by Sever Bronny
The Lord of the Legion pivoted and rapidly pointed at each of them in turn, casting another spell they had already carefully prepared for. They finished the Disenchant casting immediately following Sparkstone’s spell. As the prison appeared around the trio, Augum fluidly set to searching for the key thread that would unwind the spell like a cheaply knitted sweater, finding it in moments, for it had not been a well-formed casting. The girls succeeded just as quickly, so that the Lord of the Legion actually uttered a note of surprise.
“You irritate me. Now you’ll pay.” The Lord of the Legion pointed at Leera and began to utter a complex necromantic curse. As trained, the trio violently shoved at the air before them, shouting, “BAKA!” but aiming at the man’s outstretched arm.
Yet what they saw next made their jaws drop, for the man summoned his bone shield at the exact moment he fired off his necromantic spell. He had simulcasted, meaning he could cast two spells at the same time, a feat of legend only Mrs. Stone was supposed to be capable of!
“Summano arma,” Leera said in a bleak voice, summoning her pulsing watery short sword. She gave Augum a cold look before plunging the sword into her abdomen.
All the training in the world did not prepare him for the horror that froze his bones.
Suddenly Bridget lunged in front of him, summoning a massive reinforced bark shield. “Cast it!” she spat as something walloped her shield.
Augum snapped out of his horror and performed the motions, words and visualizations as he had hundreds of times before in practice. The moment the last word was uttered, time stopped and the arcane needle ether again attacked. He was barely aware as Bridget reverse-lunged; all he cared about was saving Leera. Shadows flew around him menacingly, growling and cursing and taunting, but he remained focused, placing himself between Leera and the Lord of the Legion, leaving his ghostly alternate self behind. The moment prior to the man’s successful casting, Augum yanked, shouting, “STOP!” Then he instantly turned into Spirit Form, fueling his arcanery with pure anger. How dare he go after his beloved!
The Lord of the Legion had summoned his shield as Bridget and Leera shoved at the air. But Augum was not among that tri attack. Instead, he flipped his invisible spirit arms and willed the floor to rise. With a great groan, the marble flooring immediately curled back like a carpet, causing the Lord of the Legion to fizzle his spell and stumble away.
“What trickery is this!” the man shouted from behind the peeled-back floor.
But Augum worried. They were behind in the attack, and should have been closer to Sparkstone by now to enact the final phase of their plan.
Augum zoomed forward as the floor fell back into place with a great crash, just as the Lord of the Legion flicked an oozing black bubble at Bridget.
Augum, still in Spirit Form, shoved at the air. “BAKA!” and sent the bubble smashing into the Lord of the Legion’s chest plate. It exploded with a toxic black cloud, enveloping the man.
Augum, conscious of how quickly his arcane energies deteriorated in the ether, reformed into a mortal being once more, shouting, “NOW!” and he and the girls sprinted forward while the man fought with the clingy black cloud that seemed to eat away at him, for there came loud hissing and bubbling sounds from within that darkness.
“Summano arma!” the trio called, each summoning an arcane weapon fortified by the Arinthian war ring—an earthen bow and quiver for Bridget, a vibrant watery short sword for Leera, and a lightning long sword for Augum.
Mr. Chappie Fungal’s pipes, slowed by time and thus distorted heavily into the lower harmonics, resonated powerfully within the room. That deep note combined with the raging torrent that was Augum’s blood, infusing his soul with courage and elevating his spirit.
As the three friends converged upon the 20th degree master necromancer, they uttered a sacred battle phrase.
“Centeratoraye xao xen—!”
Blackened
The Lord of the Legion finally shook off the sticky black cloud of acidic necromancy that had been so strong it actually melted most of his bone armor, only to suddenly meet a charging Centarro-enhanced trio.
Bridget, who had skidded to a stop not far behind, loosed an arrow that hissed through the air by Augum and Leera’s ears, thwacking into the man’s already-paralyzed leg.
Sparkstone didn’t seem to notice. He simply unsheathed Burden’s Edge, cackling, “How old-fashioned,” and neatly swung the blade.
