Wild Era 3, Ch 27: Bone Wraiths

As Kelin walked toward the necromancer, he kept the Wildfire intense, channeling it into ever higher realms of power.

It wasn’t difficult to get rid of all the undead. 

Wildfire was practically the bane of their existence, since it could burn necrotic energy directly as fuel. With its ability to grow and increase in power, it was only a matter of time. 

The intensity soared until the entire area was a realm of prismatic flames, all of them coiling through his mana field.

Now that he had that, Wildfire was coming under his control a bit better.  He could extend it more easily and influence how it moved and where it went. 

It wasn’t spanning a solar system, but it was the beginning of a greater Path.

The necromancer flew back until he was well out of the range of the inferno and glowered at Kelin.

Until now, he hadn’t been very serious about the fight. He’d been thinking of Kelin as a weak lower-level mage with a strange durability, but still one that he could kill any time he wanted.

Now, his expression had changed.

“What are you?” he asked darkly. “There is no way a Second Evolution mage has an ability like that.”

“I might be a reincarnated god,” Kelin said, smiling. “Or perhaps you’re just having a bad day, but don’t worry. You’re not going to figure it out before you die.”

He wasn’t confident in killing the man, even with all the Wildfire around him, but there was no reason to reveal it. 

The unification of mana and other energy at the Third Evolution meant it was hard to get through the necromancer’s mana shield with a soul spell, at least for now. 

He’d have to break that before Wildfire or soul arrows would take him down.

The most likely outcome here was that Kelin would run out of mana first and die, even with all of the mana potions in his storage. His mana regeneration was good, but he didn’t know if it was good enough.

He was already down to about 80%. 

He was buffering it with talismans, but he’d spent some mana earlier on the pirates. Besides that, all he’d done was summon the elemental and heal.

He could tell that the necromancer had an Epic-tier class. With an entire Evolution between them, it meant he had several times Kelin’s mana pool. He also had access to whatever ritual was happening on the island.

It would be tight.

Despite that, as mana rushed through him and the Wildfire burned, Kelin’s expression was calm. 

He continued to take out talismans and shape them into spells, both healing and offense. Then he hurled them at the necromancer. 

Five burning spheres of soulfire appeared, shooting across the sky like comets. Each of them was intense enough to melt through a mountain.

As they closed in, the necromancer recovered from his shock and gave a cold snort. His hand reached out, turning into a massive and ethereal bone claw that swept through the air. 

The soulfire blasts exploded against it, barely rattling its density.

“You think you have what it takes to kill me?” he said. “Your recovery is unique, but that attack is nothing special to me. You’ll need another hundred years before you even come close.”

Kelin’s response was another five talismans that followed the first, which made the necromancer hiss as he swatted them out of the air.

“Fine, you want to play games?” he asked. “Try this then! Devilbone Gaze!”

He spread his hands wide and a ribbon of red-tinged pale energy appeared between them. It swiftly transformed into a pair of bloody red eyes that stared across the distance at Kelin.

The eyes opened, revealing an abyss that stretched endlessly, filled with swirling bones and fading blood, like he’d opened a gate to some hell.

For a moment, it felt like Kelin was falling into that abyss, his mind tumbling downward to where it would be consumed by rage and emptiness until he was nothing but a specter that ravaged the land to sate its hunger.

Kelin raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and suddenly the world inverted again, setting itself to rights. 

The necromancer staggered backward as the eyes in front of him exploded. His expression twisted as he stepped back a dozen feet, waving his hands in front of him to disperse the wild mana that was twisting in every direction.

He’d lost control of the spell.

“You shouldn’t play with soul spells in front of me,” Kelin said, ignoring the fragment of backlash he’d felt. “That must be the signature spell of your class, right? A way to destroy your enemies’ minds and turn them into undead under your command? Sadly for you, it’s not going to work against me.”

He reached out through the fading connection and hurled a soul mark at the necromancer, but even with the disrupted mana, it couldn’t find purchase. It disintegrated and turned into chaotic energy.

“Enough of this!” the necromancer snapped as he recovered. “Whatever strange physique or artifact is protecting you, I’ll just beat you down with pure power.”

He raised his hands and one spell after another came into existence, flying toward Kelin as fast as thought. 

Kelin’s mana shield shattered again, sending him flying through the air as more of the white rays struck, tearing at his body. 

They were followed by others, each of them coming so quickly that the next landed before he could even recover from the first.

