August 30, 493 U.C.
The forest surrounded me. I enjoyed it, waving at Ela who fluttered up.
“Summon me when you get back!” Ela yelled.
“I need to go to school.” I looked at my little sapling on Wednesday morning, touching it lightly.
Tier 1 Free Casting Select One: - Slotted Spell. Use half the normal cost of the spell to store a spell for future use. Using the spell consumes it and frees the slot. It costs half the mana to cast the spell. - Guided spell. Casting is corrected. Spell cost increases based on imperfections. - Replace this, enchanting, and potions with an eligible spell type. Selection available: Light.
I grabbed the first one. It would save some mana. Finishing that, I forced myself out. Then I began finishing potions before school started.
Minutes ticked by while I worked through my standard loop of chores. Then I dashed for the door, nearly crashing into some distant cousin. “Whoops, sorry.”
“How do you stand it?” he asked.
“It took me a few months. Sorry.”
“It took the alien a few months? Fucking shit!” He slammed his fist against the wall and walked towards the spare room.
I winced. Every time. Why do they hate me so much? I headed into the shower and tried to shake it off. I mused on it while I scrubbed. My extended family was not accepting. They still aren’t.
The thoughts lingered as I woodenly got ready, got breakfast, and headed out the door. I stood at the corner, staring down at the cement walk.
“Good morning. Doing alright?” Daniele walked up.
I looked up from the gray concrete. “It’s just been a morning. How about you?”
“Fine. Can I ask you something?”
“What’s up?”
“Is it true what they say about your family?” Daniele asked.
“No. Yes, I have some extended family that has a history, but we aren’t some horrible criminals. We aren’t.” I shook my head. We’re fighting for humanity. Doubt flitted into me. Are we? What about yesterday? That just increased my resolve not to kill anyone. I wasn’t doing that.
“Okay. I was just wondering.” Daniele walked out onto the street. “Good morning, Daron.”
I followed her out onto the streets while contemplating the robbery. Then I shook my head. It was just once, Casey. Stop. You know what happened to Mom. That helped. I focused on her while I walked.
“Good morning. How are you?” Daron asked.
“Fine. Ready for another day?” Daniele asked.
“Yep. What’s with Casey?”
“It’s been a morning,” I replied and kept walking down the streets. Did they hate her too? Is that why they never talk about her? I mused on it as I walked.
“Hi, Spen’ze, Zruilth. How’s the project going?” Daniele asked.
“Well,” Zriulth said. “I can’t reveal specifics.”
I looked out to try to see it. I couldn’t. Instead, I just saw the familiar buildings. I turned back to the street and tried to shake myself out of my funk.
“Casey!” Spen’ze said, bumping me.
“What?” I asked.
“Are you alright?”
“I didn’t sleep well,” I lied and looked back at the city.
“Who is Platinum?” Spen’ze asked. “You have to know one of them.”
“No idea.” I changed the subject. “Want to join us for Guardians Club?”
“What even is it?”
“Daniele? You’re up.” I chuckled.
Daniele blushed. “They usually just talk about things, play games, and maybe spar a little.”
Spen’ze chuckled. “I think I’d kill someone.”
“Just use a lighter touch,” I said. “We are a frail and delicate species. You must learn complete mastery of your strength. It is paramount for fae and human relations that you understand that.”
Spen’ze looked at me and rolled his eyes. I giggled. He had it coming.
“Wait up!” Katherine yelled and raced forward. She glared at me. “How are you, Daron?”
“Fine,” Daron replied. “Ready for another glorious day?”
“Why do you keep hanging around the freshmen?” Katherine asked.
I nodded. “Yeah! We are gross, frail freshmen. Come on, Daniele!” I grabbed her hand and pulled her forward with a chuckle.
“Casey, why?” Daniele asked.
“Less is more. Less is more.”
“Oh. That’s genius.”
It was. That wasn’t comforting. I just wanted to avoid a trap. Then I started chuckling as I heard Spen’ze let out a breath of frustration. The swarm hit moments later, buzzing and clustering together.
“How’s your cousin? Is he acclimating?” Daniele asked.
