After the lessons and laughter, the would-be teacher, elven family, and the now fully clothed Solaris decided it would be best to wait another day before departing, as they’d spent a large majority of it playing around with their new learned skills. Matahari taught them 1 other thing about the clothing protection spell: if the clothes become wet, be it from a heavy rain or a spell, the fire resistance spell will be broken.

After a light breakfast, the party took their leave of Matahari’s small house and headed northeast with Matahari leading the way. Fortunately for the 2 Flame Keepers, the weather had improved a bit from the previous days, however, the skies were still quite gray with occasional spots of sunlight. This did not slow their pace however, as they arrived within 2 days as Matahari had expected. They set up camp for the night not far from the academy. A hearty meal and a good night’s rest recovered them from their travels and they decided to cautiously approach the academy.

Matahari stealthily took to the trees surrounding the academy, nimbly jumping from branch to branch, keeping up with Solaris and company, who all stayed on the ground. He drew a few curious looks, but most just seemed to assume he was an odd student and continued on their way. He was fortunate thus far that no administrators had noticed him, or there would most assuredly be trouble.

Toan walked at the lead of the ground force, with Solaris in the middle, and Jinyu tailing some dozen or so meters behind with Ellie, who was looking around filled with wonder and amazement. Since it had been some number of years since they had been to the academy, no one seemed to recognize Toan and Jinyu. Of course, no one knew Ellie, and Solaris was a bit of an oddity, as was Matahari darting around above them, yet fortunately, neither of them seemed to draw more attention than usual.

Beforehand, they decided to go to library to see if they could hunt down any books that may have been missed during the guardian race information purge nearly a decade ago. After crossing most of the academy grounds, they came to the central administration building, which still seemed slightly eerie, but this went unnoticed by Solaris and Toan, who weren’t too strong in the magical arts, and were quite a distance ahead.

Ellie was consciously unaware of the dark energy swirling around the administration building, however she instinctively clung to her mother as they passed it. Matahari was still crossing the grounds via treetop and noticed the dark energy about the building. He stopped to take a closer look, and noticed sever sets of eyes from various windows watching the party passing below. The unsettling feeling that dwelled within Matahari’s stomach was doubled as he noticed the gazes of the administrators.

Matahari continued through the treetops, which were more spread out as he continued. He glanced back at the administration building once last time, then caught up with everyone else. They’d finally arrived at the library and Matahari took up a stealthy yet comfortable position within a tree, keeping watch over the surrounding area. As time passed, it seemed fewer students were headed in that direction. It was unsettling, however he just leaned against the trunk of the tree and kept watch.



Inside the library, the party of 3 and a half searched for books pertaining to the history of the supposedly lost races. Solaris, Jinyu, and Toan gave up after searching for some hours. They were ~disappointed, yet not surprised by the lack of material they discovered. The collection which was removed from the library by Toan and Jinyu were most likely the largest collection of guardian race literature on campus.

After they finished discussing their lack of success, they finally noticed that Ellie was missing. About 30 seconds of searching revealed her to be in a section filed with children’s books. She’d found a picture book which showed paintings of the guardian races. The artwork was pretty, yet there was no useful information in the book. Jinyu snuck the book into Ellie’s bag anyways as Ellie seemed to quite enjoy it, and it was likely only a matter of time before the book would be found and destroyed.

They continued their search for a few more minutes before Toan realized something. “This place is surprisingly empty. There should be more students here than there are.” It was indeed as Toan said, the library was empty with the exception of the 4 of them. Not even a librarian seemed to be present.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this” Jinyu muttered as she pulled Ellie closer to her. Mere seconds after she finished that sentence, an explosion was heard from outside. Flames lit upper windows of the library near the entrance. Ignoring the fact that they were in a library, and academic grounds, they drew their weapons and raced for the entrance.

~

Matahari glared at the wall of flames he created in front of the half a dozen guards who approached and surrounded the entrance to the library. He knew their cover was blow. He revealed himself and bought time for his comrades to devise a plan of action. The guards turned around, looking confused as to exactly where the fireball came from. He fired another 3, blocking them from all sides, just in time for the reinforcements to show up. His tree was now surrounded by another dozen guards. They aimed their spears and bows at him.

