If Erin were to say she wasn’t a fan of Sigrid’s plan, that would be an understatement, but death was almost a certainty in any plan where they didn’t just run away. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, focusing on the magic as it pooled in her hand. Since gaining the Mirage Mage boon, shaping the fireball as she conjured, it had become intuitive.

Mirage Mage (Bronze) - You may determine the shape of your spells as you cast them. Once formed, the shape may no longer be altered in this fashion.

In her mind’s eye, she saw the spell as a digital wireframe, and she stretched it to its absolute limit. The result was a globe of flame roughly the size of a basketball that was largely hollow. When she first attempted to enlarge the spell, she had hoped that it would increase its potency, but quickly discovered changing the shape did not affect its other properties.

With the shape determined, she poured energy into the construct and stepped out into the open, her hand outstretched, her palm leveled at the trio of large qek. She was positioned directly behind the largest group, across from where the village wall burned. None of the beast-men had taken notice of her yet, and she exhaled slowly as she focused on her targets.

The deceptively large fireball sped away, ribbons of flame twisting in the air with a sound like tearing fabric. The three largest qek reacted with blurred speed, each of them leaping in a different direction, easily plowing through the smaller ones grouped around them. Her spell collided with a very surprised qek who did not have the senses or the reflexes of his superiors, and the shards of burning magic scattered all around. The shreds of flame sowed pain and confusion in the already unruly ranks, and the situation rapidly devolved into chaos.

Erin’s heart sank as two focused on her, their blue-eyed stares unfaltering. They showed no interest in restoring order; instead they spread apart, approaching from the left and right with slow, confident steps. She tried to mask her fear as she conjured another fireball into her hand, her fingers popping open like the petals of a flower as flame wooshed to life in her palm. This time she stuck with the fist sized balls of flame that were the spell’s natural state. Both qek paused, their eyes shifting between her face and the fire she held in hand, as if trying to gauge the threat she posed.

It was all she could do to keep herself from shivering with fear. The combatants stood in a rough triangle and her arm hovered between them, ready to swing either way. Of course, once she did, one of them would be free to attack and the standoff would end with her at a disadvantage.

Erin might’ve maintained the stalemate longer if they hadn’t been pressed for time, but every second she hesitated, the more likely the qek were to get organized. So when one of the qek glanced in its partner’s direction, she acted. Turning her fireball on the creature, whose vision had not wavered, hoping that the slight distraction would buy her a moment.

The fireball rocketed off the end of her palm, and this time she aimed for the center of mass, and without even waiting to see if her attack landed, she turned and bolted with all the speed her Tier 2 body could muster. It turned out that even in ankle deep snow, this was considerable. When she had first arrived on Jetriser, she had been continually surprised at the increase in her strength, agility, and overall dexterity. In the week that had passed since then, she had begun to take these changes for granted, but as she ducked back into the forest, arms and legs pumping as trees whipped by, she was reminded once more.

Despite that, she could hear the qek on her heels, approaching from either side. Without looking over her shoulder, she conjured a third fireball and fired to her left. A surprised grunt followed, and the sound of pursuit on that side faltered. Just in time, as the other creature was gaining on her from the right. She risked a glance and saw that the large white qek had gone down on all fours, and was loping toward her on powerful limbs.

She veered left into the opening she had created, ducking and weaving around trees as she sought to rob the qek of its advantage in speed with greater mobility. The results were mixed as she managed to stay just ahead of the creature’s grasping claws, but was unable to open the gap. Things continued to worsen as the other qek rejoined the chase. She caught sight of its pure white fur, burned away where her fireball had struck its shoulder, leaving blistered skin that poured blood freely down its arm. The monster was still fast despite the injury and before long, Erin could feel herself being herded by the pair.

She saw them preparing to pinch her, and she loosed another fireball at the already injured qek in desperation. She had seen them dodge nimbly out of the way of her first attack, and had more than enough evidence of their speed. So when her attack struck home, the creature not even attempting to move away, she could’ve cheered. The spell scoured the creature’s side, burning away fur, melting flesh and even exposing ribs beneath. Erin’s eyes widened at the damage and she seized the opportunity, pivoting away from the wounded qek as she moved around a tree. She opened her inventory, conjuring her quarterstaff into her hand.

She planted her feet and whipped the length of wood through the air as the second qek approached. Its blue eyes widened in surprise just before she cracked it across the head with her not inconsiderable strength. Despite the power she’d put into the swing, it felt like she’d tried to club a block of solid concrete. The qek stepped back, shaking its head as it snapped and snorted. Erin shifted her staff to her left hand and lifted her palm, quickly pulling together another fireball, which she launched without hesitation.

The stunned monster took it square in the chest and Erin felt a grim sort of elation at the success. It was short-lived, however, as the other qek reminded her of its presence. A large, clawed hand slammed into her stomach. The creature was impossibly strong, and it sent her tumbling backward through the snow, the blow triggering a memory of the car crash that had killed her. She pushed her pain and disorientation aside as she struggled to quickly regain her feet. Sharp pain radiated through her torso and when she glanced down, she saw streams of blood running freely from her stomach where the qek had clawed her, blood dripping off her clothing and pooling in the snow at her feet.

