We drill you so much so you know exactly what
to do when raiding a nest.
This is mostly so we can justify yelling at you when
everything goes to shit.
—Virgil Clay, Lecture
Aubrey offered Violet her hand and pulled her up. The rope was a little thinner than either would have liked, and Violet was grateful for the help. It wasn’t so pleasant trying to climb it, even after the blood had dried. Nevertheless, they had managed to climb several floors, or layers, up the nest. Violet was relieved to see the ground floor above them as she climbed out of the most recent hole.
Even so, there was still a certain tension in the air. The moment of levity they had shared had been brief, and the stains on their clothes made the reality hard to forget. Aubrey was suppressing panic with growing difficulty, and Violet was suppressing shame and guilt with growing ease. The way she had changed Aubrey’s mind about her was just… it tasted too sweet to regret the actions that led to it.
So the pair weren’t exactly feeling cheerful. At least—one of them was far from cheerful, and neither of them presented as such. But that brief moment of humor hadn’t been worthless. The laughter in the face of tragedy had fostered a certain type of trust, like strangers side by side on a gallows. Because of this, Violet had become—after such a short time—someone Aubrey trusted more than nearly anyone she’d ever known.
“We need a plan, for when we make it back up,” Aubrey said as Violet dusted herself off. Violet didn’t have to ask what she meant. The further they climbed, the clearer the shadows of the creature above became. Whatever hedron had been guarding the heart of this nest—queen or otherwise—was massive, dangerous, and directly between them and freedom. Violet couldn’t explain how the heart and Kiera had likely already escaped, either. So Aubrey would want to look for them, especially after Violet’s impassioned speech earlier. Violet supposed she could kill the other girl, if it came down to it. She wasn’t sure how many more kills she needed to reach her ninth degree, but it couldn’t have been many, after killing a second yellow lancer and only advancing one degree. Of course, Caitlyn had gotten her to seven, so she’d likely been early in that degree before advancing to eight. But it was possible Aubrey would be enough to push her over the finish line, if she was lucky.
But she didn’t want to do that. Aubrey was even more fun than Alex, and quite possibly more useful in general. With Caitlyn dead, much of her interest in bringing Alex along had died with her. She almost regretted Caitlyn’s death more for that reason than anything. In any case, she wasn’t terribly worried about the hedron. Whatever it was, it was almost definitely a red hedron. In the unlikely event that it wasn’t, it still wouldn’t be worse than a green hedron. And one of those had left her alone—until provoked. Even so, she wasn’t sure how that ability worked. It wasn’t a listed talent, and was probably related to her bloodlust attribute in some way. She couldn’t be certain hedron from a nest with a missing heart wouldn’t attack her with the same vigor the moose had.
But if it was too dangerous to fight, she’d simply escape alone. For the time being, she was willing to try fighting it. She was near the top of her category, after all. And this nest was new, or it wouldn’t have been a surprise when the pylon wasn’t charged. She didn’t have any particularly impressive combat talents, but an attribute advantage alone could often close the gap between degrees, especially if she had allies. The hedron was obviously powerful. Or its talent was. But it had so far only destroyed its own nest and failed to kill anyone with it, as far as Violet knew. She could re-evaluate when she came face-to-face with it, if necessary.
Finally, after a slightly-too-long silence, Violet nodded. “It’s probably another bat, right? Just a bigger one? I bet your “Scream” talent would be pretty effective,” she mused.
“I can’t collapse a nest with my talent, Violet,” Aubrey replied. Violet shrugged.
“And the hedron can’t kill red students with its talent,” Violet countered. Aubrey flinched at the unspoken implication that they knew Aubrey’s talent could kill more than a red category, but Violet continued as if she didn’t realize how sharp the words might have been. “And you killed plenty of red hedron. So I figure your talent is probably more potent when targeted. Like, it has a wrecking ball, sure, but you have a gun. Besides, I’m not certain its shriek is a talent at all. You saw how big those shadows were. It’s probably just throwing a tantrum and running into things. Plus, aren’t nests less stable once their heart has been removed? It might not even be entirely responsible. It managed to not destroy this place before we got here, right?” Aubrey shrugged.
“Alright, let’s say my talent is especially effective against it. We still need a plan, though,” Aubrey allowed. Violet put a finger to her lips, then scowled as she remembered the blood on both. The expression faded quickly, however, and she crossed her arms instead.
“Yeah, I was just listing our assets. Alright, my agility is at 94; how about you?” Violet asked.
“Uh, lower than that, by a good margin. I favor resistance, constitution, and endurance, remember?” Aubrey answered. Violet nodded. Aubrey was almost like a tank, but with a focus on resistance to talents. Resistance acted as an attack attribute with talents like hers, too. With Violet favoring perception, agility, and dexterity, the plan was clear. Especially since Violet’s agility was not, in fact, 94.
