The First Mage

The air became sweltering hot and my blurry vision started to fill with the flames barreling towards us. Even if Arax didn’t have me in a death grip, I didn’t know how I would’ve escaped the quickly expanding wave of fire originating from Riala. Luckily for me—at least at this moment—Arax was quick on her feet and jumped back several meters, barely escaping the assault. As the flames briefly seemed to subside, she jerked me upwards, staring straight into my face.

“Fire? Fire!?” Arax spat in disbelief and shock.

I didn’t have enough time to say anything in response before something that resembled a meteor brushed past us, only missing Arax by a hair’s breadth. A fraction of a second later, I heard it crash into something and screams erupting. Due to my movements still being restricted, I couldn’t see where it had gone. However, based on its trajectory, it presumably crashed into the temple.

“Raw!”

A growl came from somewhere behind Arax and out of the corner of my eye, I could see the three beasts run past us and in Riala’s direction. “You fools! Stop!” Arax screamed, but it was already too late. They were fast, and by the time their master tried to warn them, they were already too close to Riala to turn tail. A wall of fire appeared as if out of nowhere, engulfing the three in flames. Their cries of pain and despair heralded their end and a smell of burned flesh reached my nose.

“Tsk!”

Arax tossed me to the side and brandished her claws. After crashing into the stone tiles on the ground, I immediately rolled over to see what was happening—despite some difficulties propping myself up with two battered arms that pleaded for me to stop.

I had overexerted myself more than we had ever before. That I was still even conscious was a noteworthy miracle. I cursed myself for my helplessness, while worrying about Riala. Ignoring how she did what she did, she continuously pumped out mana and fire in waves. It also seemed relatively uncontrolled, as if she was just filling the area with her mana and then igniting it. However, if that was the case, she would soon be in trouble. With mana output on this level, she couldn’t possibly last much longer. She, too, would soon reach a point where her body would no longer cooperate with her.

If I had been in Arax’s shoes, I would’ve bided my time, waiting for her to exhaust herself, but maybe she didn’t know about mana limitations, because she instead went on the attack. The moment the latest fire wave subsided, she started running in Riala’s direction. It was difficult to tell at a distance, but Riala’s eyes appeared glazed over. She certainly did see Arax coming for her, but not with a conscious mind.

Riala stuck out her arms and I could see the mana gathering in front of them, swirling into a ball of fire. It looked just like an element-swapped version of my water ball script at first, but when she fired it, it seemed to have a somewhat solid core. Flying over the charred remains of the beasts who tried to approach Riala a few seconds prior, this second ball of fire swished towards Arax. She was ready to dodge, but the attack suddenly split into three smaller balls that shot out in different directions. Arax was unable to change course again in time and rushed right into one of them, which grazed her torso’s side.

“Yargh!” she yowled in pain, falling to her knees and putting a hand to the spot reflexively.

Maybe I had whittled her down far enough, or maybe these attacks were just more potent, but whatever the case, Arax had taken damage for the first time. Understandably, she was not happy about it.

“You little shit!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, her eyes full of rage.

“Hey, stay here!” Berla suddenly yelled from the other side of the main square, where she had managed to keep the remaining wolf occupied this entire time. Now it had evidently decided not to play along anymore, however, and was going for Riala. If the wolf reached her, it would be two on one, and Riala’s entire focus was on Arax.

“Ria, to your left!” I shouted, but she didn’t react.

Fuck!

Barely able to move, I wrecked my brain for what I could do. There weren’t a lot of options. In a split-second decision, I dropped myself to the ground, gritting my teeth. Lying there, I positioned the arm that was still somewhat functional so a water stream fired from it would hit the wolf if I just shot at the exact right moment.

3... 2... 1... Now!

I activated my script and a small stream of water shot out from my hand. I couldn’t afford to waste any mana, which would risk my life further, and I knew that even this amount would do its job: distract the beast. I had almost messed up the timing, but it just barely hit the wolf, jerking it around, and making it stumble to the ground.

Regardless of how carefully I had regulated the attack, I felt like dying afterwards, only clinging to the last bits of my consciousness so as to not miss anything. It wasn’t quite over yet. While Berla caught up to the beast and engaged it once more, Arax changed her stance, preparing to rush for Riala. She was scared and wanted to finish this quickly. Even though I would’ve been in a great position to do something about it, I couldn’t. My body had stopped responding to my commands.

That’s when Hati and Reurig finally joined us and rushed past me towards Arax, who was waiting for the best time to make it through the wavering flames in the air without taking any more damage than she had already.

Keep her occupied... I pleaded. Just for a moment...

The two couldn’t even hope to compete with her under normal circumstances. They wouldn’t even get close to her. However, be it because of her mental state, her pain, or because of some other factor, Arax didn’t seem to notice their approach. The second Hati was in range, he launched at her, going for her neck and biting down on it. He used his remaining limbs to grab her, locking himself in place to the best of his ability. It looked like it might impede her ability to move at the very least. Personally I would’ve gone for the legs, but then again, that would’ve made it easy for her to strike him from above.

Irritated, Arax immediately started grabbling with him. “Get off me, pup!”

She pulled parts of him off her with ease, but his grip on her neck was strong enough that she couldn’t pull him off entirely in one go. He was holding tight. At the same time, Reurig started dancing around her, trying to strategically hit the area around her open wound with his daggers.

Her attention was now split between the wolf giving his all to hold onto her, the Fighter trying to hit her most vulnerable spot, and most worryingly to her, the little flamethrower who was able to actually do serious damage to her. She desperately tried to pry Hati off her, while using her legs to evade and keep Reurig in check. Despite the distractions, she was still able to dodge the mostly uncontrolled flames flying through the air. Only the fast and targeted shots had a chance to hit her at that distance. More and more of them were starting to graze her though, and we needed just one good hit. Arax started to visibly panic when Reurig shouted, “Big one, Riala!”

The young girl obliged. Her arms still raised, she gathered more and more mana in front of her. When she ignited it, a large fireball came into existence, easily three meters in diameter. Flames spewed every which way, even hitting Riala herself. After a moment, it whizzed in Arax’s direction.

Hati and Reurig kept going until the last possible amount and jumped out of harm’s way only milliseconds before the fire swallowed Arax whole. The effect this would have on her would decide the battle, but I couldn’t hold out any longer. Feeling myself fade away, I looked to Riala. Her body was swaying, her clothes and even her hair was burning. The last thing I saw before I blacked out were her eyes rolling over and her collapsing to the ground.