The Prophecy of Five

I: 28 :I

Callum

"Claudia! Please! Stop him!"

Callum had tried everything. Every sky spell, every sun rune he knew. Nothing could break the shield that surrounded Rayla and Viren. It had to be some seriously strong dark magic spell or something. Something Claudia had to know how to shut down. But she just stood there, her head hanging low.

Somewhere behind Callum, Soren was still locked in combat with whatever dark creature Viren had summoned. He could hear the grunts and screeches every now and then, so his old teacher was still holding his own pretty well. He wanted to help him out, but right now, saving Rayla was the priority.

"Claudia!"

She just stood in silence. Callum disregarded her, turning his attention back to the shield. He threw more and more spells at it. Normally he would've been exhausted casting as many spells as he did, but he felt nothing. 

Inside the shield, Rayla laid almost completely still. Only the slight rise and fall of her chest told Callum that she was still alive. Viren was still chanting, his words gargled and impossible to understand. The items he had placed on the table had been manipulated, transformed from their original forms into dark magic infused monstrosities. He could only think of what would happen to Rayla.

"Callum... I-" Claudia started.

"What?!" Callum asked, his anger apparent in his voice.

She recoiled back slightly. "Okay. First off, rude. Secondly, I can't do anything yet." she said softly.

"Well why not? She needs our help!"

"I know, I know. I've seen a spell like this before, I'm trying to remember how it works."

"Hey guys! I know you're catching up and everything, but can you do that later? I think this things growing!" Soren yelled.

Claudia and Callum turned around. Sure enough, the weird smoke monster had grown in size. It was covered in slash marks and stab wounds, but didn't seem to be going down anytime soon.

"I'm coming, Soren!" Callum yelled. "Claudia, try to think of a way to get through. I'll be right back."

He ran to the other side of the room, preparing a lightning spell on his way over.

"Fulmanis!"

The bolt flew from his hand and slammed into the beast's back leg, causing it to rear back in pain. It turned to the prince, roaring in response.

Well shit. I didn't think this through very well.

"Hey thanks! You got this now?" asked Soren.

"Nope!"

Callum ducked as the beast leaped at him, missing his head by inches. He ran for a downed pillar, hoping to put some distance between himself at it. Soren had stretched out a bit by now and was ready to get back into the fight. At least now the beast had to worry about two targets. Callum could see Claudia frantically searching through book after book, scroll after scroll over by the shielded table. He forced himself to not look at Rayla, trusting that she was still okay. He had to focus on staying alive right now. He'd be no good to her if he died via smoke monster. 

Soren was able to keep the beast at bay, dodging its attacks and retaliating with a few of his own. Callum used his distance and cover to slam it with spell after spell. They didn't seem to do much except annoy it, which was fine because it gave Soren time to reposition himself. Striking at its legs and underbelly, each hit seemed to leave a gash of light along the smokey hide.