Chapter 7

What's up guys? Eragon here with another chapter of Drakaina! First, I would like to thank everyone for their support of this story! Seriously, seeing people favorite, follow, and review this story never fails to make my day, it means a lot that people appreciate my writing.

Second, I would like to apologize for the long wait for this chapter. I went through several months of hell at my work, trying to manage 5 eight hour closing shifts from 6:30 pm to 3 am a week with my schooling, workouts, and other hobbies. Eventually, I decided to cut my hours, about a month ago, and I have had more free time recently, which is why this chapter is now out :P

So, enjoy this chapter, and let me know what you think!

"Talking"

'Thinking/Mental speech'

"Parseltongue"

Azalea frowned in thought as she and the others waited for Volanti to come back with his findings. She was fiddling with a length of crimson metal, that looked somewhat like a sword handle without a blade, except instead of a standard guard, there were four small spikes (2 inches each) extending from the four directional points of the guard (forward, backward, left, right), and the pommel was four strips of the metal gripping a flawless spherical ruby around the size of a chicken's egg.

The metal was a special material called blood metal, a specially forged metal that was crucial for some forms of blood magic, such as weapons, armour, and special blood metal tattoos that could be enhancers for some blood magic sets or activators of special magical abilities. The metal was extremely durable, slightly harder than diamonds.

The handle she was holding was actually hollow, with only a slightly thin layer of blood metal for the casing. It was filled with a mixture of her blood and liquid blood metal. There was a blood magic ritual that could be performed on liquid blood metal that would change the conditions necessary for it to harden, from when cool, to when the blood mage that performed the ritual infused their magic into the metal and willed it to harden.

Though rare, there are blood magic rituals that didn't enhance or change the mage's body or magic, and instead focused its effects on a specific object that was brought into the ritual and had special runes painted on it with the mage's blood. These rituals were rare because they had very limited uses, and were generally only good for very specific purposes.

The top of the handle had a panel that opened when magic was channeled through a rune carved into the middle, if she specifically concentrated on opening it. This would allow the blood and liquid blood metal inside to come out freely, for the ultimate purpose of the handle as a weapon.

Azalea had come up with the idea after she went over the list of all the blood magic rituals she had done so far, about a year ago. One of the rituals allowed her to control her blood flow, even when the blood she's controlling isn't inside her body. As long as she can sense the blood nearby, she can control it. This one had been part of a set that allowed the blood mage to filter out toxins and other unwanted materials from their blood through exit points of the body, those being the wrists, the ankles, or the neck.

Generally, the only time a blood mage should filter blood by way of the neck was when it was the closest exit point and it was necessary to do it quickly instead of spending the time to direct the blood flow to a different exit point. This is because it was more dangerous to use the neck as an exit point than the others.

Another one she had done and therefore knew how to do, was a piece that you could perform on liquid blood metal to bind it to her blood. This meant that the blood metal went where the blood went, and that the blood and blood metal shared their properties between them at all times. If a change happened in the blood, it would be reflected in the blood metal, and vice versa.

The final piece of the puzzle was a ritual that all blood mages needed to perform to do higher level sets. This ritual allowed a mage to infuse fire magic into their blood and set it on fire at will. This was a necessary action in some advanced blood magic rituals, particularly ones involved with and/or performing Necromancy.

The intensity of the fire depended on the mage's success with the ritual, the amount of magic they could channel wandlessly, and their affinity with fire magic. Azalea, with her Drakaina influenced fire affinity, could set her blood on fire at temperatures that approach the surface of the sun's temperature. This was about 3 times the heat level of fiendfyre, the strongest fire magic spell that could be performed with only wand magic.

Her normal fire magic varied in heat level depending on how much magic she used to form it, but the fire she normally used in combat only reached about half the heat level of fiendfyre, for multiple reasons. First, most of the time she doesn't really need her fire to get much hotter than that. Anything that it hit would most likely lose whatever part of it that the fire made contact with pretty quickly.

Second, shields that can block her fire were affected by how much magic was in the fire, not the temperature of it. Most of time, the amount of magic necessary to heat up her fire to up 4,500,000 degrees Fahrenheit (Half the heat level of fiendfyre), is enough to overpower 75% of the wand magic shields out there, and a lot of the ones that could block it were obscure, and mostly not known except by people obsessed with knowledge and/or with access to large, old libraries.

