Sorry it's been so long guys! Had my first finals week so I was stressed out studying and neglected this story. Really excited I get to work on it again. I'm hoping to kick out a chapter or two a week for the rest of the summer and any reviews are always appreciated. I'm also going to do a new thing where I put the name of whatever character POV I'm doing at the top in bold. Hopefully it will make it easier to follow. Thanks for reading! :D

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LYWEL

Lywel sprinted behind a rock, just barely missing the giant's club, and panted heavily. Things had gone bad to worse in a manner of seconds. It had started off simple enough; the group of mercenaries had set off from Rorikstead, anticipating the fight to soon be had. Giants weren't easy prey to be sure, but his comrades were strong, unified, and had faced tougher foes before. Turned out they had been misinformed, what was supposed to be a lone giant stealing livestock actually belonged to a camp of three other giants. Apparently the other three had been off herding mammoths and, by some cursed luck, had showed up the moment the mercenaries felled the first one. With a roar of rage the three giants had sprinted toward the band with rage in their eyes. The first two were vanquished by Amir and Rogvir's steel and with Lywel casting wards over them they managed to escape the worst of the damage. Things were looking up for them in the battle until the last giant was to be fought. This giant was the largest brute Lywel had ever seen, while most of their race stood at about ten to twelve feet, this one hit around fifteen, and was a mass of lean, corded muscle. Up until that point, Nyl had been distracting it by shooting it with her bow from a high rock that sheltered the giant's camp, but when the monster took notice of his fallen companions he let out a bellow of pain and hatred and took off toward Amir and Rogvir. If the mercenaries had been as well rested and eager to fight as they had when they set off, the fight might have gone well. However, Amir and Rogvir were both exhausted beyond belief and the giant was closing in, they were going to be killed.

Lywel, in an unexpected moment of spontaneity, threw a weak spark of lightning at the beast to distract it from Amir and Rogvir, who would have been crushed under the giant's might. The plan worked but Lywel's relief didn't last for long as the giant, rushed toward him in a fit of rage. Lywel had never ran so fast in his life as he threw himself behind a boulder, he heard the whistling of wind from the giant's club hit the spot where he had been not a second before.

Lywel's mind was racing frantically to escape his predicament, feeling like an animal caged in a trap, as the giant began to thunder towards him. He was entirely out of magicka at this point and completely out of potions to restore his weary self. Grimacing Lywel made a split second decision and began to quickly utter the words that were only meant to be used in the most dire occasions, the spell to Equilibrium.

"Such a strange feeling," Lywel thought, slightly light-headed, even as imminent danger approached him.

He could feel the power of his magic returning to him, that feeling of near invincibility, while his life force ebbed away through the focal point in his hand. The red mist containing his essence swirling around, converting itself to power, as the giant lumbered towards him. Lywel cut off the spell and managed to drag himself away, as Nyl continued to try to slow down and hurt the giant using her bow from her vantage point. It hurt to breathe at this point and his heart was fluttering wildly in his chest, but he didn't dare cast a healing spell on himself, not while the fight was still going. As long as he didn't use Equilibrium again and didn't overexert himself he should be fine. Lywel repeated this in his head, a mantra over and over again.

"Don't use the spell again, don't overexert yourself, help the others, you'll be fine."

Lywel began to mutter a healing spell that would restore stamina and cast it at Rogvir and Amir, who had been unsuccessfully trying to find a stamina potion in their packs before. Feeling the surge of energy rush through their bodies once more, the two rushed to positions to take down the beast and distract it from a stumbling Lywel.

"Nyl!" Amir shouted at the elf, who had started to make her way down from the high rock to help the two warriors.

"Stay put! Get in position for when we come by! Rogvir, focus on the ankles, slice the tendons when the time is right! Lywel, for the love of all of Tamriel, keep casting those damn wards!"

With a brief understanding of Amir's haphazard plan, the group began to fall into place. Amir, lightning fast, sliced a long gash in the giant's leg before the brute had time to react. With a roar the giant clumsily tried to smash Amir, but to no avail. Amir was now out of reach of the giant and began to bang his sword on his shield.

"Over here you slow, dirty, oversized troll," Amir yelled, still banging his sword on his shield.

"Come over here and see if you can face me! I've brought down worse than you!"

The giant, looking at the source of the new noise that had inflicted pain, began to run after Amir, brandishing his massive club. All the while Rogvir trailed the giant, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Amir was beginning to reach the rock that sheltered the camp and, just when his back was almost to the wall, he screamed, "NOW!"

