Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 216, Season of the Rising Moon, Day 95 –

“I can’t say for sure if a four-leaved blood tulip is there,” said Dhruv. “But that region had several blood-aspected anomalies thirty years ago. It never reached the threshold for a forbidden zone, but the mana concentration was abnormal and purely blood-aspected.”

Dhruv handed the map back to Terry. He had marked the area he was talking about.

Terry examined the map. The region was east-northeast from Libra City.

“From what my friend told me, the mana situation was still the same two years ago.” Dhruv looked at Terry with a serious expression. “It’s possible, but it’s definitely dangerous. This region is far beyond the frontier. You would be walking through the Wastes.”

“This looks pretty far from here.” Miguel examined the map as well. “At least if we’re talking walking distance. Can we even get there, you know, in time?” He looked at Lori and Terry with concern.

“Right, our time is limited.” Terry made a pained expression and looked at Dhruv.

“If you really want to go through with this, then I have an option.” Dhruv marked another location on the map. “I still have an old transfer scroll that could take a small group here. If the scroll still works, it could transport all of you.”

“That’s only one way, though.” Miguel pointed out. “And the location is out of range for the scrolls we had prepared.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any more scrolls that target Libra City,” said Dhruv with a frustrated expression. “Amelia was the one that provided them to us in the past.”

“We still have one spare scroll from Matteo,” said Terry. He glanced at Siling, who was carrying the last scroll that targeted Libra City. “We could go to the area, search and then return here before starting our return trip.”

Lori made a conflicted expression while moving her eyes over everyone. “What about the risk of scroll failure, though?”

Terry lowered his gaze.

“Isn’t the risk worth it?” asked Calam. “If we really find the blood tulip there, I mean.” He looked at Terry. “If the scroll doesn’t work, we can still send back a set of ingredients with the dragonfly construct.”

Miguel weighed his head from side to side. “It would at least reduce the time pressure. That construct could already make its way to Brynn while we are carefully making our way into the range of the next transfer scroll.”

“You should get the scroll examined first,” interjected Cadence. “To make sure that there are no obvious flaws.”

“I can have a look at it,” said Dhruv. “I can’t create them, but I’ve seen enough to notice a few signs of problems.”

Cadence stared at Terry. “And you must stay within the range of the scroll to Libra City. The risk of scroll failure is one thing, but if you go beyond the range, then you have no chance of retreat in case of trouble. Not out there.”

Siling handed the scroll to Dhruv.

“While I check the scroll, you should all make up your minds,” said Dhruv.

“I…” Cadence bit her lip. “I’ll leave you to it. This is your decision.”

“I’m going,” said Terry and Lori immediately stepped next to him. Miguel, Siling, and Calam followed half a breath later.

Terry lowered his head pensively. He muttered with a shake of his head. “This is really getting more dangerous, though.”

Lori clenched her fists and moved her eyes over her friends again.

“We’ve already made our way here, we should at least see the sights a bit, right?” Miguel shrugged. “To be honest, I have no plans to ever return to this place. Not if I can help it.” He glowered at some of the local Guardians in the distance. “Rotten empire.”

“If this works out, this will be a story to tell to our descendants.” Calam smiled brightly.

“Not every day that I get a chance to see so many weird mana-corrupted beasts,” said Siling in an up-beat tone.

Terry chuckled lightly. “Perhaps we can find you a shadow panther soul. The one from Ying was impressive and it would be large enough to serve as a mount for you. Muttonchops can at most carry a dwarf, after all.”

“Isn’t that the important part?” quipped Miguel with a slight smirk.

“Not unless you want me to start charging fees.” Siling giggled. She turned from Miguel to Terry. “I don’t believe I can handle a shadow panther yet.” Siling puffed her cheeks. “And I still feel that there is something off with this mayor of Syn City. A spiritualist that can use a shadow panther soul should be able to summon more than one soul spirit at a time.”

Terry shrugged. “I don’t know for sure if he can. I’ve just never seen him use any other soul spirit than the shadow panther.”

They chatted until Dhruv returned and handed them the scroll.

“No problems as far as I can see,” said Dhruv.

“Can you hand us the other scroll?” asked Terry.

Dhruv nodded. “I figured you would go and I already brought it with me.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Terry when he noticed the frown on Dhruv’s face.

“Hmph, I’m just thinking about the state of this outpost,” said Dhruv. “I can’t even offer to go with you, because without me here, the city would not have any real protection anymore.”

“Yeah, I don’t see many Guardians here and the ones I see…” Miguel glowered at some people in the distance again. “Are all—”

Lori elbowed Miguel weakly.

