Bent World: Chapter 21: A Cascading Rift Event

Chapter 21

A Cascading Rift Event

I was once told there are two types of people that deal with danger or traumatic events, those that run towards the flame, and those that run away from the flame.

Right now, in this one moment we were all being taught to run towards the flame, to be the protectors from the destruction that could come from other worlds. Yet, when everyone heard Pandaline scream, I realized that there was a third type of entity, those that flinched and were momentarily paralyzed as their bodies fought the fight or flight responses that they had.

The actions of the others were easy to notice, for they all stayed still, even Ceecee the person who had been left behind as our protector. While I instinctively turned towards Pandaline’s scream and was instinctively drawing my sword and a throwing dagger without even taking a moment to see the threat, or the imaginary flames.

When I turned, I already had my arm cocked back in a throwing motion, which was good as the first thing I saw was a giant green froglike creature that had managed to somehow wrap up Pandaline within a giant pink tentacle like appendage.

The sight was ghastly, a giant slimy froglike creature that looked like it just climbed out of a slimy pit was here, dripping acrid smelling water, its four legs firmly planted on the ground, while a struggling Pandaline, the smallest of our group wiggling and fighting against the restraints.

That’s when I acted.

Schwoop, sha-woop, swish.

No pause, no hesitation. My arm had been up in a throwing motion one second, then the next it had found a target and hurdled the blade forward. My mind even went through the steps of grabbing the moving blade mid air and using multiple arms of Telekinesis to reach out, propel the spinning blade forward faster, make sure it went at the right trajectory, and most importantly that at least one massively powerful mental arm held the giant toad in place.

Thwack.

The blade landed right where I intended it to, right in the membrane of the creature that held Pandaline, right between its protruding ovular shaped eyeballs. What happened next was what I had expected, and simultaneously not.

What I had expected was for the blade to pierce the brain of the massive creature that had appeared out of nowhere. Though a quick glance further back showed a rather large rift that even more of these giant toadlike creatures were trying to make their way out from. As expected, the spinning blade easily pierced through the outer layer of skin, the skull, and punctured more than hilt deep into the skull of the great beast.

By contrast, what I hadn’t expected to happen, though in hindsight I likely should have, was the weight distribution and the awkward pocket that Pandaline had been held at. Her body was lower, or at least under the mouth of the beast, and towards the chest area of the giant toad creature. This placement, along with the sudden death of the massive creature, meant that the weight that had been balanced on four legs suddenly shifted, and collapsed onto Pandaline.

Immediately I began running over to help Pandaline, but then noticed something. Right about the same time that Pandaline experienced the same exact effect.

“YYYAHHHHH!” Pandaline screamed out in gut wrenching pain. I was briefly confused, by the act, until I got close and felt the slightly tingling sensation of the slime of the dead creature burning against my skin.

By this point Ceecee was also running over, to help. She formed a line and began fighting with the next set of monsters that were starting to appear and grow with their bonus energy granted by the rift.

“It’s skin’s acidic,” I cried out, forgetting our no talking policy. Ceecee nodded, before using her own weapons to lash out and strike at the creature.

Meanwhile, I worked smarter. Even though my hands were now bare thanks to handing Ceecee our gloves, I still got close to the beast by using my sword as a barrier between myself and the beast. By pushing against the handle and the flat blade, I managed to keep my hands from being burned too badly by the effects of the acid.

While I might have given away my vocal range by speaking, I was not going to give away my power of Telekinesis. At least not if I could help it, which is why I masked my use of Telekinesis, with my own physical actions, making the act plausible, especially considering the effects of adrenaline.

Telekinetic Push.

Focusing my mind, I used all four of my Telekinetic arms all at once to push the massive beast over and roll it away from Pandaline.

Her body was a mess, as I could see the corrosive slime melting away at her legs and feet which were now almost bare. For whatever reason the giant muscle that resembled a giant pink tongue didn’t seem to be burning Pandaline, only the spots where her body touched the actual slimy skin of the beast. I would have to look into that more, but for now, I began moving quickly. With my blade already in my hand, I gripped the hilt, my fingers tingling lightly at the slimy residue of the beast, that still remained, but I didn’t let that stop me from moving.

Thwack!

I brought my blade up, and the down, causing multiple bands of tightly compacted muscle ligaments to burst and fray open. Being so close to Pandaline, I made sure to focus my strikes and strike at the muscles in very quick methodic strikes.

By now, I didn’t care about the other monsters, or what was happening. Instead, all I wanted to do was get Pandaline out of here before too much more of her skin came into contact with the acidic slime. Even now I could see her trying to force her body into a sit-up position as she raised her head and feet simultaneously, trying to keep both away from the exposed areas of acidic frog slime.

Slink, slice, snap!

