Part 46: Lakeside

Jake's POVPanting and weak, I climbed up the last of the cliffside. Finally, having reached the top after thirty minutes of repeatedly causing rockslides with magic, then climbing up the debris, I pulled myself up to the top and laid on my back. "That… was… terrible." I complained to myself, only to hear Suma's voice in my head again."Okay Jake, I think I know the best way for you to conquer the next obstacle." She said proudly. I didn't bother answering her at first, I was too tired. "Jake, can you hear me?" She asked confused."Yes Suma… I can hear you. I just need a minute.""Okay, but you may not want to take too long. While I was flying, I saw a giant Black Serpent coming your way."If I hadn't been so tired, I probably would have laughed, "very funny Suma," I said dryly. I thought it was a good joke, but my body didn't care at the moment."I am not being funny Jake, there really is a Black Serpent familiar heading your way."That caught my attention, "Wait… what?""I think it belongs to that noble, Lauric.""Huh, that will be interesting to see," I said. During this entire conversation, I hadn't yet been able to bring myself to stand, or even sit, up."Jake, if the familiar behind you reaches the end first, then you will have to do the entire course again tomorrow!" She shouted. That got my attention and woke me up. I bolted to my feet and started heading for the next obstacle as fast as I could manage. While running, I activated one of the runes on my armor, it was a body magic rune that was supposed to increase to users stamina. I hadn't had a chance to use them yet, so I gave them a shot. I summoned a preprepared daljar of mana and activated the rune. Obviously I couldn't do it without the daljar or the rune would have done who knows what. As soon as it activated, I felt like I could run all day if I needed to; I was at the next obstacle in minutes."Okay Jake, I think the best way to beat this one is to go around it." She said."I don't know," I said staring out across the lake, "it's pretty wide. So do I just have to get to the other side of the lake?" The shore of the lake was almost three kilometers in each direction, but only a hundred meters across. I stuck a hand in the water, it was fairly warm actually."Yes, essentially. At the other end of the lake is a small island, on the island is the prize of the course. Once you have retrieved the prize, you return back to the start via whatever path you choose." Suma explained."So, this test would be easy for familiars that could swim or fly, but not walk.""Exactly," Suma confirmed. I sent away Jericho and stripped off my underclothes. Thankfully, the effects of the rune didn't dissipate, or what I was about to do would have been suicide. "Jake, why are you removing your garments?""Because," I said wading into the lake, "I'm going to swim across." There was a moment of silence from Suma."You can swim? How? You weigh more than fifty Neame put together!""Yeah, but I'm mostly made of water, and I used to swim in lakes all the time as a child, so I'm a pretty strong swimmer." I explained as I began my breaststroke.------------------------------------------------------------------------Suma's POVJake called it swimming, but at first I thought I needed to summon him to safety to prevent him from drowning. He flailed about like he needed help, but no matter what, he did not stop moving forward. I was not worried about any creatures in the water since the lake was not natural, but was constructed for the course. "Jake, if you use magic, you might be able to go faster." I suggested."Yeah, but I would have to stop swimming to cast the spell. I can't do both at the same time." He said."What if you just used a body enhancement spell? That way you could move faster after you resumed swimming.""I don't know how," he said. "Could you explain it?""I could try." I took a moment to remember the steps of the spell. I had used it a few times before, like when I was running away from those three nobles that day. "First, you need to wrap mana around your body, then you imagine that mana entering you and radiating throughout your every muscle and bone. After that, you need to imagine the mana being absorbed by your body, and empowering you." Jake began to slow down his swimming, then came to a stop."Okay, I'll try." He said. I could see him from my perch, and watched as he was surrounded by a dark blue cloud of his mana. Then it rushed into him, disappearing from view. "Oh wow!" He exclaimed. He started swimming again, much faster than before, twice as fast, maybe even three times. I could not help but be slightly jealous; it took me a month to learn that spell properly and he did it in a mere moment. "This is amazing!" He yelled out excitedly."You are going much faster now than before Jake," I said. I was about to congratulate him for learning the spell so quickly, but a slithering black mass on the shoreline caught my eye. "Jake! That Black Serpent is at the shoreline!""OH HECK NO!" Jake yelled frantic."Do not worry, that type of familiar cannot swim, so it will have to go around the lake, but you still need to hurry; it is a rather swift creature." I explained and watched it quickly make its way around the shore."How long do I have?" Jake asked. I turned back to him, he seemed to be swimming faster than before."Not long, do not slow down." I told him seriously. Jake was halfway to the island, and was closing in rapidly, but the serpent, despite having only just arrived, was already a quarter or a fifth of the way around the lake.