– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 216, Season of the Setting Moon, Day 90 –

Battered and bruised, Terry sat up on the blanket which the lizans had put on the ground in a large tent. He could still feel the healing magic from the lizans. Even though the effects were beneficial to Terry’s recovery, the strange group spell made Terry uncomfortable. The pleasant feeling of pain relief and improved regeneration was not enough to make Terry forget that he had no idea how this magic worked or the extent of what it did.

“Thank you, but I should be fine now.” Terry muttered weakly and forced himself to not let the pain he was still feeling show on his face.

“Please rely on us whenever you need to, Terry,” implored Blue. “Our fates are tied together. I know you will succeed!”

I don’t feel like I’m succeeding, retorted Terry in his mind. He looked down at himself and wearily noted all the signs of medical treatment and the damage to his protective gear.

“I’d like some time alone now,” said Terry. “I need to think about some things.”

“Of course, Terry.” Blue walked to the tent’s entrance. “I will be outside if you need me.”

Terry nodded and then pulled out one of his notebooks. “What went wrong?”

Besides everything?

Terry tapped his pen on the blank page. He scribbled while muttering quietly. “Low chance to sneak by.”

The wyvern’s senses picked me out even though I should have blended into the night and ambient mana quite well. It attacked immediately without any warning sign. No idea if it perceived me as a threat or if it is simply territorial to an extreme degree. In any case, it is a fact that it attacked instead of ignoring me.

“Hmm…” Terry moved his pen to the next page. “Still learned something…”

Besides how it feels to be slapped by a mountain?

“Yes, besides…” Terry muttered absentmindedly to himself.

The wyvern did not pursue me. It chose to attack but did not pursue. No clue what this means.

Terry scribbled in his notebook. Afterwards, he added on the other page. “That elemental breath can’t be dodged normally.”

Block or nothing then… I hope my Immovable Object spell can withstand the breath attack. Otherwise, that would be my last mistake. Ever.

Terry flipped a page and made a note to find a way to test the interaction of the elemental breath and a transfixed item if possible. He returned to the first pair of pages and continued with his retrospective.

The cloak was useless in the air because I didn’t have time to transfix a tertium slab to provide a contact surface for a shadow to step into.

Terry twirled his pen in his fingers. “I never had to use the cloak in the air before…”

Come to think of it, if I use the shadow on an immovable object to step into the shadow plane, then what would happen after the spell deactivates? I would lose contact with the shadow when the slab drops. Would it be the same as me lifting my foot on the other side?

“Probably…” Terry made a note to verify that before the next attempt with the wyvern. “The root problem was the lack of time to react.”

I’m not really used to the cloak yet, am I? If I have to react quickly, my instincts will never rely on the cloak’s evasive ability. It’s not part of my current reflexes. I would have to train with it for that. Should I though? Or is that a distraction?

“I could also make sure I am prepared in advance,” mumbled Terry while scribbling. “Set the stage.”

Either stay on the ground or transfix tertium slabs along the way…

“What went well?” Terry asked himself.

Well, I survived. That’s something.

“Fair enough,” admitted Terry. He exchanged his notebook with another one from his dimensional storage. “I should make good use of my time.” Terry retrieved one of his resistance training devices.

Soon afterwards, Terry was being assaulted by ice-aspected mana while he repeatedly emitted disruption discharges and noted down the positions and shapes of the mana refractors that appeared to work best. Occasionally, Terry would combine his disruption discharge with a run-up burst to further increase the velocity of his discharged mana.

Terry continued until his mana pool was empty and then exchanged his notebook and pen for the magic necklace that passively consumed mana. Terry put on the necklace and allowed himself to fall asleep.

***

Late in the night on another day, Terry rolled his shoulder and then stretched his other limbs one last time. He wanted to confirm the extent of his recovery before approaching the wyvern again..

All good… I think. Terry nodded and mentally prepared himself for what was coming next.

