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Chapter 36: Death
🕑 Added 2024-07-18 19:04:37 +0000 UTCChapter 36: Death
The Dragon Struck down at me again. I used Shocking Aura to disrupt her maw. It worked for a moment but she was expecting it. This time the spell disturbing effect lasted for less than a second and I was forced to dodge out of her head before it ran out. She reared back to try again.
Time for a new experiment! I thought, running the calculations in my head as fast as I could. She lunged in again and, out of time, I activated it. Using what I had seen of the spell shape for Shocking Aura and Necrotizing Bolt I attempted to make my very first original spell using this world's magic.
One moment a dragon's teeth were bearing down towards me, the next everything was white. I found myself yet again in my tower.
What had I done wrong? I questioned internally as I paced up and down the experimentation chamber, fleshy feet slapping against the stone floor. This being a soul space I was able to recreate the spell exactly without having to bear any of the consequences.
Why does it explode? I thought as I walked around the spell shape I had projected out of my body and onto a dummy.
“That’s it!” I exclaimed aloud in a eureka moment. “Of course, I had used more from the Shocking Aura spell than I wanted and the lightning was interfering with the stability of the spell, causing mana to fall into its favourite state - an explosion.
I figured out the issue just in time as the world once again turned white. I found myself in a crater at the end of a sewer tunnel, a ring of fire surrounding me. As pieces reattacked I noticed that the armour had remained summoned despite being blasted apart along with my bones.
Perhaps this was a way to bypass the restrictions of the spell? It appears the dragon’s soul had been blown away by the explosion but she would no doubt return from whatever bit of fire she had taken host in shortly. I noticed, in passing, an odd thing about the flames about me. They flickered and flamed as if in slow motion. I ripped my attention from it, I didn’t have the time. Reconstructing the spell shape as it had been in my soul space I activated it.
Congratulations:
You have created Necrotizing Aura, 500 Xp earned.
The rock beneath me began to crack and crumble even under the low powered version I had started with. I smiled at my success. But the hole I was standing in beginning to fill in with sewer water and an earth shattering roar convinced me it was time to get moving.
Using a combination of my new spell (to erode the rock in an area around me) and Wind Breath to propel me forward, I was quickly able to tunnel out into the earth. I had hoped this idea might have given me more time to think of my next move but the orange glow at the start of my tunnel turning to red showed me that the dragon was still in hot pursuit.
This continued for some time as she slowly shortened the distance between us. My low mana meant my options were limited but I still wanted to use this opportunity to learn as much as I could about this world's magic since my big mouth had put talking out of the question.
I tried moving closer to the surface but the dragon's flames made quicker work of the loose soil than the lower rock so I dove back down. Without a proper flight spell I wasn’t going to risk aerial combat with a dragon. Although the thought of aerial combat gave me an idea.
I led the gaining beast deep into the earth before erupting upwards, hoping the sudden change in direction would give me more time to test my idea. Unfortunately she was no greenhorn and caught onto the tactic quickly. I went upwards too fast and ended up shooting out of the ground. It was dark with heavy clouds above. Rain pelted down, cleaning my reassembled armour. I only had a second to feel relieved at the lack of dirt and humanoid waste when the fire dragon burst forth from the earth like an apocalyptic geyser.
Shooting myself out back over what appeared to be a graveyard I had just gone under, I anticipated my trajectory as I tried again to use Wind Domain. A veteran of battle, the dragon didn’t let; the change of scenery nor the rain evaporating off her and draining her mana, slow her in the least. She launched another enhanced claw straight at me. This time when it drew near I used my hand to extend my Wind Domain to meet it.
As before when the fire met the vacuum I had created with the spell it winked out but its heat continued forward. Expecting this I had created a pocket of enriched air. I had shunted all the air out my domain and to the right of my outstretched right hand bones, held in place but a circular pattern of Wind Breaths.
For a moment I thought my idea was incorrect and my bones were about to be turned to dust. My unprotected right hand began to blacken and I cursed myself for not using my armoured left in the tenths of a second I had to think.
I was however proven correct. The body of heat, being of a fiery nature, found the pocket of concentrated air and rushed out of the vacuum. From afar it may have looked as if the attack was deflected if it weren't for the fact the starved flames suddenly came upon a feast of air and doubled in size.
