Path of Dragons

Book 1: Chapter 40: Preamble to Disaster

Elijah stalked forward, moving as quickly as he dared without rendering his Guise of the Unseen ineffectual. The ability was usually very effective, to the point where he could sneak up on most animals without fear of being detected, but it had its limits – chiefly, that if he moved too suddenly or into bright lights, he would be seen. It was still just before dawn, so bright lights were no threat, but he had to be careful to keep his movements under control as he hurried toward the invading Voxx.

The monsters approached with little care, crashing through the underbrush as they passed the ephemeral boundary of the Grove proper. They were already within his Domain, but they had yet to pass the circle of trees that constituted his Grove. Still, he could sense them very clearly.

More, Elijah knew – how, he wasn’t sure – that they were weakened by the Grove. However, he also felt the Grove’s power level dip, and he inferred that, if the Voxx were left to their own devices, they would slowly drain the Grove of all Ethera and consume whatever remained of the ancestral tree.

Elijah refused to let that happen.

Not because he wanted to fight them. He didn’t, especially considering that he was outnumbered ten to one. But he also didn’t have much of a choice. The Grove was more than just his home. It was a stronghold against the invaders and a fortress that protected Nerthus and the ancestral tree.

And he was meant to be their protector.

So, Elijah padded forward on silent paws until he reached the first monster. On all fours, Elijah was only a few feet tall at the shoulder, so the reptilian creature loomed over him. An air of corruption wafted from its viridian scales, accompanied by the sickly sweet smell of decay. If Elijah hadn’t spent the last few months hunting similar creatures, he would have been overwhelmed by disgust. However, he’d grown accustomed to their stench, and so, he barely paid it any heed as he finally pounced.

The first attack was vicious, and Elijah’s claws ripped through the monster’s back legs. Its scales parted easily, and his efforts were rewarded with a screech of pain and a shower of black blood. It tried to whip around with a backhanded attack, but it didn’t account for its injury. For all their magical toughness, the Voxx were still physical creatures that were dependent on muscles, bones, and ligaments. So, the moment it tried to turn, its leg collapsed beneath it, sending it stumbling to the ground.

Of course, it quickly recovered – magical durability being what it was – but by that point, Elijah was already racing into the shadows. The monster howled in pain – or perhaps in an attempt to communicate with its fellows - but it was useless. Elijah darted from the darkness, targeting the second monster with a similar attack.

The third monster was clearly aware of his presence, but with Guise of the Unseen active, it couldn’t pinpoint his location. So, it remained rooted in place, spinning around as it tried to look everywhere at once. It was a curiously human reaction, and if Elijah wasn’t in the middle of a battle, he would have wondered at its origin. As it was, he baited the Voxxian monster by letting himself be seen, then melting back into the shadows. It responded with predictable fury, rushing toward the spot where Elijah had been seen, but by that point, he was already circling around.

His subsequent attacks ripped through both of the creature’s hamstrings before Elijah dashed back into the underbrush, using the shadows and his ability for cover. The next few creatures were similarly easy to manipulate, giving Elijah confidence to push himself to do a little more damage with each ambush.

It was a mistake, as was made painfully obvious when he overplayed his hand and got a claw to his ribcage for his trouble. He went tumbling into the bushes, leaving a trail of blood as he barrel rolled to a stop. Shaking his head, he pushed through the dizziness that came from blood loss, pain, and a budding concussion from where he’d hit his head multiple times while bouncing through the forest.

Knowing that he couldn’t remain stationary for long, Elijah climbed to his feet and dashed away. It was just in time, too, because one of the remaining uninjured monsters – there were only two who were at full Strength – came into view only a moment later. It stopped, sniffing the air, then turned toward where Elijah was crouched.

A horrifying grin split its reptilian face before it let out a series of barking hisses. Elijah crept backwards as those barks were answered by its fellows. The creatures were communicating. Were they pack hunters, like wolves? Or was their ability to communicate more advanced? Did they have intelligence on par with humans, perhaps?

It was a daunting prospect, but one Elijah had no time to contemplate.

Elijah ran, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Doubtless, the monsters could now track him – in fact, he was hoping that they would follow, forgetting the glade until the pesky mist panther was dealt with.

For a few seconds, the creatures kept up, but Elijah quickly outpaced them and, after a few more seconds, felt his speed increase as the System deemed him to have gotten out of combat. With that, the effect of Essence of the Wolf reasserted itself, and as a result, he tore through the forest with unprecedented speed that the Voxxian creatures couldn’t hope to match.

He ran, but even as his injury sapped his life, he kept his wits about him, leading the monsters on a long and winding trail before finding his way to his old cabin. By the time he reached his former home, Elijah judged that he’d put enough distance between himself and the stalking Voxx to let Shape of the Predator fall away so he could heal himself.

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The only problem was that he had no real notion of how much Ethera he had available. While in his predator form, he had no sense of his core. He knew his Ethera still regenerated while he was transformed, but with everything that had happened, he knew his sense of time was skewed.

Perhaps he had enough Ethera to heal himself, but would he have enough to resume his predator form?

