Alex stepped out of the SUV, and his shoes crunched on the gravel from the side of the mountain road. The air bit at his exposed skin, and the slls were fresh and clean compared to the overcrowded cities. At Craig and Duke's guidance, they’d parked at a small trailhead tucked away in the Catskills. Their use of tracking skills seed wide-ranging and during certain parts of the drive required many U-turns.
The weathered wooden sign marking the start of their hunt had been pulled from the ground so ti ago and was tossed lazily a few yards into the woods.
Craig got out of the rear door and held it open wide for Duke to jump out. The large dog did a few slow circles before stretching backward and then forward. After the quick stretch, his head was already up in the air, sniffing away at all the different slls. It surprised them all when, instead of lowering his head to begin sweeping the ground, he instead made a beeline for Alex.
“Woah there.” Craig’s eyebrows rose as Duke circled Alex, nose twitching excitedly. Twice when Alex turned to follow his movents, Duke hopped away with an energy that didn’t quite match his previously slow behavior. “Duke, what’s gotten into you, boy?”
Alex smiled. “I think he’s sensing my companion.” He reached up to touch the shimring blue fabric. “It’s okay, Val. You can co out now. Say hello.”
The cloak rippled and dissolved, revealing Valtherion stretching his wings around Alex’s chest. The blue creature unwound himself from his shoulders and hovered in place.
“Say hello!” Val chirped aloud while swooping open to eye level with Duke.
The older bloodhound tucked his tail under his butt and moved quickly a few feet away from Valtherion toward his owner.
Craig staggered back. “What in God’s na—”
Duke barked once before regaining so of his previous confidence. When Val didn’t make any more advances and just hovered a foot off the ground, looking at the dog interestedly, Duke’s tail began to wag. He barked once more and dropped into a play bow, all sense of work thrown out the window.
“He’s my companion,” Alex explained to Craig with a chuckle. The older man had been so calm and confident at his cabin, to see him shaken at the sight of Val made him seem more like a normal guy in Alex’s eyes. “Like Duke is to you.”
The group watched as they circled each other, and Sam laughed. “I think they like each other.”
Alex looked over and had his eyes drawn to Olivia, who was kneeling down with her hand on the ground.
Not the ground. Her shadow.
She was whispering sothing to her companion as well, and Alex wondered what Nox’s reaction to the entire situation was.
Craig removed his weathered cap and scratched his hair. “In all my life… never seen anything like that. What is he?”
“An amphiptere,” Alex said as Val perford a loop over Duke’s head. “At least that’s what he’s beco so far. He’s still growing.”
“Never heard a’that.” Craig shook his head, but his initial shock was fading to interest. "Bonded companions, though—that part I understand." He looked at Duke with obvious affection. "Amazing what that connection can do.”
Olivia stood and brushed off her knee while checking her watch. “We should get going, It’s going to be dark in a few hours.”
“Right. Can I please have the cloth you ntioned?” Craig asked while holding out his hand. After he was handed the cloth from the attack the day before, Craig whistled sharply. Duke’s deanor shifted instantly. “Duke, find the trail.”
The bloodhound bounded over and sniffed the cloth in his hand several tis before lifting his head into the air. He sniffed in different directions before putting his nose to the ground and beginning to do a spiraling circle outward from their position.
“Give him a minute,” Craig said.
Duke’s nose worked full speed as he did so initial laps. Each ti he passed the trail, he paused before continuing, and on the third lap, he stopped. His head swung decisively toward the narrow path leading into the trees.
“Got sothing.” Craig nodded with satisfaction. “Let’s go.”
“Val help find!”
“Not a bad idea,” Alex said. “Just stay within sight, Val, and don’t get seen. If you need to, use an illusion to hide.”
The wyrm chirped acknowledgnt through their ntal connection as the group fell into line to follow Duke down the trail.
“You think we’ll actually find where they’re hiding?” Sam asked quietly.
“I feel like if anyone can, it will be these two.” Alex watched the bloodhound work. Duke zigzagged back and forth from the trail, constantly crossing over the area where the trail was heading, only drifting occasionally to the right side of the trail, downwind of the normal path.
