Tales of magic: grimoire of transmogrification

  Chapter 37

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  Arc 2 – “The hunter and the beast”

  Chapter 21- “Belly of the beast.”

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  Once their jaws are shut, nothing escapes... The merciless fury of a starved beast- Anon.

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  1st May, 1886.

  The shapeshifter’s domain,

  Woods belonging to the lord of beasts,

  Pridon.

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  The hulking mass of hideous things thrust itself forward with reckless abandon. It ploughed through the trees, leaving nothing but ruin in it’s wake.

  It approached the campsite.

  Far away from there, Lycan’s lips curled to form a smile. A wide devilish grin.

  “What...is this?” Quill stuttered. He knew what he said but he couldn’t hear the sound of his voice...he couldn’t hear anything.

  Journal. I can still write on you, right? What the f is going on?

  ‘The body replacement spell! I still have enough Power for it.’

  A glowing magic circle suddenly appeared at Jordan’s feet. Complex symbols drew themselves and it shone brightly, before dimming. The spell diagram disintegrated before it could properly form itself.

  Jordan shook his head in disbelief.

  “Why isn’t it working? I’ll try rejuvenation.”

  The magic circle formed perfectly, and the white light enveloped Jordan long enough for most of his injuries to heal completely.

  ‘Why does this work, but not...’

  His eardrums burst again, and he collapsed on the ground as a result. It wasn’t the fault of the roar- it was over now. No, this noise was produced by the monsters that were approaching steadily from the flames, and beyond. He saw it with his eyes as well. A multitude of beasts, stretching further and wider than the eye could see.

  Looking away from the horizon, the boy turned to the face of his enemy’s side profile.

  William was standing tall, fully healed. Apparently, he had already cast some kind of restoration spell. His shirtless torso had his well-defined muscles on display. Scars riddled his back, a tell-tale sign of a life of battle. One look at him, and anyone would know that he was experienced. However, his incredibly attentive look didn’t inspire any confidence for Jordan. After all, only something unbelievably powerful would make someone like William fight for real.

  ‘Am I... rooting for him? Is that what I’m doing?’ Jordan furiously shook his head and casted rejuvenation again- healing his torn eardrums.

  The things tore their way through, approaching with insane speed.

  Hunter dumped his open bag on the ground. It’s contents were emptied all over. Guns, knives, daggers and even explosives. He bent down and murmured what might’ve been a spell. Jordan’s ear went numb.

  Several long swords rose up from the ground and formed a circular fence around William and Jordan. Each of them had a small green magic circle in the ricasso, above the grip and cross-guard. Most of the blades looked nice and new, however some were old, rusty and crooked. They came in different sizes- the shortest being about 5ft tall and the longest was taller than William.

  The monsters descended upon the fence, the sheer weight of their charge threatening to shatter it to pieces. But somehow, it held.

  Also, Jordan realised that the noise of the beasts didn’t render him deaf anymore.

  The tide of beasts split up, a portion stayed, attempting to claws through the fence, while the rest continued their rage-fuelled marathon beyond the campsite.

  The flames were doused instantly.

  “Jordan, this is what being a Mage is like. It entails being ready for things like this.” William yelled at the top of his voice, attempting to scream over the sound of the monsters. He succeeded; Quill heard him clearly. Though, he wasn’t just twiddling his thumbs while he made that statement. Instead, he was assembling a rifle from his bag, and preparing to shoot.

  Hunter took aim, and fired right into the monster in the forefront. The hideous thing resembled a tiger, but was thrice as large and had even bigger fangs. However, it’s head exploded into a pile of blood and viscera when Hunter’s bullet met it’s target.

  Swiftly reloading, William took aim, and fired again. The deafening sound of the gunshot was almost eclipsed by the noise of the mad beasts, who were busy trying all they could to get over the fence. A final roar resounded from an ox-like monster that met it’s end with a gaping hole in it’s chest.

