Richter started casting, and a few seconds later, a sphere of green light sprung into place around him. Elemental attacks continued to rain from the sky. A bolt of lightning fell almost directly upon his protective sphere, but thankfully the Air attack was stopped by his shield. Richter could see that the durability of his shell dropped substantially, but he remained protected. The chaos seed just prayed that a rock didn’t fall on his shield. The Earth attack would cut right through his protection like it wasn’t even there.
After long seconds, his leg did indeed start to thaw. It brought with it a pins and needles type of pain that was almost worse than the freezing, but Richter didn’t complain. He cast Weak Slow Heal to replenish his lost health and got into a sprinter’s stance. A moment later, the Freeze status effect disappeared from his interface. Richter sprung forward. As soon as he touched his own shield, it disappeared, and he was off again.
Sion and Yoshi had issues of their own. A fire bomb had exploded near Sion, burning his left side. The sprite had immediately dropped and rolled, smothering the flames and gotten back on his feet. He was still moving, but much slower and every step was agony. Yoshi had suffered the misfortune of running through the impact crater of a poisoned stone. Now the adept hacked bloody phlegm while he ran and his health bar had turned purple. Every second, more of his life drained away. Still, none of them stopped. They crossed a hundred yards, then two hundred. All of them were struck glancing blows by the storm, but their luck held, perhaps literally. Until it didn’t.
Yoshi was struck in the chest by a lightning bolt and went down. The storm had reached the enhanced rank, and a large black scorch mark could be seen between his pecs. Another spot of blackened char was on the bottom of his foot where the electricity had exited his body. The adept went down, and smoke rose from his body in slow dark curls. Richter and Sion gritted their teeth and kept going.
Sion went down next. A basketball-sized stone fell from the sky and struck his shoulder. His gaseous form removed a third of the damage, but the blow took a horrible toll. A spray of red blood and a sickening crunch were his first indications that he had taken a hit. Then waves of nauseating pain spread through his body and his vision darkened. Sion tried to get back up, but the poison had evolved along with the size of the rocks once the spell reached the enhanced rank. Prompts appeared on the sprite’s interface.
You have been Mangled. Complete loss of control of your right arm.
You are Bleeding. You will lose 7 health per second for the next 2 minutes and 18 seconds or until bleeding is stopped.
You are being actively Poisoned. You will lose 16 points of health per second. Remove yourself from the poisoned area to start the countdown of losing this status.
You are Weakened. You have lost 60% of your total stamina and will continue to lose 5% every 20 seconds until you lose your Poisoned status.
It was all Sion could do to roll out of the poisoned impact crater. Even that was an epic struggle as his health drained away at twenty-three points every second. When he was clear, he downed Cure Poison and Restore Health potions from his belt pouch. That was all he could manage before he swooned and knew only blackness.
Richter’s heart tore in half as he saw his best friend in any world go down, but he kept running. He had come to understand that his life was not his own, and he would be damned if he let his people down. The chaos seed’s eyes were glued to the shiny red beacon floating over the goblin’s head. He ran faster and suddenly, against all odds, he was through!
The possessed Druid loomed ahead, and the earth continued to shake due to the maelstrom behind him. Richter’s eyes narrowed in hatred at the being that had most likely killed his Companion. With a quick movement, he drew his elementum sword from the sheath on his back. His one hope was that he could kill the powerful being before it noticed him.
Both of the goblin’s eyes were closed as he focused upon building the spell. If the chaos seed could just get close enough, Richter could plunge his blade into the caster’s heart and finally end this battle. Fighting back a cry of fury, Richter continued to sprint silently. He was only twenty feet away when the goblin’s red jeweled eyes opened. Then the Druid smiled and Richter’s world dissolved into pain.
<<You would challenge me?>> It asked. Richter immediately knew he was not being addressed by a flesh and blood creature, but by a far more powerful entity. Its voice was old and deep. The words vibrated the air and seemed to come from many directions at once. Its voice was that of a being that had lived through countless lives and only found joy when they were extinguished. Richter had thought its tone might be mocking, but apparently, he was not important enough to be mocked. No. The Bloodstone was amused.
The possessed Druid had made no external motion, but its red stone eyes had flashed. Richter didn’t know it, but the stone had used one of its primary powers to link to the blood of nearby beings. The mind-shattering pain he felt was his body reacting to the fact that the flow of blood through his body slowed. Every one of his cells began to die, and Richter experienced simultaneous failure of his organs all at once. His health plummeted. The chaos seed fell to his knees with a strangled cry as the goblin continued to smile.
<<You quickly learn your place. This is good.>> The Bloodstone closed its eyes once more to focus on pouring mana into its spell. Richter remained in obeisance to a power that was beyond him. Sion struggled to breathe, and Yoshi lay still while deadly power rained around them. Through it all, one small heart beat wildly, filled with hope and fury.
The storm continued to build. It reached the trees, and those left living retreated back from the now potent rank spell. The elemental attacks were falling so quickly that they struck the ground in a steady rhythm. The sprites had picked up the bodies of the Hearth Mother and the other mages. They shielded them with their own bodies, but despite the tree cover, they all knew death would come soon. All would have been lost, except for the savage love of one small dragonling.
Silent as a swooping hawk, Alma dove. It had taken her longer than she would have wished to fly around the periphery of the magical storm, but she could still move much faster than her master. When she had seen Richter on his knees and saw his life falling, the dragonling felt a pain in her breast that she had never known before. The expansion of her consciousness was wonderful in so many ways, but of late, she had wondered if it also made her vulnerable. She loved her master more than she would have ever thought possible, and her dependence on him had made her uncomfortable over the past weeks. Alma had never shared her concerns, but they had been occupying her mind more and more. As she flew closer to her target, however, she learned that love was not only a weakness, it was also a strength. The dragonling pushed her body further and faster than ever before. It only took a few more seconds to circle behind the Druid. Then, with clear purpose, she attacked.
CHAPTER 43 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 15,386 EBG