Well, I hope everyone enjoys this one. If you see any problems, let me know.

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Chapter 12

It was lucky I got an aerial view of the city earlier, as I found the slave pens in the waning light quickly. The market itself was closing as night set, and ships near the docks were unloading people in batches of tens and twenties. The majority of the slaves were women and children; I saw only a scattering of men in the lot, and most of those injured in some way. The children looked distraught, and the women were mostly broken, in heart if not will.

The market was filthy, and I was inundated in the smell of human filth, sweat, and blood. I had rushed to the market to find my mother before she came to any harm...but I felt soul weary just looking at this place. It was a monument to man's inhumanity to man, and I drew little attention as I worked my way through the sparse crowd. I didn't see my mother anywhere, but I doubted they would keep her out in the open. Instead I saw bound women in chains, some grasping their small children close, at least until they were separated into different cages.

“We have good stock here people! Captured from the western front as Imperial forces destroyed the scattering of Valerian military, and local forces, they're all in good condition. Each is bound to serve their contract holder! This is the last batch of the evening!” A large man in black robes called from a stage near the back of the market. He grabbed one of the young women, and stripped what little she had covering her, forcing her to her knees in front of the crowd. The display was infuriating, but killing their captors and freeing them wouldn't solve anything. They would be stranded in hostile territory, and I would be a criminal. If I had money on me still, I could purchase them...but it would just fuel the trade. I intended to do something about this, and soon, but first I needed to retrieve my mother.

The voices of crying children were putting me on edge as I pushed my way toward the back of the market, to an iron and stone building decorated with cages and shackles. Every step I took was driving my sense of anger and outrage higher and higher. My heartbeat was like a drumbeat, and my heart felt like it wanted to break out of my chest. My fists were clenched in pure rage, and as I looked up to see one of slavers 'beating' a child with a whip, I was a hair's breadth from snapping.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, my body tensing up for a fight, as I glanced up and saw Charles staring down at me with a frown. “Well, I know that look...and you might want to think on what you're considering. I enjoy a good massacre as much as the next man, but you'll have the city in arms in minutes...and a lot of dead women and children in the crossfire. No sane captain will send his men into fight you directly. There will be archers, and wizards burning the area in firestorms.” he said, taking his hand away from my shoulder.

“How did you find me?” I asked confused as I looked up at him, my arms crossed underneath my chest, trying to look far more intimidating that I probably was.

“With some difficulty, but you left a trail through the sky, and the loud explosive echoes in your wake gave a good direction. After that, I had to do some tracking, but you make a lovely figure, and a notable one at that.” Charles said with a grin on his face, “So before you start trying to murder your way through half the city, perhaps you should allow me to assist?” he asked with more seriousness than normal. “Now, why are you here? And what are you trying to accomplish?” he asked.

I stood there for a few moments, considering him, and then shook my head. “I have no reason to trust you...But I don't suppose you'll just leave at this point.” I said, getting quiet stare in return. I considered a number of deceptions at this point, but frankly they all had a giant blind spot: Magic. My plan here had been to move in quickly, and destroy opposition before anyone could respond, since I had no real idea what could happen. Charles being here complicated things, in that I didn't want my mother being exposed. All things being equal, I decided to be honest, but brief.

“A man named Caern, apparently an enforcer for a group called the Shadow, kidnapped my mother. I was told she was likely taken here. I intend to take her back, without delay, and by any measure of force necessary to do so.” I said simply. My voice was hard, and my gaze was cold, in spite of the fire burning inside of me, ready to consume reason.

Charles looked at the building, and swallowed. “Ahh...The Assassin's Guild. The Shadow is the Kisk guild master...” he said with a frown. He looked back toward the emptying market and then to the slave pens. “If we call in the city forces, the Shadow will likely kill your mother in spite...” he said then looked down at me, “It's never a dull moment around you.” he said and then shook his head. “We shouldn't make a frontal assault. There are some tunnels that run along the riverfront, beneath the docks. They're for flood surges, but off season the black market uses them. We can use them to come in from below. I can't believe we're raiding the Assassin's Guild.” he said with a sigh, moving toward the docks quietly.

