The Battle-Mage

Part of the Uncompleted works 'The Dragonhawk's Feather'. This piece of writing follows Geis after infiltrating the Sunreavers, fighting off a pursuing Silver Covenant Battle Mage.
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==Pursuit in the Twilight==
The roar of a motor engine throws up golden leaves on the ground of Crystalsong Forest. Geis rides on his Hog past the thin, silver trunked trees towards the more mysterious and magical edge of the woods. He was aiming to get as many trees around him as he could manage…A blast against the earth to Geis’ flank forces his Hog to swerve to the left, the fountain of earth shoots high behind him as he speeds on further.
From the sky two silver Hippogriffs dive towards the trees at speed, their jockey’s furiously chasing the bike across the ground. Both were dressed in very pure silver robes that looked reinforced for combat; both wearing the bright sun of the Silver Covenant tabard on their chests. One of the pursuers conjures a ball of arcane magic in his hand and launches it towards the ground at the escaping motorcycle. Geis skids his back wheel as he sharply drifts his bike to avoid the arcane blast landing in front of him. He is showered in dirt as he kicks his bike into a lower gear and roars across the golden grass into the shade of the purple glowing trees.
The Hippogriffs flew into the trees fearlessly, swooping beneath branches and maintaining their glide with natural expertise. Their riders trusted in their flying ability, whilst constantly firing as many arcane blasts towards their target as possible. Geis slaloms between the oncoming trees in an effort to misdirect the fire into the trunks and confuse his pursuers. It wasn’t long before the glowing trees became the only light in the deep woods, along with the artificial beam from his bike’s headlamp.
A blast of magic shoots into a crystal tree trunk behind him, with another landing closely into the ground behind. Geis clenches his teeth in frustration; whilst the trees were providing some cover they weren’t slowing the mages down as much as he’d hoped. Nevertheless he speeds on, preparing for a small gradient in the ground he lifts the front wheel of the bike into a jump before slamming both wheels onto the ground a further way on.
After a speedy five seconds, he hears no more attacks coming from behind. Geis peers into his rear view mirrors and doesn’t spot anything behind him, which looked hopeful. However in the short time his attention was drawn an explosion ahead of him jerks his eyes upwards and on the path ahead. A large crystal tree in front of him had been struck by their magic and was beginning to fall rapidly in his path. Geis abruptly pulls on his brakes, feeling the tyres begin to skid and burn in such a rapid response. He feels the force of his braking but he was still approaching the falling tree at high speed; he shifts his weight to skid the wheels almost 90 degrees, skidding persistently closer. The tree lands onto the ground with a huge crunch, sending shattered debris up into the air. Geis covers his face and braces for impact with the fallen trunk, his bike screeching as it slides close and Geis crunches against the tree with the side of his bike, feeling a big force shudder through the mechanics and his own bones.
Geis recovers from his slight daze and quickly jumps out of the seat of his bike to get out of the line of fire. He leaps up onto the trunk of the tree and ducks behind the other side, waiting for his pursuers to pass ahead over him. He listens carefully for the flap of hippogriff wings, keeping his eyes upwards and readying his right arm. With a ‘Whoosh’ the Silver Hippogriffs flap over the fallen trunk and Geis swiftly takes aim at one of the riders; he holds his arm steady and shoots a Pyro-Rocket from his gauntlet. The rocket speeds towards its target and bursts against the belly of the Hippogriff in a small explosion of fire and feathers. The Hippogriff falls from its flight, throwing off its rider into the trees and smashing his body onto the ground.
Geis looks around and moves quickly on his feet to avoid being an easy target from the remaining mage. The remaining flyer circles around and jumps off his Hippogriff, gliding slowly down to the ground with magical aid. Geis keeps his eyes on the silver mage and runs quickly towards him, darting through trees and using them as cover. A bolt of fire flies near him, covering the ground in licking flames; it forces Geis to dart from his tree cover but he doesn’t remain in sight for long. The mage spots Geis appearing and charges a powerful amount of arcane in his hands, but his target was suddenly gone in a puff of black smoke. His gaze is averted to something close in front of him; another puff of black mist surrounds the man in bright red and gold, poised in midair with both daggers armed and ready to strike like a cobra. The silver elf sees death in Geis’ green eyes as he falls towards him; Geis’ daggers swing inwards simultaneously as Geis falls close enough to feel his target’s breath. Blood splatters into the cold air as Geis’ weapons ‘scissor’ across the mage’s throat.
