"That's her! That's the girl Tenshin has a crush on!"
"Oh, she is really pretty. Tenshin was right about her worried expression being adorable!"
"Ah, f-friends! P-please!"
"Aw…, I can see your face turning red, Little Brother!"
"What? Zip it! You cannot see it…, w-we're in the middle of a dark vent!"
"Oh, I can see it alright."
"Y-you cannot!"
"Hey, Little Brother, we've got your back. That's why we should bring her as fast as possible, so you can take her to the aisle."
"W-w-wedding a-aisle? I just reached seventeen! And I'm a novice!"
"Come now, don't act so nervous! I know deep down you want it. After all, you haven't been officially ordained as a monk yet. So you can choose to get out of celibacy and become a war mage like me and Ganika. Of course, you can be a mate to the red-haired girl. That’s if you dare, though..."
"W-what is t-the meaning of t-that? D-do not plunge me into m-mortal temptations, Ko!"
"Okay, okay. Let's postpone the small talk first. Ganika, you ambush from behind! Me from the front, and Tenshin…!"
"W-what...?"
"I'll let you go private with the girl. Don't screw this up!"
"Heeeeeh?"
***
As Alicia and her companions paddled their feet through the door, Gilmore nearly fell into the chasm cunningly created by Merlin's illusion. The once-intact room now fragmented into floating platforms, with walls and pillars stretching into the abyss of infinity. A formidable space gap hindered them from the one door across.
"Shite! Perhaps ye should undo all the enchantments in this room, not just yon blasted wall," Gilmore remarked.
None of them raised any significant objections. Alicia let out a soft sigh, but she was up for the challenge. "Alright, I'll try. Please guard me."
The wizards promptly sealed the rear exit. Alicia focused her concentration, unleashing a grand-scale dispersion of Arcane might to counteract the influence of the Protos particles within the chamber. The wearying effort took several minutes before her ragged gasps recurred, and she called out to the others, "It's done!"
A wizard offered her the favourite Stillmajik potion of a million wizards. Overshadowed by a hint of reluctance, she immediately took it and drank, making a face. "Eugh! Bitter!"
And so every time they entered a new chamber, a myriad of distortions obstructed their progress. Alicia, as always, assumed the responsibility of taking care of the mess. The lass did not complain. She could not, to be precise. But with the right frame of mind, this was an exercise to strengthen her stamina and endurance. After all, dwelling in anger would only worsen her situation, as the lingering issues demanded resolution. Meanwhile, every time they came across a door, one of the wizards cast a sealing spell, Sigillium, to the rear entrance, to buy time.
But how could one tell the wizards that such a spell was an expenditure of unnecessary mana? Merlin's guardian trio paid no heed to doors. They banished the idea of using a door when visiting Skycastle in the first place. Why ought they rely on one now? They had a caretaker of all barricades. As long as he could trace the girl of prophecy, the only way they could not take to find her was the way to Hades.
"Dinnae you have some sort of teleportation device or something?" Alicia asked a wizard. "Where's yer magic broom?"
"No time to pick up the equipment!" said the head of the mage unit. "For now, getting out of the building and reaching a griffin or nearby sphereships is our best option."
Alicia and the others had already run quite a distance and found themselves in a room larger than the passages and chambers they had walked before, yet smaller than the grandiose lobby. Before their eyes, stood a wall with wide doors. Behind those doors was an emergency route leading to the building's rear exit.
"Just head for that door, and we'll be out of here, my lady!" said an elite wizard on the escort team. "Hurry, purify this last side of the room—"
A flat, orange blunt projectile found its mark upon the nape of a wizard, knocking him unconscious and vanishing into thin air. The loud thud was enough to direct all eyes to the back side of the room, wherein stood a sorceress of sun-kissed complexion, ready for further assault. Her nationality was suspected from the Republic of Svarga, as they could notice a red stripe gracing her hairline—a sindoor stripe. A woman in her late twenties to thirty summers. Her attire bore the insignia of Rakcamkoor—a short-sleeved dress enshrouded by long, resplendent drapes of red and chartreuse. Sparkling beads spread across her garment twinkled like stars. Her dress was devoid of cutouts that flaunted her navel like the common Rakcamkoor's fashion, yet with all the layers of fabric, they did not hide her slender yet supple figure. She was a serpent in stillness, poised to pounce on anything in her path given the right moment.
