----------------------------------------
1.8
----------------------------------------
Pineskeep was a small village.
With only half a thousand years of history, this small picturesque getaway was a lazy little retreat in the middle of the Wood Clan’s territory. A peaceful spot too far away from everything and anyone of importance. A village meant to be the quintessential picturesque embodiment of everyday life.
A perfect little village.
Its inhabitants were perfectly balanced.
Neither too old, nor too young. Their number neither too high, nor too small.
The trees from which their buildings and homes were carved were neither short, nor were they the titanic skyscrapers of the Royal Capital, where climbing such trees was seen as a suicidal test of courage. Pineskeep was but a tiny bud in the middle of the Wood Clans’ great sprawling garden.
No different than every other Elf Village to have ever graced the Greenhold.
Some were smaller.
Some were larger.
Neither towns or cities. Elf villages took a while to germinate and find their own place amongst the garden, like flowers which only bloomed once every year, the greatest of elvish communities grew around massive pillar trees, the roots of its inhabitants growing around the pillar itself as steadily, more and more inhabitants were born and more and more common ground was found between them.
An elvish town was a work of art.
Or rather, one could say it was the result of careful planning over the course of generations meant to foster the identity and role that the village is to play in society. Whether as mages, craftsmen, or warriors, it was only a matter of time until this phenomenon took place and a village became acknowledged as a town proper.
Pineskeep was a small village.
Because it was small, nothing was expected from it.
Because nothing was expected, none paid attention to it.
Because none cared for it… no one noticed.
That Pineskeep was burning.
----------------------------------------
The embers spread from the roots.
The leaves where the first to burn, as were the shrubs and bushes. The acrid smell of smoke in the wind carrying over the village as the trees groaned and crackled, flames licking at the bark as the massive beast trotted closer to the buildings, soft dirt igniting and leaving deep black scorch marks as the monster’s hooves pressed deeper, burning and sizzling with a hiss of steam.
A mana beast unlike any the locals had ever seen.
It was larger, stronger, the oppressive feeling of its domain washing over them as the air slowly thinned and choked those who failed to contest its hold on the mana they so dearly needed to leave. Those few who could scrambled to put together a defense line as the Guards lept to action from their barracks, faint blue lights forming into arrows and spears as they charged the beast.
In the distance, a tree toppled, thundering on the fleeing elves' ears as the Beast’s mane of flames roared like a furnace, spreading embers to the farthest, highest branches of their carved homes.
Jasmine could feel it.
The beast’s will poured over them like a wave, a rushing current that few could move in, let alone breath, parents staggered towards their children, carrying them to safety as their own breaths grew ragged, mana growing thin with the approach of the wildfire. Her own will pressed against the tide, holding for the moment as the burst through the door of the meeting room.
And cursed.
“What happened?” The Governor was conscious, thankfully, but some of the others Village Heads had fainted from the shock of the beast’s arrival. Slumped against their seats, two of the other elders lay unconscious but unharmed. The Head of Spellcrafting and the Governor having somehow avoided the same fate.
Jasmine’s mind whirred to life.
“Mana Beast, big one. Coming from the south. Wildfire spreading from the entry point.” Her words came clipped. She couldn’t waste breath talking when every bit of mana was priceless. Her senses might have been dulled, but she could feel the Beast’s taint growing stronger as the temperature raised.
Her boss looked surprised, before his lips pursued.
“The village?”
Jasmine took a ragged breath. The pressure was holding for now.
“Evacuating, the guards are holding their ground.” The only reason why the village hadn’t been completely overtaken by the Beast’s domain, their control over mana clashing wasn’t at the same level as a dedicated Spellcrafter, but put together they were holding the worst of its effect at bay.
“My apprentices-”
The Governor put his hand on the other Elder’s shoulder.
“Will be fine. Ms. Jasmine?”
“Sir?” Her back straightened. This was no time for pettiness.
“You were Aspen’s second. Can you buy time?”
A pit opened where her stomach should be. Of all things she was expecting him to ask, for her to leave was at the bottom of the list. In fact, she expected the cowardly bureaucrat to beg her to drag him away from danger first. She’d been ready to drag his unconscious body if need be.
“Caladium! What are you saying?”
The governor pulled himself up right with a hiss of pain. Hands trembling as he gripped the sweat stained vest he’d been wearing beneath his cloak. If it was difficult for her to breath, she couldn’t imagine how badly he must be feeling.
“We evacuate. You will help the guard.”
The younger elf considered it.
If it was the two Elders, they would be able to carry the other two to safety. And the more time she could buy fighting alongside the guards, the better the village’s odds at retreating.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Jasmine sighed.
It would seem she underestimated the man.
“Understood.”
Leaping through the nearest window, she felt the currents of hot air brush past her vest as she plummeted towards the ground, blue light gathering underneath her feet, her own mana rushing downwards as the construct took form.
Gather.
Shape.
Carry.
Fly.
Two small wings emerged from the sides of her shoes, plumes of see through blue light flapping lazily as she kicked off the air, the force of the spell pushing her up and through a column of flame as she surveyed the battlefield, soaring over the fleeing villagers and towards the column of flames and blue light.
The boar squealed in fury, tusks slashing through a nearby tree as a barrage of mana arrows peppered the side of its face.
The battle had only begun.
----------------------------------------
Ghoti took a deep breath, feeling the Vita thrum within himself pleasantly as he stretched by the river bank.
