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Chapter 107: Fire and Shadow

Liam stopped beside everyone else by the back door of Nathanial's home, somewhat baffled by the reaction to Nicholas's challenge. He could understand Nathanial's, as he worried about both people, and his core personality -- the one he normally exhibited outside of his...episodes -- was truly peaceful and empathetic. As for the Spirits... No, he could not understand. Such duels were quite commonplace when he lived there, particularly amongst the teens. It was during puberty that aggression and both physical and magical power truly grew and jostling for position became necessary. The uneven growth amongst teens meant that comparative power could change monthly' and rivals needed to constantly measure themselves against the other. Geoff, as the Dark Elemental, would have been spared much of this, but he should still understand it. Even those of Conor's and Alpha McDougal's ages should still see regular duels, as their power was not yet at its peak.

Geoff had frequently looked at Nathanial on the journey through the excessively large home, indicating he had been engaged in a dialogue with the Akita, presumably coming up with ideas to ensure no harm befell either combatant. Such assistance was a violation of duelling etiquette; setting terms of a duel measured one's intelligence, as many a duel was won by manipulating the terms to one's favour without the challenger noticing. If the challenger did not dispute a term, it was their own problem, but a blatant abuse of setting terms would still sully any win, just as an unfair challenge would.

Geoff and Nicholas walked out into the middle of the dark yard, after Nicholas passed the Succubus Grimoire to his father. Challenging Geoff at night may have been a very stupid move on Nicholas's part, but it also counted in his favour; no matter the outcome, barring a truly abysmal showing, Nicholas gained by this fight.

The Dark Elemental manifested, vanishing from sight. His voice rang forth clearly, "The terms are these: first, we create a target from our magic, a ball a metre in diameter. The winner is the person who destroys the other's ball first or pins their opponent for three seconds. The duel is forfeited if we intentionally get hit by our opponent's magic in an attempt to protect our goal. Second, the only magic we can direct at the other person is non-damaging magic in order to hold them. Nathanial will cast protective spells on us to ensure we don't get hurt. Since you can't see me, Nick, it's my responsibility to get out of the way of your magic, but you can't flood the field with fire and say it's my own fault if I get hit -- that counts as intentionally targeting me. Third, the field will be divided in half, my side and your side, and we can't cross over. We're both able to fight at a distance, so that's fair. Our goal can move anywhere in that area, um, which is fifty square metres, twenty-five metres wide each. The upper limit for our goal is four metres, but we -- you and me, not the goals -- can go above that if we want. Fourth, we have five minutes to make our goal and put any sort of protections we want on it, around it, or whatever. We have to show our opponent what the goal looks like, first, and it can't be hidden underground. Once the five minutes are up we can't add anything else to it directly, change anything on it, or fix it. We can only move it and indirectly protect it."

Nicholas raised his paw. "No, once the five minutes are up it can't move. You have a huge advantage if I have to keep looking for a dark ball inside a dark field. As it is, I'll have to spend a lot of time trying to find it, while you get to freely attack mine."

Geoff hesitated, but nodded. He must have had a plan based around his goal being mobile and was forced to change it. "All right. Do you trust Nathanial to be an impartial referee?"

It was Nicholas's turn to hesitate. "Yeeess, but I think Sensei would be a better choice. Nats gets worried and would step in too often. Sensei would also know the rules, if there are any, and he seemed to be able to follow Nats's fight against the Investigators pretty well. He can ask Nats about anything he can't see, too."

Liam found himself agreeing with Nicholas for a few reasons, one of which Geoff was unlikely to suspect, as was Nathanial. Geoff nodded, so Liam stepped forward. "Nathanial, could you ring the agreed upon region with lights? They only need to be visible, they do not need to illuminate." A string of tiny lights encircled the play area and bisected it, too. "Good. Please note that leaving this area counts as a forfeit and forcing one's opponent out counts as a second off on the next attempt to pin. Getting forced out three times in a row is a victory. This is an old rule, common to a more physical duel, but works well here." The two duellists nodded so Liam motioned them to the field. "Prepare your goals. Destruction occurs when the goal loses cohesion, is forced out of bounds, or is broken into two or more pieces. Once the goals are made, stop. Do not begin to prepare the defences."

Geoff moved to the back third of his area and created a solid black globe two metres off the ground. Nicholas grabbed his grimoire and then moved to the mirror position of Geoff. His goal was pulled up from the ground; it appeared to be molten rock and did not float in the air. It began cooling and crackling soon after it formed, taking on the appearance of very foggy obsidian with a molten core. It was rather beautiful, in an ominous fashion.

