"Fire! Fire!"
Prince Kuyopa awakened. He noticed the red glow of light dancing in his room on the 3rd floor as he rushed to the window in an attempt to analyze the chaos coming from outside. Once there, he could only stare in horror as a glowing red furnace, with tips like tentacles, consumed everything in the stables. The tentacles set ablaze anything or anyone they touched. The more it devoured, the larger it's centre grew. The wind blew in the prince's direction and his nostrils caught the foul stench of burnt flesh.
"Damn it!"
It took every ounce of his strength and will power to fight off the impulse to vomit. The few earth, fire and water mages that were still alive had given up on fighting the ferocious flame and were running to safety. Suddenly, the flame begun to be draw closer to the castle. Tate gasped as she joined her husband by the window.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hard knocks on the door, drove their attention away from the commotion outside. Tate begun to move towards it but Kuyopa threw his arm firmly in front of her, as if to shield her from danger. The unnatural horror outside had set him on edge and although his magic was not capable of fighting it, he was more than willing to take on a physical challenge.
"Prince Kuyopa!"
The voice of his uncle brought some relief to him. He opened the door and saw his uncle, Zarabo, standing there with his sister, Lindazi, and two palace guards. Judging by their appearances, Kuyopa could tell that his uncle and sister had been asleep before arriving at his door.
"You've seen it too," said his uncle.
"Yes. And it's started moving towards the palace."
Lindazi's face became pale. "What! It's moving now?"
"And it grows bigger with every person it kills."
Zarabo begun to walk down the corridor.
"You can talk more on our way to the throne room."
"What! Why?" asked Tate.
"Because the king requested us to meet him there."
And with that, the prince and his wife followed Zarabo, with the palace guards in the rear.
Turning to his sister, Kuyopa asked with a teasing tone, "You're a fire mage; father's apprentice. Any idea on how we can stop that thing?"
"Killing the mage is the first plan that comes to my mind. But from the looks of it, I would say the mage is in the fire."
"Is it possible to avoid being burnt by your own spell?"
"It is, if you are a highly skilled mage."
"But the greater the spell, the more magic power you will need to maintain it."
"And that is why sometimes I envy your linking magic, Kuyo. It gets stronger based on your emotions and not your mana."
"You still need to know what you're doing and be able to 'ignite' the spell. Besides, my magic is pretty useless without physically touching some part of my target's body."
"Am lost," said Tate. "What do you mean by 'ignite' the spell?"
"Well my love, to put it in a simple way; My mana works like oil. It is used to start the flame but after that, something else needs to keep the flame burning. A strong emotional connection between me and my target is the best way to keep the spell active. But for you elementals, your mana starts the spell and keeps it going for as long as you have mana."
"That's true, dear. But the stronger the spells, the more mana we use."
"I believe that is what I just said."
"What your wife is trying to say is that the mage should have run out of mana by now. That flame spell has been growing for more than an hour," said Zarabo.
Kuyopa looked at his wife and thought, "how did he get all that from her short sentence."
"From experience, my dear boy." The sound of his uncle's voice echoed in his head.
"I hate it when you use our blood to link-up without my permission. And how did you know what I was thinking? Have you developed a spell to read minds?"
"I don't need a spell to read my nephew's face."
Kuyopa blushed and remained quiet the rest of the way.
....
The throne room was like a long and narrow corridor with the throne being placed above a flight of stairs and three entrances, one on each side of the throne and the main entrance at the opposite end. Arriving via the left entrance of the throne, they found the king and queen talking with the captain of the palace guards, Toga, and the castle mage, Nelu. They looked like they were having a war meeting. As soon as the queen saw her children and daughter-in-law, she left her small group and walked towards them. She gave her son a hug and proceeded to hug both ladies at his side.
"Thank you Zarabo."
"No need to thank me, my queen. I was only doing what was necessary."
He saluted her by placing his right hand on the left side of his chest and bowing his head before walking towards the king and his officials.
"So what's the plan, mother?" asked Kuyopa.
She smiled whole heartedly at her son. "You are definitely your father's son, even though you are not an elemental mage."
"It's not my magic, but my blood that makes me."
"And it's not your blood, but your actions that define you. Never forget that my son."
The king looked at his family and gave them a wry smile before inviting them to join him.
When they all came together, Kuyopa's father spoke with the authority of not just a king but also with the confidence and experience of the kingdom's strongest fire mage. As he spoke, the noise coming from the chaos outside got louder and louder but it didn't shake the king's confidence in his voice.
"Everyone be on your guard. I doubt that a talented mage like this would be acting alone. From what I have seen and heard, his spell gets stronger the more people and animals he kills in his flames. At the moment he is more focused on finding us, which means he won't be able to use that spell for much longer once we meet him."
Red light crept underneath the main entrance door and through the windows adjacent to it. The screams of men and women had died down and the only noise that could be heard was that of crackling wood and falling bricks. Then came the stench of burning flesh, before the main door burst into flames. The king ordered people into their respective positions. He placed his wife, brother and son at the back while he, the palace mage, Tate and Lundazi stood in front. Toga and the other guards were placed behind the pillars with a full quiver of arrows and a bow. Kuyopa used his linking magic to connect his whole family to his mind. He was the central point, and he could relay his words and the things he saw to whoever he wished. They could talk to him but not to each other. Kuyopa thought it might be distracting if they had too many voices in their heads. His wedding ring was created using his wife's hair, a secret that only they knew. That way he could reach her whenever he needed to.
Shortly after, the fire furnace with its tentacles moved into the throne room and immediately attacked the king with one of its tentacles. The king blocked the attack with his fire magic and at the same time Nelu used his earth magic to open a deep hole underneath the enemy. The fire mage countered by spreading his flame spell across the entire floor. The palace guards screamed in agony.
The queen reacted just in time to open a portal beneath her and those near her and reopened it above the stairs where the throne was located. Nelu lifted the earth beneath him while the king, Lundazi and Tate hovered above the flames using their fire and air magic respectively. The fire mage then used some tentacles to attack the pillars and others to shield it from the falling rocks. Kuyopa noticed that the tentacles where heavily focused on protecting the centre.
"That is where its weak point is," he said, as he sent images to his partners.
The queen wasn't willing to take any chances. She created small individual portals that sent everyone outside all at once, before the throne room's ceiling could come crushing down.
The fire mage emerged from the fallen rocks with his spell still active, though the flames were not as strong as they previously were. The king started charging a fire-ball spell and looked at his daughter. She begun to fuse her mana into her father's spell.
"Tate, follow our attack with your own." Tate gave the king a nod, to show that she understood.
The king wished to weaken the fire mage's spell before any more damage could be done. The enemy advanced towards them. Nelu caused spikes to explode out of the ground but these only helped to slow the enemy down as it smashed through each spike. He then created a stone wall between them.
"Now!" said the King.
Boom!
The enemy burst through the stone wall but was suddenly greeted by a fire-ball that was, amplified and quickened by a wind spell. The king's plan had worked. The enemy's spell had become incredibly weak that they could now see the mage's body. Lundazi sent another fire-ball towards the mage. He deflected it towards the queen who opened a portal and reopened it behind the mage. Direct hit.
"Don't underestimate me."
"Yes, that's true. If I am to win this fight, I need to get rid of you first," said Zarabo as he sent a hot beam of light through the queen's back and out from her chest. She cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Kuyopa couldn't believe it. All he could do was stare at his uncle with a facial expression that said, "Why?"
"To gain everything, my bo….."
He jumped away, avoiding the king's strong left flaming fist. The king didn't want answers. He didn't want to ask questions. He just wanted to hurt the man who had dared to attack his beloved wife.