The world itself seemed to be moving too fast. To Alda, the smallest things seemed to rush by her in an instant. Birds rocketed through the air while woodland creatures zoomed past her vision as if she were seeing things. Rustling leaves, flowing water, and the pack of werebeast chasing her down, they all moved like lightning while she ran as if her feet were tied together.
Asta being strapped to her back didn't make things any easier. She felt more like a boulder pressing down on Alda's torn and broken armor in all the right places to cause the most discomfort. But Alda had literally run with boulders chained to herself and it never felt this bad? But back then, she had magic.
She was drenched in sweat as if running through rain. Her legs burned like her greaves were made of compressed lead a few hundred pounds each. She was on the verge of emptying her stomach and wasn't sure if her blurry vision meant she was about to pass out. It all made for a good distraction, keeping her mind off her broken left arm that dangled uselessly.
A shadow loomed over her, a telling sign that a werebeast was about to rip her throat out. Before it could, Alda lurched to the side almost falling in the attempt to dodge thanks to Asta’s added weight.
The werebeast, in its frenzy to shed blood, stumbled over its feet as it missed and sprawled out in front of her. She realized it was the perfect opportunity to kill the beast, but Alda had forgotten to draw a weapon. It was one of many things she didn't have time to think about with her speed sealed away.
Alda had yet to meet or even hear of other speedsters, but for her, time was not experienced in a stable manner. If she was by herself or felt even the slightest hint of boredom, hours would fly by as if they were minutes. Time only normalized when someone was near, their words and actions keeping her mind grounded.
Combat was where her build truly shined. Time would slow to a crawl allowing each movement to be precise, measured, and relaxed. Despite moving as a blur, Alda was never hurried in battle. Now, her reliance on that power worked against her.
She expected a werebeast to be her downfall, but it was a simple tree root that brought her to her knees. She tripped, falling with a scream as a hot lance of pain shot through her arm.
As her face struck the ground, Alda thought her magic had returned, but it was her fear that slowed the world around her. The last seconds of her life stretched into an eternity as one, two, three, werebeast descended. They were already airborne, claws out and fangs bared, knowing the chase had come to an end.
There wouldn't be enough time to draw a weapon. There wasn't enough to use it on herself if only to not experience being torn to pieces. Strangely enough, Alda felt guilty that she couldn't at least do that for Asta.
She wanted to close her eyes. She didn't want to see her death and the blood. The pain would come regardless, so why add to the horror. But Alda's eyes wouldn't listen. They focused passes the werebeast on a sword right before it burst through the lead creature's chest. Two more projectiles came in quick succession, a hatchet and dagger stabbing in the other two werebeast with perfect accuracy.
“Ally!” roared a deep growling voice that was somehow still playful.
Alda's relief only lasted a few seconds before anger set in from Carr's teasing. It somehow drained away the fear like it was never there and she fought to regain her footing as she shouted.
“Don't call me that you little shit!”
“Oh no, she’s mad,” Carr laughed while holding onto a bucking weretiger as if he meant to ride it.
Normally a full head shorter than herself, Carr was now a towering figure in his werepanther form holding swords that now acted as daggers in his massive hand.
Before transforming into his largest werebeast variation, he looked like some overcompensating fool with two greatswords and blades covering his body. They were all larger than his small frame could handle especially with his rogue augmentations. Now, he filled out his loose-fitting light armor with an extra four feet looming over the battlefield with the height of a jötunn .
Carr slammed his massive daggers into the weretiger’s neck and freed it with a twist. More werebeast lunged at him, but he avoided them with ease, weaving between the beast like a dancer. As he did, his daggers lashed out stabbing so quickly Alda thought he missed until his targets slumped to the ground dead with blood pooling around them.
Suddenly, all eyes were off Alda and on the werepanther cackling maniacally. “Ally, you really can't handle these losers.” He flipped over a pair of charging werebeast landing on another that wailed in pain as his dagger came down. “Since I'm obviously stronger.” He ended three more with over sides throwing knives while being chased, never letting himself be surrounded. “Does that mean I get to be in charge of you?”
