Magic School

by Phoenix Grey

  Azure held his hand out and cast Grease, shooting a stream of black liquid from his fingers to cover the ground in front of them. Their initial attacker got a good coating, looking buried for a moment until it tried to flick the thick substance from its fur by shaking. The other two rats slowed to a crawl as their feet touched the grease.

  Lonnell struck the closest rat with his staff again. The second time seemed to be a charm. It lay still in the grease, it's beady red eyes glazing over from death.

  This really should not be difficult, Azure thought as he walked toward the other two approaching rats. The second his foot touched the grease, his movement was greatly impeded. It was like walking through thick molasses. Each step took way more effort than it should have. While he was struggling, the rats were having an even harder time due to their small bodies. It seemed like a rather effective spell against them.

  Once Azure reached the next closest rat, he stomped on it. It felt soft and squishy under his heel, and he nearly tripped as his ankle rolled.

  Not wholly defenseless, the rat reared its head to snap at him. One good blow should have killed it, but for whatever reason, it hadn't. Try as it might, the creature couldn't find purchase to bite Azure. Sturdy as hell, it took two more good stomps to end it.

  Defeated Level 10 Rat. 70XP rewarded.

  By the time Azure had slain the first rat, the second had just about reached him. It lunged for his foot, but the grease kept it glued in place, its body merely jolting forward from the effort. Azure raised his foot, almost amused by how much effort it took to balance himself as he pulled it free from the grease. His heel came smashing down on his opponent just as another rat emerged from the wall.

  “A little help here.” He cast a glance back at his two companions.

  Lonnell was standing at the edge of the grease puddle while Janine was still a few stairs up looking terrified of the small furry creatures that were posing more of a nuisance than an actual threat. That might have been different had Azure not been able to cast Grease. The rats were fast, and it seemed that their numbers were quickly increasing. Two more poured out of the holes in the walls to join the fray, making four total that still needed to be dealt with.

  "You'd probably have better luck with your sword," Lonnell told him.

  Azure sighed inwardly as he lifted his foot again to stomp the rat a second time. "That's not the kind of help I was requesting."

  "Come back and lure them over here. There's no reason to be standing in the grease."

  Prissy bastard, not wanting to get his feet dirty. Azure had just been wanting to get rid of the rats quickly so that they could move on. But if Lonnell wasn't going to come to him, then it was best if he retreated. The other three rats were wading toward him, and at the rate that things were going, it wouldn't be long before he'd become overwhelmed.

  Two more good stomps caved the rat's skull in. Blood mixed with the grease, creating a dark soup. The scent of the black substance was too strong for Azure to smell the copper mingling with it.

  Defeated Level 10 Rat. 70XP rewarded.

  The reach of his legs was way longer than the stubby rats could hope to keep up with, and Azure was easily able to make his way back to his companions without injury. There, they waited together for the rest of the rats to reach them. Perhaps trying to make up for not entering the oil, Lonnell took on two of the rats while Azure battled the third. Purely for the sake of not wanting to reduce his weapon's durability and get it dirty, Azure stuck with his stomping method.

  The problem of being out of the area of effect for the grease spell quickly became apparent when the rats found their way to the edge of the puddle. As if their paws had been miraculously cleaned, the second they hit the dry ground, they were able to move without impediment. That put Lonnell in a bind as he was tag-teamed by the two rats he had decided to face on his own.

  Azure hadn't expected them to be able to move so freely once outside of the grease either. The rat he was fighting was able to easily dodge his second stomp, scurrying around him to chomp into his Achilles tendon.

  Level 10 Rat delivers 50 damage.

  “Gah!” His right side sank from the pain.

  Moron! He thought of Lonnell. This was precisely why he should have stayed in the grease—why they all should have gone into the grease.

  Knowing that the rat had disabled his ability to stomp it again, Azure was forced to draw his Bergen's Glaive. Swinging it in the tight space with Lonnell so near him was inconvenient, so he just tried stabbing at the rat instead.

  A sound of pain coming from his comrade told Azure that Lonnell was in trouble. He'd managed to kill the first rat, but the second seemed twice as aggressive now that its friend lay dead a foot away.

  Azure was too busy stabbing at his own nuisance to help. The rat kept dodging at the last minute, its beady eyes narrowed as if it were angrily mocking him.

  “Get in here and help us,” Lonnell barked at Janine.

  “Nope. I don't do rats.” She shook her head, keeping to the stairs.

  Azure was a bit annoyed but not in the mood to argue. If Janine was afraid of both rats and ghosts, then this definitely was not the dungeon for her. Hadn’t she expected this much before accepting his invitation to join them?

  It took faking the rat out for Azure to land a hit. Stabbing his blade down into its soft flesh and hearing the bone crunch beneath was way too satisfying.

  “I got you, you scrappy little bastard!” he announced proudly as he twisted his blade for good measure.

  Defeated Level 10 Rat. 70XP rewarded.

