Chapter 22 - The Confronting (F1)
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Under watchful and expectant gaze of my companions I took a deep breath and concentrated.
-’ Hmm... ok, I need to find that mage… but how? ‘ I wondered, and then, I smiled to myself. -’ Assuming that he is nearby I could reach out with the mists and find him that way… ‘
I moved away from the pillar, which was still assaulting me with a malignant power, then I reached out into the mist. My awareness spread further and further, and I was getting increasingly aware of the hollow spot that was really close by. -’ Argh, of course. That would be too easy, wouldn’t it? ‘ I bit my lip in annoyance. The pillar’s magic aura easily countered my influence at a distance, if I was standing further away I wouldn’t even know that there’s a blank spot there.
I stomped the ground in exasperation and went back to the pillar.
-” How is it…ugh... nevermind. “ Hamon quickly moved out of my way.
I looked inquisitively at the magical pillar in front of me, without paying any attention to thrashing and mumbling of an undead. An invisible, red feeling slowly ate away at the mist that I surrounded myself with. -’ How does it work I wonder… I seem to be the only one that can feel it. ‘ I looked at my companions, which were unsettled by the mist’s atmosphere and by the mumbling undead, but gave out no signs of discomfort caused by the pillar’s proximity.
-’ So, it’s either because I am the magic user or… ‘ Suddenly I arrived at a conclusion that I wanted to test out, and I dropped my hold of the mist. -’ ...because I use the mists. ‘ Immediately the unsettling feeling disappeared and the sickening, red mana thinned down to an almost invisible level.
I took a deep, relaxed breath as I felt like a great burden was lifted from me. I looked at the pillar again and this time my vision wasn’t clouded by the oppressive red aura. I could see minute leftovers of black and blue mana left by the ice spell, but what had drawn my attention was a dark red energy that coursed through the ice. Its presence wasn’t limited only to the pillar but it was also inside the smaller icicles as well.
While I examined the pillar impassively the thing kept trying to reach out in a fruitless attempts to grasp me.
Finally, I had arrived at a conclusion. -’ Those icicles aren’t just random hits. The mana inside them is arranged into a spell formation that appears to be binding the thing. ‘ I decided that there must have been a reason to why the thing was sealed. Definitely one of the reasons was that it was hard to kill.
I bent down slightly and I looked at the thing’s horrid face.
-” Treasure! Looossst! “ The thing clawed the air in front of me and I could see apparent hunger and despair in its expression.
-” What is she doing, this doesn’t look too… “ Hamon whispered, but fell silent when I sent him a look.
-” Do you know who took it? “ I said to the thing.
-” Thief! Rip, gouge, tear… limb from limb! “ The thing became agitated again.
-” Do you know where he is? “ I asked.
-” Treasure! Never lost, will get it back! “ The thing hissed. -” Treasure will not betray! “
I looked at the thing inquisitively and asked. -” What will you do if I set you free… “
-” Crush, kill, torture! “ The thing’s eyes gloved vengefully and I could see that the sealing spell began to glow stronger within the ice.
-” How will you find him? “ I kept asking patiently.
-” Yiris will follow, Yiris will get the treasure back! “ Suddenly the thing became a bit more coherent.
-” How will Yiris find the treasure? “ I asked with a smile.
-” Yiris knows the treasure! Yiris will always get the treasure back! “ The thing suddenly stopped moving and looked into my eyes pleadingly. -” Free Yiris. Yiris will get the precious power back! “
-” If I set Yiris free, will Yiris go to the treasure, or will Yiris attack? “ I asked carefully.
-” Yes! Yiris will get to the treasure, Yiris will run to the treasure and Yiris will attack the thief! “ Yiris started thrashing around again.
-” There we have it, if we set it free it should run straight to the mage and lead the way. “ I said smugly.
-” Are you sure that it won’t it attack us? “ Wolga asked doubtfully.
-” It doesn’t seem like it will do that. It seems much more inclined to go for the mage. “ Lysanthir answered.
-” Won’t the mage die if we do that? “ Forest asked with uneasy expression on his face. -” Weren’t we going to talk with him? “
-” Ha, for stealing the loot that much would only be appropriate. “ Hamon’s illogical argument flabbergasted me. -” Also, he should be fine, he defeated this thing when it had its treasure, so he should have no problems with subduing it again. “ Hamon’s other argument was much more logical.
In the end everyone agreed to freeing the thing.
-’ Now what? ‘ My gaze wandered over the glistening column and my doubts returned. -’ I have no idea how the dispelling works... Guess I will have to improvise... ‘
I sighed. I did notice that in the vicinity of the pillar the mist didn’t try to consume my magic, so I started gathering the mana in my hand. I concentrated on the aether that gathered and I made it spill over my skin, creating a glowing nimbus of white energy around my hand. I could hear that there was a silent whispering between Hamon and Lysanthir, but they were too quiet for me to hear the words.
The thing’s frantic movements came to a stop and it was looking at me with a transfixed and greedy expression on its abhorrent face. I raised my hand and sent the power into an ice, it turned into a wispy thread of glowing white energy that was slowly swirling towards the pillar.
I was not sure if what I was doing was correct, but I had hoped that it would at least give me some insight into the workings of magic.
White trail of energy seeped into the ice and suddenly there was a reaction from the red magic stored inside. It blazed and erupted into a cloud of red haze that engulfed me greedily. I yelped in surprise as dark red light surrounded me and began its assault.
