Eclectic Narratives - Didn't Make It

>>>~~~~<<<

Sometimes you just don’t make it.

Time slips away.

Days zip by.

Tomorrow becomes today and then yesterday.

Plenty of time became no time at all.

Goals were failed, targets missed.

You had so many grand ideas and so much time to do them.

But you never realize how little time you actually had.

Sadly, this just happens.

At the end of the day, it’s okay.

Sometimes you take a shot, and you miss.

But at least you shot your shot.

You didn’t do what you wanted, but you did do something at least.

And often, what you wanted to do is still there for you to do.

Sometimes, sadly, you only get the one chance, and then you blow it.

But other times, you just have to wait for the opportunity to present itself again.

It may be tomorrow, it may be a decade from now.

Be patient, keep on working as you do, or even a little harder if you can.

You may have more chances than you think.

>>>~~~~<<<

Sometimes you just don't make it, and that's just how things turn out.

Author's Note: Aka, my admittance that I still haven't finished the next chapter of Maid in Fantasy. It's still a work in progress, but at least I got some actual work done on it last week. I was hoping to be finished with the next chapter by the end of the year, but it wasn't meant to be. Hopefully, I can get it and my other story ideas out into the world during the next year. Not an unreasonable goal. 

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.

Engimatic Fantasies - A Duel With The Fallen Is Never Boring

Story Hub: [link] 

>>>~~~~<<<

            The Revisti Kingdom was on the verge of collapse, and Azrack knew who was responsible. While it was far too late to save the kingdom, their walls had already fallen to endless waves of monsters. The “Mage of a Thousand Weapons” could, at the very least, bring a swift and violent end to the perpetrator. It wasn’t hard to find them (well, it wasn’t hard for Azrack), once you’ve achieved a certain high level of magical power, finding your peers was simple. Only someone of similar or, dare he suggest it, greater magical power than himself could gather and control these many monsters. The mage was also certain his soon-to-be foe was able to endlessly summon or generate the creatures in mass, which would also explain why Revisti went from unstoppable to teetering on the edge of oblivion within such a short time.

            Azrack tracked the enigmatic commander/creator/master of the monster out to a clearing a hundred miles from Revisit’s capital city. An odd place for a leader to be during the most decisive part of their siege, especially since they were also alone and unguarded. However, Azrack rationalized that they were either confident the battle would play out successfully on its own or they were waiting to draw someone like him into a trap. The former would be desirable, but the latter felt far more likely, so Azrack would spring a trap of his own.

            “Weapon #483: Staff of Seclusion[1],” Azrack cast the metal staff into the ground, forming a spherical barrier a mile wide around himself and his target. Now there would be no outside interference in their battle. Unless his foe had an army hiding underneath the ground they stood upon, this would be a one-on-one battle to the death.

            Now that the contingency had been set, Azrack got a better view of his target. They were a young woman garbed in a red-and-black gothic dress, an eyepatch shaped like a red rose over their right eye, and a dark red parasol slung over their shoulder. While his foe looked more like an eccentric noblewoman than any great commander of monsters, Azrack immediately clocked her as a demon. They always had eccentric tastes in clothing and appearance, and loved to appear very young. Whether it was out of vanity or a desire to mock their foes, Azrack wasn’t sure, nor did he care.

            The mage had a good idea of what he was dealing with now and was not afraid to make the first strike. However, he hesitated to do so. After all, he had cast a very conspicuous barrier spell, and there was no cover to hide behind in this clearing. Yet, the demon hadn’t turned to face him. There was no way they didn’t know he was here, so either they were luring him into a false sense of security or were not at all threatened by his presence.

            “I know you can sense me, demon, face your assassin with some dignity,” Azrack demanded.

            “Are you talking to me?” The demon half turned around casually, as if she hadn’t noticed him until now. She clicked her tongue as if she were being accosted by a pushy salesman and didn’t even bother to get a proper look at him.

