Half Breed

The Reshaping

We stood in the vast, open plains of the Crag, in the palm of Stoneclaw Mountains. He didn't mutter a word, simply walked to his left, as if trying to circle me despite his far distance. His slicked snow-white hair was as smooth ever. Even now, he still wore the white robes of the academy. He was frosting, with each breath that icy smoke would release, as if he was in Glacier Crest's unforgiving climate. Our eyes never left each other, glaring like eagles shadowing their prey.

I gulped, recent experiences giving me a frigid body, even knowing I was stronger than before. My hand slowly reached for my vials. The moment my fingers touched the cork, he jumped on his ice disc and bolted toward me, his robes flapping endlessly in the wind's resistance. A large talon appeared on his forearm, its reach twice times that of said forearm. He was about to drive it into my chest, but my body moved on reflex.

A large water pillar, gushing water upward in a circle around me to act as a pylon of protection. It was effective, if at least for a couple seconds. A shadow formed beneath me, when I looked up, he was there, inside the water pillar, his ice talon sweeping down towards me.

I flung the vial into the wall of water with a flick of the wrist, then placed a force field upward, barely catching the razor-sharp spell. I teleported outside, at the top of the pylon of water and managed, somehow, to catch the red potion that was pelted upward from the water's force. I wrung the cork with my teeth whilst preparing another teleport spell. The second I began downing the red potion, he teleported atop me once again, this time, a huge ice mace was in his hands.

He swung downwards again, and I remedied it the same way as before, a forcefield aimed upwards. The last drip of red potion touched my tongue and I swallowed, then braced myself for the impact. The mace hit the force field, firing me down into several spikes of ice. Thankfully, my teleport was ready and instead of going to a safe place, I teleported right behind him.

In this fight, I didn't dare underestimate him. So, in my palm was the nefarious shadow sphere, a spell that would end the life of any living thing it touches, yet, when I slammed it right into the side of his head, nothing happened. He brushed it off and sank his elbow into my stomach, then made a spiky ice knuckle and smashed the back of his fist into my face. I fell off him, spitting fire to cushion my rolling landing.

Why? Why didn't it work? Whilst questioning the very power of Eblis that ran through my veins, Winter's ice disc came to his rescue and he began forming a winter star in his hands the moment he landed. With a grunt, he hurled that death star before it even began spinning up. On the way to me, slipping past the air's resistance with ungodly speed, its blades began rotating, humming that eerily buzzing noise. Blood ran down my face from the cuts I sustained below my eyes.

I crouched a little, ready to intercept the winter star, but the minute it got close, it exploded into a wall of snow and blinded me from the man's actions. Do I teleport? Is he behind me? Will he appear on the left? Or will he prefer the right? My brain fizzled into a mess, so I chose to channel a barrier and teleport upward, but he was gone. Winter had disappeared.

The snow fell to the ground, as did I, landing much more comfortably this time. Using this chance, I swallowed a green and blue potion, casted a healing spell over my face and wiped the blood running down my cheeks, all while keeping my eyes peeled. I popped a pill of each colour into my mouth all at once and swallowed. Where the hell did he go? Was I to believe he decamped so cowardly?

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve. The minute my arm reached my eyes, a hole opened up from beneath me and my body became entrapped into the ground, up to my elbows. A winter star was rushing to me, ready to sever my body in two and I couldn't dodge. Though my hands were bound, I could still cast. Arcane spheres formed rapidly and blew apart the ground. Once more, I casted the arcane spheres, but this time, upwards. The shards of rock made small lacerations on my neck, jaw and cheeks. Pieces of soil splattered onto my face, a less than perfect escape, but an escape from death nonetheless. I simply leaned back and allowed the winter star to fly past, above me.