Abed ground his teeth in annoyance. His annoyance wasn’t just at everybody’s objection to him, it was mainly at the deep smirk on Big Man Desolate’s face.
When he’d walked into the meeting point and seen the love of his life alive and in the flesh, his world had gone up in joy. He had spent the last two week mourning her, wondering if there would ever be another girl as good as her, another girl who would love and appreciate him as she had done. Now he knew he didn’t have to worry. But seeing her with the red head that was supposed to be dead was a stab in the gut.
How he was alive was supposed to be impossible. Abed could understand Shanine coming back to life, but he couldn’t understand the red head coming back to life. He hadn’t seen Shanine die, but he’d seen the redhead bleeding out from injuries no mage had any right to survive.
Worse, she had the bastard’s head rested on her laps while he slept like the dead.
Then he’d made for them—admittedly—with too much rage, and Jason had intercepted him. He’d explained his case to the young man only for Shanine to claim they weren’t in that kind of relationship, to claim she didn’t love him and she wasn’t dating him.
And Madam Shaggy had had the gall to stand there and simply grin.
Now everyone was in a heated argument as they waited for the third team to arrive. Jason had words to say to Abed, and Abed refused to be talked down on. One of the foolish Olympians held back the one that had been traveling with them, disobeying his commands at every turn until it had almost gotten them killed. Twice.
Madam Shaggy refused to take sides through it all, staring at Shanine who stood behind one of Jason’s teammates, a female Beta mage who wouldn’t last a day in the forest alone. Madam Shaggy wore a a knowing grin.
“Do something about this!” Abed barked at Madam Shaggy. “She’s your property, is she not?”
Madam Shaggy shrugged. “I can’t say she is. She’s already written off as dead in my books, so my books are balanced. However… if you want me to do something you’re going to have to pay for my services.”
Abed scowled at the insinuation and was about to say more when Big Man Desolate’s voice cut through the chaos.
“Man down!” the desiccated mage hollered, amusement in his voice.
It sufficed to draw all their attentions and they turned to find the redhead lying in the grass, face down and in a new position.
Shanine moved first, out of all of them, but she wasn’t the first to get to the fallen mage.
“What happened?” Jason asked, squatted beside the unconscious mage as if scared to touch him. “What did you do to Zed?”
Big Man Desolate shrugged, nonchalant. “Man of culture woke up, said a few things and then passed out again. I didn’t even touch him.”
“What did he say?” Chris asked with a scowl.
“Something about backing his play.”
“Backing his play?”
“Yup,” Big Man Desolate confirmed. “So, basically speaking, I’m supposed to make sure the girl doesn’t get into the fat man’s hand.”
“And?” Chris asked, skeptical.
Abed could already see the twitch in her eyes. She was getting ready to act, to cast a spellform. The ambient mana around her wasn’t disturbed yet but he could feel it. Big Man Desolate’s next words would decide what happened next. And Abed had no idea what they would be.
“He appreciated the Freddy Krueger thing,” Big Man Desolate said with a shrug. “None of them did, and they were the first to see it, so I don’t mind backing his play.”
Abed activated his core on instinct, drawing on his specialization, and a massive boulder shot out of the ground and smashed into Big Man Desolate.
The boulder shot into a tree, carrying the mage with it.
A gun barrel pressed into Abed’s temple immediately. It tilted his head slightly forward, and he frowned. He hated how easily he forgot that while the VHF were tools he intended to use, they were also actively his enemies. At least one of them was. For the life of him it felt as if this specific Olympian hated him personally.
“Careful there, big boy,” the one that had been travelling with him said, her gun against his temple. “Another move like that and I’ll have to do something I might get court marshalled for.”
Abed said nothing and did nothing. He held both hands gently to his side so that everyone saw them. It took him only a moment to realize the Olympian wasn’t the only one with her attention on him. Everyone had come alive and the ambient mana was rife with disturbances. No one had cast a spellform but they were all more than ready to.
“That’s enough, Ronda,” The largest of the three Olympians said casually. “You might not get court marshalled but you will be punished.”
“You just saw him attack a member of our party, Daniel,” Ronda said. “He’s a threat to the operational function of the party. Keeping him around is a risk.”
Abed frowned at the name and realized why she hated him. She had been at Madam Shaggy’s party. His frown deepened into a scowl. She was one of those pathetic people who thought they were better than others and couldn’t understand what real love was. She had been jealous of how he loved Shanine at the party and he was sure she still felt the same way now.
“Keepiing him around is not a risk,” Danile said, unbothered. “He attacked the one mage that he knows won’t die.”
“True!” Big Man Desolate shouted with a raised hand. He was lying on the ground, surrounded by rubbles of broken earth. “Abed loves me too much to actually try and kill me.”
Abed’s scowl deepened. He hadn’t intended to kill Big Man Desolate, but he’d been hoping his attack would’ve at least left a mark.
“Wait,” one of the mages said.
If Abed wasn’t mistaken, he believed her name was Lovina. So far she had been the voice of reason amongst her teammates, keeping the others in line. The only person who was immune to her logical control was a rat-faced member of her team called Tulip who seemed more interested in pissing her off than anything else.
