The hallway sounded quiet, so Oskar took a few moments to look around the room more thoroughly. On a shelf between two racks on the opposite side of the door, he found a few cups that looked clean, and pulled one down. His bag was where he left it, near Erik’s rack, and he filled the cup with Wayspring water from a waterskin, sitting it on the floor by the wall.

  Sara was there in an instant, rubbing her head against his hand with a meow as she gratefully drank the water. He considered pouring some in Erik’s mouth, but figured he’d end up drowning his brother or something and instead left the half empty waterskin after taking a long pull. He had one more full one and slid it back in his bag and got ready to go out into the hallway. Raiding the shelves, he took some clean bandages and a small bottle of what smelled like a mix of vinegar and alcohol that, being next to the bandages, seemed like it would be good to clean a wound with.

  There was food in a container, dried meat and a hard cracker that was tasteless, but along with the meat, was filling enough.

  The thing that got him most excited in his quick search was soap. Wayspring water was great and, of course, made him feel clean when he washed with it, but he couldn’t put into words how great it felt to wash his hands with suds and bubbles. Afterward, though, he realized that with his enhanced senses, the soap left a faint smell that made him worry about being more detectable to his enemies. Oskar almost laughed it off, but quickly realized it was a legitimate concern. He was able to wash most of the smell off his hands with water from one of the jugs in the back corner to remove the smell. The water itself was neither Wayspring water or water from the bulb cactus’, and Oskar briefly wondered if the facility filtered it or if it came from a reservoir, which opened up a whole different group of questions. He reluctantly left the soap behind and made his way to the door.

  // Gambit Initiated: Escape or Defeat Valla

  Optional Objective: Escape with the members of your Collective or draw Valla away from them.

  Reward: Survival (Not Guaranteed) - Continuance of the World Gambit: The Magics Above, Below, and Within

  Consequences: Death, and even worse- Failure of the World Gambit: The Magics Above, Below, and Within

  Accept Yes/No //

  Accepting the Gambit, he checked on Erik one last time and then said to Sara,“Take care of him for me, will ya? I’m gonna check outside. I’ll be back for you guys.”

  He didn’t even feel that weird talking to her.

  Although it not feeling weird feels a little weird… but anyway, I gotta find Fox and Touwon and get everyone outta here.

  // Humans are weird. //

  ***

  Poking his head out into the hallway, Oskar listened for any signs of combat. He pulled his Resonant Ward tight around him. The magic felt odd in the cold, lifeless building—and not for the first time, he wished he were outside again, despite the air conditioning. It wasn’t quite claustrophobia, but it was still noticeable, even with his adrenaline flowing. So maybe it was claustrophobia after all.

  His PUB initiated battle mode, and Oskar took a hesitant step into the corridor, cringing at the sound of his own footsteps. It wasn’t just his hearing that had improved. His sense of smell picked up unwashed bodies, blood, and something else—something he likely never would have noticed in the open desert.

  He relaxed his grip slightly on the spear, realizing he’d been holding it with white-knuckled tension, and walked left out of the hallway at random. Moving as quietly as possible, he crept toward the corner and paused to listen again. There was a shuffling sound, moving in the opposite direction. He risked a quick peek.

  Ahead of him, two twisted, Hyena-based shadow creatures ambled through the hallway toward the next corner. When he confirmed the hallway behind him was still clear, he stepped out.

  The thing about Resonant Ward was that, despite being its own spell, it offered many of the same healing and empowering benefits as the Wayspring water. More importantly, now that he’d mastered the ability, it also worked like an instant primer for his other abilities. He could weave Sora or Talau without wind-up… without having to build it or pull it close. And now that he no longer felt the need to contain the magic, he felt far more flexible in how he used it. Improvisation seemed possible now.

  A perfect example was his new Sandblast ability. Though he had only practiced the concept, he’d felt comfortable enough to use it in that previous battle against the shadow creatures. Inside the hallway, though, he worried the enclosed space would dull his abilities.

  Those fears, fortunately, were unfounded.

