Jing Yuan has only rarely allowed himself to contemplate his own death, usually when deep in his cups and mourning the loss of another friend (after all, so many have fallen into mara or perished on the battlefield over the course of his life) and the conclusion he has always come to in those dark moments is that he would rather die in the teeth of an Abomination than suffer the inevitable creeping corruption of mara. Now, it seems he is about to get his wish. He spares a glance over his shoulder and sees that Dan Heng has nearly reached the door and he feels relief. At least in his last moments he will, at long last, have saved one of his friends. As if this could in some way make up for all his failures.
Not that this means he will go gently - he throws his power into a low sweep with his glaive, slicing through the reforming wolves before they become mobile and smoothly bringing it up to parry the larger beast's first strike, lightning crackling along the blade and sparking on its metal teeth as it howls like cracking wood.
And then a spear slams into the side of its head, followed swiftly by the impact of a water dragon that throws it off its feet, and he turns to see Dan Heng racing toward him. "No! Get out of here!" Dan Heng said the beast was chasing him - Jing Yuan was hoping to distract it long enough for his friend to put a door and more distance between them. But now he's hurling himself back into the fray, of course. He doesn't know why he expected anything else, he thinks with grim fondness.
But of course in that moment of distraction the wolf regained its footing and struck again and this time his instinctive parry is not enough to completely turn its teeth aside - he feels a tearing pain in his arm as it catches him, picking him up off the ground entirely to shake its head back and forth like he's a caught rabbit. He grits his teeth on the pain, trying to think of a way out - perhaps it will dig too deep and he'll lose the arm, that would free him. If only he was using a shorter weapon - he could do it himself. But the wolf is too strong for him to break its grip any other way.
bring on the angst!
Not that this means he will go gently - he throws his power into a low sweep with his glaive, slicing through the reforming wolves before they become mobile and smoothly bringing it up to parry the larger beast's first strike, lightning crackling along the blade and sparking on its metal teeth as it howls like cracking wood.
And then a spear slams into the side of its head, followed swiftly by the impact of a water dragon that throws it off its feet, and he turns to see Dan Heng racing toward him. "No! Get out of here!" Dan Heng said the beast was chasing him - Jing Yuan was hoping to distract it long enough for his friend to put a door and more distance between them. But now he's hurling himself back into the fray, of course. He doesn't know why he expected anything else, he thinks with grim fondness.
But of course in that moment of distraction the wolf regained its footing and struck again and this time his instinctive parry is not enough to completely turn its teeth aside - he feels a tearing pain in his arm as it catches him, picking him up off the ground entirely to shake its head back and forth like he's a caught rabbit. He grits his teeth on the pain, trying to think of a way out - perhaps it will dig too deep and he'll lose the arm, that would free him. If only he was using a shorter weapon - he could do it himself. But the wolf is too strong for him to break its grip any other way.