Post by Lone Dancer on Nov 9, 2022 3:25:25 GMT
Chapter 6
Shipment Block
Carlos and Jade were currently scouting out a single nondescript black van that was currently recharging its mana battery. Surrounding it were various automatons, the mechanical figures walking in synchronized patrol.
They were pulled over to the side of a road that no one used anymore, grass growing over most of it. The duo was lying flat upon the hill, using a pair of binoculars with a thin black fabric stretched over the lens to minimize revealing glare from the noon sun.
“Well, this is it. We better not screw up now” Carlos muttered to Jade, in a whisper.
“Eh, we’ll do fine.” She whispered back. Despite them being a good distance away from the van and it’s patrolling automaton, they wanted to risk nothing.
He shifted a bit underneath the camouflaging cloth they hid under, magically enchanted to blend in with the surroundings. It was on loan, so he was wary of somehow damaging it during this mission.
“We’ve rehearsed this several times now. We need to move in before the battery is done recharging.” Jade hissed.
Carlos was fidgety, but she was right. Worrying about failure wasn’t going to complete the mission. Besides, they had two weeks of learning behind them. So they weren’t entirely inept now. He was beginning to slowly form his own magical style, and he was hoping that he would gain some insight from this mission.
But the primary goal, as he re-oriented himself on what needed to be done as Jade and he began to slowly crawl down the hill, toward the van, the primary goal was to get a briefcase locked inside the van. It contained plans for some sort of magic item, though not one too important, seeing its rather lackluster security force.
As they got closer, he could inspect the automaton patrolling better. They were simple constructs made from enchanted metal and wood. A golem core hid behind their primary chassis that acted as their torso.
They were bipedal, and humanoid in appearance. But they were dumbed-down versions. They only had three clunky fingers, and had shoes for feet. Most had smooth faces, though some had poorly painted on ones, done by some bored worker. They had security uniforms and that was it.
Carlos believed that while they had no outward weaponry, that had some built-in spells to be wary of if they were to engage directly.
He and Jade paused as one of the automatons whipped its head their way, the nearby automaton doing the same. They held still, pulling the camouflage fully over them, and holding their breath.
It took a few moments, but the curious automaton moved on. The pair wanted to get as close as possible before any potential combat sprung. Automaton like these had attack on sight enabled, so there would be no negotiating their way through. There was just Jade to crash heads together, and what Carlos could conjure up in time.
He was confident in Jade, very much so, but regarding himself? No. But he did not want to be dead weight. He wanted to be able to able to hold his own. This mission was his chance to prove it.
Once they got as close as they realistically believed was possible, they paused, waiting for just the right moment. But that waiting was interrupted when one of the automatons ended up behind them without them realizing it.
The damn things were more stealthy than they thought. It wasn’t even intentional either; it seemed to have accidentally bumped into them while they were under the cloth. Jade squirmed as it poked her with its finger, and the jig was up.
Casting the cloth aside, they both sprang up. Carlos hoped the cloth would be fine, before bring his full attention to the situation at hand.
The alarm, for one, was already clearly ringing as the full patrol of all eight came immediately rushing in their directions, fingers splayed and arms outstretched. To be honest, he found the ones with the painted faces to be more unsettling than those without.
But those thoughts quickly became neither here nor there as automatons whizzed into combat. They marched unerring towards the duo, mechanical fingers snapping open and close. Jade dragged Carlos to the side right as one flung its first spell.
He could watch as the sparking blue ball flew from the closest automaton’s hand, whizzing through the air erratically with a crackle and a pop! It flew by where his face was, before careening into the dirt, making it erupt into a plume.
That looked decidedly not fun to be on the receiving in, so at the sight of the second orb of pain, he jumped out of the way, rolling towards the van. Dirt and grass flew up, and the resulting bang was ear-piercing.
Wrangling his focus, he coalesced his will into a simple disc-shaped shield. Its three layers shimmered in the sunlight, and Carlos felt proud. It barely took him a second to form. Practice truly made perfe-
One of the automaton’s spells blasted into the shield.
While it didn’t hit him directly, thanks to his shield, he could definitely feel the minor concussive shockwave from the aftermath.
“Carlos, come on!” Jade yelled at him, as she was currently wrestling with one of them. Well, not so much wrestling and more bashing it in with its own torn-off arm. Her words, alongside the spell, got him moving again.
