I jolted in shock as amber magic erupted between them.
And then a big wall of muscle and determination materialized.
I heard a grunt as the ball of ice slammed into the interloper’s chest.
He didn’t even stagger a single step, though as, after the initial blunt force of the impact pained him, the actual ice dragon magic was absorbed by him, causing not a single lick of damage.
He stood steady as Keuric looked on taken aback.
“Win,” Zayn spluttered.
“Fireball,” he rumbled behind him.
8
~Winter~
It was happening again.
I managed to prevent the shudder from my sudden use of my necromantic side from being externally apparent.
That really wouldn’t assist during this face-off I now found myself in the midst of.
It wasn’t just that uncomfortable sensation this time, though. An unsavory tar-like taste filled my mouth.
Excellent, it was now escalating.
As Keuric stood there in a whole lot of shock, it bought me a few seconds to do what needed to be done, and I forced my necromantic power to the surface again, calling my amber magic to my fingertips and drawing the shuddering sensation and the tarry taste into a physical manifestation.
I watched as it formed a levitating two-inch amber prism that glinted in the midday light.
Thanks to Vaxan’s suggestion that my issue could actually be a result of some sort of external interference, rather than internal instability as I’d feared, this had come to mind. Capturing the essence of the issue so I could study it when itwasn’t actually happening to me in real-time, which was a near-impossible feat.
“What the hell is that?” Keuric asked, trying to come off as demanding, but really making his nervousness known.
My presence generated that reaction a lot.
Oftentimes, though, it wasn’t reallymypresence so much as it was the image of Sylas Morgrave’s son appearing before them in a flare of power when wrongdoing had been committed.
Instead of seeing that as me stuck in his shadow, I took a more positive approach—it had provided many assists over the years. In fact, just the threat that opponents saw in that was enough, preventing things from actually having to escalate to violence.
“Nothing for you,” I responded, as I stowed the prism away magically, then called my necromantic power back. “Now walk away.”
Calling my power back served to embolden him and he made the mistake of taking an aggressive step forward instead. “How aboutyouwalk away? You’re getting in the way of the delivering of justice, death boy.”
“What justice?”
Truth be told, I hadn’t had time to determine what I’d intervened in.
Yes, my savior complex had been known to put me in precarious situations.
I’d been conducting a Ruminat—a form of re-centering and meditation for magic-wielders—a quarter acre away just inside the tree line when I’d heard Zayn’s scream, then seen Keuric flying furiously above campus grounds. Even witnessing those two things separately, given their altercation in The Caverns the other night, it hadn’t taken much to piece together that they’d been in the midst of another.
I just didn’t know what this particular bout of violence was all about.
It was also strange that Zayn had been the one trounced.
His command of his Ifrit abilities could certainly stand against the likes of Keuric.
