Tags: Battle; Wounds; 69
A/N: Translations at the end.
"Can anyone understand what it's saying?" Blaine asked.
All the others replied that they could not.
Blaine told them all not to move any closer to the creature. ["I need to cast another spell and am worried about using too much magic without knowing if we will have to fight this guy. He doesn't seem to be hostile toward us right now, but that could change very quickly."]
Again, all of them agreed, staying vigilant while Blaine cast the spell that allowed him to understand all spoken languages [Comprehend Language]. The only downside to the spell was that it didn't allow him to speak the language he could understand.
["Ok. That's done. I'm going to take a small step forward to see if it will speak again,"] Blaine told the others.
When he moved, the elemental said, "Yai v'rr rak vaett kloto saekot v'klaik ae g'slk."
["Did that sound like the last time?"] Blaine asked.
Finn and Santana both thought that it did, while Kurt and Puck couldn't quite tell. Blaine agreed with Finn and Santana.
"It says that we cannot pass through the gates without a fight," Blaine translated for them.
"There is one of them and five of us," Puck reasoned. "Surely, we could battle it and be on our way."
["We need to do as much damage as we can before this thing gets to swing at us. Kurt and I can shoot it with our arrows, and you guys rush it. Puck, since your battleaxe isn't magically imbued, is there anything you can do to it?"] Blaine asked.
Everyone agreed with the plan, and Puck assured Blaine that he had a couple of spells he could use that would add magical damage to his axe.
["Alright, let's do this guys! NOW!"] Blaine shouted, and both he and Kurt fired their arrows while Finn, Santana, and Puck rushed toward the elemental. As Kurt and Blaine's magical arrows struck the elemental, the other three reached him and took swings with their own weapons. Only Santana and Finn made contact.
The elemental let out a loud, angry roar, the magical weapons having done some noticeable damage. The elemental was missing chunks of earth on its chest and torso. As the roar faded, the air shifted, and two more elementals showed up. One was made of fire and scorched all of the ground close to it. The other was made of air that looked like a rotating tornado.
["Don't hit the fire one with poison or fire; it doesn't do any damage. And lightning, thunder, and poison will do nothing to the air one,"] Blaine explained as he cast a spell that encompassed all three elementals and ensure that the placement would not hit his friends. The enchantment caused a loud ringing noise that was painfully intense to erupt behind them [Shatter]. The earth elemental let out another roar, though it was a little less intense than the last one. Each of the other elementals appeared to be only slightly affected by the noise.
The fire elemental turned toward Finn, reaching for him with both hands. Thankfully, only one punch made contact, slightly burning Finn's left arm but missing his clothing. This did not make Finn very happy, and he took two swings at the elemental with his scimitar, connecting both times and doing a decent amount of damage, making the elemental hiss in pain.
Kurt had an inkling that the air elemental would go after Puck next but also remembered what Blaine had said about how lightning wouldn't do as much damage to it. He was torn between which one to aim for and made the split-second decision to fire his arrow at the earth elemental while casting a spell on his enemy that would allow him to mark it, making it easier to find it if it decided to hide, while dealing extra damage [Hunter's Mark]. Fortunately, his deliberation didn't affect his concentration and aim too much as he was able to hit the earth elemental in the left shoulder, taking out a large chunk of it with his first arrow. He fired off a second shot that missed completely.
While Kurt was concentrating on the earth elemental, Puck decided to take aim at the air elemental. He cast a spell on his battleaxe that would imbue it with astral radiance, making his weapon do extra radiant damage if he was able to make contact with the creature. Lucky for him, he did. Puck felt he could have done more damage if he had been the slightest bit prepared; he wasn't too upset with himself, though, seeing as that was the first elemental he had ever come across and had to fight.
As Puck was targeting the air elemental, Santana was ready to attack the earth elemental again. She was able to hit it once, but when she went back for another whack, it glided out of the way of her attack and tried to swing back. It missed her completely, actually hitting itself with its second swing. The air elemental took a few swings at Puck, hitting him once and striking the ground with its next swing.
