Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
It was every bit as terrifying as Fordham had made it seem when he reverently said the name to Titania. The ring had caused a swath of death and destruction. Though surprisingly nothing on its healing abilities or the information Titania had given her on Belenus creating it. Or how exactly it had ended up in the hands of Dozan Rook.
Either way, she couldn’t wear it for magical artifact training. Not if she wanted to be able to have magical attacks thrown at her. She’d threaded it onto a cord, and she wore it as a necklace.
She hadn’t had time to search for the Collector, but she had every intention of doing just that when she got out of training. Anything that might help her and Valia take down the Red Masks.
“We’ll see how much you absorbed,” Bastian said. He removed a small black orb from his hand. “Can you identify this?”
Kerrigan shivered as she saw what he was holding. She had gone up against those not just at Lethbridge, but also in the streets of Kinkadia. She still had nightmares of Red Masks throwing them into the mayhem, losing Clover and Hadrian as the black smoke spread at their feet, and Lorian arresting her. It ranked up there as one of the worst days of her life.
“The book called it a noir,” she said thickly. “Originally created in Noirwood Forest in Venatrix tribe territory, where everything within it is poisonous.”
“Correct,” Bastian said. “Its main purpose, as you witnessed, is to create cover on the ground. It confuses and befuddles the enemy and allows for quick escapes as well. Now, how to combat the smoke?”
“Air?” Audria suggested, but it came out more as a question.
“Try it.”
Then, Bastian smashed the black orb onto the ground at their feet. At once, the three of them jumped together, shields going up, magic held in tight. A year of combat training made instincts take over all at once. The smoke filtered through their shields with ease. It didn’t recognize the smoke as an enemy. So, it was just a waste of energy.
Kerrigan let hers drop and pulled up a whirl of wind, blasting the smoke in front of her a dozen feet. Yet it blew through the smoke like a slight breeze, brushing against it and making it swirl, but otherwise doing nothing.
Roake coughed and choked as he inhaled the smoke. His eyes went red with tears. Audria rushed forward, sending a blast of fire out toward the smoke. Nothing happened again. Audria was coughing now, but she had gone into healing mode. She’d taken her water magic and covered Roake’s face to clear the smoke from his eyes, and to Kerrigan’s shock, it worked. The redness left, and a trail of smoke came with it.
Kerrigan hated water magic. So, of course, it was water magic. She drew in deep and pulled forth a swirl of water. She whipped through the smoke, dragging it into her orbit. It didn’t get everything, but already, it was clearing. As if healing the wound of the noir.
“Good,” Bastian said. “Water magic is the easiest way to fully eliminate the black smoke. It acts as a toxin in your system and in the air. So, water magic dispels it most effectively. A fully trained healer could dispatch a noir in one sweep.”
Roake had one knee on the ground as he coughed up the rest of the smoke.
Audria frowned and shook her head. “I did what I could.”
“He’ll recover by himself in a few hours,” Bastian said. “Let’s go over the next two, and then we’ll work on practicing against them all at once.”
Kerrigan nodded, using the last of her water magic to clear the area around them of smoke. She wasn’t good enough to get rid of it all, but even a small area would be beneficial in a fight.
“Can anyone tell me what this is?” Bastian asked, producing a red orb.
Kerrigan took a full step backward, prepared for him to launch it. Audria looked just as fearful. Roake even got to his feet through his coughing fit.
“It causes explosions,” Audria said.
“We saw them at Lethbridge,” Roake added.
“And in the streets,” Kerrigan said. “They’re called roses.”
“Correct. And how do you dispel roses?”
“Destroy its environment,” Audria guessed.
“Don’t water it,” Roake added.
“Earth,” Kerrigan said just as Bastian launched the rose into the air.
She wrenched an earth wall up from the ground, blocking the strike of the rose. It exploded into a million little pieces. The sparks lit up the sky before falling toward them.
“Shields,” Kerrigan cried.
Audria and Roake clustered behind them. The sparks hit the shields and burst them on impact. Audria screamed as a piece of the explosion touched her leg. Kerrigan and Roake worked together, using the earth to counteract the effects of the sparks. While Audria mixed her water magic with some of the dirt, creating a mud paste. She pressed it tight to her leg. Relief instantly flickered across her face.