Wiztober Day Two: Shield
Welcome to day two of Wiztober2020. Content warnings for graphic violence, monsters, blood, knives, frostbite, mentions of violent limb removal, death mention. note that the hydra mentioned is not a mythical hydra, but an in-canon three headed hydra, without the head regeneration.
(link to prompt list)
Emrys’ mouth was open just slightly, showing a hint of teeth, exhaling a breath of air that became pale blue fog in the cold of the early morning. His chapped lips cracked painfully as he yawned, his visible breaths sparkling with snowflakes of gathering ice magic.
The crunch of fresh snow under his boots was a constant rhythm, only accompanied by his breathing and the soft susurration of his cloak brushing against the ground and what little plant life managed to live here, disturbing the short grass and frost flowers, causing some of the reagent’s petals to fall down in his wake.
In Emrys’ opinion, the conjurers given extra credit for creating this illusory arena were too good at their jobs, because it was unbearably cold for an early October day.
As one of the best students in the ice school, Emrys had been given the special opportunity to demonstrate his abilities, and unfortunately enough, two of the three people Emrys could actually tolerate being around were also top students, and blackmailed him into joining them.
Maybe promises of hot chocolate didn’t count as blackmail.
Emrys knew that everyone in the ice school, as well as many with ice secondaries or those with nothing better to do, would be watching him, Jen, and Castian. They had been split from each other, and were supposed to find each other, as well as the construct standing in for a powerful enemy, and defeat said enemy as a team.
The towering evergreens were all dusted in powdery snow, the slightest movement causing a layer of the snow to pile onto the forest floor. Even the cutting winter winds caused some of the lighter branches to creak and buckle, letting forth a deluge of yet more snow. Emrys did not bother to hide his tracks or the indications of his passage, knowing that Castian was a much better tracker by virtue of her instincts as a draconian.
They had been given no time to prepare beforehand for being separated, so as the humans on the team, both he and Jen would have to rely on their weaker senses and hope they stumbled across another. And that there were no secret monsters or constructs in the forest they could stumble across.
Emrys sighed, though it descended into a yawn against his will. He had gotten maybe two hours of sleep the night before, left tossing and turning in his dorm. At first it had been nightmares, a companion to every night that he had become accustomed to. Then it had fallen into contemplating if his younger, estranged sister Mari also had nightmares, and then he was thinking about how he could approach Mari, how he could just talk to her for once, and then he just kept thinking through increasingly unlikely scenarios of how he could reunite with his sister, or be rejected by her.
Emrys’ gloved hand tightened around his wand, a simple knife from his home world, Mooshu, that Castian had enchanted using her family’s exclusive and secretive talent. The blade itself glowed with runes from an ancient Mooshu dialect that Castian had spent weeks inscribing onto the metal without damaging the integrity of the weapon, while still making it a viable wand and imbuing it with magic.
There was a sharp crack as Emrys stepped on a fallen branch, and he startled, glancing around quickly and reabsorbing his surroundings. The trees had become fewer, though the remaining evergreens were even larger than those before, looming darkly and obscuring large portions of the overcast sky.
He just sighed tiredly once he realized nothing was amiss. He did not want to know what those watching him thought about how he shambled through the forest for twenty minutes and almost got a heart attack over a broken twig. Emrys really appreciated his standoffish and downright mean reputation now, because people would have to be brave enough to approach him in order to tease him over his paranoia.
Then the silent forest was ripped apart by a shocked, frightened scream, high pitched and hissing, definitely belonging to Castian.
Emrys turned towards the sound and broke into a sprint, easily weaving around trees. The forest sped by quickly, and within a minute of running Emrys saw the flashes of bright magical light. He heard Jen cry out in pain as he broke through the treeline to the clearing.
There was no battle array. There was just an expanse of white snow, and no magical lines or controlled turns to the duel.
That was not how this was supposed to go.
Emrys gasped, the choked noise catching in his throat, because he had been promised that there was no way for any of them to get actually injured, and this was not that. Without a battle array anything goes, the only limits being ones magical prowess and their mana. This also allowed for physical attacks, something Castian and Jen had never encountered.
And it seemed that the conjurers had done too well at their job again, creating something far too smart.
The large ice hydra would have been a balanced enemy to face, inside of a battle array. But outside of one, it allowed for three spells to be cast simultaneously, and the hydra itself had fangs, frost breath, and a tail spiked with icicles. And it was currently trying its best to murder Jen and Castian.
Jen was running across the clearing towards Castian, who was just yards from the treeline. Their robes tattered and covered in pine needles, several gashes scored across their chest, blood droplets trailing behind them. Castian was hunched over, one of her wide sapphire colored wings frozen in a thick sheet of ice as she hissed in pain, the result of a frost breath attack.
“Cover her.” Emrys barked to Jen, who only gave a sharp nod as Emrys passed them. As he left them behind he heard the metallic clang and following chimes of an expertly cast ice shield.
