Path of Dragons

Book 6: Chapter 19: Broken

Elijah didn’t hesitate.

He used Flicker Step.

In only an instant, he was behind the skeleton, though he didn’t attack it. As a Blight Dragon, he had neither the mass nor the Strength to move something that large. But his true target wasn’t that big. He dashed forward, slipping between the skeleton’s legs, and hitting Sadie with as much momentum as he could muster. She screamed in pain – doubtless, he’d made her injuries much worse – but she did move. Only a couple of feet, but that was enough to take her out of the path of skeleton’s descending strike.

Unfortunately, the tactic also put Elijah’s back right in line with its enormous axe. The blade bit into him, severing his spine. His back legs went instantly numb, while a dense wave of pain went up his back and erupted into fiery agony.

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He let out a hissing cry, but quickly shunted that pain – and the distressing numbness – into its own facet of his mind. Then, he focused on the situation at hand. Sadie had tumbled free, but she was in no condition to continue the battle. In fact, she was barely conscious, which meant that she wouldn’t be any help going forward.

The others were still alive, but Ron had been knocked unconscious. Dat, whose leg hung on by a single tendon, had somehow dragged the man to a location made safe by a line of Kurik’s traps. Each one was fueled by a power crystal, so they would likely pack quite a punch, but Elijah knew from experience just how difficult those skeletons were to defeat. The traps would slow their foes down, but the group wouldn’t remain safe for long.

And given that the skeleton was already pulling back for another attack, he knew he didn’t have much time to figure out a plan.

Realizing that Shape of Venom wouldn’t see him through, Elijah initiated another transformation – this time, into his Shape of the Guardian. Because of his previous actions, his store of ethera was beginning to run low. His Jade-Mind-enhanced Regeneration had gone a long way toward mitigating his expenditure, but even that wasn’t enough to let him keep it up indefinitely.

By the time the transformation was complete, the axe fell again. The monster didn’t even bother with Elijah. Instead, it kept its attacks trained on Sadie, who was still completely out of it. So, using his long and powerful arms for locomotion, Elijah threw himself in her direction.

His legs dangled uselessly as he flew through the air, landing atop her just in time to intercept the axe’s blade. This time, though, he had the benefit of his inflated Constitution and Iron Scales. The blade bit into him, but only a couple of inches, so it did no lasting damage.

As the skeleton pulled back to administer another blow, Elijah wrapped one arm around Sadie and used Bestial Charge. The ability required him to initiate the charge by mundane means, but once he got going, it took over. Elijah threw himself out of the axe’s path, then sailed over Kurik’s traps. A couple activated, but the shield associated with the ability kept him from feeling the effects. A moment later, he hit the ground in a roll that came to a stop when he hit the wall.

Without wasting any time, he shifted back into his human form and started healing. His first target wasn’t himself. Nor did he aim Soothe or Nature’s Bloom at Sadie. Instead, he targeted the unconscious Ron, piling as much healing onto the man as was possible. Because while Elijah knew he didn’t have the healing power to push everyone into recovery, Ron certainly did.

As he cast, he shouted, “Kurik, get more traps up. Just keep them off of us until everyone’s on their feet.”

It took four casts of Nature’s Bloom before Ron’s eyes started to flutter open. Even with Soothe and Healing Rain constantly providing vital energy, it was another thirty seconds before awareness returned.

And half a minute is an incredible amount of time in the heat of battle. Traps went off, sending ethereal chains of blue energy to wrap around the front line of skeletons and binding them in place. But only a few seconds later, Elijah could see the cracks spreading across each link.

“Fifteen seconds!” Kurik growled, deploying more traps by throwing them into place. They looked like crystals, albeit with glowing wire wrapped around them. “These ain’t strong enough to hold ‘em off for much longer.”

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Just then, one of the largest black-bone skeletons broke free of its chains and stepped forward. More chains erupted from the recently deployed traps, wrapping around the thing’s legs. The creaking sound of highly-stressed metal echoed through the chamber.

Only when Ron began to stir did Elijah focus on himself, casting one spell after another as he tried to mend his severed spine. But to his horror, nothing worked. Elijah was well aware that some injuries were beyond his ability to heal. For instance, no matter how much ethera he pumped into the task, he couldn’t regrow someone’s lost limb. He could reattach one – so long as he had the pieces – but he couldn’t fix it with healing alone.

Was a severed spine one of those injuries he couldn’t fix? If only he hadn’t used Guardian’s Renewal, he could have stood a chance.

As he healed, he cast Soothe on Dat and Sadie as well.

Then, Ron croaked, “What…what happened?” He blinked again. “What’s the situation?”

He didn’t wait for an answer before he started throwing heals around. In seconds, every member of the group was glowing with white light. Elijah felt his wounds healing, but his legs remained entirely numb.

“Elijah…”

The expression on Ron’s face was all he needed to see to know that things didn’t look good. So, he said, “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out once we’re –”

Just then, the wave of skeletons – there were more than a dozen of them – broke free of one set of traps.

