Meager Power

I wanted to say I burst into action faster than my brain could commit the new information to my head, but I didn't. I was getting the hang of fighting, sure, but it wasn't second nature. I still needed to 'decide' to get into a fight, and I'd been all too willing to let the adrenaline go despite the plans we'd made. Thankfully, the second didn't cost too much. One of the skeletons (elites? probably,) struck out at Rachel with a withering speed, but she managed to bring her shield up to block the attack. It was probably a good thing that it knocked her backwards, because the second foe's arm swung through the empty space where she'd just been standing. A grunt of pain escaped her, and that's what finally shocked my into action.

I Dashed forward to engage Two, knowing that Rachel could likely handle holding off One despite not having access to her sword arm. She was a beast with that shield, as I'd already learned several times now. The skeleton turned towards me rapidly and was already preparing a second strike at me, but I saw the wind-up due to the extra time required from the reposition. Instead of waiting it to fall toward me, I jammed the butt of my spear up and shoved the arm backward. It didn't really cause Two to fall of balance, but it did let me slap my hand in a grip around one of its ribs and let out a Spark. That managed to get it to stop moving for a moment, and I pulled my spear back just enough to strike the bottom of its skull. That finally did tip it over, and I used the meager moment it gave me to swing around to assist Rachel with One. Maybe she could handle it for a while, but the sooner we made this a 2v1, the better. No reason to take unnecessary risks.

She was doing well against her foe, thankfully, but I could also tell that she was making no progress. Eventually, it would come down to a battle of attrition if left alone, and only one of the combatants was susceptible to the needs of flesh. Before it could realize that I'd switched targets, I reached up and let out a silent Mana Bolt. The pink energy struck its shoulder and pushed it toward Rachel, who grinned at me from the other side of the bones. This time, because I was watching for it, I felt a shudder from her shield as it almost seemed to ripple, and then she rushed forward to stick it into One. It was pushed at me, and with a grin of my own I ran and jumped forward, leveraging my spear under its jaw, and began to pull as hard as I could. The bones were hard, yeah, but maybe I could just rip the goddamn skull off and that would be the end of it.

I heard Two get to its feet behind me, but I could tell that it wasn't approaching us. No, even without seeing it, I knew it was going to try to brain me with a femur or something from a distance. I needed to do my thing now, especially with my reserves running low. I grit my teeth and momentarily stopped applying leverage to grasp One's collarbone and shot a Spark into it. When nothing happened, I growled and did it again, this time being rewarded with a cessation of resistance. Unfortunately, the moment cost me, and I felt something hard and heavy make contact with my hip. I let out a scream of pain, but I managed to keep my hold, and this time, with an unresisting foe, I managed to pop the thing's top off. My peripheral vision caught the edge of color as the blue from its eye sockets faded, but that was all I could observe before the thing collapsed below me. I'd been pushing against it, using its own body for leverage, and suddenly without any support, I crashed to the ground. I let out a wheeze of pain when I landed badly on the hip that had just taken a hit.

If I'd been alone, I might have been toast. The shock of sensation rocked through my body and I couldn't control myself for a moment, even going so far as to drop my spear from the spasm of pain. I might have let out a curse or five, but that wasn't really on my mind. I knew, logically, that I needed to get on my feet now to fight Two, to get it back on even footing, but for just a worrying moment, my flesh would not obey the call of my fighting spirit.

But I wasn't alone. A blur raced past me and made a cacophony of noise as I assumed my ally had charged Two and made contact. That gave me the time to recover, the time to find my arms, the time to find out that my leg absolutely wasn't going to support my weight right now. Even attempting to move the muscles right there was excruciating, so I made the executive decision to turn around and find my target. Sliding in place on the floor was still a river of magma through the nerves on my hip, but the moment had passed enough for my adrenaline to wash out the pain. Spear forgotten, I aimed my hand up at Two, noting that Rachel was doing an awesome job holding it down. She'd managed to stick one of its arms to its ribcage and only had to dodge the other limb as it raked at her head. Damn thing was thankfully too stupid to just go for her arm, stuck in place as it was.

Two's head, though, that was the important piece. I couldn't aim well, and I knew I was near out of Mana after the sprint and the fight? How many had I used? I needed to get better at knowing my limits, but right now, I had to work with my vibes on my remaining energy. "Rachel," I said through gritted teeth that held back anger, concern, and panic, "I can't get up. Can you push that thing on the ground right in front of me?"

"I-" she was cut off as she had to dodge an attack. "I can try!"

