Melton fought down the urge to cough as dust and ash fell from the roof, the scent of smoke like the twisting of a knife into his lungs. One of his eyes was matted shut with blood, and the foot long splinter sticking out of his right shin made walking impossible. The barn he was taking refuge within shook, and the frightened barn animals cowering in the far corner bleated in alarm.
Everything had gone wrong so quickly, so many had died, and he wasn’t sure who was left. A squad of imperial soldiers had roused everyone in the village to wakefulness in the middle of the night, ushering families to grab what belongings they could carry and flee east. Melton, barely awake as he was, hadn’t truly understood the shouted reasons and explanations. But when soldiers started yelling it was a good idea to listen.
He should have ran the moment they showed up, because by the time most of the villagers had gathered in the centre of town the war had already caught them. Flashes of crimson flames lightning up the night had been the first sign of danger, then lumbering constructs of steel had broken free from the nearby forest, the dull crimson emitting from below their metallic chassis outlining their silhouettes in the darkness.
People had run in every direction, and he had been no exception. In the minutes of pure chaos following the initial attack he had lost track of his wife, and the outer perimeter of the village was engulfed in flame. An explosion had sent him flying, and when he impacted the wall of the nearby house he had blacked out. When he came too, likely only minutes later, corpses littered the ground, and smoke choked the air. One of the four legged constructs lay in a smouldering heap nearby, and he caught sight of one of the soldiers fighting a pair of strangers.
He had crawled away from the battle, trying to ignore the fact that he recognised the bodies he was clambering over. At least his daughter had left for the city early last year, at least she was safe, and would survive when nobody else would. Melton, his right leg inflamed, blood smearing into the mud, had hidden inside one of the last remaining buildings that was still standing. Even now, with the light of mid morning shining through the swirling ash, he hid, praying that someone, something would save him.
At least one of the constructs was still stomping around in the ruins of his hometown, he could hear the metallic thump of its steps as it drew near. Just before morning it had ceased moving, but he could still hear it outside the barn, as if the steel monster was waiting for him to try and run. His vision spun, and the constant agony and exhaustion made it hard to stay awake. But Melton knew that if he closed his eyes there would be no waking up.
He was so delirious that when a figure all but materialised by his side it took him several seconds to realise. Melton cried out, jerking away in surprise, but the movement made pain flare up in his leg. A hand slapped itself over his mouth, muffling his shock.
“Shhh, don’t say anything, it might hear you.” The stranger said, the sound little more than a whisper. To his shock, it sounded like the voice of a child.
He blinked his one good eye, trying to figure out if he was hallucinating or not. It was a child, a girl maybe twelve or thirteen with her dark, tied back hair that briefly reminded Melton of his own daughter, if several years younger. But her orange eyes that seemed to almost shimmer like a hearth’s fire quickly broke the delusion. He grunted, both in acknowledgement and regret from having tried to move. The girl nodded and withdrew her hand, reaching into a small pouch and withdrawing an oddly white bottle. Melton didn’t care about the details of the container; however, the water within was heavenly, with only a single drop seemingly bringing him back from the verge of death. He almost sobbed when she took it away, wiping the head clean on her shirt and tightening the lid.
“Stay there.” She whispered, standing and carefully stepping over debris towards the partially opened doorway of the barn. Melton’s vision seemed to double, that or the girl briefly became almost impossible to see through the ash and his wavering vision.
“It’s stuck in the mud, I don’t think it can move.” She said a minute later, kneeling back down next to him. “What’s your name? Can you walk?”
“M… Melton, and no, my leg is… I don’t think I can move it at all.”
She glanced down and grimaced. “I’m Lucia. Sorry, I don’t think I can carry you. But I’ll go get help, just hold on a little while longer.”
“Help?” He said. “The village… everyone… Girl, there is nothing, nobody. Everyone is gone.”
“No. We ran into a big group of people from this village an hour ago, they were being chased by… Well, it doesn’t matter, they’re safe now. I’ll only be a minute, just stay… uh, I’ll be back.”
