The Dreamer's Fall

Chapter 19 - Minaan's Kin

Arthur turned toward the portal after hearing a deep guttural roar. A creature nearly nine feet tall stood upright before Fenric.

Its slender body was covered in pale white skin as if it had never seen the light of day. Long spikes of bone jutted out from its back like an oversized porcupine. The creature's arms appeared far too long for its body, with its eight-inch claws resting nearly a foot below its knees.

It didn't appear to have eyes. Instead, its head looked like a helmet carved from a triangular prism of bone, with its fang-addled mouth lying deeply concave from its pointed nose and chin.

Two pairs of horns crowned its head, with the first pair bulging out and running parallel to its face as the second pair flared straight toward its back. The creature was one of Minaan's kin, a mindless beast intent on devouring anything that moved, known to the people of Nithe as an abyssal.

As soon as Arthur saw it, his fear made it feel as though someone was grasping his heart, slowly increasing the pressure with each breath he took. And before he could acclimate, another abyssal stepped through the portal, followed by another a moment later.

"I don't mean to rush you, lord, but the captain is probably going to need help. So..." Alan announced as he knelt before Arthur, breaking him free from his frozen state.

Arthur quickly unlocked his collar, and the lieutenants ran off toward Fenric in a flash. He turned to Foster and unsheathed the slim sword he kept on his hip before handing it to him.

Foster hesitated after receiving it. "Young master, what about you?"

Arthur shook his head and raised his hand. "Just take it and make sure that we don't die."

He never intended to use the sword in the first place, at least not on his trip to The Cat's Cradle. Instead, the sword was an extra layer of security meant to act as a diversion for his captors if he got captured. If they saw a kid with a sword, they'd take it away and not think to check Arthur beyond that.

At least that's what Arthur had planned for, yet his little diversion went somewhat unused this time as the fake barkeep Ivan didn't seem concerned with it, and Ponn likely had no intention to search him in the first place.

His sword skills were lousy anyhow. Like most modern men, Arthur had little occasion to learn swordplay on Earth, and on Nithe, the entirety of his focus was on magic. So outside, the few times he swung it around like a fool while alone in his room, it remained in its sheath.

Arthur glanced back to the portal. There were now five abyssals fighting the three mercenaries. Some stood upright, swinging their lanky arms like flails, while others dashed around on all fours, attempting to flank them.

He watched as Fenric and his two lieutenants launched explosion spells in rapid succession, but any damage the abyssals took seemed to heal by the time they cast the next attack. Of course, their self-healing wasn't instant, but it was quick enough for Arthur to observe flesh regrowing in real time.

They didn't appear to fear using their magical self-healing ability either. On the contrary, the abyssals seemed unfazed by the damage, running right through the inferno of flames as their burnt flesh sloughed off their bones, only for it to be regrown a few moments later.

The trio didn't seem interested in destroying the abyssal's mana core, opting to use the method Kyren had described of hitting them until they couldn't heal anymore.

As another abyssal stepped through the portal, Arthur stopped watching the intense battle and ran to the nearest occupied cage before unlocking it.

He wasn't sure if it was much safer outside the cell than inside, but at least now, the prisoners had a choice. So, after explaining that the only secure tunnel was the one that led to The Cat's Cradle, he dashed to the next locked cell.