Sleep didn’t treat Ryan well during the night, so he found himself out in the Guild manor courtyard testing his new abilities. In a short time he’d made a lot of progress. Not so much in the defensive aspect of the Key powers, because there just wasn’t a lot to work with in the yard, but the other uses that he discovered. If he was honest with himself, he was almost as excited at the prospect of the other uses as the defense.

He held his hand out in front of chest and locked the space around it. That was the core of the power, locking a limited area of space around a body part; hands, feet, elbows… it didn’t matter. There was a catch though in that the power immobilized the body part, along with the surrounding space out to a few centimeters. He’d taken a few tumbles, figuring that one out, and nearly tore his own foot off. Trial and error had shown him he could use it twice at his current power level before the strain on his Core was too much to bear.

Ryan faced the compound wall and planted his feet in the gravel. He set off at a mellow run, the kind he had used to jump and touch the basketball hoop back in highschool. On approach, he drove his knee up into the air and leapt up. He locked the space around his leading foot, like creating a foothold for himself in the air, and boosted himself off of it, like a double jump from one his favorite childhood video game, and soared upward.

The strain on his Core intensified sharply and he let the ability go, coasting on his momentum. He drove his other knee up in the same way, settling his foot into a good position, and repeated the step up, effectively turning his double jump into a triple jump.

He stretched out his arms to the top of the wall and boosted himself into a sitting position. The view was good. It was only around three meters high, but it had been easy. He was making progress. The dust and grit under his hands and butt wasn’t doing his wardrobe any favors, though. He tried to yank his cloak out from under him, but realized it would just do more damage, so left it.

The defensive aspect of the ability excited him. It turned out that locking space about the size of a dinner plate, along with the ability of [Spatial Cognition] to predict the path of incoming abilities and objects, was a powerful point defense system. He hadn’t had an opportunity to test it, but he expected to deflect incoming powers, and maybe even stop them dead in their tracks.

The other Key ability he received gave him a bit more trouble. There wasn’t anything convenient around to test it on effectively, and he hadn’t had time to wrangle someone into helping him practice. He extended his arms out in front of him and pushed out from his Core. A wall sprang up, about twice as tall and wide as he was. Well, not so much a wall. In his senses it resembled an invisible dome where the intensity of the edges faded out of his ability to detect.

The feeling when he used [Warp Step] was the same as the invisible dome, just slightly altered and projected outward. When he examined the ability through his Core, the information received gave him the impression that the warped space could change the path of incoming objects, at a cost. He could also move the dome in any direction he wanted and push it as far away as ten meters.

He let the ability go and jumped down from the wall. The two new Keys gave him a noticeable bump in his physical ability as the drop only bent his knees a little. More, he felt his mental clarity had taken a huge leap. Just through jumping around in the courtyard he’d discovered that the new Keys further augmented his reflexes, as well as the sharpness of his thoughts and senses.

Turning to face the expanse of stone, he summoned the invisible dome again. It extended out a few meters before fading out of existence. He leaned into the compound wall with his ability and plunged to the side, as if the earthen barrier was a slippery surface. The invisible dome flooded his senses with information about the momentum, direction, and force of the stone barrier in front of him. It shunted him aside, as well as transmitting some force into his body.

Before he fell over, he let the power go. It was a strange one. On the one hand he could defend a wide area in any direction he liked, but there was a hard trade off where his body needed to handle the bleed-off of momentum and force that his power couldn’t handle.

There was an element of finesse that he needed to understand in order to not get himself killed with it. Jamming as much power into it as possible partially solved the problem, but then he’d run out of energy to use other abilities. For now, he was calling the ability [Warp Wall], purely based on it’s space warping similarity to [Warp Step].

Regardless of his inability to thoroughly test his new powers in such a short time, he was satisfied. The capability to defend himself up close and at range, and the added utility benefits from being a bit creative, pushed him closer to being battle capable, if not completely proficient.

