The man whose neck was at the end of my fingers was perhaps one of the most contemptible humans in that world. He was chief engineer of Thaeria's Magitechnology divisions; a short, young thing with shoulder length blonde hair and a fairly feeble body. He smelled vile, masking whatever his natural scent was with an abhorrent amount of cologne.
What made him so revolting, however, beyond the repugnant olfaction, was the fact that he, himself, had admitted to me, just minutes prior, that he was aware of the damage he was inflicting upon the world. He flagrantly flaunted his "intellectual prowess," claiming he had "conquered the world." It felt good to be crushing his trachea; felt good to dig my fingernails into his supple flesh.
I had as of yet been unable to slay the Shadow in this world; a world where the artificial evolution of mankind through the use of Magitechnology was rapidly depleting the realm of mana. Even so, I was unable to stand idly by and let my wretched species wreak havoc on their peers - the other denizens of the planet. However, being restrained to action without the full support of my magical ability, I was forced to work the old fashioned way.
Thaeria, considered to be the "global capitol" of sorts, was, without a doubt, the epicenter of the Magitechnology maelstrom. Scholars from the world over would congregate within her walls and devise new and "innovative" ways to improve the quality of life for mankind. Until I met this man I was under the impression that, as is typically the case with Magitechnology, the people were merely ignorant of the perils and implications of the machinery.
I spent an entire month planning and tracking him down in that city before I made a move. I broke into facilities and burned documentations, I located and sabotaged one of the power generators, and I killed two other scientists. The entire city was in lockdown and I was unable to move about freely, anymore, thus deciding to bring my operation to an end by eliminating the one person capable of bringing the city back to full force.
I must admit that, while I do not prefer it by any means, subterfuge is extremely useful in situations where my brute force alone is rendered useless. With the death of the man struggling for air before me, the city, if not the world, would be set back several years, and the development of new technologies would slow to a crawl for the time being. While it was not the ultimate "fix" I had desired, it may give me the time I needed to find help and free myself of the Shadow.
These were the thoughts mulling through my head as I strangulated him. This was twenty minutes prior to the death of the Shadow.
-----
I dropped him to the ground, dead. At the peripheral of my senses I felt a strong mana signature closing in on my position. Upon closer inspection it was, like myself, heavily influenced by an Earth affinity… it was coming from beneath me, and most certainly not human. Nor was it spirit, which was my first inference, because it lacked the "emptiness" of a strict Earth spirit. The thing fast approaching was a living being.
I did not have the time to speculate it much longer when she emerged. Through the cement foundation of the ground floor of the engineer's two story house, less than a meter away from me, erupted a creature in an explosion of dirt and stone; a serpent-like beast with the torso of a woman.
-----
Lamia existed in this world in the same time period as humans, something I had never seen anywhere else. I had come across one of their settlements, once, deep in a jungle hidden away from man. Most humans did not believe in their existence, though legends of the species were a part of near every culture.
The Lamia is a species which, as has been confirmed to me by Gaea herself, precursors all other humanoid creatures. As improbable as the implications of such an evolution sound, the fact that the lamia as a species has a high disposition towards Earth magic indicates a potentially esoteric and fundamentally varied evolutionary path. Earth magic - which has the potential to alter molecules on the subatomic level - when exposed to a society as a whole may, theoretically, lead to a menagerie of mutations. If not well regulated, the copulation of such a species could result in offspring not resembling their parents in the least. Chromosomes and, more particularly, the DNA and genomes of all animals are susceptible to magical influence during gestation, particularly Earth magic. Ergo, Lamia genealogy is a science in and of itself; one without a firm foundation in logic.
-----
The female lamia which appeared before me, bursting through the concrete as though it were paper, was a pure-bred, however. From head to tail she was perhaps 5.4 meters long, though "standing" erect she was possibly 2.1 meters tall. Her serpentine half sported scales in a pattern and texture not too dissimilar to Morelia Viridis, though of a much darker green; they were akin to the color of the coniferous red cedar's leaves.
