MARIN, MONDAY, MERCHANTUS 30TH

Magical sparring outside of official matches was not permitted on campus. The punishments for casting aggressively on campus varied from food rationing to expulsion. Since magic had deadly consequences, most students avoided using it outside of personal training or official matches.

Behngi, Syn, and Marin were desperate for more practice but didn’t want to die or risk expulsion. To be more specific, Behngi and Marin didn’t want to risk death. Syn apparently wouldn’t have feared being on the receiving end of Behngi’s sparks or Marin’s flurry of elements.

The trio decided on a two-pronged approach to their practice. They would spend equal time reviewing records of how mages fought in wars and any other recorded battles in the library. They would also go to the vast forest around Spire to test spell accuracy and potency.

Today was one of those days when the three mages went into the forest and practiced spellcasting at full power. Of course, since Behngi and Syn could quickly spark the fallen leaves and light up the entire forest, some precautions were taken.

Marin was the first to practice. She made a canteloupe-sized orb of water and threw it with the push spell to hit a tree at the trunk. Next, Marin closed the distance on the tree and pushed cold. Marin was slow to cast and slow to approach the tree, resulting in a slow freeze of the water trickling down the bark.

Syn clapped at Marin. Practicing two schools of magic and successfully casting two spells with any synergy was terrific. This combination of spells could be devastating in an official match against an Aeromancer or Electromancer. Behngi had a more productive response.

Behngi reviewed the iced tree trunk and then smiled. “You could be more effective if you put more mana into the ice spell. It would increase your range and potency.”

Marin scratched her head. The ice spell and the cooling temperature of fall made her stressed sigh visible. “How do I do that?” Marin asked.

“Until you can control elements with your will, your body is the best way to increase mana flow. Be prepared to put out a fire. I will demonstrate.” Behngi warned.

Behngi focused on the frozen tree. He gestured a cast to push electricity, and a bolt of electricity burst out from his palm and struck the ice on the tree. “If you just cast the spell and stand still– your mind will be complacent with the flow of mana, and it will be weak.”

Behngi began casting the electricity spell again, but he cradled it in his palm first. As he cast the push cantrip, he rocketed his hand forward. This time, the bolt of lightning struck the tree with enough force to create a small explosion of sparks. “When you move your body with the spell, your mind tells your mana stores that the spell should be stronger, so it is. This is why the coaches have us spar for two hours every day. The more effort put into your movement, the more mana can be put into a spell.”

Syn added, “So if you punch the spell out, it will be stronger, and the harder you punch, the bigger the spell is.”

“The downside is mana loss?” Marin asked, thinking she understood.

Behngi nodded his approval. “Yes, but the mana goes into the spell. It is only lost if the spell becomes stronger than you wanted.”

Marin returned to the tree and threw water at it. Then, instead of sprinting forward, she cast cold and pushed it out with a solid, practiced punch. The water struck the tree, and then, as it splashed out, the cold spread over it. The cold froze the water on the spot, creating what looked like an exploding knot of Ice.

“Paph’s Staff, dude. You got it first try! Woahwhee!” Syn shouted. “You do that to a limb, and that person won’t be able to dodge anythin’!”

“Yeah, but I feel like I need a nap, though,” Marin said, sitting down and beginning to meditate like Aellaria had demonstrated those first weeks at Spire.

“Take a rest. I will do a controlled burn for a bit. After a few days, we will have a nice clearing to practice in.” Syn said excitedly.

Behngi nervously added, “Try to be ready if there is a fire, Marin. Syn seems a little too excited to burn some trees.”

“Shut up, Behngi! I ain’t that excited. My control has gotten pretty good.” Syn said, but she couldn’t hide her wide smile.

In fact, Syn’s control was pretty good. Instead of lighting an entire tree on fire, Syn localized a fire into a concentrated point near the base. Once the base was weakened, she summoned enough effort for an explosion on the opposite end. After some cracking, the tree fell safely away from the trio.

Marin looked at Behngi. “I'm sorry if this is insensitive, but don’t your people cherish trees and nature?”

Behngi nodded, “Humans raised me, but even in elven society, only the wood elves cherish the trees. The deep elves of Arcane even look down on the ideals of wood elves. I am a high elf or a pride elf.”

“I see. Thank you for telling me,” Marin said. She appreciated how Behngi explained things simply without making her feel ignorant or stupid.

After about three trees, Syn joined Marin and Behngi, her own mana also running low. “I have a new idea!” Syn declared as she sat down next to Marin. “How about we have a bonfire with the cool kids from our class? Maybe you could introduce me to that Rone girl you’ve been sparring with.”

