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Derrin’s attention became entirely focused on the bandit. His shadow gathered itself in a flash and shot forth as dozens of deadly arms. Kayla looked over at the last moment, and she froze with fear. It seemed as though Derrin was too late; the dagger sunk into her chest as the arms closed in. However, before it could go more than an inch, the bandit whipped around, and held his hands out as if to block the shadow. Suddenly, a shadow of his own formed a shield in front of him and Derrin’s shadow collided with the bandit’s. A shockwave rippled through the air as the two forces met, and the shield broke as the arms pierced the bandit countless times over. The bandit collapsed: he’d died before he’d realized he’d lost.

As Derrin began to descend, the shadow retracted at lightning’s speed and formed a vertical platform behind Derrin. His legs tensed, and then pushed off with all their power. He shot towards Kayla as the archer readied an arrow, oblivious to anything but her. He landed with a roll as the archer’s arrow shot forth. His shadow quickly formed a shield and blocked it forcefully. As he knelt beside Kayla, her hand covered a wound just to the left of the heart. The shield began to expand into a dome similar to the first one it’d ever made as she moved her hand away from the wound. Derrin gasped as he saw her hand covered in blood, and her tunic as well. “You gonna be okay?” he asked, voice full of fear.

“Yeah, it didn’t get too far,” she said quietly. She covered her mouth as she coughed painfully, and forced a smile. Derrin nodded, and smiled in return, but his body burned with rage. He stood up, the hate growing with every second. The pain they had caused for him had been released at one moment, and his shadow grew as he walked toward the four remaining assassin’s. The Dark Lord stepped back, recognizing what was beginning to happen. The shadow continued to grow, arms shooting out sporadically and causing widespread destruction. “You assassins have caused more pain than should ever be allowed. You’re finally going to pay for that,” said Derrin, voice trembling.

For the first time, fear appeared on the assassin’s faces. They retreated into a group by the door, and the mages formed a tremendous shield that could have withstood fifty meso explosions. Derrin’s shadow raged on, and finally, it attacked. It shot forth like a beam, encompassing the group and their shield, and then, hundreds of arms shot inside the shield, striking back and forth at a dizzying speed. Suddenly, it paused, and then, a flash. An implosion rocked building. The shadow returned to Derrin, and where the assassins had been was now nothing. However, the shadow did not stop at that as the pain that controlled Derrin had not subsided. It continued on, arms crashing into walls, furniture, and anything else they could find. “He’s going to bring down the whole building,” the Dark Lord thought aloud.
Kayla looked at him, “Isn’t there anything we can do?”

The Dark Lord shook his head, “Once he lost control we lost any chance to stop him. Eventually he’ll use up all the energy he has and his shadow will begin using his body itself to fuel it until it runs out and implodes like it did to the assassins.”

Kayla shuddered: she refused to let that happen. There had to be a way to stop it; he’d saved her life countless times and now it was her turn to begin to return the favor. As she approached Derrin, he simply stood there, eyes half open; he’d gone unconscious long ago. The shadow roared around him, but as she approached, it parted for her as if it recognized her. She slowly crept towards Derrin until she was within an arm’s length. “Derrin?” she called timidly. He’s unconscious, how’s he going to hear you? she asked herself. She took another step forward, “Derrin, you’ve got to stop! You’re going to die if you don’t!” With no response, she stepped forward again, inches from his face, the shadow roaring around them like a wildfire. The Dark Lord looked on, stupefied. This went beyond anything he could comprehend. She lifted her hand, hesitated, and then touched his arm. His eyes flickered, the stimulus momentarily bringing back Derrin. Confidence grew inside Kayla, and she hugged him. “You’ve got to stop. . . you’ve go to. . .” she trailed off. Derrin’s eyes bolted open, and the shadow extended to an impossible size, almost encompassing the whole room, before going out in a flash.

Derrin’s body, no longer having the shadow to prop it up, went limp in her arms. She brought him gently to the ground, and sighed.

Okay, probably wanting to know what’s up with my two day absence. Saturday I became consumed with getting my bandit to 35 and practically forgot about everything else (140% in a day, woot!) and Sunday I was gone forever then spent the rest of the night doing homework. Sorry! Anyways, hoped you like it; click the button if you liked it and rate out of ten if you want!