Struggle and Break

"Sand's here!"

"Yeah, I can see that."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know...get back on top of the building?"

The harpies still held their distance: perhaps content to let the sands kill us. The sands rushed through the sands toward us: parting its animate nature on the idle sands as it grew in size.

"Do you think that one's controlling it?" I asked as I glanced toward the harpy surrounded by the rings of red light.

"I don't know," Shawn answered.

He grabbed another javelin.

"Ears."

I plugged my ears and the sky shook once more. The sand reached up and intercepted the air-born missile. The wave of sand neared, and once more Shawn hooked his elbow around mine and swung me behind him as he planted his feet and dropped his shoulder. The wave of sand crashed against him like a wave crashing against the body of a ship. His feet skidded against the sand as it wrapped around him like water. The ruddy sand slithered around his shield like the grip of some tentacled beast.

"From the domain of Paimon, I call for you, thou daughters of the wind, dance before me."

I pointed my staff at the undulating sands crawling over Shawn's left shoulder. The dervish breathed to life scattered the sand, and shoved the man a bit forward. The other tendril of sand wrapped around his shoulder.

"From the domain of Paimon, I call for you, thou daughters of the wind, dance around me."

As the dome of wind wrapped around me, I shambled forward toward the formless, living sand, so that the grains would be caught within the flowing winds. A pair of claws zipped down from the sky, as one of the harpies pushed through the dome of wind. Its claws scraped against my cheek before the winds managed to push it off of me. The other harpies moved into action.

"I'll hold off the Sands," Shawn growled as he pushed forward, and grit his teeth. "Oh Lugh — thou warrior king, thou poet supreme, grant my arms and grant my legs, the strength of a hundred men."

As soon as his incantation was finished, he and the pushing sands came to a standstill. Whenever it tried to get around him, he would pivot and intercept.

Before the winds died, I cast Repel on myself, and steel my nerves. As soon as the wind died down, they attacked. A pair of harpies swooped down, one on either side. One latches on my left shoulder, and the other on my right arm, which held my staff, as a third rose to dive toward me. Their talons scraped and prodded through my armor, and were pushed away from my flesh by the invisible layer of energy over it. I let the staff fall in between my shoulder and armpit and twist my wrist to grab hold of the ankle of the harpy latched onto my gauntlets and yank it down to the ground.

"I allow the breath of the salamanders to flow around me," I utter.

Red-orange sprites dance at my feet. I feel, suddenly, as if I had been standing in the sun for hours on end as those red-orange lights formed a short burst of orange flame blasted from my feet in all directions. It washed over the one on the ground: scorching the sands as it passed over, and catching the harpy's tawny wings ablaze. It kicked its legs and pushed away from me, while the second still latched on: its black wings tucked behind its back, and black scorch marks across its bare torso.

The other harpies circled overhead. One dived and scraped its talons across the back of my head. Cracks splintered across the dome of my head, and the harpy latched to my arm used its weight, and the beating of its wings, to drag me to the ground. As soon as my shattered knee touched the ground, my mind flashed white as pain washed through my body.

A harpy dived at me and dug its talons into the back of my head. The cracks spread over my vision. As soon as the creature beat its wings away from me. Its claws finally shattered my Repel like glass, and I rolled over onto my back. I pointed the staff up as the next harpy dived.

"From the domain of Paimon, I call for you thou daughters of the wind, dance before me."

Green lights spun before the curled head of my staff and howled forward. The spinning wind slammed against the diving harpy. The winds twisted its wings together, and the harpy came crashing down to earth and collided against the side of the building. The fragile stone cracked, as its broken body slid off into the sands. A rain of arrows fell over me. I crossed my armored arms over my face as the arrows fell as hard as hail.

Most of them fall onto my chest, and fall to the wayside because of my armor, or skitter off my arm. A couple pierce into my legs, and it takes all I have not to scream out in pain.

"You that bind the all, protect me from all that might do me harm," I utter quickly before the next wave of arrows falls on me.

The invisible force cracks where the arrows fall, and I raise my staff heavenward, toward the great mass of harpies, hovering dozens of feet off the ground.

