Cyrus Solaris
Mira gave me a wary look. "My communicator isn't working. Is that creature making it happen?"
"I don't know. But we gotta find a teacher." I said, but our path was cut off.
The large, hulking creature stood over us, silent in the dead of night.
I looked at Mira and handed her the sleepwalking student.
She caught the student. "What are you planning?"
"For your escape, you can travel faster than I can. So go."
"You can barely stand," She said, her eyes blazing with fire.
"You'll only slow me down!" I activated Gravity Well Minor and commanded her body to ascend in the air.
I tried using my third node, tidal forces, to push her forward.
But the push was minimal.
Then I dashed toward the creature.
After my first bout, I wondered if its intangibility worked like Jace's.
Only one way to find out.
The creature didn't seem worried about my challenge; its focus was only on Mira and the student. It propelled itself in the air, and Mira hadn't summoned the earth to transport her yet.
It's too fast!
I jumped after it, hoping to get in range to use gravity well.
Floating in the air, I expanded my field of influence as far as I could without affecting Mira and activated the ability.
It worked?
The creature plummeted back to the ground, and I let myself free-fall after it. I charged my fist with as much cosmic energy as possible.
The creature bounced off the ground, perfect!
Right when my fist made contact, I phased through the creature again- how?
I never touched the ground. My body folded on impact, my vision black, all I could feel was the wind zipping past me, as I was launched back into the air.
My sternum cracked, pieces splintering my lungs.
What is this thing?
My vision returned, and my stomach dropped.
The creature was a few inches away. I threw my arms up in defense.
But the creature was smart.
It spun its body and hit my back. Sending me hurtling back to the ground.
When I landed, the surface was soft and wet. To my surprise, it was the work of Mira; she caught me using her ability to form a large hand made of mud.
"Looks like you need help?"
"I told you to go," I said, my breath short and sharp.
"Screwhead, why would I listen to you? Plus, this is my apology for leaving you hanging before," she said, jumping down from a pillar she conjured.
I struggled to my feet, and the sharp pain in my chest began to radiate all over my body. Gravisense flickered in and out as a high-pitched ring invaded my ears.
"I'll run point," Mira said, stepping in front of me, releasing more of her cosmic energy.
"No. I'm fine; it's too strong to fight alone."
The creature tilted its head and assumed the stance of a wild beast.
Mira gave me a nod, and we both dashed toward the creature.
Mira commanded the earth to propel herself upward in the air, while I went for the sweep.
My strike phased through again, as I expected. But it only lasted a short period of time, and there seemed to be a brief interval before it could phase again.
This played into our favor.
It had to make a choice, and it chose wrong.
Mira crashed down on top of the creature, her hand covered in a gauntlet of rock. The attack was blocked, but the force of the attack caused the creature to sink into the ground.
3 2 1.
The creature's form shifted again.
I activated Gravity Well Minor, forcing Mira to disengage from the creature as her body floated into the sky. I threw a kick to its hip. It felt like striking a steel beam, leaving me no choice but to disengage as well.
I was starting to see a way to potentially defeat this creature; it all depended on our timing. Mira and I were both skilled combatants, but we lacked the chemistry to perform the task at the level we needed to.
She landed next to me, her breath labored.
"So we finally got a clean hit on him."
"Yeah, and it did nothing," I said, giving her a desperate look.
"Screwhead, the nail doesn't sink in after one swing of the hammer. If we can do it once, we can do it again."
There was a sudden ripple in space.
Then something grabbed my head. The impact felt like a cement block crashing into me before I was driven into the pavement.
A shriek pierced through the sound of rainfall.
Think Cyrus, Think.
My head scrambled, and I tried to focus and use Gravity Well Minor again to lift the creature off me. But my vision and my sense of gravitational waves were spotty as I tried to fight off the repeated slams of my head into the ground.
In between slams, I strained to get a look at Mira, but her body disappeared into the ground.
Then the slams stopped. I twisted my head slightly and saw that shackles of earth restrained the creature's limbs.
Mira had the creature in a chokehold. The creature's body flickered a couple of times.
"Cyrus, NOW!"
I rolled over and threw two strikes at the creature. One landed and the other phased through. Mira fell to the ground behind the creature, and I tried to roll out of the way to anticipate the next strike.
The creature roared in defiance and lunged at me. I turned and ran, trying to put space between us.
But I slipped on the wet pavement.
My heart nearly burst out of my broken chest.
High Pantheon Solaris, please save me.
But the attack didn't come again.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Mira in the creature's grasp, its maw biting down on the crescent fold of her neck and shoulder.
Her olive skin turned pale, and the fight in her struggle dwindled each second.
I used gravity well and slammed them both to the ground. I hurried over to release Mira from the creature's grasp.
The creature's body flickered again, quickly turning into convulsions.
"Mira, are you ok?" I yelled, worried, because I couldn't feel her cosmic energy.
The creature's body stirred, beginning to stand, and I was running out of options.
"Solmane, can you hear me? I need help."
A few moments passed. No response.
My hands trembled.
There was a shift in the creature's intent. Our gazes met, and it began to run off.
Then a whisper crept into my ear, "Cyrus, we can't let it get away." Mira said, her voice faint.
"I can't just leave you here."
"I'll be fine; go after it." I was reluctant, but I knew if it was retreating, it was doing it for a reason.
I needed to find where it came from.