Ash. The Legends of the Nameless World. Progression Gamelit Story by Kirill Klevanski (essential reading .txt) 📗

Racker was the one to make the first move. Two giant elementals emerged from the walls behind him, each the size of a siege tower. Their eyes, burning with fire, were focused on their target — a small human figure. Ash made a few passes with his staff and released the names that lingered in his mind. White lightning flashed and thunder struck, as if announcing the opening of the Heavens. Crows with beaks and talons made of darkness and steel, and bodies woven from the ashen clouds, descended with a loud caw. Like the mythical Roc, they crashed down on the elementals. The battle raged.

Stone tore through the darkness, scattering giant feathers. The steel beaks pierced through the rock, raining rubble on the stone. Caws mixed with the fury of nature and the roars of the stone giants. A terrible symphony flooded the dead lands of the Fiery Mountains, and even the roar of the volcano couldn’t drown it out.

Ash spoke a Word, struck the ground with his staff, and the scattered feathers flew into the air, turning into sharpened blades. Like a hail of needles, they rained upon Racker, who formed warriors with shields out of scattered stone and granite. Steel rang against stone, striking sparks.

The young mage picked up the small flames and fanned them into a fire. A roaring column, ten yards high, came down on Racker’s head like a twisting snake. He leaped to the side, spreading his arms wide. Bringing them together, he unleashed a violent river of azure energy that swept away the flaming snake. It then rose like a tidal wave, revealing a chariot drawn by horses.

Ash thrust out his staff and the chariot clashed against it, smashing into a shower of glittering drops that hit the dome. At that moment, the elementals grabbed the crows and tore them into pieces. However, they couldn’t come close to Ash. Straightening up and stepping over the corpses of the dead birds, they froze, shackled by the frozen droplets.

Ash was gathering strength for another spell, but he was running out of time to activate it. Racker leaped out from behind the stone giants and brought his staff down on his opponent. His body was the color of armor, and his veins thick like ropes. He had activated his third form, combining his “selfness” with the name of fire.

Not having the time to activate his form, Ash took an awkward step to the side. Something whizzed past him and crimson droplets stained the floor. Racker immediately reached out with his right hand, and, drawing a narrow arc, almost cut Ash’s head clean off his shoulders.

The young mage shouted a few Words even before he could form them. The first compressed the air in front of him, the second formed it into a sphere, and the third pushed it toward Racker, but he ignored it and swung his staff like a baseball bat. The sphere burst and the ribbons of air licked the columns supporting the stone vault. Thunder and dust swirled in a terrifying dance.

Having gained enough time, Ash pointed his staff at the curtain of dust. The wall of rubble opened, unable to resist the pressure, but Racker wasn’t there.

Ash looked around, trying to spot his opponent, but he couldn’t find him anywhere.

“Behind you!” a female voice warned.

Without turning, Ash struck the ground with his staff, and a ring of fire spread in all directions. Racker jabbed the tip of his staff into the flames and turned the ring into a huge serpent. Its body was as strong as Hu-Chin’s. It rushed into battle, but it couldn’t touch the mage with its fangs. Like a butterfly, it was pinned to the wall by bloodied spears.

The storm died down, and the dust settled. The two mages stood facing each other. Racker with a cut on his chest, left by a black blade that broke through the stone shields, and Ash with a red stain on his shirt that ran from his shoulder to his waist.

They looked into each other’s eyes and understood that these simple spells wouldn’t bring them victory. Racker was the first to come to his senses.

“Fourth Form: Impersonation!”

Dozens of warriors emerged from the flames that surrounded Racker and enveloped him like a cocoon. Tall, statuesque, and heavily armored, they spread across the hall in flashes of fire. Opposite of the fiery legion was a pack of hundreds of wolves, their flaming fur flapping in the nonexistent wind. Snapping their jaws, they howled at the moon hidden behind the ashen clouds.

The warriors rushed into battle. Fiery claws and fangs crumbled against armor, and flaming swords were torn out of the mighty grips by scorching claws.

Wood hit against wood. Each blow released such a powerful wave of air that it turned the metal and stone into dust. Columns cracked, some of which fell to the floor with a crash, and another spread out like lava. Subject to the power of the mages, it enveloped the wolves and the warriors, giving both even more power.

Dodging, Ash ducked under the staff and swung a backhand at Racker’s legs. The staff, whirling in the palm of his hand, should have shattered Racker’s kneecaps, but it met a stone beam. The blows rained down one after another.

Racker turned the wolf that had broken through the line of warriors into a sword, and pressed down on Ash. His staff glittered with red-hot metal as it kept hitting the ancient wood. The created blade fluttered around, but now and then disappeared, changing shape according to the will of its new master. The battle took place wherever the gaze of the unwitting spectators fell. The fire wolves were gnawing at the warriors; the two mages, their skin dyed the colors of the elements, were trying to finish each other off in