I chopped quickly and precisely, especially after I knew how much force was needed to break through the winding tongue.

After my second strike, Pandaline was able to raise her shoulders off the ground. Then by the third strike she was in a sitting position. By the fourth and fifth strike she was desperately wiggling and rolling away, out of the remaining bands of sinewy muscles that had wrapped around Pandaline like a cocoon. There was, of course, one problem with her actions. For she was rolling on the ground with massive wounds that were open and clearly festering with slime and rot. While the remainder of the slime might have been wiped away by her actions, the wounds that she suffered were now clearly being exposed to bacteria.

Then again, as my old combat medic instructor used to say, “if they die of an infection, then you did your part. You let them live long enough to have a chance to survive. That infection, that is on the doctors.”

Speaking of Doctors, I glanced upwards, to see the still well burnt section of forest up ahead. Then I saw the trails of black smoke coming from well ahead, showing that the group was still moving forward towards their objective.

I was almost done with my battlefield assessment, when I realized that the girls had all just stood there, well most had. They pulled out their weapons, but then all seemed to be timid, looking down at Pandaline and then up at the giant slimy frogs. Frogs that even Ceecee was having a hard time fighting, mainly due to her not wanting to be touched by the massive beasts.

Seeing them, I realized I needed to act, so I did. Realizing that by now it would be pointless to try to continue to hide my voice, I spoke out. Taking command of the situation the way Auntie would if she was here. Unfortunately, it was just us for now.

“Jaupy, treat Pa… Andry,” I began calling out orders quickly. Narrowly managing to correct myself before I called out Pandaline’s name, and not her house name. “Oteranski, Amherst, you are on perimeter duty, call out if any danger comes.”

With my orders given, and Jaupry dropping to tend to Pandaline, her hands already going for her first aid kit that we were all forced to wear. I watched as the other two began to take up protective positions. With the team taken care of, I turned my attention back to the corrosive sweating frogs.

Giant slimy frog that sweat acid. Why do we do this as part of our summer vacation again?

Oh yean, because this world is crazy and all the people in it are crazy, including me apparently.

That was my last thought as I began moving and fighting all at once.

My free right arm once again reached for a throwing knife and fired a Telekinetically enhanced strike at an unsuspecting slimy frog that had been solely focused on sneaking up on Ceecee. Big mistake.

Thwack.

The blade struck deep, causing the frog that had been apparently powering up for a strike to suddenly drop to the ground.

Crisp smell of ozone.

Just as we were apparently getting used to the larger frogs, creatures that were clearly the muscle of the group, I could feel the energy level shift. A sudden rise in ambient energy caused the hairs on the back of my neck to rise as I could feel the powers of the powers that these new enemies wielded. Powers of lightning, water, and shadow.

The creatures came out, their forms covered in thick billowing clouds of dark fog that seemed to cover everyone and say, hey look here for the enemy. At least that is the way it all looked to me, as if the world had suddenly gone gray, so that my eyes had to focus solely on the frogs, the only thing that was clear.

“What?” Ceecee cried out, confusion evident in her voice as she suddenly took on a posture that was not as confident as she had been a moment ago. Also, apparently Ceecee was easy to see in this fog as well.

This was good, for me, as it meant that no one could see me act. I found the trail end of the floating black mist and ran forward. Aided by the enemy’s own mass covering I held nothing back. Slicing out at one giant tongue that tried to lunge at Ceecee from her unprotected side. Then mentally grabbing rocks from the ground and Telekinetically hurling them through the slimy layers of skin and flimsy skull that these froglike creatures had.

Squish.

There was a faint erupting sound, as the first rock penetrated and crashed through the skull of the now tongueless monster. Though tongue was an odd way to describe this extra appendage that came from the chest area of the massive creature. I’m assuming it might be a pre-digestive cavity? Or maybe a storage area once the meat has been tenderized? I didn’t know. Nor did I really want to know, at least not at this moment. Instead, I just focused on finding the frogs that were not generating the fog.

While the other frogs could apparently move within the magical shadow fog, it was clear that their range of vision was rather limited. Not quite sure why this was, but I only used it as a way to help me out. With me effectively having full range of vision, and the vision of everyone else hindered, there was almost nothing that could stop me.

“Ahh!” Ceecee cried out as her slash had gone too deep and she inadvertently touched the frog’s acidic skin in an attempt to get her blade out of the gooey substance.

“Fall back Ceecee,” I called out.

“But…”

“That’s an order!” I demanded.

Then surprisingly it worked as Ceecee just nodded lowering her head and left to head back towards the others. Her movements were slow, awkward, and hesitant as she seemed to doubt each step, but she did seem to agree that her fighting in the thickening fog was a no-win situation. Still shaking her hand out, she made her way out of the edge of the fog. Leaving me alone.

