by Wolfe Locke
Chapter 17: The Animal
The mood was subdued the next morning as his cohort gathered at the Arena platform.
“Tetraites,” Colubra said in greeting, but Tetraites shook his skull to dissuade further conversation. He didn’t feel like discussing his fight with Yarrl.
Get focused. This is not the time to be distracted by things you cannot control. Tetraites scolded himself. He needed to remain firmly planted in the present. Only surviving and defeating my opponents matters right now.
The Dark Lord stood to greet them when they reached the Arena level, and he was not alone. A man with crisscrossed scars across his body was also there. Judging from the aura of power radiating from the box seats, Tetraites surmised other Lords of Pandemonium were present.
“Welcome, my minions… my champions,” Zekant’s voice boomed, and Tetraites felt a familiar flash of irritation. Had they not done everything Zekant had asked up to that point? Had they not passed all his tests with flying colors? Why does he mock us this way?
“Easy now, Tetraites,” Selesius muttered. “That is not a fight you can win. Only your life will be lost with your temper. Nothing will change. We all have our parts to play”
“We have prepared a new challenge for you today in honor of my fellow Lords of Pandemonium in attendance,” Zekant went on. “This battle will have three phases, and you will face three very different sets of enemies. You will have to adapt your strategy for each. This will be a test of both your skills and ability to overcome. ”
The Dark Lord gestured with a black-gloved hand, and the elevators on the other side of the Arena began to descend.
“Be warned,” he said. “Some of your opponents may be…very familiar. Do not allow that familiarity to be your downfall.”
Tetraites frowned. What did that mean? Was he going to have to face Yarrl again? That’s what Crixa was telling me, wasn’t it?
Notification: Arena Battle “Three Waves”
Details: Deadly foes have been arranged to test your mettle and your worth in the Spectral Arena. You must survive each round. You will not be allowed to leave the Arena to rest or heal.
Reward: Favor of a Lord of Pandemonium
The Dark Lord sat back down, a serious and grim look on his face as the other lift arrived from the Arena level.
On it paced the werewolf from the revenant’s cohort of Champions.
The Werewolf was not the same as it had been the previous day during the fight with Yarrl. Where it had once been just a bit taller than the others, Tetraites could see it now towered. The monster’s eyes were bloodshot and rabid-looking. Fresh blood and yellow foam dripped from its mouth. It lumbered around on four legs like a bear, pulling at its chains and snarling. The spider-monsters holding its bonds struggled to keep it back. Tetraites shook his head. Whatever shred of humanity was left in the Werewolf is gone. How easily could that happen to the rest of us?
“The wolf was the weakest of my Champions,” The Dark Lord announced, “and its antics yesterday did not amuse me. Only animals fail to heed their master, so an animal it has become. I have changed it. It may now be an opponent worthy of you.”
Tetraites remembered its snickering face in the stands during his fight with The revenant. It had indeed been unimpressive. It did not seem particularly challenging now either. Tetraites made a promise to end it.
Zekant gestured, and the wolf opened its mouth, and from its mouth, green fire spread across the Arena.
“I have also given this animal additional powers,” the Dark Lord said. “Others may reveal themselves in time. May you succeed in this first and easiest battle. ”
The Dark Lord nodded to the spider-monsters, and they released the werewolf and scuttled away through their escape doors. The Champions were alone with the beast in the Arena. Tetraites looked to Selesius.
“All right, Centaur,” he said. “The manticore devised much of our strategy last time, but with her gone, it falls on you. What do you see?”
Selesius narrowed his eyes. “We need to know what that green fire does. What it’s limits are, and secondary effects. Let’s see if we can draw it out. Did everyone upgrade their speed after the last group battle?
Everyone nodded. I’ll need to upgrade again after this.
“Good,” Selesius said. “Let’s use that speed.”
The Champions split up, each running toward a corner of the Arena. Tetraites’ bones cracked as he smiled when he took off. He took a measure of joy every time he entered the ring. Was I always like that? Or did changing into this monster make it so?
