Feeling the wave of energy pass over me, I knew I had once again been called on. Opening my eyes to the stone platform under my feet, and my four current "allies" in a semicircle in front of me. I knew them in a way, despite never really meeting them before. Fighters trapped here for the amusement of others. On my left stands a rather round man, his size could easily be mistaken for excessive fat, but I could see the muscle beneath. His legs steady as he appraised me in return, easily holding a large barrel full of liquid under one arm. Next to him is a young woman, lithe, carrying very little muscle or armor, her white hair flowing out from under a hood. In her hands is a bow almost as tall as she was, that looks like it was made from pure ice. She holds no quiver of arrows, but at the same time her eyes hold no fear.
On my right is a creature of pure energy, floating slightly above the ground. It looks to be made of contained lightning, with stone plating in places that almost look like armor designed for a human. It's stone "head" turned slightly, letting me see 2 glowing recesses that seemed to be how it perceived the world. My final ally is a heavily armored woman with a golden shield reaching from the ground to her chest on one arm, and a longsword in her other hand. Probably the best prepared of us all given where we are.
Lifting my own sword, its blade broken long past, I mentally prepared myself for my body to be moved against my will. I did not choose this fight, but fight I would, to the best of my ability despite not having full control. My feet carried me away from my allies, as we all picked a direction and begin running. I would be alone as usual, perfect. It would be foolish to rely on someone that may be my enemy tomorrow. Stepping off the stone and onto dirt I run past a massive statue, standing head and shoulders above the nearby treeline. It appears human, carved to be holding a shield in front, and a staff at its side. The staff head is a glowing crystal, the arcane power inside promising death to anyone deemed to be "the enemy".
I eventually come to a stop near another carved statue, looking out at the empty space in front of myself. In the distance I can see fields of long grass growing next to a cliff, easily long enough to conceal someone. I can hear the gentle burble of a stream not far away as I wait to be given direction. It's not long before I see a man step out of the long grass ahead, dragging a massive sword behind himself. His sword looks more like a giant chunk of metal with one sharpened side, yet he lifts it with ease knowing I can see him as he beckons me forward. Were it my decision I wouldn't let the taunt remain unanswered, yet today I stay back, merely watching him stretching in anticipation of the violence to come. It's not long before I see another of my opponents, a massive armored bear that had been waiting in the long grass for me to step forward. Easily twice as tall as the grass it had somehow been concealed in, another quirk of this battlefield I find myself in.
As the bear leaves toward the sound of water I notice several small creatures approaching behind me wearing matching robes. Their faces concealed by shadow, some carry short swords and small round shields, others carry a staff much like the one the statue holds. They show no aggression to me as they walk directly towards my opponent. I can see they are outmatched long before they reach him, yet with no hesitation they press forward to do battle. I finally move, stepping behind the minions as they march to battle. I see the man retreat and join his own wave of small creatures similarly garbed to my allies, if a different colour of robe.
There is no clash of steel when the units meet, no screaming, no orders yelled. They simply meet in the centre and spread out, picking individual targets and swinging their weapons slowly at each other. These are no great champions of battle, I'm not even sure they are alive in the same way I am. Their movements are jerky as if puppeted, here as a distraction from the true battle between myself and the man who has just literally thrown himself into the middle of the fight. I quickly dash forward to engage him, slashing at his exposed skin. The wounds are light, his grin widening with bloodlust as the minions near him all turn towards me. Individually they prove no threat, yet as a group I need to be wary of attracting too much attention, so I quickly swing my blade, pushing them aside as I retreat a few steps behind my allies. With a shout he follows me, not letting my attack go unanswered. Swinging his massive blade overhead, far faster than I thought possible he leaves a gash across my shoulder before using the weight of his blade to throw himself back behind his allies once again. My wound is painful, yet not enough to stop me fighting. I see some of my allied minions begin to fall, and step in once again to slam my blade into the ground felling the enemy minions. They fall to the ground, quickly disappearing as if they were never there to begin with.
