Chapter 508: The Melee continues

Shayn struggled. He stabbed, parried, spun, and blocked the several large, inklike tentacles that tried to wrap him in blackness.

What even was this creature?

It had snaked out and grabbed one of his ankles, yanking him from his place on the large cat's back. He'd hit the ground only a split second before Simone, who'd been thrown off balance behind him.

He'd had no time to dwell on the horror of that fact as he was instantly fighting for his life. He was jerked up into the air, causing pain to shoot through his ankle, knee, and hip joints. Were any one of them sprained or dislocated? There were no spare seconds to think about it. On instinct, he sliced at the thing holding his ankle, and fell hard to the ground as a result. His back and shoulder ached, but he lumbered to his feet and took a fighting stance.

The creature he was fighting was dripping, oily, and dark. He couldn't even see through the muck to what it looked like underneath.

"RUN!" He yelled toward Simone.

"There is nowhere to run," She said, more calmly than anyone should be in battle. Had she no fear?

Shayn had internally fought hard against the prospect that untrained women should be taken into battle along with the soldiers, but the orders were clear, and when he pondered speaking out, he was silenced under the awe of the being giving the command.

It wasn't oppressive, the way he'd felt in the presence of Beast, but rather, his objections were nothing in the face of the glory he had beheld.

Now, in the absence of that Presence, his soul cried out at the danger Simone was now in.

Several tentacles shot towards him, and he grunted, swinging his sword to try to deflect or strike all of them. The immense spotted cat he and Simone had been riding lunged from the side, tearing at the nebulous inky creature with its claws.

A strange, inhuman screech emanated from the odd, unsettling being, which had neither claws nor maw that Shayn could discern.

Still, his ankle was stinging fiercely, and when he glanced down at it, he saw blood oozing from burned away skin. His armor and the hem of his pants nearest to the wound were gone, frayed at the edges that remained.

His eyes widened and he ducked the next swing of a mighty tentacle.

His sword did not seem damaged… yet. He used it to deflect another several blows while the cat tore at the creature with his claws, until it suddenly drew back, yowling in pain as its thick fur was singed away, leaving angry, festering wounds wherever it had touched the creature.

It slunk backwards, and Shayn took the forward position, grimacing at what a painful death he was about to endure.

"Get back!" He commanded, but the creature simply swayed and bubbled like a living puddle of acidic tar. If it could have smiled, it might have. Its gurgling sounded strangely like laughter before it moved towards him again. Shayn slashed and swayed with the rhythm of a skilled sparring partner, staying a step ahead.

Falling behind meant death.

A tentacle grazed his hand, and he almost dropped his sword.

He felt movement behind him but dared not turn and risk having his back to the inklike being for even a moment, and something flew from behind him.

A small splash of clear liquid hit the creature, and it wailed and recoiled.

"What?" Shayn mumbled.

"The water!" Simone cried, coming up beside him with her waterskin in hand. "The water from Lily!"

Shayn looked down at his side. His step-niece had gifted them as a betrothal gift some water that she had been playing with, telling them she wasn't sure whether it would be helpful, but she had worked really hard on it.

He'd been skeptical at the time, but wasn't one to turn down a gift from an eager-looking ten year old girl.

Especially one he was related to. Simone had accepted it readily, having heard of the great skills of the triplets.

Now, it seemed, that simple gift was more extraordinary than he'd thought.

"You brought it with you?" He asked with some surprise.

"What else am I going to bring to a battle?" She challenged, spraying the creature again. It hissed and recoiled, backing up further and then retreating altogether. "Do we pursue it?" She questioned breathlessly.

"I don't think so," Shayn said. "Save the water in case we're attacked again."

"Which seems likely," She admitted.

"Yes, it does," A familiar voice said with a smile.

The couple whirled in tandem, and Shayn grabbed Simone's wrist, dragging her behind him.

"Kyler," He glared.

"I had hoped to do away with our elder brother first, but it seems he's rather busy with Beast at the moment," Kyler cast a dubious look over his shoulder. "So it looks like it's you and me, Little Brother."

"Kyler, please," Simone pleaded over Shayn's shoulder. "Please don't do this. Beast will lose. You will die if you don't turn away!"

"You seem rather confident," Kyler shrugged, "but you could easily be wrong. I suppose we'll find out together… or I'll find out by myself after you're both dead."

"It doesn't have to be like that," Shayn frowned. "Please."

"Will you stop the begging? It's tedious. We're done," Kyler rushed forward, and Shayn barely brought his sword up in time to block the first blow. The second caught his sleeve, and he jumped back. The third nearly took his head off.

"No!" Simone cried. "Kyler, stop!"

"Maybe I should take her out first," The elder brother mused as he slashed and jabbed with his blade. Shayn was barely holding on against him.

"Leave her. Out of this. It's. between us," He managed to grind out between his teeth while trying his hardest not to die. Kyler was even better than last time they fought, and there was no mercy in his eyes.

The next blow grazed Shayn's ear as he ducked out of the way, and the keen sting of the blade's edge made him wince. But he did not cry out.

"LOOK!" Simone pointed at the sky. Kyler gave her a sidelong glance, clearly confident that the attempt at distraction would not be enough to allow his brother any sort of advantage, but then he paused and looked up with her.

Shayn was panting with exertion, and held a hand to his bleeding ear, but looked up with them just as the sky was growing dark. Again.

This time was different. Before, darkness had been the primary noticeable thing about what had happened.

Now, there was a black hole in the sky where the sun had been. Several, in fact, like rips in the world. Around the largest was an anemic glowing, as if trying to make up for the absence of the light the world usually had this time of day.

Out of the hole came something far worse than Shayn had ever seen before. He didn't know how to process the enormous sight before him, a tenebrous dragon with a great maw and black, gleaming fangs.

It roared, and he winced.

"Master!" Beast's voice rang out across the city with adoration, causing Kyler's stance to shift and look at the new arrival more closely.

Shayn took advantage of the moment and dashed forward, dealing a debilitating blow to the main tendon in Kyler's briefly exposed ankle.

Or at least, that was his intent. It didn't quite go the way he wanted, as the elder brother blocked just in time.

"You would cripple me again, little brother? You're that set on being better than me, more than me?"

The dark words were accompanied by fury in Kyler's eyes. Simone shifted away, but Shayn didn't pause to listen, pressing the attack. Kyler was intent on killing both of them, and he couldn't let that happen.

"Are you out of your paralyzing herbs?" Shayn challenged. "You were better prepared last time."

It wasn't quite true; Kyler's increased skill more than made up for any lack of herbal supplementation of his fighting. Simone moved forward to splash some water on the elder brother, as she'd done with the inky monster.

"What is that?" Kyler didn't even pause, but his irritated look at the woman Shayn loved made the younger man's blood run cold.

Kyler's irritation was deadly. Shayn couldn't let Simone bear the brunt of it.

"Special water," Simone told him. "I suppose I had hoped it would release you from your madness and bring you back to who you are."

"This is who I am," Kyler growled at her, "This is who I always should have been."

"No, you have always been a kind person. This… I don't know what this is, but it's evil. Please, Kyler, before it's too late. Did you see the dragon emerge? Did you see the black smoke? It's the Void, Kyler! You serve the Void! The very thing that trapped you in that world of Darkness as a child and held you prisoner! Turn away from it!" She cried.

Another roar from above signaled that the dragon was on the move, and Shayn's eyes darted to it, missing the flash in Kyler's eyes as the man dove forward and plunged his blade into Simone's stomach.