Their kin’s progress is marked by trails of despair,

As they sought dominion across it all, completely unaware.

-Thoubose

ROMAN

“Were we fortunate enough to stumble across all of the remaining Valarian Gemini?” the Skull boss called scornfully up to Roman as he watched the rock armor assemble onto Roman’s body, the remaining Skull assailants assembling around their leader as the surprise from the barrage of Gerald’s traps faded. Roman stood, looking menacingly at the remaining men, encased in scattered rocks and various earthen debris bound by his gem’s essence, while a crude buckler slowly formed on his off hand.

Sloan, taking the que, activated a rune to make her causally fade into the background. She slung into the shadow as it seemed to take effect. It was a handy earthen misdirection rune that, when used properly, made those with hostile intentions disregard a target as important. Often ranged squad members used this trick to dissuade a target from locking onto them and focusing their attention towards a more durable formation target.

“Your business with my friends is over, you can go back to your camp now and leave us be.” Roman, leaving no quiver or friendliness in his direct command.

“Who is you, to say my business?” The man sneered. “We just added another head to the list.” A guttural growl left the man’s throat.

“Is that wise.” A cloaked man whispered over to the enraged skull boss. “What about the other squad.”

He pulled a finely decorated sword from his scabbard. There was no visible wear on the blade, it being polished to a high sheen. The skulls around the man likewise returning the gesture, drew theirs as well. Their steel worn, chipped, and overall, more on the blunt side than sharp. A lack of proper care was something that wrinkled Roman’s nose on a good day with his cadets, as he was known for punishing offenses harshly. “Don’t be telling me about my business in front of the sheep.” Roman caught the whispered exchange with his gem’s aided perception. The two exchanged a glance before the man slunk towards the rear.

“It doesn’t have to go this way.” Roman warned, having finished sizing up the men in front of him.

“Nah, it didn’t. Me and ma boys here had other things to do.” As if reminded, the Skull boss pulled an intricate pocket watch quickly from an overcoat with his off hand, inspecting the time then returning it. “But now, we’re stuck having to cut down another lose end that keeps unraveling.”

A mental pressure edged Roman’s mind, the Skull boss visibly grimacing in concentration, Roman’s gem’s presence keeping the Skull boss from a successful mental attack. Gemini were aided with stout mental defenses due to the sentient gems wanting to intrinsically protect their hosts. In this moment, it kept the man from just paralyzing Roman and ending the death match quickly. The paralysis tactic was something the boss probably did exclusively to assert authority with his cronies. This bully needs a lesson. Roman thought as he disregarded the mental attempt. Smiling at the man, the boss returning his casual look with a momentary eye widening, before scowling.

“Not used to not getting what you want?” Roman’s sly smile became more genuine.

Moments later, the man vanished with a purple haze, blinking out and into existence using a short-ranged teleportation rune from his opal gemstone. His new location was next to Roman, poised to strike. Roman was barely able to block the boss’s oncoming assault with the crude shield. A slight purple aura around the blade making it penetrate far deeper than the blade could have itself, causing the sword to catch in the shield’s gravel like constitution.

This provided a quick counterattack opening for Roman. If the man wasn’t right-handed and attacking at the angle he did, Roman’s shield would not have been able to react in time. The man’s natural movements enhanced by his passive connection to his gem, which provided a matchup Roman was fortunate to have experience sparing with. A major difference from sparing before, Roman could feel the new rune Thomas took from Ranjoon helping him better track the enhanced movements. In the past, during sparring sessions, he would lose track momentarily after heavy flurries, which would eventually lead to openings. But now, he felt a distinct change. It was fortunate timing for the boost too, as any openings that might arise from losing track temporarily would prove fatal in this dance. He hoped the rune could sustain his newfound effectiveness.

Roman twisted the shield to jolt the Skull boss out of position. The man, slipping quickly as his sword came free, secured his footing but opened enough of a moment for a quick spear lunge to penetrate his inner thigh.

“Bastard!” The Skull boss screamed as he blinked away in a cloud of purple miasma. The spear leaving the wound as the man teleported away, appearing thirty meters from Roman, blood flowing like a stream, the wound gaping open as he grabbed at a neckless from under his shirt and stumbled to the knee of his good leg. The neckless was filled with rune engraved beads that illuminated from various colors and materials. The man drained a blue runic bead almost completely of its stored essence, causing the flow of blood oozing down the man’s leg to quickly halt. Roman visibly watching the man’s wound knit together as he worked to channel his next essence ability.

Trying to keep his opponent on the backfoot while looking to press his advantage, Roman halted his targeting once he glimpsed at the incoming men sprinting up the hill towards his direction, some taking aim with bows, runes lighting up on their arrows. Quickly changing targets, he opened a parallel rift in the earth where the men were positioned, dropping four of the remaining skull archers into a deep crevasse. Screams abruptly cutting off as the land reformed together in an instant as Roman refocused on the boss now that the threat of ranged missiles was abated.

