When the darkness came and the screaming began Sibley did the only thing she could think of and hid under the protection of her gigantic pink summoning, Teddy. It was a seven-foot stuffed bear with flowers growing out of its head and shoulders. Sibley, as a healer had not made her summons for combat. It was best at healing and proved tougher than most to harm with its semi-elastic body. So she hid under its bulk while people died around her.
Under her pillow of protection, Sibley cursed her high magic perception. She trained it in order to be a better healer. Now her training worked against her as she was forced to watch nobles cut down by a giant of a man.
He ran through mana shields as if they weren’t there killing anyone in his path with a single swing of his conjured weapons. There was also something else in the distance. Something or someone small that attacked the vellian nobles. It was too far away to know for sure, but when it passed by anyone, they dropped dead like a wraith had stolen their life.
When the monster of a man moved onto slaughtering Vara’s priest Sibley shrank her perception as much as possible forcing blindness upon herself. There was nothing she could do so she curled into the tightest ball she could and prayed to not be found.
After some time, explosions rocked Teddy’s bulbous body. Sibley realized instead of building defenses her cousins were firing spells widely. A few impacted Teddy but did no harm, the rest of her family weren’t so lucky. Sibley just balled up tightener knowing there would be many burns to heal when she was safe again.
Sometime later, a strong hand pulled Teddy off of her. “Sibley, I need healing!”
Sibley slowly opened her eyes to precious sunlight. “Is it over?”
“Does it look like it's over!” one of her cousins shouted.
Sibley cast a pink healing aura from Teddy dulling the pain quickly and closing minor wounds before looking towards the sound of battle. What she saw were two men on blood-soaked ground embroiled in fierce combat rarely even seen during the road wars. One was the paladin in shining silver armor holding a mace that probably weighed more than she did. The other was the blue-skinned jötunn wailing in the oldest Norse Sibley had ever heard when he swung his two-handed ax as if it were made of feathers.
The jötunn ’s aura shifted through several colors while throttling so fast Sibley could feel it steer up the air around her. He then disappeared from her vision with an explosion reappearing when his ax struck the paladin’s wandering shield widening the crater they were in and forcing Sibley to take cover or be shredded by the torn-up pavement. The paladin, not budging an inch, then swung his mace downward but the jötunn dodged to the side with the same speed Sibley couldn't hope to track with her eyes. He appeared again behind the paladin, then to his right, then left. He never stopped moving even kicking off the air to avoid a blow.
Sibley found herself fearing the overwhelming power of the paladin even though it was being used in her defense. Each time the mace was swung in her direction a shockwave would slam into her threatening to tear her roots to the world and shatter the sliver of stone she hid behind. When the mace struck the ground, many would stumble from the localized earthquake it created and more often than not collapse a nearby building. If something like that were to land true, nothing could possibly survive.
Sibley’s thoughts were proven false when the paladin’s mace collided with the jötunn ’s head tearing his roots to the world and sending him spinning backward. Blood gusted from the glancing head wound but he stabbed his feet in the ground and charged once again. He kicked off the air moving around the paladin then into the air with an even greater burst of speed. The jötunn wailed as he kicked off once more in a spinning motion that ended with his ax parried by the paladin’s floating shield. The colliding weapons sent a wave of sound that rattled Sibley’s bones and eardrums but the shield held firm.
The holy knight immediately countered but missed as the jötunn moved in the air as if he was on land. Sibley then saw a spherical flash of light where the jötunn had been. “Smite,” She heard someone shout and saw it was Archbishop with two-fingers pointed at the battle.
“Smite,” she shouted again, but this time the sphere of light covered the entire battlefield. The jötunn and paladin didn’t seem to mind though. Both kept up their blinding speed and attacks still not able to break the stalemate.
“That jötunn is too fast to Smite directly but is too strong for a widespread attack,” Sibley thought as the Archbishop continued her attack. She created several more burning spheres while the paladin and jötunn clashed but the blue-skinned man moved just before being engulfed in a sphere of light.
“Attack!” the archbishop ordered. She then formed a golden spell in her hands shooting it towards both fighters. “Sun Burst!” Just before the spell landed it expanded reaching ten feet in diameter and exploded in a wave of heat that scorched Sibley’s eyebrows off her face.
