Brick teleported the group out of the earthen hole they were in and then vanished, fluctuations in space appearing scattered through their surroundings as they teleported in quick succession. They came back to the camp a moment later.
“I can’t find any signs. It looks like they maybe went that way,” Brick said, pointing to the east. “But only because it seems something chased them that way. Their tracks disappear after that.”
“Maybe they got eaten?" Spark suggested.
“That would be ideal.” Brick sighed and gestured to Zoe’s bracelets. “Mara, if you would?”
Zoe summoned the pile of meat from the night before and Spark started building another fire, then began chopping the meat up into bite sized chunks and putting them in another pile next to the fire.
“You, with us.” Brick said, pointing to Zoe and walking off to a nearby fallen tree with Blue at their side.. “First off, what was that last night? Why does James want you dead that badly? They’ve always been a bit odd, but this was very unexpected. How do you know them? What do they want? You need to be honest with us if we’re going to be travelling together.”
Zoe tried to hide the sting she felt. Honesty wasn’t going to get her a genuine adventure with some locals, trudging through the wilderness on foot without simply Cosmic Stepping there in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.
“I don’t know. They think I’m whatever thing it was that killed the hydra, and think that I should die because of that, I guess? I don’t know.” Zoe said.
“Is there anybody else who might be coming after you?" Brick asked.
Zoe shook her head. “No. Nobody that I know of, anyway. I didn’t even think James was after me though so anything’s possible, I guess.”
Brick sighed. “Okay. I guess I can’t blame you for somebody else trying to kill you. I don’t know why they’d want to kill you anyway, even if you were the creature that killed the hydra.”
“Storage items?" Blue suggested.
“Maybe.” Brick said.
“Are we going to pursue them?” Blue asked.
Brick shook their head. “Absolutely not. They may not have killed the hydra, but they went in there confident that they could. Some enchantment, I heard. If they’ve truly lost their minds, then we can’t risk them ambushing us on their terms.”
Blue nodded.
“But,” Brick added. “If they wanted her dead that badly, then they’ll be back tonight to try again, probably better prepared this time too. We’ll ambush them. Mara,” Brick turned to Zoe. “I’m going to need a favour from you later.”
Zoe nodded. Years ago, the thought might have made her sick, but things were different now. There was no justification for what James did. Or perhaps there was, maybe he knew something about Brick’s group that Zoe didn’t. Maybe he misunderstood what happened with the hydra and thought she was a risk to society that needed to be stopped. Maybe he was down on his luck and wanted to steal the wealth Zoe held on her wrists.
He tried to kill them, clear as day. Dealing the blow herself was something Zoe didn’t want to do, something she wouldn’t need to do. If Brick weren’t here, if she didn’t want to maintain this fa?ade of a somewhat meek healer than she’d just leave and James would never catch up. Maybe he would pursue her for years, but at some point he would have to realize that she wasn’t a threat. And that he wasn’t a real threat to her.
But that fa?ade was something she cared about. She didn’t know the group very well, and she didn’t know where they were going or what the dragon would be like, or what stops they might make along the way. But she wanted to know, and if some dangerous group had to die so it would work out? Then that was just an unfortunate part of life. James should have made a different decision.
“First, we need to learn your capabilities. We’ll start with your water and frost. How much can you do?" Brick asked.
Zoe reached into her soul and disabled her Adaptive Elements skill, then summoned a waist high wave with her Torrents. The water crashed down into the blue grass and ripped up the top layer of dirt, leaving a patch of wet earth almost a meter across next to Brick. Then, Zoe pushed mana into her Frost skill to freeze the water that was seeping into the earth and lift it away, firing it off at a nearby tree. The frost exploded into shards as it impacted the tree, leaving a sizable dent in its trunk as it began to creak and splinter from the damage.
Brick nodded. “Not bad, not great. I see how you’ve survived.” They pulled out a knife from their pocket and handed it to Blue then placed their hand down flat against the tree they were next to. “If you would?”