Ganika crossed her arms. The tip of her hands danced, emitting bright bursts of tangerine energies. The sparkling rows of eldritch glyphs, typical of Eastern-Rite Sorcery, flickered around her as she shaped them into twin semicircles like a folding fan.
"Protect Miss Crimsonmane. Attack the sorceress with all your might!"
The wizards breathed various magical manifestations on Ganika, but instead of backing down, she slithered towards them and their spells. She produced magical platforms ahead of her to leap onto, and disappear the instant her feet parted from them. Her limbs zigzagged through the air, throwing her magic fans with pinpoint accuracy that dulled two wizards' vigours. When she got closer, she ceased crafting more platforms, and then took a graceful somersault flip. Her legs landed on the shoulder of another and locked them around his neck, flipping him over with a powerful head-scissor takedown!
The wizards had been surrounding Ganika the moment she took down the last one. She flung one of her magic fans. It rebounded, striking the chests of every wizard in its path. With but one fan left, the sorceress engaged the European mages with a ballet of martial artistry that effortlessly dodged their every assault. When the fan returned to her grasp, she used it to deflect the magical projectiles, turning their force against their own comrades.
A giant green flare had been cast by a wizard some distance away from Ganika. My lone fan's magical gusts may prove inadequate, she thought, so she fused her twin fans into a complete circle and deflected the darting magic bale with it. The barrier proved effective, but Ganika was unsatisfied; she pushed the tangerine circle towards the assailant, sending him crashing to the ground with a loud thud!
Ganika was a blur of motion as she played most of the wizards, leaving but three to keep an eye on the trio. But just as the kids were on the cusp of reaching the door, another hindrance came. Ko Zarni, one of Merlin's bodyguards, made a sudden landing before them. The tiles beneath his knees and palms crumbled under his weight. More collateral damage mounted the bill for the loss of the skycastle.
Unlike his wife, Ko Zarni's attire seemed more modest. He was similar to some other monks, dressing in a dark brown costume interlaced with hues of shadowy tones. What set him apart was his sleeveless shirt that boasted the sculpture of his muscles. There was no need to acquire an excessive piece of cloth solely for the sake of elegance. A touch of understated light armour embellished his torso.
"Stay with us a moment longer," Ko communicated with them. Nestled in his belt was a lengthy tube that resembled a wooden pipe, with a carved head of a Druk—a thunder dragon—on one end and its sinuous tail on the other. He took the tube out of his waist and twirled the pipe. When examined deeper, it resembled a scroll of great worth, apparent in its cover hewn from precious wood, sculpted with a meticulous array of scales.
No impression from Nadine, Gilmore, and the wizards whatsoever, but they knew that Ko's dragon staff possessed concealed depths.
"I'm like a troll in your Western tales!" Ko exclaimed with youthful fervour, though met with stoic silence. "And you, you shall not pass!"
With that, the young monk stretched out his serpent staff and breathed into the dragon's head. Hot steam shot out of the pipe, and the wooden scales began to jingle. The once-rigid wooden sculpture swayed, its frame relaxing, and a tangerine glimmer radiated around it.
"Yon scroll is alive!" Gilmore muttered in awe.
Ko Zarni, attuned to the Big Yin's mumbling, replied, "Slangeskroll is an extension of my life. Of course, if I live, then Slangeskroll lives too!"
Feeling his dragon cane sufficiently warmed, Ko Zarni launched it forward. The wooden dragon unravelled and extended, morphing into a formidable dragon whip that cracked the very ground. Apparently, the cane was separated into segments, linked by tangerine magical threads. With each strike against the ground, sparks ignited, suffusing the air with crackling energy.
