The Illusive Man makes his move, and Nick and the rest of the mages race to try and summon something that can defend them. Back on Ilos, Aria is recovering from her battle with the first boss and getting to have a little downtime.

It's shorter than I like posting, but it came in at a natural stopping point, so I figured I'd go ahead and put it up. Hope you enjoy! :)

-Tas

Chapter 8: No Rest for the Weary

Earth, Day 27

Nick sprinted down the hallway, the sounds of gunfire behind him speeding his steps. The arrows on the signs attached to each corner pointed him towards 5041524B, the park, but with Darrel and Amanda leading him, he paid them no attention. He could hear Connor’s footsteps pounding behind him, the larger boy’s breaths coming in short gasps. Each of the others held a few cards with charged runes inscribed on them, ready to be used at a moment’s notice. Nick watched the blast doors overhead worriedly, prepared to dive or pull up if any of them looked like they might fall.

Things had been going so well. The cafeteria had been cleared of most of the tables for the off-day and turned into a party room, complete with refreshments and a horrifically expensive sound system that was tied into the facility’s overhead speakers. It was actually still piping music through the hallways, providing an odd counterpoint to the sudden violence. A few of the close-by unused labs hosted a variety of other entertainment setups, including video games, a bar, and even a karaoke booth. It was near lunchtime, so Nick had been eating some of the food in the cafeteria with Amanda, Darrel, and Connor. They’d been sticking together as much as possible the past few days and trying to talk about the new guards a lot to the other people in the facility. It’d been working rather well once people noticed how aloof and dangerous-looking the new soldiers were, and they were watched warily when they were around instead of being ignored like before. Another three of the staff without black Keys were able to unlock their magic within the two days since the meeting in Nick’s room, and while they weren’t exactly powerful, it was better than nothing.

Most of the guards had moved into the cafeteria and had seated themselves at a large table off to the side, taking up what was essentially an entire wall of the room, and Nick had been watching them out of the corner of his eye while he ate while trying not to be too obvious. It was a good thing he had been, because when he saw them all move at the same time to bring up their weapons on the room, he was able to react immediately. He’d jumped from his seat, yelling at the top of his lungs for everyone to get down as he activated the cir card he had in his pocket to cast cirres, creating a wall of solid air between the guards and everyone else.

The barrier had lasted only a few seconds before the small amount of mana stored in the card ran out, but it stopped the initial storm of bullets and gave all the magicians in the room a chance to react and defend themselves. Nick used the second of his three cir cards to make a smaller cirres wall to protect himself and the people sitting with him, including Amanda, Connor, and Darrel. Most of the mages in the room got protections up in time, but some of the scientists who hadn’t unlocked their magic and weren’t near anyone else weren’t so lucky.

Blood splattered everywhere as the hail of metal tore through those who weren’t quick enough and screams filled the cafeteria. A few lost their concentration and ended up joining the first victims in death. Everyone who wasn’t in shock had dashed for the door, and Nick had burned his final cir card to protect himself and his friends as they tore out of the cafeteria and headed towards the summoning circle as they had planned.

They’d discussed going on the offensive the previous day, but there had been a guard posted at the entrance to the park and a camera stationed right there. Since no one so using the summoning circle, it would have been blatantly obvious that they were doing something suspicious, and they would have had to get rid of the guard before being able to access the park. On the chance that they managed to take the trained soldier by surprise and defeat him before he could raise an alarm, the camera would catch them, and then there would be no reason for the guards to hold back. They probably would have just gunned down everyone in the facility, leaving the four instigators the only survivors. Thus the longer they could work at getting people suspicious with the guards, the better chances they had at keeping most of the Terran Inquisition alive.

The four mages skidded to a halt as the final blast door separating them from their destination slammed down, the heavy iron-lined door that was the doorway to the park just on the other side of the thick slab of metal. Shit! I knew they were watching from the guard room, but I was hoping they wouldn’t drop these in time.

Without any more cards and needing to conserve his mana for the summoning, Nick was defenseless, but thankfully his friends were not. The blast doors were too thick to burn through quickly, so Connor and Darrel both used a res card to force parts of the hall under the door upwards, but it only moved a few inches before the spells ran out of mana.

