He knew Max's weaknesses as well. And that was his pride. Max never said it, but he considered himself a 'true mage', and had considered, quite respectfully, his opponent as a true mage. With Max's anger flared, he had hoped to enrage Max, so that he would make a mistake he could take advantage of. Unluckily for his opponent, Max had always been extremely good at traps, earthen magic, and ice. His opponent, on the other hand, had always been into the more flashy and yet unconventional styles of magic fighting, preferring varieties of attacks using golems, undead, fireballs, and generally anything that could fly and cause damage. Undoubtedly, Max knew most of this, and had planned  to counter his opponent in every case.

    With what had been seething anger, he shouted: "Where did you go, Ameth! I can wait all night. But if you don't show, I'm not going to leave empty handed. If not with you, then... with someone else." Max said. He stood on the now grass, frozen from his ice aura, gazing silently in disgust. The bronze statues, shattered at the limbs  and frozen in place. With his opponent hidden firmly in view, Max stood, considering his next plan of action to flush his enemy out, his blood beginning to cool off. Perhaps it had something to do with his natural ice aura, which allowed him to be more free with and analytical despite his enemy's surprises.  The golems were beyond repair, and no longer a threat.

    Max had all the cards for this, but considering what he should do was taking too long. Initially he had planned on fighting Amethys on his own, one on one, but for some reason he would never show up when Max had presented himself to fight. That's when Max had realized, Amethys had other reasons, not to fight. A love interest, actually. And Max knew just where he'd find her right now. Amethys had taken advantage of a mistake which he had made, Max reasoned. "The only reason he got me was because my defenses were down. If I had considered him a lesser mage who was not above such physical attacks, I would have countered and killed him easily"

    His hope of having a standard mage battle was over, thrown out the window, and he deliberated, trying to anticipate Amethy's next move. Finally, he said: "I guess, if you won't come out, I'll come find you." He started pulling out of a pocket inside of his jacket some items. A special mix of dirt and blood. As Max sprinkled the mixture on the ground in a circular fashion, the frozen ground began to heave, as one who was having difficulty gasping for air heaves. The ground rose. The ground fell. The ground rose higher, and it fell again, sinking deeper and deeper. The ground rose once more, and it fell, collapsing the top layer of sod deep into the ground.

    This last bit of Max's summoning magic was one of his least favorite, but most rewarding to cast. "If I can't take you back with my, I'll take the girl." Right as the tunnel to the nearly endless hole in the ground appeared, Amethy slowly stood up. He had never seen this magic from Max before. Indeed, it was a new trick Max had been working on in secret, long before coming here today. Getting up quickly, Amethys ignited his 2nd stored light, which was directly behind his opponent, Max. The bright light exploded, blinding both Amethys and his once-friend.

    From the side Amethys shouted, "You touch her, and I will strip you of all your magic power, and give it to a child. You will find no rest anywhere you try to live. You will go from town to town a vagrant, and no innkeeper nor boarding house will take you in, allowing you to stay in their homes." Amethys held up his hands, and Max bore witness to a single horizontal gash across both palms. Hanging near his waist was a wicked, curved dagger, with a few drops of blood on its blade.

    Max knew that curse, but it was weak compared to his guards. Nevertheless, depending on Amethy's sacrifize for that curse, it could turn out to be quite a headache to rid himself of. "As long as you return with me, I have no reason to touch anyone you have grown affection for." Max said. Amethys' current display of affection was even more disconcerting, but he didn't have time to think about it, because just as he was contemplating his next move, four hands reached out of the frosty, frozen ground, and grabbing his ankles holding him in place. His deliberation was taking too long. He had allowed Amethys to take the next step first!
    Using two of his undead, Amethys had trapped Max. He had long ago given up on using them in direct confrontations for mage battles, but in case he saw an opportunity, he'd plant a few in the ground, as traps to surprise and distract his enemy. Surprise they did, but distract they did not, for as their hands had clasped onto Max's legs, the hands froze. They could do nothing but hold Max in place, but that was enough. Amethys began his next attack, creating a large fireball and sending it off in Max's direction. This fireball wouldn't do anything against Max's natural frost, but if he was lucky...

    Stuck in place, unable to dodge the fireball headead in his direction, Max was concerned. He knew Amethys' style, and the spell he cas was still winding up. He had to add his opponent's willingness to play dirty in to his calculations. Something which he had no care, nor desire to do. "This is getting annoying!" Max thought, preparing to stop the fireball, but something was strange with it. The Fireball coming for him was slow. Much too slow, even for one that was nearly as tall as he was. Max realized he needed to duck, but he was too slow. A blade, missing the indended target of his heart from the back, sliced into his flesh, just above his left shoulder blade, causing him to cry out in pain. There was so much force in it, it pushed Max awkwardly forward, headfirst into the fireball, he almost fell over, but somehow maintained his balance as the fireball arrived.

