Mage Tank

“Do you know what you’ve done?” Varrin said as he stood before the dark pillar that was the Pocket Delve’s obelisk.

“Grotto wouldn’t stop bugging me about it,” I said, poking my head back out of the entrance to check on the void sphere. “He needed a passion project. The little guy had just lost his home.”

The dark jewel lay on the ground, showing no sign of the terrible power it was ready to release upon Hiward, save for a few small cracks on its surface. It was like a radioactive marble–mundane at first glance, and by the time you realized the danger, it was too late.

“No Delver controls a Delve,” said Varrin. “There are laws forbidding it.” He looked over his shoulder at me. “Delves that are accessed through portals in Hiward are owned by the crown. They have no lord or lady, to prevent the temptation to exploit them.”

“Interesting fact, Varrin,” I said as I sized up the jewel, trying to decide how to get it into the Pocket Closet. “Grotto, if I touch this, I’ll get the same treatment as Etja, right?”

[It will be worse since you are already suffering from mana overload.]

“Good to know. What if I covered it in something?”

[The closer you are to the void sphere, the stronger its effects, but avoiding direct contact will dampen the mana conductivity.]

Varrin strode back out to me.

“The matter of who owns this Delve merits additional discussion,” he said, peering down with me at the deadly gem. “It will set a precedent. If the crown allows you to keep it, others may rush to bond with Delve Cores so they might acquire one for themselves.”

[Most cores will destroy their Delve, rather than letting it be captured by miscreants. And I am beholden to no king of yours. This is my Delve, and I choose its administrator.]

“Makes sense,” said Xim. She sat with her back against the obelisk, Nuralie squatting beside her and offering what limited care the alchemist could. A blood-soaked bandage covered the cleric’s belly. “Delves discovered in the wild usually go inert after they’re looted.”

“Which is why they are protected by law,” Varrin added. “They’re a natural resource, and there are only so many.”

“Turns out they’re renewable,” I said. “Can I borrow another towel?”

“I have more health than you,” said Varrin, “For once. I’m also not suffering from mana toxicity. I’ll use my gauntlet.” He looked to Grotto.

[It should be as effective as anything else.]

Varrin gave a curt nod, then knelt to grab the jewel. I moved out of his way, giving him a clear path back inside the Pocket Closet.

He snatched it, and his armor lit up like a Christmas tree.

Runework on Varrin’s armor burst to life, the sigils having been concealed within the ornate engravings along its surface. They vented vaporous mana as they flared, and then exploded. Varrin shouted and dropped the gem. He tore his gauntlet off and threw it to the ground, the glove scorched and blackened.

[Curious,] Grotto thought to us. [The weaves in your armor had a catastrophic reaction to the overwhelming mana output.]

Varrin’s armor smoked, making him look like a cartoon character that just accidentally detonated their dynamite.

“You ok?” I asked, but his health hadn’t dropped and he didn’t have any debuffs.

“This armor was an heirloom,” Varrin said, looking himself over. “The same set men in my family have worn at low levels for three generations.” He clenched his naked fist, glaring at the gem, fury pouring from his eyes. “Must this day take yet more from me?”

I grimaced, but let that minefield lay undisturbed.

“I have an idea,” I said, beginning to take off my c’thonic leather vest. It was tough since I wore it over my armor. After a bit of squirming and Varrin’s assistance, I got the vest off and held it out to the big man.

“What is this for?” he asked.

“It’s immutable,” I said. “It won’t stop the mana, but it won’t explode either.” I smiled at him. “I don’t think.”

[C’thon flesh is also a good mana insulator,] Grotta added.

Varrin took the vest and squatted down, then tossed the leather over the jewel. There was no reaction. He held his hands wide, then brought them together, bunching the vest up with the jewel in the center, as though he were trying to catch a big bug.

Varrin’s body stiffened, and he grunted, but he quickly turned and dashed into the Pocket Closet.

Grotto had exposed a bowling-ball-sized recess within the obelisk by sliding a panel aside, its purpose to absorb the mana from, or condense mana into, chips. The void sphere was essentially the biggest, baddest form of a chip, so the slot should work with it inside. Varrin ran to the obelisk and shoved in the entire wad, vest and all. Grotto flicked a tentacle, and the panel slid closed.

Then, numbers went up.

Pocket Delve has absorbed 99,999 mana from VOID SPHERE. Mana held in reserve 123,999.

Pocket Delve has absorbed 99,999 mana from VOID SPHERE. Mana held in reserve 223,998.

