be your grave," Alice said. She spoke calmly and evenly as she stepped in front of them. The dozen plus runes continued to cycle around her as she stood between them.

"This is my final hunt. I know and accept that. I will die with your blood on my tongue," the lupine snarled. Rage covered his face as he continued to slowly walk forward.

"Kids. There's goblins beginning to curl around. Another pair of the Lupine too. I won't be able to buy you much time. Keep that holopad," Alice whispered. Her regrowth rune appeared above her, a massive twisting edifice of a thousand twisting line that interwove each other in a dizzying array.

Power filled the world as the rune pulsed with power. Recently cut apart tree trunks sprouted anew. Burning plants rose up, smothering the fires that had destroyed their earlier iterations. All around her life sprung anew.

Kon could feel his body healing. Half a hundred small injuries healed instantly as Kon was fully refreshed. A small core floated out in front of Alice, its power foreign but strong and deep. Diur sucked in a breath as the core began to crumble into dust, sucked into the vortex of runes around Alice.

A terrible wet schlurp filled the area as Alice's missing arm snapped into being, covered in wet, red, blood. Alice rolled her new arm around in her socket as she cracked her neck side to side. Her power swelled as a second full rune appeared behind her and her aura tripled in size.

Alice gripped the axe in both hands. Diur's hand gripped Kon's bicep tightly, with bruising force. She pulled him, dragging him as he pushed his heels into the ground. An inarticulate cry bubbling in Kon's throat, strangled as the pressure around him tripled until he felt like his head was going to crack.

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"No." The word was a whisper. A false denial that sounded hollow to him as Diur cried out in anger and sorrow.

"Kon, we have to run." Kon couldn't take his eyes off of Alice who stood there, staring down the packmaster. The enemy was closing in, he could hear them distantly, the crash of their boots on the rotting metallic leaves.

Alice started the fight. She launched herself as runes burned, sending blasts of energy at the wolf. The packmaster sent a dome of energy around himself, eating everything that Alice threw at him. Then the violet wreathed axe hit the shield and it broke like cheap glass.

The lupine threw himself backwards, Alice's axe hitting the ground in front of the old packmaster in an explosion of dirt. A crater formed in the ground as the earth rumbled, jumping beneath their feet.

Kon hit the ground, struggled back to his feet just in time to be pulled down by Diur as splinters of a tree speared through the air right above him. As fast as the forest was destroyed it regrew. Trees growing before his very eyes just to be obliterated a second later.

"KON!" Diur screamed in his ear. The Ulmna grabbed him and threw him across her shoulder as she ran. Kon stared at the blurred shapes, not able to take his eyes off of them as they fought. Everything had happened so fast that he couldn't process what had happened. Ninety seconds and everything had changed. His pack shifted on his back as they ran, the rifle nearly falling out of his loose grip.

"Damn!" Diur screamed as she leapt and threw herself to the side. Trees burned as laser fire hit them, goblins racing in from the sides. Diur's aura spread out as she dumped Kon to the ground and drew her sword. She slashed the air and a thin strip of power scythed a pair of the goblin's heads from their shoulders.

"Kon! Get your ass in gear. I need you!" Diur screamed at him. Kon shook himself awake. He couldn't lose himself in this shock. He had to escape. Black armored goblins were running through the forest, everywhere he looked were more and more of the mercenaries.

Kon fired, holding down the trigger as he tracked the laser rifle left to right and back again. Three of the goblin mercenaries fell, but he couldn't tell if they were dead or had just taken cover. Kon dropped down and behind a tree, snapped a clean shot at another goblin and watched as Diur cut down a goblin with a single strike. Two more were coming from the sides, lining her up in a crossfire.

Kon emptied the battery in the rifle. The goblin on the right died, armor bursting apart and a fire burning the clothes as it slumped to the ground. Diur leapt, hit a tree with a foot and pushed off toward the last goblin in the area. She cut down the final goblin, spinning as she landed and ending behind the headless goblin.

Kon slapped a fresh energy pack in and turned to look back at the line of goblins. The world exploded.

Leaves fell in a shower as the entire world shook. Ringing filled his ears and the metal taste of blood in his mouth. The world spun, but Kon wasn't moving. His head was firmly planted against the earth and his body wasn't responding at the moment.

The familiar wave of Regrowth hit him and all of his ailments disappeared in an instant. Kon blinked, shocked as he tried to process what was going on.

Diur grabbed Kon's arm and pulled him up. Her clothes were in tatters, charred fabric hardly holding together. She looked healthy though. There was nothing there that stood out as an injury, her skin unmarred.

"Come on, Alice cut a path open," Diur urged him and Kon surged forward. His feet felt heavy and the pack felt awkward. One of the straps had become loose, dragging at him.

The clash of metal drew his attention and his breath froze in his chest. It had been only a minute since he had last seen her. Alice was a ruin. Blood covered every inch of her, a fallen arm off to the side. The spinning vortex of runes had shrunk, the second full rune had disappeared, as her aura had shrunk to nearly nothing.

The packmaster was in just as rough shape. His muzzle had been cut in half and teeth dropped out of his broken jaw with every movement. One arm was limp, hanging uselessly to the side. The other clenched tightly to the axe, holding it in a guard position. Black cracks of lightning shot from his shoulders, ugly and chaotic as the packmaster stared down Alice.

They circled each other and Kon got to see her face. She was smiling. Her eyes were fevered as she lunged forward. Sparks flew out in a spray as the two axes slammed into each other. The sound hit a moment later and Kon cried out as his ears rang and he stumbled.

He turned and ran, following behind Diur as they ran as the world behind them was consumed in the clash of titans. Kon ran as fast as his legs could carry him, pumping up and down as they ran east. Silent tears slid down his face as he ran away, leaving his mentor and friend behind. Diur's back became the only thing in his vision, the sounds of the battle fading away.

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