“Damn, it’s heavier than I thought!” Darrel cursed. “Shit. Alright. You guys are going to have to handle the summon yourselves. I’ll get this door open and hold them off as best I can. Give me the cards you haven’t used yet.”

“Thanks Darrel and good luck.” Amanda said as she handed over a trio of spell cards to go along with the pair Connor held out.

The black man nodded sharply. “Res!”

The two small pillars of hall ground slowly upwards until there was enough room to get under the blast door, and one by one they started crawling through. The sound of pounding boots reached them as Nick and Amanda were pulling Connor under the door, his girth having a hard time getting under the small gap. Connor came through as Darrel called out, raising a wall of concrete just in time to block the first bullets.

Damn! What do I do?! We can’t leave Darrel, but he can’t do anything when he’s trying to cast and concrete isn’t going to last against that kind of firepower!

“Darrel! Drop down and stick your feet under the door!” Amanda commanded, . “We’ll pull you through!”

“Res!” And the sound of another section of concrete being raised was the only response, but a pair of boots appeared from under the door.

Nick and Amanda each grabbed a leg and dragged Darrel backwards under the door. As soon as he was clear, the two pillars of hallway holding up the blast door shot back into the ground, followed almost instantly by the massive section of steel and the disintegration of two of the spell cards Darrel held. The gears that would pull the door back up fell apart along with another pair of spell cards, leaving him with only one.

They all collapsed, breathing hard.

“Fuck! Get the damn door open Paul!” They heard one of the guards yelling into his radio through the blast door.

There was a pause as the man listened to the response and a grinding noise from the ceiling above the blast door.

“It’s not opening!”

Another pause.

“What!? They destroyed the mechanism!? Fuckin’ kids! Damn it!”

As the soldier continued to blister the air with profanities, Amanda began to giggle. The sense of relief, the joy of being alive, suffused the small group, and before long they were all laughing.

“Paul! Get me that blowtorch in lab sixteen! The Illusive Man will kill us if we leave any loose ends! Actually, better yet, talk one of those freaky mages holed up in the labs and tell ‘em we’ll spare their lives if they can get this door open!”

The laughter stopped as the sense of safety vanished. It would take a five or ten minutes to get through with a blowtorch, but a minute of concentrated fire or a strong enough earth spell would get the guards through the blast door in short order.

“We need to move.” Amanda said as they all picked themselves up off the floor. “Darrel, what kind of mana do you have left?”

He shook his head. “Not much.”

Amanda stepped over to the heavy park door, pulled up on the latch, and shoving it open as she stepped through. “Alright, do what you can to block the door while Nick, Connor, and I start on the summoning. Nick, how are we doing this?”

Nick pulled the platinum spell cards from his pocket and headed towards the summoning circle as Darrel closed the door. “I just need the two of you to contribute as much mana as possible. If I told you what I was going to try and summon, the image you had in your head could mess things up, so just trust me on this.”

They both nodded and took their places on the sides of the circle. Nick placed his two cards, Light and Shadow runes, in the fourth and seventh corners of the nine-pointed star respectively, then moved to the base of the circle and looked at his two new friends. “Remember, this is all or nothing. What I’m going to summon can get us out of this, but it’s going to cost a lot of mana. If necessary, use your health to complete the summon, because if this fails, we’re dead anyway.”

Both of their expressions darkened, but first Amanda, then Connor nodded solemnly.

“Alright, let’s start.”

Nick closed his eyes and focused on the circle in front of him, pushing mana into the design and pulling it from the cards he had placed. He thought of everything he knew about his best friend, all they memories they had, all the time they’d spent together, all the things that he associated with the man. Honor, determination, intelligence, dependability, independence, social awkwardness, tolerance, fear of vulnerability, adaptability, and most of all, the quiet calmness that his friend had always possessed. He felt the connection and the massive amount of energy it would take to complete the summon. They didn’t have enough mana, even with all three of the most powerful mages the compound had to offer at full strength and the spell cards, but he’d expected that and kept shoving mana into the circle. Minutes passed, minutes they didn’t have to spare, but he could only power the summoning circle so quickly. Jess had told him about being able to meet and contact some of the silver Key players the previous day, and he didn’t doubt that this would work now that he knew that they could be contacted. He had to believe it would work, because he was putting everything into one stock, and if his gamble didn’t pay off, everyone in the facility was dead. The mages and staff could hold out for a little while, especially if they had managed to make the labs where the rune cards were. However, they were relatively weak compared to Nick and the three others with him, and he doubted they could do much to take down the guards. Their mana would run out long before the soldiers’ ammo, and then they were as good as dead. He was their chance at survival.

