Zalan gripped his sword tightly, his arms shaking as the Giant Gargoyle sized up the three fighters. Fran’s sword was bright with flames and attracted the most attention. Zalan had given up trying to imbue his sword with electricity and instead tried to look at both the Giant Gargoyle and the dozen Sickly Gargoyles at its feet, panicking as he lost track of the smaller things preparing for an assault.
“Zalan, we will need you to take on the Sickly Gargoyles,” Gorb announced.
“Why me? I barely managed two!” Zalan screamed.
“The two of us will attempt to handle the Giant Gargoyle,” Gorb added.
“Attempt to!?” Zalan shouted in fear.
“We have not faced one before,” Gorb said.
“This will be an incredible fight!” Fran said, excited. “Stay sharp Zalan, we do not want you to get hurt.”
“What if you use—”
The Giant Gargoyle roared, bringing down a giant fist to smash Fran. Gorb threw himself forward, a powerful blast of air emitting from his arms and nudging the Giant Gargoyles arm to one side enough for Fran to dive out of the way, millimeters from being crushed.. She ran up and hopped between Sickly Gargoyles and delivered a flaming slice to the Giant Gargoyle’s leg. It barely registered a scratch in its earthen hide.
“It is tough!” Fran laughed.
The Sickly Gargoyles split up and ran at each of the three travelers in groups of four. Anytime one reached Fran, she kicked it in Zalan’s direction haphazardly, keeping her focus on avoiding the Giant Gargoyle’s ponderous steps as it attempted to flatten her. Gorb threw a burst of air at the Sickly Gargoyles running toward him, bowling them all toward Zalan. Zalan was surrounded.
“Help!” Zalan screamed instinctively, but his rational mind knew he would receive none.
He put up a hand and released a burst of lightning, striking the Sickly Gargoyle nearest to him. It still held close to the pack. Zalan was afraid that if he tried to strike the creature while it was vulnerable, then another would have an opportunity to bite him. The other Sickly Gargoyles approached cautiously, none wanting to be on the receiving end of his lightning. He pointed his sword at them with his other hand, trying to send lightning out of it.
He couldn’t do it, and only continued to throw shocks of lightning at them from his free hand. The Sickly Gargoyles soon caught on that he couldn’t attack all of them at once. They began to circle in on him until Zalan’s back was up against the large rocks that the Giant Gargoyle threw at the beginning of the encounter. The earth rumbled menacingly as the Giant Gargoyle stomped around Fran. She continued to cut away at the Giant Gargoyle’s feet as Gorb redirected its blows. The Sickly Gargoyles were too close now, their mouths frothing with green ick.
“Fine!” Zalan said, frustrated.
Zalan screamed loudly to psyche himself up and threw a bolt of lightning while running forward. The creatures looked baffled at Zalan’s abrupt charge toward them. He got close enough and swung his sword with focus, cutting a Sickly Gargoyle’s head clean off. The other creatures were still distracted and disturbed by Zalan’s prolonged screaming, and he was able to zap and cut down another creature. He gained confidence in himself and burst another shock out of his palm, delighted at his strength in battle. He wondered if Gorb would see him differently now.
Then he was bitten on the leg.
Zalan screeched in pain and fell away from the Sickly Gargoyles. He kicked the Sickly Gargoyle that was on his leg away into the others and was able to struggle to a kneeling stance. He put all his weight on the uninjured leg, knowing that falling would mean death by a dozen excruciating bites. He instinctively let out a stream of lightning, like a firehose of power at his fingertips, striking all the Sickly Gargoyles and stunning them in place. The act was sapping massive amounts of energy, all so he might stumble away from the Sickly Gargoyles. His leg felt as though it was on fire, the burning sensation searing painfully into his flesh and showing no signs of letting up. He took a glance at his foot when he had a few feet of distance between him and the Sickly Gargoyles and saw green pus surrounding the wound. Their bite was charged with acid or poison. He gagged.
“I got bit!” Zalan screamed in panic, already exhausted. The lightning he’d emitted was more than he’d ever done at once, and the pain sapped quickly at his strength. He felt like he was ready to pass out.
Gorb was using air to jump monumentally out of the way as the Giant Gargoyle tried to bite him with a thunder-cracked chomp. Fran was busy hacking away at anything not trying to stomp on her. Neither of them heard him. He howled in agony as the pain seemed to crescendo at an impossible scale. The Sickly Gargoyles watched him intently, the noise he made regaining their attention.
Zalan hobbled his way toward Gorb, Fran and the Giant Gargoyle. The Sickly Gargoyles were still out of sorts after the earlier blast of lightning shook them to their core and Zalan was able to kill another two on his way to his companions. Lightning was coming significantly faster to his fingertips now, taking less than half a second to come out. He had a good idea of how to use it in combat, but he didn’t even care enough to be proud. His leg tormented his every thought. It was unbearable. He considered cutting it off.
“Gorb! Gorb, I got bit!” Zalan was sweating profusely when he was in closer distance to Gorb.
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“Gorbonifus!” Gorb corrected, his voice strained as he sent a small tornado to the Giant Gargoyles eyes.
“Gorb, please! I’m dying!” Zalan screamed, the fire of his leg running up to his thigh. He was afraid the pain would spread further.
“Call me by my name and maybe I can help,” Gorb snapped.
“Gorbonifus! I got bit!!” Zalan shouted angrily, sweat rolling freely off his face.
Gorb gave him a short glance and winced when he saw the damage to the leg. He turned away, and Zalan couldn’t tell whether it was because of the sight of the bite or because he wanted to focus on combat.
