Chapter 15: Despair
The border of Shura, Vamon, Earth 2018, Vamon 1027 AD
I was pretty satisfied with how things were going. Even though at some point i want to go out and see the world, at the moment things were going great. I became stronger by the day thanks to masters training and the girls were content as well. Mia in the end made the soul contract. What was interesting is that it doesn’t have to be a tree you make the contract with. My master seemed to know quiet a lot he gave her a magical flower called Moonlight. Named obviously because it had the color of moonlight. Ever seen moonlight shine into a room through a window? That breathtaking play of colors? Exactly like that.
Moonlight was a powerful magic plant that contained a huge amount if elemental water and earth energy. With the help of her Moonlight she could make miracles come true with her healing magic. I have seen her bring a bird that was on the brink of death back to life like nothing happened. It was astounding. But it wasn’t meant to last. I still curse myself for that day. If i had payed more attention or… well it is useless to fret on the past. On that day i was out catching dinner for me, master and Caro. Mia had no need to eat as long as her Moonlight got enough nutrients it would supply Mia with everything she needed.
I was in the woods following a young deer that seemed perfect for dinner. Suddenly a gust of wind and: “Massssssterrrrr therrrrre arrrrrre eneeeeemysssssss.” Tempest warned me as the first frost lance was about to hit me. A quick Shadowstep and i jumped to the next tree. Hiding in its shadows i survey the area. My senses sharpened to its highest i could make out 4 presences of considerable strength.
What the hell? Well when someone attacks me there is no need for mercy. My newly acquired skill shadow travel should do me some favors here. Yes it is exactly as it sounds it lets me travel through the shadows. I close my eyes feel all the shadows around me which gets way easier because i have an emperor of darkness helping me. How to describe it? It was like my skin got thousands of times bigger. I could feel everything that was happening within the shadows.
And with a thought i arrived behind the one who fired at me first. I form a blade of winds around my arm and with a swift strike severe the head. Huh? A human? Won’t stop me. A blade of wind flew towards me through the trees from my left. A thought and tempest dispersed it. Shit they can track me somehow. Lets make this quick. I jump from shadow to shadow avoiding wind blades and strikes of lightning. Lightning really is hard to dodge. At least the idiots don’t try to use fire spells.
I appear behind the second one and he attempts to form a shield. No time for this. “Shadow cancel.” I cancel his spell and quickly stab his heart. Two down. The third didn’t even have time to react. “Shadow spike.” Three down. The forth tried to retreat. Wait a minute. That’s the direction of home. Why does he want to retreat there? Shit i have a bad feeling about this. Lending speed from Tempest i storm at maximum speed home. Two seconds: i am behind the last mage. His head came off before he could even shout. And on.
I rush through the woods. Trees fly by at a frightening speed and the winds i produce tear apart any obstacle. I jump out of the woods towards the small wooden cottage. Only that there was no more cottage only smoking ruins. I stand there in shock. All gone. When i suddenly hear a silent moan. I rush towards a hardly moving body next to the cottage. No i can’t be. No way. I arrive next to my master who was lying in his own blood. His ears were burned off and there was hardly anything left of his beard. Short and ragged breath could be heard but it was clear that there was not much life left within him. I could feel the tears running down my cheeks.
The evidence of intense fighting was clear everywhere. Burned patches of grass, holes in the ground it must have been intense. Shit. Suddenly i hear the weak voice of my master. “Asura.. my boy. They…. have…. Mia.” hacked and hardly audible he tried to speak. “Master please hold on i’ll get Mia and you will be okay.” “No…. i…. i…. am too old. It’s….alright .. my… boy… humans… Mia… I …sorry.” His eyes were about to close and my heart was about to be torn apart. Please oh please no. With his last effort he opened his eyes again: “Don’t… be… consumed…you… are … a… good…” with that the light in his eyes broke.
Master… There are not many people who were good to me since coming here. Master was one of them. He and Sensei were more my parents than that scumbag of a king. Darkness and wind were condensing around me forming a maelstrom destroying everything in sight. I was spiraling further and further into despair and the more i did the more my rage built up. I had a lot of rage even from my previous life. You want to mess with me humans? Wait for me. I will come for you and when i do i hope you have said your prayers even though they won’t help you.