The silver robes are stained with crimson, an image of tainted purity; the mage makes no sound as he falls backwards onto the ground. Geis lowers his arms, his poison and blood dripping daggers rest by his thighs as he steps backwards and scans the area. As he turns and stops in his tracks; he glimpses a bright blue light not far from where the tree fell, silhouetting another figure. Geis squints and steps forward cautiously, the new figure crackles in arcane energy as it also steps forward; it became clear to Geis whoever had teleported wasn’t small fry like the others. Geis steps into the opening to get a clear look at the new presence, who also looks forward to spot Geis approaching.
Geis frowns and raises his daggers up defensively in alert, he recognised him.
“You Sunreaver lackeys are all the same…You’ve no idea the significance of what you’re getting into!” Yells Arcanist Tybalin.
Geis scowls back at the High Elf, who conjures a sword and a battle staff into his hands, standing ready. No more words were said.
==Geis vs Battle Mage==
Arcanist Tybalin twirls the staff he held in his left hand and points the tip towards Geis, the crystal on the end begins to glow brightly before bursting out several strands of arcane missiles towards Geis’ direction. Geis tenses and quickly turns to the side sprinting out of the way of the oncoming barrage. As Geis runs the arcanist keeps his staff pointed, channelling streams of missiles towards Geis at a rapid pace. Geis feels the shockwaves of the missiles smashing into the crystal trees behind him; he continues his sprint until he could reach a spot out of line of sight and dives behind a trunk.
Geis pants from his sprint and pulls down his hood, it was only going to hinder him in this fight. The missiles stop and Geis takes his chance to run out towards the mage. He keeps his opponent in sight as he closes the gap until in a split second the mage disappears, only to reappear instantly in front of him raising his sword for an attack. The swing slices towards Geis but cuts through only black mist as a leg flies out towards the mage’s right shoulder at his flank.
Geis’ kick smashes into the staff of the arcanist who threw it across himself to block the kick; Geis drops the foot to the ground instantly and shifts his weight to that foot to jab his right dagger forwards. Tybalin twirls his staff to batter the dagger away and swings his own blade towards Geis, who parries with the same dagger in order to riposte with his left dagger in a fast shiv; the blade hits Tybalin’s staff again as he swings it across with a sudden step to the side. Geis pulls both his blades back and launches a powerful scissor swing across the mages front to force him to go more defensive, becoming aware that this mage had prowess in close combat as well as with magic. His attack was easily blocked but forces the mage to reel back a little. In a quick recovery Tybalin swings his staff around heavily, forcing Geis to dodge. He swings and misses again but follows through this time with a swing from his blade that is caught easily with Geis’ dagger. Geis knocks away the weapon and unleashes a flurry of swift slices through the air; he knocks against the sword and staff whilst trying not to leave a gap in his combo open for a counter. He steps forward aggressively and throws in a dirty kick once his last attack was parried, the kick throws his opponent backwards with a grunt and Geis follows ambitiously.
Tybalin was very nimble and rolls back to his feet, beginning to charge another spell as Geis steps after him. Geis dodges a bolt of arcane fired at close range and charges forward to try and barge his opponent down. The mage stumbles but holds his footing, raising his sword arm and tries to smack Geis’ face with his elbow. Geis takes the beat but spins and jabs his own elbow at Tybalin’s chest, hitting squarely. He tries to take advantage of the manoeuvre and jab forward with his weapons but is met by another blast of magic that hits him and pushes him back.
