Chapter 20. Both of Us

  The creature pounced on me from above.

  It appeared out of nowhere — or rather, it leaped at me from a small shadow portal that opened directly above me. It pounced and sank its claws into me before I could even react in time, and I no longer had any defensive shields up. This creature was different… but also unfamiliar to me. It vaguely resembled a mole — only large, the size of a big cat, with folded leathery little wings and grippy paws that the ‘mole’ used to latch onto me in a death grip.

  The small shadow portal closed on its own, but getting the unknown creature off me turned out to be no easy task. It wasn’t biting or trying to tear me apart, but it clung to me so tightly it seemed to be trying to merge with me, to seep into me. My usual defensive spells didn’t work on this creature, and I spun in place, trying to pry the ‘mole’ off myself.

  “Lori, freeze!” Calypso shouted.

  I obediently froze, and Calypso immediately blasted the ‘mole’ with the golden mist I already knew, which quickly enveloped the creature clinging to me. It let out one last squeak and dissolved in the blink of an eye — the deadly mist instantly burned the creature away.

  “What the hell was that thing?!” I exclaimed, wiping sweat from my forehead with a trembling hand.

  “No idea,” Calypso said grimly, examining me to make sure I wasn’t seriously injured.

  “I’ve never seen or even heard of a creature like that. But it’s good we got rid of it quickly and everything’s fine.”

  ‘Is it though?…’ I thought, tuning into my body.

  Where the ‘mole’ had dug its claws into me, my skin itched and burned as if someone had poured hot coals on it. But outwardly, my skin looked completely undamaged — not even a scratch — which was very strange considering the creature had definitely driven its claws into my flesh. And from those spots, heat was starting to spread through my body. Like a poisonous stain spreading from my scratched shoulder — down my back, toward my heart, toward my solar plexus…

  “Where does it hurt?” Calypso asked immediately, frowning even deeper.

  “Did the creature wound you after all? I don’t see any injuries on you and can’t sense them, but your aura is alarming me right now. Where did it hurt you? What do you feel?”

  “I’m… Hot… very… Oh…” I swayed and sank to the ground, no longer able to stand on my wobbly legs.

  I felt like I was starting to boil from the inside. My temperature had definitely spiked suddenly and severely, and a terrible weakness washed over me.

  At Armarillis, they’d even trained us to fight dark creatures while running a fever and at least know how to quickly leave the battlefield in that condition, but right now I was so knocked out that I could only sit and stare at one spot.

  The culprit, of course, was my inner magic, which the strange ‘mole’ had definitely disturbed, and now my magic was gleefully trying to burst out. Damn… I think I was having an episode… What terrible timing…

  “We need to get you to the healers,” Calypso said firmly.

  “Right now. Let me carry you…”

  He bent down to scoop me up in his arms, but I waved him off along with the colored spots dancing before my eyes.

  “Just a sec… I’ll get up on my own… Just need to catch my breath… Rest a little… Just sit for a moment…”

  But contrary to my words, I lay down on the ground instead — or rather, I collapsed onto my side, breathing heavily and staring in horror at my own hands, which had started crackling with lightning.

  “Lori!”

  Calypso didn’t ask unnecessary questions or say something stupid like ‘Are you okay?’ — it was obvious I was anything but okay. He just quickly scanned me, swore heartily, and tried to apply healing charms to me, placing his palms on my chest…

  But he immediately jumped back because he’d literally been hit by an electric shock from me. He made a couple more unsuccessful attempts, but my rampaging magic simply wouldn’t let Calypso get close, zapping him with short bolts of lightning and repelling any spells he tried to cast on me.

  “What’s wrong with Lora?” Grey and Mia rushed over to us.

  In response, they got an elaborate string of curses from Calypso, who was frantically running through every possible way to get close to me, let alone heal me.

  Yeah, Cal, looks like you can’t handle this alone. And the question is whether anyone can…

  The pain in my back intensified, my head felt ready to explode, the lightning seemed to be piercing through me from the inside. I wanted to scream in pain, but my throat felt like an invisible hand was squeezing it, not letting me make a sound. I was being hit with such savage pain as I’d never experienced before…

  “The Mentor is here!!” I heard Polly’s deafening shout somewhere off to the side.

