One day during the two weeks Aeschyli spent with Arge, she revealed her plan to him.

It was after she setup the play and showed Arge the script, and told him her dark history and Arge said he didn’t believe her.

Arge was nearing his limit. Aeschyli was aware of that. It was necessary for his cooperation, but she was enjoying being herself around someone a little too much.

She was clearly aware she had gone too far. It was the last day of them working at the quarry, and Aeschyli was working behind the scenes gathering information. It was time.

It was sunset, Arge was taking a break on a leveled stone in the quarry

“Hey, Arge,” she started, and Arge recoiled in mild horror. Her empathy for him was rising as she imagined he was feeling sad inside.

She snapped off her bangle, her face full of malice. Only Slo had seen that face during her fight with her in the bath. It was a sign of the trust she built with Arge to show him this, after all.

“We need to go to Marscione when Timothy and Cosimo awaken. I don’t want Slo to be dragged into the war that’s coming to Aleppo. It won’t end well, and there’s another reason…”, she started.

“Why are you so stuck on Slo anyways?”, Arge said.

“She invented a magic by herself. It’s extremely dangerous if my father finds out. The world could really burn you know?”, she said as she was surprised that Arge wasn’t more taken aback. Maybe he was more used to her than she thought.

“Aren’t you just making up stories again? You said you fought a dragon and lived you know! I don’t doubt that’s a curse bangle, but you’re rich.  It’s easy to buy sigiled stuff if you have that kind of money,” Arge grumbled.

“I don’t lie to you or Slo. It’s new to me.”, said Aeschyli.

“Okay, so you’re dad’s a mad mage, why are you stuck on Slo?”, Arge said.

“The original magic-”, Aeschyli started saying.

“The feeling, Aeschyli,” Arge interrupted her.

Arge continued talking, “You could walk away tomorrow, you could have walked off at any time after the flood, yet you’re sticking around me and my group. You got some guy I met on the same day sleeping with the girl you know I like, and the talking animal who beat me up and probably flooded the city sleeping with us as well.”

“Marscione, and, abomination, the war,” Aeschyli said as she started to cry.

“Oh don’t give me that. I know you’re an amazing actress, always playing games and setting me up. It doesn’t bother me that much, don’t get me wrong here, I just-”, said Arge.

“Not. lying.” Aeschyli said as she started crying harder. This is what happens when you open up, isn’t that right? She should have stayed behind the lie.

Arge was beginning to doubt this was an act. That, or she was winning against him again. Either way, he felt like he couldn’t respect himself if he let her lose here.

“I’m just trying to keep everyone happy,” said Arge, “I don’t know what happened between you and Slo that night in the bath. Actually, I really want to know. But, I’ll leave that to you girls. How do you feel about Slo? Is my group, safe, with you?”

Arge suddenly realized as he said that perhaps all the lies she told were true. If that was the case, he was actually endangering Slo. And the others, he added.

Aeschyli processed that. Wasn’t she always afraid of everyone else? Arge was just like her, he wanted to be-

“I love you both,” said Aeschyli and she hugged him smiling.

“Okay,” said Arge. He needed to confirm one thing though the most.

“In a sexual way?”, said Arge.

“Nope,” said Aeschyli, “I’ll help you get with Slo though, if you get everyone to lie to her where we’re going and lead all of us to Marscione. If Timothy and Cosimo are up for it,  otherwise, forget them.”

“Lie to Slo? That’s easy. Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”, she said as he returned her hug.

Arge had one more question though.

“Why doesn’t Slo want to go to Marscione?”, asked Arge.

===========

“So you want to go to Marscione? Why?”, asked Cosimo.

They were resting in the inn.

Cosimo was messing with his sigil bird as it walked around on his stomach on his bed.

“Maybe I should name it,” he thought.

“There’s the war, thing, and Aeschyli said Slo was probably going to get targeted because she’s got some super special secret magic. It’s hard to make a living in Aleppo anyways, well, Aeschyli’s paying for everything anyways. She’s rich. I like her,” said Arge.

“She’s dangerous,” said Cosimo. That was his impression of her, even when he was with her saving flood victims. She also upset him because he felt protective towards her. It was like his sister all over again. Aeschyli isn’t a psycho too, right?

