-2-
[https://i.imgur.com/LoYByv0.png]
I woke up on cold hard ground.
Sharp pains and aches shot through my side as I rolled over. I was no longer in the comforts of a warm bed, instead I was in the middle of a prison cell.
I’m confident I went to sleep in a bed, how did I get here?
The cell was small. Maybe about twelve feet on each side and squared off. It was barely lit and lined with cold stone slabs. There was an opening above me. Far above me.
I laid there for a while studying it. It had to be twenty or thirty feet. The perspective from the floor made it hard to judge.
It was possible that I could climb up and escape. But before I had a chance to formulate a daring escape plan, a bright light appeared in the opening. It was blinding and I raised my arm up to shield my eyes.
But this was not my arm. It was meatier than mine… and hairy. The wrist and palm were wrapped in blood-stained bandages. Large bony fingers protruded from the soaked wraps.
This isn’t right… What is happening?
A door slammed loudly down the hallway followed by shouts that echoed against the stone. The voices became clearer as their source approached closer to the cell.
"Why can’t we just kill the girl?"
"Because Fontaine told the Capt’ to keep ‘er alive, at least until tomorrow."
"Hangings are too boring. I don’t just want to watch her squirm, I want to make her squirm.."
"Celestials above, you’re a psychopath."
"Screw you. Anyways, Capt’ didn’t say we couldn’t rough ‘em up a bit. And I’m gonna make this one cry for his mum."
The men stopped in front of my cell and I lifted my head to look at them, but their faces were blurry—as if obscured by a fog. There were three men in total, and the one in the center spoke first.
"Get up, dirt-bag."
He had a long blue uniform coat that dipped down past his knees. A Renaultian insignia on his coat was displayed prominently, but I couldn’t quite make out the rank. It was also distorted by a fog. The other two men had much simpler uniform jackets on but the same fog hung around their ranks. All three of them towered over me at over six feet. They were too tall to just be regular Renaultian gendarmes. They were probably legionnaires hired on from one of the nomadic tribes.
The man who spoke first kicked the cell. Metal scraped against stone. A sharp echo rang down the hall. In an angry tone he sneered at me.
"Hey! Dirt-bag, I said get up."
I stood up and looked... down at him—Looked down? I wouldn’t look down at anyone over six feet tall.
This had to be some sort of dream. But I wasn’t in my body. A sort of nightmare then. It felt so real.
Words came from my mouth, but they weren’t my words. A hoarse voice. "I don’t care about what you have to say, you bluecoat ass."
I know that voice. It’s Julius’ voice. Is this a memory?
There was always a distinct possibility that I was having a stroke.
The man spit on me—well, not me...
On Julius.
Completely out of my own control, my arms reached through the bars and grabbed his throat with one hand and his coattails with the other. His very surprised face was pulled towards the bars and slammed against the steel. My hands let go just as his face made contact.
Celestials above!
The man stumbled back and yelled out in pain. Julius’ voice growled out of my mouth, "You don’t get to talk about her." The three men did not appreciate his lesson in social politics. The door to the cell was opened. They stepped in and more shouting was heard from down the hall.
Great, more people are coming to see the fun. I readied myself for a fight that never came. A loud explosion deafened me. The back wall of the cell blew out and knocked me off my feet…
----------------------------------------
"Hey! Airis, hey! Wake up!"
I awoke to Julius, who was kneeling down next to my bed, poking my forehead with his finger. My body was damp with sweat. It had soaked through the sheets, causing them to stick to me as I tried to sit up. He gave me a discerning look, "Do you want to talk about whatever weird panic attack you just had or—"
"No."
I pushed him away and tried to unstick myself from the bed. I glared at him and he turned around. I threw my shirt over my head and scrambled into the pair of pants. The faint glow of light breaking through the window. "Celestials above, what time is it?"
