ROLANDIA
Scorn twists the duke's features as he senses an influx of Rolandian sorcerers establishing camp nearby. No need for introductions; the raw, potent magic surging from their presence screams of power.
Those attuned to arcane feel it, a palpable wave of energy washing over the landscape.
Their confidence clearly worn like armour as they walk with pumped chest and laid back shoulders.
Clarion's knuckles whiten around the goblet, his gaze burning with venomous ambition. He'd envisioned a swift, clean victory, a coup de grace on their first attempt.
But fate, it seems, had other plans. The arrival of High Town's magic warrior had thrown a wrench in their meticulously laid plans.
He wears a uniform of dark green, carrying colourful stripes of authority on both sides of the shoulder.
The night kisses his bald head, whistling with tongues of the wind as it brushes behind his ears.
His company is spread out throughout the fields of the land, each observing and gathering information that may help them in their goal to acquire the crescent, to acquire Mani.
An opportunity needs to present itself.
Mist coalesces beside him, solidifying into a wiry figure with silver hair. The man crouches, face obscured by a ninja mask. "They sent word to High Town about Freya but the messengers vanished at High Town's borders.", he reports.
"You saw what happened?", Clarion persist for further information, "Yes. She burned them out of existence. She is dangerous. She does not want her superiors to know of her mischief and she wants the same thing we want, the moon".
Clarion grips the goblet even harder.
MEANWHILE
They materialise on an empty street, clean brick buildings lining either side. Emmet bursts into view first, a lone figure against the urban backdrop.
Then, Kane emerges, bringing each member of the group one by one, and finally, Emilia, a radiant figure enveloped in a shimmering sapphire aura.
The light slowly seep into Emilia's body and disappears leaving behind a floating colourless stone.
Kane catches the stone before he puts his ear to Emilia's chest, her heart beats so he checks her belly for her wound but she is healed.
The dark elf slowly opens her eyes and meet his blue ones, they both smile as a tear trickle down her eye, "You are safe now".
Her eyes dilate, darting past him towards the sky. "Kane!", she exclaims, her hand outstretched.
"Hey Kane, where the fuck did you bring us to?", Emmet asks, his voice dull with perplexity.
Up in the sky hangs two moons, a half-moon and a crescent moon beneath it. They feel soft light caress their body and their pain seems to disappear under cool winds.
"Mani", Emilia says as she rises up, Kane pivots and his gaze meets the crescent moon, "Godspark", he mutters.
The colourless stone begins to shine brightly and it forcefully floats out of Kane's hand.
It rises up under the light's of the crescent moon and begin to recover its glow, suddenly it moves. Emilia stands up and pulls Kane, "We have to follow it", she says, giving no chance for them to assimilate her revival.
The rest of the group of escaped slaves stare at each other.
Emmet sighs, "We can't just let them run along by themselves, let's go", Emmet takes the first step after them. A man who also seems to have lost something tonight but he moves forward, Braga and Saphina follow suite.
"What is going on Emilia?", Kane asks as they run through the town, "That is Mani, she calls to me. I was an apprentice to Lena, as her disciple I must take up the mantle of shaman. Mani calls me", she explains.
Kane grunts but somehow he understands, "Yes, she calls me too".
The white barrier around the crescent moon falls as Tanix rises into the air, he launches skyward, hovering above the wooden altar.
Runes carved into the wood crackle with energy. Power surges, forming a searing projectile aimed squarely at the crescent moon, the Grand Sorcerer hovering within it.
His eyes shine brightly as he hangs in the air, arms stretched skyward while he mumbles strange words like a man possessed.
Rolandian sorcerers surround the altar while Clarion and his guards stand at a distance to watch Tanix perform whatever it is he does.
Mani emits brighter lights, erupting a carpet of luminous blue flowers from the ground. The place is awash in a kaleidoscope of colour and a soothing peace descends.
Water erupts from the floor, the light a blinding crescendo. A raw, untamed energy explodes, colliding with the crescent moon in a blinding clash.
Crimson energy erupts, seizing the crescent moon in a brutal grip. It's a desperate gamble, this raw magic, a brazen assault against a magic older than the world itself, while Tanix's altar tries to maintain it's hold on the crescent moon.
They raise their eyes up to find the intruder returned.
Freya of High Town, an array of energy swirling around her, soars through the heavens, her will reaching out to the moon.
Below, Tanix barks an order, a cryptic gesture punctuating his command, "Stop that brat!", he snarls and his subordinates, rich in magic energies, unleash a barrage of spells, their trajectories arcing towards the defiant sorceress.
One hand stretched forward she deflects their magic, shooting fiery blasts of magic back at them.
From a distance, Kane and Emilia can see the commotion in the sky, "They are fighting over it. We have to save Mani", Emilia says.
Kane sighs, already exhausted from previous events, he breathes heavy as he looks up at the crescent moon.
"Getting there is one thing but fighting those people is another. They are flying for god's sake", Kane complains.
Emilia dashes forward as the floating gem dives into a corner, "Fuck. That goddess better reward me for all this shit", he continues his run.
They burst onto a vibrant street, a kaleidoscope of sights and sounds as the city pulses with life.
But amidst the revelry, a ripple of unease begins to stir. Those who've glimpsed the second moon, a malevolent eye in the sky, also with witness the ferocious battle unfolding beneath its eerie glow.