Whatever the case, Elijah didn’t have much choice. Shape of the Predator came with significant benefits, but in the months since he’d acquired the spell, he’d learned that its durability was grossly lacking. The form was meant for hit-and-run tactics, not standing toe-to-toe with powerful monsters. As a result, he was difficult to pin down, but when he actually took a hit, he had few defenses to mitigate the damage.

When he was only fighting one enemy, it wasn’t such a problem. He could pounce, ravage the opponent, then retreat while Contagion did its work. But fighting multiple enemies at once had quickly shown him his limits. He could work around them, but doing so balanced him on a razor’s edge of disaster.

Hence, the retreat.

Elijah felt himself resume his human form, and, to his relief, he saw that his core had refilled almost entirely. So, he slapped his hand on his side and cast Touch of Nature, channeling the ability through his Staff of Natural Harmony. Enhanced by the staff, the spell quickly took effect. On the surface, the wound closed, but it would require at least one more cast before he was back to perfect health.

He couldn’t afford that.

He had neither the time nor the spare Ethera to finish the job, so after making certain that he’d stopped the bleeding, he set off through the forest. In human form, he couldn’t move nearly as quickly as he had as a mist panther, but he still put his high Dexterity and Strength, as well as the effects of Essence of the Wolf, to good use.

Still, it was a journey fraught with tension as he waited for his core to replenish. He tried to still his mind and funnel more Ethera through his mind and into his soul, but with his adrenaline pumping, it was an exercise in futility. Unable to still his thoughts, he was limited to his natural Regeneration.

Elijah could only hope that it would be enough.

Bounding over a fallen tree, he slid down a dew-slick hill before popping back to his feet and sprinting forward. Somewhere behind him, Elijah heard one of the monsters crashing through the brush. They didn’t bother trying to conceal their presence, and instead of leaping over obstacles, they simply tore though them.

Elijah bent his mind toward pushing his limits, and at any moment, he expected to feel a wickedly sharp claw slice through his spine. While his body might be magically enhanced, Elijah didn’t think he’d make it through that, regardless of how high his endurance or Regeneration was.

A few moments later, Elijah leaped over a familiar boulder and splashed down in the stream where he got most of his water. Fortunately, that was the moment where his Ethera regenerated enough to allow him to once again assume the Shape of the Predator. He embraced the spell, and his core emptied as his body transformed.

It took a subjective eternity as his form shifted from human to panther, but the transformation completed before his Voxxian stalker climbed over the boulder. With the metamorphosis finished, Elijah took off downstream, pushing himself to his top speed.

He left the frustrated monster behind, and when he’d managed to put quite a bit of space between his position and his pursuer. With a little freedom, he dropped to his stomach and rolled, washing the blood away in the process before doubling back. As he did so, he cloaked himself in Guise of the Unseen and resumed his hit-and-run tactics.

When he reached the nearest monster, he saw that Contagion had already begun to work its gruesome magic. The creature was still moving forward, but the ability had sapped much of its Strength. If Elijah left it alone, there was every possibility that the infection would eventually kill it off.

But he wasn’t going to take that chance. So, he climbed a tree and, when the monster passed beneath him, he pounced, raking his claws across its shoulders as he clamped his jaws down on the creature’s head. It tried to throw him loose, but with Contagion coursing through its veins, it was incapable of displaying its former Strength. Elijah’s jaws flexed, and, a moment later, the monster’s skull was crushed. It fell, dead before it hit the ground.

Elijah felt an influx of Ethera that pushed him closer to level twenty, but it wasn’t quite enough to tip him over the edge.

But that was fine. He had nine more of the monsters to kill.

So, he set off through the woods, trying to ignore the foul taste in his mouth as he stalked the remaining Voxx. The first he found was one of the two uninjured, so he used similar tactics to what he’d employed at the start of the battle. Two quick claw strikes, and its hamstrings were severed. More importantly, it was infected with Contagion. Elijah moved on, disappearing into the shadows as he stalked the remaining monsters.

The next one he found was barely capable of standing on its own two feet. In his initial salvo, Elijah had severed the Voxx equivalent of one of the creature’s Achilles tendons. That injury, along with the effects of Contagion, meant that its gait had been reduced to little better than an awkward stumble.

Elijah finished it off without any real difficulty.

The same could be said for the next, which fell almost as easily. The next few had huddled together as they searched for him, but their superior numbers did them little good as Elijah dashed in, slashed a few times, then used his superior speed to disappear into the forest. It took a few passes, but a few minutes later, they were all dead.

Over and over, Elijah killed the powerful monsters. With Contagion slowing them down and gradually sapping their Strength, they were no match for Elijah’s combined advantages. There were a few close calls – especially when he found the lone uninjured monster – but he managed victory all the same.

He barely even took any additional wounds.

By the time it was all said and done, Elijah was absolutely exhausted, though. However, when he finally returned to his Grove, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Not only had he managed to defend his territory, but he’d also crossed over to level twenty. And with that came additional attributes.

Or more importantly, a new ability:

When Elijah looked at the ability, he was elated. He’d been hoping for something he could use in his predator form, and reaching level twenty had given him precisely what needed. He could only hope that it would be enough to get him through the ordeal laid out before him.