The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Larek Holsten turned back toward the small mountain in the distance, his last view of the city of Peratin. He couldn’t see Crystalview Academy nor Fort Hilltower from his position, as they were on the other side of the mountain where the majority of the city was located, but he could at least picture where it was.

I can’t say I’m disappointed, though. I really don’t want to see the results of my handiwork from here.

It had only been a few days since the attack on the city, but to Larek it seemed like much less. Granted, the time differential was probably because he had been unconscious for a good portion of that time period, so to him it felt like only the night before when he strained his body so much that he was unable to wake up.

Helping to defend the students of Crystalview Academy against the monsters coming from dozens of Scissions opening up on top of the mountain tended to do that to a person.

“—and I told you, I don’t care! You’re just lucky we were obligated to take all of you snot-nosed children with us as we head south.” Larek turned back around as he heard shouting from up ahead. “But that doesn’t mean I have to hold your hands every step of the way! You’ll walk along with everyone else.”

The leader of the caravan – yes, another caravan – yelled at the first-years that were insisting that they should ride on the wagons rather than walk, which didn’t really surprise Larek all that much. Neither the fact that the young Mages-in-training wanting a ride nor the refusal by the caravan master to allow them to do it. Given that the first-years were around 10 to 11 years old and weren’t necessarily in the best physical shape given their vocation, they weren’t exactly suited to walking long distances. As for the leader of the caravan, Larek’s own experience with the merchants that were in charge of such an enterprise weren’t the best of people.

“How did they manage to walk to Peratin and Crystalview Academy at the beginning of the school year?” Larek mused out loud. He hadn’t meant for anyone to hear him, but a voice piped up from his side.

“What are you talking about, Larek?”

He glanced at Verne, his roommate from Crystalview, as he walked next to him, amazingly keeping up with Larek’s long stride. The boy that looked somewhat like a small, humanoid-looking tree appeared more than comfortable journeying through the countryside – at least more than most of the other students that were forced to transfer to another Academy. Then again, they had only set out about 6 hours before, leaving just after dawn from the eastern gate of the city before spending hours ferrying the wagons over the river that bracketed the city on the south. They technically hadn’t traveled more than about 5 miles from the city, which wasn’t great progress, but they only really started moving faster over the last hour or so once the river crossing was done. That was, of course, when the other students started to complain about the walk.

“Uh… well, the caravan that brought me to the city made me walk, too, but now that I think of it, I just can’t see all of the other first-years traveling in the same way.”

His roommate—or is he my roommate anymore, given that we don’t have a room?—just shook his head. “I’m not sure you ever told me that story, Larek. You certainly had an, shall we say, unusual start to your career as a Mage, haven’t you?” Without waiting for him to answer, Verne explained. “As for the other students, including myself, we didn’t travel with a caravan and were made to walk.”

“Then how—?”

“The SIC Transportation Network, obviously.”

His blank look must’ve been enough of an indication that Larek had no idea what the boy was talking about.

“You know, the large, black and silver-colored carriages that can transport up to 20 people at once that constantly make a circuit around the internal network of roads in the Kingdom? The ones that transport SIC members and their supplies to 90% of the towns and cities? Please tell me you know of them; even I, coming from the Dyran Hearthwood far to east have heard of it, and I used it as soon as I got the Kingdom.”

Larek could only shake his head, never hearing of this “Transportation Network” before.

“Wow, you really are from the middle of nowhere,” came a new voice, amusement in the tone.

Nedira came up on the side opposite of Verne, appearing not quite as comfortable with the travel as Verne, but not nearly as bad as the dragging forms of the other students. Just past her, Norde was nearly skipping to keep up with his sister, but he also didn’t appear to struggle with the physical activity.

Larek nodded. “Yes, pretty much,” he replied toward the fourth-year, her reddish-gold hair and the fair skin of her face covered by a hood on her robe. She was using her staff as a walking stick, which he was happy to see had survived the “Night of the Scissions” (as he overheard it called a few times by some of the first-years). Larek didn’t have a staff, himself, but he still had his wooden armlets and anklets with powerful stat-boosting and healing Fusions on them that he had created himself. Thinking of the Healing Surge Fusion, he nearly warned those who accompanied him not to use it except in an emergency, as he didn’t want them to end up in a—hopefully—temporary coma – just like many of the students who had been seriously injured during the attack ended up.

