"Don't underestimate me, beasts," Alea yelled out. The winds carried her words, amplifying them before scattering them across the village for all to hear. "I'm Alea Reybella of House Gennan. We have fought against monstrosities that your mothers only dare to warn you about in bedtime stories. Winter's children are lurking in the long night beyond the frozen sea. Whose claws can rip through the strongest of steel, whose hide can only be cut by the bravest of the brave. Who's violent and angry toward each other is the only thing stopping them from wiping us all out."
"Compared to them, you are all just cockroaches." The rain was heavy, but it was still pale in comparison with the weight of Alea's words.
"I will show you what I do to cockroaches." Her words rang out, echoed across the sky. They clung to the bloated clouds above, tearing into the soft, icy fabric and freeing the torrent trapped within. Water poured down, each droplet was the size of a palm; with the help of the wind, they descended toward those bound against the ground with great speed. The crazed laughter drowned out the sound of gargling and splashing water as the crazed man waved their arms and legs around, trying to escape. But they were held tight by the wind's grasp.
There was only one person who was not thrashing. A hazy mist wrapped around him, soft and clinging, catching a golden hue and throwing it back as if it didn't dare to lay a hand on something so majestic, so divine. The burning man had lost sight of everything surrounding him, blinded by the radiance he sought. He couldn't tell what was going on anymore. Nor what he was doing. Mesmerized by the beautiful light that was demanding his worship, he felt a sense of happiness.
"Oh, Savior, you need not ask! All our suffering is yours to take!" He yelled out.
The light turned a crimson color, transforming into blood; it surged out from the burning man's body and formed an obsidian crust before diving into the water, leaving behind a bloodless corpse —which turned pale the moment the fire stopped gracing its warmth to the devout follower.
Alea felt the water spirits yell out in distress as something unnatural slithered between them. They wanted to spread out thinner so that they could get further away from the dark, snake-like thing. But Alea's command held, keeping the formation of the water just how she wanted. In the back of her head, Corski let out a deep yawn, the spirit was slowly falling asleep—She was running out of time. She didn't have the time to nitpick an opponent.
'Corski! Do it!' Alea yelled out.
'On it.' The spirit spoke in a sleepy tone, barely awake.
The rain continued to pour down heavily, but once the water droplets hit the ground, they merged into a twisting torrent. Waves rose and fell as they hammered into the earth, weakening the crust. With each motion, the water became muddier. And though the winds had become weaker as Alea was focusing them back inside of her palms, it had become even harder for the crazed to break free. The mud's sticky texture hindered their movements, trapping them in place as something was fighting against the current to reach them.
A craved person poked her head out of the water's surface, taking in greedy breaths before the current pulled her back in and her vision was once again filled with brownish color. Then, she saw something move within the dirty water.
'Savior!' She yelled out in her head. Water filled her lungs and stomach as she laughed, her arms flailing toward the crystalized blood coming her way. The obsidian spear stabbed into her heart, pulsing as it drained her blood. Slowly, her body returned to its original self—a sickly girl. Dark patches of scales began to appear throughout her body, causing it to stiffen—she could no longer move her muscles. She felt cold since her consciousness was given back to her. But, she wasn't afraid. Rather, she felt graceful for being able to walk the ground again, even just for a fleeting moment.
'Ah... I can finally go out and play...' There was a smile on her face as she drifted into an eternal slumber. The obsidian spear let go of her, the tip hung low as her body fell, almost like it didn't want to. It didn't have a choice, though; a painless death was a much better fate than what Alea had in store for these poor souls.
This was the fourth retake of its spread-out blood. It needed to do this six more times. The obsidian spear coiled before lunging forward, cutting through the current with great speed, stabbing its sharp edge into the heart of another person.
