Storm the Castle

[Summer]

Ebony’s voice cut off with a squeak as one of the dragonlings raised their makeshift bludgeon to the sky, bringing it over its head in a mighty, so unbelievably predictable swing. Child’s play, the storm spirit would think. Would. Had Morene’s little comment not set his blood boiling. Rage bubbled up to the surface in an instant, his heart pounding, his vision wavering. It took him but an instant to read the darkling, from the way it shifted its feet, the way it swung its club, even the glint in its eyes telling exactly where it was aiming. More choreographed than a stage play.

It would be a simple attack, rush forward before it had the chance to finish its swing. The electricity was already surging through his body, building up, soon to reach critical levels. Just a step or two closer, just one more second, and it’d be good as dead. One devastating strike with all his strength behind it and to hell with what Morene said. Nothing could withstand his lightning. He willed his body forward, leg muscles tensing, trying to spring forward like lightning and strike the brute into dust. But even through the hot, frothing fury coursing through his veins, icy claws grasped his heart. Two simultaneous, conflicting emotions.

Strike him down now!
Get back! It’s too strong!

A whirlwind of emotions raged through him, half of him pushing with all his might to spring forward and tear that berserker limb from limb. And to hell with the consequences! Who gave a shit if he lost an arm! So what if that club smashed his ribs! He’d tear that damn lizard apart faster than it could him!

And the other half scrambling to flee. It’s too big! Get back before it starts swinging for real! A hit from that would just end him! It wasn’t worth the risk. Get back and run and try to use range instead of melee. But why?

Why?

Why wasn’t he attacking?
Why wasn’t he running?

Panic seized him, instinct taking over as conscious decisions vied for control. In an instant, Summer shattered the spell he had been weaving, all the electrical magic he’s been channeling dispersing into his body with a jolt. His heart raced, but different. An organ pounding with a rhythm he wasn’t used to. He knew rage, he knew worry, and he knew desperation. But this wasn’t any of those. The tables turned, the moment he could have seized to take out the dragonling passed, and now the cudgel was racing right for his body. His eyes widened. He needed a spell. Another spell. Something he could throw together and cast in a moment. His mind, thrown into turmoil, scrambled for the tempestuous supply of mana constantly swirling through his body. 

Push it back, buy another moment. Throw it away with a force of nature, a raging squall. In an instant, superheated air exploded to life with a roar, blasting forward from his body and slamming against the wall of scale, but even all its muscle wasn’t enough to help it. The dragonling was thrown clear off its feet, spinning as the strength from its swing turned its ragdolling body over in the air. Not a moment later, it hit the ground with a heavy thud, loose rock and gravel bouncing away from its massive form as it rolled and skidded along.

Now! Strike now! His mind screamed. Centuries of combat experience just begged him to take advantage of this, but still, his legs would not move.

No! What about the other one? An unfamiliar... something yelled back, not with words, but with feelings, trying to turn his body towards the second one, and toward the sound of gunfire. 

No! Not his! The realization that he’d lost in his frenzy crashed right back into the storm spirit, and immediately he relinquished the control he’d been holding. And all the strength Ebony had been using to try and fight against Summer was suddenly thrown into a spin. Her stormy cloak flared out spectacularly as her body was sent spinning. And spinning. And spinning. And tottering. Muted browns and glowing oranges melded together in a brilliant blur as the fusion stumbled and spun, desperately trying to regain their balance.

Instinctively, Summer shifted Ebony’s feet, aiming to slam her foot into the ground in the direction they were spinning to stop them then and there. And the young mage did just the same. Her black and purple boot shot downwards, but rather than the earthshaking thud both of them had been expecting, they were instead met with a loud, dull splash. Radiant oranges exploded through their still-spinning vision, splashing over the fusion, and down they went. Unnatural, infernal heat completely engulfed their right leg as they fell to the side, their left leg bending at the knee and straining with every ounce of strength to keep them from plummeting completely into the moat of lava.

A set of black and purple gloved hands slammed against the hot earth with tremendous force, and Ebony’s teeth clenched as she fought to keep them from falling any further. Mentally, the youkai immediately set to work, hastily tearing as much mana free as he could spare. Whatever panic had been there, clawing at his heart, was swiftly crushed, replaced only with the need to act.

