As we started the fourth attempt, my anxiety about the process could not be higher. Aiden was already trying and failing to stabilize the ingredients right, and while trial and error could work to make the potion in a week or two, our next round was tomorrow, so we didn't have time for trial and error. However as we were adjusting the burner to bein simmering there was a loud crash, and the walls seemed to shake and there were sounds of a commotion outside. Aiden's head shot up from where he was watching the ingredients, his head moving towards his spear and armor as he began to step away.
"You stay, I can't figure out what went wrong remember, Ill see what happened."
I said quickly heading for the door and making my way out into the hall. What greeted me was surprising. Near the doorway were marks, like someone had dug their feet in trying to shove something impossibly heavy. I turned to the direction they faced and saw that both the railing on the small platform over the lunch hall and a good chunk out of the front of the building was missing. I threw my strings forward as I yanked myself towards the ledge. Landing and holding what remained of the wall as I peered out.
Selene was on her knees, no injuries seemed to be on her, but there was a strange look of defeat. Around her I saw two figures emerging from a ball of what looked to be liquid silver as a large crab-like figure with one claw bigger than the other loomed over Selene. I wanted to rush forward, however I felt a strange feeling on the air that made me hesitate.
Selene's mouth was moving as if she was saying something before a burst of steam like mist rushed out of her. I could only see her silhouette through the mist as I saw the crabman reach a claw inward before yanking it out suddenly and staring down at its claw as if making sure it was still there. This wasn't something I recognized as normal, much less natural as my thoughts drifted back to where Selene and Aiden had returned acting strange that day from the woods. I had assumed they had found something, but I hadn't expected it to this degree. As I watched below I could see Selene in the mist talking.
"Don't try to play innocent with me, I heard your plans to rob us, or were you hoping you could bluff your way out of this?"
The girl opened her mouth as if to speak before I turned to see the crab man take in a deep breath as if to speak.
"You idiotic fucking trog-"
He didn't get any farther than that as The mist around Selene Lunged towards him. His silhouette in the smoke was different, and much smaller as the figure seemed to be only around my height now as they fell and seemed to land awkwardly. There was a sound like gagging as Selene seemed to be holding them, their arms and legs struggling, but strangely unable to move in the smoke. I extended my strings as I heard what sounded to be the struggling gasps of someone choking, however Selene was holding him down, not strangling him. I tapped Selene with my string as she seemed to turn and see me. The smoke parting as I saw her holding what looked to no longer be a crab, but a dwarven man down. He struggled and gasped as if confused and enraged while Selene's face was dark with a worrisome emotion. I saw the other two staring as if unsure of what to do as a large mammoth stood before them and began to advance towards the fog.
"Selene, what are you doing to him?"
Selene turned as she said.
"He tried to take my abilities away, so I collapsed his lungs using my mist."
The way she spoke was strange. For one thing, her normal stutter was gone, and where she would have been at most holding this guy down she was instead choking him as his face was turning blue, his hands flailing as Selene seemed to be focusing heavily on holding the dwarven man down, the mist itself seeming to be used to bind him, though its effectiveness was strange, almost like aside from whatever was letting her control this mist, it seemed giddy, if not excited to help her.
"Selene, whatever this is has you in a strange state of mind, look at what you are doing."
Selene now fully turned as the hold on the dwarven mans lungs seemed to listen enough for them to draw in a shaky breath.
"His companions over there tried to rob us, and are screaming at me like I did something wrong by stopping them, not to mention whatever this one did."
I heard the sound of an impact as the mist behind her seemed to thin heavily before starting to collect as I could see the mammoth slamming a foot down on what seemed to be a strange barrier dome. I wanted to say more, but before I could, the space was ripped open. The girl from before was standing there, her arms to either side as if her fingers had torn through whatever Selene had set up. Whatever it did seemed to snap Selene back as she stood, whatever control of the space she had faded as the mist retracted back into her. The dwarven man stood, a sound too loud for his size as he returned to the towering 12 ft tall crab from before, several gasping breaths escaping as they stared down at Selene who seemed faint, even her mutated arm now deflated and thin compared to normal.
"Jerico, are you ok!"
The girl called as the mammoth rushed towards us as if to run us over. I grabbed Selene and using part of the broken wall, yanked us back using my strings as the elephant planted itself between the crabman and us.
"What happened, she's barely level 18, how did she hold you down?"
The scorpion man next to her said, sounding surprised. Jericho panted a few more times before he seemed to regain his breath, heat rising from him as he seemed to let out a guttural growl.
"That little. FUCK IT, I'll just level the whole city!"
His clawed hand raised into the air as energy seemed to swell and the people in the streets began to back up. He glared at us as I felt a shift in my strings. The crab man seemed to see something as he snarled, released the energy he was building up, and grabbed his comrades before jumping away over the rooftops. I watched as they ran away, a shiver going down my spine as a strange tapping noise seemed to echo behind me like someone with a metal tipped walking cane on cobblestones. Around me I saw people freeze as the rubble, as if in slow motion and reverse rose from where it laid in the streets and went drifting back into place. The windows that were once cracked became whole as I saw the street mend and where people had been panicking and running around before their expressions became blank as they began to wander as if unsure why they stopped. My strings felt the figure beside me, but I was not so foolish as to look a walking calamity in the face. So I turned, my head down as I dropped to a bow, though my spine felt like ice cracking as I forced it to move despite the shivers running through my body. I could only see the figures' feet and cane, but those polished black shoes, pants, and aura were unmistakable.
My mouth felt as dry as a desert, as I felt the second of silence stretch into eternity before I stuttered out.
"S-S-Since y-you spared m-me from t-the m-mental effect, t-t-there must be s-something you w-wish of me?"
I said, each stutter feeling like a rope being pulled on a guillotine. Another endless instant of silence stretched before I felt the icy cold metal tip of a cane touch the bottom of my chin. I didn't fight, but the difference in physicality I could feel wouldn't let me resist if I tried as I was made to look up at the masked figure. The curves of their porcelain face covering and the red suit making their identity impossible to deny. They seemed to be watching Selene who lay unconscious beside me, be it from the strange effect of the smoke, or something else. His mask didn't change, but a strange grin seemed to emanate from it like someone who had seen something they didn't expect. He stared silently for a moment before he turned his head, a golden pocket watch rose from his pocket as if suspended by a strange magic and opened itself. Seeming satisfied with the time, it shut and returned to the pocket. He turned to face me, and immediately I felt what could only be my soul dying as my body was atomized, each cell desperate to both run and begin revering the one before me as a being greater than any lousy divinity.
He raised a gloved white finger to his lips in a silent shushing motion. My face didn't move, but I understood as he lowered his cane, and I dropped my head. Not daring to move as the rhythmic tapping grew fainter and fainter and only once Aiden came down 4 hours later with the completed potion.