Maiz felt his mouth drop open, vaguely noticing that the rest of his group wasn’t moving either. A Master. Hakim was a Master? Maiz watched as the red robed mage raised a hand and made an almost lazy slashing motion towards the monsters.There was another rush of wind, much stronger than before, and the sand billowed up in a massive cloud, obscuring everything in the area. Just then, Maiz felt a hand grip his arm. Turning, he could just make out Lila’s ashen face.

“We have to hide.” She said, tugging on his arm and motioning away from the Dungeon. Snapping out of his stupor, Maiz nodded. He looked to his left and saw Ziya and Sifet, nodding as well. On Lila’s other side, Hugan, was still staring, wide-eyed, at Hakim. But as Lila grabbed his arm as well, he turned and led the way away from the Dungeon.

“Where do we go?” Sifet’s voice sounded panicked, terrified.

“We find the Journeymen.” Hugan tried to sound confident, but it was easy to hear that he was just as scared as Sifet. “We have to hope that mage can take care of the... dragons, but there’s still the--”

Even from behind, Maiz could see the blinding light which emanated from the center of the sand cloud. There was a wave of intense heat accompanied by the boom of air expanding, and a massive force slammed into Maiz’s back. He went flying, limbs akimbo.

Shield Stance. In the air, Maiz tried to arrange his limbs properly, and had the solid feeling of his skill engaging just before he hit the ground. Pain flashed through his right side where he landed, but he remained conscious. He struggled to his feet, looking around wildly. Where am I? Another thought flashed through his head with even more urgency. Where is everyone else? He was standing in open air now, his back itching uncomfortably as though he’d suffered a mild burn. It only took a moment to spot the area of devastation where Hakim still stood, robes swirling, opposite the two dragons. One jumped, spreading its wings. The sight was terrifying and majestic, more awe-inspiring than any human could hope to be. The dragon flapped its wings, rising higher and higher.

Then it fell out of the sky like a stone.

Hakim stood without moving, simply looking at the dragon now laying on its belly before him. A flash of light erupted from the one further back, momentarily obscuring the scene. Maiz shaded his eyes. Hakim. Those flashes of light were attacks. Was Hakim…

The light faded, revealing an empty patch of air where the red-robed mage had been, the sand glowing red with heat. No. Maiz felt his heartbeat quicken, and he searched wildly around for his friends. They had to get out of this place, if a Master had fallen so quickly they didn’t have a chance. Maiz spotted Lila, apparently unharmed, and shouted.

“Lila!” He ran towards her, but her eyes seemed unfocused. What was she staring at, over Maiz’s shoulder? He turned around.

Framed by the bright light of the sun was an amorphous shape hanging in the air. It seemed like an angel of death, but Maiz recognized the outline of those robes. The figure made another slashing motion, and with a percussive blast, a second huge cloud of sand kicked up over the dragons. Maiz heard the sound of rock shattering and winced.

“Lila, we have to find the others.”

Lila’s grey eyes, wider than usual as she stared at the dark figure of Hakim, blinked. “Right.” She looked around aimlessly, as if expecting the others to pop out from behind a rock.

Maiz didn’t have a good idea of what to do himself. They had been thrown towards the middle of the training grounds, onto one of the empty fields of sand left open for training. There were a few squat stone buildings nearby, and Maiz spotted a few young people running back towards the west side of the compound, where the Journeyman and other instructors lived. But he couldn’t see Hugan, Ziya, or Sifet.

Another flash of light emanated from the sand cloud, then another. Then, there was a motion at the end of the cloud, near the wall of the compound. Was that one of their friends? But no, it was one of the disturbing humanoid lizard creatures: it appeared to be trying to sneak away from the battle between Masters. Suddenly a section of the sand cloud was blown away, and a huge furrow appeared in the ground where the lizard-man had been standing. There was a spray of red, and all that remained of the monster was bloody meat.

At the same moment, another flash of light emanated outwards from the cloud of sand, accompanied by an earth-shaking roar. Once again, there was a boom of air exploding outwards, and a wave of hot wind emanated outwards, dispersing the remaining dust and revealing Hakim, now on the ground with his hands raised as two dragons loomed over him. The air shimmered about the dragon’s bodies as though they were emanating intense heat, and Hakim's robes whipped in an invisible gale as he jabbed his hands forward in rapid succession.

