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mindcracklove2015-01-20 10:04 pm
Divided by Hostilities (Chapter 16)
We're getting to the pointy end, guys.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
“I was afraid this might happen,” Aureylian said, stringing an arrow into her bow and aiming for the beast. Beef felt his heart thumping but fumbled to put on the armour Aureylian had given him. He took out his bow in sweaty hands and heard a ping from beside him. Pause was already loosing arrows quickly from his bow, his aim steady but not hitting the dragon. Beef thought hazily as he tried to get an arrow into the trembling bow that he’d only ever seen a black dragon. And they were only found in the End, aside from that one -
“Beef!” Pause said furiously, and Beef snapped out of his thoughts to properly set the arrow before aiming at the dragon’s head. It was still coming towards them, closer and closer and now terrible flames were shooting out of its mouth. Beef could feel the heat as it came closer, and he cursed himself for being a worse bowman than Pause. Still, only a few arrows had struck and they seemed to have done nothing to hurt the beast. Beef took out his sword and tried to stab at the dragon as it passed overhead, but he couldn’t reach. He snuck a glance to his right and saw Aureylian shooting with more anger and determination than he’d ever seen on anybody. Pause was still shooting furiously every time the dragon came close, but the creature did not seem to even flinch as the arrows just bounced off its impossibly tough skin. Beef saw that its scales were a deep, blood red but it also seemed to be blackened in places. It looked like it had been singed or burnt. As the dragon made a wide circle away from them again Beef took a moment to wipe the sweat off his forehead. He had an empty feeling in his gut, an unshakeable fear that they were going to lose this fight. Who knows where the dragon came from? It obviously found its way through a portal somehow, but what was on the other side? This dragon was bigger and tougher than one Beef had ever seen. Maybe there were more. It was obvious that it wanted to kill them though, breathing unbearably hot fire each time it passed overhead. Beef wondered why it hadn’t just landed and killed them, though. It was obvious that they stood no chance -
“Beef! Watch out!”
Pause’s voice alerted Beef once again and he spun around to see the dragon coming at them from the opposite direction. He began shooting, his hands slipping from the bow with sweat and his arrows flying far off in directions he never meant them to go. Beef cursed himself. He still felt hollow. As the dragon drew near he felt heat radiating from its belly and from the flames it projected towards them. He ducked along with Pause and Aureylian, but stood up immediately as he heard a scream from his side.
“Aureylian!” Pause was shouting, standing up. Beef turned and saw the dragon looping around towards the fire portal in the distance. Aureylian was struggling in its claws.
“What are we going to do?” he shouted at Pause far too loudly. He struggled for breath, feeling useless and tiny. The dragon was taking her, and he was doing nothing. Without thinking he began to chase after the dragon, stumbling down the outcrop blindly. He was scraping his hands and knees on the sharp crystals but he couldn’t feel anything. He was running now, finally on the softer grass and flatter ground as he raced towards the portal, the dragon flying far too quickly towards it. The strange animals skittered out of the way as Beef pounded across Ancor. He was already losing breath, already slowing down. He knew he could never catch up to the dragon, but he had to keep going. If he didn’t, Aureylian would die.
But his lack of breath caught up to him finally and he sank to the ground, hearing nothing but the roar of his blood in his head and his own shallow breaths. He leaned against one of the crystal projections and watched helplessly as the dragon took Aureylian into the fire. He lost her.
“Beef, what on earth are you doing?” Pause was saying. Beef looked to his side. Pause was kneeling down, looking concerned.
“We have to… save her. Pause – Pause, she’s going to be killed.” Beef stuttered, trying to articulate. “We can’t just let her die.”
“But you can’t run after the dragon like that! You’ll never catch it!”
Beef knew he was right, but something had made him abandon all reason when he saw the dragon take her. He wasn’t prepared to let his friend die. And secretly, he thought, although it was rather shallow, he really needed to know what happened next in her story.
“We should have saved her,” Beef mumbled. He felt weak.
“Let’s go, then!” Pause said, grabbing Beef by the arm and lifting him up. “Come on!”
“Go where?”
“Into the portal you moron! Come on, we don’t have time,” Pause said. He thrust a bow into Beef’s hands. Beef stared at it before realising it was his own, and he must have dropped it without noticing.
“She’s probably already dead,” Beef said, staring at his feet. His legs were shaky.
“Don’t say that,” Pause said. “Come on. And eat something.”
Pause was already walking quickly towards the column of fire. Beef started walking, legs still shaky. He grabbed some chicken to eat slowly as he followed Pause, his brain finally beginning to work again.
“I guess I just… the thought of losing another friend…” Beef said as he caught up to Pause, his thoughts all over the place. “I mean, I feel like there should have been something I could have done to save Etho. And there wasn’t, I know, but I just… if Aureylian dies I’ll blame myself.”
Pause nodded, navigating around another sharp projection of crystals. “I’m just telling myself she’s still alive. I mean, if the dragon wanted to kill her, it would have done it out here. It would have killed all of us, right? But I think it’s taking her somewhere. Somewhere on the other side of that portal.”
“Intersection,” Beef corrected. “I hope you’re right.”
“Here we are,” Pause said, staring up at the flame that rose into the sky, much higher than the one they had come out of. The heat from it was already beginning to hurt Beef’s skin, and he stepped back a little. His heart was thumping faster again. What if they stepped out and were immediately met by death? What if they never came back?
“It’s alright,” Pause said, but the look on his face told Beef he was thinking the same things.
“We can do this,” Beef agreed, but his own voice sounded faint and shaky. He took in a deep breath. “Who first?”
