Chapter 3: A Clash of Magic
Khadgar
The first warning sign came from the first line security measures he'd casted at the entrance of Karazhan. It was a simple spell: whenever someone entered the tower, an arcane flux of energy would travel from the tower to Khadgar, thus informing him of the intruder. At first, he didn't give it too much importance; many adventurers going through Deadwind Pass would enter the tower out of curiosity, just to escape at the presence of the spirits roaming the halls.
The second line warnings went a little beyond that: if a spell of any sort was casted inside the tower, the arcane flux sent towards the archmage would be altered to match that of the thrown spell's magic school. Given the fact that the ghostly habitants of Karazhan who did use magic could only cast arcane spells, any other kind of flux would warn Khadgar of the possible nature of the intruder.
The archmage was on Stormwind, capital city of the Alliance, when he received the warning. He had visited the human city under the request of King Varian Wrynn; he'd asked him to help the Stormwind Military with the training of its battlemages. Even though Khadgar had never been very fond of armies, he'd accepted the request for the sake of good relationships.
After he'd spent much of his time in the draenei city of Shattrah during the campaign in Outland, Khadgar decided to spend some of his time now in Azeroth. Though the Kirin Tor were out in Northrend, helping on the war against the Lich King atop the now floating city of Dalaran, Khadgar had decided to stay on the main continent, wary of any possible attack or incursion made by the Burning Legion. Thus, he spent most of his time wandering around the Eastern Kingdoms; going to Stormwind or Ironforge, sometimes to Darnassus or even the Exodar. Of course, he would revisit every once in a while, his master and friend's old home, Karazhan.
Khadgar had very good memories of the time he spent as the apprentice of the late Guardian of Tirisfal, Medivh. Even though he was constantly fighting against the corrupting essence of the fallen Titan Sargeras kept within him, Medivh always did the best he could to enlighten his apprentice in the arts of magic. Thus, the archmage of the Kirin Tor felt the least he could do was take care if his friend's home, which he'd accepted as a second home of his own. After so many years inside the tower, Khadgar had even learnt to live with (most of) the spirits around. He knew every room, every hall, every doorway...
Thus, when he received a second magic flux which resembled the essence of a shadow spell, Khadgar started getting worried. Maybe a warlock had decided to see the mysteries of Karazhan with his own eyes? He couldn't take the risk. With the trademark morphing spell he had grown so used to, his body began shifting into a smaller, less human form. Where once was skin, now there were feathers. Where once stood a couple of arms, there were now wings.
He quickly flapped his wings and started his flight towards Karazhan, leaving behind the training grounds of the Stormwind Military. There was no time to explain the rookies; he could personally speak to Varian later. So far, there had only been two fluxes, so his concern was not that great. He didn't even feel the need to teleport; the flight from Stormwind to Karazhan wouldn't last longer than a couple hours, maybe one if he hurried up. As he left the city and the green woods of Elwynn Forest appeared below him, it struck: the third flux.
This last flux came from the last line of security measures casted by Khadgar, and it was one he had yet to feel. After the invasion of the tower by the eredar Prince Malcheezar, Khadgar decided to cast a complex magic analysis spell around Karazhan. This spell recorded the magic essence of any intruders, both the power and the nature of the spells, and the arcane alteration produced by the intruder's presence. If the recordings crossed a certain "danger level", a flux resembling the user's magic would be sent to Khadgar.
When he received the third flux, which resembled the darkest of shadow magics, he realized that the intruder was no simple adventurer. Now focused on reaching the tower as soon as possible, he started descending on his flight, shapeshifting back into a human as he landed. Night had already arrived at the Eastern Kingdoms, and Khadgar could see some storm clouds heading towards the east.
There was no time to admire the environment. Khadgar flexed his arm, reaching for the great pole staff in his back. It had quite a simple design, mostly made of wood, with some feathers crowning one the pole's extremes where a carved eagle laid rest. Focusing arcane energy through the body of his legendary staff Atiesh, it began to glow as a purple portal appeared in front of the mage. Through it, a blurry image resembling the halls of Karazhan could be seen. He quickly stepped in.