He took the opportunity to make it rain fire from the branches below him, causing the guards to scatter. He left the relative safely to the tree, landing on the ground while surrounding himself with fire. He would most certainly not have the problem of losing clothing as he headed to the next available tree, leaving fire in his wake.

~

Inside the library, Solaris and company all cast their various fireproof spells. Jinyu recast the spells on Solaris, making sure they were done properly. Solaris lead the way out, holding onto the staff he’d taken from Matahari. He walked through the ring of fire surrounding the guards and made short work of the trapped and frightened half-a-dozen men.

The flames soon died down and Toan made his way out, followed a bit behind by Jinyu and Ellie. They followed the explosions in the distance, knowing that eventually it would lead to Matahari. Toan turned to Jinyu. “You and Ellie get out of here.” Jinyu paused in her tracks, Ellie ran into the back of her. Before she could even reply, Solaris spoke up.

“All of you may want to get out of here while you still can. Things are most likely only going to….” He was cut off midsentence as he was sent flying and into the ground. Toan and Jinyu’s gazes fell upon the source of the attack. The academy apparently sent out mage guards as well, one of which apparently specialized in wind magic. There were 3 standing, combat ready. They raised their wands or staffs in Solaris’s direction, paying no attention to Toan, Jinyu, or Ellie.

“Mr. Solaris!” Ellie cried out, she ran over to him before either Toan or Jinyu could stop her. They gasped as the mages paused, as if unsure of what to do. Toan raised his bow at the mages, who finally decided to turn their attention to him and his wife. Jinyu ran to catch up to Ellie, who was beside the now standing, and mildly pissed off Solaris.

“That wasn’t very nice” Solaris muttered as he took a place between Ellie and the mages. The center mage, who was the one who seemed to know wind magic, started a chant after apparently making up his mind.

It took Toan a considerably shorter amount of time to make a decision, load his bow, and send an arrow flying towards the mage. The mage stopped his cast to dodge. With his focus totally broken, he’d have to start again. The other 2 mages stepped forward in his place, ready to cast spell of their own.

“Well, looks like I’ve got their attention” Toan muttered to himself as he dodged a small wave and fireball that were aimed at him. “Too slow!” he taunted.

The wind mage finally managed to finish his spell, sending a large wall of air, strong enough to see, towards Solaris and Ellie. Solaris braced for the impact, however he knew that it would be of little use. As the wall approached, he expected an impact. He received none, and instead heard the collision of a staff with the stone in front of him. He saw a different wall of air to his sides as he finally brought his head up. Jinyu was standing in front of him, she turned around and smiled reassuringly. “I eventually learned everything they taught here at the academy, and then some. It just took me a while.”

“Good to know. Can you cover Ellie while I deal with this mage?” Solaris questioned.

“I have to babysit my husband too. Be quick please.” Jinyu raised her staff and sent a wall of wind in front of her husband, who’d managed to fall to the ground from all the dodging. She finished off by casting highwind on herself and comrades.

Solaris was already surprisingly fast, and the speed boost made things almost too easy for him, or so he thought as he closed the gap between himself and the mages in a matter of seconds. However, he was still noticed by the mages as 2 of them fired wind and fire spells at him. They were direct hits, though only the wind spell managed to do anything to him, stopping his advance. In the time it took for them to slow him down, and him to prepare to strike, the water mage finished a cast. Solaris was knocked back with a light water spell, the only one the mage had enough time to cast.

The spell was weak, but against the fire-based fighter, the damage was quite noticeable. Solaris staggered back and noticed the fiendish grin on the water mage’s face. The wind and fire mages changed their targets to Toan and Jinyu respectively.

Toan was at a horrible disadvantage, being an earth-based archer against a wind-based mage. His magical defense was low, and worsened by the elemental differences. In addition, his attacks would be weaker, if they could even hit through the wind barrier flowing around the mage.

Jinyu didn’t seem to care as she exchanged attacks with the fire mage. She seemed to be slightly stronger, but even so, it would still take some time for her to deal with her opponent.

Solaris reached for his staff as the water mage readied a much stronger spell. It was certain that this wasn’t your average mage as he chanted clearly, yet quickly, a result of years of study. To make matters worse, he’d been joined by several over mages and regular guards. He was staring at wands of 3 water mages, 2 fire, 1 wind who wasn’t paying attention to Toan, as well as 1 earth mage. 7 guards also began to close in around him as he pulled himself to his feet. There would be no dodging the assault that was about to befall him. Backed by that much water magic, he would be temporarily weakened enough to be killed by everything else.

