Lyric's Eventide Ring Campaign: The Fox

Prompt #1 - The Fox

“What.  Was.  That?”

Lyza picked herself up off the ground, trying to cough out the dust that she had inhaled during the sudden freak windstorm.  Her companion didn’t seem any better for the wear, trying to shake the dust off of her wings and clothes.  Nonetheless, a beaming grin took up the entirety of her fellow demon’s face.

“That,” Izre laughed breathlessly, “Was corruption magic.”

So this was the crazy magic that Izre had been wanting to study so desperately.  Well, now that Lyza had seen it in action, she could definitely understand why - it worked and behaved like nothing she had ever seen before.  Magic of that strength usually needed some kind of anchor for it to have any kind of structure whatsoever.  By all accounts, this storm should have fizzled and died very quickly.  However, it not only increased exponentially in power in a short amount of time, it also disappeared as quickly as it came.

“That was sentient magic, and not a base element,” Lyza warned.  She knew of a few people who could use sky magic and create powerful windstorms, but this…this was different.  The very earth beneath her feet trembled, trying to warn her away from the dangerously swaying spires ahead.  Whatever had corrupted the magic in this place was repelling Lyza’s personal magic like a magnet, trying to push her away from its center.

“Oh, it was sentient, all right.”  Although Izre was clearly trying to keep her face as neutral as possible, her eyes betrayed her obvious excitement.  A smile grew on her face as she walked towards the spires where the storm had vanished.  “Far beyond any other manifestation of magic I’ve ever encountered.  We can’t trap it, but did you feel the intent?”

“I was mostly feeling tossed around,” Lyza answered self-consciously.  She hated not being the most knowledgeable in the room at any given time, but there could only be harm in not deferring to the obvious expert in this.

If Izre picked up on this, she didn’t show it.  “It was looking for something, as far as I could tell,” she muttered under her breath.  “Not us, of course.”

“Then what?”

“I’m not quite sure, but we’re going to find out.”

With a wave of her hand, a crackle of flame raced up Izre’s arms and shot through the edges of her wings.  She leaned her head back and took a deep breath as a burst of warm air shot past Lyza’s face, racing towards the storm ahead of them.  

A few moments passed as Izre tilted her head, seemingly entirely focused on something that Lyza couldn’t see.  Was she…using her magic as a triangulating device?  That was certainly interesting.  Lyza herself was very attuned to magic around her, but she needed to be at least nearby to its source.  Perhaps she could convince Izre to teach her this skill - there were certainly a lot of uses in being able to find a source of magic without needing to physically find it.

Izre’s eyes snapped open suddenly as Lyza was contemplating this.  The crackle of flame that had been resting at the edges of her wings became brighter and hotter as Izre’s eyes lit up.  “Found it.”

“Found what?  The screaming vortex of doom?”  Perhaps this sentient magic had a source after all!  If that source could be destroyed or reasoned with, maybe they could…

“No, I found what it was chasing.”  Seemingly oblivious to Lyza’s contemplation, Izre’s eyes quickly scanned the streets of the city.  “This way.”  

And the demoness lifted her wings and took off, completely ignoring Lyza’s cries to wait.  Not wanting to be left behind, Lyza chased off after her companion.

Trying to keep up with a flying demon was hard enough.  So was trying to find one's way through a dilapidated former city.  So was running through a windstorm.  Trying to do all three of these at once meant that Lyza found herself unable to keep up with the overly excited Izre, who seemed to have entirely forgotten about her existence.  At least the fellow demon had fire magic that Lyza could follow -  the orange sparks that trailed behind her were bright enough that Lyza could trail them even through the duststorm that was straight ahead.

As they reached a wide open square, Izre slowed herself down at last, giving Lyza a bit of time to catch her breath.  Izre gestured for Lyza to go around to the opposite side of a crumbling fountain in the center of the square, which was strangely backlit by a faint blue light.  And as Lyza circled the decaying structure, she saw that this light was emanating from the body of an ethereal fox, the only solid part of its body being a skull-shaped piece of metal that made up its head.  

This was…incredibly advanced magic!  This wasn’t true sentient magic like that windstorm had been, but whoever had created this incredibly adorable fox was clearly a master of magic the likes of which were difficult to match.  Fascinating!  Lyza began to creep closer, hoping to get a better look at the little guy.  Stealth was never her strong suit, however, and the fox turned around to face her, letting out a pathetic growl.

And that’s when Lyza noticed the gauntlet in its mouth.

If she had been paying attention, Lyza might have noticed how strange it was that every other thought in her head disappeared after noticing it.  She might have questioned what kind of magic could make her mission or her fascination with the magic of the fox itself.  She might have been able to shake off whatever strange enchantment had come over her, making nothing else important but getting that gauntlet.

But she wasn’t.  The only thing that she knew was that she wanted it more than she had ever wanted anything in her life.

Lyza began to creep towards the magical construct, trying to think of a way to entrap it. Foxes were known for being clever, mischievous creatures; thus, when their forms were used in a construct, they were often meant to be used for thievery.  Perhaps she could play on this hardwiring to make the cute little thing come to her.

Slowly, Lyza pulled a golden coin from the purse around her waist, flipping it to ensure the fox could see the gleam.  As she hoped, the fox’s eyes narrowed, unable to resist its desire to acquire the shiny thing.  It crept towards Lyza, keeping its gaze focused entirely on the golden coin that Lyza toyed with.

But just before it got within reach, the sentient storm suddenly kicked up again, sending the fox fleeing away in terror.

Shit, Lyza thought.  Without even thinking, she started to chase, barely registering Izre’s cries to wait as she scrambled to catch up.