Converging Destinies: Part 1

Chapter 166

       Cedric was in a state of reliving old memories. Then, he heard something faintly, the soft crunching of grass.

       Cedric immediately shifted over to wake up Eris.

       "Something's wrong!" Cedric said. Eris began shifting as they awoke.

       Suddenly, the whole group was outlined in purple, spectral light. Ten figures immediately showed themselves, all of them armed with various blades and weaponry.

       Eris's eyes immediately widened and they leapt up and ran towards one of the nearby figures. They extended their hand out, and it crackled with blue electricity that seemed oddly powerful. As they put their hand outwards, their opponent leapt backwards, and it was clear they were still groggy.

       A half elf man with a long rapier jumped forward with his blade, jabbing forward at Eris. Eris was still a bit too sleepy to fully react, and the rapier jabbed into their side.

       Zerai was just barely able to awaken, and his eyes widened with panic as he realized what was happening. He slowly got up to his feet, then he stretched his arm out and manifested his glowing blade. The magical one he had acquired still lay in its sheath, and Zerai still didn't know what it did.

       With two slashes of his glowing blade, Zerai cut down one of the attackers.

       All of the remaining figures bore down on the group. One went after Zerai, and two went after each of the other group members. The group had a rude awakening as they were attacked.

       Eris felt one slash of a blade skim their hip. Cedric felt a flurry of four attacks from his two assailants. Both of them were trying to strike Cedric while he was at a disadvantage, but they didn't know how powerful he was.

       Ella felt two slashes cut into her and she awoke suddenly.

       Zerai's remaining opponent struck towards Zerai, but Zerai deflected the attack with his glowing blade.

       Ara' Sei was also suddenly awoken as two bandits began attacking her with their shortswords.

       Cedric was the first to strike back. From his arm a thorny, green vine whipped outwards at one of his assailants. It slashed across one of the bandit's faces, and the bandit groaned as he was struck.

       Ella leapt to her feet with her massive blade in hand.

       "Finally! Some action!" Ella shouted. With two fluid strikes of her blade, she cut down her first assailant. Then, she spun to her second opponent. With her first slash, she cut off her opponent's arm, with the second she cut the other arm, and with the final strike Ella beheaded her foe.

       Ara' Sei looked up at the sky and her eyes darted at the two bandits that stood around her. Ara' Sei let her divine power flow through her, and then she shouted a word in an unfamiliar language. The word was so loud that it echoed through the entire valley, and animals for miles were scared off by the sheer volume that the magically empowered word carried.

       One bandit as well as the bandit leader were able to cover their ears. Three of the bandits dropped their weapons, their eyes glowed white, and they stared off into the distance with a blank expression. One of the bandits was knocked away from Ara' Sei before falling to the ground motionless.

       "Finish off anyone who wasn't affected!" Ara' Sei shouted. The leader of the bandits looked around at his incapacitated friends in awe.

       Then, Eris lunged forward with their hand out. Their hand once again crackled with abnormally strong electricity. Electricity pulsed through the bandit leader's body and he reeled backwards from the blow.

       The bandit leader then regathered himself.

       "I'm not done yet!" He shouted. But, as he jabbed his rapier forward, Eris parried it with their dagger.

       Zerai leapt forward with his blade, but instead of cutting his remaining foe down, he hit the bandit in the side of the head with the pommel of his blade. The bandit's eyes rolled back and he fell backwards to the ground.

       Only one bandit had resisted Ara' Sei's spell, and he dropped his blade and held his hands up.

       Cedric stepped away from his now incapacitated foes. Then, a flame appeared above his hand and flew towards the bandit leader. The flame slammed into the leader's shoulder, and he was beginning to look seriously hurt.

       Ella put her sword on the ground before smiling.

       "I haven't had a chance to use these in a while." Ella said, looking at her massive fists. She walked up to one of the incapacitated bandits and slammed him twice with her fists. The guard fell face forward to the ground and faceplanted. Strangely, there was no resistance.

       Ara' Sei got up and looked at the guards around her. Then, her eyes darted to the leader of the bandits, the only one who was still fighting back. Ara' Sei pointed her finger at him and he burst into radiant flames before being incinerated.

       The one remaining guard with her hands up looked around in terror. Eris ran behind her and with the pommel of their dagger knocked her unconscious.

       Zerai and Ella went around to the remaining guards and knocked them unconscious. Zerai used the pommel of his glowing blade, but Ella pummeled them with their fists.

       The fight ended as quickly as it had begun.