Leonard, the wall builder stood silently, hammer in hand, as always.
"It looks like you were right." Gabriella said with a sigh, "The wall wasn't strong enough."
"No. I wasn't right at all. I was completely, horribly wrong."
"What are you talking about? This is exactly what you said could happen." said the woman.
"What I said could happen was that a weak point might be exploited along the outer wall. That isn't what happened at all, though, is it? It didn't search around for an opportunity, it simply tore right through the main gates, the most heavily fortified part of the city as though they were nothing."
"I guess that's true. We need to get them back up as soon as possible." she replied.
"Why bother?"
"Look, I know you're a bit discouraged, but without the gates, the city is defenseless. We're helpless!"
"Don't you get it? We were helpless even with the gate!" Leonard exclaimed, "Not only did the dark lord manage to breech it, it did so effortlessly! It didn't even use any fancy magic or technology or trickery, it just strolled up and ripped it off with sheer brute force. We have no reason to believe that any of the dark lords couldn't have done the exact same thing, any time they wanted. All that time we spent fortifying, convincing ourselves we were safe? We were just playing pretend. The walls, the gates, even the guards, they never kept us safe. It was all just an illusion. We aren't safe, we never were safe, and we never will be safe."
"Guess we'll just have to make the gates stronger then." Gabriella said, looking towards the wall.
The male mouse simply laughed. "Why? So the next dark lord that feels like attacking us will have to work just a little bit harder?"
"If that's all we can do, sure, but you know that it's not. It's not like you to mope like this. You've spent your entire life working on this wall, like your parents did before you! If it's not thick enough, make it thicker! If it's not tall enough, make it taller! If it's not strong enough, make it stronger! That's always been the philosophy, and you know what? Nothing has changed." she said, "Okay, one thing has changed: we just got an important reminder of just how essential our work, your work is, and just how much more needs to be done... unless you planned on retiring soon?"
"Heh, you know I don't. Getting the extra materials might be tricky, though."
"Maybe, but that's someone else's job, and they can handle it. Our job is to make the barrier as strong and as secure as possible, and right now there is a huge, gaping hole where the gates used to be. It feels like maybe someone should do something about that?"
"Yeah, you're right. I spent too much of my life working on this wall just to give up on it now, and the fact that there are storms that it can't weather just means our job isn't even close to finished. Well, what are you sitting around slacking off for? It's time to get back to work!"
"Wow, it sure is sunny out here today! Almost as sunny as around the castle!" The approaching king said, "Uh oh! Whoah, whoah!" he flailed his arms around before dramatically falling onto his face.
"King Soulcrusher!" Gabriella called to him, "Are you okay?"
"Duh..."
The audience erupted in wild applause, happy that for all the damage, the play stage had remained intact. It was reassuring to know that even in times of strife, that the show would always go on.
<3~ <3~ <3~ <3~
The four mice watched the massive creature, and contemplated their situation. Aaron was thinking of the best way to strike while it was unwary, potentially somewhere that it was vulnerable, in order to give themselves an early advantage. Mathias was examining the surroundings, considering setting up some manner of trap or restraint using the abundance of resources lying all around. Rowan thought that they should perhaps hide and observe it for a little while, both to obtain much needed knowledge on the habits of behaviors of the dark lords, as well as to potentially discover some manner of weakness.
None of this ended up happening, of course. Instead Jerin simply strode up in front of its face and called out, "Hey, wake up!"
The dark lord snorted, awakening mid breath and looked about with a confused expression. "Huh? What do you want?"
Jerin blinked, her earlier anger evaporated. "Uh, you told us to come here?" She said, as the creature tilted its head to one side, the great beast still wearing an a look of confusion. "You attacked our city earlier?"
It fully awakens, eyes wide open. "Oh, right, ahem..." it said, clearing its throat, looking more than a little bit embarrassed. "I wasn't expecting you."
"You mean 'so soon', right?" She said.
"At all. I thought you and the rest of the vermin would have run off and hidden somewhere by now." it stretched its forelimbs out in front of itself, arching its back with a big, wide-mouthed yawn.
