Awaken Online: Ember (Tarot #1)

by Bagwell, Travis

As their bickering continued, Finn focused his attention on Nefreet. The headmaster’s gaze was distant, as though performing a complicated calculation that Finn couldn’t see.

  “You lot would act without even knowing whether Finn is telling the truth?” Lamia snapped, her voice rising above the crowd. “A novice stands before you – an accused cheater who has not proven his innocence.” She glared at Finn. “For all we know, this could just be some sort of trick. He may be at the center of these attacks and making this change could simply allow him to advance further in the duels.”

  She scowled at the other mages. “Or do you really believe that a single novice is capable of easily dispatching several other students? Because that is the claim that this man has made – a wild, unsupported boast.” Finn saw the faculty acknowledge this point, a few mages nodding in agreement.

  Nefreet’s gaze snapped back into focus at that comment. “Lamia raises an interesting point,” he said, the faculty immediately hushing at the sound of his voice. “The issue is indeed one of credibility.”

  The headmaster looked to Lamia. “How would you suggest that Finn prove himself?”

  Finn’s former instructor paused, as though surprised by the question. Lamia looked toward him, and a cruel twinkle flashed in her eye. “I suggest we put Finn to the test. If he truly believes himself capable of fighting multiple novice mages, then certainly he could withstand a master for a short time.”

  Finn didn’t back down, holding her gaze evenly. He could feel the ember of anger in his chest flare and grow. It seemed the time for hiding his strength was over. “So be it,” he replied. “However, why don’t we sweeten the deal? If I can stand against you for sixty seconds, the faculty will permit the travelers free rein to fight outside the duels.”

  A sudden silence descended upon the room. Even the most vocal members against the change were hesitating. Finn could practically see their thought process. How could a novice hope to stand against a master for a full minute?

  Nefreet stared at Finn, his head cocked to the side. “I find the rules of the challenge satisfactory. Finn shall defend against Lamia for one minute. If he fails, then he will be exiled. Do we have an agreement?” This last question was directed at the faculty.

  They all nodded, and it was decided.

  Without ceremony, Lamia rose from behind the bench and stalked into the center of the room. She looked at Finn dismissively, gesturing at one of the guards that ringed the room. “Bring me my staff,” she ordered.

  The guard looked to the headmaster for permission. “You may retrieve her weapon. The novice’s equipment as well,” Nefreet instructed the man.

  A moment later, Finn and Lamia had their equipment returned to them and faced off in the center of the chamber. At a gesture from Nefreet, Abbad summoned a semi-translucent globe of air around them, the surface shimmering slightly. His hands kept moving even after completing the spell, likely channeling his mana into the globe to prevent any wayward spells from striking the headmaster or other faculty.

  Finn stared down Lamia. He had sheathed his blades, and his hands remained empty, hanging limply at his sides. The water mage master seemed slightly confused by his nonchalance, as well as the fact that Finn wasn’t carrying a staff or wand. She smirked at him, likely thinking he would be easy to break.

  Strangely, Finn didn’t feel nervous. Instead, a tantalizing mixture of excitement and anger raced through his veins, and it was all he could do to contain his mana and keep from summoning it. This was his chance to face Lamia again, this time on much more equal footing. The last time he had stood in this position, he hadn’t known a single spell. That almost felt like a lifetime ago.

  Now he had hundreds of duels behind him.

  “The rules are simple,” Nefreet explained. “Finn need only survive for sixty seconds. He cannot harm Lamia during this period of time. All skills and spells are permitted unless they would cause damage or injury to the room or the faculty.” This last statement was directed at Lamia, and she grimaced slightly.

  Great. At least she can’t drop some sort of ice meteor on top of my head, Finn thought.

  Actually, this scenario was optimal for Finn, which was why he had suggested it. They were close, Lamia only standing a few feet outside his control range. Not only that, but the tight quarters and witnesses ensured that Lamia would need to use smaller and more controlled spells. There was likely a limit to Abbad’s shield.

