They spent the early morning setting up a fire and cooking up some monster meat before heading toward the mountains.
The three of them walked in silence after that. Lucien's storm sense spread out over the wide expanse of the desert, but there were no nightmare creatures nearby. Well, apart from the deathless buried under the sand that is.
So, with nothing else left to do, Lucien returned to his previous routine. Practicing to mould lightning into a solid shape. Observing the Nameless Sun had given him some much needed insight into the process of materialization, and he wanted to put it to the test.
Lucien went with a more systemic approach this time. He inhaled deeply and unsheathed his sword. Tendrils of lightning lined the blade, snapping into place. Two lines went down the two edges of the blade. Then, two more went down from the tip to the crossguard, lining the fuller on either side. With the blade done, he moved to the crossguard. Lightning lined the edges of the metal, smoothly filling the constellation etched on it.
With that done, Lucien shifted his attention to the grip. Tendrils of lightning formed a tight blanket over the grip, tracing its shape. And finally, he traced the diamond shaped pommel. The lightning outlined the memory, as if someone had tried drawing the blade.
Taking a deep breath he dismissed the weapon. As the memory disappeared into white sparks, all that was left was the frame of lightning. Before it could crumble under its own weight, Lucien summoned another tendril of lightning, this one thicker than the rest. The lightning trailed from the bottom of the pommel to the tip of the blade, giving the blade a solid spine to fall back on.
Now was the hard part, to fill up the blade.
Holding the unstable blade, Lucien commanded the lightning to form a grid between the lines. Two parallel sets of electricity flowed from one edge of the blade to the other. At the same time, the same thing happened between the electricity lining the fullers. It followed to the crossguard, grip, and pommel. Giving the blade a proper hollow shape.
So far everything was stable.
And then he tried to fill up the hollow interior of the blade. Just as he commanded the lightning to move a part of the grid flickered and deviated. That brought forth a chain reaction. One single tendril of lightning was derailed from its path and every other tendril it touched, followed it. The blade crumbled under Lucien's gaze, and he could do nothing to stop it. His flaw claimed its price a moment later, draining a portion of his blood.
Lucien had really hoped that by giving it a solid inner frame, it would hold its own weight, Maybe he could try using a different method to make the 'walls'. The construct had only failed because the grid wasn't stable.
To do that he would have to learn how to make a sheet of lightning. And that was easier said than done. To begin with, lightning did not coexist together. Sure he could combine multiple bolts, but that would simply make a bigger bolt.
Lightning was not like metal, he could not just melt it into shape and let it solidify. But what if he could?
In fact, wasn't lightning awfully similar to a liquid? They both flowed from one point to another, and lightning could take the shape of a container like liquid.
So why couldn't it take the form of a metal sheet. Come to think of it, wasn't he already doing that every time he covered his weapons in it? Granted those were far cruder and far more volatile than what he was intending for here.
A river of sand flowed down his hand, taking the shape of a lone dagger. With a flick of his wrist, sand flowed up from the ground, coalescing in front of him even as he walked. Slowly, the mass of sand took the shape of a cube.
With his other hand he touched the sand construct and willed his storm essence out. Purple lightning flowed out of his fingers and onto the surface of sand. The lightning formed a layer over the cube, blanketing it entirely.
Removing his hand, Lucien willed the sand to flow out from the edges of the cube in the shape of a wall, separating the layer of lightning covering it. Now cut off from each other, the lightning took the shape of six sheets on the six sides of the cube.
Willing the lightning to take a more solid form, Lucien slowly reached out towards one of the sheets. His fingers grazed across the surface of the surprisingly solid apparition.
His skin grew pale as blood left his body six times, a price to pay for his new creation. Ignoring the sudden bout of weakness, Lucien gently picked up one of the sheets. It didn't crumble in his hands, and stayed solid even when he put some pressure on it.
Satisfied with his new creation, Lucien dismissed it and tried again. This time, instead of just raising the edges of the cube as walls, Lucien also collapsed one of its faces.
Instantly, one of the sheets began caving in. Even with Lucien pouring all of his effort into stopping it, all he managed to achieve was to delay the inevitable. The blood price was claimed nonetheless.
And so he tried again, this time it took longer for the sheet to collapse. That was progress. He tried once more.
This continued until late afternoon when the constant blood loss finally caught up to him. Stumbling in the sand, Lucien dismissed his last attempt at creating the sheets. That one had been the closest, he had almost managed to stabilize the sheet.
Sighing, he brought the soul sack up to his mouth and began drinking from the oceans worth of water stored in it.
"Is something wrong?" Nephis asked, glancing back at him.
Lucien shook his head, "No, I-"
He paused, narrowing his eyes towards something in the distance, "Some nightmare creatures just entered my range."
