Wow u guys that looks rly good :)
Thx
This is our biggest tower yet. And we have extra stone left over
Here we come. Gonna beat urs Vi :D
Vi was settled on a living room couch. The cousins Lucy, Anna, and Mia sat in positions familiar to them, automatically and without thought, making a loose circle. Lucy, the oldest, was sitting back against one of Vi’s tails like a couch, while Anna was slouching on two others. Mia was nestled against her tails like they were blankets over her shoulders. They tapping intently at their phones, sending messages onto the screen. Morgan sat next to them with her own device, electing to join in on the side of her cousins.
Whoa! We almost have it! Morgan swiped a finger to put blackrock on top of the teetering structure. It passed Vi’s, which had an upside-down cow on a patch of grass on its thirtieth story. Because why not.
Their latest Tower Time tower passed through a set of white clouds to reach a new level, causing the game to beep and play congratulatory music.
“Whoo! We did it Ja—!”
Lucy abruptly broke off. Morgan’s cousins stared at an empty space on the couch they had instinctively made between them.
Vi gently drew them closer to her with her tails. She sighed and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Morgan and the others said nothing. Their faces were more glum than a few seconds ago, looking everywhere except at each other. The bright high score leaderboard was ignored on each of their screens.
Vi watched the four in silence. She wasn’t sure what she could tell them, or if she should. Times like these, there was no quick fix, no way to numb the pain.
She gazed at the empty spot, and then down at her hands. She had held Morgan’s cousin Jamie in her arms, the sibling of the three, in their half-wrecked house in Morin. Stared into his lifeless brown eyes. In the rush of the moment and coming threats, there hadn’t been time to spare to dwell on emotion. If she’d only been a half-second faster raising her weapon, if she hadn’t been tied up fighting all across the city, finding Enrique, if she hadn’t positioned herself so far away, things could have been different. She felt useless. Helpless. A failure. Weak, even.
She remembered times before. When she had cradled Jamie as a baby, he had looked like Morgan’s mother when she was a child herself, crying pitifully. When Morgan had gone on a rare trip with her family, Vi had gone with her. Vi would drop by to deliver food. She had been there in the hot summers of this very house, watching the witch play with her cousins, Morgan laughing as they locked themselves in to escape the eyes of the adults, teaching them spells and the finer points of combat outside their classes, to her mother’s disapproval. The fox woman had been a bit of a background object, but she’d been there. Those times would be gone now, would never repeat again. She couldn’t imagine how the cousins were feeling.
Finally Anna, second-oldest, spoke. “Where are the other three? The cat and the two mages? Are they your friends?”
“Yeah.”
“What are they doing?” Anna leaned against Vi and peered over with her family’s cocoa brown eyes.
“Visiting school.”
“Will they be okay?”
Vi didn’t speak for a moment. She took a deep breath and exhaled quietly. “No. There’s almost a 90% chance someone’s going to be badly hurt today. To the point of death. I’m especially worried about Enrique.”
“What?” Morgan was startled, eyes widening. “We should help them!”
“No. Forget it.” Vi turned back to her phone. “I’ve done enough. The rest of you need to stick with each other.”
Morgan blinked at Vi, the surprise apparent on her face. “But what if something happens to them?”
She shrugged. “Then they didn’t listen to me. I’ll feel awful. Then the world will have to move on. That’s all.”
Morgan fell silent, inspecting her friend. Vi took the time to drape some pillows and blankets over the little family.
“What’s the point?” Vi’s voice was barely audible as she adjusted a blanket over Morgan. The witch caught a jaded tone in it. “The ones I grow to care about the most are always killed in the worst ways. Whether today or in the future, it doesn’t matter. I’ll have nothing left of them but memories and dreams. Do you know how hard it is to always open up to people, knowing that? Everyone dies. That’s how it always ends. One day you’ll be gone too, and I’ll be alone again.”
Mia cuddled against her and tugged Vi’s arm. The child spoke in her little warbling voice. “You should help them.”
Vi didn’t reply, handing them one of the many packages of snacks stacked on a table.
The smallest of the cousins didn’t break eye contact from Vi. “If you care about someone, there’s nothing wrong with trying to help them. That’s what my mom says.”
Vi met her eyes, then turned away to stare at a nearby wall. Her expression was pained and subdued. “Maybe.”
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Vi carried the four sleeping family members to their beds upstairs. She then opened the door to another room, with a large bed and medical equipment. There was a drip feeder and other machines ready for use.
Morgan’s mother approached, carrying a small infant. The baby was brown-haired like Morgan, bunny-eared, and fast asleep.
“Helen needed a walk,” Morgan’s mother explained to Vi. She had tired eyes.
Vi gestured to the room with the bed. “You should take a break. I know your family is dedicated, but it isn’t healthy to have your professional life bleed into your own home.”
The other woman followed her movement. She barked out a short laugh. “The healer’s life. You’ve been through it too, Vi. For us, it’s a calling. Every now and then there’s a patient that needs long-term care. Emergency life support, extra space, privacy, that sort of thing. If the hospital doesn’t work, we need a place for them to stay.”
“The kingdom has the best healers and potions in the land,” Vi reminded her. “Maybe consider allocating space to the other workers.”
The bunny woman shook her head. “And stop now? With all that’s happening? I’m telling you, the other hospitals in our network will be swamped. The Fieldsprings are going to pitch in and do their part. That’s what we’ve always done. Wherever we are. Whether it’s the inner city or—or the borders.” Her voice had caught at her last sentence.
Vi studied her. The other woman had her face set despite weariness and grief. It was the same expression Morgan had at times when she wouldn’t be dissuaded. “I know this is a bad time, but can I ask for a favor? It’s not for me. Two lives, in the future. I need to reserve this bed. Hopefully when the situation cools down a bit. They would need continuous emergency care and total privacy. It’s important to me. Maybe your daughter can do it.”
