“Wait here.”
Once above the ground, she spots the Mark and the dead body that serves as the conduit for the eerie eye. It’s their horse, killed with a swift slash to its throat. They didn’t hear it wail anyhow, so it must have died instantly, Lou reasons.
So it’s either a Demoni or the Void attuner. Heart racing, Lou searches for the horse killer, the flame burning at the tip of her finger. It’s agile and most likely small, otherwise we’d have heard it. And if my guess is right, its tactics are based on ambushing from a blind spot. In that case, I have to be facing it even now, for I’d be dead already if I weren’t. It’s waiting for me to—
The sound of something tearing flesh behind Lou interrupts her thoughts. She turns around with the Elementi ready. However, the view welcoming her is rather gruesome. There is a black, lizard-looking monster held midair by an unseen force, its guts spilling out from its abdomen. Its size is small, but the claws make up for it. Overall, it’s a hideous beast—a Demoni.
“If not for me, your neck wouldn’t be intact,” Ion appears next to the dead Demoni, holding an Arcane Cutter that has the beast impaled midair. He’s used Cloaking to ambush the ambusher.
“Thanks.”
“Uh, shouldn’t we leave this area? I mean, this Demoni looks like a pack type.” Ion dispels the spell, and with it, the corpse drops onto the green mass of guts on the ground.
“First of all, that Demoni is a lone wolf. Secondly, Demoni corpses scare away all animals because of the corruption they spread, which means that no hound dares to track us here.”
“But how do you explain the Mark hovering over here?” Ion asks, the eerie eye glaring at Ion. “Could you stop that?” He begs the Mark.
“Marks of the Void spawn whenever a life is taken by the hand of the Void. Didn’t I say it already?”
“So, the Demoni are Void creatures?”
“Seriously, is the Titan the only thing you know?”
“Not really. I’m a proficient Mage, too.”
“And a proficient groper.”
“What was that?”
“You’re a perv.”
“As a matter of fact, I don’t even know the meaning of the word.”
“Makes you all the more worse.”
“Oi, what can I do? I’ve lived alone for all my life!”
“But you still feel shame, don’t you? Like back when you peeked at Ti when she ran up the stairs.”
“I didn’t know she was naked under!”
“But you knew I’m a woman, yet you touched my chest without reservation.”
“What about it?” Ion lacks the common sense to see it’s very indecent to do so.
“Perv. Now, let’s go back in.”
Lou buries the horse with the aid of the Earth Elementi before going back in. She liked the animal.
***
Once they wake up, it’s almost midday. They can’t infiltrate the Order just yet. They’ll have to wait for the dark to come. As to why they didn’t do it last night, they were too tired, so the rest was compulsory. Also, Lou has a plan of securing a foothold nearby.
Ion opens the trapdoor, climbing out of the hole—only to shriek upon seeing the Mark stare at him with an empty gaze. This time, he doesn’t fall.
“What now...?” Lou asks.
“Nothing!”
Once safely outside, Ion grabs the eye that keeps staring at him. Peering within, he tries to discover something. Although he doesn’t see anything special in the eyeball, he does learn something. They aren’t moist like human eyes are, but instead, they feel dry, even coarse.
“Do you hold any purpose other than staring?”
If the Mark had a lid, it’d blink, probably. Knowing the horse’s soul may be that particular eye, he places the eye gently back to its spot in the air.
“Are we going?”
“Yes!” Lou shouts from the basement.
Lou climbs up with a backpack full of resources. She double-checks everything before departing. After all, they can’t come back in a while. Lou hasn’t mentioned it, but she’s been dropping dog’s bane on their tracks ever since they left her home. It is thanks to the weed that they haven’t been captured yet.
Chapter Seven
Sudden War
There’s a small village in the outskirts of Hantor. Three farmer families, one merchant, and some dozen hunters live there. The population is below a hundred. However, today, there are people from Rajash visiting the place. They seem to be very interested in the area, and some of them are glaring at the gossiping locals.
