Nedoma scrambles as he tries to stand up, but realizes that he is already to late. As the last of the noises erupting from the goblin's voice sound forward, a column of flame begins to rise up from where it stood, moving towards where the three of them lay. No. As a seemingly paralyzed Jana continues to hover over Emi, he makes the decision to shove her, sending her backwards. No. No. No. While the flame draws ever closer, he turns towards Emi and hooks his right hand under her while tugging on her tunic with his left, attempting to toss her over himself and out of the way. Turning his head, he is met with the most fearsome wall he had ever encountered in his life.
No! NoaaaAAAAAHHHH!!!! Nedoma screeched wails of pain as the flames finally reached them. As the flame burst upwards from beneath them, they roast Emi in her entirety and scorch Nedoma's right side as he struggled move her out of the way. Responding to the shock, he absentmindedly drops Emi, who's body drops down directly into the beating flames. The recoil of the pain begins to completely seize him. As he stumbles backward he feverishly beats his face, desperately trying to extinguish the flames that cling to it. He rolls around in a mixture of grass and dirt, thrashing about as though he could shake the flames off. Nedoma's perception of time vanishes. His entire existence shrinks to only his body and the flames which assault it. Thinking only of stopping the pain, he is painfully unaware of what goes on around him.
What feels like an eternity later, the flames have finally subsided. Nedoma lay on his back, tears streaming from his eyes, falling into the curvature of the burn marks which now stretch across his side. His body continues to twitch, still recoiling from a pain far worse than anything he had ever experienced. His muscles all feel completely spent, as though he had just labored for days without rest. And in this position he could have laid forever, were it not for the sounds of the fight reminding him of his surroundings. He slowly lifts himself up, feeling another wave of pain hit him as he uses his right hand to support him. In a daze, he nearly stumbles as he tries to make sense of what's going on. His first instinct is to spot Jana. As he looks around, he can vaguely make out the shape of her body, laying on the dirt road, with the goblin a short distance from her. As Nedoma picks up his sword, he begins to hear another set of unfamiliar goblin words, different from what he had heard before.
Agh- more incantations. I, -rrr-, have to stop it! Nedoma tries to spur himself into action. Grabbing his sword, the remnants of heat on the grip slightly sting while he more-so stumbles than runs toward the goblin, abandoning any technique and swinging like a mad man. The goblin stops whatever it had been shouting and prepares to enter into combat with Nedoma. It's wooden staff collides with his torso, the blunt force's impact feeling as though it may have broken a rib. Gritting his teeth and attempting to push through the pain, he swishes his sword around as though it were a magic wand that could make the goblin disappear. A few shallow cuts now leak more blood from the goblin, joining a gash on it's head that bleed heavily. The goblin then swings once more, the head of it's staff smashing into Nedoma's leg. As his stance buckles, he looks up to see the goblin now attempting to ram the staff downwards into his head. He narrowly evades it as he performs a roll-like motion to the side. In the same movement, he swings the sword low, cutting the goblin's ankle and forcing it to join him on the ground.
Nedoma drops his sword and performs a weak pounce onto the goblin, determined to end the fight in close combat. He begins a match of tug of war with the goblin over the staff, both of them recognizing it's outcome would determine the victor of the fight. His body weakening from the strain he put on it, Nedoma uses what feels like his last reserves of energy to pry it from the goblin's grip and tosses it forward. But now completely spent, his further attempts to pummel the goblin show much less result than he had envisioned. The goblin, now enraged at the loss of its staff begins to reverse the situation, forcing Nedoma off and then pinning him under it. As it claws and beats Nedoma mercilessly, he manages to grab one of it's arms as it neared his face, and unable to do much else, bites down, ripping a piece of flesh out of it. The goblin howls as Nedoma swallows, the blood and flesh dripping down his throat with a disgusting taste. It rewards his meal with more beatings. Nedoma can only brace his hands up in defiance as he is wailed upon.
Nedoma lay exhausted and bruised. The goblin moves off him as it decides to finish him off in the way it had first intended. It begins to slowly limp towards the staff Nedoma had just cast away. Nedoma watches as it makes its way toward the staff, feeling unable to do anything as each step signaled he was closer to the end. He manages to grip his sword off the dirt floor, using its tip to barely support himself up onto one knee. As the goblin reaches his staff, he cannot help but glance at where Jana had been. The tunic she once wore now nearly resembled the crash site of a meteor, a hole stretched out from the center of her body with pieces of singed fabric coiling outwards. Charred flesh and blood appear where fabric should have been on her motionless figure laying in the dirt.
Nedoma feels a spark of rage, but with no kindle or energy to feed it, it quickly leaves him. He remains on one knee, eyes peering back up at the goblin which has now regained its staff. As it's voice fills the air once more, his mind begins to slow down as it accepts the fate that lay ahead. There's nothing left to save anymore. Tears cause his eyes to swell even more. End this suffering. Time feels to slow to a crawl. The lips of the goblin move slowly, as though reciting Nedoma's last words in his place. But as he stares back at his would-be killer, his tear-stained vision makes out a blurry movement through the air. A hatchet fit for a goblin collides with the side of the staff-holding goblin's face, briefly breaking its focus and stopping the chain of incantations it had been uttering. Amazed, Nedoma turns to see Jana once more, head tilted upward, with a stretched out hand twitching as it slowly made its way back down towards the ground.
My spark... Nedoma's body roars with renewed purpose. He rises up and begins to rush at the goblin while shouting. “Huuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!” The goblin begins to panic, it's wounded prey suddenly rising in resistance to its death. As it waved its staff around trying to deter its adversary, Nedoma ran his sword completely through the neck, colliding with the body of the goblin and sending them both falling into the ground. It's gurgled screams coated in blood quickly grow silent, its life extinguished. Nedoma pants as he lay on top of the goblin, his body now completely worn out. As he turns to face Jana, he collapses. He barely looks up to see her still laying on the dirt road. Her body lay completely still, the hand having thrown the hatchet finding it's resting place next to her body. As his world fades to darkness, he tries to drag himself toward her, attempting to savor one last moment of contact with her. But completely exhausted, he cannot even muster a single inch. As he closes his eyes, a final fleeting thought leaves his mind as his mouth breaks into a small smile.
You couldn't keep me out of trouble.
