As soon as Dan’s travelpack was full, he got moving. The stars were barely enough to light his way, but even if he made it through the night, he didn’t want to be stuck, wounded and exhausted, a little more than a half mile from Nora and her party. If he was going to risk it all, he might as well open up some distance between the groups. At a minimum, he was going to keep jogging until he found a more defensible location. He had only stopped in the open scrubland of the foothills because he was counting on the runes to keep him safe. If he actually had to fight, Dan would vastly prefer to have a wall of some sort at his back. Getting flanked in the dark didn’t exactly sound like his idea of fun.
“Four hours,” he whispered to himself as the mournful howling chased him across the inky landscape. Night only lasted four hours, then things would return to normal.
Dan’s thoughts paused for a second. Really, he only had Nora’s word for it that traveling at night was impossible. Sure, he had seen claw marks on the walls outside of his cave, and something made blood-chilling howling noises every night, but there was no assurance that the night was completely impassable.
There were monsters everywhere outside of settlements, but most weren’t a proper threat to a prepared adventuring party. For all he knew, the rumors about how dangerous the night was were nothing more than folk tales designed by the powers that be to keep citizens inside town walls where they could be controlled. Nora certainly hadn’t shown herself trustworthy on other fronts; it wouldn’t be too surprising if her fear of traveling alone at night was yet another excuse to control him.
At least, so he hoped. He’d seen and heard things at night, just beyond the purple barrier of the sanctuary stones. Nothing definite, but enough that dread and bile filled the back of his throat as he ran.
For a period, Dan jogged on through the night with only the stars to guide him. Since coming to Twilight, the constant murk had improved his night vision immeasurably. Still, it was hard to make things out just by starlight, especially while moving quickly. Dan glanced up to the stars above him for a brief second. Under any other circumstances, this would be beautiful. Nothing but the icy night air and a brilliant garland of lights without any smog or reflected city light to obscure them.
Then, a silent, dark shape passed overhead, blotting out the stars directly above him. The hair on the back of his neck stood up for a second as ice water poured down his spine. Whatever it was, it blocked out a lot of the night sky. That meant one of two things. It was huge, or it was far too close. Unwilling to risk it, Dan threw himself to the side, and was rewarded with a muffled thump as a huge, opaque shape landed where he had just stood.
With a squint against the darkness, Dan realized it was huge. This wasn’t a fight that he could win in the dark, and apparently his assailant could either leap or fly. This was one problem he wouldn’t be able to run away from. Apparently, Nora told him the truth at least once. Going out at night without sanctuary runes was incredibly dangerous. Great.
Dan fired a Flame Jet at it and was rewarded with an unearthly screech. Finally, he got a good look at what he was fighting. It was a wolf. A gigantic winged wolf. About seven feet tall at the shoulders and almost fifteen feet in length, it put any predator from Earth that he could think of to shame in size alone. That didn’t take into account the three-and-a-half-foot-long curved blades adorning the end of each paw. In short, it was officially bad news.
The good news was that its dark, matted fur was apparently flammable, and the Flame Jet had started its coat smoldering. Even better, it had gigantic eyes, about a foot in diameter and mostly pupil. The creature was clearly adapted to seeing in the dark, and the brief flash of light temporarily blinded and disorientated it. The bad news was that the attack had done minimal damage at best, and the thing was pissed.
It let out a blood-curdling screeching howl and swatted a giant, bladed paw at him. Dan fired another Flame Jet as he backpedaled, igniting a small portion of the fur on its paw. Given the paws’ impossible speed and multiple foot-long claws, he wasn’t inclined to try the thing out in any sort of test of strength. He had made that mistake before, and this time, he didn’t have a party to rescue him when it inevitably threw him across the landscape. Worse, even if he traded injuries with this thing, it was only a half hour or so into the night. He wasn’t sure if any of the night’s denizens tracked by smell, but he wasn’t keen on the idea of running around injured and covered in blood for another three hours and simply hoping that something else didn’t come for him.
It opened its mouth and snarled at him. Dan gagged slightly as the stench of rotting meat wafted over him. Then it lunged at him. He activated Spatial Shield, but almost instantly a strange pressure laced the edge of the spell, then it gave way with a pop. His face broke into a betrayed look of surprise as the spell dissipated into a series of briefly shimmering streamers of blue mana. Time itself seemed to slow as they glimmered and faded into the night air, illuminating the bladelike rancid teeth as they closed in on him. Its jaws clamped down on his left arm as he frantically brought it up to protect his torso.
For a brief moment of clarity, he could feel each fang as they punched through the woven chain of his armor and into the bone of his shoulder as little more than abrupt pressure. Then the pain started. It felt like his bicep and shoulder were dipped in magma. His shoulder was clearly broken, the meat around it little more than hamburger. Almost without thinking, he immediately triggered a Lightning Stroke from his mangled arm down the monster’s throat.
At least that triggered a reaction. Its eyes widened as, for the first time, Dan’s spell landed on unprotected flesh rather than the matted fur and leather of its coat. It convulsed and spat him out.
Dan staggered back and fell down to one knee before trying to unsuccessfully lift his injured arm to unleash another spell. The tortured limb screamed in agony at him, but it didn’t respond, hanging limp and lifeless at his side. Eyes watering, Dan dropped his sword and fired a Flame Jet at point blank range into the creature’s eyes.
This time he earned another unearthly screech as the brief flash of heat seared the unprotected and light-sensitive retinas. It almost seemed to forget about him as it thrashed back and forth making unearthly sounds of pain. He tried to get to his feet, only to be floored once again by a wave of pain from his left shoulder.
