– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 217, Season of the Rising Sun, Day 37 –

Terry was running and running. The fog behind him was flying out of view while new fog became visible in front of him – always forcing him to stick to the safe passage he was traversing. Terry had not expected the Elusive Fog of Frost to stretch this far, nor did he expect the safe passage to have this many twists and turns.

Terry was beginning to wonder if this alleged safe passage was just another mind game of who knows who…

He pushed the thought away. It was too late for such worries.

In any case, Terry had no desire to spend another day in the middle of this magic phenomenon. Therefore: running.

No break.

Just running.

Running and running.

Terry was wondering if there was a fate crafter, why did this fate crafter insist so much on cardio?

The old legends never mentioned how much running is involved. The Veilbinder traveled all across the empires and different realms. How was there never a sentence on getting around? Was everyone a dimensional mage? Was it just not worth mentioning? Am I just unlucky?

Terry kept his mind occupied with useless thoughts while following the safe passage laid out in front of him. Occasionally, he would retrieve his five-point inscription ring to check his location and to make sure that he was actually making progress. If it had not been for this dungeon reward from his first special encounter, Terry might have gone insane from self-doubt and second-guessing. He would never have traversed the fog as fast as now.

Finally, no new fog was entering Terry’s field of vision in front and he subconsciously accelerated further. Terry smiled while glancing back to see the Elusive Fog of Frost left behind him.

Terry’s expression changed drastically the instant his mana sense caught up. He jumped to catch himself against his immovable boots in the air and came to an abrupt stop. Terry leaned backwards and from a handstand flipped back to stay in a crouching position.

Folks.

Mana users.

Many of them.

Did they notice me?

Terry looked up and considered if he should step into the sky to bypass whoever was in the vicinity. “Perhaps they could help me get to Arcana quicker?”

Like the last folks that helped us? Perhaps they’ll have some creepy draconic eye and weird magic from another realm too?

“This sucks,” mumbled Terry. He cursed himself for failing to keep his mana cloaking in mind while making his way through the fog.

I’m relying too much on the reach of my mana sense to give me an early warning. I need to remember that this won’t work in areas like the tunnel with mana-osmotic ore or like here: In magic phenomena that mess with my senses and prevent me from sensing further into the distance.

“Seems that I caught myself in time…” Terry was heaving a sigh of relief. If they had not noticed him, this allowed him to carefully consider his approach.

Just when Terry was relaxing, he could sense several of the signatures break away and head towards him. He also sensed two further back whose mana signatures suddenly disappeared from Terry’s mana sense.

“Crap.” Terry cursed. He hurriedly considered his options.

Escape into the sky at the risk of being seen. Also risk losing a potential chance to speed up my return to Arcana. If these aren’t hostiles, it would definitely make me look shady.

Wait here and risk being attacked. If they are hostiles, I’ll be in trouble.

Use the cloak and observe who approaches. High chance of them losing track of me, but risk another draco incident and—

“Wait.” Terry paused himself. “Are there still dracos around here?” Terry activated his cloak and stepped into the monochrome world of the shadow plane.

Everything was quiet.

Terry warily looked around and concentrated on his mana sense. For a fleeting second, he believed that he had caught a flicker of a mana signature in the distance but there was nothing. Terry furrowed his brow.

Terry was still making up his mind when he detected a flash of crimson along the floor that acted as a window through the shadows and into the normal plane. A figure dressed in a crimson uniform blinked into existence where Terry had been standing not long ago.

“Oh shit,” mumbled Terry. He recognized this crimson uniform. It had been nearly two cycles since he last saw it. “Thanatos.”

Terry cast the Immovable Object spell on the fixed layers inside his boots. He had lost all desire to interact with the people he saw through the window of shadows. He didn’t want to accidentally shift planes. He crouched down and watched the Thanatos forces gathering on the other side of the shadows.

This makes me feel like a creep.

Isn’t it creepy how there could always be someone lurking in the shadows? Watching…

I really need to figure out a way to sense into the shadows. Or to get rid of shadows…

Focus.

Terry reminded himself that this wasn’t the time to brainstorm new ideas. He knew that the soldiers in the normal plane couldn’t hear him, but Terry still stopped talking out of habit. He made sure his mana was cloaked and that he was covered by the velvety fabric of his cloak. The fabric blended nicely into the scarce illumination in this monochrome world.

Terry watched warily as more and more Thanatos soldiers gathered. He tried to recall the mana signatures he had sensed before.

A mix of unaspected, multi-aspected, and single-aspected. Several with pronounced aspect gifts. Mana intensity…

Crap.