Morgan’s mother blinked. She nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you. That really means a lot.” Vi reached out and patted the sleeping child in her arms. “I bet Helen’s going to look just like big sister Morgan one day. She has a good family.”
“Erm, speaking of Morgan.” The other woman shifted uncomfortably. “Listen. I know we’ve had our…disagreements about how that girl should live her life. But I am glad she has someone trying to look out for her. She’s always speaking before she thinks, jumping headfirst into bad situations. Antagonizing everyone. You know.” The witch’s mother shook her head. “Even now, I can’t pretend I understand how her mind works. Always thinking about herself instead of being grounded in what we already do for others. I’m afraid she’ll do something she regrets. Promise me you’ll keep an eye on her, all right?”
Vi gazed through a wall into the room where her friend was sleeping. She doubted that would be easy.
The fox woman nodded once. “I promise.”
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“Where should we go first?” Sven scanned the school buildings, aiming to get a sense of each one. “The big one by that open field looks like a gym. I’m guessing the others have classrooms. There’s also a tower at the side.”
Enrique peered through a window of the closest room, spotting several Anima and their partners sitting in semi-circular rows of desks while a teacher in a blue and white dress drew on a board. The teacher’s upright gray dog ears twitched, her tail swishing as she pointed at a laughing pair having their own conversation near Enrique. He hastily ducked his head away as the startled students were forced to answer her question. “Yep,” he confirmed to Sven. “Didn’t see anyone with a stuffed teddy bear though.”
Alicia pointed to a map tacked on a sign, then to another large structure, wider than it was tall. “There’s some kind of dining hall. Maybe in there.”
Enrique scratched his head as he thought. “This is going to take way too much time. We could check each of the classrooms and then wherever students go to eat or hang out, but this place is huge.”
“Obviously.” Alicia glanced around as groups of students walked past them. Bags and backpacks. No item. None that she could see, at least. The students drifted onto a set of large grassy fields. Crowds had already gathered there, chattering energetically amongst themselves.
Enrique tapped a small white device by his ear. “Hang on, I’ve still got my communicator. Maybe Vi can give us a description or something. Hello?” He waited, but there was no response. The young mage put his hands over his head. “Argh, let’s do something else for now.” He studied the map. “There’s a library. Can we learn some magic or something?”
Remnant suddenly interjected. The voice was clear as day to Enrique, but to the other two it was merely sound coming from his sword. “Do that. The Anima Academy library has many spellbooks and artifacts. Are you seriously telling me you don’t even have your own fighting style yet?”
“Um, no. Is that a problem?” Enrique and the others found a side entrance and walked into the multi-story tower Sven had mentioned earlier.
The first thing the trio noticed was how dim everything was. There were a set of lights hanging from the ceiling and floating yellow orbs, giving just enough light to see their surroundings. Then there was the yellow-and-black tape and a sign posted ahead of them. Sven voiced the obvious. “It’s closed.”
Alicia ignored the sign and Enrique followed in, ducking underneath the tape fence. Sven walked after them. The first floor was massive and silent. There were towering bookcases and desks at the front to check out books, but no one was manning them at the moment. Other than large spiraling staircases, there were tables, chairs, entrances to other rooms, and glass cases holding items like jewelry, scrolls, and old weapons. The area they had entered was empty, and smelled like parchment and scented candles.
“Good timing for us. What have you learned?” the sword at Enrique’s waist demanded.
Guessing he was asking for the benefit of Sven and Alicia, Enrique began a quick summary of what he recalled with Vi. “Using spirit magic for fighting, making and controlling fire, learning about elements, a little bit of swinging you around—”
Remnant groaned. “Classic Vi. That’s baby stuff. Were you too dumb to know she was going easy on you?”
“Hey!” Enrique glared at the weapon. “Want me to knock you on that wall over there? She didn’t even want to train me. It’s self-defense. You were there. She was talking about preparation and execution—”
“Take what you’ve learned, and throw it in the garbage.”
Enrique stopped talking. Alicia and Sven stared curiously at the sword as well.
“Okay, maybe I sound too harsh,” Remnant admitted. “Preparation being an important part of battle is not wrong, per se, but it’s too simple of a model to be useful—”
Remnant stopped and let out a huff, as if annoyed with himself. “Let me start over. As I said, I am Remnant. I’m here for the express purpose of helping Enrique achieve the initial activation of the Will of Flame. Although I don’t mind helping you two, Alicia and Sven, if that’s what you need from me.”
Sven nodded and Alicia merely kept her eyes warily on the blade.
“What does this activation do?” Sven wondered.
“It makes its wielder much more powerful and reveals the sword’s true form. The activation produces an augmentation effect that could give you an edge in battle.”
“Vi said something about syncing my spirit with hers,” Enrique remembered.
Remnant confirmed, “Correct. The Will of Flame is a name recently given to the sword you hold. It is also the name of the spell to call out the day you activate it—assuming you are ever able to do so.
“The whole spirit syncing business is a lot more explicit and particular than a lot of other weapons require. You need to know your partner to light her spirit up again, and for a moment be one with her to unleash the spell. You’re separated by a huge gulf from what I see. I don’t mean physical distance, more like mental. She’s falling hard, you’ve sensed it, haven’t you?
“You two! The same concept applies. You don’t have a sword but you need to know who you both are, and help each other if you want to succeed.”
“Understood.” Sven blinked in surprise at being called out and Alicia felt suddenly nervous at these words. She didn’t let it show on her face. “F*** off,” she told the sword instead.
Remnant ignored her. “Anyways. Enrique. In reality battle is a constant cycle: Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. You improvise with what you have to help yourself out of a problem, adapt to the changing situation, and overcome the adversity. Rinse and repeat. Use the environment around you, get creative with spells and magic. You need to find the unique style of fighting that’s suited to you.”
Enrique nodded and began pulling down spellbooks. “That makes sense. You seem way more effective of a teacher than Vi.”
Enrique expected Remnant to be smug about it, but the reply from the sword also had a sarcastic tone. “Of course I am. Makes total sense.”