Roman’s refocus came on the boss as a plasma bomb ripped from the man’s core and hurdled towards Roman. Didn’t take long for him to get to those. Roman thought, knowing it had a decent cost on the gem’s power supply due to its innate ability to create sizable implosions varying on the essence expelled during the casting. This one he could tell was just large enough to keep the Skull boss from harm once it detonated at the expected target, should it make the mark.

Without hesitating, Käl’s passive defense kicked in, firing a spray of stone projectiles from their place in his makeshift armor to intercept the sphere. Upon impact of the stones, the explosion prematurely detonated after pausing momentarily in the air, ending its pursuit towards Roman and causing both men to violently slam backwards from the explosive recoil.

“Al said if I ever was in the middle of a shockwave from one of those that is big enough, I would splatter against the inside of my armor from the sonic impact like pie filling forcing its way out of a smashed pie.” Roman shuttered at the thought of the past words of caution he received while sparing with Alfred as he watched everything around the explosion scatter in high velocity, like shrapnel. “Yep, that wouldn’t be a pleasant way to go. Going to let him keep his graphic, not so intelligible explanations from now on.” He thought, gathering himself to his feet as quickly as he could manage, activating a rune on his spear while the skull boss stumbled up.

Lightning crackled around the Skull boss’s plasma shield, the simple power of the stored rune not being enough to penetrate the passive gem’s defenses even barely in the slightest. Roman, at that point realizing it would be more of a gem-on-gem battle, hurled his spear and jumped into action to close the distance while grabbing his hand-axe.

Sloan, not being absent had dropped the attackers’ numbers further, leaving only the Skull boss and two others remaining. The two seemingly realized their situation was dire at the same time, took off in opposite directions. This caused her to pause for a second, then pursue one of them as they left Gerald’s lethal trap area.

The Skull boss, not wanting a repeat of the previous skewering, knowing now Roman had the ability to pierce his shield, blinked out of the way of the spear and closed the distance again with a reappearance behind Roman’s right shoulder. Roman drawing his hand-axe after the throw, helped him position a parry on the oncoming sword slash. Roman’s connection to the earth and ability to feel the essence gave him a good estimate of where the man would be, a finely practiced defense at this point with the years Al and him had been in the military together.

Sparkes ignited as the two tools of death skidded off each other. The man blinked away again, the tell tail sign of purple smoke residue left in the wake. The Skull boss hastily charged another plasma bomb, releasing it, only to have the same defense reflected. This time, he used less power to avoid the backlash, causing a strong breeze to ripple bye instead of a toppling force. Roman used the time to re-sheath the hand-axe as he recalled his spear.

“Gettin’ tired of that!” the Skull boss scoffed.

It was becoming apparent from the man’s lack of versatility; he wasn’t one to practice much. Unlike the army, thugs in power can grow complacent, guarding their power by cutting down those who oppose them, instead of building them up. The Valarian army cultivated strength and competed for the right to wield the power in the name of the kingdom.

“It’s going to take more than cowardly attacking from range.” Roman spat. “If you want my life, you will have to earn it.” He growled. “Come…. Take it.” Roman gestured towards himself.

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Malice dripped from the skull boss’s expression. A tempest of rage bottled up as he made his move. The man blinked into existence, his arm and sword fully engulfed in a vibrant purple light as he swung down. Roman barely having time to evade the plasma beam, felt a large chunk of his rock armor cleanly slice off before the man calmed the momentum enough to arch into a backswing without maiming himself. Roman, using his spear to push distance between the two, found it in two pieces as the second strike flew bye. The man desperately tried for another wild strike and whiffed in embarrassment as Roman sidestepped the attempt with mocking practiced ease, that appeared much more confident on the outside than the shear panic of being cut in half he felt on the inside. His heart pounding almost out of his chest as he feared another slash. The man’s arm lost its glow as he shut the massive essence expenditure off, seemingly before it completely drained the remaining gem’s supply.

“Just die!” fury wrenching in the man’s tone, composure lost.

“Been awhile since you had to work, thug lord?” Roman’s smirk dripped with contempt. Roman drawing his hand-axe again. The two sizing each other up in a paced circle, stances at the ready. Roman lunged forward beginning the exchanging of parry after parry. The skirmish continuing for countless breaths. It taking every ounce of concentration for Roman to block and anticipate each strike, while trying to keep offensive enough to avoid a strike with the gem enhanced speed and untrained veracity of the man’s rage.