“He’s a real grouch. How’s your brother, Ian?”
“Fine. School is keeping him busy.”
“Right. What’s his major? Is he a doctor too?”
“Nope, chemistry.”
“Ah. - Hi, Trevor.” I waved at the redhead. “Nice haircut.”
“Thanks. How are you two? Avoiding the stampede?”
I sped up. “Trying. It’s getting big. Let’s pick up the pace.”
Daniele turned. “I see that everyone figured out where those three were staying.”
I sped up to a jog. “Yes, the fae are about five seconds from losing it.”
“How can you tell?” Trevor asked.
“Instinct. And sounds. You can hear it. They’ve gone all quiet.”
“Casey!” Spen’ze yelled. Then he bolted out of the group.
I countered by racing to the school. It would help him and would also help me avoid a trap. That was the best choice.
“Get back here,” he yelled in the most half-hearted plea that I’d ever heard. He was clearly thrilled to have an excuse to sprint ahead.
I waltzed up to the door and opened it. He caught it.
“You’re in good shape,” Spen’ze said.
“Dad won’t let me use the scooters. He’s evil like that. Did you need anything besides a getaway plan?” I asked while walking through the airlock.
“Not really. Why aren’t you begging to be a magic girl?”
I turned and wagged my finger. “You promised to make me one!”
“We didn’t.”
“You did. I was there. You promised!”
“We didn’t.”
“Yeah, you did. There are no backsies!”
“What?” he asked in visible confusion.
“No backing out.” I laughed and skipped off down the hall. Then I laughed openly as I heard the swarm hit him.
Daniele giggled as we walked into the room. “You are terrible.”
I grinned. “He wanted an escape. I know it.”
“They do get run ragged.”
“That’s the truth. I wonder why they don’t use their secret human disguises.” I took a seat.
“Me too.”
Glancing around the classroom, I began signing into the desk.
High Priority Quest: City Defense! – Aid the military in defending the wall before it is lost! Rewards: 2000 reputation. (8100 total). Additional reputation based on contribution.
Level: 11 Mana: 8797.57
The world around me stopped moving. Everything was silent while I began my inner debate. Then I felt that feeling again. It built within me like some cliché song from movies. With the siren song of heroes blaring through my mind, I forced myself to think it through.
This was a great chance to wipe out the link between Platinum and myself. That was a positive. If I sat out, we could sow some discord, but it likely wouldn’t even be pushed back on the nobles. I did need to level; this would cap me out again too. It would also help ensure that people had food and homes. Then I realized something else. If we lost it, they’d probably make me rebuild it when we took over. That thought shoved my resistance out the door. I did not need or want more work!
Nodding to myself, I made my choice. This was necessary. There was only one option. I activated and tossed out my holo-drone. It would attend class for me if I took more than six minutes.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
I willed myself to North America while donning the Platinum look. Then I pulled out weapons and glanced down at the mess. There were bugs all over the place. Some massive beetles were smashing into the ten-meter wall of stone and concrete. The biggest ones were nearly as tall as the wall. Turrets were firing into them. Artillery had been established and was raining hell on the place. There was a massive plume of fire and smoke. The little bugs were exploding or flying due to the blasts.
To top it all off, guardians were hurling magic. One of the second generation guardians was there; he was bathing the place in flames. Must be serious. What rank was he again? He has to be in the top hundred. Frowning, I wasn't sure that I'd be able to help as I looked at his field of flame.
Wanting no part of the firefight, I decided to leave the wall to them and create a new problem for the bugs. I willed myself to the massive hive that was spewing out bugs, fire, and dirt.
A metal rain of shells from aircraft and drones rained down. Explosions were blowing chunks of it apart. I had never seen so much flying dirt, smoke, fire, and bug gunk before. I looked up to the sky to see how long I’d get before the next artillery shot hit.
That was when my plan changed entirely. I was not going to get hit by the rain of death. With a frown, I began studying to figure out why the bugs weren’t all dead.
I figured it out a moment later. The massive beetles were shielding things. I could see one of them doing it. That wouldn’t do. I could help with that. As a bonus, there was weaponry everywhere for me to use!
