The flames were raging wildly, strewn bodies of twisted metal, human flesh, and thick blood lay scattered all over the the office. A man in a long black coat, looked down on a body covered in blood, covered in massive scars that would have instantly killed a normal human, and two bloody stumps that were once his arms. His hair was covered in blood, and his bangs dyed a shadow over his disfigured face.
"... So it's you, Saia," the bloodied man coughed slowly. "... To think the last person I'll ever see, would be you."
"Hehe, are you disappointed?" Saia said in a clear, and calm voice, as he stared at the man silently, and patiently.
"... I don't have much time left... Please, listen to my request."
"You want your 'enemy' to help you? You, and your group did try to kill me quite a few times."
"I have no one else..." The man coughed violently, and spat out a mouthful of blood that ran down his chin, dyeing his already burnt clothes a deep red.
"Well I have known you for a long time..." Saia chuckled lightly to himself.
The man's voice grew stronger, and more powerful, as he squeezed out his last words.
"My family... Please, save..."
A small sigh escaped Saia's lips, as he watched the man turn still, and silent. He reached out his fingers, and gently closed the man's lifeless, glassy eyes.
"Goodbye Rain, it's been fun."
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"Warning! Warning! External structure breached, cancelling hibernation mode." A dull mechanical voice repeated the same line over and over.
A small crater several meters wide, was located deep inside a small forest. A woman with a long black dress could be seen slowly walking away from the capsule, and into the forest. Her long blue hair was a bit messy, but nothing unusual.
The woman had a slim figure, and a youthful gentle face, she was gazing at the sky with a lonely expression. Her eye narrowed as she slowly scrutinized her surroundings, and tried to memorize the position of the stars.
"Well, judging from the data on the capsule, it seems a duplicate of my consciousness was abruptly downloaded into the system before I was pulled out by that distortion, hopefully they can find, and pick me up, but who knows how long that would take..."
The night breeze was cool, and refreshing, the trees were large, and the leaves shimmered from the moon light. Ariel wondered how long it has been since she saw such a beautiful looking environment.
She could only gaze in wonder taking in the scenery, the large mountains in the distance further emphasized the grandeur of the forest.
"Now what to do from here...," with a light whisper she slowly walked around the forest to survey her surroundings.
From her memories the first priority when surviving is to move away from immediate danger, check for injuries, then check for any external threats, and finally find shelter, fire, water, and food.
The only real injury she suffered was the fact she couldn't fix her hair properly without a comb, she was confident she could handle any creature that even dared try to attack her, so the problem lay in physical needs.
After wandering for about about 10 minutes, she had come across a stream cutting right into the dark forest, the stream was clear, and the sounds of water moving freely was oddly energizing. She scooped a small amount of water, and took a tiny sip.
"I better hurry, a water source means animals will definitely come by, I don't want to run into trouble I can easily avoid," Ariel quickly scooped up some water, and drank her fill, the water was fresh, and cool. With a light sigh of satisfaction she looked for an area to spend the night.
With her excellent vision she spotted a small cave hidden behind a mass of dead leaves. Large spiderwebs covered the cave entrance, it wasn't very deep, and was completely void of creatures or vegetation, merely a place of dirt and rock. For now she would wait until morning before she traveled out of the forest.
She stared at where she landed, and sighed. At the moment, only a vague cold feeling gripped her heart, as she wondered where her everyone else was.
"Saia, Saia, read me a book!" A small little girl with blue hair was hugging a book the size of her body, her deep blue eyes peeking over the book cover.
"Hoh, you really like stories about angels don't you," a man in a long white lab coat gently patted her on the head.
The little girl smiled widely with dimples on her cheeks, "yeah!" She walked over to a nearby chair carrying the giant picture book with her. She could easily read the book herself, but she wanted to read it together with him.
A little blond haired girl with ringlet curls hugged the man's leg as he was walking, she puffed her red cheeks, and her blue, and green eyes gave a sharp look, "no, Saia's going to play dolls with me!"
The little blue haired girl hugged her book tightly, and glared, "no fair, he already promised me!"
