Ahnorak Chronicles III

The blade bit into his leg and tore at it like a savage dog. Alek yelled in pain and went down on one knee, jaws clenched so hard his gums began to hurt, a pain that was a pinch compared to what he felt in his left thigh.

The wound burned, feeling like a bottle of acid had been poured into to it prior to its opening, eating deeper into his thigh. Steam rose and performed a dance above the wound, twisting and curling like a thrashing snake. The blade sunk deeper into the wound as the hand wielding it pushed. A yell escaped his lips and his eyes began to mist.

Through the fog of pain clouding his mind, he managed to form patterns with the fingers on his left hand. Suddenly, the weight behind the blade was gone as an invisible hand shoved the man who wielded it, meters into the air. Not wanting it to spend another second within his flesh, Alek wrenched the blade out of his thigh and casted it aside. Pain exploded in his thigh as he did so. He blinked away the tears of pain that had blurred his vision and stared at the open gash in his thigh. It looked like a bloody crevice, cut into the black earth that was his skin.

He lifted his gaze to the creator of the new landmark and snarled at him. The man was staggering to his feet, hands gripping his stomach. Alek formed a string of patterns at once, without hesitation and watched as fire erupted a few feet in front of the man, and spread quickly in the space around him, yet not leaving the invisible barrier of a few feet. The flames licked and crackled, but could never touch the man. Alek cursed; he had managed to cast a shield about himself. The flames died out as quickly as they came, leaving a smiling Hett.

“Is that all you got, boy?”

Alek, still on one knee, set his fingers in motion, forming a series of complicated patterns and muttering words under his breath. Lightning cracked from his fingers and raced towards Hett. Alas, it was as effective as the flames, forming a net of blue energy in the space around Hett, cracking and thrashing about. Hett let out a cackle from the depths of his throat as the lightning vanished as quickly as it came.

The ordeal left Alek breathless. He could feel his grip on his conscious state loosen; his vision began to dim and dark spots danced around his eyes. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold. . .

“Ah, yes, the poison is in effect.” Hett said, a half smile tugging at the left side of his lips. “Not much longer now. . .”

Alek’s breathing became more tasked and labored, each intake of breath was a wheeze, a struggle for his aching lungs. Alek tried a healing pattern with his fingers, and suddenly, he felt the pain fade away, his weakness replaced by strength and his energy replenished. But it left quicker than it came, the slow warmth he felt around his body was replaced by a freezing cold, his energy seemed to have been stolen from him and suddenly, he could no longer keep himself upright. . .

He fell to the floor with a thud, and pain laced through his body, a pain he could no longer feel in a second, and in that second, he thought, So this is what dying feels like, before his lungs seized its intake of breath and his laboring heart relaxed at last. . .

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