Eta 4 Magnma 7 December 5 11:15
It was night. The kind of night that makes you look over your shoulder, to lock your door, to close the shutters. It seemed to crush you, make you want to get where you were going a little faster. Even with the planet Daelea's 4 moons, only slivers of light made it to the ground due to the heavy canopy of leaves over the village of Frostford and the surrounding area.
A heavily cloaked figure was running through the trees, sprinting so fast that he was a blur to most people's eyes, but somehow never breaking so much as a twig, or causing even a rustle in the trees. If one looked really closely, they would notice that his feet were always a few inches away from the ground. While someone watching the cloaked figure might think he was a wraith or a demon, Lieutenant Gavin was neither. He was, however, in deep shit.
'Dammit! I knew I shouldn't have taken this scouting post in this remote town with these country bumpkins. What are the chances that someone would attack a soldier in the mage corp randomly?? I didn't even see their face, if I didn't use my wind shield I would be screwed.'
Gavin quickly looked back, sending out a dozen wind blades that left gouges in the trees behind him half a foot thick, but heard no cry of pain or surprise. For the first time in the chase so far, his steps faltered from the use of magic and his air steps spell faded, making him crash into a pile of leaves before flipping to his feet.
'I can still feel their mana signature behind me, there is no point in wasting mana to escape when they're always right on my goddamn tail. I better hold my ground and hope that the power I felt earlier was a fluke'
"I am Lt. Gavin Rosen of the Mage Corp, stand down immediately or you will be executed!"
Gavin spoke in a confident voice, but inside he was just trying not to shake. He volunteered for this post because he was a beginner tier 3 mage and had a few spells available that the army gave him for graduating, so he was far stronger than the surrounding population. He licked his lips as he looked around him in the eerily dark forest, shifting his stance whenever he heard a noise.
A silvery female laugh echoed through the leaves. "Oh wow, I am just trembling in my boots! A lieutenant? You hold so much power!." The mysterious woman laughed as she stepped out from the shadows. She wore a blood red cloak that seemed to shift colors every time she moved, from dark to light to deep red. It was so mesmerizing he almost forget she was probably about to kill him. She wore a hood but he could still see thick strands of silvery hair falling down on either side of her face. She was rather tall, about 5'6 and her stance spoke of large amounts of fighting experience.
"I'll make this nice and easy for you Gavin. Just give me the dimensional formation scroll in your pocket and I'll give you a nice and quick death. Easy as that!"
'What the hell! How does she know about the dimensional formation! That is supposed to be a state secret! Also what kind of offer is that? She's literally saying that she will kill me no matter what I do, so why should I give it to her at all? '
A dimensional formation scroll was a magically imbued scroll that was given to mages stationed in remote areas. When provided with enough mana, the scroll formed a one-way portal straight from the capital to allow troops to easily reach almost any location around the country. The only catch was that it took several minutes and total concentration to activate the scroll, so the person assigned to scout the area and carry the formation had to be well trained and strong enough to atleast run away from the danger temporarily.
"Hell no you bastard! If you want the scroll you should come and get it" Gavin tried to put up a brave front to think of a battle plan.
"Very well then, it's more fun for me this way anyways" The silvery voice responded, seeming to be on the edge of laughter at all times.
Gavin activated his air steps again to increase his agility and speed. He felt the familiar power of air magic spread through his body as he floated slightly above the ground.
'If I can't win against her outright, I better distract her and escape to alert the army!'
He rocketed towards the figure as he shot out several T2 wind blades as he pulled out his shortsword to kill her- if the multiple wind blades didn't do the trick. To Gavins surprise and outright horror, she didn't even use a spell to counter the wind blades, effortlessly dodging them while chuckling.
"Tier two wind blades? How cute"
Her disdain and the ease in which she dodged the blades scared Gavin, and instead of trying to stab her, which he now knew would be suicidal, he instead backed off and shot out the only beginner T3 spell he knew, tornado.
A swirling mass of wind formed in his hand rotating with such force it uprooted several smaller trees and left large gashes on the bigger ones. The spell shot forward with surprising speed as Gavin fell back on his butt from the mana drain.
'There is no way she can do anything against my best spell.' He thought proudly. Watching the 8-foot tower of swirling wind approach her.
That pride turned into confusion, then fear, then terror as he saw the cloaked figure raise her hand and summon a thick wall of ice directly in the path of the tornado and stop it dead in its tracks. The wind didn't even manage to rustle her cloak.
'HOLY SHIT! That's advanced magic! And the amount of energy coming off that spell was at least advanced T3!'
"Wow! A beginner Tier three spell! I didn't think you had it in you little guy!"
Gavin started trembling as the cloaked figure calmly walked towards him. Her gait was light and springy yet somehow more menacing than anything he had seen in his life. As the leaves blew around him in the forest, creating a symphony of nature and sorrow, Gavin knew that there was probably no way out of this.
'Dammit! If I'm going to die, I might as well die protecting my country!'
Before the cloaked figure could end his life, Gavin overloaded the scroll in his hands with all of the remaining mana in his body. The scroll shook and glowed brightly as tears formed on the surface of the scroll. For the first time, the cloaked women didn't seem to be happy or carefree. She recoiled as she quickly formed a thick shield of ice around Gavins body before jumping back.
"BOOOOOOOM"
The scroll exploded as the ice barrier around the formation cracked and shattered, the chunks of ice flying into the trees as the remaining energy dispersed. The ice chunks flying towards the cloaked figure simply melted when they got within ten feet of her.
"Tch."
The woman looked at the forest around her. The once serene forest now had toppled trees and uprooted ground all over the place, looking like two giants had a wrestling match.
"The Endless Tundra will not be pleased"