10-09-2016, 01:00 PM
The cautious advance through Mount Escorial had collapsed into a mad dash to escape from fiery death. The stench of barbequed human flesh was still in everyone’s noses as they scrambled through corridors that they had once gently maneuvered through with all the care in the world(s).
At the rear of the column, Seventeen pulled no punches. Every fifteen feet they traveled, he paused to collapse the tunnel behind them. Each ki blast from his palms was full-power, and although he came close to overdoing it a few times, he nevertheless made sure the task was done, even if a few chunks of falling stone caught his face or arms.
Their exodus continued for the longest fifteen minutes in the history of forever. It wasn’t until they spilled out into roughly circular room that the group allowed their knees to buckle beneath their panting, sweaty bodies.
“What the fuck was that?” One of the astronomers wailed as he clutched at a wound on his leg. From a quick glimpse, it looked as if he’d clipped it against a stone outcropping or something, because his pant leg was stained a deep red with his blood.
“Flan.” Jed Koopa muttered as he quickly started to wrap a bandage around a few scrapes he’d sustained during their rout. “They’re sentient monsters made out of lava that feast upon lesser creatures.”
“Oh I’ll show you a lesser creature!” One of the astronomers barked from the back of the room.
“Quiet!” Julius interjected harshly as he turned to look at Jed. “Those creatures… how do we fight back?”
The plain-looking Koopa shrugged his shoulders. “Flan are versatile creatures. They can’t be dispatched through traditional means.”
Seventeen raised a hand to get the attention for a moment. “Explosions don’t work either.” He remarked as he generated a mass of ki in his palm long enough to illustrate what he was talking about.
The Head Astronomer smiled warmly at the small reptile. “I am not a traditional individual, koopa.”
Jed snickered at the hulking wizard looming over him. “My best guess? You got spells to generate cold?” Julius and a few of the astronomers nodded their heads. “I don’t know if that will kill them, but it might be your best bet to render them useless for a while.”
I should have learned cyromancy while I was dead… Seventeen scowled at his afterlife choices. He reached behind his shoulder and checked that the Power Sword was still there. The blade was immune to fire—something he’d made sure to test prior to his volcano expedition—but there was no telling if he’d be able to do much in a fight except try and stall for time.
“Where do we go from here?” One of the astronomers asked to Julius.
“Onward,” the lead astronomer replied matter-of-factly as he gestured toward one of a few exits from their current location. “That tunnel there will take us on a winding slope up toward the magma chamber.”
“What about the creatures?”
Seventeen took that moment to add to the conversation: “I collapsed the tunnel a couple of times. I figured that will buy us some time to plan for when they eventually come at us again.”
“But how will we get out of here?” A pale-faced astronomer asked with eyes wide. “What if there’s no other exit out of the mountain?”
“Hush, Sebastian,” Julius spoke softly. “We’re still magicians. If there isn’t an exit, we will make one. Don’t forget that we are some of Dalaran’s finest.” The remark elicited a nod from the astronomer, who turned his focus back to wrapping a wound on his foot. With his followers calm for the moment, Julius glanced around until his eyes fell upon Seventeen. “Seventeen?” The cyborg turned his attention and lifted an eyebrow. “Over here,” Julius muttered before gesturing toward the far corner of the room with his head.
Pushing off his haunches, Seventeen stepped around a few of the crouched astronomers and made his way to the other side of the room. Once they were there, Julius pulled the cyborg into one of the side passages, and after they were out of sight from the rest of the group, the head astronomer half-collapsed against the stone. After a few moments of silence, he glanced down at the smaller man and shook his head. “Plan?”
“Grab and dash?” Seventeen muttered, although his tone indicated that he didn’t have much faith in his own invention. “Drop enough obstacles to slow down the flan until we find the prize. After that, we can just blast our way until we get to the surface, right?”
Julius chewed on his bottom lip for a few moments. “We may be different, but on a fundamentally level, we’re very similar.” When he realized that his remark had gone over the cyborg’s head, the astronomer offered a faint smile. “Omnilium. Our magic is tethered to our physical bodies just as much as your ability to utilized your ki.”
“You’re afraid that your boys in the other room might be out of juice by the time we’ll need all their juju?”
“Essentially,” Julius remarked. “Outside this place, magic has no such limitations, but the Omniverse has its own rules. I fear that we can’t afford to play cat-and-mouse with those creatures.”
“So we lay a mousetrap.” Seventeen replied, and before the astronomer could interject, he kept talking. “Right before the magma chamber. We stall them like we did… I can handle that, while your boys press on. Right before the chamber, we’ll park our asses and wait for the flans. Then you and your boys drop a blizzard on them. Worst-case scenario, we buy ourselves enough time to find the star piece while those things sort their shit out… am I right?”
Julius stood silent long enough that Seventeen started to feel uncomfortable, but when the astronomer spoke, he had a little more pep in his tone. “It could work. We’ll need to make sure we find a spot where we can get the flan bundled together. The last thing we need is for them to come at his from a wide arc. If we can mass them and hit them with a combined burst of freezing magic… we might just be able to take them out of the equation long enough to complete the operation!”
Sensing the shift in his ally’s attitude, Seventeen smirked and smacked the man on his impossible broad shoulder. “That’s the spirit! Now let’s get the fuck out of this place before those things catch us off-guard.”