With my plan decided, I appeared next to a pile of explosives. I used haste, grabbed grenades, and stowed them.
“Stealing?” Ela asked.
“Exploding the queen and others.” I began enchanting the grenades. I wanted them to pack a real punch.
“Where did you learn how to do that?” Ela asked.
“Books!”
“Turn them in!”
“Nope.” I teleported into the hive and slammed my axe into a bug that was scurrying up the tunnel. The overgrown ant exploded, coating the place with bug gunk.
I raced along the tunnel and punched the next one. Regret hit me along with the wave of bug gunk. This was a horrible mistake. I covered myself with bug guts. With an audible groan, I continued blazing down the tunnel, offing bugs as I did.
It took me at least an eternity to find the queen. The clock said it had been five seconds. I, on the other hand, said that I wanted out of the hive. Spotting a familiar ugly mug, I grimaced and began tossing out the grenades in the name of preventing the creation of Casey’s Construction Crew.
Finishing that work, I moved to the front and watched everything blow. As soon as the explosions started, I teleported out. Then I glanced around the field. Seeing that the massive creatures were problems, I opted to create solutions. In this case, my solution was punting the smaller bugs at it at high velocity. I didn’t want to risk my axes.
I grabbed a small beetle and threw it. It slammed into a big one, leaving a smear. I walked down a line and punted the things with my foot. I repeated this to all the big ones. Smaller bugs went flying, smearing across its carapace. Studying the massive creature, I saw that it was working. One of the massive ones was leaking fluid. Sadly, it wasn’t close to dead.
Growing frustrated with their resilience, I punted a beetle about my height. It was like watching a speedboat on a bug glop lake. It blew apart along with its kin. A wave of fluid, carapace, and other nonsense went flying. Sadly, the massive ones were a real problem.
With a growing level of boredom, I decided to cheat. I ran back to Explosives Incorporated and liberated some of their supply. Then I began enchanting them as I ran back. I walked up to a bellowing massive thing. Then I tossed it into its throat. It exploded due to the speed. The poor creature did not take it well. Bug glop sprayed out while its big bug eyes moved to a deranged state.
The drones did not wait for it to do anything else. They sent a torrential rain of bullets into its neck, spewing out a mess. I ran away from it and began launching others as my boredom grew to unbearable heights.
Unbeknownst to me, some horrible bugs filed out and began sighting in defenders. I was on the list. While I punted. A bone spike shot forward at high speed. At least one rib snapped as it sunk into my flesh. My scream came unbidden. Time halted. The smell of my blood hit. Tears began streaming down my face as I looked down to see it.
Grabbing a healing potion, I downed it. Then I pulled out the fifteen-centimeter stinger from my side. Blood came with it. I covered my side and dropped to my knees, sobbing while the healing potion kicked in.
It was horrible then. It’s hard to write about it now. Honestly, getting hit sucks. The feeling of something scraping your bone is not a pleasant one. For those of you who have visited the dentist, imagine that drill ramming into your ribs. It felt like that.
With time still halted, I looked out to the world and saw the strange spitting insects that looked like mosquitos that had taken a horrific route. They were shooting at everything.
My trauma kicked in as I saw the mess. I wanted to go home and call it a failure. My desire to fight had been replaced by fear. Several guardians were being pulled back and fed potions. It was a disaster.
I did not heroically return. Instead, I decided to aid in a different, safer manner. I appeared back inside the wall and resumed time. Then I waited for things to heal. It took thirty normal seconds before the blood stopped flowing down my side and leg. After that, I used haste and raced down the line of artillery, enchanting on my way. I spent nearly all of my mana in a single earth second doing that.
Then the artillery fired with a thundering boom. The glowing bullets and bombs looked far more ominous. Pulsing with a bright blue light, they rained down with a new fury.
The first to hit smashed into a massive beetle. It went right through it, lighting the thing on fire and continuing onward, creating a path of carnage. Then the next glowing shell went off, engulfing the place in magically enhanced flame. Worse than the best napalm, things lit on fire. The nearby smaller bugs cooked and popped open as they did.