Sibley and all those watching followed the archbishop’s lead firing an endless stream of fireballs. Paladins were near invulnerable so the only one the barrage could harm would be the jötunn . No one could see inside the inferno but the ground around it soon liquified turning into lava from the liberal use of fire magic.
After almost a minute, the attacks ceased. Soon after, Sibley fell to the ground not from depleting her mana pool, but from the shock of what she saw when the smoke cleared. The jötunn and paladin were both unharmed on top of the only solid rock in the center pond of liquid fire, but something was wrong. The paladin swayed on unsteady legs until the jötunn kicked his knees out from under him and removed his helmet, revealing a handsome face with unfocused eyes. The jötunn then pulled on the paladin’s hair forcing his head back and mouth open. Sibley screamed when a spear appeared in the jötunn ’s free hand then went deathly silent as he forced it down the paladin’s throat relentlessly forcing it back and forth for extra measure.
The silence was broken by the names of the gods shouted in terror and desperation. Every Bryer called out in hope of summoning one, but none answered. The gods were fickle. They would seldom respond outside of a war or a predetermined time to being called. Yule might answer but no Bryer even thought of calling on the god of the harvest. But Sibley had something no other Bryer possessed.
She was a pure maiden who followed the teachings of Vara. To be a virgin at 19 and faithfully practice Vara’s holy rights were unheard of in her family. She was determined to follow Vara’s teaching and made sure to keep it a secret or be ridiculed by her family. Her faith was rewarded in a dream where Vara herself promised she and she alone could summon her when in need.
Sibley’s hesitation proved costly. In the seconds it took for her to come to a decision the jötunn once again moved faster than she could see towards the Archbishop. Several Bryers had already sent their beasts of legend to attack him but they broke like glass when met with the power of his ax turned spear. The Archbishop herself sent a volley of magic arrows so numerous they threatened to block out Alfhiem’s sun.
All but the jötunn ran for their lives before the arrows landed. When they did, South Bastion shook as if a star had fallen. Those that were too close died instantly from each arrow’s explosive payload. Others fell under the collapsing street while many that took to the sky suffered lightning strikes from the overabundant of mana being used. It was a display of power many thought reminiscent of the gods, and it was just as ineffective as the archbishop’s previous attacks.
The jötunn ran through the wall of arrows somehow banishing those around him then ran past the archbishop’s shield as easily as everyone else’s. With one spear thrust, he sliced into her neck and out the other end. He pulled the spear free letting who was probably the strongest mage the vellians had fall to the ground dead in a pool of her own blood.
Sibley, covered in rubble and cuts, stop thinking about her goddess’s willingness to help. She called her name knowing there was no other way to survive. “Vara!”
*******
Brand pulled his spear free from the Archbishop feeling more than a little surprised. He expected the fight of his life. It was to be a desperate struggle where he’d be forced to use every spell and trick he had to carve out a victory. It's what he had to do while fighting Cull to avoid an embarrassing loss within seconds. But Cull was not just an apex cultivator, he was a striker. A priest that reached that level of power apparently could not compare to the few strikers that managed to do the same.
The only real threat had been the paladin. He was far stronger than Brand showing him the limitation of his cultivation. At rank four, even with his astonishing throttling speed harming the holy warrior was not possible. There was even the chance his armor was as sturdy as his shield so Brand conspired to steal his breath instead of spilling his blood.
Brand erected an invisible ward around the Paladin letting the breathable properties of air out and allowing none to enter. Within the first few minutes, the paladin slowed. By a few more, he must have been panicking but only released a faint white light in an attempt to purge what he thought was a curse or poison. When the fireballs exploded against them, they only sped up his demise while giving Brand more mana than ever. With the magic arrows the archbishop used moments later he now felt invincible.
Brand eyed the crowd staring at him. A few were still slinging spells his way despite them doing no harm. He wondered idly about what to do with his new well of power that was would quickly leave his body if not put to work. He had no beast core large enough to hold so much mana and casting some devastating spell would harm the Bryers which he could not do thanks to the oath.
That’s when Brand eyes narrowed seeing a woman amongst the Bryers with glowing eyes. “Oh shit!”
An explosion of white fire erupted just a few paces ahead of Brand going straight up farther than he could see. There was someone standing within the flame, the last god Brand ever thought could be summoned. Few Aesir answered a summoning outside of war. That's what he’d had been counting on, but Brand never imagined the possibility of standing face-to-face with the holy mother of flames.