The spells were chanted and charged while the guards closed the distance slowly. Solaris glanced back to see Toan hardly managing against his opponent, and even further back, Jinyu still locked in mage combat. Even Ellie had a guard watching her, waiting for a chance to do something. She was making her way closer towards him and Jinyu, chanting slowly and quietly. The guard finally noticed and approached her. She’d finished casting some spell he wasn’t familiar with and then she took off, using her already impressive speed along with highwind. She stopped for a moment near Solaris, cast something else, and was gone again, to do the same thing to her father.

Her luck ran out however as the guard caught up to her, seeing as he was also an elf, and was much faster than her to begin with. He glared down at her with a contemptuous smile. “Where do ya’ think you’re going?”

Ellie took a firm hold of her frying pan and assumed her normal awkward fighting stance. The guard taunted, "Who are you? 'The little chef that could?’ Can you even cook?!" he laughed aloud, holding his sides.

Ellie frowned briefly while grasping the handle of her trusty frying pan. She then gave her biggest smile and replied "Nope, mommy says I'll only get in the way!" and with that, she swung with all her might, connecting heavy cast-iron pan cleanly with the guard’s jaw. The unsuspecting guard quickly slipped into unconsciousness.

The charged attacks were finally released at Solaris, who was completely surrounded by now. He raised his staff in what would most assuredly be a futile attempt to block some of the incoming damage. He jumped back as far as he could manage as the spells came together. A total of 3 waves, 2 large fireballs, 1 small tornado, and a rock spike all collided in the space just in front of him, expanding to consume him as well.

A huge cloud of dust rose into the air as the mass of magical energy collided, even scattering the guards in all directions. When the dust cleared, what came into view were 2 overlapped craters, and Solaris, missing the left half of his shirt, as well as the bottom portion of his pants, which had now become shorts. Unfortunately, it was unclear which was in better condition, the clothes, or the Flame Keeper wearing them.

The guards left standing were wondering why there were 2 craters, as they also noticed that they were surrounded by fire. They glanced around at each other, then at the golden-haired man lying on the ground. Toan took the opportunity to snipe a water mage and both wind mages while they were staring at the aftermath of the spells. He noticed something was amiss right after the mages fell to the ground in pain, and his eyes fell upon the holes left behind. “Why are there 2 holes?” he muttered while dodging a fireball counterattack.

Indeed, everyone seemed to be baffled by the overlapping holes. Well, almost everyone. Jinyu approached the crater as fire rained not far from her. Under the rain of fire, nothing would, or could approach her as she made her way nearer to Solaris. Ellie followed her mother closely, surprisingly unafraid of the rain of flames. Toan picked off all except the last 2 water mages and set his sights on the guards who were trying to reach his wife and daughter.

Jinyu reached Solaris along with Ellie and began to chant a long spell as the guards inched closer amidst the rain of fire. The fireballs became slightly more accurate, picking off those closest to her and sending them rolling in agony. Within those few moments, she’d finished most of her cast as 2 guards finally reached her. Unfortunately for one of them, Toan’s arrow landed perfectly in the center of his forehead, killing him instantly. The other made the mistake of not paying attention to Ellie, who swung her frying pan close to her and let it go… straight into his nose. He fell to the ground with a clearly broken nose as the frying pan bounced back and smacked Ellie on the head with considerably less force. She fell the ground in tears after getting hit by the leftover force from her own attack.

Ellie’s antics bought just enough time for Jinyu to finish her cast as a large tornado formed around her, Ellie, Solaris, and the craters, as well as Toan who’d closed the distance between them. They wouldn’t be able to run in the current state, but they aimed to buy enough time to at least check on Solaris, who still hadn’t moved.

The rain of fire continued, and started falling into the giant tornado, turning it into a rapidly spinning vortex of fiery death for all foolish enough to approach it. Matahari soon emerged through the flames as though he were taking a leisurely stroll.

