by Eric Vall
“Shoshanne’s handling the storm, but if she can’t get it in line, we’re gonna need to take cover,” I told the Ignis Mage beside me. “We need to hit hard before that happens and not let up. There’s no way she can’t be injured if we move fast enough. I want you at her back and ready to shoot your flames at any opening, alright?”
Aurora nodded. “Where will you be?”
“Anywhere she is,” I muttered as a giant wave broke against the jetty.
Yvette reformed and stood grinning at me from the embankment, and when she curled her finger toward me, I walked out to meet her.
“What are you doing?” Aurora demanded, but I kept my pace without looking back.
The coin in my pocket would at least spare my life, and although I didn’t look forward to drowning again, I knew this was my best hand against the Flumen Mage.
She had no idea I could withstand mortal injuries, let alone heal them.
So, I strolled to the edge of the embankment, and when I began to make my way along the rocks, Yvette’s smile spread across her pale face.
“Come with me,” she called out above the crashing waves. “The Master is waiting, and he does not like for me to be late.”
I waited until I was within a few feet of Yvette to shake my head, and her expression fell immediately.
Then I broke the jetty apart and let her plummet into the sea, and the moment the droplets of her form rained down behind me, I flipped around and hurled another boulder straight through her.
She scrambled and broke apart just in time, and when she tried to settle into a solid state again, I already had another boulder headed her way, with a third spiraling from behind her back.
This time, Yvette let out a yowl of pain when she dissipated, and I nodded to Cayla on the cliff as water rained down once more.
The bazooka fired a split second before Yvette was reformed, and as the rocket struck the rocks at her feet, I dove into the sea.
Rubble shot in every direction around me, but I swam madly to get out of range while purple flames danced above the surface. I was just crossing over the crop of blackened seaweed in the middle of the cove when I headed for the surface, but something caught my ankle.
I flipped over to see Yvette wrenching at my leg, and her black hair plumed around her ghostly blue face while she clawed to pull me into her grasp.
I kicked hard and planted my boot against her jaw, and when she jolted in pain, I was able to free myself.
Then I swiftly pulled the floor of the ocean up from beneath the seaweed, and I rolled the sheet of sand and stone right over Yvette’s flailing body.
She thrashed her arms and legs furiously until they became tangled with the seaweed, and finally, the weight began to drag the knotted woman downward.
I wasn’t even surprised when she escaped by dissolving into the water, and I was already swimming like hell for shore in case she reformed and snatched me again. When I dragged myself up onto the slate and whipped around, there was no sign of the Flumen Mage anywhere.
“Did you get her?” Aurora asked and ran to my side.
I shook my head, and the half-elf cursed.
Rain had begun to fall from the sky, and as it increased and formed blankets of gray that drifted inland, another violent wave broke against what remained of the jetty.
Aurora didn’t hesitate to send her flames to the spot where the Flumen Mage landed, and I felt a brief flicker of hope as Yvette’s robes ignited in searing white flames.
Yvette hissed and wrenched her arm up, though, and a wave engulfed her entire form to douse the enchanted flames.
The next jet of flames had just left Aurora’s palm when another rocket flew overhead, and the Flumen Mage let out a furious yowl as she broke into a thousand droplets.
I immediately turned my hand and caught every bit of water in a bowled out chunk of stone, and then I sent it flying toward the cliff face with as much force as I could.
When the boulder smashed into dust, Yvette suddenly crashed to the ground with the remains. Blood blotted her robe and streamed into puddles beneath her, and she trembled as she worked to right herself.
Aurora had her flames flying toward the Flumen Mage before she could stand, but there was nothing for them to engulf by the time they got there.
I ran over to the place she’d vanished, and my fury peaked as I eyed the tidal pools littered with water. Rain coursed down and slicked every inch of slate around me, and I realized there was no way of knowing where the bits of Yvette had landed.
