Melody of Mana

From above came a falling spear of light and fury. Ormien landed atop the wolf, sword blazing white as he poured mana into it. They twisted and turned, but as they did the fray was quickly joined by our own lupine friend.

Now that it was bright enough the golem could see the umbral wolf, and it wasted no time getting to work. With a leap it was upon the two other combatants, jaws trying to lock upon the throat of its enemy. Within a few seconds the three combatants were rolling in a ball of claws, teeth and blade, growling and screaming in anger.

Even though I needed to keep the light going if we were to deal with this abomination I still wanted to get some hits in where I could. That in mind I began charging up a bolt. Keeping both spells ready at once was a pain, a real one, but it was needed if we were to have the best chance at this creature.

Ulanion looked a bit put off, with no arrows there was little he could contribute to this fight, but he stayed in the wings, ready for any chance he might get. I could see him reach down and pick up a broken piece of plaster, throwing it when the umbral wolf's head popped up. It didn't do much other than distract the beast for an instant.

Individually we'd all tried, and failed, against this monster. Ormien had lost his arm, the golem, nearly a leg. Ulanion and I had thrown what we could but it just wasn't enough. Together though the tide began to turn. It started slowly at first, a few small cuts from a sword here, a slightly off bite there, but one by one the injuries added up, with my light above the creature seemed hampered.

It seemed to realize this too, and as shadowy blood poured from a growing number of wounds it kicked, sending a bit of the floor in a path at my head. Once again time seemed to slow to a crawl as the hunk of stone zipped at me, and once again I was saved. In front of me a body appeared, taking the shot full on. Ulanion grunted as he was pushed back into me.

For a second I lost my concentration and the light dimmed, ever so slightly. In that moment our enemy struck. It aimed for the false wolf, either deciding it was the bigger threat or simply not liking it taking that particular form. With a quick snap and sound of rending metal it broke the golem's neck, shredding the metal there with a passing of jaws.

I didn't have time to look down at the moaning form at my feet, determined to recover and kill this thing once and for all. As I looked for my opening it turned on Ormien. I thought I almost saw it smile as it grabbed him by the arm, tearing the regrown appendage off once more. He fell as he lost that arm again, his sword clattering from the severed hand.

It lay one paw upon the fallen elf, raking its claws across his stomach and causing him to scream in agony. I needed seconds more, just a bit more and a clear shot. With a chuff it looked up, turning to me and licking its jowls hungrily. Slowly it took a step, eyes locked with mine, hatred, rage, and hunger clear in its gaze.

Ormien though, from where he'd fallen reached out. The monster had made a mistake in taking his eyes off the vengeful elf, and in response the warrior had regained his sword. It blazed brighter than I'd yet seen in his hand as he turned and plunged it into the beast's throat. It wasn't enough though and the wolf thrashed, sending the already broken elf into the nearby wall to the sound of a sickening crunch.

That was all the time I needed for a full powered bolt though, and a perfect spot to aim. With an outstretched hand I loosed the spear of electricity at the enchanted sword. It landed as the light of Ormien's mana faded from the blade, and danced along the metal into the monster. The room shook as thunder followed, and I had to blink the afterimage from my eyes.

When I opened them I could see the Umbral Wolf on its side. Strangely as its dead eyes lost the last of their sense it seemed to slowly melt. The shadows that composed it faded, evaporating off bit by bit until only bones remained behind.

Below me Ulanion groaned in pain, trying to rise. When I looked at him though he pointed to the other man, indicating that I should try to save the newcomer to our team. So I did, I rushed to the side of the once again broken Ormien.

He wheezed breaths in and out, eyes searching the ceiling above him but unable to properly see. In a second I could tell that he was worse off than any I'd tried to treat before, with guts hanging out and a missing limb, not to mention however many broken bones.

"Is it dead?" he asked weakly.

"Yes, hold on. Just hold on for a bit while I patch you up." I began to hum, aiming first for his vital organs, as I'd been trained.

Sadly as I worked I could feel it slipping. He'd lost so much blood, and it was still pouring out of him like a fount. I patched, and patched but he still bled, and there was so much damage. His lungs were punctured, liver too, half of his intestines were being held in by my hands as well. None of this even mentioned all the cuts, each oozing precious blood. If we'd had a priest, or even another healer it might have been enough, but on my own I was insufficient.

"My love, oh how I have missed you my dear Ilazia," Ormien muttered, reaching out with his good hand. He had a smile on his face of absolute peace as he gave one final wheezing breath, like a sigh escaping him.

Once again I felt the life leave one of my patients. I gasped in horror as that sensation hit me. It was visceral, so very deep. This elf, who'd seen horror and come to fight again, who'd lost so much slipped away. With my hands over him I felt him die, the healing magic stopping in its task and beginning to slip around his now cooling corpse.

I shakily stood, trying to hold back the tears as I moved to Ulanion. He'd propped himself against a wall and leaned back, and as I approached his eyes settled on me.

"He's dead." I could hear the sadness in his voice as I stumbled towards him, it wasn't a question, but a clear statement of fact.

"Y-yeah." I reached out and began healing my still living companion.

Ulanion had taken the rock that had been meant for me, and had it landed where intended I would surely have died. However physical magic users were made of some pretty tough stuff, and while he was injured even without my aid he'd probably have survived. The bruising was still pretty nasty though, and taking the time to fix it now would save some later, it also gave me something else to focus on, and try to calm my trembling.

