Emrys conjured a fireball. As soon as the necromancer returned to the tower, the arcanist had felt his magic restored.

The whole experience was deeply unsettling. He never would have imagined another spellcaster could interfere with something so personal and central as his magic ability.

“He had us at his mercy,” Emrys said. “Why didn’t he kill us?”

Zereh looked uncomfortable. “That wasn’t him exactly, it was more… Well, some things are meant to be. They have to happen, so the whole world stops in order to let them.”

Emrys only looked more confused.

“It’s best not to think about it too much.”

“Are you guys going to fight this thing or just stand around and talk?”

Brayden locked swords with the undead. The creature’s sword was longer than Brayden was tall, yet the paladin was holding his own.

“Oh, do you need us?” Zereh called. “I thought since you’re so good at this, you wouldn’t need us.”

Brayden grunted, visibly torn between needing help and not wanting to admit it. He ducked under a mighty swing of the undead’s blade and snuck in for a cut at its thighs.

The undead stomped a heavy foot, sending a shockwave through the earth. Brayden lost his footing and fell over.

“I wouldn’t say I need you,” he said through gritted teeth. “But I thought you might like the experience.”

Zereh chuckled. “Well, in that case…” She darted into the fray. A quick swipe of her blades against the undead’s back was enough to split its attention.

Emrys released his fireball at the creature’s face. The skull ignited in flames.

Zereh yelped. “Careful! I’m not fireproof.”

Brayden’s golden sword connected with its chest and barely scratched the leather breastplate. He growled.

“Use a holy spell,” Zereh shouted over the clanging of blades. “You should have something to strengthen your sword.”

“How do I do that?” Brayden yelled back.

“It’s in your spells list! I don’t know what you have, just look.” She lunged between the creature’s legs, sliding her blades against its inner thighs. She was wearing it down, but slowly.

“Hey, Holy Spear sounds good. Takes a minute to cast though.”

“Got it. Emrys, help me buy time.”

The arcanist scowled. Once again, he was in a position where his fire magic wouldn’t do the most good. In this case it might even be detrimental if he caught Zereh in the area of effect.

Bone was more flammable than he’d expected.

But if all he had to do was buy time… He thought of the bog and how some parts of the ground that looked the most solid, turned out to be the most treacherous. If he could soften the ground beneath the undead’s feet, the weight of it would drag it down while leaving Zereh unaffected.

The only problem being that he didn’t actually know any earth spells.

He took a deep breath and tuned out the fight. Being cut off from his magic during what Zereh had called the “cut scene” had made him hyper aware of that connection.

He tapped into it. Magic lit up the entire forest. The undead glowed dark purple except for its head coated in red. Brayden glowed gold and Zereh gave off a wisp of shadow magic every time she moved. The grass and trees were outlines by green veins, and it was these he focused on. Though he could see everything, he understood that red, blue and green were the only lines he could influence.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The arcanist followed those green veins deeper into the earth and imagined them being replaced by blue lines of water, softening the earth until it became unstable.

The next step the undead took left a muddy footprint behind. Zereh was light enough on her feet that she didn’t even notice the change.

But a muddy footprint wasn’t enough to make a difference. The tip of the undead’s sword clipped Zereh’s arm with enough force to send her sprawling. She was tough, but the weight difference was working against her.

“Help me out here, Emrys,” she called.

“Working on it!” he yelled back.

The trouble was, there wasn’t anywhere he could draw water from. He could make some difference by pulling moisture from the grass and trees, but that would put the entire forest at risk without guarantee of the result he was looking for.

Use your mana.

The thought came to him like a whisper. For Greg’s temple quest he had used an existing resource to manipulate battlefield conditions. Lacking that, he could use his internal reservoir of mana to enact the change he was looking for.

“Of course!” It was the same way he fueled his fire spells. But because it wasn’t fire, he’d been thinking of it only as external to himself, when it really didn’t need to be. The only difference was that due to his unfamiliarity with the element, the process would be less efficient and more draining.

