by Xander Boyce
He felt no fear, even as they crossed the ten-meter distance to him. He waited until all four of them were within a cone and watched as their expressions froze on their faces. His cone of frost impacted them, reversing the course of their flight. Their bodies cracked from the impact. Drew had ceased to pay attention to them as soon as the cone was cast, looking for another target. Another solo troll making his way from the far eastern side jumped towards Drew. He could smell the ozone in the air as his lightning bolt caught it, arresting its momentum.
Losing himself in the fight, Drew threw out lightning bolts, cones, fireballs, and acid arrows until they all merged together, becoming a single dance of destruction. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could hear a voice screaming at him; was that Daryl again? He ignored it. It was unimportant to the judgment he was passing on the trolls. They had seen fit to attack his people, to kill them and enslave them; and now he was exacting the cost of those actions upon them.
Death was their just dessert, ashes their reward. The trolls continued to press in on him, not realizing that their time of judgment was at hand. The world continued to crawl around him, giving him plenty of time to respond to any incoming threats. When he had judged over fifty trolls, he realized that there weren’t any left and he advanced out of the protective bunker he was in. He could see them in the distance making a retreat, causing his anger to flare again. They were too far for lightning bolt and his other short-range spells. He began casting storms at them while fireballs and acid arrows took the smaller clumps of targets.
When the last troll he could see died in an explosion of frost and fire, he looked around. The earth had been devastated. His spells had set one tree to smoldering and had knocked another completely over. Still seething craters marked where fireballs had torn up the ground around the trolls. Everywhere he looked were the green-skinned bodies of his slain enemies.
The energy that had filled him, the anger and hate and need for judgment slowly trickled away. It was then that he could feel the weakness coming over him, the weakness of channeling so much mana through his body in such a short frame. He cast rejuvenation on himself but could sense that it wasn’t going to be enough to keep him conscious. He knelt between two craters. The sounds that he had been ignoring since the blood rage had taken him suddenly became clear.
There were voices, shouts from behind him. He turned slightly to look at their source. Katie, Sarah, JP, and Robbi, as well as about half the noncombatants had followed him out of the safety of the shelter they’d created. The rage still wouldn’t let him make out what they were saying, but the concerned and scared looks on their faces told him that they were worried about him, and maybe afraid of him. He smiled and waved before the rage left him completely and he collapsed on the ground.
* * *
“Sir, I was only able to get a partial lock on him. I’m not sure if he can even hear us. The distance is too far.”
“How did this happen, Themis? You know what I gave him. There is no way he should have been able to activate it this soon.” Themis and Ares? What were they doing here? Where was here to begin with? His eyes were closed, there was darkness all around him, and he felt cold, in a comforting way.
“He is an exceptional talent, which is why you gave it to him. I have no idea how he activated it unattuned, but it is clear he did.” A pause, “I think he is mostly here.”
“Drew, if you can hear me, don’t give in to the rage again. It will destroy you if you use it before you can control it. Every time you use it before that, you risk it taking over for good and losing your humanity.” Ares stopped again and Drew heard something like fear in his voice, which seemed strange coming from the other red mage.
“I am going to make my way to the closest system to Earth that we can. Sol doesn’t have enough mana to support the fleet yet, but we will try to protect you. You just painted a huge target on the planet. Grow fast, but don’t give in again.” Another pause, “Is he still here?”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“My brothers and sisters will come; the conclave can’t keep this quiet anymore. Trust in the lore you know. Your people remember their nature. You’ve done something none of us ever have, and they will want you.”
“Let him go; he needs to rest.”
“Of course, Admiral.” The silence prolonged, and then finally Themis’ voice came one last time. “Hades, Loki, Pan, Lilith, Athena, Set, and Isis. Don’t trust them, Drew.”
* * *
The darkness returned, no longer the comforting cold, but rather a growing heat. He slowly became aware that he was not alone in the darkness and that there was something there beside him. It didn’t breathe, but he could sense its presence by the power that radiated off it. Pure and unadulterated energy that filled him with the same emotions he’d felt during the rage.
“What are you?” Drew asked.
“Retribution,” the being answered. Its voice was harsh and cold.
“Are you the xatherite?”
“No, I am a part of you that the xatherite unlocked.”
“Why? To what end?” Drew asked, but the voice didn’t answer. They sat in silence, Drew too stubborn to talk again in the face of a blunt refusal to answer his question.
“I should not be.”
“What?”
“I should not be, not yet. You have called me forth, but I should not be. You should not have called me.”
What did that mean? He was a part of him but should not be. Why had Ares and Themis been so concerned that he had used the xatherite before it was awakened? He used plenty of xatherite that weren’t awakened yet. Was it because this one was a divine xatherite, rather than a magic one?
“Can you go back?”
“No.”
“Then what do we do?”
Again, silence answered his question. They stayed like that, and Drew grew more comfortable in his presence. Two companions in the dark. They were the same, but at the same time very different from each other. Finally, the darkness also faded and there was nothing.
