Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 216, Season of the Setting Moon, Day 9 –

Siling was casting Heal on Lori. She finished cleaning the wound and cast Cure Wounds.

“How is the arm?” asked Terry with a look of concern.

“Nearly as good as new,” replied Lori with a pale face.

“That thing swooped down way too quickly,” muttered Miguel. “What in mana’s name was that?”

“Thunderblood hawk,” replied Siling. “It’s one of my candidates to replace Grumpy long-term. Life sense and a possible range of other abilities from the blood, lightning, and air aspects.”

“It’s not surprising that it would appear near a blood-aspected area…” Siling puckered her lips and moved them from side to side while thinking. “But there should have been no reason to target Lori in particular.” She shrugged. “Maybe it just wanted meat.”

Lori narrowed her eyes and looked over everyone. “I feel like there should be at least three better sources for meat here than me. Is that stupid bird calling me fat?”

Miguel snorted. “I believe it’s calling you yummy. Maybe I am the one that should feel offended.” He looked at Siling. “Any chance that your picky cuttlefish badmouthed me to other mana corrupted? If so, I’m okay with that.”

Siling giggled and rolled her eyes. “More likely that it focused on the, shall we say, more portable meat rations. It’s also not too far-fetched that it was more wary of the coldfire aspect than the earth aspect.”

“Good that we have Terry’s gloves and Calam’s force spells,” muttered Miguel. “Otherwise, the stupid bird might have really carried Lori away.”

“Anyway, how is the situation?” Siling asked Terry.

Terry frowned. “I don’t sense anything here that would indicate a blood tulip. Several blood-aspected worm creatures are wiggling around in the soil. There may be some kind of natural oddity a bit further down. But the tulips grow above ground and there is nothing in the area.”

“So we need to go further?” asked Lori.

“Yeah, continue northeast,” said Terry. “There should be another area rich in the blood aspect within the range of our scroll.”

***

“Wait,” exclaimed Terry and held up his hand.

“Sense anything?” asked Miguel. “These huge, thorny vines are making me nervous as well.”

“Not the vines, no,” said Terry while staring ahead. “They’re mana-corrupted plants, yes, but that’s not what I’m worried about.” He narrowed his eyes and bit his lips. “I’m worried about the unusual clearing.”

“You mean the one that seems like the best way to get through that thorny thicket?” asked Miguel with a mixture of wariness and disappointment.

“Yeah…” Terry scratched his nose and frowned. “I thought I could sense something several times but even now that we’re closer, it’s still vague. I believe I’m sensing mana signatures there but they’re… odd.” Terry shook his head slightly. “I can sense several areas where the mana is different. Distorted at times. At other times, it’s…” His frown deepened.

“I don’t sense any life signatures there,” said Siling. “Undead? My life sense only covers the life-side of the death-life spectrum.”

“I’m not sensing the death aspect,” muttered Terry and shook his head.

“Cloaked?” interjected Calam. “Or constructs?”

“Constructs?” Miguel turned to Calam. “Out here?”

Calam shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You said distorted ‘at times’,” interjected Lori. “What does that mean?”

Terry continued staring towards the clearing. “I don’t believe it’s cloaking either.” He shook his head slightly. “If I had to guess…” He nodded slightly before turning to the others.

“I think that’s an aspect or a mixture of aspects I’ve never sensed before,” said Terry with a grim expression.

“Uhh…” Miguel’s mouth stood agape.

“That’s ominous,” said Siling wryly.

“Yeah, haven’t you pretty much come across most aspects by now?” asked Calam with a puzzled expression.

“Any aspect close to it?” asked Lori. “Does it resemble anything familiar at all?”

“Well, there is one thing that I keep thinking of, but I can’t really say why,” said Terry. “But it matches my theory for why I don’t recognize any of the aspects.”

“This is not going to be good, is it?” Miguel grimaced.

“No, it isn’t,” affirmed Terry. “I believe there are hellspawn lurking underneath the ground there.”

“Crap,” cursed Miguel.

“Hellspawn?” exclaimed Calam. “Like in the dungeons?”

“Hmph.” Lori clenched her fists. “I guess we’ve been lucky to not encounter any of them so far.”

“I’m not too familiar with hellspawn,” said Siling with a glance at Terry. “Anything we should know?”

“I only know a bit,” said Terry. “While I had signed up for the course from the expert curriculum that serves as an introduction to hellspawn, we left Arcana before the course started. I’ve only read through one of the recommended books for the course.”

