Advent (Red Mage Book 1)

by Xander Boyce

  “Nothing really, just...hit a wall,” Drew responded, as Sarah sat up enough to cast her spell, managing to target it far enough away that it hit everyone in the room.

  “I haven’t told Katie yet, but there are some more survivors down at Bolling; they were captured by trolls. I managed to kill a bunch who were sacrificing humans, and then rescued twenty people from another dozen trolls. But there are still a few hundred more people stuck in the DIA building over there. Bill and Jholie came to help me get you two, and then we’re gonna try and rescue all of them. JP said he and Robbi would help.”

  Sarah reached down to take the splints off her legs, “Well, I’ve been laying around long enough. It sounds like we have work to do.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven — Setting Off

  It took another hour for them to get ready. They raided the exchange of everything of value, mostly the water and protein snacks. Drew also changed into a new set of ODU’s after Katie asked him how he always showed up at her door looking like a zombie. Upon reflection, he realized he had collected an amazing array of blue, red, and green blood stains, as well as rips and tears. The leather armor he’d taken from the Go’rai had managed to hold up surprisingly well, which was even more reason for them to start putting Daryl’s necro alchemy xatherite and Mi Sun’s seamstress xatherite to work. If they could get troll armor for everyone, they would be much better off.

  Hopefully, no one would be upset by wearing the skin of a sentient being into battle. That had always been a sticking point in his Pathfinder games. It was okay to wear dragon scale and devil skin, but not other sentient races like trolls or giants. He had never really understood the distinction though. If it was better, it was better. Pragmatism beat out any moral issues he had with it currently.

  After he was re-attired and restocked, he decided he should check on his notifications.

  Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Cone of Frost xatherite has reached level 4. Damage has increased.

  Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Fireball xatherite has reached level 4. Damage has increased.

  Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Storm xatherite has reached level 4. Damage has increased.

  Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Dancing Blade xatherite has reached level 5. Duration has increased.

  Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Energize xatherite has reached level 3. Charge requirement has reduced.

  Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Lightning Bolt xatherite has reached level 3. Damage has increased.

  Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Mana Shield xatherite has reached level 3. Damage absorbed has increased.

  Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Major Acid Dart xatherite has reached level 5. Damage has increased.

  You have acquired a wild xatherite!

  Primitive grade Minor Heat acquired.

  Xatherite Crystal Name: Minor Heat

  Xatherite Color: Red

  Xatherite Grade: Primitive

  Xatherite Rarity: Widespread

  Type: Magic

  Effect: Targeting any object within 10m will raise its temperature by 5% for 1 minute.

  Mana recharge time: 14 seconds.

  Looking at the list, he realized he must have ignored his notifications after the second troll fight without realizing it. There was no way the mosquitos gave him that many levels. Also, acid dart was likely to upgrade to common any minute now. Still no progress on the rare and higher xatherite, which meant there was a significant growth curve in place.

  Minor heat sounded like it could become a very useful spell, it reminded him of the Heat Metal spell from his pen and paper games. You could increase an object's temperature by 20% over a minute. Honestly, it was terrible in its current state, but it was only a primitive grade xatherite. He had gotten his primitive grade xatherite to almost common in a week and judging by the power increase of mana shield and lightning bolt, it was bound to become far more useful at that point.

  Drew glanced over his map. He could put the red in a couple of spots, and maybe it would create a version of dancing blade that was made up of burning swords. But frankly, he didn’t use dancing blade much as it was, as it required letting things get far closer to him then he preferred them being. He could also put it over on the left side and open that constellation.

  Or he could give it to Katie; she didn’t have any offensive spells as it was, and if it linked with telekinesis, maybe she would get pyrokinesis? It would eat up one of her only three red slots though. Sarah also only had three red slots; could she link it with mind sense? Maybe create a skill that superheated someone’s brain? Would that be a buff or an attack? He pictured someone boiling his brain from the inside and shuddered; that didn’t seem like a nice attack. Still, as a healer, she was better off not trying to get more aggro than she already received.

  Did aggro exist in this world? He had successfully kited Chakri away from the group, but that was by being a red mage…and they might target Sarah if they thought she was a red mage too. He brushed away thoughts of Juan being targeted because he was a red mage.

  Sarah might be able to use it better, but he didn’t like the idea of Katie not having something she could use for offense; and if he was being honest with himself, he was more interested in keeping Katie safe. He sent the xatherite her way and watched as she read the notification, then looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. Drew smiled back at her and she shook her head, accepted the trade, and inserted it into her map. He walked over and cast minor energize on her to help her deal with the headache.

  After everyone was ready, he gathered them together and cast minor refreshing rain, which was much appreciated by the two cops, who clearly hadn’t slept much the last few days.

  They set off down the hill, Drew leading the group with Katie and Sarah, while Jholie and Bill took up the second row, and JP and Robbi had rearguard. It was an uneventful walk for the most part. The three coasties talked quietly about what had happened since Sarah went unconscious. They stopped again at the halfway point to rest, where Drew cast refreshing rain again and everyone took a few minutes to eat something. Drew wandered over to where JP and Robbi stood, “Katie and I were talking, and we were hoping to know what xatherite y’all have so we can plan the rescue a little better.”

