Angdraoni determined to get stronger wanted to learn how to use magic to fight. The tome turned to the page concerning magic combat.

Magic combat basics.

All magic is aligned with a certain element. There are five elements that can be categorized as wind, water, stone, death, and fire. Many unique spells are a mixture of two or more elements.

When engaging in active combat, timing, knowledge, and observation are key. To counter properly, one must be able to identify the nature of the assault. Preferably before the spell is cast. Coloring while often cited as the fastest method suffers from flashiness and predictability. Rune weaving is the second fastest and harder to predict. Songs and Incantations are considered the slowest but least predictable.

Creatures that can use coloring or possess items that allow for its use, benefit from its speed. However, based on what colors or patterns they flash, it is easy for a knowledgeable caster to predict the element of the attack. Red to orange indicates fire or heat based. Yellow to white is wind, gas, and air effects. Green to brown is stone, loam, and floral effects. Blue to indigo represents water or ice. Purple to black is death and decay.

Runes are not as easy to predict. Multiple versions of a rune that cause similar effects exist, and an opponent can have unique runes. They can also draw runes with added lines or dots that make no change to the desired magic but are meant to confuse the opponent. In general, fire is represented by jagged and intersecting lines, wind by looping lines and figure eights, stone by triangles, squares, and straight lines. Water is the most complicated, runes can be drawn with wavy lines and shapes with five sides or more. Death is either spirals or circles.

Songs and incantations are the most difficult to predict and block since language, sounds, and perception can vary from species to species. For this reason it is best to prevent the completion of the song or incantation all together. Skilled casters learn to use sound spells in conjunction with rune weaving or coloring, making prevention of the spell more difficult. Some may also use invisibility, perception dampening, or any number of tricks to complete sound spells.

Fighting techniques

Blocking is the art of cancelling an opponent’s spell using the same element or state of matter. Wind spells can be cancelled out or blocked by other wind spells. Another stone projectile can block a solid stone projectile. Alternatively, it can also be blocked by a solid ice projectile.

Piercing is the act of making one spell pass through another. The most common use of piercing is to break through an opponent’s defensive barriers. Barriers of ice can be pierced with a concentrated fire projectile. Barriers of wind can be pierced with stone or ice projectiles, and so on.

Counter piercing is piercing used against offensive assaults. An example of this is if an opponent flings a large fireball, one can pierce through the fireball with a stone projectile and due harm to the opposing caster. Though one would still need to either block or dodge the oncoming fireball.

Backlogging is the art of concealing one spell behind the other. There are many ways to do this. With runes one can draw a rune cast it and then make a slight change to the rune and cast it again creating a backlogged spell. This is easily done with death and wind elements. The looping lines of wind rune, and the spirals of death can be cast in quick succession, changing very little of the rune. Because of how long it takes to cast a spell with songs or incantations backlogging is not often used; it would delay the spell or incantation further. Those who can use coloring champion this technique. Skilled Painters can rapid fire spells creating multiple backlogs. This is the greatest strength of coloring. An opponent may block the first spell but would not be prepared for the two or more spells that follow.

Subjugation is the act of taking control of an opponent’s magic effect, reversing the trajectory of a projectile, or using the effect to one’s own advantage. A common example of this is a spiraling air ball can be used against a fireball. The wind will suck in the fire, reversing the trajectory of the fireball back at the assailant. Ice spells can freeze stone and launch the projectiles back. A firewall can catch a death spell, then be converted to a fireball and sent back. The number of potential subjugations is endless, and spells can be subjugated in ways one may not expect. Due to the dynamic nature of song casting, skilled musicians and songstress can excel at subjugation. One can alter a song spell during casting, allowing for greater improvisation and reduced predictability.

Melding is the act of fusing two or more spells of different elements or states of nature. Wind is commonly mixed with other elements to bolster the effects, such as mixing a tornado and a fire spell to create a firenado. Rune weavers excel at melding. A caster can draw complex runes that cast multiple spells at once with effects that complement each other. This is harder for Painters to do, since they can cast only one spell at a time. To meld spells they would have to cast exceptionally fast. Songs and incantations can meld spells; however, this will lengthen casting time.

Ang and Kiliyi spent several days wandering the forest, only stopping to camp for the night or practice combat. Whenever they stopped to practice, Kiliyi would spin a web then make twelve runes around it. After getting burned, frostbitten, and cut by Kiliyi’s magic, Ang started to memorize what each rune did. Thankfully, Kiliyi’s silk can heal wounds overnight. In his mind, Ang numbered the runes one through twelve and labeled the effect clockwise. By observing which rune she touched, Ang could prepare the proper spell to counter. He thought to himself.

