Ophelia and I went over our plan one last time before turning to face the door. Because time flowed much differently in dungeons compared to the world outside, only a few minutes would have passed for Roquain and his men. Ophelia seemed certain of that much at least. She also said that he would know that we had not failed, because if we had the gate that the mage had opened would have shut down. Which meant that as long as the gate was active, they knew we were inside.

We couldn’t wait them out, we couldn’t find a different exit, and neither one of us was willing to get put in chains a second time.

“I know you didn’t spend a lot of time with us out there. They caught you the same day they threw us in here, so you only saw a bit of what was going on. But they have more slaves. Maybe 5 more people to sell. I counted 15 or 16 bandits as well, but I could have been wrong.” Opehlia went over the numbers one last time.

I wanted to save them, I really did. I had always thought that if I had powers, I’d do my best to save as many people as possible. But… “If we can save them, we will. If the bandits prove too much though, we run, right?”

She nodded, and I knew the grim expression on her face mirrored the one on my own.

“Neither of us has acquired any additional power beyond the focus core. Those bandits are probably too strong for us to take out on our own if we try to fight them all.”

I knew that. We had gone over this so many times. But the idea of leaving behind five people to be sold into slavery left a bad taste in both our mouths. We had a plan though, an idea at least, and we would do our best.

“We’ve been over this enough. Let's just get it over with.” I just wanted this done. My stomach was in knots, and the longer we waited at this point, the harder I was going to find it to go. Ophelia had spent time training, learning to fight, getting used to the idea of killing. At least, that is what she had said.

I had not. Goblins were one thing. They had seemed like video game enemies. Even the corpse of myself was different in that regard. Right now, I was preparing to step out of this dungeon and kill people. People with names, families, loved ones. I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have a choice.

Ophelia nodded. “We will get through this, Niles. I promise.”

“I know we will.”

Goddess above, I hoped we were right.

We stepped forward together, Ophelia a half step in front of me. The archway out of the dungeon was the same one we had come in what felt like a lifetime ago. Had it really only been about a day? A green light filled it once more, just as it had when we entered. One more step, and we went through the portal. The world around us disappeared in a flash as that same electric feeling coursed through my body. And just like before, I fell an inch or two down, feet suddenly touching the ground.

The light outside of the dungeon was blinding. We had entered the dungeon just before noon, and the time definitely hadn’t changed much. I had to cover my eyes for a moment as they tried to adjust to the burning midday sun. Ophelia didn’t seem to be managing it much better than I, and I wondered if her race had something to do with that.

“Well? Did you succeed?” asked a voice behind us. I had forgotten how Roquain sounded both elegant and rough. If I had to guess, he had tried to learn to speak like the nobles so that he could pass among them. I doubt it had worked really. Even in my old world, old money knew old money and I’d guess that Roquain would smell like new money to anyone worth knowing in this one.

“I got robes and a hat.” I offered, still shielding my eyes. We needed time to adjust to the light. I kept an eye on Ophelia’s hands, waiting for her signal. When she was ready, we’d launch our attack.

“You… you went into a trial ground and came out with loot?” He asked, sounding stunned. The man turned to Ophelia. “You, girl, what focus core did you attain?”

Ophelia had a sword in her hand, another conjured weapon she had made sure was ready before she came through. It was a crystalline looking rapier with a blood red crossguard and a barbed pommel strike. The thing looked like it could stab the wielder just as easily as it could an opponent. “The treasure room gave me a sword.” She said, offering the blade to Roquain.

He stared at the weapon as I pulled my arm down, trying to gauge his expression. He took it from her hands, looking over it with disbelief. “Archie, are you sure this was a trial ground and not a beginners dungeon?” He asked the mage who had opened the portal originally.

“Y-yes! That's what the map said!” the mage stuttered out.

Roquain turned away from us, and to the mage, holding out rapier in one hand and pointing at me with the other. “Then explain that!” He shouted, sounding furious.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The mage just sat there, mouth agape. It lasted a few seconds, the two arguing, me watching, and Ophelia trying to get her eyes adjusted. I saw the moment our ruse ended, when the mage’s eyes filled with comprehension. “Its conjur-” he tried to shout, but it was to late.

Ophelia gave the signal, her hand flashing wide open and closing as she darted with truly blinding speed. The sword that had been in Roquain’s hands vanished, reappearing in Ophelia’s mid thrust. The crystalline tip of the blade pushed right through the armor he wore, into his midsection, and out the other side in a gruesome display.

At the same time, I pulled out my tome, previously hidden in the sleeve of my robe. I pushed mana through it, aiming my other hand at the mage. A colorless bolt of force erupted from my hand, charging down at the mage and smashing into his chest like a cannonball. The mage crumpled as he hit the ground 20 feet back from where he started. He was dazed for certain, but I could see that he wasn’t out cold as he started getting back up.

