Chapter 7 Flowing Wind (II)
Fighting noises rang out in the distance.
Upon arrival, I noticed two dead roaches; one from each team. The two that had escaped me made up those lost numbers and continued their assault on my friends.
I tried to make quick assessments.
Jessie and Sunny were forced to split up.
Jessie was being tossed around by violent gales, struggling to find any sort of balance. Cuts were appearing all along his body.
Sunny could only dodge. Still, he was doing a good job of that.
His style was passive and cautious. He stood on the outside of their reach and made wide dodges to avoid the AOE of their wind.
Both he and his opponent were slowly being worn out, but the roach would give out first.
Jessie was fighting two against one. He couldn't dodge effectively, so he took one of their attacks head-on to force an opening.
His fist swung out against the creature and through its head, but the second roach saw this as an opening and made a powerful swipe at his back.
As its attack moved closer, the wind compressed into a blade around its arm and detonated against Jessie's flesh.
His scream rippled through the air. Blood spurted out of him as he was cut and continued to flow freely. Jessie fell on the ground with a deep gash on his back.
I rushed in to help him.
The roach didn't see me coming. I dashed in from its blind spot. Using my arm like a blade, I cleaved its head off from its neck, decapitating it.
As I went to go help Jessie up, a scream resounded from Havi's direction. He and Andre had managed to take out another roach, but two more had come in and joined the fight against them.
Havi was being swarmed by two of them. Their attacks were relentless as cuts appeared across his body. There was no chance for escape or counter-attack.
My mind went blank, terror sinking its tendrils into it. My friends were dying and I didn't know how to save all of them.
Jessie was defenseless and bleeding, Havi was being torn apart, and Andre was moments away from being in that same situation. If I went in to help any of them, I didn't know what would happen to the rest.
If I couldn't help all of them then I'd have to help them help each other.
I closed in on the roach Sunny was busy evading, and grabbed it. With all my might I threw it like a cannonball at one of the roaches fighting Andre.
"Help Havi and get back here," I yelled as my one bug crashed into the other.
Using the momentary reprieve, Andre bodychecked the other roach out of the way and rushed toward Havi.
Catching one of Havi's assailants off-guard after finishing its attack, Andre clapped his big hands where the roach's head was—exploding it.
He grabbed Havi and they both ran back to regroup.
Andre had a murderous look on his face. One filled with rage. The brutality of his attacks echoed this sentiment.
Everyone here had experienced a life-or-death battle against monsters. We'd all have to change—to become a different person in order to survive.
What were my friends thinking right now? How will they have changed after this fight?
Why am I thinking about this?
Again, questions that shouldn't be asked right now kept popping up in my head.
It's like, even though I knew better, I couldn't control my mind. No matter how urgent the situation was in front of me, it didn't want to be coerced into focusing on something it found troublesome.
This wasn't new. I was always like that. I may be smart, but I was equally as stupid.
I did well enough in school for most of my high school years—never really trying, skipping out on work. I didn't really need to do any of it anyway. I learned quickly, and already knew most of what was taught.
My mind was selective, only really able to focus on what it enjoyed. When I really got into something, no one was smarter than me. Not Jing, or Jenny, not even the top bastards of that cursed institution.
By my last year of high school, I did almost nothing. No work, skipped classes. I was bored of school and refused to force myself through it. I did horribly my last year, only well enough to graduate.
I knew that it was a stupid decision, that being stubborn wasn't benefiting me. Still, I enabled my mind's tendencies, agreed with them even. Maybe it was because of that damn institution that I started to hate the classroom setting. Being told what to do, how to learn.
But even then I knew I would be okay. I was smart enough, and had enough accomplishments to my name that I stood out. I was even excited about my future. Getting to learn what I want, do what I want, finally live how I want.
Andre was on his knees beside Jessie. "Aria, Jessie's bleeding pretty badly and Havi's really hurt. We need to run!"
"Run where?" My voice was flat and meek. "Can't you sense it? We're already surrounded."
And we were. More of them had arrived.
Tears were streaming down Sunny's face. "Are we going to die like this?"
I couldn't tease him; not this time. I wanted to drop to my knees and cry as well. Everyone else was no better. They had pained and desperate faces. Jessie's sobs bled into the air as much as his blood did into the ground.
The consequences of being unfocused this time were death. I thought in a situation like this I'd be able to focus, I mean who wouldn't. I was supposed to be in fight or flight mode—either cowering away or murdering every one of these roaches with reckless abandon.
A killer or a coward, that's what a situation like this was supposed to turn you into. And yet, I seem to be falling back on my stubborn ways.
In a way, maybe this was me being a coward. Just accepting my death, and regressing back into the person I was before all this.
Then again, I hadn't changed that much to begin with. I was just experiencing something new.
"Aria, we have to do something!" Havi yelled out.
"Do you have any ideas?" My voice was monotone, like I had given up.
His mouth trembled and furrowed downwards. His eyes squinted in pain. All he managed to say was a simple "no…".
So we're done for.
In that case, I may as well die relaxed. I looked up into the sky, the sun setting to welcome the night. It was a beautiful sky.
A sense of peace began to fill my heart. I loved this feeling. I wished I could always be like this. Maybe that's why I had a wall guarding me against shocking moments. To preserve this feeling.
Was that a bad thing? I didn't think so.
The flow in me tingled in reaction to this. It felt hyper. Looks like it still wanted to fight.
I let out a soft chuckle, careful not to let anyone else hear it.
