“Move! Move! Move!” Bertram yelled, as his eyes darted around quickly, unsure of where the Aberrant could possibly come from. Bertram reached to “Hush” at his waist as he pulled on the hilt, as the sword whispered a *Shhhh* while Bertram unsheathed it.
Hearing the word “Aberrants” set the recruit’s fear aflame, all the money in the world wouldn’t be able to help them if they were six feet under the earth. They scrambled, grabbing as much as their equipment as possible as they ran towards the edge of the forest.
Keldon moved with the recruits quickly, helping them gather their things quickly as Bertram stood nervously watching guard.
Suddenly, Bertram heard the snap of a twig from behind him as he whipped his head around. As the sun set on the group and a pale orange cascaded from the sky, out from the dense thickets of the forest and shadows, emerged two curled bleach white antlers, each the size of a full-grown man. From the darkness came a creature of a shadowy black and ashen grey. The creature was goat-like in form but stood 10 feet tall and the antlers added the size of another man. The creature stepped out into the glade, followed by a small black butterfly, which fluttered in the air around it. Plumes of dark smoke poured out from its nostrils as the air grew very, eerily still.
Everyone in the glade froze, not daring to move, lest even the slightest disturbance would alert the creature to their position. Bertram stepped forward, pulling Crumbs who still slept in his leather armo, out of his pouch, leaving him on the ground for Keldon. Along with a bright red stick the size of Keldon’s palm. Bertram’s face steeled as he readied hush and lowered his stance. “Get the recruits out and send the flare…I’ll hold it the bastard off ‘long as I can.” Bertram said in a quiet voice, keeping his eyes locked on the Aberrant.
“Even at the top speeds, an Imperial WarAngel will take at least 3 minutes to arrive, give or take a minute for it to find us.” Keldon said quietly back, picking up Crumbs and the flare and fighting the urge to scream in terror. The dark yellow eyes of the Aberrant cooly gazed across the field, and every instinct in Keldon’s body clawed at him to run as far away as his legs could carry him.
Bertram took in a deep breath, shooting Keldon a grimace. “I’m a lucky man Keldon, I get to go down fighting one of them beasts that helped slay Vash of the Seven.”
Keldon stared at Bertram, tears welling up in his eyes. “Bertram…don’t.”
Bertram summoned his skill orb.
Activate Skill: Toughness of the Great Bear
Activate Skill: Strength of the Red Lion
Activate Skill: Ferocity of the Dragon
Activate Skill: Cunning of the Fox
Activate Skill: Cat’s Grace
Activate Skill: Greater Tremor Sense
The air around Bertram blistered as steam surged from Bertram’s body, heating the air around him. Bertram stepped towards the creature again, keeping a steady gaze as the creature huffed another plume of black smoke.
“GO!” Bertram yelled. Keldon sprang to his feet, grabbing the nearest recruits who were frozen in terror. He uncapped the flare, pointing it towards the sky and pulled on the string attached to the bottom. The flare whizzed through the air, exploding into the sky, showering the glade in a bright display of red light.
Immediately Bertram dashed forward, screaming as Hush swished through the air, diving towards the Aberrant as the Aberrant reared back on its hind legs, bringing down its hooves. However, Bertram nimbly dodged to the side, driving a deep cut into its ribs. Black ichor spilled out of its side as the beast let out an ear-piercing screech. The recruits tried to cover their ears, however it was too late, the sound had traveled too fast, and had knocked most of the recruits unconscious, while those who still remained were vomiting on the ground from the mind-splitting pain.
The Aberrant whipped it’s neck towards Bertram, trying to slam its deadly antler’s into him as Bertram leapt back in time, bringing up “Hush” to parry the curled horns, directing away most of the momentum. However, the tip of the right antler clipped Bertram on the shoulder, sending him flying through the air in a spin as he landed gracefully on his feet.
Bertram clutched his shoulders feeling the warm blood spill from his arm. He passed “Hush” to his other arm, taking up a new stance to fight the Aberrant, as the creature raised up its head, lungs filling with air. The Aberrant’s chest swelled to twice the normal size as it let loose another plume of smoke, filling the glade in a cloud of smog. Bertram closed his eyes and opened his mind; the air grew still as he saw the Aberrant charging at him through his tremorsense, spinning out of the way as the Aberrant charged straight into a tree, uprooting the oak and toppling it over, crashing onto the ground with a boom.
