Like every night, Phi watched the man that raised him die again and again. Every single dream twisted and contorted, ending the same way. This time however, Phi had a sudden moment of lucidity as he looked at the rotting face of Father Herschel. The dream shifted as if it sensed his realization.
Phi sat across from Father Herschel, his face was still decomposing but it didn’t seem to bother him. “Are you well?” Herschel said.
Despite knowing it was a dream, Phi let himself play along. “I still draw breath, by the grace of the All Mother.”
Herschel frowned. “My son, do you really think so little of yourself?” It was odd, there seemed to be something behind the shades eyes that made Phi uncomfortable. A faint glow that pulsed a brilliant yellow. Herschel’s face cracked open to reveal the source of the light as it spoke in a thousand thousand voices at once. “You have a great purpose to fulfill.”
The sounds of frantic screaming dragged Phi from his slumber. He stumbled as he tried to stand, his head felt like it was about to burst. He reached a hand up and found dried blood on the back of his head, shame washed over him as he recalled how close he had come to losing control earlier. The screaming was growing more dire, Phi walked on uneasy legs as he left the stable. Thoren walked out of his stable with a look of concern and confusion on his face.
The Stormpriest turned his head towards the source of the commotion. Cursing under his breath as he took a half step forward. “There’s a fire! Looks like the house is ablaze!” He said.
Phi reached out his senses, he could feel people running in the direction that Thoren was looking. Turning his attention he looked to Fel, surprised to see them struggling to stand in their stall. “Fel?” Phi called out as he ran to offer them assistance.
Fel grunted as they hissed a response between gritted teeth. “By the Abyss, what part of not using my real name did you not understand?” They leaned against the wall on shaking legs. Phi could see that Fel’s insides were in the process of changing back to their normal proportions, albeit slowly, and from the looks of it, painfully.
“Why are you shifting back to your normal form?” Phi asked while offering a hand to Fel to steady themselves.
With a dismissive wave, they turned down the help. “I was hoping to keep my female form for longer, but it became too much for me. Now I’m paying the price.” As they spoke Thoren walked into the doorway, his attention still on the burning house. Fel continued. “We need to leave, this is a perfect cover for us to make a discreet exit.”
Thoren did a double take as he turned to Fel. “Wait, we need to help these people!”
“Thoren, our mission is more important than a building burning down. We cannot afford to expose ourselves to the villagers, they’ll be fine.” Fel said between labored breaths.
Phi prepared himself for the coming retort from Thoren, but surprisingly none came. The man simply nodded. “You’re right. I’ll grab my things.” He said as he slumped his shoulders, his guilt at leaving those in need was plain to see.
Fel sighed. “It pains me to admit, but I’m going to need help walking.” Phi stepped forward, reaching out to offer Fel a hand. He stopped as he looked down at the freshly healed wound on his arm from where he had bitten himself earlier. As he paused, Thoren made his way back into the stable and lent Fel a shoulder to lean on.
The trio quickly grabbed their things and made their way out the far side of the stables. They waited a moment for the coast to be clear before they ran towards a pair of houses to the east, darting into the narrow space between them as they moved further from the blazing house. The three dropped low as they waited for another opportunity to run. Phi felt turned around; small towns were always hard for him to navigate. Cities were convenient, there were so many people in a small area that he could roughly map out the layout of buildings, but in small towns there just weren’t enough people within his range of sight.
A man came running from the direction of the burning house, passing just a few feet in front of Phi and the others. Another man ran up to meet the first; the pair were so close that Phi could overhear them talking to each other. “Boris and Julie made it out, but there’s no sign of Alice!” The man panted as he spoke.
Phi’s blood grew cold. The other man looked towards the outskirts of town. “Maybe she ran, her eyesight is poor, maybe she got out?” He said.
The first man balled his fists and shook as he spoke. “Julie thinks she heard Alice still inside the house, but no one can make it through the flames!” With a curse, both men ran in the direction of the fire once more.
