“Lumen orbis!” Lucas had spent hours trying with all he had to conjure a light orb.
“Are you ready for another break?” Iris inquired.
He shook his head. “Not yet. I’m going to try a few more times.” Lucas got back into position and repeated all of the necessary steps. “Lumen orbis!” Unsurprisingly, he did not manage to conjure yet again. “Hold on, I think I’m getting close.” He tried once more. “Lumen orbis!”
When nothing happened, Iris calmly asserted, “I believe a brief period of rest would be a wise decision.”
“Okay,” Lucas replied. “Just let me try one more time.” Iris nodded. Lucas outstretched his arm and faced his palm upward. I have to do this. Grandpa needs me. Taking a moment to focus, he envisioned the orb being formed as he had during all of the previous attempts. Shifting his attention to his palm, he shouted, “Lumen orbis!”
Much to the surprise of Iris and himself, a small flash of light sparked to life in the palm of his hand for a fraction of a second before quickly disappearing. A wide grin consumed Lucas’s face as he turned to Iris. “Did you see that?!”
Iris smiled. “Excellent progress!”
Lucas got back into position, “Alright, here it goes. I’m going to do it this time. I can feel it.” As Lucas focused, he was abruptly interrupted by a loud explosion in the distance. “What the hell was that?!”
“I’m uncertain,” Iris replied, bewildered. “The noise seems to have originated from the direction of downtown Azure. I hope no one was hurt.”
Lucas ran around the house to reach the road. “Let’s go check it out. Whatever it was, it sounded big.”
Iris started to follow him when they heard the noise again. She began to feel concerned. “Lucas, I’m feeling apprehensive about this. It might be best for us to remain indoors at this time.”
Lucas looked back at her as he continued to walk. “Come on, let’s just get a quick look.”
She sighed. “Very well... but we need to proceed with caution.” As the words left her mouth, Lucas had already increased his walking pace to a light run. “Lucas!” she shouted. “Slow down! Running is going to jeopardize your recovery!”
Lucas slowed himself slightly, but was still a good distance ahead of Iris. She briefly increased her pace in order to catch up to him. “We have no idea what we’re about to witness,” she warned. “I strongly advise that we keep our distance. At least until we are certain of the events occurring.”
Lucas nodded. “Alright.”
As the pair approached downtown Azure, they were shocked to see that two buildings had been totally destroyed. The townspeople were running around in a frenzy. Iris gasped. “Wh-what happened?!”
Using his emotional sense, Lucas picked up an overwhelming mass of fear. Greatly discomforted by the feeling, he hastily deactivated his ability. Suddenly, a giant fireball zoomed from somewhere among the chaos in the streets, blowing a third building to pieces. Flames engulfed what remained of the structure.
“We need to get out of here, now!” Iris shouted. She turned to Lucas only to find that he was gone. Panicked, she franticly searched for him. “Lucas? Lucas? Lucas!!” Finally she saw him, already making his way into the frightened crowd for a closer look. She ran after him. “No!”
As Lucas snaked his way through the terrified masses, he saw a large man standing in the middle of the road. He appeared to be around 6’5”, with a muscular physique and long red hair. He was wearing a brown hooded cloak, with what appeared to be a saber sheathed on his waist. Around him were four men, quite well built, who were dressed in similar cloaks. As Lucas’s eyes scanned the area around the men, he noticed several dead bodies. Most of the casualties were Knowms.
The large man lifted both of his hands above his head and shouted, “Ignis ingentem vastator!” A massive fireball formed in the air. “Where’s the disk fragment?!” he demanded.
Lucas gasped. Disk fragment?! Oh no...
The man searched the chaos, as though he expected someone among the crowd to answer him. When no answer came, he flung his arms toward a nearby building, causing the enormous fireball to dart into the structure, totally annihilating it on impact.
