EDIT: Chapter 3 revision :D This is really just a redo with nothing new xD. Hopefully the overall chapter is better and more detailed. I added a fight scene and I want to know if I did a decent enough job depicting it and making it more realistic (that is, if such a word could be applied to things often associated with illusion and conjuring up imaginary creatures xP) It's definitely longer now that I have a lot I can work with XD Enjoy! Oh, and Firestorm, I hope you like the ending ;P
Chapter Three: Storm Telling
Cloud was a fast and loyal gryphon, getting me anywhere faster than it normally would've taken, but he was young and playful. Every so often I would have to pull at his reins to get him to focus on the road ahead. Lord Shadow was curled comfortably in the crook between his shoulders, keeping a watchful gaze on his surroundings.
"So who is this former Ravenwood student?" I asked Rosie, tugging at Clouds reins for what felt like the fifteenth time that day. My redheaded friend reached into a pocket Mellow's saddle, briefly letting go of the Unicorn's reins. The stallion neighed and slowed down slightly to make sure her owner didn't fall off.
"I can't pronounce the name..." She confessed reluctantly, frowning as she stared at the piece of parchment. Mellow snorted in amusement. While the white and red unicorn wasn't able to speak, making her unique in a way compared to other Unicorns, she was still a very smart stallion. Rosie rolled her eyes and batted her gently on the nose. Mellow snorted once again and trotted off at a higher pace, causing Cloud to lift off from the ground slightly and fly to catch up to her. Rosie tossed me the scroll. I immediately knew what she meant when she said she couldn't pronounce it. The hardly legible writing didn't help matters either.
"Bedoier..?" I frowned. The way it was spelled made it seem like it came from some ancient language, but I couldn't tell which. "Says he's a former student of the Death and Storm schools. He left Ravenwood after he believed they didn't provide him with sufficient teachings. He supposedly has a high resistance to both."
"Which means we gotta bring out the secondary decks?" Rosie's eyes glistened apprehensively as I nodded my head. While I was perfectly capable with handling Sorcery, Rosie relied heavily on her powerful Storm attacks and her Theurgy could still use some work, not to mention how little damage the attacks actually did.
"Go ahead and keep a few Storm Lords in. High resistance or not, he'll probably just have a life shield or too, meaning life'll be equally useless." Rosie nodded as she pulled out her deck, already setting the spells up even though it was still a good day or two away from battle.
"Why don't you fight in the Arena?" She asked she she flipped through her deck. "You'd be really good."
"I don't know...never really crossed my mind." I shrugged and stroked Cloud's feathery head as he looked back curiously. "I just don't have any real want to fight there."
"So why are you still rank sixty when we started at the same time?" Again I shrugged.
"I'm a full year and a half younger than you Rosie. I just think it's a bit unfair to be a high ranker whilst being so young." That much was true. If it weren't for Malistaire's insistence for me to start as soon as possible, I would've started at the age of eleven instead of nine. I intentionally took my time with my studies simply because it was odd to be surrounded by kids older than me. If Rosie hadn't had her birthday the week before school started, she would've been forced to wait until the middle of the school year; I was relieved she managed to convince Mr. Lincoln to let her join.
"It's unfair that you're one of the strongest Necromancers around and you won't go to Ambrose and ask for a rank-change." My friend glanced at me through the corner of her eye as she placed her deck back. "People are always fooled when you say sixty when you should be sixty five, maybe even higher."
I didn't respond. Instead I looked up to see the sun slip behind a dark grey cloud, the light suddenly darkening as we continued down the beaten path. A cold wind blew from the west.
"I think a storm's coming."
Rosie frowned, doubt clear in her gaze, but she didn't question me. Instead she turned Mellow to begin going off-road in search for better protected shelter. A sudden screech for help caused us both to flinch and we pulled at our reins to stop our mounts from going deeper into the undergrowth. The scream sounded terrifyingly familiar... I glanced back and let out a sharp gasp as I saw Kiley and Cori engaged in a duel, a Cyclops spell smashing down on Cori's magical barrier, creating several large cracks on its surface. Immediately I jumped off of Cloud and stormed into the next available duel mark. In the back of my mind I felt relief; the pig they were dueling had enough honor to duel fairly.
I drew my cards and glared at them. The only ones that would be classified as useful were Sacrifice and Death Blade. I quickly glanced at Cori. Her barrier was nearly down and her eyes were heavy with exhaustion; her mana was quickly depleting. She would be out of the battle soon. Waiting until Kiley had effectively cast a life blade, I placed Sacrifice in front of me and drew my cutlass, drawing the Necromancy insignia. A sharp, burning pain surged through my entire body, making my head ring momentarily, but I ignored it. Instead I focused my gaze on Cori. My black-haired friend let out a short gasp as she was revitalized, a fiery light returning in her mint green eyes as her exhaustion was suddenly swept away. Her barrier lit up in a white light for a brief moment as it restored itself. A few cracks were still there, but there were no openings.