Reduce the heat, mitigate the damage. Her lava-dipped right leg flash-froze as the nature of an Antarctic winter coursed through it, and simultaneously, he threw together the most powerful regenerative spell he could, all to mitigate the damage of them dunking her fucking foot into lava the best he could. The molten rock sizzled and cracked, but where the spirit expected to feel agony, dying down and flaring back up like spring winds as the regenerative spell healed up the burns as they came, he felt... nothing. But heard everything, the gunfire no longer destroying his ears.

The rapid-fire reports from Morene’s gun stopped in an instant, immediately replaced by a surprised, almost garbled yell. Whatever it was, he couldn’t hear it over the still-echoing gunshots, nor the blood pounding in Eb’s ears, blasting through her body with an adrenaline-fueled heart. Her head shot up, their vision no longer spinning so much, letting them actually get their bearings straight for once. The knight-errant dropped her hand down a bit (wait where’d her gun go?), her foe still reeling from the lead-fueled onslaught, and she instinctively turned to face the fusion, her body tensing up as she prepared to spring forward. 

“Stop!” Stormy Night barked out, Ebony’s voice rougher, more aggressive than anyone had heard before, and instantly their friend faltered. Though it was unmistakably Summer speaking, the voice still threw her for a loop. “Darklings!” Her voice strained a bit as the fusion swiftly hauled herself out of the lava pool, and though her words were quick, snappy, and decidedly vague, Morene quickly got the message, pointing her hand back at the dragonling in front of her. She hadn’t yet noticed all the lesser lizards starting to scamper up to her, but for the fusion, there were more pressing matters to deal with. They flopped forward, liquid stone dripping off their now-free leg and sizzling as it spilled over the scorching rock beneath them. 

Instinctively, even though it didn’t hurt them, Summer seized control of their shared body, panic all but forgotten as pure adrenaline raced through their veins. He forced her hands beneath her and shoved the mage roughly to her feet. Or at least, tried to. Her right leg, heavier than normal, refused to bend. On hands and knee, relying heavily on the one leg that could still move, the fusion shot a glance down towards her lower half, heart hammering in her chest, fearing the worst. Only for that fear to prove unfounded. Instead of a missing leg, or something burned down to the bone, the found it simply... encased in rock. Black, cracked volcanic stone imprisoned her right leg, right up to her upper thigh.

Also her clothes were on fire.

“Honey, your outfi-!”

“I know!” Morene started, but Summer snapped right back, his harsh, impatient tone betraying just how absolutely fucking done with this shit he was. He didn’t have time to deal with this god damn pool of lava. And the fierce conflagration currently eating away at Ebony’s shorts? That could fuck right the fuck off. He had things to kill! Wind roared, exploding to life and billowing out over the moat behind them, before slamming a terrifyingly powerful gust of superheated air into their back. The wind washed over them, immediately extinguishing the raging fire (and the numerous smaller ones) eating away at her outfit, and also sending their light body tumbling. Their shared vision spun in a sickening blur, and sharp rocks bashed and nicked their rolling form as they bounced over the landscape, before colliding with the soldier’s leg and collapsing into a heap on the ground, eyes turned up to the ashen sky. The thin shell of volcanic rock no longer imprisoned her leg, crumbling and cracking away from the force of their tumble. The wall of armor that towered over them spared a quick glance down.

Somehow, despite the frothing rage that had been threatening to overtake the duo not more than a few seconds ago, there existed an almost serene calm. A rational light broke through the dark clouds of their anger. The eye of the storm. A quick thumbs-up was the only response from the daze, but otherwise unhurt fusion, the spinning in their vision already fading away. Her eyes, once again clear and stable, quickly flicked up, towards where the second dragonling should have been. The air stirred before the fusion’s gaze had even settled, before they’d even laid eyes upon where the brute should have been. And she found it exactly where expected, looming above Morene, club raised high above its head, ready to pound her into dust. The soldier was already moving, well aware of the beast, as its earthshaking tread wasn't exactly unnoticeable. She started to bring her weapon to bear, easily in time to parry the strike.

Except before she got that chance, a powerful blast of wind slammed up from beneath the mace-wielding lizard, throwing it clear up into the sky, tumbling over rapidly, its large wigs doing nothing to abate the rolling. “You’re welcome.” She said cockily, an arrogant tone that immediately gave away who was talking. And that tone was all Morene needed to tell that the fusion was doing perfectly alright. The knight immediately threw her attention back towards the two dragonlings, quickly drawing her polearm.

