User blog:Psychomantis108/Story: Myths of Mundus: Dark Pilgrimage - Chapter 22: The Last Dance

It all happened within the blink of an eye, within the split millisecond of darkness all of Arlas' beastly enemies were in the air, leaping through it as they got ready to pounce. Valeria blasted a lightning bolt straight into Ymir's face, however, the Nord proved resistant to it, simply snarling as the electricity singed his nose. He pounced straight on top of the Altmer, bringing his claws up into the air and driving them down, hoping to send them straight through her throat.

Valina struggled under the Werewolves large feet, the toes of which wrapped around her forearms, firmly keeping her pinned down. The Altmer wriggled furiously, scuffing the back of her heels as she kicked along the ground, trying to get any form of leverage to escape being finished off.

Thankfully her apprentice, Olan De was just as quick as she was, she blasted Ymir in his milky eye, sending the beast staggering off to the side, groaning in pain as it reached up for his face, spinning to the ground. Tait was the second Werewolf to enter the fray, if he was a second faster, he could have protected his mentor. Still, he at least had the chance to avenge him and cover him, buying him time. He lunged at the Argonian apprentice, sending her straight down to the ground and snapping at her face, Olan-Die was quick to respond, burning away at the Werewolf's stomach with the strongest flame spell that she could muster, hitting him straight in his wound and sending a large burst of pain throughout his abdomen.

The Watchman decided that two was enough to destroy a few mages and decided to go for Bologra and Arlas. The creature drove both of its clawed hands down towards the downed Mer, ready to drive his fingers through their legs, to prevent them from escaping. Ymir wanted to kill them personally for taking so much from them. Bologra, however, had other plans, the Orc raised his right boot and drove it down, slamming his heel straight into the Werewolf's knee, causing it to howl in pain as it buckled back, with an almighty crunch.

Tait was ready to drive his claws through this meddlesome Argonian's heart, hopefully earning himself first dibs, when it was time to eat. However, his attempt on the Apprentice's life was thwarted, when he found himself being hit in the right shoulder by a powerful lightning bolt, that made him stumble off to the left, snarling as he did so.

Valina, unlike her werewolf opponents did not let up, instead she repeatedly attacked the beast, blasting him in the left shoulder and three times in the chest, eventually knocking him flying onto his back, landing on the floor with a hard thud. Valina quickly ran over to the fallen Werewolf, leaping up on his stomach, her feet firmly placed on his chest as she got ready to fire an ice spike in his head. Tait desperately swatted at her, in a vain effort to try and keep her off but unfortunately found himself pinned to the floor and unable to reach her, no matter what he did.

He saw the Altmer grin as he quickly realized that this move was far more calculated than it originally appeared to be, Tait gasped as she readied an ice spike in her right hand, blasting it straight down into the Werewolf's left eye, almost instantly tearing through his the eye socket and penetrating his brain, killing the Nord instantly.

Bologra swung his axe straight at the Werewolf's stomach, prompting him to jump back in retaliation, much to the Orc's annoyance. Bologra quickly found himself focussing on the beast's audacity. If he'd just stay still and get hit, the Orc could move on to the other four assholes. Using this minor annoyance to fuel his murderous rage, Bolgora charged forward with an enraged yell, slicing across the Werewolf's stomach, causing it to howl in pain and fall to its knees, allowing Bologra to drive his bayonet through its head and finally finish the bastard off.

Ymir slowly rose from his slump on the ground, seething in pain as he did his best to suppress any sign of weakness but in truth, he was exhausted and in a great deal of pain. He hadn't slept for, what felt like, a week and he had more than a few scars, singe marks and burn marks to show for his recent escapades. The Nord slowly turned his attention to the battlefield, sighing heavily as he looked for an update on the battle's progress, only to see the heart shattering conclusion.

Both Tait and the Watchman, Onil, were slain, stabbed through the head by the Sourcer and the Brutish Orc, who slaughtered them like animals. Ymir could do little but watch, which was more than he could do for Angela as his people were slain before his eyes, which welled up at the realization that he had failed. He'd failed as a leader, failed as a grandfather and most criminally of all, he had failed as a Father.

