Arne's eyes glowed with a pristine blue light.
"Stay behind me" he said, while standing calmly in between Thea, Eli, and the rapidly approaching wave of rats scurrying across the grimy black walkways.
The rats ignored everything but Arne, focusing all of their beady eyes onto him and him alone. Their long claws ravaged the settlement where the homeless used to rest, scratching deeply into the stone, and like a hurricane wind blew straight through anything it their way.
"A-Arne! What are you doing! Help me untie her!" screamed Eli desperately, while shakily looking back and forth between Arne's back, the rats, and Thea's ankle. It had quickly turned red, and there were signs of swelling.
"Both of you just go!!!" Thea cried, beating her clenched fists weakly against Eli's chest. Tears continued dripping down her face and onto the dirty sewer floor.
Neither Eli, not Thea had noticed Arne's use of magic yet.
Neither of them thought that magic was even an option, I mean, they could circulate their mana, but they were sadly never taught how to properly utilize magic due to the suppression from the King of Swords.
Perhaps due to Arne's race, or to a natural talent, he had a moment of enlightenment. He comprehended how to use magic, but he didn't have much time: his training with Roger was more of a physical endeavor than a mental one, but it still provided a certain mental strain that could help enhance one's magical prowess.
"Arne please!!!" yelled Eli.
"Arne go!" yelled Thea.
Arne closed his eyes. He needed to focus.
The voices of his friends echoed within his mind...
Arne!
Arne!
Arne!
...
until they faded.
He took a deep breath.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
He held his hands outward, palms facing the ceiling.
He began to push his mana into the surroundings, replacing the ambient mana with his own. He didn't know how, nor did he have a mana pool large enough for him to create his own water, so he would have to seize control of the water around him.
He remembered the limited lessons of Mr. Gregory:
His mind was back in the classroom.
"Remember this! If this country ever stops fearing young mages, and you have the chance to become one: Prioritize using the elements around you before creating your own. It is not only vastly easier, but will allow you to fight for much longer! Flashy young nobles who go to the academies sometimes don't even know how to utilize the elements around them, and only create their own. While impressive on a greater scale, and useful on a small scale: It is entirely and utterly impractical in a battle! Remember! Controlling the elements around you come in three simple steps... Arne! Are you even paying attention!??!"
The voice of Mr. Gregory faded, and was replaced by the sound of rapidly approaching rats, and the cries of Eli and Thea! Arne opened his eyes to see the glowing white wave of rats rocketing towards them.
"Expand your mana." said Arne, pushing his meager mana into the surrounding area.
Starting from Arne's side, ripples formed on the surface of the water. They spread outward evenly, ricocheting off of the opposite walls and back and forth until the water's surface turned chaotic.
"Arne!!! Help me!!" screamed Eli, his voice scratchy and hoarse from yelling.
"Infuse with the elements." Arne channeled his mana towards the water, his mana and the water stuck together like magnets. He raised his hands above his head. The water began to churn and swell, rising and falling, like it was boiling.
"Bend them to your will!" he yelled, spinning his arms in large circles, and causing the swelling water to swirl and build up energy like a rolling wave!
"No way..." said Thea, observing the dark, smelly water rising rapidly in front of Arne, and sinking lower and lower behind him. It was as if all the water in the sewer converged in front of Arne for a single purpose! Destruction!
Arne spun his arms faster as the wave reached the size large enough to block the entire tunnel! As if he were pushing something as hard as he could he rocketed his palms forward and shouted:
"WATER... WAVE!!!"
The rolling wave of sewage shot forward with the immense energy of the churning water. It was met immediately with the swarm of rats, and the rats were carried in its speeding current. The wave swept up everything it its path: tents, rats, nets, anything that was not nailed to the brick, and some things that were nailed to the brick were pushed down the tunnel.
That tunnel soon came to an end, but the wave did not stop, it passed the end of the settlement and travelled further beyond what the kids had explored.
CRASH
In a "T" shaped junction, the wave was split in two after hitting the wall with the full force of its energy. The rats were crushed against the wall by the water pressure, and were smashed by the debris that was carried along with the current.
Arne had succeeded, the swarm of rats was defeated. Oh, and Thea just finished being untied.
"Arne... you could use magic?!" exclaimed Eli, frozen from the shock of seeing Arne essentially drown a swarm of rats in sewage.
Before Eli could get an answer Thea limped over to him and hugged him tightly from behind. She continued to cry even though the rats were all gone.
"Thank you Arne... thank you." she said, letting go of Arne, and wiping the tears from her eyes.
"I promise I will get stronger so I can save you one day too..." she looked away innocently.
THUD
Arne fell flat on his face, stiff as a board.
"Arne!!" yelled both Eli and Thea in unison, before working together to flip him over.
"ZZZzzz..."
He was fast asleep.
Arne had exhausted his entire mana pool on that wave, and due to overstraining his mind, he simply fell asleep as anyone else would when depleting mana.
Thea punched him in the chest. Her red cheeks puffed out.
"Made me say all that... wasn't even listening..." she grumbled.
"So... what now?" said Eli, "With your bad ankle, and Arne sleeping... I guess we can just wait. I doubt there are more rats after that swarm... Arne probably feels satisfied enough, I'm sure we saved at least someone by getting rid of a few dozen rats."
"Oh are you not strong enough to carry us both out~?" she said teasingly.
"Not unless you'd like to tie yourself to my back with that rope." said Eli, pointing at the rope around Arne's chest.
Thea blushed.
"I never said anything!" replied Thea.
"Never said what?" said Eli, pretending to be confused.
Thea and Eli both giggled over Arne's peacefully sleeping body.
"Now we wait..." said Eli as he trailed off.
Eli and Thea sat side by side against the wall awaiting Arne's awakening.
...
Deep within the dark recesses of the sewer, a cloaked figure sat calmly.
Suddenly and violently it twitched its head in the direction of a distant sewer entrance. Its bloodshot eyes bulged out of its head.
In a motherly woman's voice it said:
"My babies!"
In an angry man's voice it roared:
"Disgusting creatures!!!!"
In a child's voice it playfully said:
"Here I come!"
It had spent days conjuring its army of lovely babies... Some meddling creature just destroyed more than half of its children! It was angry! It was enraged! Every step it took was one of immense and deep echoing pain!
It skittered off in the direction of its fallen children.
From every step the creature took the distinct sound of clicking could be heard...
Click Click Click
Click Click
Click
until it faded into the distant reaches of the sewer system.