NOVEL NEXT 099. Adam and Oaths
I went to bed with so much creative energy that I ended up writing most of this chapter...
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Adam covered his eyes as the blue light flashed across the area. He pulled away from the open sarcophagus before he looked down inside it.
There was a small girl bundled in white furs. Her skin was as pale as snow, and her features were dainty and fragile, like a leaf seconds away from being stepped on. She had long white hair, which flowed down over her front fell down to her knees.
'How pretty,' Adam thought sadly, as she seemed to be long dead.
Then her eyes flashed open, a piercing blue looking right through him, which caused him to shudder.
Tough Save
D20 + 7 = 20 (13)
A blast of ice engulfed Adam, but he did not break under its might. Instead he clenched his teeth as more ice poured out of her. From behind he could hear the shouting of his allies, who told him to ready himself for battle.
Adam reached down for his sword but found it missing. 'What?' Adam thought to himself, the shock causing him to freeze in place. His sword was missing? How?
Wise Save
D20 + 6 = 12 (6)
He covered his face again, but this time the piercing blue eyes filled through his entire core. He fell back, unable to move as he watched the small girl stand, clenching her fists as she wailed in pain and fury. Her eyes were glazed over with rage, as though she could not see the world, and her hair flew wildly around her, as though there was a storm, which soon appeared swirling around her. Snow and ice shot out towards the four as their battle began, all whilst Adam lay there watching.
Adam could not move as the girl was attacked by the four, who assaulted her with great fervour. Inga attacked with her battleaxe, slamming into ice as she tried to break through the shield which had formed around the little girl. Moments later, the half-orc fell to the ground, almost unconscious as ice shattered against her.
Hisan's blade cut through the ice, almost meeting flesh. Though the ice attacked him, he seemed unaffected by its might. Instead he charged forward with his glowing blade.
Even Klara attacked savagely, like a wild beast. Her blade cut through the ice, almost meeting skin as well. She roared out orders, though Adam couldn't hear them through the swirling ice and his frozen state.
He begged his body to move as he watched Typ drop kick the ice, though she slid off it and lay almost frozen from the blast of snow and ice which covered the area. The wailing stopped for an instant as the group readied themselves to assault the girl again.
Wise Save
D20 + 6 = 26 (20)
There was something about four adults each trying to attack a little girl which spurred Adam to move. He hated seeing it, hearing the pained cries of the girl, and these four trying to kill her.
‘This isn’t right,’ he thought. He needed to stop it.
Battle Order
D20 - 1 = 6 (7)
Athletics
D20 + 8 = 23 (15)
Tough Save
D20 + 7 = 10 (3)
Health
250 -> 214
He found the blade in his grip. He stood on shaking legs and charged forward, feeling the snow and ice try to stop him. He reached for the little girl. He grabbed her and pulled her in close as she stared up at him, her body frozen together due to Typ's monk skill.
Adam then looked out to the four who were readying their blows and he reached out his blade.
"Enough!" Adam roared, causing them to pause in confusion. "No more!"
The wailing began again as Adam held the little girl close to his chest. Ice shards blasted against him, though he provided cover for the others in his party. He winced in pain, but he did not let go of the girl as she continued to scream.
He looked down at the girl. "Enough!" He cried out.
"She will not listen!" Klara exclaimed. "Her mind is gone!"
Adam looked down at the girl, who was a bundle of rage. In her eyes there was no intelligence, only fury. Whatever this girl used to be, she was no longer that being. He had no idea how to pull her out of the state.
His heart sank as he understood what needed to be done, and a single tear fell from his eye. He would not allow them to attack her with such fear and hatred. He would do it, as mercifully as he could. He raised an empty hand, as though about to strike, when he realised his blade had disappeared again.
Had he disappointed Arya?
He thought back to his last meeting with her. He had been given a task, a task to find someone and to protect them. Adam looked down at the girl again. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close for a tight hug.