They turned to him, so Liam raised his paw. "The goals are made, their positions are fixed, and you now have five minutes to prepare defences. Begin."

Geoff's energy sharply spiked and focused tightly. Despite being hidden from sight, Liam could pin his location precisely, down to the location of the tip of his tail as it swayed in the light breeze, purely from the ambient energy pouring off him. A shape began forming around the goal -- a kraken three metres high and with arms that looked to be over twenty -- if not thirty -- metres long. That was quite a defence. Nick was not faring too poorly, either. He was chanting and moving his free arm as he focused on what appeared to be a very complicated spell. A crackling inferno appeared around the goal, followed by an expanding carpet of fire covering the grass.

Garret frowned. "I think I'll have quite the landscaping bill next spring. That pup is already in deep shit over this asinine stunt."

Conor looked around. "Nathanial, you better hide your backyard from sight, somehow. We don't want the fire department stumbling into the middle of this."

Nathanial nodded, and a wall of darkness formed around the perimeter of the property. "I don't want to cut off any light from the moon; that might count as interfering. Don't worry, Dad; that isn't actual fire. It's just light, no heat. He's making sure no dark constructs can sneak into his field, and it also weakens Geoff's powers. There's no reason to waste magic on adding heat. I'm impressed with all of the defences he's added; I don't know how Geoff is going to break through. I don't know how Nick is going to, either; that kraken seems to have regenerative abilities built in. We might end up with a stalemate."

Micah shook his head worriedly. "No, I think Nick will win. You haven't seen him practising; I have. I've also seen Geoff fight."

Alpha McDougal scowled fiercely at the pup, making Nathanial and Garret scowl back. "What do you mean, pup? There's no way that runt could beat my grandson. He's been licking my hindpaws from the start; he's weak, and he knows his place instinctively."

Garret growled at the larger Canid. "Fuck off, Luke. Nick isn't weak, and his stupid behaviour doesn't have anything to do with this. It only reflects on what that damned Succubus did to him and how it perverted his taste in sexual partners."

Liam ignored the banter and yelled, "One minute left!" The kraken was fully formed; its purple eyes gleamed beneath smoky shields, the massive tentacles waved about ready to block any incoming attack, and its massive body would provide a difficult barrier to break in order to reach the goal. A swarm of bats began to appear as well. Liam was very impressed by this display of focus and power; to create, maintain, and control such a large creature and a number of smaller ones spoke volumes about Geoff's growing abilities. Yet it remained to be seen if this control could be maintained once Nicholas began his assault.

Nicholas's defences were less visible. Other than the carpet of light and the globe of fire around the goal, nothing appeared to be done, but only a great fool would take a Succubus's apparent weakness at face value. Liam wished he had Nathanial's sight; he was most curious to see what Nicholas had prepared.

The observers had fallen silent once Liam called out the time. Each gazed at the field in studious concern. Alpha McDougal gazed at Nicholas's fire, muttering, "So bare. What's hidden in that? Mages can be tricky, but if he's been affected more than we know..." A slow grin spread across his face. "Damn, Geoff's lucky. This looks like fun."

Dirk chuckled and nodded. "It does, but it's not my type of fight. Not many Spirits could pull off something like this, where they need to be able to fight at range and create the goal and defences."

Conor shook his head. "You could pull this off, Dirk, if you had enough bone available. I couldn't, nor could Rolph. We'd need to actively maintain the goal, which seems to be against the rules. Geoff can passively keep it going, and you two wouldn't need to maintain it at all."

Micah stood in front of Garret and leaned back, drawing his father's arms around him. Garret looked down, surprised, then rubbed Micah's ear with a paw before moving it back around the pup. Micah's eyes were solid orbs of silver; the Changeling was using his Fey sight to watch the action.

Liam called out. "Time!" Nicholas and Geoff quickly finished their final preparations before moving to the centre of the combat arena. He turned to Nathanial. "Do both goals meet the stated criteria?" Nathanial nodded, so Liam continued, "Then prepare the wards to protect the combatants from stray attacks. You may wish to place them on us, as well." Nathanial nodded again and began chewing on his pinky claw; he appeared most concerned. Liam clapped the Akita on the shoulder. "Fret not. As duels go, this is the safest one I have ever seen. Geoff has your ward upon him and can regenerate, while Nicholas will face dark constructs which can pull their punches; neither is in any serious danger. If they begin to go overboard there are many here who can almost instantaneously put a stop to the duel." Liam's words seemed to calm all three Markses down, and even put Conor and Faelen at ease. Liam still found himself baffled by this overprotective fretting. No matter. He called out, "Duellists, are you ready?"