There were multiple cracks, like those of a whip, as invisible blades of air impacted the dragons--Maiz only knew what was happening because of the chinks appearing in the dragons’ hides as their scales were knocked off by Hakim’s assault. Then the larger of the two monsters, the Master, opened its mouth. Maiz instinctively looked away, and the field was once again awash in powerful white-and-gold light. His eyes landed on the rest of the monsters, the lizardmen and massive scarabs, now escaped from the pit. They were circling swiftly around the battle, lizardmen low to the ground and insectoids scuttling in strange paths as they headed away from the battle and towards the rest of the compound. Behind the mob of monsters, there were lines of rent earth leading to broken and sliced bodies, and Maiz realized what was happening. Hakim had been trying to prevent the monsters from leaving, but had been stopped by the dragons. Which meant that the weaker creatures would make it to the rest of the compound, killing Novices and Apprentices while Hakim was occupied. Hells, we have to find the Journeyman and help them organize a defense.

Just then the lizardman at the front, who was holding a bone-white spear in a clawed hand, suddenly shifted directions, looping in dangerously close to the fighting Masters. Maiz turned to see what had drawn its attention.

“Hugan!”

Maiz began running without conscious thought. Part of his mind screamed that he was running towards the battle of two Ulion-cursed Masters, but he didn’t stop. Hugan was kneeling, back to the titanic conflict of mage and dragons, arms spread out with a smoking shield strapped to one of them. In front of him was a mass of white robes which resolved into two figures as Maiz ran closer. Ziya and Sifet. And their white robes were stained with red.

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“Maiz!” He heard Lila’s voice call out behind him, followed by a string of curses. Maiz didn’t slow, just hoping that his Agility would let him reach the group before the lizardman did. A quick glance showed that, thankfully, the other monsters hadn’t followed their brother towards the battered Novices, apparently deeming it unnecessary. But the creature moved swiftly and gracefully, like a powerful combatant. Not a Novice.

There was a sound like angry chittering, and Maiz turned his head without stopping to see Lila gliding past one of the back scarabs, whose legs she had apparently broken. She quickly caught up with Maiz, not looking at him as she sped past towards Hugan, Ziya, and Sifet. She was fast enough that she would certainly reach them before the lizardman. But Maiz was almost directly in between his friends and the scaled monster now.

Maiz gripped his staff tighter, and and clenched his jaw. It was obvious what he should do in order to give the group the best chance of survival. Fast Feet. Flaming Strike. He altered his course as another blinding flash of light and burst of heat assaulted him. Then another, and another. They were interspersed with the howling of wind and booms of exploding air, but apparently Hakim had figured out how to avoid roasting everyone in the vicinity as he blocked the golden dragons’ attacks. Maiz simply ducked his head slightly and kept going, feeling the mana rush into his staff, guiding it through the familiar pattern frantically as he ran.

His body felt light, feet dancing with the influence of Fast Feet as he brought his staff up, red ribbons enveloping it  He stopped running and swung his weapon in a tight arc at the same time, connecting with the torso of the running lizardman and stopping it dead in its tracks with a powerfu explosion that rattled the staff in his hands.

Up close, the lizardman was even more terrifying. It had skin disturbingly similar to that of a desert lizard or snake, but its face consisted of a long muzzle-like mouth, bared to reveal pointed teeth. Its back was covered in spikes, and this particular one was huge, perhaps three meters in height. Maiz’s staff had impacted a muscled abdomen like that of a full-grown laborer or warrior. The slight flash of relief he’d felt at the impact fell away quickly, along with Maiz’s stomach, when the creature looked at Maiz, apparently unfazed by the blow. Its green hide was slightly blackened, but it seemed otherwise unharmed. Another flash of light cast the monster’s face in harsh lines as it opened its maw and roared like the dragon in miniature.

