The wagon rolled into the marshalling yard, Teddy was waiting with his sister-in-law Lucy who had permission to be out of class to meet her husband coming back in from assessment.
“What are the odds that the two of them didn’t fight each other?”
“Knowing my wife I don’t think she’d start a fight with James in front of all the other trainees, if he’s annoyed her there’ll be hell to pay when they get back, I just wonder how much carnage Koda and Lucky caused together.”
The trainees all dispersed to meet their friends and relatives or household staff come to pick them up after the long journey. Instructor Trenslow came with James and Kyra to meet Teddy and Lucy.
“Ah, cadet Mitchell” he said looking at Lucy. “Hopefully my last Mitchell cadet, finally.”
James and Kyra looked at each other hopefully then at their assessor.
“You’ll find out at the graduation ceremony like everyone else.” He wryly smiled shaking Teddy’s hand. “Nice to see you again, it’s been a while.”
“Pleasure as always Vincent, hope they didn’t give you too much trouble.” Teddy winked back.
Vincent Trenslow harrumphed jovially and waved a hand, moving away to finish the administration for the trip.
“To the Schooner?” Teddy pulled Kyra’s arm, leading her down the street.
The Schooner was a bar in Greenstone on the island, a short journey from their villa accommodation outside the city. They weren’t often there together as the ‘Remore Academy Greenstone Annex’ was based further outside the city in the Delta on the Geller family estate and trainees tended to stay on campus rather than commute. When they were all together they frequently went to the Schooner. It was the closest thing to an Earth style English pub that they had found, with obvious Australian character. The food was second to none on the island but without being widely known and those that did know about it kept it quiet.
“You should have seen it! He was making an excellent point about taking your time and planning and she just runs off towards them without pausing or saying anything else!”
James was re-telling the story to one of the locals, having already told Teddy and Lucy about Kyra’s enthusiastic start to her last fight on the trip.
“I think it’s better to be enthusiastic going in rather than the opposite… Teddy, looking at you”
“No one should be keen to fight trap weaver spiders, it was scary as shit.” Teddy exasperated.
Teddy was in the intake above James and Lucy, having cobbled his essences and powers together slightly quicker by luck and the fact that the waiting list for the academy was years long, and the four of them only managed to get in by special circumstances but there wasn’t space for them all on one intake together. The academy culminated by being booked onto an assessment, Teddy was on the assessment before this.
………
On the previous trip, a month or so before, at a roadside notice board the deputy director of the Greenstone Adventure Society Instructor Vincent Trenslow was looking at the monster notice board, the trainees were nervously trying to look but not crowd the esteemed adventure society official.
“We have some Rattling notices building up but the locals should be able to deal with those, I have two notices for us to complete. A Draykul that anyone can volunteer for and a trap weaver nest that I would like to see cadet Mitchell go for. Teddy are you going to refuse?”
“Ooft, what a treat, thanks for that, I’ll take it but why me?”
“I thought it might be interesting to see what your skill set will look like against a nest, I’ve seen similar style in the past and thought you should try.” Vincent replied, obviously not telling the whole truth, a serious look as he searched Teddy’s face for a reaction.
The Draykul was a winged dinosaur-looking creature with no exotic abilities, its only characteristic is that it was aggressively territorial even before the berserk stage. An Elf with a large amount of spells took the job, they burnt through their mana in a shockingly short time, taking mana potions in quick succession and suffering a small amount of potion toxin. They succeeded in paralysing, setting on fire and piercing it with ice spears. The Draykul was dead before it hit the ground, which would have been impressive had it not crashed into a barn half full of hay, the farmer was happy to have a monster killed that was nesting in his barn but nettled that he now had to repair fire damage to the walls and the loss of some stock.
The wagon rolled further out of town, where the trees grew thicker and less people travelled, ideal nesting grounds for trap weavers. Teddy was travelling up front with Vincent who kept glancing at Teddy who was uncharacteristically quiet.
“Do you have any questions about the trap weavers? Do you have an idea how you are going to tackle them?”
It was unusual for the assessor to ask questions before a notice was attempted. The judgement of the individual was part of what was being assessed.
“No I don’t think I do. They shoot webs, bite is venomous, are fast, hard to see. What’s not to love?”
“I wouldn’t normally let a trainee tackle this alone on assessment but I trust you, don’t screw it up.”
They stopped at the deepest set of trees and Teddy jumped off landing onto the marshy ground, he sunk to his ankles and slapped himself on the forehead in frustration. Taking a handful of water quintessence out of his inventory he let a few beads into the top of each of his blue leather boots, when he lifted one foot than the other and when he placed them down they now rested on top of the boggy ground rather than sinking into it, the water walking boots hadn’t been cheap but filled a niche gap in his power set. He took a moment and breathed deep, both hands coming up together to grasp an imaginary handle in front of him, with a faint buzz, a blue light blade erupted in front of him, a blade of emptiness surrounded by a corona of blue.
Ability: [Dimension Blade] (Dimension)
Conjuration (blade, teleport)
Cost: extreme low mana, increasing with target being cut
Cool-down: none
Current rank: Iron 8 (80%)
He dismissed the blade and looked at Vincent. “I’m ready.”
