The End Of His Era

Everything was in a complete silence…

The rain poured down in sheets, each drop stinging like a thousand tiny needles against Karyan's chilled skin. 

Shivering under the massive rock, he watched the figure and the black shadow with bated breath, trying to stay concealed and silent.

Suddenly, the shadow detached from the man, its form twisted as it lunged towards Karyan. 

The man, now alone, sneered.

"My eye…You will pay for it…"

Karyan's heart hammered in his chest as he whispered, "Sera, get ready."

The demon attacked, its movements looked like falling feathers, but full of darkness, and Karyan tried to cast his snake spells. 

"By the serpent's whisper, bind thee!" But nothing happened. The rain seemed to drown out his power, his words faded into the night.

Sera, sensing her master's distress, hissed and struck at the demon, her fangs flashed in the dim light. 

But the demon danced away, its form was dissipating and reassembling with each attack.

The man laughed from the shadows, his voice was cold, mocking and loud. "You think your spells or tricks can stop us, Karyan?"

Karyan ignored him, focusing on the demon.

 He grabbed a stick from the ground, it was his last resort. The man watched with amusement. "What are you going to do with that, boy?"

Sera launched herself at the demon, again and again, her body looked like a ribbon of defiance. "Ssshhh!" she hissed, her strikes were precise but ineffective.

Karyan's desperation grew. He had to do something—anything. 

He clutched the stick tightly, "I don't need spells to fight!"

The demon came at him, its sewn eyes seeming to see everything. 

Karyan ducked and weaved, narrowly avoiding its grasp. The man's taunts continued, "You're out of your depth, child!"

Sera, undeterred, attacked, "Ssshhh!" Her body coiled and uncoiled like a spring, as she tried to protect her master.

Karyan, heart pounding, found an opening. 

He lunged forward, stick in hand, aiming for the demon's heart—if such a thing existed. 

The demon reeled back, hissing in anger, a shadowy arm reaching out to grab Karyan.

 But Sera was faster, her fangs sank into the demon's arm.

The man, seeing his companion falter, stepped forward. "Enough of this!" he snarled, advancing with his staff raised high.

Karyan, stick still in hand, stood ready, his back against the rock, with Sera coiled protectively at his side. 

The tension was a living thing, thick and heavy with the smell of rain and fear.

"Come on, demon," Karyan taunted, trying to mask his dread. "Let's finish this."

The man pushed forward, his feet squelching in the mud, forcing Karyan back step by treacherous step. 

With a heart heavily pounding like a drum in his chest, Karyan realized there was a cliff behind him, a sheer drop into darkness where one misstep meant certain death.

"You're not so tough now, are you?" the man jeered, shoving Karyan closer to the edge. The rain made the ground slippery, the edge of the cliff a slick, fatal line.

Karyan stumbled backwards, his feet searching for solid ground. "Great, a tourist guide you'd make, showing me the sights," he shot back with a forced smirk, trying to hide the fear that covered his words.

Sera leaped at the man, her hiss cutting through the sound of the rain. "Ssshhh!" She struck at his leg, hoping to slow him down.

Karyan, seizing the moment, jabbed at the man's face. "How's the eye? Still seeing double, or did I fix that for you?"

The man sneered and swatted Sera away, her small body flung into the wet grass. "You'll pay for that," he growled, landing a heavy blow to Karyan's midsection, driving the air from his lungs.

Karyan doubled over, gasping, his back only inches from the abyss. It was a dance with death, each movement bringing him closer to the end. 

"Ahahahaha!" The man's laughter filled the air, taunting Karyan's desperate situation.

The demon, sensing its master's advantage, rejoined the man, their connection reformed.

"Ahahaah, so sweet…" The shadow melded into the man's body, their dark laughter merging into one horrifying chorus.

"You and your snake are outmatched," the man said, his voice now a twisted duet with the demon.

Karyan straightened up, wheezing as he regained his breath. "Oh, sure, because two against one is such a fair fight," he retorted, the sarcasm bit as he eyed the drop behind him.

The man advanced, and Karyan sidestepped, narrowly avoiding a push that would have sent him over the edge. "Huh, you're an idiot," he spat, his back to the void.

Sera, recovering from the throw, slithered back, her body coiled in anger.

 She struck at the man again, like a promise to defend Karyan to her last breath.

The man kicked out at her, but this time she dodged, and Karyan used the distraction to push back. "You're not the only one who can play dirty," he said through gritted teeth.

The cliff loomed behind him, a constant reminder that one wrong step and he'd become a dead meat. 

"Give it up, boy. There's nowhere left to run," the man-demon hybrid taunted, a dark-like glee in their voice.

Karyan glanced back at the abyss, the ground slipping away into nothingness. "I'm not running," he said defiantly. "Just taking in the view."

As the rain poured down, Karyan and the man looked at each other. 

He was absorbing his face, the big scar he had under his eye…'I remember him…'

But before he was able to say anything out loud, Karyan's foot slipped on the wet earth, he lost his balance.

 He flailed, reaching out in a desperate attempt to grasp anything that might save him from the fatal plunge.

His hand found the man's staff, clinging to it with a strength born of pure survival instinct. 

"Grrrhhh!"

But the demon was not about to let its prey escape so easily. 

With a swift, shadowy movement that seemed to cut through the rain itself, the demon slashed at Karyan's arm, its ethereal blade biting into flesh.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" Karyan cried out, his grip on the staff faltering as pain seared through his limb. 

The man'a eyes reflected the satisfaction of victory, clutched his staff and yanked it away from Karyan's weakening grasp.

"I'm keeping this," the man said, holding his cut hand close, a twisted smirk on his face.

With that final act, Karyan's fingers slipped from the staff, and he felt the ground disappear beneath him. 

He fell backward, the cliff was now finally claiming him, pulling him down into its shadowy embrace. 

Time seemed to slow as Karyan plummeted, the wind howling in his ears, the ground rushing up to meet him.

And then, there was nothing but the sensation of falling, the world above fading away as the man's cruel laughter echoed in the empty space where Karyan had once stood.

"Don't forget your little friend," the man added as he kicked Sera down, letting her fall with Karyan. 

"The end of that snake's era…"