Chapter 10 Twelve Seconds

“Frozen deserts were a wonder that I did not realize I was missing until now.” Isaac commented as the pair left the desert parlor. They had all sorts of frozen creams topped with various fruits and many of them were set on little sweet cakes. The sweets were expensive, two to seven silvers each but it was worth the small expense.

“Agreed.” Lenna replied smiling. She was enjoying herself but she still kept an eye and ear out for their potential assailants.

“Which one was your fa…” Isaac’s voice died mid word. He felt a sharp pain and saw a flash of browns and blacks appear just in front and to the right of him. His throat felt wrong. His word had just stopped regardless of his will. Why couldn’t he finish the word? Why did it feel like something was…

Lenna heard Isaac’s voice cut out and glanced at him. A man had appeared just in front and to the right of her charge with a dagger already fully planted in the young mage’s throat. It all happened so fast that there was barely any blood visible.

One second had passed.

Lenna took a step towards Isaac’s assailant. Her fist started gathering energy. Mana, aura, fury, desperation, and muscle memory all came together as she… she… felt something slide in her back, between her ribs, and bury itself inside her heart. Her heart cut off mid beat. A thought flew through her mind as her fist connected with the first man’s cheekbone. ‘Even if I die, Isaac must live.’ Her fingers in her left hand shattered from the impact. The man’s head snapped back and a sickening crunch was heard as his neck vertebrae were crushed under the force and with them his brainstem. He was dead in an instant.

Isaac’s attention snapped onto Lenna. Her blazing fist pulling him back to reality. The knife was still in his throat. He had at best seven seconds of consciousness with the artery in his neck severed and a steel blade blocking his airway. He saw blood from the dagger that had stabbed her in the back as it was left behind by her sudden step towards his attacker. Another man had appeared behind Lenna, likely waiting for the first one to make his move. Isaac started to step behind Lenna and raised one hand towards her attacker and the other towards her back. ‘Seven seconds to save her life’ was the only thought going through his mind.

Two seconds had passed.

Lenna knew she was already dead. Her heart had stopped. Her brain still had enough oxygen to function for at most four seconds. She needed to use them wisely. Isaac had a dagger in his throat, that was her only priority now that his assailant was taken care of. She turned her head to look at him and her eyes went wide as the dagger that was in his throat was pulled out by his assailant starting to fall. She reached her right hand out towards his neck. Her mana started flowing around her heart on its own, trying to bring her back while she was still conscious but she doubted it could heal her fast enough. She focused as much healing as she could towards her outstretched hand.

Isaac felt the need to cough as the dagger slipped out of the hole it had made in his throat. He forced the feeling down. Either Lenna survived and could save him or he would drown in his own blood while his brain died from lack of oxygen. He poured a third of his mana reserves into each hand in an instant, he felt half of the veins in his arms burst and instantly heal from the death flames that came into being as soon as the dark mana came into contact with his altered mana pathways. Lenna’s attacker had stepped in after her and was preparing to stab again, Isaac wouldn’t give him the chance. Both of his hands found their targets. One met Lenna’s back at an awkward angle as she was trying to turn to face him, it didn’t matter. The other caught her attacker’s arm just under the shoulder.

Three seconds had passed.

Lenna’s hand met Isaac’s neck and she dumped healing into him at a dangerous rate. Her healing was not normal healing after the breaking of her oath. It carried with it heat. Heat that her body was used to. Heat that Isaac’s was not. Her healing also took more mana than it used to. She felt the back of Isaac’s hand hit her back near where she had been stabbed but she didn’t have time to think about why. She was running on borrowed time and she could already feel her grip on her body loosening. Her eyes had started to go dim. She needed more time, just a few seconds more to make sure that he would survive. After that Lua could take her but not a second sooner.

Isaac focused all of the gathered mana, turned death flames, into the two people he had contact with. The attacker was met with instant cellular death at a rate akin to instant disintegration. With that, all of the ‘living’ parts of his cells were burned away leaving only dust of carbon and a few other trace elements. Not even bones remained. He was gone, the only remnants being leather armor and a cloak infested with the stench of death and black dust. Lenna’s body was hit with a wave of power far beyond anything it had ever experienced before. Her heart was instantly put back together and began beating. The power rush was so intense that veins and mana pathways around where Isaac had touched her burst but were nearly instantly repaired by the lingering power. Isaac coughed.

