PSTH: Chapter Sixty-Three

The world is full of wonders. There were more than four thousand breeds of potato that existed in the pre-arrival world, and yet, most pre-arrival peoples within a thousand miles of here only ever saw a dozen varieties. The mass farming of the pre-arrival culture favored standardization and profit above all else – and not profit for the farmers, mind you. Profit for the very same people who crushed the thousands of breeds of potato, destroyed the topsoil, and ensured that plants would lack resistance to bugs and disease.

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Excerpt from The Potato and Pre-Arrival People, 300 Modern-Era

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With Gawain gone, I spent the next few days with Laurel, River, and Rane. Honestly, I spent more time with Laurel than either of the others, since we spent at least four hours each day in the Tamer Consortium’s training hall, practicing for my fight and for Laurel’s re-match. It was probably a good thing that River and Rane weren’t jealous people, as otherwise I could have seen them thinking something else was going on. 

That wasn’t to say I didn’t spend any time with River or Rane, of course. Rane and I spent plenty of evenings together, to let Laurel and River have privacy as a couple, and one of Rane’s boyfriends even came by at one point – not the completely hairless one I’d met before, but an absurdly tall guy with a very angular face and sharp elbows. I also spent time with them as a group, and River even spent a bit of time going over some simple spell theory, since the way I was casting Dash was inefficient. 

“There are two primary methods of casting a spell – projectionism and internalization,” River said. “Of course, that’s a bit of a simplification, since there are spells that are a split between them, then you have the whole axis of directed versus undirected, and area versus concentration, and shaping element…” 

It took him a while to loop back around to the point, but it eventually came down to the fact that Bond Primal, the first spell I had cast, was a projected spell, while Dash was an internal spell, and by learning to tweak the methods I manipulated anima with, I was able to cut the cost of Dash in half. 

“I don’t think most Tamers would know this unless they were also bonded to an essence beast, so don’t feel too bad,” he admitted. “Primals don’t have this issue, since they’re beings of pure ousia, but it takes effort for us biological beings to separate them out.” 

Before I knew it, though, the day of my own duel with Councillor Kingfisher arrived, and I couldn’t help but feel a pit in my stomach as I took a mental accounting of myself and my team. Zale was still the highest level, at twenty, while both Scales and Hex were at level eighteen. Scales was a bit further along into the level than Hex, but none of them had any particular new moves or tricks up their sleeves. They would get them, in time, but for right now I just needed to make do with what I had. 

Arriving at the arena with Rane, Laurel, and River, but not Gawain felt weird, and there was probably something to that, but I didn’t have the time to unpack that right now, and instead just partitioned it off to deal with another time. Councillor Kingfisher grinned at me as I strode into the area. 

“And of course, the last of the Terrible Three,” he said, seeming to speak more to the camera than to me. “Three Councillor’s Seals done already, and no signs of stopping. Gawain 

“The Terrible Three?” I asked, arching an eyebrow at the title. 

“Have you not seen?” asked Councillor Kingfisher, then flicked his hands a few times and sent me a link over the local network. I skimmed over it and felt my cheeks flush. It was from a moderately well known gossip magazine, one that primarily covered gossip related to the Tamer’s Consortium. The link Kingfisher had sent me was to the back of the page, where they had a section focused around up and coming tamers during this cycle of the Councillor challenges. Sure enough, there was an image of Gawain, Laurel, and me right there, with the label the Terrible Three. 

It looked like we’d been lumped together due to all of us showing up together for one another’s fights, and seemingly traveling together. There was a lot of speculation about the nature of our relationship with one another that ranged from friendship, to rivalry, to throupleness, and into more outlandish territory. Some of the things they suggested made me blush, and I clicked off the article. 

“I… okay. I guess I am one of the Terrible Three,” I said, fighting between my embarrassment and the recognition that this would be great for getting my name out there. As I verbalized it, I started letting myself slip into a persona, a character, more than myself, lifting my storage gems and spinning them between my fingers. 

“I am one of them, but just because I’m the third to face you doesn’t mean I’m the third in quality. The Three versus Kingfisher currently stands at one to one. Let’s see if we can fix those odds!” 

Then I lifted my augpad with my other hand and sent Councillor Kingfisher the challenge, and Councillor Kingfisher laughed, flaring a bit of his essence around him as he put in his bet – one thousand credits, and an essence stone. I matched it in my traditional way, putting up a hundred credits. 

“I like the guts, kid,” Kingfisher said, as two of his Primals materialized. The first was his Fearfeaster, the large bat-like Primal letting out a screech as it appeared. The second was the Starab, which was still probably the worst match for us, but I had at least a bit of a plan. Unfortunately, it was still a risk, and I didn’t know that I could win. If I hadn’t prepared specifically against it, then I knew I wouldn’t have. But as it was… I thought I had a chance. 

