Awake and Aware

Eric was grilling hamburgers while his kids played in the pool. He looked over at his wife, sitting there in her bikini, sunglasses on, stretched out in her sunning chair as she called it, auburn hair faintly glowing in the bright sun.

Eric turned back to the grill to flip the burgers when he noticed it. Pinpricks of light began blossoming at the edges of his vision.

“No, NO,” Eric said, panicking at the recognition. “Not now, why now!”

Eric spun to look at his family, but it was too late. He was ripped away, skyward, looking down at his body as it collapsed and began to wither, the world fading into bright white.

“Eric, it’s okay,” Eric heard, faint and indistinct. “Eric, wake up. You’re fine.”

Eric opened his eyes and flinched as pressure pinned him down. Welyvyne came into focus a moment later, her hand braced against his chest.

“Hey, you’re okay. You are in the infirmary.” Welyvyne said, her expression soft and reassuring.

Lyren was there before he noticed her. Her hand went straight to his eyes, her face coming into view as she examined each of them. A pulse of mana hummed through him from Lyren’s hands, and Eric settled, tension easing from his body.

Eric tried to speak, his voice coming out raspy and strained. “What… what happened. Wait,” he scowled. “I was kidnapped, are they—”

Lyren put her hand on his forehead. “Don’t worry about that right now, Eric. Let’s take care of you first, then we can talk about what happened.”

Eric, following Lyren’s instructions, looked around the room. He saw Kaelen walking toward him, guilt written on his face.

Kaelen looked down as he spoke. “I’m glad you’re awake. I’m sorry.”

Eric frowned. “This wasn’t your fault, Kaelen. You have no reason to feel guilty. I was the idiot here. I was the one who trusted the nice person who just wanted to help.”

Lyren spoke as she continued examining something about Eric. “You always have been a trusting idiot, but that isn’t a flaw. It’s endearing.”

“Endearing,” Eric snapped. “Endearing nearly got me killed. I should have listened to you. You warned me!”

Lyren frowned, pulling her hands back, clearly finished examining him. “Yes, I gave you a vague warning. I didn’t know you had some kind of hit out on you.”

Kaelen stepped up to the side of the bed. “I couldn’t figure out who had you abducted. I do know the Arcane Anomaly Authority is investigating this, but I’m sorry. I should have kept a closer eye on you. Instead, I was worried about… other things.”

Eric chuckled wryly. “Yeah, that is your job, right, to watch me for the Arcane Anomaly Authority. And don’t look so surprised, Kaelen. I knew. I even tested you back after dealing with the monsters at the gate. You failed, by the way.”

Welyvyne looked up sharply at Kaelen. “Is this true? Were you working with the Arcane Anomaly Authority? For what purpose? Were you sent to watch Eric, or kill him?”

Eric placed a hand over Welyvyne’s. “It’s fine, Welyvyne. When the Triple A took the ring back, I knew they weren’t done watching me. You knew the Triple A wasn’t done watching me. Were they, Kaelen?”

Kaelen sighed. “You’re right. And to answer your question, Welyvyne, I was sent to watch Eric, and to kill him if I thought…”

Lyren snorted. “Triple A? Sorry, not to sidetrack this whole conflict here, but triple A?”

Everyone slowly turned to look at Lyren. Eric finally spoke. “What…? I got tired of saying Arcane Anomaly Authority. It’s a mouthful. And is now the time to worry about what we call them?”

Kaelen looked back down at Eric with a frown. “I’m sorry for that. I truly regret it now, and I would really like to be a part of the team.”

“You expect us to what?” Welyvyne snapped at Kaelen through gritted teeth. “Trust and accept that you aren’t still here to kill Eric if he does something you don’t like?”

Kaelen looked down, frowning. “I know that it looks bad for me, but look at it from my point of view. No one knew what Eric was capable of, so they sent me to do a dirty job. If not me, it would have been someone else.”

Eric smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “You know, I do respect that. I also realize that I was being stupid. I’m not playing stupid and nice anymore. You want to stay in the group, fine. I don’t believe you would acknowledge your duplicity if you were still watching me.”

Welyvyne looked at Eric sharply. “What? Wait, no. He is likely to try and kill you!”

Eric looked at Welyvyne and genuinely smiled. “I should have added that, if everyone agrees. However, I want to know where he is. I’d rather face betrayal head-on than from the shadows. I’ve had enough of that.”

Lyren cleared her throat. “Um, I believe Kaelen. I’d take a noble at his word. It is what he has.”

Welyvyne furrowed her brows as she turned to Lyren. “He already broke his word by lying to us.”

Lyren shook her head. “No, I don’t believe Kaelen ever actually lied to us. He never mentioned it, and even if Eric knew, he never straight-up asked Kaelen, so we’ll never know if he would have lied.”

Eric sighed, the anger leaving him as suddenly as it came. “She’s right. Even if he was duplicitous, he has never actually given me a reason not to trust him. I understand what the brooding was about. He wasn’t upset that he pushed me too far.”

Eric turned to look at Kaelen, and with a small chuckle, he continued. “No, you were feeling guilty.”

Kaelen nodded. “Yes, I was feeling guilty. And yes, I quit the contract. I don’t expect you to trust me. All I can do is give you my word and ask for a second chance. I won’t betray you or the group. I really do want to be here.”

Eric nodded. “Fine. I’ll believe you for now.”

Eric turned toward Lyren. “And you, Lyren. Who set you up to watch me?”

Lyren laughed. “I was never sent to watch you, Eric. I was sent to appraise you and invite you to join the Adventurer’s Guild. But Kaelen over here got you and Welyvyne all signed up for me.” She shrugged. “Nothing so dark. I stuck around because I like the group. I like my new friends. More importantly, I trust my new friends.”