  “Are you ready?” Nefreet asked.

  Lamia nodded, her eyes suddenly turning a dark blue as she channeled her mana.

  Finn finally let his own mana run free, the energy bucking at the reins like a wild horse. It surged through his body in a torrent, until even the tips of his fingers felt warm to the touch. The familiar manic excitement bubbled and frothed in his mind.

  “And… begin,” Nefreet called out.

  Lamia’s hand began moving immediately. In contrast to their last fight, she didn’t hold back this time. Nearly a dozen shards of ice formed beside her, pulling the moisture out of the air, and leaving it feeling dry and brittle. Finn suddenly realized that she was going for massive, slow-casting spells since she didn’t need to worry about being attacked.

  Finn was ready for that, however. He didn’t bother casting Magma Armor. He didn’t have enough time to get the defense spells in place while also getting his blades in the air. His hands darted through a rapid series of gestures, his fingers moving so quickly that they almost seemed to blur. Within moments, his daggers slid from their sheaths of their own accord.

  He didn’t need to wait for Lamia to launch her attack.

  Instead, Finn darted forward, sprinting directly toward the water mage to ensure that she was within his control range. Her eyes widened slightly, but she continued to cast instead of attempting to stop him. Finn couldn’t harm her, so why bother to stall his advance?

  Then her spell completed.

  Finn’s blades lanced through the air at a blazing pace, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. The knives neatly sliced through two bolts before they could move and took out another five before they made it to Finn, tumbling and rotating in the air in a dizzying display. The remainder of the missiles were manageable after hours spent dueling with Julia. Finn leaped over one bolt and dove into a roll, letting the other shards stream past him.

  Lamia stared in shock as she saw that her barrage had been neatly avoided, leaving Finn close and unharmed. However, her surprise was short-lived as her eyes darted to the other faculty. Finn couldn’t embarrass her here – not with the others watching.

  Cold anger suddenly burned in her eyes.

  Her hand was already moving again. This time, a blizzard of cold energy began to swirl around Lamia in a vortex. Fragments of ice appeared in the maelstrom and pelted Finn, cutting at his skin and armor, and leaving thin red trails of blood. The small missiles were no real danger yet, but they were growing larger. Finn had never seen this spell before, but from the incantation he assumed it was some sort of nova – drawing in moisture and then expelling it outward. It would leave him with no room to dodge, and his daggers would be ineffective.

  It was smart.

  But Finn was no longer an amateur.

  Normally, Finn would attack, but he couldn’t physically harm or attack Lamia. Which meant he only had one option to avoid the spell.

  His daggers slid back into his sheaths as he dropped the spell, summoning two Fireballs in their place. Instead of forming the spheres beside himself, Finn used his extended control range to form them right beside Lamia’s head in the pocket of clear air inside the growing blizzard – holding the channel and feeding mana into the spells. This was difficult to keep up, forcing Finn to stand within the growing nova of ice and sleet in order to maintain his Fireballs. But he ground his teeth together and withstood the barrage, shards of ice cutting through his robes and skin.

  Lamia sneered at the flaming orbs dismissively.

  Finn’s fingers urged the Fireballs to move, forcin
g them to carve a circular pattern around Lamia. They moved slowly at first, picking up speed until they whirled around Lamia’s head in an orange blur.

  For a long second, the spell had no effect, and Finn felt the maelstrom grow denser. A shard of ice pierced his arm, blood trickling down his fingers where they maintained the channel. Another lance cut a line across his stomach. Yet he forced himself to keep going, enduring the flashes of pain that riddled his body.

  Then Lamia coughed, her incantation faltering.

  Within only a few seconds, she was forced to drop her channel, groping at her throat, and gasping for air like a fish out of water as she glared at the two Fireballs. Between the flames and the vortex created by the swirling movement, Finn had funneled most of the oxygen out of the air, leaving too little for Lamia to breathe.

