Zalia blocked the sword swinging towards her body in a two-handed grip with her own, bracer held to blade for extra support. Even with that, she was knocked stumbling by the two-handed strike from the Gold rank Astar.
As she stumbled however, her bow shot an arrow that hit the Astar in the shoulder, punching it back as well.
Righting herself, Zalia prepared for another round with her opponent yet they both paused as the giant dome in the sky behind and above them vanished. Zalia’s heart beat wildly, worry and fear flashing through her mind. Why had the dome disappeared? Was Hildebrandt dead? Had she lost to the Astar?
She risked a look up and over her shoulder as her bow shot at the Astar again but all she saw was a single humanoid body falling from the sky. It could have been anyone with the brief glance she allowed herself.
The Astar was obviously expecting its allies to come finish her and the others off as it waited lazily with sword idly blocking the arrows from her bow. Seeing the Silver rank soldier that fought with her sneaking up behind the Astar, Zalia engaged again.
She struck, a solid overhead strike angled from the Astar’s right shoulder to left hip. Her opponent hovered backwards gracefully, deflecting her strike for good measure. That gave her bow the good opportunity to shoot the Astar in the leg.
That made the usually expressionless Astar’s face, its face that had no mouth or nose, twist in an expression of… annoyance?
She was tired, exhausted from the long fight even though her body was in perfect condition, constantly healed by her ability.
An impact sounded from behind, a body hitting the floor. Zalia ignored it, continuing her attack. She tried for a one-handed jab towards the Astar, knowing it would be blocked or dodged again. As the Astar moved to do exactly that, she dropped the sword and jumped at it. The Astar deflected the arrow that came from her bow, ready for it this time, but didn’t manage to avoid her as she grabbed onto it and punched it in the face repeatedly. With one hand holding its sword arm and the other punching, she couldn’t avoid the Astar’s other arm that shoved at her.
She stumbled back but managed to keep hold of the sword arm which she used as leverage to pull on the Astar as she kicked it in the chest.
At the same time she did that, a sword came through at the very point she kicked, impaling her foot to the Astar’s chest.
She groaned in pain as she stumbled and then fell backwards without support and unable to bring her foot down to catch her, dragging the Astar with her.
Zalia could see the surprise on the soldiers face as he realised what had happened but she let go of the Astar’s sword arm to summon her own and throw it to the soldier. He caught her sword as she grabbed onto the Astar again, managing to free her foot and hold it for just a moment.
The soldier stepped forward and jammed her sword through the struggling Astar again. Her bow shot it too, leaving yet another glowing wound in its body. She continued to hold the struggling enemy as her bow and the soldier shot and stabbed the weakening Astar over and over. Eventually, the struggles stopped.
Zalia lay on the floor, utterly exhausted, as her final wounds healed. The soldier had accidentally stabbed her a few times and the burns left by her sword were painful and took much, much longer to heal. It brought her a kind of understanding, a realisation of what her sword and bow were doing to her enemies. That wasn’t an understanding she ever thought she would have and it was one she definitely didn’t need.
She got up after a few minutes, realising that she needed to go check out the body that had fallen from the sky.
It was Hildebrandt, laying unconscious on the ground with a large, two-handed sword next to her. Her own Heirlooms were nowhere to be seen and neither were the two Emerald rank Astar. Zalia checked her pulse and found her very much still alive. She wasn’t even wounded, at least not on the outside.
Searching around for a bit she also found two daggers and an amulet, all three items heirlooms along with the greatsword. She stored those away in her vault, planning to give them back to Hildebrandt when she came to.
Except, she never did.
Zalia waited next to the woman for nearly an hour while the soldiers mourned the woman who had died killing the Gold rank Astar. Still, Hildebrandt did not wake.
Healing Presence was flowing through the woman but Zalia’s magic didn’t heal the soul like Aylie’s could. She had a feeling that was what Hildebrandt needed right now.
Faian came over to check on Hildebrandt, obviously as concerned as Zalia was. Not only was she Endaria’s only Emerald ranker, she was also a good friend.
“Why won’t she wake?”
Zalia looked up.
“Damage to her soul, I think. I don’t know what she did up there to kill both Astar like that but whatever it was has drained her. I think they must have attacked her with some kind of soul destroying attacks as well.”
Zalia had received damage to her own soul before, through overuse of passives mostly, and it had never done something like this to her. Whatever had happened up there must have been truly damaging in a way that what she had experienced wasn’t. That didn’t surprise her considering the speed with which Hildebrandt had taken out not one but two Emerald rank beings. It wasn’t an easy feat, despite her rank.
Faian nodded, accepting Zalia’s words.
“Alright, bring her to the remains of the cart, we need to get moving.”
With that, Faian walked off to organise the rest of the soldiers. The Bronze rank soldiers that had been with the cart protected by a stone dome were all unharmed as no one had tried to sneak into the cart to steal Hidey while the rest of them fought. That was fortunate, as a single extra Gold rank Astar would have killed them all with ease.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
All things considered, this had been a great victory for them. Two Emerald rank and one Gold rank Astar dead in a single fight. It would increase their chances greatly in the war, assuming there were a limited number of Emerald rank Astar.
