Before he even hit the ground, Fay was there by his side, her arms wrapping around the dark-haired teen and catching him before his head could slam into the dirt below.
“Lucas!”
Magnus cut off the flow of mana through his body, glancing down at the liquid metal that had coated his body as it disappeared. Going into the fight, he’d never expected that he would have to use the armor that he’d created and refined after so many years of fighting. He didn’t think that Lucas would have reached the level needed to push him that far.
“Dad! Something’s wrong!”
Magnus knew what Fay was talking about right away. After his last move, whatever Lucas had done, Magnus could see that the teen had gone too far. He’d pushed his magic beyond what he was ready for, and the consequences were obvious. The blood pouring from his nose and the small trails of blood leaking from his eyes were not good signs. And for Fay, seeing her new boyfriend in such a state was near panic inducing. The boy’s familiar didn’t seem to be in much of a better state as the little fox whimpered and gently pawed at Lucas’ arm.
“Fay,” He called out as he approached his daughter. She wasn’t listening, though.
“Fay, listen to me,” Magnus repeated. He rested a hand on his daughter’s shoulder and that seemed to be enough to get her attention.
“He’s pushed himself too far, but we can’t tell how much. The potions we have aren’t going to be able to help with this, so I need you to go and get Healer North. He’ll be able to help with this,” He explained.
Immediately, Magnus saw Fay’s mouth open to try and protest his orders. He knew she’d say that she wanted to stay with Lucas to make sure that he was alright. He’d have done the same thing if the positions had been reversed and it had been Lissa lying injured on the ground. He also had a way to stop those protests before they could start.
“You’re the fastest one here, Fay,” He gently reminded his daughter. “Your mother or I could go and get him, but it would take more time. You can get to Healer North much faster. I need you to go tell him about the situation and bring him here so that he can help Lucas. Can you do that?”
Magnus watched as Fay’s eyes darted between himself and the unconscious form of her boyfriend. The uncertainty and worry warring with his request. Then he saw that resistance wither as she realized that he was right.
“I can do that,” She replied quietly.
“We’ll make sure to keep him stable while you’re gone, Fayth.”
Magnus had barely even noticed when Lissa had wandered over. Just like Fay, his wife was looking at Lucas with visible worry and concern. He couldn’t blame her; he felt the same way but was just better at staying focused in a bad situation.
He nodded his head and gave his daughter a little nudge. “Go, Fay. He’ll still be here when you get back.”
Fay sent one last look at the unconscious teen before she stood and vanished in a blur of movement. She knew the way to North’s clinic, and it was still a bit early into the evening so Magnus was sure that the man would still be there. Now, they just had to wait.
“Magnus, help me with these potions,” Lissa called out as she grabbed a greater healing potion from the little bag at her side. “We can’t do much about what he’s done internally, but we can make things easier for Rowan when he arrives by healing up some of those cuts.”
She was right. The fight had gone much further than Magnus had expected, and Lucas had refused to ever back down. The kid had been stubborn, and Magnus had steadily ramped up his efforts as the fight went on. Old instincts reared their head and he’d even started taking Lucas seriously after a bit of time. The young man’s body was littered with cuts and purple bruises, but those were things that some potions could handle.
“Always prepared, aren’t you,” Magnus joked lightly as he crafted a knife to carefully cut away the bloody shirt from Lucas’ chest. The cuts were mostly shallow, but there were enough of them to be a bit of a concern. He shrank back a bit when he saw the stern glare that his wife was giving him.
“I had a feeling things would get out of control, so yes, I was prepared,” Lissa replied. The annoyance in her voice was hard to miss, and Magnus knew he was going to be in the doghouse.
He watched as Lissa carefully trickled the potion over Lucas’ cut up arms and chest. The bleeding stopped almost immediately, and it wouldn’t be too long before the wounds began to knit themselves back together again. They wouldn’t be healed by the time that North arrived, but they wouldn’t be a concern for the healer by then.
“Now it’s your turn,” Lissa said as she turned towards Magnus. “Get over here.”
Magnus looked himself over and had to admit that his wife was right. He’d taken far more injuries in the fight than he’d expected to, including the gash carved into his chest. It shouldn’t have gotten to that point, but he’d gotten cocky and let his skills dull more than he’d realized over the years.
Lucas was smart and had leaned into that overconfidence to trick and surprise him multiple times during the fight. The teen had clearly learned a good deal from Granny Wren already and it was obvious that Lucas was going to be very skilled with Illusion magic, given enough time. The real surprises had come from the teen’s Darkness magic.
When Lucas and Fay had returned from their trip, the two had told him about how Lucas had managed to use his affinity for Darkness for the first time. It had been an impressive way to use such a magic and Magnus was incredibly curious about what else the teen would be able to do.
