Chapter 113

“She’s right, there’s no air coming out,” said one of the children, her hands held up against Rain’s nose and mouth. “It’s dead!”

“Aww but I didn’t even level once!” groaned the other child.

“What are you talking about, he’s fine,” said Opal, appearing beside Lyra. “Just sleeping ... Right?”

Lyra looked down at the black furred mass she stood on. Maybe there would be movement if she watched closely, his chest expanding, drawing in air, alive, the vibration of his heart beating ... But there was nothing, he remained completely and utterly still, the stillness of death, was his body already cooling?

“I ... I-...” a rush of horrible thoughts snatched her voice from her throat, had she accidentally killed him? Her Skill had been used incorrectly somehow, in the wrong way, she had ... Killed Rain? Breathing suddenly became much harder, her airway constricting with anxiety. She was guilty of his death, and now she was alone, without him. She suddenly felt very exposed and vulnerable, her subconscious feeling of safety ripped away in a moment, obvious now in its absence. That Lapine would only be the first now that a wanted poster was out there, an unstoppable wave of levelers would come for her head, she didn’t stand a chance.

Opal fell to her knees beside her, fingers curling through black fur. She pushed at Rain’s back creating wrinkled folds.

“Hey, wake up, Rain, wake up, Rain just w-wake up.”

Lyra was a dead person walking, she knew that, and Opal? A Goblin alone? She was painfully aware of the fate of unwanted Goblins in Florens, what happened to them, what happened to an unwanted pregnant Goblin.

The guilt was too much and she could do nothing but stand and watch as Opal became increasingly frantic, pulling then hitting at Rain’s back, fierce at first, then weak limbed, until finally, she buried her face in his fur, her face...

And the black horn on her head.

A moment passed with the horn pressing against him, then his body spasmed, once, twice, then pressure, pressure in his chest, ending in a deep bass thump that caused dust to fall from the ceiling, his heart squeezing out a reluctant starting beat, and along with it a sharp gasp of breath, eyes shooting open, legs and arms flailing, rubble flung across the room. Lyra was tossed off and sent sprawling as Opal cried out in surprise, then from her mouth came a bubbling laugh as dark shadows crawled over Rain’s fur, teeth and claws, and slavering jaws, talons and pincers and stingers and nails and spines. The Goblin didn’t mind, it didn’t affect her, and she straddled his back as he slowly lifted his head from the ground with shaky arms, her tear reddened eyes squeezed shut with joy.

The family of Elves minded slightly more and openly screamed at the horrifying sight, backing away in a panic, weapons raised, the terrible realisation dawning on them that the thing they had been unable to harm in any way shape or form was now moving, and looking like something that had crawled out of the deepest darkest pit of nightmares.

Rain shuddered, his jaws straining, just trying to draw in air, many long strands of drool falling to the ground, hyperventilating as his fur billowed with predatory dark things, predatory dark things that were spilling onto the rubble, creeping between the stones and shattered furniture, looking for something to devour.

Lyra pressed back against the wall, alarmed, but more so filled with an overwhelming feeling of relief that he was alive, her shoulders easing and a long breath being released. Fortunately the dark seemed uninterested in her and surged toward the Elves who were understandably freaking out. The male Elf stabbed at the roiling carpet of darkness and shouted in distress as it ripped off the end of his spear leaving him with a useless stick.

“G-go! The door!” cried Lyra pointing.

“No, stay, let wolfy eat you!” cackled Opal.

The Elvish family seemed to gather together some basic semblance of rationality and they dived for the exit, forcing wide the rubble blocked door and fleeing down the hall out of sight.

“Aww, why’d you have to say that?”

“You’re not having Rain eat a family of Elves, even if they did kind of try to murder him.”

“You weren’t so fussy when it was Orcs!”

“You think I haven’t tried telling Orcs to stop being so murderously Orc like before? No thank-”

Rain let out a long groan and for the first time the creeping darkness which had covered most of the room’s floor started to slow in its spread.

“Where- where am I? Is this someone’s house...?” Rain slurred, head swaying as he blearily tried to look around.

“Er, it belongs to a family of Elves, you fell through their wall, I think.”

Rain turned his head toward her and Lyra couldn’t help but blanch. There was blood in his eyes, not just bloodshot, but reddened with blood from fully broken veins, a well of red filling the lower half of the yellow.

“I ... don’t, everything is fuzzy, I was ... I was in a place with gold, there was...” He suddenly leaned to the side, arms almost collapsing, and had to catch himself, shaking his head slightly as though to clear it.

The fact that the frighteningly strong monster that was Rain had almost been killed by herself, a diminutive half Woolie with a weak Class, was not lost on Lyra, especially after an entire clan of Orc’s had failed to do as much ... But how?

“Do you know what happened? You went into my wool space, and then when I activated it again in town you tore free instantly, I uh, lost track at that point.”

Rain’s swaying slowed and he seemed to gather himself. “I ... remember going in, I was in you, I remember it being fine, at first.”

“But then?”

“The longer I was there the more out of breath I felt, like I had run a marathon, but no matter how hard I breathed I just felt worse and worse, sweating like a pig and wheezing, I thought I had been poisoned, or the space was doing something to me, rejecting me.”

“I don’t understand, my Class is supposed to save people, not poison them, this doesn’t make any sense!”

“I remember Vash was there, tossed amongst the gold. He knew something, I remember him talking as things were starting to go dark. He said it was my size, that all the air had been used up, but that makes no sense, I could breathe, It just ... didn’t help.”

“Oh,” said Opal. She had been happily wiggling atop Rain’s back but as he finished she paused. “I know what happened and why.”

“You do? Wait, why would you know? Your entire existence was spent at the bottom of a dungeon, you know nothing about Skills!”