Valery walks to the next building with a torch in hand where her dynamite is placed. Once stopped at the door frame, her eyes widen at the stone cube covering her access.
"Damn you mage!" Valery's eyes narrow to Lyrian from afar. Outside in the open, Lyrian launches a stone fist. A green cloud over floating rolling rocks in the shape of his own fist hurl into Valery's crossed blades. She pulls them to her side, then rushes.
A burst of foggy energy, he reaches for the sky. Up goes the earthen spikes from the dirt, following Valery. Swiftly, Valery rides them, hoping off each one and getting close for one final jump.
She lands for a slice along Lyrian's clawed gauntlets across his forearm. Valery's dual daggers twirl. Her body spins. Lyrian shoves each hit along his metal gloves. He traps a blow with a grab of the blade. He pulls her in for a silver fist to the face and she stumbles back, rubbing her nose. "So you do know how to fight."
"Not as much as Faylin, but I can hold my own," he replies.
"Of course, you have to protect that pathetic excuse of an elf." Valery hisses.
Lyrian blocks and shoves her blows aside. Valery keeps her blades at an advantaged offense. He steps in and swings a claw, at an opening, scratching her face. A punch to the gut and Lyrian kicks her to the ground. Valery rolls to save her stagger, but Lyrian counters with a pound beneath him. A wave of rock projects, brushing dust to her boots to find a face full of dirt, knocking her over.
The assassin looks through her red hair a mess on the floor, gritting her teeth.
Lyrian turns and sees Aleena still struggling against the warrior and the archer, the last of Valery's gang.
An axe drops again and Aleena is still fighting mainly lying on the ground. The axe clashes with her bladed bow and her arms shake with all the might she has. The warrior lifts, holding the axe tight in his hands.
The archer gang member is in quite a distance. She pulls her arrow back and shoots, the arrow whizzing past Aleena's head as she is still lying on the ground, barely surviving.
The axe drops as Aleena draws another arrow and she turns over to her back to let the axe dig the ground. The axe man tugs, a slow warrior working to get the axe out the ground.
At an upside-down view, an awkward angle, she focuses at a weak point in the warrior's leg armor and pulls further on the string. With a piercing eye, the arrow traverses in a line through the warriors shin and hits the archer in the chest. She gets to her knees and fires two more. One stick in the gut and another in the throat. The archer falls and chokes.
Hearing the cries of the warrior holding his foot in agony, she kicks at his wound but the warrior catches his fall, grabbing Aleena's tight armor. He wrestles her to the ground but is met with a sudden stone spike impaling him from the ground.
Aleena looks up to see Lyrian standing over her. Finally a rest, even though it is small, she yields with a sigh, weak and nauseous.
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Faylin runs out of the building and trips over a wooden bucket with saliva across her face. The sinornithosaurs kicks the dirt behind them, faster than Faylin could ever run. It overwhelms her with a sickle claw on her waist and digs in her back with painful nibbles of teeth along her back. She screams in pain, undergoing her tearing flesh as it pulls, "someone! I can't see!" She screams again.
Aleena tosses a small salve to Lyrian, "Merrik's healing balm. Save Faylin."
"What about you?" Lyrian worries.
She pants and signals with her hand to stop, "don't, Faylin needs it more, trust me. Trust nature."
Lyrian stares at the balm but takes it. Even though he is more connected to earth, he grips the salve and knows what Aleena means.
Lyrian's runs toward Faylin being eaten by the pack of small birds. A stone launches out of the ground like an artillery. He smash one of the beast's head. It rapidly gains all attention to Lyrian standing abroad.
They are screeching and charging after him. He readies his iron fists for battle.
Lyrian moves, punching at a lunge. One of them bites and another tugs at his robes. A sinornithosaur snaps its jaw at his arms. Lyrian holds its mouth open, his gauntlets protecting him from the teeth. He pushes it's mouth open and snaps a jaw bone, and the one lays limp on the dirt.
