by Aaron Oster
Of course the answer would have to be some cryptic mumbo jumbo like that.
Morgan thought carefully about his last question.
He was about to ask if he knew who his parents were, when a memory of his first lesson with Gold popped into his mind. He wasn’t sure why it had, but now that it was there, he just had to know.
“Who stopped the Tyrant King’s war all those years ago?”
He knew right away that this had been the correct question to ask. The figure who’d stopped the war had also been the one who shaped the world into what it was today. Even though the question of his parentage had bothered him his entire life, he felt that it was of the utmost importance, to know who this being was.
Dabu started when he asked this question and a shocked expression came to his face.
“How is it that you know about the Tyrant King’s war? I thought that all knowledge of that time had been erased.”
“My instructor at the academy founded by King Herald told me about this in my first lesson. He told me that it was important to know where out abilities came from and why they work the way they do.”
Dabu looked lost in though for a few moments, then sat up straighter.
“Then perhaps I have not been keeping as close of an eye on the mortal realms as I thought. To answer your question, the one who ended the war and created the power structure you are familiar with, is a being as old as time itself. I have never personally met him, but I know that he likes to wander the mortal realms in the guise of a traveler. He likes to go by a certain name while there. Now what was it…”
Dabu tapped his fingers on the table for a few moments as he tried to recall. Then he snapped his fingers and smiled.
“Samuel. That’s what he likes to call himself.”
Morgan froze, feeling his stomach drop out from under him.
“Is something the matter?” Dabu asked, when he saw the look on Morgan’s face.
“I met a traveler by that name when I was running from a city lord,” he answered dumbly. “I had been terribly injured during a fight, but he healed me back to perfect health. Then he told me to be careful how I used my abilities and vanished into thin air.”
“That does sound like him,” Dabu said with a thoughtful expression. “Guess he must have taken a liking to you ,if he was willing to help.”
Morgan opened his mouth to say something when a horrible pain shot though his head. It was gone in a second, but Dabu didn’t miss his grimace of pain.
“I’m afraid that our time together is up. You must look through you status now, otherwise you won’t know how to use your new abilities when you get back.”
“How will I be getting back?” Morgan asked.
“Your physical body is still in the mortal world; only your mind has traveled here. Now no more questions, your friend is in peril and you will be, too, if you stay too much longer.”
That put an end to all of his questions.
If Sarah was in danger, then he had to get back to her as soon as he could.
He nodded once to Dabu, then reached inside himself for his new source of power.
45
“What do you assholes want?” Sarah asked, grimacing as she rose back to her feet.
This was not good. Her mana was regenerating slowly, but she wouldn’t be able to use her skills more than a couple of times before it ran out again. Plus, Morgan was still unconscious and she didn’t think these two would wait for him to wake up before attacking him.
“I think you know what we want,” Frush said with a snarl. “You were supposed to die back in the arena, but because of you, our cousin Keldor was killed instead!”
“And don’t think we forgot about that other asshole, either,” Grub put in. “I was supposed to finish him off, but because of your interfering teacher, I didn’t get the chance.”
He grinned as cracks appeared in the ground beneath his feet and chunks of stone floated up to begin coating his body.
“My interfering teacher?!” Sarah yelled, her face turning red. “The only reason you even stood a chance against me in the arena, is because your bastard of a cousin cheated! Without him here, neither of you stand a chance. And, since no one is watching, there’s nothing to stop me from killing you.”
Her fists clenched and three icicle spears appeared in front of her.
It was a bluff, of course, as the three spears she’d conjured had completely depleted her mana once again. All she could do was hope that they would back down. They hadn’t seen Morgan yet, because he was hidden by the lip of the fountain, but she knew that if they came any closer, they would spot him.
Frush took a step back as the spears appeared in the air, but Grub only laughed.
“You’re bluffing!” he said, as his stone armor finished covering him. “It’s pretty hard to miss the wall of ice covering those soldiers; and seeing as you haven’t moved on yet, the fight ended no more than a few minutes ago. Even if you weren’t exhausted, which I’m sure you are, you couldn’t hurt me with those little icicles.”
“Are you sure about this?” Frush asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure. If she had any MP don’t you think she’d have attacked us right away?”
Sarah cursed as Frush’s expression changed from one of fear to one of arrogance.
Little coward.
He’d been terrified a moment ago, when he’d thought she could put up a fight, but now he was ready to go at it.
“I always knew it would come to this, you bitch!” Frush screeched in an excited tone.
His skin began to shift in color until it was the same blue and black that it had been in the arena. His features also became distinctively more froglike and he cackled loudly.
“Now, I’ll be able to get you back for the humiliation and pain you caused me. Even though the healers managed to fix it, it just hasn’t felt quite the same, no matter how many girls I’ve persuaded to test if for me!”
He calmed a bit and began walking towards her with a noticeable bounce in his step.