"From the domain of Paimon, I call for you, oh daughters of the wind, dance before me."

The forming dervish dies long before it reaches them: the only effect I could see was the residual winds forcing one of the lower harpies to beat their wings and retreat upwards a foot or so. Another hail of arrows fell over me, and I guarded my face. I needed something that could reach them. Fire Bolt? I recast Repel once I felt the shield crack, and pointed my staff up.

"I allow the breath of the salamanders to flow through me."

The red sprites dancing at the head of the staff spat forth a small curling bolt into the sky. The harpies moved out of the way of the bolt, and once more released hell. One dived from the sky with a spear aimed down toward Shawn, who held back the living sands.

Whenever the sands would try to go around him, his shield would grow a little wider: the roots digging a little deeper into his flesh. Arrows, fired from the harpies above, sat along his back like the quills of a porcupine. His face was painted in pain, yet he held firm. I needed to do the same.

No. I would need something with more power. A spell that would reach them, and knock them out of the sky. What could I do? My mind raced for an answer, and the world seemed to slow to a crawl. What could I do? A wind spell or a fire spell would be best in this situation, wouldn't it? A single word is all I needed to change, why was it so hard to think of one? You're a writer, Lawrence. Think. Quickly. Think. What if...no. It would need some more adjustments. How about…

"Put all the points I have into Creativity," I told my Patron.

I had felt as if I had leveled up at least three times in this dive so far. Before the burning in my head could fade, I pointed my staff up: hoping it would work. Hoping the results would be what I was hoping for. Would it work? A new spell completely from scratch, following the motifs of my others.

"I call forth, from the domains of Paimon, those winged daughters of the Wind. Howl forth with all the fury of the Storm."

The sand around me began to lift off the ground as dozens of green lights spun at the head of my staff. My arm jerked back, and the staff felt as if it were going to tear from my grasp. I reached up with my other arm to steady it.

A short-lived tornado howled forth from my staff and blasted into the sky. The violent winds, slammed into the circling harpy horde twisting limbs and wings together, and sending them crashing to the earth. A quick flash of pain through my head was my reward.

Cyclone Created

Creativity +2

The harpies crashed against the roofs of the buildings and into the sands. A wave of energy surged through me, like static electricity tingling through my body, rushed through me.

"Kill the one on the roof, too!" Shawn shouted through his gritted teeth.

I tried to push myself off the ground, but the barbed arrows scraped against my thigh bones.

"Why?"

"I think it's controlling the Sand."

I took a deep breath, as I pushed myself off the ground, and used my staff as a crutch. Shawn pulled his arm back as one of the tendrils of sand wrapped around his wrist. What followed was a sickening crunch and a pained, sharp, intake of breath from the man. The sand crawled up his arm.

"Hurry!"

I hobbled forward.

"From the domain of Paimon, I call for you, thou daughters of the wind, dance around me."

The winds howled around me as I stepped toward the sands, and knocked it off of his arm. I pulled one of the terracotta jars that I had filled with water before the battle and poured it over him. The bruise on his arm healed, and he nodded a quick thanks. The Burl, as he had called it, had grown into a small palisade that blocked the Sand's advancements. Still, however, it poured over the tops of this wooden wall, but with his renewed strength, Shawn managed to push it back. The roots of the burl dug deeper and covered nearly the entirety of his left side, and had begun to crawl up his neck and face. This close, I could see that the roots were burrowed into his flesh and muscle.

I stepped away and scanned the rooftops over the barricade of braided roots until I saw the lights once more: blaring as brightly as before. I pointed my staff forward. Should I use that spell again? No.

I couldn't get past Shawn and the undulating Sand. No. I needed to do something else. I glanced around and tried to hobble toward the other edge, but the sands were quicker. A tendril slammed into me and sent me flying back.

"Shit, sorry. It's...getting hard to concentrate."

The roots were digging into his head now, and wriggling around his skull as the burl grew larger. I glanced at his feet: both of them were covered in thick roots that snaked under the ground...under the ground.

I pivoted on my heel and hobbled to the nearest building. Once in I glanced around. There was another rabbit thing, and it hopped toward me from across the room. I cast Ensnare, and yellowish lights flow along the ground and form a hand that reaches up and grabs hold of the rabbit's leg. It stops mid-hop and falls to the ground.

