I woke up the next morning to find Inkler curled up next to me on the bed. “Got some training to do today buddy. You up for it or you just gonna laze about in bed?” He simply moved his head off my chest, going right back to sleep. “Fine, I’ll leave you a bit of breakfast.” I said, heading out to the kitchen area. Sure enough, the mess from last night had been cleaned and a breakfast spread replaced it. I settled in for some ham with cubed potatoes and onions, with a little fresh juice to wash it down. When I was finished, I poured some of the milk out into a little bowl and left it on the counter by itself. “I know you are a slave little brownie, but this is for you. Thank you for taking care of us.” Turning, I headed out to the training yard to work on some light magic.

Walking out into the courtyard, I headed over to the nearby yard with a drow shadow. There were several people training, most up this early were using the close range dummies, but there were two using long range magic. Odd, there was one woman pacing back and forth. “Who is she?” I asked my guard.

“Wife of one of the guards that was left behind.” He explained. Nodding, I looked everything over with [Mystic vision]. No traps or hidden wards, at least not in the combat area. There were some surrounding it, I assumed to prevent errant spells from causing havoc. I walked around until I had found a clear spot, then made a small dome of stone to prevent interfering with others. It was only about half height, and I simply put my hand inside instead of completely enclosing myself. My first attempt was at modulating the intensity of a mage light spell. I spent at least an hour on it, trying to change the skill. The first bits, I could only increase the mana in it. Instead of a flashing light, I got one that would flash brighter and brighter. Withdrawing mana would simply cancel the spell. No matter how slowly I tried it, the spell would unravel before dimming. I had just decided to take a break when the commotion started.

“Is there any news? Where is he?” The nervous woman from earlier asked frantically of the captain who escorted us back.

“I’m sorry, there was no sign of the rest of the caravan.” He said, stepping away from her.

“NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” She let out an agonized wail, darting forward and stealing his blade.

“Wait!”

“GET BACK! BACK!” She flailed the weapon around, clearing space around her. The captain complied, as she really showed no skill whatsoever with the blade. I understood, as I had heard from others that those with no training are dangerous because of their upredictability. When she turned the blade toward herself I acted.

“[BINDING SHADOW CHAINS]!” I roared out, stopping the blade mere inches from her chest.

“DON’T STOP ME!!!!!” She wailed, struggling to move the blade those last few inches. Seeing she wasn’t getting anywhere, she dropped the sword only for it to be grabbed by a shadow hand that extended from her. Moving back, it tried to skewer her through the heart.

*CLANG*

Panting, I struggled to hold my weapon between me and the blade. “Just what the hell do you think you are doing?!” I snarled.

“He’s gone. I’m going to join him.” She whispered. I looked around, and all the other drow were surreptitiously watching the interchange.

“And do you think he would want that? To meet his wife and child in such a manner?” At the word child, the pressure on the blade stopped.

“Child?”

“Yes, child.” I said, sliding the blade toward the captain before turning towards her. “I noticed it when I was looking around with mystic vision earlier. There’s a knot of intense mana right here.” I said, holding my hand just below her belly button.

“Our child? I don’t know. It just hurts. How can I raise a child when I’m in this much pain?”

“Of course it hurts. Life hurts. Especially when those we love move on. And I won’t lie and say it hurts less. You just get better at dealing with it, day after day. Raise your child. Let them know of their father, who gave his life to hold a far greater foe. Even if it was only for a second. He did his duty, without complaint. Many would wish to have his resolve.”

“You saw what he fought?”

“Only for moments. I and the rest of the convoy fled. Its tentacles were thicker than my wingspan, and it moved like lightning.”

“So how. How do I explain it to my child?”

“I don’t know about the drow afterlife. Though I’m sure that Lolth would reward those who gave their life in defense of one of her priestesses. Tell them of his sacrifice, and of the good memories of him. Don’t lay off his failures, and how he worked to overcome them. And when they ask to meet him, tell them that they will have to wait. You will all meet again someday, you two just have to take the long way around.”

“The, long way, around?” She asked, almost to herself. Head lowered, she took a few moments to collect herself.

“Lolth confirmed to me that she has a few new guards in her service.” The priestess said as she sauntered up. “Come, follow me. Lolth wishes you and your child to be trained in the temple.” She gathered up the distraught drow and escorted her away.

“Thank you. Her husband was a good soldier; it would be a shame to lose his child like that.” The captain said as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

“No problem. I’ve lost someone close recently as well. If you don’t mind, I have some practice to do.” I said, heading over to where my stone dome still stood. I clenched my fist to stop it from shaking. Damn, but I had gotten incredibly lucky with that [Dancing shadow step]. A half second later, and that sword would have already killed her.

