Victor of Tucson

4 – Old Acquaintances

Victor pulled another driftwood log onto the makeshift bonfire he and Tes had put together. It was damp and didn’t combust right away, but the fire was already roaring, and the log began to steam immediately; soon, it would burn. “That ought to last a while.”

“You’re well-loved around here, Victor,” Tes remarked, watching the couple who’d just stopped by walk back toward the town. Their flight had garnered some attention, and many of the former members of the Ninth had come by to greet Victor and meet Tes as they’d strolled along the beach, enjoying the sound of the waves crashing and the generally charming atmosphere.

“Well, we fought a war together.” He nodded toward the departing couple. “What did you think of Nia?”

“Very intriguing. Her story makes me think the Death Casters who fled Earth for their new world must have been formidable.”

“Is that unusual? For human-like people to reach levels of power like that without the System?”

“Unusual, but not unheard of, and humans have a high natural affinity. My research indicates that there were many great cultivators on Earth before the Energy stopped flowing, and they weren’t all members of elder species like our ancestors.”

“So the undead lords on Dark Ember could be as strong as veil walkers?”

Tes moved a little away from the fire and sat down on the sand as she answered, “I’d say it’s not only possible but likely. To flee through the veil to another world, especially as Energy ebbed—that would require sophisticated magic.”

“Not particularly. Why don’t you try one of your new spell patterns? It’s why we came here, after all.”

Victor turned to look at her, sitting on the sand, her bare feet curled underneath the skirts of her dress. The fabric shimmered in the firelight, and flames danced in Tes’s eyes—reflections of the fire. He wanted to tell her she was beautiful, but he’d learned that such direct flattery wouldn’t get him far, especially if he constantly lavished it on her. “Which one should I start with?”

“I think the Energy Charge revision. You’ll face opponents with similar abilities—some System-based Classes are awarded them in the high ‘iron ranks,’ as you’ve already seen; only your incredibly sturdy nature saw you through those battles.”

Victor nodded. They’d had the discussion before. One of these days—perhaps soon—he’d face someone who could move faster than his senses could perceive and who also had the ability to do enough damage to him to overcome his sturdy body and regeneration. Such a combination would be difficult, if not impossible, for him to counter. So, Tes had helped him figure out how to take his System-granted “Energy Charge” spell and alter it. The new, elder-magic variant would, theoretically, allow him to maintain the speed of his Energy Charge while moving and fighting for as long as he wanted to expend the Energy required.

More than that, Tes had helped him expand the spell’s effects to include his mind. While he moved under its influence, he would no longer feel like a passenger, hanging on for dear life. His mind would speed up commensurate with his body, and he’d—again, theoretically—be in complete control of his movements. The most critical side effect of the revision would be that his enhanced cognition would allow him to perceive other fast-moving people and things.

Victor nodded and sat down, summoning his elder magic book from his storage ring. He flipped to the page where he’d transcribed the final iteration of the revised spell pattern and carefully studied it. At the time, when he’d first copied it into the book, he’d pretty much had it memorized. Since then, though, he’d done the same with half a dozen other spells and, though he could probably write a significant portion of it from memory, parts of the complicated, multi-page pattern were less than clear in his mind’s eye.

Tes watched him, shifting so she leaned on one hand in the sand. “It’s good that we came here to try this. If you found you needed one of these new spells in your duel, you would have struggled to build the pattern from memory.”

“Yeah. I was just thinking the same thing.” Victor ran through the pattern twice, then closed his eyes and turned his gaze inward, drawing a strand of inspiration-attuned Energy into his pathways. He could use any attunement for the spell; it wasn’t particular. He liked using inspiration when he was learning, though—he felt like it influenced his success rate, even with something like casting a new spell. Of course, he had no factual basis for the belief; it was just an instinct and perhaps superstition, but he’d come to trust his instincts, especially since his vision where Tenecoalt had instructed him to do so.

He had to glance back at his notes several times, but soon, the pattern was nearly finished—just a few more loops and a connection of the final thread remained. Victor stood, then looked at Tes. “Here goes.”

