The unarmored rebels were easy targets. He dashed and skidded across the flagstones, chopping through knees as he passed. Before the elves could retaliate, he pivoted and stabbed his knives into their heads.
To Owin’s astonishment, the elf rebel who tried to stab him in the back was stopped by the Thunderstrike Maul. Shade’s swing had little power to it, but it was enough to knock the ornate helmet off the woman.
Owin jumped just high enough to drive the knife into her heart. He fell to the ground with her, rolled, and landed on his feet. A slight wobble threatened to bring him face first into the flagstones, but he stayed up.
“Thanks,” Owin said.
Shade lifted the hammer and let it rest on his shoulder again. It had a faint, partially charged glow. “This is ridiculous, you know. How did you fight with this before you met me? Certainly you weren’t moving as fast.”
“I wasn’t, but I could hit hard.” Owin checked the bodies for loot, and pushed aside some bits of rubble. Most of it was broken statues lying at the base of the numerous columns. Some had bits of armor, others looked like they had been looted.
Shade grabbed the sword from one of the elf rebels and held it up to the cracked torso of a statue. “Fighting with artifacts? Now, that seems like a bad idea. I guess it might be better than fighting with a frying pan.”
A fireball flew past Shade’s face, hitting a column near the poison-covered archway. The air crackled with heat as the spell exploded. Debris bounced off the columns and skipped over the flagstone floor. One stone smacked Shade directly in the cheekbone.
“Did that hurt?” Owin asked.
“Did what hurt?”
Another fireball hit the opposite side of the column near Owin. He flinched down as the explosion partially wrapped around. An elf with a wand was standing near the end of the columns, keeping his distance.
In a normal fight, Owin would wait out the rest of the wand’s charges. It likely only had one or two left. Mobs didn’t actually follow that rule, for some reason, so there was probably no end to the fireballs the elf would cast.
Another elf wearing the same regal attire stopped a few feet from the other and lifted a wand. Lightning flashed from the second, but it didn’t quite make it to Owin.
“Get behind that column,” Owin said, gesturing to the next one over.
Shade did as he was told, but took a second to drag the elf corpse away before he squatted into cover. Another fireball hit a moment later.
“Want to try some magus spells?” Owin asked.
Shade dropped the hammer. “Absolutely. I have to say, the archery thing was not my calling. I know you said it was, but I simply cannot be bothered to hold an arrow and use a bow. That’s too many steps already, and you’re telling me I have to pull it all back too? Ah, ridiculous.”
They both opened their indexes, even as another fireball exploded nearby and lightning flashed between the columns.
“I haven’t seen some of these spells since I was in the Great Forest.” Owin looked through the line of magus spells, stopping to think about each one. Some he had seen, some he hadn’t. Not all of them were said out loud so maybe he had seen Rattis or Vrod use them against Nosolus and the Malignant Spirit, but it was so long ago that he couldn’t remember specifics.
“A telekinetic magus is fine, I suppose. I was hoping for an elemental magus, but at least we’re not a gross abyssal magus.” Shade stared at Owin.
“What?”
“Can you tell I’m making a face?”
Owin shook his head.
“You’re saying I need skin to do that?” Shade sighed loudly. “What are you thinking? Telekinetic Armor? Repulsion Wave?”
“That one. I’ll try Repulsion Wave. When I use it, see if it uses any of your mana. We need to figure out how our connection works.” Owin slipped both knives into his belt, wiggled his metal fingers, and prepared to hop out from behind the column.
“Our connection works because of my allure,” Shade said as another fireball exploded.
As soon as the flash of the lightning faded, Owin sprinted around the column. The two elves kept their wands raised. They might not follow the charges assigned to the wands, but they only attacked on cooldowns. There had been the same gap between each fireball. It had taken a few before he noticed. With his speed, with the shard active, it was easy to get close before the attack cooldown was over.
Owin held up his right hand as he neared. “Repulsion Wave.”
An invisible blast of energy launched from his hand and hit both elves with enough force to toss them several feet back. They landed hard on the flagstones. He skidded to a stop between the two elf rebels. He snatched the wands from their hands, put them in his bag, and ended each life quickly with the lich bone.
Farther ahead was the door with the bright green glow and the battle between a few dozen elves. From his new position, Owin also spotted a huge double door on the side of the hall that looked battered.
Shade approached while staring into the green door ahead. “Now, I know that looks ominous, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”
“On what?”
“How ominous.”
Owin leaned around Shade and stared into the green glow. It was too far away to see anything clearly, but a few faint shapes moved about within the light. “What does ominous mean?”
“Well . . . bad, basically. It gives you that feeling like little bugs are crawling on your bones.”
