Fire and Lightning- The Dragon Mage chapter 4

Audrey runs back into Cindy, who seems oddly vicious. The ensuring fight drags a pacifistic agni into the combat, forcing him to 'dragon up'

Chapter 4 �" Fire and Lightning:

    Audrey stared down Cinderella and the three standing Initiates for just a moment. She didn’t want to give her foes the time to collect themselves, especially Cinderella. A clap of thunder threw Audrey into action, rapidly punching the air and speaking her spells as fast as she could, “Tüzvar!” A rain of firebolts erupted from her hands, creating a storm of fiery balls heading straight for the Lightning Mages.

    Cinderella seemed to vanish, but her remaining cronies were forced to scatter. The three of them bolted in different directions, desperately conjuring lightning in their hands as they retreated. Audrey selected Nirin as her main target, focusing her down to try and limit the number of enemies she had to fight at once. Nirin was the smallest and the youngest of the Initiates, thus she was the weakest.

    Rain started falling faster now as one of Audrey’s firebolts smashed into Nirin’s side. It burned straight through her clothes and left a nasty scorch on her skin, but the rain quickly put out any potential fires. Nirin screamed, before whipping around to fire sparks of lightning at Audrey, “Vilán!” Mei and Fei realized the pressure was off them for the moment, causing them to also release bolts at the Fire Initiate.

    Audrey cursed to herself as she was forced to dash deeper into the clearing. Her only hope of escape had been to flee into the forest. By choosing to stay in the clearing, she was signaling her intention to fight. Audrey continued to fire off her firebolts as she moved, though she reduced her volume of spells to focus more on accuracy. She kept running and shooting off spells, until she felt something slam into her side. She was knocked onto the ground, her vision going fuzzy.

    She didn’t even need to look to know what had happened. Cinderella had come out of nowhere and clotheslined her with enough force to nearly break bone. Audrey didn’t have time to sit on her a*s and be stunned. She forced herself to move, swinging her leg around and hooking it underneath Cinderella’s. With a simple leg sweep, she pulled the Lightning Mage onto the ground while continuing with her momentum to push herself up to her feet.

    Cinderella hit the ground right as Audrey stood up. “Tüz,” the Fire Initiate spoke, causing flames to burn into her hand. She clenched her fist, flames roaring around it, before she punched at Cinderella with all her might. The Lightning Mage glared up at her, electricity arcing wildly around her.

    Before Audrey could lay a finger on Cinderella, a lightning bolt from Fei hit Audrey right in the side. The Fire Initiate screamed, whirling around to face her attacker. Just as she did, she was hit with another bolt from Mei. The twins had rallied and began doing their best to defend their boss. Audrey tried to dodge their spells, but Nirin joined in to launch an attack from a different angle. Each time she dodged one spell, she got hit by the other two.

    The actual power of the lightning bolts was on the low side, they weren’t full powered lightning bolts. It was clear that those three weren’t very talented or strong. But they hurt, like being stung by a dozen bees at once. Audrey could feel her flesh sizzling as Cinderella hoisted herself up to her feet. She grabbed Audrey by the neck before she could run away, though she couldn’t exactly escape while the Initiates were zapping her every few seconds. It was an impressive feat considering Audrey was almost half a foot taller than Cinderella.

    “End of the line,” Cinderella cackled. Her grip around Audrey’s neck tightened as her eyes glowed. Her Essence flared while she chanted a spell that Audrey couldn’t even concentrate on. She knew nothing about lightning magic, though she was sure this particular spell would be enough to kill her.

    “RAAAHHH!” a roar echoed throughout the clearing as a rush of dragonfire incinerated everything in its path. Cinderella’s eyes widened as a red dragon burst from the bushes and let loose its breath weapon right at her. The Lightning Mage dropped Audrey before disappearing once again.

    Audrey crumpled to the ground as the dragonfire just barely flowed over top of her. She sent a glare over at Agni, who snapped his jaws shut to quell his fire. If he had hit Cinderella while she was still holding the Fire Initiate by the neck… Audrey would have been burned too. “Sorry…” Agni muttered, before looking over at Cinderella and her goons.

    The Lightning Mage had retreated as fast as she could, but she hadn’t quite been fast enough. Her clothes had been singed, especially her tight pants. Agni’s fire had caused one of her pants legs to turn to ash up to her thigh, revealing her tattoo. “Why don’t you get lost, dragon?!” Cinderella ordered. “This is between me and Audrey!”

    Agni shuffled in place, fluttering his wings. He had attacked only because he had been unable to just sit there and watch any longer. His mind had screamed at him to just run away, but he couldn’t leave Audrey behind. It had nothing to do with their pact… she had leapt to the defense of a dragon, and every honorable bone in his body demanded that he try and protect her. “I’m not going anywhere!” the dragon called out, desperately trying, and failing, to keep his voice from wavering.

