Arlie looked around, today had been a long day. The sun was trending towards setting, the light wouldn’t start to fade for another two handspans. It was almost time to get back to the vilge, Eric and his guards had already started escorting the captive bandits and rescued women back to Voros. He’d also taken Thron with him, but she had stayed out with the twins to check out the strange area the elf woman had been talking about.

  Sure enough, the mana here felt off, the forest was usually filled with Earth and Nature-aligned mana, but she couldn’t feel any of it. Varixies had stable weather all year round and was often rather warm. Snow was only found at the higher elevations, but here in this part of the forest, the air was chilly, bitingly so. A yer of frost clung to every leaf.

  Rose shivered, “It’s so cold!”

  Lily nodded, “It was so warm a second ago.”

  “I don’t see any Ryrks at all, but I think I know why they were acting weird.”

  “Why?”

  “Ryrks prefer warm air, they don’t like the cold. My guess is they were migrating their nests to somewhere warmer.”

  Rose frowned, “I don’t bme them, can we go back?”

  “The elf wasn’t mistaken, the mana here is all wrong, it's been changed. Should be primarily Nature and Earth with a hint of fire. Instead we have Ice with something else, something wrong. It doesn’t feel right.”

  “Why don’t I like the sound of that?”

  “You shouldn’t, unnatural mana never means anything good.”

  The twins shared a look, “How bad?”

  Arlie gestured deeper into the strange zone, “I don’t know yet, but the longer we leave this the worse it will get.”

  Lily spoke up, “Let's finish this quickly, before we freeze then.”

  With that they cut the chatter. None of them felt much like talking, not in a biting cold like this. Eyes peeled they moved deeper into the cold frost-den woods, not a bird in sight. The forest was eerily silent, the chatter of insects was just as silent as the missing birds nor were any of the other forest creatures present.

  In silence they kept going, with each passing moment the tension in the air grew, far above the sun slowly fell lower and lower. The shadows grew longer as the group found their way into a clearing, the earth was torn, trees were fallen everywhere, some scorched as if they had been in a fire.

  Arlie paused at the lip of the depression, and looked around, “Well this isn’t something you see every day.”

  Rose frowned, “What could have done this?”

  Lily looked at Arlie, “Think some mages were having a duel here or something?”

  “Who would fight a duel with siege spells?” responded Arlie. Sor Burst was powerful, sure, but it was slow to cast and cost a lot of mana. Wasn’t really the sort of spell you would cast in duel, simpler spells like Lightning Strike would be much better suited to a duel. Lightning Strike was easy to cast, she could do it with barely any chant, for her the name was the chant, it was also powerful enough to kill a person, or it could just stun them if she desired. The effect really depended on how much mana she charged the spell with. Versatility was something lightning was quite good for, and fire was surprisingly versatile as well. Earth on the other hand was by far her worst element, she struggled with it the most. It was just so rigid an element, she much preferred the ever-changing nature of lightning and fire, so fluid and natural.

  “Siege spells? You think it was one of those?”

  “It sure looks like it. Raining Earth, or Moonfall. Hmm, Moonfall sounds more right to me.”

  Lily and Rose shared looks, “Um, we don’t know those spells.”

  “I’ve only read about them in my... family books. Both of them are Earth Spells, Epsilon css just like my Sor Burst spell. Raining Earth calls numerous rge rocks from the sky, while Moonfall calls forth a single giant rock from the sky. This looks more like what Moonfall would do.”

  Rose looked back at the devastation, “Um? Aren’t Epsilon Css spells top-level magic?”

  “Top of the advanced category, yes. Basic spells are Alpha, Beta and Gamma css, while advanced spells are Delta and Epsilon Css. As for anything above that? Well I wouldn’t worry about it, we can’t cast those spells.”

  Lily commented, “Why would a couple of mages be firing off big spells here? There’s nothing...”

  “Kinda what I was thinking and that doesn’t expin the strange mana here, or why it's gotten so cold.”

  The girls shared looks, then after a moment Rose sighed, “Only one way to find out, press forward.” she shivered, “and I think it's getting colder.”

  “When we get back, we can take a nice long bath in my...”

  Both twins lit up, “Yay! We’d love to!”

  New excitement in their steps, the trio moved deeper into this mystery, carefully moving down the ruined slope of torn earth. Arlie looked over the torn roots, the furrowed ground and the other damage. It really did look like a rge rock had fallen from above, just like those spells she’d mentioned and the more she looked the more certain she was of her initial suspicions.

