Wraithwood Botanist

"No," Kyro said when I asked him if we could go to Misty Row early. He was sitting under a shady tree with a leaf over his head, hunched over like he was enjoying an afternoon siesta.

"Reta’s going," I said. "She wants to show me something."

"And I don’t want to die."

"We have to go there anyway," I reasoned. "This is just a couple months ahead."

"Months of intense training," he corrected. "Go learn some magic or something."

"I’m trying," I said. "But Nethralis is insistent I learn Dreamscape but won’t teach me anything. If we go, I can start learning it."

"Do you need permission?" he asked. "I don’t recall anyone teaching you anything."

I smiled wryly. "It’s not that. I just don’t want to commit to a lifelong art before I know what I’m getting myself into. Is that so hard to understand?"

"Challenging strong enemies when you’re weak is a death sentence—is that so hard to understand?" He pulled the leaf off his head. "Also, Reta was telling me that sleeping on your—"

"Finish that sentence and I’ll murder you."

"Just a comment." He put the leaf back on his head.

I huffed a few seconds before saying, "Look Kyro. It’s you, me, Kline, and Reta. I barely have to take a few steps into the Row."

"Then what’s the point of going?" He pulled off the leaf again, eyes bloodshot and unenthused. I turned away. "Right," he said. "Here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna be adamant that we’re just going to pick your plants and leave—then that witch is going to take your hand and pull you into the mist to teach you the true meaning of terror. Then something bad’s gonna happen and we’re all gonna die." He unscrewed his flask defiantly.

"That witch?" I asked. "So this is personal?"

He crossed his arms.

"Lithco. We don’t have time for this. The Melhans are gonna try to kill me this year and I don’t know any serious magic. Tell me that I have better odds against Melhan seniors alone than a short field trip through Misty Row—without alliances with the families. ’Cause that’s what I’ll need to survive this year if I can’t hold my own."

Kyro groaned and drank, then paused before screwing on the lid and drank again. Then he released his lips and turned to me.

"Okay, you want to do this? Fine. But you gotta prove it to me. One hit. You hit me once, we’ll go. Fail at that, and you’re gonna shut up and keep grinding."

"Fine. But I get Kline—we’re a team and he’s raring for a rematch."

"Fine. But I’m fighting back."

I swallowed. "Fine."

"Alright… get Kline and we’ll do this thing." He flicked his fingers to get me to leave, but Kline pushed through the flap of the house. Kyro groaned. "Yakana… why did you choose these…" he sighed. "Whatever."

Kyro fluttered up to his feet, then walked out of the tent like the living dead, catching his breath once the sunlight hit his eyes.

"Where are you going?" Reta asked.

"To fight," Kyro said. "It’s your fault."

Reta yawned. "Sounds fun."

She fluttered onto Kline’s back and lay down. Kline sneered but kept walking, secretly enjoying the insinuation that he was "comfortable," and we continued on.

About halfway through the woods, we crossed paths with Trant. He was like a flower child—holding small flowers in his arms like a Broadway bouquet of roses.

"What’s going on?" he asked. "Are you coming to forage? I could really use some help. I just found a patch of—"

"I’ll send Mira if she lives," Kyro said.

I smiled wryly. I really wanted to know what he found and if it was actually super valuable, but Kyro kept fluttering on, and I followed.

It apparently wasn’t that powerful because Trant swooped over me and sat on my shoulder. Then, he chatted frivolously as we continued into the forest.

2.

Elana regretted inviting Kori when he burst into the room at high speed, nearly cracking her door from opening and shutting it so hard. But she didn’t chastise him. Her eyes were glued to the screen.

"Why didn’t you invite me sooner," Kori said. "I’m dead sober."

"That sounds like a good thing," she said.

"Not when I’m around you."

Elana glared at him.

"What? You think I could talk to someone so beautiful sober? Spare me, mighty queen of eternal beauty."

Elana’s face stiffened in embarrassment, and she turned back to the screen sharply. "Just watch."

Kori sat right next to her, proving that he wasn’t, in fact, afraid of her. He smelled nice.

No time to grab liquor, but extra time to get ready, she thought. He passes.

"What’s special about this?" Kori asked. "Girly’s been fighting him for weeks."

"I’m not sure," Elana said. "I got a notification of an important event. It’s probably a graduation fight."

"Interesting…" Kori leaned back. "Do they have a real chance?"

"Probably not," Elana said. "But we don’t know the rules. So let’s wait."

Elana and Kori watched as Mira and her party reached a clearing in the forest. It was made from dried deadfall, rocks, and sprawling ground cover, making it a location you wouldn’t want to fall in.

"Can you figure out the rules?" Kori asked. "The silence is killing me."

Elana opened her guide and sent out a request to listen in, the first time she had. Blood drained from Mira’s face as she read the request, looking toward the sky as if to find Elana, unaware that the view switched dynamically for storytelling. Then, Mira smiled guiltily.

"That’s right," Elana said. "Fear me. I can’t believe you didn’t reach out once this spring."

"Well, you are sending her off to her death," Kori said. "You know she’s actually going to go in there, right?"

"I refuse to let you insult my disciple," Elana snapped. "As if she would die so easily." She watched Mira with absolute faith and confidence.

The request was granted and sound flooded into the room, and name tags floated on each of the people present, including Reta and Trant.

"You ready yet?" Kyro asked with a surprisingly manly voice, amplified by magic to sound more human.

"Yeah…" Mira said. "My patron’s watching. That cool?"

"If you’re okay being shamed before a god," Kyro said.

"Trust me—I don’t plan to be."

