Collab between
@four and
@Dear Karma
Tower of Demise (Top Floor): Struggling for the Clock
"Ran, Harper...." Lelia echoed Riley's words with the same worried expression mirrored on her face.
What could they do? Everything they had done till now had been for naught when the soldier casted his rewind spell and whatever they might do in the future seemed equally pointless. This last thought prompted her mouth to form silent words that went unheard. "Come back ... please."
The rest, however, leaped straight into action after hearing Ace and soon Lelia felt compelled to join. Without thinking, she ended up taking several steps to the right, which brought her in line with Harper's current angle. As her eyes flitted worriedly from her rapidly slowing friend to the last clock sitting on a low pedestal covered by a domed glass case, she recalled a story James used to read to her when she was younger. She couldn't remember the title right now, but she remembered the dying enchanted rose housed within a glass dome and the scary man-beast guarding it. Sometimes, she still wondered if the beast even bothered to water the rose, because wilting was a sign that the plant needed water
.
She blinked, suddenly realizing that she could get a clean shot at the pedestal and the encased clock sitting on it. Unconciously, she reached behind and pulled out a single arrow which she notched to the taut string of her bow. A semblance of a plan began forming inside her head, but for the first time in her life, Lelia only focused on the end result, shattering the case so that Ran or Harper could grab the clock. She pulled the string back and her amulet glowed. She took a deep breath, willing her arms to respond.
"Go, go!"
"Go?" Lelia snapped out of her zen-like trance and stared at Ace dangling from Mica's arm. Her eyes widened slightly, as a new thought overrode the first. Lelia's amulet glowed once again and she fired a single shot at Mica's arm.
Like before, her arrow bounced off the golem's hand and fell harmlessly to the floor. Mica, despite not being hurt, turned to search for the archer. He was still looking around, when a black streak shot pass him then it zipped back in the opposite direction. Poor Mica froze; his mind barely registering Cobalt's presence until it was too late. A spurt of cherry red flames hit Mica in the face, causing the golem to swat at the pesky dragon with his free hand, but, like an annoying housefly, Cobalt hovered out of reach.
Noe continued pressing her fingernails into her cheeks, while she worried about Ran then Harper then Riley then Ace and finally Cobalt. She bounced uselessly from foot to foot, watching Mica tracking the young dragon using sight.
Wait, sight? Noe's hands fell to her side, as her rider training took over. She continued observing how the golems responded to sight, sound and sensation, as things began coalescing at the back of her mind. She needed one last component to make everything come together, but ....
what?
More flames began dancing here and there and the resulting glare made Noe's eyes watered. The healer responded by lifting her arm up to shield the top half of her face.
That's it! The golems' outer surface acted like highly polished mirrors, so theoretically a blast of light should reflect off them repeatedly and blind both of them ...
eventually. She lost confidence again, as she realized she had forgotten the boss. Noe took a deep breath and searched for him.
Oh, he's standing just behind the two golems. Judging from his furrowed brows, it seemed that the Clockwork Soldier was struggling to focus.
Meaning, he needed concentration to sustain his current spells.
This realization caused Noe to pause for a second time. She knew breaking his focus would null his spells for those precious few seconds, but how was that going to fit into her current plan. Noe sighed uncomfortably, wishing Ise was here beside her. Her friend was always much more decisive and so awfully clever. As she dwelled on what her friend would have done in this situation, everything clicked.
No wait! It still worked. All she had to do was create a stronger blast, even though it would blind everyone else in the room. It wasn't much, really, but it sounded like a step in the right direction. Feeling a lot more hopeful, Noe looked around for a potential ally and the first person she saw was Lelia.
"Miss Archer, I have a plan!" Noe said in her back-to-normal quiet voice.
"Plan?" Making sure that she kept out of Mica's sight, Leila trotted to a halt besides Noe and listened.
"I need someone to grab the golems' attention while I cast a light spell. The blast should blind them and the soldier,
hopefully. This should break the soldier's concentration, leaving Ran and Harper free from the spell he placed on them."
