I miss those cookies; they were so gooey and filled with so much chocolaty goodness. I should go find Stacey. I guess I’ll do it after I finish this mess of a day. I should warn you that this one gets a bit rough. You might want to skip it. It’s traumatizing.
For those who are still reading, let’s do it. Maybe it will help. And remember, I was a twelve-year-old who didn’t have much experience with any of this…
~~~
August 31, 491 U.C.
Water trickled down the window, shimmering and shifting on the glass. The pattering of rain on the roof had stopped. I stood and stretched, yawning loudly. Then I headed for the door.
Dad poked his head in. “Manage it?”
“An enchanted gun? No. I don’t know where you got these, but only the first basic enchantments work. The others are wrong. I tried, dad. I really did.”
“That’s unfortunate. Could you get creative?” Dad asked.
“Probably. You can use a lot of these if you could find propulsion or magic an energy source, but the ammo won’t be enchanted.”
“Which means it will bounce off stronger things,” Dad said with a sigh. Then he paused and contemplated. “Could you enchant bullets?”
“Yes, but the strength varies with the magic used. At least arrows can be reused.”
Dad nodded. Then he walked over to the desk and picked up the brown goop that was an awakening potion. He opened the cork, sniffed, and jammed it back in. “God,” he cursed while holding it away.
I took it over to the sink and began cleaning the mess up. Opening the cork, I was hit with a wave of rotten eggs mixed with blood. I rapidly immersed it in the water to get rid of the putrid scent. Then he used the sink to blast it out.
“Are you ready for the dungeon?” Dad asked.
“Yes. I’ll be smarter.”
“Go. Training when you get back.” Dad turned and walked away.
I let out a long sigh, finished cleaning, and went to get ready. Then I slunk outside and made my way towards the forest, glancing up at the clouds. It’s going to rain again.
I turned my focus back to the street and sped up. “Ela, is there still a Raptor dungeon quest?”
Ela fluttered out. “Yes.”
“Why didn’t they go take care of it?”
“I could answer that. But you’d need to make a deal.” Ela swished her gold dress.
“Pass.” I studied her dress. “I like your dress. It’s cute.”
“Thanks! I am happy with it. Want to see my other new one?”
“Sure,” I replied. “Ela, no!”
Ela smirked while posing in my magic girl outfit. “I love it! I look so good!” she said happily.
“Where’s the dungeon?”
“Here? Maybe?” Ela popped up a map with a marker.
I moved it into the corner of my vision. “That’s your best guess on the spot? That’s the konodo dungeon.”
“Was the konodo dungeon. I could be wrong. Be careful.”
I turned my focus back to the city, dodging puddles until I reached the wall. After climbing over it, I headed out into the forest. Entering the trees, I removed my amulet and donned my magical girl attire. With my skirt flouncing, I enjoyed the smell of the forest, jumping over roots and rocks.
The forest was wet. Water dripped from the canopy above, splashing as it hit the muddy ground. Small puddles dotted the area. Little amphibians swam through several of them.
A golden frog jumped out and leapt into a bush. A large, green turtle’s mouth snapped shut on it. The turtle waddled towards a large puddle, chomping down frog legs on its way. With a grim fascination, I followed it for a few moments, then skirted around the large puddle.
Leaving the puddle behind, I journeyed onward, enjoying the various sounds around me. Then it went quiet. Panic gripped my throat as I searched. Not wanting to get mauled by whatever it was, I launched myself upward and scrambled into a tree. Perching on a branch, I surveyed the clearing that was about ten meters below. The ocular computer and Ela found them first.
Quest: Raptor Dungeon Overflow Reward: 50 reputation.
A green feathered raptor sniffed and peeked out from behind a tree. Its talons rotated. It stepped forward. Grabbing my bow, I nocked and pulled back the string. With an exhale, I released, sending the arrow zipping forward. The bolt sunk into its shoulder. It chirped in fury. I shot again, sinking an arrow into its thigh. With the string still thrumming, I grabbed another arrow.
The raptors surged forward. I shot arrows, trying to hit vitals. The raptors below quickly realized the problem. The mana raptor opened its mouth. With a firm desire to avoid that, I used haste and raced to hide behind the tree. The chirp from the mana raptor tore into the branch. The branch trembled. Leaves fell. Fiery mana burned into me. With a grimace, I spun and shot an arrow into its throat.
