Chy sat perched atop the boulder that was--once again--in the middle of the clearing. The boulder rested against a cliff face, the top of which she couldn’t see. Ten yards away, the cliff continued, reaching down to the foggy ground below. In the corner between the mountain and the clearing, there was a small crack, as if the top of the mountain had been pushed back to create the small space. 2 paths followed the mountain face on either side of the clearing, slowly leading down to the ground below.
She crossed her legs and closed her eyes, achieving a meditating position. “Sharek Na’thsher,” she mumbled, using Nature to study her surroundings. The two scraggly trees on either side of her, up against the cliffside, were her eyes, the weeds scattered everywhere her ears. The Shi Master would arrive any moment, and she’d be--
Someone stepped on a weed to her right. She itched to move, to attack, but her plan required her to stay and wait. Several more weeds, twigs, and roots cried out to her in pain, but she stayed motionless. She heard a soft chuckle, and a wave of Pain flew at her, aimed at her throat.
It bounced harmlessly off. Chy didn’t move. Just a little longer... she thought. He grunted. “You’ve already tried this before. It failed, remember?” He waved his staff again, and the wave of Pleasure sailed at her.
It hit and dissipated. Chy smiled. Each type of shield was different--a shield for Pain rebuffed, a shield for Sadness reflected, a shield for Pleasure dissolved.
She sprang up, spinning toward a surprised Shi master. “Hakn Sharath!” she yelled, Space coming out of her like a snake. It was not meant to hurt, but for a different purpose entirely. It curved toward him, and he rose his Enhancement Staff in defense--exactly how she wanted him to. The Space wrapped around the staff, yanking it out of his hands. It flew toward Chy.
The Shi Master stumbled forward, he hadn’t been expecting that. “Hakn Sharath,” he said, sending out his own snake of Space. It wrapped around the staff, and started to pull it toward him. However, without the staff’s strength-enhancing ability, the enemies were equally matched. The staff stopped in midair.
Sweat beaded on his forehead. “Do you think...” he said, breathing heavily, “...you could... let go now? I kind of... kinda want that back, please.”
Chy said nothing, all focus on pulling the staff closer to herself. It seemed to be working...yes, she could see it moving! It was coming closer to her! She was winning, she was going to defeat him! All the past failures, but yet he still hadn’t one. He was too arrogant for his own good. She reached out to grab the staff, it was just inches from her fingertips....
The Shi Master looked frantically around, then half-smiled. “Shadar Sharath!”
The boulder Chy stood upon started to roll toward the cliff. Panicked, she tried to split her power and stop it. It slowed, but the clearing had a bit of a downward slope toward the cliff, and the small amount of power she’d been able to use wasn’t enough. Finally, she diverted all of her power to stopping it, letting go of the Enhancement Staff. The boulder stopped, half a foot away from the cliff’s edge, and the staff snapped back into the Shi Master’s hands. He sighed in relief as she scrambled off the boulder, letting it go to roll over the cliff and crash to the bottom. He raised his staff and said something that chilled her to the bones.
“Kakien Ta’keth.”
She couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her throat. The Fifth Aspect. Shrouded in mystery, nobody knew much of anything about it. Mostly because it couldn’t be used without an Enhancement staff, and the Shi Master had destroyed every one except his once he’d come into power. Even with the staff, the Ancient Words had to be spoken. Out of nowhere, a thought appeared in her head. Release the shields.
Well, okay. It was her thought, it had to be part of some grand scheme she just hadn’t thought of yet. She let go of the shield.
The Shi Master sagged on the staff. There was one other thing that was known about the Fifth Aspect--it was very tiring.
Suddenly, Chy realized what’d happened. “Didn’t think that would work,” he said, yawning.
Desperately, Chy tried to craft her shields again. “Treshak Fard--” she started, but a wave of Pain ripped--no, seared down her throat.
Hundreds upon hundreds of Pain waves flew at her, all emanating from that blasted staff! She stood her ground, however, resisting the Pain. I’ve felt worse. This isn’t nearly as bad as before.
Air-knives flew at her, digging into her skin. I’ve felt... worse.... One knife went through her shoulder, and she watched in horror as her arm fell to the stony ground, flopping weakly before falling still.
That was worse. Worse than everything else combined. She felt as if her arm should still be there, but it was only her shoulder ending in a stump of Pain. She fell to her knees, landing next to her arm, and screamed until she coughed out blood.
The Shi Master smiled wickedly, a twinkle of mad glee in his eyes. He stood over her, the sunlight streaming around him, making him only a black silhouette to Chy. He rose the pointed staff and stabbed it into her heart.
Chy expected the familiar push back into the past, but instead the Shi Master simply spat in her face. “I’m getting tired of you. You almost defeated me this time, you little devil. It’s time for you to die, I’m done with this battle.”
“NO!” Chy screamed, not caring about how much it hurt her throat. Everything else hurt so much, she barely even felt it.
He was just going to let her die. She couldn’t fail again, not after the last three failures. Not after all she’d done in the past three times three days. He was supposed to send her back, give her another chance! Almost without thinking, she grasped for the Aspect of Time. It was her weakest Aspect, and she’d never studied it much. It had never seemed very useful to her--until now. She didn’t even have enough to send a rat back an hour, let alone two people three days. She grabbed it anyway.
Power exploded out of her, much more Time than she was used to, or thought she could use. On instinct, she crafted the Time into chains, which she wrapped around herself and the Shi Master. She yaaaaaanked on them both, and found herself falling back into the past.
