Realm of Monsters

“In the grand cities tourney all four teams compete at the same time. But, for the sake of safety and evaluation, only two teams will be competing against each other at a time during this final exam. There are seven teams in total, but the winning team from the mock exam does not have to participate,” Loh said.

Loh spoke the names of the first two groups. Stryg wasn’t a part of either group.

“The dwarf mage besides me is professor Thonul. He will help you get your climbing ropes latched onto the ceiling,” Loh explained. 

Thonul’s mage necklace was embedded with an emerald and a jasper stone, indicating he was a chromatic green and brown. He cast a brown vigor spell to strengthen his arms. A bronze sheen covered his bulging arms. 

Thonul grabbed the climbing ropes of the first two groups and hurled each one to top of the ceiling. Once the rope’s hook latched onto the cavern's ceiling, the dwarf cast a green stone spell on the limestone around the hooks, merging the stone over the rope to ensure their security. 

The two groups of students jumped on the stone pillar with wobbly steps.

“You may begin,” Loh announced.

Both groups began to immediately sling spells at each other.

Loh walked over to Stryg. “Stryg, your group will be next. You’ll be facing off against Clypeus’ team. Get ready. I don’t expect this current match to last very long.”

“Yes, mast- I mean, yes Loh.” Stryg nodded.

She raised her brow, but said nothing. She had told Stryg to keep their relationship of master and apprentice private to ensure no suspicion of favoritism in class. Loh did her best to keep the students’ chances equal, which is why she had just assigned the two strongest teams to compete against each other. 

“Okay, Stryg, your climbing harness is properly on, no worries there,” Callum said.

Callum waved his teammates into a huddle. Stryg tried to listen this time, choosing to work with his friends. 

“This won’t be the same as the grove match. There is no space for an ambush and our opponents aren’t handicapped either. Nora may be a human, but she is a chromatic blue and has access to water this time around. Kegrog is a chromatic brown, who doesn’t even need his vigor spells. The orc is tall and strong on his own,” Callum explained.

He glanced at the opposing team, “Then of course there’s Clypeus. He’s the biggest threat. He has the strength and agility of a vampire and the expert martial training of house Gale. He’s one of the youngest sword masters in the city. Worst of all, he’s a manifold mage wielding green and yellow magic, a powerful combination in this cavern chasm.”

“You’re saying the odds are against us,” Stryg nodded.

Kithina shrugged and glanced at Stryg, “Well, at least we have our own manifold mage.” 

Callum recalled Loh’s words. He was a manifold mage as well, a chromatic white and red. But, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to reveal his second color yet. For now, he would just be a red mage.

Callum made a small smile, “Let’s hope that’s enough.”

A student screamed as he fell off a stone pillar. The climbing rope went taut as it yanked him back. His body twitched as it hung in the air. A competing student raised both her hands, a burst of fire shot from her palms and blasted her opponent off another pillar. 

Kithina sighed, her eyes bright with awe. “What I’d give to shoot fire like that. It’d be nice to have someone on the team who could shoot some kind of projectile, it wouldn’t even have to be fire. Hurling rocks or lightning bolts would be great. I’d even settle for blasts of lightrays.”

Callum winced at the latter.

“Aren’t lightning spells notoriously difficult to cast?” Stryg tilted his head. “And aren’t you a chromatic yellow? Can’t you just throw gusts of wind at the enemy, push them off the ledge?”

Kithina frowned, “I’m better at the durability spell form. But, I guess I could try.”

“Don’t worry, we aren’t exactly without projectiles,” Callum winked. “Just how Nora has water to cast her torrent spells, I have my potions spells. Loh allowed the chromatic reds to bring up to two potions of their own making.”

Callum pulled out a red spherical bottle from his pocket. “I can assure you this little guy packs a punch.” 

“Oooh, that looks cool,” Kithina said with a sparkle in her eyes.

“Hmm,” Stryg mumbled. He wasn’t very sure how useful the little bottle would be in a fight.

Callum took out another small vial, filled with a lime-green liquid. “This one’s for you Kithina. It doesn’t taste great and it will definitely burn your throat, but it will temporarily strengthen your muscles. It’s not as great as a vigor spell, but it’s the best I got.”

Kithina took the vial with ginger hands. She sniffed it and grimaced. “I’ll drink it when the match starts.”

~~~

Clypeus eyed Callum’s team with caution. He needed to be much more careful this time around. 

“Do you think we can win?” Nora asked.

“That depends, do you trust me?” Clypeus grinned.

“To the very end,” Nora smiled.

“Do you have a plan?” Kegrog asked from behind them.

“Of course,” Clypeus glanced up at the orc. “I won’t fail you this time. I’ll be sure to defeat Callum and the others.”

“I’ll trust your word,” Kegrog nodded.

“Honestly, the only real threat is Stryg. Excluding his grey and black magic, he has impressive physical capabilities. He’s not just fast, he’s strong.” Clypeus looked at his hands and frowned. “Stronger than me that’s for sure. He even held his own against you Kegrog. At the time you were even using a vigor spell to strengthen your body.”

Kegrog scratched his head, “The vigor spell form isn’t my strong suit.”

“Even still, Stryg is a threat to be reckoned with,” he glanced at the blue hybrid. “What in the world is he?”

Kegrog rummaged through his satchel. “I’m better with enchantment spells.”

He pulled out two gladii blades. 

“Are those?” Clypeus' mouth hung wide open. 

“Loh said we could bring two enchanted items that we made. I couldn’t think of a better option than this. The blades have a basic sharpening enchantment on them. It’s not much,” Kegrog shrugged.

“No, believe me, it’s everything,” Clypeus grabbed the blades. “We can’t lose now.”

