FMH: Everything ~ Forty-Two

- Taylor -

Every single one of Taylor's senses screamed that walking into one of the pits in Zone twenty-one was a death sentence. For the first time ever, she was regretting her choice of placing the vast majority of her Characteristic upgrades into Physical Reaction and Mental Energy. Without enough Willpower, she could only watch in almost a third-person view as she slowly walked toward the pit with a vacant expression on her face.

“So beautiful. So sweet. I want… I want to be able to do that,” Zed murmured next to her, and a small part of her wondered at the fact that he was merely standing there listening to the siren song of the Bewitching Mermaids. One small consolation was that she didn't seem to be alone in her enthrallment, as Andre was matching her step for step.

“Hey, I think you guys should stay back. Luke said those pits are pretty dangerous. Guys? Taylor? I know you're not a guy, but I'm using the term colloquially in order to refer to our group, instead of having to say our team name all the time. Okay, now I know you're not listening.”

A moment later, Taylor blinked as her awareness returned to her. Zed was playing an instrument, and between his Mastery and the sheer volume of the harp, the call to the pit slowly faded into background noise. Blood fountained out of the depression in the landscape, along with a high-pitched scream. She winced as she realized there was likely more than one factor keeping her out of harm's way at this moment. Even so, for the first time, she truly saw the value of having a Bard on her team.

“Thank you, Zed. I think… I think I was completely ensnared. How did you pull me out of it?” She smiled brightly at him, getting a cautious grin in return. At no point did he stop playing his instrument, even as the bewitching songs faded away completely as Luke completed his grisly work. The Bard was perfectly happy to explain at the same time as strumming, “This is a basic dispelling song, one of the only Masteries that the kingdom requires any Bard to learn. I guess what we're supposed to do is act as minstrels for the king, providing gentle background noise for their conversation at the same time as reducing the effect of any magical or mental attacks against him.”

His face darkened, and Taylor recognized the signs of him about to go into a rant about the unfairness of his Ascender class, so she cut him off by stepping closer and pulling him into a hug, her words flowing out in a rush. “Thank you, Zed. One of my biggest fears is turning out like Master Don, and I know that could only happen if something was tampering with my mind. It might not seem like much to you, but you just kept my mind from being corrupted, and I will never forget it. Please… accept my apologies for how I have treated you in the past. Not only because of this, but, well, because I never actually said the words aloud before, even if I thought them.”

The Bard was so off-put by the uncharacteristic show of affection that he gently pushed her away from him and played his song even louder. “Was something messing with you this entire time? Did you have a passive Spell on you that has always been active?”

At those words, her frown returned in full force, and she crossed her arms as she glared at him. “Go on. Explain to me exactly what you think is wrong with how I think and act.”

Zed opened his mouth, paused, and closed it again with a strange mix of amusement and consternation showing on his face. “…No. I'm sensing that I messed up somehow.”

Taylor turned away from him with a light huff. “Seriously, try to give a compliment to someone, and their gut reaction is thinking that I'm being mind controlled.”

“Well, maybe you can give compliments more often, so it doesn’t seem so out of place!” Zed's words made her freeze in place, but Taylor didn't turn around. It wouldn't do to have him see her blush at this moment. Even though his words aggravated her, she nodded her head fractionally and decided to take his thoughts under advisement.

Luke appeared out of the pit, hauling his bucket of liquid mana once more. A storm of mana swirled around him as he casually strolled along, seemingly oblivious to the cataclysmic amount of energy he was releasing every second. “I think this will do it.”

“I still don't know why you made us come with you instead of waiting there.” Andre mentioned as they backtracked to the trench that the Murderhobo had dug at the edge of Zone twenty. “It would have made much more sense for one of us to guard the pearls instead of standing around doing nothing like this.”

“Heh.” Whenever the Murderhobo let out a single chuckle like that, Taylor knew something absolutely insane was about to pop out of his mouth. “You really want to know why? Come on, then. See for yourself.”

Andre fell in step alongside Luke, his pride not allowing him to shirk away from the challenge. As they got closer to the small trench, Taylor began feeling a strong pull. It was a warmth on her skin, like dappled sunlight falling through the canopy of a forest. Without thinking, a bright smile appeared on her face, and she walked a little faster. Next to her, Zed was already running, sprinting forward with an expression on his face like a starving man, pale and bloodless, though his eyes were shot through with bright red capillaries.

The vines began whipping off of Andre as he was impacted by… whatever this was. Eventually, Luke was forced to casually reach out, grab the Druid, and huck him back farther into Zone twenty-one. “Yeah, I didn't think so.”

