The Grand Weave

Teddy stepped forward, but Igas lagged behind. I felt something scratch at the insides of my mind until Magnus roared, and I felt the effects lessen.

"Huddle up!" Teddy ordered.

We shuffled together, and I pushed myself toward the outside of the group; whatever it was that made the others stumble like drunks, it affected me far less than it did them.

Teddy began to glow as golden light expanded from his back and surrounded us. His aura further reduced the strange feeling.

Should have done this earlier.

I pulled out my mask and slapped it on.

The enchantments took hold, and I looked past Teddy and found the room had grown twice its length. Before, it looked like a simple bedroom housing a twin-sized bed and a lone desk and chair combo on the back wall.

Now, the room had stretched past the edge, and the table and chair sat smack in the center.

"That's Panasia!" Celanae yelled over the screaming.

"What is that thing?" Sereza muttered.

Near the far wall, deep into the expanded space, the half-beasktin woman clawed at the ground with her head bent back.

Long, red claws gripped the sides of her head while slimy tentacles wrapped around her cheeks, pulling her upward.

Panasia groaned in anguish as another tentacle slid past her chin and tightened around her throat.

It looks like Eraztis... fuck can't remember the name.

"Teddy! It's mental effects; that's a mind eater!"

He didn't turn but nodded and pushed even more mana into his aura. The light expanded, and Isaac stepped behind Igas, partially enshrouding himself with his shadow.

He grunted. "Can't enter the shadows; the space is weird."

The cherry-red mind eater screeched and forced Sereza to her knees. It removed one of its hands from Panasia's head and held it up. Suddenly, the table and chair lifted into the air and rocketed toward us.

Celanae slammed her staff downward, and a thick barrier appeared in time to block the debris as wood splintered and cracked against the crystal wall.

Eodyne pulled back the string of her bow, and an electric arrow started to crackle into existence. Her muscles tensed and then released as the arrow zipped across the room.

"Enough!" yelled a feminine voice.

The arrow slowed and came to a stop a foot away from the monster's head.

"Eodyne?" Teddy yelled.

"Trying!" she replied.

Eodyne scowled and held out her arm. The arrow struggled forward and made it a few more inches before a mana wave cracked Celanae's barrier.

"It's strong," Celanae grunted.

"Celanae, Magnus absorbed some of the mana," I whispered.

"Damn."

Teddy pushed forward, and Celanae shattered the current barrier to replace it with a new one, further out.

"Magnus, can you aim behind the monster?"

"Yes!" he shouted.

"Do it in seven seconds."

"Guys," I whispered. "Magnus is attacking in three seconds."

Eodyne continued to push the arrow forward while Igas bent low and raised his greatsword. Serena joined him with her daggers, and Magnus opened his jaw as another wave of energy created spiderweb lines in Celanae's barrier.

Celanae cut off her skill, and Magnus unleashed a beam of mana that drilled toward the monster. The mindeater ducked behind Panasia while its tentacles tightened around her neck.

The beam continued and hit the wall.

After a second, the mana pulsed, and the wall crumpled. The pressure abated, and Sereza sent a fan of spectral daggers that sliced through the air while Igas launched himself forward using pillars beneath his feet.

Panasia choked as the mindeater pulled away from her head and dragged her up. "Stop!"

Sereza's daggers broke apart into green motes while the mindeater raised its other hand and froze Igas like Eodyne's arrow.

In a screech that caused the others to flinch, it clapped. Igas jerked toward the middle where Eodyne's arrow exploded upon contact.

"Aaagh!" Eodyne yelled.

Igas twitched, and smoke rose into the air as the ice around his ribs began to melt into a puddle beneath him.

Teddy charged and raised his shield, ducking his head below.

"Zharia, Stumrorex! Now!"

Zharia chased Teddy while Sturmrorex's horns lit up. A bolt of blinding electricity shot forward, reaching the mindeater before Igas dropped to the floor.

It whipped its head around, and the bolt shot into Panasia's chest. I clenched my teeth and watched Teddy come to a sliding stop.

Eodyne clutched her skull while Isaac stayed back and stomped. His leg began to sink into the floor at an agonizingly slow pace.

"Sereza. We have to overwhelm it. You go right, I go left!"

"Zharia, stop!"

Zharia leaned forward as she flapped her wings to halt her momentum but continued to float across the room and squish into Teddy's back.

"Master!" she cried.

"Zharia!"

Mana raced from the lake in my chest and spiraled into the channels for Spirit Lord's Invocation. Magnus lost his form and shot into my sternum.

"Celanae! Launch me!"

She summoned two barriers, one below and one behind it, creating a wall for me to kick off of. As I jumped, the barrier extended forcing me across the room.

Sturmrorex lit up around my neck, and he diverted the wind around my body.

Igas stood up; Teddy activated a skill and made it within arm's reach before another pulse crushed him to the floor with Zharia stuck to his shoulder.

I reached out with Magnus' skill and began absorbing the mana, but it burned inside my channels, and I tasted copper on my tongue.

It traveled down my arms and into my claws as I continued to absorb it. Like gaining the attention of a titan, the mindeater swiped his hand away from Teddy and onto me. The force crushed me into the crystal but Celanae kept it moving.

With trembling arms, I extended them forward and activated the mana stored within. For a second, and only a second, the force collided, halting the resistance keeping me back.

