Chương 16: 16 Loop 0, Part 16

"Davos hits me every morning until someone tells him to stop," Kalin said.

"He hits other students. He laughs as we all bleed onto the floor. Everyone laughs. No one does anything to stop him." His hands shook. The black object began to pulse.

"But I'm the danger?" Kalin stood at the edge of the arena, his catalyst in one hand. In the other, he held something small and dark and round. It wasn't a catalyst, but I didn't like the look of it, either. His face had gone past anger into something worse, much worse. He wore the blank, hollow look of someone who knew they were going to die. Every eye was on him. Bain took one careful step toward the boy.

"Stand down, Mr. Tuffet. Things will only get worse if you persist." Bain's voice was tight. Not angry, exactly, but not pacifying, either. Kalin flinched at the name like he had been punched again.

"No!" His voice broke.

"No more. All of you make me sick." He lifted the dark orb in one hand and crushed it in his fist as he shouted a spell, " [Eirkedross, the Devourer]." Black and purple light crawled out of the crushed orb and down his arm. But there was something wrong with the spell. Usually, mana flowed in smooth, controlled waves. This moved in jagged streaks, like lightning trying to crawl through his veins. Kalin's mouth stretched into something almost like a smile, but it was broken with too many teeth.

His tongue flicked out like a snake's. I saw the veins standing out in his neck, pulsing black under his skin. Kalin fell apart at the seams. Fire swallowed him from the inside out. It came out of him like the spell had found something buried under his ribs and torn it loose. The blast cracked across the arena, hot enough that the air bent around it, and pieces of what had been Kalin struck the marble in wet, burning streaks. Someone screamed and pandemonium broke loose. A lot of someones screamed.

I should have looked away, but [Wideview] didn't let me, and the fire kept growing. Arms pulled themselves out of the flames, and then legs braced against the marble. Horns pushed through the burning mass, black and jagged and wrong. Wings tore out of the mass's back in a spray of sparks and shadow, spreading wide enough to blot out the sun. Oh. Oh, no. Kalin, what did you do? The thing that had once been Kalin swept its tail through the nearest cluster of mages. They went flying into the stands like ragdolls.

The tail kept going. It tore through the knot of aides still surrounding my uncle, scattering them across the arena floor. Through [Wideview], I saw Corwen thrown sideways by the impact. He hit the marble and didn't get up. A chunk of debris the size of a chair landed where he'd been just before, and then a second piece came down on top of him, pinning his leg.

"Uncle!" I shouted. I was over the railing before I remembered stairs existed. My shoes hit the lower wall, slipped, and caught again. I let out a breath and then I dropped the rest of the way to the arena floor. This proceded with all the grace of a sack of books tumbling off a bookshelf. My ankle screamed, but the foot was still attached. Good enough, right?

"What the hell, Laz?" Finn shouted behind me. I turned just long enough to grab the front of his robe. He had climbed after me, because of course he had. Finn's survival instincts were terrible whenever somebody else was in danger. Whenever I was in danger.

"My uncle's hurt," I said, already dragging him forward.

"You're a healer. Fix him." Finn dug his heels in so hard I almost lost my grip.

"Are you insane? I'm not going near that thing."

"Yes," I said.

"Probably. Come on."

"Laz."

"I'm not insane. My uncle had me tested." As absurd as it was, that stopped him. Finn looked past me toward Corwen's body. Then to the dragon. Fear and duty were fighting it out behind his eyes. I could see the exact moment guilt tipped the scale.

"What's your plan?" he asked. Behind us, the dragon had found easier prey. I could hear the crunch of stone. I didn't want to look, but I had no choice. The dragon had snatched one of Creed's aides who had been pinned beneath a fallen beam. It grabbed the man in one bite, lifting him free.

"Get him standing. Let him figure it out."

"That's not a plan for the dragon."

"I know." A roar shook the arena floor. Dust fell from what was left of the stands above us. God, why were there so many people still up there?

"Laz…"

"Don't worry, I'll figure out how to distract it. You help my uncle and figure out why everyone else is being a bunch of fucking cowards." Finn stared at me like I had announced I was going to seduce a hurricane. While we were arguing, Sara reached the arena floor. Probably by the stairs. Because Sara still believed in things like structural integrity and not dying stupidly, even when there was a fucking dragon in front of us. Her wand was already out.

She took in Corwen, the dragon, Finn, me, and the destroyed stands in less than a second. The dragon was busy chewing on one of Creed's lackeys.

"Tell me you have a plan," she said.

"I have a plan." Finn and Sara stared at me like I had grown a second head.

"I promise. I have a plan."

"Don't run straight at it," she said.

"Just watch for the changes to my usual style. And try to keep up." And then I ran straight at it. Behind me, Sara swore. I tried not to look at everything [Wideview] was throwing me. The bodies in the stands. The blood. The broken faculty platform. Bain retreating behind someone more important than him. Of course he'd be fine. Creed's aides scattering in their expensive robes. And my uncle was of course the one who was unconscious.

