Shadowcast

Entrance Exam: Part 7

The golem brought its rocky hand down on Liza. A barrier of emerald green energy surged from Wendy's fingertips, groaning and buckling under the weight of the massive boulder-fist. Liza rolled out of the way, and Wendy let down her ward as she escaped from its crushing grasp. Alusius fired bolt after bolt at the golem, but they deflected off the archaic stones. Wren tore rocks up from the ground and lobbed them, but they broke against the golem's mighty defenses. Liza crunched bits of spell paper in her hands and threw random bolts of fire, ice, and magical force at the golem.

"Guys, I have an idea!" Liza said, "I saw a weak point on the back of its neck. I'mma climb this son of a-"

"You'll need this," Wren said, cupping Liza's cheeks in his hands. He placed his hands on her neck, her shoulders, her arms, and continued down her body like a security guard searching for weapons. Liza felt her boots conform to the exact shape of the ground. "You can stop worrying about gravity now."

"And this!" Wendy traced an arcane sigil in the air and thrust it toward Liza. Suddenly, she was covered in a thin layer of flickering green. A strange smell flooded her nostrils, one her paltry hobbyist magic wasn't powerful enough to produce. "For protection."

Alusius turned his crossbow on Liza. "Don't waste this, human." A bolt of energy shot between the two prongs and splashed against Liza's chest. Wind rifled through her clothes and hair. "Do I make myself clear? Don't. Waste. It."

Liza looked between Wren levitating rocks, Wendy holding intricate rings of glyphs above her hands, and Alusius... being his best self. "I love you guys already." Liza turned around and dashed past another smash from the temple golem. She leapt up onto its ankle. Her feet clung to the pillar of mossy stone like she was magnetized to it. Walking up its back was as simple as a summer stroll. The golem took a step back, throwing her off balance. Her feet stayed planted, but her core wasn't strong enough to keep her "upright." She had to grab onto a patch of moss to keep herself steady. The colossus went for a swing, twisting its whole body to propel its rocky fist. In a heart-stopping moment, Liza felt her feet slip. She grabbed two fistfulls of thick, furry moss. Somehow, Wren's spell had failed. As the colossus pulled its fist back, she saw him picking himself off the ground.

"At least he's not dead," she said to herself. She grabbed another handful of colossus fur and pulled herself up onto its shoulder. Now past the rim of the gorge, she could barely hear over the howling wind. Her friends pelted it with minor spells from below, not even denting it. With a great grinding of stone and dirt, the golem turned its head to look Liza in the eye. It raised its hand and poised it as if to swat a mosquito.

"You want some, bricks-for-brains!" Liza yelled into its unresponsive face. In reality, it was more of a breathy pant; the climb had taken a lot out of her. The great palm brought its full force to bear against her. She raised her fist, and Wendy's magic shield held, blowing the carriage-sized hand away from her. She darted out of the way of its other hand, propelled by Alusius's enchantment. She dashed to the back of its neck and looked down at the glowing crack. It was nearly as wide as her hand. She took out several scraps of paper and scribbled thunder runes on each of them. She had seen the runes on the rock-crushers that worked in the quarry near her village. They could probably crush this rock just fine! She layered the papers together and stuffed them into the crevice in the golem's neck. She turned her face away as the runes activated, sending a shockwave rippling through the stone. A blast of arcane force sprayed out of the gushing wound, scoring her face and hands with tiny bullet-like pebbles before blasting her into the open air. As she sailed away from the golem, she watched with breathtaking satisfaction as brick dislodged from brick, mortar dissolved into sand, and the temple came tumbling down. Then, she realized she was falling. 

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Author's Note:

Oh no. Whatever shall we do. The main character is definitely going to die. Falling from heights is the #1 cause of totally real main character deaths.