Origin ARS (Origin A.R.S. Book 2) (16 page)

An arrow grazed his shoulder and he was forced to withdraw back further. Over a half-dozen arrows shot his way now. They were not well aimed, but they did not need to be. The ugly bastards were using a suppressive fire technique! Scott leapt to the side then performed a quick spinning maneuver to evade the oncoming arrows by slipping behind the rock face.

The actions of the goblins across the way were clearly meant to suppress him. That meant that the goblins on the ground were planning something. Otherwise, the only reason they would use that tactic would be to starve him to death. They could have no way to know how much food or water he had, so that was an unlikely scenario. Scott would have loved to have taken a look at what the other goblins were doing, but he could barely poke his head out to check the other side of the gap.

Arrows whizzed by on occasion, but for the most part they seemed to head his way only as a reminder that the goblins still existed. What could he do in this situation? His boomerangs were unlikely to get through. The goblins, with their stats increased due to the captain being in attendance and their higher level, were capable of knocking away his only ranged weapon. His spells would not reach across the gap, even if he had increased the range of his burn spell previously, it might not have reached.

Scott understood what the goblins were up to when he heard the strain and groan of heavy metal being moved in an unnatural manner. He risked poking his head out long enough to see what was happening. An arrow narrowly missed his skull, but he saw what he needed to see. The goblins were using ropes to pull the ramp back together via the rails!

He had thought that monsters in general were stupid. Normally they continued to attack regardless of how bad the situation was for them at the time. The goblin miners had seemed to be that way as well. Was this planning the doing of the captain?

The sorcerer recalled a conversation that he’d had with Arne back at Victory Station. Monster overlords were bad news because they made monsters stronger and could do more. The captain did not seem to be an actual monster overlord, but he did have a major influence on the battle. Scott was certain that he was missing something in this situation, but what could he do at the moment?

Scott waited until the bridge was nearly up before he acted. He quickly turned the corner, rolled forward to avoid the arrows that sped his way, then lept into the air. The goblins fired in the hopes of hitting him, but they were too late.

“Burn!” snarled Scott before hurling his flaming attack toward the center of the nearly restored bridge. The fiery attack exploded with great force. The ropes that were used to bring up the bridge were heavily strained and began to burn.

The sword and shield goblin showed further signs of true intelligence when he ran forward to try to beat out the flames with his shield. Scott smirked and fired off his spell once more. The goblin screamed in panic but he could not escape. He exploded in a shower of charred gore and took one of the ropes with him.

Scott did not get the chance to finish the other rope, however. The archer goblins had changed positions. They began to fire off arrows as fast as they could in order to suppress him. It worked as each of their arrows took several of his hit points. Had he taken the time to finish off the ramp, he would have been hit several more times.

In the end it did not matter. The damaged rope gave way and the ramp broke apart once more. Scott laughed while dodging the badly aimed arrows. Let the bastards keep trying that useless tactic.

The laughter stopped when tried to spin around the corner of the rock face only to receive an ugly surprise. A burly goblin flashed brightly then raced forward at tremendous speed. It bashed him with its shield to brutal effect.

Scott was sent hurtling back, but he never hit the ground. Another shield bearing goblin appeared and bashed him while he was in mid-air. Scott was sent flying over the side of the ramp and screaming toward the cold unforgiving ground below. Before he hit the dirt, he saw several ropes at the far end of the platform. The entire bridge tactic had been a decoy! The goblins had kept him busy while they positioned a few of their better warriors in place behind him.

When Scott hit the ground a bright red seventy-four flared up from his body. He had dropped all the way down to five health points!

<<< * >>>

You are stunned due to receiving repeated attacks and falling a great distance.

You have a
concussion.
All stats decrease by five points.

You are
bleeding internally
and will
die
in one minute.

You are
paralyzed
and unable to move from the waist down.

Your left shoulder has been
dislocated.
Your left arm is
disabled.

<<< * >>>

Hundreds of leather clad fists shot into the air just before over two hundred goblin voices cried out. “Aroooooo-ha!”

The captain pointed at the broken sorcerer and shouted something guttural that the other goblins responded to immediately. They raced toward Scott to finish him off. The first one to reach him would get first choice of his items.

“Scott! Scooo-ooott!” cried Ero from the depths of his mind. The tiny fairy guardian desperately tried to reach out to him. Scott, barely conscious at this point, could do nothing but moan and feebly turn his head.

“Call my name! Let me help you. I can help you!” exclaimed the fairy.

“Name...” whispered Scott, his voice was a harsh rasping sound. He had lightly punctured one of his lungs with a broken rib. He made a gurgling noise and another point of health was lost. He did not have much time left.

“Yes, say it! Say it! Say it! Say my name!” shouted Ero excitedly.

Scott’s vision was fading, going black. He had no strength left. He could still see the goblins coming, barely, but he had no energy to care about that. Still, he was just coherent enough to do as she asked. He parted his blood-stained lips and rasped out, “E... ro...”

Immediately, the darkness fell away from his eyes as his world was suffused with pure white light. He felt a gentle breeze and the soft patter of warm summer rain. The scent of wildflowers and freshly turned earth reached him and he felt calmer, soothed.

However, while Scott was having a pleasant near death experience the goblins were not enjoying the sudden appearance of Ero nearly as much.