The Explosion, not as large as before nor confined to the tunnel, had less of an impact. Still I was sent spirling to the earth. I felt freshly turned soil for a second before my still active Necrotizing Aura turned it to dust, sending me back under. The Wind Domain and Aura seemed to conflict somehow, doubling the nausea and disorientation. I, once again, released my domain; only to realise someone had been saying something. No, screaming something over the storm.
Looking up from my freshly re-dug grave I saw a silhouette framed by the fiery dragon above, still off balance from the missed attack, another quickly joined by its side.
“You!” The figure accused, but I heard no more as I melted my way through something goopy before it turned to dust. Emerald filled the hole above and quickly the two humanoid figures were replaced by the head of an enraged reptile. The underground chase was back on.
Trying to play again for time as I struggled to think of my next experiment I rooted my way back down into the tunnel the dragon had melted into the rock. As she sped after me, wings melting the tunnel wider as she flew, I evaluated our mana levels. I was at about a quarter full but the constant drain of melting through earth had left the dragon at about half her original mana.
That wouldn’t do at all! I thought, I’ll have to stick to existing tunnels from here on. There was only one problem with this plan, without the earth to slow her she was faster than me and gaining quickly.
I used Rock Trow to collapse the tunnel behind me several times but to limited success. It did however give me the time to try my next test; throwing rocks. The mana infused stone didn’t really do much when it came in contact with the mana infused beast - melting the same as any other rock. I did however still feel a connection to the spell as it turned to lava and I got an idea.
Miles had passed in minutes and I found myself yet again in the sewer system. This time however the Dragon didn’t have to melt her way about and was focused on speed. For every two feet I travelled she gained one. She was 100 feet away when my next test was ready.
Using the spell shape for Rock Throw but altering it in the way I had seen the mana naturally change when turning rock to lava. I closed my eye holes tightly, expecting another boom, it never came. A glob of magma was spat at the dragon and… absorbed?
Congratulations:
You have created Magma Lob 300 Xp awarded.
The rock cooled rapidly and shattered but the heat was absorbed by the creature of flame, slightly increasing her overall temperature. While this was fascinating she had gained 50 feet and was closing fast. Still in the open tunnel she was able to move freely. I had become too caught up in my testing and the nearest narrow tunnel was out of range. I looked up thinking to try the same thing as before.
I shot several Necrotizing Bolts up at the roof of the arched tunnel to weaken the way forward and speed my passage.
I had expected to break free from the rock shelf, blast through dirt, and make it to the surface. Insead I blasted through into a forest of white waving tendrales. I didn’t have time to wonder as the dragon was hot on my heels, shooting another flame breath that destroyed the feelers.
I was disoriented for a moment before I looked up and learned that we were still underground. That moment cost me however. I was barely able to dodge an enhanced tail strike as the dragon clawed her way up into the cavern. I leaned back but it scored a line through my helmet and chard a scar above and below my eye socket. I was thankful for two things; that I didn’t feel pain, and that she hadn’t hit any of the runes which enhanced my bones.
I shot myself up with an overpowered Wind Breath and the dragon opened her wings to follow. I glanced back as I burst through the roof of the cavan, the floor was burning but I glimpsed a strange sight through the flames: a cottage that seemed untouched by the fire. I shook my head at the ridiculous thought.
I burst free into the night air at last, but I hadn’t gone 20 feet into the sky before an explosion rocked me from the side. It was followed by another brightly coloured blast from my left then my right. All colours exploded around me reminding me of the mage artillery on battlefields long ago; except I had always been the one launching them not caught up in them.
This attack cost me. The dragon launched up from beneath the ground, wings outstretched in a regal display. Unable to make her out from the expanding flames which filled the air, I didn't see her till it was too late. A fiery jaw clamped down on my left foot and despite the intangible nature of fire I was yanked down towards the main body.
“Shit!” Was all I could think to say.
☠
Dante was nervous; he was nervous when he had been dressed like a lord, he was nervous when he was led down to the ballroom, arm in arm with a relaxed and somehow excited Alma, he was nervous when the footman asked their names so they may be announced. He gave only his first name so as not to cause confusion. Unfortunately this made him the least important guest in the eyes of the nobility so when they were immediately let in they were loudly announced to no one, save the quartet of musicians who were still tuning their instruments.
