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LLOTF - Chapter 31: Flinging frost in flurries
🕑 Added 2024-12-15 18:29:52 +0000 UTCTristan sat down and grabbed the primer on ice elementalism. It was written in the Standard Tongue, and was an easy read. He flipped past the author’s introduction and went right to the basic information that preceded the different Order-ranked spells.
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Welcome to your primer on ice elementalism. As with all ‘basic’ spell primers for elementalism, there are a few items to take note of before we can begin to delve into the wonderful frost that is ice elementalism.
First, a general run-down. Elementalism entails controlling the elements of creation. There are many that exist, but the primary categories are listed below.
· Water
· Fire
· Wind
· Lightning
· Earth
· Poison
· Shadow
· Light
There are, of course, rarer types of elementalism. Examples include sound, metal, lava, and the focus of this primer, ice.
Now, all elementalism is used in one of three categories of spells. Offense, Defense, or Control. All categories of elementalism spells come with backlash, which is a portion of the spell’s energy that affects the user.
Think of it as a sort of universal limiter that the laws of reality impose upon us magecraft users; we cannot go throwing around spheres of lightning over and over without risking catastrophe.
Each category is listed below, along with some sample effects, and the backlash that accompanies it. Whilst the backlash listed below are specific to ice elementalism (since that’s the primer you’re reading!) you can imagine similar effects (or, go purchase my other primers!).
· Offense
o Sample Effects: flinging shards of ice at a foe, encrusting an opponent’s body to reduce movement.
o Backlash: your internal temperature will lower drastically; to the point that you risk hypothermia.
· Defense
o Sample Effects: defensive walls of ice, shields of ice
o Backlash: your body will become encrusted in ice, hampering and hindering movement. This also will be quite cold and could contribute to hypothermia.
· Control
o Sample Effects: manipulating existing ice, melting ice, turning water into ice.
o Backlash: dehydration. Drink plenty of water!
Ice elementalism is very combat oriented, consisting of a variety of spells – from protective walls and shields of ice to projectiles of sharpened ice, to encrusting foes with the freezing substance to hinder or fully stop movement.
This spell type costs more mana in dry, hot, or arid conditions, and less mana if in damp, wet, or cold conditions. Keep this in mind. You would not, for instance, be able to use a First Order amount of mana in a desert. You would need to use mana equivalent to a Second or even Third Order spell to overcome the shifting mana cost.
Lastly, you will notice that these spells are written in Dragon’s Tongue. This is due to the Drakonid heritage’s ties to the Elemental Realms; those who are most closely tied to these elementalism spell types.
Other languages can be used to enact the effects – but they often ‘misfire’ in some way. This has stumped scholars for centuries. And, the phrasing is different. Just learn some Dragon’s Tongue if you’re serious about being an elementalism user!
Lastly, this primer contains one Offense, Defense, and Control spell for First Order through Tenth Order.
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Tristan paused and looked up at the boughs of the trees. The offensive backlash won’t affect me since I’m cold-proof thanks to being Winterblood. Defense backlash…no cold to worry about, but the ice encrusting my armor would be a hindrance up close. He flipped open to the First Order spells.
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Frost Flurry (First)
Spell Phrase: “Ich beschwöre die Wut von Eis und Frost herauf: Ich forme Splitter, die mein Ziel durchbohren und aufschlitzen.” (I summon forth the fury of ice and frost: form shards that will pierce and slash my target.)
Spell Gesture: Hold your hand out in front of you, with the fingers all pressed together, and the thumb tucked on top, with the tip of the finger on the side of the knuckle of the index finger. Stand with your body bladed towards the target, and ensure that your eye sees down your arm to the point where you cannot see the fingers beyond the slightly-raised thumb (closing the opposite eye helps!). Ensure that the ‘bump’ of the raised thumb is level with your target. Spin your mana core, and push the mana into your fingertips – not the thumb.
Other Notes: The effective range of the spell is one-hundred feet before the projectiles begin to arc downward. If you memorize the speed and angle, you could bypass the normal distance limitation.
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Tristan stood up and looked around for something he could target. Walking to the edge of the platform, he spotted a slight bulge of a branch about twenty feet below himself. First, blade my stance. He pivoted his feet and put his right arm up at shoulder height. And now the fingers. Lining them up was simple enough, and he ensured he placed the thumb on the edge of his knuckle. This is going to be tricky in gauntlets, he thought. I’ll have to test out its flexibility with this.
Closing his left eye, he lined up his right eye with the top of his thumb, and then pivoted from the hips so that his arm remained straight-aligned with his eye. He put the bulge in the branch right above the slight arch of the thumb. Now, spin the mana core.
He spun it slowly, feeling the cool mana fill him up with a refreshing burst of energy. Focusing it into his fingertips, he saw a small cascade of icy mist exude from his hand. “Ich beschwöre die Wut von Eis und Frost herauf: Ich forme Splitter, die mein Ziel durchbohren und aufschlitzen.”