“Uhh…” Miguel swallowed the insult he had in mind when recalling that Dhruv was a local Guardian, too.

“No need to mince words, young man.” Dhruv smiled faintly. “I don’t get along with everyone either.”

“Doesn’t this place have any defenses?” asked Siling with creased brows.

“Not anymore, no,” said Dhruv. “We have a broken inscription system, if you want to try your hand at it.”

“Sounds like a way to get injured, no thank you.” Siling smiled wryly.

Dhruv shook his head with a distant look in his eyes. “Even the Guild has closed down its headquarters in the city.”

“Really?” Terry raised his brows.

“Yes, they’re going to maintain a supply point, but there is no place to receive or hand in missions anymore,” said Dhruv. “Means much fewer Guildheads on an average day.”

***

Terry was leading the others through a path in the forest outside Libra City. He glanced back towards the giant druid tree in the distance. “I think this should be far enough.” He sunk his consciousness into his dimensional bag in order to retrieve the transfer scroll that Dhruv had provided them.

Terry abruptly stopped when he noticed a cloaked mana movement. “Lori, care—”

“Hrgh!” Lori’s body was suddenly seized by hands from the shadows. She was rapidly dragged away from the group.

Terry and the others immediately made to dash forward.

“STOP WHERE YOU ARE!” growled the human woman who had seized Lori. She was wearing grey leather armor with spiders encrusted onto it. A shadowy claw was wrapped around Lori’s torso and arms while another pointed its sharp nails towards Lori’s throat. “Or she’ll die.” A droplet of blood trickled down Lori’s throat where the shadow nails had cut through the skin.

Two more silhouettes stepped out of the shadows. “Thanks, Patricia.”

Terry narrowed his eyes. The two new arrivals were the elven woman and another man from the channelers they had encountered on their way to the Libra Outpost.

Miguel was already aiming his bow. “Let her go or you’ll die yourselves.”

“I’ll let her go when that one is dead,” said Patricia, who was holding Lori hostage. She was gesturing with her chin towards Terry. “Kill yourself and I’ll let her go.”

“Piss off, you damned shadow weasel,” growled Lori and struggled without a care for the sharp nails that were cutting into her skin.

“If you don’t stop struggling, you’ll only kill yourself,” sneered Patricia.

“If you think I’ll let you use my life against my brother, you have pus for brains,” growled Lori and intentionally pressed her neck forward.

“Lori, don’t!” shouted Terry. Next to him, Miguel gulped and breathed shakily. Even the channelers seemed taken aback by Lori’s actions.

Terry thought he could notice hesitation in Patricia’s reaction. However, after a short moment, Patricia grimaced fleetingly and scoffed while another shadow-aspected spell forcibly restrained Lori.

“I also had a brother once.” Patricia spoke with intense resentment. “He accepted a Guild mission to defend a Guardian outpost.” She glared at Terry. “You may not have killed him personally, but I don’t care.”

“Karma has caught up with you, Terry,” sneered the elven woman from the channelers. “Do you have the dignity to kill yourself or do we have to help?”

“Stop your spellwork, elf!” shouted Patricia.

“Hmph.” Siling frowned and interrupted her casting. She glanced meaningfully at Terry. “Terry, I’m sorry.”

Terry involuntarily jolted at the tone in Siling’s voice. His thoughts raced until he had an idea of what she might have in mind. Next to Terry, Miguel reacted similarly.

Terry intentionally flared his mana and stepped forward and in front of Siling. He spoke to Patricia: “Let her go. If you have a grudge with me, you can settle it with me.”

“You’re not giving the orders here, man,” barked Patricia. “Either you kill yourself or your sister dies first and then you’ll die anyway.”

“The hell is wrong with you?!” demanded Miguel. He also stepped slightly forward and in front of Siling. He glowered at the channelers. “Aren’t you supposed to be Guardians? Is this what you believe Guardians should be doing? Shameless bastards.” He aimed his bow at the elven channeler and growled: “If anyone dies here today, I guarantee that you will join them.”

“Animals,” spat the man from the channelers.

“That man is a criminal with a kill bounty on his head,” snarled the elven woman and pointed at Terry. “So, yes, I believe this is what Guardians are doing. What any proper Guardian ought to do. You were the ones that chose to protect a criminal.”

Terry forced himself to laugh out loud, which took the channelers by surprise. “Really?” sneered Terry while continuing to flare his mana. “That sounds very much like what I was thinking back when your Bright Willow chose to shield mass-murdering scum. You know, the whole reason why so many proper Guardians now have a bounty on their heads.”