He had lost everything, Clan, Kin, Honor, respectability, hope and the will to live. Ymir roared in anguish as he charged forward, straight at Bologra and Valina, snatching at them both.

Olan-De looked up and saw the large, one eyed Nord heading straight towards her mentor, fearing for the Altmer's life, she pushed Valina to one side, swapping places with her and finding herself in Ymir's grasp, along with Bologra. Olan-De gasped as she looked up, seeing what the Werewolf had in mind, using its brute strength it smashed the two of them together, crushing them both at the center of its large beastly hands. Of course, the muscle bound Orc was like a brick wall and as a result, the multiple blows afflicted the Argonian the most, fracturing, breaking and eventually splintering multiple bones, her ribs, her pelvis, her arms and legs, fingers and toes as the two of them were bashed together like symbols.

Bolgra quickly found himself tossed to the ground as soon as the Werewolf was done, needless to say, being repeatedly bashed against another person did a number on his back, leaving a number of nasty cuts and several bruises on his back but nowhere near the extent of damage done to Olan-de.

Olan-De was cast down to the floor, landing with a thud as she was. The Argonian lay completely still as blood slowly trickled out of her nose. All life had been successfully beaten out of her, it wasn't clear when she died during the pummelling but it was unlikely that she survived long enough to witness all of it.

Valina sat up, trembling at the sight of the fallen Argonian as she slowly pulled herself up to her feet, shuddering as she saw her lifeless, broken body. The Altmer sighed, shaking her head in despair as she slowly rose to her feet, resisting the urge to cry, grieving would have to come later. Anger would have to come now, she’d have to use this to her advantage, being a man down.

The four of them slowly got themselves together, prompting Arlas to look over to Bologra and give him a nod to ensure that he was ready for the final mile,

The Bosmer, Altmer, Orsimer and Nord charged into the fray, Valina and Arlas charged a spell in each hand, Ardwolf got his claws at the ready, Bologra with his axe and bayonet ready as the four of them clashed at the center of the cavern.

With an almighty roar Bologra threw himself straight into the grasp of Ymir, grappling the large Were creature as he went, thinking quickly, he slammed his rock hard forehead straight into Ymir’s singed snout, crushing it with a stomach churning crunch.

Valina, seeing an opportunity to strike, lifted her hand, with an ice spike at the center, aiming it for either of the two warriors, however, she quickly felt her own hand burn as Arlas’ fireball struck it, knocking her off balance and sending the ice spike the floor.

“Urgh, meddlesome bitch!” She scowled, casting down to the floor and causing it to resonate with electrical energy, creating a tiny storm at the center of the room, prompting Arlas to jump back and think about her next move.

The Bosmer wouldn’t waste her time with small time attacks as most of them would get blocked by the Altmer’s ward or melted by her fire or lightning storms. Thinking as quickly as she could, she conjured up a flame atronauch, aiming it just behind her Altmer opponent, so that she would have to turn around or walk out of her electrical storm in order to face it. However, Valina was quick to predict this and conjured an ice atronauch of her own to counteract it before turning her attention back to Arlas.

Arlas, however, had planned ahead and immediately proceeded to blast at Valina with an ice spike, which hit the Altmer in the shoulder, with enough force to almost knock her down to the ground. Valina seethed as she stumbled back, wrapping her hand around the spike as she repeatedly pulled at it, eventually yanking it out. She examined the bloody end of it before tossing it aside, glaring at Arlas as she charged another set of spells in her hands.

Ymir slammed his right hand straight into Bologra’s shoulder, dragging his long fingernails through the Orsimer’s flesh and cutting deep into it, possibly infecting him. It was fortunate that he wasn’t well versed enough in Lycanthropy to know that that was possible for some strands of werewolf, otherwise it would be a terrible distraction.

Bologra fought back, swiping his own ‘claw’ at the beast, slashing his bayonet across Ymir’s gut before driving his axe down onto the creature. Ymir doubled over as Bologra’s axe came down and slammed into his back shoulders, causing him to give a wounded growl before charging forward and ramming his head into the Orc’s gut, swiftly lifting him up and slamming him back down to the ground. Ymir stopped for a moment, to feel the axe, lodged in his left shoulder, wrapping his hand around it but struggling to get it out, due to the fact that it sent a surge of pain throughout his body, whenever he touched it.

