Uzi woke to the steady creak of the wagon wheels and the distant crash of waves. The forest pressed thick around them, so dense that the ocean remained hidden, its sound the only reminder it was near.
He pushed himself up and greeted Guntic.
"Morning," Uzi muttered.
"Morning," Guntic replied, eyes still fixed on the road. "We're not far now. Another day or two, and Mandalo will be in sight."
After a pause, Uzi shifted. "Could we stop for a moment? I need to stretch my legs."
Guntic sighed, though not unkindly. "Fine. But don't wander too far."
They brought the wagon to a halt. Uzi stepped off the road, moving far enough into the trees that Guntic couldn't see him. He drew a deep breath, then raised his hands, focusing. A faint shimmer of holy magic bled out, chains of light dangling weakly from his palms. They swayed, fragile, fading almost as soon as they appeared. Uzi clenched his teeth, trying again and again to shape something, anything, but the energy slipped through his grasp.
A sharp cry split the silence. Someone was screaming. Uzi's head snapped up just as Guntic's voice rang out.
"Uzi! Hurry!"
The doctor spurred his horse forward, the wagon rattling as he drove it toward the sound of distress.
Uzi stood frozen among the trees, the failed glow still flickering faintly on his hands.
Uzi, discouraged by how weak his magic had become, shoved the thought aside and bolted toward the sound of the scream. His boots pounded against the forest floor as his mind raced. What could it be? A wild animal? Bandits? Something worse?
The trees suddenly thinned, opening into a clearing. Uzi skidded to a stop.
At the center, a man stumbled backward, falling onto the dirt. His voice shook as he shouted, "Stay back!"
Uzi's eyes snapped to what he was pointing at.
Towering over the clearing stood a knight unlike any Uzi had ever seen. The figure stretched impossibly tall, easily nine and a half feet, clad head to toe in heavy armor. But the armor was wrong. Every edge of the blackened plates glowed with a sickly purple light, the heat so intense that drops of it seemed to drip down, hissing as they touched the ground. Wherever the liquid landed, weeds shriveled and grass turned to ash.
Uzi froze, his breath caught in his chest. His mind scrambled to process what he was seeing. What... is that thing?
The man on the ground suddenly shouted, "Gun magic!" As he took out a small glowing box; A ball of light flared from the box in his hands, shaping itself into the form of a long rifle. Energy pulsed along its barrel as a glowing bullet clicked into place. He fired, the shot streaking across the clearing and slamming against the knight's helmet. Sparks flew, but all it left was a shallow chip in the armor.
The man's face twisted in desperation. "No... no! I can't die yet! Not before I've had my revenge! Why isn't this gun working?!"
The word revenge snapped Uzi out of his daze. Before he could think, his body moved on its own. He sprinted forward, leapt onto the knight, and crashed down against its armor.
Agony surged through him. His legs, arms, and chest seared as if they were pressed against burning iron. Patches of glowing purple poison spread across his skin like crawling fire.
"Don't touch it!" the sniper shouted. "That knight, he's made of poison!"
Another shot rang out. The second bullet struck, cracking away another sliver of the knight's helmet, but the damage was still minimal.
Uzi's arms trembled, his strength draining fast. The knight's massive hand clamped around his throat and lifted him like a doll. With a sharp movement, it hurled him to the ground.
The impact rattled his bones. Poison spread deeper into his body, every breath laced with fire. He coughed hard, crimson splattering onto the dirt.
Think. Think!
Then it came to him. Uzi forced every ounce of holy magic he could muster to flood outward. Weak as it was, the light spread across his body, wrapping his skin in a thin glow. The glow fought against the poison, patching wounds, easing the burning. His body trembled, but the faint shimmer began to heal what it could.
The knight raised its massive blade and swung down toward Uzi.
Before the strike could land, the other man leapt between them, thrusting his glowing sniper rifle up like a shield. The blade slammed against it with a metallic shriek. The rifle shuddered, glowing cracks spreading across its frame as the knight pushed harder, forcing him down inch by inch.
Uzi crawled backward, breath ragged, then staggered to his feet beside the towering figure. He clenched his fist, trying to shape holy magic around it, but the glow sputtered out unevenly, spilling across his arm and the ground. It wouldn't hold.
"Come on... just work," he muttered through clenched teeth.
Snatching up a rock, he hurled it at the knight's helm. The stone hissed, crumbling from heat as it struck, but it was enough to draw the creature's focus. Its burning visor snapped toward him.
Uzi didn't move. He held his ground.
The knight's blade came down again, Slicing into Uzi's shoulder, slicing through going to his previous wound from Rathra
"Move!" the other man shouted, panic in his voice.
But Uzi stayed where he was. Pain jolted through him, and in that moment of desperation, something inside snapped into place.
Holy light erupted, rough and untamed, snapping around his fist like a storm. With a roar, Uzi drove his glowing hand forward, slamming into the knight's chest. The impact cracked the armor and sent the massive figure stumbling backward, its grip loosening on the weapon as the blade ripped out of his shoulder.
Uzi clutched his shoulder, where faint purple marks were spreading across his skin. He forced his magic into the wound. The light flared, struggling to stay together as it pressed against the poison, burning it away in unstable bursts.
The glow barely held its shape, wild sparks flying in every direction, but it was enough to keep him standing.
The knight looked back, all attention going full force towards Uzi, the knight turned his blade towards Uzi, before getting ready to strike.