38: Star Child: Dunes of Tolapo IV

Our class had stopped and was waiting at a makeshift camp by a large rock, huddled around a campfire that Baset made. Since night fell about a hour ago the temperature had dropped drastically to match. While everyone has complained how hot it was during the day they were now complaining about how cold it was. I personally didn't really mind the heat or the cold, I felt comfortable with both.

Jane and Iris both shivered slightly even thought they were both wrapped up in the blankets they pulled out of their rucksacks. I started cycling mana throughout my entire body imagining it turning not into flames but embodying the heat attribute. Pretty soon the air around me started to heat up as visible waves of heat started emanating from my body.

Jane saw this and scooted closer to me. Feeling how warm I actually was she gasped.

"Wow, you're giving off a lot of heat!" Jane exclaimed then scooted as close as she could and hung onto my arm. Iris opened her mouth to object but then she too noticed the heat waves radiating off me. Looking away from me she scooted as close as she could without touching me.

"Not a word Star Child." Iris warned.

I just chuckled and looked at everyone else huddled around the fire. For once Damon's team was sitting close to each other though out of necessity. Baset was seated on top of the large rock, completely wrapped in the blanket and keeping watch on the vast desert around us. Her evo-viper was coiled lightly around her neck and it's head rested comfortably on her shoulder.

I glanced down at my farm crystal which was still glowing faintly, just barely visible even in the reduced light. Something about that glow tugged at my heart, like something familiar and safe.

"Black crescent moon so high in this dark and lonely sky. This ocean of obsidian tangled in your light. So make a wish now upon this shooting star and watch them fly across the night into heaven's arms…" I sang softly to myself as I looked up at the Cresent moon.

"What was that?" Jane asked.

"Oh…um…it was a song my grandmother used to sing to me when I was little." I muttered. "She sang it when days got too much for me. I'd sit in her lap and cry my eyes out while she sang to me until I fell asleep."

"It sounds like a beautiful song…" Iris said.

"Your grandmother sounds like a truly caring woman. Is she a splicer?" Jane asked. I shook my head.

"No she was not but she loved me regardless." I said with a soft smile.

<DANGER!>

I felt a rush of anger and concern from Bone-lasher it was almost overwhelming. At. The same time Baset's evo-viper suddenly became alert. It flared its wings and hissed looking up at the sky. Both Baset and I jumped up and looked toward the sky. It took me a moment to realize that the moon and the stars were now gone. A large mass blanketed the skies, I could just barely make out the edges of it.

"Chase what's wrong?" Jane asked.

"No…" Baset breathed she jumped from the rock over to the group. "We're under attack!"

No sooner had she said that the mass stretched towards the ground heading right for us. As it got closer I realized it wasn't a mass but a swarm.

Everyone clamored to their feet and the swarm was close enough to hear. It sounded like a million bats dueling bees.

"Fuck it!" I said and pulled one of the spell sigil papers I had in my pocket. Not caring which one it was I cycled mana into it. The paper burned away as a defensive sigil activated. A tornado formed around the group and stretched into the sky just as the first creatures in the swarm got close enough. They were swept up in the whipping winds and slashed to pieces in an instant.

The swarm flew around the tornado circling close enough to but not close enough to get sucked in.

"Good thinking Chase!" Jane exclaimed.

"What the fuck are those?" Damon asked Baset.

"And how are you casting spells?! I thought Baset said you couldn't!" Alberto asked.

"Does that really matter right now? He's keeping those things at bay?" Astrid exclaimed.

"Dr'idi'saiyo." Baset said. "Those things are called Dr'idi'saiyo. They're a variant of evo-vipers."

'Dr'idi'saiyo? That's torapos for sonic viper.' I thought.

"I've never seen Evo-vipers swarm like that!" Iris exclaimed.

"They're made with rare vipers and bats that can only be found in this desert. They're bigger and a lot more vicious than any evo-viper you've see before." Baset explained.

"Chase how long can you keep this up?" Jane asked.

"For another minute give or take. How long the spell lasts depends on the quality of the sigil." I replied.