And then she was gone, darting over half charred detritus to a gap in the far wall of the barn almost three metres off the ground. She drew the shortsword at her hip, then stabbed it into the wall with little effort, plunging the blade down to the hilt. Then she jumped up, using the handle as a platform, perched briefly in the opening and reached down to try and retrieve her weapon. After a few seconds of failing to pull the sword out of the wall, she vanished.
Melton was alone again, but this time his heart fluttered with hope. Other people had survived? And who was the help the oddly stealthy girl was going to find? A few minutes later a roar of flames came from outside the barn, followed by the ear piercing shriek of tearing metal. The barn door didn’t open, it all but bloomed like a flower, peeling inwards and up as a tall figure strode inside. They wore odd, hooded robes of mostly grey, but with hints and highlights of colour, white greaves and bracers were streaked with what looked like golden cracks, and as they turned to survey the interior of the barn Melton saw similar armour covering their chest like a breastplate, and a wooden mask covered their face.
A moment later the dark haired girl’s head poked around the corner. She nodded at him, then slunk over to where her sword was impaled into the wall. Less than ten minutes later Melton was walking under his own strength through the ruins of the village, and the pain he felt was emotional, spiritual, rather than physical. But when the masked man and girl lead him to a group of over fourty survivors camped in the shade of a nearby valley he almost broke down weeping. When his wife, the love of his life for the past thirty years almost bowled him over in a crushing embrace, he did.
===
On the evening of the fourth day since leaving the Academy, the ground shook and flashes of silver and blue danced in and out of distant cloud cover. It was a battle, that much was certain, and it ripped across the countryside like a violent storm. The conflict, whether it was between two individuals or potentially two larger groups, painted the western horizon a blazing sapphire.
Leif was fairly confident they were far enough away to not be in any real danger, but that would only be true if the battle wasn’t dragged further inland. He didn’t need to rest, but after a full day of constant travel Lucia did. Carrying her on his back they fled further east, their initial trek was fairly simple due to the flat and consistent terrain, but the gently rolling hills gave way to heavy forested bogland. The scion wasn’t overly interested in braving the hostile environment, especially not when small figures hiding among the trees fired primitive arrows at him as he drew closer.
He backtracked, but the bog seemed to cut a gash through the landscape, and without the light of day Leif couldn’t see if there was a way through. Instead they camped a kilometre away, and watched to make sure the still raging battle didn’t draw closer. Lucia slept in the crook of a tree, but she kept jolting awake whenever a particularly powerful flash of light lit up the world. Leif kept a constant watch, his golden eyes locked on the horizon. The longer he observed, the more confident he became that the fight only had two primary combatants.
Though it was dozens of kilometres away, and mostly covered by clouds, Leif swore he made out a titanic silhouette outlined by moonlight and flashes of blue power. It was impossible to tell the true scale of the figure, but he could only assume that they were over a kilometre tall, at least. Leif had seen the scale of combat between the Blades during the quadriad, and had then gotten a firsthand look at what it looked like when those above level one hundred fought without restraint. If the distant clash was indeed between two people, he could hardly fathom how strong they must be.
“Who do you think is doing that?” Lucia asked sleepily, and Leif turned to see her staring blearily in the same direction he was.
“I don’t know. But whoever they are, I suspect anyone directly below them is having a very bad time.”
“How strong would you have to be to fight like that, and for several hours in a row?” She said, shifting uncomfortably.
“If they’re humans, well over level two hundred if I had to guess. If the battle is between monsters, probably the same, or a fair bit lower. I’m not sure exactly how it all scales at such a high level.”
“What’s the difference?”
“That’s a good question. I can confirm that monsters get significantly higher attributes from their classes, but humans get more classes. So it's a difference between a sheer amount of raw stats, and a combination of class perks and more developed skills. If I somehow got my monster class all the way to level one hundred, that would be five hundred free attributes, and however many base stats such a high tier class would give.”
“Are you saying a level two hundred monster could have over a thousand points in a single attribute? That's… that's terrifying. Will you ever get that strong?”
