One foot pushed preemptively against the edge of the elevator. The other bent in anticipation. His breathing quickened as his anxiety rose, but returning his mind inward stabilized it. The image of stitches being pulled out transformed his blood vessels into circuits made to create Mysteries.

“Collect (Bind).”

The words sent his magic circuits spinning, as they processed his Od into workable energy, which then poured into his legs. The calves, the quads, the ankles and the feet. His flesh, his bones, even the blood within-all reinforced as best as he could. Once he felt this enhancement, that horribly light feeling of inhuman control and ability within his body, he leapt.

The elevator shook along its rope pulley, swaying through the air as it continued its descent downwards. Liam traveled along an abnormally horizontal trajectory, only beginning to curve downwards after he flew ten meters.

That feeling of nothingness around him-no floor, no walls, no ceilings… Frankly, it would have scared the shit out of him, if he wasn’t already flying straight at a brick tower.

Kite materialized around him, it’s spirit congealing more and more as it pushed against Liam’s momentum. He could feel the air around them gather and move in unnatural ways, slowing his movement through the air till he felt gravity would take him. Instead, he flung his arm out and grabbed onto a large windowsill, where a single metal rod hung out with a flag. The metal bent and creaked against the sudden weight and momentum-but remained intact. It absorbed enough of his speed to allow him to control his movement again, as he swung off the thick bar and onto a nearby rooftop.

He could hear more mages shouting at each other once Kite withdrew it’s wind. Hopping from roof top to roof top, he kept his eyes on the action, watching as the beast charged forward at one person, sending them flying into a nearby hut with just it’s shoulder and momentum. The creature had it’s back towards him now. If he wanted to-

Without a thought, Liam jumped off the rooftop. It wasn’t an action he particularly wanted to make, but once again, it was one his body had decided was necessary without any input from his mind.

He cleared the ten meter distance in only a second, slowly descending more and more to the creatures back. Nine meters away. Then eight. Then five, suddenly. Then-

The beasts eyes loomed over its shoulder. It’s sclera was pitch black, with only a yellow orb floating within as it’s iris and pupil. It almost resembled a candle flame to Liam. He had his right fist raised, Od poured into his whole arm, ready to slam it onto the enemy. But that glance stopped him. It practically stopped time as he realized it was already prepared for him.

The creature whipped its body around, raising its clawed arm to backhand the approaching Liam. He turned quickly, his teeth gritted and muscles tensed. His duffel bag slipped off his shoulder and covered right side of his body. In a manner of seconds he was sent through the air again.

The inhuman hand struck the duffel bag with full force. Liam could feel his body curl inwards from the blow, as the force immediately transferred from the bag and into his reinforced arm.

A loud crunch sounded as the boy flew backward into a brick wall.

The air left his lungs. All magic ceased-his circuits retreating back into nothingness. His eyes shook as the purple world around him became blurry, images multiplying, twisting and turning. His legs trembled like jelly before giving out, letting Liam’s body slump down to the ground. The creature had already begun to chase after him, it’s body traveling through the air. It’s jaw opened wide. It turned out to be a human face, covered in an almost black tar. It’s mouth was almost certainly unhinged, and its lips receded backwards to reveal all the teeth with which it ate its prey.

Something collided with the monsters body, knocking it off course. It landed directly next to Liam, its head only a foot away from him. A pure white arrow had struck its neck.

As concussed as he was, he knew he shouldn’t be so close to such a thing, and immediately shuffled away. He fell over onto his side, but even then he crawled. All he could hear was the creature flailing about. It’s limbs slammed against the stone ground and brick walls of a nearby building. Flesh and bones were torn.

A firm hand gripped Liam’s shoulder and heaved him up to his feet. He almost fell again upon rising, but a second hand held him firmly. Liam shouted as the grip tightened around his right arm.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“You’re alright. Sorry about the arm.” The stranger said, removing his hand from the arm. It was a boy maybe a few years his senior, and only just taller than him. His brown hair was brushed backwards, unkempt and long. “Probably broken. You can’t heal it, can you?”

Liam slowly regained his breathing as his bag fell to the ground. His eyes moved across the boy at first, then scanned around the area before landing on the dead monster. The white arrow had disappeared now. Instead, a small creature made of bone had taken its place, picking at the flesh of the black monster.

