V.

There are those who knows only peace. They are born, grow and die where it is possible to sleep peacefully, living days of harmony and serenity. They live with what is marketed and make gold on trade agreements.

We are not like that. We will never be like that. We were born in a hostile continent, where magic disadvantaged us and forced us to fight for crumbs. Where the only real power is the one that takes and destroys. A place where peace does not exist. Where there is only war. For power, for food and for the right to exist in this world.

But that will change. Because the place where we came from, the continent where we grew, is a place to where we will never go back. Together, as one, we will go on this journey. To bring war to those who knows only peace. It is time for them to pay for the tranquility of their generations. To the peaceful sleep of their children. Their land will be stained with their own blood and then, finally, we will be able to rest and reap the fruits of our suffering.

Come with me, brothers and sisters! To our new Kingdom! We will conquer together, or we will die together. From now on, we will live for each other. We will die for each other. Trust your swords to me. And, as Fiandel warriors, we will never be hungry again!

Akia Issa Nkosi's speech excerpt – The “Conqueror” - First King of Fiandel

*

-You heard the commander! – In the newly formed circular formation, Barsen was in the middle of the others. – Archers! Attack the eagles!

Yvanna repeat the message on the other side. Although threatened, the archers complied. As the warriors gathered in a circle around the commander, the archers lost their cover and was now only a matter of time before they became the main targets of the attacks.

With animals coming from all sides, Barsen feels more at ease and advances a few meters in relation to the other soldiers. Distant from the others, he can make wide movements and annihilate more than one animal with each swing of his huge ax. The weapon’s thread returns with pieces of animal flesh. The contact of the bodies against his armor does not make him retreat and he continues with the merciless attack.

Yvanna mixes with the shadows and uses her dagger, hands and teeth to attack all the animals in the vicinity. Each movement seems to come out of a dance, and she gets mixed with the entrails of her victims. Their scent, increasingly impregnated in her, confuses those who attack and, before they can understand her approach, she already makes another dance movement over their dead bodies.

Rinlia channels through her body all the magic she can gather from the world. The soldiers do not feel it, but she uses their efforts and the will in their bodies to channel the energy of the world that only her is able to feel and control. In this world, magic is made from opposition, and the magic that do not feed the animals, now, is feeding her. She is the only magic opposition to them, and this means that she has more power than she can control. This same magic is thrown with force through her hands, in all directions over their heads, exploding bodies, wings and legs. Breaking bones and smashing heads. Throwing all the birds that dare to enter her domain on the ground.

Thiago does not see any of these shows. He does not see the massacre made by the ogre, the dance performed by the vampire or the rain of lightning shown by the elf. He just has time to notice his own heavy breath and tired arms, which are unable to lift the shield with the strength that it should have. Still, he needs to strike. He can take down another wolf with a stroke of his sword. An advance with the shield and he bewilders a fox, who, soon, has her body pierced by a spear of the ally on his right.

He attacks without taking time to think. The time for a thought was the time necessary to perform a parry.  One moment, wasted with a thought, could be enough to die. And, in that time, he jumps on a lynx, canceling its speed by being able to catch the animal in the middle of the jump between the barricade and the new formation. By tilting the body to the side, he can drop the weight of the body on the sword and break the animal’s skull with a single stroke.

“I won.”

Time enough for a thought. Time enough to not notice an enraged doe. Enough to delay the posture to protect his side with the shield. Something that makes him not have enough strength to hold all the power of the doe’s head, which throws his arm to the side, leaving his chest open, which is immediately struck by the head of a boar. The animal passes over him, but not before hitting his chest.

With the head on the ground, Thiago loses his hearing momentarily. He tries to shake the body, but the hit on his chest and the subsequent crash of his skull against the ground leaves him absolutely bewildered. He seeks for air but chokes instead. His eyes open and close desperately, as if that would awaken the senses that have disappeared. He tries again and feels the vomit leaking out of his mouth before he can even understand what happened. With his body convulsing as he vomits food and blood, Thiago looks to the side and sees a fallen companion. He does not scream. His eyes are glazed in Thiago’s direction.

He would have been lost in contemplation facing the body of the dead elf warrior, had he not felt the shock of a searing pain in his arm. When looking to the side, he realizes that a wolf is trying to tear the arm that, until now, was holding a shield.