"You wish! You attacked our home, and now you're going to pay!"
"Uh huh. Fine, fair enough." it said in a bored voice, sitting up to look down at the four mice. "Okay, let's do this."
"Wait!" Jerin said. "Your name is 'Fury', right? First I want to know why you did it."
"Yeah, that's my name."
Mathias looked to the imposingly large yet still sleepy looking creature. "Huh, you don't look very furious."
"I have my moments." the large feline replied with a shrug, "But yeah, you're right. That's how it is with names, I guess. Sometimes you grow into them, sometimes you grow out."
"Um, can we focus here?" Jerin asked, arms folded, tapping a foot impatiently. "Why did you attack the city?"
The creature narrowed its silver eyes and sighed. "Do I really need a reason to destroy lesser creatures?"
"You're damn right you do!" Jerin growled up at him, "Unless you honestly expect us to believe that it's just a complete coincidence that we ran into two unrelated dark lords, right after we started looking for a third?"
Fury drew its great head back and looked down at her with a surprised expression. "Heh, you're sharper than I thought. Yeah, it's true. You didn't just happen to run into Seraphim, and I have no real interest in avenging her defeat. To be honest, I thought it was hilarious."
"Then why did you do it? What do you have to gain from it?" Jerin drew her sword, pointing it up at the face of the dark lord.
It scratched a paw under its chin, "Well, you know... he sometimes shares his food with me, so I kind of owed him a favor."
"Him? You're talking about Midnight, aren't you?" she glared.
"Huh, it feels like I wasn't supposed to reveal that little bit of information. Oh well. I Guess it doesn't really matter." it shook its massive shoulders, bits of metal, dust and other debris falling away from the matted fur. "Yeah, it's true. Apparently he has some grand scheme involving you, and we kind of got roped into it. Frankly, bullying the weak isn't really my style."
"So he's nearby? Can you tell us where he lives?"
The large grey cat chuckled. "I think you're getting way ahead of yourselves. Right now, you've got a far bigger problem than settling your petty grudge."
"It's not petty!" Jerin said, stomping a foot, paws balled into fists at her side.
"Uh, let me handle this..." Mathias says, pressing a paw onto her shoulder stepping up to the dark lord. While this creature didn't look weak, by any stretch of the definition, he lacked the unnatural oppressive aura that Seraphim had possessed. "You don't really seem to be into this, and we did interrupt what I can only guess was a nice nap that you're eager to return to-"
"No way! This thing attacked our home, and hurt a bunch of innocent people! We can't let it get away with that!" Jerin said.
"It is true, little one." The dark lord said, looking to Mathias. "I get what you're trying to do, and I appreciate the logic. I really would rather just go back to sleep, and for all of your bluster, I strongly doubt you can entertain me enough to make this worthwhile. Still, I may be lazy, but I'm not one to leave a job half-finished." it gave one more stretch, wriggling its toes and cricking its neck to shake off that last remaining hint of sleepiness. "I'll give you guys credit for actually coming here. Whether you're brave or just stupid, well, it's something, and I respect that. Now, let's get this over with. I'll even let you all attack first."
Aaron and Rowan ran up alongside Jerin, standing ready to strike.
"Wait! First, I need you to promise that no matter how this turns out, you're not going to attack the city again!" She called to it.
"And why should I do that?" the great beast chuckled. She simply glared at him, until he sighed, shaking his head. "Okay, fine. I have no interest in that filthy nest of yours anyways." Aaron looked around, making the dark lord feel compelled to add, "Ugh, fine, I'm also well aware of the hypocrisy of calling your home filthy, okay? Happy? Now, let's do this."
The four stood ready, not entirely certain of what to do. They were expecting the dark lord to at least attempt to attack first, and then scatter and counter, but instead it simply sat patiently. It came as little surprise that Jerin was the first to rush in, her brother following suit from the opposing side, neither taking a straight path instead rushing in an arc towards it. Meanwhile, Mathias readied his bow, Rowan his magic stones.