Alex looked past Sam and saw Olivia walking in the middle of the group with her head down. “Sam, switch spots with Olivia for a sec, will you?”
The healer tapped her shoulder and whispered a few words before they swapped spots, allowing Alex to chat with her easily.
“How’re you feeling?”
“Fine,” she said, though Alex could tell she was already panting after only a few hundred yards.
He decided not to ntion it, instead asking about Nox. “How’s Nox doing? Did he want to gobble up Val?” Alex could see her sly smile as she glanced at him from over her shoulder.
“No. He actually wanted to co out and et them both.”
Alex raised his eyebrow instinctively. “Really? Why didn’t you let him?”
“He’s injured. And I figured he’d scare the hell out of Duke and the old man. Wouldn’t do us any good if he fell over and had a heart attack or sothing.”
“Alright, fair,” he said with a snort. “How are his injuries?”
“I’m not sure. He seems healed, but isn’t getting any better. He’s starting to pull more mana from again, which fucking sucks… but also makes feel like he might be getting better? I don’t know, really.” She shrugged.
“Hmm.” Alex glanced down at her shadow. “Alright, well, let know if you need anything. I still don’t know if I like him… tell him to lay off draining all of your mana.”
Olivia’s head quirked to the side. “You know he can hear you, right?”
“Good. He was ant to.”
She laughed, though Alex realized she wasn’t laughing at his comnt. “He said that’s rich, coming from you.”
“What’s that supposed to an?”
“He says that he sees you draining mana from your bond all the ti,” she said through continued giggles.
Alex pretended to look aghast but couldn’t help but smile.
It’s a fair point. And damn it, her laugh is so cute.
They quickly fell into an easy silence, and the group continued to move through the woods. As they hiked deeper into the forest, Alex activated [Parallel Mind]. While his main consciousness stayed alert to their surroundings, he raised his left hand, palm up, and began to work on his mana manipulation. His Willpower had grown significantly in the last several levels, and sothing almost felt more normal about his ntal stats being cut in half; even with his advancent to D Rank, he knew that his Willpower was insanely high. Still too high for his body to fully adjust to without use of exercises and gas to adjust.
Thin blue lines materialized above his fingertips as he raised his left hand, and they began to twist and weave into complex patterns. He could see what he was doing from the corner of his left eye and his mana sight.
Sam looked over his shoulder, past Olivia, and at Alex. “What are you working on?” He asked in a low voice.
“Mana-shaping exercises for my Willpower so I can cast spell circles faster,” Alex replied, feeling elation at the fact that he could say that with more confidence now that he was complete in their creation and had even been recognized by the System for his efforts. “The control nodes need to be perfect every ti, and I need to get faster at forming them. Speed is the goal now that I’ve got the concept down, and the more that my body and mind can adapt to my Willpower, the faster that casting will go.”
Sam nodded thoughtfully. After a mont, he reached into his pouch and pulled out a vine with thorns on it. With careful movents, he channeled his mana into it.
While Sam was focused on his task, Olivia looked over her shoulder and smiled at Alex. Without comnting directly, Alex gave an approving nod.
“Well, aren’t you two cute?” Olivia whispered. “Just make sure you don’t trip while you’re training.”
They continued like this for nearly an hour, each focused on their tasks: Craig and Duke leading the pack and following the trail, Olivia scouting and keeping watch, while both mages practiced their arts.
They followed the trail for a ti before Duke made a sharp turn and led them directly into the woods. After the turn, Olivia swapped places with Sam once again, hanging close behind Craig as they made their way through overgrown brush.
“How can you tell when Duke’s following sothing or when he’s lost the scent?” she asked.
Craig gestured to the dog working ahead of them. “See how his tail’s up, and he keeps moving from left to right, but in the general direction? That’s confidence. When he loses a trail, his posture drops and his pace slows, and he’ll usually circle back a few tis until he picks up the trail again.” He pointed to subtle disturbances in the forest. “Sotis I can spot things to confirm we’re going the right way, too. Like a broken branch here or so misplaced leaves there. Most of this was possible before our skills, but since awakening, it’s just gotten easier.”