            “I am Azrack, Mage of a Thousand Weapons, and I’ve come to slay you, demon,” the mage announced.

            “And why in the dark lord’s name would you do that? I don’t even know you,” the demon looked at him as if he were mad.

            “Need I state the obvious? You may have brought the Revisti Kingdom to its knees, but you will not partake in the glory of your victory,” Azrack declared.

            “Huh? Is that what that place is called? Their wine was terrible,” the demon huffed.

            “That’s all you have to say?” Azrack was taken aback. Normally, a demon would be trying to twist the knife, get under his skin, or dismiss their actions under some deliberately flimsy moral argument. However, this one seemed almost absent-minded. He couldn’t tell if they were stupid or so morally bankrupt that they decided to destroy an entire nation over the quality of their wine.

            “I don’t have much to say to wackos who attack people in the middle of nowhere,” the demon brushed him off. “Now, can you leave? I’m getting to the good part.”

            “Are you-?” Azrack was completely baffled by the demon’s behavior. Perhaps he had run into the rare pubescent demon, is what he would say if he were a young, naïve fool. The idea of a teenage hellspawn was so laughable it made his head hurt. However, upon further inspection, he realized the demon was actually reading a softcover book. While he couldn’t make out the title from here, the color and designs on the cover made it look rather trashy. Now the mage didn’t know what to think. “That’s enough, state your name, demon, so I know what to carve upon your tombstone.”

            “Gah, this is going to be a whole thing, isn’t it?” The demon grumbled, “I am Mazuki, Demon of Sacrifice. And I won’t bother carving you a tombstone because there won’t be enough left of you to bury.” She finally turned to face Azrack. “I stand corrected,” she looked upon Azrack’s entire form, a living mass of enchanted armors and weapons. While one may assume he was piloting the mass of metal remotely, either from inside or a distant location, they would be very wrong. Azrack was the armor. He had transmuted his body and soul into his vast collection of magic items decades ago and had wandered the planet slaying monsters ever since.

            “Do you finally realize what you face now, demon?” Azrack asked.

            “Yeah, they’re going to run out of graves to bury you in,” Mazuki laughed. “I’ll save them the trouble by melting down what’s left of you and putting it on my mantle.”

            “I see, you use humor to diffuse your fear, how human,” Azrack took a battle stance.

            “I see, you use delusions to diffuse your fear, how foolish,” Mazuki countered as she slung her parasol over her shoulder, yet she did not take a defensive stance.

            Azrack took the first move. He was more than thrice her size, but moved with a speed that would make even the greatest runners green with envy. The mage circled around his foe, firing a barrage of conjured weapons. Axes, spears, hammers, and swords rained upon Mazuki as Azrack prepared his actual attack.

            “Weapon #272: Earthshaker[2],” Azrack called forth a colossal hammer that was hidden within his body. While the handle was made of polished, ornate wood, the head was a jagged piece of crystal. It would appear crude if the rest weren’t so finely crafted. The mage slammed his creation down, splitting open the ground and starting a localized earthquake. The burst of earth magic synced up with the earlier volley of magic weapons, forming a makeshift death trap.

            “Wow, sucks to be her, right?” Mazuki appeared behind Azrack. The mage hadn’t even seen her move, yet she had gotten the drop on him, as if she had teleported.

            “Good, now I know how you react to that kind of attack. Let’s test another,” Azrack commented as a series of swords emerged from his back like spines on a sea urchin. The blades fired out, forcing Mazuki to bob and weave through a sea of sharpened steel.

            “And you’re prepared to fight at any range, how droll,” Mazuki scoffed as she pulled away to a safe distance. “My turn,” she conjured a magic circle in front of her hand before flicking her finger into it. A massive burst of force struck Azrack, sending him flying back over a dozen meters before her righted himself.

