Disclaimer: I don't own DN.
A/N: This fanfiction was written for CandyDelight's Fanfiction Event hosted on DN NA's forums, so all characters mentioned within are either her characters or NPCs. Hope everyone enjoys it! :)
Chapter One: The Nest
"Twin, you need to be more expressive!" the pale blonde haired boy said. "You need to tell this hunk of stone what he did wrong to deserve this explosive end." The boy wrinkled his nose against the acrid smell of burnt things and gave the pile of badly scorched gray stone a quick kick, sending some pieces rolling towards me.
Swinging my shield onto my back to free up my left hand, I bent over to pick up one of the smaller stone pieces that had landed next to me. Most of the stones were of a gray color, however, the one that is now in my palm had once been a brilliant shade of blue, a color that I loved. The scorch marks on the lower half of the stone had left an intricate pattern of darkness to it.
"It's already dead." I said as I kept my expressions neutral. "It cannot hear any of my words nor see any of my expressions... It would not have made a difference." These stones that now lay scattered throughout the clearing had once been a part of an entity that stood in our way, and thus, it had to be destroyed. How else would we be able to clear out this nest?
"It would have made a difference if you had done it before you gave the final blow," the lovely slender girl, who was standing behind my twin, said. Before anyone could stop her, she held out her grimoire and pointed her wand at the seal embedded in the portal. Her waist length ivory hair streamed out behind her as she summoned up a powerful wave of heat with an ear piercing yell. Within seconds, the seal had melted. A soft hum in the background indicated that the portal was now properly functioning.
"Djoey!" My twin shouted above the distant rumbling that had started to sound. "We were having such a nice conversation with my dear brother and you just end it by your eagerness of scorching things to death." He shook his head as he looked into her light blue eyes and gave an exaggerated sigh.
"I was just demonstrating the technique that you were trying to describe to him." Djoey playfully nudged him. "And I am sure Stars benefited from having a visual to accompany those words of yours with."
I blinked as the conversation suddenly turned on me. Heat rose from my body and started to pool in my cheeks. I suppose I had benefitted from that demonstration, but if I was being honest with myself, I had been focused on staring at the most beautiful girl in the world. Quickly, I shook the thought away, cleared my throat, and schooled my expression back into one of indifference.
"We have an irritated winged creature casting balls of dark magic on the other platform." I pointed to where the beast stood. "We should probably engage it in a fight before it flies elsewhere and starts wrecking havoc."
"But we don't have a plan of attack," my twin said. His earlier joking mood vanished as the subject turned back into a serious conversation.
"This can't be that different from the original nest we cleared so many times already. Everything up to this point had been the same. We will be fine," Djoey said.
"But this is in the False Stronghold. We can't be sure that the manticore will be the same dumb beast as in the original nest."
"Sweets, this is nothing we can't handle. Besides, don't you have any confidence in my skills or in your own?" Djoey gave my twin an innocent look. Sweets rolled his eyes, but he started to cast his blessings and Protection Shell on us. I threw the little blue stone back into the pile on the ground before swinging my shield back into my left hand.
As the last of the dark magic dissipated on the other platform, we gave each other one last glance before stepping into the portal together. The light sensation of the teleporting didn't bother me, but what did bother me was that my vision became foggy. It reminded me of the years before I met Sweets and joined the clerics.
Suddenly, the light sensation faded and I felt solid ground underneath my feet. The moment my vision cleared, I immediately moved slightly to the left, so that I had a clear shot of the manticore's left wing. Likewise, Sweets was mirroring my movement, except that he was moving slightly to the right. This formation left Djoey in between the two of us, so that she has access to our heals any time during the battle. I was, however, a bit closer to her since my relics have a smaller range than my brother's.
"Let's do this!" Djoey shouted as she conjured up a wall of fire in front of the manticore. Simultaneously, my brother and I summoned our lightning relics, mine a bit smaller than his, on the left and right side of the fire, cutting off the manticore's direct advancement on us.
