NANO 2012! (Or "NANO @)!@ if I'm capitalizing numbers) Day one

The sweat on his brow dropped to the ground as he stood, slightly hunched, trying to catch his breath.  His brown robe was drenched around his neck, and his hood was off to help him cool off.  Not that it did much good.  His adversary stood before him, standing as tall as ever, with that same smug smirk on his face that he always had.  Years of training had brought Ian here, to this point.  His first wizard duel in the arena of the flying city.  He was better than the rest.  He pulled his eyes from the ground to look at his opponent again. 

Gregory, the first battle in which any new entrant fought was against this guy.  And everyone always lost.  But Ian wasn’t like them.  He had studied harder and was the top of his class, spending late nights studying the various magics and how they reacted with each other.  But nothing he threw at the guy was working. 

“Are you done catching your breath, Ian?”  Gregory’s high, nasally voice, really bothered Ian, from the first time he met him.  “I can give you more time if you need, but you know that the outcome will be the same.”

Ian’s grip on his metal staff tightened. His fingers ran alongi the chains which were etched into the side of his staff as he brought up his grip and straightened his shoulders.  I guess there is one thing I haven’t tried yet, he thought to himself.  Closing his eyes and punning the flat of his hand down the length of his staff, and feeling the different notches and bumps, he muttered a quick incantation as he focused his energy into his next spell.  He opened his eyes just in time to see Gregory running at him, magical energy pulsing through him. 

From the gestures Gregory was making, it looked like a fire spell of some sort, though Ian was too focused on his spell to really pay too much attention.  Right as he muttered the last syllable of his spell, he felt heat approaching him. 

And then it was gone, he had successfully teleported himself in time and positioned himself about twenty feet behind Gregory, a giant fireball erupting behind him.  Ian’s robes settled around him as he snapped his fingers, transforming his staff into an actual chain.  He threw the four-sided spike which was attached at the end with a quick word, which roughly translated into “fly” in the common tongue, and it flew at the unaware Gregory.

It struck him in the back, Gregory winced at the new attachment to his shoulder blade, and Ian tugged on the chain, this time speaking “return,” and he felt himself being pulled to Gregory by the chain as it magically absorbed back into itself.  In the split second that he was in the air, he grabbed the other end of the chain, which had a sickle, instead of a spike, attached to it, and prepared to put not just all of his physical might into the coming blow, but also the rest of his magical reserve, hoping to end the duel in one final blow.

As he reached Gregory, momentum building, he swung out at him; cutting through his dark blue robe he could feel the magically attuned scythe easily slice through Gregory’s skin, tearing the muscle underneath.  He let all his reserve out at that moment, and felt the mini explosion as his energy mixed with Gregory’s in Gregory’s abdomen.  Dueling Wizards’ energy never mixes well, and Ian was planning on that as he finished with his attack and landed on the other side of Gregory, in the charred grass where the fireball had just been.

Ian was breathing extremely heavily now, but felt reassured knowing that he had just dealt a serious blow to Gregory, and all that was only in the last five seconds of the duel.  He was honestly amazed with himself.

Turning, he looked towards Gregory to see how badly he was wounded, but was just barely able to dodge an orb of pure fire as his gaze turned to see Gregory still standing with an irate look upon his face.  At least the smirk was wiped off his face, thought Ian, as he let another orb of fire hit him square in the chest, unable, or maybe just not wanting to move out of the way from sheer exhaustion.  Collapsing on the ground, unable to even think, Ian thought he heard Gregory saying something, there might have even been a “twerp” in thrown in there, but he was too tired to care.

When Ian opened his eyes next, he had a wonderful view of a great, big stone.  As he rolled off of his side onto his back, he became aware of the sheets on top of him, and the fact that the stone was just one stone among many others that all formed a small wall, which in turn became a building.  The gray stone set a somber mood, which was broken up by the flickering red of a fire, which Ian presumed was in what looked like the center of the building. 

He couldn’t quite tell if it was the middle since there was a white curtain in front of him, blocking most of his vision of the building, but he figured that the least he should do is check it out, since he hadn’t been here.

And that’s when he remembered the duel.  He sat up quickly, which caused a huge rush of pure pain to erupt in his head.  Grunting in pain, he slowly lowered himself to his bed, with the help of, what he assumed to be, a nearby nurse, who must have heard him rustling in the sheets and figured that he was awake.

