Darkness filled the room. The sounds of fighting stopped as everyone paused, before Ulman muttered an incantation as 5 bright orbs left his hand, and hovered in the air. The orbs illuminated the room, casting long shadows as they floated in the air. With a twitch of his fingers, he directed the orbs to different points in the room. They gave visibility but cast long deep shadows from the pillars.
The scene was almost how they left it, with Patrick behind one pillar, Svenja and Ulman near the door, with Grunt and Marius further up in the room. The undead figure was gone, nowhere to be seen. Grunt had a confused look on his face as he stared at his empty hands, perplexed at how the figure at gotten away. Marius’ head was on swivel as he scanned the room.
Silence followed for another second, as everyone got their bearings. It was too silent compared to the noise that had filled the room just a moment ago. The only sound was heavy ragged breathing from Grunt, from the exertion of having held back the figure. Patrick really wanted to speak, to break the overwhelming silence. Had they won? Was it over?
As if his thoughts themselves jinxed the situation, the figure emerged from a shadow of a pillar, seemingly coalescing out of thin air. It moved quickly, darting forward and slashing the back of Grunts legs in a manner similar to what Marius had done to it. Grunt spun with a roar, and tried to grab the figure, but it seemed to fade into nothing as it entered Grunts shadow.
“Shadow-walking.” Barked Marius. “Light up the room. Limit where it can go.”
Svenja took out more arrows, and began firing them into pillars around the room. Without even needing to communicate, Ulman fired small bolts of fire at each arrow creating makeshift torches. They burned on the wall, eating further into the shadows that covered the room. Patrick noticed that each arrow was deliberately placed creating a circle around the party, creating a boundary of light preventing the figure from being able to appear close.
The figure appeared in the distance, just beyond the boundary of light. It stopped, as if inspecting the party. It moved behind a pillar, to just appear on the other side of the room as it began to circle the party. It moved differently now, before it moved like it was heavy. Fast, but heavy. Now it moved like a predator, agile and quick. It was moving from shadow to shadow seemingly teleporting from one area to another. Stopping, eyeing the makeshift torches in a manner that reminded Patrick of a cat calculating the distance to jump.
“Clever” the figure purred. It’s voice seemingly echoing from all directions as it disappeared again.
“All torches burn out eventually” came a whisper from one side of the room.
“Everyone dies at some point” it continued from another.
Each statement was swiftly followed by an arrow from Svenja towards the voice, only to hear each arrow clang and skitter along the ground having missed it’s mark.
The countdown in Patrick’s vision continued to tick.. dropping just below 5 minutes. A sense of dread filled him. What happened when it hit zero? Would there be some sort of wipe mechanic?
The party seemed less concerned, taking stock of the situation. Marius kept his head cocked, with an arm on Grunt’s forearm as if to deter him from running into the shadows chasing the voice.
“Are you just going to skirt around in the shadows? I didn’t take Deathknights to be cowards” he called out mockingly
“I am no Deathknight” responded the voice with a raspy chuckle.
“I am the Lord of Rot and Decay. I have seen the end, and it is I. Death will be my Domain and all shall relish in its embrace”
The self proclaimed Lord of Rot and Decay blurred from the shadows, but not towards anyone in the party. It swept towards one of the pillars with its sword raised and sliced through it cleanly. It faded once again into shadow as an arrow from Svenja narrowly flew by it’s head.
A second of pause, before the sliced pillar began to slide, and fall towards Grunt and Marius. Patrick could see the thought flash across Grunt’s eyes. He wanted to try catch the pillar before Marius pulled him back as the pillar slammed into the ground. The whole room reverberated with the crash, throwing a huge plume of dust up into the air.
The Lord of Rot and Decay took it’s opportunity, blurring out again from a shadow behind Svenja swinging it’s sword at her neck. She instinctually pulled her head back with the blade narrowly missing, but was off balance as it was followed up by a kick that threw her back 10 feet slamming her into a pillar.
It blurred again, this time coming out of a pillar behind Ulman, and with another slash, the pillar toppled towards Ulman. Ulman popped out of existence, to just reappear beside Svenja to help her to her feet, calling one of the floating orbs of light to hover above them granting them some extra space. The cost of moving the orb shifted the shadows, allowing the Lord of Rot and Decay to appear close to Marius with another swing that Marius parried with a flash of sparks, before once again it was gone.