“It looks ominous,” Owin said.
Shade tapped his armored hand on Owin’s helmet. “I think I agree. Ominous indeed. Want to check it out?”
Owin stared into the green doorway. It couldn’t be good. The Fortress was all about combat, so there could only be one thing waiting for him inside.
“Yeah,” Owin said.
“Good.” Shade took a step around the column. “What did you want to learn about magi?” He casually tossed the question over his shoulder as he strode toward the green glow.
“You were serious?” Owin ran to catch up. The skeleton kept his gaze on the room ahead, ignoring the fighting off to their side.
“Why would I lie to you?”
“Is that a real question?”
“I lie when it is fun for me, but not necessarily detrimental to you.” Shade moved his head back and forth slowly. “That might be a lie too. You know, I just can’t help it. There are too many lies to tell.”
They reached the wall near the glowing doorway. The light had dimmed as they neared, but it still glowed with intensity. Owin leaned against the stone wall and inched over until he could peer inside. The wooden door was covered in green slime that dripped in slow globs that splattered on the flagstones. The door itself was hanging from one hinge like something had hit it with force earlier.
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“What do you see?” Shade shouted.
Just inside, Owin spotted two more elf rebels. One was a woman wearing a slime-covered dress and was holding a frying pan. The other was a man with slime covering his ragged clothes. He was on the ground, dead, with a saucepan and a spatula still held in a firm grip.
It was a kitchen with a checkerboard floor that was brightly lit by lamps on the walls. Even the lamps dripped with green sludge. Past the elves was a series of tables and shelves holding different foods and cooking ingredients. All of it was putrid, shriveled, or visibly rotting. The smell reminded Owin of the cathkabel war beast’s insides, which was far from a compliment.
“We won’t let you do this to us anymore!”
Owin and Shade both turned. The hallway continued just behind them, leading deeper into the castle. If the glowing green room wasn’t so interesting, they would have gone and joined the fight the elves were having.
An elf in fancy garb staggered back with an arrow in his shoulder. He clutched it dramatically and drew a sword with his still-functioning arm. “We won’t back down! Not now! Not ever! We fight for freedom!”
“What do you think that’s about?” Shade asked.
“Uh, I don’t know.”
Shade squatted lower. “Want to go check?”
“What about the green?”
“Hm. Right. Green. After you.”
Owin charged through the door, leaning to the side as a gob of slime dripped from the top of the doorway. The surviving elf with the frying pan stepped back and tripped. She screamed as a glowing green slime crawled over her. It didn’t look like anything was happening for a moment, then she suddenly exploded, showering red and green gore through the kitchen.
“It’s a specter,” Owin said.
“That was an elf, Owin.”
The green slime continued crawling toward them, unimpeded by tables, food scraps, and anything else scattered about the kitchen.
“It’s a shapeless specter. I fought one before.” Owin opened his index and looked over the magus spells. There were less than he had expected, especially after seeing Myrsvai and Suta fight so many times.
“As a telekinetic magus, you can push and pull,” Shade said. “Are you sure you want to learn about this?”
“I didn’t think you were serious when you offered.”
“I am like an encyclopedia. Kind of. Think of an encyclopedia that needs a firm smack to actually start and remember what it’s saying. The memories are there, and definitely getting clearer, but I still couldn’t tell you anything about my old life that wasn’t told to me by the damp dolt.”
Owin took a step back as the specter continued crawling forward. “Specters are weak to elemental attacks. I have the Darkblade, but that isn’t going to do a lot. Cutting a liquid doesn’t seem helpful.”
“If you were an ice magus, you would have access to a whole array of ice attacks and elemental summons and even an elemental familiar that can probably be multiple elements, but honestly that one I’m just making up.” Shade calmly walked closer to the specter. It flowed over his feet. “Oh, there goes the mana.”
“Shade.”
“I haven’t been able to get hurt this whole time.” He walked back out, moving about twice as fast as the slime. “Now we know for next time.”
“Let me try something.” Owin waited for Shade to get out of the way, then he thrust both hands forward and cast Push. It was a relatively weak Power 1 spell, but he had been able to kill a lot of enemies with Bolt and Discharge.
The slime jiggled like a strong breeze had passed.
“I would recommend something a little stronger.” Shade lifted the hammer and wobbled it back and forth. “I could hit it with this.”
“It won’t do anything to a shapeless specter.”
“Oh, a specter expert. What am I again?”
“Shut up.” Owin thrust both hands out again and casted Repulsion Wave. A much stronger force exploded out and caused the front of the slime to lift off the floor and fold over the back half. After a moment, the shapeless specter settled and looked normal and unharmed.