Alda wanted to respond but instead used her frustration to get her moving again. Being saved was embarrassing, especially by Carr who she'd never taken seriously. Thinking of him as anything more than Tanya’s little brother seemed ridiculous. But by the time Alda made her way behind the thickest tree she could find, the werebeast pack backed away, no longer willing to attack him blindly.
Several of the werebeast began reverting back to their humanoid forms. Their bones cracked and popped as they grew smaller with large clumps of fur falling to the ground to expose their nakedness. The moment Carr noticed, he charged the beast kin. Alda didn't understand why until a moment later.
Fireballs began raining down around Carr's position forcing him to break off his attack. Casting magic as a werebeast was difficult if not impossible for some. Now half the pack was casting spells while the rest curled around waiting for an opening. Even though the overall spells were weak, there was no way Carr could handle facing a werebeast pact with magical support.
“I'm going to regret this,” Alda said to herself as she cut through the restraints holding Asta to her back.
Even if Carr was more suited to their current situation, he couldn't defend them alone. At the very least, she could split the enemies attention hopefully long enough for them all to get their magic back.
Alda pulled off a ring on her injured hand that immediately enlarged into a short mace that glowed with a small mana pool of its own. It would smash a metal ingot even if wielded by someone mundane. In Alda's hand, even without mana to throttle, she could probably kill at least a few enemies.
With a deep breath to calm her nerves, Alda rushed from cover right into a blinding light followed by a massive wave of heat that struck her like a physical force. She dove to the ground bracing herself for the burning pain of what had to be an enemy attack, but after several long seconds, nothing happened.
A large hand landed on her back lifting her by the straps on our armor. “You ok?” Carr asked, holding her off the ground with one arm. She would have answered, but her words were forgotten after getting a look at the battlefield.
The werebeast pack was now a collection of burning corpses. Each one had a circle of ash around them and fire along the edges that were beginning to spread. Some were only chard skellingtons while others had their skin burden off revealing the partially cooked meat beneath.
“Did you do this?” Alda said looking at Carr then gasped. Much of the fur on his right side was gone, replaced by blistered skin. She could now hear the pain in his voice even as he tried to hide it.
“This wasn't me. I’m betting we have Mildrith to thank for the rescue.”
Alda followed where Carr pointed and saw Mildrith flying over encased in her magically constructed armor. At seeing the display she smiled feeling her own power returned. More importantly, that meant Asta’s magic was back as well.
As if in response to Alda’s realization, Asta sat up abruptly and threw up a disturbing amount of blood staining loose trans of her blonde hair covering her face.
“Internal bleeding,” she coughed out. “I’ll be pissing red for a week.” Her hand came up touching the spot where there used to be a large saber tooth. “I lost a tooth!” Her head swiveled until they met Alda. “You're hurt.”
Carr placed Alda down next to her. “I’m fine but Ally is pretty messed up.”
“Just heal the arm, and stop calling me that or I’ll kick your ass.” Alda said. Asta’s healing might be powerful thanks to her having the focus, but after healing her own injuries, she might not have that much mana left for Carr. That, and the battle might not be finished.
“This definitely wasn't me,” Mildrith said when she made it over to the group. “If I tried casting a spell on that scale, I’d kill everyone in the area. This precision has to be Bitarr’s doing.”
“Really?” they all said, not convinced.
Carr shrugged. “Either way, now that we have our magic, let’s go find Tanya.”
Alda flexed her mended arm. It was still tender, but she could fight with it. “I’ll find her-”
Alda perception slowed as she saw a flash appear near Mildrith. She surged, cracking the wind with the speed of her focus as the light winked out revealing a man, his sword already traveling to Mildrith’s neck.
His gray armor was thick and heavy, helmet in the shape of a wolf, and he moved far too fast for Alda’s comfort.
This man was strong, she could sense it. No one moved with armor that heavy at such speeds without being formidable, but she’d make it in time. What she couldn't do was save Mildrith without sacrifice. Pushing her out of the way would shatter her bones and as for the armored man, the teleporter Alda realized, she doubted he would budge.
A third of Alda's mana pool disappeared into her armor as her left arm came up. Her gauntlet shone right before the sword slashed into her forearm cutting halfway through to the bone. If not for her lavishly expensive armor, the blade would have cut right through her with as much resistance of a gentle breeze.
