“If you line up this series of runes it should let you shape the water into a pike,” Ella explained to me as I watched her sketch it out on a new template for the gauntlet we were working on.
She showed me a complex web of wards that overlapped with each other. I wasn’t even aware that was a technique to be honest. Each was a shaping rune except for near the index finger knuckle which held a couple of wards that Ella told me would not only compress the wader, but increase the compression towards the tip an extreme amount.
I looked down at the revised design. Something about it didn’t… resonate with me. I wanted my entrance work to be something that I felt resonated with me.
“I don’t know, I don’t like it,” I said, giving my doubts awareness. Ella turned and looked at me in utter disbelief.
“Trey we’ve gone through like five minor revisions and a major one at this point, The gauntlet was fine for you before,” she complained.
“Yeah but I think I want something more personal, that resonates with me better.”
Ella just stared at me, through me, for several moments before sighing.
“Fine, whatever, you better help me with my project next year for all the hassle you have decided was necessary.”
I chuckled, “Yeah, of course, do you want a break? I’m getting a neck cramp from bending over at this table.”
“Yeah, I would love one,” Ella said as she stretched her arms in the arm behind her head, and pushed up and back, causing her torso to bend forward. She released and tension drained from her body before she returned to her usual upright posture.
“What happened to your friend by the way? She looks pretty roughed up,” Ella asked me, standing up as she started stretching her legs. I started stretching myself, Ella’s actions bring attention to how stiff my body was right now.
“Liz? Dunno,” I answered honestly, “I woke up this morning and I found her like that. Was planning on asking about it after I walked you home.”
“Hmm,” she paused, in thought, “Well what was that about following in your sister's footsteps?” She asked and I choked down my instinct to sputter.
“Liz can be a bit… promiscuous. She was making a poor taste joke saying I was imitating her.”
Ella barked out a laugh, “Understood, you guys are close huh?”
“Yeah, we’ve known each other since we were pretty young, been really close for years.”
Ella smiled, “It seems nice to have a friend like that.”
I agreed, it was nice too know there is someone who will always have your back, through thick or thin.
“Yeah, it is,” I said, and spotted a bit of melancholy in Ella’s eyes. I was going to question her about it but she quickly changed topics back to the matter at hand.
“Anyway, What were you thinking of instead of the gauntlet?” she asked. Trey’s mind flashed back to the pyro, and then he remembered his previous idea of a device that could interact with multiple elements.
As he thought he had a flash of inspiration, “Gauntlets are a defensive item right? They’re armor. How about a gauntlet that absorbs multiple elements?”
“What about the ward mastery aspect though? It will be harder to display that through a divergent set of wards?”
“What if the central piece of the ward isn’t the element ward but instead something like the repulsive effect?” I said, “We could have the repulsive ward’s strength scale with the amount of mana inputted.”
“Wouldn’t it need to accommodate large amounts of mana then since we can’t— er, don’t want to put a cap on how much mana would be able to be used. At least not for a defensive tool.”
“Yeah, I got alaster for the mana circuits that should be enough for anything that’s getting thrown at it during the test. Or if I want to use it in the future.”
Ella groaned, “Do I even want to know how you afforded that?” she said as she pulled her head in her hands.
I laughed, “probably not, wasn’t anything too bad,” I said dismissively. I had zero intentions of spreading how deep in the rabbit hole I was with anyone outside of Liz and Martha.
“Alright then, if that’s what’s being used alongside that criminally large mana gem, it should actually be pretty effective. Though, I have a suggestion about the design.”
“Hmm?” I grunted, curious at what Ella was going to offer. Ella took her supportive role during the project seriously, only really offering suggestions related to the wards. A design decision was new.
“Well, why not make this a reinforced undershirt? Like the SIATs wear,” she suggested. My eyes opened a fraction wider in surprise, that was a really good idea in actuality. I had started tunnel visioning on the idea of a gauntlet but that would require me to hold it in the direction of whatever was threatening me in order to protect myself. This won’t keep the threat as far away, not without using significantly more mana. What it would do is offer much better protection for my vitals.
“That’s a good idea,” I responded as I pulled out a new piece of paper and started working on the design. We worked on the design and decided to base it off of designs made to counter mundane ballistics. Using the right materials could let it protect someone at least in one situation without having to use the wards. This means even if the person wearing it runs out of mana. Stopping projectiles—mana-based or otherwise—is mana intensive so this would make it far more valuable. If you have mana to spare, it should protect you and itself to the point of being reusable. If not, then it still offers a bit of protection though it would probably require replacement if its physical defenses are used.
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The mana costs were a big issue though. Especially for anything that's fast moving, stopping that in its tracks. Maybe I could see it to the professors as for use alongside a mix of mundane weapons? I know in battle arenas plenty of mana artists and scribes still use guns, knives, swords, and a whole arsenal of items to enhance their combat capability. Then the solution struck me like a bolt of lightning.
“Ella, do you know how we can have the wards attempt to deflect whatever is coming at them instead of just stopping them.”
“Uh, yeah. Wait, that is a good idea, it would use way less mana and will mean the vest can be used for longer in whatever situation it is necessary. Though it would mean it's more likely whatever comes at you hits a limb or even your head,” she said.
“We can have the ward array near the holes for the neck and torso pull more mana and have a far more powerful deflection effect. This would make it so if things get deflected that way they’re more likely to go into the air or ground instead. It would still be cheaper mana-wise than outright reflection was,” I explained to her and she nodded in agreement.
