C:
Once we got back, we relaxed for a few days.
One thing I'd realized in the Magma Labyrinth was that I was under-prepared offensively. Maybe that brief stint with the Star Gauntlets had gone to my head, but I needed to try more on the attack front. Because of this, I set up a training session with Cole for that weekend.
The St. Vincent estate had a "War Room" that their family used to simulate combat. Cole explained little, but I got the impression that the St. Vincents were all Runi. And their lineage seemed to have some esteem. I recalled Frede being almost giddy when he realized Veronica was a St. Vincent. But he had almost the same attitude about Marla as well. There was still a lot for me to learn about my classmates and the magical world.
A key feature of the St. Vincent's War Room was that they could make it resemble almost any area. There's a mechanism built into the house that cast an Illusion spell and configure the room in whatever manner you desired. You didn't even need to be proficient with Illusion magic to use it.
For this bout, we'd chosen a large open plane. There was nothing but open grass fields for miles and a clear sky above us. We could unleash here and not worry about collateral damage.
I'd asked him to help me learn to fight without an Artifact. I'd realized that a lot of the battle spells Kimi and Marla used assumed that you had a significant Astral Power boost from whatever Artifact you were using. In fact, that was the common way of fighting. But Cole explained that there was another method as well, one that could turn even someone like me into a formidable warrior, even without the power of an Artifact.
"Now watch here, Andy. Focus the Astral Light in your body into your core, and then let it flow through to your extremities."
Cole explained to me the concept and use of Astral Arts, the form of Astral manipulation that expressed itself internally, rather than externally like magic spells.
Cole's lecture was succinct and clear. From my perspective, he had deep knowledge. But he insisted he had only a cursory knowledge, compared to the specialist practitioners.
"Ok, you're getting the hang of it now. What you're doing now is the Basic Form of Rosewings Arts. It is a basic Astral Art, and commonly used by my family. Even with only one or two techniques, your potential in combat will be greatly expanded. First, we're going to focus on walking."
When Cole said focus on walking, I thought he was joking. But to my surprise, as exerted finer control over the AL in my body than I ever had, I could barely move. It was about half an hour before I felt comfortable moving, and Cole moved on some more techniques.
Despite my protests, he started out with dodging. In slow motion, he showed me the techniques he used to defeat the Mini-Boss in the Magma Labyrinth. His speed was unbelievable, it was the same speed he showed while approaching the dragon in Ian's Dreamscape.
Soon, I could dodge several attacks adeptly. Using the Rosewings made it seem like the world slowed down to half speed, but there was a tradeoff. I could tell that my AL was being depleted more quickly than before. Soon I collapsed on the ground.
Cole looked over at me and pulled a drink out of a cooler that was sitting under a nearby tree. He walked over and handed me the drink. I drank it and almost immediately I felt it had replenished my AL.
"Cole, what is this? I feel replenished. Is it a potion?"
"It's Moon Water. Drink up, we have plenty.
Only a few seconds after drinking the moon water, I felt better than I had in a while.
"Ok, now let's do some offense."
The offense I had a harder time with. It was a punch and kick combination. A simple one, but that didn't stop me from falling on my face a couple of times.
After a while, I felt like I'd gotten a handle on a simple combo and dodging. Cole decided that was enough.
"Ok, looks like you're getting the hang of this. Let's put on a show for the girls."
Cole pointed over and Luna and Marla who were watching us in the shade.
For our little match, Cole and I both agreed to not use any magic spells. It would be a hand-to-hand match where I'd learn to control Rosewings Arts.
Cole was nice enough to not attack me even once during the fight. All he did was dodge while I whacked at him to no avail. But even in dodging, Cole controlled the flow and pace of the fight by appearing in annoying places and making me chase him, only to dodge again and drag me back the other way.
I didn't land a single punch on Cole. And I was exhausted by the end. When he called time, I fell to my knees and gasped for air. I couldn't believe that this was how a real Runi fought. All this time, Cole was on a different level. And it had been this easy for him to hide it all from me. I wondered if Marla was holding back something, too.
Either way, I planned to do a lot more training like this. I had to get stronger so I wouldn't be such a burden in future fights.
