Galactic High

“Chiyo! Sephy! Thank the gods!” Alora called out as the Red Legion aspirants covered the posse, her two friends quickly rushing to join her and Nika, helping the wounded travel the last few steps and cover everyone else trying to get to safety. All the people they rescued rushed through the gate as soon as the way was clear, with Luvia then ordering the careful retreat of the Red Legion to secure and reinforce the front line, being the last one out. The dragon had taken some nasty hits from the Klowns that had focused on her as a high-level threat, but that hadn’t been her primary concern…

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN JACK ISN’T HERE!?” she roared in annoyance. “I thought you said he was right behind you! Was my display of power all for nothing!?”

“I thought he was behind me! That’s what he told me!” Sephy shouted, looking around in a panic.

“He told us he’d find another route!” one of the guards spoke up, panting heavily. “He led the Klowns away from us and told me to collapse the tunnel.”

“That fucking idiot!” Sephy snarled as Dante whined next to her.

“I’m sure he had a good reason to do so, Sephy!” Alora replied soothingly, but internally the Eladrie was terrified. Within the last few minutes the attacks from the Klowns had been much better organised with better skills, equipment and backed up by special units. It was like they had been toying with their prey before moving in for the kill, and their position was tenuous at best.

If Jack was on his own…

“Thank Rhoskum you people got out! What happened?” Sigrin Bharzum demanded after she had been reunited with her sister Loretta, who had been with Luvia when the attack started. The acting Clan Elder walked up to the guard who had seen what happened and shook him.

“They attacked without warning!” The guard got his breathing under control before he continued. “We didn’t have any orders so we held our ground to buy the kids time to escape until this weird guy relieved us and told us there was nobody else behind us, and that we should retreat to higher ground! That’s when we met up with the others.”

“Which tunnel did he go down?” Sigrin asked the guard, and in the same breath she turned to the newcomers and asked, “Are any of you good with slicing? I need access to the intercom!”

“Section Orv,” the guard replied as Sephy raised her hand to volunteer her slicing experience.

Alora’s heart dropped on seeing Sigrin’s sudden intake of breath.

“That’s bad.”

“I’ll go after him!” Luvia growled as she nestled her wounds. “I can fight my way through!”

“No!” Sigrin snapped, and Luvia looked outraged at being challenged, especially like that, though the Hoduth wasn’t having any of it. “You’re hurt and he’s only one person, you’ll get yourself killed. I want you and your Red Legion aspirants on the wall to give the people here a chance!”

“Listen well, Hoduth!” Luvia snarled as the dragon seemingly grew slightly in height to tower over Sigrin, backed up by the very nervous-looking Red Legion aspirants and equally terrified Hoduth guards respectively. “The authority of Clan Bharzum was dissolved the moment you failed to uphold your oaths to protect us!”

“Lady Sigrin is right, Luvia!” Alora found herself saying, trying to keep the peace. “Jack can handle himself, if he said he’ll find another route, that’s what he’ll do!”

“I don’t-” Luvia angrily began, before her head snapped around to look back towards the main hall where something was happening.

“The Klowns are gearing up for a major push!” Sigrin yelled, having not been rattled by the display in the slightest. “Reinforce the barricade!”

Sephy and Chiyo followed Nika and several other volunteers, taking cover in the few places they could and bracing themselves for whatever was coming.

The Klowns at the front line had been passive, having had issues bypassing Svaarti’s barrier physically, but still being able to shoot through it. They had clearly been ordered to hold position until a way through had been found for it, though Sephy could see that a few of them in the distance were looking behind them as the shouts and screams from behind them hit a fever pitch.

What was happening?

Then suddenly, one of the Klowns broke and ran forward, smacking face-first into Svaarti’s barrier, unheeding of the powerful magic that scorched its body as it pushed through. Several more suddenly broke ranks and joined, quickly being cut down by the concentrated fire of the defenders.

Chiyo was confused. Why were they trying to swarm them? It didn’t have the feeling of an attack…

The Ilithii focused her mind to read the auras of the closest Klowns, and was surprised.

Nothing but sheer, extreme terror.

Fear was not uncommon for Klowns, of course. Once, many of them had been normal people, killed or worse before being turned into a mutilated monstrosity, invested with just the tiniest amount of power from the Killer Klown himself or one of the more powerful Named to be reanimated as a mindless shell.

