34 Ash, 120 Steel
“Here they come!” Talon shouted to his companion as he drew his sword. Reaching within himself, Talon drew upon the flow of his aether. For a moment he almost hesitated but he tossed aside that hesitation as the immediate threat presented itself. He brought forth the swell of his aether, forming a tightly knit ball that he placed in the center of his left forearm. From there he spread the flow of the aether outward until it formed a circular shield that he then tasked with the simple mission of blocking physical force. It was a quick but efficient means of providing himself with a lightweight shield that could stave off an assault for at least a few hits until he could better maneuver himself into a stronger position. As it was, there in the ravine he didn’t have the most room to get out of the way of screeching creatures that were clawing their way out of the mouth of the cave he was faced with.
Talon held his ground as the creatures leapt into the skies emitting shrieks of feral fury. The young Novalys brought up his shield just as one of them came spiraling down. The impact rippled across the surface of his barrier. Talon felt the weight of the creature press against his arm but he used the momentum to fling the beast off to the side as he confronted more dangerous foes. Darting forward, he brought up his sword to slash across the body of one of the creatures as it let out a croak of pain and anger. Its innards spilled over the ground. Talon twisted, bringing up his blade to stab into the skull of the nearest monster. As he was bringing up his shield, a blast of fire scorched the earth directly in the path of a few shinaegri that had scuttled forward out of the dark. The smell of burning flesh and rot filled Talon’s nostrils. He resisted the urge to gag.
The fire was soon followed by a flash of raven wings as Aoren dropped out of the skies, his blades slicing through the neck of one of the monstrosities, decapitating it cleanly. The Kathar brought up a wing to shield himself from the leap of one of the nearby shinaegri. He used it to swat the abomination aside then followed suit by driving his blade through its skull. Talon brought up his barrier just in time to shield himself from the bony projectiles launched by a particularly grotesque looking creature. It was an amalgamation of tattered flesh and twisted bone spines that jutted out at odd angles. The projectiles bounced against his barrier and Talon saw a few cracks appear in the shield. He knew from that sign alone that it would only be a few more hits before the shield crumbled. He was not the most adept practitioner of Negation but he was growing better at it.
Talon reached out with his kinetics, forming a web of force around the creature as if moved. He raised a hand and made a clenching motion with his fist. The strands of the web cut through the ragged flesh of the monster and snapped through its bony spines. It let out a squeal of pain before it was sliced to pieces through the strands of the kinetic web. He turned just in time to see Aoren sever another of the creatures cleanly in half. The brief battle was brought to a close and the two of them stood staring at each other before looking around. Right as Aoren seemed about to say something, a bellowing growl echoed from the cave behind them. Talon turned to face the came as he heard the rumble of something angry, something foul and something hungry.
From the darkness of the cave emerged a much larger creature. It was a mass of bulbous flesh, writhing tentacles and the makings of an elongated face from which protruded a cracked bony snout. Eyeless sockets stared at Talon and Aoren but even in the absence of eyes, the young Novalys felt as though the creature could see them. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me…” Aoren came to stand beside Talon as they both regarded the swollen mass of muscle, sinew and flesh that lumbered out of the dark cave.
“Somaval.” Talon whispered the word. They were uncommon, especially on the surface. It was yet another testament to the fact that something was amiss in the Warrens, ludicrous as that sounded. The Somaval, or Hungered, were beasts of ruthless savagery a cut above the hordes of Shamblers that often sprung up.
“Well…” Aoren drew in a deep breath. Reaching out with a hand, he touched Talon’s blade. There was a hiss and a pop as spidery tendrils of flame and smoke ghosted across the surface of his sword. In short order, Talon’s sword was Enmeshed in the touch of flames. Fire was Aoren’s specialty. He had no doubt that when the time came, his companion would choose it as his Arche element. It was well suited to his personality. “...now we have to kill it.”
Talon shared a smirk with his companion. He watched as Aoren varnished his reaved swords in fire. Just as Talon placed an anchor and a shield upon one of his companion’s forearms to use as defense. The two of them adopted their stances and braced themselves for the fight ahead. The Hungered finished tearing off the head of one of the dead shamblers in its grasp, crunching on it in a grisly display of carnage.
“Ready?” Talon let out a breath.
“As I will ever be.” The Hungered sniffed the air, dropping the corpse of the shinaegri in its grasp. It let out a roar and began bounding in their direction.
