Book 3. Chapter 19: Tanda - Defense of Harmony Peaks Pt. 1

Book 3. Chapter 19: Tanda - Defense of Harmony Peaks Pt. 1

Tanda pierced the werewolf through the heart, her diving attack successful. She retrieved her spear from its dying corpse, and took back to the trees, seeking more enemies. Her brethren followed, positioning themselves with great care.

Killing that high-level werewolf had granted her a fair amount of experience, or what she learned was latent will. It was because of that, along with all the pills Fhesiah had given her and consuming auril beast meat every day, that she had finally reached level 8.

Tanda Status Level 8

Strength

35

Dexterity

32

Constitution

34

Intelligence

33

Wisdom

39

Charisma

31

Tanda's Level 8 Combat Skill-sheet

Melee Specialization

Level 4

Auril Enhancement

Level 4

Auril Healing

Level 3

Auril Manifestation

Level 4

Melee Specialization Subskills

Spear, Bow, Flight, Mortal Strike

Her Skills were now nearing the peak of her Tier, but werent quite there yet. A single week of deathly combat, with higher level foes, had done wonders for her. She had excellent foundations with years of fighting duels with various beastkin and against strong auril beasts, but whatever the Framework was granting her had measurable results. She still felt some leftover vitality in her body, her heart continuously creating more auril out of her spirit and her life force.

Tanda had convinced the clan heads of joining the Framework, but it was not completely successful. Avinas horned owl parentage father, Davron, was the toughest proponent of tradition and their history. He refused to become an abomination he called it, and were furious that Avina herself had joined.

It was only through an honor duel that Tanda was able to make him back off. While he was strong, he was not strong enough to defeat her. She had improved significantly with Fhesiahs supplements and guidance of the Framework. What aided her the most in the end, however, was emulating Ophelia, and her short tutelage.

Tanda had learned and starting implementing minimizing her movements, dodging and parrying skills by the slightest of margins. Twisting her body and attacking using the momentum gained where possible. Reducing the tells on her attacks, allowing her to get even the slightest edge.

Davron was able to make minor illusions, creating feints with manifestations of his spirit. It was only through minimizing her own tells and movements that she was able to get ahead, scoring a few glancing blows, and she began pushing Davron back.

What actually finished the fight was copying the trick from one of Ophelias stories: where Fhesiah tripped her using her tail. Her wolf tail wasnt overly pliable or strong, being mostly useless other than telling people her mood, or if she wastrying to avoid a subject, apparently. But by infusing it with auril, she was able to grab Davron and trip him up.

Tanda learned that Aisling had tried taking on the undead rift, but were rebuffed by the werewolves and their flyers. They couldnt call for reinforcements, or get a message out, the enemies watching the peak from all sides. Aisling knew that throwing away their lives without the node Tanda would bring was a waste. So they waited for Tanda to arrive with her flock and Alliance Node, to turn the tide knowing that she would, in time.

After integrating her people involved in the fight, Tanda then rallied their warriors. They had come up with what she considered a decent plan, but it ended up not mattering. They had planned to produce smoke to cover their entrances enough that they could burst through in one direction, but a cold front came in with cloud cover, darkening the sky and producing a fog in the valley, instead. It was like the world itself was helping them, giving them cover to leave the peak unseen.

It covered their exit from their home in a ring amount the mountain, allowing them to exit and approach the trees mostly secretly. She was now fighting through the forest, with a small group of her more powerful warriors. The werewolves had their mountain encircled with enemies, but they could not protect from every direction.

She knew these werewolves had signaled their brethren, but she had the smaller group here, several other groups matching hers, the plan to reduce their numbers as much as possible safely. The enemy was strong in the jungle, but with their connection to the heart of the world, their actions were being aided.

Tanda saw that there were dozens of pterodactyls that had werewolf riders on them, them circling in the air above her people. While she thought many of the adults could probably escape such enemies into the sky, their children certainly could not. For now, the children and elders were deep in the caves of the opposite peak from where the heart of the world was located.

Her heart was thumping in its chest, singing the song of battle. She knew many of her people would die, but that if they won, or if the Champion Jake won when he arrived, they would eventually be revived. This calmed her mind, even though the enemy had hundreds of werewolves, which she knew were of a higher Tier.

Her heart beat with righteous vindication, knowing she would fight to defend her home, just like her father. That his efforts were not for nothing, buying her people time to adapt. She was sure that if they lost, that this Dreadbeast Champion would taint the heart of the world even further. All of her peoples hard work after a thousand years, ruined. She could not allow that to happen.

