Tychon always waited for another sorceress to strike first, to demonstrate how little he had to fear from them, and today was no exception.
Today, that gave her a head-start, keeping him briefly occupied.
So she finally activated the spells she’d prepared on the ground.
Not today. There hadn’t been time today.
But Theira had fought this war for a long time, and she’d laid spellseverywhere. Places no one, even Varius, expected.
That was her greatest strength, after all. She prepared.
And she’d saved it all for just this moment.
She’d need every jot of that preparation now, her own internal resources depleted as she faced the full power of Korossia’s Crown Jewel.
Theira scarcely noticed Varius arriving with the golems, repelling sorcerous attacks from two sorceresses at once. After all his practice with her, he could handle them.
The rest of the sorceresses had formed a wide circle around her and Tychon. Witnessing as they battled.
And oh, how they battled.
When she finally deployed the first spell she’d prepared, Tychon showed no surprise at her finally showing her hand.
He just smiled at her, a patronizing, condescending smile like he’d known all along what she had saved for him and had no concerns.
By Gaia, she’d change that.
Theira drew thunder and lightning from the earth beneath their feet to throw at him, her wild hair whipping around her, as Tychon batted them aside like flies and sent pure beams of magenta sorcery at her from the Crown Jewel. She raised defenses and he blasted them apart, but she was already in the air above.
His beams of power followed her, searing the sky, exploding buildings in the distance. Varius would have to use the golems to protect his people from becoming collateral damage, because Theira couldn’t spare the attention.
She activated spell after spell, but nothing fazed Tychon or even blunted his attacks.
And little by little, Theira edged backwards as she bore up under his assault, her own internal resources already strained.
Little by little, she was losing.
The magenta sorcery of the Crown Jewel pierced her amethyst shield faster than she could dodge. Theira fell, already casting another shield even as she whipped a prepared potion off her utility belt to splash over the burn bubbling across her skin, the pain enough to register through her battle focus.
Now she wasn’t a step ahead of him, but one behind.
The Sorcerer Ascendant gained ground. “You thought you could cheatme,“ Tychon said. “You thought you could leave. That you could befree.“ His voice mocked her. “Theira, Theira, Theira. My boldest little bee. You are mine to do with as I please, as you always have been.”
His eyes burned with magenta fire.
“And today,” he purred, “what I please is to crush you.”
Finally, Theira stopped moving back.
It had to be here.
Tychon was almost to her—just a little farther—
He stopped his advance, smiling cruelly.
Theira’s heart stopped, all her plans crumbling around her in an instant.Did he know? Of course he knew, Gaia take it, he always knew --
All her preparations, and she’d still failed. She wasn’t going to make it after all.
