After Andius had walked out of the store, he didn’t get but a few feet away before Herald came running after him, “Wait, wait!” He called out, wincing from the wound in his leg. Andius turned around to look at him, remembering that his hood was down and drawing it back up again. “If you have nothing else to do today, I could actually use your help.”

Andius was a bit caught off guard by this, the man seemed very much like he wasn’t fond of magic despite his wife being a wizard, so he assumed he would just as much rather not associate with Andius. “Sure man, what can I do for you?” This response made Herald smile and he clapped Andius on the shoulder, guiding him along the busy streets of the small town.

“Great! So I posted a job on the board near the tavern a few days ago, but someone took it down and didn’t get the job done. Thanks to them messing it up, now the Goblins have gotten more troublesome and I have to deal with it myself.” Andius had to work really hard not to wince as he said all of this, because he was he idiot who took the job and never completed it. “You seem like you’re good with those knives of yours, think you could back me up?”

Andius didn’t really have much of a choice here unless he would be okay with dealing with the guilt, which he wasn’t. “Yeah, just some Goblins? I’m pretty sure I can handle those. When do we head out?” He wasn’t exactly excited by the idea of going anywhere near the panther again, something told Andius that the thing held grudges for a long time. Sadly, he didn’t have much choice in the matter.

Herald grinned and started to pull Andius along, “Right now. Lets get this job done, and I’ll make sure Charla has a nice little bonus for you!” Andius groaned silently and followed along it wasn’t like he had much else to do aside from hunting down those other players, and he wasn’t exactly looking forward to that either.

There was a commotion off near the town square, a raised platform that had attracted a rather large crowd, atop it were two men holding another man down. This man wore heavy looking steel armor, but his arms were bound behind his back. One of the two men grabbed him by his long blonde hair and made him look out into the crowd, his eyes were a startling red color that couldn’t have been natural. “This man!” one of the two men called out, “Was caught casting his foul magics on the outskirts of our town, no doubt planning to burn our homes to the ground!”

Sounds of shock erupted from the gathered crowd, but the man looked at them all in horror, “It’s not true, I was just practicing! I don’t have any intention to burn anything!” He pleaded, but the crowd was having none of it. Calls of witch and monster and demon all rang out across the square making Andius wince; this could have been him on that stand after-all.

Andius turned and looked over at Herald, a confused look on his face. “Shouldn’t we try and stop this? It sounds like all he’s doing is trying out his spells…” Herald just shook his head while watching the ongoing display, saying nothing for a time and just letting the scene play out.

The other of the two men stepped forward, this one dressed far better than everyone else in the town, wearing what would pass as a suit in this time and walking with a fancy looking cane, “As you all know, magic is a dangerous and volatile practice. For this very reason it is illegal to practice without a license from the college!” He jabbed a fat finger at the blonde man in the armor, practically spitting his next words, “Not only has this man been practicing his magic illegally, but there is not even a single record of him in our books! This is proof he must have formed a contract with demons!” Roars of anger came from the crowd, some of them throwing rocks even. “For that reason, he will be hanged for his crimes!”

Andius recoiled in horror even as the crowd cheered, if this was how the people reacted to magic then it’s no wonder Charla hid her powers from them all. The other man shoved the person down into the floor and walked over to grab a length of rope, tying it around the post above the platform with practiced motions. Andius had had enough of this, it was completely ridiculous to kill someone just for using magic, let alone for doing it without going to what was most likely an outrageously expensive school!

As they raised the man to tie the noose around his neck, Andius’ eyes began to glow a vivid violet color under his hood, his skin going incredibly pale and veins turning black. The only person who seemed to notice this was Herald, who immediately backed away, wide eyed. “I’ll give them something to fear.” He muttered under his breath as he held out his arms slowly, drawing his mana through his body more powerfully than he had done before.

The anger he had felt building up slowly washed away, leaving him with nothing but a calm logic to the situation. These people were just afraid, they didn’t understand what this person was, and so they wanted to kill them to get rid of the unknown element. Andius didn’t need to kill them, simply scare them off, and scare them he would. He reached out to the shadows of every person in the crowd, pulling them together in the center with all the force he could muster. He felt his mana dropping at a staggering rate, but he pressed on and began to shape the shadows, already people starting to gasp and scream.

Andius had to act fast before he ran out of mana, and so he shaped it into a vague but massive form, a solid mass of shadows that writhed about violently, gaps in the shadows making a wicked mouth and eyes, it’s hands reaching out for the people on the stage! People screamed an began to ran in every direction, the well-dressed man on the stage uttering an incantation and causing a blast of water to shoot at the shadows, but they merely passed right through them. He too ran in horror form the creature, shouting, “The demons have come, run for your lives!” Andius would have laughed if he had the ability to, but at that point his mana dropped to zero and he was wracked with a massive headache.