------------------------------------------------------------------------Jake's POVI swam as fast as I could. It felt at some points like I was only skimming along the water's surface, but it wasn't fast enough. "Jake! The familiar is already halfway there!" Suma yelled. I was grateful to our private connection at this moment, the ability to ask her questions and get updates without having to actually speak was useful when I was focused on swimming. I felt my hands hit sand and knew I was on the island."Suma, I'm on the island!" I announced and cast a spell that forced all of the water away from me so I could run along the sand. I dropped to the ground and bolted for the prize. It was some kind of golden shaft, and there were several of them in a circle. Well, almost a circle, some of the prizes had already been claimed by the familiars that went before me. I picked one up and called out to Suma. "Suma, I have the prize!""Great, head towards the exits as fast as you can!""I will, but you need to do the same," I said."What why?""Just go, I will explain as you fly!" I said and started running towards the exit. Thanking my lucky stars that the physical enhancement spell Suma taught me was still active, or else I would have dropped from exhaustion by now. Just as I was about to turn to leave the beach and head for the exit, the Black Serpent slithered up behind me.------------------------------------------------------------------------Lauric Isbala's POVLoyalty was making excellent time in the trial, perhaps even fast enough to beat the previous record, but that was not my goal. I reached out to him through the Rite of Dominance spell and tried to gauge how tired he was. He seemed to be fine, but I would not be able to push him much further without putting him in danger. I looked through his eyes again to see where he was and what his situation was like, and saw something quite interesting… the Viking familiar swimming across the water. "Strange, I would not have guessed he would have been able to swim." I said to myself. I realized that if Loyalty had caught up with him, then that would mean he would have to go much faster or risk failing the trail. He would most likely push himself harder than normal, to his very limits even… "What are your limits Viking?" I wondered aloud. Within moments of this, the Viking cast a spell to disperse the water in front of him and ran to the prizes. Loyalty was close, so I ordered him to slow down a bit and save his strength, but even if he did that he would still arrive at the prizes shortly. Loyalty's hearing is not great, but his sight is amazing, and with it I saw that the Viking was talking to someone, probably his master. Soon, loyalty arrived at the prizes, and came face-to-face with the one called Sentinel."Oh crap," the Viking said, "you're pretty big huh?" I could not communicate with the Viking, not through Loyalty at least, so I had no way to answer back. Not that I would know what to say to such a statement anyway. Was he trying to talk to me? No, he was talking to my familiar. Sentinel began to back up and slowly make his way around Loyalty, never once taking his eyes off of him… it seemed he was afraid of Loyalty. "Suma, as soon as you arrive at the exit, summon me." He was talking to his master, planning to get to the exit quickly so as not to fail the trail. "Then don't land, just get close to the ground before summoning me.""How far will you push yourself… if properly motivated?" I wondered, and came up with a plan of my own.------------------------------------------------------------------------Suma's POV"Suma, I have the prize!" Jake called out to me."Great, head towards the exits as fast as you can!" I told him still watching the serpent familiar. It was almost at the prizes as well, and would be arriving shortly, despite the fact that it had slowed down."I will, but you need to do the same," Jake said."What why?""Just go, I will explain as you fly!" I trusted Jake, and started flying towards the exit area Jake needed to be at, but just as I did I looked back to him, the Black Serpent arrived at the area with the prizes… the area where Jake currently was. Nothing had happened yet, but I was still nervous... I knew in my head it would not hurt him, it was against the rules for familiars to fight while stationed at training camp, but that was of little reassurance