Rise to the Summit
The lava burns viciously around me, although my thick shell protects me, so it just seems warm underground. My huge claws, spikes and tusks make short work of the earth, bringing me to the surface, where three humans wait for my presence, attempting to seal my fate.
The massive spikes on my back betray my entrance onto the Battleground, the earth shaking with my every step, as if in terror. I stand up to my full height and roar, lava shooting up from under the earth as if at my command. My huge size makes the hunters grip their trusty weapons, then two of them scatter in different directions, but one stays put. I charge at her, and she throws something at me. It explodes with a blinding flash, and for a couple of seconds I cannot see. I feel the thud of a sword against my leg and the sting of ice on my back. Once my eyesight returns to normal, I turn to face the direction from where the ice arrows were coming. I brace myself and inhale. The hunter puts away his bow and runs, just in time to escape my wind tunnel attack. Suddenly a loud shriek of noise deafens my ears, and I fall to the ground. I cannot move for some time, and the hunters gang up on me, two with swords – one with a bigger sword and one with a longer sword – the other with a bow, its arrows tinted with ice. The hunter with the bigger sword charges up his attack…
And I can only watch as it comes crashing down on my tusk, breaking it off, the bone shattering into pieces. I shriek as the stinging pain is too much to bear. Once I am standing again, I use my giant claws to bury myself underground. One of the hunters, the one with the longer sword, gets caught as my feet claw the ground, injuring her. I feel the hunters run around, the tremors travelling through the magma, my attuned mind sensing them, aware of their every step. The heat is intense underground, the molten rock burning my eyes if I keep them open for too long. For me, it is like swimming underground. My every breath sends lava shooting from the ground, the hunters not knowing where and when it will appear. I sense a hunter stop for breath, and fix onto my target. My claws make short work of the molten magma, and as the spikes on my back rupture up through the ground, the tremors knock the hunter clean off his feet. I turn to face him. It is the hunter with the bigger sword. He is open for an attack. I roar at him as I begin a charge. He tries to get up, but he is weak. He calls out to his comrade…and he responds. The hunter with the bows rushes to his aid, and he shoots the shards of ice towards me. I scream in pain as the glass-like ice cuts into my left eye. When I regain my balance, I feel a fiery rage build up inside of me; the heat behind my eyes is rising to temperatures I never knew my body could create. Slowly, I rise onto my hind legs, and my piercing cry echoes throughout the Battleground. The hunters curl up and cover their ears. I turn to face the hunter with the bow. He is still on the floor, blocking the screams from his ears. I lash my tail around at him. The hunter with the bigger sword dashes to his friend and uses his giant blade to block my attack. Infuriated, I turn to the hunter with the longer sword, as I can hear the sound of grinding metal behind me. She stands up. She faces me. I stand forward and dig my fang into the dry earth. I drag it up from the ground, and I can hear the other two hunters cry out to the female. She unsheathes her blade, then swipes it into my face and jumps back. I feel an explosion of pain in my mouth as my other fang shatters into smithereens. She runs around the back of me, and I try to turn to where she is running, but the chilling ice shards stab into my back, breaking my spines and making me fall over. The hunter with the bow has my anger focused on him. Suddenly I feel the bones break in my tail. I collapse in the corner of the Battleground. I manage to drag myself around to see the three claws coming out of my disembodied tail. I squeal and my tail stump throbs and stings. I manage to get to my feet, and stand there for a moment, breathing heavily. My eyes dart from one hunter to the next. Saliva dribbles from my gaping mouth. I am not dead yet, I can still fight. My anger now focuses on the female. You. I use up all of my strength to charge. The other hunters will be next. She can't escape. I feel the tendons in my limbs rip apart in my weakness. I end my charge by lashing out at her, and her body hits the rock hard earth. I turn around ungracefully to the remaining two hunters, and they tremble as my steaming breath sends shivers up their spines. My fiery red eyes pierce theirs. I brace myself and tilt my head forward, producing a hurricane of wind. My final Wind Tunnel attack ends in a cloud of dust. When the dust clears, I can see two motionless bodies lying there on the parched earth. My legs begin to shake. I feel the air being strangled from within me. My legs collapse from underneath me, and I fall. My life force is being drained, my eyesight is going blurry…the last thing my gaze falls upon are the two hunters, slowly rising from the ground, with the female joining them. They have completed their mission. My eyes slowly close. I die here having tried to protect my pride and glory.
The Black God lies lifeless on the Battleground; the three hunters stand proudly overlooking the great beast that they have slain. They have won in the inferno temperatures of the Battleground, but whether they will survive the Black God's distant relative that dwells at a temperature of Absolute Zero, however, will be another story to tell…
TO BE CONTINUED…