Spires

They exploded out of the water.

From the bay to the west and the rivers to the north and south.

A hidden threat that had been lurking beneath the dark surface since the beginning of the Slasher’s Spree.

Taller than the average human even with their hunched posture.

Lean, wiry, but many times stronger. Adapted for life under the pressure of the ocean depths.

Dark scales in blues and grays that were as strong, if not stronger than steel.

Their natural armor didn’t mean they went into battle naked.

They were no less skilled in the crafting arts than any other sapient species. They made weapons and armor from the bounty of the sea.

Fishmen.

The world event didn’t only represent opportunity for the slashers and the defenders.

The denizens of the deep may not have been directly included in the contest, but their participation opened up a host of benefits.

Multiple Quests of the extermination variety.

Every human life was a resource.

Kill to gain.

As if they were just simple monsters.

And the fishmen were always in search of breeding stock.

Their nurseries needed to be on land. Coastal regions, islands or, rarely, underwater caves and tunnels. The former two didn’t tend to last long before one of the flying men found and destroyed them, rescuing the human women and slaying everyone else. The latter lasted a bit longer, but not by much.

The only reason that they had not been hunted to extinction on this world was the sheer size of their natural domain and its impenetrability.

They had spread and hid in small groups since larger settlements were vulnerable to discovery and destruction.

The world event was an opportunity that had to be risked.

30 days sealed from the outside world.

No escape. No aid for the humans.

Worldwide events had been a boon that occupied the flying ones’ attention.

Otherwise, they might not have been able to move so many of their numbers including the sea creatures under their control to within a throw of the shore.

They had waited until the end drew near after the humans had weakened each other, relying on the dark water’s natural concealment combined with their Skills and spells.

A stroke of luck fell into their scaly hands when one of the humans had found them and instead of raising the alarm proposed a deal.

The agreement had been made.

Information shared.

Magically binding oaths enacted.

One single human would be left untouched.

The rest were prey.

South of the city, the fishmen found a battle torn landscape.

The few walled settlements remaining in human hands were weary and weakened.

The human forces that had been assailing them had withdrawn in recent days. Reports and rumors had placed them moving to the northwest.

Monsters had filled the vacuum.

These challenged the fishmen, but only briefly.

The humans lasted marginally longer.

Men and women past the breeding age fell to weapons made of bone, spells and scaled claws.

The rest were captured and chained, moved to hastily erected cages on the river’s shoreline.

The fishmen weren’t taking chances.

As soon as the event ended they wanted to take their prizes into the sea before one of the flying ones could stop them.

To the west, they shot out of the bay on the backs of enormous flying fish.

They crossed over the western most tip of the peninsula where a strong community centered around a hospital had weathered the world event better than most by virtue of being separated from the rest of the city by a wide swath of forest and hills. Not many slashers had been willing to cross the encounter challenges that had turned into spawn zones as the humans had failed to maintain them.

The monsters attacked the community’s eastern walls incessantly, but they were easier to deal with than thinking foes.

Consequently, the defenses facing the bay to the north, west and south were much thinner.

Flying fish dropped fishmen and magic ordinance deep in the heart of the community.

Still, the battle raged. It wouldn’t end quickly like that in the south.

The struck from the north because it had been part of the agreement with the mage of the dead.

Had it been solely their plans then they would’ve left that area for last and only if they had the time.

Greed had been at the heart of many a downfall throughout their recorded history.

North held the most individually dangerous defenders in the entire city from what their oracles and scrying had determined.

However, a bargain was a bargain. And behind the frozen walls of earth lay the densest concentration of potential breeding stock. Both in the buildings a throw from the rocky shore and the tall towers of glass and metal lit up by artificial lights.

How helpful were the humans to signal their locations?

They opened with a volley of venom-tipped spines powered by sinews.

Blue-white light flashed all along the top of the wall. Magic shields generated by devices that stank of the artificial held.

The alarms blared a moment later.

