It had been two days since the spiny lynx contract. Cain had decided they had ample funds for the moment, and he didn’t really want to go on another job just yet, so he and Magira had spent their time getting familiar with their surroundings. The first thing he’d done was find an inn to stay at — he initially considered looking for another fruit merchant to bother about it, but found an advertisement that gave him directions. The building was a short walk from the Adventurer’s guild, but easy to miss. It did have slightly more windows than its neighbors, but the Fell Head just didn’t stand out much. Or perhaps Cain simply didn’t have an eye for medieval architecture. Either way, he and Magira now had a slightly cramped room for ten bronze per night. Bronze, he’d discovered, was the denomination below copper — but instead of a sixty-to-one ratio, it was three-to-one. It was a little arbitrary, but made sense considering bronze was usually just copper mixed with tin.
The next thing he’d done was look for food vendors. The turkey-tomato skewers had been great, but they cost two copper apiece. They would need to have access to food at more sustainable prices, and preferably with enough nutritional value to start remediating Magira’s malnourishment. Qalian the Fruitful had sold him a leaf-wrapped bundle of fresh berries for two bronze. The bundle was large enough for him and Magira to split and still get a decent snack out of it, so he counted that as a success. The Fell Head also provided complimentary breakfast for its boarders, and while not very tasteful, it was filling. Cain hadn’t found anywhere that sold meat at a sustainable price yet, but the silver he had banked gave them room to bleed some cash for a while.
After that, he’d bought two maps — one of Fellgrave, and one of the region that he could study later. Then, he and Magira had gone exploring to get acquainted with the town’s layout. Magira seemed much more lively getting to go outside and stretch her legs, even if being surrounded by humans put her on edge. On the eastern side was the majority of Fellgrave’s defenses. Several rooftops were flattened to accommodate archers, streets were designed to be easily blockaded, and the barracks were nearby. The western side held most of the restaurants and the produce market, and beyond the gate was the majority of Fellgrave’s food production in the forms of terraced farms and goat ranches. South was where the local upper class lived, where luxury goods were sold, and where the barony’s manor was built. To the north were the slums, which were cramped and filthy in some places, and abandoned and dusty in others. A passing stranger had warned him that the abandoned sections had undead rats. Apparently, Baron Feldume allowed literal monsters to reside within his walls as well. Cain didn’t like this place.
His free time had been spent trying to explain bits of Earth culture and technology to Magira, as well as asking more about the Manifestations. He had thought of them as pseudo-gods, and that was sort of on point. They were more like omnipresent forces of will than actual beings, and didn’t receive much worship. What was more interesting to Cain had been the actual gods of Erdau. Gods in this world were legendary figures or heroes who were granted divinity by a Manifestation. For example, the God of Tongues was a polyglot gifted godhood by the Manifestation of Knowledge. The God of Tongues then used their power to cast a blessing across the entirety of Erdau. This ‘Blessing of Tongues’ was apparently the reason Cain was able to understand Magira at all — in fact, the effect was so complete that he didn’t even notice it until it came up in conversation. While Magira hadn’t quite matched his enthusiasm to learn, it was clear that she also possessed an inherently curious nature. Slavery had clearly had an effect on her confidence, but she was doing far better than Cain would have expected.
Now, he sat across from her on top of a large, flat rock they’d found out in the highlands.
“So,” he said. “Aspects.”
Magira nodded. “I’ve thought more on my role, like you said.”
“That’s good. And what have you found out?”
“I don’t want to be up close to any more monsters than I have to be,” she spoke firmly. “I think I’d like to go the support route. I already have the life aspect, and it would be easy to add something like blood or wind and be a mix of a healer and enchanter.”
“I can work with that,” said Cain. “I can confront things head-on to keep them off your back if that’s what’s needed. Having the extra support would certainly make that approach easier as well. Have you decided which aspects to take, then?”
“Sort of. I have some ideas, but I want to know your thoughts.”
Cain gestured ‘go ahead’ with one hand.
“Okay,” said Magira, taking in a breath. “The most obvious choice is wind. Even if I didn’t get most of what you said, you were right when you called it versatile. I can use it to put helpful enchantments on you, move around better, and keep enemies away from myself, just on the surface level.”
“A solid choice. I’ll also be willing to try and apply my education from Earth to help you make better use of your aspects, if it interests you.”
“I’ll consider it. One of the other ones I was considering, as I mentioned, is blood. It’ll help me stay alive, and let me cast enchantments to strengthen you, although I guess you can do that on your own.”
“Ignore the slight redundancy. It’s not like I’m the only person you’ll ever have to support, and increasing your survivability is never a bad thing.”
