Rise of Shadows (25 page)

“Shadow, sir? Our guest is waking,” came Leslie’s voice over the intercom.

“On my way,” I said. “Flame, please join me. Phoenix, keep the shields up in case we are discovered, and Spectra, find out what you can about that rip, especially any way there might be to close it.”

“
Flame, be ready for a fight. This magus is likely to be a sorcerer, but I hope to change that
,” I sent as we walked down.

“
How?”
she asked.

“
No idea yet, we just have to see how it plays out,
” I sent.

When we entered sickbay the magus was still strapped into the bed, and Leslie was keeping her distance from him. I suspected she did not want a repeat of the last time. “What is his status, Doc?” I asked.

“Sir, he has come out of the coma and can be awakened at any time,” she said.

“Are you sure it will be okay to wake him?” asked Flame.

“Yes, Ma’am,” she said.

“I should be able to control anything that he does, since we will be ready this time, but just in case, Flame, make sure she is covered,” I said.

Flame reached into the air and called out a command word, causing her staff to appear in her hand. She then moved into a defensive posture between Leslie and the magus. “Ready.”

“Leslie, go ahead and let him wake,” I said as I drew power from around the room to weave a shield wall between the magus and the rest of us.

Suddenly he screamed out, and lightning started pouring out of his body into the room. I moved quickly to unweave the power as fast as I could. There was just too much of it pouring out for the shield I had created to hold back, and bolts of electricity were arcing through the room. I could feel Flame moving and weaving behind me, using her staff to block the bolts and keeping Leslie safe.

Then I noticed something odd: the magus’ power was deliberately bending around me, as if it was trying to keep out of my reach. “
Something is not right here,”
I sent to Flame.

“
You’re just noticing that? I’m getting pounded back here!
” she sent.

Indeed all the bolts were unnaturally arcing right towards her.
“Get Leslie out of here, and be ready to rush back in,”
I sent.

I backed off the magus a little as I felt Flame start to work her way to the exit. Once she was clear of the room I called out to the ship’s computers to shut down everything in the room and seal the doors. “Show yourself!” I called out. It was a complete bluff, but something was not right, and I suspected I was not alone with this magus.

Soon all the electrical fury that was pouring out of the magus was focused on me. My passive energy shield was glowing brightly as it absorbed the bolts, and it was all I could do to hold it steady. “I said, ‘show yourself!’” I called out again. This change made me sure there was intelligence behind these attacks. The bolts were too well defined and too well aimed.

Then I saw it. It climbed out of the magus’ body and looked like some kind of walking bipedal lightning bolt.
“What is that?”
I asked on our telepathic network.

“That’s a lightening elemental. I have read about them,
” sent Flame. “
Very dangerous creatures.”

“How do I fight it?
” I asked.

“
Um … a summoner can banish them, but other than that, I don’t know,”
she sent.

Great, that was one thing we did not have. “
To battle then, it seems,”
I sent back.

Now at least I had a target I could fight, but what would hurt something made of electricity? Water might short it out, but would be just as deadly to me, as it would conduct its power back on me. We use electricity every day out here, but I never give it any thought. It is usually much better-behaved than this. While I was thinking, the creature pressed its attack, and I was forced to slowly back up. It was just too powerful, and it was slowly overwhelming my defenses.

“
Shadow, it’s just energy. That’s your gig, right?”
sent Phoenix.

“
Bah, you are right!
” I sent back. If my master saw me now he would be screaming at me, “Start acting like a spellweaver!” I let my perception of the world shift until I was looking through what I had taken to calling “weave sense,” where I could see all the energies ebb and flow for great distances around. This was how I could foresee the future. Before any event had a physical manifestation, energy is always expended, allowing me to see the event before it happens. It also allowed me to see into realms that were normally beyond the physical senses, and that often exposed hidden things, things that gave me tremendous advantage in combat.

