Soulforge Legacy Series

Its head tilted, as if it was studying me. As if it was looking for weaknesses. Places to strike. Then, with a rapid series of clicking and a flare of mana, the bug split. From the one bug my size, four child-sized versions appeared.

“Oh fucking hell.” Xander’s voice tore the silence to pieces just as each creature took off. The road beneath their bug feet cracked as their claws ripped at the stone to provide them the leverage they needed to go from still to nearly translucent blurs of movement.

Glass shattered and metal bent as the creatures smashed through the front of the building. The stinging pain of glass as it sliced through my arms, legs, and pretty much everywhere my clothes didn’t cover. Power and energy welled up within me, roaring to be used against my attackers.

My blood boiled with anger over being attacked by bugs of all things. The last time I had faced anything that looked similar, they had nearly killed me. And back then I had people there, teaching me, protecting me. Even if they later turned out to be nothing more than traitors and deadly enemies.

However, unlike then, I had power. I knew how to use it. Sure, I didn’t have my sword thanks to a certain person, but I didn’t need it.

Fire erupted all around me. Red. Orange. Blue. The color of the flames danced and shifted as the orbs rotated around me. They moved with a mind of their own, yet under my complete control.

As one, they converged on the closest demon just as it charged in my direction. It wasn’t the only one as two of the others joined it in its charge.

Fire splashed against the creature's exoskeleton, scorching the surface. While my attack wasn’t enough to stop the creature, it was enough to cause it to stagger. To slow enough that its two companions smashed into its back. Their claws dug into it as they tried to push past the demonic creature.

Flames rushed from me, from the orbs that floated around me. They eagerly reached past me. As though they were kids reaching for the cookies on the counter. Racing forward yet trying not to get caught.

Not that it mattered. The demons clearly saw the fire reaching for them. They just didn’t care. In fact, the only thing they seemed to care about was reaching their victim — me.

I smirked at the duo as my flames reached them. It stopped playing coy and seemed to go into hyperdrive in an attempt to devour its food before someone else could take it.

Other than providing a decent light, nothing happened. The demons did not scream. Their flesh didn’t burn. Nothing happened. A fact that caused me to freeze up even as they continued to close in.

Only the pain of their claws scratching lines along my arms broke me out of my stupor. Left with no other way out, I let gravity take me, angling myself down and back in an effort to not become a toy for the demons to play tug of war with.

It was a good thing too as the razor-tipped instruments of demonic death lashed at the air just in front of my nose. Close enough that I could almost feel the chitinous flesh against my skin.

At least, that was the case for one of the demons. The other, having adjusted course to not run into his companion, was luckier with their strike. The tips of their claws dug into the muscled flesh of my right breast with enough force to cause me to spin around.

While Kaelis had his tail, these creatures had claws on every one of their digits, toes included. Claws that dug into both my back and my belly as the pair latched on. Digging in as they tried to come to a stop, or at least pull me along with them.

A scream of pain and fury erupted from me and not all of it was my own. Some of it was my mana of all things. The usually docile, if a little playful, mana that pulsed through my body woke up. I didn’t even notice it was snoozing or even had emotions until it decided enough was enough.

Rage turned to fire that scorched its way through my veins in search of a target. Every fraction of a second the fire roared through my body, it found something only to have it burn away too fast. Whatever it was had either been too small or too weak for the flames to sate their anger.

Then it found the claws. Twelve of them. Six to my front, six to my back. Each buried a good finger's length into my flesh.

Unlike my previous attempt to burn these creatures, my flames elicited screams from both. Unfortunately for me, they didn’t release me. They didn’t try and get away from the pain or the danger. Their claws dug in deeper as they pulled me closer. Each blade cut more of my body. Caused more of my blood to run. Of course this resulted in more of the fire reaching the demons.

Still, even I could tell that I wasn’t going to win this. With how fast the demons were dying, I could pour out every drop on one, and while it might be in pain, the creature would still be kicking.

A soft sigh cut through the room. Even over all the screaming the three of us were doing, I could hear the sound. It was as though it had been pushed into my ear or something had carried it there.

The world blipped. One moment, I was dying as the demons dug their claws into me, then they were gone, and I was on the ground. Blood pooled under me. Sticky and hot against my skin as the raging inferno quested out for something to kill. To burn away.

All it found was open air and a dirty floor. It didn’t care that I was dying. It only cared that there was nothing left to fight. That the fight was over. With nothing left, it had no reason to be awake, let alone do anything else. Like a beast curling up in its nest, the power coiled in my chest as it settled down.

I had no issue focusing during the fight, short as it was, but with it over, the lack of blood quickly caught up to me. The world went fuzzy as a soft ringing filled the room. As a hand started to probe me, shifting my clothes around before finally tearing them, I shivered.

Bare stone loves to absorb heat. Who knew.

God, I was cold.

Could someone get me a blanket?

Or hug me?

Help me.

I don’t… want… to…