"Just before dawn." His curt reply was paired with his hand grabbing something from the table. That something was then thrown straight at my face. A direct hit, and a muffin fell onto my lap. "You good?"
"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. Exhausted is all."
I bit into my face-muffin. There were big chunks of hallonut throughout the whole thing. It was absolutely disgusting. I took another bite and noticed my wrist was glowing with a pulsing light. I tapped the rune embed there and mists displayed a notification,
» YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED A PSYCHOMETRIC EPISODE
Uhm. What in the Aether is that supposed to mean?
I shook my head and tapped again to mute the notification. We needed to get ready before the sun had risen completely. I could deal with that psycho-whatever thing later. Nightmares and panic attacks were becoming a common occurrence for me since we left Axio. But not quite as unusual as this.
Leather armor padding pressed hard against my chest as I fit the straps and buckles of my chestguard into place. Pulling a dagger from my pack, I gently trimmed a few stray threads from my trousers then sheathed it in a makeshift scabbard on my right leg. After a brief search I found my boots and laced them tightly. My equipment was a mismatch sort of anything we could get our hands on for cheap. The escape from Axio left me with nothing but a ragged jumpsuit. I mourned the loss of my tailored and fitted uniform.
Julius’ equipment was a different story. Somehow he had managed to make it out of Axio with a fair amount of his own gear. I was only slightly jealous. That’s what I convinced myself of anyway.
Julius was facing a mirror making adjustments to his uniform.
The officer’s standard issue was a soft-white, sleeved, knee-length coat that curved back into a tail. The masculine styled version was straight-cut, whereas the feminine style was looser and had a more ruffled look.
Depending on the individual the coats ranged from simplistic to ornately adorned.
Some uppercore officers, like Julius and myself, had golden embroidery and red accented sashes, buckles, and leather straps. In addition to the coat, the uniform included matching steel greaves, bracers, breastplate, and pauldrons.
Julius’ uniform was one of the more ornately decorated versions. Golden trim accented the steel plates of his protective armor. A crimson red sash hung down his left side below his scabbard. He fidgeted with his insignia until it fit perfectly on his collar. I was watching his attempts to look presentable when he turned to me and raised an eyebrow.
"How do I look?"
Julius was handsome by any standard. His face radiated that of both a careless youth and a battle hardened veteran. A mop of dark brown hair hung around his face, though it was broken by a forelock dyed a vibrant red, the same red as my own hair. It was something he started doing when he came on as my vice-commander. I never truly understood why he did it, but I also didn’t mind. It’s not like it caused any issues—actually a few of the other junior officers also dyed their hair a similar way, and it became a trend in the First Division.
I playfully looked him over in a mock inspection, pausing every so often to let out a ‘hmm’ and an ‘aaah’. He looked just fine. There wasn’t anyone we needed to impress anyway so I wasn’t sure why he even cared. I made a few tweaks on his insignias and dusted off his shoulder in an obvious way. Finally I stood back and shrugged.
Julius grinned and said jokingly, "Do I pass muster?"
I shrugged again, "Ahh, your boots could use some polish."
He laughed, but glanced down with a sour look at his boots. Likely contemplating if he could even find boot polish out here in the Commonlands.
He shook his head and pointed down to his breastplate that was resting against a chair nearby. "Would you be a dear and help me put on this deathcage?"
"Why, Protector Julius, I am not your squire." I said wryly.
"That's High-Protector to you, Commander Airis." A grin formed on his face. "Or is it Initiate Airis? Without your uniform I just can't tell."
"Oh, go screw yourself." I said, laughing back at him. "Secondly, It's probably High-Commander Airis now, or don't you remember that my father—" My eyes welled with tears and I turned away.
Ahhh, by the Aether get your shit together Airis.
"Celestials above… Airis, I was just teasing. I didn't mean anything by it." He took a step back and held up his hands in apology.
"Hey, it's fine. That was my fault, I just got myself worked up. It's okay."
