Transcendence, page 13
part #6 of The Beginning After The End Series
The cold winter air, filled with smoke from the many trees lit aflame by spell-fire, no longer masked the acrid stench of blood and burning flesh, while the tight quarters of the forest surrounding the battle further amplified the cacophony of screams.
While the enemy was fewer in number, they had many more mages than our divisions. Augmenters with mana-imbued weapons pierced through our foot soldiers while conjurers struck from a distance.
Many enemies rushed me in the heat of battle, some with unique techniques like the mana-clawed augmenter, such as whips of fire or armor made of stone. There was one enemy augmenter that’d killed several of our soldiers by conjuring water down their throats until they’d drown.
Yet, none of that made a difference to me. My mind grew numb and my body seemed to move on its own. I stalked through the battlefield, killing any enemy who stood in my way, regardless of their powers. In minutes, I was red to the elbows with their blood. But as each man fell dead, a new enemy would step over his corpse to face me.
As I drew my blade from the bloody chest of another dead man, I had a thought; words were rarely spoken in the midst of battle. Words were useless here. Instead, the soldiers burst out with primitive cries or bestial yells, drunk on the battle-frenzy as they flailed their weapons about, hardly able to recognize friend from foe. There was nothing good about this kind of war. It resulted only in death. Perhaps, if men fought with words instead of weapons… but when a man has weapons, words are useless. And so the cycle of killing and death goes on.
I kicked away the limp body and used its clothes to wipe the blood from my sword. I’d conserved much of my mana but constantly fighting for almost an hour had taken a toll on my body.
I surveyed the other soldiers when the sight of a familiar person caught my eye. She had just parried her opponent’s axe to the ground when her gaze landed on mine as well. Her lips were curved up into a confident smile as she positioned to drive her gauntlet into her opponent’s face.
CEDRY
I dashed forward, slipping and swaying out of the Alacryan’s reach until he was open. Then I drove my gauntlet into his side, the satisfying crack of his ribs indicating that he was down.
“Slut,” the narrow-eyed man spat as he buckled over, blood leaking from his lips. He desperately grabbed onto me to keep from falling, his hands clawing at the leather straps across my shoulder and chest, yanking them out of place and loosening my armor.
“Is that your last word, dog?” I said, spitting in his face. I swung my gauntlet down onto his hand, breaking his wrist, then put the ugly bastard out of his misery with a firm slam to his head. I couldn’t help but grin, elated and thrilled by the victory as an intense furor built up inside me.
Another fool tried to sneak behind my back but I dodged his sword and whipped around. The short, bearded Alacryan raised his shield as he prepared to strike again.
My heart pounded and everything seemed a bit sluggish—like the night before after ten mugs of ale. I swung my fist, augmenting my body and gauntlet, and punched straight through the soldier’s metal shield.
The resulting clash was so loud that it made my ears ring, but the force of my strike ripped the shield from the soldier’s arm. I didn’t give him the time to recover, pivoting off of my lead leg to gain momentum for a roundhouse chop.
His eyes widened as he desperately tried to bring his arm up to block my strike, but his shield arm wouldn’t lift, still numb from the shock of my earlier punch. Instead, he tried to parry with his sword, but he couldn’t stop the blade of my hand from reaching his prominent Adam’s apple.
The soldier fell back, squirming, with his hands wrapped around his neck as he struggled to breathe. After a desperate gurgle, his body felt limp before me.
I let out a fearsome roar. No man can belittle me here. Only strength is absolute on the battlefield!
My cry attracted the attention of a nearby axe-wielding Alacryan brute. While his body was much larger than mine, his movements were slow. As he swung down, his axe began glowing yellow and a layer of mana spread over his body. Looking at the different elemental affinity of mana surrounding his axe compared to his body, it seemed like someone else had cast a spell to protect him, but I didn’t have time to question. I didn’t have time to be surprised. Strength is absolute.
I willed all of my mana into my right fist as I turned my body to the side to dodge his attack. I caught a glimpse of my reflection as the flat of his axe swung down; there was a euphoric—almost crazed—smile pasted on my face.
