Mark of the Ranger

XLIX. Your Wildfiriest Dreams

Isabel crawled through the rock tunnel that whatever hed estroyed the islands had spared, her team of escorts following closely behind. Oric took up the back, making sure that nothing unexpected came from behind. Isabel had a certain feeling of fondness for her stone soldier. After all, it was her own construct, made with her own hands, some magic, and a whole lot of rocks. In the past three months, he had trained with the greatest Outland Ranger ever--Tallen van Rook--to up his combat skills. From the little snippets of training that Isabel had seen, Oric was learning well.

"How long, exactly, is this hallway?" Ko asked. Lion shushed him and told him to relax. Without anyone being able to see, Isabel gave a little smirk. She loved this team, there was something special about the way they bantered, worked together, and made decisions. Maddie and Minnie had that sort of feeling to her as well, but Isabel couldn't place it. Eventually, she would find that one word that described it all perfectly, and that piece of her mind would be at rest. Of course, there were many other pieces that had problems, and they had many problems, indeed.

"There's a staircase here," Isabel told her escorts, as well as Oric. Apparently, they hadn't taken Marrow along. A shame; he would have been an excellent eighth companion. Isabel turned and led her escorts(and Oric) up the staircase she had just mentioned, and nothing interesting happened. There was a sense of suspense and dread that hung in the air like the fumes of a Rotting Potion, but nothing there beyond that. Isabel had brought her new light magic staff in hopes of some combat, but none of that was to be seen. Hopefully, Isabel thought, I'll be able to fire off a few Milia Saggitarium at something.

Eventually, the band of reasonably likely heroes reached a small wooden door, just small enough for David to fit in. Isabel opened it, and a stream of fire came straight for her. She closed the door, but it burned away to nothingness in a few short seconds. Isabel gulped, then pulled out her staff, the dominant part of her reminding her that that was what she was hoping for. Within a moment, Isabel had convinced herself into a smirk. She stepped out and looked for what had thrown fire at her, and she was a little shocked at what she had seen.

There were four wizards. Each held a staff with a different jewel on it: One earth, one fire, one water, and one air. Typical, Isabel grumbled internally. However, in the center, floating above the wizards, was some sort of fire construct. Flames poured endlessly off of it, but its own fire never went out. The construct seemed to have horns on what must have been its head. It was human in shape, but Isabel could tell it was far from human in reality. Its eyes gleamed with a carefully crafted hatred. "Kill them," Isabel thought she heard the construct growl before flying away.

Isabel's escorts drew their weapons, but Isabel held out a hand. "I'll take care of this," she assured them, then looked back at the wizards. "Milia Saggitarium!" she cried out, holding her staff out. Arrows of light shot out of her staff, targeting each of the wizards. However, stone walls rose from the ground and blocked the attack. Isabel gritted her teeth. I'll just focus on one, then, she thought, and pointed to the wizard with the fire crystal. One arrow shot from her staff, but another stone wall rose and blocked it, shattering to pieces.

I see how it is, Isabel realized, then pointed her staff at the earth wizard. The earth wizard raised his own staff, and rocks came from all directions to crush the Grand Wizardess. "Tuitio!" The rocks' victim responded, and a white bubble formed around her. The rocks shattered against the shield, just as Isabel had commanded. Isabel saw what she needed to do, and touched her hand to the crystal at the top of her staff. "Foro," she whispered to the crystal, commanding it to gain the ability to pierce. Immediately, she felt her mana being slowly tugged away. She had to defeat the earth wizard quickly.

Isabel pointed her staff at the earth wizard, and an arrow of light shot towards him. He called a stone wall to protect him, but it was pierced, and the Grand Wizardess heard a cry of pain from the earth wizard. She shot a few more bolts of light at him to finish him off, until only his core remained. Isabel chose to distract the other wizards so one of the Rangers could break the core. "Trano!" she cried out, and her staff glowed. She began to hover, and her enemies cast the same spell. Isabel looked at her staff, then tapped it to get rid of its foro effect. The draining of mana slowed, now just affected by her flying. The first wizard to near Isabel was the fire wizard, who was disabled with a quick tormentem aquam.

The next to near the Grand Wizardess, as the fire wizard's core shattered against the stone ground, was the air wizard. He was defeated with a fulmen. The water wizard, cowering with fear, was destroyed with the same spell. Jeff excitedly ran over and broke that core. "Well, that was easy," Isabel noted, immediately regretting it. She hoped that the universe hadn't heard her say that as she ate a mana cake to replenish her energy. She landed on the ground, then got an idea as she saw the staffs laying on the ground. She picked them all up.

"What are you doing?" Lion asked, a moment too late. Isabel formed that staffs so that her own was in the very center, and the others circled around it. She concentrated the best she could, closing her eyes tightly. She felt all the staffs meld together under the pressure of her strength, and she was soon closing her fists around a single staff. She looked at it with pride and saw the top of the staff--a cluster of crystals in a circle, with the light crystal jutting out on top. The Rangers gazed at it with awe. "Enough ogling. Let's continue," Isabel snapped, bringing them all back to reality.

Isabel found another door behind where the wizards had been standing. Her staff now felt significantly heavier than it had before, but that was most likely because it was now four times its original weight. Oric opened the door. "You may draw your weapons now," he reminded before doing so. The Rangers followed his suggestion, and the band leaped through the door with confidence.

The fire construct was hovering in front of them. To Isabel's right, there was a ravine, and to her left, there was an overhang. Behind the fire construct was a wall of sharp rocks, and above them, there was open air. "Give us the core!" Lion shouted to the fire construct. The evil creature laughed--the sound like a woosh when a fire increases in size very quickly. "In your dreams, Lionel McCarthy," It burned. ITs voice was so like fire, that was its only description.

And, Like all encounters with fire constructs do, it all went very downhill from there.