Pocket Delve has absorbed 99,999 mana from VOID SPHERE. Mana held in reserve 323,997.

“Holy shit,” I said.

[Spend it!] Grotto thought to me. [The obelisk’s capacity is limited. It lacks the storage for this level of accumulation!]

I closed my eyes and focused on the Closet, beginning to expand it outward. First, I targeted the room we were in, the obelisk chamber. The size of the chamber limited the size and capacity of the obelisk that could be constructed, so I went big. Really big.

After several minutes of focused effort, the room was massive. Not central cage massive, but it sprawled a thousand feet in every direction. After that, I forewent any structure or organization, simply thrusting the boundaries of the Closet outward.

There was a limit to how fast I could do this. A limit that was both relative to the total size of the space and also my mental capacity to guide the expansion. Despite my efforts, I wasn’t spending the mana fast enough.

Pocket Delve has absorbed 99,999 mana from VOID SPHERE. Mana held in reserve 21,619,950.

Pocket Delve has absorbed 99,999 mana from VOID SPHERE. Mana held in reserve 21,709,860.

“How much fucking mana is in this thing?” I said, eyes clamped shut as I continued to focus.

[This is only a fraction. We need additional ways to spend it.]

I tried pushing the boundaries in different ways, looking for the most efficient growth. As the total size increased, the amount I could spend at once went up proportionally, but the scaling was too slow. Given enough time, I could catch up to the speed of absorption, but we didn’t have the luxury.

[The obelisk is already beyond its capacity. It is undergoing stress.]

“What happens if it breaks?” I asked. A beat went by with no response. “Grotto?!”

[I do not know. I have never witnessed such an event. I would imagine it is catastrophic.]

“We gotta’ take the void sphere back out!” I said.

[We have not yet mitigated the potential disaster!]

“Then figure out something else!”

[I…] Grotto hesitated, and I cracked an eye to peek at the mini-c’thon. He swiveled around the room, surveying the various stockpiles of materials I’d procured for him that he’d yet to use. [Nuralie, Xim, Varrin, place your hands on the obelisk. One of you hold Etja’s onto it as well.]

The party immediately followed Grotto’s instruction, again showing the speed of their initiative. When we were in the thick of it, the party didn’t argue or ask questions, they just did what needed to be done. I was glad to have allies that displayed that level of trust.

The fact that this trust was being placed so readily in the hands of Grotto, however…

“What are you doing?” I asked as Grotto gathered essence powders and engraving tools from the bundles of materials.

[The crystalline mana coating your mana veins is extraordinarily concentrated, and the process by which it was placed there is a grotesque over-expenditure of resources.] The bonded Delve Core floated to the obelisk, and three of his feelers gripped styluses, beginning to carve new symbols along the pillar’s side. [We presently possess a commensurately grotesque overabundance of said resource.]

“I thought you hadn’t figured out how to make that happen yet!” My concentration began to slip, and I snapped my eyes back shut to continue expanding the Closet.

[Fortune made a curious comment when discussing his modifications to your physical body. He referred to the act as his ‘own modified Creation process.’] Grotto poured essence powder into his hastily engraved rune, and it shone with fresh life. [The Calvani Caverns holds a primordial Creation obelisk within it. Orexis and Nasro used that obelisk to perform the procedures that shaped Etja’s mana veins and matrix. Her body is a perfect template for mana flow, designed purely by the System.

[Now that I am the administrator of The Calvani Caverns, I have access to its logs, along with the procedures and guidelines for operating the Delve. These include the rudimentary Creation process they performed. This has given me the insight I needed to answer most of my questions concerning how to create and embed the unique material found coating your mana veins.]

“When did you have time to do that?” I asked.

[I have several subprocesses analyzing data at any given moment. I have been working on this problem constantly.] He flitted to the next side of the obelisk, beginning to carve more symbols. [The primordial obelisk is inefficient. This inefficiency is to our advantage, however, since it will require an order of magnitude more mana to activate the Creation procedure than it would were we using a proper Creation Delve.]

“Wait,” said Xim, “you’re going to put us through the Creation process again?”

[In a limited manner. I will reforge your body with superior mana veins. Ones coated in the crystalline mana that allows Arlo the ability to train his stats.]

Grotto paused his engraving. His tentacles rose into the air.

[You shall become the pinnacle of a newly created Delver! A superior specimen of Delve technology, imbued with abilities beyond that which should be possible using your limited organic forms! And I, Grotto, will have achieved a feat unclaimed by any core before me!]

By this point, he’d devolved into full-on flailing.