            ‘Impossible, that attack reduced my integrity to 82% in a single strike,’ Azrack was stunned. ‘It would have taken the equivalent of 7th grade magic at minimum to do that much damage, and she cast it in a second with a flick of her finger. Is she that fast a caster, or is there simply that much raw power behind her attacks? She is a demon, so it must be the latter, but that still makes her at least the third most powerful demon I’ve ever fought. If that’s the case, I can’t afford to feel this out. It’s time to take decisive action.’

            “Weapon #778: Celestial Arrow[3],” Azrack summoned a solid gold bow with an angel wing design as well as a gold-encrusted arrow tipped in silver and coursing with divine blessings. ‘Dodge this demon,’ he fired the bow, which shot with the force of a cannon.

            “How cute, a blessed bow,” Mazuki dodged the shot with a spin, but the arrow simply turned around in mid-air and began to follow her at the same speed as before. “Oh dear,” the demon got on the move, but no matter how fast or far she moved, the arrow followed.

            “One touch from that arrow and you’ll return to the dark realm from whence you came, fiend,” Azrack declared, “but I’m far from done with you.” The mage conjured a boomerang of pure steel. “Weapon #802: The Pursuit[4],” he declared as he flung the boomerang at Mazuki. Much like the arrow, the boomerang began to follow the demon, giving her two relentless pursuers to deal with.

            “Really?” Mazuki found the situation ridiculous and fired a flick spell at the boomerang, which exploded on contact. However, instead of that being the end of it, there was now a swarm of boomerangs emerging from the smoke and chasing her. “Ah, this will require a bit more effort than.” Mazuki fled into the sky on a pair of bat-like wings.

            “Foolish demon, there is nowhere for you to run, the barrier is still in place,” Azrack pointed out as he conjured more weapons to fire at Mazuki. “If you’re already running, then I overestimated your power,” he released another barrage of weapons.

            “Oh, shut it!” Mazuki yelled from above before conjuring a magic circle surrounded by a dozen more circles orbiting it. “Spread Magic[5],” she chanted before flicking the circle, releasing a barrage of force spells. Azrack’s volley of weapons was obliterated, along with the arrow and the boomerangs. While everything else was destroyed, the boomerangs reappeared in large enough numbers that they blotted out the sun from Azrack’s perspective. “For the love of-!”

            The boomerangs collided into a giant mass at Mazuki’s position, exploding into a plume of smoke that consumed the entire mile-wide barrier. Azrack looked above, preparing his next move in the likely event Mazuki survived the assault. However, he heard nothing for nearly a minute.

            ‘Was that it?’ He wondered, only for the smoke cloud to suddenly disperse.

            “I had to actually block that. How infuriating,” Mazuki declared as she returned to the ground. The top of her parasol was covered in scuff marks, having apparently deflected the worst of the attack. “Fine, I’ll get a little serious and end this farce.” A wicked aura surrounded the demon.

            “I will give you no chance!” Azrack brandished a greatsword, but Mazuki just sniped it out of his hand with another flick spell.

            “This isn’t about you,” Mazuki spat as she formed a magic circle on the ground. “Summon Hero – Grade 10^th: Cavalry![6][7]”

            “Summon Hero?” Azrack was confused. He’d heard of many summoning spells, but Summon Hero was a new one.

            Emerging from the summoning circle was a woman with a mane of violet hair, garbed in black and gold armor and riding on horseback. A rapier was holstered on her waist, while she wielded a lance in her right hand. The steed was massive and armored in the same colors. It looked big enough to eat most warhorses that Azrack had seen before.

            “Ah, yes, exactly who I hoped to summon. Run down that mage before he can prepare another attack,” Mazuki ordered.

            “That’s a mage?” The Cavalry Summon asked.

            “An odd one, but a mage nonetheless,” Mazuki answered.

            “Very well, as you wish, Master,” the Cavalry Summon nodded and slammed down her visor. They charged forward with speeds dwarfing even Azrack’s own incredible agility, forcing the mage on the defensive.

