Theia

by Tamryn Tamer

  “Two, one…”

  Jericho used his illusion magic to make himself into mist as a violet streak dashed across the battlefield executing his illusions. By obstructing her vision with mist, it made it harder to discern illusions from reality. He started to set compressed balls of fire and wind inside his illusions and sent them into the mist.

  “Should I be worried?” Mirage asked as the indigo warrior struck an explosive illusion.

  “Always,” A Jericho clone answered for him before getting decapitated by Lady Latrodectus. Jericho started shrinking himself with transformation magic while looking up at the ceiling. He was getting ready to enact the next part of his plan.

  “This will only delay the inevitable,” Lady Latrodectus said coldly slashing another exploding illusion and taking no damage. “This magic is too weak to harm me. Eventually I will find you.”

  “Good luck with that,” Jericho’s doppelganger laughed as the mist around it dissipated. Lady Latrodectus struck it down and dodged another explosion.

  “You picked the wrong one,” another clone laughed as she struck it down releasing another blast. Jericho continued to make exploding clones of himself to keep her occupied as he worked on the other portions of his plan.

  “Missed me,” another detonation.

  “Don’t worry,” another illusion laughed. “It’s almost finished.”

  “Finished?” she asked as she dodged upward and struck the ceiling. It was now barely eight feet off the floor and dropping. The only areas that were safe were outside of the hexagon. “I see. This will not work.”

  “We’ll see,” Jericho said while summoning pillars from the ceiling to crush her. He continually summoned them but stopped a foot off the floor to prevent them from crushing his miniaturized body.

  Lady Latrodectus masterfully moved out of the way to avoid incoming pillars and when cornered she cut herself an escape. But he never expected anything to actually harm her. She was a guardian in a dungeon where the third-floor boss was considered unbeatable and the conditions didn’t require harming her.

  She was cold and confident. Jericho had met many people like that in his life and they were almost all creatures of habit. That was the cornerstone of his entire plan, habits. He created a mist to limit her vision, explosive illusions to distract her, and falling stone pillars to keep her moving.

  Before she’d even realized it, she’d fallen into a pattern of killing an illusion, dodging pillars, getting cornered and cutting her way out, and killing another illusion to start all over again. A nice boring pattern.

  The thing about patterns is they create habits. Every day you wake up at a certain time, get out of bed, and get ready. When something messes up that pattern, it can mess with your entire day. In games, habits can be as simple as using the same rotation of abilities until it becomes ingrained in you.

  That’s the thing about patterns and habits. While they made you consistent and effective, they also gave you tunnel vision. An encounter with a boss becomes a blind sequence of buttons and before you know it, you’re dead because you didn’t bother looking at your health.

  “After this is over, remind me to tell you where you messed up,” a Jericho illusion yelled before exploding. He hoped his plan worked because if it failed, he probably wouldn’t get a second chance.

  “Messed up?” Lady Latrodectus said while methodically slashing stone pillars as new ones replaced them. Twelve pillars came down in succession and she rapidly sidestepped each of them.

  “You lose,” Jericho said springing his trap. He released his illusion and the floor beneath Lady Latrodectus’ feet changed from black to stone. She was one foot out of bounds. She’d become so focused on her rotation of avoiding the pillars following an explosion she hadn’t even noticed him moving the battleground an inch each time.

  “This isn’t right.” Lady Latrodectus said. As the mist dissipated Jericho saw her staring blankly at the ground beneath her feet. “I’ve lost?”

  “You messed up,” Jericho grinned while returning the room to normal and reverting to his original size. Mirage blinked next to him and they approached Lady Latrodectus together. She didn’t react, even when they were standing right next to her, she seemed completely obsessed with the floor.

  “You underestimated my master,” Mirage gave Jericho’s ass an approving slap and he returned a rough squeeze.

  “My mistake,” Lady Latrodectus looked up. While her expression remained as cold as marble, he felt genuine confusion and frustration from her. “What was it?”

  “You never stopped looking at it as a deathmatch,” Jericho laughed. “I could never beat you in a deathmatch so you never worried about anything other than killing me. In the process, you stopped thinking about the victory conditions.”

