WHOOOSH!
Air roared past them as they zipped toward the sea of wyverns. Oswald winced as the cold pierced his armor, stinging his fingers. Nearing the wyverns.
"WE WILL JUMP OFF!" Oswald yelled through the rushing wind. "I WILL HELP! HOLD THE FOREARMS!"
The two on either side released their grip on the ice and grabbed his forearm.
"WE'LL GET OFF IN THREE… TW— NOW!"
He tapped into his super-speed. Everything except him moved a millimeter per second. He stood up and placed Percival and Aelindor on each of his shoulders. The three now stood toe-to-toe before a passing wyvern, a skipping distance away.
He skipped over to the wyvern and untapped his super-speed.
SQUELCH! SCREEEeeee!
The iceberg they were standing on a mere second ago—its tip pierced another wyvern's parasite, detaching it and taking it with it.
"OHHHHH! WHAT A SHO— Whoa!"
He was brought back to reality by the wyvern jolting its body, trying to dislodge the unwanted trio on its back. His friends grabbed hold of the wyvern's scaly hide, preventing their fall.
"Oh, no you don't!" He unsheathed his sword. "QUICKLY! JUMP OFF TO ANOTHER AFTER THIS!"
He split the parasite in twain, detached it, and threw it off the wyvern—the whole process witnessed by his friends behind him.
"JUMP! NOW!"
Driven by his command and the deafening screech of the wyvern, all three leapt to different wyverns with ease.
The parasite-freed wyvern fell, flailing its body and losing altitude before regaining control and flying away.
"NOW YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO!!! GOOD LUCK!!!"
The trio began their work: dislodging parasites, jumping to the next, repeating.
Countless hours later, hair stuck to his sweat-slicked forehead, his rapid breathing raspy, but energy still in the tank. He threw the latest detached parasite off the wyvern, wiping sweat from his face.
Fucking hell, man. When will this en—
His neck burned from the right.
Oh, boy.
Rubbing it, he turned, searching through the sea of wyverns for the source.
His gaze fell on his friends.
Friends whose movements were sluggish and unsteady.
Oh nonono!
He leapt wyvern to wyvern, heading toward the two who were about to fall.
"NO!"
Aelindor fell, a parasite still in hand, followed by Percival—his sword tumbling beside him.
He tapped into his super-speed, slowing their descent. He skipped over wyverns like stones across a river.
Finally.
CLAP! He grabbed Percival's ankle and pinched the edge of his sword's hilt.
DAMN IT!
He looked at Aelindor while pulling Percival and his weapon up.
"I can't grab him, he's fallen further!"
Percival on the wyvern's back, he tried sheathing his sword.
"C'mon c'mon C'MON!"
His breath quickened, hands trembling as he fumbled.
SKRRT! CLICK!
"FINALLY!"
Sheathing the sword, he hauled the unconscious Percival over one shoulder and peered down from the wyvern.
"FUCK! He's out of grabbing range!"
He let out a silent whistle.
"Okay, okay, plan B. Dive toward him and spear him mid-air. Lord… please let it work."
He jumped two wyverns away from Aelindor's falling form, then took deep breaths.
"Alright. Hooo, alright. If I die, Percival dies. Come on."
"Three…"
He readied himself in a runner's stance.
"Two…"
His eyes laser-focused on Aelindor's falling form.
"One…"
He clenched his fists.
"YOLOOOO!"
He ran and leapt. Despite his own ability to slow time, time seemed to slow on its own as he extended his free arm toward the elf—below them, magenta flames engulfed a building.
His fingers scraped his neck.
"SHIT SHIT SHIT! NOT ENOUGH! AND I DIDN'T EVEN DIVE! I JUMPED!"
His eyes darted wildly.
"What do I do? Come on! Think. Think. THINK!"
In one motion, he unsheathed his sword and pierced his collar. The flat of the blade pressed against his neck and spine.
"HO—HO—HO—HOLY SHIT!"
His arm hooked behind Aelindor, he pulled him closer.
"YEEEES! HA HAAA! WOOOOOO!"
He withdrew his sword from the collar and—still falling in slow motion—hefted him onto his free shoulder.
"WOHOOOooo…"
He looked down. The wooden buildings below looked small enough to hold in the palm of his hand.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME! AAAAAAH!"
He free-fell, his face rippling in the wind. The ground rushed up faster and faster.
Alright, I have a plan. Get close to building, activate super-speed, flip, land and jump off the building—GO!
The roof of a building rushed up to meet him. He tapped into his super-speed, twisted in mid-air, and his boots met the slanted wooden tiles, letting him walk as if on solid ground.
"YE-HEHE-ES!"
He dropped from the roof—a few meters above the street—and landed hard on the cobbles below.
"To the castle!"
He sprinted through the smoky streets toward the castle's spires, now hidden behind a wall of burning buildings.
* * *
Arriving at the castle's courtyard, he ran toward the wall of elite guards.
"HEYYY! HELP THEM!"
Seeing the two unconscious bodies, two elite guards broke formation and rushed toward him.
"We shall hence convey them away with all due haste!" said one guard, taking Percival.
The other guard tilted their head as they took Aelindor.
"And what of thee? Thou seemest nigh unto the same plight as these twain," said the other guard, eyeing Oswald's sweat-drenched face, his agape mouth, and skin white as a sheet.
Oswald waved his hand.
"Don't you worry, I've still got some in me."
He turned around, facing the chaos beyond the castle wall.
"Ay, thou sayest so; yet what if thou shouldst find thyself within but a few moments of the fray—"
The guard's plea was cut off as he vanished.
In his stead, a shockwave kicked up a plume of dust, cratering the ground into a spiderweb of cracks.
"I-Impossible…" The guard stared at the cracked and cratered ground. "That stone is well-nigh impossible to sunder."
* * *
ns216.73.216.247da2
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