Zalia was a little confused as to why these Astar hadn’t been out and about, destroying towns and killing people. The power of these few they had just killed would have been enough to cripple their entire population, perhaps even end the Endarian’s as a race. Most towns would be wiped off the map in minutes by beings such as these.
She tried to pick up Hildebrandt to bring her to the cart, but failed. With a frown, she put her armour on for the extra strength it provided and lifted again. She managed to lift the woman just a bit before dropping her to the ground again.
Damn she was heavy.
After another failed attempt, she had to call over the other Silver rank soldier to help her. As he leant down to pick up Hildebrandt’s legs while Zalia lifted her by the shoulders, she caught his eyes.
“Thanks.”
He shrugged, exhaling sharply with the effort of lifting Hildebrandt.
“Only following orders.”
“It takes a lot more than following orders to go up against something of higher rank like you did today.”
He paused, then replied.
“For my son. We lost his mother in the invasion and now I fight so that he can have a future free from fear. I know it might be selfish, endangering myself like I do, but someone has to fight this battle. I know my mother will look after him if I die.”
Zalia found herself nodding, strangely understanding.
“I’ve got a daughter, of a kind. Saved her from the demons after her whole family was killed. I sometimes wish she didn’t get involved in all this but she has her own to pay the Astar back for.”
“Pay them back for? For what?”
It was Zalia’s turn to pause.
“I guess it’s not widely known yet. The Astar are the ones who brought the demons to Endaria. They’ve been treating us as cattle, culling the population and providing challenge so that we’ll…”
It struck Zalia suddenly, the explanation to her earlier question. Of course the Astar weren’t going about destroying towns, they weren’t trying to wipe them out. They were cultivating Endaria to grow stronger so that they might use them as slaves. What better way to wipe out the weak amongst their number than send the demons. The average rank of Endaria was significantly higher now than it had been, though their numbers were reduced. They probably didn’t see this as a war at all, more like a herd trying to escape its pen.
“So that we’ll what?” the soldier asked.
“So that we’ll grow in rank.”
He frowned.
“What would they want to do that for.”
Zalia shook her head.
“I’m sure the council will make an announcement about it all when they’re ready.”
They finally got Hildebrandt to the cart and managed to get her onto it. The little pedestal that held Hidey was still intact.
“Can you let me out of here now?” he asked.
Zalia rolled her eyes.
“You know we can’t do that yet, we have to make sure one of these Astar were the ones with your true name.”
“What’s your name?” she asked the soldier.
“Heston. You’re Zalia right? I remember seeing you fight on the battlefield before the capital, in the air.”
Zalia nodded.
“Yeah, I remember that battle. Those were some terrible days.”
Heston nodded his agreement to that.
“Aye, that they were.”
He moved off to report to Faian and Zalia turned back to the Hidey cube.
“Though I would love to be able to let you out right now, if I could.”
She received the mental version of a huff of annoyance from the cube.
“And how are you going to make sure that was the one who knew my true name? It was the one with the daggers, by the way.”
Zalia paused for a moment, realising it was a good point.
“Well, there were things you haven’t been able to tell me. What was Zayes’ last mission before retirement, the one that ended with him being imprisoned in Cormaine?”
There was silence and for a moment Zalia feared that they hadn’t caught the real holder of Hidey’s true name.
“I don’t like thinking of that time. I will, though, just to prove this to you.”
Silence again. Zalia waited patiently, understanding it must be hard for him.
“It was my fault, in a way, that he was captured. That Astar with the daggers, it caught me a few months before Zayes was meant to retire from the Morning’s Shade and leave it to the administration of the others. It tortured me, in ways that I cannot describe to you but understand that there are things that can be done to a soul that should not be. It was in this way that it found my true name and in this way that it made me betray Zayes. I led him into a trap through pretence that I had something important to show him. He trusted me implicitly, you see, because of the nature of our bond. He didn’t know that I had been captured, however. He didn’t know I was being used.”
Zalia could feel the pain in his voice, the obvious frustration at being unable to act to save his friend.
“I see. I believe you Hidey, but it isn’t up to me to free you unfortunately. Faian and the council will have to decide that. It’s them you’ll have to convince. I’ll speak for your side in that meeting when it comes.”
Hidey didn’t reply and she understood his continued frustration with his situation. He couldn’t be free still, despite his mind being freed from the Astar. They had to make sure and Zalia wasn’t going to act rashly in freeing him. She had done enough damage in the recent past with her rushed decisions already.
With Hildebrandt on the cart and the soldiers organised, they started towards the capital. Zalia stopped them straight away, however.
“Wait, Faian, we should go to Nature’s Reclaim.”
Faian turned to her, confused.
“What, why?”
“Because, my daughter can help heal Hildebrandt. She is the only person I know of who can provide healing for the soul.”
Faian considered, then agreed. They were halfway between the two cities but she realised it was more important to have their Emerald ranker up and about than anything else at that moment.
With the decision made, they continued on their journey to Nature’s Reclaim. Home.