Paragon Blade Moon
Part -2 defeat
Image created by Author.
As Moon gathers firewood she is deep in her thoughts about how Thunder and Allurea were cuddling with each other back at the campsite.
“Stupid female emotions.” Moon grumbles as she picks up branches and twigs.
As Moon wanders further into the Dark Forest away from camp, the wind shifts. When the cool air comes in contact with Moon’s skin it makes her shiver. Suddenly she has an uneasy feeling after the breeze passes. Moon’s horse-like ears perk up quickly and shift around listening to her immediate surroundings.
She hears nothing but dead silence. Moon straightens up as she holds the wood she’s gathered. An eerie stillness comes over the area she’s in.
The silence grows ever more deafening, and Moon’s ears continue to shift trying to pick up any sort of noise. Her eyes chime in surveying the area around her for any movement or anything out of the ordinary. Moon scans her surroundings carefully with unblinking eyes as Thunder, Cyclone, Thunder's son, and Lightning, Thunder's daughter taught her in their training sessions back in the City of Montanha.
What’s going on? Why do I feel on edge all of a sudden? Moon thinks in her male voice as she surveys the forest.
Maybe I should go back to the campsite. Moon thinks. After she turns to head back to camp, and steps forward, a loud whistling sound pierces the night air followed by a loud crushing, clang sound where she was just standing. Dust, dirt, and foliage churn into the air followed by an enormous gust of wind that makes Moon lurch forward a couple of steps from its force. Her hair flutters around her face. When everything finally settles down, she slowly turns to see what caused the commotion behind her.
Moon’s eyes grow wide when she sees what landed behind her, an enormous axe blade, with an evil-looking dragon-like engraving embedded in the metal glaring back at her. The engraving on the blade sends chills throughout Moon’s spine.
Moon suddenly hears a menacing growl above her, she starts craning her neck to look up towards what is emitting the growl. As Moon does so, she sees what is growling above her is a large demonic giant. He is so large that Moon needs to take a few steps back to fully drink the creature that looms over her smaller frame.
Moon could hardly believe what she was looking at, an enormous demon who swung a large battle axe down behind her, that split the ground beneath the blade impact. Moon’s ears lower immediately, and her arms begin to shake as she realizes that the demon is so large, that he is completely towering over some of the surrounding trees.
“Is, is this Ravage?! This is the monstrous demon we’ve been looking for?” Moon shrieks, in a voice filled with terror. She drinks in the sheer size of Ravage as he towers over her in the night sky. Ravage’s large body covers most of the light given off by the distant pale moon.
“Thi-This… He- He’s, our bounty?! Moon stupidly shrieks out. Hearing Moon’s words Ravage narrows his red glowing eyes down at her.
Ravage's hair is dark and down to his shoulders, and his menacing fangs stick outside of his mouth like a saber tooth cat. His ears are long and pointed on the end, and his muscles are large and massive indicating his ferocious strength. As Ravage looks down at Moon he speaks.
“So, the town sends yet another foolish hero to their doom!” he says with a booming voice that echoes into the darkness of the forest. Ravage suddenly emits a massive blood-curdling roar that echoes into the distant darkness.
Ravage raises his massive axe out of the ground, he lifts the two-handed axe above his head, with a single hand! Seeing this demonstration of pure power, Moon freezes in place and watches helplessly.
Her jaw drops at the sight. Seeing the blade going even higher, Moon thinks to herself, DEFEND YOURSELF STUPID! At that moment Moon drops the wood she was carrying and reaches for her sword. When she grasps at nothing but air, Moon looks at where her sword normally is and her heart sinks. Her ears lower to the sides of her head. Moon forgot that she left her sword back at the campsite!
“Ok, there’s one thing left to do…” Moon says to herself. “RUN AWAY!” she yells at the top of her lungs as she scrambles trying to make a break for it. She heads in the direction of the campsite, knowing that Thunder and Allurea can help her.
As Moon runs at her top speed trying to get away, Ravage brings down his mighty axe attempting to kill her. The axe impacts the ground inches behind her, which is a closer shave than the attack from earlier. This time some of Moon’s hair and tail have been slightly cut off! Because of the impact against the ground that splits it again, a concussion wave is sent out, propelling Moon forward several yards making her land in some bushes that cushion her landing.
“AHHHHHH OOOOFFFFF! OOWWW!” she groans and slowly rustles in the brush. As Moon tries to regain her composure, she feels the ground tremble beneath her from the fast-approaching Ravage. Moon’s first thought is to try and run again. She waits quietly to make another break for it. When she does, Ravage sees her and uses Killbane, his mighty two-handed axe, to cut Moon’s path off. This time the axe slams down in front of her, splitting it again from his force.
“Now I have you! You little insect!” Ravage says as he raises a fist above his head ready to strike Moon.
“Oh God, this is it! I’m done for!” Moon cries as she watches Ravage swing his fist down at her like a hammer to a nail.
Just as Ravage's fist is about to hit Moon, she watches it fist in slow motion. When it’s inches from impact, several spheres of light emerge from the darkness and directly impact Ravage’s face. The spheres of light quickly blind him, making Ravage stumble back, making him growl in pain from the holy energy.
