by Jeff Kish
Peridot doesn’t even flinch as the soldiers bear down on him, and when they swing their swords into him, their blades are ripped from their hands with a loud clang, as if each is attacking a steel wall. Some of the men fall from their steeds from the impact of the blow, and the runic mercilessly plunges his sword into each, effortlessly wielding the weighty weapon as if it were made from air.
Ruby doesn’t wait for her opponents to finish their approach. She extends her hands and throws waves of fire that lash out and consume half of her opponents. Galen swings around from behind and tries to get close, but she snickers at his attempt and ferociously blasts him from his steed. He hits the ground engulfed in flames.
Marmela deciphers the identity of their opponents, and she makes a mad dash to where the waters from her runes soaked into the ground, desperate for a weapon. Rex freezes in terror, and Ospif shrieks through his gag as he retreats into the sky boat.
Opal watches in terror as his allies fall prey to such savage techniques. He desires to help as much as he yearns to run away, but he’s filled with fright from the intimidating display of power.
Talkem realizes the lightning runic is in no shape to prevent his escape. He grabs Fire and dashes into the sky boat, and Hyrel follows. They slam the door shut as the Eagle pilot scurries up the ladder.
“All dead,” Ruby says while brushing her hands off in satisfaction. “If that’s all the Valvoren military can offer, why doesn’t the prince launch an invasion, already?”
Peridot spits on the ground next to his fallen opponents before glancing to Opal, Rex, and Marmela. “Seems we have a few left.”
Galen slowly gets to his feet, the intense flames contained to his hands, yet he struggles to stand. One of his legs is critically burned, and he winces with every move.
“Ugh, I missed one,” Ruby complains. “I thought I incinerated him, but he was faking it.”
Suddenly, the sky boat runes fire as it lifts off the ground. Marmela and Galen watch with helpless frustration as Talkem makes his escape.
Ruby puts her hand over her eyes to block the sun. “Say, was that our runic?”
“Get down!” Peridot cries out in warning as Di makes a strike from above, attempting to cut Ruby in two.
The fire maker barely dodges in time, and she turns and unleashes another blast. “They’re like cockroaches!” she shrieks, but this time she sees Di form her air shield as protection. “Gyah! This one is tough, Perry!” she shouts as Di charges forward with her air wall, forcing Ruby to release her assault and dive over the approaching barrier.
Di does a flip off her wall, instantly redirecting her momentum and lunging at the helpless Ruby, but Peridot parries her strike with his hefty broadsword. Startled by the resiliency of the blade, Di hacks at it repeatedly, but she finds her blade to be the one on the verge of shattering with each blow. He makes little effort to deflect the strikes, but instead seems more intent on studying her. Frustrated, she nimbly swings around and strikes at his side, but he effortlessly bats her blade away with his hand and throws a slap at her stomach. She nimbly flips backward to avoid the attack and backs off.
“Showing mercy, Perry?” Ruby cries. “Take off her head, already!”
“She’s a runic, Ruby,” he says, his deep voice booming as he studies Opal from afar. “He probably is as well.”
Ruby’s eyes widen. “Lucky find! Forget the ice girl, let’s take these two back instead!”
Galen’s spine shivers at her words. If these runics are working for the Allerian prince, and they capture Di and Opal, a war would be over before it even began. Fighting against the debilitating pain, he shouts, “Diamond! Opal! Retreat immediately!”
Di ignores him, her eyes fixated on Ruby. “Allerian!” she cries out. “Was it you? Did you burn down Bahser?”
Ruby sneers. “Burn? I incinerated that hole!” With a shrug, she adds, “The landscape is better without that dump.”
Di aggressively points her blade at Ruby as her rage reaches a boiling point, but Galen grabs her shoulder and gets in her face. “I command you to retreat!”
Despite his words, Di finds herself in control of her actions. “I’m killing her, Galen,” she whispers.
Galen panics, uncertain how she is resisting him when Graff commanded her to obey his orders, especially as he has seen it work before. “Now is not the time for this,” he pleads. “Opal is a wreck. You must retreat now.”
