The water of the river came down first, in sheeting, pattering rainfall - timed perfectly with the flare of red light and the unfurling
whump
of Chirp expanding their umbrella from their soulgem. A single confused catfish plopped onto the umbrella, skidding and falling to the ground. Chirp crooked the umbrella against their arms as they clapped as hard and as fast as they could while Ember drifted, gently down to the ground. June and Goat, who had been watching him from the awning of Goat's rather ramshackle house, nodded.
"Good enough," Goat said.
Ember wrung out his knuckles, which were cracked and bleeding. "Why is punching water so fucking hard?" He asked, wincing. "It felt like punching boulders. Water's all...you know..." He wriggled his arms in a vaguely waterish sort of way.
"Ever jumped into it from a great height?" June asked, flicking her tail once behind her.
"No," Ember said, making a face. "Who would jump into water on purpose?"
"Swimming," June said.
Ember cocked his head. "Never heard of it."
"We lived in the same village, Ember," June said. "I know for a fact that the other village boys
swam
."
"Not...ringing a bell, anywho!" Ember gestured back to the river. "I punched the river in half, si-" He stopped, his eyes widening. The river that ran through the city of Nex-Ho had, indeed, been punched in half...for a few seconds. But by now, the water was flowing sluggishly through the empty area that his blow had opened. The only thing that had changed was that the houses near the river were glittering with moisture and the detritus that had flowed through the brackish, heavily polluted waters was now draped from awnings and spread through the alleyways. "Aww man..." Ember scowled. "Is there, like, a trick to punching a river in half? Oh! Do I need to figure that out before you teach me any more martial arts, sifu?"
Goat sat down on a small stool by the front door. "Five..." he said.
"What?" Ember asked. "Oh! Is this a riddle?"
"Four," Goat said, pulling a pipe from his loincloth. Ember made a face as, without a single sign of disgust, Goat popped the tip of the pipe into his mouth. "Three." Flames bust from Goat's fingertip and he touched it to the pipe, then puffed on it once.
"One," he said.
"What happened to two!?" Ember exclaimed.
And then the city guards came charging out of the alleyways. They leaped across the river, they surged out past the rickety houses. They came holding spears and swords and trunchons, and were led by a four armed woman with a huge mane of red hair, encircling her head - which itself had a muzzle and cat ears, rather than the more normal shape of a human's face. Her armor was heavy, but she wore it without seeming to notice the weight as she thrust her upper right hand out, pointing at Ember. "You!" she bellowed. "Did you set off a
bomb
in the river?"
"No!" Ember exclaimed, holding up his hands. "I'm the Unconquered! I just punched it
really-
"
The lion maned, four armed catgirl snarled, her two lower hands punching together with a crunch of metal gauntlet on metal gauntlet. "He's a blasphemer as well! Men! Take him under irons - the Regency's laws are clear, blasphemer: Any claiming to be the Unconquered are to be put immediately to
death
!"
"What!?" Ember yelped. He looked to Goat - and saw his sifu was whispering to June.
"Now, we see what he's good for."
"You tricked me!" Ember whispered.
"I mostly tricked the
guards
, actually," Goat said, cheerfully, then blew a smoke ring out. The ring formed into a gong, and he flicked it with his finger - the loud
chime
filling the air timed at the same moment twelve guards charged Ember, all at the same time. They rushed forward with trunchons and yelled at the top of their lungs as they went. Ember had a scant few seconds to throw up his hands before the guards smashed home. Each of them was clad in armor that was several degrees less expansive (and expensive) than their leader. They had armor plating over their most important bits, not heavy armor over their whole bodies. Between the plating, they merely wore leather.
That didn't make them any less heavy.
They piled onto Ember and slammed him onto his back. The hard stone of the sidewalk bit into his bare back and Ember felt the breath of his lungs rush out of him. Men scrambled to grab at his wrists, while feet stepped onto his shins, his feet, mashing onto his fingers. A truncheon would, occasionally, slam into his side, his head, his arms. He felt something
crack
in his chest and tasted blood. More beatings came - but the men who were tackling him had actually started to get in one another's ways. It remained the most confusing, terrifying moment in Ember's life.
Thus far.
Then one of the truncheons smashed into his forehead and cracked the back of his head against the pavement. White flared before his eyes and he felt everything grow distant. Ringing. He could hear, very faintly, Chirp, shouting.
"Ember! Ember!"
Ember closed his eyes.
He gritted his teeth.
The men atop him had gotten themselves in some measure of order, so that three were kneeling onto both of his arms, and one of them had stopped whacking him with their club and was beginning to fumble around for a collar made of solid brass. It was studded with green gemstones, etched with small runes that he almost recognized. One of the guards shouted: "He's got a weird looking soulgem - not one I've ever seen before."
