Demonic Magician

The air rushed past me. For a brief split second, I felt oddly at peace. Swiped the cuff from the falling captive and then appeared back up atop the ridge of the ravine, swapping position with a hell-dove. I wavered, and Quinn grabbed my arm.

“If you fall, I might as well jump, too.”

I opened my mouth to reply, before being interrupted by the flash of dark energy. A burst of air rushed up from the ravine, before lashing tendrils of black lighting pulsed and snapped out, charring the stone of the steep cliffs. After two long seconds of this eldritch violence, the power subsided, and the pair of us leaned a little closer to the edge.

“So, it was an explosive.” I pulled a face at the destroyed foliage, some of it slightly aflame, as the remnants of Dorian washed away with the river.

[Ren: Everything okay??]

[Max: We are safe.]

[Max: Dorian disposed of.]

[Ren: Alright, hurry back.]

I was thankful to move further away from the ravine. Although I had lost my prized journal, we had avoided a moderately clever assassination attempt. Quinn gave the destruction a brief glare before catching up to me.

“So we are potentially fighting against three who have defeated Guardians?”

“Possibly.” I gave him a shrug. “I’m not sure it matters all that much, however.”

In saying this, it wasn’t like my newly gained powers were anything to shirk at - I just knew how to use them better. Burned away my Domain to deal with Tyler’s army of zombies. Whoever created Dorian had been beaten out by a little patience and caution. If I hadn’t knocked the puppet out, then he would surely have been killed by Ren in short order.

The explosion and reaching tendrils of foul energy looked to affect an area of at least sixty feet, so we would have taken some damage, even from his poor hiding place.

“We shouldn’t have to worry about any further Guardian-slayers,” I noted, as if that could cheer him up.

“You think so?”

I gave him a pat on the back as we walked back to the rest of the group. “No. Well… I imagine they were distributed throughout this continent. Which means two per area - unless there was one on the starter island. Or even two… so they might not be equally spread out.”

He pulled a face and rubbed at his eyepatch. “So the most likely options are the current four is all that we have to worry about - or there might be a fifth?”

“I’ll see if Tanya will give me the contact’s information. Maybe we can get some clarity where she isn’t trusted by him.”

Quinn murmured his acceptance, and we continued the rest of the way back to the Party in silence. Whilst I was normally perceptive when it came to people, I wasn’t too sure if he had something on his mind or not. Rather than prod him to open up, I allowed him to come to that point himself.

We emerged out onto the clearer plains of where the Quest was being repeated. We had missed out on the kills, but they had also gone slower in our absence, keeping themselves ready in case there was either someone else in the wings waiting to pounce… or the event that I'd inevitably injured myself on something.

Wolf gestured for a break, and Ren immediately stomped up to meet us.

She gripped me by the chin and moved my head from side to side, inspecting me. “Seems like you’re in one piece. Thank you, Quinn. He didn’t do anything stupid, did he?”

The fixer gave her a blank stare that was almost too neutral. Like a deer caught in headlights. “No,” he managed.

“Turns out I’m not entirely crazy, and the affable prisoner was, in fact, a living bomb intending to kill us off.” I gave her a smile as she relinquished control of my face.

Wolf was lying on his side, tongue hanging out of his mouth, while Tanya leaned up against him with her arms crossed.

Ren gave me a brief nod. “Well, thank you as well.” She hesitated as if she was about to walk away from me, but instead just wavered in place, before glaring off at the next pack of Monsters.

“Let’s get back into it as soon as Wolf is ready. I don’t want to linger here longer than necessary,” I offered.

Expecting a grunt of agreement, or maybe just a curt nod, I was taken aback as the elf stepped closer and put her arms around me for a hug.

Briefly paralyzed, I watched Quinn walk off to talk with the others, a shrug of equal confusion his parting gift. I put my arms around her too, not wanting to waste a good thing.

Her face moved up to rest gently against mine, as her mouthed neared my ear. “I know you did something stupid, because my Oathwarden sense told me you were in danger,” she whispered. She then squeezed me a little tighter than was comfortable.

“Is it telling you I’m in danger now?”

She pulled back so that she could look me in the eyes as she wrinkled up her face. “You’re lucky that I love you, trickster. I don’t like having to be mad at you.”

“I’m just a magnet for bad times.” I moved my hand up to hold the side of her face. “But next time you’ll be right there, knee deep in blood and shit with me.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

She smiled and gave me a brief kiss. “You’re on thin ice, trickster. Peace treaty accepted, for now.”

“Then let’s kill and grow stronger together.” I looked out at the System-created. “Oh, well - I guess I can’t.”

Ren sighed and released the hug, to turn and look at the rest of the Party. “I can’t in good conscience give you the go ahead to join in.”