“Only…” Terry sighed in frustration. “The most important thing to know is to stay the hell away from them. While there are weaker and stronger species, all of them can be a lot of trouble.” Terry looked at Siling. “I guess you can think of the weaker ones as akin to mid-level mana corruptions, only the hellspawn abilities are hard to predict since they are based on ill-understood mana aspects.

“I can’t say more without knowing the species we’re talking about,” said Terry. “I can rule out behemoths because the signatures are way too small for that, but aside from that…” Terry shrugged and shook his head.

“The good news is that I’m not aware of hellspawn that hide underneath the earth and also have the ability to fly,” said Terry.

“So we go above?” asked Miguel. “Even though these vines cover a larger area?”

Terry examined the mana pools of his companions. “If it comes down to it, I can transfix items so that everyone else can travel in the sky without using mana.”

“Do we still probe the creatures?” asked Lori.

“If they truly can’t follow us into the sky, then I vote yay,” said Siling. “If only to confirm our suspicions and remember the aspects accordingly.”

After they had discussed some more, they all moved into the sky and approached the thicket of giant, thorny, vines. When they were some distance above and away from the clearing, Terry transfixed an unfolded tertium cube for the others to stand on. Afterwards, Terry moved closer to the clearing and retrieved a fist-sized stone from his storage anklet. Terry hurled the stone towards the clearing.

*Tap* The stone impacted on the ground.

“Hiss.” *Wroom* “Hiss.” Several creatures jumped up from their hiding spots underneath the earth.

“What the shit?” exclaimed Miguel and involuntarily recoiled back a step on the tertium slab.

“Yuck,” muttered Lori.

“Ugh.” Calam grimaced.

Three hellspawn of the same variety had surfaced from the ground. Their faces resembled bats with large eyes that were completely white. There was a bony dome atop the skull. The torso looked like it had been taken from a praying mantis, only that the hellspawn had two pairs of bladed arms instead of just one. The hindlegs were large like those of rabbits or kangaroos and they were completely covered in scales.

“I think I’ll stick with catching mana-corrupted beasts,” said Siling. “Now I understand what Terry was talking about.” She focused on her mana sense. “These aspects feel… wrong.”

Next to Siling, the others were also trying to commit the hellspawn’ impression in their mana sight to their memories.

“These are called widowmakers,” shouted Terry.

His shout caught the attention of the widowmakers below.

*Clomp* One of the widowmakers jumped high into the air. “Screee!”

Unfortunately for the hellspawn, even the impressive jump was not enough to reach Terry.

“Hiss!” The hellspawn spat out what seemed like translucent locusts and they immediately charged towards Terry.

“Hmph.” Terry unleashed a disruption discharge that pulverized the mana-formed locusts before they could reach him. Afterwards, he did not bother anymore with the widowmaker and walked back to the others.

“Cute, aren’t they?” asked Terry with sarcasm.

“Yeah no,” muttered Miguel. “No no no.”

“How does one go about killing these things?” asked Lori. “The usual? Stab slash squash?”

“I’m also curious,” said Siling. “Now that we know what we are talking about. Anything we should know about these widowmakers?”

“What were those things flying out of its mouth?” asked Calam, who was wearing a horrified expression.

“They’re not easy to kill with non-magic weapons,” said Terry. “Most hellspawn are supposed to carry something called the ichor aspect that gives them a passive ability to recover and regenerate, like an intense blood aspect for us.”

Terry weighed his head from side to side with a frown. “Although people also aren’t sure if that’s really an aspect or just their biology. The aspect theory has the most support, because the different hellspawn species are just way too different for such a shared trait to only be due to biology.”

Terry looked at Calam. “These locust-thingies are supposed to be created from a second conjectured aspect that is called the withering aspect.”

They observed the widowmakers burrowing back into the earth.

“The effects most closely resemble the death and the darkness aspects as well as, strangely, the holy aspect,” said Terry. “Eroding life, corroding materials, disturbing mana. These locusts would basically eat you alive and destroy your equipment.”

“Widowmakers can also infuse their blades with the same aspect,” continued Terry and retracted his gaze from the hellspawn. “Best to stay away from them.”

***

Terry looked at the map again. He did not know why he did it. The contents wouldn’t change, no matter how often he looked at it. The situation wouldn’t change either.

“Can I?” asked Lori and held out her hand.

