Grand Game 325: A Dance of Fire and Ice (Patreon)

You have teleported into Sunfury’s shadow.

I stepped out of the aether and directly onto the phoenix. Sunfury was afire, and immediately, heat and flames assailed me.

You have failed a magical resistance check! You are burning.

Your void armor has reduced the elemental damage incurred by 40%.

I ignored the heat.

The flames rolling off the phoenix’s body rose no more than knee-height and my void armor had already seen to it that much of their effect was blunted. Digging my boot heels into the phoenix’s upper torso, I reached down and grabbed a tuft of his feathers in my left hand.

My wayfarer’s boots and gloves were another thing I had to be thankful for. Both were impervious to damage. Anchored in place, I raised ebonheart and flicked my gaze upwards to measure my foe’s response.

Sunfury’s head was already snaking around.

If my sudden appearance atop him had caught the phoenix off guard, he was disguising his surprise well. But in letting me so close, Sunfury had made a fatal error—or so I hoped. Reaching into the ring on my right hand I released the frost ent’s cold sphere spell.

You have trigger-cast cold sphere.

Sunfury has critically failed a magical resistance check! 1 of 1 targets have been chilled.

Despite his vulnerability to cold, Sunfury was not frozen.

That would have made for a short battle. Still, I was not about to complain. My foe had been slowed to half-speed. Even better, the cold sphere was having another, unexpected, but welcome effect.

Sunfury’s aura of soothing flames has been extinguished. You are no longer burning.

In an instant, the flames licking the phoenix’s form cooled, leaving me free of flames. Raising my eyes, I met my foes’ twin blazing orbs. They drew steadily closer, if no longer at a pace that offered threat, and presently, they were widened in shock.

I had surprised Sunfury.

The phoenix’s amazement did not last though. “Excellent ploy, wolf,” he said a split-second later. Clearly, the chilling effect of my cold sphere had done nothing to slow my foe’s thoughts. His mindvoice sounded natural and was devoid of fear or even anger. If anything, Sunfury appeared… delighted.

“Crazy phoenix,” I muttered. I’d stolen the upper hand in the encounter and, still holding out hope for an amicable solution, saw no reason not to indulge in further conversation. Sunfury was more valuable to me alive than dead. “And it’s Michael, not wolf,” I added.

Sunfury’s beak—opening in increments—advanced closer He’d not aborted his attack. Raising ebonheart, I held it aloft and pointed downward in naked threat. “I told you we don’t have to fight. Shall we stop this?”

The phoenix’s laughter rang loudly through my mind. “We shall not. Not for my life’s sake nor your own.” He paused. “We battle to the death.”

I shrugged. “Have it your way,” I replied and brought ebonheart crashing down.

The phoenix’s feathers were not like any ordinary bird’s. They gleamed red-gold and bore a distinctly metallic hue. But as hard as they were, ebonheart was forged of sterner stuff, and broke through after only a momentary pause.

You have injured Sunfury.

The black blade sank satisfactorily deep, all the way to the hilt.

But as large as my foe was, I could not tell if the damage was more than skin deep. Yanking out ebonheart, I inspected the wound. Blood oozed out in copious amounts. Not even a second later, though, the red rivulets dried out as the wound cauterized itself from the inside—clearly the phoenix’s inner flames were far from quenched.

I grimaced. I’d been hoping to inflict greater damage.

“Not what you were expecting?” Sunfury asked with unmistakable mirth and his beak almost fully opened.

In response, I rammed ebonheart downwards again.

You have injured Sunfury.

“Now, that was uncalled for. It’s my turn.”

Warned by the phoenix’s words, I jerked my head up. Flames were growing inside his throat, ready to spill out of his open beak.

Eyes widening, I opened the fingers of my left hand and threw myself flat against Sunfury. Bereft of my anchor, I slid down his torso, and not uncoincidentally, out of the way of the newborn inferno.

Sunfury has cast fiery breath. You have evaded your foe’s attack.

Sunfury has hit himself with fiery breath. Your foe is burning. Duration: 5 seconds. Note, fire of all forms will heal a phoenix.

Urgh. Another self-healing foe.

I would have to damage Sunfury a lot faster if I wished to win the encounter. Scissoring open my legs, I pressed down tightly with my thighs. My descent halted and I sat up, secured in place once more.

Drawing faithful, I empowered my arms with stamina and stabbed downwards in a frenzy of motion.