The ribs on the left side felt like they were made of icy fire and her staff had flown from her grasp when the qek struck her. All three combatants looked the worse for wear, but the qek didn’t seem nearly as concerned about their injuries as she was about hers. She lifted her hand, preparing a fireball as both of the monsters moved apart, and they found themselves once more in a stand-off.

Her gaze lingered on the bones showing through the burns, and she frowned. She’d seen her fireball spell do some fairly devastating damage, but in most of those instances, the target had been a lot smaller and hit directly in the face.

[Your fireball spell has the bolstering augment.]

Lisa chimed in out of the blue, and Erin’s eyes widened. Her spell had seen little use since she’d augmented it, and the fights she had been in hadn’t lasted very long. So she’d forgotten all about the change.

Augment Rune: Bolstering - Fireball: Consecutive Fireballs on a single target do more damage. This effect is cumulative.

Her breath came heavy, and sweat ran off her in rivulets despite the cold air. Casting spells in rapid succession, a dead sprint through the snow and getting mauled had left her tired. Too tired to make another run for it.

The Fireball in her palm wouldn’t hold them at bay for long. These larger qek had proven too durable. The one on her left had taken significant damage, and it didn’t seem to care at all. Once more she was struck with how alien they felt, even for monsters.

“Looks like you got me,” she panted. The qek paused their slow approach as she spoke, and the cuts across her stomach sent cold waves of pain radiating through her.

“Give up and we won’t kill you,” the qek on the right growled at her, and Erin nearly launched the Fireball in surprise. She’d never heard any of the regular qek speak in a way that even remotely resembled English. She squashed her surprise, and grimaced with pain as she held her arm steady, slowly stepping back as they again moved forward.

“That’s a tempting offer,” Erin quipped, her voice strained, “it really is. I’m a big fan of not being killed, but I think I’m going to take a third option.”

Erin hadn’t used this spell more than twice since she’d learned it back in the cave, and both times had been timid experiments. Two large leathery wings popped into existence, fanning wide to either side of her. Erin fired her spell into the qek on the left, hoping to injure it even further. Flames scattered across the creature’s torso, but it barely seemed to notice. Both of them rushed toward her as she prepared to escape. Erin bent her knees, and the wings moved up, flexing for maximum surface area, and as she leaped, they snapped down, scooping air and propelling her skyward with a snap of leather.

In seconds, she had passed the tree tops and left her would-be killers back on the ground. Pure elation flowed through her as she looked down from her lofty vantage point. She quickly angled herself towards the pillar of smoke, and began to glide, or that’s what she tried to do. Almost immediately she dropped several feet and was forced to flap like a panicked pigeon to arrest it.

It quickly became apparent that she did not know how to fly, and just keeping herself aloft and moving in the general direction of the village was a struggle. Erin could feel the spell quickly exhausting her and her arrival back on the edge of the village was ungraceful. Her wings failed while she was flapping awkwardly, trying her best to lose altitude without falling outright. The fatigue had become too great, and the spell slipped from her grasp, dumping her the last few feet into the snow.

Erin groaned softly as someone approached her, and she looked up, relieved to see Sigrid moving to kneel at her side. Erin felt a momentary panic at the large splotches of blood that covered the dark-haired woman, but Sigrid, seeing her expression, waved it away.

“Qek, I’m fine. More than I can say for you. Don’t move.” Sigrid did a quick inspection of Erin’s stomach wounds. “Anything broken?”

“My ribs should be,” Erin said, prodding them gingerly. “But I don’t think they are. Just bruised or something.”

“Well, that’s something. Did you kill them?” This question brought Erin back to the situation at hand, but just as she was about to warn Sigrid of the pale qeks’ imminent return, they arrived and saved her the trouble.

“That’s a no then,” Sigrid said as she gripped Erin under the arm and hoisted her to her feet. The cuts across Erin’s stomach protested, but Erin merely grunted as she forced herself to stand. The pair of them faced the returning monsters, and Erin steeled herself for another conflict. She felt weak and dizzy, like she’d been ill and hadn’t had a chance to get a restful sleep. Not even certain she would be able to conjure a fireball without passing out, she tried to pretend otherwise.

“They can talk by the way,” Erin told Sigrid quietly. “Don’t let them catch you off guard with it.” Sigrid didn’t respond, her attention entirely focused on the emergent threat. The Pale Qek looked over the two of them, growling to one another in the qek tongue. Then, to Erin’s surprise, the two monsters turned back into the treeline, and bolted away.

“Uh, what?” Erin asked as she gave up the façade, and leaned heavily on Sigrid.

“I can’t believe any of that worked.” Sigrid said with a shake of her head.

“Yeah, how’d you…” Erin started to ask as she looked around. She spotted the large qek who’d remained behind, dead in the snow. His skull exposed, the flesh stripped away.

“Finished off that one,” Sigrid said, nodding at it. “It was so focused on corralling the others it never saw me coming. Most of the smaller ones either killed each other or ran off.” Erin wanted to congratulate Sigrid on the success of her plan and her personal victories, but with all immediate threats handled, the fumes she’d been running on ran out. Darkness descended over her vision and she felt Sigrid’s grip tighten on her as she began to fall.