Chương 22: A Little Help With A Phobia

When Sint performed her fun little manoeuvre that dragged the storm of monsters in his direction, Ryland didn't really take the time to figure out the most ideal response. A cast of [Mindscape] would have helped. That was his mistake. He had simply rifted away, leaving Sint behind with the mad procession of Wolbears on her trail. It was a happy accident, though, because his intention had more or less been to reappear next to Alendra and Kendren. His sudden appearance made them both jump.

In fact, Alendra accidentally jumped right off the edge of the precipice she had been stuck on for a while now. Success? This time, Ryland did pause time." [Mindscape]." Reality crawled at a glacial pace. A small part of Ryland was forced to admit the situation was kind of funny in an uncaringly cartoonish way. There was Alendra falling down the mountainside, her face frozen in shock and fear, arms petrified as she tried to flap them desperately as though to approximate flight.

Next to Ryland, Kendren's mouth hung wide open, his head in the middle of swivelling from Ryland's inexplicable return to Alendra's descending body.

Ryland considered his options in the minute or so he had left. Should he even do anything, though? He had eminently achieved what he had set out to do, if instinctively—getting Alendra to move. Albeit, he had accomplished it in a very roundabout fashion. In fact, he had less empowered Alendra—which had been his intention—and more… forced the issue. Accidentally. Maybe there was some redressing in order. As such, when time turned back to its regular relentless speed, he cast a Glyph of Tranquillity.

His Glyph imprinted itself in the air like he was branding reality itself with a magical hot poker. At the same time, his companions took action as well. Kendren merely screamed, "You can fly, you idiot! Use your magic." Alendra's reply was a little less coherent." Aaaaahhhhh!" Her answer also hit Ryland's eardrums with significantly less intensity than Kendren's desperate shout, mostly because she was continuing to fall.

Her figure and her voice both started dwindling rapidly as she was quickly getting lost from view and— Thunder rumbled beneath them." Finally," Kendren murmured, his legs wobbling like the stress was getting to him. Ryland peered over the edge. Something dark was writhing far, far beneath them, right where Alendra had fallen. Ah.

Now he understood what had happened. It appeared Kendren was right. Alendra could fly.

"Your Glyph." Kendren was staring upward where the Glyph of Tranquillity was shining like a small sun.

"That's not any old Glyph of Calm, is it? The wave of peace I felt is, uh, is actually worrying if I'm being honest, Ryland."

"My apologies," Ryland said sincerely.

"I thought a Glyph of Tranquillity would help the situation, even if it is a bit overpowering."

"Well… it certainly did. And then you cast another spell right before that, didn't you?" Ryland was about to explain about [Mindscape]. He was a bit leery of how Kendren—or any of his teammates for that matter—would take the idea of stopping physical time for two minutes, but he still maintained frankness was the better option. But he never got around to explaining it because the storm cloud beneath now ascended back to their level with more thunderous crackles.

Alendra zoomed back up to a spot a few handspans above them, sitting astride her thundercloud artfully shaped into a warhorse. Its eyes flashed lightning and its whinnies pelted out rain. Ryland nodded. Quite impressive on short notice.

"You!" Alendra was scowling so mightily at Kendren, Ryland seriously doubted the effectiveness of his Glyph for a moment.

"If you hadn't been egging me to the edge, I wouldn't have fallen to my death!"

"But you didn't fall to your death," Kendren said.

"You—""And you." She turned her ferocity to Ryland.

"What in all the Calamity-screwed Realms did you do? Do you even understand the concept of personal space? And—" She turned her scowl to his Glyph of Tranquillity.

"And turn that thing off already!"

"You know," Kendren said with a hearty smile.

"I'd like to point out that you are flying. Congratulations on getting over your phobia, Alendra." Hmm. The way her hands were clutching the cloudy reins tight enough to turn her knuckles white suggested that she really wasn't over her fear of heights. But this was remarkable progress in that regard under difficult circumstances.

"Indeed," Ryland said, echoing Kendren's congratulatory smile.

"Well done, Alendra." Alendra blinked rapidly, apparently deciding that holding her earlier grievances came second to enjoying her accomplishment.

"I—I suppose I did." She looked proud, then embarrassed that she was proud.

"It was nothing, just a formality. And I—" The horse neighed roughly, its form almost disappearing and sending Alendra plummeting again. As it was, it listed to the side, sending itself and its rider careening to their right"And I still haven't gotten full control of it," Alendra managed to say before she was forced to focus on wrestling her stormy steed back under her control.

