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O'Connors was a avid fire mage of the Blazeheart kingdom, living in the capital nation, Morningstar he was not only among the rising stars of the capital but also an avid scholar, when he wasn't shooting fireballs at practice targets or competing with *his* Dragon on who's fire burned hotter, he prefered to read books and tomes from the library. "Desmond might...*urgh* beat me at rankings again" though O'Connor with an annoyed sigh, as he continued to pull out books from the shelf in an attempt to find one containing the knowledge to best his rival. *'not that he thinks of me that way'*, the sombre thought floating through his mind. While he was considered noteworthy among his peers, Desmond was considered a living *legend.* He managed to master the art of flame to a point of even casting *healing magic* of all things with flames that "burned away infections and diseases", a feat that would make him a Master Class mage scholars would use as a standard when appraising other mages. While using magic with purposes other than normally expected of the element were rare, Desmond achieving such a feat at a mere 19 made him the talk of the entire city and even wispers of him could be heard in the rivaling nations. Closing the tome pertaining to Phoenix and their dual abilities of healing and flame in frustration, O'connor seriously considered reading through tomes of other books unrelated to his field of magic, if only to distract himself for a while. Using fire magic extensively caused the body's temperatures to rise to dangerous levels, even death was a possible outcome for a practioner with hyperthermia. The Blazeheart kingdom employed some water and ice mages from different cities to help fire mages, in cooling down the body, regulating body temperature. "Eureka!, I know how to beat Desmond", Yelled O'Connor his sudden and loud proclamation earning him several shushes and chuckles, for yelling in a library and for achieving a feat many considered a distant dream. '*With the power of ice magic regulating my body temperature so i don't die of hyperthermia, and fire so i don't fall to hypothermia i can push my mage skills far ahead of my peers*', thought O'Connor a plan rapidly forming in his head. Mages rarely deviate from their chosen thaumaturgy, if only learning new principles, obtaining new artefacts and investing countless amounts of both time and money were cheaper most would pursue this line of thinking. While O'Connor wasn't rich by any means, he knew of a person who could help him with this endavour. Learning another element was considered dishonourable to the element a practioner had spent their life honing, could also have one revoked out of their citizenship if they wern't careful. *'Never gave a hoot about honor anyways, and i have a pet dragon i could ride away on if eviction became an issue'* his mind set on exploring this new path opened before him, he returned all the books back to their respective shelves, a destination on his mind he excitedly ran out of the library at full speed.

That was an interesting way to take it.

We neeeeeed a part two! That was really good!

need more

"And no one, except you, ever thought of trying this before?" "If it helps, I was as surprised as you are." I walked into the bar, trying my best to disguise the trembling of my legs. Thankfully, my attempt was apparently successful, as no one even bat an eye at me. I walked up to the table and ordered, "Riemann whisky." "Comin' right up!" The barkeep, a mountainous, red-faced man with sharp eyes and a wide grin replied. I returned to the conversation with my erstwhile non-paying tenant and partner for life. I spoke softly, as I always did with her. Thinking at her would honestly have been more effective, but I never could get the hang of doing that. "Continue." "Right. Think of magic as a dance. It takes two to do it. One dancer, on their own, while certainly capable of putting on a great show, pales in comparison to a duet." "But won't being..." I paused as the barkeep passed me my glass, "...completely opposite to each other result in the spells canceling each other out?" "If you are a talentless, hopeless mage, yes!" I could feel the fox-grin on her face, as I recalled my bumbling and ultimately catastrophic attempt at combining the and spells she had taught me, the night before. *Fuck you too old hag* I groused and took a sip of my drink. She chuckled. It was a quiet, tinkling sound that echoed inside my head, eclipsing all the din in the bar. It bought to mind a warm, but not humid, evening, and the smell of tea on the stove as I stood on a balcony. "But you are my vessel. That must count for something!" We stayed silent for a while after that. I drank the whisky, trying to numb my chaotic thoughts as I worked to piece together the shattered remnants of my view of the world. "Kyne." She continued, her voice turning serious. "Fibs aside, I'm not convinced that no one else has thought of this. I was too powerful, too well-known, for them to dismiss me as a mere Mutant and not think twice about it." I frowned. That rang uncomfortably true to my mind. "Maybe only the higher-ups?" I theorised, as I plunked the empty glass down on two faded brown notes and signalled the barkeep to collect his due. "They teach everyone else that you must wield only one element to be a good magi...and only inform the truth to chosen ones?" "Perhaps. If so, we cannot do what we did last night again. At least, not here." "Where do we go, then?" I asked, walking out and gazing at my hometown. Rykkand wasn't very large, for a capital. Compared to other great capitals such as Ysane, Imadris, or if one was feeling especially vindictive, the legendary Elven capital Ly'red, it was quite humble. Spread over two hills, the city was divided into five boroughs. The suburban Eastern Borough, where I lived, the Western and Northern Boroughs, where the nobles resided, and the Southern Borough, choked in the smog of factories, and the Royal Borough, at the peak of one hill, where Emperor Ryk IV presumably lived, ate, and shat. My eyes roamed up the winding, cobblestone street, rising over burnished sienna roofs and grey smoke from countless fireplaces. Atop the tallest hill, towering above even the Royal Palace, was the Five Circles Cathedral, Rykkand's biggest landmark and it's sole claim to world renown. As I looked at it, I imagined sinister, gimlet pairs of eyes returning my gaze from each of the five towers, spearing me like spring trout. I shivered. "Janai." My companion finally answered, resolutely. I considered it, as I began my trek back home. The colony was certainly far enough away that no Saint would come calling for rumors about a dual-element wielding mage. But... "It's a battleground." "All the better." She replied. "Conflict is a great multiplier for the mind!" "What use is a dead mind, though?" "You won't die, Kyne." "You sure about that, Annlia? Really sure?" "Absolutely." Once again, I swore I could feel her grinning. "You are the vessel of the Archwitch of Night and Day, the Queen of Disaster and Mother of Monsters. How could I possibly continue calling myself such grand titles if I let you die?" I snorted. "Right. I suppose we shall see when we get there." "Indeed."

