Adil leaned in and rested on his hand as he stared into the image. He saw Griffon keep a respectable distance from Steve as they left the captive prisoners with the associates they met up with, who quickly disappeared before the main army caught up with their scouting positions. 

"If it works out like this, we can just take them all out like hitman 47." 

Urakle didn't even acknowledge his nonsensical reference.

A small drone started making some awkward beeping sound that Adil was unsure if they could previously do or not. The strange vibrating silvery insect was shaking on the war table in front of him. He picked up the drone and heard the sound of a very grumpy older man.

"The she-thin- uh, dryad wishes to say the analysis is complete."

"Okay, can you put her on?"

the drone seems to make some slithery fizzing sound as it was passed around.

"Ah dear, we have some interesting news."

"So, how large is the explosion radius?"

"Well, It's not really a bomb."

"Come again?"

"Its more like a virus. It spreads an infection that attacks the essence. It changes what we have come to know as the script mana current script.

The script is how a person uses mana, its what their essence, a crystalline structure of mana does to enable mana to be used in a person's unique form.

Changing this, it causes a person to self combust, as though their very essence is telling them to burn."

"Christ."

"what?"

"Can you survive it?"

"In theory."

"In theory?"

"Ah dear, you really need to catch up. The 'Itherax" as they call it, brings the fire with it. Even if it does infect you, it will only kill you if the power it brings with it overpowers your essence. In fact, the strength of specific crystal we analysed would be like that of a giant weed killer. For this forest, it may not even damage the trees, but may help increase their travel speed."

"Thanks, that's good to know."

"Anytime. So, how is he doing? My apprentice?"

"Steve? He, uh, seems to be getting along.,"

"Good."

They contacted Steve with the drone he kept on him, it slithered close to his ear so they could speak.

"The crystal do you still have it?"

"Yep"

"Throw it away,"

"Don't you want it?"

"It's not worth the risk. Find somewhere safe to get rid of it."

"Ok"

Steve took the crystal out for a last look and put it back into his pouch. 

"Mate, do you know what you are?" Griffon asked.

"No, what am I?"

"You are a mentalist."

"What's that?"

"A man that can use the powers of the beyond to change a person's thoughts."

"Well, I dunno. I guess I am!"

"So, what's it like? To use that power."

"...Well, sometimes I think really hard, and I feel a funny feeling and then when I use this power, and I try to be really... Confident? I just like feel their mind on mine and can make them do things, like put them to sleep."

"Ok mate. Seems a bit intrusive."

"Well, I like it."

Griffon let out a sigh,

"You haven't... You know..."

"What?"

"Used it on me have you?" 

"NO! I can't even do that without you knowing. As soon as I stop talking, I can't get them to do anything anymore."

"But they still stay asleep?"

"Yeah, they still stay asleep," Steve added jovially.

After that, the two of them talked very little.

A few soldiers came into vision, and one of them took a double-take towards Griffon. Griffon was deep in thought he seemed to be a bit jittery as though overthinking something.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Hey, is that you. Griffon?"

"Uh, what now?"

"Griffon. I knew it was you old buddy; I thought you went missing."

"You, yeah, you're a friend from-"

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

 A lady in a dark robe popped out from the bush, she seemed flustered.

"You there. Where are the other scouts, did you take it from them?"

"You what now?" griffon asked.

The lady in the robes looked angry through her hood. Steve turned to Griffon.

"I've got this, I've seen her before."

He walked over to the lady holding a big smile.

"I know you have been looking at me, and I want to be your friend too."

the woman pushed him to the side and stared down at Griffon.

"The itherax scout, where is he."

Back in the war room, everyone recognised the lady who had just recently appeared on the screens. A mysterious overpowered mage who had appeared to slice a field boss in two.

Adil connected a drone to Swift, who had somehow tamed one of the field bosses and was riding it. The beast was giant, something close to that of a large red-mane lion with the face of a hawk. 

"Griffon and Steve need your help, create a distraction, head east, and just start the carnage." 

Swift immediately took off in the direction he was given. The giant bird rampaging like no one's business. Trees fell as it burst through bushes and jumped over rocky cliffs.

The bird sprung out of the bushes Swift upon its back. He was beaming broadly with a stick partly on fire in one hand. 

"MUHUHAHAHAHAHAHA. I HAVE BEEN EXPECTING YOU," Swift announced.

Somehow in this strange event, no one appeared to know what to do. Griffon and Steve had not been warned and seemed both in a sort of daze. They had a moment of recognition when they saw Swift standing atop the beast. The lady in blue robes seemed unbearably confused.

Swift began channelling fire within his hands, creating a small vortex over his shoulder as he lifted his hands to the side. 

The ordinary crusading soldier looked at griffon, looked around, panicked and then charged towards the beast screaming sword drawn. With that, Steve and Griffon drew theirs unsure if they should make their move or who for. The robed lady got out another crystal before the soldier had stuck his sword into the large red bird. The bird, being stabbed, kicked the soldier away. The body left its sword behind as it flew into a bush. 

