Draith
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Chapter 8 - Petal to the Metal
🕑 Added 2025-02-23 19:41:42 +0000 UTCThe last week before our departure passed nearly as quickly as the three before, though it was far more chaotic. The seeds and other supplies we'd arranged started to arrive, as had a pair of seven foot wooden cubes with matching dimensions to the one we'd be using to pass through the gate.
That had been my idea. I'd had to deal with packing materials into tight spaces often enough to know that just working on the dimensions rarely worked out the way you wanted it to. It was always better to work with a model.
Good thing I did, because fitting both of us in with everything we'd planned to include turned out to be even more of a headache than I'd expected. How does a world have the ability to send folk across thousands of miles in an instant, but not have tie-down straps?
Seeing Nexxa work with her own box answered that question instantly. She used magic to secure her stuff in place. And while I could've asked her to help us with ours, I instead ordered several simple rings and used them to create a simple friction lock.
"Very good, master Perth. Now that I'm looking at it, I believe the furniture delivery uses something similar," Calbern noted.
"Would've been helpful two days ago," I muttered under my breath. But I wasn't particularly upset. The problem had led to me adding yet another set of books to review for my Memory Palace.
"Finally got it all locked down, huh?" Nexxa's voice drifted over from where she was laying atop her own cube, her arm dangling down the side.
"Yep. I think… I think we're actually ready. And with two days to spare."
Calbern gave a slight nod of his head.
"Nah. We just got all the boring logistics stuff done. Still need to put you through your paces," Nexxa said, somehow turning the swing of her arm into a grab, flipping into a backflip that carried her down off the box. It was the most athletic display Perth or I had ever seen out of her.
"My paces?" I asked, frowning as she stepped forward with lightning crackling.
"Yep. Can't have you going out into the wide world not knowing how to fight," Nexxa said, a far too wide grin stretching across her face.
"I know how to fight," I said, clenching my fist. I certainly knew how to take a punch. My old man had beat that into me.
"What you and your friends used to do after drinking isn't fighting," Nexxa said, pushing my shoulder as she walked past.
“I took down a minotaur,” I pointed out.
“You got a vine to eat it for you. Come on, we're gonna get you a blasting rod."
"It would behoove you to take the Lady's advice on such matters, master Perth. Other than your father, none in your family have more experience with combat magic or monsters," Calbern said, nodding in Nexxa's direction.
Nexxa had stopped at a nearby gazebo, looking back at me.
I just grunted as I moved over to join her, Calbern trailing close behind me.
She took us back to her wing of the estate, the first time I'd been there since arriving in my new body. It was considerably less green than the rest of the compound, though there were still a lot of gardens. But there was also a sand pit for sparring, as well as a target range with high stone walls and a dirt packed floor.
Inside was even more bare than Perth’s, with only a few flowers to illuminate the way. Nexxa brought us to her study, where there were several monster parts scattered around. They were all carefully encased in enchanted wood and glass frames, but there was no sense of organization to them.
"If we had more time, I'd want to work on your footwork, but for now, making sure you're not useless when shit hits the mana-dissolver takes precedent," Nexxa said, walking along a rack holding two long flower capped wooden staves. Pulling one off the rack, she held it out to me.
Perth had seen a few of these blasting rods, as she called them, but he'd never held one. It was heavier than I expected, and the entire length was engraved with runes. Even the flower.
"Never point a blasting rod at something you don't want to destroy," Nexxa said, gently swinging the end of the rod towards the floor and away from her and Calbern.
I nodded. That made sense. I didn’t point the plasma torch at anything I didn’t want to burn either. Same principle, I figured.
While I'd been inspecting my rod, Nexxa had handed one to Calbern.
At my look, she explained, "You don't have to be a mage to use a blasting rod. Just to charge them. That said, I don't recommend handing them out to anyone you don't trust. A blasting rod in the wrong hands can kill a mage as easily as anyone else. Well, unless they've reached Hydra-soul. Now let’s get to the pit."
So said, we followed her back out to the pit.
“Okay, this part isn’t too tricky. See that cord wrapped around the bud? That’s your safety. If its there, your rod will be as useful as any other long stick with a pretty flower on the end,” Nexxa said, tugging at the knot on her cord. The second she did, the flower blossomed open, the green leaves revealing eight purple petals, each of them with pink runes that glowed brightly.
Nodding, I pulled my own cord, discovering my rod only had two purple petals. That seemed low, so I sent my mana into the rod, feeling for the draw. It didn't take long to find it, and the rod almost immediately sapped my entire mana pool, leaving me wavering unsteadily.
In exchange, it grew a single purple petal.
"Oops, forgot to warn you," Nexxa said as I felt her hand on my shoulder. "These're set up to be easy to charge, but with your puny mana pool, they'll drain you dry."
"Got it," I replied, unconsciously using the rod to steady myself before quickly pulling it back up and pointing the flowered end down the range. Despite the rough treatment, none of the petals were damaged.
