Game of Life

Chapter 23

The ground shook underneath the weight of the impact and the beast launched its assault. Leaping forward with its pointy legs and landing directly above our huddled group. Screaming and panicked running away ensued as its legs pierced several bodies, engulfing them with whatever element that was available.

I grabbed the collar of Adrian's shirt and pulled him away with me as the beast started rapidly stomping its feet, impaling as many as it could. Our group scattered in all directions, attempting to get away and the beast angrily trudged after the largest crowd it could. Thankfully that meant it was going in the opposite direction from the three of us.

Adrian tugged on my wrist and I reluctantly let him drag me along while Darren scrambled to catch up upon noticing we had moved. "I take it this means you have an idea?" I asked.

"Break the legs." He released his hold on my wrist, leaving me to follow cautiously behind.

"That is a little easier said than done," I remarked, turning my gaze upward and taking in the entirety of the beast. "It's quite large."

"They always are, but they also have a weakness, if you recall." He shot me a sideways grin and gestured at the spider. "And we know all too well what those are. Don't we mate?"

I glanced between him and the beast, trying to work out a plan of attack. "Just throw all we have at it?"

"Couldn't hurt."

I took a slow deep breath in an attempt to calm the pool of fear that swirled in my core, clenching my fists and exhaling with a shudder. 

"You alright?" Darren asked at my hesitation.

Nodding quickly I spun my wrist so I held a crackling ball of lightning in my hand and gestured at the spider. "Ready?"

Darren and Adrian nodded, summoning their own elements, earth and fire, and together we sent rippling waves of energy pulsing at our targets. The beast screamed and buckled as our attacks hit their marks. Adrian's earth snapped the leg of wind clean off while Darren's fire boiled off the water and my lightning exploded the sound.

Lopsided now, the beast struggled to limp its way along. I prepped another element to throw but was knocked backwards by a blast of wind.

"Oof!" I grunted at the impact and scrambled back to my feet, brushing pieces of gravel off of my hands. Flickering caught my attention, three of the elemental flames around the arena had flared up suddenly. I groaned in frustration, glancing back at the beast to see what was happening now.

The busted legs twitched and began to grow. Of course. I shook my head, I knew this would happen. They didn't grow for long, stopping at about a quarter of the length of the others but glowing with a new intensity. Maybe not quite a hydra, I mused, hoping it wasn't going to be a constant regeneration.

Deciding to test that theory I threw another ball of lightning, immediately ducking to the ground as it ricocheted off the new limb and back at us, crashing into the ground with a loud crash and throwing up a cloud of dust.

"Well that didn't work," I spat.

"I'll say." Adrian coughed, waving his hand in front of his face in an attempt to blow away the dust.

"You two okay?" The boys grunted confirmation and I sighed in relief. "Guess we're going to have to take out all of them before we can move on."

"Guess so." Adrian grimaced, picking bits of rock out of his palms. "Rest of it's on you and them." He gestured at the others, those being chased by the beast were still running while the rest were backed up as far as they could get. "Our elements won't be much use until the next round."

I didn't bother calling on the others, they were too far away to shout at and we had taken out the other legs without assistance so I figured I could take the rest easily enough, especially since it was distracted with those it chased.

I focused on the two left on the right side of its body. Fire and darkness, hitting them in rapid succession with water and light and grinning as it crashed sideways into the ground. Even mutant spiders couldn't walk like that. I whooped silently and moved a bit closer so it would be easier to hit the last three.

The beast screamed with rage, waving its last few legs around wildly. "Calla remember what happened last time!" Darren's warning came right in time and I dove to the side as flames blew out from its side. Two of the flames rose up this time and the stubs grew back again. It tried to use its shorter legs to move but tripped over its own feet and stumbled around, leaving me a clear shot for the last three which I promptly removed.

The whole stadium lit up as the final flames rose to their full height, the beast screaming in agony near the center. The same multi colored flames that lined the stadium curled up around the spider. I could see it warping slightly, changing as the energy swirled around it until finally it rose back to its feet.

The body had re-sized to match its now smaller legs and its fangs had elongated, now dripping with deadly venom that burned holes in the ground. For the last final touch it raised its head and howled. Higher pitched voices joined in as the Fallen began their slow descent from the walls.