"I'll give you one last chance," uttered Ko Zarni, "hand over your nerdy friend, and maybe, I'll send the Slangeskroll back to sleep."
The Slangeskroll, as the druk-headed wooden pipe was called, hissed at them. it displayed a frustrated temper, especially if they were wise enough to choose the path of peace.
Luckily they did not. Now Slangeskroll became as passionate as the roaring Thunderkeeper’s lightning!
"Always 'one last chance,'" scoffed Gilmore, pulling his mace from behind, which he had not dropped since the Hamstagg fight. "You and yer dragon scroll could look scary if you didnae say those clichés!"
"Alicia, stay behind us," Nadine ordered as she readied her portable bow back.
"I-I'll give you Arcane's blessings!" The grace slowly left Orb right as Alicia said it.
One of the wizards voiced his grievance, "Why didn't ye bestow those blessings earlier, before our friends faced that madwoman?"
Karma had made the wizard cursed by The Divine, as he found his neck strangled by the long coil of Slangeskroll!
"What… did you say… about my wife?" Ko Zarni's expression darkened in wrath.
The other two wizards took a step back, wary of the dragon whip's reach. With such a wide range of attacks, Ko Zarni only needed to lash them from afar without moving an inch. All with just a piece of pipe.
Ko Zarni pulled the baton's segments closer, the tangerine magical threads ablaze with power as they dragged the unfortunate wizard along. A magic circle materialised before the sorcerer's left shoulder, and with a mighty punch through the circle, his hand enlarged tenfold its usual size! A gigantic clenched fist landed on the wizard's head—well, in Ko Zarni's perception—causing the wizard's entire form to hurl backwards, shattering the door they had just sealed. A substantial force indeed; the unlucky wizard had yet to stop rolling. The throw nearly caught Ganika, who was embroiled in her own battle, lodging a protest against her husband.
Oh, this was precarious indeed. Alicia knew there was no better time to lend her Arcane might than now. She sealed her eyes and began to spread the Divine Grace's power.
"I won't allow it!" Knowing what Alicia was about to do, Ko Zarni sent his thunder dragon once more.
Gilmore's voice rang out, "Everyone, watch out!"
Alicia's eyes, now wide open, widened further at the approaching dragon lashes. Just as she was about to conjure a magic shield, the lash landed next to her.
Missed attack?
Certainly not.
Ko Zarni did it on purpose. He immediately dragged Slangeskroll toward Crimsonmane witch's feet. His diversion succeeded. Taking too long to digest the information, Alicia and the others stumbled and fell with ease.
Two wizards of the Magisterium shot Ko Zarni right away. His agility served him well; he simply leaned his body in the opposite direction with minimal gesture. Capitalizing on the opening, Ko struck one of the scholarly mages with his dragon whip. A resounding crack echoed through the air, marking the first brattle. Undeterred, he delivered a second brattle, further incapacitating the wizard. Though the third strike was narrowly missed, a small victory was hardly a victory, for the residual impact of the powerful blow left the mage numb and disoriented. With the fourth lash, the dragon head jabbed the wizard's nose, shattering it and consigning him to the realm of dreams. A bitter reunion with his comrades in an ethereal limbo.
The latter wizard was smarter. With his wand held between his palms, he conjured a mana shield that thwarted every lash of Ko's whip. But Ko was not one to give up easily. He signalled to Slangeskroll, and the dragon lunged from the side. The wizard remained a step ahead, directing his tiny wand towards the ground.
"Tera Quassum!"
Given the substantial damage Skycastle had already suffered, further acts of vandalism seemed inconsequential. After all, the blame still rested on the sorcerers, and it was not the wizards who would bear the financial burden.
And thus, events unfolded: With the incantation uttered, the ground trembled violently before the wizard. A shockwave rippled through the earth, and the black-and-white tiles shattered into massive mounds. Ko Zarni, taken by surprise, tossed into the ceiling. The sorcerer plummeted heavily, only to be lifted by the following levitation spell. Relentless crimson bursts tore into Ko's defenceless form, showing no mercy.
