WARNING! This short story is about a fight to the death, and naturally includes somewhat graphic violent content. You probably shouldn’t read this if you are under the age of 15. Because different people mature at different rates, I strongly advise all minors to ask their parents to read this first. Who knows, maybe it will turn them into Mage Wars fans too.
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: I do not own Mage Wars, obviously. I also do not own any of the game logs that OCTGN makes when you play on their servers. I do not own the procedure for writing copyright disclaimers; the procedure for writing copyright disclaimers is a part of our global media cultural heritage and therefore is in the public domain. If anyone has written a work titled “the Procedure for Writing Copyright Disclaimers,” I do not own that either, and without the quotation marks or capital letters the procedure for writing copyright disclaimers is a completely separate concept from that title, and therefore not subject to copyright claims. Furthermore, this means that my use of the words included in that title in the same order as they appear in that title is not grounds for a lawsuit. If there is any doubt about the accuracy of this disclaimer, then let the Google dictionary definition of the word “fanfiction” be a guide to settle any and all potential conflicts. (I also do not own Google dictionary or any of its entries of any kind.) I just put that entire disclaimer there for my own comfort, and (hopefully) not because it’s actually necessary.
You’re probably tired of seeing me ramble. On to the story!
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"We have an interesting fight on our hands today, folks!" the voice of the Westlockern announcer boomed across the dungeon arena.
The entire ceiling of this arena was lit by bright, ornate lamps, and the floor and walls were made out of some strange magic-resistant stone, which was stained by blood and gore in many places, because the arena was not cleaned often. Surrounding the arena from above were stands upon stands, and they were all filled up by hundreds of citizens of the nations of Straywood and Sortilege, many of whom had travelled far to witness the shocking spectacle of a Mage War, a battle to the death between almost demigod-like beings called mages.
“In the eastern corner, we have a wise old woman, one of the great wizards of Sortilege, ELENE MEGINN has entered our Arena today!"
An elderly lady with a somewhat wrinkled face, a bun of white hair on top of her head, and wearing a long, plain purple robe stepped through the doorway into the arena. The gate locked shut behind her. There was no escape now.
"After a few supposedly harmless experiments on the channeling abilities of beasts went horribly wrong, Elene's laboratory was attacked by a Straywood Beastmaster, wrecking everything to free any creatures held there, including some very dangerous specimens that should not have been let loose. He’s a beast of a man with claws to match, in the western corner: LONGCLAW!"
A young man with a thick mess of curly light brown hair both on his head and hanging from his face, wearing a plain green vest and brown pants stepped into the opposite corner of the arena.
"The deaths of my friends will not be in vain," Longclaw's voice called across the giant room. "Your reckless and uncaring pursuit of knowledge ends here!"
"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Elene snapped. "What happened to those beasts was a freak accident. The chances of any harm coming to them were slim to none, and I was going to return them to their homes when I was done with them. You, on the other hand, DESTROYED my laboratory and let loose dangerous monsters to rampage on the school I taught at. I have lost my life's work, as well as any chance of recovering it! On top of that, one of my greatest students is DEAD! And it’s ALL YOUR FAULT!"
The beastmaster looked stricken for a moment, but then his face hardened. "You should have thought about that before abducting my fellow denizens of Straywood!"
“Three! Two! One! FIGHT!!!” the announcer shouted.
Longclaw conjured three mana flowers onto the ground as he ran forward. Elene conjured two mana crystals on the ground beside her and walked calmly forward, although the expression on her face was anything but calm.
She then summoned a gorgon archer, a creature that resembled a woman with a snake tail and snakes for hair, as Longclaw created a huge cavern lair out of thin air near the center of the arena. Elane seriously considered casting a moonglow amulet, but her anger clouded her judgement and made her act against her rational nature. So she magicked an elemental wand into her hands, and held it at the ready, meaning to intimidate her enemy.
She then jumped back and ordered her gorgon archer to attack the Lair, although deep down she knew it wouldn't do much damage. The poisonous arrows did nothing, bouncing off the mossy stone with barely an impact. But Longclaw took advantage of the momentary distraction of the attack to run forward with a burst of cheetah speed, tackling the archer.
“It looks like Meginn is already off to a poor start, folks!”
"Get a grip on yourself, Elene," Elene muttered to herself. Hoping to make things easier for herself by saving some of her magical energy in the long run, she cast an arcane ring and placed it on her finger. Longclaw equipped himself with a bearskin coat, which fell over his shoulders from out of nowhere.
A powerful roar suddenly echoed throughout the arena from the direction of the beastmaster's lair, startling Elene as it assaulted her eardrums. The audience gasped. A HUGE brown bear had appeared while Elene wasn't looking, with long, sharp, hard claws and teeth to match, which were bared aggressively at Elene, its eyes seeing a threat that it would take pleasure in tearing limb from limb.
