People say that the moment before your death, your entire life will flash before your eyes. Zoe herself believed that the happiest memory of your life would continue on repeat at the last moment of your life.
As she watched Exi's metal tendrils approaching her at much faster speeds than she could will her sand up though, there was no memory playing back to her. Instead she felt another presence, another being inside her.
A being of pure power
A being made up of unalduerated energy.
A being which was saying something to her, which was reaching out to her.
The essence of magik itself.
Release your power. Release your power.
A voice resonated within her. Time seemed to slow down further. And then...
And then the impossible happened.
As she watched, there was a fire which engulfed Exi, causing him to scream in pain and pushing him sideways, crashing into a tree. The sand tendrils which were rising around Zoe soldified into four pillars which rose skywards on four sides of her. At the same time as Exi crashed against the tree, the four sand pillars struck him again, burying him in the ground.
"Inito. [[Sand Queen]]." Zoe finally incanted as she slowly stood up. Then she looked back to see the source of the fire.
"Midir!" She cried out in happiness at seeing the guide walking towards her, limping. His left wing had been completely shattered and he was bleeding from a wound in his forehead, but he was very much alive.
"Thank the young lass over there. Famina can barely talk but she pointed me over to you right away." He said, gasping between breaths.
His injuries are serious too, Zoe thought gravely.
"I see you have achieved your Inito." Midir said, trying to smile as he pointed towards the four sand pillars surrounding Zoe.
"Yes.....It was unexpected." Zoe said, still trying to make sense of what that being was that contacted her from within.
"First time Inito always like that." Midir said, as he finally caught up with Zoe and stood beside her, surveying the place where Exi had landed.
The hole in the ground slowly turned silver. And then the hole itself rose up, completely metallic. Exi was sitting calmly on top of the hole, and he smiled when he saw Zoe and Midir.
"You didn't think that was the end of me did you?"
Neither Zoe nor Midir responded. In fact they said nothing as General Fridt burst up from the bushes behind Exi and slammed his his battleaxe to the side of his face, as hard as he could.
This time even through metal, Zoe could hear a sickening crunch as Exi went flying the other direction, smashing against the cave wall. As soon as he got up, he saw Midir in front of him.
"Hey man aren't you supposed to be dead?" Exi asked, still smiling as he massaged his right temple where the General had struck him.
Without answering Midir just let loose a burst of flames, directly enveloping Exi's whole body. Zoe used two of her pillars to smash into Exi's stomach sending him flying back towards where the other two pillars were and then like a volleyball he was punched back towards the initial two pillars.
The second time however Exi manuevered himself to jump in between the small gap between the two sand pillars, escaping from this perpetual trap and landing on the ground.
Zoe expected him to be somewhat injured but to her dismay even after that assault he appeared lightly singed at best. Her sand punched and the General's battleaxe had done no damage almost to his metallic body, it was only Midir's fire which had affected him.
Which is why he went for Midir first.
Just like with the Clackers, Zoe realized again how indispensable the guide's magik was in this forest.
Meanwhile Exi was dusting off the sand on his metallic body, and then he smiled at Zoe and Midir.
"A three pronged attack, still you weren't able to land more than a scratch on me. That should show you the hopelessness of this battle for your side."
"Resorting to quips already? Are you that interested in delaying our attack?" Zoe asked sarcastically, even though she wasn't able to see a path to victory.
Yet.....
The General interrupted her thoughts, once again attacking first. His axe this time was already imbued with light magic and he spun it like a top as he threw it towards Exi. The latter easily jumped to one side, but the axe was just a distraction, meant to hide the huge body of General Fridt behind who took the opportunity to capture Exi in a bearhug.
"Now! Dragon User!" He shouted, leading the astounded Midir to open his mouth to shoot his flames.
Exi however was faster.
With a deft movement of his hands, he broke the right arm of the General, loosening his grip and then smashed his arm right through his ribcage. His fully metallic arm pierced through the armor of the General and then his body to come out the other side. General Fridt looked down, almost surprised, at the hole in his body gushing blood, and then fell backwards on the ground.
Lightning fast, Exi then turned towards Midir who still wasn't ready to shoot his fire. However before he could strike two forces collided into him from opposite sides.
From the left it was Famina. The heavily injured nun conjured up the last of her magic and shot out a stream of spikes aimed right at Exi's eyes. In vain she knew, but still enough to distract him and force him to close his eyes instinctively, even though the metal coating on it would prevent any damage.
From the right it was Zoe. She used all four of her pillars, which conjoined together to form a single huge pillar which struck Exi on his left. Since he was distracted by Famina's spikes, he couldn't dodge or defend against this sand attack, and was struck head on.
This time however, Zoe focused on keeping Exi rooted in place instead of throwing him back. The sand twirled around and the single large pillar mimicked the General's previous bear hug, this time unbreakable.
And now Midir was ready.
The flame poured out from him and engulfed the now trapped Exi. And this time there was a bloodcurdling scream. This time he was actually injured. Zoe felt him wiggling about, struggling about in the sand grip and she focused on keeping him there as the flame billowed over him. However she felt her grip loosening as Exi turned the sand on the inner layer to breakable metal. He slipped out from below and rolled over on the ground.
This time he didn't stand up immediately. Zoe saw that he was more than singed, the right side of his face was almost burned off. It was black with soot, and it was a wonder how he was still alive. But he was and as he stood up, Zoe thought she detected anger more than pain in his expression.
"Fucking ants." He spat as he slowly rose and metal formed a platform for him.
Zoe braced herself for a tremendous counterassault but it didn't come. Then she realized what he was doing.
He's taking some time to breathe.
The damage he had sustained from the combined attack must have shook him to the core. He believed himself to be imprenetrable, unbreakable, unkillabe once he had unleashed his Word of Power. But the three -no four- of them had damaged hum significantly.
The metal platform kept rising until it rose above the tallest tree. And then after a long time, the tremendous frenzy of battle in the Tal calmed down.
Zoe knew this respite wouldn't last long, Exi would attack and he would attack quite soon. However this break gave her time to think. To think and iterate on an idea that had come to her mind during the recent skirmish. There was only one problem with the idea.
It would require the cooperation of General Fridt.
Amazingly the General was still alive, if only barely. Zoe could see him sitting up in a daze, even as the wound in his stomach oozed blood. But he wouldn't be alive much longer. Even a layperson could see that the General had no more than half an hour at most.
Maybe that's what Exi is waiting for.
But the bigger problem would be the General's willingness to help them. Through this fight he had been staunchly opposed to both sides, and especially after Zoe killed his underling, she doubted that he would agree to help her.
But there is no other way.
Zoe looked around. Midir stood a small distance away, completely exhausted and on his knees. Famina was still lying a bit farther out in the bushes. The most recent display of magik from her had completely exhausted her reserves and she had deactivated her Inito.
Yes, there was truly no other way.
Only one way existed to walk out.
Zoe steeled herself and began walking towards the prone General Fridt.