The two melee fighters simultaneously stuck at each fore paw, Jerin with a powerful two-handed thrust, and Aaron smashing the hammer into the limb, right above the toes, all the while the archer and sorcerer pelted the face and upper body with missiles, magical and non-magical alike. The dark lord simply looked down at the two siblings with a bored expression, deciding that it was finally time to strike, even if it did so rather half-heartedly. The two barely managed to leap back to avoid the sweep of its paws, neither of which showed even the slightest hint of damage from their earlier attacks. The pair were caught by surprise but quickly ran around its large body as it rose up onto all four feet, Rowan and Mathias similarly spreading out. As she ran, Jerin repeatedly slashed and stabbed at both of the left limbs, her brother going for a series of quick strikes as well, hoping that the feline might be more vulnerable from the rear. All the while Mathias reloaded, firing in quick succession at its right-front-limb, chest and head, all of the projectiles falling away. uselessly as they hit.
The dark lord raised one fore paw, looking under its legs at the two siblings, and swept its long tail, raising a storm of dust and wind which sent the pair tumbling back in front of the cat. They reacted quickly, regaining their footing and seeing the one leg raised, combined their strength against the one planted front-limb, in hopes of knocking the creature down. Jerin thrusted hard between the toes of the beast, Aaron bringing the hammer down with all his strength on top of them, Rowan hurting several charged bolts between the two which burst upon striking the foot, with Mathias aiming for the faint pink of the paw pad, hoping that it might prove slightly more vulnerable. If this were, indeed, the case, there were no clear signs of it.
It lowered its other paw to gently (by its standards, of course) slap at Jerin, and although she had managed to raise the sword to guard herself from the blow, it was still enough to send her flying her into a pile of metallic debris. Aaron leapt back between the ranged attackers, casting a brief worried glance towards his dazed sister, but decided that she was relatively unhurt. For now, at least. He looked closely at the foot that they had concentrated all of their strength upon, and his heart sank. No only were there no signs of a cut or bruise, not only was the fur hardly even out of place, but worst of all, the creature hadn't even bothered to extend its claws. It had barely even moved, thus far, simply watching on, looking no less bored than it had when the assault first began.
"Is that all you've got?" it asked, eyes half closed.
"This isn't working..." Aaron grumbled in a low voice to the others.
"Yeah, I've noticed. It's nice that it's not teleporting around or shooting lasers or anything, but it's a lot tougher than I expected." Mathias said. "Any ideas?"
"No, not really." the larger mouse shook his head.
"I may have one..." Rowan said, as both turned to him. "It is an ancient technique, a form of dark magic which I had hoped to never need to use."
"Do you think it will work?" Aaron asked with a skeptical tone.
"I do not know. It is both risky, and will require some time to prepare, but it is clear that we lack an abundance of options."
"So..." Mathias said with a grin. "We just need to distract that thing, and buy you some time? That sounds easy enough."
He stode up to the dark lord confidently, as Rowan lowered his head, rapidly chanting under his breath.
"Luckily, I still have a secret weapon. This dark lord might be strong, but it isn't all that fast. I'll bet it can't do much against a really small target. Come, Dondorion!" he called, looking to the skies.
A faint buzzing could be heard, growing louder as it drifted down onto Mathias' outstretched hand. "Now, strike the very heart of the enemy! Show no mercy!" the dark furred mouse shouted.
The fly floated towards the curious feline for a moment, hovering in place before quickly turning and darting off in the opposite direction, past Mathias and out of sight.
"Uh, yeah! Good idea! Go and get some reinforcements!" the black garbed mouse called over his shoulder before turning back to the dark lord. "You're going to be in serious trouble when he gets back!" he chucked, his at best half hearted laughter quickly dissolving into a disappointed sigh, as his shoulders slumped. The dark lord looked predictably unimpressed.
"I guess it's my turn..." Aaron said, looking to Mathias with annoyance. "Hey, you!" he called, walking up to the large creature, not noticing the fur on the back of his own neck standing up from the newfound static in the air.
The dull furred feline squinted, eyes focused upon the approaching mouse. "What, do you really think that you can do anything on your own, when all of your friends attacking at once could not?"
