Why are you guys turning my review box into a chat room? (I don't mind too much, I just find it kind of hilarious.)
To the Guy Who Reads My Stuff: Like how I changed your name? Haha! Anyway, I do have the next part planned and written, and if I hadn't already given Percy a small role in which he is actually present, I would have taken that idea in an instant. Alas, it is not to be. In the canon for this story, anyway. I'm definitely going to make the next chapter I write for this story just be an omake where that happens.
Short 13
The Magicist couldn't help but worry after Plague Knight came back without Mona at his side, saying something about being attacked. She was trying to concentrate on a customer's words, so she missed most of what was said, but it was clear that it didn't bode well. It didn't help that the clouds made it clear that it was going to rain soon.
So, what must have been 30 minutes of listening to non-stop talking, she tried to pull herself away from the conversation.
"I'm terribly sorry, but can you excuse me? I must check on something."
The woman that had been chattering to her paused, watching her fidget for a moment before announcing, "I understand."
The Magicist didn't wait a second, bolting away. She dashed down the path she had seen Plague Knight run down, all the while wondering why they'd gone this way, as the adventurers, at least at the time, were in the opposite direction.
'I forgot to tell them to go south, didn't I?' She realized an instant later, immediately feeling guilty.
The wind carried with it the cry of a wounded animal, that of a feline, straight ahead.
The Magicist, who was trying to figure out why a cat had called out, nearly tripped over Xenon, whom suddenly appeared in her path.
The kitten, who seemed fine despite what her call indicated, looked at her pleadingly, seemingly attempting to herd her forward by nudging her legs. After getting her to move, Xenon bounded in front of her, sniffing at the air.
The Magicist wondered what she was doing. She abandoned this thought process, as well as the kitten, when she spotted a dead guard, his heart pierced. She immediately forgot about the poor individual when she saw something more pressing, that being Mona on the ground, Plague Knight nowhere to be found. Something had been carved into her back, but she was unable to make out what exactly, the blood covering it completely. Attempting to shake her awake yielded lackluster results, though it was probably best, as it was doubtful that she would take kindly to her condition.
Xenon was unconcerned for the poor woman, merely attempting to herd the Magicist again. She continually sniffed at the air, as though affirming that a particular scent was still there.
'Scent,' the Magicist thought, dwelling on the idea before it hit her and she jumped to her feet, yelling, "Scent!" Thinking quickly, she began focusing her magic. Squeezing her eyes shut, she desperately prayed to any and every god and goddess she'd heard of that what she was about to do would not render her blind or otherwise harmed. She had never attempted such a trick, especially not under pressure.
Forcing the gathered magic to her eyes, she opened them, staring intently at Xenon, who was covered in a purple aura.
"It worked," the Magicist breathed, stunned. She looked to Mona, finding a dark blue, almost black, aura.
A smile grew on her face for a split second before she concentrated, turning around and realizing that the whole area was covered in many different scents. It started to hurt her head until she focused on finding three different scents moving away from the battle ground.
There was a red trail, as well as a slighter darker colored red trail, and seemingly been held was someone with a light green trail.
'That must be Plague Knight,' the Magicist thought, breaking into a sprint. Xenon was quickly left behind, meowing uselessly.
The Magicist was sure to mark any trees she passed with her magic, which she honed into a sharp edge around her hand. This too was something she had never before attempted, and she could only thank her lucky stars that nothing happened to her when forming it.
Of course, her luck ran out quickly. She was ill-equipped for a run through a forest, and found herself tripping plenty of times. On top of that, she didn't have a lot of stamina, and she was already scrapping the bottom of the barrel after a quarter of a mile. Still, she pressed onward, albeit at a light jog.
She froze when a cold drop of water splashed onto her shoulder. She looked upwards, eyes widening in fear as she realized that it was finally starting to rain. "Just great," she muttered to herself, breaking into a run again. The rain would soon enough wash away the scents, and she was nowhere near where they could have gotten.
Despite her best efforts to follow the trails as far as possible before they washed away, they disappeared within 30 seconds.
The Magicist was left feeling guilty and broken. She slumped over, gasping for breath, finally stopping the magic flow to her eyes, which had been maintaining the scent vision. "Sorry, Plague Knight," she muttered, wishing she had been able to save him.
She didn't move for another couple moments, trying to catch her breath, before she straightened and launched herself back the way she had come.
It took a while, and she nearly caved to exhaustion a number of times, but finally, she spotted a small kitten, who more resembled a drenched rat at this point, waiting with a sorrowful expression beside Mona.
The Magicist was about to start dragging the other woman back to the village when she saw that most of the blood had been washed away with the rain, and she could see the markings on her back now.
"'Alchemist'?!" She read aloud, startled. "Oh no..." She slapped herself. "Deal with that later, deal with that later." She started to repeat that as she moved to pick up the unresponsive body.
After a second of thought, the Magicist crouched and pulled Mona onto her back, nearly keeling over from the sudden weight.
With some difficulty, the magic-user managed to pull herself and her passenger into the village, where the guards rushed forward.
"What happened?" One asked.
The Magicist shook her head. "I-I have no clue," she admitted. "But… Adam's gone, Mona's hurt, and there's a guard still in the woods." A guard moved to run and retrieve him before hearing her next words. "He's dead. Stabbed through the heart."
All present besides the Magicist and Xenon froze, shocked.
Feeling Mona start to slip, the Magicist readjusted her before attempting to shoulder her way past the guards. They all stopped her quickly, though, pulling Mona off her back before she could say anything. Not that she would, as she was feeling much too tired at the moment.
A couple people, seeing that they weren't needed with the injured, stayed by her side, guiding her back to her house. They left her once she and Xenon had wandered their way inside.
The Magicist didn't quite bother changing, merely throwing off her sopping wet dress and dropping face first onto her bed.
She let out a muffled scream while Xenon meowed pitifully.
I tried to make the Magicist's magic from being a bit of a gamebreaker, so I gave her suitably pathetic stamina and the fact that using untested and untrained magic skills without the use of a Relic or Arcana to channel it for you could be potentially disastrous, such as using an eye spell like being able to see in the dark could very well render you blind if you make the slightest mishap.
By the way... I got Shovel Knight! After playing the first stage at 10:15 at night, the next day I unlocked Plague Knight with the code, and have been playing him off and on, playing the stages first with SK. I like Plague's movement a lot better since he's a lot faster if you aren't using the float burst, though pressing A while holding B to hold onto the burst is a bit awkward. Also, I did Propeller Knight's stage first out of the tier 3 knights because I couldn't find the resulting conversation between PK and Mona on Youtube. It's so cute! I wasn't aware that it's canon Mona will call Plague Knight 'Plaguey' on occasion.