    Audrey pushed herself up to her feet, cracking her neck. She then restruck her stance and yelled, “If you care so much about a fair fight, then you should tell your goons to get lost!”

    A vicious smirk spread across Cinderella’s face. “That dragon sounds just as pathetic as you are,” she cackled. She snapped her fingers and gestured towards the Lightning Initiates. “But I don’t think that means you deserve a fair fight.”

    “I had a feeling you’d say that,” Audrey rolled her eyes. “Hamuég Tüzégetövar,” in an instant, Audrey fired off another ash torpedo, straight at Cinderella.

    The Lightning Mage reacted unnaturally quickly, smacking the projectile out of her way. The redirected ash torpedo flew into the forest, striking a tree, and detonating. The tree blasted into pieces, sending shards of wood flying into the clearing. Cinderella grunted as she briefly shook her soot-covered hand, making sure it wasn’t injured. It was sizzling, but didn’t appear damaged. The rain fell even faster, restricting vision as the two sides prepared to launch themselves at each other once again.

    Cinderella attacked first, but this time Audrey was paying attention to how she was moving so fast. Her entire body seemed to diffuse into lightning, which then leapt towards Agni faster than the speed of sound. The dragon wasn’t even able to defend himself as a BOOM echoed throughout the clearing. Cinderella slammed her shoulder into the dragon’s side, blasting him off his feet and sending him flying through the air.

    Agni yelped and cried out in terror as he tried to right himself in the sky. He managed to flap his wings just enough to allow him to land on his feet. His claws dug into the ground, causing deep grooves as he skidded to a stop. A prominent, purplish bruise began forming on his flank where he had been hit. Fear etched into his muzzle as he regretted his every decision leading up to his moment. But there was no running now… Audrey needed his help.

    Audrey didn’t have time to focus on how Agni was doing. As long as the dragon was distracting Cinderella, it was all she needed to deal with the Initiates. She said a quick prayer to Arkosh, before dashing towards the tree line, firing off firebolts. She stumbled as she ran in heels, but managed not to twist her ankles and keep going.

    “Hey, the fire b***h is running away!” Fei cried out, hoping to get Cinderella’s attention. But the older Lightning Mage was far too busy with Agni. The dragon had leapt into the air and was flying around wildly, making it incredibly difficult for Cinderella to hit him with any of her spells. The pouring rain provided even the horse-sized dragon plenty of cover to break up his outline and make him hard to track.

    Audrey paused at the tree line and fired off a few more firebolts to make sure she had the Initiates’ attention. Each bolt sizzled in the rain, and even though the Initiates weren’t nearly as fast as Cinderella, they still managed to dodge them with ease. The small balls of fire hit the ground and quickly fizzled out. With the goons focused on her, Audrey ducked into the forest.

    Audrey tripped momentarily over the roots of a large Sírnac fruit tree with an enormous trunk. She landed with a loud oomph, before struggling back up to her feet. The Sírnac fruit tree was three times Audrey’s height, and so large around that she wouldn’t be able to get her arms around even half of the trunk. Once she had broken line of sight with the Lightning Initiates, Audrey began pulling herself up into the tree. She hadn’t done a lot of tree climbing in her youth.

    The heels were an absolute pain in the a*s, but if she took them off and tried to fight and run barefoot, she knew her feet would just get cut up. The heels were basically useless in gripping the tree, forcing her to use nothing but her upper-body strength to pull herself up. The Sírnac fruit tree had plenty of low-hanging branches that gave her enough leverage to hoist herself high enough to hide in the branches.

    Just as her heels disappeared into the branches, two of the Initiates raced around the Sírnac fruit tree, lightning crackling between their fingers. Only to not see Audrey anywhere. They looked around carefully, their eyes narrowed as they scanned the forest. The canopy of the trees provided some cover from the rain, but it was still dark, preventing them from being able to see very far.

    “Did she run away?” Nirin asked. Audrey recognized the mousey voice immediately.

    “F*****g coward. Cindy won’t be happy,” Fei grunted, suddenly looking up. But Audrey was well-hidden. “I’ll keep looking. Go back and help with the dragon.”

    “Uh… right!” Nirin exclaimed, trying to look confident. It was pretty clear by how miserable she looked that she would rather stay under the canopy and out of the rain. But she turned around and raced back into the clearing, leaving Fei all alone.

    Fei grimaced and grunted as she clenched her fists. The rain had inflamed her sensitive skin from the burn Audrey had given her back in Redwood. She carefully began searching around the oak tree, hunting for tracks. Her eyes narrowed as she noticed the slight divots in the ground from Audrey’s heels right in front of the tree. And nowhere else.

    “Where are you, little fire b***h?” Fei growled as she looked back up into the tree.

