After an afternoon spent focused on teaching magic to my students and giving a bit of guidance to Lia, it was once more time to head out. My students and I had discussed whether they wanted to have their level rapidly increased and to my surprise, none of them was interested.

For some, namely Sandy, it was because she didn’t want to fight at all. Instead, she had been focused on growing plants, healing and strengthening them. By doing so, she had managed to gain another level and, according to her, was close to getting another. Sure, combat, especially if I was pushing things, would get her to a higher level quickly, but she wanted to focus on her skills. That, the focus on skills, was the reason the others had declined themselves. They had considered what I had told them, about the class they’d hopefully unlock at level ten, and didn’t want their own efforts to get diluted by having me increase their level, hoping to get a stronger class this way. I had no idea if that would work, but made a mental note to have Lia fight on her own, maybe even try to send her out without me, at least until she reached level ten. Just to make sure the Vampires I had created wouldn’t become the wimpy, sparkling variety.

All these considerations made me hanker for some popcorn, while Silva and I were discreetly hidden by my concealment magic, while Lia was fighting nearby. I hadn’t told Lia that we’d shadow her and was curious whether or not she’d actually notice, so she was effectively killing the Shattered by herself. It was quite fascinating to watch, her growth was so pronounced, I could watch it in real-time.

From flailing and mainly managing to overpower the Shattered due to her high attributes thanks to being the first of her kind, she rapidly refined her movements. Not into a polished, anticipating style but into something more instinctual, a savage style of swiping claws, brutal pounces and crushing kicks. There was no grace in her fighting but damn, it was effective.

While watching Lia happily tear through the Shattered, I was training myself in keeping my concealment around Silva and myself active while using other spells. Nothing overt or big, that would be nearly impossible to conceal, but trying to gently move the air around me with Wind Magic or work on my Water Magic, using a bit of previously conjured water, was slowly becoming easier. It was still hard work, to the point that I gained another point in Darkness-Magic, alongside a point in Wind- and Water-Magic each, bringing them to twelve and two each, respectively.

In addition, I tried to claim my Wind Rune Mastery but even with my increased affinity, that was slow going. It took me most of the night to get it, though the effect was a little underwhelming. However, I considered whether there’d be some way to make warm wind, in order to get a non-fiery way to increase temperature into my magic. While I didn’t mind the cold showers too much, the temptation of a nice, hot shower was impossible to ignore, even for me.

Shortly after I gained the Wind Rune Mastery, Silva let out a soft growl, getting my attention. It wasn’t loud enough to alert Lia, who was still ignorant of our presence and fighting about forty metres ahead, but clearly told me something was going on.

When I focused on my trusty partner, she stood with her fur standing up and the tail sticking straight out, staring into the night.

“Trouble?” I quietly asked her, getting a quiet wuff in return that I took as affirmation.

“Lia, come here, we’ve got trouble,” I called out, shattering the concealment around us. Noticing that Lia still had an enemy to contest with, I sent out a single Icicle, braining the Shattered and ending the fight, allowing her to run over.

The look on her face was an amusing mix of consternation, surprise and annoyance, she was clearly uncertain how she was supposed to take our presence. Or maybe it was that she failed to detect our presence at all,

“Silva has something, we’ll all go check. Until dawn, you shall follow,” I intoned, feeling the connection of a fellowship form when she gave a nod of acceptance.

“Also, good job with your fighting. You managed to get to level seven, didn’t you?” I asked, having noticed distinct changes in her power during the night.

“I did,” she reported with a beaming smile, “I’ll need some power, soon. Fighting is more exhausting than I ever thought,” she added, looking a little sheepish.

“Later. I’ll also have to think about a way that might allow you to drain power while fighting. Not some strange neck-biting thing, but maybe some effective way to drain power when you draw blood, your claws are quite good at that,” I told her, as Silva started to prowl into the night.

We quietly followed after Sivla, the few Shattered that crossed our path getting battered away by my magic. The growth of Shattered had apparently slowed down even further, they might have gained a level on average during the last two nights, but it was sill far from challenging for me.

Soon, I heard strange sounds, snarls, growls and the scratching of claws across concrete. When we closed in on those sounds, I almost stumbled from the insanity I saw ahead. Stopping, I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming and even tried to push my Mind Magic inwards in an attempt to get rid of any kind of illusion. But no, what I was seeing appeared to be reality.

Silva had continued on, bounding towards what I could only describe as a battlefield, where a pack of wild dogs, a wide mixture of breeds and sizes, was facing off against a cavalry charge of boar-riding racoons. To make matters worse, or at least weirder, the dogs had formed what I could only describe as a battle formation, with some of the larger, or at least heavier and more muscular, breeds forming a front line, shielding the smaller dogs behind. But those smaller dogs weren’t all idle or hiding, no, some of them darted through gaps in the line, biting at ankles and trying to cripple their larger foes.

“What the…” Lia quietly asked, looking just as confused as I felt.

“I have no idea,” I admitted, not sure what to think, do or say. This was a madness I had not expected, leaving me at a bit of a loss. Luckily, Silva wasn’t feeling the same and as she closed in on the almost two-dozen dogs, she let out a series of loud barks and was surrounded by a sheen of golden light.

Spellcasting, from the looks of it some sort of divine variant. Coming from a dog. My dog.

My earlier attempts to dispel mental influence, confusion spells or illusions were repeated, only to change nothing at all. Again, I pinched myself, even asking Lia to pinch me, because I obviously was dreaming.

But again, no, the golden glow that now surrounded the pack of dogs, apparently shielding and supporting them against the racoon cavalry was still there. Or maybe calling it cavalry was wrong, unless my memory failed me, the word cavalry had some etymological link to horses. So this couldn’t be a cavalry charge I was witnessing, the racoons weren’t riding horses, they were riding boars.

Shaking my head in an attempt to bring my mind, which had tried to escape the madness I was seeing by putting my head in the sand by focusing on trivia and definitions, back on track worked, at least to a point.

“We should help the dogs. At least Silva thinks so,” I reasoned, watching as said dog crashed into one of the boars, dismounting the racoon that had been riding on porky and tearing into the pre-bacon.

“Yeah, we should,” Lia agreed, before slowly jogging towards the madness, while I began my own advance, slowly moving and sending Icicles flying towards them. Soon, Lia made contact with the battle, coming in high by jumping off a container and pouncing on one of the racoons. Sadly, the boar the racoon had been riding wasn’t anticipating the increased load and its legs gave out, causing a rolling slide that Lia only escaped by jumping again, landing in a crouch while letting out a rather feline hiss.

With our addition, the battle didn’t last long. Just Silva alone, with her strange magical abilities, was enough to turn the tide but adding Lia and me, and things became a rout. To make matters worse, for the racoons, the smaller dogs that had previously just been hiding behind the canine frontline were now yipping in a rather coordinated manner and I noticed a faint aura spreading around them, engulfing the other dogs and clearly increasing their strength. More magic, though I had no idea what sort that was.

At this point, I was just trying to keep up with what going on. The riding racoons were running and the canine crusaders were rounding up, most of them keeping a wary eye on Lia, a few looking at me. Silva, on the other hand, seemed to receive a highly respectful greeting. And somehow, I was feeling the beginning of a headache.