Mark of the Ranger

LII. Wood-Burning Stove

"We don't have time to be sad," Elena heard Lion mutter to himself, wiping a tear from his eye. She understood what he meant: Although Ko's death was definitely untimely, and certainly was brutal, the team could mourn over their melted comrade later. Right now, there was no time for mourning. Elena looked at the fire-powered geovore. She felt a determination to fight it--it didn't look so tough. With a few well-placed shots from my bow, the wood elf thought, I can take it down. Lion spoke up, finished with wiping his tears away. "Elena, you go for the geovore. Karen, David, you fight the man in armor. Jeff and I will fight the naga. I know from my dream that this spells certain death, but I don't think I can have a choice," he rambled, and Elena followed his command.

Elena would have fought the geovore whether or not Lion had told her to. It was something that pumped throughout her veins, a strange kind of determination that went beyond all kinds of understanding. She pulled out her bowedge and aimed a shot right at the geovore's head. Judging by its reaction, Elena knew she had gotten its attention. Now for step two, she thought as a claw, encrusted with fire crystals, went swinging her way. She narrowly dodged the attack, but she tripped on a rock and fell into the ravine.

However, Elena was quick to react, and she traced the Mark of Agility. This was where her race was known to shine--speed and being light on their feet. Elena hit the side of the ravine running, and she dashed down the wall. With a roll, she landed on the floor of the opening in the ground. She saw the vicious geovore look around frantically for a moment, then find her. It opened its massive jaws, which were also lined with fire crystals. That must be how the fire construct is controlling it, Elena thought. Normally, a geovore is a savage creature, and untameable beyond any circumstance.

The geovore bit down, striking for the wood elf. She narrowly dodged the attack. The geovore swiped, and Elena ducked. Another claw, which Elena jumped over, the Mark of Agility giving her ten times the jump height. The beast raised its mighty, fiery claw, but this time, something different happened: The claw caught fire, and was swung at Elena at twice the speed. The wood elf target narrowly avoided the much more powerful attack. However, she was not able to avoid a drop of saliva that came from the rock-eater's mouth. Luckily for Elena, it only landed on a piece of her arm, which was protected by her Ranger Gear. The Ranger Gear was resistant to geovore saliva, but too much would melt through it.

Elena decided that now would be the time to start shooting at the monster. She nocked an arrow and fired it into the geovore's mouth. She scored a direct hit, but it didn't seem to do anything except make it mad. The geovore began to run along the ravine, and that's when Elena decided to use her Mark of Agility to its fullest power. She leaped up to one side of the ravine, shot an arrow, then leaped to the other side, firing another arrow. She repeated this pattern, firing and jumping, making sure to aim herself away from the geovore so she wouldn't have to go near its saliva.

Elena craned her head to take a peek at her arrows while she was mid-jump. There were three more normal arrows, a blast arrow, a few tracker arrows, and the prized possession of any bow user--a star arrow, a combination of powerful magic and powerful arrows. A single star arrow could break every bone in the geovore's body, no matter where she hit it. However, they were extremely difficult to make, and extremely hard to obtain. Unless Elena was in certain doom, she didn't want to use it.

The geovore, fed up with Elena's bowedge and arrow nonsense, ran faster toward her. She leaped with greater speed, tempted to trace the Mark of Agility once more to increase its effect. She knew, however, that the power had a chance to consume her core, and that was a more brutal death than being eaten by a geovore that had been fed fire crystals. Elena kept at it, tracing her Mark when she ran out of energy, then continuing on. There was only a matter of time before she would be doomed, so Elena decided to take a shot. Right as the geovore was drawing much too close for comfort, Elena nocked her star arrow.

If this isn't the only geovore in the ravine, I'm doomed, Elena thought, then released her string. The star arrow flew with blinding speed, and nailed the geovore right on the forehead. A concussion wave spread along its body, and rock-dissolving saliva flew everywhere. Elena found a place to hide where she could see the geovore's destruction, but not get hit by its saliva. When the storm was done, she casually stepped out, then wiped her forehead with her gauntlet. She was about to run up the cliff and help the others when she heard a roar.

Wonderful, Elena wept internally. I'm doomed. A geovore, this one covered in ice crystals, charged from the other side of the ravine. Elena traced her Mark of Agility twice--no time to be careful--and ran for it. With ease, she leaped over the other geovore corpse, making sure to keep an eye on the one chasing her in a rage. Must be the fire one's brother, Elena thought as it attempted to draw close. However, Elena should have kept her eyes in front of her, rather than behind her.

For in front of her, there was a third geovore.

There were four geovores in the ravine, Lion would have known that. On the contrary, Elena did not. So she was suprised beyond imagination when a set of geovore teeth closed around her sight, and she realized she was in a geovore's mouth. The realization completely occurred when she landed and immediately, after a shot of pain, Elena lost the feeling in her feet. The same with her legs.

There was no escape now for Elena. She was doomed to be evaporated by saliva that could turn rock into glucose. She, as she had guessed, was dead.