Spell War

Chapter 3 - The Voice

Whirr, whirr, whirr.
"The Nuclear Missile has exploded, sir."
"Any survivors?"
"No sir. The surrounding area has been completely destroyed."
"Perfect. Keep up the good work. I've got some graves to dig."

                              ***

Crash!
"Huff... huff... huff... we're alive..."
I kicked open the door to my last-ditch effort, and was met by debris and fire in every direction. A few meters away, I saw two more of the devices made from my plan, with their doors a few meters away. Running towards me from those husks of metal were two human beings. Alex and Ambience.

"What was that?"
"How did we survive?"
"Why did you create fridges?"
"How did you make them so quickly?"
"Can you both stop with the questions?" Alex and Ambience both hounded me with question after question, giving me no time to actually answer them.

"Sorry."
"We're just confused."
"I know, I know. Those were fridges. We survived because I protected them with magic. As for why they were fridges, that's because of you, Alex."
"Me? What did I do?"
"You showed me that really cool film, and it just happened to stick in my mind."
"Oh, THAT film!"
"But how did you react so quickly?"
"I... I don't know... Maybe it was a sudden burst of adrenaline?"
"Hmm... well, either way, we need to figure out who sent those nukes and what our next course of action should be."
"Pretty obvious who sent the nukes, I reckon. Who's the person most likely to know exactly where we are and have a way to send a nuke at us so quickly?"
""Avem.""
"Exactly, so no matter what..."
"We can't return home..." the hopelessness of our situation slowly began to set in. No home, no supplies, no backup. At constant fear of another attack, and unable to do anything to stop them, except try to survive and delay the inevitable. Despair. The only way to summarise our predicament is as one of despair. With these thoughts, I stumbled onto the rocky, uneven, somewhat hot ground, and screamed.

"Tiffko..."
"Hey, c'mon, things aren't that hopeless, alright?"
Despite the wise and rational words of my friends, I could find no comfort in them.

Eventually, I settled down enough to be able to communicate with my friends and think somewhat normally.
"Feeling better?"
"Y-yes, thanks to both of you."
"So, our next course of action. Obviously, going back to Avem isn't an option, neither is building a base of our own."
"Hold on. Why can't we build our own base?"
"The nuke arrived after we rebuilt this area. They have a way of monitoring large scale changes to the terrain, it's as clear as day."
"...Alex, Tiffko. What if it was underground?"
"Bwuh?"
"You might be onto something there. But where would we make it?"
"Oh! There's a small mountain to the north. I'm sure we could find a cave to remodel!"
"Well, no time like the present. Tiffko, make us a car and let's get outta here!"
"On it!"

A few hours later, as the sun was setting, we found a moderately sized cave that we could use as a base. Using mutator again, I changed the interior of the cave from damp stone to a cozy oak wall. The design felt eerily familiar, yet I had no memory of seeing such a design before. Inside, we put down the remaining supplies we had, before I went outside with Idot to get some more objects to mutate.

"Are you sure all of this is a good idea? Maybe Avem didn't send the nuke."
"Tiffko, I've known Avem for a long time. They always have to be in control. If they see anything that could challenge them, they'll either try to control it or destroy it. There's no shot that wasn't their doing."
"You're right. Ambi did say about how they were searching for people with powers, after all." Despite how I hadn't seen anyone else at the base, which made me slightly suspect that Ambi was lying, Alex's words finally persuaded me that it was just a coincidence that I had seen no one else.
"Well, this should be enough for the rest of the base." Transforming a tree into a leather pouch, I used mutator to turn the other materials we had gathered into pebbles and placed them inside of the pouch.
"That power is really useful, you know. I'm surprised you can use it so well already."
"I don't know, I'm sure Ambi has cooler tricks up her sleeve."
"If only I had a power of my own."
"Hey, you're plenty cool yourself! You're really good at close combat."
"Nowhere near as smart as you in it though. I might have technique, but you have strategy."
"You've got me there."
This banter continued until we reached our hideout, where I placed several pebbles around the inside. From there, I turned each one into something useful for us, be it a table, a bed, or a bookshelf with a massive amount of books.

Once I was done, Alex and Ambi went to bed, while I stood guard by the cave entrance.
"I need to get stronger. Strong enough to protect the ones I love, and strong enough to protect the things I can build. Strong enough to make Avem pay."
"Don't think like that. Hate may be a powerful tool, but it is also a reckless one."
"What? Who's there? Who are you?" Out of nowhere, a voice began to converse with me. Clearly, I was losing my mind, but I still tried to communicate with it despite this very clearly correct deduction on my part.
"I'm no one of importance, although I'd advise you to take my words to heart."
"Then what am I supposed to do? Let Avem walk all over me? Over us?"
"No, of course not. Let Avem bring the fight to you. As you yourself said, protect yourself and the ones you love, and defeat him in that way."
"But I'm... not strong enough. Avem already destroyed everything once before, who's stopping him from destroying it all again?"
"I am. But if you're that concerned, I'll give you a portion of my power so you can defend yourself."
"R-really? You mean I'll be able to protect everything?"
"Of course, although I must be off once again. Remember, heed my words, and don't take the fight to Avem."

『You have received an unique skill, [Barrier].』

"Wait! What's your name?"
"My name is-"
"Tiffko! Are you okay?"
"Huh? Umm, yeah, w-why do you ask?"
"Oh, I thought I heard you talking to yourself."
"I guess I might be feeling a bit tired."
"I'll take over guard duty then, you just head to sleep."
"Thanks, Ambi. I owe you one."
"Hehe, of course you do. You'll just have to buy me dinner once this is all over."
"Sure... thing? Well anyway, goodnight."
"Night!"

Walking back to my room, I start to think about what that voice told me. "Clearly, it had the power to back up its words - how else did it give me a new skill? And it was clearly wise too. But something still feels off about it. Should I really trust it so quickly? Maybe I should talk to Alex and Ambi about it in the morning... no, I can't get them wrapped up in this even more. Let's just leave this for another time."

Opening my door, I immediately walk to my bed and fall onto it, falling asleep quickly and effortlessly.