Bang…
Bang!
BANG!!!
I woke up with a start, quickly rising from the stiff cot to the ear splitting shouting I had grown accustomed to.
“RISE AND SHINE, SLEEPY HEADS!“ The sergeant showed a large smile before shaking off the charade and listing off the morning duties.
“Tyler, I need you and Canter to head over to the weapon post for detailing. Andromeda, you take Cessa and Coast over to the Cavators, they need help with organizing all their crap. The rest of you, get dressed in five and meet at the podium.“ He looked down and snarled to himself. “Bout fuckin time we get out a this shithole.” He then slammed the makeshift door behind him and left the rest of us to our duties.
I yawned and stretched, secretly relieved we were finally going to move out of this camp. Don't get me wrong, the Mobile Fortress Setups are great, a much better alternative then pitching tents. But man does it get old after three or four moves.
I throw off my sleeping bag and start putting on my clothes. I look around the temporary barracks, and notice no one is putting on their armor, so I do the same. I notice how worn the bandages around my chest are, and begin ripping them off.
The Kitent military isn't big on hiring women, not that any other kingdom is. Despite being in a mercenary corps, who don't discriminate as long as you have skill or knowledge, the boss tells us to cover up regardless.
I understand completely, though it still isn't ideal. After all, It's been proven that having women in a group makes them more likely to be attacked. As well as most women staying far away from fighting in general, the few who do engage in such acts almost always being below average, me being a rare exception.
So, to prevent the entire corps being looked down on, taken advantage of, and being attacked more often, the boss takes us on with the caveat being we need to stay on the down low. It's a bit of a hassle, but I'm used to it by now.
I glance around as I strip off my shirt and begin wrapping brand new bandages around my chest. I make sure no one is watching. The mercenary core is still mostly men after all, we aren't special enough to get our own barracks, not that I'd want that. Being so separate would kill the trust we have in each other, trust being the foundation of this corps.
With my bandages secure but comfortable, I slip on the rest of my uniform and boots, and begin heading outside. Upon exiting the makeshift barracks, I'm greeted with the sunlight beaming off the ground snow directly into my eyes. What a great way to start the day. Can't be helped in a snowy forest though.
For about two weeks a large cluster of the Kitent army, as well as a few elites, a fifth of the mage unit, and four mercenary groups, have been making its way toward one of the smaller villages in the Tauros region, a tiny village whose name escapes me. Apparently, they haven't paid their taxes in four months, warranting an investigation.
Of course, a mere investigation would never warrant the movement of such a vast army, no, this is the result of several failed delegates who traveled there with a growing number of guards, but still never returned. After a particularly well known knight was sacrificed in the latest delegate disaster, the kingdom decided they had enough and sent a whole ass army to investigate.
Thus, my being here. I'm a simple mercenary of the Sainted mercenary corps. Female, twenty five years old, and in possession of a spotless dating history. I'm very skilled in using the heavy crossbow, thus the reason I've been here all this time. All and all, I'd say I'm the… fourth? Strongest member of the Sainted mercenaries.
I had now arrived at the podium, a simple wooden platform elevated off the ground for the deputy to stand on, with a huge circular clearing around it. I stood a bit far off from the podium, already knowing all the information I was about to hear.
Sure enough, the deputy started barking out orders I already knew, chores that were already divided amongst us, and even chastising I had nothing to do with. I did perk up when he said this next expedition would be the last before we went home. Supposedly, the village was a short three hour march away from here, with a huge but manageable chasm blocking the way. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why we always bring an engineering unit.
Finally, he listed off the members joining the excursion. Some of the people here are only for information gathering, base building and the like. Realy, only about 60% of us were actually going to go, not to mention showing up at a tiny village with a massive army would make anyone wary, maybe even unreasonable.
Of course, the entire number of the Sainted were on the list, which he could have just said instead of the role call he bored us with. Whatever. With the instruction finished, we all split off to do our main tasks. As for me, I'm supposed to support the engineering unit in whatever they're doing.