He dispelled the shield, and conjured another right in the path of another orb of pain as he dubbed them. His feet shifted in the grass, and he made his sprinting approach toward the van. He was starting to feel slight wooziness from the conflict of the headache and Ego rush, but he pulled himself together.
Jade managed to beat two of them already, and was in the process of dissembling a third. He barely avoided another orb spell. Those were getting two close to comfort, and his shield took another hit, fizzling out, forcing him to conjure yet another.
Having those float in the air was a constant strain, but he sent the one he just made barreling towards the automaton close by the van.
The mechanical figure seemed unfazed by the arcane construct as it smacked into its chassis. But Carlos had another trick up his sleeve. And like he practiced before, he sent the construct exploding with a snap of his fingers.
The automaton was ripped apart from the chassis as the detonation damaged its golem core. The automaton folded over, defeated. He felt powerful for a moment, before concerns of Ego rush popped in. But he didn’t care.
He just beat one. He started walking again in a confident stride, conjuring another shield and send it flying towards the other automaton. This one seemed wary unlike its predecessor, but he didn’t care. Once he deemed the shield close enough, he detonated it.
He wanted to try something fancy. While the automaton was not downed by the explosion, he clenched his fist. The previous expelled shards from the shield construct began to rapidly retrace their paths, now imploding onto the automaton.
The end result was it main body being shredded, and a glowing conglomerate now lying in the grass where the shield used to be.
He could feel something trickle down his nose, and his head felt funny, but he puffed his chest up. Truly, he was one of the greatest Mages already. Why fight the Ego when he could simply embrace it instead?
He was at the van, which was just barely off the road. The trunk doors were locked, and windows were tinted. But a simple wedge allowed him to easily force open the doors. They opened outward, and he was ready to claim his prize.
He stepped forward and didn’t spot the final automaton in the van until it was too late. Carlos yelped in surprise as it grabbed his arm. Its three fingers held on tight, so tight that it hurt. The automaton had only a frown painted on its face, a black smear that stared at him as it twisted its grip.
Carlos screamed as it effortlessly broke his arm, all senses lost and Ego delusion shattered. He tried to kick back from the automaton, but it still held onto his mangled arm. His mind blanched at the sight of his own bloody bone.
Any attempts of conjuring anything was thrown at the window as he could not focus through the pain. So he sat there, stuck and helpless, at the mercy of a merciless creature. It pulled back its other arm, and now that he was up close, he could see the method of his demise charge up.
He resigned himself, wishing he could’ve done better. Numbly, he heard a scream behind him. But unlike his scream of pain, it was a scream of rage. The automaton looked up, its painted frown somehow giving off a sense of frustration.
Its eyeless gaze was met with the thunder of blistering red lighting. For a flashing moment, all Carlos could see was blinding crimson that preserved even if he closed his eyes.
Everything felt off. All his neurons were telling him about his mangled arm, but he felt disconnected. Their were growing black spots in his vision, but he awkwardly fumbled his functioning arm forward, grasping for the briefcase he could see beyond the smoldering ashes.
He felt like he was dying, so he at least wanted to complete the mission beforehand. Weakly, he could feel his fingers touch it as his head began to loll back and he saw a very pale Jade. He could’ve sworn he heard whispers when he made contact with the briefcase, but everything was just so hazy.
He gave her a smile, or at least, thought he did before oblivion took him. The darkness was sweet in its embrace.
###
Jade always believed she had a strong countenance for the disturbing. But being presented with that mangled mess was a sight that made her want to look away and vomit. Carlos for all intents and purposes, looked dead, and she didn’t want to believe it.
He couldn’t be. While yes, while the state of his arm was grievous, it wasn’t fatal. It was likely just shock. Or at least, that was what she told herself. Spirits damn it, everything was going well, and then Carlos got cocky because of his stupid Ego thing, and got his arm practically ripped off.
She was exhausted, in all ways. The energy that normally sustained her was all spent in that spell she did. She couldn’t even appreciate that it was the first time she managed to do that despite several years of trying.
None of it mattered, though. Not now. What mattered was getting her best friend back to the Defiant and see if Hawthorne or someone could fix it. No, not could; they would fix or so help it Jade would make it her personal crusade.
