Hal activated his ability as he fell to the ground, and at that moment, different words entered his head [Gift: Shared mind; Allows you to mark an object and share its senses as well as control their intensity]
[Scholar's privilege: Allows you to use your marks as separate minds you can use to carry out parallel thinking, they can allow handle other functions while the true mind focuses on something else]
Hal lay on the ground, which began to freeze over, his hair and eyes became embedded with stars as thoughts raced through his mind.
"I can control something's senses and think from different places at once using my marks. I've marked the mirror, the pen and even the dragon, but how can I use them to turn this around?"
Hal let his mind wander as he thought of a proper solution. He could use his mark to think from different places and so why not use it now?
His eyes widened as he heard multiple voices racing in and out of his head. It felt like he was having a discussion with himself, but in different places.
Like there was a him in the mirror, one in the pen and one in the dragon, all pitching him ideas, refining ones that have already been offered, and soon coming up with the right solution
A smile appeared on Hal's face as he resisted the urge to laugh. He hacked into the dragon's senses and saw, heard, felt and smelt what it smelt.
It was focusing on the bleeding humans on the frozen ground, waiting to strike any that dared to move. Hal was worried about his friend's current state, but he had to save them then he had to beat this thing.
The dragon turned to Hal, who raised two fingers in the air and snapped, and like that, the two humans next to Hal disappeared, or at least appeared to
The dragon then felt a piercing pain strike its abdomen, and yet there was no wound. Hal laughed, "To think I can push my pain to somebody else, how truly amazing"
He got up and gripped his dagger, and looked directly at the dragon before side-stepping the ice spike that suddenly appeared next to him.
"That won't work, I can see it coming, I can see all your moves coming" Hal had one of the wildest ideas creep into his mind, to use the dragon's own senses to predict its actions.
And so far it seemed to be working, the dragon tilted its head as if wondering how Hal escaped its assault and then it roared.
The entire lake froze over except for streams of water that rose to surround the dragon spiralling around the beast.
Hal let out a sigh before taking off towards the dragon, and used his ability to distribute different tasks to the different marks he had
The mark in the dragon would predict its action, the one in the mirror would automatically dodge any attack, and the one in the pen would aid the other two as his own mind focused on cutting down the dragon.
He bashed through ice spike after spike and dodged others that sprang up in his way. He got closer as his goal now seemed to come into view.
But the streams spiralling around the dragon froze and transformed into serpentine dragons that attacked Hal.
He gripped his dagger and clashed with them, cutting each of them down, but there were too many of them,
He commanded the mark in the pen to help the one in the dragon predict the frozen serpents' actions, but to no avail; it was almost like these dragons had minds of their own
Hal found himself between three attacking him all at once, only to be grabbed by a force that pulled him back.
He turned around and saw Tai, who placed his hand on his shoulder, saying, "You need some help there, buddy" Lyrrah, who was behind him, moved her hands as if she was throwing something, only for Hal to see the frozen dragons flying in the ice.
Before they slowly regenerated and flew back to the dragon that examined Hal with a hint of caution, it could not see Tai or Lyrrah, and Hal made sure of that fact.
Lyrrah stepped forward and smiled, saying, "You look different" She smiled at him before turning her eyes to the dragon, examining them from the frozen lake.
Tai grabbed his blade from the frozen ground and turned to Hal "Any leads on how to beat this thing?" Hal stared at the dragon, which sent forward its frozen minions to deal with him.
And before the frozen serpents even flew close, they were shattered by Lyrrah, who crushed them using her gift.
"Well, first, those flying ice serpents are going to make it hard to get close and also, it seems they can think for themselves and regenerate, plus the ice spikes can also appear out of nowhere"
Tai smiled and placed his sword on his back, saying, "That sounds exciting and dangerous" Hal looked up at Hal with a bit of disappointment before focusing his gaze on Lyrrah "You look to have something to say" Lyrrah giggled before finally speaking.
"That dragon is developing a domain, dominant beings need it to ascend to greater ones, but during that process, they spend most of their energy making them weaken them in the process, and if you manage to separate them from that developing domain, you weaken them even more"
Hal looked at her with intrigue as she proceeded to crush more frozen dragons that flew their way, yet the things just kept regenerating.
"So you're planning to lift the dragon?" Lyrrah smiled and shook her head, "No, the dragon will still be able to control the water that way"
Tai's face turned to one of worry as he spoke with caution, "You don't have to do this, Lyrrah" Lyrrah shook her head.
"If I don't, then who will? It's not like you can lift the lake; this is the only way to actually split it from its domain, so there is no other choice, plus that thing scarred me, and I want revenge"
Tai stared at Lyrrah with concern before turning away "Then and Hal will distract it for you" Hal took a more glance at Lyrrah's bleeding clothes. She had worn a long pink dress today, and now it appeared more red than pink.
"Just don't get yourself killed, okay", chuckled and answered in a cocky voice ", That's not going to happen" Tai lifted his hand and offered the two a fist bump "Let's slay a dragon"
Hal instantly bumped fists with Tai before turning to Lyrrah, who hesitated a bit before finally doing the same, and soon after that, the three bolted.
Lyrrah turned to head in her own direction as Hal and Tai ran towards the dragon. Hal allowed the dragon to perceive Tai as they raced towards the dragon.
Which sent forward its frozen minions to them, Tai's blade the first minion and shattered it into bits as he continued to slaughter more
Meanwhile, Hal decided to try something new. He turned his gift on himself and amplified his own senses. Everything first seemed to slow down, leaving Hal stunned for a moment.
"I get it now, everything didn't slow down, my mind just sped up" Hal dug his foot into the ice as he bolted forward. He cut, sidestepped and slid under the attacking minions.
They all moved so slowly that he could tell what their next move would be and then use it to destroy them. Tai was caught and flown up by two dragons, only for him to bring down his sword and begin to cut right through them as he descended to the ground.
He faced more in the air, using their broken bodies as places to step before attacking his next foe.
Hal saw the dragon look back and knew it had sensed Lyrrah. He ran onto the frozen lake and cut through one of the dragons before throwing his dagger ahead towards the dragon.
"Oh no, you don't" The dagger flew through the air before stabbing the dragon in the chest, as at that very moment, Tai fell from the sky and finally drove his dagger through the dragon's frozen scales.
It screeched, causing the ice below them to crack, but no, it wasn't the dragon because at that moment the ice below them shattered and the water underneath rose.
Hal and Tai were submerged in the freezing water before Tai swam up to him and flung him down through the rising water.
He caught one of the ice fragments and began using it as a stepping stone to sink deeper and deeper. He felt his lungs beg for air, but at this point, the only way he could go was down.
He met the last block of ice near the bottom of the rising lake as he got a chance to take in the sight of all the underwater life around him and the beautiful light from the sun refracting through the water.
He got sight of the falling dragon and braced himself. Tai's training and steeled his body, and his gift had steeled his mind; he let his senses return to normal before pushing himself forward.
The falling dragon looked at him with fear in its eyes 'Dragons are always mighty foes in fairy tales, but too bad for you that you just happened to meet a mightier foe'
He drew his second dagger as the frozen scales peeled off the dragon and rose, revealing the wound that Lyrrah had caused, and at that spot was where he struck.
He brought his dagger down on the dragon as it slid through with no completion, right before he and the dragon crashed onto the ground.
As for Tai, he dove through the water and grabbed Lyrrah before sliding down the slope of the depression and arriving safely at the bottom.
Hal retrieved his two daggers and stared at the dome of water above, which showered him with fresh droplets of power, and as it did, a sentence left his mouth: "So this is how it feels to have power"