It must be the mermaids. There's no one else that has so much water mage power at their disposal, and the magic is practically crackling through the air.
He clenches his fist against the iron.
I can help, he thinks, hard, at Kale's mind. Tell him I can help.
How did he manage to do that? Through iron, through --
The iron is glowing.
Mikney goes still, his paces coming to a halt.
His magic went through iron like it was butter. What if -- he can go through it entirely?
He extends a hand, and pushes.
The iron peels off, slow, with the same sort of motion as a vine growing off a wall. Flows to the ground, more quicksilver than solid metal, and now it's Mikney's skin that's glowing.
Okay, Barney still doesn't know what he's going to do once he gets to the city center, other than potentially die in a very wet and unpleasant fashion, but he's not going to let Royal's training, or his trust in him go to waste.
He's nearly there when the wall in front of him explodes outward, and he just barely avoids getting creamed by some serious shrapnel.
He wipes the dust away from his eyes, and super. Now there's a glowing dude standing in the hole. Awesome.
The seige of Troy had been laiden with fire. Compared to that, this watery attack felt like some kind of comical parody. It was just insane. As Cassandra made her way through the cold, her hair plastered to her face, her dress plastered to her body, she decided that if she survived this, she would live to see a seige of wind and a seige of earth. Not necessarily in that order.
The explosion rattled her out of her thoughts. She turned to see the wall burst with light and stone. Perhaps that seige of earth was coming sooner than expected?
Shielding her eyes, she inched her way closer to the debris, half-noticing the blond man she had seen in the tavern. Her eyes were more drawn to the light from within in the building. She knew that sparkle.
Elimyr has no trouble reaching the city center, a funnel of water dancing and swirling around her, joyful and eager and begging to be directed. The mermaids and mages who were following her have broken away, sweeping through the city, finding their own delight in destruction.
She doesn't have to wait for them. She doesn't need them. What she needs, what she wants, is the druid.
The druid who's making the world all slippery squirming and changing. So much power, and she wants it.
And now there's a crazy girl surrounded by water, and she's going to kill them all, Barney just knows it. Except she's totally fixated on the glowing guy (the Elf sorcerer, right? Thought he was locked up.) and maybe Barney can just sneak around...
But then the sorcerer holds his hand out and holy shit.
"What the fuck?" he repeats, quieter, but no less passionate.
Everyone's scattered now, staring, and given that Mikney and Elimyr both just busted into the center at the same time, and they both look terrifying in their own ways.
"Help him!" Kale calls out, his arm thrown out towards Mikney, because even through the painful volume of Mikney's message, the desire to help felt sincere.
He hopes the majiks all around them listen, but storm is worse than ever with Elimyr in their midst, and he has no idea if anyone even heard.
This was completely mental. Still, Cassandra could not help but echo the stranger's sentiments. Mikney needed help and, despite her misgivings about the elves in general, she felt a special connection to him. And who knew? This chaos might also be his opportunity to escape.
Cassandra looked around the muck, picking up a rock. She was poised to throw it at the woman attacking them when something occurred to her. This was a magical battle and it could only be fought with magic. She had none of Cris' magery, but perhaps there was something she could contribute. After all, from what she gathered about it, it took a lot of concentration.
She didn't drop the rock. Just in case. But instead of throwing it, she opened her mind up, summoning any animals that might be in the area. Attack that woman, her thought screamed at them.
Animals certainly do respond to Cassandra's call; the stray dogs in the city, the cats, a few birds, even some of the rats living in the sewers. But the rain is so blinding, the wind so fierce, that they seem reluctant to take that final step and attack Elimyr.
The dogs set off a chain of howls, barking rough and fierce -- but they don't attack. They look to Cassandra, for direction.
The ice closes around her. A hug. A kiss. It just wants to be near her. She lets it stay for a moment, and then she looks up at Mikney and smiles. This is fun.