This continues for a time, neither of us committing to fighting eachother fully yet, as more minions approach and engage in battle, only to be struck down by myself or my enemy. With each unit defeated I can feel myself getting stronger, faster. The gash on my arm is slowly closing on its own when I notice my fat ally appear around the cliff behind my opponent. I take a step back as if to retreat before turning and dashing directly towards the enemy champion to keep his attention on myself. He lets loose a roar leaving my ears ringing and my knees weak as he steps toward me with a grin. Just then he notices he has been cornered, but it is too late as my ally bodyslams him, his weight alone enough to stop my enemy in his tracks. I step in, tripping him with my blade as my ally slams his barrel down with a splash of pungent red liquid. Even surrounded our enemy shows no fear, his eyes wide and bloodshot. His grin plastered on his face as he continues to swing his giant sword at me. The wounds he is taking seem to only make him more excited as I try and step away from him, ready to retreat to the safety of the magic statue when he lets loose another roar and leaps towards me. I see the glowing crystal staff of the statue glow bright before it releases a blast of energy towards our enemy. He is bleeding heavily, any other fighter would surely have fallen by now yet he keeps fighting, ignoring my ally, ignoring the blasts of magic he continues to chase me intending to cut me down. I fear I'm about to fall when my ally throws his barrel between us. The barrel shatters releasing a wave of liquid which pushes my enemy away, directly under the statue that has been blasting him with energy and giving me a chance to move away. He no longer looks excited, instead he is furious to have his prey escape. With one more roar he tries to chase me before he is crushed beneath the stomach of my ally.
He is no longer moving, yet I continue to retreat, my wounds too great to remain anywhere near combat. Soon after I stop and feel power wrap itself around me, the same as I felt when I first arrived. Appearing once again on the stone platform I can feel my wounds knitting together, the blood on my blade disappearing as if it was never there. While I wait for the last of my wounds to close the armored woman appears beside me heaving for breath, her shield covered in black marks as if she had been catching explosions on it. With a nod, I left. Running back to the site of my first victory. Approaching the statue I don't see a corpse, nothing to show for the fight we had. No proof that I killed him. He would be back soon, the magic of this land wasn't going to let us escape that easily. Until then I would have the advantage, able to slaughter the weak minions while they battled eachother.
Pushing forward another statue came into view, identical to the ones I have run past, however this one would try and destroy me. For the moment it was targeting the weak creatures I surrounded myself with, cannon fodder that gave me an opportunity to hack at the base. It was solid, carved out of stone but with a magically reinforced shell, my blade slowly chipping away at the outer layer while the minions died around me. Spotting my opponent dragging his blade while sprinting forward, I begin to retreat, there would be no victory this time, alone against the brute and the statue I would surely fall. However as I step away I hear a faint splashing of footsteps through shallow water. Spotting something dressed similarly to the minions walking forwards, I can feel fear growing inside my stomach. This is no ally of mine, nor is it weak.
Dashing as fast as I can to the safety of an allied statue I watch in terror as a wall of magic appears in front of me, to the sides of me, behind me. Trapped, blocked off from escape or help I shout out in fear and rage, channeling my adrenaline through my sword handle I feel it gain extra weight as pieces of blade long lost appear to float into place, as if the blade was never broken. Looking around I cannot see through the walls well enough to spot my enemy. A bolt of dark energy flies toward me through one wall, leaving no mark but it felt like my heart stops for a beat. Only made worse as a shadow falls over me, a great mass of dark energy appearing above me and quickly accelerating down. I try to move away, but my legs begin to give out as I see the warrior walk through a wall like it wasn't even there. Knowing I'm trapped, I turn towards him as the dark energy crashes down onto me, shocking me into taking a step forwards even as my sight begins to blur. With a wild swing I slash forward with all my strength and rage, releasing the built up energy in my sword forwards in a wave, doing all I can to hurt those who did this to me. The warrior stops as I fall forwards, this isn't the victory he wanted against me.
