Withdrawing his power from the amulet carefully so as not to damage it, he reached out his right paw and summoned forth the Firestaff. The lull of the artifact became a loud roar in his mind as soon as his fingers closed over the strange stone-like material of its length, and Val's shifting form suddenly expanded when he saw the object he had desired for so long within his reach. The black stone of the Firestaff was actually glowing now, radiating a powerful reddish aura that illuminated the boiling black clouds within Val's shifting shadow form. The Demons all seemed to lean forward when Tarrin brought the Firestaff forth, reaching out for the power that they all yearned to possess for themselves.
"Here it is, Val," he said in a grim tone, standing fully erect with the glowing staff held lightly in his paws, reaching within and summoning up the power of Sorcery through his Druidic magic, causing the paws holding that glowing staff to begin to glow with soft blue light. "If you want it… then try to take it."
There was nothing Tarrin could have said or done that could have enraged the bound god more than that. With an infuriated howl, Val struck at the Were-cat with enraged fervor, a blasting wave of power that Tarrin had never before conceived possible. The Were-cat stood defiantly in the face of that power, Firestaff held before him as he summoned up every iota of power at his command. Sorcery, Druidic magic, the Wizard energy within the Weave, the raw, unaltered energy that was the base of all magic, and his powerful faith in his Goddess. He did nothing with them more than use them as a shield against the might of an enraged god, defending instead of attacking. Val's full might crashed down on the Were-cat as a wave of unfathomable blackness, and Tarrin's knees buckled under the assault. The magic within him, around him, before him, actually withstood that initial crash of collisions. Intense pain roared through him as he fought against a tidal wave of power against which he could not stand for long, felt it blasting into his defenses, seeking any weakness through which it could pour and strike at the vulnerable mortal hiding behind that power.
This was the gamble. This was the moment of truth, when the Goddess was engaged with transporting the army and could not help him. He didn't have to hold out forever, just long enough for the Goddess to complete her task and rejoin her power to his and protect them. He had infuriated the god to such a degree that Tarrin was the only thing he could see, the ony thing that mattered, and all that existed in that terrible moment was destroying the defiant Were-cat and claiming the prize that Tarrin had dangled so tauntingly in his face.
Pain lashed through him as he pushed himself to his limits and beyond, but he would not yield. His heart pounded in his chest, threatening to burst, as the incredible strain of trying to hold back a virtual avalanche with his bare paws crushed down on him, as the raw power of the might of a god was completely focused on him, but he would not yield. With a scream of absolute defiance, Tarrin rose up to his full height in the face of that powerful attack, raised the Firestaff, and held it over his head with both paws, refusing to be destroyed, somehow managing to deflect aside the power of a god. The stone around his feet began to melt, the air shimmered as the darkness poured down on him with enough force to shatter a mountain, but he would not yield. Everything that he was, everything he cared about, everything that mattered to him was behind him, the desperate need to protect his daughter giving him a strength and power that surpassed even his own physical limits, allowing him to draw on reserves of strength and magical power he never dreamed possible. The Weave answered the call of a desperate sui'kun, surrendering up to him all the power he desired, as he acted within the blessings of his Goddess, giving him all the power he needed to defend himself against assault. The All, attracted by the Were-cat's need, also gave to him freely, causing the very land itself to give to Tarrin its energy so that he could erect a defense suitable to protect himself from the god of darkness. Even the Firestaff itself, so close to the moment its power would reach its peak, seemed to aid the Were-cat in his defense, joining its power to his own and reinforcing the defensive wall of power around which the Were-cat had surrounded himself, a wall that shuddered and buckled and was distorted by the power of Val's assault, but would not break, would not open, would not lower and leave the one it protected vulnerable. The power of the Weave and the All were not the power of a god, but together, with the power of Tarrin's faith and desperate need and the power of the Firestaff, they combined to give the Were-cat a magical defense so potent that it could withstand the furious assault the evil god rained down upon him.
Val redoubled his efforts to crush the mortal and take the prize, but Tarrin responded in equal measure, the Weave and the All responded in equal measure, even the Firestaff responded in equal measure to grant to Tarrin the power he needed to protect himself. His vision blurring and his heart about to tear itself from his chest as sharp cramping pains of exhaustion quickly blasted through him, as the pain of exerting more magical force than any mortal had ever before expended took its dreadful toll on his body and mind, Tarrin stood against that unimaginable assault, stood as solid as stone, still screaming in defiant fury as he reached into the very core of himself for absolutely any iota of untapped reserve. The Were-cat, commanding the power of the Sorcerer, Druid, Wizard, and Priest, combined all of his power into a single cohesive effort that formed a whole greater than the sum of its parts. As if the four orders had Circled with one another, giving Tarrin a magic the likes of which the world had never seen before, a desperate defense erected out of pure instinct, and all of it for no reason more simple or pure as that of a parent defending his child.
Val stopped. Tarrin nearly fell to one knee, panting heavily, his eyes unfocused and a dazed expression on his face, but he had not yielded.
Val seemed just as shocked that Tarrin was still standing as Tarrin was that he had managed to last so long. His mind swam for what seemed an eternity as both the effort of defending himself and the pain of being in the path of the avalanche of Val's power rippled through him, as little flecks of darkness and light swirled around him, as arcs of electricity danced around the invisible shield of force Tarrin had erected in defense against the dark god, as the very air around the platform seemed to become alive in the aftereffects of such a release of magical energy, charged with such magical energy that Val had to struggle to reassert the void he had erected in the area.
You are powerful, mortal, but a mortal is all you are, Val's voice said, no longer angry, no longer furious, and strangely respectful. My power is endless, and yours has reached its end, but you did stand firm against my might, for however fleeting the moment. For that, I find, I must salute you. But now, it is over. I have won. I have won!
Tarrin could not deny that. Breathing heavily, his arms sagging, his tail drooping behind him, he knew that he had no more. But he knew with certain grim pride that if only for a moment, he had stood against the might and power of a god himself, and he did not yield.
He only dimly heard the screaming of Jasana and Jesmind as the god Val gathered himself to strike at Tarrin with his full, utter, and complete power, a blow Tarrin would not be able to turn aside, a blow that he would not have been able to turn aside even had he not been exhausted, a blow that would finish him and convey to the dark god the prize he had so coveted for thousands of years.
Maybe… maybe this time, luck had failed him. But he had just enough for one more act. He reached within, through the Cat, seeking to touch the All, preparing to cast one final spell, a spell that would kill him, a spell that would keep the Firestaff out of Val's hands until well after the conjunction was over-
The conjunction!
Tarrin looked up, past Val, past his dark form, and to the hole high in the ceiling of the vast chamber. Vala was now completely within the white edges of Domammon, and the Twin Moons were but a hair's breadth from touching the edge of Vala's reddish circumference.