Everyone watched in horror as Grol began to violently transform. He ripped off his helmet, gritted his teeth, and clenched his now exposed head as his body rapidly began to grow. He howled in pain as his muscles and limbs forced his armor to explode from his body. His skin began to turn a dark shade of grey. His hair grew long and wild. A black marking that had been hidden by his helmet, began pulsating and spreading across his entire body. Once his transformation was complete, he simply stood staring up at the sky as steam radiated from his body.
Darius held up a hand towards everyone. "Stay back." He inched closer to a silent and completely foreign Grol. "Grol? Big man? You still in there?"
Suddenly, Grol snapped his head to look at Darius with rage filled glowing red eyes. He immediately realized Grol wasn't in control anymore. "Faelar! Take her and get the hell out of here!"
Faelar opened a large rift behind him, grabbed Alice, and dove into it.
Grol roared with enough force to shake the trees before he rushed towards Darius. His fist, now double the size it was before, connected with Darius's face, sending him flying through several trees before slamming into the side of the mountain. The force of the impact knocked the breath out of him, and destroyed part of the mountain side.
Fenris, drew his blade and slashed at Grol's back. The blade barely broke Grol's skin and only seemed to piss him off even more. "What?"
**********
Faelar and Alice came out through another portal at Faelar's previous position in the treetop over the yurt. "What's going on here?! What happened to him?!"
Alice sat staring in defeat at the fight beneath them. "Damn it. I told him if we escaped I'd get him help in the city. I can't even do that right."
Faelar tried to snap her out of it. "Hey! Hey! Get him help with what?! What's wrong with him?!"
"It's his curse. He was born during an eclipse. The orcs call it the Day of Darkness. No one knows why, but those born during these events are cursed with nigh uncontrollable rage and desire for destruction. Children born during it usually die due to their bodies being too weak to contain the curse. Since he was an orc, his body was much stronger than any human child. He survived and thrived, with his curse growing stronger and more dangerous with every passing year."
"I've never heard of such things."
"I'm not surprised. It's an extremely rare occurrence."
"Well do you know how to stop him before he kills us all?!"
"From what I've read, the only way to stop someone who's curse is activated is by killing them or knocking them unconscious, otherwise they'll simply rampage until they drop from exhaustion. I imagine you can guess the difficulty for either one of those solutions."
Faelar looked on at the fight raging below them. He wanted to stop Grol, but he felt sorry for him. He knew what it was like to feel cursed and be isolated. He couldn't imagine actually being cursed and not being able to control himself as he hurt those around him.
**********
Grol spun, swinging his fist at Fenris's head. He ducked just in time to feel the gust of wind created as Grol's fist barely missed him. Grol immediately followed it up with a another punch to Fenris's face. He dove and rolled away just as Grol's fist hit the ground, creating a crater at his feet.
Fenris got to his feet and changed tactics. He willed himself into his giant wolf form and began circling Grol, who was grunting and roaring in frustration at missing his target. He was looking for an opening, but only felt hopelessness as he saw that the cut on Grol's back had already healed.
Grol charged at him and grabbed for his tail. Fenris took the opportunity to grab one of his legs and throw him into the outer wall of logs. It didn't seem even seem to phase him. As he hit the wall, he tore one of the massive sharpened logs free and hurled it at Fenris. He caught it in his mouth, spun, and sent it right back. Grol jumped over the speeding wooden missile and slammed into Fenris's side, sending him tumbling across the ground. He got up and they stood snarling at each other before quickly charging each other again.
This time Grol managed to grab onto Fenris's tail, but at the same time, Fenris bit into his right shoulder. Grol howled in pain, immediately releasing Fenri's tail and grabbing for his face. He tried to pull him off, but Fenris was latched on tight. Fenris lifted Grol off the ground and shook his head vigorously digging his fangs further and further into Grol's shoulder. Grol responded by alternating between beating Fenris's snout and trying to pry him off.
Eventually he gave up trying to pull him off. He swung himself and used his momentum to force his feet back to the ground. After, he began slamming himself and Fenris into trees over and over again. Each tree he slammed into was toppled, and with each tree felled, Fenris's grip weakened.
Just as Fenris was about to pass out, he heard a familiar voice in his mind. Let go.
He released his grip, and fell to the ground battered and bleeding. Exhausted, his body morphed back into his regular form. He looked up as Grol turned to face him as his shoulder rapidly healed itself. Grol raised a fist and roared again, before Darius seemingly materialized in the air and kicked him towards the mountain.