"Well, I don't think we have any further need for that," Ryland said, dispelling his Glyph of Tranquillity. The subsequent wild, thunderous neigh from the storm horse somewhat counteracted his statement, but he chose to ignore it. And he chose to ignore Alendra's shouts and curses too.

"Sint needs your assistance." Several thoughts seemed to flicker through Kendren's head, going by the shifting look in his eyes. Not least of which was a direct question why she needed any help when Ryland was there. But Kendren merely nodded.

"We'll be there in moments."

"Great. I'll see you there shortly. [Translocate]." When Ryland reappeared, he stepped down on a whole pile of the monsters. He had cast a Glyph of Stonesoul to keep them docile. Sadly, his little vantage point wasn't exactly providing him the best of platforms. The monsters were a little too fleshy and spiky and bony and rough all at the same time, which meant a level footing was the last thing he was standing on. At least the whole incident with Alendra had only taken a minute or two.

Sint hadn't needed to survive on her own for long.

"What are you doing?" she choked out, staring up at him. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I believe I've discovered the source of their surging strength," Ryland said.

"It seems Fate is trying to get back at me for defying its will."" What?"

"And since Fate has decided to step in, I think I should as well." He glanced at Sint. She was in a right state at the moment. Strands of her mane had escaped her hood to poke this way and that, her fangs were bared in a threatening rictus, and the pupils of her eyes were thinner than her Inscribed blades. But despite that, despite the injury she was sporting on her shoulder, she presented an admirable picture of indomitable strength.

Which was especially impressive considering the horde of Gold-and Adamantine-ranked Wolbears she was facing. Though, right that moment, her rapidly blinking eyes were focused on the Wolbears beneath him. On the pile of monsters without any wounds or blood or anything of the sort that confessed they had lost their lives trying to kill him. They were just unmoving, petrified as though they'd suffered a glare from a basilisk.

Ryland stared ahead, and Sint followed his gaze, concentrating on their as-yet-unsubdued enemies. Except, the Wolbears weren't focusing on them either. A column of wind had drilled through the air to assault one of the beasts. It was trying to fend off the air that kept attempting to disorient it. Then thunder crackled, lightning lashing the Wolbear with blistering bolts.

"Sorry I'm late," Alendra said. She landed down from the storm cloud that was assaulting the enormous monster.

"Needed to get my [Storm] under control." Kendren landed behind her a moment later.

"Well, it looks like things are well in hand here already." Ryland smiled. That wasn't late at all. If anything, it was perfect timing, since Sint had gotten ample opportunity to showcase her capabilities. She seemed to recognize it too—or he hoped she did—going by the way she was relaxing. She even swayed where she stood. Ah, right. The fiery sensations of life-or-death battle were vacating her body, leaving her with the familiar crash after every exhilaration.

"What did you mean?" she said as Alendra and Kendren combined surprisingly well to beat back the lone standing Wolbear.

"What's with Fate messing around with you? What did you do?"

"I merely saved a cat," Ryland said.

"And Fate got uppity about it."" Fate got uppity … stop talking about it like we're having tea!" Ryland held back a chuckle.

"I can show you, if you'd like. I'll need to cast the spell on your eyes, however." Sint tensed at that, then nodded. He focused on her, changing the direction his manasoul was sending his magic." [Omniscience]." Sint's eyes widened at the name alone, before they threatened to goggle entirely out of her skull as his spell took effect. Ryland let the spell claim his eyesight as well. He smiled at her wondrous shock, her head turning this way and that as she took it all in. It was an awestriking experience.

Even now, Ryland remembered the very first time he had managed to create and use the spell. The world had warped. There wasn't a ton of difference at first.

Everything simply sharpened to incredible detail, allowing him to note things like each and every pore on his teammates' cheeks even from this far away, even when Kendren and Alendra were moving furiously as they fought. Ryland remembered well how the contrast of various colours was so sharp, he had felt like he had been living in a monochrome world all his life. But the weirdest change, no doubt, was how magic was now readable in a way.

Mana swirled everywhere, existing in a plane alongside regular old reality so that nothing was obscured. Just enhanced. He caught Sint's mouth falling agape. The sheer vibrancy was getting to her. Alendra's [Storm] swirled a deep blue and grew, threaded with the bright flashes of her fulgurous fury. Kendren's magic was warmer, a soft gold reminiscent of enhancements and such. And then Sint stared directly at Ryland. He had once experimented with it.