“You will succeed, Terry.” Blue spoke encouragingly. “It is impossible for you to fail. Temporary setbacks mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. You will succeed in conquering the beast. The great spirits have—”

“Thank you, but I would like to concentrate,” interjected Terry with a flat tone. He was getting tired of this relentless – and in Terry’s opinion baseless – encouragement.

Terry let his eyes wander over the stars above and the darkness below. He wrapped his shadow cloak around himself and slowly walked forward. Terry fleetingly glanced down at the cloak's fabric.

I wonder how the wyvern’s senses work. I can barely see my lower body with the dark night and the cloak’s color. Perhaps the last time was just a fluke? Perhaps the wyvern won’t notice me this time?

“Better not to count on it,” mumbled Terry. I should stick closer to the ground for as long as possible.

While Terry was walking, he could feel the magic of the lizans activate on himself again. Even though Terry now knew what the spell was supposed to do, something about this unfamiliar magic made him uneasy. Nevertheless, Terry had to admit that the timely healing had helped tremendously in speeding up his recovery and preventing long-lasting injuries.

Terry approached slowly with his own senses stretched to his limits. His heartbeat accelerated as soon as he crossed the wyvern’s minimum detection range – the one Terry had recorded during his initial probing.

*Rumble* The earth quaked slightly and a deep growl reverberated in the area.

Terry stopped short in his tracks. He could spot a pair of giant aquamarine eyes opening and fixating on him. When Terry sensed mana gathering in the wyvern’s cold eyes, he channeled mana into his cloak and stepped into the shadows.

Terry found himself in the monochrome world of the shadow plane. He exhaled sharply at the incredible sight of the window-like floor stretching all the way into the horizon. He realized that he had never used the cloak outside in the middle of the night before.

“Trillll!” “Trillll!” “Trill!”

A shiver ran down Terry’s back and he looked up into the fading light where the darkness was ruling the shadow plane’s sky. In his mana sight, he could make out a swarm of creatures that were rapidly rushing toward him.

Terry gritted his teeth and returned his eyes to the floor to follow what was going on outside the shadow plane. His mana sense did not reach beyond the plane’s boundary and he needed visual confirmation. He watched with bated breath while paying attention to the approaching shadow creatures in his mana sight.

A white wave of vapor rolled over the ground in the normal plane and it was easy to guess that the wyvern somehow had incorporated the Elusive Fog of Frost into one of its abilities. Behind the pulsing wave, all the plants were left frozen solid.

To Terry’s horror, there were more waves following after the first one.

“Great,” cursed Terry. His eyes moved between the raging mana ability in the normal plane and the approaching swarm of creatures up in the shadows. “Just great.” Terry moved mana to his feet and transfixed his boots to prevent himself from accidentally switching planes.

Terry retrieved a barrier spear and a foldable tertium cube. He transfixed the spear in the air and then folded the cube around himself until there was only a single opening where Terry could peek through. Before long, the shadow creatures arrived and Terry spotted dozens of oversized dracos – flying lizards – whose scales seemed to absorb the light around them to give them an appearance blacker than any black Terry had ever seen.

Terry closed the remaining gap in the foldable tertium cube and transfixed it.

*Krchk* *Tang* “Trill!” *Krchk*

Terry could hear the scratching and attacking noises of the creatures.

“Seems as if the Immovable Object spell is holding…” Just when Terry was believing himself safe, he could hear a deep growl in the distance. Even without seeing the source, Terry thought he could feel another pair of eyes on himself – eyes that did not feel less threatening than those of the white wyvern.

A moment later, Terry could sense an ability similar to the one he had encountered from the shades on the Bulwark. Shadows were invading the tertium cube through every gap. Terry anticipated the next phase of the ability – the inevitable deactivation of his Immovable Object spell.

Terry tentatively unleashed a focused disruption discharge towards the encroaching shadows. The shadows dispersed, but only for a moment. This was not a viable way to deal with the situation.

“Why can’t anything ever be easy?” Terry groaned.