    Amethys quickly jumped back as the fireball began to wash over Max, threatening to envelop him, but Amethys knew better. He was still backing up, trying to get distance between himself and Max. He was extremely concerned about the hole in the ground. He had an idea about what it was that Max had summoned, but if it arrived, it was game over for himself. He needed to finish this, and quick. He saw Max lift up his right hand, which, using absorbled all the head and energy disbursed. He knew that Max was the better sorcerer, but he had been able to catch Max in surprise twice. Surprising him twice was good, because the next step in his plan could be carried out, but the hole in the ground was growing into a concern. The last attack was little more than a stroke of luck against a magician that made naive assumptions in battles for life and death.

    The mage guild pretended that they wanted Amethys back alive, but he knew the truth. They didn't actually care about him. They didn't care about the peace. They wanted power. They wanted knowledge, and they wanted to be the first to have it, whether it was kidnapping Amethys or destroying his experiments. After years of having his experiments destroyed, Amethys had finally discovered a strong enough lock system to keep the best of the security mages guessing. Now, they wanted Amethys, and he knew it. The would never stop, unless he defeated each one of the mage leaders. The fact that they had sent someone like Max to come 'retrieve' him, was almost an insult to Amethys. The level of naivete in his old friend is monumental.

     That curse blade, having drunk the blood of both Max and Amethys, was the final testament to Amethys' curse. Great misfortune would befall Max if he harmed his opponent's love. While the outcome of the battle was still very much undecided, Amethys was grateful for the security having that curse completely active would provide him.

    "Graaaaaah! You sly, filthy coward!" Max yelled, pulling out the blade, using it to break off the wrists of the still-attached hands of undead. The undead, in such close proximity and surrounded by the open air, were frozen partially beneath the ground. Amethys, worried about his opponent's summon, let out another barrage of much smaller, yet faster and more concentrated fireballs at Max. The cold, frigid air surrounding max had increased, spreading from 5 meters in radius, to 15 meters surrounding Max. Amethys kept stepping back. If Amethys wasn't careful, he would likely fall victim to the ice, the same way the zombies and the bronze statue had fallen. "I can't believe how far you have fallen. This alone is a curse to me. Coming here to capture you, to bring you back. I'm done here. You are such a coward, you, and all your experiments here will die. I will wipe out everyone in this city. There will be nothing to evidence your existence on this earth!"

    Amethys saw Max's state. The trees in the area were frosted, some leaves falling off, frozen solid, and breaking from the slightest breeze. A few birds were frozen in their nests full of eggs in the spring season, from a raging magician, who was having his whole world of magic battles challenge. The naive, yet powerful, mage was looking at him in rage. Circular lights began to grow in the ground, one very large one, starting directly in front of Max, began to circle around, and as it went, small circles would shine as well, forming hundreds of symbols of eternity in the ground, following a perfect circle around max. Each minicircle was the size of a basketbal.

    The light wasn't what he was worried about, but as he thought that, the ground below had begun to rumble. The Black Worm was coming.

The Duel, Part One

  Just a little something I wrote, in celebration of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo - Two powerful magicians duke it out. Each with their own personal reasons for their actions, and each feeling they are in the right for their course of action against the other.
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   Max stood in the open park, staring at his once-friend sitting on the shoulder of the large bronze man wielding an axe, as though he had no worry in the world. Surrounding the statue, were bronze men, one holding a sledhehammer, one a pick, and another a rifle, the symbol of the city's progress. It all came to this day. It led up to this moment. "I've been looking for you Max. I can't let you go on impeding my plans any more. You've done enough damage." 

    Max was nearly incredulous. "Well, I guess so. But I can't let you keep doing this. You're leaving too many people with ruined lives in your wake. But we've already had this discussion before, but back then, it was hypothetical."

    "Max, the problem with you, is that you always deal with the hypothetical. You never actually take action. You're frozen in the fear of what other people think of you. You always got in the way. You could have been great like me. But no, you used your talent on what? Your family business? We could have been powerful! We could have had millions looking on at us in wonder and amazement! No one knows how powerful we could have been." his now-enemy responded in anger and passion.  

    Max didn't really pay attention to him, instead looking at the statues. They were large, each one had to be nearly 5 meters in height, each holding a tool which seemed to be almost as large. The axe his opponent was holding on his shoulder had to have been 3 meters long on its own, with a blade in proportion to that. "The symbols of the progress of the human race in the 1800s." he thought to himself.

    Glancing at his opponent, "Your plans are the plans of a madman, you aren't, never have, and I imagine, never will, take into account the thoughts and feelings of others. What you want transcends and dismisses the abilities for others to choose." Max responded coolly. Here in this park, in the middle of this large city where Max had been chased out of, only to return once more, seeking something he had lost, only to be chased for days by his once-friend. Looking around, Max noticed the lack of people in the park, not even a few late night joggers. It was only around 10 pm. He thought there would have been at least a homeless person sleeping on a bench or so, but they were nowhere to be found.

