Sacred artists may not need sleep but it didn’t mean they didn’t like the activity. Sleep was good. It helped to rest the mind, and right now, all Jerome wanted to do was sleep. It wasn’t too much to ask for.
He had climbed up a tree to seek solace from the rest of the world, but just now, a roar from a distance shattered the serenity of the night. All the creatures within a quarter-mile radius must have been awoken by that roar because different sounds bloomed all around him waking him up from sleep.
The creatures must be nervous. Whatever that was must be a very powerful creature. Jerome kept sharp eyes peeled in the direction of the roar cursing in irritation under his breath. The croaks and songs of the insects around him were almost deafening so he had to rely on his eyes.
“...faster!”
Jerome sat upright as he heard that. Someone…or a few people were coming this way. No. Better to assume they were being chased in this direction, he concluded.
He could hear them clearly now, though, they were still some distance away. Jerome took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. His core was spinning so fast that if Rihal sensed it he’d be shocked.
“Just keep running randomly…never in a stra—”
Another thunderous roar split up the night sky, and Jerome heard some birds shriek as they flapped their wings flying away from their places of rest.
The creature's footsteps could be heard now, and Jerome determined that it was something he didn’t want to face. Its footsteps were fast. Jerome took to the skies, planning on watching without interfering. He could see them now and it turned out to be House Fei—House of the Dragon Fang.
Their armored robes were quite different in style to Vorthes: dark blue leather armor laced with small circular metals here and there, including their helmets. They each carried two long curved swords at their waists as they ran. Something that seemed impractical when spatial rings were available. One could lose a precious weapon as he ran.
“This is just the first night. Is this how we’re going to live for a year?!” Someone from the team of Sprouts complained.
“Brace yourself,” Another said, “It’ll only get worse.” He dodged a tree that was thrown at them, unsheathing and sheathing one of his swords so fast it was impossible to follow with the eyes. Bits of foliage and debris in their path were blown to pieces before the team reached them.
Was that a kind of technique? Jerome thought to himself, surprised. This was probably why they carried their weapons on their person, instead of inside their spatial rings.
That Sprout was older than the others on the team. And from the looks of it, stronger too. He had positioned himself at the back of the team, between all the other Sprouts and the monster, covering their backs, while still getting rid of obstacles in their path as they raced forward.
Jerome would have loved to scan this Sprout to find out how powerful he was but he couldn’t because of the distance between them. He watched them scurry around, trying to get out of the range of the monster, which was a lot bigger than the two he had killed. The heir of the Fei clan, Fei Lin, slashed at the monster with her sword from a distance to protect one of her teammates. The monster roared in pain and went after her.
Jerome remembered feeling a little envy toward her during the Royal Banquet. Now though, he couldn’t help but feel gratitude. They weren’t capable of fleeing with their flight artifacts out of fear of attracting predators with their essence. He on the other hand didn’t need essence to fly.
~~~
“Princess!” Lang exclaimed and shot forward to intercept the monster. The moment his hand touched the hilt of his sword, he activated the Formless Blade, unsheathing and sheathing his sword in the blink of an eye.
The monster went down on one knee as the popliteus behind its left knee was shredded. It roared in pain, unable to move that leg anymore.
“Princess, stop!” Lang screamed. The rest of their teammates also screamed for her to stop. The monster had been neutralized but the princess ran forward and utilized the Formless Blade.
The creature seemed to comprehend the danger it was in and quickly shielded its face by crossing its giant arms in front of itself. The Formless Blade slashed the back of its forearms drawing stinky yellow blood. The creature jerked in pain but soon smelled the vitality of the blood dripping from Fei Lin’s palms—the consequences of using a technique that was above her level of skill.
The creature lunged for her and its head exploded in a flash of blue light. Splattering stinky yellow blood everywhere.
“Princess!” Lang shouted with worry as he came around the fallen body of the creature. The stench almost made him puke. He quickly covered his nose and stepped back, distancing himself from the smell.
“Someone get me water,” Fei Lin said through gritted teeth. She had actually puked and was covered from head to toe in yellowish gore and brain matter.
“Urgh. Smells like soured eggs mixed with ten-day-old piss,” she grumbled, wiping her face.
