Redemption Arc

Even though the rain was growing heavier and obscuring visibility, it was very difficult to miss the sight of Lucian running out into the oncoming wave of enemies. All of the Student Ambassadors couldn’t help but look upon this sight with both bewilderment and wonderment.

One in particular, however, grew agitated.

“Rowan!” Helen said, moving to cover beside him. “Why is Lucian going alone?”

Rowan didn’t answer immediately.

“Did you let him go?!” she demanded. “And don’t give me that nonsense about being outnumbered! You could’ve stopped him,” she said.

“He saw… he saw a blessing,” Rowan justified weakly.

“What?” Helen looked after him. She spotted his spear, which he’d abandoned. “Rowan, he… he has partial arcane paralysis! He’s in no state to fight against all of those enemies without even a weapon!”

Rowan looked at her, his face uncertain. “He told me he had a plan. Have a little faith.”

“Oh, by the hells…” Helen looked out nervously. She realized that there was no point arguing now. “We have to give him support from afar. I don’t know what he’s doing, but… damn you if he dies, Rowan.”

“Right,” Rowan agreed.

***

Lucian ran across the watery ground as fast as his legs would take him, but the wetness beneath his feet made it difficult to keep his balance and so he had to move at a moderate pace. To calm himself as he ran the veritable kill zone, he imagined that this was probably how it felt for the troopers storming Normandy. If they could do it, he reasoned, so could he.

As it turned out, that wasn’t the best image to conjure in terms of abating his anxiety. After all, the casualties had been sky high on both sides. But realistically, he was being melodramatic. The mermen and mermaids didn’t have guns. Some of them had tridents, others had sabers—for a while, there was only one enemy that he needed to focus on: the Merspawn Knight.

It was also focused on him.

The War of Four hadn’t been entirely cruel with this enemy. He’d taken the Wardchain off that mage’s corpse. It reduced the damage of mundane projectiles by 50%--no doubt it was deliberate game design placing that amulet there, precisely so someone could use it in this encounter. The arrows that the Merspawn Knight shot out weren’t magical, after all.

Lucian ran as fast as he could, trying not to dwell on the fact that all of the enemies were starting to chase after him. His single-minded focus rested on the satchel at his side and the Merspawn Knight in front of him. Lucian played a very dangerous game, but it was a game that he understood well and had planned for accordingly.

One of his arrows struck him in the shoulder, but First Sanctuary shielded him from the worst. It still felt like a rock had just slammed him good. His response was immediate and rehearsed.

“Élûn,” Lucian said, rejuvenating his ward.

As white holy magic encircled him once more, he didn’t stop running as fast as he could. The Merspawn Knight was on an isolated island bridged by an overturned boat—in a word, a defensible position. But Lucian had his ways.

As he dashed madly forward, another arrow struck. It bounced off his helmet, dangerously near his eye-hole. He tried not to wonder if that would have killed him had it hit home, and instead repeated once more, “Élûn.”

After casting that spell, Lucian felt his magical fatigue growing. A mage couldn’t cast spells forever. They experienced fatigue, just like anyone else. He wasn’t certain if he had the energy to cast another spell. But then, this was something that he’d prepared for. He retrieved one of the potions from his satchel, opening it and downing it as quickly as he could while in motion. Immediately, it was as if a rejuvenative wave passed through his body. That strange energy of magic was refreshed.

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Before Lucian could toss the bottle away, an arrow passed through and broke it. Lucian took that as a win—his foe missed. With his hands free, he sped up again. In the time that it had taken him to drink, a group of mermen had blocked his path forward. The disgusting creatures had mouths like angler fish, and growled at him in tones that made him shudder.

As Lucian moved forward to confront them, he debated whether or not he could slip by without using one of the items that he prepared. As one of them lashed out with a trident and nearly struck him, he accepted that he needed help and reached into the pockets separated from the others in his satchel. He pulled out a small rock wrapped tightly in cloth. He threw it forth, and it fell on the wet ground.

