Doomed to Die in 3 Minutes

Falling Down

He doesn’t stop swinging these basic straight slashes. The heavy and large blade just barely misses me every time. This horrible unsettling sensation leads me to a small realisation. A piece of intuition that could change everything. I’m willing to risk it for this tiny bit of faith. Then next swing he does, I do not dodge, despite every fibre in my body screaming at me to do so. This time the swing is moving with perfect accuracy... Crash! 

The tip of the sword buries itself in the ground below me form a small fissure. “Tch! Gravity magic is such a pain to deal with!” You fucker. I can’t believe this is happening. I take a jump back and throw a series of fireballs. He lifts his shield to take the heat. He’s throwing the fight. This is just a show for him to feed his men and his superiors. I have no idea why he would do that. I’m not complaining though. Still, if that’s the case I can cancel my…

Oh. s**t. What if this is a ploy to make me stop my doom spell? That’d be pretty amazing. I conjured a lightning bolt from above. He leaps forward and dodges it in the nick of time. I admit he’s making it look real good. I need to know for sure before I really cancel the spell. I slam my free hand against the ground and summon a swarm of serpent-like chains to attack Agarde rapidly in a consecutive sequence. He dodges them all, one after the other, every time just a tiny fraction of a second before he would be hit. 

He’s coming up to me now. He pulls back his left arm and swings it as if throwing a punch. This time, I can’t dodge in time. I don’t even have time to worry or panic. I’m pressed down against the ground under the weight of the large shield. He pushes down until my face is right in his helmet. He’s holding me down as if he was a member of a riot police unit. I try to flail out of this hold but it’s useless. I’m like a turtle thrown on its back. 

“Hey. How much time do I have?” A powerful whisper. His voice has emptied all self-importance and regality. Just frank tones. It still sounds muffled and synthetic due to his helmet but I sense a clear cut and empathetic character from him. “You’ve got about a minute and a half left,” I respond in kind with a hushed tone. “Good. Hey, do me a favour and cancel it at about the thirty-second mark. I’ll give you the room to escape, let’s play around for a bit. I’ll try to catch you in the shield again and when that happens, hit me as hard as you can. I’ll go down for the count.”

I nod. Even if he’s lying to me about throwing the fight, if he lets me go, for now, that’s better than the alternative. He pushes on his shield again but swings at the same time. I’m sent hurdling. He hit me and sent me on my way as if he was playing golf, the shield being the club and my body being the ball. He uses just enough force that I don’t smack into any nearby buildings. He even controlled his strength that it barely hurt at all. If he had been serious, I would have been splattered all over the walls. 

“Damn you, villain! As slippery as an eel, each and every one of you evildoers! Come back and face me like a man!” Back to the acting again I guess. “Hah! Make me, you pathetic tin can!” He charges at me again. I send a tornado at him. He doesn’t stop. f**k. I dodge as he swings his sword with a straight s***h again… but this time a tiny, barely noticeable cut forms on my left cheek. A trickle of blood goes down my face to my neck. He’s close again.

“Yeah, don’t insult my armour. It’s rather important to me.” Oh s**t. Okay. I guess I should be more careful with my insults. I’m playing by his rules. It’s an odd feeling. Both of us could end the other. I would simply need to not keep my promise and he would just have to get serious and it’d be over before I could say a word. We dance around for a few more seconds. I throw flashy spell after spell and he starts making bigger and wider movements but makes sure I don’t get hit…

Thirty seconds. He comes at me like a raging bull. He knew it was time. His internal clock must be amazing. His sword suddenly gleams like an ivory rhino horn as he charges. Time to see if it’s a lie or the truth. I raise my hatchet. It’s been feeding off my HP for quite a while now. We’re about to clash and we both bring our weapons down with all our force. Dust falls and I realise we’re both on the floor on our backs. The ground around us is covered in cracks.

He gets back up and I begin to curse every curse in the book in my head.