Fallen Mage Regressor

"I've always found that the joy of a task is in the trying of the thing. But right now, upon my success, I must admit that it puts to shame any sense of adulation I felt from the attempt."

Mal snorted. The bracelet on his wrist rippled, while the dagger he kept sheathed in his robe pocket weighed heavy as a stone.

"You sure do like to hear yourself talk, don't you?" Mal said.

Cornelias spread his hands out, a cocky grin spreading across his face. "What can I say? I've always believed in listening to the words of the wise. And since I'm the smartest man I know, it creates something of an incentive for me to continue talking."

"You're not only smart, but you're humble, too," Mal said.

"Indeed, indeed."

The smell of jasmine wafted through the air.

The sound of a footstep.

Hemp backed up and bumped into the staircase post. Her eyes had widened, her pupils dilated to an extreme size. Her breath came in and out in short, shallow gasps.

"Oh, Subject 27!" Cornelias' grin turned into something a little bit softer. "It's been so long. I'd been searching for you for quite some time. Imagine my surprise when I learned that you would be making your way to me of your own volition."

Hemp's jaw slammed together, the teeth making a loud click. Her shoulders and knees tensed, and her eyes transformed from that wide tremble to a more narrow focus.

"Oh?" Cornelias said. "What a strange expression."

One moment, Hemp was to Mal's side.

The next, a burst of wind kicked into the air from the sheer force of her explosive step forward. She pulled a dagger out of a belt pocket and thrust it toward Cornelias's head.

A loud clang echoed in the house and a spherical shield flashed in front of Cornelias. Hemp flew backward and hit the ground before she turned it into a roll and stopped into a crouch.

Mal's hands flexed. The bracelet on his wrist shivered.

"I'm afraid that's not going to work," Mal said. "He has a customized barrier spell—it's immune to both physical attacks and magic. The only one of its kind."

"Immune, huh?" Hemp flipped her dagger into a reverse grip. "Let's put that to the test, how about?"

She burst forward and drove the dagger into the sphere from above. The shield repelled her attack, but she immediately followed up with another strike at the exact same spot.

"You'd always been so stubborn," Cornelias said. "I think that's what allowed you to survive when all of your peers failed."

Hemp jumped back, bounced off a wall, then drove back in for another strike.

"I've long wondered if that was the X factor that I'd been looking for. Was it truly nothing more than mere willpower? If so, that would make it rather difficult to replicate your results on a large scale."

Mal looked behind and at the back door. Through the curtain, one of the golems was shining a light into the house. It swung open the door and barred passage.

So escape isn't going to be an option either, Mal thought. This is getting worse by the moment.

Hemp bounced off toward the very end of the room, then raced forward like an arrow, dagger pointed at Cornelias's chest. She slammed into the shield, then flew up into the air and hit the ground with a thud.

"Are you done?" Cornelias said. "Really, you're not even putting your heart into it. I've seen how you act when you actually want someone dead."

Hemp breathed hard, dirt and scratches across her body from the multiple attempts. "You know nothing about me."

"Don't I? I spent an entire year chronicling your exact reactions, your measurements, everything that I would need to know to replicate what happened to you."

"What happened to me?" she scoffed. "You happened to me."

"Indeed! And look at the result! Speed, power—unmatched by anything but the mightiest of spellblades, and possessed by a girl not even out of her teenage years."

"What, you want me to thank you?"

"A thank you wouldn't be out of place."

Hemp dropped her voice to a low tone. "I don't know if you noticed, Mal, but he didn't just board up the door, he's got the windows, too."

Mal hadn't noticed. He looked from left to right to confirm. She was right. Every single one of the windows had a golem waiting and ready to catch them.

"I don't blame you," she whispered. "I took the job knowing the risks. If anything, I'm sorry I didn't warn you. I should have known that this would be a bad move, but I couldn't resist the chance to screw him over." She laughed, the sound cold and dead. "I always was such a cocky little shit."

Mal breathed in and out slowly, trying to keep his composure.

