(14.4) BAP The Magic Pillar

Chapter 14, Part 4

The desk slammed into me with the force of a Sherman tank, rocketing me backwards into a parked car. Well, more like through a parked car, considering I landed on the opposite side of the street.

As I started picking my senses up from their various landing spots, I heard a loud crack-thud followed by a roar. That was then followed by a scream-thud as Kanyun landed in the remains of the car that I’d demolished. As I stood up and got my bearings, I took note that the thing had already started advancing, its girth allowing it to step easily over the wreckage and snap the top of a lamp-post in half without breaking stride.

“Okay Big Angry Pillar.” I said, bringing my lightning back. “Any chance we can talk about this?”

“MAAAGGGEEEE!” BAP screamed, it’s voice deep and gravelly, hurling the pole like a javelin.

Learning from my mistakes, I jumped this time, my leap carrying me up and backwards, unleashing a bolt of lightning as I did. BAP stumbled backwards slightly, but was otherwise unfazed by the attack. He even laughed, a deep, rumbling sound on par with an avalanche.

“Figures…” I said as I landed. “Mage-killing pillar is immune to magic.” With BAP starting to advance on me again I decided to try something on the mildly-stupid end of the spectrum.

I ran towards BAP and slung a spell at his feet, executing a flawless home-plate slide on the fresh patch of ice beneath his legs. His footing lost, BAP tumbled to the ground behind me as I regained my footing and whirled to face him. Flipping onto his front side, he was frantically trying to regain his footing. I put an end to that rather quickly by calling the lamp-post-javelin into the air, slamming it down through it’s mid-section, pinning it to the concrete. I called Kanyun’s hammer to me then, preparing to smash the fucker’s head into cinder-blocks.

That’s when he backhanded me, sending me careening away from him into the side of a building. When I managed to get to my feet again, I saw something truly unexpected. Generally, when you stab something, it pulls whatever you stabbed it with out before it tries to keep killing you. BAP instead chose to get its feet under it and simply lean back, tearing the street to shreds and leaving a rather large gouge. The pole still firmly lodged in its midsection it charged me, arms outstretched, roaring all the while.

I’m not proud of it, but the only thing I could think to do at that point was panic. It took no time at all for BAP to close the gap, ensnaring me in his monstrous grip.

BAP slammed me into the wall, filling my vision with stars. They were soon joined by bright multi-colored sunbursts that went off from each blow BAP aimed at my head with his other fist. I was losing consciousness quickly, each impact sending me further and further into a deep dark hole.

I heard a shout then, accompanied by a familiar crack-thud and the distinct impression that I was falling. I felt myself hit the ground though for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. There was some roaring going on around me, interspersed with more crack-thuds that were growing in speed.

When I finally got my eyes open, Kanyun was leaned over me, holding his hands over my chest. His hoodie was burned to shreds, the remaining pieces hanging about his neck and arms black and singed. His jacket was gone, either from the same fire that consumed his shirt or because he had simply taken it off when he opened a can on BAP. I also was able to note that he was built like a brick shithouse, possessing a set of muscles on par with a hardened blacksmith.

The strangest thing though, was the large rune that was tattooed onto his chest. It was glowing with a slightly golden hue that dimmed once he realized I was alive.

“Oh my Christ,” I said, craning my neck to look around, seeing that Kanyun’s hammer was sitting a few feet away in a large pile of rubble. “Big Angry Pillar?”

Kanyun nudged his head at his hammer. “Small Angry Pieces.”

“Awesome,” I replied.

He held out his hand and I took it, taking note that the act of grabbing his forearm was like grabbing a 2×4, solid with no give.

“I’m no doctor,” He started once I got to my feet. “But when someone’s on the receiving end of an ass-kicking of that magnitude, death usually follows.”

“Well, I can explain that,” I said, as I started the search for my thermos, “When you explain why you were glowing.”

He looked ponderous for a moment, moving to pick up his hammer and sling it over a shoulder.

“Deal.”