I canceled the still life magic and pulled myself back. The silver bubble nearly brushed my skin, firing off into the air, taking with it my calmness.

I crashed into the ground. Pain flared across my back as I hit the stony street and a cry escaped my lips. I rolled involuntarily due to the pain, and only after I had done so did I notice the second bubble that phased into the ground where I had been. Through bleary eyes, I saw Noel’s figure twitch and jerk, like Frankenstein’s monster right after he was brought to life through a lightning bolt.

Thunder rumbled. The sky was overcast. I could smell the rain forming overhead. Terror. Panic. Disbelief filled my mind. It was overwhelming and I did not have the energy to deal with it. No, I did not have the energy to deal with anything anymore. I was almost completely drained. I couldn’t even let out a shout, even though I wanted to desperately call out for help. Kelser, what was taking you so long!

I blinked. My eyes cleared up. Noel was standing up, leaning against the earthen wall I had erected to block the street. Noel stared at the wall, panting to catch her breath. I was just glad she wasn’t looking at me or trying to attack me again. I tried to breathe as quietly as I could, hoping to recover as much as I could.

How did she get out of still life?

That question rolled around my head, and I tasted it like it was hard candy rolling around my tongue. Except, it was a bitter candy, with an empty center.

‘Still life’ was my trump card. It relied on assumptions, yes, but I had patched them up with ‘wisdom’ and observations. I also invested a lot of energy in the spell, so that had to count for something, right? Right? What was going on? My thoughts were a mess. I needed a break. No, I needed a rescue.

And somebody needed to stop Noel. I had winded her with the wall of air, the tackle, the slam into the ground. All of that had happened right before the spell, but their effects should still be on her body. That was one of the traits of still life. You might not feel anything during it, but all your pain certainly came back right after the spell was over. You might even notice it more since it would come back so suddenly.

But Noel was already recovering. She placed a hand on the earthen wall, took a deep, broken breath, and the wall crumbled. It crumbled cleanly, leaving only a tiny cloud of dust near Noel’s feet. She’d only broken the middle, as if doing any more than necessary would waste too much energy. Energy she couldn’t afford to waste right now. Not with my companions finally beginning to approach. Honestly, by this point, I had almost begun to suspect Kelser was taking his sweet time on purpose. In my delirium, I imagined Kelser sitting to the side with a smirk, watching me lying pathetically on the ground as Noel gathered her wits. The imagined scenario somehow made me mad, which only made it even harder for me to collect my thoughts and concentrate.

The pain was too much. The fatigue. The anger. The helplessness. How could I have been so stupid? Of course Noel could break through this spell, given enough time. I had only used it against her for a few moments, and suspected it would still work if I did that. But she knew, like I did, how to counter magic. Especially this kind of magic that was built on flimsy logic and unjustified beliefs. After all, wasn’t that exactly what I had done to her blindness magic just a little while ago?

Noel stepped through the Noel sized hole in the wall and disappeared down the street. Somehow, the fact that she hadn’t stopped to finish me off gave me a bittersweet feeling. Did she let me go? Was it pity? Or had she forgotten about me? No, she simply didn’t care. Our friendship was in tatters. Perhaps only I had been clinging to it like an idiot. She was here for her mission, and that was all. And that was why I didn’t deserve a second glance, and why, when Kelser finally picked me, the first thing he asked me was why I was crying.

---

Kelser went ahead to fight Noel. Some of the other humans, like Elders Kezler and Brol, ran up after him. Judging by how beaten up Noel was, they would definitely be able to catch up to her. Whether they would be able to defeat her or not was impossible to know. If I had to bet, I would put my money on Noel. She was crafty and her magic bubbles were pretty much impossible to dodge for people below my level. Thankfully, I had gathered enough energy to tell Kelser how to burst them.

It had been a simple deduction, really. Her bubbles passed through inanimate objects. Only living beings seemed to be effected. And since I had never seen any pets in the cities she had devastated, I figured the bubbles worked on animals too. I’d even noticed a surprising lack of insects in the ruins, although that could have been because of the fire. Still, during our second battle, I’d run my experiment and successfully popped her bubbles by quickly firing small insects at them. One massive bubble, capable of making even the most powerful of living beings disappear, could be undone by a tiny fly. I would have thought it poetic, if it wasn’t for the burning pain in my chest as I gulped down the water being held up to my mouth by Taoc.

Regiments of soldiers had formed up around me. Armored fairies, tall and imposing, stood shoulder to shoulder with their backs towards me. I didn’t notice what they were doing until they’d gotten into formation, or I would have told them not to bother. There was no point in guarding me anymore. I was not a threat to Noel anymore, and everybody knew it. And even if I was, the soldiers around me couldn’t stop Noel anyway. The gesture was a nice one, but it was useless. Just like me. Useless.

What was the point? Everybody always called me smart. Ever since I was a kid, I was ‘gifted,’ everybody said I would be successful. Do big things. Be famous. Everybody had different suggestions. Be a scientist, they said. No, you should start a business. Be an astronaut, you have the gumption! No, don’t do that, go to law school, instead! People believed in me. Even the soldiers standing guard around me right now, and Taoc who was trying to help me by patching up my injuries and helping me drink water, all of them believed in me. They believed that I was smart. That I was talented. That I wouldn’t mess up by doing stupid stuff, that I wouldn’t make a mistake because I was a ‘genius.’

And yet here I was. Languishing among rubble on a road far from the battlefield. I could hear the sounds of spells coming from the Senate. I knew that was where Kelser, Kezler, and Brol were taking on Noel. More soldiers would be joining them soon, hoping to overpower her together. But I knew what they were all thinking. All of them were wishing I was there. They were courageous, and many of them would disappear, or die; I still wasn’t sure whether to believe Noel’s explanation.

I grit my teeth. No. I couldn’t let it end like this. The Immortal of Desire had given me a second chance. I couldn’t blow it like this. I gathered what little strength I had left and tried to stand up. My legs wobbled like jelly, and Taoc cried out. She said I should rest. That the others would take care of it. She said my injuries were bad. Lots of cuts and bruises. She said there was something especially bad on my back. A great big purple bruise that could mean some sort of major injury underneath my skin. Internal bleeding, perhaps? It seemed like Taoc didn’t have the words to describe it.

I steadied myself against the floating spirit, which almost made her jump. I panted heavily, and tried to assess how much energy I could still spare for magic. Very little. But enough. Enough for one big spell.

I took a step forward. Not towards the remains of the earthen wall or the Senate, but towards a side alley. The soldiers turned and looked. They didn’t say a word. There were demon soldiers here too, and they were just as stoic and resolute. Nobody but Taoc would say a word as I stumbled into the side alley, reached down for something they couldn’t see, and then began the long, painful trek up the main street leading up to the Senate.