The boy opened a spellbook at random, perusing its contents. There was a large symbol with a star inside, marked by several numbered captions. Beside it was line art of humanoid bodies in various positions, and text below. Flame tornado. A strong position requires fire to be channeled through wind at hotspots marked by 1a, 1b, 1c. The centrifugal force may be affected by the current weather, see table 2 for equations…
While reading, he debated to himself what exactly the sword was and how it came to be. “You sound like you knew her. You’re not Aurelius, are you?”
“No. Aurelius is dead. Your sword used to belong to him. It was changed from a mainly ice-light element to a fire element.” Remnant’s answer was very matter-of-fact.
“He had a talking sword?”
“He did not have me,” Remnant clarified. This confused Enrique, but Remnant cut in before he could say anything. “Alright, enough blabbering–we’re focusing on you and your friends here.”
Enrique closed the book and stood sifting through the large pile he had collected on a table. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Well, to start, who are you, right now? What kind of guy are you? Play to your strengths.”
He narrowed his eyes and cupped his chin. “Me? Not sure. What I know is I don’t like doing things by the book. Whoever comes after me usually isn’t. I’m not exactly the biggest guy either.”
“If you don’t like rules, then choose to fight dirty. If you’re smaller and nimbler than your opponents, use that to your advantage. If you know something others might not, make use of it.”
He threw up his hands. “That sounds nice, but what would I know? I'm only a kid. I’m a total beginner!”
“Everybody has something to offer,” Remnant insisted. “If you find what makes you unique, then honing that can take you further. That’s true especially for something personal like spirit magic. Your past life, family history, even a weird hobby could be useful.”
“Sounds like a lot of theory,” Enrique mumbled. He sat at the table and put his head down as he stared at the mound of books. “I never paid a lot of attention at school. I had gang problems to deal with.”
“Fight each other.”
“What?”
“You want to learn to fight, then fight. If you’re outmatched, then you can practice stretching your limits.”
Enrique hesitated. The way Alicia glared at him didn’t exactly make him feel safe. “We don’t have a healer. Maybe we should buy some potions first.”
The sword corrected itself. “I didn’t mean her. Sven would be more appropriate. He’s a beginner but you’re, well, look in a mirror.”
Enrique scowled as he eyed Sven’s large, fit profile. “Yeah, I’m small. I don’t know. Sven, are you up to being burnt and having your eyes poked out?”
The man raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?” He folded his muscular arms in a casual but rather intimidating way.
The sword hummed as he—it?—reconsidered. “Fine. Let’s make a challenge instead. You and me, versus Sven and Alicia.”
“A challenge?” Alicia raised her eyebrows. “Bring it on. I’ll wipe the floor with you two.”
“This isn’t a fight. It’s a contest.” Remnant began to lay out instructions. “You’ll compete for possession of a rare spellbook in the library. I have a memory that this is an important item. It has a high-level spell that could be useful in combat. Whoever takes the book first has the privilege of learning from it. And, hmm, ice cream, I guess.”
Alicia did not completely understand. “What’s ice cream?”
Enrique gawked at the cat girl and Sven raised his eyebrows. “Really? Did you see some of those desserts I was handing out at the cafe?”
“Whatever it is, it’s something worth fighting for,” Remnant intoned gravely. “We will have a triple scoop. Vanilla and chocolate.”
“D***, I wouldn’t mind that, but I want the spell,” Enrique muttered. Most of all, I don’t want to keep losing.
Alicia slowly nodded. A dessert sounded tasty. Especially if there was milk.
Sven raised his hand like he was in class. “What’s the book?” he wanted to know.
“It has a purple cover and blue lettering at the front. I’m not completely sure where the book is now.”
Alicia took a cursory glance at the seemingly endless rows of massive bookcases. “Isn’t there a title?”
“That’s what you and Sven need to find out. Enrique, start on another corner of the room. You’ll cover more ground if everyone spreads out.”
Alicia frowned at this. As soon as Enrique was out of earshot, Remnant gave a brief description in a low voice. “It has the title ‘Advanced Mental Arts’. It’s a rather ancient book so you should see its age. The spell we’re looking for makes psychic links.”
“You’re giving me a headstart?” Enrique tried to hide his surprise as he perused the shelves, scanning the spines of texts for a flash of purple.
“It’s not much.” Enrique could imagine Remnant shrugging if he had a body. “Anima are stronger than humans, until you reach a relatively high level. Alicia’s likely picked up on my omission and started tailing you. Check her profile. You’ll see what I mean.”
Enrique swiveled around to find Alicia in between a couple shelves, next to Sven. The two were checking rows of books but on separate bookcases. Neither seemed quite ready to look the other in the eye.
A screen popped up from Enrique’s communicator.
Alicia Darkwaters. Unregistered Anima.
He tapped a button. In “Stats”.
Abilities: Dark Element Manipulation, Dark Element Augmentation, Self-Healing, Invisibility, Vanishing.
Intelligence: 6, Attack: 7, Defense: 5, Speed: 7, Agility: 7, Magical Attack: 7, Magical Defense: 4.
Alicia had a neutral expression to disguise her unease. Sven glanced over and propped open a book. There were images of swirling whirlpools and black symbols on the pages. “Do you know any magic?” He was trying to start a conversation.
“None of your business.” She turned away from him.
Sven cocked his head. “We should work together. You’ll win faster that way. It’ll help if you talk about your thoughts or anything that could help us.”
Alicia eyed him suspiciously.
Remnant hollered from across the library. “Give him your phone!”
Alicia shot Enrique a dirty look.
“I didn’t say anything,” he protested.
The cat girl thrust the phone at Sven. It was Vi’s anyways. It was worthless to Alicia except as a way to contact others. Well, the mobile games were nice too. She didn’t think this stranger could assist her much.
Sven took the device. A screen popped up showing her profile. His eyes widened a fraction as he read. “What’s this?”