“Together,” Pause replied. He stepped forward and Beef followed. He felt Pause take his hand. “Come on, we can do this,” Pause said, echoing Beef’s words.
Beef prepared to step into the flame, to be met by whatever awaited them on the other side. He supposed he was meant to be brave and fearless, but he felt weak and terrified. Something ominous told him this wouldn’t end well.
“It’s alright,” Pause said softly. “I’m scared too.”
And then Pause brought a hand up and pulled Beef’s face close to his, kissing his lips quickly before pulling away. Beef’s stomach fluttered and he looked at Pause who looked at his feet.
“Let’s do this,” Beef said with a sudden burst of courage and stepped into the flames.
Searing, unbearable heat, and then it cooled slightly and there they were, standing in the middle of a different world. Pause was still high on the kiss, even though he was chiding himself for even doing it. Beef probably thinks you’re so creepy, he thought before realising he had much more important things to worry about.
The place they stood was nothing like Ancor, but it was nothing like their home either. It was dark, the sky covered with black clouds. The air was dusty and the ground was grey and black, looking almost charred. There were no trees or animals. The only light came from small fires that seemed to burn infinitely. Pause looked around, but there was no dragon to be seen.
“Where is it?” Beef asked. He still sounded panicky.
“I don’t know, there doesn’t seem to be…” Pause trailed off as he saw exactly where the dragon would have gone. “Wait. Over there.” He pointed to the mountain, a black silhouette rising into the ashy sky far off in the distance. “I bet it’s there.”
“Okay,” Beef said. Pause took a quick glance at his face, and knew he was doubtful but willing to follow. Pause began stepping around the small fires and walked towards the mountain. He looked back at the portal, trying to make a mental note of its location. At least it was prominent. The column of flame shot high in the air and outshone the desolate grey world that surrounded it.
Pause knew neither he nor Beef had any clue what to do if and when they had to confront the dragon. As they trudged through the ashy plains Pause watched Beef lose hope. All traces of the adrenaline that had spurred him to run after the dragon were disappearing, and now he just looked lost and afraid.
“Are you okay?” Pause asked tentatively, walking around the marshy edges a small bog. So there was water in this place, it was just brackish and green with no sign of life.
“I’m okay,” Beef said. “I just can’t believe… everything she told us. And I can’t believe we let her get taken.”
“We’re going to rescue her, okay?” Pause said with more confidence in his voice than he felt.
“I know Ancora!” Beef said suddenly, too loudly. “Why? She said everyone in our worlds forgot that they had been there! Nobody ever taught it to me!”
“I don’t know,” Pause said. “There’s a lot of stuff she didn’t explain.”
“Why did all her friends die? Why did the dragon take her?” Beef was calling these questions into the empty world, his voice getting lost in the dusty air.
“I don’t know,” Pause said again. At least Beef wasn’t talking about the kiss. Maybe that was a bad thing, though. If Beef cared, wouldn’t he be talking about it? Pause bit his lip and focused on his feet, trying not to walk into any fires or marshes. He was ignoring his feelings now, something he seemed to be doing more and more often lately, but he really did need to focus on looking for Aureylian. The mountain was looming closer, jutting into the sky in front of them. It wasn’t as far off as Pause had thought it was, and now he could make out its shadowy contours; craggy peaks and deep black caves. Pause was sure he was right, where else would a dragon go but deep inside the mountain? It was the only structure visible anywhere in this world, and its caves looked like a great home for the creature.
“That’s the place, it has to be,” Beef said. Pause realised he had stopped and was looking up at the mountain. Pause stopped too, and that was when he felt the fear growing, spreading from his stomach like a sickening disease. He looked at Beef, and knew he was just as afraid.
“It’s okay,” Pause said. His words sounded faint under the steady thump thump of his heart pounding in his ears.
“We should eat,” Beef said, starting to walk again. Pause noticed he was starving, and wondered why he hadn’t realised that earlier. He fumbled for food in his inventory and stuffed it in his mouth without even looking as they drew closer to the mountain.
“There’s something weird…” Beef said, trailing off. “Never mind.”
“What is it?” Pause asked.
“The mountain, it feels…”
“Warm,” Pause finished the sentence as he realised what it was that felt weird. The mountain seemed to radiate heat, and he hadn’t noticed at first but as he came closer Pause knew that was it. Each step that took them closer felt like they were walking steadily towards a furnace, and the heat got worse and worse. Finally they were standing in front of the mountain. There was a gaping cave entrance several feet up from the base where they stood, and the heat coming from it was making Pause sweat.
“Up there?” Pause asked. Beef shrugged.
“I guess.”
Pause began scrambling up the steep mountainside, adding more cuts and grazes to his already sore body. Beef followed. Luckily the cave wasn’t too high up, Pause thought as he pulled himself onto another ledge. He grunted and clambered onto the next ledge.
“Need a hand?” he asked Beef, who was still climbing up the mountainside. He reached a hand down, and felt a grateful flutter in his stomach when Beef took it.
“Thanks.”
Pause hauled Beef onto the ledge beside him and they both stood up. Pause sucked the blood from a wound on his palm and stared into the dark abyss of the cave.
“Look,” Beef said, pointing down into the dark. Pause could just see a light, a faint red glow from the very back of the cave. Now he knew more than ever that this was the right place to be. He took a deep breath.
“Should we go?”
“Yeah, let’s do it,” Beef said. Pause took out his sword and gripped it tightly, taking a quick glance at Beef before stepping into the maw of the cave.
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The cliffhangers. I love them so much, amazing chapter as usual <3
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(Anonymous) 2015-01-21 09:57 am (UTC)(link)i need to figure out my password...
-GiggleWorthy/ az
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