“But don’t worry; I’m sure you’ll help me test it one last time, before you die!”
Sarah felt her blood boil at those words.
So this sadistic bastard had raped a whole bunch of girls since, and was again planning to do the same to her? Not a chance!
Without any warning, she sent all three icicle spears flying at him, intending to end the fight, and worry about Grub next.
Frush flinched back as the spears approached, but Grub was unbelievably fast and moved to shield his cousin. The three spears smashed into his rocky armor; one shattered on impact, but the other two managed to punch through cracks in his defenses.
Unfortunately for Sarah, neither had gone deep enough to cause any real injury.
“That the best you got, bitch?” Grub roared.
Sarah cursed, taking one last look down at Morgan.
There was only one thing she could do now. She would have to lead them away from him and hope he wasn’t spotted.
She dashed out from behind the fountain and made a rush for one of the alleys to her right.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Frush screamed, leaping after her and catching up within a matter of seconds. He reached out to put an arm on her shoulder, but Sarah twisted out of the way and kicked him in the shin.
He staggered back, cursing in pain as Sarah attempted to make a break for it.
“Take one more step and your boyfriend gets it!”
Sarah spun around and had her worst fears confirmed. Grub had spotted Morgan and was leaning over him with a wicked smile on his face.
“Now, you’re going to be a good girl and not resist what’s about to happen. Otherwise…” Grub pulled his thumb across his throat in a very clear message.
Frush, now recovered from the attack, flashed his cousin a grin. Then he turned his attention on Sarah. He licked his lips and Sarah shivered as she saw a long slimy tongue instead of a human one.
“You bastards won’t get away with this!�
�� she yelled as Frush came closer.
She wanted to run, but knew if she tried to resist, Morgan would be killed. They were likely both going to die anyway, but if she could buy him enough time to wake up, they might be able to get out of this.
“Oh, I think we will,” Frush said, laying a hand on her shoulder.
Sarah had been expecting her body to freeze, but was surprised when it didn’t.
“I’m not going to freeze you,” Frush said as he trailed his fingers up to her chin. “How will I hear your screams if you can’t move?”
His hand moved away from her face and he slapped her; hard. She winced as her head was rocked to the side, but she otherwise didn’t move.
When Frush saw her defiant expression, it just made his smile grow wider.
“Good. I like it when they’re all tough. It’ll make it all the more pleasurable when you crack and start begging me to stop!”
He slapped her again, even as his other hand moved down and started undoing the strap holding her pants in place.
Sarah winced again as the slap rocked her head to the side, but she didn’t give him the satisfaction of crying out. She could feel Frush tugging at her pants, but her eyes were locked on Morgan. Despite her outward calm, she felt her heart thundering in her chest, as her pants buckle came loose.
Morgan! I really need you right now!
She could hear Frush panting in excitement, as his thumbs hooked into the waistband of her pants and she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.
∞
Morgan felt the power flow up from his new reiki-heart, as he accessed it for the first time.
This felt nothing like combining mana and chi to open his status. Compared to what he was feeling now, that had only been a cheap imitation.
The status screen that opened before his eyes was a deep, rich and vibrant purple; not at all like the pale color he’d seen previously.
His eyes began moving rapidly over the status to see what changes had been made.
Name: Morgan
Supermage: Rank - 9
Energy to next rank - 0/18,000
Ability - Divine Gravity & Air
RP - 580/580 (Regen - 5.6 per second)
Strength - 53
Agility - 64
Constitution - 57
Intelligence - 58
Wisdom - 56
Skills - Enhanced flight, Heavy impact, Gale force, Condensed wind blade
Traits - Gravity field, Recovery
Extra - Gravity storm
Whoa!
Those were some serious changes. Gold hadn’t been kidding about the increase in energy cost, either. It was more than triple than his last rank up. His attributes had also gotten a major boost. No wonder the difference between 8 and 9 was so big.
His mage and super abilities were gone now, replaced by the supermage ability. His CP and MP were also gone, replaced by RP, which he guessed to be reiki points. But what on earth did ‘Divine Gravity & Air’ mean?
He tried to select the ability tab, but it refused to open.
That was odd. Last time both his mage and super ability had opened without any issue.
What was also new, were the changes to his skills and the addition of two new tabs in his status. He wondered if they were exclusive to supermages, or of they were added after the first breakthrough rank. He would have to ask Sarah after she ranked up to be sure.
He directed his attention to his skills tab and opened it up to view the changes. Thankfully, these opened without any problems and he stared in amazement at the new descriptions.
Enhanced flight - Manipulate gravity and air to reduce your weight and move quickly through the air.
Cost - 10 RP per second
Max. height - 60 Ft
Max. speed - 40 Ft per second
Max. carry weight - 200 pounds (Adding any more weight will reduce speed by 1 foot per second for each additional pound).
Heavy impact - Manipulate gravity and air to make your blows land significantly harder (Currently X2.25).
