About Time (2)

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I was half expecting an angry mob to come rushing at us after that explosive entrance, but rather than a tense confrontation, the atmosphere felt calm, amused even. The only thing that really seemed out of place at the moment was the newly collapsed section of the old manor-looking fort across the courtyard.

Under that fresh pile of rubble was a titan of a man that was most probably still alive.

Getting caught up in these kinds of situations really wasn’t my style, but time was of the essence here.

“HaHah! See Demir, I was right! I told you Broin wouldn’t last a second against those guys!”

Someone spoke up in a gloating tone, hidden behind the thick cloud of dust Flynn’s earlier attack had spawned.

Instinctively, I willed mana into my core and directed the air around us to coalesce into a swirl. The small vortex sucked away the dust and dissipated in the blink of an eye, just in time to give us our first real view of our surroundings and the foes we were about to engage.

They were rather easy to spot but soon after, a wave of murmurs and shouts began spreading through the assortment of people gathered here. Some were cheering, looking forward to a fight while others seemed annoyed by our presence.

All manner of chatter, insults, outbursts and even compliments—which were meant for Julia — came flying at us, only to be dispelled in the next few seconds when a certain voice spoke up.

“That was one hell of an entrance. I must say, I’m impressed Ashbringer...” It sounded from atop the ruined fort—looking up, my eyes settled on its origin point.

Pompously standing atop the aging structure were two silhouettes, one was familiar to me; but not in a friendly or nostalgic sort of way.

It didn’t take long for me to recognize him, not because of his fluttering blond locs in the crisp nighttime air or the two pointy ears sticking out from either side of his head, but because of the subtle glint of malice in his eyes, growing more piercing with each passing second.

As for his accomplice — The one that was now speaking, he held the appearance of a young lad with neatly kept brown hair — about somewhere in his late twenties if I had to guess — fitted in a standard looking armor set that covered the core components of his body from his shin up to his forearms.

At a glance, nothing seemed too strange about his appearance but for some reason I couldn’t shake the sense of cautious dread swelling up within me.

“The name’s Vidar.” He continued with a smirk, his Iridescent eyes glowing like a raging fire pit. “I’ve been waiting for you, well, to be a bit clearer...” He paused for a moment to imbue more authority in his voice.

“......we’ve all been waiting for you, right?!”

A wild series of cheers erupted from all around us, the uproar sending shudders through the air, resonating like a drumbeat meant to signal our doom. My comrades, Flynn and Allen must have shared the same sentiment because they’d both assumed a defensive formation centered around our healer by the time the echoes had died down.

“Not to point out the obvious here fellas, but you do know we’re about to walk into a trap, right?” Allen remarked sarcastically, emphasizing the last word as if to hide the hint of mischief in his tone.

“Well we took out the big guy at the start so cleaning up here shouldn’t be too hard!” Flynn joked with a cackle, clearly still pleased about his latest victory.

If my prediction was correct, then something very bad was about to happen here, but listening to them joke around like this even in a situation so dire helped to ease the tension a bit.

“I’ll take this over a monster horde any day.” I answered, holding back a few giggles.

“I second that, although this scenario does feel kind of familiar too.” Julia piped up supportively from within our locked formation. Even after all these years it seems she was still comfortable inside this arrangement.

My eyes glanced back to her subconsciously and —to no one’s surprise — I found her staring up at a familiar sight in the distance, lips pursed and eyes twitching. After reading her intentions our next move was obvious.

“Let’s go.” I declared mid stride.

Despite appearances, I was certain that no one in my party was opposed to that directive.

I wordlessly strolled through the restless crowd of thrill seekers with my party in tow, looking up to lock eyes with the mages on the roof. Even with all the aggressive taunts being thrown at us from every direction, the crowds seemed to part as if welcoming our approach.

I guess this is what they meant by mob mentality....

I thought to myself as my eyes scanned the collection of fledglings bearing their fangs at us. This place had a few dozen people, yet only a handful of them had managed to reach level two.

The difference in strength between mage levels couldn’t be understated.

On paper, level one wasn’t very far from level two, yet the results spoke for themselves. It wasn’t impossible to defeat an opponent of a higher level, but more often than not such cases were a result of team effort.

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In one-on-one combat, those odds fell drastically and when faced with a higher leveled party of experienced raiders who were all coordinating, it made the task seem all but impossible.

They might have stood a chance if this was a single cohesive group, but that clearly wasn’t the case. If the four of us went all out, we could definitely trim their numbers by a considerable margin.

That didn’t seem to be necessary at the moment though, given the wake of serenity that seemed to follow our procession.

Once we filtered through the mass of writhing bodies, a clearing emerged just Infront of the old fort. It was a large, ‘empty’ spot on the ground that everyone here seemed to be avoiding — and for good reason.

Carved into the oval space was an archaic circle littered with ancient symbols, letters and markings that seemed to fan outside its circumference as if they were trying to escape its boundaries.

