Illuminaria [LitRPG Fantasy Healer Adventure]

138/53 - Into the Storm

A roof tile whipped out of the near-black sky, which shattered against the semi-sphere of steely-colored force Tezeno had formed in front of the three of them. The energy shield covered their sides, but the back was open. The only whole sphere spell the sentinel had was a stationary one, and they needed to be able to move. That meant they were protected from most of the wind hurled projectiles, but even so, enough of the wind churned into the sideways dome to make it almost impossible to talk.

It also seemed to want to rip Hah'roo away. He looked back and saw she had her eyes closed, her features set into a deep scowl. Joe flared [Steadfast] and [Morphic Form] and swung her between Tezeno and himself. He would take the back.

The moment Joe let go of the archon's shoulder, Tez spun to see what was wrong, only to receive the lithe, galeling ranger planted into his chest. Joe tried to shout, but the moment he opened his mouth, it felt like the air had been sucked out of his lungs. His words faltered. Luckily, Hah'roo understood and spoke up,

"The winds will not listen to me," her breathy voice announced. It was enhanced in some way, cutting through the sound of the raging tempest around them. "Joe is right. He is better suited for the rear position."

Tezeno did not have any means to magically augment his voice, so he just bellowed. "You okay back there, Joe?"

Between his {Storm} resistance and his skills, Joe was not struggling too much. Powerful blasts were still buffeting him, but he didn't feel as if he was in any danger of being yanked from the others the way Hah'roo had.

Joe threw a shaggy, taloned thumbs-up and nodded his chin to get them moving again. The alcove was a few yards away, and he wanted to get the group there as quickly as possible.

When they reached the nook, Tezeno backed the rear opening in like a truck in reverse. There were a few gaps at the corners, but the wind was almost completely cut off when the force walls snugged up against the stone of the building.

"This is stupid, Tezeno," the spectral voice of the shadow-man spat in such an acerbic tone that Joe would have recognized Lexaroth even if he did not know about the man's shadow-form ability. "We should just gate inside the homes. This is one time to throw out the rule book."

"We are the guild, Lex. We never throw out the rule book. The law states that we are not allowed to open portals into private homes without their consent, and so that is how we will do things."

"Why do I bother trying to talk reason with an archon square? Rules over common fucking sense every gods-damned time."

"Lex, enough!" the justicar snapped harshly, effectively silencing the whining warlock. "What happened to Yuk?"

"I have no idea," the living shadow carped. "They were never able to sync our trackers because trackers don't work on the weirdo. One minute, their creepy swarm was with me, and the next, they were gone. I had to scout out this building by myself while he's off doing who knows what. I'm going to file a complaint this time. I'm tired of working with that loser."

Tezeno, who always seemed so level-headed and calm, tensed up his body and features in such a fury that it caused Joe to inch away from the seething sentinel. The guild lieutenant clenched his fists and turned from the shadowy source of his ire. After a moment to center himself, Tez spoke again, "Hah'roo, can you talk to any of the winds? Can you ask them if they've seen any mass of insects or a small person in robes nearby?"

"I'm sorry, Tez. The storm has too much control over every gale around us. The tempest is forming its name even as we speak. I'm afraid I may be more of a liability than an aid out here. The storm spirits desperately want to drag me off and bring me to the emerging legend."

"Alright. We will send you back with the first of the wounded, Hah'roo. Joe, stabilize and strengthen everyone you can, and then we toss them to the guildhouse. Make sure you get permission from someone to open a portal into their home." Turning back to Ebon-Lex, he growled, "How do we get there?" Even though his voice still lacked intonation, there was no mistaking the anger lurking behind those words.

"We go through this building. The fallen one is next one down the street."

They opened the door and filed through the home. "Who lives here?" Joe asked.

"A couple of families. They were smart enough to move to the secure basement below us. It's wet down there, but I checked, and there is decent enough drainage," the caustic young man declared, as he led them through the house.

They carefully opened the next door, and even though they braced for it, the moment they started to open the now unbarred doorway, it tried to shove them over. Tezeno was stronger than Joe, but he was steadier than the archon. The sentinel ended up using one of Joe's feet to anchor his foot against. They eased the door against the wall, and Joe held it while Tez reformed his sideways dome. When that was in place, they filed in and closed the door. Lezaroth rebarred in his physical form before becoming a shadow once again.

Through the hurling wind and blasting rains, Joe was able to peer ahead and see a broken building in front of them. One wall still stood fully. Another was cracked in half. The other two were just mounds of rubble. Joe gave up on seeing the world for a second and looked with his [Assess Wounds]. He immediately spotted someone on the edge of the rubble whose red aurora was fading quickly.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The group wouldn't make it in time.