Fel gave a nod, Thoren and them quickly running towards the edge of the village.
Phi stood still.
Thoren glanced back, coming to a stop. “What are you doing? We have to leave!”
Without answering, Phi reached into his leather pouch and pulled out his lexicon. He flipped it to the exact page he was looking for, running his hand over a passage that was so well worn that if he didn’t already know what it said, he wouldn’t have been able to read it at all.
‘Never turn your back on the people that trust you.’
Phi snapped the book closed and tossed it towards Thoren and Fel. “Watch this for me, please.” Without another word he turned and ran full sprint in the direction of the burning house. He heard Fel and Thoren cry something but couldn’t make it out over the pounding of his own heart. It didn’t take long for his senses to pick up a large crowd, he ran towards the mass of people, coming to a stop at the back of the group. This close he could feel the wave of heat coming from the burning building, he stretched his senses into the house. He sensed nothing, but maybe he wasn’t close enough. For all he knew the entire house might not have been within his range, he had no way of knowing for sure.
Walking further into the throng of people to get closer, Phi ignored the growing cries of surprise at his appearance. Maybe that man had been right, maybe Alice had escaped and she was safe and sound somewhere in the village. Just as he was preparing to breathe a sigh of relief he stopped in his tracks. There on the second floor, on the edge of his senses, was the unconscious form of a small girl.
He could feel the slowing of her heart as she neared her death.
A blade bit deep into Phi’s abdomen as a villager screamed. The pain and the shouting sounded muted to him; his sole focus was the dimming of Alice’s heart. Tideborn had one glaring weakness, fire. Despite the notion that a they could simply douse a fire using their gift, the truth was that Tideborn were more likely to simply die from drying out. Phi was half Tideborn, this made the current situation pretty unfavorable.
A pitch fork sank into Phi’s arm as he tried to think of a solution. A thought came to him, a foolish, half baked idea. But at this point it was worth a shot. He remembered the scent of Alice’s blood, he quickly searched the crowd around him until he found someone with similar blood. Conveniently one of the people was the woman with her knife in Phi’s stomach. Phi looked down at the woman. “Alice is your daughter, yes?” He said.
The woman blinked in surprise. “How do you know Alice?”
“I don’t have time to explain, she’s dying. Do you want me to save her?”
The grip on the knife in his side loosened. “She’s still in there?! I knew it, what is your price abomination?” The woman who must have been Julie said with bitter rage.
“I need blood. And a lot of it.” He swept his gaze over the crowd, they were slowly backing away from him. Anger flared inside him, there was no time to be delicate. “Who here will help me save a child in need?! Raise your hand now!” He shouted.
Julie nodded grimly. Pulling her knife out of Phi she placed the blade against her arm. “You can have it all, just save her.”
Phi reached down and stopped the woman from slicing her arm. “I need more than you could offer.” Time was running out, if more in the crowd didn’t give him consent soon, he would have to resort to breaking his vows and taking drastic action.
A man pushed forward. His face was slick with dried tears. “I will give you every drop, please save my daughter.” The pain, the pleading in his eyes, it was too much for those around to bear. One by one, the villagers raised their hands in the air, the last one to raise their hand was kind enough to remove the pitch fork from Phi’s arm.
Nodding, Phi backed away from the house a dozen paces. “This will sting.” Phi said as he reached up with both hands and grabbed a handful of his teeth, with a grunt he ripped them out, new teeth shifted to fill the void as deep inside his maw he began to grow replacements. He held the severed teeth in between his fingers as he threw his arms forwards towards the crowd. Tapping into his cursed gifts he guided the teeth into the arteries of the gathered villagers. The teeth sank into flesh, barbs holding them in place as Phi continued to dip into his vile power. Each tooth was a conduit for his gift, the hollow teeth acted as natural stents, drawing out an alarming amount of blood quickly.
