The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage: Wandmaker Vol.2

WM [43] Because Joha Said We Should

The signal from Alfred came almost soundlessly as the world slowed down. The magic of the jeweled winged monarch bathed the world in dazzling colors as its wings lifted into the air. Magic concentrated on the outstretched insectoid appendages as they neared the final stages before it could take flight. The monarch's desire to lift off into the great beyond was almost palpable as its mana became a typhoon that washed out into the minds of any creature too weak to resist its domination.

Then, in an instant the mesmerizing colors were bleached monochrome. The monarch's mana seemed to just evaporate as Bjorn unleashed the full force of his power. Aether screamed into existence, its very nature raw and uncontainable, as white flame erupted from his jaws and spilled out into the clearing torching anything in its way. The blaze moved as if alive with many hands reaching out hungrily to consume and spread the toxin that could bring entire worlds to their knees. Tanisha and Alfred had to leap back as the temperature in the clearing rose hotter and hotter.

The plume of white fire condensed, focusing into a searing beam of aether that cut through the landscape like a massive divine blade. It sliced through the throne of fallen trees the monarch had claimed for itself. The intensity of the beam left a glowing scar across the land. As mana the beam was terrifying but as aether it was something otherworldly.

Bjorn's focus was elsewhere, he needed to do something he had never tried before. He felt the aether surging within him and pulled on it more and more. He demanded that it give everything he wanted. His opened his right mouth and Poison Cloud burst forth as if he just opened the floodgate of a raging storm. The cloud crackled with aetheric toxin, filling every inch of the clearing with deadly vapor. Bjorn could feel his aether clashing with the monarch's aura, each force battling for supremacy over the space.

Then came the sound—a dreadful thing, a piercing thing, a wail of pain and confusion as the monarch was struck. Its beautiful, terrible magic faltered, the light in its wings dimming as the creature reeled from the unexpected pain when it was at the precipice of its ascension. The battlefield was a chaotic blend of aether, flame, and a toxic cloud, all of it centering on the now wounded, jeweled winged monarch.

"I didn't know we could multicast!" Failsafe said in Bjorn's head with enthusiasm. "That means—that means! New options, new experiments!"

"Focus, Failsafe," Bjorn ordered.

"Right, sorry that is for later," Failsafe said sheepishly.

The very moment Bjorn's fire stopped flowing from him the monarch turned to face him. All of its thousand eyes focused squarely on him. Through the pain and the constant burning it knew its enemy. It could feel Bjorn's location through his magic. The white flames had engulfed the creature, burned through its chitinous armor and dug deep into the odd writhing mass of faux-flesh within. Even so it was not dead, no were near close, it wasn't a real creature of flesh and blood, it was a mass of corrupted magic.

His toxin would do its work, it would eat away at its vitality but until then they had to keep it here and distracted. The creature roared from mouths that appeared all over its grotesque form. Bjorn wasn't done, Tanisha and Alfred forced him to save his magic for this moment, and he wasn't going to let it go to waste.

He opened his mouth again feeling the heat bellow out from his core as a second beam of aetheric fire struck the creature. He felt his core strain as he pushed the aether through. He felt his muscles burn. His vision reddened as his eyes threatened to boil from their sockets. He wouldn't give up though he had one chance and he was not going to waste it.

"Bjorn stop, you are going to overheat!" Failsafe screamed.

The last of his fire petered out as he collapsed, the expenditure of so much aether so explosively rocked his constitution. Smoke escaped his nostrils from his burning throat and mouth. The aether within him threatened to cook him from the inside out as his natural healing kicked in to keep him alive. His left head slumped lower than the others as the muscles in his neck struggled to keep the head up.