Frizan is a Contest Moderator.
dusochvatas
Izurich
TokyoPewPew
BrokenPromise
The Savant
zendevil
Lilibat
datadogie
Vampiretwilight
BaileyBlue302Rip and Tear
by @Mortarion, @Dervish and myself
7th of Last Seed
Aboard the airship
White. In an instant that lasted an era, that’s all Sagax could see. He was blind, but he felt the raw force of the blast across his body, and could feel himself being sent up into the air and then coming back down. His whole front flared up in searing pain, as if he had jumped into a furnace. Even as he landed, Sagax’s ears rang and the Imperial found himself dizzy and disoriented. All he could hear was a distant roaring, unable to make out what it was saying. Eventually his vision and full hearing returned, thrusting him into a horrifying nightmare.
The airship was gone, the Sload and its zombified warrior little more than a distant memory now replaced by another, but was as vivid as the day it happened. All around him was the all too familiar sights and sounds of Windhelm’s docks, once again surrounded by the screams of the scared and the dying. He felt the cold wind against his chest, which was bared as the armor that once protected it had long since been charred away. In the middle of the fog, staff swinging in all directions and sending spells flying recklessly through the air, was the Kamal sorcerer. Its roar had turned into guttural laughter at the sight of the weak and frail Imperial before it.
When Sagax locked eyes with the beast, he did not fear it. All of his terror was being washed away by something new. Something just and primal and instinctual but far, far more destructive; he was consumed by an all-encompassing rage. When he saw his blade dangling off the bastard’s belt like some trophy, all Sagax knew was that he wanted the demon dead. He would drape himself in its blood, even if it was the last thing he ever did.
There was a sailor in his way. They sounded familiar and their formed seemed to...shift, but Sagax didn’t pay him enough mind to get a proper look. He simply shoved the man to the side as he sprinted toward the sorcerer.
The first sign that Tsleeixth had that he was alive was the slight jolt that he felt course through his body. He knew the feeling, his thrall had been destroyed by magic and potent one if he had felt some of it even when he hadn’t been focusing all of his attention in controlling the undead Dreugh. However, Tsleeixth didn’t have much time to think about the implications behind the destruction of his thrall, as pain flared up in his bum knee and quickly began spreading throughout his entire leg.
Willing himself to ignore the pain, Tsleeixth stood on shaky legs, still trying to get his bearings after the explosion that had seemingly knocked them all out. The thing that brought him fully to his sense was the sound of running, and the sound of a body hitting the deck of the airship followed by a stream of curses. The source of the latter became clear soon, one of the surviving sailors was lying on the ground, as for the origin of the former sound, its origin became all too clear soon as soon as Tsleeixth laid eyes on Sagax charging at full speed towards the zombified form of Tennant Ibnazh.
The zombified warrior also had taken notice of the Imperial charging at him and began swinging its club-appendage in Sagax’s direction; and yet the Imperial didn’t seem to register the danger at which he was running towards. Tsleeixth tried to move in the direction of the Imperial runner, but as he tried to advance pain flared from his knee once more and caused him to drop to a kneeling position. “C’mon Tsleeixth, now’s not the moment to let your weakness overcome you, if you do nothing Sagax is as good as dead.” The Argonian thought to himself, inwardly chastising his body for its weakness. Forcing himself to stand, the pain in his knee increasing with every movement he took, the Saxhleel spellsword began to sprint towards his Imperial comrade until at last, with a cry of pain, he was close enough to tackle Sagax out of the way of one of the zombie’s clumsy attacks, which instead hit him in the back.
“AaaAAAAAGH!” Sagax shouted as he hit the ground. When he looked up, he saw another sailor standing above him. Where the hell did he come from?
Raising his legs up, Sagax looked the man dead in the eyes, feeling the most powerful anger he had ever experienced in his life. “OFF!” he screamed before letting his boots loose into the chest of his savior, completely oblivious to the pain and effort Tsleeixth went through to keep him from harm. Undeterred, Sagax scrambled to his feet with the speed of a raging wolf and continued his beeline for the Kamal. “I HAVE TO KILL IT!”
Getting booted on the lungs certainly wasn’t what Tsleeixth was expecting when he had tackled Sagax, but in hindsight he probably should have expected something along those lines given the way that he was behaving. “To oblivion with that, all you are going to do is get yourself killed.” The Argonian thought, wheezing as Sagax scrambled to his feet.
It took him a few seconds, and even more pain from his bum knee, but Tsleeixth managed to get up on his feet as well and to tackle Sagax a second time. “Get a grip Sagax!” The spellsword shouted, raising his fist and hitting Sagax square on the side of his face. “If you are...if you are…” The Argonian tried to speak but began wheezing midway through what he was saying and it wasn’t long before he was coughing blood, either due to the blow that he had taken tackling Sagax the first time or due to the hit that Sagax himself had managed to get off.
The coughing fit subsided for a moment and Tsleeixth took the chance to punch Sagax one more time. “If you are still insisting on getting yourself killed, you’ll have to go through...through me…” The Argonian managed to say, standing up on shaky legs before the coughing fits began once again.
