Nexus Fate - Chapter 14: Ignite

Everything is guided.

Tal'Von examined the trail, behind the cart, with his arms raised. He bent closer towards the shadow, and kept his ear sharp. The sheen of a claw whizzed past, catching his cheek. “S**t!”

Catasca leaned by Teiy, “Are you sure this will work?”

Teiy tightened his hand over his mouth.

Von Baron raised his arms higher, “Eat this you b******s!”

Tal'Von's arms snapped forward, releasing a ball of flame. Connecting with his target, the ball stuck to one of the pale beasts. In the aura of the ball's flame, the others fell behind. The victim of these creatures wiggled about, continuing to chase after the cart. It's arm charred with it's body darkening and letting off steam. In pain, the beast slipped upon itself, and the fire of the ball faded slowly in the night.

Catasca cheered, “Yeah! See that, Ethel?”

Von Baron leaned back with outstretched arms, “That'll show those fiends. Great thinking, Teiy! But that one won't stop them on its own.”

Teiy nodded, “Ya, but we can only make a few more of those with the tar left on this torch. There's nothing else we have that can stick to the flesh of those things.”

Catasca unfolded another sheet and dumped timber on it.

Teiy lifted up the flame within the tinderbox, and hid it from the oncoming wind. “Alright head captain, tell us when those things make it close behind us!”

Tal'Von Baron sighed, “I just hope this buys us more time.”

Teiy looked down upon his damaged sword. The tip of the blade had cracked off, but the blade itself was mostly in-tact.

Those livid eaters didn't take a scratch from this. How useless are all of the weapons in this cart?

Catasca watched Teiy examine the blade, “What happened to it?”

“You should know. My 'kitchen ware' couldn't even put up a fight.”

“That's because its a plain sword. You need rein stone if you want to put up a fight.”

“What is 'rein stone' anyways? Something like that has to be magic.”

“It's just material, like steel or iron.”

Vensan sighed, “Just leave him as ignorant as he is.”

Tal'Von joined in, “When the rein stone gets heated, it get's more powerful.”

“Heated?”

Tal'Von continued, “When it gets hotter, it builds an invisible outer-coating.”

Teiy looked back to his sword, “Outer-coating?”

Catasca snapped her fingers, “Listen. With rein stone, you don't start a fight already with an advantage. For your weapon to be useful, you need it to meet conflict first to get it heated up. Some people might rub a stone against their blade before going in for the first strike. If you just whacked a shield right off the bat with a weapon of rein stone, it'd be just like you with your 'kitchen ware' there. Most of the time you don't need to worry about rubbing your blade with a stone, however, since there's already some friction with most designs of sheaths.”

Teiy looked up, “I see. Rein stone...”

Catasca lifted her sheathed sword, and pulled it out slowly. A mild screeching followed as Catasca pulled out the sword, “Hear that?

Tal'Von leaned back, “Set up another one! I hear'em!”

Catasca wrapped the sheets around the timber, and raised it in the air. Teiy lifted the flame of the tinderbox under the sheets, and the fire began to mold around it. Teiy took his blade, coated in the torch stem's tar, and handed it to Tal'Von. Catasca lent the ball of flame to Teiy, and he swallowed in hesitation.

Teiy extended his arms, “Head captain! Take the burning cloth!”

Tal'Von took hold of the ball in his off-hand, and leaned over the edge of the wagon again to hear for the beasts. Their footsteps quickened, “Here we go!”

Tal'Von wiped the residue of tar, from the sword, on the side of the cloth-wrapping. The flame grew around it, slowly moving towards the tar.

Teiy rubbed his hands together, “Throw it before the tar burns off!”

Von Baron closed his eyes, and blocked out everything. He sat still, deactivating all senses but sound. His eyes swelled, the ball rising high. “Die!”

Tal'Von Baron discharged the blazing cloth and timber, biting his tongue in uncertainty. The ball collapsed to the ground, bouncing back past the white legs of the receding creatures.

The head captain turned limp, “I... missed...”

Teiy looked back at Catasca protecting the final torch, “Catasca! Get some more cloth!”

The head captain slid Teiy's sword back to him, “There isn't any more tar...”

Teiy gulped, “I know, but we need more light. That torch isn't going to cut it for much longer.”

Catasca placed the remainder of twigs in a cloth-roll, and held it over the ignited tinderbox.

Tal'Von moved from the back of the cart, and shuffled over to the front. “Vensan, how are we doing?”

Vensan's hands tightened on the ropes, “F- fine!”

Tal'Von squinted his eyes at the path onwards, and could make out some brush at the end of the conjoining cliffs. “We're almost there, everyone!”

Teiy smiled, “We'll make it!”

Ethel climbed in the hole of the cargo-cover, and shivered. “S- so we're going to a dead end?”

Catasca smirked, pushing the burning cloth-roll against Teiy's chest. “You're too funny brother. We almost made it out of this! We're aren't going to d-”

Teiy pushed his arms against Catasca, “O- Ouch~! Get that off of me!”

