The world spun around him as he closed his eyes. A pained moan escaped his lips as pain jolted throughout his whole body. It took a few moments before he could move again, without feeling like his bones were being torn apart.
Footsteps sounded from his right, prompting him to open his eyes and turn his head.
The woman wearing robes and hiding her face with the hood of her cloak stumbled over the roots covering the ground, her focus solely on the monument. Her fingers were clenched around the dagger she stole from Captain Rianne.
The resonance she cast had incapacitated nearly everyone – both her allies and enemies. There was no one chasing her, no one to stop her from spilling her own blood on the white roots of the chalk coloured monument.
His heart sank. She had to be stopped. No matter the cost!
He pushed himself up, ignoring the pain that jolted through his body. Standing up, he stumbled towards her. Every step was a challenge on the uneven ground, but soon the world stopped spinning around him.
He rushed at her as fast as he could.
She stopped at the foot of the monument, ceremoniously raising the dagger above her chest. “Awaken!” She shouted.
Midhir leapt forward, tackling her moments before she could take her own life. They fell to the ground, rolling away from the monument.
“Let go of me!” She screamed as Midhir’s hands clenched around hers. They struggled for the dagger, each trying to snatch it away from the other.
Midhir only grunted in response to her. It took all his remaining strength to keep the dagger’s sharp end away from her. It was a lot more difficult than he expected. After all, she didn’t need to win, all she needed was to wound herself. And she was well aware of that.
She didn’t even bother trying to get a hold of the dagger as she moved forward, trying to press her own body against its sharp end.
Pulling against her iron-like grip, it took all of his strength to try and stop her. He tried to pull the dagger away, to point its sharp end elsewhere. Forcing it upwards, he lifted it above their heads, making it impossible for her to impale herself.
She grunted, then with a fiery look in her eyes, met his gaze. “You won’t stop us!” She hissed, letting go of the dagger.
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Her sudden release caught him off guard. He stumbled back, tripping over the roots as he tried to recover his balance yet failed. As he fell, she rushed towards him, hands outstretched to snatch away the dagger from his loosened grip.
As if she had a sudden change of mind, her hands moved towards his throat, clenching around it. “Unworthy!” she screamed.
Changing his grip on the dagger’s hilt, he turned it around and smashed the side of her head with its pommel as hard as he could, sending her rolling to the side. Gasping for air, he scrambled to get up. He saw her rush at him with the corner of his eye, then something hit him in the back of the head.
He stumbled forward, then fell on his hands and knees. The world spun around him as he noticed someone trying to pry his fingers away from the hilt of the dagger. Something kicked his side, knocking him down. “Unworthy!” The woman’s shouting voice echoed in his ears.
Worthy.
A memory surfaced.
No, now wasn’t the time. He reached for the dagger with his other hand as the world once again stopped spinning and his vision returned.
His hand caught the dagger just as the woman pried his other hand off of it. “You’re unworthy! Let go!” she shouted almost hysterically. “I am worthy! My blood will feed him, and my soul will lead him to the waking world!”
With every word she shouted, she punched his arm to try and force him to let go of the dagger. “I am worthy! Me!”
He could feel his hand begin to go numb. He couldn’t collect his thoughts anymore, the back of his head was hurting too much. His whole head felt like his skull was about to burst. He had probably hit his head when she sent him and everyone else with that first resonance she cast.
His movements had started to become sluggish, and he could feel his grip on the dagger weaken. He couldn’t keep this up for much longer.
As she continued punching his arm, he felt his grip begin to slip.
His heart sank as she snatched the dagger away, raising it as high as she could.
She was going to thrust it into her chest.
If she was worthy, he couldn’t let her blood fall. She wouldn’t dare risk wounding him though – it would destroy their plan, perhaps decades of preparation would be ruined. She simply wouldn’t risk it.
He reached for her hands, to try and stop her. Sunlight shone on them, dispersing the shadows under her hood, revealing her face, and her closed eyes.
The dagger dug into his palm, piercing the flesh, and coming out on the other side.
Searing pain blinded him as he heard a scream in agony. “No!” She screamed, doing the one thing he hoped she wouldn’t do.
She pulled the dagger out.
Bright red blood gushed out of the wound before he could press his palm against his chest to try and stem the flow. He watched in horror as the stone-roots beneath him were dyed in red. Pain struck his left eye as he stumbled backwards, falling onto the ground.
The woman dropped the dagger, falling onto her knees. “No…” her voice was but a whisper, filled with desperation.
It was so cold. He pressed his palm against his chest while also covering the back of his wounded hand with his left palm. His vision began to fade as he noticed how crimson everything had become. Despite his best efforts to stay conscious, something dragged his consciousness away.