She slaps his hand aside and charges her opponents, who take a defensive stance as she abruptly takes to the air, running over their heads and landing next to the trembling Opal. She smacks him across the face and shouts, “OPAL, I NEED YOU!”
Opal remains in shock. “I-I’m…”
“Snap out of it!” Di exclaims. “You’re a runic, aren’t you? Be the hero you’re always claiming to be!”
“NO,” Marmela urges as she hurries next to them. “If you get captured, we’ll be helpless against the Allerians. Besides, Thayo escaped and you’re the only one who can give chase!” She plants her hands upon Di’s shoulders and pleads, “Leave us for dead. Listen to Commander Galen and retreat now!”
“Here they come!” Rex calls as he forms an air blade, though its construct is a fraction the quality of Di’s. He boldly steps up to intercept Peridot, but the runic lowers his shoulder and brushes him aside with ease, sending the officer spiraling through the air before crashing into the ground a fair distance away.
“Run!” Marmela orders, locking eyes with Di before dashing at the foes. She steps up with her elemental blade and flings it at Peridot’s neck, her hold on it maintained by a chain of shaped water, but he bats it down with his bare hand as Ruby swings wide, her sights locked on Marmela and her lips twisted with pleasure as she approaches.
Marmela feints at Peridot and whips her swirling blade at Ruby, but the evasive runic skillfully dodges and blasts the weapon with a concentrated flame, instantly vaporizing the water and leaving her opponent defenseless. Marmela instinctively brings her arms up to shield herself as Ruby unleashes a more powerful, incinerating blast, instantly enveloping the commander with a raging inferno.
As the fire subsides, Marmela finds herself surrounded by a protective shield. She swings around to find Di standing behind her, and her relief immediately gives way to anger. “Why are you still here?” she cries.
“You’re welcome,” Di mutters, still intently focused on Ruby. “I’m not leaving. Not until I’ve beaten her.”
“But Thayo is-”
“Don’t worry, I’ll catch up to him.” She looks back to Opal and shouts, “You ready to fight, yet?”
Opal takes a deep breath and acknowledges her by raising his charged fists.
“Good,” Di says. “Commander, go help the others. Don’t get in the way.”
Though she wants to continue her objection, Marmela finds a terrifying coldness in Di’s eyes. Instinctively, she retreats to where Rex was flung, leaving Di and Opal to face off against their opponents.
“I dislike the runt,” Ruby announces.
“Which runt?” her partner asks with sincerity.
“The annoying one!”
He sighs. “Just wait for me to step away from you before you ramp up.”
“If you can’t stand the heat, then get outta my way!”
“Very well,” he grunts as he dashes ahead.
Di extends her air shield to block the increasing heat as Peridot swings wide around his ally and charges in at full speed, his sights locked on the air shaper. “Opal, I can’t scratch that guy,” she says as she tracks with his movements. She moves her barrier to deflect his strike and shouts, “You need to-!”
Peridot puts his head down, rams into Di’s shield, and sends her careening into the air while allowing his momentum to carry him forward in pursuit of his target. The loss of the air shield brings an instant increase in temperature, and Opal finds Ruby sprinting in to capitalize on her opportunity. He charges his hands with electricity, but the heat becomes far too
intense before she gets within range of a strike. “I hate fire makers!” he cries as he retreats at full speed from the menacing runic.
Still airborne, Di shakes off the intense impact, grateful for the air shield and stunned at the ease with which he flung her. She shapes the air beneath her feet to catch herself, staying well over the head of her opponent as she works to decipher the source of his power. ‘Even for a runic, he’s too strong!’ she laments as she studies him. Her eyes catch a glint of dark armor hidden under his outer garments, and she realizes it completely covers him: from neck to hands and feet. As if that wasn’t enough, his sword is the same dark material, from handle to blade, and a theory begins to formulate. “You won’t get me up here!” she taunts, wanting to test her idea.
Without hesitation, the hulking warrior places his hand behind his back, forms an object from dense earth, and flings the small projectile at her with deadly precision.
Di bats it aside with her air-shaped blade, finding it far denser than she had even anticipated. “I knew it,” she whispers to herself in satisfaction. “Earth maker.”
