Mission: Unusual

John watched as Kiera simply sat on the couch and stared into space, Senka pressed against him as they squeezed into the chair. Once breakfast was done and everything cleaned, something the zombie-like girl did despite Brenda’s attempts to stop her, she just walked back to the living room and settled down back on the couch, eyes blankly locked on the tv. That, combined with the silence, made the whole atmosphere of the room tense and awkward.

Still, John didn’t feel like leaving her alone. If he had been left in her state, he wouldn’t have wanted that. Though he and Senka had kept close, everyone else had dispersed. Aeolia and Vivian had left for the academy to carry out the heist of Kiera’s address, Beth went back to calling her sister, a failed endeavor so far, and his mother had retreated to her office to take care of some of her work.

‘Just need to think of a way to break the weirdness,’ he thought as Senka’s fingers massaged his scalp.

‘Perhaps we could put something on?’ Senka suggested, her head tilting towards the tv. ‘If nothing else, the noise will provide some distraction. Maybe we’ll find something that gets a positive reaction from her.’

‘Worth a shot,’ John thought as he willed the wind spirit to appear. The mote of green spun into existence and John directed it to pick up the remote, envisioning it like playing catch. The spirit zipped into action, flitting over to the device where it lay on the table between the couch and the tv. The green wisps coiled around the device and practically threw it to John, the core of the spirit trailing after it.

John managed to get his hand in place to catch the remote, the spirit coming to orbit his extended arm. He willed it back into his aura as Senka let out a laugh.

“Looks like you need a little more control with that one,” she teased.

“My fault for using the idea of playing catch to motivate it,” John grumbled, his eyes shifting away from Senka. His gaze hit Kiera and he blinked when he noticed her eyes had shifted slightly, turned away from the tv and locked on him and Senka. For a moment, John thought there was a glimmer of something in her eyes, but throwing another Observe at her revealed nothing beyond a ten point boost in the relationship score.

“Guess it would be a bit too easy for something like that to work,” John muttered as he turned the tv on. Kiera’s eyes shifted back to the screen and John gauged her expression as he began to cycle through the channels. He let the station play for a few seconds to see if anything changed with her, longer if the commercial break was happening.

Higher and higher the channel number climbed until John reached the movie channel and Kiera's eyes widened slightly as the opening song of Grease played. The slightest smile worked its way to her lips, broken only by the occasional lip movement as she silently sang along.

John waited to see if any other signs of improvement showed themselves, but beyond the infrequent tap of a foot, no other changes happened.

'Still, any progress is better than none,' John thought. 'Wonder if it's just this one or if she likes musicals in general?'

'It would seem we have a bit of luck in figuring that out,' Senka remarked, after taking the remote from John to pursue the upcoming programming. 'Musicals are the theme for the day.'

'Here's hoping for the power of music,' John thought, before letting his mind wander to the previous day as the film played.

‘Thinking about the fight?’ Senka asked.

‘Yeah,’ John answered. ‘I’ve still got my level up to sort out and I don’t know where to best put them. If I had more mana or regen, would I have been able to end the fight faster, or if I had more Strength, would I have been able to win with my sword and not need all my mana? We only lasted as long as we did because Bill threw enough hounds at us to level me up.’

‘That was a fortunate turn of events,’ Senka admitted. ‘But let’s look at how we won, ignoring the power up you tapped into. The majority of the damage you did was from magical attacks. Both direct ones like Fiery Pursuit and the ones that enhance your physical abilities.’

She paused for a second, then continued, ‘While having more Strength or Agility would make having to rely on the bolstering skills less of an issue, the resources needed to get them to that point would leave you at your current damage and utility output. And if the rest of Phantom Reach are at least as strong as Bill was, I don’t think you can afford to handicap yourself that way.’

John mulled over Senka’s opinion. She was right in assessing that most of the damage he did to Bill was with or through his Evocations.

‘Okay, boosting the magic stats is the plan,’ John thought as he opened his character sheet. ‘The new question is where do I put each point?’

