Kiyan's Demise

Kiyan could do nothing but watch as the spiders came at him. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't free himself from the web.

"No, no, no, no, no. No!" He panicked. Not from the fact that he could die, but because he was getting surrounded by overgrown eight legged creeping arachnids.

He writhed in the web, trying to move the sword which was still in his hold. "Come on, come on!" He gritted his teeth. His heart was pounding. He couldn't stand the thought of getting touched by those bloated eight legged monstrosities.

He struggled to move the sword to cut through the web with spite. He would look up at the spiders coming for his head and the ones slowly surrounding him and then start trying even harder.

"I'm surrounded by creeping abnormalities, cut free you damn sword!" He shouted in frustration.

Once it did, he cut through the web holding his left side. As soon as he was free, he swung his sword slicing through the first spiders to approach him.

Kiyan moved relentlessly, slicing every one of them in his path, still not taking his eyes off the big one or as he now assumed it to be, the mother spider.

He kept attacking the little ones that attacked him, weary of the bigger one. It hadn't moved at all ever since Kiyan freed himself.

Kiyan wasn't slow or hesitant in his attacks. He had already been poked by the needles. He had to act fast before the venom took full effect. His body was already starting to give in slowly and he still had the worry of the spider at the back of his mind.

The sticky ground made it harder to move and avoid the needles coming from the smaller spiders.

So far, there had only been a repeat of action. The smaller spiders were doing a good job at keeping Kiyan busy. No matter how many he cut down, they just kept coming. It was as if there was no limit to them. It was getting frustrating and becoming a pain to his wrists.

Some needles had connected and with every passing second, he could feels his insides deteriorating.

"What are you planning?!" Kiyan, almost out of breath, kept trying to understand why the bigger spider was just standing in place. He could feel his heart burning in his chest and could tell it was not a good sign.

"I have to take out the biggest threat." He thought and did a clean cut to five spiders at once and then skillfully slashed at ten that were closest to him.

"AAGH!" He yelled and leapt forward ignoring the spiders that followed suit. With his sword lifted in the air he moved ready to kill the spider. He aimed to swing at its head when he saw it. He saw what the spider had been doing.

Kiyan's mouth gaped open. His eyes rolled back as he coughed up blood. It was an attack he could not have avoided, especially being mid-air.

It wasn't a needle this time but big enough to be called a spear. It was fast, faster than Kiyan could react. In a split second the spear of venom made from the spider went through Kiyan's torso and out his back.

Kiyan was pushed back to a tree and pinned against it. His sword fell out of his hand and onto the ground somewhere in the midst of the smaller spiders.

His eyes turned red with pain, a familiar red liquid flowed out of his mouth and gushed out of the stab wound. 

"Ack! This, this.. is too much." A tear fell from his left eye. The young boy was in excruciating pain, surrounded by what he never admits he fears, and he was alone.

"I approached this all wrong from the start." He lifted his frail and shaky hands and held onto the spear that pinned his to a tree.

"I wanted to use nothing but my skills to win. But I'm dealing with a magically mutated spider, one in greater beast level. Perhaps, if it were to be on a basic level I could have dealt with it easier." He thought.

Kiyan looked at the spiders surrounding him. Even the ones he had cut grew back their missing halves and now they were double the number they were before.

He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. Rather than calming, he only felt pain. His heart beat increased rapidly. It was beating too hard, he felt as though it would burst out of his chest.

It must have been the effect of the poison. Blood began seeping from his eyes, nostrils and ears too. He was already bleeding from the mouth.

Kiyan could no longer see, and hear, even breathing was becoming a problem.

"I didn't want to do this for fear of burning myself in the process. But..." His breathing was unsteady. His vision was cloudy and red.

"If I'm about to die anyway, you're all coming with me." A smirk formed on his lips and as if an inferno had been dropped on the land, fire razed the place.

Magical beasts to some extent were immune to magical attacks. To use a magic element to kill one, it must be a very powerful one and should cover a wide range to ensure the beast does not escape.

"Father… I can't help but hate you sometimes." His grip on the spear loosened and his arms fell at his sides. His head fell awkwardly as he lost consciousness and possibly, his life.

The smoke coming from the burning bush could be seen from the town's square. Other beasts in the vicinity kept their distance to avoid getting caught in it.

********

Meanwhile, as soon as the twins were thrown into the forest, the three men went about their business.

One-eye was drawing circles on the ground at the back of the house. The grass around the area was suddenly cleared. He carefully drew symbols inside the circle.

Agnar watched carefully.

"You might not remember, Agnar, but you taught me how to do this." One-eye said as he added four different squares on different curves on the circle. Each square had their own symbol.

"Something seems off to me," Agnar said, looking at the design of the circle.

One-eye just smiled. He wanted to see if Agnar would react to the wrong symbol he added in the centre.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"At the centre there, why does it somewhat look like a crescent split in half?" Agnar raised a brow. "I definitely didn't teach you that."

"I know you are very terrible at drawing, but something as easy as a magical circle should not be much of a task."

"You can be a bit appreciative, you know." One-eye looked up at him.

"How can I be appreciative of nonsense?"

"Why don't you just draw it yourself then?" One-eye lifted his hand to give the stuck he used to draw on the sand.

Agnar shook his head slowly.

"If I took that from you, I would have to start this all over again. I don't want to activate it in the process. I am trying to get my powers back, not kill myself while using magic. So as pained as I am seeing this abomination being put down here, I have to accept it." Agnar sighed.

One-eye was now a bit ticked off.

"Helping you annoys me to the core, you know that. You never appreciate anything I try to.."

"I am thankful." Agnar placed his hand on One-eye's shoulder and squeezed it a bit. One-eye was confused by the sudden gesture.

"Now.." he bent over, bringing himself a bit closer. "Finish this circle before your head is resting in its centre. Correct that stupid crescent, at least. You are blabbering and wasting my time." He said crushing One-eye's shoulder in the process.

"You know how much I hate you, right?" One-eye slapped his hand off and carried on with what he was doing, not reacting to his broken shoulder as if he didn't even feel it.

"Are you two done with your nonsense?" Raymond said, stretching his arms with a yawn. "These crystals need to go in right?"

"Hold on for a little bit," One-eye replied.

Agnar took out a pocket watch and looked at the time.

"Past noon," he muttered. He then looked in the direction of the forest.

"At least survive the time limit." He mumbled to himself.