Alda forced the sword away with a grunt right before the pain caught up with her. She didn't let it slow her and threw a fist at super speed that missed as the man flashed away. He reappeared an instant later, sword planted as if to present himself.
“Harm!” Mildrith exclaimed, the fear in her voice enough of warning of the man's strength. “You tried to kill me!”
Harm tapped on his helmet as if he wanted to run his hand through his hair in embarrassment. “Sorry Mildrith. I wanted to take you out quickly. You might be human, but you're one of the good ones.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Stop talking and kill the bastard!” Alda shouted. She freed her mace and charged.
Harm vanished before she could reach him, repairing behind her with an outstretched hand. “Amateur.”
From deep within, Alba felt a force pull on her body from behind. Before she knew what was happening, she off her feet and flying towards Harm. His mana was returning to his body after being injected with his first sword strike and at the same time locked her joints like a day old corpse.
Harm caught Alda by the back of her head then she was gone in a flash. The next thing she knew, her face was slammed into a tree. The impact dulled the world sending shadows to the edge of her vision. She might have been in pain, but the blood filling her mouth was a greater concern. She flashed again and Harm's grip smashed her against a rocky surface. After that Alda's world went dark, sparing her from the punishment to come.
*********
Seeing Alda mercilessly slammed into the ground gave Carr the odd feeling like he was back In the shadow of Vellia's, back in the Nulls. One of his brothers had been brutalized the same way, and like back then, his anger ran cold right before his daggers went to bloody work.
He wasn't actually sure it was anger. Perhaps it was a simple craving for violence. When someone he cared for was harmed, the person responsible simply had to die. That hasn't changed since being taken in by Tanya, and the need for vengeance was back like he’d never left those blood-soaked streets.
Carr readied a dagger as he slowly increased his mana throttling. At the same time, Mildrith conjured dozens of swords that swiveled every time Harm teleported. Carr didn't bother trying to keep up with the teleporter. He waited for his opportunity, for the moment his efforts wouldn’t be in vain. With only one chance to save Alda, he wasn’t about to miss.
Carr’s opportune moment came when Harm took the time to raze his sword in order to finish Alda off. The werepanther flooded his veins with fire as his mana throttling redoubled just as he sent the dagger flying. Before his sword could strike true, Harm vanished in a flash of light to avoid the projectile, and like Carr predicted, left Alda motionless on the ground.
“Mildrith, shields up, now!” Carr shouted just as Harm appeared once again behind her.
Harm’s sword bounced against the translucent swords that appeared around Mildrith sending cracks spider webbing through them. He flashed away again, but this time, Carr could almost sense his mana. It moved towards Asta as he did pushing his body for every bit of speed it could muster.
Harm appeared, his sword about to sever Asta's head but swerved at the last second clanged against Carr's oversized daggers with a shower of sparks. The two beast kin stared into each other's eyes before bursting into motion.
Carr flashed stepped around Harm disappearing with a burst of his roguish speed. He was much faster than the armored man, but when his blades came in to draw blood, Harm moved twice as fast for an instant, deflecting the blow. It was like fighting a statue that repositioned in an instant to defend from any angle; then he went on the attack.
Carr came in low trying to slice at Harm’s feet, but he shifted, blocking the attack with his sword. With his free hand, Harm stepped in faster than Carr could react to slamming a fist across the werepanthers jaw. Carr staggered back only for Harm to teleport in closer with a downward slash. Carr would have died in that moment, but his mana throttling skyrocketed once again as he dodged, the blade still slicing a wound across his chest.
Carr held his daggers out defensively, but Harm just walked forward unworried. Mildrith took the lull in the battle to launch her souring blades. They should have torn Harm to pieces, but his sword hand blurred knocking the blades from the sky. He didn't even break eye contact, letting Carr know he’d been playing with him the entire time.
“Kid,” Harm said, a smile in his voice. “You’re pretty good, but you've over throttled.”
Carr stumbled as all his exhaustion hit all at once. It was like he’d run a marathon in the last few seconds. His daggers were heavy and breath strained, but he could still fight if not for very long.
Harm flashed and Carr once again felt his mana flow through the air. He spun meeting Harm as he reappeared with a flurry of attacks. They both parried each other’s attacks until their locked blades; Carr, using all his strength to hold steady while Harm held him back lazily with a light one-handed grip.
