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2.3
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Aspen ran.
As fast as her legs could carry her. As long as the mana pumping through her blood would allow, the Captain leapt over fallen trees, nose stinging with the strong scent of mana as she watched the second Mana Beast descend upon the battlefield, her stomach filled with ice, hands gripping her bow in a vice as she felt the second creature’s domain begin to take hold.
Why here.
Why now, of all times?
And most importantly… why not earlier.
She knew that Mana Beasts were territorial. She knew they tended to hunt and fight each other as often as they did her Clan. But there was no reason for this second Beast to have held back from pouncing for as long as it had.
Not unless it planned to take them all down after the fight concluded.
A carrion bird.
Aspen cursed, motes of light forming under her feet.
Gather.
Shape.
Repel.
The simple disks of light beneath her feet burst, the forth shooting her forward and over the tree line, giving her a bird’s view of the battlefield, the Boar’s rampage earlier having cleared out a large section of forest, creating a circle of ash and soot around the dead monster’s body.
The massive trench carved into the ground was also knew.
‘Was he holding back?’
Looking over at the slumped form of the man in armor, Aspen would have to thoroughly put him through an ability test later, should he survive.
She disliked surprises.
Especially when they came from her side of the battlefield.
‘Speaking of unwanted surprises.’ If she’d known the second one would have come back for revenge, she’d not have stayed away to give cover fire for as long as she had. As it stood, she had no mana left for any of her more powerful spells. And while smaller than the Boar they’d just miraculously taken down, this new enemy was fresh.
And she recognized the scent.
‘The bird?’
That… was impossible.
They all but killed it the last time. It shouldn’t have grown back this soon. If anything, she’d hoped they might have needed to put together a hunting expedition to find it before it grew back to being a threat.
Yet here it was.
Screeching and blowing off a cloud of steam and ash, her men likely spent from fighting the other monster, were all easy pickings for it. Even when they grouped together, forming the mana shells and spears as she’d taught them to, their bodies were too tired. And having another large Mana Beast come swooping down on them right after the second one all but shattered their morale.
These weren’t hunters.
They weren’t heroes.
They were just plain soldiers she’d taken under her wing. And without her there to reassure them, they would break and run away.
But that was fine.
It was okay to run when you couldn’t do anything else. So long as you had your life, you could rebuild it elsewhere.
Such was the privilege of the weak.
“Cook the Turkey!”
A ball of fire flew through the battlefield, exploding as it hit the Beast’s face. Singing it at best. The creature, however, squawked in surprise, stumbling back in surprise at the sight of the flame.
Hemlock, the one who shot it, prepared another.
“It’s afraid of fire! Don’t stop!”
His voice carried over the charred clearing. Their clansmen looking aghast at the near hermit as he blasted the monster a second time. The massive bird batting the fireball away with an infuriated screech. Talons dug deep grooves into the floor as it pounced after him.
Only to be hit from the side.
Aspen’s eyes flitted, tracing the fire arrow back to a familiar young woman. She looked all but exhausted, but somehow, the call to action had reached her. Another arrow ignited between her fingers as she shot at the monster again.
‘These brats.’
She was going to give them the scolding of a lifetime later.
The other soldiers stopped their retreat. The Beast’s squawks of fright breaking the wave of terror that previously washed over them. Though there were little less than a dozen of them left, those who could still move were galvanized by the two younger elves, mana swirling into flame on their hands as they rejoined the fight.
Aspen couldn’t be prouder.
Now it was her time to take the spotlight.
Forming another disk under her feet, Aspen ascended higher and higher, until she had a completely view of the fight from above, until she felt the creature’s domain over mana slacken, smaller as it was than the boar, this let her reposition outside its range, taking a deep breath as she formed solid footing beneath her, she took a moment to think.
Where to attack.
How to attack.
When to attack.
Using two spells at once was beyond her, so the moment she decided to take the plunge she’d have only one chance to attack and then switch to break her own fall. Her inner mana was all but completely depleted. It was all she could do to climb this high, and from this point on, any spell would have to be completely reliant on the outside mana.
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Which would be impossible while inside tha thing’s domain.
So Aspen watched.
And she waited, for the right moment.
And most important, she noticed something.
‘It’s not… trying to kill them?’ No, that wasn’t quite right. Rather, the massive bird of prey and completely capable of attacking anything or anyone on its line of sight. But it didn’t chase the guards when they fled. The fire spells weren’t hurting it, even if it was indeed frightened by flames like Hemlock declared, it wasn’t running away.
Rather… It seemed intent on getting to the boar’s carcass.
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“Governor, we have broken through!”
Relief filled Caladium.
Finally, finally they were out of that wretched creature’s presence. Why, just the thought of being under the thing’s domain any longer had Caladium’s knees trembling all the way to the river, though he’d likely hidden it through his flawless charisma and facade of a cool headed leader.