He had to act fast before the shadows went back to their normal positions, and so he bolted full speed up to the stage, taking one of his knives to the length of rope and cutting the man free before leaning down to whisper in his ear, “Run to the western gate and leave as fast as you can.” Before jumping off the stage and taking off at a full sprint. His dexterity bonus made him incredibly fast when he was moving at a dead sprint, comparable to an Olympian athlete, so he was out of the gates in no time flat.

As soon as he was out of the city, he ducked into the cover of some nearby foliage as fast as he could, only to see Herald leaving the city not long after him. Somehow Herald spotted him almost immediately and came over to him in the brush, “You’re insane, people are calling you a damned demon now!” He chastised, but the faint smile on his face proved that he either found the situation amusing, or that he approved of Andius’ actions.

Andius almost laughed, his emotions slowly coming back to him as the effects of the mana faded, and so all he could do was grin at Herald, “Well, way I see it a mage having a debt to us is always a good thing. Besides, I wasn’t about to just sit around and let someone be killed right in front of me for throwing around a few sparks!” Herald just nodded and the two of them sat to waiting by the bushes. While they waited, Andius decided to click the notification he had blinking in the corner of his vision.

——————

Spell Fear Level: 1

Through the creative use of your magic, you have discovered a new spell. Those who manipulate shadows and darkness have always been an object of fear, and this spell is one of the various reasons why. You create a phantasmal image from shadows that takes the form of the target’s worst fear!

X(1)+Y(23)% increased chance to terrify targets who see the projection, Where X is the level of this spell, and Y is your charisma. Effects vary depending on the wisdom of the target.

Cost: 25*Number of targets.

——————

No snarky comments this time, huh? That was fine by Andius, but he had to wonder why the Admins chose to mock him at times. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of heavy boots crashing against the ground as the person he had just saved came rushing out of the town, a small mob hot on his heels!

Andius and Herald sprung from the bushes and started to run with him, being much faster than the man in full plate armor, they had to move slowly to keep from abandoning him. “Hey man, thanks for the assist back there!” His voice was a lot more casual than when he was about to be executed, so Andius was able to very easily make out the Californian accent. “Really wasn’t looking forward to getting killed again!”

Those words made Herald blink a few times, brows furrowed in confusion, but Andius could only laugh out as they ran, “You’re a player! Oh my god, now I’m even happier I cut you free!” The other player just grinned at Andius, and the pair laughed as they ran, leaving Herald all the more confused. Eventually the crowds gave up the chase, leaving the three of them panting, and the two players laughing like idiots.

The armored player was the first to speak, recovering quickest by far, “My name’s Raizus, I just started playing the other day.” He explained, holding a hand out to Andius with a grin. Andius took his hand and shook with with a smile of his own, more than happy to meet the new player, especially after the scene they had just made in the town.

“Name’s Andius, seems we chose a similar naming convention?” Andius asked, seeming a bit interested. Herald just looked confused during the entire exchange and kept silent while the two introduced themselves. “Why’d it take you so long to get out of the town by the way? We made it out without anyone even coming after us!”

The delay had almost gotten the three of them caught, arrest being the least of their problems if it came to that. Raizus’ face flushed a little bit and he shook his head, “Er, no my name is Latin I think? I’m pretty sure it means something like destruction or something…” This got an eyebrow raise from Herald, but he remained silent the entire time. “As for why I took so long, I needed my sword!” His voice was excited, a childish grin on his face as he drew a large blade from his back, the designs of the blade incredibly intricate and engraved with ruby inlay, making the whole blade looking like it was on fire. The pommel and hand guard looked like they were made of real gold, and the length of the blade seemed to be a kind of silver.

Andius and Herald gaped at the blade simultaneously, and for once Herald was the one to speak up, “Is that an Artifact!? How on Astrala did you get that?” Andius had seem this man scared before, but he had never seen him impressed like this, this must have been a pretty serious weapon! Raizus flushed a little bit again and coughed into his hand, looking over to the north.

“There was this cave not far from me when I spawned in, there was a few trials or whatever. They weren’t really hard, but when I finished them I got this sword and some magic. Apparently it made me a warlock?” Raizus didn’t seem like he had all of the answers here, just as confused as the rest of them, and Andius just shrugged. “Anyways, where were you guys off to? Not like I can really go back to that town now, right?”

Herald studied Raizus for a few moments, seeming to be thinking about something or other for a time before he spoke up, “A warlock… I’ve not really heard much about them, but apparently they get their magic from a contract with a powerful being?” Raizus just shrugged noncommittally, getting a sigh from Herald. “You two speak so strangely, players, spawn? Nothing you’re saying makes any sense!”

Andius and Raizus shared a look for a moment, but they both just shook their head. This time Andius spoke up, “Anyways, we were going to clear out a bunch of goblins nearby, since you cant really return to town, why don’t you join us?” Raizus gave a simple nod as his answer, making Andius smile.

The three of them set off on their quest to clear out the goblin camp, an angry mob in the town behind them and a dangerous task ahead, it seems that Andius’ life was starting to get incredibly hectic!