Chapter 3: Winners and Losers

I closed my eyes and woke up someplace else; someplace familiar.

I was back on the streets of Haggard during a moment in time that still haunted me. Not because a major city was laid to waste and not because the thousands of lives that were lost needlessly, in an instant.

No, it was because at that moment in time I was too weak to save anyone, including the most important person in my life back then.

Man, even in my dreams I couldn’t forget about her.

This... was a dream, right?

People were all around, their faces blurred as if in motion, but no one was moving. Time stopped right when Catalyst was minutes away from doing its dreadful job.

Strange.

I saw myself frozen in that moment, trying desperately to stop Catalyst. Little did know at that time, when a devastating rune of that magnitude was summoned, there was no stopping it.

Why was I back there?

That day was history.

Traveling through time was something too Godly. I swore I’d never do it. This had to be a dream then.

Was it because of her? I would never admit my feelings for her. We’re decades apart, plus she tried to snuff my life before I even knew I was alive.

Still we spent so much time together; it was impossible for me not to feel some way about her. I think it was when I saw her again, after spending a few weeks apart, when it all hit me. The attractive, curly haired woman had saved me again and I knew I had feelings for her. She was always on my mind, but I never allowed myself to go there, not with my birthright haunting me.

Hmm.

That was something I never told Jaff, either. Probably because I had a suspicion that she was attracted to him. I guess that made me a little jealous.

I felt like I was floating through the city, through walls and people as I searched for her. Was her death the only thing I was willing to relive? I just needed closure. Was this my way of knowing if I could have saved her?

Then I found her bleeding out on the ground; eyes peering upward. It was interesting how the faces of others were out of focus, but not her’s.

It was in that spot Farah lost her life, before Catalyst fell.

That’s how history would remember it, anyway.

♪But we knew better.♪

***

There was a bang on the door. I rolled over, ignoring whoever it was. They were going to wait until I was good and ready to leave this spot before I got up. The bed, these pillows; I wasn’t about to part with them.

I haven’t slept this comfortably in months!

Hold on! All of what I saw just now, it was a dream? It..seemed so real. Now, I’ve had my share of crazy dreams before but that one was too real.

Farah...?

And just as I was about to slip back into a deep slumber, hoping to continue that dream, a familiar voice kept me up. “Aiden! Aiden!”

Ino.

“Are you still in bed at this hour?!” he yelled, pounding on the door again and again.

“Just a second!” I insisted, tugging my shirt over my head. No sooner had I opened the door than Ino rushed me away like the place was on fire.

“Hurry! Hurry!” Ino urged. “The race is moments away!”

“Wait..what?? What race?”

“Itsuki is in a horse race! We’re going to miss him and his victory! Come! Come! Come!”

“Do I have a choice??” I mumbled.

“If it weren’t for your help and freeing Ishikawa, we wouldn't be able to hold races like we used to. That’s why you have to come and enjoy it with us!”

He went on and on and on about a horse race all the way down to the sandy shoreline. The pride he had for his son spoke louder than his excitement.

It must be nice being a father.

“Isuko!” Ino shouted, cupping his mouth with his hands for an even louder yell. One of six riders, Isuko looked pretty confident as he and his father exchanged waves. “That’s my boy! He’s sure to win!”

A growing crowd of friends and family gathered to watch the race. I’m sure they all felt the same way as Ino.

“Now watch carefully, Aiden! This is going to be a quick race! You see those two?” Ino said, pointing at a couple a long ways down. “That’s the finish! First horse that meets them wins! And that’s going to be my Isuko! He’s on a fast horse! I picked him out myself!”

“If you say so, Ino.”

“You don’t believe me!? You’ll see! You watch!”

His son’s spotted stallion appeared to be more of a race horse than the others, I gave him that. Still, he was no Hassan. If my horse were here he’d run circles around all of them.

Before I knew it the riders took off and ( despite Ino’s biased prediction ) it was a pretty tight race from the start. It didn’t take long before a battle for first place broke out between his son and another rider.

Now it was getting interesting enough to join the cheers.

Look at me getting all excited. Can’t miss the finish!

Of course, my excitement was nowhere near Ino’s as he hoofed it along the dunes, trying to keep up with the speed of the galloping horses. “Go! Go! Go!” he exclaimed with a playful laugh.

Then I saw them.

One, two, three mounds of sand moving almost as fast as the horses and heading straight for the racers. What could be tunneling under the earth like that??

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Several dark objects shot out of the ground, knocking the horses off their feet.

Wait! Are those beetles?! They’re huge!

And vicious judging by all of the screaming.

As intimidating as their thick exoskeletons looked, they split open easily under the weight of my blades. Quick warps and precise slicing put an end to them quickly. Then came more; a lot more!

“Me without my weapon!” said Ino.

“I’ll take care of them! Could you get everyone off the beach?”

“Right! Then I’ll be back to help you!”

I’ll be done before then.

“Ino! Help!” someone called.

I stole a glance at a couple of people struggling to lift a mare off of some poor fellow. “Isuko!” exclaimed his father.

I pushed the horse aside with the telekinesis rune then hastily returned my attention to the growing number of enemies now prowling the sands. There were so many ways I could put a quick end to them. Fire, water, ice....♪Damnation♫....

“No! No!! NO!!!”

Can’t lose focus and summon the wrong rune! Not ever again!

Warp. Attack. Warp. Attack. Rinse and repeat a couple dozen times should do the trick. Stick with that, Aiden. Just stick with that.

“Aiden! Come quick!” Ino beckoned as I scanned the area for any more surprises.

“Is everyone okay?”

“It’s Isuko! He’s hurt! He can’t walk! You must heal him!”

