More.
Continued work on the Terra retconning. Descriptioins of characters = negative.
They were running; whatever the hell kind of spell Kamidan was casting, it was going off even though Katz's weapon had pierced the mage's heart. Maybe not in the same way, but the volcano was going to burst in heartbeats, they felt.
Breyan was in the lead; despite the heavy armor he was wearing, he was moving fast on his feet. His chainmail boots clinked as he jumped from rock to rock.
Katz was in the back, the tall man carrying Jeria over his shoulder; everyone else was clustered in the middle, rushing for the exit.
There were guards baring their way; then there was blood, Breyan spinning to get the recoil on his blade under control, not even slowing down. It seemed like the wind itself tore through them.
There were fire demons behind them, springing from the lava. Katz cut them down, working his heavy sword with one hand.
One sprang too close to Samson; the priest was too weak to blast it, working to shield the party from the fires of the volcano. If he fell, they all fell. The claw was quick, seeming to spring out of the stone, melting. There was a smell of burning flesh, the clink of the chainmail boots as Breyan whirled, catching the claw in his free hand while swinging his sword brutally to sever the thing.
"Keep running." The priest knew Breyan was bleeding, he was hurt. But they all were, and Breyan was the only one not seeming to show it.
He sprung away again; when did he get so fast? It seemed like, rushing around in the volcano, the only one of them who wasn't on the verge of collapsing was Breyan. "Almost out. There's the bridge over the lava, and then you all can get out."
Someone shouted as they got close; that knight! Forgotten, that swordsman standing on the bridge.
"Keep running! Katz, speed up. I'll take care of things" And Breyan was off, dashing at the swordsman.
When did he get so quick? Still, the group found the strength to pick up the speed. Katz's sword clattered to the ground as he picked up his speed, grabbing Samson up in his other hand. The other two warriors kept their mad dash going, following Breyan.
"Hope he knows what he's doing," Conleth murmured.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, Samson thought as Breyan placed his sword on his back, reaching a full run with his head lowered into the hot air. The stone was melting around them. Too hot to stand.
There was a yell; Breyan's yell, that fearsome battlecry he would utter when he got close to a foe; he spun, circular. The shadow knight cut at the air, and tore at Breyan's hair tore away. There was blood, maybe a little less than there should be, hitting the hot stone and sizzling.
Breyan whirled, spun, shouldered and kicked. The knight was off balance, but it wasn't like Breyan was winning. Cut, cut, cut. Splash, splash, splash. Sizzle, the smell of burning flesh as skin and blood burned on the stone.
Katz ran past, full speed. Conleth and Marcus as well, the brothers keeping shields up to try and avoid cuts.
They needn't have worried; the blade swooped towards Jeria's unconsious neck, and was stopped, smeared red by blood torn from burned flesh. Breyan's left hand again, taking a beating for the rest of the group.
"Run," Breyan murmured as the party rushed past him. The shadow knight pushed him down, and he hit the ground of the bridge, sword still in hand.
He was up quick, as quick as a cat, between the fleeing warriors and the shadow knight. He grinned, and wrapped his wounded hand around the pommel of his sword.
"Wanting to beat me?" The shadow knight murmured, in that odd reverberating voice he had.
"Beatcha?" Breyan's forehead was bleeding, dripping down his face. "Nah, nah. We fought before. I've got the strength to tear you a new one, but... I'm hurt bad, and I can't possibly dish it out and take it like this. Heh."
"Then what?" the bloodstained sword pointed at Breyan. "If you can't beat me, then what? If you try and run, you'll get cut down. And this place is crumbling around us."
"Yeah, I learned somethin'... how to use a shield." It didn't make sense, but, Breyan's blood was smeared all around the bridge, and the pathway leading to it. His life was leaving him, and he was somewhat insane at the hurt of it all.
"What does that have to do with anything, youngling?" The shadow-sword came in again, lightning quick.
With a roar, Breyan blocked it, the weapons throwing off sparks. Across the crossed blades, the shadow-knight could see Breyan's pupils tighten, and blur a bit, as if the sparks brought out some emotion in his premative mind.
The shadow knight moved to block an incoming attack, but none was coming. Breyan held the defensive crouch.
"With a shield... I dunhafta rely on my brute strength. I can do more with one hand..." The knight swung; Breyan parried, and then lashed out with his wounded left hand, grabbing the shadowknights off hand and crushing it. There was a noise, bone breaking, armor tearing. "Than someone else can do with their whole body... Why use both hands."
