Sophia

“What in the blazing moon was that?” Don yelled.

Sophia pulled her rope dart from her belt and held it tightly in both hands as she charged the fugitive.

That blasted outlaw evaded the bolas. Looks like we are doing this the hard way. I need to disable his teleportation quickly. If the fight appears too overwhelming, he could jump out of here in an instant.

Don drew his hammer in hand and began drawing circles in the air with his other, creating small portals with each wave of his palm. From the corner of her eye, Sophia could see the other end of the portals opening instantaneously. Incoming hammer strikes followed each portal, allowing Don to strike at her even from a great distance. She held her rope dart tight between her hands and deflected the incoming blows as she closed in.

Standing within range of her ten-foot rope dart, Sophia released the slack of the rope around her elbow and swung the weighted end of the rope dart toward Don’s arms. Magicians require the full use of their limbs to cast any spells, meaning all she needed to do was land one solid bind with her rope dart to cripple Don.

Don Blinked out of sight. The rope dart followed through thin air. Most spells were noisy and bright. A deep rumble erupted from behind Sophia, and she quickly spun around, holding the rope taught between her hands, preparing for an incoming strike. Just narrowly catching Don’s back-strike in midair, Sophia attempted to wrap the handle of the hammer in her rope, but the magician quickly withdrew his strike. He was quite fast.

Before Sophia could follow up, she felt a tug behind her ankle. Don had stepped behind her stance and slammed her into the ground with a single leg takedown. The impact knocked the breath out of her, even through her armor.

Sophia’s eyes widened as a powerful hammer strike swung down for her helmet. She reached up and grabbed the handle of the hammer, stopping the spike from piercing her eye. Rolling to the side with all her might, she yanked the weapon from Don’s hands and quickly spun up onto her feet. She tossed the hammer over the dock into the sea and smirked at her disarmed foe.

The explosive sounds of Don’s spells sent the dockworkers into a panic. They gave the fight a wide berth, and most fled into the city or onto their ships. This worked well for Sophia, for she did not wish for any passersby to be hurt in their struggle.

Both combatants were winded from their exchange. Sophia took this opportunity to regain her composure after suffering through Don’s harsh takedown. She did not expect Traveler to fight back so fiercely. She needed to buy some time.

“You’re tougher than I expected. In all my years as a Sentinel, I’ve never met a magician who was as talented at wrestling as you.”

“I had a good teacher,” Don said as he adopted a boxing stance. “I’m assuming you are a Holy Knight of some kind?”

“Not quite. Are you telling me you don’t know what a Sentinel is?”

Has this man been living in a cave?

“Not the faintest idea.” Don wiped the sweat from his brow. “Regardless of what you are, I am not going to let you interfere with my quest. I’ll swiftly deal with you just as I did the last church thug that tried to stand in my way.”

Why is he so confident? I took his weapon for good . . . Wait . . .

With her Arcane Sense still active, Sophia could see that Don had two magic tethers coming from his body, indicating he had two active spells cast on his person. One tether extended into the skies and was moving quite fast. The second extended into the ocean toward the hammer he lost.

Has he attuned to a magic hammer, or did he cast a spell on it?

Don lifted his hand into the air and yelled, “Hammer!” In a bright blue flash, the weapon Sophia had just thrown into the sea appeared right in the palm of Don’s hand.

Damn it, of course, an evoker would have a weapon-binding ritual!

With a twirl of his hammer, Don unleashed a mighty swing. With a whip of her rope dart, she caught Don’s arm at the apex of his swing and faded backward, causing Don to overstep as she yanked him downward. Sophia met his falling forehead with a powerful knee strike and bashed the hammer from his hand once again with a backhand strike down his arm.

Grasping as much of Don’s gambeson as possible, she attempted to perform an aggressive takedown, but Don countered with a takedown of his own, knocking Sophia to her side. Since Sophia’s body and head were covered in armor, Don could not strike her barehanded, but his hammer would render her armor almost useless.

Free from her grasp, Don summoned his hammer back to his hand and came down with a strike to her head. Sophia rolled backward onto her feet to avoid the attack but not before tangling Don’s leg in her rope dart.

Sophia yanked hard on the rope at Don’s feet, spreading his stance wide. Capitalizing on his loss of balance, Sophia drew her second bolas and tossed it directly into Don’s chest, binding one of his arms tight to his torso as it wrapped around him in the air.

