M.J. Markgraf
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Norman the Necromancer Chapter 84
🕑 Added 2023-03-31 12:01:00 +0000 UTCNoorani jerked out of her seat as a group of knights entered the sanctum. All but one of the knights faced the closed doors with weapons drawn.
“Why are you here? What is going on?”
The knight bowed, “Please forgive our intrusion, Priestess, we must get you to safety, the enemy has broken through our walls.”
Noorani looked at the man with incredulity. “How is that possible? Where is General Atalon?”
“We do not know, they just appeared as soon as the General rode out of the city. The General is trying to buy us time, Priestess. Whoever this enemy is, they seem to be made up entirely of chosen wearing dark grey armor. The defenders left inside the city were cut down in droves before we were able to slow their advance.”
“Who is this enemy? Did the nomads discover an ally from a neighboring zone? Where did they even come from?”
“I do not know, Priestess,” the knight replied in agitation as he glanced nervously at the door. “We believe they came from the river, but there were no boats to mark their passage. We assume they used some sort of magic to bypass our defenses.”
Noorani slammed her hand against the arm of the chair. “I will not have a decade’s worth of my efforts undone by some unknown malcontents! If I have to deal with them personally, I will. How many chosen remain inside the walls?”
“Just your personal guard, Priestess.”
Noorani stood and adjusted her raiment. “It will have to do, I will join you and help drive these heathens back to the watery hole from where they originated.”
Before she could take a step, a sickly green fog enveloped the door to the sanctuary, covering three of the seven guards stationed there to watch it. Before the knights even realized they were being attacked, they simply melted into dark stains on the floor topped by a pile of bones.
Noorani stiffened as she looked at the now-open doorway. “No,” she whispered, “you should be dead.”
A man in bone-white armor stood in front of the doorway and stared at her. Her guards attacked but another individual in nearly black armor appeared from nowhere and struck all seven of her guards down without much of a fight.
The man glanced at the corpses, then back at Noorani. “Hello, Noorani… surprised to see me?”
***
Getting into the city turned out to be quite easy. The guards that had been manning the wall were busy elsewhere. One of Norman’s powerful orbs was used to degrade the gate and allow them into the city. From there Norman and Grobert simply strolled through the streets as they made their way closer to the ziggurat at the center.
A few random guards attempted to stop the pair, but Normal let Grobert release his frustrations on them.
They could hear major fighting in the distance, but that was south of the city center and where the ziggurat was located.
“Sounds like Eugene has his hands full.”
“Aye. But we always suspected he might, that’s why we are taking a different route.”
The two skirted north, avoiding any of the major fighting that was going on. As they approached, they spotted a group of guards making a beeline for the temple.
Norman was hoping they could have made it to the temple before anyone reinforced it. “Well, that’s not ideal. You think we can handle them?”
“Hard to say. You have your ferals right?”
Norman nodded, patting his pouch.
“Then I think we should be fine. Just be ready to deploy them if we need to.”
Only one other guard tried to stop them as they walked up the temple's steps. The man wasn’t even fully armored. The man didn’t seem completely lucid like he had been rudely woken up after enjoying a night of drinking. Grobert dispatched him quickly by teleporting behind the confused man and snapping his neck.
The two of them passed through the massive vaulted archway and into the massive temple.
Norman took a moment to gape at the building's architecture and splendor. Ornate mosaics lined the walls, filigreed in gold, silver, and precious gems. It reminded him of the fanciful priestess robes that Noorani had worn before she betrayed them. Norman suspected the ooraki craftsmen were responsible for the mosaics.
The floors were made from a white marble flecked in gold and silver which was polished to a mirror finish. Norman scuffed his bone-shod foot across the surface, leaving a groove.
When he glanced up, he saw the ceiling consisted of an arched dome in the entryway that was ornately carved and filigreed from some dark red wood. The entryway was lit by a huge ornate crystal chandelier that hung halfway from the ceiling, giving the space a soft inviting glow. This motif continued past this entry area and down a long hallway. It was a wealth of opulence on a scale that Norman had never even dreamed of, let alone seen.
Grobert just shook his head at the waste of it all. “All these materials wasted on looking pretty.”
“Oh, what would you have used them for?” Norman asked as he looked around.
“Magitech, obviously. I see enough palladium and diamond in these fanciful drawings to create ten teleporters.”
“Don’t let me stop you,” Norman waved toward the walls.
Grobert snorted. “Is that your way of telling me to focus on the mission first? Aye, fine, let's get this done. We can play with the materials later.”