“Godsdamnit,” I growled and pulled a chunk of rock about twenty feet across up from the slate.
My own footing shifted dangerously as deep cracks began to spread across the cove, and when I slammed the shard of slate against the cliff to shake the Flumen Mage loose again, mud cascaded down with the heap of rubble, but no bodies came this time.
I squinted through the rain as I turned in a circle, and I caught sight of a strange sort of shadow that seemed to flit across the raindrops above me.
“There!” I pointed as I realized Yvette had dissipated into the storm itself, and I worked to keep an eye on the dull shadow while Aurora whipped around and swiped her blue hair from her eyes.
A deep crack gave way under my feet, though, and I quickly channeled my Terra magic into the slate to repair the damage before we broke away from the cliffside entirely.
When I looked back, the shadow was still passing across the droplets and heading higher toward the clouds, and I pointed it out for Aurora before we could lose her.
The moment she caught sight of the rippling shadow, Aurora threw her flames out, but then a clap of thunder broke so loudly we lurched to grab our ears.
A bitter and howling wind followed shortly after, and I squinted through the downpour to see the clouds above the ocean churning and gathering speed.
A loud snap came from the cliffside, and a tree tumbled over the edge while the wind picked up and almost threw me right off my feet. Shoshanne slammed into me, and she tried to force me toward the fortress while Dragir bolted past.
Rogue branches snapped free and flew over the cliff to tumble out to sea, and sticks and plants were swept up in the force of the wind.
“I can’t stop the storm,” the Aer Mage hollered above the violent waves echoing all around the inlet, and she kept her palms toward the sky as she braced her back against the cliff. “Cayla’s taking cover. Get to the fortress, and I’ll--”
Whatever Shoshanne meant to say was drowned out by the wall of water that suddenly overtook us, and I snatched her arm before she could be dragged away by the torrent of frigid water.
We fought hard against the current, but I knew the cove was long gone now, and everything became darker until only blackness surrounded us. I couldn’t even tell which way was up or down as I kicked through the icy water with my hand locked around Shoshanne’s wrist, and just as I thought I caught sight of daylight, the water pressed in and forced itself into my nose and mouth.
I fought the urge to panic as I realized the Flumen Mage was trying to drown me once more, and the saltwater tore through my lungs to snuff out my last bit of air.
The fact that I didn’t feel any pain told me the coin must still be with me, so I gritted my teeth against the suffocating sensation and kept my hand on Shoshanne’s arm.
I could feel the Aer Mage fighting to fill my lungs with air, and I was locked between the force of the two mages for longer than I could tell. Yvette continued push us downward, and eventually, my mind became fuzzy from the lack of oxygen.
My limbs felt too tired to kick against the pull of the Flumen Mage, but the coin continued to keep me conscious, and I could feel my heartbeat slowing and becoming heavy. I even began to hear strange noises echoing around me, and as a melancholy sort of note rang through mind, I focused my attention on not letting my grip on Shoshanne loosen.
Somewhere behind the constant ringing in my mind, I began to recognize the merciless presence of air again, and Shoshanne�
�s familiar hold on my lungs brought me back around. She must have been slowly winning out over the Flumen Mage, but I didn’t have more than a second to feel relief.
A rush of water suddenly overtook us like we were being dragged by something, and I was half sure we were being pulled straight to the bottom, except things were becoming lighter.
When we suddenly burst through the surface and were propelled into the sky, I hardly noticed at first because the storm was causing a torrent of water and wind that was almost as disorienting as drowning had been.
But as feeling returned to my body and the air whistled past me, I realized we were falling back toward the ground, and fast. So, I summoned my Terra magic and prepared for a hard landing. The slate of the cove sparked seconds before we hit, and I only had time to soften the rock by an inch as I rolled to keep Shoshanne safe before we slammed against the rocky surface.