Blue grabbed the knife and swung it down at Brick’s hand, severing several of their fingers which Blue crushed underfoot as they plopped against the ground.
“Mara?" Brick asked, nodding at Zoe.
Zoe reached out and touched Brick’s shoulder, pushing as little mana as she could into her Restoration skill. Their fingers flesh stitched back together in under a minute, looking like they were before Blue cut them off.
“Fascinating. That’s time?" Brick asked.
Zoe blinked. “Why do you ask?"
“My fingers. They don’t look like new fingers, they look like the ones Blue just cut off. The same scars, the same specks of dirt. These are the same fingers. You didn’t heal them, you undid the damage. Fascinating.” Brick explained. “What else can you do?”
“That’s about all it can do. I can heal objects, though, to an extent.” Zoe answered.
Brick nodded, losing themselves in thought for a few minutes. “Fascinating. What restrictions does it have?"
“It can only heal recent damage.” Zoe answered.
“How recent?" Blue asked.
“Long enough. If I’m around, I can heal you. Don’t worry about it, but I’m not healing your injuries from yesterday or last year.” Zoe said. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Brick nodded, and continued questioning Zoe about her capabilities. How fast and strong she was, how much experience she had with different weapons and fighting different creatures. The hours passed, and Spark showed up with a pile of cooked meat and tufts of grass to store away in Zoe’s bracelet.
“Good, we’ll be able to save a few minutes of light every day with that then. Not much, but it all adds up.” Brick said as Zoe stored the food away with the rest of her food she kept in her bracelet. She found it hard not to laugh at the absurdity of it all, at times.
“Why don’t you travel during the night?” Zoe asked. She preferred not to herself, just because of how creepy the shadows that crept along the forest were. But an organized party, used to living here? The shadows were harmless if you didn’t disturb them with light, so why would they choose to throw two thirds of their day away, hiding from the night?
“Did you?" Brick asked.
Zoe shrugged. “Sometimes. Usually I holed up, though.”
“Why?" Brick asked.
“The shadows are creepy. Don’t like em.” Zoe said.
Brick nodded. “They are. But you’ve been lucky, then. Can you see in the dark?"
Zoe shook her head. “No, my eyes are basically useless at night.”
“Right. Well, you might be comfortable with the beasts that can see in the night, but we are not. We travel when we can see, and we hide when we can not.” Brick answered.
Zoe nodded.
“But we need to prepare for tonight. Mara, come with me.” Brick said, and walked down the slope into their hovel. The walls were covered in charred marks and deep groves where the demons clawed at the walls. “Dig us a hole, starting about ten feet below the floor here.” Brick stomped on the charred earth floor.
“How big?” Zoe asked.
“Big enough for us all to stand comfortably. Leave enough up below the floor to keep it from collapsing if we get attacked again. When you’re done, seal off the doors up here too. But make them look like they’re still doors, just seal the cracks. Make it look clean and proper.” Brick said, and vanished. Space rippled in the space they were moments prior, and Zoe saw a glimpse of deeper into the forest where Brick appeared for a brief moment.
Blue nodded and left the hovel to sit down above the entrance with Spark while Zoe started pushing mana into her Earth skill to repair the walls, seal the doors and begin digging the hole. She started by carving out a small hole in the back, about ten feet deep and then hopped down into it to dig out a large open room about seven feet tall and wide enough for all of them to lie down side by side without feeling too squished.
When she finished, Zoe formed a ladder of rock that ran up the wall to the small hole she dug up above to climb out with. Flying was much simpler, but while she was playing as Mara, thinking of other solutions was fun too.
The sky had begun to dim, leaving them just under another hour left of light before night took over and the four sat down around the campfire to eat food that Zoe summoned from her bracelet, then retreated down into the new room Zoe carved out.
