The Mirror Guard (chapter 7)

Seven: Seven Days in the Stark

EVA’S EYES SNAPPED OPEN! There was a wyrm tooth pressed into her throat. She felt the familiar grip of a sword in one of her hands — so she slashed. The snow wyrm screamed and opened its mouth. White light beamed inside. A slimy tongue moving towards her. She moved into a wobbly angerstance and quickly hacked at the tongue. When it was in two pieces, Eva tried to get balance in her feet to turn towards the light, towards out.

It was in that moment that Eva gained a little bit of clarity. It was as if the world was moving super-fast, but she was processing everything faster so that it seemed, to her, that everything was actually moving slower. Eva realized that Ono was the mirrorblade in her hand. He was long and pretty wide for a mirrorblade. At the tip of the blade, Ono thinned out and actually hooked back.

Had Eva become a Mirror Guardian!?

She powered with all of her strength towards the white light coming through the wyrm’s gaping mouth.

Eke grabbed Eva by the shoulder, “We have to go!” The earth began to rumble beneath them — the maimed wyrm! When Eva didn’t budge, she couldn’t take her eyes off the wyrm that had eaten Ono, “Eva!”

The maimed snow wyrm shot up from below. It nearly swallowed Benjamin and Mrs. Shimmyshanks. Benjamin, in pedestalmode, was able to avoid the doom. He attracted one of his arms, palm flat and facing out, fire burst from a pore hole. The cloud of fire was hot. The wyrm screamed and withdrew back into its hole in the ground.

The other snow wyrm shrieked, but it was strange, not how the sound usually came across. Eva turned to see that half of its beak-mouth had been sliced away. Ono flipped in the air, his giant sword dancing around him with his fancy hand work. Ono landed in the snow in a half-crouch. He was ready for either of the wyrms to strike. He looked taxed, and was breathing pretty heavy from what Eva could see.

“We need to help him,” Eva stopped.

“What are we gonna do?” Eke asked. “We don’t have giant swords or powers.”

“I don’t know.” Eva snapped. <What would Rainiar do?>

Eva could feel a vibration on the air. It crawled on her skin like a chill after just stepping out of a hot spring. She turned to watch Ono. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but the power was radiating off of Ono. He lifted his giant mirrorblade into the air, “Iaknab!!!” His voice seemed unnaturally projected. The snow around them seemed to ripple like a large flat rock had been dropped into a liquid lake.

“What was that?” Eke asked.

“Eva let’s go!” Jono cried.

Eva couldn’t look away from Ono as his sword began to glow with power. “Dleif eht ssorca ecnarp gats!” Ono shouted. His mirrorblade only intensified with light as it seemed to melt into light, like moonlight. Eva didn’t recognize the language he spoke. It was unlike anything she’d ever heard before. Perhaps it was some Cavaman language. Almost everything the Crystalissians knew about mirrorblade wielding came from the Cavamen of the Stark.

Ono’s blade melted into moonlight and began raining down onto the snow around them. Each glowing drop began growing into reindeer. Each drop radiated with power and grew and rose with antlers extending out of their heads. They each looked majestic. Each different than the last. They had pelts of shades of gray, tawny, brown, and white. Ono pointed towards the two waiting wyrms. They were held on their upper-halves, swaying with the wind, back and forth. It was as if they were waiting. …They were waiting for their doom.

Once Ono pointed, the reindeer all charged, heads bowed, antlers aimed at wyrm flesh. The wyrms tried to snap and eat some on-coming reindeer, but they simply dissipated into mist, kind of like Ono’s mirrorblade when he dismissed it. However, the other deer hit. Their antlers tearing into wyrm flesh. Antlers were a type of mana, a type of organic solid. Mana was the only thing that could kill snow wyrms. Mana had of pierce each one of their hearts, and their brain. The herd of reindeer attacked. Hundreds of antler points ripping through wyrm skin and viscera.

Eva stood stunned. Eke was the same. He wasn’t trying to pull Eva along. “Awesome!” Jono exclaimed. When it was done, the vast whiteness around them was covered in green wyrm blood. The snow wyrms bodies fell lifeless into the snow. If it wasn’t for their dark black eyes and the off-white color of their tusks, they would have blended right in with the drifts. Further down from them, Ono collapsed.

