PSTH: Chapter Sixty-Four

All the world's a stage, / And all the People and Primals merely players; / They have their exits and their entrances; / And one Primal in their time plays many parts / Their acts being three stages.

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Modification on a Pre-Arrival Quote by an Unknown Author, Circa 117 Modern-Era

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Scales leapt forward, the magic around him surging and pulsing as he formed a shell of pneuma around him, entering his battle form, and he took a position next to Hex. I studied the battlefield for a moment, flicking my eyes around. While Scales was completely fresh, Hex was down to only a quarter of her total anima. At least her pneuma reserves were still in a good spot. I’d have to lean on her more meager physical abilities, and use spells sparingly, maybe focusing more heavily on things like Shade Bite, which partially relied on pneumatic power anyways.

Councillor Kingfisher was probably in a similar spot to me. His Insubsturgeon had used a bit of anima, but not enough to really matter. He had taken a hit from Zale, and an Insubsturgeon wasn’t the tankiest Primal in the world, but it also wasn’t enough for me to have an edge. His Fearfeaster’s pneuma was doubtless still mostly full, and the anima… I wasn’t sure. Those force lances were strong, but also small. It was possible that they were more like the needles that Hex used, and didn’t drain much anima, but instead relied on the more complex spell design to impart more power. The beam of darkness that had zapped Zale’s anima seemed like the kind of thing that would cost a lot, but it had also been a slow, charging attack. Those sorts of spells usually either had an extremely outsized effect, or a much lower anima cost offset by charging, and I wasn’t sure which it was. 

All in all, I might have a slight advantage, but I also might be at a slight disadvantage. It all depended on how much the Fearfeaster’s reserves were drained. I couldn’t play like I had a major advantage. Especially since Councillor Kingfisher had so much more experience than I did. 

So much more experience… 

An idea entered my mind, a rather devious one. The very thing that Kingfisher was relying on, and the fact that he’d pointed out to Laurel, was that we were lacking in experience and levels. He’d expect me to be liable to make rookie mistakes. In his defense, there was some truth to that, and ways I could have better optimized some of Hex’s anima usage, on top of the fact that having a higher level would have simply meant she had more anima to fuel her cloud of shadows with. But that also opened the door to some new strategies. I allowed a moment of panic to cross over my face, and flung a hand out. 

“Scales, rush in, hit! Insubsturgeon took Zale!” 

One of the things that was most important for a tamer to do in a fight was to guide their Primals. After all, Primals might be smarter than the average dog, and have high emotional intelligence, but they weren’t always the best long term thinkers. A competent tamer did this through the Bond Primal spell, sending things directly into their Primal’s minds, and working at the speed of thought. But a mistake a lot of rookies made was issuing verbal instructions. It was an easy crutch to fall back on, especially for beginners, and with my choppy words, I was hoping that it would sound like I had reacted out of panic, and given commands halfway between mental and spoken. 

Internally, however, I gave Scales a completely different set of commands. I had him rush the Insubsturgeon to make the bluff look more real, but had him immediately begin working on Enhance Defenses. While he did, I had Hex rush toward the Fearfeaster, like she was about to jump up and strike. Kingfisher responded to my bluff and his own analysis of the battlefield with admirable speed, essence flowing from his hands an instant after I spoke. The Insubsturgeon used a shade magic spell to teleport underneath Hex, while the Fearfeaster swooped out of range of a potential leap. 

Scales continued to barrel forward, chomping in air, but with no power behind it, and completed a second casting of Enhance Defenses, which should effectively double his natural defenses against attacks of both a more physical and magical nature. I had Hex leap as well, but instead of going up, or attacking, she leapt backwards, sailing through the air with the kind of grace that only a cat could manage. 

“Not bad!” Kingfisher shouted, and I grinned, before I had Scales rush in at the Insubsturgeon. Kingfisher flicked one finger, and a hail of force spells rained down at Hex where she was, but Scales pivoted and took the spells without flinching. Hex leapt onto his back, and I managed to squeeze out a bit more power to enhance her strength. We needed to get the Fearfeaster out of here before Hex was rendered unable to fight. Of course, the ideal case would involve Hex and Scales still standing, but if Hex went down before the Fearfeaster, then there would be no way for Scales to reliably hit, even with projecting an Aqua Fin upward. Worse, with Hex gone, the Fearfeaster would be able to gather power. 

A match between Scales and the Insubsturgeon wasn’t perfect, since water resisted itself, and the innate spell that let the Insubsturgeon go insubstantial would be a pain to get through, but Scales had been training against a threat very similar to that, with the retributive training bags. More than that, Gawain had been able to punish attacks with Trouble’s magic, so I was sure I’d be able to do the same thing.

Hex erupted into the air, leaping off Scales’ back, and extended a claw, empowered with Shade Bite, to slice into the Fearfeaster. Beneath her, Scales formed another layer to his Enhance Defenses, just in case. The glowing purple claw struck against the bat-like Primal, only for both the Fearfeaster and Insubsturgeon to fire attacks off, and not the ones I’d expected. The Fearfeaster released another powerful beam of shadows, right into Hex’s face, and her anima reserves, already so heavily depleted, all but vanished. In the same moment, the Insubsturgeon, who I had thought was too far away to land a hit, fired off a hail of small, round orbs of water that struck Hex and threw her off to the side, taking a bite from her pneuma. 