Terry handed over the map without comment. He glanced up where Miguel was currently floating with the help of Peekaboo. Miguel was staring into the distance. Terry already knew what Miguel would see from up there. They had asked Miguel to give a visual confirmation, but Terry already knew. His mana sense already told him what Miguel would see.

Terry knew.

Terry knew and every fiber of his being felt unreconciled. He clenched his fists and tried to control his breathing.

Calam and Siling looked at the two siblings with concern and sympathy. They all felt vast disappointment at not being able to find the four-leaved blood tulip.

They had checked two blood-aspected areas with no luck. There was supposedly another area with a very pure blood aspect, but that area was outside the range of their transfer scroll to Libra City. Currently, they were standing at the edge of where their return scroll could activate without problems.

“We could try to scout out the area before going there,” muttered Lori, but her face showed hesitation and worry. “If the path is clear at least…”

Terry noticed Lori’s eyes wandering over everyone in the group with a low gaze and then up to Miguel. He thought he knew what she was thinking. This would go well beyond the risks they had taken so far.

Terry clenched his fists even harder. He knew that if he spoke, everyone might be willing to take the risk regardless.

I came here to avoid losing my whaka. I did not come here to lose my sister and friends.

Terry shook his head subconsciously. He recalled all the close calls they had already encountered. Terry moved his eyes over everyone. He took note of their exhausted expressions. Of their worn down armor. Of the traces of battle and injury on their bodies. This was not a risk he wanted them to take.

Terry closed his eyes and took deep breaths. His thoughts were racing into the past…

How he had arrived at the house of Isille and Bjorln for the first time…

How he had been accepted into their family…

How they had cared for him…

“Bad news,” said Miguel while he floated down from the sky. He shook his head with a grave expression.

“Undead?” prompted Siling.

“A gigantic horde,” said Miguel. “I couldn’t even see the end of the green glow.”

Terry opened his eyes.

“It’s not that far away,” said Miguel. “And getting closer at an uncomfortable pace.”

Miguel’s confirmation caused the expressions of everyone to sink further – everyone except Terry.

Terry had already known.

“Can we try what Lori said?” asked Calam.

“What is that?” asked Miguel.

Lori and Terry glanced at each other with conflicted expressions. They both shook their heads.

“It wouldn’t work,” said Lori. “I thought we could try scouting further and then return here to use the scroll, but that’s…” She shook her head while her voice trailed off.

“Terry?” prompted Siling.

Terry’s response was delayed, but he spoke with a firm voice. “No. I agree with Lori. A horde of that size will have some creatures with better senses. Any closer and we will definitely draw attention.”

“But we wouldn’t have to engage that horde.” Calam pointed out. “With the scroll, we only need to get back here in order to escape.”

The expressions of the others stiffened. Involuntarily, they glanced at Lori.

“Scrolls can fail,” reminded Terry. “Then what? Trying to outrun the horde?” A strange glint entered Terry’s eyes and he clenched his fists again.

“Yeah, that sounds like a suicide mission,” said Miguel. He looked at his short legs and enchanted boots.

“It’s also possible that something else pops up again,” said Siling. “Another creature lurking below the ground or above the clouds. Or worse, one with cloaking abilities.”

Terry stared at the ground with a pensive expression. “Yeah, we might get trapped in a fight before we can return and use the scroll. So far, we always treated the scrolls as an additional safety net, but that won’t do when we are outside the scroll’s range.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Calam,” said Lori with a bitter smile. “But this is going too far.” She lowered her head. “We have done our best.”

“There are still the others, right?” reminded Siling. “It’s possible that the Guardians or Guildheads have already collected all the required ingredients, or at least the tulip.”

‘There is a difference between possible and probable.’ Involuntarily, Terry recalled the words that Sigille had once said to him when talking about dungeons. He tried to control his breathing while his mind wandered to other scenes with his aunt…

Sigille facing down the Devout Division in Syn City…

Sigille talking about the Valkyrie…

Sigille lying dead on the floor…

Terry’s clenched fists were trembling slightly.

“Yeah, true,” said Calam. “No one is saying that we can’t have a happy ending.” He smiled slightly, but his eyes still showed disappointment. He looked into the distance. “Perhaps our part is done.”

“Use the scroll?” asked Lori.

Terry nodded with an unreadable expression.

Siling retrieved the transfer scroll from her dimensional storage. “Everyone get closer together.”

When everyone was in position, Terry closed his eyes.

“Ready?” asked Siling.

“““Ready.”””