Eva began running towards him. Eke swallowed his pride and followed Eva down towards Ono. The Mirror Guardian was breathing deeply, trying to get into a cross-legged position in the snow. “Ono, you need to get up, we need to get out of the blood. It’s going to attract predators.”

“Yea, let’s go,” Eva said, wrapping her arm underneath Ono’s armpit.

“I need to gather energy.” Ono said. “I’m going to — pass out.”

“What was that?” Eva asked. She’d never seen a Mirror Guardian do anything like that.

“It’s called iaknab.” Eva and Eke were able to lift Ono to his feet. “…Pretty cool huh?” Ono laid a charming smile on Eva.

“It looks like it nearly killed you,” Eke replied.

“It almost did. Speaking of — can I eat?”

“We don’t have any food.” Eva said. They’d made it back to where Jono and Mrs. Shimmyshanks were with Benjamin.

“Eva…” Jono whispered.

“Not now, Jon.”

“But Mrs…”

“Jono! I said, not now.” Eva tried searching in her sharded dress for some jerky she’d been keeping there for the most drastic of circumstances. This was a drastic circumstance. If Ono died, their chances of surviving the Stark got devastatingly low. “I have some jerky.”

“No…” Ono whispered. “Your emotion — your essence…”

“Shards no!” Eke snapped, “There’s no way I’m letting you feed off of me!”

“Eke, if he dies, we all die.”

“We made it this far.”

“Where is this?” Eva said. “He can scout ahead. He can find the bunker faster than we can. He can also fight snow wyrms. Can you?”

“Eva, I’m not letting him feed off of me. I heard things about what they can do to you after they feed on you.”

“Wives’ tales.” Eva blurted. Ono let out a long weak gasp. “Eke, we need to help him. If you expect your mother to make it, we need Ono.”

Eke held out his wrist before Ono with his free hand, “For my mother.”

“Your mother…”

“Yes, for her. And don’t get any funny ideas, bro. Just feed and be done. No walking around in my head or calling me to your bed at night so you can steal my soul.”

“Eke!”

“Your moth…” Ono grunted. It was all he really had the strength to do.

“Feed.” Eva said once she produced her arm before Ono’s weakened body.

Ono’s tongue slithered between his lips, but it didn’t look like a human tongue — it was tubular and covered in suction cups on its lower-half, each with their own tiny mouth for sucking and absorbing. The tongue was a tentacle! It wrapped around Eke’s wrist. Another tentacle slithered up from Ono’s chest, accompanied by three more. Two chest-tentacles wrapped around Eva’s wrist, the others went for Eke’s.

The suction cups felt like disks of pressure pressed against Eva’s cold skin. Thin, hair-like tentacles grew and reached from Ono’s head. Some wrapped around Eva’s neck. She wasn’t too comfortable with the tentacles around her neck, but she could already fell the pressure of them connecting with her skin, suctioning, before she was able to say anything.

“Whoa, man, back the shards up!” Eke almost stepped out — but then something happened. Eva could feel it, but the same thing wasn’t happening to her. Eke suddenly went slack. Before she had a chance to react, she could feel the gentle flow of energy leaving her body. She felt herself grow extremely lethargic, but it was comfortable, like she was floating — or high from some drug.

She had a stupid smile slouched on her face, drool nearly falling from the one side when she seemed to snap back to reality. “Eva.” Jono was tugging on her dress that she’d made shorter.

“Wha… What Jono?” Eva clenched her eyes closed to gain some clarity. All of Ono’s tentacles had been retracted. <Was his hair really hair?>

“Mrs. Shimmyshanks,” Jono was pointing at the old, frail woman.

“What the shards just happened?” Eke was wiping the drool from the side of his mouth.

“I fed — and I’m sorry.” Ono was already over with Mrs. Shimmyshanks, knelt by her side.

“Sorry for what?” Eke asked.

Eva and Eke pushed through the snow towards where the others were. Benjamin was in his pedestalmode. Jono began crying. “Jon, what’s wrong?” Eva knelt down to look at him eye to eye. Before Eke screamed and fell to his knees in anguish, Eva had already put the pieces together.

“I tried to save her,” Ono said. “Mrs. Shimmyshanks is dead.”