Lucia’s world spun, and that was in part because Zane had dropped her onto the lilting deck of the bisected ship he had leapt onto with her slung over his shoulder. All around her were the crashes, screams and emanations of battle, the activation of skills lighting up the night, their endlessly different aspects reflecting off the void that was the pitch black sea. All of those were reasons she struggled to find her feet, couldn’t see clearly, and was on the verge of a panic attack. But they weren’t the primary reason.

Roy was gone, carried away in a streak of light. Her brother was gone. Her little brother. It felt like something had been violently torn out of her chest. Whenever she had left Roy alone during their time living on the street, her heart had fluttered with anxiety, and her stomach had twisted into knots. But she had always known where he was, and had always known how to return to him. But here, the cold sea air buffeting her from all directions, she was more lost than she had ever been before.

A wave struck the sinking half of the boat, and she fell forward, managing to catch herself on the nearby railing, her balance better than it had ever been before gaining her class. Lucia blinked tears from her eyes and desperately glanced around for Leif. He would know where Roy was, he would know where to find him. Finding him was the easy part, the wooden vessel he was standing on had been twisted and melted into an unnatural shape, and the world around him bristled with amber lights and golden arms. Soldiers threw themselves at him, only to be rebuffed as the deck they were standing atop shifted to knock them over, ruptured to send them flying or twisted upwards to restrain their bodies and draw them closer.

Even over the din of battle and the distant ringing of bells from the city, Lucia heard someone grunt as they pulled themselves up onto her half of the ship. Her breath caught for a fraction of a second, then she dove to the side, crouching behind a trio of crates that had been bolted to the deck. The soldier staggered over to where she had just been standing and leaned against the railing. Sea water dripped off them in a steady stream, and they spat into the sea, cursing up a storm. They had an axe slung over their back, and a dagger attached to their belt.

Suddenly a massive explosion of flames detonated atop a nearby ship, the sheer heat and power of the fire rocking every vessel in the vicinity. Lucia’s ears rang and her vision went white, there was a second detonation, then a third, each getting further and further away. There was a thump next to her as something, or someone fell against the crates. When her vision returned the man was right beside her, blood streaking down the side of his face. She scrambled away, but his eyes refocused before she could break line of sight.

There was a pause as they both froze. Lucia was moving before she had consciously made the decision to do so, she crossed the distance between them in three quick steps, her fist aimed for the soldier’s nose. The punch connected, and the man’s head snapped back, but he was a higher level, and easily weighed three times as much as she did. Therefore he recovered quickly from her blow, but unfortunately for the soldier, the instincts drilled into him during his training made him reach for the axe slung over his back instead of taking advantage of his other advantages. In the time it took him to grab the weapon’s shaft Lucia had plucked the dagger from his belt and jammed it into his throat.

She slumped to the increasingly tilted deck, her hands trembling, blood fountaining off to the side from the deadly wound she had inflicted. Lucia wanted to be sick, to recoil at what she had done. But she just felt numb, conflicted and scared. A system prompt flickered to life before her eyes, and she stared at the message for several seconds. This was the second time she had levelled up after killing another person. She preferred training.

There was a scream from a nearby boat, and Lucia glanced up to see the crew aiming skills skywards, flashes of multicoloured light lancing into the night air, silhouetting a serpentine body with a wingspan wider than the ship it flew above. A gout of white hot fire streamed from its shadowed jaws, and the soldiers on board were engulfed. She shrunk back, her eyes wide as she watched the monster unleash its power. Water splashed against her boots, and she looked down to see that the bisected ship was out of time. Then a bridge of wood speared down into the deck, and Leif stepped off of it, landing with a splash next to her. He looked at the corpse, the blood mixing with the sea, then back to her.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“I… Yes. We need to- We need to find Roy, is he…”

“Gone, he’s likely a hundred miles up the coast by now. We’ll follow, but we need to get to land first.”

“Will he be fine? What if the skill breaks, or falls apart now that you’re not there. What if he’s trapped forever, or it doesn’t go to where you thought it would? What if-”

“Lucia.” Leif said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Focus, Roy will be fine. We need to leave before one of the coatl’s mistakes us for an enemy.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I… Yes, okay. Are those what are flying around?”

“They are. Whatever the Republic’s plan here was, getting to the city undiscovered was probably part of it. Shame we ruined it.”

===

Zane flopped down onto the sand, his sword falling from his fingers as he tried to remember the last time everything had hurt this badly. He couldn’t feel his fingers, his hair was singed and someone had stabbed him through the gut with a spoken word. He hadn’t even known that was possible, but he supposed the Republic was full of strange practitioners of strange paths. Though, in complete fairness to his enemies, most people would consider his own path incredibly odd.

The system seemed to agree, a prompt appearing before him to offer him a second class. He waved it away. He was a one track man, dedicated to only the sword. Though it would be nice to level up again. He coughed up blood, rolling over to stain the beach instead of his uniform. How was he supposed to get back to the Academy now? His flying sword was still on Lutum, and he doubted after this attack the imperial navy would have ships to spare.

