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(cheesy grin.) This is fun… Okay, I might change a few things up, but hopefully nothing too drastic. Gonna try to follow suite….

 

(The Aemirok is a creature of myf – legendary, mythic fantasy creature from my character’s world – that I had previously introduced. It is pretty much a massive flying wolf. As tall as an elephant but slim as a wolf. It’s wings are literally capable of affecting the weather [example, in the book it causes an avalanche with its wings and also stirs up what amounts to a cyclone during a storm] and it can spit liquid ice that is actually a poison called creeping ice – Abirami does have an antidote for it)

(The gippscolide is a massive, giant worm [also a creature of myf] – think worm from the movie Dune and it’s pretty close – it has no teeth but is so gigantic it can digest huge amounts of earth and has such high pressures in its digestive tract that it produces diamonds as excrement – I know, it’s gross, but kinda cool too. =)  Abirami can directly effect the size of the animal he transforms into, so instead of the full sized gippscolide, which could swallow a large house whole easy, he will transform into one small enough that it easily fits inside the room.)

 

Abirami 

I ran across the room towards where the others were after screaming. Thankfully, a few of them heard me and were running toward the wall.

Why not the door they had entered from? Oh well, perhaps common sense isn’t the same on other worlds.

Upon reaching the wall they started climbing. Augmenting the bat’s echolocation, I let out a click. Ah. There was a door… in the middle of the wall, halfway up toward the ceiling… By the Maker, this place was the strangest… wait.

Two others weren’t with the pack. They were running in the opposite direction, toward an opening in the floor against the far left wall. What were they doing?

Even worse, there seemed to be another two people who weren’t moving at all. Looking back, the main head of the swarm was chasing after me and towards the larger group – not to mention the two oblivious barking agitants.

“Run!” I screamed again, dropping my robe behind me. Running straight for the two, I continued to yell.

Lorcan, I think his name was, completely ignored me. No wonder Ku didn’t like him. His ego seemed bigger than the sword he brandished about. I had felt sorry for what I did to him upon our first meeting, but now… what, was he deaf?

The female he was arguing with looked at me condescendingly and with a cold stare that, for a second, I actually felt like I had done something wrong.

“And why would I listen to a half-naked bimbo like-”

The buzzing in my ear immediately redirected my thoughts from her commanding stare, and urgency, with a bit of anger, filled my chest. Augmenting the bear’s voice, I boomed over her objection, “MOVE!”

Whether it was the excessive volume of my voice, or recognition of what was behind me, the woman’s face went pale, in sharp contrast to her pink hair – like a ghost that got dipped in cotton candy.

Taking the augment of the bear one step further, I garnished its muscles, grabbed Lorcan by the back of his coat and flung him high up onto the wall.

It was a gamble, but I was betting on his ego. It was big enough to catch him.

Sure enough, Lorcan drew his sword mid-flight and thrust it into the wall before impact, using his upper body strength to keep him stable while he fumbled for grips along the climbing wall.

Peppered dots began passing my periphery, and I knew I had no more time. Grabbing the pink-haired prima dona’s hands, I spun them around me, planting them onto my shoulders as I hefted her onto my back. Surprisingly, she moved ever so gracefully and clung so lightly that I barely felt her weight upon me.

“Hold on tight,” I warned with a growl. “Things are going to get a bit bumpy.”

Whatever she had been saying, or was saying, didn’t register.

My vision blurred into darkness as the swarm began enveloping us. I could stand the stings and the bites, but I hoped the dainty lass upon my back could handle it. Just a second more.

Transforming into the Aemirok, I bounded out of the stream of insects and skidded to a stop, turning around as I did. The girls screams were annoying, and she was pulling my fur way to hard, but it was more than I expected… at least she hadn’t fallen off. Thank the Maker!

Facing the oncoming horde, I tapped into the reserve in took in a long breath, spitting the creeping ice at the oncoming hive in a long stream, temporarily encasing the area from ceiling to floor with ice. It wouldn’t hold for long, and I knew the bugs were smart enough to circumnavigate my antic, but it would at least be time enough for me to get this balding machine off my back!

Lifting off with my wings, I flew toward the now open door in the middle of the wall. I grunted and strained to focus on the essence as pain erupted from my back. And I thought it she was bad enough on the ground! Amazing she didn’t fall off.

