The PowerKeepers: An Unfair Competition

[Steeldancer]

If you haven't read about the PowerKeepers, read here. This is a short story featuring my main protagonist, Jonathon Cruze, the Great Mage of Water. He is what my entire universe centered around, and all other stories were created after his (although originally he was me, not a guy named Jonathon). Essentially at this point Jonathon has realized he is far more powerful than any Water Mage in history, and realizes he might be a Great Mage, like Merlin the Sorcerer or Kylin of Time. The other PowerKeepers doubt this, and challenge him as a team, 11 on 1. But the legends say that the Great Mages were able to beat such a formidable force, and so Jonathon stands in a magically reinforced arena, facing the other 11 most powerful Mages in the entire universe...

  Jonathan had beat them one on one before. But against all 11 at once? Was he really that powerful? Or that prideful to assume that he could do something like that?

Jon summoned his sword. Its true form was a diamond trident, but as symbolic of water as a trident was, he was much better trained in swordsmanship. Its presence comforted him, helping him to feel more secure. He had to win. There was no two ways about it. If he won, he proved himself to be the most powerful mage in the universe.

If he lost, he would be scoffed at, and lose the esteem of his peers.

Jonathon put on his armor, and a tournament amulet. The tournament amulet had been a recent invention. It was an amulet imbued with a protection spell which would only protect from killing or disabling blows. And, when a killing blow was administered, the amulet would shatter, leaving the contestant unharmed, but signaling that they were out of the competition. Now they couldn't be used for battle; a determined spell could shatter the amulet and still kill an opponent. But on the assumption that no one actually wanted to kill anyone, it worked well.

The other PowerKeepers strode confidently onto the field, and the crowd roared. Quite a group had assembled; many old apprentices had returned to see the spectacle, as had several of Jonathan's old friends among the dragons. He also saw several members of a delegation of Tarok-Bajir, the master swordsmen who had taught him the ways of the blade. And most importantly, his fiance, Moira, was in the stands. If nothing else, he had to win for her sake. 

The tournament judge, the senior apprentice of Sorcery, stepped up to the judge's pedestal and quieted the crowd.

"PowerKeepers! Prepare your spells!"

He focused himself on his several defensive and offensive spells that he knew he would need to win. Peripherally, he saw the auras of the others flare on the magical plane.

Finishing his preparations, he braced himself...

"BEGIN," shouted the judge.

 Instantly, Jon flung into action. Or, at least his spells did. There were certain mages that could neutralize his powers, and he had to take care of them first. 

His friends seemed to hesitate, and in that moment, the ground trembled.

The Kinetic mage moved the fastest, blurring away just before-

BOOM.
The magically reinforced floor was nothing compared to the force of magically superheated water that wanted out.  
a geyser erupted from the floor, blasting the Quantum mage and the mage of Life into the reinforced ceiling. One large CRACK signaled that the mage of Life was out of the battle. Summoning his water he had brought into the arena, he sent a pair of spikes of ice at the Quantum mage. The Quantum mage was dazed, and only managed to tunnel [instantaneously transport] out of the way of one spike, bringing a second loud CRACK. The sudden loss of two mages stunned the other PowerKeepers, and they brought up active shields to protect themselves from any further hidden surprises. Then, they advanced on him. 9 on 1 still wasn't good odds.

But then again, he was supposedly the most powerful mage in the universe. And so he attacked.

He was instantly met by a menagerie of spells- a razor sharp windblast, an onslaught of fire, a beam of radiation, and a chaos field to disrupt his spells. But his active shield reflected the wind, absorbed the radiation and fire, and he exerted enough willpower on the water to keep it in place despite the chaos field. 

And while he did this, he kept his balance on the ground (which had begun to quake) using adaptable 'soles' of water underneath his feet. And he battled the kinetic mage.

He split his magic, shielding him from the powerful onslaughts, and then focused his mind on the problem of taking down a mage that was a lot faster than him.

The kinetic mage was a blur. He used a heavy staff against Jonathan's sword, moving so fast that Jonathan could not act fast enough, even with Tarok training. However, he did have water all around him, and he used the water as extra arms. 
But eventually, the kinetic mage got his staff through his defenses. But Jonathan had a trick up his sleeve. 

