r/wizardposting • u/AtrioxCalamity Gaius the Glorious • 6d ago
The Dragon and the Hydra Lorepost (open interaction)
Gaius squared off against his opponent. Today he was practicing hand to hand combat and had been instructed to keep magic use to a minimal amount of body enhancement magic. In front of him stood Hydrozeno. The former Poisonbearer paladin wore light armor, carried a shield and a his unusual looking sword.
With a growl Gaius swept forward gracefully through the air, his enhanced speed and strength letting him cross the distance in a moment and his head snapped forward impossibly fast to bite gently at the strange elf’s back. To his shock, Gaius’ face plowed into Hydrozeno’s shield. Hydrozeno had moved quickly but not any more so than an unusually well trained warrior. Hissing in frustration, Gaius struck again. Once more the shield barely kept his fangs at bay as if Hydrozeno knew exactly when and where to block.
Gaius hissed “I thought you couldn’t use divination magic.”
Hydrozeno bared his own sharpened teeth in a savage grin. “No magic young dragon. Just two and a half millennia as a mercenary allowing me to anticipate my opponent’s moves.”
Gaius paused his assault “So no divination?”
Hydrozeno pushed his own assault and somehow landed a pair of strikes on Gaius, the sword leaving small ice crystals. “Divination is not particularly useful against a clever fighter.”
Gaius tried to claw at Hydrozeno and failed. His arms were too short. “How does that work? Shouldn’t they just predict your movements?”
Hydrozeno used the opening the failed claw attack provided to land a tiny slice across Gaius’ forehead, blood dripping down into the young dragon’s eye and obscuring his vision. “Except my action is to respond to my opponent. If they act to what they see, I will in turn see what they are about to do and will change my own response, causing their divination to show multiple possibilities, and eventually a feedback loop forms leaving them with too many possible outcomes.”
Gaius pulled back to height and layered more enhancement magic on himself. “Where did you learn to do that?”
Hydrozeno crouched behind his shield bracing for the charge. “A girl named Vin figured it out. I just stole her technique.”
Gaius launched himself forward even faster than before and this time his speed and bulk battered the shield aside and tore off Hydrozeno’s left arm. “Oh shoot! I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to- what the?! Ouch!”
Hydrozeno had lost his arm but swung in that moment to inflict a hideous wound on Gaius’ side. It wasn’t fatal, but it was painful and an inch or two further would have severed a crucial artery. “Never assume your opponent is out of action.”
Gaius moaned and slowly retreated to height. “But your arm it’s-“
Hydrozeno grinned and retrieved the shield he had lost with his arm. He used his left arm. The one Gaius had severed. “I have Hydrablood remember? Regeneration is kind of my thing, even before the Orders. The wizards who did that to me were insane, but it has its advantages.”
Gaius looked at his wounds. Then at the perfectly healthy Hydrablood. “I lost this already didn’t I?”
Hydrozeno shrugged. “My plague powers don’t work anymore but I still get the enhanced endurance my Order possessed. Between that and my regeneration I would simply wear you out until you bled to death.”
Gaius sagged. “I would win if I could use my magic.”
Hydrozeno shrugged. “Probably. But you won’t win with your current style. Stop trying to rely on your claws. Your arms are too short. You are a serpentine dragon. You should have tried coiling around me to restrict my movement and crush me.”
Gaius frowned. “My dad didn’t ever do that.”
Hydrozeno rolled his eyes. “He had a different body type.”
Gaius hesitated. “Did you… think my dad was as evil as people say?”
Hydrozeno shrugged again. “Not really. He was more a force of nature in my eyes than evil. He kept a certain balance. Inconvenient at times but necessary.”
Gaius uncoiled himself. “So you like him?”
Hydrozeno shrugged… again. “I didn’t have an opinion. I joined after he went to sleep. My only other encounters with him were 250 years ago and 1100 years ago when he destroyed the town where I was staying and slaughtered an army I was contracted with.”
Gaius looked intrigued. “How did you survive?”
Hydrozeno predictably shrugged again. “Regeneration.”
Gaius eyes him. “You are kind of boring at telling stories.”
Hydrozeno… shrugged… again. “Sorry about that. I do enough to get the job done.”
Gaius flew off. “I am going to get some healing from the wallbreakers.”
Hydrozeno shrugged and wandered off to meet Evermemory for lunch much to the joy of the restaurant owners. Those two could empty entire kitchens.
/uw Sorry if this felt a bit boring. I wanted to flesh out Hydrozeno a bit and found something very intriguing. He’s too normal except for his regeneration and I couldn’t figure out what else to do but this.
🤷♂️
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u/AtrioxCalamity Gaius the Glorious 5d ago
Oh well the excercisr was to improve my ability to fight using no external magic, and minimal self enhancement. Build technique with physical combat.