It seemed like the teen had been working hard to figure out what he could do as well. Magnus had been expecting the blade made out of shadows, but he’d almost missed it when Lucas had tried his trick with the two illusory swords. If the boy had practiced more, Magnus was pretty sure he wouldn’t have had time to coat his chest with armor when Lucas had tried to stab him.
The shadow spikes that erupted from the ground and the tendrils that Lucas used to grab and bind him, though? Those had been surprises that he hadn’t been expecting at all. They’d caught him off guard the first time and had managed to pretty much take his left hand out of the fight thanks to the small hole in his arm. It had been a smart move, and the injuries were enough to slow him down enough that Lucas could slightly keep up.
Sure, he hadn’t been going all out, but he also didn’t want to kill his daughter’s boyfriend. Limiting himself to a level that Lucas could fight, Magnus had been surprised that he’d been forced to put in much more effort than he’d expected.
And then there was that last move that Lucas had used…
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Come on, you big lug.”
Magnus laughed slightly and took a seat in the grass so Lissa could tend to his wounds. Another greater healing potion doused some gauze, and the blonde went to work wrapping up the small holes punched into his body and the small cuts that Lucas’ magic had managed to inflict. Then she began to wrap up the long gash along his chest.
“He cut you through your armor,” Lissa quietly spoke as she wrapped the bandages around his chest. “It could’ve been you laying on the grass if you hadn’t been careful. I’ve seen that armor tank explosions, Magnus, so how did he cut through it like it was butter?”
Magnus honestly wished he knew. Whatever the dark-haired teen had done, it had allowed him to cut through the metal he’d created with his magic with terrifying ease. He’d created that technique years ago to protect him and it had stood up to some of the worst things he could throw at it. And yet, somehow, Lucas had made it look like a sheet of aluminum foil.
“I’m not sure,” Magnus admitted. “Whatever he did, it was something that he wasn’t ready for. We’ll have to talk to him about it when he wakes up.”
The man hissed in pain as Lissa tightened the bindings around his chest just a bit too tight for comfort. He saw his wife grin at the little hint of pain and got his confirmation that he was definitely in the doghouse.
Luckily, before Magnus could suffer under his wife’s ministrations any longer, Fay blurred back into the yard with an older man in tow.
Rowan North was one of the most well-known people in Helstrum. As someone gifted with an affinity for Healing magic, just about everyone in town had seen him at least once for some reason or another. His sharp features and stern looking black eyes often made the man look quite intimidating. He certainly looked more mature than one would expect from a twenty-seven-year-old. Though Magnus was a bit amused as he saw the middle-aged man stumble and try to steady himself once Fay let go of his arm. North looked a lot less stern when he was so visibly disoriented.
He knew the signs of a person being dragged along via Speed magic by that point. He also could see that Fay had exhausted herself as the girl stumbled her way back to Lucas’ side while panting and gasping for air. Moving at high speed could be tiring, but taking another person along with her had always been a huge drain on his daughter. And running all the way from the first ring and back to the third with a passenger was bound to be especially draining.
“That was… Interesting,” The healer muttered as he approached Magnus. He ran a hand through his disheveled brown hair to try and make it look a bit less windswept.
“Sorry about the rush, North, but we had a bit of a situation here and needed your help,” Magnus explained.
The younger man looked Magnus over, his eyes immediately locking onto the wrapped-up wounds on his body. Then his focus shifted to Lucas, who’s wounds weren’t yet wrapped up, but had stopped bleeding.
“It definitely looks like a situation, Mr. Stella. What happened?” He asked.
“The kid and I were sparring and things got out of hand,” Magnus explained. “The injuries aren’t much of a problem; we have potions to help with that. The bigger issue is that, towards the end of the fight, the kid did something with his magic. He started bleeding from his eyes and nose and then collapsed.”
The healer hummed and approached the unconscious teen. Fay was already at his side, slumped over and exhausted but still gripping Lucas’ hand.
“What are his affinities? And how long has he had his magic for?” Rowan asked.
“Darkness and Illusions,” Fay answered softly. “And he’ll have had his magic for three weeks by tomorrow.”
The healer nodded silently and crouched down beside the teen. The bleeding from his wounds had stopped thanks to the potions, but a small trickle of blood still leaked from his nose and the remnants of bloody tears were still visible on his face.
“May I?” Rowan asked as he looked towards Fay.
The younger blonde seemed hesitant, but she slowly removed her hand from Lucas’ and allowed the healer to work. The moment she’d done so, Rowan’s hands began to glow with a soft white light. Gently, he placed both hands upon Lucas’ body, one against his chest and the other against the teen’s head. After a couple seconds, the glow spread to the teen’s body and illuminated the area around the group.