“MOON CATCH!” a voice yells from the trees behind her. As Moon turns to see who is yelling, she sees her sword flying towards her. When the sword is in range, Moon plucks it from the air and twirls around with finesse, and grace of a swordsman that she has been training hard to achieve the last six months. At the end of the twirl Moon takes on a battle stance, with her head lowered ready to pounce.
When Moon looks in the direction where her sword came from, she sees Thunder, and Allurea poised and ready for battle. Moon returns her attention to Ravage, who recovers quickly from Alurea’s initial attack. He begins his attack on Moon again. Killbane whistles through the air again as Ravage swings it down, but this time is different. Moon is ready for the mighty axe and raises her sword to defend against the mighty two-handed battle axe.
With one hand firmly on the handle of the sword, and the other on its blade, Moon can stand her ground this time. She quickly enters into a power struggle against the formidable demon giant. Ravage notices that Moon is stronger than he initially anticipated, so he increases his strength on Moon’s sword. Feeling the increase in strength Moon grits her teeth in pain because her sword blade cuts into the flesh of her hand. Her sandals begin to sink into the soft ground.
Noticing that Moon’s power alone is not enough to push Ravage back, Thunder charges in. He places his shield in front of him and charges right for Ravage’s legs. Thunder impacts Ravage’s left shin, which emits a mighty crushing sound that echoes throughout the forest. The echo sends bats, birds, and other creatures of the night fleeing fear due to the sounds of battle.
After the direct impact of his attack with his shield, Thunder spins behind Ravage's calf, and swings away at the enormous demon’s leg. His captain's sword, which is longer than an average footman’s sword, has a gold lining around the double-edged blade. The hilt mimics a crescent moon shape and glistens from its gold. The blade easily cuts into Ravage’s leg flesh causing blood to spill and the sounds of consumed souls to emerge.
These actions send waves of pain throughout Ravage’s body, making him, emit a roar of pain. Ravage turns his attention down to who is causing him such grief. When he sees Thunder, his red eyes narrow in extreme anger.
Ravage suddenly uses his free hand to swat at Thunder, as if he were swatting fly.
Thunder sees the attack, and barely has time to raise his shield in an attempt to defend against the blow. With a deafening crushing sounding echo, and sickening impact. Ravage sends the seven-foot-five, 400-pound male centaurain flying through the air as if he were some kind of rag doll. Thunder emits a groan of pain, as he flies through several tree branches and off into the darkness.
“THUNDER!” Allurea and Moon both cry, as they watch in horror, as Thunder flies off into the distance. Allurea wastes no time in heading after Thunder in a desperate attempt to help him.
Because of Thunder’s attack, Ravage’s attention is diverted, and some of the force he was using on Moon’s sword has lifted. Moon takes this opportunity to push Ravage onto his injured leg. The shift in pressure onto the injured leg causes him pain. Because of this Moon can push Ravage back a few yards.
When Ravage looks down at Moon, he is taken by surprise by her newfound strength. When he sees her look up, Moon has a determined look on her face. Ravage sees Moon as a threat now, so he attempts to throw her off balance by raising Killbane quickly. Once the axe is lifted off of Moon’s sword, she draws her sword back and swings at Killbane. This forces the massive two-handed axe to one side and widens Ravage’s stance. Seeing this opening, Moon quickly takes the chance to charge the giant demon.
Noticing her do this, Ravage lifts his foot in an attempt to crush the nimble female paragon. Moon sees the massive foot coming down, and leaps through the air making her body parallel to the ground, and rolls to counter and escape unharmed. When Ravage’s foot hits the ground it trembles from the massive power. Not missing a beat Moon scrambles to her feet and runs in the direction of Thunder, and Allurea knowing she still needs their help to defeat the monstrous demon.
As Moon runs, she tracks the fallen foliage from Thunder’s flight, she guides herself down the path to where he may have landed. Moon’s shadow is suddenly overcast by a larger, ominous, shadow that dwarfs hers. When she looks over her shoulder her jaw drops and ice-cold shivers run up her spine. Moon gasps in astonishment as she sees Ravage quickly gaining in his pursuit of her, much quicker than expected. Even though he has an injured leg. Because of Thunder’s attack earlier, as well as Ravage’s sheer size.
“This is insane! how can he be so big and fast at the same time!” Moon says. As Ravage draws closer to her. He grips his axe tightly and raises it for the next strike. It rises over trees to try and finish Moon off for good. Seeing Ravage raise his weapon, Moon stops and turns swiftly, to brace herself for the impact, and hopefully counter the attack.
As Moon stares up at the enormous demon, she can barely make out the moon behind him. Ravage swings Killbane down at her so fast it screams through the air. Moon has little time to react or to try and escape. When Killbane collides with the ground a deafening, clang rings throughout the Dark Forest. The impact hurls debris, and some of the smaller trees through the air. Ravage emits a dark chuckle, which shifts into a darker cackling, and finally, it evolves into a sinister laugh.
“Another hero turns to dust,” Ravage says evilly. He turns and begins to make his way to the other two heroes.
to be continued.