The heavy walk in thigh deep mud was not something he was used to and often times he barely kept himself from falling over. And on top of that the cool soft mud was so inviting, so draining, just perfect to wait and sit in it, may be lie down…
Ava's form was in front of him, stiff with tension and maybe even fear, hard to tell for sure. She turned to him with a frown every now and then and then walked ahead. They were looking for Olean in vast darkness. Black lands and black sky only separated in a barely visible grey line that for the most part he had thought was just a smudge on his vision. He wondered again, where or how they would even find her or if she was even there. The land was barren, a dark, empty dejection that probably hid no monsters or horrors, or so he felt. But Ava clearly thought otherwise as she was ready for anything to jump onto her, seeing she still had her sword drawn.
His skin, like Ava had warned, still crawled with tiny invisible ants. But he was getting used to it now. No longer was there that constant need to scrub his arms. Still, he wished it was gone sooner. Hours it felt like Tristan had been walking for, his muscles ached and his breath came short. How much more did they have to go? Where was she? There was yet no sign of Olean.
He followed quietly after Ava but the distance between them was getting bigger with each few steps. Not because she was walking any faster. It was Tristan, he hadn't walked this much in days, and usually he would be sleeping off the early morning after the watch.
One step over another, he said to himself.
One step over anoth-
His left leg got stuck into the mud and he fell on his knees, slowly sinking down to his thighs. Ava didn't hear apparently as she kept walking forward, getting smaller by every second.
Was she ignoring him... because he was slowing her down?
He wouldn't be surprised if so. If she left him here, would anyone even know, or care? Maybe his master would but …even he wouldn't live for long. Nowsen wasn't long for this world. And when he was gone, Tristan wouldn't have anyone. And with the monster roaming around, no escape from the village either. Even when he told Tristan to wait and hold on, what could he do without Nowsen? Thoughts that never reached him before were coming to him one by one, like the plague had been, burying him in it, swallowing him until he gave up and could no longer move.
Get out, shout for help!
So he did…
"H-HELP!"
Tristan coughed but managed to get the words out. He tried to speak again but couldn't. He had been sinking without even realizing it… NO! The mud was rising and engulfing him, tethering around him like rope so that he could only wriggle, or try to. HE hadn't the strength to do that either…
Ava came running, bright light sphering her that seemed to repulse the mud away, but just a little. Her face was of concern and worry.
So she hadn't meant to abandon him after all.
Tristan smiled but Ava didn't seem to notice. The mud swallowing him receded down, it had almost come to his neck. He fell forward as soon as the force was gone but Ava held him. She was shaking he realized and looking up saw how old she was. Maybe she was younger than his master... Nah. Much older...He tried to force himself to straighten, to get himself away from her but couldn't.
"Hold still." She said again, in her harsh voice, but unlike before it was breathy. He wouldn't have realized it if she was not that close to him. Magic was bleeding out of her like blood spurting from a slit neck.
How long could she last like that? She was draining herself rapidly of power to push the mud away, but the overpowering mud was otherwise going to rot her body. Even Ava, as powerful as she was couldn't be lasting for long after losing this much magic in 'here'.
"I am fine, I-" He tried to reassure her, to make her take care of her own self.
But a sound like thunder came and with a flash Ava wasn't with him anymore. And he felt something warm spray on 'his' face. Ava's arm that had been on his shoulder suddenly fell off on the slushy ground below and it quickly swallowed the detached limb. Few paces away, Ava was also sprawled on the mud, her light flickering around her. Blood from her shoulder gushed out onto the ground and wherever it reached, the mud reacted like a tiny school of fish in their feeding.
Tristan had already lost his voice by the shock so he couldn't shout out when a massive dark shape passed by him and reached near Ava. A long, joint-less body of a snake or more like a worm, but with white bones poking through its slimy and dripping dark skin. It ignored Tristan even when the side of it almost touched his hand. Ahead, Ava sank a little more, the school of fish calmer than a moment ago. He watched helplessly and felt himself slowly sinking as well.
