The wretched terror groaned in synchronization of his popping knees and spine straightened. Pyrei’s seer tethered to the crooked looking thing as it slowly strafed around her. “Your hands… the hands of a criminal— a terrible, thieving goblin you are…” it said.
“I see,” Pyrei replied with a blank demeanor. Her left index flicked a ring beneath the glowing man and an eruption of light exploded at his feet. As the bright boom fizzled, the frankly fed up light caster noticed a shine growing beneath her. Her hairs rose, and with swift nonchalance, she sidestepped a hand-turned-claw hurling from above. The beast’s hand plunged into the soil and before he could turn his gaze, the agile Pyrei spun with an open hand with a shining symbol in her palm and tore it down onto the back of his descending neck. With furious eyes she slammed him down into the dirt with such immense force, a blinding blast ejected her into the trunk of a grand tree.
Oh… She sat up, catching her head in her hand, I forgot myself. That was certainly a rush. Where did that come from? She placed her open hand on her chest and felt a rapid thumping from within. It’s not the time to act on impulse and handle this sloppily. I have to move carefully and play this right to put him down — if possible. I took a clear shot to his brain, yet he’s here fighting as if nothing happened. Frankly, he seems to be doing better than before. Is this even the same person? Why is he glowing? There have been so many questions recently… Oh, there he goes…
Violet light pierced the dirt and emerged from the sudden interment. A frustrated growl followed the light as its host locked eyes with his gravedigger. He laid his tantrum-trembling hand on a stone as he stood to his feet. In a flash, the rock whistled as it soared through the wind and ejected chunks of bark, cambium, and heartwood. Chunks of tree matter slid off of Pyrei’s scalp as she rose her head. She turned to the punctured bark and eyed at some foliage through the newly dug tunnel in the wood. “Give me them— your terrible hands. Those thieving claws must be destroyed…” it growled. He moved slowly to her, nearly tripping with each step.
“Yes, my terrible hands,” Pyrei stood. I don’t know why I’m staying in this fight. I don’t know how to put him down – if he even can be. I’m sure there is a way, it’s certainly not possible for him to just be immortal or indestructible, right? Well, actually — what if he wields a curse? It’s certainly not impossible but very unlikely… But considering that he survived a blow to the brain and is now glowing… It’s certainly not off the table. What curse could he hav–
His hand of long, feral nails clenched her throat. He stared into her eyes and said, “Descend to your infernal prison, thieving witch.”
Her legs dangled and flailed as her face blued and neck leaked the crimson juice. The veins of the bestial man’s arm bulged and swelled greater as increasing pressure ran into his grip. He stared directly into his victim’s eyes and began to quiver. A muffled chortling echoed in the helmet and the sound slowly seeped out of each opening like a thick sludge. “I can defend my possession very well, Father. Look at me! Look at me prospering!” he cried.
Pyrei gritted her teeth and swung her legs up to the sides of his neck and squeezed it between her calves. With a forceful twist of her waist, the crazed man’s head slammed into a trunk, freeing her from his asphyxiating grasp. Whistling and violent coughs from her throat stormed the forest as Pyrei was rendered onto her hands and knees. Her eyes reddened from watering and shifted to the jarring noise of aged metal grinding on wood. The deranged thing’s hands were pressed against the tree in an attempt to free its skull from its trunk trap. To its great relief, he freed himself and in whiplash-inducing rotation was met with a great force implanting his head into the tree once more. “Get off!” He screamed in a wobbling tone.
But with each attempt to raise himself, another thundering impact followed. With gritted teeth, tear-flooded eyes, and a terrifying demeanor of unsightly rage coursing through her, Pyrei stomped at the back of the beast’s armor-protected skull. But that did not hinder the tempestuous fury of the broken wizard. With each savage, feral-like shout from Pyrei, a bone breaking slam of her foot followed. Each collision of the head or neck beneath her stomps sounded like the butchering of leaky, rotted meat. Approaching maybe three or four minutes of blood splattering, which seemed like mere seconds in her blind rage, she alas ended her vicious assault on the beast. The back of his neck appeared as a fleshy crater pooled and overflowing with his bizarre blood. Finally, Pyrei’s conscience worked up enough courage to return to its possessor and she was able to look over the mess she had made.