Nicholas nodded, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just get on with this. I don't have an infinite supply of magic, you know."

Geoff nodded as well. "I'm ready."

"Then...engage!"

Geoff created wings for himself, and he sprang into the air, circling above the field. He created more bats, which hurtled down at the globe of fire protecting Nicholas's goal, but the Mage merely pointed at them, muttered a short phrase, and beams of reddish light lanced out and disintegrated them. Geoff then attempted to extinguish the light blanketing the opposing side of the field by sending a creeping carpet of ants across the line. These were no ordinary ants, even by the standards of magical creations, for as each ant stepped into the light it began consuming the radiance and created little tears in the magical flames. Individually, the ants were less than a nuisance, but this army of vermin moving in a vast raid began to rapidly eat into the fire.

Nicholas just smiled when he saw that. He appeared to ignore it as he hefted his grimoire a little higher and began chanting; his voice became alluring, weaving through the air like the sweet fragrance of a clover field. Once the ants crossed the one metre mark, Nicholas's defences kicked in -- where shadow touched fire, the light grew brighter and somehow caused the shadow-matter to explode into more flame. The explosions rippled back through the swarm before Geoff dismissed the ants; the fire now lay a metre into Geoff's territory. Nicholas just continued chanting, while Geoff reassessed his position.

Geoff appeared to reach a decision at the same time Nicholas unleashed his spell; a dark globe appeared over Geoff's head blocking the light of the stars, and Nicholas yelled in panic.

"Help! Please, someone help!"

Liam could feel the power of the magic tugging at his mind, but he had expected such a gambit and resisted it. The fear sounded so genuine that the need to help tore at him, despite knowing what it was. He was one of two people that remained where he was, Micah was the second. The remainder of the observers took to the field, moving to aid the 'imperiled' Akita.

The shock of seeing his love and his family charge onto Nicholas's side of the field visibly stunned Geoff, causing him to lose a few metres of altitude before he caught himself. The obvious feelings of betrayal and confusion in his voice cut as deeply as the magically enhanced plea from the Akita. "Faelen? Wh-Why? What are you doing?"

Faelen froze halfway to Nicholas, and Conor and Alpha McDougal also slowed to a walk. Nicholas scowled before pointing toward Geoff and screaming, "Demon! She's sent more Demons to try to take me and the grimoire! Please, help me!"

Geoff yelled back, "No! Don't listen to him! It's me! Geoff!"

Faelen manifested and shook his head. He shot a dirty look at Nicholas and began stalking off the field with a stiff back. Conor and Alpha McDougal also began to break free and followed Faelen, but much more slowly. Faelen looked back over his shoulder, his fury radiating through his link to Liam. He turned toward Geoff and knelt. "My apologies, sir, I never would break my vow and strike a McDougal like that, or act against the wishes of the alpha or Conor. Let alone attack the Dark Elemental."

Dirk and Den both froze in mid-stride, visibly struggling against the compulsion. Dirk manifested and roared, clasping his paws to his head, before forcing himself to turn and fight for each step away from Nicholas. Den seemed to recover a bit more easily, but he still appeared confused when he walked back toward the alpha. Nathanial and Garret stood before Nicholas, swaying slightly with vacant expressions.

Alpha McDougal's head cleared more and he turned to face Nicholas, snarling, but he stopped when Liam yelled, "Off the field, gentlemen! That was a legal move; he is as much Charm magic as he is Fire, and you count as part of the environment just as a murder of crows would for Bran Ap Dafydd!" The Spirits vacated the field, still very angry, and resumed their positions beside Liam.

Nicholas frowned but shrugged. "Save me, Nats. She's sent her general to fetch me; he's guarding the orb which will steal me away. Break the orb inside the kraken -- it's the only way to stop him. Don't attack the general."

Nathanial giggled and nibbled on the claw of his pinky again. "Time for a boss fight." He strode a few paces forward. "Light is strong against Dark. I'll have type advantage." His fur began glittering, catching the reddish-orange light of the fire, until it looked like he was coated in a fine layer of polished topaz. Nicholas winced and backed up a few steps.

