"Tales of a Mad Mage"
By: themadone
Part 2: Unstable
The conjured Wall of Fire in the distance lit up the Mage Arena brightly even though the flames were also dark, with strange hints of shadow within the flickering tongues. Vadicc could taste blood in his mouth, and smell ozone as he forced himself to draw more mana together for his next spell. He was shaking a bit too, so he clenched his fists versus the pain and remembered an old Voltori mantra in his head to relieve it. The pain and shaking eased quickly, but he still knew he was at a tight point in the match.
The Warlock had been more than prepared to take him out of the fight quickly, piling on the Curses and Hexes until he was almost forced to his knees by the strength of them. Luckily, he had managed to prepare a spell that would remove them all and used it to full advantage, but only at the last minute. His counter-strategy had paid off, and he had thrown off all the spells, while only being minorly wounded in the process: This had wasted the warlocks best prepared curses for the match.
Vadicc had smiled as soon as the defensive Wall of Fire sprang up between himself and the Warlock, knowing the Warlock was now having to rely on secondary spells prepared, rather than Hexes that cause the targets flesh to rot, or Curses that cause the target to bite chunks of him-self off. This extra time was a respite that was sorely needed now.
The Mana he drew together was quickly focused into a minor healing spell, making many of his wounds dissipate. He was no Priestess, but it was an effective spell nonetheless. He then used the remaining Mana to summon his family's ancient armor around his shoulders and torso. Ancient but very effective, especially versus fire, the armor fit him like a newfound skin, and was as light as a feather.
It was then a Fire-Demon stepped though the Wall towards him. Twenty feet tall at least, the demon was wreathed in his own orange flames, and stalked towards Vadicc, black claws outstreched and flexing casually, as if imagining Vadicc's flesh in his hands. His Darkfenne Hydra started stepping forward, but Vadicc waved him back and pointed his Elemental Wand. Lightning played over the demon's torso and caused it's flesh to split and ooze yellowish pus. The resulting screams of pain from the demon was also full of anger and a promise of an equally painful death for Vadicc. Fortunately he had never learned the language!
Cursing Time, the Elements, and Voltori itself under his breath, Vadicc swept his hands out and pulled more mana, and let go with a blast of fierce wind on the beast as well. This staggered the demon back a little too but did little damage as it began moving slowly forward Vadicc.
"Unglish! Move and intercept! I need just a moment to prepare..."
A deep baritone replied from next to and above Vadicc's head, "Of course Master! Thank you!"
The eight foot, brown and grey-furred bodyguard moved quickly toward the burning demon, a huge two-handed sword larger than Vadicc in his fists swinging back for a mighty blow.
Vadicc reflected for a second as he forced more mana and tapped his reserves,"I need to do an end run on the Warlock and end this NOW!"
Out of nowhere, conjured Fire wreathed him and stole the breath from his lungs...
"HELP!!"
Vadicc sat up in his bed, sweating profusely, his hands aching from clawing the bedding around him. The smell of stale sweat overwelmed him suddenly making him nearly sick.
"Master?"
His Familiar looked at him askance from a perch hooked to the end of his bed.
He had done it. The Arena fight was long over. His long trusted bodyguard Unglish was dead, but he had succeeded. Barely.
"I'm fine."
"But Master...?
"Nothing! I'm fine."
He got up slowly, fixing his night-robes which had gotten twisted in his sleep.
He walked to the earthenware pitcher and bowl on his side table and filled the bowl with water from the pitcher.
Leaning down, he splashed and scrubbed his face and beard as clean as he could, then dried himself with an old "greenish" towl he kept near the bed that smelled faintly of mildew no matter how many times he had it cleaned.
He sat back on the bed and put his forehead into his hands, leaning on his old knees.
"I must make a Voltori Rod. Soon."
The Raven adjusted his view on his master and flew to his shoulder with a light rush of air.
"I'm sorry Master if you felt I was against you on this. You know I support you in any magical endevour that makes sense. It's just this rod seems more myth than legend..."
In a voice tired beyond reason, Vadicc interrupted his Familiar yet again, "It doesn't matter if it is real. I need it."
The Familiar went silent for a moment then replied carefully: "Then we will make one Master. I will have Norch prepare our traveling supplies for the Darkfenne in the morning..."