Freezing cold, burning heat, pure impact force, and other deadly rays hit, breaking bones and tearing away his flesh.

Within seconds, he was flying through the air as a mangled heap and was barely able to maintain his flight without falling into the ocean. 

Only Gaius’s help and the healing from the Flame of Life phoenix kept him together, as well as the defense of the Wildfire around him, which burned away some of the attacking mana.

The necromancer was pouring everything into the attack and not letting up, so there was no more chance to taunt him.

Kelin couldn’t stop the rays from hitting him, so finally he dove into the ocean, sinking down as he tried to get away.

That was enough for him to get out of range, at least for a moment.

His old Air Purification spell let him breathe as he struggled to pull talismans out and activate them, and even through the swirling water he could see the phoenix still flying around his head. 

Its form was flickering and growing dark as it burned against the water, but it was made from half soul energy, so it was lasting longer than a pure Fire spell would have.

His Wildfire was also almost gone. It had been like a protective cloak that helped to block some of the damage, but each ray had stripped away part of it.

Even with his Tempered Bones, which kept most of his bones from shattering, his body was covered in cracks and he had barely half of his skin left.

He managed to slap a healing talisman on his chest and another onto an arm, but he had to pour out a flood of mana to maintain his physique and fight against the bone-twisting energy that was in the necromancer’s rays.

His mana dipped.

He pulled out more talismans as he twisted in place, searching for the necromancer, but when he didn’t see him, a sudden premonition swept through his mind, leaving him cold.

He ignored the talismans as he leapt upward, exploding out of the waves.

It only took a moment to find the man and confirm what Kelin had feared.

The necromancer didn’t look any worse for wear after casting all of those spells and now he was flying across the ocean toward the ship. As soon as Kelin had fallen into the water, he’d apparently remembered it was there.

Taren’s family was no longer on it, but there were other innocents in the hold. 

Kelin couldn’t let him reach it.

He leapt out of the water and levitated higher into the air, gathering his tattered mana field back around him as he tried to accelerate his movement and fly, but there wasn’t any way to catch up quickly. 

His movement was like a turtle’s compared to the necromancer, who was cutting through the air like a hawk. 

That was another difference between their Evolutions.

All Kelin could do was release a pulse of flame that sent him flying forward faster, leaving him outlined in a halo of blazing light.

Fire magic was good for explosive movement, but it wasn’t on par with Wind. If he’d been a Wind mage, he might have had a chance.

The necromancer looked back and laughed when he saw Kelin trying to catch up. His words carried easily across the distance on a wave of mana.

“Did you think I’d let these sacrifices go so easily?” he shouted. “I didn’t think that would kill you, but you won’t stop my work. I just need part of this batch and then I’ll be done on this forsaken island! The Lord of Bones will rise again!”

He ignored Kelin then as he shot forward even faster, his hand raised.

“Don’t think that elemental of yours is going to stop me!”

A white ray struck down at the ship, splitting straight through the elemental’s protective water shield, and tore away a section of the ship’s hull. 

A wave of wood and debris exploded outward. It was only part of the cabins on the middle deck, but it wouldn’t be long before he got down to the hold.

The Spirit of the Dark Ocean that was guiding the ship let out a rumble that sounded like a hurricane wind as it turned to look.

Then it flowed backward, instantly reversing its position as it took up a stance at the rear of the ship, protecting it as Kelin had ordered. 

It raised its hand and a wall of water rose up like a tidal wave, exploding into ocean spray. The water barrier that had been broken shone as it turned solid, shining with even more water droplets.

The elemental raised the trident in its hand and let out a rumbling howl. All around it, the waters surged upward and the sky darkened, swirling with heavy rain clouds that condensed in the span of a single breath.

Within an instance, the storm stretched outward for half a mile, howling with ever-increasing force as the eye of a hurricane formed around the ship.

Torrents of water rushed around it, forming protective walls, and raging winds descended to meet them.

For a mage, it would have been difficult to move all of that water without a massive expenditure of mana, but the ocean was the elemental’s territory, which meant it had a significant advantage.

“That’s not going to be enough!” The necromancer scoffed as he raised his hand again. “You’re only a mediocre water elemental. Do you think I’ve lived on these waters for so long and not learned anything? It’s time to put you in your place! Ocean of Bones!”

A wave of white-tinged energy flooded outward from him, turning the sky and waters pale. It was the same energy as before, which Kelin’s Wildfire had almost burned away, and now it rushed back in with a vengeance.

