Fastest on the draw was Twirl, who cracked an orc upside the head as they began to charge in towards us. Then he went after the one that had taken down Medid, along with Midnight. It only took a moment for that particular individual to be incapacitated by excess electricity.

  But there were more. I swung my staff alongside Bolster as several more charged out of the surroundings, weaving Shocking Grasp into my weapon as it was the fastest spell I could get, and it required the least aim in the frantic circumstances.

  This was a mess. And we still had to look out for Flasher. I was about to shout a warning reminder, when I saw him. But he’d already seen me, and I got a faceful of laser. That was the last thing I saw for a while.

  He teleported. I felt the power activation, far stronger than the martial skills being used by the orcs. The charge up was so fast, but I was blindly swinging my staff around me and gathering mana regardless. This time, finally, I would lock him in place with Dimensional Anchor.

  But something or someone got in my way. It was hard for me to mistake the direction with all the super tech Flasher had crammed into himself.

  I heard a cry of pain from Medid. A confused yelp from Midnight along with a surge of panic. I was gathering more mana, holding my staff out horizontally to try to shove past whoever was in my way. I felt a weapon bite into my side.

  Then Midnight was the furthest away from me he’d ever been, yet still right in front of me. But only for a moment, and then he was gone. No longer in front of me, and my connection severed. No, that would have been far more traumatic… but it was dulled to the point of uselessness.

  How? I had many questions, but that was the primary. I stumbled forward as I was struck in the back of the head. I had to thank Francois for his work, because I retained consciousness, even if I wasn’t using it well.

  I picked out enemies by sensing unfamiliar mana. Bolster and Twirl were still next to me, but the others were all enemies. I continuously fed mana into Shocking Grasps, striking enemies even as they hit me with weapons unknown, cutting into my super suit. A moment of clarity allowed me to focus, Multicasting Stoneskin on myself, Bolster, and Twirl. Hopefully, also Midnight… somehow. I used the discounted cost instead of maximum power, since I simply couldn’t manage otherwise. That cost twenty mana, which was most of what I had and near my maximum capacity.

  I continued swinging blindly. My staff struck foes one after another.

  “Mage. Mage!” Bolster’s words pulled me out of my daze. “City guards are coming!”

  What followed was a mess. These guards didn’t even ask for an explanation, simply attacking. I tried to say something, but I was hit by numerous attacks with both blunt and edged weapons. I tried to use more magic… and passed out.

  -----

  When I awoke, I could barely see. Not because it was dark, but because that was just how much my eyes worked. I had a headache. I was pretty sure I had several barely treated stab wounds.

  And for all the physical pain, I really didn’t care. My memory was fuzzy, but Midnight was gone. That, I could feel.

  This was a disaster in so many ways, but I honestly didn’t care that Medid was gone or that I was imprisoned. I groaned in pain, but the physical was so barely relevant.

  I staggered to my feet. I was in a small cell. Across from me was Bolster. I felt heavy. My wrists and ankles were shackled, limiting my range of motion. When I arrived at the bars, I managed to see Twirl in the cell next to Bolster.

  “Good, you’re awake! Maybe you can convince them,” Bolster said. “I can’t use magic, which means no Translate.”

  “It’s the shackles,” I explained. I pressed my face against the bars, my tusks scraping. “I can’t see the guards.”

  “They’re… down the way,” Bolster said.

  Good. They wouldn’t see me taking off my shackles then. The only problem? They were antimagic. I tried to use Storage, and they rejected it. Obviously.

  I barely even had the mana for that. It made my head hurt. I didn’t let it stop me, though.

  I tried again and again, until I was fully out of mana. I was collapsed against the bars.

  And I did it again.

  Spatial magic was about connection. How could I be more connected than when shackles were all around me and reaching inside me to screw up my usage of mana? I couldn’t think of a single greater connection. Except for companions bonds and-

  Whatever. Who cared. I wanted the shackles gone. I didn’t have mana for it, and I didn’t care.

  I reached inside myself, and everything recoiled. The shackles, my body, and my soul. But I didn’t have time to convince random guards that we were the ones who had been attacked and we should be let go. If they cared, they could have figured it out already.

  I stored both sets of shackles. My consciousness threatened to leave me.

  “No.”

  I wasn’t talking to anyone but myself. I just needed to say it out loud.

  I’d been in negative mana once before. It hadn’t really been on purpose. This time, I just refused to think about it.

  The door was locked. My friends doors were locked. I needed to get to Midnight.

  Knock was 4 mana. Multicasting took 12.

  “Open up!” I shouted.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  A clanging sound resounded throughout the area, echoing off of the stone walls as the iron bar doors flung open. I stepped into the hallway. Later, I might think about the fact that other doors were opened.

  “Come on you two. We’re going.”

  There were guards at the end of the hall. I didn’t care. Twirl once again reacted first, but Bolster were closer so they were out in the hall in a moment. I reached out, gathering twenty mana for a Gate. I might actually die from going so far into negative mana. I didn’t care.