"What about the other sigils you made?" Iris asked.

"They're all offensive. I lucked out grabbing this one." I replied.

"Lady Baset what do we do?" Alberto asked. Baset shook her head.

"This is worse than Geryo said…" Baset breathed. She started casting a offensive sigil. "Cover your ears!"

A loud sonic boom erupted from the sigil, completely blowing my tornado away and knocking a large part of the swarm away. The part that wasn't knocked away flew off in to the night.

"OWWWW!" I screamed and rubbed my ears. I turned to Baset and scowled "A little more warning next time!"

Her mouth moved like she was talking but all I could hear was a loud ringing noise. I looked to Iris and Jane both of them looked like they were speaking, well shouting, like Baset but I could only hear the ringing. Jane finally motioned to her ears then pointed at me. I reached up and touched my ears then looked at my fingers, they were coated in blood.

'Fuck! That spell blew out my eardrums.' I thought.

I cycled mana into head and it instantly flowed into my eardrums. I remembered my Lysdale script and turned my mana into flesh attribute mana. I closed my eyes as I shaped and condensed the mana into the shape of my eardrums. I sensed the mana connecting the damaged tissue and repairing the damage. After a minute the damage was repaired and sound came flooding back to me.

"...What are we supposed to do now?" Iris asked. I opened my eyes to see Iris, Jane, and Astrid standing near Baset. Someone had cast a utility spell that created a small orb of light that shined above our heads. I checked our surroundings and saw Damon and Alberto poking at the corpse of one if the Dr'idi'saiyo with a stick.

"Damon, Alberto, careful! Some of those might not be dead!" Astrid yelled at her teammates.

"Relax!" Damon yelled back.

"Yeah! The ones that were knocked out flew away already!" Alberto chuckled. Damon poked another Dr'idi'saiyo and it's eyes popped open. It let put a deafening screech that knocked Damon several feet into the air before landing behind Alberto. With lighting fast reflexes it coiled itself then spat something in Alberto's face. Alberto screamed and fell back on the ground covering his face with his hands.

The Dr'idi'saiyo shot up into the air and flew in a circle before diving towards Alberto. I was already running before I knew it. I popped my bone claws and started circling mana into them. They were engulfed in flames as I swung at the Dr'idi'saiyo, severing it's head in one slash before it reached Alberto. It's body fell to the ground and continued to wiggle and thrashed for a fee seconds before it finally died. I retracted my claws and the flames extinguished.

"Damon! Alberto!" Baset yelled as she and the others ran over. I knelt down and tried took Alberto over but he was still writhing around in the sand.

"Alberto let me see your face!" I ordered and tried to move his hands. He didn't listen and kept wailing and rolling in the sand. I finally just grabbed his hands and pulled them away from his face.

"Oh! That's not good!" I exclaimed then looked over to Baset. She was examining Damon, who wasn't moving and bleeding from his ears and mouth. Alberto on the other hand had a sever chemical burn all over his face.

"Baset neither of these two look good. What do we do?" I asked.

"Fuck! Geryo! GERYO!" Baset screamed into the night.

"Baset! What do we do?!" I shouted more sternly.

"BASET!!!" a voice screamed out from the darkness. Everyone turned towards the direction of the sound. In the distance a dim light was heading toward us.

"Greyo! Over here! Hurry!" Baset called out.

"Hold on!" The voice yelled back.

"AAARHGHAAAAA! My,eyes fuck my eyes!" Alberto screamed.

"Shit!" I growled and started cycling water attribute mana into my hands. I sprayed water into his face, washing out his eyes. "Hold still!"

"Chase move over!" Iris ordered. She knelt down beside me and was casting a utility spell sigil. Alberto suddenly fell unconscious when the spell was cast.

"Thanks." I said.

The sound of thundering hoof beats echoed in the night. We all looked up tk see a small group of tribal warriors on the backs of steeds coming to a stop a few yards away from us.

"Baset?!" The leader of the warriors yelled.

"Geryo! Thank the gods! Two of my students need medical attention!"