PSTH: Chapter Forty-Six

Sponsorships are something of considerable debate when it comes to the Tamer’s Consortium. While corporate sponsorships aren’t too much of an issue, older tamers sponsoring younger ones with money, materials, and mentorship has a small but tangible benefit, especially in the beginning stages, where up and coming tamers might not have access to better spells. But tamer mentorships are a tradition that’s existed since Primals first came to Earth. What’s what this meeting is really about: What limitations should mentors be placed under when it comes to their mentees? Should they be under any restrictions at all? And how can we compensate those without a mentor for the aspects of the system that aren’t fair? 

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Summary notes from a Tamer’s Consortium meeting, 395 Modern-Era

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“Who’s the next Councillor you’re going to challenge?” Laurel asked, slathering a bit of butter on a roll. 

“Galena Town,” Gawian said, then frowned and glanced at Laurel and me. “Are you two not going to be in attendance?” 

I frowned at him. Gawain was often slightly confusing to me, but that seemed like a total non sequitur, even for him. I’d never been a master of geography, but I was pretty sure that Galena Town only had like thirty thousand residents, and it wasn’t located on anything crazily noteworthy like Arkose. Was there even a Councillor there? 

“Attendance for what?” I asked. “Where we were camped, there wasn’t a local network, so we usually only spent a little bit of time online when we were actively boosting our signal.” 

“Oh. There’s going to be a battle between the Councillor there, Sam Kingfisher, and Regent Finley Spinner. I figured that you’d want to see it. Especially since Bagel Thief is one of the only Kirow I know that can rank well with some regularity.” 

I immediately dove for my Augpad, pulling it from my backpack and logging into the Tamer Consortium website, then flicking to upcoming registered battles, clicked on F, and navigated to Finley’s section. It was a little bit annoying to have to navigate this way, but it was better than letting corporations or the government ignore the restrictions on algorithmic training and collecting personal data. It took a bit, but sure enough, there was an upcoming fight listed in a sports arena, about a month away. Like a lot of the major fights that had the potential to draw people in, they only sold tickets to people who were there in person to buy them, unless you had an accommodation that would make getting through the lines and people unreasonable. I didn’t, so I put the date in my calendar and resolved to watch. Even if I didn’t have a Kirow, it would be interesting to watch a pair of tamers on the level of Vince fighting. I’d watched countless replays of them, but getting to see one in person would be an entirely new experience. 

“Galena’s also got a pretty decent collection of replicas that the historical society puts together,” River commented, glancing at Laurel. “It could be fun for us to go.” 

I felt a small pang of jealousy at that. I really did hope that they had fun, but… there were disadvantages to growing up in a small town. I’d never really had the opportunity to date anyone before. 

“There is also a concert that will be going on the day before the event,” Gawain said. “I will be in attendance. I will send you all the link to the band’s page. If it seems interesting, you are welcome to attend. You should pass the link on to Rane. If you don’t mind.” 

I was so startled by the fact that he’d not only suggested intentionally doing an outing with all of us, but that he’d also asked me to send the link to Rane, that I temporarily sat there, unsure of what to say. My mind began to race. The pair had bantered in the microphone store. Was Gawain interested in my best friend? It would be just like Rane: she always seemed to have luck with people, romantically or otherwise. It was only when Laurel kicked me under the table that I snapped back to my senses. 

“Oh, uh, yeah, sure. I can send it to her.” 

“Good,” Gawain said, before nodding as if that had settled that. River leaned in and asked about the band, which seemed to catch Gawain’s attention. The pair chatted, with Laurel occasionally adding her opinion. I found myself sitting mostly in silence. I… didn’t really have much to add. I enjoyed music in a vague sense, but not enough to start naming specific subgenres or bands. Heart’s truth, I didn’t even usually listen to music while doing other things. I knew lots of people liked to listen to it while they biked or walked or did the dishes, but that had just never clicked for me. 

Laurel seemed to notice that I wasn’t able to engage much, and she made an effort to rope me into the talking, but her attempt only met with moderate success. After we had finished our meal, Gawain pointed at me, a stare so intense that it was practically a glare plastered on his face. 

“Fight me now. We need to get it recorded so that I can head to Galena to work on getting everything set up that I need to, and you can do… whatever it is you need to do.” 

“Probably recording, editing, and training,” I responded, though I didn’t know why he seemed to be angry about it. “But fine. I’ll fight you.” 

“Have fun boys,” Laurel said, while River began wiggling his eyebrows. Gawain gave the pair such a blank, confused look that I almost felt bad for him, but before I could gather too much sympathy, he made a scoffing noise and swept out. I sighed and rolled my eyes at the couple before following. 

Once we found a ring and powered it up, I considered my strategy. He’d lead with Gryphon, I was willing to bet that. Gryphon was flexible, powerful, and clearly the Primal that Gawain was closest to. It wasn’t that Gabis and Troublemaker were unloved or uncared for, it was just that Gryphon and Gawain clearly had some sort of special bond. I was guessing that Gryphon had been his first Primal. I loved Zale and Hex, but Scales held a special place in my heart. 

If he was using Gryphon and someone else, then the obvious answer was to use Hex and Zale. But would that be too obvious? I’d just won a fight with the pair. Then again, in that fight, I’d started with Zale and Scales. Maybe he’d be expecting the same? If that were the case, he might not send out Gryphon, and then I should send out Scales. But… I shook my head and settled on Hex and Zale. That sort of logic got circular very quickly, and it wouldn’t do to dwell on something I couldn’t know. I lifted my tablet and accepted the challenge, noting that Gawain hadn’t put down a bet. I was somewhat glad for that, as it meant that I wouldn’t be expected to put one forward either. As soon as the information was processed, I tapped Hex and Zale’s storage gems. 

