Happy Blog Day Everyone
Chapter 20 of Phantom Dawn is here, and with it, a new twist in Rose's fight.
Not much else has been happening, but I've been deep in thought about other things relating to the stories, just need the energy to actually get things done.
I do miss writing, which seems like an odd thing to say since I'm still writing, hence the new chapter today. However, what I mean is writing without a deadline looming overhead (again, I know it's another odd thing to say when I'm the one setting these deadlines but that's the joy of being me, my mind likes to torment me).
In theory this is just starting the word processor up, choosing something, and writing away without worrying that I should be working on the thing that's needed fairly quickly (as has been the case with these Phantom Dawn chapters). A lot of this is clearly on me and my abysmal time keeping, along with other hobbies gobbling up all my spare moments.
It's not like I haven't got things to work on either, like Daemon Soul 2, the Avalon Tales spin off, another spin off (the first chapter of which may be coming sooner than you think), other story ideas (like the medieval mecha one I spoke about a few weeks ago). That's also not including any Brennan and Riz stories! So yeah, a lot I could be doing but when push comes to shove, there's always something that I should be working on instead.
Enough of all that though, I hear the party has finally stopped over with our favourite duo...
The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz
The wonkiness of the first panel aside, there's some good work here, between that close up of Riz and Brennan’s expression. I don't normally transition from one storyline to another in the same strip, but since it's Riz-mas, I'm going to make an exception. What do I have planned you may ask? No idea really, like Brennan and Riz often do, I'm going to wing it in spectacular style. Will this last the whole month of December or end on Christmas Eve? I've got no idea.
Hope you stick with me through all of Riz’s incoming craziness!
Short Diversions: Phantom Dawn Chapter 20
The final fight is underway, but who will emerge victorious? With everything on the line, Rose has a difficult task ahead of her, as her foe has some tricks left to play.
Ready to throw down? Read on...
Phantom Dawn Chapter Index
Chapter 20
----------
Chapter 20: Struggle
In her focused state, Rose went to meet the creature head on, intent on making sure that it never passed the imagined boundary that led to Kurz and Mason, and beyond them, to the town. The creature was more than happy to meet her in the middle, moving to punch her with its right fist, which seemed to swell up the moment before impact. Rose threw herself backwards to avoid it, landing like a cat, and propelled herself forward, catching the creature by surprise with her own punch that caused its rocky surface to crack. The blow forced the creature back a little bit, but by nowhere near the amount her kick had done before, which meant the creature was back into the swing of things quickly, attacking again with frenzied blows. Rose weaved through them, before taking every opening she could to inflict more damage to the beast, her punches now tearing chunks of rocky material off, exposing the molten magma like substance underneath that was still glowing a brilliant white.
From their un-enviable vantage point, Kurz and Mason could feel the heat extruding from the creature, noting how Rose acted like she wasn’t affected by it at all. Still, they could only watch, their bodies having given up any pretense that they could actually move, or even be any help whatsoever. Really, they should have been trying to move away, but that wasn’t an option either. The question that hovered over both of their minds was a simple one, would she be strong enough to overpower this creature like the others. They knew that she had to in order to save all their lives, but the flip side did poke its head through their beliefs. They didn’t verbalise it, lest they invoke it into fruition. For Mason’s part, while it lingered in his mind his faith in Rose was absolute, and he’d rather see himself fall before her if it was to make a difference. She’d trusted in him, so it was all he could think of doing in return. Kurz was more conflicted. He’d seen what she could do, and assumed that while there was probably a limit, they hadn’t seen it yet. What troubled him was when she’d hit that limit, and if that would be enough. In the short time he’d known her, he’d spent half of it either ignoring her, or distrusting her. Yet now, he was depending on her to save not only him, but everyone else. This left him to struggle with his feelings and actions, and his inability to do anything.
Rose was completely oblivious to what they were thinking, every ounce of her being was devoted to stopping the monster before her, but she found her own options being limited by the effect they were having on her enemy. Yes, she seemed to be doing damage, but it wasn’t slowing the creature down any. Instead, its movements were slowly changing, the openings it was leaving for Rose to dodge into, were getting smaller. The monster slammed it’s fist into the ground, causing it to become unstable, and throwing Rose off the rhythm she’d created for herself, then it lurched forward, landing its first blow against her, knocking her as far back as her first kick had against it. She recovered quickly, and narrowly avoided another strike that would have taken the head of anyone else. Countering, she leapt up, and kicked the creature in the neck, a move which caused it to stagger. There was more and more of the molten skin showing now, the result of every attack she’d made.
The creature, though, seemed to notice its own predicament, and roared in outrage, its cry echoing throughout the land, terrifying though in the town who heard it. All the stony skin pieces fell off, as the molten skin changed shape, shrinking down till it was more at Rose’s height instead of the hulking monstrosity it was before. There were jagged peaks sticking out of its back and out of its shoulders, and a singular red eye opened on what passed for its head. Its jaw hinged wide and it let out another roar. Rose prepared herself, undeterred by the metamorphosis before her. She charged in, but the creature’s speed was now even greater than before, and it evaded every move she was making, almost copying her own style. Whereas before, she could land blows on it, this time, all she was hitting was air.
Kurz spat out in frustration. From where he and Mason were laid out, it looked like Rose was fighting a mirror copy of herself as far as movements were going.
