Chapter 6: Dancing Mad

Just as I predicted, Ryan sent an assassin after us. The guy is good, since Yukiji was the only one able to hear him, but he still got caught, and now it's only a matter of time before he goes for the kill and gets caught in our trap. If you're wondering about the training we did, well, it wasn't so hot. I learned how to make water – in that I can make water pour out of my palms. I can't shoot it forward, and I can't even control it once it leaves my body. The only thing I can do with water magic is fill a tub, and even that would just be cold water. We'll be skipping that element in future lessons. Snow had no trouble with it. In fact, he created a barrier of water around himself within the first ten minutes. I can't believe I used to consider myself a prodigy. No wonder I wasn't chosen. Are the other two contestants as talented? If so, I've got to try and get them on my side, too.

The footsteps trail down the rooftop, getting closer to the window. I turn toward Raksha. "So, picture my mana as something solid, then push it instead of guiding it? That's how to use ice magic?"

He gives me a puzzled look, and I almost slap him. Play along, idiot! An elbow shove from Yukiji sets him at ease. Only Snow seems to not know what's going on.

"You have a lot to learn about the Apostles," I whisper to him, then raise my voice a bit. "Then, when we know everything, we'll strike. Medea won't see it coming." I nod at Raksha, who prepared some wind magic. The wooden window is kicked in as the assassin enters the room, only to get blown back out through it by the djinn's attack.

"W-What-" Snow starts to question, but I shush him.

"We'll explain everything later. Right now, we've got some experimenting to do."

With Raksha's help, we drag my would-be-killer into the room, and then I sense some more mana up on the roof.

"You better have something for me, Obi."

The guy pokes his head out, making his golden, cat-like eyes seen. "No dice, kid. I'm still a spy for her, remember?" As I open my mouth to complain, he rushes the explanation along. "Don't worry! I'm telling her random crap! I'm just here to pretend I'm spying! Can't be a spy for her if I'm never around you guys!" I frown, but nod. Then the assassin we've knocked out comes to, and rushes outside, pushing past me. I try to give chase, but my short legs and lack of physical skill make me a liability. Raksha does his best, but can't actually manage to keep up with a professional fighter. Yukiji comes close to the man, but has the same shortcoming as me, and her legs get in the way. The assassin leads us further and further away from the inn, and I sense Snow coming after us. As we keep moving, a knife flies past me, then gets stuck in the assassin's back. Looking up, I see Obi standing in a tree, smirking down at me. He jumps down, then gives me a bow. "At your service, master." He's the one guy I'll allow to refer to me by title. "So, that guy doesn't work for Medea. Never seen him before."

"Adrian," Yukiji explains. "One of Ryan's."

I look down at the still writhing man, and decide this is the perfect time to test something out. "I'm bad with elemental magic, Raksha. Now's the time to teach me spiritual magic." It's very different in both concept and execution, and the results are much less physical. It's a form of magic that allows one to enter another's mind, or do direct damage to their soul. The strongest spiritual mages can pluck out a person's soul with a single look. It's a more dangerous and less predictable type of magic than elemental magic, but it's rarer. No one can master both it and the elements; It's just not possible.

"Are you certain?" asks Raksha, and I nod. "It's dangerous."

"Did you fail to notice the killer on the ground? I'm already in danger."

Obi whistles at that. "Kid's got a point."

"Shove it."

He holds his hands up. "Hey, I'm on your side here. If Ryan wants you dead, she's gonna come after you herself. Doesn't get much more dangerous than having an Apostle as your enemy, even if it is an impulsive one."

Ignoring my spy, Raksha goes on with his explanation. "I can't do that type of magic myself, but it is achieved through your mind. You need to channel your mana into your own brain, then send it out softly. It doesn't flow like with fire, or get pushed around like with ice. Instead, it has to be like a breeze – soft and gentle. It helps if you're making physical contact. Use your mana to enter someone's mind, and then you can do what you want with them."

I hear someone clapping, and suddenly sense an enormous amount of lethal mana right next to us. "How eloquently put, djinn boy," Ryan says, and I jump away from her, putting myself in front of Snow. The woman smirks at me. "I'd have your head on a bad day, kid. With these weak liabilities around, you don't stand a-"

"Attack!" I yell at Raksha, who unleashes a blast of wind at the Apostles. From her feet, her shadows stretch upward, leaving the ground and forming a shield. The wind hits it fruitlessly, doing no damage.

"You should really let someone finish speaking. Interrupting people is so rude."

Crap. We're in a bind already. I was counting on Raksha being Apostle-level, but I guess he's not up to snuff after all. Yukiji is feisty, but hasn't actually shown anything impressive with mana. Snow is too inexperienced and young.

"Run," I tell the boy, who's staring at Ryan in awe.

"B-But she's-"

"She's the enemy, and you need to run."

"But she's gonna kill-"

"You can't help us!" I scream. "You're too weak to help anyone right now. To get strong enough to help, you need to survive first." I told myself the same thing back when Medea was torturing my mother. "Run away and get help. The other Apostles will let a contestant near them. Find one of the stronger ones – Hurry!"