"Good instinct there. You don't actually have to worry about it going off yet. You won't be able to trigger it until I key it to your mana signature," Nexxa said. “I want you to both get comfortable aiming them first.”
Then she proceeded to arc the rod over her head, spinning it in a short circle before bringing it down to point in the direction of our targets. On the far end of the range were glowing green statues shaped like warriors, all holding different weapons. The most basic of the Green Goons served as our targets. A single purple petal broke free of her rod, zooming downrange to smash into her chosen Goon in an explosion of pink light.
The backdraft had me taking a step back at the unexpected pressure.
Half the Goon was gone as she lowered her rod.
“Both of you need to do that movement ten times with the flower pointed in roughly the right direction. Then I’ll attune them,” Nexxa informed us, before waving at us to begin.
It took me nearly twenty tries before Nexxa was satisfied with my performance. Calbern had got it in ten. Once I was successful, Nexxa held her hand over mine where I was gripping the rod. After a second, I felt a jolt pass through me and my awareness of the rod expanded.
I now knew I had thirteen full strength shots available, and twenty-two when the rod was fully charged. It seemed the petals were a bit of misdirection, since the leaves would be shot after the petals were used up. I also knew how to trigger the rod. All I had to do was squeeze a pair of carved flowers on either side of the rod as I was charging up my shot, then release when I was on target.
As she was casting her spell on Calbern, I held the rod over my head, then spun it around, priming it to fire.
I chose a Goon holding a shield, flipping the rod forward and let off a test shot. A bright pink petal burst from the end of the rod, rocketing across the range to slam into the target, exploding in the same brilliant flash of pink light. This time I was prepared for the backdraft as it swept over me.
When I looked down the range, the target I'd been aiming at was completely intact. A Green Goon two to his left who'd been holding a bow was now weaponless, the pieces lying on the ground.
"Quite the demonstration, master Perth," Calbern said as he stepped up beside me, leveling his own rod at the statue I'd hit. "That gentleman seems to have a rather nasty sneer. Perhaps we can fix that."
With that, he spun his own rod. It should have looked ridiculous. It didn’t.
His movements were tight and controlled, and when he flicked the rod forward, releasing the petal, it shot across the range and smashed right into its face. As the shockwave washed over me, I kept my eyes on the target. Calbern had wiped the sneer off its face, just like he’d said.
And the face off the statue, while he was at it.
"Great shot! If I'd known you had such good aim, I would've stolen you from Perry when father released your contract," Nexxa said, clapping Calbern on the shoulder. "Now, since you've both figured out how to shoot on your own, I'll just show you how to lock the safety in place so you don't blow your own foot off while you're sleeping."
"Is that something that happens?" I asked, suddenly a little worried about the bundle of flowers attached to the end of my blasting rod.
"Not if you wrap the safety!" Nexxa replied with a too wide grin.
Thankfully, locking the safety was as simple as winding the self-tying cord around the petals, and tucking the cord into the loop. Holding it upside down, I was amazed at how it refused to obey gravity’s call. The little loop only moved when I touched it. Even Calbern couldn’t move mine. The second the safety was ‘wrapped’, all the volatile pink writing faded away and my awareness of the rod disappeared from the edge of my mind.
Nexxa had us go through each step, including destroying the statues, twice more before she was satisfied. Then she charged both our blasting rods to full, which brought mine to twenty-two petals with an even twenty for Calbern.
Once they were fully charged, we took turns shooting down the range, adjusting to taking shots while dealing with the windup and blowback. The blasting rods had a rate limit of roughly one shot every three seconds, thanks to the windup.
"There are better rods out there, but I could feed an Evant's Domain for a year on what a tier two blasting rod costs," Nexxa said as she was recharging our rods once more. As an experiment, I'd tried filling mine again, and my full mana pool had still only granted a single charge. Nexxa didn't even seem to notice the drain. "Okay, that'll do. Now, make sure you keep them tucked away in your storage till we get through the Gate. I've heard Gates can mess up the rods. Rather you arrive on the other side as pretty as you are now, even if that's not very."
"Appreciate it," I said, giving her a smile as I ran my hand along the rod. "And I will."
To my surprise, Nexxa ended up joining us for dinner after I'd stored the blasting rods.
"You know, I'm glad you're both going. Didn't really think about how different it was going to be when I told father I'd be a Magus Dominus," Nexxa said after Calbern had taken the dishes away. "Thought I did, but after everything we've been talking about…"
"Yeah. I don't know if I'm ready either," I said, letting out a long sigh.
"You will both prove exemplary," Calbern said, having returned without me noticing. "So long as you continue to approach the challenge with the diligence you have shown thus far, your people will be lucky to have you."
"Thanks, Calbern," I said, giving him a weak smile.
Despite his reassurances, or perhaps because of them, Nexxa and I continued discussing all the things that could go wrong, and what we could do about them.
Much like before, we spent the next couple days together, revisiting the library, reviewing our manifests and practicing with our blasting rods.
Then finally, after a month of preparation, it was time.
Tomorrow we’d be leaving for the Gate.