“Screw you soldier boy!” he picked up speed before a wild swing was again snagged advantageously in Roman’s shield creating an opening Roman used to slash the Skull boss’s main forearm.

The boss blinked thirty meters away, towards the forest line, hoping for a breather Roman refused to give this time. Vines pulled from the underbrush, entangling the Skull boss’s feet as he blinked into another location. Roman causing the vegetation to latch once more like a magnet attracting ore dust.

Roman, often doing math in his head while battling Gemini, figured the man’s crude opal had to be drawing low. Opal gems used a substantial amount of essence for higher complexity spells and subsequently had the most powerful effects in their wake. They might have the most overall power in that regard, but the drawback was they depleted essence the most rapidly amongst the five. The opal Gemini he knew burned through essence quick, making that Gemini more of a sprinter, than long distance runner. He was hopeful the man in front of him was callous enough to not think in the moment to keep a reserve to teleport away, or even having a reserve left for the envied second chance. Either way, pressing him would keep him from the longer time he needed to concentrate in order to call the necessary escape runes from the opal’s codex, assuming his gem had those runes in its codex to begin.

The man started slashing at the natural bindings, as if Roman’s mental thought openly spurned the boss’s earlier wastefulness. Looking to further hamper the man, Roman channeled another rune through his gem. Quicksand dropping the boss’s feet one meter into the ground immediately, while he continued to sink at a rapid pace. The boss blinked out of the sand trap, creating further distance between Roman and himself on this jump.

A glint of light flashed quickly into the eyes of the boss, then slowly traced along the forest floor after circling the man’s feet rapidly, then back up. Roman, taking the momentary reprieve to study the source of the light, quickly tapped into the nature essence.

The remaining underling was casting a non-lethal, standard practice beam of light. An illumination for dark places more than anything. Roman followed the beam as it danced in front of the boss’s face, this time it started making its way through the less dense forest. Roman looked to the tree line to notice the beam was slowly making its way to where Sloan was creeping, undoubtably towards him since he was well within Gerald’s tracing wards.

Roman’s eyes grew wide as the boss noticed Sloan near the same time as himself. An evil smile forming across his pale face. The scar looking even more menacing in that sneer.

He blinked behind Sloan, the smirk plastered. “Tables have turned haven’t they.”

“Nah bro, they haven’t!” Alfred blinked behind the man, fist glowing purple as he connected with the skull boss’s face. The punch going straight through a cloud of purple vapor as he plummeted through the incorporeal mist and onto his face.

“Ah, Krom.” Alfred stumbled up, not so gracefully. “Second chance.”

“Eyes on the last guy Sloan?” The question from Roman as familiar as a day in their careers together. Roman jogged toward the two.

“We won’t be able to catch up at this point.” Sloan looked down in disappointment. “Al probably doesn’t have the juice to not engage vulnerably if he pursues blindly.”

“Well, that’s frustrating.” Roman sighed.

“Sorry Commander. The guy disarmed my cloaking. I have no idea how he found me.”

“Pretty sound scout it seems.” Alfred guessed.

“It was a hard task to get both, and I lost track of him. Status on the other that fled?” Roman asked, not letting her guilt linger openly.

“I eliminated him and was circling back with the tracking wards”. She confirmed.

“The tactical move saved his boss.” Alfred chimed in.

“AND Alfred!” Roman looked at the man incredulously. “Were you there the whole-time pal?”

“What did you want me to do? I am still kinda low on power. I came back when I felt the opal but then didn’t want to get in your business or spook him. Great job by the way Commander.” Alfred smiled. “It was a dishonorable move on Sloan, I drew the line there.”

“I can respect that. But that piece is now still on the board. I was hoping to get him to blindly put himself into a corner by not having enough essence for a second chance.”

“I know what you were doing.” Alfred replied. “If there is a next time, we need to use poison. Poison that isn’t so easily battlefield mended. Just stack him up with a bunch of different types in case he gets away. Chances are he won’t have an antidote ready at his jump point.”

“It’s hard when I can’t get past the shield.” Roman reflected on his various attacks bouncing off the plasma barrier.

“But when you had the spear, it worked. Need those runic weapons, ya dig?” Alfred smiled. “Why am I even telling you all this.”

“Which rune helps get through the shield? If it isn’t a Gemini, we usually never have to worry about a shield lasting multiple blows.” Sloan asked, ready to make the mental note.

Alfred stared for a few moments before responding. “Uh…. Penetrate.”

Both shook their heads at the simplicity as Roman laughed. “I put that rune on every weapon I make and the earthen passive runes on my blades naturally become active because of my gem, that does explain it! Very good!” He walked over and hugged his friend. “I have enough to worry about. Your secrets safe with me.” Casting a knowing look at Sloan before Roman paused, pondering. “Opals are rare.” Roman looked back at Alfred.