Time passes, I know I'm not alive, but the fact I can know anything is a sure sign of not being truly dead. I have some sense of my body being stepped over, though I can't tell if it is ally or enemy.
Another wave of energy flows over me, as the stone platform once again appears beneath my feet. My feet, my arms, whole and unblemished. No signs of the damage I just suffered. My blade is cool in my grip, I know I can't channel the same level of energy through it yet. With a glance towards the path I have followed twice so far, I turn a different way. My death will not go unanswered today. I don't see it as revenge, simply returning a favor. As I step off the stone onto dirt once more I turn aside, heading into the treeline. Keeping my distance from some wild birds, they are not my target today, I see the waterline I know will lead me towards the short creature of dark magic. Stepping into some long grass I see it ahead, facing off against the creature of lightning I saw earlier. They both stand behind the minions, throwing out magic. My ally throwing out arcs of lightning that pierce the minions and cause its enemy to retreat before surging forwards. The walls of force appear again, not around myself this time, nor around my ally who managed to step away in time. I quickly run forward, the short mage unable to use that spell again so quickly. It flings magic towards me, a dark bolt impacting my chest even as the shadow of its greater spell falls across me. I'm prepared this time however, quickly stepping to the side trying to cut off the enemy from retreat. As I approach a massive bolt of lightning slams down next to the mage, causing its limbs to twitch and slowing it considerably. Just as I reach it and slash across its legs, a massive magical arrow whistles over my shoulder and crashes into the enemy. Its staff falls limp in its hand, oversized hat drooping atop its head. This is all the opportunity I need to plunge my blade through its chest, finishing the kill.
Flashing a thumbs up behind me I run back into the water, heading towards the source of the arrow. I had received aid unasked for, it's only fair to do the same. I hear a deep heaving of breath as I pass a cave beside the water, staying well away from the monster that resides within. Near the edge of the water I can see the women with the bow and the great shield being attacked by another short enemy, this one female, and carrying a handheld cannon with both arms. Her cannon shots mostly blocked by a shield even as my allies are pushed backwards from the force. She fired her cannon towards her feet, propelling herself forwards as I spot her ally slowly floating forwards. She carries no weapon I can see, instead holding some kind of stringed instrument in front of herself. As she plucks at the strings a gentle shockwave flows out, lifting her twin streams of hair to float gently as if weightless.
I stay hidden until she passes, then sprint out to try and intercept her before she can aid her gunner. Just as I catch up she notices me, and quickly turns with a blast of sound in my direction knocking me senseless for a moment. I'm alone behind 2 enemies, unable to move but I know this is a fight I can win, with a little luck. I regain my senses just in time to see the shieldmaiden lift her sword to the sky, and the clouds split as concentrated sunlight crashes down on top of the gunner. Her senses overloaded from the blast of light, she stops in place as I turn my attention to the musician once more. My archer ally has turned to her also, each arrow leaving traces of frost on her clothes. I quickly slash down, knocking her to the ground and leaving her defenses open before turning my back, leaving the archer to finish her off. The gunner girl has recovered and is trying to run past me to escape, wounds and sunburn obvious on her skin. With a dash forwards I'm able to channel energy through my blade once more, lashing out with it and smothering the gunner who drops to the ground lifeless, cannon rolling a little before coming to a stop.
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With a grin towards my allies, I push forward to the minions. Easily crushing them with my blade, their strength not growing nearly as quickly as mine during this battle. The shieldmaiden has retreated with a flash of light while the archer has remained, rapidly loosing shards of ice like arrows from her bow. We push forwards to the enemy statue, a large group of minions around us. My blade loses its extra length just as we reach the statue, but we still have ample time to try and topple it. The stone base of the statue is badly damaged, chunks of stone falling off when I hear a splash of water. The great armored bear has caught us from behind, using the same path I did to sneak up. I know we cannot win this fight if the statue fires upon me, so I leave my archer to her fate as I concentrate on chipping away at the stone.