Zale and Hex appeared on the field, and the referee floated into the air and began a countdown, her voice echoing through the stadium. I flared my own essence and pushed a full three-quarters of my pneuma into Hex, phasing it towards protecting her the best I could. Half of my anima poured in as well, working to fill her reserves of magic. 

“Begin!” 

As soon as the last sound rang out, Hex unleashed a massive wave of shadows. Shadow Cloud was an expensive spell, but Hex was a much higher level than when we had met, and she’d done a lot of training with the magic. When the cloud of darkness touched the Starab and Fearfeaster, it clung to them like glue. Even as the shadows filled the battlefield, Zale exploded forward, using the Light Dash he’d prepared in the buildup, aiming for the Starab as it flitted about in the air. They crashed into one another, and a simple law of physics, one that was at least largely unchanged by the introduction of essence, came to bear: the interactions of mass and gravity. 

Zale was a big Primal, even in his smaller form, and his battle form was enormous. Light Dash gave little offensive power, even reducing the kinetic energhy produced on an impact to grant greater speed in a mind-bending feat I didn’t understand, but even so, slamming into the Starab knocked it off balance, and then, when Zale curled his entire body around it, digging his dragon-centipede claws into the Starab’s shell, the Starab suddenly had to deal with trying to fly with far more weight. The flaring and buzzing sounds filled the arena as the pair slowly sunk toward the ground, Zale building spells, while the Starab tried to fire off blasts of radiant magic towards where Hex had been.

Hex wasn’t in that spot, of course, but was dodging the Fearfeaster. Her cat-like eyes were able to peirce the darkness well, while the Fearfeaster was able to see as well. I didn't know if it had a sonar ability, like a true bat, or if it was simply able to see in the dark like Hex could. I had hoped that Councillor Kingfisher wouldn’t be used to fighting without leaning on his abilities, and would be using some indirect and minor attacks to build fear and drain pneuma, but I hadn’t expected it. After all, he had a Felimalio of his own, so he was going right for taking out Hex. 

He was sending down blasts of telekinetic force at Hex, somewhat similar to Trouble’s spell, but that went a longer distance by being compressed into a thinner, lance-like shape. Each time the telekinesis fired off, it forced Hex to leap out of the way. I was leaning entirely on her to dodge, unable to see except through the impressions she sent me. Her anima pool was already tanking as she ignored the Fearfeaster and released a wave of Weakening Smog into the Starab.

There was a part of me that wanted to have her drop the massive cloud of darkness, and keep it focused only on the Starab. It would help her keep in the fight for longer, but I had to stop myself from giving the suggestion. After all, the illusions the Starab used were made by using radiant magic to manipulate or make light, and by blanketing the entire area in darkness, it had nothing to manipulate, and anything it created would be blindingly obvious. 

Cracks were already splintering through the Starab’s shell. I knew that it couldn’t last much longer as things were, but Councillor Kingfisher had already swapped strategies. Instead of firing bolts of light and lances of force at Hex, who had the mobility and area to dodge, all of the fire was concentrating on Zale. Pinning down the Starab as he was, he couldn’t dodge, and his own shell was breaking down. He cast Restore Shell in between Pneuma Bites, but on a two to one, I knew that he’d be taken out moments after the Starab was. 

I bit my lip, considering what I could do. Hex’s anima reserves were below half already. If she kept firing off spells of any sort, even something as weak as Poison Needle, she’d run out of anima before the fight could conclude. But if I didn’t do anything, then Zale would be – trading one of my epic primals for one of his didn’t sound bad, but I needed Zale to take down the Fearfeater, or things could go poorly.

That was when Councillor Kingfisher did something. His Fearfeaster stopped attacking, and Zale was able to get off an extra Pneuma Bite and Restore Shell, though his own anima reserves were starting to dip. 

I made a choice, and Hex leapt in, firing a spray of Poison Needles into the Starab. With Zale’s incredible strength and Hex’s support, the Starab’s pneuma shell broke quickly, and I immediately had Hex drop the cloud of shadows – and saw what I had been missing. The Fearfeaster had a massive circling wave of shadows surrounding him, some sort of charge spell, and even as the Insubsturgeon appeared on the battlefield, it unleashed it. 

Shadow thundered down on Zale, and I winced, before a spike of panic shot through me. The charge spell didn’t deal any direct damage, but Zale’s anima reserve was draining rapidly. He was trying to pull together a Light Dash, and when he dashed, the Insubsturgeon moved. It flickered and followed an instant behind Zale, before its tail began to glow with blue light. A Tsunami Tail slammed into Zale, and his pneuma shell cracked. 

I flicked my eyes to Hex and fed her the last of my anima, even as she was preparing spells, only for a lance of force to impact her and knock her back. Another Tsunami Tail slammed into Zale, even as he got off a Pneuma Bite on the Insubsturgeon, and Zale’s battle form dissolved.