“Making a mess of things I see?” Matahari grinned. “At least between the dual-element tornado that’s here, it shouldn’t be easy for them to get to us.” He glanced down at Solaris. “He picks the worst time for napping doesn’t he?” he said with a grim smile. “I think he’ll be ok after a few minutes. Those spells fired would’ve probably killed him if you and I hadn’t stepped in” he said while glancing at Jinyu. She returned his comment with a mere nod. Toan checked to see if Solaris was even still alive while Ellie stood casting her well-practiced healing spell repeatedly. The water based spell quickly cleared up the light wounds he’d received, and since he wasn’t really moving or active in the first place, wouldn’t really have a negative effect on him, even if only for a moment.

Ellie stopped casting her spells as she had managed to exhaust herself and fell to the ground, or actually on Solaris’s right arm. His eyebrows twitched as he noticed an impact and he managed to move his arm from under the weight that was laying on it. Ellie noticed immediately and hugged him as he opened his eyes. He glanced around to see happy smiles from those around him.

“I wasn’t expecting to survive that honestly. How long have I been out? Did we win?” Solaris rambled off a short list of questions.

“Ellie cast a water defense spell on you so the water portion of those attacks didn’t hurt as much. Matahari and I cast very high power spells at the same time as those mages hit, blocking more of the damage. Unfortunately, that much power was still quite enough to knock out for a few minutes. Also, we haven’t won, and we’re trying to figure out how to get out of this mess” Jinyu informed him.

“Well, that sucks. How many are left?”

This time it was Toan who answered, “A dozen or so guards and…”

The wall of the fire tornado began to break down. Actually, at this point it was back to a regular tornado as apparently most of the fire had been put out. The tornado soon collapsed afterward and revealed more guards and mages. Apparently the ruckus they caused was enough to gain the attention of every staff member on the academy grounds as they were now surrounded by a small army of people, each armed with some sort of weapon, either for casting or fighting.

They formed a circle, standing back to back with one another, and glancing around only to realize that they were outnumbered at least 10 to 1. In addition, there appeared to be at least 5 water mages, as well as fighters with various attribute enchantments on their weapons. It was quite clear that the academy administration had no intention of allowing them to leave.

The academy staff parted along the middle and a shriveled old man appeared. Jinyu’s, Toan’s, and Solaris’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the old man. The old headmaster which Jinyu and Toan knew, was also the same old man from the library in the elven capital of Aglarost.

Solaris, Toan, and Jinyu glanced at the old man, then back and each other. “An old ‘friend’ of yours too?” Matahari grinned without a trace of surprise. He also seemed to know of this man. They all gazed upon the shriveled figure as he was being escorted by 2 mages and 2 guards who appeared to be of a high rank. The old man laughed in an eerie, high voice and gazed upon the intruders.

“I couldn’t ask for more. The 2 runaways from nearly 10 years ago, a Flame Keeper who I ran into some months ago, and the other who I’d been hunting for several months now. It’s like my birthday and Christmas all in one, I get to destroy them all!”

“So, I have 2 things to say about that: 1. Why do you want to kill us all? 2. LIKE HELL WE’D LET YOU!” Solaris growled.

The would-be-army that stood on either side of the headmaster murmured amongst themselves. Whispers could be heard throughout the crowd “Flame Keepers? Aren’t those extinct?”, “Haven’t you read history books, those look like 2 right there…”, “No way…”, “What’s going on here?” and other general questions and concerns about the situation. Students even began to appear among the crowd and between the gaps in buildings.

“I will reveal NOTHING to you!” the old man shouted as he snatched a large staff from one of the mages beside him. He started chanting something, which made all those around him step back in awe and fear as he resonated with a fearsome dark aura. It wasn’t the same level as Siralos, but it was still quite strong, and probably more than almost anyone there had seen.

Solaris and Matahari seemed unamused as they merely spoke in unison, “Oh really?” The pair of Flame Keepers had completely forgotten about the small army and bodyguards as they each activated nova. Jinyu, quickly recast the fire resistance spells on herself, Toan, and Ellie in a single go. She then turned to Solaris and recast the spell for fire resistant clothing, as it had apparently been cancelled by the water damage he took earlier. Jinyu gently pulled on her husband and daughter, pulling them away from the Flame Keepers and out of the craters. She cast all the defensive spells she knew, including a minor wind barrier, as well as water and wind resistance spells. She recast highwind on them all as well, just for good measure. Her and her family stood back, taking a support role as they watched the 2 warriors in front of them prepare to face off against the mass of people in front of them… or at least the headmaster.