I followed behind Charles, not entirely trusting him, but willing to accept any plan at this point that could ensure Jasmine's safety. Charles lead us down a set of stone stairs, into a small gathering of men wearing the same outfits the slavers were wearing. Before the men could do much more than register our presence, Charles had his sword out, decapitating two men in a single swing.

I leapt into the fray, pumping Ki into my limbs, once more doubling my physical stats, and slammed my hand down in an arc. The heavy hand slammed down onto one of the men's chests, caving it in as it propelled him backward into a wall. As he lifted off the ground, the back of his shirt lifted backward with the force of energy ripping through his body. Two other men were blasted off their feet from the short explosion of Ki. Charles's sword flicked out, taking the head off of one of the fallen men, while I grabbed the last, slamming him into the wall with my hand around his throat.

“How many men are ahead?” I ask, calmly choking his voice off as he tries to yell.

“...eighty or so..” he manages to say coughing, as I relaxed my grip.

“Have you seen an Elven woman?” I asked coldly, “She would have come through in the last few hours.” I said, pressing him harder into the wall.

He looked between men and Charles and swallowed, “Uhh...Yea...Pretty one. Caern took her into the pens where they keep the high end goods. Probably wanted to try her out...” he said, a bit nervously.

I nodded, looking down the dark tunnel, and then back at him with a smile. “Thank you.” I said, snapping his neck, and tossing him away. Charles raised an eyebrow at me, but shrugged as he moved forward into the tunnels. The passageway along the riverfront had a few more 'drain rooms' filled with slavers. We cut them down two and three at a time, leaving the bodies of broken men and women in our wake. As we exited the smaller tunnels, we found ourselves staring into a huge black cavern filled with pillars. The smaller tunnels all emptied out here, and a ways back from the stone walls was an island formed around a fifty foot wide stone pillar. There were wooden structures built along the outside of it, and a stairway extended into the world above. There were dozens of armed men sitting around the entrance, and behind them were merchant stalls. At one side of the pillar a stone building was formed, part of it carved into the pillar itself. I could see magic woven into the stones.

I glanced toward the back of the island, at the stone building, and noticed people moving into the interior. As a large iron door opened, my acute senses caught sight of my mother bound in chains within. A large man in a grey cloak was holding a chain connected to a collar around her neck. He was smiling at someone, and laughing while my mother just stared out numbly. As she turned her face, I saw where someone had struck her, turning half of it black and blue.

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The stone cracked beneath me as I leapt forward, clearing the distance between the wall of the flood tunnel and the island in an instant. I could see the slavers look up moments before I rammed into one of them, my knee slamming into his chest and sending him flying through the air into the pillar at the center of the island. As an explosion of dust erupted from the stonework, I grabbed another slaver and spun around, knocking the others back in a whirlwind of motion.

Tossing the slaver away into the distance, I bolted toward the building in a flash. As I was about to reach the entrance fire erupted in front of me in a pillar of white and yellow. I was knocked backward, as fire washed over me, burning the flesh from my body. I focused through the pain, summoning a jet of water beneath me to wash away the fire on my body.

Ahead of me a woman in a red cloak held up her hand, fire burning white hot a few inches above her hand.

Path of Fire Learned: 10%

Spell Learned: Fire ResistanceThe first spell taught to new fire elementalists, this spell makes the user resistant to levels of heat dependent upon the level of the caster, and the amount of mana used.

Spell Learned: FireballA spell capable of generating an explosion of fire, the area and intensity of the spell is dependent on the amount of mana used.

My mind grasped at the patterns of magic swirling around the woman, and being emitted from her hands. She leapt into the air on wings of fire, raising her hands upward, before releasing another stream of fire at me. One of my hands extended and I released a jet of water like a geyser, pouring mana into the simple spell. Steam exploded a the point of contact, the water vaporizing instantly, spreading steam in a thick cloud across the island. People screamed as the steam washed over them, and in the steam extended outward, sustained by the potent magics in the air. I looked into the dense fog, sensing motion in the mist.

My magic reacted before I recognized what was happening. The ground suddenly exploded in fire and ash, a pillar of lava swirling around me several feet thick. A shield of light appeared around my body, creating a bubble of protection, draining my mana was the pillar of lava burned it away. At the heart of the fire, I hovered within a geyser of molten rock. Focusing my mana just beyond the edge of the shield, I created a jet of water, which vaporized explosively. The force pressed against the shield and the geyser, creating a massive explosion, and launching me toward the enemy mage as a bubble of golden light.

