Out of Character:
Details of this post discussed with and approved by Writing Writer


As my feet found their way across the rocks and towards our opponents, I couldn't help but to feel as if something was... off. The closer I drew to the scrawny, shirtless man and his halfling teammate, the blurrier my eyesight got. The sun's rays intensified as they bounced off the earthly colors of the mountain, slowly eroding away the outlines of the figures before me. My head spun slowly... I almost felt like passing out. As I juked away from the halfling towards my intended target, I almost stumbled, having caught one of my heels on the edge of a rock.

What's happening to me..? I know I'm not drunk... Mr. Wilkensen would never let me sneak vodka into the library...

As I thrust my death-dealing damascus dagger forward, the blinding white blur of the man quickly moved to my right, leaving me cutting through nothing but thin air. Before I could spin around and make another pass with my other blade, I could feel his cold, steely grip around my wrist. Almost as if it were instinct, I commanded a length of my wire to come out from underneath the right sleeve of my dress. I focused my energy through the thin steel chord, guiding it swiftly through the air and around his own hand and arm, binding him to me. I grinned, baring my whites at the lunatic. Let's see you prance around now, fucker.

And then, I felt something brush against my shin--something hard that ended up taking my leg out from underneath me. For a brief second that seemed like an eternity at the same time, I was airborne; almost weightless. I could hear the telltale clanking of my daggers as they bounced against the rocks and ash-covered ground.

Earth to Madison: Prepare for impact in three... two...

THUD! I came back to earth with a sickening crunch. My frail frame bounced against the rough face of the mountain, jabbing into my skin in a hundred different places and knocking the wind out of me. I could feel a stream of warm, thick liquid begin to flow from my forehead--I lifted my eyes up to see a couple drops of blood carpeting the sharp edge of one of the loose stones that littered the ground. It was that moment that a sharp wave of pain shot through my skull. I clenched my teeth and tried not to scream. It felt like I was stabbed sideways in the forehead with a shard of metal fresh from the forge.

The good thing was, though, that my vision was slowly starting to clear up. Behind the crazed man, I could make out Witchblade's lithe figure as she was doing her part in the battle, deflecting the halfling's cane with one of her own blades while going in with the other for a quick kill. I drew a sharp breath in, trying desperately to extinguish the fire that burned in my chest.

I had to act fast, unless I wanted a boot to my spine. Feeling my right arm dangling in the air, I quickly spun around on the rocks so I faced the black-haired man. I drew my left hand back, drawing on my inner energy and focusing it in my palm. His hand bound tight by the wire to my wrist, I quickly pulled my right arm towards me, hopefully catching him off balance. I thrust my left hand forward, firing off the tightly-packed ball of kinetic energy at his windpipe, hoping to either disable him now or buy myself enough time to do it manually.