Red Frost [Kaz]

In the room given to Kaz within the Divine Calamity guildhall lay a man. His mouth was sealed shut to prevent screaming, and his insides were more out than in. Sitting next to him the dark mage looked on with boredom. By now he was intimately familiar with the workings of the human body. He could take one apart and put it back together with his eyes closed. It was not enough. Something was missing from his research, and it was preventing him from developing his magic further.

A change of pace was required.

While looking upon the disassembled man, Kaz spun a rolled up map in his hand. This man and the rest of his Golden Key group had claimed to find a ruin in Iceberg. One that may still hold magical relics of the past. It was unlikely that he would find anything directly related to his issue, but the wizards of old had taken many secrets to their grave. Some of which could be repurposed if one was creative enough. And of course Kaz believed himself creative enough.

“Hmm, well I suppose I don’t have a choice, do I?” Kaz asked the bound man. Not expecting an answer, he stood up. “Better clean up before I head out. The smell of rotten flesh is such a chore to get rid of.”

Reaching down to touch the man, he and his scattered insides were quickly sucked up into Kaz’s body. Shifting his body to let the extra mass settle, he considered what he required for the trip. A shirt, much as he might prefer otherwise. With his magic frostbite was not much of a concern, but replacing rotted bits did take up mana. Mana best saved in case he runs into any obstacles.

And so the dark mage began his trip to Iceberg, wearing a long sleeve robe like shirt wrapped around his body. It was certainly not enough for a normal person to survive the bitter cold, yet Kaz did not seem at all bothered as he pushed through the snow to the location marked on the map. At the end of his journey he found… nothing. That was to be expected though, if these ruins had been easy to find they would not have remained hidden for hundreds of years.

Stuffing the map into his clothes, Kaz used his magic to heighten his senses. Every snowflake became distinct, every whisper a yell, and every wisp of a scent overbearing. As he explored the area, the sound of an echo caught his attention. Following it he found what could have been a well weathered wall. Inside was hollow, which made it the most promising option he had thus far found.

Drawing on some of the flesh he had absorbed, Kaz strengthened his body and transformed one arm into a sharp bone blade. Trusting it forward, the stone wall crumpled inward. A few more thrusts of his bladed arm and the opening was large enough for him to pass through. Once his eyes adjusted to the lighting he was thrilled, as wherever he was it was definitely man made.

The air was stagnant and full of malice, as all the best places were. Wandering through the hall, the first room he came across was some kind of religious room. He was not immediately familiar with the faith, but what drew his attention most was a young looking girl standing in a sunbeam. Never one to miss an opportunity to become friendly (and hopefully more) with a cute woman, he called out to her.

“It would seem this place is not as deserted as I was led to believe,” he said in a tone that was friendly but slightly cautious. The exact right balance for meeting a stranger in such a locale while not coming across as threatening.

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When the girl turned toward him, Kaz could not help but notice her eye. Bright golden glows and clock faces tended to be hard to miss, after all. Hmm, perhaps a time mage, he thought to himself. Without proof, he certainly could not assume that was her real powers. It could be a feint. Until he learned more about her, he would stay on guard while keeping the possibility of time magic in mind. Not the most pleasant possibility though, combatting time magic seemed like it would be quite bothersome.

“My name is Lawrence,” he lied, doing so as easily as he breathed. It was always advantageous to be able to slip in and out of locations without being recognized. Making up personas was simply standard practice for him. There was always the risk of running into someone a second time while using a different persona, but to someone like Kaz that could change their face whenever they wanted it was far less of an issue than one would expect.

“I am but a humble researcher, who was tipped off about these newly discovered ruins.” This time not a complete lie. After all he did consider himself a researcher, though he was anything but humble about it. “I bought the map off of a treasure hunter seeking some quick jewels. Of course I had no idea if he was telling the truth, but what fun is there in research if you already know the outcome?”

As he spoke, Kaz stepped closer to the other person. Still out of direct attack range so as not to be threatening, while still close enough for the conversation to be more personal. “You are right about the aura of this place though. There is something dark and ancient here, which is certainly exciting!”

Now he spun partially to the side, never letting her completely leave his sight. As he did, he gestured dramatically to the ruins around them. “How many centuries has it been since a living human graced these halls? Perhaps before the mana disasters?”

Dramatic sweep complete, he turned back to “Mevan” and held his chin with his thumb and index finger looking contemplative. “If I am lucky, there will be some artifact or tome from the ancient wizards that once lived here. Some clue to peer into how those of the past performed their magic that is different from our modern understanding.”

The real question was what to do with her. Fighting without a measure of her strength was foolishness, but he did not want to risk her reaching the prize before him. It seemed a compromise was in order. If they worked together he could keep an eye on her as well as potentially locate any weaknesses. It would also likely speed up the search. Decision made, he held out his hand slightly, as if offering it to her despite them being too far away to touch. “As we are two curious souls wandering these dark halls, I propose we team up for now. Interested?”

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If there was one thing he gleaned from speaking with the girl, it was that she was dangerous. Not in terms of power. Kaz still had no idea the true depth of her strength, though he suspected it to be deep. No, it was her facial expressions. Her words. A smile that lingered too long, words that were cryptic. Simply put they reminded him of himself when he was not playing a part. Like him, she did not value the lives of others. He was certain of that.