As he arrived at the familiar halls of Karazhan, he hid his magic presence to prevent being felt. Every being capable of using magic possessed an aura which varied depending on the caster's mana pool, schools he mastered and, most importantly, their personality and emotions. Khadgar's magic presence was especially powerful given his career as an archmage. He proceeded by casting Invisibility on himself.
After making sure he would go unseen, he started searching for the presence inside the tower. He could easily notice a powerful, sinister aura coming from the library. He quickly started making his way there. Since he had lived for so many years inside the tower, he could get from one place to another with great ease, whereas intruders would easily get lost. As he continued through, he noticed the absence of spirits and ghosts. He had never seen them leave before; could the presence really be able to cause this?
As he approached the library, the presence grew stronger and stronger. Khadgar could count with a hand the number of times he'd felt such amount of power. Even though he was a master in most schools of combat magic, and years of experience had made him one of the best battlemages in the world, he started questioning his ability to face something this terrible. In a matter of minutes, Khadgar arrived at the library, and all of his questions were explained.
In the middle of the lower level of the library stood an armored figure, its dark plates shining with the moonlight coming from the broken ceiling. A pointed helmet covered its face, and a strange, glowing runeblade hanged by his side. Khadgar easily recognized the being in front of him; he'd many times listened the tale of the human prince of Lordaeron who betrayed his people.
But what could he be doing here? He was supposedly waging a war in the north against the united forces of the living. What could've brought him to Karazhan out of all places? Many people had tried to uncover the secrets of the tower and use them to increase their personal power, but someone as powerful as the Lich King could not be here just for that… or could he?
Whatever he was doing, it could be no good. He had to drive him out of the tower, or at least out of the library. Besides, he wanted to at least get him out of the library: battling here would undoubtly damage the many books inside. Finally deciding to act, he sacrificed the element of surprise for a chance to end this without a fight. He loudly asked, "Well then… perhaps you'd like to tell me what you're doing in my master's home, stranger?"
The Lich King
Arthas didn't expect this at all. In front of him, an old man stood defiant. He wore blue and brown leather robes, which contrasted with the short, white hair on his head. On his back rested a wooden staff with a carved eagle on it; he concluded he was in front of a mage. Arthas could see the years of training and experience the human in front of him possesed… Could the presence he'd felt a bit ago belong to him?
"My presence in this tower is none of your business, mage. Be gone." Arthas' voice echoed through the big halls of the library, reaching Khadgar's ears.
"Sorry to interrupt, but it is, indeed, my business. You'll see, this tower belonged to my late master and friend. Thus, I'm ensuring it stays safe from the likes of you." Khadgar's voice stood strong against the Lich King; he would not fear him. "I'll ask you again… What are you doing here, Lich King? Or perhaps you'd prefer your birth name, Arthas?"
Arthas kept staring the mage. He sensed this would end in a battle. "So… am I then in front of the new Guardian of Tirisfal, I suppose?"
"Sorry to disappoint," Khadgar responded, "but I am no Guardian. My name's Khadgar, Archmage of the Kirin Tor, apprentice of Medivh and Keeper of this tower. I will have to ask you to leave this place, Arthas, or I will make you do so."
"Hahahahaha…," Arthas' laugh resonated through the library, "You'll make me do so, archmage?" Arthas unsheathed his blade, Frostmourne, which lusted for the soul of the mage in front of it. "Do not try to stop me… or better yet, DO try to stop me." He pointed the blade towards the mage. "I will gladly welcome you into the ranks of the Scourge."
Khadgar's battle instincts quickly kicked in, as he felt in his guts what would happen next. He released a stream of arcane energy from his palms as he turned around; in a fraction of a second, a purple barrier surrounded the mage, just as black lightning emerged from the tip of the Lich King's blade and clashed towards the barrier.