Geis frowns and spins his daggers around in his palms to a different stance, the blades now being held down from his fists. Using his speed he charges at the mage again, closing the gap fast and launching a fast spinning attack that lashes his daggers out lethally. Tybalin steps back and bends his body t o dodge, quickly incanting another spell to blink out of sight once again. Geis stops and quickly turns around instinctively, seeing the mage some distance behind him turning and clapping his weapons together to shoot bolts of fire and ice simultaneously at speed towards him. Geis couldn’t dodge, instead he is enveloped in a mist of shadow to catch the spell and cancel it out. The shadowy figure of Geis becomes even more blurred as the mist follows his fast movement in a zig-zag shape towards his enemy. Tybalin tries firing another bolt of magic towards the speeding target but misses and is left open for attack. Geis appears in another puff of shadow and swings his daggers upon the mage’s raised staff, knocking it away and stepping forward again to jab a dagger past his opponents defence and lick across his body armour.
The Arcanist grunts and stabs his sword forward, forcing Geis to abandon the combo in order to dodge. Tybalin uses the time he had gained to blink away again, holding the scratch on his torso suddenly wincing with a stinging pain. Geis’ poison had envenomed the wound and made it much more sickeningly painful. He turns back to observe the rogue but found he had disappeared. In a panic he looks around for Geis’ location but saw no sign of him; his heart pounds faster as his fear of a stealth attack sends Tybalin into paranoia. Nervously he steps forward keeping an eye on his surroundings, every little movement of the woods made him twitch. He assumed the rogue would strike in his blind spot, so kept an ear out for movement behind him and occasionally turned his head to get a good look around. A sound of movement behind him triggers his alert and he swiftly spins around to his left blind spot, firing an instant blast of fire in the direction of the sound but hit only grass. Geis jumps out from his stealthed state in Tybalin‘s right blind spot and ambushes the mage from behind, leaping against his back Geis loops a barbed wire to the man’s neck and tugs it tightly. Tybalin chokes and feels the wire puncture the skin on his neck as his vision goes bright and blurred. Geis holds the wire tightly but was unable to hold it for very long as his opponent begins to thrash about to throw Geis away. An elbow swings round to knock Geis in the cheekbone and he lets go of the wire, however he viciously turns back and slices rapidly towards his exposed victim. One of his swings lands and cuts the elf’s waist, making him release an audible cry of pain; the rest of his swings were caught by the mage’s sword and Geis suddenly became open. Tybalin takes his split second opportunity and jabs the tip of his staff into Geis’ chest, the force causing him to keel forward with a cough; clenching his teeth the mage spins around and gives his staff plenty of room to swing. He slams the pole of the staff into Geis powerfully; the contact smashing into his armour and knocking him right back off his feet. Geis cries out and lands painfully, the breath in his lungs felt completely knocked out as he scrambles backwards trying to get back on his feet. Tybalin stands over him and doesn’t give him the chance to stand; he raises his hands and conjures what appeared to be chains and shackles made from arcane magic around Geis’ wrists and ankles. Geis grunts as a magical force suddenly lifts his body into the air a little way and extends his arms legs out openly; he struggles and tries to free himself from the magical shackles, all the while Tybalin below stands grinning as he conjures a fatal spell.
The Covenant mage crackles again with arcane power as he readies the spell to end it. Geis stares down at him, respecting the arcanist’s strength in battle and realising his mistake to assume an easy kill like the rest. However, he wasn’t going to die here. As Tybalin‘s spell finishes its charging Geis’ body is enveloped in shadow once again and in a puff of mist disappears from the chains. Tybalin’s spell barrage is fired and shoots right through the black mist, which seems to hit the ground in a big crash as shadow begins to spread everywhere and create individual shapes. The shapes all take on the shape of Geis and leap forward towards the mage who swears in frustration at his attack missing. He looks around now at the shadowy copies of the rogue; panicking at the idea of having to fend off all of them he swings his staff and conjures a magical shield around himself. The shadow figures of Geis seem to dance around Tybalin’s bubble threateningly, suddenly feeling a huge blow to the shield he looks around and just spots a figure disappear. Again he feels another shock as his shield comes under heavy attacks; slices and stabs and powerful blows are launched against the shield, with Tybalin’s eyes darting about nervously trying to spot where the attacks were going to come from. Tybalin’s mind starts to ache badly as he struggles to maintain the shield, a final blow from the rogue finally breaks his thoughts and the bubble smashes out of existence. Tybalin flinches in surprise and squints through the gathering black smoke; unable to do anything to stop Geis bursting from the shadow and launch a powerful punch into his chest, the impact snaps two ribs and sends the mage hurling backwards through the air until his fall is broken by the trunk of a crystal tree.