With her enemy bound, Sophia charged forth to deliver a knockout blow to his exposed head but was met with a boot to the breastplate by another enemy. The kick nearly sent her flailing over the dock.

How could I not have heard him coming? His steps were like the beating wings of a scarab!

A small-statured man with a knife drawn stood by Don with a scowl on his face.

“Right on time, Shalnark!” Don yelled. “This woman was about to knock my head off!”

With a swift cut, Shalnark cut the bolas. “I knew we weren’t out of the woods yet. I should’ve known better than to leave you alone.”

Sophia had hoped to fight them one at a time, but it seemed luck was not on her side. She untangled her rope dart and swung it around in wide arcs to keep her enemies at bay. The two outlaws hesitated to close in, for the dart of her rope whipped through the air like a piercing desert wind.

“Don, just use your magic to get out of here! I’ll hold this wench off.”

“No offense to you, my friend, but this one is too much for you. If I leave you here alone with her, you’re as good as captured.”

Shalnark grimaced at Don but didn’t argue. “Fine, let’s deal with her quickly. The town guard is already on their way and will be here any minute!”

What? How could the town guard mobilize so quickly? I took special care not to get them involved.

A portal opened up behind her, and she was forced to pause her whirlwind attacks to dodge the incoming blow. While her guard was down, Shalnark charged the distracted Sophia with his dagger pointing toward her mail-covered armpit. With a pivot on her heel, she spun to kick the charging rogue in the chest, stopping his charge in its tracks. With a swing of her rope dart, she bound Don’s free arm tight as he prepared to open another portal, canceling his spell. She pulled down as hard as she could, lowering Don’s face for another kick. The attack sent him down to his knees on the dock.

Before Sophia could make a second strike, an arm grabbed her by the breastplate. Shalnark pulled her back and readied a downward stab toward her helmet’s eye slit. Sophia ducked down, causing the dagger to skirt off the round part of her conical helmet and followed through with a spearing headbutt.

Shalnark retaliated by flipping his dagger upward and trying to stab it into Sophia’s armpit again. Catching his arm, Sophia and Shalnark struggled for control of the knife. Though Sophia was a salamandra, a species known for their smaller elegant frames, her build was a bit more masculine. She was clearly the stronger of the two as she muscled Shalnark to his knees and was easily able to keep his knife hand at bay as she prepared a throw.

However, Shalnark dropped his knife and caught it with his free hand. He stabbed the knife shallowly into the inside of Sophia’s elbow, which wasn’t covered by a splinted plate like the rest of her arms. The cut did not penetrate deep before Sophia disengaged the grapple with a sharp thrust kick to Shalnark’s gut, sending him backward.

By this time, Don had untangled his arm from the rope dart and tossed the weighted end over the dock. He and Shalnark began to circle Sophia as she adopted a boxing stance with her armored arms tucked in to guard her exposed armpits, and her gauntlet-covered fists ready to smash teeth. She nodded her gaze from one outlaw to the other, waiting to see who would attack first, but her vision was beginning to blur. The world started to spin as if she had turned around in circles too many times.

Did they hit me in the head without my noticing?

Shalnark winced with a smirk on his face. Sophia focused her gaze on his dagger to see that a green-tinted oil was hastily applied to it recently.

Is that poison?

“Seems that apothecary was right.” Shalnark slowly approached. “Get going, Don, this fight is over.”

“I’m not done yet, you treacherous bastard,” Sophia said, shaking the blur from her vision as best she could. “It’ll take more than a dab of poison to bring me down.”

“You’re a tough bitch, I’ll give you that,” Shalnark spouted. “You probably could’ve beat us both into the dirt if we fought fair. Too bad I don’t.”

Sweat flooded Sophia’s brow. She had been in tough situations before, but she had never dealt with a magician who could put up such a physically capable fight, let alone two. For the first time since her encounter with the Librarian, she was uncertain if she could really win. Perhaps this would indeed be her last hunt.

“It’s a shame, my dear lady, but I did hire him for a reason,” Don said as he began the long process of opening a large portal. “I would suggest seeing an apothecary sooner rather than later. Don’t kill her, Shalnark. There is no need for that.”

“Like Hells I won’t,” Shalnark said, brandishing his poison-soaked dagger. “If we let her live now, she’s going to hunt us to the ends of the empire. I’m sorry, Don, but we don’t have the luxury of mercy today.”