*******
Astrid had a hard time keeping her eyes open after True Darkness fell. It didn’t slow her down though, she hardly used her eye in a fight anyway. Sadly, her job was done. There were no targets left alive, so the only thing left to do was to support Brand in finishing the rest of his. He was no doubt keeping everyone’s eyes on himself and off herself and Uhtred, but her mission was achieved much faster than they planned.
“Time to get out of here before Nadia shows up.”
Something struck Astrid across the face sending her stumbling into an alley. Without stopping, she rolled with the impact and shot skyward already knowing who’s boot marked her face. She focused intently on her surroundings anticipating another attack. The expected attack came but this time in the form of dozens of fist sides mage bolts. They remained in place for a moment caging Astrid in then all moved at once coming from every direction leaving no gaps for her to escape through.
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Astrid willed a knife into her hand and threw it upwards. She teleported to it narrowly avoiding the hail of spells that exploded below her. She rode the explosion to move even faster but was surprised to feel her invisible attacker coming from above.
She twisted in the air dodging a fist aimed for her face and spun delivering a kick to where her attack’s face should be. Astrid hit nothing but air as she found herself alone with more mage bolts flying her way. The first few were easy to dodge but more kept appearing forcing the striker to throw more knives to escape. That along with several invisible strikes made sure she stayed off balance.
Astrid finally made a mistake when a mage bolt struck her face like a hammer leaving a bright red burn on her left cheek. She fell with the impact going limp as she slammed into one side of the alley and continued to fall. Before hitting the ground, her mana flared as she activated Strike's Onslaught using the added power on her enchanted glove and throwing knife.
Right before using her trump card, words clawed into Astrid's mind. “Stop fighting. Hold still. No magic.” Each command slowed her hand and sent waves of pain through her mind, but her training carried her though.
Astrid threw her dagger calling out a spell born of her focus. “Blade Storm!”
Every blade hidden on Astrid’s body teleported to the one soaring to the heavens matching its speed. Her storm of blades covered every inch of the alley. There was no way to escape. She’d finally land a blow on a Dreyark, several bloody, deep, and painful blows if Nidia couldn't find a way out.
**********
Nadia smashed through a thick stone wall regretting her choice of battlefield. She assumed a narrow alley with strong walls would be perfect for cornering a teleporter. Even if it wasn't, defeating a novice striker should have been easy but the fey proved much more capable of putting up a fight
“That little bitch actually forced me to retreat.”
Nadia stood her body aching and blood covering the first she used to break into this. . . Livingroom? Its occupant’s coward under a table looking in her general direction seeing nothing. Nadia ignored them and walked over to the hole she made with caution. She would no longer underestimate this girl.
At that age, Nadia herself couldn't hope to survive against so many mage bolts from every direction. Hopefully, Shadow Boy wasn't as capable as Astrid. She already knew Brand was some kind of monster in battle, but he couldn't survive this fooling attack on the nobles so that only left those two to deal with.
Nadia stretched her magic perception making sure Astrid wasn't near the improvised window. She found her at the very edge of her senses flying between buildings heading in Brand’s direction. If she was looking for backup it wasn't coming. Chances were Brand was already dead, and if he wasn't Nadia didn't intend to let her get that far.
The aura around Nadia changed from the colorless shimmer of flight to the angry red of pure physical prowess. She jumped from the building smashing into another without slowing then back out by bursting through the roof. With a single leap, Nadia closed the distance faster than if she were flying. When running across a flat surface she almost skipped each step a dozen feet apart.
As she closed on Astrid, Nidia freed the short sword on her waist. She sliced at Astrid’s feet but the fey teleport away with a thrown dagger. Nidia found her again in less than a second and moved even faster to attack. Astrid obeyed her training and continued to run by teleporting each time Nidia came close. No striker would fight a hopeless battle and no one but the best had a chance against Nadia. Soon, Astrid would run out of mana with her capture following soon after.
The moment of victory showed itself when Astrid blocked Nidia's sword with a dagger instead of teleporting. With a heave, Nidia forced her from the sky with overwhelming strength. Astrid landed on her feet with her dagger held forward to defend herself. It snapped like a dry twig with one swing of Nadia's sword drawing a thin line of blood across her chest. In a desperate attempt to escape Astrid throttled what mana she had left fast enough to feel like fire in her veins. The burst of speed would have gained her some distance, but Nadia’s mana kept pace speeding her up at the same time.