Nick’s mana hit zero and he mentally shoved through the buffer that protected his health. At first it was a slight uncomfortable feeling that suffused his body, like when the sun is a little too hot on a bright summer day, but that feeling quickly mounted into pain. First it as if he was just really sore, then like all his muscles were cramping at once. He heard Connor yell and go down, his face etched in agony. Amanda stood her ground only slightly longer, tears streaming down her face, before she too began screaming, her legs giving out from under her. A third voice joined the other two, and it took Nick a moment to realize it was his. He was on his hands and knees now. When had he fallen?

Mana stopped coming in from his two friends as they lost their will to continue, but Nick pushed further.

Every breath was a new lesson in pain. He was so close! Only a little more! Fire burned in every vein as he gave more of himself, and he saw blood dripping to the ground through hazy eyes before he collapsed. His ears were ringing, but with his darkening vision saw the tall dark figure of Darrel consumed in an explosion that blew the heavy park door open.

Nick gave it one last push with all the willpower he could muster.

I NEED YOU DAVID! HELP ME!

Ilos, Day 27

The first floating island above Ilos to the north was a peaceful place. Soft luscious grass covered the mostly flat surface, and the only populace in evidence besides myself was the multitude of cows sedately munching on the greenery. I was lying on my back on the fragrant grass, hands behind my head, watching the clouds float by with my newly repaired quarterstaff at my side. Rather than having my Light and Shadow bands sticking to my wrists, I was using the magic to try to make images in front of me with the clouds as outlines. My legs were crossed at the ankle, the Comfortable Traveling Boots still adorning my feet as they were, well, comfortable. The breeze ruffled my black dress and danced with my hair, the midnight tresses spilling to the side of me.

It hadn’t even been twenty four hours since I’d been saved from the Plantea boss by my previously unnamed companion, and in a fit sudden laziness, I’d decided to take it easy for a day. Solventus Gale could wait until I was rested, and so could progressing to the next island, doing quests, and finding answers to all those questions about Ilos and my new body. I felt safe knowing I was well ahead of any other competent champion besides Gale, and was taking my ease in the pleasant afternoon sun.

After waking up to an inn room, reading Gale’s note, and collecting my equipment from the corpse of the boss, I visited the marketplace to get my weaponry repaired. The villagers seemed happy enough to take some of the wood and vines from the boss in exchange for their services, and I’d even come away with a little bit of extra cash. With the various errands I needed to do out of the way, I headed through the Air Gate and decided that this was a good a place as any to relax alone for a little while. I’d killed one of the cows, roasted some of the meat over a fire, and made a nice lunch for myself before taking a nap for most of the day. It was well into the afternoon now and I’d woken up a half-hour ago or so, but I had no plans to move any time soon. I figured I could stay here till nighttime and then take the Air Gate on this island to the next one so I could fight the stuff that slept during the day.

Gale had obviously taken care of the boss on this island already as the Air Gate was active, though I would really have been shocked if he hadn’t by the time I came though. The guardian of the Gate on this floor was the same as all of the rest of the island’s populace, namely that it was a cow, though calling it a bull might be more precise. The animal could take a lot of hits and had unparalleled damage for any creature up till this point, but the only attack it had was to charge directly at you. As long as you didn’t mind a trip back through the Air Gate to Circir below, all you had to do to defeat the boss was stand at the edge of the island and then jump over it when it charged you. The couple thousand foot drop would ensure your victory, and then you just went to collect your spoils. Gale sure was a lucky bastard to get that one to himself.

I stopped myself from starting to grumble about it, it wasn’t really all that big of a deal anyway, that boss gave out very little exp. Honestly though, ignoring all the shit I’d had to deal with for the past few weeks for a change was liberating. I’d been worrying about everything for far too long, obsessing over things I couldn’t change, and that had bit me hard when I tried to fight the boss. I’d been an idiot trying to fight a monster of that difficulty when I was so exhausted and out of it, and I’d still almost pulled it off, which I was oddly proud of.