“Alright. There is only one plan that really makes sense, then, right? I have to draw its attention. I’ll keep it distracted and position it for you to attack. You hit it with your “Scream” whenever you have a clear shot at it,” Violet answered. Aubrey seemed uncomfortable with the plan for an obvious reason, and one she didn’t leave unspoken for long.
“I can’t risk hitting you with it, Violet. Not after Stephanie,” Aubrey complained. Violet offered a sympathetic smile, then ambushed Aubrey with a hug.
“I understand. And I appreciate it. But I trust you. Don’t attack unless you are certain it is safe, and I’ll be alright. I’m fast, really. It’s safe. I promise,” Violet assured.
“And if you’re wrong?” Aubrey pushed. Violet flinched.
“Yeah. You’re right. I… shouldn’t make promises anymore, huh? I’m not very good at keeping them. Not of this kind, anyway. I’m sorry, you’re right. It’s just… we have to do something, and…” Violet trailed, and Aubrey’s eyes clouded with guilt. Then, the banshee set her jaw.
“No. You’re right. We don’t have the luxury of options here. It’s the best plan. You can trust me. I won’t make the same mistake again." Violet brightened quickly.
“Nor will I,” Violet promised. “Are you ready? Only one floor left.” Aubrey nodded.
“Let’s find Kiera and get the fuck out of here,” Aubrey agreed. Violet pouted.
“Hey, profanity is the resource of a small mind, remember?” Violet lectured. “But yeah. Let’s get out of here and save every life back on the train.” Aubrey chuckled the admonition away and held out a hand. Violet met it with her own, and the deal was made. The two women agreed to survive together, and they set out to climb up to the ground floor, where a monster was waiting for them.
They didn’t even need their makeshift grappling hook this time. Before long, they’d found enough rubble to climb up at the same time. It was quiet when they made it to the surface. The building wasn’t nearly as open as it once had been. Or, it was more open, depending on perspective. The outer walls had collapsed, and a good deal of previously-underground crystal had been elevated—or the hedron had created more. In either case, the warehouse was no longer filled with nothing but a chasm. Violet wasn’t sure how nests worked, exactly. Not yet.
“Do you see it?” Aubrey asked. Violet glanced around the room, but saw little more than destruction. She shook her head and listened, instead. It was quiet. But that only made the hedron easier to hear. That alone was confirmation of its category. A violet hedron would have been completely silent—if it wanted to be. At least, to Violet’s perception.
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She had perception as her best standard attribute. With that, she could catch a good number of orange—or even some yellow—hedron, but anything above that would be beyond her. If they wanted to remain hidden, anyway. This one may not have been actively hiding, but it sounded… intentionally still. She could hear it breathing. Panting. The shuffling of limbs and the shifting of weight. It was close. Close enough that it must have heard them, as well. It was finally time for Violet to try an experiment.
Go. Away. Leave. Just get out of here, and leave us in peace. She wasn’t sure how she’d done it before. Whether she had to vocalize the command, or if it had been her will alone. She honestly wasn’t certain she’d done anything at all. She might have just gotten lucky. Stranger things had happened to her. But the thought that she had been responsible was exhilarating. The idea of control over the monsters of the mist themselves. She was ready to find out. So she sent her thoughts to the hedron. She sent her commands—and her will.
It wasn’t all in her head. The hedron responded to her will almost immediately. It had been still. It had been quiet. It had been waiting for the intruders who’d taken its heart. And once Violet sent it an order, it stopped waiting. But it didn’t do as it was told.
Violet barely had time to push Aubrey out of the way and run the other direction. She managed both just as a wall of crystal rubble only a few feet away exploded. A pillar of the same red crashed through it and careened toward the girls’ position. She was quick enough, however, and while Aubrey did fall back into the rubble they’d climbed up, she was not crushed by the incoming attack. Violet, too, managed to avoid it. It felt like a clear response to Violet’s efforts, if not the obedient one she’d hoped for. It apparently wasn’t going to be easy, learning how and when to use the ability, assuming it existed at all. She was fairly certain it did, but only time would tell.
As she rolled out of the way of the initial attack, she allowed inertia to carry her forward. While she recovered, she continued to run along the length of the building. That was when she finally saw the hedron she was fighting. It was, in fact, a bat. But not so easy an opponent as the ones she’d easily crushed before. It was perhaps twelve feet tall, with a wingspan that dwarfed its height. Much like its smaller variants, its wings had red crystal hanging from them like bead curtains. More threatening were its claws, talons, and fangs. Each of these was long and sharp enough to be used as a sword on their own. It appeared to have blood coming from its eyes, but they were so caked with crystal it’d have been nearly blind regardless of species. She took all of this in as she was running, and barely had a few seconds to process the monster approaching her.