Knowing where he was going, Alfred responded. “First one I’ve come across. But no one knows the gnome’s leadership really and that is where Coleus dropped four opals. That one wasn’t shaped by an acolyte. I can’t describe how I know. It just didn’t have that feeling when the essence expelled. It wasn’t as potent or directed as mine. Refined might be the word.”

“Coleus didn’t drop them.” Roman laughed. “But I can get where you are coming from. We ran into a few peridot Gemini over the campaigns and that is a good way to describe the feel.” Roman replied. “I got a look at it, and it looked as crude and ragged as an ordinary crystal rock. It hasn’t been refined that is for sure.”

“Couldn’t you see that guy in the ward network?” Sloan questioned now that the tension of battle fully faded.

“I didn’t think I could have snuck up through the forest quick enough on foot, while keeping a line of sight on Roman when I saw you were doubling back anyways. Unfortunate turn of events.” Alfred caste his gaze low at the rebuke.

“I can respect that.” Sloan said without hesitation.

“Where’s Thomas?” Roman questioned

“Went to cover Ger. He followed the initial plan and should be at the exit.” Alfred looked at the corpses that lined the field. “Should we loot anything?”

“Nah, it will take too much time. These underlings probably don’t have anything like this.” Roman responded, pulling out the time sense rune to show it off. “I have to say, this thing was a blessing. You might have needed to intervein if he kept that last barrage up much longer.” The purple rune, just barely shown with light before Roman returned the item to a pouch.

“Not much essence left at all, but he probably wouldn’t have had much left by the time it fully exhausted. I’ll charge it up when we get to a safe place, no sense in you straining.” Alfred smiled.

“Let’s try to get some distance while we can.” Sloan looked to the Gemini who both confirmed with a head nod.

…

The three made it back to Gerald, Thomas, and Theo as quickly as they could muster. Relaying the main showdown between the Skull boss and Roman. Gerald was watching the action through his rune map, lights snuffing out in real time as the life left the attackers.

“Had a good idea of what yous was up to, thanks for confirmin.” Gerald’s brow nit as he looked at the three. “So, how did yous take the last guy out? That was some distance.”

“What do you mean?” Sloan looked at him with incredulity.

“The last one, his presence vanished before the end of me ward line, so how did yous kill him from where yous were?”

“We didn’t kill him, he got away.” Alfred retorted.

“I saw him through the wards making his way, but we stopped paying it any mind once he got a few hundred yards from the edge, headed toward Bendville.” Sloan relayed.

“He never made it to the end of me ward line before vanishin.” Worry prevalent on Gerald’s face. “It would take something very powerful to avoid my wards.”

“I briefly had the feeling we were being watched a few times on our way here, but I chalked that up to paranoia when I didn’t see anything on Gerald’s map.” Sloan’s worry began spreading to the others.

“That might have been something nice to have shared with us.” Roman quipped sarcastically.

“You think he kept up, or is still tracking us?” Alfred turned to Roman for an answer.

“Uh.” Gerald looked down at the baby still safely nestled in his arms.

“Yeah Ger. If so, they might think less of us just being nosy locals when they find out we are traveling with a baby.” Roman worried out loud. “Let’s get on with the plan.”

A burst of essence shot two hundred yards from their cover into the air and disappeared into the distance at a rapid pace. A dot of presence on Gerald’s map making itself visible in the time quickly before disappearing once more.

“Krom, a rune message!” Alfred hissed.

“He did follow us!” Sloan whispered; anger evident in the harsh tone.

“We’re being watched.” Gerald said in a low tone.

“Forget the plan, we split up. Use every distraction and misdirection you know, or they might find where we are going. Here Ger, I’ll take Theo for this.” Gerald handed Roman Theo as Roman directed the anxiety filled moment so palpable the heart beats of each of the five could be heard as a strumming cacophony.

“I’ll take chase, hopefully kill him or at least push him off you all.” Sloan whispered as the group dispersed in all directions. Quickly unleashing a barrage of ice spikes toward the location of the originating message spell from a rune she activated using a thin wand she pulled from the inside pouch of her cloak, as she worked to close the gap on where the man was.

“Appreciate it! Can you then circle back and see what you can of Caesar?” Roman called as she went on the hunt.

“Aye!” She confirmed quickly.

“Meet where we talked about.” Thomas yelled to all before activating a gem codex rune, smoke screen, which caused a funnel of thick black smoke to roil in every direction from beneath the ventilated areas of his armor. The smoke quickly filling the entire area in moments.

“Go at least half a day out, before. Don’t want to chance being marked.” Gerald warned.

“That should be enough time for a tracking rune to dispel itself.” Roman agreed.

They all disappeared from each other’s sights.