She screeched her rallying cry, her voice producing a call like that of a hawk. Her people blotted out the sky, circling towards the enemy, releasing attacks at the stationary werewolves. The enemy champion slashed his arm forward, and sickly red energy was released in a wave. Many of her peoples plain arrows were wiped out, her wanting them to save their auril infused attacks for the right moment.

The enemy champion growled and roared, his people covered in red energy, as they began to charge down the riverbank towards their peak. Her people were too high for their bows to be overly effective, but her people could continue to rain down attacks on them. First, however, she wanted to get rid of the approaching pterodactyl riders.

She screeched again, signalling her intentions. Her people then charged their attacks, and began firing at the enemy. Streaks of all different colors flew at the enemy, targeting the mounts the werewolves flew on. Their arrows struck true, dozens of them falling out of the sky in mere moments, as hundreds of her people released their ranged attacks.

Some of her people used their javelins to rain attacks down on the werewolves on the ground, the attacks also striking true. The werewolves were armored, but they didnt have shields. She guessed many of them were hunters or archer classes, spotting very few that she would consider warriors or mages. Their red energy protected them, but two or three javelins striking the same target, eventually, one would pierce their protection.

The werewolves leaped to the mountain, and began their rapid ascent. Her people retreated higher into the sky, but ranged attacks were returned. They used some sickly red energy to enhance their shots, and her people did their best to interpose javelin and shield users in the front, to absorb the assault.

The enemy champion shouted in a rage. What is this weaponry? How could a fringe world become so skilled, in such a short time? But no matter. Your people are not the only ones with special weaponry.

The large werewolf pulled out a massive bow, and drew back an arrow, that looked special to her. There were no others in his quiver that she could see. It was a sickly black, and her whole body screamed alarm as he drew it back. She screeched to retreat towards where she knew the heart wanted them to go, as he fired it.

Hey clan-daughter, you Whoops! Aisling bumped into Tanda in the air, as a spear filled with black auril flew right at the incoming arrow.

The two exploded into each other, and black beams of light were released, piercing through dozens of her people, and dozens more behind them. A beam missed Tanda entirely, by mere inches. Most of those struck fell out of the sky immediately as they were struck at a vital point. In the rest, a sickly energy was invading them, and they began losing their height, and Tanda knew that those struck too would die, either from the affliction, or falling prey to the werewolves below.

The attack was completely devastating, but she could tell it could have been much worse. Aislings slip, had caused the attacks cone to be diverted significantly, half the beams ineffectually heading to the outside of her flock. If Tanda was no longer there to lead, they might not have been able to head for their goal while she felt the calling of the world in that direction, it appeared most of her brethren could not.

The werewolves all started firing their own bows, and while Tanda thought they wouldnt be able to reach her people, they filled themselves with sickly looking energies and fired their weapons. Her people were already firing in retreat, some attacks hitting the werewolves and taking them out. But her people were falling from the sky much more rapidly. The champion drew his bow back once more, and Aisling arrived to guard Tanda with a shield. I dont have my spear anymore, so Ill just have to use this!

She guarded the champions arrow with auril infused in the amberwood shield, but the arrow pierced through the shield and into her arm. She pulled the arrow through, wincing, as her auril worked to heal it.

Aisling said, Damn, didnt see that coming. I can tell it was poisoned, too, but I should manage.

Tanda and Aisling fled, increased their speed towards the forest she was being drawn to. Tanda felt like they were finally out of the range of the werewolves, them dropping off the cliff face and following her flock down the bank of the river. She was happy that they didnt instead go for the heart of the world beneath the caves, but she had a plan in place in case they did. It appeared this Champion was confident in his victory.

The Champion laughed. There is no place for you to flee! No place to hide! I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and I will enjoy your terror as your life leaves your useless hearts! You have kept yourselves too weak!

Tanda knew the forest was likely filled with werewolves, as well. But there has to be a reason why the world was drawing her in this direction. Her war party had cleared several in most directions, but she knew that encirclement likely closed back around where they did.

Her people were traveling through the air and moving faster than most creatures could possibly run, but the werewolves were filled with red fervor and moving fast on the ground. They had smelled blood, and they were on the hunt. They moved rapidly, almost keeping pace with her people that were flying.

Occasionally, they fired their bows and managed to strike one of her people. Her people returned fire, but their normal arrows without auril were mostly ineffective. She could tell her unawakened flock did little, though rarely an arrow would pierce an eye or some other vital point. Her people were definitely whittling them down.

