Black Hole

Fearing for their lives, knowing that soon they would see what awaited them in the afterlife, both Saratoga and Moliugas were prepared to make these lux earn their prey.

The witch took up a stick… A rather sturdy one that she hoped would fracture glass upon blunt contact. And the other, the rind, gathered enough flaming phlegm to hock explosive loogies at any offending creature of light.

Both knew how futile their battle would be, but no other choices had been presented to them. Flight had gone with the wind, now it was time to fight.

A lux pawed at the ground, showing signs of its will to pounce. When it finally made a leap in, Saratoga smacked it with her stick, sending it flying, but also breaking her stick in half. Her arms ached from the hefty blow.

Moliugas, after seeing her success of repelling a single lux, spit in the direction of one who stood in their path to escape. But unlike before when he’d send out a single shot, a stream of continual flame wafted out of his mouth.

His impressive skills were once again mild towards the lux, but inspiration knocked on Saratoga’s door.

“Wait!” She reached into her bag, gathering a small amount of yellowish powder, charcoal, and a type of salt, then mixing it into a tiny burlap package. “Use your flames on this once I say so!”

She tossed the mixture out and ordered its destruction once it was within proximity of the lux ahead of them. A magnificent explosion blasted the moment it was encircled with flame. The construct was forced back from the blast. They had seconds to run through, but the lux were very clearly faster then they were, so their head start was meaningless.

“What was that explosive you made?” Moliugas asked.

“Black powder,” she answered. “It was the same thing I used to light my boomstick.

“I've heard of witches carrying a broomstick, but a boomstick is a new one.”

Although the name pun was intentionally made by her long ago in a tired state, she hardly found its levity appealing at the moment.

The path they took up the mountain led them to a dead end rock wall. The only way further up would have been climbing, which neither had the experience to do in a pinch. In fact, Saratoga was especially out of breath, given her lack of physical conditioning. And Moliugas’s head was not conducive for that sort of action, seeing as it was bigger than his arm could stretch out.

But fate had not abandoned them, as someone else was present and looking down from the very top of the wall.

“May the darkness consume you!” Called out the voice of an old man above.

A black orb fell down shortly after those words were spoken. It landed among the lux, quickly stealing all light from each of them, much like the black flame Saratoga had made before.

Unlike her flame though, this ball of pitch black was perfectly rounded and tame, not at all a risk to anything but what its caster perceived as a target.

“A void orb…” Saratoga uttered, watching the light bend around this orb of pure darkness, giving it a white glow.

Once all of the lux had been defeated and turned into scrap shards of glass, the orb became inert and returned to the man that it came from.

“Who came to our rescue?” Moliugas questioned, looking up at the old man. “Please. We demand you reveal yourself.”

“At least you said please…” The old man leapt from the top of the rock wall, but glided down gracefully, landing in front of them. “But you're both just as helpless as always.”

He wore ornate robes, nearly regal in design. His face was very old, sporting a long white beard and sharp eyes.

“The wizard!” Shouted Moliugas.

“The wiseman…” Saratoga uttered.