Blade of Light

*An isle off the coast of Quel'Thalas owned by House Dawnsea*

Seluna paced across the flat marble floor, her peculiar green-blue eyes studying the intricate magical wards inscribed in the stone carefully. The circular chamber featured a number of the carvings, with the center of the chamber having the greatest collection of them. From the outer edges of the room's curved walls arcane designs extended to merge with the powerful runes in the middle.

To the priestess's eyes, the room was awash with the foul powers of the necromancy that the runes and spellwork had conjured. Trapped spirits writhed within their magical prisons, their life force feeding the spells and empowering the runes that ran to the central circular ward. The island was one of her workshops, and the room within it was key to the spells that she would soon cast.

"Lady Dawnsea, the eastern wards have been completed," a voice said behind Seluna. The elf turned to see one of her priestesses standing behind her, the Sin'dorei's head bowed in respect to the High Priestess of House Dawnsea.

"Excellent. See to it that the rest of the matrix is stabilized. We will be putting the spells to use as soon as the ships return from sea with the final piece of the puzzle," Seluna purred. It was difficult to hide the triumph in her voice as she thought about what would soon come to pass.

After all this time, I finally have the upper hand, and soon I will be truly immortal. Once the fragment of the phylactery is in my possession, I will merge the two halves and recreate the artifact. Finally, I will be beyond the bindings that restrain my power and all of those who have stood against me will come to learn the suffering that I have felt after all of these years of watching their depressing failure of a nation.

Seluna allowed a smile to cross her lips as she gazed once more at the glowing runes on the floor. It had taken years to come to this point and countless deaths. The cost in blood and coin and magic meant little to her, as she herself was long beyond such things. The fact that the final casting of the spell and the refueling of the phylactery would cost the lives of over one hundred of her priestesses also meant little in the grand scheme of things. All that mattered was the power now, and the vengeance it would allow her to bring to her enemies.

As she continued to plot in her mind, something tickled at her senses. Whether it was an odd current of air or perhaps a magical fluctuation, it instantly snapped her attention back to the arcane matrix of wards on the floor. One of her eyebrows shot up as she saw a ward begin to unbind, the magical energy released into the air in a whiplash of power. A priestess standing nearby shuddered as the magical discharge nearly burned her mind out from the raw power unleashed.

"What is going on?! Quickly, call in the others!" Seluna shouted, glaring across the runed floor. Another of the wards began to curl up, the magic forming a tendril of power in the air that lashed out like a whip, striking a marble wall and leaving a burned gash there. Even as a number of dark robed priestesses ran into the room, yet another of the wards began to fail.

"Something is wrong with the spellwork, Lady Dawnsea!" one of the priestesses yelled as another of the runes began to fail. "The bindings are correct but another force is working against our protective wards! They're not going to hold!"

Seluna's eyes blazed a foul scourge blue as she glared around the room, watching her carefully prepared work slowly begin to unravel. She focused her magics, shadows curling from her body as she began to hunt around the chamber, searching for the source of the interruption. A second later her eyes widened as she realized what was going on.

There were other living creatures in the room with her. She could almost smell the disgusting scent of their living essences, obscured behind a veil of arcane magic.

"We're under attack! Everyone prepare for battle!" Seluna shouted, pointing at the nearest of the strange sources of energy and causing dark shadows to whip out. The magic struck what seemed to be thin air before a scream echoed through the room and a robed Sin'dorei fell to the floor with mortal wounds, the invisibility spell that had been surrounding the elf having failed when he was struck.

In that moment, pandemonium broke out as dozens of robed spellcasters materialized throughout the room. What had started as an emergency to repair failing wards became an outright battle as the spellcasters began flinging bolts of fire at the priestesses, who in turn flailed at them with magical shadows.

Explosions rocked the chamber and Seluna could only gasp as the situation spun out of control. She pointed again and felled another of the attackers, readying her more powerful spells so she could slay the interlopers. As she brought her arms up to begin her next spell, she felt a powerful blow slam into her back. In shock, she looked down to see a golden sword protruding from her chest.

"Hello, mother," Biara whispered into Seluna's ear. "It's been so very long since I've stopped in to visit. Regrettably, I know this won't kill you, but my sister's sword is quite blessed. I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience very much."

Seluna felt blood gushing from the wound and from her mouth as she tried to respond, a gasping cough all that she could force out as the burning sensation of contact with the Light began to rage through her chest. She slid to her knees, futilely attempting to reach behind her to pull the sword free and end the torment. She spit globs of blood on the floor, managing to get a single word out, "Bitch!"

Biara Sunfire smiled down at her wounded mother, the look in her eyes holding nothing but malice. She stepped around the struggling High Priestess, looking around the room and talking over her shoulder, "You really shouldn't meddle with necromancy, mother. You know that it never ends well. You didn't really think I was going to allow you to take what was mine, did you? You didn't really think I was going to let you put it back together, right?"

Seluna tried to curse or say anything, but all she managed to do was to cough up more blood as the raging pain in her chest grew worse. Her magic could heal the wounds easily, but not while the blade remained in place. Biara smirked at her, knowing that all too well.

"Well, it's been nice chatting with you mother, but you look very busy right now," Biara said with a grin. "I'll let you get back to whatever it is you're doing here. I'll just see myself out, don't bother to get up."

Biara walked towards the center of the chamber, the magical battle raging all around her not even a concern as her apprentices worked to fight off Seluna's priestesses. Wards flared around her as errant spells came near her, but she never faltered in her movements, only stopping when the tips of her shoes had almost contacted the wards in the very center of the room. Arcane magic blazed at her fingertips and the wards on her right cheek glittered as she began to chant, her magic focused on the pattern in the center of the room.

After a moment, Biara stopped chanting, pointing at the floor and sending a wave of magic into the runes there. The entire patterned changed color, the wards turning an angry red as the spell began to take effect. Biara snapped her fingers, a portal opening beside her as she turned to look back at Seluna.

In that moment, years of hate passed between them, but another message was transmitted as well. In Biara's eyes Seluna could see quite clearly that the Magistrix had had enough, and that their war would become all the more serious now.

With an almost impish grin and a wink, Biara stepped through the portal, Seluna's last sight of her the flare of her skirts around one heel as she disappeared into the magic. The House Sunfire apprentices that were left standing also fell back, pouring into the portal, the last of the survivors closing it as he left.

In the silence that followed, only the raging red runes in the center of the room remained as a reminder of the battle, and Seluna's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen. As her priestesses stared in slack-jawed amazement at the unraveling spell, Seluna finally managed to reach back and grasp the hilt of the sword in her back, pulling it free with a sigh of relief. A second later she shouted a word of power, her body dissolving into a cloud of shadows and sinking through the cracks in the floor, escaping the room.

A second later the runes in the center of the chamber detonated, tearing the entire structure to pieces. The light of the blast was visible even to ships far out to sea, the death throes of Seluna's failed magics burning her laboratory and all of her assistants to ash in a second.

In that one evening, Seluna Dawnsea came to know that her daughter was far from defeated, and was more than willing to meet fire with fire once more.