"Ko!" Ganika cried out, finding herself cornered as well. The woman made a circular motion and looked for an opening to escape. However, a wizard's mana stream snared her, yanking her back by force. The husband and wife exhibited signs of being overwhelmed. In the end, by being outnumbered, facing a group of opponents was not something worth underestimating.
Despite the grimace on his face, the spirit in Ko Zarni was burning still. The Slangeskroll was still in his hand, so he relinquished his hold on that dragon club. The club swerved through the air, speeding toward the wizard who had sent his master flying, then bound him tightly. The wizard tumbled to the ground. As the magic holding Ko was undone, the wizard felt his insides constrict and each breath an arduous struggle the more he moved.
Ko walked closer before a volley of arrows came from the side. Startled that an arrow had almost pierced his brain, he turned and found Gilmore, also close at hand, about to throw his round mace at the sorcerer's face. Ko Zarni rolled backwards, but Gilmore pushed his club back and managed to slam it into the sorcerer's chest, knocking him down.
"Yas! Taste that, ye bastard!"
Alicia, who had just woken up, quickly synchronised with Orb, seeking to channel her blessings. However, the Arcane stream acted like it lacked direction. The breezy blue power was flitting aimlessly about.
"Orb, what is this? They're right there!"
Orb replied back to her.
"What do you mean you can't reach them?"
Orb retorted.
"Y-you cannae ‘break through’? What the...?"
At first glance, Alicia did not see anything out of the ordinary. But her myopic vision was unreliable. So she rubbed her misty glasses, observing the sight of her friends with greater scrutiny. It was as if she was looking at a reflection. Near invisible crack lines served as scenic impurities. Another amiss jolted her again; she did not hear anything they were doing. Quiet, it was, akin to a pantomime drama. Alicia knew she was not deaf; Orb's singing still resounded in her ears.
“W-where am I…?”
"Uhm… uhh… h-h-hello…?" A soft, nervous voice broke the silence.
Alicia glanced back. []
"That's her! That's the girl Tenshin has a crush on!"
"Oh, she is really pretty. Tenshin was right about her worried expression being adorable!"
"Ah, f-friends! P-please!"
"Aw…, I can see your face turning red, Little Brother!"
"What? Zip it! You cannot see it…, w-we're in the middle of a dark vent!"
"Oh, I can see it alright."
"Y-you cannot!"
"Hey, Little Brother, we've got your back. That's why we should bring her as fast as possible, so you can take her to the aisle."
"W-w-wedding a-aisle? I just reached seventeen! And I'm a novice!"
"Come now, don't act so nervous! I know deep down you want it. After all, you haven't been officially ordained as a monk yet. So you can choose to get out of celibacy and become a war mage like me and Ganika. Of course, you can be a mate to the red-haired girl. That’s if you dare, though..."
"W-what is t-the meaning of t-that? D-do not plunge me into m-mortal temptations, Ko!"
"Okay, okay. Let's postpone the small talk first. Ganika, you ambush from behind! Me from the front, and Tenshin…!"
"W-what...?"
"I'll let you go private with the girl. Don't screw this up!"
"Heeeeeh?"
***
As Alicia and her companions paddled their feet through the door, Gilmore nearly fell into the chasm cunningly created by Merlin's illusion. The once-intact room now fragmented into floating platforms, with walls and pillars stretching into the abyss of infinity. A formidable space gap hindered them from the one door across.
"Shite! Perhaps ye should undo all the enchantments in this room, not just yon blasted wall," Gilmore remarked.
None of them raised any significant objections. Alicia let out a soft sigh, but she was up for the challenge. "Alright, I'll try. Please guard me."
The wizards promptly sealed the rear exit. Alicia focused her concentration, unleashing a grand-scale dispersion of Arcane might to counteract the influence of the Protos particles within the chamber. The wearying effort took several minutes before her ragged gasps recurred, and she called out to the others, "It's done!"
