Inside the wizards’ tower Blane stood across from Eidolus and held Priest’s Blessing, “Okay this card is what I used to heal Regalia’s broken leg in that battle.”
“Can you use it on Wizard Irion?” The Master Wizard asked him, “His back is full of arthritis and it could help him immensely.”
“I’ll try, I’m not sure how these ones work, but here goes. Priest’s Blessing!” He focused on Irion as he cast the spell, feeling a little embarrassed as he did so, self-conscious.
The wizard’s body began glowing as the card itself glowed and then a beam shot from the card and connected to him, pressing against his shoulder. As they watched a small pulse traveled the length of the connection and as it entered Irion’s body and he began glowing just like Regalia did. He grunted and once the glowing ceased he stood up straight, there was an audible pop as his back realigned itself. The man nearly doubled over as pain filled his body from his back finally being in place.
“Gods above that hurt.” He said placing a hand on the small of his back.
“Are you in any other pain Wizard Irion?” The Master Wizard asked him.
“None Sir. It’s a miracle.” He said in wonderment.
“I cannot believe you are able to do these forms of spells.” The Master Wizard said to Blane as he looked at him. “Do you know how incredible this magic is? To be able to say a spell that way and it happen so easily for you? In order for us to cast spells we have to speak for hours before our magic acts on it.” The man stared at him, his hands moving with each word he spoke.
“I can’t believe that, that’s ridiculous.” Blane looked around and saw the various sized clear vials filled with different colored liquids and capped with corks. In the center of the room he saw a table with arcane markings etched into it, each one was a dull blue. “With all of these items here can’t you do something to make you able to do a spell using less time?”
“There’s none that we have found. If we don’t cast our spells correctly they inevitably either fizzle out or they backfire and we get some kind of strange effect hitting us rather than hitting the enemies.” Eidolus grabbed one of the vials and held it out for him to see. “This here is a healing draught, yet this takes up to three minutes or more for it to fully take effect, and that is after we had to speak a spell for nearly twenty minutes in order to make the ingredients more effective than they normally would be. You, however, come in here with these cards and speak a short spell at the top of the card and it works nearly instantly. It took less than half a minute for Wizard Irion to have his back healed, we haven’t been able to do that.”
Blane thought about how strong his magic was, it was crazy to think about, that he could have magic when he was standing in this new world, a completely different world. “So my magic works much faster than yours, but you still have magic, why haven’t you done something to try and stop the advance of this plague and of the Non themselves?”
“Don’t you think we’ve tried that?” He erupted angrily. “That was the first thing we tried when we realized we weren’t able to stop the spread though any other means. But every time we try to use a spell for that it backfires and we end up drained of our energy and magic for days. One of our members, Digary, died from it the last time we used the spell.” He Hung his head as he spoke, pain etched on his face.
“I’m sorry for your loss Eidolus.” Blane responded, sincerely sorry he had brought it up to the man. “Then I guess we should figure out how this all works huh?”
There was a knock at the door and they all turned to watch as Regalia entered the room and smiled at both him and Kana before taking her place next to the warrior. “Has he been able to do that magic like before?” She asked thinking she was quiet enough no one but Kana would hear her.
“Yes, he healed Wizard Irion of his arthritis.”
Her jaw went slack. “Then maybe he can help us.”
“That’s what we are going to attempt to do.” Blane replied letting her know that he had heard her, and that he was slightly annoyed with her. “What would you like to see next so we can figure this out?”
“Could you use the same card you had used on Kana here? Just so we could see what happens when you use that spell?”
Blane pulled the card from his deckbox and cast it, calling her name again, “Kana Ouchi, Phoenix Dancer!”
Just like before a red light emanated from her body as her armor transformed. Her grieves elongated, her armbands appeared, but this time when her chest and leg armor transformed it was different. Her legs were bare as the metal changed shape at her pelvis and covered just enough of her to leave him imagining, and on her hips were two long pieces that looked similar to feathers. While on her chest the metal shrunk and covered from the underside of her breasts up around them and up to her neck, like a bikini top, leaving her nipples barely covered, and her stomach bare. The same red beam connected them as before.
“Whoa.” He said as his eyes locked onto her lithe body and he found himself back to when he fantasized about what would happen if he could meet her. Blane felt his cock hardening as he looked at her.
“Why is her armor different than before?” Regalia asked breaking the silence.”
“I’m honestly not sure, maybe because then it was in battle? Or maybe because she doesn’t feel threatened? This is all just guesswork right now.” He sincerely wondered what had happened, though he was okay with the fact that she was wearing something so revealing in front of him. And she didn’t make a play to cover herself either.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“I don’t feel any different than before, my sword hasn’t changed yet either. It still the same katana I’ve been wilding.” She said thumbing the hilt of her sword.
“Then there has to be something to it, but we can’t really test out the fear unless she’s in true danger, which means dealing with those thralls again.” Eidolus said.
Blane looked at her and frowned. “I don’t really want to put you in danger just to test a spell out though. That’s not right, and it’s not fair to you.”
“That’s understandable,” she replied. “But these spells could be what we need to finally defeat them and end this threat once and for all. And for that reason alone I would happily put myself in danger if it meant saving my friends.”
They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before the bellow of a horn tore them from their reverie and everyone but Blane stared at each other with fear. “That’s the alarm, the Non are closing in on Ikengard!” Regalia cried.