"Rank and class?" Nephis asked, summoning the Dream Blade and Nameless Sun.
"Fallen Demons," Lucien said as another dagger materialized in his hand, "There's three of them. I can manage two, you two keep the third one occupied."
Nephis nodded and raised her sword. Behind them Eurys pointed to himself.
"Me? Oh my, it seems you have overestimated me boy. I am but a mere skeleton, what hope do I have against fallen abominations?"
Nephis spared him a glance, "Stay out of the way then."
"Why of course."
Lucien shook his head and held up the two daggers. Inside a desert, they should be at their strongest.
In the distance, the three monsters climbed atop a sand dune and finally showed themselves.
"Them again?" Lucien breathed out as his gaze passed over the four armed monsters.
"That's good," Nephis said, "We know how to fight them."
"I guess?" Lucien shrugged, "I just prefer some variety. Keeps you on your toes."
Nephis paused, frowned, and glanced at him, "You're not entirely wrong."
The helmet of the stone armorsuits materialized on Lucien's head. "When am I ever?"
By then the draugr had began running up the hill of sand they were standing on. Within moments, they would have reached them.
If the sand under their feet hadn't exploded that is. Thrown back by the sudden explosion, the three draugr were left disoriented. That was the perfect moment to strike.
If you were a fool that is.
Normal conventions did not apply to fallen beings. They were beyond the realm of mortal combat.
By the time the three monsters recovered and returned to their feet, their opponents had already disappeared.
Confused, they looked around them, splitting to look for their prey. And that was their mistake.
A wall of white sand rose up between them, separating one of the draugr from its group. IT cried out in alarm and tried to claw at the wall, but before it could try, a ball of white flame suddenly collided with its back.
Behind it, Changing Star raised her blade to strike.
On the other side, the remaining two draugr took a smarter approach. Raising their rusted weapons, they stood with their backs to each other, ready to defend from every direction.
Every direction but one.
If they had hair, it would've stood up in warning. The sky flashed purple for a brief moment, and a bolt of lightning fell from the heavens, and struck the two monsters.
A man fell with the lightning, his arms a blur of movement. The twin blades of sand danced, carving deep gashes on the backs of the draugr. And then it was gone.
By the time they turned around to attack, Lucien was already gone.
On the other side of the wall, something exploded and a wave of heat passed over them.
Standing a few meters away from his opponents, Lucien grimaced at the sudden heat. But there was no time to worry about Nephis, she was alive and that was enough.
In front of him, the two draugr had finally found him. A strange noise came from their mouths, almost like a war cry, and they ran towards him, their weapons ready to mince him into pieces.
With another flick of his wrist, the sand rose up from under them and grabbed the first ones legs, making him stumble and fall. The second draugr lunged at Lucien instead, all four of its arms raised to strike him.
A wall of sand rose up between them, stopping the blades for just a second. And that was long enough for Lucien to move. As the draugr cut through the wall like a curtain, its blades met no flesh beyond it.
The blades harmlessly struck the ground, and dug into the sand, which parted to reveal a single vibrating crystal. It barely had the time to process that before the composite force of a hundred lightning bolts lit up the world.
[You have killed a Fallen Demon, Draugr General.]
[Your Spirit surges Brighter.]
'That's one down.' Lucien thought, turning towards the remaining monster. By then, it had freed itself from the sand.
The last draugr began slowly walking towards him, assessing his every move. The sand under its feet began festering, but it jumped away before it could grab him. It had learned from the errors of his companion, and it would not make the same mistakes.
Lucien narrowed his eyes and activated the enchantment again. It worked differently than his aspect ability. When he commanded the thunder and the winds, it was like commanding a part of himself.
But when he commanded the sand, it was like commanding someone else to do something for him. He could still sense it, like he did with his aspect, but it wasn't an extension of himself.
It was during that when he noticed something strange. Normally in a desert, there was sand everywhere, as such it was like a constant buzz to him, much like the scores of deathless buried under the sand.
Just like he could separate the corruption of the deathless underground and the corruption of the creatures above ground, he could also sense the sand inside the draugrs body. Specifically in its back, exactly where Lucien had struck it.
"Interesting," Lucien muttered, "I wonder if…"
With a flick of his wrist, he commanded the sand inside the draugr to move. For a moment nothing happened.
Then, the monster in front of him suddenly veered to the left, as if pulled by something. A look of surprise flashed across its face, if it could be called that, and it looked behind, but there was no one there.
A grin slowly cracked open on Lucien's face, "Very interesting."
Raising the two blades of Mictlan's Demise, Lucien dashed at the draugr, and at the same time, tugged it towards him.
In its disoriented state, it could do little against the attack, but it still tried to defend. The sand blade soared through the air, and struck one of its arms. Cutting into its profane flesh, the dagger severed one of its limbs.