Ahrden wasn't particularly fond of politics, but he was intrigued by the valuable outcome of it that actually had the power to bring lasting change. One such result was the relationship that the nations had with each other within the confined walls of the Valley. Through eavesdropping in on conversations or sneaking into the restricted areas of the library Ahrden always tried to keep himself up to date as to how the borders looked between the nations.
The question of borders was an everchanging, emotionally saturated topic for all parties involved, and nobody could be certain at any given time as to what the precise status was. Ahrden tried to monitor the real-life situation of the borders by teleporting there and examining them with his own eyes then using this information to modify his own draft map that held almost if not the most accurate status of the borders. What he had was not the diplomatic outlay of the Valley, but rather the cold reality that ruled the lands.
Mapping out the borders was not always the most exciting task and Ahrden tried to do it parallel with other activities he had in mind such as hunting hidden artifacts or looking for rare herbs. On top of that the information he got from mapping out the borders was for him alone so he did it in his free time as a way to relax himself. For this reason, learning was always prioritized before it and on occasions whole seasons had gone by without him once updating his draft. He knew that one day these maps would be invaluable, but he didn't strain himself to have them always reflect the reality. Ahrden enjoyed this free time activity and thus he did when he had time on his hands, especially when he could connect the activity with other things.
On this morning Ahrden travelled to a region that was deprived of all the things that was of interest to him, so his entire objective was to check if the maps he had stolen from the council reflected the reality or not. The area he was roaming was vast and deserted. There wasn't much to be found here and despite being where the current borders of the Nethedral and the Velintenal nations met the area was not sought after by either party. It wasn't evident for Ahrden why this area came to be so devoted of civilization, but nature surely flourished in the absence of man.
Having no specific objective or goal other than to look for roaming soldiers or hidden bases from either of the nations Ahrden's mind eventually wondered off. He had gone further away from home than he had ever before, yet he felt no discomfort about the uncharted area. He was confident in his ability to protect himself regardless of what came at him. He was moving South in between the mountain ranges along the area where the border was supposed to be. On the way here Ahrden had encountered villages, outposts, marching soldiers, and wandering inhabitants, but not this far into the dead-end that the interlocking mountains had crated. On his way here he needed to be aware of his surrounding to be able to slip by the obstacles undetected. However, since he had reached this seemingly no man's land, he had not found a single sign of civilization. This shouldn't have, but still allowed him to relax and wander freely, devoting less attention to his task and safety.
Most of the time, he was just walking, enjoying the scenery, but he often took the chance and teleported ahead when a larger area panned before him. This had not been the case for a while now as Ahrden was moving through an incredibly thick part of the forest. He was just thinking about taking a short break when he noticed a clearing further ahead. The timing was delightful because he was hungry and eating under the clear sky, when the sun had already passed from above was something he profoundly enjoyed. Ahrden wasn't close enough to see much from the clearing, but he had already felt something that he didn't expect to; the presence of magic; and a incredibly potent one at that.
It wasn't the first time he felt this, but it usually happened when he deliberately sought out something relating to magic. Magical places and artefacts were so rare and well concealed that it was improbable to just tumble upon one. On top of all that, the magic he felt now promised to be more than he had ever found before. A quick examination of the surroundings with his extended senses did little to unravel the mystery, so Ahrden just pressed on, expecting the answer to present itself once he got to the clearing.
Ahrden slowed his pace and moved more carefully while gathering power within him and focused on his environment to be prepared for anything. He saw no movement yet he still kept his guard up. As he moved to the very edge of the clearing, he immediately noticed two things, of which one was most likely the source that radiated the magical aura. In the middle of the clearing, there was a rock jutting out of the ground, making Ahrden think that most of it was still hidden beneath the surface. Ahrden had read stories where stones had been saturated with magic to server several purposes, so he suspected this to be the case here too. Still, it felt odd to find such a powerful magical item in the middle of a clearing in such a revealing way. Next to the stone stood an enormous bear shuffling around it, sniffing it with its muzzle.
