"What was so important that you needed to have a private conference today mate? I would certainly hope this isn't some foolish prank." Miller said with a serious expression
"Aye, nothing of the sort, we might be facing some serious trouble tomorrow by noon. I noticed there was a drop in the numbers of monsters during the flux today, had some of my mages take readings of the remnants of the flux today... Turns out today was only a tier three flux."
After a long moment Miller sighed, "I fear this news doesn't bode well old friend." Miller said grimly as he sat back . bringing his hand to cup his forehead. Face to face with the captain of the towns local garrison, Jalus. "It's been two weeks now since the average increased to tier four... And when the average jumped from three to four, it was a tier two in intermission, was it not?"
"Aye, that'd be correct. We might be facing the very same issue as of this moment. We're going to have to be ready for the worst, I'd recommend having all of our forces available for tomorrow. As well as having Mira refrain from her studies. We'll need the extra firepower if the flux is tier five, let alone tier six." He gruffly cautioned.
Miller leaned back into the desk after a moment and folded his hands. "Can I trust you to get everybody ready? I'll deal with the rest of it, just get all the combatants you'll need ready for tomorrow. Can you do that mate?"
"O'course, shouldn't be a problem. Leave it to me, you organize your task forces for tomorrow and we can coordinate afterwards."
"Right, I'll have some of my people get to it, be on your way Jalus. Return by dusk if you would, alright mate?"
Jalus nodded, then stood up, followed shortly by Miller.
...
It had been a rather difficult day for Zack, no, not because of the flux or anything, that had been relatively simple. All he needed was endurance for that one, arrows were practically unlimited so all he had to do was keep shooting into the horde. Admittedly, after his class advancement leveling had gotten a fair bit more difficult, but that wasn't so terrible. No, what was really testing him today, was magic casting
"Wow, very impressive Zack! You managed to not set off an explosion in your own eye this time!" Mira all but laughed as Zack blinked the ash out of his eyes.
"Please don't bring that up..." He said miserably. That was... Not a thing that happened an hour ago, he was both grateful Mira could use healing magic and also infuriated that they didn't tell him what exactly would happen if he didn't use the spell correctly. One of the first things that he'd wanted to try was the spell that she'd used while hunting for the shadow wolf, Mira hadn't done anything to warn him away from the attempt so he figured it would be safe! Oh boy. It was not safe.
"Fine, fine. But yes, that was certainly better then the last attempt you made. Even though you still can't cast a basic Flame rune you have made some good progress without having any specific proficiencies. If you're actually interested in learning spell craft I'd recommend picking up some magic skills on your next class advancement. I'm certainly willing to continue trying to teach you for now though. I'm quite curious as to how long you'll last... I know you wouldn't know this, but I have quite the reputation for being a terrible teacher."
"Yeah I can see why." Zack muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" She asked in stride.
"Nothing." They quickly corrected themselves, "gee, why would you ever be considered a bad teacher Mira?"
After a moment, she shrugged and explained. "Well, last I checked it was because I was seen as snide and didn't explain things well."
"Right, no way." He deadpanned. "Anyway, care to explain what I did wrong or are you going to keep screwing with me?"
Mira barely stifled a laugh before breathing in. "Alright, first off, your hand movements need to be more precise. As the runes haven't been ingrained in you by a skill, as you know, you need to illustrate them by memory with your own hands or a tool upon the world. Your Flame rune was malformed on the upmost left corner and the center. Come to me, I'll show you the proper form once again."
Zack did as instructed, and stood up to walk to the other side of table where Mira was sitting. As soon as he sat down, Mira pulled out her own small wooden wand and began to draw in the air, Zack almost began to follow along with his finger, but noticed that whatever rune she was drawing was drastically different from Flame. So he waited for her to finish before he did anything. She carried onto a second rune within short order, a third, and finally a fourth.
Once she had finished inscribing the spell onto open air, which took about twenty six seconds in total, a bright white glow enveloped the runes, opening a small distortion in the fabric of reality. Mira reached in, and out came yet another small wooden wand.
"I have about four of these on any given occasion. Cheap, disposable, yet effective. Backup wands. Try using one of these for the inscription, you may find it a bit easier." She offered while holding it out to Zack.
"Right... Thanks."
"Mhm, now follow along with me." She stated simply. The playfulness gone from her voice. Zack had come to notice that she was a procrastinator, rude, a joker, and a prankster, but when it finally came down to taking care of business or performing magic she got quite serious. He could certainly appreciate that in a person.
Raising his borrowed wand, Zack was perfectly ready to follow along with his current teacher. Slowly she began to carve through the open air, drawing pure blue lines on the air itself. Zack focused the mana in his body into his finger tips as she had taught him a little over an hour ago, then the wand began to glow.
He followed her demonstration inch by inch, carving a mirror image of the rune into the air alongside Mira's own production. Well, not quite a mirror image, but close enough to be... No that's not quite right, it was a mirror image. What's going on?
