Wars of Heaven and Earth

Out of the frying pan..

We managed to dodge the spirits that had wandered into town, scaring the living daylights out of the locals. Ramael chattered away like a mad man during the entire ordeal, while the rest of us kept to ourselves, very much aware of the weapons the spirits had. Eventually we passed through the south gate and headed back into the desert. 

Thankfully, our trip wasn't as hellish as last time. Ramael had an abundance of knowledge about the desert and its many workings. Within two days, we were headed out of the desert, and deeper south. Eventually the shifting sands gave way to a dark and blasted landscape.

The trees that grew here were stunted, and twisted. The air was oddly cold, and the sky was perpetually overcast with dark clouds. The ground was comprised mostly of swamps, with few areas of dry land. This further impeded travel, as Leucos had an unnatural habit of getting stuck up to his knees in mud. Ramael wasn't much better off, although we stopped frequently as his sandals continued to come off as the mud refused to release them.

Tyra and I fared better as we both wore sturdy boots. Although Tyra seemed to have it the easiest out of all of us. She was strong enough to often times walk through the thick mud without slowing her pace at all.

"Why are we even here..this is no place for creatures like us.." Tyra muttered.

"We're here because Realtai says that the end of our journey is further south." I replied, while pulling my foot out of the mud.

"You southerners and your backwards gods.." Tyra said, earning a glare from Leucos.

I shrugged and continued walking. We managed to squeeze a few more miles out of our bodies before we found a small hill that rose above the swamp. I lit a small fire with magic, and we rationed out our dwindling food supplies.

"That will be a problem before long." Tyra said while gesturing at the small amount of food we still had left.

"I know. Hopefully we can get out of this area before we run out of food.." I said.

"Hope only goes so far. If I die in this damn swamp, I'm blaming you." Tyra said while glaring at me.

"Gee. Thanks." I deadpanned.

Eventually, the overcast day gave way to night. The surrounding landscape was already so bleak that the flickering light of the fire seemed to be swallowed up by the darkness. The nothing moved in the swamp, and an eerie silence swallowed up all thought. No animals could be heard, not even the sound of the wind ghosting through the dead trees could be heard.

Eventually my watch came and gone, I returned to my bundle of blankets, and fell into a fitful sleep.

I woke to the sound of screaming. Something was off, as I sat up and looked around, already wide awake after being startled out of my dreams. Tyra was hacking at some creature that seemed to be made out of the swamp itself. There were several of them, each comprised of mud, twigs, and grass. They were vaguely humanoid in appearance, however their facial features continuously shifted as the mud they were made out of flowed down to the ground.

They made no sound aside from an odd choked, whistling noise, that sounded as if someone was trying to suck in air, but couldn't no matter how hard they tried.

Pulling myself from my makeshift bed, I ran towards Tyra. She was busy hacking at one of the creatures with her ax, although the moment she lodged the head of the weapon into the "skull" of the creature, she was unable to pull it loose.

"Damn it! That was my favorite ax" She muttered while preparing to draw her sword. Although at the last moment, she seemed to rethink hitting the creature with another, more prized weapon. Instead she raised her fists and glared at the mass of mud and detritus.

"I don't care what type of ugly you are, I'll send you straight to Hel with my bare hands if I have to!" She said while raising her fist to strike.

Thankfully, Leucos created a small circle comprised of fire and blasted the creature to pieces.

"Well. That works too I guess." Tyra said, shrugging as she retrieved her ax from the remains of the creature.

Leucos rolled his eyes, however his expression quickly changed to one of shock. He pointed at the creature he had just destroyed. 

"They're reforming..How? I don't understand.." He muttered.

"Leucos, quit whining and blast it again! I'm too young to die!" Ramael shouted as he cut through the "arm" of another creature that had been approaching from behind.

"Shut up!" Leucos snapped as he blew another creature to bits.

The fight continued like this for several minutes. We would dispatch the swamp creatures several times and in varying fashions, yet no matter what tactics we utilized, they continued to reform.

"Something isn't right here..these things shouldn't exist.." I muttered. My mind already looking for the answer.

"How could I be so stupid!" I shouted as I blasted apart another creature who had gotten far too close.

"If you figured something out, mind sharing it with the rest of us?!" Tyra shouted as she grappled with her opponent.

"These..things, they're not actual living creatures, they're constructs!" I said.

However, oddly enough, upon uttering that, each of the creatures disappeared, leaving us, tired, and mud spattered.

"Well..now that we're done with that..lets go eat breakfast." Ramael said while creeping towards the bag where our rations were stored.

"Oh no you don't!" Leucos shouted as he grabbed Ramael by the back of the shirt and dragged him away from the food.

"No! My love! Wait for me! I'll return some day!" Ramael called to the ration bag.

"Were you dropped on your head as a child." Leucos snapped.

"No. Although it all started when I was six.." That was as far as Ramael got before Leucos got fed up and cuffed him on the back of the head.

From there, it devolved into a small scale fist fight.

I was so caught up in their antics, I nearly missed the feeling of one of my perimeter wards going off. Something was coming, and whatever it was had disabled my barriers without breaking a sweat. Chills ran down my spine as I heard something drop into the water behind me.

--------------------Authors Note-------------------

Holy hell can you believe I wrote this in one day?! Go me!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

I got 2's for both of my events in Solo and Ensemble, yay!! Nearly decked a seventh grader on Friday but that's minor hehe.

Without further ado, the theory section

What in the world do you think is going on?

Vote, Comment, Fan! (I don't charge)

Have a nice day, and see you next week for the next chapter!!!

P.S I kinda like the centering option hehe. My OCD is satisfied..