"Try to trip it! My left leg!" I swung the thing around. It wasn't without pain, of course, it's not like my hips were disconnected, but it wasn't as bad as dealing with my more directly hurt side. She nodded, and with a desperate push, she managed to bring it within my leg's reach. I grunted as I straightened out my leg in a sharp kick right at the skeleton's foot. It worked, a little too well, as instead of in front of me, Two's and Rachel's combined weight caused it to fall right on top of me. I let out a pained grunt as I became the base of a dogpile, but barely managed to keep hold of my focus. Despite the pain and the panic, I managed to remain lucid enough to place both my hands around the side of its head. Which spell? Which one? I didn't have time for both, it was already getting up -

Indecision overpowered me, and my subconscious made the decision for me. I didn't have time for both, so I used both at the same time. I pulled my left hand back into its 'gun' position, 'barrel' placed against the skull, with my right hand spreading out and placing my palm as widely as possible on the odd bone. I spoke "Mana Bolt," at the same time as I willed a silent Spark into existence. I felt a rush escape me, every bit of mana escaping from my extremities, as both spells took effect. It would have been gruesome, had there been any meat to take the strike, but instead a great 'crack' sounded as half of the skull was obliterated into dust. I realized I would have actually preferred a fleshy enemy in this moment as a tightening hit my stomach with an impossible cramp, and a moment later the contents of my breakfast met the remains of this creature. If it had been flesh and blood, it could have caught the mess, but as it was just empty bones, I ended up mostly just soiling myself with the mess of bile and half-digested meat.

"Are you well?" Rachel asked, after my stomach had finished evacuating its contents. I realized she'd dropped to her knees behind me and tossed her shield away, because her usable hand was holding my head up and doing her best to keep my hair out of the mess.

"I. I uh." I burped, and fought the urge to let it up one more time, thankfully successfully. "I used up all my mana. Li'l too much."

"Well," she said, and I could tell she was moving, but I realized my eyes had obstinately shut themselves, so I couldn't tell exactly what. "It seems we are momentarily in the clear. Do you need assistance sitting up?"

My stomach muscles screamed at me when I tried to do it myself, so I shelved my pride momentarily and nodded. She shuffled around and I felt my back placed against against something warm. Ah, I was leaning on her side. I'd take it. "Funny enough, this is one of the better outcomes I've dealt with. At least I'm conscious." Finally, my eyes allowed themselves to open again to take in our surroundings. Something hovered in my peripheral, but I ignored it momentarily.

Two piles of bones were present, though one was still partially on me. I grabbed the few that remained on my lap and threw them far away into the room despite the shocks of pain from my muscle and bone injuries. "I tend to lose my lunch when I use up all my Mana. I shoulda had enough in the tank for both of those last spells, but..." my words trailed away as I actually took in the vision in front of me.

"But whatever the fuck skill I just acquired must have done something." I took a deep breath. "What the fuck is this? Where are we?"

Finally able to take in our surroundings, we both seemed to take the break in tension to properly gather info. The floor below us wasn't perfectly tiled, but it was relatively flat, with two odd grooves a meter or two apart running parallel. On the eastern side of the chamber, there was a long pile of long-rotted wood, probably twenty or so meters long. This place was pretty big, big enough for the fuck-off huge doorway to make a little more sense. The western portion of the chamber held a curious assortment of stone 'structures' and wooden debris. One thing, though, took my attention more than anything else. "A horseshoe," I muttered, pointing it out. "A stable? Indoor stable?"

The northern wall contained what clearly used to be a door, now so much rotted mess, and hid a curling stairway behind it, leading to god - gods - goddess? Goddess, I was really gonna have to fix my vocabulary. Goddess knows where. It was pretty dark, partially lit not unlike the fake lights that we'd experienced elsewhere, but it was dimmer and weaker, enough to be both annoying and unsettling.

"More importantly," Rachel said, "I think we need to take a moment to rest. I can move my arm if I will it, but it involves a great deal of pain. You said you are unable to stand?" I nodded. "Then we should take a moment to rest. I will need to get us over to the wall, as I am struggling to provide a stiff surface for you."

"Honestly, might be better to just lay me down."

"I also want to sit against the wall myself."

A chuckle escaped me. "Just lead with that next time, eh? I'll lie down, you go sit over there. Not like you gotta be right here for us to chat."

"That makes sense." She carefully laid me down, gathering my scattered bag to place under me and bringing my water close, and moved against the closest wall. She was silent, seemingly content for the momentary lapse in conversation to continue. Or maybe she was just awkward? Entirely possible.

