Light It Up || Arena Day 1 || Task OS
There didn't have a whole lot of bats in Seven, but every now and again some could be spotted hanging from the rafters in the paper mills. That said, bats had never really interested Rowan, she rarely ever saw any anyway. Now as a swarm of bats suddenly swooped down upon them- apparently they didn’t like that she had taken a branch from their nesting tree- she was regretting not taking more of an interest in them.
“Let’s go, let’s GO!” Rowan shouted, stumbling to her feet, her axe held tightly in her right hand and her dagger and branch in her left. Beside her Gvenna was already up, and moving two small knives in her hands.
They didn’t make it far before the bats over came them, though, and the feeling of their sharp claws cutting into the exposed skin of Rowan’s face and neck and by the sounds of it, Gvenna was under siege as well. Skidding to a stop, she know that there was no way that they could outrun them all so she tries another response.
Raising her axe, she began swinging it wildly, but for every bat she send crashing to the ground with the blade of her axe, two more appeared. She could just make out Gvenna a few feet ahead, and it seemed that the din Rowan was causing pulled the bats away from her, giving her a chance to recover.
In the back of her mind, Rowan worried that Gvenna was just going to bolt, but with wings flapping and claws scratching, she shouldn’t spend any more time worrying. The leather jacket at least protected her from most of the onslaught and, despite how endless the swarm seemed, she was making at least some progress.
As Gvenna took down the last bat that still attacked her, she looked up to see Rowan completely surrounded. Knowing that her knives weren’t going to help much, she glanced around, looking for some other sort of weapon she could possibly use to help when suddenly it dawned on her.
Swinging the bag off her back as she ran to the edge of the forest, she cut down a thin but leafy looking branch as fast as she could. Her heart pounded as she finally pulled it down, half afraid another swarm would attack. Realizing that just one branch wouldn’t be enough, she got to work cutting down another.
Rowan’s arms were getting tired as she took down bat after bat. Their claws cut into her, tangling in her hair and ripping at her jacket. She couldn’t see Gvenna and felt her heart sink. Had she left her? The attack didn’t seem like it would ever end, and she was on her last legs when she saw the flash of red through the wall of wings and heard the girl yell to her.
Gvenna hadn’t, in fact abandoned her. The sound of her voice, the promise of her message, gave her a second burst of energy and she began swinging her axe once more. Hold on. She could do that. She just needed to go a bit longer. She could do that.
After what seemed like an eternity to Rowan, she felt, rather than saw the bats fly away. Gvenna, with her handful of branches ran up, swinging widely and knocking what was left of the swarm away. Panting heavily, Rowan stood in time to see the last of the bats start to come back around for a second assault.
This time they were both prepared, though, and it took them little time to work out a system. Gvenna would scatter the swarm and Rowan would follow up by hacking down whichever bats were closest.
With a final swing and hack combo, the last bat was dispatched and Gvenna dropped the branches in her hands, panting heavily. Though a little worse for wear, she felt okay. She was bleeding a bit from a deep scratch across her cheek and her jacket was a bit torn up.
Rowan, on the other hand, looked liked she had just been through a hurricane, which she had been, in a way. She had several open, bleeding scratches and her clothes were ripped all the way through in some areas. Still, she was up and standing, so at least she seemed relatively okay for the time being.
“I don’t think we should hang around here. They might want to regroup and go for a second attack.” Rowan said, picking up the branch that had caused the whole thing before sliding the dagger back in her boot and shouldering her axe.
Gvenna nodded in agreement, but the blood still seeping from her ally’s wounds were a bit worrying to her. “Are you, I have a first aid kit and your’e bleeding. We should stop a moment and get cleaned up.”
Rowan shook her head, “We should save them for something more serious than a few scratches. Lets just get moving, for now.”