When I arrived at our usual training spot, Kaz and Tishina were already there fighting. Kaz was holding his own, but Tishina had the upper hand by a noticeable margin.

“Uh, Geistig?” I asked.

“Hey, lad. What’s up?”

“How is Tishina winning? Isn’t she a lower rank, and way less experienced than Kaz?”

“Yes on both accounts, though she should be close to ranking up now. That being said, there’s a lot more to combat power than rank and experience, at least in the early ranks. It does change a bit once you hit B rank, as I explained with Frigidissima. That being said, Tishina’s… An anomaly. I’ve never met anyone at her rank with even a fraction of her strength. It makes sense, all things considered.”

“All things?”

“Personal matters. I can’t rightly give out that information, as it’s not my place to tell.”

“Okay… But if Tishina’s that much stronger than even Kaz, then why did you have me spar her when we first met?”

“Oh, that?” The corners of Geistig’s lips raised into a shit-eating grin. “I was messing with you.”

“Did I ever do anything wrong to Roshanee? What did I do for her to assign me to this party again?”

“Not a clue. Maybe ask her next time.”

“I think I will.”

“Anyways, how was class, lad? Kaz told me, back when he went to academy, that the blue mage instructor was a real tyrant.”

“Yeah… That’s one way to describe him. I’ve actually been meaning to speak to you about that.”

I gave Geistig a quick rundown of what Draxus told me.

“Is it true that the voice itself only gets worse? He said that if I couldn’t handle a D rank voice without help, then a C rank would be impossible to handle. Is it really so hopeless?”

Geistig raised his eyebrow and stroked his chin. “Not entirely, but it’s an uphill battle. You lost control when confronted with your own personal trauma. The D rank monster’s form was just the last straw, I reckon.

I’m sure you could handle a C rank form if you’re not dealing with that at the same time. I wouldn’t count on anything beyond that, though. He’s probably right that C rank is your limit, and more right about the fact that calm spells are a crutch. I won’t be able to cast strong enough spells to deal with it while actually in a fight. And I won’t always be around to cast them, especially if you run off on your own again.”

I averted my eyes. “I don’t know what you’re referring to.”

“Don’t play coy. I had a little chat with Rosh this morning. She mentioned something about us taking a mercenary guild quest out in the swamps.”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes, that. What exactly were you trying to accomplish?”

I paused for a few seconds, trying to think of a good excuse. But the cat’s too far out of the bag for excuses. “There are some parts of my powers that complicate things. Things I don’t think I can trust you with, kind of like you can’t trust me with whatever that black sun thing is.”

“I thought I told you to drop it.”

“I couldn’t find any leads, anyways. And I’ve got higher priorities now. I need power. I need to become useful enough to get clearance on a few projects my space professor told me about. And now that I’ve found a path forward to correct my mistakes, I need to put everything I have into it.”

“Sylas, you fool. You’ve already been spreading yourself too thin. You can’t go on like this.”

I ignored his warnings. “How do I rank up? Regardless of how I go about it, that seems to be the simplest path forward.”

“You’re not ready. For Vorfahr’s sake, get yourself together. I said you’d get there in two years, and I meant it. If you keep pushing, then I’ll have to kick you from the party. And don’t think —”

Geistig was interrupted by a flashing light before him.

‘

Geistig, you have been drafted for a mandatory assignment of type: emergency raid.

A B rank Dragon of unknown origin has been sighted at the entrance to the minor labyrinth.

Report to the Interplanetary Government’s Adventurer Guild’s Aurelian Branch Emergency Teleportation Pad within 15 minutes.

`

“Now, of all times? And why there?”

Tishina stopped mid-strike when she heard what Geistig was reading through their mind bridge. She ran right over to Geistig, and gave him puppy-dog eyes.

“No, Tishina. You’re staying here.”

She pouted and gave him a glare.

“Yes, I know it’s a dragon, and I know what else is there. That just makes it more important for you to stay here.”

She grabbed onto his leg, refusing to let go as he tried to pry her off.

“For Vorfahr’s sake… Kaz, can I get a little help here?”

Kaz nodded, and grabbed Tishina by the legs as he dragged her off.

“Thank you, Kaz. I’ll try not to die. As for you, Sylas, We’ll be continuing our discussion when I get back.”

“Yes, I suppose we’ll have to.” There’s no point in staying on the team if we can’t trust each other.

