Chapter 13: Blinding from the Dark, the Echo of an Exspell

The chamber rumbled as it was filled with the winged scaled body of a dragon, of a darnig, a tyrant dragon! Pillars fell this way and that, and amidst the chaos, the chlan writhed away from the radiance of the dragon.

Leshac’s scales were like icy mirrors. He looked more like an exquisite ice sculpture of a dragon than a real one, but then, that was natural, as the form he was copying was that of mighty ice dragon.

Six strong limbs flexed, two legs, two leg-like arms and a pair of resplendent wings.

The light from the mirrorscales pained the chlan.

There do exist chlan that are connected to light, and the element of Radiance, but in general Radiance has a high potency against chlan beings. For those that have some inkling of the true nature of chlan beings, it is assumed that the revealing properties of Radiance are what cause chlan such problems.

Leshac however was not having that good of a time himself.

He was burning, or at least that was what it felt like. Truthfully Leshac’s affinity with the form of the particular ice dragon he had seen was monsterously bad. Leshac was a being of Phantasm, the illusive element, an existence that was vague where Radiance was clear.

Light casts shadow, but it also obliterates darkness. Both shadow and darkness are under the domain of Phantasm, so it wasn’t that strange for Leshac to struggle with the form of the ice dragon. Added to this bad affinity was the fact that it was a body far stronger than his spirit or heartflame could reasonably manage.

In the worst case scenario, his heartflame would explode and his spirit would be dashed to pieces.

Leshac let out a noble roar that was part intimidation, part anger and part pain.

He reached out with a claw, not daring to attempt to reproduce dragon’s breath.

Leshac had intended a swift swipe, but what resulted was a jerky flail.

Still, his claw descended and the chlan grew more agitated.

It screamed.

Leshac’s claw died.

He stumbled back crashing into another pillar, causing more unnerving rumbles to come from the lodge, sending a rain of rock falling down

-This was a terrible idea. Was this a terrible idea? I’m huge and I can’t really move well. My everything hurts- Leshac thought bitterly.

The air around the chlan was wailing. It was clear it didn’t want Leshac getting anywhere near it.

Leshac found that his mind was totally clear again.

-Lesh! You can hear me again! Thank the shadows.- Quil said.

-Yes. Well. I have it cornered, but…-

The chlan was floating in the air, spinning around, whip of wails tearing up the ground. It really wasn’t taking the presence of Leshac’s current form well. Actually Leshac was quite surprised. It clearly wasn’t the form of a regular ice dragon.

Regular ice dragon. The phrase made Leshac feel a bit silly. Leshac noted that curiously having his spirit fried and his heartflame placed under unreasonable pressure made him extremely giddy.

-Lesh? Lesh?- Quil repeated.

Leshac realised that Quil had been trying to say something.

-Ah, sorry Quil, got a bit faint headed there-

-Don’t do that! Not when you are in the middle of fighting a chlan! Get a hold of yourself, magic, use magic!-

-Ah, yes, magic. I had forgotten about that- Leshac murmured.

-Keep it together Lesh!- Quil’s voice turned faint in Leshac’s head.

Magic…

Leshac glared at the chlan. Darkness did not have much effect on it, or at least, Leshac’s darkness wasn’t of the right kind. A sealing darkness would likely have worked, but seals weren’t really ever Leshac’s expertise.

In that moment, his spirit and heartflame under dreadful peril, Leshac gained insight, the flow of magic swirled lazily around him, and a pattern began to form.

He spoke no words, made no ritual to fool the flows of magic. This was a moment he would spend years contemplating, trying to remember the patterns that had formed.

It was a simple magic, as most of the most powerful magic was. It was an echo of the most powerful of spells, an exalted elder spell.

An exspell.

Leshac grabbed hold of the shadows, the darkness.

He pulled them away as if they were just a sheet.

Light flooded the chamber, so much that even though Leshac closed his eyes beforehand, he was blinded.

There was a tormented yell from the chlan, this was followed by the voice of Quayr.

“Get out of me you filth!”

Another yell of agony, the clatter of metal against the floor and the patter of feet swiftly retreating.

Leshac could no longer maintain the form of the dragon, he shifted into the shape of some plated tortoise-like being with feathery legs and neck, it was a form with strong natural defences.

Eventually, his vision cleared, though, only after circulating darkness through his eyes several times.

What met his gaze was the helmet of Quayr, Crimson Eye still set into it.

It seemed as if it was glaring at him.

He had succeeded.

-Now, I’m just not sure if it is a good idea to let Balreah near it- Leshac thought.