'Most interesting.' Liam watched Nicholas's expression closely and tapped his chin in thought when a fresh surge of power in Nathanial made the pup wince once more. 'Are Succubae and, potentially, closely related Demons vulnerable to Light energy? That would be a very valuable piece of information; I should speak to Mr. Doull on this.'

Geoff circled over his kraken, uncertain as to what to do now that Nathanial stood against him. The orb above his head stretched a metre and a half wide, but grew no larger. It must be ready. He shook his head and the orb vibrated, splitting wide into a tooth-filled maw as two eyes appeared above the 'mouth'' before it zoomed toward the fire-encased goal. Liam noticed two tiny arms appended to this odd-looking creature's sides.

Nathanial's grin grew insanely large. "Bomb away." He raised both paws before him, touching his index fingers and thumbs together to make a circle. A glittering beam of light shot forth and struck the orb, piercing it through and forcing Geoff to tumble out of the way. "Night turns into day." The orb exploded violently into a shower of brilliant sparks as if it truly was a bomb.

Geoff and Nicholas both yelled in pain. Geoff's wings were torn off him, as was a good portion of the darkness that encased him, exposing the white fur beneath...which was odd considering his manifested form had black fur, whether or not he was also encased in darkness. The kraken covered itself with its tentacles to protect itself from the explosion, but one appendage lashed out to catch the plummeting and nearly unconscious Spirit. Every bit of shadow that the sparks touched burnt away, eating into the tentacles, but then the bats began their work. They swarmed up from around the kraken and intercepted each spark that threatened the cephalopod, taking them out in kamikaze attacks. The sounds of their dying squeaks filled the air, some lasting for several seconds as the light burnt along their wings before hitting their bodies and 'killing' them. The kraken was badly damaged; the tentacle that had caught Geoff was severely burned, but it never lost its grip, and the cephalopod carefully put the Wolf beneath its body, presumably to allow him to regenerate.

Nicholas stumbled away from Nathanial, clawing at his choker as if it burned him and gasping for air. His grimoire lay on the grass, the pages flapped loudly as if the book was also in pain.

Nathanial's eyes widened when he saw the white fur of Geoff; his awareness was starting to return. He whirled, saw Nicholas in distress, and completely broke free of his brother's spell. He ran over to Nicholas, releasing his hold on the Light energy, and fell to his knees beside Nicholas. The younger pup's paws dropped from his throat, and he began taking deep breaths.

Liam called over to Nathanial, "Get off the field! He will recover, but any interference on your part will cause him to forfeit." Nicholas waved frantically at Nathanial to leave and struggled upright. Faelen had begun to run toward Geoff, as had Conor, but they slowed down when Liam spoke to Nathanial. Liam waved them back and motioned again to Nathanial, who growled angrily but ran over. His friend appeared to be moving under his own volition, but Nathanial still seemed...addled. Liam truly anticipated far more protestation, and the Akita's eyes were not quite focused.

Nicholas staggered over to his grimoire and shakily bent over to pick it up, cautiously looking over at the agitated kraken. His concern was warranted. The kraken suddenly screeched, its burnt tentacles waving about angrily. It suddenly rolled back to expose its mouth and it spat forth a huge gout of ink. The impenetrable cloud raced across the yard like an avalanche, smothering the flames instantly with no sign of the explosions that destroyed the ants.

Nicholas was still rattled by Nathanial's attack and fell backward in a panic. Garret moved to stand in front of his son, eyes still vacant, and pulled out his pocket knife. He moved the blade toward the soft, leathery, pad of his palm as the avalanche bore down on him.

Nicholas hugged his grimoire to him and reached out toward his father in fear. "No!" His eyes blazed with fire, as did the cover of the damned book. Garret blinked in confusion, released from the spell, then staggered when Nicholas's magic rocked the yard.

The very earth shook beneath them as large cracks split the ground, arcing wide around Garret as they fanned out from Nicholas. Gouts of flame shot high into the air, visible even through the inky cloud. The illumination from the burning geysers and the concealing avalanche seemed to wage war, with neither side coming out a clear victor, but neither attack had reached its conclusion.

The ink lost much of its power in the centre of the cloud, and it swept past the flame-enshrouded goal to silently crash into the wall surrounding the property. All of Nicholas's lights were extinguished, but the goal appeared untouched. On the other side, the fissures appeared much weaker the farther they spread out and essentially fizzled out by the time they reached the kraken. The monstrosity appeared perturbed by the tiny flickers of light and smashed a few tentacles upon them and put them out. It appeared to be healing nicely -- Geoff had wrought well when he constructed it. Speaking of the Spirit, there was still no sign of him, yet Nicholas's magic was not holding him, so it could not count as a 'pin.'

