The Storm and The Magma

The arena crackled with electric energy, tension thick in the air as I faced Magnus. The jagged ground beneath us rumbled, and dark clouds churned above, the sky heavy with the promise of a storm. Magnus stood across from me, his silver hair glowing faintly, his eyes alight with raw lightning power. He was a living storm—swift, powerful, unyielding.

I gripped my wand tightly, preparing for whatever he would throw at me. My earth affinity was my strength, but against Magnus, whose lightning could tear apart the very ground, I knew I needed a strategy. I would have to rely on my natural magic—reserving the molten force of magma as a last resort.

But the audience—my audience—wasn’t watching me the way they watched the others. Whispers spread like wildfire, mocking and sneering at the very idea that a human noble princess, someone they considered beneath them, could stand on this stage.

"Look, it's a human princess. What’s she even doing here?" a voice in the crowd sneered.

"She doesn’t belong here," another added, louder this time. "A human, no less."

Their taunts and murmurs swirled around me, and I had to fight the urge to let their words rattle me. I could feel their disdain, their hatred of my kind, of humans. The Enchanted Forest had never accepted us, and now I was here, the daughter of the Evergreen family, a human princess among them all. I wasn’t just fighting Magnus—I was fighting their prejudices.

“Ready to test the strength of the earth?” Magnus called, his voice both mocking and confident, as he raised his wand with a flicker of energy.

I didn’t respond. The only answer I needed to give was the one my magic would speak.

"Begin!" Hecate’s voice rang out like the clang of a bell, and the air instantly crackled with tension. Magnus moved first, as I expected.

Without warning, he thrust his wand into the air, chanting under his breath. “Κεραυνός της αστραπής!” A bolt of searing blue lightning shot from his wand toward me, the crackling energy so intense that I felt the hairs on my arms rise before it even reached me.

I didn’t hesitate. With a swift motion, I thrust my wand forward, chanting a spell of protection. “Γη Ασπίδα!” The earth beneath my feet groaned as it surged upwards, creating a towering wall of stone between me and the incoming lightning. The bolt collided with the stone barrier, causing it to tremble and crack under the force of the strike. The air smelled of burning stone and ozone, but I stood firm, my shield holding for now.

Magnus raised an eyebrow, his expression one of curious challenge. “Nice. Let’s see how long that lasts.”

Without waiting for a response, he raised his wand again, his fingers tracing patterns in the air as he muttered another incantation. The sky above us darkened further, swirling with violent storm clouds. “Θύελλα Κεραυνών!” A deafening clap of thunder followed, and a torrential downpour of rain poured down from the sky, the storm intensified by the crackling force of his magic. Lightning streaked through the clouds, striking the ground in random places, each flash accompanied by a terrifying crack of thunder.

I could feel the temperature drop as the storm raged overhead, and Magnus took advantage of the chaos, summoning bolts of lightning to dart from the storm clouds, aiming them at me from every direction.

I wasn’t about to let the storm overwhelm me. With a wave of my wand, I summoned the earth to fight back. “Σίδερο Φρουρός!” The ground cracked open, and iron tendrils shot up, forming a protective shield. The iron absorbed the lightning strikes, crackling with energy but holding firm against Magnus’s storm.

The storm wasn’t just lightning—it was chaos. The rain soaked the ground, turning it slippery, and the winds howled, pushing me back. My shield wouldn’t hold much longer.

I acted fast. “Στρατός Φυτών!” I called, and thick vines shot from the ground, twisting toward Magnus, forcing him to focus on dodging rather than attacking.

But Magnus was quick. He blasted the vines with lightning, shredding them. The storm surged, and the air crackled with energy.

“Too slow,” Magnus taunted, sending another bolt of lightning, larger and stronger than the last.

I had to move. The storm was closing in, and Magnus’s attacks grew fiercer. I reached within myself, calling upon my most dangerous magic.

“Λάβα Κάθαρση!”

Magma surged up from beneath the surface, swirling like molten fury as it rose from the earth. The heat was intense, and the ground trembled with the power of it. The air shimmered from the heat, distorting the view as the lava flowed toward Magnus, its fiery currents threatening to consume everything in its path.

The audience gasped, their murmurs turning into shocked silence. Even Magnus blinked in surprise, his eyes widening as the lava began to form before him. His gaze shifted from the molten force to me, clearly taken aback by the power I had unleashed.

But Magnus wasn’t so easily caught. With a fierce cry, he summoned more lightning, striking the lava directly. The electricity arced through the molten rock, sending shockwaves of energy through the air, but I had anticipated this. The lava flowed with a mind of its own, shifting and dividing as it absorbed the lightning’s energy, using the storm against him.

I surged forward, using the molten lava as a shield while directing its flow toward Magnus. He couldn’t escape the molten flow—it was too quick, too hot, and too overwhelming.

Magnus’s eyes widened further, his usual confidence faltering for the first time. For a moment, the arena was still as the audience took in the sight of my second affinity. A human, with both earth and magma magic? The thought seemed impossible to them, and they stared in awe and disbelief. Even Magnus, ever the master of lightning, was now on the defensive.

He raised his wand, summoning a final burst of lightning. “Αντίκτυπος Κεραυνού!”

A massive bolt struck the lava, and the arena was briefly blinded by the explosion of energy. The shockwave sent me stumbling, but I quickly regained my balance. When the light faded, Magnus was on his knees, panting, singed, and burned from the blast.

I stood firm, my body trembling with exhaustion, but my resolve unwavering. My lava shield held strong, and though I had used my most dangerous magic, I had controlled it.

As I looked at Magnus, a thought struck me: He wasn’t just powerful—he was a genius. Like Master, he had mastered his affinity so thoroughly that he could control the storm itself. He had transcended the limits of his magic, using it to control the very battlefield.

“Enough,” Hecate’s voice rang out, firm and final.

Both of us stood, breathing heavily, the storm and molten earth swirling around us. Neither of us had claimed a clear victory, but neither had we been defeated. The fight had been a test of endurance, strategy, and raw elemental power.

“Both of you advance,” Hecate declared.

Suddenly, the crowd roared. The sound was deafening, like nothing I had ever heard before. They had witnessed something extraordinary—a fight unlike anything they had expected. Even in the heat of the battle, the realization of their disbelief echoed in their cheers.

The weight of the moment settled over me. Magnus and I exchanged a final glance—silent understanding passing between us. For now, we were equals.

But the battle was far from over.