She landed and I bit my lip, having Scales shift to Aqua Fin. Hex wasn’t out of the fight from one good hit, but without any anima to fuel her spells, she was going to have a hard time doing anything but being a distraction, and maybe landing a scratch or two. I didn’t know what to do, but my lack of decision didn’t stop Hex. As I’d been thinking about earlier, Primals were fairly intelligent, and she knew enough about herself to know she’d be gone soon. So instead of hanging back and playing the long game, she leapt off of Scales’ back again, moving with admirable speed, and landed atop the Fearfeaster. Her front claws dug into the bat-like Primal, while she bit down hard to hold a grip, and kicked her back legs like a cat going for a kill. It didn’t do much to the pneuma shell of the Fearfeaster, but it made it much harder to fly and maneuver. 

The Insubsturgeon’s Tsunami Tail smashed against Scales’ skin, only to wash off without leaving so much as a crack on the defensive Primal. Scales released an Aqua Fin, spinning and slashing out with a side fin to arc it up into the air. The Fearfeaster tried to swerve out of the way, but with Hex tearing into the Primal’s wings, it was near impossible, and the blow still landed. Cracks rushed through the Fearfeaster’s pneuma shell, but it remained flying. The Insubsturgeon raised its tail for another Tsunami Tail, while the Fearfeaster fired lances of force magic into Scales, but I just had Scales prepare another Aqua Fin. After all, he had three layers of boosts, mostly full reserves, and was innately tanky. I could take the hits, but I needed the Fearfeaster gone. 

Instead of striking Scales, the Insubsturgeon launched itself upward and slammed its tail into Hex, sweeping on a long, low side angle so that the blow barely nicked the Fearfeaster, while getting all of Hex. Hex was flung off, cracks exploding from her pneuma shell. The force lances that had been pinging off Scales’ body suddenly reversed, and struck Hex, layering into her as she fell. The Fearfeaster took another Aqua Fin, but seemed to accept that, as both it and its partner Insubturgeon raced toward Hex. One blow, then another, and… Hex’s shell broke. She trotted back to me, lowering her head, and I scratched her, reassuring her it was okay, even as Scales planted his feet, and faced down the Fearfeaster and Insubsturgeon alone. 

Two on one. Some tamers would forfeit here, since there wasn’t an easy path to victory, and even though I wasn’t about to say it was impossible, I was unsure how I could win. The Insubsturgeon raced forward, its body suddenly entirely ethereal, reappearing right in front of Scales and landing a Tsunami Tail. Scales bit down hard on the tail as it struck, using an ordinary Pneuma Bite, since the Insubturgeon resisted both ice and water. Then another force lance struck Scales, harder than before, while he tried to fire an Aqua Fin through his dorsal fin to hit the Fearfeaster, but that opened him to another strike from the Insubsturgeon. 

Scales was losing. He was slowly being driven back, the simple math against him. He could hit the Insubsturgeon, but only when it appeared to attack. Without Hex disrupting the Fearfeaster’s flight, hitting it was a gamble. Meanwhile, they could attack him just fine, and one got an opening whenever Scales attacked the other. That was when something started happening. Scales’ gift activated, temporarily boosting his strength under duress, and new essence flowed into him. It was something that I really should have considered, since Hex was no longer on the battlefield, and I’d had it happen before. 

Only, there was something new with it this time. Riding along that surge of essence, something within Scales’ ousia weave began to waver and shift. A string broke, then rewound to land somewhere else. Another string shifted, and then a third, and then it was like a damn had broken. His entire ousia web remapped in an instant. His actual form didn’t change, but the shell of projected pneuma that made up his battle form shifted radically. He grew longer, another pair of fins emerging from his side. His dorsal fin grew longer and sharper. His whole body grew larger too, his teeth growing sharper. His pools of pneuma and anima both expanded, then deepened, growing denser. 

And this time, when the Insubsturgeon appeared, the Pneuma Bite that landed carried both the weight of temporary power from Scales’ gift, and the increased efficiency and power of Scales’ second stage. It blew the sturgeon-like Primal backward, and Councillor Kingfisher stood there, gaping in shock. Scales and I leapt on the opportunity, and he launched an Aqua Fin at the Fearfeaster. Already battered and damaged, the slice of water broke the Fearfeaster’s pneuma shell. Scales rushed forward, following the Insubsturgeon. The instant it re-materialized to bite, Scales took the bite head on, accepting the damage to deal a crushing Pneuma Bite in return. Where before that had been a losing proposition, the deeper pool of defensive power Scales now held meant that the trade off now favored Scales. 

Three blows later, and Scales was left standing alone in the arena. The extra essence produced by his gift flowed out of him, and while his level dropped, his new form remained. Then a wave of essence, larger than any I’d ever felt before, rushed into all of us.