The bear looked vicious and powerful, way more extensive than any Ahrden had ever seen before, but he only smiled at its presence, knowing how outmatched animals were against magic. The beast must have felt the strange presence of power too, which drew it to investigate the stone, but it was Ahrden's turn to unveil the secrets of the rock, so he started moving towards it.
As soon as Ahrden stepped onto the clearing, the bear's head shot up and stared straight at him with its deep sitting small eyes that glowed red as bloody drool was dripping from his razor-sharp teeth. Ahrden was startled at the view despite himself, and his breath stopped as the beast eyed him. He needed a few moments to regain his composure and confidence while reassuring himself that the bear couldn't possibly pose any serious threat to him.
Ahrden drew Duskedge and filled it with energy, making the runes on it glow. As a result, the blade's edge sharpened, and it felt lighter in his grasp, while he felt the hidden knowledge imbued in its fabric unlock and present itself to him. The initially heavy sword felt like an extension of him, similarly to what many years of warrior training would've granted him, enabling him to wield it with perfect technique. This feeling made him regain his confidence which was all that it was for since he was only planning to scare the bear away with a ranged spell. He resumed his approach.
The beast obviously wasn't fond of Ahrden's continued approach because it started charging at him. The animal's acceleration was straight up unnatural, which reignited the worry in Ahrden. He changed his mind about merely scaring the impossible beast away, because he wanted to quickly end this unwanted encounter and the bear's unnatural existence. This change of plan meant that he would be using his runed sword after all. As the beast neared, Ahrden swiped his hand in front of him, while casting a simple spell fuelled with an abundant amount of power to sweep the legs out from underneath the bear. Ahrden waited long enough so that the bear with its unnatural speed would slide all the way to his feet, after toppling, where he would end the beast with a simple down thrust of his sword. Ahrden couldn't think of a single way where this plan could go wrong, given the amount of power he poured into the spell. Yet, the spell, which would have easily snapped a younger tree in half, effortlessly bounced off the undisturbed charging bear revealing an orange force field that surrounded it.
This being the first time for Ahrden to witness any kind of magic that wasn't his own stunned him to the core, let alone the fact that it was the highest level of arcane magic. He could not move or cast a single spell as he stood there. He was fully aware that if he did nothing, the magically enhanced beast would surely tear him apart so in the last second, Ahrden was able to stammer an arcane shield between him and the beast. He knew perfectly well that it was not going to be enough, furthermore he found the idea of his shield standing up to an orange laughable and made him question his own judgement. Still, Ahrden focused on strengthening the shield as the beast leapt, making it as powerful as he could manage.
Ahrden's arcane wall didn't do much of anything but briefly flared up in a bright blue colour as the beast's orange quickly overshone it. Ahrden went flying backwards after the collision, and luckily there were no trees in his path because he wouldn't have survived the impact of such crash. The air was knocked out of him when he landed on the soft grass, and he was unable to breathe for seconds.
The beast could not rip him apart because as his shield got destroyed by the bear's the energy that he was channelling into it got reversed and that threw him in the opposite direction. Ahrden cursed his arrogance to think that he could stand up against an orange arcane shield rather than simply teleporting away, but there was no time to scold himself. He felt the ground shake before he heard the charging of the bear as the leaves and twigs got crushed and snapped under its clawed paws. Ahrden focused on surviving the next few seconds before coming up with a plan to tackle his unlikely foe. He kept his eyes closed, still unable to properly breathe, then pictured the rock in the middle of the field and teleported.