  “I should have won,” Lady Latrodectus said still processing her defeat.

  “Yeah,” Jericho shrugged. “You should have. Anyway, you’re mine now. Right?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I will follow you.”

  “Well,” Jericho patted Lady Latrodectus on the head. Her face didn’t suggest she needed consoling but he felt like she did. It was also possible he was projecting an emotion that wasn’t there. “Do you mind if I call you Mai? Lady Latrodectus is a mouthful.”

  “You may call me whatever you wish master,” Mai said stoically. “Although, I still do not entirely understand how you won.”

  “Trickery,” Mirage answered.

  “Trickery?” The answer didn’t seem to help Mai understand it. Her definition of power seemed to revolve solely around combat. “Is trickery powerful?”

  “Kind of,” Jericho chuckled while heading toward the stairwell. “At the very least it’s how you beat opponents that are stronger than you.”

  “Anyway,” Mirage gestured to the stairs. “Shall we, sweetheart?”

  Chapter 4

  A Grim Defeat

  “Mine!” Jinx dashed toward the Plagueroot and snatched it up before that sanctimonious fairy could reach it. She hopped excitedly while adding it to her inventory, “Ha! That’s twenty! Gnat! Insect!”

  “Twenty-six,” Ariel laughed happily causing Jinx’s blood to boil. “You’ll never beat a fairy at gathering herbs stupid beast!”

  “Thirty-two,” Terra laughed while dashing ahead. “You’re both a little slow if you ask me.”

  “Those don’t count!” Jinx stomped angrily. “No flying and you don’t count since you have unfair advantages in forests! Cheaters! Swindlers!”

  “What about your night vision?” Ariel said smugly while floating above Jinx’s head.

  “That’s different!” Jinx argued. She hated losing but losing to both of them was particularly irritating. To add insult to injury it was her idea to make a contest of herb gathering while Jericho and Mirage explored the dungeon. “I can’t turn off my eyes! Cads. Scammers.”

  “Should have laid out the rules better,” Terra laughed. “Because I’m not going to be the one walking home naked.”

  “Fine!” Jinx roared. “If you’re going to cheat then so am I! Crooks! Bitches!”

  Jinx swiftly sent her spirit into the forest like a billion headed hydra hunting for prey. She hadn’t bothered teaching Jericho the ability because the idiot could barely manage to detect humans and even tracking his opponents in close combat was difficult for him. Asking him to track everything would simply break his perverted brain. But Jinx was a master.

  If the world was an ocean of spirits, people would be islands, animals would be warships, and large plants would be like a person drowning in that ocean. You could easily detect them if they were near you, but if you were a hundred miles in the sky they’d simply look like the ocean. If you were ten thousand miles up, even a warship could vanish.

  That was the secret of spirit magic that the lecherous mage wasn’t getting. He kept using it like a scout but if he bothered to master it, he’d realize it could become an eye from heaven itself. Within moments Jinx had located over a hundred herbs in t
he vicinity and dashed off.

  “What the fuck?” Terra said as Jinx sprinted from destination to destination snatching up herbs. Terra and Ariel quickly fell behind.

  “Fine!” Ariel grumbled. “If that’s how we’re playing!”

  Jinx sensed Ariel’s illusions pop up everywhere but wasn’t fooled. The fairy had correctly duplicated the scent and appearance of the herbs but she failed to duplicate their spirits. She needed to tone them down. But she’d never know that since the stupid bug couldn’t see spirits.

  “Dammit!” Terra yelled. “Both of you stop it! This is ridiculous! And your herbs aren’t even tricking her Ariel!”

  “I don’t need to win,” Ariel laughed. “I just need to not lose!”

  “Goddammit! You cheating bitches!” Terra pulled out various enhancement potions and started downing them. “I am not going to lose!”

  Jinx laughed maniacally as she reached sixty herbs. She wasn’t sure what the annoying bug was at but noticed the whore elf constantly rushing toward the insect’s illusions. There was no way the slutty elf was going to beat her.

  “Enemies!” Jinx froze as thirty humans entered her range. They were in a formation approaching from the east and heading toward the castle. She sensed them stop for a few moments and then pivot toward them. “They detected us! Bug! Elf! Idiots! Morons!”