Augum raised his vambrace-protected arm, summoning his reinforced black shield. There was a dull thud as the blade lodged into the thick arcane matter of the crusted lightning. Meanwhile, Leera fluidly lunged with her own Centarro-laced stab. The Lord of the Legion emitted a grunt as she struck true, opening a deep gash in the man’s exposed neck, just as they had planned.
“Pinpricks,” Sparkstone spat as another arrow flew a hairsbreadth from that exposed neck. “Summano arma.” Burden’s Edge elongated into a huge sword made from black lightning, freeing itself from Augum’s shield. He stepped back and swung the blade in a full arc. Augum and Leera fluidly sprang back to avoid the strike, each immediately counter-thrusting with another stab. Except the man allowed those strikes to sizzle into his undead flesh, while he suddenly and arcanely closed the distance between himself and Bridget in the blink of an eye, surely to deliver a killing blow—only to have Leera appear out of nowhere and smack his sword strike aside with a practiced parry. It had been a perfect Cron battle casting, exactly as they had rehearsed, preventing Bridget from getting skewered.
“How are you doing that!” the man spat in an almost childish whine.
But the trio remained absolutely focused. Bridget, reaching back for another arrow, backpedaled to put ground between herself and Sparkstone, readying for another assault with her bow. Meanwhile, Augum sprinted and jumped, slashing at the Lord of the Legion’s neck, except the man’s writhing movements caused him to merely take a chunk out of the bone armor on his shoulder.
Sparkstone ignored Augum’s clumsy strike and made a sharp beckoning gesture at Leera while pointing Burden’s Edge at her. She got thrown forward, but instead of impaling on his blade, Augum telekinetically yanked on her body, causing her to veer aside midair and perform a cat-like floor roll in recovery.
The Lord of the Legion, in a seasoned warlock warrior move, fluidly swung his blade around while making the same beckoning gesture at Augum, yanking him forward. Augum, caught flat-footed by the expert move, barely had a moment before he felt the cold steel of Burden’s Edge pierce not only his summoned elemental armor, but his Arinthian armor as well. He gasped as his lungs emptied of air.
And there, lanced on Burden’s Edge, he found himself face to face with the grotesque Lord of the Legion. A deathly smile played across the man’s lips. Augum glanced down to see blood spurting onto the white armor and gushing to the floor. As his consciousness faded, one of the girls finished casting a certain spell.
* * *
The Lord of the Legion, in a seasoned warlock warrior move, flicked the same beckoning gesture at Augum, causing him to shoot forth instead. Except Bridget suddenly appeared nearby, both hands flipping at the air as she spat, “DISABLO!”
Burden’s Edge twirled aside just as Augum slammed into the Lord of the Legion’s bone armor, barely avoiding being impaled.
“HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!” the man seethed, summoning the blade back into his hand, incanting, “Summano arma,” once more elongating the blade with black lightning. Meanwhile, Augum rolled away from him and sprang to his feet, conscious Bridget had cast Cron.
Leera circled around the man and jabbed at his exposed neck with her short sword, striking true. He roared in pain and whirled about to lash out at her with his blade, only to meet her vambrace-fortified pond shield.
The attack exposed his neck once more. Augum lunged with a mighty slash that would have decapitated an ordinary man, but it merely caused a large gash, though one that elicited a yelp from the man, forcing him to whirl back Augum’s way.
&n
bsp; Meanwhile, Bridget thwacked another arrow into the man’s bad leg, choosing a strategic line of attack, also as rehearsed.
Augum’s follow-up slash was met by Burden’s Edge. For a split moment, the black lightning blade held Augum’s summoned blue, before the man’s necromantic strength easily flung him back.
Augum painfully slammed into the ground on his back. But he took too long getting up and did not hear the follow-up attack. Just as he got to his feet, something black and goopy slapped into him. He heard a loud hiss as his entire body burst with an intense hot pain. He looked down to see goopy acid eating him alive. He just had time enough to scream.
* * *
Augum painfully slammed into the ground on his back only to see Leera reappear on his left, shouting “ROLL—!” and immediately did so just as a vicious black acid strike smashed into the floor, hissing and melting the stone.