Lovina took a step forward, ignoring the others. “Is that Zul?”
“Zul?” Oliver asked confused.
“Yea. Zul,” Lovina said, snapping her finger and turning to her teammates. “You guys remember Zul, right? Zorander?”
Jason’s teammates looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.
“Zul Zorander?” Chris asked.
“Yea,” Lovina said. “We met him a while back when we were looking for the red head on your team.”
“You’re certain?” Ash asked.
Beside Abed, Kid looked from one team to the other. “I feel like I’m missing a lot of things here.”
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“I’m certain,” Lovina answered Ash. “Look, he’s even got no shoes on, just like Zul.”
“Hold up!” Ash said, halting everybody. “So that guy over there,” she pointed at the red head lying in the grass, “told you that his name was Zul Zorander, and you believed.”
Kev, a large mage that looked like he was supposed to be mentally slow, shrugged. “Yea?”
“Zul Zorander,” Ash repeated. “Like the wizard from the series about a man with a sword.”
“There are a lot of movies with wizards and a man with a sword,” Tulip said.
“Not another word out of you,” Lovina warned him, before turning back to Ash. “Yes.”
Ash smacked her forehead.
“It’s like he just gets his kicks out of lying to people,” she muttered.
“He told me his name was Ned,” Ronda said, her gun still shoved against Abed’s head, and everyone looked at her. She shrugged. “You can’t tell me I was stupid for believing him.”
“What’s his real name?” Francis, another member of Lovina’s team asked.
“Zed,” Oliver answered. “His real name’s Zed.”
“You sure?” Francis asked. “Because he told us Zul Zorander and told the Olympian over here that it was Ned.”
“He told me he’ll be going by Samuel by tomorrow,” Shanine offered quietly. “But he’ll be going by Zed until then.”
“Thanks, kiddo,” Chris said flatly, “but you’re not helping.”
Shanine slinked back behind Ash without a word, cowed.
Abed didn’t like it and he turned to Chris.
“Don’t speak to her that way,” he snarled. “She’s not some child you get to belittle.”
Chris shook her head as if she’d just heard something too stupid to believe.
“I’m sorry,” she said, not sorry, “but aren’t you the pedophile she blew off not up to ten minutes ago? Are you still talking?”
Abed’s face grew a deep shade of red and earth mana rose from the ground beneath him only for Ronda to poke his head with the barrel of her gun.
“Careful, big boy,” she warned. “I’ve still got that itchy finger.”
Abed scowled as he released his hold on the earth mana around him.
“Best be assured I’ll be reporting this breach of agreement to your superior when I see him,” he muttered.
“And I’ll be reporting your pedophiliac tendencies to him and see where his moral compass leans towards.”
“You wouldn’t understand a thing,” Abed scowled. “We’re in love. What would a soulless tin can like you know about love?”
Ronda leaned forward so that her armored head with its featureless face was right beside his head.
“Take a look at her face, dirt bag,” she said.
Abed’s gaze moved to Shanine and he saw terror in her eyes when their eyes locked.
“Does that look like the face of love?” Ronda asked him.
“No.”
“So why do you think she—”
“Because you’re scaring her,” Abed hissed, his anger swelling. “Do you know how difficult it is to be a normal person among mages? And then there you go swinging your gun around and throwing threats at the only person that cares about her.”
“I care about my sweet baby girl, too,” Madam Shaggy piped up from where she still stood, enjoying the show.
“Supported!” Big Man Desolate hollered, still lying in the dirt.
Abed’s scowl deepened. This was why he couldn’t like Big Man Desolate. He was always saying one rubbish or the other whenever he opened his mouth. Why Madam Shaggy had opted to side with him on anything was still beyond him.
“You’re scum,” Ronda said next to his ear. “And I’m more than certain my Boss will agree with me.”
“Ronda,” Daniel warned.
A new tension settled on everyone now. Ronda seemed on the verge of pulling her trigger and everyone knew it. Abed’s mind scurried around for ways to protect himself without being a threat. If he attacked her hard enough to make an impact, he could have the other two on him in an instant. He could survive an encounter with one Olympian but he wasn’t stupid enough to believe he would survive one against two.
“And who exactly is speaking for me?” a voice asked from one corner of their small clearing.
All heads turned towards its direction. There they met a cascading existence of a sea of trees and foliage. Shrubs and bushes.
Despite the absence of anybody, the three Olympians stood at attention, legs pressed together with both arms secured to their sides.
“I repeat,” the same voice echoed from behind trees. “Who exactly is speaking for me?”
“My apologies for making assumptions,” Ronda said, apology in her voice. “It was my error, captain.”
“And for what reason was this error made?” Captain Ven asked, stepping out from behind the sea of trees.
He was a domineering figure, his armor a stark superiority to the others. He was no bigger than the others but there was a presence to him. It was in the way he walked, slow and steady. Controlled. His armor a deep grey cast in the soft glow of the forest’s many colors looked sturdier than the others, his black highlights somehow deeper, refusing to reflect the lights of the forest. He carried a blood splatter on one side of his helmet and there were slight residues of smoke stains on his armored forearm.