  Lonnell had finished the second rat off at around the same time, though he looked much worse for wear, panting and with his legs littered with bite marks. His hands trembled as he reached into his Bag of Holding for healing potions. Blood was running down his legs to pool at his feet.

  Thankfully, the wall seemed to have run dry of rats. Azure decided to drink one healing potion, hoping it would help him to walk. He didn’t feel like it was worth wasting more for now. The liquid soothed some of his pain, but not enough to make it pleasant for him to put weight on his right foot.

  “I never knew rats could be so vicious,” he commented, thinking about the ones back in his own world.

  “Nasty things.” Lonnell shook his head with disdain at the corpses at his feet.

  “I thought you were here because of the experience,” Azure cast back to Janine. She seemed to have no desire to leave the stairs.

  “I do want the experience, but I don’t do rats,” she replied firmly.

  “Or ghosts?” Lonnell’s brow furrowed at her.

  Janine shifted her weight, avoiding his gaze. “Depends on what kind of ghosts.”

  Lonnell turned his attention back to Azure. “This is going to be a problem.”

  “This is going to be a problem,” he agreed, staring at Janine.

  She sighed, her shoulders slumping as her eyes fell to the floor. “I’m sure things will be fine once I get used to all of this.”

  “If you knew this was a ghost quest and you’re afraid of ghosts, then why did you agree to come?” Azure was pretty sure he already knew the answer, and while part of him understood, he didn’t really like it. All Janine wanted was to cling to someone from her own world.

  “You pressured me into this,” she spat at him suddenly, taking a defensive stance.

  Lonnell rolled his eyes. “I was afraid something like this would happen.”

  “What?” Azure couldn’t believe either of them. Maybe he had pressured her a little bit. Okay, a lot. But she had never made any indication that the objective of the quest bothered her.

  Azure felt like he was standing with a bunch of children, their backs all turned away from each other.

  “Do you want to go back?” He gestured up the stairs. It’s not like they had reached a point of no return. The quest had just barely begun.

  “I don’t know.” Her voice dropped, almost re
aching a whine.

  “Well, you better decide. You’ve already wasted enough of our time.” Lonnell scowled at her.

  Guilt painted Janine’s face. Azure couldn’t help but feel responsible for the entire situation. Whatever the case, though, Lonnell was right. They had already wasted too much time getting here. They couldn’t afford to waste more of it arguing and letting Janine take however long it would take for her to make up her mind.

  He decided that by the time he and Lonnell were done looting their kills, they would move on with or without her. As Azure knelt next to the rat, he realized he had no idea what part of it could possibly be of any value. The thing was disgusting.

  Lonnell was simply standing there staring at the sheen of the grease, a vein in his neck bulging from frustration over the situation.

  “You don’t happen to know what part of this is worth looting, do you?” Azure asked him, looking up at his friend.

  “Don’t know. Don’t care. It’s a rat; I doubt whatever is lootable is worth much.”

  Well, this certainly wasn’t fun. The tension in the air was palpable, and the bad moods were draining.

  “I can tell you.” Janine reached into her bag to pull out a book. She flipped through several pages, then stopped. “You can take the tail.”

  “What’s that?” Azure’s eyes fixed on the book.

  Janine closed it and placed it back in her bag. “It’s a bestiary. It has a list of all of the monsters in The Realm and what part or parts of them is valuable.”

  The book seemed highly valuable. Azure needed one for himself. “Where did you get it?”

  “I picked it up from a traveling merchant. He had a lot of interesting things.”

  “Did his name happen to be Ruthren?” That sounded like something he’d have.

  “I don’t remember his name.” Janine shook her head.

  “Middle-aged guy with a scar over one eye.” Azure pointed to his right eye.

  “I don’t remember.”

  That was a little disappointing. It would have been cool if they knew the same traveling merchant. Oh well. Not really important in the grand scheme of things. All that mattered was hopefully finding another copy of the book. Maybe they had one at the library at Hawking’s School of Land Magic that he could purchase. He'd have to go there and ask once this quest was over.

  Turning his attention back to looting, Azure took out his Black Dagger and started cutting the tails off of the rats he’d slain.

  You have received the following item:

  Rat Tail

  Quantity: 3

  Item Class: Common

  Quality: Average

  Weight: 0.0 kg

  Uses: Loot. Sell for coin.

  Lonnell did the same. When they were done, the two men looked at each other.

  “So what now?” Lonnell asked him.

  “We keep going.” Azure made his tone even, hoping to convey to Janine that they were continuing on with or without her. He had no doubt that she could make it back to Squall’s End on her own. She was strong—the strongest woman he’d seen in The Realm so far. He just wished she understood how strong she really was and that rats and ghosts were no different than any other monster.

  Lonnell nodded, casting an uncomfortable glance back at Janine before he continued through the sludge to get to the other side of it.

  Azure looked up at her. “What are you going to do?”

  Janine’s eyes shifted around, the wheels in her head quickly turning. A few muscles in her face twitched. It was clear that the situation caused her extreme anxiety.

