CHAPTER 814: WAVES UPON THE SHORE

The waterspout roared as it swelled in size, swallowing the screams of the city. Dark clouds gathered around the funnel, unleashing frigid rain that pelted the city, flooding the streets. Powerful gales descended from the torrent, tearing at my hair and clothes, and stealing the breath from my lungs. An ominous rumble rose above the drone of rain and wind, and frost blue lightning crackled between the clouds, arcing down to strike the city below. I screamed as a bolt exploded in front of me, vaporizing a portion of the cathedral’s tile floor.

The water mage threw back his head and cackled. A flash of lightning highlighted his figure in pale blue, casting his face in ghastly shadows.

"Even the water hero falls before my might!" he cried, "You’re next, filthblood!"

He jabbed his wand at Gayron, and the winds changed. With a deafening groan, the titanic pillar of wind and water swung toward the apostle. Another city blocked disappeared into its hungry maw, and then another. Nothing that large should move so quickly. Nothing.

"Can you stop that?" I asked, staring up at the spell in horror.

The words were torn from my lips before reaching R’lisesa’s ears, but the mind link carried my intent. She shook her head.

"No, but...it’s alright. Korra’s there."

It was hard to concentrate with the power of the storm descending upon us, but I cast my mind into the waterspout, calling for Korra. Her presence was there, and from her mind, I gleaned...excitement? No, that couldn’t be right. Fear and excitement were adjacent in the mind, so surely she was–

The waterspot shuddered. Its massive body rippled and buckled as if some unseen hand gripped it around the middle. The dark, frothing water began to bleed a brilliant blue, pulsing with a rhythm I felt deep in my bones. The light spread outward, overtaking the writhing coils of water and wind, tainting the lightning and rain until the entire spell radiated a new aura. Korra’s aura.

"The hell?"

The mage gestured frantically with his wand, jerking it at Gayron over and over. But the spell refused to listen. It spun erratically, winding back and forth like a tamed serpent. Slowly, deliberately, it slid over the city, bearing down atop the mage himself.

Water sloshed around my ankles as it neared the cathedral, blotting out the sky with clouds and coils of water. Light gleamed from the middle of the twisting column, a small silhouette that seemed no more than a speck of dust within the storm. As the waterspout came down upon the mage, it fragmented into a dozen small coils of raging water, each moving on its own accord. The central one reared above the others, breaking apart from the inside out, revealing a titanic water dragon trapped within. The two bodies of water merged, the dragon roaring as its power pushed the upper boundaries of the seventh level.

There was a dazzling flash of light, forcing me to shield my eyes. When I peeked through my fingers, blinking away starbursts, Korra hovered in front of the dragon. The remaining waterspouts curled around her like ribbons, dwarfing her in size yet subservient. Her eyes fluttered shut, her soul groaning as she held her arms out wide. The dragon circled her, enveloping the spouts one after another, until only it remained.

The mage’s wand trembled as he took a step back, still pointing it at the sky. "That’s not...you’re not..."

Korra’s eyes flashed open, her aura exploding in a visceral shockwave. The city trembled beneath its weight, buildings destabilized by the storm and rising waters collapsing in on themselves. The clouds and rain fled, chased to the edge of the city. The winds died and the thunder ceased, quieting the heavens so that Korra alone dominated the sky.

The silence was absolute. The mage’s wand fell from his trembling hand, clattering against the rubble. He didn’t scream, didn’t shout. He just stared up at Korra, his face a mask of shock and terror.

"The mage was a fool," R’lissea muttered. "He should have eaten the backlash of disrupting the spell before ever thinking of turning it on her."

"Is she going to be okay?" I whispered, unable to take my eyes from her.

As awe-inspiring as her figure was, she walked a razor’s edge with destruction on either side. Her soul bulged with foreign mana, eerily similar to the state I was in as Rash’alon forced me to absorb infernal mana and bring a Mana Storm down upon Western University. Korra was stronger now than I was then, but the cracks were already beginning to show. Her chest heaved as she struggled to stabilize the mana, her aura wavering and jagged.

