by Andrew Rowe
“Woah, nice work there, Sera!” Vera arrived with Selys-Lyann in hand and my other sword in her other hand. “That a mana potion or something?”
Apparently she hadn’t been able to hear the conversation from where she was standing. That was probably a good thing.
“Something like that,” Sera replied. “Corin, may I borrow your mana watch?”
I nodded and handed it to her.
Vera took a step back. “Uh, your eyes, Sera—”
“I’m fine for now. Wasn’t an ordinary mana potion.” She reached back to press the mana watch against her attunement mark. As she did, I got a look at it.
It was no longer a Summoner Attunement.
It was like nothing I’d ever seen.
Attunements always changed in complexity when they grew more powerful. Normally, it was just adding an extra line or shape to an existing design. This was a completely different style, and nothing like any one I’d seen. Not even foreign attunements.
She shivered again as she looked at the watch, then handed it back to me.
It read 968/112.
It hadn’t increased her mana capacity properly. She was filled with mana that her body couldn’t properly contain.
“Sera...” I started.
“I know, Corin. I’ll use it as quickly as I can.”
I balled my hands into fists. I couldn’t do anything else.
“Wall. Wall. Wall. Wall.”
“The way is clear,” Jin pronounced. “We should proceed.”
I reached into my bag and withdrew my etching tool again. “Bring me next to the door, then the rest of you get inside.
They complied. “Okay, turn me around so I can draw on the door.”
“I’m not sure we have time for this, Corin,” Jin noted.
“It’s going to buy us time.” I reached forward, and Jin grudgingly turned me toward the doorframe.
I scratched a rune I’d never actually powered before across a combination of the door and frame. It would only be whole when the door was closed.
“Sera, you’ve got a lung attunement. Can you charge the air near the rune with air mana?”
“Easily,” she replied, and she blew into the air near the rune.
I turned my attunement on, watching the air mana coalesce. It was fascinating. Being in the tower was improving my ability to see mana, just as I’d expected, and I hoped that would be enough to help me manipulate it as well.
I brought my hand up to the mana cloud. For a moment, I could feel it. And in that moment, I pushed it into the rune.
The rune’s halves flared, charged with power but inactive while they were apart.
“Okay, Jin. Take us in and close the door.”
Everyone was inside the room when he slammed it shut. The rune-halves met, forming a wind rune.
The door shook as the rune sent a continuous stream of wind toward where Derek was still working at demolishing the walls of ice.
I hope that’s enough to slow him down once he gets through the wall.
I kept the etching tool in hand, scratched an anti-teleport rune into the back to the door, and then charged it with my own mana.
“Okay, we can move now.”
As we moved forward, I scanned the room. Sera had been very thorough.
All four walls of the room were encased in ice. The statues were still active, breathing their fire, but the ice was thick enough that they’d barely made any progress at melting through.
We moved to the center of the room, finding the square that indicated the presence of another stairway.
Vera knelt down, touching the tile. “There’s a mechanism somewhere that moves this tile out of the way. Staircase is right under it.”
“Move out of the way.”
Vera moved.
“Ogre, I summon you.”
An ogre appeared at Sera’s side, shimmering with an icy aura across its skin. “Master,” it groaned toward Sera.
“Ogre, break through this floor tile to reveal the stairway.”
We all cleared the way.
The ogre smashed through the tile in a single blow, then took a few more moemnts to clear away the rubble. “Please the Master?”
“Yes, ogre, you’ve done well. Now, stay here and guard the top of the stairway. Don’t allow anyone to follow us down here. Don’t kill them, just incapacitate them.”
“Yes, Master. I good at stop people.” The ogre nodded happily.
I was pretty impressed. Being a powerful Summoner was useful.
“Okay, let’s head on down,” I pronounced.
“I’ll go first and check for traps,” Vera offered, heading down the stairway. After a few moments she returned. “All clear.”
My back was still in a great deal of pain, but I was starting to feel a tingling sensation — accompanied by periodic spurts of pain — in both legs. I thought that was probably a sign that I was recovering, but I didn’t know how much longer the process would take.
Jin carried me down the stairs, and Sera followed last.
“Wall.”
Sera formed a barrier of ice at the top of the stairway, right where the tile had previously stood. Not a bad idea.
Then she shivered again, and I began to worry.
“You feeling okay, Sera?”
“No time for worrying about that,” she replied. That was a bad sign.
We reached the bottom of the stairs and found a door.
Vera checked it, then opened it.
The room it led into was very familiar.
It was a two-story room with a massive stairway in the center, three doors downstairs, and pristine red carpeting covering much of the floors.
Four tall pillars stood from floor to ceiling, though one of them had a large crack from where Keras had smashed into it, and another had a huge chunk missing.
Vera sucked in a breath. “Well, I suppose this is it, then. How do we get Katashi’s attention?”
Professor Orden appeared right in front of us.
I hadn’t had time to draw an anti-teleportation rune in this room yet.
“I believe,” Orden raised her hands, lightning crackling in between them, “It’s time to teach you children how to behave.”
Chapter XXII — Permafrost
On the minus side, apparently Professor Orden had lightning magic.