Because then everyone could do it, retorted Terry’s thoughts.

Terry inhaled deeply and retrieved his second barrier spear. His eyes glanced one last time to the floor and to the icy vapor rolling in regular patterns. Subconsciously, Terry began nodding in the rhythm of the repeated waves.

Terry imagined the figures of his family and friends pushing him forward. All his mana foundation practice. All his training. All his fights. Terry exhaled sharply. “I got this.”

Terry moved his mana and returned the tertium cube to his storage bracelet. Immediately, the dracos charged frenziedly at him. Terry dexterously moved the barriers and slashed while blocking the incoming attacks. Simultaneously, Terry channeled mana into the radiating light inscription inside his gloves. For the first time, the area became properly illuminated.

Perhaps I don’t… Terry sharply inhaled when noting the number of creatures around himself. These shadow beasts entered a frenzy when they were touched by the radiating light. Terry relentlessly fought back against the clawing and biting dracos.

Blocking…

Counter-attacking…

Awkwardly dodging without lifting his feet from the floor…

Terry fought fiercely despite his movement impairment. Soon, he was covered from head to toe in blood. Most belonged to dracos, but the fact that Terry's feet had to be glued to the floor was too limiting and too unfamiliar for Terry to come out unscathed.

Finally, Terry lowered his head and lifted his foot. In an instant, the world flipped and he returned to the normal plane. Without pause, Terry dashed away from the incoming wave of frosty fog and away from the white wyvern in the distance. Terry outran the vapor and caught up with the preceding wave.

“Crap.” Terry cursed when he realized that the waves of vapor slowed down the further they rolled. The distance between two successive waves of fog shrunk with time. To make it worse, the moment the waves touched, they would linger in the same place.

Terry followed the preceding wave while trying to match its pace. As soon as the next wave came too close for comfort, Terry channeled mana into his cloak. Back in the monochrome shadow plane, Terry was immediately faced with a frenzied draco latching onto his face.

“Trilll!” The draco sunk its claws into Terry’s face and bit into Terry's right eye.

Terry let go of his barrier spears. He pulled an inscribed dagger from its sheath and used his other hand to rip the draco from his mangled face. Terry slashed the mana blade and bisected the draco. He could feel the blood running down his face. He could hear his own blood rushing in his head. He could taste the blood on his lips. With a flip of his hand, Terry returned the inscribed dagger back into its sheath. Terry reflexively transfixed two tertium slabs to give himself some cover.

All of this had happened in a matter of a few seconds and Terry was still waiting for the pain to overcome the shock of his injury.

Terry pulled the barrier spears back to him with his bidirectional attraction gloves and began battling ferociously once more. Little by little, the pain assaulted him. Worse than the pain was the fact that Terry could feel his own battle performance further impaired by his diminished field of vision. He grit his teeth and hurriedly transfixed more protective items.

Terry used the short respite from the temporary shelter to summon the wand with the imprints for the three fundamental healing spells which he immediately cast on himself.

Before his transfixed items fell, Terry channeled mana into his helmet in order to summon the helmet’s barrier – a move he was sorely wishing to have performed sooner. Terry made a mental note that the shadow step had the same disadvantage as unanchored dimensional transfers – he had no idea what he was moving into.

Terry glanced down to confirm the wave rhythm at his current location. A draco tried to exploit Terry’s moment of distraction but was smashed back by a barrier moved with a spear slash. Terry was determined to not let another mistake slip and paid close attention to all the mana signatures around him.

Terry could not help but sigh at the realization that the characteristics of the vapor waves meant not only that the rhythm would change depending on his position but also that there was no way he could avoid passing through the fog at least once. The lingering vapor when two waves connected formed a permanent half-sphere and Terry had no way to bypass it in the shadow plane because he could not move a single inch from his initial position.

Terry mustered his resolve and then lifted his foot to step back into the normal plane. He dashed forward and gathered mana for a disruption discharge. He returned his barrier spears into his storage bracelets and moved mana to summon a pair of shields from his storage.

