Zach Brenner's Arc

Chapter 81 of 86

The creature rose from the dark, twice the height of any man. Its body was gray flesh and old scale. Six eyes burned green across its face, but only two were open. Long roots of black stone held it fixed to the ground. Zach struck at the nearest root with his new blade. Steel rang and glanced off. The stone did not even crack. He hit it again. Nothing. Whatever bound the beast, no edge could break it. "It's rooted here," Zach said. "I can't cut it loose, and I can't cut through what holds it." His arms shook from the last blow. The root was harder than the blade. Armin stepped up beside him. The pale keeper watched the thing that had ruled him for a hundred years. "It doesn't need to move," Armin said. "It only needs to see. Blind it, and it's helpless." Zach looked at the six eyes. Only two shone now. Then Raven pointed. "Watch," she said. One by one, the other eyes cracked open. Each one glowed as it woke. "Those are its weak spots. Hit the eyes." "We work together," Zach said. He turned to Armin. "Can you buy us time?" "I can use my fog to blind him," Armin said. "But it will only hold a moment. You must strike the right spot before it clears." Zach spun to the mages. "Ayla, Lyra. Light and fire on my blade. Now." Ayla raised her staff. White light poured into the steel. Lyra pressed her palms flat and fed flame along the edge. The blade blazed hot and bright in Zach's hands. Armin threw both arms wide. Pale fog rushed across the creature's face and wrapped every eye. The green glow dimmed. The beast thrashed against its stone roots, blind and roaring. "Go," Zach shouted. Talon moved first, faster than sight. His katanas found two eyes and sank deep. Green fire hissed out. Garrok swung his axe overhead and buried it in a third. Raven fired a bolt through a fourth. Zach ran up the beast's own root and drove his burning blade into the fifth eye. Light and fire poured into the wound. The creature screamed. One eye remained. The fog was thinning. Zach felt the green glow returning under his boots. "The last one," Ayla called. "Hurry." Zach ripped his blade free and hurled himself at the final eye. He drove the steel in to the hilt. White light burst through the whole body. The black stone roots cracked at last, then shattered. The creature fell apart in ash and green smoke. The cavern went silent. No fog stirred. No eyes burned. Armin sank to his knees, breathing hard. "It's gone," he said. "The root is dead. The curse is done." Zach stood in the ash and lowered his blade. The threat that emptied the villages was ended. Now he only had to find the way back up, and the long way home to his children.