For thirty tense seconds, there was silence as Rowan did his work. The man’s eyebrows shot up at one point, but he didn’t stop. Once the glow died down, though, he pulled his hands away and turned towards the Stellas. The wounds that had covered Lucas’ body were gone, and even the bits of blood staining his skin had been removed by the healer’s magic.
“You said that he’s only had his magic for about three weeks?” He asked.
When Fay nodded, the man hummed again and glanced down at the teen.
“For someone so new to their magic, his mana reserves are incredibly impressive. But what’s more surprising is that it’s almost entirely empty. He’s used up just about everything he had. Along with that, there’s clear signs of mental strain. Whatever he did, it was something his mind or magic wasn’t ready for. I’ve seen similar sorts of strain before when someone using Thought magic pushed themselves too far.”
“So, is he alright?” Lissa asked as she gently rested a hand on Fay’s shoulder. The blonde was idly petting Dusk as the fox laid curled up in her lap. The familiar’s full focus was on Lucas’ unconscious form, much like Fay.
“He is now,” Rowan replied. “There was some swelling of the brain that I was able to catch, and he’d lost a fair bit of blood. Neither would have killed him, but it wouldn’t have been good. You were right to get me to take a look at him. I’ve healed him as best as I can, but it’ll take some time before he wakes up. If he isn’t awake by this time tomorrow, inform me and I’ll come and check up on him.”
“Thank you, Rowan,” Lissa smiled at the man as Fay pushed forward and gripped Lucas’ hand once again. Dusk took the chance to leap out of the blonde’s lap and curl up atop her partner’s chest a moment later.
“Give me a moment and I’ll get your payment,” Magnus said as he made to move towards the house, but the healer stopped him before he could.
Rowan smiled and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t charge for someone’s first visit from me if it’s an emergency. Just make sure that you have a talk with him about what he tried to do. I don’t know what happened exactly, but whatever magic he attempted to do isn’t something he should be trying again anytime soon.”
“We’re already planning on it. Thank you again, North. Next time I see you at the bar, I’ll buy you a drink,” Magnus offered.
“Now that’s a payment I’d be willing to accept,” The younger man joked. “You all have a good night. He should be all fixed up by tomorrow but expect him to have a big appetite when he wakes up.”
As the man began to walk off, he paused at the edge of the property and turned back to look at the family.
“Also, if you need me to come by tomorrow, please give me some time to get there myself,” He pleaded.
Magnus and Lissa both chuckled as the younger man walked off. They were both used to how it felt to be carried along with Fay’s speed magic and knew how rough it could be. Fay herself was far more focused on Lucas.
“Come on, kiddo,” Magnus said softly as he approached his daughter. “Let’s get you both into bed.”
Fay put up some level of resistance, but she was completely exhausted from transporting Rowan to the house. Lissa was able to get the younger blonde up and moving while Magnus carefully carried Lucas back into the house. He was careful to keep the teen steady, as Dusk would growl at him from Lucas’ chest if the man jostled him too much.
While Lissa led Fay to her own bed, Magnus gently slipped Lucas into his own bed and pulled the covers up to the teen’s waist.
“Whatever you did today was real stupid, kid,” Magnus said as he gazed down at Lucas’ sleeping form. “But you did good, too.”
The door closed behind Magnus as he left and the lights within the Stella household went dark soon after. It had been a hectic evening, and everyone was ready for some sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The house was silent once the lights went off. The evening had been far more dramatic than anyone had been expecting, and everyone was drained, whether physically or emotionally.
Dusk was the only one to notice when the door of Lucas’ room silently slid open. The fox watched as Fay shuffled into the room. The blonde was pretty much dead on her feet and clearly exhausted, but she looked determined as she approached the bed.
The little fox offered no protest as Fay tiredly climbed into the bed with her human, sliding in beside him and carefully wrapping her arms around Lucas. Fay was careful not to disturb Dusk, so she wouldn’t disturb the blonde either. And within a minute of curling up into Lucas’ side, Dusk watched as Fay’s breathing evened out and she fell asleep.
The little fox didn’t join the two humans in the land of dreams, though. She stayed awake, keeping a silent vigil and standing guard to protect her human. Sleep could wait.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LitRPG Dark Humor Overpowered MCAI Companion
HEAVEN HAS A HACKER PROBLEM
Bash died doing what he loved: exploiting the system.
Now he's in the Shard, a gamified afterlife where the rich play god and the dead grind dungeons.
Armed with a pure INT build and really bad jokes, he's ready to BASH it all down.
"A lot of stories claim their MC is a 'glitch' or a 'hacker,' but Bash actually acts like one."
— RR Reader
"It may not have crazy aliens but it has the same kind of energy as Dungeon Crawler Carl."
— RR Reader