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I believe, as I always do, that I will be faster, simply because I am. There is no thread in Time’s weaving that leads to him being as fast as me.
I am wrong.
The desert gladiator matches me, beats me, his towering figure so impossibly fast that I remember the fear that had threatened to send me packing when his fire had first touched me, worn the seeping wounds into my left side. It makes my heart slam erratically against the confines of my chest, the air I drink all the more cold, sweetly scented by the promise of spring, radiating through the eternal warmth of the rough stone at our hooves.
There is something brilliant in the surge of adrenaline and terror that intoxicates as much as it makes me tremble. I’m giddy, high on it all when my magic touches him for a change, golden eyes widening with glee and surprise to watch his attempt to body slam me miss by a fraction of an inch, my tail sweeping down and between my legs to avoid being caught in his passing.
"Ha!" I bark through the cringe which steals my smirk as I lunge past the seriously stacked behemoth, angling to the left as he staggers right. Whatever the magic did, it’s working – all the grace and strength Gaucho had showed as he’d surged forward to meet in my feigned charge is lost when the peculiar power washes over him, and he drops, a mass of muscles, bones, and feathers, to his knees.
I know better than to keep my back to an opponent, fully aware of the blind spot behind me. Blood weeps from my left side as I charge for a patch of snow, skidding into its slick surface, using the momentum of my speed and the weight of my body to glide about in a clockwise direction, my fore-hooves the anchor, muscular rump tucked and sliding so that I’m looking back at where the pegasus went down with minimal effort. Still, the skin along my left side pulls, singing out with bright pain; I grunt, tears of agony leaking from my eyes despite my will to be stone.
I don’t have time to think. There are bears coming, blazing ones, and among them is the phoenix, a beautiful ember streaking through the cold air, each trailing a wake of steam and smoke that curl like the horrible feeling in my belly behind them.
I dodge the first burning entity by side stepping left, barely agile enough, its fire crackling along the metal protecting my right shoulder as its molten teeth snap on the brittle winter air, the cover quickly becoming uncomfortably hot and making me take an involuntary secondary half step, again to the left, away from its heat. The bird pulls away (shit, she’s faking,) as I’m pulling up onto my hind legs to avoid colliding with her, my gilded eyes broad and panicked, because I can’t get away from the other bear, and because it hurts, by Spark’s light it hurts…
The same igneous touch I’d just narrowly avoided drives its fangs into already scalded shoulder as I scramble back to all fours; the wounds cauterize at each tooth’s touch, the air odoriferous with my cooked flesh, and the acrid stench of burning hair. My lungs suck on the cold air, as if it could drive the heat that sizzles and melts away as the fangs pull away and the bears body continues on, flames licking, sealing away the wounds that had oozed plasma and blood, birthing new ones (though not as many as the first attack had).
It hurts so intensely that my stomach roils, my sight blurred with the starlight of pain. I try to follow the phoenix as I two-step backwards, my usual speed sluggish under the burden of so many burns. Reaching out with my most familiar power, I attempt to grab the bird in its throes, eagerly allowing myself to fly out, hopefully becoming one with the beast for a brilliant few seconds. It’s invigorating and strange as always, but the thought of becoming one with such a magnificent bird (coinciding alongside a strong urge to not die) add a heightened sense of elation as I arc upwards.
The momentary distance of pain is relished as I will my will to take hold of his companion, hoping to use her against him; with any luck, the return of my consciousness to myself (and the thundering return of the agony) will reveal her diving with full force into his towering body, giving me enough time to run while he puzzles out why his friend has suddenly assaulted him - not a giant, angry pegasus kicking in my face.
I can only hope, right?
[ 2/4 :: 796 words ]
:: [ Magic: DarkxSpark | Ability to manipulate electrical currents in the nerve system to control victim's bodies ]
:: [ Restrictions | Requires intense concentration, and only lasts for one attack or defense with the inability for mind control; lasts up to one post outside battle ]
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Oh I'll get some | Rikyn Challenge
