The creature hissed as it located me standing on the wall. I didn’t wait for it to react and began to throw volleys of spears one after another. As fast as I could cover it with Mana, I threw it. I ran along the wall as continued to pluck the aging spears from their ancient resting places.

At first, the spears whizzed past the Revenant or bounced off after hitting at a bad angle. Some of the spears crumbled and broke as I plucked it from the stone, and some shattered when they made contact. The snake coiled tighter and let out a hiss that might as well have been a roar.  That would turn out to be a bad idea.

The first spear to penetrate entered the beast’s mouth and sunk in just above its right lower fang. It came out the bottom and stopped halfway through. The beast recoiled from the pain and attempted to rip the spear out, but the shaft splintered and the iron spike partially remained out of reach.

It clutched the crystal with one of its claws, but raised the second to protect its face. That was when the second spear penetrated right in the snake’s armpit. The spear was shallow, but close enough to vital organs that it began to react. It fumbled the crystal as it pulled out the spear. Again, it left a splinter of iron as it broke in half.

The crystal fell to the ground and the Revenant began to twist and dodge. Its speed was still unnatural for its size, but the courtyard was not large and it was littered with debris. It smashed through barrels of black liquid and carts full of spears as it squirmed around the yard.

Each throw I began to become more accustom to throwing a spear. I began to more efficiently sculpt the Mana that surrounded the blade. I learned that if I reinforced the weapon before plucking it out, it no longer would have a chance to shatter. I shaped the Mana at the tip to be harder and sharper. I forced the energy forward as I threw to increase its velocity.

The attacks began to have a greater effect. Each throw was now digging into the beast, leaving scrapes and flinging off scales. It attempted to break the wall below me, but the fortress had not lasted so long only to crumble so easily. Some stones fell and cracks formed, but I had moved to a new location before it could even slow my stride.

After another spear bit in just below the eye on its right hood. It decided to change tactics. It clawed up the wall at me, allowing me a few really good throws before it got up on the wall. I managed to land one in its left shoulder and another went down its throat. It crawled up onto the wall, but began to coil up in a chaotic mess as it attempted to remove the spike from the back of its mouth.

I jumped backwards and continued to throw volley after volley. It finally removed the spear and uncoiled to face me, just in time to see me plant my feet and hurl a shot right into its neck. The force of the hit almost knocked it off the other side of the wall as it clawed to regain its footing.

Properly pissed now, it barreled down the narrow walkway, knocking off the remaining spears as it went. I infused Mana into my legs and continued to dart around, although its speed caused me to have to reduce my attacking frequency. I continued leaping and running, but the number of spears was beginning to diminish.

Suddenly, I ran out of wall. I came up to a tower with a sealed wooden door. I slammed in to the door, hoping it would shatter open, only to slam into a solid wall. Pain rang through my shoulder and hip. I winced and then quickly jumped as the snake barreled into the door below me, smashing through it and tearing out the stone around the door. Its momentum flung the rest of its body into the tower.

I jumped off the wall as it smashed out of the tower. Stone and wood fell past me as it lashed out looking for me, expecting me to still be up on the wall. I landed and rolled into a sprint, with a few stones painfully bouncing off my back. I grabbed two more spears from a pile and turned to throw them as the snake pounced at me from up above.

The spear make contact with its right eye and it twisted in agony as it fell. I rolled to the side and it crashed into the ground. I turned to throw again when I heard a crunch and I almost lost my balance as the the ground shifted. The snake turned to face me, and we both paused for a half a second, wondering what the shift was. I planted my foot to dash forward and it braced itself for another volley.

Suddenly, the ground gave way and we were both falling into a chasm. I attempted to grab the side, but the Revenant wrapped its claw around my leg as it fell, and we tumbled into the hole together. I felt its claw dig into my calf as I repeatedly stabbed at its hand to make it release me. After several good hits, it let go just as we crashed into an underground reservoir of some kind.

Piles of stone and debris crashed down on top of us and one large rock drove the beast deep into the water. I swam to the surface, still holding one spear, and got a good look around.

Underneath the fortress, it was what had looked to be a well of some sort, but had hollowed out from decades of running underground water. The water had pooled in one location, but an entry point and exit point could clearly be seen on either side. The running water exited the pool in the direction of the cliff face I had seen earlier. The water was moving quickly over there but was fairly calm in the center where we had fallen, apart from the waves created by the falling stone and dirt.

