Traveling down the road was quiet, the hum of the car's engine a low counterpoint to the rush of her thoughts. Harley contemplated the scan data displayed on the small device plugged into the port in the seat ahead. Complex diagrams shimmered on the screen, a latticework of lines and symbols that represented the molecular signature of the claw marks she had just recorded. She zoomed in on a particularly jagged edge, the image resolving into a chaotic mess of fractured concrete and traces of something else... something organic, yet disturbingly alien.
A slight chill danced across her skin, a familiar mix of fear and exhilaration. She closed her eyes, letting her imagination conjure the creature that could rend through reinforced concrete with such casual ease. Was it a monster? A weapon? Or something else entirely? She consciously pushed down the rising tide of unease, forcing a small, tight smile. Better to be prepared than caught off guard.
Tase's voice echoed in her mind, clear as if the other woman were standing beside her. "When you're thinking about the cause of something, assume the worst. You'll be better prepared that way." Wise words, as always. Tase's words echoed in her mind.
A chime from the car's console broke her concentration. "Lady Harley, we have arrived."
Harley's eyes flicked up to meet Marty's in the rearview mirror. He looked eager, a little nervous, and utterly clueless about the turmoil of thoughts she was battling. She plastered on her most confident grin. "Thanks, Hatchling. Let's go into the den of warriors, shall we?"
Harley exited the back of the car, the automatic door sliding open with a smooth hiss. Marty, after a moment's hesitation, followed suit, and the car sped off to find parking. Looking up at the imposing structure built into the side of the Great Wall, Harley couldn't help but feel a surge of awe. It was always impressive, no matter how many times she saw it. The Hunters Guild headquarters, a testament to humanity's resilience against the horrors that roamed Dora.
As she stepped forward, Marty falling into step beside her, she allowed herself a small, genuine smile. He truly was a good shadow, always present, always attentive. It was... comforting.
The heavy doors groaned open, as if reluctantly granting entry, revealing a grand hall that stretched deep into the wall's interior. The air hung thick with the mingled scents of monster musk, polished wood, and the tang of distant rain. Trophies, grotesque and magnificent, were mounted on the walls – a colossal insect's carapace, the petrified claw of some enormous reptile, the leathery wings of a bat-like creature – each meticulously cleaned and displayed. To the right, a long, scarred bar pulsed with a rough energy, female bartenders with braided hair and tough hands moved with practiced ease, serving drinks to boisterous hunters and stoic wall guardsmen, the Kestrel insignia stamped proudly on their white uniforms. To the left, a shrine dedicated to the Goddess of Monsters stood in shadowed reverence, a few hunters kneeling in quiet offering.
Harley stepped forward, her boots echoing on the stone floor. Dozens of gazes snapped toward her, tracking her every move. The room's boisterous energy seemed to dim, replaced by a charged stillness. Guardsmen stiffened to attention, their faces impassive, while veteran hunters, scarred and muscled, eyed her with a caution that bordered on suspicion. Walking to the hall's center, she paused before a massive woman who stood cleaning a skull the size of a small dog, her movements precise despite her size. The woman's hair was as black as a moonless night, pulled back from a face framed by feral red eyes that seemed to absorb the light. She towered over Harley, easily seven feet tall, a mountain of muscle etched with a roadmap of old scars, the most prominent a jagged white line that bisected her right cheek and twisted over her mouth to her chin.
The woman's gaze flicked up from her task, pinning Harley in place. A grunt rumbled in her chest, a sound like stone grinding on stone. "Lady Harley," the voice was deep, rough, and edged with something Harley couldn't quite place – exhaustion? Annoyance? "To what do I owe the arrival of the Bluejay?"
Harley's smile remained fixed, but a flicker of unease danced in her emerald eyes. "Well, Master Hunter Lyra, the Mountain," she gestured vaguely, trying to keep her tone light, "I have a bit of an investigation going on." Her gaze flicked back to the skull Lyra was cleaning, her attention caught by the unnatural length of the snout and the way the teeth jutted out like daggers. Lyra slammed a fist the size of a dinner plate onto the table, the force making the skull rattle, and Harley's attention snapped back to her. In the woman's other hand was a gem, pulsing with a faint, unsettling light. "Chimera of some kind. Found it close to the city."
Harley carefully picked up the gem, turning it over in her gloved hands. Tase's voice echoed in her memory, clear as if she were standing beside her, the scent of woodsmoke and monster blood filling Harley's senses. "Its important to know that all monsters on Dora can utilize the same Soul energy as humans do Harley. If you want to effectively make use of what you kill, avoid destroying the gems in their bodies that form as a result of this energy." The gem was wrong. Normally, they were near-perfect circles, smooth and whole. This one was jagged, the color swirling in a nauseating vortex of green and purple, the surface rough and uneven, "like it was forced into creation," she thought, a shiver running down her spine.
