New Idea - Title Undecided

Myste couldn't understand why the artifact had not already reformed into the Hero's amulet. It had been so long since she last quested for the pieces to make the amulet, she couldn't remember what she needed to form it. This was a dangerous situation; the group was fighting off the last guardian. She needed to unlock the artifact to stand a chance of defeating the behemoth. A blasting roar issued forth from the gaping maw of the four-legged beast as it towered over the group. Landra was busying attending to Max who was bleeding profusely from a gaping claw like wound on his chest. Myste could see the strain Landra was in using her healing spell on poor Max.

Myste could sense something within her stir, but dismissed it. Flame had conjured up the most powerful shield spell Myste had ever seen; the Behemoth slammed its enormous claws at it attempting to get past. She had not seen anything that strong from Flame before, it was then she spotted Kat on the floor behind and knew why. "Myste! Hurry up with the damned thing! I can't hold it back much longer and Kat needs help," Flame growled with the effort of his casting. "I'm on it!" Myste yelled over the roars from the monster and tried again to solve the puzzle of the artifact.

Myste saw movement in her peripheral vision and could tell Max was starting to get back up. She could hear Landra begin her prayer of defense as Max stomped back to face the creature. Myste remembered her last encounter with a Behemoth, it had been a fearsome battle, the thing had resistance to magic and its hide absorbed most physical attacks. "Come on you stupid thing, work!" Her fingers fumbled through the process of arranging claps, rods and other rune marked parts of the artifact trying desperately to arrange it into the Hero's amulet she remembered. Another roar followed by a concussion to the air, she heard two grunts and a scream from Landra. Myste turned to see Flame's shield was gone, Flame and Max on the ground and not moving. The Behemoth roared again, it had spotted Kat as she regained consciousness and sat up, its lips drew back showing off its many fangs. Kat finally saw it as it drew closer to her and drew her arms up protectively. It launched a claw at her, Myste was already running throwing the artifact behind herself "Get away from her you son of a ...."

Everything seemed to stop; Myste could see everything in detail, the tears streaming from Landra's blue eyes. Max with his torn chainmail where the creature had sliced him. Flame, sweat drenched from his efforts and now a thin trail of blood coming from the corner of his mouth. And Kat as she meekly tried to protect herself from the creature, Myste thought "This is it, we're all going to die here and there is nothing I can do. I failed again... This time it's my fault." Suddenly the artifact was there in front of her, it was humming slightly. Myste's eyes began to water, "You useless piece of junk, why now, why do you suddenly decide to help when the ones I care for are about to die?!" The artifact hummed louder, Myste's face grew a little surprised as she realized it. "How could I have been so stupid, I can't believe I'd forgotten the reason I searched for you in the first place." With that statement the artifact's pieces began to rapidly rearrange forming a hand sized triangle with circles at each corner. Myste knew the meaning of each of those circles and what the center piece represented. The amulet spun slowly in the air before slamming flat between her breasts.

********

Kat felt the heat from the Behemoth's breath, she knew trying to protect herself like this, was useless against the beast. She could only manage a weak whisper, "Myste... help..." The roar of the thing as it slashed at her thrummed in her chest. But the attack never landed, she thought maybe it had already ripped her in half and she simply didn't feel any pain. A loud crash and the sound of falling rocks made her curious. She relaxed slightly, lowering her arms from her face. A tall man stood where the monster had just been, he lowered his hand and turned to face her. He held his hand out in assistance to her. She stood up with his help; he was a good head taller than she. His face was young and unmarked; he wore a pair of spectacles with small lenses. His hair was black as night, short and parted on the left side. He continued to watch where the beast had landed and was currently buried in debris.

