This is it. The Battle's end. Hopefully it doesn't catch you off guard too much
The next few seconds move slow, as if time wanted me to pay close attention. I reached out to strike him with another lightning attack but he simply smiled as he raised a hand, pulling free his new sword that had been hiding high above us all this time after he tossed it upwards at the beginning of our fight. I gasped in horror as it descended from its hiding spot just in time for it to land in his hands as my left arm was rippling with electrical energy. Just as the tendrils of lightening jumped from my fingertips, Taillus strafed sideways, turned slightly and hiked the dark blade upward quickly, spraying blood up and outward.
Time slowed to a crawl and I watched my arm separate from my body as easily as a document being ripped in two. Words, thoughts all were stunted and all I could do was watch as my whole arm was removed from my body right at the shoulder, leaving nothing behind. Taillus laughed his evil laugh before stepping back once more and reversing the blade’s direction. He pulled the blade back just enough for it to scratch my face, blinding me in one of my eyes instantly. That was almost the last thing I could remember.
Taillus began shouting taunts at me, telling me that I should have seen this coming. He told me that I was far outclassed from the very beginning and that in surviving our first encounter should have been a warning to keep far away from him. I knew he was right. Who was I to think I could bring him down? I was just a battle mage, he was unlike a god, he brought Molag Bal to his knees single handedly and now, because of my stubbornness I was going to die right here, amongst the vampires and others that he had just slain giving me yet another warning to stay away.
I could feel my heart beat, every second pumping more of my blood to the stone floor. My vision was fading from my good eye and the warm trickle of blood from my damaged face was seeping into my armor from my neckline. I was done, a dead man…I should have known.
Taillus walked over to my fallen body and knelt beside me, digging his sword into the stone floor just in front of my face. I could barely see as he unlatched the silver and ebony amulet from my neck. I tried to yell obscenities at him but a low moan was all I could muster. Taillus only chuckled explaining that I wouldn’t need jewelry where I was headed and he got back to his feet, kicked some dirt in my face “accidentally” and turned to leave.
Taillus grabbed his sword and wished me good luck but I couldn’t hear his victory speech because a soft voice in my head was trying desperately to get my attention. Aeriandala’s voice began ordering me not to give up. She shouted encouraging words, telling me she knew I was mortally wounded but not to give up. I tried telling her that I was bleeding to death and was missing an arm and an eye but could only moan again. That is when she told me that I have won.
At first I thought she was completely mad, before she explained that is. Turns out she couldn’t tell me what the amulet and ring actually did, because if I knew, Taillus might have been able to find out as well. She told me to remember her strict instructions before I left and I did just that.
“Always make sure the ring is the last thing you remove, and the first thing you put back on.” I manage to whisper as blood begins seeping out of my opened mouth. I watch as Taillus holds the amulet over his head, eager to wear it proudly as a prize of war, a token to remind him that he had just beaten me to death.
“The amulet Xander is named the Prisoner of Greed. I crafted it in order to defeat a very powerful sorcerer back in my day. Its enchantments are heavily masked so that no one would ever be able to determine what its effect would be. The Prisoner of Greed silences the wearer, paralyzes, damages magicka to the point of it being almost non existent in the wearer, dispels any constant effect or other enchantments not created by the amulet, siphons strength enough to make your friend as weak as a baby and finally, burdens stronger than most spells.”
“In other words Xander, you have defeated Taillus. He will be rendered helpless as soon as that amulet rests around his neck. The sorcerer that I was in battle with met his fate the same as your friend did. He thought that the amulet was the source of my power and in ripping it from my neck and wearing it, he was trapped until the day he died. It truly is the Prisoner of Greed, the ring was the counter spell making it completely harmless to you. Now I must be going Xander, your mental strength is waning and you are almost unconscious. Please don’t forget to cauterize your wound to stop it from bleeding. You will be alright I promise.” Aeriandala assures as her voice fades as well as everything else around me…
End Of Chapter