The crowd grunted and shrieked as Phi drew the necessary amount of blood, a growing sphere of dark red lifeforce was growing in the air above. Phi was careful to not overdraw from anyone, soon he had enough and he gave the command to stop the flow of blood. He pulled the sphere of blood to himself, coating his body in a semi solid armor. Hopefully this would give him enough time. Grabbing the chained hooks from his back, he threw the hooks with all his might into the house's roof, when he felt the hooks find purchase he braced himself. With a primal roar he pulled with every ounce of strength he could muster, launching himself towards the second floor with terrifying momentum.
There was no way for Phi to tell where there would be a window to the second floor, so he instead chose the brute force option. With a crash he smashed into the burning exterior of the house with enough force to shatter the weakened wood. The already compromised structure let out a groan of anger as the whole building shifted at an alarming speed. Phi had only a matter of seconds before everything came crashing down on top of him.
He ran towards Alice’s nearly lifeless body, he could hear the trusses that held up the roof begin to buckle and collapse. His armor of blood was quickly evaporating or coagulating into a form he couldn’t control properly as it sloughed off. Entire segments of his armor were already falling away, his flesh boiling and screaming as it was exposed to the hellish inferno.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Phi dove towards Alice, allowing his form to liquify into a pool of blood that engulfed the child, he quickly reformed, scrambling back to his feet as he kept running towards the far side of the house. The joists behind him gave way, the load bearing beams twisting inwards, the whole house heaved as the floor below him fell into the hellish pit of flames that was the first floor. Phi screamed as he threw out a chained hook blindly, relief washing over him as the hook found purchase in one of the remaining trusses above. The last of his armor broke away as he wrapped his arm around the chain he was dangling from, the flames below licked at his feet. His lungs burned as he fought to hold his breath.
Desperately, Phi threw his other chain towards the far side of the house, the chain flew unimpeded, hope welled within him as he yanked the chain back, it embedded itself in what he assumed was the sill of a window. Phi pulled once more with the last of his power, hurling himself towards what he hoped was a window. As he soared through the air he found himself thinking he might be safe, that notion was swiftly snuffed out as a falling beam collided with him, knocking him off course.
Flipping through the air off balance, he felt a crunch as his head hit the window frame on his way out. Blacking out for a moment as he was thrown wildly from the burning building.
When he awoke, he was laying on the ground, his head was swimming but he could feel people all around him. He struggled to roll onto his hands and knees. It was a challenge, what with his engorged belly touching the ground, the growth on his back felt like he was carrying a barrel.
Julie and Boris were huddled on the ground sobbing. “You said you could save her.”
Phi wheezed. “I did.” He let his form shift to blood, resolidifying a couple feet to the side; where he had been laying a moment before, covered in blood, was Alice. The pain of having his body reform around another living being like that was horrible, he had never tried something like that before, and Gods willing. He would never do it again.
Alice’s parents scooped their child up while offering thanks to the gods. The prayers quickly turned to worry as Boris shook his daughter gently. “She’s not breathing!”
Despite the abundant pain Phi was in he reached out with his senses, sure enough he could see that Alice’s lungs were still, if she didn’t get oxygen into her blood she would die in a matter of moments.
For the love of the All Mother, could he not get a break!
The crowd was calling for the village doctor, but time wasn’t on their side, Phi would have to do something or Alice would die. Phi reached a hand towards Alice’s chest, plunging his clawed hand through her flesh. Her parents screamed but Phi ignored it as he shifted back into his blood form, using the freshly formed wound to enter the child’s bloodstream.
It was always an odd sensation when Phi used his macabre dance. When he shifted into his blood form he was only semiconscious, but when he had a host body he gained their senses and feelings. It was like he was dancing on the edge of sleep, his new body felt light and distant. Phi tried to take a breath, but his new body resisted, the throat was closed off from the smoke inhalation and burns. The heart was beating irregularly, and the brain was at risk of permanent damage from oxygen deprivation. He had his work cut out.
