Conflict

So we got to Stanley Park to see Abdalin waiting there. He had aged himself up slightly since the last time I saw him, but he still looked to young for the whiskey bottle in his hand. He was casually sitting in the grass, watching us as we approached. He smiled upon seeing Dyson. Then, when we were a few yards from him, he soundlessly vanished. We didn't have a lot of time to react before he appeared directly behind Dyson, grabbed him by the arm and flung him through the air.
Dyson managed to stick his landing and shot a fireball at Abdalin, who vanished again. He appeared again, swinging his nightstick at Dyson, who produced a barrier to deflect it.
Abdalin drew back, then attacked again, with a lot more strength, shattering the barrier and throwing Dyson off his feet.
“You're no white mage,” Abdalin said. “Why do you even bother going on the defensive?”
“Shut up!” Dyson snapped, creating another force field and expanding it outward toward Abdalin.
Abdalin simply smiled and lifted his free hand, stopping the barrier in its tracks. Then, with a flick of his wrist, the barrier broke into rapidly dissolving fragments.
“Damn it you two!” I snapped. “Cut it out!”
“I don't think they're listening,” Tony sighed.
“I hear you're trying to master Chaos,” Abdalin said. “Why can't you realize such a power is beyond your reach?”
Dyson launched a fireball, which Abdalin easily dodged.
“I recall saying something similar to Marshall,” Dyson said. “And he proved me wrong.”
“You're not Marshall,” Abdalin said, striking at Dyson with his nightstick. “You'll never catch up tp him.”
Dyson deflected the attack with another barrier and threw a fireball that missed Abdalin.
“You don't know me!” Dyson growled.
Their fight continued relentlessly, and as it did, so too did their dialogue.
“You're a wielder of black magic,” Abdalin said. “A force of death and destruction. That's what comes naturally to your blackened heart!”
“My darkness doesn't define me!” Dyson said.
“That's what you think,” Abdalin said. “White magic is a force of creation and life, a power which your heart won't allow you to wield properly.”
“Then try this on for size!” Dyson said.
As Abdalin raised his arm for another attack, he froze. It took me a second to notice why. There was a force field wrapped around his entire body, restricting his movements. Dyson was noticeably having difficulty holding it in place, but it seemed to be working.
Abdalin smiled, then disappeared from within the barrier.
“Now!” Dyson said, spinning around just as Abdalin reappeared behind him. “Too obvious!”
Dyson blocked Abdalin's attack before it could build up any moment, and smacked him with another expanding barrier. Abdalin was sent flying, and Dyson quickly followed up by sending a blast of cold air after him. Abdalin was suddenly encased in a thin layer of ice, binding his movements as he continued to fly through the air, and Dyson fired a bolt of lightning at him. The ice conducted the electricity, amplifying it. Abdalin hit the ground, and sent up a cloud of dirt.
A few moments later, Abdalin rose from the ground, scuffed up a bit, but not showing any signs of injury. He casually bushed himself off, and turned back to Dyson, a bored expression on his face.
“I don't suppose you're planning to get serious any time soon?” he asked.
Dyson spread his feet apart, taking a horse stance, and gathered light power in own hand, and dark power in the other. He crashed the two opposing forces together, like I had seen him do before, and sent them flying at Abdalin. Abdalin smiled, and lifted his left hand, revealing a ring on his middle finger. The ring dissolved into light, and wrapped around his forearm. A buckler appeared there, and bracing himself, he used it to deflect the amalgamated energy that Dyson had launched at him.
“Great to finally give this thing a field test,” Abdalin said, tapping the buckler with his nightstick. “Only spent a few months making it, but it seems to hold up just fine.”
Dyson began building up energy in his hands, and as he did, Abdalin took a fighting stance. I couldn't deal with this any longer, so I rushed between them, summoning my sword as I did. I turned to face Abdalin, gripping the hilt as I did.
“Enough!” I demanded. I looked over my shoulder at Dyson and added “Both of you! This is ridiculous!”
They both stood there for a minute before relaxing their poses.
“Good!” I said. “Now, if you two are done, Tony and I need to go to England to spy on a psychotic devil worshiper. Care to give us a lift, Abby?”
“Fine, fine,” Abdalin said. “Get over here.”
Tony and I both approached Abdalin and took one of his hands. Before he teleported us, he gave one last look at Dyson and said “You'll never be the sorcerer he was.”
“We'll see about that,” Dyson said coldly.
A second later, we were on the streets of London.
“I trust you can find your way from here?” Abdalin asked.
“We're still a ways ff from where we're supposed to be,” I said, reaching in my pocket for the address.
“We're in Europe,” Abdalin said. “Everywhere is withing walking distance.”
“That's not entirely true,” Tony said.
“Whatever,” Abdalin said, slipping the ring off his finger and tossing it to me.
“What's this?” I asked.
“Try it on,” he said.
I slipped it onto my left middle finger. It had a solid black opal on it, with a J engraved in the center.
“It will react to the thoughts of its wearer,” Abdalin said. “Try thinking of a shield.”
I flipped Abdalin off with that finger and thought of a shield, like he said. It dissolved into light, just like it did for him, and wrapped itself around my forearm before solidifying into the shape of a buckler.
“So, this is like your old mask, right?” I asked.
The masks worn by the Game Master's servants are capable of transforming into shields, although I've only seen them become the hand-held variant, not bucklers.
“It's based on the game masks,” Abdalin confirmed. “But it's not quite as complex. It only works as a shield. I'm not as good as my master was at making them, and I didn't put a lot of time into it.”
“I see,” I said, examining the shield closer. It was solid black, and had a large white J on the surface of it.
“One last thing I have to do,” Abdalin said, placing a hand on the shield.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Modifying something,” He replied, as if it was obvious.
Suddenly, the J symbol on the shield vanished to be replaced by something else. It was a symbol, emblazoned in dark red, that I had seen before. It had appeared on my chest when I entered the Red Cap's domain, and I remember absentmindedly drawing it in the dirt before then.
“What does this symbol mean?” I asked.
“The symbol on the shield reflects it's owner in some way,” Abdalin said. “I've passed ownership to you, so that symbol is yours as well.”
I imagined a ring, and the shield returned to its ring form. The new symbol was now engraved on the opal in place of the J.
“Good luck,” Abdalin said, vanishing.
“Thanks for the lift, you've been a big help!” I said sarcastically.
“Come on,” Tony said. “Let's see about transportation.”