With that in mind, I set off towards the medium size shed that housed the engineers and mages. Most people would be distraught at this kind of job. Engineers tend to be a little eccentric, at least the military kind. However, I jumped at the opportunity. Why? Well..
“Kary! Over here!”
I rush over to where my best friend, Crypt, was waving at me. He’s on his knees, sifting through what I could only assume are red-prints or mission reports. The scouts like to dump all their duties on to them, not that the nutjobs seem to mind. Though Crypt certainly isn't happy about it.
“Ugh, those damn scouts. They dumped their reports on us again. One of these days, I'm gonna convince one of the big wigs to build their headquarters incorrectly. A moderate cave-in while it's raining in the middle of the night ata show them…” He muttered incessantly, barely taking a second to glance my way before diving back into his stacks of papers, muttering about work the entire time.
“Crypt! Stop talking about your revenge plots and start sifting through those papers! I need those organized before the expedition." I heard him scoff before rolling his eyes and diving into his work once again.
I silently sat next to him and started rifling through a third of the stack. He glanced a warm smile my way before silently redoubling his efforts.
Two hours passed like that, small talk eventually permeating our work. Just twenty minutes before the expedition, we had finished the stack of papers. I got up and stretched, mentally preparing myself before I heard three bell tolls.
I waved goodbye to Crypt and began heading off to the armory, where I waited my turn to be fitted with my personal supplies, as well as some extra items donated by the kingdom. Flash crystals, smoke ellipses, dyna charges, zap arrows and all sorts of other trinkets, including three potions of our choosing for all of us.
Of course, I chose a health potion and stamina potion. That’s the obvious choice, but what about the third... I looked around to see what everyone else had picked. Resistance potions, doubling up on stamina or health, a few poison and even a disease. Of course, every magician was armed to the teeth with focus and motor ointment.
I was about to take a second stamina potion before noticing a frosty blue vial giving off a subtle chill. A frost shatter! But that's not a potion… did it get mixed in some how? Those things are wicked expensive, and potent. I'm sure no one will mind… I pocketed the frost shatter and walked off, trying to act as confident as possible.
With the heist successful, I walked back to the podium and listened to the vice’s ramblings. After only five minutes I got bored and wandered off to help the engineering unit pack up the camp.
It's not like we’re packing up the entire camp, just most of it. We leave small outposts wherever we go. This will be the last time though, which is nice.
After an hour of packing and rushing around the decaying camp, the mages finally tore down the hyper cast, and we could leave the perimeter. Our entire army lined up and got itself organized, the vice instructing me to stay near the engineering unit as a guard. With a small group of people left behind for whatever they needed to do, we began our march toward the canyon.
—
“Damn, those scouts were not lying, that is a positively massive ravine.” Crypt quoted unnecessarily. “Damn straight.” I said without looking away. But, it's not my problem. I step to the side and watch the engineers and mages work their magic.
Well, the first part is a bit more brute force than magic. Two archers armed with x-bows loaded with heavy metal lances drive stakes into the ground and begin timing the perfect shot. It's the first time I've seen an x-bow in use. They’re stupidly heavy and unmaneuverable. They’re mostly used to defend fortresses or take down especially huge monsters. Building though? Certainly unique.
They shot the x-bows with a loud boom, sonic waves emanating from the front, causing wind to air out the entire clearing. A single loud bang was heard from the opposite end as both lances drove into the ravine wall, their connected chain rattling in the wind.
At first, I thought they were going to put boards over the chains to make a bridge, but as it turns out, the chain is just a tool to expand their magic range. At this point, the legion of earth and wind mages came forward, and began shaping the rock around us into all sorts of shapes.
We all collectively stepped back a few hundred feet to give them plenty of rock to work with. According to Crypt, creating rock with magic isn't only possible, but widely used. However, it costs more mana and would actually take more time to complete.