The archer is running, occasionally turning to loose a wide spray of ice arrows to try and slow the bear chasing her. With a final swing, I break the final chunk of stone holding the statue upright. Turning to the bear I rush forward as the statue collapses behind me. The archer lets off a final volley of arrows just as the bear bites through her shoulder, dropping her to the ground. I approach quickly, not giving it a chance to recover. Just as I slam my blade into the bear's legs, the shieldmaiden leaps behind and smashes her shield into it, a blast of light knocking the bear senseless for a second. I seize the opportunity and quickly attack, another small burst of light leaking from its skin as I slash through. The bear recovers and bites towards me, however I quickly dash to the side and use my blade to tangle its legs, throwing the bear off balance for a short time.
Alternating between shield slams and tripping it up we manage to eventually drop the great beast, though it has taken far longer than I wanted. My team needs me to stop the warrior with the greatsword, and I don't even know where he is. Standing behind our allied statue I feel the energy wrap around me, ready to return to my base. Just as the energy carries me away I catch a glimpse of the warrior appearing from the treeline near me, a scowl on his face as I disappear.
Once again my wounds close, the bite and claw marks disappearing in a wave of magic. As I leave the stone platform behind, the archer appears and immediately yells after me, accusing me of letting her die. I regret what happened, even if it is not my own will that guides my steps. No one should be left to fight unreasonable odds alone, yet I don't apologise. This is a war, and in war people die. Her death allowed me to destroy a statue, and we even got revenge on the bear, AND it's not like she remained dead.
Following the dirt path back into position, there is a huge group of creatures surrounding my statue and chipping away at it. There is even a minion riding atop a wheeled contraption with a cannon on the front. Each shot from the magic crystal leaves scorch marks on the cannon, but I can see it wont be fast enough without help. Jumping into the fray, I sweep around the nearby enemies with my blade, stunning them and distracting them from targeting the statue. The cannon falling quicker to my blade than what the magic blasts had achieved.
The statue is close to collapse as I finish clearing the minions away. As the last minion dies I see the warrior throw himself straight towards myself and the nearly destroyed statue, his blade crashes down on the stone even as I try and stop him. Tripping him up only slows his assault, he ignores my attacks as he focusses on breaking stone. I can see the magic blasts from the statue as they burn away his hair and a layer of skin from his arms, yet he ignores it all. Just as the statue begins to crumble I see the warriors eyes flash a dangerous red. He is heavily wounded while I am basically untouched so far. The warrior turns on me and swings his weapon around in a wide slash across my chest and shoulder. This time I will give this warrior the fight he desires, as I grin right back at him.
A quick step to the side before sweeping my blade around knocks him off balance, but the cut barely even bleeds as he lets loose a roar loud enough to shake my bones. My grip on my weapon loosens for a moment, my next attacks barely leaving a scratch on his skin. Those wounds, and many others rapidly close as his eyes lose the fiery rage that has kept him fighting so long. He doesn't run though, this is a fight he wants, and I will give it to him. He is heavily injured, and his strength must surely be waning, yet his great blade swings just as fast and hard as before, leaving nasty cuts across my body. With a slam of my blade, the warrior loses his balance and I plunge my blade into him one last time before he finally stops moving.
I'm hurt, my palms slick with my own blood running down my arms, yet I can't let this opportunity pass. Running forward I see the wave of enemy minions before me. I weave between them, tripping some and disabling others with well placed blows. Allied minions approach from behind, spreading out to help me dispose of the trash. Pushing forward I stop just in front of scorch marks on the ground, not wanting to approach the statue without allies nearby. As soon as the energy blasts towards one of my allied minions i dash forwards to strike at the statue base, soon toppling it in a cloud of stone dust.