Aaron shrugged. "Probably not. It's pretty obvious that you're really strong." he said, continuing his approach, the volume of his voice growing just a little bit quieter as he spoke.
"Compared to you? That's no saying much." The dark lord Fury crouched down, silver eyes locked upon the mouse with the large hammer slung over his shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah, fair enough. I was just thinking..." Aaron continued, voice quieter still.
The feline shook his head, leaning in just a bit closer. "A poor habit, that. From my experience, little good comes from it."
"I don't know about that. Anyways, I was just thinking that your body sure is tough. It's like you're made of metal! Still, it can't be that hard all over, right?" the mouse marauder said, his voice little more than a whisper now.
"An interesting theory." the cat replied, chin nearly resting on the metal of its bed of assorted scraps, directly in front of the mouse.
"You've got to have a weak point somewhere... like maybe, Hyah-!" Aaron said, the final word a mighty battle cry which had been building within his chest for hours. He could feel his muscles strengthen, all worries vanish, and both eyes and spirit focus entirely upon the target at hand. With a single swift motion he drew back his weapon, putting his back and hips into the strike, and slammed the hammer down with everything he had, straight into the silver eye of the massive beast.
It would have been really nice if had the blow killed the dark lord outright. Pretty good if it had made him reel backwards in pain. Slightly better than nothing if it had at least made the creature blink. Instead, a heavy vibration went through the arms of the mouse, the stone he of the hammer resting against the wide eye of the dark lord. There was a sharp tink sound, as cracks spread through the head of the weapon, before crumbling into dust at Aaron's feet.
"That wasn't your entire plan, was it?" Fury asked, eyes still half closed, rising back up to his feet. Aaron couldn't even respond, blankly staring down at the wooden handle. "I guess it was a pretty good effort. Looks like you don't have any more tricks up your sleeve, though, so I might as well just end this." It said, raising a paw, extending wickedly sharp curved claws, each nearly as large as the mouse warrior himself. "Don't worry, like I said, I have no interest in bullying the weak. I'll make this quick."
Aaron didn't even hear the words. His mind was elsewhere. He had said before that it was as though the creature were made of metal, but that wasn't true, was it? Even metal could be scratched or dented. The battle with Seraphim, as awful and ridiculous as it was, was nothing like this, but then he thought back, and realized that this wasn't entirely true. Sure, she didn't completely shrug off the attacks, but once she had stopped teleporting around, he had hit her in the toes as hard as he could. Sure, she may have let out an angry yowl, and clearly felt the strike, but the bones of her foot didn't break, and she didn't even walk with the slightest limp after. Then Jerin attacked right after, and couldn't even cut her, despite landing a downright perfect attack, right to the face of the creature. As comparably weaker as the white cat had seemed to be, we couldn't hurt it either, and had the battle drawn out longer, we wouldn't have stood a chance, he thought to himself. We never stood a chance.
He didn't see the attack coming, and, so filled with despair in that moment, he might not have tried to dodge it even if he had. At the last second, Jerin shoved him out of the way, and managed to leap back just as the bladed paw came down between them. The earth shook from the impact, knocking both of them onto their tails, and once the dust had settled, a wide newly formed chasm had appeared in the earth between them, spreading out in a spider-web like pattern from the paw of the dark lord.
Mathias was, at first, watching the scene with great concern. That was before his attention had turned to what was happening next to him, which was, in its own way, no less worrisome. The old mouse had his arms extended outwards, palms facing one another, thin blue and white tendrils of energy amassing in the space between them. At first there was just the tiniest pinpoint of light where the strange energies had collided, but then it doubled in size. Then it doubled again, and again, until it transformed from a simple spark to a transparent glowing blue ball held within Rowan's paws.
The sorcerer, continuing his incantation raised both hands over his head, just in time as it doubled once more. It kept growing and growing, his hands shimmering with magical energies until his entire body could have easily fit within the center of the strange globe. At first it appeared to be weightless, but as it expanded further, this was shown to clearly not be the case. As it continued to swell, Rowan breathed quickly, legs wobbling, struggling to hold it upright. Now it was larger than the dark lord itself, who couldn't help but take notice, it's attention diverted from the two mouse siblings before it.