“Shh, shhh, there there, sweetie, you’ll be alright, just take it easy,” came her soft words.

“The duel,” was all that he could utter between the grunts, which were quickly turning into a solid groan.

“Well, if you won, you wouldn’t be here, now would ya?” the nurse replied while tucking the sheets in around him.

With his hands pressed against his head, he managed to force out “And where is here exactly?”

The nurse looked shocked as she exclaimed “The infirmary of course!”

“Well, yeah, but exactly where is the infirmary?” Ian didn’t try very hard to hide the frustration from his voice as his hands plowed through his thick, shaggy, brown hair.

“It’s the east side of the island,” Came a man’s voice from the other side of the curtain-room.

“Well, he’s awake, doctor. He’s all yours.” The nurse gave a quick head-bow and quickly made to leave the room. “Ian,” came her farewell as she gave a smaller head-bow and exited the doorway next to Ian’s cloak and bag.

“Doctor?” Ian asked, his perplexed state worn clear on his face.  “Is it really so bad that I need a doctor?”

The doctor gave a small, insincere smile, more of a press of his lips, really, as he took a seat next to the bed.  “I guess you haven’t noticed yet that your left leg has been amputated then,” he finally said after a brief pause and shuffle to get comfortable.

Ian quickly pulled back the sheets in fright, not able to believe that he wouldn’t feel a difference between having and not having a left leg.

He was both relieved and upset to find his leg still attached- relieved that he had ownership of a leg that was still properly attached to his leg, and upset at the doctor and his laugh-snort that he was doing.

“You really should have seen your face.” The doctor was doubled over on the stool on which he was sitting, “most people don’t give quite a good reaction.  You don’t really care much to hide your feelings, do you?”

The doctor’s query shocked Ian.  Most people weren’t this forward, especially with a wizard.

Fortunately the doctor continued before Ian could give an answer, making his silence much less awkward.  “No, I just came in to congratulate you…”

“So I did win?” Ian’s face lit up, thinking that he had done the impossible, beating Gregory during his first battle in the arena.

“I’m afraid not.” The doctor’s face straightened. 

Ian’s face turned a little sour, as he pouted a little.

“However, I’ve never seen a first timer deal such a harsh blow to good ol’ Greg.  His insides were all torn up, and he probably wouldn’t have survived much longer than you if I didn’t get to him as quickly as I did. It’s much easier to heal someone up than to bring them back from the dead.”  The doctor’s eyes glazed over a little as he looked at something distant, “It’s a lot less messy, too.”

Ian’s face perked up a little at the realization that he had done something that the doctor had never seen happen before. 

“It’s always messy when two sources of magic battle each other.  Not only does it drain the attacked source’s power, it also…”

“Causes a violent reaction, damaging everything and anything that is directly touching that source of power.”  Ian smiled a little as the doctor stared at him, a little shocked.  “I read that book.  That’s kind of my area of specialization, well at least as specialized as a first timer can be.”

“That’s pretty impressive, Ian. Most fighters are all show and bang, with no real strategy or deeper understanding to their combat techniques.  Anyway, I think that you’re fit to go.”

Ian’s look of bewilderment accompanied his next statement, “But I was just in a bunch of pain when I tried to get up, shouldn’t I have more bed rest?”

The doctor looked over his glasses at Ian and said with a sly smile, “Ian, you’ve been in bed with no food or water for three days.  I think that, mixed with a head-rush, would be quite painful.  I assure you that my treatment fixed everything that could have been wrong with you from the battle.”  He glanced down at his clipboard as he continued, “I want you to drink at least three cups of water before you go, and eat a little extra tonight at dinner,” Ian’s stomach rumbled at the thought of dinner, “though I don’t think you’ll need me to order you to tell you to do that.”

(Kind of a slow start, but I figured it was better than nothing.  Blargh... Hopefully everyone had a fun and safe halloween.  I got to work, but I ended up watching Dracula with some friends who live nearby. It was pretty cool. Really, slow though, at least compared to today's ADHD movies, where no shot is longer than six seconds.

Let me know what you guys think, I know it's a little rough, but I'll try to go back and edit stuff if I ever actually finish a NANO XD.  Anyway, have a great day/morning/night/whatever time it is for you now.  :D  Peace off!)