Etudie Perpetuity

I writhed in agony. The place where the Oracle’s laser had hit me burned like crazy. I swung out of the way when a hunter stabbed at me with his spear. I kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling. I jumped up, ignoring the pain in my back, and stared at the Oracle.

The Oracle trembled as she picked herself up by her staff. I launched a fireball at her, hoping to catch her off guard. She cursed as she caught my attack with one hand. Her hand was seared red, but she didn’t even blink. I fired more fireballs but this time she swept them away with her staff. I ran up to her with a spear and we traded blows once again.

The Oracle swung up, I blocked down low. I came in from the left, she leaned into the right. Up, left, down, right, stab, parry, swing, block. My wooden spear groaned and her staff creaked, but neither of us let up. I used motion magic to try to trip her up, but she stepped right over it. She fired a laser at my feet, but I danced around it. I jumped back, yelled, and charged up front.

She grinned, taking one step to the side as I got close, and swung her staff at the middle of my spear, snapping it in two. Our faces brushed past each other, me snarling, her grinning. I prepared as if I was going to spit at her so she put a hand over her face.

Fire spewed from my mouth, searing my lips and tongue, filling my nose with hot air and acrid smells. The fire landed on the Oracle’s hand, with a little spilling onto her hair. She yelled as we fell past each other. I landed on the ground, crying out as one of the broken ends of my spear stabbed the side of my leg.

I pulled out the useless piece of wood and threw it to the side. The other half had the flint end, which I held in my hand as I walked over to the Oracle. I looked up to see a spear hurtling through the air towards me. Fighting with the Oracle had almost made me forget, there were a whole bunch of hunters here!

I couldn’t block it in time, but a spear rushed out of the corner of my eye and saved me. Elder Ore from the Bandari tribe ran over to the hunter that had tried to skewer me from a distance, and I was free to approach the Oracle again. But instead, I looked over the battlefield that had once been the Jora tribe’s camp.

Dozens of elves lay wounded or dead. Everyone had burns, bruises and cuts. The fighting had devolved into a chaotic brawl. Although the Bandari and Hus had the element of surprise, they were no match for the Hon and Que tribes’ numbers and experience. The Hon, in particular, were dominating almost anyone they fought. Only the female Jora hunter, elder Ore, and a few other experienced hunters could fight the Hon properly.

My eyes darted to the side. A bloody figured stepped out from behind a tent, carrying a motionless body in his hand. His eyes glowing red, Sharun tossed the experienced hunter who was supposed to be distracting him, to the ground. His expressionless face turned towards the Bandari hunter next to him and the Dragon’s Tooth whistled through the air. The Bandari hunter collapsed, his chest still.

The most powerful hunters on the battlefield: elder Ore, the female Jora elf, the leaders of the Hon and the Que, and a muscular elf from the Hus tribe, all stared at the wielder of the Dragon’s Tooth. Sharun’s expression didn’t change as he faced the hunters. He looked at the Oracle, who lay motionless on the ground, and then met my gaze. He dashed forward.

I launched a fireball but he deflected it with his spear. As he ran over to me, Sharun stabbed and pierced and cut anyone that came in his path. Even the Hon and Que tribesmen that were supposed to be his allies were cut down if they came too close. The leader of the Hon shouted at him to stop, but when Sharun walked up to him, the two somehow ended up in a fight.

The leader of the Hon tribe’s hunters stabbed his spear but Sharun parried it with an empty hand. Sharun wielded the Dragon’s Tooth with one hand, piercing the Hon’s leader’s stomach. The enemy leader’s eyes widened as he fell to the ground. Sharun retracted the Dragon’s Tooth and rushed forward.

I tried to trip him up with motion magic, but he walked right through it, never missing a beat. I launched fireball after fireball, but all that accomplished was to tire me out. There was no way I could parry a single blow from him so I stepped backwards as quickly as I could. I knew I couldn’t show him my back or he’d hurl the Dragon’s Tooth at me and end me from a distance.

Elder Ore threw a spear, but he deflected it. The female Jora hunter rushed towards him with a couple of other hunters but they were all cut down. Even the leader of the Que attacked him while crying like a child, yelling something about the Hon leader and true love.

Sharun rushed right past everyone like they were bugs. Hunter after hunter fled from him like they were running from a natural disaster, and the battlefield cleared up as everyone forgot who they were supposed to be fighting and why. Elves tripped up over their enemies to get out of Sharun’s way, with a few wily young elves from the Jora tribe taking the opportunity to stab their enemies in the back before running from Sharun.

Elder Ore ran towards me without a spear, but she wouldn’t get here in time. The Jora were on the other side of the camp. Nobody else seemed inclined to help me. My arms were growing tired of chucking useless fireballs but I couldn’t think of anything else to do.

Streams of water? All that’d do was get his hair wet. Calling rain? Useless. Motion magic? He could walk right through my invisible arms! None of the rocks, logs, spears, or dirt that I chucked at him had any effect. He was truly a monster, a beast that had no business walking on two legs.

My back hit something solid. It was the rock by the entrance that I had hid behind at the beginning of the fight. There was nobody nearby. There was nowhere to run. I grabbed a spear with motion magic, prepared a hidden slingshot with motion magic to the side, lit the end of my spear on fire, launched a fireball, and even cast water magic under Sharun’s feet just in case he’d slip.

He walked through the water like it was a puddle—which it was. He deflected the fireball, broke my spear with one swing of his weapon, dodged the rock I’d launched at him with my slingshot, and pressed me right up to the rock. I threw the broken spear at him and he caught it with one hand. He wielded the Dragon’s Tooth with his other hand and aimed right at my neck.

Right, this was long enough. I collected my thoughts, took a deep breath, and focused. My muscles tensed, my face stiffened, and my whole body felt like it was made of stone. I stared directly into Sharun’s glowing red eyes, which was probably a mistake since I was going to be here a while. The tip of the Dragon’s Tooth froze inches from my neck. I would’ve gulped audibly for dramatic effect, but this was real life, not a movie, and I couldn’t move because of my motion freezing magic. I’d even come up with a cool name for this trick: still life!

From the corner of my eye I saw elder Ore rush forward. I could see some other hunters, but all of them looked too frightened to move. I didn’t know if they were frightened of Sharun’s rampage or of my ridiculous magic, but they didn’t dare approach.

Elder Ore picked up a spear and ran forward. Her body was full of cuts and bruises, but she’d been far enough from Sharun that she was still able to fight. She yelled a loud, angry cry as she pointed her spear at Sharun’s neck and charged. The motionless, expressionless Sharun didn’t react at all as the spear came right up to his neck.

Then his eyes flashed red and a red glow washed over his skin. A sharp pain pierced my skull and my ‘still life’ magic shattered into a million pieces. I slunk to the ground. Elder Ore’s spear pierced Sharun’s neck, but didn’t go in deep enough. Sharun kneed elder Ore in the gut, before elbowing her away with so much force, I could practically hear her ribs breaking.

Then, he stepped towards me once again.