Or at least, that was assumed from what very little was even known about ‘Klownification’.

In most cases, the soul has already passed on. In less fortunate cases, the soul remains, shredded to tatters. Whatever remains in either case could hardly be called a soul at all, unable to display any kind of advanced emotion aside from the trademark insanity and bloodlust inherited from the Killer Klown.

Whatever was happening wasn’t natural.

And soon Chiyo saw why.

Channelling a magical aura of dread as he cleaved through cowering Klowns like paper, Svaartal fought hard to maintain the powerful spell, while ensuring it did not affect the group of terrified partygoers keeping as close to him as they could. Several powerful jets of fire engulfed any Klown that did not immediately flee or were too paralysed and trembling on the floor to do so, as Carrow got his fill of Klown blood before they could fight through the magical compulsion.

“There is your safety. Move your asses or die!” Svaartal snarled at his charges to get moving to the barricade, feeling his Cloak of Terror begin to subside as he saw fewer Klowns being visibly affected. It was one of the strongest spells in his arsenal, and had maintained it for as long as he could, but even though it was ending the Nirah was far from harmless.

Svaartal could sense more than see the volleys of renewed laser and plasma fire from the front gate cut down any Klown that tried to attack those that were fleeing, but he and Carrow still covered them. His familiar cast several micrometeors that smashed into one of the larger, brutish beasts that then went berserk, turning on its handlers in a trampling rage. Svaartal spun and blinked, timing his sword strike perfectly to flawlessly decapitate another Klown, while with the same swing he unleashed a wave of arcane power that cut another’s legs from under them.

Turning around, he saw that his ‘charges’ were making good speed. It didn’t look like any had fallen at least, which was ideal. It would have been such a waste of spells and effort on his part otherwise.

Perhaps it still was.

Why the hell did he even help these people? They were dead weight! He had been moving quickly to find his sister and like a dumbstruck moron he hesitated when he heard the screams, cries, and sounds of death around him, just like he did now.

And that damn human’s words echoing through his mind as he saw the Klowns try to circle around him.

Help me stop them.

“I’d better get a good fucking reward for this shit,” Svaartal muttered, casting another spell as he stood his ground and snarled at the advancing Klowns.

*****

It looked like this lot would make it, with the ideal exception of one.

Nika’s shots had been accurate and on point as she quickly covered the retreat of this group of partygoers, taking down many, many Klowns as they desperately tried to catch up. The Hoduth guards had spotted Greta Bharzum, and were so focused on her safety that they were distracted from anything else that could happen. Seeing that the friendlies would make it, the Kizun considered the opportunity before her.

“Watch the beasts!” Nika called, pointing to the left-hand side of the hall, where several Klown handlers were wrangling and whipping a cluster of horrific creatures into formation for a charge. Good. Their attention was diverted.

This is for trying to kill Jack, you bastard.

Quickly checking to confirm nobody was looking, the Kizun took aim at her target, and fired.

*****

“Master!” Carrow called as the triple burst of plasma smacked into Svaartal from behind, almost disrupting his spell as he grunted through the pain and let loose a tiny cloud of thick, greyish-brown smoke that shot out of his hands towards the bulk of the beastial threat.

“I’ll be fine! Get to the barricade!” Svaartal growled in pain as he attempted to blink, only getting part of the way as the burns on his back stung him. His magical and mundane shields had been cracked by whoever shot him, and he needed to give them time to recharge.

The greyish-brown mist he’d cast detonated and rippled out, rapidly starting to expand all throughout the main chamber and tearing apart all living creatures it engulfed as the spell ripped the moisture from anything it touched. Slithering the rest of the way before the cloud could reach this far, Svaartal got to the barricade, holding his arm out horizontally as Carrow came down and landed, using it as a perch before sidling up to his shoulder to stare down the defenders.

Paying no heed to the Bharzum Guards who were hollering and applauding him, he made his way past the defenders and towards the strands of golden light reaching up to the dome. Svaartal stopped as he was accosted by another Hoduth with some kind of noble garb. Next to her was Greta, so he assumed this was probably an authority figure.

“It seems we owe you a debt of gratitude, friend!” Sigrun greeted the Nirah. “That was some mighty amazing-”

“No shit,” Svaartal snapped. “Where’s my sister?”