Feeling the weak afternoon sun on the back of his head, Ahrden sighed with relief, knowing that he made the jump. He pushed himself up while swiftly glancing around in search of the beast that could only be a magically enhanced predator. As expected, it was already charging at him. Ahrden didn't know where Duskedge was and he still didn't have his whole mind in the battle, so he needed a little more time to get up to speed with the fight he wasn't prepared to start, endure let alone win. He leaned on the rock and pushed himself up quickly, acknowledging that the stone was as mundane as any, having absolutely no trace of magic save the little which was left there in the form of the beast's saliva. Ahrden closed his eyes, focused inwards and gathered the arcane energies to him. He expanded his aura as far as he could until he felt the beast enter it and dive through it with haste. Ahrden focused, waiting patiently and cast the spell only when the bear had already leapt at him; teleporting back where he first stood when entering the clearing. The bear was furious to have yet again bitten into thin air, but turned around immediately to face the mage as if it knew where he had gone before even seeing him.
'Let's start this again, shall we?' Ahrden said.
He felt the sword in the grass where he had dropped it when he was thrown away and called it to himself. As he grabbed onto its handle, the runes flared up again, while with his other hand he levitated some of his runed blades off his belt, and they now circulated around his left wrist.
Seeing the preparations, the mighty beast bellowed then charged as if knowing that the more time Ahrden got the more prepared he would be. Ahrden was more cautious now, feeling the full gravity of the satiation. As the space between them shrunk, he lifted his left hand and poured all that he could into the small blades. When he dared to wait no longer, Ahrden shot the blades at the beast, and they flew with incredible speed. He was hopeful as he added more power to the missiles, only to see them incinerate upon getting in contact with the flared-up orange arcane shield. His hopes were never to fully penetrate the shield but rather to imbed them into it and call them to himself from the other side to maybe force them through. It appeared that the power-level difference was too significant even for these masterfully crafted blades that Ahrden had empowered with equally skilfully etched runes. Unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected, thought Ahrden, as he grabbed the sword with both hands and lowered himself into a fighting position.
When the beast vaulted, Ahrden knew that it could no longer alter its course, so he jumped to his left, pushing himself even further with a spell than his legs would've taken him. He knew that simply jumping aside wouldn't get him clear from those terrible claws, and he appeared to be correct. As he moved out of the way, he swung the empowered Duskedge at the beast, but even that couldn't get past the arcane defences, although it survived the encounter. When the sword hit the shield, it flared up in a blinding orange overshining the still strong blue hue of the sword. The blade started turning red from the intense heat that was generating in the process. Ahrden was able to dent the shield and near the beast's fur with the tip of the sword, but it still slid past above it. Once the sword left the arcane defences, the shield sprung back up again as if nothing had happened.
When the beast landed it turned around immediately and saw Ahrden throw the sword into the ground a little further away from where he stood. The earth sizzled softly around the cooling blade as Ahrden prepared to unleash a wide range of spells against the beast.
Ahrden was facing the bear as he backed away and further empowered his body while wrapping it in a protective shield of his own. He needed to get close to the beast to focus his spells on penetrating the orange shield, and for that, he needed the beast to fight him up close rather than to just leap on him. The beast wasn't far away, but had already begun charging. The close distance meant that it couldn't gain as much speed as previously.
Ahrden unleashed a massive burst of energy in an effort to stop, or at least slow, the beast. It didn't stop it but certainly surprised the animal, as it lost a lot of its momentum. With its even slower pace, the beast got closer without jumping at him, which was what Ahrden wanted.
Once within reach it used one of its clawed paws to lash at Ahrden. He was fully immersed in the events now, and time seemed to slow down for him, enabling him to better follow the beast's moment. He traced the paw with his own hands, slightly pushing it away from his head, only to do the same with the follow-up blow of the other paw. Next, the beast moved forward, trying to bite him, but he caught its jaws with his arcane power, so the bear couldn't immediately snap it closed as Ahrden held it open. Frustrated at what was happening, the predator growled and pressed on, making Ahrden slide back in the grass while he held its jaw open.
When the beast had enough of this, it shook its head and sent the unsuspecting Ahrden flying away, who was clearly holding onto its jaw too firmly. He quickly regained his footing after a roll, but the beast was already onto him again; now standing on his two back legs slashing and biting at him. Ahrden ducked away from the blows and bites, directing them off course or pushing himself further away but never directly blocking any of it.