They’d been following it back to the village for a few hours now and while the human couldn’t say he was fully recovered from all the running around and fighting they did, he could say with confidence that if Mr. Piggy showed up like last time, he wasn’t gonna just stop at wrestling the damn thing.
He was gonna make himself some bacon!
‘Can you even eat Mana Beasts?’
He hadn’t asked Hemlock and Basil if they could, and it probably would be all but inedible to him if what he heard about the damn things having so much mana in their bodies. He’d have to wait weeks to see if the poisonous taint would leave the food, and even then he might still need to use the toilet afterwards.
Humans just weren’t built for handling mana.
And he’d been lucky to be wearing his armor when he was brought to… wherever the Greenhold was.
Another mystery for him to follow.
Mana Beasts… weren’t something he had fought in the past.
He knew Familiars, avatars of the Elementals who possessed the living, warped their bodies and wielded powerful mana in the absence of their progenitors. Much of the year was spent hunting down and killing whatever Familiars had been left behind from the previous winter, to cull their numbers and bring down the amount of mana in the countryside so folks could get to work.
The Elementals didn’t wake up every Winter.
But that didn’t mean they knew exactly what caused them to wake up and wreck their land and attack their cities.
And its not like killing them ever solved any issue.
They were mana.
Pure mana that inhabited the earth, water, the very air they breathed. Living natural disasters. Unlike their familiars, who needed living vessels. An increase in the number of Familiars meant that an Elemental was close to awakening, and depending on which type it was, they might be able to predict which Elemental and where it would be coming from.
These Mana Beasts were similar to the Familiars.
But different.
Familiars were puppets, these Beasts behaved like normal animals. Familiars didn’t heal either, they were drones controlled by the Elementals they descended from, and their bodies, once destroyed, released the mana stored inside.
There was also one more vital difference.
Neither Elementals, nor their Familiars, had a drop of Vita in their bodies.
These Beasts, and the Elves themselves had both Vita and Mana somehow coexisting inside them. Though the former were wildly unbalanced, to the point he barely could feel their Vita beneath the weight of all the mana their bodies was stuffed with.
Both the Pig and the Turkey had Vita in their bodies.
‘So they must be alive.’ Not husks possessed by an unreasoning entity.
He was glad they weren’t the same.
The elves… or Wood Clan, had been good to him, even if they were strange folks who couldn’t decide whether to act like they were old or young. Taking him in, guiding him, fixing his wounds, and giving him food. Welcoming him into their home even though they barely knew each other.
Had they been enemies.
Ghoti didn’t want to think about it.
Hadn’t he noticed the Vita inside Hemlock, would he have killed him back at the forest?
‘It didn’t come to that.’ He reassured himself.
He wasn’t the only one whose company he’d come to enjoy either. Though he hadn’t had much time to interact with Captain Aspen, he found he enjoyed her company. Her no-nonsense way of dealing with issues and adherence to formality reminded him of his teacher.
Basil was like every other teenager he’d ever seen, only he was older than most elders he’d ever seen.
It was fun to banter with him.
The less said about the physician, the better. Even if she was a tad… unorthodox, she still was a medic, and if the life he lead taught him anything, is that you needed to treasure and respect the ones who put you together.
“You appear pensive.”
Speak of the demon and she will appear.
“Do I?” Looking over his shoulder, the physician looked as impassive as always.
“Yes, I was lead to believe that you had an outspoken disposition. Are you sure this isn’t the sign of a possible ailment?” Leaning over him, Ghoti doubted the woman had any concept for personal space, her eyes gleamed with an inquisitive need to know and understand, her Vita pulsed with a burning desire that hadn’t abated even after he answered some of her questions.
It only calmed before flaring up again.
She was just that ravenous.
“Not ill, Zinnia.”
She hummed, not looking pleased at his answer.
“What about you? You always seem pensive.”
The physician chuckled softly.
“Yes, I suppose I do. This trip has been most… invigorating. It has been some time since I’ve been part of an expedition.” Settling beside him, the two of them watched as the rest of the group had their fill of the river water. Something Ghoti wouldn’t have dared touching before a heavy boiling.
All that mana? It might as well be like drinking snake venom.
“You been to fights like those before?” He couldn’t help asking.
Zinnia nodded.
“Before I moved to Pineskeep, I worked as a physician in the Frontier. It was hard work, every day there would be patients to treat, from Beasts or Raiders. I learnt what I could there, then stopped and came back. To learn more.”
Ghoti understood, somewhat.
Even guys like him didn’t spend all their time fighting and hunting down monsters. It would drive them crazy. The same would apply to a medic, he wagered.
“You’re bored though. So why not go back?”
“I hoped to, once I found a cure.”
He perked up.
“A cure for what?”
“For Mana Beasts, of course.” She smiled thinly.
The two of them sat in companionable silence for a time, the human having another piece of the puzzle to slot in place as the group finished their rest and assembled back into their formation. Up ahead, he could see the Captain talking to Hemlock, probably trying to conscript him as well, after the whole mess with that overfed turkey.
She’d been in the middle of saying something… before stopping.
There was a pause as she sniffed the air, nose wrinkling in disgust before her eyes blew wide open and she suddenly took off on a run.
“Where is she going?” He was confused.
Zinnia tapped him on the shoulder. Blood freezing in his veins when the Physician pointed to a spot above the tree line they were headed for…and the column of smoke rising in the distance.