“I found signs of them. Couldn’t see them, but they’re nearby. They’ll attack tonight.” Brick said.
“What’s the plan?" Spark asked.
“We stay down here. Mara, you seal off the ceiling. Don’t let even the tiniest sliver of light through.” Brick said.
“We’re just going to wait? I say we kill them.” Spark said.
Brick smiled. “We’re going to, but we need to stay down here to do it. They''re going to know that what they did last night wasn’t enough, so they’ll try something new. If they were willing to light our home, they’ll be willing to do it again.
“It all depends on what they’re going to change tonight. They have two options, as I see it. The first, is assuming that we got away through my skill. It’s no secret that I can teleport people, and they may think I simply got us out and away. But last night, I yelled at Mara to seal the door. They know Mara is a competent earth mage from her display last night, and if James’ hearing is as good as I’ve heard it is, then he’ll have heard me.
“So they’ll either think that we’re still down here, unperturbed by the attack because of my teleport. In which case, they’ll try the same thing as last night but be waiting for us up above ground. Or they’ll think that Mara sealed us away from the hallway ahead of time, and try to blow off the doors before they light us up.
“The first option is more dangerous, so we won’t do anything. We’ll wait until tomorrow and try to feed them information that will push them to the second option. But I don’t think that’ll happen, I think they’re smarter than that and they’ll try to blow off the doors tonight.” Brick explained.
“And how do we retaliate?” Blue asked.
“If they enter the hallway, I will teleport up and light them up myself. James may have escaped last night by being able to hurl the light away, but if they’re trapped in a hallway without teleportation, or any escape route? They won’t be able to survive. And we’re down here, separated by enough ground to keep us safe from the light.” Brick explained.
Spark chuckled. “I like it.”
Blue grinned. “I love it. They’ll reap what they sow.”
“But I don’t think all four of them will come in. That leaves probably Krang and then one of the two women. I vote we leave them. Without James, they won’t be a threat.” Brick said.
“Agreed.” Blue said.
“I don’t care. As long as they’re not going to bother us.” Spark said.
“Good, then we’re in agreement. Mara, your job is to keep us sealed in here. Don’t let anything in. Understood?" Brick asked.
“Yup. I’ll keep everything out.” Zoe said.
Brick nodded, and the four waited in silence as Zoe watched the light fade from the grass above them. Being so deep underground, she could only see a tiny slice of the surface. But it was enough to see as the light faded, and the shadows came to life, crawling along the blades of grass and down into the hallway above them.
Hours more passed, and Zoe saw two familiar feet creeping along at the edge of her perception, making their way to the entrance of their hovel. Moments later, Brick spoke up, alerting the party to the intruder.
Zoe watched as another pair of feet entered her perception and began feeling their way around to the entrance. They stopped at the entrance for a moment, and then began walking down the gentle slope. First their covered legs came into view, then their torso, and finally their head as they came down into Zoe’s perception.
James and Lilith walked up to the doors and felt around the edges with their fingers, dragging their hands along the faint outline of a door that Zoe left behind in the walls.
“Doors. They sealed themselves in.” Lilith whispered.
James nodded, and rummaged through the large bag against his waist when Brick vanished from next to Zoe, appearing at the top of the entrance.
James took an object from the bag that hung from his shoulder and placed it down at the door, and then screamed as fire raced down the slope and filled the hallway. The shadows jumped to life, horned beasts and imps screeching as they peeled away from the walls, and Zoe turned her attention away. As much as she accepted it as an unfortunate but necessary part of reality, she wasn’t sure she’d ever appreciate watching it for herself.
Brick appeared in the room with Zoe and the others a moment later. “It’s done.”
“Finally. We can get back to actually travelling tomorrow.” Spark whined.
“Bah. We were going to spend the day here anyway, it wasn’t much of a delay, really.” Brick said.
“Pain in the butt, though. Never fun.” Blue said.
Brick sighed. “No, no it’s not.”