The enormous beast and the slender mage danced in the field, one constantly attacking while the other was barely able to get out of its way as he patiently waited for his opening to come. Next, the beast was coming down from his sanding position with its projecting muzzle, trying to bite its prey again when Ahrden released a colossal burst of arcane. The spell shoved the beast back up to a standing position again while making it stagger a little, but could not penetrate the shield. Using that small moment he gained, Ahrden called the sword to his hand trusted it forward to the unprotected belly of the beast. Ahrden felt the Duskedge hit the arcane field while seeing it flare up in orange and felt the slightest part of the sword penetrate it. Maybe he imagined it, but it gave him hope nonetheless. Either way, the beast was still far from suffering a single scratch from their encounter.
As the beast was coming down to all fours it swiped at Ahrden with its paw. Ahrden was too committed to trying to get the sword further through the shield that when he noticed the paw teleporting was no longer an option. Redirecting the attack was also too risky and the instinctive spell that he was left with proved to be weak again especially since he had no time to fuel it with power. As a result, he went flying again, but this time he felt that something terrible had happened. When Ahrden staggered to his feet, he felt pain shot into his felt arm. As he looked at it, he lost his breath from the sight of the gaping gashes that spread across his upper arm. Blood was pouring from the wounds that the claws left and when he looked at the beast, it was licking the last traces of his blood from its paw. The energy field around it flared up, if only for a moment, and his glowing red eyes turned to a darker crimson.
Ahrden didn't like one part of what he just saw and felt a certain unease from the blink of the orange shield that flared up. What bothered him was that he didn't know what caused it to trigger other than the beast tasting his blood. Either way, Ahrden knew when he was defeated, and this was a perfect example of it. He had partaken in the fight longer than he should have, but now it was time to leave. He closed his eyes and thought of his cosy study filled with books and scrolls and teleported away.
---
The air left Ahrden's lungs again when he slid down the flaring wall of arcane wall that surrounded the entire clearing and even arched over it. Ahrden heard what passed as a bestial laugh from the beast. He put the pieces together fast because deep down, he already suspected it; the beast was enchanted in such a clever way that it was able to bound him to the clearing after he got a taste of his blood. Ahrden wasn't leaving this clearing, not by magical and not by any other means, although he could freely teleport within the restraints. The spell that bounded Ahrden was so much above his level than overpowering it with his current blue arcane magic was more than foolish. The only way out of here was to break the spell itself, which meant killing the beast.
The beast seemed pleased with the events, which gave Ahrden a moment. He called the sword to him and thrust it into the ground next to him. He placed his right palm on the bleeding wounds and murmured a few spells which stopped most of the bleeding, but it was only a temporary solution, and he knew that all too well. His head was pounding from the fall, and he could barely move his left arm. The situation was not looking good for him, and he was aware of it. On the other hand, the beast looked more alive than ever, clearly understanding that its prey could no longer flee.
Ahrden knew that his spells could not penetrate the protective shield of the beast, yet he refused to acknowledge it before trying one more time. He gathered the arcane energies within him, while the beast remained stationary, even calm after the latest turn of events. Ahrden shouted the last parts of the spell as he unleashed the best he could muster. A large missile of arcane power went surging towards the beast, and before it would hit it, Ahrden was already preparing another spell. The beast didn't even dodge the spell just stood there as the attack crashed into its shield. All the power Ahrden had put in the missile washed over the orange shield, not even pushing back the prepared animal. Without allowing himself time to process it, he unleashed his next attack, which was a continuous beam of pure and destructive arcane energy that slammed into the orange shield. The collision was so powerful it sent a shockwave through the entire clearing that made the dome around the clearing flare up for a second. The emitted light was so bright it would have turned the night into day. The continuous beam pushed the beast back as its paws dug burrows in the ground. After adjusting to the attack, the animal finally started towards Ahrden.