While maintaining his shields against the other mages, he shifted into water, letting the staff pass through him. The kinetic mage had committed to the blow, and as Jon shifted back, even Kinetics could not prevent a crushing blow from Jon's sword from shattering his shield and knocking him down. Jon stabbed down, and as his sword was reflected, he watched the amulet CRACK into little tiny pieces. 

8-1. Much more manageable. 

Dismissing his sword, he turned back to the onslaught of ranged spells. It looked like they had been planning to overwhelm his shield while the Kinetic mage took him out hand to hand. But Jonathan had long since mastered the manipulation of Water's ability to absorb energy, and Ice's ability to reflect it. By strengthening those traits magically in his shield, he could easily shrug off blows that would have vaporized the average mage. 

Jon had absorbed a large amount of energy into his shield at this point from being attacked, and he took that energy into his aura. And then he began to counterattack.

He began by unleashing a torrent of frozen rain, which froze and tripped three of his opponents. The Fire mage promptly began trying to melt it, but it resisted melting well. Then, he used several water streams as whips, sending more mages skidding. And now she should...

Sure enough, the Mage of Light transformed into a beam, and Jonathan seized the opportunity. He caught the pulse in a stream, redirecting it... into a wall. 

As the Mage of Light transformed herself back into herself, she had no reaction time before she crashed into the wall, and a CRACK signaled that she was out of play.

 The PowerKeepers got themselves together, and renewed their assault. But Jonathan wasn't fazed as he regarded his remaining foes. At this point they would not let themselves be separated easily. He was going to have to invest his magic in a much more powerful attack. 

Wait a second. Where was the mage of Space-Time? 

Only his powerful passive shield protected his skull from being clobbered, which would have ended this battle instantly. Jonathan spun around, his shield still glowing visibly from the massive blow. She must have transported behind him while he wasn't paying attention. She transported herself around, making it hard to target her with a spell or his sword. Jonathan would have to be creative. 

He was still being blasted on all sides by sound, fire, rocks, and... 

Gravity. He hadn't noticed that gravity had slowly been increasing. It was slowing him down. Jonathan brought his water to him, and suspended himself in a bubble of water, protected from the direct effects of gravity. Then, he used a portion of the water, and superheated it in a nova fashion. The scalding steam blasted away from him, burning the Mage who was transporting herself around to see if she could get in a surprise strike. He created a hammer of ice, which shattered in conjunction with her amulet as it SLAMMED into her. Despite her amulet, her body crumpled and flung against the side of the arena. Jon cringed, and hoped the life mages would take care of that. 

His aura had begun to ache. He was beginning to tire. But he still hadn't used his biggest spell, one that he knew he would need to clean up this fight. So he bucked up, and faced the mages of Gravity, Fire, and Entropy, who were advancing on him. Earth, Air, and Sorcery remained behind, trying to rip apart his spells and water. 

He had to remain in his bubble of water to prevent being crushed by the Gravity field obviously being exerted on him. Even so, he took part of the bubble and doused the mage of Fire for good measure. Entropy started sending chaos fields at his bubble, taking large chunks out of it as water was... chaosified. 

Jonathan needed more water. But he hadn't brought any more water. He currently was using the water he had brought, as well as the ground water that he had used to make the geyser. But now the nearest good source of water was a lake about a mile away. He could summon it, but there was a magically reinforced dome to deal with. 

As he hesitated, his bubble was being torn apart, and he was beginning to feel the crushing gravity. He would have to take his chances. 

He commanded the water to come to him. From a mile away, the water leaped out of the lakebed and flew in a stream to the call. It slammed into the dome, leading to gasps from the audience. They were staring intently, watching the drama unfold.

Jon only had seconds before his bubble was gone. The dome resisted, and so he PULLED witb every scrap of aura. His aura flared into visible view, a brilliant crystal blue. The crowd gasped, for auras didn't appear in the visible plane except in ancient legends of Merlin and his ilk. Perhaps Jonathan was what he said he was. A... Great Mage.

The dome cracked under the power of Jonathan, and then it shattered inwards, unleashing a lake's worth of water onto Jonathan. And just in time. 