“No, I’m on a different path, my attributes will never get that high.” Leif said, resting a hand against a nearby tree’s trunk and leaning forward. The distant battle seemed to be dying down, though from so far away it was hard to tell if it had ended, or simply drifted away.
“Is it over?” She asked with a tired yawn.
“Seems like it. Rest while you can, I want to be as far away from the aftermath as possible.”
===
The crisp morning air was thick with a lazy mist that almost convinced Leif that he was back at the Academy. The energetic chirping of songbirds in the canopy drew his attention as his meditative trance faded away. Leif glanced up, and saw Lucia staring down at him with wide orange eyes.
“What?” Leif asked, flexing the vitality within him and sending it spiralling through his body like a golden river.
“What do you mean, what?” Lucia said, looking amused. “It should be pretty obvious.”
He noticed a constant tapping coming from shoulder, and slightly turned his head to see a tiny purple and red bird pecking at the pauldron he had made out of gilded wood. The bird paused, twitching as it glanced from side to side, then it returned to instantly tapping away. There were other small vitality signatures all around him, and Leif exhaled in amusement.
“If you stayed still, would they make a nest?”
“Probably.” Leif said, brushing against the tiny creatures with his aura, he raised a hand, and immediately two sparrows alighted on his fingers. “How long have you been awake? You should have gotten my attention.”
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“Only a few minutes.” She said, stretching, only to stop halfway and wrinkle her nose. “Ow, my neck hurts.”
“That's because you slept up there instead of on the ground.”
“The ground is all muddy. Also I thought it would be more comfortable.”
“Well now you know.” Leif said, mentally reaching into his spatial ring as he stood, the birds letting out chirps of irritation as they flew away. “Here, catch.”
Lucia caught the half a loaf of bread he tossed in her direction, then chomped down into it. The villagers they had found had offered them food for their travels, and Leif had accepted. It was nothing special, mostly dried meats and some cheeses.
“Am I a bad person for being disappointed that this isn’t Melissa’s cooking?”
“She was an excellent chef, I’m not sure it's wrong to miss the food she cooked for you and Roy.”
“No, I mean… I spent a year living off scraps, anything I could find. This bread is less stale than anything I got my hands on back then, but I already wish it was better.” She trailed off, taking another bite and chewing. “I feel like I’m already forgetting the person I was only a month ago.”
“There’s nothing wrong with distancing yourself from the worst time of your life. Not wanting to go back to that is normal.”
“Yeah, but-”
A roar split the morning air, sending panicked flocks of birds skywards and small forest animals scampering for cover. There was another roar, followed by the beating of great wings. Lucia almost dropped her bread in panic, and Leif had conjured four pairs of golden arms before the echoes of the sound had so much as faded.
The source made itself known a moment later, brightly coloured feathered wings descended from above, the serpentine body they held aloft twisting in the air. A second coatl circled overhead, and both monsters carried riders in decorated armour. The descending coatl snapped out its wings, and a massive gust of wind rocked the undergrowth, sending leaves flying in every direction and branches shaking violently.
The snake-like dragon glared down at Leif with blazing eyes, but then it jerked its head to the side, and rapidly ascended, its rider still seated on its back. Within a minute, both coatls were gone, and a deafening silence descended over the nearby trees.
“What… What was that?” Lucia said, her eyes darting around as she stared up through the canopy for danger.
“Apparently we weren’t who they were looking for.” Leif said, letting his arms disperse into essence. “Lucky us. I don’t want to fight something that can fly.”
“Were they here because of the battle last night?”
“Who knows.” Leif said, hold out a hand to help her down from the tree. “They can talk, but that one wasn’t as chatty as the last coatl I got close to. I don’t particularly feel like sticking around in case they feel like turning back and informing us. We should go. Now.”
“Yeah, good idea.”
===
“Are you sure they’re still following us?” Lucia asked, pointedly not looking over her shoulder to check.
“I can sense them in the undergrowth to our left, so yes, I am sure.” Leif replied as he led their party of two along a mostly overgrown road mired with potholes and grasses poking up between weather worn stones.
