Mythshaper-Chapter 42: Corpse Flies

The monsters weren’t huge, though they were arguably the most hideous things I had ever seen. Their sinewy forms were supported by two pairs of dark, dragonfly-like wings that beat furiously as they shot towards us, emitting high-pitched squeaks.

The sound was grating, piercing my ears so sharply that I had to press my palms against them. The largest of the ghoulish creatures was about the size of a chicken, entirely black with eyes that glowed in malevolent dark light. Each one was armed with two pairs of limbs ending in claws, sharp and menacing. But the most terrifying feature was their hideous maws, lined with two sets of barbed teeth and a long, palp-like tongue that flicked out grotesquely.

"Get behind me!" my aunt shouted, charging forward. She already had her ice spells prepared but held back from firing directly at the creatures, worried she might hurt Aleya and Priam in the process.

Meanwhile, she did something completely beyond me. Wind and some other force combined between her palms as crackling lightning formed. But instead of launching the lightning at the monsters, she shot it upwards.

A flash of lightning pierced the sky above the towering armoured trees, erupting into a deafening roar of thunder.

Aleya understood Rosalyn’s plan and twisted along a winding path, leaving enough room for my aunt to target the blighted creatures from behind.

"I don’t know where they came from!" Aleya cried, her face pale as a sheet. With the ice attack distracting the dozen creatures, she finally managed to reach us. Priam appeared unconscious in Aleya’s arms, his head lolling with each step. "Priam was already fighting them when I arrived. I think it had—"

"Let’s talk later," Rosalyn cut in. "Let me deal with these flies first." She positioned herself in front of us, protectively like a guardian knight.

Winds swirled around her, curling fiercely as she summoned her powers. Rosalyn launched ice projectiles at the flying creatures, each shard whistling through the air towards its target. Over a dozen were unleashed, but only three of the monsters fell to the ground, twitching before going deadly still.

The remaining creatures were terrifyingly fast, darting through the air with surprising agility that her wind-shaping struggled to counter. Nor were the monster flies perturbed by the loss of a few of their number; they charged at us with the same relentless intensity.

Rosalyn set her jaw, her palms trembling as crackling lightning danced between her fingers once more. The spell took longer to cast than her usual ice attacks, but when she finally unleashed it, it struck with devastating power, scorching three or four of the creatures into blackened husks.

As the dead creatures fell, the lightning bolt crashed into a large armoured tree, sparking a fire. She barely spared it a glance before Diana cried out, drawing all our attention.

I summoned as much fire as I could muster and hurled it at the creature bolting towards her. It wasn’t concentrated like a proper fireball, and even if it had been, I doubted it would’ve done much damage. All it did was distract the creature long enough for Rosalyn to bisect it with a massive ice arrow.

"Blighted Ashes!" Eran swore, swinging a fist at another creature in desperation. The monster twisted around his punch, its long palp-tongue shooting towards him.

Before I could gather enough kinetic force to push the creature away, Rosalyn intervened, smashing it in the maw with a hammering block of ice.

"Everyone fine?" she asked, her sharp eyes sweeping over the rest of the shrieking flies. Her Influence spread around us protectively in a half-sphere, ever-twisting from wherever the creatures darted from.

"I’m fine," I answered quickly, stepping on one side of Diana with Eran on the other. She was pale but uninjured. Eran stood rigid, his fists clenched. Although he looked terrified, he didn’t back down. Aleya was fending off another fly, swinging her blade deftly with one arm while clutching her unconscious brother with the other, refusing to let him go.

Thankfully, my aunt didn’t allow any of the corpse flies to come near us. One by one, she slew them all, her face a mask of fierce concentration. She leapt and moved fluidly, using her powers to propel herself through the air. It looked like she struggled more with controlling her movements than with slaying the creatures.

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"Blighted things are supposed to be weakened in daylight!" Rosalyn cursed, preparing her final attack. Her Influence followed the last remaining creature as it darted through the air. Three ice shards struck simultaneously from different directions, felling it.

At last, silence returned to the forest.

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I breathed in relief and released my clenched fist. What would have happened if Rosalyn was not with us? Or if her capabilities weren't enough to deal with those creatures?

“What are these creatures?” Aleya asked, her voice shaky. She let her weapon slip from her grip as she cradled her unconscious brother.

“Corpse flies,” my aunt replied, her voice low. “They’re uncommon in this region, or any region, to be fair.”