    “I’m right here, Tüz!” Audrey roared as thunder rumbled in the distance. The orange light lit up her location right as she was dropping out of the tree.

    Fei raised her arms in defense, unable to conjure a spell to her lips in time. Audrey fell from nearly twenty feet up, her elbow making contact with Fei’s guard. Audrey smashed right through Fei’s arms and slammed into her chin. Fei’s head snapped down, causing her to stumble forward. Only to meet Audrey forcing her knee right into Fei’s gut. Fei doubled over completely, coughing loudly.

    Audrey grabbed the back of Fei’s head, the Lightning Initiate too dazed to defend herself. With a roar, she slammed Fei’s face directly into the trunk of the Sírnac fruit tree. The tree shook from Audrey’s strength and Fei was immediately knocked unconscious. Blood pooled from a cut on her forehead and from her mouth. Audrey let go of the Initiate, causing her to slump against the tree.

    “Now stay down,” Audrey growled, before peeking back into the clearing. Flashes of lightning illuminated the shrouded clearing as Cinderella continued to try and hit Agni with electricity. The dragon continued flying circles around the area, breathing the occasional bout of fire down towards the Lightning Mage. Cinderella dodged the bursts with ease, but continued to struggle hitting Agni.

    Audrey spotted Nirin standing around lamely. She tried to light up the sky like Cinderella, but each arc of her lightning sputtered out before it got anywhere near the flying dragon. So she resorted to just standing in the middle of the clearing and staring at the battle. Audrey couldn’t see Mei anywhere, so she set her sights on the only visible foe that wasn’t Cinderella.

    Audrey burst from the forest, punching her fists forward while shouting, shooting firebolts at Nirin. The first two hit home, striking Nirin in the hip and the shoulder. The rain weakened the damage potential of the spells and put out any fires, but the firebolts burned through Nirin’s clothes and left first degree burns. The Lightning Initiate whirled around and stuttered out a spell as fast as she could.

    But Audrey was fast. She charged straight up into the blonde’s face, slapping Nirin’s hand away as she tried to aim at the Fire Initiate. The ineffective spurt of electricity harmlessly diffused onto the ground as Audrey cocked her fist back. With all of her momentum, Audrey slammed her fist directly into Nirin’s face.

    Nirin swung around wildly, before flopping onto the ground with a loud grunt. Audrey rounded on her again, but she quickly rolled out of the way. She jumped to her feet and leapt backwards twice to prevent Audrey from continuing her assault. Nirin stretched out her hands and screamed a spell in desperation, “Vilada!” A small storm of electricity flung from her fingers, quickly covering Audrey in stinging, shocking bolts of electricity.

    Audrey gritted her teeth as she covered her face as she felt the strength of a real lightning bolt. The volts peppered her skin and arms, stinging harshly and causing her muscles to start to spasm. She could feel the tips of her fingers beginning to go numb, and if it went any longer, then she could be completely overwhelmed. Having no intention of just standing there, trying to weather the storm, Audrey lashed out with her leg.

    Nirin was just out of reach from Audrey’s arms and trying to cast a spell would be too difficult while being electrocuted. But Audrey’s legs were just long enough while wearing heels. She swiveled and kicked out, feeling the bottom of her shoes just barely making contact. A yelp ripped out through the clearing as Audrey’s heel cut a deep line from Nirin’s cheek, across her nose and eye, then up to her scalp.

    The storm of lightning halted immediately as Nirin fell backwards. Her hands immediately went to her face, trying to stop the bleeding. Fire erupted into existence around Audrey’s fists as she marched over to Nirin. She leaned down and raised her fist, preparing to knock the Initiate’s lights out. Right before she hit the bleeding blonde, Audrey looked over to see Cinderella glaring at her. Even though the rain, Audrey could see the Lightning Mage’s face scrunched up in rage, amber eyes blazing.

    “Enough!” Cinderella roared. She levitated a few feet off the ground, the lightning dancing around her began surging stronger and stronger. “Villám Kisü Vihar!” Audrey had thought the bout of electricity Nirin had unleashed could be described as a storm, but what Cinderella unleashed just a moment later was a raging hurricane of powerful lightning bolts. The discharge covered the entire clearing in bolts that blasted apart the ground and turned the bark of trees to ash.

    Nirin yelped in fear, before stumbling up to her feet. She struck a stance just in time to practically catch one of Cinderella’s bolts. The crackling lightning was absorbed into Nirin’s hand, before being redirected away from her. “Cindy! What in the Abyss are you doing?!” she cried out. But the Lightning Mage didn’t seem to hear her.

    Inspired by the Initiate, Audrey tried to copy Nirin’s stance. As several bolts rained down onto her, the rain doing little to impede their power, she swung her hands towards the arcs of electricity. Almost like Cinderella had done to her ash bomb, Audrey defelected and redirected each bolt that came towards her. Her hands stung and went entirely numb, she could feel the pain coursing up her arms, but she had protected her chest and head from the lightning.