The man could only watch, and laugh. A little boy with short black hair, that was neatly parted in the middle, and had green eyes, grabbed the blond haired girl, and dragged her away, "that's enough out of you, you already got your time."
The little blond girl screamed "waah, noo! Stupid Aeon," they eventually disappeared out of the room.
After reading her the story the man asked her, "why do you like angels?"
"Their pretty," the little girl gave a big smile.
"Is that all?" The man replied.
"They also help people, and protect them!" The little girl grew more enthusiastic as she continued talking.
The man could only grin wryly, and shake his head slightly, "do you want to be like that?"
"Yeah! I love everyone, I want to protect them just like those stories!" The little girl spread out her arms in a meaningful manner.
The man's right eye slowly glowed red, and the atmosphere felt heavier, he stared at the little girl calmly. He motioned for the girl to sick back down next to him, after a momentary pause he began to speak.
"Ariel, I have another story I want to tell you."
"Yay!" The little girl quickly sat next to him, in an excited manner.
"There once was a man, who lived a good life, with a caring wife, and a healthy daughter. He was a simple man, with simple desires, that man only wanted to continue living his peaceful, and carefree life. That man thought his world would never change, and be able to silently watch over his family.
But fate was not kind, hatred ignited, conflict arose, and wild ambitions started to blossom in the hearts of many. The amalgamation of these feelings, and certain events sparked a massive war, that eventually created two opposing factions. Sadly the man belonged to one of those, and was dragged off into the depths of war.
That man saw many things over the years being involved in that war, depressing things, dark things, and scary things. The man cried, grew depressed, and was always frightened. However despite all of those things, he managed to help play a significant part in ending that war, and he manged to survive many dangers, all because of his thoughts of returning to his family. During the wars, he actually received a major injury, it was actually a chance for him to return home, but he rejected it."
"Why?"
"Because those he wanted to protect grew. So he fought on, and on."
The little girl tugged on his pant leg, and asked in a hushed tone.
"Did he manage to return to his family?"
"No. His contributions were significant, and so was his reputation, he was called a hero, and brought to fight more wars. Every place he visited he saw tragedy, he met more, and more people that he cared about. His love for his family, and the people he met drove him to greater heights. However the one thing he desired he was never allowed to do."
"What was that?"
"He was not allowed to visit his family."
The little girl pouted, "why? That's so unfair!"
"Because that hero grew too important, and too powerful. They used that family to force the hero to continue fighting. Even with all his power, in the end he was still a very simple man. So all he could do was continue fighting. He sincerely believed that as long as he kept fighting, then it will eventually end, and he could return. When the war came to a temporary end, something different came up.
One day the hero was given a task to take back, a precious artifact his country needed, their he met another person standing in his way.
"A villain?" the girl asked in excitement.
An ironic smile spread out on Saia's lips, "a villain? Hmm, in a certain view point you could say that."
The little girl looked confused on the way he answered it. But Saia was already continuing with the story.
"The hero, and villain fought over this precious item, eventually due to some circumstances, the villain escaped with the item. During this process the hero chased, and fought the villain several times. Many times the fights never came to a conclusion. On one strange twist of fate, they actually talked, and drank together."
The little girl stared at Saia with an exasperated expressions, "why?"
"They did not always meet each other in conflict, once they accidentally met at a bar, and to not cause problems for the town decided on a cease fire. There they talked peacefully, but still remained enemies. It was an unusual relationships to be honest, and they often times met each other under weird circumstances.
Anyways, eventually the object the hero was after was decided to be not worth the trouble, and the hero was ordered for another mission, and that he would be allowed to be with his family after that mission was over. In that final mission, in a distant land, he found something he shouldn't have seen. Unfortunately because of that, he was betrayed by the people he sought to protect, the people he trusted, the people he cared for, and the People he fought with. "
"Whaat! Nooo."
"Let me finish. In the place where the hero was betrayed, the villain eventually visited, it was ironic that of all the possible people, the last person he would meet was the villain. The hero begged the villain to help his family in his last moments."
The little girl with a teary face, stared at Saia sadly.
"Did.. The villain... Help?"
"Many months later, despite the many dangers, the villain managed to save the heroes family, and moved them somewhere safe."
