Spark in Darkness 35
Sep. 24th, 2003 06:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sparkindarknessI'm back, and guess what, still not working.
Anyway, the end of the battle, I may be able to being my boys away from the war zone soon.
And for reference, Ahrimadan made his first appearance here:
No. 18
I drew several deep calming breaths. Just a few minutes, just to take stock.
That thrice cursed Salamander hissed at me, baleful light glowed in reptilian eyes burning with hate. I can hardly believe how quickly Darren corrupted it - a creature of pure fire! And he claimed he was safe! Claimed he could hold back the darkness! With what? Love? Fool boy! And how much more foolish had we been to believe him, to meet with him! Gods forgive us, we should have all waited in ambush for him with Nikolai... wherever he went!
I was stuck behind one of my own wards. The fire circle kept the salamander at bay, for all it was fairly hurried work, but the creature had surrounded my ward with an impenetrable wall of balefire. The ward I created was just a prison until I could drive the salamander - the salamander I summoned! - off. And to make matters worse one of my own bloody golems was lurking about 20 feet away. It was perfectly animated earth, crafted by complex runes engraved onto the stone that still graced its brow. that was about all that was the same. Now the humanoid form had bat like wings tipped with evil claws. Talons sprouted from its fingers, horns either side of the rune stone. A tail snaked around its legs, thrashing in frustration even as that fanged maw grinned maliciously. I’d managed to keep it back with another rune stone, a twin of the one that had created it, with a Repelling rune engraved on the back. The rune floated in the air between me and the monstrosity, as the creature circled, it floated to follow it, keeping it. It’s a poor rune smith who gets killed by his own creations!
But cowering behind my wards until Darren came for me was suicide. I’m powerful, extremely powerful, but I had few illusions as to my chances of survival in single combat against a sorcerer. Was he already hunting down Nikolai and Rhiannon? Had he already gotten them? I’d lost track of time trying to out run his minions - bloody hell, run to ground by his minions!
I started tracing runes in the air. Banishment woven into Fire, permeated with Power twined around Death. My voice cut through the hissing of the Dire Salamander and the roaring of the daemonic golem, growing louder to the climax...
Something fell on my shoulder. I felt sharp claws rip at my shoulder, through my shirt. Needle teeth impaled my shoulder. What the hell? I staggered around in the circle, desperately looking for my assailant. A daemon? A monster? What vile creature had Darren summoned against me!?
It was mortifying! How could I have let my panic take over so completely?! I was a Camaalis! We do not give into fear so easily. Gritting my teeth, I reached back and dragged the cat that was trying to dig its way through my shoulders. It had leapt on me from the branches above, stupid creature. Driven mad by the fire most like. I uttered a quick prayer of thanks that it hadn’t disrupted my runes before throwing the cursed creature as far as I could. It snarled viciously as it flew into the balefire. Bloody thing, I had enough problems without irate house pets!
I turned back to the Dire Salamander and the steadily more frustrated Daemon Golem. I paused and just smiled at them. It was past time these lesser creatures learnt to fear the might of Clan Camaalis! I raised my hands and summoned power into the chain of glowing runes suspended in mid-air, ready to release... The Dire Salamander hissed in furious terror... but the Daemon laughed. Laughed! What?!
I spun, reaching into my rune bag... the runes spilled between fingers numb with shock. The cat... the cat lived?! It sat in the balefire, in the dark fire itself! How...?! “How?!” I choked at it...
“Thou art too quick to judge, little mortal. Thou dost not look deep enough. It is a flaw. A flaw thou wilt not have time to correct.” I could only watch as a single black paw descended onto the fire ward, wiped across the circle of protection. A corona of dark power glowed in the cat’s golden eyes, eating the metallic sheen... and my ward snapped.
I had time to turn. Time to shout the word of power... then there was only time to scream... fire consumed me... balefire it burned, it rotted, it ate! The pain banished all thought... I barely even felt the Dire Salamander’s jaws clench around my arm... the fire rolled over me washing away sensation in a wave of pain that blocked out even the tearing of my arm from its socket, the wound cauterising instantly.
I lay back... waiting for death... an end to the pain.
It did not come... the screaming agony throbbed across my skin, blackened and charred, with sickly green pus oozing from the open wound, rotting, stinking, vile. I opened my eyes - my eye... the other was little more than a burnt out shell, and saw, blurred through pain, a pile of ash, my banishment runes glowing dimly among them. I laughed... a bitter, cracked, croaking sound... I had been in time. I laughed long and loud, the thrill of victory and sheer joy at living threw down even the searing pain of the balefire wounds.
“Valiant. Brave. Noble and strong. I commend thee. But, mayhaps thou doth celebrate before time. The battle is not yet won.”
The cat?! I try to stagger upwards, with Herculean effort I make it to my knees, I saw the cat’s golden orbs again be eaten by the deepest darkness, then...
PAIN...
