Chapter 32: CHAPTER XX – Reckless Abandon

Rhystea, Sphaere, their warborn passengers, as well as A212, R208 and a few of each of their respective series members immediately started making their way to the gate. There was no urgency in their pace, just curiosity. No guards had been posted at the busted gate in lieu of the festivities, and with everyone out and about there wasn’t much need.

The Reptilia series earnestly hoped for some excitement as they would relish the opportunity to hunt something that was bold enough to intrude on their domain. The Aves were more reserved, though that was mostly due to the recent change in leadership. They were the strongest of the series, both in individual strength and in numbers, and had been growing closer in light of recent events.

R208 was boasting about the fun he would have if something reared it’s ugly head. A212 was quietly calculating response plans in the event that an ugly head was reared. They were both lax in their concerns, knowing full well that if worse came to worst, Cekell and his caretakers would not abstain or even hesitate to lend both hand and divine fury. Recently acquiring Devose only served to further embolden them.

What could they possibly have to fear? Fear they did not. The tension that was filling the air was born of curiosity and excitement. As they walked towards the source of the disturbance, they spoke about the what-if’s that suited their fancy. As they spoke, they kept their eyes glued on F120, who was approaching her alarmed pooch.

The mounting tension peaked when the young feline featured girl froze and frantically called after Lucky. The chatter between the group heading her way was cut, and their pace was hastened. A212 spoke first, bidding his series members to split up, seek out their brethren and gather together at the gate.

F120 didn’t stay frozen for long, she wasn’t far from Lucky when she halted mid step and called after him, but when he ignored her and continued to howl for all he was worth, she charged at him, causing the group heading her way to kick it up another gear. R208 then had his present series members relay orders to the group back at the fire, as well as head into the cave to make sure everyone was aware that something was amiss. The Reptilian PA system was in full swing.

Time almost seem to slow down as the group was now racing towards gate, the lithe agility of Sphaere and A212 had carried them out in front with R208 trailing not too far behind and Rhystea bringing up the rear. Having watched the events as they unfolded, the scaletrain sat everything aside and announced to the whole world that they were en route, even before the scalehead that R208 sent after them made more than a few meager steps.

Upon nearing arrival to the gate, an arachnophage could be seen waiting for them just beyond. It appeared to just be the one, but it wasn’t just any one; this arachnophage was much larger and bulkier than those they had been accustomed to. It’s frame was much sturdier, sporting noticeably thicker armor that was adorned with spikes. One of it’s scythe like claws had been exchanged for a massive pincer, the likes of which would be able to crush any of their heads like a grape. Protruding from it’s posterior was a great scorpion tail, arced forward as if poised to strike. The large creature didn’t move or make a sound as it stood alone holding it’s ground.

The group that had it in their sights breezed right past F120 and Lucky, silencing his alarm as they blew past. Sphaere and A212 arrived at the gate first, staying within but poking their heads out to scan the tree line searching for more threats. They quickly spotted another smaller arachnophage a good distance back, this one was low profile and clearly not as heavily armored, though it had a pair of pincers and no scythe claw. As far as either of their discerning eyes could tell, it was only these two. R208 posted up next to Sphaere and started laughing about how the lone arachnophage in front of them was both bold and outnumbered, as well as polite enough to present itself before them.

They all dropped their jaws as Rhystea ran right past them, a barrier flickering up around her as she breached the confines of the gate, but did nothing to slow her down. Cekell made for an effective pass, and with him in tow, she went where she pleased. Who was going to stop her? Certainly not some overgrown bug.

Passing by the others, Rhystea did not slow her pace, not until she drew much closer to her target. She marched right up in front of the arachnophage, who seemingly ignored her. “Shoo!” She cried out in irritation. “Get out of here! You’re neither welcome nor wanted. The only part of you that’s making it past that gate is what we fail to scrap off the bottoms of our shoes!”

Rhystea did not stop as she made her threat, not until she was mere inches away from the creature. Cekell was still curled up comfortably in her arms, but being as Rhystea’s heartrate was elevated, he was glaring angrily at the source of her concern, with his black orb hovering just above her head. She fell silent as she took her last step, but only waited a moment for a reaction she didn’t get.

