Broken Chains

Even in training, Puck had never been allowed to use Zephyrian to fight before. Yet, for this real fight, Scarlet allowed him to use Zephyrian without having fought with him ever before. Why?

Puck suspected it was a miscalculation on Scarlet's part. She likely had thought he wouldn’t have to fight to the death again for a long time. As such, she first wanted to prepare him without real weapons.

But in any real fight, there was no time and no place for holding back for training purposes. Here, Puck would need to be able to fight at his best, and even though he had never used Zephyrian before, it was clear that his fighting capabilities would be at their best while wielding him.

The greatest problem while wielding Zephyrian where the size and weight of the weapon, as the sword was likely made for much bigger creatures than Puck. At least for the second problem, though, Zephyrian had offered a solution.

As he had done before, he would be able to strengthen Puck, but only for a short amount of time. Something he could do for much longer without exhausting himself, though, was simply making himself lighter.

Puck suspected that as he wielded Zephyrian into the fight right now, his friend was less than half as heavy as normal. He was still at least a whole foot longer than the sticks with which he had trained before though.

Feeling Zephyrian's inquiry in his soul, Puck knew that he wanted to form a deeper connection between them than ever before for the duration of the fight. Instinctively knowing that this connection would have deeper implications than the connection they had before, Puck hesitated slightly.

But if Scarlet had hammered one thing into his head, it was that in any life-and-death situation, one needed to act with decisiveness. Without further hesitation, he accepted.

Suddenly, everything seemed to freeze as Puck felt disconnected from his body. There was only his connection to Zephyrian that moved into his focus. Feeling it more detailed than ever before, Puck also felt as the ethereal things that were their souls slowly moved nearer together before merging on their surfaces in a strange and beautiful way.

Then suddenly, Puck was back in his body and the fight began.

It was Zephyrian that helped decide Puck's first move as Puck tensed his muscles to bring his arm with the sword back. Or at least Puck suspected it was Zephyrian, as they were merged in a way where the distinction was hard to make.

In the exact same moment, that Puck started to bring his sword back forward towards his enemy, the abomination before him started to swing its fleshy appendages in his direction.

Greatly surprised by the speed of movement of their enemy, Puck leaned his upper body back to the limits of his physics as the fleshy appendages neared his face and his enemy emitted a terrifying screech.

Guided by Zephyrian's experience, Puck let go of Zephyrian with his left hand as the sword was already nearing their enemy.

Straining himself, he managed to keep his swing going with one hand, while at the same time lifting his left arm in front of his face to protect himself.

Then two things happened at once. In the same moment, Puck felt his swing meeting resistance, he felt the impact of his enemy’s attack on his left arm. The slimy appendage was winding itself around his elbow as Puck shuddered under the touch of his enemy. A moment after Zephyrians impact on the flesh of the enemy, Zephyrians edge was also finally stopped dead.

Yanking his arm with the connected tendril down, Puck saw the damage his swing had done. An entire appendage had been severed off, and a new big wound decorated the main body of his enemy.

Thinking he had won for a moment, both he and Zephyrian were surprised when the creature acted as if unhurt and yanked on the tendril connecting them. Instantly, Puck got hurled forward by an irresistible strength as he lost the ground beneath his feet.

Holding onto the hilt of Zephyrian for his dear life, Puck managed to pull the sword out of the flesh of the abomination again as he was pulled forward. Knowing instantly though, that the gaping maw before him would reach him before he could pull Zephyrian back into a guard, Puck called upon the wind with all he had, willing it to push Zephyrian into the right position.

The wind answered stronger than ever before, but even then, Puck knew that it would be too slow. Being one with Zephyrian in this moment, they both knew what needed to be done, as Zephyrian only for an instant strengthened Puck's arm.

With an inch to spare, Puck managed to point the tip of Zephyrian into the gaping maw before he was pulled in himself. Then he stabbed forward with all he had.

As Zephyrian's power left Puck again, he felt the monster before him dying, but he relaxed too soon. In its death throes, it managed to pull him closer to its maw again and inflict deep teeth marks onto Puck's belly.

Struggling and screaming in pain, Puck finally managed to stand free again above his dead adversary. He had won, but not without injury. That single enemy had inflicted a deep if not mortal wound, and he had to use both the wind and Zephyrian's power, or he would have suffered far worse.

Next time, he would have to do better.

Getting in position again behind Scarlet's back, Puck felt his head thump with a deep aching pain from using his ideal. At the same time, the wound on his belly bled profoundly, and everything hurt from using Zephyrian's power.

This first fight had demanded its price. It wasn’t all bad, though. Puck won in the end, and by his own merits, he had performed at least adequate.

Grinning fiercely, Puck gave himself a promise: as long as Scarlet would hold out, he would too.