“What?” Alicia snatched the phone away. She almost froze as she stared at the words. Her heart rate sped up and a dim panic overtook her. Her blood felt cold. How? My powers are public info? This is bad.
She could only think of one explanation at the moment. This is the work of the System. Did it record the use of my powers in the Kingdom? I heard its magic can cover the whole land. “D*** it,” she cursed aloud.
“What’s wrong? Your abilities could give us what we need.” Sven was puzzled.
“No, it’s not that. How does the System even know—forget it. Let’s split up.” Alicia spoke curtly and pointed to another side of the library. “You go there. Help me search. You’re a mage. Use your own powers. I’ll deal with this half of the room.”
Meanwhile, Enrique was busy visiting parts of the library by category, also reading over Alicia’s profile. He furrowed his brows. “She’s unregistered. What does that mean?”
Remnant supplied, “Most Anima are registered as citizens of the Anima Kingdom. Parents can do so once their child is born. However, sometimes there are special circumstances, like an Anima growing up in foreign lands or rejecting their citizenship.”
“Strange. So she didn’t grow up with a family? She did say she lived in the wilderness,” Enrique remarked. “What’s with all these overpowered abilities? They could be really useful. Darkness? Self-healing? Invisibility?”
“You tell me.”
“She’s related to a family of assassins. Vi called them Emeraldnight,” Enrique remembered.
Remnant was a little snarky. “Now you get it.”
“Then by tailing, you mean—”
Enrique saw the cat girl walk past a set of hefty hardcover textbooks and suddenly disappear.
“—S***. I am not getting beaten over a dairy product.”
There were flashes of black light near where Alicia had turned invisible. Shadowy figures of solid black energy formed, each somewhat resembling the cat girl. They began to wander around and knock down books from shelves with swipes of their hands.
“Okay, that’s cool. Now I want to do that,” Enrique admitted.
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“Dark element clones. Not cool, dangerous. Elements and mana can be used in non-obvious ways. Mana can be willed outward through your inner being. It can be physically shaped into solid energy. Elements have their own effects and counter-effects. You’ve got a whole library, make use of it.” Remnant’s tone was reprimanding. He sounded like a teacher scolding a slacking student.
“Right.” Enrique felt his face flush red. He grabbed a book and started leafing through some pages, when without warning four clones of Alicia dashed towards him.
“What’s the big idea? Are you crazy?” He jumped aside as one of them swiped at him with a blade of dark energy, ripping into the side of a shelf.
“Tell me what the title is!” Alicia yelled somewhere ahead of him.
Enrique threw the book he was holding at the clone’s face, sending it stumbling. “Did you forget I literally stopped you from getting killed once? No! Figure it out yourself!”
He dodged a knife swipe from a second clone. The shelf next to him was carved straight in half, emitting black sparks. His heart leaped as he saw the damage. That could’ve been me. “Now you’re asking for it!” He thrust out a hand and a fireball struck the clone, vaporizing it in a flash of dark energy.
He grabbed spellbooks from the shelves, fleeing from his pursuers and turning a corner in time for black beams to shoot out and punch holes into bookcases with rattling thuds. Pain briefly shot up his partly-healed chest, causing him to briefly drop to a hobble. He let out several choice curse words, picked up from his dead brother, and wound his way past another set of bookcases, huffing for breath. “Este gato loco. Bastardo...F***ing estupida…Come mierda.”
Beams blew through a shelf at eye-level and Enrique was barely able to duck in time. The wood behind him exploded, sending green and blue tomes toppling off the shelves. Pieces of paper fluttered in the wind. “Oye, senorita! Cut that out! You can’t find the book if you kill me!” He summoned some fiery beams of his own in their general direction and set out a wall of flame behind him. That’s not going to slow her down long. He pulled out one of the books he had taken and flipped through it feverishly.
The pages had spells written in black text and pictures, including orange symbols clearly depicting tongues of fire. His mind raced as he tried to get ideas from the symbols, spell descriptions, and figures drawn to accompany them. Ignite, Smokescreen, Heat Wave, Particle Explosion…
Ignite: Embed flames into an item or articles of defense. May be stacked. Mage must maintain heightened concentration in case of high proximity to self.
Smokescreen: Basic disrupter. Note diagram 1 assumes a wielder is in an open area and must create a closed field of battle for increased effectiveness.
Heat Wave: Overwhelm opponent with surge in temperature. Advanced methods in figure 3c reduce visual tell of waves.
Particle Explosion: Requires a binding agent, examples seen in 1. Direction of mana from the wielder to the particle agent is illustrated in 2.
He slammed the book shut and dived to another section. Beams pummeled the previous spot. Bookshelves toppled with a mighty crash, spilling books and an old display knife onto the floor.
He pulled out his gun and fired three shots, taking cover behind another shelf as the clones whizzed around and a beam struck close by in a bright explosion. A tower of books rattled violently.
“Tell her to stop. Can’t you do something?” he muttered to Remnant.
The reply was dry. “As you have mentioned at least three times before, I am merely a voice in a sword. My suspicion is she is distracting you while buying herself extra time to search.”
At that moment, a shadowy clone leaped from a shelf and jammed a knife in his direction. He whirled around and shot a blue beam through its own attack and then its chest, blowing it up into wisps of darkness.
“Doesn’t feel like it.” Enrique took a deep breath, his gun quivering, and forced himself to calm down. The bookcase he was hiding behind shook, black sparks and a set of scrolls tumbling down somewhere on the other side.
Okay. She’s too strong to fight directly. The shelves are sturdier than they look, but I can’t keep running. I guess the school must have some defenses for a library of spells. I need some way to get close, but my shield’s probably too weak and she’s too fast to aim at. He looked down at the book he’d brought with him. He cracked it open and peered through the diagrams again. Ignite, Smokescreen—
The bookcase emitted a burst of energy with a loud bang. He poked his gun out the corner and shot a continuous stream of flame. Another of the clones darted away while the flames set three tall bookcases ablaze. He felt searing heat rising near him as his body’s orange aura appeared. Dust and smoke filled the air and he coughed.