The arachnophage didn’t budge, but watched the girl curiously. It did not move even as Rhystea threw up her free hand as if to make herself bigger with the intent of intimidating the brutish bug. “Last chance, move or be moved!” Rhystea half screamed in the creature’s face.

A brief moment passed, but Rhystea did get a reaction, just not one she expected. Without so much as twitching, the arachnophage sprayed something from it’s tail that was blocked by Cekell’s barrier. Rhystea was taken aback, “What is this? That’s nasty! If I wanted bug juice, I would step on you!” She hadn’t though much about the ooze, not until she looked down and saw what it was doing to the ground around her.

While clearly not as potent as that of the acid amoeba, they were surrounded by what it had left (or rather dissolved) in it’s wake; but this arachnophage had showered the barrier encompassing her with a corrosive bile that was rapidly dissolving the grass at her feet. “Oh yea? Well two can play at that game!” Rhystea announced before spitting in the creature’s face, who had no barrier to defend itself, and shuttered upon receiving Rhystea’s reprisal.

R208, having witnessed this, fell flat on the ground and rolled side to side as he exploded with laughter. Sphaere shook her head in disbelief as she made her way past the gate with A212 right behind her. The scaletrain was about to pull into the station, but fell silent as they watched R208 roll around in hysterics.

“Oh-ho! That seems to have got your attention. Want some more?!” Rhystea ranted and raved at the dumbfounded arachnophage, who after a moment’s pause, casually reached out with it’s pincer intending to grab the girl. It was rebuffed by Cekell’s dark orb, which shot down between them. Try as the arachnophage might, it couldn’t so much as scratch the super dense material.

Adjusting it’s strategy, the arachnophage swiped at them with it’s claw, but Cekell was ready for this. The warborn, still comfortably wrapped up in Rhystea’s arms, merely lifted a hand and commanded, “No!” And erected a buckler sized empowered barrier that once again repulsed the arachnophage’s attack before disappearing. Three attempts it had made, three times it had been thwarted, and Cekell was pretty sure that meant the bug had struck out.

The quicksilver tot slowly unfurled himself from his comfortable place and stood up on Rhystea’s arm and let out a furious screech, but was quickly tied back up in Rhystea’s embrace, which did nothing to stop Cekell’s sharp glare.

“Alright, you have squandered your chance to walk away, now turn and flee or I’ll let Cekell swat you like a fly. No more warnings!” A livid Rhystea attempted to reason with the creature in making her final offer. “I’m trying to teach him not to simply obliterate anything that gets on his nerves, but you’re beginning to bug me!”

The arachnophage had continued to try and crush Cekell’s dark orb up until now, but abandoned this pursuit and instead attempted to fling it at them. The orb moved a minimal distance before it’s momentum was shifted and it floated back up above Rhystea’s head.

Rhystea sighed, frowned, and sicced Cekell on the hapless creature, “Kick his ass!”

Without making a sound or even moving, Cekell launched the orb at the heavily armored arachnophage, but took Rhystea’s remark of not obliterating it to heart. The arachnophage was surprised and almost knocked off balance as the orb crushed one of it’s legs, but it recovered rapidly and attempted to once again grab them with it’s pincer, but the orb was quicker as it whipped back around from underneath the arachnophage to again deny it’s avenue of attack.

Cekell again stood up in Rhystea’s arms, shrieked out his discontent, and formed a barrier above the arachnophage which was expanded downward, driving the creature hard into the ground, but rather than crushing it flat, just it pinned it in place. The arachnophage struggled to lift itself to no avail.

Sphaere had kept a wary eye on the other, smaller arachnophage that had began it’s approach, and warned them of such, “There’s another one incomin’!” She cried out from behind them.

Rhystea stepped to the side of the arachnophage that was pinned to the ground in front of her to see that another, smaller arachnophage was indeed inbound, but seemed to not be in any hurry. “Oh look, he brought a friend.” Rhystea remarked. She stood her ground and folded her arms so Cekell could more easily stand his, and the pair watched and waited as the second arachnophage made it’s way closer, but stopped a decent distance from them.

