[You have entered the bounds of a distortion.]
[Clear condition: Slay the wyvern.]
[No wager is available: Life will be made as the default choice.]
What the hell? Frost felt a strange energy expanding out from the cliff he'd dropped Richmond off of. It was like the air itself had darkened inside of a small orb. It hovered in front of him for a second and then expanded in every direction to completely encompass just about as far as he could see into the distance. The air became oppressive and hot, and the same sensation that he'd felt from Eternity could be felt here. The universe was watching in this place. Reality was not reliable, and seemed to be malleable within the range of that sphere. This was something he understood instinctively.
The appearance of the wyvern itself was what further convinced him of this fact, as well as giving him the final confirmation that this was not Earth. The creature's gaping maw was opened wide to swallow him whole, flying straight up from where Richmond had just disappeared. Frost ducked backward and felt the wind as the jaw snapped shut and missed taking his head off by not even a metre.
"Whoo!" He yelled out, exhilarated. "What in God's name is that thing!?"
[GreatGadfly30: Your guess is as good as mine.]
[DragonSlayer53: Wyverns are native to Dragonsfold. They're a sort of lesser deity.]
[DragonSlayer53: What exactly are you doing over here, Voidhunter?]
[DragonSlayer53: Your disturbance was felt even in the realm of spirits.]
[TheConquerer356: The hearts of men are indeed moved by action.]
[Checkpointer20: You're famous! Even more so if that thing doesn't kill you!]
[MasterOfTheFlute: Fame is meaningless when following the river's way.]
The beating of the Wyvern's wings created a gust of wind that sent Frost skidding backward across the rocks. The beast came to rest above what was essentially a massive killing field of utterly defenseless men. Behind Frost the fighting came to a stop. The slaves had overrun the guards and taken a few rifles into their hands. Shots started cracking out and bouncing off of the creature's scales. The guards appearing from inside of the mines joined the slaves in shooting at the beast, rather than bothering to fight one another.
They'd been united against a common enemy, now that the master had died.
"Damn," Frost muttered. It seemed the rumours were true, then.
The wyvern was massive. He didn't know the difference between a wyvern and a dragon here, but it was best to assume that this thing could do anything a dragon could do if it looked exactly like one. That long, scaly body. Massive wings and claws that could probably pierce steel. Huge horns on its forehead. It roared out, swiping its tail across the open field.
Frost started running and jumped as high as he could manage. He remembered those days in highschool doing high-jump and track and field. These movements were practised once upon a time, but it had been a long time since then. He strained his leg for all of the power he could manage, spinning and arching his back for the extra height. The world flipped around, and he felt a sharp pain on his back as the spines of the wyvern's tail narrowly sliced him.
To the side, he saw clearly as Liz/Piv got entirely obliterated by the swipe, but didn't let the sorrow distract him.
He tensed his back and nearly lost focus, but the energy killed the pain almost immediately. His body twisted over itself, and his feet found the ground once more as he skidded to a stop. The tail continued forward and destroyed the gallows, also crushing about twenty slaves who weren't lucky enough to dodge.
"Does this thing have a breath weapon?" Frost asked under his breath.
[DragonSlayer53: Astute observation.]
Like an enemy from a video game telegraphing its next attack, the wyvern brought its powerful chest back and craned its head upwards for a mighty inhalation of air. Frost ran for the nearest item he could use to shield himself, heaving a massive piece of wood from the gallows which was probably two metres both ways. Wood was far from the most ideal material, but it was certainly better than taking it head-on.
"Behind me!" He yelled. "The only way out is through!"
[GreatGadfly30: I can't bear to watch.]
[MasterOfTheFlute: Your reincarnation is at hand. What will you be next, I wonder?]
The slaves who knew what was good for them lined up behind Frost and the coverage of the board. The guards joined in, too, inspired by Frost's action. Klein, who had survived the tail flick, joined him at the front to brace the board. The gigantic four-armed Shmidt also aided them from right behind.
"This is insanity, brother!" Klein cried over the sound of the wyvern's inhalation.
"Is exhilarating!" Shmidt said with laughter.
"Listen to me…" Frost started, considering his words carefully. "Whether you're a guard or a slave, your boss is dead now! We can all be free again… We just have to get through that. Are you with me!?"
"Yeah!" A rumbling of voices from behind.
The wyvern retched forward like an individual with sickness, spouting an unbelievably massive plume of flame that covered Frost's entire field of vision. He braced quickly and hid underneath the shield that promptly rocked with the impact. The heat transferred through the wood, and he felt it searing into his unprotected skin as the time of contact went on for five and then ten seconds. The space to the left and right of him was overcome with flame. Some of the men at the back of the line were burnt alive as the flame curved around, and those who hadn't joined them in time vanished in the whirlwind of fire.
"Brace!" Frost cried. "Brace!"