“I am… sorry Zalan. There is not much we can do. Right now, keep the monsters off of me so that I may concentrate and we can escape,” Gorb said remorsefully, watching Fran closely as she danced in front of the Giant Gargoyle to enhance the tornado with flames.
“I… I don’t know if I can,” Zalan gasped. He stumbled, fell, and screamed in agony. His leg was done, and he knew he could never stand up again in his current state. The small crew of Sickly Gargoyles were once again back in one bunch and beginning to approach Zalan to swarm him. He was kneeling, certain he would never be able to stand again.
“You must! Or we all die!” Gorb commanded.
Fran laughed with glee as she saw the Giant Gargoyle try and swipe at her blindly, missing by many feet.
Zalan used both hands to hold his sword as the small throng of Sickly Gargoyles bared their poisoned teeth and raced toward him, tripping over one another in their eagerness to overwhelm him. Zalan screamed fearfully, holding up his hand and emitting unbalanced zaps of lightning, causing two Sickly Gargoyles to stumble and land at his feet. He brought his sword down on one of them, killing it.
Then the sword stuck before he could bring it back for another swing. To his surprise, the other Sickly Gargoyle was gripping the blade. Zalan tried to pull it back, but he was in too much pain and far too fatigued. His blade was forcefully stolen away by several of the Sickly Gargoyles, but he was able to thrust it forward one last time and kill a final creature.
Zalan threw more lightning in rapid panic, but he could not kill any more creatures. His hands glowed a soft white, he presumed because he was letting out too much lightning at once. He was unarmed and had nothing powerful enough to kill another monster. In the heat, sweat, and searing pain, Zalan believed he would die. He found no comfort in the possibility of this being a dream-world when he was in so much pain.
The Sickly Gargoyles took another two bites from his legs, Zalan losing his mind in the suffering that followed. He held his hand up to shield his face from any further agony and saw that it was glowing a slightly brighter white. He thought this was his soul leaving his body for a moment, then the soft glow brightened immensely until it was blinding, emitting an explosion around him.
“Now!” Fran cried to Gorb. “The chest!”
Zalan was breathing in disbelief, not understanding what was happening in the moment. He could feel his leg. The pain was mostly gone. It had almost disappeared in the burst of light. Even more shocking, the Sickly Gargoyles were all splayed out in front of him, not moving. He thought it was a trick and zapped one with lightning. Then another, just to be safe. He found that they were all definitely dead.
He turned to ask Gorb what he did, but could only watch as Gorb ran toward the Giant Gargoyle with his swords in hand. Fran bellowed with delight as Gorb sent her flying up in the air with a torrent of Elemental Wind so that she could strike the Giant Gargoyle’s heart with the flaming sword. It went deep within the chest cavity and Fran used her weight to drag the sword downward, cleaving a hole in the giant beast. It roared its avalanche cry in defeat and collapsed backward. Gorb ran up on the supine beast’s body and stabbed the open chest with both of his swords, ensuring it was dead before turning his attention away to check on Zalan from a distance.
Fran was cheering, hysterically happy for herself and Gorb as the Giant Gargoyle showed no signs of getting back up. Zalan looked back at the Sickly Gargoyles dead at his feet and gained Fran’s manic emotions, laughing to himself for having survived. He had been certain that he was about to die. Even more certain that his leg needed to be cut off. He struggled a bit, but was able to get upright on his own. Fran finally gave him some attention, turning to beam at him. Gorb watched him closely, but it was clear both siblings were happy to have beaten the Giant Gargoyle. Zalan made his way to the monster’s corpse.
“What happened? What was that light? Did you do that?” Zalan asked Gorb in amazement.
“No. Fran, check his legs. He was bitten,” Gorb said with a watchful eye on Zalan as he pulled his swords from the Giant Gargoyle.
“You did that!” Fran laughed, skipping over to him. Kneeling, she took a look at the mostly-healed bites from the Sickly Gargoyles. She raised her sword which she was using as a torch in the darkness of the night.
“Me? That was lightning? I didn’t mean to do that,” Zalan revealed.
“No, you gained a Level!” Fran said, then turned towards Gorb and addressed him. “Zalan will be fine. No lasting effects from the bites, but we should take him home to rest immediately.”
Gorb nodded, a deep consternation on his face turning to relief.
“That was a Level up?” Zalan asked, tapping his index finger to his thumb three times to corroborate with his stats.
“That is correct!” Fran said. “A powerful explosion and some healing every time you gain a Level. Wonderful is it not? And that fight was phenomenal! Oh, what a battle! You were splendid, Gorb!”
“You were rash,” Gorb lectured. “We should have examined the large boulder in the firelight before you decided to throw a flame at it and wake the Giant Gargoyle. We already knew it was dangerous to train in the evening, you should have been more careful.”
“It is no fun to fight monsters that you can easily dispatch! How am I supposed to gain more Experience?” Fran brushed his criticisms aside.
“If Zalan had not gained himself a Level when he did, we may have died,” Gorb said gravely.
“Really?” Zalan asked, swallowing hard.
“Yes, really. A Level increase lets out an incredible blast, killing smaller creatures and doing significant damage to larger creatures. And the closer you are, the more damage you do. If you were hugging the Giant Gargoyle as you gained the Level, that may have been enough to kill the creature, all on your own,” Gorb explained.
“Wow,” Zalan said, finally giving attention to the stats on his forearm before making their way back to Oriton.
LEVEL: 02
STRENGTH: 02
WISDOM: 02
EXPERIENCE: 05
ELEMENT: LIGHTNING