Melding seamlessly at the hips into the humanoid torso was the dark brown, smooth, and curved body of a voluptuous desert-dwelling woman in her prime. Her long, straight hair was a foggy white and draped her breasts, while her powerful golden irises peered down at me.
She wore no clothing on her human half - it is not customary in the lamia's culture to hide one's body – and between her two hands was a massive spear. The weapon looked as though it had been cleft crudely from a boulder; it was evident that she had formed it with magic and brought it to bear on her way through the earth. It could not have weighed any less than twenty kilograms and yet the muscles on her long arms barely flexed.
As much as I am ashamed to say: I was captivated by her beauty. Typically the body is not something I find appealing; so perhaps it was a combination of her strong Earth affinity, dominating presence, and form which I found so pleasing. For several tense moments we merely locked eyes, and at last I spoke, "Do you know how to speak? Any human tongues?" I asked in Weltch, the most commonly spoken language in the world.
It was a genuine question; I didn't even know if lamia were capable of speech. I had never studied their anatomy. There are no records of lamia outside of folklore, and the only "one" I had ever known, having never actually spoken to the village I stumbled across, was Gaea - who only took the form of the beast when dealing with the tangible, and she never spoke with anything but The Way.
The second I opened my mouth I heard, "Practitioner of the sinful arts, I commit you to the Earth!" ring through my nous. She had managed to force open The Way with me, an astounding feat, in hindsight, considering the magnitude of my mental and magical fortitude. I did not have the luxury to marvel her ability before she took the spear by the haft and blade with two hands and thrust at my torso.
I was so startled by the assault that I broke concentration on my mana seals as I forced my diamond, which I had encasing my arch of aorta and the subclavian arteries, up to the surface of my flesh. Her massive weapon struck like a point-blank shot from a high tension ballista. The point of her spear did not puncture my impervious diamond skin, but the force of the attack was enough to lift me off my feet and fling me across the room.
I landed against the wall, shaking off several picture frames, and lost my breath. The situation only became worse when, form the dark recesses of my sensory system, I felt the Shadow reawaken. I do not believe that bringing my diamond out, alone, would have been enough to summon the enigma; however the fact that I was so startled by the lamia and lost focus on my seal, combined with the hasty defense, must have brought my evident capacity over the tipping point. It had caught the scent of my mana, and would come hunting.
The ensuing battle would be no trivial matter, and I had little time to prepare. To complicate things, the lamia prepared another thrust and executed. There was no point in holding back, now, and I surged with mana. Through my feet I sent flows for Column spells into the concrete. Before she could close the distance between us the shafts of stone encased her. I did not relent, expanding on the spell, the stone twirled up and around her body, constricting her in a serpentine prison of foundation. I knew it would not hold her for long, considering she was clearly proficient enough in Earth magic to bore through the ground, but I only needed a few seconds.
I reciprocated the flows for The Way, forcing open a passage to her mind, and imparted, "Don't follow!" simply. I could feel the Shadow getting closer; I needed to get away, far away, from as many living creatures as possible. I thrust my feet into the ground and let the flows of mana encase my body; I sank into the cement, further and further until I met soft soil, at which point I glided with haste through the underground until I was outside the limits of the city walls.
-----
It was not an ideal site for conflict: an open plain about two kilometers outside of Thaeria. Of course, there is never a truly ideal battleground for a clash of this nature. I could not afford to worry about casualties caught in the crossfire, though it pained me to think this way, for it was a summoning of the third incarnation. It was the only time in my life since its inception that the Shadow had ever risen to the third incarnation against my will. I was underprepared, and would have no allies to come to my aid. The probability of my survival was abysmal…
I focused, having only a few seconds to spare, and tried to move away from as many living creatures as possible. It weighed heavily on my mind. The gophers burrowing beneath my feet, the worms, the grass, insects and arachnids, the occasional bird, a stray dog…even sleeping coyotes were all in my vicinity. They were all in jeopardy. Not only that, but the damned lamia had followed me, as well. She was fast, too fast for her own good. She emerged from the Earth through the same orifice I had and confronted me again, a confounded and affronted lineament defining her pretty face.
