CHAPTER 6
THE SIXTH ENTRY IN THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MASON COURBIS
"All Hell Broke Loose"
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The man standing behind me suddenly lunged forward and made to stab me through the heart with the knife he had been concealing within his robes. Serin, who was standing in front of me, opened her mouth in an attempt to exclaim something, but ended up just letting out a small cry of surprise and fear as she backed away from the situation.
All seemed lost for a moment, until I swiftly, and just barely, dodged the assassin's attack. I could tell he wasn't expecting it, as I was able to briefly catch a glimpse of his shocked and confused expression out of the corner of my eye. Normally, avoiding such an attack would be near-impossible, given his close proximity and the fact he was completely out of my sight. Luckily for me, however, I had a significant advantage; moments before, I had somehow managed to form a small invisible field around his weapon in an effort to detect it. I concentrated, maintained the field, and miraculously managed to retain an acute awareness of the weapon's physical location, as if I was able to feel the dagger in the air with some sort of sixth sense. Moments before I knew the dagger would puncture my skin, I side-stepped; I felt the dagger catch on my tunic and tear a hole into it. As he began to stumble, I managed to take hold of his forearm with both hands. I gave his wrist a hard twist, wrenched the knife from his grasp, and proceeded to pull him forward using his own momentum. My right hand pulled his arm back as I slammed my left elbow into his shoulder blade, inevitably forcing him to the floor on the threat of a broken arm. He let out a winded grunt as his face impacted upon the smooth stone.
I could tell that this wasn't the end of it, however, as I heard a single set of hard, panicked footfalls heading away from the situation. I glanced up and saw one of the butlers sprinting towards the Eastern windows, clearly making an attempt to break through one and escape. I was much too occupied with holding one assailant, I knew handling another would be beyond my capabilities; I grit my teeth, and called out.
"Serin, restrain him!"
I was banking on something I picked up from my days playing tabletop games, and perhaps a little too heavily on luck. Given the circumstances, I was grossly aware that this was as far away as possible from the time to be gambling. Unfortunately, that's just what my brain felt was the best decision at the time.
It would seem that luck was on my side, however, as Serin snapped into action, and was able to do what I hoped she would; her expression turned serious, her eyes glowed just slightly, and she began to chant something swiftly. She held out her hands in front of her with just two fingers raised on each, and suddenly released some sort of energy directed at the man I was restraining. I felt something wash over his body, and for a moment, I saw the outlines of his muscles pulse with a bright, fiery light through his skin and clothing to an extent. As I felt his body go stiff, I knew that he'd been paralyzed; Hold Person was a success. I turned my full attention towards the man trying to escape and began to focus my energy once more. I was already feeling a bit light-headed from the small amount of magic I'd been able to cast thus far, but I knew that I had to do something. My brain began to race as a plan took form.
Humidity. I cast a wide net, as big as the room, and held out my hand palm-up for a moment. I envisioned particles of water in the air— not that I could actually feel them, but I suppose it's the thought that counts when it comes to magic.
Liquid. I held it for a half second, then closed my hand into a tight fist; the net condensed into one concentrated area on the floor in front of the runner, and pulled the water particles into a body of water. The mental gymnastics required to create one small puddle were astounding.
Slapstick. None the wiser, the escaping butler promptly slipped on the wet floor, and comically fell flat onto his face; he slid a couple feet forward.
Freeze. There was a split second when his hands and face were on the floor and covered in water. All I had to do was stop the atoms within the water from moving around. Simple, right? I was still holding my hand in a tight fist in order to help me visualize a grip over the water. Instinctively, I pulled my hand back and sharply inhaled as if attempting to physically pull the heat from the water. I could feel a bit of tingling in my hand, as if it were being lightly licked with small puffs of warm air. I wasn't exactly sure if it had worked until I heard a horrified shout escape from my captive; the skin of his face had been frozen to the floor.
I was breathing a bit heavily at this point. I felt slightly drunk, a bit dizzy, my vision was blurry, and I could feel my stomach starting to churn, but I managed to blurt out another command.
"Soras! Get the staff moving! We have spies!"
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I couldn't really tell what Soras did in response, but I heard him start shouting, and I could tell the staff was moving. I let out a soft chuckle at that as a small half-grin spread across my face. I rolled off of the robed man I'd taken down, and sat on the floor cross-legged with my head in my hands.
Surely I'd done my part.
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A good deal of time passed after that where I simply sat there, breathing. I was doing my best to meditate, and found that it seemed to be helping moderately. At some point, a servant approached in order to offer me a glass of water; I accepted with little more than a nod and a soft grunt. After sitting in the room for a bit too long, I felt a bit of moisture pooling under my nose. When I reached up to wipe it away, I found that it was blood.
