A Smidge of Magic

Chapter 73

Ban and Pandora rushed inside the lab as the door crashed against the wall. Their eyes darting about as they took in the scene. They saw Ian trapped inside a mist filled magical circle. Ivy, standing at his podium, finishing his spell. Pandora unleashed a salvo of Ice onto the bubble to little effect. Ban rounded on Ivy with Void held high.

"What have you done!?" Ban demanded.

Ivy ignored them, concentrating on his spell.

Inside the mist, Ian felt his arms and legs seized. He struggled as the tendrils lifted him off the ground. The tendrils pulled hard, forcing Ian to gasp from the pain. He breathed in a minuscule amount of the cloying vapor, but it was enough. The mist trickled down his throat and the rest swiftly followed. The bubble cleared allowing Ban and Pandora to watch as the mist filled Ian. When it was done Ian fell to the floor, coughing and beating on his chest as though it would expel whatever had taken root inside of him.

"No!" Ban roared, rushing forward. He struck the edge of the circle. The circle, along with the floor, cracked and magical energies flared wildly. The bolts of power shot out around the room, crushing a table, exploding bottles, and wreaking havoc.

Ivy rushed to finish. He hadn't expected the accursed hammer and it would undo his work.

Ban brought Void down again and the circle broke. A rush of power was released and it struck Ivy, hard. He let out a cry of anguish as the powerful shock wave smashed into him and sent him flying into the far wall. The podium too was destroyed by the wave of force, hollow wails rose from the shattered skulls as they crumbled.

Ian climbed to his feet and stumbled over to where Ivy had landed in a heap. He reached his arm out to pull back the hood and finally see the face of the monster who caused all of this.

"Guhhh!" A loud groan from the other side of the room called him away. Anders!

The force of the spell breaking had expelled Ban and Pandora back out into the hall, landing them in a tangle of limbs. The minotaur was the first to re-enter the room, his eyes widened when he saw Ian, "You're glowing."

Ian was rushing to Anders and stopped, casting a glance down at his arm and starting in surprise. There was a faint purple light radiating from his skin. He would have to worry about that later.

"No time, my friend needs help. Ivy brought him here and... experimented on him so that he could perfect this damn spell. " Ian spat out the words as fast as he could.

"Pandora, he needs help," Ian pleaded as they all congregated around Anders. He didn't expect that even Pandora could heal him, Anders was in such bad shape. But there was still much that he didn't understand about magic, so just maybe he could be fixed. Ian tried to keep his hopes low as Pandora examined his broken partner.

Pandora let out a gasp when she saw Anders' condition. Mal stood at her side with his ears and tail lowered, trying to make sense of all the smells in the lab. After Pandora saw the cables coming from Anders' back she turned her shimmering eyes shook her head.

"Ian, I'm so sorry. I'm not skilled enough, he would need a true faith healer. Even then..."

Roland stumbled in from the hall and took a look at Anders, shaking his head. There was nothing he could do here. "She's right. Can you get it so we can move him?" While he spoke he rummaged around inside his robe, coming back with Ian's gun and offered it to him.

"We need to get you out of here, and we're going to need your help to do that," Roland said as Ian took his gun and checked it over.

"I'm not going anywhere without my partner, or him," Ian said, turning around. "Damnit," Ian cursed, Ivy was gone.