6: Pride Demon

Aiden felt the blood drain from his face. It was massive. The pride demon stood as high as the Rift, its arms thicker than an ox, and the worst part, it wasn't alone. Two shades had exited the Rift as well. They stood only a few feet from him, growling and screeching, their backs turned. The pride demon let out a menacing roar. Its black slanted eyes gazed over them as if they were livestock and it, the shepherd, carefully selecting who would be the evenings supper.

He froze where he was, suddenly aware of everything around him from the way the Veil pulsed, to the sound of the pride demons' footsteps as it marched forward, to his own shallow breaths. A tremble formed in his hands at the sight of the demons; they were more than he had anticipated. Doubts began to flood his mind. Not many people survived encounters with pride demons; however, those who did, never managed get away without grievous injuries. Even Ela had to be put on bed rest the last time she faced a pride demon. She had sustained a serious concussion, a broken leg, and countless bruises.

"Kid, get a move on they're coming your way!" Varric yelled sending a barrage of arrows into the air.

Aiden's mind snapped back to the present. The two shades were racing toward him, their arms outstretched. He backpedaled slowly, his mind still trying to process the sight before him. Then alarm bells began to ring in his head and he turned, taking off at a full sprint. Stumbling, he nearly fell face first to the cold hard ground, but he used his hands to thrust himself upward, avoiding the potentially fatal mistake.

Ahead of him, Solas stood, waving his hands, beckoning for the boy to come to him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and without a second thought, Aiden sped toward him. He pumped his legs franticly, hoping that the shades did not move as quickly as he thought they did. The sound of something slicing through the air came to him and he felt the fabric of his shirt pull taunt across his chest before giving way and tearing, exposing his back to the elements. A bolt of fire blew past him and collided with one; the affected shade shrieked in annoyance. The mage twirled his staff sending another bout of fire at the shades.

He rushed past Solas and heard the mage's staff connect with one of the shades. He turned his head slightly to see the man lighting one of the enemies aflame, causing it to flail wildly, and thrusting the end of his staff into a another. Trying to slow his movements down, Aiden slipped on a slick rock and went careening forward. The world around him spun and the air was knocked out of his chest as he slammed into the ground, rolling wildly, unable to stop himself. Soon enough, he came to a stop and, wincing, pushed himself upward. The shades were gone, only piles of goo remained of them.

"Stay behind me!" Solas ordered without a backward glance. Aiden nodded his understanding, too out of breath to speak.

Th crackle of electricity drew his attention to the behemoth. It stood over the Seeker and the others with a long whip of pure electric energy, battering them mercilessly. The Seeker was covered in sweat. Her shield was raised high, her chest heaving steadily, and her face set in a hard grimace. Varric stood behind her in a similar state, firing arrows one after the other at the demon; though, they did little more than shatter against its chest. The pride demon laughed at them, loud and deep, as he stepped forward, the ground quaking under his steps. The Seeker gave a ferocious war cry and charged forward followed by six warriors.

"They can't win against it." Aiden mumbled breathlessly. The demon was simply to strong, even for all of them. He tried racking his brain for any information on pride demons he had learned from his studies, or from his sister. The only thing he could remember was Ela telling him to focus on spirt based attacks, not ones that inflicted physical ailments.

A lump grew in his throat. The only spirit attack he knew was a simple mind blast, nothing that would affect this beast. He was utterly useless. Hopelessness grew in his chest. They would all die and he would be helpless. There was nothing he could do, nothing…unless.

He turned his gaze on the Rift; the Seeker's words echoing in his head. This was the thing behind everyone's suffering. The reason his sister was gone. The only chance they had was if he closed it. If the Breach remained open, demons would continue to pour out and there would be no hope. Now was the perfect time, there were no other demons around, and the pride demon was too preoccupied with the Seeker slashing relentlessly at its calves to notice him.

He took a deep breath in.

In and out. Don't think of the fear. Just move.

And rushed forward.

Solas shouted after him, but the words seemed muted by an odd sensation that came over him. A haze engulfed him, everything around him seemed to move slower, while he rushed forward uncontrollably fast. He came to an abrupt stop under the Rift, a soft pop emanating from him. A bout of nausea came over him and he struggled not to double over. Forcing his hand into the air, the Mark and the Rift connected.

The Rift pulsed, and popped, and hissed, but it didn't close. Instead, another blast of energy came from it, sending him tumbling backward, until he landed on all fours. His head pulsed with a fury he had never experienced before and his arm prickled distressingly.

"Now!" the Seeker called out. "Attack him while he is down."

Aiden lifted his head to see the pride demon on its knees. Whatever had emanated from the Rift, had cause it to be weakened, for the moment at least. The Seeker and the soldiers surrounded the demon, attacking it with all their might. He let his neck go limp and stared back at the ground. Despite his heavy breathing, it felt like there wasn't enough air in his lungs.

A combination of growls and screams drew his attention back to the demon. It was stirring, making quiet, aggravated noises. The soldiers hurriedly backed away, their backs hunched and cowering behind their shields. Only the Seeker remained, she continued her attack, unfazed by the demon's immanent recovery. Removing himself from the ground, Aiden wondered how many times it would take to actually kill the thing. His hands were shaking uncontrollably from activating the Rift and he knew he would be unable to handle much more.

The Seeker was calling for her men to attack, even as the demon rose, an unhappy growl rumbling through its chest. A few charged forward, driven by the Seeker's cry, but many hung back waiting for another opportunity.