He again wound up on his back, only to hear, “ANNIHILO MUERTO!” He sprang to his feet in time to witness Leera bungle summoning her shield. A giant black lightning strike plowed through her. When it passed, she was gone.
Augum wasted no time casting Cron. As trained, Bridget lunged in front of him, summoning a vambrace-amplified bark shield. There were repeated slashes, a quick growled “Disablo,” followed by a heart-stopping scream.
“—didaeiee!” Augum at last exclaimed and stepped aside, leaving his ghost self behind to perform the spell backward. He had to look away from seeing Bridget get expertly cut down. While the shadows moved in ever closer, Augum grit his teeth against the needle pain of time flowing through him, allowing it to halt at a spot just before Leera’s vaporization. Then he yanked at the air, shouting, “STOP!” and reappeared before her. He tried to raise his shield but had accidentally yanked the spell too early, and thus suffered the mighty wallop of the black lightning strike. It was so strong it sent him flying into Leera.
The pair rolled to a halt as the Lord of the Legion barked another frustrated curse, only to have to quickly summon his shield to prevent his eye from getting pierced by one of Bridget’s earthen arrows.
Augum took the briefest moment to acknowledge he was alive, all due to the ancestral echo—he was immune to lightning, even if it was necromantic, apparently.
The fat shadow of a sneering Dap, his boyhood tormentor, suddenly stepped before him, blocking his vision of the fight.
“’Member me?” Dap sneered.
Augum shoved at the air. “BAKA!” dissipating the boy, only to reveal a moment frozen in time—a bloody Bridget falling to the ground like a limp noodle, and the Lord of the Legion pointing at Augum while eloquently vocalizing a necromantic curse.
Augum immediately felt his entire body blacken and shrivel as his bones began to pulverize inside his flesh from some kind of spell they had not prepared for. He screamed from the worst pain he had ever experienced. The black end came frightfully quick.
* * *
Augum took the briefest moment to acknowledge he was alive, all due to the ancestral echo—he was immune to lightning, even if it was necromantic, apparently.
Suddenly Leera, who had been behind him, reappeared at his side at the same moment as the shadow of Dap stepped in front. “Spirit Bridge—!” she rapidly blurted while pointing through Dap’s shadow, which unfortunately blocked Augum’s vision.
Still raging under the influence of Centarro, Augum instantly knew she meant for him to go into Spirit Form and save Bridget. He flexed his arcane being and shot his consciousness to her, taking his body with him while feeling the dangerous strain of overdraw rapidly approach.
Bridget, as trained, was at that moment allowing her bark shield to disappear and was midway through re-summoning her bow and quiver, except Augum saw what was about to happen, for in Spirit Form he could see the arcane tendrils between the scions and the Lord of the Legion flare, coalescing around the man’s palms. A split heartbeat later, he lashed out with a new necromantic curse. But Augum was simply quicker in Spirit Form and heaved his mental might between the two heavily mismatched combatants, warping the space to his favor and telekinetically urging those blackened tendrils to bend through that space—and back onto the Lord of the Legion, who screamed as the tendrils disappeared into his body to eat away at him.
While the Lord of the Legion rabidly struggled and Bridget fired off another arrow, Augum tried to summon his arcane strength to cast another powerful First Offensive casting, like he had accomplished through the main castle doors, but immediately discovered he did not have near enough the arcane stamina required. Instead, he simultaneously felt and saw several things: the castle itself under attack, with multiple breaches finally puncturing the dome that was its skin—and thus Augum’s too, something that felt like daggers piercing between his ribs. He noticed Jez leading the ballistae crew around the edge of the domed chamber, all chameleonic and near invisible to anyone not paying close attention, but also slowed due to the relative speed of the trio and the Lord of the Legion. As long as they remained unnoticed, it appeared they would soon escape back to the castle. He also saw numerous shadows, urged on by his ever-weakening stamina, descending upon his floating consciousness like sharks feeding on a blood pool, the feast being his mind and soul. Lastly, he witnessed maggots slowly regenerate the Lord of the Legion’s multiple neck wounds, though the man himself writhed about in great pain as he fought the effects of his own spell while trying to block Bridget and Leera’s attacks.
