Spelldancer

The rain was so thick it reminded Dani of the television static in the videos in her primary school history textbook. She knew it was just an effect caused by the graphics trying to render, but she couldn't escape the perceived reality of the weight and chill of her soaked cloak and skirt.

A real-world mind in a virtual world. Dani sighed and pressed on to the far side of the marketplace. She needed to refresh her supplies so she could finish her current spellcrafting project. Any other day, she would have blown it off and lazed about in the guild common room reading, but this spell was all that was standing between her and the next level. It seemed a waste to not just get it done while she had the time.

The marketplace was nearly empty. Very few humanoid players liked the virtual rain, so those who had ventured online during the storm event were huddled in merchants' booths and tents, pretending to shop while they sought out cover. The merchants understood; the virtual world wasn't much different from the real world in that respect.

The monster players, however, were for the most part headed for the taverns and the marketplace's seedier alleys. With everyone gathered in tight spaces, monster players took advantage of the event to terrorize and attack other players. Two orc-like creatures lumbered across the intersection just ahead of Dani, and she pulled her cloak's hood farther over her head. She knew her clothes would mark her as a female player, presumably an easy target, but she saw no need to make matters worse by calling attention to herself.

She had nearly reached the mage merchants when the lower hem of her skirt took on an icy blue glow. I don't have time for this. She turned to see a handful of kids barely into their teens peeking out from a nearby side street.

Street kids. Great.

Determined not to be caught out in the weather any longer than was necessary, Dani dusted off her skirt and continued on.

The next glowing spark singed her cloak.

With a sharp exhale, Dani turned. Beyond the boy, kids were peering over boxes and barrels, and at the far end of the street, younger kids huddled together. The boy himself was casually tossing an electric sphere back and forth between his fingertips the way kids his age would toy with a ball.

She watched the sphere, wondering if the boy knew what he was playing with. She doubted it. But still, the sphere wasn't reacting to him, when it should have at the very least burned his fingertips. The virtual world barred players who created mage characters but didn't join a mage guild from acquiring magical tools. How did this kid get his hands on such a dangerous artifact, and why isn't it affecting him? She decided it was in both of their best interests to play along for the time being.

"So, what do you want?" She folded her arms and stared at him.

Most street kids ran when they realized they'd targeted someone who just wasn't impressed with their bluster, but this boy's smug attitude grew into amusement. He clearly thought the sphere gave him some sort of clout, or maybe even protection. "What've you got?" His voice cracked as he spoke, but it was confident.

"Not much." She spread her hands in front of her, palms up. Her credit chit, coded specifically to her avatar and therefore useless to anyone else, was tucked into a pocket in her cloak. This boy really did have a lot to learn if he was going to fish near the market.

"Is that so?" The boy lobbed the sphere at her.

Dani deftly caught the sphere in an electric net. "Thanks!"

The boy gaped for a moment, and then he pulled back his shoulders without straightening his spine. "You're a mage!"

"A technomage, yes." Dani turned the sphere over in her hands, trying to figure out how to deactivate it.

"I'm a mage, too, you know!" The confidence slipped into a quavering tone.

"No," she murmured a quick spell over the sphere to contain it until she could study it later and tucked it into her cloak, "you're a thief."

"Nuh uh! I can too do magic!" And much to Dani's surprise, sparks arced between the boy's fingertips. "And I can beat you in a mage duel."

She had to bite back a laugh. "Oh, you can, can you?"

The boy's bravado fell back over him like a thin blanket. "Think I can't?"

Dani considered him another moment. While she didn't enjoy the idea of being out in the rain, her clothes were already soaked through. It wouldn't actually cost her anything to deal with this fledgling technomage before he got himself into serious trouble. She settled into a ready stance, one foot behind her, her arms folded in front of her, one hovering over the other. "No. I don't." And she waited.

A heartbeat later, the boy splayed his fingers out in front of him, sending an electric wave toward her.

Too aggressive. Dani shifted her weight to her back foot and slid her arms apart until her hands were one over the other. The electricity drew into the space between her hands, and she used it to trace a sweeping arc out to her side and then in front of her. Then she traced a rune in the air as her weight shifted back to her front leg and her back leg swung in front of her, leaving a faint trace of electricity on the ground. She gently pushed on the rune, and the electricity arced out of it to wind up the boy's arms and legs, immobilizing him.

"Wh-what? That's not fair!"

Dani chuckled and summoned her own sphere, She waved it around in front of her using only her wrists, and the sphere's color shifted to green. Then, she raised it over her head, and slowly swept the sphere behind her. One arm stayed stretched out behind her, the other completed the circle, stretching out in front of her, as she shifted her weight back to her front foot. The green sphere left her hand, morphing into a lasso as it flew through the air and wrapping gently around the boy's neck.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" He struggled against the blue electric ropes holding him in place, trying to lean away from the green one dangling in front of him.

"I thought you said you were a mage," Dani brought her arms back down to her sides and settled her weight evenly between her feet.

"I...I am!" He pushed against the ground through his feet, If he hadn't been bound by Dani's first spell, he might be on tiptoe now.

She smiled as she heard the other children whispering, "She's dancing!", and raised her hand, "If you really were a mage," she traced another rune in front of her and pushed it toward him, "you would know that green spheres are training toys." The lasso vanished when the rune reached the loose end. "And you wouldn't throw around blue spheres so carelessly." She traced one last rune, and the blue electricity flowed back into a sphere in her hands. "This is dangerous."

Now free, the boy looked as if he might rush her. Dani waved the sphere in front of her again and leaned to one side as she drew the sphere off to the side, and then shoved it toward a pile of barrels, which exploded with impressive force. She hadn't meant to charge it up so much. Ugh. One more unexpected expense.

But it had the intended effect. The boy looked almost as green as Dani's training sphere, and he backed into the street's shadows. The other kids laughed; a few of the braver ones taunted him for being chicken against the girl mage.

Dani straightened her cloak. "The technomage guild is on the far side of town. You should probably go talk to them before you accidentally hurt someone."

The boy peeked out at her. "Really?" 

She understood his cautious tone. "Really. They can help you."

His face scrunched up for a moment, but then he looked thoughtful. Dani could only hope that meant she'd see him around the guild hall eventually. Maybe some good had come of lingering in the rain and destroying a merchant's barrels.

The kids went on with their taunting. Dani went on with her errands.

##

About a week later, Dani entered the technomage guild hall and saw a familiar face in the foyer. His eyes widened when he saw her, but then he grinned and produced a green sphere. Dani smiled, and continued on her way to the library.