'Biggest bang for my buck would just be to dump all five into Intelligence,' John mused as he ran through his options. 'Mana regen doesn't increase that much even if I put all five points into it. Going all Intelligence gives me another ten points of mana to play with.'

It was the best option he could see, as splitting the points just didn't give any real boost to mana regen. Before cashing in his points, he recalled the achievements he had waiting for review.

‘Almost forgot I got Achievements this morning from last night,’ he told Senka, allowing the pop ups to invade his vision. ‘Don’t think they’ll change up where I’m going to put my points, but better safe than sorry.’

New Achievement: Team Buffet
Eat out a girl while your other lovers tease her. I hear it brings out the flavor
Reward: Oral Level Up.

New Achievement: Spirit Union
Become one with a spirit, in the biblical sense. The literal one could happen later.
Reward: 3 Skill Points for Senka

New Achievement: Claiming your Princess
Guess that makes you Prince Charming. Better get your singing voice up to par. At least this can make her sing.
Reward: Fucking Level Up.

New Achievement: Breaking in the bedroom
Have sex in your bedroom. Nearly took you a week and six encounters to do it, but you made it there in the end.
Reward: Fucking Level Up, +2 Libido

‘Well, none of those affect the level up calculus, at least for me,’ John thought. ‘You going to use those points now or hold them?’

‘I think going all into mana is the way for now,’ Senka answered. ‘I will level soon and perhaps at that point, one of my skills will be worth investing in.’

John nodded and focused back on his sheet. With no boosts to his magic-related stats, he maintained his initial plan and invested all five points into Intelligence, bringing his mana maximum to ‘126’.

Level up sorted, John's eyes drifted down to his Inventory count and ran a quick accounting of what he had on his person.

'Right,' he thought as he pulled up his Inventory page. 'I never got around to really look at the pieces of my sword.'

'I thought we were building up to it with Beth, but, well, things took a turn,' Senka noted in an amused tone.

'Certainly was a good turn,' John retorted as he summoned the remains of the Greatwood Sword.

'Just good?' Senka teased.

'Fine. Mind-blowingly fantastic,' John amended, then he looked at the splintered pieces of his sacrificed weapon. It was hardly all of them, as Beth only picked up the fragments that were large enough to stand out against the barrier's overgrown floor.

There were five of them in total, ranging in length between ten and twenty centimeters. Holding them caused John to recall the power that had flowed into him from the blade. Placing all but one on the table, he cast Observe on it.

John frowned in confusion at seeing only two Attributes. His perplexed expression was mirrored by Senka, her visible eye narrowed.

'I would have thought being a 'Legendary' item would have merited more effects,' she commented.

'Maybe,' John remarked. 'It is possible that these two are somehow overpowered, so it's balanced by only having them and nothing else. Only way to find out is to look into them.'

Remembrance: This item recalls what it once was and what power flowed through it. It yearns to regain that form.

Divine Imprint: The power of Yerda has infused this material and will influence anything done with it along the goddess' intent.

‘Not exactly the most informative, is it?’ Senka mused as she leaned closer to read the displays.

‘Yeah, really vague,’ John agreed. ‘Not hard to get what either means, but weird that it's being so coy about them.’

‘Are you going to regrow the sword, then?’ Senka asked.

‘I’m not sure,’ John admitted. ‘I’ve got the spare one still and there might be something bigger or better we can use with these once I get more levels in Craftsmanship. And if something happens to the backup blade, we can craft these back into one. Unless Gaia throws a hint at me, I think that’s the best option.’

Tool Tip: You’re on your own.

Reward: A (not so much) Magic 8 Ball

A black sphere dropped into John’s lap and he sighed as he put the splinters away and picked up the ball. A quick Observe proved it to be completely mundane.

‘I suppose that’s what I deserve,’ John thought, a small grin on his lips. ‘Is it a good idea to save the splinters for later?’