  I let out a relieved breath and turned my head toward the sound as best I could. If the Mentor was here, I could relax, right? He’d help, wouldn’t he? My naive little soul really wanted to believe that.

  The Mentor had teleported to the top of a hill, from which he was now slowly descending. Slowly and almost ceremonially. Back straight, face serious, arms spread slightly to the sides with palms facing forward. He was walking toward us while forming some complex spell I didn’t recognize in his hands, judging by its blinding white color and dense energy field.

  I’d never seen the Mentor like this. He was literally blazing with white flame, and his eyes had also turned into solid glowing whiteness without pupils. Ilforte’s aura at that moment became visible even without any special magical abilities or enhanced sight — it shone like a powerful lamp, like a lighthouse beaming light in all directions at once.

  “The creatures are approaching,” Mia noted, looking at the ‘anteaters,’ which were still everywhere in the area and running toward us in a horde.” We need to help finish them off…”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Relax, Mia, the Mentor will stop all the creatures now,” Calypso said confidently, casting a quick glance at his father.

  “But there are several thousand of these things, one mage can’t handle a horde like that!” Mia exclaimed.

  She jumped to her feet, brandishing her fire whip, ready to fearlessly charge toward the creatures rapidly approaching us, but Calypso grabbed the elf by the arm and yanked her back.

  “The Mentor can handle this alone. Don’t argue, just duck or better yet lie down, because we’re about to get hit.”

  “By what?” the elf asked, but she lay down anyway next to Grey, who didn’t argue either and also lay down, following Calypso’s lead.

  “The Mentor’s power, which he doesn’t usually show off,” Calypso smirked.

  Right on cue, the Mentor finished weaving the unfamiliar spell and silently thrust his hands forward, releasing the concentrated energy.

  Oh… it was quite a sight.

  It looked as if Ilforte began shining with pure white light — blindingly bright, impossible to look at directly, I had to look away — and this light swept over the entire space around us like a wave, flying toward the endless stream of creatures.

  A very tangible wave: I shuddered when the light wave passed through me and rolled onward. All the Fortemins and inquisitors who were standing and fighting were knocked off their feet by the shockwave — even Zael couldn’t stay upright and ended up sprawled on the ground.

  But more importantly, the light wave instantly destroyed all the creatures the moment it touched them — they simply dissolved silently right before our eyes, leaving no trace.

  The wave of pure white light swept across the entire vast territory where the creatures were in a matter of seconds. And the remaining unclosed shadow portals were literally crushed by this directed stream of magic. All the creatures vanished, all the shadow magic streams. What a crowd of Fortemins and inquisitors couldn’t do, the Mentor cleared in a few seconds.

  The air smelled of ozone, like after a thunderstorm — a clear sign that magic of some incredible, off-the-charts level had been used in the area. I’d only read about such sorcery in ancient tomes, about how the Ancients once knew how to cast such mass destruction spells… And I never could have imagined I’d see such powerful magic in action with my own eyes. If I’d been in a different state, I’d be sitting there with my jaw on the floor, mumbling incoherently in awe, but right now I just dryly noted this fact with my fevered mind. My classmates, however, expressed it for me.

  “Ho-o-oly shit!!!” Mia breathed, raising her head from the ground and staring at the Mentor in admiration.

  Grey expressed himself more colorfully, but with no less admiration.

  “How did he even do that?!”

  “It’s like the creatures were never there…”

  “White Blaze,” Calypso said.

  “A mass destruction spell, level three hundred magic.”

  “What level?!” Grey gasped.

  “But that doesn’t exist!!”

  Now even our delicate elf let loose a few choice words. I would have gladly joined her if my own magic wasn’t burning me from the inside right now. I’m telling you — a spell of some off-the-charts level… I couldn’t have dreamed of such a thing.

  “Three hundred,” Calypso repeated.

  “And it does exist, as you can see. My father just doesn’t like to show it off or demonstrate it in any way.”

  He returned to his attempts to get close to me, instantly losing interest in the conversation and the battle with the creatures altogether. And I could only stare at one spot and listen to the conversations around me.