Ahrden kept the spell going for as long as he could, hoping that the closer proximity would make it harder for the beast to withstand it. The malicious bear visibly struggled as it neared Ahrden, but slowly it was able to gain momentum and close the distance between them, although nearly not as fast as before. In the last second, Ahrden broke the spell, grabbed the sword and teleported behind it.
Afraid that the beast would somehow damage it, Ahrden threw the sword a little further away and guided it into the earth, so the hilt pointed upwards.
'Just one last time,' he promised himself as he prepared for his next attack.
The beast had already turned around and was now charging at Ahrden, wanting to finally feast on what it had already tasted. Ahrden used his still fully functioning right arm to shoot a bolt of arcane energy in front of the beast's feet, blowing earth and gravel at its face, which only seemed to infuriate it. He shot another bolt and another until the beast bellowed with immense frustration and jumped at him.
Ahrden ducked under the flying animal giving more energy to its momentum to make it fly over him. The beast passed over Ahrden, and when it landed behind him it whipped his head around to face him. He screamed out the last words while finishing the casting of the next spell unleashing as much arcane energy as he could, directing it straight at the beast's head which was dangerously close to him. The dense, arcane power crackled through the air and smashed into the shield sending the beast and the mage flying in opposite directions. The beast's paws sank into the earth as it tumbled to its feet while all the power that flowed around the orange shield blew away grass, gravel and earth; leaving two gaping craters on both of its sides. Ahrden expected the energy backlash from the spell, yet it turned out more extensive than he had anticipated it. Mid-air, he regained his bearings and teleported to the ground, closely examining how the beast fared the attack. The beast shook its head then shot it up to face Ahrden. It was ferocious and unharmed.
Ahrden was able to admit it now that he could not penetrate the protective shield of the beast with his magic alone. He didn't regret trying it one last time, and although he failed, he felt a hint of pride at being able to toss the beast away and to see all the damage he had made to the surroundings.
The sword had gotten through the orange arcane shield once, if only the very tip of it, so he guessed that Duskedge was his best option now. He started walking towards the beast and called the blade to him, pouring as much arcane into it as he could.
Ahrden broke into a run then leapt high into the air with his briefly enhanced body despite still being way too far away. He teleported to close the remaining distance and came down at the still stunned bear thrusting the Duskedge downwards. With blinding flaring and sparkles flying everywhere, the runed sword slid off the beast's shield without needing any effort from the animal. The beast had recovered by then so it lashed out at Ahrden with its great paw, and Ahrden had to bring his sword up to block the strike.
Duskedge proved effective at blocking the attacks of the beast. Ahrden still only had one arm that was fully functioning and his spells started to wear of as blood begun to seep from the wounds again. After blocking two consequent attacks Ahrden changed approaches.
As the next sweeping paw came towards him, he wrapped his power around the beast's forelegs, and pulled them towards himself. As the bear lost its footing, it fell forward, straight into the well-timed upward strike of Ahrden. The effort was admirable, but this attack bore no fruit either. As the foaming-mouthed beast recovered from the tumble, it leaped at him instantly. Ahrden waited for a second, then teleported to the stone in the middle of the clearing, behind the attacking beast.
Teleporting had never thrown the beast off as it did all the humans, but that was not Ahrden's goal. His mind racing, Ahrden lit the grass on fire around the beast and channelled arcane into the flames so that they jumped unnaturally high and grew impossibly hot. The beast was quickly lost in the flames, and Ahrden could no longer see it, but he just kept channelling all that he had to fuel the fire.
He only stopped when moments later the beast slowly strode out of the building-high wall of flames, unharmed and visibly amused. Its shield, which covered it in its entirety, was alight everywhere, keeping the host safe from the fire.