“Stay away from my BFF you mean old goblins!” screamed Ero in her tiny adorable voice. A spiraling column of wind raced outward. It created an impenetrable barrier while flinging the closest goblins away as though they had been caught up inside a powerful tornado.

“You hurt my Scott!” Ero expanded in size until she was the height of a normal human being. She started to cry and flail her arms around while her fairy wings moved so fast that they became a blur.

Thunder crashed. Lightning shot out from her body. Storm clouds began to form overhead and soon the gentle patter of rain upon the earth could be heard. That gentle pattern became a torrential rain that drove back the goblins and burned them like a terrible acid.

<<< * >>>

Your
concussion
has healed.

You are no longer
stunned
.

Your
paralysis
has lessened.

You are no longer
bleeding internally.

<<< * >>>

Scott blinked then slowly sat up. He winced as a sudden throbbing pain from his left arm reminded him that is was still dislocated. Even that negative status effect did not last for long, however. He felt his shoulder hop back into its socket. Soon it felt as though nothing had happened to it. For every second that passed, a pair of number ones would appear above him. One of the numbers was green, the other was blue.

The sorcerer tried to stand, but he could not. He was still paralyzed from the waist down. He could barely feel his legs.

He looked over and saw the goblin army screaming in panic as their health plummeted. The goblin miners screamed and exploded into motes of light. The remaining goblins were losing one health and mana per second as the torrential rain continued unabated.

The magical storm continued for several minutes. Scott’s health and mana were completely restored and the goblins were weakened considerably. His paralysis still lingered, but it had lessened considerably. Soon, even that might be healed. His lower body felt numb and it was hard to move. He could wiggle his toes again, a good sign.

However, the goblin captain had managed to regain control of the panicking horde and started to slap them around. He made the bow wielding goblins line up, despite the pain that the torrential rain caused, and fire toward the fairy.

Dozens of arrows flew through the air. Most missed the target completely due to the wind barrier. Scott’s paralysis was finally healed by the time the fourth volley sped toward the hard to hit target. The wind and rain made using a bow a difficult prospect to say the least.  A few arrows came close to hitting Scott, more by chance than skill, but none managed to come close to hitting Ero.

Unfortunately, Ero’s power was not absolute. The barrier began to weaken. Her power had nearly run its course.

After the sixth volley of arrows, one managed to hit Ero in the thigh. She screamed out in pain as the arrow punctured through the front of her leg and ripped through to the other side. Blood began to spurt and poor from the wound at a rapid pace. An arrow would normally stop the flow of blood if it was lodged inside the body, but by piercing completely through there was no pressure to stop it from gushing out.

She was completely nude and without the protection of armor she was vulnerable to exactly what had happened. It was extraordinary bad luck. The arrow strike had been a critical hit!

The rain storm of love and friendship dissipated immediately and she fell from the sky. It had only taken one hit to stop her power completely.

Scott raced forward and caught the girl in his arms. She landed heavily and he was forced to the ground from the impact.  He was strong enough to withstand the force of her falling body, so he took no damage. He held the girl in his arms while she bled heavily from her thigh.

Ero cried loudly due to the pain. She had never experienced anything so hurtful in her life.

“I’m sorry. This is all I can do. I don’t have a lot of strength for battles...” said the girl as she cried for a different reason. The arrow in her thigh had hurt her quite a bit. She was bleeding heavily from the wound and she would be unable to maintain her form much longer.

“It’s OK. I’m sorry you were hurt.” said Scott. He hugged her gently.

He remembered something, suddenly. He still had a tonic. “Hold on, let me pull out a tonic!”

The fairy shook her head. “S-save it... A tonic won’t save me... I’m too far gone.”

“What... No!” Scott pulled out the tonic anyway, but she refused to drink it. He poured it on her wound, but nothing happened. That was not possible! He had used them like that before. You merely had to pour it on the wound if someone could not drink it.

Ero sniffled a little then hugged him, tightly, before she faded away. Her body turned to motes of light, but she did not die. She was simply unable to manifest for a time.

Water dripped down from the ceiling of the cave. The goblins had not pressed forward due to the fear that the fairy might have some power left. That had been their mistake.

Scott rose to his feet, but continued to silently stare down at the ground. His eyes were locked onto the place that Ero had been laying. He stayed that way for a moment then spread his arms out and opened his hands. A soft whirring sound whistled through the room and his boomerangs sped over and returned him his hands with a loud *Slap!*

He slowly raised his head, his eyes closed. He breathed deeply in an out a few times. The background music screeched to a halt.

Several seconds passed before the music returned. This time it was a stoic, yet uplifting, piano score with orchestral undertones that further suffused the moment with sound and life.

His eyes snapped open and then narrowed into a hateful expression that was completely counter to the beautiful music. A voice began to sing out in a lovely tone that was impossibly clear and bright.

~ I know that I just met you... but my heart had skipped a beat... ~

Scott roared at the goblins, breaking them out of their stupor. Only a few precious seconds had passed, but it had been all that he had needed to set his heart right and devote himself to the task at hand. Live or die, it no longer mattered. He would take the bastards down.

~ You said that we could be best friends, and that was just so sweet... ~

The song continued in that vein and detailed the recent meeting between Scott and Ero. He did not focus on the words or the music, however. He lent his energies to the task of murder. He started the conflict through his ignorance, his stupidity. Still, those had been his terms. He planned to end the fight on his terms as well.