* * *
This time when he came back to consciousness, it was in a world with too much light. He squeezed his eyes shut to try to block some of it out. He was laying down on something moderately hard, wood maybe? There were some distant sounds, but nothing in the immediate vicinity. He felt a warm presence on his shoulder; it reminded him of Zoey, but his memories told him that was impossible. Reaching a hand up, he touched it. Hair, long and loose, met his fingers and he gently stroked it, enjoying the softness.
“Drew?” The head under his hand moved and Katie’s voice filled his ears. It was tired and worried. Spoken softly as if unbelieving. “Drew are you awake?”
He tried to respond, but just emitted a dry croak which caused his throat to burn slightly. So, he simply nodded instead.
“One second, let me get you something to drink.” He heard some movement around him, and after a few seconds, something hard was pressed to his lips. He opened them enough to allow a trickle of water in. When he began to cough, the cup was taken away until the fit subsided and then it returned to his lips.
After this repeated a few more times, he felt like his throat was lubricated enough to talk. “What happened?”
“We’re not really sure. You started emitting red light and then went a bit crazy, killed a crap ton of trolls and then collapsed. You’ve been unconscious for almost an entire day.” She reached down and grabbed his hand, holding it in both of hers. “You gonna stay awake for a while? Sarah will want to talk to you.”
He just nodded his head slightly and she squeezed his hand before letting it go again. He could hear footsteps as she left whatever room they were in. He tried to open his eyes again, but it hurt too much. He did sit up though and didn’t feel any pain like he would expect from a head injury. He assumed that whatever was causing his light sensitivity would go away soon enough. He discovered that he was on some sort of raised platform, but there was nothing to lean against, so he just leaned forw
ard and put his elbows on his knees, his hands covering his eyes.
After a few minutes, he heard two sets of footsteps returning to wherever they were. “Drew?” He heard Sarah ask, and he nodded his head.
“Yeah, I’m here, Ma’am.” And he felt the younger girl pull him into a surprisingly more powerful hug than he had been anticipating. He awkwardly hugged her back.
“We were so worried about you. What happened?” Sarah said when she released him from the hug.
“I’m not sure, to be honest. I think maybe I overused my mana. Why is it so bright in here?”
“Oh sorry, here, let me put some of the stones away, I’ve been making them nonstop since you went unconscious. Figured we’d need them for all the new people,” Katie said, and he heard both of them begin to put the glowrocks away.
“Smart. So, what’s our situation? Any more attacks since I was KOed?”
“No, I think you scared them pretty good. Daryl has been doing some scouting. They haven’t left since they retreated. JP and Robbi were about to go in with a couple of the other people who got xatherite from that attack,” Sarah responded.
“We got some?” Drew asked. That was the second set of good news he’d heard since waking up.
“Oh yeah, a bunch. We already slotted everything. I’m afraid, we were worried you…” Sarah trailed off, and he could fill in the gaps. They had slotted them to defend themselves in case he didn’t wake back up.
“Smart, so what did we get?” Drew asked.
“Three reds; JP gathered them and they all created more gun-related attacks which he gave to three of the former soldiers. It should expand our combat capable group quite a bit. We also got a couple violets. One called blood blade which Robbi got, and I got a yellow called Phase Armor. That you can look up if you want,” Sarah said. The light level was already much lower and Drew cautiously looked around. It hurt, but more like waking up to a bunch of 100 lumen lights in your face.
“That’s great. Five total?” Drew asked. Katie had sat down next to him and was looking at his face.
“Yes.”
Drew nodded his head, and now that he could see, called up the map UI. To his surprise, it included Daryl, JP, and Robbi on the list. All three of them labeled as SA, just like Sarah and Katie. “Daryl, JP, and Robbi all showed up on my list; I can look at their xatherite.”
“What? That’s…interesting,” Katie said with a frown.
“Looks like they leveled up and got conscripted into the Protectorate Navy too. I bet they have to be level one for me to see their maps.”
“Well, that’s good news, right? Means we can trust them a little more?” Sarah asked.
“I’ve always trusted Daryl, the other two…” Drew trailed off as he looked at their grids. Daryl’s was shaped like a spider, and he had a respectable number of nodes. He didn’t take the time to count, but it was near 50. Robbi had about the same, but his map was shaped like a man. JPs was the surprise, he had the most of any map but Drew’s at around 60, and his was shaped like a gun.
Finally, he pulled up the information on Sarah’s xatherite. She had placed it in the same formation as group cure and mana jump.
Xatherite Crystal Name: Phase Armor
Xatherite Color: Yellow
Xatherite Grade: Common
Xatherite Rarity: Common
Type: Magic
Effect: Activating phase armor prevents all damage to the users for 90 seconds. Allows the user to intentionally phase through objects for the duration.
Mana recharge time: 18 minutes, 43 seconds.
Chapter Thirty-Seven — Fallout
He had a ton of things to do. “Where are we exactly?” He looked around, but all he saw were Katie’s walls.