Garret coughed and waved his paw in front of his face in a futile effort to clear the air. "What the fuck happened? Nick, you're in deep shit."

"S-Sorry, Dad. I didn't mean to get you with the spell, but, I, ah, didn't limit who it affected. I thought if I got Nats and some of the Spirits I could win the duel in seconds. It didn't work out that way."

Liam yelled...again, "Get off the field, Garret! The duel has not yet ended!"

Nathanial looked most cross. "Nick was allowed doing that? Bringing the audience in?"

"Indeed. He can utilize anything in the environment that his magic can affect, as long as it does not destroy personal property or endanger anyone. The combat is non-lethal, so there was no true risk to anyone by ensorcelling you. You may recall that I am enforcing the rules for a Spirit duel; the clans do not permit feral animals to be harmed wantonly, either, and only allow them to be brought in under similar duel restrictions -- thus, the extension of that permits Nicholas to do what he did. Please note that there is nothing to say you may not take measures to protect yourself from his magic. I chose not to say anything earlier, as did Micah, in order to not unfairly affect the match."

Nathanial looked at his baby brother in surprise. "You knew he was going to do that?"

Micah shook his head. "No, but I thought he might. Both of our magic is at least partly based on mind-affecting stuff, so, um, it made sense."

Micah seemed to avoid saying that it was what he would have done, and Nathanial suspected that too, if the close look he gave the Changeling was any indication. Everyone's attention was drawn back to the field just as Garret left it, by Nicholas's next gambit.

He sat on the grass with a finger running across a page of his grimoire as he chanted the words quietly. A ball of fire appeared before him, nearly two metres in diameter, and rolled across the dark field, picking up speed as it went.

The kraken eyed it suspiciously, but merely squashed it contemptuously when it rolled across the boundary. The ball exploded, blasting several metres of the tentacle into vapour. Out of the explosion appeared two balls, though slightly smaller than the original. The stump of the tentacle waved in the air, already starting to reform, as the kraken shrieked. It rolled back as the balls began moving again, and blasted another jet of ink.

The balls were lost from sight, but Nicholas had prepared for another ink-attack and chanted quickly. A flickering wall of fire sprang up from the ground. It was frail and only succeeded in blunting the avalanche, not stop it. Nicholas must have been running short on magic; however, the ink did not damage his goal at all.

On Geoff's side of the field, the kraken began to panic. It was hidden from sight, but the sounds of screeches, impacts, and explosions indicated that the balls were still there, and they still split and detonated when crushed. The shrieks became weaker, the impacts less frequent, and the explosions began to be replaced by sizzling.

The light from the balls began to pierce the darkness and showed the hulk of the kraken laying still, surrounded by dozens of skull-sized fireballs that were spinning against its hulk, burning their way in to reach the goal.

Nicholas sat on the grass, grimoire open on his lap, grinning weakly as he attempted to keep his eyes open. Regardless of how things progressed from here, it appeared the duel would end soon.

Suddenly, the bulk of the cephalopod shifted, and the head of a dragon appeared, snapping up the nearby fireballs as it wriggled free. The head was a good metre across and, as more of it was revealed, it appeared to rival the body of the kraken in size. Liam was uncertain as to how this construct could eat the fire unharmed, particularly as Nicholas seemed to have designed it to oppose Geoff's darkness. Yet, it quickly disposed of all of the threats to Geoff's guardian and allowed the kraken to begin to revive. Nicholas was most upset by that development, but obviously had no strength to halt it.

Conor leaned over to Nathanial. "Where's Geoff?"

Nathanial sighed. "In the dragon...or is the dragon. He's phased into the darkness that makes the dragon, so I can't really say if it's transformation or a construct that he's hiding in."

Liam shook his head. That was poor strategy, as Geoff could not cross into Nicholas's territory to attack the goal while inhabiting the dragon. In any event, it did not matter. Geoff would quickly regain strength in the darkness, and his guardian would regenerate, while Nicholas would continue to lose strength. The match was as good as over...unless there was truly a masterful trap placed on Nicholas's goal.

Geoff's voice boomed out of the dragon's mouth. "Move, Nick. I'm ending this, but I don't want to risk hurting you. The rules are that you can't intentionally block your goal with your body."