I twirled my finger for him to turn around. He held the front plates in place while I pulled the red leather straps through fittings on the rear plate and locked him into his 'deathcage'. On both the front and rear plates were fittings near the shoulders. These were for metal pauldrons that almost every sword wielder would wear. Julius, however, had left them behind when fleeing Axio and was missing both of these pauldrons.
Staring at the dead space above his shoulders, I glanced at the mirror and our eyes met.
"Quit looking at me with those depressing eyes, lets go get something real to eat downstairs." He joked, easing the tension.
I slapped the back of his head, pushing him into the mirror for good measure. I needed something more than muffin. I wanted a whole slab of bacon if I was going to be honest.
"Yeah, let's head down."
I finished packing away our belongings and we headed downstairs to the tavern. Julius took a table in the far back corner that gave us a vantage of the entire room. Amelia saw us from the bar and waved. A moment later she was bouncing over to our table with a pitcher full of water.
"Well, good morning you two! Look at that sharp looking uniform Julius! Quite fetching if I’m to be honest" She turned to me and gave me an exaggerated wink.
I had no clue what it meant.
This woman was entirely too happy after being awake all night. It made me tired to see her so wide awake.
She stood there beaming with energy and just continued on, "What can I get started for you? Jesse just brought up some fresh eggs if you wanted something breakfast-y!"
"Good morning Amy," Julius spoke up first, "I'll have whatever today's meat is, the largest portion of bacon you're allowed to bring me, some hashed potatoes, some oranges, a great big pint of cider... oh and a few of those eggs."
"You got it, love. And for you, miss Airis?"
By the Celestials, that’s a lot of food.
Julius was obviously hungry. I wasn’t in the same gluttonous spirit as he was and opted for a more simple breakfast.
"I'll take a slightly bigger portion of bacon than the hog over there," I nodded at Julius, "and a pint of cider as well."
Amelia gave us a thumbs up. But before leaving she placed a hand on Julius’ shoulder and leaned in. She whispered something in his ear that caused his eyes to widen just a small amount. Then she winked at me and trotted back to the kitchen.
"Sooo..." I started.
"Shut. up."
"What was that all about?"
"That, was her telling me that I had ‘lost my chance’ because—and I quote, ‘A lovely red haired, violet eyed beauty stole my heart away last night’." He gave me an inquisitive look, "So, maybe I should be asking you, miss Airis?"
I exploded in a giggle fit. I couldn’t help but laugh uncontrollably at the thought. That Julius, the noble looking knight-in-shining-armor, was just a little peeved that a pretty girl told him she preferred me over him. I let out a long sigh and brought myself back to reality.
My cheeks were still flush but I was able to form coherent words now, "Aaaah. She’s too cute. We just had a few drinks last night after you went to bed, that’s all."
He sat there pouting. "Uh huh. Nothing else happened?"
"Wouldn’t you like to know?"
Julius kept pouting for another minute but dropped his act when Amelia swung by with two large glasses of cider. Tartapple. Delicious! Julius and I shared a cheer and raised our glasses together.
"So, I have some good news. Turns out Commander Brooks passed through here a few days ago—With a large number of Divisionals in tow."
"Your army made manifest."
"She and I went to war-college together, ya’ know. If we can find them we’ll be in a great position."
I smiled. Well, it was more of a shit-eating grin than a smile. "The Celestials rain blessings down upon me."
"Do they now?" Julius quipped in a snarky tone. "If that was so, don't you think we'd be in Axio, having our breakfast instead of this tavern?"
"Perhaps, the Celestials just work in mysterious ways." I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I meant it as a joke, but Julius was right. I was certain the Celestials did not rain down any blessings on me. "But how then would the bards know to sing of my greatness and valorous deeds?" I threw a snarky quip back at him and flashed a wicked grin.
"Hah! Greatness indeed. A great big head perhaps?" Julius took a sip of cider and grinned back at me.
