Dimwater's Dragon Read Online Free

to the floor below.
    Cyrus sent in a series of magical ice darts, but none of them had any effect on the beast. The demon absorbed each dart directly into its chest and only grew larger and stronger. The demon then took both of its lower arms and clapped them together in front of himself, sending a shockwave out that flung Cyrus to the back wall and knocked him unconscious.
    Janik knew he was in serious trouble without Cyrus there to help. He reached for the short sword hanging from his belt, hoping against all odds that the blade would somehow affect the beast. The demon cracked his whip and sparks of lightning exploded over it. A moment later, Janik was flying through the air as scorching pain seared through his left leg. He stretched out his left hand to break his fall, but his wrist and forearm snapped in three different places. He called out in agony, writhing on the floor as the burning made its way through his leg up into his hip, while radiating pulses shot through his chest and shoulder from his left forearm. His vision blurred and he gasped for breath.
    He rolled over and saw the fiery whip coming down for his face. The weapon seem to unfold over him slowly, as if time stretched out allowing him to watch his death for much longer than he should have needed to. Yellow and gold sparks leapt from the bright red whip, but he felt no fear. He lay still, watching the weapon soar down toward his face and then all went black.
    Death was anything but what he had expected, for there was no bright light and no imp to drag him down to hell either. In fact he wasn’t even sure he was dead for he was still breathing and from what he could tell, the sounds of battle still raged around. He tried to open his eyes, but they would not obey him, so he listened with his ears as Cyrus continued to throw spell after spell. He guessed that what he heard was lightning, or possibly spears of ice as he had seen before, but he had no way to be sure. He knew only that there were large, crackling sounds flying in the air around him followed by gusts of wind and heavy thumps.
    Janik had lost all feeling in his body. It was replaced by a cold numbness that left him confused and paralyzed. Then he felt a scorching heat on his right side. His eyes flickered open and a great flame stood before him. His left eye saw only red blood, presumably from his own face, but his right eye looked up at the demon from below with one leg standing on his right side and the demon’s other leg standing on his left arm which he could no longer feel. Instinctively Janik reached for his short sword that was still tucked into a sheath on his right hip and thrust it upward, driving the point of that sword into the demon’s groin and twisting it as he pushed farther into the demon’s body. The demon howled and cried out as sparks of fire jumped out of its mouth. Blood as yellow as liquid gold coursed down the demon’s legs. The demon collapsed backwards, its four arms flailing and fire spewing out of its mouth. Janik saw a trio of blue spears strike down into the beast’s chest and the demon was no more.
    Cyrus walked over and stood next to Janik, looking down and shaking his head in dismay. “There’s nothing I can do for you, other than to ease your pain if you are ready to die.”
    “I don’t want to die,” Janik said.
    “Everyone dies,” Cyrus said callously. “You fought well. You will be remembered as a hero.”
    “Khefir take you!” Janik spat. “I don’t want to be remembered, I want to live! I want to live!”
    Cyrus stiffened and arched a brow as he looked down at Janik. He tugged with his left hand on his gray beard and narrowed his eyes on Janik.
    At that moment, a terrible burning overpowered Janik’s body. His back arched up on the floor and his right arm trembled and shook. He had no way of knowing if the wet he felt on his forehead was blood, sweat, or both. He cried out incoherently as his body spasmed and cramped.
    Janik didn’t see the