Hlaeth Chapter 60 – The Judgment of Fire

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The one proper thing the two undead archmages had done was absolutely deny true Diabolic presence here. I could sense the energies of Hell, but not of devils. They had absolutely spurned the denizens of the powers that had corrupted them so, stealing the energies of Hell and employing them without being beholden to its masters. Whether the ifrit or shaitan genies would respect their transformations was another matter, but the fact I felt none in the area was rather telling, all other things being equal.

It took a long minute for all of the beings of Orgenton to gather their thoughts, while I just stood there on mists in midair, not attacking them, just waiting, the power of Truth letting them know I wasn’t there to attack them by my very actions.

But I was here for the Rings. That the archmages were undead and had no right to exist was just icing on the cake.

Mortus Dius lotused open slightly, and a swirl of dots emerged from it, avoiding the Gray and Golden Feathers that dangled from its tip. The Baneskull swelled in size, revealing horns and fangs and inhuman bone structure… and it blazed into black-and-red Banefire to Hell, the exact opposite of red-and-black Hellfire.

Those here were all imbued with the energies of Hell. Every single being other than I flinched back as the Baneskull settled upon my Staff, anathema to what they were blazing before them.

“You may yield the Rings to me, or I will take them, Masters of the Arcane Forge. Which will it be?” I asked simply, waiting for them to act, or to speak.

They looked at one another. Pride blazed in both their undead gazes, even in undeath unwilling to knuckle under to the forces that had killed them, spite and scorn in equal measure motivating them to survive and defy their slayers, and survive despite all that had been done to them.

But I was not one of those. I was of Heaven, and I was not here for them, I had no particular qualms with them yet.

“Why do you require our Rings?” the firewraith Geras demanded of me, his very being burning the exact inverted hues of Gorgriespiel’s Baneskull, and likely feeling very threatened by it.

“The combined power of the Rings can bind the Elemental aspects of the Yellow’s Apertures and the forces it uses to drive them. This would instantly de-power it by an order of magnitude or more. And no, before you ask, there is no way an undead thing empowered by Axiom and Sin can possibly command the Elements in harmony to do what is required here.”

They bristled, but alas, Truth. They knew I wasn’t lying. I was here for a goddamn reason!

“I am also a servant of Heaven, and I intend to free those souls behind me from the Tyranny of Hell and their unwitting, unliving masters. In short, I am also your Judgment, Masters of the Arcane Forge, and you above all should know exactly how guilty you are, if the darkness you’ve inflicted upon yourselves is even the slightest of clues.”

A hand of tombstone-gray stonebone rose slowly. “We are the Masters of the Scholarium, and the traditions of the Scholarium dictate that the Rings go to those best able to wield them,” Master Tu Shor stated with pride and confidence. Naturally that had meant the two of them! “Accept you a Wizard’s Challenge, Master Aelryinth, and we will cede you the Ring with our blessings, and with them the rights of those who wore the Rings before you.” The clacking, grinding voice of the tomblord was quite distinctive despite its unliving source.

I would have to compete with them in their own Elements, and I was not an Elementalist. They clearly thought they would have an unbreachable advantage on me there.

“A test of skill in wielding the Elements.” I was… rather amused. They were considering this a test of specialization, level, and control. I… had other aspects to it. “If we are merely going to hurl spells at one another, I see no reason to do so formally.” Metas and rapid spell volleys were my greatest strengths, as well as sustained firepower. The first thing I’d do would be to detonate all those hanging Contingencies and spells on triggers they had about themselves, doubtless a rather unexpected tactic.

Reflecting spells didn’t work if they didn’t target you, and your magical defenses against your own magicks going wild didn’t tend to be too high.

“Many are the ways to test the Elements! For fire, this is usually as a weapon! Supercede my control of flame, and I will yield to you the Ring of Suns!” proclaimed the eager Geras in the roaring holocaust of a forest on fire, and the firewraith archmage began to weave his spell. Arms little more than spectral robes of flames spun, and Fire gathered as his voice bellowed out searing Words that made the very air smoke with his power.

I studied the pattern intently. Mass area of effect spell… hah, a classic Burst/Comet combo at IX, ramped up and enhanced by a master of Pyromancy. The equivalent of +2 per die, Energized, Topped, and made of Primal Fire enhanced with Hellfire, able to burn things immune to Fire by incinerating their very souls.

All very natural for a Master of Fire Magic.

Sure enough, he’d displayed an IX for me, knowing I couldn’t match the foundation of the spell. But I didn’t need to match the foundation, I needed to match its height. Still, it was mesmerizing watching a Meteor Swarm of such power take effect the first time. Master Gygax would be most pleased...

Master Tu Shor was not Summoning power, nor was Geras releasing this almighty catastrophe, keeping the four explosive balls of obliteration rotating smoothly around the greater sphere at the heart of his spell.

My turn, I guess.

I flicked out my Wand, and blew Valences and my pool on a full out Tao Shorray combo, fully Laden.

Shards of fire exploded into a million miniature versions of themselves, coalesced into an Orb of concentric shells of sublime perfection, aligning themselves and preparing to be unleashed as strobing Rays of incredible power as I fed power into them.

