Heights of Magic

There was no refined technique to Rhys’ assault when he heard her voice. He didn’t think, nor plan. All he did was hurl himself forward, halberd abandoned, and wrapped both arms around Zev in a desperate tackle.

They hit the ground hard and water splashed in every direction. Zev snarled, but Rhys drove his shoulder into Zev’s chest, pinning him there with sheer weight. His broken arm screamed but he didn’t care about it.

Zev bucked and his knee found Rhys’ ribs. He felt something crack but his grip held. Before he knew it, Zev had rolled them over, pinning Rhys beneath and jabbed his dagger into Rhys’ side. Rhys wheezed and threw up blood. But he didn’t let go.

“I’ll accompany you beyond the Veil.” Rhys said, grinning.

“You’ll be going alone!” Zev retorted with sadistic glee.

Zev opened his jaws, bared his sharp teeth and closed in. But Rhys struck his skull against Zev’s. Once, twice, enough to daze Zev. He locked his legs around Zev and rolled over again, wrenching the dagger from his hands and jabbing it into Zev’s hand. Blood gushed out of the wound but it healed, around the weapon.

Rhys’ eyes lit up and then he stomped on Zev’s other arm. Zev thrashed below him, but Rhys’ grip held firm. Then he flashed a toothy grin and held a hand out.

“Mira! My halberd!” Rhys called out.

“On it!” Mira shouted and levitated his abandoned halberd. She flung it at Rhys, and he caught it mid-flight.

“What are you planning with that useless thing, Rhys? Ahh, you still think you can kill me with that? How delightful!”

“Not kill. But you’re also not going anywhere!”

Using all of his remaining strength, he lifted Zev by the collar and shouted at the top of his lungs, a roar like that of a lion. Then he lifted his halberd with his healthy arm and thrust it forward. Whatever strength he had, he put into this one final strike and it struck true. The tip, the entire axe head, passed through Zev’s body with a sickening shlick, then hit the ground below. Zev howled in pain, but Rhys wasn’t done yet. He lifted the halberd again, then pounded it into the ground. Again. Once again. Until the entire axe-head was buried in the pavement.

Rhys broke away while Zev struggled to remove the halberd from his healing body. He gritted his teeth, grabbed the shaft but the halberd was too long, he couldn’t remove it. And the axe head was stuck in the ground. From his position he couldn’t pull it from the road. Rhys brought considerable distance between them then collapsed near a hedge, his strength spent.

“Mira, now!” he shouted.

Mira didn’t need words. She had steadied her breath, grounded her feet and held her staff at the ready in her injured hand. It was stinging when she flexed her fingers. But she knew this was her final stand. Mira twirled her staff before her, spinning it like a windmill, then let go. Her healthy hand swooped in and grabbed it, halting its momentum. Like wielding a sword, she grabbed it with both hands and held it over her head.

Lightning struck behind her and her shadow swallowed Zev’s. And it wasn’t just her shadow; it was her presence. Despite being an upcoming Apostle of the Wilds, Zev had forgotten what happens if you corner someone with no way out. And now this oversight was about to cost him.

The lantern light reflected in the left side of her glasses, leaving one eye glaring down at him. She swung her staff downward and closed her eyes. Right now, it was all or nothing. Percival’s spell would soon run out, and she would make every gifted second count. Her clothing and hair began to sway and dance; not with the wind. One more steadying breath and she began the incantation. Magicked circles appeared before her staff, rotating, taking aim.

“I, who stands here beneath the starlit skies, command magicks to yield to my will. With astral grace, let me bring forth what gave life its fullest brilliance…”

With a howl, glittering lavender matter began to gather, swirling around her staff in a vortex, whose diameter grew to three meters with ease. A rumble emanated from its center and revealed a glowing, golden sphere of shining brilliance.

 Zev ceased his struggle, taken aback by the shift in tone. Their roles were reversed. Prey and predator had switched places. Gritting his teeth, he rattled on the halberd but to no avail. Mira continued her channeling undisturbed.

“With my will, let me forge what dots the Great Beyond. With my humble hands, let me be the weaver that brings its greatest potential into being.”

The sphere of light began to sizzle, pulse like a living being, and grow in size. Each time it grew, it sounded like a bell was tolling, portending the coming of the end.

Rhys watched with awe, with fascination and fear alike while panic flooded Zev’s face. His eyes widened and he tried to get up. The halberd obstructed his movement.

“You have to be joking! You’re just a little mage!” he shouted in agony. “So why can you… Why…”

Mira opened her amber eyes slowly, shining with the same astral light her words and Vis had birthed.

“Though made by mortal flesh, let me bask in the star’s primal shine and let me call down what looms above upon those who stand against my path. A fraction of the myriad above, now rests before myself.”

The star before her grew, swallowing the outline of her frame. It pulsed again. Still more Vis rushed from every direction to become a part of this creation, the reflection of a star on high. It shone so bright, one could mistake it for another sunrise.

“Stop screwing with me!!” Zev shouted, pulled his hand free and swung his blade down with a viridian howl.

