Accidental Healer

I shoved with my feet, straight back, careful to remain aware of the walls of the quarry so I wouldn't get pinched.

Just like last time the ball of bronze was on me in a second.

The last person to keep up with my speed in a fight was the bandit faction leader. This guy's agility must be through the roof. I felt a prickle in the back of my neck—it was rare for me to be pushed in single combat.

Was I really excited? It's not like I was a battle junky. It just felt exciting to put my abilities to the test.

I bounced to the side as an orange arc illuminated the night, hurtling right toward me. Reflexes trained by weeks of practice were put to use. I shifted my weight and swiped the skill away with Tranquility.

My movements were short and quick, and it's a good thing that they were, because I was immediately forced to dodge another attack. The man followed his skill using it to try and pinch me.

It nearly worked.

His axe gleamed orange, reflecting the light from the deflected skill. I'd expected the follow up and was already ducking and spinning away from the blow.

Something in his armor caught my eye as I twisted away.

In the center of his chestplate sat a small deep purple crystal shard. It was easy to dismiss and I wouldn't have given it a second thought—except….

Ever since my fight with the cyclops I'd made it a habit to be especially aware of my barrier spell. Familiarizing myself with its durability, the mana flow, how it felt when it was running lower on time and so on. In five days, I'd come a long way.

It was because of my practice that I noticed something peculiar.

My barrier felt on the edge of breaking, or more accurately, its durability was on fumes.

I recast the spell, refreshing its integrity.

My enemy had drawn near several times already. Each time something had felt a bit off, I could feel pressure—like someone was pulling the front of my robe.

Except it wasn't my robe, it was the mana that made up my barrier.

At first I wasn't sure about it. But now? I was confident. Somehow, my shield was being siphoned away.

And my gut told me that the dark gem had something to do with it.

It was time for me to get serious about this fight.

I reset my distance and the little man bounded towards me, eating up ground in wide bursts.

I dug in my heels.

He took another bounding step, expecting me to evade him again. The poor bronze man never saw my attack coming.

Rather than moving away I propelled myself forward. In a blink, my sword flashed, catching my assailant midair. His helmet covered his face completely but I imagined his eyes going wide at my surprise attack.

Booted feet twitched searching for purchase but they met nothing but air.

My goal wasn't to kill. I just wanted to end the fight—which meant the little guy needed to be crippled long enough to hear me out. It didn't make me feel any less guilty as Tranquility screamed towards his legs.

I adjusted slightly—there was no need to take both legs—one would suffice. I braced for the bite of steel against…whatever this guy's armor was made of, expecting a small tug.

WHACK!

My arms vibrated like I just smacked a wall and my body spun in a circle as the momentum of my swing was halted in an instant.

The result was jarring. One second I was prepared to end the fight in a single swing and the next I was staring at the quarry wall wondering what had just happened.

What happened was my attack got blocked and I was still fighting! In a desperate move I swayed to my left.

Wind whistled past my ear as I narrowly dodged the attack leveled at my skull. I bounced and twirled in the air scrambling to create distance from my enemy. Without even waiting to see if I was being pursued I took another large leep away just to be certain.

When I was confident I'd created enough space I sized up my attacker. To my surprise, he wasn't rushing me again.

He was watching me from twenty yards away, both of us still, axe rested at his hip. Wind whispered between the stones.

I tilted my head, reaching for my shoulder.

My robe was torn. I brought my fingers up and stared.

Blood.

My barrier was gone. Completely.

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I recast it instantly. My knuckles whitened as I gripped Tranquility harder.

What just happened? I wasn't being attacked for the moment so I took a breath and tried to piece it all together.

Somehow, not only had my spell been siphoned away—but looking at the bronze armor. There wasn't a scratch on it. Which made zero sense. My sword hit something solid, and if it wasn't his armor….

Did he steal my spell?

The impact of my strike wasn't against metal, it was against a barrier—a strong barrier.

That was it then? He had an ability that siphoned away my spell and made it his own and it appeared to work faster the closer I got.

In the space of a day, I had found two completely new methods to counter my shielding spell. As the world grew bigger for me my spell slowly became less and less impervious.

What did I expect? That was just life. Once I was through with all this, it was time to consider getting a new suit of armor.

I tilted my head. His armor looked pretty fancy, I wondered if it was like Durkils—self fitting.

I swatted that thought away. I was determined to resolve this without either of us dying.

Alright then.

Time to see how tough my shield really was.

The man clinked his axe against his armor boot.