“That could be fun… Maybe as a reward to ourselves for practicing adequately?” Behngi suggested.

“Yeah, I will introduce you to Rone if we can go next week without burning something down,” Marin added.

Syn cheered. “Whoo! Then, I will get another barrel of cider. We can have some real fun.”

Marin sighed. “Is it smart for us to be drinking? During a bonfire?” The last couple of attempts at social drinking had ended poorly.

“All you can do at a bonfire is drink. What else would you do?”

Marin chuckled awkwardly, “Our patron deity is the god of fire. You could pray for strength and luck.”

“I think Phoenix wants us to have some fun. There ain’t nothing more fun than flirting with cute girls. Phoenix would be grateful I am doin’ it all before the flame,” Syn said in a sing-songy voice.

Marin gasped, “That is sacrilege! You think Phoenix is a pervert?”

Syn laughed loudly. “Of course. Phoenix was a human man, and all human men are perverts. Most women are perverts, too!”

Marin didn’t immediately respond. She actually hadn’t thought about it that way. Does a god still even feel like a human after they ascend? Marin had always believed that Father Phoenix, Mother Tillia, and the rest of the human pantheon of gods were above their basic human desires. “I don’t think gods think the way people do. At least, I don’t think there is any evidence of that.”

Behngi chimed in. “Aro’s the goddess of love, lust, and attraction,” he said.

Marin took a moment to understand Behngi’s point. If human feelings didn’t exist for gods, their domains would be meaningless. Marin responded, “Love has to start somewhere. Aro is the spark that starts the lifelong pairing.”

Syn blew a raspberry, “Have you seen the priestesses of Aro? Those women ain’t about lifelong pairing, and I appreciate that attitude.” Syn said, strutting around, pretending to billow imaginary skirts.

Her antics made all three of them laugh. “I have never seen a priestess of Aro like that. Are you sure?” Marin asked.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Definitely, I have studied the subject extensively,” Syn said before giggling herself breathless. She leaned against Marin’s tree, requiring its support to sustain her through her fit of laughter.

After Syn finished taking down the third tree, the three apprentice sorcerers decided to rest. Marin still needed to improve at clearing her mind, and Behngi was not comfortable practicing Electromancy with a clearing that was this small.

The air became increasingly crisp as the sun approached the horizon, but Marin wanted to get at least a bit more practice before she called it. “Maybe I could try to push these trees with the wind off to a side in the clearing?”

Behngi made some mental calculations. He ultimately decided that Aeromancy was not the efficient solution Marin hoped for. “You would want to use Aeromancy for movement, flying, dispersion, and with weaponry. Air isn’t the best with raw power. If you made a blade of ice and started trimming, it could make rolling those logs more manageable.”

Marin thought for a moment. She decided Aeromancy could be practiced much easier at Spire and was not a good choice for this session. “I'll give it a shot…” Marin said as she approached the felled logs. She cast the simplest cantrip to form some water and then spent an almost embarrassing amount of time freezing the water and creating a blade. Marin could feel how sharp and brittle the little knife was.

Marin thought this could have combat potential if it didn’t take her thirty seconds to form water, freeze water, and then shape the ice. However, her efforts were rewarded when she ran the length of her ice knife against the log. Using a cantrip, she magically commanded the blade to run along the tree's base. “It’s working!” Marin said victoriously.

“Well done!” Syn said.

The ice knife wasn’t the greatest tool for working with the tree. The blade chipped and shattered, and Marin had to keep reforming it. The practice was needed, so Marin kept at it.

Marin was so engrossed with the task that when the bolt of lightning hit where she was working, she just stood there confused. “Huh?” She looked over to ask Behngi why he did that, but Syn was already upon her.

Syn charged Marin and picked the smaller mage up and onto her shoulder. There was a sound like the crack of a whip, and Marin felt warmth on her cheek.

Marin looked on in horror as a bark-encrusted monstrosity crawled out of the tree. It was about three feet tall, and now it was staggering its way in between Behngi and where Syn was holding Marin. It had a long wooden limb that slithered back into its bark-covered form. “A monster?” Marin said, her voice dumb with surprise.

Marin heard another burst of electricity and saw that Behngi was trying to get its attention to stop it from chasing Syn. The light from the lightning landing made it easier to see the size and form of the creature. It reminded Marin of a crab. Its carapace was about six feet wide, and instead of claws, it had a pair of barbed whips. The last thing Marin noticed was that it moved using dozens of stubby wooden limbs that wriggled almost randomly beneath its frame.