That wasn’t actually Norman’s point. He figured with Groberts ability, that taking the materials from the walls wouldn’t slow them down. Oh well, if they survived this fight they could always come back.
After stepping into the adjoining hallway, Norman paused and looked at the rather small doors compared to the entrance. He decided to leave a gift in this hallway in case any enemy forces came up behind them. It wouldn’t do to have their reunion interrupted.
After leaving his present, the pair walked through the empty and quiet halls, their footsteps echoing ahead of them.
“Where are all the guards? Surely we should have run into a few by now.” The lack of any defenders really made Norman nervous. Especially since they knew that some had to be inside the temple.
“My guess would be inside whatever throne room the Priestess resides in.”
“And how do we go about finding that? It’s not like we have a map of this building.”
“Hold up here for a minute, I'll go scout.”
Before Norman could reply, Grobert vanished. Norman sighed and equipped himself with a few spell anchors in case someone attacked while Grobert was occupied. Thankfully nobody did and Grobert returned a few minutes later.
“I think I found it.”
“Oh, why’s that?”
“It’s the only room on the first floor with a large double door that is currently locked.”
“Well then, let's go knock, shall we,” Norman gestured for Grobert to lead the way.
They were almost to their destination when Norman heard a scream in the distance followed by a roar.
He chuckled. “Sounds like Rex found a friend to play with.”
Grobert just shook his head. “I can’t believe you named that overgrown chicken.”
Norman just shrugged, it seemed appropriate to name a pet. Especially one that was thirty feet tall. Soon the pair came to the end of the hall and a set of closed doors. Closed, the doors formed an ornately carved sun motif with rays radiating out from it. Below the carving of the sun was a mass of figures all carved in supplication, worshiping the sun. Norman couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it.
He activated one of his most powerful orbs and chucked it at the ostentatious door. There was a light thump as the orb struck, followed by a groaning crack as the wood of the door rotted and aged hundreds of years in but a moment, eventually falling to the floor as a pile of wood dust.
As the room beyond was exposed, Norman saw his spell had claimed a few more lives. But more guards waited behind the door and they rushed at him, making Norman freeze up for a moment. Thankfully, Grobert was paying attention and quickly dispatched the other guards near the door, making Norman’s pause turn into surprise at the man’s brutal efficiency.
Then his gaze found Noorani’s. He could see the shock and disbelief on her face. Norman couldn’t help himself. “Hello, Noorani… surprised to see me?”
She seemed more angry than surprised as she raised her arm to cast a spell. Norman tossed his Bone Shield spell anchor out only a moment before Noorani’s spell struck it.
The shield spun to the side from the impact but it had done its job and absorbed her spell, saving Norman from what was probably a very painful death.
“Norman,” she hissed like he had somehow personally offended her. Hell maybe he had, it might help explain her actions. “You should be dead. You revived the greykin didn’t you? That’s who is attacking my beloved city. I don’t know how you escaped death, but I will ensure you cannot do it a second time.”
Norman would have loved to go toe to toe in a magical dual against Noorani, but he wasn’t a fucking idiot. The woman was way more magically skilled than he was and had decades more experience with magic. Ideally, he would just get her to monologue until he killed her, but she didn’t seem keen to chat. And it wasn’t like Norman could rely on Grobert here.
Grobert was a bit busy fighting against the other guard, who was not quite on even terms but still enough to keep the man distracted.
Not waiting for Noorani to cast another spell, Norman threw out a handful of spell anchors. The dozen or so bones broke against the hard floor and a group of ostrich-sized dinos burst forth. A few got tangled up when their bones landed too close together, but the spell was enough to distract Noorani for a precious moment and Norman drew his Plague Ray spell anchor.
He drew the magic circle and aimed it at the Priestess as she fought off the feral undead dinosaurs. The bone crunched between his fingers and the black beam of energy raced across the space, to strike her. Only it didn’t hit the Priestess. The energy of the spell splashed off of a prismatic shield that seemed to surround the woman.
She did pause for a moment to gape at Norman before her visage turned angry. “YOU DARE!”
“I DO!” he yelled back, digging into his bag for another spell anchor.
Noornai took out a similar bone and performed a similar spell circle all the while holding off the dinosaurs.
‘Dammit!’ Norman thought. He knew the woman was talented, but this was fucking ridiculous.