Creatures leap, chirping, and one beak grabs a hold of a gauntlet, and chews. Gnawing of metal, his glove spills venom. With his other arm, he digs his own durable claws into the beasts long neck and slams it in the stone floor.
The last beast is chirping but backs away slowly. It makes the sounds of an innocent cry, holding it's head down then finally turns away.
Lyrian notices the surrender and runs to Faylin, "are you okay?"
Faylin groans, "yeah, I'm fine. It didn't break any bone, I just can't see." Slime is still sticky on her face. She pants, and grunts, "this slime stings." Faylin tries to stand up but Lyrian sits her down.
He grabs his water jug, "hold your breath." Water pours down on her face, focusing on her eyes. Lyrian grabs part of his robe starts wiping Faylin.
She's able to open her eyes still feeling the tension, "ow, it still hurts." She takes the robe and wipes more, "okay, okay, thank you. Let's kill this thing." Faylin stands up but falls once more, dizzy and sick to her stomach. Her sight blurs at the straining sickness. Feeling is numb to her and legs tingle like noodles.
She falls flat on her side, almost in faint. Drowsiness and fatigue is overwhelming.
Lyrian helps her sit up, "Faylin, you're poisoned."
"I can't do this, it caught me off guard..." Tears streak down her face as she finally gives in. The guilt of not knowing what opponent was in the cage before is hurting her inside. All the sweat and paleness of her face, she cries.
"Faylin, stop being strong for just a minute. Let me take care of you, you need it," he gazes to her eyes with worry. Her pale face scares him even more looking at the mess she is.
Faylin lifts her head, barely able to stay awake, "Lyrian..." Then her head drops even more, closing her eyes.
Lyrian quickly reaches for the balm and pops the cap with a twist. A twig is grabbed nearby, and it scoops up the white fluffy material in the salve. He holds her mouth open and feeds all he can get into her.
Faylin scrunches her face in disgust and coughs, "gods it tastes like a leaf came out of a cow's arse."
"I know, but the poisons are inside you, so I need you to swallow some," he explains, trying to feed her another.
Faylin gulps another, then coughs. He then scoops some with two fingers and applies some to her cheeks and eyes. "It's Merrik's salve. It'll heal the poisons."
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Hands rub her cheeks more slowly and move down to her neck as she feels the oily sensation. Skin color turns back to normal and cools the sweat away. She opens her eyes in shock to see meet Lyrian's, though she doesn't reject.
Lyrian blushes a bit of red, knowing what he is doing, "a-are you feeling better?"
"Yeah," Faylin says quietly, "why are you blushing?"
He closes his eyes in embarrassment, "I'm just glad you're not dying."
Faylin stands with him and pulls him in for a hug, leaving him shocked. She is thankful for his care with a widened smile. The only thing she has close to home.
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Valery casually plods her way towards Aleena. Her fists are tight on her dagger with red rage. Aleena is on the ground trying to gain strength back with one knee down. Red armor clanks together, more and more loudly, "that gold is now mine elf."
"Greed. It's a sin and the very downfall of your kind," Aleena replies.
"Your time is over elf, you and that damn mage will pay. And that blacksmith, and that old wizard. I'll have all of your heads on a pike." Valery is pulling her other dagger from her waist and raises it for a backhand jab.
Aleena dashes at Valery's direction and slices with her bow, twirling like a double bladed sword. Metal clashes and sparks on each parry. Jagged blades on a bow swipes at the red daggers in a barrage of attacks. Aleena's speed is fast, and the ends of her bow shine a green line in the air.
Valery leaps back, swerving and sidestepping. She smiles by playing along. The bow blades hit her daggers, crossed, and from side to side. Aleena has thrown all her rage in one go, breathing heavy and trips over with a burning gash to her side.
Valery smiles, "nice trick, but you're still weak, elf." She slashes at Aleena's chest and cuts her again. Blood drips, and Valery licks her lips.