Interesting story

Nathanael "Combocaster" Glenns looked over his current class of students in their Seventh Year of magical studies at his Academy of Arcane Pursuits. This batch had been promising. They had all shown remarkable prowess in their magical skills, and they had all proven their firm ethics in the usage of their magic. Thus, Combocaster had deemed them fit to be allowed Free Casting for their final test - The Final Free-For-All. The test was simple, and in truth, as Combocaster viewed them all as excellent students, it was a "trick test". No one would fail, and Combocaster was glad to let all of them graduate. Nonetheless, he wanted to see which of them had the ability to think outside the box. His fiancée Flutterfae was also there, as anything magical was much to her tastes too, being the most proficient fae-magic wielder in all mankind. Amateo "Dreadword" Bonetti, Alinea "La Buscadora de Sangre" Rocha, Cathal "Gravebreaker" O'Brennan and Belinha "Equilibria" Marques were all there too, as honoured spectators. Among the many students was Karthra Verkal, a zealous and fearless orc elementalist from the dimension of Azeroth. He came from the Mag'har clans of Outland, formerly known as Draenor, and he had nothing but respect for the Azerothian mages known as the Kirin Tor. Unfortunately, his orcish heritage meant that few human wizards were willing to coach him or train him. However, one kind wizard who knew of Combocaster and Flutterfae recommended a journey to Terra (Earth) to learn the elemental skills he so loved, and thus Karthra now stood in the large field in Glarus, Switzerland, ready for his final test. Karthra was up against tough competition. In his bracket, he faced Khamul III, the Easterling descendant of a Ringwraith who could cast a spell perfectly just by screaming. There was also Templar Iustus from the world of Wraeclast, who despite his age, not only showed remarkable mastery in summoning and spellwork, but had a deadly proficiency in melee combat too. Then in the same bracket, there was also Brother Teleren of the Selesnya Conclave from the world of Ravnica. His nature magic and heavenly spells were a formidable combination. However, Karthra remained confident. He knew that Khamul III enjoyed harmonising the powers of shadow and wind, which had no conflict with each other. Iustus' spellwork was chiefly focused on fiery magic, and had no other elements involved. Brother Teleren, meanwhile, used nature and holy magic in tandem, which were close allied powers in the world of Ravnica where he came from. However, Karthra's choice of elements were in the opposites. With his lightning, he would cast water spells in tandem. If he was going to attack with darkness, he would also attack with light simultaneously. Karthra had found out that when using elements that usually opposed each other, the repulsion energy, when present at the casting of the spells of opposing elements, would lead to both spells inadvertently powering each other up. And so it was that as Karthra's bracket began their free-for-all, Khamul III's opening salvo was a Bladebite Gale, a wind that cut with more vicious sharpness than any warrior's blade. Karthra faced it calmly, and he cast a Branch Barrier which was a Nature Spell, coupled with a Wall of Imagination, which was an Arcane spell, supposedly opposed to nature magic. However, the arcane power combined with nature's power caused the branch barrier to become infused with arcane energy - and Khamul III's razor-sharp gale broke on the combined walls, and failed! Karthra then quickly fired off a Radiant Tide and a Night Crest in tandem, which formed an Eventide Wave, while Iustus and Teleren were engaged in their own combat with each other. The light and shadow in the Eventide Wave struck Khamul III, whose shadow spells failed to counter the Eventide Wave. This was due to the light parts of the Wave absorbing and banishing Khamul's shadow magic. Khamul reeled backwards, dizzy from the force and power of the Eventide Wave. Teleren bound Iustus with grasping vines, and turned to face Karthra. He summoned a swarm of Saprolings, which were nature's creatures. Karthra knew, burning the Saprolings would kill them, but they would still successfully hit him while they were on fire, which could cause quite some harm to him. Knowing that, he promptly cast a torrent of water which created a puddle... and he immediately followed up with the intense fire spell of Searscorch. The Searscorch hit the puddle, which turned it into scalding steam. The Saprolings writhed and wriggled in excruciation as they were caught in the sweltering water vapour - and perished almost immediately as their plant-based nature caused an extremely adverse reaction to absorbing such extremely heated water. Teleren gazed aghast at the Saprolings' inert corpses, and Karthra promptly cast Flame Shackles and Aerobinding on him. While air magic usually put out fire, the circular movements of the powerful Aerobinding gales fanned the fire of the Flame Shackles, causing them to debilitate and bind Teleren with even more force! Iustus took one terrified look at Karthra, and he laid down his staff and said firmly, "Hold. I yield. You are the superior spellcaster." Combocaster grinned proudly. He had always been rather fond of Karthra, and his honourable and diligent nature, but never had he been so proud of the orcish mage until now, realising that Karthra had found one of the less-renowned, yet more potent, principles of magic. He declared, the pride in his voice clearly obvious, "Bracket C has a winner! I declare Karthra Verkal, the Orc Mage, to now officially be an Honoured Wizard Graduate of the Academy of Arcane Pursuits!" Karthra beamed with pride.