An intelligent insect coming inside your house, uninvited, becomes dumber every passing second, and the smartest thing it does is slam itself into a wall out of regret.
And unfortunately for me, I’m grasping onto an insect woman mid-fight, while she does her normal insect routines.
Her sight and mouth are burning, she has no sense of where she is flying, slamming herself into the stairs and walls, stone breaking down. I was trying my best to keep up with her jiggle physics.
Then I felt gravity inverting, no, we were falling, because this bitch doesn’t know how to fly. At almost twice the speed as before, we were about to hit the floor, and I let go of her in a fraction of a second.
I landed on the stone floor, negating fall damage. I thought she would land on her head and it would be game over, but her strong beetle claws on top of her head dug into the floor and saved her.
Although she was still recovering from the potion burns and stuck in place at a weird angle, ignoring her, I shifted focus to Sister Maren. In front of the cracked wall, she was still unconscious.
With a few quick steps I made my way beside her, turning her over. Her body was half limp; I supported her back so she could sit up.
I plucked out the two healing potions from the calla lily’s vines and opened the bottle. Pressing firmly on her cheek made her mouth open.
Adjusting the angle of the bottle for her lips’ comfort, I only had to pour a tiny amount of the potion before her instinct kicked in and she began swallowing on her own.
With each swallow her body became more reactive, flinching as if she were falling in a dream. First her hands did, then her legs, then her eyes.
Then she suddenly grabbed the potion bottle and pushed it away, turning to the side and coughing, spilling some of the contents out.
"Please don’t use that potion ever again. They work fine and are cheap to make, but..."
She was breathing through her mouth, something I’d never seen her do.
"But they are highly concentrated and can have negative effects on a person with a lower immune system."
"Ohh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t read the descriptions. There was no time–"
"I know, I know."
Sister Maren replied, wiping her lips. I’m really glad she’s alright, because I’m all out of potions now. I don’t have anything else with me.
With my mind finally shifting toward relief, my ears caught a sound going off. The beetle woman’s wings were not buzzing anymore.
"You filth!!"
I turned around and she was pulling her claws out of the stone bricks. Her face and mouth were completely healed and back to their disgusting selves.
"You messed with the wrong insect, human!! I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you."
She towered up, spewing nonsense, she has some real ego issues.
Semi-transparent amber goo covered her hands and formed another pair of claws. She had three sets of claws now.
Then within a second she lowered herself, flat to the floor, the claws on her head facing us. Her arms extended forward, her head leaning back. An actual beetle shape.
She charged at us with incredible speed. In a second, two things happened: her feet pushed her forward with power enough to break the wall behind her, and she reached each side of us before my mind even registered the claws. I just knew they were there.
Just as my body declared it over for both of us, a moon-blue colored light flashed before me.
For a solid few seconds there was just nothing, then the view came back like someone had just skipped ten seconds on an internet video.
I was in the air, hanging on, holding Sister Maren’s shoulders. She was levitating. I turned my head and saw five gothic-style floating candle holders, connected by chains, surrounding us.
They had thorns like Sister Maren’s circlet. The candles had different heights, with flames of moon blue.
"What happened?"
"I just barely managed to save you by casting a barrier."
I looked down; I could see the entire structure of the Greyclock Conservatory. Only the buildings that reached higher were visible, others were covered in light fog.
Then I spotted the tower we were fighting in, a giant hole in it, must have been from the impact.
Then I saw the insect woman crawling on the other tower, looking absolutely crappy, dripping with anger, grinding her teeth.
"All students, evacuate Greyclock Conservatory. Now!!"
Sister Maren said, her voice echoing and traveling in all directions, repeating in sections. I saw students wasting no time, running down the stairs for their safety.
I accidentally looked directly below, and my fear of heights gave a gentle touch. I don’t have the ability to fly or levitate, I was grabbing onto Sister Maren for dear life.
Then fear made me pull myself up, getting a better, softer grip. I probably looked like a tall boyfriend hugging his short girlfriend from behind.
"Elias... you don’t have to grab my breast like this."
"Ohh shit. I’m really sorry, Sister Maren. I didn’t mean to."
You can’t blame me, alright. Blame the circumstances. On her word, I let go of her breast, respectfully.
"Sorry, but how far can you see with your eyes? I mean, what about possibilities and the future?"
"You catch on things quickly, Elias. There is no limit besides my brain’s processing power and capacity. I can’t choose to look as much as I want without going insane."
Sister Maren replied, and I felt her smiling before she even said anything.
"But there is a way, we can win. It’s just risky. Would you like to help me?"
She turned a little to face me, our faces an inch apart. For a second I was lost in those beautiful blue eyes, appreciating the white crescent shape that somehow made her eyes seem 4D. Is there romantic tension between us, or am I just imagining things?
Anyway.
"I’m ready. Whatever you’ve got."