What up?

Yes, I'm finally back! (fanfare) I took a break for a while and then a virus corrupted my computer so I had to completely restart it and thus erased all of my files. But oh well.

Next up: Phalanx!

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Dormin's Speech

Sound Effects

Thinking

Chapter 14

The Skyserpent

The world was black around him. Wander looked to the right and saw a huge demon with blue eyes stalking towards him, and to his left he saw a girl in a white dress holding her hand out to him. He knew both had something to do with him...but what did it mean?!

With a gasp, he awoke. His head throbbed, and every time he moved it was agony. Slowly, he clenched his teeth against the pain and rose, staggering slightly.

Thou hath done well as of yet.

"Yeah, well, I like killing giant monsters made of rock as much as the next guy, but how many are there left?!" he breathed, his legs feeling like they were going to collapse. What was this sensation?!

Twelve thou hath slain, and four more remain. Art thou ready for thine next foe?

"I am ready, Lord Dormin." Wander replied, gazing at the light coming from the ceiling.

Thy next foe is...the vast desert lands where a giant trail drifts through the sky...thou art not alone.

Wander paused, then whistled and leaped on Agro as he came. In doing this, he had forgotten the pain of moving and so it shot through his body. He grunted, then slowly urged Agro forward.

Every step the horse took was a thousand flames to Wander, but he urged the mount faster. Only four remained--he couldn't stop now.

Wander held his sword up and saw he was going the wrong way. He turned and saw the beam was leading him to a forest. He continued forward for a time and suddenly found himself at the edge of a huge cliff. Agro neighed and tossed his head back, and while the horse's only intent was to get away from the ledge it also knocked Wander clear out of the saddle. His spine solidly connected with the rock and he yelled in agony. His momentum flipped him right over the edge of the cliff, and he frantically scrabbled at the stones until his hand caught hold of a mass of ivy growing from the cliffside.

Breathing heavily, both from relief and from pain, Wander turned and saw below him a shallow sort of lake. A tree was on a raised patch of grass some ways away from him, and beyond that...what? A mass of lilies was on the other side of the 'lake', and beyond that a field. He could see a sort of bridge, most likely leading back to the shrine of worship, and a cave. He looked down and saw he was several feet up; he'd fallen a long way. "Agro!" he yelled. He heard the horse whinny and the sound of hooves against rock. Agro would find his own way down.

Dropping, Wander's knees buckkled as he hit solid rock and he fell to his knees. The water was very shallow: when he stood it only came up to his ankles. He began walking slowly towards the cave and found two options: the rock bridge and a hole in the cave where bright lights were streaming in. As he was figuring this out he heard a horse coming and turned to see Agro coming across the bridge. Not that way, then.

He turned and took a deep breath, then advanced into the hole.

The first thing that Wander noticed was that it was hot, almost unbearably so. The second thing that he noticed was that he couldn't see.

He felt his eyes and discovered they were full of sand. He was in the middle of a desert! Blinking the sand out of his eyes, he mounted Agro and started forward. He was able to see nothing but sand for miles in every direction. Several minutes passed, then an hour, then more. By the seventh hour Wander was exhausted and half-blind. Without any water that he could see, he was sure he wouldn't make it. Looking back, he saw that the hole from which he'd come was as distant as the Shrine of Worship was from the end of the bridge. Groaning, he slumped against Agro's neck. It was burning hot, but he couldn't find the energy to raise up. "I was so close..." he breathed, and then...blackness.

Back at the Shrine of Worship, Dormin was beginning to get anxious.

Warrior?

Nothing.

Answer Us!

Again, the god heard only silence from Their pawn. Searching around the land, They found Agro wandering the desert but no sign of Wander.

Where is he?!

The god was more worried than angry, which was what caused Their outburst. Only four Colossi had remained, and yet the wanderer was nowhere to be found. Dormin thought back to a few moments ago, when Wander's life-force had ceased. Dormin began to search more slowly, and found the man a half-mile away from his horse. He had gotten heatstroke, it seemed, and passed out. The horse had not noticed, and he fell off.

Hmm...

For a moment Dormin contemplated this. Then the light in the Shrine of Worship grew brighter, and a sliver of the light flew from the shrine and headed towards the desert.

He heard snorts and moans, and what sounded like shackles being moved around. Then he opened his eyes to find himself lying on the sand. It had scorched his back, and he screamed in agony as he jolted to his feet. How had he recovered? He had felt his life slipping away...but suddenly, something had hit his body. It wasn't exactly solid, but felt like a blow to the head. It had jolted him to his senses, and woke him up.

