"You're not getting away that easily." Viznar, the dwarven king of Xarthos grinned as he pressed a button on the harness connecting him to his flying machine. The wind roared around us as we flew sideways through the Source of all mana, the distance that he and Goh, the Eladrin king of Helios, maintained began to shorten.
"Damn it," I cursed. I held up my left hand - the one not currently imbedded in a mana crystal that was dragging me sideways through the endless expanse of open mana - the blue particles in the air coalesced into a chunk of amethyst rock between the monarchs and me. I let the rock stay stationary in the air and it suddenly caught the wind, shooting towards the Kings.
Just as it was about to hit the two, cracks spiderwebbed their way through the wall of crystal and it exploded in a shower of dust as Goh's golden fist came crashing through. He glared up at me through the dust, still riding on the back of the other king.
I needed to find some way to incapacitate the eladrin king, without him, I could easily trap Viznar in mana crystals, but with him, Goh would just break through them.
I changed the direction of my flight, pulling myself upwards instead, straight into the sky. The pair of monarchs arced in their flight, angling upwards as well. As I watched below, Goh's feet slipped off the back of his partner and he fell, grabbing onto the other's collar just in time not to fall into the void.
"Get off!" the dwarf choked as Goh hung off of his collar. He thrashed and the pair's flight began to arc about beneath me.
"We can all just talk this out." I called down, grinning at their squabble as the eladrin king finally managed to get a hold of the dwarf's shoulders instead.
"Never," the two of them said at once.
I grimaced, this would be difficult, but I had to get them calmed down somehow. I'd never preformed any spells here, in the Source, but there was mana all around, so why couldn't I?
I held my hand downwards, towards the pair, and began to gather some mana ahead of my hand. In my mind I pictured a spell, a sleeping spell, one that could knock the eladrin king out. The glow of the mana formed rings of arcane sigils and I let it loose on the pair below as a beam of cyan light bathed in mist sprang from the rings of mana. The two yelledin surprise, but were swallowed by the mist as it hit, bathing them in its cyan light.
I let the beam stop and waited for the mist to disperse. As it washed over the two monarchs, filtering over the pair of metallic wings that Viznar wore, I saw that I had failed in my original aim. The eladrin was still awake, grinning in challenge, but the dwarven king wasn't. His eyes were open still, likely the wind, but they weren't focused and his mouth hung limply open.
"That won't work on me, caster, all elves are immune to sleep magic," Goh said triumphantly.
I grinned, "Oh, and dwarves are too?"
Realisation dawned on Goh's face as he grabbed onto his partners head, hair whipping in the wind. Were I close enough, I would've heard a curse pass the conscious King's lips as the flight of the dwarf began to tilt more and more out of line.
I flung my free hand down towards the pair, mana coalescing into crystals between them, and I forced them appart, building the mana into a pillar between. Goh yelped as he was pushed away from the - now spiralling - Viznar. I focused, using my high agility stat to slow down time to a crawl. If I remembered correctly, which wasn't difficult with my high intelligence, Goh had an unusually small agility stat.
Just as I suspected, when I focused, Goh couldn't keep up, his movements slowed almost to a stop. I used the time I'd gained to surround the unconscious king in a cage of mana and shove him away. The cage moved faster than the dwarven king, so he ended up slamming into the crystalline bars. But I wasn't concerned, the goal was achieved, and I confirmed it by dissipating the mana around my other hand and used my ring to hover as the eladrin began to accelerate into the void. My artifacts were working again, which meant I could use the mana stored within my pendant and not risk falling to Mana Sickness anymore. I let the mana stored with my mana absorbtion take its effect on my physical capabilities. The time that had slowed to a crawl stopped dead, I mentally pushed the cage upwards with the dwarf in, slowly, millimetres, but the momentum, in this slowed time, would send him all the way back up to the mansion.
I gazed down at Goh, who was frozen in time, his face was stuck in an expression of shock. With my artifacts now working, I could use the abilities that were cut off to me.
I opened a Gateway to the mansion just behind Goh, a swirling azure portal opened behind him and cleared to reveal the interior of the mansion far above. With that sorted, I flew forwards, pushing the frozen eladrin through the Gateway with me.
Once the two of us were through, I closed the Gateway behind. Goh was still frozen in a falling position, so I stopped focusing so much and my mana-enhanced agility let time creep closer to normal. The king wasn't frozen entirely anymore at least.
If there was one thing I knew about Goh, it was that his strength was absurdly high. Of course, in my current form, with my absorbed mana influencing my physical capabilities, I was leagues stronger, but most materials couldn't withstand that level of strength. Most being the key word.
I held my hand out and a pair of handcuffs, like that from my previous world, but made from a turquoise metal, Mythril. I clipped one half around his left hand and the other I clipped onto his other hand. Then I created a loop of Mythril that surrounded the chain that linked the two halves behind his back. That loop, I attached to another Mythril chain that I then imbedded in the floor. Using my Mana Weaving, I cleared out a cavity within the mansion's floor and filled it with Mythril, rooting the king to the spot. Then, just to ensure he couldn't get out of this, I concentrated an orb of mana above my hand and drove it into the bindings. I focused on enchanting the Mythril to reduce the strength of those bound within to its base level, to 10.
