Shadow wings

Whispers from the dead - The second sacred trial Part 2

Ferndall's heart beat quickly as he spoke up: "We have no choice but to compete against him. We can't just sacrifice one of us." He looked at the others, who nodded in agreement. Gall, however, turned to the leader of the undead and asked: "I assume that you, like your warriors, cannot die. How exactly are we supposed to defeat you then?" The undead smiled and replied, "Indeed. You're smarter than I thought. I can be defeated in the same way as my companions. Obviously it's not as easy as with them. If you defeat me, I will become just like my allies. However, I will not be hostile towards you.""Have you decided?" the undead asked impatiently. Ferndall took one last look at his friends, then said: "Yes, we have. We will fight against you together." The opposing leader seemed extremely pleased about this and said loudly: "A good decision, at least for me..." He laughed loudly. Suddenly all the tables, benches and the ring began to dissolve in green smoke. The undead warriors stormed in the direction of the walls of the hall and mount up there, presumably to get out of the way of the fight.But at that moment the leader of the undead was already attacking. A magically generated blast hit Laxus head-on and knocked him back. Laxus hit the ground hard and groaned in pain. Having no chance of building a formation, the friends spread out in order to be able to attack him separately.Ferndall could see from the corner of his eye how Gall pulled Laxus, who was barely conscious, into cover behind one of the pillars before he returned to the enemy's sight to attack freely.The undead had its focus on Ray and was once again using its magic to try and incapacitate her. Ray, however, was prepared for the attack and dodged with ease.But suddenly a green smoke appeared from the ground and severely limited the companions' vision. Ferndall had lost sight of both his opponent and his friends. At that moment he heard Marelin's somewhat muffled call: "Don't inhale the spores, they are numbing!" Ferndall immediately tried to grab a piece of lose cloth, but he found nothing. He heard another magical pressure wave being triggered and this time actually hit something, but he couldn't tell whether it was one of his friends or just one of the pillars. The prince tried to keep his breathing down to the minimum possible, he tryed miserably to use his sword to get a piece of cloth out of his clothes. But due to his weak breathing, he felt the increasing urge to take a deep breath.Finally, he could no longer resist, took a deap breath and immediately felt dizzy and his vision blurred. But at that moment someone put his hand over the his mouth and nose before he could inhale the numbing spores again. Gall, who was the one behind the prince, he handed him a thick piece of cloth. Ferndall tied it around his mouth and nose and thanked the elf.When prince looked at Gall, however, he noticed something strange: The blond's eyes gave off a slight glow. However, Ferndall didn't get a chance to take a closer look at him because they heard a loud scream. Judging by the voice, it was probably Marelin.Ferndall quickly grabbed Gall's sleeves so as not to lose sight of each other again, and they hurried in the direction from which they had heard Marelin. Suddenly Ferndall saw movement behind him out of the corner of his eye. At that moment he was attacked. While he himself had no chance of avoiding the attack, Gall reacted quickly and pulled the prince out of the attacker's reach - just in time.In the green smoke they could see a figure slowly coming towards them again. But then they heard Mary's voice: "Ferndall? Gall? Is that you?" Ferndall immediately replied: "Yes. Were you the one who just attacked us?" Mary replied, "I think so... I'm sorry, I was so sure I saw the undead." "He's trying to confuse us. We have to be careful. And one more thing: "Mary, you shouldn't use magic, the sprouts are highly flammable." Gall warned her. "Good to know. However, Luna should be told this as quickly as possible too." "Mary, maybe you should check on Laxus while we look for Luna. Laxus may still be unconscious and in great danger." Ferndall said. "Do you really think it's a good idea to split up again?" Mary asked. "According to their last locations, they were in opposite directions. We could search for Laxus together first and then track down the others, but this might take too long." Gall replied. "That's true. Come on Ferndall, we'll look for the others!" . "I actually assumed that I was accompanying Ferndall..." Gall said and folded his arms. "You have better eyes and ears and Laxus will be more inconspicuous than the others when he is unconscious. It will be easier for you to find him." With these words she grabbed Ferndall's arm and pulled him in the opposite direction of Gall. Ferndall glanced back quickly, but the elf had already disappeared from his sight.There was a strange volume, like