Perhaps she could sense something similar in him. While he doubted she had seen through his acting, he was flawless in that regard, it would not be too surprising if she had detected that there was more beneath the surface. It was good then that she had agreed to this partnership. The power creeping up his skin as they shook hands only confirmed this. He would happily betray her if he found benefit in it, but staying on her neutral side remained the best plan.

“I am a healer by training,” he replied when she brought up defending her. “But I have found ways to use this magic on myself for defensive purposes. Hopefully it will be adequate.”

Naturally he knew his magic would be able to handle anything they encountered; this was just another attempt to keep her off guard. Certainly it was true his magic could heal, a by-product of manipulating the flesh was the ability to return it to its original state. That was far from its greatest strength. Leaving his most powerful spells hidden for as long as possible might yet give him an advantage. Ideally he would reveal nothing, but if she could narrow down the destination for him then it was a small price to pay.

With that the two set off, heading through a door in the back of the chapel and into a new hallway. Which to the dark mage looked exactly like the hallway he had been in before. Navigating old ruins was not exactly his best skill. He was still amazing at it of course, just not as amazing as say bedding women or dissecting bodies. So deciding it best to divide up the tasks (purely for efficiency), he focused on his still heightened senses. The two of them were loud enough to drown out much else, but he could still hear the sounds of movement somewhere in the distance.

What he could smell proved far more useful at this moment. When the pair passed a seemingly empty room, Kaz raised his arm. The arm transformed with startling speed; bone and flesh melding together into the form of a blade. A man who had jumped from hiding within the room quite unexpectedly found himself impaled on this newly formed blade, coughing up blood as it pierced his chest entirely.

“It is very rude to attack people for no reason,” Kaz said to the man as he died. Part of him wanted to consume the man, but that was a part of his magic he would keep hidden. For now at least. Lowering the arm so the man would slide off, the dark mage’s attention shifted to their surroundings. “There are three more nearby. Did you want any of them alive?”

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“It really isn’t that impressive,” he said, waiving off her compliments despite preening inside his own mind. “When you can restore bone and mend flesh, combining the techniques is fairly simple.”

Killing was always easier than leaving someone alive, but he did not consider it a problem either way. He simply did not think it was possible to fail at anything he attempted. Already he was using his enhanced senses to narrow down where the last three were hiding and planning how best to take them down. It was in that brief moment Maven disappeared from his sight, which was somewhat unpleasant. Not knowing where she was defeated the purpose of keeping her close. For all he knew she would be watching him in secret to try and learn more about his magic.

Unfortunately, there was little he could do about it. On the other hand, he had already planned on revealing some of his weaker magic. This changed his plans little even if her disappearance had not originally been accounted for. He had accounted for not accounting for something though, so it did not count.

Stalking the corridors, Kaz pumped magic into his muscles once again causing them to grow. This caused both his shirt and pants to become tight around his body, not that he seemed bothered. As he drew closer to the side room he smelled his targets hiding in, the sound of their breathes reached his ears. It was obvious they were shaken by having lost two members since discovering the ruins, yet they still did not smell of desperation. Clearly he would need to fix that.

The moment he approached the room, one popped out and sent a spike of ice flying toward the dark mage. Having expected an attack it was a simple matter to lean out of its way. The ice managed to gouge out some flesh from Kaz’s arm, a wound he ignored as he suddenly lept toward the treasure hunter with remarkable speed. Sweeping his bladed arm down, the outstretched hands that had sent the ice magic fell to the floor with a thump.

As the dismembered mage fell to the ground screaming, the other two attacked in his place. One swiped down with a magic sword, which Kaz simply caught with his own blade. It was the third one that proved the most dangerous, as she had used take over magic to transform into a half demon form. Her mouth opened, and the powerful scream she let out burst his ear drums instantly. With blood dripping from his ears and his hearing gone, he decided he needed some distance.

Letting his body fall to the ground, he landed on his back and began to roll backward. His bladed arm returned to normal as his hands found purchase on the floor above his head, turning the roll into a handstand. Stretching out his leg, it transformed into a blade and swept up the sword wielder’s body from between his legs to his head. In the same movement Kaz pushed himself effortlessly into the air and across the room to land near the entrance.

Just in front of where he landed was the ice mage, who had managed to stop the bleeding by freezing the stumps of their arm and force himself back to standing. Standing was a decision he would immediately come to regret as now Kaz’s fingers became blade and dug into the man’s back. Lifting the man, now coughing blood, Kaz tossed him at the transformed woman. She had been running toward the pair to continue her attack, only to find her comrade flying at her. Moments later the two were on the ground, tangled up.

Before she was able to push the heavy, dying man off of her, Kaz was standing above her. In a panic she took in a breath to try and release another screeching attack, to no avail as his hand shot down to cover her mouth. When he removed his hand, she no longer had a mouth, a realization that finally drove her to panic. Not that she needed to worry too much, he had chosen her to be the sole survivor. Weaving more of his magic into her body, her arms and legs melded into her body leaving her completely helpless. Just to make sure the ice mage did not cause any unexpected issues, Kaz picked him off the woman and tore out his heart.

Tossing the body to the side, Kaz focused on his own wounds. The blood flowed back into his body as they healed, and soon the only signs that he had been in a fight were the tears and blood on his clothes. Now his task was complete, he just had to wait for his wayward partner to make her appearance. Which he expected to be any moment now, for full dramatic effect. It’s what he would do after all.

“One gift wrapped treasure hunter,” he said to the void. “As requested.”

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