The standing elves, all but 1 downed low level man, ran to form a line of archers.

“SHOOT!” Alkiath shouted, just after he’d released his own arrow.

But it was, and Alkiath knew it, a waste of arrows. As before, a big blue blob of foggy magic consumed their arrows after a mere gesture of the lead witches’ wand, and the arrow formation of witches flew through the fog, unharmed and unbothered by the attack.

“Rum!” Alkiath yelled, while knocking another arrow. “What do we do!?”

“I don’t know.” Rum replied, and halted himself, right before he was about to whisper his healing spell to the last downed elf. He was starting to sense the drain on his mana reserves again. If I heal this last one, I may not have enough mana to fully help my party in this situation.

“But you are our mage!” The elf leader pressed. “And those are mages! Witches! We can’t deal with their magic, and only you here have any real magic!”

Rum rose up from the elf he’d just been considering about healing. With a solemn expression, he looked at Alkiath, who returned his look, but with more desperation. Rum looked over at the witches, who were but half a minute or so from their position now.

“I really don’t have much more to offer than what I’ve already done.”

“Then–” Arrovani interjected, “–we are gonna lose.”

“Nah” Urvanom declined. “We are not gonna lose. Just need to endure and give them a knock to the head when they’re not looking.”

Arrovani, and several other elves, eyed Urvanom.

“You’re just saying that–” Arrovani replied, “–because you got magic in your own head.”

“Yes.” Urvanom admitted, and smiled knowingly at the younger elf. “But this Positive Mind doesn’t decide what is true, only your perspective on what is true. You’ve lost in your heart, Arrovani, and that is what makes you lose in your mind.”

Arrovani stared expressionless, or perhaps a little sad, back at Urvanom’s smile, the witches getting very much closer now in the background.

“HMM!” Rum thought out loud, and started pacing back and forth.

“AAARH!” The head witch screamed, like a battlecry, before she and her people zoomed past and above the elves, who could do little but follow their flightpath with arrows pointed.

“Thoughts! Thoughts NOW!” Alkiath demanded.

“HMMMM!”

“Less thinking noise, more ideas!”

“What if...” Rum stopped pacing, and gazed at the witches doing their airborne U-turn in the distance, and coming back for them. “I might have an alternative. But they need to come down to the ground first.”

“And how do you propose that we do that!?” Alkiath complained, desperate. “They deflect everything we throw at them!”

“Hmm...” Rum shuffled his feet. “Have you ever heard of this funny little paradox: what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable obstacle?”

“What does it have to do with THIS! WHAT unstoppable force!? WHAT immovable obstacle!?” Alkiath put down his arrow in frustration, turned to Rum and gestured exasperatedly with both arms.

“Well. If I had an unstoppable force, that I sent on an impossible mission... I wonder if it will fly.” Rum pondered briefly. Then he looked over at Urvanom, stepping over to the smiling elf. “Are you willing to do an urgent experiment with me, Urvanom?”

“Eeeh, yeah.” The old elf’s smile faltered a second, confused. “What should I do?”

“Just get the witches off the broomsticks.”

“What?” Urvanom now went from a slight to a more complete facial confusion.

Rum ignored the man, and instead knelt down before him, staring at his lower robe. He reached out with both hands, lifting the robe up a little, and then with a hand each; grabbed both of Urvanom’s legs.

Rum breathed in, deeply: “oooOOOoh.” The world, if it had a humanoid double like the Great Spruce, would’ve scratched the back of its head at this moment. Anything, everything, it all wondered, or would’ve wondered if it could; what the heck The Great Mage was up to this moment. But that, despite residual confusions about ultimate intentions, suddenly became evident: “SELF-RUNNING LEGS!” Rum shouted the words out with the fullness of his lungs. But the shout was just to make up for the intensity of what in reality went on in that moment. Deep inside himself, Rum reached, into the ethereal world of existence. Within the mirror side of reality in which none of the elves really had much of a grasp, Rum essentially hooked his magic onto the mana body of Urvanom, flooding the ethereal version of the elf with an organizational machine of Rum’s own threads, channelling the spell not just through himself and onto the legs, but channelling them with a self-replicating process through Urvanom as well, effectively hijacking the old elf’s mana for additional spellpower. To everyone around, a huge shimmer of green energy burst forth from Urvanom’s legs and robe, and Urvanom’s whole body shook, an excited shiver blasting and vibrating furiously through every bit of muscle in that aged anatomy. “Aaah” Rum softly released, a sudden fatigue riding him as his own mana drained to almost nothing. Light-headed, he started falling a bit sideways, tipping over almost, but then stopped himself barely with his hands just before head was about to meet hard mountain floor. Gently, he laid himself down. From below, tired eyes now looked up at Urvanom. There, what he saw was the first leg, the right one – it wanted to move. It raised itself, then lowered itself, up and down, progressively becoming turning into a little dance tap. It looked nervous – no, wait! It’s excitement! A rhythmic excitement! The other leg couldn’t stand still for long though, and with a constipated look on its owners face, Urvanom’s left foot began tapping as well, creating something like a preparation for a run that never actualized. Or won’t it?