  Robbi snorted and JP frowned, “What sort of stuff do you want to know?”

  “Well, the trolls seem to be pretty resistant to normal weapon damage; the base tried to fight them off with guns but didn’t have a whole lot of success,” Drew said, pointing to the numerous guns festooning JP’s body. “I used spells; fire, in particular, seems very useful against them.”

  “Fair. Well, I have a blue that fills magazines, and some reds that allow me to change the damage type of my personal guns to be fire, cold, or sonic damage,” JP answered, then glanced at Robbi, “Robbi has some indigo and yellow spells that make him mostly invulnerable in close combat, but he’s vulnerable to ranged damage.” This was, of course, part of the reason why Robbi didn’t like Drew after being hit by one of his lightning bolts.

  “How long does that fill magazine spell take to cast?” Drew asked, wondering why he would need so many guns if he never ran out of ammo.

  “About ten seconds, not really something I can do mid-combat,” JP answered.

  “Alright, any other utility spells other than that illusion wall and the free refills on magazines?” Drew asked. Both JP and Robbi shook their heads. “Okay, I’ve got fireballs and some big area spells that I can use up to half a mile away, a couple of near spread spells that I can use, and the lightning bolt spell you guys saw. Pretty much everything I do will affect an area, so I can’t use it near friendlies. Katie has a wall spell that will give us cover, but the trolls haven’t been using any ranged weapons, and Sarah has a ranged area heal.”

  “Jholie has ranged attacks, but I don’t know how useful they will be against trolls. Mostly good for distractions while someone else kills them. Bill has his heal plus two buffs, one that improves
everyone’s strength stat and another that improves acid resistance.”

  Drew looked at the two men as they considered the abilities they have present. “Sounds like our best bet is going to be to try and lure them out. Katie can make some walls and they’ll be lined up like bowling pins,” JP said after a few minutes.

  “Not going to work. The trolls I saw could jump three stories up and about 60 feet horizontally. Our best bet is to kill them in an enclosed area where they can’t jump, but where we can see them coming from far away. Daryl, one of the other survivors we’re going to meet, should be able to get us some intelligence. He can go invisible.” Drew shrugged, “We’ll see when we get back. Maybe they’ll have some better ideas and maps by then.”

  They separated again, Drew walking over to where Katie and Sarah were eating with Bill and Jholie. Nodding to everyone, he sat on the concrete, scratching his head, “How many did you say there were in there?” he asked the two former prisoners.

  “I think there might have been somewhere upwards of 200. You’ve killed about a quarter of them I imagine. No idea how that will change their operation, though.”

  “What about their leadership? Could we take them out and work from there?” Sarah asked.

  “Maybe. Not sure I ever saw their actual leader; there were about four or five of the shaman ones that I saw, hard to say because I didn’t exactly see them together often.”

  “Side doors?” Katie asked.

  Jholie shook her head, “We never got near ‘em, they always led us out the main entrance and then down into the basement.”

  “So, to sum it all up, we have 100 to 200 trolls in unknown locations with possibly a few boss monsters thrown in, and the only reliable way we have to get in is through the front door?” Drew looked around to grim nods.

  “Why do we need to go through a door?” JP and Robbi had come up behind them. “Just blow a hole through the side of the building. Heck if we can find out where they are, we could get everyone out without even fighting any of the trolls.”

  Everyone turned to look at the gunslinger and considered his words. “Might work, we’d have to figure out where everyone is…and get through the concrete and glass. Maybe need an explosive or two.” They all turned to Drew.

  “I don’t think I can blow a hole in the wall…” Drew trailed off, thinking, “But I might be able to melt one. It would take a while, but I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to do it. We’d just need to figure out where we want to do it.”

  “And figure out a way to get everyone fed and out of there,” Bill offered, “Since I doubt the trolls will just let us walk away.”

  “Good point… Bill, was it?” JP said, and when Bill confirmed his name. “That will have to be where the rest of us come in. Robbi can make illusions, Katie can make walls to prevent them from following, and those we can’t confine or confound we’ll just have to kill.”

  Murmurs of agreement came from around the circle. “Alright, well, let’s get moving. I want to be back at the auto shop well before dark,” Bill said, and everyone began putting everything back in their bags and getting ready to go.

  Drew helped Katie into her pack. All of them had packed heavier than was comfortable, trying to bring as many things down to the larger group as they could. She smiled at him, “Thanks, Drew.” They got back on the road, where Drew pointed a couple of the massive squirrels out to Katie and Sarah.

  When they got to the wall they had crossed earlier, they used a similar method to get over. JP went first, then Robbi, the three girls, Bill, with Drew finally jumping over on his own.

  “You were either the Easter bunny in a previous life or have more xatherite than you told us about,” JP said as Drew landed.

  “Yeah, I have a few more. I mostly just told you the combat relevant ones,” Drew said.