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
As they continued to carve the rune into the world, Zack could see the very lines of the rune form into place after he made a mistake, a diversion in the runes form mended into place in every instance of a slight error. With how close he was to finishing the rune, Zack figured he could wait just a little longer to ask any questions... Then he heard the door creak open. Spooking him and making his hand shudder ever so slightly. The shape of the rune was irrevocably ruined, causing it to switch from a dull blue to a bright red... But then begin to flash as the rune itself was finished.
"Aw crap!-"
BOOF
The rune exploded into a cloud of ash, blanketing both him and Mira. The half formed flame sputtering out and dying within moments. Leaving a small puff of ash in its wake.
There was silence for a brief moment, before Mira coughed and yelled at whoever just came in. "Have you ever heard of knocking you oaf?!" She stood up and dusted the ash off of herself. "I know we don't have idiots in this town, so explain to me why you just barged into a mages room without advance warning!?"
"Sorry about that MIra, Miller said it's urgent business. Something that you need to be told before tomorrow, he couldn't have you up in your room working on your studies, at least not until you knew what was up. His words anyway, we both know I wouldn't want to come interrupt so no need to take it out on me alright?" The man held up both hands in defense.
Mira grumbled for a moment, but sighed and shrugged. "He'd better have a damn good reason for interrupting me like this. Alright, Zack, sorry to cut the lesson short but you'll have to find something else to do with the rest of your eve-" she was about to cut Zack loose but was quickly interrupted.
"He asked for Zack as well, I was going to go look for them but it's a pleasant surprise that they're here as well."
"Oh, never mind then", Mira shrugged with a wry smile, "come along Zack."
...
Mira walked into Millers office alone, Zack hadn't been invited. Kalee was also here, and a few other people who he didn't know. Well, no better time like the present to get acquainted.
"So, what do you do?" He asked the man sitting next to him. Starting off with small talk because really, what else do you start with?
"Hm?" he turned to face Zack, "what'd you say?"
Zack cleared his throat, though right before he repeated himself, the door slammed open. He stared over at Mira incredulously, though she quickly sprinted out of the room, leaving the building in a matter of seconds... Which was quite the commotion in the town hall of all places, but the reaction of the people was more subdued then Zack had expected.
Miller walked out of the room with a hearty chuckle, before addressing everybody else waiting. "Right, now that that's out of the way, everybody else come in." With that, he walked right back in. Everybody else stood up, so Zack followed suit. Entering the office with Miller sitting at the disk.
The first person to speak up was somebody whom Zack did not know, "so what perchance, did you need all of us present for that was so urgent?"
"Truth be told Tylon, we're going to need everybody at the ready for tomorrow. I know I've instructed all of you to specifically do something relevant to your skills, but you're all also competent fighters at the least. Barring our newest member, but they're here for a different reason."
"Right, that's all well and good Miller but the question still stands, the hell'd you need us all for?" Tylon asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"About that, today was only a tier three flux."
"...And?" Zack asked after a moment.
"It's been brought to my attention that this may represent an incoming increase to the fluxes average tier similarly to the last time it dipped during this rising flux. Everybody will need to be on standby by tomorrow at noon. If it is only a tier five flux we may be fine, but if it rebounds to a higher degree then it has previously we will need all the forces we can muster for the purposes of defense. Which is why I've had all of you called here." Miller sighed before he continued.
"I realize you all have important jobs to fulfill, but there won't be much purpose to fulfilling them if everybody is dead. For tomorrow you're all officially restricted from your usual duties and are instead in the service of captain Jalus. Am I clear?"
A few groans rung out, but a general consensus was reached. Kalee was the first one to speak up. "Not much different from what I'm normally doing anyway." She shrugged before asking, "is that all? Cause I'd like to get as much training as possible done with the rest of our combatants if it's going to be this dangerous tomorrow."
"Yes, you're all dismissed." He paused for a moment, "Except Zack, there's one more thing you need to be doing." He amended. General murmurs of discontent or acceptance broke from the groups lips, but all of them understood the necessity of it. Eventually they all hobbled out, leaving only Zack.
"So, what did you need me for exactly?" He asked after a moment of silence.
"Nothing much more then you'd normally be doing, but correct me if I'm wrong, on your previous class advancement you acquired some perception skills, right mate?"
"Mhm, Low Perception, why?"
"Wonderful, that should make this easier then. You're to be searching the horde tomorrow for any monsters above the average. Take note of them so that they can be hunted down. We have been lax on our efforts, we can no longer afford to do as such. Higher tier fluxes will draw in stronger monsters, and if we let them grow out of control they will be overwhelming. You and a few other of our people with perception based skills will be doing this. After the flux you will be going in a search party with at least twenty men and one, maybe two, of our EGO users, with a list of monsters to take care of. Are we clear?"
"Yes sir." Zack nodded resolutely. Tomorrow was going to be busy.