She had to think fast. Before the bear could reach her, Elene ran forward and spun about, thrusting out her elemental wand and releasing a fast jet stream at Longclaw that shoved him back several feet. Before she could stop him, Longclaw ran past her and rammed into the Gorgon Archer once more, but Elene didn't have time to shoot another burst of air at him. She activated her Voltaric Shield and cast a Force Hold on the ferocious Steelclaw Grizzly.
The Beastmaster’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Elene hatefully.
“Once again you do not hesitate to cage nature’s noble beasts. You’re a disgusting old ***** who can’t get her head out of her books long enough to see the lives she hurts. I will enjoy making you feel their pain.”
Elene’s face twisted in fury and anguish as she charged at the Beastmaster intending to pummel him, not noticing the thought expressed through his predatory grin:
Come and get some.
The gorgon archer began to flee, slithering back and away from Longclaw, but the beastmaster pursued it and rammed into the gorgon archer again! But Elene had also pursued Longclaw. She was now right behind him. She raised her fist, but then she stopped. Her eyes widened in fear. Standing only a few feet away from her was a large, menacing black panther with shadowy amber eyes—not just any panther, but the legendary Cervere, the Forest Shadow! Elene gulped, then, pointing at the cat with a shaking finger, she commanded her archer,
“Shoot him! Quickly!”
The gorgon archer reached down into its quiver and pulled out an arrow, then put it in her bow and stretched it back trying to aim between the beast’s eyes. It was no use though, every time it thought it might have perfect aim, the panther quickly stepped to the side. After a couple seconds the gorgon shot the arrow at Cervere, managing to strike it in the side and weakening it with poison. But in the time it took to do this, Longclaw had already dispelled Elene’s enchantment that was keeping his bear contained.
Without thinking Elene renewed her voltaric shield, jumped forward and thrust her wand out at Longclaw to create a burst of air which pushed him back towards his lair. With her other hand, she created a ball of some sort of stinky and green substance, which she flung onto the ground in front of the lair. It burst and turned into a large cloud of poison. Both Longclaw and his two fearsome animals began coughing.
“It looks like Longclaw’s in a stinky situation, folks!” the announcer joked. Laughter echoed down from the stands around the arena.
“You’ll…pay…for that!” Longclaw wheezed in a nasally voice with his nose pinched between his fingers.
Elene’s gorgon archer shot another poison tipped arrow, this time at Longclaw. It punctured him just above his navel, and weakened him. Longclaw ran out of the poisonous cloud and jumped forward at the gorgon, delivering a severe blow to its chest. It collapsed to the ground, dead.
Tears welled up in Elene’s eyes. Once more she had let someone die and had been unable to do anything about it; too busy doing what had to be done. First her animal test subjects had inexplicably died in her laboratory. Then Longclaw wrecked the place and released several dangerous monsters which had run rampant across campus and ultimately ended up killing one of her best students before they were recaptured. One of her favorite specimens who she had been studying for years was now dead. And now she was trapped in a battle to the death with the vile man who had ruined her life.
She would not let anyone else she cared about die. She was going to defeat this monster, this horrible, stupid animal-man. He would die, and she would live. She restored her voltaric shield.
Longclaw turned around from the corpse of the gorgon he had slain as not just two, but THREE beasts stepped out of the poisonous cloud. A mountain gorilla, a heavily built muscular ape with brown fur covering most of its body and black skin where it didn’t, had joined the fight. The beastmaster then rushed at Elene, striking her in the stomach, although the voltaric shield blunted most of the attack. The bear, the gorilla and the legendary panther were quick to follow, but before they could strike at Elaine, she let loose from her wand a powerful shockwave, electrifying both beasts and beastmaster, but doing minimal damage.
Longclaw smiled.
“Was that supposed to hurt?”
Suddenly all four of them were upon her with claws and teeth and powerful punches and kicks. Elene screamed in pain. Suddenly the attacks stopped, and the beasts jumped back from her to give Longclaw more room to work his magic. Elene shivered as she felt herself enchanted by something vile. Before the animals could attack her again, Elene let loose another shockwave from her wand.
Longclaw winced and glared at the elemental wand as his animals growled. “That thing is annoying.”
He whipped out a mage wand out of thin air and flicked it at the elemental wand. The elemental wand crumbled to dust.
“There. No more flashy static from you.”
Elene quickly made a dragonscale hauberk appear around her body before she was attacked again, and yet she screamed even louder and longer this time, in spite of her new armor. Every bite, every wipe of a claw, every punch and kick that assaulted her hurt a little more than before—all because of whatever curse the vile beastmaster had laid on her.
