“Justin, Healer Melon. We need to get to a secure location,” Melody said.
“What is happening,” I asked as I turned away from the text books I was looking at and stood up. Healer Melon came out of his room where he had been taken an afternoon nap.
“Terrorists are attacking. I was instructed to bring you to a safe location quickly,” she said. I reached out and grabbed my sword as we both followed her out of the room. I always kept my spatial pouch with me. There was no need to leave it behind inside the College.
I felt the ground shake and a wave of Mana coming up from below. “That isn’t good,” I muttered.
“Don’t worry, once we get to the safe location, The Mathemancer will handle everything,” Melody said. I nodded at this, but something felt wrong. The danger I felt kept increasing as we quickly rushed through the College as the shaking increased.
“Here, this building,” Melody said, but something was definitely wrong. I activated Shadow Vision and Mana Vision. There was some kind of distortion over her body. I should have done this at the start. I didn’t know if Melody regularly kept a layer of Mana distorting things over her body, but that seemed highly suspicious.
“Who is in charge of this place?” I asked as I drew Beginner’s Blade.
“What are you asking that for? The Mathemancer of course,” she said. Not the Dean, but The Mathemancer. This being in front of me wasn’t Melody. That was all the confirmation I needed.
“Healer Melon, be careful. You aren’t Melody, are you? What do you want?!” I demanded. Healer Melon quickly retreated backwards while I scanned the area for other threats.
“You just had to be clever, didn’t you? Well, no matter, the Dark Cabal has need of you. We are going to put your soul in a monster to make your mother suffer, hahahahaha!” Melody’s voice changed to something far more sinister, and she drew a long serrated blade out of a spatial storage while giving me a deranged grin.
“Justin, we are surrounded,” Healer Melon said, and seven other dark robed figures were approaching us from the shadows of the nearby buildings. Each of them had drawn weapons as well. No one else was nearby.
Hesitation was death. I rushed forward. The person pretending to be Melody casually blocked me and I struggled against their strength as we traded several blows. “Weak. Kill the Healer, then help me subdue the target.”
“Light Burst!” There were screams of pain as a blinding white light appeared behind me where Healer Melon was. “Sleep! Sleep!”
I gathered my focus. Now wasn’t the time to exchange blows. I needed to end it and believe in Healer Melon. He was a healer and I was a fighter. I needed to kill as quickly as possible. All the lessons I had learned in the dungeon with my mother came to me. Not just about how to swing a sword, but how to handle a fight in a team and when outnumbered. While it hadn’t been a focus of my education, I did have the skill Combat Tactics for a reason.
Deflecting the serrated blade to the side, it drove into my gut. My sword was out of position. My left hand shot forward. “Soul Strike!” My palm hit the face of the assassin that looked like the kind woman who had shown me the College.
“AHHHHH!” The assassin collapsed to the ground screaming, ripping the serrated blade out of my gut. Even with Pain Immunity, it wasn’t enough. I was hit with a lot of pain and almost blacked out.
Stumbling, I looked around. Three of the assassins had collapsed but the remaining four had reached Healer Melon. He had received several wounds and had collapsed to the ground. He was keeping himself alive, but he wouldn’t last long.
The four dark robed assassins rushed at me. I brought up my sword, but it was easily knocked to the side and out of my hand. While I had managed to kill my opponent, Healer Melon wasn’t able to heal me up so I could finish off the rest of them.
I was dragged bleeding into the building. There were two large circles on the ground and an egg was in the center of one of them. “Quickly start,” one of the assassins said as he punched me in the head several times. Everything spun about as I collapsed, unable to think clearly.
Struggling, I slowly stood up and made my way out of the building. I slowly limped over to Healer Melon and pulled out a healing potion. I pushed him onto his side and poured it into his mouth. I then did the same with a mana potion. He gulped it down and looked up at me with a grateful look.
“Justin,” he said, while breathing heavily.
“I need healing,” I gasped out. I saw his eyes go to my wound which was dripping blood down my left leg. My healing points had bottomed out a while ago.
“Greater Cure.” I let out a gasp as I was able to block out the pain as the severity of my wound decreased. It wasn’t gone, but it wasn’t pouring out blood either. “Another healing potion and mana potion,” Healer Melon told me.
I quickly pulled out another two and poured them in his mouth. “Greater Cure.” He slowly sat up. He looked quite pale, but at least he wasn’t about to die. I walked over to where my sword had fallen. I picked it up and looked at the assassins Healer Melon had knocked out. None of them were breathing, they were all dead.
“I thought we were finished, what did you do?” Healer Melon asked as he slowly got to his feet.
“I didn’t do anything. They all just died, instantly,” I replied. I then glanced up and didn’t see any clouds. There were always clouds and mist swirling about the College, at least that had been the case until a few minutes ago. That was weird. The ground wasn’t shaking anymore, at least.
“No one move! Hands behind your heads!” Guards rushed over dressed in the uniform of the College. Healer Melon and I both put our hands behind our heads. Our IDs were quickly checked and then we were quickly transported to the hospital here at the College.
“No potions, my Alchemical Toxicity is too high,” I said when potions were brought out.
“You shouldn’t let it get high! Pushing your body is risky,” a Healer said while looking aggravated. Healer Melon just chuckled.
“I am his retainer for a reason, Sam,” Healer Melon said.
“Melon? How did you end up like this?”
“Assassins of the Dark Cabal. They are clearly trying to stir things up, targeting Justin here,” Healer Melon said.
“Attacking students inside the College? Insanity. The Dean won’t stand for such things.”
“See to Justin first. I have patched myself up enough,” Healer Melon said and Healer Sam turned towards me.
“The blade was poisoned. I can feel my Poison Resistance skill fighting it. I can suppress my Healing Resistance,” I replied.
“Don’t. Since you have those skills, it is better to let the poison burn itself out. Anything else?”
“I was dragged to a room. There was a circle…an egg. I can feel the egg still, with my mind. I know where it is.”
“Was the ritual started in any way?”
“Yes, it went on for a bit, I don’t know how long?” I answered.
“About two minutes,” Healer Melon said.
“This…this is very bad. An interrupted ritual is beyond my expertise. I am going to grab a couple more people,” Healer Sam said and rushed off.
“Sorry,” I replied weakly.
“It isn’t your fault. I just know this is going to be a lot of trouble,” Healer Melon said.
“You did a lot better than me,” I said.
“I have higher stats and more experience in fighting. Also my opponents were further away. I am no good at close combat,” Healer Melon said. “Thank you for coming back.”
“You didn’t run. You could have,” I replied.
“You could have run too. I know you took that blow to rush the fight. That was foolish. How is your soul?”
“Stable, but shaky. It feels like it has been hammered several times and there is damage,” I replied.
“A ritual will do that. It is a brute force method, but they are also incredibly versatile. A shame there are no good rituals,” Healer Melon muttered the last bit.
“What? Wasn’t a ritual used to help my mother bring me into this world?” I asked.
“Some things are better not questioned Justin. In time you will learn. But rituals are a dark path. While they can be used for good, rituals are inherently not good. If you ever learn more about them, then this will become obvious. Your soul should stabilize in time, hopefully.”
“The welcoming ceremony is tomorrow and then classes,” I replied.
“You will rest as long as you need to rest. Healer’s orders,” Healer Melon said. That was when I felt a curse skill shift in a way that I couldn’t explain.