"Lady Harley," Lyra's voice cut through her thoughts, each word deliberate, "care to elaborate on your business? You're being awfully quiet." There was an edge to her tone now, a hint of impatience.
Harley smirked, pushing down the unease. "You know I hate being referred to as 'Lady'," she said, her voice regaining its usual playful lilt. "Makes me feel like an old person."
A low chuckle rumbled in Lyra's chest, the sound vibrating through the floor. "Of course. I forget that all you Birds are still brats." She gestured with a massive hand, the cleaning tool flashing in the dim light.
Harley traced a finger along the table's edge, her eyes scanning the other gems laid out beside the skull – each one unique, each one a testament to the power of the creatures they came from. "I took a scan of what I assume are claw marks here in the city," she said, her voice serious now. "I'd like you to look them over with me."
Lyra's eyes narrowed, the red deepening to the color of fresh blood. "In the city?" The words hung in the air, thick with disbelief.
Harley nodded, her smile faltering slightly. "I'm hoping it's just the result of some kind of weapon, but..."
Lyra shook her head, the movement swift and decisive. "Blind hope is annoying. Come." She moved with surprising speed for her size, crossing to a small kiosk built into the wall and holding out her hand expectantly. Harley quickly handed her the device, the weight of the room pressing down on her. Lyra inserted it into the slot, and a chaotic jumble of symbols and numbers flickered across the screen. With a snarl of annoyance, Lyra swiped them away, leaving only a single, stark image.
Lyra stared at the image, her face hardening into a mask of grim concentration. The air in the hall seemed to thicken, the sounds of the bar fading into a distant hum. Every hunter and guard in the room had gone silent, their faces pale and drawn.
"Where did you see these?" Lyra's voice was low, dangerous. "You didn't actually find them in the city right?"
Harley swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry. "Suburban District 44. Wemsly Aqueduct Drainage tunnels, near the Vim Slums."
The silence stretched, heavy and suffocating. To Harley, Lyra's focused intensity was a tangible force, pressing down on her, shaking the very air of the hall. Her playful smile felt brittle, a fragile mask over the prickle of unease that crawled beneath her skin. This wasn't excitement anymore. This was fear. And she wasn't the only one feeling it.
In moments, the grand hall transformed from a place of reverence into one of organized chaos. Hunters barked orders, grabbed weapons, and moved with a focused intensity that belied the earlier stillness. Harley, ever efficient, guided Marty to a corner table, the click of her boots sharp against the stone floor. She waited, a silent rhythm tapping out beneath her boot, a subtle counterpoint to her outward composure. Amidst the chaotic movement of the Guildhall, a rising pressure of excitement in her chest stretched her smile wide.
Marty, his young face etched with worry, fidgeted in his seat. "Ummm, Lady Harley," he began hesitantly, his voice barely audible above the rising clamor. "Why can I not feel an Aura from Master Lyra? I thought everyone in Yunirith used Aura?"
His question was valid, Harley conceded internally. The intricacies of energy manipulation beyond Aura were a mystery to most in Yunirith. She leaned forward, splaying her fingers on the worn wooden surface of the table. "Well, Hatchling," she said, her tone a mix of teacherly patience and playful condescension, "Lyra uses something... else. Something other than our soul as the source for her ability."
She paused, searching for a way to simplify the complex concept. "Think of it this way: While we Aura wielders shape our very souls to amplify our bodies and thing around us, we study the molecular structure of things to produce effects, Essence users are their power. It's woven into their being, like... being the clay instead of just molding it." As she spoke, she focused her Aura, and with a soft shimmer, water droplets coalesced on the table's surface, forming a crude glass. "Essence, that's what Lyra uses. It's an energy of the universe, not of the soul. People from off-world often wield it. They don't get to choose their power, they are born with it or it manifests when coming into contact with raw Essence. It's powerful, sure, but it's also a fixed thing. We have more freedom, but we have to think about every little atom. I'm not too sure on the specifics of Essence, you'd have to ask Nico for a deep explanation."
Marty's brow furrowed, his green eyes wide with a mixture of awe and skepticism. "So... it's like a muscle, you said?"
Harley chuckled, reaching out to flick his nose playfully. "Essentially. But don't get lost in the weeds, Hatchling. You worry about becoming a stronger Aura user first. Then you can ponder the mysteries of the cosmos."
She stood up, the playful glint in her eyes hardening into determination. "That's enough spectating. It's time for some work." A sly smile curled up her right cheek, hinting at the thrill she felt at the prospect of the hunt. "It's been a while since I went hunting. Hop to, Hatchling!"