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Galvin had a bad mood. Three days ago himself and the men under his command had to accompany the great Sage Argus von Hohenturm on a mission. It seems there was an old beastman who had been stealing from caravans that traveled near the border. It was never much but the caravan leaders were fed up with it and gave a request of removal to the magic academy. The academy would for a decent fee of course take on request from merchants or nobles or so one. They said it kept their skills and gave them some money to run their magic academy. As if the biggest academy for magic in the entire world needed the extra money. Nobles were putting in unbelievable amounts of money into that institute to get their children enrolled. You either graduate from the royal institute of magic or you actually don’t have to graduate at all. It had that much prestige.
The capital Vamos was located near the border anyway and it seems the great sage was bored. The stalemate between demons and humans led to him having nothing to do but be on standby in case of an attack. So he took some of his students and decided to answer the request of removal from the merchants. Little did he know what awaited him was no ordinary beastman. That old cat was something else.
They arrived near the place where all the stealing happened and after casting a spell of detection the sage quickly led the group towards a small wooden cottage. Before we arrived sir Argus said to four of his students: “It seems another one of those creatures lives here but left. He is about 1 mile to the east, go and get rid of him.” With that for of the mages split off towards the east.
That left the great sage, two of his pupils and Galvin’s twenty men. They thought when they arrived they could quickly get rid of the beast by burning down the cottage. But they were wrong. While they were still looking at the burning cottage a scream from behind and one of the soldiers collapsed bleeding. And the chaos began.
The three mages immediately raised an earth platform to get themselves to safety but the soldiers were not so lucky. Withing seconds three other soldiers died a quick death all killed with frightening precision. They hardly could even see their attacker. It was like fighting a ghost. But Galvin was a veteran. He had fought demons and beastkin alike and he wouldn’t loose his cool. Forming the rest of his men into a circle he was actually able to block the next attack. That surprisingly came from within their circle. From their shadows to be precise.
But Galvin had excellent reflexes. As soon as he felt a sharp pain under his arm he threw himself to the side slashing with his sword behind him. He heard the sound of metal hitting metal and a surprised: “hooo someone who can actually fight?” But before he could see his assaultant it vanished again.
“BACK TO BACK.” Within breaths all soldiers stood back to back. A few meters away from them an old werecat with a big white and a white robe appeared a few meters from them. He was panting, seems like all that action did take his toll. Suddenly a rain of fireballs came towards the old cat but he dodged them all and vanished again. But it seemed the great sage title was not just for show. The rubble that flew into the air from the fire explosions suddenly shot into every direction and with a shout the old beastman reappeared a few meters away from his original position.
He was bleeding and before he could move another fireball flew from the earth platform hitting straight down. Galvin could hear a “That’s that.” as the earthen platform came back to the ground. That same moment a shout could be heard from the cottage and a Dryad came running towards the fallen body of the old beastman. But with a “humph” the sage shot some lightning hitting the Dryad who fell unconscious.
Before the great mage could finish her off Galvin interfered: “Sir Argus please excuse my rudeness. Please do not kill this Dryad! Her kind is extremely valuable on the market and i want to compensate the families of the fallen soldiers.” The mage lowered his arm and answered: “Sure. Take her. It was my miscalculation that we had casualties in the first place.” Which brings us back to Galvins current situation.
He was now sitting in the barracks near the edge of town. And he could still hear the annoying crying from the prison even though it was an entire floor below him. The barracks were a pretty simple building, two floors quiet big separated into a prison on the underground floor and living quarters for the soldiers on ground level. All the four barracks around the four town gates were set up the same way. Galvin would have to wait another day before the slave market would open so that meant another day without sleep.
That damn Dryad would not stop crying! It was annoying and he was worried. The four mages dispatched to get rid of the beastkin that left the cottage they attacked… they never returned. So the sage decided that town would be safer than waiting in the wild. Oh well since he is back in the barracks there was nothing for him to worry about. With that thought his mood improved and he poured some more wine into his cup. Just… what was that sticking out of his chest? He died before he could figure it out.