“They sure have pointy beards.”
“Their skin is also darker.”
“Why’d they come here when there’s the capital next to this place? There’s nothing here.”
Lou and Ion are in the village, brown robes serving as disguises. They’re right in the middle of the commune. There are only two guards in the village, and they both share the same lodge during duty.
Lou knows the place well. Since nothing out of the norm never happens in the village, the guards are always slacking, and therefore Lou and Ion don’t have to worry too much about them.
Lou plans to use that small village as a base of their operations. For that, she’ll have to make sure that there are no enemies, which leads to a task she is good at. Assassination. That’s her profession, after all.
Once they take out the two guards on duty, they’ll have total freedom in the village. Of course, they’ll have to hide their faces nevertheless, for there’s the chance that some of the locals might report them for a good sum.
“See those thick, old trees over there? Wait for me there.”
Ion nods, hurrying out of the village to hide under cover of ancient oaks. He tries to maintain a calm, neutral face to avoid looking suspicious. Thankfully, the locals are more curious about the Rajash men. Ion gets to the trees in no time, hiding in their shadows. He is aware of Lou’s intention to assassinate the poor guards.
Approximately ten minutes later, Ion senses something disturbing nearby. It’s not a Demoni this time. In fact, he doesn’t dare to look at the source of his anxiety.
There’s something Cloaked in these woods.
Whatever it is, it’s probably aware of Ion, watching him. He could try Cloaking himself and investigating, but that’s too risky, as Mages who can cast Cloaking can also see objects that are Cloaked. So, right now, the unseen party shouldn’t know Ion is a Mage. He can use that fact to keep them uninterested. However, if they do show up and try to kill him, he won’t stand still.
***
Once Ion’s gone, Lou hides her face with the robe, walking over to the guards. Noticing her, they stand up. They have a small lodge at the entrance of the village, and beside it, they have a bench they spend their days sitting on.
“Please, help,” Lou begs them, faking the act.
“What is it? Has a thug finally found this pitiable little village?”
“Yes and no. Can we go inside? I don’t want anyone to hear.”
“Be my guest.” The guard closer to the door of their humble hut enters first, keeping the door open for Lou and the other guard.
“Thank you.”
Once they’re inside, their necks have been snapped before they even know it. Lou uses the Earth Elementi to break the floor and dig a big hole. Stealing the outfits and armors, Lou places the bodies into the pit. She then makes the Earth bury the dead beneath the building. However, she can’t repair the floor.
“Great, neither fit my size.”
After a troublesome battle to equip the stolen armor and outfit, she lets a heavy sigh. Now that she is wearing a helmet, her face cannot be identified.
Now, to tell Ion to come over.
***
On that sunny day, a flaming fireball is hurled at Hantor by a catapult, flying over the village, only to explode in the capital of Poer Haem. The villagers are in a panic, an uproar rising in the city.
“What’s going on?”
�
�Did war break out?”
“Elementi have mercy on us!”
There’s one person who knows what’s going on, and that particular person is wearing the armor of an assassinated guard. Lou had a mission in Rajash some months ago. It included stealing information. Skilled as she is, she got it. She found out that the Emperor of Rajash has been planning on invading Poer Haem. And now, seeing the fireball hit the city, she knows the war isn’t just a plan anymore.
However, as she realizes the location of the catapult, she is alarmed by the possibility of Ion being captive. After all, she told him to wait precisely where the catapult is. But how did the catapult appear out of nowhere? Even now, she can see the war machine, but it wasn’t there just a moment ago.
One more thing added to my list of Things Gone Awry.
To further make the situation look even worse, she realizes why those Rajash men are visiting the village. No sooner than that, cries of the locals can be heard all around; the men of Rajash are drawing steel, butchering the innocent.
Though a cold-hearted assassin, she has some sense of justice and loyalty to Poer Haem as a country. Diverting the ire to her spells, she melts the scimitars of those murderers with haste. They don’t even have time to let go of their weapons, which leads to severe burns. They definitely won’t wield another blade for a while.