“Luck!” She smiled impishly, remaining seated.

Victor swallowed, bracing himself, and then finished the pattern. As the final thread fell into place, the entire pattern flashed with white-gold Energy, but before the spell could engage the Energy in his Core, Victor felt things freeze, and a System message flashed before his eyes:

***Warning! The spell being cast incorporates and alters another System-granted spell. If you complete this casting, your System-granted spell will be removed.***

***Warning! The spell being cast does not follow System-designed iterations and may be too powerful for you. Proceed at your own risk.***

***Warning! Non-System spell pattern detected! You will only receive this warning one time. Do you wish to halt this process? YES/NO.***

Victor had learned his lesson about antagonizing the System with questions and a mocking tone. This time, he simply said, “No.”

A tremendous wave of Energy flowed out of his Core, fueling his completed spell. Victor felt his muscles come alive with boiling power and urgency, and the world turned bright, his eyes blazing with the light of inspiration. He glanced at the fire, and his jaw dropped—it rippled in blinding glory, though the flames' liquid dance was slow, each flicker unfolding in what felt like seconds, each ember drifting off like it was caught in air thick as molasses.

Victor turned to Tes, and she winked at him, but her eyelid moved too slowly to be natural, her cheek rising and her brow descending over the course of several breaths. Victor was aware that a river of Energy was feeding the spell while he looked around, so he decided to try moving before he spent every drop in his Core. He jogged around the fire toward the ocean and saw the waves coming into shore at a snail’s pace. His movements felt normal, his thoughts felt unaltered, but looking down at the white-gold Energy limning his body, it was clear that he was moving at a charged rate.

He darted toward the water and kicked one of the near-frozen waves as it descended in slow motion. Water erupted from his foot’s impact, but it flew away like it was fighting against an invisible force—a spray of slowly separating, misting droplets. Grinning, Victor turned and ran back to Tes, and then, with a flick of his will, he stopped the flow of Energy into his pathways.

“Bravo!” she cheered, just as System messages scrolled across Victor’s field of view:

***You have discovered a new spell: Velocity Mantle – Epic.***

***Your new spell renders a System-granted spell obsolete. Removing.***

***You have lost the spell: Energy Charge – Basic.***

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***Velocity Mantle – Epic: You have mastered the intricate art of merging body and mind into a state of heightened synchronicity, pushing the boundaries of speed and perception. Activating this spell drastically accelerates your physical and cognitive functions, allowing you to move, react, and think at rates far beyond normal capacity. This effect enhances your awareness, enabling you to perceive and counter high-speed movements, and grants unparalleled precision in battle or flight. The duration of the spell is determined by the Energy you invest. Energy Cost: Variable.***

***Warning! This spell is not System-designed! Use it with caution—there are no safeguards in place. This is the only time you will receive this warning!***

“It worked—epic!” Victor laughed, mildly amused by the System’s passive-aggressive language and behavior; it hadn’t needed to remove Energy Charge from him; the two spells were different enough that he could still find the shielded charge of his old spell valuable. Still, he was pleased enough with the upgrade.

“I told you it was a good pattern. You did an outstanding job with it, Victor. Was it costly?”

“Oh, good question.” Victor called up his Energy level to see how much he’d spent:

Energy: 37099/43812

“Yeah.” He nodded. “It’s costly but not terrible. As I continue to gain intelligence with my Warlord Class, I think it will become more and more usable.”

Tes nodded. “Naturally. I could barely see you move; that’s going to be quite the fun card to pull out when the time comes, don’t you think?”

“Hell yes!” Victor laughed, stooping to pick up his book, eager to try out another one of his new patterns. Tes leaned back on her elbows, staring up at the stars. Victor was about to ask her what spell she thought he should try next when a disturbingly familiar, feminine voice called out from near the shoreline.

“Oh, it was the one we suspected! I thought it was a familiar sound, Fox! It’s the tasty morsel we heard crashing about the spirit plane once upon a time!”

