A/N: And here we have one great big duel. That's literally all this chapter is. Almost 2,000 words of just a duel. O_o (1,579, to be exact :P The rest is just the intro to le duel.)
So … guess what? I'm doing NaNoWriMo! :D (For those of you that don't know, that stands for National Novel Writing Month) It starts November 1rst, and from that point on, I will have to write 1,667 words or more every day … meaning that I probably won't have much time for fan fiction writing O_O For probably all of November, I'll be on fan fiction hiatus- although I will *try* to write a chapter or two, if I get the time. This will most likely be the last chapter I put up until then, unless I get a chance to write another one by this Thursday (it's possible, but don't hold me to it :P) Either way, I won't be leaving you guys with TOO much of a cliffhanger … obviously in this chapter, they will finish off the Trial of the Spheres, and chapter 26 will be the last chapter of Celestia. (FINALLY.)
Warning: You'll see. (It's nothing too horribly T-ish. ;3)
Replies to my lovely, patient reviewers' reviews:
BuBuWinter: You are very welcome :) They should definitely be read more (YEAH. YOU GUYS SHOULD ALL READ HER AWESOME STORIES! :3) Hahaha, I love Aislin so much. XD As with Mortis and Lionel, she was technically invented by L.E., but I did all the work on her lovely character :P (Which shall be expanded upon … or will it?)
It has been done; I just noticed that accidental cut-off after you reviewed :P
LexiLopezi: A-nope. That's part of the fun, though! :D
Lewascan2: HAAAAAAAAALLELUJA! xD We are now one world closer to AVALON! xD (If I get super crazy lucky, we might be at Avalon by April break- and that means lots of writing time :D)
scarletfireblaze: I am magical, that's how ;3 Not really; I honestly don't know O_o There's a lot of random, unintelligible notes and scribbles on the backs of homeworks involved, and quite a bit of late-night "OMIGOSH THAT'S THE BEST IDEA EVER!"-s.
:D Yay for constructive criticism! *Hugs* I don't think that idea is crazy at all, actually; I might not be able to do every single character, but I can at least do that for some of the less known ones, like Melody and Danielle. (Who?) My point exactly. :P I've considered writing a series of one-shots involving interactions just between two characters (maybe three, if I think the relationship between all three s important enough) and posting it on my new website or something … or maybe as a separate fic, if I feel like being lazy :p Thanks for the suggestion!
The chambers of Astraeus and Ptolemos had been rooms. Mithraya's sanctum was definitely not a room- the place didn't even look like it belonged in the realm of the living. I was standing on a large white platform. There was a long, narrow bridge that led to a second platform, and all of it- the bridges, the platforms- was suspended in midair. All around me, there was a spinning vortex in a thousand different shades of yellow, orange, gold and red. I would have said that it was just fancy wallpaper- but there was no way someone could make a wallpaper that looked like my surroundings. It felt like I was floating in the middle of a void, and there was absolutely no way out. The portal back to Ptolemos' chamber was no longer there; the other wizards simply appeared on the platform beside me.
"Looks like we're stuck here," Luke stated, folding his arms and looking around.
"My only question is this: Where the heck is Mithraya?" Destiny wondered, leaning over to see under the platform, as if the Sun Guardian was hiding underneath.
I am here … who challenges me? The air's temperature shifted- it suddenly felt much warmer as a figure materialized in front of us. Unlike her brothers, Mithraya's skin glowed a bright golden color. Pure flames curled off her head in the form of hair and flickered in her eye sockets. Her elegant robe was a deep, dark red with hints of gold and white, and she wore no armor. A pair of enormous, fiery wings protruded from her back, and she held a massive flaming sword in her right hand. Suddenly, the task at hand seemed monumental, and I was shaking as I stepped forwards.
"Alexandra Firesong," I stated as clearly as I was able.
I see… and who do you choose to fight by your side, Alexandra Firesong?
I glanced behind me at my friends. "Ashley, Luke, Sabrina. Will you guys come?" Sabrina raised an eyebrow.
"You want me? Why not Destiny? She's better at healing."
"I want you to come, Sabrina, because I think you can handle it. Now, if you're coming, then hurry up. Mortis can only hold off Morganthe for so long." I unsheathed my cutlass and started across the bridge. Mithraya tapped the ground with the point of her sword, summoning a dueling circle as my chosen team and I approached her.