"Oh come now, Julius. Perhaps they will sing of your greatness as well." I drummed out a simple melody with my fingers tapping against the table, and sang a short tune. The chorus of which involved a number of gruesome things that happened to ‘Sir Julius’. On the second round of the chorus I was cut off—
"By the Aether, Airis! What in the underworld was that!?" he shot daggers with his eyes, a soured look on his face. "Woman, you are not a bard"
And that is what he gets for being a dick earlier. I gave him a big smile. He relaxed after another minute and let out a chuckle.
"Where did you even come up with such terrible lyrics?"
"Well, there was this awful minstrel in Axio that followed one of the noblemen around. Robin, I believe his name was."
"Well I hope that noble fired that minstrel. That was truly terrible. Never sing that again."
I raised my hands in defense, "Like you said, I am no bard."
We were interrupted by the arrival of two large platters of food. Though one was significantly larger than the other. Julius’ eyes got wide when he was presented with his feast. My plate had a small bowl filled with red berries. I looked at Amelia questioningly and was met with a look that I could only describe as ‘motherly’.
"I know you only asked for bacon," she said pointing at the bowl, "but you really should keep your breakfast balanced with some fruit. It helps keep your head clear." She gave me a big smile and walked away before I could protest.
Julius gave me a stupid look while nodding his head. He pointed to his bowl of oranges and with his mouth already full of food he mumbled, "It's true."
Julius continued to shovel loads of food into his gaping maw. Alchemists would likely one day study the phenomena that was his ability to consume his body weight in food in a single sitting. I picked at my berries and bacon slowly, savoring each bite. It was doubtful we’d have food like this for a while.
Nyle greeted me with a scrawled out breakdown of our charges when I went to clear out tab. The charges were actually reasonable considering how far from the city we were. Totaling sixty-five silver coins in all, I gave Nyle a gold coin from my pack, "That should cover us, don’t worry about making change. Please split it with Amelia."
As we were leaving the tavern Amelia spotted us and waved goodbye. Julius and I headed to the stables. I flipped my coin, calling tails for the mare. She didn’t buck as often as the stallion. Julius swore at the sky, calling out every Celestial in a heathenish display of sacrilege.
----------------------------------------
The sun rose quickly.
Julius was riding ahead of me, leading by about two or three lengths. We passed empty clearing in the trees one after another. After an hour the boring ride took a twist on the exciting side. A fog started to roll into the forest. Julius stopped his horse and looked back at me.
"This fog doesn’t feel natural, Airis."
I could feel a jolting tingle on my skin, Aethermist. The same condensate appearing in the runic magick I used to view interfaces, Aethermist would form in large amounts when non-elemental magick was performed.
I dropped from my horse and quickly pulled my staff from the saddle.
"It’s Aethermist, Julius."
Julius dropped from his horse, but not quickly enough. A loud demonic howl pierced our ears. The howl spooked our horses and they ran off.
Julius tried to grab the reins but they slipped past his grasp.
"Dammit!"
Another howl pierced the air. This time accompanied with a heavy snarl. Two figures skulked out of the mists. Their red eyes flickered in the fog. Large wolf-like beasts came into view. Instead of the fur I expected, they covered in a thick scaled hide. Large black fangs dripped blood onto the dirt below.
Julius turned to me with a serious look, "Keep your guard up. That damned horse took off with my shield." He frowned, "I won’t be able to use any of my defensive skills without it."
"Noted, I will have to be a big girl and take care of myself. What’s new?"
We took up our party positions. Though, with just the two of us it was more of a simple line formation.
Julius raised his sword and peered into the mists.
I brought my staff up and channeled magick through it. The mists around me were absorbed by the focus crystal.
“Source of light that dwells among the veiled. Come forth and guide our way, Radiance!”
Bright golden light washed over us and my rune pulsed with a notification.