With the family back a safe distance, both Solaris and Matahari activated blaze burn, though Matahari’s version included small fireballs and embers circling around him. Solaris raised his cracked and slightly broken staff in an attack stance and locked his eyes on the headmaster. “So, I’m going to return the favor for that trip you sent me and my friend on in the library…”

Matahari followed up perfectly “…and I’ll be sure to return the favor for those ‘kind visitors’ you sent to my home. To these words, about half the army that was before them backed off completely, as if unsure of what to do. The other have inversely raised their weapons or began chanting. Matahari waved his staff before him, creating a wave of fire which spread along the ground in front of him. It offered a sufficient distraction to the enemies, causing them to stop their actions, and giving the pair enough time to move. They split up with Solaris heading left and Matahari heading right, towards the edges of the mass of people in front of them.

The numbers thinned considerably as now about 40% of the original mass withdrew after coming to a decision not to fight. Matahari and Solaris each easily took out about 10 of the less combat experienced staff each, leaving about a quarter of the original forces. Unfortunately for them, this quarter were the experienced mages and fighters, as well as the headmaster and his elite guard. They also forgot that the headmaster was still chanting this entire time, and had now drifted into the air due to the power behind whatever he was trying to cast. Lightning began to flash though the now clouded sky, as the magical powers in the area were enough to distort the balance of nature itself.

Jinyu decided to give a quick lesson to Ellie, who was clinging to her fearfully. “Ellie, always remember that spells of a certain power gain other attributes, and that all high level attack spells may have lighting added to them. It’s just how things work.”

Ellie nodded meekly and watched as Solaris and Matahari attempted to meet in the middle of the group of enemies. While this was going on, 3 people appeared in front of them. It was unclear whether they were students or staff members, but they almost certainly weren’t enemies, as they had their backs turned to Toan and company, and were intently watching the battle. The trio began casting something all the while, and held it, as if waiting.

At this time, the headmaster finally finished his spell, as lightning and purple clouds swirled through the sky. Solaris and Matahari did indeed meet up, however, they didn’t reach the headmaster as planned. Instead, they were now nearly completely surrounded. Their only escape route would be running back to Toan and family, which they didn’t even consider an option.

“We done goofed” Matahari said with a grim laugh to Solaris.

“Yeah, this is gonna sting a bit, though I’ve probably been hit harder.”

“What could hit you harder than that spell he’s using?”

“An asshole who looks nearly identical me. It’s a long story, I’ll tell you if you survive.”

“Got yourself a deal, don’t go dying on me now” Matahari grinned as he raised his guard for the dark spell that was released towards them.

They didn’t run, nor hide. It would only have endangered more people than needed. The pair stood side by side with their guards raised, making their best attempt to block the beam of darkness fired at them. They were swallowed by a purple light which spread out slightly and continued behind him, directly towards their friends.

The 3 mysterious people released their spells, creating a light barrier similar to Pinzu’s which blocked most of the beam. Even so, it was still too much, even for the 3 mages, and their barrier quickly broke, knocking them back into the elven family. They were all hit by the end of the blast, and although weakened severely, it still did heavy damage to Toan and Ellie, who were not accustomed much to magic in the first place. The 3 mages who attempted to block the blast took far more damage, and also served as shields for the family. Their injuries were severe, even at first glance, and it was unclear if they would survive, but the family couldn’t very well be worried with that at the moment and they puled themselves out from under the bodies of their protectors. Toan stood and glanced at his family. Ellie had several cuts and bruises. She was bleeding in various places, and her legs shook as she pulled herself to her feet. Yet she did not cry. Instead, she stood, leaning heavily on her right leg, which wasn’t as injured, and started trying to cast healing spells on him and Jinyu. Her frying pan hung by her side and rested on the ground. Jinyu was in slightly better shape, though she was bleeding slightly from her forehead, and was bruised as well. Her long dress was in tatters, exposing more of her now bruised and scratched legs. She hardly managed to hold onto her broken staff, which she pulled apart, revealing a much more compact wand.

“That’s new honey” Toan said with a shaky laugh.