As Luke closed in on the trench, Zed and Taylor began running even faster. Then the Murderhobo dumped the water out of his barrel into the trench, and the compulsion that Taylor was feeling vanished, as though she were a moth and the flame she wanted so badly had just been snuffed out. The Bard started coughing, looking around as he tried to catch his breath. “What… what was that? Why couldn't I resist it?”

“Far as I know, that is something like forty-seven or forty-eight Tier seven Skill Pearls all nestled together in a group,” Luke informed them after staring into the boiling and thrashing liquid. “Not going to be long now.”

Indeed it was not. Less than half an hour later, Luke informed Andre that he could end the relentless march of Skill Pearls from the Zone. Then, all at once, the remaining liquid mana in the trench boiled away, all at the same time, allowing a bright blue glow to emanate from its depths. The desire Taylor had been feeling just a few minutes ago returned in full force, doubled, no… tripled. She threw herself forward, gathering lightning above her head to strike down any obstacle in her path.

She was too slow. Luke reached into the hole, pulled out a shining star, and tossed it in his mouth like a single piece of popped corn. Her heightened Senses allowed her to hear his throat muscles working as he dry swallowed the Skill Pearl, and all she could hope was that he would choke so that she could cut it out of him. As she was so focused on the man in front of her, she could hear the instant the tiny sphere reached his stomach and splashed into the acid waiting below.

Taylor blinked, catching herself mid-motion as she started to direct her Spell to destroy the impermanent being in front of her. She looked around at her party, seeing that all of them were in the middle of some kind of attack. Each of them slowly lowered their arms, weapons, or harp. Luke turned around, and she fully expected him to appear smug or aggressive at their positions. Instead, he simply nodded at them and started walking back toward the pit. “I decided to settle for a Tier eight. This was taking too long.”

“What just happened?” Zed whispered so softly a regular human wouldn't have been able to hear him. “I was about to try erasing his mind. Why? Why does it have such a powerful effect, and why can I not dispel it?”

The Mage swallowed, her throat so dry that it felt like the muscles rubbing together we're going to start a bonfire in her mouth. “It's a natural treasure. It’s not any kind of Spell or enchantment, nothing like that. It’s… desire. Pure desire. I have no other explanation for it. Can you really erase minds?”

Zed evaded the question. “I said try, didn’t I?”

None of them were in a speaking mood as they continued farther into the Zone. Anyone not a Murderhobo was deep in self-reflection and contemplation, trying to determine how they could avoid falling into that whirlpool of animalistic instinct. Trying to get herself out of her own head, Taylor realized that this Zone was a reflection of her inner turmoil. The ground was empty and barren, except for pits of desire randomly sprinkled throughout. Just like the Skill Pearl itself, getting too close and giving in was a guaranteed death. She swore to herself that she would do better and flinched as her Sigil *chimed*.

She pulled open her Characteristics, eyes widening as she realized that both her Willpower and Charisma had just jumped two full points each. A quick scan showed that this wasn’t the only increase, just the most recent. Taylor had improved in all areas. Narrowing her eyes, the Mage decided that now would be the perfect time to place the Characteristic increase that she had been saving since reaching level fifteen. “Truly, training in high-mana-density areas is amazing for training all Characteristics.”

With a mental command, she increased her Physical Reaction by five points, making it her first Characteristic to edge over the fifty-point threshold.

Cal Scan

Level: 15

Current Etheric Xenograft Potentia: 11,452 / 15,9700 to level 16!

Body: 13.9

Fitness: 14.5

Resistance: 13.3

Mind: 23.65

Talent: 20

Capacity: 27.3

Presence: 14.75

Willpower: 12.3

Charisma: 17.2

Senses: 47.85

Physical reaction: 50.8

Mental energy: 44.9

Maximum health: 183

Maximum mana: 504

Mana regen: 6.6 per second.

She collapsed onto her rear as the changes took effect, but they settled quickly as it was only approximately a ten percent increase. Taking a few deep breaths, Taylor looked around, hoping for a notification from her Sigil. “Feces. I had really been hoping that getting over fifty points in a Characteristic would do something neat.”

“Monsters are dead,” Luke informed everyone abruptly, walking over, grabbing Taylor by the shoulder, and lifting her as if she weighed as much as a feather. When she got her feet under her once more, he let go and faced the group, his arms crossed. “I need to send the liquid mana along the Zone. My choices are directly downhill, slightly to the left, or to the right. This Zone is a puzzle, and the liquid needs to collect in the holes so we can continue onward. Tell me which way to send it.”

The group was silent as each of them tried to think of a solution, but then a bright smile appeared on Andre's face, and his eyes started to glow with enthusiasm.

“I have a plan.”