Elody's Return and Kazum's Retort

With Nectanius' words ringing in her mind, Elody gathered her power one more time. It was as the ancient wizard had promised. Most of her strength had been restored but she was still weaker than before. and Kazum had beaten her then.

She put the worry aside for now. It would not help. She knew what had to be done, and she knew that she was the only one who could try. This time at least she would be more prepared. She let her spirit flow forth and gradually a solid body of flesh and bone started to come into existence around her. It would be easier to fight like this without having to shield her spirit directly. Plus it would remind her of what she was fighting for in the first place.

The water pressed against her skin, warm and relaxing. She was naked, her hair billowing around her like some mermaid. A normal woman might have drowned being so deep but Vrasha was a water spirit at heart, and had no fear of the depths. Instead she kicked upwards, gathering power and energy. She moved faster and faster, aware that she would have only minutes before Kazum overpowered her yet again. in that time, she would focus her whole fury upon his staff. If she could break that, Nectanius would intervene. It was her only chance to save Vrasha and she would not waste it.

The water burst around her suddenly as she soared into the air. she dragged it with her, thick tendrils of liquid rising around her as she arched into the sky. As soon as she emerged, she heard shouts from the shore. People were scattering, some of them staggered back with faces pale from shock. She recognised Karden, but disregarded him as unimportant. Only one person mattered now.

Kazum. He alone did not seem dismayed but stood watching her, as if daring her to come at him again. A small smile played across his lips and he spoke - magic carried his voice to her even over the distance.

"A second try? Very well. Show me that you have learned something from your first defeat."

She answered with a wordless snarl, launching a dozen blades of water across the distance towards him. Kazum's staff spat out bolts of lightning to intercept, shattering and destroying them before they reached the shore. Elody was moving fast, blasting towards them as quickly as she could. She was drawing on more and more of her power and in serious danger of spending all of her energy in the next few minutes. But that didn't matter because by the time she was out of strength, she would have broken the staff or failed. There was nothing else.

Kazum pointed his staff towards her and a great plume of fire erupted from its tip. It grew and grew until it seemed to envelop the whole cavern in a furious torrent of flame which licked and danced across every surface. Elody's eyes widened but she refused to be bowed and gathered more water from the lake to use as a shield. The flames washed over her, and she cried out in pain. Her shield flashed to steam and writhed within her control. Her hair singed, and if she had been wearing any clothes, they would have burned.

She ducked into the lake, diving as deeply as she could away from the fire. A moment later, it winked away and she emerged like a missile. This time she lanced out with a bolt of raw mental magic, stabbing at Kazum's mind. He grunted, the pain made him take a step back but he swept her out of his psyche easily. His counter spell drove nails of burning flame into her brain and Elody almost lost control of her flight.

Desperately, she managed to drive him out, and gathered the water around her into a great wave which rose up upon the shore. She brought it crashing down, curling towards where Kazum and the others stood. She dove and it followed her, rolling and roaring as it went.

Kazum responded by raising a wall of **** to protect himself. Elody's wave hammered into it with all the power that she could muster, the water crashed against the invisible barrier with strength to shatter stone and pulp flesh but Kazum was undeterred. An aura of magic burned around him, and his eyes blazed with power. Elody snarled and pressed herself against the barrier, magic fought against magic for a few critical moments. Elody's hammered. She was so close now! The staff was just beyond the barrier!

But she could not get through. She could not reach it. Desperately, Elody reached for more power but her wave was receding. Kazum gestured towards her and Elody's body was flung hard against the earth, shattering a large stone in her path. Pain flared through her, but she rolled and came up again. She could taste blood in her mouth.

"You're more **** than before," Kazum told her. "And less powerful. It seems you managed to survive by some miracle but it cost you dearly. When we clashed last time, that was not a tactic which would have worked against you."