Peridot doesn’t give her time to ponder further, flinging heftier projectiles with ease. The light-footed Di dances about to dodge the strikes while calculating her chances against such an opponent. She’s certain she won’t be able to pierce his armor given everything she’s seen. Yearning to get another shot at the fire maker, she decides she needs to swap opponents with Opal and veers toward her ally, racing across the sky.
Taking careful aim, the Allerian runic anticipates his retreating opponent’s movements and flings the next shot just below her feet. The solidified air shatters, and Di’s foot falls out from under her before she can reform it.
The stumble is enough, and this time Peridot aims directly for the sky walking runic. Di barely manages to shield herself in time, and the impact sends her spiraling to the plains below. With a groan, she gets to her feet and spits the dirty hair from her mouth as Peridot approaches.
“You Valvoran runics lack warriors’ souls,” he mocks. “You belong in a doll house.”
“You want to see the soul of a warrior?” she asks under her breath. Standing tall, she scoops her hair together and pulls it tight. With a feral gleam in her eye, she slices the length off and allows it to dissipate into the wind, and she boldly faces her adversary.
Instantly, Peridot closes the gap and swings his dense, earthen blade into Di’s air shield, which again sends her careening backward, this time skidding uncontrollably along the ground. Di eventually slows enough to flip to her feet, wincing from her scrapes and burns as he rushes her down, this time swinging overhead in an attempt to hammer her into the ground.
Di swiftly kicks off a block of air to dodge the attack and goes briefly airborne before coming down at his head. As he moves to defend the only unarmored part of his body, Di forms another block of air and redirects her momentum, landing at his feet with a wide opening before her. She pours all her effort into sharpening her blades and makes a quick succession of slashes across his stomach, sending sparks flying with each blow, but she fails to crack the armor. He tries to bring his arms down hard on her, which she manages to evade before slashing back at him with all her might.
The slower-moving Peridot lets loose a howl as he sweeps his broadsword in a circle around himself, but Di leaps into the air and perches herself to avoid it. As he swings up at her, she dives over his blade, frantically trying to avoid another impact that will fling her across the landscape.
A distant memory suddenly flashes into her mind, taking her back to Era’s spar with the hunters in the woods, and her lips crack a hint of a grin. She checks Opal’s position before leaping down at her opponent, seemingly in bad position. The earth maker mercilessly slams his sword into her shield, which again sends her flying. Though at first satisfied, Peridot quickly switches to disbelief as he realizes his error in batting his enemy straight toward his comrade, and he scrambles in pursuit.
Di flips in the air and smoothly converts her momentum into a mad dash, her feet still inches above the ground. She offers a silent thanks to Era for the strategy as she rushes to the aid of her partner, who is still running away from his furnace of an opponent. Opal is filled with relief at the sight of Di, but she points back at Peridot and shouts, “Fry him!” as she passes him by. Anxious to contribute to the fight, he locks in on the menacing armored foe and pumps charge into his fists.
“Perry, you IDIOT!” Ruby hisses as Di forms a shield in front of herself and bears down on her. The fire maker sends an intense blast at Di, singing the earth below its path as it slams into her target.
Surrounded by flames and dripping with sweat, Di wraps the shield entirely around herself before smashing into Ruby, and the fire maker crashes hard into the ground as Di continues to roll past in a dizzying spiral.
Ruby grabs her arm and shrieks, her demeanor growing feral as she leaps to her feet. Still, watching Di scramble to maneuver while maintaining such a shield around herself brings a sinister giggle to her lips. “Little mouse is gonna have a tough time fighting like that!” she squeals while unleashing another barrage.
The air runic makes a wide sweep, knowing that Ruby’s taunt holds weight. To drop the air shield is to be incinerated, but to keep it raised is to limit herself offensively, plus she wonders how long she can fight without passing out. Just as she starts to wonder if such an opponent can be defeated, she reminds herself of the atrocity she witnessed at Bahser, and her mind works furiously to craft a strategy.
