itspao_
The Sealed Gate
Focusing her magic, her left hand glows red. Thrusting that hand forward, a barrier forms about an inch beyond where her hand is, shimmering in the air and giving anyone whom looks through it a warped, almost otherworldly glimpse, where strange creatures seem to move about in physics that cannot exist by our world's standards.
First stage attacks are fully blocked.
Second stage attacks have their damage halved.
Third stage and upward attacks are not affected.
The barrier itself is only as wide as her arm span and stands about six feet tall. While Morgan can move while channeling her barrier, and thus re-position the barrier, anyone who gets beyond the barrier can hit Morgan without issue. Morgan can only support the barrier for 30 seconds before it vanishes and her hand ceases its glow. She can only use this magic three times per day.
First stage attacks are fully blocked.
Second stage attacks have their damage halved.
Third stage and upward attacks are not affected.
The barrier itself is only as wide as her arm span and stands about six feet tall. While Morgan can move while channeling her barrier, and thus re-position the barrier, anyone who gets beyond the barrier can hit Morgan without issue. Morgan can only support the barrier for 30 seconds before it vanishes and her hand ceases its glow. She can only use this magic three times per day.
Backdating to December 18, 2025
Biting Chill -- Holiday '25 Prompt
Winds whipping around the city weren't abnormal by any stretch of the imagination or word. Narrow alleys between buildings, courtyards positioned to allow for some semblance of outdoor gathering space, all forced air through constricted passages smaller than the avenues of streets that turned each and every one into wild wind tunnels. Morgan would have enjoyed it, the tugging at her layers and skirts, hair and feathers dancing in the air about her, if it weren't accompanied by such a chill. It tore any comfort right from her lungs, forcing icy pressure up her nose or through her mouth if she attempted to divert her face in any way to actually breathe normally.
That evening was no better than any other lately, but certainly had an edge of being far worse than most nights. Most nights, the magical protection of her uniform, coupled with a large wool shawl she otherwise kept in subspace and a pair of thick wool gloves, usually could help her fend off the worst of winter's bite. But not that night. No, it howled, tore at her, clawed her exposed skin and made her momentarily wonder if she had lost the degree of magical protection the guise of Morgan offered against the elements.
Blue eyes snapped up from the snow-covered courtyard she trekked through, buildings around her dark--shuttered up against the cold, offices empty in a mixture of the holiday season and the late nighttime hour. She could hear it through the growing winds. Something was actually howling. Her steps came to a momentary pause as she scanned the collection of stone benches, walkways, and shrubs, all covered in tarps and snow. A large fountain sat empty towards the center, a simple arrangement of various-sized blocks and rectangles. No water would be touching that system till everything stopped being a freeze risk.
Footsteps--heavy, solid, cracking through the snow and ice cover, but... something else to it..? Her ears strained against the wind under the cover of her hood, but she could hear extra cracking sounds. Like ice breaking and reforming all at once. It confused her until she saw ice growing atop the arrangement of blocks high above her in the center of the fountain. It was as if the winds themselves settled into a solid shape, coiled with snow and biting ice and a chilled glow. A wolf. A large wolf. It stood atop the fountain, white-blue eyes aglow and focused on her as its lips curled back in a renewed snarl that added to the spiked appearance of its dense coat--a mixture of fur and ice, she realized, as limited street lightning flickered and glinted off the piercing shapes.
It was beautiful to behold. Even if it was showing her every possible sign of hostility and warning. Morgan briefly wondered if she could just... back away from this creature, unsure if she was seeing some sort of... elemental, spirit, all of the above. It wasn't a youma, it didn't possess an aura of Chaos.
She did for a moment glance away, thinking she saw movement, an energy wisp that she'd been seeing about here and there, but the act was a mistake on her part. The wolf used the diversion to lung, Morgan barely managing to return her attention in time to register the beast flying through the air at her and actually respond.
But, she did.
Red energy crackled at her palm, and she slammed it upwards, her magic rippling outward into a shimmering shield. The creature crashed into it, all four paws slamming into its surface with a force that made Morgan lose her breath; her arms buckled under the weight, but she managed to hold the barrier up, forcing the creature to fling itself backwards.