On the plus side, that didn’t mean a whole lot when she was standing right next to us.
Vera must have realized that at the same time as I did. Still holding both of my swords — I really needed to stop letting her take all my weapons — Vera stepped in and started swinging. Orden dodged the first couple swings, then vanished without a word.
She reappeared about ten feet back, then hurled the lightning at us. The bolt hit Vera dead-on, then arced to hit the rest of us.
My second barrier, already heavily taxed, snapped. Only a little bit of the lightning managed to make it through, but it still hurt. I shuddered and bit my tongue hard enough to draw blood.
Jin set me down a moment later. “I need to handle this,” was all he said.
Fair enough, Jin. Go get ‘er.
“Vanniv, I summon you.”
By the time I managed to push myself into a seated position, Vanniv was floating next to Sera.
“Oh, hey, finally in the tower! Nice room, too. I dig the choice of décor.” The winged man turned his head toward me. “You look kind of terrible.”
“Yeah, thanks, Vanniv. Need you to focus.” I pointed at Orden. “She’s trying to kill us.”
“Now, that’s a bit of an exaggeration,” Orden replied, forming globes of flame in her hands. “I need Vera alive at a minimum. The rest of you? Well, I’d still prefer you alive.”
I put a hand to my forehead. “Comforting. I don’t suppose you could tell me where you got another attunement? Elementalist doesn’t seem like your flavor.”
She grinned. “Just more items, darling. Give it a few years as an Enchanter, you’ll look like you have every att
unement in the world, too. Unfortunately, for now, that means you’re woefully under prepared to face someone like me.”
Vanniv laughed. “Goddess, you love to hear yourself talk, don’t you? I mean, I respect that — my voice is amazing — but you’re coming on a little strong with the megalomania.”
Orden chuckled. “I think I like this one, Sera. Where’d you get him? Never mind. Doesn’t matter. I don’t know where you got enough mana to summon him, but you’re certain to be running—”
“Wyvern, I summon you!”
The vast draconic beast appeared at Sera’s other side, raising its spine-like tail.
Professor Orden blinked. “Well, you’re just full of surprises today.”
Vanniv cracked his knuckles, which briefly made me wonder how that was even possible with stone hands. “You want me to break her, boss?”
Sera nodded. “I’d prefer her alive.”
“Can do.” He flapped his way upward toward the ceiling, moving his hands apart, a lance of ice now forming between them.
“Oh, children. So overconfident. You think a couple pets are going to change the outcome here?” Orden pointed a hand at the wyvern. “Wyvern, I control you.”
The wyvern shuddered in the air, then flapped closer to Orden and landed at her feet.
That was...not a good thing at all. I’d been hoping that she didn’t actually have a Controller Attunement, but even if she didn’t, she apparently still had items that could serve that function.
On the plus side, she hadn’t tried to control us yet. Maybe controlling humans was harder? She’d grabbed Derek, but she needed a ring on his hand.
I really wished I’d taken the time to research foreign attunements.
Vanniv didn’t wait any longer; he just started throwing lances of ice at Orden. She countered the first couple by throwing the globes of fire from her hands, then the wyvern interposed itself between them with a shriek, hissing as the lances impacted its hide for minimal effect.
I didn’t see where Jin had disappeared to, but Vera was charging at Orden. Orden flickered again, appearing all the way across the room — near where I’d come up from the prison — and threw a ball of flame in Vera’s direction.
Vera jumped improbably high, taking her right over the fireball, and hurled my personally-enchanted sword. Orden side-stepped, but then Vera was arcing downward, gripping Selys-Lyann in both hands.
“Teleport.”
Orden vanished again, appearing right behind where Vera landed and sending a blast of lightning into Vera’s back.
Vera staggered, but didn’t fall. She spun around and charged again, a look of determination on her face.
In the air, Vanniv was rapidly hurling blasts of ice and lightning at the wyvern while it tried unsuccessfully to jab him with its spined tail.
Sera was concentrating. With my attunement on for a moment, I could see a trail of mana going from her hands toward the wyvern, and a net of energy forming around it. Presumably, she was either trying to re-establish control or banish the creature somehow. She wasn’t saying anything aloud, so I didn’t bother her.
I tried to stand.
That didn’t work at all.
The pain in my spine was gradually fading, and the wound from biting my tongue had already sealed, but my legs still weren’t fully functional. I was starting to get some feeling back, but my legs buckled as soon as I tried to put any weight on them.
I was fortunate to be recovering at all. Without the barriers to absorb much of the force, I probably would have been snapped like a twig.
That was little comfort when I heard the telltale cracking of repeated blows coming from back up the stairway.
Derek had almost caught up to us, and I was still helpless.
Communicate. “Uh, guys, Derek is almost here. Be ready.”
Sera nodded, but continued to focus. I had to hope that would be enough. I didn’t get a reaction from anyone else, at least that I could see.
Vera had caught up to Orden again, only to take a hit from a blast of flame at point-blank range. She shrugged it off — her shroud must have absorbed most of it — and managed to land a hit on Orden’s right arm that caused a barrier to flicker into visibility.
