Karth entered the central room of the ancient temple. There it was sitting on an altar, untouched for ages, the sphere of vision, a magic artifact capable of revealing secrets untold. It would take a few hours to peel back the enchantments keeping it here, but soon it would be his. Only... he could sense a presence. Someone else was here.
Anya walked cautiously out of the corner of the room. "Who are you? Why have you come here?" she asked.
"I am Karth, and I am here for the orb, as are you. No one would be here in this forgotten place for any other reason. I sense power in you..." Karth stands tall, tight fight robes covered in protective runes of his own creation, but also readies several spells to demonstrate that he has power too. "I do not think the orb can be shared... do you think to challenge me for it?"
Anya sees Karth's robe adorned with protective runes. She does not recognize most of the symbols. This man must have access to powerful magic, or at least unfamiliar magic. She looks at his face. "You are correct that I desire the orb. I have traveled far to seek it, and I shall not leave this place without it."
"That's a shame. I really would share it if I could, but if you're here then I suspect that you know that once a new hand touches the orb, it is their until death. Perhaps I can claim the orb and then give you the information you seek from it?" Karth didn't have much hope of her accepting that offer, but he'd at least try to make it. He could sense her preparing magical attacks as well.
She wondered if the man's offer was genuine. Unfortunately even if it were, she could not agree to it. "Alas, I am not in a position to accept your offer. I suspect we will need to find another way to settle this."
"I'm not sure there is a way to settle this. Only one of us is getting that orb." He readied a fire ball. "What do you propose." He was making it clear that he would fight for the orb, but was also willing to listen to reason, if she could offer it.
She mused. "As you say, if one of us touches the orb it will be theirs until death. I do not wish to claim it only for you to kill me. I am sure you have similar thoughts regarding your own death. I propose neither of us touches the orb yet. We should see who is more deserving with a contest. Nobody needs to die here today."
"It will take hours to claim the orb in any case. We have time to talk. What contest do you propose?" Karth dismissed the fireball. He was ready with other spells but was curious to see what she would propose. "What is your name, and why do you seek the orb of vision?"
"My name is Anya" she said, lowering the hood of her cloak. "I seek the orb of vision to learn of the truth of a prophecy. I wish to take the orb and test it, for I theorize that the orb does not merely impart insight to the owner, but can be made to send visions to others."
"I see, are you proposing that the one of us who claims the orb agree to grant visions to the other when desired? What guarantee would we have that the other would keep that promise? But if you wish, I could agree to give you visions of what you seek."
"That is one possibility. In fact should I claim the orb I can agree to do the same. I suggest we have a contest of our abilities. A duel of sorts. Nothing bloody. Merely until one of us renounces their claim and declares that the other should take the orb. Could you agree to such a solution?"
"I will not renounce the orb unless I am forced to or you convince me that I can trust you to deliver the visions I need. What sort of contest do you propose? Most of my magic is good for different ways to kill things." That wasn't entirely true, but there was something he didn't trust in her voice, suspecting a trick of some sort.
"I shall not constrain you. A contest of magic may seem most obvious, but you may use whatever means you like. If you can convince me to yield my claim another way, that is just as good. I promise that should I emerge victorious, I will grant you the insights that you need. I have no ill will towards you." she smiled.
"That still doesn't tell me anything about what the contest is. Nor do I have any ill will towards you, but I will not renounce the orb. How do you plan to... convince... me?" He was ready with fire, lightning, and all manner of arcane tools to tear apart at reality. That was his specialty. Convincing people... not so much.
She removed her cloak and stood ready. "I think one way would be to show you how very outclassed you are, Karth. It takes a strong control of magic to be able to use the orb after all.".
"Mine is plenty powerful, but there are many kinds of magic in the world. One cannot learn them all. Well, I did hear of one who tried once, but he ended up being abducted by eldritch creatures. It did not end well for him. If you think I am outclassed, by all means, show me..."
"As you wish" she replied. Anya launched a spell at Karth. A jet of ice flew from her hand, threatening to engulf his legs.