I felt pain, it was like being bitten by a swarm of insects that tried to consume me, with an intent to suck every last drop of energy within me. I curled into a ball and tried to fight back. I tried to isolate myself from the red onslaught with a nimbus of white energy, but it didn’t work as intended as the attack absorbed my defenses and became stronger and stronger, easily stripping me of my power at an alarming rate.
In desperation, I turned the aether into a purple power, that I associated with lightning, and I felt electrical energy surging over my skin. But it didn’t help much, as the attack only marginally slowed down, the hungry power had little trouble with absorbing electrical energy.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Pained and panicking I felt lightheadedness which must have been caused by the reserves of my mana running low. In last ditch effort I concentrated on the only other hue that came to my mind.
A black color of hungry darkness.
I felt a freezing sensation descending upon my body, making me sigh in relief, as the red cloud was snuffed away from me. Though the onslaught did not stop. The red haze kept trying to reach me and I grew weaker and weaker, because to nullify an attack I had to channel equal amount of my frost magic into the dark nimbus that surrounded me.
I realized that I was in a war of attrition, and I was losing it badly. The malignant magic already consumed most of my mana and continued its relentless attacks.
-’ I have to do something. ‘ I thought in panic, looking for a way out.
I took a deep breath to calm myself, and almost froze my throat and lungs. A thinning, dark nimbus was draining the heat from my immediate surroundings.
-’ I have to level the playing field. ‘ My usual calculating calmness descended upon me. There was a challenge in front of me and I was not the one to give up easily. -’ I am not going to get done in by the lame spell that some mage just left up! ‘
I thought frantically.
-’ This red cloud can apparently consume energy in most forms. It seems that only Frost is immune, as in actuality it appears to be an anti-energy that nullifies heat, light and possibly other energies. ‘
-’ I need something to insulate myself long enough to replenish my power with the mist, but Frost won’t let anything through, and a magical barrier would probably be absorbed or eaten through in an instant… ‘
-’ That’s it! This magic can’t absorb the mist, which is supposedly cursed… ‘ Sudden realization dawned upon me. -’ This must mean that it can’t absorb the power of similar origin! ‘ I focused on the remnants of mana that still flowed within my veins. I quickly skimmed through all of the colors until I found the one that I was looking for. A deep, blood red power that I had noticed once before, it still seemed really ominous and malignant when I concentrated on it.
I tried to extract it, but it was not working in the same as other hues of magic. My armor of dark energy began to wane so I redoubled my efforts, with utmost exertion I felt the dark red power slowly coalescing from within the white light, but something was not right...
At that moment the dark energy failed and my strength left me. Assaulted by a sudden weakness I just lied down, sprawled on the ground. My cheek hurt, frozen by the contact with the frost covered ground.
Malign energy slowly coursed through my body, which had no magic left in it, just this dark red swirl of power. I was so exhausted that my senses were dulled almost to nothingness, I barely registered someone’s face and that I was lifted from the ground.
-” Audentia. What happened? Are you alright? Please answer me! “ I barely registered the booming voice.
I was looking at the ground which was upside down, because I had no strength to support my head and it lolled to the back . Abruptly, I felt something on the back of my head and my vision was straightened up. I could see Wolga’s worried expression, as she held my limp body in the air. She spoke insistently to me, in a loud voice, which I was barely able to hear. -” You are scaring me, please say something! “
I couldn’t comfort her, but not for the lack of effort. I was barely able to blink and moving or speaking was out of a question.
Suddenly she shook her head strongly, as if in response to something, and my head lolled to the side. I could see a scared and agitated look on Forest’s face, which turned into a look of pure terror when our gazes met. Suddenly, I realized that I didn’t have my hat on and I frantically tried to move, but my efforts were in vain as I couldn’t even move a finger.
My gaze travelled to Hamon, who was wildly saying something. His fervent stare, avid gestures toward Forest and self righteous pose made him look like a bearded tyrant of old, calling his vassals to war. I had no illusions to the contents of his speech.
Wolga shook her head again and hugged me in the protective gesture, which brought Lysanthir into my field of view. He was not speaking, but his deadpan gaze and impassive attitude were much more expressive and threatening than Hamon’s open hostility. I knew enough to fear the quiet types more, as they were the ones that held a grudge the most.
To emphasize his point Hamon grabbed Forest and forced him closer to where I was. I wanted to laugh when the boy shrunk under my gaze and made a face like he was ready to cry, somehow he was terrified by my helpless little self.
-” I will not let you do that! “ Wolga’s stern denial in face of insisting Hamon brought smile to my face. -” I would rather hit you for suggesting such a thing! “
I could tell that she would stand by my side to the bitter end, even against her companions. I was gripped by her naivety and how it was going to turn really bad for her really soon.
I sighed and decided that I would try to help her as much as I can. -’ Sometimes the only right thing to do is to become the greater evil. ‘ I hesitantly tapped into the red power that coursed through me. I did not know what would happen, but, at the least, I hoped that it would allow me to move, as I didn’t want to witness what would happen otherwise...
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Hey~, Author’s here~
I hope you liked today’s development, I will make next one before 13th.
In the meantime you might want to take a look at my contest entry, [ http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=20584 ], it’s a cyberpunk story in a western setting that I really enjoyed making. I hope you will like Shy’s Burnout Essentials too.
Here’s a link to Shy’s picture that I could not include into the contest entry:
[ https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/13X4zje3A0mmjvR3fcukyLAeCf76IlHSGEalcLc0AT6w/edit?usp=sharing ] (The picture’s not mine and all credit goes to the respective owner - ART©SAKIMICHAN.DEVIANTART.COM)
Cheers,
Mea
NEXT CHAPTER: Chapter 23 - The Fighting
http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=22178