I still can’t believe that something I created to help them made the victims end up like that!

It wasn’t necessarily his fault, because he had no idea it would happen. Still, he should’ve realized that overloading a body with increased natural regeneration energy when they didn’t have the Body Regeneration Skill to compensate for it would be bad for them.

He held his tongue, though, because the others were well aware of the danger, as they had heard about what happened even before Larek woke up inside some random Noble’s house in the city, surrounded by comatose students. As there was no need to go into the healing Fusion any more than necessary, he turned his attention back to what they were talking about.

“Then why aren’t we taking these SIC Transportation Network carriages?

Norde slipped his answer in before anyone else could. “Because there weren’t any scheduled to run between Peratin and another destination right now,” he explained. “That, and it would take a little more than three of them to move us all, which would require some advanced planning.”

Unfortunately, they didn’t really have the time for any planning, because the Dean wanted them to leave as soon as possible. More accurately, he wanted me to leave as soon as possible.

“Ah. Are they going to make it?” Larek asked as he gestured toward the cluster of student-Mages who looked like they were ready to collapse from the horrendous ordeal of walking along the road.

Verne chuckled. “Maybe? I’m sure they’ll be fine in a couple of days, but we’re probably going to have to listen to them whine for a while. At least until we can get to the next town and see if there are any Network carriages nearby that can be commandeered to take some of them.”

“What is the next town?” Larek asked.

Verne thought about it for a moment, but it was Nedira who answered. “It’s Garventon, I believe. Didn’t you learn about it in your Geography of the SIC class?”

Larek tried to remember if he had learned of it in his class, but his memory of the last few weeks was a bit fuzzy still. When he really concentrated on it, he found that he was able to snatch out a few tidbits of information every once in a while.

Garventon wasn’t one of those tidbits, however.

He shrugged. “I… don’t remember. If you recall, I haven’t exactly been in the right state of mind lately.” That was a bit of an understatement, considering he went into some sort of crafting fugue state where just about anything else was blocked out while he crafted hundreds of Healing Surge Fusions on the roof of Crystalview Academy. He still didn’t know how or why that happened, but he resolved not to let it occur again.

If I can even help it.

“Yeah, what was that about, Larek?” Nedira asked, slapping him on the arm as they walked. “The way you seemed to retreat into yourself was a bit scary, I’ll have you know. We were all concerned about you.”

He hadn’t realized he had done something like that to them, even inadvertently.  “I’m sorry about that. I’m not even sure I can explain what happened; just know that I’m better now.” At least, I hope so. Wanting to change the subject, he asked, “How far away is Garventon?”

Nedira was silent for a moment before answering, as if she wanted to continue questioning Larek about what had happened. Thankfully, she responded to his question instead – though he was fairly certain that this wasn’t the last he would asked about it. “At the speed these wagons are going, we might arrive tomorrow night.”

“That soon?” His previous experience with a caravan had them traveling further distances between towns. Then again, it seemed less populated north of Peratin, so that could be it.

“That’s if we are able to maintain this pace. Given how tired all the other students are, and it only being just past noon, I wouldn’t be surprised if half of them collapse before we stop for the night. The caravan master can’t leave them behind, so waiting for them to recover will slow us down.”

That was… disappointing. Not that he had any real desire to arrive at Garventon, but because he really didn’t want to spend another night outside. Memories of the wolf attack a few months ago were still fresh in his mind.

“And how long until we arrive at the new Academy?” he asked.

“Copperleaf? Unless we manage to snag a ride on the Network, I’d say it could take anywhere between 6 and 8 weeks of travel time.”

As Larek heard even more shouting between the leader of the caravan and the students that seemed to be conglomerating around leader’s wagon, all he could do was shake his head.

Even a few days of this is too much. I hope we can find another ride in Garventon.

He doubted it would be that easy.

Book 2 Chapter 2: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fusionist-book-2-81330317