To their left was the indomitable green wall of the heavily forested bog, and slinking through the trees were a band of half a dozen figures. It was two days after the epic battle had raged across the western horizon, and while Leif and Lucia hadn’t spotted the coatl riders since, they had more than noticed the presence of other beings.
The road they were following east was surprisingly straight, with very few curves or alterations in trajectory. It was as if it had been built to plough straight through the environment, a sure sword thrust through the heart of nature. But as far as Leif could tell, the road pre-dated the foliage that encroached on its existence, and it's clear lack of maintenance displayed its abandoned state. When they had first found the road he had hoped they would encounter a settlement, but they had had no such luck so far.
The pack of almost half a dozen goblins had been trailing them for over an hour, but they were yet to attack. This was either due to remarkably good foresight on their part, or the fact they were patiently waiting for an opening to strike. This wasn’t the first group of such monsters that they had run into, but it was the first Lucia had insisted on trying to fight herself. At his side, Leif could sense the growing impatience from the girl, and he had to force down his amusement.
“Why aren’t they attacking?” She whispered. “The last group was smaller, and they jumped out at us almost immediately.”
Leif didn’t reply, but a minute later they had their answer. Three fallen trees and one overturned cart lay across the road, not quite blocking their path, but enough to hinder their progress. Or it would have, if Leif didn’t have the power to control wood. Lucia tugged on his sleeve, and Leif slowed his pace to match her’s as they approached. He sensed a spike of anticipation from their followers, and a very similar feeling from the human next to him. Leif couldn’t see any more goblins up ahead, but it was almost a certainty that there would be more waiting in ambush.
“Things might be a bit too dangerous for you...” He said, subtly unspooling his aura in the direction they were headed. “...There are four more goblins up ahead, and there’s something larger lurking further off the path.”
“I can still do it.” Lucia insisted, all but jumping up and down.
“Not out in the open you can’t. Remember what you learnt back in the greenhouse when we were sparing.”
“Yeah, use the terrain, break line of sight. I know, I’m ready.”
“Fine.” Leif said. “Yell when you need me to step in.”
She grinned and nodded, then in one smooth motion she drew her shortsword and sprinted into the nearby undergrowth. Cries of outrage came from the goblins, and several broke from cover to up ahead to rush forward. Leif crossed his arms and didn’t move, his golden eyes gleaming as he stared down the charging monsters. Three arrows were fired from makeshift bows, but they stopped mid-air a metre from his body, their wooden shafts quivering.
Realising that he wasn’t the easy prey they were looking for, their advance shattered, the goblins melting into the trees to follow their fellows and hunt after Lucia. Leif simply walked after them, his esoteric senses able to make out what was happening clearly enough. The first corpse he found was still twitching, its throat had been cut, and sticky red blood pooled into the dark soil. The second was missing an arm, but the dismemberment hadn’t been the killing blow, that was the stab wound in its chest.
The sound of gilded wood striking against rusted iron rang through the forest, and Leif willed the low hanging branches blocking his sight to part before him. Two goblins’ one wounded, but the other looking no worse for wear, threw themselves after the young [Rogue]. Lucia danced back, her blade leaving a faint trail of amber light as she brought it up to deflect an overhead blow from an aged woodsman's axe. The goblin’s weapon shattered, but Lucia was unable to capitalise as she staggered back from the force of the blow, then she had to hastily roll to the side to avoid a spear thrust.
Leif watched, arms folded behind his back as the fight continued. Lucia scrambled away from her two opponents, ducking under a poorly aimed slash from the spear wielding goblin and planting a kick into the chest of the former owner of the axe. Then she broke line of sight by dashing behind a tree, both goblin’s giving chase, only for one to lose an ear as a blurred figure launched itself at them from behind cover. The now earless creature screamed in pain and fell back, dropping its spear.
The scion sensed the four other goblins rapidly approaching from the side, and he stepped next to the wide trunk of a nearby tree so they wouldn’t see him. There was another cry of pain, and Leif saw Lucia faint forward, then quickly alter her attack to kill the third goblin by driving her sword through its throat. The four newcomers rushed into the clearing, and she drew one of the two wooden daggers at her side and threw it in their direction, missing, but forcing the goblins to duck for cover.
