The four of them sat down in a small circle, leaning against their packs as Delph and Dredd distributed some fruit and fresh food. It was a welcome change from the jerky and cheese they'd been surviving off for the past few weeks.
"There's obviously no reason to camp around every day anymore," Delph said. "Dredd can just teleport us wherever we need to go. Of course, if you aren't wandering alone in the woods, we'll need a new cover story as to where you went."
"I've got a cabin they can remain at in between hunting the Corruption," Dredd said, rising to his feet with the help of his staff. "So long as they clean it up, it won't be a problem. It's deep enough in a forest that nobody should find it, so we don't have to worry about unwanted visitors."
"That will work," Delph said with a nod. "And I think you might as well show them to it. We've done more than enough today, and I want to go back over what we've seen to make sure nothing got passed over. We can get back to hunting tomorrow. Does that work for your schedule, Damien?"
"It's certainly faster than what we were doing before," Damien said.
"And frankly, I don't care what Herald wants right now. I'm pretty sure he set us up so that you'd accidentally free the other Void creature."
"I'd like to think that," Delph muttered. "Makes me feel like less of an idiot. Dredd, take them back. I'm going to do one last sweep of the mountain before joining you, so leave the portal open."
Dredd nodded. He traced a circle in the air with his staff. A red portal crackled to life in its path and he stepped into it, vanishing with a pop.
Damien and Sylph followed after him, leaving Delph behind them on the mountain.
They emerged in a small wooden room. The smell of cinnamon and cloves hung in the air, and a small fireplace crackled at the far side. Dredd strode over to a table at the center of the room and pulled out one of the four chairs, sitting down with a sigh and leaning his staff against the side of the table. He took a pastry from a plate in the center of the table and took a bite out of it.
"You leave the fireplace on while you're out?" Damien asked.
"The house is runed," Dredd said, wiping the crumbs away from his lips. "It's not going to burn down. It's almost as protected as Blackmist is.
Of course, I still expect the two of you to keep it tidy. This is my house, and I will not be happy if you leave it a mess."
"We can take care of ourselves," Sylph said, setting her pack down by the wall. "We aren't animals."
"Good," Dredd said. "There are two beds through the door behind me.
Feel free to use them. There's also an icebox in the kitchen with some ingredients. I presume you know how to cook?"
"We know enough," Damien replied.
"Then I'll take my leave," Dredd said, polishing off the last of his pastry. "I will return with Delph tomorrow to continue your quest. Be ready early in the morning."
He rose, grabbing his staff and striding past them. Dredd stepped through the portal, and it snapped shut behind him, leaving only the crackle of the fireplace to keep them company.
"Well," Damien said, rubbing his forehead. "That was a day."
"That it was," Sylph said, peering out one of the windows. "Does it feel good to have your secret out at least?"
"A little," Damien admitted. "I just wish it had come at less of a price."
"So do I," she replied, pulling her shoes off and sitting down at the table with a sigh. "But with Dredd and Delph, we have a much better chance of fighting the Corruption."
"That's true," Damien agreed, sitting down beside Sylph. He didn't realize how tired he was until the weight was off his legs. He let out a satisfied sigh, slumping back in the chair. "I still wonder who that Second person was."
"No clue," Sylph said, shrugging. "I didn't get to see much of him. I'm going to need to figure out a way around that time magic, but I don't think we have to worry about that for now."
Sylph took a pastry from the table and offered it to Damien. He took it with a small grin. They hadn't exactly won the day's fights, but they hadn't lost them all, either. Whoever Second was, Delph posed enough of a threat to scare him off. And for now, that was enough.
After eating, the two spent a little time exploring the house. It was rather plain, but it was clear that Dredd took good care of it. The beds were well made and soft, although neither knew why the man would bother having two beds on opposite sides of the same room.
Outside the window, the forest seemed to stretch on endlessly. Damien couldn't make out the end of the trees, and he didn't have any desire to leave the cabin and wander around. He didn't know what monsters might live in the woods and what sort of protection Dredd had put around the house, so they both decided it was safer to stay put.