Tybalin cries out as he feels his back take damage, falling forward onto the ground he trembles as he tries to use his energy to pick himself up again as fast as possible. By now the shadow around Geis’ body was fading away and Geis stood in his red and gold armour, lit purple by the light of the trees and sky. He marches forward towards the recovering battle mage, who was determined not to give up after his body was in pain. Tybalin frowns and throws away his sword, clutching the staff firmly now and begins to focus on his magical attacks. He launches a ball of fire towards Geis who steers his body out of the path of the ball, but is licked by the flames. The Arcanist lights another fireball and sends it across the ground, lightning up the path between him and the rogue with fire. Geis pauses in his tracks, noticing it was getting dangerous. Tybalin began to feel confident in pinning Geis down with magic and begins firing multiple arcane missiles through the ground fire towards Geis’ position. Geis raises his arm and takes the hits of some of the bolts as he seemingly darts behind a crystal tree. Tybalin stops his barrage as his target goes out of sight, frowning he scopes the landscape for signs of Geis only to receive a blunt blow to his right cheek. Tybalin splutters in surprise and wobbles away, dazed; Geis lowers his fist and marches briskly towards his opponent again who raises his staff and swings it round desperately. Geis turns his body and catches the staff between his torso and elbow, lashing out a strong kick into the mage to knock him back and release his grip on the staff.
Tybalin winces, a bloody graze on his cheek and blood from their brawl over his silver tabard and garments; he growls and resorts to stepping forward and swinging his fists out at Geis, punching with bursts of magic from his knuckles. Geis steps back carefully and dodges the swings with ease from the Tybalin’s lack of energy. The mage sends a fist flying high with frustration allowing Geis to duck under and cut across his opponents thigh, causing him to yelp and stumble into a kneel. Geis raises his body and spins himself round to face the falling mage, raising his right arm high and turning his blade around in his palm to point it downwards lethally. Without remorse he stares down at his strong opponent and powerfully sweeps his arm down, slicing across the length of Tybalin‘s back. The High Elf screams out in anguish and falls forward; the pain clouded everything for a moment until it began to fade along with everything else to blackness.
==Adrenaline High==
Geis pants and lowers his mask to breathe more clearly, gently touching the graze on his cheekbone. He stares down at his kill and frowns; he hadn’t expected to go to this much trouble. Geis reaches into his satchel and pulls out his shining sliver of metal, staring at the purple refractions of light from the forest. He narrows his eyes and strolls back to his Hog, pocketing the sliver once again. Approaching the fallen tree he blinks as his vision starts to become obscured, the purple lights in the trees sparkle and mosaic in front of his eyes and his destination in the distance was beginning to lose its focus. Geis frowns and stops to rub his eyes, his head suddenly throbs with dizziness amongst a light feeling of nausea and tiredness. He was fatigued; could it have been a trick of the arcanist’s?
Geis approaches a tree trunk and holds out an arm to lean against it. No, this was his own malfunction. The power addiction that plagued his race had cleared, but had since left its evidence of damage. Geis’ energy became depleted easily when using abilities beyond normal physical exertion. His shadow abilities were draining him.
Geis winces as he tries to stay focused, but the dizziness in his head was becoming more severe and his vision was suddenly obstructed by brightness. Geis stumbles against the trunk and swears, fumbling through his bags for his engineered injector. He used it as a medical aid and often for a temporary boost of power, however this dose wouldn’t be put to any metabolic use and could have adverse effects. Geis grasps the device in his shaking hand and sighs, bringing it up to his neck and pressing the end to his skin. He punches the button down and a small needle pricks his skin to inject the substance. Geis winces as he feels the fluid get carried along his bloodstream, tingling his extremities. However it provided the energy he was lacking and he began to lose his dizziness, feeling more alert and focused. He breathes out and stands straight, stretching his neck. He still felt a little sick, but that would clear with rest. He could see again, that was the important thing.
Category:Story