Chapter 181

Letting Others Try

“Actually, I don’t mind your rain. Though I normally don’t like getting rained on as a whole.” Zero answers.

“You like the energy in the rain? Or what?” I ask, trying to understand a potentially hidden side of Zero. Or maybe hidden is not the correct word, but rather a side that I never thought to ask about.

“Normal rain just feels cold and draining. While your rain has that warm energy to it that makes the entire experience enjoyable to be part in. I don’t know, it is hard to describe.” Zero says, and while it might feel like he is trying to suck up, that is not where we are in our relationship at this time. Which is why I know he means every word he is saying, at least at this moment.

“Ready for the next spot?” I ask, after getting the quest update for our most recent spot, the eighth spot to be cleansed.

Acres of land claimed (460 / 20).

“Do you want to go as a Tattoo with me?” I ask.

There is the slightest of hesitations, before Zero asks, “would it be okay if we just fly there instead?”

I pause for a moment, realizing that this will severely slow down my pace, but then I realize that this might be exactly what Zero is after.

“Yeah, let’s go for a quick stroll then.” I reply.

Then with that, I grab Zero’s paw and we begin flying slowly. Well, as quick as we can for flying purposes, but far slower than the near instantaneous movement that Teleportation offers us or would offer us. I could always create a Portal to the next spot, but that would use valuable mana that I would then need to use to perform another casting of Cleansing Rain.

As such, us taking time to slowly get there, or at least slow per my normal pace is a bit of a reward. It takes a lot of time to get to the marker location with the numeral nine on it, but that is okay. As soon as I see the marker, I begin casting Cleansing Rain, realizing that the portion of land that we are now covering can only benefit from getting more of this life fulfilling rain.

Light drizzle.

“Ahh, that’s the stuff.” Zero says, as he lets the rain pour down over him.

Looking at him and his antics, I can’t help but smile.

“The small moments Cass.” I whisper to myself.

“What?” Zero asks, his dragon hearing apparently able to pick up on my comment.

“I tried to remind myself of the importance of small moments.”

“What?” Zero asks again, this time clearly confused by my response.

“It is that whole philosophy that big moments are meaningless without the foundation of multiple small moments that led to the big moments. This right here, this moment, taking time to move slower with a friend. This is one of those moments that I want to make sure I ingrain in my mind.” I respond.

Hmm.

Zero murmurs contemplatively to himself after that revelation, but otherwise stays silent.

Suddenly the quiet that had settled between the two of us is not quite as suffocating as before. We get to the intended marker in a much slower time, but by the time we are there, rain clouds just continue to follow overhead before they then pass us.

Like synchronized swimmers knowing exactly where to stop, we hit our marks and stop our advancement. Me stopping as I am now directly overhead the land marker that we put in place, and Zero because well Zero was watching me intently. Or maybe he just had the presence to know when and where I would stop my progression.

We stay like that for a while, me in the turmoil of my own thoughts that don’t seem to slow down, and Zero with his seeming enjoyment from just being outside and experiencing the advancement of my magic.

Realizing how sad his life must have been for the past few months, being forced to stay in the Mage Guild Library and never getting a chance to experience the true wonders of nature must have been suffocating to him. That or, maybe that is what I would think, if I was stuck in the Mage’s Guild all the time. Well, unless I was reading books, but every once in a while, I think I would still need to go out and explore.

Then again, this might all just be me projecting my own thoughts onto Zero, which is why I ultimately decide to ask him.

“So what are you thinking about?” I ask, seeing Zero move his head around, but realizing that he like me has Angel’s Sight and the moving of the head is meant to help others realize where he is focusing his attention.

At this, I realize he likely also saw the plate and was waiting for me to stop. Yeah, definitely wasn’t a synchronization of neural impulses, especially not after just a few moments. It was stupid to think otherwise, I chide myself mentally before hearing Zero’s answer to my question.

“Nothing really.”

I nod my head, realizing that is likely the answer I too would give in just such a situation. The reality being that it is hard to limit all your thoughts down to one finite thought process, as your mind was really everywhere just moments ago, and trying to fit your entire train of thoughts from spell formulas that are being updated and rotated through, to interpersonal relationships between yourself and your familiar, and what to prepare for next when it comes to the three major quest lines that are going on, that sometimes stating nothing, is a lot easier than showing just how lost you are in that particular moment.

Just as I let my mind begin to relax, as I feel some of the tension I have been feeling get washed away by my own magical rain water that is being absorbed back into my body, I hear it.