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For hours, they followed this rhythm, Duke leading the way while Val patrolled overhead. Every once in a while, they would see his blue form pass over a gap in the canopy, sending a shadow over the group. As ti ticked by, so did the miles. While Alex and Craig maintained an easy pace with Duke, Sam and Olivia soon began to lag behind.
“Need a break?” Alex asked.
Olivia just shook her head and continued to push on, barely acknowledging her tired state.
Sam shook his head stubbornly after seeing her response, though he’d shed his sweatshirt, and sweat circled his grey shirt collar. “I’m good. Just not built for this like you guys are.” He managed a weak smile and took a water bottle from his own spatial pouch. “I don’t have much in my physical stats.”
A short while later, Craig suddenly raised his hand, signaling the group to halt. Duke had frozen ahead and was staring in a direction with a rigid posture. The tracker knelt and examined the ground.
“Fresh tracks,” he whispered. “Multiple people passed through here recently. I say we stop talking now and focus on moving quietly.” He whistled softly and clicked his tongue. Duke looked back at him before trotting ahead. “He’ll scout a bit further ahead now and make sure we’re close.”
While they waited, Olivia began to move off to the side. “I’ll take a quick look at the area around us,” she murmured before her form started to blend in with the darkening forest.
“Liv…” Alex said cautiously.
“Don’t worry,” a disembodied voice said. “I won’t go in the sa direction as Duke. Just looking around us to make sure there aren’t sentries.”
She returned minutes later, stepping from the wood line into easy view. “Couldn’t find any signs of sentries, but there was a rise about a hundred yards that way. It’ll give us a better view without getting too close.”
Duke returned shortly after that and confird with Craig that they were close. The old tracker knelt and gave his partner so praise before they all moved slowly and quietly to the rise Olivia had ntioned. They crouched near the top, and Craig signaled for them to lie down and crawl the last few yards to the top, preventing anyone from being easily seen. At the top, they could peer down onto the elven camp, and they were surprised to see that, despite the growing darkness, their camp was lit by a small sun hanging in the air.
“What the hell is that?” Olivia said while squinting to let her eyes adjust.
Alex squinted as well, not because of the light, but because both of his eyes saw two very different views of the camp. Through his left eye, his mana sight saw hundreds or thousands of small streams of mana encircling the encampnt below.
There was a massive network of blue and golden threads spreading out around it. The strands wove together in a perfect do and were so dense that they almost completely obscured the camp itself from his mana sight.
He opened his eyes fully and focused his mind back on his normal vision and saw the camp without issue. "It's a warding net... just like Maelis described. The entire camp is surrounded by it." He blinked and looked again through his left eye.
Swapping back and forth from both kinds of vision, he marveled at how tightly woven the magic was around the area. He spent so ti observing the movents of the camp itself and the way that the sun elves behaved. The thing that drew his imdiate interest was the ritual engraved around the camp. As he looked at it closer, he saw how its lines and geotric shapes wove through the tents and pathways as if it had been hastily created.
Alex pulled out his phone and took several pictures of the creatures. He noted their tall stature and long arms. They had golden skin and angular features that seed to match many of the descriptions of elves that they’d had in fantasy genres on Earth.
“Definitely not Santa’s helpers,” Craig muttered, which earned him a few tense smiles.
Alex took more pictures of the encampnt and tried to take special note of everything he could about the ritual and its setup. He frowned and handed his phone to Olivia to take over the pictures. As quietly as he could, he removed a fresh leather notebook from his pouch and began to sketch out so of the details of the ritual and runes being used in the camp.
The ritual formation seems to surround the Rift, and if I can tell what they’re doing here… it looks like they’re funneling mana in a direction.
He sketched quickly, doing his best to make sense of the complex pattern, but it remained unclear as his attention was pulled to sothing out of the ordinary in the camp.
"Humans?"
Two figures in dark tactical vests with distinctive Hunters' Association armbands approached the elven camp.
"Association agents," Olivia hissed and looked at Alex. "What the hell are they doing here?"
Alex's own eyes narrowed, and he focused his Heavenly Eye on the pair. He felt the mana pulse behind his eye as he activated the scanning function. He was unsure if it was due to distance or an item, but after a bit of resistance, he could see their statuses.