  “I don’t see them,” Ariel said from high in the sky. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure!” Jinx growled while taking out her new gloves. They lacked the claws of her previous gloves but her master insisted they were better. She was about to find out how her golden Dioscuri held up. “They’re one mile away coming from the east. They’re moving in a vanguard formation! Mouse! Dunce!”

  “Damn,” Terra patted Jinx’s head. “That’s impressive. How well can you see them?”

  “What’s it matter? You and the bug won’t be useful in this fight. Slut. Tramp.” Jinx said while loosening up her shoulders. The slutty elf was admittedly a talented ranger but in the dense forest things were going to be close range. And the insect was more of a handicap, the only thing she was good for was dropping explosive potions.

  “Really?” Terra smiled and pulled out an arrow with a red glowing tip. “Jericho probably never told you because you wouldn’t understand. But for a time, I was the number one sniper in a world where everybody was a ranger. Except instead of bows we used other weapons that shot further and faster. Do you know what the secret to being the number one sniper was?”

  “What? Braggart. Hooker.” Jinx wasn’t following much of what the elf tramp was saying.

  “A good spotter,” Terra smiled. “My spotter could tell me exactly how fast the wind was blowing, the temperature, the speed at which my targets were moving, even where they’d be in ten seconds based on that information. With his information, I hit targets I couldn’t even see. That’s why I’m asking, how well can you see them?”

  “If I concentrate, I can see everything,” Jinx said focusing on the enemies. They were only half a mile away and increasing their pace. “I can see them as if they were standing in front of me. Hag. Crone.”

  “Humor me,” Terra said pulling out an ornate wooden longbow with images of wind spirits carved into it. She slowly drew back the glowing red arrow. “Imagine a circle around me counting from zero to three hundred and sixty. Right now, I’m pointed exactly at zero. Now imagine in every direction there is a distance marker at every foot. Finally, imagine their heads as tiny red dots and tell me exactly how far off the ground they are. Zero to three hundred and sixty, the number of feet away, and the number of inches off the ground their head is. Do you think you can do that?”

  “Two, two thousand three hundred and seventy-six, seventy-two. Harlot. Wench.” Jinx said indicating the location of the leader of the vanguard. The slutty elf shifted slightly, exhaled, and released. The arrow vanished but left a trail of red as it pierced through the trees like they weren’t even there.

  “Next,” Terra said.

  “Four, two thousand three hundred and seventy-nine, seventy-four. Jezebel. Trollop.” another arrow was loosed as soon as she said it. “Three hundred fifty-two, two thousand three hundred and seventy-eight, seventy-four. Strumpet. Dunce.”

  “Don’t stop,” Terra said nocking another arrow and drawing her bow. Jinx was stunned as the first spirit vanished followed by the next two. The spirits shifted rapidly to take defensive positions. “And don’t only think of where they are, think of where they’ll be.”

  “Nine, two thousand three hundred and eighty-five, seventy-three. Monster. Fiend.” Jinx said trying to predict the time the arrows would take to arrive, the direction the soldiers were moving, and their estimated end position. She growled as she quickly became frustrated by the effort, it was too much, “Three hundred fifty-five, two thousand three hundred and eighty-nine, seventy-two. Killer. Villain.”

  Jinx continued to rattle off numbers as Terra fired blindly into the trees. Two more soldiers went down and the next two missed as the enemies shifted. Jinx lost focus as angry words echoed in her head. She shut them out and continued to ramble off numbers as her heart pounded. She repeated to herself she wasn’t a stupid beast, it wasn’t her fault they missed. She wasn’t stupid.

  “You’re panicking. Take a breath,” Terra said drawing another arrow. “Find your happy place. Just think about something that relaxes you.”

  Jinx took a deep breath and time slowed down, just slightly. Her happy place, a soft bed surrounded by a pile of treasure. Her master stroking her while telling her that she’s his favorite. That stupid fairy watches on jealously, and every few seconds he pulls out a new gift for her to add to the pile.