Her thoughts were culminating in violence until Carlos let out a weak groan, and shattered those thoughts. Before she could blink, despite her exhausted state, she was at his side, dragging him to a better position. Around her in the grass lay the broken bodies of automaton. As she was dragging him, she noticed that the briefcase tumbled off of him. She was torn about grabbing it or not, but knew she could come back after a minute, after she made sure her friend was stable.
As she pulled Carlos’s limp body along, dragging him by his armpits, she tried to diagnose herself. Her inner vision revealed that most of her body was okay, beyond some sore spots were she got punched. The automaton were fragile, but they packed a punch.
After bringing him up the hill, and brushing the debris and ash off his body, she went back down to get the briefcase. It was a simple thing, made with a steel frame and thick leather. As she picked it up, something inside it called to her.
Something wanted her to open it up, and discover the secrets inside. It had an odd persuasiveness to it, and she had to actively resist. Jade grew concerned at this, and tossed the briefcase forward onto the grass, toward the hill. She hoped the contents would survive the fall. She could hear nothing breaking, so she took it she was in clear
Plus, the desire to open it was diminished now. As she made her way back to Carlos, she recounted the order of events.
When they were first found out, she hopped in the direction of three, grappling with the closest automaton. Charing herself with the strength of her Element, she ripped off the first one’s arm. Thoughts grew slightly hazy after that, but she knew she beat those three in the end.
She saw Carlos take care of two nearby the van, so she got the other three who were returning. Using her Element externally was difficult, only able to create those minor sparks. It bespoke her lack of understanding.
Her Element was that of Destruction. It was so endlessly corny and dumb, but it was what she was stuck with. She picked the wrong book left behind by her Grandpa, and now had to go through it or be a shame to her family.
But she already was a failure. She’s been stuck, unable to progress for three years. Just hitting the same brick wall over, and over, and over again. She could feel her fist begin to clench up again.
And because she just wasn’t strong enough, Carlos got heavily injured. She rubbed at her face, just tired. The Defiant Guild was a way for her to see if she could gain new insight, from entering combat. But it was messy, nothing like the books where the main character was suave, able to kill everything with a magical wave of the hand.
She looked down at her hands, the small cuts from where the metal and wood jabbed into her, slicing her as they shattered. She watched as tiny sparks of red slowly knit her skin back together. That was the thing she couldn’t understand. Why did her Destruction Element repair her so well?
It made no sense. But those were questions for later. Always for later Right now, she had to get ready to get Carlos out of here. At the beginning of the mission, before they got sent off, they handed Jade a transport pendant.
She grimaced as she realized she had to grab the briefcase again for this mission to be considered a success. She had no doubt that Carlos being rendered to this state would bring demerits against their ‘score’. She stared at the briefcase.
A voice in the back of her head was tempted to open it up, to see what was calling to her. She pulled herself together, checking over Carlos one more time. He looked less dead than before, and she could spot the breathing now. She wondered if she had missed it in her panicked state, but she shoved those thoughts to the side. She could leave further wondering for later.
Bringing her attention back to the briefcase, her first attempt had her call the wind. An inborn ability to every Allrun, due to their heritage. But the breeze she could muster didn’t budge the damn thing at all. She resigned herself to having to physically pick it up and deal with the voices.
Being confident that Carlos wouldn’t expire from her leaving his side; after all it was just a broken arm and what she figured to be feedback from his Ego and magic. It wasn’t many steps to reach where she tossed the briefcase, so it was a very brief journey.
Once she had it in her hands, the desire to open it increased tenfold. It was an active struggle to walk back to Carlos, her knuckles white from how tightly she gripped the handle. She was pretty sure it was deforming. Damn it, what was in this thing.
Now back over Carlos, she had a short dilemma wondering how to hold the briefcase, hold him, and activate the pendant. But the solution came to her swiftly. Wrapping her left arm around him, and lifting him up, she awkwardly maneuvered herself to pull the pendant from her pocket. Him being a limp sack of potatoes didn’t quite help.
Okay, she had Carlos, check, had the briefcase, (Psychically screaming at her to open it), check, and she had the pendant. Confirming she had everything, she squeezed the pendant, crushing it.
As reality bent and the warp back began, she realized she had forgotten the camo cloth.
Shit.