-AAAHHH!

Hearing and speech return at the same time. And Thiago screams. The pain seems to ward off the retching and the survival instinct immediately throws it at the animal, which does not let go of the arm when it is hit by the sword handle on the head. The soldier, then, strikes the animal in the neck with the weapon. Finally, the wolf gets weaker, but his jaw does not loosen. The soldier swings his arms and finally drops his sword to remove the dead animal’s teeth from there.

Once free, he turns to the sword, but cannot find it. It is the first time he separates from his sword after a long time. The soldiers who had been a little ahead, stepped back and closed the circle around them, stepping on the dead warrior’s body and retreating towards the commander.

The brown-haired warrior supports the only good hand on the floor and tries to stand. The heavy armor prevents him from making a comfortable move and he stands up slowly, feeling his arm getting numb. He tries to lift it but fails.

Stunned, his eyes roam the space around. Yvanna is on the right, protecting the body of two fallen warriors, fighting fiercely against a pack. Barsen seems blinded by fury and destroys the bodies of several mooses that launch forward. The rest of the archers joined the warriors and use swords to protect the perimeter from an attack by a flock of angry boars. Meanwhile, Rinlia is entirely focused on the job of attacking the last remaining eagles, bats, owls, kites and other birds of prey that have joined the last wave of attackers.

Despite everything, the battle seems under control. He tries to estimate the number of fallen animals. One hundred? One hundred and fifty? Maybe more?

There is twenty or thirty left. Only a little more and-

Perhaps because he is the only one that is not attacking anyone, Thiago is the first soldier to notice the animal that moves independently of the others. The one hiding its presence behind others, waiting the best moment to move forward.

This was no ordinary animal. It was a black bear, who had moved slowly along the barricade, as if it knew the building ahead. Its body glowed with blue lights, similar to the one of Rinlia’s magic, although a different color. The bluish glow of the flames in its eyes grew stronger with each step. With each meter traveled, its contorted jaw became more apparent to make room for two huge, golden canines.

The black bear advances through the barricade and, as soon as it is noticed, starts its furious run.

Barsen is the first one who stands on his way. The ogre, stepping over a pile of dead beasts, only notices the animal when he is standing in less than a meter away. Lifting the ax handle, he protects himself from the attack made by the animal’s huge paws, but his body is unable to support the weight and the big soldier falls on his back. The bear, instead of attacking him, take the opportunity to continues his run. The nearest soldiers cannot react on time and the bear moves towards the center of the formation – Where Rinlia stands.

-Commander! – Thiago finds the strength to scream. The mage, hearing the call, turs her face, but her body stays in the same place. She chooses, until the end, not to abandon the task of taking care of the air attacks that are still being made over her soldiers.

Thiago reacts on instinct. During his military training (and afterwards), the one lesson all soldiers repeated until exhaustion was about how important is the life of the person on command. How their death would affect the integrity of the whole group. And, after years of listening the same lesson, the thought grew in his head. Right or wrong, the repetition made his brain aware of this “duty”, therefore, he had to protect her. This mission is the absolute truth, reverberating on his head; Now, he is fully aware that their survival is only possible because none of the beasts on air could touch the people on ground. If not for her, the whole Company would be doomed from the start.

“Look at the creature next to you. This is the one who will protect you from death.”

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That was what she said. This meant that he also had to protect her.

He jumps in front of the animal, without bearing any weapons. The bear’s open snout meets the soldier’s arm. The magic that cover the pelt collides with the human flesh.

A spark comes between the two and the bear’s bite does not close over the arm. Both creatures are pushed aside by the contact between two different types of magic.

Thiago falls, feeling sleepy after so many attacks. He does not comprehend how he is not dead, and the sleepiness stops him from thinking too much about it. His heart seems to slow down; his strength seems to vanish.

Another thunder. He does not see the lightning.

How many enemies are still alive? How many soldiers are still standing?

Thiago struggles, but his body would stay down for the night.

*

Rinlia sees the body of the soldier at her feet and does not even have the time to sympathize with the one who offered his body as her protection. The beasts in the skies are gone – one or two are still left, but Yvanna is about to hit them with some calculated jumps over the bodies of the enemies.