“You should be grateful you’re not dead, Princess,” Fei Yan, another teammate said looking at her with a mocking smile—from a distance. She quickly extracted a strange-looking gourd from her spatial ring and began shaking it.
Lang looked at the creature in shock, unable to fathom how the Princess must have taken its head, but a careful scan of it quickly told him the creature was killed with fire essence.
“Who killed it?” Lang asked. They owed that person a life debt.
“I don’t—” Fei Lin was saying when she was bathed in an enormous wave of water. The rest of the girls in their team quickly surrounded her shooing the boys away.
“I don’t know who killed it,” she said again.
“Well, whoever they are, I hope they’re not foes,” Lang said as he turned to face away from Fei Lin.
The bushes in front of him shook and out walked a creature with skin as deathly pale as a corpse.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me!” One of the boys exclaimed even as he drew his weapon. Lang attacked.
~~~
“Wake up, wake up, you lot. It’s an assault!” Selene kicked her sleeping teammates in the legs as she noticed one of the creatures that had attacked them tonight.
“Oh, hell!” her brother Ajax screamed in annoyance. This was the third attack in this never-ending night and it seemed like they’d be doing this forever. This clearing was only found by chance and he wanted to have a good sleep before facing anything or anyone else.
“You’re an Itakar, Ajax. Act like it!” she screamed at him as she nocked her bow with an arrow. She pulled on the bowstring with unbelievable strength and the arrowhead froze over as she exhaled, her sharp eyes looking straight ahead into the distance.
“Twenty yards and closing in,” Trudhorn Itakar, one of her cousins standing beside her stated. He was the spotter for this target of hers. “Don’t you think the night is a little darker than it should be?” Trudhorn asked.
“It’s Terra Praeta’s doing…maybe,” Selene answered, unsure as she let the arrow loose.
Her arrow whizzed through the air and pierced through the creature carrying it ten paces away into a tree where it froze over with some parts of its body cracking but not shattering. It hung there motionless like an ice statue. Dead.
Terra Praeta hadn’t been described to her in full detail. No book she read could have prepared her for an endless night. In fact, her mother, Arwen Itakar, had said to expect the unexpected. She could hear the rest of her teammates pulling their bows behind her to take aim as well which was comforting.
“What did you say these creatures were called again?” Ajax asked, pulling his own bow, though not as deftly as his sister.
“Pull harder,” Selene commanded, and he glared at her. Her brother was the runt of the litter. The one who had one ‘ish’ or another.
“They’re called Children of the Mother,” Selene said.
“Fifteen yards, Ajax,” Trudhorn stated, looking in the direction Ajax aimed his bow. The creature that was attacking from that angle had stopped the moment Selene shot and killed one of its kind.
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Ajax let loose his arrow and it whizzed through the air but the creature smacked it out of its path and shot forward.
“You see, Children I understand. But Mother…what Mother?” Ajax asked as he drew his short sword, ready to do battle with the creature that was coming at him.
An arrow whizzed past his side and struck the creature between its beady eyes, freezing its frame as it fell backward.
“The one who taught ya to shoot like a lil’ damsel in distress, hey,” A female Sprout from House Itakar taunted him with a voice colored in her native accent, and his teammates burst out laughing.
“Shut your fucking mouth, Nia,” Ajax retorted, sheathing his short sword. Another arrow whizzed passed him.
Arrows continued to whizz out of the group as they took down one Child after another, but the cussing never stopped. Soon they’ll need to face the Children head-on in combat.
“It's not safe here anymore,” Selene said looking around, her eyes piercing through the darkness of the night. “Let’s pack up and leave,”
The rest of the Sprouts stopped taunting her brother and split into two groups. Some moved to pack up their tents and the others continued firing at the Children.
No sooner did they finish packing up did the Children multiply and storm them in numbers.
“Nia!” Selene shouted pulling her sword. She held off two of the Children on her own while Nia supported her from behind.
Trudhorn also joined other members of their team to prevent the Children from overwhelming them.
“If we don’t leave now, we’ll all die!” One of their teammates cried out. He slashed at the nearest Child and moved out of the way, while another teammate shot an arrow through its neck.