Terry couldn’t recall many details, but he could recall enough to understand that these Thanatos soldiers were a cut above the average Tiv soldier he had encountered in the Valkyrie’s prison.

Sharply outlined mana… Terry thought back to the fizzling mana boundaries that he had sensed from his brother Jorg. The fizziness that he had interpreted as a sign of external mana control impairments.

Good external mana control. Mages.

Or worse: mages that also train as mana cultivators.

I just want to go home. Terry whined silently. Why can’t anything ever be simple?

Terry continued observing the Thanatos soldiers from the shadows. The fact that they pinpointed Terry’s general location made him uneasy. The finger movements and mannerisms that hinted at ongoing spellwork made him anxious.

The fact that I can’t sense mana through the shadows is annoying from this side as well. What spells are they casting? I hate this.

Terry jerked his head up when he sensed mana movement from above. An instant later, the shadows above were contracting and several shadow tendrils were aiming for Terry.

“Hmph.” Terry evaded awkwardly – limited by the fact that his feet were glued to the floor. His hands danced with two inscribed daggers and the mana blades sliced the shadow tendrils apart.

To Terry’s dismay, the shadows kept reshaping and reconnecting. Terry exchanged his daggers for two short spears – one aspected with fire and the other with brightfire. He slashed at the shadows and noticed that the tendrils didn’t reconnect when buffeted by the illumination of the brightfire.

Intersection with the light-aspect. Light aspect!

Terry immediately channeled mana into the radiating light inscription in his gloves and the bright light overpowered the shadows.

Terry could vaguely make out two figures moving in the shadows.

“Are you insane?” The voice of a woman reached Terry. “Or just daft?”

“Has no one ever told you how to behave in the shadows?” An older voice arrived. Another woman. “Stop that light.” This woman stepped closer and into view. A dwarven woman in crimson uniform, with sun-tanned skin and black tattoos on her face. “I will be less polite if I have to ask again.”

“Is a Shadow Grip spell your idea of a polite greeting?” Terry changed his inscription usage to create a stroboscope effect.

“It’s the politest greeting I have for someone in a place he shouldn’t be,” retorted the dwarf. “Restraining. Non-lethal. What more do you expect?”

Terry narrowed his eyes. He realized that a spell like Shadow Bind, which Isabella had used all the time, wouldn’t work here, because the floor Terry was standing on did not accept his shadow. There were no shadows cast on the ground in the shadow plane.

“This flickering light is annoying,” growled the dwarf.

“Then stop that shadow spell from my back,” barked Terry.

The dwarven woman raised an eyebrow. “Sharp senses, but wrong in one point: That’s not my spell.” She turned her head to the side. “Stop for now.” Afterwards, she returned her attention to Terry. “If you are worried about your health, then I suggest you stop that light-aspected mana. Otherwise, we wouldn’t even need to lift a finger to get rid of you. The beasts here will take care of that. They’re not fond of light.”

Terry tried to keep his face from showing a reaction. He involuntarily thought back to how his last usage of the radiating light inscription had ended up drawing a gaze from something dangerous. How his usage of fire had ended up with giant komodos trying to take a bite out of him.

If that was really the reason why the beast appeared. I’m not going to take a Thanatos soldier at her word.

Terry stood up and straightened his back. He stopped the radiating light inscription.

“I’m just passing through,” said Terry. “There is no need to concern yourself with me.”

“Hah!” The dwarven woman grinned as if dealing with a child. “Saying something like that only makes you more suspicious, don’t you think?”

“Doesn’t change the fact that it’s true,” retorted Terry. He was already beginning to miss the spineless imperial censors from Tiv. “I just want to get to Arcana.”

“He’s wearing the crest of Arcana Academy,” interjected a new voice – male and hidden in the shadows above.

Terry was becoming increasingly gloomy. It wasn’t the fact that there was yet another person facing him in the shadows. It was the fact that he could sense two new mana signatures and none of them was in the direction from where he had heard the voice.

“Is that so?” The dwarven woman was still wearing her grin. “You say that you want to go to Arcana, but are we to believe that you just got lost along the way? That’s quite the detour you are taking.”

“Not my choice,” said Terry. “Unfortunate circumstances.”

“Must be quite the circumstances.” The dwarven woman snorted.

“Involves dimensional transfers,” grumbled Terry. “Not my choice.”

“Is he seriously giving excuses from children’s stories?” A younger human woman in Thanatos uniform stepped into view. She was the owner of the first voice that had spoken to Terry. “The thief that swore he got transported into the warehouse by a dimensional mage?”

“I don’t know that story,” retorted Terry with annoyance. “But that alleged thief has my sympathies.”