    His enemy responded, "I guess I can't convince, no matter how hard I try. I told you my plans, and they were perfect, and you had to be the first person to try to stop me. Thankfully, after tonight, you will be the last. I can't stand to look at that face. What happened to you? You used to have so much emotion? Ah, well, we'll see if I can't get a good reaction out of you now." The statue of the lumberjack was beginning to light up.
    Max noticed the statue of the lumberjack beginning to glow. He knew his opponent was a first-rate mage, and had come prepared. They had dueled in the past, so they knew each other's styles, but never like this. Never in a life and death battle.  Max began his own chant. Two slivers of light appeared as two separate circles in front of him. The ground began to glow, as his two earth golems began to take form. "How much of this city do you plan to take down with you in this fight? Having it here, in the middle of this park, don't you think it's going to be a little dangerous for the people in the surrounding area?" 

    "Oh Shut up you self-righteous prick." His enemy responded. "You've always had this holier-than thou attitude. You don't see your flaws because you only look outward. You never look at yourself, you hypocrite!" 

    "Whatever happens tonight, I'm not the one who started this feud, I'm the one who tried to stop you from hurting so many people!" 

    The bronze axeman had come to life, walked towards max, and took a vertical slash downwards. Max lightly dodged out of the way, but the massive axe hit the dirt, lodging the blade several feet into the dirt. "Ugh. Always using brute force." he said, fairly expressionless.  Max's opponent was not in his field of view, but he could see that the statue with the pick and the hammer had begun to light up as well. This was going to be a difficult battle meeting on his enemy's own stomping ground. Who knows what kind of traps laid in store for him? Luckily though, Max was a first-rate magician with a few tricks of his own up his sleeve. 

    "So tell me Max, how much did you pay to have the power you hold today? What have you given up, and what will you give up to defeat me?" Max heard, coming from the platform where the bronze statues had stood initially. This was child's play for Max. He knew his opponent's standard magic procedure. Create living statues,  run off to the side, flash a bright light, and surprise the enemy from another direction with some specialized attack. It was effective, but Max was prepared.

    The bronze axeman had picked up his axe, and was stepping forward to approach Max. The other two animated statues were spreading apart, beginning to flank him a bit. Max chanted a bit, and four more circles of light appeared in the ground. With a flix of his wrists, he sent two of them off, directly in the paths of the flanking statues. The ground kind of rose and fell in the circle, as though there was an animal moving underneath the sheets. The bronze statue, Max had noticed, had no beard, and the facial features weren't as chiseled, as was typical of the 1800's men similar statues were supposed to portray. Taking one more step, the axeman stepped on one of his original circles. It had opened up like a mouth, and swallowed up the statue's left leg, causing it to fall on its side and immobilizing it. The statue attempted to get up, but as it tried to pull its leg out, the earth held it down with abnormal force.

    Max realized he was about to get hit in the back, and right as a blindingly bright light shined, he flicked his wrist, and a wall of earth the exact size of the circle raised itself from the ground. In short succession, Max heard a "thwack-thwack-thwack" sound, as the Earthen barrier absorbed three of his enemy's attacks. 

    The bright light had begun to fade to the brightness of an average day. It wasn't like his opponent to try to fight blind, but it was one of the things he had been dangerously proficient at. Before Max's eyes could adjust to the light, however, he felt a pain in his gut. Where did he go wrong? Looking down, he saw an arm. What did he miss? Everything had been accounted for. But this. A variable Max didn't notice. The fist, which belonged to his enemy, pulled itself out from his gut. Max flicked his wrist to the still-left glowing circles of light, and they came to his side, forcing his opponent to back off. He immediately activated their pillar defense mode, but had the earth craft itself around him as he recovered from this physical blow. 

    Reeling in the pain, doubling over, and about to throw up from the force to his abdomen, Max kneeled on the ground. He was losing time, but that blow hurt him. It hurt his stomach, it also hurt his pride. Max was meticulous. He had to have everything planned out. He knew the details of the city. He knew the details of the campground. He knew the details of his opponents attacks. He knew exactly how he would respond. His enemy had always proven to execute the planned strategy, albeit it would be nearly flawless execution, no matter who his opponent was facing.

    Max had never thought his opponent would get physical. He had never been the type. His enemy was a planner just like him. To be assaulted physically by another mage made his blood boil. Coughing and gagging, he heard the thumping as the large bronze statues began to chip at his emergency earthen defense. If he couldn't come up with a plan, Max was going to die, and he knew it. 