Seeing how mangled the earth elemental looked and the others taking swings at its friends, Blaine cast the same spell as before. His aim was off, however, and it only hit the fire elemental, completely missing the others. Even though it didn't seem to take a lot of damage, the fire elemental did not like the ringing and swung, connecting hard with Finn's body.
"Son of a bitch!" Finn yelled as the fire elemental burned him once again on his left arm. The elemental missed as it lunged at the dragonborn again as Finn dodged out of the way. He was able to get his revenge, hitting the fire elemental twice with his scimitar and slicing his torso significantly.
["Do you need to back out of there, Finn?"] Blaine asked him through the bond.
["I'm okay, boss. This asshole hasn't got the best of me yet, and I refuse to let him,"] Finn answered, determined.
Kurt could tell that the earth elemental was nearly done for and took a shot at him. When the arrow hit him, what was left of his earthen body crumbled to the ground. Not wasting any time, he transferred his magical mark to the fire elemental and took a shot at it. When his lightning arrow hit the creature, it crackled loudly, and the elemental let out a deep hissing sound at the pain.
["Dirt boy is down, Short Stuff. I'm coming your way. The two pointy-eared ones are focusing on Fiery,"] Santana said to Puck through the bond.
Puck saw the earth elemental crumble out of the corner of his eye and was determined to whittle down the air elemental's health before Santana came over to help him. He was able to get in two good swipes, though with his second one, he hit harder than he had any other time, finally getting a feel for how the elemental moved. Santana was right next to him a moment later and took her own swings, making contact. Noticing the newcomer, the air elemental attempted to hit each of its attackers, striking Santana and missing Puck.
Blaine loosed another arrow and shot it at the fire elemental, hitting it in the right shoulder. He could tell that the elemental didn't have a lot of life left in him and hoped that it would be too weak to attack Finn again. His plan didn't entirely work as the elemental lunged at Finn, burning him with one of its firey hands; it just didn't have the energy to fight anymore.
Finn was beyond done getting burned, and, as the elemental leaned down to grab at him again, he brought his scimitar down swiftly, chopping the elemental's head clean off its body. He then rushed over to join Puck and Santana in fighting the air elemental. Finn felt that had he understood how this elemental moved, he could have ended its life, too, with one fatal strike, but his body was too burned to connect hard enough.
"You've got this, my love," Blaine said encouragingly as Kurt targeted their last standing foe.
Kurt moved his mark once more to the air elemental and took a shot. He saw the arrow go right through the elemental's chest, causing the creature to evaporate into thin air.
Blaine and Kurt ran up to their companions, and everyone assessed each other's damage. Puck didn't look too bad. Santana and Finn, however, looked like they could use a little rest to recuperate before they proceeded through the gates. Kurt used his magic to heal both of them a little, and Puck used his magic to heal Finn a little more; he had suffered the most out of all of them.
After Kurt had healed his companions, he went to the elementals remains, hoping to salvage some of his arrows. He was able to find four of his and two of Blaine's.
While the others were healing, Blaine walked up to the gates and noticed that there were five indentations on the bars, like a key of some sort. Like he had done while he was thinking, Blaine pulled out the stone he had received from Willow and rubbed the smooth surface. A couple of minutes later, he looked down and noticed that the stone was about the same size as the indentions. Then, it dawned on him: there were five spots and five of them. They had five stones.
"Hey, guys," Blaine said, turning around and walking back to the group. "Do you all have the stone that Willow gave you?" Each of them nodded. "Could you give them to me, please?"
Kurt handed him one that had a drawing of a person jumping over something. Finn's had food on it, Puck's had a pillow, and Santana's had fire on it. Blaine's own stone was marked with a set of shackles. Seeing all of the stones gave him an idea, and he pulled out the map and looked at the riddle again, reading it aloud.
"I have many tongues but cannot taste,
By me, most things are turned to waste.
I crack and snap, yet I stay whole,
I may take the largest toll.
I assisted all of the first men,
And I will pay them back again.
Around me, people snuggle and sleep,
Yet run when I am released from my keep.
