(TPOR) Chapter 139: Fear And Panic (Patreon)

Oliver’s jaw dropped.

“What the hell just happened?” he asked, practically bolting from his chair. His legs carried him all the way to the glass before he could even think about it.

On the other side, the training room, Chris hit the wall with a force that left Oliver and perhaps everyone who wasn’t an Olympian in the room wondering how the wall had withstood her impact.

“Fire rune,” Eitri said, his tone sounded impressed.

“But that casting speed,” Kid said, voice trailing. “It’s unnatural.”

“The child is unnatural,” Eitri answered. “Two months of rune work and he’s already casting like that.” He looked at Festus. “Is this your doing or his doing?”

“His,” Festus said, eyes never leaving the fight. Because that was what it was. A fight.

Inside the training room Zed and Chris met again, fists flying and magic coming to life. This was going too far for a spar.

Jessica spoke for the first time.

“Should we stop them?”

No one answered.

…………………………..

Zed bent his head to the side, avoided a blow that would’ve taken his head otherwise. It seemed Chris was hell bound on killing him. He ignored the small panic that swelled inside him as he ducked to the side, away from a spark of lightning. He came up with his fingers working.

· You have cast basic rune [Force].

Rings of purple blasted forward, strong and precise. Chris didn’t avoid them, didn’t balk from their approach. Her lips moved, words spilling forth in a half-spoken spellform. Something appeared in front of her. It was golden, bright, and round as a disc. Power suffused it so strongly that Zed could feel it trying to overwhelm him. The force of it reminded him of Jason. But while he recognized the workings of light mana in spells, he was more curious about the barely noticeable marks that hovered around its edges.

· Basic rune [Force] has applied effect [Kickback] on spell [Sun disc].

· [Sun disc] has applied effect [Blight] and [Protection].

· [Raw mana] detected.

· [Mana] purity is too high.

· [Blight] does not take effect.

· [Sun disc] has applied effect [Protection] on [Kickback].

· [Kickback] does not take effect.

The rings of purple struck the disc of light and were swallowed by it, as if drawn into it. The disc shattered once it was done absorbing the runespell. Chris cast her hand aside in a sharp cutting motion, lips already moving in a new spellform. A slash of water arced its way through the air. It was instantaneous, obliterating the short distance between them. Zed called up [Force shield]. He didn’t hold it to him. Instead, he let it remain where he brought it to life, then darted back and away from it.

For the first time he literally watched it do what it always claimed it was supposed to do.

· You have cast basic rune [Force shield].

· Basic rune [Force shield] has applied effect [Deflect] on spell [Water slash].

· [Deflect] takes effect.

The arc of water struck the shield and bent in on itself. The arc rebounded. It did not ricochete or skip aside, rather, it made a straight return. Shock flashed across Chris’ face for a moment before she called on a new spell. It pulled together a wall of earth from nothing and the slash crashed harmlessly into it.

Zed slipped past the wall, already on the move even before the water slash had been deflected. He held [Flame] and [Force] in his mind, each an independent rune. There was a part of him—a nagging part—that insisted that the aim of what was happening was not to kill Chris. It was growing harder with every moment to listen to it. He brought one hand up, pointed it at Chris as the gap between them all but vanished, and Chris’ fist crashed into his face.

Pain swallowed Zed’s nose and he fought it like a man for his dear life. Chris’ fist was like a thrown brick if it was made of iron and thrown by the Hulk. Bone cracked then crunched. He felt it just as much as he heard it. Still, he powered through it, unwilling to accept defeat. Not yet. His fingers flickered in the air. It was all he could do not to combine both runes.

Chris threw her weight behind her punch so that not only did she punch him, she literally pushed him away with the blow. Zed reveled in the satisfaction of successfully cast runes.

· You have cast basic rune [Force].

· Basic rune [Force] has applied effect [Kickback].

· You have cast basic rune [Flame]

· Basic rune [Flame] has applied effect [Fire].

· You have successfully dual cast.

· You have gained +1 [Wil].

At the edge of pain, he watched shock swallow Chris’ expression. There was just something so satisfying about it, seeing her panic. Seeing her fear. He would’ve smiled if his nose was broken, if—he hoped he was wrong—a part of his cheek wasn’t broken.

· Basic rune [Flame] has applied effect [Fire] in an enclosed space.

· [Fire] may have advanced effect.

· [Fire] has been applied in an enclosed space.

· Effect [Fire] is now [Explosion].

Even on the edge of unconsciousness there was a part of Zed’s brain that knew this was not the outcome he’d been seeking. He remembered the effects of explosion, how it had taken all his mana and then some just to survive it the first time he’d cast it. Chris was a Rukh mage but he doubted she would be able to shrug off it’s effects. Against the Berserker’s instincts, he worried for her.

· Basic rune [Force] has applied effect [Kickback] in an enclosed space.

· [Kickback] may have advanced effects.

· [Kickback] has been applied in an enclosed space.

· Effect [Kickback] is now [Mutilate].

Zed knew exactly was [Mutilate] was capable of.

Shit.

…………………………….

Fear and panic filled Chris’ mind as Zed was replaced by a glare of bright orange. How the satisfying joy of finally getting to punch Zed square in his smug face with all her strength could so easily be turned into something so horrible was unfair. Her mind moved as quickly as it could, created scenarios, deleted scenarios, recreated scenarios. It sought points of victory or—she hated to say it—survival. It flickered through experiences lived and forgotten.

Heat crawled up her arms, started from the one still connected to Zed’s face. Ir engulfed her forearm like a clingy spouse. It flared like a bright light in her mind, heat boiling her skin, creating pores she could not see. Her mind fought harder, sought a solution faster. It struggled so greatly to keep her alive that she didn’t know where the memories began and experience ended.

Her mind continued to struggle in the fractions that existed within the fractions that broke a second apart. It slowed time as best it could to buy her time. In her mind she sat with her father, thoughts and memories moving through. The first time she’d ever fallen, her father’s gentle care as she cried as all infants do. Her first argument with her older sister and the crushing defeat that came with it. The first time she had ever understood the words ‘I love you’ when her father had told her. Her first car crash. The first time she’d survived a car crash. Her first heartbreak. The first time she rejected a boy. The first awakening. The second awakening. The smile on Oliver’s face whenever she did something he was proud of.

For the briefest moment her mind split from her memories, remembered her pain. Pain lit up in her stomach as something struck her in the abdomen. It was like being hit by a moving truck. She coughed. Her flickering mind blotted in the deep stain of red, rippled but remained. She tasted iron and pain as her mind sucked her back into her memories. The memories grew, moving by faster, seeking, searching. It brought her horribly close to the present and—

Her thoughts froze as a single sentence invaded it. Is my life flashing before my eyes?