When Simon and June first left the camp, it had been a place of safety guarded by the unstable force of Ranger Gabs and her rocat, Bob. It hadn’t needed them to do anything, and they’d moved at a leisurely pace. As the smoke continued to rise through the forest canopy and they came running, that camp was just a memory.
Flames played across the landscape like drunken ferrets, twisting and turning from the highest points of the pine forest to the lowest brush as the superheated power of the espers consumed everything that could burn circling the end of the trail they’d driven to arrive. The closer Simon and June got, the more obvious the damage became.
“Gabs!” Simon called into the smoke, coughing as he took a lungful of the burning air.
June, always faster on the upkeep, had already torn something off and handed it to him. It was soaked, but he didn’t question it as he saw June wrap it around her face. He did the same and though it was a bit harder to breathe, the fabric absorbed the worst of it, acting as a filter for the smoke.
All around, the smell of smoke and ash billowed from the dried underbrush that hadn’t been cleared since last winter. The needles carried the flames like oil and rose up the tree trunks like snakes. If that had been all though, Simon was confident Powder and the Rangers could handle it. A resonating roar reminded him that this wasn’t all there was though. Somewhere, a battle was raging, and it was their job now as trainers to assist in emergencies.
Now or never, Simon thought to himself as his mind reached out to Powder. Time to get to work, Powder.
The esper tensed in his hood and hunkered down in its folds, but she responded as an esper should. Powder’s mind reached back, and the two became one. Her power flowed through the opal and into Simon, granting him access to magic of his own for the first time.
His blood ran cold, but unlike the first time, it didn’t bother him. It felt natural as the bond strengthened. His senses increased as his smell sharpened to a razor’s edge. He could feel everything now as the sensations wared with the cold in his flesh and across his bond.
As if confirming their connection, power overlaid his vision as a selection of spells appeared.
Spell List:
Elemental Shot
Form of Snow
Winter Blast
Form of Snow
He hadn’t had a chance to research what the spells did specifically yet, but if they did what he thought, it wasn’t going to matter. Frost melted into water, and if he was going to be of any help, he needed a lot of it. The brush couldn’t burn if it was frozen solid, after all.
Pulling at his spells, Simon didn’t waste any time. He needed as much power as he could muster to deal with the blaze, so he took two spells into him, Winter Blast and Elemental Shot. As he did, he felt the power flow into his hands, and the air around him begin to grow thick with fog. The white, cold, swelling mist flowed easily in the warmer air, slipping between his fingers before Powder’s power prompted him with a new message.
Merge?
Depending on how the two manifested, he’d have something to work with, plus he’d get three spells in return. He didn’t have a reason not to merge them right now. He couldn’t hold back if he wanted to help. Mentally, he confirmed the action, and the spell list was updated.
Spell List:
Elemental Shot
Elemental Shot
Form of Snow
Form of Snow
Form of Snow
Agility
Deep Freeze
Not for the first time, Simon wished he had been able to do a little more research, but he didn’t have the mind for it last night. He hadn’t thought he’d need to know everything yet. Hopefully, it didn’t come back to bite him as he summoned the power of the new spell.
If the fog from the first two spells manifesting had been anything to go from, this spell truly had the combined power of the two. In one hand, he held the glowing, white power, and the mist was thicker than wet wood smoke, blocking out everything it covered and gathering across the floor like a blanket around him. Even to his frost-protected senses, it felt cold.
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With a prayer in his heart, Simon aimed for the nearest spot of flame and released the power. Simon’s research would have helped him immensely in this situation.
The power of Deep Freeze was more than he was prepared for as his hand kicked back while a beam of shimmering blue lightning shot forward. Nearly knocking the unprepared trainer on his rear, the frozen lightning hit the flames, the ground, put out the local fire, and kept going with all the sound of falling snow and cracking ice. Struggling with the power, Simon kept trying to regain control as the beam traced up the tree, flash-freezing the branches and putting a stop to the flames before they could spread. As the power began to wane, Simon was able to regain control and sweep the attack for the few more seconds it lasted across the ground. The final flames froze and vanished as ice coated the burning fuel before melting and cooling hot spots in one swoop.
When the power died, he heard June cheer. Simon grinned, sure he’d done what he set out to do, until the simmering hiss of steam was replaced by loud cracking.
“The tree!” June called just in time for a large crack to appear in the bark.
Simon did his best not to get caught.
With June’s warning, Simon ran and ducked behind the truck where June now waited with her phone open and her eyes glued to the screen. A moment later, the large plant exploded in a shower of wooden shrapnel that broke the few remaining windows and sounded more like ice than anything he had done.