William Jones - Level 47
Class: Lancer (Journeyman)
Primary Stat:
Agility 129
Secondary Stat:
Strength 101
Tertiary Stat:
Constitution 82
Most Used Abilities:
Swift Strike (Journeyman)
Dash (Journeyman)
Piercing Thrust (Journeyman)
Joseph Clark - Level 45
Class: Spearman (Journeyman)
Primary Stat:
Agility 171
Secondary Stat:
Constitution 89
Tertiary Stat:
Strength 73
Most Used Abilities:
Spinning Guard (Journeyman)
Vault Strike (Journeyman)
Leg Sweep (Journeyman)
Damn. Director Matthews wasn't kidding about having high-level people.
They outranked him by a good bit, and if anything, he felt like it was proof that the governnt was using their resources to get willing fighters into ti-dilated Rifts.
How different would my level and skills be if I had continued to risk my life in the Celestial Rift for the last three months?
Alex considered scanning the elves as well, but stopped himself. He thought back to the ring that Rylan had when he was in the Mana Tap. While it had provided resistance to scanning, when Alex had pushed through it, it had alerted the Tyrant to Alex's prying eyes.
"Shoulda known these bastards would be involved sohow," Craig whispered beside him.
They watched as the humans spoke with the three elves who had stepped from the camp to et them. The conversation appeared civil at first. Both agents carried spears that glowed in Alex's vision, and he could guess that they were System-granted weapons.
Are they working together? Did they know about the elves all along?
His thoughts were disproven as the exchange quickly deteriorated before their eyes. The leader of the two, William, tapped his chest several tis, emphasizing the cara that was attached to his tactical vest. Next to him, Joseph tensed and the butt of his spear shifted backward.
After several more shouted statents, the elves' posture changed to sothing more predatory. Alex wasn't sure what it was — they barely took any steps or readied their bodies as if they were going to enter a fight — but sothing in the way that they held their heads and stepped slightly further apart to give each other space...
Alex tensed, and his hand wanted to instinctively reach toward his pouch and wand. Olivia saw the motion and shook her head in a warning.
In a blur, both agents moved. Joseph vaulted backward and, after leaving the ground, spun his spear so fast that it bowed in the middle and blurred. William lunged forward and his spear glowed a nasty red color with the activation of a skill. The weapon struck an instantly-ford golden shield with the sound of a minor explosion. Hairline cracks appeared in the barrier, but it held.
William shouted sothing while thrusting his spear forward again, reactivating the skill.
The elves all responded with a calm and casual sort of grace that told Alex they were used to fighting. One raised his hand and sent a pulse of golden energy out that knocked William back and sent Joseph stumbling out of the backward vault he'd perford.
Another elf stepped forward, and a new barrier blocked William's next thrust. A beam of bright golden light erupted from her pointed wand and burned straight through the lancer's skull.
Joseph recovered and repositioned himself to escape. As a beam was sent his way, his spear whirled in a defensive pattern that deflected the first beam that was sent his way. For a mont, Alex thought he might make it out with the use of a movent skill, until the third elf flicked his wrist. Twin beams shot from his bracelet and caught him mid-stride.
Both agents crumpled and fell into unnatural positions on the ground. The entire exchange lasted less than a dozen seconds.
"Holy shit," Sam whispered. "They didn't stand a chance."
From their vantage, they could hear the distant thump of what sounded like artillery, followed by the whistle of incoming shells. Three explosions erupted around the periter of the camp in quick succession, causing Alex to duck his head and hunch his shoulders.
“Military response team,” Craig muttered. “Must have been waiting nearby.”
The smoke cleared to reveal that the camp was completely untouched, protected by a shimring golden do of energy that flickered briefly before returning to its normal see-through state. The elves looked up curiously and pointed at the sky while talking amongst themselves. They seed completely unbothered by the assault.
Minutes later, a distant whine grew louder overhead, and Alex looked up to see two military jets streaking across the sky. Sothing detached from the lead’s underbelly and scread toward the encampnt. Alex marveled at the detail that his mind could pick up in the short ti it took for the missile to connect.
