Unexpected Mentor

Black flames all shot through the sky, seeking Saheilla. A master of sorceries, even Maessha's black flames were easily snuffed out by her counter.

From behind Saheilla, an arm made out of pure ice erupted from the ground. Its fist, resolute and closed, no harm shall come to the sorcerer as it blocked the terrifying flames.

Magic is not working. Whatever spell Maessha thought of casting, her high-elf opponent would be one step ahead. Instantly casting spells that outclassed her both in the quality of mana and potency.

Lightning coursed through Maessha's fingertips, but before she could unleash the forked lightning, the arm exploded into shockwave of ice, knocking all in the area with vicious breeze!

Even Maessha was blown away and tumbled into the palnts. Had it not been for her extreme protection, Maessha would have been bitten by the merciless code. The gigantic arm was more, and in its play are dozens of ice stakes floating above Saheilla. Remnants of fhe icy fist, now demolished for the offensive explosion.

The ice stakes by the dozen, all descended towards the armored Dark- elf.

In a pitiful slight, Maessha failed to get up as everytime she would do so, an ice stake smashed into her armor, its crude elemental strength telling her to 'stay down'.

Was this her limit? It is fitting that the spell would end her were of ice.

Nay, Maessha will not fall to these paltry stakes! Alara's ice were ten...no, a hundred times deadlier thant these.

The memory of her oath Maessha did together with Alara propelled Maessha to scream at the top of her lungs! Her roar, that of a warrior but bestial.

"Getting serious are we?" Saheilla smirked. "Then it's high-time I do the same."

Pure mana enveloped Saheilla's hands, preparing a cataclysmic beam that will eridicate someone lesser. No doubt that Maessha's armor shall protect her from disentigration but Saheilla's grin forebode of how her attack will blast the poor dark elf away.

Before Saheilla could finish her ruinous attack, Zorrla called for them both.

"Stop, I've seen enough."

The mad Queen stood from her seat, walking up to her armored daughter, Zorrla shook her daughter's arms with glee.

"Amazing! I am impressed, Maessha..."

The shadow steel eviscerated from around Maessha. There is confusion in her expression but budding delight, was her mother praising her?

"...you are on your way to be an even bigger disappointment than your sister! It's a feat I never would've thought possible!"

Of course, how did Maessha forget who she was speaking to? Shouldn't have expected anything from her emotionally sadistic mother, yet the genuine joy of receiving a praise from Zorrla made Maessha momentarily let her guard down.

Grimacing, Maessha slapped away the hands of Zorrla in defiance. Never again.

"You have my gratitude, Mother. It is clear where sister and I inherited it from." A tone ladened with venom, Maessha snapped back.

Aghast, Saheilla could not believe how rude Maessha was ti her own mother, the Queen! This slight will bot be tolerated! Her Mistress does not deserve this ingrate of a daughter.

"What did you say!? Take that back you third-rate sorcerer!" Saheilla taunted, her hand crackled with lightning, ready to punish Maessha from her insolence.

"I said Mother is a embarrassment, and so is a High-elf like you for willingly giving yourself to her!"

"You brat!" The moment Saheilla was about to zap Maessha with a bolt but Zorrla's hand diverted it into

the sky!

The air trembled at the spell Saheilla uleashed. A reverse lightning erupting from the ground up!

"Useless the both of them might be, none shalll lay their hands on my daughters while I am around...that is a Mother's right alone."

The grip Zorrla on her arm had Saheilla wincing. A vice that would crush, cripple her if she ever tried to disrespect not Maessha, but Zorrla herself by bypassing her authority.

A maddened grin on her lips, relishing the High-elf's suffering. Zorrla questioned, "Do you understand?"

The pain now unbearable, Saheilla dared not retaliate. Just a few more pressure and her bone would snap, such was the arcane strength imbibed by Zorrla's Drider armor.

"Yes, my Queen, I apologize!"

By her grip, Zorrla tossed Saheilla towards Maessha. The pristine paleness of Saheilla's skin marred by Zorrla's cruelty. Red, heavily bruised and ready to draw blood.

"Good, since you've judged my Daughter third-rate, I want for you to show her the ropes on how to become a prime sorcerer like you."

Impossible! The spells Saheilla have amassed, her potency with mana, they borne from her centuries old experience and her lineage as race attuned for spell casting! This Dark elf is but newborn as far as Saheilla wad concerned!

About to speak up, Saheilla caught her words before they passed from her throat, and yet the impossibility of the task haunted her.

"What is it, Saheilla? Don't tell me you are unable to do it? And here I was, thinking of bringing you back to the underdark with me."

The allure of being dragged back into the place where Zorrla first inflicted her devious caresses upon Saheilla proved too much to resist. Only Zorrla had alleviated the boredom of her longevity with her masterful use of pain and pleasure, granted leaned more on the forner, Saheilla learned to cherish the agony, to love it.

"I'll do it, my Queen. Although this would be a task nigh-impossible, I shall prove my loyalty and instill into her every arcane knowledge that I know!" The desperation in Saheilla's tone was palpable.

And yet Zorrla forgot to ask the input of someone important, perhaps the Mad Queen did not to make Maessha realize that she had no say in the matter. But still Maessha voiced out.

"I have no need for a tutor, especially one as ill-disposed as this High-elf. Trust me, I will fare better on the tournament by me alone."

"No, do as I say or I will rescind your position as our candidate."

Hammering it into Maessha that she truly did not have a choice on the matter, Zorrla turned her back on her daughter and walked away.

Still holding her bruised arm, Saheilla at the Dark-elf brat.

"I suppose you are under my tutelage for the moment. Since you are the Queen's seed, I shall do my best to turn you from third-rate into first-class."

"Bold words coming from someone forgetting to heal their wound." Maessha chuckled.

"What do you mean forget? I would never waste my time learning a paltry spell such as healing."

A gigantic hand made from pure ice that can crush or defend, summoning beams of concetrated mana, and many more. All the offensive repertoire of spells that Saheilla endeveavored to learn were all meant to obliterate. Why have the need to heal when you can your enemies outright?

"Utterly ridiculous, are you certain you are not Dark-elf? You share the same dogma of Lolth's teaching not to heal but savor the pain."

Despite their unfavorable beginning, Maessha walked up to place her hand above Saheilla's bruise.

"What are you doing?"

"Shut your mouth, I am healing you."

Channeling benevolent energy upon Saheilla, Maessha's hand emitted a green light that coated and nursed Saheilla's wound.

Merely a first-aid spell, its effectivity was that of closing shallow wounds or bruises. Her healing capability can't compare a cleric's but Maessha still embraced the insipid way of Lolth to abandon healing altogether.

"You know a healing spell? Might you be the Queen's bastard child?"

"Oh, how I wished."