The Tears of Kas̆dael

The creature that had once been the blood mage arched its back, emitting an unearthly howl that sent a shiver down Jasper's spine as its body began to spasm. A second later, he realized it was more than just a shiver as his Spectral Wings dispelled and the four of them plummeted toward the ground.

It was hard not to panic as the marble pavement hundreds of feet below rushed toward them, but Jasper kept his head, his fingers twisting with Spectral Wings. Grab Erin, cast the spell again on Ihra, and we'll be fine. His back spasmed as the spell took hold, and he snatched the scout by arm, darting towards Ihra with a quick beat of his wings. But as he reached out to grab her shoulders, the creature howled again.

As the withered corpse continued to spasm, its body rapidly morphed, exploding in size and twisting in shape, unhindered by the bolts of light the star bombarded it with. Jasper was too busy plummeting toward his death to watch the show, however, as he desperately fought to pull his essence together to cast Spectral Wings one more time before they turned into pancakes.

He'd almost managed to mold the spell when the creature's scream again, dispersing his essence back through his body as the spell crumbled. If I can't cast this spell, we're going to die.

He pulled on the essence again, but before he'd made any progress, a beam of light erupted from the star. It struck the side of one of the floating podiums with a thunderclap, shoving it directly in their path, and he hit the platform face-first.

Momentum carried him halfway across the platform, breaking more bones as he tumbled head over heels before friction finally ground him to a halt. He lay there stunned, too dazed to really process the pain screaming at him from a half-dozen points on his body, but awareness returned to him as a narrow beam of fiery light struck him in the back.

"Help…me." There was a slight tremor and crackle to the voice that spoke into Jasper's head that reminded him of an old person, but the healing that swept through his body was anything but weak. A wave of fire expanded from the epicenter of the light beam like the wave of a pebble tossed into a pond, and though everywhere it touched was wracked with a brief moment of excruciating pain, as soon as the fire had passed, it was healed.

He rolled to his feet with an almost giddy feeling of euphoria, which faded as the voice spoke again. "Please…help."

Jasper was more than willing to help the sun; even if streaks of corruption marred its surface, it appeared to still be in possession of its faculties, unlike everything else in the ruined world. The problem, however, was the creature's scream. "We can't fight that thing if it dispels our spells every five seconds," he muttered, mostly to himself, but the voice seemed to hear him.

A second beam of light struck the group, and when it receded, an amber glow clung to their skin. What the hell does this do?

Fix…problem…now…help. The voice spoke into his head, more demandingly than before, and Jasper tentatively drew on his essence as the creature continued to howl. Caution turned into satisfaction as the essence responded to him eagerly, and he waved the others over. "Looks like we have a god to help."

Chaos awaited as they reached the platform. The thing that had been Ēpis̆dāma was now warped beyond all recognition. The withered corpse had bloated into an abomination that resembled an enormous horned slug, if it wasn't for the dozen legs that sprouted from its black carapace. Hundreds of eyes dappled its entire body, save for its back, where a forest of wiry tentacles waved in an invisible breeze.

Yet despite its ungainly appearance, the creature moved with the speed and ferocity of a tiger on a hunt, easily avoiding the beams of light the star bombarded it with or knocking them aside with one of its tentacles. At the same time, it returned fire of its own, each one of the waving tentacles capable of casting a steady stream of black shards toward the star. Most were burned up by its corona, but with each one that pierced through the veil of fire, the black streaks across the sun's surface grew.

Jasper suspected the star could have beaten the creature on its own if it were the only enemy it was facing, but most of the star's attention was preoccupied with burning off the thousands of black tendrils that the storm outside had forced through cracks in the dome. It was a two-flank war, and one the avatar of Nūr was slowly losing.

Distract…the…mimmûl, the star commanded in his head, and though he wasn't familiar with the word, it was easy to guess that it was referring to the abomination on the platform. Guess we'll have to try.

He dove toward the platform, releasing Erin's hand as they got close enough for him to drop down safely, and swooped back into the air, firing a double blast of Soul Sear at the abomination's myriad of tentacles.

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Unsurprisingly, the tentacles pivoted to block his orbs, batting them aside as deftly as they had parried the star's beams while taking frighteningly little damage from the fire. But its defenses were not impregnable; as the tentacles parried Jasper's orbs and the star's beams, they were taken by surprise as a windblade the size of a small car hit them from behind. Tsia's blade sheared through the forest of writhing tendrils like a scythe through wheat, chopping a third of them down at the base before it lost its momentum. She struck again, a second blade following close on the heels for the first, but she had managed to gain its full attention. Sidestepping the blow with unnatural grace, the abomination turned to face them.