The other shots hit moments later. I struggled to see or hear as they did. The blue flame was still burning any bugs nearby. Smoke and dirt engulfed the place as the ground shook. The deafening noise made it worse. Then the old guardian seized the magical flames and fanned them into a field of magical fire. The entire town lit up as the smoke billowed.
That’s when I teleported home to get cleaned up. After a shower and change, I reappeared back in the classroom while ignoring the pain in the side. Dropping haste, I sat carefully and prayed that my ribs would heal quickly. Then I looked up at the board and pretended everything was normal. I pretended that I hadn’t spent five minutes doing that and washing away all the evidence.
“Casey!” Daniele whispered. “You should see this.”
I looked over and watched the footage. “Wow. He packs a punch.”
Daniele nodded and stared at me with a look of confusion. “Platinum did something to the artillery too. They mention it here.”
“Wow,” I said in a low voice while trying to keep the blood out of my cheeks.
Quest Complete: Breach! Rewards: 5000 reputation.
Quest: Redemption! – Turn yourself in to the fae. Rewards: 10000 reputation. (Additional reputation available).
Galactic Quest: Earth defense! In order to aid others, you must first be able to aid yourselves. Contribution: 1203. Time Remaining: 62 Earth days.
I let out a long breath. Then I looked over. Daniele was giving me that look. I just smiled back at her.
“Youch! Platinum got hit hard!” Sun-young said with a grimace.
“Really?” Daniele asked and spun.
“Yes. She took a spike to the side.”
Daniele turned and stared at my side. I cursed her poor deception skills and and tried not to think about my throbbing foot and ribs.
Then I turned my focus. The teacher walked in. I pulled up the lesson for the day while trying to ignore the ache from my side.
~~~
The pain did not go away during class. The lessons passed at a glacial pace. As the lunch bell finally rang, I slowly made my way to the cafeteria. The place was crowded. The rectangular tables were filling. A massive line extended from the front.
I took a careful seat in the back. My stomach grumbled with fury, protesting my massive mana expenditure. Grabbing my bag, I pulled out my sandwich and started eating rapidly. Then I snuck in a bit more food from my pocket dimension as my hunger surged.
“Spence!” a girl shouted from the table next to mine.
I seized the moment. “Hi, Donna. It’s Spen’ze. Spen zeh.”
“Oh, so just Spen with a zeh?”
“Yes, a slight pause before that.”
“Spen’ze?”
“Yep!” I grinned while she yelled again. Maybe that would encourage them to sit elsewhere. I turned back to my lunch and tried not to move much. After a minute, Daniele took a seat. Sun-young joined her.
“Home lunch again?” Ryan asked, taking a seat.
I nodded. “Dad doesn’t think the school lunch is worth it.”
“Did you cook it?” Daniele asked.
I blushed. “Yeah.”
“It doesn’t look bad.” Zriulth took a seat next to me. To my utter chagrin, Spen’ze took the other side. They wedged me in without room to scoot over. I vowed to sit next to Daniele instead of across from her.
“Don’t you two want your entourage?” I asked.
“Nope. We’re investigating you,” Zriulth said.
“Why? I’m boring.”
“That’s why.” Zriulth chuckled.
“Because you are Platinum,” Spen’ze said as I failed to react.
“No, she’s not,” a girl said with a huff. “Platinum was on earth fighting that breach just this morning.”
“Do you have footage?” Zriulth asked in surprise.
“Yes.” The girl sat next to him and began showing it.
It brought a smile to my face. Hopefully, this would dispel the rumors. I needed those to go away.
“Was she in class during that time?” Spen’ze asked.
“Yes. I saw her,” Trevor said as he took a seat. “And she’s probably healing somewhere. She took a nasty hit.”
I nodded. “Sorry. Your princess is in a different castle.”
“What does that mean?” Zriulth asked.
“Old video game saying,” Daron said as he took a seat.
I continued eating while they chatted. I hoped that this would put an end to all their speculation. Our table rapidly became crowded as several flocked to the three boys with power.
