71: Beachside Battle

The two figures paused for a second. Together, they turned back and examined Celeste and Nyssa. A second later, the existence of the two girls seemed to register in their minds. The young woman, with hip-length gray hair and dark-colored eyes, nodded upward and struck a peace sign. “Fine enough. See you around.”

Before Nyssa and Celeste could ask anymore questions though, the woman pulled at the air, manifesting a thick strand of blue-energy in her hand. With each pull, more and more strands seem to goop up in her hands like a tangled web, its ends stretching out into the air before fading. Once she had drawn the strands tight in both her hands, she threw them to the sides before getting thrown forward. Her figure reappeared skating over the water as she pulled at the air to throw herself upward.

As she disappeared, the man who had crashed onto the beach with her gave Nyssa and Celeste a nod of his own. He rolled his shoulders and they let out a crack. “Name’s Kallix. Too busy to talk, but see you around.”

After his short greeting, his figure stretched before streaking back towards the lake’s center with a starry, golden river of light in his wake.

“What the...” Celeste trailed off. Fighting continued out in the lake’s center. Water shot in the air, and, to Nyssa and Celeste’s apprehension, chunks of massive monsters went flying too. The hunters they had seen on the beach seemed like flies going against a shadow-y elephant. They saw the hunters fly into the air, flailing and spinning like cartoon characters.

“Cerbos lake does not feel like a lake.” Nyssa commented, opening a bag of chips. She tossed a couple into her mouth and squinted a touch to get a better look at the hazy figure of the monster. “It feels more like an ocean, especially if it has things like... that living in it.”

“It really doesn’t,” Celeste reached over and grabbed a chip for herself. “Do you know how deep the lake goes? How does something that large fit in it? Especially since it’s, well... in terms of the lake, quite close to the edge?”

“I have no clue, I didn’t look it up,” Nyssa confessed, perking up and leaning a little in hopes of seeing just a little more detail. “Did you?”

“... No.” Celeste coughed.

“So we’re in the same position.”

“Yep.”

---

As the battle continued, the monster revealed itself from the fog. Covered in tentacles, the monster writhed under the light of the sun. Bulging eyeballs the size of cars darted around as the monstrous cephalopod did its best to escape. Each of its futile attempts only dragged it closer to death, massive tendrils of blue energy, golden strands of light, black-green vines, and more bound it as the hunters lugged it towards shore.

Nyssa, in a moment of boredom, reached out her hand. Her hand, for a second, morphed into a forest of barbed tentacles before shifting back into her hand. After repeating it a couple times, she tucked her hand back into her pocket and snuggled back up against Celeste. “I still got it.”

“Still... got it? Do you think you could transform into that big thing?” Celeste pat Nyssa on the head a couple times. “Also though, please warn me in the future if you’re going to do that... that gave me a bit of a shock.”

“O-Oh yeah, totally! Totally... sorry... My bad, I kind of forgot you were here...” Nyssa trailed off as Celeste laughed and continued patting her. “I don’t think I could transform into something quite that large, maybe if I really, really... really pushed myself. But it’s beyond my comfortable range by a fair margin. I could do something similar, just smaller though.”

“Could you talk to it then?” Celeste rested her chin on Nyssa’s shoulder. She stole the last few chips before Nyssa crumbs into her mouth. “Thoughts on these chips?”

“Good... I mean, we finished the entire bag after all, I didn’t expect that to happen,” Nyssa shrugged. “Though we were distracted and talking... so maybe it's not the most accurate representation.”

The monster though, by now, had neared shore. Dragged there against its will kicking and screaming, it sent tall waves of water—an entire deluge—towards the shore. The sounds of the monster thrashing and the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore halted Nyssa and Celeste’s conversation.

Their rock, to their pleasant surprise, braved the waves as the monster began getting dragged away to the other end of shore where other hunters had begun to congregate. Standing in anticipation for the upcoming fight, the hunters had formed pseudo-battalions while those with ranged capabilities began a preliminary bombardment. Streaks of light shot forward, taking out entire chunks of the monster as it began its death throes.

Unbothered by the entire ordeal after watching it go on for a couple minutes, Nyssa and Celeste turned back to their pile of snacks sitting in the bag. Enjoying each other’s warmth in silence, they turned on the rock to face the area of the lake now untouched by battle. Gentle waves rippled across the surface as the fog began to settle back in.

After a few minutes of having their ears filled with the sounds of battle, Celeste couldn’t help but sigh as she squeezed Nyssa in closer. “The atmosphere’s really bad here...”

“It really is...” Nyssa slumped to the side, using Celeste’s arm as a headrest. “I mean we shouldn’t say it because they’re keeping us safe and also doing their best... but kill it faster please.”

“I feel that. I’m sure they could do it with less sound maybe, though I understand how sound isn’t really on the priority list right now,” Celeste reached forward and poked their bag of snacks. “Shall we get back to our own little ratings?”

“I’d love to,” Nyssa rifled through the bag. She pulled out each option, one after another, presenting each to Celeste. “Your turn to choose, I don’t mind whatever, choose one that you’re looking forward to.”

“Well,” Celeste curled her fingers around the neck of a bottle. “I feel like we’ve been eating a lot, so how about some soda? I know you’re not much of a soda person though.”

“I’ll take a couple sips,” Nyssa wiggled her fingers in the air. After Celeste cracked the lid open with a hiss, she nabbed it out of her hands and took a few sips. “The flavor... isn’t what I expected. I’ll let you have the rest.”

Celeste, after taking a couple sips of her own, set it down with furrowed eyebrows. “That’s... certainly not what I was expecting. I’ll pass on it as well, we’ll let the... lake have it maybe. If we’re allowed to pour it into the lake.”

“I’m... not sure,” Nyssa shook her head before pausing and pointing to their right. A team of figures had begun walking over in the sand, hauling along chunks of the monster over their shoulder as cleanup continued in the distance. “Well, we could probably ask them.”