We stopped right outside its edge and my eyes slowly drifted down to the arid soil before climbing back up to meet a pair of demeaning gazes.

“I’m glad you know who I am, that makes things a lot easier for me.” I said, still locking eyes with them. “If this is the magic circle you were so keen on ‘briefing’ us about, then am I to assume that you’re taking us for fools?”

A snide grin split across Vidar’s lips. He didn’t say anything but the sheer look of elation in his eyes was practically a full-blown confession.

My patience was running thin, I had half a mind telling me to just melt his face of this instant but unfortunately, I still needed more information.

“This thing, its connected to the last two magic circles you used to summon the previous irregulars, isn’t it? The ones in the commercial district, that is. They weren’t in very good shape, but the one thing that was still intact was the thin threads of mana connecting them to form a single, complete pathway — A pathway that led here.”

My declaration invited a few gasps an gulps from the onlookers, I could even see a few faces going pale as they finally started to realize the gravity of their situation.

“What? Wait, wait, Oliver I know this is a bad time but I’m confused.” Parting the tense atmosphere with his interjection, Allen raised his voice to match my own. I suppose he was trying to be considerate of all the people gathered here.

The sooner they knew what was actually going on, the better.

“I’ve been fending off these things for a while now, and I’ve seen a whole bunch of their comrades die trying to do the same. If they were actually responsible for summoning the irregulars then wouldn’t that mean they’ve been killing their own comrades this whole time?” He inquired, confusion pouring through his tone.

“I’m not sure about that part, but I’m certain those other two magic circles are connected to this place. It’s called a triad—simply put, it’s a forbidden technique used to distribute the effects of space-interfering spells over a wider area by linking three key points. Now with that said, the Irregulars have already attacked this city twice since their cult came here, haven’t they?”

Allen went silent but for a second, I could have sworn I heard the gears turning in his mind. His sentiment was being radiated by the once vibrant crowd who’d come here expecting an easy payday.

One mention of the term ‘forbidden magic’, was all it took to completely tame their reckless passion.

“Forbidden magic...you don’t mean....” Julia’s words got caught in her throat, I couldn’t see her expression but instinctively I knew what she was looking at.

“Yeah, that’s right. The main reason certain spells are banned is because of runes, even after all this time, we hardly know anything about them and anyone who incorporates something like that into their spells is practically begging for trouble.”

I watched as Vidar’s sneer widened; he clearly had no intention of hiding anything anymore.

"To be honest...” He began with a cold chuckle.

“....I had a backup reference point hidden somewhere in the city in case things went south. But it seems your comrades just couldn’t resist meddling with a glowing circle, could they?"

By ‘comrades’ he must have meant Jytte and Myra. Although they weren’t here, I couldn’t be happier to have them around. It seems I wasn’t the only one that had been doing some digging.

I felt the faint traces of a smile forming on my lips, though I did my best to suppress it before speaking up once more.

“I was kind of hoping that this was the part where you tell me I'm going crazy, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Looks like there’s no point in trying to take you alive.”

Shrugging off my patient gesture, the man simply cracked a few joints in his neck before replying.

“First, let's just get one thing clear, those ‘followers’ weren’t my comrades. They had a purpose and they served it brilliantly, after all its thanks to them that you’re here now.”

A certain face flashed through mind just now, it sparked a chain of rather bitter memories.

“A purpose you say? What kind of purpose required them to die like that?” Allen chided from behind me, clearly unamused.

Vidar’s smile widened.

“I used them as sustenance.” He stated in a flat tone.

“I know I make it look easy but summoning these irregulars actually takes a lot of work. They burn up rather quickly if I don’t have something to feed them the moment they get pulled over here, so that’s why I had our members make themselves useful. I’m not very fond of the guy, but man; that reaper really did a damn good job, his seal is still holding up even after all this time.”

Only half of what he said made sense to me, but his overall message was clear. I can’t allow this guy to leave here, no matter what.

“If it’s any consolation...” He continued his monologue as if unbothered by our presence.

“.....I didn’t know anyone of your caliber would be passing through this lackluster city, my intel didn’t cover that, so no I’m not wasn’t lumping your group in with these other reckless fools. You could have saved yourselves a lot of trouble by simply choosing another route, but here you are ready to repeat the exact same scenario from five years ago. I swear I must be cursed or something, too bad there’s no deity of luck in this world.”

Instantly, the walls of restraint I had placed on myself seemed to have suddenly shattered in my mind.

“Oi.....what did you just say?” Allen growled, flaring up his aura before I could even respond.

I felt my eyes widening in shock as my pupils scrolled over to his missing appendage, my gaze whizzing between the him and Vidar a few times before my brain could finally accept the sudden implication.

If Vidar really was implying what I think he meant, then this man was the very reason Allen was missing an arm.

“Did I stutter?” He retorted, leaning forward in a braced stance as if to cement his dominance.

“I’m talking about the Irregular that attacked this place five years ago—the one that took your right arm. I summoned it. That was me.”