Dawn- An age of Darkness

The old man threw blow after blow but they didn\'t even scratch the monster. It was on a whole different level.

"Take Alisa and run. It won\'t do us any good if all of us end up dead."

"Like I\'ll let you!" The demon flew by me in an instant and was about the stab Alisa, but the old man shielded her by blocking the demon with the mystic blade. 

"That sword!" the demon ran back up.

What kind of monster was she? She was way too oblivious: however, the newborn monster was not.

I bit my lips and made a decision. "I\'ll leave her to you old man! And don\'t die or let her die! Or else I\'ll kill you!"

"You got it boy! And how\'d you kill me if I were dead? Not that I plan on dying anytime soon." He chuckled. 

I grinned.                                                                           

This new monster had way too many arms and weapons; ranging from shields, swords, spears, bows, and axes. Even among the elves, magic was sacred and they couldn\'t use it nonchalantly. But the monster had lost all reasoning and cast spell after spell. Fireball, thunderbolt, and even icicles, all came towards us. How was this thing, that just came alive a few minutes ago cast spells when even I couldn\'t? It gave me anxiety and pissed me off. I was more pissed at myself for feeling inferior to a friggin monster.

I charged in; Lianne and Gorgan followed. Up-close, I slashed it with my sword; the sword went in but I was flung back a couple of meters by a battle axe. That axe made the wound on my chest open up a little. Before I got up, Gorgan had stabbed the beast multiple times and Lianne set it on fire. But the thing was still moving.

It wasn\'t undead?

"Holy\'s effective, but I\'m not proficient enough!" Gorgon sulked. 

"Weren\'t you a holy knight or something?"

"I have more skill with the spear than with spellblading..." He paused. "I think that thing could just have more resistance than typical undead." I guess he was just being modest.

He was supposed to be the youngest holy knight if I remembered correctly. And I, even so, saw him fight up close and yet he was having trouble. But if holy was working and it was still moving then that meant this thing was something similar like that thing from the island.

Jowy shot a volley of arrows; they landed on the monster and none of them pierced. 

"Use magic, you idiot! And aim for Araan," I screamed.

It was just a hunch but I said it anyway.

Jowy listened to me and shot another volley, this time straight at Araan. I didn\'t waste the opportunity and dashed forward. Spears and swords swung from sides but I jumped and shoved my sword deep into the long-dead prince. Every head screamed, even Araan\'s as though they were still alive; but, they were not. 

"Ahhh! It hurts. Daarc!" A mutated Araan\'s voice screamed.

It fell on the ground. Only to stand up a second later. Damn it! All of us took a step back. 

The damn half-demon stood atop us and giggled. "I already saw you two fight together, remember? It was only natural that I\'d take necessary steps to make this more entertaining." 

I hated that demon, there was no doubt about it. 

The monster twitched and grew darker. It looked more ferocious and every single head became mutated. They now stopped resembling humans or rather elves. 

Lianne encased her sword with fire. "This doesn\'t look good."

Even after stabbing Araan it still moved. My hunch was wrong.

We were out of options. I didn\'t know what to do anymore. That\'s right! I remembered what I learned last night. To cast magic one must first visualize it. If the monster in front of me was an undead then holy was probably the most effective element. My attacks just weren\'t reaching deep enough and Gorgon wasn\'t that reliable with magic either. So the only option was to try and cast a spell. 

It\'s worth a shot. "Buy me some time!"

"You got it." Jowy shot another volley of arrows while Lianne and Gorgon charged. The parts of the monster that caught fire or came into contact with Gorgan\'s blade fell off and melted. It wasn\'t that Gorgan didn\'t have enough skills, rather the monster was just too monstrous.

But I didn\'t know-how. 

I tried to circulate my mana and closed my eyes for better concentration. I couldn\'t really imagine it. What was I even supposed to imagine?

"That\'s right. That\'s it. Focus. The same light that burns in me burns in you. The light of Trerortra!. Rise up… Daarc!"

It was the same voice that I heard back on the island when I first used magic. 

So it was you Sisrael. 

I grinned. With my eyes closed and a smile, I might have looked like a comedian but I couldn\'t help it. 

Even in death, you continue to guide me.

I imagined a white sun enveloping the earth: the sun was my courage and it was also holy in my book. That was the best I could conjure up. I opened my eyes, held my hands in front towards the monster, and concentrated with all my might. White mana began pouring out of my hand and gathered over the head of the monster. At first, it was shapeless but within moments the shape became rounder and I felt faint. All my strength was being drained but I had to do it.

Looks like this is it. Never thought I\'d be able to pull it off though. What should I call this? I know…. "Starfall!" the ball of light was about a meter in radius. It expanded rapidly and descended upon the monster. Lianne and Gorgan backstepped.

Never thought calling out names would be so embarrassing…. 

I always wanted to try it but now that I did, I never wanted to try again. Ever.

The light enveloped the monster and its flesh started to melt. The light was blinding yet I didn\'t close my eyes. It was working.

"Gorgan now!" with my signal Gorgan sped up and stabbed Araan again. This time everything melted.

"It\'s warm… this light…. It\'s warm" Lianne closed her eyes and a stream of tears fell. "Farewell, my brethren…"

I looked around the half-demon was still hovering above us. "Wow, you actually pulled it off. I can see why she chose you…"

"That stuff is getting old. You don\'t know jack shit about me!"

The monster fully melted and now the light disappeared. All my strength vanished as well. I couldn\'t even feel my mana anymore. It was hard as it was but now it was even harder.

"Here, and don\'t go around casting that nonchalantly. You could have just used it on the demon and we\'d have won!" The old man threw a potion at me and berated me. 

I only grinned at him. I was too tired to get angry.

I took a sip from the potion and pointed my sword up. "You\'re next!" 

Her arm had already grown back but she looked weak and pathetic. That\'s when things turned around. It wasn\'t over. Her red eyes turned black and her white skin became muddy. I had seen that before. I knew things were about to get shitty. She became bigger and descended to the floor. Her clothes had torn but now she didn\'t resemble a living being rather, something sinister. Even now she looked humanoid: and very much like that monster from the island. She didn\'t have extra limbs or eyes. 

Was that supposed to be a joke?