The Magi's Society

As Malicious shouted his command, the man named Turnar rushed forward with a familiar inhuman speed. Kalesi quickly matched with her own skillful blocks and parries, but seemed slower than her opponent. From Mevi’s perspective, Kalesi was almost being thrown around as she jumped and dodged the man’s attacks, she was moving at normal paces more often than not and Turnar used his fresh stamina to press Kalesi putting himself in advantageous positions.

While their fight began, the remaining children and Mevi stood helplessly on the other pipeway. Mevi yearned to help Kalesi, but with the leering eyes of their assailants she wouldn’t dare do anything to disrupt the sparring. The last thing Kalesi needed was to be worried Mevi might fall from the cable, or be somehow captured by one of the villans who followed Malicious. Those very individuals stood with mixed faces of amusement, boredom, or even slight confusion. Their master’s sudden whim seemed to not be what was expected, as most ignored the fight preferring to eagerly watch the assembled bodies who had been attempting to flee from the Rust.

Mevi frantically sought some way to aid Kalesi, even from such a far distance. What few abilities she had learned to use would only be useful if she could get closer. Even if she could use something like her flare, or to project a barrier, it would almost certainly cause the currently docile bandits to turn on them the moment they got the chance. Mevi’s only chance was that Kalesi had some sort of plan, she brokered a deal for them to escape and Mevi refused to believe they truly planned to leave the survivors behind in these people’s clutches. As Mevi raced to think of a way to aid Kalesi, she remembered something Kalesi had mentioned. Some Magicae have the ability to aid or heal others, Murano evidently was able to do this for her in fact. If, like her other abilities that seemed to manifest where she desired, Mevi could learn to heal or bolster someone…

Mevi began setting out to her own strange work. Sitting down and focusing all her attention and imagination into her desire to heal and aid. Her primary test subject would have to be herself, so as to not draw attention. Mevi could vaguely remember what Murano did for her, waving his hand over her body while a dull and warm glow engulfed her. She pictured that, and found the spot where she was stepped on, it felt like there might be a large bruise forming. Focusing on her memory, and channeling her desire to help and heal, Mevi forced herself to be enveloped by her own healing rays. Opening her eyes, each of her Maige’s gemstones glowed a soft orange light. As she maintained the small luminescence, her pain began to fade away and she felt almost invigorated. Yet as she did so, her senses warned her of a two headed danger.

As Mevi’s power channeled, and her senses heightened, she could clearly hear the rapid shambling of Rusted approaching them. Soon they would be descended upon the remaining children and Mevi herself. In the same instance Mevi could feel the creeping sensation from her wrists and chests telling her of oncoming pain and discomfort. The ability to heal her body physically and bolster herself seemed to drain her quickly, despite it seeming to have barely affected Murano during his mystical treatments. Regardless, Mevi knew she had limited time, and limited chances to use the newfound ability of rejuvenation. She might be able to separate some of the effects, but she had to hurry regardless.

Mevi returned her attention to Kalesi, who at this point was struggling to keep up with the powerful gladiator she fought against. This, Turnar, seemed to gain some kind of enjoyment while fighting against the struggling Kalesi. Mevi hurried her thoughts to her mentor, focusing what willpower remained within her to reach out to Kalesi. Mevi’s thoughts were conflicted, her mysticism untested and unsure, but she focused on her single desire to make Kalesi stronger. Her injuries were minor, but her strength was fading, with every deflection or doge more of her stamina was sapped away. Mevi channeled what strength she had within herself and voided it from herself and into Kalesi.

Mevi felt a great strain enter her body, the same feeling of her vitality draining by the second. As she continued to focus, she stole a glance at Kalesi. Kalesi had been cornered, being beaten as she covered her head and neck against a relentless assault from Turnar. The wicked man seemed to enjoy the beating, increasing his ferocity with every attack. Yet unbeknownst to the man, or even Malicious and the assembled crowd, Mevi could sense her power. It gently flowed into the air currents, and blew its strength into Kalesi. While it was at first difficult to notice, Kalesi began standing taller and could take the blows without flinching. As she rose to her full height, deflecting and avoiding attacks all the while, Kalesi seemed powerful. Her looming stature seemed to rise above her opponent, and for a solitary moment Kalesi basked in her own renewed strength. Then the fight was redoubled, what once was a one sided beatdown turned to an evened duel. The two exchanged blow for blow, Kalesi switching to a combination of offense and defense from her previous strategy of endurance.

