Advent (Red Mage Book 1)

by Xander Boyce

  "Good, what’s our food and water status?" Snyder asked, and this time Sarah spoke up.

  "We've sent a few of the work groups out scavenging. We're not sure what the trolls were feeding everyone, but we haven't been able to find any large stores. We have enough for one more meal and then we're going to be out." Drew's group had come in with backpacks half full of food, but that wasn't anywhere near enough to feed more than 200 people. "The only reason we have that much is because we have a couple people with food-related blues. Otherwise, we'd all be hungry already."

  "Alright, well, we'll need to rendezvous with your group topside as soon as we can and hope the stadium can solve that particular problem when we get there," Snyder said, scratching at his stubble.

  "We should be able to, Captain. When I left we had more production capabilities than we would need for twice this number." Robbi offered, as the only one that had been to the stadium. Snyder just nodded his head then glanced over at Sarah.

  "Alright Ensign, I'd like to split your team up a little bit, spread our experienced people out among the groups. I'm going to keep you in charge of all the combatant teams though, so figure out distribution and skills so we can be as effective as we can." The captain announced, "Major, I'd like you to start getting everyone ready to move out at first light. Sergeants Montgomery and Stirling,” He said, indicating Robbi and Trista by using their last names, “grab the combatants when Ensign Rothschild is done with them and get them practicing what drills you can, we'll need them as ready as we can get them. Petty Officer Michalik, help with the combatants, but I also want you going between the groups and casting your rain spell. We need everyone sharp for the morning. Get your teams ready and we'll reconvene in two hours."

  "Excuse me captain, but there are still a couple of things we need to do here. We need to take care of the dead and get into that structure the trolls were excavating." Drew said. He felt that itchy sensation between his shoulders that he was coming to associate with doing some incredibly stupid things that were bound to get him in trouble.

  "I understand your concerns, petty officer. You said your friend didn't turn into one of these...wereghouls until a few hours after he died, we should have plenty of time before they start turning, and quite frankly, we don't have the manpower to deal with all those bodies." Captain Snyder said with a shake of his head. "As for the structure, we'll just have to come back for it."

  Drew frowned, from what he had been told by Ares he knew that there was bound to be some sort of mechanism for him to be able to take control of the node in the building. But he didn't want to tell the captain about his time with the Protectorate admiral. "I don't think that's a good idea, captain. It was obviously important to the trolls, and there could be something in there that gives us an edge."

  "While I appreciate the rescue and all the hard work you’ve done, I disagree with your tactical assessment, petty officer."

  "But captain..."

  "That will be all petty officer; you have your orders."

  Drew really hated being called petty officer. It was common slang in the Navy, but the Coast Guard tended to call each other by their rate. Petty officer was the equivalent of his mother calling him his full name. It grated on his nerves. He had never been great at respecting the chain of command, and luckily enough his command had been pretty good about listening to him. But it was clear that the O-6 thought a mere E-5 was too far down on the command chain to take seriously. He gritted his teeth, especially when Sarah shot him a look that told him to shut up.

  With a grunt, Drew turned away from the group and headed down the tunnel back towards the structure. Sarah caught up to him almost immediately.

  "Drew, are you alright?" She asked, touching his arm.

  "Yes, I'm fine. Just...pissed." Drew answered, not slowing down.

  "Drew, stop and look at me. We need to talk about this." Sarah said pulling his arm. Drew let himself be stopped and turned to look at her.

  "Drew, he's a captain. I know we've been on the edge of survival for the last bit here, but there are too many of us to keep doing things the way we've been doing it. Heck, you don't even know half the people in our old group's name. You know as well as I do that you don't want to manage the logistics."

  "That's not the point, Sarah." Drew said, stepping closer and lowering his voice, "The node is in that…thing. Ares said I needed to take control of the nodes. If I did, I would be able to shape this world into a better place. But I can't do that if I'm stuck being a glorified water boy for some captain that got captured two days into the advent."

  "I know, I understand. Look, I'm in charge of the combat groups. Take some people with you, and head down there. We'll call it a training exercise. Daryl's already down there, and you need to pull him away from his wife...help him bury her at least."

  The reminder of his failure to protect Daryl's wife was sobering. Drew took a deep breath and let go of the anger that dealing with the captain had filled him with. "Fine. I'll try to deal with as many of the dead as we can while I'm down there. Just because it took Juan a few hours to turn doesn't mean that it’s always going to take that long."

  "Yeah, I don't think he realizes how...terrifying they are. Honestly, I'm not sure he even really believes it's going to happen." Sarah said shaking her head. "Look, we're still in this together, right? You're not going to go do something stupid?"

  Drew snorted, "Right, nothing stupid here. I'm not going to abandon you." He glanced back at the room. "I just, I can't go back in there. Sarah, I feel like they’re all blaming me for not being fast enough. Like it's my fault that all those people are dead. And maybe there is something in there that can prevent that from happening again."

  "Drew, you didn't kill those people. The trolls did, and without you, all these people would be dead. You're the linchpin that is keeping us afloat. The captain will figure that out soon. I think he's just scared and relying on his previous experiences."

