The Fusionist Book 3 -- Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Startled, he looked down to see Grandmaster Fusionist Shinpai at his side. “Larek. I need you all to come with me.”

Ripping his arm away from his Professor’s hand, he was instantly suspicious. “Why? The Dean—”

“Did what she had to do,” Shinpai said quickly, his emphasis telling Larek what he meant by that. He was insinuating that the Dean’s slave bond forced her to communicate his presence in a report to her Great Ones. “She also wanted you to live, and live free, but if you don’t come with me right now, that won’t happen. Please, just trust me on this.”

The pressure of Dominion magic coming off of his father, who was hovering in the air in front of the Scission, had been overshadowed by what he was feeling from the Scission itself. Larek wasn’t an expert quite yet on such things, despite being near a few of them, but he was quite convinced that the Scission was just about to start spewing out monsters within the next few minutes, if not the next few seconds. He didn’t have a lot of time to decide on what to do; all he knew was that he had to get out of there before the Gergasi turned its sights on the child it was trying to find among the students.

But do I trust Shinpai? Or should we just make a run for it on our own.

In the end, it came down to a sudden change in the Scission that made the decision for him. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the gigantic portal begin to rapidly change colors, heralding the beginning of the next phase.  Having no idea where he would even go in the Academy to escape not only the monsters that were about to emerge but also his father, he decided to trust Shinpai to help them. If it turned out that he was being double-crossed, he would deal with it when the time came.

“Fine. Everyone, let’s follow Shinpai.”

The others didn’t have any objection, as they didn’t experience the same sort of indecision about the Professor as he had, and they quickly took off after the surprisingly agile Grandmaster Fusionist as he raced through the panicked crowd of not only students but Professors. Looking back toward the Scission, Larek watched as the colors finally stabilized, ending up with a bright red color that – according to his studies the previous year in his Scissions class, indicated that what would come out was likely to be something that had to do with heat or fire.

As soon as it settled on the color, the pressure it was giving off disappeared, and Larek saw the first ranks of the monsters coming through. Dozens of 4-foot-tall blobs of moving lava rolled out of the Scission, which Larek recognized as Lava Oozes from his Monster Knowledge class. They were difficult to kill only because most normal weapons couldn’t hurt them; only weapons enhanced with some sort of Martial Battle Art or with a Fusion designed to combat these types of monsters would work against them. Of course, there were plenty of spells that Mages could use to defeat them, as there was a heart or core of obsidian inside of them that – once cracked – would destroy them completely; even a simple Ice Spike could punch through the lava and reach it, though the caster would have to be very lucky to hit it on the first shot because it tended to move around inside of its oozy form.

What he also knew about these Lava Oozes was that they were only seen in Category 3 Scissions and above in differing numbers. Based on the size of the Scission, he estimated that this was at least Category 5, if not larger; his perspective on the whole thing was a little skewed because he was so close to it and he was currently running for his life.

The Oozes were still emerging from the front of the Scission by the time Shinpai reached the main administrative offices of the Academy, and he disappeared inside after beckoning them to follow. Larek told the others to go through the door first to get to safety; as for him, he stopped at the door and looked back at what was happening at the Scission, and was surprised to see the Gergasi attacking the Lava Oozes as they emerged.  At first, he expected the powerful figure to simply lay waste to the monsters by slicing through them with his sword, which seemed more than capable of destroying the obsidian hearts inside of them, but he instead cast a frighteningly effective spell.

Storm clouds billowed out from his upraised hands, the sword he was carrying somehow attached to the golden rope at his waist, and they spread out until they were covering nearly half of the yard. At some point, another gesture by his potential father produced a torrential deluge of icicles, each of them at least a foot long and the thickness of Larek’s thumb. They pounded down upon the Lava Oozes as they rolled toward the retreating students and faculty, and their internal obsidian cores cracked when they were struck by dozens of these icicles within seconds. Wave after wave of Oozes fell under the onslaught of icicles, but they kept emerging from the Scission with no signs of stopping. At least a hundred of the Oozes were killed by the time he heard Nedira shouting for him.