The last of the energy drifted from Rowan's desiccated fingers, not a moment too soon. The massive perfectly round orb pulsed with unnatural energy, the air about it a wavering blue haze.
"Screams of the flames, cries of the seas, howl of the wind, rage of the earth, grant me the strength to banish this lord of darkness!" Rowan called between deep breaths. "In the name of the forgotten chaos, the laughing death and the son of the endless night, fly true, and let all who stand before you be reduced to ashes!"
He hurled the great ball of energy, which wasn't entirely accurate, as it never quite touched his hands, but as he moved them, the orb of unnatural power launched towards the dark lord, which watched the spectacle with wide eyes. Fury blinked, as the glowing blue ball drifted towards him at an incredibly slow speed, drawing his head back for a moment as it grew close, before hesitantly raising a paw in front of its path, and extending a single claw towards it.
It stopped in mid-air with a thunk, colliding with the claw,, and fell to the ground, rolling with the sound of glass upon a hardwood floor. Fury grinned wide and mewled happily, batting the large ball back and forth, appreciating the warmth within its paws, clearly enjoying himself. However, concentrated energies conjured from the ether cannot sustain themselves forever, and soon, with a puff of blue smoke, it vanished from existence. Fury let out a disappointed mewl, and lowered his head, before turning to glare at the sorcerer responsible for it.
"Aha, it worked!" Rowan said, proudly, still panting from the exertion.
"How did that work? It didn't do anything!" Mathias said.
"You need to keep things in perspective, young man." the old mouse nodded. "When dealing with dark and forbidden rituals, anything which fails to tear open a hole in the fabric of reality and send you into hurtling into the screaming abyss qualifies as a tremendous success!"
The dark lord, Fury wasn't nearly so pleased with the result. It tossed its head back and roared, a deep loud rumble emanating from it, followed by a wave of incredible force as the intensity of the sound grew and grew. Nearby glass cracked, thin sheets of metal dented and distorted, and all four mice did everything they could to remain on their feet, but for even the strongest among them, it was a hopeless effort. Mathias looked down as his crossbow cracked and crumbled into pieces within his paws, with he and Rowan taking the brunt of the force, as each were thrown against a different twisted metal wall. The former thief, now dark knight looked over to his great grandfather, who laid limply within a newly created crevice in the metal wall, eyes closed, covered in dirt and debris, but thankfully still appearing to be breathing. His own ears were ringing, head hurting as he looked to the distant figure of the dark lord, only now realizing just how far he had been thrown, finally getting a real sense of just how powerful their opponent was, and how weak they were all in comparison.
Aaron was still lying on the ground, not badly injured, but still lost to the world, wondering exactly how had things turned out this way. That was when Jerin rushed in, blade drawn and struck at a front leg of the feline. It didn't work, of course, so she tried again, harder and faster, the blade becoming little more than a shimmering blur within her paws, as she forced herself to move quicker still, until sparks danced where the metal point struck over and over against flesh.
Then, with only a slight movement, the foot lifted, and a single feline toe flicked at her chest, knocking the sword from her grip. She was similarly launched off of her feet, rolling backwards before finally landing back onto her hind-limbs with a skid. She rushed back to where her weapon lay, tip embedded in the dirt, handle pointed towards the sky. The young mouse nearly reached it, just about to grasp the length with her fingers, when she was forced to leap back, once again, the heavy gray paw slamming down against the sword. She wiped the dust from her face, and looked back to the blade, three quarters of it now embedded within the ground. She leapt towards it once more, curled her fingers around the eye of it, and pulled.
Nothing happened. The sword didn't move in the slightest. She gripped it with both hands, foot pressed to the dirt, pulling hard, gritting her teeth from the exertion, but it was as though the blade were now a part of the earth itself. She only ceased her efforts once she noticed the shadow looming over her, and looked up to see the face of the dark lord. Its silver eyes were now wide open, forehead crinkled, mouth opened wider than she would have imagined possible in a twisted grin, and filled with row after row of wicked narrow fangs.