“N-No, I can… not well, but yeah.” The words slowly fell from his mouth. With his answer, the stranger patted Liam on his back, which only made him wince even more.

“Good enough.” He replied as he made his way to the corpse. He crouched before it and stuck one of his hands into the large wound, digging around as if trying to find some lost keys. If he didn’t have adrenaline in his system at the moment, on top of the rising pain in his arm, Liam most likely would have puked just from the sounds. “And thanks for the distraction, by the way.”The boy shouted before suddenly removing his arm with a horrible sound, revealing a long and thin bone from within the corpse. It was only then that Liam noticed the stranger had a oddly carved bow on his shoulder.

“H-Hey, hey.” Liam called out, shuffling his feet towards him, and almost tripping over his bag. “I’m uh… new here. I was just coming down the lift over there.” He pointed towards the wooden box at the far end of the city, which was now a good sixty meters away from them. It had already reached the ground by the time the creature had been slain.

“Liam Sinclair.” He said. His body attempted to move his right hand, but the pain stopped it almost immediately. Awkwardly, he stuck out his left hand instead.

“Clyde O’Connell.” The boy replied, shaking the hand firmly. “You should probably head to the West Management Branch. Usually you go there when you reach the bottom.” He gave a smirk before nudging his head to the lift behind Liam. “It’s right next to the elevator.”

“Right. Thanks.” Liam said with a nod before retrieving his bag, letting it dangle from his left hand as he walked began in that general direction. Yet, the voice called out again from behind him,

“See you around, Sinclair.”

He turned back to Clyde, who still stood in his same spot. Without a free hand to wave back with, Liam simply nodded back with an attempt at a smile. The increasing pain in his body made it seem especially forced.

With his breathing back under control, Liam processed more of his Od, sending it down to his broken arm. In truth, his healing wasn’t actually a “healing” spell, but more of an offshoot of his Reinforcement. Due to his Origin, he could insert magical energy into his wounds in order to join two things back together, similar to how reinforcement injected energy into the empty space in objects to make it something “more”.

Unfortunately, this would only be useful for specific injuries, such as cuts or specifically broken bones. Hemorrhaging or viruses would require true healing.

It surprised him how fast he reached the management post, but he realized he had practically zoned out the entire walk. His mind was inside himself, focused on mending his broken arm, which was moving at a horrible speed. His average circuits could only refine so much energy.

The building was, frankly, the most average building he had seen in the entire town. It was made of dark wood procured most likely from the surface, with two purple lamps hanging above the doorway, casting an ominous glow over the entrance. However, once you’ve seen the same purple light in front of every building around, it loses it’s mysterious influence. Liam sighed as he pushed open the door with his left shoulder. ‘Thank god it didn’t have a handle’, he thought to himself.

“Welcome. New recruits sign in over here. Complaints are filed in the box at the left.” A monotone voice spoke the same sentence it said every time a person entered the office. At the main counter, made up of the same dark wood as the whole building, was a middle aged woman in glasses. She stood leaning over reception desk at the right. Her eyes glided over a piece of worn paper, scanning the contents from behind her thick lenses. Liam hobbled over to said desk and let go of his bag, letting it crash on the floor. He bent over and zipped it open with one hand before digging through it, retrieving his forms.

“Liam Sinclair. I’m a new excavator.” He said as he held up the crinkled papers. The bored woman took them without lifting her eyes from the paper, only transferring them to his forms once she held them. She read silently, and moved about the office without speaking as well. She filed away papers, retrieved more from other metal drawers, which looked out of place inside a magical underground city, and eventually returned with a single rectangular slip.

“You’ll be located in the West section. Your living quarters will be at barracks B2, and you’ll be given the rest of the day to adjust and move in.” The woman spoke while returning to reading her very interesting paper. She held out the paper slip, which Liam took quickly and shoved into his pants pocket. “Tomorrow, you’ll report to the Materials Office. Give them that slip and they’ll know you’re new.”

Liam nodded silently and leaned over to pick up his bag. His foot pivoted as he intended to exit and try and procure a map from somewhere, but a stray thought had entered his head. Instead, he turned back towards the woman.

“Actually, I have a question…” He began. He waited a few seconds for confirmation that she would entertain a question, but she simply kept reading her parchment. Taking that as an affirmative he continued,

“Do you know where I can find a Benjamin Carver?”