Dante was briefly stunned upon stepping into the room as the decadence floored him. The rest of the manor had been grand but not to this extent. The floor was polished patterned marble. The ceiling held a mural of a war between shadow and light, with the darkness slightly ahead. All the fittings were gilded. The walls displayed elaborate frescoes depicting independent scenes which reflected the greater image on the ceiling, duels and such. A buffet table was laid out all along one ridiculously long wall, all kinds of food Dante had never heard of where neatly arranged into any number of diplayes. 20 foot floor to ceiling red velvet drapes framed equally large windows made from tiny panes about the size of his palm. The pair drifted over to them and looked out. The room was on the second floor and they could look out over not only the elaborate gardens and court where the commoners were beginning to flood, but also most of the city - glistening with magical lights in the darkness.
They were left alone for only a few minutes before the next least important couple was announced. As two by two the nobles entered Dante wanted nothing more than to exit onto one of the balconies, descend one of the attached stairways and get lost in the gardens. He had seen, to the left, a hedge maze. Alma was all too eager to mingle with the guests before the dancing so reluctantly he did so too.
The couples arrived as: man and woman, man and man, woman and woman, elf and dwarf, and any variation thereupon. But they separated into groups of men and women to discuss whatever it was nobles talked about. Alma left to join the women and Dante was left, an awkward addendum to the male cliques.
The only reason he hadn’t left was that Sqwent assured him, the person who’s mana he had felt, who was somehow connected to his dead mother, was here at the ball.
Alma had been worried about coming here, since she had been trapped in the basement. But the few vampires who did recognize her dared not act and make a scene.
Dante’s mysterious connection didn’t appear until near the end of the list, amongst the other Ghibellines.
“Alighiero Ghibellines.” Announced a footman as the giant doors once more swung silently open. Dante looked up from the throng of noblemen of all races and was just about able to make out a man with brown hair and blue eyes that matched his own. Sqwent confirmed it, that was the man he was looking for.
He tried to make his way over to him to talk but the man was of the hosting family and consequently swarmed by petitioners and well-wishers alike. Before long the last of the guests, a king or some such, was announced and the dancing was to begin. Dante had lost this opportunity to talk but he was determined to seize the next.
Dante had been trained to dance at the bards college and was considered to be a better dancer than a performer by his professors, not that that would be saying much. Alma on the other hand had no idea how to dance and the situation was made worse by the pair's distraction.
Dante kept looking over to where the mysterious man he felt he knew was dancing while Alma kept glancing in the other direction at a tall slender woman with a pale complexion and blonde hair. The Dancing seemed to take an age but at some undetectable signal the nobles began drifting over to either the buffet table or the balconies and the gardens beyond. Both of the pair’s targets went to the gardens and they followed suit.
They were separated at the bottom of the stares: Dante’s prey went left, toward the hedge maze - a woman on his arm - Alma’s went right into the rose arches, a man on hers. Dante became lost in the maze, sqwent could tell him the direction but not how to navigate the dead ends.
He laid eyes on his mark and reflected in them, a myriad of colours. Dantes gaze followed the pairs as they looked up at the fireworks, while impressive he was about to ignore them and press on when all of a sudden a dragon made of flame burst up from below and left Dante speechless at the incredible details in the display.
☠
The teeth dug viciously into my left ankle bone plate, I looked down and through the bombardment could see some kind of party below.
This city loved to party I thought, my mind in a mild panic. I tried to break free by pushing myself in all directions with Wind Breath but it didn’t help. Each influx of wind only tightened her grip. The armour on my leg had begun blackening and turning to smoke. Her whole body started to turn white hot. It was too late for me to use Shocking Aura, I might fall straight into her body and burn to a crisp.
With only 5 percent of my mana left I thought desperately for a solution. Despite my struggles I was brought ever closer to the glowing beast. My armour had nearly completely evaporated and my foot was about to be turned to dust.
Just then a pillar of light shot down from the clouding sky striking the dragon in the neck and momentarily disrupting the construct's form. It was enough and with a judicious use of Wind Breath I was able to break free and was sent flying across the night’s sky. I looked up to see the origin of the attack and saw nothing. I looked down and saw a glowing golden figure ascending to join the fray.
