“Move!” Aadi hollered as his stiff muscles refused to obey. The shock of seeing his enemy unscathed didn’t help either. His limbs had seemingly become dead weight, caring nothing for his will. Letting out a low growl that morphed into a short yell, Aadi lifted his arms, clenched his fingers around his slingshot, and fitted another rock to its band. His brow furrowed as he struggled to steady his aim. His arms shook as they protested his control, but Aadi pushed through the aches and pain. Either he acted or lay down and waited to be killed. The latter seemed slightly unreasonable to Aadi, so he strained himself to pull the slingshot’s band back as far as he could.

This time, he ignored his foe’s leather armour and aimed for his neck instead. There was a gap there and if he could breach it, he might be able to inflict some damage on the enemy. Keeping his right hand as stable as possible in his condition, he released the stone projectile. The basalt rock ripped through the air with a sharp snap, speeding towards its target. The enemy had begun to rise, slowly straightening his back and looking in Aadi’s direction. Either he hadn’t seen the rapidly approaching projectile, or he just wasn’t bothered by it. Regardless, the result was the same. Nothing! Absolutely nothing.

The slingshot’s projectile hit its target, avoiding the foe’s leather cuirass and striking his bare neck. The dull thud accompanying it confirmed the strike. Then, it merely bounced off his skin and fell to the ground! Aadi looked on as his unscathed opponent twitched ever so slightly, his body reflexively acknowledging the attack. Subsequently, he raised his fists in a fighting stance, his eyes locked onto Aadi. Then, he moved.

Tired, aching all over, hurt, and dumbfounded by his inability to hurt his enemy, Aadi was unable to avoid this bout of blows. The air around him compressed and burst, lifting him off the ground as his enemy’s fists reached him. A right-hand punch was followed by the left-hand, a quick one-two that was executed with incredible force! The right-hand pushed Aadi’s left shoulder back and the left-hand smashed into the side of his face and neck, somehow avoiding his jawbone. His right ear burned from the heat of the impact, as his face and torso twisted leftward, away from his waist. He was left hanging in mid-air for just an instant.

His opponent struck again with a sharp uppercut and Aadi’s neck stretched back as his jaw took the brunt of the blow! He arced backwards a good distance, striking the ground and rolling to a stop. His head spun and his vision began to darken. Aadi found himself in dire straits. His body had become limp and he couldn’t budge an inch. Although his vision was blurry, he could tell that his enemy’s assault was imminent. “Not good,” he muttered under his breath, vainly struggling to move his legs, “I can’t stay here. I must move.” His efforts were futile. The damage he had sustained was considerable and it was a miracle that he was still conscious. Thanking God for small blessings was well and good, but that did nothing to preclude imminent death.

His opponent had begun sprinting towards him, to close the distance and end his existence. “What can I do?” Aadi wondered helplessly. Despair had yet to set in and he sought some way, some method, some semblance of movement that would allow him to dodge his foe. Anything would do. Could he roll? No. Could he push himself a short distance? Nay. Could he block or parry with at least one hand? Not at all. “He’s coming,” he thought, “I have to do something! Come on!” All the will and determination in the world wouldn’t move his bruised and busted body. A corner of his mind wondered if his dear ones, the two who had been killed in this space, had suffered similarly. The older one of the two had probably tried to fight the enemy, Aadi thought. The younger one, on the other hand, wouldn’t have had a chance. They had both been killed, their lives snuffed away by this foe.

“I can’t leave them here,” Aadi thought, mustering every shred of willpower he had left, “I must take them home.” He barely managed to lift his chest ever so slightly off the ground. The effort took most of the breath out of his lungs. His enemy was almost upon him, the metallic soles of his shoes thumping the ground as he closed. A low, exhausted scream escaped Aadi’s lips as he tried to get up, trying to push through the aches and pains.

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“Too late,” his mind whispered as his blurry vision vaguely spotted the outline of metallic greaves and boots thump the ground near him.

