#ealdwine

“Don’t think that you’ve seen all my tricks yet.” Ealdwine said with more confidence than he felt. Silber was rapidly gaining ground and once he’d get close enough…. No point worrying about that now.

“From the Abysss, I borrow wisdom.” A magical circle formed around Ealdwine as the Undead drew complicated runes into the air. “Release myself from bonds of time.”

It was a simple incantation, lacking the earth shaking power of his earlier attacks, and to all watching, the spell may have seemed unimpressive. But as Ealdwine finished his spell, he felt the whole stream of time open before his eyes.

“A new spell?” Silber looked up. Ealdwine was surrounded by an aura of after images, but Silber couldn’t sense any big changes. “Heh, looks like it won’t change the outcome of the battle either way.”

Silber jumped forward, only to collide with a direct blast magic. “Gah, hey! You didn’t even cast a spell!” The Paladin pointed an accusatory finger at Ealdwine.

“Heh, but I did.” The smug expression on the undead only fueled Silbers desire to punch his opponent. “With my Paradigm Shift I have one foot outside of linear time. I can skip around a bit, like skipping ahead any incantation I might need.”

“Hohoho, seems like you aren’t holding back.” Silber grinned, his teeth sparkling in the dim light. “Neither will I.”

Raising his sword high into the air, Silber closed his eyes in prayer. From the frozen sword, an aurora spread through the gloomy dungeon, chasing away the darkness.

“Gngh,” Ealdwine took a deep breath. It felt like a heavy weight had been placed on his chest, and his movement felt sluggish. “Perhaps I have overindulged in the powers of the Abyss…” the Lich groaned.

“You have indeed, old friend.” Silber shouted, reading for his next attack. Ealdwine raised his staff, neon green energy glowing around it.

“Hyia!” Silber cut through the air as frigid winds shot forward, throwing Ealdwine off his balance.

“Bring the pain to blood and flesh, rip this soul from its mortal coil!” From Ealdwines hand a black orb shot outwards, trailing through the air like a meteor before crashing into Silber, setting his every nerve aflame with pain.

Silber managed to close the distance, bringing his sword down on Ealdwine, when suddenly the dimensions turned and the sword merely cut through common rock.

Ealdwine hurled debris from the firmament towards his enemy, only for the stubborn knight to cleave right through one of the meteors.

Thus went their fight, with neither gaining the upper hand.

It can’t go on like this, Silber thought. I need to get him to stand still for a moment. “Exhausted?” Ealdwine gloated. “You are still a living being, after all. My undead endurance however is still raring to go.” I am all out of escape routes. I need to end this fight fast! Ealdwine thought.

“Hah! You were always rather weak as a human.” Silber laughed. Ealdwine huffed. “Yeah, remember? I had to carry you a lot. You always complained that your feet were tired.” “Silber, I am warning you.” The Lichs gaze turned cold.

The Dragon Paladin merely laughed. It wasn’t quite the boisterous laugh that he had shown during the fight, but rather a more soft sound. Almost… comforting.

“I guess dying has finally gotten you to tough up, huh? Talk about a dead weight.” Ealdwines eyes flashed blood red. The stone around him burst apart, the debris rising up as a red glowing aura burned around the undead.  “Ok, that is IT.” The red aura gathered above Ealdwine in a truly terrifying spell. Silber however, had seen his chance. 

The storm of magic focused on Ealdwines necklace. It was there that the Lich had hidden his phylactery, a pocket dimension whose only access point was that amulet. With superhuman strength, Silber pushed himself off the ground, cold wind enveloping him completely.

"Annihilation!" Ealdwine threw his hand towards the approaching knight, the destructive spell above his head releasing itself.

A blast of cold wind collided with Ealdwine, and for a moment the Lich could swear he saw dragon teeth pierce into his body. At that moment he lost control of his spell and everything was swallowed by the flame of destruction.

Silber groaned.  He opened his eyes, and took in his surroundings. He was in his human form and most wounds seemed to have already closed. Still, there were a few patches of blackened scales covering his body.

With a pounding head, he looked around, trying to find any hint as to how much time had passed since he fell unconscious.

A few meters away, something stirred. Ealdwine sat up from the rubbles of the dungeon, seemingly as lost as Silber. Reconstructing his body was always a chore, leaving him weakened and in no way to fight off the draconic knight. However, it seemed that his adversary was also spent, so maybe they could have at least one moment of peace.

The two stood in silence for a while, neither saying anything.

Silber suddenly became aware that Ealdwine had crossed the distance, when he felt boney fingers on his, and a comfortable weight leaning on his shoulder.

Neither of them could say how it came to it, but suddenly they were pressed together, mouth to mouth. No one spoke a word, for one wrong sound might break this moment.