Humans fired back through gaps in the shielding.

Metal death and spell death streaked across the darkness, piercing the dark surface of the river, turning it into a roiling, burning soup.

They pooled their strength.

Tide of the Deep Azure. The shared Skill raised the river’s level until it swamped over the rocky shore, the gray path, to lap at the bottom of the wall.

The dark water ebbed back toward the river.

Deep mages cast a spell as one.

Leviathan’s Wave.

A ton of water smashed into the wall at 10 times its actual weight.

Blue-white light shattered into thousands of glittering wings that vanished into the dark waters.

They ripped people off the wall with swirling pools until a young human female appeared with a glowing book in one hand and a staff of ice in the other.

She thrust the staff into the water, chanting arcane words of power.

The spell rippled outward, solidifying the churning mass across a wide swath and freezing the people in place before they could dragged deeper into the river.

A second book-bearing human appeared.

A male.

“I got them!”

He ripped the people out of the ice and levitated them back over the wall.

The defenders chose that moment to abandon the wall.

The spellcaster winked out of existence while the rest of the humans leapt, sliding down the steep embankment.

Their timing was either fortuitous or calculated as a huge sea creature surged through the water and crashed on the frozen earth, smashing a gaping hole to let the water pour in.

The beast was armored in scales and thick plates of hardened keratin that were as tough as thick iron plate.

It roared, snapping a maw filled with conical teeth meant to pierce and hold as it thrashed and rolled to tear chunks off its prey.

The rider urged it forward through their bond.

Its paddle like flippers and rudder-like tail propelled it through the shallow water after the fleeing people.

Fishmen surfed the wave, shooting spines and spells.

Humans dropped, paralyzed before they could escape the rapidly filling pool that was one a grass-covered field half-filled with tents and other flimsy structures.

One group of humans didn’t flee.

They stood about halfway from their wall to the larger buildings filled with the fishmen’s true targets, if the information the mage of the dead provided was accurate.

A dark-skinned male placed his hands on the ground at the direction of a female clad in dull gray armor. A complete shell without gaps like the armor most humans wore. Some of the older fishmen recognized the similarity to the armor worn by one of the flying males. Wariness slowed their advance while the younger continued forward.

The dark water had reached the humans’ knees until the male mage cast his spell, raising them well out of the water on a platform of grass-covered soil.

The female struck, pointing her armor-clad finger to fire a thin wire into the water.

Lightning sparked down.

Those without resistance, whether a personal Skill or one cast on them by one of the mages seized up as the muscles in their body jerked.

The stench of burned meat filled the night air.

Those with resistance advanced through the crackling arcs playing over the water’s surface.

Spines traded with bullets as spells dueled.

The female nodded at the dark-skinned male.

The ground rumbled.

Sudden holes appeared everywhere, sucking in the water and many of the fishmen.

Tunnels took them deep inside a twisted, winding maze filled with deadly traps that reaped a steep toll before any of them understood what had happened.

Above ground the massive sea beast roared.

The rider urged it to snap the humans in its jaws while the other passengers traded fire and protected it with magic shields and walls of water.

The ground rumbled again, but none of them realized it until the beast roared in pain.

It stopped suddenly, gurgling as a massive flood of blood and other bits vomited out of its maw.

Its armored back bulged.

Once, twice, three times before exploding in a volcano of gore.

Fishmen died.

Crushed in a large metal claw with three interlocking spade-like fingers or torn to bits on a large drill like hand made to dig through even the hardest stone.

Saw teeth whirred across the surfaces of the dark gray metal, ripping fishmen apart despite their defenses.

The claw clamped over the lower half of the rider, severing him in two.

That was how the first assault ended.

Doomborer’s squat, mole-like power armor was more red than its usual matte gray.

Bits of entrails and animal bones hung on them like garlands on a Christmas tree.

Hayden was thankful for the air filtration provided by her own armor.

“Ugh!” Teresa’s face twisted.

