Kaeso's gaze snapped upwards, drawn to the contemptuous voice. There, silhouetted against the fortressed interior, stood a man swathed in elaborate robes and sporting an immaculately trimd beard. Sothing about the figure's sharp, aquiline features triggered a jolt of recognition in Kaeso's mind.
One of Daikrimore's lieutenants rushed up behind the robed man, looking agitated. "Lord Reemush! I don't think we can hold this position against their assault for long. We're far too outnumbered!"
"Silence!" The one called Reemush cut him off with a curt wave of his hand, never taking his eyes off Kaeso's embattled soldiers below. "Don't you dare insult with your cowardly prattling. Can't you feel the power of my enchantnts already taking hold?"
Even as the words slithered from his lips, Kaeso saw Reemush extend his arms in an unmistakable arcane gesture. As he did so, flickering motes of fla began swirling into existence, rapidly coalescing into two searing balls of white-hot fire hovering in rhythmic orbits on either side of the mage.
"No!" The lieutenant cried out in dismay. "My lord, what of our own troops are still engaged below?!"
"Then tell them to flee, fool!" Reemush barked without even glancing at the man, "unless they wish to burn alongside these vermin intruders."
At his rebuking words, the lieutenant quailed and began frantically motioning for the Daikrimore infantry to pull back. But it was too late. With a series of guttural arcane syllables, Reemush thrust both hands forward in a smooth, vicious movent.
The spheres of elental fla shot forward like streaking cots, hurling directly into the storeroom, where Kaeso's forces were still bottlenecked. The first impacted with a resounding concussive roar, unleashing a hellish torrent of fire that began consuming everything in its path.
Screams of sheer anguish tore through the air as soldiers were immolated alive within the inferno's implacable grasp. Battle mages sprinted to the fore, channelling their own defensive wards in a desperate bid to contain the raging firestorm. But the arcane tempest was simply too potent, searing through their magical shields like a dervish through silk.
That's when Kaeso saw Jaegar erging from the churning lee, his towering silhouette cutting towards the heart of the inferno. The gladiator seed to draw the fiery torrent's full force towards himself, shrugging aside the flas with bulwark sweeps of his arms. Explore hidden tales at mvl
Reemush watched this display with widening eyes, his arrogant sneer gradually lting into an expression of disquieted awe. "Impossible..." he murmured under his breath. "What devilry is this?"
Jaegar continued his inexorable advance, each step carrying him further through the heart of the mystical conflagration until he erged on the other side. The gladiator was now standing directly below Reemush's balcony, surrounded by the dissipating tendrils of smoke and embers. Not a single scorch mark marred his skin or clothing.
With a powerful kick of his legs, Jaegar launched himself skyward in a physics-defying leap, soaring upwards on a clear trajectory to et the stunned mage. But just before he would have careened into an uncontrolled impact, an invisible force seed to grip the young man, arresting his ascent into a slow, controlled hover.
He alighted on the balcony with a subtle tap of his boots, now standing only a few paces from Reemush. The two sized each other up, the tension crackling almost palpably between them.
"I did not realize there were any in Wrescia capable of such...unique abilities," Reemush said at last, recovering so of his customary swagger as his eyes raked over Jaegar in reassessnt. "To shrug off my pyromancies so trivially..."
"This is just the beginning of what I'm capable of," Jaegar responded, his deep bass rumble laced with subtle promise. "I suggest you retreat and spare yourself a more visceral demonstration."
A cold chuckle escaped Reemush's lips as he shook his head. "Oh no, I have no intention of yielding this keep so easily. Especially not to so half-trained occult whelp like yourself." He cocked his head slightly, examining Jaegar with new curiosity. "But perhaps you'd be willing to enlighten as to the true extent of your abilities? If you perceive there's still hope of walking away from this?"
Down below in the storeroom, Kaeso had been watching the entire confrontation play out with a mixture of awe and eagerly suppressed excitent. Now, Jaegar's booming baritone carried clearly through the dissipating smoke.
"Kaeso! You can go on and do your thing now."
The man's smile stretched into a savage grin as he whirled to face the handful of soldiers who had survived the fiery onslaught. "You heard the man!" he roared over the ringing in his ears. "Push forward and secure the interior! Leave that smug prick to face a more...esoteric judgent!"
With a rallying cry echoed by his n, Kaeso led the charge deeper into the fortress compounds, cutting down any remaining resistance in their furious path. His blood sang with rejuvenated fervour; Jaegar's display had awakened a newfound sense of invincibility. Those cowering snakes didn't stand a chance.
Down in the storeroom, Drasus remained rooted to the spot, his face drained of all colour. He had just witnessed the full, terrible scope of the forces they had allied themselves with this gladiator from the pits. And it was clear they had only glimpsed the barest fraction of Jaegar's true, devastating potential.
As a tremor of bone-deep dread lanced through the aged warrior, he could only hope that keeping such a power nobly bound to their cause would prove to be worth the inevitable carving price it would demand from them all.
Overhead, Reemush studied the waiting Jaegar with a newfound sense of wary respect. This was no common man, of that much, he was now certain. That ant dealing with the brute would require much more of his craft.
"Very well, young man," he declared with an elegant sweep of his hand. "Let us indulge in a sharing of esoterica, shall we? Though be forewarned, I do so despise having my ti wasted by overconfident fools who mistake themselves for true arcanists..."
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