This other arachnophage seemed to silently peer at them for a long moment, before a white stringy mass was projected from it’s tail towards them. This substance, which spread out as it shot through the air, covered the barrier that they were encased in. It was apparently a webbing that Rhystea quickly deduced was meant to bind them, but Cekell’s barrier prevented it from actually ensnaring anything.

“Neat trick.” Rhystea praised the bug in slow clap fashion, “But I’m afraid you’ll have to do better than that!” The arachnophage wasn’t through though, and started pulling on the webbing, but Cekell’s barrier didn’t budge.

They stood like this for a short while, as though in a stalemate. The larger bug was still frantically trying to dig it’s way out from under a barrier that kept it firmly pinned to the ground, and the second arachnophage pulled on the web that covered them in futility. It appeared as though the webbing clung to Cekell’s barrier, and Rhystea wanted to test it’s tensile strength, so she took a step back and was surprised to find that Cekell’s barrier effortlessly drug the creature with them, even as it struggled to hold it’s position.

“Who’s got who in this situation?” Rhystea laughed, but her amusement was cut short. There was a shrill whistling sound when something sharply made it’s presence known. They never saw it coming, it had been hunkered down further back in the trees, but blasted in at incredible speeds and slashed right through the webbing along with the barrier that contained her.

Maybe if Cekell had seen it coming and had time to react, it would have gone differently; but he never expected a long distance attack, not while his vision was obscured by the webbing and his focus was trained on the two arachnophages that he knew about. Rhystea didn’t know what had happened, she hadn’t gotten frightened and her heart did not betray her confidence in their superiority. She just noticed part of the webbing right next to her face had gave way to light as the cleaving claw struck her.

 

R010 leading an accompaniment composed of several of his fellow cave compatriots came pouring out of the cavern which they called home and hurried to the battered gate, the last of which was a huffing turtle holding R208’s beloved blade as though it were less a weapon and more a cherished work of art.

Spilling through the perforated gate, R010 came to a sudden stop. “Wait, there’s just one of them?” He inquired, puzzled by both this and the fact that Rhystea was seemingly berating it with an out of character harsh tone.

Seeing his Eminent, R208 quickly ceased his laughing fit and picked himself up off the ground. While he was catching his breath, Sphaere answered for him, “There’s another further back in the trees, but these are the only two me an’ bird boy could spot. Somethin’s up though, they look diff’rent an’ they act diff’rent. It’s hard ta be worried ‘bout small potatoes, but it’s unsettlin’, the way they was jus’ out here waitin’ fer us ta notice ‘em. I don’ like it, not one li’l bit.”

“They’re just not very smart, no need to try and overthink it!” R208 bellowed with a laugh.

“But they’re confident, an’ not only that, but outta the hundred ‘r so bugs I seen, this one’s by far the biggest. An’ if that weren’ enough, they grew tails, an’ look at the massive pincher on that one. See how he holds it up an’ peers just over the top of it, as though ‘e’s shieldin’ ‘e’s face? It seems cautious, an’ stupid bugs ain’t cautious!” Sphaere explained. “Underestimatin’ an enemy is a good way ta get beatin’ badly.”

“A big bug is still just a bug.” R208 insisted confidently as he folded his arms. “And besides, now you have a second Cekell! How could you possibly be worried?”

“I’m NOT a Cekell.” Devose defiantly growled, clearly perturbed by the comment.

This helped calm Sphaere down, who shook her head side to side as she held back a laugh. “Nope. Yer gonna be even stronger, ain’tcha?” She asked, adopting a softer tone. Devose didn’t know how to reply, and without a word, he relaxed his irritation and snuggled up comfortably to the girl’s heartbeat. He could clearly see why his brother was so particular about her, and getting to intrude upon his brother’s comfortable place only served to further console Devose.

“The other one is making it’s move!” A212 suddenly blurted out.

Looking up to confirm what her feathered friend had said, Sphaere loudly relayed that information to Rhystea, “There’s another one incomin’!”