Light spell? Leila turned to look at the stone giant with Ace latched onto one of its arms and Cobalt circling it. A slab of material identical to what the rest of it was made of covered the area on their faces where the eyes would have been on a human's. "The golems?" She said, in the meantime drawing her bow to point to her side, "do they even -"
The golem stopped its flailing around for one moment and swatted the incoming arrow aside in a fashion that was unmistakably a result of seeing it coming.
"Yes," came Noe's whispered affirmation. At that time, though, Leila was not facing the direction of the healer because she had her eyes on the worrying sign that was Mica fixing the orientation of his head in their direction.
"This has to work -" she said, turning back to Noe, "-on the first try."
"Yes or your mana runs dry eventually." Noe nodded, sounding a little out of sync. "And we would have less options. Get ready," Noe instructed suddenly, as she noticed that Howl was moving away. "We need to act now. Miss Archer, it's all on you. Do what you can to aid Ran and Harper. Um .... you'll know when because I need to trigger the blast." The last bit went unsaid, because Noe chose to have faith in Lelia.
Surely, someone so scholarly would think of a better plan.
Leila neglected to return a nod beforehand, picking up pace in her run towards Mica served just as well as a gesture of confirmation. Noticing that Howl and Mica are about to shift position, Noe pressed her second finger against her thumb and brought them to her lips. The shrill whistle coming from her lips made both golems stand still.
Before Mica could respond to Noe, the golem's attention was again diverted by the nuance that was a series of arrows sent its way. Leila moved slowly around the creature, minding the intervals between each shot so that it never had enough time to take off in any one direction. The violent motion loosened Ace's grip and Cobalt reacted by swooping in to rescue Sasha's friend.
Good, both of them remained where they were supposed to be, Noe thought with some relief, even though her heart raced crazily inside her chest.
And ... hopefully, the redheaded hooman was okay. Noe pushed away these distracting thoughts with much reluctance and straightened her arms, so that her staff was in front of her.
Clearing her throat quickly and willing herself into the proper frame of mind, Noe began redirecting her mana into the staff until it glowed a gentle yellow. Her lips moved soundlessly, as she uttered the words of her incantation. Feeling wood grow warm in her hands, Noe fixed her eyes to the ceiling to prevent herself from getting distracted at this crucial juncture.
"Odathi ionfese igesuni!" Noe cried loudly, raising her staff above her head. A ball of light rocketed towards the ceiling. It soared higher and higher until it was way above the golems. Predictably, they began following the ascending orb with their unseen eyes. Noe bit her lower lip, waiting for the right moment to trigger the light burst.
Reaching over her back for the quiver Leila realized that there weren't many left. Then again - this only had to work once. Taking a step backwards out of the range of the golem, she sent one more shot in the direction of its visor, on which the arrow snapped. She shifted her position a bit more, notched another arrow, and pointed it at the golem's face. She looked over her shoulder at the healer.
"Azmum!"
Closing her eyes and tucking her head down, Leila released the arrow in the blind into a trajectory that was way too high to come anywhere close to hitting the golem just as the shimmering ball that floated below the ceiling exploded, scattering rays of light in all directions. Most ricocheted repeatedly off the golems' crystal bodies, which intensified and prolonged the blinding brightness. Startled shouts could be heard, as everyone in the room was affected, whether they were looking directly at the golems or not. Noe felt her staff slip from her hands and she dropped to her knees to find it. Her vision had gone white, but slowly black dots started forming round the edges.
Even with hands covering her eyes, Lelia's vision still went slightly blurry, so she could only enact in her mind what would have went down within the field of blinding light out of her sight. The parabola would miss Mica, arch over where Ran and Harper were struggling to move forward, and - hopefully - intersect with what she had been aiming at.
Until the light faded, she couldn't see; but from a distance she did hear a sound that vaguely resembled a case made of glass shattering, and the cascade of shards hitting the ground. Finally, when the light ebbed away, Lelia removed her hands and peered ahead. She could see Ran and Harper's shadowy outlines wobbling drunkenly, as they continued running. Even though they appeared to be affected by the blast, they were moving a lot faster now. Lelia rubbed her eyes. Staring even further into the distance now that her sight was a lot clearer, she saw that protective glass was gone. That meant the clock was theirs, if the two reached it before the next rewind.