Tetraites was as fast as carrion beast and felt like he could run for miles.
Each of them sent a ranged attack towards the Werewolf. The three of them vying for its attention while also peeling for each other. The monster stopped and sniffed the air, growling. Then it turned toward Colubra with a wild howl and dropped to all fours. The Werewolf lunged forward, and in its frenzied state, its movements were awkward and clumsy. Its hind legs are far longer than the arms. That’s why it's not as fast or agile as it should be. That could be useful to him.
Colubra pelted the beast with a barrage of stone. Fist-sized rocks bounced off the Werewolf, and the monster lurched to a halt. Not out of pain, but from raw anger. The Gorgon’s stone magic had torn open some of the skin on its face. Small droplets of blood dripped onto the sand.
The Werewolf tried to move forward, and Colubra hit the monster again with a second volley of stone. Tetraites watched in approval. She’s reduced the amount of magical energy it takes to summon a volley by at least half. This used to exhaust her. She would have no need for the Centaur’s assistance this time around.
The wolf sat back on its haunches, panting and furious at its inability to get to its intended prey. Then it opened its mouth wide and shot a bolt of green fire at Colubra. With her malleable snake body, she twisted out of the way easily.
“It has ice powers!” Colubra shouted, gesturing at the rapidly-melting line of frost where the green fire had hit the ground. “Frozen Flame. Be careful! Tetraites, can you counter it?”
Before Colubra could attack again, Selesius sent a barrage of arrows flying at the Werewolf, drawing its attention. “We don’t know what its powers are yet,” the Centaur replied. “Remember, the Dark Lord said its abilities would reveal themselves!”
The Gorgon scowled as the snake woman moved toward Selesius. She had wanted to take the lead among their cohort by destroying the Werewolf.
The Centaur sent out another volley of arrows. Each arrow was enchanted with a bit of the Centaur’s magic to do an extra bit of damage as it tried to provoke the Werewolf into using its magic again. The Werewolf growled, and a haze of crimson energy seemed to overtake it, giving the monster a second wind and renewed power. It easily swatted away the rest of the hours and renewed its advancement, this time heading straight to the Centaur.
It’s not undamaged. The Wolf can’t keep this pace up forever. Tetraites noted. Blood and sweat are still dripping from its hide.
“Selesius!” Colubra shouted. “Aim for the exposed skin on its face. The gash!”
Selesius nodded, acknowledging the Gorgon’s suggestion. The centaur ran, putting some distance between itself and the Wolf while still carefully aiming its bow in a way only Centaurs were capable of. Then it launched a single enchanted arrow right at the Werewolf’s vulnerable spot. The arrow sunk into the Werewolf’s face, and the monster roared with pain as the raw magic of the enchanted arrow was unleashed.
The Werewolf reared back on its hind legs with a terrible scream of rage and ripped the arrow out of its face. Free of annoyances, it unleashed a series of fireballs at the Centaur.
The Centaur dodged the magical fire easily enough. With his augmented speed, the Centaur was never really in true danger from the spell. When the firestorm died down, Selesius looked down and inspected the burn marks left behind.
“Electrical,” he said. “I think maybe it’s lightning magic this time.”
Tetraites shook his head from over at his vantage point, where he waited to intervene directly if any of his allies seemed like they might be overtaken. “No, I don’t think so. The effects of its magic must be random. There’s no way to predict what the fire will do. Selesius, if it hits us, you’ll have to figure it out and be ready to heal whatever happens.”
The Centaur stamped a powerful hoof, a strange smile plastered on its face. Likely from his performance so far in the Arena, “I can do that.” Selesius
Tetraites moved from where he was at and joined Colubra in spreading out from the Werewolf while Selesius hung back with his bow. The beast spun in circles, trying to figure out which of them to attack first. The magical feedback from Selesius’ arrows had left it befuddled and slow to act.