“Let’s stop the chitchat, are you going to surrender yourself into our custody?” asked the dwarven woman.

“I’d rather not,” replied Terry flatly. He was feeling irritated. Why can’t anything ever be easy? “I want to get back to my home. I have no business in Thanatos.”

“On the last point, we agree,” said the dwarven woman. “However, as in your story from before, you don’t have a choice, do you? I can tell that you haven’t mastered the shadow step. Probably relying on that fancy brooch creating shadow fabric. Pretty and good for keeping you dry from rain, but in the end, that's just a noble’s toy. Let me guess, you can’t even lift your feet?”

Terry forced himself not to react.

“You are not very good at hiding your thoughts, are you?” The dwarven woman chuckled. “Even if you were, only an imbecile would dodge shadow tendrils like you did…” She grinned. “Unless they didn’t have a choice.”

“Uh-huh.” Terry replied noncommittally. He briefly glanced at the crimson uniforms on the other side of the shadows. Six humans, five dwarves, three elves, two canans. Together with the group, that was with Terry in the shadow plane, this meant around two dozen opponents. Terry was surprised to find a part of his mind shrugging indifferently.

Could be worse. Could be thousands of undead. Or a whole wasted swarm of hellspawn.

Terry had to remind himself that these were folks – intelligent and capable of structured magic. Two dozen low-level skeletal warriors or hellions were very different from two dozen lichs or champion spellweavers.

Not like I have much of a choice…

“Any chance you could just pretend you never saw me?” asked Terry tiredly. “I really have no interest in fighting you.”

“That’s where we’re different: We don’t mind fighting you,” sneered the young human woman. “Why would we?”

The older dwarven woman rolled her eyes at the uninvited commentary and then looked back at Terry. “No can do, bucko. We are going to apprehend you. You can choose the easy way or the hard way. That’s the only choice you’ll get.”

Well then… Don’t mind me choosing. Blinding light radiated from Terry’s gloves and Terry unleashed his prepared spherical disruption discharge.

“What the—?” The Thanatos soldiers were taken aback by the unusual discharge that had no warning body movement beforehand and eviscerated their prepared spell structures.

Terry circulated mana into his many storage items and a moment later, light aspected items flew everywhere. Some transfixed in the air. Others slid along the window-like floor.

Thanks for the intel on the shadow plane! See ya! Terry dropped a fire-aspected arrow into an open barrel of concentrated alcohol and then lifted his foot just when a wind blade arrived for him.

Terry appeared in the middle of the soldiers in the normal plane. Terry’s mana moved at a breath-taking speed and some of the soldiers didn’t even manage to blink before Terry was done with his hands-free parallel casting and dashed away in a burst technique emphasizing agility.

One of the canan soldiers attempted to move on all fours for the pursuit but discovered that her belt buckle didn’t move an inch. Another soldier wanted to draw his bow but failed to open the quiver. Similar scenes played out with every soldier that Terry had passed by.

“The Wastes is this?” growled an older human. He disrupted the Immovable Object spell on his chest armor and then unleashed a disruption discharge to liberate the other soldiers. To the man’s surprise and immense chagrin, Terry’s highly-condensed spell structures were too hard to hit and very stable. The man's face flushed from anger and embarrassment when he had to follow up with a second and third disruption discharge.

A few soldiers immediately soared into the sky and flew after Terry. Several of the soldiers cast buff spells that included Haste and then they all moved in pursuit of Terry – spreading over a wider area to surround him.

Mages were rushing through the air, underneath the earth, and blinking from spot to spot. The Haste-supported canans ran on all fours with amazing speed.

“Send a flare signal.” The older dwarven woman stepped out of the shadows and addressed the older human men that had used disruption discharges. “And use the signaling device to also alert the outer perimeter.”

“Isn’t that too much?” The man’s face was still flushed.

Other Thanatos soldiers stepped out of the shadows. They all displayed various signs of battle or fire damage. Most importantly, they were all wearing faces of suppressed anger and wariness.

“I don’t know yet,” said the dwarven woman. She turned to those that had been in the shadows with her before. “Leave the pursuit in the shadows to me. It’s too riled up there now.”

Meanwhile, Terry was confronted with the reality of facing intelligent mages instead of mindless beasts. He could sense the soldiers closing in around him. As fast as Terry could run…

Running again!

…it was asking too much to expect to outrun mages equipped with spells like Blink or Lightning Acceleration.

Over time, perhaps, Terry could have a chance – assuming that his advantage in mana regeneration was not offset by his disadvantage in mana efficiency due to his lack of appropriate spellwork – but for now, Terry had to accept that his opponents would not be shaken off easily.

