Eli Collingwood took a slow sip from his glass, sighing in satisfaction. There was no chance that Chistopher Reynolds would ever become a direct asset, but Eli considered him to be something like passive income. Every accomplishment of his would reflect positively on Eli, and his accomplishments over the last year were considerable.

Sitting in his private study after having to deal with an obstinate teenager, Eli chose to focus on the positives. Christopher reflected well on him and considerably raised Eli’s reputation for finding talent. At the same time, Jonathon would have seen to it that certain observations had made it into the file belonging to that student Lloyd had sponsored. Those observations were useless at the moment, but Eli knew he would be able to use them to devastating effect in the future.

Eli was sitting in a comfortable, plush, highbacked chair, turned to face his private garden through the large floor to ceiling windows. The rest of his study was filled with stuffed bookcases, holding not only books but many interesting and valuable artifacts and magical items. His specially imported whiskey was just the thing for relaxing his mind and body, and Eli reached for the decanter on the table next to his chair, intending to have one more glass before leaving.

The table was empty.

Sitting up quickly, Eli started looking around the carpet at his feet, and even under the table. His whiskey had disappeared. Eli stood abruptly, turning to look inside, only to catch his breath and freeze in place. It only took a second for him to start shaking, his whole body trembling with rage.

Lloyd stood with his back to Eli, one of his ancient tomes held open in one hand, his entire decanter of single cask whiskey from Troybeck held in the other. Even as he watched, Lloyd casually raised the decanter to his lips and took a deep swig like some barbarian, no doubt completely clueless as to the quality of the whiskey in his hands.

Eli felt the blood rush to his face and opened his mouth to shout, only to be cut off when Lloyd unexpectedly snapped the ancient tome closed with a crack, slowly raising the decanter up to his eyes and peering curiously at the bottle, utterly ignoring Eli in his own study.

“Did you really add lemon peel to a Troybeck?” Lloyd asked in disbelief, almost as if he were scolding a child.

“It lowers the… SHUT UP!” he screamed. “You’re in my house, stealing my property! Who do you think you are?! I’m going to have your head for this! Wait until the Council Head gets here and sees for herself!”

“Oh, my head is hardly likely to go anywhere I don’t choose,” Lloyd replied quietly, still staring intently into the decanter like it was an interesting bug. “And I will gladly wait for Sandy to arrive, that’s the whole reason I’m here.”

Eli choked back his reply, caught off guard by Lloyd’s final revelation.

“What could you possibly want the Council Head here for? Nice try, but no amount of bluffing will help you this time!” he snapped.

“When have I ever bluffed?” Lloyd asked, still sounding distracted, but now unmistakably curious. This time he lowered the decanter and turned to face Eli. “I warned you about what would happen if you continued to use Yaric as a proxy to strike at me. Well, here I am. I know what you tried to do today, and payment comes due.”

“Ha!” Eli blurted; his face was still purple as a plumb. “I’ve done nothing. And you wouldn’t be able to prove anything, because there’s nothing to prove!” Eli had learned long ago that you never admit to any actions taken, you could never know what methods you might open yourself up to. Even Eli had barely scratched the surface of magic, let alone delved deep into the possibilities it created.

“Once Sandy arrives, I will be able to demand a full integration, using a mind bridge if necessary. As I warned you, payment is due… and I’m here to collect.”

“You’re insane! Do you really think that the Council would permit the use of a mind bridge on a fellow council member, over vague accusations concerning a 6^th year student? How stupid are you?”

Eli reached inside his robes, pulling out a wand, essentially a smaller and less powerful staff. Lloyd’s power was well known, but so was Eli’s ability to plan and prepare. His own magic would be significantly more powerful with the boost from the specially made wand. Not to mention all his other little surprises.

“Not even you could get the Council to permit such an action. You’ve just broken into the home of a Council Member and stolen valuable property on a poorly thought-out idea that will never work. I’m going to enjoy presiding over your trial!” Eli declared, his fury causing spittle to fly from his mouth.

“Hmmm…” Lloyd replied thoughtfully, once again looking at the decanter. “Perhaps this was valuable once, but you destroyed it when you threw in that lemon peel.”

