WOT Adv 291

Vaid waited. Each moment seemed like an eternity as he stood, in the dark, at the center of the universe, waiting for the men to enter the street. He could hear their footsteps. He could taste their excitement. He could feel the wind and heat in the air surging around him and dancing with the river of the source he held. He opened himself up, and let it come. 

It was too much. He couldn't hold it. The pressure was too much. Fire was here, inside him, around him. Jumping at the chance to leave him. It was too much to control. 

But the face of the boy came to him. He had to control it. 

 

"They're right behind me!" Maer shouted to him as the Aiel rounded the corner, his bow trained on the street he had just left.

 

Grunting with the effort, of holding the power on a knife edge inside of him, Maer pulled all the energy of the weave and moved into position around the corner. He saw a half dozen shapes running towards him cudgels and daggers in hand. He released the weave. 

 

A tiny bead of light sped from his palm, such a tiny bead, yet it contained a mountain of pent up energy, light, and heat. It hit in the center of the group of men. The explosive fire that roared forth shattered nearby windows, and doors, and rattled houses. Masonry flew in chunks everywhere. 

 

Maer, ducked around the corner just in time and felt a wave of heat, and was only barely protected from any damage by the wall, even so dust and masonry rained down on him.

 

The resulting gust of hot air that hit Vaid billowed out his cloak as he stood there coughing from the dust and surveying his handiwork. 

 

 

The blast knocked the men aside like playthings and consumed them instantly, leaving behind only smoking corpses and the stench of cooked meat. 

 

A part of Vaid wanted to give way to the feral grin on his face and howl in victory, another part of him wanted to vomit and weep, but Vaid mastered both impulses and turned them aside. The pressure, once he released the weave, had lessened somewhat, but seeing the three still standing around the sacks in the ruined garden, he continued to hold and to master that torrent of energy and light surging within...for now anyway.

 

"Who--what are you?" Maer asked, his bow now trained on Vaid, and his face vieled. Behind his veil it was difficult to read his face, but his eyes showed something--what was it? Alarm perhaps? Not fear, of course. But something.

 

--

 

Maeslyn, Fiznak, and Eliesanna heard the explosion and saw an orange glow light up the buildings a few blocks away.

 

"What the light was that?" Eliesanna said, looking at her two companions. 

 

Maeslyn shook her head, her serene face marred by a worried frown. She wrapped her cloak more closely. "Press on and quickly! I fear that's where we must go!" 

 

ooc: Vaid your damage in True20 was 1d20+12 for a total of 25 for all caught in the weave. Boohah! Even with those that made their Ref save, it still wasn't enough to save these poor minions from a fiery death.