“It looks like Meginn is in a huge pinch, folks!” said the announcer. “She had better get her act together fast or she’s going to lose!”
Elene was nearly dead now. She had to think, but she couldn’t think; her anger, pain and exhaustion were too great. But she had to think. She couldn’t let it end like this. Her body running completely on adrenaline now, Elene dissolved Longclaw’s mage wand with a flick of her hand and ran, magicking a mage wand of her own into her hands as she did so.
Longclaw grinned savagely. “Let the hunt begin.”
The steelclaw grizzly ran after Elene and slashed at her, gouging her shoulder right before she teleported across the arena.
She bent over, panting. Her body was covered in cuts and bruises, she had several broken ribs, a chunk was missing from her left shoulder, every muscle in her body was burning and aching more than they ever had in her life, and her vision was going a bit blurry. She had also lost three fingers, and probably had other internal injuries, if the pain in her stomach was anything to go by. It was a miracle she hadn’t passed out already.
Longclaw rushed forward, his enchanted speed bringing him near the center of the arena in but a moment. He faced Elene with his huge cavern lair behind him, framing his thick monsterous body, with thick hair that covered every part of his body that wasn’t clothed, huge feet, and long fingernails that looked like claws. It was like the lair was Elene’s bedroom closet, and Longclaw was the monster that emerged from it to strike terror in her heart. And Elene was truly terrified. But she woudn’t give up. Not yet.
Elene renewed her voltaric shield and cast a suppression cloak, a stylish violet cloak with the power to diminish the magical energy of any mage who dared to attack her. However, she knew it probably wouldn’t be enough.
By now there were two more creatures in the arena that had emerged from Longclaw’s lair—wolves to be precise. One of them was a timber wolf, a plain silver-furred wolf, but the other was larger, covered almost completely in dark gray fur all the way down to his ankles. His paws were covered in fur the color of blood. His black eyes somehow seemed to glow. It was the ******* legendary REDCLAW!
Elene quickly created leather boots around her feet. She needed to move. Deep down, Elene knew in that moment that she had completely and utterly lost this fight. She had been hurt so much even before she entered the arena, and was unable to think clearly, which was vital for a wizard such as her. Perhaps she never even had a chance. She clamped down on this line of thinking, as she refused to admit to herself consciously her impending demise.
The mountain gorilla charged her with flailing fists and her voltaric shield barely deflected the attack. She teleported again, this time to the gates in the corner of the arena that Longclaw had entered from. If only she could open them…
The beastmaster’s swarm charged at her from all angles. She needed to clear a path or she would be done for right then and there. In desperation, she mustered her power and unleashed a powerful light of oblivion, banishing Cervere, the forest shadow from the arena. It was only a temporary oblivion though; he would return soon. She teleported to the center of the arena. If she could just use her mage wand to heal herself a bit, teleport again and then heal herself again in a continuing loop until she was recovered enough to attempt a counterattack…
She never got the chance. With the help of a quick spell to push the steelclaw grizzly forward several feet, it, the timber wolf and the speedy beastmaster who had summoned them all converged on her from her left, right, and back sides with their claws raised high. Elene screamed.
Bear, wolf and man all stepped back from their prey as the crowd watched in horrified fascination. In the center of the arena floor was a body that had once housed one of the greatest intellectuals in a small Sortilegan college that no one really cared about. It was now nothing more than a cracked and empty shell.
“You arrogant bookworm,” Longclaw snarled. “So high on the wisdom of your age and your studies, you dared to invade my home, and abduct and kill my fellows. You have paid for their lives with your own.”
The beastmaster looked around the arena floor at all of the animals he had summoned to help him fight this battle.
“Dinnertime, my friends.”
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Author’s note: And…that’s game. Literally, since this story is almost identical to a preconstructed game I played on OCTGN for the very purpose of writing this story. I was playing as the wizard and my opponent was the Straywood Beastmaster. I actually had cast Moonglow Amulet early on in the game, but forgot to click the button to increase my channeling stat so it was kind of pointless. So once I realized my mistake several rounds later I returned it to my spellbook as well as regaining the mana I paid to cast it and cast a decoy on myself in its place (all with my opponent’s permission of course). Other than that, the battle between Beastmaster and Wizard went exactly as I’ve described in this story. Game logs are wonderful for gaming fanfiction writers, aren’t they?
What do you think? Feedback would be greatly appreciated, since I'm still deciding whether to do this again with different mages. I'm not sure how well I could write a Priestess vs Warlock story, since the Warlock in my mind is purely evil and therefore a flat character to me. Maybe I could write one with the Malakai Priest vs the Johktari Beastmaster...