Shalnark charged forth at the weakened Sophia.

“Shalnark!” Don yelled. The rogue did not stop.

Sophia braced for the incoming onslaught.

The click of a wheellock and the explosive boom of a pistol gave her attacker pause. Shalnark narrowly avoided the shot that would have taken his head clean off. A profound war cry echoed through the harbor as massively weighted stomps vibrated the entire dock. Don paused his casting for a second to see what was coming but was met with a hulking shoulder that knocked him flat on his ass like a trebuchet boulder slamming into a keep.

Despite being covered head to toe in plate armor, the hulking man ran as if he was riding the winds. He held his spear high and twirled it in the air. Shalnark backed away. Even through her blurred vision, Sophia recognized that armor.

“Are you hurt, Captain?”

“Talix?” Sophia blurted. “How in the blazing Hells did you—”

“We can talk about that later. Are you hurt?”

Sophia’s confusion was overshadowed by her gratefulness. There was no time to question it now. All that mattered was bringing the outlaws down.

“That one poisoned me. I’m not sure with what, but don’t let his blade pierce your skin.”

Talix pointed the tip of his spear toward Shalnark with one hand and put the palm of his hand on Sophia’s chest. He mumbled something that Sophia could not hear in her state, but a yellow light passed from Talix’s chest, down his fingertips, and into Sophia. A warm feeling surrounded her body as her vision returned, and her quivers slowly ceased.

The sound of chattering armor echoed in the distance as well as the marching call of the town guard. Sophia knew that magicians were at their most dangerous when backed into a corner and typically lashed out in the worst way possible when they felt overwhelmed. If she could not stop the outlaws fast, this duel could turn into an all-out massacre.

“Surrender, outlaws!” Talix yelled. “I’ve already alerted the guard of your presence in this port, and they are only seconds away. Lay down your arms, and you will be shown mercy.”

“Shit, Don. We have to get out of here!” Shalnark yelled.

“I can do that easily! But what about you?” Don wheezed as he recovered from Talix’s overwhelming bulrush.

“Don’t worry about me. Running away is what I do best.”

Don stood and took on his casting stance. He snapped his fingers and Jumped up onto the deck of a galleon parked next to the dock where the battle was taking place. Sophia immediately gave chase. “Get the shapeshifter, lightweight! This evoker is mine!”

Talix only nodded as he looked over his shoulder before twirling his spear toward Shalnark. Sophia pulled the blade of the rope dart and cut the counterweight to a crane attached to the side of the ship, launching her up to the deck. Though she still hated Talix, she was sure glad to see him.

***

Talix

There he was. The rat bastard that stole Talix’s amulet. Sophia had just departed to pursue the traveling wizard, leaving Talix to deal with the shape-changer. By some strange circumstance, Talix and Sophia were facing off against the outlaws without the aid of the town guard, but Talix almost preferred it this way. It was not easy navigating the wilderness on his own, knowing the outlaws would be arriving in Port Lood soon. Still, he managed to reach the city in time to alert the guards of the incoming outlaw magicians and save Captain Sophia. He was angry that Sophia abandoned him in the woods, but right now, all he could think about was his enemy before him, and he hoped that he would have the pleasure of gutting him before the guards arrived.

“You have something of mine.” Talix twirled an ornate spear and pointed the tip at the pickpocket. “And I intend to take it back . . . along with your head.”

Shalnark fell to his knees with one arm raised and the other behind his back. He was so frightened it was almost embarrassing. “Please, Sir Knight. I surrender!” he whimpered. “Arrest me if you will, but please spare the lives of my companion and me!”

Talix lowered his spear a bit. “Return my father’s amulet to me, and I can promise you a fair—”

Shalnark quickly drew a knife from behind his back and threw it toward the armor gap between Talix’s pauldron and breastplate. Talix rolled his pauldron into the dagger, bouncing it off his hardened steel armor. The thief sprang back up to the balls of his feet, drawing Talix’s old rondel.

“Have you no shame?” Talix yelled.

Shalnark smirked. “I know not the meaning of the word.”

“My name is Sir Talix Aldous. Tell me your name, thief, so that I may have it plastered above your crucified body!”

The thief was noticeably distraught. Caught between being ready to sprint away at a moment’s notice or charge his pursuer. “I have many faces. There is no point in introductions, for you will never see this face again.”

