Adamar blinks up at Briareth and I.

“You're not going to go into one of those shaking fits again are you?” Briareth asks.

“I’m back in perfect health if that is what you are asking.” Adamar says, raising an eyebrow.

“What happened to you and Valkallyn?” I ask worriedly.

“We found the animals, but they were all in comas.” Adamar begins, a frown on his face. “I thought it was the work of an Aberration of course, and I explained this to Valkallyn, but we were interrupted by an unexpected guest– the Aberration's creator, Lyra Aumrauth. Turns out she is trying to raise her old boyfriend from the dead. To summarize, she captured Valkallyn, who is probably comatose right now; she killed my bug, which led me be in the state of Brainshock that you just witnessed; and she guessed that you two and Folas are in cahoots with Valkallyn, although she doesn’t seem to suspect me yet.” Adamar sighs, looking depressed. “Basically, we got a bit of new information, but we lost the element of surprise and a partner, and now she is going to send her dead boyfriend after us. I think it’s safe to say that that mission was a failure.”

I’m astounded by how bad that turned out, and if Briareth’s gaping mouth is anything to go by, so is he. “What are we going to do now?” I ask them. I wasn’t expecting an answer, but Briareth obliges anyway, his shocked face going grim.

“Well, we’ll just have to save Valkallyn, and defeat Lyra won’t we?”

“First we need to tell Folas about this.” Adamar says, “Then we should see if he wants to join us.”

“Of course he’ll join us!” Briareth exclaims.

“Well, if he decides to join us, and gets caught sneaking out to rescue her, he’ll be expelled on the spot, and he won’t be much help rescuing her.”

“Think about it Adamar! This is his twin's life we are talking about, if we don’t rescue her, she’ll end up like one of those pets, comatose until she is nearly dead! Of course he’ll want to help save her!”

“That’s true...” Adamar trails off. “When you put it like that, I can see why he’d risk expulsion. I’ll try to contact him.” He messes around on his begonia bracelet for a bit, then continues talking. “Still going off right now to rescue the damsel in distress is a risky move. We don’t know any magic that can stop an Aberration, and we have no backup.”

“I’m practically useless in this sort of situation.” I comment.

“I was trying to spare your feelings by not mentioning that.” Adamar says.

“Surely you can’t be that bad?” Briareth says. Adamar looks at me to explain.

“I have no magic, my weapons are confiscated, and I have very little self defense training. The only thing I could possibly do is aggravate Lyra with my existence, and I don’t think that would help.” I state flatly.

Briareth blinks at me, surprised. “Yeah, I guess you aren’t that useful in this sort of situation Faladel, unless you're good at diplomacy?”

“What do you mean by that? Why would we need to use diplomacy?” I ask. “Aren’t we dealing with a depraved lunatic who wants to bring the dead to life here?”

“I think I know what you're getting at Briareth,” Adamar comments. “and it’s not that she is a lunatic Faladel, she is mainly sensible, and tries to justify her actions with logic. If you could prove that logic to be faulty and provide a better arrangement, she might turn. Then we wouldn’t have to fight the Aberration at all.”

“I really don’t think this will work.” I respond, “She hates me, and, according to you, believes that I’m partially responsible for killing her boyfriend in the first place. Why would she listen to me?”

“Because you're you.” Briareth responds. “You might not see it Faladel, but you're a very charismatic person.”

“You’re sure someone else can’t do this?”

“Well of course not. Adamar and Folas will be doing all they can to keep the Aberration from running amok.” Briareth explains.

“And what will you be doing?” I ask

“Going for our weapons and backup of course!” Briareth grins.

“But who would come?” Asks Adamar. “I don’t feel good about getting other students involved in this.”

“Once you guys start fighting, I can get the Masters and tell them a fight is happening.” Briareth says confidently.

“That could work...” Adamar says thoughtfully. I spot a small flaw though.

“How will you make sure that they take you seriously?”

Briareth frowns, considering “I could mention the Aberration.”

“Don’t” Adamar advises. “They would think you're crazy, drunk, or both.”

“Then could you and Folas try to put on a show with your magic? You know, colorful bursts of lights, loud bangs, giant smoke clouds. Impressive stuff that they can’t ignore.”

Adamar considers the suggestion. “We could try, I know a couple of spells that I’ve been wanting to attempt.”

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“Excellent.” Briareth says happily. “Has Folas responded yet?”

“Nothing identifiable as words. Here, listen.” He unhooks his bracelet and holds it by Briareths ear. Briareth starts chuckling.

“What is it?” I ask. Adamar also looks confused.

“He’s snoring! That is the sound of him snoring!” Briareth says, and then turning to face the begonia, “Folas! Folas, Wake up!”

“That sound was him snoring?” Adamar says, raising an eyebrow. “It didn’t sound like any snoring I’ve ever heard.”

“I had to sleep in the same room as him for a year; that snore was really memorable.” Briareth says smiling confidently.

Eventually we manage to wake up Folas and explain the situation to him. He is, as Briareth thought, quite eager to go with us. We plan to meet up behind the greenhouse as soon as possible. Of course it might take Folas longer than us because he just got up, and has to deflect questions from his roommates on his way out. Briareth is sure that he is up to the task though.

When our group arrives at the greenhouse, the area is empty. Folas isn’t here yet. The Master’s aren’t here to intercept us. I hope Valkallyn will be okay when we find her. I didn’t think anyone would actually get hurt doing this. We were just trying to find Myrddin and get all the pets back.

