***
It was ridiculous – not in a funny way.
We barely made it twenty minutes into the Giant Forest when Scott sensed something. A familiar flash of light passed through his eyes, and he diverted from the path, leading us to them.
Scott looked utterly shocked, his face drained of all color, when he saw the tall, red-skinned woman, and he muttered something about “the safest path.” Clearly, there had been a misunderstanding between Scott and his traits. That, or the other paths were even deadlier than an encounter with another race.
Crimson orbs flickered into existence, and more members of the red-skinned race revealed themselves. They emerged seemingly out of nowhere, their attention lingering on us.
Several unmoving bodies, smoke oozing from their corpses, drew my attention, forcing me to look that way, but I quickly turned back to the dozen or so beings. They were wounded, except for the glaive-wielding woman, who seemed unscathed. She eyed our group with what I could only interpret as curiosity and turned to us, blood dripping from her weapon.
Their red skin glowed momentarily before faint gray smoke puffed out of their pores. The smoke revolved around them, following the flickers of light that seemed to traverse through their skin. It looked as though flames flowed through their veins, which might as well have been the case. I had no idea what race these people were, nor did I know anything about their anatomy. Maybe they didn’t even have veins. Then again...
How am I supposed to know? Is that important in the first place?!
Fact was that the glaive-wielding woman was strong – and not alone. She was one of many – more than we were.
“C-C-Calderas,” Fabienne gasped, and her entire body began to shudder like a leaf in a storm.
At least someone knew who – or what – those beings were, although that didn’t bode well either. Not with how terrified Fabienne looked.
The glaive-wielding Caldera’s crimson orbs met Scott’s eyes, and she motioned something toward us.
“Shitarkan!” she roared, and I could only guess the meaning behind the word when the ground beneath her cracked.
The Caldera transformed into a crimson flash as she propelled forward, her glaive clashing against Scott’s spear. The attack came out of nowhere, and so did the heat that flooded the surroundings in waves.
Scott cursed something, yet all I could see was the glaive-wielding Caldera’s weapon grazing his upper arm when my senses tingled. My instincts screamed at me, and I spun to the right, raising my refined silvernit sword to meet a Caldera. He was a little shorter than the others and looked younger – I wasn’t entirely sure, but it felt right anyway – wielding two shortswords. At least, I thought he was male, since they appeared to have distinctive physical traits like humans.
I discarded my doubts after a moment, only to feel an odd pull as the Caldera’s weapons shone in the same red light as his skin. As curious as that was, I couldn’t afford to study the weapons that were meant to kill me.
Nox’s killing intent rose through the bond, but I squashed it immediately. The Ferronox Mantis didn’t push further and retracted, prodding me impatiently for permission to help. I denied his request – not only because I couldn’t trust myself with Nox’s invasive intent but also because the Calderas didn’t emit much killing intent either.
In the background of the young Caldera attacking me, I could see more than half a dozen wounded Calderas watching us. They didn’t attack. Didn’t move. They simply stood there, observing.
Maybe this was some sort of ritual. For all I knew, I understood way too little about other races. However, the few things I did know made it clear that we didn’t have a great relationship with... any of them. Why? I wasn’t part of the Council, so how was I supposed to know?
All I could tell was that the Caldera attacked us for no apparent reason. Or was there?
What was going on here? I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, but it wasn’t like the outburst would help anyone.
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One way or another, the young Caldera reached me, blood dripping from the deep gash on his thigh. He was wounded, slowed by it, his breathing heavy, yet he attacked me alone.
Only a little ether seemed to circulate through his body – or maybe he could hide it from my heightened senses – but that didn’t hide the power erupting from his frame. His physical strength was great. Incredibly so.
His blade flashed before my eyes. I redirected the first strike and sidestepped, evading the second swing as well. Several rapid exchanges followed, but the Caldera failed to land a single hit.
The surrounding temperature kept rising, and it was only a matter of seconds before my shirt was drenched in sweat. Breathing grew harder, mostly from the burning sensation in my throat. Unsure how dangerous the heat around us was, I dug my feet into the ground and propelled myself forward.
