Ravia sprinted through the meadows of Falzia. The barrage of magic fireballs continued to arch over the clear sky and plummet towards her as she ran. She bobbed and weaved, side stepping the ones that came too near. Who could be hurling those? Ravia asked herself. The balls of magic had the same purplish look like the hellkite dragon; Ravia thought for a moment but quickly shook her head. She was certain it couldn’t be the dragon; she watched its flattened and mangled body lie limp atop that mountain when she stepped on it. A fireball nicked Ravia’s shoulder as she was deep in thought- the pain was immense, sending Ravia a bit off balance. She nearly tripped, but quickly regained her step and began sprinting again, tearing up the grass and fauna. She tried to focus but the fireball did a number on her shoulder. Brand desperately tried not to throw up as he was tossed and turned in Ravia’s fist. She was fully grown to 150, so he fit quite “comfortably” in her grasp. As Ravia continued to dash through the open meadows, her giant footsteps tearing up the ground and her immense body knocking over any tree in her path, the barrage of fireballs stopped. In the distance, a bright light shone. Ravia watched it with caution, unsure what is was. Her eyes lit up bright and she quickly stepped to the side, twirling her body. A ray of magic shot straight across; if she stayed, she would definitely die with no hope of the pendant coming to her aid. Ravia screamed out in pain, however as her voluptuous body betrayed her; a small portion of the beam came into contact with her breasts. She fell to her knees and gazed at her chest; the beam ate straight through her chainmail and tore straight into her body, her skin slightly singed and mutilated. She let out a sigh of relief when she confirmed her precious assets were still intact. Fumed, Ravia turned straight and dashed back to her target, now with even more vigor and destruction in each step.
Ravia finally found her target. In an open field, filled with flowers and trees Ravia has never seen, shining bright, ethereal colors, stood an old man. He was withered and grey, his beard reaching to his pelvis. His posture was terrible, hunched over and breathing heavily, his body shaking with each breath. He wore an oversized robe that covered all but his face. In his left hand he held a large staff, seemingly made from a tree trunk. In his right, a miniature ball of fire, eerily similar to what Ravia had been recently dodging.
“So, you’re the one who’s been throwing that shit?” Ravia said, angrily.
“And so, you are the one who is terrorizing my province, killing innocents and the nature around them.” The old man wheezed out. “Begone, and I will spare your life.”
Ravia laughed. “You can’t be serious. Have you looked at yourself, you old fuck? Why don’t you tell me where the next pendant is and maybe I’ll spare you from ripping each and every limb from your body!” Ravia screamed, stomping a foot into the ground.
“You gargantuan oaf! You lack discipline. If you don’t leave here now, I will put you down from where you stand.” The wizard said.
“Are you as stupid as you look old? If you haven’t forgotten, I’m over a hundred fucking feet tall and you look like you can’t even walk!” Ravia laughed. “Suit yourself old man, I enjoy stepping on bugs like you.” Ravia grinned, stomping towards the wizard. She towered over him, and rose her foot. The wizard kept his posture, not even looking up at Ravia. With one motion, Ravia slammed her foot into the ground. The ground shook and a loud boom echoed out; her foot sunk into the soft soil. Ravia grinned, twisting her foot into the ground.
“Stupid, delusional fool.” Ravia said. She slowly lifted her foot to see her freshly stomped kill. Her eyes widened; There was nothing but soil pressed against her boot.
“What the fu-” but before Ravia could finish, she felt an incredible stinging sensation in her left leg and found herself gazing up to the sky as her body slammed into her earth. Ravia batted her eyelids, unable to understand how she even ended up on the floor but to her right was the wizard, sneering at her.
“You’re pathetic.” The wizard retorted. Ravia growled and walloped her giant fist into the wizard. She quickly lifted her fist to find she missed yet again.
“Graaaah!” Ravia growled loudly. She quickly rose from her stance, dropping Brand from her grasp.
“Kill this fucker if you see an opening, but don’t get in my way or I’ll step on you after!” Ravia said, berating her slave. She flicked him as means of encouragement. Brand flew away from Ravia but he quickly rose up and readied a battle stance.