Opal, meanwhile, confronts his foe confidently and unleashes a crackling electrical bolt that arcs for the Allerian runic, striking him in the shoulder and exiting through his leg. Opal does a quick charge and unleashes a less powerful blast, but one that still leaves its mark as it penetrates his chest. “Not much you can do against this, is there?” Opal cries, his confidence building.
Peridot winces from the searing pain of the electrocution, yet he remains stoically calm. With a single hand, he hurls his mammoth blade into the ground before him, and the earth quakes violently from the impact, creating a gaping crevice where it strikes. Opal regains his balance, bewildered by the apparent strength of his opponent. He pours his effort into a forming a dense charge and unleashes it.
The lightning arc lashes forward, but it strikes the wrong target, making impact with the dark, metal sword protruding from the earth. Opal is taken aback by the misdirection, and he lets loose another blast, only to witness the same result.
“Do you not know how your own powers work?” Peridot goads as he takes his time to form a long, thin javelin. He heaves the dense weapon into the air with a wide arc, and Opal dives aside as it impacts the ground behind him with an earth-trembling crash.
Peridot charges his opponent with a howl, the earth trembling from the weight of his armor with each step. Opal scrambles to unleash another attack, but this bolt strikes the javelin immediately nearby. Terror seizes him as he comes to understand his opponent’s strategy, and his legs are frozen in fear as the burly runic rapidly approaches. He charges his fists in desperation and thrusts them forward as if to somehow deflect the rampaging beast.
The lumbering Allerian lowers his shoulder and slams into Opal with full force, and an ear-popping crack rips through the air as the two bodies are torn apart from one another. The full extent of Opal’s charge rips into Peridot, even as his impact sends the lightning runic careening backward. Opal lands hard, gasping for air and writhing in pain, while Peridot creates another tremor upon hitting the ground, lightly smoldering from the strike.
“Alam!” Di cries out at the sight of her injured partner, and she realizes her time is running short. Despite her best efforts, the air shaper can only come up with one way to attack the blazing furnace of an opponent. She already did it once, but she knows that greater momentum is needed to inflict more damage, and she dashes away from Ruby, who hurries to give chase.
“Coward! Get back here!”
Di runs wit
h all her might, feeling degrees of difference with each step of separation. She drops her shield and takes to the air, swinging wide and going higher and higher as she readies herself to make an approach on Ruby.
The air shaper takes a deep breath before taking the plunge. She charges Ruby with outstretched hands, her brow dripping with sweat, this time not from the heat, but from sheer effort as she crafts a robust shield before her. She stretches it wide and thick, compressing the air with all her might as she approaches her dangerous opponent.
Back on his feet, Opal cringes with each breath at receiving such a direct blow from his opponent, but he’s glad to see the jolt Peridot received had the same effect. Peridot’s arm hangs limply at his side, and he’s standing softly on one of his legs. “Th-That’s… what you…” the young elementalist tries to taunt, but the pain in his chest prevents him from completing his thought.
Peridot forms a thick projectile, but his eye catches Di’s descent from afar, and he instantly shifts his priority. Despite his foot injury, he charges at full speed away from his opponent.
“Hey!?” Opal calls out as he gives chase.
Ruby finally realizes something is off about Di’s approach. Her powerful blasts of fire are having no effect, and the wind is blowing violently around her. Her eyes widen in a panic as it becomes clear that Di is shoving an expansive wall of solidified air before her. Though the fire maker tries to retreat, the reaction is too late.
Di screams as she crashes into her opponent from above, slamming Ruby to her back, flattened against the earth as the translucent barrier crushes her. The air shaper bounces violently off her victim and lands nearby as the shield is dispersed.
Coming to the aid of his partner, Peridot attempts to vault himself at the stunned Di, but he takes a lightning bolt to the chest that causes him to stumble back to his ally. He hurriedly makes a thin sword and plants it into the ground to offer protection, just in time for it to intercept another bolt.
“Let’s… Let’s KILL them, Perry!” Ruby screeches as he helps her up. She sways and staggers as her eyes refuse to focus, her entire body trembling from her injuries. “Forget capturing them. THEY NEED TO DIE!”