~LoneJones POV~

The only reason we entered the library in the first place was to get clues for the Geckan Queen. Now we have to beat five books? At the very least we should get a pretty good reward, there isn't a time limit on the quest so it doesn't really matter. Once we leave this place we'll need to hunt that beast down, with any luck that will take us on a tour of the surrounding area and we could gather information that way. If the library doesn't work out then the mandatory walking we're gonna do to catch the beast might be enough to put us in the path of some clues to the Queen's whereabouts. Now was not the time to think about the future though.

I dodged a burst of heated air.

Jeez that's hot!

I cleared the incoming dense ball of fire but the heat was enough to roast me. I jumped down from my exposed position on the shelves, stepping out of a newly created clone and disappearing fast enough that the switch wasn't noticed. I could still feel the heat from the fireball despite its passing. I felt its trajectory through the air and it was surprisingly heading straight for the spiked dome Cobb had created.

Did he aim for me or the dome? Was that on purpose?

I called him a "he" but I had never gotten close enough to lay eyes on the culprit. An intense light and I knew from the green hue that the ground was no longer safe. I dodged chunks of the library floor being ripped from the carpet only to realize they were directed at my clone. 

Good. It worked.

I darted through the bookshelves in the area, getting closer. It was only possible since so much of the books that had filled the area were now on the floor, being as small as I am diving through the small holes was not a problem. At times when the mage wasn't using any huge magic that displaced the air I could faintly make something out. There was a small disturbance, relatively small compared to a fireball or mini tsunami but it was erratic, rapid. Always following the movements, a sudden burst of movement and then magic. Whatever kind the guy was using it always started like that.

It was what I was feeling now. There was a comparably large amount of movement, it only felt small to me because of the distance. There was then a huge displacement of air and I went blind to the phenomena that had just targeted my clone. I could guess though, air - lots of it. It sounded like a group of people that was reading together had just finished a page, multiplied by a thousand. In a library it's really easy to detect any changes especially when there's no air conditioning, windows or anything alive. It's the only reason I could feel the magic user despite the distance. 

Diving through the last standing bookshelf and taking cover behind a pile of debris I waited. I was tense. I needed to determine how the mage saw me when I had no vision of him. The only reason I had evaded his attacks was because of the indications he always gave off. More movement, the glowing was faint, and I was closer but there was always a faint glow in between attacks. 

My shoulder was a mess from the Knowlguart earlier, the pain could be ignored JST had popped it back into place but that wasn't the problem. I wasn't as limber as I could be for this but that didn't stop me in the past. The problem was that I had no idea what I was facing, I needed to gather intel and I already had to an extent. With what I learned i'd be able to warn the rest when and what was assaulting us at any given time. Aside from that though I had not even seen the face of the enemy or really tested his capabilites. I had to get close so I could use Examine Enemy and bring back some useful intel.

I moved from the debris and took quiet steps closer, completely invisible. He shouldn't be aware of my invisibility as I had always kept myself visible for this very opprotunity. As I approached the bookshelf I could clearly see someone drawing in the air through the empty slots in the shelf. His sleeves were loose and there was a cowl thrown over his head the rest of his features were obscured save for piercing purple eyes. He drew cresecents overlapping each, with only the barest space inbetween. He then drew a series of lines that started and ended in fine blue lines, the middle of the script was thicker and the whole picture started to glow. He thrust his hand through the script, shattering it. Balls of water formed around the figure, in the distance I could see my clone taunting him. Then with a sudden speed, half circles of water launched from the balls of water formed around him and shot towards my clone. He took one to the knee, taking the leg off and fell forward.

I heard the figure mutter something.

The balls - his ammo - were smaller now and shrunk further when he sent slices of water once more at the clone, his eyes narrowed as my illusion only suffered superficial cuts. 

Before anything else could happen I used Examine Enemy.

Examine Enemy:

Weaknesses:

+Preperation period between magic

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

Strengths:

+Powerful magic

+Knowledge of the four elemental magics

Just as I thought. The different colors he wrote with were the different elemental magics. I continued to watch him. He was drawing again, looking around. White script, thin and circular writing like an endless cursive that connected the start and end of each sentence. The "sentence" was written in a circle too and the figure didn't even tilt his head or slow down when the words slanted and eventually flipped upside down. He drew lines surrounding the words in a swirl in a soft white creating a spiral around the script. In fact, I was hesitant to call it script it was more akin to something else - art. 

He pierced his creation with his hand and dispersed the writing with circular motion of his arm. Then I felt all the surrounding air get sucked in, packing itself densely at the point where the figure drew. Then the air was released in pulsing waves, sending pages flapping and pressing against me. I could see the hair on my arms flatten. More pulsing waves. My hair, I could see it. My heart mirrored the frantic pulsing of air as I glanced at the revealer.

