Prismatic Education Begins With A Spark 46 (MTG/Multicross)

Prismatic Education 46

Waiting around when you know something was about to happen was a stressful experience, so it was fortunate that there were things to do in preparation. 

“How did you learn all this stuff?” I asked Benjy, watching as he linked spells to the map on the table.

“I used to work in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes,” He answered, taps of his wand causing glowing spots to appear on the parchment. “We kept an eye out for any magical incident that could alert the Muggles. Got pretty good at it too.”

“Used to?”

“I started noticing things. People acting suspiciously, cases getting pushed aside instead of being handled as they should have, and when some wizards started asking questions… what do you know, Death Eaters attack, and somebody in the Ministry ends up as an unfortunate victim.”

“So you resigned?”

“It was safer. Better than waiting for the wand at my back to curse me.” Benjy glanced at me. “Can we talk about something else instead?”

Recognizing his discomfort, I turned the subject towards the spells the wizard was using, which he was much more enthusiastic in talking about. 

Monitoring charms were something that came up in some of the spellbooks I bought from the bookstore, usually done to keep track of things the caster wanted to be aware of. They came in various forms; everyday ones like keeping watch over an adventurous child or making sure a cooking dish wouldn’t burn, and the more serious ones that doubled as a security system, be it for a house, or as Benjy demonstrated, a designated perimeter around a location.

“The Ministry hasn’t changed their spell keys in months,” He explained as he worked, “And when they do, it’s always to one of several typical ones.”

“And what do these spell keys do?” I had a feeling I knew, but asked anyway. I’m reminded of my Applied General Magics field trip.

“They let me connect to the monitoring charms the Ministry has,” Benjy answered, “Saves me the work of casting my own.”

I had done similar things in my Quandrix Computational Magic classes, and I could recognize some of the similarities between what he was doing and what I learned in Strixhaven, though the methods were quite different. 

The mages of this plane have less control over their personal magic than Arcavios mages, but they adapted their techniques to achieve the same result.

Where I would just use my mana to adjust the mathematical variables to fit the spell, Benjy resorted to waves and twists of his wand, with muttered incantations to assist the flow of his magic. 

Still, my observation of his spellcasting deepened my understanding of spell-to-spell interaction, which was very helpful to my research. Especially what the ingenious wizard referred to as spellcracking techniques, when none of the ‘passwords’ he knew worked.

“Ah, there we go.” He said with some satisfaction as another area on the map lit up with lights. “Now the next one…”

Deciding to not distract Benjy from his work any further, I retreated back to my room to practice a few simple spells with my new wand. Almost every single spell I attempted with the hornbeam wand worked on the first try, and none of them needed a third to succeed. I could just tell what the incantations and the wand movements were meant to support, and with a bit of diligent practice, I was able to lessen or do away with them entirely. 

It was only when Benjy came to call me for breakfast that I realized I had been staying up the whole night. With the falna, I didn’t tire as much, and that clearly applied to going without sleep.

A few things happened over the course of the day. Glowing animals, which I learned were Patronuses, came popping into the hideout bearing the voices of the Order members I had met, informing us about their respective tasks. Including the fact that Peter Pettigrew didn’t appear at the meeting. Neither were the Potters or the Longbottoms.

There was one bit of good news as evening approached. Caradoc regained consciousness, enough to eat a light meal and drink potions to hasten recovery, but not enough to join the rest out in the field. 

“Expecto Patronum!” Benjy sent off a silver dog to convey the news. “Alright, where were we?”

“What you’re saying makes sense,” Caradoc said hoarsely, pausing to sip tea from a mug, “The only way some of us could have been found… is if there was a spy among our numbers…”

“But our main suspect isn’t showing himself. You think he realizes that we suspect him?” The mediwitch, Nicole Morknow, wondered.

I shrugged. “No idea. I don’t know the guy like you do.”

Benjy nodded. “True. Nothing we can do until we-”

There was a racket of a screeching bird that made us all jump, before Benjy scrabbled for his wand and jabbed it in the direction of the noise. The source came flying through the door, and he caught it with his other hand. 

It was an alarm clock, one that he had been using for his monitoring. A quick tap of his wand silenced it, and he scrutinized the compass-like display of spinning hands. The rest of us watched his deepening frown, the odd movement making sense only to him.

“Damn it to heck!” He cursed softly.

“What’s wrong?” Caradoc asked Benjy.

“The charms keeping track of any giant movement reported a signal, but they were disconnected shortly after.”

“You-Know-Who’s people in the Ministry?” Nicole breathed.

“Who else could have? Without early enough warning, the giants will wreak havoc before the Aurors can arrive.”

Caradoc began to lift himself out of bed, but Nicole came over to force him back down.

“You’re in no condition to go! You’ll just get yourself killed!” 

“We have to do something!”

“Where was the signal from?” I asked, my voice silencing the rest of them.

Benjy stared at me, hesitating for a moment before answering my question. 

…

It was a dark and stormy night… except it’s not dark and stormy, because the sky’s clear and the moon’s pretty damn bright tonight.

