noct

322. Mountain Pass

The ground remained more-or-less flat until the very foothills of the mountains, as if someone had jabbed them up through the flat plane of the earth with no care for how the world around them might be shaped. Looking at them, Ike thought he might reach them in a day, but they ran and ran for weeks, and the mountains looked no nearer. The flat land and the dry, clear air gave the illusion that the mountains were far closer than they were. It felt as though they toiled for hours and gained inc...

321. Go Get It

With no sighting of Palio, they smoothly exited the crevasse. Ike pointed the way across the grasslands, and they set off. In their white puppet robes, nothing stopped them. Puppets wandered by in the grasslands. At first, they were all human shaped, but the further they went, the less human they became. Huge giants loomed tall over them. Double-jointed puppets who swayed as they walked passed by in the distance. A puppet that looked like two puppets stacked on top of one another, conjoined h...

48. Two Remain

Rhys and Mae charged at one another. At the last second, Mae’s hands blurred, and she drew a sword. Rhys, not to be outdone, drew his broken sword in the same instant.

Mae saw the stub of a blade, and she laughed. “What’s that going to do?” Ignoring it, she swung at his neck.

Rhys activated Trash Intent. Her sword rebounded off his intent, and her eyes widened. In that instant, with her guard blown wide open and both hands flying back, Rhys closed in. He stabbed at her gut...

47. Four on One

Rhys backed away. He laughed. “Me? No, no…”

“You’ve beaten my strongest students, no?” Cynog pointed out.

“I…” With Ev’s assistance, sure.

“Is there anyone here who could defeat you?”

Rhys licked his lips. “That is…”

Cynog gestured to Ernesto. “There he is. Our school’s champion.”

Rhys smiled nervously. Is this bullying? He was just trash. There was no way he was the most powerful student around!

But… he ...

320. Empty Head

The puppets stared at the three of them, then ran toward them. Mag jolted and reached for his sword, but Ike put his hand out, stopping him. Not yet.

Without giving them a second look, the puppets pushed past, rushing into the building.

Ike and Wisp exchanged a look. They shared a nod. It worked.

They pushed their way through the stream of puppets and out onto the roof of the building. Ike hopped down and wound his way through the back streets. The majority...

46. Corporate Investigation

“So good to see you. Thank you for coming,” Aquari said, meaning not a single word of it. She gestured. “This is Rhys, a student of mine. He will serve as your assistant while you’re here, show you around the school and help you and your students get situated.”

Rhys smiled. He stepped forward as well and bowed a little, watching closely to see if Ernesto offered his hand. Number one rule of meeting the corporate bigwigs—let them move first. If Ernesto wanted to shak...

319. Puppets Puppets Everywhere

They charged the puppets, and the puppets charged them.

Instantly, it was chaos. Limbs flew everywhere as Ike smashed and hacked with the Hungry Sword. Whenever a puppet tried to strike him, he blocked, and the Hungry Sword quickly gobbled up their weapon. This time, he didn’t fight to injure, but to kill. Every blow either aimed at the puppets’ cores, or hacked off a limb on the way to a puppet’s core. Wisp spat venom that corroded the doll’s bodies. Her thread tangled them, an...

45. Cleaning House

Rhys worked through the night, picking up every last scrap of trash from Aquari’s manor and the grounds around it. When that was done, he lugged the trash up higher into the mountain, around the corner and out of sight in a deep ravine that was somewhat hidden from the main upper peak village. There was still plenty of trash on the mountain and around the village, but Rhys wasn’t done; he was just done with the most important part of the upper peak. Done, and in need of a new potion. He l...

318. Get Out

The puppets charged, and Ike charged back. Lightning flickered over his hands as he gripped one by the head and smashed it into the one behind it. Their heads shattered. The two staggered around, blindly knocking into their fellows. Crouching a little too low for their blind grasps to find him, Ike drew the Hungry Sword and charged into the mess. Trailing purple light, he dashed left and right, winding through the puppets and cutting whatever he could.

He wasn’t aiming to kill. Instea...

44. Polish a Turd

Two weeks until the guest teacher arrived. Rhys took a deep breath. He looked around him. This was the Schoolmaster’s house. It was the obvious place the guest teacher would go when he arrived here. In other words, it was the first place he had to clean.

Rhys looked at Az. “Can you archive faster?”

“I was going slow for your sake,” Az replied. “Do you not wish to know how to archive properly?”

