"Yaaah!" I yelled, bringing my trusty longsword down on my enemy. One more darkspawn down.
After I wrenched my enchanted blade from the dead hurlock's shoulder, I glanced around to see how the rest of my party was doing. Alistair was at my side, a look of fury on his face as he bashed another monster with his already-bloody shield. On my other side was Zevran, just finishing lopping a genlock's head off with his saw blade. Behind me was Wynne, sending out a wave of healing magic. I felt immediately refreshed, even though the adrenaline pumping through my veins was keeping me on my toes.
And in front of us was the Archdemon.
The ugly dragon spit out a stream of vile purple flames, incinerating some of the Dalish warriors fighting for us. Then it beat its powerful wings and retreated to the other side of the tower, releasing a deafening roar. Everyone, even the darkspawn, stumbled from the force it took to lift itself off the ground.
I stared at the terrifying beast, panting. We had been playing this game of tag for more than two hours now. It had to be close to dying.
Signaling my team to follow, I took off running towards the ballista aiming at the Archdemon. I slashed at darkspawn as I went, though some of them fell right before I could reach them. I silently thanked the Dalish every time one of them perished.
When we reached the ballista, I started furiously working it, shooting flaming projectiles at the Archdemon. Alistair, Wynne, and Zevran held off the swarming darkspawn around me as I pounded their leader.
Suddenly my heart started beating faster, if that was even possible. I squinted across the terrace at the mighty dragon. It was faltering, its spirit flames growing weaker, its slashes more half-hearted.
Now.
Without warning, I charged. My small longsword wouldn't be enough, so I dropped it, grabbing a greatsword sticking out of a Dalish elf. I barely had enough time to think "sorry" as I sprinted as fast as I could towards the great Archdemon.
Just as it noticed I was coming towards it, I screeched a warcry and held the greatsword up over my head, jabbing it into the chin of the dragon. I kept running, using all my strength to drag the sword down its throat until I reached its chest. The Archdemon screamed - a terrible, bloodcurdling sound - and fell. I rolled out of the way at the last minute to avoid being crushed.
I didn't waste any time. Running up to its front again, I shouted again and drove the sword into the darkspawn leader's head.
Light burst up from the dead beast, created a beacon shooting so high into the sky you couldn't see it anymore. The enormous power of the Archdemon's spirit left me reeling, but I held onto the sword, trying to keep my balance. I shut my eyes tight at the blinding light.
Watching me was my team. Alistair and Zevran exchanged truly terrified glances, worried that this was the end for me. Wynne covered her mouth and stared.
The power blast seemed to last forever, then without any warning, it was over. I dropped to my knees, feeling numb. I stared blankly at the sky in a daze. Alistair dashed over to my side and held me.
Then the Archdemon exploded. Alistair and I flew backwards, and my blurred vision went black.