            ‘Too fast, can’t let them close the distance,’ Azrack realized quickly and called forth a staff with a giant sapphire at its head. “Weapon #422: Portable Storm[8],” the mage activated the staff, releasing a surge of lightning at the charging summon. Alas, the magic electricity bounced right off the target, dispersing harmlessly into the wind. ‘Such great magic resistance[9]!’ Azrack’s concern grew. ‘Portable Storm’s primary attack is at the very least equal to a 7^th or 8^th grade spell, and this summon repelled it with ease. Congratulations, demon, you’ve been upgraded from the third strongest demon to the second strongest enemy I’ve ever fought.’

            “Die mage! Icicle Spiral!” The summon declared their attack, a mixture of martial arts[10] and magic that turned their lance into a spinning spear of icy death. Azrack was forced to conjure more weapons than ever to converge on his location and absorb the blow. The summon’s ice spear and Azrack’s attack collided with a violent explosion of pure magical energy.

            “Is it too much to ask for that to have killed him?” Mazuki asked to no one in particular. Her summon emerged from the clash only partially damaged, but still retreated to a safer distance between Mazuki and Azrack. The mage, meanwhile, emerged with significant damage to his entire body.

            ‘Already at 57% integrity, I can’t afford to have another exchange like that if I want to leave here intact,’ Azrack would be spitting blood if he still had organs. ‘I’m loath to use one of the ten so soon, but I have no choice.’ Azrack’s body twisted grotesquely as a wicked-looking axe forced its way out from deep within his metallic mass.

            “If you’re trying to disgust me, you’re going to have to try harder than that,” Mazuki mocked the scene.

            “Stay behind me, Master, that weapon is leagues beyond that pitiful little staff he used before,” The Cavalry Summon warned.

            “Take a moment to consider yourself lucky, demon, I can count the number of times I’ve been forced to use a weapon like this on one hand,” Azrack revealed as he brandished his axe. “Weapon #8: Gift to the Wicked[11].” The weapon pulsated with a sickly purple energy before he sliced at the air. Mazuki took one look at the action and, for the first time today, the shriveled black thing in her chest, that could be charitably described as a heart, beat ever so faster. The air itself parted as a giant blade of purple magic cleaved through the area on a collision course for the demon. Mazuki dived out of the way as her summon did the same. Even though the attack missed the two entirely, they both felt the full force of the aftershocks.

            “You $%@#,” the demon swore as she felt herself flung through the air.

            “Master!” The summon was sent in the other direction, her steed was electrified despite avoiding the attack entirely. She crashed into the dirt, her mount keeling over and evaporating into the particles of mana it was composed of. “You will pay for that mage!”

            “I think not,” Azrack swung again and again, firing a barrage of five slashes at Mazuki and her summon. The attacks tore and distorted the environment, rending the once grassy field into an unrecognizable wasteland. As the dust settled, Azrack lost track of the demon, but found the summon in the middle of it. They were injured, but still ready for battle. “What’s the matter? Has your hellish master abandoned you?”

            “She would never!” The summon declared. “I will return what you just did tenfold!” She dropped her lance and drew her rapier.

            “And the demon called me delusional,” Azrack mumbled as he prepared another swing.

            “Absolute Zero[12],” the summon chanted as she touched the ground with her rapier. A thick sheet of ice rapidly consumed the area as everything between her and Azrack froze solid, including Azrack himself.

            ‘Still full of surprises,’ Azrack thought as he was silently grateful he didn’t have the ability to feel cold anymore. ‘But still no more than a hindrance,’ he forced himself free with a single great effort. However, his armored feet were still frozen to the ground, but that didn’t matter much when his weapon operated from a distance. “What was that about tenfold?” he wound up another swing, but his arm did not move forward.

            “We’re getting to it,” Mazuki whispered in his ear as she held back his arm. Azrack had almost forgotten how fast she was. He cursed himself for wishfully thinking he had hit her at some point in his last attack. She likely used all the debris to cover her flanking maneuver. “So, tell me, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much does this hurt?” She held up her hand, ready to flick his head.