» YOU ARE AFFECTED BY AN AURA OF LIGHT
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
In a quick flick of my wrist, I drew a small circular sigil in the air and channeled a small amount of energy through my hand.
“Let the power hidden within my being come forth, Brilliance!”
A violet flash of light cascaded down over me and another notification flashed.
» YOU ARE AFFECTED BY ARCANE BRILLIANCE
Julius was holding his sword squarely in front of him, casting an incantation of his own, “—cleanse my blade of impurities, Imbuement!
The weapon flashed brightly, dulling quickly to a golden glow along its sharp edge.
One of the demonic wolves leapt at me. Julius caught it in the side with his sword, the blade glanced against thick scales but knocked it off course.
The wolf snarled at him; its aggression successfully secured. Julius shouted out a shattering cry and the other wolf snarled and glared at Julius.
Nice taunt!
With the wolves' aggro held by Julius, I focused my magick and brought holy energy into my fist.
“Righteous Fire!”
A simple HOLY BOLT soared towards the wolf that lunged at me. The fiery bolt punctured through its scales and exploded with force. Chunks of flesh and hide laid strung out around the wounded body of the wolf, now struggling to rise up.
I tapped my rune to bring up a display and review the damage to the creature.
» BLADE SLASH [IMBUED] GLANCES, INFLICTING MODERATE (65) DAMAGE
» HOLY BOLT HITS, INFLICTING MODERATE (134) DAMAGE
» HOLY BOLT CAUSES MAJOR WOUNDS
Moderate damage, so these things are definitely demons.
Julius brought his blade down with a killing blow and pierced the wolf’s heart through the gaping wound. It went limp and the red glow of its eyes faded.
I’ll take that as dead.
Julius and I both turned to the remaining wolf. It was still focused on him and lunged forwards.
Julius brought his sword in to parry—and was nearly knocked over by the weight of the beast.
Its claws tried to take hold, but couldn’t find purchase. Julius squared his legs and pushed the wolf back.
"Rooarrh!" He let out a rage filled growl.
I called out to him.
"Julius, they’re demons. Keep its attention and I’ll blow it apart with another bolt. Then you finish it off like that last one."
Julius nodded and brought his sword up in a striking stance. He leapt forward at the wolf and slashed at its snarling jowls. He struck true and the wolf yelped in pain.
No way he was losing its aggro to my spell casting now.
I brought another HOLY BOLT to bear and sent it flying at the wolf’s side. Another explosion and more visceral bits sent flying across the battlefield.
» BLADE SLASH [IMBUED] HITS, INFLICTING MODERATE (122) DAMAGE
» HOLY BOLT HITS, INFLICTING MODERATE (147) DAMAGE
» HOLY BOLT CAUSES MAJOR WOUNDS
Julius brought his blade down and finished off the demon-wolf. Its body writhed on the dirt as its muscles convulsed. A low pained growl escaped its maw before the light in its eyes dulled.
He turned to me, his breath was heavy and labored. Long gashes were etched down the center of his breastplate. The damage to his chest armor was severe, but the gouged metal along his left bracer was even worse.
"Looks like that thing almost got you good. Are you alright, do you need healing?"
Even if he was injured, his stubborn ass wouldn’t tell me. The impulse to attempt a block must have been pretty strong, though he probably felt pretty dumb for blocking with his arm.
I swiped over my rune and brought up a new display showing my party statistics.
PARTY MEMBERS
STATISTICS
VALUES
AIRIS VANIXI
(OPERATOR)
HEALTH
STAMINA
MAGICKA
50 / 50
162 / 200
320 / 380
JULIUS ADAEMUS
(INITIATOR)
HEALTH
STAMINA
MAGICKA
487 / 500
13 / 400
50 / 50
"I’m fine." he huffed. Still catching his breath.
Barely missing any health. Yeah, he’ll live.
Performing that defensive parry really drained his stamina. It was more than common knowledge among defender-type class specializations, that using any guard skills without a shield can be devastating.
