95 days left
In the break of dusk, a lone man stood at the pier of a floating marketplace. Active and noisy throughout the day, the trade rig becomes a ghost town at night. All the stalls get shut tight with multiple padlocks and magical detectors. Mercenaries start patrolling the wooden streets. Unlike the revealing morning wear, for the night they have to find the warmest clothes they can muster as the winds become freezing and deafeningly loud.
The lone boy untied a magefarer and stepped onto it. Now much more used to the device, his stance was confident despite a heavy bag weighing down his spine.
“I’m sorry, girls, but for the world, an entire week is too much. I’ve already stalled long enough to use the mage status to my advantage.”
Onaji pushed ahead in the direction of a distant island, getting further and further from the floating structure behind him.
‘I don’t blame you. After all, there’s no way for you to know what I’m really capable of. To you, I’m still just a loser.’ The boy stared at his palm. ‘But I doubt that any of the island’s inhabitants would be of any danger with the power I hold.’
It was getting too dark to see the ocean in all of its beauty. The black waves lazily crashed onto one another, complimenting the odd melancholic feeling Onaji was experiencing within his thoughts.
‘Magnolia. I’m thankful for all the time we spent together, even if you were annoying at times. If it really is your destiny to stand by the Hero’s successor, we will meet again eventually.’
Onaji turned to give the rig a final staredown dramatically, but…
“Where are you going?”
Instead, his eyes met with a blank expression of his colleague.
“I…”
“Onajin, did you want to leave me behind just now?” The girl’s brow was fluctuating wildly as she got closer and closer on another magefarer.
“Well, you see-”
“Why the hell would you do that, Onajin?!” The tone was obviously raised, but it still wasn’t a yell.
“I was-”
“Onajin, is that personal?”
“It’s just-”
“Do you hate me?”
“I-”
“Is this because you hate me?’
“I’m the future Protagoni, dang it! Treat me with some respect!”
“Wha…” Sideslick gasped in confusion at the sudden answer.
“It might not seem like it, but… I’m not actually mentally ill!”
“Well yeah.”
“And… I’m from another world!”
“Yeah…”
The magefarers slowed down as the waves became more rampant as if to correspond to a burst of sudden emotions in Onaji’s voice.
“I’m actually very powerful!”
“Yeah, I know…”
“What?”
“I am fully aware of these things… After all…” She looked down at the black water.
“I summoned you here.”
“...What?”
“The Protagoni… I… I took a book from our family library and…”
“You knew the whole time?!”
“You didn’t realize before?”
The waves crashed as the magefarers were stopped to a halt.
“How could I?! You never-”
“I made hints!”
“Hints? Oh, like what?!”
“Like, when we talked about your home…”
“That you’ve seen in a dream? That wasn’t… That was kinda weird actually.”
The two stood in silence for a few minutes surrounded by nothing but oceanic noise.
“You let me inside the academy when I was begging for food…”
“It was the least I could do.”
“And… Even knowing all that… You still want to find someone else as the Protagoni?” Suddenly the anger in his voice transformed into disappointment.
“Eh!? Well. I mean it in a best way possible, but-” The girl waved her hair looking around awkwardly.
“But what?”
“Listen, you’re creative and talented. I wanted you to come with me-”
“Am I not strong enough to be the hero? I can-”
“No, I know… I’ve seen you train once. You found a way to turn even a weak arcana into a great weapon.”
“Then what is it!? Why didn’t you tell me about your lineage before?! About the goal! We could have started earlier if I knew I had your support!”
“You… Don’t have what it takes to be the hero.”
The magefarers shook on the waves in silence once again. Magnolia was still looking down, unable to raise her eyes. She feared what her colleague might think… might say.
“I’m just a failed attempt to you…”
“No, you’re a great friend!”
“You pity me. Of course, that’s why you’ve stuck around, why you took me with you on this trip. You just don’t know how to send me back…”
“...”
“I see how it is.”
“You’re way too smart for me to hide it forever.” Magnolia finally looked into Onaji’s face.
