New Guy: Page 3

I woke up to an deafening beeping of the alarm going off. It wasn't mine, it originated from the living room. Which could only mean one thing. We had a new mission. I gracefully fell out of bed but recovered quickly. I reached over the bed and shook Ashton awake.

"Ash dude, we gotta go."

He blinked at me a few times, a question mark forming over his head.

"The Guild needs us to do something. We gotta get dressed."

I stripped down to my underwear and pulled on the dress shirt, slacks and jacket, again ditching the tie and leaving the first button undone. My eyes wandered over Ashton's form while he changed. He was clad in his boxer briefs. Now that I could see most of his body, I noted how much he walked the line between masculine and feminine. He was putting his shirt on, pulling the muscles in his chest taught. I looked away quickly.

Whatcha looking at, boss?

I ignored Vedra, willing her into a gauntlet. I left Ash to finish getting dressed, joining Sarah and Tius in the living room. They were both unusually grim. I listened to the alarm ringing since it was clearer in the living room.

"Why isn't it giving us an address?"

Tius shook his head.

"There's an attack on the Guild Prison, which just so happens to exist in a pocket dimension. You can't even get there without teleportation."

"The Guild has its own dimension? How do you attack something in an alternate dimension?!"

"No idea. That's one of the things we'll have to figure out."

Lexi joined us a minute or so later, followed closely by Ashton.

"Guys, what's going on?"

Tius waved away her question.

"No time. Brace yourselves, interdimensional travel is rough."

He clapped his hands, and we were enveloped in purple light. There was that familiar sensation of throwing up inside out, only much stronger. I felt like I was being stretched on a molecular level. Suddenly, the ground reappeared under my feet and the purple light faded. I stumbled, still slightly queazy. Looking at the others, I wasn't alone. Only Tius and Sarah were seemingly unaffected.

"Just breathe, guys. It'll pass."

I looked around at our environment. It appeared that we were on some kind of island floating in a starless sky. With how close we were to the edge, I could see over it and into the void below. I made a mental note to avoid that at all costs.

"Woah."

I turned around, seeing a stone monolith reaching into the sky. The entrance, whatever door had been used, was now a smoking crater. We exchanged nervous looks and started forwards to the entrance.

Inside, we followed the trail of destruction until we found our target. Or rather, targets. 4 of them, all glowing with that unnatural purple fire. We marched towards them, weapons drawn, spells ready. We stopped when they turned around to face us.

"Stop what you're doing, in the name of the Guild."

They were comprised of a petite half-elf woman, a mean-looking human woman with a mace, a male elf with a sword, and a short goblin in a cloak. The half-elf spoke first.

"I'll handle the guild fools, go collect Serath."

The others obeyed, running deeper into the building.

"Listen, lady, no one has to get hur-"

Tius was suddenly launched back by a 3 pronged bolt of purple magic. The half-elf chuckled at him.

"Lady? I am Evyra Arcan, Archmage of the Dracolich. "

I willed Vedra into a sword, charging at Evyra with a magic shield active. I swiped at her, but she poofed away before my blade connected. I spun on my heel, looking around to see where she went. from the corner of my eye, I saw an orange glow. I turned to see a small orb of fire flying towards me. I dispelled my shield, letting the fire wash over me harmlessly.

She looked at me, curiously. Even as nonchalant as she was, I could tell her mind was ravenously trying to understand me. It's an expression I've seen from my father and sister many times. She was clearly intelligent. Maybe even too intelligent for her own good. The beginnings of a plan began to come together in my mind.

Meanwhile, Tuis, Sarah, Lexi, and Ash all moved to surround her. She slowly turned around, observing us.

"Now!"

On Tius' command, we all attacked. Ash, Lexi, and I launched a rainbow (I know, a month late) of spells at her. She waved her hand, freezing the spells mid-air. I tried to drop the spell, but I couldn't. It was like a muscle I couldn't relax. She smirked at me, and suddenly the two red darts of arcane power I had sent towards her flew back, hitting me. I barely managed to put up my shield.

Reflect

The others weren't so lucky. Lexi was knocked out by her own Sleep spell, and Ashton was paralyzed by his Hold Person.

An empowered Sarah charged the sorceress, but a huge ball of ice magic erupted near her and Tius, encasing them both in ice. Evyra turned to me, the last one standing.

"Pathetic."

She snapped her fingers, and a spectral hand wrapped around my throat, lifting me into the air. I tried to counterspell it, but I couldn't **** the word out. My lungs burned from the lack of air. I writhed and fought, but I couldn't break out. My vision slowly began to dim. She walked away, strutting like a model on the runway. I passed out a few moments later, choked by her ghostly hand.

I woke up sometime later, Ashton sitting next to me, poking my face. I sat up despite the stiffness in my chest.

"Did she get away?”

Yeah. They broke Serath out of jail too.

"Fuck."

Did you see that spell? She just said "No u" to all of our spells.

"It's called Reflect."

You know the spell?

I nodded.

"It's a part of being a warlock. We can identify spells by sight."

Cool. Does anybody give you a hard time for that? Warlocks are popular where I come from.

"Uh, my family wasn't stoked, but that's all the pushback I've gotten so far."

I can relate to that. My dad was pissed when I came out.

"Oh, you're gay?"

He shook his head.

Bi actually. But I don't really care about labels.

"I feel you on that one. People try to put things in boxes that shouldn't be put in boxes."

Exactly. People are so caught up on labels. Sexuality, gender, class, favorite toilet paper roll orientation.

I chuckled.

"You're a cool dude, Ash."

He looked away, apparently blushing slightly.

Thanks.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, so I went to check in with Tius.

I'm gonna work on something else for a while. Maybe bring back deafening silence or smth

-TC