A wall of rock rose up in Terry’s path. Without breaking his stride, Terry switched to the divine hammer inscription and jumped into the air.

While some of the Thanatos soldiers were still wondering about the spell that created these layers of mana that intersected the metal and light aspects, Terry was jumping higher and higher.

Lightning bolts and fire spears followed Terry into the air. Terry dodged nimbly and appreciated the newfound movement flexibility in the sky.

From far behind, a dwarven soldier rushed after Terry through the sky. His eyes were glowing with lightning. Terry continued running and moved mana into his storage bracelet. He had recognized the spell structure for a Paralyzing Tackle spell from the lightning aspect and had no intention of making contact with the shocking dwarf. Terry retrieved a shield and right before he was about to collide with the dwarven soldier, Terry let go of the shield and transfixed it in the air.

Terry cringed at the noise the dwarf made when he smashed into the immovable object, but Terry forced himself to not look back. In his mana sense, Terry could detect that another soldier had caught the dwarf and was casting healing spells.

“Just piss off,” grumbled Terry and accelerated further. Contrary to his wishes, more and more soldiers met him in the sky and countless spells were rushing towards him.

Terry transfixed ice spikes, crossbow bolts, and arrows in the air without breaking stride. He only dodged those from the front. He evaded lightning bolts or tanked them while circulating his resistance technique. He did not even move an inch for weaker fire spells and instead relied on his armor and resistance.

The Thanatos soldiers became increasingly frustrated and taken aback.

Terry, on his part, became annoyed too. Annoyed that these soldiers did not leave him alone and even more annoyed that they kept circling him at a distance. Terry was already missing the narrow quarters inside the dungeon. Now he was back to struggling with ranged spells and weapons.

A flurry of wind blades was charging towards Terry from behind. Terry casually summoned a tertium slab from one of his storage anklets and transfixed it behind himself to block the attack.

More wind blades appeared – this time from all sides. Terry frowned. He aimed his bidirectional attraction on the tertium slab he had previously transfixed and caught the rest of his momentum with his feet against his immovable boots. He unleashed a spherical disruption discharge and transfixed the various scales and protective plates in his armor.

Before the second wave of wind blades could arrive, Terry was already on the move again. Only this time, Terry was dashing directly towards some of the Thanatos soldiers.

An elven woman aimed her bow and fired three shots in quick succession. Terry transfixed the arrows as soon as they entered his casting range, which allowed him to nimbly jump around the unmoving obstacles.

The soldier rapidly dual-casted two spells. A spherical barrier appeared around her and a blast of fire was rushing towards Terry.

Terry pulled back both of his arms and then violently punched out an intense dual-discharge that dispersed the fire-aspected mana in his path. The elven soldier smiled with relief and satisfaction that her barrier had stood fast but then she realized that Terry had not slowed down in the least. Instead, Terry was throwing out a breath-taking succession of discharges until finally, the elven woman heard her barrier shatter together with her confidence.

One of the Thanatos soldiers further back lowered his crossbow with mouth agape. It wasn’t the quick succession of intense discharges that caused the dwarf to stare. It was the river-like mana going in circles around the Arcanian. Every discharge flowed back to Terry, which resulted in a mesmerizing scene in the dwarf's mana sight, unlike anything he had ever seen before.

Terry arrived in front of the elven soldier. To the elf’s credit, she rapidly switched to close combat and her rapier danced through the air while she prepared another spell. Unfortunately for the soldier, her rapier suddenly became immovable together with pieces of her armor. She was unable to dodge the palm that struck her abdomen with disruptive mana. Her casting was cut short and she felt the pang of spell failure. The next thing she felt was a knee to her chin.

Terry created more sheets of divine mana and jumped over the elven archer before continuing to dash into the direction with the smallest number of Thanatos soldiers.

Lightning cracked and an elven man with a blade formed entirely from lightning cut off Terry’s path.

Terry did not waver and pushed forward.

The elf was expecting an upfront collision when he suddenly felt himself pulled forward. Terry once again caught his momentum against his immovable boots. He had just finished placing the needles of his skewer box and now he abruptly changed direction and pulled the elf on top of the needles.

The unaware soldier was injured but healing spells arrived before the needles had even fully left the man’s body again.

Terry moved mana into his skewer box and his bidirectional attraction gloves. He gathered his small needles and pulled on one of the soldiers whose flight ability seemed less stable than that of the others. He dashed forward and pulled the soldier into the path of several incoming spell projectiles.