The explosion rocked the mountainside, but when the flash died down and the dust settled, the camp was still unaffected. There was only the fading sight of a slight ripple along the shield’s surface to show where the missile had struck.
Alex’s frustration boiled over, and the picture beca clearer. “The Hunters must have found out that they were here with their magic and co to handle it themselves.” His eyebrows ca together, and he ground his teeth. “Look what happened, they just got people killed for nothing.”
“I thought Maelis said that the divination wouldn’t work,” Sam asked quietly as they began to scoot back from the rise they were watching from.
“Maybe he was wrong. Maybe they just used normal modern tech to track Rylan’s movents or sothing. I don’t know,” Alex said.
They retreated deeper into the tree line as more jets approached, and more of the implications flooded Alex’s mind. The association had found the elves, either with their lead or independently, attempted a negotiation, and when that failed, resorted to military action… all without informing Alex’s team.
He thought back to the conversation he had with Director Matthews and wondered if he’s severely misjudged the man.
“We got the proof and docuntation we needed. We saw them, their camp, and what they were doing. I’m not sure what they plan to do with my magic, but it looks big. I’ve never seen a ritual that large, but I know it’s possible to achieve large-scale effects with ritual magic. It’s ti to go have a conversation with the director and figure out what the hell is going on.”
The group walked in silence on the way back, and Alex felt a sense of calm settle over him. In a way, he felt grateful to know that the Hunters Association had the sa sort of scheming and decision-making happening behind the scenes as the Guild did. It made his decision to distance himself from both organizations all the easier.
“You okay?” Olivia asked after an hour of walking in low light.
Alex spoke his mind. “They’re all just playing their own ga. I’m getting sick of following these rules and doing what everyone else asks.”
She sighed. “I’m probably the last one to say this… but I think we’re going to need their help to stop this. It’s not like I want to work with them, but if those shields can stop missiles, and we couldn’t even hurt two of them at the house… We’ll need so help.”
“Maybe… but they need my help more than we need theirs. I doubt anyone can even start understanding that ritual down there like I can.”
“Confident, are we?” she asked teasingly.
Alex shrugged in response. “But I don’t even know what those runes are.
“You don’t? Then why do they need you?” she prodded, encouraging him to continue.
“Because it’s my magic to begin with, and even though I’m not an expert at runes… I’ve got access to one. We’ve got so things to get straight when we get back.” At the thought, he once again began to infuse his mana into the amulet around his neck.
Maelis is going to get really annoyed at all of this waking him up.
For so reason, despite the situation, the thought made him smile.
As they continued their trek back toward the vehicle, Alex let his mind drift to his recent gains. The new skills that he'd gained from Spell Weaver were a significant leap in his power and were tools he'd need to master quickly if they were going to face the sun elves again.
[Spell Storage] in particular held a lot of potential in his mind. The ability to recast, or even pre-cast, spells would change his entire combat approach. He needed to test it more, but if the spell cast was stored within the System, then it was possible that it would be recast almost instantaneously, as many other System skills were. If that were the case, then he wouldn't need to worry about lengthy casting tis to start off a battle. He could pre-cast sothing from safety and have it stored in case of an ambush or launching a powerful attack from the start of a fight.
Alex knew that it made him more flexible and reminded him of a Nuker or Burst Damage type kit in many video gas. This worked well with the effective damage he'd seen so far from his spell circles with the spark rune. He knew that he'd need to spend ti developing a strategy on which spell he should keep stored between fights and how to best use it to his advantage to start a fight so that he could manage his mana well throughout a fight.
He saw a scenario with a skill such as this where he could quickly end up casting spells more rapidly than his mana could keep up, putting him back into a similar situation to before he had Valtherion.
His mind worked through potential scenarios. If he could soon make a spell circle with a barrier rune, then he could store it for instant protection or maybe pre-cast a lightning bolt spell circle for a powerful opening move in a fight. The possibilities seed endless, depending on how the skill worked.
“I’ll need to try and find so ti to test everything before we fight the elves,” Alex said.
Olivia nodded, and Craig glanced at the two of them but stayed quiet as they continued to make their way back to the car.
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