Not wanting to kill the girl Nadia reached out with her free hand. Just before grabbing hold of Astrid's neck, something wrapped around Nadia’s feet. It slithered up her body then lifted her into the air. To Nadia’s surprise, she couldn't see what had her with her perception. When she used her eyes, Nadia understood who had caught her off guard.
“Uhtred, I didn't know you could solidify your shadows.”
From the mass of shadowy tendrils holding Nadia aloft Uhtred emergence like from a body of water. The large black hood he wore was down, but Nadia couldn't see his face. His face, his entire head was a mess of shadow tendrils. It was the same for everything under the hood. Even his mana was dark swirling around the magic staff and baculous he held.
Uhtred’s voice came out with the rumbling droll of some sun cursed creature. “That’s right, you don't know what I can do so let's just talk.”
“What are you waiting for?” Astrid said. “Blast her and let’s go.”
Nadia pulled on the shadow tendrils ripping them apart and landing on her feet. “Amra gave you lots of fancy tricks but don't assume they’ll work on me.”
“I never expected to hold you,” Uhtred admitted. “I’m just trying to convince you not to hunt us down seeing as we’re doing you a favor.”
“A favor!” Nadia admonished. “Randomly killing any noble you see is not our way! I should just kill you all, but I need to know how your twisted minds thought this would benefit Vellia.”
That was the greatest mystery of this whole situation. No striker with a sound mind could possibly think openly attacking a festival was for the best, let alone three. This group of renegades might hold the key to removing the oath, a fact Nadia had a hard time ignoring. If she didn't, her own much more powerful oath would stop her from investigating. For now, she expertly focused on taking them in for any other reason. As the striker commander, it was up to Rollo to figure the rest out.
“The killings aren't at random, at least not the ones done by us,” Uhtred said. “Everything else is collateral damage.” Nadia could swear she heard a smile in Uhtred’s words. “There may be a few more from those trying to kill Tanya right now.”
“Vara’s cult?”
“The very same,” Uhtred chuckled. “We had a bet going if you’d stay at Tanya’s side or come after us.”
"I won by the way," Astrid added.
Nadia sheathed her sword taking on a conversational stance. “Tanya has Bitarr with her who’s wearing Brand's form so she’s safe. But as for this attack, I don't care what you have to say. You're coming with me regardless of the truth.”
A tendril of shadow rose of Uhtred’s feet holding his staff as he reached into his cloak. He pulled out a crystal ball presenting it to Nadia. “This should tell you everything you need to know about what we’ve done today. As a Dreyark, I’m sure you know just as much as us when it comes to who needs killing in Tanya’s court, but they can't all start dying one after the other. That's where we come in. Fenrir gave us the chance to take out anyone we want without suspicion. It's the same plan Vara’s priest had for Tanya.”
Uhtred sent the crystal ball to Nadia with a gentle toss. Nadia, wanting to catch him off guard surge forward, catching the crystal in mid-flight. She then moved into arm’s reach of Uhtred and grabbed his throat in a powerful grip that a mage like him couldn't hope to escape.
Nadia tightened her hold until she was sure Uhtred could barely breathe. At the same time, she swotted Astrid’s attempt at a rescue with a backhanded slap faster than the fey could see. “As I said, I’m bringing you both in.”
Nadia’s firm grasp suddenly slipped like Uhtred had turned to air. The cloak he wore fell while the shadows within clung to her. Like before, she easily tore any physical darkness with ease but failed to spot the unstable beast cores in the cloak's pockets.
When the cores exploded, Nadia was blinded more than hurt. Her roots to the worlds were not pushed nearly enough to be strained. It might as well have been a strong breeze, but the explosive release of mana rendered her perception useless for several seconds while the flash had her seeing white spots.
In the seconds of confusion, Uhtred partially left the shadow behind Nadia like he was climbing out of a hole with only his arms, head, and chest exposed. He held another staff forward with an overside focusing crystal that cracked as he formed a spell.
“BOOM!”
Nadia’s eardrums burst, her leather vest, chainmail, and a whole layer of skin on her back burned away as a mage bolt truck her from behind. Her roots to the world ruptured barely stopping her from being sent flying into the distance. She fell to the ground screaming with clenched teeth and soon realized most of her long black hair had been burned off. It was like being hit at point-blank range by one of her mother's spells.
