Hello everyone and welcome back to HellFall!
Wow, what's it been, two weeks? That's too long, especially with this kind of a set of chapters.
I actually had a break at home about nine days ago, but I was so tired that I just didn't want to do anything. I'm still pretty tired, but this chapter needs to come out.
Anyways, you've waited far too long, so here it is!
I arrived just in time to witness Octavia lose her right arm to the hands of a brightly feathered woman.
Gazini had sent me after her, just to make sure she was okay. Clearly she wasn't.
"Octavia!" I called, panicked.
The woman, whom I presumed was Gale Sheng, turned. Her face was contorted and creepy, and I almost stopped moving. The memory of Bleddyn flashed into my mind, and I snapped out of it quickly. That wouldn't happen again.
Octavia fell to the ground, blood streaming out from the stub that was her arm.
I started towards Gale. "Get away from her!" I called, ready to fight.
The woman turned her body completely so that she faced me. Then she charged, her tongue lolling back and forth with each step she took.
Her weapon came towards me. In an instant I raised my hand, drawing the blade from my palm and stopping her weapon between my own weapon and fingers.
I twisted my arm around, hoping the take the staff from her. It failed, but I twisted her body around. While she was distracted I stabbed forward with my other palm sword, catching her cheekbone slightly. She seemed to be flailing around, so it was hard to predict where she'd be moving next.
We separated, and she charged again, reminding me of Bleddyn's fighting style.
I tried shooting her, but that didn't work. Each bullet passed through her body with barely a sign that they had.
When she was close I ducked and stabbed her in the gut. As I drew my blade I found it perfectly clean, and I saw her body contort where I'd stabbed her. I was confused for a second, but rolled to the side as quickly as I could. Luckily she didn't try attacking while I was down.
"What are you?" I asked.
"Oh, you'd like to know, wouldn't you?" She replied simply. Her voice was both hoarse and hollow.
This time I charged, swinging my blades. She deflected the blow, and we exchanged hits back and forth. While her weapon merely bounced off my ever growing aura, my weapons broke her skin but never seemed to do any damage. I didn't even see any blood.
When she finally knocked me back with a blow to the nose she stopped. I felt blood drip down off my face, but instead of holding it focused my aura as best I could.
By now Gale's face was covered in scars. Her skin seemed to function as a tarp resting on her face by now instead of actual skin. She reached up with one hand and gripped the skin, then yanked it off, revealing the muscle and skull behind. Her eyes still rested in her eyeholes, and her teeth didn't move.
Now I couldn't move.
And of course, now she charged.
"Ember!" Octavia called from somewhere behind Gale. I struck up my foot, snapping back to reality. I kicked her staff backwards, but she quickly adjusted herself and swung downwards at a different angle. I wouldn't be able to get my foot down in time to block the attack in a more comfortable position, so I shot the spiked whip out from my foot and swung it downwards. It caught on her shoulder and dragged across her body.
She spun slightly, and her weapon adjusted so that it didn't hit me.
As I regained my posture, however, she struck once again. My gut split open, blood pouring out. I coughed, falling backwards onto the ground. I didn't even have the energy to retract my whip back into my foot.
She reached out, grabbing my whip and dragging me across the ground. I could do nothing but focus my aura and try to close the wound.
As we reached the edge of the platform I saw Octavia. She reached out, grabbing my hand. We stopped for a second, but Gale just gave a yank and we were separated yet again.
Suddenly I felt the ground below me vanish. I was in the air, spinning around. And then I was flying, flying out in open air towards the mountains around us.
And all I could do was focus my aura.
My foot made contact with another mountain, then my other foot, then my back, and finally my head. I started to slide, falling down the mountain. My head and spine cracked against every small crag and bump in the side of the giant rock until the whip in my foot caught on to something and I stopped abruptly.
The blood was rushing to my head, both inside and outside my body. And still, I focused my aura. The wound was sealing itself far too slowly.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Gale looking down at Octavia, her hand clasped around her neck.
Come on, I thought, hurry up!
Gale slammed Octavia's head against the ground.
I felt adrenaline start to pump through my body, and the scar across my gut began to heal at over double the speed of before. Moments later I was pulling myself upwards by retracting the whip. When I found the crag which it had hooked onto I pulled myself up onto it and watched as Gale beat Octavia, meanwhile trying to find a way back onto the platform.
I guess the only thing I can do is jump, I thought, bracing myself. Taking a deep breath, I threw myself off the small crag.
I almost reached the platform, and yet still came up short. At the last second I shot one whip from my foot up into the air. By some miracle it hooked onto the edge and caught me. I started to retract it and pull myself up.
Then I saw Gale's face. She was looking down at me, saliva dripping off her tongue. Almost on instinct I shot my second whip. It flew into the air, finding its mark in the left eye. She screamed and stood, backing away.
By the time I reached the platform she had pried the whip from her eye, along with the eyeball from her skull, and was charging towards me.
I drew both palm blades and charged, stabbing her through both shoulders and pushing her back. I swung my hands side to side, widening the wounds in her shoulders, yet never allowing them to leave her body.
Octavia appeared behind her, grabbing the back of her neck with one hand and pulling her back. She threw her body over her head as if she weighed nothing. Gale skittered across the platform, unable to catch herself. Her legs fell over the edge and she began to claw at the ground, but to no avail.
She disappeared over the edge. Where she went, neither of us knew.
Octavia fell to the ground, panting.
I struggled to catch my breath, feeling my consciousness slipping away. I glanced down, seeing yet another gaping, bloody wound going straight through my body, this time it went right under my ribcage. My vision darkened until I could see no more, and the last thing I felt was my head hitting the pavement.
So there you have it. A little short, I know. But oh well. Gale's kind of crazy, too, which is probably why I like her so much.
What do you guys think happens next? To our main antagonists here? Tell me in a review, I'm curious.
Also, !IMPORTANT! just so you know I'm taking a hiatus until I get my old computer back now. Believe it or not, there's a natural break in the story right here. The next chapter is a Pink chapter, so not even someone who was in this group. But yeah, just be aware, no more chapters for a month or more.
Anyways, I think that's about it. As usual, favorite, follow, review, tell your friends, tell your enemies, or don't if you don't want to, and I'll see you all in a little while!