  “Twelve, two thousand three hundred and ninety-two, seventy-four, eleven, two thousand three hundred and ninety-nine, seventy-six, zero, two thousand three hundred and eighty-seven, seventy-five, three hundred and fifty-eight, seventy-two,” Jinx continued to rattle off number after number in a complete trance. She wasn’t even thinking about processing, it was happening in the background as she lazed about her gemstone filled fantasy world. “Ten, two thousand three hundred and fifty-four, seventy-six, four, two thousand three hundred and ninety-nine, seventy-two. Cunt. Motherfucker.”

  “Holy fuck,” Terra laughed while falling into a pace that matched Jinx’s speedy delivery. “I think I love you Jinx.”

  Jinx ignored her compliment and kept repeating numbers ignoring whether or not the shots hit. The enemy movements were increasingly random, they were panicking and looking for cover. There were seventeen left. It seemed like they couldn’t decide between pushing forward or retreating.

  “Keep going!” Ariel yelled excitedly. “You can do it!”

  “This is like having a satellite,” Terra joked. “This is so fucking broken it’s stupid. I’m taking you every time I go out player killing from now on.”

  Jinx blocked out the annoying voices and continued to run her calculations. She felt they were becoming more accurate as she became used to the process. Most of them were in the same general cluster and had almost identical heights so most of the numbers barely shifted. Then Jinx started to notice there were blind spots. Because of their distance, the gap between a two and a three was massive.

  “Two point three five, two thousand three hundred and fifty-one, seventy-three. Slut. Bitch.” Jinx said as she started to add decimals to her initial degrees. Terra seamlessly adjusted to the new directions as if it was second nature.

  “Go! Go! Go!” the useless bug yelled from the sky.

  Jinx sensed three more vanish and the remaining ten seemed to be rushing toward them with increased speed making them harder to hit. She adjusted for their increased movement speed and two more fell to the ground. Only eight were remaining but they were closing the distance.

  “I see them!” Ariel yelled. “They’re moving fast!”

  “What?” Terra said rapidly firing off three more rounds. “Ariel, create some illusions to distract them.”
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  “Okay!” Ariel chirped happily as clones of Jinx and Terra dashed into the woods toward the enemies.

  The players adjusted their movements to attack the clones but it also made them harder to predict. They were taking evasive maneuvers to either avoid or attack and it was a coin flip if Jinx guessed right each time. Jinx only sensed four remaining but they were close.

  “My turn,” Jinx growled and dashed into the forest. She heard the slutty elf unsheathe some blades behind her. “I said my turn! Slut! Tramp!”

  Jinx quickly closed in on her prey, two warriors and two assassins wearing black robes similar to Endgames except these had a skull. Not that any of that mattered, Jinx was itching to fight. She condensed her spirit. While expanding her spirit allowed her to see things at a great distance. Condensing it made her senses more precise.

  Jinx remembered Mirage’s words about a blink. It wasn’t a teleport, but one big step in a straight line. It was bound by rules. She smiled wickedly as one of the assassins made their move.

  “Idiot! Weakling!” Jinx shouted as her left first, Castor, met the face of the assassin mid-blink. Even Jinx was caught off guard as she felt a snap and pop as the head detached from the spine killing them instantly.

  “What the fuck,” the other assassin managed to stop themselves before making the same mistake. Jinx laughed maniacally at her golden left fist covered in blood. Not only had she detached the head of the assassin, but their face was also completely caved in. Her perverted master was right, while the glove lacked the blades of her previous weapon it seemed to massively enhance her power. She glanced at Pollux and then at the other assassin. “Shit!”

  Jinx nimbly dodged the predictable attacks from the pair of warriors that rushed her and sprinted toward the assassin. She sent a lance of spirit energy into his stomach, stunning him before he could get away.

  “Move!” a warrior yelled at the pitiable assassin. He didn’t know what it felt like to have his spirit pierced, but he would soon enough. Jinx was just getting started.

  “Fu…” the assassin’s ribs disintegrated under the might of Castor and the right hook from Pollux practically sliced his head in half. Caster was crushing power and Pollux was a sharp strike like a charioteer’s spear. Jinx laughed hysterically while turning her golden eyes to the plate-clad warriors.