“She’s fine. She’s maintaining the barrier protecting everyone here from Klown incursions,” a familiar voice replied as Alora and several of her friends approached. “She had acted with valour and selflessness in keeping everyone here safe. It is fortunate she’s the opposite of you.” Alora glared at Svaartal with a challenging gaze.

“You’d better not have put her up to anything she can’t handle or I’ll make you suffer,” Svaartal growled at the Eladrie, before quickly spinning around with his wand raised and aimed at the exact same time Nika levelled her shotgun at his head.

“Want a bet?” Nika cooly replied, as Svaartal heard the noise of someone else aiming a gun at him.

“We have you outnumbered, cumguzzler,” Sephy called from behind.

“I have you outclassed,” Svaartal snarled. “My magic will rip you to pieces!”

Both Sigrin and Chiyo tried to calm everyone down as several more people crowded around them to see what was going on. Dante came bounding out of the crowd, coming to heel next to Alora protectively.

“What’s this?” Carrow stared amusedly at the ‘Dog’. “I don’t see your master little rodent, did you lose him? Some guardian you turned out to be.”

Dante gave a low, warning growl at the familiar, which rose in pitch until he gave one loud, challenging bark at the familiar. Carrow‘s feathers began to glow the familiar red of magical fire as he cawed in anticipation of a fight.

“Svaartal!”

Svaartal immediately stood down as he heard Svaarti’s voice as she slowly slithered towards them with her eyes closed, deep in concentration. Her familiar, T’Chika, was perched on her shoulder, looking at each of them as it spoke with Svaarti’s voice.

“I can maintain this barrier for as long as it takes, but we need to start teleporting everybody out of here!”

“Svaarti, you can’t!” Svaartal replied, trying to keep the worry out of his voice as he gently pulled her to the side. “A spell like this is too powerful for you! It’s wreaking havoc on your body, and there’s a suppression field in play preventing advanced teleportation!”

Svaarti slowly nodded as T’Chika kept speaking with her voice.

“The Klowns have done this before, from what Vanya and I have researched, it’s a ritual several Priests of Jingubash…employ.”

The voice and energy of T’Chika began to fade as the connection began to take its toll on the diminutive familiar.

“The more Klowns there are…especially the powerful…the more powerful the field.”

“I’ve slain many Klowns already,” Svaartal reasoned. “Though that is a mere drop of rain compared to the full horde, I don’t think the bulk of them are here. If we work together I can pierce through the suppression field, then I can teleport you out of here.” He summoned a stone from his dimensional rift with a unique carved rune and showed it to Svaarti’s familiar, whose eyes went wide.

“It is what you think it is. The pair to this is in my school locker,” Svaartal whispered, not wanting anyone to overhear him. “Directing the teleportation won’t be a problem, all we need is enough power to link to my beacon stone on the other side.”

“But this means…” Svaarti began.

“Svaarti…” Svaartal began to argue, knowing what his sister was going to say.

“We can get everyone here to safety!” Svaarti excitedly replied through T’Chika’s voice. “I can summon and maintain a portal while we get the wounded out!”

“That’s a tremendous risk, sister,” Svaartal carefully replied. “You’ve already used up a lot of your power to maintain this barrier, you’ve done more than enough, and definitely much more than these people deserve. I can get you and me out, and we can inform any factions that would be willing to help.”

“There might not be enough time! You said it yourself that this isn’t the full horde, what if they’re too busy elsewhere to help the people here? They might not be able to help, but we can!”

“But Svaarti…” Svaartal began. “The magical power you’ve already expended is tremendous. You’re at a dangerous risk of spell scarring. We don’t owe these people a thing.”

Svaarti grabbed his hand, her eyes scrunched up in concentration. “Please brother…we’re all these people have.”

After several moments of wanting to refuse outright and abandon everybody else to their fate, Svaartal relented and released the grip of his beacon stone, allowing Svaarti to take it. “Alright, Svaarti.” He nodded with a sigh of resignation, accepting that his sister had made her choice. “We’ll get these people out.”

He turned to look at the crowd. At the front, he saw his classmates and others who had taken charge of the defence, and had no doubt they had heard enough. “Clear a space and get ready to defend it!” he snarled.

“We’re getting you all out of here! I hope you’re fucking worth it!”