Post by notthecoolest on Sept 19, 2012 21:27:39 GMT -5
Healing could only go so far. She'd healed her various wounds from the scrap she'd just barely escaped, but as she trekked through the deep desert, she knew that there was nothing she could do about the overwhelming thirst and fatigue that had begun to claim her. "Why haven't I thought of a spell for this?" she shouted at nothing, all but dragging herself toward the blank, unchanging desert before her. She was completely spent, and it was high noon - meaning that it could only get hotter for the next few hours before cooling into a bitter icy wasteland. She was sure she'd be dead by then.
She, Xana Arkiov, was something she hadn't been in a long time. She was screwed. So utterly lost and helpless that she could do nothing about her situation but accept her death. Her Nana had died, meaning no one was around to save her and heal her ailments this time. She was lost and alone. Even her glowing friend, who was barely visible in the bright light of the desert, was beginning to sputter in and out of existence.
I'm going to die here, she thought sullenly. How am I supposed to get out of this? There's nothing out here. Nothing but sand and all the poor souls who died just like I will.
Her sluggish mind caught up to her, and she stopped dead in her tracks, the thought hitting her like a bolt of lightening. She dropped to her knees on the ground, sticking her hands into the sand and closing her eyes. Using some of the last of her stores of energy, she sought out a connection, via magic, to the earth below her. Her lips moved frantically as she mentally recited incants to link her spirit to nature. She could detect them, dotted in the waste beneath her. Her saving grace!
And there was something bigger, too. Something that may just be exactly what she needed. But it would spend all of her energy. There were no guarantees in this situation.
She looked about for anyone else. She knew that what she was about to do could rub some people the wrong way - it was even illegal in certain lands. But, desperate, she reasoned that she was unfamiliar with this desert, so she could claim ignorance if asked.
Satisfied, she turned back to the sand beneath her, clutching it in her hands and closing her eyes in concentration. "Unhallowed ground below me, spring forth your well of chaos in aid of my unholy deeds..." she whispered. She'd made the spell herself, and it was one of the strongest of her necromancy. But she would need it for something this large.
The ground rumbled beneath her. Black, snakelike lights shone in the sand, stretching from her hands and out in a radius of sixty feet. It created a circle of shaking sand before her, and for a moment, everything stilled. The light dimmed. She wondered if she had been unsuccessful.
Then, the corpse dragged itself from beneath the earth, parting the sand like water as its rotted flesh and dried bones appeared before her. Its claws gripped the earth as its lower body and tailed wriggled to the surface behind it. Without working vocal cords, it opened its mouth in a silent growl. Its eyes shone red.
She'd never done something so big. She smiled. A drake. A small drake, nothing like the dragons of lore. But she'd resurrected it. And now it stood before her, waiting for her command.
With that last sight and happy thought, Xana toppled over, exhaustion finally overtaking her.
She, Xana Arkiov, was something she hadn't been in a long time. She was screwed. So utterly lost and helpless that she could do nothing about her situation but accept her death. Her Nana had died, meaning no one was around to save her and heal her ailments this time. She was lost and alone. Even her glowing friend, who was barely visible in the bright light of the desert, was beginning to sputter in and out of existence.
I'm going to die here, she thought sullenly. How am I supposed to get out of this? There's nothing out here. Nothing but sand and all the poor souls who died just like I will.
Her sluggish mind caught up to her, and she stopped dead in her tracks, the thought hitting her like a bolt of lightening. She dropped to her knees on the ground, sticking her hands into the sand and closing her eyes. Using some of the last of her stores of energy, she sought out a connection, via magic, to the earth below her. Her lips moved frantically as she mentally recited incants to link her spirit to nature. She could detect them, dotted in the waste beneath her. Her saving grace!
And there was something bigger, too. Something that may just be exactly what she needed. But it would spend all of her energy. There were no guarantees in this situation.
She looked about for anyone else. She knew that what she was about to do could rub some people the wrong way - it was even illegal in certain lands. But, desperate, she reasoned that she was unfamiliar with this desert, so she could claim ignorance if asked.
Satisfied, she turned back to the sand beneath her, clutching it in her hands and closing her eyes in concentration. "Unhallowed ground below me, spring forth your well of chaos in aid of my unholy deeds..." she whispered. She'd made the spell herself, and it was one of the strongest of her necromancy. But she would need it for something this large.
The ground rumbled beneath her. Black, snakelike lights shone in the sand, stretching from her hands and out in a radius of sixty feet. It created a circle of shaking sand before her, and for a moment, everything stilled. The light dimmed. She wondered if she had been unsuccessful.
Then, the corpse dragged itself from beneath the earth, parting the sand like water as its rotted flesh and dried bones appeared before her. Its claws gripped the earth as its lower body and tailed wriggled to the surface behind it. Without working vocal cords, it opened its mouth in a silent growl. Its eyes shone red.
She'd never done something so big. She smiled. A drake. A small drake, nothing like the dragons of lore. But she'd resurrected it. And now it stood before her, waiting for her command.
With that last sight and happy thought, Xana toppled over, exhaustion finally overtaking her.
' Bloody heck, two jobs and a BUNCH of kerfuffle later, and I'm back AGAIN.