Yipion - part 5

Confused about the meaning of the statement, the prince materialized his warm energy into a fiery whip, and wiggled it about. The two spirits struck out with fire breath, but the figure seemed unaffected by the flames, and while drawing a sharp thin blade it dashed towards the first, and then towards the second. They both collapsed, punctured by the wizard in a precise spot and manner.

“You, you can’t kill them!” the voice rang out in the cavern.

“I killed them just as easily as I will kill you.”

Yipion slashed with his own flames, only to see his target dodging and throwing something his way. He managed to evade, but in an instant his enemy was upon him, striking him down to the ground. Its hood fell off, revealing a beautiful young woman of orange eyes and thin lips. Yipion had never been fond of women, but this one was particularly charming. He pushed her and struck again with his whip, but the woman caught it in her hand, and it froze. The prince could barely notice the frost, spreading through the whip into his hand. When he did, it was too late. Stuck to the whip, his right arm was an easy target. All he could do was draw his sword with the left hand and hope to melt the ice before the sorceress could kill him.

He didn’t. The woman was too fast and gripped his left arm with an invisible hand. Dashing, she slashed his right arm at the elbow and knocked him out with a blow to the temple.

On the floor, bleeding fast from the arm, Yipion was finished. A foolish boy defeated by greed. And by innocence. Of all things his father feared, innocence was the worst. His only wish was for his son to be a good man, to survive out there in the world. Innocence made him weak, deceivable, almost childish.

But if innocence would have gotten him killed, there was one thing that kept him alive, and as the woman was delivering the fatal blow to the throat, her arm broke, and she was pushed away, dropping the knife.

“Die already!” the voice sounded.

The woman’s arms were pulled to either side, and as she struggled to keep them attached to her body, her knife rose up in the air and struck her right in the stomach.

A gulp of blood spouted out of her mouth as she nearly choked. Losing strength, her arms first broke at the elbow, and then at the shoulder. The skin and flesh was ripped out, leaving an armless body on the floor, bloodied and torn apart.

For the next minutes the voice conjured a powerful spell to heal Yipion’s arm, but it too was running weary. The energy required to break the magic defences of the sorceress was immense, more than it had ever used.

Eventually the prince’s arm was healed, and the bleeding stopped.

And fortunately, nobody knew they were there.

When Yipion woke up, he felt fully healed. The first thing he saw was the woman’s corpse. Rotten, full of flies and maggots. The smell was noxious, and so Yipion burned the body.

With renewed strength, he felt ready to pursue his one and only enemy.

“Do not go,” the voice said. “That’s what he wants. His army awaits, it will only tire you out so he can deliver the final blow.”

“What do you propose? Retreat?”

“No…I have a special spell I’ve been meaning to use. But I need your help. We must meditate and join our energies.”

Yipion agreed, as whatever it was the mysterious voice had planned, it would indeed be better than facing the whole army alone.

And so he sat and entered a profound slumber, a state of self-awareness, in touch with the earth and the Flux. He sensed and absorbed all energy around him, and then some more, and then more. He would become a greater spirit, something different. He would be Yipion, the prince, no more.