            “You-!” Azrack tried to summon blades from within his body again, but didn’t have the chance before Mazuki nailed him with a direct hit from her flick attack. ‘That left me with 19% integrity? Was she holding back before? I need to…$%&* I dropped Gift to the Wicked. Then I have no choice but to use my last resort!’

            “I know what you’re thinking. Time to reveal my ultimate attack,” Mazuki chuckled as she pursued Azrack. “You won’t be doing that.”

            “Hm?” Azrack started conjuring numerous weapons, but was suddenly consumed by another wave of ice. ‘The summon had this much magic left in her?’ He glanced back at the Cavalry Summon, only to see her beginning to fade into mana particles[13]. ‘She sacrificed herself to set up a decisive blow. Has she no self-preservation?’

            “Focus on the threat in front of you,” Mazuki stabbed Azrack with the tip of her parasol, which somehow cleaved through his armor. Azarack theorized that whatever it was, it was only disguised as a parasol, and what he thought was a demonstration of vanity was actually a clever ruse.

            “So, this is the end of this body? I can accept that if it means taking you with me,” Azrack declared.

            “As if you’ll…Oh $%&* you sore lose-!” Mazuki was cut off by Azrack exploding. The mage felt his consciousness fading as his spirit was sent hurdling back to his wizard tower, but he went back with comfort knowing he had felled a great demon. However…

            “That metal thug, what did he think he was doing?” Mazuki cursed as she recovered from the explosion.

            “Are you okay, Master?” The summon inquired with the last of her strength. With her incredible speed and a split-second command from Mazuki, she had put herself between Mazuki and Azrack’s exploding body, absorbing the worst of the blast.

            “I’m fine, you did well, rest now,” Mazuki touched her summon’s shoulder before the latter faded into a mass of mana particles with a smile. “Great, thanks to him, I’ve lost one of my best summons for the next week,” the demon dusted herself off. “What was his problem anyway? Can’t a girl read a book these days? And what was that about the whatever kingdom? Oh, wait, wasn’t that scum bucket who came by earlier bragging about destroying it today? I thought it was a lame place with nothing worth observing, but if that guy was going all in to save it, then it must be worth something. Maybe a few stories of interest might spawn from its fall?” The demon grinned widely. “I must see for myself,” she took flight and soared towards the crumbling city nearby as the magic barrier faded.

---

[1] As its name implies, the four hundred and eighty-third weapon in Azrack’s numbered series. It is an enchanted staff imbued with the highest-level barrier magic. Once used, the barrier it creates cannot be penetrated by anything short of divine intervention. The only downside is that it also traps the user within the barrier, but that was intentional on Azrack’s part.

[2] A mighty hammer that Azrack created from the core of a colossal earth elemental he defeated decades back. Thanks to its origin, it can be used to cast all manner of high-level earth magic. It caps out around 8th grade magic for most of its spells, but even then, Azrack only uses its 6th and 7th level spells to conserve its integrity, as overuse will cause its reserve of magic to deplete and require it to be left resting in the earth for a week before it can be used again.

[3] A bow and arrow that Azrack received as a gift from a great archpriest ages ago. He has modified it since to generate an endless supply of its own arrows, although it takes a day to generate each one. It’s his preferred tool against demons, undead, and other unholy forces.

[4] A magic boomerang Azrack created for fun one day before realizing he had quite the weapon on his hands. Unlike normal boomerangs, it will not return to where it was thrown, but endlessly chase a chosen target (hence the name). Even if it is destroyed, each piece will simply reform into a new boomerang and continue the chase until it collides with its target and releases a fiery explosion.

[5] One of an endless variety of magic flourishes, sometimes called “Metamagic.” This form of casting causes the spell to fire in a wide spread like a shotgun.

[6] The anatomy of a spell can be broken down as such: The name of the spell category (Summon), the name of the specific spell within the category (Hero), the grade (Grade 10^th), and, in the case of summons and similar spells, a narrower category of summon (Cavalry). In this case, Mazuki is using a summon spell to call a cavalry-type hero, one who fights with a mount or even an animal tamer. Such summons are considered to have an advantage over pure casters by rushing them down with superior speed before they can cast.

