Suma’s POV

“So, what did you learn?” Captain Gigoales asked. After finishing our business with the village, and their chief, Lieutenant Datahu, Jake, and I stayed in the village until nightfall, then flew back to the dugout under the cover of darkness. At the moment, we are all giving our reports to him and the rest of the team; with the exception of Odens, who was on watch.

“Harbinger is, according to the memories we saw, and Sentinel’s explanation, most likely a Viking as we suspected. It used some kind of sound manipulation magic to kill from a distance. Sentinel recognized it as something referred to as ‘violin’.” Datahu said.

“It was some kind of stringed instrument at least.” Jake added.

“It is an instrument? For music?” Gigoales wondered.

“Yeah, but I don’t know how she killed someone with it.”

“It is possible she engraved Death Magic runes on the instrument, and is using it to amplify the effects of the spell.” Datahu suggested.

“I know what a string is, but how to you string and instrument?” Rou wondered.

“You don’t have those?” Jake asked.

“I have never heard of them either.” Nine added.

“The report.” The Captain said.

“Right, sorry.”

“Any idea how to neutralize the spell?”

“We would first need to know what the spell is, and its effects.” The Lieutenant said. “And we do not have any clues on how it works.”

“I have a theory.” Jake said.

“Really?” I asked.

“Assuming it isn’t Death Magic anyway.” He added.

“Let’s hear it.” The Captain said.

“Based on the memories we saw, I think Harbinger is using resonant frequency to kill, and is producing that frequency with the violin… maybe.”

“Can you explain?” Datahu asked.

“Assuming I’m right, they are producing a specific sound that is harmful to Neame. Like breaking crystal by singing, but stronger.”

“I do not understand.” I admitted. “How can sound break a stone?”

“By vibrating it until it tears itself apart. Which is what I think happened, but I’m not sure.”

“If it is a sound, how can we counter it? Do we cover our heads?” Nine asked.

I doubt the solution would be so simple.” The Captain said. “Do you have a plan, Sentinel?”

“Calling it a plan would be… well, it would be a lie, but I have an idea. Suma, do you remember when I was building my bike, and how loud it was?”

“Yes, it was deafening.” I said, remembering how it sounded like flying through a thunderstorm, or turning my head into the wind while diving. “It had such an awful screaming sound.”

“So you think you can silence the spell in the same way you did your rune machine?” Datahu asked.

“I didn’t really silence the bike, or the runes. Instead, I made a new rune to cancel out the noise.”

“Right, you tried to explain it, but I still do not understand.” Jake had spoken at length about ‘soundwaves’ and ‘opposing frequencies’ when he was designing the runes before we left, but it all dived faster than I could.

“Do you have the materials needed to make runes for all of us?” Captain Gigoales asked.

“I doubt it. There’s plenty of stuff in my bag, but I used most of my materials finishing the bike and repairing Twilight. Maybe I could make one or two?”

“Designing a new rune is not a simple process, even for you Sentinel. There would be several failures before success, which would reduce the amount of materials even further.” Datahu pointed out. “Perhaps we should return to the refugees in the village, and ask for help from them? They may have the materials.”

“From your report, they will likely pressure us to assist them before they help us.” The Captain said.

“Yes, they already asked for our help in killing Harbinger, they may want us to free more of their people in exchange for materials.” Datahu said.

“Again, this is just assuming I’m right. I could be completely wrong, and they’re using Death Magic instead of manipulating the sound. Death Magic can do pretty much the same thing from what we saw in the memories.” Jake said that last part a bit more quietly. He was probably remembering the dreams and memories that he experienced from the Chaos Dragon.

“Assuming it is Death Magic, what do we do?” Rou asked. Often, she is so quiet during these briefings, I forget she is there.

“We retreat, or press the attack. Just like our training. Hopefully using Sentinel’s mana will give us an edge, but killing Harbinger is the main objective.” The Captain said.

“Bear in mind, his mana will make your spells more powerful, but you will only have a limited supply in your system. Once it is gone, you will feel incredibly weak.” Lieutenant Datahu added.

“Will our spells’ effects be reversed too?” Rou asked.

“No, I’ll give you the mana after I run it through a daljar’s lid first. That will neutralize its effects.”

“Speaking from my experiences, as soon as you feel the mana start to run out inside you, you should retreat immediately. Once you reach that point, you will only have moments before the exhaustion sets in.” I told them.

“We should discuss the plan of attack.” The Captain said, changing the subject. “While you three were gone, I scouted the largest of the settlements occupied by the southern Union. There fortifications are strong, and I estimate they have at least three thousand Neame stationed there at any time.”