He yelled out to grant himself power, and Klein joined him in sharing the pain. The other slaves pressed their hands against their backs and helped them brace. Another ten seconds of agony went by, with all of them yelling at the top of their lungs. The ground shook and the entire world was consumed by heat and blinding light. Frost started sweating immediately, and his eyeballs felt like they were ready to boil out of his skull.
But it stopped. He dropped the wooden board to the ground, the flames just now starting to catch on it. The sight of his arm, blackened and charred, seemed surreal. Even so, it wasn't the worst thing he'd been through. No, he could still fight. He didn't have a choice.
"Hit that thing with whatever you can!" He yelled, laughing with surprise that their little maneuver had worked. No response came from the man who'd been standing closest to him. He turned around to find a horrifying sight. Klein was lying on the ground half dead, his torso turned to charcoal somewhere in the midst of the transaction. Frost's mouth opened to say something.
"No!" Klein yelled, clutching his wound. "Go, Frost! If that thing recharges its breath, we'll all be dead!"
Schmidt was crouched at Klein's side, his own arms scorched, too. "Is up to you now, human."
Frost hesitated, but only for a moment. Klein was right. His chance was now. A few of the slaves had taken up rifles and resumed pelting the wyvern with bullets, but the rest were tending to the injured or simply cowering in terror, hoping the beast wouldn't kill them next. It was up to Frost now, whether he liked it or not.
[Clear condition: Slay the wyvern]
Frost stepped on top of the board and marched through the flames. The gun in his hand still had five bullets left, and he closed one eye to line up the shot as he walked confidently towards the wyvern. The slaves watched with bated breath. One shot. Two shots. Both glanced off of the scales. It was the third one that caught the wyvern in the eye and prompted it to howl out in pain. Frost knew he wouldn't get another shot. He threw the pistol to the ground.
And picked up the rope they had tried to hang him with only five minutes ago.
[Your reputation has increased. Your admirers give you power!]
Frost felt the direction of the power. The slaves placed their hopes in him alone and somehow that strength found its way into his body. The increase of his reputation gave him the strength to take on this monumental task. All of these people hardly knew his name, let alone his hardships and his story. Frost was not a man that worked for the sake of others. He did what benefitted himself.
Just this once. Just this once, he couldn't let them down. They made this possible.
The wyvern brought down its massive claws, successfully identifying Frost as the primary threat. The paws were most definitely large enough to crush any ordinary person, and those massive things were coming straight towards him. Frost disappeared beneath it as it crashed down, sending a shockwave across the platform. For a moment there, it seemed like he'd been crushed to paste.
But he lifted the wyvern's paw up with one hand each gripping a claw. Letting out a mighty battle cry, Frost Direshard performed an impossible feat. He'd already violated the ruleset of the world, so it seemed like he was free to let loose while in the bounds of the distortion. With his life on the line, he placed all of his power in his hands and found a previously unfathomable strength.
The wyvern almost appeared confused as Frost fought back against its strength, and then howled out in pain as one of its claws snapped off. Frost threw the paw to the side and charged forward with a claw in one hand and a rope in the other. The wyvern weighed its options, but ultimately kicked off of the cliff and attempted to fly away in response. Frost skidded to a stop at the edge and watched it go.
He'd really scared away a beast of that size?
[Object of the distortion is attempting to flee. Penalty will be applied.]
Its mighty wing flaps carried it to what seemed to be the edge of the distortion's influence, and then it was consumed by small cubes of black, like pixels eating it out of existence. Those pixels brought it back to right where it started, staring Frost in the face. This was the wyvern's role as the object of the distortion. Something to be killed, nothing less and nothing more.
But this mighty being was just that, a being, despite the fact that it was manipulated by an outside force. Frost thought he could see something like fear in its eyes, but there wasn't any time for deliberation or moral qualms.
He jumped with enough force to shatter the rocks at the edge of the cliff. With nothing but air beneath his feet, he threw the rope with what he imagined was the practised proficiency of Indiana Jones. What occurred was far beyond proficiency. It was supernatural. Whether it was dumb luck, or the distortion manipulating probability as a penalty, the rope hit the perfect target. It wrapped clean around the wyvern's throat, and the opposite end came flying right back for Frost to catch.
[Checkpointer20: Long fall if that idiotic move didn't work.]
"I guess we'll never know." Frost held both ends of the rope and swung like a pendulum, clearing the wyvern's wing and swinging all the way to the back before his inertia ran out. At that point, gravity carried him inwards towards the wyvern's back. Perfect. His foot was pierced straight through with a spine, but he used that foothold to his advantage. Frost heaved his entire body, prayed to God the rope would hold, and heaved downward.
Black energy rippled through the rope and strengthened it, giving it the power to tug the wyvern's entire body backwards at Frost's pull. It lost its prior hold on the cliff, flapped its wings a few times in utter desperation, and then plummeted into the distance below.
He'd gotten it away from the slaves. The only issue was that Frost was on the damn thing's back.
[Checkpointer20: Looks like you're making that fall anyways.]