  Robbi and JP both exchanged a glance that gave Drew a bad feeling. What exactly was their mission out here? What was the goal of this senator who ran Nat’s park? In his head, he pictured a Tina Turner type running Barter Town with an authoritarian fist. He thought back to what he told JP the first time they talked about it. “It sounds too good to be true.” It probably wasn’t true, but did they really have a choice?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight — Sleep

  Drew watched the two newcomers out of the corner of his eye. Ever since they’d realized he was holding back on how many xatherite he had, they’d been having a whispered conversation with each other. The group had spread out. Drew, Sarah, and Katie had taken the front, the three coasties only a few feet apart. Jholie and Bill followed a dozen paces behind them, while Robbi and JP were another dozen feet behind the second row.

  “What’s wrong?” Katie asked quietly, having picked up on Drew’s soured mode.

  “I’m not sure. Something with JP and Robbi,” Drew answered, his voice cast low enough that Sarah, who was on the other side of Katie, had a hard time hearing him.

  “You think they’re mana twisted or something?” Sarah asked.

  Drew considered this for a moment. There didn’t seem to be any logical reason why a human couldn’t become mana twisted. The wereghouls were evidence that there wasn’t something special about their bodies that made humans immune to the ravages of the sudden increase in ambient mana. But it didn’t quite fit with what he’d heard in the tutorial. Would the human protectorate have created a system that would allow that?

  Katie nudged him in the side and he looked up, realizing that he’d gotten lost in thought. “I don’t think so. Everything else we’ve seen that’s mana twisted physically changed.” They were just about to pass the field where they had seen the bashers and Drew frowned while looking around; all the rabbit-like creatures had disappeared. “You guys feel that?” He asked, turning towards Jholie and Bill.

  It was Robbi that answered, “It’s a mana storm, we need to move.” The fear in JP’s voice as he answered Drew was evident. JP and Robbi started running to catch up to the rest of the group. They were still a couple hundred feet from the auto shop where they’d left Daryl and the others.

  Drew looked out and realized that he could see the storm with mana sight; it looked like a massive ley line floating in the sky miles away. As he watched, he could see it moving closer to their position. Shaking his head, Drew grabbed Katie’s hand and began running towards their haven. “We’ve got to move,” Drew said over his shoulder, but everyone was already running.

  Bill was keeping pace with Jholie, and Drew could hear his encouraging shouts. The three coasties in their combat boots moved somewhat slower than JP and Robbi, but as the two of them had no idea where to go, they trailed along behind Drew, who was leading everyone as the fastest person who had been there before. When they rounded the last corner towards the auto shop, Drew’s heart sank. Six trolls were walking around the building with a large creature that had a snakehead and a furry quadruped body, with bands of bright blue fur running in diagonal stripes across its otherwise off-white fur. The creature was sniffing the ground like it was tracking something.

  Drew dropped Katie’s hand and began forming the hand seals to cast frostfire storm; hoping to catch the trolls together before they noticed them. He heard Sarah mutter her buff spells, but his focus was on the surviving trolls and the spell he was trying to cast. JP pushed a magazine into his HK-45, and the click as it locked into place caused all seven of their opponents to look their direction.

  Making a mental note that their hearing was excellent, Drew finished casting frostfire storm, catching the creature and four of the trolls in its radius. The other two trolls had been lucky in that their bodies were oriented towards them. They’d pushed off the ground, leaping towards the group. Drew pointed a finger at one of them, but before he could activate fireball, a shot rang out. Red traces of energy trailed behind the bullet, and two rounds impacted one troll in the chest. Fire erupted out of the impact points, consuming the affected troll and burning it to ash in half a second. Drew switched targets, launching a fireball at the last
one still alive, burning it alive as well.

  The group continued to run, the multihued clouds of the manastorm now visible on the horizon. They had to skirt around the frostfire storm that was still raging, but they were inside past the illusion before the first drops of rain hit.

  Daryl must have told those inside that the trolls were sniffing around because they were met with a variety of homemade spears and firebombs. “It’s okay; it’s just us and some friends!” Drew shouted, afraid one of the scared individuals would make the same mistake he made back at the exchange. The former prisoners began lowering their weapons and JP holstered his gun.

  Daryl’s voice appeared in Drew’s head as Jholie and Bill began hugging their compatriots. “I’m posted up in a building across the way; I’ll keep a watch until dark, but I don’t think anything will be attacking us during the storm.” Drew held his hand up and waved to Daryl in response since there was no way for him to answer back.

  “Alright everyone, a mana storm is hitting, so we’re safe for the next few hours. Anyone who wants to can come to see me and I’ll cast refreshing rain on them. But we’re going to be planning the rescue as soon as we can.” It took a few minutes to sort everything out. Most everyone opted to stay awake to contribute to the plans, though a few, like Jholie, decided they would rather sleep.

  As they were discussing sleep, Katie asked him, “When was the last time you actually slept, Drew? Not just passing out from slotting xatherite, but really slept?”

  “Before the Advent,” he said without thinking, and it was loud enough that JP and Robbi heard him. Drew winced internally as they looked at him then each other again. Another piece of information they didn’t need to have.

  “I think you should sleep too. It can’t be healthy for your brain to be going that fast for that long. Besides with Daryl not here, all the really important planning is going to go on tomorrow morning anyway,” Katie said, and Sarah nodded in agreement.