Locked in battle, every mage around Zed was a walking perfume of aura, discomforting or not. The monsters were pretty much the same, but their auras were wild and feral, uncontrolled where the mages were contained, controlled to an extent.
True to Oliver’s words, Ash was the only Beta rank mage here, but there was something about the Olympians’ auras that didn’t sit right with Zed. The both of them exuded Rukh rank auras and while Kid’s felt like a second category, Daniel’s felt like a category three pushing beyond the boundaries of its limits. Still, something about them felt off. It was like a color trying to be a closely related color, like a blue so deep it could’ve looked like purple if looked at from another angle. At least that was how best he could describe it.
Their auras almost felt… artificial.
As much as Zed wanted to figure out why that was, and if his aura sense had simply been affected by his delay to advance, there were more important things on his mind than that.
Zed stepped out of Oliver’s reach and into the chaos around them, a rune already coming to mind as he moved. Chris zipped past him, forcing him to a halt as she fired off a burst of earth and fire at a monster. It was a beast on six limbs with a face that looked like a monkey’s if it was ugly for a monkey, drool pooled in its fanged mouth like a rabid creature.
Fire and earth merged to form a molten rock. Leaving a trail of liquid fire in its path, it struck the monster in the face. It staggered the creature, knocking its face to the side. Chris fed it a bolt of lightning for good measure before turning her attention from it.
Zed’s hand moved, his wrist flicked and he drew what he—
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* You have cast basic rune [Force].
* Basic rune [Force] has applied effect [Knockback] on [Legged imp].
* Effect [Knockback] has inflicted fatal effect [Mutilate].
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Zed stared with mouth agape as a wave of purple force mana blasted one of the monster’s legs from under it. It ripped it off and left behind a bleeding stomp. The monster howled in pain. It was a painful sound that pierced the air.
Zed had intended to conclude Chris’ stun effect and maybe put the beast down but the effect of his rune had proven far worse.
But that wasn’t what left his mouth open. The culprit of that was more attention grabbing.
I didn’t draw that rune, Zed thought, as if assuring himself.
Wait.
He turned his aim to the monster’s face and thought of the rune again. His finger twitched. He felt the pull on his core and, just as he expected, a wave of force blasted out. It’s was a light purple attack of concentrated force. and it blasted the monster, throwing it to the side.
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* You have cast basic rune [Force].
* Basic rune [Force] has applied effect [Knockback] on [Legged imp].
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Something triggered within Zed, screaming at him in alarm. It was a new sensation but he obeyed it. He ducked to the side, giving logical thought no attention. He hit the ground in a roll and came on the other side. A monster landed heavily where he had been standing. It was a massive gorilla with matted fur that shone like stainless steel in the presence of the soft glowing colors of the forest.
It beat its chest, enraged, and roared at Zed.
A large orb of deep purple flew past the monster. The orb caught the creature’s head within the orbit of its shine. The monster’s head tilted in the direction of the orb as if drawn by a magnetic pull and then it was gone, dragged violently away by the orb.
Zed turned to the side and saw Oliver scowling at him.
“Get back here!” Oliver shouted.
Zed turned and cast a rune, pitching his aim in the direction of an aura he felt. The rune activated even before he’d completed his turn, casting faster than it normally would. Zed turned as force mana went flying and his eyes widened in horror.
Right there, battling happily with the monster Zed had felt, was Big Man Desolate, completely mute to Zed’s aura senses.
And Zed’s rune-spell blasted towards the pair.
To Zed’s surprise, Big Man Desolate slipped out from the path of the attack. The mage moved with a flexible grace that did not suit his appearance. He went low, legs spreading out beneath him in a split, and the force rune-spell passed harmlessly over him.
The rune-spell struck the monster square in the chest and staggered it. Big Man Desolate was back on his feet almost immediately and he slapped the monster across the face with an open hand. The blow knocked the beast to the side. To end it, Big Man Desolate drove his hand into the creature’s chest.
Big Man Desolate’s arm buried itself up to the elbow in the creature’s torso before he pulled it out and stepped to the side calmly.
The monster fell forward with a loud thud.
Big Man Desolate turned to Zed and gave him a bloody thumbs-up.
“Nice shot,” he said.
Zed returned the gesture with a confused thumbs-up of his own as Oliver’s hand clamped down on his shoulder.
“Did you see that?” he asked Oliver as Oliver pulled him back.
“I did,” Oliver scowled. “Now stay next to me until this is done.”