She released the spell and Norman barely got his Bone Shield in place to intercept the bolt of magical energy in time. Norman had figured out how to extend the Bone Shield's life by simply letting it sit on the ground when it wasn’t needed. It wasn’t quite as responsive that way, but it almost tripled the time he could have the spell active.
Norman hadn’t expected Noorani to use his own magic against him but he should have. She had his grimoire for how many years, of course, she would have made some spell anchors in that time.
“So it was you that stole my grimoire. I hope it was worth betraying the people who trusted you! Betraying the greykin and your own people!” Norman was furious at finding out the woman was now using his magic.
She had the audacity to scoff at him. “You had the ability to become a god, Norman. But you were too weak-willed to take advantage of that fact. I just chose someone who was smart enough to use their power properly.”
“Power? This is all about power for you?” Norman shook his head as he readied another spell. “I thought you might have been different, but you’re not. You are just like everyone else. You get a hint of power and you let it go straight to your head. I want my book back, Noorani.”
The ooraki priestess laughed at Norman. “Even if I still had your stupid book, you think both of us are walking away today. No, Norman. I am going to kill you once and for all.” With that, She struck out, and a spell of blazing light sped for Norman.
Burt Norman’s spell was complete, and the priestess’ spell struck the magical circle he had surreptitiously surrounded himself with while he got her to talk.
The inverted circle absorbed the spell and used the energy to trigger the magic. A flash of black light raced away from the circle Norman stood in and through the room, momentarily sucking the light out of the space.
Everyone in the room was bathed in the black energy. The guard Grobert was fighting staggered as the energy swept over him. He took a step back before falling to his knees. A look of shocked horror crossed his face before his defensive spell activated, turning the man into a human torch.
Getting rid of the last guard was a bonus, but not Norman’s intended outcome. When he looked back at Noorani, she seemed to be unharmed thanks to her shield. But Norman looked closer at her shield, it looked ragged and decayed instead of vibrant. Noorani herself was down on one knee, sweat pouring from her face.
“Wha- What did you do?”
Norman had thought long and hard about this encounter with Noorani. He knew he wouldn’t be able to deal with her in a magical duel. He simply didn’t have the same depth of magic as she had. So he came up with a hard counter for a mage and spent the last few weeks preparing every countermeasure he could think of for her. The Dark Reflection array was only one such counter. Since he didn’t know exactly what magic she cast, he had to try and cover as broad a range of spells as possible. He even came up with a way to defend against mind control. But like with the Dark Reflection array, it was a crude solution at best since he had been limited on time.
Since Norman knew the spell array protected the person inside the circle, it seemed like an optimal alternative to a shield. It just required a bit of time to set up properly. Norman had practiced a few methods for getting the spell circle drawn without being noticed. In the end, he went with the simple method of using his foot to carve the spell into the floor while they fought. A whole lot of practice went into making that work, but he had figured it out. It helped that the array was the simplest array Norman had ever created.
The array had no external constraint. It was simply an inverted spell circle that converted whatever spell was cast against it into a wave of necromantic energy. It was similar to how his Conversion Bolt worked, but instead of a bolt, it released the energy in a wave. That was because Norman couldn’t draw the intricate symbols needed to define the spell shape with his foot. The stronger the spell the array absorbed, the stronger the effect it produced. Thankfully, Noorani had used a very potent spell against him.
Norman stepped out of the expended magic circle and approached Noorani’s prone form. “I won, that’s what I did.” Then he simply tossed one of his Orbs of Decay at her.
She screamed at him and lifted her hand to cast one more spell, but Norman’s shield spun back into place to block any attempt. A little bead of white fire zipped from Noorani’s extended finger causing Norman’s eyes to go wide. Before the expanding bead of fire struck Norman’s shield, the space between them twisted, causing the spell to fly off into the room and strike a distant wall. There was a resounding boom that sent a shockwave through the enclosed space, knocking Norman off his feet, even though he was almost a hundred feet away.
Norman groaned on the ground as he realized how close he had come to dying again. Just because he knew he could come back, didn’t mean he enjoyed the process.
Noorani’s indignant scream was cut short as the orb's toxic energy managed to slip through her weakened shield, dissolving her in an instant.
Grobert walked up to Norman and looked down at him. “Never trust a cornered mage, that spell would have blown you apart, even if it had struck your shield.”
“Noted,” Norman replied with another pained groan.
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No BS, no dragging it out over 3 chapters, just a quick brutal fight between two mages! Let me know what you thought.
Comments
Victor Samuel Mosquera Artamonov
Yeah, good fight.