Terry sensed metal-aspected mana condense in various locations. Shortly afterwards, Metal Hammer spells were smashing down towards him. Terry burst his mana and dodged one. He punched out a layered disruption discharge towards the second and it broke. A third and fourth one were already behind.

Terry found himself in a match of disruption discharges against descending Metal Hammer spells. He knew that this was an imbalanced match. Terry’s mana regeneration against that of many. Terry’s raw discharge of mana against the mana efficiency of proper spellwork. He knew that this could not go on, but the soldiers did not give him a breather.

Terry dashed downwards to give himself some time. In between jumping from sheets of divine mana, Terry added disruption discharges expelled from his feet, which caused more Thanatos soldiers to stare with mouth agape.

Terry’s discharges were fast and intense, but eventually, there was a Metal Hammer that was not immediately shattered and Terry felt himself smashed down hard. His ears were ringing. The pain accelerated Terry’s thoughts and he realized that he had been stupid. The next Metal Hammer arrived, but instead of gracing it with a disruption discharge, Terry casually flicked a throwing needle and transfixed it.

Defend against it as if it was metal not mana.

The metal-aspected attack shattered when colliding with an immovable object. Under the cover of the shattered mana a small cylindrical object was darting towards two Thanatos soldiers that were flying close to each other. The object transfixed in the air and then a wide shot of darkwater was sprayed onto the soldiers.

Terry was collecting the container with his bidirectional attraction gloves while bolting away. From several directions, many metal objects of all sizes were flying towards Terry and he recognized spell structures for Move Metal and Enlarge Metal.

Terry transfixed some of the shards and weapons. He nimbly dodged others without slowing down. He ran past a huge dual-bladed axe until the sun above cast Terry’s shadow on the axehead. The shadow moved and wrapped around Terry.

The older dwarven woman stepped out of Terry’s shadow and onto the axehead’s surface. Her eyes were glowing from mana use.

Terry unleashed a spherical discharge to free himself. He burst his mana and was about to dash away again.

“Come on, you’re smarter than that,” exclaimed the dwarven woman. “If I’m not mistaken, your mana sense should reach far enough to understand the kind of situation you are in.”

Terry scowled. He knew indeed. He counted nearly a hundred stronger mana signatures encircling him, both in the sky and below. Terry’s eyes darted from side to side. “You could still let me go.”

“That’s still a no,” said the dwarven woman calmly. She let her eyes move across the number of injured soldiers.

“Let’s just kill the freak,” growled the younger human woman whom Terry had also met before in the shadows.

Terry had to suppress a derisive snicker when he saw that the woman’s hair and eyebrows had been burned on one side. Terry forced himself to keep his focus and scan the movements around him for an opening. Terry knew he was in deep shit, but he had not given up yet. “Don’t sing it, bring it!”

“You…” The human woman flushed with anger.

“Hahaha.” The older dwarven woman broke out in laughter. “With that attitude, you could make for a fine Thanatos citizen.” She moved her appraising gaze away from Terry and to the human woman. “Why would I kill him? I want to thank him. I believe he has taught some here a valuable lesson. ‘We don’t mind fighting you,’ was it? Don’t bark if you can’t stand the bite! The best fight is one you can avoid.

“Sometimes even a puppy can show teeth.” The dwarven woman grinned at Terry. “You’ve shown me something new today, puppy. Interesting teeth indeed. Unusual, to say the least. Is that the Arcana style of mana cultivation? And that translucent golden mana… That rings a bell, but I can’t quite recall what— You know what, nevermind. It doesn’t matter.

“Let’s end this while we are still on polite terms, shall we?” The eyes of the dwarven woman became stern. “You could have killed some of these soldiers before but you didn’t.” Her eyes glanced fleetingly towards the elven archer. “I appreciate that.” She smiled amicably at Terry. “How about we all lick our wounds, have a pleasant stroll, and get you to someone that can take charge of you. You can tell them your story. Surrender and we won’t harm you.”

Terry’s mind was in turmoil. He realized that he had subconsciously held back. He had no real reason to kill these soldiers. True, Terry had unpleasant experiences with Thanatos soldiers before, but that did not mean he was out to kill others wearing the same uniform on sight. Nevertheless, Terry did not like the idea of surrendering and yielding to an uncertain fate. He wanted to get back to Arcana and—

‘For purely practical considerations and not due to any high-minded ideals…’ The words that the Captain had once spoken to Terry about the military custom of accepting surrender played back in Terry’s mind. He remembered how Megumi had warned that the custom was hinging on the condition that the person yielded early enough – before they had inflicted all the damage they could and invited irreconcilable grudges.

Terry took a deep breath and sighed. “Fine, I surrender.”

Please don’t let this be a mistake…

***