The crossbow bolt pierced Sariah right through the chest.
She lurched upward in the bed, blood spraying from her mouth and staining the sheets. Her hands instinctively reached for the bolt, though there was nothing to grasp within her body, as it had been shot so powerfully that it pierced right through her, lodging itself halfway through the mattress beneath her.
She flipped over the edge of the bed, hitting the wooden floor with a heavy thud, facedown.
And then, after a few moments of stillness, a silver-white light washed over her skin from head-to-toe, followed by a thin sliver of purple blinking in and out of existence above the hole in her back.
Sariah planted her hands on the floor, pushing herself up from it. She was panting heavily, and her face was still wet with her own blood, but she pushed on, regaining her strength.
After making it to her knees, she moved her hands up to her chest, where the bolt had gone through. The hole in her clothes remained, but the one in her flesh had vanished.
She took hold of the necklace. “Shit….!” she hissed to herself, before finally managing to stand.
She pressed herself against the wall, inching closer to the window but keeping herself out of range of a potential second shot. Based on where the bolt had come in from, she knew what direction to look towards to find where the source might be, all she needed was a moment to find a landmark in that direction to start her search.
Preparing to make a rapid dodge should signs of another attack arise, she craned her head around the edge of the window, eyes immediately aiming towards the direction the shot had come from.
Almost instantly, she found them drawn towards one of the warehouses; specifically one that appeared to be two stories in height. Standing on either the second floor or the roof would almost definitely give the sniper access to the crossbow shot, though it looked to be a difficult one nonetheless.
Sariah examined her chest once more, waiting for her breathing to calm before she gathered her things and made her way over towards the warehouse.
She kept to the walls and shadows as she made her approach, though she found no signs of anyone spotting her. It was a very real possibility that, after landing the shot, the sniper had simply retreated, their mission seemingly accomplished, but Sariah wasn’t going to risk a possibility; the sniper needed to be taken care of, or she needed to definitively be able to say that they were long gone from Rushuna.
Getting inside the warehouse wasn’t difficult, either. She found a door and, though it was locked, picking it was simple. It made some sense; a town like Rushuna was probably quite calm and peaceful on a day-to-day basis; locking doors was done just because it was easy and logical, but nobody actually bothered worrying about proper thievery.
Pistol in hand, Sariah stepped into the warehouse. The inside was shrouded in darkness, and she made sure to keep it that way by avoiding the sensors that would turn on the lights. Though she’d only been inside one of the warehouses, she was willing to bet all of them were pretty much identical in layout.
She spotted nothing on the first floor, and continued on her way up to the second. She moved like a cat, quick and quiet, expertly navigating through the warehouse undetected, even when forced to maneuver up the rusty metal staircase leading up to the second floor which was largely composed of, amusingly, catwalks.
And then, a bullet came flying in past her head.
The lights in the warehouse flickered on, and out from the shadows further down the catwalk came Zane.
“You’re pretty good at that whole sneaking around thing,” he stated, coming to a step, wearing that signature fanged grin on his face. “I don’t really get why you had to do all that, though. Wasn’t like I was gonna shoot you before you came up here; I need you in one piece for this duel.”
A retort regarding the crossbow bolt nearly left Sariah’s own lips, but she stopped herself. Her eyes scanned his body quickly; there was a revolver in his right hand, another handgun or two on his belt beneath his coat, and two rifles strapped to his back. No crossbow.
Of course, he could have simply ditched the thing, perhaps on the roof, but with that last statement regarding some kind of duel, that thought didn’t sit right.
“A duel?”
Zane nodded his head, particularly in the direction of the pistol in Sariah’s own hand. “Yeah. I wanna see how good a shot you are.”
Sariah raised a brow. “I don’t know how interesting this duel will be since I only brought this,” she said, holding up her pistol. “I’d have brought some rifles too, if I knew they were needed.”
Chuckling. Zane held his arms out wide. “I dunno….something tells me these are less of an advantage and more a way for me to play catch-up, if I’ve got a good read on you….”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Stupid question, but just so we’re clear, this duel’s to the death, I take it?”
With his free hand, Zane reached into his belt, retrieving a second revolver. “Well, you don’t pull out a gun to spar, now do you?”
Sariah narrowed her eyes, aiming right for Zane’s forehead. “No, you don’t.”
* * * *
ULTRA KNIGHT
* * * *
The Ecclesian Knights dutifully continued their trek up the Dragonspine continent, conducting multiple investigations into areas of interest, namely pertaining to the U-Knight and the skelementals. They found numerous battle sites, where the metal-like bones of the defeated monsters were scattered, along with gashes in the earth, likely from the U-Knight’s sword, but no actual signs of either during their travels.
Commander Roy and his troops soon pulled into Lunafei, a city located in the heart of the Lion’s Mane Forest right outside the capital, Cairn Leone. Built into the trees and streams that ran through the forest, Lunafei was a beautiful, quiet place home to the third largest magic school on the planet.