We wait behind the greenhouse for a while, a soft breeze stirring the grass near us. Overhead the cloudy night sky clears and we can see the stars. Everyone is quiet. We don’t want to get caught now. In the warm stillness I can hear crickets chirping, the grass rustling, and the Snap! of a branch cracking beneath someone's feet.

“Ah! Folas finally!” Briareth exclaims softly. “I was wondering if you had gotten lost on the way!”

A figure steps out from behind the greenhouse, cloaked in shadows. Something feels off though. I frown, studying the figure. It is a male Elf, but he isn’t wearing school clothes, nor is he wearing pajamas. He seems to be wearing a green suit that almost looks like ragged army garb, but the army wouldn’t allow that long matted hair. Needless to say, this isn’t Folas. Adamar turns to look at the intruder, and his eyes widen.

“Stop staring, you idiots! That’s the Aberration!” The creature takes a step forward, and we can see it’s probably once handsome face.

Its dead eyes glare at us emptily, its face splits into a wide malicious grin, unkempt hair dangling in front. I jump to my feet, Briareth and Adamar follow suit.

The Aberration lunges at us, fists swinging. Adamar throws up a magical shield but the arms pass through it as if it were air, and the fists crash into his stomach sending him flying. He tries to regain his lost breath, sucking air in ragged gasps. I can’t worry about him right now though. The Aberration has turned its eyes on Briareth and I.

It leaps at me next, this time going for a tackle. I lunge out of the way, rolling on the grass to recover as it tears by me. Its second attack is even faster, perhaps it can learn and improve its fighting style?

I don’t know what to do here. I can’t do any damage, and Adamar can’t protect himself to prepare a spell. I breathe heavily, watching as Briareth skips out of it’s range. He isn’t attacking with magic, but neither is he running for help. We never considered it could find us before we were ready. That was a mistake, and now it looks like we are going to pay dearly for it.

“It has superior strength and speed than regular living creatures!” Adamar calls out to us, struggling to get back on his feet. “Adjust your reactions! If it gets close, you're dead!”

I briefly wonder how he knows this, then thrust the thought aside as I’m yanked back to the fight by the beast's roar as it charges at me again. I dodge on instinct, but it turns to follow my movements. I need to buy time for Adamar or Briareth to cast spells, but I’m not sure how much longer I can do this. I dodge again, and it snarls in frustration as it crashes into the greenhouse, cracking the glass. I glance around for anything that might help me survive this, and see a figure running to the battle.

The figure shoots off a bolt of fire from a wand, which soars onto the battlefield, briefly distracting all of us as it homes in on its target. Striking true, it causes a ball of flame to bloom on its victim, and the creature is thrown back into the grass.

“Am I late to the party?!” Folas calls as he joins us. The Aberration gets to its feet slowly, patting out the fire on its undead body. Folas’s firebolt was the first attack that actually did some damage to it.

“Very!” Adamar calls back to Folas. “But you made up for it with that shot! Briareth, get going! It looks like we’ll need the backup!”

“Already on it!” Briareth calls, sprinting away from the battlefield.

The Aberration ignores the fleeing form of Briareth, and instead focuses on its new enemy, shrieking a challenge.

Folas hesitates. “I thought that the plan was to meet up here and confront them somewhere else!”

“That was the plan!” Adamar calls back, preparing a spell.

“Well why are we fighting here then?!” Folas shouts dodging the Aberration’s charging form.

“Obviously, something went wrong!” Adamar shouts, firing his spell. A rope of ice snakes through the air and clamps down on the Aberration’s arm. “The Aberration showed up while we were waiting for you! It attacked us while we were unprepared!” Adamar braces himself and strains on the rope, which appears to be connected to his hands. Creeping ice envelopes the Aberration’s arm, and starts to cover its shoulder. The thing glances down at the ice, as if it hadn’t even realized it was there before, and yanks its arm up.

Adamar digs his heels into the ground, but the monster’s strength quickly begins to overpower him. It suddenly heaves hard on the rope, and Adamar yelps and topples forward. The rope shatters, and the thin layer of ice covering the Aberration’s arm disappears.

The creature begins stalking towards the fallen Adamar, who is desperately trying to scramble to his feet. I shout and wave my hands, trying to distract it, but it doesn’t even notice me. Folas throws another firebolt at it, and it turns to face him angrily. I can’t seem to do anything compared to my magic wielding friends. I should have been sent for backup instead of Briareth.

Folas dodges once, and then again, and again. Each time though, the margin between his skin and the Aberration’s fists is smaller. I run to try and help distract our foe, but it completely ignores me.

I’m starting to get ticked. Being useless is one thing, but being ignored just takes it to another level entirely! Maybe I can help Adamar with something? I glance over at him. He is already on his feet and preparing another spell, no help needed there. However, something’s behind him. A shadowy figure. There’s no way Briareth is back already.

The figure begins to prep a spell, and in the light of her magic I can make out her face.

“Duck Adamar!” I scream. He glances over, surprised, and then drops to the ground. A blue streak of lightning crackles over his head, soars across the school lawn, and demolishes a part of the wall to the Great Dining Hall. Adamar stares at the destruction wide eyed, and I’m sure we are thinking the same thing. That could have been his head.

I feel something hard, probably the Aberration’s arm, slam into my back and tumble forward, crashing down onto the grass, air knocked out of my lungs. If I survive the night I will definitely have bruises by tomorrow. I struggle to my feet again, and see Adamar’s proffered hand. In the background, Folas has distracted the Aberration again and it is chasing him around the greenhouse.

“Thanks for earlier.” He says. “I guess your time to shine has now arrived. Good luck. We're counting on you. Deal with her, and we’ll take on the beast.”