Aleena pants, holding her infected blood, "I will not be killed by a human." Crouching down, her nausea gets worse. "Oh gods," she closes her eyes to try to control her spinning head.
"You're already dead, Aleena." Valery laughs and kicks her in the chest, knocking her to the ground. Cold metal and dirt of her foot smashes Aleena's back, as Valery holds her with an armored boot. She has a pointing dagger to her head.
Aleena intertwines her fingers for a quick prayer.
Valery smirks, "that's right, say your prayers to your fake gods elf."
Her hands glow a dark green. She mutters to herself a prayer so quiet, Valery lifts a brow in confusion. Aleena's hands go to her stomach. A bright light shines along her wounds. Trust is building inside her and small patches of grass sprout beside her.
Her satchel unzips with gentle fingers, with the small orange dart frog poking out. It crawls along her forearm to bring the little critter to her face.
Aleena gives it a small kiss, gently along it's cold back. That seaweed taste of murky waters, and natural sour neurotoxin bringing joy to her. "You're free bubbles. Do your part for nature's plan. I trust you."
"What are you talking about? Bubbles, come here!" Valery snaps with small pupils. Crazy eyes identify her rage and she snags at the frog.
The small creature leaps over Valery's hand, free in the air. Valery tries with the other hand but trips over a solid patch of grass. Her hand covered in thorns as another small patch of shrubbery grows over.
And the frog plops to a nearby pond in the water, not to be seen again, and becoming one with it's environment.
Valery yells in agony but pulls the thorny plant from its roots, breaking wrapped pieces off her bleeding hand.
Aleena rolls to her feet and pulls her to the ground.
"Ugh," Valery groans but quickly gets up to parry Aleena's blade, which also clashes with her armor.
Aleena kicks her straight in the chest as the assassin cruises with balance. She fires an arrow. Valery soars a few steps but pinned with an arrow paining her thigh.
Aleena knees her, hunched over in the face. The double blade clings with her daggers, pushing for a slicing stagger. Rage gets more heated in Aleena's shrinking pupils. She goes for another arrow that pierces through her breastplate.
Valery steps back, and swings her daggers. Metal flickers amongst each other, bouncing upon each hit. Quick jabs head for Aleena but propelled to the side. She slices Aleena's chest at an opening and her leather is torn.
Valery kicks her away and pulls the arrow off her, tossing them to the ground with frustration. Her hair a mess over her eyes, skin bruised black and cut.
Daggers twirl around the bladed bow. They circle each other. Blood and sweat is dripping off their faces, and the smoke from the burning building makes it hard to breath. Aleena goes for another strike, and Valery counters with her own.
Valery gains the upper hand. Aleena has fallen and pinned on the ground. She holds Valery's wrist with the blade inches from her face. Valery grits her teeth with frustration, "why is my poison not effecting you?"
"You cannot use natural poison against nature itself," she says.
Aleena pushes the dagger to the side and attacks.
Aleena is on top of her focus and punches her. Valery stumbles up with a bloody face but Aleena kicks her down to her knees.
Valery coughs, and looks up at Aleena, "do you know why they want you dead, Aleena? Do you really know why you were targeted?" She chuckles, spitting out a bloody tooth.
"You humans just want all us wood elfs in slavery or killed," Aleena says.
"It's more than just that," Valery explains. Aleena jabs at her face and spins her body to slice with her jagged bow. Valery shields with crossed daggers, and snatches her wrist.
Aleena pulls with a hasty rate, not giving her time to use her own strength. Her fist thrashes in Valery's face to stagger. She draws three arrows and sprays them at Valery with two piercing through.
"I don't understand why your kind would risk the dangers of these dinosaurs," Aleena pants. Valery is still fighting back with her daggers, slashing at Aleena. Aleena swerves using momentum to swing, and her rage increases. "You're hurting our environment, you're killing my forest!" she yells.
