Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

He was a prick, and a flayer, with all the arrogance and blindness and lack of control those things implied. But he was not entirely a fool. More to the point, his magic had been honed by arcs, not just a handful of seasons. His Spark was as familiar to him as his fists were to Kasoria. He'd likely survived duels and skirmishes with other mages, learning the cunning needed to do such a thing. And, most of all, he survived Ymiden. That hellish season, one out of six out of hundreds of arcs, that would live forever in the shared history of Etzos.

He'd survived the wrath of the Plague Mother. Kasoria should have given the wanker more credit.

Aye, well, it's all an education.

The little man started stalking forwards after Dravar spat his last words. Still on his hands and knees, sweat streaming off him but a madness in his eyes that would not allow for defeat. Not yet. Kasoria channeled his Spark into his hands, already pushing ether out of them to make a Barrier with one, and a Shield from another. His muscles growled, a tightening in his chest telling him his Spark was shuddering with exertion. He was lasting longer than the toff, though, who seemed to be not using any-

Kasoria's eyes widened as he saw the faint glow under Dravar's hand, as he squatted on all fours. But he wasn't getting his wind back; he'd already got it, and was using it. The Etzori heard the crackling behind him, saw the orange glow in Dravar's eyes-

-no-

Reflected!

-turned just in time to see the serpent of fire whooshing up from the ground behind him, like a thin, flaming tree growing at high speed. It reared over him like a cobra and then hurtled down-

-little man only just managing to twist, arms flung out, Shield and Barrier going up at the same moment-

FWOOOM

-both of them barely holding back the inferno as it smashed into them. There was scrambling behind him. As he turned, something grinding and grating and large moved behind him-

-Dravar lunged up and towards him with a fist wrapped in hardened earth

CRACK

Dravar howled a mad cry of victory as Kasoria went hurtling through the air, only it wasn't a tent that broke his fall. It was a tree. The mercenary smacked into it like a bug into a mirror. Something cracked in his face and he swallowed a tooth; washed it down with blood as he hit the ground again, falling six feet. The fist was magically-powered, striking him like a Lurker's club. He tried to rise, bellowing at himself to resist, to fight, to react, but his body, his Spark... Fates, he'd already done so much-

Then he looked down, and saw it wasn't just his body. It was the very ground itself. It was boiling and curling and piling upon his hands up to the wrist. His legs up to his knees. Shock cleared Kasoria's head long enough for him to try to rise, only for a fresh wave of rich, steamy jungle dirt to wash over him up to the neck. Burying him above ground in a mound of soil that was first wet and giving, then hard as granite.

A low, keening thing. Like the jungle birds and beasts they listened to at night. It slithered into Kasoria's ears... or ear, really. One of them was smashed almost flat by his landing on the tree. But he knew what it was. His vision cleared as the pressure around his chest tightened, and he saw Dravar grinning with his pearly, perfect teeth.

"Now... what were you saying about having enough?"

"You shouldn't have sassed me, old man. I would have been merciful, mayhap. But now?" Dravar's voice dropped low and conspiratorial. "Now I think you're going to have an accident. And I'll get to feed."

Keep talking, cunt.

"P... Please... ser..."

"Oh, no! Too late for that, old man! Far too late..."

He rambled. He waxed. He played with his food and savored his victory. Kasoria could have kissed the wanker for that. There was a crowd watching now, but in the dim light of the clearing, Dravar could hide any "accident" fairly well. There'd be questions, of course. Especially when signs of Flaying were present on a corpse. But what was one less gutter rat when compared to a mage at full strength? Even if it was the Raggedy Man?

Even? The Blackjacks would throw a fucking party if-

Focus!

Kasoria closed his eyes as if in pain. Which was accurate. But he was concentrating also. Drawing his Spark back into himself. Easing it from his limbs. Pooling his resources, as it were. He could feel the crackling, yowling snap of Dravar's ether all around him now. Infused into the rock he was trapped in. He didn't have to search for it, like he did with Sima's assistant, seasons ago when he'd first been initiated into Abrogation. No, now he could grasp it... know it... close his eyes and almost see it, like a brawny limb reaching from around him and back into Dravar.

"... but really you should have known your place, scum. Now, let's go-"

Kasoria opened his eyes, and Dravar was so very close. He felt the weight of his Spark, and judged it... yes... equal to the task at hand. Just. Dravar's pallor was closer to a corpse than a man. His facial muscles twitched so much they were almost dancing. His hands shook, and Kasoria knew that for all his gloating, he was hurting now, just to maintain this tiny prison. Added to which, his Spark was howling within him, eager to feed. Robbing his senses and focusing them all on food food food thirst thirst thirst-

One shot. All you get. Don't fuck it up.

"We... We can make... a... d... d..."

"A deal?" Dravar finished for him, chuckling at his presumption. "What could you possibly offer-"

Kasoria's eyes blazed white as he latched onto Dravar's Spark with his own. Ripping into the layer of Defiance energy wrapped around him. Grabbing onto it and starting to follow the columns of ether back to the source. Dravar gasped as he felt the intrusion, the violation! He shuddered and his magic did the same. Pebbles fell from the cone. Rocks became dirt became falling debris, releasing Kasoria bit by bit. The mage ground his teeth and Kasoria felt a wave surge back towards his invading Abrogation-

I don't fucking think so, pal.

With a roar he launched whatever his Spark had to spare against the last dregs of Dravar's own. The high-born screamed as he felt his grip over his magic shatter, blown apart by this final invasion. Kasoria grinned ferally, reminded of how it had felt to do much the same to poor ol' Arlen. Sima's words came back to him as he felt his ether purge Dravar's own from the air, driving it back into his body.

"I said the purpose here is to negate the flow of your attacker's ether, not wrestle it!"

Aye. Good advice.

Dravar went down to one knee with a low, choked scream as Kasoria strangled the source of his magic. His Abrogation poured into the faux-noble, reducing his prison of stone to dirt and as Dravar felt the whole construct fall apart, he looked up-

-just in time to see Kasoria's hands burst from the ground, grab him by the lapels, and yank him forwards-

-into a headbutt that smashed his nose across his face and blew him into the Dreamscape.