----------------------------------------
They raced through the halls towards the throne room hoping the queen would have some information. As the lot of them entered the room they saw the queen standing at a window that let her see the courtyard and what was beyond in the city itself.
“What is happening my lady?” Kana asked as they came to a stop near her.
“The day we feared is here child. Our scouts have found that one of the larger Nons and an army of thralls are on their way here. There’s no way for us to defeat them all.” She said dejectedly as she stared out of the window.
They exchanged looks and Blane asked, “So we have to fight them, right?”
“We have to do something. Maybe we can get some families out of here while we hold them off.” Regalia said, her eyes darting around the courtyard as she looked for a telltale sign that doom as coming to Ikengard.
“I have already dispatched my men to rouse everyone and to ready them for either a fight or to flee. I shall leave it to the citizens if they wish to fight or flee.”
Blane looked at her face and saw how scared Lady Galantine looked, he could scarcely imagine how terrified she must feel, and he had an idea. “What if there was a way to defeat them here? To make Ikengard a beacon of hope for the rest of the world?”
“Speak plainly please.”
“While we were in the wizard’s tower we tested out my spells, hence why Kana looks the way she does. We know that these cards are some sort of spell here and that means we can use them to our advantage. There are spells for attacking your opponents creatures and characters, hell there’s one I have with me that’s called Thunderstruck and is pictured as a bolt of lightning hitting a massive creature.” They looked at him with renewed hope and he could feel that something good would happen. “We can use my spells to shore up our defenses and fight back.” He clenched his fists, “we can probably win if we work together and my spells are as strong as the one that I used on Kana.”
“He makes a lot of sense my lady,” she began. “The spell he used on me seemed to magnify my power ten fold, the strike I was able to use thanks to his spell struck through multiple thralls and destroyed them in a second. If he can do that same work with the rest of us then we can win this battle.” Her voice changed, filled with hope she spoke and convinced all of them that this was for sure the correct course.
“Very well then. I shall get my armor while you all prepare. What will you need for your spells?”
“Um, I think just my cards ma’am.”
“Good, Regalia could you help me into my armor please?” She waited for Regalia to nod before looking at the others, “We will meet you at the gate shortly.”
It was easy enough to tell they were dismissed, but as Blane watched the two women leave he couldn’t help but feel like something important was kept secret. He looked to Kana and she nodded telling him she was ready to leave for the gate as well.
The trip to the gate took less time than he thought it would. They ran down to the stables first and took a horse for them both to ride, she in front and he in back. “Just relax Blane, we are almost there.”
“That’s easy for you to say, I’ve never ridden on a horse before.”
“A few deep breaths in and slowly letting them out will help you calm down.”
He tried, sucking in lungfuls of air, but as he tried to slowly let the air back out he felt them come to a stop by the gate and he practically spat the air from his lungs. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we were stopping so soon.”
He stared at the massive gate in awe as they unmounted the horse and walked to the steps leading up to the rampart. At the top he saw that Yumiko was still on duty and she glared at him with a cold look, but before she could say anything Kana yelled up to her, “He is going to help us win.”
When she said that every woman standing guard at the gate looked at her like she was mad, but Yumiko was the only one to speak. “You expect me to believe that this boy is going to save us? What’s he going to do shout some magic word to make the Nons disappear?” They all laughed, a full bellied laugh that roared through the area taking their minds off of the impending doom.
“Wait, can you do that Blane?” Kana asked him as she looked over to him.
“I’m not sure if I have a spell for it, but I can try if I find one.”
When they heard his tone, how serious he was, the guards stopped and just stared. “What exactly are you here to do?” Yumiko asked.
He took a deep breath, now was as good a time as any to make that declaration. “I am Blane Grimm, and I am a wizard.”
As they continued to stare the Queen and Regalia pulled up on their own horses and began climbing the stairs. The Queen was in her own armor, a brightly colored enamel coated the steel and made her look like some kind of patchwork Easter craft. She had pastel purples and pinks covering her in intricate lifework to depict her flowers, the pauldrons held the blooms on each tip as they curved in an upswept tip. Her entire midsection was covered and he noticed that she wore a battle skirt like he’d seen drawn on Amazons in artwork back home. Even her grieves were covered in green vines and he wondered how mad the artist had gone trying to follow those lines to keep them looking alright.
“Have you begun shoring up the defenses Blane?” She asked him.
“Not yet ma’am, from my experience I have a limited number of minutes that my summonings stay here and I’d like to keep those few summonings for when the creatures get here.”
She nodded, “Sound thinking under pressure, you would make an excellent military commander.”
“I doubt that, honestly I was so unprepared the last time I encountered them I nearly didn’t help either of them out.”
The Queen walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “This time you will be ready for them, we all believe in you.”
He was about to nod as they heard a shriek fill the air and everyone turned at once to see the first lines of the thralls coming to raze the city to the ground. “I hope everyone gets out just in case.” He muttered under his breath as he pulled the first card from his deck. “I cast Stalwart Sentinel!” He called and watched as the light emanated from the card and coalesced into the form of Grace from Ickeros.
She stared up at him as she heard the screech for the second time in her life. “I am here to do battle master?” She asked gripping her shield and spear tightly.
“I can send you back if you wish, at least I think I can. But, if you could, we desperately need your strength.” He told her, she smiled and nodded before turning to face the coming waves of enemies. “Thank you, Grace.”