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Edge 128
🕑 Added 2023-10-05 15:01:24 +0000 UTC128 - Trust
Scrappy suddenly stopped walking, perking up and sniffing the air like a cat. Her ears seemed to twitch ever so slightly, but they were covered by her hair and it was hard to tell. It was clear, however, that she was straining her senses to the extreme. Albert studied her for a moment, seeing that the magic within her, the strange structure he had already started to slowly study with the help of his AI, was moving ever so slightly.
“Someone is following us.” She said in the end.
“Really?” He said, not losing his composure.
He knew already from one of his routine long-range scans he had Jeff perform. The AI requested another one, just to be sure. It was a mix of old skills and Bending instructions, done in incremental steps so it wouldn’t waste more focus than strictly needed. It was disgustingly efficient compared to even the best Albert could do, and it even included a set of questions to ask the Universe itself. How Jeff managed it was worth investigating, but now was not the moment. Albert agreed to the scan with a sigh and whistled when the information appeared in his vision.
Someone had followed them. A full team, lagging only mere minutes behind them and hidden behind a small cliff covered in early winter snow. Five people, according to Jeff’s scan, all of them powerful. Powerful enough, in fact, to be able to sense the new and more powerful scan, and act accordingly.
Albert watched them for a split second as the team exploded into action. Jeff compiled all the data he had about them, which wasn’t much, adding to it the growing magical signature from a flurry of spells being prepared and fired in a hurry.
Then, a large window appeared in Albert’s field of vision, one he had expected and was waiting for. It was an air view of the area he was in, taken from his old mapping skill associated with the teleport skill. On it was projected a line, tracking a magical artillery shot on a collision course with his position. Too fast to dodge, possibly too powerful to shield from. There was only one choice.
***
Scrappy saw the projectile, or rather she sensed it, well before Sir Albert showed any reaction to it. She yelped in surprise, cursing herself for not being more useful, but it was her first time seeing artillery magic being fired and she didn't know it could be so scary! Sir Albert simply smiled kindly at her, then opened his arms and… waited?
The projectile simply went through him and exploded, upsetting the dust and her nose. When the dust cleared, he was still there, unharmed. Another projectile came soon after, and this one he just swatted away, redirecting it to explode on a nearby boulder like it was a fastidious fly. She noticed the edges of his mouth curl up in a grimace, but only for a split second and she did not have time to dwell on it. No other magic followed, but she knew it was not over.
He wobbled on his feet for a moment, wiping invisible sweat from his brow, then beckoned her to start running with feverish, but not panicked, haste.
When they were far enough away, Sir Albert threw a book at her. “Quick. Can you see the description?”
She focused, dimly aware that Sir Albert was also pulling out of nowhere all sorts of weird items and things. Muttering. “779-Cavanough… what else, what else?”
A message box she had only seen once before, when she had gotten her class, appeared in her vision.
“Read it, quick!” Sir Albert said. “You need to do the procedure!”
Defense Handbook
Performing procedure 779-Cavanough as illustrated in the book grants Evasive for 12 hours. Only one instance of Evasive may exist in the universe at any one time.
Evasive. Activate to become incorporeal and avoid all damage for 0.25 seconds.
“Listen to me!” He said. “When they fire the next artillery shot, use Evasive before it hits you, okay? Then run for cover. Use the explosion to hide yourself, then don’t stop until you are safe. Do not be seen. Wait for me hidden. I will find you, okay?”
Scrappy nodded. She blinked back tears.
Sir Albert ruffled her hair, a gesture the reminded Scrappy of easier times. “Good girl.”
Albert disappeared. Scrappy knew he was fighting when the sound of explosions reached her ears, along with the sound of screams. She didn’t know why he wanted her to perform the procedure, but she scrambled to read through the instructions, even though she shouldn’t have been able to read them, and went to work.
They were a tense couple of minutes. The procedure did not make any sense and involved a lot of things to do in order, but when she was done, she noticed something appearing in her vision, like a speck of an image that wouldn’t budge. When she focused on it, her mind gained knowledge of what would happen if she activated the effect.
Now she understood.
She turned to run. As if on cue, as soon as she left the cover of the trees, magic started to converge on her position. It was stray magic at first, shots fired from the distance while a whole different battle raged on, and it wasn’t very accurate. Scrappy could easily track it and dodge, moving nimbly in the frozen tundra. In the distance, Bastion was once again visible, a black ring of walls, houses and black smoke. Like a cold ember in the ice.
Then she heard the whistle of more powerful spells. One of them was directed her way, and she was dimly aware that the battle between her pursuers and Sir Albert was drawing to a close. Her heart clenched at the thought of her protector dying, but she had her own skin to save first. Then she could help him.
She tracked the magic arcing in the air with her superior hearing, not peeling her eyes from the treacherous terrain. Then she activated the magic.
The explosion was deafening, momentarily robbing her of her hearing. But there was nothing else, no shockwave and no pain. She stumbled, more because of her disorientation than anything else and she kept running, while fire and flames developed into an inferno behind her where the magic had detonated.
She ran and ran.
She had no idea how long she had run for when Bastion loomed close and threatening. The city, never a symbol of hope for her, felt evil now. Like it didn’t want her. Like it actively hated her.
She need not enter the city alone, of course. She had been told to hide and wait, and wait she did. She found a good hiding spot, the last ring of vegetation before the clearing that surrounded the walls of the city, and there she spotted a small cave. A cold wind bellowed, whistling when it entered the narrow crack in the stone. Tiny snowflakes drifted in the air currents, gelid and beautiful, but Scrappy could not muster the willpower to appreciate them.
She strained to hear the sounds in the distance. The fight had died down long ago, and for a while the occasional explosion or magic spell had kept her hope kindled. If they were still attacking, then Sir Albert was still alive. But when they too died down, she didn’t know what to think. Her protector was powerful, but the attackers were even more so.
Silence could mean many things. He could be dead. Or he could have escaped his pursuers.
She did not know. He had asked her to wait for him, and she trusted him enough to do so. She didn’t know why she did. She had never trusted a human before, not even when she was still in her old form, and yet she felt like she could trust this one. So she waited.