“Are you worried they can’t handle it? It’s not even moving very fast, and the big one sure doesn’t seem to be giving them much trouble.” R208 burst out laughing as he recalled, “That was a rather vicious spitting match, though, wasn’t it?!”

His laughter was silenced when the R series turtle came chugging up to him an offered out his precious blade, and after noticing that there were only two arachnophages, noted, “I don’t know if you’ll need her, but she’ll feel neglected if you have any fun without her.”

R248 had referred to the weapon as ‘her’ and ‘she’ but what surprised Sphaere was R248’s gruff yet clearly feminine voice, and blurted out in surprise, “Wait, yer a girl?!”

R248 turned and sized up Sphaere, looking her up and down before replying, “Well what did you think I was, a rock?” And finished with a snort for good measure.

“Woah, woah, I’m sorry, that was rude o’ me an’ I ‘pologize fer bein… derogatory. I never ment ta assume nothin’, I jus’ didn’ know! Ya were always so quiet, an’ it seemed like ya was wary o’ me an’ Ritsy both.” Sphaere recalled Rhystea’s discontent and made a mental note that she would never again judge a book by it’s cover.

“That’s because she didn’t like the way R208 was giving you both so much attention and praise! Never mind the fact that you’re both clearly warm blooded!” F120 squeaked out from inside the gate. R248 turned and frightened her off with a menacing glare as the young F series quickly ducked back behind the cover provided by the remains of the gate.

Sphaere realized she was still gawking at brutish turtle girl that all of a sudden seemed even more relatable, and after collecting her jaw from the ground, insisted, “We’re gonna hafta revisit this conversation!” Before she could say anymore, her attention was snapped back to the medium arachnophage when it shot out a bolt of something white that spread out and covered Rhystea and Cekell.

“Hmph.” Was all that R248 responded with.

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Having noticed Sphaere’s heart rate escalating, Devose inquired, “What’s wrong?” As he lifted his tendril to her eyes.

“Nothin’ really, they seem ta have it under control…” Sphaere trailed off.

“Oh? Your heartrate betrays your words, you can’t hide your concern from me.” Devose insisted.

Sphaere blurted out, “They’re takin’ too darn long!”

“That sounds like an assessment Verakry would make.” Devose commented.

Sphaere suggested, “Oi. Watch yer mouth, ‘r I’ll trade ya fer yer brother an’ won’ hafta listen ta those kind o’ remarks!”

Sphaere was surprised when she heard Devose laugh, “He really doesn’t like it when his inability to speak is pointed out, I wish he could have heard you say that!”

Before she could get out another word, Sphaere’s attention was again yanked back to Rhystea when she heard something whistling through the air, just in time to catch that something come screaming in like a missile that was homing in on Rhystea!

 

Cekell watched in horror as a lock of Rhystea’s hair was dismembered, immediately cast the barrier and the webbing bound to it upwards, and willingly leaped from her grasp to the cold hard ground he so adamantly despised. As the obstruction to her vision was lifted, Rhystea realized there was a third arachnophage in their midst. Before she could react, Cekell shrieked, “NO!!!”

A large empowered barrier surrounded and lifted Rhystea a short distance into the air, along with the ground she had been standing on to leave a small crater where it had previously resided. Rhystea pressed up against the new barrier that now caged her, unable to do anything but watch as Cekell threw himself at the recently arrived and smallest of the arachnophages, this one with large hind legs, slim wings and two large scythe claws but lacking most of thick external chitinous armor of it’s kin.

Hubris is defined as having an inflated sense of one’s own ability. Cekell placed entirely to much faith in his barriers. The weight of words such as arrogance sank in as Cekell plummeted from the height of hubris, crashing to the ground and shattering like an egg tossed off a skyscraper. In this manner, his conceit was washed away, not unlike an egg off the sidewalk in a bitter rain. Just as his barrier had, something deep within him snapped.

Seeing his adversary come into contact with that which he held most precious caused something in his chest to twist and tie itself into a knot, one that restrained and restricted clear thought process. Cekell perceived his mortal enemy as a threat in it's truest sense. Something that could reach what he held precious, something that could wound his very heart, would not be tolerated. No, threats would be met with extreme prejudice, and he would stop at nothing to scour them from existence.