“It’s still so young, though, Three,” came a rumbling basso voice, rolling his tongue as he said, “Three.”

“Oh, shit,” Victor sighed, glancing at Tes. Her eyes narrowed with consternation, and she stood smoothly, moving to stand beside him.

“Step into the light, hunters,” she snarled, her voice suddenly harsh.

“Hunters? We?” Three asked, her smooth, almost purring voice coming from the shadows to Victor’s left. The odd thing about that was that he could see quite well in the dark, especially with the bonfire throwing light in a fifty-yard radius. Still, he couldn’t see either of the strange individuals he’d met so long ago on the spirit plane.

“This one’s different,” Fox rumbled from the other side of the fire. “It’s not meant to be here—perhaps more of a morsel than we care to bite.”

Tes growled, and then she surged, expanding suddenly to what Victor hoped was her actual size—a blue-scaled, four-limbed, winged, reptilian terror the size of a city bus. She pounced into the darkness, and as her claws swept out, a sharp clang resounded, and suddenly Victor could see Fox—the giant man clung to a saber that gleamed with red-black light that seemed to cut his mind as he glimpsed it, forcing him to look away. The fellow looked much like Victor remembered—dressed like a pirate, ten feet tall or so, and with the girth of several similarly sized men rolled into one.

“Ho-ho! Ease your rage, dragon! We’re simply here to investigate!” He chuckled as Tes swiped again and rebuffed her mighty claw with his horrible saber. “It’s angry, Three!”

“Aye,” came the orange-tabby-woman’s sibilant reply, directly beside Victor. He lurched to the side, whirling to face her, but she just winked one of her big, emerald eyes and grinned sideways, exposing her feline fangs. Tes also whirled to the voice, slashing her tail at Fox, who somehow ran ahead of it, circling the fire to stand a bit behind Three. When he sheathed his terrible red-black sword, Tes growled deeply but suddenly stood in her human form again, stepping toward Victor.

She moved to stand before him, folding her bare arms over her chest, her silver-and-white dress flickering with orange and red from the fire. “You made your point. I cannot defend him from both of you, but I swear to you this much: harm him now, and I’ll kill one of you and hunt the other to the ends of the universe for my vengeance.”

“So,” Three made a show of licking the fur on her left wrist, “our morsel has a protector. Hmm. Why do you stand for the disruptor? Don’t you think it’ll bring you trouble down the line?”

“Disruptor!” Tes barked a laugh and shook her head. “Come to Aradnue and meet a world full of us. Your System might have gotten its hooks into him, but that doesn’t mean he’s sworn any oaths. He’s not causing any trouble. He’s not sharing what he learns. He’s not recruiting for a cause—simply learning to fashion Energy on his own, without crutches.”

“Ah,” Three looked at Fox and sighed, “that old canard.”

The big man nodded, his jowly neck jiggling with the motion. “I feared as much, Three.”

Three looked at Tes, reaching one pointed nail up to her teeth as though to wriggle something out from behind her right canine. After a moment, she said, “And who started this tasty morsel on this road? Perhaps you’re the disruptor, hmm?”

Victor stepped forward, well aware that Tes had, indeed, given him his first taste of elder magic. Still, she wasn’t the only one. “Perhaps you’re under the impression that elder magic doesn’t run in my blood,” he growled, severing the thread of Energy sustaining his Alter Self spell. As he surged in size and let his aura flow freely, he said, “I’m a titan, and if I wish to work the magic of my ancestors, I’ll do so.”

Of course, his aura might be impressive to other iron rankers, even steel seekers, but the two before him hardly blinked as it washed over them. They did seem to take his words into consideration, however. Three seemed amused, and she chuckled softly as Fox backed up a step, forced to look up to meet Victor’s gaze. “So it is, so it is! And this one? She didn’t teach you to work the elder runes? She didn’t disrupt

Tes opened her mouth, but Victor spoke first, “She cautioned me off it—warned me not to talk to others about it. If you’re trying to keep people from learning how to make spells outside the System, you ought to thank her.” Victor had a feeling the two could smell a lie, so he didn’t do so. Every word he said was true—Tes had been reluctant to share her Elder magic with him. She’d given him a pattern to learn, but she hadn’t hand-fed it to him. In fact, the thing had been nearly indecipherable to him when she first gave it over. And she’d absolutely cautioned him about it and asked him never to reveal her as the source.

