Chapter 57 Just A Mage.

Isaac, Lenna, Fable, and the Flame Ravens headed back towards Safeharbor at much more measured pace than their trip out. They still hadn’t decided if they were actually going to go the whole way back or just find a good place to rest for a few hours. As such they were just going back the way they had come from in what amounted to a fast walk. “Isaac.” Lenna said to get his attention. “Your boost is still active.” She reminded him.

“I’m trying to see where my mental limit is. It takes some amount of concentration to keep it active but most of the mental load is only while I’m moving.” He explained. “Actually thinking about every muscle as I am moving is a pain but it’s doable for a while. I am also kind of hoping that maybe eventually I’ll be able to do this without paying attention to it directly.”

“Like muscle memory?” Lenna questioned.

“Exactly.” Isaac agreed. “Why did you bring it up though?” He asked.

Lenna nodded back over her shoulder and Isaac stole a glance to see what she meant. “They’ve been giving you a wide berth.” She explained.

“Does it really feel that disconcerting?” Isaac wondered.

Lenna nodded. “Imagine you are standing on the edge of a cliff.” She began. “Now, while you are there peering down into the bottomless abyss, close your eyes.”

Isaac shivered. “I see.” He replied. “Should I stop?”

Lenna shrugged. “I’m used to it. The first time I felt it was when you saved me, it is kind of nostalgic.”

Isaac chuckled. “That makes me feel better.” He confessed. “Is there a good place to stop, close by?” He asked her, abruptly changing topics.

Lenna pulled out the map of the section of tunnel that they were in. After a moment she nodded and pressed on a small inlet that didn’t appear to lead anywhere. “Another mile or so.” She told him.

Isaac nodded and stopped walking. He turned to watch the rest of the group closing in. “We’re camping out.” Isaac told them. “There is a decent spot in about a mile.” He panned his gaze over them. “You are welcome to stay with us but I don’t feel like making the five to seven hour run both ways again. It was bad enough getting out here.”

“We’ll join you.” Esk spoke up. He looked a little antsy. “Is there any way that you could turn off the murder aura?”

Isaac smirked and relaxed his control over his death flames. He took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. By the time his exhale was done all traces of his death flames were gone as they had been turned back into dark mana. His exhale let out a black fog much like the mist that was on his breath after Fable’s spell only the opposite color. It vanished just as quickly. “Better?” Isaac asked.

Esk nodded. “Yes. Thank you.” He looked like a massive weight had just been taken off his shoulders. Fina straightened up a bit and Mark’s steps seemed to get a bit steadier. Shy was too hard to read for Isaac to notice anything. He needed to see them in combat. With their body completely hidden Isaac wasn’t even confident in guessing their gender. The slight sway while walking led him to lean towards Shy being a female but a male could be walking that way on purpose just to throw people like Isaac off.

“Okay, keep moving.” Isaac told them and continued on their way. Fifteen minutes later found the group stopping in front of what had once been a tunnel. It had collapsed at some point, a thousand years prior by the look of it. The group made camp which consisted of a handful of blankets and bedrolls tossed about to make their rest more comfortable. Mark and Shy would take watch while the casters meditated. Well, most of the casters anyway. Isaac wasn’t going to. The risk of him calling over another Tunnel Horror was too high.

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After a dinner of bread and jerky, Lenna, Fable, Fina, and Esk all began meditating. Isaac laid down on his bedroll and used his rolled up blanket as a pillow. With his hands interlocked behind his head and his cloak covering him from ankles to armpits he started dozing off. Whether or not Isaac actually got any sleep, only Lenna knew for sure. Isaac felt like the hours had gone by quickly but he couldn’t remember ever actually falling asleep or waking up. Regardless of whether or not the dark mage got any sleep while surrounded by four people, that each thought about him with conflicting views and opinions, the few hours were over and it was once again time to move.

Isaac stretched as he got up. It wasn’t until he started moving that he felt like he had actually fallen asleep on the hard stone. His body ached so he washed away the pain and stiffness with his death flames and then turned to Lenna. He caught a glance at Esk and Fina’s widened eyes. “What?” He questioned.

“I thought you were going to stop with that?” Esk questioned. Isaac tilted his head in confusion and a silent question. “You know, the whole death aura thing.”

A look of realization crossed over Isaac’s face. “I see. There seems to be a misunderstanding.” Isaac began. “That is just what my magic feels like. I used it to loosen and wake me up.” He took a step towards Lenna and held out his hand palm up. He focused as he formed an orb of shadows just above his hand. “This is what my shadows feel like,” Isaac shifted the shadows back into dark mana without slipping in concentration. “This is the mana’s default state, what you are more likely familiar with,” He shifted all of the mana in his hand into death flames. “This is what my death flames feel like. This’ll kill you.” He punctuated it by tossing the ball of death flames into Lenna’s chest. Some of the flames splashed across her breastplate while others found their way through the magical armor.