The dragon noticed it too and seemed to bubble over with rage, if she had a calmer head she may have forgiven the attack and sought an ally in the newcomer. Dragons, however, are not known for their kind and forgiving nature. Her pride and arrogance led her to expend the energy she had been gathering and that she had gained from the light into a beam style flame attack shot down at the ascending knight.
Being the valiant sort the interloper wasn’t able to dodge, behind him a manor full of people watched on in awe. He summoned a shield of solidified light but as soon as the attack began I could tell it wouldn’t hold.
I was about to let fate take its course when a familiar face below amongst the hedges caught my eye, it did so as it was about the only one not focused on the display overhead. Instead Dante was talking animatedly with an older man. Cursing myself for a fool I used another Wind Breath to dart in and aid the stranger.
I drew close to the clash of spells which gave off so much energy that I nearly was sent flying from the mana turbulence alone. The mix of light and fire mana gave me an idea however.
“Do you have any mana infused glass?” I asked the figure with a childish enthusiasm at my latest idea. I was barely audible over the keening sound of the two spells striking each other.
“What?” He shouted, clearly confused by the question. The armour and voice all of a sudden clicked in my head and I recognized him as the Paladin we had met on the road.
“Orlando, mana infused glass!” I called out. He looked at me for a second, clearly not recognizing me. Then he took one hand from the shield causing it to crack all the faster and retrieved from a pouch at his waist a small circular disk and tossed it to me. I bobbed up and down in the air, held aloft with Wind Breath and I nearly missed the monocle fumbling the catch before hooking it with a bone plated foot.
Examining it quickly I could tell it was a monocle designed to identify magic items. It would do perfectly for my purpose. With each second that passed the shield cracked further but I worked without pause. I floated up any bit of stone work I could find loose below, even a loose roof tile, and began engraving glyphs on them.
“I can finally fly!” Cried one pit of stone work, when it drew closer I saw a stone gargoyle, covered in bird poop flapping his sculpted wings. I dropped the figure, not wanting the magic to interfere with my spell. This seemed to only excite the figure further: “Weeee!” Shatter.
Each piece of now enchanted stone was then held in a circular pattern about the impact site. Despite clearly being up to something the dragon continued the beam attack, no doubt spurred on by the sound of cracking glass which filled the night and was echoed by cries of fear and alarm below.
I held the monocle off to the side, one side aimed perpendicular to the beam at the point of impact, the other off into the night. I began chanting, the spell I was using was an amplification spell, as I had so little mana I was forced to use mostly the mana given off by the two spells colliding. Inspired by my earlier move with Wind Domain I prayed this would work.
The spell began as it should, absorbing the excess mana from the clashing spells and directing it to the monocle creating a new ray of both fire and light which shot out into the air. As I had seen when learning Shocking Aura, mana in this world almost had momentum. Soon the spell wasn’t satisfied with just the excess and started eating away at the two other spells. Seeing this the Dragon tried to redirect her attack but the interaction between the three spells couldn’t be broken so easily.
Suddenly Orlando’s shield broke and the balance was upset. I saw a gleam of victory in the emerald flames. Orlando however was not beaten so easily. He put himself at the focus of the ring of stones and allowed the weakened beam attack to strike in the centre of his golden breastplate. It didn’t take long before all the mana was sucked from the spell and through the monocle, out harmlessly into the air.
Boom, an earth shattering sound rang out, shortly followed by an earthquake. I turned in the direction of the sound. The spell I had created had worked better than intended. Although the light and fire beam had started the size of a monocle by the time it had reached the mountains on the horizon it had grown rapidly. One mountain in particular had gained a hole large enough to see through from here and gravity wasn’t happy about the sudden change. The top had caved in causing an explosion that could be felt from here, miles away.
Again my distraction nearly cost me for the dragon had taken the opportunity to come in close for an attack. Enraged by the failed attack she was now white hot, burning mana constantly. Clang. Her claw bounced off a shining golden greatsword raised in my defence.
“Thanks.” I hailed. Glad the Paladin had survived. Checking everyone’s condition things were dire. Although at first glance Orlando appeared unscathed, swinging his sword clearly pained him. His chest was no doubt burned. The Dragon was at a third of her original mana but I however was at a mesially 1 percent. I had to be careful even using Wind Breath to keep me aloft.