However good her regular fire is, it's nothing compared to the temperatures her blood could now reach when infused with fire. Normally, having hot, fiery, blood would be absolutely useless in combat, but Azalea refused to accept that. She had to find a way to weaponize it, her inner pyromaniac demanded it! After some trial and error, she found the perfect method of doing so.

That's where the handle comes in, of course. By combining those three rituals in this one object, she could now manipulate the mixture of blood and liquid blood metal into the forms of weapons.

Depending on the weapon she picked at any given moment, she could solidify the blood metal, which would transfer that property to her blood.

Then, she could set her blood on fire, and for example, have a blood/blood metal sword on fire, burning at 23,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Or she could make it a whip, and leave the blood metal in liquid form, using her control over her blood flow to maintain the whip's form and help direct it towards her target.

This was extremely effective for combat, but it was slightly negated by the fact that many more shields were capable of blocking it than her normal fire. This was because the amount of magic necessary to set her blood on fire was actually much less than the magic used to cast her normal fire, because of the way it was done.

Since she set her blood on fire using an ability she had gained through blood magic, specifically using a set greatly influenced by her affinity to fire and wandless magic ability, it was extremely cost effective magic-wise. It actually used more magic to cast an average blasting curse than it took to set her blood on fire and keep it that way for 5 minutes.

Unfortunately, this meant that since, generally, shields blocked based on how much magic was in an attack more than the properties of the attack, it was much easier to shield against than her more magic heavy fire attacks. This was slightly offset by the fact that she was delivering the attack via a physical method, making shields that only block magic much less effective.

Conjuring or transfiguring physical defenses wasn't that much better, since her weapon was made of a very hard metal, and was burning at a temperature that would quickly melt almost anything, allowing it to smash and melt through everything that most mages were capable of conjuring if they could conjure anything at all.

Transfigured defenses were a slightly better option, mostly because it cost less magic to transfigure something than it would to conjure the end result.

Only the very best transfiguration masters would be able to conjure/transfigure something effective at blocking her weapon, and even then they would have to spend much more magic conjuring the required materials, quickly turning the fight into a battle of speed and attrition. However, transfiguring things took slightly more time than conjuring due to the different process used. So, both transfiguration and conjuration had their own strengths and weaknesses compared to the other one.

Azalea was very proud of the way she had taken an ability widely regarded as just a stepping stone to better blood magic rituals and weaponized it with such effectiveness. Better yet, because of the very fact that it was unorthodox, it was that much better to use as an ace, having the advantage of surprise and anonymity.

Magical combat often required tactical thinking and strategy to win, even in one-on-one duels. In order to win, you must be able to block, avoid, deflect, etc…, most or all of the opponents spells and abilities, which required knowing or figuring out how to do so with the spells/abilities the opponent was using.

If your opponent used a spell that was designed to pass through physical objects, and you had been using transfiguration to create physical defenses, you were probably screwed. A good counter strategy for that spell is to transfigure your defense, and then move to the side, throwing off their aim as well. Or, instead of only using physical defenses, mix it up, trying to use the best defense possible in a case-by-case manner.

This also demonstrated that to win, you also need to figure out patterns that your opponent tended to fall into, and the weaknesses to those patterns. And, in order to use those weaknesses to win, you needed to be able to attack those weaknesses. For example, in the last example the winner won by using a spell that passed through physical objects. If they hadn't learned/designed that spell, they would have had to find another way to win, or it would have turned into a battle of attrition or a straight out loss.

This meant that her unique weaponized blood would be a great technique to use as an ace, especially because it used low amounts of magic.

Liam looked at the handle in her hand curiously, before asking what was going through his mind. "What is that for, Azalea?" Azalea looked up at him with a mysterious smile and replied "Oh, just something that might come in handy." Liam scoffed at the non-answer, but let the matter drop nonetheless.

As they waited for Volanti to get back from his scouting trip, they each settled down in various spots in the clearing, each with something to do.

Azalea had sat down in the shade of a nearby tree and pulled out the book on necromancy she had been reading. Liam had settled down with Nyx, dangling a bit of string for him to chase.