I was standing in the moor near a small town by the name of Mistyshire, on the route the approaching army was predicted to take towards it. Supposedly it was secluded enough for the Dark Lord’s forces to destroy without drawing too much heat, yet big enough of a place to make a statement. 

My role was to buy as much time for the other Order members to arrive, after they finished dealing with the werewolves on their end. Benjy and the others tried to persuade me out of doing this, but I had already made up my mind.

“Any advice?” I asked out loud.

“Um, don’t die?” Benjy replied through the sound transfer tool I made, the wizard busy elsewhere.

“Uh huh, very helpful.” 

“Oh! Try not to draw too much attention with your magic. You’ll draw the attention of the Muggles, and then the Aurors will be after you for breaking the Statute of Secrecy.”

“Okay, avoid big displays. Got it.” 

I spun my wand in the fingers of my right hand, the length of wood emitting colorful sparks, before tucking it away into a wand holster on my thigh. Ignoring the feeling of discontent it was giving off, I hefted my staff in my other hand, and began channeling my mana.

“Time to meet an army with an army.” I said to myself, glancing up at the brightly glowing moon in the sky.

So far in my time on this plane, I had been restraining my use of my mana bonds, mainly because there wasn’t any need for big workings when only one or two lands would do. Having this opportunity to cut loose was pretty exciting for me. 

Especially with my staff’s special effects, which were more than just being a good focus for my spells.

According to the Guild’s records of Udaeus, the Monster Rex attacked by either summoning spikes from the ground of its arena, or by summoning Spartoi, skeletal monsters to fight on its behalf. Those two traits carried over to my staff, boosting my terrain-effect spells and creature summoning ones.

Erathian giants, nagas, ruin grinders, fractals, elementals… I took the opportunity to start bringing them out first, to give them time to acclimate before the enemy even arrived. With the staff reducing the mana cost of summoning them, I was able to bring out a significant number. To conceal my growing forces, I sprayed some water around to form a mistbank, and weaved an illusion into it. With the line of trees at my back, it wouldn’t appear too out of place.

Movement at the other end of the moor caught my eye, and I squinted. Enemy has arrived…  Damn, and I’m running low already. If only I had more time…

Compared to my summoned giants, the native ones here were shorter and had chunky body shapes. They also appeared to be rather ungainly, stumbling and shoving each other or the trees around them. 

They also weren’t alone; I spotted a few wizards as well, staying a wise distance from the giants, along with what looked like cloaked wraiths flying through the sky.

Benjy was not thrilled to hear me ask about those.

“Those are Dementors! You-Know-Who must have sent some of those he managed to get from Azkaban!” He sounded nervous now. “Don’t let them get too close to you. They’ll make you feel horrible, and if they get their hands on you, they may even suck out your soul!” 

“...noted.” This plane has some terrible stuff to go with the fantastical, huh?

One of the wizards raised his wand up, and fired off a red light that exploded like a firework. It was apparently a signal, as the army of creatures began to advance, intent on the lights of the town in the distance behind me. Some of them were letting out shouts and howls of glee, at the thought of the destruction they were going to cause.

Shield-Rock-Rock-Arcane-Arcane. I raised my staff with the glowing elemental orbs floating around it, while my other hand worked the green magic of modifying arithmancy. Coordinates, set. Exclusion values, set. Repetition formulas, included.

In the distance, I could see one of the skull-masked wizards stop and peer at the mist that was hiding me, probably wondering what the faintly flickering lights inside were.

For a second, I thought of saying some bombastic line, like ‘You shall not pass!’ or something similar. 

Then that moment passed, and I cast my spell.

Hundreds of spikes burst up around the field, piercing flesh and abruptly halting the advance. Their cries were replaced by yells of pain and fury, especially when those at the back ran into the ones in front of them. 

With a sweep of my staff, I dispelled my control over the mist. “Attack!”

At my order, my forces charged forward as the spikes went down, crashing into the confused army of creatures.

It was utter chaos. My giants, though far fewer in number than the other side’s, were more dangerous; their bolts stabbed into the thick flesh of their counterparts, dealing gruesome and occasionally fatal blows. Meanwhile, the ruin grinders, with their claws meant for excavating hard rock, inflicted even bloodier wounds. 

The nagas caused bloody showers of their own with their swift slashing, either from the giants, or the other Dark creatures that were part of the enemy army. My elementals, charged with the element of cold, helped support the others by slowing down the enemies with stabs of their blades. Next to me, Marill fired off shots of water and ice, targeting the wizards and putting them on the backfoot.

A cold chill came over me, just as Lyric let out a shrill whistle of warning, which I automatically reacted to. A large burst of light repelled the Dementor that was swooping down on me, making the wraith roll away in the air. 

However, that also made me stand out to some of the others, and I found myself having to defend against several spells from the wizards, swatting them away with my staff or using counterspells. Unlike the ones I faced before, these ones seemed a cut above, adjusting to my tactics after I took down one of them.

Probably from having to wrangle the giants. I fired off a beam that splashed against a hastily-raised shield, before switching to defense by erecting multiple rock spikes as a barrier. And these guys definitely know how to work together!

