Desperation

  Courage.

  “Faris, take out the backline caster; Cyril, keep Alex’s health above half until Kor gives you the all-clear. Then focus on buffing Faris.”

  I want to understand…I really do.

  “Elias, head back a bit to put some distance between you and their melee group; Callie, don’t waste the recovery skills and work on your offensive support rotation.”

  “M-maybe a bit…a bit can’t…can’t hurt,” Elias panted.

  “Callie, now. And add in a Revit after your Enkindle.”

  “Oh, bless.”

  What’s…right?

  “I’ve lost sight of them,” reported Theo, ahead of Callie’s group and still advancing.

  “That’s alright.” She scanned the dark arena, feeling out the positions of her classmates despite the poor visibility. “You should be able to go forward another hundred steps before you enter the enemy’s starting area. Stay behind the trees and check ahead for disruptions.”

  “How much longer do I have to hold them back for again?” shouted Alex over the noise of her current skirmish with the other class’s duelist.

  Ty gritted her teeth and shifted her feet from her podium, peeved that she couldn’t fight since she was the tactician. “Kor, what’s the status?”

  “Almost done, they should be clear for another fifty. I can detonate in ten.”

  “Alex, stun the enemy and fall back to Faris. Faris, chain the stun with a five-second Entangle. Cyril, I’ll give you Immunity. Take the left forest path up to Kor—detonate in five, four…”

  As promised, Ty spoke a basic Immunity as she watched her orders play out while a large smoky explosion burst out from under the opponent’s main duelist, far too dark to blend into the Field spell that had been placed over the arena by the Headmistress before the fight began. The only way to see ahead was to physically pass through the area, which was far easier said than done. Normally, she would have been able to nullify it easily, but today’s obstacle was a part of the exam conditions—her students had to locate a tablet somewhere in the arena to receive further instructions on how to dispel it. All the while defending themselves from being overtaken by the enemy team, who had been given the same victory condition.

  “Okay, now take out the caster in regular formation. Kor, scout the next area; Cyril, you alright?”

  “That was terrifying, but yes.”

  “Theo, anything?”

  “No,” groaned an annoyed physician.

  Even if people get hurt?

  “Elias, you’ve got to hurry and clear that caster; you’ve got two coming to you from ahead. One’s a duelist.”

  “Another two?” yelled Elias breathlessly, still trying to get through his opponent’s shield. “Where in the world is Selene?”

  “A minute!” grumbled Sel, who was trying to weave her way through the dense thicket and forest from Alex’s side.

  Meanwhile, Callie was still working on her rotation, which was really the only thing left that was keeping Elias afloat. Ty couldn’t interrupt her or ask her to speak without risking getting Elias hurt.

  But this is the only part of the fight that needs work, grimaced Ty, biting a nail. Sel has one, but she’s too far…

  “Callie, stop the cast and Dispel, then go melee.”

  “What do you—” Elias started to yell before being cut off.

  Deep in concentration, having spent the good part of the last ten minutes trying to continuously cast without interruption and now being asked to do it while running, Callie could do nothing but listen to her orders, dropping her book and taking her spear off her back to charge over to Elias.

  “I’ve got it,” Theo finally reported, also sounding winded. “Coordinates are 551-42, northwest. Needs…needs a—fuck, what is this?”

  As Theo muttered Ancient words to himself, no doubt trying to read the victory conditions on the tablet they had been tasked to fulfill as a part of their final year exam, the two main components of 1-A’s main group called out, “Caster here down, do we keep going?”

  “Kor?”’

  “Working on another fift—”

  Nothing.

  Sensing that Kor’s silence meant that she had been expelled from the arena, another cog suddenly stopped moving in Ty’s plan. The dark fog was too dense to keep going without a scout, and she couldn’t risk them getting ambushed, no matter how reckless she wanted to be.

  “You two, meet up by Cyril and hide. Now.”

  “C-caster, we…we got the caster,” Callie choked, putting the final finishing spell onto the downed enemy. “Elias, he—Selene, where’s Selene?”

  “Here,” squeaked the botanist right on time, running out of the middle forest section of the field toward the incapacitated duelist and the class support.

  “O-okay, I’m gonna…I’m gonna catch…”

  “Okay, Ty,” Theo mused, finally deciphering the conditions. “We’ve got to Ignite the fog. I need the powder to do it—who’s got it?”

  People will get hurt, no matter what.

  The tactician looked behind her at the Ancient kneeling respectfully on the ground, who, upon hearing the words, produced a small gray pouch from his bag. He was the safest person to keep it on, especially after having to deal with all of Will’s Expels during the first semester exam.

  “Darius, I’ll have Cyril warp you in so that we can get that delivered. Okay?” spoke Ty quickly before turning back to her mess of a field. “Cyril, where can you get him?”

  His voice was a whisper. “I can head back to the halfway point, if he’s by the start.”

  “Perfect.” Ty waved for the Ancient to head over to the starting position down on the field. “Once it’s acquired, Alex will take it over to Theo.”