“You were right about me,” Cosimo continued. “After I fought my sister in the whiteless void, I thought I could just run away. It’s not that easy, huh,” Cosimo said.

“Ah, I called you clingy and threatened with the knife then. I was just protecting Slo, you get that?”, said Arge.

“Yeah, the clingy part. I’m afraid I’m going to end up clinging to Aeschyli like I did my sister,” said Cosimo. His honesty seemed to be working for him, he thought. It feels like a breath of fresh air.

“I don’t know what kind of nonsense you’re talking about, but if it’s sticking to someone that’s nothing but trouble I can see your point. You know what, you just gotta ask yourself, “is it worth it? Do I want to put up with it?”. Yeah. I am smart. That was a smart thing to say,” Arge said as he complimented himself. He was in a rare mood with a new knife.

“Well the whiteless void thing is kind of complex. I guess you’re right though. In the end, I could have just walked away from the start anyways. Hey, have you spent any time with Aeschyli? What’s she like?”, asked Cosimo. Timothy trusted him, maybe he’d have to trust Aeschyli? He simply didn’t spend enough time with her. All she did in his mind was ride off on his friend and then make an about face. It was just a mystery.

He was fully aware at this point that he was probably walking into another trap.

Was Aeschyli worth it? Hey, maybe he really needs to get out there and meet other people he thought, this just stunk to him. Just what was he doing?

“She’s afraid. She’s very, very afraid,” Arge said, “She’s got friends now though. Me and Slo. I don’t think she likes Chel and she hasn’t talked to Doru much.”

“Oh great. Just the type I want to save. Think I should give it a shot?”, Cosimo said.

“If you want life advice you’d be better off asking Timothy, he’s a smart one. Me, I’m dumb. I just keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting it to change somehow,” he sighed. He didn’t realize that until this conversation. Cosimo was annoying for bringing this out of him, he thought.

“Yeah, Timothy seems like he know’s what he’s doing with life,” said Cosimo.

======

Meanwhile, Timothy was walking out of the Dun Embassy. He had just tried to talk with Dun, the emissary there, trying to gain access to the magic sigil engineers behind the flood. When he revealed his ‘Form of Dragon’ just to prove that he was the hero of Aleppo, Baqashot the city mayor got upset and shoo’d him out. He didn’t know that Baqashot had capitulated to Dun and had no interest in “Why the flood had happened” at this point. After all, the engineers Timothy wanted were all busy rebuilding the system.

He was walking in his ‘Form of Man’ thinking over what to do next.

“Damn Baqashot, if only I knew someone that was a magic sigil engineer.”

Aeschyli was there. Aeschyli was smiling at him with light pooled in her eyes.

He just noticed.

“I’m sorry, did I just randomly talk to you with ‘Soul Communication’ by mistake?”, he said. He knew it was her, he just didn’t like how happy she looked right now.

“I’m a magic sigil engineer! I’m Aeschyli!”, said Aeschyli.

“Yeah, great. Arge told me you knew about magic reactions. Care to explain them? I’m trying to figure out why the city flooded, and there’s this sigils and the water system and me slapping Arge into a water cylinder.”

“What happened exactly?”, Aeschyli said as she shifted mode.

And so things were explained.

“Sounds like you used an ability on Arge. Arge then used an ability to receive your attack. Whatever spell Arge used had to have to gone to a central sigil hub. There’s no other way the whole city's water supply could blow up like that,” said Aeschyli.

“So it’s Arge’s fault. Good. Well, then see you later,” Timothy made to leave.

“Wait,” she said as she held his arm.

Now that Timothy knew the effect of ‘Druidic Rage’ which was an ‘Arts’ of his that increased his anger when he was angry and boosted status, he was aware that he needed to let this go.

“What is it?”, he said.

“Let’s be friends,” she said.

She was planning on saying it to him before she knew he was sentient instead of just smart for a pilosa. Aeschyli thought back, she was really lonely then.

“You really look like trouble. What’s with all these humans wanting to be my friend suddenly anyways? Well, I did save the city. Tell me, how can I trust you after you hit me with a mind control spell?”, Timothy asked. At this point he was just expressing his anger. He was spoiling for another fight inside, but not with this one here.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“I was lonely. Grew up in magical experiment house. Very bad home. I hit you with the spell because I was lonely and afraid, on the run from assassins,” Aeschyli said.

