Fork This Life!

Chapter 42: An Unexpected Rescue

The man searching the student I’m on inevitably finds me. The man holds me up to the light.

‘Is this fork made of mithril?’ He mutters to himself. ‘I’ve heard of kids born with a silver spoon in their mouth, but this is ridiculous.’

He shrugs, tossing me into a pile of random objects, the collected belongings of the class which could possibly be used as weapons or tools.

I breathe an internal sigh of relief. Safe, for now.

Once the search is complete, the students are carried into a large-ish room with no windows, and the teacher into a separate, smaller room. Both doors are, of course, locked, not that that means anything to me. The larger problem is that both rooms have magic tools installed in them: remote observation. They would know if anyone goes in or out. I wish I knew the extent of that observation, whether it’s just visual or they have audio as well.

If they don’t have audio, that leaves me with more opportunities to communicate with them. Sadly, the only way I might figure that out is if the guy watching on the other end mentions it explicitly – not likely.

Amongst the small pile of stuff, I am moved haphazardly into another, smaller room, with shelves lining the walls on all sides. A storage room, no doubt. The woman transporting me shuts the door behind her as she leaves.

After a minute, the mana in those rooms grows incredibly chaotic, so much so that I almost find it difficult to make out the people within. They seem unharmed by the maelstrom around them, so I assume it must have another purpose. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that it’s some sort of anti-magic. Makes sense that they don’t want anyone going wild.

So, I’m in this enemy facility… The hell do I do now? I’m heavily outnumbered here, with a few dozen mages much more experienced than myself in the compound. Sure, I might be able to take out one or two by surprise, but I highly doubt I’d be able to take out the majority before the others were alerted. And that’s assuming they don’t have any sorts of barriers or protection about themselves which might prevent that entirely. Impossible, or at least way too risky to try.

Bust out the rest of them? Then what? The others can’t fight, not against more experienced, learned and higher level opponents. The teacher can, but again, numbers.

The only thing I can think that could possibly work is if we all got out of here without them noticing. No clue how I’d go about that. Again, they’d notice if something started happening in the cells. If only I could somehow manipulate the feed they’re receiving, freeze it or put it on a loop like you see in those movies. But I don’t even know what type of magic these tools are based on or how they’re constructed, let alone how to modify or manipulate them in such a way.

Frankly speaking, I don’t think I can do anything here. Maybe I should just retreat, inform the academy of the situation and this location, and let them handle it?

Really wishing I knew some form of long-distance communication magic right now.

Then again, I might not even be able to get out without them noticing. They haven’t noticed me yet, but that’s because I’m a fork, doing what a fork does – absolutely nothing. There’s a skill… I haven’t learned it yet, it’ll probably be taught in the next level of mana control… It lets you sense mana around you. Don’t know how it compares to mana sight, but if that were trained to a high enough level, well, absorb is a magical skill. Maybe they could notice.

Even just flying out with telekinesis, they could have a barrier around the compound that alerts them to anything travelling in or out. I don’t know. At this moment, any action I can take has risks and possibly dire consequences.

So, for the moment, I wait. Once the teacher wakes up, I’ll communicate with them about what we should do. They’re mages, preparing specifically to counter mages. The chances that they can counter or notice psychic abilities are slim to none.

A thought occurs to me: where’s Joe in all this? I remember he was at the practical assessment, but I just can’t imagine that he was actually taken down by an attack like that. I’ve never seen anything that’s actually phased or affect him. But there wasn’t any commotion when they were going around the students, either. Let’s see… Knowing him, he’d want to be in the middle of it. Maybe he just pretended that he was affected like everyone else? Suppose I’ll find out later.

It doesn’t take long for the teacher to wake up. Perhaps they have a hardier constitution because of their level, but it’s only ten or so minutes after they are put in the cell that they wake up.

There isn’t anyone in the immediate area of the cells, perhaps assuming that the observation magic tools are sufficient surveillance. As for me, well, why would you need to guard a storage room? There isn’t even a lock on the door, just a simple latch holding it closed on the other side. Easy.

Pulling myself delicately from within the pile of students’ belongings, I float myself over to the door. For now, I’m going to assume that any fluctuation of mana from me can be sensed. That means I can only use psi and ki. Ki, for the me right now, only really has destructive capabilities, so psi will be my weapon of choice right now.