  “What about—” Alex retorted before being cut off by her partner.

  “We’ve felled three, Elias’s side has two, and they’ve got two more in front. There’s max two left here. I have Cyril, Sel and Kor should be back by then.”

  “Where’s this two you’re talking about?” grunted Elias from the other end, propping himself up with a spear.

  “Last location reported by Theo was north of you, down after an incline,” reported Ty, remembering what he had said earlier, but not sure if it was a good idea for them to advance yet. “I can’t be sure of where they are right now without a scout.”

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  “Where do you need me now?” piped up Sel, packing back up her kit and tome.

  I can protect everyone only so much.

  Ty exhaled, looking over the forest path leading back to her primary group, which had completely fogged back over because no one was near it. “Head back to Cyril and Faris but take the longer way south to get onto the main path. I don’t want you accidentally running into anyone.”

  “So where do we go?” asked Elias again, annoyance clearly showing in his voice. “You’ve got me up, please tell me you have a use for me.”

  “Stay—stay for now; you’re in a good spot,” Ty stuttered, much to her own chagrin. “The fog’s too thick. Callie—shield yourself and him, then set an area trap as far as you can in front in case they come.”

  Letting out a loud groan, Elias could not have voiced his discontent louder.

  “Status of the powder?”

  “Heading back,” replied Cyril.

  Is it okay if I end up hurting others for the greater good?

  Looking up at her opponent, a lackadaisical Luci standing coolly by his podium, she still felt a bit of lingering annoyance. It wasn’t his fault—she just hadn’t expected herself to have had such bad luck picking a test case, and better yet with him as her opponent. Of course, this was like one of the study scenarios from the book, and she had to have known it was a possibility, but she still had four more enemies to go and the conditions on the tablet to fulfill if she wanted a complete victory.

  You could always just fulfill the one condition, she remembered Theo telling her when she had briefed him earlier. Nowhere does it say you need both.

  We get a better mark for fulfilling both though, she had answered.

  “Okay, I’ve got it. Where’s the coordinates again?”

  “551-42,” answered Ty lightning-fast, watching Alex’s small figure move through the thick fog. “You’re close to their start, so use Cyril’s center route, and then go past Elias and Callie near the west. Then head north and keep an eye out for the two from that end.”

  “’Kay.”

  “Faris and Cyril, any sign?”

  “Can’t see much,” sighed Faris. “Can’t I clear it with a Tempergale?”

  “Maybe…but they’ll be able to figure out where you are,” mused Ty, trying to remember what support spells she had authorized for Cyril.

  “I’ve got five casts for a general heal and one damage-trigger one,” the healer said, reading her mind.

  “That’s fine. Use the latter on him, general for yourself, then Faris—you can use Tempergale. If you see any enemies, keep an area Sustain and don’t move. Only go when you know they’ve spotted you.”

  “Wait, hold up,” Elias protested. “If he can do it, why can’t I? I’ve got Callie, don’t I?”

  “If you wait, Alex can scout ahead.”

  “But she hasn’t even been trained as a scout.”

  “And neither have you.”

  Silence.

  “Okay, Callie,” whispered a voice over the communications. “Watch my back, I’ll—”

  “Wait, I don’t think—”

  “I can hear you, Elias.”

  “He…he’s gone.”

  Ty took a sharp breath and shook her head absently, watching her second duelist dash into a fog so thick she could barely see the small trail he left. And then, by a tree on the western path, where the shadow of her support was supposed to be…

  Her heart sank.

  “Callie, get back!” she barked, leaning against the podium and trying to get through the dense mist. “Callie!”

  But everyone was only human. She was their tactician, not their god.

  Is this what they meant by courage?

  “One here,” announced Elias neutrally, completely brushing over his insubordination.

  Biting her tongue, Ty watched Faris’s Tempergale go off on the opposite end of the arena to reveal the rest of the area from them to 1-B’s starting point.

  “Two, as expected,” stated Faris dully.

  Without being asked twice, Cyril started casting an area Sustain over himself, Faris, and now Sel, who had finally arrived back to their group.

  Elias still in the back of her mind, Ty muttered, “Faris, once you get within range, start your large-area rotation. Sel, ready your bow. Cyril, heal.”

  “Oh Graces,” she could hear Callie mutter to herself in panic after issuing the orders. “Ty, there’s two. There’s another, oh Graces, I can’t run that fast. Elias!”

  “Theo, do you see Alex?” Ty asked in a similarly panicked tone.

  “No, not yet. Need me?”

  “A-almost there. These trees are nasty, good Graces.”

  Damn it.

  She looked at the one opponent Elias was facing, and the other who was rapidly approaching. And from behind Elias, Callie was running faster than she had ever seen her run. Not casting, just her spear in hand.

  “Theo, your max range is 200, right?” she asked as she watched disaster unfold, hearing Callie yell something inaudible.

  “Using that spell would get me expelled, dear,” he answered dryly as Callie’s voice abruptly cut off.

  I wish the word never existed.

