Mark of the Ranger

LIV. Fighting Fire With Everything Else

          Isabel watched Lion wipe his face with his gauntlet. "We don't have time to be sad," she heard him mutter. Isabel silently agreed. If they mourned now, the fire construct would have ample time to destroy them. "What are we going to do?" David asked. Lion steeled himself, then rambled off an answer. "Elena, you go for the geovore. Karen, David, you fight the man in armor. Jeff and I will fight the naga. I know from my dream that this spells certain death, but I don't think I can have a choice." Isabel was slightly confused. What was she to do? Fight the fire construct?

          The three "teams"--and Elena-- went off to fight their opponents. Isabel gulped and looked at the fire construct in front of her. It was, as most constructs were, at least seven feet tall. There was no explained reason, but people always liked their construct to be unusually tall. Isabel brandished her staff at it, and the fire construct made a woosh sound that almost was like laughing. "You think you can defeat me? The universe is against you," it crackled, its voice like a high-burning blaze. It thrust a fiery hand out threateningly, and two glowing orange eyes gazed at Isabel.

          "Enough screwing around," Isabel muttered, then shot an arrow of light at the construct. She hit it dead on the chest, but the arrow went right through. "I am rarely susceptible to attack," the construct added. Thanks, Isabel thought, Couldn't you have told me that before, though? She shot a blast of water at the construct, and it screeched on contact. It was a horrifying sound, but it was a small noise, no one else would have been able to hear it. Hmm, she thought to herself. It's probably weak to fire. That would make sense.

          Isabel raised her staff, and the earth crystal on top glowed. "Iactus petram!" she cried out, and six rocks, each the size of Isabel's torso, rose from the ground. They threw themselves at the fire construct. Once they got close to him, however, he turned into blue flame, and the rocks melted. Isabel decided it was time to get off the ground. "Trano!" she yelled, and began to hover off the ground once her staff glowed again. However, that failed to impress the fire construct, who also began to fly. "Propero!" Isabel shouted, and she felt her ability increase in speed. She dashed from wall to wall of the rocky opening in the island, and shot a tormentum aquam at the fire construct. A large spout of water, three times Isabel's size, rocketed toward the fire construct. It was a direct hit.

          Once Isabel's spell was completed, she lowered herself near the ground. The fire construct remained there. However, all it was was a skeleton of wood. The wooden skeleton's skull turned slowly towards the Grand Wizardess, and the skeleton caught fire once more. Now, it looked just as evil as it had. Isabel gulped again and rose back into the sky. The fire construct seemingly decided it was no longer time to play games and held one hand up. A fireball blazed, hovering above its palm. The fire construct threw the fireball, but Isabel dodged it by moving slightly to the right.

           The fire construct roared with fury, crying out, "I WILL NOT BE DEFIED! I AM A WILDFIRE!" It threw a barrage of fireballs at Isabel, and she barely dodged each of them. The Wildfire threw fireball after fireball at her, and she felt the heat of each one. Then, the Wildfire stopped its attack and held its two fiery hands closely together. "TORMENTO...IGNIS!!" It thrust its hands forward, and a salvo of blazing hot fire streamed relentlessly, aiming straight for Isabel. The fire was too fast and too large for Isabel to dodge, so she used tuito to guard herself. She felt her magic drain away at the power of the fire, but she still stood--or flew--tall.

          "Tueri ab igne," Isabel whispered to her staff, asking to be protected from fire. She then flew at the Wildfire, straight for it, and impaled its chest with the light crystal. The Wildfire groaned in pain, then made the wooshing laugh sound again. It held its hands together, and a core appeared above its palms. "This is what you seek, is it not?" It asked. The core was golden, and it shined with power. Isabel nodded, wondering what the Wildfire was up to. It laughed again, and made the core disappear. "My underlings, the Scorch Knights, have taken it already. Lord Infernas will become even more powerful than before."

          The fire construct began to laugh uncontrollably, but Isabel put a stop to that. "ORIC!" she called, and her stone soldier leaped from out of nowhere. Isabel pointed to the Wildfire, and it understood. It charged the Wildfire. The Wildfire tried to defend itself, but Oric was much too powerful--and immune to magic, as all stone soldiers were built to be. Oric pummeled the fire construct and beat it relentlessly, not stopping until Wildfire's wild fire stopped, and every piece of the wooden skeleton was shattered. To end it all, Oric stomped on its core. 

          "Thanks a lot, Oric," Isabel muttered to her guardian. "Now, let's see how the others--" Isabel turned and saw what she didn't want to see. Jordan and Josie were still lying on the ground, and who knew what they were thinking. Isabel watched Karen turn to ash, Lion and Jeff become fully petrified at the feet(or snake trunk) of the naga, and Elena fall into the mouth of a geovore. Isabel, in a rage, pointed her staff at the naga. Her air crystal glowed, and with a quick ire volans, the naga was in the sky. It fell back to the ground a few seconds later with a sickeningly satisfying crack. She pointed to the geovores in the ravine, and their heads melted with a glow from the fire, earth, and light crystals. 

          Isabel walked over to Lion and Jeff, who were perfectly petrified. She was going to ask the Woodland Rangers if there was any way they could bring the statues to the Wizarding Guild, for there was still hope for the petrified Rangers, when a black flying figure, easily forty feet long, flew past, picking up the petrified Rangers in its claws. Isabel cried out in rage and shot an arrow of light at the flying figure, which had already nearly escaped the opening. She hit the claw carrying Jeff, and Jeff fell into the ravine below. Isabel heard his core break a few seconds later and cursed herself. 

          "What am I going to do now?" she asked the Woodland Rangers, watching the black flying figure take off with Lion. 

          She should have known that the black flying figure was Toxiclaw.