    Audrey recovered from the attack just in time to see a dark shape in the sky lit up by electricity. Agni’s red scales flashed in the bright light, before he fell from the air. The continual lightning strikes made it incredibly difficult for him to glide down safely. He crashed, groaning loudly as his scales smoldered. Ash marks stained his body, but his wings weren’t torn and he hadn’t landed that hard.

    “Agni!” Audrey called out as the discharge suddenly ended. Cinderella slowly floated back to the ground, her lightning gone and steam rising visibly from her body. She seemed stunned for the moment after outputting so much power. The ground that made up the clearing had been ripped and torn up by the power of stray bolts striking it.

    The red dragon let out a loud groan, before rolling over onto his side. He was moving slowly and gingerly, trying to get back up to his feet. Audrey let out a growl through gritted teeth, before moving her fingers for the somatics of another ash torpedo. The words barely began to form on her lips, however, before a piercing pain in her abdomen forced her to stop casting.

    Audrey’s eyes widened as she looked down to see a blade protruding from her belly. It had missed the center of her abdomen, scraping more against her hipbone instead of actually piercing through her stomach. Her mouth opened in a soundless scream as fire erupted around her. She whirled around to see Mei trying to pull the knife out of Audrey’s body. Mei must have grabbed the knife that Lariel had dropped and hidden until she could ambush Audrey.

    Audrey’s flames formed a burning, protective aura around herself. The pure heat of the shield caused any raindrops to come near Audrey to sizzle and turn instantly into steam. Mei attempted to get away, but Audrey grabbed onto her arm as fast as a snake. Mei squealed and struggled to free herself, but Audrey just glared and tightened her grip. The flames burning around Audrey immediately caused the blonde’s skin to singe.

    “Let go of me, you b***h!” Mei cried out, tears brimming in her eyes as she felt the burns sinking deeper into her skin. Her eyes widened as she was suddenly jerked forward. She was pulled directly into Audrey’s flying fist, which smashed directly into her face.

    Audrey’s burning fist left a dark red burn spot on Mei’s cheek. The Initiate tumbled to the ground as Audrey let go of her. Burns covered her face and arms and her clothes were fraying from the heat Audrey was putting out. Mei rolled away, mud and rain preventing her clothes from being turned to ash, but the burns stung horribly from the droplets of rain.

    Tears sprung from Mei’s face as she struggled to her feet. She ran straight towards Cinderella, sniffling loudly the entire way. Audrey panted hard as she watched Mei flee, before looking down to see the recently-scarred Nirin laying on her back, unconscious. She was no longer a threat.

    “Cindy! Cindy! We gotta get out of here, she’s too strong!” Mei wailed as she raced towards the Lightning Mage. She cradled her burned arm against her body, trying to protect it from the rain.

    Cinderella’s eyes narrowed as she ground her teeth together. “Retreat? Why would we retreat on the verge of victory?” she hissed.

    “Lariel and Nirin are dead and who knows where my sister is!” Mei whined. “And I’ve got third degree burns! My face… she fucked up my face!”

    Cinderella seethed quietly for a moment, her glare intensifying. “If you care more about your looks, then you’re no better than her,” she growled, before suddenly lunging forward. “So you’re no use to me.”

    Audrey watched the entire thing through the veil of the rain over a dozen feet away. Cinderella thrusted her hand straight through Mei’s chest, bursting out her back. The Lightning Initiate screamed, but fell silent only moments later, blood dribbling from her mouth. Cinderella tossed Mei aside, before turning her attention back onto Audrey.

    Audrey’s jaw dropped open, her eyes wide. Words briefly escaped her, but her thoughts eventually burbled out into the open. “What the f**k are you doing?!” she screamed out. Flames continued to dance around her, keeping her out of the rain. “Mei was your friend! For all the terrible things she’s done to me… she didn’t deserve to die!”

    “She was weak! Just like the others!” Cinderella roared back, her voice easily carrying over the rain. “She said the others are already dead, so I sent her to join them!”

    “None of the others are dead!” Audrey called back, her voice wavering. She had interjected to protect Edet, but only planned on keeping the blondes occupied until the dragon could escape on her own. She never meant to kill anyone, or let anyone get killed. “You’re the only murderer here!”

    “So what?” Cinderella shrugged. Even though she was no longer yelling, her voice carried easily. “Those worms have failed me for the last time.”

    “What happened to you, Cindy?” Audrey all but whispered. She pulled the knife out of her abdomen, wincing as blood spurted from the wound. But she pressed her hands against the leaking holes in her body, cauterizing the wounds.

    She knew she wouldn’t last long at this rate, but she had to try her best. If not for herself, but also for Mei. The Initiate had attacked her, but that didn’t mean that she deserved to die. She spread her feet and held up her fists. The fire around her roared even louder, feeding off what little Essence she had left.