“Fair enough,” she nodded. “Another one I was thinking of was the soul aspect. Wait, sorry, do you know about that one yet?”
“No clue.” He crossed his arms in an ‘X.’
“Soul magic messes with the soul, and is the only known aspect that can affect ethereal attributes. It can increase mana production, although it’s usually wasteful to use on yourself. It can also reduce the mental fatigue of spellcasting — again, usually a waste, but probably very useful to you specifically. Other than that, it can confuse people and disrupt their magic. There are more uses, but all of them are illegal.”
“Reduced mental fatigue would be great for me, you’re right. Confusion and magic disruption sound useful in just about any situation, though. Sounds like a good choice to me.”
“What do you think would work best together?” Magira looked at him expectantly.
“Hmm,” Cain hmm’d. “I’d say soul, then wind, or the other way around. It’s my impression that the first aspects you take are the strongest, right? Blood can be added as a minor aspect, or you can have it as your second if you want to play it safe. I’d definitely add something like lightning with good attack potential as one of your minor aspects as well. Even if you’re not going to focus on attacking things, it’s good to have the option to. Other than that, maybe some utility aspects, to make your setup more versatile. Water and light come to mind, although you could probably find one with a broader use than light.”
“Hmm,” Magira hmm’d back. “That sounds alright. Using wind to enchant allies while disrupting enemies with soul at the same time could work pretty well. Then having blood, water, and lightning for flexibility would probably make a decent combination. I think I’ll do wind, then soul, then blood, then water, then lightning.”
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“Sounds great!” Cain stood up. “Now you just need to put it to practice.”
Magira looked up at him. “Huh?”
“You want to do wind first, right? Go on. Hit me with some wind magic or something.”
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Cain stumbled to his feet — a challenge, when his legs were twitching erratically. The last half-hour had been spent practicing magic with Magira. Reinforcing a mana gyre was still a work in progress for her, but she had apparently compensated by creating as many weaker gyres as she could. The result was that her mana production could roughly keep up with Cain’s, allowing her to test out her new aspects without worrying about running out. Cain had been knocked on his ass by gusts of wind, had his ability to accurately control his body be severely impaired, been doused in water, and electrocuted. Although, Magira’s lightning was considerably weaker than Fernald’s had been. Besides, it’s not like I mind that much. Most of her magic isn’t even good for attacking, so this isn’t that much of a bother to me. Even though the soul magic feels really weird.
“Are you sure you’re okay with me doing this?” Magira’s supported his shoulders, helping him find his balance. At the same time, he felt the ticklish warmth of healing magic begin to soothe his overstimulated nerves, lessening the spasms in his legs.
“Of course. Your magic may be good at disorienting me, but you’d probably be hard pressed to seriously injure me. This is fine.”
“Alright, but… can we do something that isn’t just… me one-sidedly attacking you?”
“Oh, sure,” Cain replied. “Moving around well will probably be important for you. How about you practice some with using wind magic to move around?”
“That sounds better,” Magira nodded. “Do I just… summon a breeze at my back?”
Cain shook his head. “You’re focusing too much on what the aspect is called, and not enough on what it’s about. The ‘wind’ aspect isn’t just creating breezes. The aspect is about movement. It’s using mana to move things, and in this case that means moving yourself. Wind has a lot of uses, so get creative. You could try to make yourself lighter so you jump higher and run faster. You could try to give yourself a burst of momentum in one direction, or you could break the air ahead of you to reduce your drag. The key to wind is movement. Wind magic doesn’t create wind, movement creates wind. Wind magic just creates movement.”
“I understood some of that this time,” she sighed.
“It’s better than nothing!” Cain patted her on the shoulder, making her jump a little. “Just give it a shot.”
He watched as Magira turned to face a semi-flat rock across from theirs and lowered her stance. Her body tensed, and she broke into a sprint. As she did so, a gust of wind sent her tumbling into an unintentional flip, which ended with her lying on her back between the two rocks.
“Good start! Now focus on controlling that momentum.”
Magira groaned.
Cain smiled, and watched her return to her starting position for another attempt. Her next jump was more controlled, but still ended with a mouthful of dirt. She got ready to try again. He admired her persistence; Magira had been spending her evenings attempting to alter a mana gyre until she passed out. Perhaps that was just stubbornness, but it was still something Cain envied. He’d spent too much of his life letting his failures discourage him. In a lot of ways, Magira is a lot stronger than I am. It astounds me how she can still seem so put-together after going through so much. Cain watched her land with both feet firmly on the rock she was aiming for, before turning around to grin at him. Her hair was sticking out in directions he would have previously called impossible. He grinned back and gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Magira jumped back over to him, and then aimed for a rock further away.