    He pounded the ground in frustration. Thud-thud-thud, he heard from the pounding bronze statues. Outside the safety of this earthen mound, his opponent was attempting to get in. To enter Max's sanctuary. He could hear more thuds, almost in the distance, walking towards the defense. "More statues, good, I can deal with that." Max thought to himself. 

    The issue, however, was what to do when his opponent would come to attack him physically. He could stop the other assaults, but he couldn't stop another person with his defenses. They were tuned directly for dealing with objects which came to life, like golems, or these animated statues. Then he realized. What has become a mission to subdue, has become a mission to kill. He had only intended to capture his enemy initially, but he was using underhanded tactics like physical assault. 

    How dare he touch max with that fist? This is a battle between mages, this is not a battle of brutes, ripping their arms off each other. "What kind of mage do you think you are, resorting to physical assaults? Go to Hell! I'm going to obliterate you, take your soul, bind it to a rock, and drop it deep in the ocean. No, I'm going to kill you, bind your body to a twig, break the twig in pieces, rebind your soul together, bind it to a twig again, and keep doing that for a thousand years! Then, when I'm done, I'm going to bind your soul to a rock, and THEN drop it into the ocean!"

    The pillar had begun to give way, and the night light began to show from the mound. The bronze statue holding the pick had broken through the earthen defense. Max held his arms to his side and began to chant as his barrier was being broken through. His hands began to glow, and the temperature around him began to drop. The water in the air began to condense and freeze. Max's breath was foggy, like moisture meeting the cold mountain air. The statues pulled down his wall, but the temperature had rapidly fallen.

    His opponent outside was backing off, to go to a better spot of assault with the return of the dark, when he heard a sharp *CRASH!* - the sound of the bronze shattering. The arms of the statue had broken off at its joints, and there was frost. The temperature in the air was beginning to drop, and frost started to flow outwardly in all directions. the three extra bronze statues he had created and set to life were going to be of no use in that amount of cold, so he willed them to return to their dormant state where they had come from before they, too, fell prey to the debilitating cold emanating from the earthen defense Max had created.  *CRASH* *SNAP* *CRASH* he heard as the other two statues' limbs also broke. Luckily the other 3 had backed off like he commanded, and wouldn't be in range. They would be useful later. 

    Hearing Max's scream, his opponent was overjoyed and muttered "Oh yes," happily, as he concealed himself using camoflauge magic in a nearby bush.

My Dog Skip - Prelude

Hello, my name is Adelain. I'm an 8-year old girl, I was born on the European continent in the year of 1788. When I was 4 years old, my parents left our home country with my uncle to come to America. They tell that before they left, they had many ball gowns and dancing and masquerades, many fine dishes, maids, butlers and met with kings! Sometimes I wonder why they left, and wish we had stayed when we had so many neat things. Papa tells me that it was dangerous, and we had to leave many of our belongings there. He says we're still rich now, but he goes every morning and doesn't come home until late. Mama says that he was taught to trade, so now he's going to trade again to get back what we left behind. I hope so! I want to be able to meet and marry a prince one day!

Now, we live in east New York, about a 2 hour walk from the city, near the shoreline. A couple of weeks ago was my birthday. I got to meet the governor, who was a very nice man. We had some orange cream cake, and I got to ride a pony Papa says that if we get the chance, he'd like to teach me how to ride a horse one day, but mother said she'd rather me learn to be a proper lady, and that he should give her a son so he can learn to cook and sew if he wants me to learn how to ride.

Mother says that I need to start to learn and act ladylike as I grow up. If I am a lady, why do I need to act like one? I don't think I look like a boy. She also says I'm going to start growing lots, so she had me go to the tailor, and we got a Sunday dress, dress shoes, and a set of play clothes for chores and housework. My Sunday dress is really pretty and like it a lot! It's light blue, with a pretty bow on the back when Mother puts it on. I like it a lot, but it's really long, it drags a little on the ground when I walk. She says that she doesn't know if I'll want to act like a boy or a girl, as I grow up, so this dress is going to need to last as I grow up. It's my favorite, it's so fluffy and soft. I want to wear it every day, but when I ask her if I can, she says I'll wear it out and get it dirty if I do, so I need to treat it extra nice. Instead it's in our trunk until something Sunday or something special. I'm going to grow up and be a great mother just like her!

Yesterday, mother and I went to the market to buy some Lobster. The man who was there sneered and said "What kind of folk like you would have anything to do buying food like that?", taking a glance at me in my new clothes. Mother simply responded "A good housewife cooks what the husband likes." 

"'Fair 'nough. You sound like you just got off the boats though, so maybe it's a bit new for ye. Ah well, boil 'em good."

Mother told the man thank you, and we left with a basket of Lobsters, some vegetables and potatoes, and headed home. Some travelers were passing by, and offered to help carry the food on their wagons as we travelled home. I told them thank you! They even let mother sit in the wagon as they drove. She slept all the way until we made it home! She must have been tired.