The Archmage and the Storm

Elody made the first move. She lashed out with a whip of water, sharp enough to sever stone. The mage raised his staff and volleyed not one but four counterspells which each rammed into her construct. The magic finding it fell apart, but Elody was already gathering more. She unleashed a flood of water which rose up behind her and coiled like a snake. Kazum gestured and with a word, it was transformed into ice and fell from her control to shatter against the hard ground.

"If this is the best you have," he told her. "Then you have no hope at all. Retreat now or surrender to me. A bound nature spirit is useful to have, particularly one as human as you are."

"Surrender to you?" Elody said. "Never. I would die first."

"Then die."

He pointed with the staff and a dozen blades of purple light slashes towards where she was. Elody dodged to the left and they flashed past her. As they went, she sensed the power contained in each one - they were more than able to pop a shield! But the attack was not over and even as they shot past her, they shattered and became a hundred tiny shards of hungry light which circled her like a shoal of piranha. For a moment only she was surrounded and then they moved in, rushing towards her from all directions. Elody was still in her spirit form, but somehow she doubted that would much help. She snarled and threw up a great surge of water which roared as it surrounded the spells and **** them back. For a moment, they fought with raw magic. Kazum's power struggled against her own to push through her wall. Elody felt pushed for the first time, but drew upon her anger and _hurled _the darts away! Then, she directed the water to crash down atop the mage! Kazum was caught up in it, his body sprawled and then shattered.

A mirror image!

She turned, but something hard caught her in the back and a fireball enveloped her. Elody cried out in pain but the damage was minimal. She caught Kazum with a trailing water-whip and smashed him against the far wall. His body cracked against it but he refused to let go of his staff. Now it was Elody's turn to use ice. She drew more water and fashioned it into a dozen spears that were as long as a man. Then she lanced them towards him at high speed. Kazum looked up and muttered a word of power. A wall of solid **** slammed into the spears and broke them to pieces. Elody's attacked next with a surge of raw magic. She didn't bother to use water but simply crashed the iron-hard blade of her willpower against his own.

Kazum staggered, grunting with effort. The two contesting once more. Elody snarled and battered him with claws of barbed thought and acidic intent. She could feel his wards and spells buckling one after another, but it was not an easy match. He was powerful. Very powerful.

Suddenly Kazum slammed his staff into the ground and a straight line of fire sprouted from where it touched the rock. It darted towards Elody and before she could react turning into a burning hellstorm which rose up around her. Elody cried out, the pain and the sudden introduction of her weakest element allowed Kazum to throw off her mental ****. He responded with one of his own, driving a burning spike right into the centre of her mind! Their essences mixed, memories exchanged like blows as the nature spirit and the ancient mage struggled for dominance.

As a student mage, Kazum had not been considered very powerful. He had no natural talent like his fellows, and it was widely thought that he would not even graduate. Kazum had been told again and again that this was the way of the world. The strong take and the weak submit. If he had not the strength to grasp the title of mage then he did not deserve it.

Elody snapped his mental probe in two, turning his attack back on itself and collapsing the connection. Kazum leapt to the left as the ground he'd been standing on erupted with a thousand spikes of ice. The blow was so close that it ripped his robe!

He was grinning. Smiling. Magical fire burned around him, and he laughed.

"You're not as weak as I feared!" He said to her. "You're certainly no primal spirit, but you're a lot further along than I thought! How many centuries have you been dead?"

"That's none of your concern!"

She battered him with a wave of water but he conjured a shield of ice against which it broke. Then he transmuted the ice to steam and sent it flashing towards her. Elody was not as weak to this attack as a living human would be - she had no body to burn - but the sudden heat was distracting and Kazum used the moment to form a dozen mirror images. Each one then cast a binding spell, launching a loop of light which somehow managed to secure itself around Elody's spirit. She cried out in surprise and felt herself start to be drawn in.

"Strength," Roared Kazum, sweat beading his brow. "Is all that matters in this world! Power! The power to change others! The power to change yourself! The weak suffer and the strong grow stronger! Knowing this, what fool would choose to defend the weak? Why would you sacrifice yourself for them? You are an immortal spirit! In a hundred years, in a thousand, you will still be here! Why do you care so much about the slaves?"

Elody snarled, struggling against the bindings. They were dragging her down, growing stronger every moment. The question he asked made her hesitate only for a moment. Eternal, she might have been, but that did not mean that other lives mattered less. In fact they mattered more! For she had all of time to enjoy her existence, but mortals had only a brief span. Knowing this, how could she not sacrifice for them? She would have an eternity to recover.

"Because I chose!" She roared. "And if that is a bad choice, let it be so! But I will not step aside. That is my strength."

"So be it."

The bindings grew tighter and it became clear that he intended to crush her to nothing, but Elody was flexible and thanks to her time with Vrasha, far more adaptable than most of her kind. She reached for more water. She was sure that Kazum would shield against it, and he did. But at the very last moment she transmuted it to boiling steam as he had done and it flowed around his shield!

The mirror images flashed out of existence and the binding collapsed. The real Kazum vanished and re-appeared safely some feet away. He growled, rising to his feet just in time to endure a blistering series of strikes from Elody. His staff whirled through the air, shielding against them one by one. But each strike was closer than the last until finally she mashed a blow into his chest and crashed him against the wall of one of the buildings! His staff flew from his hand as he sunk to the ground and spat blood.

Elody rose above him, still drawing on her power. Kazum was hurt and tired, but she was not. She gathered strength to strike the final blow but Kazum spoke a single word and she froze. Her body simply stopped obeying her. The world ground to a halt, and even the flow of magic became frozen. Elody tried to look around but not even her eyes would turn. It was as if the whole world had simply stopped.

Kazum rose to his feet, brushing off his robe.

"Time stop." He said to her. "The ultimate peak of the mage's art. Far beyond almost any normal wizard. Yet to become an archmage you must master it. That is what separates a true archmage from a wizard who has merely claimed the title. You are powerful, spirit. Far beyond most of my foes. But I _have _faced greater threats."

She could not move. She could not speak. Her power was frozen just like her form. Somehow though, she could still think. She could watch as he approached, her mind screaming for her body to act.

"I told you that an enslaved nature spirit is a desirable acquisition for a mage," he said to her. "I could claim you now. Make you my ****. Alter your mind so that you never even could conceive of another way."

No! Elody raged. She would not allow it! She couldn't!

His palm glowed as he gestured towards where her presence hung. A golden light enveloped her fully and he spoke again.

"However I respect your power even if it is misplaced. I will not shame you with slavery. I shall merely end you."

Elody screamed then, the light became intense, scouring her every cell and every nerve. She howled, feeling herself cut into pieces as her spectral form was shattered and scattered. Her mind was torn in two, and then those parts broken, and her very soul dissolved by the wizard's spell.

Kazum looked for another few moments and then dropped the magic. Things were quiet now. The water had returned to normal. He said nothing for several minutes until one of his acolytes finally found the courage to approach.

"Is...is she dead, Archmage?"

"She died a long time ago," Kazum said. "A nature spirit is formed when a human soul refuses to leave the world. They become trapped here and meld with the elements around them. The woman you saw has not existed for hundreds of years at least. However, in practical terms yes. I broke her and she will not be able to reform. We have seen the last of that spirit."