Ripple (Part 1)

A dozen small fights later and the shadows had grown long. Idris cast Radiance and the two siblings made their way back toward the river.

They found a small, dry overhang of rock that would give them some shelter if the weather went bad and Idris worked with a pocket set of flint and steel to start a fire while his orb of light lit the camp. Eana worked at prepping part of a boar they had managed to take down earlier, her trusty level two proficient Ironwood Staff propped against a nearby rock.

“It is very tempting to invest in the Firestarting skill,” Idris said, as he finally succeeded in blowing his small ember into a full flame.

“And miss this authentic camping experience?” Eana said, handing him some makeshift skewers of meat.

They ate together in tired but comfortable and accomplished silence. If Eana’s own share of their XP haul was anything to go by, Idris still had a ton of XP to earn to refill what he had spent but he had made a serious dent.

Almost at once she realized just how tired she was. Repeated casts of Psych Up having helped push her well beyond her usual limits, an entire day of walking and fighting, and a full belly made way for an almost irresistible drowsiness.

She had Idris pull out a few handfuls of ironwood leaves so she could make a pillow that was a little softer than the bare ground.

And it wasn’t more than a few moments later, after a mumbled, “Keep the light on, Idris,” that she fell asleep.

She dreamed of the woods out toward the Hive. But this time she was not running away. The drones that had menaced her before fell one after the other as she spun her staff in ways that would have seemed impossible to her waking mind.

She whirled, taking down one then another as her brother shouted for some reason “Your staff! It took your staff!” That didn’t make any sense, it was right there in her hands. Why would he-

She woke up with a start at Idris shouting, “Hurry! We can still catch it!”

She rubbed at her bleary eyes, her body wanting to respond to the urgency in his voice but sleep and exhaustion making her feel like she was moving under water. She reached for where she had laid her staff and found… nothing.

In a sudden rush it all made sense. She looked around wildly for Idris and saw him tearing off into the darkness, a circle of brilliant light floating above him. And in a flash she was up and chasing after him.

“Where is it!?” she shouted, “What is it?”

He had stopped ahead and was scanning the ground. She joined him and searched frantically, not even entirely sure what she was looking for.

“I don’t know,” he said, frustration evident in his tone, “I almost had it! It just snatched your staff and bolted off somewhere,” he pointed vaguely into the darkness, “I’m sorry! I should have seen it coming.”

“We’ll find it,” Eana said, not sure if she was telling the truth or not, “It’s not your fault.”

“If I just had something!” Idris said, “Something to find it, to track it, to… to see its tracks, I don’t know! Something!”

He cut off and his eyes went far away as he examined his interface. Eana stood there, feeling completely useless and unable to think of anything to do to help him or herself.

Suddenly his face changed.

“I can feel something,” he said, “I don’t know what it is. It’s on the Light Mage path though.”

The Light Mage path? Idris had only ever been able to learn Radiance, and that was given to him by Order at his Investiture.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“It’s a spell,” Idris said, awed, “It’s a Light Mage spell but I can’t see what it is or how much I need to invest.

“Chaos and Order, it’s like Conrad told us,” he continued, “I have to break through.”

“But what if it’s just useless? Or it costs too much?” Eana said.

“Light Mage is a rare class, but so is Healer. How much do skills cost you?” Idris asked, “Hurry!”

Something about the quality of his tone said that he was sure that this skill, whatever it was, would be what they needed to find whatever it was they were chasing.

She checked quickly, “Three hundred and fifty,” she said.

He scowled slightly but stayed silent. The moment stretched on for what felt like way too long as Eana, breathless, asked, “Did…did you do it?”

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Idris’ eyes moved back and forth as if he was reading, a smile spreading over his previously serious face.

“Hand me your charoite,” Idris said, “I’m going to need a little more mana to make this work for us.”

She pulled off her bracelet, the birthday gift he had given her on her tenth birthday for her Investiture. It provided an additional twenty mana points so whatever it was Idris had just done, it had to be more taxing on his mana pool than his only other spell.

She handed it over and, without explanation, he put it on and sat down. Impatient to keep going or not, everybody knew that sitting made your mana pool regenerate faster. She decided not to try to make him talk, which would just slow the process. She knew his mana pool was small, so it might not take that long to get it to full capacity even with the increase of twenty mana provided by the bracelet.

After a couple of minutes, he invoked Radiance again, then used another spell. The energy shot out like impossibly thin spikes of blue ice from his fingertips and into the glowing ball of light.

The color of it shifted from pure white to hazy blue and, as he lofted it around the clearing where they stood, suddenly tracks appeared. In the same way that dirty clouds kicked up behind footsteps taken through shallow water, glowing white dust seemed to leak up in a trail leading into the trees.