Another thunder, this time bright and louder than before. Soon after, some of Ava's light-flakes waved upto him and circled around, trying to push the mud away. Ava stood up where she was before, one-armed and holding a burning sword of light. The air sizzled around her, snapped harshly like fire. Her eyes too were aglow as the sun, looking like the very wrath of nature itself. Tristan felt like he should have been amazed at the display of such power but he only saw how much magic she was using and felt worried. The light around her flickered again as she raised her sword pointing forward, blocking herself with the brightness. Tristan managed to see only the monster… their 'monster'or like the one that came to their village before another thunder hit it from the black sky.
Nothing remained where it hit but a smoking crater. Ava walked forward, her each step felt like the weight of the world was behind it and sent a shock-wave through the ground. Fear gripped Tristan's heart at last, it was beyond reasoning now. Even the mud slunk away from her, leaving rocky ground underneath that cracked under Ava's weight. She came to Tristan, and the slinking mud gave away to show a barely intact bloody arm. Stabbing the ground with her sword she picked up her arm and held it to her empty shoulder. With a sizzle like burning meat, it stuck and Ava had both her arms again. Just like that.
She turned her head and her glowing eyes fell on Tristan. He waited, his heart in his mouth, too afraid to even move.
"DoN't RUn!." Her words rang like thousand voices shouting together. Grating and sharp that threatened to crush him. He almost laughed at her warning. He could not even move a finger, let alone run. He just sat and nodded at a face that was just of a frail looking old woman a few moments before, that now could scorch a man with a glance of her blazing eyes.
Tristan felt the something stirring in the horizon somewhere begin her, slowly moving toward them. The one closest rushed, a long tentacle striking toward them only to be severed in a smoking crackle as it entered Ava's vicinity.
She turned and the air cracked behind her motion. Another tentacle flew over them, only to be torn off again. But this time Ava was pushed back, if slightly. As if her spell was wearing out, because suddenly she had felt lighter, the air around them was also losing pressure. Even the glow around her was dim, if slightly.
She snatched a side pouch threw behind at Tristan.
"OpeN tHe bIG boTtLe." She roared and flung a bolt of lightning ahead with her sword.
Tristan saw the elegant looking palm sized bottle hanging from the pouch and searched for its cap. It was full of small thin lines of etched designs on it but no opening that he could see.
"Ah-a-I c-can't." He cried pitifully and felt tears flowing over his cheeks.
"BrEaK thE HeAD." Ava ordered in that abnormal cacophony and Tristan twisted and broke the thin neck of the crystal vial.
Dense liquid shot through the tiny hole, flying straight onto Tristan's face. He dropped the bottle in shock but Ava was there in time, to snatch it before it fell on the mud. Without waiting, she put the broken part in her mouth and sucked. The bottle broke and the liquid inside it, along with the crystal splinters, was pushed inside Ava's mouth.
She coughed and gagged but straightened up right back. A giant shape was onto them, big teeth and a grinning mouth, and countless tentacles coming out of it. They shot for Ava, she danced around them, slashing the ones that got too close to her with her lightning sword. But with her each strike, her light dimmed and she got slower.
One strike got past her defenses and struck her in the head. She was flung tens of feet and fell sprawling on the mud. Black tentacles rose from below and Ava was caught from all sides, then held in the air by another dark shape that rose by her.
Two more came.
In all this, Tristan sat quietly, forgotten by everyone. But it was only a matter of time before he was sensed.
Ava's limp body hung in the air, suspended by her legs as the dying light abruptly flared around her, in their last threads. Like dimmed fireflies. Another tentacle wrapped her around by her waist and crushed her with a loud crunch. Thick red blood blasted out of her mouth with a blaring cry and then the quiet followed. Ava's light died out and she fell down from the grip. Tristan sat horrified at the scene. The mud swallowed her prone form and the giant shapes slowly turned toward him. He tried to move but his limbs were numb, he saw more shapes around him, small, big, all familiar like the one he used to see from the temple tower. Their dark joint-less limps twitched and crawled, and reached out to him...
No, no, no nononono…