Time seemingly froze for the two, as the only thing that reminded them they were still alive at this moment was the howling wind eager to throw the young people off their boards. Finally, Onaji turned away. His magefarer kept the course straight to the island. Magnolia stared at his back for a while. Eventually, she followed suit.
The boy kept trying to readjust his hairstyle destroyed by the wind as a way to distract himself from thoughts that kept spinning inside his head.
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How? Why? All the oddities about himself the boy threw together to form the theory about his uniqueness stopped seeming so unexplainable. Was he here simply because of one girl’s magic ritual? Then… What is his purpose even if she no longer believes in him?
Suddenly, new determination began coursing through the boy, one not connected to the whims of fate.
“So what?! Nothing changed in reality.”
The goal was already set, and the means to it were right there. The fate is his to choose.
‘I’ll become the Protagoni with or despite her!’
Reassured in his new beliefs, the last thing Onaji expected at this moment was to be sent flying into the air immediately after by a sudden explosion.
“Gahhh!” He grunted, seeking out where his magefarer was sent.
“Onajin!” Magnolia cried, but the boy did not wish to respond to her.
Another pop came from the water. Be the magi just a little slower and not summon a large metallic plow to take the majority of the impact, he would already be blown to pieces.
‘What the hell is going on?! There’s sea mines?’
Before the explosion, the boy noticed a strange lime object floating in the water. ‘Was that the source?’
“Onajin, are you alright?! I think I heard about these creatures!” The redhead began panicking.
‘Creatures?!’
A pillar of smoke that was now rising from the water made it difficult to see anything.
“They fill up the growths on their pseudo tentacles with a concentrated gas until they become bulging and explosive,” the girl kept yelling.
Onaji dropped his heavy bag and rushed towards his magefarer. One thing he learned from Mrs. Faraday’s lessons was how to climb back onto the board after falling. The device was light and very buoyant and could stay afloat under most extreme angles.
“Onajin…” The girl looked terrified. “Look around.”
The lime balls were everywhere now. Connected by some sort of a green vine, they have completely surrounded the magi.
“When did…” the boy muttered in disbelief.
“It encircled us.”
As the waves kept dancing, the explosives kept getting closer and closer.
The conjurer summoned a nail gun, shooting at the growths, trying to cause a chain reaction, but the balloons simply exploded one by one, leaving some odd substance and smoke on the water.
“It’s marduk’s digestive acid.”
“These marduks don’t make any sense, no fish is swimming up here. What are their tentacles doing that high up?!” Onaji tried to distract himself with something while thinking up a plan.
“Marduks adapted to… specifically hunting down humans. They target large ships.”
“Christ…” Onaji gulped audibly.
“I’ll try to make an opening for us.” Magnolia raised a wand.
“If only I could get closer-”
“Forget it, the main body is deep underwater, the appendages are expandable for them.”
A concentrated blue beam fired from the carefully carved stick that Magnolia wielded, setting off a line of growths at the same time. Water hurled around as the magi surged through the walls of smoke.
Onaji manifested glasses and masks onto their faces to help see at least something.
“Crap! Duck!” He yelled, noticing a lime ball riding a large wave too late.
Avoiding the attack just barely by pushing the board underwater, the duo was forced to dance carefully around other explosives.
“Damn it.”
Setting off the balloons further away was quickly proven ineffective as there seemed to be no end to the growths that kept on coming.
‘It’s a labyrinth of these things in here.’
A new wall of lime blocked the path.
“Too late! Here.” Onaji pushed the girl caught off-guard from her magefarer seconds before it got blown to bits.
“Now what? We’re still surrounded,” Magnolia pointed out, now standing on Onaji’s board.
“I have an idea, but… How many more shots do you have in you?”
“Like four of five maybe.”
“Might be good enough.”
“What for?”
Onaji pulled at the cloth secured to the girl’s backpack, nailing it to the magefarer with a freshly conjured mallet.
“This is our auto-tent!”
“Really? You’re gonna get mad over that in this situation?” The boy kept working.
“Bombs are closing in.”
“I know, I know.”
“Onajin! We don’t have the time!”
“Almost done.”
“What are you doing?!”
“Enhance me now!”
“What?-”
“Just do it!”
“Urgh. Fine!”