Another Child took the place of the fallen one, and two arrows plunged into its skull. Their teamwork was impeccable. But the Children were simply too numerous.
“Aah!” someone screamed and distracted Ajax for a split moment. A clawed hand almost grabbed his head but he quickly stepped back avoiding it, but not before it ripped into his face. He bore the pain, slashing at the Child so he could back up. Yellow blood splashed on his armor and the stench choked him.
“Heavens above, you stink!” he exclaimed.
Someone pulled him back and deflected a bone-like sword arm.
“What we need to do is find daylight!” Selene screamed, “Get ready to take flight!”
The air suddenly turned cold as the temperature dropped.
“Are you sure about this, Selene?” Trudhorn shouted from the other side of their defense. He had been roughed up by a few of the Children himself.
“Go!”
They all shot into the air as ice spread out from the center of their group, turning the whole area into a frozen Winterland. The Children closest to them all froze over and shattered into millions of fragments. The rest of the Children backed up away from the ice as the spread slowed to a halt.
“Selene, are you ok?” Trudhorn asked as they flew through the air as fast as they could. She looked tired already, and her aura felt weaker. “That was a very risky move, you know. The full power of the Winter’s Breath is not something your body is ready for.”
Selene smiled weakly at him. She could hear the concern in his voice and it moved her.
“Would ya both stop playin’ romance n’ focus,” Nia said, “We gotta find somewhere to recuperate.”
She had a bloody wound on her right shoulder that she was trying to put pressure on. Her fingers and arm were already soaked in her own blood but the injury was healing already.
The two teenagers came back to the present and focused on the land below them. They had to get to land fast. They were already transmitting their presence to every creature around them right now.
“I’m ok too, thank you for asking,” Ajax said, sarcasm evident in his voice.
Selene looked at her brother, only now noticing his bleeding face. It looked like someone gouged out a chunk of the skin on his lower face with a huge claw. “That must have hurt real bad,” she said, her voice laced with a little mockery.
“Tis me battle scar, gotten from a life and death battle with demons from a nether plane!” Ajax did a heroic pose midair trying to sound like a man of war. He did lighten the mood of the team though.
“You’ve been dying to say that since we got here, haven’t ya?” Trudhorn said with a smile as he pointed in a direction. He had the sharpest eyes among them all.
“That pinprick?” Someone said, “If that was a battle scar I’d pack me bags and run off home right now, mate.” The rest of the team burst out laughing.
“Noir’s Blackflame take you, Bram,” Ajax cursed as they landed, “My battle scars are my trophies.”
“Oh, I thought they were me trophies,” Bram remarked with a mocking smile, and the laughter resumed.
“Same difference,” Ajax gestured playfully as if shooing away an insect. The torn flesh on his face wiggled in a weird manner as he spoke. It was healing already.
“Shhh!” Everyone kept silent at that. Selene looked straight ahead as she signaled with her fingers. Two Sprouts went in the direction she pointed and two more in the opposite direction. There was a very large boulder a few feet away from them and she had sensed someone there.
She smiled and drew her sword, moving forward. Her teammates act undisciplined most times but that was just a front. They were actually skilled at killing magical beasts in the frozen earth of the north of Vorthe. And it took discipline to do what they did.
“You sure make a lot of noise for a bunch of Sprouts in a strange land,” someone said from behind the boulder in front of them.
The team of Sprouts drew their weapons ready for a fight if it came to it. Selene raised her hand to stop them. Anyone who could survive on their own in Terra Praeta’s night was no ordinary person. And this person whoever he is was alone.
“I don’t want any trouble,” The stranger said, “I just wanna be by my lonesome self is all.”
He knew he was trapped.
“Who are you?” Selene asked.
“I’m nobody. But that’s not the question you wanna ask, is it?” The stranger said.
“I don’t believe you’d give an answer to the question I wish to ask,” Selene said, signaling all her teammates to spread out and surround the boulder. It would be outright stupid to assume this stranger was from their plane. And even if he was, it didn’t make him a friend.