"I'm here," Adam called out to her. “I’m here.”
The girl continued to wail and scream, and Adam kept whispering he was here for her. Then everything fell silent as the girl fell limp in his arms. Adam pulled away from her quickly, staring down at her near lifeless form. He watched as she breathed lightly, limp within his arms.
"We should kill her before she awakens," Hisan said, stepping forward.
Adam raised his blade, which had appeared in his hand that instant, and pointed it to the devilkin. "You so much as take another step and I'll rain a Fireball down on you, or so help me Arya."
Hisan stopped ahead of him, blade in hand. "What are you doing?"
"This girl is under my protection," Adam replied. "I won't allow any harm to come to her."
"You're a fool. You'll get us killed." Hisan grilled his blade tighter.
"Tighten the leash around your dog," Adam snapped to Klara. "This is a quest given to me by a god, so I can't back down."
"By Arya? Is that why you invoke her name?"
"The very same," Adam said. "I swore her an oath, and I intend to keep it."
Klara took off her helmet and stared into Adam's eyes. "What if Sozain asks me to send her to him?"
"Tell him to take it up with me," Adam replied. "He already knows that he can call for me any time."
Klara remained staring at Adam with a hard look. Tense moments passed. "We will bring no harm to the girl," she said, placing her helm over her head.
Adam's eyes fell back to Hisan, who had sheathed his blade and turned. It seems that Klara holds a lot of respect in this group, and she really did outrank everyone when it came to their health.
"I could have cast two Fireballs before you had taken a step," Adam warned.
"Only two?" Klara joked.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't have let any of you die."
"Spare any healing?" Typ asked, groaning in pain. If Adam had to take a guess, he assumed she was on her last point of Health. Klara punched Typ and Adam raised his brow in alarm. Then he watched as Klara filled Typ with her healing magic, and the halfzer seemed far more lively.
"I can heal with greater capacity if they're almost dying," Klara said.
With the lack of surprise on Typ's face and how casual she seemed after hopping to her feet, Adam assumed that this was fairly normal for them. Klara didn't knock Inga out, instead healing her with her magic with a gentle prayer.
"Is she the danger that we were warned of?" Adam asked, looking at the little girl.
"She is," Klara replied as though it were a matter of fact.
"How do you know?"
"There are very few creatures which the giants would consider to be a threat. She is one of them."
"Does she have any connection with the Winter Mother?" Adam asked, recalling this to be a favour for her.
"That would be putting it lightly," Klara said as she and Typ searched around the area.
"That's all there is to this place," Typ said confidently. "What was on that?" She pointed to the other sarcophagus lid.
"A boy," Adam replied.
Klara turned to face Adam. "A boy?" She looked to Inga, who lifted the lid up to reveal the stylised image of a boy on the lid. "That explains it," they feynt said.
"That explains what?" Adam asked as he cautiously approached them.
"The girl was screaming for us to return him back to her. She wished to find her brother."
"You understood what she was saying?"
"She spoke in giant, though in a dialect often used by those who are from the Deep North."
"Deep North? Where's that?"
"Deep in the north, as the name suggests."
"I guess that makes sense."
"We're uncertain if it's actually on the same plane. I'm not sure anyone alive has ever been there. Well, except for her." Klara motioned her head to the little girl.
Adam looked down to the little girl, who was snoozing lightly. He noted just how thin she was, like a little doll. He shifted her so she was in the princess carry, the most dignified of positions. Well, that's what he thought at least.
"Just what exactly is she?" Adam asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.
Then the girl's eyes opened and Adam froze.
Tough Save
D20 + 7 = 18 (11)
Health
214 -> 196
A blast of ice struck him as the girl screamed out at him, and he pulled her to his chest against to try and stop her from assaulting him.
"She's a Winterdotr."
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The ancient enemy is Adam's worst nightmare.
A little girl.
*Zabish returns.*