"Nina!" Ren shouted at me while we were dodging the manticore's poisonous tail. "What are you planning?"
"You said that this thing can only be dealt with through decapitation. I will do just that," I shouted back.
"How?"
I looked at him, somewhat annoyed that he couldn't figure it out. "You can conjure ice, right?"
"Well yes. But what does it have to do with your plan?"
I rolled my eyes as I rolled my body away from the rampaging foot of the beast.
"Then you conjure ice to get me to its neck," I shouted at him as I slashed the beast's ankle, which made a huge dent. Blood came gushing out of it, golden blood. What the heck.
"Ren, what is this thing? Why is its blood golden?"
Ren, who was on the opposite side of the foot, poke his head out to see me, "A manticore. The blood is gold because it was made like that. But we need to fight first, questions later."
"Okay. Let's get this party started."
Ren and I planned the whole thing while dodging the manticore's attacks. He says the beast does not understand human language so we're safe. Our plans won't be foiled. But of course we made contingency plans in case something unexpected happens.
So after planning and swearing, we made a foolproof plan, except for one tiny detail - its success lies solely on me. Well, it's not really a big deal, but if I messed it up we're doomed. Hehe
So here goes to nothing.
I jumped up and an ice block appeared on where my feet was supposed to land on air. The ice served as my stairs. Ren's job was to provide me ice to where I 'm supposed to land. This part is a bit tricky because he needs to estimate and guess where to put the ice. But so far so good, and the manticore didn't mind him at all.
The beast has a simple mind - attack the one who looks threatening. Well thank you manticore.
Okay, back to the task at hand, I'm getting a little overconfident here. I was now good at dodging while jumping around the manticore, well of course provided by Ren's ice blocks. Now for the second phase, "Ren!" I shouted.
Ren surrounded the manticore with a thick wall of ice. This was to divert its attention to the ice and forget about me. I plan to sneak around its back and cut his head off from there.
And yes, the manticore ignored me and hacked on the ice that appeared in front of him. I told Ren to make the thickest one in front of the manticore and the sides to be just enough. I knew the manticore would be so dumb that he would go destroy the one directly in front of him.
When the manticore was busy hacking at it, Ren made a path of ice for me towards the neck. I smiled and nodded.
I ran up the ice path, gathering my momentum and concentrated my strength in this one single thrust. When I reached the peak and just near the neck, I jumped and slashed on the manticore's neck with the two swords.
Golden blood rained on the battlefield. I was drenched with it. The manticore's blood came spurting out of it like lava from an erupting volcano. It spurt out nonstop.
Yuck. I looked for Ren in the now-golden field. But Ren found me first, for he made the ice I was standing on float back towards him to the ground.
When my feet touched dry ground, I ran up towards him and hugged him tight. I felt my first drop of tear.
After some time, Ren looked at me, his eyes full of concern, "Are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere? Cellon, look if Nina's fine."
I shook my head. "No, I'm fine. It's just," I sat down, my energy drained and my mind a mess because of everything that's happened for the past hour.
"I'm just tired, confused. I don't know what to feel anymore Ren. Am I still the same?"
Cellon sat in front of me and made his light voodoo again. Ren sat beside me and rubbed my back.
"Don't worry Nina. For now, just relax. We are safe, for now. Everything will be explained later."
"I am not going crazy, right?"
Ren chuckled, "Trust me, you're saner than I am."
We were sitting there for some time, replenishing our energies when a thing like a warp gate from the movies I saw appeared right in front of us.
Three people came out of it, wearing white robes straight out of Greek mythology. One was a woman with red, long, curly hair and with eyes as red as a ruby. She was the most stunning woman I have ever seen, second only to me.
One was a young man. His hair was light brown, and his eyes were electric blue. He was handsome, but Ren was more handsome.
And the last one was an old man. His hair and beard were all white. I could see him as Merlin or Gandalf or a wizard straight out of novels. His eyes were the blackest I have ever seen. When you look at it, it's as if you were sucked inside, like a black hole out there in the outer space.
"Well, what do we have here?" the wizard asked while looking at me.
And I swear, I have never been so scared in my entire life, except now.