Today was a good day.
He had found his soul mate, came up with a plan to leave the Dark Legion, and he was about to kill his nemesis. The one Elf that had ruined everything. The Elf that was the bane of his existence, second only to his father, was trapped in front of him. In a few seconds Mettan’s Elemental would be his.
Stilas knelt down and grabbed Mettan throat. He knew the hunter could break the paralysis, but there wouldn’t be much reason to. His arm was broken and his leg was already swelling from the hellhound’s poison. That had been one of the reasons he had chosen hellhounds. They were very tricky to fight against. Most denizens of the underworld were. It was largely due to Mages, even dark Mages, avoiding anything that dealt with the underworld. The beings down there longed to break free and roam the universe once again. Fear of being the one who unleashed Hell, kept even the strongest from dabbling in those arts.
Stilas coaxed the magic from the mark on his right hand as he grabbed Mettan’s forehead.
Stilas was about to explode from eagerness, “I’ve waited a long time for this.”
A wave of force hit him before he could make the mark. It knocked him into the wall opposite the waiting room. He looked up, expecting to see the red headed coward cousin of Mettan, but instead it was that brown haired human.
“Stay away from him,” Andrew ordered as he floated back onto the floor.
Stilas blinked. His jaw may have hit the floor. He couldn’t tell. His luck kept getting better! Now he had Mettan and the Triftion! He moved his mind to check on the status of his second Hellhound. It had just finished falling to its death on the asphalt outside and could be resummoned now. He slapped the wall with his right hand, creating a portal for the hellhound to rejoin the fight through. It stepped through the portal and glared at Andrew. It wanted to eat. He didn’t see anything wrong with giving his pet what it wanted.
“Go,” Stilas whispered under his breath. The human might be the Triftion, but he was new to his powers. It wouldn’t be difficult to overpower him.
The Hellhound leapt at Andrew. Instead of driving the human out the window a second time, the human stepped to the side and pushed the hellhound out by itself.
Stilas pushed off of the wall. He’d have a few seconds before he could summon the hellhound again. He whipped the pen out and pointed it at the Triftion.
“Dodge the pen!” Mettan barked
Andrew hit the floor. Ducking under the bolt of magic that had been aimed at his head.
The tiles under Stilas’ feet pulled away, tripping him back into the wall. He twisted away as the tiles came back and bolted into the wall, trying to lock his feet in place.
Stilas glared at the Triftion. This human was learning too quickly. He pointed the pen, but this time he aimed at Alex.
“No!” Andrew screamed. Fire rolled off the fingers of his left hand while his right pointed at the bed. The bed flipped over, dumping Alex in the floor, but creating a shield to absorb the bolt.
Stilas dropped the melting pen. The fire wouldn’t touch his skin, thanks to the ring from his friend, but it could hurt his clothes, or his pen. He watched the metal sag into the tile. The fire hadn’t been hot enough to melt it, but it had been hot enough to deform it.
Anger bubbled inside him. He hadn’t had that pen for very long, but he had begun to get attached to it. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a black wand. It was time to end this.
Before he could point the wand a gust of wind hit him and knocked his arms apart. Andrew tackled him and slammed him into the wall.
As Stilas coughed and tried to suck air back into his deflated lungs he pondered the tactic. The Triftion had too many long range attacks. There was no reason for him to close the distance and fight hand to hand. Unless there was something he didn’t know about the Triftion.
A fist slamming up into his chin jarred Stilas out of his thoughts. He brought his knee up into Andrew’s chest and pushed the human over to the side. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs as he pointed the wand at the Triftion. It was too easy.
“Looking for this?” Andrew coughed as he stood up and pointed the black wand at Stilas.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Stilas blinked back the tears in his eyes and looked at his hand. During their struggle, Andrew had grabbed the wand from him. Not that it mattered much, unless the human was the Perfect Triftion, he wouldn’t be able to use magic. Only someone with magic would be able to charge and use that wand.
“You can’t use it.” Stilas reached out his hand, “Hand it over and I’ll kill you quick.”
“Okay,” Andrew said. Magic popped as flames ate the wand, leaving nothing but ashes in his hand. He threw the ashes as Stilas, “There.”
Stilas balled his fists. This human was dying right now. He smacked the wall, opening a portal for the Hellhound. It jumped out and glared at Andrew.
“Die human.” Stilas spat as he threw his hand out at Andrew. Raw magic blasts were weak, unfocused and could barely cause any damage. Damage wasn’t what Stilas needed. He only needed a distraction. The blast hit Andrew in the shoulder and knocked him into the wall.