The hydra was in front of him, all three heads weaving back and forth in a mesmerizing dance, the casting symbol of the ice school dripping and solidifying into existence from the middle head’s fangs. Emrys skid to a stop as a snow serpent struck into existence, jaw unhinged, but he simply ducked, turning into a roll before continuing to run towards the Hydra.
The left and right heads of the beast attempted to pincer at him from both sides, but he used his left hand to brandish a tower shield card, which transformed into the shield itself, heavy metal causing his arm to shake. He slashed out to the right with his wand, the knife’s blade flashing bright with a frostbite spell.
The fact that they no longer had to follow the rules of battle did not only apply to the enemy, after all.
Emrys’ left arm was jarred by the hydra’s attack, going numb as the shield dispelled and the hydra head reeled back from its failed headbutt. His attack at the right head struck true, his knife sinking into the soft tissue around the beast’s nostrils, the spell resounding up the neck of the hydra, a full force of magic without a battle array to restrain it into overtime attacks.
The frost crept quickly as if under a timelapse, turning sky blue scales darker and darker until Emrys dislodged his wand and caused the head to shatter into ice. Emrys found himself grinning, a satisfied light entering his eyes upon seeing the hydra’s body back up, both remaining heads twisting and dazed, looking for their third companion and only finding shards of scales and ice littering the snow.
Emrys backed up as well to give himself more time to cast a more complex spell. He slipped the proper spell card into his left sleeve, panting as he gathered the magic necessary to cast such a spell without a pip system to assist him. He watched as both heads cast in unison, appearing to pool their power for one spell as a wyvern burrowed out from the snow, pulling itself from the ground. It swayed for a moment, and Emrys could only stare as it opened its mouth and let out a piercing screech, sharp shards of ice and freezing wind buffeted him backwards.
Emrys cast his spell as the wyvern disappeared, the card falling out of his sleeve and levitating midair, unearthly chimes of a bell ringing through the clearing, the overcast skies seeming to open and allow one of their number to answer his call. The snow angel on its steed gently cantered towards Emrys, awaiting his orders as the Hydra advanced. Forgoing words, he simply leaped onto the back of the snow angel’s steed, pointing towards the hydra’s leftmost head with his knife, the blade a blinding ray of silver in the light emanating from the spell creature.
The wind rushed through Emrys’ hair and he gritted his teeth as they fell into a racing gallop, the pegasus underneath them neighing loudly, the sound echoing as if from an entire herd. The snow angel attacked the head, crushing its skull.
It was then that Jen cried out again, and Emrys directed the creature to turn and use the last of its power to reach his allies as fast as magically possible. His mind raced, calculating how this could happen, and realized how stupid he had been.
The hydra hadn’t used both heads to cast one measly wyvern. The other head had been casting a colossus behind Emrys, attacking Jen and Castian, who were immobile, easy targets. The creature shattered Jen’s shield easily, and from how they had a hand pressed to their chest, it had aggravated their already bleeding wounds, likely affecting their ribs as well.
Emrys heard the pounding footsteps of the now one headed hydra giving chase, his heart thudding in his chest so hard it almost ached. The snow angel dissolved back into magic when he was yards away from his allies, and Emrys stumbled forward, choking back a distressed scream upon seeing how severe the creeping frost on Castian’s wing had gotten, now ensnaring up to their neck and across their other wing, while Jen was still gasping raggedly for air.
Emrys turned then, to face the hydra, and found out that it had gained on him in the small distance he had run on foot. Out of reflex he raised an arm protectively over his face, and for a moment he felt nothing. Then the pain set in as the creature’s fangs sunk into his left arm, only the bones in his forearm keeping his entire limb from being torn clean through.
A scream rose in his throat but he merely grunted harshly, his mind bouncing between strategy and agony, trying to find any action to take in order to not become a chew toy. The sharp hissing of the hydra resonated through his bones, causing Emrys to shake as he recognized the sound that prefaced a frost breath attack, one that would turn him into a lifeless statue at this range.
He finally moved, raising his knife and hacking at the hydra until it let go, falling backwards as it died. Emrys fell to his knees as well, panting raggedly for just a second before turning to Jen and Castian. He let his wand fall blade first into the snow and reached out, checking Jen’s pulse and exhaling in another gust of pale blue mist as he found her faint heartbeat.
Castian hissed quietly, and they all knew that no on field treasure card could heal the frost now creeping up her jaw. Emrys just bowed his head in front of them, murmuring incoherent apologies. Castian leaned forward, bumping their foreheads together, and Emrys felt tears fall, burning against his skin.
The illusion fell apart then, and the three ice wizards were huddled in the middle of the Unicorn Way battle arena, the stands full of students, many of which were obviously distressed or entertained.
Emrys glanced around, chapped lips cracking again as they curled into a snarl, and as life students ran up to give medical care, he caught the eyes of the small team of myth students who had been running the illusion, had made a series of stupid mistakes that lead to Emrys and his friends being gravely injured.
The way they all ran in obvious fear was very, very gratifying.