He shook the ball and looked into the view screen.

'Ask again later,' he read. 'Guess the universe isn't giving me any guidance today.'

He placed the ball on the table and closed his eyes. The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs made him open them again and he watched Beth make her way into the room.

"No luck still?" he asked, to which Beth shook her head.

"Nothing," she replied with a sigh. "Left another message."

She made her way over to them and Senka smoothly slid onto John’s lap, patting the space she had just vacated.

“What, I don’t get my old spot?” Beth complained, though the grin that replaced her worried expression signaled her true feelings.

“Well, someone’s certainly spoiled,” Senka remarked as Beth plopped down next to John and she flung her legs over the shorter girl’s. “Has calling you princess gone to your head?”

Beth stuck her tongue out and Senka giggled, her smile hidden behind a hand. John smiled at the interplay between the pair, relaxing into his seat.

“So, musicals?” Beth asked as her staredown against Senka ended.

“Kiera reacted to it,” John said. “Seems like she might like them.”

“So the same thing goes for the Magic 8 Ball?” Beth asked, jerking her head back towards Kiera. John looked over to the bluenette and found she had picked up the toy when his attention was on Beth. Her eyes remained fixed on the tv, but she idly turned the ball in her hands.

“That was Gaia ribbing me over asking her if I should do something with the remains of my sword,” John explained. “I put it down and Kiera must have picked it up. Maybe she has some good memories of one.”

Beth seemed to mull over that possibility then shrugged, saying, “Whatever floats her boat, I guess.”

She glanced over to the time displayed on the cable box and pondered aloud, “Think they’ve done the heist?”

“If it was just Aeolia, I’d say she would have broken in already,” John mused, noting the time as just after the start of the first period. “But I think Vivian probably is keeping her from going in at full speed and is making a proper plan.”

“Sounds like Vi.” Beth nodded. “Just hope they don’t take too long.”

“How long are we going to wait to do this?” Aeolia grumbled as she watched the primly dressed students of the Academy meander through the main entrance. They were a fair distance away, viewing the doorway through some magnification Vivian was applying to the windshield. A projection of an empty car shielded them from being seen, though only one beige sedan was close enough to even possibly see in.

"We don't want to run into the Warden, so it would be best for us to go in right before the first period begins," Vivian explained.

"I get that, but I don't think she's going to be hanging out in the office right up to the deadline," Aeolia countered. "The picture John painted of her doesn't make her seem like the rushing type."

"True, but I don't want to risk anything happening," Vivian shot back.

"We’ll be small, invisible and flying above everyone," Aeolia said. "It'll be fine. Not going to be a long job anyway. Find a computer in the office, type in Kiera’s fake name, get the info and get out. Over worrying isn't going to help."

"I know it's an easy job, but it's not like anything else we've done," the redhead remarked, her hands nervously drumming on the steering wheel. "We can't just slash our way out if something happens."

"Vi, I'm a native of the Abyss," Aeolia softly said, placing a hand on one of Vivian’s. "I've had it drummed into my head since I can remember about staying out of sight."

Vivian smiled weakly at her. “I know but, this isn't really some life or **** thing, we don't need to go all out."

"In and out, that's the play," Aeolia solemnly said, squeezing Vivian’s hand. "Find an unoccupied computer, punch up the thing, and high tail it back here."

Vivian nodded, though her lips were still set in a frown. Aeolia fixed that with a heavy kiss, drawing out an 'eep' from the redhead, before Vivian relaxed into the display of affection.

After a long few moments, the pair separated and Vivian glanced at the car clock.

"I think," she said, with a thick voice, "that now is a good time."

"One more for good luck?" Aeolia asked cheekily.

Vivian obliged her with a quick peck and said, "Let’s go.”

Vivian opened her door and got out, leaving it open long enough for Aeolia, already returned to her innate size, to fly out. The winged woman did so and flew next to the redhead and placed her hand on Vivian’s leg.