Julius leaned back on a tree and sheathed his blade. The aethermists fell back and rescinded into the forest.
With the way clear I should look for our horses. This will be an exhausting walk if we can’t find them.
I let out a sharp whistle.
And… nothing. This has turned into a nightmare of a day. Alright, well looks like we’re going to have to search around. But first those demon dogs.
I searched both corpses and collected what I could,
LOOTABLES
ITEM
ATTRIBUTES
DESCRIPTION
DEMONIC FANG x4
-
Large black fangs of a demonic creature.
DEMONIC SCALE x65
-
Thick scaled plates of a demonic creature.
[https://i.imgur.com/nJ2i8VE.png]
It was possible we could use these scales to improve his armor. If not, we could always still sell them to an armorsmith if we come across one.
Julius was still resting against his tree. It would be quite a few minutes before his stamina recovered back to full. I’d let him rest for a while longer. Then we can go chase down our horses. Julius likely would be able to track them, he had a decently high perception attribute.
I leaned my back against another tree and let out one last sharp whistle to see if our horse would come running..
This time, instead of no response, I was met with another sharp whistle. Except this wasn’t the whistle from a mouth, it was the whistle of an arrow that embedded itself in the tree four inches from my face.
"Ah!" I recoiled and flopped down, scurrying around the tree. "Julius! Take cover, archer!"
"Celestials above, are you kidding me?" Julius groaned, standing and drawing his sword. He spat on the ground.
"That was a warning shot, little miss," A man’s voice called out from the woods. "Tell your bodyguard there to stand down and there won’t be any trouble."
"…"
More of this bodyguard nonsense, huh.
I looked over at Julius, who was hunkered behind his tree with his sword at the ready.
"Hey, Julius."
"Yeah?"
"Mess this guy’s day up for me, will ya’?"
"With pleasure."
"Oh come now, let’s be reasonable shall we?" The man stepped into view. He was tall and slender. Much taller than a normal person, seven feet at the least. Straight white hair fell down along his face like needles. His face was obscured by a faceguard, but sharp pointed ears and striking golden eyes stuck out like a pearl in the mud. This was not a human, but a noblebourne.
This noblebourne was heavily geared, and his presence washed over me in an aura of intimidation. He wore a crimson-red full plate chestguard adorned with runes, with matching scaled pauldrons and plate greaves.
Who is this guy? Let’s take a look.
I tapped my rune and a visual came into view.
TARGET
STATISTICS
VALUES
[HIDDEN]
HEALTH
STAMINA
MAGICKA
150 / 150
40 / 305
50 / 50
Well, damn.
He had some kind of magic hiding his identity. But he didn’t seem to be magickally adept, judging by his low magicka value. Probably some sort of an enchantment on that armor.
"I want your gold, not your lives." He said in a sing-song melody, as he drew two slender blades from behind his back, "But I will take both if you don’t comply."
Oh fun, a bandit.
Julius readied his blade and advanced. The bandit charged forward.
The two locked blades—but without his shield to block the second blade, Julius took a deep slash to his right leg. Blood sprayed down onto the dirt.
As they crossed swords, I began channeling magickal energy for a complex incantation. My hands glowed brightly as I traced out an intricate sigil in the space ahead of me.
“Vanguard of Heaven, In the light of divinity, I unleash my wrath and cull those who are judged, Righteous Fire!"
I had both hands pressed tightly together in a closed fist. As I finished my incantation, I flung them forward and a massive bolt of golden flame soared across the field. The HOLY BOLT impacted the bandit directly in the chest—and dissipated harmlessly…
What in the Aether!?
» HOLY BOLT IS ABSORBED [WARDING RUNE]
Shit. Damnable warding magick.
If my offensive spells weren’t going to be effective, then this fight would be up to Julius.
Steel continued to clash. Julius’ training as a military officer showed, as a well timed parry knocked a blade from the bandit’s right hand.