“And when I’m a guardian,” Tara said, “We’ll visit Earth. I can show you around.”
Lucy glared at her. “Obviously, Daron and I will take them.”
“He already said I’d get magic. Didn’t you, Zri?” Tara asked.
“Please stop asking. It’s very rude,” Zriulth said with a grimace. Several faces flushed.
“That is outside our scope of power,” Spen’ze added. “So, please stop asking.”
The devil on my shoulder reared up. “Can you give me magic?” I asked him.
“Knock it off, Casey.”
I laughed. It was their fault. Then I realized my mistake. That just proved I wasn’t trying to ingratiate. It was foolish of me. Then my train of thought went off the tracks as pain flared through me.
I froze time and let out a scream of agony, sending it out into the void. My eyes watered as my body trembled. I looked at Spen’ze’s elbow and studied. Did he do that on purpose? Or did it just happen? Regardless, that little bump brought water to my eyes and a scream to my lips. I forced down the pain and dried my eyes. Then I resumed time while praying he wouldn't test it again.
Spen’ze glanced at me, looking down at my ribs.
“You really shouldn’t elbow people,” I said with a forced smile.
Spen’ze frowned. “There is something suspicious about you.”
“That’s called attraction,” I countered. “You’re attracted to me.”
His mouth dropped. “No.”
I stopped myself from erupting with laughter. His expression was priceless. It was worth it.
“I don’t date humans. None of us do,” Spen’ze said.
I batted my eyes at him. “That doesn’t change the attraction.”
Lucy scowled at me. “They just think you’re a criminal.”
“Spen’ze, go flirt with Lucy,” I said and took another bite.
Spen’ze rolled his eyes and groaned. Chatter broke out.
I made it through another two bites before the elbow grazed my side. I smacked it away and glared at him while forcing myself not to sob. Then I grabbed my food, stood, and marched off.
“Casey. I’ll follow you,” Spen’ze said.
“I have to use the restroom.” I tossed my food in the trash. It hurt given the hunger, but I couldn’t do that again. Walking into the bathroom, I entered a stall and started sobbing. Water ran down my cheeks while my side throbbed. I spent the rest of my lunch hiding and crying in the bathroom.
After class, I delayed my trip home to avoid further pain. I had plenty of that without getting elbowed in the broken ribs.
Current Level 11 Current XP 9.28% Current Max Mana 8944.53 Regen per minute 13.55 Reputation 12000
Tier Skill Cost Tier 11 User Time Dilation (Haste)
- User experiences 256 seconds for 1 earth second.
- Force transference limited to 25%. 1 mana per earth second. Tier 7 Pocket Dimension
- 128 cubic meters of pocket space.
- Rapid stash and rapid draw.
- You may tether objects to your pocket space.
- Your pocket space preserves and organizes items inside based on your will. 32 mana Tier 7 Time Stop
- Caster leaves spacetime. They may remove and place things back in spacetime.
- You may control the flow of time in the demiplane.
- You may summon in willing living creatures.
- This automatically triggers if you take significant damage.
- Recast to gain vision. 200 mana to cast.
Variable cost to move items in and out. Tier 7 Teleport.
- Teleports the caster or a willing creature.
- You may cast this on a willing or unwilling creature if they are within fifty meters.
- You may teleport inside an object, causing the matter to push outward.
200 mana for the caster.
400 mana for a willing creature.
1000 mana for an unwilling creature with no resistance.
- Short range casts cost less mana.
Tier 3 Attire Swap
- Locked to a single outfit. Current outfit set to Magical Girl Uniform.
- Attire cleaned on swap.
- Attire repaired on swap. 20 mana. Tier 3 Enhanced Body
-Caster’s body is enhanced by a factor of eight. 2 mana per caster second. Tier 2 Enchanting.
- Enchantments last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 2 Potions.
- Potions last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 2 Familiar Manifestation. 20 mana to cast Tier 2 Free casting
- Cast any spell you can replicate.
- Slotted Spell. Use half the normal cost of the spell to store a single spell for future use. Cast the spell for the remaining cost. Variable cost. Penalty of 8x mana.