A wizard offered her the favourite Stillmajik potion of a million wizards. Overshadowed by a hint of reluctance, she immediately took it and drank, making a face. "Eugh! Bitter!"
And so every time they entered a new chamber, a myriad of distortions obstructed their progress. Alicia, as always, assumed the responsibility of taking care of the mess. The lass did not complain. She could not, to be precise. But with the right frame of mind, this was an exercise to strengthen her stamina and endurance. After all, dwelling in anger would only worsen her situation, as the lingering issues demanded resolution. Meanwhile, every time they came across a door, one of the wizards cast a sealing spell, Sigillium, to the rear entrance, to buy time.
But how could one tell the wizards that such a spell was an expenditure of unnecessary mana? Merlin's guardian trio paid no heed to doors. They banished the idea of using a door when visiting Skycastle in the first place. Why ought they rely on one now? They had a caretaker of all barricades. As long as he could trace the girl of prophecy, the only way they could not take to find her was the way to Hades.
"Dinnae you have some sort of teleportation device or something?" Alicia asked a wizard. "Where's yer magic broom?"
"No time to pick up the equipment!" said the head of the mage unit. "For now, getting out of the building and reaching a griffin or nearby sphereships is our best option."
Alicia and the others had already run quite a distance and found themselves in a room larger than the passages and chambers they had walked before, yet smaller than the grandiose lobby. Before their eyes, stood a wall with wide doors. Behind those doors was an emergency route leading to the building's rear exit.
"Just head for that door, and we'll be out of here, my lady!" said an elite wizard on the escort team. "Hurry, purify this last side of the room—"
A flat, orange blunt projectile found its mark upon the nape of a wizard, knocking him unconscious and vanishing into thin air. The loud thud was enough to direct all eyes to the back side of the room, wherein stood a sorceress of sun-kissed complexion, ready for further assault. Her nationality was suspected from the Republic of Svarga, as they could notice a red stripe gracing her hairline—a sindoor stripe. A woman in her late twenties to thirty summers. Her attire bore the insignia of Rakcamkoor—a short-sleeved dress enshrouded by long, resplendent drapes of red and chartreuse. Sparkling beads spread across her garment twinkled like stars. Her dress was devoid of cutouts that flaunted her navel like the common Rakcamkoor's fashion, yet with all the layers of fabric, they did not hide her slender yet supple figure. She was a serpent in stillness, poised to pounce on anything in her path given the right moment.
Ganika crossed her arms. The tip of her hands danced, emitting bright bursts of tangerine energies. The sparkling rows of eldritch glyphs, typical of Eastern-Rite Sorcery, flickered around her as she shaped them into twin semicircles like a folding fan.
"Protect Miss Crimsonmane. Attack the sorceress with all your might!"
The wizards breathed various magical manifestations on Ganika, but instead of backing down, she slithered towards them and their spells. She produced magical platforms ahead of her to leap onto, and disappear the instant her feet parted from them. Her limbs zigzagged through the air, throwing her magic fans with pinpoint accuracy that dulled two wizards' vigours. When she got closer, she ceased crafting more platforms, and then took a graceful somersault flip. Her legs landed on the shoulder of another and locked them around his neck, flipping him over with a powerful head-scissor takedown!
The wizards had been surrounding Ganika the moment she took down the last one. She flung one of her magic fans. It rebounded, striking the chests of every wizard in its path. With but one fan left, the sorceress engaged the European mages with a ballet of martial artistry that effortlessly dodged their every assault. When the fan returned to her grasp, she used it to deflect the magical projectiles, turning their force against their own comrades.
A giant green flare had been cast by a wizard some distance away from Ganika. My lone fan's magical gusts may prove inadequate, she thought, so she fused her twin fans into a complete circle and deflected the darting magic bale with it. The barrier proved effective, but Ganika was unsatisfied; she pushed the tangerine circle towards the assailant, sending him crashing to the ground with a loud thud!