Rum took a few deep breaths while observing, then he sighed a little. “So... I can’t make you fly, it seems.”

Urvanom’s face grew increasingly constipated as several seconds past and the witches in the distance started to close in on them, with yet again wands at the ready. But, what’s happening? One of the feet started trying to take a step, like testing the ground a few times. Then testing became an actual step forward, and the other leg followed. Urvanom stepped over Rum down on the ground, and with every step on the mountain floor thereafter, Urvanom visibly began accelerating.

“Where are you going?” Rum asked Urvanom, or more like it Urvanom’s legs, as Urvanom’s mind of course had no idea. Not that his legs could answer either, but that was more for a lack of a mouth and vocal cords. Rum sat up, observing in fascination, but not really pleased. “Is the spell broken? Now that there’s no legible path to its target?”

“What’s happening to Urvanom?” Arrovani asked, worry on his face.

“We’re soon to find out.” Rum replied, not taking his eyes off Urvanom as the old elf began really sprinting with incredible speed towards the flying witches. Only 10 meters or so away from their spearhead, Urvanom’s legs surprised everyone when they began taking a sharp left turn; straight into the mountain wall.

“AAAH!” Arrovani produced in concerned singing.

As Urvanom’s legs eventually reached the tall rocky mountain side, another green shimmer burst from his legs, and suddenly Urvanom put a foot up high, stepping not on the ground, but onto the rocky side itself.

“WHAT!?” Arrovani burst out.

“HAH!” Rum himself burst, a broad excited smile seizing his face. “What did I say? Unstoppable force!”

With magnificent speed, Urvanom’s legs defied gravity’s reach, climbing faster than Urvanom’s body was able to tip backwards and fall. And all in perfect timing to reach perpendicular alignment with the spearhead of the witches, because as Urvanom took the last step to reach just above their height, Urvanom’s right and left leg both clung to the wall in the last instance. There, both legs simultaneously pushed outwards with force, ejecting Urvanom and his whole body from the mountain side and into a backwards somersault. EVERYONE: Rum, the elves on the ground, and the witches themselves gaped as Urvanom’s body flew through the air, creating a trajectory intersecting directly with the head witch’s flightpath. Shock and confusion then followed everywhere, as Urvanom subsequently collided, upside down, front-facing, straight into the head witch. And, just like Rum had asked of him – and with Urvanom striving to make the most of what was happening to him, because even though his situational awareness was incredibly challenged, flying through the air upside down and all – his arms still reached out and grabbed the body in collision, not just knocking into her, but taking the whole witch with him on the following downwards trajectory.

“Oh damn. Urvanom is gonna fall hard.” Rum commented. And as everyone watched, Urvanom and the witch indeed fell fast from midair, their bodies rolling and twisting in their descent, before crashing hard into the mountain floor. Rum turned towards Alkiath. “What are you waiting for? She’s on the ground! Go get her!”

Alkiath stirred from shock and awe, and then looked around himself. “Well, you heard The Great Mage! Let’s CHARGE!” And thus Alkiath sprang forth, bow put away and sword drawn while running. Every other elf but the downed one following suit.

“Don’t hurt her too badly though!” Rum yelled after the charge. “I’m not here to participate in anything too violent.” He added.

The remaining 4 witches above for a moment looked with disbelief at what had just happened, and glancing among themselves did not quite know what to do. But when they saw the charge coming, a sisterhoodly resolve materialized, and what Rum presumed to be the eldest remaining witch took command. Together and with fighting spirit, they descended down and onto the ground. “Rescue her!” The new lead witch shouted to the 2 youngest, and loud enough for Rum to hear. She and the other older witch, meanwhile, turned and faced the charging elves.