It had been acting weird ever since I saw the first bug's flow in action, like it had been excited by it. I attempted to mimic the roach's use of flow, but I didn't gain any wind powers. I had a feeling it would be like that.
Most likely, I had to mimic the beast's change in flow in order to mimic its powers. The problem is, I had no idea how to even begin learning how to do that—if I even could.
Still, my flow had been oddly spiking ever since I saw it. Now that I think about it, every time I let my mind wander my flow reacted to it. The tingling sensation in my body was that.
It's like the flow wanted me to…
Chase the feeling it gave me…
Understand that part of myself…
To accept and embrace that part of myself.
My flow began to stir, as if its very essence was in flux.
It's been goading me on this whole time.
A memory resonated within me. It was when I had first discovered flow and was practicing using it in the forest. That feeling of freedom…
My flow buzzed as if it cherished that memory. Like it wanted me to feel that way. Like it was telling me you should stay like that right now.
It was resonating with that emotion, being guided by it, changed by it. The flow was urging me to continue helping facilitate its change. It needed me for the final step.
There was a trick I used when things were dire.
"Guys."
I'd tell myself I'd be able to do something even if it was nearly impossible. I didn't know whether I could but I went about my day as if there was no way I couldn't.
It always calmed me down.
"Let me take care of all these roaches."
It made me confident.
I shined a bright smile at them.
"Just rest and watch."
And sometimes that confidence is what allowed me to do what was impossible.
What was the harm in thinking like that if the impossible was something you had to face anyways.
My flow was erratic. It was happily responding to my emotions; changing alongside them.
It reminded me of those accursed Enthrons except, this didn't feel like selling my soul.
This flow felt like it was a part of me as much as my emotions. Like it was learning more about itself and evolving. Like it wanted to help me, and wanted me to help it.
That's what I appreciated about this flow. That's why it felt so freeing to use.
No more thinking now.
I gave into that feeling of freedom. I accepted it as a part of me and began to embrace that side of me.
My flow ran around erratically until it didn't feel like itself anymore. It had reached a tipping point—its very nature was changing.
A new sensation filled my body.
It felt like the wind itself was coursing through my veins.
I felt light—so extremely light. As if the wind had blessed me with its grace on top of my other enhancements.
I knew I could move so much faster now. That I was so much more nimble. Even my strength had increased ever so slightly.
But the biggest change…
My senses
When this new flow ran through my body, it felt like my nose had just been cleared and I finally knew what it was like to breathe. I could feel everything.
Every single one of my senses that were already dialed up to 100 had now been increased to 1000.
Every breeze conveyed information to me like the wind was a new seventh sense. Even stripped of all my natural senses, I still wouldn't lose track of everything around me.
I hopped up slightly, emitting my flow as I began to fall. I didn't need to guide it, just to command it. It already knew what to do better than me.
My fall slowed down to a hover. From nothing, a tiny vortex had been created underneath my feet. The energy of my fall was transferred from me into this conjured vortex by flow.
The vortex persisted; its energy there for me to reclaim or to reshape the wind in whatever way I wished.
This was how those roaches performed those impossible movements, and kept track of their opponents. This was how it weaponized the wind.
I smirked at my newfound abilities.
It was my turn.
I conjured sheer wind force to propel my body forward. Using the momentum I exploded into a wild sprint, faster than ever before.
Faster than the roaches could react, I jumped up and kicked one of their heads off.
Wind laced every movement of mine, aiding and stabilizing every single motion.
Using this new power, I transferred the follow-through energy of my kick into the wind, before channeling it back into me to keep myself in the air, and toward another roach.
While still above them, I hammered both my hands into another's head before repeating the maneuver.
This time I was the one dancing. My movements were erratic, nonsensical, and far too fast for these bugs to cope with.
Death followed me like a partner as I danced.
The monsters that were causing us so many problems before had been massacred in seconds. Their own command of the wind was overwhelmed by my own.
I focused on the ones hiding in the forest. I knew every one of their positions. In a blur I moved my way toward them, ready to continue my dance of death.
Blood rained down from where I tore these monsters apart. Severed limbs were sent flying before coming to a rest. Flesh was pierced as easily as air.
It didn't take long to dispatch the rest of them. There were only eight. Sensing no more threats, I began to relax.
I monitored my flow carefully as it returned to its previous state. I knew I could call upon that power anytime.
How could I know? Because that wasn't a transformation that only happened under certain conditions.
Flow had always been malleable and willing to change its nature. It was only me who wasn't able to command it to do so. Until now.
The stench of dead bugs emanated from my body. My body was drenched in their blood. In a sea of carnage I was the only living thing left.
My clothes were wet and uncomfortable. I didn't relish in thinking about how many showers it would take to wash all this off. Still, the reigning emotion was satisfaction.
I wanted to go talk to my friends, to ask them how they were, to talk about everything that happened. To finally have that discussion that everything that has happened has been absurd. To talk about how we were changing.
Slowly, I began to walk back.
That then evolved into a panicked sprint.
Something was coming our way. Something that was too dangerous to ignore.
More of them?
I sensed something equivalent to many dozens of those roach lifeforms headed our way.
There were… 100 of them?
This can't be real.
Why? Why again? Why us?
I made it back to my companions. They had sensed it too. It was too late to run, they were already on us—
The wind blew haphazardly, like it was dancing. The rustling of trees grew closer.
One by one more of those roach beasts popped out in front of us; all of them laced with wind.
10 of them had run out in front of us and then… right past us.
I knew why… why they were ignoring us and running. Why I had sensed 100 and only saw 10. The other 90…
There were no other 90. Just one. One beast that felt like 90 of those.