A wind sickle erupted and careened towards Mira. Too late. The star swallowed its magic, overpowering Zev’s will to defy her.

“This can’t be…” Zev said, his voice suddenly quiet.

He rattled, he shook and thrashed around Rhys’ halberd. But it was too late. Where Mira’s staff would point, calamity now followed. She spoke anew.

 “Let this weaver of magicks be its guiding hand! HELIOS!” Mira swung her staff anew and the star rolled into motion.

It howled, shrieked and cried out. Then it hurled forward, sending Mira sprawling backward from its shockwave. Zev held his arms before his eyes, a sharp cry of eardrum-shattering agony escaping his raw throat. And then the star swallowed him whole.

 It struck, hit the ground and detonated in a blinding flash with brilliant violence. The shockwave alone shattered the windows of all shops around them, broke the lanterns and flattened the hedges. Rhys clung to the ground, barely holding on against the shockwave.

Even Velvet, who had come flying back to check on them, was sitting on her broom in awe and terror at what this unassuming mage had just unleashed. The shockwave caught her too, like a turbulence, but she held fast to her broom.

The star expanded, shedding its nebulous layers into the environment with scorching heat, following the shockwave close behind. Then it dimmed, leaving a dissipating glimmering haze.When the astral brilliance faded, the ground was scorched, molten and shattered where it landed.

There, Zev was, still impaled on Rhys’ seared halberd but his remains were scorched, flesh burnt from bone. The flesh tried to regenerate, slowly and barely. His facial features returned in fragments. But then his body broke apart, one hand reaching for Mira. The dying man gritted his teeth one last time, before the light in his half-formed eyes vanished and his body went still forever.

But the recoil was instantaneous. Mira felt a sharp sting in her head, a throbbing pain in her heart and abdomen. Blood poured from her nostrils, her ears, her mouth and even her tear ducts. Her magical fatigue had worn her down already, and now she knew she had overdone it. Unable to stand anymore, she fell off the fountain and collapsed with a wet thud.

"We did it…" she said, smiling weakly through the agony.

Zev was no more. The nightmare that haunted her was vanquished. Against all odds, Rhys and her brought a Covenant cultist low. She couldn’t believe her luck. And though she felt relief, it didn’t erase the pain. Her body was burning, boiling her from the inside. Her vision was swimming, darkness eating at the edges. Her legs had given out, she couldn’t stand anymore. This last gambit of hers had paid off. But she wasn’t done yet. No.

Another violent pulse shook her body. Her time was up. It was a matter of minutes, she could tell. Maybe even less. But she still pulled herself forward, dragged herself across the ground. Another pulse and her limbs felt leaden. In spite of it, she pulled herself forward once more. And yet again.

Her pain was indescribable, she wanted to cry. But she couldn’t. She didn’t have the energy for it. When she crawled, she left a scarlet trail behind herself. The adrenaline, her saving grace before, was wearing off. Agony burned through her body, trailing up her every nerve. But she couldn’t stop. Not when she was this close.

Finally, she managed to get where she wanted to: Rhys’ side. He looked at her weakly, his eyes were wide with concern. But Mira simply smiled and wiped the blood from her nose and mouth.

“Mira, you…”

“Rhys, we did it…” she breathed, her voice light and airy.

She collapsed against his side, but propped herself up again. Rhys’ wounds were severe, he was bleeding profusely. There was no telling how long he would have. His skin was growing cold.

Just one last time… she thought and shuffled closer again.

“Don’t talk…” Mira said and propped herself up at her arms.

She reached down into her bag and produced a flask: her last Flameweed potion. Rhys recognized the bottle, and his eyes widened. Her fingers and hand were shaking when she raised the bottle. And from the angle, with how determined she pushed it forward, she had no intention of drinking the contents. No. Not herself. Those crimson droplets of life were meant for him alone.

“Mira, don’t…!” he said, his voice low and raspy.

But she popped the cork. Then shuffled closer and pinned his hand with hers, their fingers lacing together. Her fingers, once warm, now felt like wet clay. She was looming over him, smiling weakly. A single strand of lavender hair fell from her twintails and feathered his wounded chest. A moment passed that felt like it stretched for eternity. That smile of hers didn’t grow weaker and her gaze held his.

“…I don’t have a lot of time left… Please.” Mira said.

Their eyes met and she brought the bottle to his lips. He hesitated, opening his mouth reluctantly. And she poured its contents down. The angle made swallowing difficult and he had to cough and wheeze. But he took every drop he gave her without breaking eye contact.

Then another pulse shook her. The empty flask slipped from her grasp and clattered to the ground, rolling away. Her eyes were half-lidded, barely open anymore. There was no strength left.

“Rhys…” she whispered. “Thank you…”

Her words barely managed to break through the storm’s din. She opened her mouth again. But before she could say more, Mira’s body collapsed against his side, her eyes closing. She stopped moving, breathing lightly as the dark claimed her.

Rhys could only watch with wide eyes as her body hit the floor. And then exhaustion overcame him, the potion’s effects wearing on him already. His eyes closed too, and he drifted off, same as her.