Unfought Wars [Time loop Action Fantasy]

Tendrils swing at Finna, but she cuts one of them off with a swipe of her dagger held in her right hand. Another tendril whips at her from below and I gasp as it wraps around her left hand holding the ambronite.

She stumbles as the tendril tugs at her, almost losing her balance.

I pull out a new arrow at random and nock it, taking aim at the base of the tendril, teeth clenched.

"Hah," Finna says.

I glance back at her, and see the tendril flopping down to the floor, gray and shrivelled. She cuts her dagger through what's left still hanging to her left hand and the tendril falls apart like ash, floating to the floor.

"Knew it," she says, winking at me.

Rworg's bellow flinches me away from staring at her. He barrels at the teratome from the side, winding back his sword for a huge swing.

"Watch out for the blood!" I shout.

He doesn't hear or care, spinning his whole body to get even more momentum on his swing. The sword shears through the teratome's flesh, bashing apart armor and sending dark chitin plates and blood flying in a wide arc. Rworg is splattered by the blood, but at least he doesn't start screaming right away.

At least one of us is lucky.

Finna runs in a circle around the teratome, holding the ambronite high above her head.

More tendrils snap at her from every part of the teratome. Maws open in its flesh, gasping and snapping open and shut. It doesn't seem to have even realized the massive wound in its side that Rworg cut.

I understand why, as I take another look at the wound. The flesh flows and bubbles like stew in a cauldron about to boil over. Smooth, glistening skin appears where the wound was just a moment ago. Rworg shouts at the teratome and swings his sword at it in an overhead blow with both hands.

"Rworg, it doesn't help!" I shout.

He ignores me again. I hope Hearn manages to reach him soon. He's more of a hazard than a help at the moment, face red, teeth bared. For a moment, he reminds me of the crazed Kertharians and cold shivers run down my spine. "Hearn! Hurry!" I shout.

Hearn is pressing his sleeve on his face, standing behind Rworg and already drawing the symbol into the air. "Yes, yes," I hear him mutter over Rworg's shouting.

The symbol flares into life, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Just after I do, the symbol next to me sparks blue and orange and falls apart. The lines pull away from each other and spin out, like an image drawn on water, getting caught in rapids. I watch the sparks and tatters of the rune float down to the ground, before another roar from Rworg snaps me out of it.

The teratome is facing away from us three, still turning at Finna. I start running toward the new symbol blazing in the air between me and the teratome. Hearn grits his teeth and reaches to pull at Rworg's shirt. I have enough time to worry if Rworg will cut him in half immediately, but he seems to have regained enough control already, that he lets the old jonungaard pull him back toward the symbol.

I can feel the air getting clearer as I get closer to the symbol. The back half of the teratome opens up into a single maw, splitting into four fleshy slabs of wet meat. White bone ridges in the middle of the mass pull away from each other, forming serrated saw-like blades at the middle of every slab.

"Uhm," Hearn says, staring into the gaping maw of flesh in front of us.

I grab onto his arm and wrench him back, away from the glowing rune. "Rworg, out of its way!" I shout.

I hope the rune sucked enough of the mana so he has some sense left. Rworg stands between the teratome and the rune. Even he looks small compared to the monstrosity as he grabs his sword with both hands, winding back for another huge swing.

The teratome's back half looks like a flower, petals made of flesh and bone spikes. The maw extends, stretching out to engulf Rworg and the rune.

Both Hearn and I shout, scream at him to get out of the way. Hearn falls and I stumble as I'm still holding on to his arm, too focused on Rworg to let go.

He hops and spins, sidestepping the jaw snapping shut. On the way, he smashes his sword through one of the petals, severing it clean off the teratome's body. Clear liquid and shards of bone are sent flying, as the slab of meat flops to the floor.

The rest of the teratome closes, the maw folding closed around the glowing rune. The glow shines out from the part that is missing, cut off by Rworg. It flickers and flares even brighter. The smell of burned flesh mixes with the stench of rot.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Aa!" I shout, the realization hitting me.

The rune peeks out a bit from the maw. The lines shred and tatter, burning off and flickering out. The meat of the teratome has turned gray, its wet skin sagging around the place where it swallowed the rune.

"Finna! Throw me the stone!" I shout.

"You sure?" she shouts, from the other side of the teratome. "It really wants it."

She dances into view, dodging thin tendrils and thicker stalks whipping and slapping wildly at her. Some hit the ground and stick to it, dragging the teratome toward her. Some look like bludgeons, trying to club or crush her. A massive fleshy club slams down on the floor, the armor plates pushing out of its way as it squeezes and flows through the teratome's flesh.

Finna sidesteps the slam and jumps over the club, rolling to a stop and throwing the ambronite at me. She's moving again before the glowing stone has arced even half way toward me, flipping backward, legs going over her head.

I release my grip on Hearn and my bow, letting both fall to the ground. The throw is off. The ambronite flies to my left, arcing too low already.

