Tier 1 (2/6)

  Offensive: Force Darts

  Defensive: Shadow Cloak

  Tier 2 (0/6)

  Tier 3 (1/3)

  Call the Charge

  Mage Spells:

  Tier 1- none

  Chapter 43 - Confrontation

  Neither of us knew anything about how to evolve a human’s class. For me, having a class at all was just a function of my being in a human form, and Cami didn’t know anything more than stories she’d heard. Well, and the little bit Modessa had told her. Unsurprisingly, the stories were just about adventurers gaining glory and riches while saving the population, rather than having any specific information.

  With that in mind, we decided to go ask Lisella what she knew. She was the safe choice, since she already knew my secret. Cami really wanted to bring Modessa into the inner circle, but I was worried about doing so—for obvious reasons. Just as we were about to go get Lisella, there was a knock on the door to the room.

  This was one of those times where I really missed my sense of smell. I’d likely be able to identify the various humans just from their scent. Even my weak nose had identified that Lisella had a particular perfume she usually wore, to give just one example. It was surprisingly alluring, which I chalked up to it having some sort of effect on the biology of this human form.

  Cami moved to open the door, since it was her room. Well, technically, it was the cabin that she shared with Modessa, but since Lisella had Modessa on bed rest in her own cabin, we had taken to using Cami’s room to practice reading and for our meetings.

  When the door opened, I was shocked to see it was Modessa.

  Cami sputtered as she tried to speak, “Modessa, what… uh… I mean, why are you knocking? This is your room, too.”

  Modessa got a big grin on her face. “I just didn’t want to walk in on anything. You two have been in here thick as thieves all night.”

  Thick as thieves? What did that mean? Well, come to think of it, Modessa would be one who would know.

  “Lisella released me to regular duty,” the rogue continued, “more than ten hours ago, but you haven’t left this room the entire time—either of you.” She said the last part with an arched eyebrow, like it meant something significant. I was completely lost at what she was implying and got even more confused when Cami’s face turned a bright red.

  “No, you’ve got it all wrong. We were… uh… just talking.”

  “Talking, huh? I’ve heard more than one student call it that. Just make sure you know how to take the proper precautions. I’ve got herbs, if you need them, cause the gods know I never seem to.”

  “Really, you’ve got the wrong idea… the wrong idea,” Cami stammered. “I swear.”

  Modessa closed one eyelid briefly in what appeared to be an intentional gesture aimed at Cami. “Well, as your mentor, I’m supposed to tell you that you should devote yourself to your studies and hold off on relationships until you are both older and more set in your path. But… woman to woman… I’ll just say, don’t miss out on a good thing.”

  Cami was making some odd sputtering sounds as she continued to protest before finally managing to get out. “I didn’t think you even liked Nico.”

  “Well, it’s hard not to like someone who dives into the deep ocean to save you, getting injured in the process. Although, I have to say that was the oddest-looking shark bite you had on your arm. It looked far more like a spear wound—and a pretty odd one at that.”

  “Is that your way of thanking me?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “You’re right. I do owe you a proper thanks.” Then she bowed low from the waist and said, “Thank you for saving me, Nico. I’m not sure if the team would have been able to rescue me otherwise. I still don’t know how I survived. They said I was underwater for almost ten minutes. Galbrecht was unconscious and Serius was trying to swap a water breathing spell into his active spell list for Liam to come rescue me. If it hadn’t been for you, I would have died.”

  I nodded my head and said in my most magnanimous voice, “You’re welcome.”

  Modessa pulled the door shut as she stepped fully into the small cabin. “That said, I do have some questions. I keep having the oddest dreams and can’t really make any sense of them. They feel so real, but it doesn’t seem possible that I saw… what I think I saw.”

  I cursed under my breath. Temulara had made it seem like she was going to prevent Modessa from learning anything about my true nature, but then she’d allowed the woman to get just enough air to awaken her overly suspicious mind.

  “That was probably just oxygen deprivation,” I said. “I repeatedly cast Lesser Regeneration on you to keep your body from breaking down. Humans don’t have enough brain cells that they can afford to let any of them die. But Lisella said she wasn’t sure what impact the lack of oxygen would have on you, even with the magic keeping you alive.” I shrugged. “That was why she kept you on bed rest for the past four days.”

  “Right, and at first I was just grateful enough to be alive. But the longer I was there just lying around, the more I got to thinking. So, let’s say I believe that your spell kept me alive. That doesn’t explain how you survived under the water for over ten minutes—unless you’re now claiming that you have a water breathing spell. And it doesn’t explain the impression I keep getting of this wall of brilliant blue.”

  I was unsure what to say. Something popped from a memory in the dragon dream. “Some people say that you see a bright light just before you die… but maybe you actually see a blue wall and that’s what it was… except that you were pulled back at the last instant.”