It was diving more quickly than she could run, and another massive pillar of crystal was forming alongside it. That answered the question of how the nest had filled with so much crystal despite the chasm in its middle. It was fortunate, in a way. The debris actually created a lot more cover for Violet than she otherwise would have had. She still couldn’t run toward the middle, or she might’ve fallen back into the depths of the nest. On the other hand, the destruction had left the initial boundary of the warehouse. Violet couldn’t immediately identify why, but the entire area had been decorated with the crystal. She didn’t have time to ponder, either, as she ran between two pillars. As she did, she summoned a spear. It was a darker red than the hedron, which was encouraging. She held it sideways and tossed it into the air while she cleared the barrier, allowing its shaft to catch the massive bat as it tried to follow her.
It was only in the air for a breath before the hedron collided with it. The beast’s momentum carried the spear forward and collided with crystal on either side of the gap. A strangled cry from the monster followed Violet’s flight as its momentum was cut by the obstacle. It didn’t last long, the spear falling to the ground as soon as the hedron recoiled from it. But it bought her a few moments to make a plan. As she examined her surroundings, she clicked her tongue. She couldn’t run. If she did, the hedron would catch up to her immediately, and she’d have to fight it in the open. It made her wonder how Kiera had escaped—until she realized the kitsune may not have gotten far. The carnage was widespread enough that what Daniel had detected could have been within its radius.
It didn’t matter. Violet had to kill it. It was probably the better move, anyway. It was a red hedron, and likely a lower degree than Violet. It was clearly more combat-oriented than her, but her weapons could cut it. She’d just have to stick to her plan with Aubrey. Violet turned on her heel and started running into more-crowded debris. She didn’t see the attack coming so much as she heard its preceding breath. It was a lot like Aubrey before she attacked. Violet slammed her hands over her ears and tried to dive out of the way. Even so, she could hear the screech, and it disoriented her enough that she nearly tripped. Her dexterity saved her, and she recovered quickly, turning in place instead of faceplanting.
As she did, she found herself face to face with the hedron. Or she would be, in a matter of seconds. She summoned another spear, planting it into the ground. She had no time to run, and she realized she’d need to use its momentum against it, as she’d done before. Unfortunately, it was empowered by its own attributes. As soon as Violet's spear had formed, it twisted in the air at an impossible speed. Violet was prepared to dive out of the way in a desperate attempt to avoid its talons, when a wall near her… breathed fire onto the monster, causing another, directionless shriek and forcing it to disengage.
A moment later, Kiera revealed herself, stepping out from the other side of the wall. “About goddamn time, Vi!” she yelled. Violet actually grinned as she saw the red fox alive and… perhaps not so well. She was in worse shape than Violet, with swollen bruises and wide gashes all over her body. Her tail and ears looked brittle, like the crystal of the green nest had when Violet had poured acid on it. Except they seemed to be dissolving on their own, like the kitsune was running out of the clarity that powered them.
“Sorry, I was having a pretty bad time myself,” Violet apologized through her smile. Kiera’s eyebrows climbed her forehead as she examined her bloodied friend.
“I can see that, shit. Well—” they were cut off as the hedron above recovered, diving down at them. Crystal pillars formed around it again, with smaller rocks and boulders created as well to rain down on them. Both girls immediately ran, silently agreeing to catch up when the monster was dead. They had to end the fight, and they had to end it quickly.
“We have to drive it back to the center!” Violet cried. She couldn’t explain much more quickly enough, but Kiera didn’t question it. The fox girl nodded and turned, nimbly jumping between the different walls and obstacles to make her way back toward the center of the nest. Violet followed behind her. She didn’t know Kiera’s dexterity reading, but it was clearly high. Possibly higher than Violet’s, despite the disparity in degree. Still, Violet was able to nearly keep up, albeit with less grace. Kiera’s movements, dodging the falling debris, ducking under collapsed crystal, and practically bouncing between walls, had a clear air of practice to them. She moved, quite literally, like a fox. Violet’s perception allowed her to avoid the obstacles in a slightly smoother fashion. She had a keen awareness of where each was and was likely to fall, which was guiding her in her route back to Aubrey. “Look for Aubrey!” Violet screamed.
