Regarding Power

It’s day 3 out of the 21 days we get in time dilation, thanks to Elsa. As we are, I still don’t think we’d stand much of a chance against Mathias. We’re all still healing and trying to figure out how to work together. Despite the progress we made yesterday with Belle, we still haven’t gotten much closer to her on a personal level.

Paige still isn’t doing very well. She didn’t have breakfast today either, instead just staying in bed to sleep. Skylar, having been through a similar kind of trauma, insists that we need to give her time to process everything that happened, so that’s what we’re trying to do. It doesn’t stop us from being worried about her though.

Belle informed us that she was going to spar with Olivia today. She said the two of them needed to relearn their rhythm together before they could both come with us into another dungeon, which I think is a pretty good decision.

There’s clearly a lot of history between the two of them, and they’re two of our strongest fighters, so being able to work together properly is extremely important.

Belle actually seems excited to spar with Olivia, which is another good sign. If she’s comfortable sticking around Olivia, maybe she can be comfortable sticking around the rest of us. I guess we’ll see.

For now I’m mostly just glad that the two of them are getting along after their disagreement a couple days ago.

At breakfast, we checked in with Elsa to see how she’s feeling, wondering if she’s going through any kind of strain about using her magic so much. Keeping up time dilation is a constant drain on her after all, and it’s something she has to do for 21 days straight. She told us that it’ll be a while yet before she starts feeling the stress, and to focus on training and getting stronger.

I was worried yesterday about Mia freezing up in the gladiator dungeon, but upon the insistence that she’s okay, she’s still coming along for the dungeon today, along with Skylar and Ivy. It feels almost nostalgic going into a dungeon with just the four of us. It’s been months since it was just the four of us in the guild. So much has changed since then.

After some discussion, it’s decided that we’re going to be tackling the templars and castle siege dungeon. It’s going to be really interesting to see how that one functions. We’re gearing up to go inside the dungeon, when Emma and Lena ask to talk to me. They were going to be continuing their sparring from yesterday, and I’m wondering if they want me to take them into a dungeon with us.

After pleasantries, they cut to the chase. “We’re not strong enough to fight with y’all at the opera house, are we?” Lena asks.

I sigh at the question. I don’t want to burst their hopes, but I also can’t really lie about this. “As it stands, no you aren’t. I don’t want to be mean, but as you are now, I’m not sure there’s much you could really do to help.” I admit.

“Yeah we thought so. Can you help us get stronger?” Emma asks hopefully.

I think for a moment, and draw breath to tell them about the mark of love. Then I stop. It’s true that my magic could elevate their potential up to the same level as Mia, Skylar and Paige, which would be easily enough that they could fight alongside us.

I don’t want to use that as a solution though, useful as it might be. If a bond of love forms between the two of them and I, it should be out of genuine care, not out of a desire for strength. I cast my mind instead to my other abilities, racking my brains to see if there’s anything else I could maybe do.

Ultimately, I shake my head. “I don’t think there’s much I can do. I can take you both into a dungeon and see if you can level up from the party XP, but as I understand it, you’ve both pretty much hit your maximum potential. I don’t think either of you can really get much stronger than you are already.” I say apologetically.

Emma deflates visibly. “Very not slay.” She mumbles.

I put my hand on her shoulder and squeeze gently to comfort her. “I know, I’m sorry. It does really suck.” I tell her.

Then an idea strikes me. I reach into my inventory and pull out the water elemental set of armour that I’d completely forgotten about, that we collected from the murlocs dungeon so long ago.

“Lena, put these on.” I tell her, handing her the different armour pieces.

She looks at the pieces curiously, before obliging and slowly putting on the set as I hand it to her.

“This is armour made for a water mage. It increases water elemental damage, gives some protection against water and fire damage, increases your spellpower stat and gives a bit of protection against physical attacks too.” I tell her.

She looks at the armour with a renewed interest. “Oh cool, thanks!” She exclaims.

I turn to Emma, pulling out another set of armour we’ve collected from the dungeons. This one is less powerful than the elemental armour, and is more meant for protection against physical damage. I tell her as much, and she seems pretty grateful anyway, slipping into the armour pieces.

“Have you decided what kind of magic you want to learn?” I ask Emma.

She shakes her head. “There’s just so much! It’s really overwhelming. The decision is killing me!” She says, and I nod sympathetically.

“You’ve got a type of freedom that a lot of people don’t have. It’s a big decision. The best thing I can recommend for you is that you choose an area of magic to focus on and stick to it.” I tell her.

“How do I pick between so many different areas though?” She asks.

“I decided what I wanted to learn because it was what I felt fit me the best. Being in the frontline in a team, being able to hit hard and cast cool spells. I liked ice magic the most out of any element, so I learnt a lot about it.” I explain.

“So my advice would be to figure out what suits your personality and the role you’d like to play in a team. Whether that’s supporting others in the background like Ivy does, taking charge of the fight like Belle and I do, or contributing from a distance like Skylar does. You have power, but you need to decide what to do with it.” I tell her.

Emma nods thoughtfully. “Thank you. I just….I see you and Belle and Olivia, and you’re all so strong. You’re so sure of yourselves. Y’all move so fast I can’t keep up, I can’t even see what you’re doing when you fight. It’s like I blink and you’re somewhere else. I dunno how I’m supposed to keep up.” She says.

Lena puts an arm around her girlfriend to comfort her.

“Oi Gemma! Are you coming or not?” I hear Mia call out.

“Pick something to learn and stick to it. You never know what might happen.” I tell her sympathetically.

She gives me a strained smile. “Thank you.” She says earnestly.

“If you want me to take you into a dungeon later, let me know, and I’ll work something out.” I tell them. Emma nods.

“Good luck!” Lena calls, as I turn to walk back to my girlfriends.

“You too.” I tell her. I get back to Mia, who’s finished getting ready.

“They okay?” The aeromancer asks.

“They’re worried about not being powerful enough. They wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help.” I reply.

“Welllll…” Mia starts and I hold up my hand.

“I’m not giving them the mark of love. Not unless something genuine happens. I don’t want to build a relationship on a desire for power.” I forestall her suggestion.

“That’s actually pretty fair. Hadn’t thought about that.” She admits.

“You don’t think about many things.” I banter.

Mia chuckles in response. “Ouch. Hit me where it hurts, why don’t you?” “Sorry.” I reply earnestly.

She waves it off, smiling at me.

“Ready?” I ask, looking to Ivy and Skylar. Both of them nod. “Let’s go.” I say, opening the templars siege dungeon.