“Watch out!” Lou can hear such, the speaker’s voice reminding her of someone.
She turns around, only to find her death approaching faster than the eye can follow. A Mage, not Ion, but some other spell caster is firing an Arcane Spear at her. With the fraction of a second she has, she tries to summon the Elementi to her aid, but she won’t make it.
Blast!
The spear shatters into fragments, the spell repelled by an Arcane Shield just barely. The size of the protective spell is only an inch in radius. Just a little more to the right and the spell would have skewered Lou.
Using the opportunity, Lou calls the Air Elementi. The spell she demands is a forbidden one. She forces the air out of the hostile Mage faster than he can cast a new spell. She then forces air into his lungs, and she keeps at it for a few seconds, until the Mage’s respiratory organs burst. It’s forbidden because the Elementi don’t approve such grotesque methods.
Using the Elementi to brutally kill others can make the deities withdraw their powers from the caster. Should that happen, the feared phenomenon would happen.
“I thought you couldn’t cast any spells on others,” Lou says.
“Yeah, I can’t because I don’t know how. However, I cast the shield at a location, not on you. And just so you know, the chances of me casting the shield at the correct location is, like, two percent or so. You see, Arcane Shield, which is cast at a location, is often—”
“Yeah, yeah, thank you. But right now, we’ve got to deal with these Rajash imbeciles before they butcher everyone. They aren’t here to stay. They’ll flee as soon as they accomplish their mission. Also, that Mage doesn’t seem to be Rajash. More like, he has to be from the Kingdom or Orloss.”
Once finished, Lou’s hair and eye color change to golden, attuning Fire. She summons a spear of Fire, holding the Living Weapon gracefully behind her back, taunting all the men of Rajash to attack her.
“Tob akhn!” A Rajash man shouts.
The spear’s length is tremendous, at least fifteen feet. Smiling like a devil, Lou waits for them to attack her now that she is standing still like a dummy. She knows there are more Mages out there ready to cast their spells at her, but she’s placing her trust on Ion’s capability. She’ll serve as a decoy, whereas Ion counter-attacks. She removes the uncomfortable helmet before combat.
Saying the single word of Rajain she knows without the aid of the Voice Elementi, she strikes at two opponents with beautiful moves. “Voh’tak!” It means die!
The living spear of Fire weighs nothing, allowing her to move like a dancer. With each swing, she sets something on fire, unavoidable as it is due to the length. The flame itself is solid from the core, so Lou’s struck with recoil each time she hits something with the spear.
No matter.
With a wide arc, she sweeps six men, dismembering their legs, followed by a downward strike accumulated by the momentum. That final blow of her graceful, yet deadly dance halves a combatant. The cries of the Rajash men are high-pitched and short-lived. No one can get close enough to kill her, the long flaming spear making it so.
Once only a few remain, the Rajash warmongers start fleeing.
“Not a chance!”
Like a pole vaulter, Lou closes the distance quickly by vaulting with the aid of the weapon, delivering death from above. Upon landing her killing blow, she performs one quick 360-degree slash around her, and the remaining survivors are thus killed in action.
Lou looks for Ion soon after the skirmish. She finds him from the hut, sitting on the bench, sweating. The village behind Lou has turned into an inferno, thanks to her reckless moves.
“You look tired,” Lou points out.
“Yeah, thanks to your crazy ideas. Do you even know how many close calls I had!?” Ion remarks, having killed four Mages in the meanwhile. Although Lou didn’t see him at any point, he helped her more than she can guess.
“I’m well and alive, and so are you. Good boy.” Lou pets him.
“Tch, I almost disintegrated! I had to use Teleportation, a spell that can easily kill the caster! Not only that, I almost got hit by an Arcane Explosion, but I managed to dispel it before it happened. Jeez, I feel like I’d died a dozen times.”
“Is there anything I can do for you?” She feels like rewarding him for his efforts, and she’s ready to do anything for him. Anything.