Timothy thought to himself, she’s the opposite of Cosimo. Cosimo wanted to run away, but only after he gave up. Aeschyli ran away, but always wanted a relationship. He saw where this was going.

He palmed his eyes above his nose in ‘Form of Man’, imitating a facepalm.

“Why did you want to make friend’s with me?”, said Timothy, removing his hands from his face.

It was just curiosity.

“Bed and company,” Aeschyli said.

Timothy thought to himself, “Well you are a hero after all. This is your lot in life. Want to just ditch Cosimo and let him sort it out for himself?”

Timothy couldn’t do that. Cosimo was being honest now. Moreover, he wanted to beat him. He knew Cosimo was holding back for sure now.

If he was being honest he enjoyed the company too.

“Okay, fine. You’ve got to take care of Cosimo for me though. I’m going to be hanging around him for a while yet. I’ll leave it up to you how you want to handle that,” said Timothy.

“And no mind control”, Timothy added.

“Leave it up to me? I can do the no ‘Carpe Scaenam’ part but I don’t understand that part,” Aeschyli said.

“Just try not to kill him. I’m the one who’s trying to kill him.” said Timothy.

“Try not to kill? But I’m not even trying to hurt him? Why are you trying to kill him?”, said Aeschyli.

She was dense, Timothy thought. He could believe her story a little bit more now. Then again, she didn’t know him as well as Timothy did.

“Cosimo tries really hard, a little too hard. He might become overprotective of you. The boy is looking for an excuse to become dependant on something else. He could be easily controlled by you and end up doing something dumb. Me, he’s just holding back his true power. I want to fight him at full strength,” said Timothy. He asked himself, “Why did it have to be Cosimo?”

Because he thought Cosimo could win. Timothy wanted to get shown he was wrong about something. He put it out of mind.

“I don’t get it. I was only interested in him and you in the first place because you both were easy to control,” Aeschyli admitted.

“Just think about him once in awhile okay?”, said Timothy.

Aeschyli took that literally.

==========

They had gathered provisions with Aeschyli’s and Timothy’s money. They got a cart, as Timothy said that he didn’t want to fly all the way there. It seemed like he was mad about something as usual.

They set out across the plains to Marscione.

Arge deceived Slo, Chel and Doru by saying the were going to Avingnon.

Aeschyli had explained that because of her hero act, Marscione was the most vital place to go.

The other reason was to clear Slo of her problem there. Aeschyli figured that it would boost her mental toughness for the future, since she was planning to stick around.

And then it came for them.

==========

Aeschyli looked out over the setting sun. She saw the mark of her family on a red humanoid target racing towards them, and instantly snapped off her bangle.

“So it’s time, father, did the noble council get to you?”, she thought.

There was full malice on her face, her true face.

Arge and Slo were the only ones who saw it before. Slo immediately went, “Not again!”.

Cosimo, Chel, Doru, and Timothy were seeing it for the first time.

She wasn’t alone. Slo would need to fight. Target must be eliminated.

Today she would play a new, old role.

Aeschyli, herself. Rally the troops!

“Dazzling the stage! Flutter! Gobo Contract 3rd, 6th Open! Celer Flos, Rosa Lingua!”, cheered Aeschyli.

Everyone was looking at her. There was a consensus of “uh-oh” among them just by feeling.

“‘That’, in the horizon is an undead Abomination racing towards us at top speed! It is comprised of dead adventure’s corpses and their identification crystals! It can cast many spells and ‘Arts’ at once! It undoubtedly is a level between from one hundred to four hundred depending on the quality of its parts! If we’re lucky, the corpses won’t be too high quality! I need each of you to work together and support each other to the best of your abilities! I’ll launch the first attack, be ready for anything!”

Aeschyli sped off in the air to meet Grunt.

“If I was alone, maybe I would have died here. Like that time against Slo, I won’t be able to handle too many attacks at once. Hopefully father didn’t get good parts, if it’s too high level there’s nothing I can do,” she thought.

Death. Her seventh open. It was a non-lethal poison. If the abomination was low enough quality, she might be able to stop it right away.