Time slowed once more as I approached red-cloaked woman hovering on wings of fire, my shield dropping as I gathered Ki to strike. The bubble left a trail of light behind me as I released the spell, raising my resistance to the fire itself. My fist glowed in a blue-white energy as I screamed, throwing a powerful punch.

The mage evaporated into flames as I struck her, reforming below me, while my momentum carried me into the stone pillar. My Ki strike hit the structure like a freight train, the energy piercing the solid rock, and sending ripples through the stone in a wave of force which erupted out the other side. I had a moment to register the mage's movement, before I was slammed from behind by another jet of fire.

I heard a high pitched scream, the intensity of the fire sounding like the call of a phoenix on the environment. The fire was hot enough to melt stone, and as I struggled to turn around the support pillar was melting over me. The force was pressing me into wall as the molten stone washed over me, blocking out the light. I could feel the weight of tonnes of stone solidifying around me, locking me in place as it cooled. My strength didn't seem enough to budge the stone, and I was left immobile and trapped.

I couldn't breath in the rock, but I slowly regenerated my mana, as my flesh mended from where the fire had melted it from my bones. My senses extended outward, and even through the stone I could hear my mother screaming. I began to summon mana into a dense fire around me, the rock once more becoming fluid. I heated it hotter and hotter, until the rock turned white hot, and then released another geyser of water. The wall of the pillar exploded as the water superheated within it, sending a wash of debris into the fog filled area. White hot magma fell in waves as I rushed into the fray once more.

The mage looked startled as I came at her again, her body turning into living flames as I struck at her. Her form shifted below me, and as I twisted my body in mid air, I released another geyser of water. Her body was slammed into the ground, the flames of her wings snuffed out as she struggled to dislocate again. As the water pressure began backing against me, time slowed once more. I pulled my hand back and released a single breath. My hand struck the pillar of water with a crack, sending a wave of ki through it. I poured my ki into the strike, and the pillar split in a wash of blue light. The mage at the bottom let out a scream as the ki energy rippled through her body, causing organs to rupture, as her body was smashed into the ground.

As time returned to normal speed, I fell to the ground, turning my attention toward Caern. The tall brute pulled back the hood of his gray cloak, and glared at me. A sword appeared in his hand, and he suddenly smiled. He turned at the hip, his blade flicking back, aimed at my mother's neck.

“NOOOOOO!” I screamed, launching myself forward but realizing I was too far away, my hand extended uselessly.

The moment before Caern's blade struck, a flying sword hit him in the chest, impaling him. His body lifted off of the ground, and crashed into the wall inside the building, where it dragged him through the wall...at least parts of him. His upper body separated at the chest, his lower body falling to the ground. I stared at Caern's dead body confused, until Charles appeared in the doorway. He walked over to the enforcer's dead body, and wrenched the longsword from the wall, and wiping it clean with the tattered remains of the dead man's cloak. Jasmine started trembling, gazing around her as I approached. Upon seeing me emerging from the fog, she let out a shriek.

“BABY!” my mother yelled, running to wrap me in a hug. As her arms closed around me I realized that I was once more butt naked, the battle having destroyed the mundane cloth. Oddly the leather satchel and belt I got from the Adventurer's guild was still intact. My magic senses extended outward, until I caught sight of a table at the back of the room, across from a stairway leading upward. On top of the table were piles of bound papers with the same glimmer of magic from before. At the top of the pile was a document with Jasmine's name on it...Brax had sold my mother.

As I tore myself from my mother's grasp, and approached the table, I heard the sound of armored men coming down the stairwell from the building above. I considered continuing my path of destruction through the building above, but discarded the thought. There were innocent people caged up there who could get caught in the crossfire, and I needed to get my mother to safety. I opened up the fabrication system, and closed the tunnel by fusing the walls together. Turning my attention to the papers began tearing them apart, the magics infusing them sundered in my grasp. Each document I tore released a sharp explosive crack. I couldn't free those people up there right now, but I could end the control over their minds, and let the chips fall where they may.

As I turned around, Charles held out a thin brown robe. Not asking where he got it from, I pulled it over my head and followed him as he lead my mother and I back out of this hell hole.