Bones appeared in the waters below the necromancer, tumbling in a fury like a raging tide, and howling specters of the same color appeared in the sky.

The elemental let out a rumble as it pointed the trident at the necromancer and a tidal wave rose up in front of it, sweeping across the ocean toward him. It thundered with force and branches of lightning snapped across the surface.

The elemental was using the trident to good effect, augmenting its abilities with lightning.

But it wasn’t going to be enough.

The wave of bones rose up from the waters like the top of a reef was appearing, boiling over each other as they built up. They kept rising until they formed a wedge a hundred feet high, a wave that was just as tall as the one the elemental had summoned.

The two forces collided and the tidal wave exploded, sending raging waters flying in every direction. The bone wave continued onward, tearing through the tidal wave, and crashed into the protective barrier around the ship.

The elemental surged forward, putting itself just behind the barrier, and as soon as the barrier shattered, it stabbed forward with the trident, hurling its entire body and a massive wall of new water against the spell.

The elemental’s arm exploded and half of its body disintegrated in the blast. The trident went flying through the air, spinning through the storm winds.

The bone wave was disrupted by the impact and lost some of its structure, but it continued on and smashed into the ship, tearing straight through the side.

The shrieks of the people inside sounded as the ship was lifted half out of the water and it tilted backward, threatening to topple into the waves.

Waves of pale bone energy flooded over the ship, sending more screams upward. As the bone energy struck the people inside, it was like a wave of death. 

It shattered their bodies and tore out their life force. Their blood and flesh exploded in every direction, leaving gleaming white skeletons behind. Then that same life force warped in the air, turning into necrotic energy, as it poured back into them.

A quarter of the people in the hold died in the first instant: men, women, and children.

Kelin’s eyes turned red as he felt the raging souls and their terror as they died.

“Enough!” he shouted as he closed in from behind the necromancer.

None of his spells had worked so far, but now that he was closing in on the man, there was another option. His hands rose, covered in glowing golden sigils, as he called on Gaius’s strength and his own. 

The Wildfire around him had almost died out, but there was still enough to augment his attack. He didn’t have time for more complicated tactics, so all he did was condense the Wildfire into a single strike and enhance his body with power from Gaius. 

Layers of golden Earth force surrounded him, giving him the impact weight of a mountain.

He slammed into the necromancer’s back like a divine spear, sending the man hurling through the air. The bone-white energy around the necromancer shattered from the blow and part of his body caved in.

Kelin felt the man’s bones breaking.

Wildfire roared as it dove toward the man’s body, following him through the air, and washed across him, trying to ignite his soul. His soul was dark and slippery, as dense as crystal, and it was difficult to get purchase on it.

A layer of bone energy also surrounded it like a protective barrier. When the Wildfire struck it, it hissed like cold water, extinguishing most of the flames and preventing Kelin from snuffing out the man’s life in an instant.

The necromancer let out a broken cough that was filled with blood and his body suddenly flashed, disappearing from where he was falling. 

He reappeared in the sky a half mile away, staggering as he almost fell over.

His features were as pale as death and white energy flowed across his entire body, covering him in something like a burial shroud, all except for his eyes, which burned with the same dark fire.

He shuddered as he coughed again and audible cracks of bones breaking sounded out as he stood up. His body had been hunched over, but each snap seemed to put his bones back in place.

It didn’t take long before he was standing straight again. He still looked injured, but it wasn’t as obvious any longer and was only seen in the paleness of his features. 

“Not bad,” he said slowly as he looked across the distance at Kelin. “But you’re too late. I already have what I need. They aren’t as good as the ones I could have made with more time, but they’ll do.”

He pointed at the ship, where a wave of white spirits were swirling through the air. They had once been people with families and lives, but now they were vengeful spirits with hungry eyes and clawed hands, some type of bone wraiths.

“Go!” he shouted to them, waving his hand through the air toward the island. “Finish it! Activate the Temple of Bone! Make this entire region a kingdom of the undead under my command!”

As the wraiths heard his order, they released a high-pitched wail and surged toward the island. They were like a white wind, twisting and howling as they flew.

Their target seemed to be the center of the ruins, what had to be the temple the necromancer was talking about.

Kelin wasn’t sure exactly what they would do when they got there, but he couldn’t allow it to happen. 

If the necromancer really was close to finishing his ritual and these were all that was needed to complete it, he had to stop them.

His body was a wreck, but he forced the pain aside as he reinforced himself with mana and drew on Gaius’s durability, holding everything together.

Then he headed for the wraiths.