“No, I do, but we’re on a time crunch here. If you can speed it ...

317. Returning For a Skill

Up toward the exit hatch. For the majority of their ascent, no one tried to stop them. They were hardly the only mages on brooms. There were the teachers and students, and a few other mages who floated around, enjoying their rare moment of wakefulness by zipping about on brooms. When they closed in on the hatch, though, that all changed. In a split second, they went from no one, to the center of all attention. All the puppets’ eyes locked on them, and a thousand different mana-senses scanne...

43. Guest Teacher

Rhys unfolded the letter and began to read the ‘guest teacher’s’ response to their Schoolmaster, Aquari.

Schoolmistress Aquari,

I write to you today to—

Immediately, Rhys’ eyes blurred. The full power of Speed Reading and skimming kicked in, and he blazed ahead, skipping past hundreds of lines of formulaic letter writing and business jargon to zip directly to the important parts.

He stopped on one line. His eyes widened. He leaned in, readin...

316. Broom Time`

Before long, the puppets started filtering away from the streets. Most headed in one direction, toward the largest, grandest building in the strange city. A few wandered back toward their houses or shops, or headed out toward some distant part of the city to enjoy what remained of their time awake. Ike and the others mixed in with those, wandering off in the general direction of the parks.

They already knew where the brooms were, and once they escaped from the crowds, they retreaded the...

315. Escape from the City

Brightbriar clapped. The puppets hurried from their busy street scene to return to their former places along the edge of the rows. Despite his heavy heart, Ike had no choice but to fall in. It was that, or die. Die slightly less pathetically than the poor puppet woman, die struggling, die fighting tooth and nail, but die nonetheless. Still, resolve burned in his heart. He knew what he had to do, now. There were no more questions in his heart. Brightbriar had to die.

“I do like what I ...

42. Files and Cats

Rhys drew up to Aquari’s mansion. It stood over him, the entryway’s pillars soaring high over his head. Everything about it was designed to make him feel small. Not that he minded. He was a small lump of trash, best ignored until he wanted someone’s attention. He tried the door.

Locked. A tinge of mana in the handle warned him against trying to break it open.

Rhys scowled. “No good, huh?”

Az reached out a paw from his arms and smacked the handle. A lock clicked, an...

314. A Shared Madness

The two figures reached the bottom of the stairs, vanishing from Ike’s sight. He pursed his lips in annoyance, but quickly schooled his face back into the respectfully neutral expression of all the puppets around him. If they were all lined up on the street, it implied that Brightbriar and the mystery woman would be heading this way. He was right where he needed to be.

A short time passed. The puppets continued to wait. To Ike’s surprise, they shuffled a bit, some stretching, others...

41. Small Favors for Wet Women

Rhys made his way over to the fountain, gently pushing the other trash out of his way. At the fountain, he surveyed the problem. The large trash was no issue. For the most part, he could fish it out with a few sticks, some shimmying, and a little Trash Intent. It was the smaller trash that was troublesome. He didn’t really know what he was going to do about the leaves and the papers floating around.

The ones nearest the edge weren’t too bad. He scooped them out like how he plucked o...

313. Brightbriar Arrives

Ike froze. His heart raced. He stared up at Brightbriar as if his life depended on it, body still while his mind churned at top speed. He couldn’t fight the man here. He wasn’t strong enough. Attacking would only be suicide. But if he didn’t, if Brightbriar came down here, then he was dead.

It was too late to flee. Anything he did now would only draw more attention to him. Worst case, if the man saw one of his puppets split and run, Brightbriar would descend from the stairs direct...

40. Digging Through the Trash

A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys! I should be speeding back up to normal here. The personal events are over for now, and I'm free to do what I really love, which is an abnormal amount of writing!

Rhys dripped three dots of potion on his hand. That was all the more he could handle right now, without having to vent excess mana. As fun as excess mana was, it didn’t do anything for him. Didn’t help rebuild or strengthen his body, expand his core or mana tolerance, anythin...

312. Complete and Utter Bullying

Ike ran around the corner and into the park, in time to find Wisp cornered by a taller man. The man, promisingly, stood in front of a barrel full of brooms that emanated mana signatures—weak ones, little more than Rank 2, but mana signatures all the same—and less promisingly, held his hands out, brows furrowed, blocking Wisp from proceeding.

“You were approaching these brooms. For what purpose? I don’t recognize you as a student,” the man accused her.

Wisp gasped, taken ...