The two got settled in and went to bed a few hours later, too tired to do anything else. The following morning, Delph and Dredd arrived to continue their quest of hunting the Corruption.
Second did not show himself that day, and the next was much of the same. Without the strange bandaged man, the four of them encountered little difficulty defeating any Corruption they faced.
The next few months passed quickly. Damien and Sylph progressed even further in their skills, although they rarely had energy to do much practice at the end of the day. In the later months, they took out more than ten different Corrupted creatures every day.
On a day no different than any other, Damien and Sylph rolled out of bed before the sun had risen to meet the professors and resume their hunt.
However, when Dredd arrived, he was alone.
"Where's Delph?" Damien asked.
"At Blackmist," Dredd replied. "Summer is over in two days."
Damien blinked. He mentally ran through the events of the last few months again. It had all blurred together due to the repetition. "Already?"
"I lost track of time as well," Sylph said, shaking her head. "But what now? There are still Corrupted monsters around, not to mention the Void creature."
"Delph and I will handle that as much as possible," Dredd replied. "But you two need to return to school. We can find and defeat the Corruption without your help, and neither of you have a chance against Second. Unless that Void monster returns, the best thing you can do is get stronger."
"Not going to argue there," Damien agreed. "Although it feels strange, going back to school given everything that's happened."
"Don't let it put you too off guard," Dredd said, crossing his arms.
"Whisp has been going on about the Intraschool Tournament for the last month. She's got her eye on you two, no matter what she says. The only other students in your class that have a chance of making it anywhere right now are Mark and a boy called Cody. All in Delph's class. What a surprise."
"Should we be worried about that?" Sylph asked.
"Keep it on your mind. Maybe it'll be a good way to blow off some steam. Delph forgets that you're both still kids. You need to relax and have fun sometimes."
"I'm almost eighteen," Damien protested.
"You're a kid," Dredd said in a tone that brooked no room for argument.
"Either way, it's time to return to Blackmist. I trust you've kept my home in good condition?"
"You can't even tell we were here," Sylph said. She grabbed a pastry from the plate, which never seemed to run out, and took a bite out of it.
Ever since she'd started using her new abilities, her appetite had more than doubled.
"Good," Dredd said. "That would have been an inconvenience. Now, it's time to give me my house back. The portal will take you straight to your room at Blackmist. The Gray twins have already returned. I highly recommend you refrain from sharing the exact details of your summer, but you are under no compulsions. Just make sure to adequately prepare yourselves for this year."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sylph asked. "We've been hunting monsters for the past few months. You can't tell me Year Two is harder than that."
"It isn't," Dredd admitted. "Not in that way, at least. Both of you are far from our normal students, but there are challenges that you'll have to worry about nonetheless. Specifically manifesting a physical version of your Companion. Only so many people will be fooled by claiming that Damien's companion is from the Plane of Darkness. As for you, Sylph, I'm getting quite convinced you don't even have a companion. All the energy you use comes from your own body."
Sylph pressed her lips together. "I see. That might be a problem."
Dredd grunted. "Figure it out. You'll have a week or two before preparations for manifesting your companion begin. You're both resourceful kids. Also, I'll be setting your majors as Combat Mages to make sure we can avoid other teachers getting in our way."
He gave them a wave that made it clear the conversation was over.
Damien and Sylph took one last look around the house that they'd slept in for the past few months, then entered the portal Dredd had left them.
Cold wind bit at Damien's face as he emerged before their room alongside Sylph. The abrupt transition took a moment to get accustomed to, but he'd experienced it so many times over the past summer that the disorientation only lasted for a few moments.
"It feels weird to be back," Sylph murmured, pulling the door open.
They walked inside, and she let it swing shut behind them. "When we left, I honestly thought there was a good chance we wouldn't be coming back."
"And you came anyways?"
"Of course I did. I'm hardly going to leave you to face off against the Void and the Corruption on your own."