“Damnit. So, how do I make this blasted spell flash?” I muttered as I sat down and stared at my palm. Wait a second, what if I just blocked the light? I conjured a magelight, and surrounded it with a thick cage of shadow. “Ok, looks good so far.” I said, noticing that the light didn’t break through the condensed shadow. Spinning the shadow with my manipulation skill, I got the result I was looking for. I increased the intensity and speed of the shadow until I had my own version of a magical strobe light.

New skill acquired!

Disco Strobe

Beginner level 1

This spinning light causes a strobe effect, messing with perception in those who aren’t expecting it.

Mana cost: 20

Duration: 1 minute

“Excuse me.” I called out to the five drow who were practicing against target dummies. When I had their attention, I continued, “I was wondering if you would be willing to test something for me.”

“Depends.” One of them answered.

“Just a spell. It won’t cause any damage, honestly it’s just flashing light. I want to see how it affects your sparring.” The drow looked back and forth among themselves a few times, before the speaker replied.

“Go ahead. Shouldn’t be an issue with us.”

“Alright, here goes. [Disco strobe].” I cast the spell over the central training dummy, and watched as each of the drow moved in for their attack. The alternating light was playing havoc with them, every last one overshot their target and ended up slamming their sword handles into them instead of their blades. I switched to [Mystic vision], and smiled as that was unaffected. The drow swiftly adapted, and within five more attacks had settled into a pattern that was uninterrupted by the light effects. Just to test them, I started playing with the speed of the flashes. Just as I thought, they were unaffected.

“Did you all switch to another form of vision?”

“Thermal.” One responded. “That flashing is unexpectedly efficient.”

“Thanks. Do you happen to have any other forms of vision we could test it against?”

“Sorry, no.”

“Impressive spell. Do you have any more?” One of the mages asked.

“Of light magic? Just Mage light. What about you two?”

“Sorry, neither one of us are adept at that. I’m fire and lighting, and he is earth and ice.”

“Damn. Pity, none of our abilities overlap.” I said, before sitting back down and trying to think of another light spell to use. Lasers were out, I just didn’t have the skill to get them working right. I don’t know what exactly I was missing, because I knew I had the intensity.

“Hey, anyone have the trap detect skill?” I asked.

“I do.” My guard said. “Back to your training, I’ll handle it.” He interrupted one of the mages, who shrugged and got back to work.

“Wonderful. Let me make a quick trap.” I said, creating a small spiked pitfall beneath the dome. “Can you tell me what it looks like under there with trap detect activated?”

“Sure. I see a red square where you made your trap.”

“Excellent. I’m going to flash a light here on the ground, let me know when it matches.” I said, concentrating until the magelight I was using turned a dull red color.

“Brighter, less intensity.” He said, and we spent the next couple hours or so changing my light spell until it perfectly matched the skill he was using.

“I’m not quite sure how useful this skill will be sir.” He said when we finished it.

“Oh? Watch this.” I said, removing my trap and the dome it was protected under. I created a walkway of light, and turned back to him. “See that red corridor? Activate your trap skill and avoid the three pitfalls I placed in it.” His eyes got incredibly wide as the implications sunk in.

“You just nullified our skill!” He whispered in awe.

“Yep. That’s the plan.” I said with a smug grin. I had just gotten a popup indicating my new skill.

New skill acquired

False Traplight

Rankless spell.

This spell is a perfect replica of the detect trap skill. Congratulations of becoming the bane of rogues everywhere! Don’t worry, the creator of this spell won’t be listed. This spell has no rank, and cannot be improved.

Cost: 30 mana

Duration: 1 hour

“Nice, it’ll work for one hour.”

“Do you think you could impart this skill to the academy?” The fire mage had wandered over when he noticed the spell.

“What do they need for it?”

“Minimum adept rank to create a beginner scroll.”

“And if it is a rankless spell?”

“There’s no rank for it? Then you can create a spellbook for it with the proper scribe! You need to see the headmaster, he will transfer it and set you up with the mage guild. They can set the price, what royalties you will get, and any exclusivity contracts.”

“Hmm, that could work. I’m sure the drow would love such a spell, especially if they could adapt it to an enchantment?”

“You would have every noble house wanting to install such an enchantment.” My guard said.

“I see. Well, I’m no good with enchantments, but I do have some contacts. Tell you what, I’m heading back to my guest house to eat some lunch. Can you see if the headmaster will meet with me afterwards to discuss this spell?”

“Of course.” The mage replied.

“Excellent. Can you send someone to the Drul’kaath? If possible, I would deal with them. See if they would be willing to meet with the headmaster as well.” I asked the guard.

“It will be done.” He said, giving me a salute. Smiling, I headed back to the apartment to fill up and make sure Inkler hadn’t destroyed the place.