Strong dense roots lined the side of the cave likely holding the remaining stone and clay together. I saw a bank to one side of the cave, and briefly considered swimming over there when I decided to dive and look for the monster first. It was a good thing that I did, because I was almost instantly met with it dashing toward me underwater.

I moved quickly to place the spear in its mouth as it slammed into me and we both breached the water’s surface. The slamming force knocked the breath out of me but I managed to wedge the spear in between its upper and lower jaw to prevent it from closing its jaws on me and sending me to the afterlife.

I narrowly avoided being pricked by its fangs as we crashed back into the water. It thrashed its head back and forth and dove deep in an attempt to shake loose the spear. I exited its mouth just before it crashed into the mud at the bottom, but I didn’t avoid its thrashing and its tail crushed my leg against a rock. It burned hot with pain, and the throbbing increased every time I kicked my leg to swim. It took everything I had not to scream into the depths.

I floundered in the murky water. I was weaponless, and could hardly see anything other than spiraling scales through clouds of kicked up mud. I painfully swam and searched for a weapon. Finding nothing, I swam to the surface.

I took in a lung full of air as I breached. I found myself hoping the snake would bite down on the spear and kill itself, but the waves of turbulence below signaled that it was very much alive.

‘Magus! This way!’

The voice called out to me once again in my mind. I felt a pull in the direction of the bank. One of the larger roots was glowing with a soft blue light. It twisted and morphed, and as I paddled toward it, it shaped itself into the hilt of a sword.

I reached the bank and looked at my leg.  It wasn’t disfigured, so if it was broken then it was just a hairline fracture. Why was I so calm about this? I was laying bruised and broken. I was trapped in a cave with a vicious beast that could decimate a battalion of soldiers. Yet everything seemed so rational.

‘Magus! Get the sword!’

The voice in my head was back. It was a bit jarring to hear a voice other than my own in there. I shook my head back and forth in an attempt to cast off the chills that went down my spine, but the motion sent new waves of pain up my leg.

‘Having a sword is useless with this leg.’

‘Mana. Coat the bone with it. Like you do with the spears.’

That’s not a bad idea. I pushed inward with power and felt the bone shift a little. The pain mostly subsided. I attempted to get up and collapsed as my body screamed with exhaustion. I grit my teeth and pushed through it.

I limped for the first few steps until I was able to get use to my supported leg. I walked over to the sword hilt and held firm on the grip.

‘Time for the greatest non-Fairybond to shine! I’ll see you in a bit, Clem!’

I pulled and the blade slid out of the roots and mud like the earth itself was it sheath. The blade was roughly a meter long and as wide as a saber. It was simplistic in shape and almost entirely too thick. And most of all, it was wood.

‘A wooden blade?! What am I supposed to do with this?!’

‘Wrap it in Man…’

‘…Mana and make it sturdy and sharp. Ya, ya, ya. I get it. It still sucks.’

‘It’s the best I can do.’

‘I know, Iggy. I put myself in this situation. Thanks for the help.’

The roiling in the water increased and I knew the snake was free. I readied the sword in my left hand and steadied my breathing. The beast burst through the water and leaped breeched into the air. It made eye contact with me and twisted its body to pursue as it dove back down. That is when I saw it.

It must have only been visible because of the darkened conditions. Maybe because of my heightened light sensitivity. One of the spears that I had managed to get to stick in the Revenant’s chest had been ripped loose and with the water washing away the black blood, a large, green, slightly luminescent crystal peeked through the torn open skin. Its core. Destroy that and it’s all over. Clem goes free.

As the tail of the snake submerges into the depths again, I ready myself for the next attack. This was it. We were both wounded and vulnerable. Both desperate and vengeful. But I was human, and I was going to outsmart it. I was raking my brain on ways to distract and dismember the creature when suddenly I felt my leg yanked out from underneath me. My body was slam into the ground before getting dragged into the water.

Its blasted tail! It had whipped its tail out of the water and around my leg.  I held my breath as I was dragged into the depth. Bubbles obstructed my view and I held firm onto my sword as I was dragged quickly through the water like I was in the rapids of a quickly moving river. I was shallow enough that I could see the surface.

Suddenly, the snake stopped and began to coil up around me. I felt it start to wrap around my hips in an attempt to immobilize me under water. I focused the Mana in the blade to be as sharp as possible and lunged it into the coiling flesh and scales.