Her biggest concern, now, is the “magic beast”. A beast like that does not appear every day. This was a beast that is particularly sensitive to magic. As they grow older, this type of beast gathers more magic, becoming even more dangerous. She would have confronted it, but she was too exhausted from the combat and would need the help of all the survivors to attack together if they wanted to stand a chance.

For now, she only wants to delay his attack until everybody can be ready. There are about twenty enemies left and, as far as she could count, Yvanna, Barsen and five other warriors are still able to fight. It will have to be enough.

She turns, ready to start, only to realize that the beast has no intention of attacking her.

The battle is almost won. The enemies are going down. Rinlia wants to fight, but she had used too much magic.

“Where are you going?” She does not take her eyes off the bear. “What do you want here?”

The bear does not talk, but it answers her question.

With a slow movement, it turns away from the barricade.

And it heads for the hut where she left the prisoner.

*

At first, Arthur thought he was safe in the commander’s tent. The soldiers moved so confidently and knew so well what to do, that the barricade made in the middle of the camp seemed to be enough refugee to withstand any attack that could be on their way.

And even though he was bound by ropes and chains, he thought he was lucky to be captured by those soldiers. After all, he could not even imagine how to survive the attack that came over them. From his old building, he saw the archers launching the arrows at first, then the explosives. He watched as the barricade resisted to the advance of the beasts. He saw the destructive power of Barsen’s axe and the deadly movements of Yvanna’s dance. Arthur was amazed by this new world and these new creatures, who fought bravely in front of him. He would have reacted to it somehow if his body had not been paralyzed by the sight of Rinlia’s magic.

His mind, while immediately able to associate the bright rays (that leapt from her hands) with things he had seen in movies or games, was not able to accept it as something real. And although the shock was weakened by the absurd number of recent events, it was enough to distract him from the dire situation in which he found himself.

It took him some time to realize that the soldiers were being pressured. That the beasts, little by little, were able to destroy the carefully formed defenses. The battle cries and the howls of pain continues, while the situation seems to be slightly in favor of the soldiers. An advantage so small that, in any moment, could be broken by something unexpected.

Then, he realizes something before any soldier in the field. He watches the run of a beast that seems to scream its presence to Arthur, even from that distance. It is a shadow that moves among the others independently. A shadow that, soon, is cast over the burly ogre.

The bear skillfully passes through him, making its way through the defenses until the second defender, who stands between the enemy and the commander. Arthur cannot take his eyes off the beast. He just stares its black fur, covered by a bluish cloak, as magical as the rays emitted by Rinlia.  He sees two golden canines protrude from its jaws, shining with their own magical rays.

After clashing against the soldier, the beast gets up and shakes its head, taking two steps forward, burying its huge paws in the ground. A lightning enlightens his figure as he moves ahead in a sinuous way, looking for something.

A thunder. Blue eyes and a big shadow find Arthur’s face in the middle of the ruins. The boy, weak and frightened, retreats and sits on the floor, gluing his back to the wall, clinging to the hopes of not being seen. This is the best idea that crosses his mind. To hide from everything. In his hands is still the pot from which he had eaten earlier, with some liquid left from the stew. Without thinking twice, he throws the liquid on the lamp that is over the table, eliminating the only source of light that could attract external attention.

Curled up on the floor, he looks to a crack in the wall, thinking about checking on what is going on outside, but he does not find the courage. At this moment, his mind can only fixate on the desire of not being noticed by the beast.

The heartbeat accelerates. The fear suffocates. The sweat runs down his forehead. Desperate, he asks for the help of any superior forces, only to curse all of them afterwards, resenting their decision to put him in this place.

With his back against the wall, he listens to the sounds of battle, trying to figure it out if any of them is close to his hut. The only sounds near him is the ones that comes from the wooden floor. From the wind outside. From his own breath and heartbeat.

One lightning bolt illuminates everything. Followed by the sound of a thunder and the sound of explosion on the wall of the hut, which opens at once to make room for a shadow.

Paralyzed, Arthur sees the beast hitting the structure again, howling and demanding passage, getting inside without anything being able to stop it.