Nodding, the boy dashes toward the palace. Ryan tries to fire an arrow made of darkness at him, but I swing my palm toward it, and annihilate the shadow with a burst of fire. "Obi, what can you do?"

"I can run away and let her kill you? Yeah, that sounds like a plan." With that, the bastard runs away after Snow. Son of a...

Ryan steps forward, a shadow sword in her hand, her eyes gleaming with perverse joy. "Are we doing this or what? I'd love to let out some of this rage I've been feeling."

"Why are you doing this?" I ask, stalling for time. If we can't beat her, we'll need an Apostle to help. Come on, Snow. Hurry the hell up. "What does Medea want with the pendant?"

The Apostle's eyes widen, and I realize my fuck-up. She did not know I was Mirra's son until now. Shit. She had no clue I even saw anything, and was only killing me for the fun of it. "A nasty little spy, are you? I think I'll have to punish you." She slashes out at me, her sword turning into a whip. I enchant my bag and hold it outward, letting it take the hit. My magic, still in its infancy, fails to stop the attack, and my bag is cut down and ruined. Damn, I wish I could do more.

Raksha strikes out with another gust of wind, which gets dodged. Ryan counters with another whip slash, but the djinn takes himself up into the air, then sends a small whirlwind her way. This time, the attack connects, briefly stunning the Apostle. I get an idea, but she frees herself before I can execute it, and slashes Raksha across a thigh.

Silent as a cat, Yukiji starts circling, trying to get close to Ryan's back, where she's most vulnerable. Apostle or not, she's dead with a knife in her neck.

"Rookies!" Ryan cheers happily, creating another whip, with which she slashes Raksha's chest, forcing him to get close to the ground. I start healing him immediately, at which the woman starts laughing. "You're a support mage!? Someone like you doesn't stand a chance!"

"Link," I whisper, but Raksha's reluctant to do it. I can't blame him; I did make him my slave, after all, and took him from the only home he's ever known. Ryan's whips slam into the ground at our feat, and a blast of darkness hurls us away. I hit the ground with my back, and the pain nearly paralyzes me. Shit. We're losing. We're gonna die. Damn it, Snow. Hurry up!

As I get back to my feet, I contemplate our options. Raksha can provide the most distraction with his wind. Yukiji is gonna have to be the one to deliver the killing blow, but even that's gonna be hard, since Ryan's shadows seem capable of reaching all directions.

Acting on his own pride, Raksha slices forward with his hand. This time, his wind is much sharper than before, forcing Ryan to defend. Her shield gets mostly cut through, but then repairs itself. "Nice try, little boy!"

Snarling, Raksha gives into her taunts, and begins slicing mindlessly. At least he's doing some damage to her shield.

"Use your regular wind!" I tell him, and he brings his hands together, forming a cyclone. It encircles Ryan whole, forcing her to expand the shield into a barrier. The attack is larger in scale, but isn't doing half as much damage.

I put my hand into the wind as it blows forward, and let out a continuous stream of fire magic, which gets blown forward, swirling with the window. Incapable of seeing the attack, Ryan gets engulfed by the fire, then starts screaming as her shadows flee from the light.

"Stop!" she screams. "It hurst! It hurts!" Then, she disappears.

"Just kidding," she says from behind me. Then stabs Raksha from behind. He gets knocked to the ground, and I rush to heal him, but the Apostles catches me by the wrist, and twists it hard enough to make me drop to my knees. "You're a petulant little child, aren't you? I think I'm going to deliver your punishment now."

Foolishly, she raises her hand to strike me, giving me enough time to bring my free hand to her face.

Forward, blowing soft as a breeze, my mana leaves my mind and enters hers. In an instant, it's an entirely new ball game, as unbelievable power flows into me. The world disappears, and I find myself standing in an endless darkness, Ryan in front of me. There are starts shining all around us – both above and below. There's no way this place is real, and yet it seems to be.

"A dreamer," Ryan whispers, lashing out with her shadows. I think about defending myself from the hit, and a massive, silver shield appears before me, tanking the hit. What? What just happened? "You dare bring me here, boy!?" the shadow woman snarls, eyes wide with insanity. "You coward! Face me out there, not in here! Do you have any pride at all!?"

A dreamer? We're in a dream? Is that where I brought us? Her reaction can only mean this is a good thing for me, but what all can I do? Are there limits? Surely, there must be, and I don't like the fact that I have to find out about them against such a dangerous opponent. Let's see what I can do before she strikes...

I think of myself flying, and an invisible force lifts me into the air, gentle as a leaf. I give myself a new pair of clothes – a loose white cloak, coupled with a fancy white hat. Oh, I like this turn of events. I like it very much. Just like that, I am no longer fodder for the taking, and pose an actual threat to the most dangerous mages in the kingdom.