Nicholas shook his head. "I'm nowhere near my goal. It's over there." He pointed to an empty spot three metres to the left of the actual goal. Regardless, he forced himself upright and staggered a few metres closer to the centre of the field before falling to his knees.

Dragon-Geoff blinked a few times, confused. "Oh. You're ri-- Wait, now it's over--" He scratched his head with his sharp talons and blinked a few more times. "Three goals? No, now there are five." He turned around in a circle, slowly. "Whoa. Well done. You made it look like I'm surrounded by them and I can't even see anything but the grass and your goals, not even you. That's pretty dangerous, Nick. I could accidentally hit someone."

Nicholas's voice was fainter. "no... just try to..." He trailed off, his eyes slowly blinking shut.

Geoff shook his head. "I can tell which one is the right one. I can smell, Nick. I smell where you are, I smell Faelen and Nathanial, and I smell the grass and trees, the pool, and so on. I can place where it is by that alone." He turned to face the gate at the back of the yard. "See?" He inhaled and shot out one of Nicholas's fireballs mixed with darkness. It veered around to hit the goal, but was promptly absorbed.

Nicholas smiled and opened his eyes. "I guess you're right, Geoff, but you didn't break it. Try again."

Geoff turned around to face the house, befuddled. "Everyone's moved." He shot out another fireball and once more it spun to hit the goal. Nicholas stood up. Geoff shook his head, muttering, "Well, then I'll just break them all. There's only...fifty-eight more." He turned six degrees and spat another ball.

Nicholas grinned broadly; his strength was obviously returning quickly whenever Geoff shot at a wrong target. He did nothing but watch, however, either intending for Geoff to wear himself down or to allow himself to get more magic back.

Geoff shook his head and began pacing, scratching the back of his neck.

Nicholas watched him, amused. "What's the matter, Geoff? Your superior Spirit senses let you down? You can't even pin me down by sound, can you? Sight, sound, smell; they're all trapped by my spell, and so is your magic. I'm not going to fall into the pitfall villains in Nats's manga do and explain how I trapped you, that's just stupid and makes it too easy to break free, even if I like knowing, as a reader, what's going on."

Geoff stopped and closed his eyes. "Snow isn't here is...? Ah, there he is." Snow appeared beside Nathanial. Geoff turned around, a finger extended, until he was pointing at Snow. "Cool." He looked back over his shoulder. "That was dumb of me, I should've just looked for my kraken and oriented myself by that." The kraken shuddered and its eye cracked open slightly to allow a faint gleam of purple to be seen. A stump of one of its tentacles reached out shakily to bump into Geoff. The Wolf rubbed it gently. "Hey." He allowed himself to be turned around to face the goal. "Thanks."

Nick shook his head and flicked a finger at Geoff. "Boom. You have, what, forty or fifty bombs sitting in your gut, Geoff? I could have set them all off at any point, but I was afraid of what it'd do to you. I've pretty much won because of that, but, really, I don't have the strength to stop you without resorting to blowing you up. Well, not at the moment; that may change."

Geoff grinned. "Nope. You might have been able to set them off earlier, but not once I swallowed them. I mixed Dark energy with them and converted them to my control. Anyway, I took the form of a dragon because they're immune to fire. How else could I have picked them up without being burnt?" He closed his mouth and heaved. He opened his mouth back up and extended his tongue; it was wrapped around one of the balls and he placed it in his hand. "Try to set it off, Nick."

Nicholas shook his head, and then stopped, frowning. "Damn it."

Geoff sighed, eyes closed. His dragon form began to expand, bubbling, and then broke apart into five smaller dragons. Geoff stood there in the middle, in his normal manifested state, and opened his eyes again. "Ah, I can see clearly, now." He pointed at the goal. "Go." The dragons took off, each approaching the goal from a different angle. "The trap was never sprung until I tried to directly attack it. My kraken could still see it clearly, once it regenerated enough to wake back up, so I figured that if I stopped trying to attack it I'd be freed from your trap. It worked. My constructs aren't fully aware, so the trap doesn't work on them, does it?"

Nicholas shook his head and walked a bit farther away from the goal. "Those things can explode pretty fiercely, Geoff. Careful." He hung his head, defeated and ashamed. "You won, but I'll let you finish it properly. I hate it when I'm about to win and people rage-quit from a game."

Geoff hung his head, too, obviously feeling bad for the young Mage. "Nah, I'm good." The dragons stopped and circled around. "All I want to do is get back inside." He grinned over at Nathanial. "I have some unfinished business to attend to."