I jump around and leap and bound,
The cold man wishes I he had found."
"The answer is fire," Kurt said after hearing the riddle. "The question is, how do these all go together?" He looked at the five stones in Blaine's hand.
"Maybe we have to put them in the order of the riddle," Finn offered, and everyone looked at him with wide eyes. "What? I know things!"
"That's an excellent idea, Finn," Blaine replied, feeling a little sheepish for not believing in his friend. "So, food goes first, wouldn't you all agree?" At the nods, he laid that one down on a nearby flat rock.
"There aren't really any that correspond with most of the middle section," Santana said. "I think the pillow one would be next, followed by the shackles."
"The last two are the jumping one, and then fire is the answer," Puck added.
"Agreed," Blaine said. "My guess is that once we put these in the slots on the gate, it will open. I'm not sure how long it will stay open, or if we will be able to get back through it at any point. Should we push through now, or wait and rest some more?"
Their decision was made for them as the elementals all began to reconstitute. None of them wanted to go through that battle again, so the stones were quickly put in their respective places.
As the last stone was placed into its slot, the rumbling in the ground was growing stronger, signaling that the earth elemental was coming back quickly. They all hurried through the gates, Blaine bringing up the rear. He needed to make sure all of his companions made it through safely. What greeted them was pitch blackness. Blaine conjured the four silver orbs that would give them enough light to see where they were going.
"I will take the lead this time," Blaine said, moving his way to the front of the group. Kurt closely followed him down the first set of stairs, followed by Puck, Finn, and finally, Santana. The group found themselves going down a very long and narrow staircase. Every 100 feet or so, the stairs would change directions, making a zigzag shape. Just before they had been descending for an hour, Blaine's orbs began to flicker, alerting him to their dissipation if he did not re-conjure them soon. He promptly did.
"Thanks, dude," Finn said from the back. "Falling down these would suck!"
When the silver orbs began to flicker yet again, Blaine conjured them again. He was tired of walking down these stairs. "Do any of you guys want to sit down for a few minutes before we continue?" he asked the group.
Everyone agreed that taking a break was a good idea. They sat and chatted for about 30 minutes, nibbling rations and re-hydrating. When they had all rested enough, Blaine once again re-conjured the silver orbs, hoping it would be the last time he would have to do it. They were all getting tired of traversing the staircase. About 45 minutes later, they could see some sort of light below them, and they started to move a little bit faster down the stairs. By the time the silver orbs were beginning to flicker out again, they were close enough to the light source that Blaine didn't need to conjure them. As they approached the bottom of the staircase, they were not thrilled by what they saw. Standing by what looked like the only exit out of the cave were two fire elementals, much larger than the one they had just seen.
The elementals appeared to be waiting for the travelers. "Wo ulo dho Giulkauvk. Yai nikd dakhd ik da kukk dhlaikh dho kaal," the one to the right of the door said in a crackling voice.
"I'm guessing they're saying that we have to fight them to pass, but I'm going to make sure," Blaine said and cast the spell that allowed him to understand all spoken language. After the spell was cast, he took another step forward.
The elemental on the left side of the door repeated, "Wo ulo dho Giulkauvk. Yai nikd dakhd ik da kukk dhlaikh dho kaal."
"He said that they are the guardians and that we must fight them to pass through the door," Blaine translated.
"I really don't want to walk back up all of those stairs," Santana griped, stepping up next to Blaine. "Let's just get this over with, shall we?"
Kurt and Blaine each targeted a different elemental while the other three waited to charge until the arrows were in the air. Both arrows connected with the creatures, though they noticed the attack didn't seem to affect these elementals as much as it had the one up top.
"These seem to be a lot stronger, guys," Blaine warned. "Don't get too close until we know if they can do things the one up top couldn't."
Kurt quickly fired two more arrows at the elemental on the right, hitting it with both of them. After the second shot, the elemental reacted with a crackle and a hiss, but it didn't see where the arrows were coming from.
