Tome of Naedithas: Portal Challenge - Serpentine Situation

Portal Pandaemonium Quest – Prompt #3 Spine Chilling

Draw or write about your character dealing with the spine portal robots.

 

Just as Naedithas and Tyrvalor managed to reach Portal Posi’s lab and decided to carefully approach the building itself, their plans got utterly thwarted. „Watch out!“, the barbarian shouted over to his partner and pushed him to the side when the ground suddenly begun to crack in front of them, almost swallowing the guard captain whole.

„What the - “ As quickly as Tyrvalor found himself on the ground, he jumped back onto his feet and took some distance to the weird machinery that slowly emerged through the cracks, something both of them have never seen before. Long spines with a metallic cube attached to them as their heads and an ominous crackling could be heard. Naedithas looked at the abominations and immediately noticed portals swirling on their faces. „Be careful not to get sucked into those portals! They’ll surely end up separating us!“

 

With an annoyed grunt he took a tight grip of his axe and rushed towards the first serpentine spine creature in an attempt to strike its cube shape head so the portal would hopefully stop swirling. When the metal of his blade hit the shell of the creature though, a loud clank echoed through the surroundings but all he managed to do was to put a dent in there. In the meanwhile Tyrvalor prepared to fight as well and let his sword rain down on one of the enemies with the same result.

 

„They are tougher than I thought, haha!“, he chuckled nervously while jumping back again to stretch his now burning wrist from the recoil. Naedithas looked over to him, not being surprised as a short sword like that definitely had less strength than his greataxe. „Let me try again...“ They surely had to make haste at this point because more and more creatures emerged from the cracks in the ground and made their way towards them, already trying to close in on them in a circle…

 

„Rrrah!“ Once more the strong barbarian approached one of the dangerous looking enemies but this time he aimed at the part where spine and head were connected. The first strike wasn’t enough but he clearly saw the portal and static noise on the screen flicker which means that it did something! Not thinking twice Naedithas let a second hit follow, bringing down the heavy blade of his axe once more at the exact same point and crack, head and body ended up being separated!

„Good job my friend!“, Tyrvalor cheered from behind him, already having felled around three of those serpent enemies which caused Naedithas to scratch his head. Well now at least both of them knew how to tackle this situation and that they did. Almost dancing around the battlefield in unison, they felled one of them after another but it was very straining due to their robust structure. Each of them needed multiple hits and due to Tyrvalor having to carry sword and shield, the guard captain slowly lost his agility and endurance which Naedithas noticed.

 

„We’re almost done!“, he shouted over to his partner who returned a quick nod and once more took a battle stance to continue fighting like the stubborn warrior he was. He could clearly feel his arms getting heavier with each strike as well but he wasn’t the type to give up. Especially not while being with someone else, he had to make sure that Tyrvalor made it out of this in one piece even if it’d mean to get harmed himself.

 

With that thought in mind Naedithas kept going and going until no single monster was left in their vicinity, only cracks and slight rumbling. He quickly walked over to the blonde who by now sat on the ground, panting but with a satisfied smile on his face. „Heh, I knew we could do it! You didn’t even have to use your rage, that’s how strong you are. I’m so happy to be allowed to call you my right hand man!“ Tyrvalor chuckled and patted right next to him on the ground to signal the barbarian that he should sit down with him. Being shy about being praised like that, Naedithas scratched the back of his head and was about to sit down when all of a sudden the ground shook once more, revealing another crack behind them. It only took mere seconds for another swarm of serpent creatures to slither out of it and two of them were fast enough to catch one of Tyrvalor’s arms and legs in their portal.

 

Naedithas’ eyes widened at the sight when panic began to spread through his body. He could never forgive himself if this went wrong! „Not on my watch!“ Of course Tyrvalor didn’t just let it happen, he attempted to pull himself free but the serpents wrapped their spines around his limbs and kept him in place like that. It would be difficult to destroy the monsters without hitting the other in the progress but he surely had to try.

 

„Do you trust me, Tyr!?“, he shouted over to his partner who returned a quick nod, sweating nervously. „Would you be so kind to hurry up a little? I don’t want to end up in multiple different places -“ That was all Naedithas needed to hear, he closed his eyes and channeled the last bits of strength he had left until he let his axe rain down on their foes, managing to down each of them with one single hit. He did graze Tyrvalor’s leg but only slightly, nothing to worry about. At least he was free and could pick up his sword again to help with the last serpents.

 

Now both of them panting like thirsty dogs stood on the empty area right in front of the lab, a pile of spines and broken TV screens behind them. The rumbling stopped, no more cracks emerged and only sizzling of broken electronics could be heard. „Well that sure were more than I thought but I knew I could count on you.“ Tyrvalor placed a hand on Naedithas’ shoulder and shot him a warm smile which was immediately returned by the other. *I’m just glad you’re safe… Who knows what awaits us inside the lab but unfortunately we can’t allow ourselves a break. Every second counts but at least we paved the way for other adventurers who aim to help.“

 

Shouldering his axe with a tired grunt, Naedithas began walking towards the tall building. Eyes filled with determination and with his partner by his side.