A spear of ice formed in front of his palm alongside the fingers. He could feel the mana draining from his core and into the projectile, and he kept spinning his core faster and faster as he tried to push out as much mana as he could. The icicle kept growing and growing until it was the size of a horse’s torso. Letting the mana cease, the projectile rocketed forth faster than an arrow could fly. It pierced into the bulge of the tree – embedding itself partway in before remaining lodged there.
Tristan fell to his knees and felt the book fumble out of his left hand as it landed on the floor next to him. He was sucking in air, and closed his eyes; visualizing his mana core as best he could. It was not vibrant and full of energy, but quite…dull. Spin it in reverse. He focused on that reversal, and saw the motes of crystalline, icy-blue energy begin to gather as he sucked in the ambient mana of the Fey Realm.
Within seconds he was full up, and grabbed the primer. Standing to his full height, he looked at the still-frozen and now slightly-slick icicle below. Now to test this out a bit. Raising his hand once more in the bladed stance, he repeated the spell. But, Tristan stopped pushing mana into it when the icicle became the size of a small knife. Loosing it at the back of the other icicle, he saw it impact and embed itself deeply with a resounding crack.
And let’s try different sizes to gauge the mana cost. Over the next several minutes he generated icicles of varying sizes. And fairy dragons began to gather around him. Tristan stopped after practicing the spell with different intensities for five minutes straight – only taking breaks to suck in more of the ambient mana to refill his reservoir. Once he lowered his arm, fairy dragons began flying down to investigate the icicle…and licking it.
“So cold!”
“Refreshing.”
“Oooh! What if we shaved off pieces with our paw-claws?”
“Then flavored it with Starberry jam!”
The fairy dragons began dislodging the enormous icicle and flew it down and away towards the surrounding forest. Tristan shook his head and chuckled slightly.
“Interesting spell,” The Matriarch said as she came up next to Tristan. “Ice elementalism is potent for combat. Especially in your hands, since your bloodline enjoys the privilege if ignoring most of the backlash.”
Tristan looked at her and couldn’t help but grin. “I’m starting to feel like a real mage. And I can see, now, how magecraft users could be in combat. The spell phrases are relatively short, and the gesture was extremely simple.”
“You will find that to be true of most combat-oriented spells,” she replied. “So…how does it feel coming into your own?”
Tristan looked at his right hand and flexed it. “I feel…good. This feels right. I’ve always wondered what using magecraft would be like…and now I’m the first magecraft user in my famil-” he stopped mid-sentence. “My Human family,” he muttered. Looking over at her, he frowned slightly. “Sorry. I’m still getting used to embracing my identity as a Winterbloom, and not as an Anorox.”
The Matriarch put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently, “You are a lord of the Fey. You should embrace that. But, I understand it will be an emotional and mental process extricating your identity from that of your Human side.”
“I want to see my grandfather,” Tristan said as he met her gaze. “I will always be his grandson, and unless he disowns me I’ll always be an Anorox…but I need to be what I am. I’m a Winterbloom Elf.” He looked out over the enormous forest. And, he thought, I’m going to claim whatever my birthright is in that vault. I should practice this spell more and get used to the range, the drop-off, and how to arc it. Plus, if the larger version for more mana has a more significant drop-off.
Glancing at The Matriarch, he noticed her intense gaze on him. It did not make him uncomfortable…but it felt as if she was evaluating him. “Do we have something like a training grounds? With practice dummies and the like?”
The Matriarch nodded and pointed down to a small gap in the surrounding forest to the West of the Queen’s Wood. “There is a clearing there that is where your ancestors used to train for combat.”
“Good.”
“Shall I give you a ride down? It is far faster than walking.”
Tristan felt a giddy excitement in his chest and nodded enthusiastically, “That would be great. Oh, wait a second.” He ran across the platform to his armor and sword, gearing up as quickly as he could. “Just a minute!”
“Take your time. We are in no rush.”
Tristan got his gear on, strapped his sword to his hip, and shoved the primer into the small satchel that hung off the belt. “If I’m going to a training field, I want to practice using swordplay and this offensive spell at the same time.”
The Matriarch’s body shifted, and she transformed into her full fairy-dragon form that was the size of a cottage. Smaller than most Elemental Realm dragons, but Tristan could almost feel the air humming with magical potential – more so than just the latent Realm’s mana imbuing the atmosphere. He could see the characteristic shimmer in the air of a magecraft effect being manifested. She reached out her claw, it warped into a hand, and she lifted him up before launching herself over the ledge.
Tristan let out a whoop of excitement and exhilaration as she flew down at a steep, steep angle. The rush through his hair, the air streaking past him, and the trembling in his stomach made him giddy. “This is amazing!” he shouted out.
The Matriarch pulled out of her dive and into a smooth transition to a glide to the clearing. All around Tristan and her, more fairy dragons flew alongside; almost as if an aerial escort. Or the oddest bird migration one could imagine. Tristan just reveled in the experience that he knew in his heart very few had experienced.
When Felicity gets bigger, we could do this to travel so much faster!
