184 Slight tug

"What did you just do to us?" Frey asked.

Doevm raised an eyebrow. "I just gave you a health potion." He narrowed his eyes and turned to Thomas. "Do you know what he's talking about?"

"Sorry I wasn't listening," Thomas said as he got to his feet. "I just woke up. What's going on?"

"You were already awake!" Frey screeched. "Did you forget what happened in the last few minutes?" He jabbed a finger at Doevm. "He just said things and we did them without even questioning them."

"Frey, you got hit pretty hard back there," Doevm got close to him. "Maybe…" he pulled out his soul mana again. "You were just imagining it. You should forget…no." Doevm leaned in close and whispered. "Remember what happened, but remember it as a dream." As his voice, infused with soulmana hit Frey's ears, a bit of soulmana leaked out of Frey. It was like he had a protective coating on. It was, however, not a strong coating. It was barely more than a slight glisten on his skin. Doevm's second command went straight through it.

"No I didn't imagine anything," Frey grabbed the sides of his head. "I-I maybe I did. I got hit pretty hard back there."

"Yeah. Me and Elero did just give you guys healing potions. Maybe there was something in them that you didn't agree with." Doevm pointed to Frey's and Thomas's rapidly healing wounds. "but you see. It's all better now."

"B-but I-"

"Listen," Doevm put an arm on Frey's shoulder and unsealed his magic. A magic circle for charming a person formed just under his palm, out of anyone's sight. After, he immediately resealed his mana. "You fought pretty poorly back there. I know I did as well, but I own up to that. Is there anything that Gregen said that made you fight like shit? What were you doing back there?"

"I-I," Frey kept stuttering and shaking his head. "Yeah. I don't know. He just said something that made me question some things, which might have been why I had that strange dream just now. Let's just go back to the base and get some rest."

"Let's," Doevm smiled. They all hopped back onto their Amphiboads. On the way back to camp however, Doevm felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to find it was Elero.

"Got a minute?" She asked.

'Either something's wrong with me or my soulmagic isn't working,' Doevm thought. 'But if that's the issue, I can just substitute it with magic for now. However, this might be a real problem. No harm in hearing her out.' He nodded and they let the others go on ahead. He wiped a drop of nervous sweat going down his cheek and swallowed his saliva.

Doevm scrunched his lips and his eyes unfocused for a few seconds. "Do you think you could have beaten Trak without any tricks?" Elero tilted her head to the side. "I mean techniques revolving life essence such as healing or changing your body. Could you have beaten him without those."

"I guess so," Elero shrugged. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Doevm looked at the sky, which was becoming brighter by the second. "More than I would like." He sighed. 'I guess I have to face it head on.' He smiled for a second and Elero let out a chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"Just something someone once said to me. I think I finally know what he meant when he described a smile that he hated. Just let me know if you need something. We are a team after all." She pushed off with her paddle and joined Thomas and Frey. Doevm trailed behind her.

They paddled in silence, their gazes at the ground and their minds in the mud. Then after a bit, Thomas cursed under his breath: "What was that? Rather, what were those weapons? That was just plain cheating. That sword was much heavier than anything I've ever gone against. It was like it could almost move on its own. And Gregen's eyes and sword were practically glowing with a red aura. Those chains, the swords. It was all…"

"Life essence," Elero interrupted. All heads turned towards her. "They were quite simply, stronger than us. The darker hue of life essence, the stronger one is. Gregen or whatever he was called had a sky hue, and Trak had an even darker azure hue. Meanwhile, three of us are at the bottom of the blue life essence with our cyan hues. Doevm has a turquoise hue, but that is the second worst one, just one shy of sky. We're lucky we got out of there. We would have lost if things kept going."

"Strength isn't everything. I'm sure we would have been fine if they just didn't have those weapons or we were in top shape," Thomas interjected, but Elero shook her head.

"The chains were just normal chains. Sure they were stronger than normal, but the only reason they moved like that was because Trak had extended and woven his hair to each link and made it move to his will. It's like what my opponent did with his hair except with thinner strands."

"And what about Gregen's sword?" Thomas asked only for Elero to shrug. She halted and glanced down at her wobbly legs. She sat down. Her life essence flickered several times before fading away, and her legs turned into mush.

"I almost ran out of time," She muttered. "Doevm, I'm sorry can you drag me for a minute?" She put her Amphiboard and paddle into her spatial ring before crawling onto Doevm's Amphiboard and taking out her braces. As she began to fit each piece into place, the rest kept paddling to the camp.

Frey looked to Doevm: "So what do we do now? What's the plan?"

"Go back and rest," Doevm said, glancing back at everyone's sorry state. "We're done for the morning." He glanced at the bright sky. "well, if it even is morning anymore." The mist fell back to its usual state, at the edge of their vision.

"We're not going to go after them?" Elero asked after clicking another gear into place. "But they took away our prey. They attacked us. If we get Thomas some more of those wooden spears and we are in a better shape, I'm sure that we can at least-"

"It's done," Frey cut her off. He clutched his paddle and stared into the foggy distance. "I can't beat Gregen. Thomas can't beat any one of them…no offense."

"None taken," Thomas chimed in.

"Maybe Doevm and Elero can do something but we can't." He cursed under his breath. "And I'm not risking my life over something petty like points in a game." He passed over a section of water. He was looking back at himself as a murky reflection, almost pale with the mist around him, as if it were a shadow of himself.

"They have too many people," Doevm added in. "No plans for now. We either need to be stronger or we need more information if we are going to attack them."

"But they are cheating. Can't we eliminate them by proving that they are breaking the rules?" Thomas interjected. "The generals said it themselves. No teaming up with other groups. How can they do that? What if we find a shopkeeper and tell them? They can help us, can't they? Can we go find Mr. Quinn?"

Doevm rubbed his chin: "I doubt that'll work. They probably have some loophole, some way to allow themselves to be in a bigger group. It seems that the initiation's rules are able to be bent, like the group that attacked us by following Mr. Quinn." He looked over to Frey, who was glaring at a stupid puddle. "You're being quiet.���

"So I am," Frey said, and resumed his pace. He took out his shield, which was slowly piecing itself back together. He gave a sigh of relief, finding that the magic symbol hidden on the inside was still intact. He then looked over to the blood splatter on Thomas's shirt. "Bunch of liars. They would rather kill us than anything else, even if they did…" He looked away and kept muttering.

"What should we do about that group?" Elero fixed her last brace, but she kept sitting on Doevm's Amphiboard. "Because I doubt that that is the end of it."

"Well, I guess we should just do our best to avoid them." Doevm shrugged. "I don't know. I just need time to think before we move." He prodded her shoulder with his paddle. "Get your own ride."

"No I'm comfortable here," She leaned into the back of his leg and put her hands behind her head. "Faster."

Doevm looked back at her and debated several methods of pushing her off. "How old are you?"

"Nearly eighteen. But I'm just so weak that I can't paddle anymore. And my back. It hurts from carrying this team through that fight."

Doevm narrowed his eyes. "This is because of this morning isn't it?" Elero shrugged and closed her eyes, a smile on her face. Doevm was about to push her off but the other two smiled at him and gave him thumbs up. "I hate you guys. So much."

Thomas looked at Frey, smiled, and put a foot on his Amphiboard. Frey shook his head. "You try it and you're walking back."