While Tanya had said she’d break my leg if she caught me using Shuffle to remove my Trauma status, she couldn’t actually see my icons. It would be child’s play to do the deed in secret and potentially heal myself with only minor repercussions. Of course, assuming I didn’t instantly die from something, it would still be a hard sell to get them to agree to me fighting.

“Just think…” I began. “The amount of danger and pressure we are under. If I were allowed to burn from both ends, we could be safe and comfortable in a bed somewhere rather than grinding most of the evening.”

She shot me a scowl. “Don’t. Your health is not a negotiable commodity. If you make your condition worse, then it puts us all in danger.”

I opened and closed my mouth. She was right in that respect. We’d set the ball in motion and would soon be reaping the consequences in the form of a final battle against the necromancer. For me to be anything less than peak performance could ruin our show. Bury us, literally.

Still, that just made me work my jaw in frustration. Shuffle danced in the back of my mind, and it knew all the right moves to get my attention. It was just a quick action and then it’d be all over, one way or another. Part of me was clearly a gambler, and way too impulsive with what was literally a risk taken on my continued existence.

One look at the elf and I put that idea to rest. Even if I could accept the risk to myself, I couldn’t put her through the struggle of me suffering worse than I already was.

“A compromise?” I asked. “Let me summon Roger only, nothing else.”

Her tired expression told me I had more chance of that being accepted. “Group vote, okay? But I thought you said that ability is inert?”

“It is, but I don’t believe it.”

She shrugged and led us over to the rest of the group, not wanting to argue over whether I should be distrusting of what the System presented me. We both knew I was a rule-breaker.

“Max is requesting we allow him to summon Roger,” she announced, and stood with crossed arms.

Tanya pulled a face. “How exerting is it? Just the initial cast, or continuous?”

“Just initial,” I answered.

Quinn shrugged. “I’ll defer to the expertise of the fair Ren.”

Wolf didn’t seem to care either way.

The women exchanged a glance. “Alright,” the fateweaver decided as she shook her head. “Just Roger and if you start bleeding or doing anything else unsavory, then you’re in the time-out chair again.”

I gave them a bow, and vertigo threatened to tip me over. “My thanks.”

Of course, it wasn’t that easy now, was it? The others prepared themselves to continue the grind as I brought out Roger’s card and frowned at it. It was inert - as if it was a mundane card. He hadn’t died… and even if that were the case, then he should be refreshed and ready by now.

As the combat began, I placed the card down on the grass and stepped a few feet back away from it. I scowled and missed having my hat. Today had not gone my way, and I wasn’t about to let the System screw me out of having my security demon. I extended my palm out towards the dull card showing the white rabbit and glared.

A tether had been severed. Past the usual hand-waving of how magic worked in this world, I could see the threads of it. Or… not see, but feel. In the same way as I could attach lines of my power to objects to turn invisible, the cards themselves had some kind of intangible connection to my… core? Wherever the magic juice was stored.

Could I regrow it? Or find some way to connect it once more?

I made the first attempt gradually. Not wanting my hand to burst out with blood and be sent to the back to think about my actions, I’d have to be cautious with what I allowed myself to do. A wave of warmth ran down my right arm as I felt an invisible tendril move out and seek out the inert card.

In my peripheral, I could feel the icy glares that Ren and Tanya took turns in leveling my way. It was warranted. I couldn't deny that. Given my track record, it was just as likely I’d lose my hand or teleport to literal Hell to…

Was that an option?

I held off on traveling with that thought any longer. Something told me I could - if I put enough power and sacrificed enough. But what of the results? Just as likely I’d be trapped there, and it would be some place hostile to me. The irony of teleporting myself into Hell to avoid trouble here, when one version of me had come here by teleporting away from danger in Hell was amusing.

Still, that must be where my pact demon was…

My left hand raised, hoping that sharing the burden would hold off on self-damage as I increased the power pooling down into the card. Breaking some rules again. He was supposed to come here via a corpse - perhaps his exit from my Domain had confused the System and this was his punishment.

Well, I needed him.

Arcs of energy flickered around the card, scorching the loose sand of the dry area we were in. I calmed myself and tried not to force the change. Hands were clear - but I’d gotten the attention of Ren now. Performing under pressure was no big deal.

Expecting the card to bloom into purple light and become active, requiring a corpse to be struck to bring him back, I was instead surprised.

A magic circle of purple and black runes bloomed up around the small rectangle of the card. Much wider and more detailed that my usual summons. With the thrum of energy, a tall figure of white fur rose up.

Roger turned to me, purple eyes glowing. His ears were parted to the sides of his head, and what sat atop him made me grin widely.

He returned the big smile, taking down my magic top hat to pass back over to me.