Barred Barrens

Soft, near-unnoticeable streams of Ether cloak my form while Silence goes to work; all the while, I crouch behind a man-sized rock, awaiting Virgil's command. However, Blodwyn's dual use of Mute makes even the remnants of Silence impossible for anyone other than me to notice. The main weakness of Silence is that someone or something with perceptive enough senses toward Ether can find me even if they cannot hear me. But with Blodwyn, that point is alleviated wholly. Furthermore, he's gotten better at using it since his advancement to Sanguine. Why does his have to sound so cool? No. That doesn't matter.

What does is that I can only be found if someone smells me, touches me, or visually sees me. The last part makes me wish I still had Adumbral. Its skill made it a dozen times more difficult for anyone to spot me. But that's not something to harp on, as Earl can likely make something do a similar effect when I see him next.

After all, I expect him to be an Angel by then. I know it's unreasonable, but as I sit here, waiting for Virgil to lure out the demons in our way for us to ambush, I can't help but hope Earl manages it. As for why Virgil is the one luring these bastards out, it's because he's the fastest of us all, bar none.

From Flicker to simply hauling ass on his feet, none can compare that I know of to him. He's even faster than Kai Vinson by several levels; the only difference is that he doesn't break the air when he moves, thanks to his many skills in suppressing sound.

I count time using my heartbeats as I scan the surroundings, unable to find anyone else in their hiding spots. The most surprising of which is Bonfire, as he manages to hide from both Blodwyn and my senses. Though, he's with Marion, so the redhead is probably doing something to help, possibly even copying one of Virgil's skills to a weaker degree as the red-haired fellow is adept at learning in the fly as well.

As I consider that, my thoughts rewind to Eli Weiss. His Dominion is similar to Marion's Power, but far, far better. It can copy multiple Powers, and none of their mights are reduced. Each and every one of them is full-strength and perhaps even beyond that due to Eli's expertise.

But I don't get to ruminate on the Demigod that we've already killed once as frantic, empowered footfalls approach us. I hear half a dozen with my ears, failing to notice Virgil's own footsteps due to their utter deafness.

The original plan was to pass through everything as quietly as we could, only fighting the Dominion if they rushed us, but that soured quickly. Only a half-hour into our careful journey, Aniwye detected more searching for us. So, Virgil came up with a plan to kill as many as possible.

There are only a few Angels in this group, but there are many, many lower Sigileds that are going to slow us down. Aniwye and Marion are going to take care of them, though. She's really good at what Virgil calls crowd control, something he had to do a few times to quell rebellions as a Damned.

A spot of darkness passes by my location, and I prepare to emerge from behind my rock. Ether swirls in my body as I flow it for Breakneck and Hone upon my arms. Blodwyn groans in exertion as our heart accelerates massively, taking advantage of both Pautuhm and Painsforge at once.

"Not easy to Mute with all this Ether we're using."

I nod softly to him, knowing the struggle. He's basically compressing the Ether, making it denser and harder to leak out. It makes it easier to use things like Gaseous Ether if it's inside our body, but still, I'm sure it's a pain to achieve in general.

"Just a few more seconds. Let the other ones funnel through, and then we'll snap onto the closest Angel."

Blodwyn mentally nods back to me as I toss several coordinated Arbalests into my feet. The Ether coils dangerously for anyone without a durable body like mine, and I hear the final Motherbound pass by me.

A rumbling explosion of force shakes the rock I'm hiding behind as night-black flames inundate the air above and wash around my cover. The heat is scorching, but I dart out from my position before I get too badly burnt.

My Arbalests detonate all at once as I see the tiniest smidge of violet through the flames. With the several dozen constructs of Ether in my feet, I feel an awful wrenching force that practically tosses away the air near me, the sound blasting away all the excess fire and smoke.

Then, I'm staring eye-to-eye with the Virtue. It's another human, a woman this time. She has a scar that runs down the right side of her face, reminding me of a centipede. The woman recoils in shock, bringing her arms to defend herself as I lash out with the blade from my prosthetic. I'm saving the bullet inside and the bomb Earl gave me for a more near-death fight, like one against Eli or a Dominion.

The woman responds with a blisteringly fast reaction, her arms turning into shifting, vibrating blades of bone. The sudden surprise of a Power doesn't give me time to stop my attack as metal meets bone. For a moment, our strengths contest as Darklight seeps from her marrow, invading my insides.

Immediately, I push Ether through my body to clear me of it, but that's not the main issue here. The more pressing matter is the fact this Motherbound, this Fallen Angel, is only growing stronger with each passing instant.

We only lock blades, or more accurately, arms, for less than a second, but the segments of that time are broken up in my senses as she overwhelms me quickly. I stumble back from the force as I realize this must be her Virtue or something of the like. The longer she enforces strength, the more she can leverage.

That could become lethal very quick. If I give her too much time...

My thoughts earn me another attack as I retreat, figuring out what to do in my head. I dodge, preferring not to meet her physical might any more than what is absolutely necessary.