Without putting any thought into what he was about to do, Lucas outstretched his arm, turned his palm upward, and focused. After a brief pause, he moved his attention to his palm. “Lumen orbis!” There was a bright flash in his open hand as a small orb of light took shape. I did it! Finally! Alright... that big guy in the middle looks like their leader. If I can hit him before he–
“Lucas!!” Iris angrily shouted. “What are you doing?!”
He glanced at her. “Saving your town. Those guys over there seem to be the ones causing this.”
“Lucas, listen to me,” Iris quickly warned. “It’s great that you’ve finally managed to conjure, but throwing that orb is going to accomplish nothing but your demise!”
“But I have a good shot at that big guy from here!” Lucas protested. “He won’t even see it coming.” Iris grabbed Lucas’s arm and pulled him back toward the direction of her neighborhood. “Iris!” he shouted, resisting her restraint while the light orb continued to glow in his free hand. “Just let me try!”
“No!” she shouted. “You’ve never even thrown an orb once in your life! You are not prepared for combat! Especially against multiple mages! On top of the fact that you have yet to fully recover from your existing injuries! Even if you manage to hit one of them, the others will surely retaliate. Throwing that orb is suicide.”
“But we have to do something!” Lucas argued as Iris continued to pull him farther from where he originally stood. He glanced back at the large man, then back to Iris. “You’re pretty good with magic, why don’t we both take them on?”
Iris’s expression was intense, unlike what he had seen in the previous days. “Lucas, you need to accept that there is nothing we can do about this situation.”
Lucas finally managed to pull his arm from her grasp and dashed as fast as he could to where he had stood before. “Lucas, no!!” Iris screamed.
He stopped and quickly turned back toward her. “It’s only a matter of time before they make their way to your house! We need to do something now!”
Lucas resumed running until he reached what he considered to be an appropriate vantage point. The crowd had mostly dispersed by now, giving him a clear shot at the men. He carefully aimed, his sight set directly on the large man, who was now lifting his arms above his head, apparently preparing to conjure yet another gigantic fireball. Now’s my chance. Here goes nothing! Lucas pulled his arm back and hurled the orb. It quickly darted through the air, completely missing all five of the men and exploding into a lamppost with a bright flash. Dang it!
The five men turned their heads toward the now bent lamppost. “What the hell?” one of them said.
Another one of them pointed to Lucas. “It was him!”
Uh-oh! Lucas outstretched his arm and focused as the large man, clearly enraged, approached him. Dammit, I can’t focus right now! Iris was right, I should have just run! What was I thinking?! Lucas perspired as his hand fumbled along his waist. I don’t even have my sword!!
“Ignis orbis!” the large man barked, quickly forming a fire orb in his right hand as he approached. Lucas wanted to run, but was far too petrified to even think straight.
“Glacies stiria telum!” Iris shouted.
As the large man turned his head to her, Lucas saw a sharp icicle bury itself between the brute’s eyes. Blood poured down his face. “Ahhhh!!” he screamed, twitching as he fell to the ground. Immediately, the remaining four men conjured fire orbs.
Iris bolted in front of Lucas and spread her fingers wide, crossing her arms near her chest with her palms facing outward. The moment the men launched their fiery projectiles, she quickly exclaimed, “Glacies scuto!” waving her arms hastily to form a large circle. As the fireballs approached, they were met with a thick wall of ice which seemed to materialize almost instantly. Though each fire orb left a hole in the subzero shield, they were quickly extinguished as they met the barrier.
Iris flicked her wrist and the icy wall vanished. Outstretching both of her arms toward the enemies, she shouted, “Glacies gelidus zephyrus!” Two icy wind tunnels shot from her palms, consuming all four men. They slowly fell to the ground as ice encased their entire bodies. It only took a few seconds before they froze completely. As Iris turned to Lucas to scold him, she noticed a look of total shock on his face. The second she opened her mouth, the entire area was flooded with the sound of applause and cheering. Onlookers ran toward her, each one trying to be the first to thank their town’s heroine.