I should retreat, but my feet carry me forward alongside the minions. Spotting another wave of enemies ahead I rush forwards, attacking wildly and disrupting the enemy formation. I see another statue ahead, but instead of heading towards it I step through a gap in the treeline into the overgrowth. There is long grass everywhere, and I hear the cries of wild animals nearby. I stop in a patch of long grass as I feel the energy around myself once more. My escape seems assured, right until the short mage steps into the bush behind me. I quickly try and turn to fight, the magic around me dissipating, however he once again surrounds me in walls of magic. Before I can try and find an escape a blast of pure darkness flies towards me. I dash to the side to try and evade but the magic turns sharply to chase me, crashing into me my wounds flash with the dark energy and I fall to the ground.
My consciousness once again floats freely as my body lies lifeless in the jungle. My own fights have been going well, pushing towards the enemy base, destroying statues, killing enemies. I'm confident we can continue this. I float listlessly longer this time, the magic taking longer to revive me the stronger I get.
Before my eyes open properly I step off the platform and begin running in a straight line down a path my lightning ally has been pushing. Once I spot the combat I can see things are going poorly, the lightning magic coming slowly as it burns through spells trying to kill minions underneath our allied statue. I sweep through the minions with my blade, quickly cutting down as many as I can while my ally retreats to heal and restore its energy.
Once I clear enemies away from the statue, I march forward into the next wave of minions, clearing them away and opening a path to the enemy statue. My fat ally appears from the bushes nearby and joins my push forwards. The statue has already taken some damage, and between the two us we quickly shatter the base, collapsing it. With a flick of his head my ally beckons me to follow him towards the water. We walk together to the cave I passed by earlier. There is no calm breaths this time, instead we can hear roars of combat.
Stepping inside the cave I see the armored bear locked in combat with a great red winged beast. They would be equal in height if the wyrm stood on its legs, but it hovers in midair, spitting fire towards the bear. I dash in and begin to slash at the bears legs when I see my ally ignore me and target the wyrm. I'm surprised to note the bear ignores me completely to focus on the wyrm also. Using this opportunity I do all I can to bring down the giant bear, reforming my blade to its full glory as I slash wildly. Just as the wyrm begins to list to the side, my ally slams forward into the bear, literally throwing his weight around to knock it off balance.
With a final slam of his barrel into the wyrm, it falls at our feet while I'm still attacking the bear. As the wyrm corpse vanishes I feel a rush of energy flow into me, strengthening my attacks as I leap and smash my blade into the ground beneath us, toppling the great bear as my ally punches it one last time, killing it.
We have no time to celebrate our victory however, as the gunner girl appears at the cave entrance and opens fire upon my ally. One of her shots seems to stick to him without exploding as we both head towards her. Even with both of us hurt we are confident we can win a fight against one little girl. Just before i reach her, she fires at the ground and uses the explosion to leap away from us. She continues firing at my ally which is when I notice her shot that didn't explode is flashing dangerously. With a final shot of her cannon, an explosion causes shockwaves in the water near us as a bomb goes off in the face of my ally. Even as the blastwave washes over me I see him fall backwards, out of this fight.
With a grin the gunner turns to me, shooting once before she leaps away again. However this time as soon as she lands, the shieldmaiden is there to slam her shield into the short gunners face knocking her senseless. I have ample time to step forward and swing my blade twice, before releasing the energy in a wave once more. She may be able to kill us at a distance, but as soon as we get close her combat skills become somewhat limited.
With the great bear and the gunner girl dead for the moment, I follow the shieldmaiden onto the dirt path towards the enemy base. The remains of the first statue covered in dust that swirls as we rush past. Ahead I see minions fighting each other while the musician tries and fails to stop them. Raising her sword to the sky, my ally calls down a storm of sunlight once more onto the head of the musician. Not satisfied with that she flings herself forward to shield slam and keep the musician disabled while I step forwards and sweep my blade twice, three times, and cut her down.