The young wizard had a pointy hat instead of a proper, sealed helmet. Flimsy-looking robes didn’t seem like proper attire for a battlefield, but they were heavily enchanted and she also had a very strong layer of crystal clear magic ice centimeters thick coating her skin.

“Here, D.B. I’ll freeze it.” She waved a hand.

The Threnosh moved a few second later, shattering the frozen blood and bits off.

Hayden imagined the smell had improved markedly although the huge mosasaur-like beast couldn’t have smelled good with the gaping hole in its mid-section and the puddle of vomit and blood that hadn’t drained into one of the holes that now dotted the entirety of the park.

That reminded her.

“Bolder.”

“Yes, ma’am?” the dark-skinned earth mage said.

“Collapse them.”

Bolder placed a hand on the ground.

The earth shook violently for a few seconds.

A mixture of dirt and river water shot out of the holes like geysers before they closed.

The fishmen had superhuman strength, but they weren’t near a level strong enough to dig their way out of hundreds of tons of crushing dirt and stone.

Doomborer and Bolder had dug those tunnels deep. All the way past the bedrock some few hundred meters below ground level. They had gone as far as the event boundary had let them.

“Should I freeze the water, ma’am?” Teresa said.

The river water the fishmen had carried over the wall and through the breach created by the sea beast had receded or drained into the now sealed tunnels, leaving not much more than shallow puddles in the lowest areas.

“They could still work their magic through them. Freezing them will at least slow them down. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think when it comes to icy stuff my magic is stronger.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“What about the wall? Do you want us to fix it?” Bolder said.

“No. It’s even more useless without the shield generators. I want you to raise another one from there to there.” She pointed from the western edge of the park to the eastern edge, eyeing the buildings where most of the people they were protecting stayed. “Rand, bring them inside.” She gestured at the people paralyzed by the fishmen’s spines.

The wizard shrugged, but complied without complaint, levitating the few dozen people with a spell.

Sounds of battle drifted over the buildings from the street side.

She could see flashes and hear booms from multiple distances.

West and south.

Scanners and comms continued to be shit, so she couldn’t even contact the other portion of her team undoubtedly fighting just on the other side of the buildings.

She couldn’t imagine they were also fighting fishmen, which meant monsters or other people, which meant really bad luck or nefarious coordination.

The attacks had occurred at the same time.

“I need a runner.”

A young man appeared at her side.

Wide-eyed.

One of the locals looking to get recruited from what she could figure.

“Deliver this message to Swan Princess or however is next in command. Repelled fishmen attack. Expecting more. Holding position. Ask them if they need reinforcement.”

“On it!” The young man scampered off.

She searched the sky for the Raynanaut. Found the skyship to the west. She zoomed in with her HUD.

“So, that’s why we didn’t get air support this time.”

The dagger in the sky had fishmen clinging to it like tiny ants.

She wondered how they had gotten up there until she saw a fighter plane-sized flying fish streak close enough to it before gliding back down to what she assumed was the bay.

To think the fishmen had managed to sneak so many of them and their controlled creatures inside the contest boundaries without being noticed bothered her.

“Icy Tea.”

“Ma’am?”

“Try to contact Wet Willy. Try to get us some air support from the shuttle at least. Doomborer, let’s get you back underground. That trap worked great.”

“Acknowledged.”

The Threnosh drilled into the churned up ground.

It was always hard to believe how a power armor as tall as a basketball player and as wide as three defensive tackles could disappear so quickly with nothing but a pile of disturbed dirt to mark where they had once stood.

“Bolder. Same thing.”

“Of course, ma’am,” the young earth mage saluted despite how many times she had told him not to.

He and the Threnosh had worked out a messaging system using the vibrations they could send through the soil.

One used magic while the other used high technology that was so advanced to her that it might as well have been magic.

She was clad in something similar.

Power armor with a few extra special systems made just for her and her superpower.

She could generate enough electricity to power a medium to large-sized state back in the pre-spires modern era.