With a fluid grace that belied her earlier playfulness, Harley walked toward the shrine dedicated to the Goddess of Monsters. The air around it seemed to hum with a subtle energy, and the scent of incense hung heavy. She knelt, her posture respectful, her gaze fixed on the stylized carvings that adorned the altar.
Curiously, and with a visible hesitation in his steps, Marty followed suit. He glanced around the room, his unease growing as he realized that every hunter, every guardsman, had fallen silent and taken a knee. Even the clinking of glasses at the bar had ceased.
Then, Lyra's voice boomed out, resonating with a power that seemed to vibrate the very stones of the hall. "Goddess Persondra, Mother of Monsters, She who grants favor to Mankind," she intoned, her words echoing through the vast space. "We humbly beg your permission to hunt this unseen foe amidst our nest!"
Silence fell, thick and absolute. It pressed down on them, heavy with anticipation. Marty, his heart pounding in his chest, quickly took a knee, his head bowed. And then, a soft voice echoed in the back of his mind, seemingly born from the depths of his own being. "Go forth, brave lights."
The words were simple, yet they resonated with an ancient power. A wave of warmth washed over Marty, filling him with a strange sense of purpose. As Harley rose, the hall exploded back into organized chaos. Hunters roared, weapons clattered, and the air crackled with energy as they prepared to deploy.
Marty, still slightly dazed by the experience, looked to Harley for an explanation. She laughed, the sound both amused and excited. "I'll tell you in a moment, Hatchling. Let's head out to the car and get Tano on call." She nodded to Lyra, who strode over to give a quick update. "I'll contact and coordinate with Tano, I'll give you a few minutes to brief him first." Harley nodded at Lyra's words.
Marty slid into the driver's seat, the leather cool beneath his hands. With a practiced twist of the key, the vehicle hummed to life, the engine purring with restrained power. Then, with a flick of a switch, lights flickered to life atop the car, casting a vibrant glow, and the tires rotated with a mechanical whir, transforming into powerful jet engines. The car lifted smoothly off the ground, ascending with surprising speed, and they sped down the street, leaving the guild behind.
As they soared through the air, Harley activated the comm system, her fingers dancing across the console. A holographic image of Captain Tano flickered into existence, his face etched with concern. "Tano, I need you to reinforce every guard posting and be prepared to coordinate with the Hunters Guild," Harley relayed, her voice sharp and focused. "We have a serious situation at hand. Master Lyra identified the threat as a Mutated Chimeric infestation. She's been hunting these creatures outside the city limits for weeks. Most of her hunts were at least a hundred miles out."
Tano nodded, his expression grim. "Understood, Bluejay. I'll enforce the urgency of the situation. I assume you are heading back to Vim? I sent some curious birds that way, thinking you would end up back there. I'll pause all traffic below ground and evacuate all service personnel and non-combat officials to above ground facilities. All city traffic will be relegated to airborne travel to keep the streets clear in case the fighting erupts into general areas. Fly High, Bluejay."
The holographic image winked out, leaving Harley in silence for a moment. Then, she reached beneath her seat, her movements efficient as she grabbed a set of sleek bracers and several throwing knives. "Hatchling," she said, her voice firm, "you are going to stay with the car for this one."
Marty sighed, his eyes reflecting a mixture of reluctance and understanding in the rearview mirror. Harley's gaze was intense, her emerald eyes boring into his. "Yes, Lady Harley."
Harley clicked the bracers into place, the metallic sound sharp in the confined space, and strapped the knives to her thigh. "Why such minimal equipment?" Marty asked, his voice laced with concern.
Harley's lips curved into a small, confident smile. "The less I have, the easier it is to use my Aura specialty." She glanced out the window, her expression hardening as the landscape below shifted. "Looks like we are here."
Marty expertly pulled the car around, landing smoothly on a relatively clear street leading into the Vim Slums. The air here was noticeably different, heavier, and carrying a faint undercurrent of tension. Harley stepped out of the car, her movements fluid and purposeful as she fiddled with her bracers one last time, ensuring they were secure.
Marty rolled down his window, leaning out slightly. "Why start here at Vim? Why not go back to the Aqueduct where the claw marks were?" His voice betrayed his worry.
Harley looked down the narrow alley that served as the only real entrance to Vim, her gaze sweeping over the dilapidated buildings and shadowed corners. "If there are other unforeseen ways into Vim, Hatchling, and we miss one of them, something could slip through our fingers and kill people." Her voice was low, serious. "I'll sweep my way toward the Aqueducts slowly, methodically. You just stay in the car. Keep the engine running. And keep the doors locked."