“Larek! Hurry up!”

As he turned away from the Gergasi and the battle ensuing outside, for a moment he thought he saw the powerful figure start to turn toward him, as if sensing that Larek was looking at him, but the Fusionist retreated inside before he could tell for sure. Slamming the door behind him, as if that would somehow prevent his father from breaking into the building, he raced after Nedira and his friends as they turned the corner up ahead. At full speed, he caught up to them in seconds, tapping into his Agility stat for a moment speed through the hallway, though he made sure to slow down when he got near them to prevent his Repelling Barrier from activating when he got too close. He was moving much faster than 10 miles per hour, after all, and barreling into them might cause all of their protective Fusions to activate at the same time.

Yet another flaw in its formation that he wanted to fix when he had the time, as well as the ability; he suspected that he would need to master Advanced Fusions to upgrade it with the necessary fixes. Unfortunately, now was not the time to do any of that, as he rushed up the stairs after Shinpai.

It didn’t take Larek long to realize where they were going, and he began to slow down when they approached the Dean’s office. Is this some sort of elaborate trap? He didn’t know for sure, as he was still conflicted over what the head of the Academy had done, and he was still unsure when he saw a group of people huddled around the doors leading into the Dean’s office.

“There you are! What took you so long?”

Strangely enough, Penelope, Bartholomew, Vivienne, and Kimble were apparently waiting for them, though how they knew Larek and his friends were coming was aroused his suspicions once again. Either Penelope was a spectacular actor, as her question seemed completely genuine and concerned, or she was generally worried over their late appearance.

I didn’t even know we were on a schedule.

“What is going on? What are they doing here?” Larek asked, now thoroughly confused.

“Get inside and I’ll explain. We don’t have much time,” Shinpai said, before pushing the doors open and ushering them inside. As soon as he closed the doors behind them, he brought something out from a pocket and placed it on the door. Larek immediately recognized that it was a Fusion of some kind on a wooden disk, but that was all he saw before the wood of the doors suddenly fused together, creating a single piece of wood that appeared inseparable. The effect also spread to the hinges and the doorframe, enveloping them so that the doorway looked less like a door and more like a solid wall.

“What was that—?”

His Professor cut him off. “There’s no time. There’s a few things I have to give you and then you have to run. Don’t stop and don’t look back; get as far away from here as you can.”

“Professor Shinpai, what is going on?” Bartholomew asked. “We were told to meet at the Dean’s office if something catastrophic ever happened, but I never thought that one of the Great Ones would appear. I’ve never heard of them leaving their Enclave, precisely because of what just happened out there.”

Everyone stopped and stared at the young Martial trainee. “You already have the slave bond, don’t you?”

“I… do.” Bartholomew looked confused. “But it’s like it’s muted for some reason. I still feel it there, but I get the sense that I don’t have to obey it anymore.” His eyes widened as he looked around the room. “Wait; I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about that. How is this possible?”

Shinpai was moving toward the Dean’s desk, and as he arrived and started opening up one of the drawers and pulling it out completely, he said, “We don’t have time for a full explanation, but suffice it to say that it’s because of your charge right there.” He waved toward Larek, before reaching inside the desk to the spot that was left after the drawer was removed.

“What? What’s going on, Larek?” Nedira asked, and everyone else looked at him expectantly, as if he had all the answers. While he had some answers, he didn’t want to get into it right now.

“I don’t know; why don’t we ask Shinpai, as he’s the one who brought us here,” he responded.

The Grandmaster Fusionist started pulling out leather bag after leather bag, each of them small enough to fit easily in his large hands. They clunked on top of the desk with the sound of metallic jingling, hinting that they were coins of some sort or other. As soon as he was done putting approximately two dozen of these bags, as well as what appeared to be four canvas backpacks, on the desk, Shinpai looked up at Larek with a resigned look upon his face.

