"Run!" Duncan yelled and rushed past his two companions.
Shiv and Briggs, who had been resting while Duncan scouted ahead, suddenly threw themselves to their feet and bolted after the air mage.
"What is it this time?!" Shiv yelled at the breathless noble's back only to be shushed vehemently.
Shiv obeyed, and along with Briggs, ran as quietly as they could after Duncan who kept furtively glancing over his shoulder. They abruptly ducked behind a half-collapsed wall and jumped over a still-smoldering fire only to land on a wooden floor that collapsed. They landed in what had once been a basement, and scrambled to their feet with wide eyes as the sound of heavy footsteps came closer… and closer.
Without having to be asked, Shiv manipulated the stone under foot into a makeshift roof over the trio. They sat under the makeshift hideout and tried to slow the rapid beating of their hearts as the earth-shaking footsteps came every closer. Shiv saw a dark shadow engulf the ground around them not covered by his roof, and involuntarily gulped.
Then the shadow disappeared, and the footsteps passed over them and began to fade away.
Shiv relaxed with a sigh, and opened his mouth to say something, only for Duncan and Briggs to lunge at him to place their hands on his mouth. They remained in that uncomfortable position until Shiv thought he was about to suffocate to death. Finally, they hesitantly removed their hands with many fierce warning looks and only communicated in hand signals. They made a lot of gestures and movements that he didn't understand, but he was at least able to get the gist of it: we need to get out of here.
Feeling annoyed, he nodded his understanding and motioned for them to lead the way. Briggs nodded and turned to peak out from under the roof while Duncan made several more emphatic shushing motions.
Shiv took a threatening step toward the man, and was rewarded with what he was certain was a rude gesture for Glasmoore.
Briggs gestured for them to follow him, so they both adopted serious expressions and did so. They made their way out of the basement and into the ruins of the city, and made a beeline for the gate, which was at an angle away from the direction the footsteps had moved in.
They were relatively safe, with only a few run-ins with animals traveling in pairs or on their own. They were able to sneak up on them and dispatch them with little trouble and noise. '
When they reached the gate, Shiv felt his gut drop. On the wall above the gate stood Blaze with the help of crutches. Uriel right beside her, ready to react at a moment's notice if she looked like she was going to fall.. She was looking out into the city, searching for something.
Shiv motioned for Briggs and Duncan to hide, but it was too late: Blaze had seen them.
"Hey! Up here! I climbed all the way on my own!" She waved her hands excitedly then pulled something out of a pocket in her cloak. "And look at my new toy! It looks like Brother!" Her excited shouts and laughter echoed through the ruins, and all three men froze for a brief second before running with every bit of speed they could manage for the gate. But it was all for naught- the sound of heavy footsteps crashing toward them at a terrible pace could be heard almost before Blaze finished yelling.
The three men kept running until they reached a position Briggs judged to be defendable. It was a stone tower that had collapsed and had been melted into a single tall stone, and the trio were now standing at the top of it. Right as they reached the top and turned, they were given a face-to-face look at their pursuer.
Grinning at them grotesquely was the gray face of a man on the body of an upright hippo with the arms of a human. It was disgustingly tall, and its massive belly looked like it could hold enough food to feed a city for a week. And not a city that Shiv had destroyed, either. Its gargantuan, spongy hooves looked like tree trunks, and sank into the ground with every new step it took.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing about it was its absolutely massive pair of hairy human ears.
It came to a stop in front of the three men, still grinning freakishly as it stared at them with inhuman eyeballs big enough to use as basketballs. "What…?" Shiv couldn't say anything more than that. He was too horrified by the monstrosity standing before him.
"Just be glad there's only one. They usually travel in pairs." Duncan said in a perfectly casual tone of voice.
Briggs ended the standstill by cocking his hand back and then going through the motion of throwing something, even though there was nothing in his grasp… until the very end of the motion, when a javelin of ice grew from his palm and flew toward one of the open eyes of their monstrous opponent.
The creature closed its eye at the very last moment, knocking the javelin slightly off course with its giant eyelashes. The weapon penetrated its cheek and revealed that the creature bled red blood.
Still staring at them with its one open eye, the monster's grin seemed to grow wider as it lifted its hand and swung it at the trio of would-be world destroyers.
Shiv heard the distinct sound of a familiar voice sighing in his mind, then witnessed a wolf fly over him and slam into the arm of the abomination. The wolf immediately went berserk, shredding into the soft flesh with its teeth and claws.
The monster was suddenly encased in metal where the wolf was attacking, preventing any more of the shaggy dog's attacks from doing more damage.
The three men did not sit idle while the wolf provided that distraction, however, but instead sent a flurry of elemental weapons at the face of the giant. Briggs threw several more ice javelins while Duncan threw what Shiv guessed to be invisible knives. Their attacks landed and caused many small slices and cuts on the face of their enemy before it also was encased in protective metal.
While all of that was happening, Shiv knelt and placed both of his hands on the burning hot stone beneath him and focused all of his energy into his next attack. The side of the tower facing the giant quickly moved and formed a spear that grew rapidly and shot forward into the giant's chest and exited the other side. The monster was pinned to the rock tower.
None of this seemed to bother it as much as the wolf, which had climbed to its shoulder and was about to attack its neck.
The giant had turned its head toward the wolf, protecting its open eye from the flurry of attacks the two short men were sending its way. It looked down at the wolf with a baby blue eye and grinned even wider as it turned its shoulder into a spiky metal hell. The wolf was pierced in many places by the spikes, but made no sound aside from an annoyed grunt in Shiv's mind.
Something appeared on the giant's shoulder in front of the wolf. The thing turned out to be a pair of long, thick vines that lunged forward and wrapped themselves around the giant neck and began to squeeze.
The giant finally had a change in expression, turning from evil glee to panic, and it brought up its arm and smashed the wolf, stabbing its hand with its own spikes in the process. When Uriel died, his vines ceased their asphyxiating attack, and the giant frowned and shook its head, as if clearing a fog that had descended upon its mind. It looked curiously at its hand, then Its face turned slowly to regard the three humans still standing on the pillar. It cocked its head to the side, then followed the pillar down to find seven spikes stabbing its torso.
When it saw the irreversible damage done, it paled considerably and made the first vocal noise Shiv heard from it.
It screamed.
Shiv made one last spike grow from the pillar, this one stabbing the monstrosity in the neck. Then he knelt and formed a massive greatsword in his hand and ran across the spike to the monster's face and screamed back as he began hacking away in fury. He was so ferocious and brutal in his attacks that neither Duncan nor Briggs could watch him for long.
He sliced and hacked long after the creature had died, continuing on with the fury filling him. "Nobody was allowed to kill the ugly dog except me! Me! No one…" He finally stopped, having run out of energy, and collapsed. He inhaled a shaky breath and tried hard to prevent his tears from escaping.
"Wait till I tell Blaze that you got teary eyed for me. It'll be nice for her to know that her dad has emotions aside from anger and hatred."