Mana Mirror: Chapter Sixty-Two (Patreon)

I thought about the old man's words as we completed our walk around the garden, then I left Ed and Liz to have some private time. I collected Dusk, who bubbled sleepily at me, and began the walk home.

Not so long ago, I would have been afraid to do that. But now I was confident that even against a spellbinder, I'd be able to overcharge my spells long enough to get away or retreat into Dusk.

Should I go to a mentalist doctor? I'd battled against dark thoughts while I tried to figure out who I was, and I'd gotten through that without a mentalist.

The stubborn, prideful part of me wanted to say that I was fine. I didn't need some doctor telling me I was broken and giving me spells or potions to fix my brain.

But… I had problems. I couldn't deny that.

I was torn out of my thoughts by my mana senses flaring, alerting me to a source of second gate mana.

With my distance and life senses now part of my mana sense, I felt it overhead, and swiftly falling towards me.

A blend of lunar, life, and other aspects built in its hands. This wasn't someone falling off a roof.

I flared my mana out, condensing and pulling it back into me to cast an overcharged Briarthreads spell. At the same time, I drew out three shards of bone from my spirit and set them in a hexagonal pattern around my throat, chest, and legs.

I looked up just in time to see Mallory, in a dark red and black suit, descending, claws forming around her hands. She slashed at me, and they struck my overcharged Briarthreads spell.

I expected them to rip through the spell, like they had when I'd rived it, but overcharging it had counted for more than I'd expected. A few strands of briars broke, leaving cuts along her hands, but the spell held.

Mallory landed, her claws digging into the pavement under our feet. She looked up at me and snarled.

"Malachi."

"Mallory?" I asked, confused.

My peacepyre flowed out of Dusk, shedding extra light, its opal mingling with the orange street lamps.

"You don't belong here," she said. "What, are you here to steal?"

I blinked, bewildered.

"What?" I asked dumbly.

"Did you break into that family's library? Steal some spells?" Mallory demanded.

"What?" I asked again, even more confused.

"Don't lie!" she snapped. She said something else, but I ignored her, focusing on my mana senses.

The enchantments on her suit were strange. They reminded me of the ones Orykson had bought for me, yet… Different.

Linked to her. Almost like how Dusk and I were linked.

"Is your suit a lacewing silk growth item?" I blurted out.

"The resources my new guild gives me are none of your thrice cursed business. Were you… Ignoring me?"

"Kinda," I admitted.

She snarled and launched at me, but my overcharged Briarthreads blocked her, as the Pinpoint Boneshard dug into her. Her suit blocked the bones, but her hands had more cuts open up on them.

The Briarthreds frayed more under this attack, with only about a third of them left. I condensed more mana and fed it back into the spell, replenishing it.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked.

In a way, I was glad she'd picked now of all times to attack. After my talk with Liz's grandpa, and a nice dinner, my mood had mellowed.

"As if you don't know. You're dangerous."

"I'm dangerous? For saving a shark?"

I twisted the threads more directly as she attacked again, directing them to block as effectively as I could.

A deep rooting sensation spread through my spirit, and the threads of briars grew thicker. The mana my ingrained Harvest Plant Life spell provided redoubled.

"What's your endgame here, Mallory?" I asked.

"There's a competition coming, where you can compete in the name of your sociopathic teacher. I'm going to win. You shouldn't compete at all."

"Meadow's not a sociopath," I said, then paused. I'd unpack that later. "Did you think this through at all? You come here, in a wealthy neighborhood, where the Lightwatch are never more than a few minutes away, and assault me on the street? That's your plan to get me to not enter?"

Mallory's face paled.

"They won't know," she said, a moment later. "It'll be your word against mine."

I jerked my thumb over my shoulder and sighed.

"Mallory, again, we're in a rich area. These people all have recording crystals. Probably more than one. It's easy to prove that you jumped out of the sky to attack me."

Mallory's face grew even paler, which was quite impressive. She was almost as pale as I was, after all.

Then she turned and tried to sprint away. I caught her in a Fungal Lock spell, and she tripped, falling to the ground.

I layered two more Fungal Locks on top of her, and then sat by the curb and waited.

Sure enough, as I'd expected, a Lightwatch member with a tight blonde ponytail arrived before long.

"What's going on here?" she asked sharply.

I explained the situation, and she asked us both to come down to the station.

I agreed easily enough. It cost me nothing but time, after all, and I wasn't under arrest.

To my relief, they didn't seperate me from Dusk, who had somehow continued to snooze through the battle. I was starting to get a bit concerned, but my senses just indicated that she was digesting the mana that Liz's grandpa had provided.

A bit like falling asleep after a massive Harvest Festival meal.

They took my statement, and I was left to wait in a chair near a detective. Thankfully, the detective was chatty – normally not a blessing, but with nothing else to do, it kept me from going insane.