Harley stepped into the alley leading into Vim, the sounds of the busy street behind her abruptly cut off as if a door had slammed shut. The cool air of the alley was deceptively inviting, a brief respite before plunging into the unknown depths of a world apart. Yunirith City, for all its technological marvels, held pockets like Vim, where progress seemed to stall at the city's edge. The alley itself was clean. No grime, no overflowing trash cans, no discarded refuse. It was as if someone meticulously scrubbed away any trace of life, leaving behind a sterile void.This stark cleanliness triggered a memory in Harley, a visceral flashback to her childhood in Roshranoc City. There, the slums were a festering wound on the city's underbelly: filthy, choked with desperate people sleeping in the streets, the air thick with the stench of decay, and the ever-present horror of corpses left to rot. Compared to that, Vim was... too orderly. Too quiet. It felt like a thin veneer stretched over something rotten.
She stepped out of the alley into Vim, and the illusion of order shattered. The large square was eerily still, the apartments surrounding it like silent sentinels, their windows dark. A sense of hurried evacuation hung in the air. People had clearly been here, going about their lives, and then... vanished. Even the merchant stalls that usually lined the square's edge were packed up with unnatural precision, as if abandoned mid-transaction.
The fountain in the middle of the square, usually a source of life, was now a macabre centerpiece. Sunlight fractured through the spray, not dappling the area in rainbows, but painting the wet stone in shifting hues of blood red and bruised purple. She looked up at the apartment windows as she passed through toward the main street of Vim, and a shiver crawled up her spine. The isolation shields weren't just down; they were latched. Each heavy click as they sealed echoed in the unnatural silence, like the closing of a tomb.
"Truly not comparable," Harley said aloud, her voice sounding far too loud in the oppressive quiet.
She stepped past the fountain, the spray cold and strangely heavy on her skin, clinging to her like a shroud. The main street ahead was barely wide enough for a car, a stark reminder that in this part of the city, people walked. It reminded her of Dustin's ambitious but ultimately futile plan to modernize the slums, a plan that had been swallowed by the city's indifference. The sides of the street were lined with shops, all closed, all shielded. The dark blue glow of the isolation shields pulsed softly, a mockery of safety in this desolate place.
Harley closed her eyes, forcing herself to focus. She expanded her Aura, pushing it outward to paint a sonic picture of her surroundings. The wind whispered secrets she couldn't understand. The fountain gurgled with a guttural undertone. The shields hummed with a menacing undercurrent. And then, beneath it all, a new sound: a dry, rhythmic scrape... scrape... scrape.
"Claws?"
Her emerald eyes snapped open, and she whirled around, pinpointing the sound's origin in an alley between two squat apartment buildings. Without hesitation, she dashed toward it. The drainage tunnels under the aqueduct were the city's main artery, its primary vulnerability, but that didn't mean there weren't other ways in, hidden veins that these creatures might exploit.
She reached the alley and, without breaking her stride, leapt into the air. Using her Aura, she manipulated the air density beneath her feet, creating localized bursts of propulsion that allowed her to effectively hop across the air itself, each step silent, each movement a calculated strike against the silence. As she neared the source of the scraping, the scene that unfolded before her made her sigh, not with relief, but with a weary resignation.
She flipped forward, landing lightly a few feet from a large corpse. Not just any corpse. This was a chimera, a grotesque mockery of nature, and it was clear it hadn't died easily. But it wasn't the corpse that drew her attention, it was the figures perched atop it.
Nico, with his familiar dark auburn hair and piercing green eyes, sat casually, dragging a claw along the brick wall as if bored. Sparks flew from the contact, adding an incongruous note of violence to his nonchalance. And beside him, Holly, her dark blonde hair framing a face alight with unsettling amusement at Harley's hasty arrival. Both wore the white trench coats of Skyflock, but the pristine fabric seemed out of place in this grim setting.
Harley folded her arms, suppressing the urge to greet Nico with a relieved cry. This wasn't a social call. She needed to maintain a professional distance, even if every instinct screamed at her to close the gap between them.
"Well now Harley! Did ya miss me?" Nico's grin was wide, almost manic, and it didn't reach his eyes. It was the same goofy grin she had seen a million times.
Nico pushed off the corpse and floated down toward her, electricity crackling around him not as a display of power, but as an uncontrollable side effect, arcing and snapping in the heavy air. As he landed, Harley abandoned her attempt at composure and rushed forward, grabbing him in a tight hug.
"Idiot, this is hardly time for a reunion," she muttered, her voice muffled against his coat, but the relief in her tone was undeniable.
She pushed Nico away, her eyes searching his face for any sign of injury, then turned to Holly, who slid off the corpse with a graceful fluid motion.
"Honestly unfair that you got to spend a bunch of time with him!" Harley said, her jealousy over the fun they must have had was apparent.