“Why?” Zed asked. Around them the battle was dwindling. The multitude of monsters were dimming down until there was only a handful left.
“Because whatever happened to you a moment ago could happen again,” Oliver answered.
“How many were they exactly?” Zed asked, staring at the growing corpses. He stood quietly beside Oliver while Shanine squatted on the floor between them.
“A lot,” Oliver answered.
Zed looked around. “And we’re already done with them?”
“You say that like it was done quickly.”
“Well, it really hasn’t been that long.”
Shanine looked up at Zed with an odd expression and Zed looked back at her.
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“What?” he asked.
“They’ve been fighting for more than ten minutes,” she told him.
A shot of deep red mana shot across the distance, followed by three more shots. Each one struck a monster and it fell back motionless.
“Ten minutes,” Zed muttered to himself, ignoring much of what was happening around them. Can’t have been that long. I was only out for a moment.
“Yes,” Oliver said, muttering a quick spellform and casting a purple spell that attached a monster to a tree.
The green fur of the tree seemed to come alive at the contact and it crawled over the monster. It grew over the creature like creeping grass across a surface. In a matter of seconds, the monster was gone from sight.
Zed turned his head in the direction of the shots’ origin and found Jason cussing as he shook his rune blaster.
“Well that’s not going to work,” Zed muttered, seeing the once soft glow at the heart of the weapon die completely. “He’s cussing in the wrong language.”
“He’s speaking English,” Oliver said. “What language is the right language?”
Zed opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted.
An explosion of spellform erupted to their side, cutting him off, and Shanine shrunk deeper into herself, hands covering her ears.
“I thought you said the monsters here were weak!” she accused Zed.
“And I said there would be fruits.” Zed shrugged. “There are no fruits and apparently the trees eat monsters. I was wrong.”
“‘He was wrong’, he says,” she muttered, her body trembling. “I should’ve known not to trust a mage.”
There was a touch of bitterness in her voice and Zed knew she had meant what she said.
He ignored her words and turned his attention back to the commotion around him. The battle was technically finished. There was only one monster left and, without Kid stomping on its head with his armored foot, it would’ve probably died on its own if left behind.
He turned back to Oliver.
“So what you’re saying,” he said slowly, “is that I was out for ten minutes.”
Chris walked up to them. “Grabbing your head and moaning like a girl with her mouth wrapped around a—”
“No!” Oliver cut her off in an angry tone. He gestured towards Shanine with his eyes.
From where she still was, her trembling now dissipating, Shanine looked up at Oliver.
“It’s okay,” she said, forcing herslf to stand back up. “I know you remember me.”
Her stance wobbled slightly and she reached out and grabbed Zed’s shirt to steady herself. Zed looked down at her.
“You good?” he asked.
Shanine nodded.
“What does she mean by you remember her?” Chris asked Oliver.
Oliver rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous tick, avoiding eye contact.
Shanine sighed at his discomfort and answered in his stead.
“I used to work for Madam Shaggy,” she said. “And he saw me the last time he was there.”
Ah,” Zed mused. “That’s why you looked so familiar.”
Chris paused to think about what Shanine had said and Zed saw the moment she pieced everything together.
“So,” she said slowly, “You’re a…”
“Whore, prostitute,” Shanine finished for her. “Fancy lady, escort. Anyone you like to call it. But the proper tense is was not is. And I didn’t have a choice.”
Chris snorted in derision. “Everyone has a choice, kid. You were what you were. Own it.”
“Spoken like a true mage,” Shanine said, and there was distaste in her voice. A barely concealed hate.
Zed doubted Shanine even noticed she’d taken a step closer to him, as if he would keep Chris from her. Not that he would not try. Thinking about Chris treating someone else the way she had treated him gave the entire encounter he’d had with her a whole new experience. He had put up with it for so long, even made excuses for it. But when he thought of Chris putting Shanine through something similar, it appalled him.
How wrong he had been to have even put up with it dug a hole in the pit of his stomach and left a bad taste in his mouth,
Rather than continuing to ponder on it, Zed looked down at Shanine. “I take it you don’t like mages very much,” he said.
Shanine avoided meeting his gaze but her hand on his shirt tightened.
“You know I’m a mage, too, though?” he added.
She nodded softly. “You’re a nice one.”
“And you’ll soon be a mage, too.”
“I’ll be a nice one.”
“And why exactly do you hate mages?” Chris asked, not moving from where she stood.
“Because all you ever do is use people,” Shanine said from halfway hidden behind Zed. “You use people for your own selfish needs then keep on using them.”