Both Turnar and his master Malicious, seemed surprised by the turn of events. The chosen gladiator had been reveling in his unmatched power from only moments before, but now he was becoming quickly overwhelmed. Kalesi was unaware of Mevi’s attempts to aid her, but seemed cautious of her new strength regardless. Yet taking every given advantage was something Kalesi exploited well, and soon the fight had entirely turned. The superhuman speed and power sent echoing clashes across the chasms around them. Turnar tried to maintain the fight’s presence in the gap between Malicious’ raiders and the survivors, but Kalesi’s pure power drove him to seek out alternate platforms in his own attempts to avoid her and escape injury.

While the two gladiators sparred, Mevi continued to maintain her conscious desire to bolster Kalesi. The power it consumed from her drained her quickly. Her untrained talent with her Maige was rapidly causing the strange blackness to creep up her veins and into her body. Maintaining the link between herself and Kalesi, Mevi didn’t know how much longer she could hold before it was forcibly snapped. The farther Kalesi traveled in her fight, the more strain Mevi was put under.

While Mevi watched on with divided attention, the sounds of snarling Rusted continued to become louder and less distant. A howl suddenly rang out, all attention was drawn from the battle to the direction the survivors had fled from. From out of the distant mists a Rusted’s form charged with a hobbled sprint, clearly targeting the clustered group of estranged children. As the beast charged, the gathered bandits became shaken, and soon several other Rusted entered plain view. As the creatures approached, Mevi forced herself to release her aid from Kalesi and erect a barrier as she did before. The pipeway they took shelter on was less wide than the last, but the barrier would need to be tall to prevent the decaying bodies from attempting to scale the distance.

Just as the few Rusted would have jumped at the terrified children, an orange glow erected itself as barrier between threat and threatened. The awe and surprise struck into the bandits, even Malicious himself, stunning them for a few moments. Kalesi took the opportunity to ambush her foe and with a swift strike, through his vacant guard, Turnar was knocked into the crowd of assembled bandits. His now unconscious body flew and tumbled into the assembled enemies, collapsing several as they fell under the man’s weight and momentum. Turning towards Mevi’s group, Kalesi shouted her pupil’s name in desperate worry. Mevi called backwards, to the children who were still terrified of both ends of the cable, “Cross the cable! I can’t hold this long!”

As the sudden voice, sound of a clattering body, and snarling shouts all rang out in the same moments the children snapped back into reality. Realizing what was happening, they all began to assemble towards the cable. Yet their rush and panic sent each of them onto the cable at the same time. The thick wire wavered and shook under the weight of eight bodies, eventually becoming too much for the simple cable. As they rushed and pushed to crawl across the expanse, the end on Mevi’s side trembled and collapsed under the weight. The terrified children cried out as gravity suddenly took hold of them. Clinging to the wire with all their might, they managed to swing back and forth as the cable was suddenly falling with speed. Just as the previous anchor, the remaining cable’s latch wavered, but before it could snap some of the survivors rushed to grab the cable’s length and begin to heft it, barely stopping the cable’s snapping and fall.

As the children dangled above an endless chasm, and Mevi maintained a barrier against a handful of Rusted bodies, more ferocious calls and cries echoed out in the distance. As the panic consumed the bodies present, more Rusted charged forward. A small horde had somehow followed and tracked their escape. The numbers of now charging, and clawing, Rusted could rival the retinue following Malicious. Many now writhed amongst themselves, some falling off the edge of the pipe in their attempt to reach the still living, but the bulk of them clawed and attempted to climb the orange barrier. Their flesh seared and burnt, but Mevi could feel their weight was rapidly draining what little strength she had left.