The girl hugged Onaji’s chest tightly.
“Make me able to fuel and enlarge my conjured items for additional minor arcana.”
The girl started writing something in the air with her fingers.
“We don’t have the time.”
“Almost!”
The explosive bubbles were almost touching the board.
“And… done!”
From the boy’s palm a pole began extending downwards.
Magnolia’s
The boy grabbed the board with his feet as the staff kept extending even after hitting the shallow sea’s bottom. It kept on pushing against the ground, propelling the magefarer and those on it above the water, snapping under the weight eventually. This was just the height the magi needed.
“Now! Shoot all four underneath!”
“Huh?!” Despite the girl’s hesitation, four beams of light targeted the largest clusters of the spheres. Onaji was barely fast enough to form a quick metallic platform under the board.
‘We’re gonna die,’ the two thought simultaneously as the gathered explosives set off underneath the magi.
Holding for their dear life to the sail, the duo flew high into the skies at extreme speeds.
“ACTIVATE THE TENT!” Onaji tried to yell to the stunned girl.
“What!?”
“Shit!”
The boy forcefully placed her hand onto the cloth while manifesting some kind of a device with the other.
“USE ALL YOU HAVE!”
The auto-tent began expanding wildly. Holding the formed mechanism over his head, Onaji spun a cog on the device, and from the top of it, a large pillar of fire arose in an instant.
“BIGGER!” he yelled.
An enhanced blow torch was running solely on his arcana
The fall began slowing down with more and more of the hot air trapped inside the tent.
“You’re… Insane.” Magnolia kept holding onto the magefarer’s sail tightly, huffing heavily in exhaustion.
“Hahaha, the second I saw how the tent works I knew this was possible!” Onaji broke into laughter.
The boy had spent years theorizing about the potential uses of his ability. There were many more tricks he still wanted to try, and most of them involved Magnolia’s ability.
“Wow, we’re high.” The girl looked from out of the magefarer.
“The view must be-” Onaji realized that it was still the middle of the night so nothing beneath was visible.
“The moon is so pretty today…”
“Yeah!”
The glowing sphere in the sky shined upon them. A replica of the one from Onaji’s world, it somehow had way more mystique and magic. The light that came off of its surface had a weird impact on the things it fell onto.
“Onajin… I. I’m so sorry for bringing you here, into problems you aren’t supposed to be solving. I tried to find a way to get you home, searched for so long! And now there is a chance that you…”
“The world won’t end Magnolia. The Protagoni will save it.”
“Still… I…”
Onaji put a hand on the girl’s shoulder, smiling.
“Believe in the Hero.”
“Yes!” A tear slid down Sideslick’s cheek.
They kept gliding under a weird trajectory for a while, thrown around by the chaotic currents of wind.
“I hoped we would be landing by now…”
“You do have a plan B in case you run out of arcana?”
“I… Why did you bring the tent by the way? Not something I would consider a necessity in retrieving me.”
“I knew you were planning something like this and prepared everything a while ago.”
“How? What?”
“You keep rambling to yourself about everything. You might think that nobody listens to it, but…”
“You do?”
“Of course! Trying to at least. I’m responsible for you being here and I must…”
“Go on.”
“Listen, you are my friend… I… I don’t want to lose my only friend. Before summoning you, I… wanted to… myself-”
“Friend? I thought I was just an annoyance to you.”
“Yes. You do annoy me at times, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends, right? I must be quite annoying to you at times as well,” Magnolia said with a smile.
“That’s sweet.”
“I’m sorry for not being clear with you about things from the start. Leaving you in the dark for so long is truly awful.”
“I think I understand, don’t worry. I’m thankful for all the times you helped me in the academy, even though you had no obligation to do so.”
“Peace?” The girl pulled out her hand.
“Peace.” Onaji shook it. “But… I do have some bad news.”
“Don’t tell me-”
“I’ve been out of minor arcana for a while now, and we keep losing hei-.”
“AAAAA!” The improvised hot air balloon began plummeting down at increasingly concerning speeds. The magi riding it had no way of knowing that the powerful winds that picked them up earlier had lifted the device way above what marduk’s explosive appendages ever could.