Its skin split like a hot knife through butter as its inky blood began to cloud the water. It instinctively released me as it scrambled to get away from the offending item. It left a pound of flesh behind as it squirmed into the darkness underwater. I swam up to the surface and gasped in another lung full of fresh air.

I was at too large of a disadvantage. I could use my Mana sight to see where it was, but it could move much faster through the water then I could react. I’d probably run out of energy trying to swim and maneuver before I ever got a killing blow on the beast. It was then that I felt a gentle pull of current from behind me.

The beast circled below me as I drifted backward toward the current. The pull increased as I neared the cave’s drain off. I began to hear the rapids of the river that flowed down the tube that water had cut in the rock over centuries. The snake paused and I turned to quickly swim in the direction of the mouth.

The opening was fairly large for me, being at least ten feet wide. But for a Nagaconda, it was a confined space. The underground river couldn’t be more than five or six feet deep, which would force the monster to surface and fight. It wasn’t long before the current was pulling me faster than I could swim.

The Nagaconda seemed unsure at first. It stayed below the surface and watched for a chance to strike. It was too focused on me, however, and didn’t notice until it was too late when I dove into the water to quickly retrieve a green crystal that had been gently pulsing under the water.

It must have been dropped during our early scuffle and been gently pulled by the current toward the mouth of the runoff. Either way, I had it in my right hand and no longer needed to paddle with my arms as the current began to pull me along.

This enraged the Revenant again and it began to quickly swim at me. I kicked faster as I entered the cave. As this point the raging rapids of the river were deafening. I turned to face the torrents as I maneuvered to avoid a few large rocks along the path. I heard the snake clawing at the opening as it struggled to tear through.

The current pulled me under as it became increasingly harder to navigate the rapids while holding a sword and a gem in either hand. I gambled with another usage of Mana and formed an oval of the energy underneath me. I almost dropped my sword as my shoulder bounced off a boulder, but somehow I managed to hold tight. I focused on the oval and had it push upward and, much to my delight I was soon racing down the rapids on top on a floating disk.

A sharp pain emanated from my leg again and my head grew a bit foggy. I was overextending my use of Mana. If I went too far, worse case I would pass out. You don’t have to be a genius to know that in this situation that would be bad.

The tunnel was almost pitch black now, except from the slight blue glow my Mana gave off. I could hear the snake tearing through the cave behind me, and a quick glance behind me showed its green energy was closing in quickly.

My new boat skipped off of a few rocks which slowed me considerably. I had to think of something quickly. I got up on a knee and began to steer the craft by leaning left and right. I began to pick up speed, but that made it even harder to avoid the rocks I could already barely see. Then I saw it, a glint of light in the distance.

It was covered with vines and dirt, but it was clear through the water. Beads of light trickled through the vines and up through the water dancing and illuminating the cave up ahead. The cave was beginning to narrow a little, which I hoped would slow down the creature long enough for me to get outside and prepare for another fight.

As I quickly began to approach the exit, I noticed a slight downward bend to the water at the exit. My mind was briefly taken to a time I was in the water based training grounds swimming with a few of the other Fairybond. There was a large pond crafted with care to present a perfect place to simulate combat in water. This location included a large stone face with a magically created waterfall that the girls took turns daring each other to jump from. Waterfall? Oh Crap!

I jumped off the platform and attempted to grab on to the dangling roots as I crashed into the wall of dirt and wood. The roots clung to the wet dirt loosely so I passed through easily, struggling to find a hold. I felt the roots part as dirt rolled off my body. As I passed into sunlight, I dropped the green gem and held on to the remaining roots with everything I had.

The stream of water fell hundreds of feet to a rocky ground below. I heard a high pitch ring as the crystal crashed into the rocks below and shattered, releasing a torrent of green energy. I looked up. The top of the cliff was only about thirty feet above me. If I could only get up there, things would be…

At that moment, the Revenant crashed through the hole without much thought as to where it would lead. The result left me and it flying through the air away from the cliff and toward the ground. I attempted to slow my fall with Mana, and my head screamed in pain. My leg began to throb again. I was almost out.

The snake lunged at me in a fit of rage. I shifted myself and dodged the bite, but it managed to grab me with its claw. I looked down at its exposed core once again. Above all else, that had to go. If it survived the fall, even if the Revenant died, the power would remain in place. I put all the remaining Mana I had into my blade and thrust as I felt the fangs of the beast clamp down over my head and we both came to a sudden, violent stop.