~~~

The first match ended. It was Stryg’s turn. The dwarven mage had already latched their climbing ropes to the cavern’s ceiling. Both teams stood in front of the chasm. 

“Remember the plan and who to focus,” Callum whispered.

Kithina held out the potion, “Here goes nothing.”

She downed the small vial in a single gulp. “Ugh.” She shivered and coughed as the burning liquid crawled through her throat. 

“Almost as bad as Fire Breath spirits,” Kithina wiped her lips.

“It’ll take a few moments for it to kick in,” Callum winced in empathy.

Loh waved her hand, signaling the students to get ready to begin.

“No time to wait,” Stryg grabbed Kithina by the waist.

Kithina looked at him in surprise, “Hey! What are you-”

“Hold on.” He jumped over the ledge and onto one of the stone pillars.

Kithina yelled as she looked down at the deep chasm. She glanced at the dangling rope from above, suddenly incredibly thankful to have the climbing harness. Once they landed Stryg released her.

“Not again,” Kithina took a shuddering breath.

Clypeus jumped and joined them on the pillar. It was a little cramp for three people. 

Clypeus’ team jumped on to their own pillar.

Loh cupped her hands together, “Begin!”

Kegrog lifted Nora up in his arms and jumped his way towards one of the center pillars. Clypeus followed right behind.

“What are they doing?” Kithina asked.

“I’m not sure, but let’s not wait to find out!” Callum shouted. 

Stryg grabbed Kithina by the waist before she could protest. They chased the enemy. 

Clypeus' team landed on one of the pillars. Kegrog lowered Nora. She raised her hands and closed her eyes. Water at the bottom of the chasm surged upwards and formed an enormous glob above Nora’s head.

“She can’t hold that large amount of water up for long,” Callum noted.

Clypeus placed his hands on the pillar and casted a green stone spell. The pillar shook as Clypeus ripped out a boulder 3 feet in diameter from the ground. Nora dumped the water into the newfound cavity. 

The boulder was too large to throw, even with Clypeus’ magic. He crushed the rock into fist sized chunks with another spell. They were still too heavy. It didn’t matter.

“Kegrog, you’re up,” Clypeus said.

Kegrog cast a vigor spell. His hands turned bronze as his biceps bulged. He grunted as he picked up several rocks in each hand. He winded back his arms and snapped his palms forward, sending the stones zipping through the air.

“Take cover!” Callum dropped to the floor.

“Kithina, durability, now!” Stryg shouted. He shifted Kithina in front of him and lowered his head a bit.

“Wait? What? Shit!” Kithina crossed her arms in front of her face. 

She closed her eyes tightly. Pale yellow scales of light formed around her skin as the rocks smashed into her. She winced in pain, the stones scraping through her uniform.

Callum flinched as the stones flew over his head. For once in his life he envied being short like Stryg. 

When the stones stopped Callum raised his head. “Multicast!”

“Right!” Kithina nodded in affirmation. 

Without releasing her durability spell Kithina pulled back her arm, yellow mana flooding into her hand. She could feel the wind curl around her fist.

“Hah!” Kithina yelled and punched forward, a gale of wind ran past her fist and to Kegrog.

Clypeus jumped in front of the orc, spread his knees and thrusted his open palms outwards, his own gust of wind forming and blocking Kithina’s attack. 

Stryg didn’t waste time. He dashed past Kithina, intent on reaching Clypeus while he was occupied.

“Not this time!” Nora shouted. 

Two whips of water jumped out of the fresh miniature pool and lashed out at Stryg. He jumped back, ducked, and skidded to the side, dodging each aquatic blow.

The enemy’s attention was focused on Stryg. Callum pushed himself to his feet and ran at Clypeus’ pillar. He pulled out the red potion and flung it at the base of the enemy’s feet. The small glass bottle shattered, the red frothy liquid inside igniting in a small explosion of magic. 

Clypeus jumped away to another pillar, avoiding the attack. Kegrog shielded Nora from the explosion, taking the brunt of the blast. The orc and human tumbled to the edge of the pillar. 

“Now!” Callum yelled.

Stryg sprinted. Clypeus raised his gladii, prepared to face off against his foe. Stryg jumped, but landed on Kegrog’s and Nora’s pillar platform instead. 

“What?” Clypeus muttered. He could have sworn Stryg would attack him first.

If it was up to Stryg he would have, but he was following Callum’s plan. Clypeus was the strongest opponent. They first needed to defeat Kegrog and Nora as quickly as possible, then focus on Clypeus. 

Callum jumped after Stryg, landing behind him. Clypeus prepared to jump back into the fray to help his teammates. 

Kithina could feel her limbs tingle, the vial was kicking in, improving her strength. She vaulted across the pillars and touched the ground in front of Clypeus.

“You’re not going anywhere,” she grinned, her emerald eyes wild with energy.