Lenna stretched. “Thanks.” She told Isaac. “I was getting stiff.”

“Are we all ready?” Fable cut in.

“I’ve been waiting on all of you so I assume so.” Isaac replied.

Fable ignored Isaac and went to join the two on watch. Esk joined him with only a quick glance back at Fina who looked like she was trying to figure out how to ask something she probably shouldn’t. “Can you really only use dark mana?” Fina finally asked while stuffing her bedroll, that she had used as a meditation mat, into her Bottomless Bag.

Isaac side-eyed her while he shook the stone dust out of his own bedroll. “Yeah. Why?” Isaac questioned in return. He wasn’t going to start lying about his biggest limitation now. That cat was let out of the bag a long time ago.

“I noticed that you are constantly taking in mana. It’s not very much so it took me a while to notice, but it is all dark mana isn’t it?” Fina continued her questioning without properly answering Isaac. “Is your connection to the plane of shadows really that strong that your body simply doesn’t accept any other kind of mana?”

Isaac shook his head in the negative, made a circle of shadows on the ground next to him, and dropped his bedroll and blanket. They vanished without ever touching the stone beneath their feet and Isaac fixed his gaze on her. “You seem to have made a very large assumption.” Isaac began. “I do not have a connection to the plane of shadows, or any other plane for that matter. With the little bit of research I have done on the subject I have come to a few conclusions about it though. If I were to ever go there, either I would be consumed by the pressure of an entire plane worth of dark mana trying to reach equilibrium with my body, or the plane itself would bend to my will. I don’t think there can be an in between in this case. I don’t just call myself the Lord of Darkness for no reason. It is my domain, even more so than Safeharbor is Izen Arbencroft’s.”

“That…” Fina began before trailing off. “Is a lot more information than I was expecting.” She replied honestly. “I have been studying sorcerers for centuries and this is the first time I have…” Her voice trailed off again in thought.

“You made another incorrect assumption, sorceress.” Isaac cut into her contemplation. Her eyes snapped back to him. “I am no sorcerer.”

“Then… what are you?” She questioned.

Isaac smirked. “Just a mage.” Isaac replied with a wink and headed towards the rest of the group. Lenna was waiting for him halfway between where they were resting and where the watch had been posted.

Lenna shook her head at him and then started walking alongside him. “You can’t help yourself can you?” She questioned but she already knew the answer. “You are going to end up giving out a real secret one of these days.”

Isaac chuckled. “You are probably right.” He agreed. “If only there was a way to only keep a secret from people in power. I don’t really care if some random adventurer knows my limitations, hells it could make working together easier, but I really don’t want anyone with real power finding out.” The Flame Ravens had heard the entirety of Isaac’s response to Lenna and they eyed him both skeptically and curiously. He really was just acting like they weren’t even there. Isaac and Lenna continued on towards the Ori-Masa’s last known location without preamble.

A little while into their walk something unexpected happened. “Lord Wexler, could I talk to you for a bit.” Esk said from a step behind them. He had left the rest of the group to join them. The rest of the group tended to keep a distance of a dozen paces or so. This was both a strategic decision as well as a personal one. They hadn’t said anything to either of the pair about it but there was something about adventuring with them that gave normal adventures the creeps. Maybe it was Isaac’s mana. Maybe it was the fact that the pair always seemed like walking through one of the most dangerous parts of the world was just a casual stroll through town. Or maybe it was their instincts keying them in on the unnatural grace and predatory feel of the two, that seemed to come out of nowhere as soon as a threat was sighted. Maybe it was a mix of all three.

Lenna moved closer to the wall while walking and Isaac moved into the center so Esk had enough room to join him. “I don’t see why not.” Isaac replied. “We have some time yet.”

Esk nodded his thanks, without thinking about the fact that Isaac couldn’t see him, and then joined him. There was a long moment of silence. Isaac gave it to him freely as the conversation they were going to have felt heavy even before they had begun. “My brother and I were never what you would call close.” Esk began after a deep breath. “But I can’t say I won’t hate you for taking him from me. Did you know that, with what you did to him, he could never be resurrected.”

Isaac almost tripped and Lenna froze mid step. They both turned to face him and said the same thing in unison, of course Isaac was a bit more animated in doing so than Lenna: “What?!”