Stillness radiated in the field. Outside an occasional breeze, there was very little noise. Only at such a moment did Jessica realize it was utterly quiet of nearly all natural sounds. With such a realization, she could close her eyes and hear a peaceful sonata of silence. However, at this moment, there was no tranquility inside her mind.
Not being able to discover, she wasn’t the only one in that situation. Unlike her, most of the others didn’t have a mind to care for Leo’s existence. What is important to them, were decision and mindset of the Will of the World. The majority of her decisions made changes to the landscape of the continent. How this decision would come into play in the future was unknown. Never in history had there been an Ever under Grade S. Let alone, someone Grade E, so far below.
Now to break that very record, a being not of this world. Nobody knew exactly where Leo’s soul came from. Only Jessica, Elizabeth, Izic, and Leo himself currently knew he was from a completely different type of world. While everyone else needed to infer his affiliation, all they could reasonably gather was that this was a new type of being. The best conclusion they would come to were a dead man’s soul being attracted to the sword for a second life as a new being entirely. In conclusion, with Izic’s terrible personality, best case scenario.
Finally, a rumbling could be felt. A power that pushed all Evers, including Everblood. Unbound power, pushing them to one knee, pressed down on them. From there, nobody looked back up. Bowing ceremonially out of respect. Power drained from Stephen. Everyone could feel a foreign yet familiar power rush out as it entered, the two by his side.
“This draws today's gathering to an end.” Emotionlessly, a voice without agitation or satisfaction.”
Soon, the pressure that once held everything down disappeared. No sooner had everyone raised to their feet was mana spiraling around. As promptly it appeared, it was destroyed. Coughing up a mouthful of blood, staring daggers, “You wi…”
Before more could escape, Everhope come to his side and slapped him in the face. Falling to the ground, his front was covered by the man who had just slapped him. Visibly and completely, looking down at the man, “Enough.” Turning in the middle to look at Everwind.
Loki chuckled lightly, an enigmatic man forever switching between a scoundrel one second before a gentleman the next. Standing to Everwind’s side, he simply watched with glee as the elf struggled to stand. While no war had raged on the continent for thousands of years. Goblins and humans were both races born for what history told was war. Fighting between humans and goblins was forever ongoing.
Goblin king along with Everhope were constantly sending their heinous criminals through to the other side. Both telling the other it was simply a rogue individual. This had been going on since the beginning of time. Forever enemies. As for Everwind, he didn’t particularly have anything against Everhope. Instead, he simply hated elves. The last war blazed, razing anything in between. Number of dead reached shocking numbers by simple or despicable means.
At some unknown time, Everblood had left a patch of crimson grass beneath his feet. As for where he went, nobody could tell. Giving them a once over, “Come Beast, it is time for you to return with me. In the coming years, you will take my mantle and become the new Evercraft.”
Hesitation was all over his face. Even his seemingly crafty glances at Leo had long since disappeared. His interest had waned in this moment. Stephen looked at his friend and smiled, “Go on and get out of here.”
Wanting to open his mouth, nothing came out. Forcibly taking his shoulder, Evercraft took a deep breath, a second later, an explosion of mana caused Jessica’s heart to skip a beat. Disappearing alongside any residual mana. Akin to an optical illusion, Jessica found it impossible to tell anyone had just been standing there.
What could be felt, something was horribly wrong. Turning, she saw Loki and Ken watching from the side, while Everhope and the unnamed elf kept to themselves without turning around to leave. Her heart was pounding, at that moment she didn’t need dragon blood to know something was wrong. This time there was no overwhelming despair. A sense of normality returned as her training kicked in. Staring around looking for an exit, she started to frown uncontrollably. She didn’t know how it would be possible to escape.
Jessica believed he could fight off Everhope. They were both Evers. While having no conclusive evidence, he was her dad, therefore she believed in him wholeheartedly. However, he didn’t just need to fight off Everhope. She couldn’t face or even stall the elf, so this was a battle of two against one. Turning to look at Loki he met her eyes giving her hope. Soon everything came crashing to down on her head. Both of them shock their head lightly.
Their relationship wasn’t deep to begin with. While antagonistic to both sides. Animosity filled the air with tension. A fight about to breakout wasn’t so simple. Suddenly, her mind stuttered as she felt a warm embrace. Not understand what just happened, she wanted to panic before smelling the earthly scent of the old man. Before she could understand anything, “I love you. Izic do it.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Before anyone could react, a man appeared behind Jessica, and they were then gone. There was no mana, no outburst, as if their existence had been erased by the world itself. A sword appeared in Everwood’s hands. Beautifully crafted, green blade of unknown material. The blade itself was only around two to three feet long. Curving ever so slightly near the tip.
Instantly, everything changed. What was once a simple meadow turned into a cold and distant mountain. An object so abundant and large that nature itself simply refused any blaspheme. Unapproachable, unattainable, every bit as majestic. However, reality was different. Of five, four were Evers. Only person being bound by this scene was a nameless elf that didn’t know its place. At this moment, just breathing became a complicated endeavor.