With a pulse of her magic, Vivian shrank and the redhead pulled out a Glyph Sphere. Aeolia smirked as she swept Vivian off her feet.

“Oh, we’re, um, doing it this way?” Vivian stuttered out. “I thought we’d be going like how we snuck into John’s room.”

Aeolia grinned down at her. “Dragging you along like that won’t work. Besides, Beth ain’t the only one worthy to be carried like this.”

Vivian blushed at the roundabout way of being called a princess and fidgeted slightly.

Aeolia spread her wings and, with a mighty flap, took off. Vivian held back a scream as they flew towards the school, the redhead just able to power the invisibility orb she held, fading from view before they crossed out of the range of the illusion she had crafted around the car. Aeolia faded from view right after and the pair silently crossed over the parking lot and easily flew into the academy through the open main entrance.

‘OK, through the main door, down the hall,’ Aeolia recited the info John and Beth had given them. ‘Office is to the left. Don’t bother with the secretary’s desk, too out in the open. Find an open office and use that one.’

The first big hurdle was getting into the office, as it required them to wait for the door to be opened. Fortunately, some teacher by the look of him was exiting right as they approached and Aeolia skillfully flew above him and soared into the office.

‘Man, it smells like old paper in here,’ Aeolia complained as she perched atop a file cabinet. True to Beth’s advice, the main secretary’s desk was fully visible from nearly every angle of the open main part of the office. Several closed doors marked the personal offices of the school’s administration, most occupied by their owners.

When one of those doors opened, Aeolia squeezed Vivian’s arm to let her know she was about to move. She flung herself back into the air, darting for the now vacant room before the door could close. Vivian clung tightly to her as she twisted to fit between the closing door and its frame. She slipped into the room and the older man closed the door, oblivious to their passing.

“You okay?” Aeolia whispered to Vivian as she landed on the man’s desk.

“Y-yeah,” the redhead answered between heavy breaths. After a moment to collect herself, she continued, “Now, let’s hope he was logged in and we can get to the directory without any problem.”

“Gotcha,” Aeolia said and she made her way to the keyboard, the computer screen looming over her like the horizon. “Good news, it’s on and he didn’t log out. Should be easy to find the thing.”

“I’ll keep watch,” Vivian announced and Aeolia began to drag the mouse around. While growing would have made things easier, being larger would mean the veil had a greater area to cover and more places to possibly fail.

‘Better to be slow than caught,’ Aoelia thought as she maneuvered the cursor into place. Thankfully, it was only a few clicks until she was able to reach the school’s directory page.

‘Guess they made this so even the old fossils could easily get around,’ she thought as she brought the cursor to the search bar. Then she turned her attention to the keyboard, hunting and pecking the letters needed to type in ‘Azalea Grau’.

She had finished hitting the last letter when Vivian hissed, “He’s back. He’s talking to a student out in the corridor.”

“Almost done,” Aeolia called back as she committed the address to memory. With as much speed as she could, she dragged the mouse to the top corner and closed out the page, covering her tracks as best she could. Before she could grab Vivian and ready to fly out, the door opened, and the student walked in as the old man said something that froze Aeolia in place.

“It’s no big problem, Ms. Brighton,” he said as he followed the tall redhead into the room, the door closing behind him. Aeolia only knew her by reputation, but even without hearing her family name and seeing her in something other than some sort of holy armor, she could recognise the vaunted Warden of the Golden Rose.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea that you want to ensure your ill classmates have access to all the missed materials,” the man continued. Aeolia carefully creeped around to the right of the desk, forcing herself to keep her breathing calm.

‘I don’t think she’s sensed me or Vi,’ she frantically thought. ‘Or if she has, she’s got one hell of a poker face. I need to grab Vi and get ready to get out.’

It was an easier said prospect than done. With their veils active, Aeolia couldn’t see her redheaded lover and she couldn’t clue her in. The best she could hope for was that the light bender was trying to feel for her magic signature, just as she was about to, and get that she was trying to make her way over.