The sudden shift in tactics seemed to surprise the Caldera, but he was prepared anyway. His blades moved faster than before, and one of them nearly pierced my temple. I twisted my neck and tilted my head until both hurt, evading the worst of the attack. Then I kicked the Caldera in the wound. The Caldera’s second attack didn’t come through as he let out a pained groan. Boiling blood spurted from the deep gashes in his thigh, and he doubled over, his red skin flaring up.
No matter what madness was happening, I sensed the opportunity and struck. Unfortunately, the Caldera was ready. He gnashed his teeth and redoubled his efforts. And finally, a murderous intent descended upon me. The young Caldera took me seriously. His strength and speed seemed to double as smoke poured out of his pores. To his misfortune, it was already too late. He failed to take my traits into account.
For an Adept–at least I presumed he was the equivalent of a physical-attributed Adept–he was fast and durable. His wound looked bad, and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to move if I’d been in his stead. Yet, here he was, moving faster and striking harder than I could. It was positively terrifying. His only problem was that he didn’t pay much attention to my traits. I didn’t know why he paid so little attention, but it was almost as if he thought of me as a brawler, as though I had nothing but physical strength at my disposal.
That was not the case–not at all!
Ether poured out of me, and I triggered Paralyze right as the red blades were about to tear into my leather breastplate. The blades were terrifyingly hot, so much so that I was scared to get too close to them. That didn’t stop the silvernit sword, though. The Caldera froze, eyes widening in terror as my sword closed in on his neck.
But just as my blade nicked the Caldera’s neck, several red flashes caught my attention. Three Calderas appeared at their young one’s side. One pulled the young Caldera back, another stepped between my blade and the youth with a shield in hand, and a third stood ready to intervene.
The first dragged the young Caldera to the rest while the others watched me vigilantly. The effect of Paralyze wore off, which was quite audible when the Caldera thrashed around. He roared something at his own people, but the shieldbearer shoved him toward the others once he was certain I wasn’t about to attack. I…had no idea what they were playing at. However, they did not seem particularly angry or violent. “Not overly violent” might fit better, even more so as the third Caldera stared at me, lifting his longsword to face me.
He lowered his head for a moment before shifting into position and…waiting for me? The Caldera was waiting for me to accept his challenge.
I took a moment to breathe deeply and look around. Scott and the glaive-wielding Caldera woman were no longer fighting. Both were covered in deep cuts that lined most of their bodies, but Scott looked worse for wear.
Why did she not kill him? I didn’t want Scott to die, but if humans were their mortal enemies, wouldn’t she have delivered the killing blow already?
Somehow, I didn’t doubt for a second that she could have killed Scott, yet she didn’t. Even more curious was how Scott and the woman stared at the others. Scott appeared…was that relief on his face? Meanwhile, the Caldera woman squinted her eyes and stared at the other fights in visible frustration. The bottom side of her glaive smashed into the ground when Daniel’s opponent collapsed with several deep burn marks on his chest. Deep cuts and the remnants of his lightning bullets were all I managed to see, but even that was enough.
Daniel’s opponent was also pulled back to the others, yet no new enemy was assigned to him. Sophie’s situation was very similar. She’d won her fight against another Caldera woman, her short blades dripping with poison and acid–or whatever mixture her traits concocted. Sophie looked badass, to say the least, and it didn’t surprise me that nobody challenged her. Then again, it looked like she’d been wounded. Her leg was bleeding badly.
No one fared as badly as Fabienne, however. Fabienne had lost against her foe. She was on the ground, bleeding from several wounds, while the Calderas in the back cheered for the young one who’d bested her. Left with several deep wounds, Fabienne was at the Caldera’s mercy, but it looked like he didn’t care in the slightest. All he did was look at their leader, who dismissed him.
That was probably not what the Caldera expected, and he returned to his cheering allies in silence.
Sophie and Daniel rushed to Fabienne, and so did I. At least, I wanted to–but the second enemy didn’t let me go.
“I am your Katrak!” he snarled, his accent heavy.
I spun on my heels, eyes narrowed. The Caldera could speak our language? Or was it just this one? I eyed him, but all I saw was a familiar flash of intelligence.
I didn’t even blink as the Caldera erupted in flames. All of a sudden, the world around me transformed into fire and agony as my foe emerged before me, and his longsword skidded across my chest.