Now assured that Cori was out of danger - and well away from collapsing due to exhaustion - I told the girls to flee. They immediately leaped back and broke through the barrier, emerging on the other side of the duel-circle and running over to Rosie, who rested her hands on their shoulders. I switched to the first position of the duel-circle, cutlass in my hand and spell cards positioned and ready for immediate use. The pig they were facing was clad in leather armor and had a battleaxe slung across his back. The scar over his right eye indicated he knew how to fight with weaponry, but he was no adept wizard. The cracks in his barrier proved it.
The card that replaced Sacrifice was a mere Pixie, and growling I discarded the leaf-green spell and instead used the Death Blade. A small puff of pitch black mist formed over my head as the charm began to materialize, spinning slowly around my head as it waited for use, and my turn ended. The pig gave me a wicked and evil smile, shifting his battleaxe into his hand and drawing a Conjuration spell. Murky waters suddenly rose from the ground in the battle field, and with it a large, fat, slimy green frog. Humungofrog - easily any wizards least favorite spell - suddenly spewed up its insides, the revolting chunks of food and murky swamp water splashing heavily against my barrier, briefly blocking my vision. I forced myself not to gag at the disgusting stench.
The next round I actually got a decent attack. Vampire was far from the best, but it'd suffice. I watched as a coffin materialized from the mist and swung open, an ear-piercing screech in the air as the half-bat half-human monstrosity flew out, eyes filled with hunger as he stared at the pig. My Death Blade snapped away from me and the vampire's pupils dilated as power surged through his small, hybrid body. Screeching he burst forward, his wings batting roughly at the barrier as his fangs penetrated it. The magical force field shattered and the pig collapsed, falling to his knees and gasping for breath. I withdrew my vampire as the duel circle faded slowly away.
I kept my cutlass in hand as I put my spell deck away. The pig might've been honorable enough to form a duel-circle, but there was no telling how far that honor went with this aggressive creature. The pig snorted and clutched his battleaxe tightly as he stood, a wild light entering his amber eyes. Without warning he charged toward me, a wordless battle cry escaping his snout as he lifted his axe high above him. I nimbly sidestepped just in time as his large weapon swung at me, cutting off a few strands of hair as I twirled around to meet him. Clumsily he lunged forward again, and I crouched down to avoid his swing before thrusting my cutlass into his ribcage, feeling the end of the blade penetrate his heart. I felt the Necromatic powers of the blade grow, begging for more blood, more death, but I ignored it, kicking his corpse off my cutlass. He collapsed into a lifeless bundle on the ground, eyes glazed over as he stared never-ending at the sky. He wasn't as skilled with battle as I had originally thought.
While his axe looked tempting enough to take, I simply ignored my fallen enemy and approached my friends at the street side, wiping the blood off my cutlass with a rag. Kiley and Cori were watching with horrified stares, and I grimaced. I wanted them to be older before they had to witness something like that, but I shook the feeling of guilt away. They had to learn at some point.
"This is why I wanted you to study!" I snarled as I sheathed my weapon. "This," I pointed to the body of the dead warrior. "Is the life of a wizard! If you had lost the bout, that's what you would've become. Your lucky that pig had enough sense and honor to duel it out fairly!"
Kiley was looking at the ground, a terrified realization in those watery blue eyes, but Cori was her same old self. While she certainly looked frightened enough, there was the same old defiance about her.
"The fodders back at Triton didn't do that to us!" She retorted hotly. Rosie glared at her and grabbed her arm.
"That's probably because Duncan formed the duel-circle before their lifeless carcasses could swing their shovel at you!" She spat. I opened my mouth to add more to the scolding, but was cut off by Lord Shadow's growl. I turned to follow his gaze, pulling out my cutlass as I saw a bush begin to wriggle, carefully beginning to creep forward. Cori, losing all sense of the former defiance, huddled behind Cloud and Mellow with Kiley, eyes wide as Rosie drew her own very large, very sharp Bristleback Blade.
I raised my blade as two jumbled forms fell out from behind the bush, but stopped mid-swing, staring wide-eyed at the blue and yellow mass as two little girls untangled themselves from each other. I heard Rosie's loud, exaggerated, and incredibly annoyed sigh. Stephanie and Serena looked up in a mixture of embarrassment and defiance.