He decided that slaying Bologra was far more important anyway and leapt up on top of him, landing firmly on the ground around him, with his feet on either side of the Orsimer’s hips as he raised his right hand, swiftly slashing across Bologra’s chest, repeatedly with it. Bologra did his best to raise his arms but both his forearms and his chest were cut to ribbons by the Nord’s unrelenting assault, he struggled to find an opportunity to strike.

Arlas charged forward as soon as Valina’s storm dispersed, this time raising her staff, giving it an almighty swing, into the Altmer’s left cheek, almost knocking her straight to the floor as the solid oak-like stick was driven into her check bone. Valina growled in pain as she looked up, blasting Arlas with an electric shock, sending the energy coursing through her. The Bosmer, involuntarily stood still, growling as the electricity coursed through her veins.

Eventually Arlas stumbled back, falling back onto her staff, using it to support herself as she recovered, still feeling her skin lightly humming from the shock spell’s effect. She panted heavily as she slowly looked up, seeing Valina approaching her with a destruction spell in each hand, ready to finish the Bosmer off. Realising this, Arlas quickly readied a shock spell, zapping the Altmer but quickly found that she raised a ward to deflect her attempt.

Valina couldn’t help but grin as she saw Arlas’ power wean with every failed attempt, finding a new found strength in knowing that her victory was secured, she quickly threw a handful of electricity, straight into Arlas’ chest, sending her stumbling back, zapping the Bosmer repeatedly until she brought her to her knees. The Altmer continued to swagger over to her, swiftly lifting her boot up and driving her toes straight into Arlas’ face, sending her flying backwards, landing on her back with a thud.

Bologra continued to suffer under Ymir’s claws, bringing up his arms in order to protect himself but eventually giving up, saving his arms for when he got a chance to strike. Eventually the Orsimer’s arms fell to his side, leaving his face open to Ymir, who threw his head forward, snapping his jaws shut on Bologra’s face.

The Orsimer saw this as his chance, bringing his bayonet straight up, into the Werewolf’s right pectoral muscle, driving it deep into his chest and piercing his lung. Ymir snarled and dropped his head, writhing in pain as Bologra’s bayonet almost completely ran him through. He keeled over, onto his side, landing with a thud as he wrapped his large hand around it, panting and rasping as he struggled to breathe and blood slowly began to trickle from his mouth.

Bologra slowly pulled himself to his feet, wincing in agony as he did so, getting ready for the Old Nord’s retaliation but immediately saw that he was simply lay there, struggling to even move his arm, let alone get back up, onto his feet.

The Orc took this moment to look over to Arlas, only to notice that she was now on her back, wrestling with Valina as the Altmer’s dagger hovered inches as away from her heart. The Bosmer’s strength, what little she had, was quickly weaning, due to the disadvantage she was in, being lay on the ground. Valina pushed down on the blade, putting every ounce of physical strength she had into moving the blade closer and closer to Arlas’ chest. Thinking quickly, the Bosmer shifted her entire body, causing Valina to stab her near her collar bone, instead of near her vitals.

The Bosmer cried out in agony as she felt the sharp blade enter her body, sending an intense shooting pain throughout her torso, prompting Valina to give a satisfied smirk as she removed the blade and lifted it up once more, this time bringing it down on Arlas’ heart.

Arlas quickly brought her arms up to protect herself, though due to her pervious wound, she was significantly weaker and put up little resistance, it almost felt like she was guiding Valina’s hand, rather than resisting it. The Altmer slowly lowered the point of her dagger towards Arlas’ heart, pressing the tip against it, slowly piercing the skin as the blade sank into the Bosmer’s chest.

Arlas threw her head back and screamed, feeling her arms weaken due to the second burst of pain shooting through them as all resistance towards Valina’s attempt to penetrate her heart ceased and the Altmer was now free to sink the blade deep into her ticker and finally finishing her off.