Grey Nirmala
Can't you run a little faster?"
Hachiko's tired, frightened voice came from ahead of me. I frowned, sucking in sharp breaths.
"Sorry, but unlike you, I'm not a dog."
I called to Hachiko, who was sprinting in front. He glanced back for a heartbeat, then faced forward and sped up. That little move seriously ticked me off. Heavy, thunderous footsteps still pounded from behind us. I looked over my shoulder, narrowing my eyes at the sight.
"Looks like this monster has no intention of letting us go."
My voice was starting to fill with fear. The creature chasing us had razor eyes, huge fangs and claws. Its fur was pitch-black. Its impossible size wasn't helping our situation.
"Grey!"
Hachiko shouted at me. I snapped my focus forward again, toward Hachiko tearing down the tunnel.
"There's a hole a little farther ahead. If we get in there, we might shake the beast."
I barely had breath left to answer, so all I could do was nod. Our ability to speak mind-to-mind had disappeared once Hachiko took on a physical form.
"I hate fate," I thought to myself.
The monster's footsteps were closing in. I tried to send Aether into my legs, but failed. Without the runes, I couldn't properly control it. The creature roared; its disgusting drool sprayed everywhere. I swallowed hard and kept running for all I was worth. I saw Hachiko waiting for me beside a small hole ahead. My legs were giving out. Aether coursed through my body, yes, but without a direct source and channel it meant nothing. My vision blurred, my eyes drifting shut.
"Come on! I don't want to die here as some monster's snack!"
I clenched my teeth and my eyes flew wide. Hachiko barked in worry.
"Easy, partner, we're almost there."
I could feel the creature right behind me, its presence bearing down. I risked a glance and saw its claws slashing for me. I kicked my foot toward it, forcing myself up and forward. The strike brushed my chest. I hit the ground hard on my back and saw, just beyond my head, Hachiko and the hole. With everything I had, I hauled myself up and hurled forward. Hachiko dove in, and I jumped right after him. The monster snapped for me with its needle teeth, but I slipped inside just in time.
Once in, I was out of breath. I tried to draw in as much air as I could, then looked at Hachiko's canine form. I tried to stand and walk to him—, but couldn't, because I couldn't feel the leg that should have lifted me. My hands moved on their own to my right leg I couldn't feel. When I pulled them back, they were slick with blood. Confused, I looked down, and what I saw froze me in place. My right leg was gone. Nothing but flowing blood. Pain needed to rise but it didn't, only fear did.
I turned to Hachiko in panic. "Where the hell is my leg?!"
Hachiko looked at me, then at the pool of blood I'd left behind me.
"I think the monster ate it."
I stared at Hachiko in fury and fear. Sweat streamed down my face.
"Wha… What do you want me to do now? My leg is gone!"
I shouted at him. I got annoyed that he brushed it off like that.
Hachiko cocked his head.
"Maybe if you channel Aether into the wound, it'll heal. Remember that trick you used at the restaurant to bring that man back to life?"
I looked at Hachiko, then at my ruined leg.
"Yeah. That's not exactly something I can forget."
The image flashed before my hazy eyes: the man's unrecognizable, burned face. I pressed my right hand over the place my leg used to be. It hurt like hell at least in a point, but instinct and the need to live made me ignore the fear and pain. I drove every bit of Aether in my body into the Rune of Creation, and a golden light bloomed from my right palm. I focused all my thoughts on bringing back my severed leg, and did it. From the wound sprouted a golden, translucent Aetheric leg, but it wasn't enough. I broadened my focus and kept forming it: cells, vessels, bone, muscle, and finally skin took shape one by one. The Aetheric limb returned to the leg I'd lost. I sighed in relief and looked proudly at Hachiko.
"Easier than giving you a body."
Hachiko rolled his eyes, then glanced out through the opening toward the beast.
"It doesn't look like it's planning to leave us alone."
He sounded annoyed. I finally stood and swung my leg a few times.
"Good as new," I muttered.
After checking the glorious replacement, I turned back to Hachiko and ruffled the white dog's head.
"No need to worry. It's not going to wait out there forever."