She touched rune nine, that’s wind magic. I can block it with my wind spell but not completely, I still get hit by a big gust. Her wind spell always spirals to the right, maybe...

Kiliyi fired her swirling wind ball just as Ang completed his own wind rune. As he thought by spiralling his wind ball in the opposite direction, he could completely cancel out the effect.

“Yes! Alright, what’s next?”

Ang observed Kiliyi and thought. Number two fauna magic. That rune acts like a distress beacon. According to the tome, you can’t control the minds of others but you can offer suggestions, and a lot of things respond to Kiliyi’s suggestions. Best use the ocarina, not sure what might be coming.

As Ang readied his ocarina, he noticed Kiliyi crawl to the rune he numbered four.

Flora magic, same as Fauna magic but with plants. A two pronged attack, now I really don’t know what’s about to happen.

Ang began playing long looping wind notes, summoning a small tornado to shield himself. Then he played short fire notes. He can’t hold them for long since the note itself becomes too hot. Spark by spark, he added fire to the tornado. A vine reached for him, but retracted from the flames. A hawk above came swooping down. Ang changed the song and sent a flair at the bird. Next, an Elk appeared, lowering its horns ready to charge. He manipulated his flames, shaping them into a large fiery bull. The elk backed up. Vines shot up and grabbed Ang’s ankles . He fell over, dispelling his song. The elk walked over, and placed a hoof on his back, standing triumphantly.

“Get off of me! You were totally about to back down until that vine grabbed me.” The elk let out a defiant snort and victoriously trotted off. “You barely got me Kiliyi. Alright, what’s next?” Ang watched her touch runes number one and three. Number one is fire, three is rock, she’s melding. Kiliyi launched her magma ball as Ang finished his ice wall rune, barley stopping the projectile. That was close, probably need to work on my water magic. Kiliyi touched number eight, nine and eleven. Even more melding. Let's see, eight is mist, nine wind, eleven death. She is not holding back today. I have seen her use death bolts on our prey, small animals die instantly, larger ones get paralyzed depending on where it hits. She has combined it with mist and wind, in that case.

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Just as Ang predicted, Kiliyi summoned a cloud of noxious fumes. He played long looping notes to summon a cyclone. This kept the fumes from reaching him. Then he added high melodies, forming a cold mist that clung to the poisonous vapors. Playing low melodies allowed him to call up bits of dirt, burying and neutralizing the toxins.

“Nice one Kiliyi! One more than we can take a break before we continue moving.” He noticed her moving to ten which he knew was decay magic, a subset of death magic, slower but more potent.

“Wait Kiliyi, I have a request. Whenever we spare you always draw these same twelve runes, I know what all of them do except for the one at the very top and the very bottom. I labeled them number twelve and number six. Mind showing me what they do?

Kiliyi made a motion for him to step aside, he did so and she crawled down to number six. A bolt of electricity shot out of her web.

“I read that lightning is a combination of water and wind elements. It’s the most complex type of casting. You’re gonna have to teach me that sometime.”

Kiliyi nodded in agreement then crawled up to number twelve. Upon activation, a blood red fireball shot out of the web.

“That red fire, it’s unique to you isn’t it? I’m guessing the only way to defend against that would be to subjugate the fire with wind before it makes contact with anything. I’ve seen what that fire does to solid matter.” She nodded in approval. “Now I know what all of your runes do. I’m ready, do your worst!”

Kiliyi hesitated. Ang watched her carefully. He put on a strong front, but his heart pounded. I know how dangerous it is to ask Kiliyi to do her worst, but I’m sure she’ll still hold back and not try to harm me. Now I understand why she never used, number six or twelve against me. I never would be able to dodge or block a lightning bolt fast enough, and conventional means can not block that red fire; It has to be subjugated. Kiliyi started weaving her spell she touched, nine wind, eight mist, two fauna, six lightning, and twelve red fire.

Ang picked up his ocarina and began playing a song, while drawing the runes he needed with his feet, focusing tracer light into his toes. He did not know what to prepare for, so he had to be as dynamic as possible.

A vertical storm spiraled out of Kiliyi’s web, forming the head of a snake. Ang responded with his flaming bull. The snake reared up and breathed dense mist, dispersing the bull. Ang changed his song to form a shield of wind above him. He drew a death bolt rune with his feet and kicked it at Kiliyi. The death bolt pierced the storm serpent's body. Kiliyi blocked with a jet of red flame. At the last moment, she noticed the cleverly disguised backlog. A compressed ball of air melded with her red flame. She leapt out of the way as her web burned. “Kiliyi! Are you alright? Where are you?”