Just who the hell was this guy!? That was the second time he had brought Sagax to the ground. Did he have a death wish? If so, Sagax unfortunately did not have the time to grant their request. He was completely single minded, and nothing would stop him from reaching his goal. He noticed his pursuer favored one of his legs, and could also notice a slight limp in their step.
“So BE IT!” He roared, unleashing a vicious sweep straight into the knee of the sailor’s bad leg.
He was absolutely giddy with rage. He had finally reached his target, and all the haphazard flailing in the world wouldn’t keep him from plunging steel deep into their insides. One strike after another Sagax dodged and weaved through before finally getting close enough to dive for his blade. It gleamed and shined, his reflection clear as day. A perfect instrument of vengeance.
After that, Sagax lost all track of time and place. The only thing driving him was his mad desire to rip and tear. He would bore into the ice demon’s massive guts and parade them around the coasts, stringing them all across the deck and mast of the Kyne’s Tear. Each stab, slash and hack was wilder than the previous, but Sagax wasn’t worried about his accuracy. He could feel the blood coat him, even if it to be an oddly small amount for what he was doing to the beast, and in that moment he felt an overwhelming sense of both pride and accomplishment.
Tsleeixth definitely hadn’t expected Sagax to hit him in his bum leg, but it had the desired effect as the Argonian crumpled into the ground as a result of Sagax’s kick. He laid there on the ground, his leg on fire, coughing blood into the deck of the airship, until the coughing fits subsided for good and his pain had diminished to the point where he could will himself to ignore it and stand up.
Unfortunately, the time that had taken him to recuperate had given Sagax the perfect window to reach the zombified Tennant. To the Imperial’s credit, he wasn’t yet hit but Tsleeixth wasn’t about to take a chance and let Sagax get himself killed in his blind-fury. Taking a moment to compose himself, the spellsword gathered his magicka on his palm and conjured a half-formed atronach which he promptly unleashed on the crazed Imperial with a single order: keep him pinned down. With Sagax out of the way, Tsleeixth recovered his sword from the ground and approached the zombie warrior before sending a blast of lightning in the direction of the Sload’s thrall.
The zombie warrior changed its course towards the spellsword, swinging it’s club-appendage wildly as it attacked Tsleeixth. For the first few moments, the Saxhleel managed to evade the attacks of his foe and even managed to score a few hits of his own but as the fight dragged on the hits that Sagax had managed to score began slowing down Tsleeixth and allowed the zombie Tennant to score a couple of hits. Fortunately, the heavier armor that Tsleeixth now wore offered him a much better degree of protection but it was clear to him that he had to finish the fight soon or otherwise the balance would shift in the zombie’s favour.
“A thousand curses upon you!” Sagax shouted at Tsleeixth as the atronach held him down, keeping him from his prize. “I was SO CLOSE! DAMN YOU!” At least now, it seem the fool would fully suffer for their intervention. The sorcerer outmatched the sailor tenfold, the idiot bastard becoming more sluggish with each step.
As the quarrel continued Sagax felt the pressure on him begin to weaken, and the atronach appeared to be slowly fading away. Eventually the Imperial was able to wriggle himself out of its grasp and once again retrieve his blade. Ignoring the sailor at his feet, Sagax leapt at the Kamal and climbed up its back for a final strike. When he had a good hold, he raised his sword, now holding it blade-down. With one swift motion, Sagax plunged his sword straight through the head of the kamal sorcerer. It was softer than he expected, but that just made it all the better. He continued to hang on as the beast twirled and spasmed, determined to take it down.
Tsleeixth hadn’t noticed his Atronach weakening, nor Sagax’s escape from its grip, until the Imperial’s blade came out of the other side of the zombified Tennant’s head. He didn’t stop to question what Sagax was doing and instead drove his sword through the zombie’s stomach, twisting the blade before pulling it out. It didn’t take too long for the zombie to topple backwards, finally dead.
With the threat of the zombie warrior finally over, Tsleeixth felt the adrenaline leave his veins and the pain return gradually. It didn’t take too long for the pain to become unbearable due to how much he had overexerted himself and his bum leg, and so the Saxhleel spellsword collapsed on the deck of the airship with a cry of pain.
He didn’t even notice that he fell. All Sagax knew was that he saw the form of the ice demon collapsed before him, blood seeping out of every part of its body. He took a moment to savor this victory before yanking his blade out of the corpse of his nemesis, raising it high in a stance of triumph.
“YES! DIE! AHAHA!” Undoubtedly unnerving to all but himself, Sagax let out loud, victorious laughter. He was overcome by a sense of jubilation, yet he was so tired. He held his head in his hands in an attempt to contain himself, but when he opened his eyes he became disoriented and confused. Around him was not the river of Windhelm, nor the cold stone walls of the city. The air was still cold, but he felt heat all around him. Thrust back into reality, the Imperial was now surrounded by the flaming wreckage of the airship. In front of him was not the kamal sorcerer, but the zombie warrior of the slug creature.