“I’m impressed, Kid,” Harm said. His sword blurred again swotting away several more of Mildrith’s blades before striking at Carr again. “If you surrender-”
“Not happening!” Carr roared.
He backflipped with a surge of mana sending knives flying as he landed. Harm’s sword deflected them all but not before Carr charged him again. His dagger sang as it neared Harm’s neck, but the armored wolf’s sword was faster slicing into the werepanther's arm.
Carr twisted with a cry of pain saving his arm from being completely severed. Despite the injury, he followed up with an attack. Harm parried it like all the rest, but with the force of a war hammer strike shattered the dagger. He then sliced at Carr’s face, carving a red line from his cheek to between his eyes.
There wasn't time for Carr to pull another weapon. He put everything he had into dodging Harm’s sword while the man swatted away Mildrith’s souring blades. That kept Carr from losing his head, but still left him with shallow cuts across his body.
The battle only grew more desperate. Carr tried to Flash Step causing him to stumble as his mana throttling racked him with pain. It left him slower than before and helpless for a fraction of a second. It was more than enough time for Harm to slide his sword across Carr’s stomach leaving a trail of blood.
“Carr!” Mildrith cried out, but he barely heard her over the pain and fear that his insides might spill onto the ground.
Harm’s free hand lunged forward releasing a blast of green energy. “Bind!”
Carr froze as the spell washed over him. It wasn't that his body refused to work, but something held him in a powerful embrace. He strained against it moving slightly, but having already pushed himself too far, mana throttling was now beyond him.
In desperation, Mildrith’s attacks intensified. She conjured souring blades the size of ancient trees launching them with abandon. Harm’s sword blurred once again, but this time glowed with mana.
Magic shot from the weapon in waves tearing through the ground, trees, and sending Mildrith blades flying in every direction except his own. She herself was forced into the sky, unable to fight back as Harm’s sword kept up its assault like it had a mind of its own.
Harm spoke, his voice even while his sword never slowed. “How about you surrender? I’ll kill Mildrith, and Tanya should be dead by now. South Bastion needs more nobles. You could be one of them.”
“No,” Carr growled, not taking the time to think it over.
“You realize you’re going to die?” Harm said as more of a question.
“Maybe. Well, probably.”
“And you don't care?” Harm said, still a question.
Carr chuckled as if finding something funny. “You wouldn't get it.”
The image of blood-soaked hands and cooling bodies ran through his mind along with the pleasant memory of Tanya ripping the bars off his cage. Carr was still there in some ways, waiting in filth to finally die. Asta was still working up the nerve to seek out Tanya, their named sibling that seemed more like a dream than anything real. And Tanya was still holding the bars on his cage open, offering more freedom than he knew existed.
No one would understand, but Carr was already dead, at least that’s how he felt. Each day his body kept moving was one gifted to him by his family. So if they died, It would only be after he died first.
“What a waste,” Harm said with disappointment. “But you’ve seemed to have made up your mind.”
Carr barely saw Harm's sword turn to him. It would be a quick decapitation and he wondered how long he would be alive after his head was separated from his shoulders. The thought felt strangely far away like it was happening to someone else. The strangeness of it all was so distracting Carr almost missed what happened next.
A spiked mace crashed into Harm's wolven helmet sending him skipping across the forest ground like a flat stone against water. Holding the mace was Alda, her aura throttling like a storm.
Her face was covered in healed over scars and hair was redder than usual from the blood it absorbed. She roared in anger revealing missing teeth and an injured eye that had yet to open. There was an unmistakable white glow mixed into her magic, one Carr recognized as Asta’s mana right before the Binding spell fell away freeing him.
A tendril of mana shot from Alda’s aura into Carr’s which he happily accepted. As soon as he did, his wounds radiated intense pain before disappearing altogether leaving behind scars. Then his mana throttling surged to new heights, the pain and fatigue of it all kept away by Asta’s focus.
Carr didn't need to look behind himself to know Mildrith was experiencing the same euphoric increase in power as they all throttled as one. His mana flowed to her through the connections they all shared. Asta’s mana would heal them all while Alda's increased their speed like no other spell could. Mildrith’s focus in particular offered a whole new level of strength to those around her.