Cost - 15 RP per second
Condensed wind blade - Manipulate gravity and air to create a dense whirling blade in the shape of your choice. The type of weapon you create will determine additional effects.
Piercing weapon - Double damage is dealt to mages, or beasts with mage abilities.
Slashing weapon - Double damage is dealt to supers, or beasts with super abilities.
Cost - 350 RP
Duration - Until dismissed
Gale force - Manipulate gravity and air to significantly increase your speed (Currently X2.25).
Cost - 15 RP per second
Morgan wasn’t sure whether to be ecstatic, or scream in rage.
His new skills were amazing, but the cost of each had gone up by so much that he would have to massively increase his intelligence, if he wanted to use them for any prolonged period of time. Not to mention that if he used several skills simultaneously, his RP would be depleted within a few minutes.
He sighed and closed the tab, deciding that he would only judge his new skills once he got to test them out. Next he opened the traits tab and read the description.
Traits: Traits are a special skill unique to supermages. They are skills that are always active and do not cost any RP to use.
Well that answered his question about whether it was unique to supermages. It was nice that his status was helpful for once.
Gravity field - Your body is surrounded by a dense field of gravity, making all attacks; both physical and magical, 10% less damaging.
Recovery - The spirits of the air have blessed you with the power of healing. If you can survive for 24 hours after being wounded; no matter the injury, your body will be completely healed.
Holy crap! Now this was something that he could get behind. Less damage from all attacks and his body would heal itself?!
He felt like jumping up from his seat and cheering.
“You have sixty seconds.”
Dabu’s quiet voice reminded Morgan that he was short on time, so he closed the traits tab and opened the last one.
Extra: Extra skills are skills unique to supermages. While both supers and mages get access to a new skill after a breakthrough rank; supermages get access to an extra powerful skill, that is a unique combination of their abilities.
Gravity storm - Create a storm of intense gravity, damaging winds and lighting strikes in a targeted area.
Cost - 600 RP
AOE - 30 Ft
Duration - 30 seconds
Cooldown - 8 hours
Now that was one hell of a skill! It cost so much that he couldn’t even use it yet and even when he could, he would only be able to use it once every 8 hours. Still, he could attack an area that was 30 feet in diameter and wouldn’t need to worry about getting in close.
He’d really been missing ranged attacks from his arsenal, so this would really be helpful if he found himself in a pinch.
He closed his status and looked up at Dabu. The man was smiling and Morgan found himself relaxing once again.
What was it about this man? He’d never felt so at ease in front of a stranger in his entire life, but Dabu seemed to exude such an aura of peace that he just couldn’t help himself.
“Your time here is nearly up and it will be quite some time before we can speak again; so allow me to give you one last piece of advice before you go. Keep your friends close and be wary of strangers you meet in the night. You have now entered into a new world and those that hold power here do not take kindly to new arrivals.”
Morgan was about to ask the man what he was talking about, when the forest glade disappeared and he found himself lying on his back, with Grub’s knee pressed against his chest.
46
Sarah clenched her jaw as she felt Frush’s fingers begin to tug her pants down.
Morgan, where are you?!
She bit her lip as she felt her pants move down another inch. Then she felt the fingers in her waistband go inexpl
icably slack. She trembled, wondering what new twisted idea Frush had come up with, when she heard him screech in pain. Her eyes snapped open in an instant and she took in the new scene unfolding before her.
Frush had staggered back from her and was screaming in pain as he stared at the two stumps where his hands used to be. His skin had shifted back to it’s normal sickly pale color as blood pumped out of the severed limbs at a prodigious rate.
“What the hell?” Sarah exclaimed, staring in disbelief at the screaming boy.
“I’m sorry it took me so long.”
Those words were enough to make her heart skip a beat and she whirled to face Morgan, a huge smile already spreading across her face.
∞
The air was knocked out of his lungs as Sarah crashed into him and he hugged her back, despite his discomfort with the gesture.
He wouldn’t complain about it this time. From the looks of it, Frush had been about to do something terrible to her; though he couldn’t really see what, as his vision had been obscured.
Once she let go of him, Morgan looked down at her with an odd expression.
“Your pants are unbuttoned.”
“No shit!” Sarah yelled, as her smile melted away to be replaced by a grimace.
“It’s thanks to that asshole over there.” She gestured to Frush, who had tucked the stumps of his arms into his armpits to try and staunch the bleeding.
“Why would he want to unbutton your pants?” Morgan asked, becoming even more confused.
The guards back in City Four had enjoyed grabbing women through their clothes. Wouldn’t removing them defeat the whole purpose?
Sarah just stared at him for a few seconds, before shaking her head.
“Your social skills need a lot of work. When we get to the East Kingdom Duchy where Gold sent us, I’ll make sure that you get a tutor! Now give me a second while I take care of some unfinished business!” She growled, then stalked over to Frush.