"Gotta go!" he shouted and pointed where he was going for Tez before he locked his eyes onto the ground beside the dimming and dying person.

He appeared and was instantly yanked from his feet. Joe swung his arm downward with all his might, driving his claws into the wooden floor. The wind tugged and tossed his legs about, but Joe hung on. And clawed his way to a spot he felt anchored.

Light lit up the crumbling structure as a [Halefire] appeared around the wounded Forter, who turned out to be a girl half covered by masonry. Strangely, the flames screamed into existence this time with the cry of a bird of prey, and Joe felt the wind lessen slightly while he was in its aura.

Well, blocked was not exactly true. While the near-legendary storm was clearly overpowering the skill's ability to shut out unpleasant environmental conditions, the phoenix spell did lessen the tempest in its field of effect. It also provided light, and since the fire was actually a manifestation of the spell's intent and not real flames, it could not be blown out by the hurricane.

Most of all, it began to stabilize the girl and the two others Joe could now see from his new vantage point.

Joe sent his paw to Rynna and healed her once, but he knew that the stones would have to be moved before he could truly get her fixed up. Joe tried to pull himself closer, but it was slow going. His boots kept slipping on the slick surfaces.

He could feel the wildness growing more and more frustrated within his gut. The feral id wanted to reach the girl, to protect her, and yet it was being slowed by a stupid set of footgear. Before Joe even realized he was doing so, he curled up and lashed his claws against one [Boot of Side Squeak] after the other. With a few kicks, the leather footwear slipped off and tumbled away, taken by the writhing winds. Joe then drove his toes against the planks below him and felt claws, akin to those on his hands, drive into the wood, finally giving him a solid grip.

His taloned toes felt completely natural. After banging a now-bare foot against a rocky piece of rubble, he realized that it barely hurt at all.

It didn't say just hands. Joe had never allowed this skill to manifest in his feet before, and he now realized that he could have done so any time he wanted. On a darker note, now that the wildness had opened this door, Joe wondered if he was now stuck with clawed feet just as he had been unable to shift his hands back to normal.

That would be something to worry about later. Here, in this screaming galeforce tempest, he was better off with talloned toes, so they were a welcome augmentation.

He now easily clawed his way over to the girl and assessed the damage to the other two people he could see. One was a woman trapped by a beam. Her leg was broken, but she was otherwise healthy. Granted, she was near the wall that had been broken in half; that crumbling structure did not look like it was going to stay standing for much longer. The last was a young man around Lex's age. He was gasping and staring at the sharp piece of timber that was impaling him just above his left hip.

Joe first numbed where Rynna was most severely being crushed and then sent his paw to numb the youth's abdomen. "Don't move, dude. We'll have that out of you in a minute, but wait for us!" Joe hollered through the gale.

A second later, Tezeno backed his bubble around him and the still comatose child. Joe explained where her body was under the rubble. While the others lifted off the broken masonry, Joe made precision heals, preventing her from bleeding out.

As soon as she was free enough to be moved, Joe had Tezeno move over near where the boy was trapped. The wind immediately splashed torrents of rain into his face the moment the dome moved away. Joe scrubbed his eye clear and took hold of Rynna's torso before locking his eyes onto the floor just behind the archon. He hadn't wanted to attempt this maneuver until he was almost positive he would not be leaving any part of her behind. Even so, he was terrified he might teleport with only part of her. Thankfully, his instincts had been right. All of Rynna appeared with Joe. He healed her once more for safety's sake, as Tez maneuvered their shielded space around the boy.

Lexaroth summoned a blade made of darkness and sliced through the beam effortlessly. Joe healed as Hah'roo pulled the sharp spar from the boy's stomach. Retrieving their mother, Olivia, was a simple teleport for Joe. They were informed that other families had made it into the basement already, and Lex confirmed they were fine. Olivia's husband had assumed that they'd be safe as they lived on the first floor. He was wrong. They found his body, but there was nothing Joe could do for the poor man.

After clearing the way down to the basement, the team received permission to open a gateway inside what was left of the home and sent all of them and the warlock on to the guildhouse. Yet before they departed, the three teammates heard a resounding crash of another structure coming down and a cry of pain.

"I should …," Hah'roo began, but got interrupted by the sentinel.

"You should head back, Hah'roo. I know you want to help us, but we are better equipped for this than you are."

'Also," Joe added, "if you are a target for the storm, then it may ease up around us if it is not focusing on you. We'll be ok. You really should head back."

It was clear to see the ranger was torn, but she assented before vanishing through the ruby-hued gate.

With a nod, the remaining pair eased out of the ruined structure and out into the furious night.