  Ty stood stone-still as she watched her classmate fall, wasting no more than two seconds before opening up her Tactician’s tome to find her Sacrifice spell. She hadn’t wanted to use anything besides the simple spells due to the deductions, even made it so she didn’t have total control over her students because that gave them all a higher mark, but trusting them was exactly what put her in her present situation.

  “Elias, you better make this count,” snapped Ty acidly as she held her left hand tightly and spoke the words to the Sacrifice spell before feeling a terrible pain shoot through her arm and to her head, forcing her to her knees as she could hear nothing but static, see nothing but stars.

  Get up, get up, get up, she screamed to herself as she knelt down on all fours on the grass.

  Her shaking body did not obey.

  The next thing she remembered hearing was almost everything coming together at once: Elias stating that he had felled the two enemies and was now bringing Callie over to the main group, Alex saying that she had arrived at Theo’s location, and then Theo saying that he was working on the Ignite.

  “Anytime now, Ty,” was what made her snap back into reality and struggle to get up.

  “I-I’m here,” she uttered weakly, knowing that if she passed out, the entire class would instantly fail.

  “These guys are both spread out, and Sel’s out. Am I good to switch over to single-target?”

  “Yes,” she breathed, even though she couldn’t see the situation on the field. “Keep them away. Use your dagger if you have to. Cyril, you’ve got one more warp?”

  “Yup. Elias?”

  “Yes. Elias, put Callie down.”

  “No, we’ve got to—”

  “Elias!” she cried, lifting her head up from the podium and only seeing Luci looking like his pleasant self, unaffected by his fallen students. “You’re the reason she’s hurt, now put her down.”

  “Fine,” retorted Elias with disgust and contempt.

  “Cyril, warp.”

  “Working on it.”

  “Ignite should be done in about five minutes.”

  She took a deep breath and covered her face with her hand, angry at herself for having yelled at her classmate when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

  “Ty, take.”

  Knocking against her shoulder was a small red vial, which she tried to push away. “No, Darius, I’m fine.”

  “No, Ty, take.”

  “Okay, okay,” she muttered, grabbing the potion and uncorking it before downing all of it in one gulp. It tasted a bit salty, a bit sweet. “Thank you.”

  She could feel her strength returning to her almost immediately, as well as the remorse that had come with her harsh words.

  This is not courage.

  “Oh, I’m back,” said a long-lost voice. “What did I miss?”

  “Heading over now, there’s two left on your end,” spoke Elias, who had just been freshly warped to Cyril’s position. “Come help if you want.”

  “Still got a few minutes left of the Ignite,” announced Alex from beside Theo, who was busy casting.

  With only two students remaining, it was as good a time as any to start working on her promise.

  Taking a deep breath, Ty gave Darius a quick smile before abandoning her post and making her way down to the field, sprinting toward her support, who Elias had left in the center forest.

  “Hey, she was mine!” she heard Faris protest.

  “Dude, I could not give less of a fu—”

  “Come on, last one,” groaned Cyril.

  When she finally reached Callie, she realized why Elias hadn’t wanted to leave her alone.

  This is desperation.

  Coordinates, coordinates…her mind tried to think about rather than Callie’s disfigured, impaled leg. A familiar, blue cloth had been hastily tied around the wound, and what was left of the weapon still lodged through her calf.

  “T-Theo, 394-68. Once you’re done, come fix up Callie.”

  “Done,” breathed Elias.

  “1-A Condition one fulfilled – All opponents eliminated,” she heard the Headmistress’s voice announce over the entire arena.

  Unable to do anything but leave her there, Ty ran the rest of the way to Theo and Alex, who had just finally fulfilled the second condition for victory.

  “1-A Condition two fulfilled – Field disabled,” announced the Headmistress not long after as the dark cloud surrounding the entire arena burst into a sparkling orange, sunset-like flame before disappearing altogether. “Five minutes until field closes.”

  Finally, they could see the clear, unblemished afternoon sky once more as the tactician jogged the rest of the way to 1-B’s starting point, ascending the hill so she could look Luci in the eyes.

  “Hi, Ty,” he said with a smile, doing an exaggerated, dramatic bow to welcome her.

  She didn’t bother responding and focused on catching her breath. She had five minutes to do her last spell. Five minutes, and then it would be over. This year would be over.

  “I spent the entire fight thinking about how much fun we’ll have next year, the adventures we’ll go on,” he chuckled, extending his arms out as if expecting a hug. “I can’t wait.”

  She walked forward a step with her golden sword at her side, remembering the words for the Flourish and nodding her head. “I made a promise.”

  This is where it begins, tactician.

  To think I’ve protected you more than my own friends. And all for what?

  With all the eyes of those on the upper floor of the arena watching her, she spoke her spell, creating the two same domes as before, conjured a sword, melded her two lines on top of it, and then, instead of breaking the overlapping glass spheres by throwing it through him like she would have been forced to do had she been across the field, she sliced across them, destroying both in a singular, swift motion.

  The world. A single life with the potential to save millions more.