Lloyd casually tossed the decanter out the door, hearing the crystal smash in the passageway outside. Eli’s face turned violet.

“But perhaps you’re right,” Lloyd continued conversationally. “Perhaps Sandy would not allow for a mind bridge to be used over what you most certainly tried to do to Yaric. Perhaps she wouldn’t allow it even in a case of breaking and entering – certainly not on you anyway. I guess she needs a better reason.”

A massive chill descended on the room as Lloyd looked impassively at Eli, his face devoid of all emotion save the anger that smoldered in his eyes. Eli paled slightly, then made another mistake.

Lighting flashed from his wand, striking Lloyd square in the chest. At least it appeared to do so, but the vacuum Lloyd had prepared in front of himself gave no path for the flow of electrons required to create lightning. Eli’s mistake was not so much his attack, that changed nothing, but his choice to use an element that Lloyd had famously mastered. Lloyd didn’t so much as blink at the blinding light.

“My turn,” he whispered loudly.

Several bolts of lightning arced from his hands near simultaneously, striking from different directions. There were many different ways that either one could attack the other, but the speed and precision of lightning within the confines of Eli’s study made lightning highly attractive.

Inscribed jewelry activated, creating the same vacuum Lloyd had used, but doing nothing to block the searing flashes of light or ear-splitting cracks. Eli had no chance of noticing the spears of solid air that flew toward him, faster than sound yet slower that the bolts of lighting still striking his shield.

Lloyd had never intended for the first few bolts to land, knowing that Eli would have some kind of defense prepared. That was why they were simply distractions, allowing his bolts of compressed air enough time to pierce through the vacuum. Then his continuous lightning strikes followed, travelling along the compressed air that bridged the vacuum and striking the mage shield that automatically flashed around Eli, which immediately began turning opaque under the strain of blocking the powerful lightning bolts.

“Your head will truly roll now!” Eli roared, both panicked and enraged. “This is attempted murder!”

“I have no intention of killing you, Eli. If I did, you would already be dead. But now at least things will be different when Sandy arrives. An attempt on the life of a Council Member? All over accusations of meddling with a 6^th year? Surely even you can’t deny that my request for a mind bridge will be approved now.”

Eli paled slightly, feeling trapped. He was under attack in his own home, and the fight wasn’t going well. He couldn’t even try going all out, as his own residence would be destroyed, and it would be impossible to keep witnesses away. Yet, it would be even worse if he called for help. Those same witnesses would be all the leverage Lloyd needed to force a proper investigation into the events - this attack was simply too serious to ignore. And Eli had many secrets that he could not afford to have uncovered.

“Come now Eli, call your friends and get this over with.” Lloyd’s voice was slow and calm, yet cold as ice, in direct contrast to the fire that burnt in his eyes.

Powerful blasts of pure arcana began striking Eli’s shield, possible only due to the short distance between them, but still giving Eli a glimpse of Lloyd’s true power.

Then something struck Eli’s shield like a swipe from a dragon, shattering the shield and every other shield that flashed into life after. Pieces of jewelry began singeing his flesh beneath his robes, their enchantments blown out.

The shockwave from the strike shook the ground and set off his wards, only now blaring their warning throughout the residence. Remarkably, the shockwave stopped just short of the bookshelves, and nothing stuck Eli himself.

Snarling in rage, Eli set off every single offensive item he possessed, all timed to strike Lloyd simultaneously.

‘There can be no accusations if the intruder is dead! Attempted murderer killed by his innocent victim, forced to defend himself in his own home!’

A chaotic storm of spells tore through Lloyd, carrying on past him to tear through several walls, leaving multiple new doorways throughout the building and destroying an extensive collection of Eli’s possessions.

“I’ve always wondered if it’s the very nature of shadow related magic that makes everyone continually forget about it,” Lloyd said, cutting of Eli’s thoughts and forcing him to whirl to his left, another spell already forming.