[7] Magic is categorized into grades of ascending power, starting at Grade 0 and ending at Grade 10^th. The higher the grade, the more complex the spell is, but it does not necessarily mean the spell is more powerful. A Grade 5^th and a Grade 8^th spell could have the same overall output of energy, but the Grade 8^th spell will be capable of much more, like being more accurate, avoiding damaging allies, or moving in complex patterns.

[8] A powerful staff Azrack created by trapping a storm elemental inside a sapphire. Unlike the Earthshaker, it does not have a limited pool of casts, as the elemental inside is still very much alive and generates a great deal of energy.

[9] Since Azrack was unaware of the Hero summon, he is also oblivious to the fact that such summons often have strong resistances, especially to magic or projectiles. More specifically, their resistance outright negates any attack below a certain threshold rather than simply reducing the magical damage. In this case, Mazuki’s summon would be immune to any magic below 9th grade.

[10] A catch-all term for non-magical abilities, also known as “Skills.” While not innately magical, most martial arts can be used to perform similar incredible feats. It can be something as basic as attacking twice with the same weapon in a second or as grand as generating a beam of pure life force with the power to destroy mountains. In this case, the summon is using a martial art to gather wind in a spiral and using magic to turn it into ice.

[11] One of Azrack’s ten most powerful weapons, an axe forged in the aftermath of the most horrid of circumstances, fueled by the vengeance and hatred of those wronged in the event. Azrack is not proud of what it took to make this axe, but its power is without question. The axe eternally seeks to strike back against the wicked, to give them back every ounce of pain caused to those who fuel its power. Thus, it is at its strongest fighting against those of a ‘Chaotic’ or ‘Evil’ alignment.

[12] A Grade 10th Ice spell, while it doesn’t actually reduce the temperature of the surrounding area to the theoretical minimum, it gets pretty damn close.

[13] The final fate of any summon. While a summon may appear flesh and blood, they are more of a platonic ideal of something given physical form through the caster’s mana. Even if you summoned a specific person or a creature, you wouldn’t actually summon them, but a clone or avatar with all their memories and experiences. Once the summon’s time is up, or they are destroyed, they dissolve back into mana, and their new memories are sent back to the original. In this case, the cavalry summon’s memories of this battle will be sent back to the soul of whichever hero they are based on, who currently resides in a Valhalla-like place for great heroes.

>>>~~~~<<<

Author’s Note: This was made as practice for writing fight scenes and because I wanted to use Mazuki again. To explain Mazuki in the brief: she’s a fallen hero who became a demon, hence all the titles of her stories include “fallen”. She’s grown incredibly bored in her immortality, nothing excites her like it did back when she was an optimistic young hero or a freshly formed demon. She’s seen it all, every kind of hero and villain and in-between a dozen times over, and it’s driving her mad. Thus, she is always searching for interesting stories, and more importantly, the people behind them. Partly to stave off the existential boredom, but also to record to her ever-growing archive of heroes (where do you think she gets her summons from?). She sees herself as above pointless cruelty now (not that she won’t be pointlessly cruel) and as nothing more than an impartial observer cataloging great stories (well, the observer part is correct, at least). Part of her problem comes from the fact that, as a seasoned hero and a seasoned demon, she’s so strong that she rarely runs into people worth fighting herself these days, and anyone she knows for a fact is stronger than her, she avoids like the plague. Azrack has probably given her the best fight she’s had in a long while, but it still was not enough to actually excite her (just frustrate her. And no she doesn't notice the irony).

Also note the return of endless footnotes, which is another experiment. I wanted to see if I could write a story using footnotes to convey supplementary information instead of just jokes or links back to previous stories. I don't think I'll do this very often or ever again it was a lot of work and probably doesn't flow well. But hey that's what experiments are for, finding out what works and what doesn't.

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.