I jump, reaching out both hands. I hit the ground, but catch it, wrapping my fingers around the stone. The impact pushes the air out of my lungs in a puff, my ribs slamming on the dark stone floor.

The teratome turns its front half ponderously away from Finna, rotating toward me and the ambronite. I don't know how fragile the stone is. Can't risk the teratome breaking it, grabbing it with its tendrils and slamming it to little pieces. I push myself up the floor and run straight at the monster.

"Folke!" Rworg shouts.

Hearn shouts something else. Can't focus on that now. My mind is crystal clear, only things that matter the ambronite in my hands and the teratome in front of me.

A single tendril whips at me, but I duck below it. It splatters some clear liquid on my face, but I'll worry about that later.

The maw is ahead of me. It's closed, but now that I know it's there, I can see the seams. The chunk Rworg cut off is mostly healed. There's still a part missing, but the flesh looks whole and the meat below has regained most of its color and the skin has grown back and filled out again.

I move the ambronite to my left hand, drawing out my knife with my right. As I get close, the teratome bucks, shudders. The small gaping mouths in its flesh disappear, like they are fleeing away from me and the ambronite I'm carrying. The teratome's back half towers ahead of me, taller than a horse. The seams of the maw press tighter together, like it's guessing what I'm trying to do and afraid of it.

I jump, launching myself up as hard as I can. I stab the knife into the wall of flesh ahead of me, wrenching down to pull myself up, using the handle sticking out like a handhold on the wet, wriggling, and pulsing sack of meat.

"What the hell!" Finna shouts from somewhere behind me.

Rworg bellows something, maybe it's a laugh, maybe encouragement. He sounds so happy.

I swing my leg up, managing to nudge my boot into one of the seams of the maw. I push and pull, getting enough leverage to flop myself on top of the teratome's back. The seam pushes open and I wrench my leg out, before it gets swallowed. The missing part of the maw is just under me.

A tendril of flesh whips at my side and wraps around my chest. It squeezes. I ignore it, even if it feels like my ribs will break soon. I hug the ambronite to my chest and the pressure eases. The teratome shudders under me. Everything is goo and squelching flesh. It screams from a hundred maws. I scream too as the headcheese-like meat wiggles under me.

The ambronite needs to get in there. I stab the knife into the part where flesh is missing, yank and rip, cutting through the new, softer, thinner membrane. The flesh parts easily, like it's rotten. I plunge my fist inside up to my elbow, pushing the glowing stone deep.

The teratome bucks, more violently than ever before. I'm thrown off, falling at the floor. Rworg steps out, catches me in his arms. He grunts, but holds on. I feel like a toddler, being thrown about like this. Rworg's feet slide and slip on the gooey floor, wet with whatever liquid the teratome has splashed and bled everywhere.

The teratome squirms and its massive backside slaps both Rworg and me aside. It catches Rworg on his left side, and we're thrown to the ground to slide away from the beast.

"You guys are so lucky," Finna says, as I come to a halt next to her foot.

A rune burns in the air next to her head, clearing the air. Hearn draws the lines again and again, keeping it together, even as the mana pulls at it, threatens to spin it apart.

I lift myself to watch what is happening with the teratome, even as my hand slips along the wet floor.

The monster is falling apart, falling into itself. The part where the ambronite is lodged in sizzles, throwing up dust in a dark cloud. Its skin bubbles and great chunks fall through, like it's being hollowed out from the inside. Hearn turns his head away from the monster, pressing a hand on his mouth.

I can't look away. It's like watching stew burn and boil away to nothing in seconds. The teratome's tendrils flail and slap at its own body, trying to dig into the place where the ambronite is. Yet, when they reach it, they fall apart, withering into gray sticks that fall apart as well.

"Good thinking," Rworg says. He wipes his hand on his shirt and then pats me on the shoulder. It still leaves my shoulder damp with the teratome goo.

"Oh damn," I say. "The blood can be dangerous. We have to…"

"Yes?" Finna asks after waiting for a moment. There's a dangerous look in her eyes. "Nothing could have been worse than this. Nothing! What are you hesitating now?"

"Well, we have to get closer," I say, pointing at the bubbling mass of flesh. "The ambronite will—"

"No, stop. Enough. Fine. Whatever," Finna says, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling. She nearly presses a hand on her face, but then looks at the splatters of teratome blood on it. She reaches at me and wipes it on my shirt instead. "Still, no more plans by you."

I glance at her hand, still pressed on my chest. "Agreed."

Rworg nods. "Agreed," he says.

"Agreed", Hearn says.

That's a bit much. He didn't even get splattered. Oh well.

The spluttering of the teratome dies down. There's just a collection of armor plates and a pile of grey dust left of it. Withered stalks of tendrils are spread around the pile. The ambronite's blue glow shines between armor plates fallen on top of it. If Lille only knew what I've been up to.

No one will believe a word of any of this.