The moment that the water soaked through the cloth, a pillar of ice erupted out of the ground, blocking his foes. It was a Rimecore—a very niche item, but for this map, very useful. Lucian was amply ready to capitalize on it to move past the mermen, heading back on track. Perfectly in time, the Merspawn Knight struck him with another arrow. This one hit him in the groin. He flinched, but this armor protected everything, thank the lord. All it did was sting badly. Still, First Sanctuary dispelled.

“Élûn,” Lucian repeated, his physical and mental exhaustion growing in tandem. He was getting near to the overturned boat.

Lucian was worried that he’d need to call upon another Rimecore as mermen encroached upon his position, but an arrow shot one and a bolt of lightning seized another—it looked like he was getting some support from Rowan’s camp. He hoped sincerely that they didn’t steal his kill. He needed the stat gains from its purified essence.

Lucian made it to the overturned boat and clambered on its back. The boat was round on the bottom, and that made the pathway to the island where the Merspawn Knight stood especially treacherous. Lucian walked with his arms held out to balance. It aimed the arrow right at his face and released it. He tried to duck at the last moment, and succeeded. The arrow whizzed above his head. His brief moment to pause, however, allowed a merman time to reach out and bash behind his knee. First Sanctuary protected him from the worst, but he still stumbled.

Lucian fell, frantically grabbing at the boat. It was wet and slick, and Lucian barely avoided falling in the treacherous rapids still pushing at the boat even now. He couldn’t make it back to shore—the mermen were waiting there. But to his right, the Merspawn Knight pulled back another arrow.

At what felt like the very last moment, Lucian shouted, “Élûn!”

The arrow struck his hand, wrenching it free. Lucian held on with one hand alone. His brain worked quickly, and he grasped at his satchel. After struggling for a bit, watching the Merspawn Knight draw back its next arrow every moment, he got it—the Rimecore. He threw it into the rapids, and the pillar of ice erupted right beneath his feet. The sudden movement made the Merspawn Knight miss.

The pillar of ice that shot up beneath his feet was quickly carried away by the water, but it gave Lucian time sufficient to scrabble and jump. He landed on the shore of the small island where the Merspawn Knight had isolated itself, and scrambled up to confront it. Behind, the ice hit the boat, dislodging it and closing the bridge. The rapids were too fast for the mermen to cross.

The knight, meanwhile, stabbed its bow into the ground behind it and retrieved a shell as its shield and a sword that looked like it was made of a horn. It waited, standing unmoving right above the blessing. It looked almost human, though it bore slick pearly shells for armor and menaced with spikes. Lucian hoped he’d be eating good tonight.

“You want to block?” Lucian muttered, reaching into his satchel for something he’d been saving for a special occasion. He pulled out the scroll he hadn’t used for the fight against the ogre. “Block.”

Lucian ripped the scroll, and as soon as the power started to flow into him held his hand out and cast the spell. A golden sword rocketed forward—that spell was strong enough to cast an ogre off its feet and send it flying yards. It should handle this thing.

Yet to Lucian’s total horror… the Merspawn Knight fell flat to the ground, and the spell surged overhead. It dodged.

Lucian had been relying on that spell to trivialize this fight. This Merspawn Knight was primarily an archer—at close quarters, it wasn’t as big of a threat as when fighting afar. He still had a combat plan in mind in case it hadn’t gone that way, but…

If I want to win a fight against this thing… I’ll need the blessing, Lucian thought, eyeing it. And even then, my backup plan assumed I’d have my spear. Stupid idea, that. Why did I think I could parkour with a spear?

As his head ran through the options, he quickly concocted something. He wasn’t sure if it would work… but he was well used to improvising backup strategies. It was basically a must in the War of Four. The only question was whether or not he’d prove to be as clutch in reality as he was in a video game.

Lucian, armed with nothing more than a pocketful of tricks, stepped toward the Merspawn Knight.