Everyone argued what preceded the First Age. Some say the gods created the world, and some say the world created the gods. Many in the Mage's Guild declared that believers anthropomorphized the forces of nature, and this phenomenon invented the deities. The right of explanation is the hubris of clerics and wizards.

"They're coming!"

Rebecca did not care. The argument was pointless. Without theology, day-to-day life challenged her enough. Hoisting it would not get what she wanted. She willfully ignored it.

A brief argument scuttled the party's organization. Rebecca reflected in the center, the eye of a storm. Faced with his mortality, no, more accurately the repudiation of his standing as a man-in-charge, Adem demanded information from Walter. The expression on his face was the same as the dead stranger she left behind in that barn. Rebecca's skin crawled.

A score of hobgoblins charged straight into the Abomination dungeon. Monster infighting wasn't unheard of, but this was extraordinary. They might fight their way out, but who would walk out alive?

She believed the twin goddesses, Gaia and Ouroboros, were real. Having suffered the lust of men and the envy of women, how could she not? One would collect her soul, even if she wanted to float free. For a brief moment, she hated Walter's inquisitiveness because it brought this thinking to the surface.

"I'll use a spell."

Now, the calm.

The party turned and stared, and Rebecca resisted the urge to wallflower.

"Very well," Adem said.

She gnashed her teeth because he lacked empathy. At the very least, she would demand he pretended to worry if he wanted her as a prize.

"Are you sure?" Erik asked, "We can handle it."

"I didn't spend years studying and clawing for coins and enduring," Rebecca's voice snapped at the word, "to be trampled, now get the fuck out of the way!"

Erik swallowed before shrinking away at her scolding.

"What's going to happen?"

There it is, Walter's question.

Rebecca sucked in a breath, removed her pointed hat, and ran a hand through her hair. She calmed herself with the well-rehearsed move. "Something amazing. Be a sweetheart, and watch me."

The guttural screaming of the hobgoblin charge felt mute to Rebecca. Although not from hobgoblins, she witnessed that behavior all her life. A fake smile alarmed her the same as bared teeth.

In a moment, they would collide with the party.

"Walter, I'm going to answer a question you should ask," Rebecca said. She raised her hand, and the magic circle for her spell appeared. "I don't know how you got as far as you did in life without learning or encountering danger, and you should know this. Mana is a sharpening wheel. We grind it against the world to change it. Some mages can rotate it faster, some can spin it despite the resistance, and some can start and stop it quickly. Everyone's a little different. However, under no circumstances can you accidentally let your hand get caught in it."

Rebecca peeked behind her. Walter watched her, wide-eyed, to memorize what she was doing. She made eye contact with Elin.

Mine's bigger. I win.

A blue light illuminated the tunnel. "[Ice III]."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

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"[Aegis]!"

Walter didn't understand why Adem would hide behind Rebecca and activate his defensive skill. He should be in front of her, to stop the hobgoblin charge, and let her magic do the work. His confusion increased when Elin snatched him and dragged him behind Adem.

"Hold your breath!" she demanded.

A weight fell on his side of the scales because of his protest, "What about her?"

"Now, Walter! Right now!"

The flaw in his understanding exposed itself. Magic lacked friendly-fire protection, akin to throwing a grenade in a closed room. This world's magic imitated a game's logic, but it was not a game.

Freezing temperatures continued to plummet, and the spell started in earnest. Water vapor crystallized fast enough to crack. The air's volume disappeared, sucked to the floor and walls as ice, and the vacuum of air rushed towards the epicenter of the spell. Itching covered Walter's exposed skin because Rebecca's magic yanked the moisture from it.

The hobgoblins at the front of the charge died instantly, turned into statues of frozen flesh. Their momentum carried them forward, and they shattered on the resin floor of the dungeon.

The hobgoblins behind did not garner the same mercy. They lived a short while. Their arms and legs froze and broke, some amputated completely. Monsters trailing the front suffocated to death, having, on instinct, sucked in supercooled air and solidified their lungs. The rest shrieked in agony. As they tripped and rolled, newly formed icicles sliced them.

Rebecca did not harvest. Her role now laid bare. She obliterated any threats the party could not handle.

"Impressive, right?"

Rebecca's hyperventilation proved the spell was indiscriminate, even towards its caster. Some of the spell's energy rebounded. Her skin, exposed by her low cut dress, with a slit up to the hip, turned blue from hypothermia. Fingertips on her hand blackened.

She wavered from her injuries, and Elin guided her to the ground.

Before Erik and Duan could rush to assist, Adem barked, "Show some discipline! Do your jobs! Front and rear guard!"

Rice-sized grains of frost trickled off of Adem as he moved.

"Walter, healing potions?" Elin asked.

"I'm trying to save money, and I've been spending too much already," Rebecca pouted, nearly delirious from pain.

"On the house," Walter unslung his supplier's pack and uncorked the potions, "You saved our lives, so we'll heal you. Fair's fair."

A healthy pink flushed Rebecca's skin.

"I want your gambeson."

"Pardon?"

"It looks warm! Give it!"

While Walter unbuckled the jacket, Rebecca shredded the fabric of her dress.

"What are you doing?!"

"It's frozen," Rebecca whined with disappointment, "The fabric's ruined. I liked it, too. Don't look, and hurry up and strip."

"It's still good."

Obediently, Walter turned and relinquished his jacket. Her dress landed on his head, and it felt like a tease.

"Walter, you're dumb," Rebecca looked at Elin, "Ladies shouldn't wear only functional clothes. It doesn't look good, so I don't want it."

Walter studied the dress and quietly disagreed. With a low-cut and hip-slit, there was little fabric to tear, and he questioned if she didn't choose this dress because of it. If she needed to remove it quickly, then tearing it like this was quick.

"That's odd," Rebecca said.

"What?"

"It doesn't smell."

"Gee, thanks."

"I was right. It's warm. I'm a little jealous."

Walter wondered what she meant, and, before he could ask for clarification, she followed up, "The problem is it squeezes my breasts."

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Resurrection disbanded.

"My ice magic can't compete with you, Adem."

After her parting shot, she stomped out of the Adventurer's Guild. Adem interrogated Lucy about her whereabouts, and she admitted Rebecca never returned. The next day, Erik simply didn't show up, typical of a thief. On the third, Duan confessed that he needed to return to the capital and rejoin his denomination for a religious ceremony.

Adem remained unimpressed with the Letun Chapter of the Adventurer's Guild membership, so he didn't advertise to join a party.

"Join my group," Adem told Elin. Condescension soaked his tone. He expected obedience from her.

"If Rebecca could no longer stand you, what makes you think I would start?"

"Why stay with him?" Adem ignored Walter's presence, "He can't fight, he has no skills, and he's not able to protect you. I'm building a noble house. He's got something unspoken in his favor, but he's just a useless supplier."

"We are done talking. Walk away before you can't."

A click from a falling weight resounded on the scales.