A thin trail of ice began to spread along the barrier where Selys-Lyann had landed.
Good.
I heard a crash from up the stairway.
Less good.
I dug into my bag for options.
I still had a bit of the flask of attunement water or whatever it was, but I had no idea what kind of effect it would have on me. The water had clearly made Sera more powerful, but she wasn’t demonstrating anything new — just extra mana. And it was clearly hurting her, too.
More mana wasn’t going to solve any of my problems. I was an unarmed Enchanter. I had no offensive or defensive capabilities to speak of.
I did, however, still have my sigils, even if they were mostly drained. I grabbed my phoenix sigil and began to pour energy into recharging it.
It was dangerous to push too much mana into it too fast. It was built to recharge itself over time, not to be recharged manually like the school-issued ones. I could feel its capacity pretty easily, though, and it was nowhere close to full. I started gradually filling it back up a bit. I needed all the protection I could get.
After that, I stuck my right hand in the Jaden Box. “Summon Katashi.”
Nothing happened, just as I’d expected. Either I needed to close the box, requiring me to remove my hand, or Katashi’s mark just wasn’t a good enough connection to summon him.
I pulled my hand out of the box.
Who else could I summon?
My standard-issue shield sigil was probably made by a university Enchanter, but I didn’t know who had made it, so I wouldn’t know what name to use if I put the sigil inside. Not good enough.
I didn’t know who’d made the bell, either, or any of my other miscellaneous items.
I had the book. I could try to summon The Voice of the Tower... But that clearly wasn’t the entity’s real name, and I doubted the box would respond to it.
More importantly, Orden worked for the Voice — or at least she claimed she had. I had to consider the likelihood that bringing the Voice to us might make things worse. We couldn’t afford worse.
I could hear footsteps on the stairs. I was out of time, and I still didn’t have any good summoning options on-hand. I needed someone on Katashi’s level of power to make a difference.
If I didn’t have anything to summon him on me, did someone else? Was there something in the room?
I scanned the area.
It was obvious that the battle between Katashi and Keras had continued after I’d left. The place was a wreck. Beyond the new chunks taken out of the pillar that I’d noted before, there were scorched sections of carpet and cleave marks taken out of several walls.
I turned my attunement back on.
I could still see Sera’s net weaving around the wyvern. The wyvern was struggling against it. I finally realized that she wasn’t trying to control or dismiss it. She was pinning it in place with some kind of binding spell, similar to what I’d seen Elora using against Keras. I didn’t realize that Sera knew a similar spell, but it made sense.
Vanniv was still smashing the wyvern with ranged spells, flapping out of the way when it managed to maneuver its tail. The wyvern was battered, but still glowing with an orange aura. Sera must have pumped a lot of her mana into summoning it, only for the creature to be turned against us.
Vera was still hounding Orden at close range, landing more hits to spread ice across Orden’s barrier. Orden didn’t look worried. She wasn’t even teleporting at this point, just dodging and retaliating with blasts of fire.
I could see a golden shroud beneath Orden’s barrier, implying at least one of her attunements was Citrine level and she was no longer suppressing it. Unsurprising, but good to know. Vera’s aura was still orange, as I’d expected.
But none of tho
se things were what I was searching for. My eyes scanned every surface for anything glowing that looked out of place. I wasn’t disappointed. I found multiple splotches of brilliant color on pillars, on carpet, even a bit on a wall.
Dried blood.
Either Katashi’s or Keras’.
Honestly, at this point, I’d take either.
And, hand over hand, I started crawling toward the closest source — a splotch on the chamber’s central stairway.
Derek arrived at the entrance to the chamber before I got there.
“Derek’s here!” I managed to shout, hoping to alert the others in time.
Sera spun, discarding her binding web, and hurled a broad blast of frost at the doorway.
Derek’s hand twitched, then a flaming sword was in his hand, cutting through the ice.
Sera jumped backward. Then she was floating upward, carried by air mana, and hurled more blasts of ice. She winced after the third attack — the effort finally seemed to be taxing her — but Derek was undeterred, walking forward as he struck her spells out of the air.
As Sera paused between breaths, Derek rushed forward and leapt.
I twisted toward him and fired a blast from my gauntlet, but he slapped that aside with the flat of his blade.
“Wall.”
A wall of ice appeared between the two of them. Derek took a chunk out of it with a slash, but the wall was too think to part in a single strike. He impacted the surface and fell back to the ground, beginning to burrow into it with more swings.
Sera floated higher... and started to cough.
Resh. She’s running dry.
Could I get the flask back to her? No, probably not at my current angle, and giving her more was probably dangerous, anyway.
I took another shot at Derek’s back. He deflected it without even looking.
I was wasting my time.
Vanniv flew over me, the wyvern managing to smash him with a swipe of its tail as he retreated. He crashed into a nearby wall, recovered quickly, and continued to retreat.
I wanted to help him, but he wasn’t the priority right now.
I kept crawling, but the splotch on the middle of the stairway seemed like miles away.
Derek was almost done cutting through the ice wall. What could I do to stop him?