He never got the chance. Lloyd didn’t even bother to strike Eli with magic, instead choosing to augment himself and strike Eli across his chest with his forearm, sending him back into another bookcase with the crackle of multiple breaking ribs. Another shield flashed over the bookcase, protecting its contents. Eli vaguely realized that the bookcase had no such enchantments as he slid to the floor, looking up at the satisfied smile on Lloyd’s face.

“There are some nice people outside who’ve come all the way here just to check on you. You, Eli! Can you believe it? Why don’t you let them in so we can all sit down for a nice little chat?”

Eli spat a bloody wad at Lloyd while simultaneously sending an instantly manifested blob of magma at him. It wasn’t shaped like a projectile, but rather like a wide blanket, shaped to be impossible to dodge.

The entire wall of magma stopped dead on a shield of air, before being blasted out the glass wall to devastate his garden. The sound of tearing pulled Eli’s eyes to the ground in front of him. The carpet had torn away less than a meter from where he still kneeled, revealing the ground beneath.

The next instant, Eli’s nose crunched as it met that same patch of ground, with no carpet to provide any cushioning at all. The next thing Eli knew, he was looking up at his elaborately carved ceiling, before he found his vision blocked once again by the cold hard ground.

“Come come, let them in Eli. The longer you take the more fun I get to have before the inevitable.”

Eli snarled at Lloyd, but it was a ball of plasma that flew from his mouth, not sound. Lloyd raised his eyes in surprise, but still caught the ball a meter from his hand.

“Did you forget that plasma is magnetized,” Lloyd asked, talking the way an adult would tease a child.

Eli watched as Lloyd pointed toward his face, then slowly shifted his arm up to point at the bookcase behind him. Lloyd hesitated for a moment. Eli heard the sound of the entire bookcase shifting behind him, directly manipulated by Lloyd from five meters away. The instant he heard it settle down on the ground, his own ball of plasma flew at his wall, blasting another hole.

“Knowledge belongs to the whole world,” Lloyd explained. “We can’t have your impressive library destroyed, now can we? Knowing you, there are one-of-a-kind tomes in here that would be lost forever.”

Eli refused to give Lloyd the satisfaction of confirming his guess, and instead chose to start gathering arcana to go all out.

Lloyd, meanwhile, started blasting holes in walls all over the place, usually followed by streams of fire.

“Don’t be obstinate Eli, I’ll burn everything down if I have to. Let those people in and get this over with. I still have a lunch to get to.”

Eli’s reply was a spear of ice, so cold that the air cracked as it passed. This time Lloyd showed some genuine alarm, twisting and leaning back to dodge while simultaneously pushing the shard off course. The absolute zero spear flashed past, leaving some sections of his clothes frozen stiff. But that wasn’t Eli’s main attack.

A second spear of ice, just as large as the first, flashed toward Lloyd’s torso while he was still leaning over precariously.

Anger marred Lloyd’s face for the first time since his arrival, Eli’s intention to kill made clear by the deadly trap he had set. Lloyd’s hand blurred upward, stretching out palm forward as if to catch the shard of ice.

A bolt of lightning like no other obliterated the ice, the shockwave from water at absolute zero being superheated near instantaneously blew through the ceiling, shaking the entire building and opening Eli’s study to the sky above.

“No reason to bring the ceiling down, Eli,” Lloyd said, still enraged at his callousness. He’d always known Eli had a vicious streak, but being willing to kill a colleague to cover his own crimes was a level that Lloyd couldn’t even fathom. Perhaps that could explain some of the confusion he felt of Eli’s actions?

Eli’s face was raw and blistered. Some of his hair was missing and patches of skin were already beginning to peel. Lloyd had shielded the entire room from the shockwave of superheated steam, but had somehow managed to miss a tiny hole in front of Eli’s head.

This time it was pulsating orbs of shadow that flew from Lloyds hands, travelling through every hole in the walls. Nothing happened for several seconds, but when Lloyd followed up with small balls of flames, explosions rocked the entire residence. Books began falling off shelves as plaster from the remains of the ceiling began raining down.

“You started this Eli, you decide when it stops.”

