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“This place is creepy,” Dainix muttered. “And I can’t see anything.”
“Thanks. I hadn’t noticed.” Falst shot him a glare. “Now shhh.”
Falst understood what Dainix meant, though. The old mansion might have once been a pretty nice place for some rich guy to lounge around in, but it was pretty much falling apart now. The whole thing felt like it had been built to feel like a part of the forest - it was like what Alinua would make if she grew a house. The corridor they were in was long and winding, but it branched off into various smaller hallways through doorways lined with carved wooden vines. The walls themselves were a ruined tangle of rotted wood and overgrown clumps of weeds, to the point where a single kick would punch a hole straight through. Falst wanted to get out as fast as possible - the smell of rot mixed with all the reeking dead animals in the walls made his nose burn.
“You’re sure the thing’s here, right?” Dainix muttered. “Does it still smell weird?”
Falst rolled his eyes. “Yeah, it’s still here. And it does smell weird, so shut up.” The smell of whatever they were following was nauseating - like vomit mixed with burned hair - but it had an alien, almost lemony tinge to it. He sniffed the air, turning his head a bit to gauge where the scent was leading.
“Here.” Falst followed the scent, turning left at a fork and entering a much larger corridor, this one lit brightly by a row of massive flower-shaped lamps that hung down from the high ceilings. Each one had a small, softly glowing fire lacrima resting in its center, casting a soft yellowish glow along the hallway. A few of them had crashed to the ground, leaving the shards of lacrima scattered on the floor and the nearby walls charred and burnt.
To his surprise, Falst could imagine himself liking the place a lot, if he ignored the stench. The windows were almost floor-to-ceiling and an arm’s length wide, showing them a wilting, grimy courtyard and a distant red aurora in the sky. He didn’t feel claustrophobic, like he usually did when in big fancy buildings. There had probably been a carpet on the floor, but it had long since rotted away, revealing a layer of smooth, cold stone beneath all the debris.
“What do you even think it is?” Dainix kept his voice low, his sand-colored poncho swishing as he moved. “A dragon?”
“Maybe. Doesn’t seem like one.” A dragon would have attacked them a while ago for intruding on its territory.
“A carrion crawler, maybe? But they’re not supposed to be dangerous.” Dainx frowned. “We don’t have them in the desert.”
“Well, whatever it was, it got, what - six of those villagers?” Falst remembered the old tiger-ferin lady who’d come to him begging for help. Her daughter, along with a bunch of other villagers, had been found in the woods half-eaten and emaciated. She’d wanted revenge. Falst couldn’t say no.
“Yeah.” Dainix snapped his spear off his back, a weird gleam in his single eye. “I want to kill it.”
Fair enough.
They both jumped as a horrible screech echoed from the hallway where they’d been walking a second ago. Falst instinctively dropped into a crouch, winding himself up to spring. Dainix shifted his feet into a wider stance, gripping his spear.
There was a beat of silence. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. The lemony-vomit smell grew stronger.
At the first flash of motion, all hell broke loose.
Something came charging out of the shadowy corridor at breakneck speed, but Falst was faster. Launching himself into the air, he flipped himself over the thing, stabbing his claws into its back and dragging them across its leathery skin.
That turned out to be a very bad move on his part.
Firstly, his attack did precisely nothing. The monster's skin was as thick and tough as elephant hide, and his claws barely made a dent.
Secondly, he had only made it madder.
The monster moved at lightning speed, plucking Falst off its back with inhumanly long arms and catapulting him at the nearest wall like a rag doll. He barely had time to register that someone was screaming his name when he hit the wall hard on his back. He crashed through the wall with a soft, splintering crunch as the rotting boards gave way. He landed painfully on his back, his tail bending uncomfortably on impact.
He didn't have any time to complain, though. A giant, meaty hand viciously shoved itself through the hole in the wall, attached to a spindly arm that was far too thin and bony to possibly hold it up. Falst scrambled back, adrenaline flooding his system as he looked around for anything he could use to his advantage. He was in some kind of circular entrance hall, with a staircase leading up to a balcony and two huge hallways to his left and right. A gigantic flower chandelier hung above his head, with a single lacrima the size of Falst’s entire body shining enticingly in the center.
The monster had seemingly had enough. Withdrawing its arm, it screeched again before the entire wall crunched to splinters underneath the force of two humungous fists. It charged at Falst like a bull in an arena, head lowered, arms raised like it couldn't get to him fast enough. Heart beating, Falst dashed up the stairs four at a time, but he stopped; Dainix was yelling a battle cry, charging in with his spear, dancing around the monster's attacks and ineffectually stabbing it in various places. He seemed surprisingly comfortable fighting a ten-foot-tall freak of nature.
It wasn’t just the arms that were too thin - it was all of it. The monster’s torso was too long, almost twice the length of its legs, as if it had been stretched like taffy. Its hands and feet were swollen to a grotesque size, big enough to palm your average wagon without too much effort. A few strands of greasy hair clung to its scalp and drooped over its misshapen, glowing eyes. Falst had no idea what it was, but that was not his priority.
As Falst watched Dainix’s spear bounce pathetically off of the monster’s hide, he realized it would be pointless for him to join the fight again. This isn’t working, he thought. We need a new plan.
An idea started forming in his mind. Lacrimas…
Yeah. Yeah, that might work.
But before his plan would do anything, he needed to get the thing to stay still. With a cry, Falst jumped from the balcony, the wind whipping by him and flopping his ears uncomfortably upwards. From twenty feet up, the fall would hurt, but he could ignore the pain until later. Twisting in the air, his claws landed neatly on their targets: The monster’s eyes.
