Eihm swore out loud to himself as he bounded through the grass, feeling vulnerable with his back turned to that terrible enemy that far outranged him. He swore over and over again, the worst expletives that he knew, and tried to think out loud over his heart pounding in his ears. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0yodXYoV1L
“How the **** am I gonna fight him!? He’s a monster! I need ammo, quick. The forest's too far away, but if I can get a bit further down the river there’s some large rocks. I don’t know what I’m gonna do with them,” he made angry sounds of exasperation, “but it’s better than facing that thing empty handed!”
He stretched his legs as far as he could with each stride, trying to get out of range, a constant tingling along his back as he expected an attack. He heard Corna’s laugh from somewhere behind him carried on the breeze, and then felt the sting in his back that he had dreaded. More damn acid. He leaped a long bound away and to the side to avoid more liquid projectiles, then spun around and reached behind him to try and dislodge the dreck. There was no acid, though. As he felt it with his fingertips, a particularly long, thin tube that was undulating in the air detached from his back, tearing out a piece of flesh with it. It had been attached to him. Eihm could see, in the tube, a length of red blood and some flesh mixing with the yellow liquid. A shivering, retching revulsion rose within him. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6ku8dA0BS
“You stole my blood!” he cried in horror. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PsRJI6GrZ
Corna laughed with a sickening, gurgling chuckle, reeling in the long cord with his hands like an errant rope, or coaxing a snake. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ624kEVXJ07
Eihm swore with passion and disgust at the monster he saw. Corna no longer seemed human.
His shoulders and arms, no longer covered by the burnt-off cloak, were etched with glowing, pulsing bright yellow runes and had bulged outwards like water-filled sacs and were ridged with protruding veins. From his shoulders and sides were six writhing, yellow, puss-filled snakes, their open tubular heads swaying in the air. There were clean cavities in his flesh along winding paths which connected to particularly overfilled veins under his skin. His face, puffed-up and veiny, wore a menacing, toothy grin, and his yellowed eyes bulged outwards insanely. As he calmly walked with long, heavy strides, the grass around his waist and at his feet shriveled and burned, spreading across the autumn field. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡORxVa8GMeI
Eihm recoiled at the sight, and turned back around, keeping his enemy half in sight. “I’ve got to get away.”
He bounded through the grass, occasionally dodging the thin, probing worm whose movement he caught from the corner of his eye. Soon he found the stream cleaving its slow way through the grass, skidded to a halt on the fine sand and stones, found two reasonably heavy chunks of gray rock, and used the one to smash the other. He had enough time to do this to two stones before Corna was only ten meters away, the gruesome snakes at his side threatening to strike. Eihm straightened out, filled his lungs and belly with two deep breaths to center himself, focused on the grotesque enemy, and planted his feet, gripping a whole stone in his right hand. His body moved through an exaggerated, flowing motion, the muscles from his legs to his abdomen to his arm rippling in a wave, ad he let the stone fly with impressive speed. It was right on target for Corna’s eye. One of the snakes whipped its head back and struck the stone out of the air, shattering it to sand, but as Corna took another step the stone half-reformed, striking him in his throat, and then the other half solidified out of the dust, unconscious of his flesh as a barrier as it regained its full form. Corna was startled, but with lightning reflexes snatched the stone away and threw it aside before it tore through his jugular. He was clearly bewildered by the strange attack; at that point of impact he could not see what the stone had done. He growled, wiping his hand over his throat to singe the wound shut, and redoubled his pace towards Eihm. The young monk had already taken a pitching stance, and with a flourish of lifting his leg up high with the flexibility of the highly trained, sent the stone hurtling towards Corna’s hideous head. This time Corna stood aside from the stone’s path, somewhat wary but still not concerned enough to give it a wide berth. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTcp6TGOce
“He’s observing me,” Eihm realised. Remaining within a margin of his attacks to try and gather information on what his power was while still avoiding them. Eihm could not tell whether his old teacher was underestimating him.
The stone sailed through the air with force, but was clearly not going to hit its target. When it got close enough to Corna’s head, however, Eihm flexed his right hand and the stone shattered into the three large shards that he was able to break it into. One of those shards, pointed and sharp, struck Corna’s temple. The man howled in pain and fury, having tried to dodge the explosive attack but failing to account for the large projectile-shard. He clutched his head in his hand, but yellow liquid was seeping between his fingers and dripping to the ground. It was a few seconds before the wound smoked and was soldered closed.
Corna was seven meters away now, and locking his raging eyes onto Eihm began to heavily bound towards him. The young monk, satisfied with the blow a moment before, balked and continued his retreat – but the yellow liquid-filled tubes had spread out to either side of Corna, about five meters in each direction, like vomit-inducing wings. He would be in range soon, and now Eihm’s only route was through the waist-deep stream.
