After a couple moments of silence, James was the first one to break the sound of the crackling fire as he let out a yawn before turning around. "Alright guys. It's time to set up camp before it gets too dark. Ned, since you can set up your tent the quickest out of everyone here. Can you set up your tent last? I need you to set your perimeters like you did last night. If there wasn't anything out there yesterday there's definitely something out there now." James continues to yawn once more as he walks away to set up basecamp for the night. The rest of the team follow suit while I only not and remain silent. I continue to watch the fire burn a little longer before taking in a deep breath and turning around to set up the primitive security system. I picked up my bag and walked over to join the crew as I pulled out my makeshift tripwires. Because of the severity of the damage done to the village, unlike yesterday, I set up two perimeters. The first is around our camp like last night while the second perimeter is another 10 ft beyond the first. This probably won't do much but it gives me a little bit of assurance that we will at least have a couple more moments to get ready if anything were to breach the outer tripwires. At the very least I will have more than just seconds to get ready if anything happens. The only problem with having two sets of perimeters is not having enough material. The inner perimeter is a complete loop just like how it was last night. However, the outer perimeter has a bit of a gap that leaves much to be desired.
Once I was done setting up my tripwires I looked up from my position to see that most of the crew are already almost done setting up. With the dusting of my hands, I stood up from the ground and walked over to join the camp and set up my own tent. I reach into my backpack and pull out my tent once more before messing with the mechanism of the relic and tossing it into an open area for it to unfold itself. WAH! CLING! WAH! POOF! Honestly I hate bitching about the gifts that were given to me by Leonardo but I really wish I had some of those hoi-poi capsules from Dragonball. Like don't get me wrong. I love watching gears and machinery work their magic to create amazing and spectacular visuals as they work together to make a product. Like still I can remember the awe and wonder I felt when I saw the MK 2 suit up for the very first time in my previous life and then getting blown away by the MK 5 in the next movie. It was a beautiful work of art and my current work is a crude rudimentary reminder of that feeling I once felt. It's still nice and everything I had built and placed in the relic has a purpose for the function of a portable automatic tent but goddamn it! It's just not as efficient as having something just go POOF and over with.
Fuck I hate sounding like an ungrateful spoiled brat. I really really do not wish to become the arrogant young master that I am destined to be as the second prince of a shadow empire. SIGH. I just need to take a deep breath and take things slowly. Tony Stark was able to achieve that level of technology through hard work and dedication over time while I barely even have six months of experience under my belt. Maybe one day I can meet my heroes and be able to compete with them but for now I need to eat some food and get some sleep.
I take a glance at the still burning funeral pyre that's not too far away from our camp before walking away from my tent to join my teammates at our small little campfire. "So Ned, how are you able to create such a thing like that?" Before I can even fully sit down Nicolas is already asking me about the tent-intator. As much as I dislike him, I still enjoy showing off a little bit while teaching people new ways to look at things and expanding their cup of knowledge. "Well it's quite complicated actually." I reach my hand up to pinch the space in front of me as a metal pen suddenly materializes in hand. "I don't know how much you've heard about me but since I can't perform spells like you guys, I have chosen to walk the path of an artificer. And with this little guy, I can write down spells and instructions as well as conditions for how my spells behave." I smile a little bit as I begin to twirl and spin the 'Ink of Innovation' in between my fingers. When I was first practicing with the pen, I was afraid of getting cut again and losing a finger or two from the mysterious nib but it turns out that the relic refused to harm me, even if it was accidental.