When the mana had sank into the metal, I Appraised it quickly, and typed out a new name.
BINDINGS OF IMPUNITY
THESE MYTHRIL BINDINGS ARE ALMOST INDESTRUCTABLE, AND REDUCE THE STRENGTH STAT OF THOSE BOUND IN THEM - REGARDLESS OF ANY MODIFIERS - TO 10.
MANA STORED - 12,780,000/12,780,000
With Goh sorted out, I quickly used Incandescent Travel to appear in the air beside the cage I had made for Viznar, in this view of the world, it was creeping towards the mansion, which must've still been over one hundred metres away. As I appeared next to the dwarf, my artifacts lost their power again and I was forced to create a floating platform of mana crystal beneath my feet, so I could guide the cage up to the mansion properly. All the while, the king within was fast asleep.
When we eventually reached the mansion, time still slowed my my Agility stat, though not as considerably as when the mana had been affecting my stats. I created a hole in the ground that we rose through. As we appeared, I caught sight of the eladrin king struggling against his bonds in slow motion, the chain rattling with low chimes. I took my time figuring out which of the various gizmos that the dwarven king had hidden in pockets was the one that stopped my artifacts. But eventually, I stumbled upon a disk shaped clockwork device that seemed to churn internally with electricity and power, and even, to my immense surprise, a tiny bit of mana. I turned the dial on the side of the device to the other setting of the two that it was on, and tested to see if my pendant worked.
Sure enough, I could channel the mana out of the pendant, and use all of my other various artifacts that I had on me. My form at the moment within the Source was that of my actual body. It seemed that if I didn't appear here in my Arcane Form, then I would show with all of my artifacts in my physical body. Just like the two kings had when I'd taken them.
Once I had removed all of the gizmos I could find on Viznar - though there was sure to be more hidden that I would have to counteract when it came to it - I sealed up the dwarf's cage and set it down, fused to the floor, next to the eladrin king who was still bound and struggling in slow motion. I used Genesis/Desolation to create a plush armchair for myself and sat down opposite the royal pair. Then I let my concentraction slip.
"-think you can keep me here, I am Goh Hung-Woo, there is no force that can-" the elven king spewed threats as he writhed.
"Stop." I cut him off, and even he seemed to flinch at the cold attitude with which I spoke. "I haven't brought the two of you here for any nefarious purpose, but a meeting among equals." I glanced towards King Viznar who was softly snoring in his cage.
"Wake Up." I said, enforcing the words with the multi-tonal layers of Corrupting Influence. The dwarf's eyes snapped open, and he awoke like someone plugged in the power of a vacuum cleaner while it was still on.
He looked around, wild eyed, "What happened Goh, why are you bound?"
"You were knocked out by a powerful sleeping spell," I explained. "Your device to stop my artifacts has been taken away." I nodded to the table that had a pile of copper and various other metals and wood devices atop it.
The king looked over and slouched, before checking his sleeves for other gizmos. His eyes flashed with a sinister intent, and I splayed my hand towards him, a small lump of mana speeding in front of it as the world slowed. The mana took form and blasted towards the dwarf as a force spell that sent the small man crashing against one of the barred walls of his cage. He fell, coughing to the crystalline ground.
"Try anything, and I can promise you, what little freedom you have can be stripped away," I warned, giving a pointed look towards the other king.
"This was intended to be a civil meeting," I continued, adding some warmth into my tones, "between monarchs, to announce the sovereignty of a new nation budding at the crossroads between the other kingdoms."
"You mean that ramshackled town of monsters?" Goh spat, "I sent a Garrison to deal with that little encampment."
"Your Garrison is dead."
Goh stopped, his jaw dropped at the finality of my words. "How?" He breathed.
"Those monsters that you intended to slay, they protected their nation, though their King very much wants to meet you now. Though I'm sure neither of you want war, that is what their King will resort to in order to secure their independance and peace," I explained. Then, dropping my voice to a low, conspiratorial hush, I said, "And believe me when I say, you wont stand a chance against them."
The two kings fell into a hushed silence as the buzz of the mana filled air hummed about us and distant floating crystals crashed and merged into one another with a sound like thunder. I stood, clapping my hands against my thighs as I did so. The monarchs jumped.
"I'd best be on my way," I said, almost jovially, though I didn't feel it, "These rulers wont bring themselves here."
With that, I laid a hand on the ground, and created a buffet table of hot, delicious foods, just beyond the kings' reaches. Then I pulled myself from the Source, making sure that it flowed slower than regular time so the kings within would blink and I would be back with another monarch to add to their number. But my mood was sour, if their resistance had shown me anything, it was that the meeting of Kings wouldn't end in peace, but war.