You have cast whirlwind, increasing your attack speed by 100% for 3 seconds.

You have injured Sunfury. You have grazed Sunfury.

You have injured Sunfury. You have grazed Sunfury.

…

…

In out. In out. My arms swinging in tandem, I stabbed downward first with ebonheart, then with faithful. Over and over, I sank my blades into my foe, burying ebonheart hilt-deep every time. Faithful’s wounds were shallower but still inflicted damage, and I kept striking with it, too.

Sunfury had no more to say.

He was either too pain riddled to mock me further or was finally taking the fight seriously. But that the phoenix was silent did not mean he hadn’t reacted.

Tucking his head into his chest, the phoenix began furling his wings. As slowed as he was, Sunfury was not going to complete his maneuver in a hurry. Frowning, I kept hacking. What was Sunfury up to? Not for a second did I believe he was huddling in fear.

It was almost as if the phoenix was shielding himself from an expectant blow, one massive enough to cause even the colossal avian to seek shelter. Is he casting a spell? But what spell could—

Sunfury has cast supernova.

Flames flashed.

Fire blossomed.

And in the next instant, Sunfury transformed into a living bonfire. Heat and energy exploded outwards from the inferno—throwing me clear.

Sunfury has critically injured you!

Void armor charge remaining: 51%. Your health has decreased to 24%.

Quick mend triggered, restoring 20% of your lost health!

Flung off the phoenix, I sailed through the air, arms and legs flailing. Even within the protective bubble of my cold sphere, the heat was excruciating. I retained enough presence of mind to weave psi, though.

My perspective was too skewed to get a lock on the ground, but I didn’t need to see to know I was heading for a jarring and possibly fatal impact. Opening my mindsight, I searched for Sunfury.

But the phoenix was gone.

He, too, I suspected had been tossed asunder by the explosion. Although, I had no doubt he was weathering its effects better. Well, that’s one way to disengage. Whatever the case, the phoenix was out of range of my senses. But another mindglow danced near the edges of my mind.

Ghost.

Completing my spell in a rush, I blinked to her.

You have teleported to Ghost.

I emerged from the aether in a tangle of splayed limbs, increasing my tally of cuts and bruises. I had no time to attend to them, though, nor my more serious burns. Limping back to my feet, I whipped my head around in search of Sunfury. “Where is he?” I rasped.

“Above us,” Ghost replied.

I craned my neck backwards and, sure enough, saw the phoenix circling high overhead—well out of range of shadow blink.

“Had enough, have you?” I shouted.

Sunfury chuckled. “Far from it. But I’ve decided I much prefer you at arm’s length.”

“Don’t tell me you’re scared?” I goaded.

“Not at all,” he replied. “By the by, that was an interesting spell. I didn’t mark you as a magic user. How did you cast it?

“If you come down, I’ll tell you,” I said.

Sunfury laughed mockingly but did not deign to respond otherwise. Closing his wings, he dropped into a dive.

My lips turned down. The phoenix had begun an attack run. Had my taunts worked? Come to think of it, what had I been thinking, provoking him like that? It would have been wiser to flee.

“Shouldn’t we run?” Ghost asked.

Even though I’d been contemplating the very same thing a moment ago, I bared my teeth in refusal. The wolf did not flee from a fight he was winning.

“No,” I said, biting off each word, “he wants a fight; I’ll give him one.” Reaching out with my will, I inspected the descending phoenix.

The target is Sunfury. He is severely injured.

The Game’s response was heartening.

I’d inflicted a significant amount of damage on the phoenix but freed of the frigid touch of my cold sphere, the flames across his body had reignited, and even now I suspected he was healing.

If I hoped to win the battle, I would have to put an end to that.

The phoenix dropped to three hundred feet. Sheathing my blades, I crouched down and summoned psi. The moment Sunfury crossed into range, I would blink onto him and finish what I had started.

Sadly, my foe did not oblige.

At two hundred feet, the phoenix pulled out of his dive and opened his beak. Not waiting to see what would spill forth this time, I flung myself to the left.

Sunfury has cast heaven’s fury.

A jet of concentrated fire boiled downwards. My quick thinking saved me, though, and I rolled back to my feet a few yards away—unharmed and untouched.

You have evaded Sunfury’s attack.

My stomach queasy, I studied the once-solid patch of ground I’d so recently occupied. The white-hot bar of flames had turned the rock into a liquid, bubbling mess.