With the boosted speed, I zipped back out on the branch. My bow thrummed. My fingers flew. I rained arrows on them. The raptors raced into the trees. I sent one final shot, sinking it into the ground with several others. Darn. Missed.
With an arrow still nocked, I searched for any sign of them, peering into bushes and listening for anything. Arrows were littered on the ground. Some were sticking in carcasses. A gust of wind hit, fluttering raptor feathers.
I opted to get arrows and mana crystals. Tying a rope to the branch, I added knots and descended, landing lightly. Darting forward, I grabbed the crystals, arrows, and some carcasses. The carcasses went into my subspace. Anxiety flooded through me as some unbidden instinct lanced through me. I triggered haste. Pulling out a sword, I spun and then slashed the raptor’s throat, sending a stream of blood into the air.
Ducking, a raptor sailed overhead. I dashed forward, chopping into its neck. Blood sprayed as I pivoted. Swinging, I decapitated another, sending the head flying.
With a spin, I stabbed one as its claws clipped my side. Claws scraped off the outfit. I stabbed my blade into its throat and rapidly cut down the two that remained.
Grabbing my things, I climbed up the rope and took a seat on the branch. My heart thundered as I surveyed the area for more threats.
Quest complete! +50 reputation. You have 950 reputation.
My adrenaline and panic slowly faded. “What good is reputation anyway?”
Ela smiled at me. “It allows you to purchase things from the fae. You can use it as currency with them. Of course, that’s difficult if you are hiding from them all.” She stuck out her tongue. “You can redeem it for credits too. Usually, the nobility pay a stipend for the quests, but you aren’t registered.”
“Ugh. No rewards for me. No need to even show it anymore, Ela.”
Ela sighed and plopped onto my lap. “You could fix that easily. And that wasn’t our deal.”
Level: 3 Mana: 21.12 / 55.98
I frowned while looking at my mana. I’m going home. The thought brought a smile to my face. It was far smarter. I surveyed the area one final time, spotting a lapple tree. Grabbing my rope, I traversed the canopy and happily had a nice, long snack break, enjoying the sour fruit. Then I glanced at my mana, sighed, and decided to stall, eating another piece of fruit.
After ninety minutes of lapple picking, lapple eating, and random musings, my boredom was somewhere between a nine and crushing agony. Unable to bear it, I opted to do a bit of scouting. I vaulted and ran through the branches; it was sort of fun. Then I got completely distracted. Below me was a thilpod. They are huge; think brontosaurus with a club tail if you are unaware. It reached up and ate some leaves on a nearby tree.
Watching something like this was not common; so I stayed, triggering my computer to record.
The dinosaur moved forward. Then it munched leaves and looked at me. The large green eye blinked and disregarded me. Instead, it reached up and began eating lapples.
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I moved away from the tree while wondering if I could ride it. After all, who doesn’t want to ride a dinosaur? In the end, common sense won. I sighed and watched it eat.
A pack of raptors raced forward and attacked. They coordinated. As some harried the front, others launched onto the back. One raptor got punted, smashing into a tree. Leaves dropped. Another leapt, ripping claws into its leg. The thilpod let out a massive bellow and swung its tail, catching one.
The tail smashed a raptor right through the tree, plastering it like a bug. Not wanting to get hit, I began leaving the immediate vicinity, launching myself onto another tree.
Turning back, I saw the inevitable doom for the herbivore. A raptor was now on the back of the thilpod and had torn deep with its legs. It ripped into flesh. Then the tail swung. The raptor leapt out of the way, landing on its neck. It bit down. Blood poured out while others leapt, embedding claws into it. The thilpod bellowed and thrashed, knocking over a tree and sending a raptor tumbling across the ground.
The raptor bounced, righted itself, and shot forward. Leaping, it landed on the thrashing thilpod, drawing yet more blood.
I was tempted to end it. The herbivore was as good as gone. Blood was running all over it. Rustling filled the leaves above me. Then the rain hit, sprinkling us all. The thilpod let loose a painful bellow.
Pulling out a knife, I activated the enchantment, used haste, and sent the blade for its skull. The creature died nearly instantly as the blade sunk into its neck. As the knife appeared in my hand, I stopped my spell and turned away, heading towards the dungeon.
I made it twenty seconds before new distractions arrived. Scavengers started showing up. The raptors started fighting with other birds that wanted a free lunch. Then it became a ruckus as other creatures joined. I watched in wide-eyed fascination as small lizards ripped off pieces and ran. Birds did the same. Larger dinosaurs began fighting and hissing at each other.