I let myself breathe, focusing on flushing the adrenaline from my system. I needed rest, we needed to take a moment to lick our wounds, and for that, my body needed to not be in overdrive. Soon enough, the last of the panic fled my system, replaced by the dull ache at my hip that had been kept at bay. I groaned, but brought my water to my lips and carefully took a drink before I started talking again. I hated how used to upchucking I was getting. Pushing my limits like this was dumb. I needed to start fighting smarter, more efficiently. I needed to get better with my fighting style. I depended too much on motion, and I should get better at using my spear and my feet. My boots were sturdy weapons. My spear would be more effective if I reliably used two hands with it. My instinct was to keep it entirely one-handed, with my left hand ready for casting, but that was silly. The instant I took to aim my spell could easily be the same instant it left my spear. Not using all my power was dumb.

"I think we should spar some," Rachel voiced from off the side. "When we are finished here."

Laughter burst from my throat. "I was about to suggest exactly the same thing. We're bumbling about here. Two nobodies from nowhere. I've definitely been taking this too lightly."

"Too lightly?"

"The plan. 'We're super fucked.' That's idiotic. I could have lured some of them away. We could have tested their intelligence, could have done all sorts of stuff, but instead of being smart about it, we just rushed them. I'm stupid."

She huffed. "Then I share an equal portion of the blame, I accepted your plan with little thought of my own." My eyes sought her, and found that she was staring at the dim ceiling. "I will not claim to be the smartest person I know. I will not claim to be the most... clever, either. I sound much more learnèd than I am. A casualty of my interests." Her face lowered, and she caught my eyes. "I feel out of my depth, Allison. I do not understand why someone like me was chosen."

I almost interrupted her, but realized she'd been holding back a torrent, like I had the other day when I broke down. She needed to say what she needed to say, and stopping her would make me the worst kind of hypocrite.

"I only have two directions from my patron. I do not understand him, why he chose me." Rachel shook her head. "Conquer this labyrinth. Do not reveal that you serve me unless..." she trailed off. "Unless there comes a specific circumstance I am unable to reveal. I am the wrong person for him to choose."

I suppose being a male divinity did technically reduce the amount of divinities he might be, but given I literally only knew the name of one of them, I withheld any useless speculation.

"Do you feel the same?"

No. I don't think so. "I don't think so." I sighed. "I do kinda get why I was chosen. It seems to fit her MO. I'm not certain, of course, but things do fit okay. I'm not sure if I'm the best choice, though. I don't even know what I'm doing past clearing this place."

Silence fell over us again, both nursing uncertainties and wounds. But I had more. The moment was unexpectedly here, and I didn't want to let it past.

"Hey Rachel," I started. She grunted to indicate she was listening, brown eyes searching my face for a clue as to what I'd say. I kept her gaze. "You say you're not smart. I say I'm timid and nervous. We work well together, yeah?"

"So far."

"So far, yeah. Why don't we, like... codify that? Formally become allies. We've got each other's backs, come hell or high water. If the time comes for us to split, whether it's the game or it's differing ideologies, or whatever, we have a ceasefire. You know, how there's usually a non-aggression pact for a while or something after a peace is signed?"

Rachel simply blinked but her eyes sharpened slightly. I continued. "So. You and me. We're a team. We work together, we watch each other's backs, we don't plot against each other, we warn each other of problems, we fight together. Full allies. If we decide to split, non-aggression for three months. Minimum."

Chewing on that took a while. I could tell she was favorable to the idea, obviously, but I understood the hesitation. We were, technically, on separate sides of a conflict. Ostensibly. But maybe not necessarily. The victory condition for the game could easily be 'do 100 pushups in a row' or something inane, something that didn't require any sort of violence against each other. The existence of some fucker like Nathan put the possibility that violence was an intent, but it wasn't a guarantee. But we could at worst be pleasant. Fight against such a thing until the last. I could tell she was just a normal fucking girl like me, pulled into a conflict beyond anything we'd known, and with a knack for violence.

Her voice echoed out while I bounced around in my thoughts, and I had to ask her to repeat herself. She cleared her throat, and did so. "Agreed. Full allies. Nonviolent split if necessary. We are in this together. I accept the help, Allison. I, Rachel Wilson agree to this alliance."

I smiled. Score. One versus nineteen became two versus eighteen. "I, Allison Lowenzahn, am glad to have you. Let's get rested up, heal these wounds, and fuck up whatever's up there."