Right. Right. I can do that. Nothing sinister about healing wounds. I seriously need to track down that peddler’s mom-in-law after this. Felt like I was losing myself to that rune’s will during that skirmish.

The horse severed a bunch of bones when it fell on Isuko. He was lucky to be breathing. He was even luckier that I was here. There’s nothing I could do for the dead. Well, nothing helpful anyway.

“What were those things?” someone asked.

“Big bugs! Where’d they come from?” another person responded.

“Could there be more?!”

“Oh no. I thought it was over!”

“Hey!” Ino marched over to the frightened group. “We need to keep what happened today to ourselves! If our sister cities hear about this, they’ll be here with torches ready to burn everything we built!”

“But, Ino, what if..” the man lowered his voice. “...what if Ishikawa is really cursed?”

“Don’t be silly! Not a word to anyone! Do you hear me!?”

The group dispersed, but I had an inkling that Ino’s wishes were going to be ignored.

Those bugs bled like normal beetles to me; not like the monsters that stalked the land previously. Those nocturnal ghouls that lingered around Khalm died the same way as those evil knights, too. Not one of them shed an ounce of blood when I vanquished them; just rotten, stinky dark ooze.

Blick! It took days to get that odor out of my clothes and my nostrils!

“You know they..they’re not going to listen to you, father,” Isuko observed as he sat up against the tree.

“If they know what’s good for the city, they will! I’d hate to pound some sense into them, but I will if I have to!”

“Has an attack like this happened before?” I asked.

“No, not since you were here last,” said Ino. “Son, how are you feeling?”

“A lot better now. I’m in your debt, Aiden.”

“No you’re not.”

“Crazy talk about curses and omens and evil; that’s what spooked Kia! She took the rest of our boys and left Ishikawa!” Ino grumbled, shoulders tenser than they had been all day. “Let’s get back there, Isuko! You come too, good spirit!”

I don’t believe in curses, but there was something strange going on. And the more I thought about it the more I was convinced; someone was using the Beast rune. That had to be it.

But why? More importantly, who?

“I knew it!” Ino growled, interrupting my thoughts. The streets were filled with nervous chatter and those from the race were doing much of the talking. “I’ll strangle them!”

“I guess everyone has a right to know,” said Isuko.

“They don’t know what’s going on any more than the next person! They’re just creating a panic!”

“What do we do?”

After a brief pause Ino turned to me, eyes sparkling with the wrong idea. “Aiden!”

Don’t look at me like that, Ino.

“Good spirit! You saved the city before! Tell them everything is fine! You know, ease their concerns!”

No I wouldn’t. “Why would they listen to me? I’m not even from here.”

“That doesn’t matter! Look, look, look! Everyone knows you’re a good spirit! We trust you!”

“Father, look!” Isuko urged, pointing down the road. “Yamato’s returned!”

It was the man’s gray mare trotting into town, but that rider wasn’t Yamato. It was Matsuo, barely upright in his saddle. Ino was the first to reach him and notice the marks on his body.

Another job for Aiden The Healer!

“He’s been in battle?” pondered Isuko. “Where’s Yamato??”

“Matsuo?! Matsuo!” Ino exclaimed, trying to shake the man conscious. “What’s happened!?”

No response.

“Aiden hurry!”

“He has a lot of deep wounds, Ino. It’s going to take me a minute.”

Did he have a minute? Blood was already pooling at my feet. Someone tried their best to kill him. I don’t know how he managed to mount a horse in his condition.

Despite my focus being on Matsuo, a man sized shadow flying over did not go unnoticed by me.

Or anyone else, for that matter.

He had to be at least seven feet tall with wings matching his beetle out of Hell armor. I wasn’t even sure if it was human, but one look at his deep set eyes caused many to flee. In all honesty, they were probably more afraid of the huge, blood soaked sword in his possession.

“Come to finish what you started, fiend?!” said Ino.

“Let me handle that thing, Ino.” I can’t keep doing this.

“What about Matsuo??!”

“I’ve healed him as much as I can right now. Take him to get his wounds dressed, quickly.”

“Father, let’s do what he says,” Isuno insisted, helping Matsuo to his feet.

“All right! All right! I’ll be back as soon as Matsuo’s taken care of, Aiden! That’s a promise!”

The big beetle man stood quietly, more interested in where Matsuo was being rushed off to than me apparently. His mistake.

If he was anything like those other beetles a sword or two ( or five ) should be enough...

Might be enough...

......!

Vermin’s exoskeleton was rock hard but it didn’t slow him a second as he lunged forward to run me through. The force of our weapons clashing was too intense! Felt like my arm was going to snap!

Ugh! Wasn’t expecting that.

New plan!

A couple of warps gave me some breathing room, but my aerial attack from all directions failed to poke one hole in that bug man. Hell, he probably didn’t even notice them. Jerk’s going to force me to step it up.

Before I could put my next move into action I was pummeled from behind. Those beetles from the beach were back and there were more of them. Chasing people through the streets, into buildings, climbing trees; they were everywhere!

Where’d they all come from!? More importantly, where’d the bug man go?

I kicked, flung, and tossed as many of the little pests as far away from people as I could ( why am I doing this the hard way? ), all the while looking over my shoulder for the bigger threat. Then I saw him making short work of Ino and his son before turning his sword on Matsuo.

Okay! That does it!

Why was I handling this the hard way? His shell may be impenetrable but I’d bet his body was as squishable as a bug’s. The tingling surge of energy that left me to purge the enemies felt so relaxing. I could end him instantly, crumble him until he was a ball of bloody pulp.

But I stopped when I heard him struggling.

I heard his voice; Yamato’s voice, but how??

Taking advantage of my hesitation, the bug man flew out of the city and out of sight.

What the Hell was going on around here!?