  The furrowed path was rather long, and the girls had to climb over several fallen trees to reach the end. Coming to the end of the path, Arlie stopped as she looked out at a strange object. It looked like a rock, but it was very shiny. Glinting in the setting sunlight just like metal.

  Rose spotted, “What is that?”

  Arlie didn’t know, “Something out of pce,” she replied as she drew closer, reaching out with her senses. Feeling the mana flows, and using her own magic to explore the object. It was rock, but it was also metal and something else. Part of it was broken revealing sections that were previously hollow.

  Lily moved closer and ran her hand along it, “It’s warm!?”

  Rose touched it as well, “You’re right! How strange!?”

  Arlie gnced down the path and then looked at where the object was settled. It seemed rather suspiciously located. Making her wonder, was this the source of the furrowed ground? Based on where it was, it seemed likely that this strange object was the source of the damage.

  A sudden noise drew her attention, “Stay alert! We’ve got company.”

  Almost as if summoned by her words, three beasts broke from the branches where they were hidden. Her first thought was that she was looking at a Lyzardi, a fierce local predator but it was too rge, almost like a Vork. Yet that didn’t seem right either, it had the rge wolf-like body structure, the armored coating of scales and the thick spiked tail common to both creatures, but all three of them were a stark white. Further off they were huge, Vorks were already big beasts, and this Lyzardi look-alike was half again as rge as a Vork. The beasts easily stood at three meters tall towering over the three girls.

  They moved toward them slowly, as if confident of their victory. Rose and Lily stood behind her, bows at the ready, at any moment the battle would begin. Leaving her a moment longer to try and figure out what she was facing. Her gaze then took in the feet and it clicked, they had thick fur running halfway up their legs, no Lyzardi would have that.

  Suddenly the one in the middle, stretched out almost like a dragon about to use its breath. Something about that raised her hackles, “Cover!”

  Both twins jumped to the side and she scrambled back. Using the strange rock as cover, just in time as an icy frost shot out of the beast’s mouth freezing all in its path. Arlie didn’t stay there, already a spell was on her lips, one she used so often she barely needed a chant. “Lightning Strike!”

  A bolt of electricity shot from her palm and smmed into the middle beast. It let out a primal roar, but it wasn’t down yet. It shot forward, bounding across the distance with impressive speed. An arrow sprouted from its eye, and she was already moving.

  The first beast was already going too fast and it barreled right into the earthen wall. Rock and earth sprayed from the crash, over to the left she saw Rose running along the top of one of the beasts. Several fresh wounds in its back from where her knives had found purchase. The creature bucked trying to throw her off, its tail swinging to try and swipe her off. Only to miss, its own spikes smmed into its scaly armor.

  That was all she could see before her own foe was on her again. Arlie dodged a swipe of its cws with a backpedal, then threw a firebolt into its face. The creature screeched as the fire burned through its scales. Its remaining eye fshed, its cws shimmering as it unleashed icy frost her way.

  Arlie panted, sharp pain registered in her thigh, but she barely focused on it. She knew the creature had hit her, but she couldn’t afford to stop. It was a grazing blow she knew, nothing that would stop her just yet. In rapid succession she countered with two quick lightning strike spells, followed by the more powerful Lightning Burst when she had the opening.

  The creature roared as each discharge of lightning tore into it. The smell of cooking meat reached her. Idly she noted the formation of Lichtenberg Figures on her target, the result of being hit several times. Already the beast was slowing, and it looked at her with rage.

  It began to stretch out, its jaws opening and she scrambled for cover. Taking a moment to notice the other two were just as busy as she was. One of the other beasts looked like a pincushion, as it blindly filed about, arrows in both eyes, while the other had huge bleeding wounds from hitting itself, and was chasing Rose around like a raging beast.

  Reassured they would be alright, she huddled behind a rock as icy breath sailed over her back. She could feel the frost form on the back of her robe and she shivered a bit. Then the rock she had picked shattered as the beast moved into range, shards biting into her skin as she barely dodged the cws. The next swipe she wasn’t as lucky and she let out a cry as several cws tore across her left arm.

  Bleeding, she fired off another bolt of fire. It missed but the creature backed off for a moment giving her a chance to let off a better spell.

  Spell on her lips, all the figures in the depression froze. A roar echoed through the night that sent a chill through her very bones. The creature before her froze as well, the rage in its eyes was suddenly gone and its tail moved between its legs. The din of battle vanished, repced only by the loud beat of her heart. The wind... thrashed moved by powerful wingbeats, each one like a crack of thunder upon the battlefield. Slowly she looked up toward the source of the noise, even as her heart leapt into her throat.