Midoria's Heart

Midoria's Heart 27 - Aduro

Okay. So this one took longer than I expected. I'm still not entirely sure that I'm happy with the middle part, so I might tweak it a bit in the future, but for now, I am done with this chapter. In case you can't tell, I had a nasty bout of writer's block with this one, so it might not be up to my usual standard, for which I apologize.

Anyway. Here's hoping you enjoy it anyway =)

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Chapter 27 - Aduro

The roar came from a corner of the room that was still shrouded in darkness; its piercing cry made my flesh crawl. I looked back through the wall of fire to see Jay restraining Adelle. For once I didn't mind his arms around her, knowing that she was safer on the other side of this inferno than stuck here in the middle of it. With my mind, I searched for Jay's presence.

"Keep her safe," I told him, meeting his eyes. He nodded gravely at me, then replied "Be careful." Smirking, I nodded. It was a mark of how much we had grown on each other that he said this, and though I knew we would both be caught dead before saying it aloud.

As I turned around, however, the smirk faded from my lips. The far corner of the room was shrouded in darkness, but I could just make out the bulky shape of some creature. It lifted its massive head and stared right at me with jewel bright eyes that shone out of the shadows around it. It stood up and stumbled towards me, then jerked abruptly to a stop.

Curious, I looked closer and realized that it was chained to the wall. Huge manacles covered its wrists and ankles, preventing it from moving any closer to me. I breathed a sigh of relief. All that worry, and for nothing - this was going to be easy.

The creature roared again, louder than before, and to my astonishment actually began to pull against its chains. After a few minutes, there was a huge crash and the chains fell to the ground. It turned back to me, took two steps forward, and then burst into flames. Crap.

Unsheathing my sword, I stepped warily towards it, analyzing it's every movement. It was big, so it couldn't possibly be fast - at least, not as fast as I was. While it had pulled it's chains free of the wall, they were still enclosed around its ankles, and were dragging behind it on the ground as it walked towards me. That was a tripping hazard for it, and a possible advantage to me. Of course, I couldn't get overly close to it without fear of being burned... definitely a disadvantage.

Its entire body was covered in a plated sort of armor. It had huge, razor-sharp claws on its hands, and spikes running down its back. It was relatively protected by the armor covering, and I sincerely doubted that my sword would penetrate that. It had to have a weak point though, a spot that I could use to help me take it down...

It took an aimed swing at me, and I dodged, narrowly avoiding the claws on its hands. That was a close one - it was faster than I had predicted. I parried around behind it, trying to grab one of the chains, but it followed my movement and took another shot. This one connected, and I felt myself falling back. I landed hard on the ground, and it loomed over me, ready to kill. At the last second I thrust my sword up, managing to stab the thing in one of its eyes.

It shrieked in pain and backed off, stumbling around with its hands on its face... this behavior struck me as remarkably human-like, but I shrugged the thought off, seizing my chance and grabbing one of the chains connected to its' ankle. I planted my feet and pulled hard. Incredibly, I managed to knock the monster off of its feet. It crashed to the ground, and I rushed forward, thrusting my sword into its chest, with enough force to pierce its tough armor. With a crack the plating broke, revealing a soft underbelly, and a weird, shiny circle on its chest. The flames that covered the creature died down, finally extinguishing. Breathing heavily, I lowered my sword, certain that the thing was dead.