A Sunny Day

By: Kaden Posted on: July 20, 2012

The shadows lengthened, as gray clouds appeared overhead. I frowned thoughtfully. "And it had been such a sunny day too," I murmured before throwing myself behind a nearby boulder. Arcs of lightning danced wildly in my peripheral vision followed shortly by an angry string of curses.

"Stormhammer is way too flashy to use as a starter," I said to my assailant from behind the safety of my cover. "Unless it was a rainy day, of course..." I mumbled. I calmly removed my hat and plopped it down on the tip of my elemental staff with a sigh. Slowly, I raised the staff just enough for the hat to peek out and I was immediately rewarded by a sudden jolt up my arm. Pulling it back down, I frowned at the crispy remains. "That was my favourite hat too!" I shouted at my assailant, who responded by sending a veritable storm of magic my way, forcing me to huddle deeper into cover.

I planted my palm experimentally on the ground and let out a sigh of relief. There were no vibes yet and the assault would keep my attacker from laying any down. I smiled, as I rummaged through my pouch until my fingers brushed against the familiar shape. Fishing out the small cube sigil, I dropped it on the ground well out of my attacker's line of sight.

I took in a deep breath, as I counted the pauses between spells. I would have to time this right if I didn't want to wind up electrocuted or melted by magical acid. memorising the rhythm of my opponent's attacks, I waited for the pause between spells before artfully tumbling out of my hiding spot. Concentrated heat whizzed past me, crisping the hair on my skin. I landed on all fours and scrabbled up to my feet, just barely remembering to brush my fingers against my cloak tattoo before breaking into a run while weaving in and out to avoid stray spells.

I glanced back. My assailant was nowhere in sight but I had no illusions about the fight being over. In a fight between magi, disengaging just meant that there was now time for vibes to come into play. I could only hope that the cube sigil would slow my opponent down long enough to give me enough time to prepare.

"Perfect," I said, as I spotted the entrance to the cave I was looking for. Entering, I lit the area with a quick spell and began to furiously outrift crystal after crystal, spinning them as quickly as I could manage and embedding them with forceful gestures. Familiar tones and vibrations began to echo in the room, as my Crystalism spells activated one after the other.

I was in the middle of spinning a number of crystals when I heard the familiar sound of rushing air. I sighed, as I watched a portal slice the air open before me. My attacker leaped through it shortly, landing with a roll. "Monolith sigils," I mumbled to myself. I always forget to use monolith sigils. I watched helplessly, as my assailant quickly spun a crystal pyramid and then gestured, forcing it to embed itself into the ground. The din of multiple sounds converging followed shortly. "Ahh..."

I gestured, sending the crystals I had just spun towards the ground only to watch helplessly as they inevitably shattered. My opponent had just used Focus to bring her vibes into the cave and make sure the most important vibes were not under my control. Clever.

The effect was instantaneous. I hastily grabbed my vial of levitation and drank from it just as the ground began to heave and then outrifted every herb I could think of and stuffed them all in my mouth in an attempt to preempt the plague vibe. After swallowing with a muffled curse, I remembered myself enough to hastily clap my hands, dampening the plague vibe before it could do anymore damage to me.

This of course left me wide open and I suddenly found myself thrown back by the powerful bolts of lightning that smashed against my chargeshield. "That's going to leave a bruise," I muttered, as I pulled myself up and ran deeper into the cave. I ducked behind a corner to cast a quick spell, making a reflection of me appear and waited. Sure enough, a wave of ice struck the reflection, making it disappear with a wink. "Ahah!" I shouted triumphantly, as I jumped out of my hiding place only to find nobody in sight.

"What the foozle!?"

"Illusion," my attacker said from behind me.

"Damn!" I pivoted, just barely raising my staff in time to parry the blow. I winced, the blow had been powerful despite the fact that my elemental staff had succesfully dispersed the magical flames from the assault. What followed was a brutal exchange of blows, as we summoned the elemental lords to give strength to our attacks. My opponent fought well, parrying and dodging tenaciously but I was the better duelist and my opponent was quickly forced to fight defensively.

I feinted, drawing my opponent into a lunge and grinned, as I saw the opening I needed. Without bothering to empower my blow, I struck, sweeping my opponent's legs from beneath her feet. "Oww," she whined, as she landed on her bottom and looked at me sulkily.

"You're getting better," I said to the lovely siren before me with a wry grin. "A little more practice with your footwork and maybe you'll finally get me. Maybe."

"I almost had you a couple of times," she said, making a face at me.

"Ahh, but you didn't." I knelt before her, a wide smile on my face, as I cupped her cheeks and kissed her deeply. Her face was flushed, as I pulled away and the corner of her lips tugged ever so briefly into a pleased smile before returning to that very special scowl she reserved only for me.

"You're not getting back your cube sigil."

"You can have it," I responded with amusement.

"You said you'd teach me how to fight."

"And you're learning," I replied pointedly.

"I'll get you next time," she said fiercely. I laughed.

"Oh, I'm sure you will. In fact, I look forward to it, my love."

I took her by the hand and helped her up. The last of the clouds were dispersing, just as we left the cave. I smiled--it really was such a sunny day.