Four seconds had passed.

Lenna felt a rush far beyond her most intense adrenaline rush. Her body needed to burn off all the extra power. Her pupils dilated to take in the world with greater detail. Time almost seemed to slow. She felt her heart beat again but barely registered it. She felt Isaac’s throat and artery seal up in her palm. He was healed, good, that meant she could handle whoever stabbed her in the back. She finished turning just in time to see an empty set of armor, still burning with death flames, start to fall towards the ground.

Isaac’s knees gave out. He started to drop towards the ground while coughing his lungs out. Who knew how much blood had pulled in them in those few seconds. He couldn’t breathe. He knew that with how much power he had thrown into Lenna she would survive whatever injury she had sustained and once that realization had hit, his mind had gone blank. He needed air but there was so much blood in the way. He was lightheaded. His vision dimmed. A thought ran through his mind. ‘There has to be more than two.’

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Five seconds had passed.

Lenna followed Isaac to the ground on instinct. He was coughing which meant he was still alive. That was all that mattered to her. Her eyes swept the area around them. ‘Where are the rest of them?’ She thought. ‘Fireball?’

Isaac remembered something he had heard long, long ago. “Shroud makes you invisible but only until you make contact with another living creature or mess with mana of any kind.” Aria had told him. He blasted outwards with mana in every direction. He went for distance over power so the density was far too low to have any real effect. A black wave went out in all directions for nearly thirty feet before it died out. His eyes grew dimmer. He was still coughing, struggling to breathe. He needed air.

Six seconds had passed.

Lenna’s vision was clearing up just as a black wave blasted out from Isaac causing her to shield her eyes reflexively. She heard a swear and some boots on the ground close by. She rose to her feet as she pulled the throwing spikes from her hair. Her eyes swept around them again.

Isaac was about to lose consciousness. He could feel it. There were two things he could leave Lenna with before he passed out. He hoped they would serve her well. He also hoped that he would live long enough to wake up again. A certain magical sword clanged to the ground next to him as a black void opened up underneath him. He sent a thought into the void. ‘Help Lenna.’

Seven seconds had passed.

Lenna noted four more assailants. They were in pairs coming from either side of the street. On her right there was one almost on top of her at a mere five feet away and another trailing behind him by only a few steps. On her left the other two were ten and fifteen feet away from her. If she was by herself she would have blown all five of them up but with Isaac coughing at her feet she needed to be careful. She threw the spike in her right hand at the farther man on her right. No one expected her to go for the man in the back so he went to dodge too late. Every attack Lenna made had everything she could put into it so the spike was ablaze as it covered the ten feet in a blink. The man tried to dodge but the spike still caught him on the inside of the outside edge of his left eye socket. The spike, still on fire, went straight through his head after accepting a slight redirection courtesy of the inside of his skull.

Isaac felt a bony head slam into his chest as Kahtesh tried to leap out of the shadows. The impact fractured one of Isaac’s ribs and forcefully emptied his lungs in their entirety as it felt like his torso was being flattened like a billows in Stan’s smithy. The impact sent Isaac up and to the side a whole foot before he crashed back down. The dragon was not gentle. He gasped for air and then began coughing again. The mass influx of air and the sudden pain helped keep him conscious but he was effectively useless and would remain so for quite some time.

Eight seconds had passed.

Lenna dodged the sword swing of the man closest to her and did a half spin. She made sure to keep her front facing him even as she threw the second spike at one of the two assailants that were now on her right. He deflected it with his sword but slowed as his eyes went wide. The man, now on Lenna’s left, who had received a spike to the eye was crumpling like a puppet without any strings. The man she was currently engaged with disengaged and jumped backwards away from her. Her eyes caught Isaac being tossed out of the way of Kahtesh. Her eyes then caught her sword laying on the ground. She grinned. They could win this.