Several of my bones still cracked on impact, and water spewed from my lungs and stomach, but I managed to brace myself on the rocks before another wave crashed over me. Shoshanne groaned and crawled off me to collapse on the slate, and I could tell she was forcing my lungs to breathe despite how little strength I could muster.
I was grateful I couldn’t feel any of the injuries I’d gained from the landing, but I could feel the broken bones along the back of my body were carefully fusing themselves into place, and I laid still and waited while they slowly began to feel solid again.
By the time my legs regained feeling, my breath was already coming more naturally, and even though my head spun still, the tremors in my limbs abated as sweet oxygen found its way throughout my body at last.
With heavy drops of rain hammering my skin, I gritted my teeth and flipped onto my back, and when I pulled myself up and looked around the cove, nothing was the same.
The jetty was completely destroyed, and the slate around me had shattered. I realized my Terra magic must have sparked as I crashed down, and the result broke the cove into jagged peaks all over the place. Massive trunks hitched on the corners of the rocks and piled up, and wave after wave rocked from one end of the inlet to the other.
Shoshanne had tucked herself against a trunk to get some coverage from the debris flying around, and I was relieved to see she was remarkably uninjured compared to the beating I’d taken when we landed.
“Are you okay?” I hollered as I stumbled over on shaky legs.
Another branch snapped loose, and I ducked behind the trunk beside Shoshanne to pull her into my arms. I immediately checked her skull for any injuries, but the healer brushed me away and shook her head.
“I’m fine,” she hollered back, “You make a decent landing pad. Are you okay, though?”
I chuckled and nodded. “Glad to help,” I told her.
Then I quickly scanned the cove, and my gut dropped.
“Where’s Aurora?” I demanded.
“She got to the cave just before the wave hit,” Shoshanne said.
I motioned for the healer to stand and caught her elbow to help her, but when we looked over the tree at our backs toward the fortress, Shoshanne’s legs gave out, and she dropped back down. Another swell of water rose up to pummel the mouth of the cave, and when it settled, the tide reached halfway up the ornate pillars.
There was no way it wasn’t completely flooded.
“Shit,” I breathed, and I hauled Shoshanne to her feet while she gaped in horror.
“Go!” I ordered. “Get them out of there!”
A wave broke against the rubble at my back just as I shoved Shoshanne toward the cave, and she scaled the felled trees and debris without looking back.
Then a high-pitched giggle joined the chaos in the cove, and I flipped around to see Yvette laughing with her head turned up toward the stormy sky.
She was balancing her bony feet on a shattered bit of slate, and as pure rage bloomed in my chest, I threw my arms out toward the giddy woman.
What was left of the cove shook violently beneath our feet, and the Flumen Mage stumbled to catch her balance.
I locked her ankles in place knowing what her next move would be, and then I swiftly pulled a wall up at her back to let it crash down.
Yvette burst into droplets, of course, but I was ready this time.
I twisted the slate up to catch every bit of water that broke apart, and with a furious wrench of my fists, I slammed the slate in on itself.
Yvette was covered in blood when she crumpled onto the ground, and I lunged to grab hold of her before she could vanish again.
My hands caught her around the broken arm, but by the time I yanked her to her feet, my grip closed around nothing but water. My fury mounted as rain pummeled me and ocean spray shot up all around, but as I considered the pool of Yvette’s blood washing away, a sense of calm came over me.
I nodded and looked out across the thrashing waves, and I double checked that the coin was still buried in my pocket as I climbed across the shattered cove and headed for the shore.
“See that?” I hollered to the storm. “The Master didn’t make you more powerful.”
I raised my arm and slowly began gathering shards of boulders from the cove to reform the rocky jetty that stretched out toward the sea, and as I continued, the water line rose to my knees.
“You can’t drown me,” I told the Flumen Mage. “You can’t even fight me head on. All you can do is flee, over and over again. It’s a nice trick, but it doesn’t make you powerful.”