The bandits seemed still stunned, and now scared, being slow to react to what was happening around them. The few survivors who rushed to grab the wavering cable called for assistance. Kalesi looked back and forth, between her struggling pupil and the imminent death of the dangling children, and quickly made her decision. Activating her suit, Kalesi charged over the gap to rush to Mevi. Landing on the other side, Kalesi looked briefly at the horde beyond the barrier, but then gathered Mevi to activate her suit again to cross the distance.

As Mevi felt her body lurch into the air, she let free her focus on her barrier. The Rusted stumbled and fell atop each other as their angry momentum carried them forward. As Kalesi flew over the gap, a discharge of energy electrified the air with a loud blast. Kalesi seemed to see something Mevi couldn't, and managed to shift her body and weight to point her back towards Malicious and his bandits. The tight grip on Mevi loosened, and then the two crashed into the metal pipeway.

Mevi gathered herself, disoriented and confused at what just happened. The Rusted wailed and cried out across the gap, but it didn’t take them long to notice the still-dangling children. The Rusted quickly began leaping, attempting to reach and grab the almost fallen children. As Mevi looked out at the growing horde, only separated by a short expanse, she looked down at Kalesi. Unsure why they crashed so suddenly, Mevi worried her mystical aid somehow drained Kalesi’s stamina and she couldn't land normally. To Mevi’s terror, Kalesi was hunched over in pain. Kalesi’s entire back was scorched with hot fire. The heat and burn dissipated, whatever discharged into her delt its damage and dissolved into the air, leaving melted wargear melding with charred flesh. Mevi lost her understanding of the situation, not knowing what she was seeing or what to do with panic quickly consuming her. As Mevi watched in horror, Kalesi pushed herself up and limped to the unstable cable. Her right arm was almost entirely scorched, but she reached down with her left and activated what was left of her suit’s enhancements. Yanking hard, she managed to do what five panicked adults couldn’t, she forced herself to pull the terrorized children upwards to freedom in one great toss.

The children flew up with an alarming speed, as the cable flew above the group’s heads, and they landed with clattering thuds into the metal surface. After performing her last duty, Kalesi collapsed to her knees and began to fall forward off the edge. Mevi’s body moved before her brain understood what she saw, and despite her own immense pain from both the barrier and her aid given to Kalesi, Mevi lunged for Kalesi to save her. Mevi grasped what remained of Kalesi’s right arm, and several of the adults among the survivors grabbed her as well, and Kalesi was pulled from the side of the pipeway to relative safety.

Mevi was speechless, and as Kalesi’s body tumbled to solid ground she quietly sat over Kalesi’s now still form. Unsure what had actually happened, and still processing the last few second’s string of events, Mevi caught a glimpse of Malicious out of the corner of her eye. The presence of evil seemed to be standing where Malicious once was, it held a smoking weapon that had obviously discharged. The creature’s red skin seemed to boil with evil anger, while his wicked smirk perceived him as a satisfied devil looming over its slain prey. Some great darkness began to overwhelm Mevi’s senses, enough that all ambient sound silenced itself around her.

Mevi began to feel as if she was losing consciousness. She felt her mind slipping away. But instead of drowning into sleep, she was beckoned by a fell voice within her chest. It summoned her to take revenge, and with her Maige she could force her will to be done. Her foggy vision clouded further, and sounds echoed around her but without any meaning. Her hallucination of Malicious’ devilish form twisted further, sparking some unknown passion within her. An overwhelming hatred that promised to well over and burst its anger like a volcano. This vague feeling, a voice without a source, promised to avenge Kalesi and make those that caused Mevi’s pain to disappear. Mevi gave into this fell voice, some dark thought from the bottom of her soul at the deepest level. It overtook her, and promised to make things right, she would only need watch. And so she did.

Spreading out from Mevi’s knelt form, a wave of dark dread spread across the perceivable expanse in all directions. A whirlwind of hate billowed around her, and all color and sound was drained from the space darkened by Mevi’s overwhelming presence. The survivors seemed to try and call out, to yell and scream, to talk to the silently weeping children, but no sound was allowed to exist. Mevi’s ragged cloth robes began to tear from the pressure and power around her, any who once stood next to her in worry were forced to back away as razor sharp wind began like a tornado, tearing into anything that wasn’t Mevi or Kalesi. Rising to her feet, with a will that wasn’t her own, Mevi’s skin had completely blackened from the infection of her Maige, the warm orange glow shifted to a piercing white that promised only death and bone.

