Tomas noticed what she was doing and felt a sudden blast of panic. “What…what are you doing, Lynn?” Tomas shouted. “Don’t!”
He recalled the stories he had heard growing up of the black liquid that Magisters drank. Poisonous, disease-inducing, demon’s blood. Was any of it true?
He remembered the explanation Lynn had given him when they were locked in the cell, how some Magisters believed that drinking Blight could bestow some people with extraordinary powers… but at a great cost.
This girl who Tomas had barely known for a couple of days, who he had felt was somehow responsible for causing the death of his best friend, was drinking Blight to try and protect him from being torn to shreds by savage, otherworldly monsters.
What is she thinking?!
Lynn immediately hunched over in agony as she swallowed, her fingers twitching and legs beginning to spasm.
“Lynn!”
Lynn let out a distressing wail, the veins down her arms bulging from the skin and turning black. Her wincing eyes grew dark.
The giant spiders were seconds away from reaching them.
Tomas shut his eyes, feeling the weight of his failures overwhelm him. Lynn appeared as though she was having a bad reaction to the Blight she had swallowed, and Tomas felt sick to his core for not being able to stop her from killing herself.
It was all over. They were done for.
The spiders pounced into the air at Tomas and Lynn, pincers rattling, mouths agape and dripping with thick globules of blood and venom.
Tomas winced, covering his head as he prepared for the violent attack he was sure to suffer.
The ice Tomas lay on began to rumble and crack. Strangely, the very air around him seemed to vibrate then go still.
Cowering and gritting his teeth, Tomas’s eyes shot open as he realised the assault hadn’t come, despite the spiders lunging for them not one second earlier.
He peeked through his fingers, fearful of what would be before him. But what he saw shocked more than it did frighten him.
Lynn Jhono stood between he and the three giant spiders, her hands outstretched towards the monstrous creatures who appeared to be frozen mid-air, hanging as if by invisible wires. They were stuck, levitating, mere inches away from her hands.
The spiders’ bodies vibrated and twitched, before their multiple legs were suddenly ripped from their bodies by invisible hands.
Their facial pincers were torn out from their carapaces and their dozens of eyes burst into a chunky sludge of green and black blood.
The creatures shrieked as their segmented bodies were pulled apart while stuck floating mid-air, one section at a time. Gelatinous innards sank and sloshed. Their repugnant-smelling blood sprayed out across the ice beneath them as their limbs and appendages split and cracked, ripped out one-by-one.
Lynn held her odd-looking pose, hands outstretched, and fingers contorted.
The creatures became nothing more than hundreds of ripped apart, floating body parts. She released her invisible grip, lowering her gnarled hands to her side. The pieces fell to the ice, splashing in amongst the sludge of snow and blood that had painted the surface of the frozen river.
Tomas’s jaw fell wide open, his eyes unblinking, unable to process any of the unbelievable things he had just witnessed. The image had been so shocking that it had distracted him from the excruciating pain for a moment.
Lynn collapsed into the snow, spitting up blobs of black fluid. Tomas willed his aching body to move, crawling over through the snow and ice on his hands and knees. He could not ignore the pain in his back or bleeding head, but he fought through it as best he could.
“Lynn?” he huffed as he reached her. He turned her face, seeing the black fluid running from her nose and bubbling froth spilling out of her mouth. Her eyes had rolled into the back of her head and her muscles throughout her body were twitching uncontrollably.
Tomas shook Lynn, trying desperately to awaken her.
“Lynn! Wake up, we need to get out of here!”
There was no response. She was struggling for breath as her body spasmed, and muscles tensed.
“Come on, Lynn!”
Tomas wiped the froth and fluid from her face with his bloodied sleeve, turning her onto her side to help her cough anything else up. He hit her in the back between the shoulder blades multiple times, each one a little harder than the last.
“Lynn!”
Her face was growing pale.
Tomas became stricken with horror, fearing the worst for the girl.
Then, Lynn began to cough and gag as she appeared to regain consciousness. Tomas breathed a sigh of relief.
Lynn was still alive.
“You’re alright, you’re alright,” Tomas said, trying to reassure her. He could not release his grip from her shoulders and face; he felt ecstatic to see her breathing.
“I’m… I’m alright,” she coughed, attempting to sit up.
The village up over the side of the ravine burned and bled.
The screams of the monsters and the dying began to quiet down.
Tomas could not help but wonder if some of the screams he could perceive included his father’s, or if he had gotten out safely. He had to ignore it, however, as best he could.
Tomas looked around at the gore in which they sat. Broken carapace, slick snow stained with blood, mounds of fleshy chunks. He was horrified yet amazed by what had just happened. He could not find the right words to speak.
What had he just seen? What sacrifice did Lynn just make to save his life?
“Lynn Jhono,” Tomas groaned as he tried to get up onto his feet, reaching a hand out to help the girl who had just saved his life. “What the fuck did you just do?”
Chapter 44 - Dynasty
Ser Isec Batir pushed