Smoke. That’s it.
He set the book down, its pages spread flat and towards the ceiling. He held out his arms, imitating one of the humanoid figures in the book, feeling a burning sensation within him surge from his chest out through the rest of his body, all the way to his fingers and toes.
Remnant commented. “Pro tip, the pictures help casters get used to a proper mana flow. No need to pose like that. Wastes time. Unless it gets you in the mood, like now, so in this case I’ll allow it.”
There was plenty of fire around, but Enrique directed a series of blasts towards a fallen pile of books. The papers fed into a growing blaze. Gray wisps formed into a dense cloud, rapidly spreading outward. He focused on the conflagration and spread his arms out. A black beam whizzed barely past his head and into a wall. The flames and the heat seemed to respond to his emotions, his desperate need and barely restrained panic, flaring and intensifying. The heat, the fire, the gray fog gathering around. He began to understand it was his to control.
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Sven methodically pulled books off shelves and flipped through pages. He was searching through a diverse set of beginner spells, with titles like “Intro to Water Magic” and “Essential Earth Forms”. The man scanned one book, with spell names and symbols like large teardrops, then held out his hand. A small jet of water shot out from thin air, dousing a few stray flames, and he stared at the puddle on the floor. “Hm. I see.” He placed the book back and took out another with symbols like mountains. Up his hand went again, tracing a circular motion, and this time a miniature wall of rock burst from the floor. “Ah. Interesting. There’s energy being pulled out of my body.”
“What are you doing?” Alicia snapped. She was pulling out whatever vaguely purple-covered book she could find and tossing them as they didn’t have the requisite blue lettering. She made headway towards Enrique and Remnant, keeping a short distance to avoid the projectiles flying from his gun. Her clones leaped around, snatching other possible covers down or running towards their opponent.
He turned to her. “Sampling. I thought it would be good to try a wide collection of spells to see what I could do. So far magic here seems standard, but something doesn’t feel quite right. It takes me a lot of energy to cast even a simple spell.”
He nodded at the rock wall. “You, on the other hand, can make quite a few of those shadow forms. Enrique can also cast an impressive amount of flames.” A bookcase blew apart in an orange-red explosion as if to emphasize this point. Alicia glared in that direction and glowed with a black aura, trying to retain her clones.
“I’m trained.” Alicia didn’t want to have this man asking more questions, so she cast her mind around for a possible explanation. “I’m a dark element. It’s more natural to me. That guy is fire. You need to find the element you’re best at.”
Sven scratched his chin in thought. He set down the textbook and picked up another dark green one. “That’s reasonable, but don’t you think it makes more sense to be versatile? You can have more options in a fight if you can balance multiple elements.”
He picked through another collection. There was also non-element spellwork like “Overview of Defensive Shields”, as well as the small dark green hardcover. It was rather ostentatiously titled “Transient Mist: The Unseen Element”.
“Shut up and find that book.” Alicia fetched a small paperback near a pile of rolled scrolls, when a thick layer of gray solidified in the room like heavy fog. She coughed. The smog grew stronger. “What—urk!” She coughed again as she inhaled, then covered her mouth, her clones vanishing one by one. She heard coughing next to her and stumbled to the ground.
She couldn’t breathe. She began a mad dash towards the nearest entrance, but the smoke was filling up the room so much that even her enhanced eyesight was having trouble. Is he insane? We’re all going to suffocate!
She willed herself to use her vanishing ability, but even that barely bought her distance. She hit the ground again. Can’t breathe. Need help. Someone help.
She felt the fog around her blow apart and she sucked in lungfuls of clean air. She stood up, gasping, and turned to see Sven standing with his arms out. An invisible gust of swirling force had appeared from his hands, pushing apart the smoke.
“Thanks.” Alicia spoke before she could stop herself.
“No problem.” Sven made a small pushing movement and the empty air around them expanded. He glanced down to the last book he had opened, with human poses, arrows, and dark green swirling symbols. “Good thing I’m a wind element.”
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Meanwhile, Enrique had come to the same conclusion Sven had previously. “I should know the other elements too.” He kept his volume low and had nearby smoke drift to edges around him, allowing him to breathe as he stepped carefully through the library.
“Did I go too far?” he wondered. The smoke was starting to fade a little as he felt a twinge of guilt within him.
“Meh. They’re fighters. Keep going. I would jump to offense if I were you.” The sword was surprisingly silent about his extreme tactics.
He dug through the fire spellbook he had carried with him, glancing up occasionally to search for a purple cover in the shelves. A sleeve of his cloak flared orange and the air around grew hot as he tried some spells out as fast as he could. “Hope we didn’t destroy that book.”
Remnant’s only reply was, “Students be students. This place has seen its fair share of fights.”
Enrique ran through the spells he had memorized and saw a small clearing in the smoke with Alicia walking next to Sven. Wind magic? Here we go.
Alicia peered through the gray and spotted a glimpse of orange fabric flying towards them. Sven’s eyes widened as he held out a hand. “Wait—”
Alicia, without hesitating, raised her own hand and fired a black beam.
There was a blinding explosion of orange. Alicia and Sven were hurtled backwards and the cat girl slammed into a solid bookcase. “Ungh!” Motes of dust and a flurry of flaming pages fluttered around her like rain. She had managed to form a crude black energy wall to absorb the blast, and noticed Sven had made a small green shield himself. The two got up unsteadily and Alicia noticed the orange cloth had drifted to the floor.
It was nothing but a hat.
Enrique leaped at the cat girl from behind, wielding his sword, appearing through the smoke like an apparition. “Explode!”
Alicia leaped away as dust particles and books caught fire and blew up behind her. The floor rocked and shelves were seared in black ash. She slid towards the boy’s hat as he slashed in her direction, dodging orange arcs. Sven, realizing what Enrique was going to do just in time, shoved her with a gust of wind. Alicia was sent hurtling to the side as the hat erupted in another large particle explosion.