“I...what? Where am I?” His head felt like it was about to burst open, and it was difficult to breathe. “Tsleeixth…!” Sagax took one step, and only one step, before falling to the ground. His vision was blurred and everything around him spun; no matter how hard he tried to stand the weary man simply couldn’t find his ever-present balance.
His blade clanked to the ground in front of him, covered in blood and bile. What little Sagax could see of himself made his eyes go wide with horror. His face was absolutely coated with blood, and when he looked down at himself he saw more and more covering his whole body. What had he done? Everything was so fuzzy, and trying to recall anything made his head hurt even worse.
“Ts...Tsleeixth. What...ngh...what happened? I don’t...I don’t know what I did and...oh sweet Mara I feel like I’m going to be sick…”
Tsleeixth tried to stand up as he heard Sagax address him, letting out a relieved sigh when he noticed that the Imperial was back to normal. “Oh, thank the Hist that you are back to normal, Sagax.” The Argonian spoke, trying to stand up to help Sagax only to wind up falling to his knees. He panted for breath, trying to push the pain out of his mind, and after a few moments, the Argonian managed to stand up once again though it was evident by the shake of his legs that Tsleeixth was in a bad shape.
“I….I couldn’t rightly tell, you….you seemed to go mad with bloodlust.” The Argonian began to explain as he made his way towards Sagax with slow, measured, steps. “You charged towards the Sload’s thrall without a care in the world, as if your sole objective in life was its demise. I tried to stop you, but you resisted….violently so.” He continued on, wincing at the mention of the violent way that Sagax had resisted his attempts to keep him away from the zombie Tennant. “You only managed to get to the zombie once you struck me on my bad leg….after the explosion and all that had happened I didn’t had the strength to stand up in time to stop you.” He explained as he finally reached the Imperial.
“That doesn’t matters now though, what’s important is that you are back to normal and that the zombie is dead.” Said Tsleeixth, trying to smile towards Sagax but it was easy to tell that it was a strained, and somewhat fake, gesture. “Come, take my hand, I’ll help you to get up. We should probably get out of here as quickly as we can, we also need to figure a way to get Do’Karth out as well. The zombie knocked him out cold, so he won’t be able to make it down the chain by his own.” He said to the Imperial, offering him both hands to help him stand up.
The words had come and gone from Do’Karth’s mind, registering the shouting and words of his friends but not comprehending the words. The world slowly came back into focus from the darkness that had consumed him… how long had it been? The last thing he recalled was being forced into the deck and his vision blurring to black faster than he could react. His entire body screamed in pain, and he was aware of the blood dripping out of his muzzle. Suddenly, he realized he wasn’t breathing properly and he began to cough bloody spittle, driving his knuckles into the deck and pushing himself up. His mind began to clear, and soon he was looking around, trying to find his staff, the danger, anything. Another coughing fit, and more red-tinged fluid splattered violently from his diaphragm.
He caught sight of Tsleexith and Sagax moments later, and from their posture the fight was over. Trying to stand, he struggled, his legs feeling like lead weights. “...S-sorry.” he managed, amazed his throat was able to form words.
“Thank you, Tsleeixth...and uh, it probably doesn’t mean much, but I’m sorry for any...trouble I caused. I wish I could recall…” Slowly but surely, Sagax began to feel his strength return. The world steadied and his breaths slowed, though he still felt a bit strange. All he wanted to do was lie down and sleep. Unfortunately there was still quite a lot to do. The highest priority at that moment was getting off the airship.
When he saw movement, Sagax hobbled his way towards it, lo and behold, it was none other than Do’Karth. “Karth! There you are!” he said reaching down to help the singed cat up. “I’m glad you’re still among the living. Come on, we should go, there’s no telling how long this tub is going to stay up.”
Accepting the help, Do’Karth struggled to his feet. His head immediately began to throb. “This one needs to find his staff. What happened?” he asked, looking around for the sload and finding the monstrous ghoul.
Tsleeixth looked around the ruined deck of the airship, spotting Do’Karth’s staff laying perilously close to one of the holes that had been created during the explosion. The Saxhleel spellsword made his way to the staff and bent to pick it up, hissing as pain flared in his bum knee again, before returning to the Khajiit and Imperial. “Here’s your staff Do’Karth.” He said, presenting the staff to the Khajiit, “It probably must have rolled through the deck during all the commotion.” The spellsword speculated. “As to what happened….well, Sagax and I fought against the Sload’s thrall and managed to vanquish him.” Tsleeixth explained to Do’Karth, “As to what happened to the Sload….I believe that Alim and Sadri were fighting it and seeing as it's no longer present on the ship, I believe they were triumphant.”
“But we won’t know for sure until we leave the ship, I think.” He spoke, shaking his head slightly. “Oh, and Sagax, there’s no need to apologize, you weren’t yourself.” The Argonian said, turning to look at the Imperial. “But come now, we can continue this discussion once we are safely back on the Kyne’s Tear.”
“This one apologies for being so reckless. You could have been injured.” Do’Karth protested, looking crestfallen.
“Don’t feel too bad, Karth. You aren’t the only reckless one, as I’m sure you know.” Sagax said as he secured his blade to his person. “Now let’s get moving before we end up in the sea.”