LCC - R1: Golden Dawn VS Child's Play

[Ceidon]

Just as Ceidon shot his final arrow, his bow was violently pulled down from behind. Unknown to him, the child assailant had just materialized a few feet above and was bearing down on the adventurer with a broad sword. Before the attack hit Ceidon, though, it caught his bow. Unwilling to let go of his own weapon, Ceidon toppled backwards and slammed his back hard against the misty rock. While his fall prevented the adventurer from being cut in two, the assassin’s sword still managed to catch Ceidon on the right side of chest. This left a centimeter deep cut from his shoulder blade down to the middle of his rib cage. Without attention, he would likely bleed to death in minutes.

Ceidon cried out, but it was not from the pain. Immediately after the attack, he watched as tar colored blood began to pour from the new wound. The blood made him nauseous and he vomited all over his own tunic. Like his blood, the bile was mostly black. In that moment Ceidon knew he was done for. Unable to move and consumed by disease, he gritted his teeth and waited for a final blow from the assassin who was now standing over him. However, the blow never came. Instead, the child assailant’s eyes moved to Ceidon’s pocket. Then suddenly everything made sense.

Being constantly berated by different types of pain across his body, Ceidon had forgotten about the wound on his thigh. He knew he was not in complete control of his faculties, but until that moment he was also unsure how the evil sword had suddenly affected him after being dormant for almost two years. When the Falchion of Darkness cut into his leg, it must have infected his blood stream. In hindsight, this was consistent with what happened with Kyo as well. Kyo used her own blood—the blood of a dragon—to free the weapon from its resting place. Then when she handled the sword with her wounded hand, it must have consumed her as well. If this was just a severe infection, Ceidon, a healer of some renown, had an idea about how he could stop this entire mess.

Temporarily free of mind, Ceidon called out to the child: “Please…Please help me. It…it’s in my blood.” He coughed, “I can’t help myself, please. I…I am a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, sworn to protect the dark secrets of Althanas and I have made a terrible mistake.” He motioned to his pouch. “Inside…are healing stones. Shards of Dreniak. Please use them…” The child did not respond at first and this made Ceidon angry. A child… he eventually thought, his mind wandering once more. How on earth did I lose to a child? He made a fist with his left hand. His body soon began to convulse as he realized how annoying pathetic his situation was. He closed his eyes and when he re-opened them his pupils were black.

“Foolish child,” he said, shaking his head. In one last ditch effort, Ceidon summoned all of his strength and reached up with his right hand. He attempted to grab the much lighter child and tried to throw him over the edge of the rock, which would send him plummeting 30 feet to the rocky shore. “Let’s see you weasel out of this one,” he cried out.