D:
That evening, I was studying with Marla in the kitchen of my house. We had books all over the long wooden table, with a tall stack of annotated note cards. Or I should say, I had annotated note cards. Marla had no idea that this was how people studied.
"I don't get it. You were all studying while on the trip? Are you serious? We were supposed to by relaxing. Why am I the only one who knows how to unwind?"
"It's Shadow Lane, Marla. People study a lot. Of course, I did a little work when I had a spare moment."
Marla let out a rude groan as she stretched back in the chair, exposing her navel, and hit the scurrying Paris with her arms. Marla went tumbling backwards in her chair and ended up taking the maid down with her. When they got back up, Paris apologized for the situation.
"I'm so sorry about this, Andy. But after I heard what you were up to on the field trip, your parents agreed that you two can't go into Andy's room together anymore."
Paris was referring to that moment we had after Marla jumped into the water to save me. That kiss. Apparently, some loser in our class had recorded the entire thing. He uploaded it to TikTok and got a ton of upvotes, or likes or whatever. But everyone recognized us and it ended up being an issue. Whatever, it wasn't like I regretted it.
For whatever reason, Paris felt compelled to keep talking.
"I swear, Andy, I don't know what happened to you. You used to be so well-behaved. Sure, you didn't have many friends, but you were well-behaved. You were an innocent boy, but now I'm worried about you."
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Paris started walking over towards me and went to pat me on the head. I flinched, but that wasn't what stopped her. When Paris saw the look on Marla's face, she leapt back. When I saw Marla, I understood why. She had what I can only describe as the snarl of a hungry lioness.
"Actually, Andy's much better now. You don't think that because you're not with him at school. But I—"
Paris caught her nerve and suddenly became appalled at Marla's tone.
"No, you're what I'm talking about. There are certain influences leading him astray. I can tell. You're too young to get it. And you're part of the problem."
"Too young? Well, you certainly don't have that problem."
"Why you little—"
The situation was getting heated, so I tried to defuse it by going back to work.
"Hey Marla, maybe we should... uh... switch back to Astronomy?"
The two of them stared each other down for a few more moments, but then there was a wave of calm in the room. Paris nodded and left the room, saying she heard something at the door.
I turned to Marla.
"Now, your practice test results were... not great. But if you can just learn the stuff in this column..."
I trailed off because I could already see her eyes glazing over. When I snapped my finger, she came back to reality.
"Hey Marla, you need to take this stuff a little more seriously. You will not get into—"
Now Marla just started speaking aloud to no one in particular, like she didn't notice me in the room.
"I wonder, why do they make doctors learn all this hard stuff? Wouldn't it be faster just to teach them a little magic?"
I looked at her and tried to muster a stern reply, but couldn't. I didn't know, I just knew that she would not get into Medical School with her current study habits. Before I could say anything, Paris came back into the kitchen.
"Kids, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I have terrible news. Apparently your friend, Ian, he's gone missing. No one has seen him since the night he came home from the trip."
Marla and I looked at each other with horror. Augustine would not let us go. He was going to keep hounding us and trying to hurt our friends until we stop him ourselves.
Paris gave us a few moments to digest the information before she continued.
"The police want you to come down to the station to talk to them. He was in your club, right? They may want to know about that."
Marla and I agreed to go, but we weren't sure how much we should share with the police about the club. I figured if the police heard us describe the club's activities, they'd lock us in the psych ward. The cops have their role, but I didn't expect them to understand what we were doing.
The police wanted us there immediately. Paris had the chauffer bring a car around and Marla and I went to the station.
"I hate to tell you this, Andy, but I suspect Devin. Honestly."
"Yep, me too. We already know that he spiked the punch. And now, he knows we know he spiked the punch. Maybe he used whatever magic source he used for the love potion to keep Ian quiet."
"Certainly possible. But not to stick up for Devin, but the disappearance in the middle of the night sounds like Augustine. And I don't know if we can make the leapt of guilt from spiking a punch to kidnapping."
"I suppose you're right."
Marla and I got to the station and answered repetitive and pointless questions for the detectives on the case. They seemed motivated to find Ian, probably because of how powerful his family was. But if there was any magic involved, I couldn't see how they'd crack the case on their own.
After we left, Marla and I were determined to use all the resources of the Gaia Defense Force Club to find Ian.