Rogvir sliced open the back of the giant's ankles with two broad sweeps of his gleaming great sword while Amir dove out of the way. The colossal monster bellowed in pain and collapsed to one knee as its ankles gave out, pitching his club to the side. Nyl, perfectly balanced twenty feet above, then leaped from her perch, brandishing her two ebony swords, and landed nimbly on the giant's shoulders, a feat that seemed only Nyl could pull off. Before the giant could react and grab her she sunk both swords into its neck, severing the spine where it connected to the brain and jumped off the beast as it fell. Lywel mustered up the last remaining stores of his magicka and summoned a ward around Nyl, to protect her as she fell on the rocky terrain. A cloud of dust rose up around the giant when it collapsed and as it began to settle, the joy of a fight well done was quickly put down as they noticed a member of their party missing. Amir was gone.

Panic gripped at Lywel and he began to look for Amir with Rogvir and Nyl around where the giant fell, praying he wasn't crushed by the giant's substantial weight.

"He has to be here somewhere," Nyl said, more frantic then Lywel had ever heard her. "He might be hurt! We need to find him!"

"We know that Nyl! Just concentrate on looking," Rogvir shouted back at her, while doing his best to try to move one of the giant's massive arms to see if Amir was underneath.

Lywel, looking at the situation, remembered with a sinking heart, that the giant had flung his club when crippled by Rogvir's blade. His eyes traced the path of the projectile, when he noticed a crumpled form a little away.

"THERE!" Lywel shouted and, despite his weakened state, pushed his legs forward towards the mass.

Rogvir reached Amir's form first and cradled him, sobbing. Lywel, approaching the situation, felt like he had been punched in the gut. Rogvir never had shed a tear in his presence, had never even shown an emotion besides happiness or rage, it could only mean one thing. As he drew nearer he saw Amir's eyes were closed and blood was soaked through his shirt, his armor ripped away by Rogvir to see the extent of the damage. By this time the ever-practical Nyl had approached, carrying their fallen gear, with a somber expression and tears trickling down her face. Lywel knelt beside Amir and closed his eyes, letting the faint golden light of his magic focus in on the damage and see if there was any hope to be had. Lywel's eyes jolted open with a start, and he gave a gasp that was half joy, half shock.

"He's still alive, thank Arkay, the old bastard's still alive!"

Quickly shoving a startled Rogvir off of Amir, Lywel closed his eyes again and began to focus in on the more detailed nature of his wounds. Working quickly, he realized that almost all of the ribs on Amir's left side had been splintered and punctured his lung, which was quickly filling up with blood and fluid. His left arm was all but crushed, yet no major arteries had been severed, and he most certainly had a concussion, but seemingly no life-threatening brain damage. A choked laugh escaped Lywel at the situation, this was nothing less than a miracle, and he quickly gave thanks to the Eight Divines before getting to work. Snatching his pack from Nyl, he rummaged through it before he remembered he was completely out of potions to restore his magicka. Frowning, Lywel set it down and thought. The arm and concussion could be left alone until they got to a town with a healer, although it wouldn't be the best situation. The ribs and punctured lung however needed to be healed now. It couldn't wait a few hours, or even a few minutes really, and Lywel needed more time then that for his magicka to restore to cast the needed spell. Frowning, he quickly made his decision while hoping it would work. Lywel grabbed the only health solution that he had left and gulped it down quickly, feeling some strength return to his body but not all.

"What are you doing?" Rogvir stared at Lywel angrily. "Heal him, not yourself!"

"Quiet," Lywel snarled, "I'm doing just that."

With a shaky breath, and a silent prayer to Julianos on the wisdom of this decision, Lywel cast Equilibrium for the second time that day. It was worse this time; his body knew it was too close to death and, every second, his survival instinct was screaming at him to stop. Lywel ignored it and focused on taking the spell to the last second. Nyl and Rogvir watched with stunned looks, neither one of them knowing what Lywel was attempting to do. When Lywel could take it no longer and the world was nothing more then a clouded haze, he broke the spell and quickly used his magic to remove the fluid from Amir's lung, heal the puncture wound, and create a barrier that would prevent his broken ribs from moving or hitting anything else for several hours.

"Take him…..Whiterun…..Kynareth." Lywel wheezed before the world went dark and he fell into a dreamless sleep.