~A few minutes earlier, Stink-rat Marsh~
Lara just found out that Losla was surrounded by the mage hunters.
“I see. Wait a second.” Lara said to Jay as she turned to Lannister.
“The mage hunters have surrounded Losla. They won’t let anyone leave.”
“Okay. We’ll initiate the backup plan. Jay has the warp-disruptor so he should be able to make it to us without a problem… Are you ready to do this?”
Lara stood up; all her usual playfulness and casual attitude was gone. She was ready to carry out her part of the mission as she nodded.
“Alright. Get ready.” Lannister said as he turned towards the entrance of the stink-rat marsh.
“Get ready.” Lara said to Jay through the crystal once more.
Lannister began to trigger the magic symbols he lay around the dungeon entrance. Golden runes all appeared and soon began floating, swirling and circling the dungeon before breaking and combining in the centre of the shallow pool entrance.
The last symbol broke and entered a floating golden orb that had formed and was radiating a seemingly divine golden energy as it slowly began to pulse. The air around it distorted vision like a gaseous vapour.
Suddenly, Lannister and Lara turned their faces away and closed their eyes.
*Fwoosh!~*
The golden orb suddenly exploded in a flash of light; a thick wave of mana rolled out from it and passed through everything around them before continuing through the forest.
Once the golden orb has disappeared, a single point was left, a black dot in reality.
The black dot moved upwards and tore apart reality as it cut open a line in space.
The empty gap began spinning and formed a spindle shape. It crackled with dangerous energy as it built up unimaginable speed - and suddenly, it opened up into a circle.
The familiar silvery flat surface greeted Lannister who smiled back at his own reflection. Another successful portal to mirror reality thirty-four was established.
However, for safety precautions, this one would only let a certain number of people through before closing: Lannister, Lara, Anya and Jay.
Lara pulled out the communication crystal again to contact Jay.
~Losla, Alley~
“What the fuck was that…” A wave of energy washed over Jay’s mind and he instinctively looked in the direction it came from: the stink-rat marsh.
Next, he heard Lara’s voice again.
“Jay, you have to come now. This is your only chance. I’m sorry we can’t do more.”
“Thank you.” Jay said as he put away the crystal.
Peering back out of the alleyway, the mage hunters had just put away their communication crystals again and were already on the move.
Suddenly, they all ran off in the direction of the energy signature. Obviously whatever that was took priority over guarding this small town.
The energy from the mana wave just now was more powerful than whatever was happening at the association.
Jay remained focused as quickly sprinted out of the alley and followed the mage hunters towards the marsh.
The mage hunters were much faster than he was, so he could run at full speed without fear of catching up.
Jay followed along and could see them running further down the south road, but soon enough, they were out of sight.
~South forests~
After the wave of energy passed over Matheson he only followed more closely. He had been to the stink-rat marsh before and guessed she was headed there, and he soon found that he was right.
Anya entered the clearing while he watched from a distance as she greeted some people, but strangely, for some reason, she dropped to her knees and held her head in her hands.
“Tears of joy?” Matheson wondered - but this wasn’t what caught his attention.
In front of Anya, above the marsh, a crackling ring of energy buzzed, with a silvery-mirror surface.
Matheson’s eyes gleamed as he looked at it; to him this was enough to confirm his suspicion: It’s the powerful treasure they were all looking for - or at least a portal to it.
“I guess the stink-rat marsh holds some secrets after all.” he smiled fiendishly.
As he watched on, the guy helped Anya up to her feet and brought her into the portal - though to Matheson’s annoyance, the woman with them stayed.
Suddenly, he heard deep thumping sounds coming through the forest - and deep voices to match.
“Stop!” he heard a shout,
“Surrender and your death will be fast!” Another yelled - right before a small golden flash of light came from somewhere in the forest.
*Vroow!~*
Matheson continued to watch as the woman responded to the flash. The trees began to sway and rock around her; they groaned in pain before being ripped out of the earth.
The trees turned horizontal as they floated around her; dirt falling off the roots as they floated - suddenly like giant javelins, they were shot off into the forest.
*Boom boom boom boom~*
The large logs pounded and impaled some other part of the forest where the deep voices and more bright flashes of light were coming from.
However it wasn’t enough.
A mage hunter rushed through the wood as the woman.
Similarly to the trees, the helpless mage hunter was quickly floating in the air and was tossed into the sky as easily as the trees were.
Matheson was shocked at this magic; so far he believed he could take out most magicians, but against something like this we would be powerless.
“This… I need to get stronger.” Matheson looked on in awe.
He didn’t blink as he watched every moment.
Next, another mage hunter rushed through, but for some reason the girl ignored them as her lips curled into a cunning smile.
A part of Matheson wanted to call out to save the girl, but he held his tongue.
Suddenly, a flash of light happened and the mage hunter disappeared.
“Huh?” he squinted and looked away before looking back again.
“...what happened to the mage hunter?”
“It was there one moment and then gone in a flash of light…” he raised a brow silently.
A shiver went up his spine as he imagined that the mage hunter may have been suddenly vaporised.
Still, there was no time to think about such things.
The woman seemed distracted and he had a prize to claim on the other side of that portal.
Mage hunters were approaching from the north where the woman was looking, so Matheson crept around to the south side and began to sneak closer - he held out his sword though in case there were more of those light traps.
As he got closer he noticed that the girl was sweating and panting heavily. Clearly she was exerting herself and running out of time.
She couldn’t hold them off forever - but why was she holding them off anyway? Matheson didn’t care either way.
Finally he was close enough to dash to the portal now.
The woman was distracted by a mage hunter charging through the forest, and this was the perfect moment.
With a wicked grin he ran out of the forest and sped towards the portal.
As Matheson got closer to the portal he resolved himself to jump straight in. He didn’t need to think twice about it.
The treasure would be his, and his alone.
He was ready to start threatening Anya and anyone else with his nobility once he reached the other side.
If that didn’t work, the sword was also an option. He would get to the treasure before they could do anything to him.
As he was only a few steps away from the portal, Lara noticed his presence and she turned around with a relieved smile.
“Finally…. Wh-, who are you?!” she yelled.
Matheson returned her smile with a menacing grin and gave her no opportunity to stop him, as he was already about to slip through the portal.
The greedy grin on his face only got bigger.
She just analysed him and his name wasn’t Jay - he was a random adventurer.
“Wait, stop!”
Lara raised her hands to use her magic but Matheson acted far too decisively. Before it even took effect, he was gone, only leaving behind a gentle ripple on the silver portal.
Lara almost couldn’t believe her eyes.
“FUCKER!!” she screamed.
More mage hunters were bearing down on her location, and the portal could only take one more person now - meanwhile Jay was nowhere to be seen.
“Grrahh!” she gritted her teeth in anger. She had no reason to wait; her only choice was to flee.
She decisively took out the communication crystal.
“Don’t come to the stink-rat marsh. Flee Losla. We’ll find you… I promise.” she sounded as desperate as she was angry.
She used the last of her energy to send some more trees flying into the forest, trying to do as much damage as possible before jumping into the portal.
After she went though, the portal swirled more slowly and began to get smaller.
The energy dissipated quickly as it collapsed into a smaller sphere, then a black dot, before turning back into nothingness again.
For a moment the forest was silent again.