I forced open another passage to her nous, "If you want to live you'll get out of here!" I impressed with aggravation.
"What are you?" She enquired through the mind, holding her spear towards me with one hand and leaning back in an aggressive inquisitor's pose.
"Damnit." I muttered aloud. It was too late, the Shadow had come.
Like a bolt of black, smoky lightning, the enigma fell from the sky at an angle about a half kilometer away from me, sending earth and rock up in a dusty plume. The tremor was so strong it knocked me off my feet, and caused the lamia to disperse her weight for stability. Fifty three lives were lost in that initial impact. Without even a brief pause the darkness cut across the plain at the speed of sound - like a swath of black powder being ignited with no spark, no flame.
I rose to my feet, pulled my diamond from my body in the form of my trusted staff, and engaged. My every sense was focused on parrying its blows; no trifle when the being which strikes at you has no form. The darkness surrounded me.
With every facet of mana flowing from my interior focus, I placed all of my power into physical attunement for the first phase of the fight. The speed and strength of my motions were sound, but the fact remained that I was on the defensive. In under a half a second I parried three of its stinger-like manifestations, blocked two blade-like slashes, and made a single riposte with my foot when it slashed at my arm. My foot fell through the enigma like smoke and it seared my heel, but luckily it disrupted the monstrosity enough to give me a moment to move away.
As my heel hit the ground I poured mana into the Earth and raised a platform. I raised the stone with such force that I managed to kick off the platform and send myself flying through the air. I landed a few meters away, and thrust my staff into the ground. A series of spikes erupted at the site of the Shadow, stabbing at the being with speed and force. It handily dodged each and every one, moving closer to me through my walls of spikes like a vapor through a strainer. Hundreds of sharp pikes and blades of stone and soil assailed the beast, which ignored each one with ease.
As it neared me I raised a massive wall of stone around me, no less than a meter thick, like a shell. It cleft through the barrier with force, a cloud of black flame scorching the area around me. I sank into the earth, a big mistake, and it tore through everything to reach me. Another eighty one creatures died because of my fault and cowardice.
I popped out of the ground, landing on my left foot, executing a pirouette and taking my staff in stance again. It followed, pursuing me relentlessly. I took my weapon in the broad form and swung with all my might over the head; the Shadow manifested an arm which blocked the crushing blow, but the force with which I impacted it caused it to break vaporous form. The being became corporeal for a moment, holding itself up against the power of my strike. The earth rent open and shook violently with the discharging mana, and black flame enveloped my arms.
I stepped back from the recoil, my arms trembling like jelly and aching profusely, and the Shadow lunged at me once more…
I thought it was over, then. My arms wouldn't respond, so I forced as much mana as I could to bolster my stone skin in the area surrounding the solar plexus. The effort, I accepted in that instant, would be futile. I knew that enigma was powerful enough to break all but my most steeled defenses; when fighting the Shadow a good offense really is the best defense.
Yet I did not perish. A flow of Earth magic not my own crept up before me and a pillar of stone in the shape of a spear broke the surface, deflecting the Shadow's stinger. The lamia from before leapt into the fray, attacking both me and the Shadow indiscriminately. I regained control over my scorched arms and fanned out my mana into the surrounding earth. If I had any hope of coming out on top I would need to prioritize speed over strength.
Again I rent the earth and manipulated stone, ore, soil, and roots into massive pillars, pikes, blades, walls, and boulders. Between the Shadow's black flames, and the lamia's and my Earth magic, the scene must have been catastrophic. Mountains were erected and crumbled in instants, great chasms opened up and closed, rock flew through the air in massive explosions, and the world burned in darkness.
While it was clear that the lamia was no ally of mine, the fact remained that she saved my life. While that, alone, is not enough to warrant me risking my own for her sake, that's exactly what I did. After a particularly brutal free-for-all which I managed to duck out of, the lamia was thrown back when the Shadow exploded in a maelstrom of mana. Oddly enough, the Shadow actually pursued her after the fact; queer, considering that it typically only has eyes for me.
