Part 2: Spreading out

cw: violence, body horror

“Help!”

They look around to see where the source of the voice came from. The two have reached the backside of the inn, finding the brick walls that surround the village collapsed, a man’s legs injured and bleeding under them. 

A bleak voice caused a shiver down their spine. Through the broken walls came in a being with human-like proportions. Only its skin was completely gray, sharp black antlers on top of its head. Empty eyes staring into nothing. Its almost skeleton arms were reaching out to the injured man.

“Get away,” he cried, throwing the bricks at the beast, which proved ineffective.

The beast kept closing in on the man until Alice managed to fly and kick it back outside again.

“Are you okay?” she helped the men remove the bricks of his legs, seeing wounds that would scar in seconds.  “Help me get him inside!”

The two had brought the injured man back to the inn, several villagers coming to his aid.

“Stay back kids,” an old man went outside, a small ax in his hands, “We’ll take care of this!”

Following him came a bunch of other men, all in their later years, readied with different weapons ranging from small knives to tall spears.

While Nexus helped the man get a place to rest inside the inn, Alice stayed behind doors, watching the fight unfold.

It was clear that the elders didn’t have a strategy, for they simply began attacking it head on, their weapons covered in regular flames.

However, those fires were too small and weak to do any damage. The beast slammed the weapons away from them, shattering them in pieces with its large hands.

“Miss, don’t.”

He grabbed her arm before she could leave. “You still aren’t in good condition to move, much less fight!”

“What do you want me to do? Let these old men get hurt. There’s no way they’re all that this village has.”

“It probably is, though.”

“Say what now?”

“It’s a sad fact. But most soldiers are brought to the capital city to guard them, so small villages like these only have retired soldiers as their guards.”

“You have got to be-all the more reason to help them!”

“Well, you can’t! Who knows what will happen if you-”

“Help!”

While they weren’t paying attention, the fight had taken a major turn.

All the soldiers were knocked out on the ground, the beast holding a small girl hostage

“Dad,” she cried out, trying to get rid of the beast’s grasp.

“Miss, no-”

Without a second thought, Alice jumped into the fight, her flames coursing through her fingers.

“Let go of her freak,”she punched the beast right back outside the walls, catching the little girl in her arms

“Are you alright?”

The curly-haired girl’s eyes widened, holding her dress tightly, “Y-yes, lady.”

“Good, good. That’s what's important right now. How did you even get here all of a sudden?”

“Well,” she turned her gaze away, “I was searching for dad and-Look out!”

“Whoa!”

She ducked down on the ground, hearing noises of bones breaking. Looking up, she sees the thin arms of the beast suddenly spread out, a new limb growing out again and again.

“Shoot,” holding the little girl tightly, she tried to get away from the scene. However, its other arm began to grow more limbs too, and she had to do her best to dodge both.

The beast had kicked away one of the knocked out men, approaching the two girls ever so slowly

“This is bad. Kid, are you scared of heights?”

The little girl had her head clutched into Alice’s chest, “N-no!”

“Good,” flames burst through her entire body, “hold on!”

“Whoa!”

Flying up high in the sky, the beast still tried to attack her, swiftly dodging each of its attacks.

This is bad. I can’t knock it out if it keeps doing this, and there’s also her to worry about.

While she wasn’t paying attention, the beast managed to grab her, slamming her back to the ground

She managed to get off its grasp, landing on her feet as her flames burnt out

“Crap!”

“Lady?”

“I’m fine,” Alice lied. “Come on, come on, spark already!”

Snipping her fingers and slapping her hands against the ground, she was unable to cast any spells. The beast was about to devour them

“Get down!”

Shielding the little girl, she heard an unfamiliar voice as several arrows coursed through the creature’s neck, it falling behind.

“Wow,” she managed to stand up, backing away from it, “who shot those?

As she turns around, farther off, she sees a man breathing heavily as he holds out a wooden bow in his hands. He pulled his hood back, dark skinned and short hair, he cried.

“Zuri!”

“Dad!”

Alice lets the little girl down, who leapt to her father’s embrace.

“Thank goodness you’re safe. Do you have any idea how worried I was!?”

“I’m sorry,” she sniffed, “I was looking for you, and then this ugly thing showed up, and and-”

“Shh,” he stroked her back, “It’s all fine, baby.”

“Um,” Alice scratched her head, “I apologize for interrupting this moment. But-”

She gestured towards the beast.

“Ah, right,” he puts his bow on his back, taking the two girls away from the scene.

They hid behind a street corner, watching as the beast slowly made it way, removing the arrows off its chest. At that moment, Alice takes a good look at the archer, noticing how his clothing consists of various shades of orange and saturated yellows.

“Are you an earth mage perhaps?”

“Yes,” he kept shooting his arrows to slow down the beast, “How did you know?”

She avoided answering. “It doesn't matter. Can’t you then cast a giant plant to get rid of it or something?”

“Nice idea, but it’d be too risky. If I grow some vines, it might ruin the village’s underground structure and cause several houses to collapse.”

“Ah, I see.”

“If only I could get it away from the village somehow?”

“Ah,” Alice was struck with an idea, “Aha!”

After telling the archer of her plan, she went out staring the beast right through its empty eyes, “Hey, weirdo!”

