Azura’s copy was not having a good time. Shade’s were some of the worst monsters to go up against. Blood red teeth slammed into his shield that he had hastily raised. The impact sent him back several feet. His sword was out, but more as another tool for defense. Cutting them up wouldn’t accomplish anything after all. He could do the purifying spell well enough, but it wasn’t something he could do while fighting for his life at the same time. Worse was that no one really knew how shades existed. They weren’t spirits despite functioning similarly in many cases, and they weren’t made purely out of magic either.
Even if he used an anti magic field that breaks apart magic they wouldn’t be affected. They were classified as paranormal monsters, because no one could quite figure out how they did what they did. Or even how they existed really. They didn’t have any mana in their bodies, but they must have some form of alternative energy to do what they do. Not that any of that was really important right now, but he was a scholar at heart.
He barely managed to dodge the shade that dove for his legs by backflipping over it. He would need to keep his focus. These particular shades looked like werewolves, except of course for being pitch black aside from the blood red bone. He wondered why they bothered with the bone armor. Defense wasn’t really important when even if they were split in half they could just reform. Maybe it was so they had some extra weight to throw behind their already surprisingly powerful attacks.
There were 6 of them, which was way more than he had any chance of beating on his own, but not too many for him to stall. Especially given the fact shades lacked any form of intelligence, working purely off of instinct. He had an ice spike impale the shade that swung its claw at him before he landed from his last dodge. He managed to land safely while it reformed quickly darting to the side to avoid yet another pounce.
Fighting them wasn’t too difficult. They were strong and fast, but working purely on instinct made them predictable. His shield met the next swipe, and he jumped slightly to let the force fling him away. He spun using his sword to cut through the shade he had been launched towards. Cutting through the bone armor was normally pretty difficult, but with the extra velocity he had been given it parted rather easily. He continued his spin after going straight through the shade landing on his feet and sliding backwards for another few feet before slamming his sword into the ground to stop his momentum.
Well he wasn’t surrounded anymore, but watching them reform from being cut in half really was quite demoralizing. He sighed, at least he could sense another copy running towards him with Clairvoyance. He idly wondered how the other students were supposed to deal with the shades. Maybe Roran and Lily might be able to destroy them to the point that nothing was left to reform even without the purifying spell, but everyone else in first year would definitely have a hard time.
Honestly he bet he could probably count on 1 hand the number of students that even knew the purifying spell, much less being able to use it while in mid combat. He supposed that’s why the pendants were handed out, so the vast majority would be able to back out. Well if the first event was to teach that not every situation was winnable then this one was to teach that even some situations that can be won, won’t be unless you prepare properly. It always amazed him how much his thoughts could wander while he was fighting for his life. He had dodged several attacks during his ponderings, and had to block one with his shield which resulted in him being slammed through a wall.
His mana shield was durable enough that he wasn’t too injured, but he had to get out of the building quickly. A small space like this would not be good for stall tactics. Thankfully his recently learned blink spell got him back to behind his foes. Shades may not be intelligent, but they were good hunters, and they immediately turned to his new location.He didn’t bother moving, when they charged at him once more. This time he didn’t have to. A bright light shone as a giant magic circle filled up the whole space. He closed his eyes as a searing light tried to burn past his eyelids. Of course he already knew before opening them that all that would be left of the shades was ash. “Took you long enough.”
***
If Azura was being honest, he had expected the simulation to change once the shades had been defeated. Instead his copies had been able to return to him afterward without issue. He had given all the medical attention he could, and all 3 of the survivors he found would be able to make a full recovery as long as they were given the time to heal. What more could the simulation want from him? The book didn’t go into anything that happened after she defeated the shades. Aside from when she looks back on the deaths of the mother and son.
He bit the inside of his cheek. There was obviously something else that needed to be done, but what? He decided to let go of the path the book took for the time being and investigate the explosion that had started this whole thing. Finding the place where the bomb went off was a rather easy task since everything around it was blown away; he just had to go the opposite direction of all the debris. Judging by the nearest debris his guess was it had been a merchants shop that had exploded, and worse the explosion had enough force to deal quite a bit of damage to the stores surrounding it aside from just the chunks of rock flying around.
His copies were examining the ash and the surrounding buildings to try and discern where the bomb had come from, and more importantly why it was put there. A shop in the town square was a fairly profitable location, maybe someone tried to take out the competition? He decided that wasn’t very likely, all the damage would bring down the value, and that’s not even considering how much less foot traffic this area would see for a while.
Whoever did this must have been targeting that shop for some reason, but why? There was no way for him to know without knowing anything about the area. Just as he was about to go back to the building he had left the civilians in he was surprised as a person appeared in his clairvoyance range, just as the shades had. He furrowed his brow. He wondered how exactly this simulation was run. How were the objects being created? Were these real monsters and people acting the part after being ported in? If not they were incredibly realistic.
He didn’t have much time to think of it, as the person who had just appeared rushed towards his position. He got into a combat stance, but it became obvious that it was unnecessary as soon as the man ran into his field of view. The man was clearly a merchant, his nice clothes and round gut made that clear enough. Though he had never seen cloth being wrapped around someone's head like that before, he had heard that different kingdoms had different styles, so he assumed this man wasn’t from Delford.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“You killed those beasts right?! You must be a mage! I know it’s sudden, and I don’t have time to explain, but you need to take this and get as far away as possible. A bag was shoved into his hands by the clearly panicking man. The man’s manic brown eyes matched his darker skin tone. “Go Go Go!” The man shooed him away, and before he could even open the bag the simulation shifted. He looked around quickly to find his new bearings, and was surprised to find himself in the middle of a dessert.