    Cinderella only grinned. She suddenly diffused into lightning and leapt at Audrey at full speed. She appeared directly in front of the Fire Initiate and attempted to thrust her lightning-coated hand straight through Audrey’s chest like she had done with Mei. But Audrey was ready.

    Audrey predicted exactly where Cinderella was going to appear and was already moving her hands. One came straight up towards her chest, deflecting Cinderella’s strike with the palm of her hand. The other was thrust straight into the Lightning Mage’s stomach. Although Audrey’s fist struck true, Cinderella barely reacted. Even as the flames surrounding the Fire Initiate burned a hole through the Lightning Mage’s clothes and singed her skin.

    “Pathetic,” Cinderella growled as she backhanded Audrey. She moved too fast for the Fire Initiate to even try and defend herself. She smacked the redhead hard enough to send her flying over a dozen feet away.

    Audrey cried out in pain, her face stinging from both the blow and the lightning that had coated Cinderella’s hand. She landed on her back, but quickly rolled onto her front and pushed herself up to her feet. Cinderella stalked after Audrey slowly, a sinister grin spreading even further across the Lightning Mage’s face. Audrey had no interest in playing any sort of games with Cinderella.

    “Tüzvar!” Audrey began launching more firebolts at the Lightning Mage, forcing her to take this more seriously. Cinderella easily dodged the small balls of fire, diffusing into lightning to move even faster. Eventually, the Lightning Mage found an opening and raced forward. Audrey tried to react and dodge out of the way, but her heel stuck deeper into mud, causing her to stumble.

    Sensing blood, Cinderella dashed straight at Audrey. Only to stop short as a dragon’s tail slammed into the ground right in front of her. Both the skirmishing women had been too focused on each other to notice Agni had gotten back up. Audrey was incredibly grateful that the dragon had interfered. But the Fire Initiate knew that Agni had missed on purpose, he could have easily crushed Cinderella with his tail and incapacitate her.

    Cinderella seemed to realize that as well. “You’re just as pathetic as she is,” she cackled. She charged up another spell and fired it at Agni, “Vilada!” The red dragon yelped and tried to leap out of the way. He didn’t make it, however, and was hit by a significant amount of electricity. Locking him in place.

    Audrey roared out a spell and pumped as much Essence into a firebolt as she dared. She launched the larger ball of fire at Cinderella before charging after it. The rain didn’t put as much of a damper on the spell as it had the smaller bolts, and it hit true, right in the center of Cinderella’s chest. The Lightning Mage grunted, but appeared relatively unharmed, though her clothes were further burned away.

    Cinderella’s face scrunched up in rage once again. She split her attention between Audrey and Agni. Bringing one hand to bear on the Fire Initiate, she unleashed the same spell she was casting at Agni. Audrey knew it was difficult to cast two spells at once, even if both spells were the same. But Cinderella performed the dual cast with ease.

    The storm of electricity smashed into Audrey, bringing her advance to a halt. Audrey yelled in pain; her voice drowned out by Agni’s roars. The wreath of fire surrounding Audrey mitigated some of the damage the spell would have done, but it was still incredibly painful. Despite that, Audrey refused to just crumple to Cinderella’s sheer power.

    Gathering all of her strength, Audrey took a step forward. She raised one arm to try and hold off some of the electricity as she slowly made her way towards the Lightning Mage. It was like fighting against gale force winds while thigh deep in tar. She could feel her muscles spasming and beginning to shut down, but she forced herself to keep moving with all her might. Cinderella seemed to realize what Audrey was doing and turned all her focus onto the redhead.

    With both hands focusing fire on Audrey, Agni received a brief reprieve. The tingling of electricity still remained as he tried to move his muscles. They groaned in protest, that much lightning had locked them up. His wings were especially restrained, completely paralyzed against his back. He wanted so desperately to just run away, to leave all this behind. But the Fire Initiate’s screams forced him into action.

    Agni suddenly lunged forward, desperately hoping his legs wouldn’t give out beneath him. If Cinderella saw him coming, she chose not to react. He stopped short, digging his claws into the ground to gain as much traction as possible. He swung his hips around and, with all his might, slammed his tail into Cinderella’s chest. The CRACK was loud enough to echo throughout the clearing, even over Audrey’s screams. It sounded almost like thunder.

    The Lightning Mage was hit hard, but she barely budged. She was only pushed a few feet back, leaving deep grooves in the ground. But Agni succeeded in one thing, halting Cinderella’s attack. Once free from the lightning storm, Audrey pushed her body forward once again. Agni just watched, stunned that he had actually struck a living being. Cinderella seemed surprised too, and no doubt Audrey was as well. But the redhead had little to no time to congratulate or thank the dragon.

