Lillia dove behind one of the taller broken statues around her—A screaming witch half-melted into the floor— as the creature dropped from the ceiling. Three of its twitching, gnarled arms caught it, acting as legs as the creature righted itself. By the time it was standing, its shadow covered almost half the room.
Lillia really had placed a lot of confidence in the challenge being three spellmites.
The architect shuddered and lurched forward, using the obsidian staff to support its scuttling legs. The creature was massive but cumbersome, looked like it needed all its limbs to approach balance.
Once it had gotten itself situated on the ground, the creature turned to Lillia. Seven eyes locked onto the princess, and a chill shot across her skin. The thing’s torso twisted horrendously toward her instead of using its legs to turn around.
Lillia squeezed Vianaffir tight. The scales of her gloves ground against the handle as she pulled the blade out to her side and drew her weight backward.
The thing crouched low to the ground, holding the massive obsidian staff away from its body with its third arm as it crawled using the other two. Five shaking limbs aligned. Lillia braced for it to charge.
It pounced.
By the time Lillia had registered the movement, the staff was already in her side. Ichor splattered across her, and the princess tumbled through the air. Her body twisted and flailed as she lost which direction was up. Then there was the ground.
Lillia crashed onto the floor, smashing through one of the glassy statues in the room in a shower of powdered black. The princess tumbled. Vianaffir clattered to her side. She skidded to a stop on the floor, chitin scales leaving small scars on the glassy floor.
She gritted her teeth and clutched at the ground, waiting for the pain to catch up with her.
[Chitterpede Chitin Battle Gown - 1 Charge Used!]
Oh. Oh!
Lillia scrambled to her feet, finding the sword on the way up. Even if the chitin had absorbed the pain from the blow, flying that far was disorienting. She couldn’t tell where she was in the room. Her head was convinced that it should have been spinning. She shook the static free.
A quick check told Lillia she was halfway across the room from the stairs. The altar’s melted remains still hissed behind her. The oily creature was charging at—
Oh shit.
Lillia yelped and ducked as the staff swung viciously above her head. The metal smashed through the statues along its arc, spreading glass around the room. At the end, it slammed into the ground shattering the tile and embedding itself.
The architect screamed into the film over its mouth. The sound of muffled, gurgled frustration filled the room. Lillia winced at the volume as the creature tried to pull the club out of the ground.
One leg was right in front of Lillia as it pulled. An opportunity! She swung Vianaffir in a wide, awkward slash and it dug through the ichor to the flesh below. Something squelched. Steaming black blood poured out by the bucketful.
The architect screamed and tore its limb away. Vianaffir stuck. Lillia held on and was lifted by the sword, carried high through the air above the back of the architect as it reared away from the pain.
Her grip slipping. She was going to fall. She was ten feet above the ground. Then fifteen. If she let go now, she could—No. Then she wouldn’t have a sword.
Vianaffir cut deeper into the thing’s flesh as it shook her and the beast twitched. Black blood splashed across Lillia, sticking to her skin and eyelids as it squirted from the open wound. Lillia screamed. Blood got into her mouth.
Lillia opened her eyes just in time to see the creature lock all seven eyes on her, turning its oily black head back to her at an impossible angle. One arm continued to try to pull the maul out of the ground as another snapped backward at the third elbow and reached out toward the flailing princess. Ten twisting fingers writhed toward her, ichor dripped from their fingernails and splashed onto the back of the architect.
Her sword was still stuck in the creature, and staying still wasn’t an option. Lillia looked down to the back of the creature. It looked gross.
Up it was.
The princess tried once. Twice. Thrice to heave herself up using Vianaffir as a grip. The blade slipped each time, and the princess swung precariously through the air as her struggle turned into momentum.
Something crackled on the ends of the architect’s fingers. Lillia’s skin crackled with static. The smell of an approaching storm washed over her.
Lillia gave up climbing and swung. Her right heel stuck fast in the ichor of the arm. The stream of blood poured over her shoe and started to climb up her leg.
“Ew. Ew. Ew.”
Lightning crackled in the air.
Lillia kicked with a dull, wet thud. She kicked again, and it was enough. Lillia tore Vianaffir free from the arm and fell backward through the air just as the world went white. Her teeth buzzed as lightning slashed through the air in front of her.
Booming thunder followed, crashing across teh room as Lillia landed on the creature’s back. She felt the oily black liquid that covered it seeping into her hair and through the collar of her dress. Why did it have to be horrific in a gross way?
