AO 6 Ch 7

"It's curious," Zuri commented.

I hesitated, stopping our current descent on the ice platform down to the ground. “If you have a thought, I’d love to know it before I put us down on the ground in the land of giant pinchy monsters.”

She looked over at me. “How was this giant crab able to surprise us? Nobody in the village spoke of it.”

“Combine the surprise with its eagerness towards you. And suddenly, this becomes a very suspicious occurrence.” Missy said from the lounge she had built for herself. "Would you like me to continue or would you like to enlighten Ard?" 

Zuri cleared her throat. "The fact that no one seems to talk about the crab is alarming. It should be an urban legend at the very least of some group going in and one man making it out to spread the tall tale. Something the Virels may have even heard all the way in Avente. It's quite remarkable. And yet, nothing." 

I followed along, nodding. "Maybe no one else set off giant explosions?" 

Emlyn offered oh so helpfully, "No. And I find it hard to believe there's never been a fox sphere mage throwing fireballs in the relative area." 

I frowned. What she said made sense. At some point, people had likely ventured into the Badlands to try to expand, explore, or escape. 

And at least some of those people would be mages.

"Alright. Let's pretend you're right. Zuri, what next?" I asked.

"Well then we identify what's different about you." She poked a finger at my chest. "And the answer that comes quickly is that you have used soul magic in its territory." 

I scowled at the thought that I had brought this beast upon us with my new magic. "Alright. So let's say a wonderful and oh so helpful magic," I reminded all of them, "brought this thing to us. Then you're saying if I don't use soul magic, then it won't bother us anymore? Seems like a risky assessment, what if you’re wrong?”

"One way we could prove the concept would be for you to journey further away and use soul magic.” Zuri continued.

“Somewhere without me," I argued, "means you won't have a platform to hide on. Which means you’ll be sitting ducks if it does come back." 

Yet, despite my words, I glanced around at my anchors who already seemed to have made up their mind on this subject, they would take the risk without me.  I could feel my jaw set stubbornly, ready to argue with them before I let it out in a heavy sigh. 

"Then we’ll go do it, won't we boy?" I pat Cyam. He whinnied and pawed his hoof on the sheet of ice. "Exactly," I echoed his sentiments. “They’ll be fine.”

Missy cracked an eye where she was, laying on the lounge. "If you leave the ice here floating, it's not a problem for me to maintain that," she waved her hand dismissively. "Just go and do your thing. I'm sure we'll be fine." 

Though Missy's manner was lackadaisical, I also knew she likely had powers far beyond my own, but that came with severe restrictions. Yet, if she was taking at least some responsibility for keeping everybody safe, then things were unlikely to go horribly wrong. At least, in the short term.

"All right," I clapped my hands together. "Come on, boy. Let me hop on your back." And I glanced over at the group. "I'll pick up Maribelle so I have someone to dump my magic into." 

Emlyn grunted, muttering something under her breath.

Cyam hit the ground at a dead sprint, catching up to Maribelle who was still down on the ground. If he hadn't been a horse made out of magic and shadows, he probably wouldn't have been able to catch the anchor. With my magic constantly flowing through her, she could outrun a real horse.

She spotted us, grabbing onto Cyam’s haunches and flipped herself onto his back, wrapping her arms around my waist and pressing her body against mine. 

"Sir, is it safe for you to be down on the ground?" she asked. 

"Probably not. But we're testing a theory that both Missy and Zuri think is plausible.”

“I would prefer testing with other people's lives rather than yours."

I grabbed her arm, lifting her by the wrist, and placing a kiss upon the back of her hand. "Don't worry. Cyam here will keep us safe, right boy?" 

He whinnied and threw his head as he shot over the ground. The ground was uneven enough that he pulled on my magic and simply strode about six inches off the surface, his hooves pounding midair as he leaned into his gallop. 

Cyam was my ‘congratulations-you’re-a-mage’ horse, and he was the best horse that ever lived. Even if he was now a soul stuffed in a bundle of magic and tethered to Soulgard.

His mane flowed in the wind, seeming almost extra ethereal given he was made by shadows and soul. It was his desire to have the wind tousle his mane that made it happen rather than any actual effect.