“A distraction large enough could lure many of them out, but not all.” Datahu said.

“Why would they leave their fort?” Jake asked. “Wouldn’t they just send their familiars?”

“About half of the forces they send would be familiars, but there is only so much a familiar can do.” Rou said, then quickly added. “Present company excluded, of course!”

“She is right. We should expect at least one familiar for every Neame on base, but most will be patrolling the area around it, rather than be inside.” Datahu said.

“How are we going to sneak through that many Neame?” Nine wondered.

“I doubt we could, so instead we should cause a disturbance big enough that we do not need to. Big enough to draw out Harbinger. From there, Sentinel can use his long-range spells to kill it.” Captain Datahu said.

I looked over to Jake, who had gone quiet. His head hung down, and his shoulders slumped as he stared at the ground. There were only three people in our squad capable of killing one of his kind, and Jake was the only one able to do it safely.

During the rest of the briefing, it was decided that we would travel to the Roshia village to bargain for materials, and then plan our attack from there. Everyone spent the rest of the day resting until night fell, but while lying in the dugout, I contacted Jake over through our private connection. He was curled up in nearly a ball on the ground, not moving much. To me, it seemed like an uncomfortable way to sleep, but I had seen him do it many times before during training, so I knew he was fine.

“Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?” There was a moment of silence.

“We’re going to have to kill a lot of people, aren’t we?” He asked.

“I believe so.” Jake was always so gentle. I knew the idea of killing had been hurting him for a long time, since before we even joined the armed forces. He did not even kill the magistrate who attacked us years ago.

“I’m going to have to kill a person.” He said, the voice in his mind was hallow, that is how it always sounds over our connection. Like it is devoid of emotion, a synthesis of someone speaking. But I knew how it would have sounded if he had said it aloud. I did not know what to say to him, and doubted if anything I did say would help. “I’m sorry Suma.”

“You do not have anything to apologize for.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“I… I’d like to get some sleep.”

“Okay.”

We awoke when the sun set, and flew straight to the Roshia village. They agreed to provide us with materials, if we traveled to a nearby Southern Union camp and freed the prisoners. The Captain and Lieutenant expected this, and agreed to go personally while the rest of us stayed behind. Jake was brought the materials right away, and immediately got to work making the runes. As for Rou, Odens, Nine, and I, we helped the Neame of the camp as much as we could growing food, casting Healing Magic, and other assorted tasks.

We have been waiting in the Roshia’s sanctuary for a full day now. Jake is busy transcribing runes to protect us from Harbinger’s spells, while Lieutenant Datahu and Captain Gigoales have been upholding our end of the bargain for the materials Jake needed by assisting their hunters in defending this place. They left yesterday morning, and should be returning today or tonight. After spending the day assisting the refugees and guards in any way I could, alongside Rou, Odens, and Nine, we flew back to the small dwelling the Roshia’s chief is letting us use. It is a simple place, mostly comprised of a pit dug underneath one of the many large trees, using the roots and stump as both protection and camouflage.

Spreading the roots apart and flying inside, we saw Jake exactly where we left him, sitting on the ground, surrounded by scraps and shards of materials, and working on the runes. He had taken his metal garments, his armor, off, and was sat in the dirt staring intently as several rune-engraved animal leathers.

“Is it going well?” I asked, perching on his shoulder. The others landed beside the scraps, and began looking them over; except for Odens, who landed several feet away and immediately got to work growing himself a snack. It had been a while since I had been on his shoulder like this, it felt comfortable in a way to be here. Nearly a week or two had passed since we last had a quiet moment.

“I think so, I’m about to test this new one. Wanna see?” He asked, holding up a strip of animal leather with hundreds of his strange runes on them. I nodded, and he began casting a spell. The dirt below us shook and began to float upwards. Small grains like sand were pulled from the dirt, and what was left fell down.

“Jake? What are you doing?” I asked, confused.

“I’m pulling the silica out of the ground to make glass.” He said. “Now to heat, shape, and cool it.”

“Glass, why glass?” Nine asked.

“That is the colored mineral nobles use to make art with, yes?” Rou wondered. She was right, I had heard of it as well, but never seen it personally. The grains Jake had pulled from the dirt gathered together and grew hot. So hot that even Jake needed to stand up and take several steps back. Rou and Nine joined Odens, who was happily eating and watching everything from a few wingspans away. As the grains grew hotter, they changed to colors to vibrant yellows and reds, melting together like waterdrops in a puddle or wet clays in a mound.