She climbed up the nearby walls, straggling on it with her back straightened. “You think you’re quite something huh? You and your honestly very disturbing bodily functions.” she put her fist to her mouth so she wouldn’t puke.

“Anyway, if you really got what it takes,” she picked a fallen brick, throwing it at its face, “Come get me then!”

Jumping off the walls, she pulled up her hand, showing off the small flames within it, the beast chasing after it.

They got farther and farther away from the village, so she smirked and blew out her flames.

“Plants, now!”

Just as the beast was about to cut through her chest, several arrows landed on the ground. Gigantic vines sprouting out of them. The beast tried shaking them off, but they managed to grab its hands and pull it down on the ground.

“Perfect,” she clapped her hands, waving back at the two-

“Now, let’s get you some sleep-”

“P-please.”

“Huh,” she looks around to see where the voice came from.

“Please, let me go.”

Unable to find who keeps saying that, she gets startled seeing the old men back from earlier cutting off the beast’s head.

“Thank you so much young lady,” they bowed down, “We were so pathetic during the fight. If there’s any way to make it up to you, please tell us!”

“Oh please,” she waved her hand, “It was nothing anyone would have-”

“Lady Fire!”

“Huh?”

Before she realized it, Zuri had tackled her to the ground.

“That. Was. Awesome!”

She began jumping on top of her. “You flew! You really, really flew! And your hair became this blue fire! And your eyes! It. Was. So. Wow!”

“Zuri,” her father immediately picked her up, holding a walking cane in his other hand, “What did I say about tackling random strangers?”

She pouted. “It’s rude and all that.”

She did this before?

“I am so sorry about her. She just gets really excited when it comes to magic. Zuri, you need to apologize as well. You could have really hurt her!”

“Okay,” she bowed down her head, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she pinched the little girl’s cheek, “I am just happy to help-”

Before she knew it, the man whose legs were injured just earlier was passing by her.

“Huh?”

When she turns to see him again, he was carrying away the creature’s remains alongside the other men.

“Hold on,” she called out to him, “Are you alright, mister? Is your leg-”

“Oh it’s you,” the man smiled, “Don't worry. I am all fine now, thanks to the Knight of Miracles!”

He walked away, giving her more questions than answers.

“The Knight of Miracles,” Zuri clapped her cheeks, “Dad, I wanna see, I wanna see him!”

“Dear, he’s probably busy now. We can see him later, though.”

“What are you two-”

She walked towards the light, passing what seemed to be a small aurora in the middle of daylight. The moment she touched it, it had disappeared. She arrived where she left off, only this time standing still.

Nexus was there. His eyes seemed mystical, glowing in a green color that matched the surrounding lights. They were shining bright, noticing small sparkled where his pupils were supposed to be. In his hands, he was channeling the aurora, forming in it some sort of spherical shaped. 

The elderly man in front of him was clutching his arm, bleeding from the fight. Nexus closed of his eyes, transmitting the light into the man’s wounds. The light dissolved as only a scar was left on the elder’s arm. 

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” he couldn’t help but shake the knight’s hands up and down.

“My good sir, I only fulfilled my duty as a-Miss!”

Alice was taken aback when Nexus suddenly stepped in front of her. “Look at you! All your dress is covered in dirt and your hair is all messed up! Thankfully, none of wounds from yesterday came back! I’ll get you when I am finished with these gentlemen-”

“Don’t!”

Shouting as she stepped away from him, everyone gave her looks. Too confused to think anything straight, she leaves back to her room, almost tripping over a pot with a dead plant in it.

—

The sun was going down. She was alone in her room patching up her wounds with bandages she got from the innkeeper. She’d sometimes look down the window, watching as the villages walked through carrying several bricks to repair the wall. Finally, she hears a knock on the door.

“Good evening,” Nexus came in, humming as he locked the room, “Sorry for keeping you up this late, I finished healing the gentlemen a while back but then a woman came in calling to help her daughter, then there were those children who fought, then the old man who asked to grow back his teeth-”

“So, that’s why?”

“Hm?” He tilted his head.

“The Knight of Miracles. Fitting really, the ability of healing anyone anywhere in seconds.”

“Heh, I guess you can call it a ‘miracle.”

“Right. A miracle,” she clenched her fists, “One you could have used sooner.”

“Hm? What do you mean-”

Saying nothing, she pointed to the necklace around her neck, and everything was made clear.

“Ah.”

“That’s all? No excuses or anything?”

“I wouldn’t call it an excuse, but yes, I had my reasons.”

She looked away from him, continuing to patch up her own wounds.

“As much as I hate to say this, my magic has its limits. For one, it can’t grow back an arm or leg, and it’s barely effective against many diseases, and in certain cases… it’s just too late.”

Alice finished putting the bondages on, immediately slamming her face to her bed. “Was it really though?”

The knight looked away. “Either way, we both have our promises to keep. So let’s focus on that right now. Nothing comes out of ‘what if’ after all?”

Instead of going to his bed, he sat on a chair, picking up a paper to write something on. She carefully watched him before dozing off. Tensions left unresolved.

---

And here's part 2! This was a tough one considering I still struggle with action scene but I'm happy with how it came out! Also Nex's magic reveal was something I've been waiting for a long time to explore! New update may be delayed because of irl stuff so I hope that doesn't bother you. Anyway, thanks for reading and goodbye!