Elimyr raises her hand, the ice snapping and cracking around her fingers. Now it's her turn. She breathes in, and then pushes out, and the ice bursts into hundreds of little razor sharp shards, most of them flying at Mikney, a few going stray.
There's so much noise everywhere but when Bret picks out the dogs howling, he whirls around to see a group of animals crowding around Cassandra, and beyond her a girl who's covered in ice. At first he wonders if maybe she's dead but then she smiles and, well, she still sort of looks dead. It's all kinds of terrifying.
She holds up her hand, and suddenly Bret sees Mikney standing across from her. He looks different somehow but he's too distracted by the realization of what's going on to figure it out. The ice begins to crack and Bret does the only thing he can think of. He begs his magic to work with him. Nononono, good luck, please, don't let him get hurt, do something, come on.The ice shatters suddenly and for a half a second it's speeding towards Mikney and it looks like the glass from the windows. He winces but can't look away. It's a good thing he doesn't, because halfway through their flight, the shards suddenly transform into tiny, round, red-and-white peppermints. Like the ones you'd get after a meal in a restaurant
( ... )
The ice doesn't wrench from his control, it just whispers away, with a fine-tuned, soft touch that Mikney can't even come close to equaling. Skill and power both, against him.
In a panic, distracted, scattered by the sensations against him (water, wind, magic brewing in the city center, pain/fight/fear) Mikney falls back on the most basic of his magic.
My will be done.
He senses the change in the ice as it flies towards him, but he's too far gone to notice or care. The druid fire ignites the mints, slicing through in a flash of light to bright to look at directly. It burns away the water, for a moment, so there's an instant of clarity, of ceased wind --
--before the hurricane returns again.
Mikney jumps down from the building, landing on one knee on in a puddle almost ankle deep.
His world has narrowed. He can't truly see, can't truly think. His mind is all ice and wind and power.
He turns now-glowing eyes on Elimyr and ignites the air between them.
Gob isn't entirely sure what he's supposed to do to fight the storm, though that isn't about to stop him from trying. He's about to start focusing on general luck when he notices Bret turn away, and turns as well to see what's going on.
And, woah, zombie-girl encased in ice- exploding ice- and that sparkly guy just holds up his hand and the ice burns, and then it's like the air is catching on fire. Gob's eyes pop and his jaw drops.
"Oh my god," he breathes, in amazement. "This world rocks."
Cassandra shielded her face with one arm as the ice flew. She was not as lucky with the ice as she had been with the broken glass and shards embedded themselves into her arms. Crimson blossomed across the sleeves of her dress, but when she looked up, she was flooded with relief to see Mikney still standing.
The fire was an oddly welcome relief. The warmth and heat renewing Cassandra's sense of purpose. Go! she urged the stray animals. Fight in the direction of the warmth. Stop that woman, she's bad. At least, she seemed bad. Cassandra couldn't judge well enough
( ... )
He clenches his fist against the iron.
I can help, he thinks, hard, at Kale's mind. Tell him I can help.
Reply
Mikney really has no idea how strong he is. Compared to this, Evelyn's direction was a gentle nudge.
OKAY I HEAR YOU,
Kale thinks as deliberately as can.
I'LL TELL HIM NOW GET OUT OF MY HEAD.
Reply
How did he manage to do that? Through iron, through --
The iron is glowing.
Mikney goes still, his paces coming to a halt.
His magic went through iron like it was butter. What if -- he can go through it entirely?
He extends a hand, and pushes.
The iron peels off, slow, with the same sort of motion as a vine growing off a wall. Flows to the ground, more quicksilver than solid metal, and now it's Mikney's skin that's glowing.
He turns towards the wall of his prison and --
blasts.
Reply
He's nearly there when the wall in front of him explodes outward, and he just barely avoids getting creamed by some serious shrapnel.
He wipes the dust away from his eyes, and super. Now there's a glowing dude standing in the hole. Awesome.
"What the fuck?" he exclaims, wholeheartedly.