    Blood dribbled from Cinderella’s mouth as she stared down at the ground. Audrey charged her nonetheless, her scream having turned into a battle cry. In a matter of moments, the Fire Initiate rounded on the Lightning Mage. Cinderella’s head snapped up, her amber eyes blazing with all her hatred. Only to meet Audrey’s burning fist.

    A vicious right hook followed by a powerful uppercut. Audrey threw punch after punch at the Lightning Mage’s face. Each blow caused Cinderella’s head to snap to the side and for her to take a step backwards. Not once did she attempt to defend herself. She just let Audrey pummel her for over a minute.

    The fires around Audrey began to dim and she could once again feel the rain on her skin. She took a step away from Cinderella, panting hard. She could feel her Essence reserves almost gone. She tried to unclench her hands, only to find that she couldn’t move her fingers. She looked down at her fists to see them covered in electrical burns and her fingers not responding to her commands. They were completely numb.

    A burbling giggle erupted from Cinderella’s mouth, causing Audrey to whip her attention back to the Lightning Mage. Blood leaked from Cinderella’s nose and mouth, but not a single other scratch lined her face. Almost like Audrey’s blazing fists had never actually reached her face. Lightning surged around her as she cackled, “What’s wrong?! You look like you’ve seen a Demon!”

    Audrey took another step back, feeling that fear beginning to creep back into her mind. The adrenaline had suppressed how scared she was of Cinderella, but those amber eyes had overpowered whatever adrenaline Audrey was one. She panted hard, trying to think of a response to the Lightning Mage, but nothing came to mind. For once in her life, she didn’t have a response.

    “Nothing?” Cinderella asked, cocking her head. Her blonde hair had come out of its tight bun, scraggly and wild. “Oh well.” She suddenly jolted forwards and slammed her fist into Audrey’s stomach before the Fire Initiate could react. Audrey doubled over, bile rising in the back of her throat. The urge to vomit was strong, but Cinderella’s continued with a flurry of blows.

    Each punch sent Audrey reeling backwards. Cinderella crossed whatever space Audrey tried to put between them in an instant. In a matter of seconds, Audrey was pushed towards the tree line. Blood leaked from Audrey’s mouth and nose, the latter of which was definitely broken. Her jaw was numb and a few teeth had been knocked loose.

    Cinderella continued to grin wildly as she lashed out and grabbed Audrey’s throat again. She suddenly spun around, gathering enough momentum to throw the redhead as hard as she could. Audrey went flying, screaming in pain and surprise, before the breath was knocked out of her as she crashed into a tree.

    Audrey’s eyes rolled, her head spun, and her body ached. The flames wreathing her dimmed even further as she slumped against the tree. Barely conscious. She didn’t even realize she had crashed into an Alshasm Tree, cracking the bark enough for sap to start leaking. With the last of her strength, she looked up, unable to move her head much more than that. She saw Cinderella standing a mere foot away, sneering down at her.

    “Stop, stop… you win, Cindy… please stop,” Audrey panted. Her fingers dug into the bark as she weakly stared up at the Lightning Mage. Though her body hurt, it pained her more to concede to Cinderella, especially to have to resort to begging.

    “Cindy isn’t here right now,” the Lightning Mage smirked. She held up her hand, pumping as much Essence as she could into it. Electricity crackled and surged around her hand. She closed the distance between her and Audrey, before bending down, preparing to pierce through the Fire Initiate’s chest, just as she had done to Mei. “And soon, you won’t be either.”

    Audrey was too weak to even flinch, staring right back at Cinderella as her hand came thrusting down towards her sternum. Only for a great WOOSH sound to fill the air. Agni had managed to gather his wits and do the only thing he could think of to save Audrey. He wouldn’t be able to cross the distance between himself and the tree in time, but his fire could.

    Audrey watched, her eyes wide, as dragonfire swarmed towards her. Cinderella only grinned wider, before disappearing in a flash of lightning. Easily dodging the wave of flames sweeping towards the Alshams Tree. Audrey weakly held up her hands, hoping to stave off the rush of heat that would no doubt turn her, and the tree, to ash.

    “Too slow. Unless you were planning on turning that b***h to ash,” Cinderella cackled as she appeared on Agni’s flank. “You just did my job for me!”

    Agni yelped in surprise, but didn’t have time to try and snap at her. Cinderella slammed her fist into the dragon, hitting him with all her strength. Despite the size difference, the Lightning Mage was more than strong enough to knock the dragon onto the ground. Agni skidded several feet away. He pushed himself up to his feet and bared his fangs, letting out a fearsome roar.

    Cinderella ignored his attempts to intimidate. She dashed forward before the dragon could let loose a bout of dragonfire. She knocked his head to the side with a right hook, before wrapping her arms around his exposed neck. In a burst of strength Agni thought not possible for a human, the Lightning Mage lifted him off the ground and over her shoulder, suplexing him.