The Hell hound was ready. This time there wasn’t a window to jump through and its prey was dazed. It leapt through the air only to stop halfway to its prey. The door to Andrew’s left broke of its hinges and slammed into the hellhound. A hole for the beasts head fell out, and then shrank around its neck, dragging the beast to the floor. It began whining and clawing at the door, but it couldn’t break it and it couldn’t move.
“Ha!” Andrew staggered as he pushed himself up against the wall, “Now it’s just you and me!”
Stilas fired a second raw magic blast. It hit Andrew in the face, drawing thin red cracks in his skin. Andrew answered with a blast of air that slammed Stilas back into the wall behind him.
Stilas leapt from the wall only to be hit by air a second time and slam into the wall. He fired a magic bolt again from his hand. The pair braced against their walls and traded blows, neither letting the other move forward.
After about twenty blows Stilas was starting to waver. His magic was running out and he was bruised and tired. He needed sleep, but he wasn’t going to quit. Andrew had a black eye and a broken nose. His breathing was labored; it wouldn’t be long before the human slipped into unconsciousness like Mettan.
The door to the stairs blew open. The sound of gun fire sprang through the door.
“Stilas!” Bethany screamed, “Help!”
Stilas looked at the door, then back at Andrew. In a few minutes, he would achieve everything that he had worked for all his life. From the sounds coming through the door, Bethany wasn’t going to last a few more minutes. It should’ve been a hard decision, but it wasn’t. Stilas threw one last blast at Andrew as he slipped sideways down the hall and ran for the door. He didn’t even bother to look back. If he had, he might have seen Andrew fall over. The human’s strength was finally gone. It didn’t matter. That fight was for another day.
Stilas stumbled through the door. He reached for his pen, but remembered that it was gone. He ducked back out of the door. He wouldn’t be able to do Bethany any good if he was dead.
He looked up the stairs. She was on the landing between the third and fourth floor. The soldiers had taken the landing between the second and third, which was why she hadn’t been able to get into the hall.
Stilas summoned most of the magic he had left and focused it at the soldiers. It knocked them back and broke the stairs off between them and the third floor. He looked up at Bethany, “Get ready to jump!”
Bethany nodded. She peaked over the railing to shoot at the soldiers that were coming up the stairs.
Stilas called up the reserves he had been hanging onto so he could make a portal. The ground began to spin a little as black spots dotted his vision. He may have used a little too much magic against the Triftion.
Magic bled off of his hand as he slapped the doorframe. The space inside the door shown blue, then changed to show the cabin where they had stayed the night before. Stilas motioned at the portal, then realized that Bethany couldn’t see him.
“Jump!” He yelled.
“I’m through!” Bethany yelled.
Stilas leaned on the wall for support. He still had one more thing to do before he could follow her through. He closed his eyes and focused on all the marks he had made. It took more magic than he wanted to spare, but he pulled them all into the dimensional pocket. His magic was drained. He stumbled forward and fell through the portal.
“I’ve got you.” Bethany grabbed him by his shoulders and kept him from hitting the ground. “Let’s get you inside.”
Stilas sank into her arms. He was the weakest he had been in a long time, yet he felt safe with her watching over him.
“Stop right there.” A stern voice ordered.
Bethany froze in place. Stilas began going through a mental checklist of what had gone wrong. No one should have thought to go to an abandoned cabin just yet. The invasion hadn’t started. Then he remembered the portal. He hadn’t heard the snap of it closing, because he hadn’t closed it. He slowly snapped his fingers. The familiar snap of the portal closing followed.
He hit the ground as Bethany dropped him to pull out her gun. The laser didn’t make a sound as it cut a hole in the soldier’s chest. Stilas strained to look, but he was too tired. Too sore. He could barely move.
“I’m so sorry.” Bethany said as she grabbed his shoulders. ”I didn’t want to drop you, but-“
“I’m okay.” Stilas wheezed weakly. He pointed at the corpse, “Get some of his blood.”
“Why? Oh.” Bethany scrambled over to the corpse. She came back with some scorched blood on the tip of her fingers, “Now what?”
Stilas turned over his hand, “Smear it on the stone.”
Bethany knelt down and rubbed her bloody fingers across the stone. The stone soaked in the blood. The red swirled around in the stone and then turned white.
“We’re safe.” Stilas sank back into the ground. He was spent. As unconsciousness came for him he drifted away. It was time to start thinking about where he wanted to retire. Sortocs has some nice beaches this time of year.