I was surprised with just how much waiting there was, to be honest. I'd heard Ed complain about it, but… It was absurdly slow, and I had to repeat what happened no less than four different times.

Ed came in after about two hours, and after he spoke with the… Mannager on duty, he was allowed to speak to me.

I was sure there was some sort of official title like sergeant or lieutenant or captian or whatever, but I had no clue what it would be.

"What happened?" Ed asked as he slumped in a chair next to me.

I went through the events again, wondering if this was actually part of the process or something – I was more likely to tell the truth to Ed, after all.

"That's weird," Ed said, shaking his head. "The slipshark incident is not a reason to start a vendetta and attack someone on the street. And… What competition?"

"I don't know," I said, shaking my head. "I know Orykson had plans for me. She's part of a guild now, maybe he spoke to the guild leader?"

"Maybe… Still doesn't give her a reason to attack you, though."

"True. The whole thing just doesn't sit right with me. She also had a growth item that I'd seen before. She said her guild gave it to her, but…"

Another two hours and extra repeat of my story later, and I was led to a small meeting room.

Inside was a short, skinny man with greasy hair and a smile that set me on edge.

"Mister Baker, right?" he asked.

"That's my name," I said.

"I'm Migg, from Mig, Migg, and Miggg Law Firm, representing the Cromwell family in this little misunderstanding."

Cromwell… that name triggered something in the back of my head. I was pretty sure I'd heard about them on the news.

"I see," was all I said.

"Good, good. Now, the way I understand it, Mallory and you had already had a little spat a bit ago, and she came away worse off."

"True."

"She was pretty upset, which is understandable. She lashed out, acting on emotion, and you two had a little scuffle. Nothing big, though. No assault or battery charges need to be pressed."

He removed a small box, the kind that would normally be used to hold a necklace or ring, and put it on the table. He flipped it open, and I saw a smooth, polished black pill sitting on the cushion.

I felt it with my mana senses. It was definitely potent, and it reminded me strangely of the Fundament pill. It was weaker, though not by much, and it felt more… Focused, for lack of a batter word.

"To show there's no hard feelings, we'd consider offering you this: An unaspected Spellform Ascendant Pill. It will allow you to instantly advance any first gate spell that is currently in the sketching stage to the ingrained stage, though it will induce a powerful sleep for twenty-four hours after taking it."

I pushed the thoughts of the pill out my mind to think about the bribe.

The Cromwells, whatever they did, were rich, and they had enough to bail their kid out of trouble.

I didn't have enough to hire a lawyer, and Ivy was just a law student, not an official lawyer. If I wanted to press charges, I'd need to use a public attorney.

And if I did, I'd annoy the family, and Mallory further. Mallory was already showing herself to be a bit unhinged, and there was something deeper.

And I didn't want any part of that.

"I'm sure that if Mallory agrees to put it all behind us, and make sure we both stay out of eachother's way, then I'd be happy to drop charges."

I might be leaving money on the table by not pressing them for more, but then again, that may just make them more annoyed with me.

"Oh, absolutely," the sleazy lawyer said, nodding. "She's already agreed to, and she'll get a stern talking-to when she gets home."

"Then I'll drop the charges."

Another whirlwind of paperwork and waiting happened, and I was finally released.

I was surprised to see my dad and Liz both waiting for me outside. It was close to four in the morning at this point, so I'd really expected them to be in bed.

They both hugged me, and I explained what happened again – I'd lost count of how many times I've gone over it at this point.

"Primes," Liz said. "Want me to punch her for you?"

"No," I said with a weary sigh. "Unless she does something again. Then sure, please do."

"Got it," she said, cracking her knuckles.

"Are you hoping my brother gets attacked?" Ed asked.

"No… definitely not," Liz said with a grin.

"You're terrible, Liz," I said.

"I love you, Liz," my traitor of a brother said.

My dad laughed and shook his head, and we headed home. Since it was so late, I made some coffee and began to work out some of the inefficiencies in my Briarthreads spell.

That occupied me until buisnesses began to open, and I headed out again, on my broom this time. There were a couple of mentalists nearby, and I checked all of them out, then made an appointment with the one that gave me the best vibes. They wouldn't be able to see me for two months, but I felt an odd sense of relief just from having made the appointment.

When I returned home, I cracked open the pill that I'd been given. I didn't have many unmastered first gate spells left to choose from.

Capture Moment and Spatial Anchor were both foundational spells, so they'd be solid choices, but wouldn't boost my power much in the short term.

Harvest Distance was a harvesting spell, so if its ingrained effect was anything like that of Harvest Plant Life, it'd be a good choice too.

Then again, I'd seen how effective Lesser Image Recall could be in combat. Then again, it recalled a captured moment, so...