  When the Shadow creatures turned the corner, one of them managed it cleanly, the other shuffled awkwardly… until it caught sight of Oskar. Whether it saw him out of the corner of its eye or through some magic he didn’t yet understand. Sora responded instantly; Oskar slung the creature against the back wall with bone-jarring force, pleasantly surprised to see the magic affect it directly.

  He pushed his Resonant Ward outward, knowing it would weaken the creatures, and slammed the same one up into the metal ceiling, then back down to the floor. Without pause, he grabbed the second creature and launched it into the back wall with all the force he could.

  The damage wasn’t quite enough and Oskar rushed forward to finish both creatures with hesitant stabs from his spear. There was no gas. Only terrifying screams as they died.

  So, the dangerous ones—not the weak, explody ones that seem to require supervision.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  // Does that mean you’ll explode if you get stabbed? Kidding! Ignore me! //

  I try, buddy.

  In the corridor, thrusting attacks would be much easier to manage, so he decided sticking with the spear was best for now.

  A blue-scaled Croc, who had somehow closed the distance without Oskar seeing him, tackled him viciously against the wall with a large, warped wooden shield, and he almost lost his grip on his spear. The creature followed up with a horizontal swing of its hand axe.

  I don’t have time for this. And with the hallway this dangerous, I can’t leave Erik to just Sara… even if she is actually kind of scary. And where the heck are Fox and Touwon?

  Closing the distance to steal some of the momentum behind the swing, he felt the honeycomb pattern of Talau slow the swing further, turning it into something closer to a shove. A strong shove. Oskar might have been as strong, but physics were physics, and the Croc outweighed him by a good amount.

  Pushed back into the wall, Oskar wasn’t able to get distance or focus well enough to push the Croc away, but grabbed the hand axe before it could do more damage. The Croc teeth clacked an inch from his face, and Oskar pulled back until his head bounced painfully off the wall behind him.

  Now angry at a fight that should not be nearly as dangerous as it currently was, he leaned into the Croc and grabbed the surprised creature around the mouth with both hands so he wouldn’t get bitten. Dropping the axe and shield, some instinct took over and the Croc clawed at Oskar’s hands. He pulled his Resonating Ward in tight, dropping the defense of Talau, allowing the magic to respond to his need instead. Talau lessened, and Sora took the reigns.

  The bits of dust and metal around him which were prone to floating gently nearby when he was making full use of his Ward, now swirled around him, leaving a tiny trail of Rakiyu behind them. Small cuts appeared on his hands, matching the furrows being carved by the now wide eyed Croc.

  Pushing this new Aura out a little further so he wouldn’t ruin his own hands, Oskar ramped up the intensity, increasing the power and velocity drastically. Blue scales began to chip off the head and arms of his enemy, who was now trying desperately to scramble backwards, out of Oskar’s grip.

  Oskar realized with a start that had he wanted to, he could have held the larger Croc right where he was just by the grip he had on the Croc’s snout. He wasn’t just as strong as a Croc now, he was stronger. Staring the Croc in its panicked eyes, he held on for a moment just to make sure the Croc knew it, and then he physically threw the Croc backwards, pushing his Aura out to follow it.

  With a rush of Sora that he instinctually mimed with a shove of his hands, he flung the Croc straight down to the floor. Its maw hit so hard the teeth and blood went in every direction. The shield fell half atop the Croc. Somehow, the Croc was still moving, albeit groggily.

  With his Resonating Ward, Oskar had worked on thickening the Ward to slow down attacks and give him the best forwarding for surprises, but this new version of it… Resonant War? Primal Ward?… was the opposite. The thicker it was, the harder it was to build up speed, so he thinned the Aura, and the purple, Rakiyu infused particles formed into a thin ring, rotating and spinning around him so fast that he might not have been able to distinguish it if he hadn’t seen it gaining momentum.

  The effect was incredible. Within a few rotations and all within the span of a second, the Croc’s outstretched hand was devoid of flesh and nicks appeared in the bone itself.

  Oskar stalked forward and the Croc was dead without Oskar even needing to retrieve his spear.