Critical damage to <USER>’s left arm detected. <USER> is temporarily operating at -2 to both Body and Agility.
Infectious agents detected in <USER>’s left arm.
Please seek out calcium and protein so repairs can be effectuated. <USER> is directed to avoid strenuous activity until repairs to <USER>’s structure can be completed. Please note that failure to follow directions can void <USER>’s warranty.
Disabling pain connection to left arm.
Dan gasped in relief as the unhelpful System notifications ended, and he lost all feeling in his left arm. He was still bleeding out, but at least he could function. He stood, arm flopping at his side. The creature was still thrashing about, mindlessly preventing Dan from approaching. Even without meaning to, it could easily end him. Each swing of its head, paws, or wings was more than enough to break ribs and puncture internal organs, even through his chainmail. Whatever this thing was, it was both fast and strong. Really, no one should be fighting this with anything short of an armored personnel carrier, but here he was in the dark with it. It might not be paying attention to him now, but he had pissed it off. Running might work, but this was his best chance to actually finish it off.
A month ago, he would have run for sure. This was his chance to get out of a bad situation, even if running involved some risks. Now, he knew it was the fear talking, the part of himself that would put off until tomorrow a problem he should deal with today. Something inside told Dan that this creature wouldn’t simply let this slight go. Whatever it was, it was clearly near the top of the food chain. Everything about it screamed apex predator toying with its prey: the way it attacked him casually, the way it settled for a bite to his arm when it could have ended the fight by going for his torso, and the fact that, once he injured it, it simply ignored him. Even with the injuries he had inflicted, it didn’t consider him to be a true threat. Instead, he had pissed it off, and if he didn’t take this chance, it would find him, and it would end him.
Plus, now that the pain in his arm was forgotten, Dan couldn’t help but think of how much mana was in the creature. Anything that size moving that fast must be worth a lot. He clenched his right hand. He needed to get enough power to defeat Nora and her group. He needed enough power to operate freely on Twilight without fearing whoever employed her. He needed enough mana to go back to Earth and help it prepare for the coming storm. He… Dan shuddered as he remembered the warmth of mana flowing into him. He licked his lips. How much did it have? A minute’s worth of mana flow? Two?
With a deep breath, he fired a Lightning Stroke, then another into it, then grabbed his sword. His head hurt from the sudden drop in his mana, but he charged anyway, taking advantage of the creature’s sudden convulsions. He stabbed down with as much strength as he could muster with only his right arm into a patch of the monster’s fur that smoldered from one of his bolts of lightning. The blade cut an inch deep before it caught on the thick leather of its hide.
He was so close. There would only be one chance at this. Dan triggered a Flame Jet from the hand still holding the sword’s hilt and activated his bracers. Immediately, pain enveloped his hand as the sword’s pommel heated up from the burst of flames. The fire followed the sword’s blade and rushed into the monster’s side. With the stench of charred flesh, either his or the monster’s, Dan couldn’t exactly tell, the blade punched through its hide.
It screamed again and jerked upward, pumping its wings as it tried to escape. Dan’s shoulder dislocated as he refused to release his grip. Frankly, at this point, he wasn’t sure if he could, given that his hand was a charred claw wrapped around the sword’s hilt. Then, the sword ripped downward through the beast’s stomach. Dan fell on his back, the wind knocked out of him. Despite the pain in his hand and back, he chuckled to himself. There was no way he was strong enough to cut through the monster’s tough skin on his own. Only with the aid of its strength as it attempted to escape was he actually able to deal any sort of real damage.
Almost absently, he glanced up at the still-smoldering form of the creature as it struggled to fly away with the gaping hole in its stomach. As if in a dream, he raised his still-functioning arm and and triggered Lightning Stroke, brain fuzzing slightly as some of the backblast from trying to cast the spell while holding a sword flowed through him. Somehow, the bolt flew true and struck the creature. It convulsed, its wings missing a beat.
It tried to catch itself in the air, but it was too wounded. The monster plowed into the ground, a broken heap to match Dan himself. A low laughter filled his lungs. For almost a minute, he lay in the dark on his back, laughing maniacally as the adrenaline and endorphins faded. Then the mana hit him, and he was buffeted by walls of pink light. Pleasure tingled through his body as he lost track of time.
Whatever the hell that was, he had survived. It was bigger than him, stronger than him, and a whole hell of a lot more deadly than him, but he had survived.
Mana influx detected. Recalculating Spirit.
Spirit is now 13.
Lightning Stroke is now 3
“Thanks System,” he croaked, still staring up into the night sky, hoping to not see the stars blot out once more. “If you could look into fixing my arms enough that I could stand up without blacking out, that would be pretty great.”
“It figures,” a masculine voice responded from the dark. “I come down here to save some poor soul trapped out at night, watch him bring down a stalker, and he’s talking to himself. Still, after all of this time, I’ll settle for someone crazy to talk to.”
Dan tried to pull himself up into a defensive position, but even his right arm failed him. He hissed in agony and collapsed onto his back once more. A figure clad in a brown cloak walked in front of him and looked down at Dan with golden eyes.
“And a human at that,” the man continued, quizzically. “I don’t feel the chains of a class on you, boy, but with the abilities you’ve just displayed, there’s no way that should be possible.”
“Come on.” The man waved a hand, and an unseen force wrapped around Dan’s waist and pulled him to his feet. “Where there is one stalker, there will soon be three. The night has plenty of fight left in it, and we have a lot to talk about.”
