15 – RUSCKAN VILLAGE – BATTLE OF MAGES

The stone was hard and cold, the smooth surfaces hinting at the fact that the small hole was created by his respawn protection. The air was quickly getting stale and hotter, and it tasted like suffocation in just a few minutes.

He had to get out of here, or at least figure out a way not to die again because of a lack of oxygen. He could use air magic to create some breathable air to refill the room, but it would be easy and tiring, on top of the fact that the hole seemed to hermetically sealed and creating more air would only increase the pressure.

What he had to do, instead, was try to use the earth magic to drill at least a small hole in the side of the wall all they way to the outside. He had no idea where he landed, because he died while he was still falling. It was very probable that on one side the rock was much thicker than on the other, as he was not in the center of the pillar.

There was no way to figure it out, though. The stone was not as communicative as it was before, and barely a thin layer of rock was willing to listen to his mind and commands. He could not simply ask the stone, like he did before, and get information. His magic was limited, for some reason.

Perhaps it was because of his low affinity and little practice. He had been getting better the more he used the magic, but he was still a long way before he could get as proficient as he was with fire. That school of magic had a medium affinity, after all, and it made a world of difference.

The mage at the top was surely better than David, and was blocking his attempts at controlling the stone of the tower.

David put his hands on the surface of the rock, and began to slowly move away the material, one layer at a time. After only a few minutes, he was already gasping for air and sweating, but he could not stop. He couldn’t even create air with his magic, because that would tire him out completely and then he would have to rest, consuming all the fresh air while he couldn’t do anything.

He grunted, and his breath became shallow. He tried to keep his breathing regular and deep, but could not. The stone was moving away very slowly, like a liquid being displaced by a current of air, only the liquid was dense and dark and hypnotic to watch and he was tired and wanted to sleep and the air was bad and the oxygen was low and and and…

A small circle of white. Light entered the dark cavity and illuminated the place, the long tunnel, and the central cavity. Immediately David expanded the hole, acting on instinct rather than rationally, but it worked. He put his nose in the hole, and breathed in.

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Now that he was out, he could see that it was night again. He was wasting too much time with all these distractions. He needed to get to the top and defeat the mage quickly.

He arrived to the top, in the end. It took him much longer this time, unable as he was to create steps of stone to just walk up, he had to use air magic to lift a part of his weight and his bare hands to climb the rocky face. He looked at them. They were bleeding and raw, sending sharp pangs of pain into his brain.

He felt invigorated. This pain was what he needed to regain his focus, after the awful experience buried inside the rock.

“You! Again?” The mage yelled from inside the fog of the cloud.

This time David was ready, and immediately lunged forward with a summoned knife in his hand. The mage reacted by erecting a force field, and both knife and David were repelled backwards with force. He was not done, however.

He threw his knife, and kept throwing them as soon as they hit the barrier. The mage seemed to have to concentrate on the projectiles to deflect them with the barrier, and this gave David the window of opportunity he needed.

While the dark figure was still waving his staff in the direction of a knife, he readied a large amount of fire magic in his hand. In this fireball, he was going to pour all of his power.

The fire grew hotter and hotter, while he kept attacking from a distance with the other hand and running in the direction of his opponent. The mage was waving his staff around now, trying to seize control of the fire that David was wielding, but to no avail.

This time, David’s affinities were greater. He launched the fireball.

The mage too attacked, almost as a reflex, one last hurrah before death. As the fireball disintegrated his shield and then his whole body, a large and thick lightning emerged from the flames.

It expanded in the air like a fractal, discharging its tremendous power on the ground and the surrounding trees, and eventually finding its way to David’s chest. He tried to dodge, but it was no use.

While he hit the enemy mage with a spell so big and strong that it was impossible to block or dodge, he was being hit with the exact opposite. A precise and concentrated bolt, that homed on his position no matter where he went.

He felt the rock again, and a grin appeared on his face. The other mage had died, and so his control over the earth was once again the dominant one around here. He summoned a large slab of rock to protect him, and the lightning slammed into it and shattered the stone like it was glass.

It continued on. The grin disappeared. In one last attempt to defend himself, David tried to call forth all the water that would listen to him. In his desperation he even created water out of nothingness, trying to get more and more of it between his body and the attack that was coming for him.

The lightning struck the water, and discharged all of its electrical power in the volume of liquid. Then, the water splashed on the ground harmlessly and the electricity simply dispersed. Just a low tingle, and a couple raised hair, were all David felt of the terrible attack that almost killed him again.

In the distance, the charred remains of the mage were impossible to recognize.

He thought that a battle of mages would be slower, longer and somewhat different. But in the end, it all boiled down to a contest of strength and exploiting weaknesses. A game where he, with his power, would always win.