If I was back at the Academy, what would they have trained me to do? She thought to herself, going through her training for the answer in how to proceed. Training is impartial. Master Mage Hedrick would have had the advice and knowledge Abby was looking for, and in her mind, Abby could hear already what he was saying. The lesson clear as day as if she was listening to the lecture right now.
The voice of Master Hedrick began to reply in her head as Abby idly turned the sand before her into a golem in the image of the man. "There will be times when you stand at a crossroads between what your heart tells you is the right thing and what your duty and your orders may require of you. You are all so young, but these are questions you have to ask yourself when the call to be a hero comes. Is it for your own personal vanity, your own calling? Or the good of the Empire."
Hardening her heart in grim determination, Abby had her answer and just had to hope that Nicodemus would be ok, even though she was so sure he wouldn’t be. Realistically she knew if this was a fight Nicodemus wasn’t walking away from, the same could be said of her. Being hurt or killed today wouldn’t change that.
Above her, Abby heard the shattering of glass as gale-force winds crashed against the walls of the building. Yeah, I can’t help with that, not yet. I’m just not strong enough. She would obey her orders, following the protocols as established by tradition, decorum, and the chain of command.
Feeling the sand shift beneath her body weight as she stepped back into the training arena, Abby held her gauntlet out from her body as it began to glow with the purple energy of the arcane, an extension of her own magic. If what Nicodemus had said was true, there would be a secret tunnel at the bottom of the sandpit, the perfect way to quickly escape without others being able to follow easily.
Closing her eyes, Abby adjusted and chose the center of the sparring arena for her sphere of influence. Breaking down the sand into crafting components, storing it in a magical orb fixated above her head out of the way to be used as needed.
Working quickly, Abby carved a tunnel through the sand as she spread her area of influence downwards. Creating a shaft down into the dark as she walked on a winding staircase of sand, she hardened into a glass sheet to prevent from easily breaking. It would not do for her construct to fall apart before she reached the bottom.
One step after another, she went, and though she tried to be brave, Abby was unable to fool herself into believing it. In this, there was no false bravado to propel her forward. Only a spot of fear as the thundering crashes above lessened to a dull thud, moving out of the building, away from where she could easily hear. Whatever was going on, she was running out of time.
Eventually, after moving not the several feet she had expected, but instead hundreds of feet through the sand, Abby finally found what she thought was the bottom when she reached to continue spreading her influence until she no longer could. Her heart almost stopped in panic, there were few things that could hinder an Engineer from spreading their influence, and none of those things bode well for her.
Her eyes frantic, looking around, trying to find what it was that was interfering with her magic didn’t help. So deep below ground, Abby could barely see in front of her, only the soft purple glow of her gauntlet offering any sort of illumination. She tried directing her power outward instead and found that it worked. Filling the entire area with her presence trying to figure out the way to go until finally, she was able to discern the basic shape of the sparring arena.
Only in one place did an opening seem to appear, and it was in that direction Abby began to carve a tunnel rather than stairs. Below her, the ground began to glow in a deeper purple, radiant, and forbidding, increasing in intensity until finally the tunnel she made opened up into an actual stone corridor.
As soon as her feet touched the stone corridor, Abby felt the sphere of her influence ripped away and discarded. The tunnel she had built and the staircase she had made behind her collapsed into a heap of sand that somehow did not fall into the tunnel she was in. Looking for a second at the heap, Abby whispered with thoughts to Nicodemus, Thank you, stay alive. I’ll help you when I can. But for now, she had to focus. Her power stripped from her like that could only mean one thing. Dungeon and as torches of Green and Purple lit up with mage light down a seemingly endless hall, she knew the assessment was correct.
The Dungeon was awakening, calling to her, and she knew within it, she would find her destiny.
Arcane Engineer Page 13