Tyrant's Ebb

Tyrant's Ebb, chapter 1 - The Survivors pt I

Jess

Half a day since the new Mark of the Other One blossomed.

Jess marvelled at her own brilliance for a moment until anger washed it away. What now? To make sure Eric and the others had left the gateway, she, Kauri, Mai and Robert had rested for a little while, asking Becca for any information she was willing to share and contemplated their next move.

She had barely taken in the mountainous terrain around them when the cool air had begun flowing backwards and she had reacted by instinct. Something was attacking the four of them, barrages of brightly coloured elements now held at bay by Jess' walls of ice.

By the looks of those meagre trickles of power pounding the ice, she had faced much worse only last night. She could not have been at full strength, yet she did not feel threatened by the multiple assaulters.

"Robert, Mai, take the sides! Kauri, you watch our backs!" Having spent this earth year or god knows how many moons in this world had not given Kauri the best of ability to control his powers. They would have to keep most of the assailants in front of them. "Get ready!"

She reinforced the barrier from behind while letting the battered face of the wall rearrange itself and explode in a hail of icy shards all around them. As the wall of ice crumbled and Jess noticed the first victims of their counterattack. Wounded by the looks of it, but not severely. At least they looked human for now, but if any of them should turn into something with tendrils, then god help them.

"All clear!" Kauri quickly notified everyone.

Jess poured all her will into eliminating the pests in her sight. They were more resilient than she had taken them to be and a nasty doubt had risen in her mind. "Do you see a way to flee?" She demanded from Kauri behind her.

"Only the gateway. This cliff is a dead end!" Came his reply, his voice urgent.

Would it work quickly enough? Would the damned lump of rock work fast enough to shield them from harm? Trying to withstand the intensifying assault with walls of ice and hail of razor-sharp spears she looked around for a way to activate the gateway.

"It's weathered!" Realisation struck her like a punch in the face. The nine pillars still towered around this gateway but hues of greys and moss covered all the stone surfaces. "God-damned shit-heads!"

Roaring obscenities, she abandoned the relative cover the pillars of the gateway provided and advanced on their assaulters with newfound fury. In the back of her mind a tiny needle still poked Jess. Do not cross the limit, do not take too much!

But god damn it, it felt good. What did she have to be afraid of? Some of those facing her were using quite a lot of their power, but she still stood firm and so did Robert and Mai. Were they testing them or did they not want to kill them, it did not matter. They would now pay the price for their arrogance.

Conjuring a long spike of ice and plunging it into the ground, Jess sent a massive wave of ice and water towards their assaulters. At first glance their number had not thinned at all, but four frozen figures entered her vision.

She did not let up, and alongside her Mai, Kauri and Robert focused their efforts. One man took a spear of ice into his shoulder and out the other side, the second had his legs torn into a bloody mess by a hail of shards. A woman was clutching her side, blood visible on her hand and a fourth had fallen unconscious. If he was dead, it was his own fault.

"Shouldn't we find out what their problem is?" Robert sputtered as his firestorm broke through the defences of another group of four.

"Fuck'em! They started it!" Jess shouted furiously.