PART X - TOTEMS! TOTEMS! TOTEMS!
“Only twice?” Maugra scowled at Chown as he ceased casting, the sweat on his forehead evident, and his panting showing how exhausted he was. “I am very disappointed. You should be able to cast your Totem four times in a row by now. Go to the end of the line and drink a purple potion!”
Chown muttered something spiteful under his breath and stepped aside, but to her credit, Maugra made no attempt to hit him with her staff this time.
“Now you,” Maugra said shortly to Xin. “Cast it there!” she snapped, pointing to a spot a few meters away from the Lizardkin.
Xin had been prepared, and with a flourish of magic, her Totem built itself from shards of light in nearly an instant. Xin’s Totem had changed slightly, and each face now appeared three times, facing in three directions at one-hundred twenty degree angles. Trainer Cheena had been impressed, saying that many recruits could not get all three directions to appear until Bronze, but of course, Maugra found some flaw to complain about. In this case, she was unhappy with the top of Xin’s Totem, which was that of a single flower, held aloft by a trio of twisting vines, Xin’s symbol for the element of Life. In Maugra’s opinion, the symbol was not that of a ‘proper combat Shaman’.
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“Again! Over there!” the trainer commanded, pointing to another spot. With a mere thought, Xin tore the Totem down, returning it to nothing before it sprang into existence in the new location.
“Two meters behind you!” Maugra snapped, before adding, “Do not look!”
Behind Xin, the Goblin recruits scattered as the Lizardkin ripped her Totem apart. Xin didn’t turn and the Totem started to reform, a little more hesitant this time, but building itself quickly. It took longer than the previous to form, made all the more difficult because Xin couldn’t see it, but the manifestation finally completed itself.
“Again! As far forward as you can! Do not look behind you!”
Keeping her eyes front, Xin again dissolved her Totem using only her sense of its location, bursting it with a thought into mere whispers of magic. With an effort of sheer tenacity, she threw her clawed hand forward, letting the mana once again flow from her body. Nearly five meters away, the Totem began to build yet again. But the distance was at the absolute edge of her range, and her power had already been fading. Xin pushed, realizing it was a race against exhaustion to get the Totem completed. She strained, watching the distant form take place, building one elemental face after another after another after another; Gargoyle, Fish, Eagle, Dragon. Sheer willpower carried Xin the final distance, and finally her symbol of Life slowly came into being, the casting completed.
“I can do no more,” Xin said, trying to catch her breath. Her mana was nearly depleted, but not quite, and to continue was madness. She looked to Maugra for any sign of approval.
“Hmm,” Maugra said, evaluating Xin’s distant summoning. Finally, she commanded, “Go to the end of the line! Next!”