Fallen Heroes Prologue

Prologue

The End

“A God?” a dark-haired hero chuckled weakly as he shifted in the rubble. “You’re only what? 12 foot? I’ve seen much bigger than that, killed bigger, too.” 

The beast before him huffed and stalked towards the downed man. 

“Not much of a talker, huh?” The man asked as he moved the rubble around, revealing a completely bloody and shattered knee. With a grunt, he pulled his leg straight as his hands shone with a green light. “But it’s alright, it’ll be harder to talk at all once you’re dead, anyway. Though that might not be true. Killed a monster once, turned into a ghost so, hopefully, that doesn’t happen with you… you’re pretty ugly. Like- really ugly.” 

He bent his knee and winced as pain lanced up and down his leg. That was the problem with healing magic. If you weren’t an expert, then the wound could heal wrong, especially if it was a shattered bone or a ruptured organ. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, a grimace marring his face.  

The beast stayed about 10 feet back, wary of the human that had torn his wings to shreds and shattered its horn with its head.  

Mikhail Semenov forced himself to stand straight, a grin stretching across his face. “You know this place used to be a favorite of mine, lots of animals and plants. You could easily survive here alone. Scenery is absolutely stunning to, mother’s hometown is only a few days away. It’s perfect, and I’m gonna make sure it stays that way.”

He blinked away the stars in his eyes and shook away his tiredness. He’d been fighting nonstop for the last 3 days, constantly chucking out magic as if it were infinite. Mikhail had maybe a tenth of a tank left thanks to his potion usage, but it had also left him addicted to the stuff. He needed rest, and badly. 

“Ya know, after I kill you, ima take a nap.” He grinned as his magic began flooding the area. “Maybe sleep a day or two. Nah, a week sounds good. Better yet, maybe I’ll sleep a whole month. I feel like I deserve a rest.” 

The beast bellowed as it kicked the ground with its hoofed legs. Something was wrong. It could feel the air as it became saturated with magic. It tried hunching in on itself, preparing for whatever the smaller being was trying. 

Mikhail needed to be incredibly careful with what he was doing, since it was an idiotic plan. During the entire fight with Tchort, he had been attacking the exact same spot, over and over again, breaking its scales, and doing as much damage as he could. In the next 15 seconds, he was going to finish the beast by piercing that same spot, its heart. Internally, he was angry with himself over the fact he had lost his Cadalbog somewhere in the skies over the plains. It certainly would have made the fight easier. “I probably wouldn’t have-” 

Mikhail sighed, shaking his head of his worries. He reached out with his magic and pulled, yanking all the air from the area surrounding the beast, creating a massive vacuum. The surrounding area imploded as the atmosphere rushed in to fill the sudden void left behind. 

He nearly flinched back as the world shook around him, but instead stared ahead at the old “god” as it roared in pain, his eyes fixated on the beast’s chest. A deafening whistle made his ears bleed as he forcibly compacted the stolen air into a rough sphere behind him. His wind magic curled around his back as lightning began dancing around his right arm. He had one last chance to kill this beast. If he couldn’t kill the monster after turning himself into a living weapon, then honestly, there was nothing stopping the beast from slaughtering the rest of his race. 

“Listen up Tchort, some idiots may have worshipped you as a god, but I don’t, so you have no power over me and the rest of my people. I’ll kill you, just like I killed your summoner. You’re nothing but a worm compared to me!” 

The beast finally regained its bearings, but it was too late as a deafening roar shook the earth. Mikhail slammed into the beast, shattering a number of bones, but he was smiling through the pain.  

A direct hit. 

His arm had gone clean through the beast’s chest. However, he wasn’t done yet. He had to make sure. So the man poured the last few drops of his magic into his arm, converting it into wind and sent it spiraling out into the beast’s body. In seconds, there was little left besides a bloody mist and half of its skull. His broken body crumpled to the ground as all his energy was spent. He couldn’t even celebrate his victory, really. He just wanted to sleep, but he wasn’t going to tell anyone that. The wind began to pick up as a large object blocked the sun.  

“Mikhail!” The man turned his head as much as he could and recognized his best friend as he slid down the ladder of their airship. 

“Peter, you’re late,” he couldn’t help but joke weakly. 

“You bastard, you’re the one that told us not to help you!” Peter shot back as he leaped from the woven ladder. “Gotta say, though, that was one hell of a fight.” 

Mikhail croaked out a laugh. “I’ve had worse.” 

“What, like Abbey?”  

More hollering and cheering began to fall upon them as more people climbed down to greet the Hero. 

Peter reached down and pulled Mikhail onto his shoulder. “You know you left a pretty big crater back there, right?” 

“Can’t be too big. I was running low when I made that last blast.” 

“I don’t know buddy, with a little bit of rain, you might have a little pond named after you.” 

Mikhail’s eyes began to droop low as he barked a laugh. “You’re an idiot, Peter. Only in your dreams and my nightmares will I have a damned pool named after me.”

“Well, seeing as you’re a hero now, who knows, maybe they’ll… oh, he’s asleep.” Peter grinned as men and women began rushing towards them, “Well Mikhail, seems once again I’m gonna have to talk for you buddy, get some rest. You deserve it.”