Aleena is finished with Valery, kicking, punching, and swinging. She has her collar gripped, and socks with fist so hard to feel the crack Valery's cheekbone. She goes for another manifold of hustling pummels along her stomach, boxing her into a beating. The last thrusts hits her ribs and face.
Valery is outmatched by the enraged elf and crouches with no energy.
Aleena walks toward the burning inn and looks up to see a wooden sign of the tavern, a red dragon in flight with the words in common "Dragon Slayer". She tears it off the nails.
Walking to the weakened Valery on the charred dirt, Aleena's anger rises and tears are flowing down her greasy cheeks. She smashes the plank across her back and grabs her collar to drag her. "You're a monster! You humans ruined my life! You're human scum!" she yells with a distorted tone.
Valery is being dragged along the dirt. Her face a broken clutter and shambles. Her hair stringy and strands sticking out. Cuts and bruises all around. A swaying head makes her dizzy and barely conscious.
Ashes ascend behind the red assassin. She is thrown and falling into a hot pile of charred scrap from the inn, inches away from the fire. Aleena shoves her foot to Valery's chest and pushes her down, further near a patch of small flames. Valery cries and holds onto Aleena's sandal as she notices her hair catching ablaze.
Aleena grabs her collar once again away from the fire, landing a tough fist to her cheek, "who sent you?"
A tick of a second, Valery is bruised with another face jab. "Who, sent you human!" Aleena's voice gets louder with gritting teeth.
Lyrian and Faylin watch in horror at Aleena's anger and torture.
"Aleena," Faylin calls to her, but Aleena ignores.
Lyrian and Faylin look to each other and they run over, trying to stop her.
Aleena grips her singed hair, pulling her up, "answer me or I will burn you alive like the witch you are!"
Valery spits a bloody laugh. "Kill me then. Kill me like the pathetic human hating elf that you are."
Aleena lands multiple jabs across her face, "tell, me!" Her anger is overwhelming and Lyrian grabs her wrist.
"Aleena! Stop! She isn't worth that!" Lyrian yells to her, holding her fist. Aleena turns to glare at Lyrian. He is taken back by her rage and the two lock eyes.
"This is not you," Lyrian's voice wavers. "Nature didn't heal you for revenge."
Aleena's face softens up and her tears become more prominent.
"It healed the beastmaster for her revenge," Valery smirks.
Aleena's anger blooms once again and she punches her. Lyrian and Faylin stops her by pulling her away. Valery coughs and looks to the group, "your little elf friend was the only one who survived. I hope you heard. The packs of Mapus? They took your beloved elder. Your whole clan is gone. I told you in the beginning, elves have nothing."
Lyrian and Faylin's eyes widen, looking back at Aleena, who is in tears.
Aleena lands a fist on her once again, "what have you done!?"
Valery chuckles with a smirk, "don't worry elf. Your elven flesh and elder has returned back to nature." Her voice slows and suaves, "right inside the belly of a Mapu."
Lyrian's eyes widen. Aleen falls to her knees. Breaking down in front of her friends, her sobs are loud with mixed scream, "ahhhhh!"
"Who's the beastmaster?" Faylin asks trying to pry more information.
Valery shrugs and still smiles, "An elf? I don't get paid to ask questions. All I know is the beastmaster took your beloved clan."
Aleena grips her bladed bow and digs into Valery's throat, twisting to suck the life out of her in rage and sorrow. Valery goes limp. Flames spread near her dead corpse along the wooden planks scattered across. Fire from the inn takes her to the air in ashes.
Valery's soul no longer present and lifeless. Greed and ferocious laughter now silent and lay barren. Her body chars under the fire to be cremated into forgotten ash.
They sweat from the straining battle of flames and humidity of the swamp. And they leave the battleground with Aleena limping over Lyrian.
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Aleena and Valery
image [https://i.imgur.com/oFoWQ7a.png]
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Valery's End
image [https://i.imgur.com/ELQyVZE.png]