Isaac had decided to take a nap, pulling out some sunglasses to block out the light. Megan had pulled out a stuffed toy and started playing fetch with Rover. They whiled the time away, until finally Volanti returned about 20 minutes later, and wrapped himself around Azalea's shoulders. He promptly closed his eyes, ignoring them completely. Azalea rolled her eyes and hissed "Well? Did you find out anything about where we should head?"

Volanti lazily opened one eye and responded "There is a mountain pass about a mile away that seems like a good place for you wingless two-legs to cross. It is guarded by a pack of direwolves that have made a den near the beginning of the pass. They seem to have been magically altered by someone, for what purpose I am unsure, but be warned that they won't be as easy to take down as you might expect." Azalea thanked him for his efforts before reporting his findings to the others.

Liam frowned in thought as he thought about what Azalea's familiar had reported. Mundane direwolves may be extinct, but the magical variation was still around, albeit an endangered species. They were moderately dangerous, and highly territorial.

Getting past them shouldn't be too difficult between them, but they still should endeavor not to underestimate the wolves. He said as much to the others, and got understanding nods all around. Isaac then decided to lighten the mood. "As if some mangy mutts can take us on! We'll breeze past them and be the first ones to get to the Academy!" Liam gave his brother an exasperated look as the others laughed agreeably.

Megan spoke up, "So, what's the game plan guys?" Azalea hummed in thought for a moment, before looking at Liam and asking "So, you said that are really good at illusions, how many sense can you manage to fool at once?"

Liam hesitated slightly, before stating "I can reliably manage two at once, three in a pinch, although they wouldn't be as good."

Azalea nodded, turning to Isaac and asking "You said you are good at stealth spells, know any scent erasing ones?" Isaac grinned smugly and exclaimed "Of course I do! I know a spell that should cover our scents with the scents of the surrounding area, camouflaging us that way."

Azalea smiled and declared "Ok, I've got a plan! Liam will cast an illusion on the wolves based on scent, sight, and hearing. They will think that a deer runs past them, hopefully getting them to chase it. Isaac will disillusion us, camouflage our scents, and silence us, and we will sneak past their territory."

The others exchanged looks, before Isaac grumbled "I was hoping to fight the wolves, not sneak past them." Azalea smirked and said "There's still a chance that the illusion doesn't fool them and they attack us anyway. Besides, this challenge is supposed to test more than just our combat skills. It is also designed to test our ingenuity, magical skill and knowledge, our improvisation skills, and various other things that they want us to be at the very least competent in."

Liam nodded in agreement, giving his brother a stern look. "She's right, we aren't supposed to just brute force our way past every obstacle. We have to show finesse as well." Isaac groaned, but gave in, making Megan giggle at him. "I'm sure we'll have to fight something eventually Isaac." She consoled him.

He grunted, but gave her a small smile. Azalea clapped her hands once decisively, exclaiming "Good! Glad that's settled. Let's get on with it then, shall we?" The others gathered their resolve and nodded firmly. The first obstacle was about to get smashed!

Azalea directed her mind outwards around them as they approached the territory of the wolves, hoping to sense them before they got detected. The others were following shortly behind her, trying to walk as lightly as possible, trying not to give themselves away to the wolves. Isaac was easily the most silent, Megan not much louder, whereas Liam and Azalea were noisy in comparison.

Still quieter than the average person walking through the woods, but not stealth/tracking specialists. Finally, she felt the press of a pack of magical predator's against her mind, and signaled them to a halt. She had never felt the mental signature of a direwolf before, but she had felt plenty of predators, and the difference between the minds of mundane and magical species was like the difference between night and day. She was reasonably sure these were they direwolves they were trying to outwit.

She directed her mind towards the vampires behind them, pressing against their minds, but not invading. In a sense, this was similar to knocking on a door, it let them know she was there and wanted to make contact, without being rude and coming in uninvited. Liam reacted first, his mind spreading out beyond his mental barriers to meet her, Isaac shortly behind. 'It is time' She sent to both of them, receiving a sense of agreement in response.