Catasca pulled away the burning cloth from his chest, “Oh?”

Teiy stood up, his shirt ignited. “Put it out! Pu-”

Catasca burst to laughter.

Teiy became furious, and fell on the tarp and rolled from side-to-side. Patting himself off, the laughter of Catascsa continued with her brother. Teiy couldn't help but smile while hiding his face from them.

Tal'Von raised his fist, “Only a few more minutes! Those beasts will have to find another meal tonight!”

Teiy peered into the darkness behind them, crawling back slightly from the numerous sounds of patting dirt. “Why are there so many of those things?”

Tal'Von hunched over, “No one knows where they came from... but we know where they're headed! Vensan, turn off the road to the left!”

Vensan shuttered, “Are you sure, captain?”

“Do it!”

The wagon wobbled across rough terrain, and the feeling of terror decreased at every step towards cliff's wall. The palm of a livid eater held onto the back end of the cart, yet lost its grip after a large bump. The wagon circled to the left, around a large, hedge dome. A gap could be seen far to its backside, and the cart rode right to it. Branches smacked past the wagon as it went through the opening section. The gap in the hedges seemed to be cut-out by man at some point in time, with the overgrowth making the entrance smaller and smaller over the years. But the size of the cart was well small enough to fit through. They made it inside the dome of ferns, surrounding them everywhere, but the cliff-wall.

Tal'Von brushed his head, “A fire?”

“Huh?” Teiy turned towards the wall of the cliff, and a small camp-fire was set in-front of the large stone-wall. The wall had creases and markings all around it, and it obviously had some connection to the passageway. “Did someone get here before us?”

Vensan groaned, “Impossible! They probably haven't even made it to the ground yet, let alone here.”

Tal'Von's hand slid over his nose, “Whoever got here would have to be a high-ranking official to even have the knowledge of this entrance.”

“Let's not waste any time!” Vensan hopped off the wagon, and approached the fire.

Tal'Von cringed and followed suite, “Wait, you moron!”

Teiy placed his hands on the edge of the cart, and stopped with a levelheaded expression. Behind some ferns, a head was peeping over and went back down. “Hey!”

Ethel tripped on some supplies in the cargo-bed, and Catasca took his hands and lifted him from the torn hole. “You klutz.”

Teiy leaped down, falling to a crouch. He rose gradually to his feet and approached the bushes. “Come on out now!”

Tal'Von turned, “What Teiy?”

From behind the bush, one arms raised. “Calm down there. You just keep doing what your doing, I've got nothing worth your time haggling me over.”

Teiy crossed his arms, and approached closer. “Get out.”

Vensan walked over, “Hey! 'Catasca' was it? Get that torch over here! We haven't lost the eaters ye-”

The man stood to his feet, “Oh, you have.”

Vensan examined the fellow, “We... w- wait how would you have any idea? You'd like us getting eaten by those things wouldn't you! You'd get to be all on your own again!”

Tal'Von joined them, “Vensan, you sound as if we really do have bad intentions.”

The man repeated while covered in shade, “They won't follow you in here.”

Tal'Von responded, “How would you know this?”

“I don't, but... I have a good basing for such an idea.”

Vensan sneered, “How about you come out here, pal?”

The man proceeded past the bushes, “Why, aren't you friendly?”

Teiy shuddered when the man reached the glow of light, his appearance ruffled. He did not hold up one arm, but two, one being battered and shriveled. He wore a bandana around his head, and brass knuckles could be seen on his healthy arm.

Vensan noticed the man's hand, “Hey! Get those o-”

Teiy broke over him, “What happened to your arm?”

The man glanced over to Teiy, “Oh? There's quite a story for that if you all came for a nice story. I've got a bunch of nice stories to te-”

Vensan butted in, “Quiet!”

Catasca walked past Teiy and the others, and stood in-front of the man.

The man giggled, “And who might you be miss?”

“Catasca.”

The man looked over to her brother behind her and smiled, “What are you doing out this late?”

Teiy kept watch around them, noticing the horses kneeling in exhaustion.

Catasca responded, “Do you live here?”

The man responded back, “Why, yes I do missy! Names Chaim! Chaim Dunn!”

Tal'Von patted Vensan's shoulder, “Keep an eye out around us...”

Vensan took a deep breath, and nudged Tal's hand away.

Tal'Von went to Catasca's side, and shook hands with Chaim Dunn. “I go by Victor Froderic. We're here for our own reasons, and I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave now.”

Teiy leaned against a tree, “We can't just leave him out there for thos-”

Chaim bounced eagerly, “You're going to open the door, aren't you?”

Tal'Von kept the handshake lively, “That's a problem.”

Author's Note

This is my first attempt at writing a full story.
Also the chapters are at a short length because I posted them first on DeviantArt, and people will never read your stories if they are too long there (which is why I moved here).

I'd appreciate any type of criticism as this is my first writing.

*By the way, I will very likely combine chapters to lessen the total number after I have completed the book (as with chapters of this length, the amount will very likely enter 3 digits).