“Governor, you are shivering. Do you require medical assistance?”
“No, not at all! I’m in perfect health as you can very well see.”
Striding closer, Caladium tried not to fidget as the older elf gave him a once over, searching for any signs that he might have been lying, no doubt. Before pulling out a flask from a pocket in her robes.
The governor cringed.
“More medicine?”
She blinked, nonplussed.
“You skipped the previous dose in lieu of allowing Hemlock to take it with him. A laudable choice, but your health was aggravated as a result. Please make sure to drink this. It should abate the effects of the Beast’s domain.”
Saying nothing else, she left.
Stepping to the side, Caladium tried not to be cross at the physician as she walked to the back of the group. Ruined self-pep talk or not, the governor knew not to take issue with the eccentric woman. Least of all because he was sure the deadpan woman was perhaps the most important member of their entourage at present.
A powerful mage.
Knowledgeable healer.
Experienced beyond the norm.
Everything they’d need to survive.
“What of the communication spell?”
One of the apprentice mages ran up to him, leaving the circle where his fellow elder labored away.
“It should be ready any moment now, sir! We have keyed it to Havensbark, all there is left is to improve the range until someone on the other side picks up the message.”
Curbing the urge to pace, Caladium considered their options.
They’d set down by the river as a prevention against the wildfire and could cross it now that the creature’s control over mana wasn’t as overbearing. However, it wouldn’t do to leave his people slumped against trees or wandering aimlessly, thinking about the homes that even now might be burning.
A century or two of work wasn’t anything impressive.
But it was still their home.
“Prepare a runner and send them ahead with a batch of flares. Once the message goes through, we must signal our position for reinforcement. We should prepare to set down a camp here and across the river, have the carvers set about finding room for a temporary building.”
The younger elf saluted him awkwardly.
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Caladium sighed.
This wasn’t what he was thinking when he thought that the Mana Beasts would have made for a nice change of pace. Downright losing the village he was meant to help build was sure to leave a black spot on his name regardless of what he did from now on. It wasn’t an excuse to do nothing.
And he would be a hypocrite if he chose not to precisely when he was needed most.
“We will need a second building.”
Turning on the physician, the governor quirked an eyebrow in questioning.
“I foresee the battle will only grow more intense as time goes. Whether the Guard chooses to retreat or if they somehow drive away the Mana Beast, there will be most likely more patients in need of treatment.”
He considered her argument.
While recovering the village would be one of the best outcomes they could hope for, he realized it was a long shot at best.
“I’ll see about organizing the carvers properly then.”
The physician nodded at him.
“If you’d give me a moment of your time, however.” He called before she had the time to leave.
Her eyes flickered back to the recently arrived group of guards. The significantly injured group of guards.
“A moment, then.”
Caladium considered what to say.
This wasn’t someone he could just command to do something on his behalf. She was older. She’d been in Pineskeep long before it had a name. An eccentric Physician who worked tirelessly at the Frontier, becoming a hermit before a small community sprouted around her as if by magic.
The only reason the village needed a governor at all was because she’d refused the position.
“What… Do you think about this?”
Zinnia tilted her head.
“Specifically?”
Caladium swallowed dry.
“All of this. This situation. The Beasts, the raid. You out of all people should know whether this is normal or…”
“Some sort of exception?”
She cut him off.
“I assure you, governor. There is no normal behavior when it comes to Mana Beasts, only what researchers have managed to cobble together through observation and captivity. The Beasts, like you and me, are individuals despite bearing similar traits and even original species. No two Mana Beasts are the same. No two of them behave the same.”
He looked at his people.
The dejected villagers who’d just lost their homes.
“Something like this… shouldn’t be normal.” He bit out, summoning as much courage as he could.
Surprisingly, the physician nodded.
“Perhaps. Villages like Pineskeep sprout along the border every year. Every year they are attacked when their defenders fail to hold back the attacks coming from beyond our territory. Every year they are rebuilt or abandoned.”
“This isn’t the frontier.”
The woman’s face was stone.
“Just because you don’t see something, it doesn’t mean it’s not happening, Governor. What you see is a tragedy for your people is what those at the Frontier would call… simply… life.” The way she said that, so matter of fact, it made the governor uncomfortable.
Rather, it was the lack of… any feeling that unnerved him.
What did she see at the Frontier?
“But you’re right.”
He blinked, confused.
“I am?”
Nodding, the physician sighed.
“It is irregular for a Mana Beast of that size to exist within the inside of the Greenhold. Rather, one could say that Hunter villages make that an impossibility unless one manages to escape their notice for a long period. Their unnerving presence makes spotting them easily, especially when you take into account their domain over mana. In that way, the possibility for not one but two high level Mana Beasts to exist within the vicinity of one another is very low, unless…”
“Unless?” Caladium leaned in.
“Someone allowed it to happen.”