“Grotto!” I shouted. The core started, then regained his composure. “What about the mana overload?”

[Your facile understanding of the mana structure once again shows, Arlo. If I were thrusting mana into their veins like a buffoon, then I would cause significant damage. I am no imbecile, however. I will be coating their veins in a new substance. Beyond that, I am reforging their veins and adapting their matrix to the new configuration. It will repair what damage exists.]

“So, it’s safe. That’s what you’re saying.”

[‘Safe’ is a word with many facets and much nuance.]

“No, it isn’t.”

[It is safer than having the obelisk explode. It is safer for the citizens of these lands than allowing a mana eruption, although it would be contained within this dimensional space. I wonder how effective that would be at disrupting the event. I cannot be certain.]

“I’m in,” said Xim.

“Me as well,” said Varrin. “Ravvenblaq is under threat. If this keeps people safe, it’s what I’m doing.”

“Oh. Nothing so noble for me,” said Xim. “I just think it’s fascinating. It’s new ground and I want to be a part of it!”

Nuralie froze for an instant, then shrugged.

“I have… faith,” she said, though the word was strained.

“What about Etja?” I said. “We’re deciding on her behalf.

[As I said before, her mana structure is purely System designed. There are no irregularities present from adapting a natural body during the Creation process, such as with the rest of you. She is, by far, the safest.]

I shook my head, unable to believe that this was how we were trying to handle things.

“Guess that settles it,” I said. “What about me?”

[What about you, Arlo? You already possess this advantage. Do you wish for more?]

“Yeah, Arlo,” said Xim, her tone playfully taunting. “Afraid we’ll leave you in the dust once we’re cheaters too?”

“Honestly? A little,” I said. “But that’s not what I’m asking. How can I help this process?”

[Just keep doing what you’re doing. It buys us time.]

I nodded and continued focusing on expanding the Closet. The obelisk had begun to tremble.

Grotto finished the final touches on his new runes, then cast the engraving tools to the ground. He raised his feelers.

[We will begin.]

I didn’t see the event well, with my eyes tightly shut to help me concentrate, but I caught glimpses of what began to happen to my allies. Their forms distorted, flesh moving and remolding itself, but it was subtle. It was as though thin worms burrowed under their skin, leaving trails of shimmering mucus just beneath. The obelisk shone bright, the runes flooding the room with light, and the shuddering abated.

Then, after no more than three minutes, and with little fanfare, it was done.

“My mana’s back!” said Xim. The cleric immediately began casting Cleanse on herself to purge the remaining Bleeding and Toxicity. “Dark Mother above, that feels good.”

Varrin flexed his hands and looked down at himself.

“I feel no different,” he said. His eyes drifted as he checked his System screen. “I see the ability on my character screen. That’s a Lot of Stats! It’s listed under my… Re-Birth Sign…”

“Mine too,” said Nuralie, and a small smile touched her lips.

Etja was still unconscious.

I was glad for my allies, and glad they were safe, but our problem hadn’t been solved.

“That put a big dent in the mana accumulation, Grotto,” I said, “But it’s still going up!”

[My expert use of the tools before me be damned! If I’d been less competent, perhaps the process would have required more mana. I cannot help but excel at my manipulation of Delve technologies. It is by reflex at this point!]

“Grotto!” I said. “Ideas?”

[We have siphoned enough mana off that the degradation has slowed, but the void sphere will still breach its containment within the hour. Or less. I truly do not know.]

“Fucking fine then,” I said, and stopped concentrating on expanding the Delve.

[What are you doing? Arlo, you must continue spending the mana!]

“No,” I said. “I’m going to deal with this.”

I walked up to the obelisk, noticing that the stone and metal of its surface was beginning to split in places, and slid open the panel containing the void sphere. I yanked out the leather-vest-covered jewel, getting an abrupt notification for my trouble.

Warning! You are experiencing high levels of mana exposure while suffering from Mana Overload! You are now taking damage!

My hand went numb like I’d grabbed a live wire and I felt my body begin to rip. A thousand small wounds blossomed within my skin and muscles. My HP began ticking down by ten per second, but I only needed a couple of seconds.

I designated the left half of the room as quick-access inventory space and threw the void sphere, still covered by my vest, into a slot. It snapped into place in mid air, and froze.

We all stared at it, holding our breath.

[Why… did you do that?] Grotto asked.

“You said that the shit inside the inventory spaces are in some sort of stasis,” I said. “I figured, maybe it would… halt the void sphere from breaking down?”

[Ah.]