“Maybe ten more seconds!”

Elijah knew better than to dwell on his injury. Not in the heat of battle, at least. After they won, he would have plenty of time for self-pity. For now, there were people depending on him. So, without further consideration for his severed spine, he turned his attention to the problem at hand.

The skeletons were too durable. The only reason they’d defeated any of them in the past was because of the link between their existence and the crystals they’d worn around their necks. The newcomers had no such crystals on their bodies. No weaknesses. They weren’t invulnerable, but Elijah didn’t think any of them had the power to defeat the creatures in a fair fight.

And if they couldn’t, then nobody in the Trial could.

That meant there was something else at play. So, Elijah demanded, “What happened to the crystals?”

“Destroyed,” Kurik said, still tossing out traps. “Better do somethin’ quick, or we’re gonna be in trouble.”

Elijah looked around, his eyes quickly finding the figure at the center of the chamber. The huge ta’alaki hadn’t moved, but something had changed. It took Elijah a second to realize that the crystals on the creature’s staff had been broken. Only one remained intact, though it bore hundreds of tiny cracks that made it look as if it was barely holding together.

He sank his Mind into One with Nature, pushing it harder than ever before. And then, just barely, he sensed a thin thread of ethera emanating from that nearly broken crystal. The string of energy was incredibly small, but it was also denser than anything Elijah had ever felt before. As soon as it left the crystal, it split into dozens of strands that eventually connected to the skeletons.

That was enough of a hint for Elijah.

Realizing that Ron couldn’t heal him further, Elijah shifted sideways, then initiated a transformation into Shape of the Sky. His arms sprouted wings, and his body elongated. But that didn’t make his lower half any more responsive than before. But he didn’t need his tail or claws to fly.

Or that was what he thought as he threw himself upward. With his Strength, he had no issues getting aloft. However, the dead weight of his tail certainly threw him off. More, he could feel that he’d underestimated just how crucial it was to steering.

Thankfully, he didn’t need to execute any fine maneuvers. Instead, he pushed himself as high as the chamber would allow. Its ceiling was more than two-hundred feet high, so even with his tail dangling below, he had plenty of room to soar over the skeletons. Then, he took aim at the ta’alaki in the center of the room and dove. As he did so, he transformed into the lamellar ape, using Iron Scales and Bestial Charge as he fell from the sky.

He hit with the force of a wrecking ball, but even that was only enough to make the robed figure stumble. He’d never intended to kill the creature, though. Instead, his target was the crystal atop the staff in the ta’alaki’s top left hand. And it was just in reach. Elijah grabbed hold of the creature’s shoulder, then stretched.

It was just out of reach, though.

And the ta’alaki had begun to recover.

Elijah’s legs dangled uselessly as he threw himself at the staff. His fingers closed around it, and through sheer weight and surprise, he managed to rip the weapon free. He tumbled to the ground, forcing himself into an awkward roll.

Then, he felt a foot connect with his stomach, launching him a dozen feet away. Barely, Elijah managed to maintain his grip on the staff, but he could feel his organs burst from the magnitude of the blow. The only other attack he’d felt that could even begin to compare to what he’d just experienced was when he’d fought Halima.

The results were predictable.

Elijah had no idea if he was dying, but in that moment, he just didn’t care. Kurik’s traps were on the verge of failing. Sadie had yet to recover. And even if he was healthy, Dat was incapable of doing what was necessary.

“You think to defeat me. But –”

Elijah had no interest in listening to another monologue. So, he reached back, then swung the staff with every ounce of Strength he possessed. Without the use of his legs, he had trouble getting leverage. However, with his high attributes, even if he just used his arm, he could harness a truly devastating degree of force.

And the crystal was already damaged.

When it hit the ground, the thing shattered. So did the staff itself, splintering at about the halfway point. The ta’alaki screamed in rage, but Elijah wasn’t concerned with their tantrum. Instead, he only had eyes for the line of skeletons, all of which collapsed the second the crystal shattered.

Elijah had seen that before, and he couldn’t deny how incredibly satisfying it was to see them fall into a pile of disconnected bones. But then the enraged ta’alaki was on top of him. Elijah used Iron Scales just before the creature grabbed him, but even that wasn’t enough to protect him from their claws.

He screamed as his torso was ripped to shreds. However, given the power the thing had already displayed, the wounds weren’t nearly as deep as Elijah might have expected. Still, it was enough to send Elijah’s blood splattering across the floor. Then, in a fury, the creature heaved him across the room.

Elijah hit the wall only ten or fifteen feet from his companions, shattering the stone with his impact. Bones broke, and his organs ruptured even further. Blood spurted from his eyes and mouth, and his thoughts became muddled. Blackness crept into his vision as unconsciousness threatened to overwhelm him.

In the back of one facet of his Mind, he tried to initiate a transformation into his human form. His ingrained habits told him that he needed to heal himself. And yet, he couldn’t muster the willpower to stir the ethera in his core. So, he lay there, watching as the ta’alaki approached, murder in their eyes.