"Gnomes, servants of Gob the Magnanimous, I beseech thee to impale my enemies."

A spike of stone stabbed through the rabbit's head, and I pulled open the hatch and fell: rolling on my side so I didn't hurt my knee any further. I followed the tunnel in the direction of the harpy on the roof of the light. As I passed beneath the place where Shawn and the Sand were locked in their duel, I noticed the stone arch above me had been cracked, and the wriggling tendrils of roots had begun to dig down toward the waters of the wells that sat in rows in the middle of the curved path. I navigate around these: pulling out the barbed arrowheads from my thighs and calves.

Flesh and sinew tore, and I tossed them to the ground. Blood poured down from my leg, and stained the sandstone floor. The winds rushed through the tunnel, and out of a shattered hatch, that swung inward, hanging on a rusted hinge. The smell of iron stained the air, and the closer I got to the hatch my skin began to tingle, as if I were stepping through a curtain of invisible needles.

"Hail Mary, full of Grace, I beseech thee to seal my wounds, by the power of Christ thine Heavenly Son."

The bleeding slowed, and I cast it again before pulling myself up the hatch. The scent of blood grew stronger with every rung I pulled myself up. I hissed every single time I put pressure on my left leg. Rung by rung I climbed, until I was in the building, with the two large rabbits stacked on one another to block the shattered door.

Crimson light bled into the room from the roof above. The harpy's voice sang a harsh, raspy song that scraped against my skin like a knife peeling muscle off my bone. I glanced around. Was there roof access? I glanced around the room. Yes. There. Hidden from view from the front door by a wall. I climbed up. The door was barred on the other side, so I rammed it with my shoulder. Once. Twice. Three times, until the bar gave out, and the door swung open. I glanced back: the bar was just the shaft of an old spear stuck in through the handle.

The crimson rings passed over my head: buzzing as they passed through the air above me. Piles of sand covered the roof in a ring around the harpy. A red, heart-shaped gem hovered in the air the winged creature: whose arms were extended toward it, the horrid song coming from its lip.

One of the spinning rings of light passed through me, and my vision blurred. A searing pain erupted in my chest. I stepped backward back into the stairwell and grabbed hold of the pained area. Blood stained my fingers as it poured from beneath the mail. The harpy's dark eyes darted back toward me, and, as I clutched my chest, I pointed my staff forward.

"Gnomes, servants of Gob the Magnanimous, I beseech thee to bombard my enemies."

I chanted. A portion of the wall next to me that housed the stairwell ripped out and sailed across the roof. The harpy glanced back, and the sand surrounding her shot up to intercept the stone. The wave of sand slowed the coming stone: it rolled to a stop at her feet. A tendril of sand shot forth, and I stepped back: the sand slammed into my chest, and wrapped around my neck, and slowly began to tighten.

"From….the domain…." I speak through gritted teeth as I dig my fingers through the sand: pulling handfuls of sand away from my throat, "Of Paimon….I call…. for you…" My vision blurred, "thou... daughters of the wind…" I pulled another fistful, and my legs twitched, "...dance around me."

Gust burst around me and pushed the sand away from my throat. While the winds whipped around me, I pointed the staff forward.

"I call forth, from the domains of Paimon, those winged daughters of the Wind. Howl forth with all the fury of the Storm."

The winds of gust joined the howling winds of cyclone, strengthening. My body jerked back as the column of wind spat forth with all the fury of a tornado. My head exploded in pain, as the winds swept aside the sands and slammed into the harpy. The harpy screeched as the whipping floes cast it asunder, and tossed it to the building across the sandy alley from us. It slammed into the side of the building with such force that the reddish-brown walls cracked and collapsed on top of it.

The crimson rings of light still held high and protected the reddish gem in the middle. The building shook as the sands that Shawn had been holding back, slammed into the side of the wall, and the building lurched.

"Did you get her?" Shawn called — his voice reverberating as if it were being spoken through a bucket.

"Yes!"

The whole building groaned as it tilted toward the two of them, and I stumbled forward.

