EXTERIOR- The beach, deep into the wilds, far west of Triangle Valley. A short way north of the oceanic port where adventurous sailors drop their spoils, to be shipped to Saustis.

  The beach is poputed exclusively by muscur, tall, well-fed, well-sculpted and well-armed men and women, wearing either barely-not-indecent-exposure-type swimsuits or full sets of glistening armor, and nothing between those two things. Save for maybe a small handful wearing robes or something.

  In the middle of it all stands a tall, tanned figure (who refers to himself only as a "Beach Wizard"), in tan robes with a tan wizard's hat, standing atop a pilr of sand. His facial hair is also tan. He seems decidedly bloodthirsty but also oddly satisfied, feeling as though he's facing a worthy foe for the first time in a long time.

  Previously, the adventurers were looking up with fear and cmoring to climb the tower to attack the guy, but they have stopped. They have gotten the hint that this is a scripted fight and that they may as well just get comfortable. Pretty much all of them have lost interest at this point, and are just doing other things.

  STILL PRESENT - THE GIRL (Wearing a gray, less waterlogged sweater, and her also less wet maroon ball cap. No armor. YES shorts, because beach. Her shorts are also less wet. The sand kind of dries everything out pretty good.) (Currently standing on top of the sand pilr with the wizard, doing a weird pose.)

  also here - THE BOY (Shirtless and very wet, with flip-flops and incredibly short trunks that the girl had ying around, for whatever reason. They're also wet. Presently, he is being surrounded by a small crowd of curious adventurers. He is directionless and confused by the attention.

  TIME - Make no mistake- No time has passed since the st one. Which is to say, early evening, sun is starting to set.

  It all happened in the briefest of moments.

  For a time, the aged wizard held his look of bloodthirsty rage and unusual satisfaction as he and the strange girl stood toe-to-toe on his beachy pilr. Her confidence did not irk him in any way. She'd come this far, her confidence was deserved. He was not so weak as to err from something like that.

  Her odd pose, as well, was not something of concern. He was no stranger to posing for a spell, especially a powerful one. She was doing just that, he was sure. And it was understandable. If someone as strong as her had to assume a pose, it must be one hell of a spell. A st resort. Still, he was composed. No matter how strong she was, he used his first. He'd already won.

  Still, in this moment, this infinitesimal second before he robbed her of her life, he had to appreciate her. Not just her strength, he'd appreciated that enough by now. But this pose, it was masterfully crafted. He could almost see the way her magic flowed effortlessly through her body. It was exquisite. She reminded him of himself, in many ways. In his younger years. Star pupil among all Beach Apprentices, full of promise, still perfecting his signature spell... Yes, he recalled, it looked very much just like this..!

  Very... *Very* much like this, actually. Uncannily so. Disturbingly...

  In the shortest possible measure of time, an eyebrow raised the smallest measurable distance. Naturally, this look coincided with the realization that it was the very same pose. The very same spell he'd spent a lifetime perfecting, forgoing everything- friends, family, love and any other kind of fulfillment, all to sate some lust for power- and ALL in service of the Beach Wizards...

  In this moment, the girl's eyes seemed to shift before him. Shifted into things he swore he'd forgotten centuries ago. Her eyes became theirs- Mother, father, sister, brother.

  He was frightened.

  Some distant part of him was happy to see his old family, even as a vague hallucination in the eyes of a strange little girl he'd never met before. But that was hardly important now.

  He realized that this moment had been going on for a very, very long time. Though less than a second passed, it was as though time had been crawling for some three-odd weeks. Perhaps even longer. No, certainly much longer. This whole trip had been long, so dreadfully, dreadfully long... And for what?

  He couldn't say.

  He had much time to think, in this fraction of a second. Perhaps he lingered within it for a few weeks more. Perhaps months. Perhaps years.

  He thought and he thought, and eventually understood.

  This moment was special because it was his st.

  He did not comprehend what the girl was doing, its true nature was obscure to him. But the gravity of her actions was not lost on him.

  He was dead where he stood.

  . . .

  He was half right. You'll see how in a moment.

  The old man's spell took hold. Bolts of pale-blue energy burst forth from the Beach itself, arcing up into the sky before cascading back down, their target the old man's pose'd form. Ordinarily, it'd be much too te now. Soon, he would become a beacon of power from Beyond the Stars, causing all creatures below his pointy hat to be subject to an aura of Rejection of Life (within a 10-foot radius centered on himself.) But this, of course, did not happen.

  "EAT SPIT YOU GANGLY OLD PARTYCRASHING F*@#!" The girl screeched, her eyes wide and bright, yet with a very real darkness behind them as she stared up at the old man, blood on her mind. "THREE-SOME-ODD WEEKS EMPOWERED MAGNUM-POWERED SPELL PARRY, DICKWIPE!" These words were nonsensical and wholly unnecessary.

  The girl mirrored his pose, and Symmetrically aligned her flow of magic with his. She smirked, and the bolts instead arced toward her. Not to harm (although this whole thing was incredibly painful. But if pain still held dominion over the girl, she'd have been removed from this pne a long time ago), but to empower.

  His magic, now, was hers.

  ... Except, she had no idea how to use it. She'd never even seen this spell before this very second. And, in the first pce, she wasn't actually using the Symmetry technique properly. The spell wasn't reflected or mirrored in any way. Pretty much all that happened was that she got a sudden power boost for the next few seconds.

  Still, it was more than enough to punch the old man right off his little tower.

  She uppercut him square in the crotch, and shoulder-checked him right off.

  He fell backwards, his arms and legs filing around uselessly.

  The instant he descended the first quater-meter, he was already neutralized. There was nothing more the old man could do.

  Still, the girl made every effort to leap after him, remake her spear of ice, and drive it through his pathetic body.

  The old man didn't realize just how long it would take him to die. Several seconds, all of which he experienced in a slow, agonizing crawl, each moment longer than the st.

  His was consumed by fear and regret, which consumed the whole of his being... And by the time it was all over, he was left with nothing but acceptance, and a strange kind of peace.

  But none of this matters, because he was always just a wacky gimmick vilin. He was made to appear suddenly, and to die just the same. Any memory that he ever existed is purposeless happenstance.

  The girl nded on top of him, and drove the spear through him. Then, she pulled it out, and drove it through again. And again. And again, cackling madly and staining herself and the beach with the old man's blood.

  This went unnoticed by everyone, as they had either long since resumed normal beach activities or became enamored by the strange wide-eyed boy.