  Modessa sat down on Cami’s bed and pulled the girl down beside her. Cami seemed super uncomfortable and shrugged the rogue’s arm off of her shoulder.

  Modessa seemed shocked by how easily the girl pulled away from her. “You’re pretty strong, considering your level. Don’t tell me you put all your stat points into Strength.”

  Cami spoke through clenched teeth. “Nothing like that.”

  The tension which was rising in my bonded companion had me on edge. I started thinking through different options if this came to a confrontation. Then, I considered the best course of action, but when I played it all out, I realized I’d either have to kill Modessa or hope we could reach some sort of accord.

  I prepared to shift my claws and also tried factoring in where we were. If worst came to worst, I could rip through the hull of the ship, even with my human strength. Then, if I transformed, I could fly both Cami and I away. I only needed fifteen seconds to make that happen.

  “What is it that you are saying?” I asked in one last attempt to diffuse the situation before my anger and desire to protect my human got the better of me.

  I had to be careful though, they had already captured Sheraleigh. Even if they weren’t guilty of murder, they were slavers. I’d come to understand that they thought there was some pressing need for what they had done, but I had zero forgiveness at the moment.

  Modessa looked at the wall as though she was completely relaxed, but I saw the way her body seemed tensed and ready to spring up at a moment’s notice. I didn’t have any illusions that my Agility of 38 was going to be faster than her. I’d seen her in action.

  “You know, I came in here ready to let this all go. I was just going to thank you, then ask you about the weird oddities. If your answers were even semi-coherent, I was determined to be thankful and just trust Lisella’s assurances that you’re a good guy and not a murderous wild mage, just waiting to crack.”

  Her voice trailed off, and I tensed.

  Cami closed her eyes.

  I expected she was preparing to cast one of her spells, but she’d never get it off quick enough, not this close to the rogue. The first hint that she was casting a spell would push this tense situation to an immediate confrontation.

  Modessa continued, “And even as light as some of your answers were, I would have let it go—except for that one thing you said. You probably don’t even realize what it was. You see, when you have to question people as an unpleasant part of your job you learn to look for little details. You talked about humans and their brains like you aren’t human at all. That’s the kind of talk I’d expect from a wild mage who sees nothing but experimental subjects around him, and I’ll be damned if I give you any more subjects to test your foul magics on.”

  I stomped my foot as I stood, and the deck beneath me creaked. A crack ran from me forward under Cami’s bed and probably beyond the cabin, but I was too angry to notice. “That’s rich… a kidnapper and slaver calling me foul. You people turned my life upside down, and yet all I’ve done since then is save you. I saved Galbrecht from the horror and now you from the ocean.”

  A dagger appeared in Modessa’s hand at that moment. Without even trying to, I projected my Dragon Fear into a tightly packed line straight at her. Some of it would hit Cami—they were sitting too closely together that it couldn’t be helped. I’d make it up to her later.

  Your bonded companion is immune to your Dragon Fear.

  Target has resisted Dragon Fear.

  I screamed in frustration. No, she wasn’t going to get off that easily. I willed the power to come out of me in even greater measure.

  Surprisingly, the rogue didn’t attack me and instead mumbled, “Dragon Fear? What are you?”

  That moment of delay was all I needed. I pushed with all my will and was rewarded by a notification, which I immediately accepted.

  Do you wish to increase Dragon Fear to level 2? Cost 2 DKP.

  It settled into place and I saw that the skill was stronger.

  Target has resisted Dragon Fear.

  It was stronger, but apparently still not enough. I pushed harder.

  Her shock wore off quickly because she raised her dagger.

  Cami pushed against the woman’s side and that was enough to throw her aim off. Her dagger came down at an angle, glancing off my raised forearm as it rapidly transformed into blue scales.

  I combined my draconic Sprint ability with my monk’s passive, Rapid Movement and pushed off against the floor with a Strength far beyond what someone of my level should be capable of. The wood splintered under my feet and I tackled the rogue head on.

  My shoulder drove Modessa into the wall and then right through it. As we flew through the wall, I activated two more abilities.

  Flurry Attack

  Stunning Blow

  On the other side of the cabin’s wall there was a storage area. Crates and barrels shattered until I stopped moving and her body slammed into the ship’s hull. The impact was so intense, that cracks opened in the wood and the hull sprung a dozen small leaks at once.

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t follow up on my attack, even though she was mildly stunned. Blood ran down her face and arms from where my claws had cut into her and she would undoubtedly shrug off the debuff any second now. She was a level twenty, after all.

  But when I went to move, I felt a wrenching pain and my legs didn’t want to obey my commands. When I looked down, I saw a dagger embedded into my chest. It must have nicked my spinal cord, but my blood was gushing out far faster than hers.