Three licked her claw, arching an eyebrow over her big, emerald eye. “And now? We’ve witnessed you work three non-System spells, morsel. She doesn’t aid you?”

“Enough,” Tes barked, stepping forward. “What I do with my time is none of your business, you pair of opportunistic, sycophantic System-slaves. I’ve provided my testimony—Victor is not a disruptor; he keeps his learning to himself. My actions are my own, and if you care to judge me, then by all means, do so. You haven’t a leg to stand on.”

“We’ll see about that, Celestial Envoy, Tesia’liveen’ashalah,” Three hissed.

“Oh, bravo! You’ve managed to sus out my identity. Not that I didn’t show you my true form. Are there many mature blue dragons wandering this part of the universe? Go ahead, visit Luminaris, make an appointment with the Grand Envoys, and ask if I have permission to be with Victor. Ask if I’ve made a case for my involvement in his progression. I’ll save you the six-month wait—I do, and I have. Now, unless you’d like me to track down your employer, I suggest you leave us to our own devices. You’ve seen what the noise was about; Victor is trying some new spells that he devised and has no intention of doing any disrupting.”

Three never stopped smiling slyly as Tes spoke, but she looked at Fox and shrugged. “What do you say, Fox? Shall we leave this angry dragon to its business?”

Fox yawned, scratching his belly where it hung out over his pantaloons. “I’m bored, Three. Let’s find another morsel. We can check up on this youngster another time—you know how they go.”

Three’s smile widened as she looked back at Victor. “Aye, I do. Maybe it’s not disrupting yet, but I can see it in those eyes. It’s going to be a handful. I think we’ll get our taste eventually.” With that, she put a furry, razor-clawed hand on Fox’s shoulder, and the two turned to walk up the beach. Victor watched them go, counting seven steps before they shimmered like a mirage and disappeared.

“Victor, I think you neglected to tell me something,” Tes sighed, flopping down onto the sand with a heavy sigh.

Victor sat beside her, his mind racing through all the implications of that strange encounter. Had he understood correctly? They were agents of the System? When he cast a non-System spell, it had thrown up some kind of red flag, and they’d come sniffing around? Why hadn’t it happened when he cast Alter Self? He’d always assumed they found him on the Spirit Plane because he’d made such a…bang when he first cast Wild Totem.

“Victor?” Tes prompted.

“Oh.” He looked at her and shrugged. “Yeah. Um, when I revised my totem spell, they found me on the spirit plane. I didn’t realize they worked for the System. What the hell?”

“They don’t work for the System. They collect System bounties. Disruptors are worth a great deal, but they have no evidence that you are one. That’s likely why they left you alive the first time they found you. They’re hoping you won’t keep your knowledge of elder magic to yourself. They’re hoping you’ll start actively working against the System. If they can provide even the tiniest bit of proof, the System will award them tremendously for killing you.”

“Did I get you in trouble?”

Tes smiled and leaned her cheek against his shoulder. “No trouble that I didn’t already have, sweet boy.”

“Man,” Victor grunted, eliciting a giggle out of Tes. “I can’t believe that dude stood up to your attack!”

“Hah! That wasn’t an attack! That was a reminder that he probably didn’t want to tussle with me.”

“Well, I’m glad you were here.”

“As am I.” She straightened and turned to smile at him. “All the more reason for you to learn more spells. Someday, you might have to defend yourself from the likes of those fiends. Come, they know you’re not here teaching your forbidden arts. Go ahead and cast another.”

With a grin, Victor hopped to his feet and took out his elder magic book again, flipping through the spell patterns. “Let’s see here, what will I cast next…”