“Nice dodge,” Sunfury commented, as he glided away on outstretched wings. The phoenix was already banking, and I knew he was going to circle bank for a second go.

Sunfury was being chatty again, evidence enough that he believed he’d regained the upper hand—and he wasn’t wrong. I ground my teeth in frustration. I’d lost the initiative.

As long as Sunfury hung back, there was little I could do to harm him with my swords or the cold sphere. I needed to draw him closer again. But first, I had to see how far the phoenix had recovered. Reaching out with my will, I analyzed Sunfury again.

The target is Sunfury. He is moderately injured.

Damn. The Game’s feedback was hardly precise, but still served to confirm the phoenix was healing at an appreciable rate. I couldn’t allow that to continue.

Time to change tactics. Letting the sphere spell lapse, I summoned psi.

You have deactivated a cold sphere.

You have cast slaysight.

Fixing my gaze on the flying elite, I sent strands of my will surging forward. They slipped easily past my foe’s outer defenses.

Only to be summarily cut thereafter.

Sunfury is immune to mental manipulation! You have failed to sleep your target. Your mental intrusion has been detected!

“Ah, so you’re more than a simple brawler,” Sunfury said as he glided closer. “You’re a psionic too. Interesting.” Not waiting for my response, the phoenix went on smugly, “But alas, you’ll find your charms of no use against me.”

“We’ll see,” I replied tightly. The Game alert had said the phoenix was immune to mental manipulation—not all forms of mental assaults. Drawing psi again, I summoned two ethereal daggers into being.

You have cast astral blades.

The moment the violet psi daggers manifested, I cocked back my arms back, took aim, and threw.

More than a few hundred feet separated me from my target—too far for any normal dagger to be thrown with accuracy, but the psi weapons were not ‘real.’ They lacked mass and were unaffected by gravity.

Once flung, they continued unerringly on their given course. And while Sunfury was a good way off, his trajectory was predictable, and my aim true.

You have injured Sunfury.

“Ha! Got you!” I couldn’t help but exclaim as both my blades hit their targets squarely.

“They’re scratches, no more,” Sunfury scoffed. But was that a hint of tightness I sensed in his tone?

“A scratch can kill you as easily as a blade through the heart,” I replied mildly. Drawing back my arms, I manifested two more psi daggers. “Especially when you can inflict an endless tide of them,” I added, hands flying forward to release the astral blades.

You have injured Sunfury.

“Pinpricks!” the phoenix jeered and dropped into another attacking dive.

I turned to Ghost, a command ready on the tip of my tongue but before the words could emerge, she raced away in anticipation of the order. “Repositioning,” she called out.

Shaking my head ruefully at how fast the spirit wolf was learning, I turned back to the onrushing phoenix. Diving, Sunfury was an exposed target, and I didn’t miss the opportunity to riddle him with psi daggers.

You have injured Sunfury.

You have injured Sunfury.

…

The phoenix hit two hundred feet, and once more, pulled out of his dive.  Flaring his wings and flapping them powerfully backwards, he brought himself to a wrenching stop. I kept hitting him with the astral blades, utilizing every second to maximize the damage I was inflicting.

Sunfury opened his beak.

Tensing, I readied myself. Here it comes.

Sunfury has cast fan of flames.

Hovering midair, the phoenix opened his beak and spewed out fire. But what emerged was not a single, white-hot bar of fire. Rather, it was a cone of destruction. Rapidly spreading, wild, uncontained.

And impossible to dodge with physical maneuvers alone.

It was too bad for the phoenix that I’d anticipated him—not the exact form his attack would take, but that he would change tactics—and had prepared accordingly. Before the first tongues of flames could hit the ground, I stepped through the aether and out again by Ghost’s side, neatly sidestepping the spell.

You have evaded Sunfury’s attack.

Fifty yards away from the boiling flames, I spun around and flung another volley of daggers at my stationary target.

You have injured Sunfury.

“Wha-?”

It took the phoenix a moment to realize I’d escaped the inferno. Flapping his wings, he turned around ungainly.

The lumbering maneuver caught me by surprise for a moment, then I realized that a creature the phoenix’s size was not designed for hovering or sharp turns mid-air. It must be taking a lot out of him.

I smiled. Perhaps even without my cold sphere, the contest was not as one-sided as I feared. I flung another pair of daggers at Sunfury, then three more in quick succession.