Ryan’s jaw cracked as he suppressed a yawn and he leaned against the wall just inside the gate where he had leaned his spear during his acrobatic practice. There was no hint of light, dawn being a way off yet. The blue cloak from that crotchety outfitter in the Guild was a welcome barrier against the chill as his body cooled down. The other reason he was out here this early was to intercept any Guild members going out to handle the kidnappers. He settled in to wait.

A figure emerged from the entrance of the manor in the distance and shuffled to where Ryan slouched. Casey, wrapped up in the blanket from her bunk in the barracks and with dark bags under her eyes, leaned against the wall next to him.

“You didn’t even ask me if I wanted to go with you,” Casey said.

“Yeah, sorry. You were still passed out and to be honest, you were in pretty bad shape last night. I didn’t know what to say, so I figured I’d just leave you alone.”

“It’s fine. I don’t blame you. Is this where you’re meeting up with your Guild mates?”

“I have no idea. I figured they’d have to come through the gate on their way out and I’d just tag along.”

Casey crooked her head over, looking at Ryan with a raised eyebrow.

“You could have just asked somebody, you know? These people are, like, your people now,”

“Yeah. I didn’t feel like talking to anybody though, and Joy isn’t around. Not that he talks, which probably makes him a good listener.”

Casey snorted and settled back against the wall. They sat in a comfortable silence, soaking in the darkness and ambiance of the early morning. After a while, Casey interrupted the silence.

“I’m not cut out to fight people. I never wanted to leave the village.” She brought her hands up and glared at them, like they had betrayed her. “I’m fine protecting the village from beasts, but I just don’t want to kill people. I don’t want to be an adventurer or join a Guild. I just want things to go back to the way they were.”

“I’m not judging you. I don’t have everything figured out; I’m trying to find my own way too. You should do the same. Do what you want to do.”

“But my parents are still out there. I don’t want to be a coward, refusing to fight.”

“I promised you I’d help you, and I am. I don’t expect a teenager to carry the burden of rescuing her parents. You focus on you right now. Clear your head space and figure out your own path. I know that isn’t what you want to hear, but it’s what you need to do.”

Ryan glanced down at Casey and saw tears welling up, but she clenched her teeth and forcibly smoothed out her face. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly and nodded her head.

“I know we’re not best friends or anything, but I don’t think I can handle killing someone again right now, so I really want to trust you. Just bring them back please.”

Ryan didn’t reply. He’d already said everything he needed. Casey didn’t need to trust him to do what he felt was the right thing. Even if her parents weren’t there, events had conspired to drag him in and he wouldn’t stand by, especially not after the attempted alleyway murder attempt the day before. Casey didn’t monopolize emotional issues. Dealing with his own emotions was coming, but he just suppressed them better than she did.

A group of people emerged from the manor and walked toward the gate. Ryan recognized the Guild Master, Bard, the tinkling of his trinkets and jewelry as good as announcing his presence. The other three were unfamiliar.

The group came to a stop in front of Ryan and Casey, giving them a once over. A man with shoulder length black hair and dark, sleepy eyes stepped forward with his hand out. He wore what looked to be the fantasy world equivalent of business casual, and Ryan couldn’t help but notice his rakish smile. This guy was going to be trouble.

“Heya bud! You must be Ryan. Welcome to the cult! I mean Guild!” He glanced furtively at Bard, the smile never leaving his face. “I’m Brady. You look ready to go, don’t you? Your friend though, she doesn’t look ready.”

“Yeah thanks, good to meet you. I’m ready, I don’t think Casey is coming though.” Ryan looked at Casey, who shook her head and sighed. Ryan looked back at Brady and shrugged.

“Let’s get to it then! Daylight is burning!” He looked up at the dark sky, then back down at Ryan. He brushed his long dark hair back and dialed up the intensity of his smile. “Well, I guess something is burning, not daylight though. Whatever, we’ll figure it out later!”

“I assume the Guild Master isn’t going, so that means just us four? That doesn’t seem like enough,” Ryan said.

“More than enough. Me and Kara here are both Bronze,” Brady said, his thumb pointing over his shoulder at a woman in the group. “Besides, if these thugs are smart, they’ve already run off with their tail between their legs. You and my other buddy here, Lancer, will be the cleanup crew.” Behind Brady, Lancer rolled his eyes and Kara elbowed him in the ribs, but couldn’t hide her smirk in time to hide it.