As Enrique closed in on Alicia, shooting out jets of fire with his sword, Sven stepped in front of the cat girl defensively. Alicia was a little annoyed—this interfered with her planned counterattack—but used the time to back away. Sven took up a boxing stance and swung at Enrique, sending a miniature twister of wind his way from a fist. Alicia was somewhat surprised Sven was picking up on spellcasting so fast. The twister dispersed the closest fiery jet into faint embers.
She thought the boy wasn’t going to last a second against someone much physically stronger, but apparently Enrique had thought of this also. A long spear of red energy suddenly jabbed out from his sword tip as he stabbed in Alicia’s direction.
Sven ducked and weaved as the extended blade carved into the walls around him. He then dashed forward to close the distance to the boy. Wind push behind his back and legs to propel him with incredible speed, like a green-cloaked blur. His metallic gauntlets sent out another wind gust.
Enrique threw up a shield, stumbled, and then glowed with a red aura. “Ignite!” The cloak around Enrique burst with orange-red flames, wreathing his body in a fiery flash of light and energy. The force of the spell sent Sven’s wind attack flying right back at his chest and Alicia behind him. At the same time, debris around Alicia and Sven abruptly burst into flames and exploded.
The two were thrown against a wall. Alicia struggled up. She felt intense heat and smelled smoke as Enrique swept up a wave of fire, clouding the area once more in gray. This time, Alicia didn’t bother seeing and used her power sensing ability. The cat girl fired a black beam through the haze straight at his location. He was hardly able to block with his sword and a barely-formed barrier, resulting in the teenager being flung halfway across the room. He hit a back wall and let out a cry of pain. “Ah!”
As Enrique slid down the wall, Alicia raised a hand towards his chest. She felt her heart thundering in her chest and a strange type of cold anger rising in her. He thought he could defeat me? I’ve been through way more than him. I’ll kill him!
Remnant’s voice cut in. “The book. Behind both of you.”
Alicia stopped, panic suddenly spiking in her, and turned around. Up at the corner of a top shelf was a faded purple hardcover with blue letters on the front. Enrique peered over. Sven followed their gazes.
The trio moved all at once. Alicia raced forwards. Sven swept a hand and the book lifted off like it was flying. Enrique raised himself up, desperation and the dread of certain defeat rising within him. The hardcover quickly glided towards the cat girl.
He lifted his own hands, mind racing. “It’s not over yet. That’s mine!”
A solid line of red energy flew across the room. Alicia tilted her body to dodge, but the line curved around and swished past her like a bullwhip. It wrapped around the book—like a lasso, Alicia realized too late.
Enrique yanked the scarlet rope and the book was flung out of Sven’s spell and away from Alicia’s outstretched hand. It sailed towards him and he snatched it in midair.
“I got it!” A huge grin was on his face as he slumped to the floor, exhausted.
Alicia grit her teeth. She shouted, more incensed than Enrique had ever seen her. “You didn’t win! That wasn’t fair! You dirty cheater!”
“Says the girl who literally tried to stab my guts out!” he shot back, matching her expression with a peeved one of his own.
“I had someone in my way!” Alicia pointed an accusing finger at Sven, who stood baffled at their shouting match.
“Are you kidding me? Two against one! You had an advantage!”
“Others just get in my way!”
“He was helping you!” Enrique’s face started to get red. “You ignore or attack everyone around you, is that it? You don’t give a s*** about anyone!”
“What’s wrong with that?”
Enrique was starting to get sick of her attitude. He hollered, “Everything! How can you not see that?”
Remnant spoke in a sarcastic but firm tone. “Children, calm down. Let’s check our prize.”
Enrique placed the book on a table. Advanced Mental Arts. He opened it and flipped through some weathered yellow pages.
Remnant let him scrutinize black scripts and runes in unknown languages until he came upon a large symbol like concentric circles with two triangles surrounding them. “Stop. There.”
Enrique read the spell script. The words were a tad faded but still legible.
Psychic Link. Establishes a temporary mental link between up to three mana targets, including the caster. This allows the transfer and exchange of a selected spell among the targets. A selected spell’s strength and range to remotely affect targets is greatly boosted due to the mental link established.
Links to targets must be through close proximity or physical contact with the caster’s initial psychic spell.
A psychic link may attach to other links or similar spells. In case of attachment, connected links will be cut when a link is deactivated.
For max effectiveness, a caster and a target’s mana bound by the same spirit may focus their spell on a third target.
Enrique read the description again and felt his head hurt. He complained. “I don’t get it. What is this? It doesn’t seem like it’s for combat.”
Remnant’s tone was suggestive of a sly grin. “Oh, but it is. Don’t you see the warning? The wording is very stiff, but you can wreck an opponent with this ability.”
“I still don’t understand. It seems very situational.” Enrique cocked his head, knitting his brows.
“Give it a shot. Activate it.”
“But I need at least two people. That’s what it’s saying, I think.”
“You can practice with me. I have some of Vi’s mana. We just need to decide on a spell to use. Ideally one that can be useful for our dangerous future. Give your partner a call.”
Enrique dug out his phone. It rang a few times.
Vi picked up and her voice came from the device. It was quiet. “Hello, Enrique. Is everything all right?”
“Yeah.” He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Alicia almost killed me again. Remnant is teaching me a spell called psychic link.”
The sword hissed in his head. “Ask for spells.”
“You ask her.” Enrique was annoyed.
Remnant explained, more patient than usual, “I can’t. She chooses not to hear me.”
“Huh? What do you mean? Why not?” When the sword remained silent, he sighed. “Any spells I could use? For the psychic link. I have no idea what it’s good for.”
“You found the book? That’s good. I was hoping to test that for something important later. Practice Absorption Barrier first. That’s the most useful. If you have time later you can do Overdrive.”
