After I had processed several marbles each, the hungry horde relented and went back to their business. Looking around showed that the only change was a pair of pony tails off the back of my head the sprite had styled/ braided/ knotted my hair into. I climbed down out of the tree and checked my reflection in the coves surface.
“Did she do this on purpose? And how the hell did she get these to stand out like this?”-Me
My reflection in the coves water surface didn’t have an answer for me. I waved my hair back and forth, craning my neck trying to catch a glimpse of what the hairdressing sprite had done. Giving up I stood and looked out across the lake. Liberace eyestalks were staring back.
“Does it suit me?”-Me
“blink”-Liberace
“Thought so.”-Me
I looked around and spotted Blackwood across the lake by the great tree’s glassy tumbled roots. A small group of feathered frogs was hopping around in his branches, his gnarled face looked a little less grumpy than normal. I waved, he didn’t wave back.
Looking above, nothing seemed to have changed in the phantom great tree other than Grapes of Wrath was nowhere to be seen.
I went into the cove and checked out Keraunos, peering into the crystal to trace the embedded twist lines. Sounds of a larger creature from the forest broke my concentration, and I got a wild and potentially dangerous idea.
-If this works, Blackwood is going to hate it. I might even have a chance to claim a share of the championship title.
I smiled and started braiding a new leader.
A 2 meter tall white bird with gem tone blue feathers forming lines from it eyes. Its head cocked sideways as it caught site of me, opening it’s jagged edged beak it chirped, then charged towards me, and right into the far end of my heavy braided leader. I twisted a very small spark into the braided leader that connect the bird to Keraunos. The long blue static shock was followed by Keraunos’s deep violet lightning bolt.
When the after image faded from my vision the flames from black feathers were being snuffed out as the broken bird greyed into de-rezz. I moved out of the cove and walked towards the cooked bird, keeping an eye out for any new comers. Small static shocks leaped off my cloths and hair showed me that my combination air/lightning magic “non-conductive air barrier” had not worked perfectly.
-No, if it hadn’t worked, I’d have been fried too. But I did pick up a charge. I wonder if this static charge is from ambient magicicles from the water or in the air being changed by the magic twist in Keraunos? Or maybe sympathetic changes? I seem to remember something about people getting zapped even though they were removed from were lightening hit. Damn I really should work on those mind magics. Eidetic memory sounds really useful.
I zapped the birds de-rezz as I speculated more on my lightning magic and how the twist in Keraunos related. After I collected the birds soul marble, I retuned up into my phantom tree to cook some more marbles and work on getting my new core spinning even faster.
….
The first round of the battle royale raged on the ground and amongst the branches of the phantom great tree. The lake roiled, battle cries cut out abruptly, broken bits fell from the sky and around the cove the chaos was illuminated in deep violet light.
“Welcome to the lightening elimination round!”
My left hand was a spinning vortex of misty air surrounding the marble that held an air twist engraved in white and gold at its heart. My right was covered in Lichtenberg marks, holding the largest gold needled marble I had. Bolt after bolt of violet lightning arced from Keraunos at my direction. Small pink tinged bolts danced across the surface of the cove, paralyzing any that touched it long enough for a violet bolt to burn a hole through it and any creature nearby. The pink lightning was from the air magic I had engraved into my left hand marble, magic that used the secondary charging effect that Keraunos’s lightning had on the air.
When the round ended under the golden glow of so many de-rezz suns, the inter round glaring contest was disturbed by a massive electrical crack. The ground surrounding Keraunos was lite up in a violet pink aurora of power that blew swirling black miasma into clouds of glittering silver, and caused the golden suns to dim and fade. A mass of pale green orbs trailing silver, gold and grey raced into the great tree above looking like nothing more than a routed army dropping their weapons behind them. The aurora soon faded as I collapsed to me knees in the cove.
“MUK. I thought Wizards are supposed make magic seem easy.”-Me
By again combining air and lightning magic, I had dispersed Keraunos’s bolt into the air over my entire “arena”. The result of the dispersed electrons guided by the airicle formed field, super charged the air and “zapped” all of the greyed out combatants as they de-rezzed.
-It worked! Hehehe.
Ignoring the mad giggling in my head and the tremors in my limbs. I looked up at the other contestants to gauge how my display had gone over. Most of the contestants we're looking up in my direction. Various reactions played across their faces, from dull incomprehension too, at least in Blackwood's case, sheer terror.
-I’m pretty sure that was surprise I saw in Liberace’s eye stalk.
I forced myself to stand back up and headed over to the lowest branches hanging from my phantom fir. I reached up and squeezed down on a one of the small needle bushy branches.
-OOOuuuccchhh! Hold it together. Can’t let them see you sweat!
-You can’t sweat in the after-life.
-Shut up me and get back to work!
After my comedy attempt to distract myself from the pain, I focused on drilling holes into the needles to re-charge. My aroura trick had emptied a lot of my reserves.
-Not to mention the many recharges previous while setting up the field over the last uncounted days.
