A voice calls out, “Bolstering the three of us! Hang in there Tiger!”

Everything begins to go dark, though some fatigue vanishes from my muscles as a warmth passes over me. What seems like only a moment later, blissfully pure water is splashed on my face, and I gulp it down. I’m just now realizing now that, despite the constant semi-acidic drizzle, I’d been dehydrating rapidly while under this much electricity, suffering this many blasts of flame and Fel fires. Life saving fluid continues to pour seemingly endlessly as I slowly blink.

The magical wood shrapnel in my eyes makes blinking excruciating. I must have unknowingly kept my eyes open for the last however long to avoid that pain. It’s only about three or four in the morning at the moment, so it can’t have been too long. Still, going without blinking while being set aflame and burning alive from electricity overload is a bit rough. No wonder my eyelids feel heavy.

So much pure water. Oh. Wait. Tiktik! She’s standing over my collapsed form, battling back Felgres that approach us while her ghostly hand holds her bottle of everpure over my face. Each time her staff strikes a Felgre, that particular creature is wreathed in mana and vibrates so intensely that it pauses momentarily. As soon as it moves again, that mana wreathe violently explodes with a thunderous crash, shattering limbs, or caving in skulls. Seems this little Kitten’s got some potent claws.

Tiktik’s mental avatar winks in my mind’s eye as she asks, “You good now Tiger? Had me worried there for a second. You and I both lost a gryphon while you were down, even though I bolstered Apheliotes, but I snagged his statue, safe and sound.”

I rattle my head as I try to focus on what Tiktik’s asking of me, but my brain is still addled from the energy overload. I fire off holy halefire bolts around Tikik’s sides as she defends my prone form. Panting, and struggling, I slowly stand once more. The electricity has built back up all about the insides of my body, and is edging dangerously close to my heart. Drawing air deeply into my lungs, I exhale a breath through puffed cheeks. Focus Reggie. I shake my right fist once, slamming a significant portion of electricity down along my arm to coalesce as another lightning gauntlet. I repeat with my left arm, grunting in pain as the energy burns along every nerve fiber in my arms.

Kitten asked me a question, right? What was it again? Oh yeah, am I good? I’m not sure what my answer is, since my brain’s so addled. Hm, I suppose I’m great, totally fine and dandy. Uh, err, other than the personality fracture, the migraine, the dizziness, and the inability to take a breather due to electrical overload. Actually, I might not be that great, considering all those factors. I might be rather terrible in fact. Still, she managed to provide me enough impetus to keep going for the moment. Her telepathic avatar frowns at me, realizing how bad of shape I’m in.

Tiktik speaks aloud something that sounds rather like a prayer, “Gift, blessing, hospitality of the Fae, grace us in our task ahead that we may solve the problems we face.” I’m not sure if that’s a spell incantation, or something innate to Tiktik’s particular Fae species, because I feel a film of mana wrap around me after she finishes her statement.

I’m feeling a fair bit better after whatever Tiktik just did, even if it was just motivating me and cheering me on. I’m fairly certain it was magical though. Thinking on what Tiktik just did, I flash her a smile as I resume fighting. As I fire bolts at more Felgres, I telepathically joke, “So, we’re a couple of problem solvers. Violent problem solvers, know the name for people like that?”

Since Kitten’s telepathic avatar raises an eyebrow at me curiously, I continue, “They would call us troubleshooters. But there’s trouble with the name troubleshooters. The types of trouble we tackle often shoots back.”

Tiktik smirks and looses a half laugh across our telepathic bond. As much as I want to continue to be near her to avoid my usual mental issues, we have to get back to separate sides of the battlefield to reduce how many Felgres can get past us. Thanks for saving me again Kitten.

Her telepathic response starts with, “Any time Tiger,” and ends with a wink.

I follow Tiktik’s escape path with my senses as long as I can afford to, knowing that she can take care of herself. My mana constructs begin dropping left and right, and panic wells up within me. What could even be causing such swift destruction? There! Over there! It—. What is that!? What are those!? Apparently there’s some other new type of Felgre beyond the couple types I’ve seen, slightly more lithe rather than blocky bricks of flesh like the others. When it picks up the obsidian bone spikes from the corpses of its allies, those bone spikes melt down and morph, reforming as weapons like axes and spears.

I narrowly dodge a thrown spear, but I realize as it passes me, it’s on a perfect path to intersect Tiktik’s escape route. I barely manage to uppercut the rear tip of the spear in time, altering its course. Of course, while distracted trying to prevent a missile heading for Tiktik, more missiles converge on me. Several are blocked by the dragon scale still circling me, despite its diminished size. Others bounce off my shield, or armor.

One spear makes it through my reflexes and defenses, passing along my neck in a way that should sever my carotid artery as it scrapes my jugular. Instead, the film of mana that Tiktik had just placed on me converges on the point of impact. The mana ends up softening the edge and force of the blow before becoming spent and dissipating entirely. I’m left with barely a scratch along my neck, and no more mana barrier.

