Thirstfall - Memory of a Returnee

The Pincer Magnatos crosses the clearing, all four legs sinking into the ground.

The mass of carapace, fur, and plants comes at us while the larger pincer snaps roots that aren’t even in its way. Each step throws water out of the pools, and the blue steam venting from the gills spreads around its head.

Freya reacts first.

Ice sheets the ground under her feet and launches her toward the creature’s flank. She slips past the serrated pincer before it closes, angles her body, and sets the scythe to sweep around the shell.

The move is aimed at the join between the carapace and the neck.

One well-placed cut could end the fight.

"Freya, stop!"

She obeys.

The scythe’s blade veers off the creature, but Freya has already put her full weight into the next stride. Ice forms under her feet in an attempt to kill the momentum. Her boot slips, her body spins, and she goes crashing through the shrubs at the edge of the clearing.

Branches snap as Freya rolls across the wet earth. Her shoulder hits a raised root, and she vanishes behind a cluster of leaves.

The Magnatos crosses the spot where she’d have been a moment later.

The larger pincer strikes a tree. The trunk cracks at the base and falls over the undergrowth, scattering wood across the clearing.

I break away with a Pressure Step before the creature corrects its heading toward me.

[OXI: 2,419/2,500]

Kraken moves with me, tilting the blade against the shell when the serrated pincer tries to reach me. I don’t attack. I use the flat of the sword to change the angle of the beast’s swing and throw myself out of its path.

Freya rises from the shrubs, covered in mud and leaves. There’s a thin cut on her forearm and a branch caught in her hair.

"You son of a bitch!"

She rips the branch out and finds her footing on her right foot. The ankle answers. So does the shoulder, though the movement makes her face tighten.

"You in one piece?"

"I’d be better off if you hadn’t shouted while I was attacking."

The Magnatos turns at the center of the clearing. The change of direction is slow, but the pincers cover enough ground to keep us pushed apart.

Freya raises the scythe.

"It’s a clean kill. I reach the back, open the shell’s join, and finish before the Pincer can turn!"

"I know."

She stays still for a second.

"Then why did you tell me to stop?"

The Pincer lowers its carapace for another charge.

"Because I don’t want to kill it yet."

Freya looks at the creature, then at me.

"You came to get experience and you don’t want to kill the monster."

"I have a better method."

The Magnatos charges again.

This time we split before it hits full speed. Freya runs left. I stay in front of it long enough to keep the shell’s eyes pointed my way, then use another burst of Pressure Steps.

The creature passes between us and plows into the forest.

Two smaller trees disappear under the shell. The serrated pincer splits a root in half while the larger one crushes a wide trunk during the attempt to turn.

The whole thicket cracks, pieces of wood flying with the impacts.

"What’s the plan?" Freya asks.

"I want it to realize it can’t drive us out."

"We could make it realize that while we kill it."

"I need it alive a few more minutes."

The creature finishes turning. The black eyes split between us, judging which target is closer.

Freya tries to wipe the mud off her face with the back of her hand and leaves an even bigger smear.

"If you mean to tire it out, you picked a creature that spends all day tearing up trees."

"I don’t want to tire it out."

The Magnatos picks Freya.

She waits until the serrated pincer starts to close, then builds an ice ramp over a root and runs up the side. The creature passes beneath her. Freya jumps to the other side, landing out of reach.

The scythe stays raised.

She has another chance to hit the back.

She doesn’t take it.

The Pincer tries to correct the charge and skids on the damp earth. The shell hits a thick tree, scattering moss and the small shells grown on its back.

"Don’t let it get back to the north side of the clearing," I say.

Freya looks at the area I mean.

"Why?"

"That’s where it came from. If it reaches the feeding route, it might just give up on us."

A low wall of ice rises between two roots to the north. It wouldn’t be enough to stop a Rank C creature, but it closes off the easiest way through.

The Magnatos notices.

The larger pincer strikes the ice and cracks the whole surface. Before it can cross, I bang Kraken against a rock on the opposite side.

The impact pulls its attention.

The row of eyes swings back to me.

"Over here."

The Pincer abandons the barrier and comes on.

I run between two trees, holding enough speed to stay ahead of it without spending another Pressure Step. The creature’s size limits its turns. When I try to change direction near a root, it has to use the larger pincer as a brace to keep the shell from tipping.

The tree beside it is ripped out with half its roots.

I roll under the serrated pincer and get my feet back a few meters on.

[OXI: 2,391/2,500]

Kraken doesn’t drain my reserve to move. After the two Pressure Steps, I can carry the rest of the plan on distance, terrain, and how slowly it changes direction.

There are still other risks.

The silent band where I suspected a Reef Stalker stays to the east. I don’t lead the Pincer that way. I also keep clear of the entry route and the region where the runes marked other teams passing through.

The Magnatos has to do what I’m planning without dragging a dozen students into the same place.

Freya lands beside me.

"How many times do we have to do this?"

"Until it stops trying to kill us."

"That sentence doesn’t reassure me."

The creature closes in again.

This time Freya freezes the ground only in front of the left leg. The ice breaks under the weight, but it shifts the footing enough for the shell to veer off. The Magnatos crosses past us and hits a formation of roots.