  Drew nodded his head, "I know, well, my head knows that anyway, but my heart still keeps telling me I could have done better." He sighed, "When did you get so world wise? Where was the scared little ensign who saved my life back at HQ? The one who didn't want to leave her safe room?"

  Sarah shook her head, and laughed, Drew wasn't sure he had ever actually heard her laugh before, but it was a nice sound. "Well, I'm pretty smart you know? That's why they accepted me into the academy and made me an officer. We're all much smarter than you dirty enlisted." She pretended to dust off her hand that had been on his shoulder and Drew laughed.

  "Yeah, well, I prefer to work for my pay, thank you very much."

  "Alright, there is a ton of stuff I need to do. Wait here; I'll get some people to go with you." Sarah said, giving Drew a final smile before she headed back into the main room. Drew sighed, and putting his back against the wall, slid down to rest his feet. He ran his hands through his hair; it was getting long, out of regulation. Soon it would be turning curly. He hadn't told anyone about the three xatherite that he’d gotten from the shaman. He glanced at his map and decided that he really wanted sacred shell to round out the last spot in his mostly fully constellation.

  For one, it was another element, which meant that he could theoretically add a considerable amount of firepower, especially if his fireball, storm, and cone of frost all linked with it. He wasn't sure what radiant energy was, but he imagined it was sort of like sacred damage type from his pathfinder days, and umbral was probably the profane equivalent. The other reason was that he was pretty sure there was going to be an additional bonus for completing an entire constellation, and he wanted to know what that bonus was.

  Slotting sacred shell into the yellow slot. He barely felt it as it was such a low-grade xatherite, and the headache just seemed to fade into the general haze his brain was in after the emotional trauma of the past few hours. He waited for a few heartbeats but didn't get any indication that he had done anything. It would probably need to be attuned before it gave him any of the bonuse
s. Another plus of using such a low-grade xatherite. It would attune much faster than his other ones. He glanced at the other two xatherite.

  Mental blow would be amazing for Daryl. He wasn't sure why it was an indigo instead of a green, but the system did weird things. This would give the scout something to use as an attack skill, and a way to defend himself. He glanced down the hallway, concerned for Daryl. He wasn't sure what the man would do now that he’d lost his wife. Rescuing Angela had been his primary objective ever since they met all those days ago.

  Hopefully Daryl didn't blame him for the failure. Drew swallowed. He’d never been good at helping grieving people. His only real experience was with a cousin that died in college. He pushed those thoughts away as something to deal with later. Who would he give volley to? JP seemed the obvious choice. The power of putting area of effect spells in links was becoming more obvious to Drew with all his storm spells. They had been a massive force multiplier. And JP was currently the only one in the group that had anywhere near the amount of elemental xatherite to take advantage of it.

  There were a couple of decent spots for JP to slot it in too. He frowned, thinking about how he was going to have to tell the three men that he could access their maps soon. It felt a bit like an invasion of privacy, knowing exactly what xatherite they had and how they connected. Drew tried to put himself in their shoes and knew he would be offended if he wasn't told that someone had that kind of access to his map. Vowing to tell them the next chance he got, he pulled his last water bottle and some jerky from his backpack, snacking to relieve the emotional pressure of the day.

  As he ate, he pondered the shaman's words. He said that Drew was built to kill. All the xatherite he’d gathered had been made to kill, or to defend himself from being killed. Even the non-combat colors like blue and indigo. What did that say about him exactly? Was the shaman, right? Was the captain? Was he just there to kill things, to be a good soldier? Ares didn't seem to think so, Ares called him a leader. A savior for humankind. A protector.

  Katie would probably tell him that he was being stupid. The troll was obviously trying to unbalance him, and he should ignore everything it said. With a pang, he realized how much he missed the brunette. He had hated having to split the party but knew that it was the most logical course of action. Inside he realized that he didn’t want to explore another dungeon without her. He was growing to depend on her ability to call him on his crap, not to mention her very useful skills.

  Several pieces of jerky later, he saw three people heading up the tunnel towards him and he stood up to greet them, glad for something to distract him from his thoughts.

  Chapter Forty-Four — Core

  The three people came to a stop a few feet from Drew, who greeted them with a wave, "Hey guys. I'm Drew." He neglected to give his rank, and he wondered if it was because he was purposefully trying to distance himself from the captain. All three of the people were adults, and he vaguely recognized them from their time in the pit looking for survivors.

  "Hello sir, I'm PFC Kyle, and these are Airmen Jones and Wilson," the lead figure said. They were all young, probably early twenties, and Drew nodded his head to each as they were introduced.

  "Alright, nice to meet you. First off, what are your first names and what combat xatherite do you have?" None of them had weapons, so Drew assumed they had other skills.

  "Ah, first name is Dak, sir. I have an orange that turns my skin into stone. Tires me out something fierce, but I can't really be hurt in that form." That was from Kyle, and from his accent, he was from somewhere in the great lakes area.

  "I, uh, don't really have any combat xatherite, but the Ensign said you'd need my help clearing the gate. I have a terrakinesis violet," Jones said, "Oh, and my first name is Adam."