The first thing Phi focused on was using his own blood to supply some much needed oxygen to the brain, with his sanguinite powers he forced the muscles in his new heart to beat at a normal rhythm. That bought him time, he could force the lungs to move, but it meant nothing if he didn’t clear the windpipe. With twitching jerky movements he raised Alice’s right hand up, pointing her index finger towards her throat. With a thought, he forced the fingernail to grow into a long pointed tube as he drove the sharpened keratin into Alice’s throat. There was a hiss as Phi felt the lungs fill with much needed air. With small shallow breaths he coaxed Alice’s body to stability. Lastly he broke the fingernail away to leave the breathing tube for the time being until Alice’s throat could be tended to.
Phi escaped the same way he had entered from, making sure to clot the wound as the last drops of his blood emerged. He reformed his body, standing upright before Alice and her family. As he took a breath with his own lungs again as he fell backwards from the overexertion, landing on his back on the cool ground below.
By now the doctor was seeing to Alice, he was an older gentleman with soft features. When he spoke there was wonder in the old man’s voice. “She’s stable, by the Court, how did you do that? She should be dead.”
Julie and Boris sat on either side of Phi. Julie said with a broken sob. “I don’t understand, why did you risk your life to save our daughter? What do you want from us?”
“I was taught to never turn my back on those in need, what would the All Mother think of me if I had ignored a child in need?” He took a ragged breath. “Your daughter treated me like I wasn’t a monster, I wanted to repay that kindness.”
Boris grabbed Phi’s hand. “How can we ever repay your generosity?”
A different voice answered in response. “By forgetting we were ever here.” Thoren spoke with a grave tone as he stood over Phi. “Can you walk?”
The crowd let out a gasp of awe at the sight of a Stormpriest.
Phi sat up slowly. “I need to feast first, but yes, I am strong enough to travel.”
Thoren turned to the bewildered Boris and Julie. “Do you have any livestock that we could purchase from you?”
Nodding along, Julie pointed to the stables. “You’re welcome to our horses. It’s the least we could do to repay you.”
“You heard her Phi, go and eat your fill. I’ll handle the rest.” Thoren reached a hand down to pull Phi back on his feet by his wrist. “And here, you can have this back.” He said as he handed Phi his lexicon.
With a sheepish look Phi started to make his way towards the stables. It was an unfortunate curse of his that he could only sustain himself on meat and blood, that didn’t make it any easier to kill innocent animals to keep himself alive. As he made his way to the stables to sate his hunger he could feel the villagers staring at him with fear and disgust. Lowering his head he offered a prayer to the All Mother, thanking her for giving him the chance to save a life.
◆◆◆
Thoren looked around the village, marveling at the aftermath that Phi had left. The burning building had collapsed in on itself. Thankfully the flames seemed to be under control and at little risk of spreading further. There was blood everywhere on the ground from where Phi had crashed back to earth after his daring rescue.
Walking over to the child that Phi had rescued, Thoren knelt down. The doctor was still at work trying to treat the child’s burns. Glancing over the small frame of the child, he noted that most of the girl's burns were to her back, she had been sheltering something from the flames. The girl was wearing overalls; he reached into the front pocket of the overalls, finding a folded slip of worn paper. The paper was covered in dots and indents, and was miraculously unscathed. With a sigh he returned the piece of paper back where he had found it.
The girl's parents were standing behind Thoren, they seemed to be trying to gather the courage to speak, but the sight of such a high ranking member of the Court had rendered them speechless. It wasn’t just them, the whole village seemed to be standing and staring at him, he could see the fear and confusion on their faces.
Thoren laid a hand on the girl’s back, he chanted a basic miracle to help heal the burns, though once again the divine powers were sluggish to respond; whatever was happening was getting worse. Perhaps the All Mother had seen fit to deprive Thoren of Her favor.