  “Hey,” he said to get her attention, speaking more gently. “I told you I’d protect you, but you shouldn’t come if you’re not going to at least try to help. You are...so incredibly strong. I’ve been nothing but impressed by you this entire journey.

  “I get that everyone has their fears. Everyone,” Azure emphasized. “But repeated exposure is how you get over them. These things that you’re afraid of now...once you reach the end of this dungeon, they’ll be like nothing to you.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.” She turned her gaze to one of the tailless rat corpses on the floor and shuddered.

  His eyes followed. “It’s dead now. It can’t hurt you.”

  “It’s not about it being able to hurt me. It’s just gross.” Janine visibly shuddered again as if she couldn’t even stand the sight of the rat.

  Azure sighed. He had no idea how else to get through to her. “Well, I was hoping you’d come with us, but I understand. I’ll see you back at Squall’s End if we’re able to make it through this. We really could have used your help. I know you have it in you to do this. I just wish that you knew that,” he told her before turning away. The guilt card was played, and he did feel a bit bad for it, but none of what he had said had been a lie. The swarm of rats had all been level 10. If not for Azure having the ability to cast Grease, they might not have survived that initial attack. As it was, they had both come out of it pretty beaten up. Having Janine help in the fight would have considerably turned the tides in their favor, especially with her overzealous spirit. Things would likely only be getting harder from here on out.

  Not looking back, Azure waded through the grease to get to Lonnell. He was disappointed in himself for multiple reasons. First and foremost, for pressuring Janine into coming in the first place. Bringing her along had caused nothing but tension. Lonnell clearly didn’t like her. And while she had made the trip to Digby Mansion highly entertaining, she had slowed them down. The only benefit from having recruited her was meeting someone from his own world and learning about the bestiary book. That alone had made it worth it, but Azure knew that Lonnell didn’t feel the same way. He’d likely be getting a lecture about recruiting people later—if Lonnell would ever even allow him to do it again.

  Janine trudged back up the stairs as Azure met up with Lonnell. Lonnell was staring at the stairwell, though his expression betrayed no emotion. For a moment, Azure thought he was going to say something to the effect that he was glad Janine had decided to leave, but instead he turned his attention to the door with the light under it.

  “Let’s get this over with,” he said with all of the exhaustion that they were both feeling.

  “You healed up more than me. Do you want to go first?” Azure offered, not because he was afraid but because he had no idea what they’d face once they got inside. If he needed time to down another healing potion, it would be better if Lonnell was in front of him.

  “I suppose.” Lonnell took point, reaching for the door handle.

  “Wait!” A voice came from the stairwell.

  They both turned to see Janine jogging back toward them, though she slowed once her feet hit the grease.

  “Oh, this stuff is disgusting.” She scowled at the black sludge sticking to her shoes before looking back up at them. “Wait for me. I’m coming with you.”

  Lonnell sighed audibly, and Azure didn’t even have to glance at him to know he was rolling his eyes. This was exactly what he hadn’t wanted to happen. Azure was pleased, though. He grinned at Janine as she struggled through the grease to get to them.

  “Do you think you could have not covered the entire path?” She glanced back at the shining puddle.

  “Do you think rats aren’t smart enough to go around?” he tossed back.

  Janine shrugged before turning her attention back to them. “I just have one request.”

  “What is it?” Lonnell asked irritably.

  “Can we please go through the non-creepy door first?” She pointed behind them.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE REALM – Day 73

  Lonnell still took point as they stood in front of the door without the light streaming beneath it. One twist of the handle and a good push revealed a small square room that had the same peeling puce paint and holes at the base of the walls as the rest of the hallway. The only thing inside was an ornate chest on a p
edestal. It looked too suspiciously inviting.

  Lonnell took a step into the room, followed by his companions. As if guarding the chest, two more rats came streaming in from the holes at the base of the walls. Once again, Janine shrieked and fell back, leaving the men to handle the threat.

  “Oh, good grief,” Lonnell moaned, taking a wide step to the right to separate him from the group and divide the rats.

  Azure considered casting Grease again, but he didn’t think he had enough self-control not to cover the chest in the small space, so he used Dirty Move instead, blowing dust from his palm into the rat’s face. The rat that had charged toward him gave pause, rubbing at its eyes with its tiny hands.

  Azure drew his sword and made short work of it with two quick stabs. The rat squeaked in pain before falling over dead.

  Defeated Level 10 Rat. 70XP rewarded.

  He turned to Janine while Lonnell finished up dispatching of his own rat. “Next time, you are going to fight them.”

  She blew out a long breath, shaking her head. Azure just couldn’t understand why she was so terrified of the small creatures.

  “They give really good experience,” he tried to convince her.

  “Don’t care. Not worth it.” Janine stayed planted.

  “If we have to carry you through this whole dungeon, you’re not getting any loot,” Lonnell threatened.

  She crossed her arms over her chest, turning her nose up to him. “Rat tails aren’t worth much anyway. You can have them.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about,” he grumbled as he knelt to look his kill.

  Azure did the same.

  You have received the following item: