Chapter 28

Racing between the alleyways, with adrenaline coursing through my body, I kept a careful eye out for the obscured monster. Without a clear point of origin, it was extremely difficult to tell when and where it might strike, but I kept a glyph readied in my right hand. Then my ears perked up, discerning the sound of approaching footsteps amidst the chaos.

I barely managed to avoid the monster’s sweeping tail by ducking low, retaliating with a burst of ice magic from my left hand, which sent the beast reeling. It panicked and began to flee once again, but I would not let it escape this time.

“Haaaah!!”

I shouted as the magical energy rushed through my body, my spell forming a wall of ice directly in the path of the fleeing monster, stopping it dead in its tracks. It turned to the right, only to see Azalea’s expertly placed illusion of more frost directly in its path.

A slight smile crept onto my lips.

With no other option, the creature turned to the left. As I’d hoped, the lizard like creature was intelligent enough to perceive the presence of Azalea’s illusion. In its panicked state, it would not be able to perceive Alder’s translucent barrier, which it ran into headlong. Holding it back with all of his might, the butler grimaced, repelling the beast’s advance.

I advanced onto the beast, allowing my first ice wall to collapse, scattering crystals that sparkled brightly in their flame-lit surroundings. Bringing my hands up once more to raise another ice wall left the beast pinned down, with no easy means of escape.

Illusions formed, reflecting images of ourselves into the icy prison, which doubtless frightened the beast even further. My heart ached at the level of harm we were bringing to this creature, but for the sake of the village, and itself, it was necessary.

Distracted by the icy illusions, the monster failed to notice Alder’s barrier falling, or the butler climbing up intangible steps. Restraining himself from shouting a battle cry, he fell upon the monster with a hardened barrier shaped into a fist, and landed a forceful blow upon its noggin.

And with that final strike, the monster collapsed to the ground, its rampage at an end.

Lilia landed beside me, setting Matthew down, who was now on his feet once again. Alder and Azalea had already reconvened in front of the defeated beast, alongside myself. The manor residents exchanged wary glances, and  I looked at them with fear in my heart.

“So what do we do once the monster is down?” I pointedly asked.

The two ladies turned their heads away, leaving  Alder to step forward, pushing up his round glasses and letting out a heavy sigh.

“I’m sorry Iris, but I’m afraid we have to put this one down. If we don’t, it will just break free and threaten the townsfolk once again.”

On instinct, my increasingly sharp teeth met my lower lip and I nodded my head in acknowledgment. “I figured as such. Then… before we do that, there is something I would like to try first, if you’ll allow me.”

An uncomfortable silence fell over us as Azalea and Lilia exchanged uncertain looks with each other, and Alder’s vision narrowed.

“That rather depends on what it is you want to try.”

I bit my lip again as the tension rose. Taking a calming breath, I collected my thoughts together, to better articulate my hypothesis.

“Fair enough. This is only a theory of mine, but monsters come about when ordinary creatures are suffused with a sufficient amount of mana. If that mana could be drained out, the monster might then revert to its previous form. I believe that with the right application, I might be able to drain it of that mana.”

Alder’s vision narrowed, then he let out another sigh and looked at me with skepticism. “With your frost magic, it theoretically might be possible, but have you the strength to pull it off?”

“That is certainly a good question. I don’t know for certain if I can or not, but I want to at least try.” I glanced over at the unconscious monster, which was heedless of our discussion. “I want to show it the same mercy that you showed me, when I came to you as a threat.”

Almost as soon as the words left my mouth, Lilia’s melodious voice cut in. “You know, you were never actually a threat to us Iris?”

I blinked in confusion. “What?”

“To be blunt, you showed up on our doorstep half-dead, and then immediately collapsed the moment you got comfortable.” My cheeks turned flush at Lilia’s words, and I looked to the side, avoiding her stare.

“L-Look, I know that I wasn’t in the best of states, but I could have reported back to my superiors.” My words were tinged with a hint of desperation that made me doubt their validity, let alone everyone else.

Azalea cut in. “Lilia didn’t even have to make use of the sleeping potion.”

All of us looked at her in confusion, I was the first to speak up. “W-Wait, sleeping potion?”

“My Lady, we weren’t going to-”

“Bring it up? Why weren’t you going to tell me about this?” I pointedly questioned. Matthew circled around to my side, placing a hand on my shoulder and glaring them down.

Lilia sighed, and for the first time I noticed the haggardness in her eyes. “I was eventually, but it never even came up, because you’d already passed out and fallen into our lap.”

“And what would you have done if you had needed to use the potion?” Matthew inquired.

“But we didn’t! Iris was never a threat to us, we were always going to welcome her in with open arms, once I knew that she was like us.” Lilia didn’t sound entirely convinced by her own words, and Azalea placed a hand on the maid’s shoulders, who was slumped over in guilt.

I sighed, and quietly shook my head. “Regardless… I would still like to try and do this.”

Alder had been staring at the two young women with concern, but his attention turned back to me at my question, and he pushed his glasses up in the familiar comforting gesture. “As has been pointed out, you have a tendency to overestimate your own abilities, Iris. Are you sure you can pull this off?”

Matthew piped in now, his strong hand on my shoulder serving as an anchor for my swirling thoughts. “If she says she can do it, then let’s trust her. And if things go wrong, then we’ll be there to back her up.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Matthew.” I gave him a slight smirk, which he returned.

“You do get in over your head sometimes. But I know you, and you wouldn’t propose something if it had no chance of succeeding. So I say, let her try.” His gaze turned to the manor residents, with Azalea comforting Lilia, and Alder continuing his scrutinizing appraisal.

Beside us, the monster was beginning to stir again, and one way or another, we had to make a decision. Finally, Alder let out a sigh and nodded his head. “All right, we’ll do things her way. And as Matthew suggested, we’ll be prepared to step in should you need help.”

“A sensible request. I accept your terms.” I extended my hand, which I couldn’t help but notice felt tiny in comparison to his own as we shook in agreement.

I nodded my head, then turned back to face the unconscious monster, which was now beginning to stir from the battering it had received. Its large, protruding globe shaped eyes were still closed, its long tongue extended outwards from its mouth in a way that reminded me of finding my Uncle napping in the final years of his life. The previous pang of empathy returned, stronger now, and guiding my actions henceforth.

I really hoped this would work.

One of the peculiar properties of frost magic was its added effect of slowing the flow of mana, or stopping it entirely. A multitude of theories on this subject had existed in the past, but the prevailing theory by Professor Higgins, a Master Cryomancer, was that cold magic Drained the ambient mana out of an object. This was seemingly corroborated by the efforts of Pyromancers, who determined that the presence of heat caused mana to become more frantic.

So in short, cold drained, while heat energized.

From this basic premise, a great deal of magical innovations had come into being, which supplied the Empire with many magitech machines that it relied heavily upon, from larders to locomotives. Later contributions by Arcmancers would further revolutionize the field of magitech, their studies into the properties of lightning providing ever greater stores of mana to fuel the machines.

Focus. I’m saving a monster.

A few shakes of my head helped derail the train of thought, allowing a new line to take its place. With the right application of Cryomancy, it should be possible to drain out all the mana from this beast, which should return it to its original state. Of course, there were a few complications to this plan, such as how to get rid of the collected mana. I would cross that bridge once I got there though.

With a deep breath, I focused my own mana towards the creature, suffusing it with a bone chilling cold. The monster’s eyes snapped open immediately, its bulbous eye scanning me with fear.

Before it could move, more of Alder’s barriers closed in around the monster, pinning it in place. This was swiftly accompanied by Lilia’s presence, who placed a soft, downy hand on it as well, soothing its panic with her own telepathic presence. The creature, now restrained and soothed, ceased in its movements and once more laid quietly on the grass.

“Do it quickly, Iris. I can’t hold her for long.”

After nodding my head in gratitude to them, I once more approached the monster, and considered my options. I Would use cold magic to drain the mana, but could I do that without actually chilling the monster? While it was theoretically possible, there wouldn’t be a way to make that happen right now.

But perhaps with Wild Magic…

Simply willing my concept into existence should be possible, and although I was still unaccustomed to the practice of Wild Magic, it was my best bet right now.

I extended my hands again, and instead of forming my glyphs, mouthing my incantation, or drawing a circle, I simply felt it. I drew upon the compassion I felt for this living being, my empathy, and my kindness to fuel my spell. The mana inside of the monster was swirling like a tumultuous whirlpool, and like a sink, I was going to drain it.

Taking a deep breath, I imagined a great whirlpool, drawing in the current of overwhelming mana that suffused the creature. Its mana was raging and tumultuous, like great ocean swells. However, I refused to be deterred, becoming the loci that would drain it all away.

Gritting my teeth, I felt as all of that raging mana rushed its way inside of me, filling me up like a great sieve that threatened to overflow. Focusing on the flow of mana inside of me, I began to push it out of my body, where it exited via my ears, feet and back.

Having improvised a mechanism to drain and expel the mana inside of me, I focused on maintaining that steady flow. Easier said than done, as the sheer volume of mana the poor beast had managed to absorb was overwhelming, and I felt myself cracking at the seams to contain it all.

Lilia’s voice cut its way through my thoughts like a sobering splash of water. “Iris! Stop, you’re going to-”

“No.” Lady Azalea’s voice echoed. “Let her do this, I have faith in her.”

Turning my head back to look at my found family, I shot them a weak smile.
“I… I can do this!” I returned my attention to the beast, and put my all into draining it.

With one final effort, the remaining mana was removed from the beast, and expelled from my body. The beast’s form began to shrink and wither, until finally it was naught but a diminutive lizard, staring up at us with wide eyes. Without a second’s hesitation, it scurried into the forest, heedless of the destruction it had brought.

Finally, it was over.

“I… I did it… ohhh…” My legs wobbled from the exertion, and I fell headlong towards the ground.

Strong arms caught me, stopping my descent in its tracks. I was turned around to face my former servant, his burning scarlet eyes hazed over with concern for me. With a weak smile, I reached a hand up to touch his cheek, before blackness overtook me.

*

“That girl sure does faint a lot.” Alder remarked.

I ignored his quip, carefully applying healing magic to the pup. Her eyes were haggard, body curled over in pain, and her veins pulsing with a foul ichor. It took a great deal of concentrated effort to drain out the lingering mana poison, while also keeping it out of my own body.

The old butler continued his speculations. “Whatever caused that monster to rampage out of control, was clearly tied in some way to whatever malady is now plaguing young Iris.”

“Then perhaps that’s what caused the creature’s changes to happen in the first place.” Azalea followed up. “I’m surprised that she didn’t notice the pollutants in the mana while she was draining the monster.”

“I’m not. She’s always been narrowly focused on her tasks, and easily shuts out any sources of pain.” Matthew replied. “Despite her appearance, she’s much tougher than she looks. But even still…” He gently brushed a strand of hair out of Iris’ eyes, while the girl continued to painfully squirm in his arms.

Azalea grit her teeth, fresh tears beginning to flow. “We shouldn’t have allowed her to do this, if we had known-”

“But we didn’t know.” Alder calmly replied. “And now we do. We’ll do our best to see her recover, and then afterwards…”

“Afterwards, we’ll have a lot to do.” Lilia finished.