She flew in over Grunt, keeping maximum distance.

“‘Act 3 Curtain Calling~!’ Gobo Contract 7th Open, ‘Tsuga Conium’!”

Green lights painted over red filled plains.

It was like christmas. Nothing appeared to happen to the rushing Grunt, but she was already making a beeline back to her party.

Running away wasn’t an option. It was too fast and strong. It could hunt them all down.

Aeschyli had no idea Grunt was just looking for her, and even if she did, she did know it would try to get Slo’s secret out of her. Or, just kill her, if the noble council was involved.  

There was no winning move for them but killing it.

“Cosimo, I hope that you’ve got something that can help here!”, she thought, thinking back to the magic reaction. It couldn’t be all that energy was just from one magic reaction, right?

Back before right after Aeschyli flew off.

Timothy said to everyone, “Huh, that’s really high level huh, We’re only level six right Cosimo?”

Cosimo stared off at the the red speck getting bigger in the distance.

“That abomination’s about to be level six,” Cosimo smiled, “Arge, I’m going into melee with that thing. Don’t help me no matter what, I can take it.”

Arge knew that look, it was how Arge felt a lot of the time. He believed him immediately.

“Doru, protect Chel, I’m on Slo, Timothy please help where can! Cosimo you better pull out that city buster right away or I’m not going to forgive you!”

Everyone had let the level six comment slide out of fear.

“I’ll blow it up! I’ll blow it up okay!”, panicked Slo.

Everyone got into formation, and Cosimo walking towards the front. This was going to hurt a lot, wasn’t it?, he thought.

“Slo don’t fire until I give the command! We don’t want Cosimo to get caught in the blast!”, said Arge.

“Hey, really, don’t worry about me, I can take it too,” said Cosimo. “At least for a ‘certain amount of time’, can’t the description be a bit more specific there?”, he thought.

They saw the red plains dyed with green spotlights.

“Oh! It’s pretty! Good luck defending me Arge! I’m rooting for you this time like always!”, said Slo, trying to put on a brave front. She didn’t like seeing Aeschyli like this

Chel was smiling. Made of corpses?, she thought.

Doru slammed the wagon with his shield the size of his body. The whole cart rocketed forwards giving them some room. “‘Ei Arge, I got ‘e good outta ‘e way!”, he said.

“Just what is she doing,” grumbled Timothy. He was shrouded in ‘Druidic Force’ and was in ‘Form of Dragon’. “And just when I’m feeling weakened by Cosimo’s strange spell. No, don’t make excuses, what will Willem say?”, he thought.

They took up positions as they saw the red dot quickly growing larger. It was running as if the full weight of its body was being stuffed into every step, swinging it’s entire frame haphazardly. More animal than human, more monster than a monster.

Cosimo felt heat at the top tip of his stomach. Could he defend them? He reviewed ‘Average’ in his mind. Without something like that, he would be running away. This wasn’t a fight he thought he could run away from even if he wanted to, watching the red blob charging with all it’s wobbling force kicking up grass and dirt across the red plains.

He made a fist. ‘Ancient Earth Arts’, ‘Mediocre Force’, and most importantly ‘Flow Charge’.

Just how much energy could he put into this? He watched Aeschyli flying in at top speed.

He pulled all the energy he could into his fist. It just kept coming. Every time he felt it flow to his fist, he just felt the same as before. He could do this.

Grunt lumbered in at high speed and Cosimo rushed to meet him head on.

Taller than any of them, shrouded in red velvet and a red metal plate on his face with Aeschyli’s family mark emblazoned there. Etchings covered the mask, the design was just veins.

Cosimo’s blood ran hot. Grunt was right on top of him and he slammed his palm into him.

“‘Mediocre’”, he yelled, feeling the immense weight pushing him back in mid-air as he shoved all the energy in his hand to his arm touching Grunt in a panic just to keep it from snapping.

It was like a steel rod appeared between him and Grunt. Cosimo wanted to hit him with ‘Mediocre’ then release his city buster. Grunt was pushing forward against his arm, forcing Cosimo back and knocking him away.

Grunt charged forward as he was covered in a dim light and then it broke into sparkles.

Cosimo yelled from the ground watching Grunt speed away from him, “I got him! He’s level six! Take him out!”