I used the momentum of his attack and parried the axe down to the ground. Over the brutes shoulder, I caught sight of the country boy that beat everyone he’d sparred against—even Madam Astera. There were talks of some of the soldiers mentioning the kid was a Lance. I’d scoffed at the ridiculous notion at the time, but as I stood here, just a few dozen feet away from him, and the pile of corpses strewn around him, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were right.
My eyes finally met his, but rather than the calm, playful expression he’d worn all through last night, his eyes were widened as he desperately mouthed something to me.
I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it didn’t matter, I’d ask him later. The axe-wielder was still struggling to pull his weapon out from the ground, when I felt a sharp searing pain in my chest.
In an instant, all of my strength and furor was snuffed out. My hands could no longer clench into fists. The ground was suddenly closer as I realized I’d fallen to my knees. I looked down at the source of my pain, only to see a gaping hole where my chest used to be.
I instinctively tried to cover the hole with my hands, only to feel a burning pain spread through my palms. I pried my gaze away from my wound to a scorched crater in the ground in front of me. A spell…
I lost feeling in my legs as I crumpled to the floor. My last thought as I grew sleepy and cold, was how tall the bloodstained grass looked from down here.
Chapter 16
Changing Tides
ARTHUR LEYWIN
I gnashed my teeth at the sight of Cedry’s body falling limp on the ground. The enemy axe-wielder pried his weapon out of the ground and prepared to swing down. His arrogant sneer exposed his yellow teeth, then I saw a thin blade protruding from his gorget.
As the axe-wielder’s body slumped, Jona—Cedry’s friend—came into view. With a firm tug, he pulled his bloodied dagger free from the body of the man he’d just stabbed, then kneeled down next to Cedry.
Idiot. What are you doing—in the middle of a battle?
I was inclined to leave him; that’s what Grey would’ve done. But I was reminded of last night—the talk we’d had before I went up to fight onstage, and the carefree night of drinking that had followed. I knew them hardly any better than the enemies I was facing, but the sentiments we’d briefly shared the night before—albeit half-drunk—tugged at my consciousness, nudging me to help him.
With an annoyed click of my tongue, I dashed toward Jona, who was cradling Cedry’s corpse tenderly in his arms. An enemy augmenter, pulling the tip of his spear out of a soldier’s head, caught sight of Jona. Even underneath the helmet that covered much of his face, it was obvious that he was grinning at his luck.
Concentrating on the ground just below his feet, I shot a stone spike at the enemy. The spear-wielder narrowly avoided a fatal injury, flopping awkwardly to the ground as he clutched his bleeding side.
I increased the output of mana to my body and changed course, moving toward the wounded soldier. As he lay writhing on the ground in pain, I stepped on his chest to keep him steady.
Mercilessly, I drove Dawn’s Ballad deep into the spear-wielder’s breastplate and watched the light go out in his eyes.
With one fluid motion, I slid my sword out and drew an arc, flinging the blood free of the blade, before stomping over to grab Jona by the collar of his uniform.
“You need to get out of here,” I growled, shaking him.
He looked back at me, his eyes flooded with tears. “Cedry, you’re going to be okay,” he mumbled, his gaze distant as he clung to the body of his half-elf companion like an infant.
The sharp whistles of incoming arrows and the faint hiss of spells approaching drew my attention, but with both my arms occupied I could only do so much. I’d been stingy in my usage of mana—against the unlikely scenario that I had to fight against one of the Four Scythes or a retainer—but if I wanted to get Jona and Cedry to a safe place, I needed to expend more mana than I’d wanted to.
Grey’s voice echoed in my head, chastising me, urging me to leave them and conserve my mana for the worst-case scenario.
Cursing under my breath, I knocked Jona out with a firm punch to his solar plexus. His body spasmed from the shock I’d added to ensure that he’d be out cold as I heaved him over my shoulder and used my free arm to scoop up the half-elf’s body by her waist.