In this instance, it let me see the biggest weakness of the lightning elemental. It did not belong in this dimension, as there was no such thing as lightning elementals in our reality, so it had to be a summoned creature. Summoned creatures had a chain of energy that tied them back to their home dimension. I reached out, grabbed that chain, and with my powers pulled on it. Suddenly the attacks against me stopped as the creature doubled over in pain. Before it could recover, I unwove the connection it had to its home, which cut off its seemingly infinite supply of energy. Since it was a creature of pure energy, it could not live without its power supply, and it slowly faded away, screaming dreadfully as it went.

“
Flame, I need you,”
I sent, then I reactivated sickbay and unsealed the door. Flame teleported in the instant I called her and stood between the magus and me, on guard. Leslie rushed to my side as I collapsed against the wall, completely drained. “I will be fine. Check our guest.”

She hesitated, then moved to comply. ‘Sleeping, sir,” she said quietly. “He is in a deep, healing sleep. It would be best to let him stay asleep.”

Flame relaxed a bit, then helped me into a sitting position. “You overdid it, again,” she said with a little bite in her tone.

“I will be fine,” I said and tried to ignore the light-headedness.

Leslie came back to my side, examined me, and then said, “Magic must really take a lot out of you, sir. Your vitals look like a man who has been weeks in combat without proper rest or nutrition.”

“That creature packed a lot of power; he was almost beyond me to deal with,” I said.

“Leslie, he needs a power drink. You’ll find the instructions on how to make one under illuminescence in the medical database,” said Flame. A power drink, as she called it, was a protein-rich drink laced with a chemical compound called illuminescence, a critical part of a magus' makeup, which was discovered by the Black Adders and later refined by Headmaster Rannor. It is used up in the working of magic, but no one has yet really discovered how or why. A magus’ body typically manufactured all he needed, but the process could often be kick-started into a faster rate by drinking a high-calorie nutrient drink mixed with artificially-created illuminescence. The artificial illuminescence could not be used to work magic, nor did it seem to do anything for mundanes. In fact, it seemed to be completely inert and non-digestible, yet there was no question about its impact on a magus.

As Leslie made the drink, I noticed something odd. My weave sense was still active from the fight, and I could see energy flowing around her hands as she worked. No, that was not it; the energy was flowing through her hands. I watched without saying a word as more and more power flowed into the mixture. I could see her body was working overtime producing the energy, and a cold sweat broke out on her brow. Once she had finished, she brought it to me and said, “Drink, sir. If I understand the directions right, this will lose its potency pretty quickly.” She was right; illuminescence only had a half-life of a couple of minutes.

I took the drink and could see it was laced with more power than normal, but the aura looked good, and I needed my strength for when the magus awoke, so I chugged it. As I drank it, I felt power pouring through my body, refreshing and rejuvenating me like nothing I had ever felt before. I stood up feeling fully recovered and said, “Whoa.”

“
Spectra, I should have asked you to do this before, but no matter; please read Leslie’s aura,
” I sent. It seemed there was more to this doctor than first appeared.

“Shadow, take it easy. You need rest,” said Flame.

“No, Flame, I do not. It seems our doctor has greatly improved the recipe, somehow,” I said and then sent what I had seen when Leslie was making the drink.

“
Impossible,”
sent Flame.
“It’s as if she has completely restored your energy pools.”

“Not completely, maybe sixty percent; but yes, impossible until now, it seems,”
I sent. “Doctor, have you ever worked with illuminescence before?” I asked.

“No, sir, I never heard of it till just now. Did I do something wrong?” she asked, obviously nervous.

“Not at all,” I said, and then the images came in from Spectra.

“
Shadow, she is a magus, but I have never seen this aura pattern before. It matches what you saw when she mixed your drink, so she definitely enchanted the drink. I just have no idea how,
” sent Spectra.

“Doctor, you look a bit drained. Are you okay?” I asked.

“Sorry, sir, I do not know why I am so tired all of a sudden,” she said. I could see she was confused and worried. I suspected that she had no idea what she had just done. “Sir, you look much better. This illuminescence must be more potent than the computer indicated.”

