Kay had spent the last thirty minutes wringing out his clothes, though they were still thoroughly soaked. The wizard had offered to dry them with some fire magic, which he knew better than to accept.
The two sat in the aftermath of the wizard's spells. As expected, the football field-sized mass of water had extinguished the forest fire, however, it had done much more than that. The impact had flooded the clearing, turning the jungle into a swamp.
As the flood descended on him, Kay clung to his tree as though his life depended on it, which it most likely did. His grip had kept him grounded, and he watched as the water dispersed from the area.
It took everything that wasn't rooted to the earth. Animals big and small were carried by the wave for miles, disappearing into the distance. Kay watched helplessly as the caster of the spell, the elven man, was carried on the charred elephant corpse he'd clung desperately to.
In a panic, he had frantically cast another massive spell. This time a gigantic earthen mound sprouted from underneath the mage, sparing him the wrath of the flood, trolling him hundreds of feet into the air.
Kay was relieved when the disaster was over. He had survived the ordeal, soaking and coughing up water, but fine.
Quickly peeling off his waterlogged suit and pants, he started wringing his white undershirt and the pants. He had kept on the full suit over the past days, but after surviving the flood decided that he was probably better off wearing the bare minimum in the hot jungle. Tossing aside his soaked black suit and underwear, he focused solely on the shirt and pants.
After thirty minutes of twisting his clothes and several rounds of beating them against the least damp tree he could find, he was left with a set of semi-dry clothes which he put back on. With that done, he turned his attention towards the small, newly formed mountain on the opposite side of clearing where the wizard had been swept away.
It was hard to tell with his perspective, but it looked like the wizard's spell might have been as large as the tower they were all supposed to be searching for. The structure looked like a natural landscape, a plateau that stretched into the sky, before leveling out into a flat top.
Is the old man even going to be able to climb down from there?
Panic briefly returned as he considered that the elf might have enacted a fourth godlike spell in the span of any hours. He considered fleeing the area to preserve his life when…
A human sized shape hurtled down from the rock formation. His position was like that of a skydiver, with his arms and legs outstretched in the shape of a star. Hurtling towards the ground at terminal velocity, the man should have been seconds away from death.
Moments before imminent impact the old wizard waved his staff for the fourth time that day, which produced his least egregious use of magic. A very forceful whirlwind stormed around the site he was doomed to fall on. The gusts of wind acted as a cushion, levitating him roughly seven or eight feet above, before ceasing entirely.
Falling on his ass from the minor height, the man grunted in pain as he cradled his hurt button, but appeared otherwise fine. Walking over to Kay, who stood in disbelief of the many miraculous things he'd seen, the old man extended his hand.
"Sorry about all that. My name is Sanson the Mage. Would you mind helping me?" he said.
Kay wondered why such a powerful wizard wanted his help, as he accepted his handshake.
"I'm Kay, the person you nearly killed," he said, not forgetting the troubles the mage had caused him.
If there was anything the wizard lacked, it was clearly self control. Not every spell had to wreak havoc.
"That seems to be all my magic is good for. Back in my world I wiped out whole armies by myself. One wave of my staff, and anyone who opposed my kingdom were turned to ash."
Kay's body tensed up as he remembered the warrior's parting question. Were they allowed to kill one another? If so, he doubted there was anyone capable of stopping Sanson. He deemed decent enough though, or at least didn't seem like he wanted to kill Kay at the moment.
He did find it weird, though.
"How have you not reached the tower yet? Can't your magic get you there?"
There seemed to be little the mage wasn't capable of. Wielding natural disaster at his fingertips, finding a massive tower in the jungle should've been child's play.
"You mean like teleportation magic? Never could figure it out. But who cares about that? Haven't you seen what I'm capable of, young man?" Sanson talked pridefully.
He waved his staff around wildly, causing Kay to flinch in anticipation of another spell. Luckily, it seemed he was just using the thing to gesture.
"Yeah, you're pretty amazing, though I feel like I should ask. Do you not know any smaller spells?"
"And why would I bother with them? I remember the best grimoire I ever read. The first half went on and on, detailing the basics of magic: how to conjure a small flame, how to summon a droplet of water. I just skipped to the end of the book. That's where the nice, big spells are."
So, he was just an idiot then? Kay considered his own common sense to be less than average, but Sanson's street smarts seemed more dismal by comparison. Even with larger scale magic, finding the tower should've been a piece of cake. You could scorch the jungle until there was nothing left, or use earth magic to make a spire and search from above. Wait…
"Sanson, while you were up on that rock you could see over the trees, right?" asked Kay excitedly.
"Finally beginning to see how amazing I am, eh? Of course, I could see far into the horizon," he said, chuckling in triumph.
"Could you see the tower we're looking for?"
"Ah, I'd almost forgotten, but yes. Over in that direction." he said pointing to the east of the clearing.
Kay felt a sense of triumph coursing through his body. His new acquaintance may have been an idiot, but he was a useful idiot.