He closed his eyes and thought again of infusing the earth with water. Only this time he was pulling that water from himself, his mana reservoir.

This time, it worked.

The ground beneath the undead wobbled like jello and its next step plunged it knee deep in bog water –or at least, a temporary, muddier equivalent.

The creature flailed wildly and fell forward, faceplanting in the dirt.

“Nice!” Zereh leapt on top of the creature’s back and stabbed with both swords into the base of its neck, dealing massive damage at the weak spot.

“Here we go! Get clear.” The golden light of the paladin’s spell solidified into a glowing spear. Brayden threw the weapon with perfect aim.

Zereh scrambled out of the way, leaping clear as the spear pinned the undead to the ground.

The creature struggled for a moment longer, but holy magic was too effective against undead. The light in its eyes darkened and it fell still.

Emrys slumped back in relief. As soon as he stopped actively introducing water into the earth, the effect started to fade.

Zereh whooped. “We did it!”

The paladin swooped her up in a hug, lifting her off the ground and spinning in a circle.

As soon as her feet touched the ground again she stepped aside, her face flushed. “Don’t touch me.” At his stricken expression, she softened her tone. “I just mean, please don’t surprise me like that.”

“You know what I like about you? You’re not afraid to say what’s on your mind, even when you should be.” Brayden laughed. “Let’s not forget that you asked me out, and I even agreed to play into this weird little fantasy of yours.” He put his arm around her waist, pulling her close again. “So you should be a little nicer to me.”

Zereh pushed him away, but gently. “I had something else in mind actually. I think both our parents want us to be together. But you and I both know that we’re too different for that to really work out.”

His face shuttered. “Excuse me?”

“Well, you have to admit I’m not the kind of girl you’re actually interested in, but there’s no way you like having your mother setting you up on dates. So what if we just… pretended to be together? Help each other out? We smile and hold hands when we’re supposed to, but beyond that we leave each other alone.”

Brayden’s face twisted.

“You must understand–”

“Oh, I understand. You were never actually interested in me. Just like everyone else, you thought you could use me to get to my parents. Well you can’t. I’m not going to let you play me like that.”

“Brayden, I–”

“The worst part is, I actually respected that you brought me out here, that you didn’t just cave to the classic dinner and a movie. You stuck to your guns about what you wanted to do, and I respected that. I thought you respected me too.”

Zereh faltered. “No, it’s not that. I do respect you.”

Brayden just shook his head. “You’re just like everybody else. Except at least they have the decency to only go after me professionally, instead of…” He punched his fist against his chest

“I’m sorry.”

He chuckled darkly. “No you’re not. But you will be.”

The threat snapped Zereh back into the cold warrior mindset Emrys had grown accustomed to seeing. “Actually no, because you know what? At no point did you ever indicate that you were actually interested in me, as a person. And you’re only upset now because your ego is bruised, because I didn’t want to go out with you.”

Brayden snarled and the mask fell apart. Or was it the mask falling back into place? “You think you’re hot shit, don’t you. You’re right though. I have no interest in going out with you, you’re a fat slut and nobody likes you.” He turned his back to the warrior and waved his arms up at the dark tower. “Hey! Necromancer!”

The villain poked his head out of the tallest window in the tower.

Once he had his attention, Brayden flashed a wicked grin at Zereh. “You know the funny thing about paladins is that we have all kinds of abilities. All kinds of special skills to help our teammates.”

He held his sword up to the sky. A shimmering golden glow traveled up from the hilt to the point and back again. It was the kind of sword that could slay dragons and save kingdoms.

“Empower Ally.” That golden glow shot from the tip of the sword all the way to the tallest window of the necromancer’s tower. The glow engulfed the necromancer. Where the holy magic should have clashed with the undead stain, the magic instead acted as if on an ally, strengthening and emboldening him.

The necromancer watched the golden light dance across his arms in wonder.

“Bye, bitch.” Brayden disappeared.