As the little girl wiped away tears she stared at Saia in confusion.
"But why would the villain help the hero despite all the dangers, were they friends?"
Saia lightly stroked his right eye in contemplation.
"Hmm it was indeed dangerous for him... and it was true objectively he had nothing to gain, but they could not be called friends."
"Then why?"
"Hmm, I guess he found it interesting?"
"What!"
"Ahaha let's ignore that for now, do you know why I told you that story?"
"No..."
"You remind me of someone in that story."
"Huh?"
Saia ignored her confusion, and his face grew slightly more serious, and darker.
"Ariel."
"Yes?"
"Do you want to be a hero, a villain, or something else?"
She scratched her head, and looked confused, in the end she couldn't answer.
"The world is filled with many desires, many times these desires will conflict with others. Money, power, love, dark, twisted, and scary desires. If you help one group of people obtain their desires you may seem like a hero, but to the other group of people who could not fulfill those desires, because you helped those others, you become a villain in their eyes.
A hero, and villain are merely people who pursue their own desires, if you help someone, it hurts someone else, and vice versa. Every action may seem minor, but will become something much larger."
A frown appeared on Ariel's face. "That's so confusing!"
"It is, isn't it? Just know one thing, your life is your own, you power is your own, and your actions are your own."
A deep mechanical glow on his right eye stared deeply into Ariel.
"Ariel, your desires could also be quite dangerous for you. Do you have what it takes to carry that burden?"
The little girl look frightened but she quickly stared at the man defiantly. The man just chuckled, "your sister probably feels lonely, why don't you see to her?"
Later on she left the room in a hurry.
The man slowly walked and followed, the little blue haired girl was hugging the little blond hair girl in the other room.
"Hey I can't breathe, stop it!" Eventually the two little girls grew exhausted, and ended up sleeping together, the blue haired girl
kept hugging the other girl to the very end, with her eyes closed, and a large smile on her face.
The man watched this scene, and gave a light smile.
"All I can do is give you the potential... O, lion of god..."
Saia sighed as he turned back.
"Just don't have any regrets."
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Ariel had just woken up, her eyes slowly adjusting to the shallow cave, and gave a bitter smile, "a dream huh...," the warmth from that hug in her dreams still lingered on her body.
Surprisingly enough she noticed a large leaf in the center of the cave, on the leaf were various fruits.
Apparently someone had entered the cave while she was asleep, if her body had sensed hostile intent she would have awoken immediately.
In the distance farther away, she saw a small head peeking inside from the cave entrance. The head resembled that of a little girl of about 6 years old, the hair was short, and dark, but what was really noticeable was the lower half of her body, which resembled that of a spiders.
Ariel could only stare at the little spider girl in interest, back in the old world, she had run into orcs, trolls and mermen that drifted past the rifts, and wandered into her world. Seeing a half spider, half human creature really was on a whole other level.
It reminded her of the time Saia had tracked down a mysterious bird at the southern continent of ice and snow. From Saia's description, the bird was over 10 meters long, and looked to have a body made of crystals, and ice. Saia had searched for it, but in the end failed at ever seeing it again. The reason Advantis was parked in the southern continent was to continue searching for that legendary creature. Ariel was sure the reason some of her family had stayed behind was to find that bird, or lingering
attachments.
Ariel could understand why Saia was so driven for the bird, she also had an intense curiosity for this girl. From what she read of previous fantasy books, creatures like this would be called Arachne.
On closer inspection the little girls black hair hid away 4 smaller red eyes on her forehead, while the the main 2 looked to have belonged to a humans. The lower legs, and body looked like black armour, the spider legs on the girl were fidgety, and seemed constantly to be brushing on the floor.
Eventually after seeing how fidgety the arachne girl was, Ariel came to the conclusion she was nervous. With a light smile she waved at the arachne, the arachne ran behind the cave entrance, and popped out her head to peep again.
The same routine continued for many days, where the girl would offer food, and Ariel would just smile at her. Over the few days, the girl would inch closer, and closer, eventually the arachne girl warmed up to Ariel, and was now lying her head on Ariel's lap.