Her eyes fell to her feet where she realized the pool of blood she stood in. She looked up and turned, realizing the copious splattering of slightly luminant purple that splashed the area and sprayed distant foliage – her mess. She turned back to the tree before her with a demeanor of lostness painted on her face. So much for not acting on impulse and remaining calm… I split the tree in half. And… my heart– it feels like it's about to explode– It’s so hard to breathe… She collapsed into the pool of dimly lit violet blood with only the support of her arms. And what is going on with this? Why was he bleeding purple? Wait, actually — his corpse… It’s losing its… dimming?
The corpse laid flat on the frontal body with its head planted into the dirt between the stub of the tree. The body’s luminant shoulders and upward began to fade back into the familiar, natural pigment from hours prior. The back of the helmet had been obliterated and exposed white innards of the head – likely the skull. Still, enough of the helmet hadn’t sustained damage from Pyrei and was able to clench on, at least barely. The pool of blood of which her hands reluctantly supported themselves began to lose the odd purple pigment and shifted into the natural vermillion. A sizzling hooked onto Pyrei’s ear drums and reeled her towards the body. She blinked a few times in quick succession and rubbed them with the back of her forearm. A rage overcame her again and forced onto the wizard. Once more, she delivered a series of vicious slams from her feet onto the neck and exposed head of the corpse. Why was— why was his head… bubbling?
She looked into the exposures of his head and noticed the skull with a crack. This bubbling and sizzling had ceased, but she waited by it. After a grave, grotesque ten minutes of anxious standing of nothing but awaiting even a twitch from the creature, she finally breathed a sigh of relief with the conclusion that it had finally perished. The broken spellslinger dragged herself away, shuffling off with barely any stamina left to fuel even the most basic of physical capabilities. The landscape before her went blurry and a profound nauseousness fell upon Pyrei and grabbed her ankles. I… can’t… My… my chest–
The height of her vision began to descend rapidly. Right palm fell onto a large stone in an attempt to catch her fall but inevitably, she hit the dirt and darkness shrouded her eyes. In the devouring darkness, a familiar red moon floated in the abyss. It stared at her with a dull demeanor yet widened eyes. Suddenly, its face tore into a grin. The two stared at one another for what felt like hours with contrasting faces. But in an abrupt break of the silence it chuckled and said, “Wake up. He’s coming.”
Like chains being torn off and shattered, her eyes opened wide with shock. The sky was about to remove its dusk clothing to reveal its true cosmic void of a body. In the blink of an eye, she propped herself up and faced behind herself to the split tree. And there it be, the bringer of her grave shock and consternation. Mere feet behind her, the man laid. He was face down in the dirt and seemingly lifeless, but his right arm was arched. And in the grasp of his left hand, the cleaver that was extending beyond the length of his lower body. This has to be s-s-some sort of elaborate joke! I’ve gone insane! That’s the only explanation! This isn’t real! Did he drag himself over here? He couldn’t have! He’s dead! No, he’s dead! He is! He must be! His head was exposed earlier— I made sure that it couldn’t come back! How long has it been? Did I pass out? Is it morning? Why is it turning dark already then?! Wh–
Breaking her thoughts with the simple crush of leaves, the right arm pulled the body towards her ever so slightly and fell into its death pose once again. Pyrei’s hands shook and her eyes twitched. Her breathing accelerated to a point of rapid cycling as if her lungs were nearing the point of combustion and her arm raised. There the great shining circle floated, sprawled above the wizard and the ‘corpse’. With her maddened glare she roared, “Just die and go the fucking inferno already!”
In a tumultuous snap, the majestic seer of the sky ejected a colossal beam of Light flashing white and moonlight violet. It devoured the beast, triggering him to scream in agony like a man instead of a creature, even in his dead and drained state. The surrounding trees and foliage blew in the wind as ashes and cinder. The stones were seared black and when it all cleared, a deep pit extended into the ground. Her hands were clenched, her legs filled with violence and teeth on the verge of cracking in grit. “Stay fucking dead now! Get up again, do it! I dare you! I’ll tear you apart!”