The Academy… He thought, groaning. He would need to do his duty, even if breathing made him want to pass out, and one of his legs was mangled to the point it was difficult to stand on. With great effort he sat up, observing the end of the battle. Skills still flashed in the night, but it was few and far between now. Most of the Republic’s ships had either retreated, or been destroyed, their still burning remains floating like beacons all along the coast. The winged shadows of coatl’s and their riders flew overhead, sweeping the area for stragglers.

Heavy footsteps crunched to his left, approaching slowly. Zane turned, and squinted into the darkness, a pair of amber, glowing eyes appeared, followed shortly by the body concealed in layers of cloth that they were attached to. A second, smaller figure was walking at their side, but he hadn’t heard their footsteps. He sighed, and let himself fall back into the sand. The pair stopped several metres away, and silence stretched.

“What happened when you interrupted my skill? What was the chaotic place you took us to?”

“I don’t know.” Zane replied tiredly. “I’ve never seen that happen before. It’s not a usual part of my skill, I’ll tell you that. I had hoped you might know.”

“I don’t.”

“Mmmm. Whatever happened, we skipped north quite far, lost an hour or two of time. Very weird.”

“Quite the coincidence we would appear right in the middle of a Republic invasion fleet.”

“Coincidences happen. We wouldn’t have a name for them otherwise.”

Leif crossed his arms, and Zane got the distinct impression the tree man was frowning at him. Well, he didn’t have the energy to blame him. This entire day had been a mess, too much had gone wrong and too quickly at that. The next few months, maybe years, would be a massive pain, he wasn’t looking forward to it. His cousins were probably already scheming how to leverage the war to their family’s advantage, assuming they were both alive, he wasn’t sure.

“What happens now?” Leif asked.

“That’s a good question. Any suggestions?”

“You’re fairly injured, I wouldn’t recommend chasing us.”

Zane blew a raspberry into the night air. “Oh, trust me, I’ve learnt my lesson about that. You don’t have anything to worry about from me, I shouldn’t have pursued you to begin with.”

“That’s… surprising to hear.”

“Really? Let me try and explain myself.” Zane coughed, raising a hand skywards, only to let it fall down a moment later. That was too much effort, he’d have to monologue without props. “Firstly, Vevosis is a slimy bastard, and I shouldn’t have listened to him in the first place. You weren’t a threat, and I don’t give a shit what he wants out of you. Secondly, you’ve more than proven yourself not an enemy. The coatl’s would have found and torched you if you were with the Republic, they can sense that sort of thing, and if you’re part of another faction or group I don’t want to know about it. Thirdly, I’m tired and want to sleep.”

“You separated us from Roy.” The girl said, and out of the corner of his eye Zane saw her clench her fists.

“Sorry.”

“Sorry? You could have killed him! You could have killed us!”

The second Blade winced. “Sheesh, I know alright, I know. I said sorry.”

Leif walked forwards, each step crunching the sand underfoot. He loomed over Zane, and the glowing eyes really added to the sinister effect. He wondered if the man-tree had a skill to make them do that. “I really am not your enemy. I have nothing against the Academy, nor the empire. I came to the islands to learn, and I regret having to leave under these circumstances.”

“Right. I’m not your enemy either, nobody who fights alongside me deserves to have me turn around and put a sword to their neck. Things are always more complicated than they need to be, it's a pain in the ass. I just want to stab bad guys, eat good food, and annoy my wife. This secret society, walking trees and lost children crap is not for me.”

“That’s a… surprisingly immature way of looking at things.” The walking tree said. “I did not imagine this was what you were really like after watching you in the arena. Regardless, we’re leaving now. Please don’t send anyone after us.”

“Okie-dokie, best of luck. Oh, you too girl.”

“I don’t trust him.” She said. “He’ll try to capture us, or do something to hurt us.”

“Oh, I won’t. Can’t say the same for anyone else though. It wouldn’t surprise me if Vevosis hasn’t already sent goons after you already. You should be as far from here as possible by the time dawn arrives. If my hunch is correct, there will have been other invasion fleets, so try to stay inland if at all possible.”

“We might.” Leif said.

Zane chuckled, then stopped, doing so hurt his ribs. “Oh, you mentioned Hera when we first met, didn’t you? I won’t ask questions, but I’ll let her know what happened.”

“Thank you. That would be… beneficial.”

“I aim to please. Now, if you could be so kind, let me rest. My everything hurts.” He closed his eyes and wiggled into the sand, getting comfy, or as comfy as he could, there was a shell poking into his lower back.

His eyes fluttered open when he felt something nudge his arm. Healing energy trickled into him, warm and comfortable. Zane sighed, flexing his fingers and toes. “Alright, for that, I’ll kick Vevosis between the legs for you as well.”