Her people were in the thousands, but they were up against several hundred enemies that were worth more than ten of hers. Only her awakened could land solid blows, but despite it taking several to kill these hunters, the hunters only needed one blow to kill her people. The hunters would howl and growl as they killed her people, charging themselves with a vicious red energy as they did.

Her people arrived at the treeline, and Tanda was surprised there were no arrows waiting for her flock. There was some confusion in the Champions face as well, from what she could see, as he looked around the treeline with a frown on his wolf-like face. She realized that even the wind was blowing towards the forest, keeping him from detecting the scents inside.

Her people continued through the forest, and the werewolves started to catch up. They leaped through the trees with fervor, clearly in their favored terrain. Her people started catching them with shots of their auril filled arrows and javelins, but many of her people were being knocked out of the sky. The unawakened were unable to continue fleeing as they were being overtaken, and made their last stand.

Her unawakened people were cut down with ease, some werewolves even leaping through the air to cut them down, rather than shooting their bows. Tanda fired her arrows filled with auril, aiming for killing blows. When hunters went for the kill, they would often experience slight tunnel vision. She aimed for this moment, her arrows sharpness deadly.

Her auril manifestation was somewhat like the bite of a wolf. Where the sharp blades of auril slashed or pierced into a target, her will would tear chunks out of it by releasing deathly energies and killing the creature from the inside. Jakes comparison to going for the throat was very apt. Where she made even a small slash on a weak point, a large chunk would be torn out, causing death. Going for the heart, throat, head, or spine were best, for her.

Unlike many of her people, though, she could not use her ability over and over. In order to manifest her will, she had to allow the energy to build and be concentrated, before she could create a powerful attack. She wasnt sure how the Framework would have guided her to change her manifestation, but she knew it would have had to change to become more like her fathers.

She signaled to continue the retreat, but hundreds of her unawakened people remained to slow down the enemy, as others retreated. They screeched their battle cries, singing the songs of battle. A few even awakened in this process, only to be cut down in mere moments. Tanda made a fighting retreat, the Champion barreling down on her people. He cut them down left and right, awakened or not. Tanda was near the middle of the flock, and he was gaining on her.

Her people fired bows and threw javelins at him to slow him down, but it was futile. It was like he had eyes on the back of his head, performing both acrobatic maneuvers and slashing his sickly red energy to intercept large swathes of projectiles and cut her people down alike. Some arrows even struck his armor or bone spikes ineffectually, despite being covered in auril.

She did her best to aim for opportune moments, but everything that appeared to be an opening was instead evaded easily; the man outperforming his previous limits. He laughed viciously as he cut her people down, and even took bites of her people. He was now covered in her peoples blood and a malevolent aura, and it seemed if anything he was getting stronger and faster. His body and armor had been white, but now he was red, completely covered in the blood of his enemies.

She ran out of arrows, and she knew a majority of her people were low or having ran out already. If they had just had more time and funds, they could have been much better armed. Looking at the enemy, she thought that they might have cut down nearly half of them, though there were supposed to be many scattered around the jungle surrounding Harmony Peaks. Considering that her people were now out of arrows, she felt that they would be lucky to take out another half of those, before her thousands of warriors died.

When her people got into melee range with these enemies, they were carved up with ease. Like a swarm of bees facing wasps, the creatures much larger and stronger than her people tore them to shreds. She began to feel that her peoples loss was inevitable, when the ground started to shake. The werewolves froze in their tracks, stopping their pursuit. Her own people rose higher into the air, trying to see over the ridge they were heading towards.

A stampede of auril beasts crested over the ridge, dozens of them side by side, perhaps hundreds total based on how the very earth shook as they approached. Triceratops, stegosaurus, ankylosaurs, and even the great brachiosaurus were all charging through the forest at their enemy, various auril beasts. The enemy champion howled, and his people took it as some sort of orders, taking to the trees, retreating slightly.

The auril beasts were all herbivores at first, and after many of them crested the ridge, her breath caught in her throat as she spotted them. The great stag, boar, hound, and lion all stood. She could tell they were near the peak of Tier 1, and they exuded the power of life and vitality beyond any beast she had ever seen.

All four creatures were covered in vines and flowers, beasts forming a symbiotic relationship with plants. Behind the auril beasts, came a stampede of smaller, younger versions of the four leaders. But there were so many more other creatures, from all over their world of Highlands. If they could climb cliffs or fly, or they lived in this valley, they were here.

The will of the world had driven allies to come to their aid. Together, her people would defend the balance against a great enemy.