Requiem for an Aberrant Chapter 22: Chapter 22- The Memory Below the Self

Read chapter 22 of Requiem for an Aberrant by TheJestersGambit on NovelPedia.

Cole let the Essentia rise to his fingertips. The current gathered instinctively, coursing through his body and concentrating at the tips of his fingers as the beginnings of a spear formed in the air before him, trembling like a thought still searching for its meaning. It never finished. The wall beside him erupted. Stone burst outward towards him as a White Handra forced its elongated body through the rock, its arrival announced by a shriek that echoed along the cavern walls. Aegis stepped forward instantaneously as black-purple Essentia manifested from his arm, unfolding into a shield just as the creature crashed into him. The impact coursed through the narrow path, sending vibrations rippling along the stream. The monster clawed at the barrier, its limbs scraping uselessly against the surface. Cole didn’t waste the opening. The half-formed spear shattered into many smaller constructs as he redirected the Essentia, sending a cluster of spears across the stream toward the creatures gathering on the opposite side of the black water. The constructs struck them mid-leap, their bodies malfunctioning before collapsing into the water below. “What do we do!?” Ariana shouted. The veins along her neck glowed faintly pink as her Bloodcraft stirred to life, the power racing through her body and sharpening every movement she made. By the time the question left her mouth she was already charging toward the front of the group with a speed that surpassed their current momentum. “Work with me, Ariana!” Aegis responded. Filoa couldn’t reply. One hand gripped tightly onto Faith while the other protected outward, green seeping slowly from her fingertips. The rot spread wherever the creatures drew too close, crawling through flesh and bone like a sickness that refused to be ignored. It didn’t kill them. But it slowed them. And in the cramped passage of the Gorge, slowing them would have to be enough. An Umbrahedron’s limb smashed through the stone just inches from Cole’s head. He ducked and shifted backward, placing himself between the swarm gathering behind them and the others further ahead. Faith and Filoa blocked the path forward. Cole could see the strain on Filoa’s face now that he was closer. Her jaw was clenched tight enough to make the muscles along her neck tremble. If he moved past them now, he’d leave them exposed. “Filoa!” he shouted over the rising shrieks of the creatures. “Can you use your Bloom on the water?!” She faltered, her gaze flicking toward the stream. “But we don’t know what—” “It’s fine!” Cole snapped, cutting her off before the doubt could settle in. “Just do it!” For a moment she hesitated. Then she shoved Faith toward him. Cole caught her, the sudden shift in weight nearly knocking him off balance as another creature lunged from the water behind them. At the front, Aegis and Ariana had already begun clearing a path. Aegis’s blade rose and fell in controlled rhythms whilst Ariana fought beside him, delivering uncontrolled strikes which still sent creatures collapsing around them. The two of them moved as one, carving a narrow slither of hope through the chaos. Filoa reached the edge of the stream. The green glow along her arms deepened as she crouched, lowering her hand slowly toward the water. Golden veins crept upward from her palm as the Bloom responded to her touch. The moment her skin made contact with the stream, the water trembled. Bone erupted from beneath the surface, jagged spikes bursting upward and skewering every creature attempting to leap across the water. Several shrieked before collapsing, their bodies hanging briefly from the bone before sliding lifelessly into the stream. “There’s something up ahead, I think!” Ariana shouted. Cole twisted aside as a White Handra lunged from the side wall. The chain of his scythe snapped outward and wrapped around the creature’s rubbery neck before he yanked hard, dragging it sideways and sending it crashing into the stream. “What do you mean you think ?” he called b