“Shut up!” snapped the elven woman. “Anand was a guest of Bright Willow and she had the authority to—”

“Bahaha!” Now, it was Miguel who laughed loudly with derision. “Cadence is now the person with the highest authority in local Guardian management. Didn’t she suspend the bounty on Terry?”

“We’re not in Libra City anymore,” snarled the man from the channelers.

“But we’re still in its jurisdiction,” retorted Terry bitingly.

“Or do you not really respect Guardian management’s authority?” Calam spoke up for the first time. “Doesn’t Cadence have a rank in the Circle of the Bright Lady too? Luminous? Or is that not high enough?”

“Shut up!” shrieked the man from the channelers.

“Perhaps the authority of Guardian management only counts when they want to shield mass-murdering necromancers?” sneered Miguel. “You can pardon someone like Anand but not someone like Terry, is that it? I guess authority only matters when it’s to the benefit of your little cult?” Miguel spat the words with intense contempt.

“Perhaps, you’re right.” Terry glanced at Miguel and then at the channelers. “Anand may have killed and tormented whole cities of people, but a Bright was not among them, so it’s no biggie, right?” Terry spoke with disdain and disgust. “Even better, Bright Willow could use him to ingratiate herself with the Preacher, so why not let bygones be bygones?”

“How dare you!” The elven woman put a hand to her sword.

“ENOUGH!” roared Patricia. “I don’t care to argue with any of you.” She glared at Terry. “Will you kill yourself or do I need to kill your sister? I have no patience for—”

Invisible tentacles wrapped around Patricia’s upper head and unleashed a strong lightning discharge right into her brain.

Half a second later, rocks that had been attracted by Terry’s bidirectional attraction gloves hit Patricia in the elbow and in the back between her shoulder blades.

As soon as Lori’s head was free to move, she rammed it back and broke Patricia’s nose before jumping off from Patricia’s chest and darting towards the others while retrieving her barrier spears and leaving an earthen wall behind her.

Terry charged forward and pointed his own spear towards Patricia’s throat before she had a chance to recover.

The elven woman was about to draw her sword when a coldfire-aspected arrow had already arrived in front of her. “Eeek!” She fell on her butt and looked at the arrow that was transfixed a hair’s breadth of where her head used to be.

“Why did you save her?” Miguel asked Terry with a hint of annoyance. “That instigating pest beetle deserved an arrow to the face.”

“Maybe,” muttered Terry pensively. He glanced towards the two terrified channelers and shrugged. “But you don’t deserve a bounty, Cadence doesn’t deserve the paperwork, and the outpost doesn’t deserve to lose even more people.”

“Are you sure?” Miguel asked with a disdainful look towards the channelers. “I don’t see the harm in losing shameful ‘Guardians’ like them.” He growled towards the elven woman. “If you ever come near us again, don’t blame me for being impolite.”

The elven woman was about to stand back up when a rock hit her in the stomach.

“Why don’t you sit down for now?” asked Lori in a low tone. After the elven woman fell down again, Lori glared at the second channeler, who was still standing.

“Y-yes,” the other channeler sat down while raising his hands.

Lori liquified the earth underneath the two channelers and after their legs had sunk into the mud, she hardened the earth into rock. Next to her, Siling was casting the fundamental healing spells on Lori.

Terry looked at Patricia, who was glowering resentfully at him from below. “You have my sympathies for the loss of your brother, but I can’t bring him back.”

Patricia scoffed while lowering her gaze. Her face was bloody and one of her eyes had turned red from internal bleeding. Her hands and facial muscles were twitching uncontrollably.

“Your brother accepted a mission to protect the people that tormented and killed my whaka,” said Terry sternly. “I suggest you talk to Dhruv to understand who Anand is. Understand why it was unacceptable that Willow chose to collude with such a person, why Willow setting up the Divine Hammer crossed the line of what can be tolerated for so many people.

“I do regret that I wasn’t strong enough to go after Willow and Anand without involving people like your brother – people that only chose to trust the wrong person.” Terry spoke sincerely and firmly. “But I do not regret my actions back then. If you resent me for that, that’s fine. If you want to come after me, I won’t resent you.”

“But…” Terry stepped forcefully onto Patricia’s chest and unleashed an intense disruption discharge. “If you ever come after my companions for this again, I’ll kill you. I won’t care about your loss or your grief then, I’ll kill you.” Terry did not raise his voice as he spoke. He did not speak threateningly. He talked calmly, almost matter-of-factly, except that there was a trace of resigned sadness in it.

Terry’s tone inspired a cold shiver to run down the spines of Patricia and the channelers.

