Thalys charged forward suddenly, his blades held wide to strike. The creature lurked forward to counter, just as the nobleman wanted. He stopped short of his run and slammed his left blade into the wooden supports below them, sending a concussion blast of neutral energy from the magic in the blade into the wood, causing it to break and fall away, sending the creature plummeting to the support beam ten feet below. It didn’t work exactly how Thalys wanted, however, for the creature landed on its feet with cat-like grace and looked up at the nobleman with that eerie glare. The wood began to give way below Thalys, so he leaped down anyway, just before the wood went itself. He hit the support beam in a run, leading both his blades in a dance against the being, who simply began swatting them away as usual.
Slowly realizing that he couldn’t beat this thing with speed or sword, Thalys fell out of the attack and sheathed his sabers.
“So, you can absorb my attacks, eh? Well, how much energy can you absorb?” Thalys asked, a wry grin forming on his lips.
He clapped his hands together and slowly moved them apart. He set his feet firm and closed his eyes, gathering energy from within him. With a flash of movement, he took a single step forward and held out his hands, shouting “Omni Blast!” as he did. Suddenly, a large orb of swirling energy of all the elements shot out of the nobleman’s hands, hurling straight towards the being.
Across came both of the thing’s arms once again in a defensive cross over its torso and face. The blast hit it with an explosion of energy, seemingly engulfing it with energy. When the flash ended, Thalys saw to his horror that the thing stood still, unharmed. Its arms were held wide, the sleeves of its jacket smoking with energy, one of its feet were set back.
Thalys collapsed to one knee, exhaustion falling over him from his attack. He looked up at the creature incredulously. How could it still be standing?! What manner of being was this!? Thalys gave a weak chuckle at the futility of it all. When he looked up again, he saw nothing but a foot.
For a second time, the nobleman slammed into the protective cylinder, his broken nose bleeding. He sat there for a moment, stunned by strength that belied that things size! Finally, he managed to his feet and drew out his blades, but the figure was upon him too quick, landing blow after blow on his chest and arms. Thalys gritted his teeth as he felt both of his blades slip from his grasp and fall to the floor below. The figure stopped its sudden barrage and held both of its hands back in fists. Thalys took that break to hold up his arms in any form of defense he could manage.
The creature jumped forward, both fists leading the way. Thalys braced himself, ready for the attack. He was unprepared for what came next, a wave of sheer power slammed into him. He could feel his right gauntlet crush in from the strike, and he soon found himself falling. Thalys feared his right arm was shattered, but didn’t have time to check. He held out his left arm, trying desperately to catch hold of one of the support beams. He finally managed to catch one, but pulled his arm out of joint in the process. He gave a quick yelp and tried to pry himself up, but found no strength in his dislocated arm. So he figured now was as good of a time as ever to test his right arm.
To his relief, his right arm still had substance, and he could still feel it, but he could barely move his hand. That didn’t matter, though, for he simply slammed his elbow into the support beam and began to lift himself up. He managed to get the upper part of his torso on the beam, but with a quick glance up, he found that the creature had found its way to him.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” He gasped with a laugh, desperately trying to pull himself up.
He needn’t try, for the thing grabbed the back of his cloak and plucked him up from his perch. Holding Thalys by the scruff of his cloak, the thing stared hard at the nobleman. Slowly, it held its arm out wide, suspending Thalys above a 20 foot drop to the ground.
“Oh, so that’s how I’m getting down…?” Thalys said, barely a whisper. With that, the thing let go, sending him plummeting to the floor below.
He managed to twist a bit, but in the wrong direction. He slammed into the floor in a hard belly flop, and a slight grunt left his throat. Thalys rolled over and looked up to see the figure staring down at him, like a statue. Slowly, he gave into the darkness.
**********
“So, we’ve reached Gale-Town…” Ezekiel said as soon as the three could see the telltale windmill.
“Gale-town? You’d think they could get a better name than that…” Faux said with a chuckle.
“The name doesn’t matter…Thalys might be in there.” Kara said, slowly moving down the hill to the town.
“Why are you so interested in this Thalys character, anyway?” Faux asked.
“I wish to know why he is after the Adept’s Stone.” Kara answered matter-of-factly.
The group made it to the town, but found no greeting. Instead, they noticed a large crowd gathering at the entrance of the windmill. Kara leaped off of Schiroi and trussed the warhorse. She then gathered her pack and weapons and headed to the crowd, Faux and Ezekiel quickly in tow.
As they neared the crowd, two men came out of the windmill carrying someone. A few seconds later, a young boy came walking out, carrying two sabers. Kara looked at the unconscious man being carried and knew instantly who it was.
“What happened?!” Kara demanded as she shoved her way through the crowd.
“The lad went in to stop some fellow in the windmill from causing trouble. The next thing we know, everything began to fall apart in there. Then…the noise stopped. That’s when we went in there and found him lying on the ground. No sign of that other fellow, though.” one man explained. “You know this guy?”
“You could say that…” Kara responded as she reached Thalys and helped the other two men carry him into a nearby house.
They carefully took his armor off, but had to break the right gauntlet off, and laid him on the bed.
“He’s barely breathing…probably broke some ribs.” one man said, a heavy frown on his face. “Chances are he won’t make it…”
Kara looked at the nobleman from Maeltryst, a smile of admiration crossing her face. He had risked his own life for simple townsfolk for no good reason, surely he wasn’t after the Adept’s Stone for evil purposes. “Oh, he’ll make it!” She shouted determinedly, snapping out of her pondering.