The young man turned old as the Savior's gift was taken away from him. As his eyes became dim, he felt happy to see his wife beautiful and young again, something she had lost to take care of his pathetic, depressed self. 'I'm sorry. I'm a terrible husband. I'm a terrible father. Someone like you shouldn't have fallen in love with me. I'm happy to be able to give you back all the time you lost on me.' He, too, was let off gently by the obsidian spear, falling deeper to meet his wife one last time.
The spear didn't stop for long. But just before it could reach another crazed person, something hit the rising and falling tides hard, it shook the body of water, pushing the crazed person downward, causing the spear to miss its target. The crazed person's grin disappeared as they plummeted into the murky water.
"Ahhhh!" Alea yelled out as she released the wind spirits from her palms, shooting them toward the body of water under Corski's control. The force came down like a wedge hammer, pushing the tides into the weakened ground, making the latter collapse, creating a sinkhole.
The sinkhole drank up all the water the wind was feeding into its widening mouth. But it didn't stop there. Alea willed the wind to protrude into the gaping sinkhole, invincible hands wrapped around the mixture of water and dirt, squeezing it into a giant ball of mud with all their might. As the invincible hands pressed the ball of mud together, it became denser and denser. All the while, the wind's breath caused the water to evaporate, making it harden.
Not until whatever was left of Corski's mana reserve was expended did the wind stop hailing down into the giant hole, did it let Alea down softly on the wet ground. Her knees gave out, causing her to sprawl on her butts, and her pants were dirtied by the ash and mud. But she didn't care about how she looked in the first place. She needed to check whether or not her plan had worked.
Alea almost slipped as she hastily got up. Her steps sent mud flying. Soon, she was standing before her work. She didn't want to get too close and risk falling into it, so Alea held her head high, looking from over the edge of the hole.
In the center, there it was—a tombstone made for immortal beings. No, Alea's remark was too grand as she felt proud of what she had managed to accomplish in her actual fight against somewhat intelligent opponents. At the very least, what could be described was a crude lump of dirt packed together hastily.
"They shouldn't be able to claw their way out, right?" Alea muttered under her breath.
"How could they? This is me we are talking about, right, Corski?" Alea asked. But the spirit residing on her crown didn't reply. "Oh, I forgot... Must have gotten used to always having someone to talk to."
"I have made sure there wasn't any space to move around, so it should be impossible for them to escape." Alea proudly said, closing her eyes. She heaved a sigh, padding the top of her fist against her chest, thudding it loudly.
But that's one moment of her letting her guard down, which was all it took for the obsidian spear to be able to stab itself into her flesh. It had chosen to leave behind the rest of the crazed; there wasn't enough time for it to save them from the torturing pain.
"Ah!" Alea screamed out in pain as the tip of the spear stabbed into her arm. Instinctively, she threw her arm outward, causing the spear to slightly miss her heart and stab into her left lung instead. Her chest felt heavy and cold. Not the cold that her skin was familiar with, but one that burned. Each breath brought her a tremendous amount of pain.
The force of the impact sent her flying backward; her body made a loud thump sound as it hit the ground hard. The tip of the spear embedded into the ground, keeping Alea in place. The overwhelming sensation almost made her fall unconscious—she would probably have if not for the tingling feeling the spear was giving her as it wriggled around, widening her wound.
Alea could smell the iron tang slowly filling up the inside of her left lung. Normally, she would have been calm, trying to come up with a plan to get out of this predicament. But right now, she couldn't think straight. Her hands gripped against the crude shape of whatever this thing was, encapsulating the blood. She pulled and twisted, hopping to get it off of her. Yet, her arms felt weak. There wasn't any strength in her grip. She struggled. And struggled. But eventually, she let go.
She regretted not screaming for help. Though she said she didn't care about how others perceived her. There was an inherent sense of pride being born in one of the six royal houses.
"Such a stupid way," Alea muttered under her breath, " to die". Her eyes closed tightly as she slumped forward. "No, I can't die yet," She said, hands holding onto her belly. The last thing she heard was a distant sound of someone crying.