Quest: Raptor Dungeon. Reward: +100 reputation. (950 currently).
“Thanks.” I forced myself forward away from the mess before I got into trouble, journeying through the canopy. The sounds of the scavengers were slowly drowned out by the rain and distance.
Creeping forward, I arrived at the dungeon and peered down at the clearing about six meters below. Sure enough, there were raptors outside. Some were aglow with mana.
I crept forward along the branches as raptors hissed and chirped below. The larger-than-normal creatures were chirping about something. Green, blue, and brown feathers decorated their skin. Like their namesakes, they had massive claws and sharp teeth. Naturally, I did not want to feel those, so I pulled out my bow.
Activating Haste, I aimed and shot. The arrow sunk into a raptor. Grabbing another arrow, I launched it. My arm flew, sending arrow after arrow into the large group below. Arrows rained from above, dropping raptors all around me.
My triumph was ruined as pain slammed into me. The mana raptor below had had its mouth open. Magic was spewing out of it.
I shot the mana raptor repeatedly. Blood spurted and it crumpled. Ignoring the pain, I executed the remainder. I bound down the branch and hid behind the trunk. That hurts.
Level: 4 Mana: 15.45 / 60.00
I didn’t have a lot of time to think about a level up. I killed my spell. “AI - Health-scan.”
I frowned as my vitals popped up. My heart rate was high. I was dizzy. My blood pressure was a mess. I shut my eyes and waited, hoping it would pass.
After about thirty seconds, four massive mana-infused raptors darted out. I used haste and fired my final arrows. They slammed into the lead raptor. Dropping the bow, I pulled out knives and used the enchantments. Then I resumed my attack, launching blades through the air.
They crouched and opened their maws, using their magic. Dodging away, I launched my knives, leaving deep slashes.
Over the next ten seconds, I rained knives, dropping two more of them. The remaining raptor unleashed another spell, causing the wet branch to shudder. Then the branch, twenty meters in the air, exploded as the magic hit it. Panic flooded through me. All the speed in the world would do nothing now. I flailed and panicked while dropping in slow motion.
Willing magic to help, I flooded my potential spells with mana as I heard and felt my bones break, shattering into fiery shards of agony. I screamed. I won’t even pretend that I didn’t. The pain was exquisite.
With my vision tunneling, I looked to see a charging mana raptor. I was going to die. I was certain of that. You don’t survive falls like this without immediate help. Worse still, I was being greeted by a mana raptor.
I kept waiting for them to chomp. It didn’t come. It seemed that time turned on me because everything was just frozen. It was like someone wanted me to see that I was dead. Then I grew frustrated with that fact.
Since time was in abundance, I opened the medbag on my waist. Then I grabbed a red potion, ripped the cork out with my teeth, and downed it. It just sort of hung in my throat. “Ela please?” I thought to her.
She didn’t respond. Nothing did. Nothing moved. Everything was frozen. Maybe it was so that death could show up. Then I focused inward. The potion inside of me hung there. It wasn’t doing anything. I grabbed knives. I couldn’t even use the enchantment; I chucked the knives at the remaining raptor. They froze, hanging in the air between me and it.
I stared at them in confusion. What the hell?
“Ready to go?” a cowled figure asked as he appeared and looked at me. He was wearing a black robe and holding a scythe.
Death? Oh god, no.
Death sighed. “Fine, we’ll talk later since you probably won’t survive this.” He vanished.
I looked back to the raptor. Then I felt the spell that was alive inside of me. Figuring it must have done something to time, I pulled out my swords and ended the spell.
I wish that I could say I fended the raptor off and heroically returned home, but that didn’t happen. The spell ended. My vision and hearing tunneled instantly. I toppled over as the world went black.
~~~
I woke up and expected to just be in heaven or hell. Given the horrible pain and cold rain, I suspected hell. It appeared that there were scavengers in hell because one was pecking my head. I hit it. The bird squawked and flapped over to start digging into a raptor carcass. Then my memories flooded back as I saw Ela.
“Casey! I can get help! Please!” Ela screamed at me.
I glanced at the clock while tears resumed in earnest. I’d been out for at least fifteen minutes which meant I’d burned my luck for the decade. I sheathed my swords, prompted for a health scan, and began dragging myself away, coating myself with mud.
“You have multiple broken bones,” Ela shouted. “The potion mended what it could. You need help, Casey!”
