by Aaron Oster
“This is Lumia,” Morgan said. “She’s a drake and one of my closest friends. We spent a lot of time together over the past couple of years, so it’s only natural.”
Katherine’s first response to seeing the obvious care and affection Morgan had for this creature was a flare of anger and jealousy. She quickly tempered it, reminding herself that Lumia was just an animal, likely a pet of some sort and that Morgan hadn’t replaced her with the drake, whatever that was.
“So…” Katherine said, clearing her throat a few times as silence reigned. “How have you been?”
She immediately kicked herself for asking such a dumb question, but now that it was out there, there was no taking it back.
“I’ve been keeping myself busy,” Morgan replied simply. “Training has taken up most of my time. We do have a battle to prepare for, though I think it’s better if we talk about that in a more private setting.”
Katherine, who’d been looking for any excuse to kick everyone else out and get him to herself, did a mental dance of joy. Morgan, the man whom she’d fallen in love with, a man she hadn’t seen for two long years, was finally back. Sure, the woman he’d loved was now gone, but this length of time should have been more than enough for him to get over her.
And with Sarah out of the way, tragic as that was, Katherine now had a real chance at finally getting him all to herself. She dearly wished she could have won that contest fair and square, but winning by default was still winning.
“Of course,” Katherine replied, still fighting to keep her voice calm and her demeanor contained. “If everyone could just…”
“So, you’re the great and powerful supermage everyone’s been talking about.”
Katherine mentally cursed as everyone – well, everyone that was still conscious – turned to look at the small girl now standing before Shul.
Grace had a sneer fixed on her face and looked as though she was determined to be as insulting as possible. Her eyes ran unapologetically over Morgan’s powerful frame, before coming up to meet his eyes. She let out a dismissive sniff then and half-turned away.
“Doesn’t seem all that impressive to me.”
11
Morgan had taken a roundabout way of getting to the city of Pinnaclefall. To Lumia, he’d made the excuse that he wanted to spend some time alone with her. But truthfully, he’d really wanted to check on the state of the North Kingdom as a whole. If he was going to visit Katherine anyways, he may as well check up on the rest of the place he and Sarah had once called home.
Sure, there may have been a small amount of guilt at making everyone wait, but they’d come to him, so he would see them when he was good and ready. In truth, however, he wasn’t entirely sure what to even say when he saw Katherine again. The last time he’d seen her, he’d basically told her he was going to kill himself, then vanished.
True, the Author had sent a messenger to warn her of what was to come, as well as let her know he was still alive. That didn’t mean he knew what to say, so he may have procrastinated a little longer than he’d had to before coming to the palace. He could sense the wards over the cities as he flew, far stronger than the weakened and poor excuses of protections of the past.
They were strong now, powerful enough to stop most in their tracks, and seriously hamper the rest. For the most part, anyway. He’d found that slipping past the defenses with his short-range teleportation didn’t even trigger the alarm. It was something he’d have to have Katherine rectify.
And what better way to make his point than by appearing in the middle of Katherine’s throne room?
It was easy enough to find her once he approached the city, a burning red presence that all but dwarfed any others. It was intense enough that he was sure she’d found a way to evolve or perhaps even make it to Intermediate. He’d have to be there in person to be sure. Hovering just above the wards, Morgan centered himself, then activated his Gravity Tear.
Teleporting at short range was far more disorienting than using the long-range version due to the speed involved. It was a single extremely-nauseating moment, followed by the sudden change in visual stimulation. Fighting effectively using this skill had taken an exceptionally long time on his part. Over a year of constant training, vomiting and nausea had accustomed him to using the skill this way, and the mere fact that he’d managed to use it so well in his last fight had made it all worth it.
He arrived just in time to hear someone basically calling him out for leaving. In this situation, Morgan decided that his best approach would be to make some sort of joke. His unexpected appearance was immediately followed by an attack, one that he’d, fortunately, been expecting. Taking the guards down hadn’t been all that difficult. No, the difficult part was facing Katherine and keeping his emotions in check.
It had been so long since he’d seen her that he’d forgotten how much he’d missed her. It was strange to miss someone who wasn’t Sarah, but as his eyes fell on her, he found his throat trying to tighten up and had to fight back his emotions. She looked beautiful as ever, somehow even more than the last time he’d seen her.
Her eyes were still a solid violet, though, which Morgan found to be quite strange. From where he stood, her core had the intensity of an Intermediate super. However, her eyes didn’t reflect that. There were a lot of things he wished to discuss with her in private, so after some small talk, he’d asked her to clear the room, and then someone had made their displeasure known. And now, here he was, staring down a girl who seemed to hold him in the utmost contempt.
Morgan stared at the girl for a few long moments without saying a word.
She was young. That much was apparent by her petite frame and her figure that was only just entering into adulthood. She was quite pretty, with a pleasant face, bright blue eyes, and long brown hair falling in waves down past her shoulders. Her skin was lightly tanned as was common in the East Kingdom, and judging by the callouses on her hands, she’d come from a working-class family, not the nobility.
