Chapter 119 Hockey Night

Chapter 119

I stayed at the cabin house Friday night.  It was quiet without Lezerath doing her lessons.  Just Abigail and Vida were around.  Bedelia and Artica were off to DC to research Dakkan Duskwalker and his family.  Reika was a bit of a mystery as she had no ties to the family through an online search.  It made sense why she was surprised when I guessed she was Dakkan’s daughter.

Abigail made vegan meatballs and zucchini spaghetti served with Vida’s homemade tomato sauce.  The vegan food was quite tasty, and I asked Vida if she wanted to open her own restaurant one day.  She gave it some thought while she ate.  “I thought about going to a culinary school.  Kendall College in Chicago has a good program.  Abs thought I should go to Europe and apprentice under someone for a while before going to school.”

Abigail added, “She is a good cook and has excellent taste after she got rid of her penchant for meat.  Caleb, could you improve her taste!?  Like you improved my memory and strength?”

“I want strength,” Vida said emphatically.

“You can choose two enhancements eventually, Vida,” I said based on her core.  Her core was 0.46, and it would not take much for me to make it to raise to upper tier 1.

Vida reiterated, “Strength first.  It has almost been a month.”  Vida was referring to the promise I made to give her the enhancement after a month of behaving.  That carrot had been working extremely well.

“Why strength?”  I asked, curious.

“Strength is respected.   Growing up on Mercanious, those who dominated the others got the best food.  The most respect.  The best mates,” she finished with gravitas.  I could not believe she was still reliving her past.  I thought about removing the memories but decided it was part of what kept her motivated.

“Fine.  You can have the strength enhancement tonight,” both Abigail’s and Vida’s eyes popped wide.  “Go take a shower, and I will prepare it,” I said.

Abigail whispered after Vida rushed upstairs, “Why now?”

“The aboleth.  Based on what Carrie said, I think I am returning, but things can happen.  I would rather leave you all with as much power as possible,” I said, going to the fridge and getting out the soy ice cream and low-fat chocolate milk.

“I wish you wouldn’t say things like that.”  She looked at the milk and ice cream, “Do you need help with that?”  Abigail said with a smirk.  We went into the bedroom, mixed the milk and ice cream, and added the secret sauce before Vida came rushing downstairs.  Abigail just wanted to watch the process.  She studied my balls and how I ejaculated, fascinated by the magical creation process.

With wet hair, Vida took the glass and downed it in one gulp.   She got a bit of brain freeze but didn’t care, whopping and hollering as she went down to the tiny weight room.  It would take time and calories to gain the full effect, but she didn’t seem to be listening.

“Abs, remind her she needs to eat more over the next few days,” I said, smiling as the excited orc could be heard hitting the weights.

I went and took a shower and lay in bed.  I went to my mind space and looked at my banner.  227 life essence.  I had planned to create the quickness elixir for Frost, but now I needed to think about the aboleth.  What ability would help the most with that upcoming contest?

Ability

Level

Cost to Increase

Abyssal Eyes

Upper

Tier 2

400 life essence

Abyssal Strength

Lower

Tier 2

200 life essence

Abyssal Speed

Upper

Tier 2

400 life essence

Abyssal Endurance

Lower

Tier 2

200 life essence

Abyssal Smell

Upper

Tier 1

100 life essence

Abyssal Taste

Upper

Tier 1

100 life essence

Chronomancy

Upper

Tier 1

100 life essence

Incubus Form

Upper

Tier 1

1,000 life essence

Incubus Tail

Upper

Tier 1

100 life essence

Incubus Wings

Upper

Tier 1

100 life essence

Succubus Form

Upper

Tier 1

1,000 life essence

Melodic Voice

Upper

Tier 1

100 life essence

Aphrodisiac Salivary Glands

Lower

Tier 2

200 life essence

Seductive Gaze

Lower

Tier 2

200 life essence

Mask Aether Core

Lower

Tier 2

200 life essence

Contact Queen Andromeda

Upper

Tier 1

100 life essence

Elixir Seed of Strength

Lower

Tier 1

100 life essence

Elixir Seed of Endurance

Lower

Tier 1

100 life essence

Elixir Seed of Recall

Lower

Tier 1

100 life essence

Cleanse Death Essence

Upper

Tier 2

na

Discern Truth

Lower

Tier 1

100 life essence

Male Elf Form

Upper

Tier 1

100 life essence

Mask aether core seemed the most prudent choice.  It would help prevent others from finding me and make device readers have trouble getting my true core strength.  Seductive gaze would increase the power of my charm effect, but I did not see that helping in the battle with aboleth.