The lamia, unable to recover from the prior assault, fell back and pulled herself up with her arms which trembled with uncertainty. The Shadow manifested a giant cleaver over her head and fell foreword. I intercepted, leaping over the lamia's snake-half and blocking with my staff. Much like the earlier strike I made against the Shadow, the earth under my feet began to crumble as the sheer brutal force sundered the surrounding area.
Had I not been using all of my mana for physical attunement my bones would have snapped into infinitesimal pieces and my sinew would have disintegrated. The Shadow grew in size, fluctuating under the sheer intensity of its own attack, flickering like a flame in the wind.
"Run!" I said in the human tongue. Had I broke my concentration or diverted any of my mana away for the purpose of opening The Way then I surely would have crumpled under the Shadow's prolonged and furious assault.
My arms were about to give out; why did I bother saving this woman? Surely I was not so noble as to believe myself some hero, sacrificing himself to adversity. I smiled as I felt the last of my mana drain from my body – I would not be able to maintain the clash for long, and the Shadow showed no signs of slowing down – it was finally my time to die. A part of me relished the thought.
From my left flank, just grazing my skin, a stone spear with a resonant mana blade thrust into the heart of the Shadow. In an eruption of silent, pure pitch-black mana, the Shadow collapsed in on itself.
-----
I believe I was knocked unconscious, if only for a few seconds. When I came to I was at the edge of the crater denoting the spot where the Shadow fell. The area was a catastrophe. The plains were rent asunder as far as the eyes could see. There were the bodies of numerous animals and plants scattered all about. The black mana which painted the flames pitch had ceded, and what little of the dry grass remained on the plains was alight with bright red flares. Monuments of our battle were everywhere; the world looked like the back of a porcupine whose quills were made of granite and suffered from mange.
I rose to my feet, swayed, and stumbled forward, supporting myself with my arms. I heard a rustling behind me and rounded. The lamia had risen already and looked down on me, panting. Her arms hung limp to either side and she sported a nasty gash on her snake half, about a dozen centimeters below her belly-button in the left flank. I was in trouble; I had exhausted nearly every last scrap of mana I possessed to block that last attack, and in spite of my fair regeneration rate I would not be able to manifest enough for combat in the state my body was. She, on the other hand, still had a small reserve it seemed.
"I ask again, what are you?" She forced open The Way.
"I tire of answering that question." I replied indignantly.
Her golden eyes sharpened and her pointed ears fell back. She sneered something in her native language which I was unable to comprehend, "Answer, human!" Her thoughts flowed into mine.
"You just answered yourself."
"No, you opened The Way! You did…" She paused, looking at the scene of our fight, "…that. No human has that much natural power! Is this the effect of some new sinful technology?"
"'Sinful art's and 'sinful technology…' what do you refer to, lass?" I got to my feet, leaning forward uncertainly.
"That which destroys the world, human. That wicked technology which your kind implements on a daily basis, depleting the world of her luster and spirits!" She answered. She slithered closer, an imposing sight. I felt helpless. Her mana capacity was not quite as massive as mine, but it was most certainly no pushover. In fact, I might go so far as to say that she was the second most powerful mage I had ever known.
"Magitechnology?" I snarled with umbrageous vehemence, "You insult me, whelp. Take a look around, surely one as proficient with magic as you can sense it," I gestured my arms weakly to the plains. The air was almost static with mana discharge, "Does the modality of your perception identify any void in my practice; any absence of substance?"
She fell forward in a queer manner; her body was parallel to the ground as she brought her face near to mine, her hair falling from her shoulders and breasts and brushing the soil. She was scowling, muttering in her native language. I was compelled to take a step back, but just as my legs tensed I stopped myself; if I were to show a sign of weakness now, my bluff would be without fruit, "No, yours is a natural power… but no human should have access to such ability." She imparted upon me.
"And I suppose you believe yourself capable of bringing me to heel?" I tried to put on a strong face. My heart was palpitating violently. The Way betrayed me, being a conveyance of thought and emotion – surely she knew I feared her.
