(RoS) Annoying smoke - Ch. 70 (Patreon)

“Damn,” Maya said, lowering her sickle and approaching their fallen opponent. “I didn’t even get a chance to do anything.”

The scorpion faded away, turning to dust and leaving behind a small blue mote of energy. Maya cleared her throat and glanced at her crew.

“I don’t need essence,” Patty said.

“Already awakened my ability a long time ago,” Cyll said, shrugging.

“Same here,” Humbol said, grinning. “I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on some extra gold, though.”

“Deal,” Maya said. “You can have my share.”

She reached out to grab the Essence and feed it to the Heart. Then she paused. A vision of the Heart’s smug face flashed through her mind.

“What’s wrong?” Cyll asked. “Staring at it isn’t going to help you.”

Maya pulled her hand back. Then she drew Heral’s battered silver amulet out of her pant pockets. Her brow tightened at the thought of the overseer and Axel. The young captain’s fist tightened until the metal links dug into her skin, tearing her from her thoughts.

She shook her head and sighed, raising the amulet into the air above the Essence and pulling it open. There was a quick pop, and the tiny amount of light was sucked into the necklace. The young captain closed it with a snap and put it back into her clothing.

“You’ve still got that thing?” Cyll asked, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you would have lost it with the number of times our clothing has been shredded. Are you not going to feed it to the Heart?”

Maya’s hand drifted to her chest for her moment, where the Heart resided within her. Her features hardened and she lowered it again, shaking her head.

“No. It didn’t help me when I needed it most, and two can play at that game. I’m not going to enslave myself to a rock to gain power. I’ll deal with it later, but for now, I’ll just be collecting the Essence normally.”

“You’ve got a mythical artifact stored inside you, and your first thought is to fight with it?” Humbol asked, raising an eyebrow. “Impressive. Most people would do almost anything to be in your situation, but you look like you’re one step from tossing the thing in the trash.”

“I think you’d be one of those people,” Cyll grunted, shooting Humbol a firm glance.

“I’d be the first in line,” Humbol said, giving Maya a wide grin. “If you ever get bored of your rock, I’ll take it off your hands, captain.”

“Noted,” Maya said with a slight smile. She nodded towards the door at the far end of the room. “But, for now, let’s continue. I believe we’re in a bit of a race at the moment.”

Almost on cue, the door at the other end of the room swung open invitingly. Dark grey smoke trickled out of the room, filling their nostrils with the smell of ash.

“Someone forgot to turn the stove off,” Maya observed, her nose twisting at the rancid smell.

“At least they were polite enough to open the door for us,” Cyll said, approaching the door and stepping past the boundary. Humbol followed behind him, with Maya and Patty taking up the back of the party.

A large sword promptly flowered out of the pirate’s back, spraying Humbol with blood. Cyll let out a sputtering mixture of a gasp and a swear.

It was impossible to see what he did due to the dense smoke surrounding them, but the sword vanished from his chest. A moment later, a shrill scream echoed through the dungeon, silencing quickly as it had started when something thudded violently against a wall.

“That was much less polite,” Cyll snarled as his wounds faded away. He coughed as the smoke filled his lungs, but narrowed his eyes and continued deeper, disappearing into the smoke.

“You better stay close to Humbol and I,” Patty said as they followed the immortal pirate inside.

Maya pulled her shirt over her mouth in a fruitless attempt to filter some of the smoky air out. She kept her sickle drawn as they pushed deeper into the room. The dense smoke made it completely impossible to see anything, so she focused on listening to the sounds around her.

Beside her, the smoke shifted slightly. A huge sword appeared from the darkness, thrusting straight for her chest. Maya’s cloak whipped around, enveloping the weapon before it could strike her.

The captain swung her sickle and was rewarded with a wet gurgle as whatever had attacked her released the sword. She accidentally drew in a deep breath, sputtering and gagging as the smoke filled her lungs like dense soup.

Patty’s axe cut through the darkness and hit the ground with a thud. A moment later, two more thuds followed it as the two halves of their attacker fell to the ground.

Maya coughed violently and covered her mouth again, electing to give the animated puppet an appreciative nod and hoping that she could see it.

There was a series of muffled curses followed by another scream as Cyll hurled a creature into a wall again. The smoke seemed to recoil, fading back slightly and turning from pitch black to starless sky.

“I think the smoke fades when you kill them!” Patty called.

Something pattered against the ground behind Maya. She leapt forward, spinning and bringing her sickle up defensively, but the attack came from her side. Her cloak saved her again, lashing out and intercepting the blow before it hit her.

She swung her sickle again, aiming for a little over where the sword had struck from. She felt the blade bite into flesh and yanked hard on the chain, pulling it back. This time, she made sure to hold her breath.

Something wet sprayed her as the sword clattered to the ground. Maya grimaced and wiped her face with the back of her sleeve.

The smoke weakened once more, turning into a dense grey. As it faded, the room started to shift into view behind the wisps. Eight short corpses in dark clothing laid across the room, dead. It was impossible to make out any detail, as they seemed to be fading away as Maya’s crew fought.