“
Now what?”
asked Flame.

“It is okay, Leslie. Please sit and rest a minute,” I said. “
Flame, mix her up a protein shake like mine, but a much lower dose, and do not let her see what you are doing.”
Once Flame had the drink ready, I pulled up a chair across from Leslie and said with a gentle smile, “Here, protein shakes are good for non-magi too.”

She took the drink, and I could see the illuminescence glow softly as she drank it, just as it would if any magus drank it. “
Okay, new rule of engagement: we make aura reading a more standard practice,”
I sent. While I was sending that, she looked at her drink, then over to me, and said, “Sir, does this have illuminescence in it?”

“Yes, how can you tell?” I asked.

“I don’t know, sir, but it feels a little strange going down,” she said and then finished the drink. “A pleasant kind of strange.”

“Leslie, have you always pursued a career in medicine, or have you tried other things in life?” I asked.

“Oh, as a child I had all kinds of silly dreams, but ever since becoming an adult I have done nothing but study medicine, sir.”

“What kind of silly dreams?” I asked.

“Nothing special, I am sure, sir. Just typical ‘fairy princess’ kind,” she said. “Forgive me, sir, but this seems like an odd line of questioning.”

“Yes, I suppose it does, but please bear with me a bit longer. When you made my drink, did anything seem odd about it?” I asked.

“Well, sir, I have never worked with illuminescence before, so I do not know what would be considered odd,” she said.

“Yes, but you have worked with every other ingredient in that drink, I assume?” I asked.

“Sure, it’s a fairly basic mixture that I would use with any starvation sufferer, sir,” she said.

“Okay, then how was working with this drink different?” I asked.

She paused and looked at me for a long while as if deciding whether or not to tell me something. Then she sighed and said, “The illuminescence made my flesh tingle a bit while mixing it. I am a bit embarrassed to say it was a very pleasant kind of tingling,” she said.

“I see. Tell me one more thing, please: have you ever applied to Alpha Academy?” I asked.

Excitement leaped into her face as she said, “No, but I desperately wanted to. I hear they only have one doctor for the entire school, and something about that place draws me, especially in my dreams.”

“
We should call home and get advice, not only on her but on this tear in space also,”
sent Spectra.

“
We cannot risk that. So far, the ghosts have ignored us, but they seem to be drawn to me. If they discover us out here, they could easily overwhelm us before help could arrive and warn whoever is behind this. No, stealth right now is our best bet,”
I sent.

“
What do you mean, ‘drawn to you’?
” she asked.

“
I do not know, but when I was on that battleship they were pulling me in, begging me to save them. I knew their voices; it was as if they personally wanted me,
” I sent and then I said to Leslie, “Leslie, you know we are from Alpha Academy. Why didn’t you ask us to join if you wanted to so badly?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“
We sidelined her, and she was afraid to talk to us about it,”
sent Flame. I knew she was right. After all, until now she was just a temporary mundane passenger that we’d intended to get rid of.

“Leslie, you’re a member of my crew now, and that means you are a part of Alpha Academy,” I said.

Her eyes opened wide as she looked at me with pure shock written across her face and said, “But, sir, I thought you did not want me?”

“It is true, I did not want a mundane on board for this mission. It is just too dangerous. It had nothing to do with you, and everything to do with the fact that we are at war. Not to mention the fact that this is a top-secret vessel far more advanced than anyone else has ever seen before, and no mundane is allowed to see it,” I said. “I think you can see how having a mundane aboard made things a bit awkward. We have never dealt with anything like this before out here, and honestly I had no clear idea what to do with you. I still do not.”

“Sir, you just said I was a part of Alpha Academy, now. What does that mean?” she asked.

“That means, Leslie, that we have discovered you are not a mundane. You are, in fact, a magus,” I said.

She gasped, stood up, and walked over to the computer, gestured at it and said, “But sir, your computers say a person is either born a magus or is a mundane. I have never shown any tendency for power, and failed the rudimentary tests your computers have. How could I be one?”