But I could feel the wind as it pulled at me while Cyam really let loose, continuing to pick up speed like a cart rolling down a mountain. 

"And what would this theory be, sir?" Maribelle asked. Her hands began to wander slightly, but she had enough strength to hold onto me easily with a single hand. 

"The question is, why we faced the monster when we did, and importantly, why it only seems to have attacked us. If it had been attacking others, there would be stories and legends about it." 

Maribelle nodded into my back. "So Zuri believes we have something drawing it. I assume you, and thus is sending you to see if you can lure it out and prove the thought." 

"Actually, the thought was that my soul magic in particular drew it. So we're getting away from the sheet of ice and off on our own, to see if we can't prove that it's true." 

Without drawing on my soul magic, I simply created a massive ball of fire, holding it out to the side and letting it expand. "And I'm going to try to test this thoroughly, because I’d like to be able to sleep at night without the fear of becoming crab food keeping me up." 

I created a massive ball of fire, holding it out to the side and letting it expand and contract. Each time it sank inward, it became denser, less a ball of roaring flames and more a sphere of intense infernal heat. 

If we were going to test this, I figured launching several powerful fireballs, and then using some soul magic would be more decisive. A positive and negative test if you would.

I built up a fireball in each hand, allowing Maribelle to stabilize the two of us on horseback before I launched one fireball out to either side. The resulting explosions rocked the ground, sending dirt and wind whipping at me from every direction.

Maribelle pulled me back and pulled my face into her chest to shield me from the debris. 

“I am flattered. However, I think right now isn't the best time to get distracted.” I mumbled into her cleavage as I pulled back into my seat. I was on high alert, waiting for the crab to appear once again.

Cyam must have sensed my thoughts as he clomped hard on the ground before launching himself into the air. There we hung, his legs pawing at the air while we waited for anything else to happen. 

"Perhaps you should try several more times?" Maribelle asked. "I think if we're going to prove Zuri's idea, then that would be best." 

I held a hand above my head, creating nearly a miniature sun before lobbing it into the distance and exploding it against the ground.

Cyam then rushed around in a circle, making all sorts of noise to see if we could summon the crab.

Yet nothing appeared.

We repeated this several more times, only to be met with eerie silence. Not even the insects of the Badlands wanted to make noise after all the destruction I had caused. 

"All right, boy. Take us up a little higher. We're going to do the positive test," I said, summoning a bead of soul fire between two fingers.

However, as I prepared the magic, Cyam started tossing his head back and forth. 

"Is it the crab, boy?" I asked, putting a hand on his neck only to realize his concern wasn't coming from below. Instead, there was something rushing towards us on the horizon. I blinked, wondering what was entering the fray. As if I didn't have enough to deal with the giant crab.

Whatever it was, it was flying low and straight in our direction. And it wouldn’t be Uncle Vulcan; he couldn't fly. 

"Come on, boy, up and circle around. See if it keeps heading for us."

Cyam didn't need any encouragement, launching himself through the air. But even as we moved, the object turned towards us and continued to grow larger. 

"It's a mage," Maribelle said, squinting into the distance. I watched as her eyes seemed to shift ever so slightly. 

"Please don't tell me you're using life magic on your eyes," I asked her, shuddering at the thought. 

"You’ll put me back to normal if I make a mistake," she blinked, her eyes returning to the way they normally were and glancing at me. "I can't tell what the mage is, but I can tell they are on a construct of ice, big enough to have five to ten people on its back." 

I scowled before glancing down at the bead of fire in my hands. "Sure, let them come." I solidified the bead of soul fire and held it there as I began to make another.

The bird made out of ice grew close enough for me to make it out, and ice magic launched from the platform.

With all the fire magic in me, I waved my hand, blocking his ice with sweltering flames. While my vision was obscured, several figures launched themselves from the ice bird and onto the ground, rushing towards me in dark robed garb. 

"Well, I can assume they're not friends if they're using mage-forged," I muttered to myself.

"Unlikely," Maribelle agreed, glancing at my hand holding three beads of blue fire. "What are you going to do with those?"

