I wanted this more than anything in my life. I wanted to provide for my family, for Tamira, for my child. I had motivation and strength, determination. I knew of a few others making their way through the trials but when the day came that I faced one of them, I would win. I was certain of this fact and it drove me. Mirage had proved an irreplaceable teacher and once this was all said and done, I would be certain to thank her. But that time was not now and this fight was not meant to be left unfinished.

Her uneven gasps to regain her composure lit an excited flame within my resolve. My body tensed with the foreign feeling and I smiled. I knew that she had yet another test in which she planned to administer before she let me walk away so easily and as we stood, both recovering from blows and swollen injuries, I knew that this would be her last. My nerve endings tingled from the exhilaration only to explode one by one as her song broke the heated air. The shadows began to fill in around us and I hadn’t been able to pay much attention to the changing of time until now. The tunes seemed to surround me now and I wondered if she was giving me a moment of reprieve. They floated through the misted air and seemed to envelop me with tender embrace. But the longer I listened, entranced by the sound, the stronger its grasp grew. It seemed to clutch tighter and tighter around my brain before squeezing mercilessly.

At first it had been magical and methodical, but now it was growing uncomfortable, reaching into my depths and turning them until it was suddenly unbearable. I cringed, closing my eyes for half a second and upon opening them, she was gone. Had my eyes played tricks on me? Another vicious tug from her vices had me closing my eyes once more and this time when I opened them, she was flashing toward me. However, her image never stayed long and it frightened me. My brain pulsed as I searched for her and something within my gut told me to move, urged me to be free of her trance. However, it was a straining thing that held me still and forced my eyes to close again. As the world grew dim around me, I moved to the left as her step was heard alongside my right shoulder. But alas, I had not been fast enough to avoid her heels as they dug into my gut.

While I had not been lucky enough to avoid the blow, I had managed to reduce its power by inching away from her haunches. However, the haziness from her mental assault still hung heavy. I was slowly lagging back into clarity when she came again, her footfall alerting me to her position before I could verify the flash of teeth. I gasped for returning breath and with it came a roar before we clashed. She was at my right, clasping against the skin there and I took advantage of her preoccupation to push through the pain and raise a giant, feathered, hoof to collide into her left foreleg. She had managed to grip the tender flesh between my nape and shoulder and make me wince but I would not let her forget my formidability so easily.

I hoped above all else that I had managed to injure her front leg before launching away from her grip. Whatever skin had been torn there was left between her teeth as I threw myself into one final attempt at victory. I had left her standing there, mouth surely still agape after such a vicious attack. I had pulled from her vices so hard without waiting on her release that I was almost surprised I didn’t gasp in such pain. The new wound pulsed as I charged back around to her left side using my body to form a perfect “V” shape with her own. My gait had been quick enough to allow me to throw one final buck into her haunches before sailing to the ground again to regain an unbalanced step.

I had been so caught up in the rush of adrenaline that I had failed to notice just how much my head still shook from her magic. I hadn’t expected it, hadn’t even thought of it and as I staggered away I realized that I had been quite glad she had used it. I could face an animal with magic if my courage stood tall. I wouldn’t back down before them or before her. I felt more alive now than ever despite my pain and win or lose, I felt victorious already.

Word Count: 795
4/4 attack posts
Summary: Thor takes the kick to the stomach but shuffles away enough to the left in order to reduce the power of her kick. He then notices her coming in on his right side in order to bite at his neck, but he is more prepared for this and uses the time to strike a blow to her left front leg because of her proximity. After yanking away from her bite he turns around and charges back at her left side only to veer slightly away to form a V, with her as one of the “legs”. In motion he strikes out against her haunches, which sets him incredibly off-balance because of his size and maneuver. After finally regaining his footing he is finally satisfied with his attempts and starts to tend to his wounds.
Ooc: I’m praying that this post was a good as the last because I wanted to try and fit so much in just 800 words. As always, Mirage post was amazing. Just let me know what you saw Whit. :)