Swift having charged his fire, launched it forward, just far enough away from Steve and Griffon to not hurt them. A shield emerged, glistening with hexagonal patterns of light which appeared to repel the flames like a solid structure. The dark-robed mage having created it by use of yet another crystal. 

Griffon had a panicked look in his eyes. He turned towards the giant bird with the cartoon villain laughing upon it and then looked to the mage shielding him from fire. Steve looked at him with a gormless expression.

Something seemed to change in Griffon then.

"I don't know what's real," he said.

Adil staring through the war table heard what he said and in amazement could only ask "What are you talking about."

Griffon turned to Steve with his sword drawn and a dark, confused expression on his face. 

"Listen, mate, if you are my friend I'm sorry. But I don't know if you've been in my head, I don't know what's real. And this. This is too much."

He went to stab Steve, plunging straight with his sword whilst Steve could only open his mouth and stare in shock. "But you're my friend!" 

Then the dark mage lady still channelling her mana through the shield shot a burst of blue energy at Griffon and shot him across the room, the massive influx of mana appearing to turn directly into kinetic energy. His arm breaking as he crashed against a tree and collapsed to the ground.

"No, you don't get it," Griffon said.

"Get what traitor." The dark-robed woman shouted through gritted teeth.

Swift, thinking this was somehow part of the plan, focused his fire on the robed lady who slowly approached Griffon's mangled body whilst easily repelling the flames with her shield. Griffon coughed up some blood and stared the lady down as she approached, the fire just fell around the shield of light obscuring their vision. Swift in his current state could do little but distract the dark mage.

Swift kicked the sides of the giant flightless red-maned hawk, having it charge forward. It crashed into the wall and collapsed. The impact seemed to have finally broken thorugh the shield, causing it to disappear as the chicken like beast fell backwards. Swift though had been knocked off and was now falling down towards the shield as it dissipated.

He held out his hands and channelled a spear of fire as he fell aiming it at the dark-robed lady.

The lady shot a beam of light, concentrated with a crystal towards what she could see of the giant creature through the dispersing flames, getting a choked Cockrell's scream but was quickly and strangely pushed out the way by Steve. In a twist of fate leading the partially confused Swift stabbing his spear of fire into the ground where she once stood, grazing Steve in the arm and cutting through his metal plate.

The robed lady now looked stunned with her hood down, a shocked expression on a high elf face.

She quickly turned to the shocked Swift who looked around and then a stream of blue light engulfed his very being, blue energy filled his face as his skin grew bloated and blue. The outlines of blue mana lines across his face until he exploded in a paste of red and green, then the mana evaporated and the paste soon turned to a red fleshy colour.

Steve walked over to the lady on the ground and reached out his hand to pick her up.

"Yu-you  saved me," she said

"My mother used to tell me not to let a lady be killed by giant chickens and fire," he replied, strangely without sarcasm.

"I am in your debt," she sternly stated.

They gathered their bearings and walked over to the trees collapsed in the distance, the mangled body of Griffon now collapsed against the trees.

Griffon looked across Steve and the dark-robed lady in deep growing confusion almost coming to some sort of nihilistic decision and becoming visibly more certain of himself.

"I... Am with the cave," he said before embracing his death as the beam of light entered his heart.

Swift respawned with a new set of notifications.

Notification

your mana has been overloaded from an outside force. 

Mana handling skill increased

you have died.

He waited in the spawn room for Griffon to appear. Who came too with tears in his eyes and hugged the confused Swift that had many many questions.

"That mate, was a mind fuck."

"As long as you're alright friend."

They walked back into the war-room, Adil and Urakle were waiting at the war table. 

"What just happened?" Swift asked.

"I thought you would tell me."

griffon put his hands up in surrender. "Don't worry mate, won't happen again."

Adil grew a bit confused by that response. "Riiiight.."

Urakle took control and stared at Swift.

"The one in the dark robes was a high elf and Steve is now doing the honey pot. "

"Does Steve know she is a high elf?" Adil asked. None replied.

The high elf escorted Steve and came across the eyepatched major, she signalled for him to come closer to which the major did and took to one knee. 

"Stand, we need to take care of this soldier. He was injured saving my life."

"Oh, I don't need the healing that, much," Steve said motioning to part of his arm that had been burnt off. It was where the flaming spear had cut through his armour. His newfound ability to respawn had somehow dampened the concern for wounds in his mind and his apprenticeship for the dryad had somehow lessened how much he noticed pain.

"By the beyond boy, we need to get that sorted out," the major stated in concern. He then forgot himself and turned to the high elf. 

"Has the traitor been dealt with."

"The one the soldiers recognised from the earlier scouting mission has been killed. But we have no idea of the 'itherax' location."

Steve thought for a moment, they did tell him to get rid of it. He brought the 'itherax' out of his pouch and showed it to those before him.

"Do you mean this?" He asked.

"The crystal!" The major exclaimed.

The dark mage grabbed it out of Steves being and after wrestling it from some initial resistance held it in front of her.

"Steve, you were told not to tell the soldiers, but she is of a higher rank," the major explained.

The dark mage carried on, staring into the crystal in awe that it still existed in this place.

"You," she chuckled. 

"They said I would not find greatness outside the citadel. But after meeting you, I am not so certain."