Callie's Heroes

PART IV - HARD LIGHT

“That casting is as pitiful as your drawing! Go to the back of the line!” Cheena interpreted for Maugra as the elder Shaman clocked Lhawni on her head with the end of her staff. Sullenly, Lhawni stepped aside, rubbing her head and whimpering as she walked to stand behind Chown. “You! Lizard. It is your turn. Show me your drawings.”

With trepidation, Xin handed her stack of totem drawings to the Shaman trainer.

“These are at least not awful,” Maugra signed after leafing through them and handing the stack of pages to her assistant. “Now, let’s see if you can at least do the very basic requirement of being a Shaman. You best not disappoint me, because all of the others are useless.”

A short while ago, the four Shaman recruits had assembled on the field awaiting their Trainers. In time Maugra, in wolf form, arrived at the flag. Cheena accompanied her in the form of a wolf-sized white cat with black spots. Quickly, Maugra had explained how to query one’s Symbiote for information and she allowed the four recruits about fifteen minutes to review all their skills and perks.

“There are so many!” Xin had thought to herself as she queried each one. It seemed for every skill she had, there was a similar skill for her totem, and the deluge information was almost overwhelming. Even her Spearmaster skills could be queried, and seeing the details of how they worked was fascinating considering she had been using them without that information for quite some time.

“Come on,” Maugra said through Cheena. “Summon your totem! We’re waiting!”

Xin visibly gulped, extended her hand just as Maugra had curtly demonstrated and tried to calm her mind in spite of the pressures from both trainers. She thought back to the lessons the Gnome had given the Ogre about slow breathing to still one’s mind, and Xin tried to do so as well. In through her nose. Out through her mouth.

SUMMON TOTEM

The mana sprang from Xin’s body, and before her the Totem began to assemble. Tiny pieces of light sprang into being and slapped into place, forming an outline of the final form. Once the outline was completed, more pieces of light began to fly in, piece by piece assembling the Totem, starting at the ground and working its way upwards. The first face fell into place, forming that of a Gargoyle, a creature of stone and earth. The Totem built upon itself, higher and higher, another face soon revealing itself. It was that of a toothy fish, an embodiment of Water.

The three Goblins behind Xin had fanned out to watch, and were staring in awe as they watched Xin’s Totem slowly come into being, the tiny lights reflecting off their wide eyes. Compared to Xin, their attempts had been so poor in comparison. In fact, Swopik was barely able to get even an outline of his Totem to form, let alone a face to come into being.

A third face finally revealed itself as the head of a great Eagle materialized, a pure embodiment of the element of Wind. Slowly the Totem built upon itself, higher and higher, but Xin’s own energy was beginning to falter. And although Xin couldn’t sweat, you could see the fatigue beginning to show on her face as her mana reserves began to run low. This was her first casting of this spell, and her inexperience and inefficiency was evident. But still, Xinchaine, Daughter of the Sunset Valley Tribe, pressed on, vowing to herself to complete the summoning task.

The fourth and final face began to build itself as the shards of light continued to knit themselves into place. Xin’s embodiment of Fire began to take final form, but this time much slower than the previous faces had, as she struggled against exhaustion to keep going. Finally the face became recognizable as that of a great Dragon, one of the nearly-mythical beasts far to the west and the true Masters of Fire.

But that was all Xin could do, and the spell began to falter before her final representation of Life could make its appearance. As she watched in horror, her mana reserves beyond empty, the Totem began to crumble upon itself, its pieces turning back into remnants of light as they fell, disappearing like a melting snowflake before they even reached the ground. Xin collapsed, falling on her rear and panting in exhaustion. Xin had made a mistake she had known not to; she had run out of mana. At that point, her spell began to drink her stamina and devour her strength. She knew better and she knew she was a fool.

“Very very good, Xin!” Cheena cheered, using her own words.

Maugra quickly signaled the Elf to be silent, and then addressed Xin. “That was pathetically slow and you continued casting far longer than you should have. Never run out of mana unless it is a matter of life and death. Get to the back of the line to try again! And, drink a purple Rejuvenation potion from that basket over there to unmelt your brain!”

Maugra began to swing her staff to hit Xin on the head as she had the others, but Xin’s clawed hand snapped upwards and caught the falling cudgel. There was a moment of sudden stillness. “You do not get to strike me,” Xin hissed at the old Goblin, still fighting to catch her breath. “You will never get to strike me!” Xin looked at the other three Goblins, her fellow recruits. “In fact, you will never strike any of us again. Do you understand?”

Maugra glared at Xin, but the Lizardkin refused to waver and glared in return. Slowly Xin rose from the ground, assuming her full height, twice that of the old crone. She never let go of Maugra’s staff, holding it firm and unmoving. “Do you understand?” Xin bitterly asked once again as the two tested their wills against each other.

Trainer Maugra began to seethe with anger at Xin’s insolence and pulsed out a blast of her Command Aura, focusing it on this … pathetic Lizardkin. Xin took the blast and staggered, holding her free hand to her head. But still, she continued to stare at the tiny Goblin trainer, and still, she refused to release her grip on the staff. “Do … you … understand?” Xin hissed once again, barely pushing the psychic aura’s effects aside.

“Enough!” Cheena snapped. “Xin! To the end of the line!”

With a push against the staff, Xin released it, never wavering her gaze from Maugra. The staredown held for another moment, before Xin turned her back and began to walk to the end of the line, the anger as evident in her steps as it was in the fiery glare of Trainer Maugra.