Reply
The explosion rattled her out of her thoughts. She turned to see the wall burst with light and stone. Perhaps that seige of earth was coming sooner than expected?
Shielding her eyes, she inched her way closer to the debris, half-noticing the blond man she had seen in the tavern. Her eyes were more drawn to the light from within in the building. She knew that sparkle.
Reply
She doesn't have to wait for them. She doesn't need them. What she needs, what she wants, is the druid.
The druid who's making the world all slippery squirming and changing. So much power, and she wants it.
If he can do it, then so can she.
Reply
He's afraid, yes, intensely afraid of the power building inside of him. But it's too far gone; he can't stop it now.
She's the one. He can sense her mind, cool and silver-fresh like water. He can sense her magic, rough and wild in the air all around him.
Mikney doesn't bother targeting the storm.
He holds out a hand at Elimyr and freezes.
Reply
But then the sorcerer holds his hand out and holy shit.
"What the fuck?" he repeats, quieter, but no less passionate.
Reply
"Help him!" Kale calls out, his arm thrown out towards Mikney, because even through the painful volume of Mikney's message, the desire to help felt sincere.
He hopes the majiks all around them listen, but storm is worse than ever with Elimyr in their midst, and he has no idea if anyone even heard.
Reply
Cassandra looked around the muck, picking up a rock. She was poised to throw it at the woman attacking them when something occurred to her. This was a magical battle and it could only be fought with magic. She had none of Cris' magery, but perhaps there was something she could contribute. After all, from what she gathered about it, it took a lot of concentration.
She didn't drop the rock. Just in case. But instead of throwing it, she opened her mind up, summoning any animals that might be in the area. Attack that woman, her thought screamed at them.
Reply
The dogs set off a chain of howls, barking rough and fierce -- but they don't attack. They look to Cassandra, for direction.
Reply
Elimyr raises her hand, the ice snapping and cracking around her fingers. Now it's her turn. She breathes in, and then pushes out, and the ice bursts into hundreds of little razor sharp shards, most of them flying at Mikney, a few going stray.
Reply
She holds up her hand, and suddenly Bret sees Mikney standing across from her. He looks different somehow but he's too distracted by the realization of what's going on to figure it out. The ice begins to crack and Bret does the only thing he can think of. He begs his magic to work with him. Nononono, good luck, please, don't let him get hurt, do something, come on.The ice shatters suddenly and for a half a second it's speeding towards Mikney and it looks like the glass from the windows. He winces but can't look away. It's a good thing he doesn't, because halfway through their flight, the shards suddenly transform into tiny, round, red-and-white peppermints. Like the ones you'd get after a meal in a restaurant ( ... )
Reply
In a panic, distracted, scattered by the sensations against him (water, wind, magic brewing in the city center, pain/fight/fear) Mikney falls back on the most basic of his magic.
My will be done.
He senses the change in the ice as it flies towards him, but he's too far gone to notice or care. The druid fire ignites the mints, slicing through in a flash of light to bright to look at directly. It burns away the water, for a moment, so there's an instant of clarity, of ceased wind --
--before the hurricane returns again.
Mikney jumps down from the building, landing on one knee on in a puddle almost ankle deep.
His world has narrowed. He can't truly see, can't truly think. His mind is all ice and wind and power.
He turns now-glowing eyes on Elimyr and ignites the air between them.
Reply
And, woah, zombie-girl encased in ice- exploding ice- and that sparkly guy just holds up his hand and the ice burns, and then it's like the air is catching on fire. Gob's eyes pop and his jaw drops.
"Oh my god," he breathes, in amazement. "This world rocks."
Reply
The fire was an oddly welcome relief. The warmth and heat renewing Cassandra's sense of purpose. Go! she urged the stray animals. Fight in the direction of the warmth. Stop that woman, she's bad. At least, she seemed bad. Cassandra couldn't judge well enough ( ... )
Reply
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