Terry spoke with his eyes still closed. He felt himself being targeted for the scroll by Siling while images flashed through his mind…

Isille lying unconscious in the treatment chamber…

Bjorln’s haggard expression when he came out of the alchemy lab…

Sigille lying dead on the floor…

Terry felt once again the helplessness when he had arrived too late. The regret of not having done enough. The despair of not being able to do anything to change what happened.

I can do more.

Terry opened his eyes while Siling was ripping the transfer scroll apart.

“Terry?” Lori, who had noticed the strange look in Terry’s eyes suddenly exclaimed. “No, wait—”

Everything turned silent.

Terry was alone.

Terry had burst his mana to exclude himself from the group transfer. He took a deep breath. He retrieved a notebook and wrote the same message on two sheets of paper before ripping the pages out and storing them separately in his storage item. Next, Terry retrieved his Guardian card and the signaling cube. He set the links with the others to tell them to stay away.

Afterwards, Terry turned towards the direction of the horde or rather towards the area he knew to be there. The area he had sensed but not mentioned to the others.

An area located very close to the horde.

An area with a very pure blood aspect.

An area with several dozen small, intense blood-aspected signatures that weren’t moving.

Terry ran as fast as he could.

***

“NO!” yelled Lori in despair. She and the others had arrived on a road inside the forest near Libra City.

“Wh-what…?” Siling looked around with an ashen face. “D-did I mess up the targeting? No no no, this— I—”

“Where’s…?” Calam noticed that one of them was missing.

Miguel lowered his gaze and clenched his fists.

“I…” Siling swallowed and her eyes were glistening. “Did I—?”

“No,” said Lori firmly. “This was Terry’s doing. A burst. Intentional.” Her expression shifted from fury to worry to determination. She turned her back to Libra city and stomped forward.

“Lori, wait,” said Miguel.

“What for?” snapped Lori. “Waiting doesn’t change anything. Terry is still there. I need to go there as well.”

“We don’t have another transfer scroll,” said Miguel calmly. “Even if we started running without ever taking a break or having to fight, we would not get there in time to do anything.”

“So what?” Lori stared at Miguel with tears rolling down her face. “What am I supposed to do then?”

Miguel bit his lips.

Siling pressed her lips tightly onto each other and shook her head with an indignant look in her eyes. “I’m so going to have one of my pets shit on his head.”

“Perhaps we…” Calam spoke up before losing his train of thought.

“I’m going,” said Lori and turned around.

“Going where?” Miguel quickly dashed in front of her. “Walking all the way there through half the Wastes? To a location that Terry will have left by then?”

“I don’t know!” replied Lori loudly. She muttered faintly: “Yes, I guess.”

“Alright, then I’ll go with you,” insisted Miguel.

Lori grimaced.

“There!” Miguel pointed at Lori’s face. “That’s exactly it. I know that look. That expression. Perhaps you are not familiar with it, but I know that look.”

Lori furrowed her brow. “What…?”

“I’ve seen that look before from Jorg, from you, even from Gellath,” said Miguel. “That worried look before and during missions when you were looking at me.” Miguel tried hard to keep his voice firm and calm.

Calam subconsciously nodded while lowering his gaze. He, too, knew the look Miguel was talking about.

“Since we came here, I’ve seen that look on Terry a lot.” Miguel spoke with emphasis: “...and he wasn’t just looking at me.”

Understanding flashed through Lori’s eyes and it fought with her unwillingness to accept it.

“I can’t be the only one that noticed that Terry has stepped into another league,” said Miguel helplessly. “While we were dealing with one beast, Terry put down three. While we were already wheezing, Terry was running circles around us and scouting ahead. The things that threatened us, Terry simply shrugged off. He slept less, always took on the brunt, and—”

“I get it!” interrupted Lori. She clenched her fists.

Calam was fidgeting with an uncomfortable expression. His eyes widened with an idea and he retrieved his Guardian card to check the link with Terry. He smiled sadly. “His link is telling me to stay away.”

Afterwards, the others were checking their Guardian cards as well.

“He must have had his own thoughts,” said Miguel.

“He probably did.” Siling sighed. She grumbled to herself: “But he better not be overestimating his abilities. If I have to learn necromancy before my pets can shit on him for that, I need to catch some bigger pets.”

Siling walked up to Lori. “Miguel is right that the distance is too vast for us to cover without a scroll. We should first talk to Dhruv and Cadence. Perhaps they have an idea.”

“There are also the ingredients we already collected.” Calam pointed out. “We still need to get them to Arcana.”

***