Isaac’s only focus was clinging to consciousness. If he could keep from passing out then he would be able to recover quicker and help Lenna. The darkness was his to command and he refused to let it take him. He forced his eyes to stay open as he clung to the hazy lights and quick orange flashes going on around him. The sounds were dimmed and muffled but as long as he could still hear them he could power through the lack of oxygen in his brain by pure willpower.

Kahtesh looked around. He noted two enemies on either side. One had a bow and was thirty feet away. He knew that Lenna hadn’t noticed it as her eyes had never lingered on its presence. Kahtesh could feel the enemy more than see it as his vision was poor from his lack of eyes. He could sense souls though and that seemed to be what most perceived this seventh enemy. Kahtesh jumped in front of the arrow that was fired towards Lenna. The arrow wedged itself in between two of Kahtesh’s bone plates that made up his torso.

Nine Seconds had passed.

Lenna watched Kahtesh jump in between her and an arrow that appeared out of nowhere. She scooped up her sword and dove towards her right. She swung hard, flames overtaking and trailing her blade. The assailant tried to parry her attack with his shortsword. She changed the angle of attack slightly, turning his parry forcefully into a block. His strength crumpled under Lenna’s power. Her magical, aura, and physical strength were far too much for the man and her sword cut halfway through his own magical sword, his arm, and halfway through his torso.

Isaac’s vision was starting to clear but he was still gasping in between coughing fits. He cursed his inability to help. His altered mana pathways encompassed almost his entire torso, the whole way up to his neck, a half inch under where he was stabbed. His irritation at his slow progress only grew. His arms were altered almost to his shoulders but there was still a four inch gap from the altered pathways in his torso to the ones in his arms.

Kahtesh dove for the closest meal… enemy. That was the one that had almost slashed Lenna with his sword. The man screamed and struck Kahtesh in the side of the head causing him to miss and tumble across the ground. That was not preferred but there were two targets on that side so Kahtesh didn’t really mind. He started building power in his lightning rune.

Ten seconds had passed.

Lenna raised her leg to kick the assailant off her blade. Her dress, which was split on her right leg up to just above her knee, tore. The split continued upwards almost the whole way to her hip as she kicked the man in front of her off of her blade. As he fell she noticed the man behind him turn to run. She wouldn’t let him. She tossed her sword up, making sure to keep the weapon parallel to the ground. She caught it in a practiced hold. Two fingers coiled around each side of the back of the crossguard, her thumb on the blade just past the crossguard.

Isaac swore at his uselessness. ‘Curse involuntary action’ He thought as he tried to push himself up through the residual coughing.

Kahtesh opened his mouth towards the invisible archer. Thunder rolled. Lightning crackled. A bolt of power, vengeance, and pain launched out of the dragon’s mouth. The archer’s eyes went wide as he tried to dodge the lightning bolt. He barely got most of the way out of its path. His body was spared from the main bolt but arcs of electricity still reached out to rake his arm and side. His cloak burst into flames as the lightning passed through it and slammed into the wall of a building sending rocks flying. His invisibility was gone.

Eleven seconds had passed.

Lenna stepped forwards and launched her sword with well trained power and accuracy. The blade flew true. The assailant was about to turn to see if he was being pursued when the blade traveling at over half the speed of a crossbow bolt punched through his magical armor with ease. All three feet of magically enhanced steel went through his heart. The crossguard stopped the sword from going the whole way through his torso and transferred the rest of the momentum into the man. He was mid stride so the attack tossed him forwards causing him to receive a sudden increase in speed. He didn’t stop for over ten feet from the original point of impact.

Isaac looked up to see Lenna finish off the last attacker from that side. His head was still spinning but at least his hands and knees were under him now.

Kahtesh dove for the enemy that had hit him with a sword as the man tried to back away. The sudden burst of speed immediately following the lightning bolt caught the man by surprise and he couldn’t get his arms up in time to protect his face from the dragon. Kahtesh’s teeth dug into the man’s neck as the two of them crashed into the ground.

Twelve seconds had passed.