“I’m sorry, Larek, but they need to know,” he started to say, before a massive explosion coming from somewhere outside rocked the entire building. “Never mind, we’re running out of time. Long story short, the Dean was forced to report your presence because of the slave bond, but kept your name and description out of it.” Tossing a bag toward him, Larek deftly caught it. “Inside that bag are a few things you’ll need; I created a Perceptive Misdirection Fusion on a ring in there which will make people believe you are shorter than you actually are. It won’t hold up to physical contact, but I’m sure you can see where it might be useful. It’s an Advanced Fusion, so if you are able to break through your Skills, try and copy it or improve it so you can keep it for where you’re going.

“As for where that is, you’re all heading to Silverledge Academy and Fort Ironwall. There are transfer papers for everyone here, signed by the Dean herself a few days ago when she suspected something like this might happen. You, specifically,” Larek’s Professor said, staring right at him, “are going to Fort Ironwall. They are the premier Fort for Martials, and if they can’t teach you what you need, no one can.”

“What? Why is he—?” Penelope began to ask, but Shinpai cut her off.

“Later, Penelope. These bags are also filled with gold and platinum coins so that you can make your way to Silverledge and Ironwall by any means necessary. You can thank Larek for it all, as it’s what the Dean has been keeping safe for him for all the Fusions he’s been making lately.” Turning once again to Larek, he asked, “You didn’t think we were just giving them all away for free, did you?”

“Well, I—”

“Regardless, this is only a fraction of what you made from your work; there was too much to store here safely. If you’re ever able to get back here in the future when it’s safe, I’ll get you the rest…” he said, before adding in a softer voice, “If I’m still around, of course. I imagine the fallout from this is going to be, to put it lightly, extraordinary.”

There was another explosion that shook the building even more, and everyone looked at each other in shock and worry, wondering what was going on outside. Well, all but Larek, because he absolutely, positively did not want to know in the slightest.

Directing Larek’s bodyguards to begin packing up all the bags into the backpacks, Shinpai moved to the wall to the left of the office entrance, before pushing a few specific pieces of the wooden paneling, which depressed under his touch. A moment later, there was a soft click and a portion of the wall slid aside, revealing a dark passageway leading down a spiraling stone staircase.

“Wow; I didn’t even detect that was there,” Kimble noted with some wonder.

“You wouldn’t; it was made from entirely mundane means, no Fusions or magic whatsoever,” the Grandmaster Fusionist explained in a rush. “Now, get moving before it’s too late. This will bring you to a very long passageway that leads under the city, and it emerged in the nearby forest approximately 5 miles to the west of Thanchet. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to backtrack a little once you’re out of the tunnel and head northeast, making your way to Sliverledge and Ironwall. It’ll be dangerous, especially with the current environment and the SIC Transportation Network only running sporadically, but I have faith that you’ll make it. Just like the Dean had faith in you, Larek, to see this through to the end.”

There was another, closer-sounding explosion, and Larek realized that it was coming from inside the building.

“Run! I’ll close this after you, buying some time. Go!” Shinpai shouted, pushing the young students and trainees into the passageway. Larek came last and his Professor stopped him momentarily. “No pressure or anything, but with the way things are going, both the Dean and I believe that you’re our only hope of anyone surviving what is coming. We were hoping that you would have more time to learn everything you needed to, but everything escalated faster than we expected. Stay safe and—”

Another crash outside the room was followed with a banging against the door. Without another word, Shinpai pushed Larek inside the dark passageway before closing the wall again, leaving him in complete darkness. A sudden illumination coming from a spell cast by Kimble lit the short passageway and the spiral stone staircase ahead, and Larek could see the frightened faces of his friends and the shocked-but-determined expressions of his bodyguards.

“About what he said—”

“I’ll explain later,” he cut off Penelope’s question.  “We need to move and get out of here as quickly as we can. We’ll have plenty of time to talk soon enough.” With a nod, she turned around and led the way down with Kimble right behind her with the light.

Leadership has increased to Level 11!

With a final glance back at the closed portion of the wall behind him, where he could hear what sounded like the office door being absolutely demolished, Larek followed the group down the stone steps into the darkness below.

Book 3 Chapter 18