Joshua was on the walls, frantically reloading the ballista with the rest of the newer guards, after having rushed back from taking care of a couple lower beasts that had jumped over the walls. It had been a long day, and a longer night before that, and he was *tired*. All of them were. The guards were pulling multiple shifts to hold off the encroaching surge, and many of them were faring poorly. Higher class guards and special recruits from the city had a less strenuous time, mostly coming out for bigger threats, and saving their energy for the mid-class beasts that sometimes came along posing a larger threat. The walls were large, and while they did have plenty of guards, so many of them were new like he was after the fire-aligned surge some months ago.
"Goddess-damned windborn, just a couple more months and we would have been better prepared, more trained for this!" He shook his head at himself, muttering, when he heard screams from one of the positions nearby.
It was massive, and the winds swirling around it made it even more obvious. How had they missed a bloody high-class Ractryn like that, 20-foot wingspan, scaled body, with clawed leathery wings and a beak big enough to bite a man in half? Where had it come from? It was surrounded by broken and bleeding bodies, and the shattered remains of another ballista. several sargeants were there as well, and they had fared little better than the regular guards that normally manned that position. He saw a mage blast a chunk of earth, but the circling winds buffeted it enought that is just glanced of the hide of the thing, only making it more enraged.
The Ractryn screeched, and flung itself towards the mage that had drawn it's ire, wigns filling with the wind that was swirling and shooting it forward like an ice spear from one of their stronger mages, swift and deadly. It proceeded to ravage it's prey with it's taloned feet, the leathery hide blunting the efforts of the mage's guards, turning aside almost all of their blades. The winds followed it, and made it all the more difficult for those fighting it to muster an effective defense, though one with a warhammer managed to make it through, the weight and shape of the weapon making it better suited for this kind of fight. Unfortuneately, the blow barely shifted the beast, and it raked it's claws back, slicing the guard deeply on the arm.
"Wait, isn't that-" Joshua's words were cut off as he recognized the veteran that had taken him under his wing in his training, and given him that drink-muffled talk in the tavern what felt like ages ago. "If he is here, where is the Specialist? He has been following him around so dutifully these last couple weeks..." Joshua simply stared for a second or two, his tired mind taking the opportunity to go on a tangent to take it away from the terror-fueled fighting that had been happening.
"Funny I can remember it so well, but it stands out so much!" Joshua was having a full on mental paralysis as his thoughts buzzed, somehow recalling that conversation with perfect clarity. His mind felt like it was going far too rapidly, maknig the world go in slow motion as he processed his unfiltered mind. "Wait, didn't he mention something like this? Something about their aura making people follow them blindly? Is that what happened to *him?*" Recalling even more of the conversation, he hoped that the veteran would become one of his closer companions, instead of just a follower. The veteran had mentioned that though they still could get injured, they were more likely to live than the common followers.
As if summoned by his thoughts, he heard a tremendous cry, and the Specialist flew in from the side, his posture indicating a great leap. His sword was bared, and had odd cutouts in the middle, which seemed to be originally to reduce the weight of the massive blade. He barreled into the side of the Ractryn, and it sounded like a butcher copping into bone. Blood flew as the weapon made contact, and dug into the raised wing of the beast.
Calling out it rage and pain, the Ractryn immediately flexed and flung it's wing out, crying out in more pain as the massive sword was wrenched out of the wound, the young man sent back a few meters at the strength of the monster. It immediately rushed him, and the two began a titanic battle, the air pushed by the beast and the massive sword, causing a maelstrom of wind around the blood and sound. Staggering up, those still able around the fight cried out and charged in, their morale boosted to an almost impossible high by the young man going toe to toe with the enormous Ractryn.
Joshua as well felt inspired, and turned to join the battle against the windborn, facing the closest threat, but realized his hand didn't hold his spear. Looking around, he saw others as well rushing in with... Zealotry, he realized, and came to himself from the invigorating effects of the specialist's display. He saw a couple others by him grab whatever was handy to beat the windborn bloody with, a rare couple going in with nothing but their fists.
He grabbed the nearest guards before they could run off to join the fray. "We can kill more of them with the ballista!" Trying to get through to them in their rage-inspired state, he added, "Let's drive a bolt through the belly of any of these beasts that think they can face us!" at his words, and his stabilizing presence, the other two quickly nodded and ojined hime in manning the ballista, one of few still working in sight of the battle going on just within the walls nearby.
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The battle was long fought, and several more times he had to bring his lightened crew to task, once even having to convince them that they should take a shot at the Ractryn with the ballista instead of joining in melee against it. It had been a monstrous foe, matched only by the fury and power of the specialist, and it had ranged over more than one section of wall, though it most often stayed in their vicinity, near the veteran who had, somehow, managed to survive the combat with only a few blows luckily only barely landing on him.
