P I and Magic Book II: The Gods Return
Copyright© 2005 by Volentrin
Chapter 21
The battle raged all around me. I built up a bit of fire, burnt something, and would be empty again. I lashed out at the enemy, always driving forward. I cast a couple spells, but mostly used my superior strength and size to win through.
I had demons following behind me, as I opened the way into the Ancients battle line. More and more demons filled the gap behind me. Slowly, they spread out, and pushed the enemy away in odd directions, causing them to get in each others way.
I drew on the power of chaos, twice. I felt re-energized after each time I drew on it. I paused once, letting my escort and the demons to swarm around me; through where I was, was left as an open spot.
I paused, and rested. I had been going for a couple of hours, solid. Even dragons, with their great strength, get tired. Plus, I had been hit with spells, and clubs; stabbed, swung at with swords, and axes; hit with one or two magical weapons that had hurt me a bit; but nothing was too serious.
We had penetrated far into the enemy's line, and now we were consolidating our position. It would not do to outstrip my protection. Even ants could take down something much larger than they were, if they cooperated with each other. While I was stopped, I sank my power into the fog around us, and savagely drained it.
I think I surprised whoever was supposed to be countering me. The fog thinned, and darkness swept up to, and past where I was standing. I still had a hard time believing I was working for, and with, demons. I had fought a demon before, on Earth. Ah well. As the saying goes, politics makes strange bedfellows.
I decided to do a little spell casting, and ran through my list of spells. I had prep'd three area spells last night. It was time to really zap the enemy. I was sort of embarrassed that I had forgotten about them. I had had every intention of using them, much earlier.
First I put a shield around me. It did not touch me, but stayed a specific distance from my body. I was in a 'safe bubble' so to speak. I pumped my wings furiously and rose into the air. As soon as I had gained maybe fifty feet, spells started zapping my shield.
I was rested, and prepared to use magic myself. I roared a challenge, and cast my first major spell. It was a modified specialty spell. I energized it, and cast it. A glowing ball of energy appeared, and shot towards the enemy's line.
After it had gone far enough I cued it to explode. As it did, hundreds of smaller sparks flew out of the original ball and fell gently to the ground. They rained down on the enemy, and some had fallen on the ground.
The enemy had been startled, but now ignored the small sparks, and went back to what they were doing. That's when I tripped the next, and final part of the spell. All hell broke loose, as the small sparks exploded, killing and maiming the enemy!
Literally hundreds of the enemy were affected, either by direct contact (which meant they died), or by close proximity (which meant they were wounded). Either way, a large area had been suddenly affected.
I roared and sent my flame into the roiling mass of the enemy. The demons responded to the loss of enemies, by surging forward. I flew, and finally came to the end of the enemy troops. No more spells impacted my now almost useless shield.
I dismissed the shield, as it had served its purpose. I still had two area spells left, and a clear shot to the gate! I flew onward, leaving the battle behind. I got a reading on the enemy gate. I changed course just a bit, and flew directly towards it.
I flew out of the darkness of the demon controlled area, and into the gray fog of the enemy. I didn't try to affect it, just fly through it. No spells came at me. That puzzled me. I was sure I was going to be slammed with them, and had gotten another shield ready, not that I had cast it yet.
While I flew, I slowly recharged the area spell that I had cast so successfully a while ago. I flew onward, and noticed it was becoming more difficult to remain in the air. It seemed to be pressing in on me somehow. The further into the fog I flew, the harder it was to maintain my flying!
I hadn't realized how low I had gotten, until I saw the ground about ten feet below me. I concentrated and rose a bit, but was soon dropping again. I was also tiring from the struggle to stay in the air. Remember, dragons like to glide. We don't like to pump our wings, just to stay up.
I could feel the gate getting closer, but it was still a ways off. I'd had it. I dropped to the ground, landing. I sighed as I realized I was more tired than I had thought. I pulled energy from my chaos source, in my ring, and instantly felt better.
I lumbered into the dragon-run that ate up the distance when a dragon walked or ran on the ground. I could feel myself getting nearer to the gate.
I was getting very excited, when all of a sudden a glowing spear of light came out of nowhere, and slammed into my body! Damn, but that hurt! I saw another one coming, and dodged it. I cast the shield spell I had in reserve, and started forward again.
Now I had enemy foot soldiers coming towards me. These must be the guards for the gate! They also had a powerful magic user, here, somewhere.
I was going to have to deal with the magic user first, as my shield was getting a pounding that was degrading it much faster than normal. I gathered myself and spat dragon fire to the front, and raked it left and right before I had to pause for a breath.
That seemed to take care of most of the enemy that was close to me anyway. I lumbered forward again, and the air started clearing. The fog thinned and thinned. I took another step. One second I was in fog, the next I was in regular air, no fog.
I stumbled to a stop. There, about a mile in front of me, was the gate. It was huge. There was also a very large giant standing by the gate. I blinked in astonishment. A giant? Oh, brother!
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