Almost destroying the solemn standoff, Loki couldn’t help laugh with glee, while even Ken also had a complicated smile on his face. Every two or three seconds, a spasm would release itself as the elf tried to stand or do anything. A standoff between Everhope and Everwood continued for a few seconds before the two disappeared as they appeared to collide in between their previous positions. All that was felt was a wind that threaten to slice through any and everyone that was there.
Sadly, possibly fortunately, only people that were enjoying this scene wouldn’t succumb to such offshoot strands of power escaping the battlefield. Strangely enough, neither did the mysterious meadow. With slight cuts appearing on the ground. Within seconds, they too disappeared as everything returned to normal.
Everhope was wielding an unusually sized gladius styled sword. A bit longer than usually seen, his moves lacked finesse, while there was a strong stability. Currently, he was trying to keep up and stop himself from being cut through. Slowly, falling behind, he could feel the weight and timing of these strikes increasing.
Everwood had been even moving slower than Everhope. Seeing this caused Loki to pause before turning to Ken. Without turning to look at his companion, “Everwood, specializes in battlefields. He might appear to be a cultured and refined swordsman. That is a big lie, his style is bloody and meant for slaughtering as many as possible on a battlefield.”
As they watched with waning glee, as Everwood focused on the battle, the once struggling elf now started to stand under the pressure. This didn’t cause any changes in Everwoods style, while originally slow and filled with twist and turns started to morph. A style fit for a battlefield was slowly taking shape. By this time there were a few cuts starting to appear on Everhope. This wasn’t because he was weak, on the contrary. Him still being alive could only be a miracle.
Everwood had been alive as long as Everwind. In terms of seniority, they weren’t as old as Everblood. However, next to most Evers they were along the lines of the old. Loki Everwar was the youngest genuine Ever. While Everhope was at best, middle-aged compared to the two. Humans didn’t have much to speak of in terms of physical aspects. Elves had far superior bodies and minds when it came to fighting. They just didn’t have the ambition, if left alone it was very possible people would likely forget elves even existed.
Having fought on many battlefields, Everhope struggled to take his position as the human Ever. He was a cut above most, since humans were constantly in conflict with not just themselves, they were constantly fighting. His age was generally made him a monster. That was until Everwar appeared. His raising was swift, without anyone being ready or even noticing his existence.
Unfortunately, there hadn’t been a war since he became an Ever. Battles and conflicts were devastating and could destroy the world of countless. A war was different. A battle could be escaped or avoided. Similar to a fire in a drought, a war spread in the night and day without end. It was an atmosphere that plagued the living like a sickness. Slowly infecting a finger until it harvested a soul, one being killing two. From there, the sickness spread to the loved ones of the deceased.
The only way to awaken and cure one self of this mental plague was by destruction. One had to destroy to stop war. Fundamentally different on so many levels. Everwind’s words spread through the meadow, causing everyone unknowingly to suspect his words to be false. Only as time went on did it become clear his words were short and sweet, directly to the point.
Momentum had been built on his earlier actions. Having time to attack in the beginning, at this moment, Everhope found it difficult to do anything but defend. One attack became two, following a third. Positioning each strike to use every action of their total sum to his advantage. What was once a fight became a bloody play. Feeling as if every action taken was planned and guided by your opponent, devastating one’s mind. After a period of five minutes, Everhope had started to question if what he was doing was him or if Everwood had gained control of him.
Ever was an Ever for a reason. Tiny, minute changes were brought out that caused slight deviations to Everwood’s actions. The momentum building started to stall, soon losing bits here or there. No happiness could be seen on his face, however. What was created in such a situation wasn’t an advantage, instead, breathing room. Gritting his teeth, he could only shout hoarsely behind him, “Hurry up and get on your feet!”
An Ever wasn’t just an empty title. No matter how outstanding he was. A man such as Everhope even had the title and couldn’t fight on equal terms with Everwood. How then was he supposed to help in this situation without being an Ever. Standing was difficult, his movements were staggered and rusty. His entire body felt like it was covered in a wet blanket. Ever gave one authority of the Will of the World. While not giving them real power, their power had an essence of the Will of the World.
Sounding simple, however, authority wasn’t something that could be ignored by will. Authority was an overwhelming power that drained a person from fighting or going against. Physically it had no real power, and yet still it could cause waves in the world that could crush you. Dissimilar to an empty title, this authority was added into mana causing physical sensations of what normal authority could cause.
One could easily ignore normal authority and do something. Thinking about an action and the consequences was the true power of authority. It couldn’t stop an action outright. Authority worked as a deterrent. However, what happened here was authority being physically wielded to force the elf to deal with an attack to the mind as if he was stuck in a loop of countless situations playing through his head. Forcing his psyche to scream and warn him from acting. Literally turning his will against himself.