The Prodigies: The Return of Equinox

Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Keep - The Keeper in White

Garvhoz and Celesta made their way through the original path they came across and found themselves in a myriad of different environs. They found themselves in deserts, caves, worn wooden hallways, bridges with no visible end, staircases that spiraled to infinity and more. They felt it in their bones that they were only borrowing the space that their bodies took up while they passed each new scene. In their march towards more information they stumbled upon a white hooded figure.

"You are trespassing upon protected ground. Leave and never come back henceforth and I will forgive your transgressions thus far. If you do not accept my one and final offer you will meet your doom at my hands."

Celesta, who was following Garvhoz, stepped forward to meet the hooded figure. She sized her opponent up not just with her eyes, but also trying to sense any magic coming from their adversary. In the short time that it took for her to step in front of Garvhoz she had figured that the person in front of them posed no threat.

"Excuse me for not knowing who you think you are, but we are on orders by the High Council of Aviagard to investigate and procure evidence for any of the Alchemists Guild's involvement with bringing an early arrival of Equinox. If you have no such evidence, then let us pass and we will be on our way post-haste should we find nothing. If you impede us in any such way, expect that you will face the full offensive capability of the White Queen, and the strongest soldier in all of Aviagard."

"We decline. Prepare for death." spoke the hooded figure.

"Sketoro dwə." A sickening crunch emanated from the hooded figure and it slumped to the floor. "That was easy enough. Lead the way Garvhoz."

"Not so fast, Celesta." The hooded figure slowly erected to a stand. The torso of the figure flopping unnaturally with the dull sound of bone snapping and popping. "This will take more than words."

"You truly have the strength to hold your position, young queen. But I'm afraid I am of a higher echelon witch than you. Surprising, really, but there's a reason why I was the first to earn Nature's name."

"Celestra, Chosen of Trayma?"

"Precisely, it's why there are no more Chosen that have appeared with my gift." She dropped her hood to reveal an elderly woman who could have been no older than her sixties, which couldn't be further from the truth considering Celesta was named over 300 years after she was recorded to die at the age of one hundred. She started mouthing some words and slowly articulating patterns with her hands and fingers.

"What the hell? What's her blessing?"

"She receives all that is done to her safely."

"Is there a limit?"

"We're about to find out."

"Zhyet'punel."
"Volta!"
"Īr!"

The "sharp light" spell redirected to Celestra at the same the shield went up around her. Celestra's arm was severed from her body and opened a gash on her face while zapping her with a hot searing light. The shield only compounded the effect by entrapping it in a small space.

"What the hell?" Screamed Celesta. "How'd that happen?" She turned to Garvhoz and asked what he had done.

"I substituted the target. She was obviously targeting us, so I just sent it in the opposite direction."

The ancient witch laid hunched over the ground, clearly suffering from the strange spell interaction that just happened. While she normally didn't feel pain from the effects of spells, this was a special occasion. She would have to worry about being hit with her own divinely influenced magic.

"So, that old trick has made a comeback then? I guess I'll need to reapproach with a different strategy." The old woman's arm slowly lifted back to its place and repaired itself along with the rest of the damage she sustained.

"When did you learn to do that?"

"Jasper taught me. Old ranger trick apparently."

"Kuy Ilyüt."
"Wa-"
"Volta!"

Unbeknownst to Garvhoz, what he did was the one fatal flaw of the target substitution technique. The spell targeted Celestra, but since he targeted her again and was the last contributor to the spell he was now the target. Unfortunately for him, the spell literally translated to 'ice self-person'.

Garvhoz felt his body slowly freeze and halt. He yelped in agony as he tried to maintain his composure.

"Riv!" It was usually the spell for fire, but instead a warm glow surrounded Garvhoz and halted the progress the ice was making. "No more magic, soldier boy. I'm going to need you to attack her physically."

"But she's magic! I can't fight that!" Their bickering stopped them from noticing the spell their opponent was casting. A great ball of fire hurled their way and by the time they noticed it they could already feel the heat.

The fireball crashed and exploded leaving behind scorch marks on the stone beneath them and smoke from the expended fuel of the fire. Celestra readied for another spell, but waited for their response. The smoke hung heavy and obstructed her view for what seemed like hours in her anticipatory state.

"We're ready for you now!" Garvhoz yelled. Damn it, thought Celestra, she had waited too long. Garvhoz emerged from the smoke with sword and shield in tow. Taken aback, the old witch hurled spell after spell at the lone Prodigy, but he dodged and parried every attack that came his way.

"Bekh!"
"Baf!"

The spell the old witch had cast was immediately drained and Garvhoz barely felt the effects of it's stopping power. Once he reached the Witch he arced a backhand swing over his shield to meet her collarbone. She embraced the swing, but just before he made contact she felt her energy increase exponentially. As Garvhoz's blade ran it's course through her rib cage and to her hip, she knew she couldn't receive the damage or energy of the hit. She couldn't feel the pain, but it hurt nonetheless.

As she lay dying Celesta walked up to her, knelt by her side, and spoke to her.

"After thinking about it, I didn't have to worry about you receiving wounds if you reached capacity right before it hit you. Can't receive nothing if your stock is full, and because I've more power than I let on it was easy to reverse the flow of magic to leave you with nothing."

Celestra only laid there softly gasping. She had an expression of confusion. Her face asked Celesta how she knew it would work. She looked at the young queen's face to see only a playful smirk.

"I didn't know if it would work, but I didn't care. That play didn't cost me anything to make and I probably have enough power in store to make your body burst over from capacity hundreds of times over. The one thing you probably didn't count on was me being a Chosen of Dratma or a whole new creature: Prodigal." With a thought she had telepathically sent her dying opponent information about herself.

The old witch finally understood. She was no match. The girl before her with Nature's name was of a level one couldn't couldn't reach if they trained a lifetime.

In between labored gasps a smile crept on her face. She was proud of her succession, even if she was a royal brat. She eased her eyes closed and let herself experience some resemblance of peace in her final moments. She would finally be one with her name mother.