Because of all the times in the world for every fucking other person to be okay, my uncle would be the one who was hurt. That was the only part that mattered to me. The plan. I actually did have a plan. Such as it was. And it had exactly one step: Don't die before Finn gets to my uncle. But really, it was a loose adaptation of my plan from Monday. A shadow dragon, by principle, should react the same as shadow wolves. I mean, Kalin had cast both spells, after all.

If I just threw some more mana into [Enlarge], I could make a [Light] spell large enough to hit a dragon. Right? I pointed my wand at the dragon's flank and cast [Light]. A white sphere streaked across the arena and struck the dragon in the ribs. It flared against the black surface of its body like a match head on a stone. The dragon didn't acknowledge me at all. [Enlarge]. I put double the mana into it. It swelled outward, tripling in size. And for a moment, I thought it was working.

The dragon turned its head to look at the light. White radiance bloomed across the dragon's scales. The shadow recoiled at the edges, wisps of black curling away from the light. But the reaction lasted about two seconds before the dragon snorted. Then a gust of black smoke billowed out and the light faded. It dismissed me entirely. Its head swung back toward the wreckage of the stands, where easier meals were still trying to crawl free. Shit. I cast twice as many this time. [Light], [Enlarge], [Light], [Enlarge].

The second and third spheres hit the base of both wings and detonated into discs of blazing white light that lit the entire arena. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. People running in the stands shaded their eyes. God, why were there so many still up there? What were they doing? Never mind. Dumber than I was. For a heartbeat, the wings looked translucent, the shadows thinning enough that I could see the Crucible wall through them.

And then the dragon shuddered like a wet dog, and the light evaporated. Fuck. There went Plan A. I needed help. I needed my uncle on his feet. He'd know what to do. Sara finally decided to join me. As the last bit of light faded, I came to a stark conclusion. We were all going to fucking die. Of course, my panicking little mind hadn't yet consulted Sara. She had a plan of her own." [Fireball]! [Fireball]! [Fireball]! [Fireball]!" Four times in quick succession, she cast with as much mana as she could muster.

Massive [Fireball] s tore across the arena, hot enough to distort the air between us. They slammed into the dragon's shoulder, head, and wings, detonating in bursts of orange and red. The impact from the spells actually staggered the beast. One massive leg shifted backward, claws gouging the marble with an ear-shattering shriek. A thought came to mind and was immediately overshadowed as I realized something. She'd done it. Fire spread across the dragon's body, crawling along the shadow. Sara pressed the advantage.

She was already casting four more fireballs before the first set had finished burning. Sadly, this set was smaller than the one before as her mana dropped. But she placed them with careful precision, like she had been practicing these drills all year. This time, she doubled up. Shoulder and right wing. The dragon roared in pain, and I let out a cheer before realizing I should probably help.

"It's working!" Which was stupid. Because everybody knows whenever you start celebrating too soon, that's when things go to hell. It was practically an invitation for the universe to prove me wrong. The dragon shook itself. A full-body convulsion. And the fires went out. Every patch, ember, and lingering tongue of flame snuffed in an instant. The shadow surged back, denser than before. The places Sara had burned did not stay wounded.

They sealed over in thick black plates, and the white scars my [Light] spells had left across its wings folded inward like the dragon was swallowing them. And then it turned around and dropped the corpse it had been chewing on. A pair of legs landed in front of us. My stomach gurgled in a way that made me want to vomit. Fuck. Fucking hell. Okay. We needed a new plan. Now that we had its attention, we needed to keep it occupied while Finn worked his magic.

He was already hard at work, green mana flowing from his hands as he tried to figure out what was wrong with my uncle. Fire hadn't worked. Light hadn't worked. But the sound of its claws shrieking against the marble had given me an idea. If we couldn't burn it or dissolve it in light, maybe we could overwhelm it. The plan was sensory overload. If fire didn't work, maybe fireworks would." [Bang]! [Bang]! [Bang]! [Bang]! [Bang]!"

In quick succession, I let off five different firework spells, each one in a different location, an attempt to disorient a dragon. The first detonation went off three feet from the dragon's face. A second burst cracked into the air to its left. The dragon's head snapped sideways, unsure where to go, trying to get away from the deafening sound. Right side. Behind it. Directly above. Each new firework louder than the last. I felt my ears ringing. I was throwing everything I could into the disorienting pattern.

The flashes overlapped with each other, creating a stuttering, blinding cascade that turned the entire arena into a strobe. The edge of my vision pulsed red. The HUD did that when a mage got stupid with his reserves, and apparently, I had arrived at "stupid" ahead of schedule. The dragon twisted this way and that, unable to withstand the blast." [Fireball]!" Sara was casting alongside me now.

She sent a fireball into each gap between my bursts, timing her throws to land while the dragon was still reeling from the last flash. Fire and light and sound in overlapping waves. For a few glorious seconds, we had it pinned. I could see color returning to my uncle's face. I grinned. A manic smile. And then the dragon figured us out. It stopped worrying about the individual bursts. Instead, it pulled its wings tight against its body.