Ariel still did not understand the little girl's language so in the end they could only gesture at each other.
From a casual observation it seemed the little girl was alone, every time Ariel had left to survey the forest, the little girl would immediately walk by her side, as if afraid of being abandoned. Apparently the fruits she gathered was the child's way of bribing Ariel to stay with her.
Every time the arachne found the cave empty, she would panic, and whine, and when Ariel showed up the arachne would quickly reveal a smile, completely wiping away the sad expression from before.
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After a few days of scouting, Ariel had already located a small village near the clearing. The houses were made of some odd material that looked like black marble shaped into a cone, the inhabitants were surprisingly varied, some were beautiful humanoids with horns, and wings, others looked to have been a mix of snakes, lizards, and goats.
Rain was slowly falling from the sky, and the clouds were already darkening. The little girl was using her hands to grab some large leaves, and try to cover Ariel's head, but due to her short stature the little girl was jumping constantly to try, and shield her.
Looking at the sky Ariel wondered whether she should find shelter or try to communicate with the villagers, as she was considering what to do, a loud horn blew in the distance.
Despite the heavy rain, and dark clouds the sky was illuminated. Giant boulders of flame poured from the sky dispersing the dark clouds, the meteor shower smashed into the villagers, and crushed the houses.
In the distance a swarm of shadows covered the landscape, thousands of armored men, that were rapidly multiplying slowly poured into view, and the skies were teeming with odd giant ships. Ariel could only stare in shock at the at the unexpected development.
She could easily guess what was happening, the problem is how she would react to it. Even though she was a member of the security team, she had rarely fought as actively as the other members of the same team. At most she would only fight Orcs, some robots, and some species that wandered through the rift. She had never in her life killed another human being.
Rather than say she couldn't, it was more accurate to say she was scared to. By taking a human life she risked creating tragedy for the victims family, and friends. She could only freeze in hesitation, she did not know the circumstances for this invasion, and did not know if interfering was even the right thing to do.
Her feet were frozen stiff, and she could only shiver in panic as the village was consumed by fire, and the shadows of armed men. The little spider girl could only hug Ariel's leg in panic at the spectacle.
"Moments of hesitation, can lead to an eternity of regrets," a handsome, and stern face flashed in her mind, "Allegro".
A man with a glowing red eye had lectured her before, "Ariel, your desires could also be quite dangerous for you. Do you have what it takes to carry that burden?"
"Saia..."
An indescribable loneliness wrapped around her body, she really wanted to see them again. She loved her family, and wanted the warmth she felt around them. She did not know these people but knew what would happen to them. Ariel did not want to see such a tragedy, and the fastest way to prevent it was to stop those armed men.
A indescribable chill spread in her body, as she shivered lightly, she was about to take the life of another person. It was hard to see an orc, or predatory mermen as fellow beings, but the terrified villagers, and incoming humans were painting a picture she recognized.
In situations like this, there could only be one answer. Through her own selfish desires she would protect these people, and hurt others. She did not base her actions on justice or righteous anger, she based it on her own selfish wishes.
There was no point in labelling her goals, and actions as something grandiose, she would never permit it, because what she was about to do was only going to create more tragedy for someone else.
In the distance the demi-humans were running for their lives, the men were killed on sight and the beautiful demi-human women were forced to the ground, being dragged off into the distance.
Ariel watched calmly, memorizing the scene, and analyzing the location of all the conflicts.
A small ring inside her head sounded with a mechanical voice, "safety mode off. Executing program: Artificial angel 03."
Silver outlines quickly drifted to her back, the outlines shimmered, and formed 4 silver transparent wings, wind slowly gathered into her wings, Ariel's hair glowed a snowy white, and the little spider girl's eyes stared in shock. Ariel smiled and patted the girl on the head, she slowly started to fly up, the little girl desperately tried to cling unto her leg but fell to the ground.
The spider girl shot out a thin spray of silk to latch unto Ariel's legs, but was warded off by a layer of wind surrounding Ariel. The arachne could only struggle on the muddy ground trying to catch up to Ariel, as she flew into the Village.