Tetraites turned towards the Werewolf and sent a shard of ice magic rippling toward the wolf. It hit, and a blade of ice buried itself deep in the creature’s meaty thigh. Roaring, the wolf turned toward him and launched a fireball seeking to destroy the skeleton.
“Pathetic!” Tetraites jeered as he easily ducked the Werewolf’s attack. “You failed to stop Crixa yesterday from interfering. You failed to help the Revenant kill me, and now even with this new power of yours, you’re still failing.”
The Werewolf red eyes stared back at him blankly. He doesn’t understand speech anymore. He truly is gone. Tetraites found it unsettling that the Dark Lord’s gifts could be so easily retracted.
Colubra and Selesius both launched magical attacks simultaneously, and the beast turned away from him with a growl, it’s attention called elsewhere. It turned and began running towards the Centaur, but seemed to change; it’s mind and switched, bringing its full attention on the Gorgon.
Colubra lashed out to her left and then her right with the spear, trying to aim for kill shots and wounding points as she tried to maintain distance between them, knowing that close combat with the Werewolf would turn deadly. It was for naught, as the Werewolf ignored her
Limping as it was from the ice shard lodged in its thigh, the Werewolf remained relentless and advanced on the Gorgon without pause. Something changed, and the Werewolf opened its mouth. From inside a massive ball of fire glowed brightly as the Werewolf began to unleash the essence of fire sealed within it as bolts of fire were unleashed from its maw. Colubra did her best to dodge the fireballs, but there were too many, and they were coming too fast. She went down with a scream as the fire began to spread all around her.
“Colubra!” Tetraites shouted, sprinting toward her. This round of fire seemed to have earth properties. The ground around the Gorgon had turned to quicksand, and she was sinking fast. The newly created quicksand had deadly synergy with his snakelike body, and already half of it had become submerged.
I’m not letting you die today. Tetraites froze the ground around the Gorgon, and she stopped sinking momentarily. Tetraites knew the spell wouldn’t last long, especially if he had to maintain it while also fighting the Werewolf. Or if the Werewolf ignores me and decides to kill her while she’s vulnerable and suspended in place. Freezing the sane was the only option Tetraites had. Once it wore off, the earth would swallow her up.
“Selesius!” he shouted. “A little help!”
“On it!” Selesius said, beginning to braid his magic together, thinking of the time when alive he had worked to cancel out the nature of a hostile magic spell when. “I think I can neutralize it.”
“Do it then.” Tetraites commanded as he turned back to face the werewolf. Summoning Ice Blades with himself as the target. Jagged ice began to flow around his skeletal body. He and the Werewolf became locked with each other in open combat. The Werewolf’s flames, against his ice. Tetraites was doing well. Despite the Werewolf’s best efforts, Tetraites had managed to score additional hits with blades of ice to its vulnerable points. The frost's effect in its veins was causing the Werewolf to slow down, its breathing becoming ragged.
Gathering more of his power, Tetraites reached into his core and sent another Storm of Swords towards the Werewolf. Two of the ice blades lodged themselves in the Werewolf’s back, and it lunged at him with its massive jaws.
He sidestepped the fangs and struck out with his sword, slicing deftly through the muscles of the creature’s shoulder. When it stood up again, the Werewolf’s arm hung limp at its side. More blood running freely.
Pleased and excited, Tetraites tried to execute the same move again as Selesius freed up from his efforts to remove the quicksand enchantment that bound Colubra began supporting the skeleton with covering fire.
Tetraites used the opening to unleash a targeted Frost Nova. Tiny shards of ice peppered the Werewolf’s face and neck with lacerations. When Tetraites followed up with a swing of his broadsword, the Werewolf was ready for him.
Dodging his blow, the Werewolf grabbed him with its good paw and lifted him aloft. He brought his free arm down, digging the shield's bladed edge into the Werewolf’s chest, but was unable to further damage the monster. The Werewolf roared as it readied to end the skeleton.
“Colubra!” he shouted. She moved in on the beast, lashing out with her Spear. It screamed but held Tetraites fast as it raised the skeleton towards its mouth, ready to snap of Tetraites’ head. The monster glared at him with watery red eyes. Tetraites readied himself to unleash all of his ice magic in a Shard Storm.