“Revenge is sweet, gutterborn,” Robin’s voice abruptly hissed as a giant invisible fist smashed into Augum’s being. Augum’s real body instantly appeared, smashing into the floor with a sickening CRASH.
As he scrambled to get back into the fight, Leera dodged a clumsy sword swing from Sparkstone, countering with a slash at his hand. Burden’s Edge, elongated with black lightning, extinguished as it fell from his grip, only to be reflexively summoned back with Telekinesis.
While his writhing attention was briefly focused on her, Bridget, who had managed to quickly circle behind, loosed another arrow, popping multiple fat maggots with one well-aimed shot, and thus slowing the regeneration.
“Itak oos iu azim!” Sparkstone spat at Leera, who had managed to parry his latest wild slash. Just as a monstrous specter wielding a two-handed sword flew at Leera, and just as Augum reached out to telekinetically yank her aside, Bridget beat everyone by appearing out of thin air via Cron, knocking Leera aside just as the vicious apparition swooped by, disappearing a moment later.
“All right, I’m impressed,” the Lord of the Legion said as the girls rolled together on the polished floor. He was wincing from the self-inflicted curse and multiple arrow and sword wounds. But just as Augum flanked the man to attack with his scion-amplified First Offensive, Sparkstone held up a hand behind his back, snapping, “Paralizo carcusa cemente,” instantly paralyzing Augum a hairbreadth before his wrists smacked together.
“Where is Terra?” he asked.
But Augum was paralyzed and unable to respond.
“Let me inspire you.” The Lord of the Legion then spat off a dark curse that made Bridget and Leera, who in that moment had been charging at him, shriek and fall to their knees. The girls’ faces began to sink and blacken. A moment later, they stood up and glanced coldly over at Augum, two undead creatures under the command of the Lord of the Legion.
And Augum, paralyzed and heart jammed in his throat, was unable to perform the gestures needed to cast Cron.
Hopeless
“I do not know how you have been so perfectly avoiding my attacks,” the Lord of the Legion said in an icy voice, seemingly having overcome his self-inflicted curse. “Yet as miraculous as those attacks were, you have lost—”
But Augum’s sheer panic at seeing Bridget and Leera turned into the undead only lasted a moment, for his training kicked in. He summoned all his strength and brazenly turned into Spirit Form, evaporating his body, clothing and the scion, breaking the Paralyze enchantment—all before the man even finished speaking.
> The Lord of the Legion roared for the umpteenth time in frustration and turned his vengeful attention on the undead girls. But Augum had other plans. While shadows viciously swiped at his being, he once more spoke the sacred phrase, “Gennisi xanno aetate reversa tempus potam xaeternum veteri momentus mortem,” visualizing each gesture precisely and combining it with the appropriate arcane thought.
Time slammed to a halt at the utterance of the final word and began reversing. His soul took the needle-like blows the arcane ether dealt out as a thick cloud of clawing shadows closed in, except this time they included a shadowy Bridget and Leera, who each possessed demonic eyes and exaggerated features as they raked at his soul with jagged fingernails.
Augum forced himself to persevere through the deep pain, knowing such blows had a serious cost. All he focused on was the true Bridget and Leera, whose skin unblackened as color returned to their cheeks. Their eyes, sunken and hollow, gleamed once more. They fell back to their knees, then returned to a standing position, then ran backward, all in reverse time.
Augum placed his floating being directly in front of the man, waiting for him to finish the reverse of the black curse that had turned the girls undead. After about ten heartbeats, the moment came and Augum made a yanking gesture, yelling, “STOP!” while simultaneously coalescing between the sprinting girls and Sparkstone. He then slapped his wrists together, shouting, “ANNIHILO!” aiming for the man’s mouth, which had already begun uttering the curse that would have turned the girls undead.
The Lord of the Legion’s head snapped back from the powerful lightning blast, his black eyes registering surprise at Augum’s sudden appearance before him.