Like a spear, I smashed into the mindeater and dragged him to the ground. A tentacle snatched my wrist and slammed it to the floor. I kicked and cut through tough flesh. The claws on my feet couldn't penetrate, but I managed to break its attention and free my arm.

Both hands dug into his scalp; my thumb slid into its eyesocket and pressed down. Sturmrorex shot out and sank his teeth into one of the tentacles. Electricity left his scales and began to fill the slimy flesh.

Before I could send energy into the mindeater's skull, the world froze.

Oh fu-

My vision shattered as the blastwave sent me tumbling away. As my shoulder smashed into stone, something broke, and I swallowed a scream.

"Master!" Zharia cried.

Blinking away the stars, I forced my chin up and saw Teddy and Igas mid-swing as Isaac thumped the ground with his tendrils.

The mindeater floated off the floor, Panasia dangling underneath him, still wrapped in its tentacles.

"Sleep!" rumbled the voice.

It penetrated my eardrums and wormed its way into my thoughts.

Memories flashed too quickly for me to make sense. Like hitting the skip button on a video, it flickered from one moment to the next until it stopped on the image of a mirror.

Rage shattered it to pieces, but a new image appeared of a young woman smiling from across the room.

Stop!

The demon inside clawed its way through the bars and tore the memory away.

My vision returned, and I met the mindeater's eyes.

"Give in."

A painting... two smiling faces... Mo-

NO!

Chime bells cleared the memory away, and I sank to the floor. I tried to breathe, but it felt like sucking through a straw. Something sharp bit my ear, and I swatted it away. Again, it bit down, and I grabbed it, feeling smooth scales beneath my fingers.

What?

"Master! Focus!" Sturmrorex pleaded.

I snapped my head up and raised my hand. Zharia gripped Teddy's shoulder and sent flames toward the mindeater, but they didn't reach.

Fuck you.

Swiping downward, five lines of near-invisible energy screeched through the air. The mindeater forced Igas in the way, but the attack exploded against his armor and shot him toward the monster.

Ice extended out of his vambrace and sliced a line through its leg before hitting the wall.

Crunch!

Teddy and Isaac dropped just as three green daggers sank into the mindeater's left arm.

I jumped forward, grabbed my spear, and sent mana through its shaft as I flopped closer. The tip bent around the mindeater's ankle before stabbing the blade into its leg.

Mana flowed into the weapon, and I heard sizzling followed by a sharp scent of burning flesh.

Again, the mindeater raised its arm. The spectral daggers crumbled into pieces. My face smashed into the floor. Blood escaped my lips as I tried absorbing the mana restraining us.

"Submit!"

I didn't let the memories play; I jammed a claw into my ear and sucked the mana away.

It stared down, and I jerked my arm, trying to pull it off balance, but another shockwave pushed it away and forced the spear out of my arms.

"Submit!"

My spear floated up and then angled toward me.

Fuck!

It came down and met a crystal barrier that cracked and then shattered. Another barrier appeared, and Celanae groaned.

Slam! Crack! Slam! Crack!

Something hit my ribs, and I began to roll, but as I did, my body jerked to a stop.

Bones splintered, caught between two forces, and I clawed at the stone, trying to gasp for air.

"Subm-"

"Shut the fuck up!" came a new, exhausted voice.

Thick fingers intertwined with the dull-red tentacles and yanked. The monster's skull met a rippling fist that sucked the air out of the room and popped my ears.

The force stopped, as did Celanae's barrier, and I looked in time to watch another meaty smack crunch the mindeater's face.

Panasia wrapped a large hand over its eyes and stood up, dragging the mindeater with it.

Slam!

Knuckles met slimy flesh again and again.

Panasia's arms rippled as her fur began to sharpen into needles. When she punched for a fourth time, blood leaked from the myriad of small holes dotting its skin.

Reaching around, she crushed it close to her chest while further entwining her fingers with the face tentacles.

She pulled.

The monster screamed, words desperately clawed at my ears, and a voice in my head begged her to stop.

Panasia didn't care.

A tentacle began to rip, and then another. Raising her head, I felt mana rush into her mouth and watched two blades of howling wind elongate where her teeth would be.

Like a rabid dog, she bit down and started to chew while tugging at both ends.

Violet blood dripped. And the tentacle snapped.

Before the mindeater could sink to the floor, she dug her fingers into its throat and squeezed.

She raised it to meet her eyes. It slapped at her with nubs, but she bit into its cheek and ripped its cheek off. As she spit, the wind picked up, and something snapped, ringing through the howling air.

The body dropped to the floor, and she stared at the separated skull.

"Guildmaster?" Teddy asked.

The head slipped from her fingers and bounced off the ground before landing facedown next to the rest of its corpse.

Panasia crumbled, and Teddy rushed to brace her as she fell.

"Cyrus, Áine."

I winced as my lungs struggled to breathe past the crushed rib.

"On it..." I gasped.

Teddy glanced over and gave me a sympathetic smile.

Sturmrorex nuzzled my cheek before sliding beneath my collar and slipping back into my soul space.

Áine appeared as his replacement, and my arm gave out, but a hand stopped the floor from cushioning my face.

Sereza waved with her free hand and I shut my eyes to groan.