After a few moments he reached out a hand, lightly touching my shoulder. "I've heard that it's bad when they die on you, but it'll be okay, you'll be okay."

I'd seen a lot of death since coming to this world, even caused a bit. I'd seen beasts, and men, and magical creatures all die. Normally I could just shake it off, try to push through with a bit of dark humor or any other emotion, but feeling it like that was different. It was just visceral, deep in my heart and painful when I felt him go.

I wept, falling to the wall beside Ulanion and crying. It didn't last long, but I had to let it out. Here, in a dark hall full of the bones of that monster's victims I cried, letting my emotions take over and just vent. After a few minutes I stopped though, just too emotionally spent to continue. I leaned back and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself again.

"How are you doing there?" The elf asked from his spot beside me.

"Not great," I answered.

"Care to talk about it?"

"I... when they die it's just so bad, like someone ripping out my own heart."

"I knew a priest, every time someone died on him he emptied his stomach. Right then, right there, said there was nothing he could do, it was just like that. Compared to that I think you're doing pretty well."

"Thanks," I said, frowning a bit.

"I mean it. Same guy told me that when it happened in their hospital whoever it was treating them took the rest of the day to recenter themselves unless it was an emergency. It's been a bad day Alana, a real bad one. I'm no healer, so I can't really empathize with you too much, but if you need to talk, or vent, go ahead." With that said Ulanion waited. I could tell he was looking at me, seeing if I needed anything, and strangely knowing that there was someone with me, that I wasn't alone helped.

"Later maybe, how's the golem?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Head's half off and the eyes are out. Might be able repair it later, but we'd need to take it back up to that box I think." I heard him rise and start moving.

"What are you doing?" I asked, watching as he went over to the bones of the umbral wolf.

"I know that it's not right, but if there's anything else I'll need a weapon. Without one I'm basically useless." He drew the sword out from where it lay in the bones, whispering a brief apology to Ormien as he took the other elf's scabbard for it.

I rose, looking at the den that was this hallway. "This place creeps me out, why did it bring all these bones down here? For that matter why aren't the enchantments fixing or cleaning it all? It's weird."

"Don't know, let's take a look around."

The hall was filled with bodies, most of them very decayed, but a few noticeably fresher. For whatever reason that monster had decided to store all of it's victims here. None were chewed on, and while some were ripped up it didn't look like it was eating them or anything.

"Are these... arranged?" As I saw more and more of the dead I began to notice that they were all in groups of similar size.

There were a number of piles, but all seemed to be basically similar within their own. The children were all together, as were the adolescents. Even the bigger ones were in the same place, like the large men all had been put together.

"Hey, didn't they say that it was Ormien's wedding that got attacked first?" Ulanion asked.

"Yeah, killed his bride and lots of the guests," I responded.

"Well, that one is in wedding attire." He pointed toward one skeleton.

What must have been our companion's betrothed sat on her own, an outfit clearly meant for dancing, covered in coins adorning her body. For whatever perverse reason the monster had decided not to put her with the others, instead having her separated, laid against a piece of wall.

"I'm glad that thing is dead," I commented, it had clearly been too smart, and malicious.

There were a number of magical monsters in this world, many horrifyingly dangerous. That said they often fell into two groups when killing people, those that were hunting for food, and those that lashed out when disturbed. This kind of malice was rare, almost unheard of, if a monster was killing people it was almost always because it was hungry, or they'd wandered into its den. On the other hand this thing hadn't been eating anything from what I could see, and the elves it hunted were certainly here long before it, and not anywhere near this place.

"Agreed, one moment." Ulanion turned, returning a few moments later with the body of the would-be groom, which he laid beside his beloved, elves didn't have much in the way of burial rites, since they seemed to seldom die, and I didn't know if the villagers would ever return to put these people in proper graves.

I reached down to move Ormien's legs into a better position and saw all the blood from him on my hands. It shocked me for a moment, but I quickly regained myself. I almost cast a cleaning spell, but that felt disrespectful, so instead I summoned a bit of water off to the side and scrubbed them.

As we continued to look around this place we found a small junction box. It was trying to repair itself, and failing miserably. From the look of it the beast had chewed it out probably hundreds of times, finally ripping enough that the spells maintaining the building had a hard time on the repair work. At the current rate it would be days, or perhaps a week before it was done. It also answered how that thing had kept taking out the lights, it must have understood that those boxes were important somehow.

We didn't need to look too much before we found the sign for stairs. At that point both of us were more than ready to leave this place. Even if it took us a long time to find the others getting away from here would be a mercy.

Sadly it wasn't to be. The first floor's worth of stairs had been wrecked by that monster, probably in case any living things made it down here. I didn't doubt it wouldn't want anyone to escape. They lay on the floor in a heap, the flights only starting a good ways up.

There was something else. On the wall near where the stairs going down would be, had there been any was some writing. I'd expected to find some more English somewhere here, but as I saw it I stood stock still. That king had certainly liked his jokes.

"Open sesame?" I sighed, tired of this place. Any potential exit was something I wanted.

"What in the world!?" Ulanion tried to jump in front of me as the floor split, pulling back to reveal another set of stairs leading down into the darkness.