I lift the latch on the other side of the door telekinetically, and push it open just a crack; that’s all I need. Slipping out, I navigate the short distance to the entrance of our teacher’s cell. They’re currently rubbing at their neck, looking around the cell. Some mana emanates from their hand, but immediately gets caught up in the chaotic currents in the cell, wrenching it out of their control.

“Teacher.” I bridge the short distance with a telepathic link. “It’s me, Gerald. I’m psychic, communicating with telepathy.”

“Gerald? Where are you? Are the other students alright?” They reply cautiously.

“The others are fine, they’re in the cell next to yours. I’m just outside your cell. They didn’t do much research on us, so they didn’t know about me. I hitched a ride in someone’s pocket, but now I don’t know what to do. There’s too many of them even if I were to break everyone out, and I don’t even know if I’d be able to leave safely to tell the academy what’s happened.” I explain quickly.

“Don’t worry.” The teacher sighs. “The academy should already know where we are and be on their way. We don’t need to do anything but wait.”

“There’s nothing I can do?” I repeat.

“Just stay safe and wait.” They say again, sitting down into a meditative pose. “Although if you could get rid of this anti-magic device it would be nice.”

“Wouldn’t they notice if I did that, though?” I ask quizzically.

“I’m not sure, to be honest.” They reply. “Maybe you could ask Simon. Neat clothing, always wears white gloves. He probably knows a lot more about magical tools than me.”

Let’s see… Yep. I notice a mage coming in this direction, still a couple corridors away but not far. “One last thing. I’ve heard about mana sense, but I don’t know particulars. Would they be able to notice if I use some small magic?”

“I doubt it, not unless they have some master actively paying attention.” They reply. “You’d be like a firefly dancing around a bonfire to their senses with all these magic tools and mages around. But still, be careful.”

“Thank you. Hopefully the next time we talk will be face to face.” I say.

“Good luck.” They say as I cut off the link.

Magic ban lifted. Manipulating my shape to a thin needle, I absorb my way into the wall between the two cells. As we were talking, some of the students have started to wake up, mostly the ones who were just knocked unconscious. Simon… Simon… Yes, there he is. He isn’t one of the people awake.

So I wait, maybe another five minutes before he wakes up. Most of the students are panicking, some crying, even among the ones who were knocked unconscious. A few have just retreated into themselves, curled up against the wall silently.

Once Simon has fully woken up and realised the situation to a degree, I reach out with a telepathic link… Only for it to slide off an invisible barrier around him.

What?

I try again, with the same result: nothing.

Well, there goes that idea. I’ll have to get someone else to act as a go-between. Let’s see, who do I know here… Oh right, I’m a loner. Pretty much nobody.

Nobody except Joyce. Well, I can predict that this won’t be fun.

I establish the connection, without problem this time. “Joyce, It’s –”

Joyce yelps, looking fearfully around the room.

“Calm down. It’s me, Gerald.” I say calmly.

She fearfully looks around herself. “Where is that voice coming from? Where am I? What’s happening?” Some of her panicked thoughts bleed through the link.

“Joyce!” I exclaim. “I need you to focus. I’m talking to you telepathically, just think what you want to say, and I’ll hear it. Again, it’s me, Gerald.”

“Gerald?” She replies hesitantly. Her voice is full of fear. “What’s happening?”

“The whole class has been kidnapped. You were knocked out and brought here to this compound. I’ve talked to the teacher and they say that the academy should be on their way to rescue us.” I explain reassuringly.

Her body starts trembling. “Why is this happening? What do they want? Why us? Why me?”

“I ask myself the same thing all the time, but I don’t have the answers.” I sigh. “Look, we’re in a bad spot, but we’ll get through it. We have to do the best we can with what we’ve got.”

“I… I don’t need you to tell me that.” She says, clenching her fists but clearly regaining some calm. “But hey, why are you even talking to me?”

“I need to talk to Simon about the magic tool preventing us from casting magic in here.” I explain. “But he’s got some sort of psychic protection, so I can’t contact him directly. I need someone else to relay my words to him.”

“Can’t you just speak to him normally?” Joyce rolls her eyes.

“Unfortunately, no.” I reply. “I left the magic tool that I use to talk behind in order to remain inconspicuous.”

“You… You can’t speak without a magic tool?” She asks, shocked.

“Apart from telepathy, no. Or hear, or see colour, or do a number of things most races take for granted. Not like I have any eyes, ears or a mouth, is it?” I do the mental equivalent of a shrug. “But that doesn’t matter right now. I need to talk with Simon, sooner rather than later.”