Time and exercise had seen her grow to that level from power enough to run a small city in her younger days.

Age meant power from what it seemed.

Although, she could’ve done without the slowing of her visible aging.

She was on the wrong side of 40, yet still looked like she was in her early 30’s.

The difference between her and her long-time friends, Dayana and Jayde, was starting to get weird. She looked closer in age to Prim these days.

It raised a lot of existential questions for her.

Did she really want to live another hundred years in the thick of the fighting?

That’d be a damn shame.

Meant that the world hadn’t gotten out of the shit stage if it still needed her by that time.

She ruminated on her inhuman nature until the fishmen announced their second attack with a giant globe of dark water launched into the air large enough to block out the moonlight.

Captain Molds had told him to do what he thought best while keeping her looped in if he could for coordination purposes and the avoidance of friendly fire.

Alin went to medical.

Kat and their friends had their duty stations, which he checked using his HUD.

The little green dots indicated they were where they were supposed to be.

He tapped into the Raynanaut’s camera system to double check.

A squad of rangers stood guard, waving him through.

The doors slid open with a hiss.

Howard and Adrian were already in the small waiting area.

The former grunted and threw him a head nod.

The latter gave him a closed mouth smile.

“Where’s Willy?”

He knew that the shuttle, along with Marian, was still in the other hangar. The one located dorsally.

“With the shuttle. They’re prepping for take-off. Comms are still shit, like they’ve been this whole time, so your captain wants them to fly over to the camp,” Howard said.

“Hopefully, he can contact Rand or Teresa with a spell once they get close enough,” Adrian said.

“Shit’s fubar,” Howard grunted. “Surveillance drones we seeded all over the city have finally crapped out. Just all static now. Not even the seconds long snippets we used to get.”

The problem had escalated throughout the weeks.

Even the new insect-like drones they had periodically sent out had failed to do better.

“Anything new?” Howard said. “We ain’t looped into the command channel. Figure, you are. And if you aren’t, figure you can loop yourself into it. All we know is that fishmen are attacking from all three sides.”

“South, southeast parts of the city are done. They rolled over defenses and are busy moving women and children into cages near the river. Southwest is holding. The airport’s well-defended. Up north, Hayden and them fought off the first attack, but that whole area’s a warzone. It’s hard to tell without eyes at ground level, but it looks like everyone on the slasher side are also hitting it. The settlement on the western tip is getting hammered by the fishmen, so the Raynanaut is heading over there. Plan is to neutralize the fishmen then head over to Hayden since she’s holding so far.”

“Stinks, eh,” Howard grunted. “Too coordinated. All the slasher groups working together when they had been killing each other nearly as much as they killed normal people. And they all happened to be in position to hit the north section at the same time the fishmen hit everywhere else.”

Alin nodded.

It sounded likely.

“Yeah, well, fishmen have shown they’re willing to work with humans.”

“I wonder what else they’re getting?” Adrian said. “I checked the event page and there’s no mention of them. So, they’re not going to get any of the rewards.”

“Quests. Scaly bastards probably got a whole bunch of Quests. That and breeding stock.” Howard’s face twisted into a snarl that belonged more on Adrian’s face.

The hybrid’s features were a blend of cat and human, though more towards the latter minus the dark fur crowding the edges of his face and the fangs in his larger than human standard mouth.

“They’re always looking for breeding stock. It’s the only way to explain why they keep setting places up even with how often we find and smash them.” Howard eyed Adrian. “You alright, kid?”

“Yeah, why?” Adrian frowned.

“Nah, nothing. Just thinking you’d be itching to get your claws into some fish.”

“I am not a cat,” Adrian said flatly.

Howard grinned. “It’s okay to admit you got some of those instincts. I’ve got them myself. On account of being a little on the feral side.”

“A little?” Adrian smiled. This time baring his fangs.

Howard revealed his own set of pronounced canines before turning to Alin.