All eight hit their targets squarely.

Across the distance separating us, Sunfury glared at me. Ghost had already raced away again, and the phoenix seemed to realize that trading blows with me from up above was a losing proposition. He might be able to stay out of the reach of my swords that way, but he was going to have a darn hard time hitting me with anything while airborne. “I can do this all day,” I mocked, to drive the point home.

“That hardly seems fair,” Sunfury sniffed.

“When is battle ever fair,” I retorted.

Sunfury said nothing for a moment, and I knew he was pondering his next move. The phoenix did not seem the type to goad easily, nor one to stick with a losing tactic.

True to expectations, Sunfury stretched out his wings and glided away. Not wasting the opportunity, I flung more blades his way. Treating the daggers like the pinpricks he claimed they were, the phoenix ignored the attacks.

He completed one circle around me, then another and another, flapping his wings every so often so that he spiraled ever upwards with each turning.

I lowered my hands. There was no point throwing my daggers anymore. Sunfury was so high that even the ethereal blades had no chance of striking him.

“What is he doing?” Ghost asked.

“Building altitude,” I replied.

“Why?” she asked, puzzled.

“I have no idea,” I replied honestly. Putting the lull in the battle to good use, I renewed my defenses and recast my buffs.

You have cast heightened reflexes, load controller, fade, and trigger-cast quick mend. You have successfully stored the cold sphere spell in the ring, mage’s surprise.

Then, eyes narrowed, I watched the phoenix. He was little more than a distant speck now and even my enhanced sight struggled to make out any details. Still, I did not fail to note when he stopped spiraling.

Snapping his wings closed, Sunfury dropped like a stone.

The phoenix was high enough that it would take more than a dozen seconds for him to reach ground level again. Would he pull out of his dive again at the last minute?

But what point would that serve?

I would only harass him with my astral blades again. And Sunfury had to know that. He had something else in mind. But what?

He’s not stopping this time. It was the only thing that made sense. Sunfury meant to follow through, striking the ground with the force of a small meteor.

The realization hit quick and fast, and my pulse quickened. As rapidly as the phoenix was dropping, the impact would be catastrophic. The whole canyon could be torn apart—and me with it.

Teleporting onto Sunfury would make no difference. Nor would casting cold sphere. He was in freefall and it was not his own movements that needed slowing. How the phoenix intended on surviving the impact I had no idea, but I was sure I wouldn’t—not if I was anywhere near its epicenter.

I have to get out of the canyon.

Dropping my head, I sprinted towards the nearest cliff wall. “Back to the plateau,” I yelled to Ghost while I spun psi. “Quickly!” Not slowing my flight or stopping my casting, I reached into my backpack.

You have equipped a set of cat claws.

The rock wall was about fifteen yards away and my spell was ready. Close enough, I decided and manifested a windslide.

You have cast windborne.

I started the ramp of air a yard from my position and angled it sharply upward. My pounding feet carried me directly onto my creation and I rocketed up at an even quicker pace. Crouching down, I raised my hands and fixed my gaze on the onrushing cliff. I could afford no mistakes now.

Reaching the end of the ramp I leaped, springing off coiled legs to throw myself even higher.

I bridged the gap of empty space easily and crashed into the cliff wall with an audible thud. Paying my body’s aches no mind, I pressed my clawed hands deep into the stone.

I fell a foot before they gripped.

As I was yanked to a halt, I risked a glance around. On my left, Ghost was already floating upwards. Soon, she would overtake my own position. Behind me, Sunfury plummeted downwards. Time was running out quickly.

Extending my right arm, I dug a clawed hand into the rock and pulled my body upwards, then I did the same with my left, scrambling up the cliff at the fastest pace I could manage. Ghost rushed past, and still climbing, I silently urged her on.

Flames roared at my back.

Stealing another glance over my shoulder, I saw a super-heated jet of heat rushing downward from Sunfury’s open beak into the ground directly beneath. Rocks caught alight, stone melted, and flames flowed.

A magma pool was forming.

So that’s how he means to survive. I’d seen enough. Wrenching my head around, I kept at my desperate scramble. Ghost was nearly at the top. C’mon just a little—

Sunfury has cast meteor dive.

Sunfury has critically injured himself!

Sunfury’s impact has triggered an earthquake.

It was too late. The canyon’s destruction had begun.