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A blur of silver light charged into the inferno, Ariel's wings absorbed the rain, and shot jets of water at five armored men on horses, knocking them out, and slamming them into the ground. A nearby lizardman could only stare at Ariel in shock at being saved so suddenly. Ariel pointed at a small spider girl running, and stumbling along the muddy soil. The lizardman gave a nod of understanding, and ran her way.
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Ariel's hair was now flashing between white, and blue, as her wings shot forth bullets of water, and blades of air, slamming armored men into the walls, and sending some flying into the air. The wind and water that entered her wings were filtered, restructured, and sent out in varying degrees of force, composition, and shapes.
She burst into a room to see three men clawing away at a woman's clothes, she sent bullets of air slamming into 2 people knocking them unconscious. The last man which was on top of the woman drew his sword, but a stream of acidic water burned his eyes, causing him to stumble. Ariel used the wind to create a suction vacuum that dragged the man towards her, where she rammed a condensed air cannonball into him.
The horned woman in tears bowed in thanks, and desperately escaped.
A dark blur darted in, and out across the small village in fury. Men were thrown out, some were blasted into the distance, while other collapsed all over the place.
Eventually all the villagers were running into the distance. Ariel remembered some women were captured, and dragged on horseback, their loud shrieks, and wails were drowned out by the heavy rain, and powerful winds. Ariel had already memorized them from the data stored into her brain, so she already had a good idea who was taken.
The transparent wings gathered a large quantity of wind, and created a loud sonic boom, propelling Ariel forward at high speed. A stream of arrows covered the sky, and slammed into her. The wall of wind deflected the barrage, her wings absorbed the wood, and metal turning the wood into spikes, and metal into bullets, flinging them back at the dark swarm in the distance.
This action caused many men to stumble, and fall on the ground, only to be overrun by the incoming horde. A slightly sad expression could be see in her eyes, as she bit her lips, and trembled slightly.
Her wings were now a meter in length to deal with the increased workload of converting the elements, her mind was focused on calculating the structure, temperature, atomic structure, and force of the elements. The horseman that had abducted the villagers were already within her reach. Ariel created a gigantic Vortex of air that sucked the men, and woman to her, she stopped the vortex, and sent air bullets slamming into the men, while cushioning the women with a light wind. The women were dizzy, and tired, and one of them lost control of her legs.
The women eventually regained their composure, and started fleeing. The rain was getting more intense, and the soil was getting harder, and harder to walk on, and the ground turned muddy.
In the distance more ships started to fill the skies, and the large mass of shadows grew darker, and more pronounced as they neared.
To her right a small detachment of mounted soldiers had started moving past the forest, and would reach the fleeing people.
The winds howled, and screamed as powerful gusts of wind gathered into a large space in front of her. By converting the moisture of the winds, from high to low and creating a large instability, she slowly formed something. Ariel used her brain to calculate the minor details, eventually forming a massive tornado that tore through the night sky in front of her. She released the tornado surging towards the dark mass of men. The soldiers who couldn't get out of the way were sucked up by the massive winds, torn up by the wind pressure, and flung into the distance. The air ship's magical barriers absorbed the force for a few seconds before collapsing entirely, and being turned into scrap wood.
By changing the moisture of the water, and moving it against the cold ground, she created a large mist that slowly enveloped her surroundings. By blinding the enemies sight, she wouldn't worry about accurate attacks against her. Arrows, and canon fire swarmed all around her narrowly missing it's target. She took down the wind barrier to increase her flight speed, and moved to intercept the detached horseman in the distance.
She flew 20 meters ahead of them, and landed on the muddy ground. The transparent wings on her back started to dig into the muddy soil, her hair now flashed blue, white, and brown. The thick sludge of mud grew more, and more soft, and started to slowly spread in front of her.
The horseman who saw her instantly charged, a man in silver armor with a decorated helmet, grinned as his sword was within several meters length of her head. But his vision suddenly plummeted downward staring at her feet, the muddy soil was slowly swallowing the horse, and the knight, the momentum from the charge caused all the mounted soldier to crash into each other, and slowly sink into the muddy abyss.