The manticore gave a roar as he created more balls of dark magic and shot them at us. Dashing forward a little bit to avoid getting hit by the magic, I casted my Cure Relic to boost my light attacks. Then, I directed a shot of Chain Lightning towards the manticore's left wing.
The manticore's wing shuddered under the impact of the lightning and it turned its yellow eyes on me. Faintly, to my right, I heard a "take that" and saw a bolt of lightning strike its right wing. Halfway in its turn, the manticore got hit in the face with a full blast of flames. It shook its head from left to right, probably trying to get rid of the burning sensation on its skin.
Since it was distracted, I casted all my lightning skills in rapid succession towards its left wing. I had expected the wing to fold in on itself after all the shocks it received, but it looked as if it was unharmed. Seeing that the manticore was still distracted and pawing its face, I dashed in and casted Consecration. I moved back out of range and continued to cast lightning skills.
"I can't seem to destroy the wing!" I shouted to my companions. In the original nest, I had always been able to destroy its wings with ease. I looked towards its right wing and could see that it was still unharmed. It seems Sweets wasn't successful in destroying it either.
The manticore looked up then and stared at me, hatred flashing in its eyes. Letting out another roar, it reared up on its hind legs and its front paws came down with incredible speed and force. I was still in the process of backing away when I felt the tremor on the ground. The next thing I knew, I was sailing backwards through the air.
I landed on the ground on my back with a loud thud as the wind was knocked out of me. Gasping in a couple of breaths, I lifted my head to look for my companions. But before I could get a glimpse of them, pain lanced through my head and my vision blurred. The manticore's roar was suddenly too loud for my ears and I covered them with my hands. It would not wait for us to recover. I tilted my head slightly and could see balls of dark magic forming.
Seeing how I was running out of time, I summoned my heal relic. It cleared my head instantly and I searched for my companions, hoping that they were all right. I spotted the two of them lying a couple feet away. Wasting no time, I staggered to my feet and moved in their direction while casting Aura of Healing.
Almost instantaneously, the Aura of Healing took effect and the pain was slowly ebbing, but I knew that one heal wasn't strong enough to chase all the pain away. It was, however, enough to help my two companions get to their feet.
All three of us dashed forward so that the balls of magic wouldn't hit us. Once we were safe from the magic, Sweets immediately casted his Aura of Healing, followed by Holy Shield on all of us. The feeling of holy power filling my body was great and I felt much more refreshed. Djoey, however, was already facing the manticore, an endless stream of fire emitting from the tip of her wand.
"Focus on the face. The wings aren't as vulnerable as we thought it would be," I yelled. "Position two." Sweets gave me a small nod and I ran up next to Djoey. The two of us would be attacking while Sweets was slightly in the back and going support.
Together, Djoey and I unleashed spells after attack spells and Sweets summoned relics and casted heals in between. We kept the manticore distracted enough that it couldn't get an attack in and, soon, it was starting to weaken.
While we focused mainly on the head, we also attacked each of the front legs. When the front legs started to crumble, Sweets moved closer to the head, continuing to distract it, and Djoey and I started attacking its hind legs.
Finally, the hind legs gave out and the manticore was lying sprawled on the ground. With a final expressive yell, Djoey unleashed a potent Volcanic Vortex. After a few seconds and the manticore hadn't made another move, Djoey looked over at me, giving me a brilliant smile, and raised her hand for a high five. However, as I was contemplating whether or not to return the gesture, in my peripheral vision, I saw the manticore's hind leg twitch.
"Watch out!" I screamed while pushing Djoey out of the way. The next moment, I felt the manticore's large feet kick into my stomach and found myself flying through the air for the second time. I tried to right myself before I fell, however, I was too exhausted from the battle and previous injuries to do it properly.
The last thing I heard was my bones cracking against the ground.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please leave a review if you've got time. :D