The small shadowmancer had fallen into a vegitivative state I had no time to celebrate my first vector before i could turn
The bigger shadowmancer's razor claws descended toward my throat In that crystallized moment between life and death, time felt like it was stretching like molten glass, I didn't see my life flash before my eyesthere was nothing sentimental about my existence worth replaying
"The wounded prey..." I whispered through blood-flecked lips...often finds salvation in the places predators fear to follow"
this whole fight I had noticed something This two shadowmancer had not even touched the water even once they completely avoided it the water of this waterfall
With the last dregs of my strength, I rolled sideways not away from the monster, but toward the clear water The shadowmancer's claws raked across my shoulder as I tumbled over the edge of the rocky embankment. The cold shock of water engulfed me, silencing the roar of pain that tried to escape my throat.
The pool water wasn't shallow as I'd assumed , It plunged deep into the earth, a hidden abyss beneath its placid surface. My blood clouded the water around me, spreading in hypnotic tendrils around the water The sudden silence was almost peaceful compared to the chaos just from a second before
I had no strength to swim. My limbs hung useless as I sank deeper, watching the surface light recede. The water was impossibly clear despite my blood I could see the shadowmancer pacing at the edge, unwilling to enter the pool. Its roars came muted through the water, vibrations rather than sound.
"Strength was always absolute of life " I thought as the water pressed in around me. "It exists only in relation to weakness. My weakness right now is the lack of my strength...and perhaps also my salvation."
The cold embrace of the water numbed my pain, replacing it with a strange clarity. I continued to sink, the pressure increasing against my ears. The depths were not dark as expected, but a blue glow emanating from the walls of the underwater cavern.
My lungs began to burn, wanting air I couldn't provide ,Still, I felt oddly clear-headed. Every fight is ultimately against oneself against the limitations of flesh and will The shadowmancer was merely an external manifestation of the struggle I'd always faced
The water around me grew colder as I descended. Strangely, the cold sparked something in me a final refusal to yield. My fingers twitched, then clenched. Not much, but it was something. A reminder that I wasn't entirely spent.
"Death comes to all eventually , but..... to those who lack strength they are the first victims of it "
With excruciating effort, I moved my arms. The motion was little barely disturbing the water, but it arrested my descent momentarily. I did it again, this time managing to angle my body slightly upward with Each movement it sent lances of pain through my wounded back and leg, but this pain meant something for me that something was my consciousness, Consciousness gave me a possibility of survival
The surface seemed impossibly far away. My lungs screamed for air, darkness encroaching further on my vision. But I had made a calculation the energy needed to reach the surface against my remaining strength. The odds were poor, but not zero
I had never believed in fate or destiny. The universe was chaos given temporary order through will and effort. My will remained unshakeble With forcing my arms to move again, then my less-injured leg. Each motion brought fresh agony, but also propelled me upward by increments.
"We imagine ourselves solid and separate from our surroundings," I thought as I struggled upward, "but we are porous, constantly exchanging with the world around us."
My cold nature helped me focus more through the pain. Black spots danced in my vision as I clawed toward the surface. The shadowmancer's silhouette still paced above me a dark shape against the luminescent ceiling my movements grew weaker as the time passed , but more efficient. I abandoned any stroke that didn't contribute directly to upward progress. Economy of effort was critical for my survival , The margin between survival and drowning had narrowed to a knife's edge
Finally, when my consciousness was reduced to a pinprick of awareness, my hand broke the surface. The rest of me followed a moment later, and I gasped reflexively, drawing precious air into burning lungs. The sudden oxygen sent a wave of dizziness through me, nearly causing me to sink again.
I tread water weakly, barely keeping my head above the surface. To my surprise, the larger shadowmancer was nowhere to be seen It had abandoned its vigil, perhaps drawn away by some more pressing matter or a more accessible prey , With the last of my strength, I propelled myself toward the shoreline, moving through the water one agonizing stroke at a time.
When my fingers finally scraped against stone, I almost didn't have the strength to pull myself out. I lay half-submerged, my face turned sideways to keep my nose and mouth above water. For several minutes, I focused only on breathing. In. Out. Each breath. Gradually, I managed to drag more of myself onto the rocky ledge, using the smallest handholds to pull my wounded body from the water.
As my vision cleared, I realized I had emerged near where the battle had begun. The larger shadowmancer had indeed vanished, but the smaller one the one whose mir stone link I had severed still lay nearby, its chest rising and falling in shallow rhythm. It was alive for my relief ut was paralyzed, trapped in the vegetative state it was the result of cutting the link.
I lay on my back, water and blood pooling beneath me. The cavern ceiling swam in and out of focus above me.
"We seek meaning in survival," I thought, "when survival itself is the only meaning that matters. Everything else is meaningless"
And yet... if survival were truly all that mattered, why did it feel so hollow when stripped bare? Why did the act of enduring of drawing breath after breath seem insufficient without something more? Is it arrogance, a refusal to accept our place as animals scrabbling for sustenance and shelter? Or is it something deeper, an instinct not just to live but to live above all?
My healing ability was working sluggishly, overwhelmed by the severity of my wounds. It would not be enough to save me without rest and proper treatment. But it might be enough to keep me alive long enough to do what needed to be done.
After catching my breath, I dragged myself toward the immobilized shadowmancer. Its eyes looking at me the only part of it still capable of motion now i could see fear in those obsidian golden orbs, an emotion I hadn't expected from such a creature.
"Fear..."
I positioned myself above the shadowmancer's chest. Blood dripped from my wounds onto its scales, mingling with the black ichor that still seeped from where my blade had struck it earlier. With cold hands, I placed my hands on either side of its sternum, feeling for the subtle vibration that would reveal the location of the mir stone within.
There a faint pulsation beneath my right palm I pressed harder, my fingers sinking into the yielding flesh between the creature's scales. The shadowmancer's eyes widened, the only expression of pain it could manage in its paralyzed state.
I plunged both hands into the shadowmancer's chest cavity, ignoring the fresh wave of pain that shot through my wounded shoulders. Black ichor gushed around my wrists as I dug deeper, searching. My fingers closed around something solid a crystalline structure the mir stone throbbed like a second heart as I gripped it. Extracting it would kill the shadowmancer, The severed link had paralyzed it, but the stone itself sustained its life energy
The shadowmancer's eyes locked onto mine as I pulled the stone from its chest , With a final, deliberate motion, I pulled the mir stone free.
The light in the shadowmancer's eyes dimmed immediately, the rise and fall of its chest stoped and one single thought emerged out of my mind , in a cold voice i said
" What a fragile thing is this life is "
The mir stone glowed in my blood slicked hands, strangely warm Its glow illuminated my face, casting sharp shadows across the cavern walls.
I collapsed beside the shadowmancer's corpse, clutching the mir stone to my chest. It felt like holding a captured star, its energy just felt warm just warm....
As consciousness began to slip away, I curled my fingers tighter around the mir stone, as my consciousness faded away, leaving my bare body to be eaten by another creature...