Switching his remaining blade to his right hand, the bandit readied himself and lunged forward, swinging low. Another nasty hit to Julius’ right leg.
Julius was now favoring his left, each step with a slight limp.
I sent a second HOLY BOLT at the bandit.
This bolt also dissipated harmlessly, but I aimed it so that it hit near his face. His steps faltered during the push off for a lunge. Even if I couldn’t deal damage, I could annoy him with the blinding bright lights.
The blind allowed Julius to parry the fumbled attack and land a hit with a RIPOSTE. The attack struck deep into the bandit’s right forearm.
That should put him on the defensive!
The bandit switched his blade back to his left hand. The right arm clearly crippled.
I channeled magick for two more HOLY BOLT spells, as Julius readied an attack skill. The first bolt dissipated but allowed Julius to lunge forward and deliver a slashing attack. The blade glanced off the bandit’s breastplate. The second bolt though, exploded.
Looks like your wards were mostly for show.
» RIPOSTE [IMBUED] HITS, INFLICTING MINOR (38) DAMAGE
» BLADE SLASH [IMBUED] HITS, INFLICTING MINOR (22) DAMAGE
» HOLY BOLT IS ABSORBED [WARDING RUNE]
» STRIKE [IMBUED] HITS, INFLICTING MINOR (40) DAMAGE
» HOLY BOLT HITS, INFLICTING MINOR (42) DAMAGE
» HOLY BOLT CAUSES MAJOR WOUNDS
The explosive force of the bolt impacted on the bandit’s faceguard.
"Maahhhrr…"
A bloody mist sprayed out as he cried out in pain. He fell backwards and his final blade dropped to the ground.
Julius limped forward, his steps fell as heavy as his breath.
He raised his blade weakly to finish off the bandit—
CLICK
Before his sword came down, a metallic noise echoed through the trees… followed by the sound of steel piercing flesh.
I watched in horror as Julius’ body twisted around. He dropped awkwardly to his knees, his leg buckled and his body fell to its side. Blood poured from a wound in his chest.
Nonono! Julius—Oh shit!
I dropped my staff and ran forward, golden light already channeling through my fingers. A smooth wooden bolt was embedded in his breastplate. With a look of surprise and shock, he mouthed inaudibly to me. Kneeling beside him, I placed both hands over his chest and channeled the energy to him.
“Blessed and divine light, I pray to you. Bestow your warmth unto me and save this one from harm. Heal!”
But nothing happened…
Aggressively I swiped at my blinking rune.
» HEAL [MAJOR] FAILS [CRITICAL FAILURE], WOUND OBSTRUCTED
Celestials be damned, I am not letting Julius die. Not here. Not ever!
My voice broke, "It’s going to be okay Julius. I’ve got you. I just need to remove," I indicated in a wide motion to his whole chest, "this. I have to clear the wound."
I pulled my dagger from my leg and cut the straps of his breastplate.
Holding the bolt as steady as possible I broke the shaft, and removed the front plate.
Blood was still pouring from the wound, it was impossible to see the extent of the damage.
Julius’ gasped for air, and in a coughing fit blood sprayed from his mouth. Still conscious. He kept his gaze directly on me.
I mimed the action of pulling an arrow from my chest, "Julius, I’m going to take the arrow out. And then I’m going to heal the wound. I need you to stay awake."
I put extra emphasis on the last sentence, hoping that if he heard anything it would be that he couldn’t drift off.
Julius nodded.
I think he nodded. One… two… three!
In the silent count of three to myself, I ripped the bolt head from his chest.
More blood, this time it was now spraying into the air. I focused my will, and with every fiber in my body I channeled all my magick into my hands. I placed my palms down against his chest again and forced the energy into the wound.
“Blessed and divine light, I pray to you. Grant me the power of your golden flame. Bestow your warmth unto me and save this one from harm. Heal!”
