Rise of The Fallen

–kora– 

Peering through the trees ahead I felt a chill run down my spine at the sight before us. Me and Elazar had followed the tracks that lead into the forest of his tribe's territory and caught up to the creature they belonged to.

The familiar sight of the battle-worn draven was far from pretty as the creature seemed to be badly injured with half its face missing and its body burned by fire. It kept its head down with black viscous liquid dripping from a hole in the top of its maw, while limping to some unknown destination. 

The thing looked like it had just crawled out of its grave and came back to life with how mutilated its body had become after our last encounter. 

Following close behind it were several drakov warriors keeping watchful eyes on their surroundings and the draven as it walked further into enemy territory.

Me and Elazar watched from afar, making sure to keep our distance and stay hidden out of sight of both the warriors and creature. 

“Where are they going? They are moving further away from your tribe, and there's so few of them, I thought they were planning to attack?” I whispered quietly.

 Turning my head, I could see Elazar watching the intruders with the same uncertainty. “This isn't a war party…they are not here to fight.” 

Turning my gaze back I watched as the draven nearly staggered with its next step and paused before a pained and tired screech came from its throat before being muted by a wet gargle. It then vomited blood blacker than the night sky, onto the ground while the drakov stood by watching.

They all wore masks that hid their faces and had similar attire and paints marking their bodies but one stood out from the others. 

He didn't seem to hesitate as he stepped closer to the monster when it staggered. He carried a large spear covered in bones and seemed to wear some kind of armor that looked like it was made of the same keratin plating across the dravens body.

As the draven stood there panting he spoke to the others with him in a hushed voice that I couldn't make out, but Elazar seemed to hear as he inched closer and held his breath to listen.

After a moment the creature continued forward and the drakov followed in suit, speaking to one another as they went.

“Can you hear them? What are they saying?” I asked El.

Elazar seemed to be in deep thought as we watched them walk out of sight. “I'm not sure I only caught bits and pieces but they seem to be in a hurry.”

“in a hurry? To do what? To go where?”

He was silent as he looked in the direction they had gone. After a moment his eyes seemed to widen as he suddenly stood up on alert and then proceeded to run somewhat in the direction they went, only he was making a wide arch, a detor.

“Elazar!?” I got up from My hiding spot and ran after him I was careful to stay as stealthy as possible as I caught up to him and noticed some light up ahead. Fireflies soon came into view as well as some very familiar bioluminescent plants. 

El crouched down, sneaking close to the pond and I had to practically crawl on my hands and feet slowly after him as he paused.

He stopped under the cover of a fallen log and peered through a Crack in the hollow trunk gripping his spear tightly. Moving up next to him I looked through the gap and saw what he was watching. 

The healing pool was just ahead of us shimmering as brightly as ever with fireflies buzzing around the area. My brows knitted together at the scene in confusion but soon enough I could hear the Crack of branches snapping close to us as something approached.

I sank down lower to the ground nervous at how close the sounds were and Elazar covered me with his body pushing us even further down as he continued to look through the gap. 

The fireflies in the area soon scattered as if fleeing from the approaching figures, buzzing past us in a flurry before completely disappearing from sight. Looking back through the cracks in the log I nearly gasped as the draven stepped out of the treeline a few feet in front of us. 

My heart rate had picked up so much I was afraid the sound might give up our position considering how dangerously close we were to the enemy. 

The draven lifted its head and circled the side of the pond gazing at it as the drakov warriors soon came into view as well. I worriedly glanced at El only to find his attention was solely focused on the draven.

It approached the pond looking into the swimming pool, its reflection mirrored on the water's sparkling surface. A deep guttural clicking sound emanated from its throat as it stepped into the pool and dark blood dripped into the water tainting the once bright clear surface black.

Four of the drakov warriors approached and encircled the pond before dropping their weapons and bowing down onto their hands and knees before the beast as it stood in the pool of water. They muttered some kind of incoherent chant as the draven tried to adjust to get more of its body submerged. 

They came here to heal that monster? Elazar suddenly grabbed my shoulder making me nearly jump as my head snapped to look at him. He gave me a few hand signals, telling me to stay hidden and get ready to run, before moving away from me and leaving our hiding spot.