Joyce nods slowly. “Alright, I’ll help you. But why would you choose me? Not like we’re friends.”

“Ironically, despite our rather… Testy… Relationship, I am more familiar with you than most of our other classmates. I’m not the most social person, I must admit.” I tell her.

“Alright. Fine. I’ll do it. I can do this.” She says, looking rather like she’s trying to convince herself.

This is rather unusual for her. I ask, “Is there something wrong?”

“No, it’s just…” She shakes her head. “…Don’t you think he’s kinda cute?”

…I am not really having this conversation, am I? I groan internally. “His physical appearance is above average, yes.” I reply. “Look, just repeat what I say. There’s no need to be anxious.”

“Who’s anxious?” She scoffs angrily, walking up to Simon. ‘Umm… Simon?’

Simon turns his head to look at her, looking unusually calm at the situation he’s in. ‘It’s Joyce, right? Did you need something?’

“He remembers my name!” She says with joy.

I pretend that I didn’t hear her. “Gerald wanted to talk with you telepathically, but you have some sort of psychic barrier that stops him talking to you, so he asked me to relay his words.” I say slowly, making sure she can follow along easily as she repeats my words.

‘I… See. And what does he want to talk about, at a time like this?’ Simon asks, raising an eyebrow.

“The teacher told me you know about magic tools.” I coach Joyce again. “Is the device in the corner transmitting sound as well, or just vision?”

Simon glances at it. “Don’t worry, just sight, I recognise the model. They can’t hear what we’re talking about.”

“That’s a relief. Alright then, what I actually wanted to ask.” I tell Joyce to say. “Do you think they would notice if I disabled the device on the roof stopping us from casting magic?”

Simon looks at the device on the roof with an evaluating eye. ‘I doubt it. Not immediately, at least. It doesn’t have any built-in triggers that would alert them if it stopped working, but they might notice at the mana source if it isn’t draining as much as usual. Still, can you even disable it? We can’t use magic, and it’s out of reach.’

“I survived for most of my life without magic.” I say through Joyce. “Destroying something is simple. Anyway, that’s all I wanted to ask. The teacher says that a rescue from the academy shouldn’t be long. Thanks for the help, and thanks Joyce for cooperating.”

I tunnel up the wall and along the roof of the room before simply absorbing a large part of the device, making sure to leave the parts exposed to the room so that the camera-like magic tool doesn’t see a difference. But to my vision, the difference is immense, the mana within the room immediately calming and returning to normal. “Alright, I’ve disabled it.” I tell him through Joyce. “I’m going to disable the teacher’s now, make sure nobody does anything crazy.”

Cutting off the link, I repeat the process on the device above the teacher’s cell. As I’m about to tell him that I’ve done so, I notice Simon taking off a ring that he is wearing over his glove. He had been wearing a ring? I’d never noticed. Clearly, neither did the mages that had captured us, otherwise they’d have taken it.

Oddly, as he slips the ring up his finger, his finger seems to grow longer and longer, until the ring does slip off the end of his finger… With a gloved finger still attached to the ring. The finger withdraws into nowhere, leaving only a thin layer of swirling mana in the interior of the ring. A portal. Nobody notices but me, as to their sight all he did was surreptitiously take off a ring.

Holding the ring portal to his mouth, Simon speaks quietly into it. ‘Simon here. I need assistance, my class and I have been kidnapped by a group of mages with unknown intent.’

If there is a reply, I don’t hear it, but he seems confident that it’s worth the risk. If there’s space magic involved, we could get reinforcements immediately. But they’ll probably use the ring to get our location, so they’ll appear… Right in this room.

Quickly moving back over to the other cell, I drop onto the camera and absorb it completely. They’ll know something’s up, but if we’re getting reinforcements here, I don’t want them to know straight away.

Sure enough, a moment later a portal twists into existence in the middle of the room and an elderly man steps through it. His left hand holds a polished stave with an orb in its head that glows like the sun from the amount of mana held within it. Every one of his fingers bears a ring, each magnificent and glowing with various types of mana, save one – the one on the fourth finger of his left hand. That ring is a simple band with a pitch black, irregularly shaped stone set in it.

His robe billows from the wind of a land far away, and his eyes are stern and severe as they survey the room. Despite his obvious age in the wrinkles and lines deep on his face, his step is filled with strength and his bearing is not hunched or stooped; he stands tall and steady. His very presence is one of power.