“I’m sure Joy is out there somewhere, lurking around and doing beasty things too. Bard, don’t forget to snag some Administrator guards for us!” Brady said.

Ryan was skeptical, but he assumed they knew what they were talking about, so didn’t push any further. He nodded at Brady and motioned for him to lead them out. Looking back at Casey, he gave her a reassuring nod, and waved at Bard as he stepped out of the gate after his new friends.

As they made their way down the deserted road, Ryan examined the two other crew members. Kara had short, spiky hair and wore a utilitarian mix of fabrics and leather. She didn’t carry any weapons, but based on her general gear, she appeared ready for any situation. Just the way he imagined a soldier to be.

Lancer also didn’t carry any weapons, which made Ryan wonder about his name. Could you be a Lancer if you didn’t carry a lance? This brought up the bigger question about some names he’d heard. Joy, for instance, was obviously not his real name, so some people just chose names? Were they earned? He added that to his long list of things to research.

Focusing back on Lancer, Ryan thought he looked like the stereotypical college football quarterback; square jawed, short cropped blond hair, general athletic build, and attractive features. Kind of like an everyman sort. His clothes were tight fitting brown leather with no loose gear or buckles, as if he was afraid of getting caught in something, or maybe catching on fire.

From their appearance, Ryan couldn’t guess what their abilities were, but based on their membership in Hallow Song, he assumed they were capable as individuals. Two of them were Bronze ranked, but Ryan didn’t have an intuitive grasp of how powerful that was yet. He had only seen Iron ranked Joy do anything meaningful, along with Mr. Swagger. Flicker had been entirely off the scale and a complete enigma.

Light peeked over the horizon. Brady led them through side streets, giving Ryan flashbacks of the previous day when the labyrinthine network of neighborhood streets had trapped him. Street vendors started showing up, laying out their wares for the coming day.

Brady stopped walking and motioned everyone to gather around him.

“I’m going to start the show now, while we’re still inside the walls. I think they’ve already split town, but just in case their insect guy with the flies is still buzzing around, I don’t want him to know exactly where we are. Sit back for a second while I get the ball rolling,” said Brady.

Brady stood still in the middle of the cramped street. Ryan belatedly dialed up [Spatial Cognition]. He really should get used to keeping it up, even if at very low power.

The breeze in the alley started kicking up dust, building a roiling wave that centered on Brady and rotated around him. After a minute of buildup, the swirling mass of air and dust filled the entire street and spilled over the tops of the nearby buildings. Strangely, or maybe not since it was magic, the dust and wind didn’t touch Ryan and the others, like a force-field held it all back.

Ryan saw something bright flicker out of the corner of his eye, then in front, and all around. He strained his eyes and realized that tiny arcs of static zipped around within the dust cloud.

“Isn’t that dangerous? Aren’t you worried about something catching on fire?” Ryan asked in a low voice.

“Don’t you worry, everything will be fine. I worked out the fire hazard issue ages ago.” Brady’s cool and confident response had the exact opposite of the intended effect on Ryan, who was now doubly worried about setting the city on fire.

“Ok, that should be enough to get the party started. Let's get going, I’ll keep building it as we move.” Brady was already walking, his pace unhurried.

The Guild had made a deliberate choice by sending Brady, it seemed. If the ability had the effect that Ryan thought it did, then the too-casual, too-friendly Bronze ranker was a hard counter to the guy with the ability to control flies. He, at least, would be blind to their exact location.

As they moved, Ryan played with the sensitivity of [Spatial Cognition] to figure out the impact the miniature storm made. He dialed it down to where he could feel the dust in the air, but had to fight through the incredible amount of information that level of fidelity dumped into his brain.

Scanning his surroundings, he discovered that the dust storm looked like a miniature hurricane, with Brady and the group in the eye of the storm. It grew quickly and soon spread beyond the range of his ability.

There wasn’t a single bug in sight. The static in the storm was a giant bug zapper.