We began again in earnest.

Would my skills be affected the same as my spells? A piercing lunge crossed the space like a bullet, the axe moved but it wasn't fast enough.

It didn't matter though—the skill stopped inches before reaching its true target.

The skill worked, but so did my stolen spell.

Before I could land a blow, I would need to break my own shield. But if I ventured to close then my spell would be stolen again. That meant keeping my distance while slowly whittling down its integrity until the moment was right.

It meant I would have to rely on only skills.

My fighter class hadn't evolved yet, but the skills I had were powered by mountains of stats for my level.

The armored man barreled forward, I dashed to my left swiping my blade and an ethereal arch sprung outward.

He reacted quickly slamming the ghostly blade downward with intense force. The ground rumbled from the impact.

Okay, so he wasn't just fast, he was strong.

My feet barely touched the ground as I dashed in a wide loop, never settling in one place. As fast as my enemy was, I still had the advantage.

While I ran, attacks flew in each direction. My skills were woefully less impressive than the orange arc that lit up the walls. So far it was the only skill he'd used on me, whereas I used dash, sweeping blade, and piercing strike liberally.

Occasionally the attacks would collide midair and his would explode sending dancing sparks scattering across the stone floor.

I wondered as I ran if maybe his evolved skills was that siphoning ability he used. But my instincts told me it had to do with the dark gem in his chest plate, still I could be wrong. If it was a skill it would be one less I had to worry about during the fight.

My plan of keeping distance seemed to be working. The assumption that he needed to be close seemed to be right on the money.

Just keep kiting. The battle fell into a rhythm as I adjusted to its cadence. The air was filled with clinks and thunks as seconds turned to minutes.

Even if I felt confident things were progressing in my favor the fight was one of tedium. I had to fight a wry smile. My shields really were a pain in the ass to deal with.

Although many of my attacks were avoided, I was confident that more than a handful had landed and yet it held firm. But I knew it was getting close.

All I had to do was keep my distance so he couldn't refresh his shield. Afraid that my movements had become too predictable I shoved backwards.

Big mistake.

My body crumpled into solid stone. I must've ventured too close to the wall without realizing it. But that wasn't it, I'd been careful the wall shouldn't be anywhere close.

I looked up from my back. His second skill.

Behind me rose a bright orange wall of pure mana that extended for at least twenty feet in each direction.

Well shit.

I scrambled to my feet and dashed to the right with everything I had. It wasn't enough. A body slammed into, arms wrapping me like a damn spider monkey.

So much for keeping distance.

Arms and legs twisted in a tangled mess. For the time being I stowed Tranquillity so I would have both hands.

It was a complicated fight. Grappling was strange when My hands could never reach my target. We looked like mimes each trying to find purchase but neither of us could with the shields preventing physical contact.

With effort, I squirmed and wriggled until I was free of his bear hug. The second we were separated, Tranquility was back in my grip and I was swinging.

Metal clashed as attacks were parried and dodged. His weapon was unwieldy in spite of relative skill. Many of my attacks slipped past his guard only to be rebuffed by a mana barrier.

In terms of close single combat, I had the upper hand in speed, strength and mobility. The gap wasn't massive though and it made for an exciting flurry.

The rhythm of the fight brought me clarity.

Each time I used my spell, the battle was refreshed. I glanced at my status screen earning a glancing blow for my inattentiveness. I still had plenty of mana to spare—my shields were stupid cheap.

That meant I was essentially locked into a fight that might never end—unless I was willing to do something drastic.

If I didn't want to keep fighting against my own shield barrier spell, it would mean that I would have to fight with no barrier.

Just the thought gave me pause.

The fact was, my spell had become my security blanket. With it I was able to throw myself and my allies into challenges with confidence.

Without it?

I shivered and another heavy axe strike glanced off my sword slapping into my upper arm. Without my shield that strike would've taken most of my arm, reinforcing the reason for my reluctance.

Sweat beaded on my brow, but not from exertion.

I could just run. My stomach turned. But it was true.

It wasn't my fault that Sadie and Xander decided to follow me. They had made their own decisions and now I was paying for it.

Why should me—or even this faction—have to pay for the stupidity of a couple people?

There was truth to my logic. But I knew it was wrong.

The real truth, the deeper truth? I was scared.

My teeth ground together and I moved mechanically, sidestepping and swinging.

Was I really going to let my own fear keep me from doing whatever necessary to protect the members of my faction?

The answer was simple.

No.

My shield slipped from my body as I withdrew the mana.