As if a volcanic eruption, harrowing light exploded from the crater born from Pyrei’s rage. The regurgitation of light fizzled, allowing the night to properly introduce itself. But the crunching of dirt and rolling stone bounced around from inside the hole before escaping from out the opening. And to the shot of her heart, a glowing hand gripped the uppermost side of the crater. A bawling heart’s tears of blood and sorrow dripped into her legs and the sheer weight of it all buckled her knees, causing her to fall to them. But before her descending gaze, the ravager rose. Evidence of torment and natural-withering of the hands were hidden beneath the surreal glowing of his near claws. They gripped the edges of the pit and pulled up before pushing down on the heat-blackened sediment. Upon reaching the surface, drastic changes were revealed. Instead of running from just head to shoulders, the amethyst glowing had consumed the entire body like an infection.
His bright, ghastly eyes scanned the land. They locked onto a stone and he galloped over to it as if a quadruped creature. In the blink of an eye, his hand gripped onto something within it ripped it from the rock. He laid it before him in a lamenting manner and began to drip tears upon it. He laid his face on the radiating white cleaver and mourned, “By the Nectar, of the Dream, with the blood, for the vision.”
His masked tearful eyes rose to Pyrei and his trembling hand snarled at her as it grasped the hilt of the cleaver. Thus, slowly, he began to circle her with his eternal glare locked to her. He moved ‘four-footed’, with his left hand open palm on the dirt and his right ‘knuckle-walking’ with the blade in grip.
“Why is he still moving…” a cracking Pyrei muttered with a tremble in her tone, “What am I supposed to do? He keeps getting back up despite all my efforts. How? What am I mis–missing—No… how? Am I really this inane? Why did it take me so many hours to realize that?! It looks like I’m going to have to focus a lot more on Yazzalo’s teachings to deal with this thing. He isn’t as big as I remember, so maybe the ground won’t be as uneven.”
A second chortle amplified by the confines of the helmet chilled the soul. A liquid dripping from the bottom of the helmet mimicked the color of his illuminant body, but it was hard to tell if it was simply glistening from himself. He giggled, “Father, I’ll reap a grand prize for you – will a pierced skull do?”
With his eyes still locked, his blade pierced the wind and planted into the dust of the conjureress’s swift maneuver. But as she turned, his hand came around and engulfed her face. His terrible nails dug into the skin due his monstrous grip as he rose her body up. He stared into her eyes that were ever so slightly breaching through the space of his fingers. “Sing for me,” he taunted with childlike excitement in his tone. He reeled back his arm and slammed Pyrei into the ground. The beast lifted his hand and awaited a noise. Instead, Pyrei's zeal-tainted blood delivered a strike into the beast’s throat with a devastating kick. But instead of collapsing, he hunched over and tilted his head with curiosity, “Where are your sweet songs?”
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His talonish hands clenched Pyrei’s leg and with the full shift of his body, he swung her into a tree. “Where’s the song?! Sing now or I’ll kill you to death!” he roared. His fist gripped her collar and slammed her back into the tree. He pulled her back and repeated the assault several times. In a final strike, he flung her overhead and attempted to bring her head first onto a rock, but she grabbed the animal by the neck. With the aid of his additional force, she pulled him over her and hurled the beast into some distant debris. “Please, shut up… why are you so talkative now?” she groaned with an ache in her throat.
She kneeled down to a hand to retrieve breath. He’s–he’s a lot stronger now - and faster. I was talking so mightily just a bit ago, but I almost passed out during that. Everything was… white. Was I about to die? It’s clear that he has the upperhand and simply evading would be the best option, but I don’t know if I’m fast enough to outrun him now, nor if I have the stamina. I’ll have to keep using his strikes and weight against him, but I run into the issue of him not being that large. I’m not sure he’s even much bigger than me, yet he has this terrifying strength. I’ll just have to continue using his powerful motions against him– it’ll be effective if I can keep up. All that’s left now is to figure out what is strong enough to mortally wound him. It definitely isn’t magi–
Crazed, inhuman giggles and shrieks cut through Pyrei’s musing. The noise rose and dropped in pitch rapidly and no doubt came from him. He laid face down against a tree with his right leg kicking and flailing madly like a rabid dog. His arms twisted and shook uncontrollably as he banged his head against the bark with frantic repetition. “Stop touching me, stop it, stop it, stop it!” he cried with drips of laughter dampening some spots.