I frowned and sheathed my sword again. The two girls were still in their Novice clothes, meaning they only took one or two classes before coming here. I couldn't say I was happy to see them alive.
"What are you two doing here?" Rosie spat as she returned her blade to it's scabbard on her back. I could tell she was about to pull her hair out at how many annoying "obstacles" got in our way. Stephanie sniffed and flipped her short, flimsy hair.
"Following those two misbehaving brats."
"You do realize following them just makes you even worse?" Rosie's eyes glistened dangerously. I leaned back against Cloud and let her deal with them. She had enough pent up anger to let out, and these girls were the perfect opportunity to do just that.
"How's that?" Stephanie spat, not flinching away from her steely gaze. Serena took a few steps back though, keeping her eyes locked to the ground. I cocked my head as I examined her timid behavior. A quiet girl that one.
"You're, what, two classes in without any experience? You're lucky something hasn't picked you off yet! At least those two have experience, but you, you're fresh. Your like two babies who just left their mother's side. You wanna try fighting off battle hardened blood-thirsty warriors?"
Stephanie opened her mouth to respond, but Rosie had already turned her back on her, coming over to Mellow and adjusting her saddle. "All of you are gonna pick a mount, two people each, and your going to follow us whether you like it or not. Get it? Got it? Good." All four glanced at each other before making the pick. Kiley and Cori quickly hopped onto Cloud, holding tightly onto his saddle as he lifted off gently to test the weight. Stephanie and Serena, with the help of an annoyed Rosie, hoisted themselves up onto Mellow, who grunted in submission. The feisty horse looked as if she liked the girls just as much as her rider.
"Storm's coming," I informed my new companions as I walked beside Rosie in the lead. Kiley and Cori gave no protests as they hugged themselves. Stephanie shared a doubtful glance with Serena before responding.
"I don't think there's going to be a storm." She sniffed haughtily. I glanced back at her.
"Do you know who I am?"
"No, why should I know about some snot nosed contact-wearing nub?"
"Because it's all part of the Lightning Gaze legend."
After properly schooling the younger students about the Lightning Gaze storm and constant bickering between Cori and Stephanie, we finally found our way to a cave just off the road. The mounts and kids stormed in quickly as the first drops of water fell from the sky, muttering and snorting as they shook off what little rain had managed to trickle onto them. Rosie and I fell back, scanning the surrounding areas for any possible trouble. Seeing none, we followed them into the cave. I made my way over to Cloud and undid his saddle, laying it on the far side of the wall. He rumbled in relief and immediately laid down beside it, falling fast asleep. The poor guy was exhausted after carrying the combined weight of Kiley and Cori, neither of which especially light.
Rosie's mount was no better. While the horse was fast and stealthy, Mellow wasn't the strongest steed in the Spiral, and when Rosie took her saddle off she slumped down beside Cloud and dozed off. Rosie smirked and settled down beside me.
"What are the chances of a Unicorn-Gryphon hybrid?" She asked with a smirk. I snorted and shook my head.
"Not even possible. They're two completely different species." Rosie rolled her eyes and muttered a "you're no fun" before reaching over to her bag and grabbing a bottle of water. As she did so, Lord Shadow came over and settled into my lap.
"I miss my pillow already." He muttered as he buried his head into my leg. I smiled and ran a hand down his smooth scales, examining the tiny, almost unnoticeable specks of gold that dotted his body. Rosie glanced over as she gulped down her water.
"How'd you guys meet anyways? I never heard the story." I smiled as I thought back at the memory.
"It was back when I was and Adept. My cousin and I were just informed by Boris about the Kraken, and after a bit of arguing we decided to go down and stop him. Back then, the Kraken wasn't just the neighborhood bully, but a real threat. We engaged him in a duel, but he didn't like to play fair then, and before either of us could form a duel-circle, he charged at me. I tied to dodge but his tail had caught me and I was flung into the water. It was Lord Shadow who dived in first and dragged me close enough to the top for my cousin to grab me and pull me out. He formed the duel-circle before the Kraken could swipe at us again and cast a Dragonblade spell for me. After a few boosted spells the Kraken collapsed and fled back into the waters. When I turned to look at Lord Shadow, we smiled at each other, and we knew we'd make a perfect team."
"Perfect's hardly the word I would choose." Lord Shadow muttered, but feeling his throat rumble against my leg, I knew he was content with my telling of the story. Rosie had a soft smile on her face.
"Didn't you and your cousin discover some threat to the Spiral after defeating the Kraken?" I smirked and leaned back against the cave wall, closing my eyes and continuing to stroke Lord Shadow.
"Rosie...that's a story for another time."