“What- What is that thing? I knew there were monsters out there but nothing like this!” Mason stuttered
“Everything before…All those others…and we thought they were the worse things…Or are there even more terrible things out there,” Kurz spoke quietly, so quiet he wasn’t aware that he’d made any sound.
“Come on, Rose! My angel! Show us the hope we’ve put in you!” Mason yelled, in contrast.
If Kurz could, he would have given him the side eye, but as it was, there was nothing else to do, but watch and pray.
Rose had tried mixing up her attacks, going from punching, to kicks and even an attempted shoulder barge, but none of them found their mark.
The creature then started its own attacks, and found no issue striking her with its full force. Every attack hit with the force of an explosion, and Rose was knocked back, crashing into the floor. She got back up after each one, but every time, it took that little bit longer.
Running back towards the creature, Rose swung the sword with everything she could muster, and in turn the creature pulled back its right fist and they both struck at the same time, the impact causing a mini shockwave. The end result of this was that Rose was sent flying backwards again, smashing through several rocky outcrops, dropping the sword in the process.
Both Kurz and Mason felt their heart in their throats as they watched her roll to a stop.
For what seemed like the longest time, she laid there, not moving. The creature moved slowly towards her, its head tilting as its curiosity grew.
Rose grasped for breath, pain flaring in every part of her body. It took her several moments to realise that she had complete control again. She took a step forward, and had to catch her breath as she collapsed down to one knee.
What’s going on? She thought. Forcing herself back upright, she tried to settle her breathing, as her enemy advanced, intent on doing more damage.
“Looks like your little monster here was able to force you back to how you were, isn’t that amusing?” the voice in her head whispered. “What will you do now? Are you strong enough without that other presence doing all the fighting for you?”
“Shut up! I’ll do what I have to do to protect everyone! I’ll fight to my last breath if I have to. I can’t let this creature past me!” Rose shouted out.
“Who- Who is she talking to?” Mason asked.
“I think anyone would go crazy in this situation, but…” Kurz trailed off, he could tell that something was different now, it was clear to see that Rose often fell silent during her fights, something he’d only really picked up when the larger monster attacked. What this actually meant though, he didn’t know. He hoped it was a good omen rather than the opposite, they needed some luck right about now.
“In that case, fight away ‘Rose’. Show me how far that’ll get you…” the voice chided.
This time, Rose didn’t answer the voice, she instead charged in without any further hesitation, but the results were even worse than last time. Now the creature didn’t even bother dodging her attacks, it just stood there as Rose’s hits did nothing. Even her kicks no longer caused any reaction when they landed, the creature shrugging them all off. It’s eye focused on her, and then it attacked again, beating her down with rapid punches, before kicking her away.
Rose groaned as she rolled over, clutching her side. She was battered, bruised but still alive, and despite the pain and the encroachment of her vision, she stood once more.
“I can’t…I can’t give up!” She said like a mantra.
The creature almost looked amused, as it went to strike again, not wanting to give her any ground. It made it half way to her when another roar stopped it dead.
“Not another monster!” Mason cried out.
Kurz fell back into the sand upon hearing it, his will drained completely.
The roar was accompanied by the sound of something racing across the ground, its heavy feet making it sound like a stampede.
Rose was the first one to see it, and her eyes grew wide as she recognised it instantly. This new intruder was the same beast she and Neal encountered when they met only a day or so ago. It still bore the wounds that she had inflicted on it whilst in the other state. She herself couldn’t remember the fight, not completely, but she did remember that she spared it’s life, not wanting to kill needlessly. The T-rex-like beast crashed into the other creature with tremendous force, catching it by surprise, and moving it backwards, away from Rose.
“Is it…Protecting me?” Rose asked, not that there was anyone near her to give an answer.
The T-rex-like monster backed off slightly, before swinging its tail around, but the other creature, now more prepared, took the blow in its stride before lashing out at the interloper.
“The monsters are fighting each other? That’s a new one.” Mason’s emotions had run the gauntlet from fear all the way back to surprise.
Kurz managed to sit himself back up, already watching what was unfolding.
“What is going on?” he uttered. He noted that the creature seemed to match the description his grandfather had given him before. What the importance of that was, he didn’t know right now. Before he could even speculate, the ground shook again, and another familiar cry filled the air. No sooner had the T-Rex creature turned up, but the ground heaved, and the spider-like monster from only a few hours earlier shot up from the ground, blood still seeping from where Rose cut off the eye stalk. With fangs bared it went for the humanoid creature, its sheer size allowing it to crash into the humanoid creature, causing cracks to appear in its reforged skin.
Rose was baffled by the scene playing out in front of her.
“Those pests…What are they doing?” Even the voice in her head was surprised.
“They’re both protecting me…” Rose realised.
The humanoid creature leapt into the air, giving it some breathing room against the other two.
The T-Rex and the Spider creatures didn’t follow up, instead they deliberately put themselves in front of Rose, making it perfectly clear that any attempt at her would have to go through them. The humanoid creature, frustrated by the new obstacles, let loose a horrifying howl as its body changed once more. It kept the same size but its portions became more muscular, and more spikes covered its body. Its molten skin turned a deep crimson.
Even with numbers on her side, Rose knew that this fight wasn’t over yet…
----------
Next Chapter (not written yet!)
That's all for now folks!
Only about three chapters left now, and it's going to be a relief when this is over and done with!
Till next time,
Keep on writing
Peter James Martin
Quick Links
Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1
Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Fade to Noir