Accessing Lunafei was, ordinarily, impossible. The forest kept it hidden to all those who were not welcome, leading them astray without realizing it. The Ecclesia da Ultra was one of the few organizations allowed to find the city, and that was only after having been given permission by the Leoteran government, usually to handle one specific task before they were asked to leave once more.
In this case, Commander Roy and his Ecclesian Knights had been allowed into Lunafei in order to continue their investigation into the skelemental crisis. The city had access to a wealth of tools that could potentially serve those purposes — ancient historians who might possess knowledge of the skelementals or perhaps where they might have originated, seers who might be able to foresee their next attack, and, perhaps most importantly of all, maguses who might be capable of actually defeating them.
“Eurus,” Roy said, clapping his massive hand on the shoulder of the frail young Knight, who nearly keeled over from the force. “I’m leaving you in charge for the time being. Make sure everyone helps out with any chores that need to be done. Repairs, cleaning, cooking, the works.”
“….Okay,” the lanky Eurus replied, his words slow and monotonous as always, almost as though he were sick with a cold or something.
“After that, get everyone fed and send half to sleep. The other half stay alert and keep watch until they can switch shifts. Understood?”
“Yes, sir….”
One might question why Commander Roy would place the responsibility of the troops into the hands of strange little Eurus, but don’t let his bony build and absence of passion and personality fool you; he was a good worker who did what he was told. He never complained, he never let his feelings get in the way, and he was surprisingly good at magic tricks!
As the troops were directed to their lodgings for the duration of their stay, located within the base of a massive tree, Commander Roy stood outside, waiting patiently for his contact.
“How have you been, Roy?”
The commander turned towards the source of the voice with a smile. Aerin was a petite woman with skin blue as the sky, and pupil less amber eyes. She was also the mayor of Lunafei (well, technically they used a term that could only be communicated by weird magic bullshit, but for all intents and purposes, she was the mayor). She had appeared seemingly out of thin air, surrounded by wisps of white light swirling around her like tiny moons.
“Fine enough I suppose. Yourself?”
“I’m doing well, thank you.”
Aerin led Roy over to the base of a tree of crystalline bark. As they approached, one of the branches snaked its way downward to ground level, providing them both with a massive crystal leaf to stand atop, which began to carry them higher like an elevator.
Inside the tree was Aerin’s office. It was not made of crystal, to the surprise of some of you I’m sure. No, it was simply a nice, cozy little room whose walls were lined with books. Her desk was in the back corner, next to what appeared to be a large orb of black and purple light not unlike an image of the cosmos. There were also numerous little spirit animals scattered around the place; a white fox napping on the sofa, two little baby phoenixes racing around the ceiling, a glowing red spider crawling around the top of the bookshelves, that sort of thing. All were phantasmal, barely connected to the physical realm, more akin to holograms than physical creatures.
“Moonlight tea?” Aerin asked, although Roy was already holding his hand up in refusal before she managed to finish asking.
“No, no. That stuff gives me the runs.”
With a chuckle, Aerin took a seat behind her desk. Though there were no chairs on the opposite side, one suddenly materialized as Roy approached, like a white hologram becoming fully solid.
Dropping into the chair with a groan, Roy then said, “So….skelementals.”
“A very interesting name.”
With a laugh, Roy replied, “Hey, I didn’t pick it. So….know anything about ‘em?”
“No, actually,” Aerin said with a sigh. “We haven’t been able to find anything in our texts, yet.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. There’s always something new and crazy happening in the world, haha!”
Aerin nodded, taking a sip of her tea. “Indeed….I do have some theories, but without seeing them up close, I wouldn’t be able to say just yet.”
Roy raised a brow. “Theories? Care to share?”
“Unfortunately not,” Aerin said, albeit with a bit of a smirk on her lips. “I’m sorry, Roy, but it concerns some….topics I’m not allowed to divulge with you.”
The commander gave an exaggerated sigh. “Good heavens, it seems all of my old friends are keeping secrets from me! Have I been cast aside? How cruel!”
“Speaking of old friends,” said Aerin, setting her cup down. “How’s Sariah doing?”
“You’re not gonna believe this: she actually takes vacations now.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Haha, nope!” Roy said, clapping his hands together, which did startle the spirit fox from its nap. “I mean, she’s working right now, but she was on a vacation not long ago.”
Aerin smiled. “Still won’t tell you about her personal life?”
“Not. A. Peep.”
“That’s just like her,” Aerin said. “I should catch up with her some time. It’s been a long while since we’ve spoken.”
Roy shrugged. “She’s in Vash right now, if I’m not mistaken. If you want, I could take you to the church in the capital and give you clearance for the teleporter and you could go see her.”
“Perhaps now isn’t the right time,” she responded. “I wouldn’t want to interfere with her work, what with how seriously she takes it.”
“True.”
A new spirit animal materialized, this time directly atop her desk. It looked like an incredibly tiny version of a t-rex, glowing orange and stomping towards her teacup. Aerin brought her finger down and scratched the top of the little creature’s head.
She then looked back up to Roy, her face a bit more serious this time. “And what about Zane?”