As her mind dulled from the pain, Nadia spotted Uhtred, his body still half-submerged and staff crumbling to dust. He spoke to her with a smug grin, probably calling her foolish for not talking things out. “Fuck you!” she screamed banishing her aura to form a deadly mage bolt of her own.
Nidia fired her spell but saw Uhtred vanish before the ground around him was blown away. A dark mass slithered from the newly dug crater racing towards her. Nadia fired more spells in vain. She couldn't harm the darkness and was soon surrounded by tendrils that lept at her. She swatted them away quickly feeling overwhelmed for the first time in decades.
Too late she decided to take to the air. A foot off the ground, Uhtred appeared from one of the shadow tendrils with a great hammer bejeweled with beast cores above his head. He brought it down hitting Nadia’s shoulder with a glancing blow that shattered the bones within and sent her spinning in midair. By the time Nadia stopped herself, Uhtred had two cracked and twisted wands pointed at her with the dusty remains of the hammer at his feet. Nadia then saw a flash before being freed from her pain by the sweet release of unconsciousness.
********
“I won!” Uhtred shouted in astonishment. He began dancing in place celebrating that he wasn't bleeding on the ground broken like Nadia. “I defeated a fucking Dreyark!” He turned to Astrid who was digging herself out of the hole she'd been backhanded into. “And you lost.” His happy shuffle grew more excited as he began teasing. “You couldn't even land a blow.”
“You got an assist,” Astrid said while pouting.
“Assists my ass. You didn't help at all.”
"I softened her up."
“Yeah, I'm sure she bruised her hand slapping you into the wall.”
Uhtred yelped as the wands he held burst into flame burning his palms slightly. Like every other over enchanted magic item, they withered away moments after being used. It was an expensive way to fight but worth every resource when up against monsters like Nadia. Normally over enchantments were only used during a siege but thanks to Uhtred's personal shadow world he had an endless supply.
After the bickering ended, the strikers looted Nadia for everything she had. Astrid claimed her sword that was just a bit too long and far too heavy due to the metal compression used on it. It weighed around 300 pounds but with a little help from Brand, she could reduce its weight. It would be weaker but would still be a sword made of mithril with veins of Damascus steel along its length.
Uhtred took everything else throwing most into his shadow. He took what was left of Nadia’s armor, leaving only her underclothes. Her undergarment erected an over shield when empowered. Her chainmail might have been badly damaged but could still be melted down for the mithril it was made of. As for her boots, Uhtred decided to wear them himself. They had a localized enchantment the strengthened his legs.
Astrid snickered. “Your feet fit perfectly in those boosts. The heels are doing great things for your, assets.”
A deep blush spread across Uhtred’s face. “They fit whoever wears them thanks to an enchantment!” he admonished. “They’d shrink to your size if you tried them.”
“They’re still for ladies,” Astrid pointed out.
“Yeah right,” Uhtred agreed. “So, I might as well keep them because you're no lady.”
Uhtred continued arming himself. He took the seven rings of Nadia replacing two of his own with hers. One drew in mana at a faster rate than his the one he replaced increasing his mana regeneration by a third. the rest would interfere with his own magic too much to be used or required too much mana for him to safely use for now.
A violent shudder suddenly ran through the ground followed by a cloud of dust from some ways away casting a shadow across much of the city. Uhtred knew without a doubt that’s where Brand was. He and Astrid were still connected to him by an invisible line of magic. That fact that it wasn't cut meant he was alive, so they stashed Nadia with wards around her to keep her safe and would slowly heal her then followed the magic back to Brand’s position.
What they found was Brand standing amongst the two most important targets. The Archbishop and paladin were both dead, so it was time for Uhtred to do his part. He fell into his shadow moving around the shocked onlookers staring at Brand with fear. With most distracted, Uhtred pulled both corpses into his shadow then moved onto the rest scattered throughout the festival.
He was making his way to extract Brand when a pillar of white fire erupted in the clearing. It went straight up in a perfect line not weakening as it passed the clouds to enter the heavens. The flame did not weaken Uhtred. Even since his newest blessing his own shadow never dimmed in the light. But there was something deep within, some unknowable part of himself that shuttered in rage. Then it came to him, a name that bubbled up from the depths of his faith that he couldn’t help but growl.
“Vara!”