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The world had stopped making sense. The laws of physics, nature, and magic had been rewritten, and apparently Vaarsuvius was the only one who had not been informed. Here she was standing in a muddy trench, under attack, stupified by the world around her. She was unable to comprehend what she was experiencing - it logic, it defied existance, it defied everything. It was almost too much for her to handle at one time.
Why had her Magic Missile looked so different than the many times she had used it before? It was usually a simple purple ball, not a glowing orb of whispy purple energy that warped the air around it and left a trail of distortion as it travelled. And it had most definitely never been that destructive. But worst of all, when she had cast the spell, there had been no roll involved. She had simply said the words, concentrated, and the spell had just... happened. There was no attack roll - just an attack. This simple action in itself, to her knowledge, was simply impossible. Trying to comprehend it was simply too much for her to handle at the moment.
The destructive nature of the spell horrified her as well. Where was she where such grisly damage was even possible? She'd seen torn in half lose less blood. She'd seen people fall from cliffs and other massive heights, with the only resulting sign of trauma on their body being X's in place of their eyes. She had seen Durkon, enchanted to be taller than a house, smash people with his mighty hammer - and they were only left sprawled out on the ground, dead. Yet she had just exploded a skull with a spell that shouldn't have even knocked the Ork down. Her stomach cringed at the thought of what she'd witnessed - she'd never seen a brain in person, only in medical books and scrolls. To her knowledge, it wasn't even physically possible to force it out of somebody's head, yet she'd just done it - with Magic Missile of all things!
And then there was the fact that the terrified man behind her seemed to have a strange looking wand enchanted with what appeared to be a small but powerful version of a Disintegrate spell. How that strange device could hold such a powerful spell, and how a person with such power in their hand could be scared, greatly confused and astounded her. Nothing made sense anymore! V's mind was trying to comprehend too many things at once, and naturally she was having trouble focusing on her surroundings - she didn't notice the hulking figure appear over her atop the trench wall. The man's words of warning brought her back to reality.
"THERE WILL BE MORE OF THEM ANY SECOND!!" she jumped slightly when she heard him call out. "WATCH OUT!!" Her eyes instinctively rose upwards, and she barely managed to maintain her resolve enough to strangle the gasp that tried to rise from her lungs. Towering over her stood a massive Ork, compared to the other two she'd seen mere seconds before. It could have easily torn them in half, judging from the bulging muscles in its arms. It wore heavy metal armor which appeared to be nothing more than scrap cobbled together in a startlingly effective manner. In its right hand, it held a savage looking battle axe with what appeared to be tiny knives welded to the blade. As if it wasn't dangerous enough! In the brutes left hand, it held some sort of bulky weapon, similar to the one the man had been holding. Only this one was larger, dirtier, of a more ramshackle design, and had a chain of strange yellow cylinders with pointy ends danging down from one side of it.
V barely had time to acknowledge its existance before it began to raise the strange device in its left hand towards her. She knew that if the man's small weapon had been so effective, the Orks could easily hurt her in ways she didn't want to imagine. Her instincts kicked in, and she raised her hand towards the creature. Just before the creature could finish bringing its weapon to bear, she yelled out the name of the first spell that came to mind: "DISINTEGRATE!!"
---
Ciaphas had barely gotten the warning out of his mouth when the Nob appeared. Among the Orks, Nobs were akin to Sargeants and squad leaders, bossing around the smaller Boyz and leading them into battle. For an Ork Nob to show up now was a death sentence. They were much stronger than Boyz, and much harder to take down, not to mention the fact that it had a Choppa and a Shoota! His laspistol was no match for it - killing the Boy had just been a lucky shot. The Eldar might have been able to take it on with the Warpcraft it possessed, but he didn't know if it still had the energy left, or if that spell would get through the Orks armor. So unless it had some more powerful spell left, they were seriously frakked.
"DISINTEGRATE!!" the Eldar howled, its voice fierce and commanding, yet strangely elegant and lofty. Cain let out a strangled yelp. It had started as a gasp, caused by him being suprised at the Eldar speaking High Gothic. He'd expected it to speak some strange and mysterious tongue - not his own language. That disturbed him deeply, for some unknown reason. But the gasp began to turn into a scream when he saw what happened next, and the only reason he managed to wrangle it into being a yelp was because he didn't want to spook the Eldar and get the same treatment.
And that treatment was one of shocking and disturbing power. It was as though the Eldar had hit the Nob with a Melta gun. A beam of energy, akin to a las bolt, had streaked from the Eldar's pointing finger and into the Nob's chest. For one brief instance, the Nob glowed like the flash of a plasma cannon. Its whole body seemed to become pure, transparent energy. The only thing that seemed to posses solid mass were its weapons, the thickest shards of armor it wore, and its skeletal structure. And at a speed Ciaphas could barely register, thousands of cracks had spiderwebbed through the Ork's skeleton. And then, in one brief second, the whole thing had crumpled into dust. The armor and the weapons fell to the ground, burying themselves into a large pile of ash. A vague haze of soot and smoke drifted up from the macabre heap.
"Well, at least one thing is still the same..." he heard the Eldar mutter to itself. Its voice was so foreign, strange, and intimidating, yet at the same time, captivating and alluring. An involuntary shiver ran down the Commissar's spine. He felt a disturbing mix of terror, awe... and attraction.
Another cry of "WAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!" brought his mind back to the situation at hand. Another Ork appeared atop the trench. It tried to leap into the trench with them, a wicked-looking cutlass gripped in its hands. Cain fired his laspistol, but the shot passed over the things shoulder. It fell through the air towards the Eldar, twisted glee apparent on its face. But just before it could fall upon its prey, the robed figure raised its hand and uttered: "Lightning bolt."
---
Vaarsuvius had managed to take down the hulking brute, and its manner of death was similar to what she was used to. "Well, at least one thing is still the same..." she mused. Although, several things bothered her about what had just occured. Once again, she had made no attack roll - the spell had simply happened. The Ork had made no saving throw against her attack, either. He'd simply died - and she had recieved no XP for it. Of course, he simply could have been too far below her level, but she'd expected something out of killing such a fearsome looking thing. And she was also feeling slightly fatigued, as though she'd just expended a noticeable amount of energy.
The torch was ignited.
She was not in her world anymore. Not her planet. Not her universe. Not even her own reality. She was in a place altogether different from where she originated, with its own laws of physics, reality, and existance. And she was now subject to them. The thought was disturbing, shocking, and terrifying. But at the same time, it was fascinating, interesting, and alluring. There was so much to learn! Vaarsuvius knew that if she survived this experience, there would be untold amounts of knowledge to obtain. And now that she knew what was going on, she could focus. A smirk spread across her face. She was in her element - there was learning to be done.
"WAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!!" cried the Ork that leaped into the trench, descending towards her with sword in hand. V barely arched an eyebrow at it. She understood what was happening now. All she had to do was play along. She simply raised her arm towards the beast, opened her hand to expose her palm, and calmly stated: "Lightning bolt."
--- End Chapter 3 ---
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