"Well, I need to test Zuri's theory anyway, right?" I flicked all three beads out. My best guess was that all of the explosions I was making drew some of the military that might be on the outskirts of the Badlands to come investigate. I didn't even care if those beads killed them. I was more curious to see what would happen with the crab.

The explosions surrounded the bird of ice. It cracked, only to reform fluidly, nearly swimming in the sky as the mage tried to circle around. The mage-forged kept on rushing me ignoring their garb that caught fire.

"Perhaps in case the crab doesn't show, you should put up a fight?" Maribelle suggested.

"Oh, right." I chuckled, throwing earth magic into the ground and turning a swath of it into mud, and another swath into looser sand to slow down the mage forge in the same breath. I flicked another bead of fire, this one trying to hit the figure astride the frozen bird.

My bead didn't get close enough to do damage before a bolt of lightning peeled out of the figure, striking and detonating the small ball of blue fire to explosive effect.

"Come on Cyam, let's lure him to the ground." I held on to him with my thighs as he dove, and a wave of my hand caused walls of stone to erupt behind me, blocking off the other mage’s vantage point as I dove into a maze of crudely built structures.

What came next surprised me. Lightning hit the earthen walls I had built with enough force to scatter the whole structure. That took considerable magic. Webs of lightning branching out everywhere, slicing apart the stone. I whistled as I dove free of the falling rubble.

"He's got some firepower," I said, suitably impressed by my foe's magic.

"Sir?" Maribelle cautioned.

"No, no, I'll take this a little more seriously," I waved a hand, understanding her concern. I wasn't about to be so reckless to play a game with whoever we were up against.

Instead, another bead of soul fire exploded where I'd left it before I dove down amid the walls I had made.

This time I heard a satisfying shout of surprise. Those little blue balls would be easily missed flying through the air. And perhaps most importantly, there was a deep rumble from the ground below after the most recent explosion.

"Is that what I think it is?" Maribelle asked, in a hurry.

"Probably," I grinned as the ground quaked and a claw erupted from beneath to snatch the mage out of the air, crushing him in a bloody pop before a second claw came out and swiped away the group of mage-forged along the ground.

I let out a soft whistle as Cyam circled higher in the air. "I hate to say it," I said, shaking my head, "but they might have been right."

"You don't say, sir," Maribelle sighed.

"Looks that way. I know. Even I can be at fault from time to time.” I said.

“Certainly, it's a rare occasion," Maribelle fluffed my ego. "However, it's getting more dangerous out here than I would like for you." Maribelle held tightly to me.

I nodded. "Yeah, yeah. You heard her, Cyam. Stay high in the air. Let's circle back to our group and hope that's not going to chase us at all, but if it does, let’s make it tired.”

After having wiped out the group and the fairly powerful mage, the crab sank back into the hard ground and disappeared. It seemed we had proven Zuri's theory correct. Without soul magic, even a multiple explosive blast hadn't brought the crab around. Yet, just a few uses of soul fire had led it right to me. For whatever reason, it was attracted to my soul magic, and I didn't want to stick around to understand why. This was a mystery better left unanswered for the moment.

Cyam shot through the sky, circling back towards our group.

But while we were moving, Missy appeared on her lounge chase next to me, keeping up with the flying horse. "I felt your fear. How were the results of the crab baiting?”

“Exactly as we thought. It didn't come, even with many large explosive balls of fire. Yet the second I used soul magic, it popped right up." I answered.

Missy pursed her lips. "I don't always enjoy being right, but sometimes when you're right, you're right," she shrugged.

"Technically, I think Zuri was the one who was right. I'll give her the credit." 

The goddess shot me a quick glare, tempered by the fact she was rather appealing lounging with the wind blowing her hair.

"Since when do you need our mortal judgment?" I said, hand on my chest, as if it was scandalous. 

Missy rolled her eyes. "You're lucky that I like you. When we get back, and we feel a little safer, I've been getting a call I need to respond to. Another goddess has been trying to get in touch with me. I think it would be good to ask her if she knows anything about this crab." 

I raised an eyebrow, infinitely curious about this other goddess that she was going to introduce me to. "Well, I suppose if she's one of your friends, I can't say no, now can I?" 

Missy grunted. "Tell me if you still feel that way later. For now, just get back to the group and build them a shelter for the night."