Most mirrors failed, but a special mirror made from starmetal had interacted with [Omniscience] and allowed him to really get a good look at what the spell had revealed about him. The experience had been one of those interesting little moments of pitting his own magic against each other. It had been like watching every single hue of mana get compressed into one shade, so bright that had he been looking with physical eyes, he'd have been legitimately worried about his retinas.

His brain had felt it was threatening to catch fire. Of course, his defensive spells had prevented any such thing from happening. He had layered them deep specifically on his eyes. Right that moment, though, it made sense why Sint immediately looked away. And swallowed.

"What's happening to those things?" Sint asked. She stared at the still Wolbears beneath Ryland. He looked down too. The beasts were all wrapped in dark threads, glinting with not light but a certain kind of magical impression that suggested they were watching something they absolutely shouldn't be.

"Those are the strings of Fate," Ryland said. He wondered where the black Glyph of Fate was. The one that had popped up over Viren and Tallow had been easy to banish because it had appeared in a convenient location. So where was the one messing with the Entrance Trials? Sint shook her head.

"That's…"

"Insane?" Ryland supplied.

"Unbelievable?"

"Yes, but that's your fault." Ryland paused, then laughed lightly.

"Indeed." He considered removing his spell from Sint's eyes. But he let it be for now, since it was going to fade on its own soon anyway. She didn't look too overwhelmed… Alright, she was starting to look a mite too flabbergasted, every time she faced him, so he was entertaining a few second thoughts about letting her see the truth of the world so easily. But there was one small benefit. She didn't seem as hostile to him anymore. Just… resigned? Was he reading her right?

He remembered seeing something like that on Viren too. Was that better or worse? Ryland figured he'd worry about all of that later. Right now, they had a Trial to cross.

"Come on, Kendren," Alendra was shouting.

"Distract it some more. And try not to die while you're at it." Kendren was making a valiant effort at not getting caught by the oversized Wolbear that most likely outranked him. He had a Glyph of Haste burning along his boots, which carried him away faster than normal.

"If you could hurry up any day now." Whatever Alendra said in reply was lost in the enormous monster's rampage. It growled and roared, ripping up the ground where Kendren had been moments ago. Ryland was about to step up. He had seen proof of Fate's tampering. In all honesty, he should have suspected that it would cause issues.

But he had hoped that Arcoryx's magical defences would dampen Fate's effects, and that it would only really act out in the presence of Viren and Tallow, who were protected against its effects by Ryland's permanent spell. But it looked like Fate bore a grudge. It didn't matter if Ryland was within the foremost magic academy in the entirety of the Accorded Realms, nor did it matter if he was within a fake world, a Reality Demesne disconnected from actual reality.

Fate had managed to worm its way through to exact revenge against Ryland. Well, not on his watch. But it appeared Ryland didn't need to interfere. For all that the Wolbear had grown strong, and continued to outpace its earlier level of strength, it was facing two prospective students at the same time, now. Not just Sint alone.

With Kendren both distracting the monster and granting boons to Alendra, she had no trouble manoeuvring her [Storm] until the monster was eating blast after blast of lightning straight in its face. It took only seconds longer, but the Wolbear eventually fell with a heavy thud.

"Alright," Kendren said, sighing and dusting his hands.

"That was more work than I was anticipating. If we don't pass this…" Alendra ignored him.

"We need to deal with the rest of the monsters."

"No," Sint said quietly.

"We don't." Ryland didn't look back as the rest of them stared. He had cast a few Glyphs of Stonesoul, and the monsters had grown increasingly docile. Every single monstrous beast threatening them on the slope had been subdued, not just that little pile Ryland had landed upon. They were, essentially, free to go on.

"Come along," Ryland said, leading the way forward.

"We need to keep moving, yes?" They didn't reply at first. Ryland didn't even need to look back to see the trio staring at the pile of entirely inert Wolbears.

"Before we go," Kendren eventually announced.

"We need to immortalize this moment." That snapped Alendra and Sint out of whatever funk they had fallen into at seeing the Wolbears stacked up in that manner.

"You cannot be serious." Alendra groaned.

"Alright fine. Just be quick about it." Sint stared at Kendren.

"I cannot believe this." Ryland looked back briefly at the new glow. Kendren was grinning at them. He had raised his hand high, a spell circle glinting with orange and yellow light over his upraised palm." [Snapshot]." Ryland blinked. It was rare for magic to take him by surprise, but he hadn't expected Kendren to take a picture of this little moment of theirs. He found himself laughing softly again.