Before Tetraites could finish, a glowing arrow suddenly sprouted from the Werewolf’s throat. The monster dropped Tetraites and clutched at its neck, trying to pull the shaft out. Its bloodshot eyes darted around, baffled, looking for an explanation for what had happened. Slowly, gasping for breath, it sank first to one knee, then the other.
“One down,” Selesius boomed, holding his bow aloft. Colubra stood next to him, snake-hair standing on end in triumph. She climbed onto the centaur’s back, sitting sidesaddle, and they galloped over to the dying monster, ready to unleash more attacks on him.
The beast was lying on its belly now, blood pooling in a circle around it. Twitching, it rasped out one final pathetic howl and lay still. Sols rained down around them in a shower of gold.
“Sorry guys,” The Centaur muttered bashfully. “That was a trump card I was trying to keep hidden.”
Chapter 18:The Next Wave
“Well done,” the Dark Lord’s voice boomed as the elevator on the other side of the Arena descended again for the next wave. “But your next challenge will not be so easy.”
Colubra leaped gracefully off the centaur’s back and into a fighting stance. She looked every bit the part of the queen she had been in life as she raised her spear. Tetraites quickly shoved that thought to the back of his mind and turned his focus to their next opponent.
“What do we think it’ll be? Who will it be?” Selesius wondered.
“The revenant had another ally,” Tetraites answered. “The sphinx. Perhaps it will be her.”
The lift ground to a halt. A greater skeleton stood on the platform in a red-plumed helmet. He shifted uneasily, with a two-handed sword in its skeletal hands.
“Ha!” Colubra barked. “He looks just like you Tetraites!”
Tetraites looked at the other skeleton, baffled. “What is this? I thought I was the only one?”
“I warned you all,” Zekant said from above, “that some of your foes would look very familiar.”
Tetraites raised his own sword, ready to meet this new foe head-on. He’s mine. The skeleton did the same, completely mirroring his movements. He passed it to his left hand. So did the skeleton. He summoned the power of Frost Nova in his hands, the magic ability causing his bones to crack —and so did the skeleton.
“Why?” he groaned. “This is terrible.”
Selesius dug his hooves into the ground. “Tetraites, you might have to sit this one out.”
“He cannot!” Zekant said, his voice tinged with the authority of absolute power. “All must remain in the Arena in order for the win to count.�
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“Tetraites!” Colubra said. “If the skeleton is mirroring you, maybe just try to interfere with its movements and make it easier for us to land a killing blow on it.”
It was worth a try. He sat his sword down on the ground and stood facing the other skeleton with his hands behind his back. The skeleton looked at him blankly, then sprinted toward him.
“Didn’t work!” Tetraites said, snatching his sword up again. “Colubra, what do we know?”
“It mirrors your actions sometimes but can choose to ignore them at other times,” she shrugged. “And it might just have been toying with you. The skeleton might be completely independent of your movements and created with a similar skill set.”
Tetraites tried not to make any sudden moves as the three of them arranged their party in a battle formation around the new skeleton. Any time Tetraites tried to attack the skeleton, it imitated him mockingly, directing a version of the same attack against his allies, rather than towards him directly.
I’ll need to use something more powerful. Tetraites brought his magic into his hands, and it did the same—and then shot a bolt of ice at Selesius. The Centaur leaped over it with a grunt. Tetraites reached into the spacial ring and pulled out his spear and hoisted it high, and the skeleton did the same—and then launched it at Colubra. The Gorgon slithered away, contorting her body to try and avoid it.
“Tetraites, stop trying to attack it!” Colubra said. “It just comes for us! Think of something different.”
He gritted his teeth in frustration. The other skeleton made the same expression, and then it did a waggling little dance, deliberately taunting him. Tetraites was enraged. He could feel himself losing control. Sparks of magic raced up his arms in the beginning of a Shard Storm.