Aeschyli returned to the group as Timothy took off to meet Grunt. He just ran straight at him.

“Hey there! Sorry about my friend there bringing you down! Show me what you got left!,” he cheered at Grunt.

He built his ‘Druidic Rage’ and channeled his ‘Druidic Force’ into his tongue and whipped it as he was charging.

“‘Darting Tongue’”, he thought as it cut straight through the center of Grunt.

Aeschyli got startled and spouted, “No way…”. She flew in toward Grunt with Rosa Lingua ready.

Timothy extended his ‘Druidic Force’ and attempted to throw Grunt into the air with his tongue still in it’s body. “It’s too heavy!”, Timothy thought as Grunt closed their distance.

He retracted his tongue as he charged forward and heard Chel and Slo cast out loud.

At the same time, Grunt casted too.

“‘Cruor Caedis’!” Chel aimed her staff with the tiny bat on top towards Grunt.

“‘~Brenna’ ‘En don’!” Slo aimed the spikes at Grunt massive stumbling legs.

“‘Thirt’ ‘Foil Rain’ ‘Foil Rain ‘Foil Rain’ ‘Foil Rain’ ‘Foil Rain’”

Five groups of foils ‘Foil Rain’ appeared above the group and shot down into them.as ground spikes from the plains shot into Grunts legs as he felt his muscles twitch a bit. A fan of glass shining sworded bathed in red fanned out behind Grunt as ‘Cruor Caedis’ was damaging his flesh from the inside. The spikes snapped with Grunt’s charge as holes were stabbed into his legs and a few ground spikes snapped off at the tip and he carried them with him as he threw himself into the charging Timothy.

“‘Act 2”, Aeschyli casted in her mind as she intercepted the waves of shining foils pouring down on them like hail. “Hello again, Tabil,” she thought as a grin creeped to her face as Rosa Lingua moved at an unnatural speed to knock away the ‘Foil Rain’.

Doru pulled Chel under and behind him with his shield up as foils poured into it. Arge used ‘Stone Self’ while backing into Slo and set a ‘Ground Anchor’ to avoid getting shot away. “The things I do,” Arge mused to himself, feeling proud as foils poured into him.

“‘Foil Rain’ ‘Foil Rain’ ‘Foil Rain’...” Grunt was muttering as Timothy smashed him backwards.

The sheer force of Timothy’s charge and his ‘Druidic Force’ was enough now that Grunt was lvl six.

Cosimo was run towards them, watched the scene bathed in red as he charged his fist again.

“Timothy! City buster!”, he called out.

Grunt’s ‘Thirt’ stabbed thirteen shining red glass swords into Timothy flank.

Timothy shifted his nose, put ‘Druidic Force’ into his neck, and pitched the nose carrying Grunt backwards with his charge as he pitched the nose up with vigor. “Now you can fly like me,” Timothy laughed to himself.

Cosimo put energy into his legs as well and jumped. He’d finish it in mid-air.

Grunt’s ‘Detection Arts’ went off. An attack he couldn’t take, from the boy flying at him.

“‘Tingere Tenebris’”, he croaked from under the metal plate. Grunt turned into a shadow and sped into the ground.

The ‘Foil Rain’s didn’t stop appearing as Arge watched Cosimo fall to ground.

“Curse it,” said Arge as he cleared the foils that managed to lodge themselves in him. He’d have to tell them right now. “He’s in a shadow, don’t ask how I know!”, he called out as more foils poured into him.

Aeschyli processed as fast as she could. She knew of the ability, Arge didn’t need to say anything. “Cosimo, the ground! Everyone retreat!”, she yelled out. Timothy caught up to Chel as the group started pulling backwards out of the hail of foils. “Heal me, if you don’t mind,” he said to Chel as she was inching backward while crouching under Doru’s back. The foils were bouncing off of Timothy’s coat. Chel shook her head up and down and cast “‘Excelsus Maximus Medico’” on him.

Cosimo heard Aeschyli’s call and wavered an instant before punching the ground. He stood there, fist in the ground and legs spread and released all of his energy he charged into it.

He yelled. The dirt where Cosimo was turned into a dense upwards hail. The expanding force of the blast sent wind barreling the group's way.