Then Lloyd switched to another specialty of his, one even more difficult to dodge than lightning. Beams of intense light flashed from his hands, cutting through walls and anything else that got in the way. Small fires started around each cut.

Blades of compressed air followed, cutting large slices away before dispersing, the pure oxygen that Lloyd had used fueling roaring fires that burned throughout the residence.

Eli’s eyes were dazed, but not only because of the consequences he was now facing. He was furiously responding to short range messages, each more panicked than the last. Eli was forced to level threats to keep some from coming to his rescue.

Finally, Lloyd burnt a small tunnel through the ground, angling sharply to the side and travelling under many rooms. Then another one of his shadowy orbs went down, followed by several more. A small ball of flames went in last, with the tunnel immediately collapsing behind it to plug the gap. The ground swelled up momentarily, shaking like an earthquake, before dropping back down, bringing walls down throughout the building, sections of the roof following swiftly.

“All you have to do is acknowledge what you’ve done, so I can ensure that you can’t ever try something like that again. Is it really worth everything you own? And I do mean everything, because I think my next stop will be that large paper mill at the edge of town. Or maybe I should visit the brewery beside the fair? You know what? I think I’ll first go upriver to…”

“Fine! You win,” Eli rasped, his eyes filled with hate.

“Then hurry up, let everyone in.”

“Why? I did nothing wrong.”

Lloyd’s eyes narrowed as lightning began arcing from his body. A sudden pressure forced Eli to the ground while blood began pouring from his already broken nose.

“But our friendly chat was enlightening,” he managed to wheeze, causing Lloyd to pull back in curiosity.

“Our friendly chat?”

“Yes,” Eli replied, before he started coughing wetly. “Our discussion regarding the dangers of messing with another sponsor’s students. About how some are like rabid dogs,” Eli couldn’t help adding, “and they’re just not worth poking.”

Lloyd didn’t care about Eli’s jab, but he crouched down beside him nonetheless.

“Not worth poking?”

Eli looked around the study meaningfully, or what remained of it anyway, in too much pain to move his head. Somehow there wasn’t a single book damaged.

“You know Eli, I’ve never thought much of you, but if someone had asked me an hour ago, I would have laughed at the thought that you would try to kill someone over something so petty. I mean, what you tried to do to Yaric because of something so pathetic should have given me enough clues already, but I still never thought you were this sick. So, I’m going to accept this chat of ours. And I’m going to leave you be.”

Lloyd broke off to point his hand through the ceiling, sending several large balls of flame arcing up into the air, only to come back down soon after, exploding on different parts of Eli’s residence.

“After that, anyway. You deserve far more… But know this, there are no second chances. There will never again be another ‘pleasant chat’. Touch either of my students again, and the first you hear of my retribution will be after you have already lost your entire little empire, and I do mean everything. Then, once you’re left with nothing but ashes, I will come for you. I think you already know that nothing short of an army could slow me down.”

Lloyd reached out to pat the side of Eli’s face, the sound of slaps echoing through the smoke that had already begun to fill the ruins of Eli’s residence.

“Nice chat.”

Standing back up, Lloyd made straight for the road outside, not bothering to use any doors. Walls exploded outward as he made his way though the large building. Sections of ceiling that fell toward help blew to the side, while Lloyd never once changed his pace. Behind him, Eli staggered to his feet, knowing that he would have to pacify anyone waiting outside.

The outer wall crumbled when Lloyd reached it, forcing him to hop over some of the rubble in order to land in the garden before Eli’s front door. Several shocked mages and wizards were lined up along the road, aghast at the devastation Lloyd had left behind.

“What is the meaning of this?” someone shouted.

“Where is Eli?”

“What did you do to the Council Member?”

More and more voices joined in, until Lloyd raised his palms to the crowd. Jonathon was in the crowd, but he turned around as soon as Lloyd made eye contact, walking swiftly with his back rigid.

“Nothing happened, we just had a chat, that’s all,” Lloyd replied, smirking.

Eli stumbled out just then, the front of his silk robes stained with blood.

“Everything is fine, just an accident,” he wheezed, waving his arms at the crowd as if to shoo them away.

