The power of a wizard

First he felt pain. His head and wrists especially. Then the icy numbing cold accompanied by the sound of rushing water over his body. As Korvus became more aware of his body he longed to fall back into his torpor. He opened his eyes and realized the icy water was splashing up into his face. He was hanging from an iron ring set into the cavern's wall, tied by the wrists and submerged to the neck in a frigid cavern river. He looked about and saw dozens of goblins, perhaps 100 or more, encamped in the cave. Korvus rolled his head to his right and saw Su Ming. She looked ragged and her devastated face was accented by eyes that had cried so much that she had stopped producing tears. "Su...SU MING", Korvus called to try and get her attention. Shuddering and broken she looked up at Korvus. "We have to get out of here", he began, "are your wrists loose? I don't think I can squeeze my hands out of these manacles." Su Ming's face contorted in utter horror and she shook her head. "Don't worry Su Ming, we will get out of this. I just need to..."

"They took my legs", she interrupted in screaming fits. "That's why we are in the water. It stops the bleeding and keeps us fresh", she spat and suddenly looked as though she had made herself ill. "They are keeping us fresh so they can cut off pieces and eat us later." Su Ming gushed with fresh tears and groaned in physical and emotional agony. Korvus tried not to panic as he realized his body was so numb that his legs may well be gone and he would not know it.

One of the goblins heard the commotion and came over to investigate. It was one of the smaller ones and it squatted by the water and grinned to show its jagged yellow teeth and jaundiced eyes. It said something in its native language and lowered the spears tip to Korvus's face. He rested the iron spearhead on Korvus's cheek just under his eye and hefted the back of the spear up. Korvus could not tell what the goblin was saying but it was quite clear that he meant to jam the tip of the spear into Korvus's eye. "Oh NO NO no no! Please Please Listen to me, I can...I can get you something. Food, gold, magic, anything. Oh fuck me." Korvus begged earnestly and began to hyperventilate. Thats when the first explosion rocked the center of the cave and set the leather tents on fire.

The goblin dropped his spear into the water as he spun to see what made the explosion. The center of the cavern was ablaze and the smell of seared corpses followed the fwoosh of hot air from the blast. A moment later and fiery stones, the size of a mans head, rained down from the top of the cave. The meteors crushed makeshift homes with incredible force and sent goblin warriors flying in all directions as the impacts turned the cave into an inferno. Korvus could see bright red robes in the distance and his eyes welled up in tears. "RIVEN! HERE!", he screamed until his voice cracked and his throat ached. The goblins were caught off guard by the power and suddenness of the attack but they gathered into a hoard and charged him. A well painted and wiser looking goblin shaman was motioning for them to separate and barking orders in goblin-speak but it was too late. Riven swiped his hand across the cave and a wave of acid appeared in the air and washed across the crowd. A sizzling hiss filled the cave as body parts dropped to the floor and dissolved. Sling bullets and crossbow bolts filled the now acrid air streaking towards Riven but before they could make impact a translucent red shield appeared in front of him and deflected the lot of it. Riven smiled as the now much smaller army descended on him. Korvus was straining his neck to see what was happening and then suddenly Riven was gone. The goblins stopped in their tracks uncertain what to do. They looked to the shaman and he barked more orders and pointed to where Riven had stood. The warriors grabbed oil flasks and threw them all around the wall where Riven had been. Torches were tossed and the whole area was set on fire. There were no screams, there was no Riven to be found. The goblins pressed closer to the flames to see if anyone was burning inside. From behind them came a simple word, "Stop". Riven's eyes were like black orbs filled with dark power. His single whispered word invaded their minds and left them stunned and unable to act or move. Riven looked up and reached for the air above him. Primal electric fury surrounded his body and then cascaded down from the top of the cavern like a vengeful god's wrath. Riven's closing spell fried the mass of them and sent the last stragglers running in fear of another blast.
Korvus wanted to cheer, he also wanted to cry, but he was too weak for either one. He saw Riven walking towards him, and then once more, he left consciousness.