Terry crouched down and turned Patricia on her stomach. He held Patricia’s arms together behind her back. He retrieved a metal ingot and channeled mana into the Shape Metal imprint located in the armor at the inside of his lower arm. He shaped the metal around Patricia’s arms and hands to restrain her.

“You can get that removed in the outpost,” said Terry and stood back up. “The fact that you survived the lightning discharge means that you have some ability. I sincerely hope that you can find better uses of your ability than coming after me.”

Terry turned around while emitting mana detection pulses. “Let’s go,” said Terry to his companions. He walked next to Siling at the back. “Thanks, well done.”

“No need for thanks,” said Siling, who was still protected by her arcane shield. “Without all of you distracting them so that I could summon Peekaboo at a distance above us, it would not have worked.”

“Are we really just going to leave them like that?” asked Miguel in an unsatisfied tone.

“We’re going to leave anyway,” said Terry and retrieved the transfer scroll. “They’re not worth the time to burn their bodies.”

“That’s dark,” muttered Calam with a grimace.

“Yeah, I like that,” said Miguel approvingly. “I think I’ll use that one in the future.”

Siling snorted amusedly.

“Don’t ever do that again, please.” Terry spoke to Lori in a low voice. “I came here to not lose my whaka. At least give us some time before you go for the suicide option. I’m not that stupid.”

“Ahem.” Lori cleared her throat with a sheepish expression. “I may have panicked a little.”

“I did not know you had it in you,” interjected Miguel while eyeing Lori from the side.

“What? Sacrificing my life to save my brother’s?” Lori narrowed her eyes.

“No, silly.” Miguel snorted. “Panic. The other thing is obvious for anyone that knows you.”

Lori blushed and averted her gaze from Miguel.

“Also, what he said.” Miguel gestured towards Terry with his head. “If you do that again, I’ll definitely tell on you after we get your ma back in shape.”

Lori made a complicated expression. Afterwards, she also expressed her thanks to Siling.

“Everyone come closer together,” said Terry. After Terry had marked everyone in the group as targets for the scroll, he ripped the transfer scroll in half.

***

As soon as they arrived at the transfer destination, Terry furrowed his brow.

“Uff…” Miguel frowned.

Lori emitted a low growl and clenched her barrier spears tightly.

Siling clicked her tongue. “Not very pleasant.”

Calam gulped and took a deep breath.

Terry moved his eyes over everyone. He furrowed his brow further when he noticed sweat on Calam’s forehead.

Wastes…

Terry clenched his fists. He himself did not feel that different, but it was obvious that the others were feeling the pressure of the abnormal mana in the area.

“I thought I was prepared, but why is it this bad?” complained Miguel. “Wasn’t Libra City supposed to be the westernmost outpost before the Wasted Zone? We’re further east, why is it worse here?”

“Because we’re also further north,” said Terry. He moved his gaze over the horizon. “This isn’t the frontier anymore. This is what the Wastes feel like when no one is pushing back.”

Terry retrieved the map. There was a large circle around Libra City to indicate the reach of their remaining transfer scroll that had Libra City as its destination. Next, Terry retrieved his five-point inscription ring and used one of the available markers for their current location.

“Technically, we’re still in Tiv territory.” Terry talked while looking around for identifiable landmarks to compare with the map. “So we should call it the Wasted Zone, but I think it’s fair to call this the Wastes.”

“North is there,” said Siling and pointed for Terry.

“Right, I always forget Pricklybum’s true north ability.” Terry smiled and oriented himself. “This way to the blood-aspected area.”

“Sky isn’t clear,” said Miguel. “But there seem to be several things moving up there.”

Terry nodded with a frown. “Yeah and those things have mana.” He glanced at Siling. “Too risky for Grumpy.”

Siling frowned as well. “Can’t be helped.”

“I can sense troublesome mana signatures in this location.” Terry pointed at the map. “There are also some here, but they seem manageable. I would suggest making a slight detour to avoid the first group. If we want to avoid both, it would have to be a long detour, unfortunately. Scouting and engaging the second group may be worth it to save time.”

Siling and Miguel squinted into the directions.

“I don’t sense any life signatures closer than that,” said Siling. “But my life sense can’t compare to your mana sense range. There may still be some in the gap.”

“Tell us if you notice anything,” said Terry. “Same for everyone. If anything seems fishy or if you have any concerns, speak up.”

“Got it,” said Lori. “Let’s take a stroll through the Wastes.” She stepped forward while her eyes darted over the surroundings. “The quicker we get this over with, the better.”

***