  “Couldn’t you have just come right away and done that once so we didn’t have to run around for nothing?!” I heard Zael’s indignant voice off to the side.

  “I was busy,” Ilforte said. Judging by their voices, he and Zael were approaching our group.

  “We were attacked by the same creatures when Moris, Bella, and I were chasing the trail of whoever opened the pentagram today.”

  “And? Did you catch them?”

  “Unfortunately not… I’m sure this unknown person orchestrated the creature breach in several parts of Forland at once, specifically to distract Moris, Bella, and me from the chase. We lost the trail.”

  “What kind of powerful bastard is this that can cause a creature breach like this and still manage to throw you off the trail?”

  “When I find out who this powerful bastard is, I’ll put them down with my bare hands,” Ilforte said coldly.

  Outwardly he was calm, but it was deceptive calm. Inside, the Mentor was seething with rage, that was obvious. The helpless rage of a first-class hunter whose very cunning and clever prey had slipped away at the last moment. And if that was the case, we were dealing with a very serious adversary… Who did you have to be to play Ilforte Brandt himself?

  My thoughts were getting muddled, I was getting worse. I think a whole crowd of our colleagues quickly surrounded me, but no one could get closer than a meter. I was barely processing what was happening anymore, but I heard my parents’ anxious voices — even Mom couldn’t get close to me, couldn’t get past my damn lightnings, curse them. Judging by the flashes of spells, they were all taking turns trying to cast, but no spell could get through to me.

  And I… stopped fighting. Because it was unbearably painful now even just to take each breath. My heart felt like it was being squeezed by pliers and they kept squeezing tighter. The pain made me want not just to howl — I wanted to scream and roll around on the grass at the very least. But I didn’t have the strength.

  I understood that I wouldn’t be able to endure this wild pain for long, and my body couldn’t withstand this energy overload for long either. I tried to speak, but nothing came out. I didn’t even have the strength for a pitiful whimper. Too bad, because I really wanted to say goodbye to Calypso and finally tell him that I loved him…

  I lay there listening to the conversations around me, drinking in Calypso’s voice. Remembering how he’d sweetly whispered in my ear just this morning. I could listen to him forever… But right now he wasn’t purring sweetly — he was talking urgently with the Mentor and my parents.

  “She’s been wounded by a lergal,” Ilforte explained.

  “What kind of creatures are those?” Calypso asked irritably.

  “I’ve never encountered them or even heard of them. So they weren’t in our worlds before…”

  “They were,” Ilforte replied grimly.

  “Just a very long time ago. They haven’t been seen in our world for several thousand years. They were hunted to extinction once. Damn dangerous creatures…”

  “What makes them dangerous?”

  “They cause the magical Spark to burn out…”

  “Force it to work at full blast?”

  “Yes. Long ago, lergals were bred artificially… One shadow creature was modified. Not on purpose, but that was the result. There was an experimenter with shadow magic who accidentally created this nasty thing.”

  “What was this thing used for? To attack enemies?”

  “The opposite they used lergals on their own warriors before decisive battles. After being poisoned, the warriors’ magical Sparks would ignite so intensely that they’d output their maximum magic and become absolutely invincible warriors for a short time. Then they’d simply die from magical exhaustion… But the warriors knew they were going to their deaths they were thoroughly brainwashed beforehand. Eventually the Ancients exterminated most of the lergals; some of them apparently escaped to the shadow flip side, but that was a very long time ago… And now Lorelei is suffering because her magical Spark is outputting its maximum right now.”

  “But Lori used up almost all her magic while we were closing the shadow portals just now,” Calypso objected.

  “What maximum are we even talking about?”

  “Well, then we’re lucky that Lorelei exhausted herself so much that what we’re seeing is the maximum her magical Spark is currently capable of,” Ilforte said with a humorless smile.

  “Because if she were at her usual strength, we’d be witnessing a much more terrifying picture. And the lightning would probably be striking in at least a kilometer radius around her. And right now Lora is in very bad shape… This is the final stage of lergal poisoning, when her Spark isn’t just burning like a bright torch and working at full power it’s starting to burn out. Burning out and burning her alive from the inside with excess magic.”

  Calypso cursed loudly. An elaborate string of curses, pulling no punches.