Second Life

#8 Ichor

⛔️Trigger warning: fight scene and blood (not too much gore but there are mentions of blood and wounds)

George took a hit almost instantly. XD knocked him away easily, but George was able to cut open his hand with his dagger. Thick gold trickled from the god's knuckles as he stared at George disdainfully.

Karl struck him with an arrow, using long-range to his ability. XD pulled the arrow out and threw it back like a spear. Karl tumbled across the grass, missing it narrowly.

The sky was deep red. It made a deathly haze across the land, turning everything it touched crimson.

George felt his energy draining as the seconds ticked by. Karl shot another arrow that wizzed through the air. XD caught it and drew his sword.

It glistened in the light. George plotted an idea in his head. It was crazy and stupid, but it was all he had.

He looked over at Karl and mouthed "Distract" while pointing at XD. Karl nodded slowly, trying not to draw attention to him.

He began firing arrow after arrow. His shots became less and less precise but it didn't matter. All he had to do was distract him.

Meanwhile, George climbed the trees. They were gnarled and twisted, but he didn't stop climbing. His heart pumped in his chest and the world spun, but it hardly mattered to him.

His dagger poked his side as he twisted and climbed, but he ignored the blood pooling on his side from tiny cuts. He didn't have time to adjust it —Karl would run out of arrows eventually.

He looked over at the scene. XD waved his sword, but Karl moved narrowly in time and planted an arrow in his arm. XD closely resembled a pin cushion and Karl was caked in dirt.

George ignored his spinning head and climbed further. The sharp thorns on the trees cut up his hands, but not horribly.

He finally made it to a point in the treetops that he was satisfied with. He leaned over the branches precariously, trying not to make any noise.

XD never had been the best at paying attention. Blinded by rage, he didn't notice George's absence from the battle below. George gripped his dagger in his hand. A sickening mixture of blood and sweat coated it's hilt.

He took a deep breath and jumped off the tree, right on top of XD's head. He pulled his dagger through the air, cracking his skull.

Shimmering ichor spouted from his head, but he wasn't dead. Not yet. It wasn't that easy to kill a god.

George pulled his dagger from the mess of gold. His own blood and the god's stained his hands.

"Karl!" he shouted, knowing his puny puncture would be nothing. XD writhed under him, unable to summon the strength to get up just yet.

Karl drew back his bow and shot. Arrows pieced the air as George tumbled off him. He was weak as well from the illness. It had taken all his strength to pierce XD's skull.

Karl fired as quickly as he could, but nothing would have been enough. XD stood, arrows coming his way and ichor pouring down his face. He held out a hand towards George's struggling body. Vines wrapped their way around him.

He tried to get up and beat them, but he couldn't. He was too ill to move. Hallucinations danced in his eyes as Karl continued fire.

His mother's voice played in his ears, but he knew it wasn't real. An old piano's keys clacked under his fingers, but he knew he wasn't really there. X's carved into trees, ground, and skin, but he knew they weren't real. None of it was. Nothing but the thick blood on his hands and the vines entrapping him.