Terry inhaled sharply and in a quick succession, he punched a dual layered discharge, he equipped two shields, moved his mana in the pattern for his resistance training, and he charged into the fog that was blocking his path. As soon as Terry made contact, he unleashed the disruption pulse he had prepared beforehand and burst his mana beyond his limits to run as fast as his legs allowed.

Terry could feel the warmth being drained from his body. He realized that the fog was wider than he had initially expected. His shields were not doing much, because the fog was immediately flowing all around them and Terry charged further without pause. The only respite Terry noticed was the moment right after his disruption discharges had collided with the magic fog.

Terry dropped his shields and began throwing rapid disruption discharges. Discharges from his arms. Discharges from his feet while running. Spherical disruption pulses whenever they were ready. Terry could feel his mana pool emptying at a rate faster than ever before. This would have been worrying in any circumstance, but Terry’s worries were more concerned with the sensation of the blood on his face freezing and the blood in his veins not feeling that much better.

What seemed like forever to Terry, was in reality less than a minute. A bloody Terry with purple-blue skin and ice-crystals all over his body rushed out of the white vapor.

The moment Terry became aware that he had passed through the obstacle, Terry stumbled. Before Terry could finish a breath, he felt the healing magic of the lizan activate and offer some relief.

Yeah, I definitely don’t feel like I’m succeeding…

Terry noted the insufferable itch of his eye regenerating and then he blacked out.

***

The next morning, Terry stepped up into the sky. He wanted to get away from Blue’s incessant comforting and encouragement.

By now, Terry also had a good reason to give for his examination of the Elusive Fog of Frost. After your skin turned purple-blue from being blasted by some mana ability utilizing the fog, a modicum of interest should be more than understandable and not immediately lead to suspicions of Terry abandoning the quest the lizans had prepared for him.

“On the bright side, my resistance training seems to have been a good idea,” mumbled Terry, who was sitting on a transfixed tertium slab and looked at the milky fog above him.

Yay, replied Terry’s thoughts sarcastically. Perhaps we should try to avoid being drenched in the stuff next time?

“Great idea,” said Terry with oozing sarcasm. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Because you’re an idiot.

“Oh, right. That explains it.” Terry puffed his cheeks and exhaled through pressed lips. “Okay, what did I learn?”

Not to bathe in stuff that will freeze you?

“Something is lurking around here in the shadow plane and I need to take that into account when using the cloak,” muttered Terry in thought. “Especially when using it at night.”

Terry retrieved his notebook and scribbled.

“Shields aren’t much use against the fog… Disruption discharges work but only up to a point and only for a moment…”

The whole sneaking through thing doesn’t look as if it’s working, does it?

“What else is there though?” Terry shook his head.

Fight? I mean fight properly? All out attack?

“Now you sound like Blue.” Terry frowned. “Have you seen that wyvern? It could spit me to death.”

Literally even. That elemental breath was worse than the vapor wave. Still…

Terry transfixed the pen in the air and pulled the wand with the fundamental healing spells from his sheath belt. He checked that the primers in the imprints had recovered and then punched his left hand into the fog with clenched teeth and closed eyes.

A moment later, Terry pulled out his freshly injured hand and mumbled. “I will get through this. I will find a way. No matter what, this too shall pass. No matter what happens, I will find a way…”

Terry repeated his mantra for the current days quietly. Eventually, he looked down at his armor that had seen better days.

Again and again, I was assaulted by fire attacks. I finally have armor to resist fire and now I’m being blasted with ice and frost.

“If such a thing as fate exists, it’s ironic,” said Terry bitterly.

More than that, it’s an arsehole. Like the dungeon with the Alricks.

“No point in whining,” said Terry. “Remember what Ma Isille used to say: ‘Less complaining, more training.’”

The memory of Isille reminded Terry that he might never see his accepted parents again, especially if he didn’t get through his current predicament fast. “I will get through this.”

***