Rise Forerunner

I stared down at my hand in astonishment. I could feel my heart beating once again. I could hear the thumping in my ears. In a **** attempt I tried to bring air into my lungs. I felt as if I were a thousand leagues below the sea. As if the entire world were crushing down on me. I tried once more after my failed attempt. This time my lungs burned with a painful struggle. A thousand years of rust being broken away from my bones and lungs. My breath was **** and crackly. With each attempt I could feel life returning to my shattered body. Each attempt brought me back from the edge I had been cast over. I could feel Eros’ warmth washing over me as my bones, my blood, my entire body was brought back to form. I could feel their energy as it coursed through me. Correcting all that had been broken. There was no pain, no agony, no suffering. Only the eldritch magic that had gifted me life once more.

As the power left me I slowly climbed to my feet. The moment I put weight on my legs they both buckled. The situation mirrored my first meeting with Eros an uncomfortable amount. This time, however, I could stand on my own after only the second attempt. My muscles found their strength once more. With what could only be called a yawn I stretched my body out. The rest of my muscles, bones, and blood vessels found their place. After a few seconds, I stood before Eros once again. Standing proud with my broken sword in my hand. The handle barely attached to the shattered blade. As I noticed it I stuck the weapon back in its sheath, or what remained of the weapon.

“Forerunner, I have given you a second chance. You have yet to show yourself worthy of being my Champion. This is not a failure. Simply a fact. You have not shown yourself worthy of the power I have gifted you. You have not shown yourself worthy of the power you will one day harness. Forerunner, I give you this second chance, so that you may prove to all how truly worthy you are. The fates have been relentless in bringing about your end. They have failed, as they once did a thousand thousand years ago. Go now. Go now with the knowledge that this world, and all it has to offer, is yours to explore. You have power to discover, within yourself and outside. You have strength to control. I give you this second chance, show me that it has been a worthy effort.”

As quickly as Eros came, it left. The warmth brought by its holy light departed the cave and left me back in the dim darkness. My body felt whole. More complete than ever before. I couldn’t react quick enough to thank Eros, to show any gratitude besides crying and finding the strength to stand on my own. I didn’t get a chance to promise that I wouldn’t let them down. Eros left me alone once again, with nothing but the grotesque sounds of the beasts devouring their own.

In a moment of clarity I drew my broken sword once again. The blade was cracked in several places below the complete shatter. Somewhere in the beast that killed me sat nearly the entire length of my weapon. Only the handle and maybe six inches of metal above that remained. I held out my weapon and a wave of warmth emanated from my chest. A warmth startlingly similar to that of Eros’ own. I focused on the gentle heat. The comfort that it brought. The absolute sense of power. I focused on it for as long as it took to travel down my arm. To arc between my fingers. I focused before it jolted to life.

In an instant my broken sword had become bathed in wild electricity. Where once sat a long blade of metal now became an even longer jolt of static. The energy arcing in all directions. Striking each and every stone around me as I stared down in awe. When I swung the blade the arc traveled just a fraction slower where it passed the metal. I assumed it was likely due to it not being grounded in some way. The lightning also passed through the ground that it came into contact with. It burned the stone and scattered along the surface. For a moment I simply stared in awe and amazement at the incredible energy that flowed from me. For a moment I didn’t know how to react or what to do. Not until I heard a familiar slapping sound did I break away from the trance that the magic had over me.

I raised my head and was met with another large gecko. This one was roughly the same size of the beast that had murdered me. I couldn’t get ****, or more ****, on the already dead animal. The next best thing I could do was get **** for Bry.

I raised my blade once more and decided to forgo the thought of waiting to be attacked. I had done that already, and it killed me. With a powerful jolt my body came to life once more. My legs carried me quickly, far quicker than I was prepared for. I missed the first slash as I managed to lose my footing and go tumbling past the lizard. Rolling into an uncomfortable tuck before I scrambled back to my feet. With another attempt I swung my ‘sword’ at the creature. This time striking its side.

As expected, the static blade sunk into the thick scales rather than cutting through them. What I wasn’t expecting though was the horrible burns that the blade caused. Every spot that the sword came into contact with was scorched with an ugly char. The second thing that caught my attention was the bore hole that the magic caused. While I held my blade into the lizard’s side the magic continued to flow into the best, drilling through the burning flesh. After only a couple of seconds the beast slumped to the ground. A grotesque scent of charred flesh filled the air. I effortlessly retracted my blade as I tried to cover my nose to hide from the stench. The sword, having no physical aspect touching the corpse, felt lighter than air.

With my attacker dead and smoldering on the ground, I turned to face the others that were still eating their brethren. I darted forward once again. My blade was ready to strike. As I closed the distance I jabbed the magical sword forward. Embedding it in the next enemy as I moved well past it. A deep horrible sear ran along the entire side of the lizard, ugly and horrible. As I steadied myself I could see the lizard’s muscles fire frantically. The electricity caused the lizard to essentially have a seizure. I didn’t have to wait long for the next strike. This time the beast turned to attack me, an attempt which I met by side stepping it and stabbing my sword into the side of its head. In an instant the body went limp and the jaw fell open. It was dead, gone, as soon as the magic stabbed through its skull. The flesh and bone did little to stop its magical energy. The next two took little more skill. Each failed attempt to bite down on me was met with a terrible slash or deadly strike. In the rush of battle I moved effortlessly around them and, thanks to the power Eros had unleashed, I was able to finally kill the last of them. Now five dead Komodos lay on the stone floor.

As soon as the final enemy fell I crashed down to one knee. The rush, the adrenaline, of battle finally worn out. I fell down to one knee and caught my breath. As I did the magic fizzled out and I was left with little more than a broken blade once again. It looked as if nothing had happened to it. No marks, no burns, not even warm to the touch. The magic had only acted like a coating. I rested on the ground for several minutes before I found the energy to speak once more.

“Mors! I’m coming up.”