Alicia’s ears perked up as she listened in. She crept closer to the young mage.
“Do you need me to come over?” Vi asked softly.
“I don’t need a babysitter.” He reconsidered and regretted his choice of words after a moment. “Sorry. Sure. If you want.”
Alicia headed his way. “Give me that.”
Enrique clutched the book to his chest. “No! Quit being such a sore loser.”
The cat girl was furious. She heard a door open and the hurried thump of footsteps, but took no thought of it. She glowed with black light and four shadowy clones appeared around her. They leaped towards him, preparing a salvo of beams. His eyes went wide.
A bang and a blinding flash of yellow light hit the room. Enrique, Alicia, and Sven shut their eyes and turned away at the intensity. Alicia felt her clones dissipate into harmless black wisps as the light swept over them.
A moment later the light vanished. The trio opened their eyes to see an older woman holding up a wand. A luminous yellow orb hovered above it. With gray cat ears, tousled brown hair, and a dark blue dress coated in small silver sparkles, the woman might have seemed approachable. That is, if it wasn’t for the glare she had on her face.
“What in the king’s name is going on here?”
The three glanced at one another, then at the ruined shelves, burnt furniture, and books strewn around the room. Small fires and crackling black energy spurted from the floor. Torn pages fluttered around, some ashen and still aflame. The air was tinged with the smell of soot and smoke.
The older woman marched towards them and slammed a hand on the table. Enrique jumped at the sound. “Ridiculous! Absolutely shameful! Can’t you read the ‘access denied’ signs? What possessed you to enter the library, without permission, and proceed to try to burn it to the ground?”
Sven managed to find his voice. “We’re sorry, Miss…”
“Ms. Starfall. I swear, you’re some of the worst-behaved students I’ve seen, and I teach elementary first-level students. I’d expect more from those given partners.” The teacher gave them a disapproving stare.
Enrique shifted his feet and glanced around for an exit. “We didn’t mean to—”
She snapped, “Straight to the principal’s office! Where are your parents? I want a word with them!”
He stopped. “I don’t have parents. They died.”
Ms. Starfall arched an eyebrow.
Alicia’s face was expressionless. “Me neither. I never knew them. Probably dead.”
Sven gave a weak smile. He raised two upturned hands in an apologetic way.
The teacher tucked her wand at her waist and mussed her hair with both hands, uttering a groan. “Aaaaargh! You delinquents! Always such a pain to herd around! Listen, I don’t care if you’re Originals! There are rules and order that must be followed in a school with reputation, and you cannot use your deep-seated psychological insecurities from a prior life as an excuse to commit arson—”
“Whoa, hang on, you’ve got the wrong idea—”
“—and go traipsing around adventuring, without any thought to the safety and societal expectations of a well-functioning society! Really!” Ms. Starfall steamrolled over Enrique’s protest.
“Honestly, I’m worried about kids like you! There’s been studies, and the more independent-thinking and rebellious you are, the more insulated you become from others, and the more likely you are to fall into some deep trouble! Low self-esteem, depression, hanging with the wrong crowds…Thinking about unpaired students losing their way and possible partners who could’ve helped, it’ll drive you nuts! And I’m not the only one thinking that! The fact more delinquents are showing up thoughtless is such a concern!”
The trio stood staring at the teacher with their mouths open, not sure how to react to the outburst.
Ms. Starfall shook her head and held out a hand. “Your IDs. Follow me. I’m putting you on cleanup and detention duties, and then giving you a black mark with the principal. You’ll have to hash out an agreement for the damaged books with him.”
Remnant murmured to the three. “Run.”
“What?” Enrique yelped.
“You heard me!” The teacher glared daggers at him.
“You’re already assumed delinquents,” Remnant told Enrique. “It’s way too complicated explaining your situation. Considering none of you are even registered students. The books should have backups by the library in any case.”
“I can’t do that!”
“Oh, you will, young man!”
“I wasn’t talking to—” Enrique decided that, yes, it was indeed too complicated to explain the situation. I’m going to regret this.
He tossed a book at the teacher’s face. “Run!” he shouted to the other two.
Ms. Starfall batted the spellbook aside, but the fumbling bought Enrique enough time to dart past her. Alicia turned invisible and leaped towards the teacher, but Ms. Starfall drew her wand and glowed with intense light.
Sven held out his hands, sending out two quick, strong gusts which pushed Ms. Starfall aside while shoving Alicia through the air like a miniature cannonball.
“Seriously?” Alicia yelled at the man, spinning and landing on her feet to dash to the exit.
“Sorry, sorry,” he apologized to the teacher, and then the cat girl. “I’ll buy ice cream.” He hurried to catch up with the other two, slamming the door shut behind him.
Ms. Starfall scrambled up and began to give chase. “Delinquents! Hooligans! You’re making me miss class time for this, do you know that?”
----------------------------------------
Remnant was thrilled. “I think that went well.”
Enrique gasped out, “I think we lost her.”
The trio had reached the edge of an open field after several dizzying corner turns and flights around classroom buildings, with Enrique hoping to throw the adult off their trail. Enrique and Sven had gotten a number of stares and even some laughter from passing students.
“Probably had to go teach. She could have called campus enforcement, but we shouldn’t be staying long enough for them to get us.”
The sword’s wielder shook it angrily by the hilt as if he was trying to grab its throat. “This was a terrible idea!”
“On the contrary, it was quite reasonable. You needed practice and a streamlined library check-out. Detention wastes time and we do not want an office visit. The principal’s a heavyweight in public attention and trying anything on him would put eyes on us.”
The boy eyed the weapon. “It wasn’t right to dip. How do you know all this?”
“It’s very straightforward, buddy. Let’s go practice the psychic link in that dark corner of a wall where nobody can see us.”
Enrique slipped towards the aforementioned corner. It was in the shadows of two large buildings which were luckily deserted at the moment.
He took out the book and opened the correct page. “This is stolen. Ah, whatever.”