I watched as huge pillars rose from the ground, long and thin stretches of earth seeping out of the ravine wall like train tracks. More and more lines of dirt connected together like scaffolding. The sheer complexity of the construction made my head hurt. When dozens of mages do something at once, it's impossible to see everything.
The Earth mages made all sorts of hand gestures, with the engineers next to them explaining what they need to do, steps and parts of the plans, and ironing out mistakes before they happen, or before catastrophe. This is what crypt was currently doing, but to one of the wind mages.
I don't remember what all they do, but it was something about lightening the weight of the rocks. What I do remember was Crypt lamenting the lack of space mages. Apparently, they have some sort of magic that can straight up make things float. I asked him why they’re so rare and he looked at me like I was crazy. I had to remind him that knowledge of magic was reserved for specialists and agencies. How would some random mercenary know?
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Apparently, space is some kind of higher tier element called a world element. The higher tier an element goes, the rarer it is for living beings to possess that affinity. Apparently, space is still considered common compared to the other two world elements, which even he didn’t know the identities of.
Like most people, I don't have the gift of mana sight, nor have I had my affinity tested. Five spine just to put my hand on some fancy crystal that glows? Yeah right. I could live in a high class inn for a month straight with that kind of money.
“Yo Kary! You good?” Force slams into my shoulder as Crypt startles me out of my thoughts. “The bridge is done.” I look over to the ravine, only to see the rest of the army currently marching across, my unit leaving me behind. “Huh, that was fast. Sorry, Crypt, I must have gotten lost in thought… I.. should go. Now. By!” With that, I quickly filed in behind the last unit and began shuffling across the bridge.
After crossing the bridge, watching it collapse and reorganizing our units, we collectively marched towards the village. Over small hills and around broken trees the size of a giant's torso, eventually the surroundings fade into a more level snowy forest. Hours pass as we incessantly march forward, only stopping when attacked by monsters.
After almost an hour, we finally came across the village. At least, the remains of it. Upon the sight of the destroyed village, the mood of the army took a sharp decline. Everyone became plagued by an air of nervousness, the leaders sent in a small scout party for intel. The results were telling.
Everything destroyed, ash and blackened structural remains found everywhere. Not an ounce of personal belongings. No coins, toys, food, texts, nothing. Written on a wall carved frantically lay words of fear and warning. And most disturbingly, blood. So much blood, covering the walls and ground.
Upon a closer inspection, it appeared there were people here, but just one. Foot prints, things strewn on the ground unnaturally, earth and snow scuffed in odd ways. Someone else had been here before them.
We got the okay to continue forward. We made a human perimeter circling the village, and we were all instructed to search for clues. None were found. The atmosphere turned eerie as the sun cowered behind the mountains. Shadow covered the decaying village as the wind whistled through the trees, creating an ominous hum.
Some of the more skittish soldiers were filled with fear. Most others, including myself, were plagued by rising dread. A sense that something was wrong. We waited and waited for more orders, as the feeling dread continued on at an infinite crescendo. My heart began to pound, and I pulled out my heavy crossbow and held it up to my chest with both hands.
Half an hour passed by without a sound. My nerves got the best of me, and I ripped away from the perimeter, an action the vice would certainly cuss me out for. But the prospect of a scolding was preferred to never confirming this mounting feeling of dread. I had a bad feeling. A horrible, terrible feeling, that something terrible was going to happen, or had already happened.
I felt eyes on my back and pin pricks on my skin, when a thought had occurred to me. If this village was attacked, it must have been by some monster. Perhaps an intelligent one, capable of such ruthless brutality.
If such a monster was prowling around, one with intellect, what would it do when it noticed our presence? Why, it would go for our leaders.
The same leaders that were meeting outside of the perimeter.
They had the elite guard with them. Even if they were not fine, we would have at least heard the sounds of battle, right? Thoughts pooled into my head, I came up with reason after reason as to why they would be fine. Why would I find them perfectly healthy and angry at my unnecessary interruption.