Somehow, this wriggling resulted in efficient and dangerous locomotion. After being struck by lightning, the monster lashed out at Behngi and wrapped a branch around his ankle. With a quick movement, the barbs along the flexible branch tore at the skin on Behngi’s ankle, and he fell back.

“What is that thing!” Marin shouted. When she realized Behngi was injured, she screamed, “Behngi! Syn! Behngi needs help!” Her cries for Syn’s attention were accompanied by slapping the shoulder of the girl carrying her away.

“Fuck!” Syn shouted. She stopped running and set Marin down. Syn then started casting her own spells and threw a couple of small bolts of flame toward the creature. It recoiled, but only long enough for Behngi to limp further away.

Knowing one of its prey was injured, the creature didn’t change targets again. It instead followed Behngi. The dozens of wriggling legs pounded the dirt with each shift of the giant creature’s flat body.

“It’s a nature revenant!” Behngi shouted as he futilely hobbled away from the advancing creature. Despite its apparent wooden form, Syn’s fire wasn’t catching on the creature. She had to get even closer to unleash a hotter spray of fire.

Marin ran through the forest to get to Behngi to help him run. She focused on the situation, knowing that this was the type of threat she would face if she became a real master sorcerer.

The wooden revenant swung one of its long arms toward Behngi, but Behngi ducked, and the limb wrapped around a birch tree instead. As the monster violently pulled its limb back, birch bark exploded from the tree.

Syn closed the gap, opened her palms, and bathed the revenant in flames. The bark started to catch this time, and the wooden creature screeched with an unnatural whistling sound.

Marin grabbed Behngi and helped him get a little bit further. Standing between Behngi and the monster, she formed an ice knife before launching it at the creature. The blade ineffectually shattered against its tough bark.

Syn’s major weakness with her casting was her lack of visibility. The cone of fire completely blocked her vision, and she didn’t realize the creature had her until it was too late.

The barbed limb wrapped around both of Syn’s ankles and pulled Syn’s muscular legs closed, throwing her off balance, and she fell while it bound her tighter. The shock caused her to dismiss the fire, and Syn instead used her limbs to try to kick and drag herself away from the monster.

The monster glowed where Syn’s fire had caught. Making it look like an angry chunk of glowing charcoal. The only indicator of this creature having a front was when its maw creaked open as it pulled Syn closer. It was going to eat the Pyromancer, and as it pulled Syn closer, it wrapped more of its barbed limb around her legs. Each successive bind snuffed embers of hope that Marin clung to—hope Syn would make it out alive.

Behngi and Marin kept casting. Knives of ice and bolts of lightning struck the creature, but nothing worked. It had a single goal: It was going to eat Syn.

“No no nonono…” Behngi said as he stepped forward; this time, he gave it his all on a full cast of lightning bolts. He threw an open palm at the creature, and many arcs of lightning landed, sending electricity scratching across its front and side.

It was not enough.

The revenant glowed even brighter now, and Syn turned to try to cast something. As she raised her hands to cast, the other revenant limb wrapped around them. Syn was effectively hogtied, and as the creature pulled her the last couple of feet, Syn struggled futilely. The whistling noise emanating from the creature's core got louder and louder as its jaws opened.

Behngi was out of mana. He gave it his all, but he couldn’t save Syn.

The revenant pulled Syn's arms and legs away from each other. In her fear, Marin imagined the creature looked at Syn like a hungry child would look at a well-seasoned buttered ear of corn.

Syn wasn’t what entered the creature’s mouth, however. Marin sprinted forward and threw her hands down with all of her might. Just before the monster tore into Syn, a massive ice wedge entered its maw. Marin put so much effort into the push spell that it didn’t just keep its mouth full. The wedge drove deep into the creature's body before passing out the far side in an explosion of wood and ice.

SYN

The crab-like monster went limp, and Syn collapsed onto a bed of dried fall leaves and dirt. Behngi limped over, watching the creature. It was dead. He began helping Syn unwrap from its flexible branches. “Syn, are you okay?”

Syn’s hands came free easily enough, but her legs were covered in deep cuts and scratches. She could stand, but somehow, her legs were more functional than Behngi’s torn ankle.

“Marin, that was absolutely insane. I can’t believe I’m alive–” Syn said as she turned to thank Marin. However, Marin had put so much effort into the spell that she was sleeping on the forest floor. Marin had been taken by mana exhaustion.

Syn tried to ignore the pain in her limbs as she leaned down and picked Marin up for the second time that evening. Syn then led Behngi as they cautiously started walking toward Phoenix’s flame that glowed atop Spire.