"Little mouse." It growled, its formerly apathetic expression twisted into something hateful and monstrous. "You you would be well advised... to run."
And that was exactly what she did. There were plenty of reasons to do this, not the least of which being that her companions were all down, and she needed to draw the creature away from them. This was a good reason, even if not the real one. The real one was a primal overwhelming fear which called to her deepest instincts, telling her that she absolutely had to get away from this creature, right now. She rushed away on all fours, and the dark lord, being a good sport all things considered, gave her a few seconds head start before bounding after her.
It didn't get far, however, stopping and turning its head to see Aaron, awakened from his stupor, tightly gripping its tail.
"Leave her alone!" the large mouse shouted at the dark lord, but the words were not even considered worthy of response. With a single swing of its tail, Aaron was thrown high up into the air, crashing through the remains of a glass pane in the wall of crushed metal. He worked himself back up to his feet with some effort, finding himself inside the remnants of the old vehicle. Hurting all over, he climbed up to the hole that his body had created, reaching it just in time to see the massive creature charge after his sister. He looked over at Rowan, the now distant and elderly mouse still not moving. Then, he looked a little ways away, at the nearby dent caused by Mathias, which was now empty.
"Coward..." he groaned before falling onto his back, closing his eyes and losing consciousness.
Jerin didn't even need to look over her shoulder to tell that the large creature was gaining on her. It was much faster than it had looked, and its stride far larger than her own. At the very least, the space between them gave her a few seconds to think. There had to be something that she could do, some way that she could win.
Why? asked a voice in her head. Why must there be some way to win? Because you want it really badly?
It was true. She couldn't think of anything that she should have done differently. She struck at it repeatedly, harder and faster than she could have dreamed possible, and it did nothing. Even if she had stabbed at it all day long, at any point on its body, until the sword was worn down to a nub, it still wouldn't have done anything. The dark lord was just too strong. For the longest while, she didn't even feel a hint of shame for running away, it just seemed completely necessary. She had only hoped that Aaron and the others would use this time to somehow escape.
There was a turn in the path up ahead, and she took the inside corner. A moment later, the massive beast skidded behind her, smashing into the far wall before resuming it's chase. It didn't take corners well, which helped slightly, creating just a little more distance between them, but this offered a temporary advantage, at best.
Mathias, for his entire life, had occasionally had occasionally gotten strange glimpses of other places and times, followed by a severe headache. This was the first time that he had experienced the process in reverse, where hitting his head had actually inspired such a vision. It was of a large slab of metal, one of the flattened versions of the overhang of their own city, assorted debris underneath it, sandwiched between another similar object.
He knew that it was somehow important, even if he had no idea why, and that was why he was now running along the top of the jagged metal walls looking for the place that he had seen. Down below he would get occasional glimpses of the chase, from above able to run in a straight line and not needing to go around any sort of bends, which helped him to remain ahead, but the search was a difficult one. Aside from countless minor details, at a glance, all the time which he could afford to spend on each one, all of the wrecked heaps looked the same. He rushed forward, always aware of the non-trivial chance that he had passed it by already, but having no choice but to take that risk. It wouldn't be long before Jerin had lost her race with the dark lord.
He ran and jumped, following a more-or-less a straight path away from the original battlefield, scanning his surroundings, when finally he spotted it. In his vision, he couldn't tell exactly what had made this one bit of wreckage so significant compared to the countless others, but now that he was finally here, it was quite apparent. The assorted bits of debris between the crushed heaps were small and looked relatively loose.
Mathias hopped down, digging away bits of metal and glass, tossing them aside, even as he heard a crash some ways behind him, the sound of the dark lord once more taking a sharp turn just a little bit too wide. They were coming towards him. He worked faster, but it didn't seem to be doing anything. He focused on larger pieces, which moved with great difficulty, and offered no greater result, finally seeing a thick plate of metal wedged between them, and poking out into the empty air. He grabbed it firmly, pulling as hard as he could, scraping the bald skin of his palms against the jagged surface, and just as he thought that it wouldn't move at all, it flew out, nearly taking the mouse along with it. There was a metallic groan as the mouse prepared for the near city-sized chunk of metal before him to slide free. Instead, he realized, it was the metal underneath him which was beginning to, the removed wedge not nearly enough to make the top of the wall come flying off, but still enough to imbalance the entire thing, forcing it to tilt precariously forward.