Finally, I can see how much my training has meant. I thought to myself, as I had been thinking about this for a while, particularly with how I handled the mouse rift at the estate. The idea of a second rift by myself seemed more than possible, which is why I was ready to go to work here now.

Smiling.

I paused, for only a second to realize that I was smiling at this. Here I was, a second-class citizen on a backwards planet, and I found enjoyment at the idea of life-or-death combat. I’m sure there was something to be said, about this being the only time I could be myself, to let loose. Where I could choose my own future, even if only for a moment.

Then realizing this was my moment, I took it. Charging forward, with no regards for myself or my still aching left hand, I moved with reckless abandonment determined to fight everything that came through that rift.

***

The girls all watched in horror as a black mist spread out from the rift, concealing the hideous mutant frogs that were larger than draft horses. Worse, there were faint flashes of light, indicating the use of lightning.

Ceecee, the one remaining guard had been the lone defender to stay and fight off the monsters. Then the Pathfinder went to help, she was amazing. Everything you would want in a leader and more. Brave, courageous, fearless.

The first to enter battle to save a comrade, the last to leave.

Just watching her move fluidly and gracefully, forcing even Ceecee to fall back eventually caused collective gooseflesh to appear, though none of the girls would actually admit to the sensations. Even Lady Amherst and Lady Oteranski found themselves drawn to looking at the fog, despite that not being their area to cover.

“Will she be okay?” Pandaline asked, her body in pain, but it was minor. She was certain that with enough time, Dr. Andry could heal her.

The she they were talking about was apparent, as they all knew all the questions would be about her, their Pathfinder.

Ceecee just nodded at first, forcing her body to take deep refreshing breaths, to get rid of the oddly dense feeling that the dark fog seemed to cause within her body.

“She’ll be fine,” Ceecee finally managed, then taking up her own weapon she formed a triangle with Lady Oteranski, and Lady Amherst around Lady Jaupry and Pandaline.

“Her voice was so gruff, was she hurt in a fire?” Lady Jaupry asked as curiosity was clearly getting the best of her. No one was supposed to talk, but that had all been seemingly thrown aside by the defiance that was shown by the Pathfinder who brazenly spoke out, even it was to deliver orders.

Now all the girls who normally talked in hushed whispers found themselves talking in the open, and in front of an adult no less. Still the gravity of the situation proved that this could be one of the times that even the obscure rule about remaining silent should be adhered to. Particularly as it was meant as a way to keep everyone safe from monsters. Monsters that had clearly found them, regardless of the fact that they had remained quiet the entire time.

Flash, flicker, flash.

Micro eruptions of electricity rang out from beneath the veil of darkness that had coated the entire area.

“Shouldn’t you go and help her?” Lady Jaupry asked after watching the ominous flickers of electricity arcing across the battlefield ahead. Ceecee just shook her head, her body showing a bit of hesitation and reluctance, but finally she spoke.

“I can’t go against the Pathfinder,” Ceecee began, before taking a moment to answer more truthfully, “also I was more of a hinderance there than a help. It was clear that the Pathfinder could see and move freely. While I couldn’t see a thing.”

It was clear that the admission was painful for Ceecee, who despite being a fully awakened and independently powerful on her own, she still was not able to provide support to the Pathfinder, particularly now with so much dark shadow magic being used.

That’s when Lady Amherst asked a question that Ceecee herself could not answer, “why is there such a rise in Darkness magic?”

At that question, Ceecee could only shake her head, as she couldn’t explain the phenomenon either. In all her years of training she had never seen Darkness magic or Shadow magic being used in such a way before. More surprisingly than the apparent rise of this particular brand of magic was the fact that the Pathfinder was seemingly immune to it, which brought up even more questions about the old scriptures.

Flicker, flash, flicker.

More signs of fighting from within the black fog appeared and then flashed away into nothingness. With each flash Ceecee and the others just stared on in slack jawed amazement.

Rustle.

There was the intense rustling of bushes from behind them. Suddenly everyone shifted their field of view to look at the new unseen enemy approaching from behind. Only to see that it was a panicked Dr. Andry leading the way, followed by the two other doctors, and then Ceecee’s fellow drivers leading the rear.

As they approached, Dr. Andry immediately took control and asked, “where is he… the Pathfinder?”

Concern was evident in her voice, which could explain the slight slip of the tongue, but Ceecee could only cower and point towards the dark billowing mist.

Mist that seemed to choose that exact moment to disburse, revealing a lone silhouette of a warrior standing over the corpse of a fallen giant frog. A frog that had a sword shoved through its head, and pinning it to the ground.

“Whaa…” was all anyone could get out after seeing the sight, and the rapidly disappearing rift. A rift that seemed to be getting sucked into the left hand of the Pathfinder.