Harley forced her attention away from her companions and focused on the chimera's corpse, her emerald eyes soaking in the details, cataloging, analyzing. It was a large bird-like creature, but the resemblance to anything natural ended there. Scales overlapped patches of coarse fur, and where a normal bird would have wings, this thing had... something else. Like arms or grabber... Her thoughts trailed off, Lyra's grim words echoing in her mind. It was clear how the creature had died. A smoking hole, cauterized and too perfectly round, marred its skull, a testament to the power of a lightning strike. But that wasn't the only violence this creature had endured. Its limbs were twisted at unnatural angles, and deep gouges marred its flesh. This wasn't just a kill; it was a massacre.
"Unnatural," she murmured, the word echoing in the silence. "Hardly the majestic creature the Goddess usually claims."
Holly laughed, the sound sharp and brittle, and wrapped an arm around Nico's shoulders, her smile widening. "Isn't it exciting that we get to go into a nest of monsters together?"
Her voice was alight with eagerness that was palpable and it made Harley roll her eyes. "You must have been dying to escape the paperwork at the roost."
Holly and Nico both enjoyed combat, Harley knew that, almost as much as Tase did, but this was different. This was...glee. The eagerness they both seemed to radiate was almost intoxicating.
Harley folded her arms and met Nico's gaze, her emerald eyes sharp and searching. Nico seemed to register her scrutiny, and his expression softened, the glee subsiding. He reached out and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, the contact grounding her.
"I can see you are taking things a lot more seriously now.The alley is clear; we dragged the thing out of a hole it was trying to widen."
His voice was calm, steady. Harley felt a warmth spread in her chest at his words. He had noticed. He had seen her growth.
She pushed the sentiment aside. There was a more pressing matter at hand. She looked back at the chimera, her gaze lingering on the damage.
"The shoulders are scraped up, and the beak... cracked." Her voice was barely a whisper.
"The cracks... they form around a hand print."
A chill, deeper than the alley's cool air, snaked up her spine.
Nico was strong, incredibly so, but the force required to shatter a chimera's beak... it was a level of violence that made her stomach churn.
"Nico," she said, her voice tight. "You have gotten stronger."
Nico smiled, "I'm not the only one."
Harley shook the chill off glancing down the alley, "Is the hole a threat?"
Nico shook his head, "If it was, we would be down there already. We waited for you. Tano tipped us that you would be coming this way. Don't worry about the drainage tunnels; Trina is over that way."
Holly, who had been silent until now, gestured with a sharp nod toward the back of the alley.
Her smile betraying her glee. "They really did try and make a new exit from the sewers. We are going to head in from there."
Harley stepped past Nico and Holly, her boots crunching on the broken concrete, her gaze fixed on the grate at the back of the alley. The claw marks around it were indeed messier, less precise than the ones she had scanned. The claws of this chimera were weaker, less... purposeful. A shiver ran through her. Two different sets of claws. Two different monsters? Or... something else?
Despite the horror creeping up her spine, a strange, morbid curiosity flickered within her. She had to know. She had to see what lay beneath this grotesque facade. She forced a smile, a pale imitation of her usual playful grin. "Tallyho."
With that, she stepped forward and dropped into the torn-up hole, the darkness below swallowing her whole. The sounds of Nico and Holly faded above her, replaced by the wet dripping of water.
For a moment, there was only blackness, an absolute absence of light that pressed in on her from all sides. Then, her eyes adjusted, and the darkness yielded to a dim, sickly green glow emanating from the water flowing sluggishly in either direction.
The tunnel was cramped and claustrophobic, the air thick with the stench of decay and something else, something metallic and acrid that burned her nostrils. Small holes in the walls wept brackish water, and occasionally, a burst of pressurized liquid erupted from unseen fissures, spraying her with a cold, greasy film.
Harley landed gracefully, her Aura cushioning the impact, and stepped aside, her hand instinctively reaching for a throwing knife. Nico landed with a heavy thud that echoed through the tunnel, the sound strangely deadened, as if the very walls absorbed it. Moments later, he caught Holly as she dropped, setting her down with an almost possessive gentleness that made Harley's unease spike.
Harley forced her attention away from them, focusing on her surroundings. The tunnel was a mess, a grotesque tapestry of decay. Scrapes marred the concrete walls, but they weren't the clean, precise gouges she had scanned earlier. These were ragged, desperate, as if something had been clawing its way through in a frenzy. She used her Aura to enhance her vision, pushing back the oppressive darkness, but even with her augmented sight, the details only added to the horror.
The scrapes were everywhere, but there were no signs of a body. No blood, no fur, no scales. Just the marks, leading deeper into the tunnel. Nico snapped his fingers, drawing her attention, and pointed across the flow of water.
Dread, cold and sharp, pierced through Harley's confusion as she looked to where he indicated. A pile of bones lay on the other side of the tunnel, illuminated by the sickly green glow. Human bones. Too small to be an adult. Children.