I will not go easy on you, wizards, despite your natural weakness, Mithraya warned.
"And we don't intend to go easy on you, either," I replied, drawing seven cards.
So you think you will defeat me?
"Count on it." The duel began. Mithraya didn't have anyone fighting on her side- no one but herself. As the fight progressed, I began to realize why- the Sun Guardian was putting up a hell of a fight. I had a feeling that if she was up against Mortis Starblade on his own, there wouldn't be a way to tell who would win. The Promethean Necromancer and Mithraya would probably be evenly matched in a one-on-one duel. She had no qualms against cheating; an Earthquake, a Meteor Strike and a Storm Lord appeared one after another, and the Sun Guardian's expression never changed as Moira yelled profanities at her from the sidelines, accusing her of not fighting fairly and making the test too difficult.
"Shut up, Moira! This is hard enough as it is," I snapped at her. The other Necromancer settled for glaring at Mithraya while sulking. I used a treasure card to increase the damage done by my skeletal dragon; I had to use every tool at my disposal to beat this enemy, even though we outnumbered her four to one and I had three extremely powerful wizards fighting by my side.
"Alex, you're the strategist- is there any kind of plan?" Ashley called to me, playing a Tower Shield on herself.
"The plan is to win," I replied darkly, examining my hand of cards. "She cheats, so no strategy can outwit her. Just attack until you can't attack any more, I guess. Power up your spells if you have blades or traps, but be careful of her Earthquakes." The Sun Guardian seemed to have an endless supply of them; it must have been just one more way she could cheat her way through the duel. Cheating wouldn't give her a victory- not against me.
"Manny's ready," Ashley informed me, referring to her Wooly Mammoth card. I gave the Thaumaturge a thumbs up and searched for a Dark Pact. If we all cast blades on her the round she was going to cast her mammoth, Mithraya wouldn't have a chance to remove them.
"Alex, I can trap if you can blade." Luke held up a card for me to see. I could just barely make out the word inscribed on it: Feint. I flinched as Mithraya's Efreet brought its sword down on Ashley's head, but thankfully my friend survived the attack.
"Our turn," I muttered, drawing the Death symbol in front of me. I steeled myself for the sharp pain that came with the Dark Pact, and after a burst of eerie blue light, the blade appeared in front of Ashley. Luke's Feint latched on to Mithraya, and Sabrina, who didn't have any blades or traps for Ice, cast a powerful dryad to return Ashley's health to full.
"Come on, Manny. Don't fail me now," the Thaumaturge breathed as the blue Ice symbol snaked out of her wand tip. She smiled and exhaled with relief as a herd of mammoths charged across the dueling circle. The largest one paused in front of Mithraya, who raised an eyebrow skeptically. The Dark Pact and the Feint exploded, pouring additional energy into the tusks of the mammoth, and with a roar, it smashed into the Sun Guardian.
My skill in battle came from my patience; I wasn't afraid to wait ten rounds to cast an enormously powerful spell, while others would barely cast a single trap before playing their own spells. Mithraya was impatient (not that she had anything to worry about, since she obviously had nothing against cheating.) While her constant peppering of Meteor Strikes, Efreets, Stormzillas and Helephants was annoying, we stayed on top of things with shields, and Sabrina kept our health as close to full as she could.
There was a reason I had chosen the snobbish Theurgist instead of my best friend. Destiny was almost strictly a healer, and she had never been one for strategy. If someone was hit, she would heal them. Sabrina, however, fought like a Conjurer. She knew how to fight on her own against much more powerful enemies. Her strategizing easily matched my own; there wasn't a single spell that she cast on accident. Every card was played for a reason. After several rounds of meticulous planning, the Theurgist cast a healing boost and a Bartleby spell, and she almost immediately began considering her next move. I couldn't be certain until she was ready to cast it, but it looked like Sabrina was preparing for an Earthquake spell of her own.
We were well over an hour into the duel when I got my perfect hand of cards. If I hadn't been trying to disguise my intentions from Mithraya, I would have jumped for joy- I hadn't had such a good hand since I was a Grandmaster.
"Luke, do you have another Feint?" I asked my boyfriend.
"Yeah. Why?" I showed him my seven cards, and Luke raised an eyebrow. "Nice."
"What?" Ashley craned her neck in an attempt to see what I was showing Luke. "Want me to stun? I've got a few up." With a grin, she held up the card; for three rounds, Mithraya wouldn't be able to cast anything- no Earthquakes and no Myth Imps, which were the two dangerous spells.