The Lord of Rot and Decay was on the offensive now. It began to flash in and out of the shadows seemingly pressuring the whole party at once. Patrick couldn’t keep track, and was convinced there was multiple of them. It would harry Grunt and Marius, only to disappear and interrupt Svenja and Ulman whenever they tried to relieve the pressure by either taking swipes at them, or dropping another pillar and forcing them to move. For the moment, it hadn’t even paid any attention to Patrick as if it wasn’t even deeming him a threat.
Another pillar dropped, this one interrupting Grunt and Marius, and preventing them from being able to fall back and regroup with the others. The shadows lengthened, as the make-shift torches on the pillars dwindled in numbers as they fell and were extinguished. A laugh came from the growing darkness, the Lord of Rot and Decay growing comfortable with the upper hand it had.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Patrick came to the realisation that the dust that was filling the air from fallen pillars was also dimming the light from the Orbs, and once the pillars containing the torches were gone, the dust would probably be too thick for the Orbs to be useful.
The timer ticked below 4 minutes.
Marius realising this too called out.
“Ulman, overcharge the orbs. It’s now or never.”
“Marius, once they burn out I won’t be able to cast it again and we’ll be in darkness!” Ulman replied with a note of panic in his voice.
“Now or never. Trust me!”
With what sounded like a curse, Ulman clenched his fist as if crushing something, and the Orbs flared blinding Patrick.
The room was bathed in light, pushing back shadows to the far side of pillars.
The light caught the Lord of Rot and Decay mid-way across the room, and it screeched as if in pain of being caught mid teleport.
Grunt and Marius moved quickly, vaulting over a fallen pillar to engage the off guard Lord. A swing of Grunts axe was deflected by the Great sword, which was followed up by a piercing thrust from Marius that struck true. The Lord screeched, back peddling still trying to recover from the sudden burst of light. Grunt and Marius didn’t give it a moment to recover, pushing in sync as Grunt’s axe would force a deflection or a dodge from the Lord, for Marius to take opportune attacks to score a hit.
Svenja still swaying from having been thrown into the pillar was trying to gather her wits and get her aim back, but was conscious of releasing a stray shot and hitting a member of her party. Ulman stood focused, hand still clenched as if trying to urge the Orbs to burn brighter and longer. Sweat beaded his brow as the first of the Orbs began to flicker.
The Lord of Rot and Decay began angling backwards aiming for the shadows of one of the pillars, fending off the great cleaves from Grunt. It seemed to finally be showing signs of battle, with the armour dented and pierced in a number of areas, and leaving a black ichor trailing on the ground behind it. The battle awareness of Grunt and Marius showed, as they began trying to force it away from the pillar back towards the centres of the pool of light.
The timer ticked below 3 minutes.
Clang. Snick. Clang. Snick.
The sounds became rhythmic as Grunt and Marius found their pattern. It was like they moved as one. Patrick felt a thought trying to form in his head. An understanding that simply wasn’t coming to fruition. It was like when something is on the tip of your tongue, and you just can’t get it out. It felt like a dam ready to burst, but he wasn’t sure what he needed to know.
Then a mistake was made. As Grunt and Marius’ attack seemed to reach a crescendo, Marius slipped. A stray piece of gravel on the ground caused his foot to slip resulting in a slight stumble, with his swing glancing off the pauldron of the Lord instead of taking him in the shoulder. The moment was all the Lord needed as it responded with a vicious elbow to Marius’ temple as he was off balance, and throwing him to the floor. The Lord then deflected another cleave from Grunt, to dash over to the shadow of a pillar and disappear again.
It reappeared behind Svenja, kicking her again into a pillar where she slumped motionless.
It reappeared behind Grunt slashing at his lower back and forcing him down to a knee with a bellow.
It was beside Marius, with a lazy swipe across the chest that caused Marius to scream out as he collapsed.
Patrick’s breath was caught in his chest. They were losing. He hands gripped the stone pillar. There was nothing he could do.
Nobody was moving. Marius and Svenja were still. Grunt was on his hands and knees trying to get back up but his legs wouldn’t support his weight. Ulman remained stationary, hands still clenched as another Orb flickered and went out.
The Lord of Rot and Decay appeared in front of Ulman.
“Little Magus, it is over. Extinguish the Orbs and Rise to serve me alongside your compatriots” it whispered as it moved closer.