Calming her mind as best she could, Aeolia focused on the magical energies that were present. Vivian’s pleasantly warm presence, however, was impossible to make out through the blinding heat that was Moira.

The closest thing Aeolia could equate it to was staring into the sun, and just like the real thing, being so close to it left her blind. Left with only a vague idea of Vivian’s last position, Aeolia crept around the desk, putting the computer between herself and the full size humans. So focused on her task, she didn’t register what they were saying, though with her heart beating as hard as it was, she could scarcely hear anything.

After what felt like an eternity, Aeolia managed to tip-talon her way to where Vivian had been. Before she could try to feel for the redhead, a familiar hand latched onto her right wrist.

Slowly to avoid making noise with the veil bracelet, Aeolia brought her free hand up and managed to find Vivian’s shoulder, giving her a comforting squeeze.

‘Okay, found Vivian. Now how do we get out of here?’ Aeolia thought, eyes darting over the office. Without her glaive, she couldn’t pull off anything like she did last Monday and really doing anything with the Warden standing right behind her was a dumb idea. ‘Not being able to coordinate with Vivian makes this so much harder.’

The slightest whisper of Vivian’s magic was all the warning Aeolia got before the school official exclaimed, “Oh, come on now!”

Aeolia looked back to see the old man press the power button on the desktop display a few times, the telltale glow of the screen absent from his and Moira’s faces. He profusely apologized to Moira for the technical issue and ushered her out to access another computer, leaving his door open.

“Okay, that worked,” Vivian breathed out. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I would kiss you so hard right now if I could see you,” Aeolia remarked in an almost giddy voice.

“Later,” the redhead insisted. “We have to get back to John’s asap.”

Catching the urgency in her tone, Aeolia asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Weren’t you listening to them?” Vivian asked, exasperated. “The Warden was looking into who wasn’t in school today. She’s going to have John and Beth’s addresses.”

“Shit,” Aeolia cursed, blindly hefting Vivian into her arms. “That’s bad. We’re going to pull out all the stops to get back to the car.”

“Don’t slow down on my account,” Vivian said and Aeolia launched into the air, far faster than she had during their infiltration. Out into the main area of the office they flew, dangerously close to the ceiling to avoid any near misses with anyone. The door was closed and Aeolia circled above the academy’s administrative staff as she tried to think of how to escape.

The window at the far end of the office was the nearest way out, but opening it wasn’t an option and breaking it was impossible with no weapon.

‘Unless I don’t need to directly break it to get out of here,’ the thought came to Aeolia and she couldn’t shake it, so she dove towards the sill. She landed harder than she would have preferred, her talons clacking upon the wood, but the noise went unnoticed over the sounds of officework.

Aeolia felt Vivian questioningly grip her arm and she could only respond with a whispered, “I have an idea.”

She placed one foot on the glass and focused her mana into it. Using her foot as the point of contact was unusual and it took a few seconds longer to infuse the glass than if she used a hand. Still, once her mana had totally worked its way into the glass, Aeolia let it shrink.

In an instant, the glass compressed. Due to how the pane was set, it slumped outward, now too thin to remain upright. What was going to happen once it returned to full size didn’t concern Aeolia and she took back to the air, slipping through the now open window and speeding into the open air.

Now free, Vivian shouted, “That was a bit risky!”

“Any more than you blocking the light from the computer screen?” Aeolia shot back.

“Okay, not really,” the redhead admitted as they flew towards her car, passing over the beige car that was still parked near their ride. Aeolia felt Vivian’s magic reach out and reactivate the illusion around the vehicle, letting her veil drop as she landed on the asphalt.

A quick negation of her lingering mana in Vivian returned the redhead to full size and they hurried into the car. As Vivian turned it on, she threw her phone next to Aeolia. Nodding, she shrank it down and dialed John.

“Sucks we have to be the bearer of bad news,” she remarked as the phone rang. When John picked up, she said, “We’ve got a problem.”

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.