Writetober Day 28 & 29 (Ride & Injured)

Writetober Day 28

Ride

                The skinny mare was dying, her old legs barely able to keep the pace Vordmir was calling for.  They couldn’t stop, there were no options left.  If they didn’t make it to Krinkledag before the corruptions host left the realm, all would be lost, the corruption would have its influence spread in Kyle’s world with no opposition.

Kyle wanted to throw up, it was all happening too fast.  Weeks ago, he was playing video games with Tom, his biggest worry being work.  Now he’s on the back of an old horse gripping onto a man from another world who happens to be an evil mage.  The thoughts kept coming, like the damn holding it all back crumbled under the weight.  His grandfather was a champion of this world, fighting countless battles against an ancient evil set loose on the world by the same man that is helping Kyle now.  His mother, his grandmother, a whole lineage of interworld traveling people, thrown upon him over the course of a few days.

“Focus on what’s ahead.”  Vordmir shouted above the thundering hooves.

He must have sensed Kyle, the worry and anxiety radiating from him.  He couldn’t help it, in a flash the lives of billions fell on Kyle and Vordmir’s shoulders, if they didn’t defeat the host…he couldn’t think like that, he needed to be better.

“Why now?”  Kyle needed to focus on something else.

“Yah!  What are you going on about?”  Vordmir was pushing the mare past her point, he needed to.

“You’re free, you escaped the ring, why care about any of this.  Isn’t this what you wanted.”  Kyle shouted in the night as trees blurred past the riding men.

“Sixty years in a magical prison is a lot of time to reflect on your past.  I had a choice, sit there festering and plotting revenge, or altering my course.”  Vordmir was already tired of the conversation.  “My goals are still the same as before your family intervened, the execution is all that has changed.”  He paused to push the horse harder.  “I will still kill you if I must.”

Was that speech supposed to reassure Kyle?  In a way it did, Vordmir was being real, he was still a very real threat, but as he has said before, their goals aligned for the time being.  Would Kyle be strong enough to defeat Vordmir when the time came?  Could he do what his grandfather couldn’t?  The answers would have to wait, the destroyed village was coming up fast.

 

Writetober Day 29

Injured

                “It’s still here.”  Vordmir slowly walked the rubble of Krinkledag, his eyes scanning for the host.

The air was thick, the grey mist encompassing the town, the corruption was heavy.  They had made it, hope swelled in Kyle, he had a chance.

“The puppet returns to the master…”  The deep voice jarred their souls.  “And it brings an ally…weakness.”

“Be ready, we are all that stands between your world and death.”  Red and black coursed through Vordmir’s veins, his eyes midnight as he called the magic deep within him forward.

Kyle nodded in confirmation, his ring holding a steady light as he focused on it and the power within.

The fireball came fast, nearly masked by the thick haze.  Kyle focused and blinked out of existence, reappearing seconds after the fireball ripped past where he stood.

“Your friends are dead…why do you fight.”  The corruption seeped into Kyle’s mind.

“Ignore it!  We must find the host!”  Black tendrils ripped from Vordmir’s fingers, tracking the ground, searching.

“Futile!”  The dragon attacked, its head appearing through the mist mere feet in front of Kyle.

He was ready, to Kyle’s surprise, he was ready.  Kyle ripped away from his spot as the monster’s jaws slammed shut where he stood.  A flash of light brought Kyle back to the world where the tavern used to be.  The dragon turned, the familiar grin on its face.

“Keep it distracted while I find the host!”  Vordmir’s arms were swirling with angry obsidian.  The tendrils were scouring the land, grabbing onto to everything, searching for the host.

Kyle focused, he had his job, he needed to complete it.  Kyle grabbed a large piece of stone, he needed two hands and it barely lifted.  The ring pulsated and the stone disappeared, seconds later it ripped into reality high above the dragon’s head.  It shattered as it clocked the beast’s skull, it wasn’t painful, but it agitated it.  Kyle needed that.  Two more fireballs lashed out at Kyle, he was ready for them.  He blinked away and reappeared next to the massive blue eye that haunted him.  Clenching his fist Kyle reached back to strike the dragon’s glassy eye.  As his fist rocketed toward its target, white wrapped around his hand and hardened like steel.  The dragon’s eye erupted as Kyle’s encased fist burrowed deep into the socket.  The monster thrashed in revolt, launching Kyle into burnt stone and wood that covered the ground.

A surprised smile forced its way on Vordmir’s face.  Kyle was holding his own, but Vordmir was failing at his task, through the corruptions pain filled roars, he continued to search.  His magic struggled to cut through the thick haze of the corruption, the farther the tendrils were from Vordmir, the weaker they became.

Kyle struggled to rise, pain lancing through his legs.  He confirmed nothing was broken and set his sights on the angered corruption.  The ring strobed silver light as Kyle focused on his strength, every flash emitted unfettered magic into the air.

The dragon lunged, barreling toward the human that dared to defy him.  Its jaw unhinged and dragged the earth as it consumed everything in its path.  Kyle’s clothes began to pull into the vortex the beast was creating with its massive inhale, he was unable to move.  As the enormous mouth tunneled toward Kyle, he remembered Michelle and what she did with the ring.  Kyle opened his palm and held it to the encroaching death.

The dragon collided with a wall as Kyle’s knees buckled behind the weight of the corruption.

“You…will…not win…”  The words scattered in Kyle’s mind.

The shield began to crumble, and Kyle’s focus was scattered with the corrosive corruption that shrouded him.

“I found it-” Vordmir’s words were near silent, the rest of his sentence didn’t make it through the mist.

Kyle was too focused on the dragon bearing down on his life to notice anything else.  The pain came fast, an impact to Kyle’s side shattered his right ribs.  The second blow snapped his radius and ulna.  The host stood next to Kyle, emotionless and covered in blood, Welton’s blood.  A third strike came from the corrupt man.  Kyle’s knee and shield shattered simultaneously as the dragon blasted into the broken man.  He flew and rag dolled into a heap of broken bones and agony.  As his bleeding eyes struggled to focus, he watched as the host disappeared from the world.  The dragon laughed as it launched into the air and flew away.  Again, the corruption won.