The earless monster was still writhing on the ground, out of the fight, and Lucia was forced to disengage, retreating into the undergrowth before she could finish it off. Leif followed the continuing fight at a leisurely pace, but something caught his attention, so he altered his destination and went left. A taller, lankier goblin was standing off to the side, misshapen staff held in its hand as it concentrated on a slowly growing orb of vibrating power manifesting at the stave’s tip.
The little monster was so focused on whatever skill it was using that it didn’t notice Leif until the scion had come to a stop right next to it. Beady little eyes glanced up in confusion, then the half formed working detonated in a disorientating explosion of sound and force. The goblin was blasted back from its own ability misfiring, the monster slamming into a moss covered boulder and slumping to the ground, unmoving. The skill, whatever it had been, did absolutely no damage to Leif. He mentally shrugged, then kept following after Lucia.
He found her a minute later backed up against a muddy slope, her sword slashing back and forth as she fought to keep a trio of goblins at bay. Two lay nearby, one with her final wooden dagger in its eye, very much dead, another was trying to staunch the blood flow from an almost certainly fatal gut wound.
Lucia had done well, but backed into a corner she was now out of tricks, and Leif could tell that she was tiring quickly. One of the girl’s arms was streaked with blood, but she grit her teeth and ignored the pain, using both hands to give her weapon’s blows a little more power. The goblins were about her height, and likely of similar weight, if this was a battle between a human adult and a similarly sized pack of the monsters the situation would be different. Normally a human would have the advantage in size, reach, and weight, but Lucia lacked those advantages.
The goblins, however, were fighting as if she was twice her size. The little monsters were so used to fighting things larger than themselves that they were slow to adapt to the fair fight they had found themselves in. One of the goblins darted forward, trying to strike low, but Lucia fended it off with her sword. At the same time, the other threw a sharpened stone, and the projectile grazed Lucia’s side. Then the earless goblin stumbled out from behind a tree, murder in its eyes as it screeched and rushed forwards.
The girl tried to scale the mossy boulder she was trapped up against in desperation, but while she found solid enough footing, likely thanks to her [Light Footwork] skill, her fingers slipped and failed to find purchase. The smallest of the remaining goblins jumped forward and grabbed her by the ankle, and Lucia cried out as she fell down into the monster, the two collapsing in a flailing tangle of limbs, her sword tumbling away from her as it was knocked from her hand in the ensuing struggle.
The earless goblin tried to lend aid to its ally, but Lucia’s boot caught it in the face as she kicked out, trying to free herself. The thing’s nose shattered, and it fell over onto its ass, clutching its face and howling in agony. The goblin Lucia was grappling with, grabbed her by the collar and jumped atop her, drawing what was little more than a stone shiv and trying to stab her with it.
The fight was over, and Leif was a fraction of a second away from triggering [Amber Aegis] to ward off the blow when Lucia bit down into the hand holding onto her collar, her teeth sinking into knobbly green fingers with a scream of defiance, causing the monster to flinch, the finishing blow from its shiv missing by a hair’s breadth. She bucked the creature off of her and pinned the hand with the shiv against the ground.
“Don’t! I’m fine!” She yelled through ragged breaths, punching the goblin in the jaw, then throwing herself off of it to avoid a spear thrusting towards her back. She scrambled to her feet, glancing around for her discarded weapon. She backed up a step, then tripped over the goblin who’s nose she had shattered.
The next few seconds were a comical display of stubborn determination and inelegance. Lucia somehow got ahold of the stone shiv, killing another goblin with it, but cutting open her hand in the process. Another rock was thrown at her, but the goblin missed and accidently hit its friend in the forehead. The entire time the tree’s shook with the lumbering approach of something much larger and heavier than a goblin. Leif could sense the bubbling font of vitality drawing closer, and he stepped out in front of it as it charged into the clearing.