She moved without conscious thought, leaping over the sluggish flow to the other side, her boots landing silently on the damp concrete. She knelt beside the pile, her hand trembling as she reached out to touch one of the bones. They were clean. Too clean. Almost polished. And then she saw it. Or rather, what she didn't see.
No skulls.
Holly disappeared in a flash of red lightning, her movement impossibly fast, a blur of motion that left a lingering scent of ozone in the air. She streaked down the tunnel leading to the right. Nico joined Harley on her side of the water flow, his face unreadable in the dim light, but the air around him thrummed with a barely restrained fury. He reached down beside her, his hand hovering over the bones, and a visible tremor shook his fingers.
Harley didn't need to look at his face to understand the inferno raging within him.
These monsters hadn't just killed.
They had... consumed.
And they had taken children.
The implications of that single, horrifying fact were enough to shatter the fragile veneer of control she was desperately clinging to. These monsters had claimed at least sixty some people that they knew of. This small discovery meant that number could be potentially higher.
Nico stood up abruptly, his movements jerky and unnatural.
Holly reappeared in another flash of red lightning, her expression grim, her usual playful energy extinguished.
"That way only leads to the water purification system.
It's clear.
Fortunately for us, we don't have to split up."
Her voice was flat, devoid of emotion, and it was that more than anything that truly terrified Harley.
Nico nodded curtly, his jaw clenched, and turned to face the darkness ahead.
"Let's go."
His voice was low, dangerous, and Harley knew, with a certainty that settled like a stone in her stomach, that this wasn't just a hunt anymore.
This was vengeance.
They moved deeper into the tunnel, the silence broken only by the squelch of their boots on the wet concrete and the distant, unsettling drip... drip... drip of water. As they walked, they remained quiet, enhancing their senses, pushing their awareness to its limits, searching for any sign of the creatures that had committed this atrocity. The air grew colder, heavier, and the darkness seemed to press in on them, a tangible force that sought to smother their light.
Ahead, the tunnel began to widen, the walls opening into a larger chamber shrouded in shadow.
Nico held up an arm, stopping them in their tracks.
His movements were deliberate, cautious, every muscle coiled.
He crept forward, his footsteps silent despite the water on the ground, and then, from the darkness, he held up four fingers.
Four enemies.
Harley's breath hitched in her throat.
Four.
But how many more lay beyond?
She moved past Nico, her movements fluid and deadly, her Aura flaring to life around her, not with a comforting warmth, but with a searing heat that distorted the air. She was no longer just Harley; she was the Bluejay, the hunter, the bringer of vengeance.
In the room, four of the chimeric monsters were lying down, their forms indistinct in the gloom. They didn't react to her entrance, didn't move, didn't even acknowledge her presence. They were waiting. For something. Or someone.
As Harley stepped fully into the chamber, she seemed to multiply, the heat radiating from her body warping the moisture in the air, creating mirages that flickered and danced around her, obscuring her true form. It was a calculated display, a distraction, a way to sow confusion and fear.
Drawing a knife from her hip with a practiced flick of her wrist, she channeled her Aura, amplifying her strength and reflexes to superhuman levels. The knife in her hand became an extension of her will, a blur of motion as she threw it with lethal accuracy.
The blade flew faster than the eye could track, a silent projectile that struck the nearest creature in the skull with explosive force. The chimera's head detonated in a shower of bone fragments and gore, the force of the impact sending shockwaves through the chamber.
The shrapnel tore through the air, ripping into the creature behind it, dazing it with a spray of blood and bone. The other two monsters remained still, their forms still indistinct in the shadows, but Harley knew they were far from incapacitated.
One of them, a hulking brute with oversized claws, began to rise, its movements slow and deliberate, and Harley smiled, a predatory curve to her lips. The thrill of the hunt, the adrenaline, the fear... it was all there, but it was secondary to the cold, burning rage that fueled her every action.
The chimera lunged, its claws slashing through the air, but Harley was already moving, her body a blur of motion, her form shimmering and fading as she used her Aura to manipulate her bioelectricity, causing her movements to become erratic and unpredictable.
A bolt of white lightning erupted from Nico's hand, a silent explosion of energy that left a smoking hole in the monster's head. The creature slid along the ground, its body twitching violently as the electricity coursed through it.
Holly, in a move so fast it was almost imperceptible, bolted along the wall, her red lightning crackling and spitting as she slid behind the remaining monster. She unleashed a torrent of energy, bathing the creature in crimson light, its skin sizzling and smoking on contact.
With a graceful cartwheel, she spun over the monster's head as it thrashed in agony, its claws tearing gouges in the wall where she had been standing moments before. Before she even landed, red lightning erupted from her fingertips, and she blasted the chimera with another surge of power, incinerating its entire body in an instant, leaving behind only a pile of smoking ash.