  It was a trick he had considered after watching Abbad’s spheres. The technique was somewhat impractical in a duel – where his opponent was moving and trying to kill him. But in this context, with Lamia standing still and committed to a large-scale spell, the combination was devastating.

  Lamia clutched at her throat weakly, her eyes frantic now. Without enough oxygen to complete the incantation and her hand maintaining the requisite gestures, her spell began to falter and fade. She also had no easy way to summon more mana to dispel the Fireballs as they curved around her in a blur of orange and her stamina was swiftly draining away due to the lack of air – leaving her unable to break free.

  Lamia dropped to her knees, her staff rattling against the floor as she clutched at her throat with both hands now. She was barely visible behind the tornado of fire, yet Finn could still see her glowing blue eyes bulge in panic.

  “Time,” Nefreet called out.

  Finn immediately released the two spells, the fiery twister breaking apart with a whoosh of hot air that drifted through the room and eliminated the last traces of Lamia’s spell. The faint fragments of ice were vaporized, causing a faint mist of warm vapor to drift through the room. A heavy silence hung in the air as the faculty looked on in amazement, the quiet broken only by Lamia’s desperate heaving gasps.

  “It appears that Finn has won,” Nefreet offered. Finn looked up to see the headmaster staring at him with the same appraising expression.

  Brutus let out an amused snort, crossing his arms and smirking at the other faculty. “Of course he did. I guess this means you lot are satisfied that Finn isn’t cheating? Kind of insulting if you ask me. Why would I sponsor a cheater in the first place?”

  “Indeed,” Nefreet said. “Although, it does raise the question of how Finn learned both Imbue Fire and Multi-Casting,” he commented dryly.

  Finn held his breath. Oh, shit. Brutus hadn’t taught him Imbue Fire.

  Brutus’ gaze darted to Finn before he turned back to Nefreet. “Faculty are permitted to provide their sponsored with special training. I didn’t break the rules – even if he did learn to use his spells creatively.”

  “Hmm. That is a rather flexible interpretation of the rules,” the headmaster retorted. He let out a sigh. “Nonetheless, Finn won. Let us consider the matter closed then – for now, at least.”

  Nefreet’s gaze shifted to Finn. “As per our agreement, the students now have free rein to fight outside of the duels. A public announcement shall be made within the hour. Let us hope that is sufficient to quell these irritating accusations.”

  The headmaster paused for a moment and glanced at Lamia, who was still gasping on the floor. He tapped his lips with his fingers, deep in thought, before sparing one last glance at Finn. “You are dismissed.”

  Taking that as his cue to get the hell out of there, Finn headed toward the door. It was all he could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other, droplets of blood dripping onto the floor in his wake. The guards backed away quickly, giving him a wide berth and keeping a watchful eye on Finn and a hand on their weapons. It appeared that they were cautious with a novice who had bested a master.

  As he passed through the door and it slammed shut behind him, Finn suddenly leaned against the nearby wall, breathing hard and letting his mask finally drop. He could feel his pulse pounding in his ears, and his palms were sweaty. Dozens of cuts and scratches riddled his body, and he let out a hissing breath as he yanked a particularly large shard from his forearm. Finn saw that his health was on its last legs, his natural regeneration barely keeping him standing.

  Damn, that was close!

  He felt no rush of victory as he stood there. Instead, Nefreet’s expression lingered with him. In many ways, Finn had just heavily tipped his hand. Brutus had covered for him – something he expected he would have to account for later – and he had just bested a master water mage in front of the faculty, even if that victory had been narrow, and a result of the unique rules of their duel. He doubted that Lamia would let that go.

  Local Area Notice: Mage Guild

  Due to the recent escalation in attacks within the guild hall, the faculty has decided to amend the guild’s rules regarding infighting.

  Travelers are now permitted to attack and slay one another within the guild hall without reprisal. Egregious damage to guild property and attacks on residents and faculty will still be punished with expulsion.

  Victory or death, we fight and train for the glory of the Emir.

  “It seems you’ve been busy,” Julia observed, dropping from Sneak nearby and swiping away the recent notification. She eyed Finn’s injuries with some worry. “I take it the meeting went well?”