An instant later, the pair was standing across from Gryphon and Troublemaker, and the battle began. Gryphon began gathering lightning between his antennae, but Zale was already moving. He rushed forward at his top non-spell enhanced speed, and then used a Light Dash to erupt into the air. Gryphon’s lightning pounded against his form, and I audibly gasped. It was no wonder that Gryphon was such a hard counter to Scales – even with the incredible physical and magical strength of an un-gifted Apaturegius, that had hurt! 

Hex scampeered back as Troublemaker unleashed a combination of Phantom Fear and Enhance Emotions over the battlefield, presumably working to mold the illusion in such a way that it wouldn’t alter the perceptions of Gawain and his team. I, on the other hand, could see as shadowy figures began to creep out of nowhere, their flesh unnaturally pale despite being made from shadow, their eyes bulging, their teeth filled with row after row like a shark. The illusion itself was disturbing, but with the spell amplifying the emotions and fear response, it went beyond that. 

But it was too late. Hex was a shade Primal herself, and even if her types meant she couldn’t resist the opposing mind altering spells – toxic being weak to arcane, while shade resisted – it wasn’t enough to stop her from casting Weakening Smog. Zale, on the other hand, was already resistant to the effects of the shade magic from his radiance element, and was used to fighting himself to cast spells. As he reached the zenith of the Light Dash and the mist bound to Gryphon’s shell, Zale slammed down with a Pnuema Bite. 

Gryphon was a powerful primal, very much so. But Wyfynods were heavily focused on anima, relying on their spellcraft more than physical ability. What pneuma they had was mostly focused on improving their flight and flight speed, not toughness or strength. With his shell weakened, there was nothing he could do. The bite crashed through his shell, shattering it in a single blow, and Zale was falling. He hit the ground right in time for Troublemaker to unleash a Telekinetic Pulse at short range. The spell crashed down, but not at Zale. Zale was resistant to arcane attacks, after all. No, the spell struck Hex, who tried to leap out of the way. She was normally nimble, probably enough to dodge, but the shadow figures seized her and she froze for just a moment. It was enough. The spell slammed into her, cracks rushing over her pneuma shell.

Gabis emerged onto the battlefield, even as Zale used a Restore Shell to repair all of the damage he’d taken from the fall, and some of the damage from Gryphon’s blast, and Hex scampered behind him even as she launched a Weakening Smog at Troublemaker. The haze sunk in, and the salamander-like Primal hissed angrily, sounding more like a snake than a salamander. 

I tensed, running through options in my mind as fast as I could. Gabis’ gift was a form of damage reflection, and Hex’s pneuma was about half gone. I didn’t know how much longer she would be able to keep that off. I cursed myself for helping Hex launch the Weakening Smog at Troublemaker, instead of Gabis.

Zale shot forward as Gabis launched a new spell, a shimmering diamond the size of my fist coallessing and spearing forward at Zale. It too hit hard, but not nearly as hard as Gryphon’s strike had. With Zale’s shell partially repaired, there was nothing too worrying about the blow, not unless the damage reflection could come back on line. Zale’s Pneuma Bite connected, but unlike Wyfynods, Cyrics were durable. Hex scampered back, but the shadow figures, empowered by the Enhance Emotions spell that she was being harried by, struck again, and while she was able to land a final Weakening Smog on Gabis before another blast of telekinetic force shattered her pneuma shell. 

Scales emerged onto the battlefield then, his white crystalline scales glowing like a suit of armor, and he barreled right into the fray. Zale was gathering power for another Pneuma Bite, even as Gabis shot those diamonds at him, but with Hex gone, Zale’s strength was much slower to come. Troublemaker turned and began to wrap his spells around Scales’ mind. The arcane emotion spell struck immediately, sinking into Scales’ mind to amplify his fear and negative emotions, but before the shadow figures could begin to disrupt his movement, Scales’ mouth was glowing with the faint white light of his Frosted Bite. He crunched down at force. 

Scales’ gift was an interesting one. His power increased while under duress. It wasn’t by a staggering amount, usually only around a third, and it wasn’t the kind of thing that could be faked. He had to actually feel like he was in a tight spot, like he was running out of options. With one of his allies down, his other ally fighting his own spirit to cast even the simplest of spells, shadow men closing in, and magic amplifying his spell? 

His teeth struck, and for that single moment, his gift activated. New essence, strange and transient, flowed through his body, and it almost felt like he leapt up to level twenty. His bite struck the Boogeymander and tore through the already-weakened pneuma shell. Much like Gryphon, Troublemaker was a very heavily anima-focused Primal, without powerful pneuma. That came with its benefits, of course – having a larger quantity of more powerful anima meant more spells at a higher power. But when it came to physical fights, it had its own weakness, and my team was practically perfectly built to exploit physical weakness. 

Zale’s spell completed, and he bit down on Gabis. Gabis’ gift activated, and slashes of crystal and ice dug into Zale’s pneuma shell. It wasn’t enough. Scales rushed over and bit down with a pnuema bite of his own, the extra essence fading away as the fear magic and shadow men retreated. To Gabis’ credit, he managed to use some earth spells and his damage reflection to nearly take Zale out, but it simply wasn’t enough. As Gabis’ shell broke, I felt a grin spread over my face.