“Rithir Tauthor Dyn!” The two witches echoed, and a double flash of arching lightning bolts in blue and white sprung forth from their wands, the magics’ ZAP! ZAP! sounds joining in like an afterthought. Alkiath and Royath stumbled immediately, their bodies spasming, and soon they collapsed to the ground. “SER-MOKWA!” The new lead followed up, and the feet of the next 3 elves after tripped, another duo of elves behind them running straight into the falling bodies. Curiously, after the spellcast, the witch herself had to lean down on her knees, breathing heavier for a little moment. That is not a Wand of Ervillia then, Rum noted.

The charge continued, though with only 2 shield elves left. Behind them though, the 5 elves who’d tripped and crashed quickly began disentangling themselves and planting their feet back on the ground, making for rapidly assembling reinforcement as the distance between the shield elves and the witches closed.

Meanwhile, over and next to Urvanom’s now bleeding and unmoving form, the younger witches picked up the head witch, and tried to fit her unconscious plump limp body onto a broomstick. Seeing the dual charge reaching their friends however, the elder of the 2 pushed the limp body into the arms of younger, and pointed her own wand: “Rithir Tauthor Dyn.” It was barely audible over the growing chaos of various cries of war and complaints, but the flash and the ZAP! were unmistakeble. 1 more elf went down into spasms, as, back to the 2 older witches, the new lead witch reached down into a small satchel at her side and produced 2 vials of blue liquid. Mana potions, Rum recognized even from afar. Throwing one over to her battle companion and dodging the swinging sword of the last elf of the initial charge, they both began dancing with the valiant elf over a few seconds, up and until the potions apparently kicked in, and both witches stopped and pointed their wands menacingly, simultaneous screams escaping their lips: “Rithir Tauthor Dyn!” The last shield elf went down, and so too did the first of the 5-elf reinforcement, who collapsed into a sideways roll, creating the utmost chaos as the renewed wave of elves again began falling over each other one by one, into another chaotic entanglement of legs and arms. Only 4 elves were now in fighting capacity. These warriors once more scrambled to disentangle their limbs, rushing to get back on their feet and, once again; restart their charge.

“This is not going well.” Rum observed. “I should probably do something.” He looked down at the still downed elf man next to him. “I don’t think you’ll have any more use either, whether fighting uprised or lying down here.” Rum paused for a second, as the 4 elves finally engaged the witches, and the second youngest-looking witch took off with their limp eldest on her broomstick, flying away from the battle at reduced speed. The very youngest-looking witch joined in what became a dance of spells and dodges, 3 witches armed with what looked only to be minor spells, against 4 elves who it seemed were too low level to stand a chance at landing any hits with their blades.

Rum looked at the downed elf again. “What if I told you, that you could be of passive use – via me?”

The downed man, who’d managed as far as to sit up in a little unsteady position, and was only able to offer Rum a hazed expression and partial eye-contact, responded with some difficulty: “I... don’t know what you mean...” he paused, trying to collect himself a bit. “... but if you think we can win: do it!”

Rum glanced over the elf, thinking. Then he glanced at the elves fighting. He made up his mind. “Well you know, it’s just something I’ve come to think of as making other people into mana wells, if done voluntarily, and you just volunteered!” Rum bent down to touch the elf’s shoulder. “For the involuntary situations, I’ve also thought it would be a bit like mana slavery. But don’t worry, it just means I’m gonna take your mana, and make it my own.” Rum’s hand firmly gripped around the lef’s shoulder now, and he spoke the words, softly: “Mana Requisition.” The elf’s mouth gaped in pain as Rum, for all his exterior calm, overcharged the spell and wrestled a major quantity of mana from the low level man, a most violent struggle going on inside that low level head, even though Rum only experienced the surge of magical power flowing into himself.

As the drain went on into its completion, the elf became unconscious, and Rum had to add another hand to the man and effectively hug him to avoid a hard collapse of the elf body against the mountain ground.

“Rest now. Rest friend.” Rum lay the drained elf down against the ground, and cast “Softify” on it, like a cheap little reward for the sacrifice made of consciousness and energy in the midst of a dangerous battle.

“Hooofh” Rum breathed with slight trepidation, standing up straight and watching the slowly losing elves, and their skilled evading witch opponents. “Hah, maybe I shouldn’t think about it so much. JUST DO IT!” He shook various parts of his body, as if getting ready for an exercise. “Alright.” He knelt down, lifted his robe a little, and touched his own legs. “SELF... RUNNING... LEGS!”