With the first symptoms of mana poisoning setting in, I was left dazed for a moment as the Paladin fought tooth and claw, sword and dagger against the dragon. Each blow sends sparks and shock waves across the city below.
Thunder. The last shockwave came not from the fight but the heavens and their opening splashed me with water bringing me back to my scenes. The storm I had seen over the graveyard had reached us. The heavy rain slowed the dragon and depleted her mana faster but the Paladin was tiring faster still. The time for experiments was over, if I did nothing my master's old friend would kill me and a rather kind Paladin. Well maybe there was time for just one more.
“Silver!” I called out into the now hazy night as I fought the rain to stay aloft. I could only guess where Orlando was by where the dragon's attacks were aimed. My guess was confirmed by an answering grunt through the shower. Again thunder boomed drowning out anything he may have said.
“I need silver.” I elaborated, staving off an oncoming drowsiness. There was no answer. A tail swung sparking off a sword which revealed for a second the haggard form of Orlando. At some point he had lost his helmet and blood dripped down his face, washed away only to be replaced each second. I thought he might not have heard me and I was about to call again when a whooshing sound came through the darkness.
I strained my eyes but couldn’t see a thing. Suddenly a burning feeling overtook me and I nearly lost concentration, which would have made me fall from the sky.
Looking down I saw a pure silver sword sprouting from my chest. It had gone straight through my bone chest plate and was stuck between my ribs, unable to damage them but hurting as much as holy water. I withdrew the enchanted weapon, the handle thankfully coated with leather.
“Sorry,” came an honest apology through the night. When I didn’t reply it was followed with; “Are you well?” in between frantic exchanges.
“Fine.” I shouted back through gritted teeth. This only prevocated a good natured laugh from the insane Paladin who seemed to be enjoying his fight. The Dragon, frustrated with the pace, took the opportunity to dart towards me.
“I need more than this.” I called back, afraid to ask but in need. The Dragon swooped in on me and I let go of my wind spell, dropping like a stone - pushed faster by the monsoon. Still I was barely able to evade, my helmet scraping her white hot underbelly.
As I fell, something hit me in the chest - not a sword this time thankfully. I grasped at it, finding Orlando’s pouch, a spatial bag. For a moment I was overcome with a longing for my spatial rings, containing tons of spell components, that were lost to the abyss.
“There’s more in there.” The trusting Paladin replied, resuming his battle with the beast. I held my lower altitude as I rummaged through the pouch. Searching, I was able to find a dozen silver swords in total. Each enchanted to slay the undead, though they wouldn’t work on me.
I stayed below the fighters as I began floating the swords in as large a circle as I could manage, about 500 feet in diameter. I ascended with the circle of silver swords until we were at a level with the fighters, putting them in a mid air ring.
Too focused on their frantic battle, neither noticed.
I checked how everything was going: Orlando’s left arm was hanging limply at his side but it hadn’t seemed to slow his glowing golden form. The Dragon was down to a quarter of her original mana, but I was down to 0.5 percent mana. My head began to throb but I continued my preparations.
I moved each limb and chanted to focus my mana into a seven layer spell. With the tiniest amount of mana possible put into each part.
I connected to the storm. 0.3 percent mana. I felt each inch of the cloud’s expanse. 0.1 percent mana. I started draining the mana into the conduits. 0 mana, there wasn’t enough left, the storm pulled back and what little mana had started to move into the swords was removed. I felt my body start to fall as gravity took over.
Is this it? I thought in the sudden stillness that enveloped me. I’m to die here, having escaped death once? My mind cast back to when I had first gained my tower. Other Archmagi used theirs as fortresses or symbols of power but I was just excited to have a place where I could run my experiments in peace without fear of destroying the building. That was all I’d ever wanted to learn. Learning was all I needed to make me happy. When I had become undead I had not despaired, when I had fallen into a totally different world seemingly controlled by a system I had not feared, these were opportunities to learn and fulfil my dream. Now, completely bereft of mana and about to be killed by a flame dragon born of my own curiosity, was it not also a perfect time to learn.
All this happened in less than the blink of an eye. Drawing strength from a source a knew not before today, I halted my momentum and that of the sword circle with another Wind Breath it was more powerful than I expected and I was nearly sent flying.