Putting that out of mind, I sighed contentedly as I watched a fluffy cat-shaped cloud float past, absently making Garfield out of it using the cloud as a background. I giggled at the imagery, amused by my own silliness. This is… nice. I need to take breaks more often. I yawned. I can wait until it gets dark to do more than just relax.

As if that thought had triggered it, light bloomed from under me, warm against my back. As relaxed as I was, my subconscious was still paranoid of unexpected things and caused my to bolt to my feet, scooping up my quarterstaff as I made a quick hop backwards and prepared myself to fight, my Light and Shadow magic vanishing. I looked down, spotting the odd light, which stayed directly below me even when I jumped again, this time high up and backwards. Now that I was in the air I could see that the light formed a fairly specific shape: a nine pointed star inscribed in a circle five or six feet across made of dim grey light, and in the center a glowing white starburst.

Fassi! I commanded mentally, sending strikes of burning light down into the oddity, which did nothing but distort it as my spell tore up the ground it seemed to be projected on. I landed directly on the thing, but nothing happened. It moved with me even when I made jerking movements to try and get out from over it, my best feints doing nothing to shake it.

This was freaking me out a bit. I’d never seen anything like it before in Ilos, and that it seemed locked to my position wasn’t exactly comforting. It looked like a fictional magic circle that I’d seen in any number of games or anime, but that only told me it was potentially dangerous and could possibly do something freaky.

Deciding to forgo the ineffective offensive and avoidance approaches, I crouched down and felt it with a hand, frowning. The starburst was somehow warm to the touch, and as I watched the empty parts of the figure were slowly filling with this weird shifting multicolored light. Something was going to happen when the circle was full, I felt sure of it, but I had no idea what. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out, exhaling all of the emotions that swirled within me until I floated calmly in the Stillness. The figure was mostly empty now, but I only had probably another thirty seconds or so until whatever was going to happen happened. My hands did a hasty check of my gear, feeling three health potions I had left, making sure my long knives were secure, touching all fourteen of my throwing daggers, tapping my wolf’s head clip, my metal armband, and my spell gem pendant, then finally gripping my quarterstaff.

Twenty five seconds to go.

Everything began to shimmer, as if distorted by heatwaves that slowly grew in intensity, but there was no change in temperature. I tried moving, but the circle stayed locked to my position, the white starburst remaining under my feet so matter where they moved.

Fifteen.

The world around me began to ripple, as if someone had cast a stone into the clear pool I was viewing the world through. Another image, another place, seemed superimposed over my vision, slowly fading into view. I could dimly hear screaming, first one voice, then two, and then three, both the visual and audio phenomenon becoming more intense as the seconds ticked by. I was pretty sure I knew what this was now. Ilos had enough game aspects in in for me to guess someone was using summoning magic, and I was the one getting pulled in. I didn’t know where it was I was going, but from the pain the voices seemed to be in, it wasn’t exactly peaceful.

Five.

Two of the voices stopped, the third only pausing long enough to draw breath for another howl of agony. It was much louder now, and the world seemed to be melting away in my vision, doubled with another place. I could see three figures around me, too shimmery to make out, all on the ground. There was greenery there, and a path that lead to something that was grey instead of green. Moving around still did nothing, the almost completely filled figure remained centered on me even now, and in the other world didn’t change at all. I crouched, holding my quarterstaff low and behind me, ready to move in any direction if whatever this was did something dangerous, which seemed like the highest possibility at this point. I had no idea what I was getting into, or rather where I was going, I’d just have to figure it out when I got there.

The last voice stopped. A flare of orange light replaced the grey the path in the other world lead to. An explosion sounded, a trio of figures appearing in the smoke with what looked like assault rifles.

Two seconds.

One second. Light Barrier, cires!

A bubble of transparent solid Light surrounded me just before the nine pointed star and circle filled completely.

*I NEED YOU DAVID! HELP ME!*

Shock lanced through me, piercing the Stillness with its intensity. I knew the voice that sounded in my mind, more desperate than I’d ever heard it. It belonged to someone I was closer to than family, I would give my life for, someone I would do anything to help.

Nick.

Uncertainty vanished. It was time to go.

I charged forward as the starburst symbol under my feet flared with renewed light, blowing away Ilos with its brilliance.