[Omen of the Witchblade] Chapter 134 - Missing Magi

Teddy was riding high as he closed up the shop for the night. Those two fabulous little kittens had been practically throwing themselves at him. He had to remind them that he was the man and that he alone chose what would happen.

Didn’t they know he was a high value alpha male? He needed to make sure they were suitably high value themselves. Making them wait would only heighten their hunger for him. Just like the tall woman he was sizing up.

I need to remember to buy another bottle of [Orc Stank], it drives the ladies wild.

A young man bothered Teddy on the street. One of those new Challengers from a recently uplifted Worldshard. “Gross, man. You always leer at ladies like that?”

Another Challenger joined in. “Think I just threw up in my mouth a little.”

Teddy ignored the riff raff.

All he needed to do was make sure the shop was empty for the next two days, collect his cut from whatever Dernerd was up to, and then bask in well-deserved female attention.

More competitors up ahead were gathering for some stupid spectacle or another. Teddy rolled his eyes and turned around. He could head back to his shop and go around the other way down the terrace. It meant going near those filthy grayskins, but at least he wouldn’t have to listen to some outsider prattle on about the nonsense of the Convocation.

While he enjoyed the money that was flowing into his pockets, particularly from the Iron greenie, he always felt soiled whenever he picked up his coin.

Not because he was worried that the orc was doing something illegal. Out of sight, out of mind, was Teddy’s motto. He could hardly care less what Dernerd did in his shop so long as the coin kept coming in.

No, it was the fact that he was forced to consort with a competitor. The filth that thought fighting and beating on each other like idiotic savages was somehow honorable.

Besides, he was protected by the System so long as he stayed outside of the Convocation. Teddy was fine with that. He wouldn’t set foot within a trial even if it offered him 10 [Gold Rune Coins].

As usual, thinking about riches set Teddy’s mind at ease. His feet guided him down the familiar streets and lanes. He nearly passed his shop without glancing once, but something that sparkled caught his eye.

Glass littered the cobbles in front of his shop.

His business was utterly destroyed. It looked like somebody had set off a bomb inside. “My merchandise!” he cried, rushing up to the gaping hole where his door had been.

The ground was shattered and filled with dirt and…gravestones? Godsdamned competitors!

Dernerd had told him what to do if anything disturbed him while he worked. His fellow Iron party members would set things straight. All Teddy had to do was contact them.

It meant involving more competitors, but seeing as this was their mess in the first place, it only seemed right for them to fix it.

Teddy took the [Az Drazakh Emergency Flare] out of his inventory and ignited it with a pulse of mana. It flew out of his hand and rose high into the sky before bursting with a faint and distant pop.

No color rose out of it, just a subtle noise that would easily blend into the city’s rich tapestry of chaos. To members of the Az Drazakh, they would see a colorful display pointing them directly to their leader.

With his job done, and a hefty bonus for helping Dernerd out, Teddy bought a [Roast Beast Pie] from a vendor down the road and sat down to watch for Dernerd’s party members.

He needed to make sure that they knew his services did not come cheaply. A subtle reminder that he was the alpha in this relationship.

That, and a hefty cash bonus for digging them out of trouble.

Yes, oh yes, things were looking up for Teddy.

***

Heath was freaking out. His heart thundering in his ears had nothing to do with how fast he was rushing back to the Starling Tower.

He didn’t know what else to do but get his party. It didn’t matter that he reached High Copper and evolved his Archer class.

Trying to find Mel and Charlie on his own was a bad idea.

He stepped through the lift portal and charged into the penthouse. The Magi that were around were busy training, studying, and practicing ritual magic. Complex stuff that went way above his head.

Oh man, I have a lot to learn. Is that guy over there turning a weapon into another kind of weapon? That’s some wild ritual magic!

He searched for Gwen and Thomas. He wasn’t that familiar with Charlie’s team, and he trusted in Gwen’s ability to find somebody missing above anyone else.

Jacob Windsor, the honorable knight who saved Heath’s life, was training with Gwen in the [Jolly Competition of the Pyre] ritual ring. Though it wasn’t a battle to the death, the fast-paced strikes and dashing lunges were almost too much for Heath to track.

It wasn’t that they were moving too quickly to perceive, but that Heath wasn’t that practiced in advanced combat techniques and fighting styles. He had trouble following the flow of battle.

They move like Mel.

These people were unlike anything he had ever seen. Jacob and Gwen understood it on an instinctual level, like they were speaking another language.

All the Magi seemed to be on a whole other level than anybody else. Heath was glad to be in their presence, but it did a number on his confidence.

It was like just mastering your multiplication tables and sitting down at a table where everybody does advanced trig in their heads for fun.

They did things that were so effortless and seamless. Combining aspect powers so they looked indistinguishable from another. Feinting and using one aspect skill to hide another.

Even the strongest people Heath had faced in the trial were often singular. They used one aspect power at a time, usually in sequence. The Magi fired them off and wove them together into a tapestry of destruction that Heath struggled to comprehend.

What looked like a clear hit became a glancing blow, while an obvious feint suddenly turned into a brutal reversal.

