A foul bloody smell lingered. When he landed it seemed like his feet didn't quite touch the ground. The flute in his hand as he looked John in the eye. There was a light wind blowing like in an old western movie. John's hand was shaking as he held his sword. He could feel an aura of death from it which was greater than what was he felt from Penedh. He had been unable to talk to Noira since he came back since she was not quite herself and was wondering what was happening.
One by one the dwarves were coming out their stupor. A tremendous scene was in front of them. The giant ape was standing with a ice sword on his shoulder. The dwarf captains had a collective sneer on their faces. A red cloaked young man was standing on the ground opposite it with a flute in hand. John was standing in between them a few meters in front of the ape sword in hand. It looked like a conversation had transpired.
"How can you, who knows nothing stop me." Penedh said, "You don't even know what power is." His feet finally touched the ground. The snow had melted and the once hidden blades of grass wilted and turned dark. The healthy soil turned moist and murky as the dead plants spread from around him in a circle. Reaching the dead, crocodiles worms grew out of every orifice and every wound. Blood covered maggots ate at the flesh as it decayed and the smell of death emanated from them. This power was eerily familiar to John. A miasma of death. He shuddered as he took a few steps back since the aura of death was drawing closer to his person.
"Power, What is power if your'e the only one left alive. The strongest people always die alone."
"Hahaha! You think I am interested in making little friends. Numbers do not make strength, it is the definition of weakness." His voice had a reverb like it was machine enhanced. This was cliche to John but the dwarves shivered.
"The ramblings of a fool concern me none, I will do everything I can to stop you."
"You don't have the stones to do so." He made a seal with his hand and the flute transformed into a sword. The aura of death expanded a little more when the sword emerged and the foul stench of the dead beasts reached the commander after passing through the dwarves. Things had taken an unexpected turn. The Penedh had taken necessary steps to ensure that he was uninterrupted. He had placed almost the entire dwarf army under a spell, placed a barrier that even a spirit beast couldn't break with its immense strength.
"If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat." John said. The sword in his left hand was shaking furiously. The runes on the scabbard lit up as John felt there was no need to talk any more. He thought about all that the Commander had said: massacres, deaths ,sacrifices and the giant painting, it was all connected. The dance of death begun with this man right here and only very few people knew it.
Runes turned from blue to light blue to white as cracks appeared on the scabbard. The brighter is glowed the more cracks appeared. Similar blood mist appeared between the cracks. The Penedh seemed surprised. He did not expect that John had a weapon that could rival his, but it still wasn't enough. A human without a spirit was like a toddler in front of him.
"So what if you have the weapon, its not like you have the ability to use it." He swung his sword and a shrill rung out. Before he turned into a wisp of red smoke. John looked around as small sparks of lightning flashed in the palm of his right hand. The move was unexpected. He looked back at the ape behind him. The Penedh instantly appeared and punched its chest and made a few cuts with the sword. Just like the one before it the ape was surprised to even form a reaction. He was clearly after his crystal as well. The ape was knocked back and fell on the ground. Penedh turned into a wisp of smoke again before John could react.
The smoke spread out from where he disappeared and covered the entire area. From a birds eyes view only the chest of the ape could be seen above the smoke. His presence was completely hidden in the smoke. What kind of power was this? Clearly it was neither magic nor elemental power. John felt his lack of combat experience in this moment. There was not way to know how or when he would be attacked. He swung his sword aimlessly but he didn't hit anything. He had to disperse the smoke. How was he going to do that.
The ape groaned as it tried to get up and an idea hit John. 'Im sorry, ape thing you must have been a good beast that doesn't deserve this.' John thought to himself as he walked towards the noise. His senses were on full alert ready to react at any time. The dwarves and their captains were looking at the smoke in the crater. All they could see was the apes chest as it tried to get up. It seemed that the punch from before was not merely a physical one. Red cracks had begun to appear from its crystal core as it dimmed out.