What is he doing?! Looking back at the pond, most of the drakov were distracted, too busy with their ritual or watching the monster before them, attempting to recover from its injuries. 

Movement from across the way caught my eye and I saw Elazar briefly, moving a bit closer to the draven. Is he going to attack it!?

The monster coughed up more blood into the water with a pained whine as it stood there ignoring the xandisians before it.

I quickly drew an arrow from the quiver slung over my shoulder and notched it aiming for one of the drakov warriors through a reasonable sized gap. They had their backs turned on me but as if on instinct the lead warrior seemed to tense slightly and turn. He glanced back towards me scanning the forest as if he knew I was there.

He narrowed his eyes looking at the fallen log and I felt the blood drain from my face as he seemed to notice someone was watching them. Redirecting my arrow I aimed at the man looking my direction, ready to shoot him in the chest.

As he turned to take a step towards my hiding spot Elazar came into view atop the boulders on the other side of the pond and the draven was the first to notice him as it looked up.

With a snarl he lunged at the creature's face, stabbing his spear into its one good eye, splattering black blood over his arms. 

The draven screeched in anguish, staggering backwards, grabbing everyone's attention and I hap-hazardly let my arrow fly and it narrowly missed the lead warrior, hitting one of the men standing beside him in the side.

Those who had been sitting around the pond scrambled to get out of the way as the draven blindly Backed away and trashed around trying to shake Elazar off as he held on tightly, trying to sink his spear deeper into its skull. 

One of the drakov warriors ended up getting thrown into a tree as the dravens tail hit him. It continued to screech in pain and flung Elazar away to the other side of the pool.

With his spear still lodged in its eye socket it clawed at its face with its raptors arms and pulled the weapon out as black blood seeped down the side of its face.

I watched as Elazar was quick to recover after being thrown and grabbed one of the discarded weapons on the ground before the drakov could stop him. Realizing what he was doing I notched another arrow and shot one of the warriors in the chest, who attempted to block his El's path and defend the monster. 

Getting up underneath its exposed underside he sliced open its neck with the blade and it screeched again, stumbling back and falling over with blood gushing from its wounds, one of the warriors who had run in to help was unlucky enough to end up getting crushed beneath the creature as it went down. The remaining two drakov warriors rushed towards Elazar and he blocked their attacks with his tail and axe.

I pulled back another arrow to shoot one of them only to shriek as a spear burst through the brittle log in front of me and I felt a burning pain tear across my shoulder as I was suddenly knocked back. Dropping the arrow I had, I grabbed the spear that was lodged in the tree behind me. It narrowly missed my head and went through the hood of my cloak practically pinning me to the tree. 

Helplessly I tried to pull it free but the spear wouldn't budge. An angry snarl had me looking back as the drakov warrior I had missed before jumped over the fallen log and snarled down at me, knife in hand, he removed his mask, revealing his

Realizing the danger I frantically tried to dislodge the spear only managing to tear the hood slightly with my struggles. As he jumped down and swung at me with his knife I blocked the attack with the bow and it snapped in half from the blow.

With a snarl the warrior grabbed me by the neck and I scratched at his wrist helplessly as my airway was cut off. As he got a better look at me, realization washed over his features. “You- you are human– you were the one responsible for the fire! You and that hunter are the ones who killed lumkor in the hunting cave!” I kicked and clawed at his arm desperately gasping for air as I choked.

“You two came here to kill our queen by yourselves. Instead you will suffer an agonizing death.” Sheathing his knife on his belt he pulled out some kind of flute-like tool. Putting it to his mouth he blew into it like a whistle but no sound came from it. 

In a last ditch attempt to save myself I pulled the small bone blade off my bracelet and stabbed it into the side of the drakov warriors neck making him release his grasp on my throat, drop the whistle, and snarl as he pulled away.  

Taking that moment of freedom I tugged on my cloak even harder and the fabric of my hood tore away, freeing me from the spear. 

The blade wasn't nearly long enough to kill him or do any significant damage but it was enough to get him off of me. Running out into the open I saw Elazar struggling to fight off the two warriors. He was at a disadvantage without his spear and they were both attacking him relentlessly. One of them managed to slash him across the arm as the other sliced their tail across his backside.

He snarled in pain and managed to grab their tail before using his axe to cut it clean off. The man screamed and El took the change to tackle him to the ground and tear into him.

