Meager Power

It didn't take long for the adventuring group (did they have a name? I feel bad now that I've never asked) to gather on the terrace, shrugging on armor as quickly as possible. Arla jogged over to me in particular and tossed me a training spear. "It's not the real thing but better to have something."

I shrugged. "Preesh. Where do you need me?"

She moved forward, and they set up an odd formation. The countess remained inside near the entrance to the Sanctuary, crossbow at the ready, but did not emerge. I paid more attention to the adventurers themselves, noting that Arla placed herself next to Kelessta while Basrith stood near to Thenishale, somewhat in front of the other two. The shadow in the sky continued to grow as it headed our way.

"Just keep separate from us, you too, Rachel." Arla directed me to a spot and Rachel to a spot opposite them. "Kel is our main weapon against flying targets like this. Don't get hit, its main weapons are the feathers on its wingbones and the talons on its legs. Its bite is nothing to sneeze at either. Just keep its attention the best you can while Kel takes it down with big magic."

I nodded, and got into position. I did ready my arm to shoot a Mana Bolt, though. Even if it would do much, harrying a beast like that would be helpful to get it to attack me. Finally, the wyvern came into view, and Arla's words actually hit me. It was feathered. Absolutely not what I had expected; my internal vision of "wyvern" was a stereotypical one, I thought. A pterodactyl-like creature with leathery wings and a stinging tail, extremely reptilian.

Instead, it shot towards us at a high speed, looking more like a raptor than anything else, a bird of prey. Its head was sleek, ending in an almost beak-like mouth that nonetheless was filled with nasty teeth. Red and brown feathers covered its body, mostly normal, but the ones on the edge of its wings, pointed toward us, glinted with light, indicating that they were combined with something dangerous. It had a tail not unlike a big eagle, and three-toed talons that were pulled in for maximum speed. It was fast, extremely so, and I could see why the whole group was specifically prepared for something like this. I couldn't be sure, but I'd put the size of the thing at three or four meters long, big enough to really cause problems. Before long, though, it was upon us, proving that it more than just looked like a huge bird of prey.

If I wasn't already prepared for it, I would have missed the moment of contact. Basrith pulled up a large barrier of energy in the last moment, using it as a stop right before him and his elf companion. The wyvern screeched loudly, shrill enough for me to actually wince. The rest of the group wasted no time. Kelessta thrust her staff forward, sending some quickly formed jagged icicles at the bird. A few of them impacted against its body, failing to pierce through, but the attack definitely caught its attention. It followed the screech with an indignant squawk and shot in the direction of the spellcaster, but pulled up at the last minute, recognizing the threat of Arla's spear as she shoved it into the ground like she was hunting boar.

It swung off, gaining altitude again, likely coming around for another pass. It was fast, but I figured my Dash could put in some work, so I decided to harry it myself by sending a Mana Bolt its way. I miss the first one but land the second Bolt, succeeding really only in getting its attention and slightly knocking its flight path around. Its next dive screeches toward me, and I do my best to wait until the last second before I Dash out of the way. It's left with plenty of room to pull up, unfortunately, but it does get winged by a few more ice shards. Maybe, if I had better reflexes, I could have stayed longer, but I didn't have enough confidence to stick around. Those natural weapons looked very painful.

It swung around, attempting to go for another pass, but Basrith actually manages to use its momentum against it as it slams into a barrier he'd erected just in front. It squawked indignantly and dropped to the ground momentarily, just long enough for Thenishale to rush forward and stab his sword forward, scoring a hit in its leg. The beast proved very powerful, however, ripping away from his weapon and knocking the elf back several meters with a swift swipe of its other leg. It took to the sky again a moment later, unwilling to stay pinned down. I gave a moment's check to see if Thenishale was still moving, and attempted to position myself accordingly.

The thing circled a few times, perhaps realizing that we weren't easy prey, but it didn't seem willing to let us go yet. "Allison!" I heard Rachel yell, and I looked toward it. "Get its attention! I will hold it down!"

How - ah, right, her sticky shield maneuver. She sprinted toward me as I shot off a few more Mana Bolts at it, hoping to aggravate it. How to get it to take the bait, though?

"What are you doing?" Arla yelled. "You can't take it on like that!"

"She's got a sticky shield! If she intercepts it, it'll hold the bird in place for a few moments!" I fired off another Mana Bolt, frustrated that even though I had a ranged spell, it was too slow to be useful against anything with even a modicum of speed. Rachel's thundering footsteps approached me, and I gritted my teeth. I'd have to lead it, which would be difficult. If only I could access my lightning magics, electricity moved way faster than this.

Hold on. I could combine Spark with Parry. I'd done it all the time now. I'd attempted to create lightning, but it was after mana experiments, and I thought I could just will it to happen. I knew Mana Bolt left my internal senses soon after I shot it, and Spark would hurt me. But spark hurt me because I'd been shooting it from my palm, right? I-

had to jump to the side to avoid the swipe of the wyvern's claws. Rachel hadn't quite made it to me yet, and barely managed to catch me from my ass shoving myself sideways. Shit. I needed to just try this, next time. It was already swinging back down toward us, deftly dodging the icicles being shot at it. The adventurers were yelling something at us, but blood pumped in my ears like they were about to burst. I got to my feet, planted my legs, and brought up my left hand in its firing position.