“So, you’re the one who has the potential to be a supermage,” Morgan replied, glossing over the insult as though he hadn’t even heard it. “What’s your name?”
“Potential?” the girl exclaimed, her face going a bit red as she took a step forward. “I am a supermage, pal, so you’d best show me some respect!”
“No, you’re not,” Morgan replied simply. “As I see it, you still have two cores. Your mana and chi are separated, which means that you are both a super and a mage, but not a supermage.”
The girl’s face twisted up even more, now going a very unhealthy shade of crimson.
“You’ve got a mouth on you, asshole! How about you back those words up, oh powerful supermage? Fight me!”
Morgan found himself fighting back an odd mixture of disgust and amusement. This girl reminded him very much of another girl who frequently lost her temper. At the same time, she was being stupid. He’d appeared out of nowhere and taken out six of Katherine’s guards, likely faster than she could even see. Why was she challenging him to a fight?
The girl took another threatening step forward but was stopped in her tracks when she was grabbed from behind by another man and hauled bodily off her feet.
“I’m so sorry for her brash behavior, Morgan. I swear we didn’t know she’d be like this when we brought her here.”
Morgan turned his eyes to the man, now holding the kicking and cursing would-be supermage. He looked familiar, and only a glance at his status jogged his memory.
“You’re Shul, Hilda’s brother. I take it that you’re the one who brought her here?”
“Yes,” Shul replied, seeming relieved that Morgan wasn’t taking offense to the girl’s comments. “We discovered her talents about a month ago, and it was decided to send her here for training. I know you don’t owe us anything, but the Queen would be extremely grateful if you might consider taking her on.”
“I don’t need his training. I can handle myself! Just let me…mmphh!” The girl was cut off mid-rant
as Shul clamped a hand over her mouth.
“She can be a bit unruly at times, but Grace is a good girl. I promise,” Shul said unconvincingly.
Morgan gave Katherine a sidelong look at that, but the Queen just shrugged.
“Care to tell me what your abilities are, Grace?” Morgan asked, turning back to face the struggling girl.
He really wasn’t sure about taking someone on right now, especially someone who would be as difficult as this girl. He had a lot that needed doing, and someone like this could only be a liability.
Shul had to remove his hand for Grace to be able to talk, but instead of answering like a civil person, she responded exactly how Morgan thought she would.
“Bite me!”
“That’s fine. I was only asking to be courteous,” Morgan replied with a shrug.
His Aura Sense was far more powerful than it had once been, and seeing the full status of someone who was weaker than him was hardly a challenge at all. Red and blue light streamed from her twin cores, mixing to form a purple status before his eyes.
Name: Grace
Super: Rank - 3
Energy to Next Rank - 41/700
Mage: Rank - 0
Energy to Next Rank - 0/100
Super Ability - Self
Mage Ability - Sound
CP - 140/140 (Regen - 0.6 per second)
MP - 140/140 (Regen - 0.6 per second)
Strength - 16
Agility - 7
Constitution - 7
Intelligence - 14
Wisdom - 6
Super Skills - Expand Blows, Body Shift
Mage Skills - Air Siren, Echolocation
Morgan was oddly surprised. Grace had some very interesting sounding skills and abilities. Her super ability, Self, would focus on ways to make her physically better. Her mage ability, Sound, would give her control over sound. He’d never seen a skillset like this before.
Expand Blows gave her the ability to expand various parts of herself when she fought, and Body Shift gave her the ability to increase her density. Air Siren launched a damaging soundwave, while Echolocation gave her the ability to track using sound. Her status was all lopsided, with her Strength and Intelligence taking the bulk of the points, while all others seemed to be neglected.
Likewise, while her super ability was at rank 3, her mage ability had barely been touched and was still at rank 0. This girl definitely had some potential, but her attitude was something that he wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with.
“…bastard! Fight me like a man!”
Morgan closed her status just in time to hear her finish off some sort of tirade. Judging by the mortified look on Shul’s face and the way Lumia was baring her teeth, it must have been bad. Luckily for him, he hadn’t been listening.
“Alright, I’ll fight you,” Morgan replied, crossing his arms. “Show me what you’ve got.”
“Are you sure, Morgan?” Katherine asked, looking around her throne room nervously.
“Why not?” Morgan asked. “Nothing will be damaged, I promise.”
“You cocky bastard! You’ll be eating those words when I put you through the wall!” Grace yelled, still struggling in Shul’s grip.
“You can set her down,” Morgan said, giving the man a nod.
Shul, to his credit, did as he was told, setting the girl back on the ground and releasing her. Morgan half-expected her to come charging in immediately, but to his surprise, she pointed to the unconscious bodies littering the ground around him.
“You gonna move? Or do you need that sort of handicap to stand a chance against me?”
Morgan neatly stepped over the bodies, crossing to the other side of the throne room before turning to face her once again.
“There, you happy n…” Morgan was cut off mid-sentence as a fist roughly five times the size of a normal one slammed into his face.
