Pillar of Ice

Beasts swarmed the entrance of the mine. They were mostly wolves with spikes growing on their back like fins, while their mouths gargled with fire.

Just when Kyr thought it was impossible for the creatures to spit out flames, one of the wolves blasted a miner hiding behind his cart, embers crackling.

The few knights stationed at Lumis were there. Those that could use magic summoned shields to protect people from the fires, but they were hesitant to blast the beasts in retaliation in case they hit the mine and collapsed it even more.

The entrance to the mine was large enough to fit five carts side-by-side, but the support beam holding it's ceiling had fallen on one side, while the slope of the mountain itself had eroded on top of it. The beasts must've come from up there and caused the landslide. Perhaps they've come to feed on the kingdom's mana.

“Get the miners out of here!” one of the knights bellowed, a square-faced old man with a scraggly beard.

“There are still people inside!” a woman echoed. She wore a brown leather outfit and a round helmet; the same attire as every miner.

“We’ll deal with the beasts first! Everyone else go!”

Regular people who tried to help dropped what they were doing and ran the other way, but some simply stood there as if paralyzed in fear. The flames must be drawing out their trauma.

When two of the wolves slipped past the knights and entered the town, Kyr intercepted them with a swipe of frosted wind. The tendrils of ice crawled on the cobbled road and halted the beasts' advance.

“Ice magic!” one of the knights noted. “You’re a sorcerer!”

Kyr nodded. He wasn’t supposed to use any magic while in town, but the situation called for it.

“Help us deal with the monsters,” another knight said. “Most of our magic users aren’t as advanced. They can summon wind, but that’d only fan the monsters' flames.”

“Their barriers should be enough,” Kyr said, then followed the knight towards the mine entrance.

There was nearly twenty of the damned beasts, all agitated by the mana bursting inside their bodies. The knights could only strike whenever the wolves themselves come at them, but they were strong enough to fend the beasts with swords and spears.

Instead of using ice, Kyr pulled the beasts in using mana around their bodies. He purposely flailed his arms to appear like a regular sorcerer and tripped the beasts as they stalked. He then reigned them into the knights' blades.

The wolves howled and cried as the defenders of Lumis sliced and skewered at them, while stray bursts of fire were deflected by the defending magic users.

But when everything seemed to be going their way, the beam holding up the mine entrance splintered further, caused by a massive crack that ran along the mountain side.

Kyr realized then that the damage wasn't simply caused by the beasts—they must've happened due to the tremors two days ago, when the winged giants hammered at their sky and sent shock waves across the land.

This, too, was partly his fault.

Feeling a sudden weight of guilt, Kyr rushed towards the mine, summoning mana into his hands.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing!” the old knight screamed as he ran.

Kyr pulled the remaining wolves as he dashed past them, throwing them behind him like sacks of meat. When he reached the mine shaft, he channeled the mana inside the mountain itself, pulled all of the moisture in the air, and conjured ice. 

The frosted spikes blossomed into being reflecting the last rays of sunset. It was small at first, but as Kyr covered every single crack, his magic grew, eventually racing up the mountain side until it became a giant pillar of crystal wider and taller than the spires themselves. It smoked with a frigid chill that dropped the temperature of the region into winter.

Kyr breathed heavily as the sounds of dying beasts echoed behind him.

He slowly turned back to look at the knights, then pointed at the mine. He purposely left the half-buried entrance open. Somebody said earlier there were still people inside.

Kyr summoned a bubble of light, then ran inside before anybody could stop him.

The mine shaft was partly caved in, but it seemed fine. He saw a crack at the ceiling, but his ice should be able to hold it together.

“Hey!” Kyr shouted. “Anyone!”

His heart thundered against his chest. He reached a branch inside the mine that split into two corridors. One looked undisturbed, while the other had a splintered beam, collapsing part of the ceiling.

He created ice to keep the beam from falling completely.

That’s not a trick that’ll work every time, he thought. If only there’s water in here.

Water was technically easy to conjure using mana but it required moisture in the air.

“Hey! Any—”

“Help!”

A muffled voice yelled from the other side of the collapsed corridor.

Kyr made his way through, then found three miners trapped behind another beam that collapsed. They could probably make their way out, but one of the wolves had found its way inside, taunting them.

The beast was slightly bigger than the ones outside, with spiked fins running all the way down its legs.

It turned to face Kyr.

“Ah, damn—”

The beast lunged at him with its massive claws.

Kyr summoned a shield to block the attack. Any offensive spell would simply damage the mine, so he couldn’t use that. He channeled mana into his fists.

When the shield broke, he punched the wolf in its snout just as its open mouth aimed for his neck.

And he thought Vysa was savage.

The beast cried as it fell the other way. It quickly recovered, them immediately jumped back to retaliate, fangs pulsing with magic.

Kyr created another shield, but it broke instantaneously against the beast's claws, pushing him backwards. He swung at the beast a couple of times, but he missed, barely grazing the large fin at its back. The wolf circled around him, then shattered the new shield he summoned at his back.

I would really love a sword right about now!

The beast circled around again, pivoted, then jumped directly back at him.

Instead of summoning a shield immediately, Kyr took a few steps back and caught the damned monster by creating his barrier just as the wolf's fiery mouth was directly at his face. The shield caught the beast and trapped it. Unfortunately, the entire motion backed him into a wall.

Just as the wolf was about to blast his face with fire, he grabbed its front legs and let lightning surge across the beast's entire body.

The wolf cooked in front of him. 

He eventually let go and the beast's charred remains scattered on the ground before him. 

Kyr dropped to his knees, choking at the burnt—

“Look out!” one of the miners shouted. “Above you!”

Kyr looked up and the beam directly on top of him collapsed.

Shield.

He needed to create a—

A pair of glowing hands caught the beam before he could do anything.

The shadowy figure of a woman with ribbons on her ponytail loomed above him with dust billowing about her.

Nowe.

“Sun above, Kyr!” the princess shouted. “Move it!”

Kyr rolled forward as part of the ceiling collapsed behind them.

Dust whirled as Nowe shielded him from it.

“The knights said you charged in here all by yourself!” the woman shouted. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“How’s the girl?”

“What—oh. I left her in the monastery.”

“Her brother might still be in here.”

“That’s not the—ugh, fine. The knights came in with me, but most of them headed to the rightmost corridor. ”

Kyr breathed a sigh of relief, then took Nowe's hand.

“Some spectacle you created back there,” the princess whispered. “Everyone for miles around would be able to see it. Heck, the Republic of In'ana on the other side of the Spearhead Mountains would be able to see it!”

“The mine would collapse otherwise.”

Nowe sighed exhaustively. “I suppose. Well, we’ve got a month left. Who cares if word got around that you were here.”

Kyr chuckled as he summoned mana in his hands, similar to the princess.

He’d worry about that later. For now they’ve got lives to save.