I fired a Mana Bolt again, paying close attention to how far I could keep it linked. The wyvern dodged that as well and barreled toward us. A moment before it committed to its dive, Rachel stepped in front of me and held out her shield. With the change in attitude of someone actually blocking it instead of dodging it, she managed to catch its talons with her shield, and there it stuck. I was knocked aground by its large wings beating against me, an angry sound being released from the stuck bird. I glanced over and saw Kelessta hesitating, with her angle meaning she had a high chance of hitting us. My mouth opened into a big grin. I really hope this doesn't hurt.

Instead of using my Mana Bolt, I extended that thread of magic outside of me, willing it to stay connected, until I felt it reach its full distance. I felt thin, like I was overextending a muscle, but before I could lose the feeling, I sent a jolt of power into the ethereal line I'd created. I wanted to evoke the electric feeling of Spark, instead of Mana Bolt. They felt different, like the quality of the mana itself was changed by the type of spell, and I leaned on that feeling. Electricity, flowing from me as a whole into the line.

A full body shock rocked through me, not unlike the feeling of waking up from a falling dream, but a long rod of electrical energy, like a contained lightning bolt, extended from my fingertips and struck straight through the wyvern. The spike of lightning maintained its form for a full second before dissipating. The smell of ozone and burning flesh hit a moment later, and I felt the effects of overusing my mana hit me at the same time, forcing me to hold back mightily so I didn't lose my lunch.

But the noise stopped. There was a 'thump' as the creature hit the ground, twitching, subdued. I let out a chuckle as I heard steps approach. My head felt odd as I moved, but eventually I was able to raise it to look at Arla, who was standing over me with an arm on her hip.

"Got it," I said. "It was a shocking success." I heard at least two groans, so it was at least moderately unbearable.

"That," she started.

"Was incredibly cool?"

"Was extremely stupid."

"Hol' up," I said, frowning. Before I could continue, she nudged me with her boot.

"We have plans for these kinds of things. We're fine. Look." She pointed over at Thenishale, who was picking at the corpse of the wyvern. "He's fine. That was a planned maneuver. Display weakness, get them to come to you, lock them down." She pointed at Kelessta next. "Miss it with a couple slower spells, work on its overconfidence, then bring it to the ground with bait and a well-placed Frozen Javelin. Instead, you ran around like crazy, got yourself hurt, and now you're out of magic, judging by how fucking green you look. What if there were more?"

"On that note, boss," Thenishale started, but Arla held out a quieting hand.

"I know. Shortly. But I have to beat tactics into my pupil here."

"No, boss," he said again. "The damn tail is clipped." Her eyes hardened at me, then looked in the elf's direction. "We've got a nest, at the very least."

"Shit. Alright, we need to get moving. Stand up, Allison."

Begrudgingly, I pushed myself up. "You know, that's all well and good that you had a plan, but the problem was that we didn't know it."

She shook her head. "As correct as you are, we don't have time. Basrith, go help the countess and the professor get ready to go. Don't let him dally. Kel, refill our water stores and prepare to get moving. Thenny, you're on watch." She looked at Rachel, then me. "You two, get ready to go."

"What does a clipped tail mean?" Rachel asked, uncertain but trusting in the urgency.

"Means there's a nest about," Kelessta said as she slithered ahead of us. "At least a dozen wyverns. Maybe a dragon."

"A dragon??" I gasped. I mean, magic world, yeah, but still, dragons. Drakes were obviously real but dragons fucking rocked.

"Occasionally a dragon will create a roost in places, and wyverns will typically flock around them. They'll gather food for the big bird and in return it protects the flock from shit they can't handle," Thenishale added as he scanned the skies.

Big things there. Dragons are birds, which I guess made a little sense, given the wyvern here was covered in feathers. They were smart, or was it just some sort of natural behavior? Lots of questions, but given the haste with which we were moving, it didn't make sense for me to press for too much information right now.

"Well, shit," I offered. Arla huffed at that but didn't respond.

Because Rachel and I had already done a good deal of packing, we were able to do our business relatively quickly. I only had to pack in my clothes (and make triple sure my scrubstone was coming with) and collect a couple of bags of veggies to let thaw (of course, bringing the rest of the carrots.)

Rachel did have one big issue, though, and it was a large ovoid that was called an egg. We had no idea when it was going to hatch, and it was too large to move with the speed that the group clearly wanted to go. She fussed about it for several minutes, having finished the rest of her packing, before Arla spotted her and approached.

"We can put it in my q-sack."

Cusack?

"What is a q-sack?" Rachel asked, dark eyes narrowed.

Arla pointed over at her bag, which I knew to be somehow bigger on the inside, which was apparently called a q-sack. "Q-sack. Basically, it's just a really big bag the size of a smaller bag, and the stuff inside is really safe."