The eyes, thankfully, were not as invulnerable as the rest of it. The creature screamed and groped wildly around as its face squirted black blood out like a power hose. Falst dropped to the ground before it could grab him, coughing and retching - the monster's blood smelled even worse than before, like he’d dipped his entire head in the lemony-vomit stench. The shock of it was overwhelming his brain; he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from throwing up, let alone stand. The monster took the opportunity to charge towards the sound, and its giant palm was above him, ready to crush him flat-
And suddenly there was a hand on the back of his collar: Dainix was there, yanking him backwards just barely enough to avoid being smashed into a grease stain. His grip was surprisingly strong - Dainix wasn’t as strong as Falst himself, but he could still pull him around with impressive ease.
Falst’s instincts took over, and he scrambled to his feet, snatching Dainix’s wrist and tugging him towards the nearest hallway. Dainix understood pretty fast and they backed towards the corridor together as quietly as possible, neither of them taking their eyes off the blind and screaming monster. The awful smell emanated from Falst’s hands; he was doing his best to not think about it. At least now he knew it was there - he wouldn’t get surprised again.
The monster suddenly paused. Its head was up in the air, tilting, making a familiar motion. SHIT. The thing was sniffing. Falst quickly stuck his hands in his pockets - anything to muffle the stench - but it was too late. The monster whipped around in their direction, rushing into the hallway, towards the source of the smell.
Welp. Now or never, I guess.
In a single smooth move, Falst scooped up a rock from the debris and flung it at the fire lacrima in the center of the chandelier with as much force as he could muster.
“What-?!” Dainix screamed. “FALST!”
He launched himself at Falst, tackling him to the ground.
BOOM.
Falst couldn’t see the explosion, but he could feel it. His tail, his arms, his feet all instantly erupted with pain. Instinctively, he curled himself into a ball, letting Dainix cover him with his body. But the fire creeped in anyway, burning him bloody, the smoke worming its way into his lungs when he whimpered. He felt Dainix shift on top of him, hugging him close to his chest, desperately trying to shield him from the flames. Dainix’s skin was boiling hot, a raging kind of heat, but it didn’t burn Falst’s skin. All he could hear was the roar of the flames and the sound of the building crashing down around them. All he could smell was smoke and heat and Dainix’s sweat and the awful smell of the monster’s blood on his fingers.
And then it was over. Falst vaguely registered that someone was cradling him in their arms, saying something - his name? His ears were still ringing. Every part of his body hurt. That… was more than I was expecting.
Falst blinked, trying to clear the blurriness out of his vision. Was he staring at the stars? Had the entire roof been blown off? Definitely a lot more. He groaned. It was still so hot. His burns were not happy. Coughing, he forced himself to turn his head, wincing as his skin needled painfully in protest.
Everything around them was on fire. His vision wasn’t blurry - the smoke was clouding the sky, making everything gray and indistinct. Dainix was carrying him, breathing hard as he hauled him through the burning remains of the mansion.
Falst tried to speak, but all that came out was a weak mumble. “D… Dainix?”
“Falst?” Dainix’s eye went wide. “Hold on. Just hold on. I’ve got you.”
Falst didn’t have the energy to try and wiggle out of Dainix’s grasp, so he just let him hold him close against his soft wyrmsilk poncho until they were safely into the woods, away from the flames. He winced as Dainix set him down softly on the forest floor, the burns on his back stinging painfully.
“Falst,” Dainix said again. His hands hovered tentatively over Falst’s scorched shirt, like he was afraid to touch him. “Are you okay? Can you breathe?”
Falst forced himself to nod. “Yeah… but I-” He was suddenly seized by a violent coughing fit, hacking up the smoke in his lungs as his whole body contorted, irritating his burns even more. Ow.
Dainix looked at him in alarm. His head jerked from his head to his feet, desperately trying to diagnose the issue. “Falst? Falst!”
He tried again, taking deep breaths of fresh air. “I…” he started. “I’m alive. That’s… probably something.”
He tried to force himself to a sitting position, but Dainix gently pushed him back down. “Hold on. Just lie down for now.”
He’s probably right. That didn’t mean he had to like it, though. He wanted to get moving back to camp, where Alinua would be able to heal him. Grimacing, he lay his head back down, and he had to admit that he probably wouldn’t have made it very far walking anyway.
“Just… gimme a sec,” he said faintly. The monster was dead; he could take a few minutes to wait for his wounds to heal enough to go somewhere.
“That was the dumbest thing I’ve EVER seen you do,” Dainix grumbled. His eye started glowing suspiciously bright in the moonless night. “You could have been KILLED!”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t.” Falst managed a smirk. “And it worked.”
“What were you even thinking?”
“I was thinking it would make a much smaller explosion.”
“Are you joking? That lacrima was massive! If I hadn’t been there-” He abruptly cut off, taking a deep breath and dragging his palm across his face. “Look. Just don’t do that again.” His voice grew softer. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Falst was about to snap back at him, but something about Dainix’s tone made him stop. He cares, he realized. He cares a lot. But why? They’d only met each other a week or two ago - it wasn’t like they were best buds.
And then Falst realized something else. I care about him, too.
So Falst just nodded numbly, and Dainix sat there besides him. Together, they looked at the stars, and the brilliant red aurora that strung across the sky. They lay there like that for a while, until Falst lost track of time, and he fell asleep.