Chapter 15
Each second dragged with anticipation.
Hoku counted silently, his lungs constraining as the monsters loomed closer.
Dirt shifted beneath his boots, instinct pulling them back.
After six seconds, Juno's fingers curled into a fist.
'Signal,'
He drew in a sharp breath and whistled, the sound coursing through the barrier of wind.
Juno raised her arm and poised her fan.
A volley of arrows arced overhead, gleaming faintly before plunging into the creature's path.
Juno didn't waste the opening, simultaneously, opening her fan, and releasing a burst of spiraling branches.
They spiraled, weaving together in erratic patterns, a barrier between them and the creature's charge.
Hoku's voice rose unbidden. "What—"
"Stay behind me," Juno said, observing ahead intently. "And focus."
The first arrow pierced the top of its wing, and an additional two merely grazed its flank.
The monster reacted swiftly, reeling as its balance in the air faltered even more.
"Damn it!" Juno cursed
Hoku clenched his jaw. The missed shots were evident in the way she held herself.
Hoku squinted, assessing the positions, noting quickly that Fleur held a bow.
The two arrows that had grazed the monster streaked through the gaps, leaving trails of translucent violet.
The arrow that had penetrated surfaced like a thorn attached to a withering rose.
Hoku's pupils dilated as he realized, 'She was merely off by one–! I think they meant to contain it rather than injure it.'
The creature was being lowered by the reins dropped behind by two of Fleur's arrows.
Everyone was stationed too far away, thus, making it impossible to reach them in time.
She was the only other person capable of initiating long-range attacks.
'Her options are few,' Hoku noted, hardening his expression.
At the same time, the shoots wound higher, shaping a barrier that barely withstood.
"Is that a shield?" he asked, taking a cautious step back.
"Not for long," Juno muttered.
Before she could explain, a screech reverberated through the air, slashing into Hoku's skull.
His heart clenched, and Juno dropped her fan, pressing her hands to her ears.
The monster crashed to the ground, scraping across it before striking the barrier.
Its wings unfolded in jagged layers, their edges split apart as though torn from something gruesome.
The barricade groaned, and its branches sagged as the petals fluttered away like dying embers.
"Juno!" Hoku called, his voice frayed with haste.
"I see it!" she shot back, fumbling to recover her stance. "Just stay behind me!"
The barricade collapsed partially down the center, as the branches splintered, exposing their heads.
Suddenly, a low murmur arose from the atmosphere, followed by black fog that quickly enclosed Yu-ze, materializing into an oppressive barrier.
Shapes stirred within the mist, faintly visible at first, before rows of crimson eyes emerged.
Juno and Hoku's expressions twitched with a sudden change.
Hoku narrowed his gaze and leaned his chin back. 'Those almost look like…'
Dark scaled bodies slithered forward in tangled masses, weaving through the debris, as they discreetly closed in.
"...Snakes?" Hoku murmured, as tension locked his frame in place.
They coiled around the monster's limbs, and their fangs sank deep into its hide.
The monster's movements became sluggish, as black ichor spilled from the punctures.
Hoku shivered.
For a moment, the urge to run seized him, but he dismissed it.
If the monster were to catch him fleeing, he might steer it away from the group fending it off.
The creature bellowed, its body thrashing violently as it drove claws into the dirt to anchor itself.
"Abel!" Juno's voice trembled as she yelled.
Hoku glanced at her. Her controlled movements had dissolved into frantic flurries, and her hands became unsteady.
Even the authority in her voice wavered.
Hoku clutched Cheshire, and his knuckles whitened white against the fur.
He acknowledged with dread, 'This won't hold.'
The monster shrieked again, its wings shaking under strain, as an ominous aura exuded from their ragged edges.
"Juno!" he shouted, with panic threading through his breath.
Her hand hesitated on the fan for the briefest moment before she snapped it shut. "We're out of time."
At once, the branches changed into a barrage of wilting petals.
The Second Quota
I have heard of false rumors brewing amongst the subjects. I thought you had intended to tell them the truth. Knowing your habits you will argue you have not personally interacted with them, but I've already discerned who left those trails at the manor. Why hide things if you want to offer them better lives?
This universe was never in your hands, it is merely a story you plagiarized and then altered.
You cannot change the past with a solar system devised for fiction. You've even confessed that all things are temporary.
Consider this my letter of resignation,
Why should I persist in abiding if you've abandoned the objective?
Consider it generosity that I've opposed publicizing such 'patrons' as accompanied subjects to your lies.
Signed, R104
-The Memoir Chapter 12 End-
The Memoir Chapter 13
Objective 7
Sacrifice the navigator, before entering the recess.
If not—a sacrifice ordained by the creator will be bound to your companion's life, preceding their departure.
Rule 18
Synthesis is the artificial adaptation of certain elements, usually chemicals, and a common practice amongst sages of combining ideas to refine wisdom. The term bore a cohesive concept with what was initially described as cross-conjoining. Organisms have utilized the ability they now call Synthesizing to distort their bodily proportion into deadlier weapons. To put it simply, in this Sequel, all life can fuse into one, lacking the exception of being a different species.
Your chances of adapting amongst the laws of these threads have depleted eminently. DO NOT SYNTHESIZE AS A FINAL RESORT, Your human body following the next sequences will never be recovered.
-The Memoir Chapter 13 End-