Chapter 42 - (Interlude) Rain

[POV - BEAROF]

----------GROUP HAIL SOURCING----------------

--------------CONNECTED-------------------------

(Varric) - "ah, what the fuck? What the fuck is this?"

(Le'ahna) - "Oh shut up you old codger, Bearof sourced a hail"

(Varric) - "Oh...well get on with it then, I'd rather your voice not be the last thing I hear before i pass"

(Bearof) - "Enough, the both of you. Le'ahna, what's the ETA on the wave?"

(Le'ahna) - "We received word from the convoy about 25 minutes ago, so now we have....approximately 10 mintutes until the hit the embattlements"

(Bearof) - "10 minutes....10 minutes until they start begin to make their way to us...Check you parties, make sure all your preparations are done."

(Bearof) - "No mistakes. If even on of the chokepoints give out, we're done. Not only the other parties, but even the convoy behind us. This will be our last communication until the wave comes. Understood?"

(Le'ahna) - "Understood"

(Varric) - "Understood"

(Bearof) - "Good. Remember, our objective isn't to eliminate the wave"

(Varric) - "It's to hold out, and buy time. Enough so the convoy can get far enough away so we-"

(Le'ahna) - "So we can, then get away. With a bit of luck, we might make it. Right?"

(Varric) - "I was about to say that"

(Le'ahna) - "Sure, but it's really not my problem you're bean-sized brain fails to think any faster"

(Varric) - "YOU LITT-"

(Bearof) - "Enough!"

(Bearof) - "Stop picking fights like children and focus. Being distracted right now, will lead you to the jaws of a Fyrrath in short order. Make sure you're parties are ready, LIKE I SAID!"

(Bearof) - "Take your positions, and hang tight. I won't tell you how to fight, but I'll remind you to conserve enough energy to escape, understood?"

(Varric) - "Yeah"

(Le'ahna) - "Understood"

(Bearof) - "And remember, don't do anything funny. No heroics, no epic last stands. We fight smart. We fight hard. We get out alive. End hail"

------------------TERMINATING HAIL------------------ 

I sighed, half in defeat, half in amusement. Those two were like fire and water, unable to mix whatsoever. 

"Heh" I chuckled a bit, thinking of them. 

*GRUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*

Another sigh escaped my lips. The rumbling was getting louder, and more often. The Siege wasn't too far off any longer. 10 minutes remained.

10 minutes until they reached the embattlements. We'd done as well as we could, albeit rather primitive, we didn't have much of a choice. Trenches, and the oddly placed walls here and there, to redirect them. It'd buy us more time, but, I can't help but feel the Fyrraths would just chew through it all anyway. In the distance were a multitude of turrets, though we managed to only fix up 2 to 3 of them for each chokepoint.

Maybe, if we're lucky, it'll buy us...maybe 10 more minutes?

I looked around me, the outpost, in worse condition, than we had found it. Ripped apart for spare parts, not only for the convoy, but the preparations for the battle ahead. Bits of metal welded into makeshift shields and blades. We had no substitute for a mage's aid, like a staff or orb of some kind.

As sorry as it looked, it was more lively with people around. No longer did that hold. 

Here there was nothing, just me. Varric and Le'ahna opposed the decision, but there was nothing they could do to overturn it. We were lacking combatants as it were. 

There ranks of power were tall, and many. Energia, the first step of the journey, when one barely began to tap into the mana in the environment. Forsah, the second step, harnessing the mana within the body. And finally-

I clenched my hands, tightly, enough that my knuckled turned white. As it did, the mana in my body moved, as bits of electricity flickered and danced around my arm. The reason, I stood here alone.

'Dynamika' 

Widely known as the Mortal Limit. 

Beyond that was a domain I had no idea about, with my level of education, there wasn't much I knew on what would come after. I probably wouldn't see the end of the day to find out either.

The electricity flickered for a second, then a small bolt struck the ground near me. Accidentally.

'Calm down...'

Inhale 

Exhale

Conserve. '

Follow what you preach Bearof, everyone hates hypocrites.'

I chuckled to myself again.

I checked the time remaining on my AVA (Armbound Virtual Assistant). 7 minutes. Ah, waiting for bad things always brings time to a crawl. Perhaps universal, the experience.

I had time to burn, so I took in the landscape ahead of me.

The landscape stretched out before me, a desolate expanse broken by the jagged remains of our defenses. The trenches were shallow scars in the earth, their edges crumbling and uneven. The makeshift walls stood in defiance against the impending tide, their surfaces marred by hasty repairs and desperate fortifications. Turrets, cobbled together from salvaged parts, loomed like skeletal sentinels, their barrels pointing towards the oncoming threat.

The horizon was a murky blur, the dark shapes of the Fyrraths barely discernible against the stormy backdrop. Lightning flashed intermittently, illuminating their grotesque forms for brief, terrifying moments. Each flash revealed a nightmare of sinew and teeth, a relentless horde driven by an insatiable hunger.

This bode ill omens...if the Siegemother had enough strength to affect weather. Weather on a moon with no viable atmosphere...then this wasn't a fight for us to win.

Yet....we'd try regardless.

I felt a chill run down my spine, not only from fear, but from the raw anticipation of the battle to come. The Fyrraths were a force of nature, an unstoppable wave that consumed everything in its path. But we were prepared. We had to be.

The rumbling grew louder, a bone-shaking tremor that seemed to resonate deep within the earth. I tightened my grip on the makeshift weapon at my side, the jagged edges of the blade glinting in the flickering light. The electricity around my arm surged in response, no intentionally...but instinct.

Animals knew when they were cornered. It was their instinct in these situations, that could guide them out. 

I was no animal, even then, my gut told me to run, escape, as far as possible. 

That was not an option I had.

I checked my AVA again. 5 minutes. The seconds seemed to stretch into infinity, each tick of the clock a reminder of the precious time slipping away. I took another deep breath, focusing on the rhythm of my heartbeat, the steady thrum of mana flowing through my veins.

The outpost was eerily quiet, the calm before the storm. 

*DRIP*

Hm?

*DRIP*DRIP*DRIP*

I felt cool drops of a liquid splash against my skin....Water?

*DRIP*DRIP*

As I looked up, I saw the sky, once dark and foreboding, now obscured by a curtain of falling water. The rarest of occurrences even back home, cascaded down in sheets, drenching the landscape in a deluge of life-giving moisture.

For a moment, I was stunned into silence, my mind struggling to comprehend the sight before me. On a moon devoid of atmosphere, was a phenomenon beyond explanation. Yet here it was, a gift from the Mother in our darkest hour.

It soaked through my clothes, plastering my hair to my scalp and washing away the dust and grime. Washing away the anxiety of the ensuing fight. It was a refreshing sensation, a brief respite from the chaos that surrounded us.

The drops rolled down my face, leaving a trail of water behind. It was...something I'd never experienced. Something I'd only heard stories of back home. Stories my mother would tell me before bed.

*DRIP*

Is this...rain?