"So in other words you can make relics, big deal." Akshay spoke up while seemingly unimpressed about my mad pen spinning skills. I only give him a smile and a shrug as there's not much I can really say as a rebuttal. "Is making relics not that impressive?" Nicolas asked while keeping his eyes on my pen. AHAHA. "No, it's not really impressive at all. Pretty much any and every sorcerer can create a relic if they choose to." I try to stop myself from laughing too hard while putting my pen away. "Eventually if you keep walking down the path of mysticism even you can create a relic, Nicolas. It's not really hard for master sorcerers to make them, which is why no artificer or sorcerer who solely dedicated their time to creating relics had ever popped up in the history of Kamar-Taj. See I have chosen to become one because of two things. 1) I can't use magic but I can understand magic. And 2) this pen of mine came from a very special and important person in history. In fact he used to be a student at Kamar-Taj too before he left to pursue his dreams. The only reason why I even have something like this is because of the bonds he and the Ancient One had as teacher and disciple. So in a way I'm a spiritual disciple of a student that was once taught by a young Ancient One…but that doesn't mean much when we are taught by the Ancient One every now and then." James bursts into a chuckle as he hands me a cup of noodles that he had just made. "You know Ned, not everyone gets to have lessons with the Ancient One. The only times that everyone usually meets her is when they first enter Kamar-Taj. Only those with great potential and possess the skills to achieve their potential are guided by the Ancient One. Otherwise they're stuck with teachers like me. Students teaching students so that both disciples can come to new understandings on their own." I slowly nod my head as I begin to eat my cup of noodles.
"But I'm proud of you little brother. You're the first one in our school to ever just focus on making relics and what you've already accomplished is pretty impressive. I don't think even I can come complete with you if we had to engrave spells onto material objects." He gives me a kind encouraging smile that I can't help but reciprocate back with a bright and hopeful smile. "Hold on. Could either one of you tell us how this happened?" Rachel extends out her hand in a circular motion towards James and I. "Explain what?" I tilt my head slightly as I slurp on a little bit of my noodle. "Explain you two. Why the hell are the two of you so close together when Ned is barely breaking into the double digits while you James. You're nearly thirty now. How the hell do the two of you even talk and not have any miscommunication?"
I shift my eyes to look at James before cracking a smile. "Do you want me to say it or do you want to tell them yourself?" James chuckled a little before clicking his tongue. "I don't know which is more embarrassing, you telling them or me. Ah fuck it! Basically Ned and I met on his first day of Kamar-Taj. I was trying to help him take off his jacket when he kicked me in the balls and nearly tore off the arm of the other student that was with me." I break into a roar of laughter as I try no to spill my food. From the slit of my eyes I can see Rachel and Nicolas laughing too. Even the cold Akshay couldn't help but smirk a little. "Hey hey who said it was funny. As captain of this team I can't have you guys laughing at me just because Ned got a lucky kick on his first day." James lets out a sigh of defeat as he knew it was over now. His small reputation and respect as the captain and the most experienced one here has all but vanished. "Oh come on James. That's not even the full story. Later that day during dinner time you tried to pull a joke on me and look at where we are now. Two bros in the middle of the jungle, hunting down ghosts and protecting the mystic world" I slurp down the last of my noodles before handing it back to James.
"Wait so then how do you two know Master Sara?" Nicolas chiming in after recovering from his laughter. "Oh yeah no she's James' younger sister. Obviously one of the siblings is better than the other-" I quickly duck my head as James tries to swat his arm at me. I can't help but laugh as this child's play compared to Master Kaecilius. "Come on James. I get beat up all the time by Master Kaecilius. You gotta get better if you hope to ever land a punch on me again." I roll backwards onto the dirt and spring back on to my feet.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Out of instinct I quickly duck down again as my tripwire goes off and all of the stakes from the second perimeter begin to burn and light up the nearby trees. I reach out and grab on to a nearby rock before throwing it at the nearest flash bang.
THUND!
"What the hell!" James quickly flick his hands to summon a magic circle while the rest did the same too. I quickly get back on my feet as I raise my fists into a fighting stance. At the edge of our perimeter are a bunch of people standing around as if their retinas weren't just violated by a miniature sun. "I mean-hello! Are you guys lost? Can we help you?" James tries to call out to the group of people but just like the rest of the jungle, their only response was dead silent. "James." I whisper to him to try and get his attention. "I think these are the missing villagers we couldn't find." I try to steady my hands as they are currently shaking a little too much. I can feel my heart beating too quickly from the sudden rush of adrenaline. I thought I was ready for action but I was definitely not expecting this. The rock that I threw just seconds ago is still in my line of sight. Lodged into the throat of a little kid that's in the range of the light. The child remain still and unflinching from the lethal wound....a wound that's dry with no blood bleeding out...
FISSSZZZzzz
The light from my perimeter begins to slowly die down as the wooden stakes quickly burn from the sudden burst of magical runes. Soon darkness reclaim the crowd of villagers as they begin to charge towards us and our small campfire.