This time, the blood loss slowly came to a stop. The wounded flesh knitted back together; the traumatic damage reversed.
A dramatic gasp of air filled his lungs and he coughed more blood onto the ground.
» HEAL [MAJOR] INFLICTS EXTREME HEALING (637) [CRITICAL]
Thank the Celestials!
Julius let himself fall back into the dirt. He let out a nervous chuckle, which turned into full blown laughter. Contagious laughter. We both laid in the dirt laughing like a pair of lunatics.
"Ahh… that sucked." Julius finally groaned.
"Yeah."
"That bandit is dead, right?"
I looked at the bandit and swiped my rune.
TARGET
STATISTICS
VALUES
[HIDDEN]
(DECEASED)
HEALTH
STAMINA
MAGICKA
0 / 150
0 / 305
0 / 50
"Extra dead. I blew his face off."
"Good... That guy was an ass."
"Yeah."
"..."
"..."
"I call dibs on the armor."
"You sure could use it," I chuckled, picking up the remains of his armor’s front plate. I dangled it at Julius, "This set is out of commission."
"Give me a minute to catch my breath." he closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "Actually, give me an hour."
I let Julius have his rest to search the noblebourne’s corpse—and remove his armor. A few steps past the tree line, I found a small burrow in the ground and pulled out a large knapsack and a satchel. The pack contained various meal rations and road supplies. The satchel was bulging with coins.
By the Aether, this… was a lot of money.
I wondered how many people had this miscreant attacked or robbed. This far out into the wilds, it’s likely he prayed on adventurers that were either heading into or leaving scattered dungeons and ruins.
What a complete bastard.
The noblebourne were a race that appeared very human-like. Their origins dated back with the origin of elves.
It’s said they were the Celestial’s favored race. That is, until they grew too arrogant. Some scholars believe the reason that humans resemble the noblebourne so closely is that we’re the second try at the race.
Those same scholars also believe that given the human race’s penchant for warfare, deceitfulness, and capacity for hate… that the noblebourne must truly be demons when compared among the mortal races.
LOOTABLES
ITEM
ATTRIBUTES
DESCRIPTION
SILVER COIN x235
currency
GOLD COIN x52
currency
WRIST CROSSBOW
17-20 Damage
A small wrist-mounted crossbow that is easy to conceal
PLATE CHESTGUARD (RUNE-BOUND)
+40 Armor
+5 Toughness
+5 Resolve
Ornately decorated exquisite plate armor. Adorned with spell-absorbing runes.
SCALE PAULDRONS
+15 Armor
Ornately decorated exquisite scale armor pauldrons
PLATE GREAVES
+10 Armor
-1 Swiftness
Ornately decorated exquisite plate greaves.
STEEL KNIFE x10
35 – 45 Damage
A well-balanced throwing knife.
VANADIUM STEEL BLADE x2
55 – 67 Damage
+2 Finesse
+1 Reflex
High-quality alloy blade. Slender and lightweight.
STEEL BOLT x3
-
A slender steel broad-headed bolt for a small crossbow.
I dragged the bags and equipment back to Julius and threw it all down on the ground. I felt exhausted and took a place next to him on the soft dirt.
My rune blinked at me incessantly, I had a notification waiting for me.
» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOUR ATTRIBUTES HAVE INCREASED:
» AETHER HAS INCREASED TO 21
» INTELLIGENCE HAS INCREASED TO 35
» WISDOM HAS INCREASED TO 24
» SANITY HAS INCREASED TO 6
» VITALITY HAS INCREASED TO 19
» RESOLVE HAS INCREASED TO 36
» STAMINA HAS INCREASED TO 18
After his brief rest, and with a little bit of effort, we got Julius fitted and geared up in the new plated armor.
We picked up the tracks of our horses quickly, and after a chase-down, found them by a river.
After packing away our loot, I broke out some of our travel rations and nibbled on a bitter dried fruit bar.