“You, there!” The wizard yelled out to Brand. “Is she holding you captive?” he asked. Brand didn’t respond.
“I will free you! Maybe help me topple this fool and we can be finished sooner!” The wizard said. Ravia shot a death stare at Brand. He gulped, sweat lining his forehead. He shook his head and readied his dagger towards the wizard.
“Pitiful.” The wizard said. With one quick flick of his staff, the wizard shot a beam of magic at Brand. The blast hit him directly, sending him to the ground. He groaned loudly; blood caked across his chest.
“Useless fucking tool!” Ravia said angrily. She absolutely hated losing and seeing her plaything getting battered around only annoyed her further. A quick thought to just step on him now and take him out of the equation crossed her mind, but she quickly dismissed it as there was more pressing matters to attend to.
Ravia summoned a huge war axe from her ancestors and charged at the wizard. She was still fully grown as she raised the blade high above her head and slammed it into the ground. Ravia cleaved through the ground, the blade getting stuck deep into the soil. Again, she missed and found herself at the mercy of the Wizard. Seemingly teleporting in front of her, Ravia watched as the Wizard pointed his staff and shot a devastating beam of energy straight at her face. She was too slow and again found herself on the floor. Ravia’s stomach began to churn. She hadn’t been on the losing end this badly since her time in Alvita; bitterly losing against someone she holds a heavy grudge for. As Ravia opened her eyes, her face burning wildly in pain and wiping away the blood from her face, she found herself right at the epicenter of a barrage of magic fireballs. Too late to move, Ravia Covered her face and bared the brunt of the attack. For once, she cursed her skimpy attire as she felt each and every fireball collide with her body. Ravia screamed, her cries more no more battle cries but instead ones of pain. As the last fireball dropped, thankfully missing her, Ravia found herself subconsciously shrinking; her body unable to stay giant while under so much pain and stress. Her legs wobbled as Ravia slowly brought herself up. The wizard slowly walked towards her, his face in disgust.
“And what were those words?” He asked “You enjoy stepping on bugs like me?” The wizard slammed his cane against Ravia’s jaw, bringing her 8 foot stature closer to the ground.
“Your own hubris is your weakness. You’re too blind to humble yourself. For that, you die.” The wizard Grabbed Ravia’s hair and yanked her downwards, closer to his face. She yelled out, but was too exhausted to retaliate. His free hand began conjuring magic, deathly close to Ravia’s face.
“Any final remarks?” The wizard asked, ready to blast Ravia’s face off.
“Yeah,” Ravia said with great pain, grabbing his free hand and crushing his wrist. The wizard yelped in pain, his body twisting a bit. “You underestimate my strength.” Ravia rocked her head back and slammed it against the wizard’s. His body went limp for a moment, slowly flying back, but Ravia grabbed him by his beard and yanked her back towards him. The shooting pain jolted him back into focus just in time to see Ravia’s fist fly straight into his face, crushing his nose. He screamed with each blow Ravia dealt, as she repeatedly dealt crushing blows to his midriff. The wizard coughed blood from his mouth, his face broken and battered. With all her might, Ravia pulled her leg up to her chest and extended it out hard, kicking the wizard square in his chest. The force was immense, Ravia feeling his ribcage shattering. The wizard flew far away, his body skipping and flopping across the ground. His body laid limp and lifeless.
He was finally dead.
Ravia let out a deep sigh of relief and started laughing.
“You had no chance, old man! Haha!” Ravia said but even she knew deep down she got lucky. Her body still ached immensely from the magic attacks, even the attacks from his cane still hurting. The first piece of Ava’s pendant quickly healed Ravia, but she found herself at the mercy of any magic attack even more than before. Her body was still heavily singed and bruised though Ravia found it odd that her chainmail armor was seemingly untouched.
“Thief! Where are you?” Ravia called out. “You better not be dead, because after that I deserve a good fucking!” Ravia laughed. She began relaxing and unwinding, mildly pleasuring herself to get excited.