The cat grinned as I collapsed. My hand shook with such agony they could not handle or trace runes. My mouth gaped in a silent scream, a scream crushed by agony as intense as ever the balefire was. It lashed me in lines down my back, tore at flesh that rotted and sloughed from my bones. Flesh the cat had scratched, so minor a wound, so easily ignored in the torment of the Salamander’s flames now burned ten fold stronger than any I had known.
I heard a laugh. Louder, stronger and darker than my own broken voice, something so vile it made even my abused flesh crawl. I whimpered pitifully... please gods, what now?
The pain stopped, but for minutes that seemed like ages all I could do was writhe and cry on the floor from its memory, from terror of what was to come... I’d defeated the salamander! I should have won, where were the others? Where was aid?! Damn them! Come, please, there’s still time!
A small sound... the gentle sound of a small rock hitting earth. I blinked my remaining eye, slightly stunned by the strange echo that followed it, an echo that cut through even the burning ringing that drowned all other sound. I looked and saw a small stone. A rune stone. One used for summoning and creating golems.
On the back was a Repelling rune.
I raised my eye higher...
And saw the large, clawed stone foot descend like the scythe of the reaper...
________________________________________________________________________
Ahrimadan smiled at the broken human, stalked towards it in a rolling, lazy gait. The daemonically possessed golem stepped back hurriedly, bowing, as he approached.
“Thou were good sport.” He purred happily, stooping to lap delicately at the rich fresh blood that welled from the crushed cavity of the man’s skull. He patted the body a few times, gently, to see if it moved, his tail lashing playfully.
He quickly grew bored of his sport and stretched luxuriantly, his deep rumbling purr seemed to echo hollowly. “Now I needs must find a new toy. Perhaps Darren does have one spare.”
He turned and began to stalk back into the park. The golem shifted quietly, causing Ahrimadan to pause and turn one pointed ear.
“Thy service is no longer required...”
The Daemonically possessed golem lowered its eyes hurriedly. “Your Grace?” There seemed to be a slight lilt of fear in the otherworldly voice...
“Leave now. Return when called.” Ahrimadan resumed his stalk.
“Y-yes Your Grace.” the daemon bowed hurriedly. The golem, stilled... for several long seconds, it remained poised, lifeless, before crumbling back down into the earth from which it had sprung.
Then the clearing was empty of all life.
Only the dead remained.
Anyway, the end of the battle, I may be able to being my boys away from the war zone soon.
And for reference, Ahrimadan made his first appearance here:
No. 18
I drew several deep calming breaths. Just a few minutes, just to take stock.
That thrice cursed Salamander hissed at me, baleful light glowed in reptilian eyes burning with hate. I can hardly believe how quickly Darren corrupted it - a creature of pure fire! And he claimed he was safe! Claimed he could hold back the darkness! With what? Love? Fool boy! And how much more foolish had we been to believe him, to meet with him! Gods forgive us, we should have all waited in ambush for him with Nikolai... wherever he went!
I was stuck behind one of my own wards. The fire circle kept the salamander at bay, for all it was fairly hurried work, but the creature had surrounded my ward with an impenetrable wall of balefire. The ward I created was just a prison until I could drive the salamander - the salamander I summoned! - off. And to make matters worse one of my own bloody golems was lurking about 20 feet away. It was perfectly animated earth, crafted by complex runes engraved onto the stone that still graced its brow. that was about all that was the same. Now the humanoid form had bat like wings tipped with evil claws. Talons sprouted from its fingers, horns either side of the rune stone. A tail snaked around its legs, thrashing in frustration even as that fanged maw grinned maliciously. I’d managed to keep it back with another rune stone, a twin of the one that had created it, with a Repelling rune engraved on the back. The rune floated in the air between me and the monstrosity, as the creature circled, it floated to follow it, keeping it. It’s a poor rune smith who gets killed by his own creations!
But cowering behind my wards until Darren came for me was suicide. I’m powerful, extremely powerful, but I had few illusions as to my chances of survival in single combat against a sorcerer. Was he already hunting down Nikolai and Rhiannon? Had he already gotten them? I’d lost track of time trying to out run his minions - bloody hell, run to ground by his minions!
I started tracing runes in the air. Banishment woven into Fire, permeated with Power twined around Death. My voice cut through the hissing of the Dire Salamander and the roaring of the daemonic golem, growing louder to the climax...
Something fell on my shoulder. I felt sharp claws rip at my shoulder, through my shirt. Needle teeth impaled my shoulder. What the hell? I staggered around in the circle, desperately looking for my assailant. A daemon? A monster? What vile creature had Darren summoned against me!?
It was mortifying! How could I have let my panic take over so completely?! I was a Camaalis! We do not give into fear so easily. Gritting my teeth, I reached back and dragged the cat that was trying to dig its way through my shoulders. It had leapt on me from the branches above, stupid creature. Driven mad by the fire most like. I uttered a quick prayer of thanks that it hadn’t disrupted my runes before throwing the cursed creature as far as I could. It snarled viciously as it flew into the balefire. Bloody thing, I had enough problems without irate house pets!