Ganika was a blur of motion as she played most of the wizards, leaving but three to keep an eye on the trio. But just as the kids were on the cusp of reaching the door, another hindrance came. Ko Zarni, one of Merlin's bodyguards, made a sudden landing before them. The tiles beneath his knees and palms crumbled under his weight. More collateral damage mounted the bill for the loss of the skycastle.
Unlike his wife, Ko Zarni's attire seemed more modest. He was similar to some other monks, dressing in a dark brown costume interlaced with hues of shadowy tones. What set him apart was his sleeveless shirt that boasted the sculpture of his muscles. There was no need to acquire an excessive piece of cloth solely for the sake of elegance. A touch of understated light armour embellished his torso.
"Stay with us a moment longer," Ko communicated with them. Nestled in his belt was a lengthy tube that resembled a wooden pipe, with a carved head of a Druk—a thunder dragon—on one end and its sinuous tail on the other. He took the tube out of his waist and twirled the pipe. When examined deeper, it resembled a scroll of great worth, apparent in its cover hewn from precious wood, sculpted with a meticulous array of scales.
No impression from Nadine, Gilmore, and the wizards whatsoever, but they knew that Ko's dragon staff possessed concealed depths.
"I'm like a troll in your Western tales!" Ko exclaimed with youthful fervour, though met with stoic silence. "And you, you shall not pass!"
With that, the young monk stretched out his serpent staff and breathed into the dragon's head. Hot steam shot out of the pipe, and the wooden scales began to jingle. The once-rigid wooden sculpture swayed, its frame relaxing, and a tangerine glimmer radiated around it.
"Yon scroll is alive!" Gilmore muttered in awe.
Ko Zarni, attuned to the Big Yin's mumbling, replied, "Slangeskroll is an extension of my life. Of course, if I live, then Slangeskroll lives too!"
Feeling his dragon cane sufficiently warmed, Ko Zarni launched it forward. The wooden dragon unravelled and extended, morphing into a formidable dragon whip that cracked the very ground. Apparently, the cane was separated into segments, linked by tangerine magical threads. With each strike against the ground, sparks ignited, suffusing the air with crackling energy.
"I'll give you one last chance," uttered Ko Zarni, "hand over your nerdy friend, and maybe, I'll send the Slangeskroll back to sleep."
The Slangeskroll, as the druk-headed wooden pipe was called, hissed at them. it displayed a frustrated temper, especially if they were wise enough to choose the path of peace.
Luckily they did not. Now Slangeskroll became as passionate as the roaring Thunderkeeper’s lightning!
"Always 'one last chance,'" scoffed Gilmore, pulling his mace from behind, which he had not dropped since the Hamstagg fight. "You and yer dragon scroll could look scary if you didnae say those clichés!"
"Alicia, stay behind us," Nadine ordered as she readied her portable bow back.
"I-I'll give you Arcane's blessings!" The grace slowly left Orb right as Alicia said it.
One of the wizards voiced his grievance, "Why didn't ye bestow those blessings earlier, before our friends faced that madwoman?"
Karma had made the wizard cursed by The Divine, as he found his neck strangled by the long coil of Slangeskroll!
"What… did you say… about my wife?" Ko Zarni's expression darkened in wrath.
The other two wizards took a step back, wary of the dragon whip's reach. With such a wide range of attacks, Ko Zarni only needed to lash them from afar without moving an inch. All with just a piece of pipe.
Ko Zarni pulled the baton's segments closer, the tangerine magical threads ablaze with power as they dragged the unfortunate wizard along. A magic circle materialised before the sorcerer's left shoulder, and with a mighty punch through the circle, his hand enlarged tenfold its usual size! A gigantic clenched fist landed on the wizard's head—well, in Ko Zarni's perception—causing the wizard's entire form to hurl backwards, shattering the door they had just sealed. A substantial force indeed; the unlucky wizard had yet to stop rolling. The throw nearly caught Ganika, who was embroiled in her own battle, lodging a protest against her husband.
Oh, this was precarious indeed. Alicia knew there was no better time to lend her Arcane might than now. She sealed her eyes and began to spread the Divine Grace's power.