"I don't care if he's got an emerald in his forehead. Damp him!" The leader bellowed.
The man with the collar lifted it upwards, angling it down, and Ember saw they were going to smash it down over his soulgem. He strained, gritting his teeth, while the soldier stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, focusing more.
"I'm...not...a blasphemer!" Ember snarled, feeling blood slicking his teeth. "I am...
Unconquered!"
His arms flexed. Gold flared across his body.
And quite suddenly, he was standing. The world seemed to move in glacial slow motion - he could see the twelve men who had dogpiled him flipping through the air, their arms cartwheeling, their faces filled with shock. Their weapons tumbling. The collar that had been about to wrap around his head was in the air before him - and he snatched it. Time seemed to speed up again and the men collapsed to the ground with a clatter and clunk and a cry. Ember lifted the collar, then twisted it in half with a bellow - the brass shattering, the crystals cracking. He threw one chunk at a man who was drawing his sword. The impact drove the air out of the man and toppled him into the river.
"Kill it!" The lion maned woman shouted, pointing at him.
Men charged, with spears. Ember punched a spear in half - shattering the wood apart, then snatched the wooden shaft from the nerveless fingers of the stunned guardsman. Using the defanged spear as a broom, he swept four men into the river, letting go of the spear to free his hands as three more men, coming around from the flank, darted at him with swords. He twisted to his side, presenting a thin profile, and one blade whistled past his nose. Another came at his shoulder and he caught it by clapping his hands together, then twisted the blade in half. The man gaped at the broken sword and Ember kicked him hard enough to send him cartwheeling into three other guards, all four tumbling to the ground.
The remaining guards - all five of them - hung back, glancing at their leader.
Their leader rolled all four of her shoulders. And from the sideline, Chirp was doing a little dance, still twirling their umbrella. "Go Ember! Yeah!" They called out - and when Ember and the guard captain looked at them, they subsided. For a pale saris who was the aspect of a vampire bat, Chirp managed to turn nearly as red as their soulgem.
"Thanks Chirp!" Ember said, then thrust out his arm and gave Chirp the biggest, most emphatic thumbs up he could. Chirp blushed even more, then mutely stuck out their arm with a tiny thumbs up right back. Tentative. Like they didn't quite know if they were doing the gesture right.
"I am Guard Captain Varish, Foo Dog of Nex-Ho!" She growled. "I am the daughter of a god and have trained in Four Arms Combat Style - to the third level." She lifted up her arms, then stretched them out, before bringing them crashing together, knuckles to palms. Her upper arms remained locked so, while her lower drew a pair of wickedly long daggers, held in a reverse style. "You won't find me as easy to beat as my men."
"Then why didn't you fight me
first
?" Ember asked.
"Silence!" Varish bellowed.
Ember readied himself, breathing slowly in as he glared at Varish. Varish was drawing her own breath, her mane actually beginning to glow and crackle with a kind of white energy. Her daggers sparked and hissed, sending out sparks as she snarled, then growled, then roared, her mane turning white as a column of pure force exploded around her, cracking the ground and sending chips of pavement flying up into the air as she roared her defiance to the heavens, her blades having become much longer - the daggers wreathed in flaming heat, heat that stretched them out into full swords.
Ember gulped, then shifted his stance, glancing down at his feet.
He looked up.
And saw the right hook that came out of left field, catching Varish right in the jaw. The guard captain's bellow broke off as sharply as if she had been stabbed. She wobbled, slowly, her eyes going completely out of focus - one actually looking up and to the right while the other remained fixed on Ember. Then, slowly, she began to lean forward before gravity took hold and she crashed, face first, onto the ground.
Silence filled the air.
"Uh, sorry?" A husky, feminine voice replaced the silence. The tall, robed figure that had melted up, unnoticed, out of the shadows stepped forward to stand before the unconscious guard captain. "Just, uh, trying to help. Didn't mean to steal your thunder. Gods, you're not mad, right?" She reached up and tossed her hood back, revealing that they were...were...
Ember stood in perfect stillness as, once more, the world seemed to slow. He had felt something similar to this once before - seeing someone's face for the first time. And like with Chirp, it felt like a thundering punch to the breast: To see the pale blue face, the tiger stripes along her cheeks painted in a pale gray color. Her hair was white and tousled and jagged, framing her sharp, sharklike features now that her hood was down - but it didn't hide the fact that she had a large, sleek fin that emerged from the back of her head, adding to her aquatic aspect. Her forehead had a purple gemstone set on the brow, and her eyes were a warm purple hue.