Jinyu glanced at her husband. His pale skin was bruised in numerous places, his left arm hung oddly at his side as he’d dislocated his shoulder, and of course, he had cuts and gashes on various parts of his body as well. The top half of his tunic was also destroyed, leaving the bottom portion hanging over his pants. His bow was also broken in 2, and was completely useless. After observing him for a moment, she simply replied, “it’s something I had created some years ago. I never thought it would be used like this though. I hoped I wouldn’t have to use magic for combat. Either way, seems like we’re in a bit over our heads huh?”

“Well, we can’t exactly turn around and walk out of here now can we?”

“Nope,” Toan muttered. He focused on the fading purple glow that covered the Flame Keepers who were still in the now much larger crater.

Solaris and Matahari were still there, not only did their bodies remain in-tact, but they were still standing, albeit hardly. They stood there, covered in blood and gashes from the dark energy, and unarmed as their weapons had been destroyed.

“Looks like condensing our auras was enough to keep us from getting killed, but I don’t think I can fight in this condition” Matahari commented.

“That’s cuz you’re a mage, you don’t ‘fight’ in the first place” Solaris teased.

“Yeah, yeah. So, got a plan?”

“Nope, and I assume you don’t either.”

“If I did, I wouldn’t bother asking you” Matahari joked.

“Well, I guess we’re fine until someone fire something else at us. Seems fighters are smarter than to approach.”

Indeed, it was exactly as Solaris had stated. After the chaos they’d caused, all of the short ranged people kept quite a distance, leaving the mages and headmaster to inflict the damage. Their conversation was interrupted by the headmaster. “Oh, right, you are weak against water, let me try something else instead…” and with that, he signaled the mages beside him, and the 3 of them began chanting another spell, of the water variety.

Solaris felt a most unpleasant chill run down his spine. It was the rarely felt fear of impending death as he prepared to charge at the mages. Matahari created small fireballs and fired them at the mages. They were blocked by various spells of a few of the over forgotten mages nearby. Solaris charged and was knocked in various directions by wind and earth spells, leaving him lying on the ground with absolutely no damage inflicted on his enemies.

“Sol, we should probably try and get out of here.” Matahari commented after their assaults proved futile”

“As if you’re going to leave this place alive!” The headmaster interrupted his own cast to make his point, then he finished, creating a spear of water which he aimed directly at Solaris.

Solaris lay on the ground, cursing himself for his weakness to magic, knowing that if that spell hit, it would most assuredly mean his end. Matahari began another cast, creating a large fireball, which he used to block the other 2 much smaller water spears which were aimed at him. He collapsed after using the last of his energy.

Jinyu began casting something in a nearly inaudible tone. Ellie, who had learned the highwind spell, cast in on herself yet again, and took her frying pan in hand. They both stopped for a moment to observe Toan, who despite being weaponless, stood firm, and gazed intently at the battle. He too was speaking in a nearly inaudible voice, what sounded like a spell cast.

“Any last words?” The headmaster asked before letting the spear go.

Solaris didn’t reply as he simply stared at the mass of water sharpened to a point and aimed at him. The spell spear was released and he prepared for the end as he lay there. The ground started to rumble as the spear approached, and a large pillar of earth rose up from the ground. This was easily pierced by the water spear, though it absorbed a lot of the power. The spear continued and was then met a strong wall of air, which distorted the mass of water even more, and absorbed more of its power, though it still wasn’t enough to stop the thing. The last things that intercepted the projectile were a frying pan, and Ellie, who knew no magic capable of slowing that assault even a little.

The water hardly left a dent in the frying pan, however the small dent left meant that that spell hit with enough force to send the pan, and the once again reshaped water, flying straight into Ellie, who wasn’t much of a match for the force of the spell. However, between her frying pan and herself, the spell was stopped, and merely splashed Solaris as if a bucket of water was thrown on him.

Solaris watched as Ellie fell to the ground in front of him after absorbing the remainder of the spell’s power. She lay there curled up and motionless, bruised and bloody.