“No.” I dragged myself through the mud to the nearest tree while forcing myself to stay conscious. A place to hide was the priority until I figured out what to do. Climbing was out of the question considering my mangled legs. So, I dragged myself to the tree while my vision started tunneling again.
Lacking other options, I placed my hand on the tree, made the harvesting spell, and willed it to hollow out the base of the tree. A pile of planks appeared while a cubby formed. I dragged myself inside and then barricaded it with the planks and dirt. My vision tunneled further.
Ela started saying something, but I couldn’t hear it over the dimming sound of the rain.
~~~
I woke to the sound of scratching on wood. That was strange. It made no sense to me. Then it all snapped back. Panic and pain surged through me. A glance at the clock revealed four hours of me just being passed out. Honestly, it wasn’t looking good. I started sobbing.
“Casey, please. I can get you help,” Ela said while flitting about anxiously. “You have predators outside and so many broken bones. You need help.”
“I’ll live.” I didn’t believe my claim, but I didn’t have good options. All of this was a mistake.
“No, you won’t! Stop being stubborn.”
“I’m not letting her kill my family and me! They will. I know they will.” I retrieved the water from my subspace and drank a sip. Sobbing softly, I pulled out a sword. Then I rotated myself so that I could prod through my barricade before I blacked out again. With tunneling vision, I stabbed whatever was outside. It chirped and ran off. Then I took a drink while preparing to topple.
“Just let me authorize an emergency drop. I promise it’ll be alright. I can help you.” Ela started crying.
“Nothing else?” Tears rolled down my cheeks. I stared down at my broken body.
“Nothing else.”
“Deal.” I watched a small chest form in front of me. I opened it. Three potions were inside. I drank all of them. Tears ran down my face as I tried not to scream. It seemed that my bones needed to be put back together because that seemed to be happening. Fiery bone fragments tore through my body. My vision tunneled once more. I tried to blink it off. That didn’t work. Instead, I forced myself not to scream while everything went dark.
~~~
I woke. The memories came rushing back as my legs throbbed. Something was ripping apart my little barricade. Water was trickling in.
Ela fluttered onto my leg. “Don’t worry. Help is coming.”
“Ela, you promised!”
“Sorry. They can review the target location. They did. Don’t worry. They’ll help you.”
“Shit!” I cursed. That complicated things further. I was on a clock with multiple broken bones. I looked into the chest and pulled out the little Ela plushie. That was stashed in my subspace. I didn’t want Dad to confiscate it again. The chest vanished.
Ela gave a sorrowful look. “Get ready. It’s breaking in. I think it’s a raptor. You didn’t get them all. You need to defend yourself until help gets here.”
I turned my focus to my spells instead. Ela seemed to notice that fact.
“Please meet with them, Casey.” Ela frowned and put up a map.
I ignored the map. That wasn’t happening. I just needed to get home, and I had an idea. I placed my necklace on, got rid of my uniform, and invoked the spell to stop time again. Everything froze around me. Then I willed myself elsewhere. Appearing above my bed, I dropped the spell.
I snapped into existence in my room, landing on my bed. I screamed as I hit the mattress.
Dad showed up about ten seconds later. “Casey?” He blanched.
“Medpod,” I murmured in my haze.
I remember screaming again as he loaded me into it.
Current Level 4 Current XP 1.20% Current Max Mana 56.77 Regen per minute 0.24 Growth Time (Days) 10 Potential Mana 14.19 Reputation 950
Tier Skill Cost Tier 3 User Time Dilation (Haste)
- User experiences 8 seconds for 1 earth second.
- Force transference limited to 50% 0.5 mana per earth second. Tier 2 Pocket Dimension
- 8 cubic meters of pocket space 8 mana Tier 1 Time Stop
- Caster leaves spacetime. They may remove and place things back in spacetime.
- Time does not pass in the demi-plane.
- The area is restricted to 50 kilometers. 50 mana to cast.
Variable cost to move items in and out. Tier 1 Teleport.
- Teleports the caster.
- The range is limited to 500 kilometers. 50 mana Tier 1 Enchanting Variable cost. Tier 1 Potions Variable cost. Tier 1 Free casting
- Cast any spell you can replicate. Variable cost. Penalty of 8x mana. Tier 1 Familiar Manifestation 20 mana to cast. 1 mana for each additional minute.
Tier 1
Attire Swap
- Locked to a single outfit. Current outfit set to Magical Girl Uniform. 20 mana.