Ebony rolled over their shared body, away from the soldier so that they didn’t interrupt her anymore, and pushed them to her feet. Something had come over the spirit of storms. No matter how much energy and raged boiled inside of him, he found himself strangely calm. Almost... content, in a way. Content to let the mage do all the moving. Now wasn’t the time to go berserk. If he tried to do anything, he’d just clash with his friend, and it’d end up just like that clusterfuck had. He couldn’t let his anger get the better of him now, or nothing would ever get done.

There was no time to speak. They couldn’t plan, they couldn’t confer, they couldn’t organize and set up signals. At this moment, there was no way to just... take a breather and work out how exactly they were going to move and work together with this shared body of theirs. Which meant every erroneous action he took, every instinctive move he made only brought them one step closer to death. So he just resolved himself to not move. In a melee like this, where victory or defeat often came down to simply shifting your feet wrong, having two consciousnesses fighting over where to move... It just made everything so...

Exhilarating.
Terrifying.
And above all, dangerous. 

No matter how exciting it was, he couldn’t push Eb too much. No. He needed to stay still, he needed to relax, and watch, and wait for the perfect moments to strike. He couldn’t wrest control from her anymore. All he could do was trust in her, in the small, timid girl he was fused with. Even as he felt the heavy form of one of the many lesser lizards jumping onto Ebony’s small form, he didn’t react. The young mage could handle it.

And indeed she did, almost nonchalantly shrugging it off, unconsciously using the storm spirit’s massive strength to simply shake it loose and kick it to the side. Right into the pool of lava she’d just clawed her way out of. With a scream and a hiss, the darkling began thrashing and struggling, desperately trying to escape before the molten rock burned it away. But that was of no consequence to either of them. They didn’t dwell on it, and not even the smallest twinge of guilt crossed their heart. Ebony’s attention was devoted almost entirely to her bigger foes, and she stoically stared down the first charging dragonling, eyes locked on it, lips moving in an all-too-edgy chant as she weaved together a spell of her own.

Yet, in spite of all the bravado she showed, Summer could still feel those paralyzing, icy claws gripping the young mage’s heart. Perhaps what rooted her in place wasn’t the magic she was channeling, but the sheer terror of seeing that wall of muscle bearing down upon her. But she never faltered. Her voice didn’t waver, and she didn’t stumble over any words, even as each thunderous step the grey-scaled behemoth took shook the very ground beneath her feet.

But perhaps it was a stupid courage, the storm spirit thought. Ebony’s magical power boiled to the surface, carefully controlled, and he immediately knew what she was casting. And it was big. A spell big enough that it couldn’t be cast in a second or two. It’d take several to get the mana cost lower enough for her to handle. That was far too much time, the brute would be on them long before she finished. And even if she did, there was no doubt in his mind that it wouldn’t be able to scare it off. So he prepared himself, already probing for his own power with a practiced ease, readying another blast of wind, and preparing to unleash it at a moment’s notice. No matter how tough their body was, no matter how strong the still-present regenerative spell was, a direct hit to the head from that thing would still end them. So he needed to be prepared.

Fortunately, it never came to that. Black flashed through the corner of their vision up to right where they were looking, dead center. Morene, poleaxe raised and level, threw herself at the small dragon. The speartip of her polearm skewered the giant lizard’s gut, and the two fighters were thrown to a standstill, their strength and momentum not enough to overcome the other. But at that moment, the soldier didn’t need to overcome her foe, she didn’t need to overpower the darkling and throw it back. All she needed to do was stop it, and that was just what she did. 

The beast threw its head back, maw opening up and letting loose a powerful roar, echoing and reverberating off the walls of the castle and the far hill. A scream of pure agony, born from the speartip buried into its stomach, so loud that it gave everything, even the brainless darkspawn scrabbling about, a moment of pause. A well-needed moment that let the focused mage finish off her spell.

Hellish heat and deep purple, almost black flames erupted from Ebony’s body, wrapping around her, enveloping her completely, but still somehow not obscuring their shared vision. Screams and cries that couldn’t even hope to match the one born from the dragonling, but still just as agonizing, exploded out from the smaller, brutish lizards all around the fusion, and in an instant, they were sent scurrying. Even Morene, who was focused on trying to extract her polearm from the impaled darkling, seemed to flinch at the sudden wave of infernal heat.

The calm, focused look on the young mage’s face cracked, her lips spreading, baring her teeth in a downright monstrous grin. It took all of Summer’s willpower to suppress the cruel laugh he could feel trying to rise up. These sorts of spells were always so wonderfully brutal. No one could even get close to them, lest they succumb to the hellish flames that Ebony was wreathed in. Except he’d force them to anyway...