Hachiko wagged his tail up and down.
"That damned bunny`s pet hasn't even shown all its tricks yet. I can feel some sort of trickery behind this monsters small brain.
"Yeah…"
I sighed. I'd completely forgotten the Pink Bunny. She'd told us to start running, and then that monster had smashed through the earthen wall behind her and charged us.
"A total bastard."
I frowned at the thought.
"I agree. If I see that killer bunny again, I'm ripping off those stupid ears and eating them raw."
Hachiko's voice dripped with hate, and apparently the thought made him hungry, because he licked his lips right after.
"I guess when you change forms, you get the instincts that come with it." Hachiko turned his head.
"Maybe."
I peeked out through the crack and saw the monster's back turned to us, as if it were waiting.
"Seems like it has a brain."
An animal without thought, moving only by instinct, wouldn't just stand there doing nothing.
"Yes, but we still have to get it out of our path. We don't even know where this tunnel leads, if it leads anywhere at all."
Hachiko stuck his head out of the fissure.
"Do you see any Aether around?"
I asked, watching the creature. Hachiko looked around.
"No. Not a single Aetheric particle."
He finally answered.
"I know. I'm almost completely drained. If I use the runes even one more time, I'll hit zero."
Hachiko wagged his tail and thwacked it against my leg.
"Don't worry. Worst case, you absorb me. The amount of Aether I've got should be enough to keep you going."
"That's only one possibility." I narrowed my eyes at the monster. "And if that Aether runs out, then what?"
Hachiko wagged again, thwacking my leg once more.
"Hey! Knock it off. I just fixed that leg. I don't want it getting dinged already."
I scolded him. The white dog ignored me and smacked my leg with his tail again. I sighed, lifted my foot, and the moment he brought his tail down, I stomped it with all my strength.
Hachiko yelped in pain. "Ow! Hey! That's animal abuse!"
I lifted my foot and watched the monster's reaction. It slowly twisted its head a full one-eighty and stared at us with blood-hungry eyes. Hachiko gulped.
"Well, that's definitely not terrifying at all."
He tried to joke, but even he collapsed under his own punchline.
"We've got one shot," I said, meeting the monster's ravenous gaze.
"What do you mean, one shot? What does that even—"
"Sorry," I said, looking at him with apologetic eyes, "but this is going to hurt a bit."
Hachiko opened his mouth to speak, then closed it without a word.
"I can't talk to you mind-to-mind, but I can still read those thoughts of yours. So annoying." He murmured to himself.
I shook my head, planted my hand against Hachiko's haunches. He braced, hind legs coiling, then leapt as I shoved.
"I am absolutely going to regret this in a minute," he said midair.
Hachiko flew straight into the monster's slobbering jaws. Using that opening, I slipped from the fissure and sprinted into the tunnel's dark end. The creature whipped its face toward me, but Hachiko snatched a stone from the ground in his mouth and flung it at the beast's face to yank its attention back. The stone smacked into its eye; the monster snarled and snapped back to Hachiko.
I gave my companion one last look, thanking him silently.
Then I just ran. Running was all I could think to do. Behind me, I heard the beast's roars and Hachiko's barks. Gasping for air, I kept going. The tunnel walls narrowed, the light faded. The deeper I went, the tighter it got. At this rate, I was going to get wedged in. I thought about using Destruction to open the way, but it was too risky.
"If I release the Rune of Destruction, this time it will truly be the last time."
I touched the tight walls. Hard and sturdy, but not beyond Destruction. I channeled the last shreds of Aether into Destruction. The rune flared, strength thrumming through me. I pressed the Rune of Ruin to the left wall and left one single thought in my mind: Destroy.
Black-violet fire crawled over the stone, left, right, above, below. With every lick of flame, I felt Aether bleeding out of me. Ruin began to pull me in, too. I couldn't allow it. The walls strained, and began to vanish. The black flames spread, swallowing everything. I ran forward. The blaze was gaining on me from behind, but even the walls ahead were already alight. Destruction defied place and time.