  Modessa was so good; I hadn’t even seen the blow coming. Despite having crashed through walls, she’d managed to deliver a near-fatal blow. My HP were already down to sixty percent.

  You are bleeding. 3 HP lost per minute.

  You are bleeding heavily. 15 HP lost per minute.

  You are bleeding critically. 75 HP lost per minute.

  My mind wavered and my ability to cast magic seemed so far away. As I relaxed, another of my monk abilities came to the forefront of my mind. A message about integration popped up, but I ignored it. All I knew was the feel of a monk ability I’d never used, yet it somehow felt completely normal—as basic as flapping my wings.

  Make Me Whole

  A feeling of wellness… no, wholeness… surged up inside of me. What had been ripped asunder was pushed back together—or mostly so. The effect could only heal forty percent of my total health, which pushed me back up to just over ninety percent after the continuing bleed effect.

  More importantly, because it restored the completeness of my body, it also stopped most of the bleeding.

  Bleeding debuff reduced to normal bleeding. 3 HP lost per minute.

  Sadly, the two seconds it had taken to activate my monk ability was enough for Modessa to come around. She choked on some blood and her mouth was open for an instant. I reacted on instinct, my abilities coming more naturally to me. It was almost as though the more I was drained and pushed to my limits, the better I was able to operate without my mind slowing me down.

  With a snap of my will, I opened my soul space and activated an ability I hadn’t used before but which once again felt completely natural.

  Manipulate Sand

  I smiled as I felt the steady stream of sand pour out of my soul space. It responded to my wishes and flew through the air exactly as I wished. Controlling this much was easy, and I felt with enough practice I might be able to level up the skill without needing to use any DKP.

  To call it a jet of sand would be overly generous, but it did what I needed. Hundreds of grains of sand filled Modessa’s mouth and nostrils. The shock of that, coming so quickly after recovering from being stunned dropped her to her knees. Then shadows started to form around her and I could see them lengthening and getting thicker.

  My sand started to have trouble getting through. I growled and pushed off again and slammed into a barrier of shadow that appeared between us. It rippled and bent under my strength. Modessa gagged on the sand and couldn’t respond.

  I saw her pulling a dagger out as I ripped at the shadow with my claws.

  “No! Nico, don’t kill her,” Cami shouted from behind me.

  Suddenly, a golden light appeared between me and Modessa. It dispelled her shadows, but stopped my claws just as easily. I dared to look back over my shoulder and saw Lisella standing beside Cami. That must have been where she went.

  She’d run to get the priestess. The look in my mentor’s eyes wasn’t her normally proud look. Instead, I saw fear and pleading there, and the dragon within me was delighted.

  Chapter 44 - Peace?

  An instant later, I felt Cami wrap her arms around me from behind. She didn’t seem to care that my entire front was covered in blood and she was getting it smeared over her arms and hands. I kept my eyes on Modessa, but she seemed unable to move—in fact, she’d stopped trying.

  A staring match seemed to be going on between her and Lisella.

  I glanced down at Cami, and the warmth in her eyes made me feel guilty for losing control. Just then, I felt a physical warmth wash over me as my mentor healed the remainder of my wounds.

  Bleeding debuff has been healed.

  I didn’t bother to check. I could already feel that I was back at full health.

  “How, Lisella? How could you side with him?” Modessa hissed. “You know what wild mages are capable of as well as anyone. You know what they…” She choked up. “What they did to me... what they took from me”

  Gone was the outrage I’d heard before. Now, Modessa’s voice was filled with only hurt and betrayal.

  It was a feeling that I was well acquainted with. Every young dragon feels it the first time they’re attacked by a clutch mate—one who just hours before had been sleeping next to them as several young dragons lay together for comfort. It was called growing up, but that didn’t mean it was pleasant.

  The look in Cami’s eyes showed me a degree of concern for me, which was not conditional—not based upon a biological impulse for the preservation of the race. It was a genuine human affection, and it helped me understand Modessa’s pain even more. If one were used to a collaborative society and supportive relationships, betrayal would sting so much worse.

  “It isn’t what you think,” Lisella responded. “I swear to you on Miseria’s name that Nico is not a wild mage. There is more at work here than you know.”

  Her voice was confident. Yet, I couldn’t help but notice that Modessa glanced upward as though expecting the priestess to be smote by her goddess when she swore that oath.

  What confused me most was the pain I heard in my mentor’s voice. It was almost as great as that which I’d heard in Modessa’s voice.

  I couldn’t puzzle it out. Was this common amongst humans? Did the one who betrayed feel a pain similar to the one who was betrayed? Or was it simply that Lisella knew she was telling the truth?

  “How can you say he isn’t a wild mage?!” Modessa snapped. “You’ve seen him cast magic. And this isn’t just a single spell he might have learned by accident. He has power greater than any fledgling student should, even if he is older than most that come to the university.”