A denser wisp of smoke appeared above it but the Penedh did not take form, instead the flute hovered above the dimming crystal. With a stabbing sound it went in and starting pulling it out. A large hand appeared from the smoke as it grabbed at its chest. The Penedh was ethereal and couldn't be injured by physical attacks.
Bzzt! a large bolt of lightning snaked its way from within the smoke and wrapped around the wisp of smoke and tightened. The Penedh turned physical upon contact as he was pulled away from his flute and into the smoke. With a smashing sound he hit the ground. The apes fingers were too big to grab the one foot flute. Each time it touched it, it groaned in pain as it pushed it deeper. The commander was concentrating on the crater. He could feel a strong magic from within it. Had the elves come to help and if so what were their intentions and how had they snuck into the land without alerting the dwarven advanced scouts.
"Bring the snow plow." he commanded. A large automaton the size of two bulky men combined soon rolled to the front. It was bronze in colour with a large blue snow flake like rune on its front. It had a large semi transparent spherical wheel above which was a cuboid with arms sticking out. Instead of arm was a gun like cylinder. The snow flake runes were on the front and back and in the middle were miniature versions of the crystal core that the Penedh had absorbed. It made its way slowly to the core and the runes lit up brighter before a blast of snow poured our from its guns into the crater. The smoke was displaced leaving only the apes chest visible once again.
The world went quiet. The commander had a satisfied look on his face. Now he had a front row seat to whoever possessed that strong magic. He looked at the bearded captain.
"Prepare magic restraining chains to capture whoever is in that hole. I want them bound tighter than a ticks ass. We have watched this charade for long enough. My dwarves are not people who are so easily messed with." He said.
"You there, send word to the second and third Garrison commanders." Ha! was the response.
"Sir, do we need to go that far." Balfrod asked.
"Do you deem to question my orders?"
"No sir." he humbly moved to the side. The commander leaped and jumped to the side of the automaton. He unsheathed a dagger that was hanging on his belt and cut his palm. The clothes on his arms peeled of as if they were being corroded by acid as shimmering emerald scales appeared. He made hand signs and a drop of blood fell on the ground. It seemed to have a life of its own as it turned into a tiny lizard. It sprinted in a circle around the crater each of its steps leaving an orange rune on the snow.
"Its the Salamander Fire Barrier." One of the men in ranks said
"The what?" another one asked.
"Have you never heard of it, Its a secret of the commanders lineage, Only if you have his bloodline and his summon spirit can you create that barrier. Its the first time seeing it. I heard its so powerful even a dragon is burnt by its flames." The lizard had almost finished running round the entire crater when suddenly, the ground started to shake.
Boom! a huge explosion blew all the snow out of the crater revealing all its occupants. The lizard blown away by the explosion caused the barrier formation to stop. The runes remained but glowed dimmer by the second. The Penedh had his wings spread out. They had returned to their white colour. like when they had first emerged. His aura was weaker. He lifted his hand and the flute levitated towards it. He was not wearing a shirt and there was a nasty burn mark on his waist. Johns magic had injured him slightly.
"You surprise me, Borm'ea," he said, "It seems the dwarves are ready to heed your words now, we will catch up another time." He turned around as if to flee. He could feel the increasing strength of the dwarven commander. He could not allow himself to be in a barrier that he couldn't break himself. Seeing this the commander started making hand seals again but before he could complete them a dark cloud suddenly appeared above the crater quickly followed by a white bolt of lightning. Johns right hand was raised as if he had called the lightning and as it hit he touched the ground with his hand. The lightning hit the ground with him as the conductor and spread out in a circle enclosing the crater in another barrier.
"At least that old man taught me something, This is the Heaven v Earth barrier even you cannot escape it." John said as he stood up straight. He was panting heavily. He had only practiced this spell a couple of times succeeding only once before. This was a big gamble that had spent alot of his magic force to put up. The Penedh who was high tailing hit the barrier and was rebounded to the ground.