“Care to help?” Simon asked as he prepared another set of spells to merge, a pair of Form of Snow which created something called Blanket of Frost. Quickly checking his list, he combined the spells he could before casting the original spell. The two Elemental Shots became Greater Elemental Shot and Agility joined with Form of Snow becoming Snow Dancer.
Spell List:
Greater Elemental Shot
Greater Elemental Shot
Blanket of Frost
Snow Dancer
Agility
“I already have,” she said.
“I mean with the fires,” Simon explained.
She held up her phone. “I am,” she explained again and began looking out through the smoke. “We’ve got company.”
Apparently, his stunt had gained the attention of the lesser espers as he summoned the Blanket of Frost. Despite still feeling warm, ice spread across his limbs. The shell around him grew thicker and thicker, turning him into more of an armored mass than a human. His will moved the armor as if it were his limbs as he floated in the center with a frozen esper on his shoulder, chittering with all the anger she could muster as she looked out over his shoulder at the growing mass of fire espers.
He could feel the duration of the spell as if it were a ticking clock and spared June only a glance before running full tilt at the beasts. They were long, dangerous-looking badger creatures with long flaming knives for claws and eyes like burning coals.
Burning coals hissed out under an assault of the crushing power of ice and snow as Agility took hold. Simon had used espers in combat before and was no stranger to hand-to-hand combat, but the way the icy shell responded was nothing short of amazing as he crushed espers one after another, sending their assembled mana up in a flare of dying fireflies and leaving behind little more than mana stones and other minor loot drops that coalesced from their expelled mana.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four espers fell to his crushing blows until the icy shell shattered in a hail of frost and shard of ice.
He had been ready for that though as the three remaining fire espers circled him. In his mind, he felt Powder’s awareness extend to his and he knew where all three opponents were ready to pounce.
At least until June skewered one in a barrage of obsidian quills that came like a rain of arrows.
“Nice, June!”
Looking over was a mistake as burning claws ripped into his arm. The smell of burning meat and melting flesh nearly made him sick, but he settled for simply screaming in pain as he fell to the ground, grabbing at his arm.
June was there in an instant, hunched over him protectively as a shell of glimmering black covered them. The attacking esper bounced off the shield, trailing quills of inky black that dissolved as its burning coat flared.
Thankfully, the barrier held.
“Idiot,” She scolded. “You know better than to let your guard down.”
He did, but he wasn’t in any shape to argue it as the cauterized wound still smoked. It was pain like nothing he’d ever felt, but it did help him focus on what had to be done as Powder climbed down and curled into the smoking ruin of his flesh, cooling the wound enough for him to focus.
“I know,” he hissed, pulling out a bandage and trying to wrap it before the shell fell.
“I’ve only got barriers in the lineup right now. I can buy you some time, but not much. Can you still fight?”
Simon looked to Powder, the little creature seemed to burn with annoyance. She was a chittering noodle of anger as she glared beyond the opaque shell to where the other espers waited. Simon could feel her annoyance and indignation at hurting her playmate, hurting him, he realized after a moment.
Well, the feeling was mutual. He’d have to pay them back and fight. He couldn’t deal with the injury if he was dead now, could he?
He nodded, summoning the two greater shots into his hands. After remembering the kickback of the last greater spell he used, he released the second prepared spell and focused on the first. He could always call it back quickly enough.
“Whoa, don’t freeze me,” she warned, pulling back from her place above Simon. “The barrier ends in a few seconds. Attack them.”
He nodded as June began counting down, holding onto the growing power of the Greater Elemental Shot.
“Five…”
The cold began to bite as the spell drew more and more ambient mana from the world.
“Four…”
Frost began to gather across his skin.
“Three…”
The power began to quiver as he held it in place, or maybe it was his hands…
“Oh fuck!” June cursed. “Go! Go! Go!”
The shell dropped and Simon stumbled, doing his best to aim carefully and letting Powder's instincts for battle guide his hand. The first bolt shot true, freezing the fire esper in place before it shattered like a broken mirror. Encouraged, he pulled the second and let it fly, but it went wide, freezing, and exploding, another tree.
The falling limbs finished the esper off though, so it all worked out. Warmth seeped from his arm, soaking the makeshift bandage.
That only left the one who had ripped his arm to shreds.
Simon growled like a beast as Powder did the same. An Elemental Shot came to mind, and he threw it true, striking the beast and dimming its light before he cast Terrain Hazard.
Powder’s spell cast the entire world in white light, freezing the world and creating a sphere of winter around the burning esper. The creature’s dim light was enough to stave off the worst of it, but it wouldn’t be enough. His arm burned dangerously, the power he’d been wielding taking its toll on his damaged body. Still, he couldn’t let up.
“Incoming!”
A bolt of lightning punctuated his thoughts, and the world went white as he caught a glimpse of rangers rushing onto the scene.