His first two steps broke through the stream’s surface and found purchase on the sandy bottom, but as Eihm tried to move forward he began to panic at the resistance of the water. He trudged through the liquid, the current threatening to sweep his legs from under him. A curious noise from behind him made Eihm twist around, and his insides froze – Corna was there on the bank, whips of acid swinging around for a strike, and it looked like they were in range. With a monstrous grin and bark of power, Corna leaped forward, adding to the whips’ momentum. They whistled through the air and struck at the young monk – he was able to dodge some, leaving them to splash into the water where they boiled furiously, but one of the snakes landed a slash in his upper-left arm, the other searing his bald head. Eihm fell into the water, braced himself with his hands, and, resurfacing with a gasp of pain, scrambled to the other bank. As he clutched at the sand on the other side of the stream he heard the whistle of another strike, but was able to leap, with great effort, onto the bank and out of range, where his faced grinded into the sand. He pushed himself onto his hands and knees and crawled further, away from his attacker. The Flame being the older monk’s namesake, Eihm was counting on crossing the stream to stop him in his tracks, at least for a while. When he dared to look back, this seemed to be the case. Corna stood at the stream’s edge on the other side of the bank, looking thoughtfully at the water, steaming in heat.
Eihm turned his body around and fell to his rump, gasping for breath. He closed his eyes for a few second to ease the scratching of the sand under his eyelids – but when he opened them there was a flash of light through his painful tears. His heart convulsed, and he brought his hands up to stop a blow – this is it, the deadly strike. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNa2gmYOMG
But no strike came. Hastily wiping at his eyes so that he could see, in his blurry vision he found Corna still on the other side of the bank. He was... flexing, it seemed, but Eihm could not tell. There was the flash of light again. He darted his eyes towards it, towards the ground in front of him. There was no attack. It was... glass? Yes. The attacks that had missed him and hit the sand, they must have been hot enough to melt the sand into glass! 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DBJ7EW2iX
It was a gash in the ground sharp and hot to the touch, and the edges were lined with sparkling, reflective grains which were muddied with solid, brown sand. Eihm looked to Corna’s feet, and there too, where the hulking monster stood, heaving breath and seemingly flexing, the ground was glowing red. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmGSJa0Zeh
“Could Corna’s Flame really be hot enough to melt sand!?”
Before Eihm could follow the thought, however, there was a noise, like a cloth heavily buffeted by air, which stole his attention. On the other side of the bank Corna was... in the air above the stream! The tubes from his torso, thick and engorged with liquid, were weighed down on the other bank and propelling him forward in a beastly leap. Corna landed heavily three meters from Eihm and slipped in the shifting sand. Without waiting to regain his balance he twisted his body around to tug on the six liquid-filled tubes, which swung around with ungainly wight. Eihm did not wait to be attacked by them. He hurled the rough-edged piece of sand-glass like a knife over Corna’s head, and when it arced down, when the huge tubes were bringing their weight around on this side of the bank, it shattered over the monster monk’s head, reformed, and then shattered again. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtRbT9Ukai7
Two of the tubes were punctured, causing them to spill their hot, caustic contents onto the stream-bank. The rest of the attack was thrown off balance and went wide, covering the sand next to Eihm and splashing him only slightly. The hot liquid flared and glowed, steaming violently where it was touched by the disturbed stream water.
Corna bellowed in rage, filling the air with his heat and screams, and laboured to a stand. He was gasping for breath now, and the bulky beast seemed to Eihm to be smaller, diminished. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEn6H4hnDx7
“You damn brat! You punk!” he bellowed, planting one plodding step in front of the other. Eihm backed away towards the water’s edge, hoping to get the opportunity to cool the demon’s fury. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54JOJVfCGV
“Oh no you don’t. You will NOT escape!” 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRI8xmk4ED
Four of the six snakes reared their heads as if with a life of their own. They were now thin and spindly, and moved easily through the air, zipping towards their target. Eihm batted one aside, crying out at the burn for his efforts, fell to the ground, hit aside another probing tube, and desperately scrambled backwards towards the water. He could not fend off any more attacks – the heads of the tubes embedded themselves into Eihm’s skin, and the young monk watched with growing panic as his blood slowly mixed with the yellow liquid, pump by pump, as by a heartbeat. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwHUrhU6sD
Corna chuckled low, and rotated his shoulder as his right arm gradually grew in size, engorging on Eihm’s own liquids. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbBRa4Pi12
“You’ve made the mistake now, young one. As you grow weaker, I gather the final blow. If this were warfare, you would have to surrender. So do it. Beg. Plead for your life.” 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwiNXIG4LzO
Eihm’s eyes grew wide with terror, staring at his attacker with a blatant plea, but he said no words and kept scrambling backwards, struggling against the tubes embedded in him. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Ubs5rOZca
“You weren’t supposed to have one, you know. A life. But Ohm wanted his little care project whole, with the spark of life and the flame of youth still intact. Bah!” 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7BGg9jxjHs
Eihm reached the water’s edge, but suddenly strained against the tubes. They were taught, reeled into Corna’s body, now binding him. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFe99jrPEM
“It’s my decision now. I’m the master, and you’re in my bindings. Convince me to leave you life.” He hefted his right arm, now almost its previous size and grotesquely large against the rest of the older monk’s diminished body. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qDLb0AsNi
Eihm opened his mouth to say something, and Corna paused, listening. A tense second passed between them. Then, with unexpected strength, Eihm leaped to his feet, trying to retreat along the edge of the stream. 478Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBraGUZz8l
Corna bellowed at Eihm over the futility of the act, held tight onto the taught cords with his left hand, and tugged. The Flame's runes hummed and their sickening yellow light grew, blocking Eihm’s vision. He could not see the incoming strike.
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Within the blinding light time seemed to slow down. Eihm's heartbeat outpaced the turning of the world. A red light, from his right, and a green light, from his left, pulsed at the edges of his vision. He gasped his final breath.