With nothing left between us and the enemy statue our minions march forward to attack as we follow and rapidly dismantle it. As another wave of minions approaches from behind we continue forwards and see the walls surrounding the enemy base. Another statue stands in the only entrance we can see, and the minions steadily move into its range. Even combined, all the minions weapons don't compare to my own in how much damage we cause. My shieldmaiden ally only landing a couple of attacks before stepping away.
The statue is still standing when I also step away, I don't know where the enemies are, and their fallen will be alive soon. The shieldmaiden hasn't left yet, apparently waiting for me to join her as she heads into the treeline. We find a patch of empty grass and I stop as I feel the energy surrounding me, eventually returning me to base. I appear next to the archer who is just standing around. I see her launch a massive arrow forwards at a target I can't see before she lowers her arm again. As I leave the platform and archer behind, the shieldmaiden follows me.
Rushing up the path I see the warrior pushing forwards, I had left him alone too long and he had almost destroyed a second statue. Weaving attacks with the shieldmaiden's shield slams we quickly cover him in wounds. He attempts to dash into the trees, but my allys' blade magically extends forwards and tangles his feet while she pulls herself to him. I leap on top of him just as she hits him in the head with her shield once more. He doesn't go into a frenzy this time, I don't know if he can't or he just doesn't see the point against the both of us, we do make an excellent team.
Pushing forwards with the minions at our heels, we quickly defeat the enemy minions in our path. Passing by both fallen statues we continue forwards as I see arcs of lightning just past the trees. Glancing through a gap in the trees lets me relax, our ally isn't in any real danger as he finishes killing some wild animals before stepping alongside us.
Stepping up to the statue, the three of us quickly break the base and collapse it in a cloud of dust. We walk confidently through only to see a wall of magic spring up directly before us. I am not surrounded by the walls this time, so I take a step backwards and watch our backs as we wait for the magic wall to disperse. All of the minions walk directly into it as if they don't know its there, each of them knocked momentarily senseless but otherwise unharmed by the magic.
The three of us move forward as soon as the wall disappears, but the short mage is nowhere to be seen. We have just started attacking the statue base inside the enemy walls when the warrior charges forward directly towards my lightning ally. His blade quickly cleaving through the energy and stone plates that make up its body. Its body scatters to the winds and stone falls to the ground even as the shieldmaiden brings her shield to bear.
It's at this time I see the great bear leap through the sky towards us with a roar, arcs of electricity around its claws. Both bear and warrior turn to me even as a beam of light crashes into them from the sky, neither one distracted from their assault. With a great blade slashing into my front, and a giant bear biting into my back I fall quickly, unable to put up much of a fight. As I fall I see a barrel explode next to me, my final ally trying to help but arriving too late.
A long time passes before my feet land back on stone, alive and whole once more. The archer is here still, or again, glaring at me as I leave. Picking the middle path I run alongside the minions, with one additional minion riding atop a set of moving metal armor. The very presence of this armor enough to inspire the other minions into moving faster. Moving past all the destroyed statues I step past the enemy walls, noting one more destroyed building, this one with a giant crystal in the centre, cracked and leaning to the side.
I see my fat ally ahead, standing between two statues and smashing his barrel into one. He quickly collapses one and turns to the other as I arrive to aid him. I see two of the enemy hiding behind their base watching us, the short mage and the musician watch as we destroy their last defense. Turning my blade to the enemy base, I revel in the feel of a victory hard fought. Just before dealing the final blow, the warrior flings himself forward one last time, carving a path through the minions and leaving a new cut on my arm. With the destruction of the base however he falls still, this battle finished with his defeat.
Today had been a good day, I celebrated our victory alongside my allies and minions.
Next time I'm called here, the outcome may be different, yet I'll return again and again to fight and die. All for you. Always for you.