A burst of flames erupted from Thassalin’s jaws as the colossal Thraki set fire to a very specific patch of forest, then circled above, watching for moment. Weirdly, as he had slowed down, the weird screaming noise from behind him had stopped. Thassalin had forgotten he had passengers on his back.
“Come on, Tenuk, you’ve shapeshifted into a Thraki before!”
“My own flight is very different from being abruptly dragged off by a massive, pink dragon!”
“It’s not that bad, right, Kayel?”
Kayel clearly didn’t agree with Nyssi, he looked less black than normal and his claws had dug into Thassalin’s back to the point that he’d made the Thraki bleed, but Thassalin clearly didn’t seem to care. That being said, Thassalin had realized he had scared his new friends and found a clearing to land in.
“I APOLOGIZE BUT I PICKED UP A SCENT. I HAD TO DEAL WITH IT!”
“Did you have to drag us along as well?” Tenuk snapped as he climbed off Thassalin’s back, sliding down his tail. “And we left Retvik behind! We abandoned our big, strong, fighty guy! How is he going to get to us?”
“He’ll work it out…” Nyssi tutted. “Retvik’s slow but he’s not stupid.”
“Yeah but can Retvik drive?”
Nyssi blinked and turned back to Tenuk. “Of course he can drive.”
“Have you ever seen Retvik drive a vehicle? He doesn’t own a truck like you do, nor have I seen him drive something like that little cute car Kayel has, and he only started going to work by car because you keep on driving us TO work. He just has that bike of his.”
A burst of laughter interrupted them. Thassalin was suddenly overly amused, but no one could work out what he was laughing about. It took a little too long for Thassalin to calm down.
“I AM SORRY, BUT I PICTURED YOUR LARGE, ARMOURED FRIEND ON A TINY LITTLE BIKE MEANT FOR TEMTHAN CHILDREN. IT WAS HILARIOUS! I WISH I HAD SOME FORM OF TELEPATHY. IT IS A CHERISHED THOUGHT! ONE I CANNOT SHARE!”
Kayel snickered, as he could imagine what Thassalin was thinking about. “Yeah, fair. But what did you pick up, and why did you fly off so quickly?”
Thassalin grunted, took off and disappeared briefly, before returning, dropping a carcass in front of Nyssi. It was an Orothrack, a very rare, gold and white draconic creature. But its head was missing. “ANOTHER DEAD ONE. I HEAR THEIR CRIES. SMELL THEIR BLOOD. I AM DRAWN TO PROTECT AND HUNT. AS YISINI DEMANDS. THE CREATURES, THEY ARE CLOSE.”
The mighty Thraki suddenly froze. Nyssi and Kayel also froze, their attention drawn to a gap in the clearing. Something large and black was staring at them, hissing. Whatever it was, it spread open two colossal pairs of wings and charged forward, aiming at Thassalin, not caring that it had to go through the three smaller beings. Kayel and Tenuk only just managed to get to cover, but Nyssi found herself dragged along and almost thrown at Thassalin.
Thassalin responded to this attack by grabbing Nyssi and throwing her on his back with his insanely long, dextrous tail, before taking off into the air. The black, four-winged creature quickly chased after them.
Kayel tutted as he drew his rifle from his back, then opened up a pouch, revealing a bandolier. He slung the bandolier over his chest for easy access, but quickly realized that Nyssi, the Thraki and the monster were no longer visible.
“Hey, Tenuk, do you mind shapeshifting into something that can fly?” Kayel asked.
“You want to chase after them?”
“Yeah, duh.”
“But… one of them is a giant monster!”
“So? I have a high-powered rifle in my hands, right now, ready to go. I just need to be able to, you know, see it, so I can shoot it.”
Tenuk hesitated, then stepped back, giving himself some space. With a low, slightly pained grunt, Tenuk’s body stretched out, his fur replaced with scales and his arms replaced with wings. He quickly turned himself into a normal, light blue Thraki, but his eyes remained red.
“Climb on.”
Being a more normal-looking Thraki, Tenuk now had proper plates of scales running down his back, but he’d also conveniently grown a pair of spikes on his back for Kayel to hold on to. It took a little too long for Tenuk to get airborne, but once he was in the air, he quickly orientated himself and tried to give chase.
However, Tenuk and Kayel quickly realized they weren’t alone. A second dark creature shot out from beneath them, and Tenuk only just managed to avoid a collision.
“I guess that’s the other big scary monster that Lanex was worried about?” Kayel frowned as he attempted to take a shot at the second beast, missed and swiftly reloaded.