The shadows morphed and thickened into something that looked solid, as solid as a shield. The next [Bang] hit the surface of the shadowy shell, and the sound just stopped. It had made itself an egg. It had looked at Sara and me, at our combined assault, the best two second-years that MIRKS could offer, and decided to take a nap. I wanted to be offended. But mostly, I was relieved. The longer it was doing whatever that was, the longer Finn had to work on my uncle. The arena was finally starting to empty.

There were still screams from the upper exits. People who had been damaged by debris, crying out for help. Various faculty members shouted orders that no one seemed to be following. But without the dragon roaring, the sounds felt distant. Like they belonged to another catastrophe, happening to some other idiot besides me. Finn was behind the wreckage of a stone bench near my uncle's body. He crouched low, both hands pressed to Corwen's chest.

Green light pulsed around his fingers as he chanted "heal" over and over again. I didn't have to risk glances. [Wideview] showed me everything. But even so, I kept my focus on the egg. Staring at Finn wouldn't do anything to help us. If my uncle stood up, we won. If he didn't, we were all going to die. No matter what Finn did, the black egg in the middle of the arena was going to hatch into our death. The egg shifted. I grimaced. Its shadows folded inward, layer by layer. Sara kept throwing fireballs.

I decided to join the fray throwing more spells, even if they had been ineffective earlier. [Light], [Enlarge], [Light], [Enlarge]. I could feel my mana dwindling, and the ever-present fear of mana exhaustion crept into the back of my mind. But I pushed it aside. And then the egg grew. Each spell seemed to be powering it. It just didn't make any damn sense. Shadow was weak to light and heat. That was basic elemental magic. But the evidence was right in front of us.

"Sara, stop," I said. However it was too late. The egg cracked. A single line split it from top to bottom, and shadowy smoke leaked like a chimney. Then, the whole shell tore away in sheets, dissolving into darkness. The dragon that stepped out was much bigger. Its wingspan had grown by half, its wings brushing the edge of the stands as it unfurled. I staggered backward just from the scale. The horns had curved forward now. They no longer looked decorative. Each one looked built to kill. Its eyes had changed, too.

Before, they had flickered like smoke and flames. Now, they were solid, burning coals sunk deep into a skull that had grown sharper while we were busy feeding it. The cheekbones ridged outward. I was running out of ideas and mana. Finn was still working behind the rubble, and Corwen's chest rose and fell beneath his hands. He was alive, which meant there was still a chance. That left one job. Buy more time. There was no way we could kill this thing. In fact, I was pretty sure I was going to die.

But I couldn't let everyone else suffer. God, how could I have been such an idiot? If I had just, I don't know, talked to Kalin, reached out to him, maybe this wouldn't have happened. I shook my head and tried to focus. 69 mana left. Not enough for a real plan. Enough for one or two last ditch attempts, which was usually how my best ideas introduced themselves. If manifestation magic wasn't going to work, maybe what I needed was good old enchantment. I needed mass and impact. I needed something like [Magiball].

Truly, I hated the sport. It was awful, more screaming than this event, and often left players with concussions. But the spell itself could be used as a weapon." [Marble]." A glass sphere appeared in my hand." [Magiball]." Blue force wrapped around it until the whole sphere hummed against my palm. I held the ball aloft in my hand and cast [Enlarge]. It swelled to the size of a boulder, maybe four feet across, humming with compressed force loud enough to rattle my teeth. Costing nearly 20 mana.

I checked my bar and saw it was squarely in the red now. This was probably my last shot. I cast one more spell.

"[Gust]." [Gust - Manifestation] Cost: 5 mana. Creates a short burst of compressed air from the caster's chosen direction. Minor force. Poor damage. Minor force was fine. I needed momentum, not power. The wind picked up the [Magiball] and propelled it forward. I cast a quick [Enlarge], and the change in mass increased the speed. Ten miles an hour became one hundred miles an hour. It sped past, lightning fast, and slammed into the dragon's chest. The shell of the spell detonated.

The dragon staggered backward and roared in pain. I cast another, ignoring the warning signs. [Marble], [Magiball], [Gust], [Enlarge]. I hurled this one at the dragon's face. The impact smashed him sideways. Sara took the opening and sent five more fireballs straight into its open mouth. The dragon choked on the flames. But then it recovered. Of course it recovered. Its tail swept low, and I had to jump above it. The tail smashed through another section of the stands, turning stone into more gravel.

Behind the broken faculty platform, Finn's green healing light flickered. He turned and looked right at me. For a second, I thought it meant Corwen was waking up. Then, Finn's hands left my uncle's chest, and he ran. The dragon reared back and opened its mouth. Darkness gathered between its teeth, thicker than smoke or flame. Liquid shadow dripped onto the platform, and where it landed, it ate black holes into the stone. The dragon's head snapped down at me.