"I JUST GOT THIS SHIRT!"
Felix used Tides of Vellus.
Everything within a five foot radius of him was launched violently backward. Weeds, rocks, even a small sproutling, all blasted back like an invisible explosion went off. A faint haze of blue Mana rode the air, slowly dissipating as he watched the Orit rear backward, its forelegs pushed into the air by the Skill. The giant beast fell back to all paws with little actual damage done, but it eyed Felix warily and dropped low, snarling at him.
"Fuck off," Felix threw his Grubsticker at the beast's face, striking it directly in its sensitive nose. The Orit squealed in pain and pulled it's face down as it tried to claw out the makeshift knife.
Glancing at the rock shelf behind him, he swallowed and raised his left hand. Then he began to pour acid onto the loamy ground between the Orit and himself. He needed time to think, and if could ensure the Orit could only attack him from the front....
Felix increased the amount of Mana to the spell, causing a strange haze of green mist to gather around his left hand as acid continually spat out. Meditating and channeling Acid Stream, Felix's focus barely registered that the giant weasel had pulled the dagger from its snout. Suddenly, his Mana bottomed out and a whale of a headache pounded across his eyes.
An eight foot expanse of acidic mud separated Felix and the Orit in a semi circle, with the rock shelf guarding his back. The Orit kept well away from the acid, which was great because Felix's vision was blurring intermittently and his legs felt weak from blood loss. Still, he was able to finally get a good view of the creature, and it was terrifying. It was all of the worst qualities of a snake and a rat somehow combined and magnified. It's neck was serpentine in its movements as it inspected the mucky earth before it. Watching the monster snort at the still bubbling terrain, Felix carefully reached into his satchel and pulled out the hard leather potion case. Just as he was easing a red potion from the case, he heard something he hadn't expected.
"Why...do you...fight?" The Orit growled at him, it's voice a basso rumble.
Felix blinked, so surprised he stopped fiddling with the wax seal on his health potion. "Uh, what? Why? Why am I fighting you?"
The Orit nodded, it's black eyes never leaving Felix's face, and it's knife sized teeth showing as it panted.
Felix stood there, unsure how to respond. The Orit could speak! It was sentient! Felix had a sudden spasm of conscience. Had it just been hunting, like himself?
"Why are you attacking the, uh, that beast?" he waved in the direction of the small creature. The Orit made a horrible grinding noise in its throat, and it took Felix a moment to understand that it was laughing.
"Fun."
Felix grimaced. "Fun? How is that fun?"
"Screams...Pain....Fear...it all tastes so sweet, mmm," a tongue the length of Felix's forearm slurped out and licked its snout, tasting it's own blood. "A scent I cannot resist. Hunger...gnaws at me."
Felix's skin crawled at the naked lust in the Orit's face, a disturbing mixture of appetite and libido that he had no desire to decode. Then it snarled, hackles rising as it prowled the other side of the muddy pool. The Orit shook its head and sneered, something Felix didn't know animals could do, and looked Felix up and down. He felt a thrill of fear, cold lightning that crawled up his spine.
"You too smell...gooood." The Orit's black eyes bored into him, and it's wounded nose twitched. "Too good for this blasted waste."
Felix frowned, confused. Waste? What does that mean?
Another grinding noise in its throat, and it shook. "You will stay, I think." Then the giant weasel began to bark in sharp, high pitched whines, raising it's head up toward the sky.
That's ominous.
Felix immediately broke the seal and quaffed his health potion. He could feel it immediately begin to work on him, flesh reknitting and pulling taut. It was both intensely uncomfortable and a significant relief. Carefully, he stored the glass bottle back in his satchel as he watched a sickly red glow surround the Orit, gathering a mist-like ambient light around itself like a shroud. It felt violent and spoiled, like a river of coagulated blood, and Felix barely stopped himself from retching.
Is this Manasight? He chewed back bile. It's godawful. But thanks to his Skill, he could see the bloody Mana gathering around the Orit as it continued to bark rhythmically. As it collected it formed a funnel above it's body, like a small tornado of bloody energy. Whatever it was doing, it was very very bad.
Manasight is level 2!
Manasight is level 3!
Felix pulled out his only blue potion, broke the seal and chugged it. It felt like electric fire as it raced down his throat, scouring his veins as it went. A sudden weighty sensation appeared in his core, and his Mana bar rocketed up. Felix considered his options; he had trapped himself on a small island, his sword was wedged in some roots about thirty feet away, and he had barely 100 Mana left. The Orit's strength was it's Agility stat, and it was definitely faster than him. If he was going to have any sort of chance, then he needed to slow it down or....
He had an idea.
It was a terrible idea.
The Orit's strange ritual was reaching a crescendo, and some instinct told Felix that he didn't want to be here when it finished. He took a single, steadying breath. Pouring everything he had into his last spell, Felix channeled his Mana up from his core and into his arms and legs. He cast Tides of Vellus, except this time, he focused on putting all of the force down and behind him.
That's when the beast's ritual ended. "Mine!" It roared, and a torrent of blood-red energy blasted toward him.
Felix felt a pressure in his head and chest but willed his power to obey, threw his arms back and released.
Felix exploded from the ground, thrown ten feet into the air at an angle. The focused force of his spell launching him well over the shocked face of his enemy. He landed in a roll, coming awkwardly to his feet at speed as he raced toward his fallen sword. Behind him the bloody power smashed into the rock face, scorching it black as the Mana transformed visibly into crimson fire.
"NO!" The Orit roared again, quickly spinning around and running toward Felix. "Mine!"
Felix had angled toward the hiding place of the small beast, the creature that had started this. He pushed himself, trying to use all of his Strength and Agility to get just a few fractions of a second ahead, but he could hear the monster gaining on him. The terrible sensation of a bloody quagmire suddenly surged behind him, and Felix made a final desperate leap over a section of roots. Even as he fell, he activated his last spell, one he hoped he understood.
The world lit up in surges of blue white and bloody crimson before it all went dark.