He quickly scrambled up as the slow lean grew more and more dramatic, leaping to grab a jutting out chunk of metal just as the wall crumbled beneath his feet, and looked down in horror as he saw Jerin frantically rushing towards the unstable barrier. He was certain that it was going to come down right on top of her, and had it fallen straight down, it very well might have, but instead it was a slow slide as metal ground against metal, taking its time to begin moving, but once it began, there was no stopping it.
Jerin only stopped running once she had heard the terrible crunching and clanging of metal behind her, the massive objects falling one after another directly behind her, finally reduced to a regular tinkle and ping of smaller bits landing all about. She turned, looking where the dark lord was expected to be, but instead just found a new wall of metal, now more of a pile, settling in place. She watched in awe, regaining her breath, when there was another loud crash, debris flying all around her. The dark lord Fury stood before her, shaking the bits of rust and other materials from its fur from where the creature had smashed through the twisted heap. It was unclear whether the wreckage had landed on top of the dark lord, or simply in front of it, but the result was the same either way. Jerin had to run.
Mathias simply looked down in shock, still hanging on by one hand. That was supposed to work. He was supposed to save the day, to defeat the unstoppable beast. Why did he have that vision, otherwise? Jerin and the dark lord had already run past, however, escaping from his view. Even if he weren't stunned by his confusion, even if there were something, anything that he could do to help, he was no longer ahead of the chase, and had no possible hope of catching up in time.
There was a huge metal gateway up ahead of the fleeing mouse, the sort of thing which might prove a significant barricade for one of the Makers, but was clearly not designed to keep her kind out, seeing as how she could simply run underneath it. It did nothing to slow her pursuer, either, which squeezed between the mesh doors, joined together by a length of chain. It was a tight fit, but offered the creature no real trouble.
Up ahead of Jerin were the flats, the dark paved surface where there was nowhere to hide from potential predators, but this was hardly a legitimate concern, given her current predicament. All at once the mouse swords-woman stopped, her hind paws skidding across the flat surface, and turned to face the dark lord, shield on one arm, her red plastic knife held out within the other. Running was pointless. It was only a matter of time, and clearly not very much of it, before the huge creature would overtake her and she found herself cut down from behind. The prospect of never seeing her death coming was an even more frightening idea than facing the unstoppable enemy before her. The dark lord slowed to a trot, staring at the exhausted mouse warrior.
"I'm not afraid of you.." she said between panting breaths, pointing her dagger towards the cat, desperately wishing that she could keep her paw from shaking. She wasn't certain whether she was trying to convince the dark lord or herself. Regardless of intentions, she hadn't succeeded on either front. This is is pathetic, she thought to herself. This was what I had wanted all along, to stand face to face with a dark lord, to battle it with my own strength. She'd finally come this far, but it took all of her will just to remain upright, all the strength drained from her legs.
"I didn't come all this way just to be beaten by someone like you. I've still got an enemy to kill. I'm not going to die against some dark lord who doesn't even know me, doesn't even care about whether our kind lives or dies. You're not even an enemy. You're-you're nothing." Jerin growled. She had wanted to badly to become stronger, and thought that she had, but in the end, nothing had changed since that fated day when Midnight had discovered their village, when all that she could do was sit and cower amongst her toys, unable to raise so much as a finger.
Ears flatted back, the dark lord, Fury, simply continued his slow approach.
"Say something, damn it!" she cried out, squeezing her dagger, "Am I not even worth taunting or mocking? Are none of us? I, all of us, are giving it everything we have, and you can't t even treat us like proper enemies! Are we that worthless?"