Before the other could attack him I rushed towards the three of them, grabbing a discarded spear. “Elazar!” I called out and he looked up. Before I could get very far however I was grabbed from behind by the back of my cloak. The momentum was enough to throw off my balance and made me crash to the ground, dropping the spear in the process. Looking up I found the warrior who had attacked me before, standing over me snarling.

“Kora!” Elazar tried to jump to his feet to help me only to be attacked from behind by the other warrior and knocked to the ground. 

The drakov warrior with a hold on me began dragging me by my collar towards the pond while I struggled to get free. “You have ruined everything!”

As he dragged me towards the water's edge he threw me down. He crouched down next to me before grabbing me by the back of my head with a firm grip on my hair, making me cry out as a fiery pain spread across my scalp. “I wish for nothing more than to tie you to a tree and watch you get torn to pieces by our queen's children, after everything you two have done…” 

I beat his hand with my fist trying to get free and cracked my eyes open to see Elazar pinned to the ground by the other warrior, watching helplessly as he struggled to fend off his own assailant. “But this will suffice. Take a good look at your mate worm, see the fear and desperation in his eyes and let it be the last thing that is burned into your mind as he watches you die.

With that he shoved my head under water and everything became muffled as Elazar called out my name. I hadn't gotten a chance to catch my breath before and already felt my lungs burn and chest constrict. 

Panic quickly took over and I cried out, the sound muffled as I struggled to break free, water splashing and sloshing all around me but it was no use, there was no way for me to get him off. I could faintly hear the muffled sound of Elazar calling my name In the distance and fear proceeded to overwhelm me.

Unable to hold it any longer my body instinctively gasped for air, letting the

Water flood my senses. I could feel everything, as it filled my ears, nose and mouth. My body jolted trying to force it back out as it pushed through my airways and into my lungs. 

My vision blurred as my body locked up, halting whatever strength I had before falling away. This experience, this feeling of helplessness, it felt all too familiar…

My body convulsed as my strength faded and the shimmering glow of the water swirled before my eyes. 

The hand on the back of my head suddenly loosened its grip and I saw blue bleeding into the water. Before I knew it I was being hauled out and there was a loud splash as I was pulled away from the edge of the pool. 

I expelled the water from my lungs onto the ground next to me, coughing violently as I gasped for air. I could see the xandisian that was trying to drown me was now floating in the pool of water with a knife in his back. “Izac!”

Looking in the direction of the voice that called out I saw it was the drakov warrior who was fighting Elazar. He was looking towards Me while trying to keep Elazar pinned but because he let himself get distracted, Elazar managed to pull the knife from his belt and slash the warrior across the face with it blinding him.

He screamed and grabbed at his face holding one arm up to block Elazar's next attack unaware that El had taken hold of his spear. Before he even knew what hit him he was impaled through the stomach and on the ground.

Wait if El is over there then who- looking back as hands grabbed my shoulders I found myself looking at none other than kion?

“Are you okay?” I blinked a few times trying get ahold of myself as he stood up and helped me to my feet. 

“Y-yeah thanks you…” My eyes moved to the body in the pool as he helped me stand. “I thought I was a goner for a moment…”

“It looks like I made it just in time!” He gave me a boyish smile as Elazar finished off the last drakov warrior. “I rushed back as soon as I warned the others. They shouldn't be far behind-” 

At the sound of a pained wheeze we all turned to look at the fallen draven near the pool. It was barely breathing as it wheezed and tried to move, but couldn't seem to hardly lift its head due to how weak it was. Its black blood was pooling beneath it and dripping into the water tainting the shimmering blue into an inky black. 

“It's still alive?!” I looked at the creature horrified by the fact it was still kicking. It had been nearly burned alive, stabbed through the eye, had its throat sliced open- nothing should be able to withstand such damage.

“It ends now.” Elazar stated as he walked towards the beast, spear in hand. He stepped towards its head. He positioned the spear aiming for the weak spot in its armor as me and Kion stood by and watched.

I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end and slowly turned my head to look behind us.

Right as Elazar went for the killing blow I saw a white figure creeping out of the treeline from the corner of my eye. As its tail pulled back and it hissed my eyes widened and I realized a moment too late what was happening.

Several spikes came flying towards me before my vision went black.