If you happen to find old friends of yours on Idroa, know that they have changed drastically. Many of us refused to accept this, and we paid dearly for our naivety.

Wilfrid Pember - Historian- The Start of the Apocalypse

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Three feet tall, the lynx’s muscles rippled under its dotted fur. Its magic suddenly manifested in its yellow eyes as they flushed vibrant blue, and its claws raked through the hard ground as easily as a hot knife through butter.

“Wake up! We’re under attack!” Josh bellowed, hoping the harshness in his voice would make the lynx reconsider. It didn’t as the beast continued forward, its mouth twisting open to reveal its teeth.

Iris ran back to get her weapons, while Natalie stepped up beside Josh, the temperature of her aura lowering. Using Antimage Brawler’s first ability, Magic-Repellent Skin, he cast a layer over his head, arms, and chest, and the biting chill vanished.

Wondering whether he should engage the lynx or back up until the others arrived, his thoughts were cut off as a hand-sized icicle formed in front of Natalie. It hovered and wobbled for a moment before streaking forward, slicing through the air and stabbing towards the lynx. Just before it hit, however, a gust of wind smashed it down into the dirt.

Its beard bristling, the lynx bawled and shot towards Natalie. Josh rushed forward to intercept it, but as noble as his intentions were, he didn’t quite manage as the wind blasted into his legs with such force as to trip him over. It was as he fell that he realised Natalie had never been its target, rather only its bait to pull him out.

It bound towards him and slashed, but he raised his shield in time to protect his face. Ripping shreds out of his shield, the lynx wheeled about him and pounced again, this time at his unguarded back. Fortunately, two icicles in quick succession forced it to fall back. The campfire provided little light, and so the lynx slipped in and out of the shadows, circling them, studying them for weakness.

Before it made a move, however, Iris returned with Yuri hot on her heels. Flanking the lynx, they nodded at Josh and collapsed on the beast from all sides. It glanced around quickly and made a beeline towards Yuri. The Cleric calmly swung with explosive force, and although his hammer should have crushed its head like a watermelon, his hands jolted at the last second and threw the blow off-course. The lynx used this moment to scratch his armour and tear a chunk from his cheek, causing him to stagger back.

Before it could do any more damage, Josh arrived and stabbed towards it. He sensed yet another gust of wind pushing his arms down, but this time his arms resisted because of the layer of Magic-Repellent Skin. The lynx must have planned to leap off his arms into his face, but it realised its miscalculation too late as his sword continued unwavering in its path.

The beast tried to dodge, but it was pointless as his blade gored through its leg. Shrieking, it clawed at him and leapt away into the shadows. It retreated slowly with a limp, only to then stop dead in its tracks as an icicle skewered through its head. The lynx collapsed onto its side, blood pouring out of its wounds.

Iris rushed to Yuri, while Josh walked over to the lynx to make sure it was dead. “Fuck,” he said, still in disbelief over how fast it had all gone south. “What was that?”

Natalie kneeled next to the corpse and frowned. “It was freely using magic.”

“Yeah, wind or something,” Josh exclaimed. Dropping his Magic-Repellent Skin, he felt her chill again, and his sweat came dripping down his face. “I thought only we could use magic though.”

She shrugged. “Apparently not.”

Healed, Yuri joined them. “That was not wind; that was telekinesis - I have faced a similar foe before,” he said, rubbing the cheek which had been attacked. “It would appear the Lord has provided equal opportunity to all his creations.”

For the rest of the night, they all stayed tense and alert, but nothing else came to attack them. Regardless, they were all vigilant the next day as they continued down their original route. They didn’t have to go much further before they came across the rumoured magical plants.

Although Josh had no idea what they were, he sensed magic from several of them. The density of such plants grew as they advanced, and it was clear they were nearing some sort of source. As he had suspected, they came across just that two miles further on as they looked down on a massive quarry.

It must have originally been from Earth as there were industrial equipment still on the quarry floor, some worryingly rent apart and dumped like rag dolls torn off their limbs. The muddy grey slopes were strewn with glittering, blue rocks which gave off a potent sense of arcane, far stronger than anything he had felt before. There were also several tunnels leading through the quarry’s face, likely from past mining operations.

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However, all these facts were second to the fact the area was teeming with wild animals - bears, raccoons, deers, and on - all giving off a similar aura to the lynx they had faced. It was by luck that they had come by a disused cliffside path, allowing them to spy on the scene from a distance, as Josh had no doubt that had they approached more openly, they would have been torn apart in seconds.

There was clearly a link between the magical plants and the arcane animals and the blue stones, but there was nothing more they could do now with how few members they had. As such, his party of five hastily retreated before they were spotted, and they rushed all the way back to Riverside.

While their original mission of confirming the existence of magical plants and recovering some had been wildly successful, it was clear they had stumbled onto something far more remarkable which practically begged for further investigation.