As Puck got closer to the one on the left, he could feel its scorching heat from several paces away. He didn't think much about it since the thing was made of fire, and he was able to hit the elemental twice, though not without consequences. The burn wasn't horrible, and Puck wasn't on fire anywhere that he could tell. So he thought he would stick it out for now, knowing he had options if his health got too low.
Finn proceeded to the one on the right and instantly noticed that these elementals were hotter than the one he had fought just a few hours ago. He was able to hit the elemental twice with his scimitar, making a good-sized gash in the creature's torso. However, getting that close to these elementals, Finn was burned without even being touched. The beast, following his attack, immediately moved right up next to Finn and tried to burn him with both hands. One hand was able to make contact, but Finn dodged out of the way of the second one. Not only was he burned, but the armor on his shoulder was now on fire.
Santana was rushing toward the right elemental as well. When she saw that Finn was on fire, she quickly put it out and then spewed acid from within her, granted to her by her dragonborn bloodline, hitting the elemental right in the face. She had seen what happened when Finn got too close to the creature, and she didn't want to make the same mistake. "I know you can't understand me, so I'm just going to lay it out for you," she shouted at the elemental. "You and your flaming friend over there are going to be turned into ash by the time we're through with you." She backed up slightly, trying to stay out of range of its fists.
About the time Santana started lecturing the creature on the right, the one on the left tried to reach out and grab hold of Puck with both fists. He was able to dodge out of the way of the first grab and wasn't as lucky the second time. Not only did the bastard burn him, but it also caught his beard on fire. Blaine hurled a ball of cold energy [Chromatic Orb] at the elemental on the left, hoping that since the creature was made of fire, the cold might affect it more than other elements. He was right; it did more damage than the other types of magic he had been hitting it with, though not quite as much as he had hoped for.
"Does anybody need to pull back?" Blaine asked after he had a swift moment to assess the battlefield. He could tell that Puck and Finn seemed to have been burned the worst.
"I'm good, boss," Puck said.
"No way in hell, Hobbit," Santana spat.
"I'm still doing ok, too, B," Finn answered.
"Light that asshole up, my love," Blaine said to Kurt, trying to pump up his soulmate before dealing some more damage himself.
Kurt targeted the elemental on the right again, hitting it both times with his arrows. He wasn't sure the first arrow was going to make contact when he released it. Thankfully, it caught the elemental's lower half. Kurt focused a little more on his second shot. His arrow stuck right into the elementals left shoulder before it burned away.
Puck had been weighing his options. He could attack the beast with his axe a couple of times or he could try and command it to flee. When it came down to it, he decided on trying to command it to flee [Command]. "FLEE," he said firmly, and even though he did not speak the language, somehow, his plan worked. The elemental was compelled to follow the command, and when it turned its back, Puck took a cheap shot at him. His battleaxe took out a small piece of the elemental's backside.
It had been so long since Finn had had to use his breath weapon that he almost forgot he had it until he saw Santana hit the creature right in front of him with her acid. He was so nervous about using it that he almost missed. Luckily, the elemental could not get out of the way fast enough and was greeted with a face full of lightning, successfully turning the creature to ash.
Since the remaining elemental was currently running away from Puck, Santana decided to use the few seconds she had to make sure both she and Finn weren't on fire. When she deemed that they were both okay, she ran over to Puck and doused him with the remaining water in her water-skin.
"Thanks, San," Puck said gratefully. He had worked hard to get his beard to look the way he wanted it and was pissed that this fucker had damaged it.
"Anytime, Short Stuff," she replied, grinning.
The elemental broke free of the command that Puck had on him and turned back to finish its job. It hadn't realized how far away it had gotten from the group and, despite flailing wildly, wasn't able to reach anyone to burn them.
Blaine had had enough. He put all of the energy and concentration he had into releasing one more spell that the elemental was not able to withstand. Suddenly, the elemental disappeared [Banishment].
"We have to go through the doors now," Blaine shouted to the group.
