"No!" I shout.

Gareth, with a scream, disappears from sight off the path and down the mountainside.

"Suffer!" I rage.

I start to summon horrors.

I manage to get three off before a push spell deflects against my ward, but the impact is hard enough to break my concentration.

In a desperate effort I manage to push the point of origin where the spell emerges at as far away from me as possible.

In the twenty feet distance between us I place it within the ten feet distance mid-air of the Hooded magi.

I feel a wave of exhaustion wash over me after the difficult casting. They are monstrous beings from the plane of Atrioici one of the lost dimensions.

They have eyes that move like the flow of blood through veins all around their twisted bodies. They have no head but one round body the size of a hound with wings like a bat. They have teeth sharp and pointing like daggers at the top of the body.

One had a mass of tentacles that flows from the body that strech out.

Another has spikes all of over its body, some pointing inwards. It keeps letting out a bellowing shriek.

The third with every exhale the grass shrivels and turns to dust.

A few moments pass and they all dart in the air to the Hooded magi.

My gamble pays and I move over in a dash to the cliff edge to see if I can peer down and check if my friend is alive.

I see him tumbling down and giving off one painful yell as his back crashes into a sharp rock before he disappears out of sight.

"Damn you." I utter out.

Not Gareth. How did this happen? How did it all go wrong beyond any reason?

I turn back to face the Hooded Magi with a growl.

"You." I speak in a low guttural tones in the language of demons.

"You will perish in agony as I rip your innards out and hang you with your own intestines as I piss on your still beating heart."

While I speak one of the Atrioici rips into the Hooded Magi’s shoulder, another cackles as he tries to burn it seemingly unaffected by the heat.

The third chokes from a splash of acid sent down its throat.

Unable to effectively contribute I watch ready to strike should either side come out on top.

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The battle is vicious as they tear and chew at the flesh as the spells do little harm against the horrors from another plane.

The Hooded Magi tries everything: fire, ice, lightning, acid, poison, stab, bludgeoning, cutting but the Atrioici endure with laughs.

"Well, this is a challenge. Summoners and their pets. I will have to ask Noelle about these later." The Hooded Magi says as they bundle an orb of pure light with two hand at their stomach they push both hands together then stretch their limbs to the four corners.

The Hooded Magi pushes the Atrioici back far and they fly aimlessly through the air.

The Hooded Magi then a clenches fist in front of their face then points at each of the Atrioici in turn.

A beam of light like a sword made out of fire descends from the heavens.

Was that from the Sun?

The ground turns to glass and as the shard of light hits the summons and they detonate.

The cliffside above explodes at chucks of rocks the size of a carriages come falling down.

I leap off the edge and tumble down the steep incline of the mountain side, my body bashing into sharp rocks.

I drop down to a small plateau but I roll off of it with my momentum.

The Magi chases me down floating above.

They throw balls of fire but miss.

I eventually stop on a small ledge about twenty feet from the edge.

I slip into a brief moment of unconsciousness from the impact. Somehow I am able to snap into alertness in time to notice the Hooded Magi flinging two of fireballs.

I cannot summon the strength to roll away and they hit together burning through my ward and I feel a brief lick of flame.

I have a seconds respite before another hits and the impact pushes me back and I manage a yelp in pain from the force.

"Still alive." they says and it descends to my side. I am too weak to move to attack.

They look at my chest, my red skin visible from the burning hole in my robe and in the daylight. They pulls back my hood.

"Demon. A rare specimen above ground. I know someone who will be interested in you."

I blink and look up, I see a hairless chin and healthy skin.

I try to roll but they grabs my shoulder.

"No, you don’t. Be nice and obedient now. I don’t want to hand over damaged goods." He says in with the deeper pitches associated with masculinity among Northern humans.

"Well more damaged." He laughs at his own joke.

It is what I deserve. I’m a murderer.

"I suppose your friend is lost. No bother. I've just got to find the dragon blessed. Then check on the dragon. Actually, I’ll leave that to Hiljio. I’ve done enough. Not worth risking my neck if the dragon is free." He says aloud to himself.

I notice movement behind him.

Gareth leaps from above sword overhead to slash down but the magi turns around and blasts him with a fireball smashing my friend into the Cliffside wall and Gareth lands with a loud thud.

The snap of bone in his leg accompanies the landing.

The Magi tries to stab Gareth in the face but the blade deflects off the steel helm.

"Just die already."

Then his hands glow orange and burn hot.

He tries to dig his fingers into the helm but Gareth wriggles out the way.

Trying again this time burning fingers dig into the armour and pull it open causing a big crack as it creates a large rent the broken pieces facing ups like the upturn v shape of a steep valley.

It draws a dagger from its belt again and goes to stab Gareth’s heart.

Gareth parrys the blade and riposte cutting shallowly across the chest.

The Magi floats back out of reach.

Blood stains Gareth’s blade.

Gareth courageously, and driven by grit, is able to sprint on a broken leg though blood splatters as the bones sticks out of flesh.

He reaches me and collapses sliding to the ground.

On Gareth’s touch I feel a flood of vitality and I am able to move again.

The Hooded Magi meanwhile has fallen to the ground ten feet from where we are closer to the mountain than the edge.

Blood seeps from the many wounds caused by bites, tears and the sword slash.

His ability to concentrate and maintain the complex flight spell under a prolonged fight seems to be past.

"It is almost tapped. Let’s end this." I call out.

"Indeed." He answers with a laugh.

Blood sprays out of the wound at his cheek from the wound are thin lines of green.

"Now you will perish." He utters.