I didn't know if Destruction would hurt me. I'd never tested it on myself. But if I wanted out of this tunnel, the test had to be now.
I plunged through the black-violet flame. My body surged with a prickling jolt. I sped up. Aether flowed back into me. I halted Destruction and fed the fire's gathered Aether into Creation. The star-shaped rune glowed gold, and so did my nerves. Because I was sick of this. No matter how far I ran, I never reached the end.
I leveled the Rune of Creation at the path ahead and smiled.
"You can't destroy something without creating," I said, and released a massive, golden Aetheric blast from Creation. Explosives formed over every surface of the walls. I knew the blast would hit me, too, but it was a risk I could take. I waited for the flames to reach the charges.
When they did… nothing detonated.
"What?"
I stared at the flames in disbelief.
"That's not the effect I wanted."
The flames had started to eat the explosives, too.
"Oh, come on. You've got to be kidding me."
I couldn't blame the flames. They were just fulfilling the purpose of what they were: an all-consuming destruction. This was my first time unleashing them. I hadn't even meant to conjure fire, they'd poured out of the rune by themselves.
"This is really bad."
I squinted past the blaze, trying to see an end to the tunnel. There wasn't one. There was no end to this place. In my ears, only the crackle of hungry fire.
Or so I thought.
"Don't give up so fast!"
Hachiko's exhausted voice came from right behind me. Startled, I whirled to see the white dog barreling toward me, and the monster behind him, tearing through the walls.
"So the plan didn't go exactly how you hoped," Hachiko panted, sweat dripping off his canine face. "Now that I've brought him here, what the hell are we doing?"
He let his tongue loll.
"To be honest?" I said. "No idea."
"Well, better than nothing." He tried to cheer himself up.
I was out of Aether. I had nothing left to throw at the beast, except the fire. Hachiko reached my side and studied the monster carefully.
"Okay, now that I think about it, this was a terrible idea. The whole tunnel's going to cave in on our heads."
I rolled my eyes at his sudden realization.
"Dying in a place this stupid was not on my list," I growled, glaring at the creature.
Hachiko tore his gaze away from it and looked at the walls. Then his eyes widened with proud and relief.
"You used the black flames? That's great! Black fire eats everything it sees. All we have to do is spread it onto the monster. How much Aether do you have left?"
I didn't answer immediately. I watched the walls burn for a few more seconds. Then I spoke.
"If I said 'zero,' would that be a problem?"
I tried to sound like a martyr. Hachiko's ears drooped.
"Why do I have to do everything? Fine. Absorb me."
"Right, I know, that was the plan. But how do I actually pull it off?"
I asked quickly. The beast was nearly on us. Cracks were spider-webbing through the ceiling. Hachiko set his paws on my cheeks.
"Don't get mad about what I'm about to do."
The white dog sounded innocent. I raised a brow, not understanding.
"What do you—"
Hachiko headbutted me.
His head turned incorporeal. Golden Aetheric particles burst out in a spray. I heard Hachiko's voice in my head again, and with a swift motion, I fed every last mote into Destruction.
My Aether surged to the maximum. I drew a long breath and spread Destruction`s energy through my entire body. Black flames engulfed me head to toe. My vision went pitch-dark. The monster roared, smashing through every obstacle, just to reach me.
I grinned and hurled all the black fire at it.
The flames wrapped around its whole body. The creature howled in agony, but its blood-mad eyes were still locked on me. It charged through collapsing walls, lunging straight for me.
"Damn it!"
I looked around, then back, no point in running. An instant later, its fangs were at my nose. I didn't pull away.
I let it eat me.
Darkness. Stench. I tried to move, but my arms and legs, everything, had been torn apart. Exactly as planned. I was going to destroy it from the inside, but that didn't mean the pain would stop.
I screamed, a raw battle-cry through the agony, and tried to use Aether to regrow my limbs, but the moment the many Aether left my body, they, all of the aetheric essence vanished.
"What the fuck?"
The Aether flowed from the monster's mouth down its throat and then into its stomach.
After seeing that the truth hit me, why there hadn't been a single Aetheric particle anywhere around us:
"This thing feeds on Aether."