Congratulations:
Soul Manipulation has reached lv.10
Title gained: Soul Devourer
Inky blackness billowed out from me. Covering my armour in a suspended fluid that floated with me. The disruption hadn’t been long enough to cancel the spell and I returned to it. Mana flooded the swords so easily I might have thought this was a cantrip. With every passing second however I felt less and less… me. Apathy threatened to overtake me but my excitement for the outcome of this new spell was able to overcome it for now.
The power of the storm fell so quickly into my spell that I was surprised when it overloaded and backed up into my vessel. Instead of popping, as I expected, the inkyness around me absorbed it and turned into a cloak of dense lightning clouds.
Congratulations:
You have created Storm Cloak
The dragon caught Orlando off guard with an overhead tail swipe, causing him to disappear, catering a potting shed below. She turned to me, blazing with anger. She was littered with scars which for some reason would not heal, steam billowed off her forming a shroud which trailed her much as my cloak of storms did.
“YOU MUST DIE!” She hissed in a bellowing fashion between wheezing breaths. Pain tinged her words, and clearly not just physical. She charged at me, each beat of her wings diverting sheets of rain. I hovered firm, having finished my spell work.
When she was 100 feet away I held my hand to the sky. The storm calmed, rain stopped and the clouds began to lighten. She sped up with the lack of rain. When she was 50 feet away I lowered my right hand extending an exposed distal phalanx at her. Nothing happened but my expression didn’t change.
When she was within ten feet I could see the premature victory in her eyes. I was no longer able to muster fear or excitement as the spell finally activated when she was a breath away. Each of the swords, crackling with lightning, pointed at the dragon. Beams of purple lightning laced through her form, freezing her in place. She spasmed as parts of her disappeared and reappeared, her soul holding desperately to the manifestation. Just as it looked as though she would endure, I drew my hands back and clapped.
From my hands burst forth a shockwave, the thunder to a thousand lightning strikes. Across the city windows shattered in protest. Her form was finally dispelled. Blown apart into sparks. Her screams of pain and defiance ceased. A spark floated past my ear and replaced the sound with a final whispered message:
“Please, if there is anyone who you care for in this world, choose death.” Even I, with my lack of social skills and through the fog of apathy could hear the pain that was held in that simple message.
It felt as though I could maintain my Wind Breath forever but I knew I shouldn’t. When I released it I dropped like a brick. I landed lightly on a large balcony. Getting up I fought off pain burning up every inch of me. Looking around there were a number of well dressed people of all races who seemed stunned into silence. Seemingly out of habit one rather portly looking bearman offered me a glass of wine as I stumbled about trying to walk it off. At least I think it was at one point wine, staying out in the rain had replaced it with water.
The crowd looked up at something and the stunned silence was replaced with raucous cheering. I looked up, still moving about awkwardly in an attempt to quell the pain.
Orlando landed beside me, despite the battle he looked every inch the Paladin. The blood, bruises, and dented armour only complementing his wide white smile. I cursed, the pain only growing worse. To this crowd I had already become an afterthought but not to Orlando.
“Please, let my goddess heal you.” The Paladin said in a reassuring tone, indicating what must have looked like severe injuries. An arm burned to the blackened bone and an eye struck and evaporated. I may have agreed, so convincing was he, if it were not for the constant pain.
“No.” I snapped, pulling my hand out of his grasp. He wore a puzzled expression. Before I had a chance to explain a number of things happened at once. The duration on my Bone Armour spell ended and the plates receded back through a portal to the underworld. The crowd began to gasp. A golden light overtook the Paladin’s eyes and he swung faster than he had in the battle with the dragon.
The last thing I saw was my body flying away beneath me. The last thing I heard was a single cry from somewhere below. The last thing I thought was he’s wearing a wig! before blackness finally claimed me.
Comments
Inanis
sorry for the delay. I deleted the old chapter 36 and made it part of this final chapter. There will also be an epilogue to rap up book one. I intende to upload the epilogue on here, wait a day, then put in on royal road. Then I want to back and fix old chapters. Then I'm going to write book 2, it's going to be a series of short stories and I plan to put patreon three chapters ahead. I spent most of the last week planning that out so it should happen rather quickly.