Aeschyli turned mid-air as foil’s rained into her back and surfed the explosion at max speed with “‘Act 3 Curtain Calling~!’”.

Timothy spread his dragon wings and snapped his ‘Druidic Force’ to Chel, Arge, Doru, and Slo.

“Hold on tight,” he said.

Right away Timothy felt the wind picking him up as he surged forward aiming for Aeschyli.

Cosimo, in a mist of dirt was watching as the ground bubbled and shook below him buffeting him upwards. “Hey, aren’t I flying away right now instead of running away!”, he thought.

The ground shook and cracked as a roar echoed out. Huge pieces of the red plains started to lift up and cracked in mid-air. Cosimo was flying ever higher. He felt the wind shake around him as his cap blew away.

Rumbles and groans of the earth below echoed out.

Dirt rained from the sky as the explosion passed.

Timothy and Aeschyli who landed on top of him made a circle after they rode the wind of the explosion far out into the horizon.

“Hey, think Cosimo’s dead?”, said Arge, half hoping. He was still mad about Slo.

“Nah, he’ll be fine. Too bad, Arge,” said Timothy, understanding his heart completely.

“Why would you want Cosimo to die! He didn’t do anything! I didn’t do anything!” complained Slo.

Aeschyli was laughing as she watched the earth rain down over the red sunset.

==========

Cosimo was looking upwards flat on his back. There was a red light far above him. It was a valley of his own making deep in the earth, with cracked walls of dirt spanning high into the sky.

“Wow, I got to do this more often. What a fluke. I didn’t expect to even get a power that could do something like this,” he checked ‘Average’ again. Nigh limitless energy. It felt good.

What was the limit? It said time but-

Grunt appeared out a shadow.

“‘Thirt’, ‘Foil Rain’, ‘Foil Rain’, ‘Foil Rain’...”, he kept chanting as new glass blades now showing as clear against the dirt fanned around him.

Cosimo got on his elbows and stared at Grunt dumbfounded. He sighed as foils poured into his body.

“Looks like I couldn’t get out of this that easy huh. I’ll have to work a bit harder then,” he thought as he felt the sharp pain of the foils stabbing into him disappearing thanks to ‘Average’ over and over again.

Cosimo stood up. He concentrated with ‘Flow Charge’ into his fist again as he walked forwards with the foils pouring into him. Grunt was closing into him, and Cosimo was leaning forwards with and pushing again the wave of steel with the might of ‘Mediocre Force’.

“A clear, honest hit,” he said. “I’ll show you the ending,” he said.

Grunt came into view through the ‘Foil Rain’. ‘Detection Arts’ said in his mind that Cosimo wasn’t a threat. It changed in an instant.

“‘City Buster’!” shouted Cosimo in jest as he slammed his fist into Grunt’s chest above him. Cosimo let the energy transfer into Grunt.  The force was much lower this time.

A hole burst open in Grunt’s chest and small pieces of identification crystal mixed with floating scraps of flesh that blew into the air behind him.

‘Thirt’ deactivated. Grunt stood there.

Cosimo balked for a second. Is he still not dead? He charged his fist more but realized it was over.

Grunt froze stock still, his flesh missing the energy source that powered it’s movement.

“Aeschyli…”, Grunt said.

========

Timothy flew into the massive valley after dropping everyone off to search for the supplies they brought in the cart. They were scattered all over the plains by the explosion, so collecting them would take a bit of time.

“Cosimo, you awake down there,” he directed his ‘Soul Communication’ towards the bottom of the valley.

Cosimo was waving near a red giant with a big smile on his face.

“It’s dead! It’s dead!”, he snuck a look at the giant again. “I hope it’s dead…”. he thought.

“Come on, let’s go. Your ridiculous power managed to scatter everyone’s stuff,” he looked at Grunt. “Huh, I probably could have easily died fighting it. His swords went straight through my ‘Druidic Force’. Good thing all of you were here. It’s a shame though, I wouldn’t mind going out that way,” Timothy grumbled to Cosimo.

“Hey, it’s nice to have friend’s isn’t it?”, said Cosimo, beaming.

“Yes, yes,” admitted Timothy feeling like he lost again.

He slapped Cosimo on his back with his tongue and flew off into the sky.