Selene vaulted over the boulder with inhuman strength and long shiny black hair greeted her eyes. Her target was facing away from her sitting cross-legged on the soil as if in meditation. She brought the tip of her sword a few inches near the stranger’s head even before she landed. The stranger smacked her sword away with the blade of a spear that materialized in his hand, turning the spear the other way to counter her again. He was fast.
Selene withdrew her blade and stabbed at him but he rolled away, easily avoiding the tip of her blade. They parried each other’s blows for a while with the stranger on one knee. Even on one knee, he was almost as tall as she was. Her teammates surrounded them a moment later and she eased back from him, lowering her sword.
“You should surrender,” she stated, but he just smiled, and smacked the arrow that came at him from behind out of the air like he had eyes at the back of his head.
Neat trick, but they all could do it. Maybe not as fast as him though. She admitted to herself.
“I don’t want any trouble. You were the ones who met me here. Just let me be on my way, and all’s well,” he said as he stood up to his full height. He was tall. As tall as Trudhorn and Trudhorn was the tallest in their group.
A large net shot toward the stranger from the side, wrapping him up and restricting his movement. He staggered a little before kissing the earth with his right side. Selene took the moment to examine his armor and crest.
~~~
Jerome lay on his side restricted by the net, unable to move freely. He had never expected the team of Sprouts to have a net gun with them—or an equivalent. He had underestimated those in his Realm once again. Or perhaps he underestimated the level of advancement of Vorthe. His agitation rose but he clenched his jaw and swallowed his anger.
Just because he’d never seen something like a gun before didn’t mean they didn’t have one. Secrecy had many advantages and Vorthe was pretty good at keeping secrets.
He looked at the crest on the breastplate of her black leather armor and noticed her doing the same. Her family crest was quite beautiful. It was a snowflake—the crest of House Itakar, House of the Frozen Earth. The Sovereign spoke highly of House Itakar, it would be ungrateful of him to get into a heated battle and end up hurting one of them. And he could. He wanted to. But held back the beast as it reared its head.
“What do you want?” he asked. Jerome wasn’t wearing a family crest though, just plain black leather armor. It would have been nice seeing the look on her face if she saw the Vorthe crest on him.
“Simple. To have you where we can keep an eye on you,” the girl who fought with him said.
The beast reared its head again. They saw him as an animal. A mere beast to be tamed. Jerome forced his anger down. Her name’s Selene, he remembered. He was tempted to acknowledge that he knew her but that would raise questions he didn’t want to answer. And since he was not in the best of situations right now, it was best to avoid such a discussion.
The rest of her team started setting up tents and a small fire. Someone even jumped on top of the boulder and lay on his stomach—the lookout. They were going to make this place their own.
Jerome sat up with his restrictions and everyone stopped what they were doing, hands on their weapon.
“Look, I just wanna be alone,”
“You can be alone right where you are,” someone snapped at him.
Jerome scanned the Sprout behind him noticing it was the twin, Ajax Itakar. He clenched his jaw and spoke through gritted teeth, “I’m not a beast you can just tie up and keep at arm's reach!”
The crowd of Sprouts burst into laughter.
“Oh, look. Fish poop thinks he can do what the hell he wants,” someone said and the laughter resumed in intensity. The accent was quite different from what Jerome was used to—heavier too.
“Is he even as valuable as fish poop? No, I’ll give ‘em bug poop,” another said. Laughter bloomed once again.
“Well, that fits right with ‘em, init?” Another said and the Sprouts knocked fists with each other, proud of themselves for coming up with a good name for him.
Jerome tried to shut them out and keep calm but his anger refused to ebb. It was still under his control for now but it was only a matter of time.
“Fuck it,” he said and went up in flames, burning the net to ash as he stood up.
The Sprouts stopped what they were doing and attacked. The first person who got close with a sword was hit in the throat with the butt of his spear, toppling over as he held his neck in both hands. Jerome jumped forward and spun through the air as two arrows tore through the space he once occupied.
He landed on steady feet and zoomed toward the nearest Sprout. The Sprout only saw someone appear in front of him and the next moment he blacked out. Jerome turned to confront the next Sprout closest to him and saw Selene. She was walking backward while smiling at him. A volley of arrows split the air towards him the next moment but he just stood there. He turned to Selene and smiled back at her.