“Let’s go!” Idris said, tearing off after the trail and not waiting to see if she was following.

She did, of course, but now that they had the trail she figured they could take three seconds and figure out what to do. Besides, she still wanted to know what spell or skill it was that Idris had gotten.

“What’s it called?” she yelled after him.

“What?” Idris said, eyes fixed on the glowing trail. It was becoming clearer now, and Eana could make out the shape of what seemed to be two feet.

“Your new spell! What is it?” She said between breaths.

“It’s called Detect,” He said, “It enhances Radiance so that the light can see recent disturbances and some magical energies.”

“Pretty convenient,” Eana laughed, pointing at the tracks that were becoming clearer and clearer as they followed.

“It’s like Conrad said, breakthroughs require a genuine need in order to appear,” Idris said, “Makes you wonder what kind of genuine needs end up with useless skills though.”

“What’s the mana cost?” Eana asked.

“It's a constant effect. It just drains mana as I use it. Even with this bracelet I’m running low though, which is why we have to hurry!” Idris said.

They picked up speed. Eana was almost completely out of breath when they burst through the bushes into a clearing. The tracks filled the area, giving the impression of dozens of the creatures having spent time milling around.

The two looked around, not sure which direction they should go at all when the light of Detect faded along with the last rays of Radiance. Idris rubbed his head, massaging the headache that often accompanied the complete drain of a person’s mana.

“Give it a few minutes,” Eana said, panting, “maybe we can pick the trail up again once you have some more mana.”

Idris kept scanning the surrounding trees, but without Radiance they were still growing accustomed to the darkness.

“I should be good to go in a few- AHH,” Idris cut off abruptly, yelling out in pain.

Turning to see him, Eana saw what looked like a small spear sticking from Idris’ back, lodged in the muscle of his shoulder.

“Chaos take-” Idris said, groaning and reaching around for the spear.

“Don’t!” Eana shouted, running forward, “Let me get it. Watch my back.”

Frustrated, angry and clearly in pain, Idris nodded and grimaced as he hefted his hammer. Eana ran to him and cast Recover as she put her hands around the spear shaft and pulled.

Idris cried out. Eana cast Minor Heal and observed the wound closing. She was about to cast Assess when Idris tensed and, opening his hand, tossed a ball of Radiance into the air above them.

Eana’s stomach dropped out from inside her as the light illuminated the clearing. The tracks they had seen earlier hadn’t been from one creature pacing around, or even a couple of them.

At least a dozen small humanoids a foot shorter than Eana surrounded them. They had mean, pointed faces and slanted features, dark green skin bordering on brown, the exact mottled color of mossy bark. They had no clothes but wore decorative jewelry of animal bones, teeth and skulls, and each of them carried a sharp wooden spear.

One of them, though, carried Eana’s staff.

But that hardly mattered now.

They were dead. She knew it. They could never fight so many, even if Eana had her weapon. They had a single afternoon of monster fighting experience and this was way beyond anything they had seen. This adventure was supposed to be about finding treasure, returning home triumphant, gaining skills and respect and… the creatures had tentatively started to close in now that the initial blinding shock of Radiance had faded.

They had to get out of here! Had to escape somehow! Had to-

Idris cut off Eana’s panicking thoughts with two gestures.

First, he handed her her charoite bracelet. She took it reflexively, mind still reeling.

Then he lifted the small spear that had only moments before stuck out from his now completely healed shoulder. He sent his hammer into his inventory and, in a fluid motion as if he had been doing things like this his entire life, stretched back his arm and with his full and entirely abnormally high strength, threw the spear at the creature carrying Eana’s staff.

With a high pitched squeal the thing took the spear straight through its chest. The force of the throw and the slightly downward angle from Idris’ much greater height sent the sharp piece of wood into the earth behind the creature, staking it to the ground. It scrabbled uselessly for a second before collapsing and dropping Eana’s staff.

Open mouthed and feeling numb, Eana watched as a trace of energy shot outward from Idris’ chest and covered his entire body.

He extended his arms as if he was stretching, then as his hammer reappeared in his hand he said, “Let’s get your staff back.”

The creatures around them seemed as shocked as Eana, all backing away a step as Idris strode forward with unnatural confidence, face hard. She went with him and to her complete and utter shock, retrieved her staff without incident.

“What,” she said, “what did you do?”

“Toughness,” Idris said, imbuing his hammer, “Keep me going.”

“What?” Eana said feeling like she had lost the capacity for words beyond the simple question. But it was too late for explanations.