Arthas could feel the attack trying to break the semi-sphere, sparks surging from the contact between arcane and shadow magic. The lightning, which continued erupting from his sword, started reflecting over the barrier, almost reaching the books. He was obliged to cut the energy flow to avoid damaging them; his smoke orbs where, after all, still doing their task. He wondered if the mage had already sensed them. He would have to keep him busy.
From inside the barrier, Khadgar shouted, "What happened, Arthas? Disappointed after your first attack?" He dispelled the magic barrier, focusing arcane magic in his hands as it dissipated. "Perhaps we should find a better place to settle this, don't you think?" Khadgar transferred all of the energy into his right palm and placed it on the floor.
Just like the spell Arthas had used before, a pattern-engraved rune appeared on the floor, only this time, it was composed of violet light instead of black smoke. This time though, the circular rune quickly expanded itself; Arthas had no time to react before both he and the mage were inside the rune. He tried running towards his opponent but stopped in his tracks just as the magic poured into the teleportation spell became stronger, and the light, brighter.
A storm had arrived at Deadwind Pass, just as the clouds he had seen in Elwynn Forest announced. Black clouds hovered just above the tower, rain falling in great amounts into the roof of the tower. Still destroyed after the battle between a group of adventurers and Prince Malcheezar years ago, great pieces of debris stood scattered over the ceiling. The wind and the rain crashed strongly against the tower, giving the area an almost apocalyptic look.
Khadgar realized that fighting the Lich King inside the tower could be extremely dangerous: not only did he prefer fighting in an open place, but he also didn't want to damage the library of his former master. He'd spent a bit more mana to accelerate the teleportation process, ensuring that Arthas would have no time to react. He knew exactly the place to take the battle to.
After a flash of violet light, both fighters appeared at the only still standing part of Karazhan's roof, where they were welcomed by the incoming rain and the sound of a thunder falling nearby. He could see the raindrops sliding down the Lich King's armor, just like he felt his leather robes soak under the water. He turned towards his adversary, "I think this is a better place for the matter at hand." He took a battle stance, and heat started producing above his palms. After half a second, two fireballs appeared in his hands. "Well then, should we get started?"
The Lich King took a battle stance himself and answered the archmage's question. "Do you really think you have a chance, archmage? Come then. Frostmourne hungers…"
Khadgar threw both fireballs towards Arthas, who merely blocked them with his left gauntlet; the fire dissipated just as quickly as it had appeared at the contact with the plates. He knew he was at a disadvantage in a ranged combat, but he only needed to win enough time for his orbs to gather the books. Not that he feared the archmage; the Armor of the Damned covering Arthas' body gave him extreme protection against most forms of damage, and he had great confidence in his own power and skills.
As he blocked the archmage's first attack, the Lich King channeled frost magic through his blade, directing towards the mage's feet. Khadgar barely noticed when he was stuck to the floor by a chunk of ice. With him unable to move, Arthas started running towards Khadgar, ready to stab the mage with his runeblade.
But Khadgar was no wimp himself. Focusing his sight on a point behind Arthas, he waited for his opponent to get a bit closer; even with that armor of his, the Lich King was pretty fast. Before Arthas had the chance to strike Frostmourne through him, Khadgar blinked behind the dark prince, and started gathering arcane energy in his palms as he turned around. Shaping the energy into an attack, he casted the arcane blast towards Arthas.
He wasn't able to dodge it. Even though the damage he received was minuscule, the force of the impact pushed him back. He quickly regained his balance though, his eyes focused on the mage. He was good, very good. This would be no easy fight.
"Come on, Arthas! I thought you could do better than that!" Khadgar had never been one to mock his enemies, but if Arthas remained as prideful as the stories told, he could maybe break his focus with enough taunting. He wasn't sure how he would win this battle, but for now, all he could do was hold on. He prepared another attack, fire erupting from his hands.
"I'll show you better, archmage!" Arthas focused necrotic energy around him, shaping it into a barrier with his mind. Just as Khadgar released his fireballs, the energy shield emerged, surrounding Arthas. The fireballs dissipated at the contact with the green barrier, barely leaving a scratch. If he couldn't reach the archmage, then he would bring the archmage to him.