“Still in the field where we fought the trolls. Katie’s been reinforcing it when she can, and we’ve been rotating defenders out to get sleep.” Drew nodded and moved to stand up, Katie and Sarah both moving to help him before he waved them off.
“I’m fine. Really. I’ll go cast some refreshing rain on the current watch. Any preferences on energize?” He asked Sarah and she paused for a moment.
“Katie, actually.” Drew turned to look at Katie and realized how tired she looked. Dark bags under her eyes let him know she probably hadn’t slept since he’d collapsed. Moving his fingers through the motions to cast energize, he touched her hand and watched as the weariness sloughed off her in waves as the spell took effect.
“I’m gonna start calling you insta coffee,” Katie said with a sigh of relief. “Man, I could use a cup right now.” Drew and Sarah both laughed.
“How are we on food? What’s the plan for the rescue?” Drew asked. They were down to less than a day before the mana storm; his collapse meant that they were in an even worse position. They had limited supplies of food and a narrow gap of time to get everyone up to the stadium.
“Food is good, might be an issue depending on how bad the prisoners are. If we deal with all the trolls, that shouldn’t be much of an issue either. We can always get more from the exchange,” Sarah said as Drew found his backpack and found a can of chili and the spoon he kept in there. Taking a bite of the cold chili he grimaced slightly, but he was hungry enough to ignore it. Hopefully, the stadium had some sort of method of creating warm food.
Taking the can and spoon with him, they walked to where the guards were watching the entrance to the shelter. There were three people standing watch: JP, Trey, and another kid whose name Drew didn’t know. That reminded him of the man who’d died to protect him before the rage took over, and he paused, a frown on his lips.
“What’s wrong, Drew?” Katie asked.
“The man, that died during the attack. He jumped in front of me when a troll was attacking. I don’t know his name.”
“It was Frank,” Sarah said softly. The look of concern on both women’s faces was evident, and it tugged on the part of Drew’s mind that desperately wanted to break down and start crying. It was the same part that told him this was beyond his capabilities and he was bound to fail. He was an introvert at heart, and he knew at some point the immediate danger was going to pass and he was going to have to deal with how he was handling the end of the world. But there was still more work for him to do and people that were depending on him.
Drew nodded his head, “Frank.” He repeated, tasting the name. “Frank.” He nodded one last time, then began walking forward. JP, Trey, and the other guard had been watching them as Drew walked up and stopped a few feet away from the group. He realized that he was going to have to break the silence and he tried to think of something to say. Finding nothing that seemed to fit, he saluted the three. A little surprised, they gave him shy salutes in return.
“You three look tired. Trey, can you go get the other people with attack powers? I’ll cast a refreshing rain on everyone.” Trey saluted and rushed off, his former training kicking in. Drew turned to the third guard, who was young as well, probably no more than twenty. “Sorry, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m IT2 Drew Michalik.”
The kid blushed, “Yeah, I know.” His blush deepened as he realized what he just said, “Sorry sir, I’m Private Daniel Barnes.” He was wearing the same troll leathers as everyone else, although he carried several guns and extra magazines which set him apart. There wasn’t much else to identify him; his aura was a mix of colors, no single one standing out as stronger than the other. Sensing that the kid would just get more nervous if he kept talking to him, Drew switched to look at JP.
“Hey JP. How you holding up?”
“I’m alright. You put on one helluva show back there,” the former cop said with a grin.
“Honestly, I don’t really remember much of it. I think I might have overused my mana a bit,” Drew said with a shrug. JP nodded like that made sense. “Thanks for keeping everyone safe while I was out.”
JP snorted, “It’s been easy, aside from the lack of sleep. The trolls haven’t dared show their faces. So, all we’ve had to deal with are a few of the
scavengers, but that cleared up after Daryl melted the corpses. Speaking of, he’s been out scouting, and he thinks you must have killed off almost all of them; said the guards who were blocking him from getting inside are gone now.”
“Yeah, we can only hope so. Give me a minute. I need to look at my notifications.” He shook both of their hands and then stepped a few feet away and pulled up the notifications that had been blinking in the corner of his vision since he woke up. His hands were mechanically eating the chili while he did so.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Acid Arrow xatherite has reached level 5. Damage has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Mana Shield xatherite has reached level 5. Damage absorbed has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Lightning Bolt xatherite has reached level 5. Damage has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Energize xatherite has reached level 5. Charge requirement has reduced.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Dancing Blade xatherite has reached level 5. Duration has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Storm xatherite has reached level 5. Damage has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Fireball xatherite has reached level 5. Damage has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Cone of Frost xatherite has reached level 5. Damage has increased.
Congratulations, Midshipman. You have attuned Minor Blink Step.
Congratulations, Midshipman. Your Minor Acid Arrow, Minor Mana Shield, Minor Lightning Bolt, Minor Energize, Minor Dancing Sword, Fireball, and Cone of Cold xatherite are ready to be upgraded.