Death After Death

Simon made a mad dash for the gate as the wyvern swung around for the third time. Its shriek was like nails on a chalk board, but at least the awful noise let him gauge the distance without having to turn around and waste precious seconds looking.

He didn’t quite reach the pillars before the wyvern reached him, but he was so close that the monster was forced to pull up before it could rip Simon’s head off. Even so, it was a close call, and he saw the barb on the thing’s scorpion-like tail cut a gouge in the left pillar just as he ran through it.

After that, he stopped for a moment. Not because he was protected by the stone, but because he felt like an idiot. “Mother fucker,” he cursed, realizing that once again Helades had set him up. On the far side of the portal or whatever it was that he’d walked through, he’d only seen the ridge that had led to the wyvern’s nest, so of course that was where he’d gone. In exactly the opposite direction were the rest of the ruins that this arch had belonged to, which was obviously where the next portal would be.

Simon quickly scanned the horizon, taking in the ruined castle and looking for anything that might indicate the next portal, but nothing stood out. Just like the last level, it was ruins, but instead of the sprawling vine choked city this was some kind of fortification that had long ago fallen, and there was nothing to hide threats from him. He knew exactly what the threat in this level was. It was flying around his head, trying to crush his spine with that wrecking ball of a tail that it had.

So, with the Wyvern slowly circling back towards him, Simon started running again. This time for the main gate. Halfway there, he was gasping for breath and too tired to even blame the altitude. He just wasn’t cut out to do stuff like this. His endurance bar was way too short to be running laps like this. As winded as he was, he didn’t beat the giant reptile there, and it landed in his path, snapping and hissing as it blocked his way.

“Hey - I’m sorry, okay!” he shouted. “I promise. I'll leave your stupid nest alone!” He moved to pull out his sword as he slowly backed away, but the thing lashed out with a sudden bite as it extended its neck enough that Simon practically fell over in his desperation not to get his head bitten off.

He barely managed to avoid letting out a shrill scream, and was able to scramble to his feet on all fours as the wyvern started chasing him on foot. He started running again. This time he ran along the wall to the left of the gate, looking for another way in. Unfortunately, it would seem the lizard was still plenty fast on land, and he realized he was quickly losing ground.

“G̴̝̈́͒͠ḛ̷͕̮̕͘r̵̛̫̮̔͠ͅv̴̿̀͠ͅu̷̝͚̜̎u̴͚͈̎ḻ̸̣̈́ ̸̦̟̜̈́̍M̷̪̹̪̓̓͒e̴̪̎i̴͓̗̔̔͆ͅr̸̹͓͚͐̅è̵̛͇̱̾n̴̩̜̍!” Simon shouted, pointing his hand back towards the monster bent on ripping him to pieces. The result was poorly focused and more smoke than fire, as a few scattered streamers of fire and a storm of sparks filled the air behind him.

It wasn’t his best work, but it did stop the creature in its tracks for a few seconds as it roared at the unexpected danger. Simon was quick to take advantage of the moment and climbed the lowest point he could find on the wall. There, it was mostly collapsed and only about four feet high, so he was able to scramble up and over the top before the wyvern could devour him.