He kept his hold on the arm. Their swords remained crossed, digging into each other. The shadow knight couldn't get himself free from the grasp, and if Breyan moved his sword, he would be cut down in a heartbeat.
"I can... keep you from hurting me, and wait for an opening... If I was all here, I could use a shield... and beatchya senseless. Instead... It's going to be great."
"Great?"
"I wanna go out with a bang..." The sweat was pouring out of their bodies as the volcanoes walls began to melt. "All this lava, it'll be like a fireworks display... You might be quick and strong, but neither of us is going to survive all of this crashing down. All the fire... like fireworks. It'll be a great gravemarker..."
"You're insane."
"I'm ready."
"Ready for what...?"
"No ones gonna remember me or you. No one's going to remember this shitty island, or what happened here. But I'm ready to die in obscurity, to be a nothing and a nobody buried underneath a thousand tons of lava and stone."
The mountain shook.
"By now, the group is outta here. Its just me and you, and the lava. I don't have enough strength to swing this sword anymore, so I'll just be the shield, and let fire be the sword. Even if its just a heartbeat... I'll..."
Breyan choked, and felt tears mingling with his sweat, stinging his cuts and burns. He had stopped sweating, and he could feel the hair on his arms burning away, his flesh catching on fire as the lava began to pour around them.
He thought of his mother, his sister. Jeria, Samson, Katz, Conleth, Marcus. His grandfather. His first kiss; a night with fireflies. The tree he climbed in when he was young, and when it was cut down for wood in a harsh winter. He remembered his wooden swords growing up, this sword in his hand. His bloody footprints to this miserable island, all of it. Emotion welled in him, and his eyes seemed to blur. To his eyes, all the world was red as a wave approached. Dark glowing red, and then it crashed. It didn't hurt, but deep in his heart he knew it was over.
It had been minutes, but they had gotten half a mile away, out of the canyon.
They saw the volcano erupt.
Marcus insisted on resting as they watched; he said it was for the mages to rest and for everyone to catch their breath, but Conleth knew it was to wait for Breyan.
Long after the magma cooled, they left the island. Just five.
They were running; whatever the hell kind of spell Kamidan was casting, it was going off even though Katz's weapon had pierced the mage's heart. Maybe not in the same way, but the volcano was going to burst in heartbeats, they felt.
Breyan was in the lead; despite the heavy armor he was wearing, he was moving fast on his feet. His chainmail boots clinked as he jumped from rock to rock.
Katz was in the back, the tall man carrying Jeria over his shoulder; everyone else was clustered in the middle, rushing for the exit.
There were guards baring their way; then there was blood, Breyan spinning to get the recoil on his blade under control, not even slowing down. It seemed like the wind itself tore through them.
There were fire demons behind them, springing from the lava. Katz cut them down, working his heavy sword with one hand.
One sprang too close to Samson; the priest was too weak to blast it, working to shield the party from the fires of the volcano. If he fell, they all fell. The claw was quick, seeming to spring out of the stone, melting. There was a smell of burning flesh, the clink of the chainmail boots as Breyan whirled, catching the claw in his free hand while swinging his sword brutally to sever the thing.
"Keep running." The priest knew Breyan was bleeding, he was hurt. But they all were, and Breyan was the only one not seeming to show it.
He sprung away again; when did he get so fast? It seemed like, rushing around in the volcano, the only one of them who wasn't on the verge of collapsing was Breyan. "Almost out. There's the bridge over the lava, and then you all can get out."
Someone shouted as they got close; that knight! Forgotten, that swordsman standing on the bridge.
"Keep running! Katz, speed up. I'll take care of things" And Breyan was off, dashing at the swordsman.
When did he get so quick? Still, the group found the strength to pick up the speed. Katz's sword clattered to the ground as he picked up his speed, grabbing Samson up in his other hand. The other two warriors kept their mad dash going, following Breyan.
"Hope he knows what he's doing," Conleth murmured.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, Samson thought as Breyan placed his sword on his back, reaching a full run with his head lowered into the hot air. The stone was melting around them. Too hot to stand.
There was a yell; Breyan's yell, that fearsome battlecry he would utter when he got close to a foe; he spun, circular. The shadow knight cut at the air, and tore at Breyan's hair tore away. There was blood, maybe a little less than there should be, hitting the hot stone and sizzling.
