Ashes of the Fallen

The next attack came and all I could muster was a quick tumble, hitting the earth hard with my shoulder and rolling onto my back. Managing to return to my feet, I stood up and assumed a defensive stance with my shield held high. I turned to face the goblin and pressed the attack, but as soon as I brought my axe up another heavy thrust was forming and I instinctively knew I couldn't dodge, it was too late.

I swung downwards and met the halberd's head with the blade of my axe, sending it slamming into the floor as I carried through with the swing. My focus was completely zeroed in, having reached my zenith, my max, I could properly parry.

Another attack came, and I deflected it easily as I saw everything happening.

But I could feel it.

My reactions were starting to get sluggish, my responses were dulling… my mind, was getting tired. The goblin raised its halberd and swung down without much effort, yet I was barely able to deflect it in desperation.

I could see it clearly, I could see everything happening as clear as day despite the watery eyes and the ashen dimly-lit interior. The room was so much brighter than it was before, so much closer, as if everything had been enlarged. But my reactions, my reactions were getting slower and slower.

Faster, I needed to be faster.

Then the next attack came, and I barely managed to deflect that as I lost my axe. I watched it fly off to the side and realized my stamina had depleted. My body couldn't do it any longer, I wasn't strong enough.

My endurance had given in.

The goblin readied its next attack, with an endless stamina that I envied.

The axe-head of the halberd cleaved into my shoulder, but I muscled out of it. I couldn't feel my right arm, but the next attack was coming. I needed to block, I needed to raise my shield. Yet, as I did so, it shattered just like that, with wood splintering off and flying in every which way. Pain registered clearly in my chest as I looked at the shallow but large wound that had split me open.

I had fallen onto my back from the blow, and now looked up as the goblin towered above me. My head was throbbing and I was frantically trying to move my hands and legs to get back up, but then I saw it. I saw what was going to happen long before it happened. The goblin chief had brought the halberd back along the ground, switching grips and then bringing it behind its back.

Raising it to the sky as if it was a tribute or offering to the Gods.

How long was this going to last.

It was taking its sweet time.

I couldn't tell how long it had been since the execute movement had begun, but it certainly felt like it was over ten seconds by the time the halberd had started its descent. As it came down I was helpless to move, I was trying, but it felt like something had sapped all of my strength as the realization finally set in.

I was completely out of stamina.

My body was no longer responding to my mind, and in truth, I wasn't even sure if my mind was working properly at this point.

I was coherent, but only so.

Then it hit, and in an instant the world turned black again.

By the time my vision returned, the spirit world had welcomed me back once more. That world of blue and gray, distorted and blurry with only the flowing river in the sky to direct me towards my destination… it was depressing.

We were so close, yet we failed.

I took a deep breath and then followed it up with a rapid succession of smaller breaths. I was gasping for air. My chest heaved up and down as my hands were shaking and my mind was pounding. As the adrenaline had faded, I was now regressing to a state of normalcy. My overly focused senses were shifting back to normal.

My view seemed to widen and darken simultaneously, no doubt in reaction to my pupils no longer being dilated. It was an uncomfortable feeling, as I realized that everything was for naught. To come so close to killing the boss, only to fail at the very end wasn't a happy thought.

If we wiped midway through, that was fine.

Maybe even if it was a quarter or three-fourths of the way through, that would be alright with me. But I was certain, that the boss was only a few attacks away from falling. I didn't know how much health it had left, as I didn't have the time to check.

All I knew, was that it was really, really close.

Letting out a sigh, there was little reason to get upset.

We could always give it another go… we were close enough to get it done.

I sat for a minute, in my spirit form, trying to relax.

My head was actually starting to hurt, but hopefully it was only temporary.

Well, I only had to wait for the guys now.

The others would appear any second, arriving with their ghostly selves at any moment. Yet, another minute passed and I was still sitting alone at the graveyard. A few minutes went by, and five ghosts of strangers materialized next to me as some other party had wiped inside the dungeon. Alan and Ethan, though, never showed up.

Something wasn't quite right here.

They were still alive somehow, which didn't make sense.