“Didn’t think you’d care. It’s loot. Let’s try ‘Absorption Barrier’ first. More permanent and durable than basic shields.”
“Ingenious name.”
“The best part is it can defend someone else by soaking up very powerful attacks. Despite being advanced, it’s odd in that besides absorption shielding it can deflect injuries onto its wielder. What makes it unique is physical attacks can be converted to mental ones to reduce damage on the body. With a mental link, not only is defense faster, but the effect is stronger as well. Though if you’re under too much strain, the damage can be released all at once. Like a bomb.”
Enrique began to follow the instructions on the spellbook, making a number of complicated hand signs based on some figures next to the large symbol and the written script. As mana began to flow out of him, a series of glowing blue lines began forming on the ground. He glanced down and realized he was creating the symbol from the page. It was a series of concentric circles and triangles which vaguely resembled a hexagon. The young mage felt a strange pull on his mind.
Alicia, invisibility turned off now, observed in silence. It was probably best to let him suffer any consequences of an unknown spell first, and she was curious.
Remnant hummed with disapproval. “Not your fault, but it’s too noisy a spell for something swift and silent. Slow. Visible. It would be easier to store it somewhere or have someone experienced tone it down—but never mind that. Now attach the link to your first target. Me.”
“How?”
“Sensing mana. I have your partner’s mana so that’s easiest for you to detect. It should feel familiar. Very high level mages can sense the aura of others around them, though there are powers and ways to minimize that.”
Alicia blinked at this revelation. She kept her face passive.
“We’re going to have three mana sources,” Remnant explained. “You, your partner through me, and then one target to give and receive our selected spell.”
Enrique gripped the hilt of the sword. He concentrated as hard as he could, willing his mind towards his weapon. Feeling the pull like a string going tighter. A bizarre mix of emotions went through him as he finally grasped a stream of energy coming from the sword like invisible waves. There was an intimacy to the energy. He’d sensed it before. He felt simultaneously calm, resigned, and yet extremely depressed.
Vi’s voice sounded in his mind. …Everything’s my fault. If I do more I could keep messing up. Why even try? I should sit on the sidelines and let everything play out…
This place brings back memories. There’s the table by the pillar we used to hang out with our friends. That’s the old classroom where we’d practice spellwork. There’s a new soda machine, I guess some kids smashed it…At least they still have that nice sandwich shop. I wonder if they still use meat from the butcher’s—ah. I shouldn’t think about that. Too much blood. Sharp things. I’ll think of him. I suppose Enrique needs help. Starting about now, I guess. Hey. Do you need anything?
Um…I can hear your thoughts, Enrique realized. He felt awkward.
That’s the mind link. Do you need me to perform a certain spell?
Yeah. Remnant suggested this Absorption Barrier spell.
Sure. The voice in his mind was very quiet and sad.
He heard Remant’s voice in his mind. “Okay? You’ve established the link? Good. Hold it. Now you need to make physical contact with a target. Sven? Would you be fine with that?”
Enrique shot a look at Sven.
The cloaked man walked over. “First of all, I want to say sorry for Alicia attacking you like that. That was completely uncalled for.”
“I’m not saying sorry!” Alicia snapped.
“That’s why I’m saying it,” Sven said. He held out a hand. “No hard feelings, I hope.”
Enrique cracked a small smile. “Don’t worry about it, man.” He grasped his hand.
Remnant spoke. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re the caster. Vi’s going to erect a barrier wherever she is and pass it to Sven through the link. Then, you’ll pass that to yourself. After that you transfer a spell back to Vi. Even with such a huge distance, it should be much easier than normal because your mana are both compatible down to the soul level. In other words, you already have a kind of default connection even without this psychic link. Got it?”
There was a blinding flash of blue light and a domed, semi-transparent blue barrier appeared around Sven.
Enrique suddenly heard Sven’s voice in his head as well. Wow. That’s very cool.
What the heck?
Hmm. It really is psychic. I can hear you as well.
This is kind of creepy.
Before he could be more put off, Remnant gave another instruction. “Let’s do an exchange. Transfer Sven’s barrier to yourself.”
Enrique reached for Sven’s mind. A string was being pictured in his own mind, like a thin blue line of light stretching towards Sven. He traveled along until he reached what he sensed as an orb of pulsing energy where Sven was. In his mental picture, there was a smaller orb inside it. The miniature ball slowly siphoned off parts of itself, like it was dissolving into smaller sparks of light, traveling from Sven through the line back to him.
In the real world, a small, thin dome grew around Enrique. He watched as it solidified and expanded into a larger shape, taking up more volume and growing slightly less transparent until it was roughly five times its original size, matching what he’d seen from Sven.
Enrique inspected the barrier and held out his hands. “I didn’t need to use any energy.”
“Good enough. Ask Vi if she’s ready to receive a spell from you. Could be anything. The thing is, since your mana is easily entwined, you might not notice the transfer. It’s normal for partners to remotely gain off each other’s energy when they improve.”
All right. Vi? Ready?
For what?
Enrique needed a second to realize what Remnant had said earlier. Oh. You really can’t hear him. Remnant asked me to send you a spell.
Vi said nothing, so he took this as an affirmative. He decided on attempting a regular shield, pushing it across a long mental line which stretched an unknowable distance to her.
Oh. That’s nice. It’s good you could learn that. He saw the red shield he’d erected had shrunk to a small disc. Apparently it had worked, at least a little bit.
“You’ve got it.” Remnant sounded pleased. “Break the connection now.”
He let his concentration lapse.
There was a distinct snip sound in his mind as the link cut.
The shield vanished and Enrique sucked in a gasp, winded like he’d sprinted in a race. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath.
All of a sudden, the three heard shouting across the field from them. A large crowd was gathered on the grass. A loud, cocky male voice announced to the noisy group. “Don’t worry. I’m going to put a stop to the invasion. I’m going to save the kingdom!”