This was the hard part. We were in a courtyard, with high walls on all sides. Roquain had posted the majority of his men at the top of those walls, watching in and out. Each of them had a bow and a quiver and were looking down at us. Occasionally, one would fire a shot from their bow, but since we were so close to their leader, they weren’t quite ready to unleash hell. At least, not at Ophelia. I, on the other hand, was far enough away that the archers declared open season on my ass.

Luckily, I could see the arrows as they fired, and tell if they were on a path that would hit me or not.

[Kinetic Vision]

* [Passive]

* [Perception]

* User can perceive the motion of objects in sight, no matter the size or speed. Does not increase reaction time.

The bandits clearly were not master archers, which was the only reason we were at all safe. Most of the arrows went wide, but I intercepted several with well timed barriers that started to create a screen of shattered pieces of light quite quickly. I tried to keep an eye on my mana bar, which was draining quickly, even as I tried to time the shields so that there were never two up at the same time.

Ophelia pulled her sword free of Roquain, the blood on the blade soaking into the crystal and turning it a pale, dull red. “Run!”

We ran, dodging and weaving as we did. Neither of us had armor anymore, that had been lost when we left the dungeon. We were making our way across the courtyard as fast as we could, aiming for an open door. I was tossing out force bolts at the archers on the wall while we did, trying to knock as many of them off as I could, and even managing to hit two of them. I could hear them scream as they fell from the wall, and bile rose in my mouth.

Just as we reached the gate to the courtyard that would lead us out, a wall of earth rose in front of us, blocking our escape. Ophelia and I both turned, seeing the mage approaching. He was pissed, his eyes burning with the desire to murder. And they were focused on me. Shit. This had been the problem with the simple plan. I could keep arrows off us sure, and we figured Roquain wouldn’t be overly cautious with his archers on the wall, but the mage was a wildcard. As he walked towards us, earth covered his body, rising from the ground and over his legs. It traveled up his body, forming a suit of armor over his body.

I tried firing a few more force bolts at the mage, but his armor absorbed the hits. Earth flew from his body, but the mage wasn’t slowed in the slightest, and the armor quickly regrew, replacing itself on his body. He lunged forward, throwing a punch from several feet away right at me. His enormous stone fist rocketed off of his armor right for my head, and I barely managed to duck, feeling it explode off the earthen wall behind me and shatter into pieces that peppered my back. “Shit!”

Ophelia darted in, rapier at the ready. Before getting the focus core she had already been fast, nearing the limit of what I thought humans could move at. Now she was so quick that only my new ability let me track where she was going, Kinetic Vision informing me of movements that before would have just been an Ophelia colored blur.

She launched a thrust at the mage, the tip of her blade aimed right at his face, but the rapier bounced off the earthen armor. The mage returned fire, his left arm shifting shape so that the fist formed a pointed end. I barely managed to get up a barrier in time to block the blow, sending his arm bouncing off to the side. Ophelia struck out again, trying to pierce his center, but the rapier couldn’t even seem to scratch the armor.

The back and forth went on for a few more blows, neither combatant able to land a hit on the other. Ophelia was dodging now, so I blocked the stray arrows coming at us both. I felt useless, unable to contribute at this point, other than to stop the arrows coming in. Even my force bolt hadn’t done more than….

“Ophelia, ready!” I shouted out, eyes wide with an idea. I launched another force bolt at the mage, managing to land the hit on his left side. The stone there blew off, absorbing the magic. Before the armor could reform though, Ophelia launched her attack as well, her rapier stabbing into the opening and pushing in deeply. The mage screamed in pain, his armor crumbling as he fell to the ground, clutching his side. Ophelia pulled the blade free and we turned as the wall crumbled.

“Let's go, quickly, before either of them get up.” Ophelia’s words surprised me, and I turned back to see that Roquain was indeed starting to stand. I was sure that had been a killing blow however.

Instead, he seemed just fine, bloodied and a little woozy maybe, but he wasn’t leaking, or dead. “What the fuck….” I turned back again and ran into the gate, heading out of the courtyard and into the winding halls of the castle. The route out was through here, but so were the prisoners if we could get to them. I followed Ophelia through the castle, hoping she knew where she was going better than I did. The few times we ran into a bandit, Ophelia took care of them fairly easily. It seemed her blinding speed was faster than the bandits could handle as well. Or did they have low quality focus cores? Still too much I didn’t know. We ran and ran and ran, but never seemed any closer to the exit until, finally, we stopped in front of a door.

“We are here.” She said simply, and opened it. In front of us was the prison block.