33 Painting the Walls

As the dark clouds consumed the bright blue sky, cold winds began to blow. A chill ran through the crowd standing outside, even the knights, with all their years of rigorous training, felt their skin crawl. Rain started to fall; large fat drops of water soaked the bystanders standing outside the faculty residences. Students and Professors alike all looked up at the sudden change in weather. To the students, it was just a freak storm that had manifested without warning, but to the Professors, it was something much different.

Being experienced mages, they were much more attuned to the natural occurring mana that filled the world. They could sense the mana rushing towards the building, it was so dense that they could almost see it. Professor Auveco, one of the oldest and most experienced among the Professors, hurriedly began to sound the alarm.

In all his years he had never seen mana behave this way. There was nothing in the natural world that he knew of that could cause a phenomenon such as this. He didn't know what was about to unfold but felt as if it would be dangerous to be too close when it did. He began to work with the other Professors to herd the students to a safer distance. Just as they started to move, a thick lightning bolt descended from the heavens striking the ground and turning the stone walkway molten.

…..

His ears still ringing from the booming thunder, a single knight hesitantly stepped forward toward Professor Kal. Once Professor Kal had uttered his defiant words, his fate was sealed. He would be arrested, tried, then promptly punished as saw fit by the Crown. It was his job to apprehend him. He took another step forward, then another. Seeing that Kal had yet to move, his confidence grew. The mage must be all bark and no bite the knight thought to himself.

As the knight stepped past Mage Reginald, he looked at his face, what he saw froze him in place. Mage Reginald's face was nearly purple, thick blue veins were visible under his weathered skin. His jaw was clamped shut and his eyes were bloodshot and almost bulging out of his skull. His entire frame was shaking almost as if he was straining against some sort of invisible pressure.

"Sir, what's wrong?" The knight asked, concern etched on his face, concealed by his helmet.

Mage Reginald did not answer, he didn't even move, spare his shaking body. In fact, it took Mage Reginald's entire strength not to collapse on the floor. His entire focus was on resisting the force Professor Kal was applying to him. The man in front of him was a monster, no, not a monster, he was much, much worse. It was as if an elder god had descended in front of him bathing him in his might.

Professor Kal's face remained stoic, but inside he was as giddy as a schoolgirl. He had only released a portion of his aura, to outstanding results. To see the 'mage' in front of him, barely able to stand just from his presence alone, gave him a feeling of superiority that could never be matched. His revelry didn't last long as the knight made a move on him after seeing Reginald's predicament.

The temperature dropped instantly, every ragged breath that Reginald exhaled could easily be seen. The knight rushed forward; his short sword raised high in the air. He was prepared to strike down the mage who dared resist the will of the Crown. Ice crystals snaked their way across the floor, growing in size until they reached the feet of the approaching knight.

Almost instantly, the knight froze in place. The other knights behind him looked on in confusion, there seemed to be nothing out of place. They did not hear any spells being cast or seen any movement at all from the mage in black. All they could see were the ice crystals on the floor and the same crystals on the knight's armor. Unbeknownst to them, the knight who had taken it upon himself to arrest Professor Kal was already dead.

He had been flash frozen. The temperature immediately around him had been pushed down to near absolute zero, causing almost every atom within his body and armor to cease moving. With no more muscle control to keep balance, the frozen knight teetered over hitting the ground. Flesh and armor alike shattered as if they were made of fine porcelain. Bits and pieces of his body spread out in every direction, skittering across the ground striking his comrades.

Not believing their eyes, the knights stood there, dumbfounded. Their friend of the last several years had been killed right in front of their eyes. Knights of this generation had never seen battle before; they were not prepared to witness such a sight as this. Even with all the training they had to endure, it was hard to prepare for the real thing. One knight doubled over, emptying the contents of his stomach. He had failed to remove his helmet in time so the throw up filtered through the openings in his helmet, finally splattering on the ground.

Summoning had always been Kal's most favorite school of magic. He greatly enjoyed pulling monstrous creatures from other planes into his to fight his battles for him. There was just something about it that made him feel… alive. He would have loved to do the same here, but he wanted to prove a point. Being a Lich meant he's had the time to become proficient in all schools of magic and in all areas of the battlefield. He could provide support, he could tank with his summons, he could deal damage to the enemy, he could even engage in close quarters combat with his staff if need be.

One didn't survive to be his age without knowing how to fight. That was the downfall of the knights before him, they had vastly underestimated him. They hadn't thought for a moment that a mage could cast spells with such speed and accuracy as him.

Professor Kal didn't even flinch as the brittle pieces of knight bounced off his black boots, hitting the door behind him making a sound like rain on a wooden roof. He leveled his eyes with the knights still reeling from what had just happened and opened his mouth to speak. "Clearly, that was in self-defense."

His nonchalant statement brought the knights back to reality. Two knights let out mournful howls as they forfeited their lives, sprinting forward to avenge their fallen comrade. Letting out a tired sigh, but inwardly excited, Professor Kal held up one hand, his other still on the staff. There was no hesitation in the knight's movements, their training kicking in. They soon converged on Professor Kal, one swinging high, the other low, their teamwork was impeccable.