  Jordan’s body trembled ceaselessly. Though his eardrums weren’t bloody anymore, the ringing in his ears didn’t stop. His body shook with each resounding roar, each guttural grunt, each slither and smash. The gunshots too echoed in his head. He felt something wet, warm and sticky somewhere on his back. He squealed loudly and jumped forward, trying to get away from it. His hands firmly grabbed hold of William’s leg.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Suddenly, a tongue slithered through the gaps of the fence attempting to reach the boy.

  “Stay behind me!” William shoved Jordan away, reloading his weapon and firing again. Each shot took the life of one of the abominations surrounding them. However, for every beast dead, two or more would take their place.

  Sweat dripped from the Hunter’s forehead, but he remained calm, keeping his steely composure. He methodically fired bullet after bullet, ending more beasts. However, they were soon overwhelming him with sheer numbers. The sword-fence still held. A particularly massive beast slammed itself on the fence. It shook.

  Jordan swallowed hard.

  At the same time, William ran out of bullets.

  “You wanted to know what I could do, right, Jordan? I’ll show you.” William grinned, tossing the rifle to the ground. He brought out a shot gun from the items on the floor and threw it to Jordan, who struggled to catch it.

  The sword-fence cracked, several sword bending—especially the old ones. The groaning noise the metal made sent shivers down Jordan’s spine.

  William himself took a shot-gun and resumed his defence. He bombarded the beasts with attacks, firing and reloading, then firing again before they could recover.

  Jordan couldn’t see his eyes, but he somewhat felt that something was different about him. His aura had changed, became more hostile and oppressive.

  It wasn’t enough.

  But William wasn’t done. While shooting, he started to chant a spell.

  Gladius et lancea, renda et terebranda, ignis et tonitrua, pone seposita. Sanguis inimicorum meorum numquam cessabit, donec dies eorum finiantur.

  As he said those words, it felt as though his voice overlapped with a different voice. The voice of an old lady with a strange accent.

  His bullets took out the first wave of beasts, but the beasts taking their place weren’t far away. As they rammed into the swords, the swords tilted and pierced them, some morphing into spears and impaling them. Their carcasses impeded the beasts behind them for a moment, buying William enough time to end a few of them with his gun.

  Sit ventus et caelum et terra instrumentum voluntatis meae.

  William continued his chant. While he said those Words, a magic circle inscribed on his back lit up with a golden light. The Witches’ sneering face could almost be seen if one squinted their eyes. The ugly old lady had a face that made anyone who saw her immediately label her as a witch.

  Meanwhile, Jordan fiddled with the shotgun for a moment, trying to figure out how to position it. He turned away from Hunter’s direction and faced the beasts behind him. There were only a few, since most of the monsters that had broken away from the ones attacking William were busy running ahead towards Weidson. However, Jordan couldn’t spare a thought towards home, because he was too terrified of the terrible beasts that had besieged them from all sides.

  Jordan managed to hold the gun steadily, and then pull the trigger.

  Cavea signat in aeternum.

  The words of the Witch echoed in the woods. The golden spell diagram shone even brighter. A great steel cage – about twenty feet tall, long and wide– emerged from the ground outside the fence, in front of William. The cage opened up and took in a few dozen monsters, then it shut tightly all of a sudden. The gigantic cage was at full capacity, holding more than forty monsters who were desperately trying to claw themselves out. Alas, the cage sunk into the ground, disappearing as suddenly as it appeared, taking the beasts along with it.

  The spell –however strong – only managed to put a dent on the tide of beasts, buying William precious seconds to reload.

  At the same time, Jordan had managed to pull the trigger, killing one of the beasts instantly. Though, he almost fell down on his back due to the sheer magnitude of the recoil force. Regaining his firm stance, Jordan took aim at a disgusting monster- resembling a hybrid between a goat, a horse and some kind of cephalopod. It’s tentacles slithered past the gaps in the sword-fence, carrying a nauseating stench along with it. Jordan’s grip on his gun wavered for a second, and a tentacle shot out, and wrapped itself around his neck. Alarmed, he fired over and over again, smashing the trigger repeatedly. Though, he only needed to pull it twice, because two shots were sufficient to bring it down.