Golems were strong and durable. Especially as a first-year with a very small handful of abilities, Mal didn't think he had the greatest odds.

Cornelias—Mal hadn't seen his offensive powers, but as a theologue, Mal was certain that he had more than enough spells under his belt to be a real threat to Mal. Going around him wasn't an option.

The windows were boarded up by the golems, but—

Mal cast a closer look at the golems.

He hadn't noticed before, but the runes—they were made of chalk, and embedded along the outside.

Mal couldn't see earlier because it had been too dark and he'd been too far away, but now that they were only a few feet away, Mal could make it out clear as day.

And below the house—there'd been pipes.

The faintest flicker of a plan appeared in Mal's head.

"Hemp," he whispered. "I have an idea. When I say the word, run backwards and toward the golem."

"What?" Her eyebrows furrowed together. "I've dealt with those golems before. They were made to keep people like me in check. There's no way that we'll be able to bypass them."

"Let me ask you, did Cornelias personally make them?"

"Yes, exactly. And that makes them dangerous—"

"But he's not an expert. Everything he's done is theoretical. He's never had to stress test these golems against a real world environment. Especially against what I'm about to throw at them."

"It's not going to work. It might be for the best if we just give up."

Her voice had dropped at those last few words and some of the life disappeared from her voice.

Mal didn't know what to say. He'd gotten enough clues to realize that whatever had happened to her thanks to this man was beyond his ability to deal with. It was clear that it was also beyond her ability to deal with.

So in a situation like this, there was really only one thing to say.

"Trust me, Hemp."

She turned her head for the first time in the conversation and cast a funny look at him. She looked at him for a little bit before she turned.

"Just do whatever you're going to do," she said.

Cornelias took a single step forward. "Are you two done discussing the terms of your surrender?"

Mana flowed into his body, indicating the beginnings of a spell.

"Something like that," Mal said.

Underneath the ground, he willed vines to wrap around the handle of a pipe. Internally, he focused all his will on tugging at a single point on the handle. It shut close and there was a thud from below the house.

Cornelias looked down at the ground. "What was that?"

"Oh, I'm sure it was nothing," Mal said. "By the way, who installed your water system?"

"My water system? It was here when I was sold the home."

"Well, you should probably find out who did it and get a refund, because they never put any safety valves on this thing."

A loud whistle came out from underneath the floorboard.

A split second later, water blasted up and shaved through the wood, dusting it into splinters and fine particles directly in front of Mal. Behind him, it did the same underneath the golem and coated it from head to toe in liquid. The chalk stood no chance—it was blasted off instantly from the force of the jet stream.

Mal grabbed Hemp's hand and pulled her toward the golem. Her jaw dropped and at first she resisted, then she ran forward and pulled on Mal, practically dragging him across the floor.

She shoved aside the golem and it tumbled to the ground.

Cornelias sputtered from the water, then cast out his hand.

"Hemp, the drill!" he shouted.

Hemp's footsteps stuttered as she reached into one of her belt pockets and pulled out the mechanical magic drill.

He took it from her hand and pointed it back at the house.

An arcane sphere blasted out—the size of Mal's entire body.

Mal pointed the drill up at the roof and activated it with a click of a button.

Instantly, it shaved through the top of the roof and the entire upper half of the structure collapsed inward, falling onto the arcane sphere and trapping it underneath the rubble.

Hemp sped up and ran over to the back wall. She threw Mal over the top and his shoulder heaved with pain from being thrown, then she jumped up into the air and cleared the fence with a single bound.

Her arms wrapped around Mal in a princess carry and they both fell to the other side.

Well, Mal thought, there goes my masculinity.

Hemp didn't even bother to put him down. Instead, she ran through the forest as fast as she could. Her feet clicked against the sticks and twigs, snapping them in two.

After several minutes of sprinting, they found the wall where the rest of the city was on the other side. Once again, she threw Mal into the air and followed behind him, then caught him on the other side.