“Then I will bury you in an unmarked grave!” Talix charged forth at Shalnark. He led strong with several well-aimed thrusts to the thief’s unarmored torso. He did not dare charge recklessly, for he already made the mistake of underestimating this rogue once before. No strike could land true on the slippery scoundrel as he retreated with each dodge. Before he could retreat further, he found himself at the edge of the dock.

A series of explosive casting noises from the window portals echoed from aboard the ship beside them. Talix quickly turned to face them to assure he was not caught off guard again by a weapon to the face. The thief took advantage of the knight’s distraction to close into the grappling range.

He grasped the center of the spear and roughly shoved it overhead to prevent a counterstrike. He grabbed Talix’s arming sword from the sheath on his belt with his other hand and tried to stab it upward into his closed helmet. With an overpowering insistence, Talix flipped his spear down, breaking his opponent’s grip on it, and flicked the blunt end upward, whacking Shalnark across the ribs. The mighty blow sent the pickpocket reeling backward, though he still kept his grip on Talix’s sword.

“You really need to stop giving me weapons, knight.” Shalnark flicked the blade of the sword with his fingers. “Someone could get hurt.” He gave the sword a twirl and pointed its tip toward Talix.

The dock laborers and washerwomen began to circle the combatants as spectators, while others fled the explosive magician battle further down the dock. Shalnark darted his gaze to a washerwoman behind him, holding on tight to a soaking wet bedsheet. He grabbed the cloth from her and shoved her back as the woman screamed. With a quick toss, he threw the sheet right at Talix’s head. The heavy wet cloth wrapped around his entire body, enveloping him in a cocoon.

Talix scrambled to remove the binding sheet as quickly as he could, but as soon as he regained vision of the scoundrel, a sword pommel came swinging for his neck. The brisk steel of his helmet’s gorget protected his neck from a trachea collapse, but the throat shot still choked him considerably. With a second mighty blow coming from above, Talix covered his face with his armored elbows. The shock radiated down his fingers, even through his armor, as it struck him on the boniest part of his elbow. With his other arm still bound in the wet cloth, all Talix could do was retreat.

Two of the laborers jumped on Shalnark as he was rearing back for a third strike.

“Beat the rogue’s face in,” the washerwoman yelled.

“Hold him down!” Four more laborers jumped on Shalnark, covering him in a pile of bodies, fists, and feet.

Talix finally freed himself of the sheet. “Back away, good people of Lood! This man is mine!” Talix quickly shoved his way through the stout laborers.

“Shit! Where did he go?” one yelled from the center of the dogpile. “He was just here!”

Talix searched frantically through the crowd. He recalled that this outlaw could change his face at will, so he would need to search for him based on his clothing and gear. Ignoring the crowd of faces that surrounded him, he turned to see a feeble old man in brown dress slowly backing away toward another dock. Their eyes met for a moment before Talix gazed down toward the man’s neck to see his father’s amulet hanging from it.

“Stop that old man!” Talix shouted through the panicking crowd.

“Are you mad, Sir Knight?” a laborer asked with great confusion.

The old man presumed to be Shalnark darted down the harbor. Talix barreled through the laborers with his superior size and strength in pursuit of his prey. He chased the false old man down with terrible ferocity. The crowds parted at the mere sight of the tall, armored brute blasting down the harbor, while Shalnark was forced to barrel through them.

Despite being fully armored, Talix was every bit as fast as Shalnark. Having trained night and day in this harness, Talix could run at top speed in his armor without hindrance. After a series of sprints, twists, and turns, Talix had chased Shalnark into a dead end. With the raging sea at his back, the disguised Shalnark desperately searched for a boat to jump to, but there was nothing. It seemed as if the ocean itself was made of fire. His gaze darted back and forth between Talix and the raging tide behind him.

“Don’t even think about disengaging from me,” Talix threatened. “If you want to reach your friend, you’ll have to kill me first.”

“What makes you think he is my friend? I could just as easily abandon him to his fate and escape your entire battalion in another crowd.”

“But you won’t. You need Don Traveler for something. Why else would you follow him so closely?”

Shalnark said nothing. Talix took his silence as an affirmation and pointed his spear at the imposter, still wearing the face of an old man.

Grasping the arming sword by the blade and by the hilt, Shalnark clashed with Talix’s spear, making sure to press the tip away from his torso. He advanced with high speed back into the grappling range, shoving the point of the spear to the dock. He drew the rondel from his belt again, holding it in a reverse grip, and stabbed as hard as he could into Talix’s mail-covered forearm, penetrating deep enough to force him to release his grip on the spear shaft.