“Use me,” another whisper said.

Time froze momentarily.

Everything stood still around Aadi and his mind automatically focused on the voice.

“Use me,” it said again and his eyes were drawn to a spot on the ground, slightly away from him and his foe. Aadi didn’t know how, but his vision had cleared suddenly and his eyes fixated on that spot, on a small rock with a dim, blue glow! It lay on the ground, embedded in the basalt rock floor. As he gazed at it, its glow shifted to a pink hue and then, became blue again. “It must’ve been uncovered as we fought,” Aadi thought distantly, recalling the bits and pieces of rock that were shattered and strewn about as his opponent shattered everything he hit. “Why am I able to think clearly?” he wondered, the blurriness of his vision and the mental shock having faded entirely.

“I am helping,” the voice said, replying to his thought and surprising Aadi. “How?” he asked. “Right now, the ‘how’ doesn’t matter. Dodge,” the voice replied, but Aadi couldn’t help himself, “What are yo…”

“Dodge!” the voice said with increasing urgency, cutting him off and at that instant, time was restored and flowed normally! Aadi felt his eyes move of their own accord once again and swivel towards his foe. Having closed the gap between them, his opponent had leapt a foot in the air and raised his right hand above his shoulder. Its closed metal fist descended towards Aadi’s face; its force strengthened by the landing body’s momentum. In that moment, Aadi remembered how exhausted he was. He had been hurt and beaten up. He had been bruised and pummelled, luckily not to a pulp. “How can I avoid this?” he thought bleakly as his enemy’s fist was just centimetres from his face.

He rolled! Aadi would never be able to explain what had happened in that split second, but his battered body rolled away from the incoming blow. He had dodged; well, almost. The burst of air that preceded the fist had connected with the side of his neck and Aadi felt his head lift off the ground as he rolled. However, the impact of that attack had been muted! “It’s a heavy blow,” Aadi thought, “but it doesn’t hurt as much.” As he rolled, his right hand braced itself against the ground and pushed his body off. With that momentum, he was able to scurry away, although he had to do it on all fours for the most part!

“How are you doing this?” Aadi asked, directing his question towards the voice that had spoken earlier. He was under no illusions about his athleticism in his current state. It had to be that voice, whatever it was, that had let him move deftly. It must be that voice, whoever it belonged to, that had alleviated his aches and pains to the point that he could move once more. “It’s a simple protection spell which…” the voice began to reply, but it cut itself short, “He’s coming.” Aadi dodged right just as the enemy closed in. His body still ached and the pain was definitely present, but both were dull and didn’t inhibit his movement.

Seeing Aadi dodge, his enemy held his punch back and lashed out with his right foot instead. The kick struck his back and Aadi scrambled forward, using the momentum of the attack to move faster. The impact of the attack had been subdued too, no doubt thanks to the mystery voice. Putting some distance between them, Aadi turned towards his foe and raised his weapon once more. He had picked up a rock along the way and he set it against his slingshot’s rubber band. Despite the strain on his arms, he was able to aim properly and pull the band back all the way.

“That won’t…” the voice began as Aadi released the band. The rock shot forward with a familiar snap and found his enemy’s neck, the only unarmoured part of his body besides his face. A familiar thud resounded and a familiar result recurred as the voice finished speaking, “…work.” The rock bounced off his foe and fell to the ground harmlessly. His opponent had already begun advancing rapidly, raising his clasped hands in the air to smash Aadi once more.

“Come; get me,” the voice said and he intuitively turned towards the glowing stone embedded in the floor. With no time to lose, Aadi sprang forward and avoided his foe’s ground smash by a hair’s breadth. Dashing a few steps, he found himself within arm’s reach of the stone. He fancied the stone glowed brighter for just a very short moment, as his fingertips touched it. “Who are you?” he asked, clasping the stone with his fingers and plucking it from the floor.

The stone replied with what he imagined was a happy tone, “I am Ember.”