The heavy clouds overhead tensed up, then seemed to flinch away slightly as the shockwave hit. Anyone indoors or safely enclosed within a vehicle was momentarily deafened, while those unlucky enough to be outside suffered slightly worse and were buffeted with wind for a few long seconds. Their ears popped as if equalizing to a change in pressure, and the heavy scent of ozone was only barely dampened by the rain that had just begun to fall.

If anyone had bothered to check, they would have noticed that the sides of buildings exposed to the blinding flash were now noticeably warm to the touch. If someone had been watching the spell unfold without eye protection, they likely wouldn’t be seeing for a few hours, though there would be no permanent damage from the light.

From her position in a fleeing vehicle with several city blocks worth of buildings between her and the spell, Anna was spared temporary blindness. She also wasn’t sure if she was okay. Sure, if everything worked the way it was supposed to, then Kyle had just obliterated the very dangerous monster. Which was good. But Anna didn’t know how Kyle had fared channeling that kind of magic through him.

‘Wrath of Zeus’ was the kind of spell that could kill the caster.

Most magic users relied on external sources of magic whether it was ambient magic, divine magic, or warlock patrons. Those were wizards, clerics or paladins, and warlocks. Most of the magic Kyle normally used was from his warlock patron, but he also had a wizard’s ability to control, manipulate, and use external sources of magic. Clerics and paladins got all of their magic from the divine beings they served and their faith. Warlocks got magic from their patrons and their pact items.

But the fourth type of magic user was sorcerers. Sorcerers had an internal source of magic. It was a part of their very being. They lived and breathed magic in their sinew and bones. Now, anyone with natural magical abilities like wizards or sorcerers could augment their powers by becoming a warlock or serving a divine being as a cleric or paladin. But the spells available from a patron or a faith were limited. To use the full range of magic out there, a sorcerer or a wizard was needed.

However, wizards were limited to only the ambient magic around them. Whereas sorcerers were limited to their internal stores for spells. Or their affinity. Like Anna’s practical limitation to ice magic. Ice was just easy for her. Other spells took so much more effort and used so much more of her power than ice. The point was that neither she nor Kyle could perform Wrath of Zeus under normal conditions.

Anna couldn’t because though her magic was enough, using it for a spell that wasn’t ice magic would multiply the magic requirement significantly. It would take her magic and then her life. Kyle couldn’t normally use the spell because there wasn’t enough ambient magic in any of the livable areas of the world and he had pretty much no internal stores to use whatsoever. So he couldn’t even cast the spell. Today though, today he could cast it. And if he managed the magical flow correctly, he might have survived.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

He probably survived.

Still, Anna couldn’t help worrying as she watched the rippling clouds above. They hadn’t cleared away yet. How long were they supposed to stay after the spell had been executed? Minutes? Hours? She searched her mind for the answer and couldn’t find it.

“Huh. What’s going on? Where are they taking my students?” The principal’s sharp question broke Anna out of her examination of the sky. Her gaze focused on the street in front of them. There was a large group of military vehicles in front of the Plaza de Saint Germain hotel. Yeah, there were a ton of vehicles, all terrain vehicles, jeeps with turrets attached, hummers, and even several tanks. But there was also a convoy of vehicles loading up students. The ones she recognized loading up all looked like international students.

“About time the Magicorps showed up.” Liam huffed from beside Anna and Jones made a non-committal grunt of displeasure at the implied criticism before he spoke up as well.

“They should have been here hours ago. But it’s not just the Magicorps. Look.” The soldier was right. Sure there were squads of soldiers in yellow berets with wands and magical munition coming and going from the command tent as they left for assignments and returned for new orders. The ones standing around as guards and driving the vehicles looked like regular army though. As she watched, a group of soldiers with gods damned useless standard issue weapons approached their line of fleeing vehicles.

“Fucking army?” Jones muttered angrily. “Might as well be feeding the monsters. They’re practically civilians. Everyone keep quiet, they’ll be twitchy.” Jones gritted his teeth in frustration and tightened his grip on the steering wheel while they waited for the soldiers to reach them. The vehicles ahead of them were already being directed out of the way to park.

But the principal couldn’t wait any longer as she saw more of her precious students being loaded into vehicles. The last straw was when the student that had come with her started getting out of the vehicles and the school security personnel resisted the kids under their charge being led away by a military officer.

“No more. That’s it. I need to see what’s happening.” She was unbuckled and out the door before Jones could stop her. Her headlong sprint towards the students and the school security who now had weapons pointed at them was halted when the approaching soldiers raised weapons to point at her as well.

“Well, that’s happening.” Jones growled in frustration. “If I’d known we’d been dealing with these idiots I’d have brought some crayons as bribes.” But he quieted, kept his hands non-threateningly on the wheel, and forced himself to have a neutral semi-smile on his face. After a few tense, shouted exchanges where the soldiers verified who the principal was, they lowered their weapons and one peeled off from the group to escort her somewhere while the rest continued on towards the vehicle that Anna was in.