The Prodigies: The Return of Equinox

Chapter Thirty-Six - Fated: Meeting Your Heros

Garvhoz's grip on his shield slackened. His legs shook ever so slightly. That name. How could he forget? The man who proved that it was possible to ever truly gain strength beyond men. The man who he believed he would strive to be at the very least. Quil Everstrong. The namesake of the valley they stood in. The name that was cultivated by generations of proud believers of The Strong. The mother of strength that all people looked towards to help them through their struggles. He was of a proud lineage that were of the first disciples of Vera. How was it that he would be in this position now. There was no way that this is who is standing before them.

"You lie." His determination regained in full. This is not Quil Everstrong. He stood as strong as ever.

"If you don't want to believe me, I do not blame you. I would imagine it would be hard for you to face the truth when it doesn't benefit you." The Quillian moved forward. As she walked she continued to move spin it in an under hand motion. Noromac backup at her pace. He didn't have any plans of getting closer until he saw some more from her. Even just a little bit.

"Do you think so? That I can't tell the difference between what is real and what isn't? Quil Everstrong would never use a whip-like weapon."

"You're right! I wouldn't if I wasn't in this position now." Garvhoz moved forward, shield in front of him. "But this weapon has been of very good use to me for many years now. It was originally from some travelers from the south. I know not who they were, but they had many strange weapons indeed. This one was the only one I didn't end up breaking while trying to kill them all."

"Sounds like a convenient story to me." spoke Alegna. Alegna had roots making their way towards the Quillian. Within moments she would be trapped and killed.

"Maybe, but your kind never changes from the distrustful blood suckers you have been for hundreds of year now. Do they?" With one strong spin the Quillian let the blade shoot into the ground and it severed the root that Alegna had right in front of her. Surprisingly the blade came back out with a mixture of what looked like blood and dirt. Alegna instantly felt weakened by the attack and fell onto what would have been their knees.

"That didn't feel so great." chuckled Alegna.

Noromac turned towards Alegan for a second to see how they were doing. That was all the Quillian needed. In the moment that he turned his head he swung the chain in a wide arc. Alegna tried to shout but couldn't find the strength to. Core summoned a wall of earth to rise up and meet the blade, but it would be too slow.

"One kill closer to salvation," she whispered. She closed her eyes as the blade was set in its path. No magic, no voice, and no action could save him. He was dead. Unless he wasn't. Unless there was someone strong enough to save him. Unless there was someone who embodied the teachings of a dead demigod. Unless there was a man, or boy, who still believed in heroes.

The quillian felt the chain lose its tension along with a loud clang that ran throughout the area the occupied in the valley. As she opened her eyes she saw Garvhoz make for a grab for the chain. She pulled back as fast as she could. In that instant, a wall of earth and stone appeared changing the angle the blade moved. With that, the chain caused the blade to catch on the wall for a second and flick upwards. It cut a deep gash from the Garvhoz's brow ridge to the top of his forehead. 

"Shit!" Blood came down quick and in moments started to stuff up his breathing and got all over his mouth. "Serves me right for not wearing a helmet."

"Heal. When bleeding stops inflict pain. Pain on caster." Noromac was now concentrated on Garvhoz. He moved himself and pulled Garvhoz close to the new cover they had. Noromac hated using magic, and the magic could tell. The process was much too slow for Garvhoz to go into a straight battle of attrition with the Quillian trading blow for blow. And even then, they still didn't know how strong she was.

"I thought I wouldn't need too much armor for this fight. Looks like I was wrong."

"Quite the instance to overestimate yourself." Alegna spoke in a whisper. They didn't even know they had that weakness till now. "Our company should take abundant precaution in the proceeding phase of the fight."

"Sounds to me that you're closer to being a book than a fighter at the moment. Up to it?" asked Noromac.

"I'll see what I can accomplish from here."

"Core!"

"Yes?" croaked the mass of stone and magma.

"Follow my lead. I heard you did the same with Seilan. He said it turned out fairly well until the opponent cheated."

"You could say that."

"What should I do?" asked Noromac.

"Follow up on me. Good at improv?"

"It's everything I do."

"Excellent. We just might have a chance once this ble-" His sentence was cut short when the same blade that had sliced him shot through the wall a foot away from him and swiftly slithered back leaving behind a hole a tad bigger than the blade itself.

"There is no game plan against me. Die fast so I can die fast too. We all want to get through this faster." Without a moment to spare, more and more piercing strikes made their way through the wall. Garvhoz and Noromac fled from the wall hastily while Core made zis way to shield them from any attack. Before long, one of the attempts for blood struck the Zorfec and a sound similar to that of a pickax striking hard stone rung loud throughout the base of the valley.

"What could that have been I wonder?" If core could have winced in pain, zhe would have. Core then struck a look towards Garvhoz while more and more strikes sounded off.

"Do not think that I have forgiven you for the attack back at the Hall." Core croaked.

"Wouldn't dream of it." chuckled Garvhoz with a sly smile. "Hey, twigs! Don't think that helping to kill this girl makes us even in anyway." Alegna shakily started to stand up right.

"I would regard you amongst the stupidest humans I ever had the misfortune to meet if you did." retorted the plant.

"Sounds good. Core, layer up the tree. Alegna, I'm going to need you to show everybody what I fought against back at the Hall a few weeks ago. Noromac, we're going to pincer this imitator. Look to parry instead of outright blocking, this girl is at least as strong as I am." The wall that had stood as a stalwart symbol of the team's strengths had now been reduced to a shambling ruin with more holes than solid earth. 

"Come on already! Lets get this over with!"

"Go!"