He had expected the demon to strike out at the foes at his feet; to swat them away like nettlesome bugs. Instead, it turned his head slowly, its seven eyes scanning the battlefield. A pit formed in Aiden's stomach and he watched, with bated breath, as the demon's gaze centered on him. Its beady black eyes glowered with such a ferocity, he was sure they alone could tear him to shreds.

Giving an assertive growl, it lifted its arm, pointing it in his direction. A ball of purple light formed from its palm.

Varric called out to him franticly. "RUN!" The Seeker looked up at the dwarf, confusion apparent on her face. "Move, kid!" he yelled.

The Seeker followed his gaze and her face twisted in horror. "NO!" She cried out and, abandoning her attack on the pride demon, raced toward him.

Aiden stood, eyes wide, heart drumming in his chest at an alarming rate. He wanted to move, to turn and run, but his legs, no, his entire body throbbed with pain and the process of even stepping backwards was arduous. The demon released the attack and it lurched toward him, faster than his eyes could follow. It landed a hair's breath away from his feet and sent an explosion of electric energy outward. He threw his hands over his face at the outpouring of light and the explosion tossed him high into the air. Wind ripped past his ears, and the blood in his head drained almost to quickly to bare. When he was sure he was going to loss conciseness, he began spinning back down. He landed hard on his back with a sickening crunch. He bounced off the ground and flopped onto his side. A voice cried out from somewhere behind him.

"SOMEONE GET HIM!"

He lay there for a moment, his mind trying to make sense of the confusion. He wasn't dead, yet. The scent of his own burnt flesh assaulted his nose and his urge to vomit increased. Breathing raggedly, he tried to assess the damage to his body. Ela had always told him that was the first step in staying alive.

The skin on his arms was singed and he could feel the painful marks that the demons attack had left across his forearms. His back pulsated dreadfully, his head throbbed with more fury than before, and each breath he took was accentuated with a stab of pain. The ground quivered under him and he could tell without looking that the demon was advancing toward him.

"GET HIM!"

"MOVE!"

The patter of footsteps grew in intensity. The additional noise made it even harder for him to focus.

He peeled open his eyes to be meet with a new found pain and blurry vision. He could barely make out his own hand, only a mess of color. Shifting upward, his head banged and he hissed, but did not falter. Using his throbbing arms' he lifted himself to his knees. The world rocked back and forth before him, and his body hitched this way, and that, unable to keep its balance.

Before him, a mass of varying purples advanced forward. The thump of its footsteps matched in time with the pulse of his head and they sounded so distant despite how close it was. A growl came from it, drowning out all other sounds, and he wondered if his death would be quick.

He closed his eyes, not wanting to see it, the strike that would kill him. He thought of his sister and everything she had done for him. How she had come back from the Avvar clan, just to save him; how she always made sure he had a bed, or a cot to sleep on. He hadn't said thank you enough, he knew. And now, he couldn't even close the Rift. It was the only thing he could do to make things right and he couldn't do it. So, he sat, and waited, listening to the quake of the demon's footsteps grow ever closer. Waiting for the final blow.

It didn't come.

A loud knell came from in front of him and the demon let out another roar. He opened his eyes slowly, his lids heavy and caked with blood, to see a blurry figure of a someone with a shield standing above him. Was it the Seeker? He couldn't tell. Someone called out to him over the blare of the demon' s angry bellowing, but it was unintelligible to him. A vibration rocked his bones and caused a sharp pain in his side. As the demons roar subsided, the voice called out again.

"Get up." It said serenely.

It was so familiar to him, so satisfying to hear.

"Get up." The voice urged again.

Realization came over him. "Ela?" he called out hoarsely. "Ela?!" His heart pounded violently as he tried to stand, pushing down on one knee to gain leverage. His legs trembled and gave out, letting him crumble back down.

The pride demon let out another roar and he could hear what sounded like flesh meeting steel. He gazed in front of him, trying to make out what was happening. A bright light formed suddenly, and another explosion rang out. Rocks and dirt collided with his face as the wind rushed past. He clenched his eyes against the bombardment, hoping that they had caused it and not the demon.

A hand wrapped around his arm, shaking him slightly. He gave a soft gasp of surprise. Peeling his eyes open slowly, it took him a moment to register the foggy world around him. Greens, and browns, and grey mingled, blurring everything together. He blinked forcefully, trying to clear his vision.

"Come on." He felt the person move closer to him. Their grip on him tightened, giving him an encouraging nudge.

He shook his head trying to clear away the pain from his mind. Opening his eyes, he saw the bright oval face of his sister.

He felt his mouth pull into a wide grin.

"You have to get up." She told him.

"Ela, I thought you were dead." he mumbled sitting back on his legs despite the discomfort. His head lulled forward and she grabbed it quickly, forcing him to look into her eyes.

"You have to close it."

"I can't." Tears began to well in his eyes.

"You have to try."

He bobbed his head slowly in agreement.

"Can you walk?"

"No, it's too much."

She nodded her head, wrapping her arm behind his back and lifting him from the ground. He tried to work with her to no avail. She pulled him quickly, past, what he assumed, was the demon as it growled and keened, toward the heap of greens that was Rift.

"Where did you go?" he asked his voice lamented with sorrow. "You left me."

"Focus." came the curt reply.

"Ela—"

"Focus! You have to close it." The reply stung him, but he threw it from his mind. She was right. She was always right. The intensity of greens increased in his vision and she stopped them when they were almost under it.

She spoke quickly to him, throwing her head back every so often to look back at the demon. "Do it now, hurry!"

Giving his sister one last look he threw his hand upward and succumbed to the pain.