Fight together (Ori and the blind forest fanfic)

Chapter 28: taken

"It's a contractual dark beast, if we take out the mage, then the monster should dis... hey, come back! I haven't finished." Austin shouted, but it was already too late.

Seeing Ori in trouble, something in Aru seemed to snap for a moment, rendering his face completely emotionless as he rushed forward. He had, however managed to hear Austin's explanation, hence why his target was the mage and not the dark mist beast.

Josh was the second one to jump into action, seeing there was no other choice. He pulled a familiar red and black arrow from his quiver at his hip, taking and timing it perfectly to where it hit the beast and knocked it off course. But that would do little, as it was almost impossible to hurt a dark mist beast through non-magical means.

Reacting quickly, while the creature was still stunned by the explosion, he pulled two more arrows from his hip quiver. These arrows were fletched and tipped with a vibrant blue, signifying the arrows affect. He placed the other arrow in his left hand, holding the bow, while his other arrow had already been drawn and fired. But the arrow seemed off as it flew, landing beside the beast instead of in it.

Josh repeated with the other arrow, making the arrow land in the same place on the other side of the beast as it began to rise. It roared in anger at the threat it had yet to see in the darkness, but its target was still Ori, and so didn't bother looking for it.

But it had barely moved before Josh clenched his left hand into a fist, activating the magical formation of the two arrows. An arc of lightening jumped from one arrow to the other, washing over everything lying in its direct path, the dark mist beast.

The multi coloured lightening formed a cage over the creature, making it roar out in pain at the fierce lightening. The magic formation had bought them twenty seconds at most, now all that was left was to take out the dark mage.

Austin would need to stay out of his way for the most part, as would Josh, leaving only Aru and Ori to take out the mage. Due to their lack of magical equipment or talents, fighting against a mage as strong as this was practically suicide unless they were experienced. But by the looks of it, Ori was soon back on her feet and following Aru's lead, outnumbering him two to one, or at least for twenty seconds

Ori was already arching her fist, readying another punch that he wouldn't be able to defend against. But then she stopped in complete befuddlement as Aru simply hit the man with a glowing orb the size of a tennis ball.

The man stumbled back as the orb hit him, a tooth flying from his mouth as he finally fell with a harsh thud. The man was dazed, but not dead. But Aru pointed to Austin and Josh to sort him out, he had something else to do, further reminded as Ori's panicky voice spoke.

'Aru, follow me. We need to go rescue Rheya before that man takes her away!' She almost begged, but Aru responded with a emotionless nod.

But before Ori could lead the way, Aru had already darted in a seemingly random direction, which just so happened to be where Rheya disappeared. But from what Aru should know, he might be heading in the wrong direction instead.

But nevertheless, Ori caught up to him in a matter of seconds, not really questioning his understanding as it wasn't important. She instead focused on the faint footprints, both of the men and a clearly struggling captive, making a mess in the mud as they follow.

They could already hear the sounds of struggling screams as Rheya still tried desperately to break free. This enraged Aru, and he felt himself subconsciously speeding up, forcing Ori to do the same, worrying her.

But when they turned a corner, it was just in time to see the tall Garthian, Grade reach the end of his patience. He pulled free his sword and struck Rheya hard on the head with it, knocking her unconscious instantly.