Again, she didn't put Mal down and instead started to sprint—

"Hemp."

She stopped.

"He's not going to follow us into the city. It would make too much noise. Put me down and let's act like normal people—we don't want to attract attention."

She didn't stop.

Mal collapsed backward into the wall.

Sweat dripped down his forehead and into his eyes. She'd set him down at some point, but kept her hand gripped around his, forcing him to continue running.

Hemp stood ramrod straight, gaze pointed at the entrance of the alleyway like she expected something to come out at the entrance at any moment.

Unlike Mal, she didn't look like she'd run a marathon. Her cheeks were pink from physical exertion, but she looked ready to run another thirty minutes.

Yes, thirty minutes.

Hemp had refused to stop. She'd dragged him halfway across the city before he was finally able to convince her that Cornelias wouldn't be able to track them. They'd then turned into a side alley where Mal had felt his exhaustion catch back up to him.

There was a wet puddle in the center of the side street. Several pieces of paper were scattered over the ground, and a rotting fruit lay off to the side.

"I'm getting way too used to these damn alleys," Mal muttered.

No response.

He looked closer at Hemp. She hadn't moved a single inch since she'd stopped.

He pushed himself off the wall.

"Hemp?"

Still no response.

He hesitantly reached out to touch her shoulder.

Her hand snapped up and hit his away. She jumped forward and away—

Then stumbled when she caught sight of Mal's face.

"I—" Her hand dropped. "Sorry."

"It's fine."

She breathed slowly, her hands making the occasional twitch.

"Do you... do you want to talk about it?"

"No. I really, really don't want to talk about it."

Her hands wrapped up around her shoulders and she hugged herself tightly, her hands gripping her arms and creating a white indent.

"He was right," she muttered. "And I've never been more disappointed in myself."

"Why would you be disappointed in yourself?"

"Because I gave up!"

Her voice raised and echoed through the alleyway.

A shuddering breath came out of her.

"I'd already decided that it was too late. Like an idiot, I went and got myself into that stupid situation and then I nearly ended up back in—"

Her voice trailed off.

Mal's skin itched.

Hemp had never told him about this. They'd shared a number of moments together in the first timeline, but that was one line that she hadn't crossed.

Come to think of it, there were occasional hints, but he never bothered to pursue it further. He'd always been wrapped up in his own plans, in his own schemes.

He stepped forward.

This is all for the plan, he thought. This is all just to help me.

Mal grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him in the eye.

She jolted. "What are you doing?"

"Hemp—" His mouth turned dry. "—I'm not going to pretend I understand what happened to you."

She tried to look away.

"I don't know what's going on in your head," Mal said. "But I do know this."

A small chuckle came out of her. "What do you know? You don't know anything, you just admitted it."

"I know that you didn't give up, even if it feels like you did."

She turned and stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

"You fought as best as you could in that moment. You tried to take him out, and you evaluated your options. You did the best you could in that moment. And when an opportunity did present itself, you took it and you did exactly what you needed to."

"But you don't understand, he was the one with all the power, I was—"

"You saved me, Hemp."

At that, her jaw dropped. "What?" She shook her head quickly. "No, it was the other way around, I froze up, it was you who saved me!"

"Do you think I would have been able to clear that fence? Do you think I would have had the energy to run back to the city? If I'd been there on my own, I would have been captured and only Eternus knows what would have happened to me."

She remained frozen, and a small amount of tension lifted out of her shoulders.

"You looked very manly when I was holding you like that," she said.

Her voice was still a little haggard. Even so, a sense of relief bloomed in Mal's chest.

"I'm sure I did," he said.

She half-smiled and blinked a few times. She pushed him away from her with a small shove, then turned around.

"Hold on," she muttered. "I think there's something in my eye."

Mal turned around. "Yeah, you should take care of that."

Mal was doing this all for his own benefit.

He was doing this because it would be helpful if Hemp thought well of him.

But at the same time, he'd be lying to himself if he said that her smile didn't make him happy as well.

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