Maiz spared a quick glance behind him. Lila was kneeling over the bodies, apparently loading one onto a shoulder. Hugan was doing the same. They were still a few meters back from Maiz and the lizard monster, but they hadn’t escaped yet. Maiz whipped his head back to the monster before him, and caught a flash of white moving towards him at blinding speed. He jumped to the side under the influence of Fast Feet, barely slipping the creature’s spear, and darted past the monster, forcing it to turn away from the group’s direction. He began casting Flaming Strike desperately and backpedaling at the same time. He pushed the mana through the staff as heat engulfed his right side, followed by a gust of wind.

He remained focused on the huge lizard before him as it roared again before darting forward. His feet moved of their own accord, sending him to the left and forward, right next to the creature. He hopped backwards as a clawed fist swiped at him, and felt the strong wind generated by the creature’s attack. A twinge of tiredness crept into his arms Hells. He took a half hearted jab at the creature, which it blocked with a scaled forearm. The second layer of his spell completed as the creature brought its white spear slashing towards his neck, forcing him to duck at a ridiculous speed. Magic flowed like a gentle river over the staff continuing to cast the spell, and Maiz cursed internally. He needed to kill this thing, but his spell didn’t even penetrate its hide. And he had only a few more dodges left in him before his stamina gave out. Maybe I can at least buy them enough time to get away.

The mana crept towards the top of his staff in intricate loops and swirls, but it was too slow. The creature roared and raised its spear again, and Maiz resignedly prepared to dodge. Then a howling gale shot out from the right, smashing into the lizard and causing him to stumble. The force was nothing like the attacks that had killed some of its brethren, but, even as Maiz stumbled, he grinned. Another flash of light engulfed them, and there was another pop of air, but Maiz had eyes only for the lizard. He thought back to another creature he’d fought, one with skin like stone and eyes that burned with hatred.

Maiz raised a staff wreathed in flames and stepped forward, motioning a simple attack that Lila had taught him. His staff would snap outwards and brace against his left tricep. But his entire body tensed, and he felt his magic flare across it as he struck. The lizardman raised its forearm to guard its chest gain, roaring in contempt as it prepared to block Maiz’s attack. There was another boom, and Maiz felt blood and gore speckle his face as his staff hit the roof of the creature’s mouth. Its arm, uselessly warding off Maiz’s Illusion Strike, fell along with the rest of its body. Yes! Now--

Maiz heard a buzz, followed by a crackle, and a smell like storms filled his nostrils. He finally looked at the battle raging to the side as the hair on his arms and neck stood on end. The smaller dragon was bleeding, splayed out on the ground with its eyes closed. Whenever the red liquid dripped to the ground it boiled instantly, going up in smoke. The larger dragon, the Master, was roaring, one claw in the air and glowing with an intense radiance. But Hakim… he stood, hands down by his sides. There was a shadow over him and the sand at his feet swirled and flew about at incredible speed.

As Maiz watched, little flickers of light began to appear and disappear all around him and the spinning intensified. The Master dragon slashed its claw, and in the same moment an intensely brilliant power shot from Hakim, striking the dragon. The white light made the world seem dark, harking to the dry storms that sometimes lit the desert sky. Lightning. It arced from Hakim to the dragon in a sustained stream, even as continuous roaring thunder drowned out all other noise.

The power that struck the dragon arced across its body in sheets of crackling fury, enveloping it head to tail in electricity. The creature remained still for a moment, then it began twitching, tail and limbs thrashing as the lighting continued to pour into it. Hakim raised a hand, and wind roared. Sand kicked up and was caught in the stream of power, dropping back to the ground as molten slag. Flashes of light burst continually from the golden dragon, but they did nothing to stop the Master Aeromancer’s assault. Then the creature’s wings caught fire, and it began screaming the sound barely audibe over the thunder. The screaming cut off abruptly, but the lightning did not stop engulfing the dragon, as its flaming body began flopping about uncontrollably.

Until something flew towards Hakim, and he vanished suddenly, the stream of lightning finally ending. The thunder stopped a moment later, leaving Maiz’s ears ringing as he stared at the ruined, smoldering body of the golden dragon. Then a new sound split the air, thin compared to the cacophony of moments before. It left a knot in Maiz’s stomach though, as he turned to see a new figure, laughing crazily at the doorway of the Dungeon.

“Time to turn to dust, my sweet!” The black robed mage cackled.