a constant hissing that drowned out everything else. But suddenly the noise stopped and an unpleasant silence took over. Mary and Ferndall stopped and looked around. In a split second, Ferndall could see a small flicker on the other side of the hall. But before Ferndall even realized what was happening, Mary suddenly pulled him to the ground and used her magic. Just a second later, gigantic flames struck over their heads and the loud sounds that were triggered by the explosions made their ears ring.Despite Mary's protective spell, Ferndall could feel the burning heat over his whole body. He covered his ears to muffle the unbearable noise. They remained in this position for what felt like eternity.After no more flames could be seen and no more explosions could be heard, Mary carefully withdrew her spell. Ferndall sat up slowly. His ears were ringing and after the bright flames had blinded him he had to get used to the darker surroundings again."Are you okay?" Mary asks worriedly. Ferndall nodded and replied: "I'm okay. What about you?" "I'm good... We should check on the others, hopefully they aren't hurt." Mary replied.The green mist had disappeared, but it was replaced by the smoke from the explosions. However, this seemed to slowly clear and revealed a larger field of vision for the two of them. Several meters in front of them the outlines of three figures became visible. "Hello?" Marelin's voice rang out to them.Ferndall and Mary rushed to their friends. Marelin was accompanied by Luna and Ray. The three probably found each other shortly after the spores were released."Are you okay?" Luna asked. "We're fine. What about you?" replied Mary, "None of us is hurt. However, the same cannot be said of the undead. He probably wanted to surprise us and set the spores on fire, luckily I was able to react quickly enough and protect us. Speaking of protection, where are Laxus and the elf?" Luna asked. "We split up so Gall could search for Laxus. We have to look for them. "Hopefully they're unhurt..." Ferndall said. Suddenly they heard Gall's voice: "Don't worry. We're okay." they turned in the direction from which they had heard the elf's voice.The remaining smoke from the explosion had now almost cleared away. And they could clearly see the blonde elf approaching, Laxus supported on his shoulder. The brunette seemed to have recovered somewhat, but he was not yet fully conscious again. Ray and Mary rushed towards the two and helped Gall to bring Laxus over to the others.Now that the smoke had cleared, Ferndall finally noticed: The gate that was at the back of the hall had opened. They had succeeded."The gate is open!" Marelin shouted after she noticed it too. "Then at least it was worth it that we almost died," Ray replied. "By the way, how were the explosions triggered?" Gall asked as he placed Laxus on the ground with Ray's help. "The undead probably triggered it to wipe us all out at the same time. But he doesn't seem to have considered that he had something to lose as well." Luna replied. "I doubt he forgot. Rather, I think he knew if he lost at the same time as us, we would be dead ones and he would come back one way or another. He never really had anything to lose." Gall said. "That sounds sensible. Whatever it is, we did it and that's what counts. Now we should rest first and wait for Laxus to get better before we go any further." Luna said. The other agreed. However, they decided that they wanted to leave the hall first to avoid the risk of being caught by follow-up-explosions .The gate, like the ones before it, led into a long corridor. But instead of following this, the companions set up camp as planned. They discussed who would take over Laxus' watch and who went to rest.Nothing unusual happened during the time they were sleeping, just like before. They set off right after the last watch, which Marelin had to take over. Laxus had also fully recovered and was conscious again.As they followed the tunnel, they suddenly came across bones scattered on the ground. There were burn marks and gigantig scraches on the walls and the deeper they went, the warmer the air became. It felt like walking into a huge fire.The tunnel slowly began to expand and eventually opened into a huge hall. It was larger than the two before it and had no decoration or furnishings. Similar to the tunnel, there were bones and burn marks everywhere in the hall. But what was at the back of the hall attracted everyone's attention:A huge altar above which, glowing gold, floated the first artifact. "Is that it?" Marilyn asked excitedly. "Probably. Be careful though. Surely this hall is so big for a reason..." Luna replied.They walked towards the altar. At that moment Ferndall noticed huge chains leading to the ceiling. His eyes followed the metal and when he saw what the chains held, his hearts almost stopped. Two huge glowing eyes stared at him.A dragon clung to the ceiling and looked down at the friends, ready to devour them in one bite.