D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad



Gareth chapter

Competitors: Nabras, Willow, Cyan, Mauve 

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Gareth was laying down, flat on his back, heartbeat going a mile a minute. He struggled, but eventually managed to get his breathing back to a normal rhythm but the adrenaline and the fact the platform he'd been teleported to didn't look wide enough for him to remain on it wasn't helping matters. 

*Well. There you go. I've done my practice run but apparently the others haven't. I wonder who's waiting. At least two people have to be… unless someone is just in the fall. I… I don't even know how long that took. I certainly wasn't ready for the… last few moments of the fall. Thyme was right the final ring is impossible to accidentally miss but… gods the moment before hitting the water. Even knowing I'd be teleported I couldn't stop the thoughts of 'Oh God I'm dead' and now… now I don't know what to feel.* 

Physically, he was feeling a lot of shaking. Even with his breathing forcefully under control his legs were still shaking and his hands were much worse off. The fact his breathing was steady amongst all of it was only due to many, many hours of training, with perhaps regular live combat also helping to contribute. 

*Oh it's just a short fall that won't even hurt you. It's not a dangerous beast or a trap filled ruin or a group of bandits that would really rather not be cut down. It's so much safer then all of those things… and yet… I don't think I've experience such terror in many, many years. Gods I don't know if I've EVER experienced something like that at all. God I'm not sure how I'll be able to get my wits about me enough to regenerate my mana…

Shit wait. Do I need to do that? No… no this is the practice run so I think Thyme will restore it afterwards? God. I'm basically tapped out already. Testing one arm, the other arm, and both together. Yeah… note to self, both together is dangerous, but doable. Hurts more than it should perhaps? My arms don't feel broken. 

Still, the mana thing. Really going to need that top-up because I'm basically out. I can't believe it. A Quarter of my mana for each shot. Well, not quite considering I've got a bit left in the tank but I feel the same soreness I would had I completely drained my mana so it's not like the little bit left is really helping me all that much is it?*

That's when Gareth heard the clinking of glass on something and turned to his side. There, sitting innocently on 'thin air' was a glass of glowing blue liquid with a few chunks of things in it. Gareth didn't hesitate he downed the thing instantly and the pain faded, his mana almost seemed to overfill for a second, then his body was fine. He wasn't even shaking anymore… nope never mind. Gareth could already feel the shaking coming back. 

He let his head drift back down to the ground. For given word of ground anyway. *Right. That's nice. I'm not going to be exhausted for the real rounds… but damn what am I going to do about my mana? I think, depending on the courses, giving up a few rings is very necessary because I won't have the mana for anything more. I can, maybe, recover enough for two charges between rounds but honestly? I'll be lucky to manage even a quarter of my mana pool.* 

Gareth winced as a brightly glowing series of numbers appeared in the sky above him. They were clearly counting down to zero from a minute. Again. *Shit. No real time to plan. Is there anything I can do to influence my chances of going last? Hopefully so… but I don't even know how Thyme is going to get everyone in order. Aw well. Are there any last second thoughts I need to have while I'm nicely hidden away?

I… I don't think so? I don't plan to do anything tricky with the gloves, no idea how to secure my place at the back of the line. Really, I'm not sure how to do anything at all that matters right this moment. So what just relax for another thirty seconds or so? It doesn't seem like I have any other options. Damn. I guess that's it then.* 

Gareth tried to empty his mind and calm down as much as possible after that. It wasn't meditation, but it was something. Hopefully when it came time to jump it would help him keep his cool. If not… well… his head was only 'mostly' empty. What remained was Green's smiling face and just thinking about his fiancé did raise his mood a fair bit. 

As the clock hit ten seconds, Gareth slowly pulled himself to his feet. There was no sense in relying on Thyme to put him back on his feet before he arrived at the other end of the teleportation. In fact, Gareth was pretty sure Thyme wouldn't bother. When the timer hit zero, this was confirmed. 

Nabras and Cyan were both lain out on the floor still, while Gareth, Willow and Mauve were all still standing. Nabras noticed this, and quickly got up himself. Brushing his clothes down as if he'd tripped or something. Cyan looked around at everyone nearby, then over to Thyme, and seeing the dryad making no moves, just shrugged and stayed on the ground. 

"Welcome back you five!" said Thyme with a grin and a slightly echoey voice. "Hopefully you've got your bearings from that little practice run. Now, we're going to decide who goes first. You'll be drawing straws! Whoever gets the longest straw will be going firs!" 

Thyme then pretended to pull some thin rope from a non-existent pocket in their pants before holding an arm out and waiting. Mauve and Willow moved first, practically at the same time. Each grabbing one of the offered bits of rope quickly and pulling it into their hands. Mauve quickly hid hers in her pocket. 

While she was doing that, Nabras and Gareth both moved to pick up their ropes. Nabras' was noticeably longer, as he needed to pull quite a bit of rope out. It was about thirty centimetres in length. Gareth relaxed seeing this. Sweet, looks like I'm not going first! 

Gareth however spoke too soon. As he pulled on his bit of rope there always seem to be more. Ten, twenty, thirty centimetres and it was clearly still going. Gareth sighed and kept pulling even as the rope changed. From a plane white rope, to one that was braided with rainbow string. Gareth growled, getting a touch annoyed as he pulled further. What he'd already 'grabbed' pooling at his feat as the rope he was yanking on started to have little flags tied to the ends. 

*Well this is just great. I suppose I spoke too soon when I said that I wasn't going first. Still this is getting silly. Why wasn't Willow's or Mauves anywhere close to this long?* At this point Gareth wasn't even trying to be subtle. He was using both hands and was just yanking the rope as much as he could with every pass trying to get the damned thing out. 

Cyan had to get off the floor, mostly because if he'd stayed there he would've been buried under all the rope Gareth had suddenly acquired. With a shrug he pulled the rope… and found it to be exactly as long as it looked. Barely even the length of a finger. He was probably going last. Gareth glared at Cyan's hands for a few moments as his own rope KEPT COMING. 

*Calm. I am calm.* Gareth breathed out deeply and quickly shifted to a regular breathing pattern as he got back to work. By the one minute mark though, he was getting a bit annoyed again. The area around he was covered in rope. Everyone else had one that was so much smaller there was no question he was going first, so he was left wonder what the point of this all was. So he asked, "Thyme… what… what am I even doing here? I mean, I get we're drawing straws… but obviously I've lost at this point right?" 

Thyme nodded, "You raise a compelling argument. What if I said that if you pull out the whole length of rope you get to keep it?" 

Gareth looked down at his pile of rope then to his hands, then to the rope again. I… I don't think that's a good deal? I mean… "Rope isn't exactly expensive and I'm pretty sure my team already has enough in storage rings if it really came down to it. Um… so can I go with 'I'm not interested'?" 

Thyme nodded, "Yeah you can, I was just curious to see if any would call me out on… this," Thyme said as they waved at the rope on the floor. 

"Right…" mumbled Gareth. 

Thyme nodded again and suddenly the ropes around Gareth vanished. "As Gareth surmised, he is going first. Followed by Nabras, Willow, Mauve and Cyan in that order. Yes I know how long all the strings are, so hiding them really didn't do anything," 

*Guess I'll just have to give it my best.*