Chapter 18: Revenge (part3)

Shit I was in big trouble. That was not good! I never would have thought that he can banish spirits! Fuck without Kam’ya I can hardly wield any darkness spells and besides: Without shadows or darkness I can’t use any darkness spells and only shadowskills with the remaining shadow power I had, which was not a lot and most of them relied on shadows being around! I could use wind at least but against an enemy of that caliber?

No way I can win. While thinking that I noticed: I can’t breathe. Shit he must have removed the oxygen from this area. Oh crap no air no resistance is what I think as I fall. On top of that ice lances? Are you serious? Well more like ice needles but they are still freaking dangerous! Well no use thinking, can’t dodge them so: “SHADOW CANCEL.” I cancel as many of them as I can but..

I missed one. A sharp pain from the back of my right shoulder tells me that I’ve been hit. This is getting worse by the second. As I land I see big earth spikes rising from the ground and I immediately retreat at top speed. But they follow me! And even a freaking huge fireball after them. Holy crap.

Shit flee! Lucky for me that fireball is creating a shadow behind me! The light barrier had until now erased any kind of shadow or darkness but this fireball is a threat and a chance. I gather my last shadow power and cast shadow cancel and shadow travel. I erase as many earth spikes as I can while falling into my own shadow but…

The fireball explodes before I can get away and the resulting shock wave catapults me into my shadow. Pain. The left side of my face is completely burned, so is my chest. Fuck that hurts. Big time. That was not a very controlled shadow travel so I hardly know where I am. Seems I actually shot myself near the gate. Lucky.

Groaning I try to get my shattered body to stand up but its hard. “You stupid, fucking idiot. I’d love to kill you myself right here right now. Why I even bother to come and get you is beyond me. I even TOLD you that you can’t do shit without a plan. Who the fuck do you think you are.”

I hear a welcome voice within my mind. “Seems like I am no one hu?” I answer with a bit of self loathing. “Damn fucking right you are. Anyway lets get you back so Mia can patch you up and next time: YOU BETTER FUCKING LISTEN TO ME.” Outsch that hurt. “If you don’t mind. My head is killing me.” “I DON'T FUCKING CARE.” Outsch.

That was unnecessary right? Well obviously it wasn’t. “Do you think you can get me out of here alone?” I heard something like a sigh in my mind. You know the kind of over the top sigh you do to make a point. “Yeah, I guess you are about to pass out?” was the last thing I heard.

When I woke up I expected to experience intense pain but surprisingly I felt kind of good. I opened my eyes and looked around. It seems I was out of it for the rest of the night and the sun had risen considerably. I looked around and could see trees. Slowly it all came back to me. The fight. The loss I should say.

So it seems Caro managed to get me back to Mia. While thinking that I sense someone approaching from behind me. But that warm and kind presence is something i would never need to put my guard up against. “Brother… I… I brought some water, are you thirsty?” Now that she mentioned it I really was thirsty. “Yeah thanks Mia. Sorry I worried you, I was an idiot and I should have listened to Caro.”

Just as I said that: “Damn right you should have listened to me. You damn fool.” Uh when i hear Caro in my head i can only flinch. She is kind of right you know. But she is still pissed? Oh boy. But it seems she wasn’t finished: “Mia cried all the time you were gone and don’t even get me started on how much work and magic she had to put in healing you. You are an inconsiderate, stupid, moronic, ” I interrupt her: “Okay i got it. Sorry. Okay? Can’t change the past, I will try to do better in the future.”

“TRY?” Outsch why does she always have to be so loud? “You won’t TRY! You WILL DO IT!” You sound like Shia LaBeouf girl. “FINE. Just please give me some peace and quiet.” I sigh and turn to Mia: “Again, sorry. Thank you for looking after me.” I got a bright smile back in return. Cute! She really should smile more often. “You always look after me so it’s okay. Just… Please don’t do such reckless things. I wouldn’t know what to do without you!” She says while her smile turns to a concerned look.

Okay crap i really messed up this time. Memo to myself: Stop being conceited (yeah is if that will ever happen). There is always someone better. Am i repeating myself? Maybe. Well then what to do. “Caro, again sorry but you mentioned you had a plan earlier?” Caro was turning her back on me. Sorry girl but to be honest with your size it’s not very impressive when you act pissed. “Oh so now Mister I know better than you wants to listen to the Oh the girl doesn’t know a thing anyway spider?”

Really? I massage my forehead with two fingers. “I said that I am sorry, can you please get over it? I promise that I will listen to you next time okay?” She didn’t answer for a few moments but then she relaxed. Seriously it looked funny to see a spider loose tension. She actually managed to cross her two front legs in an offended manner. That was some impressive body control.

“Fine. So listen up. I have been listening in to the soldiers and i good quiet the juicy information from them. The royal academy for magic is opening its new term in a week. So how about you use that human appearance of yours which I am still envious of just to let you know and infiltrate that place? Learn, become stronger and especially: Learn more about your enemies. With Tempest and Kam’ya helping you, you have a decent shot at that sage. But you know jack! He has beat you in knowledge and knowledge is power, did you forget something this simple?” Yeah she still couldn’t stop scolding me but what she said made sense.

Even though i didn’t like to admit it. “Anyway, i have been studying illusion magic and transformation magic with master and i think with Kam’ya’s help we can make this happen. But the next week you will have to practice, practice and again practice. At least I heard that’s something you are good at. Well it’s something.” Seriously now she started to piss me off. But i swallow it. For Mia’s sake.

“The humans must not catch onto your darkness magic or shadow powers. Both are forbidden arts. That i found out while listening in on the sage and one of his pupils. Good thing they were discussing magic theory on the way back. So you need to hide both. Well they only test for affinity so you should be fine. The bigger problem is gonna be to make them think you have affinity for wind. That is going to be Tempest’s job. I have no idea about their testing method but that is something i can find out. While you train i will spy on the academy to get more information. If everything works out, you will get the chance to assassinate that annoying mage and then we can get out of here. In the meantime we will set up camp here in this copse. It is small but between Mia and me we should be able to avoid detection.”

I have to say. As annoying as she sometimes is that was an amazingly well thought out plan. It even sounded doable! “You just thought something rude didn’t you?” Her thoughts sound suspicious. Seriously did she start reading minds now? “Not really, it is just that it’s so obvious what you’re thinking. That’s something we will have to work on as well.” That bad? Seems like it.

Anyway so after the plan is laid out, all we can do is carry it out! Well not much to say about the next week: We thought up a cover story and Caro was teaching me illusion and transformation magic based on darkness during the night while spying during the day. Honestly when does she sleep? Or do spiders don't need sleep? Oh well. And faster then i was comfortable with the start of the new academy semester was approaching.

That's it guys. Second arc is done ! And royal road is up to date with the story. Next up is uploading the edited chapters from here to my page and the next interlude. For that interlude: Let me know what you want to hear about! If i dont' get any suggestions for an interlude till tonight i will write one from caros PoV how she spys on the academy to give you insight into the academy life because Asura is gonna spend quiet a bit of time there. The story will slow down considerably now! Prep work is done foundation is laid. When i am done i will rewrite arc1+2 as well: go more into details etc. make it a bit more round about, i think i can do that now with the experience i got from writing this. Anyway long ramble sorry about that enjoy the chapters. Tonight i will post the interlude and from tomorrow onwards... you can enjoy arc3!!

Regards Max