Activate Skill: Whirlwind Blade
Bertram’s sword began to glow a bright green as he whirled the blade around, swirling gusts of wind in a tornado centered around him. Bertram blew away the smoke, clearing the glade as he jumped 10 feet straight into the air as the Aberrant charged into him, rolling off the creature's spine and bouncing into the air as Bertram turned towards the creature, taking in a great breath as loosed a brilliant burst of flame, slamming into the Aberrant’s back. The Aberrant howled , kicking up it’s hind legs as it hoofed Bertram straight in the chest, sending him flying across the glade, crashing into the trunk of a tree where Bertram groaned on the ground in pain.
“BERTRAM!” Keldon screamed. Keldon, picked up one of the nearby recruits, tossing them out of harm’s way as he ran towards Bertram who laid on the ground. Bertram leapt up off the ground, bruised and battered.
“GET BACK.” he yelled at Keldon, as the Abberant who stood across the field, opened its mouth. Black light coalesced at the center of its jaw and fired the ball at Bertram who had pounced onto Keldon, covering Keldon with his body as the ball of light hit the tree where Bertram was, sending shockwaves through the air as the tree ruptured and burst into splinters. Bertram and Keldon were sent tumbling through the air as Bertram tuck and rolled onto the ground, still with Keldon wrapped around his arms.
Dazed by the shockwave, Keldon’s eyesight had blurred, struggling to look at Bertram, who knelt over top of him.
“B-Bertram?” Keldon said, trying to get a good look at him. However, Bertram hacked up a spattering of blood, staining Keldon's tunic in crimson. He wiped his mouth and stood up, turning back towards the Aberrant which had dug its hooves into the ground and lowered its head, signaling another charge.
“LEAVE!” Bertram yelled, running away from Keldon. He dashed as quickly as he could towards the other side of the glade as the Aberrant followed, sending tremors through the ground as it charged towards him.
Keldon turned, starting to run away but taking one last look back at Bertram in tears, freezing in place as his eyes caught something. They struggled to focus but finally adjusted for Keldon to see on the ground, there was an unconscious recruit left in the middle of the glade. He bit his lip, eyes darting back between the Aberrant and the unconscious recruit as he hasitated for a split-second, before sprinting as fast as he could towards the recruit. He ran over, hoisting him up ontp his shoulders and trying to pull him to cover as Keldon heard a loud whack, turning his head to see that the Aberrant had scooped up Bertram with its antlers, and thrown him backwards as Bertram flew over Keldon’s head, landing in the trees.
The Aberrant turned towards Keldon, huffing black smoke out of it’s nostrils as it bent down preparing to charge Keldon.
“Should I drop the recruit? I can’t. I shoul-“ Keldon thought as his mind raced. However, the Aberrant had started it’s charge by this time as Keldon saw the creature barrel in a rage towards him.
“Ah. I’m going to die” Keldon thought, blankly staring at the creature charging towards him.
Activate Skill: Greater Burst of Speed
Bertram dashed out from the tree in a blink of an eye, tackling Keldon and the recruit to push them out of the way as Keldon had the wind knocked out of him. However, the Aberrant managed to clip Keldon in the side of the head, cutting a deep gash into this skull as warm blood trickled down his face as he was tackled to the ground.
Keldon groaned on his back, eyesight blurred once again as he looked up, seeing Bertram on top of his chest as fiery pain shot through his entire body.
“Thanks…Bertram…” Keldon croaked slowly, however as he looked down, he saw that Bertram’s right leg was completely mangled, his leg had been trampled by the Aberrant as from his shin down, his leg had been completely obliterated. What remained was a bloody mess of pulp and crushed bone as Bertram’s knee had bent inwards, bone sticking out of his thigh as he breathed heavily into Keldon’s chest.
“Bertram…I…” Keldon said, sputtering to say the right words
“S’okay buddy.” Bertram said, gritting through his teeth. He looked up at Keldon, as Keldon tried to meet his gaze, still disoriented from the hit to the head.
“Sorry buddy.” Bertram said, putting an arm on Keldon’s shoulder heavily.
“I guess it happened on my watch after all.”
“I…” Keldon said, struggling to fight back the tears; however, the sound of cloven hooves interrupted Keldon as they pounded against the ground as the Aberrant charged at the three of them.
Keldon held Bertram in his arms, as the unconscious recruit laid at his side. He stared down the Aberrant who charged towards them. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, taking in a deep breath. Keldon opened his eyes, to meet the gaze of the Aberrant who charged at him, embracing his death.
However, out of the corner of his eye, a small black butterfly flew by, landing on his shoulders, sending shivers through his entire body. It whispered in his ear, speaking words that he did not know but that he understood. Keldon’s eyes glazed over, raising his arm up as if he were in a trance.
Keldon stretched his hand out towards the Aberrant, as he opened his mouth, uttering a single, indecipherable word as he clutched his outstretched hand into a fist
(To Be continued)
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