“Look out!”

“It’s coming!”

“Shadow Class!”

A great wolf rushed forward; its black body made not of normal fur but of solid, void-like shadow. It leapt over the heads of the front line, barely pausing before it launched again. Bristling spikes of steel-like fur ground and screeched as they cut anything it touched to ribbons. Its razor-sharp teeth gnashed and snapped at anything that came within reach.

“There’s more!”

“We need Fire!”

“AUUGH!”

“Man down!”

A ruckus erupted behind the massive creature as more monsters attacked the front of the convoy. A man dressed in red and white stepped out from the back of the group as the wolf bore down the line toward him. Instinct told it that he was the most dangerous, and the most delicious. If it could consume him, it would become even more powerful.

“Envoy! Have caution!” came a call from behind him.

Kirin Rosewind took another step forward as the beast launched into the air, intent on devouring him head first. His soft lips parted in a smirk, a single arcane word barely audible as it escaped from between them. As he lifted his hand casually from his side the black wolf smashed into a shield of pure light. With another white flash, a spire of blinding prismatic light burst forth from the ground in front of Kirin, impaling the creature in its soft underbelly.

A pained yelp was cut short when the monstrous canine burst into ribbons of shadow, consumed by the ever piercing light, then vanished in a flash. In its place, an ebony token dropped to the ground at Kirin’s feet.

A man behind him picked it up as Kirin stepped over it, heading toward the front of the group. “A twenty-five footer, nice haul,” the man mused, tossing it to his companion, who caught it over his shoulder.

“For around here,” with a soft smile, Kirin slipped the token into the dimensional pouch in his wide sleeve, “not really.”

Fresh bursts of red and orange light from the front of the line drew their attention. Behind them, further flashes of multi-coloured light and more shouting indicated another attack from the rear.

“Keisuke,” Kirin began, just as his companion drew a few hurried blue runes in the air, firing bolts of coalesced water off into the darkness beside them. “This path is too dangerous. We need to retreat for now.”

“Agreed,” Keisuke drew another rune, this time in black. This one, he scooped out of the air with an open grip and turned it upside-down. Charging it to a glowing white, he tossed it into the sky where it exploded into a sparkling signal.

Kirin frowned at this. “I could have cast that for you,” he said.

“Nonsense. I need you to cast Day Burst,” Keisuke told him, panting now and running his hand through his pitch black hair. Inverting his shadow-based magic had taken a noticeable toll on the man.

Kirin nodded, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Keep watch,” he said, raising his hands. The tips of his slender fingers began to draw a complex magic circle in pure white light, his lips moving with whispered words of the arcane that echoed softly in the air around him.

Howls erupted in the darkness of the woods as the convoy drew around close to Kirin. Mages with hair as white as his own raised shields of light to hold back the strange monsters who clawed at viciously at them.

The sounds of the arcane words grew stronger in the air around them, the whispering of a crowd of hundreds of voices. Kirin could feel the flow of power within him, surging from his spiritual center to his fingertips and beyond. 

Then, there was silence.

Then there was ice, a sudden jagged torrent of energy slipping through his veins with all of the speed and electric burn of lightning.

“KIRIN!” Keisuke’s shout drew him out of his turbulence.

Kirin sucked in a sharp, pained breath, cut the spell short, and fired it. Even at half power,the spell turned pitch black into white day. Every void creature not protected by shadow or barrier was instantly incinerated by blinding light. 

Birds on distant mountains startled as the great forest lit up. The light refused to be contained, spreading beyond roots as thick as skyscrapers and tree trunks the width of small towns, engulfing the landscape for five kilometers and spreading shadows for five more.

                     

When all was said and done, the forest around the convoy fell into a dead silence. Kirin dropped to his hands and knees. He coughed once spattering blood across the great root that served as their road.

“Kirin!” Keisuke half knelt next to his friend, carefully reaching for him until a faint wind forced his hand back. That wind was growing stronger by the moment.

“Stay back,” Kirin coughed. “Mana storm.”

“We have to get you back to Magi Nation,” Keisuke said, concern creeping into his tone.

Kirin shook his head, the beads on his courtier’s hat swaying wildly in the growing wind. “Too late,” he said, “Get out of here. Going catastrophic.” His words came out short, sentences truncated.

Keisuke looked at the mages around him and nodded. They knew what that meant. They grabbed their wounded comrades and hurried back down the root roads with haste—Keisuke staying by Kirin’s side.

“Go,” Kirin growled, forcing himself to stand.

Keisuke stood as well, and reached out to steady his friend. He couldn’t lay a hand on Kirin as he was suddenly shoved back by another blast of wind, this one woven with tendrils of fire and slices of light. The same blasts of wind pushed the already unsteady Kirin stumbling to the edge of the root. He couldn’t find his footing before yet another outburst sent him tumbling over the edge.

Kirin slammed against the smooth side of the root, pain arcing through his shoulder. Through the stars in his vision, he looked up to see Keisuke gripping his wrist. 

“Let go,” he managed to eek out.

“As if I’m letting you go!”

Kirin’s lips parted in a weak smile, “He said it would be fine.”

“He?” Keisuke was confused a moment, “You mean His Majesty? He knew? And he sent you anyways?” A much stronger blast of wind pulsed from Kirin’s body, a slice of light streaking up the side of Keisuke’s face, opening a long wound that trailed blood into the sky.

“Kiki, let go.”

The use of his childhood nickname made Keisuke pause. He grit his teeth, “Forget it! I’m not letting go!”

“By our bond, my trovari, I will be fine. My clothes are enchanted, the fall will not hurt,” Kirin reassured, his voice weakening with the increasing strength of the wind. Spurts of fire were now mixing with the storm, lighting the void around them in intermittent reds and oranges.

“Kiri…”

Kirin gave Keisuke another soft smile, even when it felt like his nerves were being shredded, he still smiled. “Forgive me, Fifth Battalion Commander,” he said teasingly. With a flick of his wrist, he drew a small tan rune in the air, blasting Keisuke in the face with wind, forcing the man to release him as Keisuke was thrown back onto the root’s surface.

As he fell into darkness, Kirin barely saw another figure wrestling with his friend to pull him back, keeping him from jumping as well.