  I waved my arm, tearing out a chunk of space. I tossed Bolster through. Twirl scurried past when I glanced at him. I heard guards shouting. I stepped through a very wobbly portal. I refused to pass out.

  I turned around to give another look at where I’d been. A guard was reaching out to grab me, but the Gate was already closing. No, it was just vibrating wildly. Either way, he lost an arm. Then I forced it to finish collapsing.

  More guards came running, but these were from Extra. They probably wouldn’t hit me on the head.

  I needed another portal. Midnight. He was somewhere. I reached out. I was going to be about as far into negative mana as my normal maximum, but I needed to reach him. The mana flowed out from me and tore open a hole in space, but it didn’t go anywhere. It just was.

  It was a good thing that I stumbled backwards instead of towards it. And someone caught me so I didn’t compound my concussion.

  -----

  “... idiot.”

  That was the first thing I heard as I woke up. My eyes flickered open.

  “Ah, you’re awake.” It was Ceira. I tried to smile, but I think my face was stuck. “What’s wrong with you? I had to bail on a big client because of you!”

  “Didn’t have to.”

  “Uh, yeah I did. Friends are more important than money. Even if that money would help a lot of people. What were you thinking? I have literally no idea how to fix whatever is wrong with you, and I have magic.”

  “They took Midnight. I’m going to chop them into bits in a Spatial Rift.”

  “What?”

  “That’s what I was thinking. If anything.”

  “I… heard about Midnight. It’s an awful situation. But I’m sure he’ll be alright.”

  It was nice of her to lie. Some other time, I might have been comforted by that.

  I got up. Power Brigade medical ward. “I need to go.”

  “Wait!” Ceira called as I stormed towards the door.

  Doctor Manuel Martinez stepped in front of me. “Like hell you do. You need to rest.”

  “Not while Midnight isn’t here.” I held up my arm, calling upon Shocking Grasp. I still shouldn’t have had mana.

  Doctor Martinez stepped out of the way. I heard him muttering into his comm.

  I made for the elevator. Was something burning?

  Ah, it was my arm.

  Ceira chased after me, catching me in the elevator. “What the hell, man?” She looked down. “What did you do to your arm?”

  “Zapped it,” I said. I could barely feel my body right now.

  “If I fix it, you need to promise not to do it again. Midnight would be sad to see you hurting yourself.”

  “It wasn’t on purpose.” The elevator was going. From floor 5, down to the basement levels where my Scrying Orb was. Ceira probably wasn’t authorized to be in any of these places.

  “What are you talking about? Spells like that are completely safe.” She reached out to touch my arm. I probably had less pain afterwards. Why was she using so much mana? Could she even actually use that much? Why did half of it hang around?

  Normally, I would have tried to get answers to these questions. Instead, I trod out the door towards my room. I needed to find Midnight.

  Even if I couldn’t feel it, we were connected. We had to be. Even if there wasn’t a magical connection, we’d been best buddies for over a year. Nearly inseparable. Nobody was going to take him away from me.

  I gathered mana for Scrying. I still didn’t have any. The mists didn’t swirl, instead darting in and out. They revealed nothing but my own incompetence.

  I reached for more mana.

  I stopped. Because I knew that one step more, and I would die. And if I died… I couldn’t save Midnight.

  I dropped to my knees. “Dammit.”

  The door opened. “Heysorryaboutthisdoctorsorders.”

  Something pierced into my neck. My consciousness left me.

  -----

  I woke up shackled to one of the medical beds. Something beeped.

  This time it was Doctor Mishra. He turned towards the sound.

  I pulled on my restraints.

  “You won’t be able to get out.”

  I shook my head. It hurt. “Not true,” I said. “I can…”

  I stopped. Even if I could reliably bypass power dampeners- which might not be true for the non-magical variety- I didn’t want to advertise that. Not to go against the Power Brigade, but just because it needed to be said.

  “You’re going to need to be psychologically evaluated before we can let you go. For your own good.”

  “Sure,” I said. I’d tell them I was really screwed up right now, with Midnight being taken. I wouldn’t tell them that I was going to go anyway if they denied me.

  I just didn’t know where.

  “How long was I out?”

  “You’ve been sedated for ten hours, at the recommendation of everyone who understands your sort of magic.”

  Hmm. Double the time it would take to get full. Enough time for me to claw out of the negatives, except it didn’t work like that.

  Or it wasn’t supposed to. But I was full up. And my soul didn’t hurt. Even my headache was fading. Something was wrong. Broken.

  Maybe it was me. But that was okay. If it could get me back to Midnight, I didn’t care if I was a little broken at the end. Though… I supposed I needed to be alive. And at least able to walk and talk, or Midnight would be sad. Which would make me sad twice over. It wasn’t good to die trying to save a friend.

  At the very least, one had to succeed, and I hadn’t been on that trajectory. Good thing there were people to stop me.