Kazum's Breaking Point

Elody wanted to scream. Helplessness pounded at her as she desperately sought some way to turn the situation to her advantage. But Kazum was right, damn him. She'd played all her cards and even with the staff in her very hands she had been unable to break it!

Vrasha, I'm sorry.

She looked to where he companion had been laying though she knew the sight would be painful. But to her surprise, Vrasha was not there anymore. She was darting across the battlefield, moving so quickly that no one saw her start. With the clash between Elody and Kazum, no one paid any attention to a single ****. But they should have. The Windblade was in her hand and it was sheathed with a howling vortex of air. Elody stared and Kazum turned. Karden was shouting a command, but Vrasha ignored him. As they all watched, she brought the blade down and launched a crescent of bladed air towards there the magical staff lay.

The Windblade was not a low class magical item. It was, in fact, the work of a would-be archmage long ago. Kazum might have suspected it but he was arrogant and did not care. After all, what sort of weapon could harm or something of his creation? But the truth lay plain in his own words. The trials of magic demanded that the would-be mage constructed something truly beyond compare.

The Windblade screamed, its hilt and blade burned with light as ancient spells woven into the very metal came to life. The Windblade was part of a paired set. A shield and a sword. The shield could block magic and mundane dangers alike. The sword was the opposite. Where the shield had been made to serve as the ultimate defence, the sword was the ultimate means of destruction. A blade sheathed in wind, a churning vortex so intense that it would rend and tear and rip anything that met it to pieces.

Anything.

The staff broke. It broke in an explosion of arcane might which shook the very cavern and hurled Vrasha from her feet. She hit the ground and curled up in pain. Others were thrown around as well. Only Kazum and Elody stood.

"My staff!" The ancient mage roared. "That took decades to properly make! You will pay for that! I will have your life! Your blood! Your very soul!"

"No!" Roared Karden, staggering to his feet. "She is mine, Kazum! You will be compensated for your staff, but I need her alive! She is my wh-"

He didn't get to finish the sentence. Vrasha had risen to her feet again and charged, moving fast and low. The Windblade churned through his gut, emerging from his back in a bloody instant. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"What?"

"You are not as smart as you think you are," Vrasha hissed into his ear. "From the moment I left the lake, I was not under your control."

"But...but your actions..."

"I knew what you wanted to hear," Vrasha snarled. "I knew what you wanted me to do. All I had to do was play along until I got my chance. I was a soldier, did you really think that I would let some unpleasantness get in the way of that? You were far too arrogant."

She dragged the sword from his body and he went down to one knee. His face pale, he looked up.

"Kazum! Help!"

"Enough of this!" The Archmage gestured and Elody felt the world freeze again. Her body stopped responding, and the air grew heavy. Kazum snarled, and smoothed down his robes.

"The loss of my staff is the greatest tragedy that has taken place today," Kazum said. "None of you have any idea which it took to construct or the materials consumed! It was worth more than ten kingdoms of this size! and now thanks to this scheme of yours, Karden, it has been destroyed. No more games. No more playing around. I am finished with being subtle. I am done allowing others to rule in my stead. If this is the level of expertise that the ministers of Gelmina are showing, it is time for new ministers!"

He turned, his eyes blazing.

"Karden, I will save your life. But you will remember this moment from now on. No more subtle games, do you hear me? We will not rely on the water. We will take Vrasha and I will rewrite her very soul! It will take time. Weeks or months, but I will twist and tear and change her, burn out all of her old personality. I will remake her from the ground up, and she will be perfect and loyal."

"Never!" Vrasha snarled, her body was fighting against the stopped time but she had no more chance than anyone else. It was only the fact that Kazum wished it which even allowed them to speak.

"And you," he turned his baleful gaze upon Elody. "I am no longer asking. You WILL serve me. You will compensate me for the value of my staff. Your magic will be twisted to serve my own. I will chain your very will, and make you a pet elemental. In time you will forget that you were ever even a person."

And then there came a deep rumbling, low and powerful which reverberated through the very earth. The sounds formed words, but they were not words that you heard with your ears. They were words which bounced through your bones and formed in your mind. Words that were not spoken but felt.

And those words were:

No.

No, she will not.

For the first time Elody saw Kazum go pale.

"No." He growled. "That voice..."

And Nectanius emerged from the lake. He was a broiling figure of steaming water and pulsing light. The crystal glowed in the heart of the construct but he had wrapped himself too in sea and stone. A golem creation of crude appearance and yet incredible power. And in the chest, the Heart of Gelmina blazed like a sun.

"Necromancer!" Roared Kazum, spunning to confront this new foe. "Your time is over! Return to the waves!"

I will return to the waves, Nectanius agreed. But I will not go alone. Come, Kazum. Your eternal life has finally run out.

"I will shatter you as I did before!"

We will see.