"Ah. Yes. There's no humidity in here."
I almost wanted to laugh, if I didn't feel that it would upset the fragile balance within my stomach. Tentatively, I pushed myself to my feet and moved to head back towards the library I had been in earlier that day. The sun had already set by the time Serin approached me again. I pulled myself together and looked up to her with a weak grin and a raised brow.
"... So. Interesting first day." I let out a soft chuckle. Serin sighed at that, and sat down upon a couch across from me.
"... Yes, I suppose that's one way to put it." She brought a single hand up to hold her forehead as if she felt a migraine coming on. Or perhaps she already had one. I just shook my head.
"... I meant no disrespect earlier, with what I said about the artifacts you offered me. I apologize if I offended you." She dropped her hand at that in order to look me in the eye with a serious expression.
"Honestly, Mason Courbis, that is the last thing I am concerned about right now, given the circumstances." She paused at that, sighed, then continued. "... Though I appreciate the sentiment." She frowned and shook her head as she let her gaze fall down to her lap. "... I hate to ask it, but I am not entirely sure what else there is to do. After all this, I am left with nothing but a single question."
"What's that?" I rested my chin upon my fist, as if I were The thinker.
"... What now? I had a list of items to cover, but I wasn't prepared for this... I am no strategist, either. I had planned to have you work with warriors and tacticians in order to plot out your battles against Xoul, but... Now I am not so sure." She felt silent, and I simply hummed to myself for a moment.
"... How many people are aware?" Serin blinked once as I said that and looked up to me.
"... Aware of what?"
"Aware of me. Of my existence. Aside from the man who saved me, Bollard or somesuch."
"Boltred Chainbreaker."
"Yes, the one and only." I nodded.
"None, specifically." Serin let out a soft sigh and let her hands fall to her lap. "Not even Boltred fully understands what it is that has transpired. He only understood that Kinn may die, and that someone else who speaks a foreign language would replace him. The people of Grandhaven are vaguely aware that Outcast House Xirai'Kuur had devised "something" to combat Xoul, but they are not entirely aware of what." She paused for a moment after saying this, then sighed heavily and grasped her head.
"... Perhaps this is how Xoul knew to plant spies within my staff."
"Perhaps," I said with a shrug. "Or perhaps they were here from the very beginning. Who's to say, really." Serin just nodded weakly at that and let out a soft groan. I offered her a weak smile and a soft chuckle.
"... I'm sure everything's going to work out fine. It's relatively straight-forward what needs to happen now, isn't it?" I tipped my head to the side as I said this. Serin lifted her head in confusion and raised a brow at me.
"... What do you mean?"
"You already had a plan of what to do. Let's have it; if you lay it out, we can pick the things from it that are still relevant, and the things we need to revise. Things rarely ever go all according to plan. If we want to succeed, we have to adapt to what can't be accounted for." I raised both my eyebrows at her and offered a small shrug. "Otherwise we'll stagnate. And eventually, accept defeat. Do you need time to recover before we go over the plan?"
She paused for a moment at this, and searched my eyes as if she were trying to discern my motives. She squinted, let out a soft sigh, then closed her eyes and shook her head.
"... I do not understand... What sort of person you must have been in your past life to approach your new one in this way. If it were me, I am certain that I would not be capable of dealing with this sort of pressure." Her words pulled a soft laugh out of me, and this time I shook my own head.
"Well... It's not the first time I've gotten into a fight. Even with knives. The magic was new, though, I have to admit that." I paused for a moment and chuckled. "... To be honest, at some point I kinda stopped thinking about things here as if they're real. I'm just accepting it all so that I don't break down and freak out. Given the circumstances... I figure there's time to think about everything later. If I want to get to that point though, I've got to focus on surviving first. It just seems to be how the world works." I offered her the most sincere grin I could muster, but I'm sure that she saw the fear in my eyes. It had been there since the moment I had awoken in this world; it was mind-boggling to think that it had only been but a few hours ago. Serin stared at me for a moment before simply closing her eyes and holding her head once more.
"... I believe you are right. I am finding it difficult, but I will try to do the same." She exhaled sharply at that and nodded her head once. When she lowered her hand once more, she looked up at me with a fierce expression.
I could feel her determination.
At least, I think it was determination. It is a very bizarre experience when one feels another's' emotions, akin to enthusiastically taking a bite out of an off-brand version of one of your favorite foods by mistake.
However, it was with this feeling that we proceeded to go over our plans for the immediate future, and beyond: with some sort of off-brand determination.