“Aye.” Julius muttered. We’ll talk with the others on the trek to the chamber.”
At the rear of the column, Seventeen pulled no punches. Every fifteen feet they traveled, he paused to collapse the tunnel behind them. Each ki blast from his palms was full-power, and although he came close to overdoing it a few times, he nevertheless made sure the task was done, even if a few chunks of falling stone caught his face or arms.
Their exodus continued for the longest fifteen minutes in the history of forever. It wasn’t until they spilled out into roughly circular room that the group allowed their knees to buckle beneath their panting, sweaty bodies.
“What the fuck was that?” One of the astronomers wailed as he clutched at a wound on his leg. From a quick glimpse, it looked as if he’d clipped it against a stone outcropping or something, because his pant leg was stained a deep red with his blood.
“Flan.” Jed Koopa muttered as he quickly started to wrap a bandage around a few scrapes he’d sustained during their rout. “They’re sentient monsters made out of lava that feast upon lesser creatures.”
“Oh I’ll show you a lesser creature!” One of the astronomers barked from the back of the room.
“Quiet!” Julius interjected harshly as he turned to look at Jed. “Those creatures… how do we fight back?”
The plain-looking Koopa shrugged his shoulders. “Flan are versatile creatures. They can’t be dispatched through traditional means.”
Seventeen raised a hand to get the attention for a moment. “Explosions don’t work either.” He remarked as he generated a mass of ki in his palm long enough to illustrate what he was talking about.
The Head Astronomer smiled warmly at the small reptile. “I am not a traditional individual, koopa.”
Jed snickered at the hulking wizard looming over him. “My best guess? You got spells to generate cold?” Julius and a few of the astronomers nodded their heads. “I don’t know if that will kill them, but it might be your best bet to render them useless for a while.”
I should have learned cyromancy while I was dead… Seventeen scowled at his afterlife choices. He reached behind his shoulder and checked that the Power Sword was still there. The blade was immune to fire—something he’d made sure to test prior to his volcano expedition—but there was no telling if he’d be able to do much in a fight except try and stall for time.
“Where do we go from here?” One of the astronomers asked to Julius.
“Onward,” the lead astronomer replied matter-of-factly as he gestured toward one of a few exits from their current location. “That tunnel there will take us on a winding slope up toward the magma chamber.”
“What about the creatures?”
Seventeen took that moment to add to the conversation: “I collapsed the tunnel a couple of times. I figured that will buy us some time to plan for when they eventually come at us again.”
“But how will we get out of here?” A pale-faced astronomer asked with eyes wide. “What if there’s no other exit out of the mountain?”
“Hush, Sebastian,” Julius spoke softly. “We’re still magicians. If there isn’t an exit, we will make one. Don’t forget that we are some of Dalaran’s finest.” The remark elicited a nod from the astronomer, who turned his focus back to wrapping a wound on his foot. With his followers calm for the moment, Julius glanced around until his eyes fell upon Seventeen. “Seventeen?” The cyborg turned his attention and lifted an eyebrow. “Over here,” Julius muttered before gesturing toward the far corner of the room with his head.
Pushing off his haunches, Seventeen stepped around a few of the crouched astronomers and made his way to the other side of the room. Once they were there, Julius pulled the cyborg into one of the side passages, and after they were out of sight from the rest of the group, the head astronomer half-collapsed against the stone. After a few moments of silence, he glanced down at the smaller man and shook his head. “Plan?”
“Grab and dash?” Seventeen muttered, although his tone indicated that he didn’t have much faith in his own invention. “Drop enough obstacles to slow down the flan until we find the prize. After that, we can just blast our way until we get to the surface, right?”
Julius chewed on his bottom lip for a few moments. “We may be different, but on a fundamentally level, we’re very similar.” When he realized that his remark had gone over the cyborg’s head, the astronomer offered a faint smile. “Omnilium. Our magic is tethered to our physical bodies just as much as your ability to utilized your ki.”
“You’re afraid that your boys in the other room might be out of juice by the time we’ll need all their juju?”
“Essentially,” Julius remarked. “Outside this place, magic has no such limitations, but the Omniverse has its own rules. I fear that we can’t afford to play cat-and-mouse with those creatures.”
“So we lay a mousetrap.” Seventeen replied, and before the astronomer could interject, he kept talking. “Right before the magma chamber. We stall them like we did… I can handle that, while your boys press on. Right before the chamber, we’ll park our asses and wait for the flans. Then you and your boys drop a blizzard on them. Worst-case scenario, we buy ourselves enough time to find the star piece while those things sort their shit out… am I right?”
Julius stood silent long enough that Seventeen started to feel uncomfortable, but when the astronomer spoke, he had a little more pep in his tone. “It could work. We’ll need to make sure we find a spot where we can get the flan bundled together. The last thing we need is for them to come at his from a wide arc. If we can mass them and hit them with a combined burst of freezing magic… we might just be able to take them out of the equation long enough to complete the operation!”
Sensing the shift in his ally’s attitude, Seventeen smirked and smacked the man on his impossible broad shoulder. “That’s the spirit! Now let’s get the fuck out of this place before those things catch us off-guard.”
“Aye.” Julius muttered. We’ll talk with the others on the trek to the chamber.”
![[Image: 17.jpg]](http://omniverse-rpg.com/images/17.jpg)