“Okay, now to shape.” Jake said to himself as he carefully used magic to pull the molten material apart. Rather than tearing, it pulled apart like sap, with long strands hanging off, then getting pulled back into the three new, smaller, balls. “And to cool.” Jake said, and the balls of yellow slowly changed. Hardening, they lost their radiant glow and became clear like ice. “Perfect.” Jake said, and slowly set them down.

“So that is how glass is made.” Odens said, his words slightly muffled by the food in his mouth.

“I did not realize it would be such a dazzling process.” Rou commented, drawing closer and admiring the glass balls.

“Where did you learn such a fine craft?” Nine asked, impressed.

“I used to watch ASMR glassblowing videos on the internet to help me sleep. Also, science class.” Jake said, picking up one of the balls and tying a strip of leather around it.

“What’s the internet?” Odens asked.

“What is ASMR?” I asked.

“Both of those are hard to explain.” Jake said, and set the ball down, then picked the other two up and put them into his bag. He unsummoned his bag, and stepped away from the glass ball after filling the runes with mana. “You guys should cover your ears… wait do you have… never mind. Just get ready because this is about to be loud.” The others and myself quickly landed behind Jake.

“Why did you send the other balls away?” I asked.

“In case the runes don’t work.”

“What happens if the runes do not work?” Nine wondered.

“The glass will explode.” Unanimously, we all decided that the safest place was not behind Jake, but on the other side of the dwelling… behind a stone pillar Rou created. Jake said that would not be necessary, but we disagreed. “Alright, I’m about to start.” Jake said, covering the holes on the sides of his head. “It is about to get really loud!” Several seconds passed, and I sensed Jake cast a spell, then he winced like he was in pain, but nothing happened.

“Do you guys see anything?” Jake suddenly shouted.

“What are we supposed to see?” I wondered.

“What?” Jake shouted, as if he could not hear me.

I yelled back, but felt foolish for doing so, “What are we supposed to see?”

“Vibrations, do you see the glass vibrating?” Jake yelled.

“Yes, but only slightly. Not enough to-” Nine tried to say something else, but the sudden and frightening detonation of the glass ball on the other side of the room interrupted him, and surprised us all. “By the dragons!”

“Dang…” Jake said, uncovering his ears. “I guess I messed something up.”

“What just happened?!” Rou asked.

“That was awesome! Do it again!” Odens laughed.

Jake began rubbing the holes on his head, and picked up another strip of leather with a different assortment of runes. “Alright, attempt number two.”

“No, seriously, what just happened?” Rou asked again.

“Those runes didn’t work, and the spell shattered the glass.” Jake said.

“You said that like it explained something, but I only have more questions.” Nine said.

“Those vibrations you saw in the glass. If the runes had worked, those wouldn’t have happened. But because they didn’t work, they broke the glass.” Jake ‘explained’.

“But those vibrations were so small, could they have really done that to the glass?” I wondered.

“Glass is hard, so they didn’t need to be big to break it. That’s why I’m doing this with glass. If these runes are enough to protect the glass, which is easy to break with this spell, then it should be enough to protect us.”

“About that spell, what was it? I sensed you cast it, but nothing happened, and then you started screaming.” Nine pointed out.

“You couldn’t hear that?” Jake said.

“Hear what?”

“Oh right, you guys can’t hear the noise from my rune making tools either.” Jake shook his head. “Dey… wait. Oh great, now that expression is ruined for me.”

Jake repeated the experiment with all three balls, and several more strips of leather, until all the balls had been shattered and recreated at least twice each. The whole process took over an hour. “Frick!” Jake threw the last of his leather scraps at the pile of glass shards. “None of them worked.”

“Maybe if you tried using multiple instead of doing them one at a time? They might work better together.” Rou suggested.

“Yeah, maybe.” Jake said, disappointed. “I’ll try it in a bit. I’m exhausted.”

“When was the last time you slept, Jake?” I asked.

“Before we arrived here.”

“That was over a day ago.” Odens said.

“I know, I’ve just been busy.”

“Get some sleep. The Captain and Lieutenant probably will not arrive until tonight, so you have some time.” Roud said.

“Okay, fine. I guess it can’t hurt.” Jake said, and sat on the ground, then put his bag under his head and covered his eyes with his arm.

“If you need anything, just let me know.” I said, before we all left Jake to sleep.