“This can’t be happening. Why? What have I done to deserve this?!”

Once inside, the bear moves slowly, breathing deeply, approaching imposingly. The boy sees, in the bloody eyes of the beast, the picture of his destiny. One that he feared the most.

The hand trembles, searching for the floor, while the body tries to get up. His legs are weak, and his body falls again. The bear turns and faces him. Arthur’s chest moves quickly. His hand gropes the floor. His mouth trembles in a curse that is not said. His eyes are stuck in the figure ahead.

The shadow surrounds him, in a movement that forms a semicircle. With a sign of the snout, it seems to challenge Arthur to a battle. Still scared, the boy tries to get up one more time. The arm supports the body, which finally gets on its feet.

Eyes made of bluish flames. The beast stands on its hind legs, roaring as loud as the thunders. When it falls on all fours again, it moves the head to both sides before running forward.

Arthur throws himself to the left, dodging the frontal attack. It is enough to escape immediate death, but the impulse throws him off balance and his body falls on the wreckage of the destroyed wall. He tries to get up when the animal throws one of its paws on his leg. Badly placed as it is, the leg is hit, and the boy immediately feels the bone break. The skin tears, exposing the fracture – Adrenaline explodes in his head.

-AAAHHH!!

Death.

“Come on.”

“Come on, leg.”

“Not here. Please! Not now!”

Biting his lips, Arthur drags himself forward. He feels the warm blood pouring from the wound.

With clumsy movements, he throws himself out of the tent, using the same place that the bear created to enter. He sees that the soldiers are still fighting, but he cannot hear or understand what is going on. The only thing in his head is the beast inside the tent.

At his ears, the only sound is the one coming from his heartbeat.

Like thunders, rumbling without rest.

Arthur turns his body to the sky, trying to see his enemy once again.

And there it is. Eyes made of bluish flames. The black pelt covered by magic. The same bear, standing once more on the two hind legs.

Arthur search for something to defend himself. The only object that is close enough is a chipped piece of wood. The tip looks sharp enough to him. It has to be sharp enough.

The beast throws itself over him, rearing furiously. Arthur screams, using the piece of wood as a weapon.

To kill or be killed.

A lightning enlightens the whole camp. A thunder, louder than all the ones from before, deafens the combatants. A light throws itself over the bear. Flesh and blood. The beast carcass falls in front of a boy who cannot believe his own eyes.

The image of a girl made of light smiles at Arthur and then disappears.

Thunders would not sound again that night.

*

Rinlia examines the black bear’s carcass. Barsen approaches and looks in the same direction.

-It is a lot of meat. It would be nice to have a feast to lift the spirits after the battle.

She shakes her head.

-No. We don’t know what kind of magic was in this body. I cannot take the risk of infecting the few soldiers that are still healthy. How are the soldiers?

The ogre sighs.

-Gasser is organizing the two remaining carriages to take the injured to a doctor in the city. With you, me and Yvanna, we have five soldiers with minor injuries, plus Gasser and the two who were guarding the supplies. Ten of the soldiers have been seriously injured and will not be able to fight in the near future. Some may never lift a sword again.

-Which means that the six soldiers you did not mention are the ones who died in battle.

Barsen lowers his head.

-Yes ma’am.

The elf kicks the bear’s dead body.

-This means we are lucky this one didn’t come for us. We could be twenty-one on the way to the cemetery by now.

She looks around. The arrangements seem to be done.

-Commander?

-Yes?

-That boy… He really-

-Yes. Consider yourself lucky.

-Why?

-We are lucky he doesn’t know the extent of his abilities. The boy was not lying. We didn’t capture a bandit or a tramp. Last night must have been the remaining effects of his arrival in this world.

The ogre eyes widen. He was suspicious, but, until now, he had avoided the thought.

-Was he telling the truth?

-Yes. – She spits on the ground and straightens the chainmail on her body. – We need to reach the kingdom of Vivre. We need to be able to study his magic as soon as possible.

-Do you want to… study him?

-Yes, Barsen. This boy’s magic is not ordinary. Don’t fool yourself. What we saw was not a hallucination or a mistake. This boy did not just save himself. He awoke the most dangerous creature in the world.

“He gave strength to an incorporeal.”

*

*