Huff. Saved yet again, only a few minutes since the last time. I can’t tell if I’m the luckiest person across several universes, or the unluckiest. Tiktik’s telepathic avatar jokes, “Luckiest, definitely the luckiest Tiger. You got your Teuila, and just happened to be traveling a route that I was tracking? Luckiest.”

Snrk. I snort a short laugh while tossing more ESPs around. I’m starting to find my rhythm and flow, despite the intense, excruciating agony swirling about beneath my skin, I somehow feel calm, at peace. It’s almost like being at home. I don’t think I’m at home on the battlefield, but in those last months on Can’Z’aas, we spent endless hours battling back the hordes of mite hulks. This is incredibly reminiscent of t—. The mite hulks. Rayileklia has its own version that live underground beneath the mountain range! Crap!

I skewer another Felgre’s face on my lightning gauntlets before dropping prone to the ground, sinking my ear into the acidic mud, listening. I cast my senses about as widely as I can while I draw back several of my mana constructs to cover me. Teuila said they could burrow, but she didn’t say how long it would take them to tunnel out of a cave-in. Okay, phew. I don’t think there’s any subterranean horde working its way along tunneling underneath this section of Aasimovia at least. I lose track of the, I don’t even know what to call them, Felgre Special Ops due to my momentary panic. Huff, phew. Okay constructs, get back to it.

Several minutes pass as I scan the battlefield while doling out death and destruction. There’s one of the uniquely powerful Felgres creeping along the shore to my north, heading towards the fog bank where Tiktik is fighting. I don’t think so pal.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I call out to the creature, “Hey, anyone ever tell ya you’re similar to a prime steak? You’re both in need of tenderizing. I’m happy to oblige!”

Despite it seemingly not speaking my language, I get its attention all the same, especially after the uppercut to its jaw as I slip within its reach. The sneaky butt monkey morphs its weapon into a kusarigama though, and pulls the hooked blade back towards me, catching my shoulder armor. It’s attack ends up bouncing along my shoulder such that it could shorten me by a head at neck level. Thankfully, dropping limp on my left side allows me to fall beneath its strike. These things are clever. Everything else seemed to be like hateful walls of meat just plodding destructively in mostly a single direction. They’re cunning. Heck, that could be their name, The Cunning, or Felcunnings. Felcuns for short. Works for me.

Just going to have to tag this Felcun with another punch. A Felcun punch. Holy crap it’s fast! Is it leaving after images? Wait! Teuila’s ability! I leap out of the circle the Felcun is creating out of its after images, or fore-images, just in time to avoid it morphing its weapon into a spear that would have run me through. Huff, huff. Dangit, exhausted again, panting.

These Felcun things are tough too, it didn’t go down with an ESP to the jaw, and isn’t going down with several more to the kidney areas along its back. Dangit, it’s like it has some sort of magic enhancing its durability against, well, at least my current attacks. What about its own though? None of them seem immune to their own Fel fires, and their obsidian bone spikes seem to penetrate their flesh easily enough.

Okay, flip a ways away Reggie, dodge several projectiles, and get low. Center yourself, prepare for a lunge, a feint, and a redirected attack. I’m not sure what it’ll morph its weapon into after the feint, but if I’m lucky, it’ll keep a sharp edge along the inside of its reach, knowing that I can close on it quickly. Here it comes! As expected, the lunge is a feint, clever dickweasel. Now for my own feint, close in, looking as if I’m going for a gap-closing strike, but watch the weapon.

As expected, it’s morphing again this time. Almost, almost. Now! I drop below its reactive inward swipe by throwing all my center of gravity backwards along the top of my body while kicking upwards. I throw all of my electrokinetic energy into a flip kick that connects with the thing’s dominant hand. Its own inward swiping momentum, and my kick’s upward force are too great a combined strike for it to stop, and the Felcun beheads itself. Phew.

Great, just like five more of those on the battlefield to find and deal with. Oh, my water elementals have two of them, that’s good. Hm, seems like my wind elementals are carrying two over a—. Oo that’s gruesome. An area where a mass of obsidian spikes lay upturned now has two Felcun bodies impaled upon them. That’s four. Where is the— Genre senses!

I dash away from my position as the fifth Felcun drops down seemingly from out of thin air with a heavy hammering blow that causes a crater where I’d just been standing. As I square up to get a read on its fighting style, it instead dashes away past me along the shore to the west. No! Tiktik! I lean in the direction it’s headed, and leap into a sprint chasing after it, but it’s too fast. Hey Reggie, remember your entrance exhibition matches in Eimsas to earn entrance into their military? Yeah, sure, wh—. Ah, right, the frost mages match.