Harley, meanwhile, had already closed the distance to the dazed chimera, her movements a whirlwind of controlled violence. She jumped forward, wrapping her legs around its throat in a brutal chokehold, her hands clamping onto its beak and the side of its head. With a sickening twist, she wrenched, and a wet crunch filled the room as the creature's neck snapped. Its body flopped to the ground, lifeless.
Nico surveyed the room, his green eyes sharp and calculating. Harley mirrored his actions, her gaze sweeping over the chamber, searching for any hidden threats, any sign of the creatures' purpose. This had to be more than just a random encounter. These chimeras had been waiting, positioned almost strategically.
"Likely some kind of alert posting," she murmured, her voice low.
"These creatures are intelligent.
They set up a perimeter to warn others of intruders."
Or perhaps, a darker thought whispered in the back of her mind, they were guarding something.
Holly walked over to the pile of ash that was all that remained of the chimera she had destroyed.
She knelt, her movements slow and deliberate, and carefully sifted through the remains until her fingers closed around something solid.
She pulled it free, holding it up for inspection.
It was a gem.
But not like any Harley had ever seen.
This one was twisted, malformed, its surface jagged and uneven.
The colors within it swirled in a nauseating vortex of green and purple, inducing a sense of vertigo just by looking at it.
Holly recoiled, covering her mouth with a gloved hand, her expression a mask of disgust.
Harley walked over, her boots crunching on the shattered remains of the chimera's skull, and Holly reluctantly handed her the gem.
"Ugly," Harley murmured, her voice filled with revulsion.
Nico snorted, taking the gem from her outstretched hand.
He examined it briefly, then shook his head and pocketed it.
"These monsters..." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the room, lingering on the shattered bodies of the chimeras.
"...they are not natural."
He stepped closer to Harley, his voice low and intense.
"Aside from the obvious bird features, they all have seemingly different limbs, but all with claws of some kind.
I'm pretty sure the one Holly fought had mantis blades for claws."
Harley glanced back at the entrance to the chamber, a grim sense of sadness settling in her bones.
Nico caught her expression and nodded, his own face hardening.
"Me too, Harley."
They pressed onward, the tunnel narrowing and the sluggish water flow deepening. The silence grew oppressive, broken only by the squelching of their boots and the increasingly frequent echoes of distant booms, each one a thunderclap in the confined space, a stark reminder that they weren't alone in this subterranean labyrinth. The air itself seemed to thicken, heavy with moisture and a metallic tang that made their nostrils burn.
Nico suddenly froze, his hand snapping up in a silent command to halt. His head tilted, his green eyes scanning the water's surface with an intensity that made Harley's skin crawl. Slowly, deliberately, he began to back away from the edge, his movements fluid and predatory. He jerked his head, a subtle warning, and Harley, her instincts screaming danger, followed suit, her own gaze fixed on the water.
The surface was deceptively calm, the dim light reflecting off its oily sheen. But then, Harley saw it: a subtle ripple, a disturbance that spread outward like an invisible hand had disturbed the surface. And then another, and another, until the entire water flow seemed to writhe with unseen movement.
Holly, her patience snapping, took a step forward. Red lightning crackled around her, illuminating her form with an eerie red glow. Without a word, she unleashed a devastating torrent of energy into the water.
The water erupted in a frenzy of violence. Massive forms, previously hidden in the depths, breached the surface, their movements clumsy and desperate. They thrashed and writhed, their scales gleaming wetly in the crimson light, their guttural cries echoing off the tunnel walls. Holly pulsed electricity through the water, turning it into a deadly conductor, the creatures convulsing and spasming.
But the water was vast, and Holly's energy began to wane. Her lightning flickered and dimmed, and Nico, his face a mask of cold fury, stepped forward, his body crackling with white lightning. He unleashed his own barrage of energy, alternating with Holly in a deadly dance of electricity and thrashing bodies. They rotated seamlessly, a well-oiled machine of destruction, their movements precise and efficient.
For what felt like an eternity, the tunnel became a scene of chaotic violence. The air filled with the stench of ozone and the sizzling of flesh, the walls reverberating with the creatures' agonized cries. Finally, after what seemed like an age, the thrashing subsided. The creatures floated lifelessly on the surface, their forms grotesque and unnatural.
Harley watched them warily, her hand resting on the hilt of her knife. Even in death, these things exuded an aura of wrongness. As Nico stepped back from the water, his boots squelching on the damp concrete, one of the seemingly dead creatures lunged from the depths. Its jaws, elongated and serpentine, snapped open, revealing rows upon rows of needle-like teeth that lined its throat. It was a grotesque parody of a lizard, its eyes burning with a predatory hunger.