As if by reflex, his body clenched down on the Umbral point... to no avail. Where the Astral point would rouse and seethe and surge, the Umbral lie dormant. If Cekell could not hurl a bolt of lightning at his foe in defense of his everything, then he would hurl everything else he had to offer - himself.

Fulfilling his birth purpose with eyes blind to consequence, the warborn reached out for his enemy. Where his barrier had failed, his blade would not. He did not even take a moment to consider erecting a barrier to cage or hinder his adversary, the single thought racing in circles around his mind was simply tearing his opponent to pieces. He did not cast caution to the wind, he merely let go, and before it had a chance to fall away, Cekell was already gone, driven by this singular function.

As Cekell mindlessly charged this new foe, he leaped up, but the medium sized arachnophage blasted him with a bolt of webbing that spanned the distance between the two and tied them together. Cekell’s inertia kept him airborne for a moment, but he advanced no further and fell back down to the ground and struggled to free himself. The lightly armored arachnophage he had been aiming for had turned back to face him and repositioned its large legs in preparation of launching itself into another attack, but before it could do so, Cekell’s dark orb shot in.

The light arachnophage wouldn’t be able to dodge, it’s large hind legs made it awkward to move short distances, and it could only fling itself forward, which is where the orb was bearing down it from. Instead of evasion, the arachnophage opted to parry the attack by attempting to cleave it in two and raised it’s claw high above it’s head. Swinging hard at the last moment, it drove it’s claw down, which was smashed as the orb bore through the claw, shattering it to pieces. The light arachnophage screeched in pain as it’s arm was mangled, but managed to survive the blow.

As Cekell turned and focused on tearing the webbing from himself, the light arachnophage leapt hard and skimmed almost directly over the top of him. Rhystea was surprised and thankful that this maneuver wasn’t meant to cleave Cekell in two, but quickly traced it’s path to it’s intended target, and her heart sank as the light arachnophage swathed through the barrier pinning down it’s heavily armored brethren.

Rhystea realized the creature prioritized an assist, and suddenly it didn’t seem like a mindless monster. The heavy arachnophage quickly righted itself and charged screaming into he fray. You couldn’t tell it was missing a leg as the remaining five carried it effortlessly, belying it’s substantial weight, straight over to Cekell, who wasn’t quick enough to free himself from the webbing. He was about to receive unwanted support in that endeavor.

The heavy arachnophage slammed it’s pincer down around Cekell’s torso and without slowing down, freed him from his bindings as it continued forward, ripping him through the ground while simultaneously pressing him deeper as he was raked along through the ground before raising him high with the added intention of crushing him with it’s pincer. Droplets of silver rained down on the creature as mana poured from Cekell’s open wounds.

Rhystea’s eyes went wide. She was shocked at the vicious assault Cekell was enduring, but was struck by the sheer fury that was painted across his face. Cekell wasn’t even looking at the arachnophage that had ahold of him, no his wild glare was fixated on the light arachnophage that was currently winding up for another leaping attack.

Unable to shear Cekell in twain or otherwise crush the furious warborn with it’s pincer, the heavy arahnophage lashed out with it’s scythe claw in an attempt to guillotine slash it’s prey, but Cekell brushed off this attack with his orb, which swooped down from above to bore through the creatures pincer arm, causing it to shriek in pain. Cekell dislodged himself from the pincers, which seemed to hang in the air for a brief moment, before bouncing off the heavy arachnophage and leaping towards the lightly armored one, which was poised to strike.

Without averting his gaze and while still soaring through the air, Cekell held a hand out to his side and erected a barrier, which blocked a bolt of webbing launched from the medium arachnophage. In that same instant, the lightly armored one jumped hard at Cekell, who had already recalled his orb, which had bowled over the heavy arachnophage that was already off balance from flailing in agony and toppled to it’s side.

The light arachnophage lurched forward and time seemed to stop. Cekell let out a piercing hawk scream as his dark matter returned to him. He was starting to get a grasp on his gravity field, and hammered the orb thinner than paper as it was smeared into the shape of the crescent moon. It must have been sharp, as neither it nor it’s target so much as slowed down as it cleaved right through the light arachnophage, which continued forward itself, but in two separate pieces that tumbled twitching to the ground.

