A Fiery Duel

The Lich snarls at the Wizard. A long, polished ebony wand hangs from the Lich’s grip. A bright crimson stone sits on the bottom of the handle, like the bright red thorax of a black widow spider.  The Wizard can sense an immense dark energy radiating from the artifact. He hadn’t felt anything as powerful as that since he first came into the presence of the Time Changer stone…

The Lich lunges, snapping the wand in front of him. A thin, fiery, whip-like tongue of flame leaps from the end of the wand, swinging in a wide swipe towards the Wizard. The Wizard counters with a cosmic blast from his staff that knocks the whip away, causing it to dissipate. The Lich casts the whip again, this time flicking his wand straight at the Wizard. The end of the flaming whip snaps at the Wizard, who reacts by holding his staff in both hands and allowing the whip to wrap around the staff. The Lich pulls at the Wizard like a fisherman who has a fish on the line. But the Wizard is not easy prey.

The Wizard twirls his staff, wrapping the fiery whip around his staff like a noodle around a fork. The maneuver pulls the Lich forward and off-balance as the Wizard fires a cosmic blast that connects with the Lich’s chest, throwing him backward. The Wizard steps forward, confident that his cosmic blast neutralized the Lich. Suddenly, the Lich rises. The Wizard notices a necklace made up of the teeth and bones of various strange creatures. It glows with a dark, ominous energy.

“You think you got that shiny rock and think you’re something special? Oh you are the most naive Wizard I’ve seen yet,” scolds the Lich as he walks closer to the Wizard. The Wizard raises his eyebrows, unsure of what the Lich meant by that remark.

The Lich begins to rapidly cast fireballs that speed towards the Wizard. The Wizard moves like a graceful dancer, dodging what fireballs he can and intercepting the ones he could not with his staff. The Lich’s effort intensifies, whipping his wand around like a music director of chaos. The Wizard casts a dome-like charm that acts as a shield from the relentless barrage of fireballs. The shield pulsates with energy, absorbing power from the fireballs as they impact the charm. The Wizard slams the end of his staff into the ground, releasing the pent up energy, and loosing it through the cave. The Lich staggers a few steps, but withstands the Wizard’s counter attack.

The Lich growls before casting his most savage spell yet. A pillar of flame spills forth from the end of the wand, hurtling towards the Wizard. The Wizard quickly summons his own beam of cosmic energy. The two spells meet with concussive force. One second the flaming pillar will push the cosmic beam back, but then the Wizard will channel the magic with more intensity, pushing the flaming pillar back, and then the Lich will do likewise. The Wizard bellows as he calls upon the full power of the Time-Changer stone and the cosmic beam finally blows through the fiery pillar and strikes the Lich.

Narrated by Brandon Warner