"Hardly alone," Henry grumbled, his voice coming out from Damien's shadow. "He's got me."
"You're horrible conversation," Sylph said, flopping down on her bed with a smirk. "And your reading tastes suck."
"Information is information," Henry replied. "You're just too young to appreciate the finer things in life."
Henry slipped back into the depths of Damien's psyche. Damien took the opportunity to check his bracelet—in the chaos of the summer, he hadn't had any time to see how much he'd improved, even though he could feel his magic coming easier to him with every passing day. The constant fighting had also done wonders for his physique, even though he was still fairly lanky.
Damien Vale Blackmist College Year Two Major: Battle Mage Minor: Undecided Companion: [Null] Magical Strength: 10.1 Magical Control: 3.15 Magical Energy: 21 Physical Strength: .63 Endurance: 2.3 "Looks like Delph and Dredd already had our information updated," Damien said. "I was kind of hoping for more growth over the summer, though."
"I think we just got spoiled by the huge burst of growth that Evolution gave us," Sylph said. "I can tell both of us are getting stronger. Ignore the bracelets. They're just for the school's purposes."
Before either of them could say anything else, there was a polite knock on the door. Damien groaned, stopping midway in his motion to sit down in his bed, and strode over to it.
He pushed it open. Nolan stood before him, shifting from foot to foot.
"Hi, Damien. Mind if I come in?"
Damien glanced back at Sylph, who gave him a shrug. He stepped out of the way, letting Nolan walk in behind him.
"How was your summer?" Nolan asked.
"Interesting," Damien answered honestly.
Terrifying. Exciting.
"Informative," Sylph added. "What of yours?"
"Boring," Nolan said, letting out a heavy sigh. "Political garbage for my father and lots of shuffling around with other nobles, pretending that I care about what's going on."
"I thought you liked that kind of thing?" Damien asked, cocking his head. "You certainly seemed to in the beginning of last year."
"I did," Nolan replied, biting back a grimace. "But that was before I started learning magic here. My father wanted me to transfer to Kingsfront, but I obviously refused."
"Why?" Sylph asked.
"I don't know," Nolan said. He sighed again and shook his head.
"Something in my gut told me I'd learn more here, and I didn't realize how horrible politics were until I got away from them for a few months."
"Well, welcome back," Damien said, scratching the back of his head.
"But, ah, is there any reason you wanted to talk?"
"Right. I got distracted," Nolan said, blushing. "I need your help."
"Mine? Or ours?" Damien asked.
"Yours," Nolan said. "I've been enrolled in Advanced Rune Crafting against my will. Apparently, my teacher decided that I improved so much last semester that I had great potential. The problem is I only made it that far with your tutelage. There's no way I'll pass Advanced Rune Crafting on my own, but I need to if I want to stay here."
"I can see how that would be a problem," Damien agreed. "I don't know how much free time I'm going to have this semester, but I don't see anything wrong with giving you a pointer here or there."
"Thanks," Nolan said, relief washing over his features. "What did you two do over summer, anyways? I presume you went somewhere together."
"What makes you think that?" Damien asked.
Nolan cocked an eyebrow. "You do everything together. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, though."
"Just training, mostly," Sylph said. "Nothing too interesting."
"You trained the entire summer?" Nolan asked, his eyes growing wide.
"I don't even want to think about what that means on where you stand now.
I'm scared for the ranking battles. Don't you guys do anything other than fight? Constant practice sounds horrible. It's not like we're at war."
"I guess we just don't have anything better to do," Damien said, shrugging. "At least we'll be ready for the year."
"That you will," Nolan agreed. He politely excused himself before slipping out the door.
"He seems different," Sylph observed. "Not as much of a dick as he used to be. You think Reena's any better?"
"We'll find out," Damien replied. "That would be nice. Maybe she decided to take up Rune Crafting as well."
They both chuckled. After taking out the rest of their meager belongings and setting their room back up, the two headed out to get lunch at the mess hall. Neither were quite in the mood to go hunting.