As the neutral magicicles streamed in I examined the other finalists. Blackwood, Liberace, and Grapes of Wrath were all present, if not in better shape than in previous battles. A giant shaggy were-wolf was eyeing me and a two headed ogre. He looked torn on who he was going to face first. A pair of golden furred leopards were crouched down panting, each watching a separate direction. A crystal horned antelope the size of a van had its head hung, bellowing breaths sending gravel and grey dust flying. Above in the branches of the phantom great tree, a giant tawney coloured squirrel like creature was glaring angrily at Grapes of Wrath. Purple grape like eyes returned the malice from between its diamond edged leaves. I removed my hand from the phantom fir when it had scared over, and begin grabbing the largest marbles in the area. As the suns around the lake started to set, the tension started to rise, and I returned to stand next to Keraunos. Mist started to form around my left hand and static shocks of electric blue raced over my right.
-I wish I could tell if this looks really comic book cover cool, or really sad last minute Halloween costume.
When the last sun faded, the challenge roars sounded out across the lake, and enemies charged. The were-wolf raced away from me towards the two headed ogre with a snarling howl which let me turn to face towards the great tree base. A car sized hedgehog was lumbering at speed towards me, its metallic quills making off key wind chime noises while it squealed its battle cry. I was building my third braided leader when a bedazzled figure surged out of the lake to hammer jewel edged claws into the surprised hedgehogs side. Metallic quills sparked off of Liberace’s shell as the hedgehog desperately tried to find a weakness in the crabs crystal studded carapace before Liberace’s claws could shear off more than just a few quills.
I could hear the ripping noise of Blackwood rapid firing rocks from across the lake as I flipped between the were-wolf and Liberace’s fight, waiting to see who would win, and who would face me next. The Ogre managed to grab the agile were-wolf in a surprise charge, putting him into a bear hug as he blindly continued the run along the lake shore towards me. I quickly looked behind me to see Liberace clip a car door sized chunk off the squealing hedgehog.
“Stupid ogre just had to run this direction while Liberace is almost done with the only other target on this side of the damn lake”-Me
I locked two heavy braided leaders on the pain maddened ogre currently being shredded by the half crushed were-wolf. Two deep violet bolts flew from Keraunos, one blowing off the ogre's right leg, while the other burned a hole through the were-wolfs shoulder and into the ogre's chest. I turned quickly as they fell to face Liberace. The hedgehog's squeal ended as the powerful claws sheared the car sized monster in two. Liberace turned away from the rapidly greying ruin, tuning his body to face my direction.
“So, is this the part where you decide if the crown is worth sharing with the new guy? Im suilann- cin, aran plural erain or erein no i ael.”-Me
We stared at each other for a moment before a flick of it eye-stalks up sent my head snapping up. A massive fluffy creature was falling towards me from above. I dodged towards the lake. I rolled painfully on the rubble strewn lake bed as massive violet flashes from behind me left flickering shadows playing across the lake’s rough surface. I managed to regain my footing to stand up and look towards the madly arcing Keraunos. The Squirrel creature had fallen to be impaled on the crystal spire and was now covered in violet electricity burning black lines into its furry hide.
“Auta miqula orqu green ass!”-Me
-I'm’ @#$%ed now.
I flicked my eyes to the left too check how far I was from my phantom fir “fortress of cowardness”, which is why I saw Grapes of Wrath drop the last 3meters from a hanging vine, onto the leaning phantom fir.
-MUK! Everyone is hiding in there. Wrath just happens to drop on my hide after disabling Keraunos? @#$%ing monster is too smart!
I stepped carefully toward the lake shore, shuffling my feet under the water so as not to trip, while I lifted both arms towards the glassy emerald coloured vine monster. Grapes of Wrath seemed to be stuck, shivering and flailing vines around the top of the phantom fir he had dropped down on to.
-He must be pinned by all the fir needles. I can keep him busy, and hopefully stuck in place till I can get Keraunos free.
I continued my shuffle across the rubble choked lake bed while building a large air bomb on my left, and throwing leaders with my right.
-I hope this works!
I twisted through the gold needled marble sending a brilliant blue arc of lightning into the main clump of Wrath’s vines. The bowling ball sized wispy grey air bomb arched up and over top of the tree to the right a bit, then detonated with a chest thumbing bang. Grapes of Wrath’s leaves whipped and shredded against the fir’s needles in the concussive shock wave.
“Stop squirming you over grown shrub, ornamental vegetation isn’t supposed to be mobile”-Me
I kept snapping blue lightning at any parts that seemed to be working free while my air bombs pounded it back down on to the phantom fir’s needles. Wrath seemed unable to overcome its own weight and my constant barrage, looking more ragged and weed-wacked with each air bomb. Finally, the vicious shrubbery stilled, grey creeping across the shredded leaf pile that marked the end of Wrath.
“Túr na- sab-! You green umphhh!”-Me
As I was about to celebrate my somewhat questionable beat down on one of the reigning champions when a massive glittering claw hit me from my blind spot. Liberace had managed to creep up on me and back clawed me into slow back flip arc across the lake.
-Are they working together? Did the damn flashy crab just skeet me for Blackwood?
I flailed in the air trying to twist around and spot Blackwood. Instead, I spotted a yellow-white glow. Liberace Crab hadn’t sent me flying over the lake for Blackwood to snipe out of the air. The Be-dazzled crab had sent me flying towards the rift hanging above the lake’s surface. Liberace had pulled a Babe Ruth and batted me into a home run.