Seeming to finally reclaim ownership over his arms, he plunged them into the pit made into the tree and ripped out two long chains lined with spikes and nails from the depths of the wood. “Your song is sour! I hate your song! You will instead dance! Dance for me now, witch!”
He jumped and pressed his legs against the tree. With a forceful springing, the plant was reduced to nothing but chips with his powerful leap. He spun over as if one with the whirling wind and struck the Light user across the body. The draconian weapon wrapped onto her upper left shoulder and lower right side of her torso and ended around her right femur. In a sudden, violent rip, the massacrer pulled back the chain, taking flesh and blood with it. Pain-shock froze her body and numbed her ever-breaking mind. Trauma stiffened her until she eventually succumbed to its weight, collapsing. “Where!” he screamed, lashing her with the chains thrice across the body.
Deafening silence crawled through the obliterated land until it was scared off by a sudden, blood-curdling scream of agony and tears that one could almost taste in their heart. The beast looked on and dropped into his quadruped-like stance and galloped over to her trauma-frozen body. He stared at Pyrei's reddened face as her eyes unleashed a fall of tears and her mouth howled torment-driven. He hopped back onto his feet, jumped and flailed around her madly in a celebratory manner. “Yes, there! The song! The song! We love the song!” he cheered.
He danced tribally with his arms raised high and in an abrupt shift, whipped down both chains simultaneously. In instinct, Pyrei brought her arms over her face and screamed a howl growing from terror to rage. The demon stopped dancing and ended his incessant cackling. He lowered his masked face to hers and uttered in a cold haunting omen, “Your song has changed? Hmm, pity that. A promise will now be fulfilled.”
With his eyes locked into hers, he stomped on her chest and pressed his weight onto his leg. Next, he grabbed the wizard’s left arm, and despite her desperate struggles, easily wrapped a portion of the barbed chain around the wrist and intertwined the two sections. “Terrible grabbers having blasphemed the Dream, tainted the beautiful benefactions of the Nectar and worked to steal the blessing. Retribution awaits the witch.”
With a fierce reel and the terrible resonation of snapping bone, the chain flew aloft in the wind with a short rain of red trailing it. The chain twisted and flailed, throwing its reaped, messy contents about before crashing into the dirt with a heavy thud. His gaze rose and turned to the tossed chain. As if mesmerized he turned and trotted over to the long piece of loose metal. He sniffed it and stared in a trance before soon hitting his face against it. In a frustrated rip, the abomination tore off the helmet but gently set it aside. Then he lifted the chain and gawked at the hand attached to its end before freeing the limb. And alas in a grotesque act, he bit on it like a starved, rabid bear growling and near foaming at the mouth. Finger bones snapped and tendons tore. His rabid appearance grew even more unsightly with the splattering of red trailing down his face, but the terrible sounds as he munched and chewed – and then he froze. His near sclera-sized pupils reduced to near normal size and dropped the hand. He lowered his nose to it and sniffed, bringing his lips to utter a question, “Is this… the blood? The blood of a New Greek?”
The blank gaze of the Light caster locked to the starry sky, unchanging. Slowly her chest rose, and slowly it fell. She fought the apprehension pulling at her forearm and overcame its force, earning the revelation. It spurted, it ran. It dripped, it leaked. She felt her heart entering a blitzing state and her breath losing its density. Welling in Pyrei’s eyes made her vision blurry as she slowly turned over onto her side with careful assurance the exposed end of her arm did not touch the dirt. She pulled herself through the dirt slowly and methodically.