"Big words." He looked at the others. "Okay. Let’s get some ground rules set up. You have five minutes. If you and Kline land a hit on me, you win. Then, I’ll guide you and Reta to Misty Row. If you lose, you’ll be grinding with me all summer, and you’ll figure out something sensible for the Harvest. No bad deals."

Mira and Kline nodded, and Kyro took a swig of a tiny flask.

"Last rule," he said. "No whining. I plan to beat you ruthlessly, in seconds if possible. If you lose like that, it just proves that you’re worthless and need to train. So I don’t want to hear about it. Any questions?"

"No," Mira said, "but I do have a comment." She pulled out Nymbral. "My arrows now have poison in the hurricane tips. So if you get speckled with the mist—or inhale it—it counts as a hit."

"What type of bullshit is that?" he cried.

"Real life," I said. "Isn’t that what we’re simulating?"

Kyro’s face twitched. "Fine."

"Hapsel is gonna be pissed," Kori said with an evil grin.

"You won’t tell him anything," Elana said. "Remember your pact."

"Yeah, yeah." Kori leaned back. "Don’t talk about your precious pupil. But I still think you should tell him."

Elana prepared to admonish him, but she agreed that it would be amusing if he knew. "Shhh. It’s starting," she said.

Kline shook Reta off his fur, launching her into a patch of ground cover. To Elana’s surprise, Reta didn’t cry out. She just smelled the plants to make sure they weren’t poisonous, yawned, and accepted her fate, letting her head drop to the ground as she fell back to sleep.

"That’s a gift," Elana said.

"It is indeed," Kori said, watching Mira and Kline stare off against Kyro.

"Any last words?" Kyro asked.

"Yeah," Mira said. "Don’t ruin your liver when we win."

"Tough talk for someone who can’t avoid my attacks."

"Alone. But I have Kline."

"Hiding behind someone else? Classy."

"He’s not ’someone else.’ He’s my little warrior. My soul mate. My sword, shield, and friend. I refuse to be ashamed of having such a loyal friend and ally."

Kline meowed and looked at Mira lovingly.

She scratched his little ears.

"Cute," Kyro said. "Now… get ready. We’ll begin in three… two… one…. go."

2.

Kyro wasn’t fucking around. The second the match began, he created a sigil over my area, creating a frost spell that made my body shiver and ache. But I disregarded it, activating Moxle Dilation and maximum acceleration as I jumped over ground cover.

I thought I escaped, but dozens of aura spears formed in the skies above me and flew down with savage ferocity, cutting through the ground all around me like missiles as fast as my slowed world could process it.

There was nowhere to run—

—so I had to use my trump card.

But before I could, Kline jumped in front of my body, allowing himself to get impaled by three spears homing down on me. I could see every drop of blood and panicked at the sheer ease the blades cut through him and how forcefully his corpse was flying down on me.

Kline! I internally screamed. But before I could catch him, another Kline grabbed me by the shirt and jumped through a portal.

We blinked out of existence, coming out on another side.

Kyro turned to us to launch another attack, but two invisible Klines jumped at him from both directions. They were fast, the speed of a playing dog, even under my Moxle Dilation, and something didn’t add up. Kline had an acceleration spell now, and I reminded myself that in the ease of living during the winter and spring, I never checked his new spells after the Harvest.

But that didn’t matter. What did matter was that Kline was distracting Kyro.

I took advantage of that, charging a hurricane arrow and activating Soul Sight. I verified that the two clones fighting Kyro were nearan clones, so I didn’t hesitate, shooting the hurricane arrow.

The bolt locked on Kyro like a homing missile, following him around the battlefield. He was fast, but—

I curved the arrow into Kline’s clone, making it explode in watery mist, sending it spraying toward Kyro.

Kyro panicked, activating a barrier at the last second. He didn’t get hit, but it earned us precious time.

I mounted Kline and he flew forward, running on dead air toward Kyro, multiplying a dozen times, creating clones of me as well. It only earned a second as Kyro scanned them and determined which one was which, but it gave me time to charge an arrow and for Kline to jump between clones like a shell game, fusing with them and then multiplying until there were fifty clones of Kline in the air.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

My little warrior was practicing non-stop in a forest—alone—for almost six months, two more than it took him to learn to kill a torok, and the results were savage. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to show off.

Kyro wasn’t so enthusiastic. He thrust out his hands, creating a sigil that erupted with fire.

Checkmate, I thought, preparing to launch the arrow into the fire. It would create a plume of "poisonous" steam that would be hard to avoid.

Then a bolt of horror hit me—that attack would kill both of us!

I clicked my tongue, but Kline was ready. He waved his paw, and a wall of mana formed above Kyro’s head. Now it was like a pool table—hit the wall, and it would explode with mist, a savagely effective way to ensure I would hit someone even if I missed.

"Thanks!" I launched the arrow at the mana wall. Kyro flew backward when it hit, avoiding the "poison" rain.

Kline didn’t let up. He circled him, going around as I charged up another arrow.

I felt like the Greek god Helios, fighting with a chariot in the sky, and it was a lot of fun—

—but it soon turned to horror when I felt intense aura behind me.

I turned and found dozens of aura arrows had formed behind us.

Kline’s fur bristled, and he turned, swiping his paw, and a massive phantom claw ripped through the arrows—but the rest still flew at us.

I created the most powerful domain I could, a natural aura barrier to aura attacks, and to my amazement, the aura arrows exploded as soon as they hit it.

I was stoked—and so was Kyro.

"Got you," he said from behind us.

He expected me to be shocked—but I grinned.

Kira separated from my body.

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