6. Vermin and Vengeance

Small yet muscular in her new earthworm body, Silane wiggled across the forest floor. Existence as such was novel and alien: the slickness of mud underbelly, the walls of the earth pressing in all around, the sharpness of an errant blade of grass. Luckily, she was not alone in discovery. Demix had possessed a crow; for lack of experience using wings, he hop-limped, wings flopping clumsily behind him. Elrach sat in quiet dignity upon a fern nearby, now inhabiting a mortal wolf spider with a leg-span of two inches, a considerable reduction from his previous existence as a wolf-sized spider. Ranha had lucked out and possessed a squirrel, which, despite its pathetic fluffy appearance, turned out to be monstrous in size and strength compared to Silane’s earthworm.

Demix’s crow body could produce voicelike sounds, but the effect was utterly lost on the earless earthworm Silane had possessed. She only detected vibrations when Demix tried to talk. Elrach in his mortal spider body seemed equally confused. Without a universal means of communicating, they coordinated using simple gestures: waving a leg, flapping wings, wriggling one’s body. Elrach directed them toward the town they had found during the initial visit. His rationale, by Silane’s best estimation, was to identify the humans’ next move and figure out how best to retaliate.

Traveling took much longer than expected due to their small sizes. Demix hopped circles around Silane and uttered several earth-shaking squawks, but she couldn’t tell whether he was encouraging her to hurry up, offering a ride, or about to eat her. Either way, she picked up the pace. She soon discovered that earthworms had a hidden ability: jumping. This new skill marginally increased her progression, although the whole group’s forward speed remained much slower than when they had been in their preferred shapes.

Evening sank into night by the time they reached human civilization. Once the sun set, they slipped out of their pathetic flesh bodies and rebuilt their customary solidforms—all but Elrach, who chose to remain in his tiny possessed spider. Silane carefully placed Elrach on her shoulder for ease of transport. Disguised as three humans and a spider of perfectly normal size, they slipped into the crowds without incident. It was much easier to blend in when the night allowed full solidform existence, as opposed to the shambling near-corpses of their failed daylight venture.

The streets were awash with candlelight and celebration. It was boisterous and loud before they even reached the center of the activity; upon entering the town square, the ambient liveliness and noise were overwhelming. The firelight stung to behold. She shielded her eyes and lurked in Demix’s tall shadow whenever possible.

“Hail the Order of Illumination! Our heroes emerged from seclusion in Lumivale Academy to answer our prayers, and now they’ve ended the demon threat once and for all,” the townspeople cried in joy.

It was a victory celebration. Order of Illumination paladins mingled amid the crowds, easily distinguishable by their too-bright life essence and glyph-decorated uniforms. The air was thick with burnt grease and cooking fumes from dozens of street vendors who had set up shop for the night. Revelers crowded around the most pungent booths, feasting on their strange already-dead foods. The scent reminded Silane of the fine smoke after mortal boots trampled Mistforged essence, of the colorless fog into which Sentinel Khond had dissolved. A craving surged within her—not for sustenance, but for violence.

“Don’t,” Demix said, catching her wrist before she forgot herself. He dragged her away from the thick of the crowd. Elrach’s sharp little feet dug into her shoulder, either in agreement or for grip.

Ranha lurked at the backside of a manor near the outskirts of town, listening to a hearty conversation spilling out from within. When she saw the other three Mistforged approaching, she got up from her listless slump, framed in soft shadows by the meager lamplight filtering through the window slats. Her eyes were dark; her expression was sullen and wretched.

“They think this invasion was retaliation for an earlier demon attack. What attack? What retaliation? Realm travel has been forbidden for ages,” Ranha said, voice hollow.

Silane glanced at Demix and could not find words to reply. Ranha caught the glance anyway. She started, eyes widening.

“Wait. You three were bragging about entering the mortal realm, weren't you? But they caught you at the Worlds Gate. They caught you, didn’t they? You had a sentinel's Mark, so you must’ve gotten caught... don't tell me you actually went through the Worlds Gate.”

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“So what if we did? What's done is done,” Demix said.

“They were delicious,” Silane added. Sharp little feet jabbed the side of her neck, and she caught herself halfway to the critical mistake of swatting Elrach. She lowered her hand with a muttered apology.

Ranha looked between them, something deeper than anger sparking in her expression. “So you provoked the humans. This, the invasion, all the deaths. You did this. It's all your fault!”