“Anyway you can loop us in, eh? Don’t much like standing blind while fighting’s going on out there. As long as it doesn’t mess with ranger opsec, of course.”

“Yeah, put your helmets on. I’ll link you to the cameras.”

He had always been a child of privilege.

The software in his power armor was capable of taking control of the Raynanaut’s systems.

His dad trusted him not to abuse it.

The skyship’s thrusters pulsed, taking them westward.

Seconds covered miles.

Red tracers streamed out into the night, cutting through thick clouds of smoke from the battle below.

Giant flying fish and dark scaled fishmen were cut into pieces by supersonic projectiles as long as a human arm.

The rangers minded their attack angle to minimize the chances of shots landing anywhere else but the bay.

The skyship shook.

A great globe of water splashed against her underside.

Dark water clung to the lenses of the cameras in her front half.

Steam fogged the images, forcing them to switch views.

Cameras on the rear half revealed the outer layer of titanium armor sizzling.

The skyship launched missiles toward the bay.

The gloom of night vanished for a moment as small suns erupted to life beneath the waves, sending great geysers of water and steam into the sky.

The thrusters pulsed, stronger now as they began to target fishmen on the streets with smaller projectiles to minimize friendly fire.

They could see them through the smoke with illumination provided by the fires.

Humans burned hotter than the fishmen. Not that the latter were cold-blooded. They were warm. It was just that their scales were much more insulating than skin.

Some people fought to protect their homes or walled neighborhoods while others tried to flee for the hospital, which was their most heavily defended emergency shelter.

The fishmen moved quickly, leaping great bounds with superhuman strength while shooting men with spines and spells.

The women and children they left alone.

One could see the protocols they were following.

Kill the threats first and collect the spoils second.

An ivory glint flashed from the very edge of the hazy spires barrier out in the bay.

The Raynanaut squealed in distress as the floor heaved under their boots.

Songbird’s voice came through the skyship’s speakers.

“Breach. Section 5. Decks 1 through 3.”

“What the hell was that?” Adrian said.

Alin watched the recording.

“Giant bone spike. Looked enchanted or they had mages inside casting shields around it.”

“Yeah,” Howard grunted. “You can see the lights around it shedding as it punched through.”

“But, it’s supposed to be practically impenetrable,” Adrian said.

“The key word is ‘practically’. When spells get involved, shit gets weird, eh.”

Howard cursed.

Giant flying fish used the momentarily lull in the Raynanaut’s fire to sky above them, dropping small and large figures onto the skyship.

Magitech lightning emitters popped up and scorched the entirety of the upper surface.

Some fishmen and their controlled beasts were charred to ash or forced off, but enough remained to proceed cutting the outer armor with their natural weapons and strength or spellcast water blades and buzzsaws.

The dorsal hangar doors slid open.

The shuttle emerged.

Thrusters roared as Marian strafed the fishmen in passing before activating stealth and zooming eastward.

Only a handful remained on the surface of the skyship amidst the blood and bits littering the pockmarked armor plating.

“Hey! Boss? Did you see that? I got like 20!” Marian’s voice came in over the team channel.

“Nice job! But don’t get cocky, kid!” Howard said.

“Got it! We’re gonna try to make contact with Sparky. I’ll keep you posted, over and out!”

“Stay frosty, over.” Howard sighed. “You young people get too excited over this shit.”

Adrian shrugged. “I blame my instincts.”

Alin remained silent as he pushed the gray through the skyship’s vents.

Section 5, Decks 1 through 3.

That was mostly cargo bays and not that far from the ventral hangar where Fabricator Stone Lake 23571 continued to churn out projectiles in a losing battle to keep up with the sustained rate of fire.

Alin sped ahead of Ranger Morningstar’s squad.

The gray filled the site of the breach.

The ivory boarding craft resembled a pointy stalagmite rising through the metal floor.

Fishmen had already debarked and were moving toward the doors.

The thick fog was invisible to them because he had willed it so.