“See, everything is fine. You heard it from the man himself.”

Most of the people in the crowd started turning away, muttering and whispering amongst themselves.

“Eli, don’t you have something to take care of?” Lloyd asked, gesturing to the crumbling building behind them. “Here, let me help.”

Lloyd swung his arm back, his spell lifting Eli off his feet and hurling him back through the wall he had just come exited from.

“What is going on?!” Sandy called, her voice cutting through the noise and splitting the departing crowd. “What have you done?” she asked in panic when she saw Lloyd standing outside the ruins of Eli’s residence.

“Nothing,” Lloyd replied, trying to placate her. “I was just on my way to our lunch. What are you doing here?”

“What am I… I just received a dozen alarms about an attack on campus! Where is Eli? What have you done? You’ve gone too far this…”

“Whoa, I didn’t do anything, remember. Eli and I just had a nice little chat, and things got… spirited. Ask him yourself,” Lloyd added, gesturing to where Eli could be seen staggering back to his feet through the thick smoke that hung over the building. “Eli! Sandy would like a word please!”

Lloyd closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating. A strong wind began tearing through the building, ripping pieces off what remained of the walls and lifting rubble into the air. Everyone still in the street raised their own shield, some creating protective domes while others raised walls that covered others. They needn’t have bothered.

The hurricane winds tore through the residence, carrying much of the building with it, but the winds turned sharply upward just before they reached Lloyd, arcing around to deposit the rubble back inside the building, though now scattered all over the place.

Eli was forced to lean deeply into the wind, his hand covering his face while his robes billowed wildly. Slowly, then with gathering speed, Eli was forced backward and to where Lloyd and Sandy stood, Lloyd smiling pleasantly and Sandy gazing around in bewilderment. Eli soon gave in and leaped slightly, allowing the wind to carry him toward the waiting pair. He stumbled slightly when he landed, but he turned to face them as if everything was normal.

“Good afternoon, Council Head,” Eli rasped.

“What is going on here?” Sandy asked, her voice laced with anger.

“Nothing at all. Lloyd just came over for a friendly chat, and we got carried away. It was a very energetic discussion.”

“Were you stupid enough to think you could beat High Wizard Chen in a fight?” Sandy asked bluntly.

Eli feigned surprise. “What? No! Of course not! I would never think of such a thing.”

Eli’s eyes darted over to Lloyd warily, with a small measure of fear evident.

“So you attacked him?” Sandy accused, now looking Lloyd in the eye.

“If by ‘attack’, you mean verbally sparred with, then yes,” Lloyd acknowledged, an innocent look on his face.

“Do you two seriously think I’m not going to get to the bottom of this?”

“I’d be happy to relay our chat if you would like, Council Head.”

“No need to worry yourself, I’m about to have lunch with Sandy anyway, I’m more than happy to give her a blow by blow.”

“No no, I will do. It’s the least I can do.”

Sandy was looking between the two of, occasionally glancing past them to the devastated rubble that was Eli’s residence.

“I’m not going to drop this. And you,” Sandy said, pointing her finger at Eli, “You’re a sitting Council Member. Do I need to remind you of the consequences of lying to me.”

“Just to keep things accurate, I can say whatever I like regarding affairs outside of the Council, however, I have nothing to hide.”

“And you understand that the Academy will not be paying for the repairs to your… for rebuilding your residence.”

“I understand,” Eli replied, wincing.

“Come, let’s get back to the lunch you arranged,” Lloyd suggested. “We don’t want to keep the students waiting. Unless you still need Eli?”

“No, we will have our lunch. Then will have our own ‘little chat’.”

“Of course,” Lloyd said, putting his one arm over Sandy’s shoulders and turning her around to walk back with him. He quickly waived his free arm over his head.

“Wai…” Eli’s wheezing exclamation was cut off when he went sailing back into the cloud of dust that had extinguished most of the fires, disappearing back into the haze that sat over his residence.

“You are going to tell me what just happened,” Sandy firmly stated. “The truth.”

Lloyd’s reply was just as firm. “Oh yes, I certainly will.”