“What did they do to my brother?” Aleya asked, fear and worry etched into her pale face. “I think one of them sucked his blood.”

“Corpse flies,” Rosalyn narrowed her eyes on the unconscious figure of Priam, “have attributes similar to leecher vines, but far worse. They don’t just feed on blood. They consume essence, flesh—anything they can latch their claws onto.”

“Will he be alright?” Aleya asked in a trembling voice.

There were multiple claw marks and a bite mark on his neck. Although no blood seeped from it, it didn’t look like something minor. Rosalyn’s expression turned grim.

“It will take time to recover, I fear,” she said, averting her gaze from Aleya. “There’s no threat to his life, which is good. But we should evacuate from here. Besides your brother needing immediate medical assistance, corpse flies tend to come in hordes. I don’t know if there’s a rift broken somewhere near or something else, but I’m not in any shape to defend against a blighted swarm if that comes to be.”

Everyone was eager to agree, as we broke into a dash towards the town. Rosalyn always remained behind us, her Influence spread around our forms to ensure our safety. We hadn't even moved a couple hundred metres when her Influence flared upwards a tree.

“Wait!” She almost formed her weave for Ice Arrows and dismissed it, finding a familiar figure shot out from the trees, landing in front of us.

It was my father, sword in hand, his eyes glowing with a nebulous glint. I guessed the thunderclap had brought him here, though I didn’t know he could cover such a long distance so quickly.

“What happened?” His eyes found mine, and the concern in them eased once he saw I was unharmed. Then he scanned the others.

“Corpse flies,” Rosalyn said, as though that explained everything. “Only one kid was harmed.”

Before my father could respond, another figure descended from the air, a golden cloak wrapped around her form. She landed gracefully before us, and my eyes widened as the shimmering cloak unfolded to reveal my mother. Without a word, she rushed towards me, pulling me into a tight embrace, as though nothing else existed in the world.

“Are you fine, pumpkin?” she asked, letting go just enough to read my expression. Her cloak disappeared into nothing at that time. “Are you hurt? Was it frightening?”

“Mum, I’m fine,” I said quickly. “It wasn’t me. It was Priam.” My gaze shifted to point towards the unconscious figure.

After making sure I was unharmed, my mother’s attention turned to Aleya and the unconscious Priam in her arms. Without hesitation, she approached and cast a spell—not the basic rejuvenation spell, but a more advanced version designed for recovery.

We were quickly evacuated from the area, my parents giving no answers to our questions as they escorted us to safety. Only when we reached near the Institution grounds did they speak. A group of people was already gathering on the pathway, drawn by the same thunderclap. But, of course, most weren’t even fighters, hesitant to rush towards trouble.

I recognised a familiar face: our combat instructor Delric, stood with a couple of people in sentry uniforms.

“Corpse flies in the mountains?” the taller sentry muttered, shaking his head. “We’ve seen their kind before, but not here. Not anywhere near this region.”

“Even wolves rarely show up here,” the other sentry said with a resigned sigh.

“The rift listens to none," Instructor Delric said. "It breaks where it wants to.”

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“Good thing you were there with them,” the tall sentry said, looking towards my father. “Only the Oracle knows what other misfortunes might have befallen them if not for you.”

My father didn’t bother to correct his assumptions, only turned to my aunt, who shrugged, disinterested in taking the credit. Well, she could shoot lightning from her palms; what was the point of some little words of praise from a couple of people she didn't know?

It also explained why she was so confident during her sparring with Aleya. She barely showed a fraction of her power then.

“The last time anything close to a rift appeared around here was when I was about their age,” Dylan muttered, pointing towards Aleya and Rose.

“Events like this don’t occur often around here,” said the first sentry, shaking his head. “But Corpse flies? It's nowhere near the front lines for a swarm of corpse flies to appear.”

“I think there’s a better time and place to discuss all your theories,” Mum interrupted. “First, we have a kid who needs immediate medical care.”

With that, we were swiftly escorted back to town. Aleya and the sentry took Priam to the mender, while the other sentry went to inform the Magistratus.

The rest of us were sent home. Eran and Diana stayed with us. Diana looked shaken, and only the presence of the adults reassured her. I guess I was no different.

“Someone needs to go and take a look around the area,” she finally said. “Jinn?”

Father nodded, his gaze steady. “You stay with the kids. I’ll be back in no time.”