311. Main Event

Underground, there was no day-night cycle. The sky remained lit at all times by an enormous crystal set into the ceiling. Since everyone inside was a mage, that caused no trouble; none of them needed to sleep, anyways.

A mage… or a puppet, Ike noted. Either way, they didn’t need to sleep or eat. Glancing up, he took in the young students just learning how to fly on a broom. They probably still needed to eat…

Ike froze. He stiffened.

“What?” Wisp asked.

310. A Mystery

“You three. Are you still wandering around aimlessly?”

Before Ike could find anything fun to do, the man who’d caught them in the automaton’s room called out from behind them. Ike turned.

Crossing his arms, the man shook his head at the three of them. “Look at you louts, flouting about while there’s so much work to do. Come on, pitch in. If you have nothing left to fix, then follow me.”

Ike shrugged. He glanced at the other two.

Wisp put her hands behind ...

309. Puppets in Harmony

Out of the alley the spiral staircase spilled out into, and onto the main road. Mages wandered all around them. Children ran and laughed, chased by their parents. Adults hurried about on their chores, or chatted with friends. A man and a woman walked arm-in-arm, giggling and transparently flirting. Shopkeepers peddled their wares. After the strange city above, with the nondescript puppets working on endlessly repetitive tasks, this was an extreme change of pace. For all intents and purposes, ...

308. Deeper Still

This staircase wasn’t a tunnel through the earth, but instead a winding spiral staircase in wrought iron. For the first few twists, it pierced through the earth, but then it opened up into a massive cavern. Ten of the first room could fit in this space. In fact, if Ike took the entire first room and stood it on its head, it would easily fit in the space between the floor of the cavern and its roof. Mages bustled around this space, hundreds, if not thousands of them. A puff of smoke flew up ...

307. Who Are You?

Ike whirled. Ahead of him, Wisp tensed as well, and behind him, Mag cringed.

A man, not masked, nor wearing white, stood before them. He looked like an ordinary mage in all ways. No… he is an ordinary mage? Ike frowned. He couldn’t be sure of anything. After all, Brightbriar’s puppets could perfectly replicate people. Unless he cracked the guy open, there was no way to tell if he was a puppet or not.

It’s probably best to assume he’s a puppet. ...

39. Bottle

Sorden led the way to her house. Rhys followed close behind, familiar with the route from the previous time he’d handed herbs over. She had him wait outside her house while she vanished inside and emerged with a white enameled bottle. A faint aura of mana emanated from the bottle.

“What do you think?” she asked, holding it out.

Rhys held up his potion. He tilted his head back and forth, unsure. “Do you mind if I try it out?”

“Certainly. Go ahead.”

“It m...

306. Among the Puppets

Clad in white robes and the matching featureless masks, they strode into the white city. Wisp didn’t hesitate, but immediately led them into one of the white buildings. To Ike’s surprise, the door swung open, not locked or barred in any way. A small, pristine room awaited them, completely cleaned out. It lacked any form of furnishing or anything to make it a home, save the curtains Ike had seen from outside that allowed the empty box to masquerade as occupied. Wisp walked to the room’s ...

305. Puppet City

Before long, the city rose before them again. This time, with Mag’s help, they avoided the puppet patrols all the way through the suburbs, but before long, they ran out of trees. Ike stood at the edge of the woods, staring ahead of him. This was the last stand. From here on up, the roads became well-paved, the houses fine and nicely-painted, and the gardens small, prim, and proper. In other words, this was the edge of the mortals’ quarters. From here on up, they entered the mages’ city....

304. Speaking to the Colony

Wisp threw a spider thread up to the edge of the cliff, then climbed up, and Ike followed close behind. Mag perched at the edge of the cliff, waiting for them to climb up. They reached the top without trouble, and Ike stretched. “Well, that was weird.”

“They’re pretty weird. Probably one of the strangest mages you’ll ever encounter. They once told me they had existed since ‘before the Heavens,’ whatever that means. No one individual ant is particularly old, but the colony ...

38. Condensed

His grip slipped, but only for a moment. Rhys caught the ball and clenched down, tighter than before. It shuddered, tried to slip, but this time, he didn’t let it. The intense pressure from Rhys’ mana, the steam, and the heat all came to bear on the orb, and it finally, at last, melted.

Rhys’ eyes flashed. Now!

He kicked the cauldron. The lid shot off in a jet of steam. A black blob flew out just behind the lid, hurtling up into the air. He grabbed a potion containe...