Finally, I hovered just beside the door, and I could see Lorcan offer her a hand. I roared and about reared back to bite her as she stepped out onto my wing.

My wing can’t hold your weight!

Thankfully, Lorcan swung out, one hand holding the edge of the door, and caught her by the hand, using his momentum to swing her back, up, and into room behind him.

I grinned. Ku may not like him, but at least one thing’s for him: he’s not incompetent.

My energy was quickly waning, as it always did when transforming into creatures of myf. I had to find the last remaining two now. Even if they were corpses by now. But the people behind me weren’t closing the door! What were they doing?

I had to choose. Stay and defend, or go on the chance of saving the last two.

Oh, blast it all. If Lorcan and the others thought they could hold of the bugs, so be it. Their choice. Surely they can close a door on a bunch of insects should they need to.

Giving one more blast of ice toward the oncoming black mass, I dove toward the last place I’d seen the remaining two people.

Blackness enveloped me, and I couldn’t even see the end of my snout. A blast of ice from my maw didn’t seem to do anything. So I dropped out of the draining essence of the aemirok and augmented the skin of the crayfish. At least that would protect me from most of the insects.

Dregging up the fleeting reserve of energy, I double augmented, calling upon the bat’s echolocation once more. It was the only viable choice in this bog of creeping blackness.

The vision came of two bodies floating just under the floor along the wall’s edge. Such a weird vision. Apparently there was water over there in the crevice. However, just how long could they hold their breath?

Racing over, I dove in. I opened my eyes, but berated my stupidity. Of course I still wouldn’t be able to see anything.

Quickly, I tried to think of what could work. Within my arsenal of animals, what could help me out of this situation…

I swallowed hard, dreading the plan that formulated. It wouldn’t be easy, but I couldn’t see any other way.

I slowly sank to the bottom absent-mindedly as I brought all my focus toward my task. I didn’t even notice when I subconsciously augmented the gills of the varocudo.

Small. Think… REALLY small…

The essence slowly formed, and I felt the heat of transformation, then fire burning at my sides as I pressed hard against the sides of the crevice.

Struggling to make room for my lungs to expand, I screamed inside my head, “Smaller!”

The pressure finally loosening, I nearly blacked out from the effort and the focus. My energy was nearing its last. I had to make this quick.

Slithering through the water, I opened my mouth as I felt the faint touch of physical objects before me. Swallowing them, then holding it open for  a bit longer, just in case – to make sure I had taken both of them in, I close my maw and jutted up out of the water.

The bugs could do nothing to me in this form, and the gippscolide had no eyes to begin with, so I moved with purpose until my mouth hit the wall.

“Larger now.”

Slowly changing my size, I reared up my head and thrust it through the wall, hoping it was within the range of the room I needed it to be.

Breaking through, I opened my mouth and emptied it of both water and whatever else I had caught up in it. Hopefully those two survivors…

Transforming back into my bipedal form, I fell into the room, stumbled and rolled. Turning, I quickly augmented the creeping ice of the Aemirok. I was working on pure adrenaline now.

Spitting it out, I covered the opening I had made with ice.

With that done, I dropped the essence and about screamed in pain, except nothing came out.

I had never augmented the Aemirok’s poisoned ice before. And now I wish I hadn’t. The ice was coating my throat, and my regular body couldn’t handle it. It was freezing up and spreading.

Dropping to the floor, rolling around in anguish, I heaved heavily with each waning breath, my hands to  my throat, barely getting enough oxygen.

With blurred sight, I could see some of the newcomers were either shying away or brandishing weapons, while Lorcan stood between them and me, his back to me and his hands out… was he protecting me?

And a pair of dainty feet were running up to me too, but my vision blacked out soon after. I had to focus on fixing this. A surge of relief spread as my body augmented the remedy, spreading it throughout the damaged area.

Whoever was hovering above me, it seemed as if they were really worried about me. Yelling and shaking me about, but I was just too tired. Letting it go, I slipped into unconsciousness.

 

(Whew!!! That was fun! lol. Change anything you don’t like, but hopefully that is good for you guys…. lol. the scene where I throw Lorcan legit reminded me and seemed like it could have been a scene straight out of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. hahaha.)