Like before, a huge shimmer of green energy burst forth. And that was what everyone saw, even those busy with fighting. What they didn’t see was the waking of a thousand little nerves in Rum’s legs, the sensation of an unparallelled stiffness, but powerfulness. An energy, and the likes of a mechanical muscle investing itself into Rum’s bones and refusing to let go. Before Rum could even shake off the shiver of energy running through him, his own legs stepped forth.

Meanwhile, among the witches, their situation had developed. “Retreat, witches! Let’s not bother anymore with these fools!” The new lead witch cast another powerful “SER-MOKWA!”, sending all of the remaining elves to the ground again. While they scrambled, the 3 remaining witches: the youngest and the 2nd and 3rd oldest, rushed to their own brooms, mounting them and ready to fly away. And just as the first of the 4 elves were back on his feet, they began taking off.

“HE-HE-HE! You fools failed!” So smiled and cackled the new lead witch, but only until she spotted Rum’s rapidly accelerating body heading towards them. She pointed at Rum. “ASCEND FASTER!” The trio took off with what speed they got, heading in the same direction as Rum but rapidly ascending to far above him. When Rum got close though, he as Urvanom had done before, took a sharp turn and headed straight into the mountain wall, his feet climbing it! “Dodge the mage!” The new lead shouted, and pointed her flying broomstick away from Rum. The youngest witch though, she’d been flying behind the new lead witch, and didn’t see Rum before the witches in front of her evacuated the viscinity.

“AAAAAH!” Rum screamed as legs pushed off the wall, and beard, belly and robe flew throw the air in a backwards somersault, heading straight for the poor panicking young witch. The moment that Rum’s upside down body collided with her broom, Rum’s legs managed to grab hold of the witch’s torso like a hook, his own torso colliding with her legs, and his face with her boots. His arms gratefully knew what to do, and he grabbed hold of her boots and legs for dear life. The duo swayed violently in the air first, before the weight of both of them and the disorientation of the steering young witch sent them both spiralling downwards on the broomstick, Rum continuing to hang upside down while the young witch screamed in her own shrill voice: “EEEEEAAAAH!”

They soon crashed. Rum first, but luckily his long beard didn’t entirely blind his face there it hung over his nose, and he managed to free his hands just in time to push against the mountain ground and somewhat miraculously control his fall. The young witch though, she just crashed broomstick tip first into the rocky floor, and with minimal control of her own, sailed forth into a violent thump! landing, air knocked out of her. She was a little lucky though, coming face first meant she’d managed to shield her head from injury with her arms, and instead she just lay there, prone, wheezing, and trying with great difficulty to roll over onto her back. Rum, lying 2-3 meters away, whispered to himself a weak little “Trinity of Healing”, which quickly erased the worst pains in his body.

Rum sat up, and looked over at the witch still wheezing on the ground. THIS IS MY CHANCE! His internal thoughts shouted, and he sprang up to his feet.

“DON’T YOU NEAR HER!” A voice came from above, and Rum glanced back and up for the briefest of moments to see the 2 older witches flying down and towards him.

Looking back at the young witch, Rum made his decision then and there, and bolted towards her. Arriving at location 2-3 meters forward, he wasted no moments either, and simply threw his whole body on top of the woman, hugging her, and shouting: “MANA REQUISITION!” Slowly, though violently accelerated, he began draining the young witch for her every piece of mana.

“GET OFF HER!” The new lead witch again shouted. But as Rum turned his face, and returned the descending witches a look of defiance, 3 arrows swooosh! just past the witch duo, a last 4th arrow landing and burrowing itself into the hovering leg of the 3rd oldest witch.

“Aaah” The witch moaned painfully, and for the briefest of moments, the new lead witch, the 2nd oldest, halted her descent. In rapid succession, she looked over to see where the arrows had come from, then she looked back to see the arrow sticking out of her friend’s leg, and lastly, her eyes snapped back to Rum and they both locked sight. No words were spoken, and yet in that briefest of moments of eye-contact, a clear but silent promise of revenge was communicated by the witch. Hovering there for only a second more, the lead witch turned her broom, and waved over her hurt friend. The duo of mighty witches then retreated back towards the darkness of the hallway ahead, dodging arrows sent after them with simple evasive manouvers, all until eventually, the darkness swallowed them.

“Wow” Udevi commented as the remaining elves arrived, “you got one!”