"Yeah; do that now." I looked down at my seven cards once again. Deathblade, Dark Pact, Death trap, Spiritblade, a Dragonblade treasure card, Vengeance- and my Colossal-boosted Skeletal Dragon. I discarded the Deathblade and Dark Pact, both of which Luke could give me, and then the Death trap; I wouldn't have time to cast it safely, and it did the least good out of any spell I had the option of. I decided to cast the Spiritblade first.
Sabrina, after hearing what we were planning, began doing her best to help with the Dragon's success. She showed me a card- Guidance. The Life spell would boost my accuracy, so she saved it for the round before I was ready to play my card.
The three rounds passed in a second; everything seemed to move faster now that the end was in sight. Mithraya would have only a single round to attack before my Skeletal Dragon took effect, and I was worried that all of my blades and the traps placed on the Sun Guardian would be removed in that one round. All it took was a Myth Imp or an Earthquake to ruin four rounds' worth of preparation …
… and Mithraya wasted the turn. She cast a Tower shield- as if that would save her from a damage-over-time spell! I would have laughed out loud if accurate Necromancy didn't require complete focus. I closed my eyes. I breathed in, and I breathed out. My hand moved almost on its own, drawing the familiar symbol in the air. The black smoky light seeped out, forming the required symbol, and I touched the tip of my cutlass to the Skeletal Dragon card. Success.
The dragon roared at Mithraya, who barely flinched- although I thought I saw a hint of worry cross her face. The blades and traps activated, feeding energy into my dragon's strength. I knew that unless something went horribly wrong, this duel had been won- and I was pleasantly surprised when a flash of brilliant blue burst out of the card.
"A critical," Sabrina breathed.
"Impossible!" Mithraya stared at me in disbelief as the Skeletal Dragon reared, inhaled deeply, and blew a stream of plasma into her face. Even with the Tower shield, the first attack tore a full quarter of her health away. If the first attack did less than the other three, the Sun Guardian didn't stand a chance. It wouldn't even need to go to the final rotation to kill her.
We only cast shields and healing spells for the next round; Mithraya couldn't do much to us before we won. As I'd suspected, only a sliver of her health remained after the first rotation of the spell. Mithraya glared at me (which, by the way, is slightly terrifying when the glare-er has eyes made of fire) and began to weave a Sun symbol. I glanced at Luke, who shrugged. It didn't seem like there was a point in casting a Sun spell when she'd be defeated next round. What could she do?
The Sun Guardian appeared in the center of the dueling circle, facing Sabrina. I blinked in confusion, but my surprise quickly became worry as I saw the mass of pure energy forming over Mithraya's head.
"Holy- Alex, that thing isn't just a spell. That thing can kill someone, even in a dueling circle," Luke told me, eyes wide. It looked like Mithraya was aiming for Sabrina's knee, though… surely the Guardian couldn't kill her! Just as she threw the ball of energy, an unseen hand knocked her arm upwards, and she hissed in surprise as the electricity and sunlight hurtled straight towards Sabrina's head. There was no way she could dodge in time…
The energy exploded. The light was bright enough to blind me, but I forced myself to watch, to see what my decision had brought upon one of my (although I was reluctant to admit it at times) best friends. I felt tears forming in my eyes, and a ragged scream tore loose from my throat. The air around me was burning; I could smell the smoke, I could taste the ashes that were raining from the… ceiling, or sky, or whatever it was.
The final round of the duel must have occurred, since the circle vanished, but I barely noticed. I was too busy staring at the place where Sabrina stood, supporting her brother, who wasn't even able to stand on his own. It looked like he had somehow gotten in the way of Mithraya's spell and taken the full force of it instead of letting Sabrina die. I stared at her. Soot covered most of her torso, and there was a black streak running across her face. Slowly, I allowed my gaze to trail down from Sabrina's face to Adrian's. He seemed shocked, somehow- not that it was surprising, given the large hole in his chest. Sabrina was staring down at her twin with equal horror, disgust… and fear.
"A-Adrian?" she stuttered.
"Ow," he remarked, and then he went limp in Sabrina's arms. I later cursed myself for thinking something so horrible just seconds after Adrian's death, but there was only one thing running through my mind: I guess he had a heart after all.
A/N: 'Tis not my best death scene, but I'm not *too* unhappy with it...