Stop it… no tears. Self-pity will not help you. It’s time to go anywhere — anywhere that is not here, please. Just reach the shore. Just reach the shore. Just reach the damn shore and figure it out from there… You have no boat Pyrei, but just reach the shore. Figure it out from there. Just reach the shore and figure it out from there. It’s too dangerous, it is a bad time here, there is no good here. Just reach the shore. It’s not good here.It’s not good her—
The heartstopping rapid crunching of leaves trailed behind the dirt-dragging incapacitated. Her terrified eyes turned back and met claws digging into her back. “Stop moving. Venator wants to speak with you.”
Her foot recoiled and struck the man in his jaw and pushed off the ground onto her legs. Her mind commanded a sprint, but all that could be mustered was painful limping. He shook his head and charged her, “Venator said stop moving, Sky Blood!”
A mystical violet pried through the space between the fingers of her remaining hand. “Just get the hell away from me!” she cried, firing off a shard of Ice at the encroaching terror. It slammed into his skull, dropping the hunter onto his back. Her face contorted in preparation for a bawling and her knees weakened. She fell into weep, “No, no, no! You know you aren’t supposed to use magic on him, what am I doing?!”
In a panic, her drained legs brought all their energy into a desperate limping. Why hasn’t he killed me yet? I can barely move and he’s rejuvenated again. Is he playing around with me now? Do I look back?
Briefly, she glanced behind before returning her vision forward. Was he still down? Am I being deceived by him, my brain or both?
She looked again, making her nerves become hyperactive once again as he began to stand. But the man changed; his skin no longer was overwhelming with purple light. The radiating energy was still apparent, but much of it had vanished from around his whole self and instead centered at his chest.. He began to lunge at her on his hands and feet once more, but another strike of Ice magic collapsed him and more of the energy faded from his body.
He’s weakened? How? He was just absorbing the magic, but he isn’t absorbing my… Ice? Where did Ice Magic come from? Did I just manifest this? I didn’t even realize it. Never mind that, there are more pressing matters. How can I put him down? Come on, think of somethi— his blade! I’ll have to figure out a way to wield it with… one hand. And to muster enough strength for it… I should be able to get a good jump and have gravity do the rest. It’s just to stabilize him long enough for it to carve out his wretched brain matter. I won’t be able to watch him suffer with such a lethal strike in that critical area since it would kill him on impact, but… Stop thinking like that. Just put him down. His weapon shouldn’t be too far away.
The dual-mage moved in a wide arch around the lifeless, yet breathing, body. For safe measure, she shot another frozen projectile at the body, reducing the purple light even more. The ghastly gray glowing protruding in the rubble of many demolished trees and stones sat beside the spurred crater. She pulled on its hilt and slowly trekked over, having to move carefully to avoid falling and getting dirt in her open wound. I should apply some more insurance, she thought, dropping the weapon. She pointed at him and brought about a weak, broken circle. She attempted to cast a spell, but nothing of a sort came. Instead, it just closed.
Could I charge? I don’t think it’ll help. It’ll take too long and I may just end up using up what little stamina I have left to end him. I should just be swift with the execution then, I want to get away from this damn place…
Pyrei kneeled and tightened her hand around the cleaver, then slowly moved to the body where she stopped just in front of his head. What a heavy abomination, yet he was carrying it around and flinging it like a toy… The battered fighter took a squat and with a forceful push, she leapt into the air. Poor balance and blurring eyes troubled her descent, but her piercing gaze fought through the cripplings. She pulled the blade just before her as the roaring wind blew her hair upward. Steady, steady…
A wet crunch slid its moist tendrils into the ears and lubricated the tunnel along its wet way. She looked before herself, trying to make out the scene beneath her darkening vision. Damn it…
The cleaver rested impaled in his spine, piercing straight through the illuminated portion of his back. She sighed with disappointment, “If he does manage to somehow survive that, at least he’ll be paralyzed. He shouldn’t be able to bear down on me anymore. Good riddance tyrant… Now, where’s the helmet?”