Trusting in the amber shell to protect his spell, Jasper didn't bother to dodge as the creature opened its mouth, aiming Soul Sear at the abomination's open gullet. But the spell went awry as the force of the scream hit him, batting him and Tsia aside like an insect in a storm. His wings flared, flapping desperately as he tried to fight against the unrelenting pressure of the abomination's howl, but he felt his skin begin to blister as the heat of the sun scalded him. Got…to hold…on.

Blue light pulsed beneath the amber sheen on his wings as Jasper pulled on his soul, stalling him in place, but it still wasn't enough to push forward against the pressure of the creature's scream until a giant red blade ripped its torso open. In an instant, he was forgotten as the beast turned its attention on Ihra.

She dodged to the side as the abomination spun on her, shooting Moonlit Shards in its path as she beat a hasty retreat, but it didn't even seem to notice the shards slicing through its twelve feet as it thundered toward her. She flitted into the air, trying to fly out of reach, but was a touch too slow. He watched in horror as a tentacle slid around her ankle and hammered her into the ground.

One arm hung limply as it lifted her up, prepared to drive her into the platform again, but Ihra wasn't down yet. She struck in a blur, slicing through the tentacle holding her by the ankle with Aphora's misericorde, and the golden wings flared as she darted higher into the air. She'd only made it a few feet, though, when the tentacles reached again, wrapping around her waist and arms as it slammed her into the pavement.

Time shattered into a dozen snapshots. Soul Sear leaving his hand too late to do anything. A bolt of lightning frozen in mid-air as it streaked toward the abomination's head. S̆ams̆ādur cleaving through one of the creature's legs with a purple-hued axe. Lord Nūr burning a hundred tendrils with a flare of bright light. But the only image that mattered was the abomination hammering Ihra into the ground, its tendrils wrapped tight around her throat as it choked her out.

Time snapped back into place as Jasper's orbs reached it, and though the explosion of bright white flares barely scratched the creature's black carapace, it was enough to attract its attention back to Jasper. Not that he noticed.

For the only thing he could see was Ihra falling out of the grasp of its tentacles onto the pavement smeared with her blood.

Limp. Unmoving. Dead.

The world turned red, or more accurately, blue, as he streaked toward the former blood mage in a halo of soul-infused flames. There was no thought in his mind, nothing but rage and pure instinct as he slammed into the creature's side, targeting the leg the durgu had nearly severed.

Seconds before he hit, a whip curled in his hand, twice along as his Scourge of Despair, and studded with hundreds of glittering barbs. It sawed through the severed leg and the two next to it as if they were made of paper, and the abomination staggered as its weight went suddenly unsupported.

With a howl of rage, it turned its full attention on him, burying him beneath an avalanche of writhing tentacles. The whole world turned black as he hacked and slashed, each blow chopping another down, only for two more to take their place - but both of them had forgotten about Nūr.

The world exploded in light as the star struck at the abomination's turned back with an intensely focused beam of light far stronger than any it had summoned before. A firestorm ignited on the creature's back as the beam seared through the forest of tentacles, and the light grew even brighter as it bored into the carapace below. All thoughts of Jasper were forgotten as the creature tried to flee, but Jasper would not let it, following it in a haze of fury as he chopped two more of its legs out from under it.

He didn't even notice as the beast dropped to the ground, didn't register as its shell burst in a shower of gore and its whole body began to burn beneath Lord Nur's judgment, didn't stop until a pair of strong hands wrapped around his chest and yanked him off his feet.

"It's dead, Jasper, it's dead." He hammered into the speaker's ribs, evincing a yelp of pain, but the arms refused to let go, and he staggered as a sharp burst of pain pulsed through his temple.

"If you want to save her, for kruvas̆' sake, snap out of it!" This time, his struggles ceased as he recognized the voice as S̆ams̆ādur's, and as his fury abated, the memory of what had happened surged back to the forefront of his mind.

"Oh my god, Ihra. It killed her. It fu-"

"Aye, it did," the durgu interrupted him, "but there might still be time to save her. Where's the potion?"

"Potion?" he repeated dully.

"The potion Selene gave you. The one that's supposed to help someone resurrect."

"I've got it." With newfound strength, Jasper shrugged off the man's hold and raced toward Ihra's prone form, stumbling and slipping as he sloughed through the still-burning remains of the former blood mage.

Jasper dropped to his knees beside her, fumbling with his bag as he searched for the precious potion. He tossed potions aside recklessly, heedless of the clink of breaking glass, until his hands closed around the dark blue bottle.

Trembling, he tore the cork out, dribbling some of the potion onto her face as he pried her lips and began to pour. He was forced to stop several times, massaging her throat to help the pooled liquid slip down, until the last of the bottle had been drained. Then, closing her mouth to prevent any from spilling out, there was nothing left to do but pray. Please, please, please let this work.