There was no expected spike of sharp needles in his brain. He hadn’t slept well over the last few days worried over his mom and friends. What few hours he had snatched here and there had been plagued by the customary nightmares. Despite that, the fatigue he felt was of a middling sort.

He should’ve been a lot more tired, which was why a sense of disquiet permeated his soul.

It seemed inhuman for him to be in his current state considering the events.

He pushed it into the back of his mind.

Power was what he needed to keep everyone safe.

Thus, he hit the fishmen hard, using his power with as little restraint as he had ever displayed even compared to the fight with the demon clown.

Perhaps, their inhumanity made it easier.

They resisted the drain given the strength of their superhuman constitution and the gifts bestowed upon them by their wholehearted worship of the Deep Azure.

Though the eldritch entity lacked a physical presence on the world, as far as Alin’s dad could tell, the prayers of its faithful didn’t go unanswered.

Alin felt a presence pushing against him.

The dark depths of the ocean slammed into him with cold weight as if he had been suddenly submerged to a thousand meters below the roiling surface.

He fought against it, spreading out in every direction.

The difference between them was that he was present in reality.

Cold warmed.

Pressure eased.

Fishmen sagged as their limbs suddenly grew leadened.

Their superhuman stamina wasn’t without end.

Two steps felt like a hundred thousand.

Their mages tried to cast countering spells, but he confused their minds. Sent them whispers, promises of life, death and everything in between.

Their warriors lasted longer. Skills bolstered their natural gifts, but also ran out. Drained too quickly.

He took from them to strengthen himself.

Gray figures partially-coalesced.

Wisps of superstrong fists and faintly-glowing weapons attacked, turning the fishmen toward the interior of the cargo bay.

They struggled with the half-formed hints of people, turning their backs to the doors.

Rangers burst through behind controlled bursts and spell blasts.

Ranger Morningstar barked orders as they mowed down the fishmen.

The air was as clear as it had always been for the rangers.

Alin withdrew from the cargo bay as he spread out through the rest of the skyship, searching for more boarders.

He touched upon Kat briefly where she sat manning one of the gunnery stations.

His search turned up empty.

No more fishmen or unwanted passengers.

A voice, near, yet far, drew his attention back to his actual body.

“Yeah, what?”

Howard pointed to his ear.

“— you copy, Goldenspoon? I repeat—” Captain Molds said through the comms.

“I copy, captain.”

“You’re with Howard.” A statement, not a question. “So, I’m patching you all in. Do you hear me, Howard?”

“I copy,” Howard said.

“Swan Princess made contact through the wizards. Shit soup’s churning down in Hayden’s fort and that entire area of the city. Not just fishmen and slasher groups swarming all over the place. Undead breached the lower floors of that big tower. If that necromancer gets free reign to turn all those people… well… we can’t let that happen. I know you’re short-handed, but—”

“Say no more, captain. If she’s assaulting the tower then she won’t be able to hide as easily as she has been. Contesting the place means she’ll have to be on the premises somewhere. Me and Black Cat will hunt her down.”

“Great. The shuttle’s on its way back. Good luck. Break some legs.”

“What about me, sir?”

“Swan Princess was asking about some help with crowd control if you’re up to it, Goldenspoon. Though, I told her you could do a hell of a lot more than that these days.”

His gaze fell on the door leading into the patients’ chambers.

The patch of air next to the wall shimmered a moment, turning into Unseen.

“I will protect them,” the Threnosh said.

“Thanks.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll head over there right away, captain.”

“Good luck. Smash faces, kill monsters and bad guys.”

They walked briskly through the skyship’s corridors.

“Listen, Howard. The tower’s within my range from Hayden’s fort. I think I can cover up to the 40th floor give or take. I can’t promise my complete focus, but I’ll do what I can to help.”

“If you can find the necromancer then that’s all we’ll need.”

“I’ll try.” He turned left while the other two went right.

“Where are you going? Hangar’s this way.”

“I can get there faster.”