He pushed her back a few paces, she finally took the time to take a look at him. He wasn't muscular, but not skinny either, he wore a long loose sleeved white shirt. A pair of dark baggy pants, at the end of each pant leg was a black metal ring apparently holding them from riding up. His shoes were something she had never seen before, they were mostly black leather with patches of dark brown, the tops rose up to cover his ankles, the cushioned tongues were partially tied down by the black laces with a small part flared out with a strange emblem on them. The emblem was a gold triangle outline; each corner had a gold circle instead of points. Finally his outfit was covered by a tabard of sorts, an open-sided cloth draped over his shoulders to cover his front and back down to mid-thigh. It was dark blue with gold trim; several runes ran up and down the borders, the same symbol from his shoes shown on the tabard, this one had runes running from the circles to the center of the triangle and along the sides of the triangle. The runes were lighting up and dimming in a slow rhythm radiating out from the center of the mark.

"Landra, check on Max and Flame. Katherine, I want you to help her and stay back. This one's mine." His voice came slow, it was deep but smooth, and it seemed full of compassion. She finally snapped out of her awe and looked around, "Where's Myste?" Panic started to fill her senses; this stranger had to have done something to her. "What did you do with her?" He sighed a little, "Relax, Myste is doing fine, better than you think." Landra was already there with her pulling her back to her friends. "Come, you have to help me, I'm nearing my limit." She backed away from the man as he strode towards the beast as it shook itself free from the rocks.

********

He thought to himself, "This feels great; it's been a long time coming." He casually stretched his muscles and flexed his fingers as he walked to the creature. "This is may be a bit difficult; I hope I'm not too rusty." The creature stood over him, it was obviously angry at being thrown into the wall earlier. "What? You're mad at me? You should be mad at the idiot who summoned you here," his tone was mocking, he half smiled at it. He held his arm out and called to the mace, he knew right where it was and it should still respond. The giant mace with the head almost his own height covered in large spikes, audibly groaned as it pulled loose from the wall it was embedded in from the beginning of the battle. It slammed into his hand and he rested it easily over his shoulder. He spread his feet and held his left hand out at the Behemoth, palm up and fingers together, he motioned to it, "Well, let's get this over with, I have a world to save." The thing let out a fearsome roar most would quail from, but this was not the time for such things, he was focused, his one thought was to save everyone. He lunged at it, dashing beneath its oversized paws and legs; he stopped directly below, spun once and slammed the mace into it. He could hear its ribs crack from the impact and saw it fly out of the cave as he wanted.

********

Kat had left Landra with Flame and Max, they had already opened their eyes. They just needed to stay lying down for a while; she quickly went after the man as he chased the Behemoth out of the cave. She thought to give him support during the battle, "Who am I kidding, he just tossed it outside like a child's toy, what could I possibly do to help him?" She saw them fighting outside, trees had already been uprooted here and there. Large craters had been made, by which of them, she couldn't guess. The Behemoth was all claws and fangs, the man dance between its attacks with such fluid motions, if she didn't know better; she could have sworn it was a rehearsed fight. She idly wondered how this person could wield Myste's weapon with such skill, Max hadn't been able to even lift it and he was the strongest man she knew.

The creature was already starting to visibly slow down; its breaths came in ragged pulls. He quietly landed next to her and set the mace on the ground where it sent small cracks radiating out on ground. "Keep an eye on this for me," he tipped the metal handle towards her. She caught it and strained a bit to keep it off the ground before getting control of it. He held his hands near each other, palms facing in; he was rapidly saying words she couldn't make out. Blue colored energy gathered between his hands, the creature was back on its feet, opened its mouth as if to yawn and also started charging up for an attack. The dark energy sphere gathered quicker than the man's spell, the Behemoth leaned back preparing to launch the blast.

The man was faster; he had already closed the distant and was in mid-air in front of the thing's open mouth. He held his right hand out in front, his left bracing it at the bend of his arm, the sphere in his hand pulsed slightly, a magic circle spun slowly in front of it. "Sorry, too late, this battle is over... Linear Cannon..." The energy he had collected seemed small, but the power was magnified through the magic circle, the beam shot through the creature's energy sphere quickly dissipating its attack. It finished by coming out the other side of the Behemoth, the energy finally exploding a good distance away from them. The light from it illuminating the thing as it collapsed on its side, dead. Her eyes were wide as he came back to her, "I'm sorry that took so long." With that she fainted, the last thing she remembered was the man racing to catch her.