Cekell hit the ground, spun around, and charged back to the light arachnophage, projecting a small barrier to block another webbing round from the medium arachnophage without so much as sparing it a glance. He once again recalled his bare blade dark matter, catching it mid air as he leapt high, and drove it down into the larger of the pieces of what remained of the light arachnophage. Taking a que from how the heavy arachnophage had assaulted him, Cekell was carried by the momentum of his dark matter, and grated the skewered remains across the ground.

Unsatisfied even after tearing his foe into literal pieces, Cekell twisted his blade before ripping it sideways out of the remains, further killing the already lifelessly dead light arachnophage. Still not content, Cekell again took to the air with his blade and plunged it deep into the other segment of the undoubtedly dead creature’s remains; but not just once, Cekell lifted the blade back up and pierced through it over and over as he screeched out in anger.

Cekell did not stop this vulgar onslaught until the heavy arachnophage charged him, not that he bothered to turn and face it, he simply held a hand out behind him and softly muttered, “No.” To imprison the creature within a spherical empowered barrier. Having a second empowered barrier, Cekell could feel exponentially more strain than with a regular projection. The medium arachnophage fired more webbing, but Cekell launched his crescent blade at it, hewing not only the fibrous material but severing the tail of the creature, which had it’s turn to let out a shrill cry of anguish.

After dispatching the tail, the crescent blade returned to Cekell’s waiting hand, which, rather than grabbing it, latched onto it with his gravity field. Only then did her turn to face the heavy arachnophage caged within his barrier. The creature had worked itself into a frenzy, swinging it’s good claw in ferocious futility as it attempt to slice through Cekell’s imperviously empowered barrier.

Uncertain how long he could endure the strain of two empowered barriers, he held a hand outto dispel this barrier, which stunned the liberated creature. The warborn then nodded sharply, gesturing towards the medium arachnophage, as if telling the heavy one to remove itself from his presence. The overgrown bug responded by kicking it’s front legs up and raising it’s claw high to bear down upon Cekell with it’s full weight.

In one swift motion, Cekell thrust his crescent blade forward and sundered the heavy arachnophage, which collapsed into two pieces on either side of the quicksilver tot. The fight was over, but Cekell was not. Turning back to what was left of the light arachnophage, he proceeded to repeatedly slam his crescent blade down upon it, dividing it into ever smaller pieces, one sickening chop after another.

Even as he was splattered again and again by the innards of his felled foe, Cekell did not relent. His unbridled and unquenched fury would be sated only when he pulverized the perpetrator into pulp. A very fine pulp, as it would seem. He did pause to reposition for another round as he administered the same treatment to the other section of the remains that, while still quite dead, hadn’t been thoroughly murdered to Cekell’s standards.

The medium arachnophage had slowly backed away, but it dare not turn it’s back on Cekell, who would not even spare it a glance. It posed no threat to the warborn, even if it still had it’s tail, but it was wounded and did not appear to have a death wish, so it warily strode backwards into the trees.

Tears started to pour down Rhystea’s face as she watched Cekell maddeningly make mincemeat out of the long dead light arachnophage. She couldn’t look away as the beaten bloody mess was mashed into mud, and still Cekell would not cease his rampage. She covered her mouth in horror at the sight of Cekell violating the stain of what was once a living being, now just the object of his aggression.

Her lungs started to burn as the tension within Rhystea had squeezed the air out of her chest when her body clenched up from fright; not at her situation, but at the sight of what Cekell could become if left unchecked. Even an orchestrated assault of genuine monsters with varied and complimentary abilities that clearly utilized coordinated tactics were simply brushed off as a minor nuisance.

This warborn had seemingly offered mercy to the others, if for no other reason than to hurry back to the annihilation and expungement the one that had offended him. It’s crime? Cutting a lock of Rhystea’s hair. It had paid dearly, and even in death, it’s remnants were still compensating for it’s violation as Cekell meted out brutal and barbaric justice, raining down blow after blow upon it’s deceased corpse that would never again bother him or anyone else.