Not to mention his mana. Most people are just varying degrees of brightness to me, depending on how much mana they have. And he’s bright, yes, extremely so. But it’s not just him. Even the mana around him is acting as if it’s under his control, moving in an ordered, slow orbit around him instead of bouncing randomly around.

‘Grandfather!’ Simon bows deeply to the elderly man. ‘I’m glad to see you, but surely something like this doesn’t require you to make a move?’

‘Of course not. But I had ten minutes spare, so I thought it was a good opportunity to see you for a bit.’ Simon’s grandfather looks over him closely. ‘You’re not hurt? Well, their brains may have fallen out of their skulls, but it looks as if they at least aren’t made of putty.’

‘No.’ Simon shakes his head. ‘We weren’t harmed, although most of my possessions were taken. The ring and necklace they didn’t notice, of course.’

‘It shouldn’t be difficult to find them again…’ Simon’s grandfather cocks his head to the side, as if listening to something far off. ‘Looks like the academy’s folks are here. A bit slow… But that’s what happens when space magic is practically a dying art.’

Simon’s grandfather wraps him in a warm embrace. ‘It’s good to see you unharmed, Simon.’ Drawing himself back up to his full height, he turns towards the door. A complex spell formation snaps into existence before him, and the wall peels apart as he leisurely steps through. ‘I won’t take long. I do believe tea was being brewed when I left…’

A mage that had been running down the corridor towards the cells does a double take as they notice the elderly man stepping out from where there was formerly a wall, and immediately starts casting a spell.

The elderly man barely glances at them before portals encapsulate the mage and then vanish, spiriting the mage away to some unknown location and leaving behind no hint of his existence. It isn’t that the mage was slow in casting his spell; the elderly man is just too fast, beginning and completing his spell while the mage was still in the process of casting, everything done in the blink of an eye.

Not bothering to work his way through the compound, he strides directly through, walls parting in his wake. Once he reaches the outside, a gust of wind picks him up, causing him to soar through the air just as easily as he walked on land.

The mages around the compound take notice and start casting spells to hurl at him.

Raising his staff, a series of formations that I couldn’t even begin to understand weave out of mana, a combination of his and the ambient mana. These formations form slower than his previous ones, but the difference isn’t large.

His spell completes, seemingly to no effect.

Numerous spells begin to reach skywards towards him. Branches of lightning flash, gouts of fire, projectiles both material and ethereal, clouds of something no doubt deadly, and I even recognise a bolt of death energy ominously sally forth.

The elderly man doesn’t even seem to be bothered to defend himself or retaliate, ignoring them completely. The first of the spells reaches him in an instant – the lightning, of course – but a portal twists out of nowhere to intercept, and the spell is sent thundering back to its origin. The original caster doesn’t even have time to flinch before it strikes him, but evidently has some sort of protection against his own magic, as it splays across an invisible barrier, turning to scorch the ground harmlessly.

At this point the others realise their mistake. But it is too late, their spells are already rocketing back towards them. Still, it causes little more than irritation to the various mages. Often it is the case that a mage is very strong against magic similar to their own. Knowing how it might have been constructed, being able to predict what sort of damage it might produce and through what medium allows one to counter it effectively. When it’s their own magic, even more so. They know exactly what it does and how it works, and therefore how to stop or redirect it.

But, evidently, the reflection of their spells was little more than a delaying tactic. Another array of formations is created, and the elderly man’s true hand is shown.

Similarly to the mage only half a dozen seconds before, portals whirl to encapsulate the mages below. And the others still in the buildings. Every mage in the compound - excluding our class, the teacher and the elderly man himself - barely has time to blink before they vanish.

And just like that the battle is over.

…If it could even be called a battle. More like a one-sided annihilation.

At this point the academy’s people reach the compound, a spherical barrier briefly flaring to life before shattering, the group advancing through without any particular rush, having seen what had happened.

The elderly man calls out to them, ‘I’ve captured all the perpetrators already. You’ll find the students in that building down there, mostly unharmed.’

‘Thank you, sir.’ Their leader bows their head slightly in response. ‘May we ask that you share any information you gather from them with the academy?’

‘Sure.’ The elderly man shrugs. ‘I’ll send Kleio the details.’

And with that, he opens a portal and steps through it, the portal twisting closed behind him. He was probably only here for a minute or two.

After that, well… Events are pretty straightforward. They find us easily enough, my classmates retrieve their things, we start heading back to the academy, I snag my magic tools – a little dirty, but fine – on the way, and we arrive safely. An anticlimactic end to a stressful day.

Gerald's Status