For Gold & Glory: Card of the Week: Indestructible Aura

This is widely considered to be the most metal illustration of all Magic cards. Not only would the bird-person look right at home on the cover of a badass power metal album, but he's even throwing the horns!

Unexpected Salvation

In the ages since I discovered magic, I have been many things. I have wandered as a vagrant, studied as a scholar, and walked the planes as a mage. When necessity has demanded it, I have fought for my life and the lives of others. On rare occasion, I have even fought for kings and queens in war. In most of these cases I have drawn upon my magic, but it was not so for the first time. In my first war, I was a soldier. Certainly I knew some magic then, but not enough to do more than protect myself and maybe fell a foe or two before they came close enough to lock swords with me. No, aside from that, I swung a sword with the rest of my fellows.

The war was another of the endless battles of the Dark ages of my birth, where city-states pitted themselves against each other for supremacy and, more importantly, ever-harder-to-find resources. I forget which ones—I had long left Alsoor and would not return to where I was known as a dangerous mage—but joining an army was one of the more reliable ways to eat, so I joined. All I remember from those days is that our army was the smaller one, and significantly so. Whereas we seemed to huddle together on our side of the battle plain, our foes seemed to stretch from one side of the horizon to the other. Every one of us knew that we faced our doom.

Whether the Church favored our cause or whether the Church-folk amongst us just feared being killed alongside us, the priests and priestesses who found themselves with us that day went about before the battle blessing all that they could. Most of them merely uttered prayers seeking Tal’s protection for us, but a few of them—blind to the fact, of course—were mages themselves and placed spells upon those they blessed. I hid from them, as I had my own magics to protect me and I would not risk discovery—and besides, my spells were sure to be stronger than any Church magic...or so I thought.

The battle was as lopsided as could be expected, and our army suffered heavy losses. But it was not a rout. One of the priestesses must have been a powerful sorceress indeed, as a handful of my fellow soldiers seemed to be invincible on the field. Not enough to sway the outcome of the battle, but enough to prevent a mass slaughter in chaotic retreat. For as long as it held, those that her magic touched were Indestructible.

I can still see in my mind’s eye, as clear as day, as one of the Indestructible fought. His company fought alongside mine, and his last stand saved us from the worst of the slaughter. He fought with the discipline of a veteran soldier, of course, but that was not what saved us. He seemed all but untouchable, dodging attacks that he couldn’t have seen coming and shrugging off blows that should have felled an ox. But nothing slowed him in his almost-methodical assault on the enemy. First a parry and a counterthrust to strike home past a shield. A recovery from a hammerblow to the face as easily as if it had been a slap. A dodge away from a cut to the neck at the last moment. A blade deflected and a strike to take advantage of the resulting opening. Soon all eyes were on him, the awe in our eyes mirrored with the fear in the eyes of our foes. The sun broke through the clouds and shone on him, and he seemed to have a golden Aura about him. He was wonderful and terrible to behold.

But nothing lasts forever, and his protection finally crumbled as well. The clouds rolled back over the sun, and as the golden light faded around him so too did his luck. One moment he stood over a fallen foe and looking for another, and the next a stray arrow stood out from his left eye. But though he fell, he had driven off enough of the enemy so that our companies could regroup. And so it was here and there across the battlefield—gaps where the priestess’s chosen had won precious ground. But as the enemy’s companies reformed, we saw that despite their Indestructibility we were still far outnumbered. Yet because of their great feats, we were able to retreat in an orderly fashion. We had lost the battle, but we could have faced far worse.

Limited Invincibility

Many tales exist of invincible heroes, or at least heroes whose invincibility is mostly-permanent. Certainly a great hero may have a specific point of weakness (maybe a heel?), but is otherwise Indestructible. Fewer speak of temporary Indestructibility, where a hero has only a short time to do incredible deeds before he or she is again vulnerable. Such limited Indestructibility, when rarely seen, may be the result of a talisman or item of some sort, or more rarely is conferred onto a hero by the skills or powers of another.

Though I'm sure that some of you will be able to name any number of legends or pieces of fantasy literature where a character is granted temporary invulnerability, all I can think of off the top of my head is this.

The Coolness Factor

Not many mages make use of the Indestructible Aura. While it is effective and easy to cast, its effects are short-lived. This may be useful in surprising a foe, but in general there are better ways for a mage to protect his or her allies: destroying foes with lightning or forcing foes to exchange their weapons for farming implements, for example, are just as efficient and far more permanent. None, however, make an ally look so impressive...and the importance of aesthetics in battle cannot be discounted, at least not for some mages.