The shrill cries of the Rusted were silenced, their mob had seemed to somehow calm and stop as the overwhelming darkness enveloped all in a layer of despair. The panicking bandits began to try to shout, or to escape back the way they came, but most quickly found no purchase beyond the fog that was now as thick as stone. Malicious stood, in basking horror, watching the monster he created. Words attempted to reach Mevi’s ears, but no sound but her own heartbeat echoed in the void. The slow thumping of a double drum echoed in the world now devoid of color. The overwhelming power of fear, hate, anguish, and pain pressured all but the most willful to their knees in flattened supplication. Malicious fought against the growing pressure, but Mevi simply pointed at him. The man attempted to say something, to shout out at some eldritch creature he couldn't understand, but instead his voice was mute and his vitality drained. Before the eyes of those gathered, Malicious was drained of all that he was and had been, what remnant of colored tint disappeared, his bones brittled and became dust, his hair fell out, and his body crumpled becoming one with the dust around them.

As Mevi stood in righteous fury, no longer truly herself, she felt something grab her leg. Looking down, the weak frame of Kalesi had pushed herself towards Mevi’s feet and her left hand grabbed vainly at Mevi’s leg.

Suddenly, Mevi could understand things again. She was overwhelmed by something, something completely alien to her own soul. It held control over her, and lulled her into a dazed state of hate. Kalesi was alive, and in desperate need of help and medical attention. In her state, focus was impossible. Mevi’s psyche was focused on all things around her at once, every minute detail of sound, movement, and energy was transmitted to her all at once with incredible speed and detail. From her strange perspective, looking into herself and being able to perceive all things around her at once, she could feel a distant rumbling from high above. The watchful eyes of floating devices, transports maybe, buzzing across the artificial skies with incredible speed. Kalesi needed to reach these people, she needed to survive. Mevi needed to force this to happen, even if she declared war on some unknown part of herself.

Mevi seemed to be tearing the assembled bandits apart one by one. With the overwhelming stimuli, their screams and decimation was ignored as like all the other randomly processed information. Some attempted to flee by jumping free of the pipeway’s platform, but the dark presence that controlled Mevi simply retrieved them with shadowy appendages and forced them to watch the carnage. This possession wasn’t her will, it couldn’t even be part of her deepest desires. Something had taken over, and she fought against its usurpation with all her might. This entity within herself seemed to almost cackle in its glee, performing heinous acts against those that had wronged Mevi. Twisting her memories into wells of extreme hate, it was all that Mevi could do to fall into the temptation of destroying the bandits and all of the Pipes.

Mevi remembered her Maige, it responded to her desire and formed a method to achieve it. Yet now she had two desires within herself, and was fighting for dominance. Mevi focused all she had into Kalesi, her desire to protect, help, and be with her. She didn’t need death, revenge, or power. She needed Kalesi, and her life alongside her. Mevi fought in a mental duel against the presence within her, its inane cries of revenge echoing into meaningless noise. Mevi held strong, and its own conflicting desires ate away at its own consciousness. What remained of Mevi’s want for vengeance and battle dwindled, and the dark form that had possessed her seemed to become docile. With her conscious thought, and desire against the useless slaughter, her strange power responded by quelling the presence within herself. The dark mind that invaded her soul was quiet and bound.

As Mevi put away the dark thought, displacing it back into the darkest depths within herself, Mevi could see the color return to the world. What dust that had once billowed in the air was now displaced. An empty space was left in its place, where the bare metal of the pipes shone by the bright light that always emanated from the Barge. Far above, as Mevi collapsed to the ground, many strangely shaped ships flew and intercepted one another. Radiant blues flew alongside glowing silver, seeming to fight against stone gray and pitch black.

As Mevi’s last conscious thoughts began to disappear, a large vessel of unknowable form descended, casting a shadow above her. The radiant blue shone like a memory of bright skies over a canvas of empty pasture. As the vessel landed, blasting strange lights and energy in random directions, Mevi could not fight against her body any longer. Mevi was forced into her deepest dreams, once again.