“Good.” Vincent said, “I don’t know what it means but your brother asked me to tell you: may some force be with you?”
Teddy waved laughing at Vincent’s quizzical expression, turning and running into the dark trees, his feet making no sound on the wet ground and leaving no trace, he merged with the darkness just before he got to the trees.
He kept running, getting deeper into the trees, feeling like he was purposely walking into a trap, and he was, he could see them all around him. Just barely, his powers wouldn’t let him pierce the darkness but any movement was slowed down so he could pick out the detail even in the shadows. It started with one, pressed against the trunk in the fork of a tree watching him push deeper, then another on his other side, two ahead on his left and three on the right. He had to slow when he saw two maybe three ahead. He was surrounded. Using an awful American accent he had a short conversation with himself;
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Sir we’re surrounded!” He paused then stopped, “good, we can attack in any direction!” Either the atrocious false accent or that their prey had stopped was like a starting gun to the spiders all shooting webs simultaneously at Teddy.
Teddy thought back to his first weeks in this new world.
……….
Teddy, Kyra, James and Lucy had woken up in a field. Which to clarify was unusual, they liked a drink but always managed to find their way back to their own houses. Bleary eyed and confused Teddy sat up, all he could remember was being sat outside at a small table in the late summer sun trying to relax whilst keeping an eye out for seagulls trying to steal their bag of crisps on the table. Kyra and Teddy were visiting James and Lucy at their house, having a drink in their garden. That was the last he could remember, wondering if he had been drugged he looked around and saw the others, Kyra was closest, curled up on the floor, he rolled her over to see if she was ok and she dropped a cube she had been holding. She opened her eyes, looking just as confused. James and Lucy made movements as well, both going to each other and cubes dropped to the floor from where they had been curled up. Seeing Kyra was getting her bearings Teddy looked back to the dent in the grass where he had been laying. A cube lay there. Looking like a hole in the universe radiating outwards. He shuffled slightly on his knees to pick it up and writing appeared in the air in front of him.
Item: [Dimension Essence] (unranked, legendary)
Manifested essence of dimensional forces (consumable, essence).
Requirements: Less than 4 absorbed essences
Effect: Imbues 1 awakened dimension essence ability and 4 unawakened dimension essence abilities.
You have absorbed 0/4 essences. Once absorbed, an essence cannot be relinquished or replaced.
You are able to absorb [Dimension Essence]
Absorb Y/N?
“What the hell? Teddy was staring at the cube in his hand when he felt Kyra’s hand on his shoulder.
“Teddy, what’s going on? I don’t remember how we got here and this cube is doing something weird.” She passed him the glowing yellow cube in her hand and he reflexively took it.
Item: [Life Essence] (unranked, legendary)
Manifested essence of Pure Life (consumable, essence).
Requirements: Less than 4 absorbed essences
Effect: Imbues 1 awakened Life essence ability and 4 unawakened Life essence abilities.
You have absorbed 0/4 essences. Once absorbed, an essence cannot be relinquished or replaced.
You are able to absorb [Life Essence]
Absorb Y/N?
A deep rumbling voice boomed like an unstoppable force echoing over the grassy hills they found themselves on, “This one is not meant for you.”
Teddy dropped the cube in his surprise. Kyra looked at him in annoyance.
“Why did you drop it?
“Did you not hear that?” He replied
“Hear what? We’re here alone.” She bent down to pick up the cube, “It did it again! What does it mean?” She span round in a circle. “Where is the writing coming from?!”
“Teddy, are you and Kyra ok? Lucy and I woke up with these and something weird happens when we hold them, weirder than waking up here.” He said looking around, James had come over holding Lucy’s hand, both had a cube in their other hand.
“Yeh Kyra and I have the same” Teddy said holding them out “we have Dimension and Life, what did you guys get?’
“Eagle and Magic, that’s weird right? This is all so weird is it all magic or just Lucy’s cube?”
Teddy placed his cube down on the ground and Kyra placed hers with it, James and Lucy followed suit, all surrounding them and looking at them.
“What should we do with them?” Lucy asked.
“This is not a committee, you have each been given these essences for a reason.” The same booming voice sounded out across the hills, this time the others could very obviously hear the authoritative voice and feel the crushing feeling like a great weight on top of them as they cowered and looked around for the source. As they did they all looked across the same side of the field as they heard a boom. A streak in the air was heading right towards them and the object hit the ground in their field, driving a furrow towards them, a robed man wearing armour jogged out of what was now obviously his hasty landing and slowed to walk towards the group.
“Good morning, my god has sent me at very short notice to attend you all, he has made clear you know nothing about what is going on. It’s my privilege to inform you that you have been contacted by the god Hero, now if you could all pick up the essences you were given I have some explaining to do.”
The mysterious stranger had said his piece and disappeared, they had all accepted their essences.