"How the hell's that work?" I asked from across the room. I had noticed Kelessta bringing canteen after waterskin after canteen from the bag, filling them at the fountain, then walking replacing them. I wanted to ask, of course, but until now, there hadn't been a good moment. It was already difficult to hold another conversation with the professor yelling about not being able to leave behind this or that, or complaining about their early departure.

"Honestly? I have no fuckin' idea," she responded. "But I do know it's safe to put stuff in."

"What if," Rachel started, a concerned look in her eyes, "it starts hatching inside." Arla blinked, took a moment to consider something, and then yelled over at the barrier mage. "Bas! Triage the egg."

"Boss, we're about to run, and you want me to waste one on a fucking egg?"

"Better that we get it squared away, Bas. Just do it. We don't have the time to argue." She turned back to Rachel, who was eying the adventurer woman with curiosity. "Bas has a Triage skill that can tell how healthy the thing is and how close it is to hatching. Will that satisfy your worry?" Rachel nodded, and waited for the kanekk to approach. He gave a questioning look at the Bulwark, who nodded and held out the object. Basrith laid his hand on it, and a small orange glow emanated from his touch.

"Healthy. Due in at most seven weeks, at least four." He patted the thing. "As if there would be much that could harm a drakka egg. Land drakes especially have tough eggs. It'll be fine in the sack." He walked away without waiting for more questions and continued his work.

Rachel took a deep breath, and then gave the egg over to Arla, who gingerly placed it within her magical sack. After that, the Sanctuary became even more of a whirl of activity as we worked together to finish our travel preparations.

I did, honestly, feel a bit odd about it. The Sanctuary had been my home since arriving in this world, and it had been safe and comforting. But now we were just leaving it behind. The labyrinth, its memories, all of it, and jumping out into the great unknown, running from a dragon of all things.

"Rachel," I said, catching her attention, "I'm jumping into the Lens before we leave. Need to get as much power in as possible."

"Make it quick!" Arla said from across the chamber. "We need to go sooner rather than later."

I wasted no time, then, and checked on the updated stats I had.

Well, that was interesting, but it proved that the exercises I'd gone through with Arla were worth something palpable. Seeing actual gains was nice, but I didn't have time to waste on appreciating that. I needed to check on my increases and my new skill.

Very nice. Spark didn't mention damage, but this was very specifically giving me a way to use my lightning to enact some violence.

Now that was nice too. Making it clear that I was doing things the right way by expanding my usages, and giving me some resilience against my specialized element. I wasn't going to complain, no, not at all.

Oh, very nice. More speed would go a long way to keeping me healthy, too.

Yeah, no shit, I was happy with something to stick people with. Spears fuck, swords suck, yadda yadda. It'd get better. I'd get better.

But, that was it. No level, a couple upgrades. It was time to go, and goddess only knew the next time I'd be able to access a Lens. I powered it down, looked wistfully at the chamber, and stepped out. While I was inside, it looked like things had been finished up, with just some gathering now. Rachel was waiting and pushed past me, eager to get her own work in the Lens room finished.

"This place is going to be a complete mess," Kelessta said, noticing me heading toward the group.

"How so?"

"Well, with both a nest and a node here, it's basically going to be an all out war. Wyrms don't take kindly to anything else claiming 'territory,' and tainted aren't big on coexisting with literally anything. We don't want to be caught in the middle."

It took me a moment to remember the tainted things created nodes, as Arla had said. "Wyrms being... things like dragons and wyverns?"

She nodded, slinging a few packs over her shoulders. Even though she was a mage, clearly she was strong enough to handle travel like this. I started getting my things equipped. I noticed Arla had left the practice spear next to them, so I nodded at it with a smile when I caught her eye.

"What do dragons look like?"

"Like... dragons," she said. "I don't know. I've never seen one myself. I don't think any of us have."

"I have," Evelyn cut in. "A small one, captured, caged. Even completely hopeless it refused to be cowed. They are vicious, dangerous birds, four legged and covered with razor sharp feathers and a nasty, toothy mouth. The wyvern is similar, but where the wyvern is sleek, a dragon is powerful and thick." She shuddered. "Even the small one had such malice."

So, kinda close to our mythological ones? But still, birds. I was of two minds. I wanted to see one, of course, but seeing one also meant super duper danger, so maybe I could hold off on that, at least for a while.

Before long, Rachel exited the Lens chamber and gathered her things up. In short order, all of us were ready to go.

"It seems a bit sudden, still," I whined.

"We have to go," Arla responded. "We only had another day or two anyway. I'm not risking these people against a full wyrm nest, and with the node about, we just need to leave. We're heading northeast, and we'll go until Noll's rise. Hopefully we can get a place to stop then." She thunked her spear and set off out of the Sanctuary after giving it one last sweep, and the rest of us started moving.

I lingered, last to go, giving a wistful sigh at the exit. I'd hoped for a little prolonged thing, maybe a fun little party before we left, but no, we were running and it wasn't even a chance we could stay. Would I miss the temple? Probably not. I wondered if one day I'd be back, but it really didn't seem like there was much else here. Regardless, it was time to let go. I slapped the lights on the way out, I wasn't so uncivilized I'd leave that on.

Time for the next step of this new life.