Karth easily blocked the ice with an energy barrier, then powered up a powerful boulder, ready to send it at her as soon as the barrier was down. It was a simple attack but one that had undone many mages who relied on more complicated magic...
Anya was taken by surprise by the directness of his attack, but reacted in time. She used a directed burst of force to push the boulder aside. Gathering her strength she sent a powerful gust of wind towards Karth, hoping to send him flying.
He was already ready with heavy stone armor that held him in place, and was preparing something new now, with lightning, fire, and a strange red energy. She had a brief window of attack though, before he fired it off...
Anya was impressed by the strength of this mage. She could see he was charging up a powerful spell. She had to interrupt it. She cast her spell and vines sprouted up from the floor around his feet to entangle him.
He released his spell in a burst, burning away the vines around him, and almost reaching her, though not as much as if he had focused it at her in a beam, but this put the ball in her court again, though he was fast and didn't have long to act.
She quickly stepped back as the fire landed a short distance in front of her. It did not seem as if either of them was going to be able to overpower the other through sheer magical ability. Perhaps it was time for a change of tactics. Anya tore some of the material from her sleeves. Casting a spell, she made the pieces of cloth harden and launch themselves at Karth like small knives.
The knives fell harmlessly against Karth's stone armor and he had a chance to channel a new attack again, the same beam of fire and lightning, this time pointed straight at Anya.
Anya made a hand sign and a wall of sand rose up from the floor. She threw more and more of the knives at Karth, tearing away more of her robes each time she did.
The knife cuts slowly chipped away at the mage's armor, but not fast enough that he couldn't keep it up. Fast as lightning, and still using it, he charged up a new spell, one that sent a wall of icy spikes crackling with lightning, bursting out of the ground toward her.
As the spikes rose from the ground, Anya summoned a dense cloud which lifted her up into the air. She had to try something else to break through. She clapped her hands and the room lit up with a tremendously bright light. She hoped to blind him for a few seconds to give her the advantage.
It seemed to work, at least for a moment, then Karth vanished, having teleported somewhere else in the room. She still had a chance, if he was in fact blinded, but she would have to find him first...
She concentrated. Where could he have gone. She heard a sound coming from near one on the pillars and launched herself towards it....
And behind the pillar was a zombie! Not the mage, but not a huge threat either, so long as she didn't let it touch her. It was just a distraction though... from the water ball that was racing toward her...
Anya quickly incinerated the zombie with flames from her hands. She only became aware of the water ball as it smashed into the pillar, only just missing her head. He can obviously see, she thought. The water ball must have broken away a section of the pillar. It fell and she had to dive aside to avoid it.
It was immediately followed by a frost ball, clearly designed to freeze solid anything made wet by the water ball. She was the one reacting now, what can she do to take back control of the situation?
She swirled her arm and the air began to spin. Soon it was a powerful tornado that she directed at Karth. It had the added benefit of drying up the water around the room.
Karth's rock armor held him firm to the ground against the tornado's winds, but it did make casting more complicated spells more difficult, so he simply put up another energy barrier and while within began to prepare something big...
Anya could see that Karth was preparing something. She made a hand sign and suddenly there were four Anyas. As they charged towards him, the question became which one was the real one....
Karth smirked as he continues with the same spell he had already planned, as fireballs bloom all around the room, filling the entire space with a chaos of bouncing balls of fire, reaching every corner of the room except the barrier he hid behind.
Anya raised a magical barrier of her own. Her illusions faded as she channeled her energy fully into fending off the surrounding fire. They would be at this forever, she thought. Just countering each other, back and forth. Anya decided it was time to try something else. She struck a pose with her hand on her hip. She made use of the tears and singes in her robes to show Karth a little skin, but not too much. "Well Karth" she smiled "You're certainly making this contest interesting".
Karth looked at her from behind his barrier as the fireballs died down. "You have proven difficult to defeat, but you'll make a mistake eventually. Do you have another proposal for me?" He seemed confident, but still willing to hear her out.