Ariel was panting heavily now, she had used up far too much energy, and she was not wearing a mech suit to help with the intense calculations. Above her a rain of arrows, and cannon fire crashed into her location, she immediately put up a wall of wind, but it could not absorb all the impact, eventually her body was smashed into the muddy ground, and crushed by the explosions.
Her dress was torn all over, red splatters of blood poured from her body, and brown patches of mud covered her once beautiful dress and clean face. The ships in the sky were now getting closer, the dark shadows looming overhead, covered the night sky.
"This is bad, I can't stop them anymore," with an exhausted groan Ariel dashed into the Forest.
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Jacques was now held captive in a dark room, it had been several days since he was captured by that silver haired witch. He could see a handsome man in front of him, the man felt noble, and commanding. In Jacques impression he seemed to be a person in power, therefore someone he could negotiate with.
"I think it's best you let me go, do you know who my backers are?" Jacques grinned in an overbearing manner.
Allegro merely looked at the man without showing a hint of emotion.
Sweat poured over his hairy, and worn out face. Jacques decided to push further, "I have powerful connections with the local authority in port city Aprego! Do you see this tattoo on my chest? Do you understand what organization I belong to!"
Allegro merely stared at the man's brown pupils, which were starting to contract. The unwavering stare set the man called Jacques into a nervous frenzy.
Jacques screamed in anxiety, "are you willing to make enemies of the Avarian syndicate, part of the Dark claw alliance? We who
control half of the underground dark guilds, and black markets of Galia!"
A woman was watching this scene in the shadows, her short wavy red hair was now entangled with her own fingers. Her name was Eliza, she had been staring in disgust as the man constantly shouting about the tattoo in his bosom. The flab of meat wobbling up, and down truly disgusted her. The fact the man constantly wanted them to stare at his tattoo or bosom could not help but give the impression the disorderly man was some sort of pervert.
While the man was an unruly mess, he did give plenty of information. The language was slowly adopted, the writing was analyzed, and the Island Advantis had been occupying was discovered as uncontested land.
The current Country where Saia had tried to visit was called Galia, it's system of government was similar to a representative monarchy, that shared power with the magic association. The King was old, greying, and sick due to certain events. The next heir to the throne has not been chosen yet, but the nobles of the country have already formed factions backing 2 imperial princes. The culture followed a patriarchy system, so the youngest princess was not eligible for the throne.
The economy of the country was considered stable but declining, however the spread of wealth was not even, and the distance between the social classes was only spreading. Slavery was legal, and drugs were slowly circulating among the poor. The fringes of the country have declining security, and skirmishes have been happening throughout Galia's western borders.
The term decadence aptly described the country, and it's political climate.
Guilds sent out job contracts, and local members can sell their talents, if Saia were to leave messages, or give information about his location, and physical state, joining the public guild member list would be an ideal signal.
Dark guilds performed illegal or underground activities that dealt with assassinations, illegal armies, drugs trades, arms trades, smuggling, and turf wars between rival dark guilds. They were in short a mixture of mafias, illegal armies, and gangs in modern terms.
The regional power in the east seems to be in conflict between the Holy Anglin Empire, and the demon empire that have dated back to centuries of conflict. The Gressian continent is basically a mixture of mostly human alliances and unions, with political intrigue nestled in the back ground.
Finally, Magic exists in this world.
Jacques continued to brag about his dark guild, then talked about how the local governor was supporting them, then continually thrust his flabby chest, and tattoo at Allegro.
Allegro gave a meaningful look to Eliza, "send him back please."
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A well of relief washed away as Jacques approached the port city of Aprego, the attractive woman with a blue star tattoo under her eye had escorted him back to the port city. There was no doubt that the powers backing him had scared them off. Jacques couldn't help but give a big greasy smile, once he returned to headquarters he would expose the location of the enemy city, and he would make that silver haired whore, and this red haired bitch wish they were never born.
He couldn't help but imagine the torture he would inflict on them for the humiliations he received, as Jacques stepped unto the docks he felt a sharp pain on both of his hands, when he looked back he saw nothing, and the woman had disappeared. The abrupt pain itself strangely disappeared the moment it was felt.