    Agni landed hard, knocking the breath out of his lungs. He gasped and wheezed, only for Cinderella to slam her foot onto his neck, making it even more difficult for him to draw in air. And impossible for him to breathe fire. He tried to push her off him, but he couldn’t lift his head at all. His mind whirled as he awkwardly tried to lift his hips off the ground and club her with his tail.

    “Stay down, shrimp!” Cinderella ordered, releasing a burst of paralyzing electricity from her hands before he could strike her.

    Agni howled in pain as his muscles seized up. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t move an inch. He was firmly pinned by the diminutive blonde. He could do nothing but watch as she raised her hands to the sky and began chanting a sentence-long spell. The dragon knew very little about magic, but he knew the longer the spell, generally the stronger it was.

    With his superior eyesight, he could see through the haze of the rain. He could hear the rumbling of thunder as lightning gathered in the cloud directly above them. Small, blue bolts leapt from other clouds, coalescing into a bright spark in the sky. A single point of pure energy, begging for the chance to leap from the cloud and into Cinderella’s waiting hands. A spell that could vaporize even a dragon.

    “Vanish with a thunderclap,” the Lightning Mage hissed as she stretched her hands even higher into the air.

    “Not if I have anything to say about it!” Audrey’s voice suddenly rang out through the clearing, causing both Agni and Cinderella to snap their gazes to her. She stood in front of the Alshams tree unharmed. Red crystals burst from the tree, framing Audrey in a heavenly, red glow. One of her hands was stretched into the air, holding an enormous fireball composed entirely of Agni’s dragonfire. The fireball suddenly shark into a tiny mote, sparking and humming loudly. It looked more like a tiny star than a fireball.

    “Dodge this,” Audrey growled just loud enough for Cinderella to hear. She brought the mote to bear on Cinderella and let the spell loose. The Lightning Mage attempted to diffuse into electricity to leap out of the way, but it was far too late. A beam of pure dragonfire erupted from Audrey’s palm, creating a halo of mist in its wake as rain instantly evaporated in its path.

    The beam barreled into the Lightning Mage, blasting her off the dragon and sending her flying through the air. It carried Cinderella out of the clearing, straight through the tree line. She screamed in rage and pain as she blasted through several trees, before finally slamming into a trunk of an enormous ogrewood. The bark on the tree cracked and burned from the heat of the beam, but the tree refused to budge or break.

    Eventually, Audrey ran out of Essence and the beam ran out of dragonfire. Her spell ended and she immediately fell to her knees. Her right arm was almost entirely blackened from the heat and ash the beam had put out and it ached something fierce. But it didn’t appear to be broken. She clenched her fist slowly, making sure that her fingers weren’t broken, before taking one last look at Cinderella.

    The lightning dancing around Cinderella had finally faded, as had the amber glow in her eyes. She slid down the trunk of the ogrewood and landed in its roots, slumping against them. Blood leaked from her mouth and she appeared unconscious… or dead. With her indisposed, Audrey turned her attention towards Agni instead.

    The dragon was still on his back, staring at Audrey. The beam had passed right over him, blackening some of his scales. “What… was that?!” he exclaimed. “Is… is she dead?”

    “I don’t know,” Audrey admitted. “And I have no idea! I just… poured my Essence into your fire and took control. The spell just sort of… formed around me. Maybe I invented a new spell.”

    “Wow… I have no idea if that’s incredible or not,” Agni chuckled. “Do you think you could cast that spell again? Or do you need my dragonfire to do it?”

    “I honestly have no clue. I don’t even remember what words I used to cast it,” Audrey sighed. “It’s probably beyond my ability to cast again… for now”

    “Hey, look! Blaze Crystals!” Agni suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the Alshams Tree. The red crystals that sprouted from the bark were definitely the Blaze Crystals Audrey was searching for.

    “Well, would you look at that? There’s more than enough to complete my trial,” Audrey grinned. She could feel excited, but she could do little more than smile as she limped towards the tree. Her heels dragged against the ground, making the trip even more difficult than it would be normally. “And with the White Stag Cinderella killed… our pact is complete.”

    Agni rolled over to his stomach and pushed himself back up to his feet. Or at least, he tried to. His muscles were too weak from the lightning storm to support his body. He collapsed back onto the ground, but crawled his way over to the White Stag. There was a burn mark on the beast’s neck where electricity had entered its body, and a burn mark on its rump where the lightning had exited.

    Audrey collapsed against the tree, breathing hard. She began breaking off pieces of Blaze Crystal and storing them in the pack on her belt. She took as much as she could carry, even though she only needed ten. Silence hung in the air as the two conscious combatants breathed hard and recovered enough to stand normally. Both were still limping, however.