  Frigidum quod capit et non reddit.

  The temperature suddenly went down especially outside the sword fence. This time, several dozens of beasts were caught in the spell’s effect. They were almost instantly frozen stiff, unable to move an inch.

  However, the powerful spell didn’t stop the beasts behind those ones from attempting to climb over their hypothermic comrades. It did get to them too, causing them to freeze before they got anywhere close to the sword fence.

  The area of the spell’s effect was more than 30ft long and wide, effectively paralysing and slowly killing every single monster that entered that field. The ones that didn’t die instantly were shot down by William’s gun.

  Only the monsters unaffected by the cold were able to get past the wall of carcasses and reach the fence, where they would either get skewered by the blades or blasted by Hunter’s rounds.

  Jordan held the gun tightly to his chest, and sat down on the ground.

  ‘I can finally take a breather now. William can handle it. He doesn’t need me.’

  “Wait a moment... What about the monsters that got past us?”

  “Are you stupid or just crazy?”

  “They’re going after the town. The people... Veronica...”

  “You only realise that now? Either ways, I can’t save everyone.”

  Jordan’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. His body started to tremble again.

  ‘They’re all dead...or dying..’

  He thought of his dad and his step mom. Veronica – who’s probably at her home, with her parents. Mr and Mrs Duncan. The seamstress, the librarian. Mr. Shaun...and everyone else living in Weidson...

  ‘They’re dying...’

  Tears went down his eyes.

  He could almost hear their cries, begging for someone to save them, only to get crushed to death, by a massive abomination. He could feel the agony they would’ve felt, as they stared death. He felt as though he was in Weidson, and he could see the endless pile of corpses strewn about, and the hideous things that reaped their lives.

  Jordan saw Veronica as well, fighting a brutal battle against the tide of beasts.

  She was losing...

  Jordan shut his eyes, banishing the illusions from his mind. He shook his head repeatedly as though it would stop it from actually happening.

  Nonetheless, William’s victory didn’t last long. Countless hands- appearing like those of a human, but rotten and several times larger- emerged from beyond the fence and grabbed William. These hands threw him to the corner, smashing a few swords in the process, breaking the spell.

  Several hands caught hold of Jordan from behind, threatening to tear his body apart. He screamed at the top of his voice.

  “Stay calm!” William tore out of it’s grip with sheer physical prowess and used the body of his gun to smash a few fingers off the beast, prompting a scream that sounded more like a whistle.

  ‘What is he?’

  The hand beast raised Jordan up and threw him into a huge worm mouth that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, having several rows of countless teeth. He fell through the gaps between the teeth, second before they would have torn him to shreds. Before he knew what was going on, he found himself in a tight place.

  It was surprisingly uncomfortable. His skin and clothes were steadily melting away. It was pitch black, and all he could hear were the steady sounds of the monsters heart, somewhere inside the thing.

  He lost track of time. He couldn’t tell if it had been a few minutes, or a few hours. His ever increasing heart rate and splitting headache were reminders that he was still alive – and not in some kind of purgatory. Aside from that, the burning sensation all over his body was more than enough to drive him mad. He didn’t know if it would stop or when it would stop. All he knew, was that there was nothing he could do.

  He didn’t stir when dim light from the outside invaded his little prison. For a moment , he didn’t believe it was possible.

  “It’s dead.”

  Jordan blinked, his eyes sore. Everything was sore.

  “I said, it’s dead.”

  William hefted Jordan’s body out of the fallen monster’s guts and tossed him onto the ground.

  Looking around, Jordan recalled the sight. Of course they were once again, surrounded by monsters.

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