Tenuk didn’t respond, he was too busy concentrating on flying towards Nyssi and Thassalin, even though the other creature was chasing them. Kayel awkwardly turned himself around, so he could face the monster. The fact that it was giving chase was good news in Kayel’s eyes, as it made it easier for him to aim and fire. Two shots passed through the creature’s top wings, and it roared in pain, disappearing back below the trees. Whether it was still following them, Kayel wasn’t sure, but it certainly wouldn’t have been able to keep up.
Up ahead, Nyssi was clinging on for dear life as Thassalin flailed around, blasting the blackened monster with bursts of flame. While the creature was definitely injured, it seemed very pissed off and unwilling to back off, and the fire balls didn’t seem to be doing as much as they should. As Thassalin straightened himself out though, Nyssi took this as an opportunity to pull out her own weapon, a trusty shotgun. Sure, it wasn’t meant for this sort of thing, but surely the scattershot would at least deter the black beast?
No, clearly not. The creature just hissed and tried to fly directly into Thassalin. Thankfully, despite his size, Thassalin was nimble enough to get out of the way, but Nyssi couldn’t help but scream as she very nearly lost her grip on Thassalin’s overly smooth scales.
“HOW DO WE KILL THEM?” Nyssi shouted.
“AIM FOR THEIR HEADS!”
“THAT’S GONNA BE TRICKY!”
Thassalin hissed, then circled round, closer to the mountain he called home. The dark beast followed, but somewhat panicked as a blast of fire hit it from behind. The creature hadn’t realised it was no longer alone. It panicked further as Thassalin slowed down then thwacked his tail into the side of the beast’s head, knocking it off course.
Snarling and hissing, the creature flew upwards, spitting into the air. Everything suddenly went dark, as if the monster was sucking the light from the sky itself, replacing it with a cloud of perpetual night.
No longer able to see, Thassalin tried to retreat, but found himself scraping against the top of the treeline, before crashing into a clearing. The creature seemed to know exactly where Thassalin had fallen and headed straight for him, taking the dark cloud with it.
“Kayel!” Tenuk exclaimed as he glided out of the cloud and began circling, trying to spot Nyssi and Thassalin in the darkness below. “What do we do? Kayel..? Kayel, where are you?”
Below, Nyssi scrambled to her feet. She was pretty sure she had broken something, but her weird, unnatural healing powers had already kicked in. The same couldn’t have been said for Thassalin, who was lying in a lump, resting against the one tree that hadn’t collapsed under his weight. Nyssi did her best to try and reach Thassalin but she could barely see more than a couple of meters in front of her. Everything was pitch black and engulfed in unholy shadows. And in said shadows, something was screaming and screeching.
A horrible, clubbed tail smashed into the ground near Nyssi, knocking her over. She noticed though that the tail was flailing, not aiming at her. The creature, what little Nyssi could see and hear of it, was snarling and clawing at the shadows it had created. Something was teleporting through the darkness, stabbing at the monster, confusing it.
A gunshot suddenly filled the air, and the monster fell silent, collapsing on the ground and remaining still. The darkness all around them dissipated, revealing what had happened. Standing on top of the creature was Kayel, holding his rifle and breathing heavily.
“That was… one of the weirder shadowjumps I’ve ever done… Thanto kat’olon…” Kayel gasped for air. His eyes somehow were glowing black, and a dark energy drifted across his body. However, as he spoke, the colour returned to Kayel’s organic plating and his eyes turned back to their normal yellow.
It took a moment for Nyssi to work out what had happened. They were all aware that Kayel had weird shadow powers, ones that he rarely used because most considered them unholy and rather terrifying. But Nyssi didn’t know that Kayel could use those powers in any sort of darkness. And, by the way Kayel was acting, he was pretty surprised as well.
“You alright?” Nyssi couldn’t help but ask.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I killed something, I’ll be good in a minute.” Kayel examined his handiwork, as Tenuk made his way down and landed next to him, shapeshifting back into his normal Spast form.
Now that the creature was no longer moving, they could better see what it was. Its skin was pitch black and slimy, but the slime remained firmly attached to the creature’s body. It had four wings and four limbs, all of which were tipped with long, thin talons, and two straight horns stuck out from its skull.
Before Tenuk and Kayel could ask what the fuck they were looking at, something screeched and leaped out from a nearby bush. However, it never made contact, as a familiar vehicle crashed into the side of it, causing the monster to skid to a halt by Nyssi’s feet. Not taking any chances, Nyssi grabbed her shotgun and immediately fired into its skull, killing the creature instantly.