****

Sabine grinned a wide, toothy grin as the gatekeeper flinched away from her. She walked past him, ignoring his half-hearted protests.

There was a multicoloured carpet of daisies, lilies, and daffodils along the path, and the gatekeeper rushed after her, ensuring she didn’t step on any. Not that she would; she knew how much Mike liked his flowers. In fact, the entire front yard was decorated with all sorts of vibrant plants in an elaborate display. Mike had always been a sucker for presentation, back then and now.

Finally passing her, the gatekeeper bowed and politely asked her to wait for a second while he informed Mike of her visit, but she pushed him aside with a smirk. He must have been smarter than he looked as he didn’t try to stop her a second time.

Pacing through the house, she checked the rooms and eventually found Mike in his study, moaning under his breath. A mean streak of anger glinted through his eyes, but it was replaced by wry humour the second he recognised her, an intruder all the same but a welcome one.

Patting the woman on her knees, he gestured her to leave and pulled his shorts up. “Go play outside for a second, Alice. It seems I’ve got a rather rude guest to entertain.”

Alice, the Pyromancer, rose, dribble trickling down her brightly painted lips. She was a pretty little thing, Sabine decided, with red hair, soft features, and a full figure. However, she didn’t look very pretty as she passed by Sabine, her face twisted grudgingly as she snarled like a dog.

Closing the door as Alice left, Sabine walked up to Mike and grinned her wide, toothy grin again. “Looks like you need to train your bitch more.”

He chuckled. Michael, the Gladiator, was a handsome black man with a flashy smile. He was dressed casually in a durag, shirt, and shorts. While he would have towered over Sabine on his feet, right now he resigned himself to slouching on his seat. When she had first met him two years ago, she had thought he was the most stunning fellow fighter she had seen, and it appeared the Apocalypse had done well by him as he looked stronger and better than before. “What do I owe for this visit, Sabine? I thought maybe you didn’t like me anymore.”

Pulling up a chair beside him, she clicked her tongue. “I’ve just been busy.”

“Too busy to visit an old friend?” he asked, sidling closer.

“Far too busy to visit a playboy, that’s for sure.”

Mike laughed freely. “So, what’s changed now?”

“I heard Silas is back, along with his cronies who went north,” she said, watching his expression closely.

He waved dismissively at her comment. “I’m not interested in a boy who’s wet behind his ears.”

“Then, what made you hesitate? I heard rumours you were planning to take over the second you came, but it’s now been a week, and I’m starting to wonder if you’ve lost your fangs,” she goaded.

“Those fools can say what they want, but I thought you at least knew me better than that, baby girl. I’ve never rushed into fights; I’ve always studied my opponents and broke them down, piece by piece.” Mike leaned in closer, and her heart thumped faster. “I’ve been digging up information on the Duellist and his dogs. It’s a pity there aren’t any tapes of his duel with Grace, but I’ve learnt plenty else through different means.”

Sabine remembered back to the duel and found herself grinning again. It had been a pity that Grace had been distrustful of her, so much so as to leave her out of the coup, but it wasn’t as if she could blame the Valkyrie as she had been right in her paranoia. Nonetheless, the duel had been a thrilling affair, and Sabine had confirmed there that for what Silas lacked in finesse and technique, he more than made up for with brute force, undoubtedly through his overwhelming attributes.

“It was a good fight - you would have liked it,” Sabine said. “He was the reigning champion, but she was the crowd’s favourite. Rightly so as she thrashed him at the start, only to let her guard down for a second and get knocked out.”

“Did they cheer for him?” Mike asked excitedly.

“For him, no, but for her, sure. When he skewered her and threw her body to the dirt, the crowd was shocked silent. It was great - highlight reel material.”

“Fuck,” Mike groaned, leaning back. “I knew I should have come to Riverside earlier.”

“What? Are you not confident your fight will be better?” she asked, prodding him again.

“Oh, it’ll be fucking brilliant,” he replied with a bite. “I’ll dance around that little boy and rip his head right off. The issue is the rest of his faction; they’re loaded with big hitters all around, and I don’t want my boys decimated while I have my fun in the Octagon.” Mike rose and casually clasped Sabine by her chin, his long fingers digging into her neck. He spoke in a low whisper, “You’ll stand by me, Sabine, won’t you?”

“I’m hurt you would even ask that,” she replied, ignoring the choking sensation.

Mike kissed her, and his hands immediately wandered down her body, “Good girl.”

“Won’t your bitch care about this?” Sabine asked, tugging his shorts down all the same.

“She doesn’t need to know,” he replied.

Sabine laughed and kissed Mike eagerly. Sure, Alice was outside with her ears glued to the door, but it wasn’t as if Sabine cared, after all, she soon expected to kill her anyway.

____

One of the most valuable resources on Idroa was manastone. Any settlements that discovered a nearby source of it were equally promised great prosperity and damning violence.

Wilfrid Pember - Historian- The Start of the Apocalypse