Theodore Mitchell
Essence Abilities
Dimension
-Dimension Blade
Ability: [Dimension Blade] (Dimension)
Conjuration (blade, teleport)
Base cost: extreme low mana, increasing with target being cut
Cool-down: none
Current rank: Iron 0 (00%)
Effect (iron): Create a Dimensional Rift no longer than 2m, effectively works as a sword, and teleports anything it comes into contact with to another dimension. Higher rank items and targets will require more mana.
Kyra Mitchell
Essence Abilities
Life
-Life bolt
-Ability: [Life bolt] (Life)
Special ability
Base cost: Low mana
Cool-down: 30 secs
Current rank: Iron 0 (00%)
Effect (iron): A bolt will be fired on casting causing a small amount of healing to a single target. Life bolt has an extreme reaction to undead targets.
Lucy Mitchell
Essence Abilities
Magic
-Magical Master
Ability: [Magical Master] (Magic)
Special ability (Perception)
Base cost: Nil
Cool-down: Nil
Current rank: Iron 0 (00%)
Effect (iron): Significantly increase mana available. Can see magic.
James Mitchell
Essence Abilities
Eagle
-Vision of the eagle
Ability: [Vision of the eagle] (Eagle)
Special ability
Base cost: Low Mana
Cool-down: Nil
Current rank: Iron 0 (00%)
Effect (iron): Can zoom vision up to 10x
They had been told they needed to head south to a town called Greenstone and head to the temple district. Two weeks into the trip their journey had been arduous and they knew from talking to locals they were only halfway, it was evening and they were in the most peril they had been in so far.
James had seen the fire and smoke from a long way off and Lucy had seen a swirling confluence of energies she now understood to be magic. Teddy had been busy, he had the only combat power in the group and he was learning the hard way that this new world was not safe. They had all talked one night and James and Teddy agreed the ‘Ben Parker rule’ with great power comes great responsibility. Lucy and Kyra agreed, the people they passed had little in the way to protect themselves and they could help. And that is how the group found themselves in a small burning village with two giant spiders. The villagers had called them Trap Weavers and for the last few nights they had gone berserk and rushed out the trees to attack the houses. The first spider was dead, a portion of its head missing like it had been lasered off. The second spider was advancing on Teddy who was on his back on the floor, bleeding from a leg wound and shuffling to get away from the man-sized spider. Suddenly James and Lucy appeared on the low thatch rooftops either side of the street, pelting the spider with rocks, it reared, angered at being surprised. Kyra took her moment, raising her hand and whispering “life bolt” at Teddy, dropping to her knees in pain holding her head, they were learning about mana and how it turned out they never had enough, the fight had been
too long and too messy, Kyra’s one healing power had been needed more than she could handle. Teddy got to his knees, his leg good enough to take his weight. He snatched a blue potion from his pocket and quaffed it.
You have used a mana potion when you have the residual effects from a previous potion.
You have been afflicted with [Potion Toxicity]
Potion barely takes effect.
Suffer minor damage from [Potion Toxicity]
It had hurt but it had been enough, he stood, the spider crashing in front of him from rearing at the thrown rocks, it opened its maw to hiss at its prey, Teddy stuck his hand in its mouth and activated his blade “chew on this you creepy eyed weirdo”, piercing the top of its mouth and the top of its head. They both crashed to the ground, the spider dead. Teddy completely drained.
………
Snapping out of his reverie of the past he was back in the moment. To Teddy the webs weren’t fast, they were a speeding bullet to anyone without the right abilities but they seemed to move towards Teddy at a sedate pace. He activated a dimension ability while jumping into the air, all the webs hit the rift he had left behind, a wall of notifications appeared in his vision, he read the first one and pushed them aside. “This gives me a excellent idea”.
Vincent had waited a long time debating, all the other trainees had started to mutter, there wasn’t a time limit as such to each encounter but to take this long, having shown previous competence in the trip was unusual. He decided to leave the other trainees, telling them firmly to stay with the wagon on the road and headed in. He slowly crept up onto the sounds of the still snarling and screaming monsters, what he found bewildered him. Immobilised either by missing limbs or tied to trees with reinforced ropes and pitons were the remains of the trap weavers, a few had been killed outright but the majority remained. As they noticed him they snarled and shot webs at him, he prepared his defences but a blur appeared in front of him and a slice of unreality appeared shimmering between him and the webs.
“Do you know how hard I had to work to get them to shoot in the right place?” Teddy said.
“What in the gods name is going on here?” Vincent asked.
“Well, the last time Gilbert brought a stand to the academy grounds he mentioned that trap weaver silk is incredibly valuable and incredibly hard to procure, once it dries its useless, turns out, if they fire it straight into my storage space it perfectly preserves it as a crafting material!”
Vincent gave him a long look. “Yes, very similar in some ways to the person I knew before, clean this up and get back to the road, I’m here to assess cadets, not make sure you can line your pockets.” He shook his head and made his way back to the road, wondering if all outworlders were this blasé in their adventuring or just the ones he had met.
………
A month later in the the present day he now sat with his wife and brother celebrating their Adventure Society assessment Teddy reflected that he never asked Vincent what he really meant back then. He had got a good price for the Trap Weaver silk from Gilbert and had made the tradesman’s day when he presented it.