Ryan strikes at me again, and I picture her whips as harmless. They hit me, and the damage they do is real, knocking me out of the air. As I fall, I imagine a soft mattress below me, which is what I then land on.

"Fool, you've no idea what you're doing," Ryan taunts, but she's still apprehensive. Okay, I can't affect her magic directly. Good to know. I picture her as a corpse, but nothing happens to her. Righty. Can't affect anyone I bring in here directly at all. Can she even die here, then? The injuries she just gave me are still here, even if I imagine them being gone. Are they gonna be there in the real world? Are we even still in the real world, standing perfectly still as we're locked in this fight, or have we physically been brought to this dream?

Ryan strikes me once more, and I opt for the best defense possible. A see-through barrier forms all around me as I hover above the bed, covering me from every single angle. She keeps lashing out at it, but does it no damage. The bed below me disappears, which is odd, since I did not imagine that happening. The woman is whispering something to herself, but I can't hear her.

Suddenly, she throws a knife at me, and my barrier disappears just as it gets closer, embedding into my shoulder. I hiss, but don't pull it out, since that would just cause more bleeding. What the hell was that? There's nothing special about this knife. Why'd my barrier disappear?

Ryan hits at me again, but I recreate the barrier. Once more, she starts whispering. I try my best to read her lips. What is she saying...

I definitely catch the last bit, which is five. She definitely whispered "five" before slashing at me again, which is when the barrier disappeared. I imagine a suit of armor around myself, blocking the attack with it instead. One, two, three, four, five... and the armor vanishes. Ryan snarls, and I smirk at her.

"The objects I create only exist for five seconds. That's my limit, right? Doesn't seem to work on other things I do, though." I lift myself into the air again. "Probably 'cause I keep imagining myself as flying, right? I don't just do it once. Well? Am I hitting the mark?"

"YOU PEST!" Ryan snarls, focusing a good bit of her mana into her fist, which she then punches at me with, sending a massive wave of darkness along with it. I remake the barrier, but it starts cracking under the force of her immensely powerful spell. I try to fix it, but don't seem capable of it. Okay. I can't affect things I already make. Good to know.

I give myself the suit of armor again, then imagine an iron shell around it. The two defences hold out, and Ryan's mana reaches dangerously low levels. All my shields vanish, and I flow back down toward the ground, summoning several arrows around myself. With a nod of my head, they fly at the Apostle, who uses up her mana even more to defend herself. Wait... mana! I'm such a fool!

The side-effects of overusing my mana hit me, and the arrows stop flying. I fall down to my knees as the world around us starts vanishing, and Ryasn smiles at me, sure of her victory. One moment, we're in my dream, and the next we're back in the capital, both exhausted as can be.

"I told you!" she screams, creating a sword made of shadow with her last bit of mana. "I told you a novice can't-"

She never finishes the sentence, because Yukiji throws a metal star at her forehead, killing Ryan instantly. I turn toward the girl, but can hardly see her because of how blurry my vision is getting, but I can tell how distraught the girl is. Her eyes are back to being glassy and unfocused, and she's surrounded herself with her arms.

"I-It's okay," I manage to tell her as a headache hits me. My mana is completely gone. Everything feels like it's both on fire and freezing at the same time, as if tiny cold and hot needles are taking turns at stabbing at me. "You had no-no-no choice." My teeth start chattering as sweat falls down my face, and then someone lifts me off the ground. I look up and see Raksha, keeping his expression unreadable. "Y-You should put on a shirt."

He frowns. "I am wearing one."

Ah, right. Wait, what were we doing again? Oh, yeah, Ryan...

"Ryan's here!" I yell out. We have to fight her! Somebody, stop her!

"She's gone," Raksha says. What's he talking about? She was just- Oh. OH! Right, I killed her. Ryan's dead now. "Let's get you to a healer. You acted a damn fool."

Something bright and hot flies up to me. Oh, it's so strong! When I turn my head toward it, I see a red-haired boy who looks like me. Oh, he's so tiny, too! Woah, he looks mad. What did I do?

"What happened here?" the boy asks, then puts a hand on my forehead. "Mana deficiency. He's gonna die if we don't get him help. Quickly, put him down! Down – yes, over there. Give me space, boy! I need room to work."

My back gently touches something rough and hard, and then I see the boy above me, worriedly looking down at me. He brings his palms closer together, leaving just enough room between them to hold something small, and a bright light appears there. The light falls down on me, touches me, and my senses return to me fully as a bit of my mana is recharged.

"That fool Ryan. Her nonsense has gone too far this time," someone with a deep and gruff voice says, and I look up at Raksha, who is standing next to the djinn Apostle.

"He killed her," Ozymandias, the tiny redhead says. "He defeated one of the Apostles. How's that possible, Xerx?"

"Look at the state his mind is. The boy is a dreamer. Not even Ryan would have stood a chance against his ability. He's just like you."

Frowning, Ozymandias puts a hand on my head again. "You'll need this rest. Trust me."

A bit of his mana hits me, and I go to sleep.