The enemy was still waiting for them by the edge of the water. Even without being able to see the four Masters, the creatures seemed to instinctively know where they were hiding.
They stood still as statues, facing the forest with empty, lifeless eyes. Anyone who viewed them might have thought they were frozen in time, a testament to some untold horror.
But it was they who were the horrors.
They waited to be noticed —acknowledged by the beings of this world, but there was no one to see. So they remained unmoving.
But then a rustle in the trees arrested their attention. Something was out there. Their eyes silently searched the dark forest, but they did not think to check the direction from which their foe had approached.
Up.
Suddenly, one of them saw a shimmer among the stars. "There!" She called. Like a pouncing animal, the soldiers leapt into action.
The air filled with arrows as the archers among them shot at the sky.
"Follow them!"
The rest of the soldiers sprang to life like those having woken from a dream. But before they could make chase, an arrow fell from the clouds in answer to their volley.
It landed in their midst, releasing a shock to those closest to it and incapacitating the center of the group.
Above them, Helie smiled.
"Nice shot!" Noble could see many fall in the darkness.
Sure, the brunette could have killed many of them with a different Memory, but they had decided against killing them just yet.
It was quite possible—probable even–that these creatures could respawn when they were killed. If they reformed by coming out of the mirror, and by extension, close to Syrce, their cohort might win a battle only to lose the war. Right now, the bulk of the mirror beings was separated from the Saint, and the group would like to keep it that way.
So for the moment, they only aimed to stop the mass of mirror beings from entering the gates of the city.
Unfortunately, they had been spotted in the night sky. Aether's affinity for the stars had given him a luster that Noble could not hide, even with her cape and bracelets, so the team had resorted to their backup plan.
They needed to get to the gates ahead of the soldiers and shut them out. That would hopefully stall them long enough to make it to Syrce without their interference.
'Assuming none of them can fly.' Noble immediately wanted to hit herself for even thinking such things.
All of Maelys's soldiers were Awakened, but so far none of them had taken to the air. The gift of flight was a rare power, but that didn't mean it was impossible for one of the people who lived in Bastion in years passed to have the Ability.
'They can't read my thoughts, thankfully…'
Noble gritted her teeth as they neared the gate. It was large and made big enough for giants beyond Noble's comprehension. It would be no small task to shut.
The gate had been sitting open when they arrived. With no human inhabitants and a lake surrounding the water, there was no reason for it to be shut. Had they ever moved before?
'They will now!'
"I didn't stun all of them," Helie lamented. "There are just too many!"
"We have to stall." Noble guided her companions ahead of the approaching mob.
"On it!" Roan summoned his echo and climbed on the griffin's back.
Lightning fell from the sky and struck in front of the mirror people. The sound and shock of the air caused those closest to slow their pursuit.
"If you are going to do that…" Helie turned the ground to sand. The water beneath seeped into the crevices, turning the turf to mud.
But even this only slowed the monsters momentarily. The copies of the Awakened seemed unstoppable, climbing over each other to chase after the cohort.
The Masters were running out of space to put between themselves and the copies before they reached the gate.
Noble's powers were not useful here, so she prepared to speed ahead, but not before giving some parting advice.
"Aether, use your starlight!"
Noble felt the man's emotions spike.
"That was just a theory!"
"Do it anyway!" Roan prepared for another bolt. "Go, Bel. Get the gate. The rest of us will go on the count of three."
Nodding, Noble left them behind, monitoring Helie and Aether's altitude as she left. Behind her, the cohort leader counted.
"One, two, three!"
Roan pointed at the spot for the attack. He aimed his lightning at the sand. The force of the electricity evaporated the standing water and heated the sand, the magical energy turning the surface instantly to glass.
The monsters slid along the slick surface, unable to stop their momentum.
At the same time, Helie used her power to make the edge of the glass open into a pit. Monsters tumbled into the earth. They clawed against the closing earth, determined to remain free of its clutches.
But just as the first broke the surface from the hole, a streak of starlight draped across the chasm. Another bridged the expanse and then another, forming a strange patchwork of the Master's own design.
Aether had managed to string light together loosely in the sky to fill the pattern of the moon. He had sewn the pieces of it together, or at least that is how he had made it look from the ground. It was that needlework that had given him the idea that he could do more than just wield starlight as a blade.
The strings of light knitted across the hole like a radiant net of light, trapping many of the soldiers inside. The rest were held back, unable to cross the chasm without landing on top of the glowing starlight.
"Amazing!" Roan's mouth fell open slightly. That was not something he could have done with his lightning, at least not just now. Maybe with Tyris's help, they could construct something… but that was a project for another day. Either way, the cohort leader was astonished by Aether's skill.
That was not to say it was easy. Sweat formed on the young man's brow. He was having trouble maintaining the shape of the net. It pulsed, trying to hold its rigid form.
Hands grasped at the starlight, ignoring the searing pain without a single whimper.
Either because of the pressure of those behind or because they were no longer able to hold their footing, the people still on the glassy surface pushed into the net as well.
Aether gritted his teeth, his power being pulled in strange and uncomfortable ways. A man pushed his way to the top of the heap and grabbed onto one of the incandescent strings. Instead of burning his hand to ashes, the soldier infused the netting with something red and ominous.
Aether gasped, his concentration breaking. The net shattered, dissolving into thousands of twinkles that dimmed and faded.
"I..I couldn't hold it. I am sorry!" The young man apologized. "I told you it was just a theory!"
"You did what you could." Roan grabbed Aether's arm and pulled him onto the griffin's back, repeating the same steps with Helie.
They rushed to their floating companion at top speed. They had stalled the enemy. Hopefully, it was enough.