The larger pincer closes around the wood. The plates compress until the roots burst.

"What exactly are you waiting to happen?" Freya asks.

"In the future, this field became known for an experience-farming racket."

She throws a quick look my way.

"You’re using the story I still don’t believe to justify another suicidal idea."

"You can treat it as stolen information, if that helps."

"It doesn’t."

The Magnatos lets out a muffled roar. Water pooled in the gills sprays under its neck.

It doesn’t charge right away this time.

The row of eyes runs across the clearing. Some pupils track Freya. Others look for an opening between the trees and the ice walls.

It’s starting to catch the pattern.

Pincer Magnatos live in groups but forage alone. A wounded one wouldn’t call the others. Blood and signs of combat would draw the predators that trail the herds.

That’s why almost no one knows the behavior I’m trying to provoke.

Ordinary hunters attack the moment they find an isolated individual. If they can’t kill it quickly, they keep fighting. Either way, the Magnatos understands there’s a predator in front of it.

We haven’t caused a single wound.

We keep invading its territory, closing its routes, and refusing to be drawn into a clash.

For the creature, this has stopped being a fight.

It’s a problem it can’t solve alone.

Freya pulls a leaf off her collar.

"Did you know I’d fall like that?"

"I knew stopping mid-dash would be uncomfortable."

"I went through three shrubs."

"But you stopped."

She turns her face to me.

The irritation stays, but something else shows up under it. Freya had promised to trust me during the hunt. When I gave the order, she obeyed before she even understood the reason.

"Don’t abuse that," she says.

"I don’t intend to."

The Magnatos lets out another roar and slams the serrated pincer into the ground.

The earth splits along a ragged line.

We break apart in opposite directions. The creature tries to follow Freya, but a layer of ice seals the gap between two trees where she passed. When the Magnatos turns for me, I use Kraken to drop a thick branch over its path, tripping it before it reaches me.

The wood couldn’t stop it. It didn’t need to.

The Pincer halts.

The four legs plant into the ground. The larger pincer stays open, but it’s no longer looking for a target. The eyes around the shell move in different directions, trying to find a route that’s still clear.

"It’s happening," I say.

Freya comes closer without lowering the scythe.

"What is?"

The smaller pincer strikes the larger one.

The sound crosses the clearing like a stone hitting the bottom of a well.

The Magnatos repeats the motion.

Two slow beats, then a third, harder one.

The water in the pools forms rings. Fragments of bark and small shells rattle on the ground.

Freya adjusts her stance.

"Is that an attack?"

"Not yet."

The creature raises the front of the shell.

The bluish gills open all the way, exposing membranes that pulse under the wet fur. Air enters them with a viscous sound. The chest hidden by the carapace swells, pushing plates and vegetation to the sides.

Then the Pincer sings.

The sound starts as a low roar. Halfway through, it turns into a liquid noise, cut through by the scrape of plates grinding against one another. The vibration passes through the floor, enters the boots, and climbs the legs.

There’s nothing beautiful about that song.

It sounds like the call of a creature drowning and unable to die.

The bulbs on the plants across the shell begin to swell.

Freya backs away.

"Dryden!"

The first structures open among the moss. They’re small flowers, almost transparent, with bluish filaments growing out of the cracks in the carapace.

A cloud of pollen bursts off the Magnatos.

The particles rise against gravity, passing through the branches and spreading above the canopy. The light turns the blue to gold at the edges. The smell reaches the clearing right after, mixing salt, wet earth, and a strong sweetness that stings my nose.

Freya covers her mouth with her forearm.

"What is that?"

"A territorial call."

"For what?"

"Reinforcements."

She looks at the cloud vanishing above the trees.

Then turns her eyes back to me.

"You wanted it to do that?"

"That was the plan."

"How many are coming?"

I keep my attention on the sounds of the forest.

"I don’t know. But it’s definitely more than one."

Freya grips the scythe with both hands.

"Few people know about this?"

"Almost no one sets up the right conditions. Wound the Magnatos and it decides it’s fighting a predator and doesn’t call the group. Try to kill it and the battle ends before the song. You have to close the routes, avoid every attack, and stay in the territory without starting a real fight."

"That’s why you told me to stop."

"Yes."

The Pincer lowers its shell.

It doesn’t charge again. It stays at the center of the clearing, breathing through the open gills while the pollen keeps rising off its back.

It’s waiting.

Freya watches the monster a few more seconds.

"The smell’s going to draw Reef Stalkers."

"It might."

"Was that part in the plan too?"

"It was one of the risks."

She stares at me.

"How many parts haven’t you told me?"

Before I can answer, an impact crosses the forest.

It comes from the north.

A tree falls beyond the canopy, sending birds off the branches.

The Magnatos in front of us makes another call, smaller than the first.

An answer rises from the west.

Then another, farther off, near the canals.

The ground trembles under our feet.

Freya turns slowly, tracking the sound of trees breaking at different points in the forest.

"How many?"

I hold Kraken in front of my body and count the directions.

North.

West.

A deep vibration to the south.

Another impact near the silent band to the east.

"I don’t know," I answer. "But it’s definitely more than one."

The Pincer at the center of the clearing raises both pincers.

The trees start to fall in four different directions.

Then the whole forest begins to close in.

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