The troll reeked of rotting flesh and body odour, and it was practically drooling all over the undergrowth it was trampling. Everyone froze, Lucia and the remaining two goblins glancing up at the arrival of the towering monster. The troll didn’t slow as it saw him, instead it roared and picked up speed, a massive club raised as if to smash him down into the ground with a single blow. Leif took a single step forward, catching the club with one hand and planting a fist into the monster’s groin. It let out a squeak nothing of its size should have been capable of making, and crumbled.
The two goblins gaped at him in surprise, and Lucia scrambled over to her sword in the moment their shock bought her. She decapitated the closest one with a cry, and lunged for the other, but it dodged, its spear coming up to ward her off. The final goblin glanced between Lucia, then Leif, then it made the smart decision and ran for its life. Lucia stumbled after it, practically dead on her feet, but she slumped to her knees after only a handful of metres.
“I… I did it?” Lucia gasped, planting her sword into the ground to keep herself upright. “It's over?”
“You did well, I can’t believe you bit one of them.”
“Yeah…” She said, gagging. “I didn’t have any other choice.”
“Before you crash, come and finish this one off. I won’t get any experience from something this low level, but you will.” Leif said, gesturing at the immobile troll, one of his boots planted firmly onto the back of its skull.
“Right… Sure, okay.” Lucia said, wobbling over on shaky legs. She readied her sword, then cut down into the monster’s exposed back. The blade bit deeply, but the troll didn’t die. She stabbed again, then again, each strike penetrating a little further, but the wounds she dealt regenerated.
“I… I can’t do it.” She said, stepping back and lowering her sword. “It’s too tough.”
“One more try.” Leif said, using [Benevolent Actions] to flood her body with increased strength thanks to a temporarily boosted [Might] attribute.
She almost tripped, but her final strike punched all the way through the troll’s back, puncturing its heart. Then she twisted her sword and carved her way out, spraying sizzling blood everywhere. It died, finally, and Leif absorbed the remnant life-force.
“Ugh, I got some in my mouth, it's disgusting!” Lucia said, wiping her mouth with a sleeve and spitting into the grass. “Gross, gross, so gross!”
“You look terrible.” Leif said, grabbing her wounded arm and letting healing energy flow into her. “I’m going to throw you into the next pond we come across.”
“I’ll stab you if you do.” She mumbled, slumping in place as her wounds healed over.
“Oh no.” Leif laughed. “After what you did to the goblins, I’m terrified.”
===
“I levelled up.” Lucia mumbled, her chin resting on his shoulder as he carried her on his back after they returned to the road.
“Congratulations.” Leif said, his eyes searching for a body of clean, fresh water. “You earned it.”
“Only one level. Why was it only one?” She complained. “I killed… seven… I think. Seven goblins and one troll. Isn’t that worth more than one level?”
“I helped with the troll, so it was only worth a fraction of the experience you would have gotten otherwise.” Leif pointed out. “And you’re fighting an uphill battle to gain levels at the moment, you’ve got several modifiers reducing your experience gain. Most kids your age don’t have classes yet, and that’s because of the experience penalty younger people have. You also have two skills now, and combined with the age penalty that’s lowering your experience even more. And, well, you’re already level five, and it takes more and more to level up each time.”
Lucia blew a disappointed raspberry. “It wasn’t even a good level up. I only got [Intelligence] and a free point.”
“It’ll even out over time as you gain more levels. Besides, improving your skills and overall combat ability will do more for you than a few attribute points.”
Lucia kept grumbling under her breath for the next twenty minutes, though it was half hearted. The sound of running water caught Leif’s attention, and he picked up the pace. A picturesque waterfall fed crystal clear liquid into a small lake, and a rickety wooden peer jutted out from the shore. Leif stepped off the road and made a beeline for the lake, Lucia realised where they were going when they were only ten metres from the pier. She struggled weakly as Leif plucked her off his back with a pair of golden arms, then she hung limply as he dangled her over the water.
“You will regret this.” She said, glaring with as much intensity as she could muster.”
“Is that so?”
Then he dropped the blood and mud covered child into the lake.