"I won't allow it!" Knowing what Alicia was about to do, Ko Zarni sent his thunder dragon once more.
Gilmore's voice rang out, "Everyone, watch out!"
Alicia's eyes, now wide open, widened further at the approaching dragon lashes. Just as she was about to conjure a magic shield, the lash landed next to her.
Missed attack?
Certainly not.
Ko Zarni did it on purpose. He immediately dragged Slangeskroll toward Crimsonmane witch's feet. His diversion succeeded. Taking too long to digest the information, Alicia and the others stumbled and fell with ease.
Two wizards of the Magisterium shot Ko Zarni right away. His agility served him well; he simply leaned his body in the opposite direction with minimal gesture. Capitalizing on the opening, Ko struck one of the scholarly mages with his dragon whip. A resounding crack echoed through the air, marking the first brattle. Undeterred, he delivered a second brattle, further incapacitating the wizard. Though the third strike was narrowly missed, a small victory was hardly a victory, for the residual impact of the powerful blow left the mage numb and disoriented. With the fourth lash, the dragon head jabbed the wizard's nose, shattering it and consigning him to the realm of dreams. A bitter reunion with his comrades in an ethereal limbo.
The latter wizard was smarter. With his wand held between his palms, he conjured a mana shield that thwarted every lash of Ko's whip. But Ko was not one to give up easily. He signalled to Slangeskroll, and the dragon lunged from the side. The wizard remained a step ahead, directing his tiny wand towards the ground.
"Tera Quassum!"
Given the substantial damage Skycastle had already suffered, further acts of vandalism seemed inconsequential. After all, the blame still rested on the sorcerers, and it was not the wizards who would bear the financial burden.
And thus, events unfolded: With the incantation uttered, the ground trembled violently before the wizard. A shockwave rippled through the earth, and the black-and-white tiles shattered into massive mounds. Ko Zarni, taken by surprise, tossed into the ceiling. The sorcerer plummeted heavily, only to be lifted by the following levitation spell. Relentless crimson bursts tore into Ko's defenceless form, showing no mercy.
"Ko!" Ganika cried out, finding herself cornered as well. The woman made a circular motion and looked for an opening to escape. However, a wizard's mana stream snared her, yanking her back by force. The husband and wife exhibited signs of being overwhelmed. In the end, by being outnumbered, facing a group of opponents was not something worth underestimating.
Despite the grimace on his face, the spirit in Ko Zarni was burning still. The Slangeskroll was still in his hand, so he relinquished his hold on that dragon club. The club swerved through the air, speeding toward the wizard who had sent his master flying, then bound him tightly. The wizard tumbled to the ground. As the magic holding Ko was undone, the wizard felt his insides constrict and each breath an arduous struggle the more he moved.
Ko walked closer before a volley of arrows came from the side. Startled that an arrow had almost pierced his brain, he turned and found Gilmore, also close at hand, about to throw his round mace at the sorcerer's face. Ko Zarni rolled backwards, but Gilmore pushed his club back and managed to slam it into the sorcerer's chest, knocking him down.
"Yas! Taste that, ye bastard!"
Alicia, who had just woken up, quickly synchronised with Orb, seeking to channel her blessings. However, the Arcane stream acted like it lacked direction. The breezy blue power was flitting aimlessly about.
"Orb, what is this? They're right there!"
Orb replied back to her.
"What do you mean you can't reach them?"
Orb retorted.
"Y-you cannae ‘break through’? What the...?"
At first glance, Alicia did not see anything out of the ordinary. But her myopic vision was unreliable. So she rubbed her misty glasses, observing the sight of her friends with greater scrutiny. It was as if she was looking at a reflection. Near invisible crack lines served as scenic impurities. Another amiss jolted her again; she did not hear anything they were doing. Quiet, it was, akin to a pantomime drama. Alicia knew she was not deaf; Orb's singing still resounded in her ears.
“W-where am I…?”
"Uhm… uhh… h-h-hello…?" A soft, nervous voice broke the silence.
Alicia glanced back. []