As the two swords threatened to bisect his body, they began to rust and corrode at astonishing speed. The closer the blades got to Kal's body, the faster they fell apart, turning into red dust. Now the knights had stopped, still in striking position holding nothing but empty air. They quickly unsheathed their daggers, still working in tandem with each other. As they neared even closer, the same phenomenon happened.

Their daggers corroded into rust, then blew away on the wind that was still blowing through the empty halls. They both took a step back, looking at their hands, only to be horrified at what they saw. Steel gauntlets that once adorned and protected their hands were gone, rusted just like their swords and daggers. What was worse what their hands themselves.

Old and wrinkled skin with liver spots speckled around were the first things they saw. They opened and closed them, feeling the pain of arthritis shooting up their arms. It had seemed that their hands, up past their wrists, had aged one-hundred years or more. They would never wield a sword again; they were now completely useless as knights and no longer a threat.

Professor Kal almost fell over in laughter; his half-baked idea had worked. Being an undead being, he would naturally not be affected by the ravages of time. Using dimensional magic as a weapon, he had created a pocket of time that surrounded him. The time in the pocket was sped up several hundred times, the closer you were to Kal himself, the faster the flow of time. By the time the swords and daggers even touched his robes they had decayed into dust. His robe and staff were enchanted by Kal himself, so they could weather the spell. Though he would have to inspect them closely once he had the time, there could always be unforeseen issues.

The remaining twelve knights were terrified. They had witnessed the killing of one friend and then the subsequent maiming of two others. All the drills in the kingdom would never prepare them for what they were up against. The only option was to retreat then retrieve the mage corps; they were the only ones the knights could think of that would be able to handle another mage.

Almost as if he had read their thoughts, Professor Kal spoke preemptively. "No one is permitted to leave, unless I say so."

As the last of his words reached their ears, the knights could see shadows from either side of their position. To their left and right, cutting them off from any escape, were two black knights. The black knights stood a towering eight feet tall, almost scraping their helmets along the ceiling as they advanced. Shoulders the width of two men were armored with matte black armor that sucked in any available light. On their full plate armor were engravings of skeletal figures in differing positions of torture and suffering, causing any onlooker to feel the dread of death deep in their souls.

One black knight held onto a morning star mace: its head as large as a watermelon with spikes six inches long radiating from it. The other held an axe the size of a man, the head of which was crimson red as if it had just been through an arduous battle and was covered in blood. With each lumbering step the black knights took, the hall shook under the immense weight.

Not willing to wait for death to take them, the knights reacted quickly, despite their fear. Professor Kal thought that was commendable, to be able to face your fears head on even without a chance of survival. The hall was much too narrow to fight efficiently. The knights were forced to pair off with the black knights, only able to fight two versus one.

They used the same teamwork as the pair had against Professor Kal, working together to try and confuse their opponents. With his mace in hand, the black night managed to block one incoming sword but not the other. The sword struck his armor, sending hot sparks in every direction and numbing the hand of the knight as well. With a glaived fist, the black knight hammered down on the helmeted head of the knight that had struck him. Like a melon wrapped in tin foil, his head burst apart. Blood and brain matter oozed out of the crumpled steel where his head once was.

Managing to keep his focus even though his friend's body had just crumpled to the ground, the other knight pushed forward kicking out with his foot at the groin of the black knight. Expecting some success, he was met with his foot being locked in the black knight's thighs like a vice. Like a machine, the black knight struck down with his spiked mace, penetrating the steel armor and driving the spikes deep into his chest.

On the other side of the hall, the other knights were not fairing much better. One knight already lay on the ground in a pool of his own blood, bisected at the waist. The other was against the wall, sitting down, staring at nothing with cold dead eyes and a gash cutting into his ribs reaching his heart.

With their numbers down to half, and the panic inducing black knights closing in on them, the remaining knights began to panic. Some broke down, getting on their hands and knees, begging for their lives. Others were rushing the black knights, not ready to admit their impending death. Two, more intelligent knights, realized what the black knights truly were, so they tried to attack their summoner in hopes of dispelling them.

It was all for not. Flesh and blood spattered the once white walls, turning the hall into a macabre tapestry of death. Screams of anguish could be heard even over the howling winds that were still blowing outside, sending any that could hear them into a panicked state themselves. The two knights that attacked Professor Kal were charred black by a white-hot flame produced from the tip of his black staff. Even the two knights whose hands were crippled were not spared, they to were ran through by the black knights.

Mage Reginald was forced to witness these atrocities as he stood there unmoving due to Professor Kal's presence. Large drops of blood speckled his face along with his scholarly white robe. Pieces of flesh had even found their way into his thinning grey hair, the blood making them stick. Once the last of the knights breathed his last breath, the two death knights took up position on either side of Mage Reginald.

Taking a few small steps to close the distance between them, Professor Kal spoke in a quiet tone. "Tell me, Mage Reginald, do you still wish to come inside?"