He stretched his left hand towards the mage, streams of unholy energy protruding from it. Khadgar wasn't fast enough, and the dark energy wrapped around his limbs and torso. In a split second, he started being pulled towards the Lich King, who had Frostmourne ready to impale his victim.
He barely managed to blink behind Arthas before the blade reaching him, but Arthas anticipated his tactic; with his free hand, he delivered a sideways punch towards the mage, his fist crashing on the side of his head and sending him back. Khadgar landed a couple of meters away, dazed by the strength of the attack. For a split second, all he could feel was the pain and the rain falling on his face.
Regaining his feet and turning back to Arthas, he saw the death knight ready to repeat his tactic; this time though, he was prepared. Just as Arthas casted his Death Grip once again, Khadgar summoned a mirror image in front of him; an arcane clone of his body. As the unholy energy wrapped around his summon, Khadgar started gathering a great amount of fire energy into both of his hands; if fireballs were not effective, maybe this would do the trick.
Arthas angered at the image of his spell trapping a copy of the mage instead of the real one. As it was pulled over, he prepared his blade and, once the image had reached him, impaled it with his weapon. The arcane copy merely puffed into a violet cloud, which quickly dissipated under the rain. When he focused his sight on the mage once again, he saw him holding a huge orb of fire with both of his hands.
"Hahahahah... Do you really think you can break my barrier, archmage?" Rain dropped through the green dome, giving it an even unholier look. Arthas was eager to see the mage's spell fail to break his shield.
"No", the archmage responded, "but I won't need to." Khadgar transferred his huge Pyroblast into his right hand and focusing both his sight and energy into the rest of his body, blinked inside the barrier, appearing in front of Arthas. He barely managed to catch the Lich King's right arm before Frostmourne could descend upon him. He plunged his right hand, Pyroblast still burning over it, into the chest of the Lich King.
The spell quickly started pushing Arthas back, outside of his barrier and into the rain. Even though the plate was protecting him, he could feel the hotness of the flames trying to burn him on the inside. As he was being pushed towards the border of the ceiling, he gathered all the frost energy he could manage into his free fist and struck upon the flame orb. The Pyroblast dissipated under the power of the punch. Arthas took a second to regain his breath; he had stopped just a few meters from the border of the roof. He was underestimating his rival.
Khadgar lost no time. As his tactic had worked, he used the extra seconds to focus on the raindrops falling over them. This time, it was frost magic he would use. Focusing cold energy on his hands, he started transferring it into the incoming drops. He could feel as they stopped on their tracks, their temperature lowering until they became little pieces of ice and their shape shifting into miniature blades. In a matter of seconds, there were hundreds of small icy knives waiting for the mage's order.
He wouldn't give Arthas even a second to regain his breath. The moment he saw the death knight regain his feet, he sent all the ice blades flying towards him. If he could make Arthas fall from the tower, he could have enough time to think what to do next.
Arthas saw the incoming ice blades; if the mage wanted a battle of magic, that's what he would get. He extended his left arm, Frostmourne resting under his right one, and started employing frost magic of his own. Whereas one second before, a thousand ice blades where flying towards him, they had now stopped dead in their tracks. He focused even more magic into his hand, growing brighter every second, and the ice blades once directed to him were now on their way to meet Khadgar.
The archmage hadn't expected Arthas to reverse the spell, but he wouldn't give up so easily. Imitating his adversary, he focused more energy into his spell, and the ice blades once again stopped dead in their tracks. They had come to a stalemate: both fighters started channeling more and more magic into the blades, trying to overcome their rival. Sometimes, they would advance towards Khadgar, just to freeze for a couple of seconds before reaching towards Arthas.
Khadgar knew this couldn't last forever. "My mana pool may be big, but it doesn't compare to his! I don't know for how long I'll be able to hold up against him." He shook that thought out of his head; this was not the time to falter. He realized that Arthas was employing even more energy than before; even though he was also channeling more magic with each passing second, the blades were slowly approaching to impale him.