As he slowly walked to a public market he noticed a small knife in his pockets. "Huh, how did that get there?" For some reason his hands grabbed the knife, and slowly approached his neck.
Jacques' eyes were wide with terror, his hands won't respond to him! "That woman, what did she do!"
In the middle of the market square a man screamed for help, as he quickly slashed his own throat, screams of shock, and terror surrounded the market place, a lone woman with red hair gave a light smile as she left the scene.
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"Hey Saia, ever considered going to magic school, asking me all these questions is fine and all, but I'm not a qualified magic teacher you know?" Seles was sitting on a sofa staring out a window, as the large sky transport slowly flew to it's destination. Swarms of children were running around, and parents were busy putting the kids back into their seats.
"And how much would that cost exactly?" Saia was now reading a book, constantly flipping through the pages.
Seles stared fixedly at Saia, "20,000 silver bank notes."
Saia completely ignored the amount and moved on to the next topic, "so judging from the plant woman we encountered at sky island, what exactly is a world core?"
The dark elf stared at the passing clouds without answering the question, after a few minutes of silence she mumbled, "I'm not sure either, although the thing about the world gates are correct, everything from the world core to the gods is a mystery to me, you should visit the Imperial Library."
"And how much would that cost?" Saia started to grumble again.
"The basic books are free, but information about worldly things that the general public won't know about would need a library permit, granted by the government to access."
"And how much would that cost?" Saia was slowly growing slightly depressed at the fact he was broke.
Seles stared lazily at a passing cloud, "10,000 gold bn, which is roughly 100,000 silver bn."
"Hey Seles, how did you get captured by the pirates anyway, looking at your abilities you could have fought your way to freedom, before getting captured."
"I was on the run, I was already injured by the time I ran into those pirates."
Saia's ears perked up, "who were you running from."
"Sorry, that would be 30,000 silver bn."
"Hey Seles, want to rob a bank?"
She completely ignored Saia, and starred lazily at a poster, on the poster was a bounty of 12,000 silver bn for the capture of a fugitive necromancer.
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A shadow was running in the forest, leaving deep footprints in the muddy soil. The rain was hammering down on the slim figure, in the trees shadows darted left, and right gaining on the lone shadow.
hah* hah* "I should have expected this, after causing so much damage the specialists are now marking me." Ariel's hair was disheveled, and her breathing was growing more hoarse. She had been running for more than an hour, but the more she ran the more pursuers showed up.
If she continued she would eventually run out of energy, and stamina. She had already killed many of them, but now a lot more were on to her. The pursuers looked skilled, and their movements were sharp and fast.
Ariel had the least amount of battle experience compared to the other family members in combat duty, while her physical abilities were fast for a human she was still far behind her peers. She could not outrun the shadows forever, she had to finish them all here, and now, before her stamina runs out.
Ariel dug her wings into the soil, the mud slowly enveloped the trees, and her surroundings; eventually creating a wide clearing, as everything sunk into the mud. Dark figures started to appear one after another surrounding her.
Ariel gathered the wind into her wings, and let loose blades of condensed air flying 360 degrees, several men in black were sliced into ribbons letting loose a spray of blood into the chilly night air.
Numerous blades pierced through the shadows aiming at Ariel's heart, neck, back, legs, and arms. Ariel could not afford to create wind barriers anymore, she needed to conserve her energy in order to make decisive blows, therefore she had to minimize injuries, while seeking opportunities to kill her pursuers.
She manged to roll on the mud to dodge the flying daggers, but they had manged to pierce her left leg, and right arm. Fresh blood was now dyeing the soil. Her wings had continuously absorbed the wind without sending out a counter attack.
Ariel ran behind a tree, but a silver flash flew across the shadows, almost reaching her neck. She grabbed the dagger in mid air, causing the blood to drip from her palms. All of a sudden 4 men in black dropped down with loud groans, while the rest stared in surprise.
She had stolen oxygen from the air suffocating some of them to death, usually once the area has less than 10% oxygen, even taking in a single breath will do harm, various symptoms will follow including death. Naturally since the area was an open space, more oxygen will fill in immediately, but transparent feathers were floating along the area forming a small enclosed space, preventing that from happening.