“Could we have just done that from the beginning?” asked Xim.

Grotto rubbed his feelers together, dark eyes darting around the room.

[Perhaps…]

I laughed, bent over in pain from the effect laughing had on my many, many wounds, and then collapsed to the ground.

“Xim,” I said, “maybe lend me a Cleanse or two?”

After my stunt pulling the void sphere from the obelisk, my health was in the 40’s, and my stacks of Bleeding had ticked up a few notches. I was still poisoned, with a hole in my chest, a dislocated shoulder, and a thousand fresh microtears in my muscles.

“Sure!” said Xim, looking way too chipper. “Maybe it’ll train my Charisma! Or Wisdom!”

I started to tell her that it took a little longer than that, but let her have the moment. I looked around the party, sighing in relief when Xim began purging my afflictions.

As a group, we looked like shit.

Varrin’s armor was cooked. Along with the various dents and scratches from the countless enemies we’d fought, it was covered in black scorch marks from its destroyed runes. His face was covered in soot and he looked wearier than I’d ever seen.

Xim’s blood covered as much of her body as the super-stretch onesie she wore. I had no idea what had happened to the rest of her armor, but if it were anything like the last time she transformed, it was in shredded pieces back inside The Cage.

Nuralie had dark circles under bloodshot eyes, and I could see several places where her scales had fallen off, leaving pink and scabbing flesh behind. Her black gloves were frayed, especially at the fingertips.

And Etja sat up, looking around blearily.

“That was no fun,” she said. She began to rub her head but yelped and pulled her hand back. Her ring finger was still dislocated.

“Sorry about that,” I said as she gripped her hand by the wrist. She looked up at me, confused, and I decided to tell her the story later. We couldn’t call it quits quite yet. “Let’s get outside.”

We gathered the remaining shreds of our willpower, pushing through the dismal, unstoppable wave of fatigue that pressed down upon us. We left the Closet and walked out of the Delve’s exit portal.

We all got a notification that we’d completed the objective, and were awarded ‘super’ evolutions, which, as far as I could tell, were just modifications to one of our existing evolutions. No super for Etja, though. Instead, her Bound Construct passive was replaced.

My super was applied to I Can Do This All Day, which normally doubled the health and stamina regeneration bonuses I got from Fortitude. The modification was in addition to the existing bonuses from the evolution and I looked over it briefly, uncertain how I felt about it.

We Can Do This All Day: Whenever you take damage, the ally closest to you regains an amount of health or stamina equal to half the damage taken, their choice.

We were happy to get the reward, but we were also too tired to celebrate. We exited the Delve and into a cave, which then deposited us into a valley. Dusk had begun to set, but the creeping darkness was resisted by an inferno that dominated half of the skyline.

“Is that… entire mountain on fire?” I asked, watching the blaze.

“Matriarch Dukgrien,” said Varrin, awe entering his voice. “I’ve never seen her go all out.”

“Wonder if they’re still fighting Orexis Prime,” I said.

We watched the mountains for several minutes, waiting for any sign that the epic battle was ongoing. Eventually, we spotted a dark form flying across the sky. Whoever it was, they were human, lacking the size or extra limbs of a dark god. Xim sent up a gout of her divine fire, which got the person’s attention. They turned and flew down toward us, and some part of me, the part that was still on edge, prepared for the worst.

Matriarch Dukgrien landed before us, hair wild and face bloodied. Myria was once more atop the older woman’s fur-clad shoulders.

“Arlo!” Myria shouted, jumping down from her human steed. She ran over and wrapped me up in a hug, which I wasn’t expecting. When did we get so familiar?

She let me go and stepped back, looking everyone else over.

“Wow!” she said. “Everyone’s alive! Plus a bonus person.” She leaned in toward Etja. “Who are you?”

“I’m Etja!” said Etja, clasping her four hands together and giving Myria an unfamiliar bow. The dark-skinned Dancer raised an eyebrow but gave a mock curtsy in response.

“And I’m Myria,” she said. “What happened to you all?”

“Long story,” I said. “The mana eruption is taken care of, so everyone should be safe from that impending disaster. Were y’all able to handle the ongoing disaster?”

“Orexis?” asked Myria. I nodded.

“The fiend fled,” said the matriarch. “But not before ‘e wiped tha’ floor with us. We battled for hours until he got ta’ shoutin’ about ‘is soul and ‘is sister. Then, he runs off.”

“Good,” I said. “Problems for another day.”

“Good, he says. Me ‘usband lost an arm and I burnt through three irreplaceable relics. But we did survive.”

