From the shadows emerged nightmares of wood and sap. They didn't walk; they slithered. They were twisted amalgams of black vines and rotten wood that formed slender, lanky, humanoid bodies. They had no face, only a single glowing eye in the center of what should have been a head—an orb pulsing with a sickly, sap-green light. They moved with unnatural speed, their limbs cracking as they crept between the trees, using the shadows as if they were water.
"Sap-Tendrils!" Vespera shouted. "I've heard of them, but I've never seen them! They're abominations!"
"Don't just stand there admiring the scenery!" Gideon roared, his greatsword cleaving the air and splitting the first Tendril in two. The creature didn't bleed; it collapsed into a pile of splinters and a pool of smoking black sap.
Chaos erupted. The creatures attacked from all flanks, bursting from the ground and dropping from the branches.
"Shield formation!" Captain Valerius yelled, clinging to by-the-book tactics, his voice sharp with panic. "Protect the flanks! Archers to the center! Rear guard, cover the west!"
"Break formation, you idiots!" Thalassa shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos like a whip. Her sword, already coated in black sap, beheaded two Tendrils in a single fluid motion. "They'll surround and crush us! Scatter and use the trees! Gideon, with me! Vespera, to the right!"
The newer templars, caught between conflicting orders, hesitated for a fatal second. That confusion created the crucial mistake. The rear guard, three young templars following Valerius's command, moved clumsily to cover the west flank. In doing so, they left Vespera, who was fighting fiercely against a group of Tendrils, completely exposed.
Ari saw it all. "Gideon, your left!" he shouted, and a faint golden light enveloped the sergeant. "Light, harden his steel!" Gideon's sword glowed and split a Tendril's wooden shield like it was cardboard. "Vespera, speed!" he cast another blessing. A golden aura surrounded her, allowing her to dodge a whip of sap that would have taken her head off.
But as he supported the others, he saw the new threat: a group of five Tendrils slipped through the gap and lunged for Vespera's unprotected back.
She realized it at the last second. She spun, her eyes wide with the despair of someone who knows it's too late. She could block one, maybe two. The other three would get her.
Time seemed to slow. Ari's facade of the lazy, cynical priest shattered. "Vespera, get down!" he roared, his voice filled with an authority no one had ever heard from him.
He ran, not with a warrior's grace, but with the desperate urgency of a man throwing himself in front of a runaway cart. He launched himself between Vespera and the attackers. Spreading his hands, palms out, he screamed the words with every ounce of faith he possessed. "Aegis of Light!"
A dome of bright, golden light exploded around him. The five Tendrils slammed into the shield with a violent, hissing sound. The barrier trembled and cracked under the impact. The shield held for an instant, but the Tendrils were too strong. Two of them broke through the fading barrier.
Ari felt a searing, blinding pain. A whip of corrosive sap struck his shoulder, burning through fabric and skin with a sickening sizzle. The other Tendril reached Vespera; its sharp claw tore a deep gash in her thigh. She screamed and collapsed.
In that moment, Thalassa and Gideon arrived like a storm of steel, annihilating the weakened Tendrils.
Ari ignored the stabbing pain in his shoulder. The world narrowed to Vespera's pale face and the open wound on her leg. He dropped to his knees beside her. "Well, looks like these robes are finally good for something!" he exclaimed, his voice tight with pain. He ripped a strip from his sleeve and tied a tight, effective tourniquet above the wound. "Don't move! This stuff is corrosive!"
Vespera was trembling, clinging to his arm. "Ari… you saved me," she stammered, her eyes filled with gratitude. "They were going to kill me."
"Not while I'm breathing, redhead," he replied, forcing a smile. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."
Thalassa strode over, her face a mask of icy fury. Her gaze flicked from Vespera's wound to Ari's burned shoulder, then rose to find her target. She walked straight to Valerius, who was pale and trembling.
"Your order," Thalassa said, her voice a lethal whisper. "Your pride. It almost killed my sergeant."
"It was a tactical decision—" Valerius stammered, backing away. "The manual says—"
"The manual doesn't bleed!" Thalassa snapped. "The manual doesn't scream! It was arrogant stupidity!"
"You're protecting him, Captain!" Valerius shouted, his fear turning to desperate accusation. "You're endangering the squad for your affection for that priest!"
"That 'priest' just saved the life of my second-in-command," Thalassa retorted, stepping closer, her presence overwhelming. "My 'affection' is called using my most valuable assets. Something you, apparently, don't know how to do."
"He's your weakness!" Valerius insisted. "And a weakness in a leader gets us all killed!"
"My only weakness would be trusting a captain whose pride is bigger than his brain," Thalassa stated. And then she hit him.
It wasn't a slap. It was an open-handed strike, imbued with the pure strength of an elite templar. The sound was a "CRACK!" that silenced the forest.
Valerius went flying. He broke two young trees before slamming with a dull thud against a massive oak. He went still, unconscious.
The other templars froze, terrified. The message was clear.
Thalassa turned, the fury on her face instantly replaced by urgent concern. She ran to Ari and Vespera. "Ari, are you okay? Your shoulder…" she said, her voice trembling slightly.
He shook his head, pale with pain. "I'm fine. It's just a burn. She's not. The venom is necrotic. I can stop it, but I'll need at least five mana potions to stabilize her. If I don't hurry, she could lose the leg." He looked at Thalassa, his eyes filled with a deadly seriousness. "And I need them now."