Shrugging off the strangeness of this, he whistled and saw a black dot approaching him. It changed into Agro's body, and with a grunt Wander mounted him. Then they set off again.

After a while, they saw a sort of shrine. Or rather several ruins situated on top of a stone plate. He approached and felt the ground shift beneath him. It was the exact feeling he'd gotten when he was in Dirge's cave, but this was so much...bigger. The moment Agro stepped on the stones, a muffled bellow startled him, and he reared, knocking Wander off.

CROOOOSHHHAHHHH

Wander raised his head to see the sand in front of him explode, revealing a giant serpentlike monster with a stone head and four wings. "What is this thing?!" he breathed.

RRRNNNNNN...

The Colossus moaned and spiraled higher, until it was several hundred feet above him, before lazily flying around. He climbed to his feet and waited, but it seemed that the Colossus didn't know--or didn't care--that he was there. Annoyed, and having a flashback of Avion, Wander nocked an arrow and fired. The arrow hit the beast's underbelly with a clink but led to no other effects. Wander mounted Agro and kicked his sides, following the Colossus. Shooting a rapid succession of arrows, he heard something different then the arrow hitting stone and the monster moaned.

Looking up, he saw that one of his arrows had pierced something on the Colossus and black blood was pouring from the wound. Interested, Wander nocked several more arrows and fired. Two thumps and a moan confirmed his success. So happy was he that he did not notice he was directly under the Colossus.

He also did not notice that it was slowly but surely drifting downwards.

Its wings hit the sands in unison and almost knocked him clean off of Agro. He gasped and turned to get a mouthful of sand. Spitting it out, he urged Agro out of the Colossus's shadow and found ridges on its wings.

So thou hath found Phalanx's weakspot.

Nodding slightly, Wander unsheathed the Ancient's Sword and stood up on Agro's back. The horse was riding neck-and-neck with Phalanx. Just a little longer...

Wander yelped as he saw Phalanx begin to pull away, and he made a hasty jump but his foot got caught in Agro's reins, and he only succeeded in hitting the sand. Hearing Dormin's laughter in his head, he rose with a growl and mounted Agro once again before riding towards it.

This time he didn't wait, and jumped straight at Phalanx. The Colossus wailed as it felt him grap onto one of its wings, and he jumped higher up as it began to rise once more. The wing became level, and he stood before running towards its back.

Again he was reminded of Avion, as the Colossus's head was entirely encased in stone. Figuring this must be like the bird-colossus, he ran down the length of Phalanx's spine and found an open flap on its back. Taking out his mask again, he found the glowing weakspot of the Colossus. Eagerly, he stabbed it and twisted the sword. Black blood spurted from the wound, and Wander leaned towards it as he remembered Colossus Blood was cold. But living in the desert had altered the Colossus's DNA, it seemed, for the blood was burning hot and scorched Wander's face. Yelping, he fell back and was almost unseated as Phalanx rolled over in midair. He found himself next to a second flap and sank his blade into the center until the blade was entirely inside the beast.

The front flap began to close, and Wander realized with some panic that the second flap was beginning to do the same.

With the Ancient's Sword inside it.

Wander tried to pull his weapon out but realized that the top of the flaps were solid stone. If he wasn't quick enough then it would crush his arm. He watched helplessly as the flap closed and the two parts seemed to fuse shut. Nothing would open them now. He felt a lightness in his heels and looked down: they were descending. With a groan, Wander gave himself up for lost and hit the sands with a crash, then moved no more.

Dead? How pitiful.

Wander's cloak rippled in the lazy wind.

We would have thought that Phalanx would be the the easiest of all Colossi. Art thou forgetting the maiden?

Hearing Dormin mention Mono, Wander groaned and opened his eyes. The glare of the sun was intense, but he did not shut his eyes. He rose and whistled for Agro, seeing Phalanx burst from the sand a few feet away. "Let's end this." he growled, mounting his horse and approaching the Colossus. His flight with Phalanx had not robbed him of his bow, thankfully, and he pierced the Colossus's stomach once again and approached as it fell. Since Wander knew what to expect this time, climbing the great thing was much easier and he could do it without injury or...humiliation, as had happened earlier.

Racing down the Colossus's back for the second time that day, Wander grabbed the Ancient's Sword as he ran and leaped over the top of Phalanx's third flap, stabbing the vital as he did so. It took only one blow.

The mighty being fell with a moan, and several sandstorms kicked up as it hit the sand. Its wings fell and collided with the earth, and Wander staggered from the collision before being impaled by the tendrils.

And for the third time that day, he embraced the cool darkness...

MAN, that was long! Thanks for the constructive criticism, randomgirl. Was this long enough for ya? :D