Alda dropped her mace forming one twice as large with Mildrith’s focus. Carr did the same, conjuring new daggers glowing with pale light and twice as sharp as his previous ones.
“You ready?” Carr asked.
“Can you keep up?” Alda shot back then sped off.
Harm didn't have time to blink before Alda was on him. She conjured layer after layer of heavy armor over herself right before slamming into him like a ram. He was only forced back a few feet thanks to powerful roots to the world, but Alda was gone in an instant; her armor abandoned and Carr racing forward to join the fight.
Harm sent waves of compressed magic out from his sword, but this time, Carr saw each swing of the sword. He slid from side to side easily dodging each one. The closer he came to Harm the faster he was forced to move. It was clear he wouldn't make it the whole way, but Alda mace gave him an opening.
She crashed her weapon into Harm from all sides in a deafening explosion of sound. The man stumbled and swung hitting nothing but air as cracks began forming all over his armor. Carr reached him a moment later, landing a blow for the first time with his dagger.
The conjured blade sparked against the finely crafted armor doing no damage, but Harm still grunted in pain. “Phantom Slash!” Carr declared as he parried three sword strikes made so quickly they might as well have been one.
A powerful blow from Alda left Harm open letting Carr deliver another Phantom Slash. Like before, his mana leaped out drawing blood from within the armor.
“Fuck!” Carr cursed in fury as Harm flashed away.
He traced his mana and followed at a mad print towards Asta. Before he could reach the seemingly defenseless mage, Harm flashed back into existent dozens of feet away, stopped by her anchoring spell that rippled the air. Asta smiled with her staff aimed and a spell on her lips.
“Flame Javelin.”
A lance of fire collided with Harm redding his armor just as Carr’s daggers reached for his throat. The two warriors clashed in a maelstrom of sparks and explosions. Harm completely ignored Alda's continued strikes and Asta’s fire magic. He only defended against Carr, him being the only one capable of reaching through his defenses.
Carr’s head tilted to the side as one of Mildrith’s soaring blades came flying past him. It exploded against Harm’s armor leaving another crack amongst many. Carr shifted ever so slightly letting more blades fly passed him. He could sense each one from his own mana being mixed into each one allowing him to avoid them almost without thought. Harm had no such luck letting more and more of his protection breakaway with each hit until one stabbed into his shoulder drawing a steady stream of blood.
“Enough!” Harm exclaimed, pulling a blade logged in his shoulder plate. A cry of pain escaped him as his aura and throttling intensified far too quickly.
Carr lept away immediately, but found his right arm was missing. Before he could feel anything, Harm’s hand lashed out, backhanding Alda into a tree. He then released a blast of magic at Asta. She used the Stone Fortress spell seconds before, building a rocky defense around herself, but it shattered like dry twigs under a monstrous wind.
Mildrith tried to stop the carnage, but Harm simply caught her next souring blade throwing it back at her. It struck her in the stomach, piercing through her conjured armor and out her back.
The pain finally caught up with Carr as Mildrith hit the ground. He failed to bite down a scream and fell to his knees holding the gushing stump of an arm. The wound healed over in a matter of seconds with the last of Asta’s healing mana, but Carr still felt like he was about to empty his stomach.
Harm came to stop in front of him. His handsome face was now visible through his shattered helm and blood dripping down his arm staining his armor. “Damn! You put up a better fight than I thought.”
Carr moaned. “And we’re back to this.”
“No, you had your chance.”
Carr stood, out of options and ready for death. He didn't expect to be saved again. Bitarr might be his next best hope, but the god had the fighting instincts of a child. Carr also hoped Tanya wouldn't come. Maybe she would survive and get revenge. If not her, at least the ever-elusive Brand would avenge them. Carr expected the castle to flow with blood the second that god killer got word of their deaths.
The last thing Carr expected was for Harm to vanish along with the ground he stood on. Dust erupted from the crater, no, it was a hole, one going straight down with a tinge of magic over it; gravity magic.
“Am I too late!?” a man exclaimed as he floated in the air. His hand glowed the channeled spell that continued to crush Harm.
Carr recognized him instantly. “Eric?”