Chris scoffed. “Sorry to break it to you, kiddo, but there’s a term for what you just described. It’s called human beings. You just described your own species. Why should mages be different? They’re humans, too.”
“But you’re stronger. More powerful. You’re supposed to be different.”
“Are you hearing this shit?” Chris barked, turning to everyone around them.
With the monsters dead, everyone stood quietly, watching the exchange. Even Big Man Desolate watched with sharp black eyes. His usual joviality was gone. No one answered Chris and no one was going to.
Without caring, Chris turned back to Shanine. When she spoke again, there was pity in her voice, pity for Shanine.
“Mages are humans, too,” she said. “That they can now use mana doesn’t make them any different. It doesn’t turn a switch in their head or change their personality. Mana doesn’t corrupt anyone. You haven’t met horrible mages, you’ve met horrible people.”
“But you’re supposed to be better,” Shanine said weakly, her voice a mumble.
“This isn’t some fairy tale story. This isn’t some comic book. With great power doesn’t come great responsibility. Great power just brings great power, that’s all.”
Chris’ rant ended in a defeated sigh.
“Mages didn’t let you down,” she said, stepping away from Zed and Shanine. “Your expectations did. You’re eighteen soon, right? I’d like to see how different you think you’ll be when you become a mage. Now let’s clean this mess up and get to the rendezvous point. What’s our ETA, Kid?”
Zed had something to say but he kept his silence. He wanted to tell Chris that humans weren't as bad as she was making them out to be. He wanted to tell her that there was more, that there could be more. But he did not. He knew it would be a waste of his time, and his breath. So he kept his silence as those around them had.
“Uh.” Kid stared, confused. He turned his head from Chris to Daniel and only spoke when Daniel shrugged. “Uh… zero minutes? We’re already here, actually.”
Chris paused. “This is the rendezvous spot?”
“Yea.”
Big Man Desolate plopped down on the ground unceremoniously. His clothes had cuts and tears but no blood stains. It was as if he’d given it to his pet cat before wearing it. However, his hat remained unblemished except for the few dirt stains here and there.
Hillary and Jim moved against a tree. Hillary rested against it only for Jim to pull him from it. Hillary stood idly after that, a look passing his eyes. Zed didn’t have to think to know they were thinking of the tree that had swallowed a monster not too long ago.
“Just a moment,” Kid said, his hand reaching towards his side where a compartment slid open. He dipped his hand into it and brought out a disc.
“That’s like a utility suit of armor, isn’t it,” Zed said. “You put your hand in there and boom, a chocolate bar. You put your hand in there and boom, a circular… round… thingie-magie? What’s that anyway?”
“A map,” Kid said, holding it out.
It was a round disc, small in his armored hand and Zed stared, but not at it. Something on Kid’s armor had caught his attention and he stared at the Olympian’s shoulder. Emblazoned on it was a small emblem. An inverted triangular shield with countless stars on it. Scribbled beneath it were words written in Latin.
“What’s that?” Zed asked.
Kid followed his gaze to his shoulder.
“Pro homine et terra,” he read. “For man and—”
“Earth,” Zed finished for him. “I know the dead language, thank you. I’m talking about the symbol. What’s that?”
“It’s the VHF flag,” Kid said.
Zed frowned. He had no idea how he knew Latin and really didn’t care for it. What he wanted to know was why the VHF flag looked so familiar to him.
“I’ve seen that before,” he muttered, taking a step closer only to stop when he remembered that Shanine was still holding his shirt. “Why have I seen that before?”
He knew the symbol. He was sure of it. The question was where he had seen it and how he knew it. Even as he asked, the flag burned a hole in his memory. It was right there, on the edge of his mind. If he could just...
“The VHF is quite popular,” Hillary said. “I’m sure you must have seen it in passing somewhere.”
Zed shook his head. “I’m sure I haven’t. So why does it look so—”
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* [Memory Trigger] detected.
* Unraveling [Pocket memory(incomplete)] (who am I?) 1/4.
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“No,” Zed shouted, hurriedly. “No, no, no. But nobody said any—”
Pain lanced through his mind. It filled his head with nothing but itself and he fell to his knees. His throat constricted in pain and he made a sound he did not hear. Around him Oliver, Jason and Ash moved in panic.
Zed could hear the vaguest sounds of words floating about. But with the pain they were nothing but backdrops in a void world. And while they talked, he glared at the new notification in front of him.
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* You have unlocked memory [The institute].
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“Fuck you,” he muttered helplessly before his world went dark and he fainted.