Nobody argued with him and very swiftly made their way to the doors, wrenching them open and snapping them shut again just as the first elemental started to reconstitute, and the other one reappeared from wherever Blaine sent it. When they turned around, they were met with a luscious bed of grass bordered by huge hedges and bushes. A fountain stood at the front of the garden to the group's left, tinkling with the sound of water. The flowers and plants were growing perfectly, each kind contained to their own space. The flowers were a delight for the many different kinds of butterflies that could be seen from where the group stood. The hedges and bushes reached four feet high, obviously well cared for. A path of stone twisted through the garden and led to the fountain taking the most scenic route. Roots were sticking to their own domains, not seeking to take over the garden as they could have.
The fountain loomed in the middle and was the main centerpiece of the garden. It was bracketed by two large trees with golden leaves; it was as though someone had created the fountain specifically to be put right where it was, and the trees were planted to magnify its beauty and bring attention to it. It was the most beautiful work of art any of them had ever seen. The flowers and plants did their best to take some of the attention, and the hedges and bushes definitely deserved to be paid attention to as well. But, it seemed that all of their collective attention was brought back to the fountain.
"I know it's not late enough to sleep, but I think we should rest, guys," Blaine said after he had gotten his fill of looking at the garden. "I can put up a couple of huts after we eat and heal each other. If we don't have enough magic to heal all of the way, Kurt and I have rejuvenating water that can help too. By then, it should be time to sleep. We can explore more tomorrow."
"I agree with Blaine," Kurt said.
Puck started by healing himself until he felt like he was back up to par. Then, he turned to Finn and Santana since Kurt and Blaine were able to use their ranged weapons to fight all of the elemental creatures and hadn't taken any damage.
While Puck was healing the others, Kurt and Blaine were fixing up some food. They had some meat jerky in their packs as well as some dried fruit and vegetables. They all sat mostly in silence, reflecting on the day they had had.
"What was it that you did back there, Blaine?" Kurt asked, curiously. The others leaned in, too, eager to know the answer.
"I banished him from this plane," Blaine explained. "I knew that the creature wasn't likely going to be able to resist it, and I didn't want to chance anyone else getting hurt. The spell doesn't last long, and it's not a sure thing."
"Damn, boss," Puck said, putting his fist out toward Blaine to bump.
Blaine knocked knuckles with Puck, a smirk on his face. "Yeah," he said. "It's a pretty handy spell when it works the way I intend it to. I'm going to start putting up the huts now, guys. I think we should all sleep in them tonight since none of us know what to expect here."
"I'll bunk with these two," Santana offered and motioned to Finn and Puck. Pointing a finger at Puck, she continued, "And you would do well to remember our little chat on the ship."
"You won't have to worry about me making that mistake ever again," Puck promised, holding up his hands. "I like my dick right where it is, thank you very much! And you seem just crazy enough to keep that particular promise!"
"Damn straight I will," Santana said, flipping her tendrils and looking out into the garden again, scanning for any visible threats. As much as she liked to joke around with her companions, she always felt compelled to stay on high alert.
When Blaine conjured the huts, he made it so only the occupants sleeping in each one could enter. He didn't want any rogue creatures trying to come in, nor did he want anyone to interrupt Kurt and him. They all bid each other a good night and entered their respective huts. Once inside, Blaine and Kurt embraced, letting go of all of the tension they had accumulated throughout the day. The battle had been surreal, both of them being able to feel each other's anxiety and fear. They finally felt better being safe in each other's arms.
"Let's get the bedding ready, and I will clean us up," Blaine offered after he felt like he was able to breathe easily again.
"That sounds wonderful, thiramen," Kurt replied.
Blaine laid out their bedrolls, and Kurt undressed. He could feel Kurt's arousal through their bond, and when he turned around, he was met with the sight of his love in all of his naked glory.
"I think you're a little overdressed for what I have planned for this evening," Kurt said in a husky voice with his hand on his cock, pushing as much arousal through their bond as he could.
Blaine didn't say anything. Instead, he walked over to Kurt and captured his lips in a heated kiss, swatting Kurt's hand away from his cock, taking over with stroking it while Kurt began to undress Blaine. Once he was naked, too, the couple embraced, wanting as much skin as possible to touch from head to toe.