I turned back to the Dire Salamander and the steadily more frustrated Daemon Golem. I paused and just smiled at them. It was past time these lesser creatures learnt to fear the might of Clan Camaalis! I raised my hands and summoned power into the chain of glowing runes suspended in mid-air, ready to release... The Dire Salamander hissed in furious terror... but the Daemon laughed. Laughed! What?!
I spun, reaching into my rune bag... the runes spilled between fingers numb with shock. The cat... the cat lived?! It sat in the balefire, in the dark fire itself! How...?! “How?!” I choked at it...
“Thou art too quick to judge, little mortal. Thou dost not look deep enough. It is a flaw. A flaw thou wilt not have time to correct.” I could only watch as a single black paw descended onto the fire ward, wiped across the circle of protection. A corona of dark power glowed in the cat’s golden eyes, eating the metallic sheen... and my ward snapped.
I had time to turn. Time to shout the word of power... then there was only time to scream... fire consumed me... balefire it burned, it rotted, it ate! The pain banished all thought... I barely even felt the Dire Salamander’s jaws clench around my arm... the fire rolled over me washing away sensation in a wave of pain that blocked out even the tearing of my arm from its socket, the wound cauterising instantly.
I lay back... waiting for death... an end to the pain.
It did not come... the screaming agony throbbed across my skin, blackened and charred, with sickly green pus oozing from the open wound, rotting, stinking, vile. I opened my eyes - my eye... the other was little more than a burnt out shell, and saw, blurred through pain, a pile of ash, my banishment runes glowing dimly among them. I laughed... a bitter, cracked, croaking sound... I had been in time. I laughed long and loud, the thrill of victory and sheer joy at living threw down even the searing pain of the balefire wounds.
“Valiant. Brave. Noble and strong. I commend thee. But, mayhaps thou doth celebrate before time. The battle is not yet won.”
The cat?! I try to stagger upwards, with Herculean effort I make it to my knees, I saw the cat’s golden orbs again be eaten by the deepest darkness, then...
PAIN...
The cat grinned as I collapsed. My hand shook with such agony they could not handle or trace runes. My mouth gaped in a silent scream, a scream crushed by agony as intense as ever the balefire was. It lashed me in lines down my back, tore at flesh that rotted and sloughed from my bones. Flesh the cat had scratched, so minor a wound, so easily ignored in the torment of the Salamander’s flames now burned ten fold stronger than any I had known.
I heard a laugh. Louder, stronger and darker than my own broken voice, something so vile it made even my abused flesh crawl. I whimpered pitifully... please gods, what now?
The pain stopped, but for minutes that seemed like ages all I could do was writhe and cry on the floor from its memory, from terror of what was to come... I’d defeated the salamander! I should have won, where were the others? Where was aid?! Damn them! Come, please, there’s still time!
A small sound... the gentle sound of a small rock hitting earth. I blinked my remaining eye, slightly stunned by the strange echo that followed it, an echo that cut through even the burning ringing that drowned all other sound. I looked and saw a small stone. A rune stone. One used for summoning and creating golems.
On the back was a Repelling rune.
I raised my eye higher...
And saw the large, clawed stone foot descend like the scythe of the reaper...
________________________________________________________________________
Ahrimadan smiled at the broken human, stalked towards it in a rolling, lazy gait. The daemonically possessed golem stepped back hurriedly, bowing, as he approached.
“Thou were good sport.” He purred happily, stooping to lap delicately at the rich fresh blood that welled from the crushed cavity of the man’s skull. He patted the body a few times, gently, to see if it moved, his tail lashing playfully.
He quickly grew bored of his sport and stretched luxuriantly, his deep rumbling purr seemed to echo hollowly. “Now I needs must find a new toy. Perhaps Darren does have one spare.”
He turned and began to stalk back into the park. The golem shifted quietly, causing Ahrimadan to pause and turn one pointed ear.
“Thy service is no longer required...”
The Daemonically possessed golem lowered its eyes hurriedly. “Your Grace?” There seemed to be a slight lilt of fear in the otherworldly voice...
“Leave now. Return when called.” Ahrimadan resumed his stalk.
“Y-yes Your Grace.” the daemon bowed hurriedly. The golem, stilled... for several long seconds, it remained poised, lifeless, before crumbling back down into the earth from which it had sprung.
Then the clearing was empty of all life.
Only the dead remained.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-24 08:51 pm (UTC)You know, I really have to feel sorry for Darren's relatives. I mean, sure they want to kill him, but overall they seem like good people.
*sits to wait patiently for the next part*
(no subject)
Date: 2003-09-24 09:09 pm (UTC)Yes they ARE trying to kill Darren - but impartial jury time would condemn them for this?
I'm more worried for the Camaalis family... my muse world developes and I see very little magic in it, and few powerful magicians. Lets just say the attrition rate is starting to hurt Clan Camaalis - and since Camaalis is the greatest magical society world wide...
I have the ideas for the next part, maybe the one after too... so it may be fairly soon. But I also have ideas for Predator and Generation Gap, I'm not sure which one I want to do next.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-22 04:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-22 04:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-23 03:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-23 03:32 pm (UTC)