The arm that Lillia had been stabbing slammed back down to the ground as she lay on the thing’s back. The arm that had fired lightning grabbed twice at the air where Lillia’d been, before pulling back toward the floor again.
The architect roared. Lillia squeezed her eyes shut. Vianaffir had fallen just to her right, an inch or two out of reach. She reached toward it, and her middle finger brushed against the pommel.
Another roar. Lillia felt the creature’s head swing from side to side. A third roar and the creature heaved as it pulled on the maul again and finally tore it free from the flagstone.
The creature lurched under her, stomping around the room. Lillia imagined pressing herself further into the back of the thing. Hiding perfectly and disappearing until…something happened. Until it found her? Until someone came to save her?
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Well nobody was coming. She’d been told that five times. So what then?
Vianaffir was right there. It was so close. What would happen if she moved? Would it know where she was? Would it snatch her off its back and tear her in two? Blast her with lightning? Smash her with the maul?
Lillia choked back the panic. Her chest was tight. She would have felt cold sweat if she weren’t covered in black blood and sticky ichor. She was on its back! She just needed to stand up and grab the sword. She could stab it then. What creature could survive a stab in the back?
Hopefully, this one couldn’t. After all, Lillia’s entire situation was because her aunt had stabbed her in the back, so they were clearly metaphorically survivable.
It would have been nice if this were all a metaphor.
Lillia reached out for the blade again. She knew she couldn’t reach it without moving, but when the thought crossed her mind, she instead pulled her hand back to her chest and stared at the ceiling wide-eyed. The still black water was smooth again, as if nothing had ever come through it.
She could feel the creature moving beneath her. It was stalking the room. Hunting her.
Wait.
Lillia spoke under her breath in a quiet, hopeful little whisper.
“I, Lillia of House Ashvalin, anoint Princess Lillia as my champion.”
Lillia held her breath and waited for the creature to notice her. It smashed the maul into a nearby statue. The sound of shattering glass covered the next line.
“May you bring my grace to your blade. Bring your honor to my house.”
She could do this. She just needed a little help and she could… Lillia balled her fist and literally peeled herself from the creature, rolling to Vianaffir and rising to her feet.
“Rise, Princess Lillia! Fight with my blessing!”
[Heiress’ Blessing is on Cooldown!]
The architect roared and reared back. Lillia struggled to keep her footing. It reached back to her with both of its free arms. Writhing void-like fingers spread wide.
Cooldown?
“OH COME ON!? HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?”
[Lillia used Indignance! Level 2 - Spellmite Architect was dazed!]
The twenty twisting fingers that had been reaching for Lillia collapsed with the arms as the creature stumbled forward. It lost control for a moment and crashed to the floor with a brutal crack, sliding forward until it hit one of the pedestals in the room.
Lillia had a chance. She raised Vianaffir high into the air the same way she’d seen knights do in murals and storybooks. If this was her gross, stupid dragon, she was going to slay it.
The princess plunged the sword down with all the might she had, and it sank easily into the flesh of the architect. The creature screamed. Blood gushed from the wound, pooling around Lillia’s hands as she drove the blade all the way to the hilt. Steam erupted around the steel. The architect shuddered.
Lillia felt the creature’s weight shift as it picked itself up off the ground. It wasn’t dead?!
Blood spewed from the hole Vianaffir left as Lillia yanked the blade free. A geyser of black sludge showered the princess as she gritted her teeth and plunged the blade down again. Then again. Then again.
Lillia couldn’t see through the black. Lillia couldn’t feel anything aside from the shaking under her and in her trembling hands. Her arms burned from the effort. Her legs wobbled and stomach churned as she pushed past every emotion she had to just keep going.
One more would kill it. One more after that couldn’t fail. It was on its last legs. It was—
Static filled Lillia’s mouth and her teeth buzzed. Lillia didn’t know if she closed her eyes or if she was so covered in black blood that it was all the same. White obliterated black as Lillia pulled the sword into the air again.
Searing, impossible heat washed over Lillia as she careened through the air. It should have burned her alive. She should have died. It should have been over. She felt the heat, but she didn’t feel the pain.
Lillia screamed anyway. At least she tried to. There was no air in her lungs as she was weightless for a moment. Wind cut through the heat. Lillia opened her eyes to see the architect…it was so far away.
The glass didn’t break Lillia’s fall; she crumpled on top of the discarded pile of statues along the room’s wall. Vianaffir clattered down between twisted arms and legs as Lillia lost grip. She was broken and bent between the cracked black glass limbs. Her vision blurred, then re-centered as her body caught up to the lack of pain.
[Chitterpede Chitin Battle Gown - 2/2 Charges Used!]