What Ravia failed to notice was that the ground began to shine and eerie color. Before she could react, Ravia found her feet snagged at and bound by thick roots. She tugged and pulled at them but the roots did not budge. Confused, Ravia looked around. Her heart skipped a beat as she watched the wizard slowly come to a stand, his body bruised and beaten. Not bothering to get the last laugh, the wizard quickly crouched down and slammed his hand onto the ground. The same odd glow the ground gave off encased all around the wizard, chanting in an odd dialect, the wizard rose up and began channeling a powerful magic into his staff. Ravia’s heart began to race wildly. Quickly thinking how to escape, Ravia rapidly began to grow but even that failed as the thick roots lashed out and grabbed her entire body, squeezing and applying force. It was futile, however, as Ravia found herself halted at 50 feet, unable to grow anymore, the roots still unbreakable as ever. Ravia’s mind began to race, her heart seemingly beating out of her chest; fear struck her. She was so certain that victory was hers, how could she fail to miss something so crucial?
Not again, please. Ravia said to herself. I can’t die again; I can’t lose again. Ravia could feel a tear in her eye as she stood helpless, Elder Alton’s prophecy echoing through her mind;
Hubris will befall you. The wizard screamed and stretched his staff towards Ravia. The staff glowed wildly and a bright beam of pure magic energy shot from it. It was rainbow colored and so powerful that it seemed to emit its own heat and distort time and space around it. Ravia could only watch as her imminent death encroached. She closed her eyes and couldn’t stop thinking how weak she was.
Ravia screamed louder than she ever did, her cries of pure desperation and fear. The beam eviscerated her, shredding her armor off in an instant and melting away her skin. The roots immediately broke, unable to hold back the immense power. Ravia immediately shrunk down, but her body couldn’t move. No matter how much she begged herself to just move to the fucking side, she couldn’t. The beam came to an abrupt stop and Ravia simply fell back, her body collapsing onto the floor. The wizard was panting loudly, the attack too taking a great toll on him. His staff was completely burnt away and all that remained was ash on the ground. He slowly walked towards Ravia; his breaths ragged.
“How are you possibly still alive?!” The wizard said, barely able to get his sentence out. Ravia laid there, motionless. Her breathing was shallow and forced and the only thing she could do was move her eyes and follow the wizard. She laid on the floor, her arms and legs outstretched, her nude body burnt and unrecognizable. The wizard began channeling more magic into his hand, readying his hopefully, final blow. As she was bringing his hand towards Ravia’s head, the wizard gasped and wheezed.
“You fool.” He simply said. “You’ll doom the entire world.” The wizard paused for one last moment before his body gave out and he fell to the floor. Behind him was Brand. The thief watched Ravia in fright. For a moment though, Brand wanted to just end it all. He was right there- all he had to do was drive that sword into her heart and he would be free. ‘She’s basically dead, just fucking do it!’ His mind begged him. ‘Why are you so fucking weak? Kill that bitch!’ No more would he be some giant’s plaything; no more would he be treated less than a human being. He gripped the blade intensely to the point his hand went white. Even Ravia herself knew what he was thinking. She thought back to how terrible she treated him and how much he tried to help her. A twinge of guilt struck across her and for once in her entire life, Ravia felt remorse as she gazed at Brand; his face looking drained and exhausted. The day she held him captive he was so full of energy. Now, his posture was terrible, his face drained and his expression lifeless.
Brand gripped the blade tighter and finally sighed. He slowly put the blade back in his sheathe. Ravia’s Eyes widened as she watched Brand crouch next to Ravia’s body, trying to think about how he could carry her. He got flustered, knocking his hands against his head until he finally snapped.
“Oh, for once, just once, suck up your fucking pride and shrink so I can fucking carry you!” Brand screamed, his face deep with sadness and regret. Ravia just closed her eyes and allowed her body to shrink down to her true size; Brand sighed and slowly picked her up. No matter where he grabbed, pain struck through her entire body, though she couldn’t even muster the strength to scream.
Brand slowly walked down the meadows of Falzia with Ravia in his arms, desperately searching for refuge and the same time pondering his sanity as this would be the second time he could have escaped her grasps but defied it.