Eric blinked at her, and before he could speak, Welyvyne laughed. “I knew I liked you. I don’t believe you could have hidden something like betrayal. It’s not who you are.”

Kaelen took a step back. “I know everything is tense right now, and I know I may not have a place to speak yet, but we really need to know what happened to Eric.”

Eric looked at Kaelen and frowned. “Right. The kidnapping. I’ll give you the short version. These mercenaries were hired to kill me and Welyvyne, and the only reason I’m alive now is the Human Empire.”

Welyvyne looked at Lyren quizzically, then back to Eric. “There is no Human Empire. And if there was, how did they save you? And why would they want me dead too?”

Eric shook his head. “Not sure why they wanted you dead too. I thought they were threatening you to get me to cooperate, but that wasn’t the case. They said the contract was to kill both of us. They got greedy and kept me alive to cash in on a bounty for human mages. I only believe that because I’ve noticed the distinct lack of human mages.”

Kaelen stepped forward and frowned. “If there is a Human Empire, I don’t see why they’d gather mages unless they intend to go to war again, and I doubt that. Either way, you’re right, Eric. Greed saved you. These mercenaries are known. The Triple A, as you call them, have hired them before. I confronted them about it, and I’m certain they weren’t involved. And now that I know the hit was for you and Welyvyne, I believe them.”

Eric put his hand up in a stop gesture. “I don’t believe the Triple A was involved either. The mercenaries wouldn’t say who hired them, but I’m with Kaelen on this one. Why go after Welyvyne too?”

Welyvyne shook her head. “I just want to know one thing, Eric. What were you doing before you were kidnapped? You didn’t wake me up. You just left.”

Eric sighed. “I wanted some time to myself. I wanted to explore. I wanted to find some places for us to move to, so we had somewhere to charge the watches when they started rolling in.”

Welyvyne frowned. “I—I thought you wanted to do that with me.”

Eric looked down. “I did—do want to look for a place together. I justified it to myself by only looking and coming up with a list of places to bring back for us to look at. But really, I just wanted to be alone because I was overwhelmed. We still need to do that when I get out of here.”

Lyren frowned deeply and looked at Welyvyne, then back to Eric, and spoke softly. “What does your status screen tell you?”

Eric looked up at Lyren, her shift in tone and expression making him uncomfortable. “What? Why? Is there something wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Lyren said. “I do know you’ve damaged your channels, and possibly your core. You exerted too much mana. That much is clear.”

Eric quickly pulled up his status sheet.

[ Status — Eric Elwyn ]

Race: Outworlder

Class: Mage (Evolving)

Profession: Artificer

MP 72 / 167

Base Stats

Strength 5

Endurance 5

Dexterity 4

Agility 8

Wisdom 6 I

ntellect 8

Outworlder Bonuses: +5 to all base stats

Strength 10

Endurance 10

Dexterity 9

Agility 13

Wisdom 11

Intellect 13

Affinities:

Lightning (Complex)

Fire (Primary)

Air (Primary)

Water (Primary)

Traits:

Omni-Lingual — You may comprehend and speak all known tongues.

Dimensional Storage (Rank 1) — Access a personal pocket-space to store carried objects. (Upgradable.)

Adaptive Cognition — Neural enhancements optimized for complex mana analysis.

Skills:

Artifice Theory (23)

Process Optimization (Passive)

Adaptive Logic (Passive)

Mana Manipulation (64)

Defense (21)

Longswords (24)

Melee Combat (31)

Healing (12)

Jeweler (31)

Silent Casting (4)

Spells:

Arc (4) (Lightning)

Lightning Strike (12) (Lightning)

Gust (3) (Air)

Ignite (3) (Fire)

Draw Water (2) (Water)

Earthen Dart (5) (Earth)

Minor Healing (6) (Earth, Water) — Tier 2

Steam-Jet (3) — Tier 3

Effects:

Mana Channel Damage — Mana currently capped at 72

Core Fatigue — Mana use capped at 1% of total mana

Eric looked through his status sheet and frowned. “Damaged mana channels and core fatigue. What can I do about that?”

Lyren looked at him, her face turning serious. “I can’t do anything for damaged mana channels. That would require a life mage to repair more than just your physical body. The core fatigue will take some time, but your soul is resilient. It will heal on its own.”

Eric looked at Welyvyne. Her face was unreadable, and with a frown, he looked back at Lyren. “So—all I need is a life mage, then. Doesn’t sound that bad. Why do I feel like it isn’t that easy?”

Lyren shook her head. “Eric, life mages are coveted by emperors and kings. There is no way you’re going to just get one to heal you. And even if you did, there is no way they’d take a month out of their busy lives to heal you. You’re no king.”

Eric chuckled. “Well, I spent my whole life without magic. I think I’ll be fine. Will this affect my craft?”

Lyren shook her head and smiled. “No. This may actually help your craft, though.”

Welyvyne looked at Eric like he was a stranger. “I thought you’d be more upset. I was heartbroken for you, and you’re more worried about artificing than your ability to cast?”

Eric looked at Welyvyne sadly. “I’m sorry you felt that way. I do care that I can’t cast. But for me, artificing is what I really want to do. So yes, it sucks. But no, I’m not out of options here. I won’t dwell on what I lost. I’ll move forward with what I have.”

Eric turned back to Lyren. “When can I get out of here? I have classes tomorrow.”

Lyren shook her head. “You can leave now. But Eric, you’ve been out for a week. I had to magically induce a coma to heal you. You had extensive damage to your shoulder, your hands were burned to the muscle, and you did a terrible job healing your hip.”