A gasp could be heard from everyone, including the remainder of the mass of people assisting the headmaster. Jinyu and Toan, who’d used the last of their magical power to cast those spells, could do nothing but stand there with their mouths agape. Even Solaris was speechless for a moment. The headmaster frowned and merely uttered “Now I have to cast it all over again…”

At that moment, Solaris felt the heat of a fire he’d never felt before as he managed to lift himself up. The headmaster gazed upon him and started chanting, while Solaris picked up Ellie and held the child in his arms. He remembered that her elemental affinity was water, so even such a high powered spell would hurt her less than him. She’d undoubtedly saved his life. He turned around and walked over to Toan and Jinyu and handed Ellie over to them. “She’s still alive, take her and get out of here. Take the squishy mage too if you can…”

With that, he turned around and stared at the headmaster. He reactivated nova and blaze burn and any pain he felt from before melted away as his anger consumed him. Without him realizing it, his aura had strengthened, increasing in both size and temperature as he walked over toward the fallen Matahari. He picked him up and tossed him over to Toan after Toan was forced back by the blazing aura.

The headmaster growled as he finished his spell “Are you done?” Solaris nodded and the old wizard let another spell fly. It was the same watery missile that was fired before. This time however, Solaris would have none of it as he leapt into the air, completely avoiding the spell. He landed after the large surge of water passed, which nearly knocked Jinyu and Toan off their feet.

“Hmm, well, I suppose I could just deal with the small fries first…” The headmaster muttered to himself. He then began firing a series of spells at Toan and Jinyu, who were weighed down by Matahari and Ellie.

The first were wind spells which knocked them down, the second were water spells which actually missed, and then came small fireballs. They were weak, and didn’t really do any damage. That and Toan used Matahari’s fireproof body as a shield from them. The spells continued for a few more seconds, and stopped when they started being intercepted by random students and staff members. Moments later, 5 people, a mix of students and staff members placed themselves in the line of spell fire. Sever different types of barriers and defensive magic were cast, preventing any further magic based damage against the injured family.

With the wave of a hand, the remaining armed guards, who had done almost nothing up til now, moved towards them. They never made it there as they too were intercepted by more students and staff. There was quite a split in the course of action the academy inhabitants were taking. However, many seemed to be siding with Solaris and company, and took on the role of defending the exhausted warriors. A look around revealed skirmishes breaking out all over the campus between those who were loyal to the headmaster and those who’d witness bits and pieces of the combat.

Weapons clashing and explosions could be heard as academy staff members faced off against colleagues and students fired spells in defense. Buildings fell and fires raged. The academy had become a warzone, though none of this reached Solaris, who was thinking of the elven family who helped him so much. He planted his feet firmly into the ground, a bit too firmly as the force from his stance cracked the ground beneath his feet. He grit his teeth and focused his energy into his hand as if guided by an unseen force.

Solaris’s hand began to glow with a red-orange flame and he waved it through the air in an arc. The flame traced the path of his fingers and took shape, forming a crescent blade much like the one that was found w/ him in the woods. This one however was far larger and heavier. At this point, it was clear that it was a blade, though it seemed deformed as it was a half-circle.

The headmaster fired water spells again, straight at Solaris, who he finally deemed to be a ‘threat’. Solaris was not amused or fearful in the least as he deflected all of the incoming water spells with the oddly shaped blade. Even the damage taken from the spells detonation didn’t seem anywhere near as high. The headmaster gasped as he glared at Solaris and his eyes fell upon Solaris’s tattoo. It was glowing, seemingly changing shape, from a 4 point star with a crescent moon to a 3 point star of the same design.

“What the hell is this?!” The headmaster shrieked in fear at the sight.

Solaris, completely oblivious to the transformation of his tattoo, replied coldly “You hit the kid, and pissed of the wrong person.” As he finished his sentence, his aura expanded yet again, and the random dirt and pebbles displaced from all of the combat began to float around him as if they were weightless, which they in fact were. Now some of the other headmaster loyalists began to fire various low level spells, testing the effect they would have. Half of the weaker spells never even made it to Solaris as they were either weakened into nothingness by the blazing aura or redirected by the reversed gravity flow surrounding him.

The spells fired at him increased in strength, and a few archers decided to join in, firing dozens of arrows. By the time the arrows reached him, they were already on fire, and severely weakened in power, once again due to the gravity inversion. No melee fighter dared approach, or could for that matter, leaving Solaris vulnerable only to mid-level and higher magic attacks.

