Ashes of the Fallen

Gritting my teeth, I continued my retreat, falling back until I heard the thud of the wall behind me hitting the shield strapped to my back. The soft thud barely discernible amidst the sounds of goblins screaming and swords clanging and clashing, but the impact clearly reverberated through my body as it startled me and distracted me.

A sword flashed across my face as my attention was brought back, my cheek stinging from the gash as my mouth felt as if it were split in two. Mouth burning and stinging, I winced as my mask fell to the floor. The ash that had been wafting through the air soon entered my lungs and caused me to nearly choke from the sudden change.

A cough, followed by a blur and a twitch reaction as I threw my shield up, blocking a sword's slash as it bounced harmlessly off. My health was fine, but my stamina was suffering with every hit. Another sword swing came from my left, and I blocked it with ease. Then two more swords from the right, deflected with my axe.

One sword stabbed through my thigh, then two glanced off my chest as I kept my eyes on the spears in front of me. There were too many swords to watch, and I was slowly being overwhelmed. A heavy thrust soon followed and with it, the opportunity to counter arrived. Jumping forward and ducking to the side, I rolled on the ground with my shield arm helping to absorb the impact and creating a small bounce at the same time. In a split-second I had traversed the ground between the goblins and the wall and quickly took a knee behind them.

They turned their eyes first as their heads and bodies began to follow, free arms waving in the air with weapons last. I was ready for them, they were a step slow. Curled up with my arms brought in, electricity formed around me and immediately began to circulate and expand in a field.

I only had half a second to go.

A spear came quickly as I held my ground, believing in my cast time.

As if everything was in slow motion, the spear inched closer millisecond by millisecond as I watched the lightning field expand around me, finally reaching critical mass and exploding in electrically charged brilliance. The instantaneous snap of thunder beat only by the flash of light that accompanied the discharge.

Every goblin in front of me was flung violently back into the rock wall just four feet away. Swords were dropped from the impact and even the guards were shaken beyond a reasonable degree. The momentum of their charge, disrupted and repelled by the expanding force of my lightning, all culminating in the sudden collision with an immovable wall.

Necks had snapped back and forth as heads and bodies collided with the solid wall behind them. Sounds were muffled by the electricity coursing through their veins, as minor goblins fell to the floor, some dead, some stunned. Those that lived, were rendered temporarily immobile.

They stared at me with those wide hourglass eyes, baring their fangs and clutching their heads and spade-like ears. Then two guards stood up, readying their shields and spears once more, with only a slight hesitation showing as they grew weary and wary. Caution had crept into their minds, as their reaction times were dulled by the thought process that second-guessed their every action.

Sticking to instinct and reacting off muscle-memory, I was now faster.

Spears thrust in my direction were slow, as my senses were heightened from adrenaline. Twisting to avoid the trajectory of the spear tip, I retaliated with a fury of my own. Rage had started to consume me as I wanted to inflict as much pain on them as they had done unto me.

I needed to reciprocate the favor that they had shown me.

A single minor goblin stood up first, only to stand without a head as it rolled on by.

Then another jumped up, with a sword swung immediately after… only for the sword to find itself without an owner as a hand fell to the floor. A third goblin was up, the same one with a broken nose and blood dripping across its face. Leaning in with a second shield bash, I sent it into the wall as its head was crushed between the two forces. Stepping back, there was a fourth minor goblin still alive on the floor but a swift kick and hack into the back of its neck ended it right then and there.

A heavy thrust and a lunge came from the guards but I blocked and deflected simultaneously, all the while shifting my feet so as to get an angle on the one-handed goblin clutching and screaming. A quick slash and it reacted, shifting its one hand from its other arm to its neck as blood seeped out. And then just as I had turned my attention back to the two guards that were now left, a bolt of bluish-white frost fluttered on by as frost flakes floated on down to the ground below.

Then, suddenly, impact occurred and a white frosty mist enshrouded the goblin only to be evaporated by the blazing hot fireball that followed it.