Luckily it would seem since it was merely the subspace changing rather than him actually moving his copies were still there with him. He looked at the bag that had been roughly shoved into his hands, and couldn’t say he was pleased with what he saw. The ending to the unfinished book he had been given was clear to him now. How could it not be? This dessert was clearly the wastelands, and the artifact he was now holding was famous. Any mage worth anything knew the story of the kingdom of glass. A tale of warning to any young mages to be careful with powers they did not understand.
Afterall the item in the bag was something he couldn’t possibly fail to recognize. The beautiful golden crown, with only the most perfect of cut diamonds inlaid. He was holding the mad king's crown. A disaster class artifact, one that had been responsible for hundreds if not thousands of deaths. He sighed. “Heavy is the head indeed.” He put the crown back in the bag.The book he had been given didn’t go as far as meeting the mad king, but now that he knew the precious cargo she had been carrying he understood why she had been so dedicated to keeping it safe.
He sat in the sand as he went over the story of the glass kingdom in his head. He hadn’t read that book since before… before he killed his family. While his memory had been as much as a curse as a blessing lately, he still found himself focusing on his memories trying to recall how the mad king had gotten the crown. Oddly enough he couldn’t recall, no more like there wasn’t an answer? Surely he would have noticed at the time if the story never said how he got the crown. Right?
He sighed, he’d just have to play along for now. The crown had probably been stolen by a bandit. He kept his copies on lookout, as he walked in the direction he had been facing when he had appeared in this new area, or rather when this new area had appeared around him. After a few hours of walking he was forced to assume that this simulation must have some kind of time dilation effect, because otherwise he was going to end up missing classes tomorrow. The light of the sun slowly faded beyond the horizon leaving a hew of colors lighting up the sky.
Sleeping in the desert at night was a good way to get yourself killed, but he didn’t have many options. At least his enchantments would keep him within survivable temperatures. He set up an enchantment to wake him up if anything got too close to him, and cast a quick spell to solidify some of the sand into rock. A few more enchantments to stop sand from blowing into the 7 ft by 7 ft square he had made, and to soften the rock. Normally he would have made at least a rock overhang for shelter, but he didn’t exactly want to risk being visible from far away. He had a bad feeling that this event still had a few nasty surprises left for him to contend with.
***
Azura awoke to the feeling of water passing through his lips and down his throat. He didn’t remember being all that thirsty when he went to bed, but as he desperately drank the water he realized he had been parched before now. “Woah careful there friend. If you drink too fast you may end up choking.” The water stopped coming and he quickly opened his eyes. A man that looked like a younger and thinner version of the merchant from before met his eyes with a smile. “It’s not often you find a stranger here. What brings a fancy mage like you out here?”
More importantly how had this man gotten past the defensive spells he had cast. His copies had dispelled a little after he had gone to bed. Too many memories right after waking up would leave him practically crippled for the rest of the day, but the enchantments should have at least alerted him someone was approaching. “I was tasked with protecting something. I know a place out here where things can be left to be forgotten.” That was what the girl said in the book right? Or something along those lines. Then that would make this man the guide who helped her find the Oasis.
“I see, well there are indeed many such places out here, but you need to be careful, for there are even more places where a person may disappear.” Well that was ominous. Really whether this was an actor playing the part or the simulation was somehow able to generate people that felt real even to magical senses, the detail was stunning. He genuinely couldn’t tell whether this man was fake or not, but decided to just assume everything was real until proven otherwise.
“Could you guide me? I’ve never been this far from home before.” His goal for now was to protect the crown. No matter what, he wouldn’t make the same mistake the girl from the story did. Whatever it may have been that led to the mad king getting the crown, he wouldn’t let it happen.
The man chuckled oblivious to Azura’s inner thoughts. “Guide huh? Well I can guide you to the nearby oasis, but I’m afraid after that you’ll have to venture to wherever you decide to hide whatever you’re hiding on your own. I try not to get involved in anything too shady, especially after it killed my old man.” His eyes widened. Perhaps the resemblance was not a coincidence after all.
“That would be more than sufficient. Thank you for your assistance.” He wondered why this guy was so much more fleshed out than the other people he had run into so far. The rest had been visually clear, but didn’t seem to react to anything he did. As if they had pre-set parts they would do regardless of what he did. This guy was different though, he seemed to be reacting rather than just following a set path.
The man’s laughter brought him out of his thoughts. “Wow you really aren’t from around here huh? I’ve never heard someone talk like that before. My pop used to tell me stories about all the fancy mages up north, but I guess I never really knew what he meant. You lot really do talk like you’re in a play huh?” He chuckled. It wasn’t an unfair point to make. He hadn’t realized how different nobles talked until he had spent a good chunk of time around commoners, but some habits weren’t so easily shaken. Despite his best efforts.
“My apol… I mean sorry, talking like a normal person is.. How to say.. A work in progress for me.” The man laughed good naturedly. He had been slacking a bit in that department, but he felt pretty justified given that he had much bigger concerns than fitting in properly.
“No need to be sorry! It’s kind of refreshing to meet someone a little different. You’ll probably understand if you stick around long enough, but things can get pretty boring around here.” Somehow he doubted that boring was going to be a word he could use to describe his experience here. “Well boring if you don’t count the scrap sharks that is.” The what?