Small glowing red circles started to illuminate around her, tendrils of flame floated out from the magic circles to devour her. Ariel stomped on the muddy ground, sending her flying into the air. The wind was cold, the rain was still pouring, and the weather was freezing, all Ariel needed to do was to increase the cold.
Using her wings she adjusted the temperature of the atmosphere, and started to cool her surroundings. Making the temperature in the forest drop dangerously low. The pursuers likely did not have insulation, as Ariel could sense the body temperature of her targets.
Normally having her opponents constantly exposed for over an hour of rapid temperature loss was impossible, but since she allowed them to follow and corner her, they were keen on the chase thinking she would collapse soon. Eventually having there body temperature drop lower in the high wind chills, freezing rain, and their damp clothes..
As she started to rapidly chill the environment, a large chain wrapped around her leg, and forced her slamming into the ground. Ariel pulled the chain with all her strength causing the man flying towards her. She gathered an orb of transparent feathers floating around her palm and slammed those feathers into the mans face, freezing his head instantly.
She had been gathering nitrogen into her wings for a while now, through a process of constant refinement she had made the nitrogen into a liquid state turning each feather into a capsule, and slightly altering the construct of the chemicals for a more deadly form of liquid nitrogen.
A sword pierced through the back of a tree stabbing Ariel in the stomach. She threw the orb of liquid nitrogen at the assailant, the contents spilled forth, freezing parts of the mans face, the man's loud screams echoed into the night sky.
Ariel dragged more air into her wings and created more mist by pushing it against the cool ground, eventually allowing her escape. The body temperature of her enemies were dropping dangerously low, they would either suffer hypothermia or retreat by now.
After running for several minutes Ariel leaned against a tree, blood was seeping out from her stomach, arms, and legs. As she was about to stand up again she noticed something odd, "huh that's funny, I feel dizzy?" She couldn't get up, her eyes were growing heavy, and her limbs were starting to grow stiff.
As she tried to lift herself up she fell down again, lying against a nearby tree. Finally Ariel's mind came to a slow realization, the damage in her body was more than her nanites could repair, the amount of energy she had spent could no longer support her injured body. The rain was still hammering down on her, and the wind was freezing, her once elegant black dress was now in tatters, frozen blood, and dirt now made up her dress.
Ariel's eyes were slowly dimming, she could only see black, and red. Her cold shivering body and frozen limbs all felt numb now. Her heart ached at the fact she could no longer stand up, and meet those she loved.
In the distance she could hear rumbling noises, but she no longer cared, she could only show a bitter smile as she stared idly at nothing. Her mind dazedly recalled the people she killed, and a hollow sadness ate away at her.
Did I kill someone's lover? Son? Dad? Or Brother?
As her body slowly calmed down, and a heavy drowsiness started to set in, she made one last selfish wish, she hoped she would have a nice dream.
A lone woman was now lying against a large tree, the winds drowned out the surrounding noise, and rain slowly cleansed the woman's face of dirt and blood. The deathly pale face was young, and beautiful, her eyes were closed and a lonely smile was frozen on her face.
In that dream she saw a cute little spider girl clinging to her, a tall man with red hair scolding her, a blond haired woman knocking on her head, a cute little girl with curly blonde hair laughing, and playing with her.
She saw many places, scenes, and many people from her family, She saw a tall man in a white lab coat, always within arms reach, but every time she stretched out her hands he would be a few inches away, he was a man who was a mass of contradictions.
"I miss it so much."
The dream would last days, months, and years, she hoped the dreams would continue for eternity.
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Barren, and lonely
a distant dream gives you warmth,
but you turn away.
The world is cold, and dark,
but the sun will always rise.
Seles looked a the book Saia was writing on, "you're not very good"
"For some reason I just had the urge to write one," Saia murmured, as he stared at the compass silently for a very long time.
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Note:Meh I did warn you I'm going to insert BS science. Well the issue would be to try and separate it from magic, so they don't become intertwined.
Also bank notes have a different meaning in this world. I just don't want to say cash, gold, or silver or rupies.
So bn instead of $.