Rhystea would not inhale until she was startled by something speaking to her that was not there moments before. It may have been there longer, but the girl was oblivious to everything but Cekell. “Pure, undiluted carnage. Magnificent! The way he zoned in on one and, so long as the others didn’t come between him and his prey, he treated them as though they were completely negligible distractions, buzzing flies to beguile strained eyes that yearned for immaculate focus; not unlike an artist concentrating solely on his work as everything else was drowned out, peeling away layer after layer until he has sculpted absolute perfection!” Verakry’s words struck Rhystea like a mallet.

Finally gasping for breath, Rhystea cried out, “Cekell!”

Snapping to attention and stopping mid swing, Cekell still wasn’t appeased with he retribution he had dealt out, and stomped through the puddle he had wrought from his adversary as he momentarily glanced up at Rhystea before darting to the divot left below her from where the ground she was still standing on had been raised to keep her safe as he razed the insect that dared to attack her.

Stopping at the edge of the indention, the warborn frantically searched for and picked up something that was too small for Rhystea to make out what it was. The barrier containing her slowly descended back down to the ground, all the while Cekell was picking something out of the grass. The warborn continued this for a long moment after Rhystea touched down.

Searching until sufficiently satisfied that he had what he sought, Cekell solemnly stepped to the edge of his barrier. “Cekell sorry.” He pitifully squeaked out. Hanging his head in shame and falling to his knees, he slowly outstretched his arms towards Rhystea, and offered his findings up to her. “Cekell sorry.” He repeated.

Tears once again overflowed Rhystea’s eyes when she saw what was in his grimy, blood soaked hands: it was several strands of hair. Her hair. She hadn’t even noticed it had been cut, but recalling the way the webbing was slashed away right next to her face, realized it must have been then. That’s what had sent Cekell into a hellbent berserk rage. The world started to spin and she fell to her knees, which prompted Cekell to start sobbing, repeating “Cekell sorry… Cekell sorry….” Over and over and over again.

Rhystea was lethargic, she couldn’t so much as blink or breath, all she could manage was to watch the scene in front of her, of Cekell’s blubbering apology. She slumped forward to support herself against the barrier between them and lightly coughed, gasping for breath. Recovering a little bit, she softly called out, “Cekell.”

Cekell flinched and fell silent, but wouldn’t look at her as, still, his head hung low. “Cekell.” Rhystea repeated, just a bit louder. He still would not lift his eyes to her. She clapped her hands together loudly and held her arms out to him. Hearing the sound, Cekell raised his scrunched up countenance just enough to catch a glimpse of her outstretched arms.

Seeing this, Cekell quickly dispelled his barrier and leapt up at her. Catching him in an embrace, Rhystea reeled him in tightly. The warborn seemed so small as he once again started wailing and repeating his apology. Rhystea squeezed him as tightly as she could. She didn’t even notice that, while he was by no means warm, he wasn’t freezing cold.

Verakry had been silent, but finally expressed a soft and simple, “Thank you.”

“For what?” Rhystea snarled disgustedly at the shadow cloaked figure.

Verakry was taken aback, and paused a moment before elaborating, “For bringing yourself into this test, and showing me how serious he could be, all with an unfamiliar Umbral point. There was no hesitation on either of your parts, and even with a single drop of low quality dark matter I provided him, he vastly outperformed my expectations. Even enhanced enemies were brushed aside as he obsessed with a single target. This was most enlightening, and for your part, I thank you.”

Once again, Verakry’s words hit her like a hammer hits a nail, and her anger was shattered, reformed and redirected. All on her own, she waltzed out to the enemy. No preparation. No plan. She was lucky to have made it through that relatively unscathed, with just a few shortened hairs. That very easily could have been much worse, and she had no one else to blame but herself.

Rhystea didn’t say anything in reply, but was incredibly thankful when Verakry vanished. After a few moments of listening to Cekell continue to wail, she lifted him up to have a better look at him. “You’re covered- we’re covered in grossness!” Were the first words she could find to meagerly squeak out.

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