Violet created throwing knives every few seconds, taking advantage of the hedron’s split attention to chuck them at it. She had no skill with the weapon, however, and the first few failed to find purchase in the monster’s protected skin. She quickly switched to throwing axes and was able to at least cut into it with one of every five or so thrown. It was an exhausting game of cat and mouse, but one they couldn’t let up on. Kiera managed to lose the hedron’s attention several times, hiding behind illusions that Violet could see through and the monster couldn’t. This was when Violet put the most effort into harassing it, grabbing its attention for a few moments until Kiera could hit it with another burst of fire. Between this and regularly covering their ears in the midst of the screams, they were barely staying ahead of the hedron’s attacks.
They were doing damage, but not enough. It was hard to find Aubrey, at first, after Violet had pushed her away from the initial attack. But finally, just as the sweat was drawing clean streaks through the blood on Violet’s skin, Kiera spotted the banshee. The dazed woman was crawling from the rubble, then watching the fight with wide eyes. Kiera and Violet immediately made a break for the last member of the group. Aubrey didn’t take long to understand. She widened her stance and clenched her fists as she faced down the massive bat. Kiera and Violet split to the sides the moment they reached Aubrey. Kiera slid into a small alcove where an illusion promptly covered her. Violet scrambled around the back of the pillar which had initially been used to attack her.
Violet again clapped her hand over her ears as two screams tore through the air. Aubrey was unflinching as the screaming bat careened toward her, and her own cry met the opposing talent with a force that cracked the crystal around them. The hedron lost the exchange, colliding into a collapsed wall in its sudden disorientation. Kiera leapt from her hiding spot, not letting it rest for a moment. Fire showered it as it tried to get its bearings. It tried to escape, only for another scream from Aubrey to force it to the ground. More fire, and another scream, back and forth it suffered under the assault. It refused to die, but it struggled to counterattack, as well. It still created crystal, but it was fired in random directions, and it flailed and collided with obstacles of its own making.
They weren’t doing enough damage. They were only safe as long as they kept the assault up, but… Kiera’s tail and ears finally crumbled and fell from her like dust. She tried to send fire from one palm at the hedron, but nothing happened. Aubrey was taking another breath, and the hedron immediately recovered from the assault during its brief reprieve. Kiera saw what was about to happen and tackled Aubrey out of the way. A split-second later, the bat focused everything it had on the banshee, the biggest threat left to it. She managed to save the other girl from the hedron’s crystal assault, but it physically dove after them before they could recover. As Kiera and Aubrey tried to scramble to their feet, the bat was already on top of them.
It collided with them violently, and they struggled to wrestle themselves away from it before it could bite or cut into them. Both were having trouble escaping the crystal and flesh. Even discerning what was hedron and what was the other girl was difficult, before they realized it wasn’t trying to kill them. It was, in fact, entirely limp. They had to work together to pull themselves from its wings, earning several fresh scrapes as they did.
Once they managed it, they realized why it had stopped fighting. The blood they had to crawl past was the first clue. The head that was missing was the second.
As they emerged, the first thing they saw was Violet’s silhouette against the mist. A bouncing sidetail and a bloodied red scythe shone in the fading light.
One thing about asking for a chapter of canon content I wasn't showing you, tho, is it will contain spoilers for currently unpublished chapters. So I'll need to sit on it once it's done until chapter 37 comes out on RR. Otherwise, I spoil the main content for you. That releases on the 25th, so expect this reward in the days following that.
If you wanted something else, no worries! The next bonus chapter is only 880 followers away. At my current rate, if we hold, we can hit that in 2 months, give or take a couple of weeks. Keep recommending this to friends! Follow even if you favorited. Sign up for an account if you usually read without one. Follow if you have been reading without following. All of these will help, and we will perhaps get what you were hoping for next time!
Here are the current goals and rewards, as well as how close we were to each at 10:55 AM CST on the day this chapter was published.
Click Description to learn more about each! Note that I've decided to offer a bonus chapter at: 2k, 3k, 4k, and 5k, instead of every 2k after 2k. With the webtoon chapter hitting at 6k.
6k - 15k Bonus Chapter – 3,000 Followers
2,120 / 3,000
Description
Starting at 2,000 followers, I will write a bonus chapter between 6k - 15k in length every 1k followers up to 5k. This may be a side character, this may be an AU, or anything else. Who decides? You do! When a milestone is reached, I will ask for suggestions and put up a poll of the most popular ones!
Webtoon Chapter – 6,000 Followers
2,120 / 6,000
Description
This is also a bonus chapter, but I will have it commissioned as a fully illustrated webtoon!
Spin-Off Novel – 15,000 Followers
2,120 / 15,000
Description
I will write a novel of at least 120k words focusing on Kiera, our resident fox girl!
Visual Novel – 20,000 Followers
2,120 / 20,000
Description
I will commission art for and develop a full length (and free to play) Cruel Violet visual novel.