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GRRRAAGGHHHAHHHAAA!

Sigh.

With that cry, I let out a dejected sigh, realizing that I will have to come back here, as I know I will likely be needed to respond to the threat that is now coming from the Eastern border of our land. While the monster is still too far away for me to see it clearly, that is the clear direction that the mental challenge released by the most recent Cardinal Guardian came from.

Then a brief scan of the time shows me that this guardian arrived a lot faster than the others did.

Time left to defend your land (7 hours 59 minutes 58 seconds).

Three hours. That was how much time passed between the appearance of the second cardinal guardian, and this one.

Warmth.

There is an oddly warm feeling on my right hand. I pause to focus my attention down to realize that it is Zero there, with his clawed appendage covering my hand.

I am about to ask what exactly he is doing, when I hear him ask, well more like plead with me.

“Let’s finish this first.” Zero insists.

I want to argue, to point out that we don’t have time. I want to point out that people will die if I don’t do something. I would have thought that Zero of all people would have understood this part of me, the fact that I would want to save everyone I could.

Yet, before I could express any of my objections, Zero spoke.

“You want to move about freely within the Arcanarus Tower. You want to do so never having to hop back and forth constantly trying to see if everyone will be okay without you. Well, this is your chance to get that confidence that you need.”

“But I…” I was about to say how I don’t want anyone to die, but Zero apparently already understands this dilemma.

“Your daughter is here, and she is a more than capable healer and is even capable of Resurrection, something that you yourself are well aware of. Mallory is a more than capable leader with not one, but two previously subjugated Cardinal Protectors that will assist in this endeavor, along with hundreds of high-ranking spectral warriors at her command. They don’t need you.” Zero states.

“Ouch.” I reply, not quite knowing how to handle that last statement.

“They do want you; I mean honestly who wouldn’t. But that said, they don’t need you to do everything for them. In fact, by you acting so quickly and decisively, don’t you realize you are taking away their own agency and ability to grow and adapt to challenges?” Zero posed.

At that, I paused and tried to take in the words that were being said to me. I had been told many similar lessons in my past life, mostly about how I never gave my children a chance to fail as I was always there to show them the correct path before they truly needed me.

Sometimes, I wonder if that is how Rob Jr., or should I say Trenton, became to be as he is now.

I feel the battle raging on in my mind, but I still just want to be nearby in case anything terrible happens. That is of course when Zero hits me with the knockout blow.

“Of course, we will go to back them up, but only after we are done here. I will even travel with you as a Tattoo so we can get there faster. That said, I will only do so if you stay here and finish this task, before running off to do the next, only to come back here and try to pick up where you last left off at.”

I pause turning my whole body to face Zero.

In this moment, I have a myriad of thoughts flood through my mind. For the briefest of seconds, I wonder if Zero is currently acting as an agent for the world we are living in. Where in this role he is here to help evaluate the performance of the other guild members during these tests. This would be the same thing as a professor doing a spot check on a group assignment, trying to make sure that while one person was clearly carrying the team, everyone else at least understood the content being presented. Of course, this was thrown out the window as it was clear that Cass was not carrying the team. In fact, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to be nearly as far along had there not been a lot of highly trained analysts working, placing markers, and allowing for contingencies to happen all over.

Then the other idea came where I wondered if this was Zero’s way of trying to get me to relax a bit more. I have been so stressed out and didn’t even realize it until now. Until Zero all but forced me to move slower. Everything had felt so rushed recently. Everything from my botched birthday present, to finding the library dungeon, to wanting to go further up the Arcanarus Tower to teaching others…

It was at that point that I realized I was pushing a bit too hard. Even after my reminder to myself on just this trip, I only now realized that I was missing the small moments, those brief moments of peace and happiness that make the big moments that much more memorable and enjoyable.

Deep breath out.

I clear my lungs, and then pause, as I quickly flip my hand around and once again grab Zero’s paw as we just stand there. Well really float there, over a kilometer above the ground, letting the rain wash over us as we purify yet even more land and manage to link it to our already claimed sections.

Silence.

We don’t say a word, as we don’t need to. This moment, these minutes of absolute peace and tranquility that are surrounded by a backdrop of chaos, these are the moments worth living for. The moments that we need to pause, carve out a chunk of our mind and place this memory in there, while we look for hope of better times in the future. Times where we ultimately will wish we felt like this moment right here.

I am completely drenched.