With so much water to work with, he could really go to town. First, he drowned the mage of Fire and Gravity, whose amulets shattered under the water, and he let them flow out of the arena. Chaos fields were protecting the rest of the mages from being drowned. But his aura felt refreshed somewhat from so much water, and so he prepared his final spell, and touched an amulet he wore on his belt. 

Lightyears away, the Colorado river stopped moving.

Jonathan directed the power of the Colorado river towards the remaining mages. But first, he applied all of his aura to "put a thumb on the hose." He concentrated the water stream into a centimeter diameter blast. This blast would have shredded steel, so it's no wonder that when he directed it at the mages of Earth, Sorcery, Chaos, and Air, that it shattered their defenses instantly and with a CRACK CRACK CRACK, three mages were out. But such a constraint on such a power had shredded Jon's aura. He released the power of the Colorado river, and faced the PowerKeeper of Sorcery. His good friend, Kieth. 

 Kieth and Jonathan circled each other. 

"Would you like to just yield?" asked Jon. 

Kieth laughed. "I'll admit, watching you take down the other 10 PowerKeepers was a bit terrifying. I don't think there's doubt about whether you are a Great Mage. But you aren't a god. I can see your aura; it's in tatters. Right now I doubt you could even summon a snowball."

Jonathan grimaced. "I probably couldn't summon a snowball. But there are other things that are easier to summon..." 

Jonathan focused what little energy he had left, and called his sword to him. The sword was a true masterpiece, infused with spells that made the crystal blade impervious to any blow, and able to cut through most enchantments. 

Jonathan continued to circle Kieth. Kieth had also summoned a blade, a katana. And then they struck at each other. 

Both had trained with the Tarok-Bajir. Kieth would take apart any spell that Jon wove, and Jon's blade was capable of destroying enchantments. Jon was weakened, but he had always been more skilled than Kieth. 

Their blades moved like ribbons of steel and crystal, probing and sweeping and sometimes jabbing. The Tarok-Bajir delegation, which had not been overly excited by the magical spectacal, nodded their heads and whispered excitedly, admiring the beautiful swordsmanship. 

Parry. Dodge, sweep, turn. Jab, sweep, counterthrust. Jonathan moved with the grace of the ocean. But Kieth's every blow weakened him further. Jon had sensed him attempt to use multiple spells, but his blade was too well enchanted for Kieth to try that in such close combat. Still, it was only a matter of time before Jon grew too weak to fight any longer. However, he did have one more magical source avaliable to him. And so he began a slow retreat, leading Kieth backwards towards the water that was pooling a few feet away. Kieth grinned, and pressed into the attack, forcing Jon to move backwards faster. 

It was only the barest puddle of water that Kieth stood in now. And as they fought, Jon reached into himself, past his injured aura, and into his life force. Jon pressed a bit more towards Kieth, and just as Kieth took a step backwards, Jon turned a patch of water into ice. He felt his connection to life suddenly become tenuous, but as Kieth fell, Jon ignored the encroaching blackness and stabbed down.

CRACK. 

Both men had fallen. The judge hurried down to see who's amulet had shattered. 

And Jonathan pushed away the blackness. Kieths amulet had shattered. 

Jonathan barely had enough energy to stand, wave a bit, then retreat into his armor room. People talked excitedly to him, but he couldn't understand a word. He headed to a couch, and crashed for the next 13 hours to recover his aura.

When he awoke, no one ever questioned his claim of being a Great Mage again. 

Edited July 6, 2017 by The Flash

[King Cole]

So basically, every other mage is crap.

The fire mage could have evaporated all fluids.

The Gravity mage could have multiplied his gravity a million times over

The Space-Time mage could have done a ton of things.

Entropy could have caused him to decay

[Steeldancer]

1 hour ago, King Cole said:

So basically, every other mage is crap.

The fire mage could have evaporated all fluids.

The Gravity mage could have multiplied his gravity a million times over

The Space-Time mage could have done a ton of things.

Entropy could have caused him to decay

Evaporated water is just as dangerous as liquid water. Now Quantum could have ripped apart all the water molecules. That would sever all power that Jonathan had over them, as he has no power over oxygen and hydrogen. That's why he went after them first. 