She crawled to Ang and gave him a reassuring wave. Ang jumped to the ground and spoke to her face to face. “I got you good didn’t I.” She raised her front leg, Ang extended his right index finger and tapped it on Kiliyi’s leg.

“Let’s take a break.” They walked a short distance to a nearby stream. Ang reached into his satchel for a piece of jerked meat and a hard sun biscuit. He tore off a small piece of meat and bread for Kiliyi.

“You know it’s been fun sparring with you, but I know how your magic works now. It’s powerful but very predictable once you know what each rune does. If I’m gonna get better, I need different opponents.” Ang looked down and saw her contently nibbling on her food. He took this as acknowledgement that she agreed.

Something shimmered in the sky. Looking up, he saw a silver leaf floating down. He jumped and grabbed it.

“Kiliyi this is from the Silver Willow! That means the tree must be in this direction!” Kiliyi leapt onto Ang’s shoulder and they ran through the forest. He was jubilant. If he can find the willow, he can find his way back home. Maybe there were a few survivors. Maybe he would get to see his family again. Everything whizzed past as he sprinted toward the tree with only the single hope of finally getting to go home. Finally he made it to the grove and stood at the edge of the clearing, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Kiliyi… but how? The Silver Willow, that giant tree. It’s it’s just gone.” He fought back the tears and stepped into the clearing. Investigating the scene, he deduced that the tree did not uproot itself and crawl away, it would have left a trail. It just disappeared, leaving a large hole where the roots should be.

He felt movement in his satchel. Rummaging through he noticed the movement coming from the tome trying to open. He pulled out the book, and it flopped open to the page concerning apparition magic.

Apparition magic

Apparition magic is used to transport something instantaneously from one location to a fixed point. To do this, a beacon or receiving point must be constructed at the destination. Because of the absurd amount of Imdrina required to cast an apparition spell, beacons are almost always Ardin. A caster could use their own Imdrina to complete the spell, but this will most likely result in the casters death.

The larger an object is, the more difficult it is to teleport. Even successfully transporting a grain of sand could take weeks of preparation. The beacon must provide a space sufficiently large enough for the object in question to arrive in.

Once the beacon is constructed and charged with Imdrina, one must create a focus. Often this is a rock charged with the energy of the beacon then split in half, but it can be almost anything. Half of the focus is left at the beacon. The other half is brought to the object to be teleported. The focus is then attached to the object and a series of complex runes drawn around it. If everything is correctly calibrated the teleportation should be successful. This will most likely drain the beacon of power and cause it to crumble. Even if the beacon is still intact, it is best not to use it a second time, since they are highly unstable.

“So teleporting that big tree away would be a huge undertaking, someone didn’t do this feat alone. You would need the help of...a village! Mom is the only caster skilled enough to pull off something like that. There must be some survivors!”

With renewed vigor he turned to run toward his village when he heard a noise coming from within the hole. Peering into the hole he saw what looked like a large white egg with a brown mushroom on top, a green tail on one end and flower bud on the other.

“What is that?”

Kiliyi made her way down the steep walls of the hole and began inspecting the object.

“Tie a web around it and I can pull it up.”

She wrapped her gold silk around the tail and crawled out of the hole. Ang grabbed the silk, pulled the object out and began to inspect it. The soft egg-shaped body reminded him more of puffball fungus. The brown mushroom cap had an indusium veil that reached the puffball body. The green tail ,more like a stem, ended with roots. Holding the object up the underside had a series of tiny suction cup appendages. The closed bud, positioned where a head might be. Focusing Imdrina into his finger he touched the bud.

“Meep!”

Surprised, he looked at his left shoulder and Kiliyi shrugged. Ang then focused the energy into his thumb and touched the bud again. It opened to reveal a creature with a bird bill, soft brown fur, a curled feathery antenna, and a mane of multicolored flower petals.

“Meep!”

“Uh… hi”

“Meep meep!”

“Um... what are you?”

“Meep meep.”

He set the strange creature on the ground, and it began running circles around him. “Those little legs of yours can really move.” Ang had a flashback to when he found a baby pig and named it Dungii. Unfortunately, his uncle Paouni got intoxicated and roasted his pet. He decided that would be a good name. “I’m gonna call you Dungii. Dungii I’m Angdraoni I know it’s kinda long so you can just call me Ang.”

Dungii stopped running looked up at Ang and said “Meep.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Well, my village should be just over there.” Ang, Kiliyi and now Dungii headed toward Ang’s village. He was almost home.