    Agni glanced at his shoulder to see a tattoo still present. He looked back over at Audrey as she slowly limped over to him. “Our pact is complete… but the tattoo is still present. Is it permanent?” he asked, cocking his head in confusion.

    “It’s still there?” Audrey asked, furrowing her brow. “Maybe we need to actually complete our trials to fully seal the pact.”

    “I hope that’s the case. If my dad figures out that I got help, he won’t be very happy,” Agni frowned. He leaned down and picked up the stag gingerly. It was large, but Agni managed to get most of its weight off the ground. He tried to spread his wings, but found that they were still paralyzed against his back.

    “How long is the walk back to… wherever you need to go?” Audrey asked, recognizing the strained look on Agni’s face. She figured he was trying to fly off.

    An annoyed snort sounded from Agni’s nose. “Hours… maybe days. But I’m sure my wings will be fine in the morning,” he said, looking back up at the sky. The rain was still pouring and thunder was still sounding. The time between each boom was getting smaller and smaller. “I’d rather take shelter from this rain anyways.”

    “Do you think you could help me get out of this forest in the morning? We can take shelter somewhere together, then you can send me on my way in the morning,” Audrey asked. She stumbled a bit, putting a hand on the dragon’s flank to steady himself.

    “If you think your trial has to be completed before our pact is sealed, then I’m going to have to,” Agni shrugged. Showing Audrey out of the forest wouldn’t be that hard… and the sooner she was gone, the better.

    The two of them began limping out of the clearing, but they came to a stop by the still unmoving body of Edet. The yellow dragoness had been out cold during the entire battle. “Is she all right?” Audrey asked quietly. She didn’t know enough about draconic physiology to tell.

    Agni could see Edet’s chest rising and falling slowly and steadily, but he still stepped forward and held his head against her side. Measuring her heartbeat, he prepared to deliver his verdict, only to be interrupted by a loud snore. “She’s fine,” Agni deadpanned as the armored dragoness shifted in her sleep.

    “That’s a relief,” Audrey muttered as she spotted Lariel not too far from Edet. She leaned down and checked the Lightning Initiate, only to feel a horrible chill pass through her heart. Lariel’s back had been blasted open and her body was cold and not moving or breathing.

    Audrey swallowed as she fell back onto her rump. She could feel herself starting to hyperventilate, but she couldn’t control herself. She had killed someone. She didn’t mean to! Panicking, and worried that she had killed Cinderella too, she whipped her head up towards where the Lightning Mage had landed. Only to not see her there.

    “Where did she-” Audrey started to say, secretly relieved that Cinderella must’ve been alive.

    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Agni spoke up. Audrey followed his gaze to see Cinderella limping out of the forest and back into the clearing. A wild grin was on her face, her nails digging into the bark of a tree as she steadied herself, turning her blazing amber glare at Audrey. Her messy, frayed hair framed her face, making her look more like a beast than a Mage.

    “We’re not done yet!” Cinderella cackled. She pushed herself off the tree and into the clearing proper. Slowly stalking towards Agni and Audrey.

    “You should just stay down,” Audrey called out. She raised her hand and attempted to cast a firebolt spell, only for it to fizzle in the palm of her hand. She was completely out of Essence; thus she couldn’t use magic.

    “Looks like you’re defenseless,” Cinderella giggled as she threw her hands up into the sky. The rain intensified and the thunder began ranging out back to back to back. The sound was deafening as the storm appeared to be directly over top of them. Electricity began gathering in the cloud above the Lightning Mage. “Now… where were we?”

    Audrey and Agni had exactly the same thought, but sending them in opposite directions. Agni’s wings were still paralyzed, but even if he could fly at the moment, there was no way he could outrun lightning. The two of them limped and stumbled over themselves as they raced towards different edges of the clearing and into cover. But it was too late, they were both too slow.

    Cinderella finished casting her spell, an enormous lightning bolt leaping from the sky and landing in her hands. However, something seemed to have gone wrong. Instead of gathering around her fists to be redirected towards Agni and Audrey, the electricity coursed through her arms and down to her chest. Cinderella let out a scream of surprise and terror as the lightning turned colors. From blue to gold.

    Audrey and Agni both stopped and watched as Cinderella was electrocuted by her own spell. Her screaming continued for nearly a minute, before the golden lightning suddenly vanished. The Lightning Mage appeared surprisingly unharmed, both her flesh and hair were completely intact. Though a thin veil of smoke poured off her body.

    The amber glow in her eyes disappeared, her irises returning to their natural blue color. Cinderella collapsed seconds later, falling onto her side. Finally unconscious. Audrey and Agni waited a few beats, just in case the Lightning Mage hopped back up to her feet once again. But she never did. The rain thinned even more as the clouds began dispersing. The thunder halted entirely.

    “We should get moving,” Audrey muttered.

    “Definitely,” Agni nodded. The two of them raced away from the clearing as fast as their legs could carry them.