With a swift stomp, the cunning thief forced the weapon from Talix’s other hand, stamping it to the floor. Flipping the dagger to a standard grip, Shalnark stabbed upward toward Talix’s armpit, but the frustrated Holy Knight had enough of this farce. He deflected the dagger strike with his elbow and delivered a hefty gauntlet punch straight to the squirrely thief’s gut.

Grasping tight to his prey with one hand, Talix threw three more devastating blows directly into his enemy’s face, with the third completely knocking him backward. He fell headfirst onto a post at the edge of the dock, and a loud, deep crack resounded from behind the thief’s neck. Talix kneeled over his enemy with a fist held high, ready to continue his onslaught. The thief was lying flat on his back with a mouth full of blood and his eyes wide open. Talix rescinded his blow seeing that Shalnark lay there breathless. The lifeless man’s eyes turned bloodshot, his body completely limp.

Broken neck. What a feeble way to die.

Talix removed his right gauntlet and pilfered around the thief’s shattered neck in search of his father’s amulet. There it was lying across the thief’s chest, gold chain and all.

Talix felt a deep sting under his left armpit. A throwing dagger lay lodged in his mail under his pauldron. Before he could react, a harsher pain resounded through his exposed right hand. Gathering his wits, he saw the dead thief reel for a third stab into his helmet’s eye slit. Talix overshot his dodge, throwing himself back onto the ground. The thief’s corpse sprang back to its feet, reborn with a new vigor, grasping a loose plank on the dock and slamming it into Talix’s head. The blow spun him to the ground, and the clang of his helmet rang his ears. He crawled across the floor to his stolen sword and used it to create some space between him and his attacker. He lifted himself to a kneeling position as the thief scrambled for Talix’s holy spear.

Loosely holding the spear, Shalnark stared back at his enemy with the same bloodshot dead eyes. He spat a pool of blood onto the ground as he lazily lifted the spear’s point at Talix. The Holy Knight could barely stand, as the pain radiating from his head was almost too much to bear. His vision began to blur. No doubt caused by the poison Sophia mentioned.

“What magic is this?” Talix said weakly. “I saw the life leave your eyes. I’m certain of it.”

“I can wear any face I desire,” the deceiver bragged as his face shifted back to normal, “even the face of a dead man.” He changed his face to look just like Talix’s, though the injuries he sustained were still apparent.

“Then get on with it, cur!” Talix yelled, stretching his arms out wide and dropping his sword. “You will need to kill me to stop me from pursuing you!”

Shalnark grasped the Holy Knight’s spear tightly in both hands. “It’s nothing personal, knight. I just need that damn wizard to get me home. Any last—”

A deep gash cut its way through the rogue’s arm, causing him to drop the spear at Talix’s knees. The thief yelled in pain as he grasped his bleeding arm.

Talix took hold of his spear and used every ounce of his energy to stand tall. “Unlike my sidearms, this is no mere spear! This is a weapon that serves the will of Xobris and represents my blood pact to serve him! Any who do not share my blood cannot wield this weapon, and any who try will suffer the consequences.”

Shalnark took a few steps, stopping just short of falling off the dock behind him.

“You fight without honor. Nothing is beneath a worm like you. Today I shall show you what it means to fight with the blessing of the Gods!” Talix put his fist over his heart in a unique casting stance. “Hear my call, O Goddess of Purity and God of Diligence.” A yellow light radiated from his sternum and traveled down his arm to his fist. “Lend me your vitality!” The gaping wound on his hand began to slowly close. “Purify this tainted form!” The blurred vision and sickening that came from the poison immediately vanished from his body. His divine gifts left him as good as new.

With his vigor restored, Talix stood tall as he twirled his spear in the air and pointed it back at the scheming rogue. “Time to face your death, you rat bastard.”

Shalnark ripped off his shirt and held it tight between his hands. “I’m not done yet, you piss-drinking paladin! Come on, then!”

Talix shouted as he charged forth at his enemy. He thrust forth with his spear, but the clever rogue caught it with his tunic and tied it to the floor again. This time Talix was far too strong, and the spear landed deep in the thief’s thigh. He shouted in pain as he fell to one knee. Talix choked up on the spear and kicked the thief’s foot out from under him, knocking him to a full kneeling position. Holding Shalnark at his mercy at the end of his spear, Talix stood victorious over his enemy.