Abyssal strength seemed like the smartest move if it was a fight.  Carrie had said she saw a vision of the dragonkin killing the aboleth with a sword.  It always took a few minutes for an enhancement to an ability to settle in, so doing it in battle was not an option.

I thought about maybe doing two 100-essence abilities but decided to stick with one major 200-essence ability.  Nashima, the couatl, advised me, “The masking of your aether core is a strong ability.  There are many forms of magic attacks that lock onto your aether core to make an attack.  Not only will they have trouble reading your aether core, but they will have trouble attacking you in combat.”

I choose the core masking ability.  The sky in mind space clouded over and appeared like it was a heat wave for a moment before returning to normal.  No other feelings or visual effects happened after that, and I felt no different.  I was investing a lot of life essence, but I trusted Nashima’s advice.  She may be independent, but she would only continue to exist as long as I existed.

I went to sleep shortly after receiving a text message from Artica and Bedelia that they were staying in the city.  I guessed there was not going to be an enhancement session for Bedelia tonight.  Artica said they planned to finish up in the morning and then come to my hockey game which was not too far from the city.

My dreams were filled with scenes of battling the aboleth alone.  I had only seen a handful of pictures of the creature from books, so everything was a bit blurry in the dream.  The battle never seemed to end, with neither of us gaining victory.  It felt like a hopeless struggle.

In the morning, I woke tired even though I slept nine hours.  About two hundred students and family members came to see us off at the rink.  This was the semi-final.  If we won, we would play for our division’s state championship next weekend in Richmond.

The bus ride was wild, with loud music, singing, and levity.  When we got to the rink, the other team was already on the ice after we laced up.  This was closer to a home game for them, and they had hundreds of fans already in the stands.  The school was near DC and had lots of trust fund kids.  I checked out their team, and they had three demis on it.  Two elves and a pantherkin.  I was a bit shocked to see the elves on the ice.  I had barely seen any elves on Earth outside of Kiri and Eilina.  The two elves were their top defensive pairing.  The pantherkin was their top winger.

When the game started, they were good.  The elf defense paired up to blanket me whenever I was on the ice, and their team’s depth put them up two 2-0 after the first period.  We just could not break their defense.  In the second period, I started double-shifting to wear out the elves.  Both had upper tier 1 cores, meaning they were strong.  My plan worked, and the score remained 2-0 until late in the second when I got James on a breakaway.  He was dragged down but made his penalty shot to bring the game to 2-1.

I was still holding back from going into superhuman mode.  I wanted to win this game without relying on my incubus abilities.  The locker room was quiet between the second and third periods.  The score was close, but it felt like they had the ice tilted in their favor.

The other team scored in the first minute to start the third period.  I started to get physical with the elves and the other team’s top lines.  The ref was letting me get away with a lot, and I kept checking the other team.  The pantherkin lost his composure first, and I drew a slashing call.  Then, one of the elves’ sticks came up high and caught my face with a solid strike.  He tried to make it look unintentional, and I milked the strike, going to the ice for a minute.  There was no blood, as he had no chance of breaking my skin, but the crowd was silent while they waited to see if I was okay.

It looked pretty bad on the replay board, and I knew the cheap shot was designed to knock me out of the game.  There was not much surprise when the officials met and kicked the elf from the game.  I had only used coercion and deception to get our team back into the game.  I had to sit on the bench for a good two minutes while the game proceeded.  I was being checked for a concussion as the stick hit me in the back of the head.

When I was allowed back on the ice, the other team was on its heels, playing 5-4 for four minutes.  I scored on a pass from James, taking the game to 3-2.  We still had a power play, and I got James a feed to tie the game.  I had ignored the crowd for the majority of the game but looked for my fans.  I found Eilina, Kiri, Bedelia, Iris, and Artica sitting together.  Jade was still mad at me, and I think she was in Canada with Anya anyway.  The auditions for the teen drama were this weekend, if I remember correctly.

I waved during a break but noticed a dozen elves sitting next to them.  Kiri was eyeing the elves occasionally, with some concern on her face.  The elves had on the school sweaters of the opposing team, so I assumed they were here for the two elves playing.  It turned into a distraction for the rest of the third period.