Under my arm, Cedry’s thin corpse seemed to weigh more than Jona’s body. I couldn’t do anything about her arms and blonde hair dragging on the ground, but Jona’s unconscious body seemed to take offense, his arms dangling towards her from my shoulder, as if trying to scoop her up.
Ignoring the creeping desire to just drop them back on the ground, I freely released the mana I had been conserving. An intoxicating sense of power rushed out of my core, spreading through my limbs and filling me with renewed strength. Tuning out the chaotic clamor around me, I focused entirely on the mana suffusing me.
Because of the rapidly spreading smoke and fire, I willed a spiraling barrier out of the air and prepared to rush them back to base. A translucent layer of mana whirled around us as the torrent of wind and stone began shaping itself into a sphere.
Strengthening my body, I surged forward with the speed of a wild stallion. Immediately, I had to tighten my grip on Jona and Cedry to keep them from falling. The barrier I’d conjured remained strong despite the arrows and spells that bombarded it, igniting sparks each time an enemy hit it. The barrier was deflecting anything that came our way, but the spell was constantly eating away my mana reserves.
Thanks to the Mana Rotation technique I’d learned from Sylvia, though, I could recover from even a demanding spell like this in a fairly short amount of time.
I plowed through the battlefield, gritting my teeth to cope with the weight of my two passengers as I concentrated solely on keeping the barrier active despite the intensifying attacks.
My body jerked as a particularly powerful spell bombarded the sphere, but I held firm and channeled more mana into the spell. Cries echoed within the forest as the enemy soldiers ordered their subordinates to bring me down.
At least with all their conjurers focused on me, Vanesy and her soldiers will have an easier time, I thought.
As soon as I was clear of the main battle, I released my spell. Immediately, an augmented arrow skimmed my cheek, drawing blood, then crashed into a tree with enough force to topple it.
Jona’s limp body sagged over my shoulder as I swung around to see who I was up against, still surprised by the strength of the attack. I didn’t have time to look for the archer, however, as two more arrows already whizzed toward me.
I had barely a second to react, but that would be enough. “Static Void.”
The deadly arrows were only inches away from me when I released the first phase of my dragon’s will. The world grew still as even the chaotic sounds of battle were silenced.
In one swift movement, I positioned my right foot on top of one arrow and bit down on the shaft of the other arrow. When I released Static Void, my neck immediately jerked from the force of the arrow in my mouth, and the arrow beneath my foot buried into the ground.
Turning in my attacker’s direction, I released a torrent of pure mana. For a moment, the afternoon sky grew dark as terrified birds shot from the trees and scattered across the sky, sensing the malicious intent I’d let loose.
I stood there for just a second, staring at the space where I thought the enemy archer was, his arrow in my mouth, warning him—warning him what I was capable of if he got in my way.
My unspoken threat seemed to have done the trick, and no more arrows or spells headed my way. Turning back, I bolted into the dense forest, making my way toward the edge of the cliff where we’d come from.
“Arthur? What happened?” a voice called out as I lowered Cedry and Jona to the ground at the edge of the encampment.
I looked up to see Madam Astera, blood on her face and her once-white apron. Noticing my gaze, she shook her head with a faint smile. “Don’t worry, it’s not my blood. I’m just helping the medics and emitters patch up some of the wounded that were brought back.”
I nodded. “I see. In that case, please take care of her”—I pointed to Cedry—“and look after Jona.”
Without waiting for the head chef’s response, I turned back to the cliff, ready to head back. But something tugged at my boot.
“Why? Why couldn’t you have saved her like you saved me?” Jona’s hoarse voice trembled as he tightened his grip around my ankle.
“I can’t save every soldier in a war,” I replied, unable to face him.
“Liar. I bet you could’ve if you really wanted to. You’re a Lance, right? I wasn’t sure until you caught that arrow with your mouth. For a second, I thought I was dreaming because the arrow stopped in mid-flight.”
I gritted my teeth in frustration—not at him, but at myself—and kicked my leg free from his grip. “Like I said, my priority isn’t to save every soldier I come across in war.”