***

Sophia

Sophia leaped aboard the galleon in pursuit of Don. The magician was beginning the long process of casting a long-range teleportation spell but stopped once he saw his pursuer so close. Don Blinked backward to create space. Most of the crew of the ship backed away in fear of the explosive spell-casting noise, but some began to take up arms against the magician.

“Stay back, sailors!” Sophia yelled. “A Sentinel is at work!”

Don unleashed a barrage of portal strikes with his hammer. Sophia went into a defensive stance as she acrobatically dodged one attack after another. When the barrage slowed, she looked back to notice Don had Jumped once again. Sophia heard an explosive poof indicating that Don had reappeared over the other side of the ship below. She ran toward the edge of the vessel to see the evasive wizard standing atop a small fishing boat with its owner falling over the side at the sight of an explosive teleportation spell in his face. Don once again began the process of casting his long-range teleport.

Sophia kept her pursuit hot. She grabbed a loose rope attached to the mast and leaped over the edge of the ship. Swinging by the line, Sophia landed in a small boat of her own and sliced the rope attaching it to the dock. With a hard kick, she propelled herself toward Don’s ship.

Sophia took on a casting stance of her own. Though Sophia was not born with any magical gifts like Don’s evocation or the other outlaw’s organic transmutation, she did master a few universal spells that could be learned by anyone with the discipline to learn them. She briskly crossed her arms and extended one forward while grasping her wrist with the other. Raw unworked essence sparked in her hands and blasted forth at her enemy.

Don was taken by surprise, and the blast slammed him in the shoulder, nearly knocking him over the edge of the ship. The fabric of his gambeson was burned away. Sophia unleashed a second blast that Don narrowly dodged, sending a stack of crates behind him crumbling to the ground. Several sailors leaped overboard their own ships to avoid the shattering debris.

Don grasped his burned and bruised shoulder and stared intently at his pursuer.

Sophia did not relent as her boat floated closer and closer to Don. She unleashed another blast from her palm, aimed right at Don’s head. Letting go of his shoulder, Don circularly waved his arms, opening two tiny portals next to one another. The bolt flew through one and out the other, sending it flying back toward Sophia.

Quickly, Sophia clapped her hands together and spread her arms wide as she conjured an invisible Arcane Wall to block the blast from exploding in her face. The resulting magical collision expelled smoke, blocking her vision of Don.

How was that possible? Portals should collapse when exposed to raw essence. How was he able to send an entire bolt back at me?

Sophia waved her arms through the smoke to see Don channeling his essence for a big teleportation spell. This could not be allowed to happen. With her boat within range, she began to cast a spell of her own.

At the apex of his casting, Don said, “I must admit, I underestimated you. But I can’t be captured here. Until next time!” Blue light shone from the ground beneath him as the channeled energy began to manifest his will.

With a green light at the tip of her fingers, Sophia sliced through the air with her hand. A crisp slicing sound carried on the wind as she pitted her magic potency against Don’s. After a momentary battle of wills, Sophia triumphed, causing all the light from Don’s spell to immediately cease. She had countered his channeling, effectively canceling his spell.

“Counter Magic?” Don gasped. “How is that—?”

Sophia let forth another Magic Bolt, but Don narrowly dodged. Don countered with more long-range hammer strikes with his weapon portals. Sophia lifted a rope from the deck of the boat she was standing in and used it to misdirect Don’s attacks one after the other.

On his last attack, Sophia caught the weapon with her rope and pulled it from his grasp on the other end of the portal. With the hammer in one hand, she used the other to cut a swath in the air with her fingers. Her Dispelling Slice could sever magical tethers and effectively cancel active spells. This spell could sever the magical tether that bound the weapon to Don. If she could disarm it, he could no longer summon it back to his hand. However, Don was able to pull his hammer back through the portal before she could fully sever the tether.

The tide began to push both the fishing boats to the adjacent dock. Don landed closer to the shore, while Sophia was further toward the end. Don took this opportunity to disembark his stolen boat and take off at a sprint toward town. The fact that he didn’t Jump or attempt his long-range teleport indicated that he was either running low on essence or was entirely spent.

“Out of essence, are we? What a shame!” Sophia mocked. She leaped from her boat and gave chase.