The water while warm initially does get cold within seconds, but this too is acceptable. Even when the cold-water clings to my clothes and threatens to constantly saturate my body with a cold embrace, that too is fine. So long as I let warmth fill me from the inside out, I remain warm.

I do cheat after a point and end up cycling my rampant stores of Qi to help keep my body warm and to further help regulate my body temperature. At this rate, even my wet clothes do dry off quickly.

Within no time we got the notification that we were waiting for.

Acres of land claimed (506 / 20).

“Time to go?” Zero asks more than states.

By this point the clouds overhead have begun to break apart, as I’ve stopped focusing on channeling my mana into them.

I use this moment to help recycle the falling mana back into my body, and to replenish my already low reserves.

“Ten breaths,” I answer, not wanting this moment to end, but knowing that we should at the very least go to help my pregnant daughter heal and Resurrect any people that might have already been injured or destroyed.

“Okay,” Zero replies, turning from me to face outwards towards the open fields and the breaking apart clouds.

“In my mind, I can almost imagine the rainbow forming, as light would now be able to shine through the dissipating clouds and shine through the droplets of water that have not condensed enough to fall as rain.” I say, mentally trying to imagine what the scene would look like to others.

“Yeah, it’s probably beautiful, with red being the greatest color and shining down touching the ground and shining on a spot of land that would probably seem like the perfect place to stop, build a house and set up a new calmer life at.” Zero continued.

I nodded, a slightly relaxed feel hitting me, as I learned to just relax and take the moment that was presented to me.

For I knew that the moment I left here, I would be at the heart of battle, and would get lost in the need to react quickly and methodically. But that was still four breaths away.

In this moment, at this one perfect place in time, I was calm. The world was calm. There were no signs of disasters or strife, no signs of monsters coming to ruin a peaceful existence we were attempting to carve out for ourselves. Instead, all we had was a mental image of what perfection would look like if able to be captured in a bottle, and each other.

Deep breath out.

I nodded my head, having counted to ten. Zero not needing to be told twice instantly began to form himself into a tattoo that spanned the length of my arm. Of course, he somehow did this while easily melting through my gloves and the sleeve of my Doctor’s outfit, not leaving so much as a residue of power on his way into my arm. Still I could clearly see him.

“Right.” I say then turning to face east, I am about to Teleport away, when Zero with his last claw that had not fully melded into my flesh pointed slightly more to the right from my current direction.

I was about to argue, but then realized Zero might be better at depicting directions than me. Trusting him, or at least aware that I could blame my tardiness on Zero if I did end up getting lost, I change my heading and Teleport.

Poof.

Poof.

Poof.

By the time we get near enough to see the battle of Cardinal Protectors unfolding, I realize two things. First Zero has an amazing sense of direction, despite being blind like me. Second, the water spirit protector that everyone seems to be fighting against is nearly dead.

The dragons are all so big and strong that even moving creates giant fissures and cracks in the earth. Fortunately, Mallory, or the cardinal protectors all managed to engage the monster while it was outside the immediate area of our cleared territories. That said, it was still a wild battle that was happening between the three monstrous elements.

I pause, realizing that for whatever reason the water spirit is not stopping. As it is clawing into and through the other guardians, despite being near death. I can tell as giant streams of energy are pouring down from the beast’s sides. Yet, it is not showing any signs of slowing down. Even with the Air dragon clamping down on its neck, it doesn’t surrender, only continuing to struggle and writhe around.

“What is happening?” I ask no one in particular.

At this, Zero emerges from my arm and then quickly takes in the situation before offering his perspective.

“They don’t know how to tame the cardinal protector and are going to end up killing it at this rate.” Zero says, a bit nonchalantly.

“What?” I ask, suddenly wondering why we waited so long.

Then I realized this was likely one of those things that I was meant to see. Could the guild rise to the occasion, or would they falter.

I sat there, then finding my daughter Gwen on the backlines healing people I grabbed Zero who quickly reformed with me, before I Teleported right next to her.

“Mom?” Gwen asked, apparently startled by my appearance.

Seeing her, I quickly touched her, and sent a course of my energy into her. This helped her baby maintain the advantages of my bloodline, meaning that Gwen could once again spend more time with Mallory, once this was all over. But I also made sure to send out waves of calming energy into and through Gwen so she didn’t stress herself out, while being pregnant.

“Breathe,” I say. Then after a long second Gwen finally forced a deep breath in and then out. Only after that did she look calm enough to ask me the question that was clearly on her mind.

“Why aren’t you out there helping?” Gwen asked.