He had a lot to learn, but at least he could learn.

I owe Mel everything.

When Gwen’s silver eyes found Heath, she froze in the middle of a clawing pounce, bearing down on Jacob. Jacob’s padded, practice shield slammed into her side to knock her off balance, then his wooden practice longsword snapped out to catch her in the neck.

Gwen growled, catching the longsword in her claws. She shoved it aside and rolled away.

Jacob looked at her in confusion, sweat slicking the hair to his forehead. “Gwen?”

“There’s something wrong. Heath is alone.” Gwen prowled out of the sparring area, pulling on pieces of armor.

Jacob looked up. Noticing the same thing, he called the other Magi over and followed Gwen.

Heath was suddenly faced with the full weight of the Magi and whatever the exchange students counted as. He was still iffy on that.

“Uh…hi,” Heath said nervously. “Um, so…long story short, Mel and Charlie are missing. They told me where to meet them later after we ditched the newshogs, but when I got there, they weren’t there. I waited with Mel’s friends for over an hour before sending them off shopping with Elian. I know Mel likes to blow people off, but I don’t think she’d purposely–”

“An hour?!” Gwen cried. “They could both be dead, Heath!”

Thomas put a comforting hand on Gwen’s shoulder. “It’s a big city, Gwen. There’s any number of reasons they might not make a meeting.” He looked at Heath. Those golden irises seemed to burn into his soul. Sometimes it felt like he was trying to stare into the sun. “Where did you last see them?”

“Just outside the tower,” Heath said nervously.

Thomas’ voice went quiet. “That was hours ago. You mean you split up for most of the day and didn’t say anything?”

Gwen howled in dismay.

“I thought we were safe!” Heath said. “This is a city! It’s civilized.”

“Gods save us from naivety,” Thomas muttered, putting a hand to his forehead. “People are more dangerous than monsters, Heath. It’s people that you need to be wary of. I thought Mel would have drilled that into you by now.”

It was true, Mel did like to say how horrible people were and that she’d rather camp out under the stars surrounded by monsters than other people. Present company excluded, or so Heath hoped.

“I thought she was just being…y’know, Mel. Cantankerous and surly is kind of her thing.”

“In this, she’s right,” Jacob said. “There are countless forces arrayed against us. Many of them wear the skin of a normal person, and you just lost not one, but two of our strongest Magi.”

Gwen’s towering frame loomed over Heath like the shadow of death. It wasn’t often the viking was moved to such fury. Her eyes burned with silver energy.

She was usually so friendly!

Heath tried to back away, but he was surrounded by Magi on all sides. Nobody seemed willing to intervene on his behalf.

Then Gwen said the words that broke his heart. “I trusted you to keep my best friend safe.”

“Oh, here come the tears,” Heath muttered under his breath as tears stung his eyes. “You’re a big boy Heath. It’s okay to cry.”

Somebody smacked Gwen on the nose with a rolled-up paper. “Bad dog!” Sylvie admonished. “Look at what you did!” She pointed at Heath’s blubbering. “You made the normie cry!”

Gwen growled at Sylvie, but actually appeared admonished. “Fine! It’s my fault too. It shouldn’t be all on him.”

Sylvie put a hand on Heath’s back and rubbed it in small circles. “You want a tissue, champ?”

Heath nodded through the tears. He had failed his idol and his new family in one fell swoop. He had gone into the town thinking that they could handle themselves! Why didn’t he think for one second to come back and let the other Magi know?

Why was he so stupid?

“Yeah?” Sylvie said, offering him a box of tissues. “You want some warm milk too? Maybe a binkie? What about a fat dildo right up your ass?” She smacked the back of Heath’s head before the tone shift registered. “Grow the hell up and own your mistakes, man!”

Heath blubbered something unintelligible.

Sylvie put her hands on her narrow hips. Komachi stood up beside her and mimicked her. Somehow, she seemed to understand him. “Bitch, I don’t care if you’re crying. We all cry, that’s fine. What you don’t get to do is sit there pissing and moaning while the rest of us figure out what to do. You’re part of this. So move your ass. You’ll learn to cry and fight at the same time.”

As if that was some sort of rallying cry, the Magi started discussing tracking and where they might have gone.

Heath sniffled and blew his nose.

Gwen, however, seemed to know what to do. She had tracked Mel down just the other day. “I’ll find them anywhere in the city with [Insight of the Wolf]. Follow me.” In the vacuum of power Mel and Charlie left behind, Gwen seized control effortlessly.

The Berserker sprinted out of the tower, summoning that giant hammer in moonlit ash.

Magi followed in her wake.

If anything bad happened to Mel or Charlie, the people responsible were going to be in for a world of pain.

It didn’t take them long to find the mondoceros camp. The odd thing, however, was that their leader didn’t seem keen on telling them anything. She wasn’t combative, but she definitely didn’t trust them.

Not until Gwen mentioned that Mel might be hurt. Then the entire camp of rhinoceros people nearly tripped over themselves to explain where they went.

In the end, a hulking rhino dude that looked like he benched minivans for kicks led them through the dizzying alleyways to a ruined shop front and a group of orcs in full battle gear.