Another Orb flickered, down to only two Orbs that struggled to light the room.
“Feel how weak you are. Serve me willingly and you can keep a level of sentience. I have no qualms turning you into a thrall.”
Seeing no response, the Lord sighed, and lifted his sword.
Patrick couldn’t breathe. He saw Svenja begin to stir but there wasn’t time. He looked around and saw Grunt staring intently at him. Grunt held his gaze, and gave the slightest nod of his head, lifting his hand showing Patrick the bracelet.
Patrick ran.
Not away, but straight towards the Lord. Patrick saw the sword fall, and felt it collide with him and trying to cut him in two.
[Charge of Life Sap Bracelet used. 3/10 charges remaining]
Patrick flew through the air as he heard Grunt scream.
Patrick collided with the pillar, knocking the breath out of his lungs.
[Charge of Life Sap Bracelet used. 2/10 charges remaining]
User of Life Sap Bracelet (Primary) is down. No further strikes will be transferred.
The pop up appeared, and faded.
Patrick struggled to rise to his feet, some of the remainder of the blow obviously hadn’t been transferred to Grunt. He just about pushed himself back up to his feet when he felt a hand close around his neck and lifted him off the ground. He looked up, to find himself face to face with the Lord of Rot and Decay. All the features now clearly visible, as well as the smell. It definitely smelled like Rot and Decay with a sickly sweet smell filling Patricks nose almost causing him to gag.
The timer ticked below 2 minutes.
“Brave but foolish for someone as weak as you are. Why do the weak so desperately cling to life” pondered the Lord inches away from Patricks face. Its bony hands turned Patrick’s head as if examining him.
“No strength in you, some intelligence perhaps but ultimately worthless. At least your bones will serve me” it continued as it’s grip tightened around his neck.
Patrick struggled, punching where he could, clawing at the face, frantically trying to loosen the grip around his neck to no avail.
He could see Ulman looking at him, resigned, looking paler than usual knowing that as soon as the Orbs went out it was over.
Svenja was dazed, grasping around looking for her bow on the ground.
Grunt wasn’t moving, and Marius had only just begun to stir despite the pool of blood around him.
Patricks hand was grasping for anything, until he remembered the whistle around his neck. Maybe it was because he was becoming oxygen deprived, but he almost laughed at the idea. They told him to blow it if he was in danger. His vision began to tighten as the hand squeezed further. His hand flailed trying to grab the whistle and bring it to his lips.
Svenja managed to grab her bow and release an arrow, her aim slightly off but it lodged itself in the ribs of the Lord with a dull thud, distracting it slightly as it glanced dismissively at Svenja.
Patrick brought the whistle to his lips and blew with the last of the air in his lungs.
[Single Use Item: Whistle of Danger (Prototype). Epic. No Aspects. Unascended]
When in danger, become the Danger! Menizo’s Emporium© offer a wonderful prototype for when all hope is lost. A single use item that boosts your stats to give you one last fighting chance, and rally support around you. However be warned, this is a prototype item and prone to side effects and consequences. Menizo is not responsible for any harm, side effects, permanent damage, or loss of hair and body parts from use of this item. That’s a Menizo Guarantee!
Pop ups appeared rapidly in his sight, as the Lord of Rot and Decay flinched from the unexpected sound and began turning back to
[Temporary Level Up Assigned: Level 30]
[Class Boost: Unassigned]
[Error. Reprocessing]
[Class Boost: Unassigned]
[Error. Reprocessing]
[Temporary Class Assigned: Brawler]
You hit hard, and can get hit even harder. You are willing to get hit to land a punch, confident that you will come out better in each trade. The more you get hit, the harder you can hit. Build up knockout power and look for that finishing blow.
[Temporary Skills unlocked]
Quick Flurry
Second Wind
Knockdown Motivation
Demoralising Taunt
Glancing Strikes (Passive)
[Class Boost: Brawler]
Primary Stats of Brawler class boosted.
[Error resolved]
Patrick felt new strength flow into him and felt the dam that had built up in his mind break.
[Aspect unlocked: Flow of Battle]
You have seen the flow of battle, and the rhythm of war beats within you. You can see the Flow of Battle and identify weak points and vulnerabilities within your foes.
Patricks forehead connected with the bridge of the nose of the Lord as it turned back towards him, dropping Patrick and stumbling backwards.
The timer ticked below one minute.