But then, the smell of blood. I ran as hard as I could, the smell getting stronger and stronger. Until I heard the sound of chewing. I ran into a small clearing, the signs of a battle evident. Lingering magical effects like fire, ice, and stone lingered around the ground. Over the snow lay dozens of bodies covered in fancy armor and cloth, weapons shattered or stuck in the ground.
Almost hidden in the darkness, sat the source of the sound. Skinny, with two massive antlers and a long, bone white skull, ripping apart what looked to be the army’s general. I watched with bated breath as it tore the body apart, stuffing the remains into its mouth piece by piece. Every sickening crunch of shattering bone and tearing of flesh passed by my trembling form.
Run or fight?
The bone white skull stopped chewing, and one teal flash of light settled on my tree.
Run.
I ran as fast as I could. I heard one last gump before the monster stood and began running. A run much, much faster than me. I quickly twisted around and readied my crossbow as its jaws opened wide to consume me. I launched the pre-loaded bolt straight towards it and immediately turned again to keep running.
The bolt only stopped it for a minute, but that was enough time for me to burst back into the village clearing and yell words of warning. “ WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!!! " Every single soldier straightened and turned towards me. I pointed towards the forest I had emerged from, only to see two shining teal points staring out from the darkness.
The monster leaped from its spot, ignoring me to pounce on a large cluster of soldiers. The ensuing melee was terrifying. There was no fight, only slaughter. Its claws, covered in glowing teal light ripped through armor like it was air. They had no chance.
We threw everything we had at it. With no living leaders, we devolved into primitive strategies. The archers used every arrow in their disposal, every potion was thrown, the few apostles used all of their blessings, but it just wasn't enough. The monster wove through every spell and projectile, taking minor cuts before throwing some magic of its own.
Lightning fast blades invisible in the rapidly encroaching darkness tore through the sky and ripped through flesh. I watched in horror as soldiers, comrades, friends, died in droves, mear fodder before the wicked monsters' unstoppable claws.
Of course, during this time I placed shot after shot, the monster easily dodging each and every one of them. Mages tried to hold it in place, but it tore through the bindings like cheap silk. Finally, one of the elites tore through its back with a well placed blessing. The monster shrieked in rage before slamming its fists into the ground, producing a massive shock wave.
This barely stopped their newfound vigor as soldiers began dog piling the monster. I ran around to find the engineering unit, preparing a piercing bolt in one of the x-bows. With a shreak that shook the sky the monster forced all the soldiers to their knees. With its own momentum, it tore through the neck of the elite knight, effectively killing any chance we had at victory.
With the soldiers now away from the target, engineers shot the bolt with tremendous power. Unfortunately, the monster dodged the bolt by a hair's width. Identifying the weapon as a real threat, it made a beeline towards the unit.
They scrambled as they loaded yet another bolt into the x-bow. It was at this moment I ran into Crypt. “Crypt! Ar-”
“KYLA! Listen to me. I need you to stall the monster somehow. If we can lock it in place for just a second, we can kill it.”
“What!?!? No, we need to escape right now. YOU need to escape.” He looked at me pleadingly. “Kyla, get a hold of yourself! Have you seen how fast that thing is? We wouldn't even make it to the ravine. And even if we could, there's no bridge. Kyla. This is it.“ He sounded resigned.
“If we want to have a future together.“ He begged. “We need to end this here, and now.“
A memory. A fantasy where we lived together, fingers locked and side by side. All that was standing in the way was that invincible monster. “Shit. fine! Do what you need to do and then get out of here!” He gave me a kiss on the cheek before running off towards the rest of the engineers.
The rest of the soldiers understood that the x-bows were their only chance at survival, so they threw their lives away in order to keep the monster away. I drank the last of my stamina potion, and began peppering the monster with arrows.
At first it was content to dodge them, but eventually it began breaking them with its claws. It got so fed up with my antics that it even threw one of those invisible blades at me. The wide swinging motion it did was recognizable enough that I dodged the attack easily.