The grey furred cat stopped several lengths away from the swordswoman, but still said nothing. All those mice back home were counting on her, and thought that she was a great hero. Her friends were counting on her to lead them to victory, and she couldn't even say for certain whether or not they were still alive. She had just wanted to hear that she was a worthy foe, that she had put up a good fight. To know that her efforts up to this point at least meant something...
No, that wasn't true. She wasn't ready to die here, and all the pretty words in the world wouldn't change that. It wasn't over yet. So long as she still had breath within her lungs, and a weapon in her hand, so long as she had her true enemy to face, she couldn't afford to fall here. Defeat was not an option.
There was a blinding flash, the expressionless eyes of the grey feline went wide as it stepped backwards.
""What... what is this?" the dark lord asked, incredulously, as it looked to the lone mouse, fur shining gold, overflowing with newfound energy, the inner strength she always knew that she had, which had waited until right this moment to reveal itself. She looked back at him, her own glowing blue eyes similarly expressionless, all fear and doubt forgotten. Defeat was not an option.
That was the sort of thing which might have happened were this a bardic tale, her favorite sort of bardic tales, in fact. Just a few days ago, she might have even anticipated such a moment. Right now, however? She felt no sudden flood of power and determination. Quite the opposite, in fact. In this, her moment of greatest urgency and desperation, she had, instead, never felt weaker.
Still, she rushed the feline, teeth gritted, dagger raised, unable to bear her growing inner shame or the cold and heartless stare of her opponent, unconcerned with whether or not the weapon she held could even possibly damage the creature. She didn't even get the chance to find out. The mouse was unable to slash at the feline even once, instead the heavy and surprisingly swift paw, claws extended, caught her mid-charge. She raised her shield in an effort to deflect the attack, but it did no good. The claws effortlessly sliced through the metal, cutting it into ribbons, and would have done the same to her arm had it been in just a slightly different position. She may have evaded the claws, the but paw itself was another matter. It caught her small body directly, essentially spiking the small mouse into the ground, making her bounce off of it, rolling sideways into the street. She managed to regain her footing only briefly, the momentum from the strike carrying her forward, even as her feet, with nothing to grip on, struggled to remain upright. She rolled a few more times, before skidding onto her side, panting heavily.
The mouse had managed two heavy, pained breaths, quickly raising the small blade just as the round paw slammed down onto her back, pressing her against the asphalt. She tried to force herself up, but despite the fact that the dark lord hardly applied any pressure, she couldn't lift the paw at all. It was clear that it could crush her flat any time that it wished to, even as she repeatedly stabbed the knife behind her into the fleshy paw pad, the blade snapping in two with the third strike.
Her eyes went wide as she saw the gleam of white claws once more, curling in from all sides, ready to close in around her.
"You put up a pretty good fight, all things considered. I don't know much about fighting with swords, but that looked pretty impressive, and I'm sure would have been quite effective in a fairer fight, against a weaker opponent." Fury said to her. She panted from exhaustion, making another weak stab with the fractured handle of the dagger, the remnants of her mothers shield, little more than a handle and a jagged brown strip of metal, on her other wrist, pushing against the paw with all of the limited strength that her battered body could muster. She couldn't say that she was too surprised to find that the words she had waited for, just moments before, offered no bit of comfort.
"You weren't able to accomplish much, but still, I can respect the effort. No one asks to be born weak, and you and your friends certainly tried hard." the creature lowered its head, its large silver eyes peeking between the claws, looking into her own wide and terrified ones. "I've been around a long time, and have fought many, many battles... but you? You, I will remember. It might not sound like much to you, but in truth, that's the best outcome that a creature like you could have possibly hoped for."
Both of them heard a loud noise at this point, and both responded ways characteristic to their species. Jerin, as a smaller prey creature, even if a particularly brave one, tried to make herself small, and squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to hide. To escape. A wise decision, all things considered.
Fury, on the other hand, a powerful predator rose up to face the potential threat. A terrible decision, all things considered. A terrible decision that the dark lord had less than a second to appreciate as it looked up to, it's fearsome expression melting away as it saw the front fender of the oncoming truck, the other reason that mice tended to avoid the flats, coming straight for him.