“We might not’ve known each other that long, but if Cedry was alive, there’s no way she would’ve thought of you as ‘just a soldier,’ General.” There was venom lacing his voice as he emphasized my title.
Spinning around, I lifted Jona up by the scruff of his shirt once more and pulled him close. “I’m sorry for your friend, Jona, but pull your head out of your ass. There are enemies out there stronger than you can imagine—stronger than any adventurer you’ve ever worshipped—and you want me to expend all my energy to save everyone here? If I do that, who’s going to stop them? Who’s going to stop the enemy leaders that can level a mountain with a twitch of their fingers?”
The hate and blame in Jona’s eyes disappeared, replaced by guilt and sorrow as tears rolled down his cheeks. “What am I going to do? I promised her when we were little. I was finally going to keep the promise… I was going to ask her to marry me.”
My chest ached at his words, twisting into knots as my breath became short and ragged. I struggled to stay composed as I stared into Jona’s grief-stricken face.
“I’ll take care of him, Arthur,” Madam Astera whispered, pulling Jona back by his shoulders. “Go on.”
I gave a curt nod and turned away from Jona. Heading back up the cliff, my mind was clouded with thoughts of Jona and Cedry. I had seen them spar, seen them bicker; I’d seen them laugh together, but I’d never thought much about their relationship.
“Damn it,” I cursed as I weaved through the dense array of trees. The sounds of battle grew louder but my thoughts were focused on Jona’s parting words.
The faint whistle of an arrow snapped me back to reality. I spun out of the path of the projectile and conjured several throwing knives out of condensed ice, throwing them at the enemy archer without breaking stride. The pained grunt of the archer and the hollow thud of his body falling from the tree sounded behind me.
A few feet later, a bolt of electricity crackled toward me. The spell was powerful but, by the way it branched out and weakened, I could tell the caster was inexperienced in the deviant magic. Sidestepping away, I gathered mana to the tips of my fingers once more and released the spell.
Unlike my attacker’s lightning, mine shot out like a bullet. However, just before my spell reached its target, a metal wall rose from the ground, deflecting the streak of lightning harmlessly into the sky where it dissipated.
Annoying. I was beginning to see a pattern. For every Alacryan augmenter or conjurer fighting, there seemed to be a different conjurer whose sole duty was to protect them. The archer earlier didn’t seem to have been an augmenter, which would explain why he went down so easily.
Because the enemy conjurers and augmenters weren’t focused on protecting themselves while fighting, their attacks were much more relentless and brash.
My mood had turned sour since dropping Jona and Cedry back at camp, and my temper grew as more and more enemies attacked.
“Fine! You know what? The more of you I kill, the fewer of my soldiers will die!” I spat, my face a mask of wild menace. “Realmheart!”
Conjurers and augmenters who had been hiding now stuck out like sore thumbs as they prepared their attacks. The particles gathered around them, swirling and spinning in preparation, and it was all too clear what sort of spells they were conjuring. I needed more time to counter them.
All thoughts of mana conservation were gone as I once again released the first phase of my dragon’s will. The world froze once more and I quickly assessed the spells needed to counter the attacks of twelve different enemies. “Three blasts of fire, a barrage of sharpened rocks, augmented arrows, a lightning spell, condensed bullets of water, and a spell to draw my feet into the ground and immobilize me. Easy enough,” I murmured. As I had thought, conjuring the barrier to save Jona had drawn a lot of attention.
Seconds ticked away inside the suspended realm of Static Void. My body felt heavier, but I didn’t care. This was nothing. As soon as I was ready, I released Static Void and retaliated.
Immediately, spells detonated from all around me, a cacophony of screams and wails mixed in as well. Enemy and ally soldiers alike looked around, confused by the sudden explosion.
As I heaved out a breath, I smiled in satisfaction. Rather than canceling the enemy’s spells by using mana interpretation as Lady Myre had taught me, I had overloaded the Alacryan soldiers’ spells, causing a deadly backfire.