"More of that specialist's aura tipping the scales, I assume." Joshua muttered to himself. He was glad, nonetheless, as he really liked the old veteran, and in his exhausted state, realized that he would likely follow the young Specialist around, hopefully as a companion, but more likely as a follower. Additional talks, before the veteran was assigned as his liasion, had given him a couple more details, all normally under that same veil in his thoughts, only brought out with strong drink, or, it seemed, deep tiredness.
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The attacks were winding down, the remaining windborn beasts fleeing after so many of them were slain, and the almost rabid response of the guards and volunteers when promted by the specialist putting on his inspiring... his *dramatic* displays, Joshua corrected himself.
As he was watching the stragglers harry the walls, a great cry came up from behind, and he and his crew, which he had managed to get to full strength by grabbing others nearby, with others helping in shifts, turned to look behind, where they saw a young man, standing triumphant atop the felled Ractryn, his massive blade buried halfway through it's neck. The specialist grabbed it out and swung back down once more, decapitating the beast and hefting it's head high.
"VICTORY!!!!!"
And many of those around cired out as well, screaming their triumph out, and turning to those remaining outside.
At this, with the most powerful among them finally slain, and the outpouring of aggresion and noise by the remaining defenders, the last of the windborn fled, outpacing those that gave chase, finally bringinng an end to the arduous combat.
"Finally..." muttered Joshua, among many of those that almost fell down where they stood, worn out from the extended battle, and barely hanging on. Closing his eyes, Joshua allowed himself a brief moment of rest...
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Clean-up afterwards was a messy affair, and Joshua was in the thick of it. Repairing the walls, retreiving bodies, burial, disposing of the corpses of beasts, or bringing them to those that could salvage use from them. Once again, the guards were diminished in number, though not quite so bad as last time, seemingly mostly due to the efforts, (and effects) of the Specialist. His felling of the high-class windborn had saved many who otherwise would have died, and taking on that threat allowed others with some power not dragged in to that fight to spend their resources on other foes, quickening the general defeat of the surge.
Finally, when the clean-up was well in hand, or at least underway, the lord of the city held a ceremony for those who died. Respects were paid, and Joshua spend time with the other guards, drinking in the bars and reminiscing about those they knew. Joshua had several people that had joined around the time he did that he would no longer see, and he toasted their memory with the others.
After the grieving at the ceremony, before many went into the taverns and alehouses of the city, There were also awards for perfomance and bravery. Joshua had acquitted himself well with his "Level-headed and tactical thinking in the midst of desperate combat, keeping himself cool even when the Ractryn itself drew near; Even leading his team in landing a shot on the beast in a moment of weakness!"
Joshua knew it was being played up, but still felt pride and accomplishment at what he had been able to do, but also knew that he only *had* to be the one in charge because of the effects of the Specialist's aura. Despite the pride, he very much disliked being in charge, but he just wanted to get things taken care of. It was why he was a guard after all.
Alonne, the veteran that Joshua somehow had never learned the name of until now, was also awarded for his courage, bravery, and resilience in assisting the Specialist in his fight against the Ractryn. Despite being badly injured, he had still managed to take out one of the tendons in it's leg, and hamper it's movements partway through the fight.
And the Specialist... he was given the biggest reward of all. A massive purse, recognition in the city, and fabulous treatment. The young man seemed pleased with this, but Joshua managed to pick up the signs of one who almost lusted after battle, after growth he reasoned, of their combat abilities.
"His affinity must truly be strong, and his control average at best, for it to manifest this way." Joshua resolved himself to improve his self control, so that even if he did somehow become someone with influence, *he* would not be the one who was so controlled by things outside himself. After he finished drinking with the other guards tonight, and mourning the losses they had sustained...
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Joshua later wrote his brother and his sister, telling them about his experiences, and what he learned, querying them if they knew of anything about this, or ways he could improve his control. His sister had much more interest in this than the magic she kept being pushed towards, and kept writing him continually over his career, offering what aid she could and even visiting occasionally with what she had found. She eventually gathered enough research, and wrote a small book about things, though it was archived away and only rarely read.
Alonne left with the Specialist soon after, falling to the same influence he had warned Joshua about. Joshua did try to keep track of what happened, but after a while didn't hear much of that specialist or his brief mentor. He had to assume they had taken on a threat too big for them, like his sister found most Specialists to do in the end, if they didn't become some big name somewhere, or retire. Eventually he got confirmation that they had died in a large battle with a rookery, and he quietly mourned his loss, though he had not seen him in years.
Joshua himself stayed in the guard, and slowly ended up rising up the ranks, and while he never became the captain of the guard, he was a well-respected senior, and was in fact the second in command. He saw several other Specialists come and go, and always kept this control in mind. He saw several other incidents, and wrote to his sister of all of them. He ended up retiring, and moving in with his sister in his old age. She was still quite healthy, a benefit of high attunement and good control. He did eventually find out that his siter had in fact an Extreme attunement to mana, and several affinities at mighty, or higher.
His sister, Alexandria, continued her research, and compiled the stories and what she learned here, to be shared with those that would look.