That's exactly what gravity did... but water reduces the effect of gravity. Astronauts train in it for a reason. Also, you can't pressurize water beyond a certain point. That can be manipulated by a Mage that powerful to resist the pull of gravity. 

Space time... I'll give you that. Except messing with time in this would have been a no-no. There's basically no point in having a duel with a space time mage if they could just hop into the future and see what you're going to do. So it's one of the few things restricted by the rules. 

Entropy was trying to do just that, but water has preservative properties. Also, Jon is powerful enough that he can control the state of his body (note how he kept control of his water despite it being put through chaos fields. It should have become random matter, but with enough strength, he managed to keep it together. Mind over matter). However, this is an element which I haven't fully explored yet. 

Also, if he hadn't taken out Life so soon, Life could have neutralized his aura. That was why he went after Life first as well. 

I will note that the whole point of this plot line is that he is REALLY over powered. Not even a PowerKeeper could have done that stunt with the Colorado river, or broken the dome. So, next to him... they kind of are crap. The interesting part is why such ridiculously powerful beings are needed, how they retain their humanity, and how the universe retains balance. There is a force that balances Jon out. Such a force is required in order for him to have such power. However, the conflict with the Shadow is not one I'm going to write today. It's a heck of a lot longer, for one. 

Another point of all this is to show just how cool water is. It has many unbelivable properties. It's a universal solvent, it has a high heat capacity, it expands when it becomes a solid, it has a strong surface tension (that's one thing I didn't show off). And Ice is also extremely reflective, and can be just deadly stuff. I've tried to come up with a scene similar to this for each element, in order to explore the things that could be done with them. 

If Jonathan had been a normal mage, his shield would have shattered many times over, from the energies being directed at him. The other PowerKeepers aren't not powerful. He's just a lot more so. 

Edited July 6, 2017 by The Flash

[The One Who Connects]

3 minutes ago, The Flash said:

Another point of all this is to show just how cool water is. It has many unbelievable properties.

I've tried to come up with a scene similar to this for each element, in order to explore the things that could be done with them. 

So essentially, even though your other elemental figures aren't overpowered, you could write a scene much like this where they are in order to show off what the power could do.

I approve of that logic. Might even use that if I ever write a magic-laden series. "In the interest of class balance, each type should be able to beat any of the others, and I just have to write a scene showing how." Makes sense.

[StrikerEZ]

This is actually pretty cool. That whole idea with showing off how each element is awesome in its own way will actually hello me with one of my stories, so thanks for that! 

[Bladestorm]

On 2017-07-07 at 0:42 AM, The Flash said:

That's exactly what gravity did... but water reduces the effect of gravity. Astronauts train in it for a reason. Also, you can't pressurize water beyond a certain point. That can be manipulated by a Mage that powerful to resist the pull of gravity. 

 

Water doesn't actually reduce the effects of gravity... It just makes you more buoyant. An increase in gravity without an increase in the buoyancy of water means that you would be crushed, but if Jonathan can change certain aspects of water then it works  Also water can't be condensed whatsoever, without an increase or decrease in heat. So for pressure just remember that it always has to take up the same amount of space. Other than that it's great! I did some worldbuilding about a year ago about an island focused on 11? elemental magics and they had similar contests to this, and i love the idea. Great job!

[Steeldancer]

On 7/11/2017 at 3:39 PM, Bladestorm said:

Water doesn't actually reduce the effects of gravity... It just makes you more buoyant. An increase in gravity without an increase in the buoyancy of water means that you would be crushed, but if Jonathan can change certain aspects of water then it works  Also water can't be condensed whatsoever, without an increase or decrease in heat. So for pressure just remember that it always has to take up the same amount of space. Other than that it's great! I did some worldbuilding about a year ago about an island focused on 11? elemental magics and they had similar contests to this, and i love the idea. Great job!

ok yes thank you. Yes, magic can adjust various characteristics of materials, so that would be a better explanation. 

and actually the no compression ability of water is one that I've played with, in getting him out of really tight situations. Especially if you then incorporate ice's expanding ability, it bursts most constraints like water in a pipe during the winter.