I began making my way out along the embankment as the last few boulders settled into place, and the water pummeled the jetty so hard I could feel it sway beneath me.
Still, I kept my steady pace.
“He sent you to scare me, Yvette, but guess what?” I called out, and I shrugged just to piss her off. “I don’t fear you. Maybe Abrus saw something worth avoiding in you, but to me, you’re just a batshit crazy mage. That’s what the Master likes about you.”
I could feel the fury of the Flumen Mage in the pelting of the rain and the waves that broke against the jetty, and I was nearly thrown over into the swirling current more than once. The air became dense with humidity and heat, and the waves began to scald my skin as they sprayed up around me. Luckily, the pain didn’t register with the coin in my pocket, but watching my flesh bubble up definitely caused my nerve to waver a bit.
I crawled back to my feet, though, and then I checked my drenched revolver. I’d been submerged enough times to make me half-certain it would do me little good now, but I pulled the trigger just in case, and only a dull click echoed back.
“So, come on then,” I continued as I replaced the gun and beckoned the mage back to me. “Your Master’s waiting, and he doesn’t like when you’re late. I’m gonna stand right here for you, but you’re gonna have to face me if you want me to go with you. A few drops of water won’t cut it.”
I slipped as boiling hot saltwater drew back and crashed down to throw me flat across the rocks, but I managed to keep my hold on the jagged boulders despite my blistering skin. When a last wave rose up several feet above me and came crashing down, I gasped for air and found the Flumen Mage had finally reformed herself along with it.
Steam billowed around her where she stood not ten feet away on the embankment, and the stains of her blood were streaming from her robe in the torrential rain. Her face was split open on one side where the bones of her cheek had shattered, and the gaping wound sent more bright red blood coursing down her neck.
Yvette’s sleeves and most of her robe had been burned away by Aurora’s last attack, and I could see dozens of runes gleaming up and down her bony arms and spindly legs. As I looked more closely, I started to notice the difference between the various symbols, and I decided her own madness had driven her to attempt most of the designs.
I didn’t doubt there were dozens more covering her whole body.
As I eyed a particularly fresh symbol that was clearly a real branding right on the tender underside of her wrist, I couldn’t help but wonder how much of her in
sanity had been spurred on by the constant presence of so many runes muttering in her ears. In fact, there was a good chance this could work to my advantage.
“They must bother you,” I guessed as I gestured to her arms. “A constant chatter of runes trying to sway you one way or the other, and not a moment of peace. Can you even focus enough to wield any of them with all of that going on?”
Yvette didn’t respond for a long moment, and I knew I’d struck close to home. Her piercing blue eyes bore into mine without blinking, and her slight body trembled lightly either from pain or from the frigid rain she refused to let up. The drops sizzled as they met with the boiling ocean below, and steam built up in the cove to cloud out everything around us.
Yvette remained right where she was with blood pooling around her bony feet for several minutes, and then her left eye twitched.
She curled her lip into a manic smirk, and when she spoke, her voice was barely loud enough to hear.
“The runes give me power no mage could ever learn to wield at the Order,” she insisted. “I am more than any of you now.”
“Prove it, then,” I challenged. “I’m curious what all this power looks like. Can you stay and fight me, or did the Master only teach you to flee?”
My words provoked the Flumen Mage, and I watched her war with her rage while her eye twitched uncontrollably.
“You should be grateful,” she hissed. “You will be grateful, and the Master will be grateful, too. He will tell me I’m a good girl, and he will smile.”
Yvette suddenly threw her arms out to the sides, and just as boiling water shot up on either side of me, I pulled a dagger from my belt and hurled it straight at her heart.
For a split second, I was sure I had her, but as Yvette’s deep blue eyes flared, her wrist turned, and the dagger changed course to fly into her open hand like a magnet.
I’d never met any mage who could pull this stunt except for me, and I stumbled back in shock while the Flumen Mage’s bloody face shone with delirious pride.