We did not score on the power play and then had to play two minutes short-handed after a stupid hooking call on our defenseman.  Fortunately, they had not scored, but I was pushing what I felt was human endurance.   I went to the bench and sat with eight minutes left.  My eyes focused on the stands, and Kiri’s face was definitely had a concerned look about the elves.  Had Eilina’s father found her?

The other team almost scored again, and I hit the ice.  James scored on my shot rebound to tie the game.  With fifty seconds left in the game, I fed James for another score easy score as the goalie committed to my fake shot.  We had just worn them down.  They tried to keep up with me and could not in the end.  I played 39 minutes, a ridiculous amount of time.  But it did feel good going to the championship game, especially since it would be my last hockey game ever.

I got to the rowdy locker room and checked my phone.  I was shocked to find twenty-one missed calls and text messages from Kiri.  The missed calls were from Reiki and not Kiri, though.  I checked the text messages first.  It was not as bad as I thought—still, it was not good.  Kiri said the elf family at the game was from one of the cities that Eilina’s father controlled.  It was probably just a coincidence; maybe they were fleeing his rule by being here anyway.  They were not known for their benevolence.

The celebration continued for a while, and the elf who had hacked my skull with his stick entered and apologized.  It had been intentional, but I think he regretted succumbing to his anger.  I accepted the apology and joined my team’s chant of ‘One more game!’

Getting out of the bus ride home was difficult as my parents were not at the game.  The school policy was that only parents could take the student-athletes to away games.  I ended up charming the coach and making him think he had let me go with my parents.  I wanted to drive back with Eilina and Kiri, just in case there was something with the elves at the game.

Kiri was driving as I listened to the messages from Reiki.  Every message went something like this, “Mister Silverhorn, this is Reiki.  I am calling to request your help.  The Rakshasa from the transit city arrived on Earth.  He wants to meet with my father, and my father needs to show power.  The plane is ready to leave at a moment’s notice.  The fee is negotiable, and you only need to stand next to Dakkon while he meets the Rakshasa.”

The messages got progressively frantic as the deadline approached.  I called Reiki, and she squeaked, “Thank you!  Came you come?  I can send a car.  Where are you?”

“Calm down, Reiki, I am about three hours out right now and driving back.  Can you explain the situation in more detail?”  I said calmly.  I knew a Rakshasa was extremely powerful, at least tier-three demis with powerful magics.

Reiki controlled her emotions: “My father sent a representative to negotiate with the Rakshasa who rule the city you opened a portal to in Bermuda.  The member of the team sent to relay the request never returned.  My father figured he had been killed.”  Her tone and breathing had evened out now that she was talking to me.  “The Rakshasa arrived in Bermuda two hours ago and is coming to Chicago.  He killed seven men in Bermuda.  They did not realize who he was.  It is a fucking shit storm.”

“So your father invited the Rakshasa to help kill the aboleth.  He showed up and was attacked?  And now your father thinks he is pissed off and coming for him?”  I said, sorting out the details.

Reiki said softly, “That is about the gist of it.  But his private plane lands in Chicago in three hours, and if you are three hours from my plane…I do not think we can get there in time to help.”  Desperation in her voice.

I started to do the math.  A Rakshasa could be extremely valuable in the fight.  Also, losing Dakkon might disrupt Selina’s team from participating in the attack.  Could I mediate somehow?  I tried using my Caleb phone to call Rincewind.  An auto text hit my phone saying Rincewind was out of touch.  Shit, he was taking Carrie to the Fateweaver Dragon.

I finally said, “Contact the Rakshasa’s personal plane and have them land where you are.  I will be there in…”  I put the address in my phone, “In two hours and forty minutes.”

Reiki spoke with a mix of relief and tension, “Are you sure?  Rakshasa are not known for their amicable personalities.  And,” She did her own calculations, “he could land here in just two hours, meaning I would have to be alone with him for forty minutes.”

Hearing the conversation, Kiri started to speed, going twenty miles over the speed limit.  Hopefully, it was a risk worth taking.  Any cops pulling us over would cost us time, as I charmed them.  “Don’t worry, Reiki.  I will get there as fast as possible.  Just be your charming nerdy self.”

We did get pulled over fifteen minutes later.  I charmed the state trooper to put his lights on and escort us the rest of the way.  We did 95 mph all the way back.  We got to the small airfield just as a small private jet was taxiing to the hangar.  As I aged myself, I charmed the officer to go away and forget what he did and walked to the hangar in a tee shirt and jeans that were a little too tight.  I really needed to start stashing suits in the vehicles.  It was time to find out what Rakshasa Lord wanted.

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