As I do so, I glance around, finding most others already locked into combat or currently heading to attack. Except for one. Virgil is nowhere to be seen.

Forcibly, I prevent the smile from crawling onto my lips as I redouble my efforts against this Angel, a voice entering my mind from Aniwye.

"This comes from Marion. That's Cassandra. She's called... the Rampaging Bull. The longer she fights—"

"The stronger she gets"

My mother gives me an acknowledging mental motion of approval before closing the connection.

"Yes. Exactly. I'll help in a little. These bugs have more durable minds thanks to the sickly light. Shouldn't be an issue, though, freezing their communications."

A half-hundred wreath of blades come vibrating for me as Cassandra's arm shifts the bone blades along her arm with a hair-raising pace. Ironically, the bones move similar to a centipede's legs, just as her scar reminded me of. A stray thought begins to wonder about the connection before I grimace and form a wall of Madness, bolstered by several chains that I toss behind it.

The two-part defense is because—

My whole world wobbles as I feel my arms go numb and my back slam into something with a sharp pain. Groaning, I return to reality as I roll over, feeling a dozen broken ribs and far worse in my arms. The prosthetic is warped, the metal dented with shifted colors, while my left arm is...

Huh. It's gone.

Another wreath of bone comes for my skull before I manage to recover from the impact. I leap to the side with a hasty Arbalest, scarcely avoiding the earth-shattering arm of Cassandra. I stumble hazardously on the crumbling rock, still winded and recovering, as she continues to follow me.

I lash out at her with a dozen Living Manacles, tapping her with multiple that I tug on to weaken her. Cassandra is beyond physically strong, but she isn't all that fast, besides her reactions. Unfortunately, my tightening of her chains hardly does anything.

Grimacing, I leap backward again as she gains ground against me, but my left arm is already almost back. Blodwyn is fighting alongside me at his maximum as my fingers curl the instant they return. A Ballista begins forming before I'm struck again in this game of cat and mouse. I twist the impossibly-made crossbow toward her arm as Cassandra intends to cut me in half.

Thankfully, she doesn't break through the six figments working in tandem alongside a bunch of Living Manacles. Additionally, Blodwyn has figured a way to conpress our blood to fire it out alongside our flesh, adding both an additional way to attack and defend. Though, for a juggernaut such as this, the sent bullets aerent all that effective.

Despite the many-layered shield, I hurtle away from her into a nearby hill. Dirt, grime, and blood flows down my face as the bone is shattered along my skull. Again, Blodwyn gets to work. I give him a quick thanks as he resets my shoulder, elbow, and wrist back into place.

Then, I point the Ballista at the charging Cassandra. She scoffs, pointing at me with her other arm that begins rotating with similar bony blades.

"You wish to match me! She will have your head!"

Crazed madness comes from the Motherbound's mouth as I return my own form of Madness. Pulling the trigger, the air cracks and waves from two different directions as I watch a projectile crater at me. Time slows to a crawl as I feel my body and mind move on their own.

My legs break under the strain of my movement, multiple Arbalests exploding all at once while I inhale Ether through my heart, then detonate it out my legs. I can barely fathom how I do it all at once, but that's what Shiver is for. The instinctual, hard-to-replicate evasions that will save one's life.

As I feel the pain weave its way up my legs, I find the entire hill behind me utterly gone. Not torn to shreds or reduced to a smaller mound, but gone. Instead, it is replaced by tiny shards of bone that resemble the aftermath of an explosion.

Air enters and exits my lungs rapidly as I turn my attention back to Cassandra. Surprisingly, the Ballista did in fact, land on her, something I did not expect due to how she counterattacked instead of dodged, but it only broke one of her arms. I fall to the ground as I hold my body up, my lower half reconstructing itself by the second.

To all others I've hit with a Ballista, it's been a sure-kill or cripple. This? My eyes can hardly believe what I'm seeing. This bitch was turned alongside Iva?

What the fuck kind of monsters lived in Depravity?

"Haha! You broke my forearm! It's been a while! The last person to do that was Iva! Hey, you sure—agh!"

Cassandra's rotten and malformed mind, thanks to the Darklight, calls out to me, but a trio of blades sinks into her back as she holds the broken arm. Virgil manifests with his scythe and daggers before vanishing once more using Flicker as Cassandra backhands him.

Thankfully, he gets out of there in time before getting hit, as he would not be getting back up. The Virtue howls in pain and anger, falling to a knee with a flood of grimy dark fluid expelling from her insides. I shamble toward Cassandra to help Virgil, but the man pounces without hesitation. I gave him a sliver of opportunity, and he bit on it ruthlessly.

Daggers slip into Cassandra's side as she lashes out with lethal force, but that force never lands. Virgil dances away from her, staying just out of range after injuring her considerably. I wobble toward them, feeling strength return to my legs as Cassandra begins to slow, Virgil's poison kicking in.