“It definitely would. Give me a moment and I can try to sketch out a ward array that will work for that. While you work on the actual body armor’s design.”
The two of us continued working on the design for a couple more hours. We ran some rough calculations using how much we thought design would cost to use in Standardized Mana Units. Then we did some extremely light testing of the proposed wards that would be key to the ward array using some rocks I had lying around as the “projectile,” as well as a cheap water gun I bought from a corner store a few blocks away.
It started getting late and both Ella and I preferred having her home well before it got dark so after running a few more tests and doing a bit more research I started walking her home.
I noticed that as I started walking her home again she started that thing again. It was still subtle, but she was constantly looking over her shoulder. Her eyes scanned the area expecting something. I tried following her gaze, using my usual swivel to search for something odd, any peculiarity.But I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
I didn’t want to ask her about it, but it was starting to rub my intuition the wrong way. The previous times she didn’t do this, well, no more than any of the people that lived in Blacklight did.
The jittery energy left me feeling anxious as I tried searching for something out of the ordinary. The lack of resolution left my nerves kind of tense, but I dropped Ella off with pleasantries and promised to call her again soon to work on the project more. She looked melancholic heading back inside, her smile was tight around the edges, only partially genuine. I considered saying something, but she got inside and closed the door behind her before I could finish gathering my thoughts.
I thought about that more as I walked back. I wasn’t stupid, I could tell she was lonely. Blacklight wasn’t the best area and she lived in the back of a Brothel, and a street or two away from a local gang. Even in school I didn’t see her socialize with many people, and today when talking about my friendship with Liz, a wistful look washed over her.
Ella looked lonely, lonely enough to overcome whatever paranoia had her as tense as a drawn bow the whole time we were outside. I needed to make sure to try to make more time for hanging out with her. She was a nice girl.
Besides that time she was advertising the brothel, I don’t think I saw her out and about anywhere. I don't think she got out often, something probably caused her to isolate like this but I was hesitant to dig into finding out the why.
Maybe I could see if Liz and her hit it off. Liz could use some more friends too. Besides, being with Liz always helped with my paranoia.
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When I finally returned back to the apartment, Liz was gone again. She had been disappearing a lot. I was starting to notice and it left me… nervous. Somettabout it scratched at my intuition in the same way the anxiety Ella displayed did. I felt like something was off about it. Liz did sometimes hang out with other friends at night, we didn't exclusively hang out together. But after she got back badly beaten I wanted to look deeper into where she was going.
A few moments passed before I realized I was being ridiculous. I needed to just outright ask her. She wasn't Ella, I had known Liz for years at this point, she wouldn't completely stonewall me, especially without a solid reason.
That isn't to say that I was expecting a straight, direct answer from her, but it would at least be something I could work with to try to figure out what was happening.
I made myself a cup of tea using a cheap bag from a box of tea that I had bought at the corner store. I slumped onto the crouch, ignoring the creaking of the springs as I sipped the tea. The tea was bitter; there was an ashy taste mixed in with the few notes of the tea that I could taste. Still, the flavor kept me up as I decided to wait for Liz to come back.
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I had pulled out my phone and watched some scribed combat as I waited for Liz. It was actually part of the Southern conference between Northridge and Aubrey Academy. I had an interest in watching kineticist and Aubrey had a prominent one. Northridge had a cryokinetic facing them but the matchup looked bad. The kineticist was somewhat famous for their high battle potential, their inscription looked like it took the form of a bubble of deceleration. They used a sword and lightweight body armor. They had stopped several dozen ice spikes and charged the kineticist when Liz finally came back. I paused the video, resolved to watch the final moments of it whenever I found the time to but I wanted to figure out what Liz had been up to first.
"Where you been sneaking off to at night?" I asked her, checking my email at the same time. This felt oddly confrontational, in hindsight. The whole setup.
She snorted, "What are you? My mom?" She laughed and stretched as she flung her bag which crashed in the corner of the room.
I snorted back, "You know I'm nosy. Besides, we're pretty close to that first job Martha lined up for us so I wanted to check in on you too."
"Yeah I'm good, been out training some more to get prepped," she responded.
"You been fighting?" I guessed, it made sense considering her injuries. She sat down next to me.
"Yeah, lil bit. Trying to avoid getting rusty."
Irritation bubbled in my chest, "Why are you doing something like that? You'll get hurt or worse," I said to her. I kept my tone even, I didn't want her to take it as an accusation like last time we had a difficult discussion.
She just sighed, "And you haven't? You won't get hurt doing what you do? I'm not stupid Trey, I have an idea of what you've done, those burns that were magically healed stand out if you know what to look for, the mild discoloration only really stopped being visible a week or so ago. Besides I'm training in a controlled environment, I'm not gonna die. You could train more honestly. Train harder, you just run around hoping to avoid trouble. Then you'll run straight towards it and all you're running towards at this rate is a bodybag."
"You're being melodramatic Liz," I said.
"Am I?" She asked, "Am I really? I think you're just downplaying shit not gonna lie. Trey you're my best friend and I just don't wanna see you hurt. I'm training so when we do whatever bullshit Martha throws at us, that won't happen."
I stared at her for a moment as she leaned back in her chair. She looked tired, her eyes were half open and she slouched in the chair. She wasn't looking at me. She stared at the blank, dingy off-white wall ahead of us. Her body was slouched, folded into the couch we sat on, exhaustion radiating off her.
"Aight, I hear you. Where you been training? I'll give it a shot and try it out."