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

--- Lily ---

"Wait!" shouted Lily. Despite her cries, Marigold had already ripped out the flower in question… and they teleported back to the course. "Huh, never mind then I guess you were right," 

"See, I know what I'm doing," insisted Marigold. 

Lily shrugged before transforming and hopping onto Marigold's shoulder in one swift movement. They jumped to the next platform… and were teleported away again. This sign said 'Sit around until you're teleported out'. The rest of the room was made up of two armchairs, a couch and a bed. Lily hissed before transforming BACK and sitting down in one of the chairs. "This is dumb," grumbled Lily. 

"Yup," agreed Marigold as she slumped into the other chair. Sure you could sit elsewhere but just in case the sign was going to be pedantic might as well choose a chair. "I mean, we lost so much time to that checkerboard one, and while the gardening challenge wasn't too bad it's still more time lost. This… this is just ridiculous, I mean, how long are we going to be stuck here?" 

"I can't see it being longer then five minutes… probably less," said Lily. 

"Urgh, that's so long though," complained Marigold. Lily had to admit the elf had a point. In a contest like this, the fact that they were just being forced to sit around and do nothing, possibly for a few minutes at a time, was a bit grating. Especially after going through so many challenge rooms in relatively quick succession. Perhaps this path had been adjusted after Burnice made such good time with it, or perhaps this was how it always was and Lily never noticed, too focused on watching Green complete her run through it. 

Eventually, after thirty seconds of silence Marigold spoke up, "So, no pressure if you don't want to tell me… but what's the plan for flying over the course? I didn't want to push earlier in case you thought I was just trying to get your plan out of you to steal it or prevent you from trying it. If we're stuck here though… seems like a good time to go over things," 

*Hmm… yeah, I suppose so. Even if I don't trust Marigold completely, at least, within the sense of this obstacle course, the fact that I can just stop supplying mana to my magic will make it a lot less likely she betrays me. Sure I doubt she'd betray me over something serious… but this ISN'T serious. It's not even an official run of the obstacle course.* 

"Yeah that's fine," said Lily trying not to betray any of her internal worry. "I might not be able to use my wings, but I can use a trick I accidentally came up with to escape with another person. See, I can summon up a paper airplane and then help it stay in the air a little bit with my magic allowing me to glide over the course," 

"Oh that sounds like a great spell," said Marigold with a grin. "Even if you've got wings, not everyone else does and no offence but your wings are really tiny. Not sure how much good they'd be if you had to carry passengers," 

Lily shrugged as she sighed, "Sadly it's not even a proper spell. Well that and I don't know how much my wingspan actually matters. Kat's wings aren't large enough to support her weight, yet they still work and she can even carry people. In my case… well I haven't tested it. As for the spell… yeah it's not a proper spell, as I said before. I didn't think I'd need it again. Obviously that was wrong, and I'll need to look into turning it into a proper spell because it's quite draining in its current state… 

"Let me explain, my paper plane 'spell' is actually just my paper shield spell… but the paper shield spell was never designed to be sturdy, that's not the… the essence of paper I suppose. Instead, it's a comparatively cheap spell that forces the opponent to do something about it. I throw up a big sheet of paper and they have to waste time cutting it, or waiting for it to fall or rushing through and accepting the fact it's delaying them. 

"Sure it's still got some robustness to it, the paper isn't just going to fall apart on its own, but it's very temporary and relatively weak compared to other shield spells. What I'm using it for is very much not the intended use. I'm summoning it, then forcing it into a different shape, and finally I'm strengthening it, and trying to keep it in the air with someone riding on it. 

"My original plan was to use a smaller plane, or perhaps a 'standard' if a spell I've used once can have a standard anyone, sized sheet and not reinforce it as much. With you along for the ride though… it might still be fine if you can give it a boost?" 

"Oh? How are you expecting me to boost it?" asked Marigold. "I don't have wind or fire affinity," 

"I was thinking you could just throw it, or perhaps kick off while holding onto the back? I can reinforce the plane enough that you can pull yourself up and onto it. Though you'd need to head for the front quickly, if you stay at the back it will really mess with how far we can fly, possibly eliminating all the effort you'd be putting in to getting us off the platform in the first place," explained Lily. 

"Oh?" intoned Marigold. "How do I know you won't just leave me behind?" 

Lily glared back and said, "Considering YOU are the one in charge of liftoff, if you agree, then you'd be responsible for making sure you got on in time. I'm just keeping the paper in the air," 

"What's to stop you from weakening just the bit I'm holding onto?" asked Marigold. 

"That's a thing?" returned Lily. 

"Wait you didn't know?" asked Marigold.

Lily shook her head and explained, "I've never really thought of reinforcing just certain parts of my paper. I mean… I guess now that you've said it, I can see how it would be silly to think otherwise… but I feel like there has to be a reason you can't just do that…" 

"Well, with something like paper it would be on the harder side. Granted I think you could manage it, you seem like a smart cookie… but for more solid constructs its hard. I know a lot of earth mages have problems reinforcing, or specifically weakening, sections of a spell. It's a very all or nothing type thing for most of the less talented mages in that category. Fire mages though? They can stop the flow of mana to different parts of the fire whenever they want. Water… struggles a bit. You have to separate it out first or it's a massive pain. 

"Paper… well I'm not sure why I assumed you'd be capable of it. Now that I'm thinking allowed it seems somewhat silly that you'd betray me using that method because I might be able to keep the paper together with my regeneration affinity… maybe. I've never tried but it seems possible, and probably not something you'd want to try against me when you know how good my regeneration magic is. So… I apologise," 

Lily waved the concern off, "It's no problem you taught me a neat trick. I'll need to practice it… but it seems interesting at least. Though… is that really something regeneration affinity can do?" 

Marigold shrugged "It's a matter of perspective really. In the same way fire mages can make things cold by sucking out the heat, or water mages can make things dry by removing the water, if you have the right mindset you can do almost anything with your chosen element… it's just less mana efficient. Usually still more mana efficient then trying to use an affinity you don't have, but not always. 

"In this case, I think of regeneration as something that fixes things to differentiate it from healing. I don't heal myself continually, I FIX myself continually. It's a minor bit of difference, and sometimes I still say 'heal' but it's just not the whole story. So… could I put the paper back together? Possibly, and in fact, because it's just made up of mana I'd say it's more probable… but nothing is certain. Should we test it perhaps?" 

Just as the suggestion was made though, they were teleported back to the platform. Lily transformed and hopped onto Marigold's shoulder and they moved forward… only to be stuck in a puzzle box. Marigold swore and then smashed her fists into the box attempting to break out as quickly as possible. 

It didn't matter that it was an easy question. Didn't matter that both Lily and Marigold would know the answer. Marigold was mad, and immediately started swinging. Then, after a moment of thought, Lily decided she wanted in and while she didn't have the reach to swipe, she could summon a swarm of razor sharp paper. DEATH TO THE BOX!