After what felt like an eternity, but was barely a heartbeat, Korra raised her hand, and the water dragon released a silent roar. There was an explosion as she launched herself forward, releasing a sonic boom in her wake. The dragon circled once and dove after her, opening its jaws wide enough to swallow a tower.

The mage leaped backward, using mana to reinforce his legs. He landed atop the wall and started chanting, but Korra was already there waiting for him. As her fist collided with his ward, the dragon’s jaws closed around them both, its fangs tearing through the wall like it was made of paper. As the rock crumbled, the dragon disintegrated into pure mana, flowing through Korra’s body and into the mage’s ward.

A loud, crystalline crack split the air, and a black line snaked across the bubble. The mage cowered, stumbling as the walkway atop the wall gave in. He thrust his hand out, launching a ragged Ice Lance at her, but she lithely dove around it and circled him in one fluid movement. Her other fist lashed out, breaking even more mana than before. Another crack rang out.

Korra and the mage exchanged another dozen moves in just as many seconds, and more cracks appeared in the shield. Gayron alighted next to us, watching with a worried look in his eye.

"She’s overdoing it," he said, tail twitching even more than my own.

I nodded. "She’s getting stronger with every hit. Taking the mage’s mana and making her own. Her soul’s going to break."

"Damn it, I told her she wasn’t ready!" he hissed. "Korra, back off! We can finish him together!"

She ignored his command, given through the Mind Link, her attacks coming faster and faster. Every punch, every kick, landed like breaking waves across the shore, slowly eroding the eighth-level ward. But, at the same time, glowing blue lines broke out across her body, like cracks in a vase, and a trickle of blood seeped between her lips.

Where was this power coming from? She already carried the strength of the Waterspout, so where? She was going to break!

Korra seemed to realize it as well, flying back a dozen feet and appraising the mage. His soul was spent, his mana expended furiously repairing his wards, but without the Oracle of Eternity, she couldn’t know that.

"Korra, come back. Don’t do this," I whispered.

She took a deep breath and streaked into the air, travelling fifty feet straight up before abruptly reversing her momentum. She blurred, disappearing past the velocity my eyes could track. The next thing I registered was an explosion as the entire cathedral wall disappeared, blown apart by a wave of raw, unattributed mana, an attack of the purest form.

R’lissea raised her staff, and the wall of plants she’d conjured earlier clawed out of the ground, forming a half-dome around us. Dull, heavy thumps shook the plant wall as rubble rained upon it. Over our head, chunks of the stone struck the shard, producing dissonant chimes that set my teeth on edge. One fell after colliding, red hot from the speed and force of the impact.

"They’ll be seeing these things show up throughout the entire kingdom," Gayron said, nudging it with his foot. It hissed, and he jerked his boot back, spitting on the ground.

"Korra!" I cried, pushing past him and running to the wall.

I touched the trunk of a tree, turning around and pleading to R’lissea with my eyes. She waved her staff, and the trunk parted in two, providing a small doorway just big enough for me to slip through.

"Hurry," Emlica called after me. "There are only two minutes before you miss your window to leave."

The city beyond the plant wall was a hellscape of floodwater, corpses, and ruins. Nothing within a quarter mile of Korra and the mage had survived. Filthy gray water lapped around my knees, torn and bloodied bodies floating face-down in the current, slowly drifting toward the ocean. Fog rose from the surface, obscuring the sky and curling around me, grasping like skeletal hands.

"Korra!" I cried, pushing through the frigid water, ignoring the streaks of blood in the eddies of my passing. Why wasn’t she answering? Why hadn’t she let us help?

"I’m alright," a weary voice said in the Mind Link.

"Thank the emperor," Gayron muttered.

I jumped, startled, and turned to see him behind me, sword in hand. Fable stalked behind him, glaring at me, obviously irritated I’d left him behind. The corner of Gayron’s lip twitched, and he snorted.

"Don’t look like that. Why shouldn’t I be concerned?"

I flushed. "N-no, that isn’t it, I just–"

"Whatever." He pushed past me, jumping a dozen feet onto a chunk of wall. He stiffened at whatever he saw on the other side. "Korra, you’re hurt!"