Fiery projectiles rain down, obliterating homes and shattering the street. Kane trails Emilia, she moves like a shadow in the wind as she ascends the buildings, a spider scaling a towering web, reaching the rooftop in a breathtaking ascent.
Kane enters an alley and jumps on the both sides of the wall, using them as support to propel himself upwards and unto the roof.
From this distance he can see a floating woman in skies, adorned in fiery colours of energy, her eyes shine like the sun itself while her attire clings onto her body.
"This power will be mine", Freya crackles, wrenching the crescent moon with all her might but the Grand Sorcerer holds it tight with his spell.
A glimpse below - Rolandian sorcerers swarming. No time to waste. She aims, fires, another blast of energy erupts.
"Seal her!", one of them say and they try to encircle her in the midair. Bird-like chants fill the air, a counter-melody rising from Freya's lips.
Magic erupts.
Runes ignite, twisting and weaving into a cage of ethereal light. The cage collapses, solidifying into an obsidian cube, swallowing Freya whole.
A testament to Rolandian's magic, the sorcerers float midair with pride in their hearts as they finally contain her - a flaw in their thought process - she refuses to be contained.
Freya's spell activates and the cube shatters under the force of an explosion, revealing a snake made of flames, it stretches downward toward the Rolandian sorcerers.
Duke Clarion and his men watch from the ground, eyes glued to event that unfolds. Brows furrowed as success seems to become an elusive endeavour.
"The longer this goes on the more I hate it", he snarls, hurling his goblet against the grassy floor.
"I can get in there. She and I have a score to settle", Pain growls, his eyes burning with intensity as he fixates on the woman, a shimmering beacon hovering above like a celestial ember.
"Don't, you won't stand a chance", Malice warns.
Freya's grasp on Mani abruptly shatters, her brow furrowing in frustration. Her gaze swivels instinctively towards the source of unexpected disruption - Tanix, the Grand Sorcerer.
She blitz through the air, blasting through the sorcerers that stand before her like they are insects.
Her arm outstretched, she launches a bolt of violet energy towards Tanix. The projectile streaks across the air with terrifying speed, but abruptly halts, intercepted by an invisible barrier that materialises between them, shielding Tanix's altar from harm.
Dust rise at the impact and with a wave of her hand the winds blow the dust away, she finds a sorcerer with pale blue skin and white tattoos all over his body. He holds a magic staff and dresses like a monk, "You shall not disrupt his work", the sorcerer says.
The air is filled with magic, those who control such power can feel it and as they do they also feel their powers rise under Mani's gaze.
"Do you really think you can stop me?", she purrs, a predatory smile gracing her lips. The man slams his staff against the ground, a thunderous blow that erupts in a blinding surge of azure energy.
Freya is instantly enveloped, the ethereal barrier effectively halting her advance.
"Please, I am magic", she smirks and lets her body glow brightly, bringing with it a new heat.
A massive shockwave escapes her body, breaking the barrier around her and chattering most of the camp but Tanix and his magic still stands unaffected.
Freya hovers, she notices a shield of lightning around Tanix and the one who conjures such magic, the blue skin.
"Who are you, sorcerer?", she demands, eyes squinted to recognise the fellow, "I am but a humble monk but people call me Zander", "You are Zander? Good, I have heard about you. A worthy opponent", she smiles deviously and charges at him.
They clash spells igniting the camp with fire and lightning, shockwaves from their spells spread through the camp as both sorcerers clash in a duel of power.
Emilia and Kane follow the glowing stone, its ethereal glow guiding them away through the bustling heart of the city. They find themselves in a desolate expanse, a ghost town of scattered houses swallowed by encroaching grass and a canopy of trees.
A makeshift encampment of tents dots the landscape, but it is a spectacle unfolding before them that halts their progress - a fierce battle raging, its energy palpable in the air.
"This is totally beyond us", Kane says as he stares at the fiery lady and the blue skin as they conjure spells against each other.
Suddenly a loud roar is heard in the skies. The clouds give way for the beast that hovers in the air, giant wings flapping as it moves toward the Mani.
Red glowing eyes shine in the dark while smoke fumes at the edge of its mouth.
"Is that a dragon?", Emmet and the rest finally catch up with Kane and Emilia.
All stare with eyes glued to the sky, madness, a step away as they cannot believe their eyes. "I don't know why we ran this way but I can tell you now that we need to go back", Emmet says.
"We can't. This is his destiny", Emilia says, Kane clenches his fist and stiffens his jaw.
He murmurs to himself so he may face the trial ahead, a gleam come over his eyes as he clenches his hand around the hilt of the sword he holds.
"I can't battle against these people. This is crazy. I just escaped Pyrrhus and now a dragon. Fuck,".
He must come to terms with the destiny which he has been reborn to carry, Mani summoned him and he must listen, even if he is clueless as to what to do.
"Let's do this".
Flames pour out from the dragon's mouth, burning putting an end to the battle between sorcerers as it goes straight for the crescent moon. A voice deep and yet like a hiss the dragon speaks, "The Godspark is mine".
A torrent of fire erupts from the dragon's maw, incinerating a great deal of the land and abruptly silencing the sorcerers' duel.
The inferno ascends, a fiery serpent aimed directly at the crescent moon.
A voice, deep and sibilant, resonates from the beast's throat, "The Godspark is mine!".