He ultimately realized that continuing this skirmish was nothing but a waste of mana, so he started thinking what to do next. He decided on trying to attack Arthas from above. Using the casting mastery he'd achieved over all these years, Khadgar quickly switched his channeled magic from frost to arcane. Looking up to the sky, he quickly blinked upwards, the ice blades finally crashing and shattering over the place where he'd just stood and shot an Arcane Blast towards the Lich King.
Arthas had already anticipated this. For as powerful as he was, he knew the mage would avoid such stalemate if possible, and thus would try to attack him from another angle. Because of that, he'd also been channeling necrotic energy through Frostmourne, ready to cast his Pain and Suffering spell. The second he felt the mage leaving the confrontation, and noticing he'd gone into the sky, he released the spell waiting in his blade. The spell directed towards him was easily deflected by his armour. Black lighting travelled from the tip of Frostmourne to the surprised mage, who hadn't expected Arthas to react so quickly. He couldn't even summon a barrier before the spell hit him.
"AAAAAAAARGH!" He started roaring and twitching in pain as the necrotic energy travelled through his body. Arthas laughed as he saw his enemy suffering, kept floating in the sky by his spell. He decided to punish him for his defiance: he drove Frostmourne's tip towards the floor, and the lightning surrounding Khadgar imitated the arc made by the blade. Khadgar was pulled down by the spell and crashed against the wet roof of Karazhan.
For a second, Khadgar's sight blurred, barely being able to notice his surroundings. He had to make a great effort to not lose his conscience after the impact. Arthas chuckled as Khadgar remained on the floor, now trying to withstand the pain of his spell. "Give up, archmage. In the end, you will all serve me." Khadgar looked towards Arthas, mouthing one defiant word: "Never." Channeling all the frost magic he could on his fist, he smashed it against the floor, raising an ice wall between him and the Lich King. The death knight interrupted his spell, amused by this desperate act of the mage.
Khadgar used this time to recover his breath. It had been a while since he suffered so much, but he was no stranger to pain. Resolved to endure this fight, he used the visual cover brought by the ice wall to hide behind some of the boulders spread in the roof. If he was to stand a chance against Arthas, he would have to resort to his most powerful spells.
The Lich King used this time as well, not only to catch some breath, but to check on his orbs' progress, once again linking his optic nerves to them. He could see several books floating from the halls of the library to the teleporting rune. Only a couple of minutes more and he could leave this tower. But a part of him wanted to continue this fight; he was amused by the battle prowess shown by this mage. He would make a great master of the Scourge.
Khadgar, on the other hand, was starting to plan this last attack. These two spells would waste most of his mana pool, but if he succeeded, he could throw the Lich King off the tower and gain some time to call for backup. Arthas was too strong, even for him. He would need more time for this to work. He placed his hands on the floor, and on the area around Arthas, a dozen arcane elementals appeared, surrounding his opponent. He then started focusing for the task to come.
"Trying to buy some time, archmage?" As the elementals started charging towards him, he quickly slashed them one by one with his blade. The archmage was onto something. He shot a shadow bolt from his free hand, shattering the ice wall. Khadgar was nowhere to be seen.
"You've shown your power in this battle, archmage. I expected no less from the pupil of the last Guardian of Tirisfal." He felt his aura behind some of the boulders. He focused his energy through Frostmourne and blasted the rocks; a mirror image of the archmage quickly vanished. Clever. "Join me; I'll give you powers far greater that you possess, and together, we'll bring Azeroth to its knees!"
Khadgar heard his offer as he finished his spell. The amount of magic, fire in his left hand and arcane in his right, was humongous, easily putting his last Pyroblast to shame. The energy started pulsating around the mage's hands, growing bigger by the second, and wrapping around Khadgar's arms. He could feel his mana diminishing by the second with the usage of this spell, but he needed to resist.