I lean completely horizontally, and just before impacting the gore-covered ground, I begin jettisoning excess electrical charge from my fists and feet in small bursts. I struggle to keep my limbs parallel to the ground as they trail behind me like thrusters. I snag an obsidian spike from the corpse of a Felgre that I pass over, and grip it in my teeth as I aim dead on to spear this Felcun in the back of the neck.

Somehow it senses me and whirls at the last moment, its immense hammer comes crashing down on my back just as my improvised spear tip sinks into the flesh of its neck. I twist my neck, half-severing the Felcun’s head as I suffer what should be a spine-shattering blow. The Felcun’s hammer should connect with my mid-back, but apparently Tiktik’s dragon scale spell still has at least one impact left in it, thank goodness. Plenty of kinetic force still transfers into me as I’m slammed down into the ground, but at least I’m not broken in half backwards in the center of a Reggie-crater.

The Felcun stumbles back, gripping the wide gaping wound across half of its neck neck with its free hand. It starts morphing its weapon with its dominant hand. Its weapon becomes a massive scythe with nearly a dozen spears as cross bars along the handle. Ugh, that’s just not even fair. Crap, it’s closing in on me quickly.

As I roll to the side, I grumble, “Oh just die already.” Thankfully, the Felcun obliges as one of my gryphons, perhaps the last one, swoops in and finishes taking its head off.

I drop to my hands and knees in the divot that was nearly a Reggie-crater as I pant in exhaustion. I’m grateful beyond belief for these mana constructs and for Tiktik’s aid. Keeping the constructs up though is starting to cause my vision to go all funhouse-of-mirrors wobbly and distorted. I’m afraid parts of my brain or eyes are going to explode if I keep them up, but I don’t have much choice.

This spell isn’t meant to be carried out multiple times at once, let alone maintained this long on multiple mana paths at once. I think the only reason I’m able to do it is because of my experience granting energy tethers for long periods to multiple people back on Can’Z’aas. Even then, that action, and this one, have both edged dangerously close to killing me. Heaving a sigh, I throw myself back into the fray as the time ticks away.

It must be around five am or five thirty by now, we’ve been battling for hours. I stopped hearing telltale ticking some time ago now, but Tiktik knew we had to spread out, so that’s not too alarming. The majority of my conjured mana constructs, besides the supercharged water elemenetals, are starting to fritz out, and my shadow hounds are so far outside of my sensory range that I don’t even know if they’re still active. I need to start setting us up to try the weather control ritual. Heading back west towards town, I understand why Bud sounds so weak and tired when I see what he’s been working on. He must have been spending every last ounce of his power for these last several hours. Hell, Bud might have even started this barrier while I was meditating and snoozing on the path, doing some sort of sub-surface geo-manipulation to set up the rest of his effort.

There’s a massive vine-covered stone wall risen straight out of the ground. The vines have thorns the size of daggers. It must stretch for at least a mile, if not several miles, south by southwest, from the edge of the lake itself, even a ways out into the lake’s shallows. Bud, this sort of thing shouldn’t be possible outside The Heart. Are you okay? You must be so tired, please don’t die from this. I thought you’d just direct roots to angle up into spear-like spike walls or something. I’m so worried about you Bud.

Bud remains unresponsive, though I sense his magical aura located within the pouch about my neck. He’s a powerful artifact weapon, but he’d prefer to be a tool rather than a weapon. He likes to alter and create, not harm or kill. I could really use an artifact weapon that wants to be a weapon right now, but I’m not going to hold Bud’s desires against him. I’m more worried for him than worried about having a sharper, longer, pointier stick in a fight.

Glancing around though, I don’t spy Tiktik, and the fact that she isn’t immediately projecting her telepathic avatar into my mindscape in response to my thinking of her is exceedingly worrying. Setting what’s left of my mana constructs in a roughly north to south line just east of the wall, I cast my senses about for Tiktik’s mana trail using my aura vision. Come on Kitten, come on. Where are you? You’re too tough to go down without—. Tiktik! She’s slumped in the mass of fog generated by the bottle, resting against a rock while cradling her torso. She’s breathing, but not conscious. She at least withdrew to a semi safe location before letting herself pass out. Whew.

My silent sonar doesn’t detect a massive pool of blood around Tiktik, though the sense does indicate she’s suffering several lacerations. The more concerning damage is the broken, pulverized bones she’s suffering. She’s not Can’Z’aasian, so those injuries will last an incredibly long time. I gulp back regret that squirms about within my throat, clawing its way towards my brain to wrestle me into despair. I can’t give in to it. Tiktik agreed to take the risks alongside us.

Hell’s bells. I—. I don’t stand even the remotest chance at casting the weather spell without her help. Tiktik might be able to cast it on her own, utilizing a mix of her glyph crafting spells, and whatever S P pools she has left available. She might even siphon off some ambient mana while resting like this, enabling her to rejuvenate some of her S P pools. She’s the better sorceress. If we have any hope of opening the sky up over Autumn Brook, Tiktik is it.