“Oops…” Retvik muttered from the driver’s seat, before awkwardly switching the engine off and climbing out of the truck. “I, uh, did not mean to do that. Are you all well?”
“You missed basically all the action!” Tenuk tutted. “Where were you?”
“You all did somewhat leave me behind. I got here as quickly as I could…” Retvik sighed. “May I ask, what are those horrible things?”
Retvik’s question was thankfully answered by Thassalin, who had picked himself back up. He was covered in cuts and scratches and seemed a bit dazed, but he didn’t seem too badly injured.
“YOU KILLED THE CORRUPTIIDS! THE INFECTED MONSTERS. CREATURES LEFT HERE WHEN THE CORRUPTION ATTACKED YOUR GODS.”
“You mean… the horrible god monster thing that we… helped kill?” Tenuk stuttered.
“YES. VERY MUCH SO. THERE MAY BE MORE. BUT I COULD NOT SHOOT THEM IN THE HEAD. I LACK A GUN. ALSO TWO AGAINST ONE IS UNFAIR, YES?” Thassalin made his way over to Kayel and patted him on the head. “THANK YOU, LITTLE ONE. YOU REMIND ME OF MY OLD FRIEND ARKADIN. EXCEPT LESS MURDEROUS AND LESS CAPABLE OF KILLING UNIVERSES.”
“Uh… thanks… I guess…” Kayel shrugged. “So, uh, are we done here?”
Nyssi shrugged, then grabbed her camera, taking some photos of the definitely now dead beasts. She then pulled out her favourite dagger, her fancy, death-god-y one, and started cutting off one of the creature’s horns, before moving on to the other one. However, just as Nyssi finished, the creatures suddenly began to burn up, and quickly turned into a pile of ashes. The same thing happened to the horns Nyssi had cut off.
“Well… that is both convenient and inconvenient…” Nyssi sighed. “I suppose at least I got pictures?”
“Are they good pictures?” Kayel asked. “Or are they blurry?”
Nyssi hesitated, then glanced at her camera. “Oh, no, the pictures are fine. We’re good! And they’re in far better condition than the drones…” Nyssi paused again. “Where ARE the stupid camera drones anyway?”
The others all shrugged. After a brief, awkward silence, something creaked then crashed into the ground next to Retvik. It was one of the drones. Retvik dutifully picked it up and put it in the truck.
“So, are we done here?” Tenuk groaned.
“As long as Thassalin here promises he won’t go around killing any more Thracks, we’re all good! This IS supposed to be a Thrack sanctuary, after all.”
Thassalin grinned, then patted everyone on the shoulder with his stupidly long tail. “I LIKE THRACKS, I DO NOT LIKE THEM BEING HARMED. I SHALL MAKE SURE THAT THEY ARE SAFE! BUT I WOULD PREFER IT IF YOU DO NOT TELL THE LOCALS THAT I LIVE HERE! I NEED MY PRIVACY, FOR WHEN YISINI COMES BACK.”
“We should probably get going then…” Retvik grunted. “I would rather we return to the hotel than have to go camping for another night.”
“Sure, but I wanna ask Thassalin some questions first!” Nyssi interrupted. “Like, how ooooold are you? I know Thraki don’t ever stop growing, but you’re huuuuuge!”
“I AM ANCIENT. SO ANCIENT THAT I DO NOT KNOW HOW OLD I AM. SORRY. I DO NOT REALLY WISH TO ANSWER QUESTIONS THOUGH.”
“Do you have a way we could contact you?” Kayel asked. “Maybe we could meet up and chat at a later date?”
“HM. I WILL HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THAT. PERHAPS, WHEN I AM READY, I WILL GO TO ONE OF THE RESEARCH BASES. SPEAK TO THEM. BUT NOT TODAY. I WISH TO GO HOME, HAVE SOUP AND REST.”
“Yeah, I wanna go home too!” Tenuk tutted as he climbed into the truck. “Was nice meeting you, Thassalin, but I’m fucking sick of this stupid jungle.”
“FAIR ENOUGH! SO LONG, LITTLE FRIENDS!”
Thassalin stretched out his wings, then took off, disappearing into the sky. Everyone else just glanced at each other, then joined Tenuk in the truck.
“So, back to the hotel?” Nyssi smiled as she got into the driver’s seat and set up the GPS.
“Yes please, Nyssi!” Retvik smiled back. “I think we all deserve to get drunk in luxury, after yet another stupid adventure…”