Ahrden had one more idea, and he felt that he had just enough in him to execute that one plan. If that were to fail, it would be over for him, but alos; beyond this one possibility he could think of no other ways out of this. He lifted the sword towards the sky and, with the hilt facing the ground, threw it over the rock that was still next to him. When the sword was where he wanted it to be, he stopped it there in the air and channelled a great deal of arcane into it, then with great effort jerked the blade downwards, burying it so deep into the rock. The whole hilt and even some part of the blade had completely disappeared inside the stone as it parted from the force that Ahrden had exerted on it. With the blade pointing upwards, he looked at the glowing crimson eyes fixated on him from behind the still flaring orange shield.
The pain in Ahrden's shoulder was becoming near intolerable as it pulsated, and on top of that, the bleeding was becoming stronger. However, he paid no mint to any of that. He just walked past the stone with Duskedge in it, focusing intensely on the beast, which was closely examining everything he did. A few steps later, Ahrden broke into a run just as the beast started charging at him too. Using the same move, Ahrden leapt when the distance between them was still too much then teleported onto the charging beast's back. As he materialized from the jump, he wrapped his arms around the back of the beast, tightly grabbing onto the thick and rough fur of the animal. The events unfolded as he expected them to; he was able to go as near as to touch the beast when he used no weapon or magic and when he was moving relatively slowly, but if he were to channel even the slightest offensive power through his palms now, he didn't doubt that the orange shield that would be activated by it would cut him in half without the slightest of wavering. He focused on strengthening himself to be able to hold on. He was planting himself firmly on the still charging back of the beast without letting out the slightest arcane power that would trigger the defensive mechanisms.
Realizing what had just happened, the beast acted quickly: it jumped forward while rolling mid-air so that it would land on its back, crushing Ahrden underneath it. As the two of them neared the ground from the jump, Ahrden concentrated on channelling the powers into the next spell, which he knew all too well, although this one wasn't going to be like any he had performed before. Ahrden finished casting the spell when he was at arm's length from the grass.
Everything darkened then lit up again as they both found themselves high up in the air. Although the beast was upside down, it still wanted to slap the mage off its back, but Ahrden was faster pushing himself away from it and teleporting back down on the ground.
When Ahrden had both feet on the grass, he shot his eyes and right hand up, swiftly locating the falling monstrosity. As expected, it was off-course, but he reached out and gently directed the helpless beast over Duskedge. The beast came down faster than Ahrden would have guessed it would, but he still managed to establish a connection with the runed sword, channelling arcane into it. The beast met the blade in a massive burst of orange light but with an almost equal amount of blue as well. The explosion of the enormous light and the deafening sound of the crash momentarily blinded and disoriented Ahrden.
When he looked up, the beast was on its four paws, shaking its head and panting heavily; it was more furious than ever. Behind it, only part of the ancient sword was still in the stone.
The rest was gone.
The sword was broken with its end still glowing and steaming. At a second glance, Ahrden could see that the beast was limping, trying not to put pressure on its left front paw, while the arcane shield above its neck was vividly flaring without pause. That is when he found the missing part of the sword, half stuck in the orange shield just above the beast's neck.
Not the desired outcome, Ahrden thought, but it was something he could work with.
Ahrden started charging first, knowing it to be the last no matter the outcome. The beast began running too, but it was significantly clumsier than before. With the aid of the magical enhancements, it could still accelerate like no natural animal could, but Ahrden noticed the toll that the fall had taken on it. When the beast leapt, Ahrden started sliding underneath it empowering his momentum to go faster and further while focusing on the shard of Duskedge stuck in the orange arcane shield, wrapping his power around it. As he came directly under it, he called it to him.
When Ahrden came to a stop, blood trickled onto his head from the piece of Duskedge he held in front of him. He had wrapped his hand in a protective layer of arcane to be able to catch the lightning-fast blade, that was white from the heat. Now, the spell faded as he let the shard slip from his grasp. Feeling light headed, he made no effort to check if the beast still lived of not, knowing that if it lived it was over for him anyways.
Ahrden closed his eyes and visualized Felinda's workshop in front of him. When he materialized the last thing that he could perceive was the breaking of the countless flasks that were on the bookshelf he came crashing down on.