  “I guess you could say that,” Finn replied with a snort of amusement.

  “So, what now?” his daughter asked.

  Finn hesitated. He needed to get back to the duels. They only had a few more days left, and he still wasn’t in first place. However, for now, that could wait. The larger problem slowing him down was the attacks by the other players, and he expected they would only become more aggressive now that the restrictions had been lifted.

  There was only one way to deal with that problem.

  Finn raised his eyes to meet Julia’s, flames flickering in his irises. “First things first, we need to send a warning.”

  Chapter 32 - Vengeful

  Finn sat cross-legged in a room in the abandoned portion of the guild hall. He’d been forced to clear enough room to sit comfortably amid the clutter.

  He assumed this section must have originally been a large-scale workshop; several hallways branched away from the room, leading to a destroyed furnace and various testing rooms. In its heyday, he expected he would have seen mages bustling about the brightly lit space, crafting new and extraordinary weapons and armor. Now, the workbenches were little more than rotten husks, creating trash and debris that littered the floor.

  At least the room could still serve a purpose. It was large, spacious, and had several entrances. All of those variables were helpful for what he had planned.

  With a swipe of his wrist, Finn pulled up his chat window. He tapped an option to send an area message, typed out a clipped sentence, and hit send.

  Then he settled in to wait.

  Only a minute later, Julia popped out of Sneak beside him. “There are at least a dozen novices incoming on this location,” she reported, her tone sounding worried. “Are you sure you don’t want me to help?”

  Finn shook his head. “There’s no sense giving away that you are inside the guild illicitly. Plus, for this to work, I need to do this myself. We need to deter these people from attacking us.”

  “I guess I’ll say it one more time, although you don’t seem to be listening,” Julia added in a dry voice. “This seems like a bad idea.”

  Finn looked at her, noting the way her fingers hovered on the hilts of her blades and the nervous expression on her face. “Weren’t you the one advocating for me to send a warning a few days ago? Besides, what other choice do we have? We can’t keep going with these constant interruptions. Not if we want to win this competition. This is about deterring future attacks.”

  Julia sh
ook her head, biting at her lip. “Or – and hear me out – you could start a small-scale war within the guild. This has escalated out of control,” she bit back. She met his eyes, adding quietly, “And are you sure you really want to win this competition? Like this?”

  Finn winced, Julia’s words echoing some of the same doubts that had begun circling at the edges of his thoughts over the last few days. Julia was usually his voice of chaos, urging him to try new things and disrupt the status quo. She had been that way since she was just a little girl. She had always been the one who came up with games and activities for the other kids – as well as getting them into a buttload of trouble. Hell, she was the one who had encouraged him to start playing AO!

  If she was urging caution and restraint now…

  He shook his head.

  Despite his reservations – and Julia’s – he didn’t see another way. It was just math. The time he lost dealing with these attacks cost him points. He would never catch up to Vanessa and Zane at this rate.

  Finn’s fingers clenched around the small object in his hand. He just hoped his plan would work – both that he was capable of taking on this many opponents and that this sort of demonstration would really act as a deterrent.

  He glanced at Julia, a grin tugging at his lips. “It isn’t like you to be worried about me,” he commented. “What happened to egging me on? Trying to stab me? Or is it only fun when you get to kill me yourself.”

  She met his teasing with a smile of her own – although it was a weak, sickly thing. “What can I say? I like my exclusive stabbing rights.”

  She hesitated. “Your thin attempt at deflection aside, it’s just…” She shook her head, struggling to find the words. “I don’t know. It feels like things have changed.” Julia looked at him. “Like you’ve changed. I told you before, there’s something weird about this game. It does things to people.”

  As he glanced at her, Finn couldn’t help but be reminded of Rachael again. Julia had inherited so many of the same features – even capturing that concerned look that seemed to say he might be just a little crazy. Maybe that was part of the reason he had pushed Julia and Gracen away after Rachael…