“The wrong reasons, sir,” Ronda answered astutely.
“I see.”
The trees Ven had stepped out from behind, released a new array of mages. The only Olympian in his team, the others that came out wore simple clothing. Among them was a dwarf who walked with a shotgun, a lady with legs too long and nails sharpened to claws and a man peering into a small book as if he had bad vision.
When everyone was duly present, Ven spoke again.
“Daniel, did you witness the reason I was brought up?”
Still standing at attention, Daniel’s answer was short and precise.
“Yes, sir!”
“And what was the reason, soldier?”
“The mage displayed tendencies of pedophilia and attempted to take a child against her will, sir!”
Ven’s armored head turned slightly, taking in everyone present. Off to one side of the ground, lying in the dirt among a rubble of broken earth a strange looking mage with a hat on waved amiably. He let his gaze pan past the mage. He noted the red haired mage lying motionless on the ground, surrounded by at least three mages from the watchman’s town and paused there, then turned his attention to Ronda.
“Was this the mage you spoke off that night?” he asked. “The one you weren’t sure if you killed?”
“I’m not certain, Captain,” she answered.
“Then is he the same one you met at the party?” he asked. “What was the name? Ned, I believe it was.”
“Yes, sir. But it has been brought to my attention that he is called Zed.”
“Zed,” Ven mused. It seemed they would be taking him with them after this expedition was done. “And what seems to be the problem with Zed?”
“Not sure, sir. He was in this state when I arrived.”
Ven turned to Kid. “Did you also meet him in this state?”
“No, sir,” Kid answered. “He was fine when we met him.”
“And his current state?”
“Mind magic, sir,” Daniel answered, instead of Kid.
“Mind magic?” Ven asked.
“Yes, sir.”
A soft silence settled as Ven thought about it. He didn’t know of any mind mages amongst the mages chosen for the expedition so it was safe to assume it was not an attack from one of them. The VHF frowned on unregistered mind mages for a reason. They were deadly and some of their spellforms were impossible to detect before they took effect.
Dr. Tilda was living proof of just how deadly they were. Ven had heard the rumors of what she had done in the events of the second awakening to garner her current position within the organization and had enough reason to fear her kind. Mind mages were an unknown threat and he was disinclined to trust one that kept their powers a secret. However, he doubted this was an attack from one of them.
Regardless. Mind magic, huh? He thought.
“Mana analysis,” he commanded his suit of armor.
Daniel was sharper than anyone on the team when it came to sensing the specifics of mana but Ven’s suit had a function as the captain of the team that VHF felt they couldn’t afford the cost of adding to all the Olympian suits.
Ven pointed a hand at the unconscious mage and a ray of blue light ran through Zed, scanning him from head to toe. The results of the readings came alive in Ven’s helmet after a while.
“Intriguing,” he muttered as he read it.
Zed was definitely under the effects of mind magic, but it was self-inflicted. As if he was a mind mage working on his own mind. Ven had seen such mana readings before, felt them even. Back at headquarters he’d seen a similar effect on mages who underwent the dreamscape program. But he’d never seen one cast by a mind mage on themselves. From the little he knew, it was supposed to be dangerous unless there was a method of application he didn’t know.
Ven looked behind him at the old man peering into his book, a book with contents he still hadn’t been allowed to see. Still, judging from how many runes Festus had used so far, Ven was inclined to assume that, as most rune mages tend to possess, it was most likely the man’s book of runes.
Grimoires, I believe they call it, he thought.
“It seems, Mr. Festus,” he said to the aging mage, “that we have a mind mage on our hands.”
Festus’ reading stopped abruptly and he raised his head.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“A mind mage,” Ven repeated, gesturing at the mage on the ground. “It seems we have one here. And judging by how attached to him your mages are, I’d say he’s one of yours.”
Festus’ gaze moved to the mage and a deep scowl crossed his face. Then his expression hardened and he closed his book and cast a runespell on it.
“Hold this,” he said, offering it to the dwarf who took it with confusion. “Open it and I’ll seal your core and break it.”
No one here knew specifically how strong the Festus was, but they’d seen how easily he used runes. Every mage knew runespells drained more mana than runes, and were difficult to control with any accuracy but Festus had been using them generously even if some were repeated. But the reason the Rukh rank dwarf hadn’t disobeyed was because of the mystery that shrouded all rune mages. There was a rune for everything, and unlike spellforms no one could guess what rune could do what when a rune mage cast it except an equally powered rune mage.
Festus walked past everyone until he stood in front of the fallen mage. Standing there, he frowned down at Zed.
“This one’s not a mind mage,” he said, angrily.
That sufficed to draw Ven’s attention heavily.
“Then what is he?” he asked.
Festus’ frown never left his face. Judging by how focused he looked, he was clearly studying the mind mana leaving and gathering to Zed’s head, by-products of whatever spellform he was working on himself.
“He was supposed to be an attribute mage,” Festus said.
“Supposed to be?” Ven asked.
“Yes.”
“And now?”
Festus looked at him from over his shoulder, his face growing angrier by the passing moment.
“Now,” he said, angry, “I have no idea what he is.”