  "Glenn," Wilson said, with an up-nod that made Drew think he hadn't quite been acclimated to the military before the advent. "I got two, a blue that allows me to summon throwing daggers and a yellow that can deflect projectiles."

  That made sense, none of them would have been able to fight against the trolls, as they didn't have any elemental attacks. He turned to Adam, "The trolls didn't use you to clear the dirt?" he asked the airman with a quirk of his eyebrow.

  "No, sir. They didn't ever find out I had it. I read about how the emperor of China used to have his workers killed after they finished digging stuff up. These guys reminded me of how he ran things. So I sort of used it to make it take longer." Adam looked a little ashamed at his inability to do anything productive against the trolls.

  "Good, no telling how many people you saved. If the trolls had been able to get into the building earlier, we might not have been here before they went all trigger happy," Drew said with a nod, and then he turned and began walking down the tunnel. "We don't have a lot of time; I'd like to get this done as quickly as possible." All of them had been in the pit, so they understood what they were getting into.

  The smell hit them before they ever came close to the pit. Drew put his sleeve up to his mouth to block the stench. It had been bad before, but a few hours of decay hadn't improved the situation at all. The first step into the room was nearly overwhelming. Pushing down an involuntary gag, he surveyed the room. Dark shadowy things seemed to crawl around the corners of the room at the edge of his vision; he was sure that it was just his imagination playing tricks on him, but as they made their way down the spiral Drew cast fireball and frostfire ball whenever he saw more than two bodies together, cutting down on the number of possible wereghouls.

  "Ideally, I could do a couple of firestorms, clear the whole place out in an hour or so. But I'm not sure how it will work on the relatively broken terrain here," Drew said to the other three. They had likewise created masks from their shirts, but all of them tried to breathe in shallowly. Drew decided he would do that on the way out. When they were midway down the second spiral Drew stopped at the spot where Daryl's wife had died, but she was no longer present. "Daryl?" He called out questioningly.

  No response came to his query, and the node made using his mana sight to detect the scout impossible. They continued down the spiral until they got to the blue metallic structure. Up close, it was clear that it had a pyramid shape. The topmost section was flattened, leaving two or three feet exposed on more than half of its surface. The gate was at least fifteen feet tall and twenty across, and a split down the center seemed to indicate that at least one side of the gate should be able to operate.

  "Alright Adam, you're up." Drew stepped aside, and the other two did likewise. Adam held out his hand and closed his eyes. Nearly immediately, Drew could feel a vibration through the ground: it wasn't particularly strong, just noticeable. The earth and rocks that had been blocking a good seven feet of gate moved like a wave away from them, up the side, and then formed into a more solid wall. Drew blinked. He’d moved enough earth to fill two pickup trucks ten feet in about twenty seconds. "Holy crap, that's impressive."

  Adam nodded, turning around he wobbled a bit, his face white and sweaty from the exertion. Drew rushed forward to help him sit down. "You alright there Adam?"

  "Yeah, just a little tired, never tried to move that much that quickly before," Adam said with a slight shrug.

  "Alright. Glenn, you stay with Adam. Shout if anything comes." Drew instructed the others while he and Dak advanced on the gate. There was no access pad or doorknob. Drew was sort of hoping it would just slide open when he approached now that it was clear, but he had no such luck. He reached out and touched the blue metal. It felt cool and so smooth that it almost felt slimy. However, he could feel something resonate inside when he touched it and pulled his hand back.

  "Do you feel that?" Drew asked Dak who put his hand on the gate and then looked back at Drew shaking his head.

  "I can't feel anything, sir."

  Drew rolled his eyes, the sir thing was going to get old quick, "You know I'm only an E-5 right? No need to call me sir," he said, and put his hand back on the gate, concentrating on the feeling inside him as h
e did so. It felt a little like when Aeon wanted out, although nowhere near as potent. Now that he was focusing on it, it felt like...the start of a spell, he realized with a start. Then began the process of pulling mana through his body; it was awkward at first, as he'd never tried to do it without xatherite to guide him. However, the familiar sensation from casting so many spells made it so that his body knew what to do. Like manually breathing, only awkward because you were so used to your body doing it on its own.

  As he channeled mana, lights began to appear on the surface of the gate. Red lines that turned to purple on their edges creating a door frame around him, slowly filling in until the three by six rectangle was blazing a perfect red. The next instant Drew was no longer at the gate but inside. The entire structure appeared to be made of glass, and everywhere he looked he saw security camera-like footage of the DIA building. It felt like a guard station.

  With a pop, Aevis appeared next to him again, the AI standing at attention. She gave Drew the same salute he had seen Ares' people give him. When he returned it hesitantly, she spoke, "Greetings Midshipman Drew Michalik. I am the artificial intelligence assigned to Earth-3. You may remember that my name is Aevis. As you have met the criteria to control this node, I am here to facilitate the expedient transfer of ownership to your command."

  "This facility is currently designated as PN-SN83. It is currently operating in as a fourth-tier node function. Would you like to change the name of PN-SN83?"