Broken

Chapter 29 (Yejun)

'One more step...' Yejun thought, backing up more, the green glare of the gryphon boring into his soul, threatening a terrible and bloody death. For some reason they suddenly reminded him of Alex's vibrant green eyes.

A quick glance at the mage proved that Yejun's efforts had not been in vain. The gryphon might have been too engrossed in the 'indignity of it all' to notice, but the mage could clearly see the faintly glowing markings on the ground, only visible to him do to the fact that his magical perception was so high. Gryphons were like lesser dragons in many ways, but the biggest difference between them - other than the visuals- was the fact that griffons were not very magically inclined, It likely couldn't see the trap spell. At least it couldn't see the glow of mana from it, even if it had noticed the churned up earth that Yejun had accomplished to stir up.

Praying that he could get it done in time, Alex started casting one of his strongest spells. Anything less would only annoy the beast. Still, it was far too close to Yejun, and Alex hoped he wasn't about to get the kid killed himself.

One of the monster's massive talons landed within the circle and to both men's shock, the ground fairly erupted. With a strangled cry, Yejun flew backwards as the gryphon screeched once again, this time in pain and anger.

"Y-Yejun!" Alex shouted, shocked by the explosion. Hadn't it been a simple trap spell to bind the gryphon in place? He nearly dropped the skill he had been preparing when he saw a pale hand waving from within the dust cloud.

"... fi-fine- Cough! Cough!- I'm fine!" He heard the younger student shout though hacking coughs that didn't sound 'fine' at all.

Still, it was enough to know the man was at least alive. Alex raised a hand and let loose the mid- rank skill he had been charging. "<Blue Flash>!" He called out, not bothering with a silent casting this time.

From the cloudless skies shot a thin, nearly invisible, zig-zag line of blue light. It crackled as it descended upon the dust hidden gryphon and the air felt charged, the scent of ozone burning both men's nostrils. Then a second explosion sounded within the forest.

Yejun watched as the thread of thin, blue electricity fell into the massive hole he had- absolutely not intended- to make, touching the white feathers of the gryphon that was now half sunk into the earth. Eyes wide with wounder, Yejun watched as- in the span of less than a second- tiny blue zaps of light shivered over the monster. Then an even greater explosion than the previous one rocked the forest, shaking the ground and making the trees at Yejun's back creek.

Coughing and spluttering, Yejun covered his face and listened as the griffon let out a final, enraged, scream. He then heard the thudding of foot falls and the grunt of a man. The dust and smoke began to disperse, leaving behind the noxious scent of ozone and burnt flesh and feathers.

When he could open his eyes again, butt firmly placed on the ground with a tree at his back, Yejun saw a form take shape before him. Out of the dust-cloud emerged the shapes of Alex and the crumpled griffon. The once proud monster had its avian top half inside a large hole in the ground, its feline hindquarters collapsed outside of it. And on the monster's back, looking like some damn cartoon hero, was Alex. He was panting, eyes glaring down upon the massive monster he was straddling, the knife Yejun had enchanted in one hand, plunged into the now bloodied white feathers of the bird's skull.

Yejun looked up at the sight and couldn't help but think 'Wow...'; then his brain booted back up again and he scrambled to his feet, ears red at his foolish thoughts. Now was not the time to have his head in the damn clouds!

"What the hell?" Snapped a panting Alex, yanking the knife free and looking down into the hole he was half in. "You don't listen well at all, do you? And what the heck is with the hole...? I saw the glyphs... but I thought you just made a small entrapment trap. Why the need to blow up half the forest?" He sounded a little annoyed but Yejun saw that he had a goofy grin on his face, probably brought on from the adrenaline rush of a hard won fight.