This was immediately followed by a second attack, this one catching him in the stomach. The hand shrank as it was pulled back, and the small girl twisted, throwing a clumsy kick into his ribs. The blow impacted with just a bit more force than the last attack, though with proper form and power application, it could have been three to four times as strong. Still, Grace didn’t seem like she’d be backing down.
“What’s the matter?” she taunted as she threw yet another punch. “Am I moving too fast for you to even follow?”
She was, in fact, not moving too fast for him to follow. Not even in the slightest. There was a reason Morgan had accepted her challenge, and it wasn’t to show the girl up. There was only so much he could glean from her status alone. The rest needed to be witnessed first-hand, and what better way to do that than by testing her?
He remembered his first fight against Gold, the teacher asking him to attack him with everything he had. Morgan remembered how sure he’d been that he’d at least manage to hurt him. However, he hadn’t even budged the man so much as an inch.
Right now, though Grace probably didn’t feel it at the moment, she was actually hurting herself more than him. He barely even registered the attacks, feeling more like someone was brushing against his clothes. He was already noticing some redness in Grace’s hands, from her improper technique and the fact that she was hitting what amounted to a steel wall. Still, she didn’t quit, continuing to hammer away at him with ever-increasing vigor.
“Fight back, you bastard!” she yelled, throwing a wild hook punch into his upper arm. “Think you’re too good to fight me?”
Morgan noticed her breathing becoming more ragged as she went, the timing of her blows way off from her earlier clumsy rhythm. As he’d suspected, she hadn’t used a single mage attack, sticking to purely physical combat. It would take her a few seconds to switch between the two.
If memory served, it was a whole five seconds, but still, she could have distracted him by continuing to attack, then surprise him with the use of her Air Siren. However, that wasn’t what she’d done. All she’d done was throw one clumsy attack after the next, not even aiming for real vital spots. Her anger was plain to see, sweat pouring down her red face and her teeth clenched.
“Anger is a good tool when properly controlled. I can’t teach you anything as you are right now. Come back when you’ve wised-up, and I’ll consider being your teacher.”
“Damn you!” Grace screamed, pulling her fist back for a big attack.
Morgan’s hand flashed out, the first knuckle rapping lightly against her temple. Grace’s eyes immediately rolled up into her head, and Morgan caught her unconscious body before it hit the ground.
“I’m sorry you wasted your time coming here, Shul,” Morgan said as he walked back over and handed the unconscious girl over.
Shul just let out a sigh, taking her limp form in his arms.
“I’m sorry she acted the way she did. She was much different when her father first brought her to our attention. Would you please reconsider?”
Morgan shook his head.
“She’s too angry and will be unwilling to learn. Besides, where I’m going is no place for someone so young and weak. She wouldn’t survive for a single day.”
Shul nodded dejectedly, but it wasn’t as though he didn’t understand. There was a war coming, one that would threaten their race as a whole. Still, he had to get in one last word before he went. Grace, although brash and angry, still had the potential to be great. And in these times, having another supermage on their side could mean the difference between victory and defeat.
“We’ll head back to our rooms for the night. If you change your mind, we’ll be there until dawn.”
He then bowed at the waist and turned to leave, the unconscious form of the girl clutched tightly in his arms.
12
“Well, that was definitely…something,” Katherine said as the last of her guards stumbled out of the throne room.
“Yes, that it was,” Morgan replied as the doors closed, leaving the two of them alone.
Lumia had opted to leave, both to give him some privacy a
nd because she wanted to find something to eat.
The two of them lapsed into silence then, neither really sure what to say. Morgan stood before the raised dais, while Katherine remained seated in her throne. It felt very awkward to him, the way they were talking. It had been so long since he’d last seen her, or any person for that matter, that he was having a hard time finding the right words to say.
“This is hard, isn’t it?” Katherine asked softly, finally shifting into a more comfortable position.
“Yes. It’s been so long since we last spoke, I just don’t know where to begin.” Morgan said honestly.
“How about we talk over dinner? It’ll be just like old times,” Katherine suggested. “You can start by telling me about our time apart.”
“That sounds nice,” Morgan replied.
He remembered their first meeting nearly four years ago. Arnold had tracked them down and basically dragged him back to meet her. She’d then treated him to a very nice meal, trying to manipulate him using her looks and eventually striking a deal. Sarah hadn’t liked her very much, even from their first meeting, and her opinion hadn’t changed much in all the time they’d known one another.
Katherine rose from her throne, gesturing to a door behind her. If memory served, that would lead to her office, though it had been so long since he’d been here that they may have changed it. She seemed to be regaining her usual grace and overcoming her awkwardness, as she slipped her hands into his right arm, pulling herself close, rather than heading in ahead of him.
She smelled wonderful, a mix of lavender, mint, and something else he couldn’t identify. Morgan, despite his demeanor, was acutely aware of how beautiful Katherine was, even by the standards of high-ranked supers and mages. For some inexplicable reason, the process of gaining strength also imparted physical perfection, or as close to perfection as one could get.
However, if one were already far above the average before, those looks would obviously translate when said person grew stronger. That was Katherine to a tee. It was one of the many reasons Sarah had hated her. That, and the fact that she was always trying to steal Morgan away from her.