Unfortunately for the powered up Solaris, the unoccupied enemies were in fact all mid to high level mages. They soon noticed the irregularities and started being serious. Those who used fire also switched to secondary elements of possible, as fire was useless. The wind spells started hitting him, but had no effect on Solaris as he slowly made his way toward the headmaster, who decided to cast incendiary guard and some defensive spells on himself.

The spells continued to rain upon Solaris, who blocked only the water spells. His skin was pieces and gashed by various earth magic, and the wind magic merely caused him to sway side to side a bit. Fire was useless against him already so he didn’t worry with it. He was occasionally knocked back by dark spells as well. Even so, he continued forward, gradually slowing down due to the continuous magical assault. He moved as if in a trance, moving forward single-mindedly with the goal of reaching the headmaster.

Eventually, his advance was stopped by the piling of rocks in front of him. The mages finally started surrounding him with rock pillars of varying sizes. Blocking spells became difficult as well with the rocks in the way, and he took quite a few heavy spell hits as he attempted to break the pillars down.

Reason finally decided to make its return to him, as he realized that even though he was more-or-less a tank at this point, he was still one man. Even if he was extremely strong, against the forces he was up against now, he would meet his end if he were to continue. However, he couldn’t catch a break, as his strength, which was fueled by his anger, began to fade with his return to reason.

His aura shrank and the reverse gravity well went with it, leaving him vulnerable to the arrows being fired at him. He blocked as many as he could with his blade, but still being stuck in the rocks made dodging impossible. He struggled to hold onto the blade as his arm was pierced by an arrow. Wind spells hit him at full force, and still hurt, yet he did not move, as he was trapped in the rock formations around him.

Yet again, he looked death in the face as the damage taken began to catch up to him along with the continuous damage he was taking at the moment. He glanced up at the sky, wondering what to do, when suddenly, 3 light flares rose up high above him and exploded, releasing a blinding light. In the moments following that, the arrows and spells stopped and the rocks binding him were removed, seemingly by more rocks.

Finally, the situation at hand caught up to him, the fact that the academy grounds were now a warzone. The mages and archers who were attacking him were now under fire from other mages and being chased by students carrying anything they could find to use as weapons, as well as the occasional student archer.

“This way, quickly!” he heard those words directed at him as he adjusted to the light from the flares. He followed the voice back behind him, where Toan and Jinyu once stood. A mixed group consisting of students and staff were waving to him, signaling him to quickly come to them.

He made his way over as fast as he could, given the damage he’d taken. They lead him around a partially collapsed building to a horse drawn cart. The cart was loaded with his 4 comrades and would be pulled by 4 horses.

At the reigns were 2 academy staff members. They lead the way off of the academy ground, escorted by at least a dozen people. Jinyu and Toan looked at their daughter with worried expressions as they exited the academy grounds. Their escort stopped at the edge of the campus and ran back into combat to buy time for their escape.

They looked back at the academy, which was now ablaze, then at each other, and at the newly acquired oddity which Solaris held.

Solaris looked at Ellie, then at the drivers of their wagon. “Where are we going?”

“Well, we aren’t sure actually. The elven capital would be good for medical help, but I don’t think that’s the safest place for you. Though if you’ll allow us, we will accompany you and help keep watch until you make a reasonable recovery” one of the drivers replied.

“Well, that’s nice of you. How far is the next closest skydock?”

“That would be Favon, a day’s ride from here. We could be in Aglarost within hours though.

“Then I guess we’ll head to Aglarost. We’ve taken some pretty heavy injuries after all” Solaris groaned. “The next time I see that old guy… he’s dead.” A thought then crossed Solaris’s mind. “Think it’s possible to get to Azidon in 2 days?”

“What? Why would you want to go there? You can get medical help in…” the driver protested.

“I’m a lord of Azidon manor, I don’t think medical attention would be a problem, and I know we’d be safe there, assuming you want to go” Solaris said while glancing around at the members in the wagon.

“Well, after all this, I suppose so. I always wanted to go see other places. As long as Ellie gets the attention she needs, I’m ok with it.” Toan nodded in agreement with his wife.

“Then we’ll have the most serious injuries checked out in Aglarost while travel arrangements are made.”

They rode off towards the elven capital as they glanced back towards the academy, which was ablaze under a violet-colored sky.