“Is everything alright, Sylas?” Kaz asked. “I can’t help but notice that you and Geistig have been at each other’s throats lately.”

“Yeah, we’ve been having a few issues lately. Too many secrets.”

“Ah, this again?”

“Again? What do you mean?”

“We used to have another member who left for the same reason. Actually, a few people have rotated through our fourth party slot, ever since Tishina joined.”

“Tishina? What does she have to do with anything?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t pried into anything.”

“Why not?”

“My clan tends not to dwell on secrets. It only leads to trouble.”

That it does, Kaz. That it does. “Wait, clan?”

“Yes, the Windwalker clan. Hence my last name. We usually stay at Mount Ventus.”

“Oh… I’m sorry, I really don’t know anything about you. Why did you leave?”

“We’re mostly a wind-warrior clan. As a beast Blue mage, there really wasn’t much they could teach me.”

“I see. Well, I suppose improving yourself is the priority.”

“That it is.”

“But I do respect your ‘I can’t be fucked’ attitude towards secrets. I could learn a thing or two from it. I’m not safe to divulge the information. I hate it, and I just want to focus on improving myself, but I have to bullshit around these secrets until I’m strong enough to deal with the consequences. That being said… Geistig was rather insistent on the idea of slowing down, and I don’t think doing so is in my best interest.”

“I see. So you’re leaving as well?”

“I think so. Between the distrust and our differing ideas on progress, I don’t see any possible way for the two of us to reconcile. It sucks, as I was really starting to like you three. I was even getting used to you, Tishina.” I turned to where Tishina was as I said that, only to find she wasn’t there. “Tishina, where are you?”

The two of us looked around, but she was nowhere to be found.

“Kaz, where did she go? Did she leave without telling us?”

“Telling us?”

“You know what I mean. I didn’t see her leave. I wonder where she —” I thought for a moment, before realizing. Her fixation on dragons, her love of combat. If I were her… “You don’t think she followed Geistig, do you? Surely he’d have noticed.”

Kaz frowned. “Perhaps, perhaps not. She can be rather sneaky when she wants to be. We should go after her.”

I nodded, and we headed off towards the gate district. Kaz flew ahead with his harpy wings whilst I ran on foot. I pumped mana into my legs, and my surroundings blew past me.

When I arrived at the emergency teleportation platform, Kaz was already circling above, trying to spot Tishina through the hundred or so adventurers on the teleportation platform.

“Did you find her yet?” I called out.

“No, we can’t find her, but she’s here somewhere.” Geistig replied.

The platform started glowing, shifting between blue and green and purple. A humming noise reverberated through the ground as the space aligned gathered in a circle and channeled their mana into it.

“Stop casting!” I shouted. “There’s a child among them. We have to find her!”

“And there are children in Ironkeep.” One of the other adventurers stated. A dark-skinned human with heavy metal armor, giant shoulder pauldrons, a medium shield, and hammer. He wore a captain’s insignia on the left of his breastplate, marking him as the leader of this emergency raid. He raised his voice. “We cannot delay the rescue of many to save one fool. I don’t know where you are, one called Tishina, but you are not ready for this. Leave now and live. Or if you can not, take shelter when we get there, with the rest of the townsfolk.”

The glowing grew brighter and brighter, and the air around the platform started to shimmer. I don’t have long to find her, but where is she?

A certain spot caught my eye, one where the glowing was duller.

“Here!” another adventurer, nearby the spot, exclaimed, and stepped forward to grab her.

Tishina released her spell, and darted closer to the center of the platform before he could catch her.

I stepped onto the platform and rushed after her. Between all of us, there was no escape for her. But she knew, among her pursuers, I was the weakest.

She darted towards me, and grabbed hold of me. I tried to resist, but she was quicker to enhance herself than I was, and threw me towards the crowd.

I extended my branch arm to push her away as I fell, but she extended her shadow armor around herself, then wrapped two of her shadows around my shoulders and pulled herself back towards the center of the platform.

She then extended the rest of the shadow mouths, and latched on to as many adventurers as she could, fading them in and out of existence as they tried to untangle themselves.

She looked in my direction, with Geistig just behind me, and smiled.

“You stupid fucking elf!” I yelled.

The teleportation activated at that moment, and we found ourselves hundreds of miles away, with a dragon staring down at us.

“Stupid fucking elves, indeed” It agreed.