With much of the canopies having been demolished and burned in the scuffle, the light of the moon freely poured the land and spillings of blood glistened in its lethargic shine. But one was far more pronounced - a long chain trailing off. It beckoned Pyrei to its end – and she followed. Upon arriving at its beginning point, her eyes licked up the long mutilating device to its opposing end. There she saw the hand which was once part of her – but now in a state of post–chewing. Pyrei gazed at it coldly for a moment and took a breath. She turned away from the gnarly sight and found the trigger for much blood and doom; the old helmet. After taking it, she took another nervous glance at the body and discovered the cleaver’s blade jutting out of his body to have shifted purple. Besides this, it had not moved and neither did the body. Still, her spine chilled and urged the wizard to investigate, but her legs refused and were already barely able to muster up any strength, especially not if trying to move any closer to that. She looked around her feet, set down the helmet and picked up a stone.
With her little strength, she spiked it at the body and the rock barely brushed against the side of its left shin, but he did not move – not even a twitch. She pondered, All I can do is hope he’s dead. He isn’t moving so I have to worry about something else now; I have to prevent this wound from getting infected. I already lost my hand - I don’t want to lose my whole arm… I think there are some antiseptic fruits around the camp area. If I can remember where it is. Following the destruction should prove most reliable. The waterfall sounds, the woods, broken stone, the— woods? No, broken stones and plants are everywhere at this point… I should just walk towards the lush area and look for the one tree he knocked over at first, then continue on from there. I’ll either miss it or end up at the shore where I’ll have to just walk around it until I find a river flowing from the inland to the sea. No, that’s foolish! All that time would be spent aimlessly dragging my feet and give more time for infection to set in. Damn it all, I’m left with little choice. Just push through it, you’ve dealt with worse…
The Light caster set herself on the dirt and her body tightened. She turned the open, bleeding messy wound where her left hand once resided and aimed it to her open right palm. The palm began to glow as a white ring fading into a ghastly violet Light symbol. Her breathing became heavy and her legs locked with stress as a concentrated, steady shine beamed from the casting circle. The wound steamed and a nauseating stench of burning flesh infiltrated her nostrils and danced over her vision. Her legs began to tremble and water from the eyes trailed down her currently vicious demeanor, dampening her hell-torn shirt. Just a little bit more, push through it! You’ve dealt with worse, you’ve dealt with worse! Almost there, just a few more seconds, a few more…
With the time crawling just over three minutes, the circle died. Then, the agony key inserted itself into her throaty lock and clawing its way from the cage of her throat was a seemingly atmospheric hollering. She pounded her fist onto the dirt and her fingers dug into the soil. Quit your cries, Light Bringer, a terrible, indomitable voice infiltrated. You needed to cauterize it. Well done. I will offer you two applauds: yes, you do indeed head in the direction of the burnt aftermath you and your dog caused during your little playtime. Truly, a very wrinkled brain you have in your wet skull. Now go back to the camp just by heading west. That’s just a bit to your right, if you do not yet realize it, Light Bringer. Hehe...
Pyrei’s eyes looked around, finding nothing in the dawning night but the destruction she was quite familiar with. Why are you using your eyes to see me? Get moving. I recommend doing so quickly.
“What? Who is– what’s that? Have I gone mad?” She mumbled.
Yes, indeed you have, my insipid Light Bringer. Now move, quickly. She turned to face a forested area in the distance where the debris before it had been blackened by the searing seer of her Light. The wizard stood to her spiteful legs that yearned for a rest. I can’t move very quickly anymore – I’ve used too much strength. Who are you? Why must I move quickly? He’s dead… finally.
Hehe, you are already familiar with me. And why must you move quickly? Because I love seeing you stressed. I love seeing you terrified. I love it when your heart nearly bursts from your chest. And my greatest deal of excitement comes from seeing your gaze look back.
In an instant, Pyrei turned to her six and her eyes nearly fell from their sockets. They watched on, hoping that by some divine power a butchered corpse with its blade gored into the back like a twisted, grotesque excalibur would return to its place. But alas, all which remained beneath the deathly dawn was a pool of wet redness trailing across the dirt into the abyssal forest.