I sucked air through my teeth.

“The patriarch lost his arm?”

“Aye,” said the matriarch. “But we’ll ‘ave it regrown. Painful, though. And tha’ skin won’t match.” Her head tilted to the side like she was listening to something distant. “Myria, mana monsters are breakin’ from the mana vent, now that it’s dispersin’. We’ll need to corral them before they make it out of tha’ mountains.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Myria. She turned back to us. “You all need anything? Heals? Remedies?”

“Therapy,” I said.

“I know a good masseuse,” Myria replied. “I can schedule you an appointment.”

“Not the kind I meant, but yes please.”

Myria gave me a bright grin, then hopped back up onto the matriarch with the grace of an expert equestrian.

“We’ll swing back by when things are settled. Unless you want to walk to Foundation on your own?”

“No,” I said. “We’ll take a breather, and wait for you guys to pick us up.

Myria nodded and gave me a wink. Then, she pointed a finger to the sky.

“Ride on!” she shouted. The matriarch rolled her eyes, but took off without another word.

Once they were out of sight, Xim nudged me with her shoulder.

“You and Myria got something going on?” she asked, giving me a knowing look.

“No,” I said, then heaved a sigh. “You know, I was engaged until about a month ago. Or, several thousand years ago, depending on how you look at it. Either way, not quite ready to move on yet.”

Xim frowned and patted me on the shoulder, then plopped down onto the ground. The rest of us quickly followed suit.

For a time, we watched the blazing horizon, and I found its warmth pleasant. The world was literally on fire, but the parts we were responsible for were dealt with. From hostile delvers, to demi-gods, to divine soul fragments, we’d been through the blender, and come out in one piece. The feeling of relief mingled with my fatigue, making me giddy.

Xim was first to break the silence.

“What do we think about the names?”

“For the party?” I asked.

“Yeah. Godsbane wasn’t bad. Cage was on to something there.”

“Spectersbane,” said Nuralie. The loson was lying on her side, tail swishing back and forth. Her eyes were lidded, and she looked on the verge of falling asleep.

“I still say Avatarsbane is the one,” said Varrin.

“Too many syllables,” said Xim, and Varrin’s head dropped an inch.

[Bane of Souls is the superior choice,] Grotto thought to us. [Imagine the terror, the fearful whispers in the dark as our enemies lament our coming!]

“Grotto,” I said, “I don’t think-”

“Soulsbane sounds fun!” said Etja. “Now that I know it’s for the party.” She turned delighted eyes toward us. “Am I in the party?” She held her hands together over her chest like a hopeful schoolgirl.

“Yeah, you’re in the party, Etja,” I said as the others nodded their approval. “We like Soulsbane?”

“It’s the perfect amount of creepy,” said Xim.

“Don’t care anymore,” Nuralie mumbled. “Sleeping now.” She closed her eyes and was out in seconds.

“It’s a bit like,” I began, searching for the right words, “it’s a bit ‘angsty teenager’, isn’t it?”

“Eh,” Xim waved a hand dismissively, “depends on who’s wearing it. I think we’ll make it work. We can always change it later if we don’t like it. Besides, anything is better than what Lito’s party is named.”

“What are they called?”

“Jester’s band,” said Xim, overenunciating the words with a smirk.

“Huh? Who’s the jester?”

“I disagree,” said Varrin. “Not about the name of Lito’s party, it’s terrible. But we should commit to a name, make it our own. Rebranding is disruptive.” He took a breath, leaning back on his hands and looking at the sky. A few stars twinkled down between the clouds and smoke. “Soulsbane is fine if it pleases the rest of you.”

“Okay then,” I said. “We’ll name our party Soulsbane, strike terror into the hearts of men, and inspire a generation of brooding adolescents to emulate us.”

I opened the System screen and focused on the party menu. I looked for where to input our edgy new designation.

The name for the party had already been filled in.

“Uh, guys,” I said. “Did any of you already name the party?”

“What?” said Varrin. “No. Only the party leader can-” his eyes drifted as he checked on the name himself. “No, this isn’t…” He whipped his head to me. “Can you change it?”

I prodded the text with my mind, but no matter what I did, I was locked out.

I rubbed my temples and stared at the screen, reading the text after my name over and over again. After a while, I sighed and flopped back. This was not something I was prepared to process at the moment.

I decided to let sleep overtake me, surrendering to the demands of my body. But my rest was fitful, and the System text haunted my fleeting dreams.

Esquire Arlo Xor’Drel

Party Leader of “Fortune’s Folly”