She seems to be doing fine on her own. Maybe I can mess around with my own magic.
What he was most curious about was his dark magic. He’d gained a skill from fighting the ogre that made his conjured shadows much better for attacking with, but he wasn’t interested in that right now. Cain wanted to test how well he could use them to defend himself, and possibly move around. So far, he’d only formed objects out of his shadows, but he could form anything, in theory. He pulled a sheet of mana away from his body and willed it to become a blanket of shadow. He moved it over the space between himself and the rock Magira had been leaping to, reshaped it into a small platform, and solidified it. Cain backed up a few steps, then took a running start towards the platform. Pushing off the rock with his right foot, he jumped the gap with his left leg extended. He landed on the platform feeling triumphant.
Then he lost his balance and fell.
Magira landed next to him, smiling wide. “Good start, Cain! Now focus on not falling over.”
“Duly noted,” he replied.
Cain picked himself up as Magira leapt to a nearby rock. I can probably use that to bridge gaps, but it looks like blood magic is my best option for movement. Platforms made of shadow would help him get around, but it would still rely on his physical ability. His best bet was using blood magic to speed himself up, like he’d done earlier fighting the ogre. With a thought, a familiar pulse ran through his veins, and his body felt lighter. Cain stretched his arms and legs, stimulating as many muscle groups as possible, trying to get a feel for the effects of his magic. All of his muscles felt ready, like they were in peak condition and aching to be put to use. He had never been a fitness buff, but if this was what being in good shape felt like, he understood the appeal.
He took a deep breath and bent his knees, readying for a jump to another rock a short distance away. He pushed off, and went much faster than he had expected. Most of his momentum was vertical, but what horizontal momentum Cain had was lining him up to land on his target. As he reached the height of his jump, his insides began shifting uncomfortably from the inertia. He couldn’t help but worry a little as he looked down at the now approaching ground. Am I about to break both my legs? Acceleration took hold, and he threw his arms in front of his face — just in case both his legs did break.
To his surprise, though, nothing happened. Cain landed on the rock unharmed. The impact sent a small shockwave through his body, and his legs ached from the abuse, but he was fine. I guess breaking every bone in my body twice came in handy. A normal human should have crumpled from that fall, but with his durability attribute and Shock Absorption skill, it seemed that Cain no longer passed for a ‘normal human.’
He was shaken from his reverie when Magira appeared behind him, giving him an enthusiastic slap on the back.
“New training idea — catch me if you can!”
“Wh—” Magira leapt away again before Cain could get a word in. He could hear her laughing, and the telepathic link relayed nothing but joy and childish excitement. The mood was infectious.
Maybe… I can get away with just having fun today.
Cain flashed a toothy smile, and took off after her.
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Roulahg cut through another diminutive guard with ease.
Seeing the massacre before him, he nearly wondered how humans had managed to cause so much damage in the first war.
“Must have been the mages.”
He snorted, and returned his focus to the ongoing battle.
The fortifications were impressive, courtesy of Ohrken engineers, but the humans didn’t seem to know how to use them properly, or else couldn’t be bothered. The gate had fallen within the first hour, and Roulahg’s soldiers had been steadily reclaiming the streets of Old Pyrion. It was with no small measure of pride that he led the charge, battering down barricades and soldiers alike.
Most of the civilians had already fled, or were in the process of doing so. While an effort was made to keep city damage to a minimum, a fire had inevitably broken out. The four-armed war machines Roulahg led made it hard for the humans to do anything but die, so the only efforts to control the fire’s spread were coming from the Aelves supporting the invaders.
As the city square came into view, Roulahg couldn’t help but let out a triumphant laugh. In the center of the wide plaza stood a towering statue of what he knew to be enchanted wuthrite. The plaque below had been done in the more malleable mithril, though that had been stripped. It wasn’t enough to dampen Roulahg’s mood, though. Tarnished, worn, and defaced, the statue still stood. Humanity had failed to bring down the legacy of Golagal the Gatebreaker. The statue still stood!
“BROTHERS!” He bellowed over the sounds of war. “TONIGHT, WE DRIVE THESE ROACHES FROM OUR CITY!”
A deafening roar sounded from behind him, the voices of scores of vengeful Ohrks blending into a single, righteous battle-cry. The noise shook Roulahg to his bones, and caused many of the humans before him to fall to their knees. With uncontainable pride swelling in his chest, he marched fervently forward, cutting a path through the enemy with sword, axe, mace, and spear. With a weapon in each hand and his brothers at his back, Roulahg was unstoppable.
This was his city. Nothing would stop him from taking it back.
The time to fear Humanity ended.
The Age of Freedom began.