Luther's Adventure Log

The Wind Is Pushing Me Into The Clouds Again

The battle started with Grigori firing a massive blast of fire. I held one arm out in front of me, palm wide, fingers spread to stop the blast, and the flames billowed away on either side of me. It hurt my hand a little, but Monica's quick action saw the wounds healed before they really became too much of an issue. Grigori took a deep breath in preparation to fire another blast. I assumed the same stance as before, to push the flames away like the first time.

"God damn it, Luther! Don't be an idiot!" Arisa picked me up and threw me over her shoulder. "This place is too damn narrow to fight him! We need to get to somewhere more open, where he doesn't have such an advantage!"

"Put me down! I'm not backing away from this fight!" I demanded, flailing to get free.

"Knock it off! Quick, let's use this corridor! Monica, Zarianna, follow me!" Arisa sprinted down the hall with me over her shoulder, Monica and Zarianna following close behind. And shortly behind them was Grigori, smashing the temple to pieces and roaring with red-hot fury along the way. I couldn't get a clear shot at him with Arisa bouncing me up and down as she ran.

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!" Zarianna was saying as she ran, pulling ahead of Arisa. As we exited the corridor, a massive quake sent Arisa falling to her face, and I skidded and bounced off the cobblestones, finally free of her. I rolled to my feet, readied my bow, and fired a powerful magic bolt right into Grigori's chest. He roared, more out of frustration than any real pain, as he'd gotten stuck in the doorway.

"Gang up on him while he's stuck!!" Arisa bellowed, rushing him with her sword. She slashed at his chest mercilessly, but his scales seemed to be too hard for even her razor-sharp blade. She was barely scuffing their surface. Zarianna's hail of arrows bounced off his hide ineffectually, and Monica's spells didn't seem to have any effect. My own spells and magic bolts didn't have much more punch.

"This isn't working!" Monica cried, grabbing my arm. "We need to find some way to expose his heart!" I yanked my arm free and focused all of my power into one bolt, so much so that when I released it, the recoil nearly dislocated my arm. It did the trick, though. The skin over Grigori's heart burst open, partially revealing the soft, red meat underneath. "Well, that's one way!" Monica laughed. Grigori roared, in agony this time, and smashed his way free of the temple doorway and took to the sky, smashing more of the temple in the process.

"Heed well this place, Arisen. Know the frailty of the works of man. This hold once stood proud and firm... 'Twas the fool's decision of a man too weak brought it down." Grigori intoned as we hauled ass over the crumbling remains of what looked like an old city. "Fight! Cling to life!" He roared as he smashed several large sections of the wall we were desperately sprinting on.

"Right, sure, it was man that brought it down. Not at all the giant fire-breathing death lizard hammering away at it." Arisa scoffed, jumping a gap. "So many fucking towers...!"

"Luther, look! Ballistae!" Zarianna cried, pointing to exactly that.

"Dibs!" Arisa called, jumping onto the first one. "Alright, you scaly son of a bitch... This is for the village of Chillsbury!!" She fired a bolt with pinpoint accuracy, somehow ripping the skin the rest of the way off his heart, exposing it completely. Thrown off by the obvious pain of getting a ballista bolt to the chest, he almost crashed into the tower we stood on. Somehow, in the confusion, I ended up on his back.

"Oh, boy." I whimpered, realizing where I was.

"MASTER!!!" Monica shrieked, reaching out to me, even going so far as to extend her tentacles. They didn't reach far enough, falling short as Grigori flew us away.

"Pitiable wingless human... return to the earth!" Grigori shouted over the din of rushing winds all around us. Dude must have been flying at least two hundred miles per hour. I could barely drag myself up his bag, hand over hand, holding onto his spines and taking extreme caution not to fall off or impale myself on them.

"Yeah, I'll pass on that, if you don't mind." I said, though my words were lost in the wind.

"Your life... your very heart rests here within me!" He roared, a section of his back near his shoulders glowing.

"Yeah, I know! It's sort of hard to forget that time when you, you know, tore it out of my chest and ate it."

"Aye, reclaim that which you have lost... Take back your life... The surge of blood that tethers you to this world... It awaits you, Arisen, yearning here within me..."

"Alright, well, now you're just making it sound weird." I plunged my dagger into the place that glowed. Right into that familiar old pulse. Grigori bellowed in agony, falling from the sky. My own chest seized up in pain, and I lost my grip, flying off his back and into the wind.

"Luther!" He cried, pain and worry in his voice as he turned about and flew back for me. He dove to match his speed with my fall, and pulled me close to his chest in his massive clawed hands. He shielded me from the earth-shattering impact we made with the ground, though when we hit, I was launched clear of the impact zone, skidding across the ground some distance away.

"Grigori? Are you alive?" I asked tentatively, pushing myself to my feet and biting back the throbbing in my chest.

"The hour for turning back is past." Grigori's voice came from inside the crater. I heard his scales scrape against the earth as he pushed himself up. "The world will have its answer: you or me? Death, or life beyond? If you would gain aught, give your all here and now! Such is the contest you have chosen!" His voice trembled in obvious pain. Judging by the odd angle at which one of his wings was bent, I was pretty sure that sucker was broken.

"Grigori, your wing!"

"Have you come so far to be stricken with cowardice, Arisen? You have chosen your path!" He snarled, blood running out of his nostrils.

"Are you insane?! Look at your stupid wing, dumb-ass! It's not supposed to bend that way!" His only response was a blood-flecked roar and a deadly swipe with his claws that I just barely managed to avoid. "You're serious about this, aren't you? You really want to die!" I drew my bow again, focusing all of my power into it. "If that's really want you want... then come and get some."

"Aye, raise your weapon... Your teeth of steel, your blood-red voice... Show me your power, Arisen! Prove yourself worthy of what lies beyond my corpse! Show that you possess the strength to still my heart. The will to do it. The soul!"

"Just remember... You asked for this!" As I readied myself for the final push, I admit that theme music totally started playing in my head.