Under the cowl piercing purple eyes stared me down.

Balls.

I ran backwards, diving through a bookshelf as it shattered behind me. 

What? I thought he needed to prepare his magic! What did Cobb say earlier? They need a complete mastery over the four elemental magics? Oh god he's not using spellcraft, he doesn't need to!

I split myself, imagining a clone seperate from myself in an attempt to make it seem like it had substance. I didn't slow down though. I kept splintering clones off of that one but they were destroyed. Lightining struck one of my clones and jumped across and between the rest, only few more drew the mage's fire. I was furthest but I still received a shock, enough to numb my arm but nothing more. I needed to think of something, quick. Nothing physical would actually help me here, I needed something metaphysical? Something not based in reality. How can I defeat him without the physical?

Something not based in reality....

That's when the earth started shaking and rubble started to move, vibrating dangerously. Then I remembered something.

 Oh. That could work. That could definitely work.

~FLASHBACK~

I stood against something moving in the dark, no I stood against the dark itself. It was a being formed from the fear of an idea. Inside the darkness I knew there was a gem to be broken, of black and swirling purple. Getting there was the hard part. My brothers were elsewhere on the battlefield needing me to pass the dark and eliminate the enemy commander within. 

"Too weak." A voice whispered, the darkness given substance swirled to caress my face. "Too weak."

My hand itched to extend the blades in my gauntlet yet I didn't so much as twitch. I walked forward with purpose. 

"Fool, what can a child do?" The dark taunted me. "Are you scared of the dark?" It hissed.

"The weakest challenges the black?" A twisted voice spoke into my ear. 

"Yes, the assassin. Weakest of the three. A joke." The other responded in the opposite ear.

The shadows let up if only to reveal what could be lurking. Dark masses moved, their sillouhette only just visible. Rolling flesh encircled me, inching near when my eyes would wander. I let my eyes wander and ignored its movement, it was a bluff after all. Eyes peered at me within the darkness, they watched my moves and hinted at a beast bigger than myself. Something darted out of the shadows but I did not flinch, if I turned I would find nothing there. I ignored the movement at my feet and kept my eyes forward. There were more sounds that one might deem scary but it was clear they were scared themselves - frantic even. 

"Please. We will serve you. Stop!" I had found the gem gently floating in the air. "Stop!"

"Reconsider! We will turn on Youva! She will not know what hinders her forces!" 

I took it in my palm.

"Release us!" They shrieked. "Ahhhh!"

"Too weak." And I crushed it in my hand.

~END~ 

I imagined those moments and charged them further with what I knew from the scariest gameworlds. Zombies? No. I'm sure Twoen had a lot of those. The dark had no hold on me the supernatural and impossible was the norm for me. For someone who hasn't travelled between worlds? I'm sure I could come up with something. 

I discharged all my mana and formed it into a swirling darkness that I fueled with unthinkable horrors. All the times I could remember a mage dying. The murders I witnessed, the most graphic. The horrors not only beast, but human as well. The disfigured and corrupt. Addicts who attacked anyone in the hopes they had some. People turned monster, the terrible abominations. Massive hunters, those who thrive in the night and enjoy messing with prey, the kind that are truly sickening. Parasites that embed themselves in the body, torture like none other. 

My face was unreadable.

I sent the roiling darkness towards the mage, spreading it out over a wide area. 

I staggered and unsteadily got my feet under me. 4% mana left. 40% health left. 50% stamina left. I was going to go unconscious from the mana loss, normally it's the stamina that gets me.

 Still, I knew that even if I passed out my stronger illusions will stay manifest. There were a few ways to create them, the easiest way is to create a set illusion and have it last until it runs out. You could however connect some illusions directly to your mind, it was a strange and unique facet of the magic according to Cobb. It didn't hurt, it was only mentally taxing as well as magically draining. It gave them more variability and predictability so I tended to link with my clones, so they would be more like me. That type of illusion suffered when the connection was cut though, sometimes they survive others times they don't. When I make an illusion, charge it with mana and send it forth, it's harder to predict its actions which can be pretty useful at times when you want mass confusion. When I want something more specific I link the illusion to myself, if the situation is constantly changing then I need that connection. However with the darkness I only set it to react to those inside, other than that nothing should affect it in a way that reveals its nature. That also means it dangerous to everyone else that enters in addition to the mage. My brothers would need to warn the animations, they'd know exactly what this is.

I just hoped they can find me before something happens to my unconscious body. The thoughts of my brothers make my eyes wander backwards in their direction.

As my vision fades and the last bit of consciousness is about to leave. I see a huge pillar of earth I know wasn't there before. There was a glint at the top of the pillar and only leaning on my enhanced vision could I make out what George was holding.

"No way." A bright smile broke through my mood and I passed out.