"We're filthy, and I want to taste your whole body," Kurt said, wanting to take the lead tonight.
Blaine cleaned them quickly with his magic and then lead Kurt over to the bedding. When Blaine tried to lay Kurt down, Kurt shook his head and gently pushed Blaine down onto his back. Kurt then straddled Blaine's thighs and began kissing him, taking special care to not let their groins touch.
Several minutes later, Kurt started to work his way down Blaine's body, starting first with his jawline and neck then proceeding to both nipples. Blaine was moaning and panting by the time Kurt made it further down his torso. When Kurt reached Blaine's left hipbone, he sucked a rather impressive mark on it that made Blaine's back arch all the way off the bedding. He licked and sucked his way to Blaine's balls, giving each one of them equal attention. He then nudged at Blaine, indicating that he needed to lift himself, which Blaine complied.
Kurt had been looking forward to this since the huts were conjured. It had been far too long since he had had the opportunity to love Blaine like this. Blaine's carnal hunger for Kurt's body had kept them from doing anything other than making love since they first joined. Now, their bond had evened out, and they were able to explore each other more. Kurt started with taking one long swipe at Blaine's entrance with his tongue, inhaling the musky scent as he progressed upward, licking all the way to the crown of Blaine's cock and sinking down one time.
"Kurt!" Blaine shouted in ecstasy.
Pulling off of Blaine, Kurt went back to lick and kiss around Blaine's entrance. As good as it felt when Blaine was doing this to him, he loved reciprocating. He loved the smell, the taste, and more than anything, he loved the otherworldly noises that it pulled from Blaine. When Kurt licked his way back up to Blaine's cock, he was stopped before he could sink down.
"I'm not going to last if you keep doing that," Blaine told him, a hint of desperation in his tone.
"That's kind of the idea, thiramen," Kurt responded, wiggling his eyebrows. He sunk down and bobbed his head a couple of times before he was stopped again.
"I have an idea," Blaine said with a mischievous smirk. "We can do this to each other at the same time. Turn around, my love."
Kurt's eyes almost bugged out of his head, thinking of the pleasure they would both soon be feeling. He turned and lowered himself into Blaine's waiting mouth. Once he was in and sure that he wasn't going to choke his soulmate, he sunk back down around Blaine, redoubling his efforts to bring him to completion. Both men were moaning at the pleasure they were feeling and knew that neither would take much time at all to reach their orgasm.
A couple of minutes later, Blaine felt the familiar tug in his body that alerted him to his impending orgasm. He tried to signal to Kurt that he needed to slow down; he wanted this to last. Kurt was well aware of Blaine's tells and had no intention of slowing down. He bobbed faster and sucked harder, all the while moaning louder at the sensations he was feeling from Blaine's mouth. Blaine figured out what Kurt was doing and copied his love's actions. Within mere seconds of each other, they were both moaning loudly, swallowing down each other's release.
When they were finished, Kurt pulled off of Blaine and out of his mouth, flopping on the bedding beside him. Blaine's breath finally evened out, and he leaned up onto his elbows to look at his love.
"Wow," Blaine whispered. "You are so beautiful, and I am the luckiest being on this earth to be bonded to you for all eternity."
"Not as lucky as I am, thiramen," Kurt whispered back, turning himself around so that he could cuddle up next to Blaine. "Let's get dressed and then sleep. It's been a really long day, and I don't want to chance waking up, the hut somehow being gone, and the others seeing us naked."
Blaine chuckled, "Good idea."
The couple redressed in their newly cleaned clothes, courtesy of Blaine's magic, and fell into a peaceful rest.
A/N: Translations
**Terran to Common
Yai v'rr rak vaett kloto saekot v'klaik ae g'slk. = You will not pass these gates without a fight.
**Ignan to Common
Wo ulo dho Giulkauvk. Yai nikd dakhd ik da kukk dhlaikh dho kaal. = We are the Guardians. You must fight us to pass through the door.