A dozen Runic Circles made the air howl as energies descended on that single Orb floating in front of Dius, wrathfire became incandescent polyfire as one Orb reflected itself, duplicated itself, and its primal essence flared with fires of the Phoenix, Angels, Archons, Elements, and more.

My Wand flared and a great Tai-chi symbol bisected the air, fire screamed and swirled back and around me… and on my other side four more Orbs waited to be unleashed, pulsing in complete synchronicity with their fiery counterparts. Only these were Burning with rimefire, so cold the air itself was cracking and freezing about them, dripping to the floor and making the black tiles pop and crack with the impact of congealed oxygen tears.

I had not said a word.

Eyes little more than pools of spectral fire regarded me, and I saw them shudder. A true Mastery of Pure Fire, and built upon it, a dozen Fires of Wrath… and now, in opposition to it, cold as pure and serene as the Heart of Ice itself!

“Your command of Fire and Ice is superb,” crackled the subdued voice of the firewraith, at once intrigued, infuriated, and humiliated. “From whence did you learn such mastery?” he inquired enviously, desperately.

“The fires of Heaven burn hotter than stars, its firmament stands stronger than adamant and diamond. The purest of the Elements are but bricks for the kilns and forges of the Most High. You set your sights upon the Lowest and easiest of powers, Masters, to your own loss.” Mortus Dius dipped towards the firewraith. “Are you ready to stand before the scales of Eternity, Master Geras?” I asked him grimly.

There was a sigh, a dimming of the flames, and Master Geras just let his spell go, knowing it was time.

My rimefire Orbs became solid lines of ice, fracturing in midshot, Raised to IX’s by Earth Spell carefully conducted by the Sublime Chord. Each main beam slammed into one of the four Meteors coming my way, the secondary Rays converging on the central fifth sphere and meeting there.

Cold met Fire, Countered and was Countered in turn. No great explosion, no devastating fallout to splash to those behind me. Just a WHOOSH of magic coming together and being neutralized and was gone.

At the same time, eight fully Laden Shardrays of Fire in all their glorious flames speared out for the Firewraith that had once been a great if sinister pyromancer, Resonating through his Spell Turning and Spell Absorption effects, his arms spread wide to receive them, and even at the end there getting a surprise as he was unable to absorb my spell and make it his own.

The airshock of that impact blew out the windows and whipped the dust and grime away, while a column of fire blew up and down. Heavenly fires ascended, and hellfires descended as the Wards of the place attempted to vent the energies, the electric tang of ozon thrumming in the air as the blast was channeled away.

Wan Yellow light played across the new hole in the stage, leading down to who knew where. The ceiling of the Scholia, with its many Runes and star-scribed stones was now blown completely away, along with a fair amount of the supporting stonework.

An arc extended away behind me, shielding the tiefling students there from any repercussions, much to their surprise. The surging of the Wards had destroyed the Warding Wall that protected me, although it had lasted long enough to do the job.

Across from me, a twitch of a finger released the shimmering Wall of Force that had protected Master Tu Shor within its dome. Notably, it had protected nobody but him.

A golden light tumbled through the air to my left hand, pulled by Stormfire without me bidding it. Sunfire inserted itself onto my thumb of its own accord, and Star Ruby and Star Sapphire blazed with harmonic lights there, while Magnus and Reach kind of huffed in annoyance there at the presence of two Rings I had not forged.

“Such mastery of fundamental spells and effects, to surpass the greatest spells of a pyromancer,” Master To Shor clacked in open wonder, his stony skull leering at the pit of unknown depths where his compatriot had simply been Burned out of existence. Long stonebone fingers came together. “Do you think you can do the same to me?”

I flicked up five Ward Walls so casually they could not help but get Master Geras’ attention, moreso when the flow of Shaped stone bulged up out of the floor and poured up and into the pyramidal structure in a breath or two, moving a very large amount of stone without visible effort on my part.

The gravestone tomblord watched silently as I walked about the five-sided structure in midair. Runes flashed into existence over the faces, stamped into the stone with eye-blink speed and writhing with uncounted secondary Runes that stabbed deeper into the stone, beyond sight, only tinkling at mental awareness through harmony with stone.

Master Tu Shor twitched uncontrollably, his bones clattering as he watched what I was doing. Runes seethed and joined and ignited, and the Ward Walls shattered under their pressure.

The twenty-foot Pyramid hovered in midair there, sustained by nothing but geomagnetism and a purity of Crafting so intense it wasn’t even magical.

I sat down in midair, staring at the undead geomancer who called himself a Master of Earth Magic. “One minute to make. Now, show me how long it takes you to destroy it.”

A large skeletal hand of stone bone raised, the other clenched along his mighty Staff. He looked at the floating Pyramid there, tried to touch the stone it was made of… and the tips of his fingers fell to sparkling dust instantly, vivus misting about them. Empty eye sockets turned back and forth as he paced to one side, then the other, and I considerately had the Pyramid slowly start to spin so he could examine all four faces.

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