Before any of them could react, Ranha poofed into mistform and streaked away into the woods. Silane watched her go.

Demix scoffed. “The nerve of that one! If anything, it's the humans' own fault that they attacked us.”

Silane nodded desperately. “We only sampled a few mortal lives—and mortals have such finite lives anyway. Not like it’s any great loss, considering how many there are in the world.”

“Exactly.” Demix kicked a rock.

The small weight on Silane’s shoulder moved, and then dark smoke poured down as Elrach left the possessed spider for his usual solidform. The abandoned body of the host spider tumbled away. Silane caught it for Elrach's sake. It was a risk for him to show himself while still in this human town; enormous man-eating spiders were rather conspicuous, but he didn’t look like he would welcome the feedback right now. Luckily, the shadows behind this manor were free of human witnesses.

“If our feast provoked the humans, then there can be no doubt that we, and we alone, are responsible,” Elrach said. His front legs stabbed the ground, a killing blow that plunged deep into loamy soil. “In this unjust world, we three trespassers endure while the lawful betters among our kin have suffered for it. I cannot accept this. With the Stargazer All-Seeing as my witness, I am willing to give my existence to avenge the Shadowed Isle.”

The fervor of Elrach's speech touched the very depths of Silane's being. She fell quiet for a long time, pondering all that he had said.

They were responsible. They had survived while their homeland paid the price. They could fix this.

The vigor of new purpose erased whatever pitiful strands of guilt and indignation had clouded her mind for the past few hours.

“The humans will pay a hundredfold for this injustice,” Silane vowed.

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Silane, Elrach, and Demix were not the only Mistforged survivors who had escaped to the mortal realm during the invasion. Those strong enough to face sunlight but unwilling to battle, or those temporarily elevated to sun-resistant by sentinels as Silane’s triad had been, had fled through the portal as well.

In total, about fifty Mistforged survivors regrouped in a freshly made clearing on the outskirts of town. Demix noticed them first, sniffing out the conspicuous absence of life-glow in a landscape otherwise populated with plant and animal energies. The clearing was filled with fallen leaves and cracked trees, all brittle and dead after being siphoned of life essence. The survivors huddled together in common fear and helplessness. The meek ones said nothing at all, consumed by despair that wafted a tangible heaviness into the crisp cool air. Bolder survivors spoke of vengeance upon humanity as a whole, of slaughter under cover of night.

“Let’s do it,” Silane said.

“It’s suicide. We lack the strength to deal a decisive blow to their Order,” Elrach said. “Who among us can claim that you’re equal to a paladin or light-specter?”

The other survivors shifted and avoided Elrach’s gaze. Only Ranha, mere solid that she was, glared back.

“We’re strong in numbers, and we have surprise on our side. They’ll never see us coming,” Ranha said.

Cheers rose in agreement. About a third of the crowd followed Ranha toward the human town. The rest of the survivors lingered in the clearing, doubts exacerbated by Elrach’s words. Silane tried to join Ranha’s group, but Demix grabbed her wrist and stopped her short.

“Let go!” Silane twisted and kicked, furious to be hindered when vengeance was within her grasp.

“Use your head. Elrach is right. You can’t even escape me, and I’m only a solid. How do you expect to fare against enemies stronger than a sentinel?” Demix leaned in close and lowered his voice. “How many sun-resistants did you see among that whole group? Three, five at best. If they don’t win before dawn, everyone else will burn. Don’t add yourself to their pyre.”

Silane looked at the remaining survivors. She saw broken wings and crippled limbs, crestfallen refugees licking their wounds while dark fog pooled around them. Many had sprawled upon the dead leaves underfoot, exhausted and weary after the invasion. There wasn’t a single sentinel among the lot. No one had actual authority or training. Fear and resignation hung over the clearing, impossible to dispel. Silane turned away from the sorry sight to her two friends, who at least looked like they hadn’t given up yet.

“Then, what can we do? Even if we’re useless out there, at least we’d be doing something.”

Demix released her, patting her on the shoulder. “Not to worry. We’ll think of another plan. Right, Elrach?”

Elrach looked shaken, but he nodded. “We will not let the invasion pass unanswered, but attacking tonight is pointless. Focus on developing strength. Weak as we are right now, we’re nothing but vermin to be crushed.”