“Food. Gimme something to eat. Some water as well.” But of course, the blockhead asks for something as simple as that.
“I’ll treat you once we get out of here. Don’t you see that there’s an army of riders coming this way?”
Ion stands up, eyeing the city outskirts. “No way.”
Lou isn’t lying. A cavalry is coming their way from the city, most likely trying to counter-attack. However, most of the Rajash warmongers are dead.
“A perfect chance. There are Elementalists among those riders for sure, which means that infiltrating the city is easier now.”
“Eh?”
“Let’s go!”
***
In the hall of the king, a ruler sits on his throne. His patient face speaks of his years as a king. His smile is wry. Everything is according to his plan. The world is in chaos, though not everyone is aware of it. Government officials are yelling at each other in the hall, but the King pays them no mind.
I shan’t fail the Third Era.
The King is determined to defend the world from the curse he has been fighting. The Seed must be contained, lest the world will be consumed.
***
Since the outskirts of Hantor are level and plain, the cavalry spots Lou and Ion as they’re trying to flee. A dozen is sent after them, the rest charging the Rajash warmongers. They can’t run into the woods, lest they’ll get squeezed between two armed forces. Therefore, they’ve chosen to cross the plain piece of land where they’re vulnerable.
“Keep running! I’ve got an idea.” saying that, Ion turns invisible.
Lou nods. She is attuning Water, using it to maintain a liquid mask to ensure the common tactic to burn their lungs won’t kill either of them. Although it is a brutal way to kill, the Elementi allow it for reasons unknown.
The cavalry is getting closer. Ion has half a minute to stop them. Poer Haem army doesn’t have Mages, so he can safely use Cloaking to do his part. He stands still, unseen, waiting for the unsuspecting riders to get closer.
The pursuers are surprised, and some even killed, by Ion’s Arcane Shockwave, a spell that sends forth a wide but short blast. The three closest riders die along with their horses, and the rest are thrown off their horses, injured or stunned. Either way, they won’t ride their horses in a while, i
f ever again.
Lou finishes them all by causing the earth churn. The incapacitated soldiers die of drowning in the dirt.
Lou and Ion resume their flight, knowing more will come once their brethren find out what’s befallen their comrades. Lou, however, is worried that she’ll cause the feared phenomenon to occur. The Elementi don’t like killing in general, and killing mercilessly like she does is even worse.
The rules said by the Elementi themselves are as follows; Suffering cause not. Lives take not. However, do both for the greater good. In other words, Lou and Ion aren’t protected by the first two rules anymore.
They don’t notice it, but the riders killed by Lou leave behind faint, transparent eyes, hovering in the air above the grave of dead soldiers. Those eyes, however, disappear in a matter of minutes. Thus no one will ever know that Lou left behind Marks of the Void on that day, though they weren’t complete, just like Lou.
Their plan is a mess now. Thanks to the sudden war, they can’t use disguises to enter the city. They’ll have to rely on the dark of night to enter, which translates to hours of pointless waiting and sneaking around.
Lou’s been thinking it’s a good opportunity to infiltrate the city now since a portion of the city’s defenses is chasing the Rajash men. But now that a declaration of war was delivered to Poer Haem capital, it’s unlikely that they’ll have a chance to sneak in easily.
Therefore, Lou has a new plan in mind.
***
A couple of miles to the East from the capital, Lou and Ion wait for the sunset. They’ve found a nice little house in the middle of nowhere, seemingly abandoned. No one has lived there for a year at least. However, Lou’s worried that they might be found. She didn’t know there’s such a cabin, but she’s welcoming the fact with a smile.
Hounds keep barking in the distance, and sometimes she can hear wailing like something was killing those dogs. Along with the wailing, she can hear cries of men.
Lou reasons there are Rajash assassins in the woods, and those search parties are fighting them. What else could it be? There is the possibility of it being a pack of Demoni or something like that, but that’s unlikely. The lonely one Ion killed last night was one in a thousand.
Apocalyptic Life (Era Series Book 2) Page 8