Breyan whirled, spun, shouldered and kicked. The knight was off balance, but it wasn't like Breyan was winning. Cut, cut, cut. Splash, splash, splash. Sizzle, the smell of burning flesh as skin and blood burned on the stone.
Katz ran past, full speed. Conleth and Marcus as well, the brothers keeping shields up to try and avoid cuts.
They needn't have worried; the blade swooped towards Jeria's unconsious neck, and was stopped, smeared red by blood torn from burned flesh. Breyan's left hand again, taking a beating for the rest of the group.
"Run," Breyan murmured as the party rushed past him. The shadow knight pushed him down, and he hit the ground of the bridge, sword still in hand.
He was up quick, as quick as a cat, between the fleeing warriors and the shadow knight. He grinned, and wrapped his wounded hand around the pommel of his sword.
"Wanting to beat me?" The shadow knight murmured, in that odd reverberating voice he had.
"Beatcha?" Breyan's forehead was bleeding, dripping down his face. "Nah, nah. We fought before. I've got the strength to tear you a new one, but... I'm hurt bad, and I can't possibly dish it out and take it like this. Heh."
"Then what?" the bloodstained sword pointed at Breyan. "If you can't beat me, then what? If you try and run, you'll get cut down. And this place is crumbling around us."
"Yeah, I learned somethin'... how to use a shield." It didn't make sense, but, Breyan's blood was smeared all around the bridge, and the pathway leading to it. His life was leaving him, and he was somewhat insane at the hurt of it all.
"What does that have to do with anything, youngling?" The shadow-sword came in again, lightning quick.
With a roar, Breyan blocked it, the weapons throwing off sparks. Across the crossed blades, the shadow-knight could see Breyan's pupils tighten, and blur a bit, as if the sparks brought out some emotion in his premative mind.
The shadow knight moved to block an incoming attack, but none was coming. Breyan held the defensive crouch.
"With a shield... I dunhafta rely on my brute strength. I can do more with one hand..." The knight swung; Breyan parried, and then lashed out with his wounded left hand, grabbing the shadowknights off hand and crushing it. There was a noise, bone breaking, armor tearing. "Than someone else can do with their whole body... Why use both hands."
He kept his hold on the arm. Their swords remained crossed, digging into each other. The shadow knight couldn't get himself free from the grasp, and if Breyan moved his sword, he would be cut down in a heartbeat.
"I can... keep you from hurting me, and wait for an opening... If I was all here, I could use a shield... and beatchya senseless. Instead... It's going to be great."
"Great?"
"I wanna go out with a bang..." The sweat was pouring out of their bodies as the volcanoes walls began to melt. "All this lava, it'll be like a fireworks display... You might be quick and strong, but neither of us is going to survive all of this crashing down. All the fire... like fireworks. It'll be a great gravemarker..."
"You're insane."
"I'm ready."
"Ready for what...?"
"No ones gonna remember me or you. No one's going to remember this shitty island, or what happened here. But I'm ready to die in obscurity, to be a nothing and a nobody buried underneath a thousand tons of lava and stone."
The mountain shook.
"By now, the group is outta here. Its just me and you, and the lava. I don't have enough strength to swing this sword anymore, so I'll just be the shield, and let fire be the sword. Even if its just a heartbeat... I'll..."
Breyan choked, and felt tears mingling with his sweat, stinging his cuts and burns. He had stopped sweating, and he could feel the hair on his arms burning away, his flesh catching on fire as the lava began to pour around them.
He thought of his mother, his sister. Jeria, Samson, Katz, Conleth, Marcus. His grandfather. His first kiss; a night with fireflies. The tree he climbed in when he was young, and when it was cut down for wood in a harsh winter. He remembered his wooden swords growing up, this sword in his hand. His bloody footprints to this miserable island, all of it. Emotion welled in him, and his eyes seemed to blur. To his eyes, all the world was red as a wave approached. Dark glowing red, and then it crashed. It didn't hurt, but deep in his heart he knew it was over.
It had been minutes, but they had gotten half a mile away, out of the canyon.
They saw the volcano erupt.
Marcus insisted on resting as they watched; he said it was for the mages to rest and for everyone to catch their breath, but Conleth knew it was to wait for Breyan.
Long after the magma cooled, they left the island. Just five.