WHAM.
The spellmite architect slammed the maul into the ground as it turned to face Lillia, obliterating one of the glassy statues. Seven eyes locked onto the princess as it took its first steps forward. It was a banquet hall away. Lillia had attended enough to know it wouldn’t last.
WHAM.
Lillia grabbed one of the glass hands and pulled herself up to her shaking feet. Her legs didn’t want to keep standing. They wanted to give up. They wanted to slink away and pretend that none of this was happening. Lillia agreed.
WHAM.
One of the pedestals this time. The maul cracked stone as the creature thrashed about and stalked its way over to Lillia on four of its limbs. The floor cracked under the architect’s weight with each step. Lillia saw the last hand twisting behind it; fire flickered at the thing’s fingertips. The heat warped the air between it and Lillia.
WHAM.
It was closer now. Lillia’s eyes flickered to Vianaffir at the bottom of the statue pile. If she climbed down fast enough, there was a chance that she could…
The architect stopped. Its head reared back. It laughed.
WHAM. This time the maul stayed in the ground. The thing clapped the two wretched arms together behind its back. Black blood and ichor sprayed across the room and fire spread between the thing’s palms. The sparks began to form a crackling, swelling flame.
Vianaffir was too far away. Even then. It wasn’t going to stop this.
“No, this is unfair.” Lillia didn’t believe it even as she said it. This was completely fair. She wasn’t meant for this. She was a princess, and this was a monster. There was just nobody here to save her.
[Lillia used Indignance! Level 2 - Spellmite Architect resists repeated dazes!]
It laughed again. The fire swelled even faster.
Lillia tried to think of everything. She had potions, but…she wasn’t hurt yet. She was just sure she wasn’t going to survive this.
The sloshing orb of flame between the thing’s hands glowed so bright that it smothered the rest of the room. The light burned Lillia’s eyes. She could feel the heat on her cheeks.
[Rusty Knife!] Lillia grabbed the knife out of her dress and threw it at the creature. It clattered to the ground twenty feet short. Two of the thing’s eyes flicked down.
The architect pulled its hands apart. The orb floated on its own for a moment. Fire flashed and then roared forward.
Lillia felt her eyes widen. She covered her face. She reached inward. Something. Anything.
The inferno crashed into Lillia and the pile of glass statues melted down in the impossible inferno that followed. The explosion boomed through the room. Echoing off each surface.
[ADAPTIVE REGALIA]
[USED 2 x BURNMITE CLOTH]
The chitin burned away and something else took its place, woven from the fire itself. Fabric that wasn’t fabric wound tight around Lillia. It fit as if it had been waiting for her. Flames licked and it consumed.
The fire burned out and Lillia was standing in the middle of a melted glass pool. Heat whipped the surrounding air into a frenzy, and the shimmering red dress she’d changed into billowed out. She didn’t know how, but she knew the hand sign.
[Lillia used - Backdraft]
Fire built on Lillia’s fingertip for a moment and then fired off as a single line of light that blew out into a massive inferno. The spellmite architect rear back as flame wrapped around it, coiling in on itself to burn the creature instead of flowing past. Lillia pulled her foot back, bracing against the half-melted floor. Her heel dug into the soft glass as the inferno continued to pour from her hand. She grabbed her wrist to steady herself as the fire swelled from orange to pure white.
Glass hissed and popped across the floor as the heat rippled outward. Glass statues close to the blast sagged and bent, their screaming faces stretching as they melted. The spellmite architect wailed.
The fire subsided.
Lillia stumbled forward.
In front of her, smoke poured off the charred skin of the architect. Chunks of burned flesh cracked off it and fell to the ground.
Lillia took a deep breath. The air burned her lungs. At least she was breathing. And—
The architect twitched. The hard layer of ichor baked onto it cracked as the thing writhed.
No.
Six arms flailed and twisted as it snapped itself out of the casing. The ichor flowed again. The architect roared at Lillia.
No. No. No.
The creature lurched, trying to step, but couldn’t support its weight. It crashed to the floor, lashing out at Lillia with helpless arms. Something crackled in its fingers, but it couldn’t put anything together.
No, she could do this.
Lillia charged. Her first steps dipped into the cooling glass, then they clinked against the solid floor. She snatched Vianaffir off the ground as she ran, raising it above her head as the Architect stretched out to reach her.
“I am Princess Lillia!”
All seven eyes locked on her. She didn’t flinch away. She struck down.
“AND I AM MY CHAMPION!”
[SPELLMITE ARCHITECT VANQUISHED]