She pulled herself up again, "standing" perpendicular once more and glaring down at me, "Who was that man you slew, earlier?"
"Eh?" I had almost forgotten about the day's earlier exploits, "Oh, well as you would say, a 'practitioner of the sinful arts' or some such rot."
"Why?"
I stood up straight, myself, and reciprocated her glare, "To prevent things like this," I waved at the crater; a sight of death and emptiness, "from occurring."
"You would stand against your own kin for the sake of mana?"
"I hardly consider mankind my 'kin.'" I spat off to my side. Oddly enough I had not noticed the taste of my own blood in my mouth until I saw it in the saliva, "I would not see this become our world. Mankind is the chief offender to the natural order of things, and of their twisted minds, Magitechnology is the catalyst of their own artificial evolution. I would never deign to associate myself with such a vile force."
The lamia's eyes softened, if only a touch; going from seething, defiant rage to uncertainty and indignant bafflement. She parted her succulent lips and her right cheek twitched in confusion, "Then what is it you aspire to?"
I laughed bitterly through clenched teeth, for several moments before I answered. I must have looked quite mad, for the question she asked so casually was one which brought to forethought memories of my entire life. Several seconds later – she waited quite patiently – after mulling through too much to provide a sufficient answer, I responded "I've been asking myself the same question all my life… What of you, if I might be so bold as to ask a question of my own? I've never seen a lamia outside of the jungles, much less boring through city foundation."
She squinted her eyes, scrutinizing me, "I am to bring stability to the world, human."
"Heh," I scoffed aloud. I bolstered my mana perception and felt my staff nearby. It was a little over a meter to my left, under a pile of dust. I approached it and dug it out with my hands, "Then our goals align. Assuming, of course, that you refer to diminishing the contrived methods with which we humans despoil the Earth. 'Tis a passion of mine, really." I imparted. I pulled the staff from the ground and, as the substance is infused with my mana signature and requires little mana to manipulate, absorbed it through my hands into my body once more.
"What do you imply, filthy creature?"
I smirked, "Why not join forces? You can certainly hold your own in a fight; but something tells me you aren't too popular when strutting about the streets." At the time I was absolutely positive that this lamia was one of the world's Heroes. The fact that I had found one lead me to believe that a calamity was close at hand, and if that was the case I would need to keep track of her.
"I would never deign to ally with one of you inferior creatures!" She transferred her thoughts with force, "I've no need for you. I am capable of subverting you simple-minded humans without ever letting myself be seen," She suddenly looked askance and gasped, as though an epiphany had struck. She crossed her arms and bit down on her right index finger, deep in contemplation.
"Very well, then," I ceded. In my condition, I was in no position to make demands. One as powerful and indiscreet as she would not be difficult to track down in the future, so it was of little immediate concern, "I bid thee farewell, in that case." I turned around and severed the flow of The Way, walking with uncertainty towards the nearby forest. I would need to wait for my body to recover before I came back and repaired the landscape which I deformed.
"Wait!" She shouted, crudely, in Weltch. I piqued an eyebrow and looked over my shoulder. She forced open another path to The Way and continued, "I cannot permit a human of such power to roam the world at its leisure."
I shifted what little mana I had into my arms, bringing the diamond out in an arm-blade encasing my left. I almost fell over from the strain; my bluff was weak.
"Wait, you misunderstand," She waved her hands before herself defensively, "I've had a change of heart; I will accompany you. If your words prove false then you shall meet the business end of my spear."
I grinned, "That was rather sudden. Care to explain?"
"As I've said," She spat at me, "No human should hold such power without check."
"Hah," I retracted my blade, "If you've no inkling to tell me then I've none to inquire. As it so happens I'm inclined to agree," I waved my hand over my shoulder and continued on my way; I was extraordinarily tired, "As you will, then."
"Nassaux." She hissed aloud.
"Huh?"
"My name, you contemptible cur."
"Ah. Zien, you fork-tongued abomination."
I felt a blow to the back of the head and fell unconscious once again...It can't have been good for me.
-----
That was the unorthodox beginning of an unorthodox relationship.