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Jake’s POV

Dreaming is weird, but when most of your dreams are nightmares, then dreaming is stressful. Since becoming Suma’s familiar, I’ve had more nightmares than ever before, and even more in the last four months. But most doesn’t mean all; tonight, I had a good dream. Nothing fancy, no flying or anything crazy, I get enough of that when I’m awake. It was simple, I was having a meal with my mum at her house. We talked about our days, as if I never came to Atmosia, never met Suma, and never got stuck here. I told her about a promotion I got; from a job I quit three years ago. I told her about how I wanted to propose to my girlfriend; whom I never had a chance to meet. My dad was there too, and for a few great moments I forgot he died of a heart attack years ago. He gave me advice on what kind of ring to buy, and where to propose because it had to be special. I’ve had this dream three times in the last four months, and I doubt I’ll ever get tired of it.

Something woke me up, and opening my eyes, I saw Suma standing beside me. “Oh, my apologies Jake, did I wake you up?”

“Huh? What time is it?” I asked, confused.

“The sun just set.” She answered.

“Are the Captain and Lieutenant back yet?”

“No.”

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Half the day, but that is not a problem. You can go back to sleep if you want.”

“No, I gotta finish the runes.” I said, rolling over and yawning. Catching a whiff of myself, I decided I needed a bath. “Suma, is there a river or a stream nearby?”

“I believe so. Why?”

“Because I haven’t had a proper bath since we landed on this island, and I don’t want to make one right now.” I said. She led me about a fifteen minute walk from our little hole in the ground to the edge of the village. There was a small, maybe half a meter deep and one meter across, stream. Sticking my hand in, I felt the cold water; it was surprisingly clear too.

“Will this work?”

“Looks safe enough. Thanks Suma, I’ll be back in a little while.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to clean myself off a bit.”

“Oh I see. My feathers do not need cleaning yet, so I will go back to our dwelling. Be careful.” She said, and flew away.

I followed the stream a little further away from the village, for privacy, and summoned by bag. Pulling out some toiletries Mum keeps packed in it, I took a cold bath, shaved, and brushed my teeth. After four months stuck here, I’d gotten used to this kind of thing. Though normally I have access to a bath I’d made back at base, and a mirror Mum stuck in there once. The bath was actually just a molded stone pit, but at least I could fill it with hot water. As for a loo… well, trees in the forest outside of base worked for most things, and I kept a few bog-roll in my bag. While I was at it, I changed into the outfit Mum put into my bag. She packed a fresh change of clothes for me every day, and a new letter too. This had become my new routine.

Walking back through the pitch-black forest, with only a small fireball for light, I heard a sound coming from the darkness… a violin.

Without warning, Suma started yelling over our private connection. “JAKE! Captain Gigoales and Lieutenant Datahu are back! They said the hunters were all killed, and that the Southern Union is pressing the attack again on the camp! I’m going to summon you!”

“Wait no! Suma, Harbinger is here! I can hear them in the forest!”

“What?!”

“I’m going to go investigate, but be ready to summon me just in case. And let the others know too.” I said.

“Jake, no! It is too dangerous.” She argued.

“I need… I need to see, Suma. I need to know if Harbinger is really a human.” I said, cancelling my fireball and moving closer to the music.

“Fine… but do not try to fight it on your own.”

Closer and closer I drew to the music, moving carefully between shrubs and trees in the dead of night. A small light shimmered between the trees, and for a moment, I thought about summoning my armor and a weapon, but I knew if I did that then any Neame that was with Harbinger would sense me, so I got closer without them. Besides, they were kinda clunky and loud anyway. Once I was close enough, I hid behind a tree, and looked around. What I saw surprised me. About thirty meters away, draped in shadows cast from a small yellow flame suspended in this air next to her, was a woman playing a violin. I couldn’t see any Neame, but they may have simply been hiding. The woman wore clothes that looked like an amateur tailor tried to sew together modern fabrics by hand, tore them, and repaired them with animal furs. Her hair was cut short, choppy like it was done with a knife. The only clean thing she had was the violin, which looked almost new.

(Caveman chic.) I thought to myself.

She pointed her violin in my direction, and I felt my body begin to vibrate like I was in standing in front of the speaker at a rock concert. It felt weird, but it didn’t exactly hurt. However, I immediately got dizzy and fell down.

“Suma, summon… oh.” I said over our private connection.

“Sound collection magic.” The woman called out. “I knew you were there before you got close. You Neame always send your familiars first to scout me out. Last time it was a giant dog-like creature. I wonder what I caught this time?” She said, walking closer. A moment later, as I was laying in the dirt trying to regain my sense of up and down, the light of her fire got brighter, and we locked eyes. “What?” She whispered. That was the last thing I heard before the darkness overwhelmed me, and I reappeared in front of Suma.