He responded Arthas' offer. "My duty is with Azeroth and its people, Lich King. Behold the power of the living!" He stepped out of his hiding place and released his spell; all the energy collected in his arms rocketed towards the Lich King, taking the form of two dragons, one made of flames and the other of arcane energy. They roared as they travelled towards the death knight, who just as he had done minutes ago, focused energy around him to create a barrier.
Khadgar finished releasing his Twin Dragons spell and started channeling his second attack. The dragons crashed towards the Lich King's barrier, easily breaking it and clashing towards Arthas. He could feel the strength of this spell, pushing him backwards; unlike the last ones, he was actually feeling pain from the sheer power of the dragons. He took Frostmourne with both hands, and focusing magic through it, slashed the dragons with it. He was surprised when they evaded the strike, thus stopping to move him, and started surrounding him.
Every time he tried attacking one of the dragons with his blade, the attack would miss, only for him to receive the fury of the remaining dragon from another angle. Whenever the flame dragon clashed against him, he could feel the fire burning his undead flesh. Whenever it was the arcane dragon, he could feel it tearing down his essence. From the outside, Khadgar saw the dragons form a red and violet tornado damaging the prisoner inside.
Tired of failing his strikes, Arthas started channeling a huge amount of frost magic around him. Out of nowhere, a powerful gust of wind started surrounding the Lich King, the very air freezing under the power of the spell. The Remorseless Winter spell was one of his most powerful zonal attacks, and he would use it to free himself.
He expanded the zone of the spell, driving the cold winds against the Twin Dragons. They were strong, the sheer energy contained in them battling against the cold winds summoned by the Lich King. But in the end, the frost magic of the death knight was stronger; with one last roar, the dragons exploded into a burst of fire and arcane energy. He was very interested; few times had he seen such a powerful spell. But when looked up searching for the archmage, he was even more impressed.
Khadgar stood in front him, some yards away, with an extremely condensed sphere of energy in his hands. He held his arms in front of him, the size of the orb greater than even a Pyroblast. Arthas couldn't quite tell the nature of the spell; he could see red and violet lights coming from the orb, and black lightning chaotically dancing around it. He could even feel the air pulsating around the spell; even with the Armor of the Damned, he wouldn't dare receive such an attack.
The Supernova was Khadgar's last resort spell. It took him years to master the abilities to even try such a spell, and even then, it was extremely difficult to cast. It involved focusing an enormous amount of both fire and arcane energy into an orb and reducing it to the smallest size possible. By being able to condense such amounts of magic into such a compressed form, its destructive power was multiplied tenfold.
He had wondered if the tower would be able to withstand such power, but he remembered his sparring matches with Medivh, years ago, on this very place. His master had placed enchants all over Karazhan to prevent it from receiving damage from spells; he hoped they would withstand the explosion to come.
He faced Arthas for this last attack. "I'll give you one last chance, Arthas. Go away, and never return to this tower. Not even you will be able to survive this."
The Lich King laughed at the menace. He had taken a great interest in the archmage; his potential was unmeasurable. He would happily accept this challenge. "Do not underestimate me, archmage." Arthas quickly channeled a huge amount of necrotic energy into his blade; two could play the same game. "I will show you the undeniable might of my power."
"So be it." Khadgar placed the pulsating orb in front of him, and shot it towards the Lich King, just as he in turn released all the magic contained within his blade, focusing the very spell he'd used so long ago in Light's Hope Chapel into one giant, black energy ball of death.
"SUPERNOVA!"
"APOCALYSPE!"
Author's note: Hi there! Nicholas here, just wanted to say a couple to all you people taking the time to read this story. :)
First of all, you may notice English is not my native language, since I repeat some words more than I would like. So, if any of you people would like to proofread the chapters, I'll be grateful of any help! Likewise, if you see any errors in the chapters already published, please do tell me so I can fix it.
Also, if you review the chapters, it would really help me to see if you are liking the story so far. I've been quite confused about the lenght of each chapter, but this one's pretty long since I was excited of writing this battle jajaja I'll try making the rest of the chapters more proportional to one another in terms of size.
So, guess that's that! Please follow and review the story if you like it, and I hope you've enjoyed this so far!