He spat a bit of blood to the ground before kneeling to talk to Fenris. "I'll take over from here. Just try to rest up."
"Darius. I tried my best. He keeps healing his wounds, and it's hard to damage him in the first place."
"Don't worry I'll think of something." He rushed off deep into the forest after Grol.
Just then another rift opened and Faelar and Alice stepped out of it.
"Fen!" Faelar rushed to his side and helped him to his feet. He slung his arm over his shoulder and helped him to lay against a fallen log the orcs had used as a bench.
"Faelar you idiot. Darius told you to take her and run. What are you still doing here?" His voice was weak and it took everything he had to even be angry.
Alice, who had knelt beside Fenris, answered instead of his brother. "He stayed here to cover your ass. You should be thanking your brother instead of complaining, now stay still. I've recovered enough mana for at least this much. Lesser Restoration!"
Her hands began to emit a soft green light that slowly covered Fenris. He felt a warm tingly feeling that worked its way over his body. His wounds began to slowly mend themselves as the light reached them.
"Um. Thank you. And..... sorry Fae."
"Your welcome. Now we need to find a way to contact the Saharian."
Fenris and Faelar exchanged confused looks before they looked at the destruction being caused by the fight between Darius and Grol. "You mean Darius?"
"Darius hm? So that's his name. Anyways, yes him."
Faelar understood what she meant. "You're right. We have to tell him his options here." Fenris was about to ask what they were talking about before he passed out. "Fen?"
"He's fine. I only had enough mana for a low level healing spell. The worst of his wounds have been closed, but that spell doesn't cover everything. He needs to rest."
"Well I guess that just leaves me then."
He focused on Darius's mind and spoke. Darius. The only way to beat him, is to kill him or knock him out. I'm sure I don't have to say it, but please find a way to stop him without killing him.
He didn't respond and Faelar simply hoped he heard him.
*******
Darius dodged and exchanged blow after blow with Grol. Their fight was wrecking the terrain around them. Trees had been uprooted or destroyed, craters littered the ground, and fissures marked the spots at which they'd each been knocked into the mountain side.
Darius had heard Faelar speak to him, but was too distracted to respond. He had no intention of killing Grol, demonstrated by the fact that he hadn't drawn Fulgur. He hadn't used his powers either. He'd just been fighting Grol with his fists in hopes of knocking him out. His hits defintely seemed to hurt Grol, but he wasn't sure if he could hit Grol hard enough to knock him out without killing him.
He was at his wits end when he got knocked back, and slid to a stop in a crouched position. He noticed Grol's heavy breathing as he grunted and growled at him. That's when it hit him. He still needs to breathe like everyone else. To breathe requires oxygen. I just have to take him somewhere with little to no oxygen.
He stared Grol down and waited for his chance. Grol was breathing hard and angrily grunting. Then he saw it. Grol took off towards him in a hard sprint. Darius returned the favor and ran right at him. Right before they connected, Darius slid between Grol's legs, and grabbed them in one motion. He ripped them from under him, and Grol went face first into the dirt.
Before he could recover, he picked him up by his legs and began to rapidly spin. He spun faster and faster, until he built up enough momentum and flung him straight into the air. Grol rocketed up into the sky screaming his defiance. "I hope this world's atmosphere is similar to Earth's."
Darius's eyes began to glow. He transformed into a bolt of lightning and shot into the sky in pursuit of Grol. Just as Grol stopped ascending, Darius materialized in a flash of lightning and punched him further into the sky. Over and over he repeated this, sending Grol higher and higher into the sky. They broke through the cloud top, but he knew he had to go higher. He took a deep breath, and continued even further.
Ice began to form on Grol's body. Darius noticed Grol's movements becoming more sluggish, and he was making less noise each time he sent him flying. Finally, they reached a point at which even the clouds were far below them. Grol's body was now covered in bits of ice. He tried to let out a weak scream, but it was cut short as he finally succumbed to the lack of oxygen. His eyes rolled into his head as he passed out, and his body immediately began to transform back into his normal form. The markings glowed softly as they retreated back to his forehead.
Darius caught him and began to mold the clouds beneath them to land on as they fell back to the ground. They landed safely on the large cloud he'd molded with a soft thump. Darius still hadn't learned how to allow others on his clouds, so he held on to the now unconscious Grol as they floated down to their worried friends below.