"Why isn't it stopping?"

"I don't know!"

I glanced around. The harpy was dead. The kill count went to 42/46 when she slammed into the building, so it must be being animated by something else? The only thing that was coming to my mind was the glowing heart-shaped gem in the middle of the ring of lights. I clutched my chest: blood still pouring from in between the links of chainmail. I healed myself, and the building shook again.

"Hurry!"

Fuck.

There was a space in the middle of the wheels of light where none of the light touched: where the harpy had been standing. I had to get there. I dropped to my knees and crawled forward: pushing the staff forward and crawling toward it.. A coolness swept over my back momentarily before a sharp pain erupted. I fell prone to the ground. Hot blood flowed and my back felt as if it were on fire. I crawled forward on my belly now: my bloodied mail pressed against the open wound on my chest.

Inch by inch, I crawled forward: leaving a trail of dark red blood against the ground. The building lurched again, and I slid forward. I winced as the chain dug further into the injury, but it had brought me nearer to the safe place in the middle of the rings of light.

The sand began to creep up the side of the building.

"I can't hold it back much longer!" Shawn's voice was hollow as if he were screaming into the trunk of a rotted tree.

I took a deep breath and pulled myself forward. A cool pain erupted from my back as it shaved a layer of flesh off as I dived forward, and into the place where the harpy had stood, chanting. The sand that had crawled over the lip of the roof snaked forward. I held my staff up.

"From the domain of Paimon, I call for you, oh daughters of the wind, dance around me."

The sylphs formed on the ground in a ring around me and began to spin. The winds picked up in a protective dome that knocked aside the tendrils of sand reaching out for me. My head throbbed: I was still suffering from the mana lock from casting Cyclone twice in such a short amount of time. Blood trickled down my nose.

Now what? The heart gem was just out of reach if I extended my arm as high as I could, even when extended on my tiptoes. I reached up with my staff and smacked it down toward me. Upon contact with the gem, the head of the staff exploded. Splinters of wood splattered across my face and down my arm, but the gem was closer. I stood on my tip toes and reached up.

I yanked my hand back. As my fingers neared the light cast by the gem, it felt as if my hand had been crushed with a hammer. Immediately, the pale skin had begun to turn bright blue and black.

The mana contained in it is intense.

I was able to decipher the message coming through my Shard despite the white-hot pain.

"What can I do?" I asked.

Unless you know the incantation or can destroy it somehow with a single spell….anything you try to touch it with will be destroyed.

"Anything?"

Anything.

Fuck. A single thought came to my mind, and I had to steel my nerves. The sand began to climb up the edge of the building. Shawn was screaming. His mind sounded as if it had been robbed from him. Fuck...I had to do it.

I reached up with the remnants of my staff and knocked it further down. The wooden shaft exploded again, and scattered splinters across my cheek and down my left forearm. It was low enough now. I took another deep breath, tilted my chin opened my mouth, and jumped.

As my nose neared the gem it was crushed inward. The force pressed against the top of my teeth, but...nothing. I clamped my jaws around the gem and pulled it down. The pressure in my mouth was intense. My tongue felt as if it were being thrashed around, and my throat felt as if it had been crushed, but still, I fought to keep it in my mouth against the pain.

It was easier than I thought to destroy. As soon as I was able to roll it in between my teeth, it was done. The gem was...meaty and firm, like a raw steak. I bit into it, and hot liquid poured down my throat, and the pressure stopped all at once. The lights died down, and the buzzing in the air stopped.

I staggered toward the end of the building. Shawn was almost completely covered in roots, and his face looked like that of a skull. He glanced up at me: his hollow eyes shining with a glimmer of malice that quickly faded. The sands stopped and fell from the air, and gathered on the ground. In the middle of it all, was the body of the little lizard creature that they had dragged out from wherever. I had to breathe out of my mouth. My right cheek was swollen, and I couldn't see out of that eye.

The roots began to subside from his body, and he cast me a smile. Once all the roots had retreated into the Burl, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell forward. I sat at the edge of the building, huffing and breathing through my mouth. My core burned as if I had swallowed a bead of heated glass, and I slid down into the sands as the world went black.