Reacting on instinct, Harley surged forward, her Aura amplifying her speed and strength. She grabbed the creature's upper and lower jaws, her hands locking them in place, preventing the snapping maw from closing. The monster thrashed wildly, its body coiling and uncoiling with surprising agility, its muscles straining against her grip.
But Harley's Aura-enhanced strength was more than a match for its bite. She held on, her muscles screaming in protest, her focus unwavering. Then, from the creature's throat, a long, barbed tongue shot out with terrifying speed, aiming directly for her face.
Nico was faster. He moved with a speed that blurred the line between perception and reality, intercepting the tongue with his bare hand. He twisted, his grip inhumanly strong, and with a sickening rip, tore the tongue free from the creature's maw.
The creature's scream was unlike anything they had heard before. It wasn't the cry of an animal, nor the groan of a machine. It was a guttural, rattling shriek that seemed to vibrate in their very bones, a sound of pure, unadulterated agony and rage. It was the sound of something wrong, something that defied the natural order.
Harley grunted, her teeth gritted, her Aura flaring. She twisted the creature's jaws with all her might, pushing her body to its absolute limits. The muscles in her arms and shoulders burned, and a trickle of blood ran from her nose as she pushed past her physical limitations. Finally, with a sickening crack, the creature's neck snapped. Its body went limp, and she shoved it aside, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
For a moment, the only sound was the harsh rasp of her breathing. Then, a shaky chuckle escaped her lips. She had never been that close to becoming monster fodder before. The realization sent a shiver of adrenaline through her, followed by a wave of nausea and a strange, hysterical urge to laugh.
She looked down at the creature's contorted form and shuddered. It was nothing like the chimeras they had encountered earlier. This one was reptilian, serpentine, with small, stubby limbs and a long, sinuous body built for navigating the water. Its skin was slimy and cold, and its scales were arranged in a pattern that seemed to shift and writhe before her eyes.
"What in the hell was that thing?"
She whispered, her voice hoarse.
Before either Nico or Holly could answer, her legs buckled beneath her. She stumbled, and Holly, her movements quick and concerned, caught her before she could fall.
Holly's touch was gentle, but her eyes were wide with alarm as she examined Harley's hands. They were a ruin. Deep puncture wounds oozed a viscous, greenish fluid, and fragments of bone protruded from the torn flesh. Harley had grabbed the creature's jaws with such force that its teeth had impaled her hands.
"Didn't even notice, silly Bluejay,"
Holly's voice was tight with worry, "Nico, Harley is poisoned, I'll handle it. Get the bodies of those things out of the water; can't have them polluting the flow. Some of this goes back to the Great River Lherth."
Nico nodded, his expression grim, and waded into the water, his movements strangely deliberate as he began hauling the corpses toward the edge of the tunnel. He moved with an unsettling efficiency, his strength effortless, his face devoid of any emotion.
Holly turned back to Harley, her smile returning, but it was a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
She clasped Harley's hands in her own, her touch surprisingly warm, and a soothing wave of Aura washed over Harley's injuries.
"Relax, this will only sting for a moment."
Harley sighed, leaning into Holly's touch, a wave of exhaustion washing over her. "I really need to start learning some self-healing with Aura."
As Holly worked, her Aura a comforting balm against the pain, Nico finished his grim task. He climbed out of the water, his white coat clinging to his form, and generated a powerful wave of Aura around himself, expelling the excess moisture from his clothes and skin in a cloud of steam. Then, he knelt beside Harley and placed a hand on her shoulder, his touch firm and grounding. He released his own Aura, a wave of pure, revitalizing energy that chased away the lingering fatigue.
Gradually, Harley felt the strength return to her limbs, the nausea recede, and the burning in her hands subside. Holly's ability to heal was impressive, but Nico's was on another level. He understood the intricate workings of the body, the delicate balance of its systems. If he truly wanted to, he could push himself beyond human limitations, remaining awake and unfatigued for days, even weeks. He could manipulate the very chemical processes of the body, accelerating healing, expelling toxins, even regrowing lost limbs. Holly was merely adept at accelerating the natural healing process and expelling poisons and toxins.
After a long moment, Harley pushed herself to her feet, testing her hands cautiously. The skin was smooth and unbroken, but a faint tingling sensation lingered, a phantom echo of the pain. She met Nico's gaze, a question in her eyes.
Nico shook his head, his expression reassuring, "You did good there.Me and Holly reacting to that attack after expelling so much aura was unlikely; covering us was smart and the right thing to do, even if we could have handled it ourselves. Learning healing aura is mentally taxing and requires a lot of study. Don't beat yourself up over it."
Harley nodded, offering him a small, genuine smile. The warmth of his praise was a welcome balm, but the lingering unease remained.
She was definitely going to prank him later, though.