Mental speech, or as it is more commonly known as, telepathy, was a lot more complicated than most people thought. It wasn't as simple as talking without speaking, or reading someone's mind. The mind was a complicated, intricate system, it could not simply be read like a book. Instead, minds that were in contact sent and received feelings and impressions, directing them in ways to get across a concept.

For example, if someone wanted a hamburger, they would send the feeling of hunger, with an accompanying image of a hamburger. If they wanted to express that they were not an enemy, they could send feelings of warmth and affection, with an image of two people sitting on a couch next to each other.

This was the way everyone started with the mental arts, but more advanced mind mages could send and interpret much more complex communications. They could share memories by recreating the feelings and images they experienced in the memory, and sending it in a bundle of thought. Similarly, they could receive bundles of thought, and unravel them to interpret the message or memory.

Really advanced mind mages could delve into the minds of other people and insert bundles of thought to manipulate them. Things such as a fake memory of their boyfriend/girlfriend cheating on them to break up their relationship, fake memories of their friends plotting to betray them, all kinds of thing were possible with this technique. Master mind mages were infamous for being able to rewrite entire personalities this way, as seen in the famous Frank incident.

In this incident, a bored Ancient, who had become a Master mind mage over her life, decided to experiment with this concept. She began to kidnap random male mages, and experiment with rewriting their personalities, to make them her willing slaves.

She named them all Frank, and when one died, she would go kidnap another male mage, and do it all over again. Her most famous achievement was when she entirely rewrote the personality of a 48 year old male mage that was licensed as a mind healer, inserting only 7 bundles of thought into his mind. When she was killed by a rival vampire, he immediately killed himself for failing to protect her, even though he had been locked his cell at the time. That was how completely she had enthralled him.

This reputation was why mind mages were universally feared, only other mind mages and creatures with innate mental protection immune to this fear.

Isaac pulled out his wand, casting a series of spells on the group, disillusioning them, camouflaging their scent, silencing their footsteps and breathing, temporarily erasing their heat signature, and adding an attention aversion ward to be safe. Liam brought his expertise into play next, weaving an intricate illusion of a deer that ensnared sight, scent, and hearing, casting it on the clearing the wolves were resting in.

The illusion deer pranced past the wolves, instantly gaining their full attention, as they darted after it determined to have a good dinner that night. The group waited a moment, and then began sneaking past the clearing, hoping the illusion lasted long enough.

Thankfully, it lasted, as they emerged in another clearing a few miles further up the mountain. Isaac dispelled his stealth spells, and Azalea and the vampires laughed as Megan slumped against a tree, out of breath.

She glared at them half-heartedly, muttering about super-human creatures under her breath, only succeeding in making them laugh harder. Azalea smile happily exclaiming "Hah! My plan worked! Take that, you stupid wolves!" Liam rolled his eyes at her, while Isaac pouted, crossing his arms and complaining "I was hoping it would fail so we could fight them."

Azalea smirked smugly, "My plans never fail!" She declared, with her nose exaggeratedly high in the air, and a mock condescending expression on her face. Isaac startled into laughter, while Liam scoffed and disdained "One plan succeeding out of a total of one plan tried is hardly indicative of your brains, bigshot."

Azalea sneered playfully and countered "More of my plans have worked than your plans." Liam mock scowled and exclaimed "I haven't made any plans!" Azalea smirked in victory and declared "Exactly."

Isaac busted up laughing at this, while Megan giggled as best she could while gasping for breath. "She's got you there, brother!" Isaac jeered. "Shut up, Isaac." Liam deadpanned, glaring at Azalea half-heartedly.

Night was beginning to set in, so they began setting up their camp, bantering playfully the entire time, filling the clearing with the sounds of their merriment. They settled into bed late eagerly, anticipation of the remaining obstacle filling their minds.

They remained ignorant of the glowing red eyes, prowling a few dozen feet from their camp. The direwolves were not quite vanquished, and they were angry at these intruders of their territory. So, they waited patiently for their prey to fall asleep, watching all the while with hungry gazes. For they were the Pack, and their prey never escaped.

Never.

So, what did you think? I know people have been asking for longer chapters, and I do plan to deliver those. However, since it has been so long since an upload, I decided to release this one a little shorter than planned, so you guys know I'm not dead XD Hope you enjoyed!