Things gradually became worse as the opposing side began regaining the advantage by making use of their larger numbers, with their giants ganging up together on mine. The Dementors also kept swooping down at me, their despair-inducing aura wearing at my concentration. They were also tough to hit, and even more difficult to put down properly as magic seemed to have less effect on them than expected, even with the Orb of Vulnerability’s effect.

Should have summoned some genies to handle them…! I dodged another spell, before raising my staff to block a descending axe from one who teleported into close range.

“I shall claim your skull for the Dark Lord!” The wizard sneered, attempting to use his strength to pressure me.

He clearly didn’t expect me to outstrip him in that field; a shove sent him off-balance, before I whacked his hands where they held the weapon, shattering the bones in those appendages. His scream of pain was abruptly cut short when Marill soaked him with a spray of water, and the cold elemental’s stab froze him into an icy statue a second later.

“MacNair!” One of the other wizards yelled, backpedaling to avoid a naga’s saber swing.

So that’s MacNair… I released another pulse of light to repulse the growing number of Dementors coming at me. And this is getting bad. I could use a big light spell against them, but I don’t think I’ll have the opportunity to!

One of my ruin grinders was pulled apart by two pairs of giants pulling on its arms, while five of them were pummeling one of my Erathian ones. The latter group lost one of its number when a lightning bolt plunged through the unlucky member’s head, but the rest continued hammering away until my giant finally fell. Some of my elementals were swarmed by Dementors, their cold blades having no effect on the wraiths, and they fizzled out once their energy was entirely consumed.

I had reaped a deadly toll on their numbers, but they still outnumbered my side. I noticed one of the enemy wizards had rolled up his sleeve, and was pressing his wand to the snake-like tattoo on his arm.

“Roy! Roy!” The voice yelled from the sound transfer tool.

“What, Benjy?!” I growled back, annoyed at the interruption.

“You need to get out of there! You-Know-Who is heading your way!”

How do you even know that!? I briefly wondered, before coming to a decision. As much as I’d like to see how I can fare against him, I’m at too much of a disadvantage here. So… sorry, Benjy, but I’m gonna go out with a bang!

I recalled Marill into its orb, and grabbed my floating grimoire with my free hand. The rest of my forces shifted into the defensive at my silent command, buying me time to prepare the magick I had in mind.

Cold-Water-Arcane-Cold-Water-Shield-Cold-Water! 

The multiple energy orbs gathered into my staff, making it glow with a dangerous light, one that was mirrored by the light from my grimoire.

[Prismatic Magic: Purple Implosion Vortex]!

A small orb of purple appeared in the midst of the enemy forces, swirling and growing in size rapidly. One of the wizards cast a spell at it, only for the green light to vanish into its depths. As it continued to expand, a force began to pull on all those present within its purplish aura. I quickly backed away, my feet eating up the distance between me and the treeline, but others weren’t as lucky.

An unlucky giant was the first victim, stumbling over a fallen comrade’s body and falling into the growing vortex. In an instant, it was squeezed down into the black void at the center, fatally crushed into a bloody mess. The event also caused the magical spell to sharply expand in size, trapping more of the monster army before they could react.

“No! No no no no! Finite! Finite!” One of the wizards yelled, trying to dispel it even as he was being sucked towards it. “Fi-”

Other giants, trying to run but failing to resist the heavy gravitational pull. 

Poor MacNair, unable to even try to flee as his frozen body was drawn towards it, leaving drag marks in the soil.

Several Dementors, their unnatural evasion failing to let them escape now that they were within its range. Their howls stung my ears as they fought to fly away.

All of them vanished into the black circle, turning into gory sprays of blood. I dismissed the rest of my summons rather than let them experience the same. The remainder of the enemy army began to flee, running back the way they came. There were cracks as the wizards Disapparated away, one of them accidentally leaving behind a leg.

Thankfully, the vortex only grew to a certain extent, but even then it still claimed a large number of victims.

…Okay, good thing I set a limit to how big it can grow and how long it will last. Good thing it’ll vanish on its own in a bit. I thought to myself. This could have been very bad if it was allowed to grow without limits. I definitely learned a lot about using it next time.

Just as I was preparing to teleport away back to the hideout, I noticed a new appearance across the ravaged and bloody field. Beneath the raised hood of a dark robe, red eyes set in a very pale face stared hatefully at me across the distance.

Then I activated my teleportation spell and vanished from there, leaving the Dark Lord to deal with the loss of a large number of his forces.

Afterword: I was wondering how I should write the next part after this, but then I decided to just have this chapter end as it is. As fun as studying magic is for Roy, his Magicka upbringing shows through at times, and this is one of those moments. He can have fun interacting with people, and the next moment go on a deadly rampage against his enemies. Just because he has inner light, doesn’t mean he’s always going to behave like a do-gooder paladin. Though there’s also the Dark alignment of the enemy forces to consider…

As always, thanks to all my readers who support me. Do leave a comment to let me know your thoughts on this chapter. Did I do a good job of writing a battle scene?