Yet, the Angel isn't too hampered as her Virtue's rising force battles against the poison and her wounds. I leap back into the fray the moment I can, so both Virgil and I assault the Virtue. I dive in, stabbing into her spine with a blade while Virgil roundhouse kicks her in the jaw. Before she can catch him, he Flickers, leaving her forced to deal with me.

I backstep as she roars, more akin to a beast than a woman with dark spittle flying out. With the sound, she lunges for me, only for a knife to slide along her heel. A strangled cry resounds as I punch her right in the jaw with my left as she turns.

The battle continues like this for several minutes, the damn Angel refusing to die. Even Anwiye joins in, crushing Cassandra's flesh but unable to break her bones or her mind. More time passes, and together, we all attack her as one, from Lennon's formless swings of death to Kate's dual-natured assaults.

But it's taking too long. The Motherbound in front might not be wise, but there are grossly intelligent ones out there. This feels like one of Eli's plans. Or like something Earl and Elizabeth would cook up.

"Guys! I think this is a trap!"

Aniwye glances at me, and then her eye widens. She throws a palm forward as Cassandra rolls along the rocks away from us.

"The little one is right! More minds are approaching! I was too focused on quickly killing this one! How incorrigiblely tough! Leave her on the Pale Lady's door! We need to go! Now!"

I don't even consider for a moment that she or I are wrong and turn around to retreat. But as I do so, I notice Bonfire's body language and eyes don't seem to follow us. Cursing, I wrap several chains around his right leg as he sprints for Cassandra's form.

A high-pitched gasp comes from Bonfire as he slams flat on his face, and I can't help but laugh shortly as we run away, heading around Depravity as fast as we can.

"Let me go! I'll follow this time! I promise!"

I release the chains as Emmet Knox regains his balance and detonates a fiery wave beneath him to keep up. Lennon is the first in the group, leading the way as he, instead of running around a boulder, cuts it in half to save time. We follow behind him and curve around a mountain as Aniwye guides us with her mind, using Mie's input as well.

I blindly put my faith in the two as my senses cannot pass beyond mountains, ravines, and valleys. The range in which my mother's mind can sense others is extreme, and I can only assume it is from an extraordinary amount of training.

As I sprint through the winding valleys and treacherous mountains that surround Depravity within the underworld, a sense of unease gnaws at the edges of my consciousness. They are following us, yet I cannot see him. All I know is that we are weaving around Depravity, attempting to get past it without being forced to fight again.

Seeing as a Virtue was the bait, the figure chasing us is likely a Dominion, a Demigod. Despite my frantic pace, I cannot shake the feeling of being pursued by that Demigod. It leaves me constantly searching for danger, despite knowing that I would be warned of it first by Aniwye or Mie.

As I look around, I realize that something has changed. The ominous cloud of death that is... Death is no longer visible to me. Above, the sky—or what passes for it in this subterranean place—is a suffocating expanse of pitch blackness, devoid of any hint of light or hope.

I give it a long look before it seems to move. I open my mouth to say something, but before I can, an unnatural fog descends hurriedly, swirling around me with menacing coils of smoke. As it envelops my body, I feel a chilling sensation creep over my skin, sapping my strength and draining me of energy with each passing moment.

"Aniwye!"

I shout for my mother as I hear nothing, not even the sound of my own voice. My heartbeat is dulled, mute to my ears. The only noise within my mind is my constant companion.

"I don't sense any blood nearby, Wyatt. It's just us."

With a sense of mounting worry for my friends, I come to a sudden halt, my heart pounding in my chest as I realize the gravity of our situation. I can't hear, see, feel, or even smell anything. We're lost in this darkness.

I fish my hand down to my hip, drawing the legendary Colt as Lily's voice enters the silence as well. The cool sensation of her grip calms my beating heart, and I pull the trigger at the ground.

"Yay! Oh... it's kinda dark."

After this, three more rounds exist within her chamber, but it's worth using the fourth right now. I might need her if I am ambushed. Plus, with all this chaos, another is likely to form soon.

The bullet slams into the earth without any noticeable effect on the dirt I can barely see, totally unlike any other shell fired from a Colt. Instead, a ghostly river of darkness exits the barrel, gradually forming into a smiling young girl with her skirt twirling with her body and pushing away the fog.

Unfortunately, though, the fog only recedes a foot or so, and it's largely positioned upon her, not me. I wonder if she can control that or not? Or is it simply to do with her unique abilities tied to the Cardinal?

"Can you try and push the fog further away?"

We're still forced to mentally communicate as all the sound is gone, even where the fog doesn't touch. Lily stares at me and blinks thrice before shrugging.

"Dunno."

Great. Absolutely great. I should've spent more time teaching her how to control Ether and create new skills on the fly. I'll have to do that instead of relaxing in the near future when I sleep.

I reach forward and bring Lily closer to me as I start counting down the seconds in my head. She's got a few minutes before she returns to her Colt, maybe longer, as no energy was wasted in siphoning life.

But as Lily taps her toes beside me, the clouds around us shift, slicing for my neck. Yep. It has to be a Dominion.