Close Call

Lightning flashed across the air and hit Emile's bubble. Surprisingly, the bubble dispersed the lightning and Emile was only moderately shocked. But, the bubble popped.

Emile dropped from the sky and plummeted down to the ground hundreds of feet below. He flailed his arms in an attempt to swim through the sky, doing everything in his power to reach the edge of the pillar he rose alongside.

Emile's chest caved in against the corner of the pillar, his diaphragm collapsed and the air in his lungs was forcibly pushed out. He pushed his fingers against the grooves found in the stone that made the pillar and pulled himself up.

Emile rolled over and struggled to suck fresh air into his lungs, but he made it on top of the pillar. For now, he was safe. Emile stood up and leaned over the edge to find Blood, but another bolt of lightning hit the pillar, sending Emile to the floor.

Now crawling to the edge, Emile looked down. Blood had defeated the magma doll and was currently trying to get to the archer. Everytime Blood attacked the doll with a spear or arrow of his own, an ethereal arrow interrupted it mid air, shattering the crystal before it could even reach the doll.

Returning to the center of the pillar, Emile looked up at the ceiling. He didn't know what to do. He was stranded two hundred feet in the air and couldn't survive the fall down.

In addition to the harrowing plummet to the rock solid floor, each time Emile showed himself the lightning doll launched a streak of lightning through the air.

Dragging his body across the sandpaper like stone, Emile reached another side of the pillar and looked over. The pillar Emile found himself on was not the tallest of the towers nor the smallest.

But, it was one of the outermost pillars. One side faced the stone dome where the lightning doll was. Another side faced the open plane and the entrance Emile and Blood arrived through. The last side faced the rest of the pillars.

Of those pillars, two of them were close enough to Emile that he might be able to survive the jump. They were close enough for Emile to jump their length, but they were both much further down.

Emile looked between the two adjacent pillars, he couldn't tell which one was taller. When Emile considered jumping down to both of them his body shivered and he immediately looked away.

Every cell in his body screamed in protest at the idea of jumping off the tower, but he couldn't think of any other way to get down. He calmed his heart and focused on the task in front of him.

Emile slid back to the opposite side of the pillar, he needed to stand up and immediately start running and jump down. It's easy.

He pushed himself up and got a foot in front of him. Emile was kneeled over, he pushed his back leg open and entered a sprinters position.

'What if I jump too far?'

'No! No! You have to jump!'

'One, two… two and a half'

'Come on Emile!'

Emile bit down and clenched his jaw, he pushed his back foot into the stone and raised his chest. One step. Another step. One more.

Emile leaped into the air and spread his body flat, hoping this slight change would give him enough air resistance to do something. He soared in the air, but all the while the lightning doll had him in his sights.

The familiar bang ruptured through Emile's ears and in the same second, lightning crashed into Emile's chest. His body propelled through the air and he slammed into the side of another pillar.

He wanted to push Blood's dagger into the pillar, he wanted to try and stop his descent, but his body wouldn't move. The lightning strained all of his muscles, he felt like he was encased in cement: no matter how hard he tried he couldn't fight the tension in his muscles.

Panic stricken, Emile called upon his soul and manually activated Breath of Life over and over. The tremors in his body subsided enough to move around and he plunged the dagger into the wall.

The dagger alone is not enough though. First, Emile pushed his feet into the wall causing his shoes to disintegrate before his eyes. Then, he reluctantly pushed his other hand into the wall.

The skin on his palm vanished in an instant and a distinct streak of blood now accompanied him down the wall. Emile screamed until his vocal chords tore, but they repaired themselves by the time Emile had another available breath.

Finally, his bare toes hit the wall and more blood painted the pillar. Emile was moments away from popping like a crushed bug.

Then, the blood smeared on the pillar peeled off like a sticker and rushed around Emile's body. A similar crystal harness to the one he was kidnapped in formed around Emile, completely stopping his descent ten or so feet away from the ground.

Blood maneuvered Emile in front of him. Blood was leaving against the pillar they had been before, his head just next to the hole the magma doll had created.

Also, three broken dolls were piled against the pillar beside him. With a flash of his smile, Blood greeted Emile:

"You look like you had some fun."