It cleaved through another soldier, now a rare breed among all the body’s littering the ground. The rest of the soldiers did their best as a distraction, though they mostly tried to heal their comrades.
The monster reared back once again, the teal light around its fingers growing stronger until its glow illuminated the night touched forest. Before it could execute its attack, a small vial filled with a frosty blue liquid interred its awareness. Two arrows wizzed towards it, forcing the beast to use both of its arms in defense. The monster bit down on the blue potion, or rather, the frost shatter.
With the glass casing now broken, the alchemical concoction within roared to life. In a second a massive star of ice froze around the monster's face. It tore at the crystal relentlessly, finally removing its blindness with only mild frostbite as a consequence. Well, that and the massive bolt hurdling towards it at mach fuck. With no time to dodge, the compressed steel javelin nailed the monster straight in the chest, leaving its body dangling lifelessly impaled on the eight foot shaft.
After a moment, a cheer rose up from the two dozen still living soldiers. I ran to crypt and we enveloped each other in our embrace. With the danger now having passed, I could finally breath a sigh of relief. But the relief never came.
The cold knife of dread dug deeper into my gut. I looked over at the monster. I watched its body hang lifelessly. I tried to convince myself that nothing was happening. It didn’t move or show any signs of life. So why? Why wasn't the feeling going away?
The wry cheer cut off, as the monsters body gave off an ominous shiny silver color, tinged with teal. It was at this moment that I noticed the moon was visible, and that slivers of that energy were flowing from the moon to the monster.
It shuddered. Glowing symbols traced across its body. The skull became painted in glowing runes, dull blue prisms appeared hanging from its antlers, and that light in its eyes returned, tinged with that darker blue and silver.
It twitched. The monster re animated itself and dragged its body from the lance. The gaping hole in its chest remained, but the danger it posed only climbed higher and higher. A deep moan escaped its lips like a wolf howl, transforming into a chorus of decidedly human screams.
Energy coalesced around its claws, many times more powerful and bright than before. It disappeared, and teleported right in front of me, creating a sharp burst of wind. I flew backwards, glimpsing the monster rear back, a thick wispy cone forming around its arm.
It ripped forwards, the lance of energy shooting forward creating three small shockwaves. It was at this moment that I felt myself ripped backwards, and a form appeared in front of me. A scream rang out into the night as the javelin of dark force pierced through the interjected body.
The monster's hand ran out of range, stopping just a foot from my face. It growled in frustration before throwing the body to the side. It looked at me, almost contemplating it's next action. With a tremendous shockwave, the monster disappeared, and screams started emanating from the forest.
It started hunting the runaways. I hear a gasp, and crawl over to the bleeding body that sacrificed its life for me. It was none other than… Crypt?!?!
“W.. why??” tears washed down my face, as Crypt put a hand up to my face. He caressed my cheek, and uttered one word with his dying breath.
“Live.”
And with that, his hand fell to the ground lifelessly. The light left his eyes, and his entire body went limp with one last shudder. Wallowing in despair, I left his corpse for the night and ran for the hills.
Dozens of screams rang out as I ran further and further. But it was all for nothing. I came upon the ravine, its width seeming even more impossible to cross than before. I felt a supreme burst of wind behind me.
With dead eyes I turned and stared at the monsters. It slammed its left arm into my ribs, throwing me to the side for several paces, my body bouncing across the hard stone.
Ah, what's the point of fighting anymore?
The monster appeared in front of me again. It grasped my neck and held me aloft over the endless chasm.
I went into thought. This monster took everything from me. My family. My life. My love. The little I had was ripped away, my potential fed to this monster's ceaseless appetite. Crypt, the future you and I could have had together, gone in an instant. This monster has taken everything from me.
With every fiber of my being, I wished suffering on that monster. I begged eternal damnation on its soul. I prayed to every deity to grant my sincere wish.
I raised my arm and flipped it the bird. With tears streaming down my face, I smiled wide and pronounced one sentence.
“Fuck you.”
And with that final whisper, I plunged into the endless abyss.