“I can hit it,” Shade said again.
“Let me handle this.”
There were plenty of spells he had never heard of before, and the only way to fight against them in the future was to know how they worked now. He had the opportunity to learn, and if Shade was a magus again, he could use these skills.
As long as Shade was around, Owin wasn’t deficient anymore.
Telekinetic Slam. Owin felt the air shift around him as the shapeless specter was lifted into the air, hovering slowly.
“They fly now?” Shade asked.
With a flick of his finger, Owin sent the shapeless specter flying up, slamming into the ceiling. With another flick, the mob smashed back down. Cutlery and guts scattered as it smashed onto the checkerboard floor.
Still, the specter wasn’t dead.
“I’m out of mana,” Owin said.
“Oh, me too. Sucked away. Sucked dry.” Shade sighed and slowly looked at Owin. “Anyway, did you see Mana Refocus? A magus can fully recharge their mana if they’re willing to stay still long enough and with your miserable mana, it should recharge in no time.”
Owin found Mana Refocus in abilities. It was a once a day thing, but the day changed when he switched floors, so he wasn’t all that worried about it. As soon as he selected the ability, his breath caught. The world turned blue as wisps moved toward him as if caught in a current.
Shade walked up to the specter and smashed the Thunderstrike Maul down. The full charge tossed Shade onto his back, where he stayed as the specter started to consume his legs.
“Believe it or not, that didn’t work,” Shade said.
“I believe it.” Owin could hardly see as the mana flowed into his body. If he had been in the middle of a serious fight, he would be dead. There was no way to dodge or attack as long as he was focusing mana back into his system.
Shade climbed back to his feet and left the slime. “I don’t want to scare you, but it is getting dangerously close.” He grabbed Owin’s shoulder and leaned in far too close. “It might invade your personal space.”
Shade had been right. It was a quick process with Owin’s current mana bar. The last of the mana zapped into his system, immediately clearing his vision. It felt like someone slapped him.
“It’s full. Now what?”
“Why are you asking me? You’re the wizard!”
Owin stuck his arms out to the side. “Repulsion Dome.” A translucent dome appeared around them just as the shapeless specter neared. It immediately started climbing until the slime covered the entire bubble.
“While I will admit it was an interesting idea, you have now locked us inside this prison, and I would know a prison.” Shade was still leaning close. “Because of my box.”
“I get it. Do you know what Accelerated Push is?”
“I don’t know specific spells for a magus. Try it. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Owin gave Shade a look.
“Oh, you die and I get locked in a box for eternity. Right. That is bad, isn’t it? I’d prefer that doesn’t happen. Can you read a description?”
Owin looked through the index until he found the option to open a description like he had seen back when he had first picked his own Power 1 spells.
Accelerated Push
Power 4
Push an entity based on weight. The stronger the magus’s weight, the faster and farther the opponent will go. If the entity weighs more, the magus will go the opposite direction.
“I don’t think that’s helpful for me,” Owin said.
“It could be if you want to go head first into something.” Shade had his own index open as he scrolled through spells. “What if we just both use Repulsion Wave?”
“I guess we could try.” Owin looked through all the available magus spells again. They were all attacks that pushed, pulled, or levitated things. He could see that being really useful in a lot of fights, but a shapeless specter wasn’t the right enemy for that.
“Cancel the dome and we can both send our attacks up so the pile of vomit doesn’t fall on us.” Shade squatted down, set the hammer on the floor, and held both arms above his head with his palms facing up.
“Okay. You’ll have to be fast.” Owin had been surprised that Repulsion Dome was just a shield. With a name like that, he had expected it to push like Repulsion Wave. At least it had given him some more time to figure something out. “Here we go.”
As soon as Owin canceled the spell, the slime exploded into a million tiny drops. Before the green rain could fall on them, Shade cast his spell, launching every bit of the slime down the long kitchen.
“I didn’t realize I was that strong,” Shade said.
They both looked around. Even more green slime now covered the walls and every other surface in the kitchen. The shapeless specter had been huge. The only clean part of the entire room was the circle around Owin, and a tiny bit on the ceiling where Shade had launched the slime away.
0 Experience
“I guess that killed it.”
Shade clapped his hand firmly on Owin’s shoulder. “Look at us. A couple of wizards.”
“Those were magus spells.”
“Look at us,” Shade said again.
“You don’t have eyes.”
“Look at me. Hero and leader of this pretentious party. The one, the only, the bony.” Shade leaned close to Owin’s ear again. “Do you think there was anything in here because I’m starting to feel hungry.”
“We don’t eat, Shade.”
“I want to taste a shapeless specter. It looks like it’s apple flavored.”