Eventually the power manifested, his hair and eyes glowing a brilliant gold as the burns began to peel and flake off, revealing smooth, fresh skin beneath. It wasn’t perfect, but it would help the child heal much quicker. Thoren stood, allowing his eyes and hair to remain glowing for a moment longer as he looked over the crowd; in response the villagers dropped to their knees in prayer. “I would ask you all to forget the events of tonight. Others may come asking questions, if they do, you would do well to simply put the things you saw tonight out of your mind. There was a fire, though thankfully no one was seriously hurt.” Thoren let his voice carry as he spoke.
Boris nodded enthusiastically. “You have my word, we will never tell a soul what we saw!” His voice quivered as he spoke. A chorus of similar sentiments rang out from the rest of the villagers.
Thoren let the glow fade from his body as he turned back to look at the child.
How could I have turned my back on someone in need?
◆◆◆
In the distance, someone watched Thoren through the scope of a rifle as they laid perfectly still, they were above the village in the nearby rocky cliffs that lined either side of the valley. The com bead in their ear crackled to life, they lifted a finger to activate the two way transmission.
The voice on the other end belonged to an older man, he spoke with a gruff drawl. “Status?”
The stranger scoffed slightly as she spoke. “I’ve got the intel you wanted. Sending it now.” Her eye twitched as the implant connected to her com piece, transmitting the stored data. “One more thing, let Winston know that his invisibility runes worked like a charm.”
A moment later the man on the other end grunted in approval. “Good work with that fire, it was the perfect opportunity to draw them out. I’ll get this information to the alchemist, no doubt he will be eager to start working on something special for that hybrid. Return to base for now, we know where they're headed, we’ll make sure they have a warm welcome waiting for them.” The com cut out before she had a chance to respond.
“The things I do for money.” The stranger laughed as she folded her rifle back into its case. She crawled back from the cliff side as she made her way to her hidden transport. Glancing back down at the village one last time she noticed someone standing still on the outskirts of town, perplexed she pulled out her scope and looked at the lone figure.
The figure was unnaturally tall, wearing all black segmented leather armor, their hood was pulled over their head. “Huh, you look a bit different than earlier, didn’t recognize you for a seco-” The figure snapped their head towards the woman, their eyes burning with baleful light. The woman cursed as ice ran down her spine. She looked up from her scope to see the figure sprinting towards the cliffs at a terrifying speed. Clearing the distance in no time at all.
Fear gripped the woman's heart as she fumbled with her weapon case, running around the corner to her transport she was swore furiously. She looked down at the invisibility runes embedded in her suit, they were still glowing. “How the fuck did you spot me?” She hissed. The transport was in front of her, it was a mixture of old world technology and kludge tech, it was essentially a motorized bike with an airship engine strapped to it haphazardly. With a grunt she jumped into the seat of the jetbike, there was no time to waste, she ignited the machine's core as the bike levitated off the ground. The display threw up warning symbols about it needing time to prepare for liftoff. The sound of something scraping on stone from behind her was enough for her to ignore the machine's protests as she tilted the nose of the bike skyward. Flooring the throttle the engine roared to life as it propelled her into the night sky at a terrifying speed.
The jetbike stopped in its tracks without warning, causing the woman to almost fall from the seat as she looked around panicked. There on the rocks below was the target, in their hands was a whip, the other end of which was wrapped around the bike's frame. The woman’s heart was racing. This made no sense, the engine on her bike had enough thrust to lift a couple thousand pounds, how in the hells was this bitch able to casually hold her in place like this?
There was a gut wrenching sensation as the jetbike was slowly pulled back towards the earth. Quickly, the woman floored the pedal of the accelerator, the engine screamed in response, billowing a plume of flame and smoke. The force caused the bike to veer back and forth wildly, but even the increased thrust was nothing compared to the strength of the thing on the ground. “Shit shit shit!” The woman screamed as a thought came to mind, she angled the jet of the bike towards the black whip that held her in place, in an instant the whip was incinerated and the bike was freed with a jolt of acceleration.
Laughing in relief, the woman dared not look back again. Choosing to throw caution to the wind she floored it back towards base. She would have to inform the others that their target was aware of them now, which could mean a pay cut unfortunately.