to me at the moment. I knew Lauric disliked, even hated Jake, so I feared what might happen. "Suma, as soon as you arrive at the exit, summon me." Jake said, sounding quite uneasy."Halfway there Jake, but I cannot land remember? If I do then we fail the trail." I told him."Then don't land, just get close to the ground before summoning me." He said."I do not know if I can, but I will try." I said uncertain. I flew as fast as I could, even using enhancing magic to increase my speed. The moment the gate entered my sight, I started diving towards it and getting as close to the ground as I could without losing speed, but that was made a bit difficult; the trees were too dense to fly quickly through, and I could not touch anything without being disqualified. "Jake, there are too many trees to fly close to the ground, but if I get any higher you might get hurt when you fall.""I think I have an idea for that, just summon me near the gate if you can." He shouted. "And the sooner the better, I think that snake familiar is chasing me!" I turned and examined the area where Jake was running from, and saw that he was right. The familiar was chasing after him, but quite slowly. Jake seemed to be running as fast as he could, but it was still nowhere near as fast as the serpent could go."I do see him behind you Jake, but it is moving slowly for some reason." I said."I find that hard to believe, considering I haven't been able to lose it yet." Jake countered. He was starting to sound tired; his enhancement must have been fading."Jake, that creature is much faster than you, if it has not passed you yet… Jake I think it might be chasing you!" I yelled. I did not know what to think; what was Lauric's familiar doing? Did he lose control over it? No, if he had the beast would already be on a rampage, not slowly stalking Jake. Lauric is still in control, which means he ordered his familiar to do this."I figured that much out already! It hasn't attacked yet, but that could change. Are you at the gate yet?" Jake shouted."Yes," I said as I arrived. "Summoning you now." I looked below me and saw a tree full of branches. "I hope you have your armor on Jake." I said to myself, then began the summoning spell, "I summon you, Sentinel!" Jake appeared before me slowly, hanging weightless in the air. That is... until the summon was complete, then he fell... hard. He seemed to hit every single branch during his fall through the tree, and hit the ground with a meaty thud and a groan. "Are you okay!?" Without a word, Jake summoned a small daljar of mana and placed the end of it to the runes on his armor. His armor began to glow a soft green and was wrapped in magic circles; the effects of his healing runes had started."That… hurt… so much." He complained and slowly stood up."Are you sure you are okay?" I asked looking him over while still maintaining flight."I think so, which way is the gate?" He asked."Follow me," I told him and headed towards the gate. "We bought you some time, but the serpent is fast." Jake was worn out from the healing runes, but he still had some of his enhancement left, so he was moving about around his normal speed. That being said, it was still incredibly slow."Suma," Jake said breathless, "Could you wrap me in mana and carry me? I think I'm about to collapse.""I am sorry Jake, but the rules strictly forbid that, and I do not think I could anyway; you are quite heavy." He sighed and kept going. Eventually, we made it to the gate and Jake collapsed as soon as he crossed it.""Finally," he said relieved and lying motionless on the ground."Good job recruits," said a voice from behind us. Jake did not even bother lifting his head. I turned and saw it was the instructor for the training. "If your familiar needs medical attention, tend to him and unsummon him, then report for your evaluation with the rest of the recruits who participated today. They are waiting at field one for everyone to join them before they get started."I thanked the instructor and went to Jake's side. "Are you okay?" Jake did not answer. "Jake?" I asked again. Still, he did not answer. I was worried for a moment, before I realized he was asleep. I silently cast another spell of healing on him just to be safe, then sent him home and flew to the meeting area that the instructor mentioned. Once I arrived, I took a moment to look around at the other Neame who participated today. Among them was the nameless Neame who had the lightning familiar, a named Neame called Toman, and Vindicta as well."Suma, I'm glad you passed!" She announced upon seeing me. "How did Jake do?" I flew over beside her and grew a perch to rest on."I think he did okay. He was exceptional at many of the obstacles, and had innovative solutions for the ones he was struggling with, however he is still quite a bit slower than most familiars." I explained. Behind me, the sounds of flapping and shifting vines let me know another participant had arrived; it was Lauric Isbala.