“A raven, you say?” Ronard reads the message.
“Orders?”
“Come with me. I will need to discuss this with the others.”
“Sir!”
***
To think that you made me, the Void itself, deliver a message like a pigeon...
“You still bring that up?” Lou says.
“Well, it is kinda stupid to see the destroyer of the world deliver an envelope to a mere human.”
“But it’s for the raven’s own good, isn’t it?”
I suppose so. The raven admits.
“We need those reinforcements to Tereon, and I bet Ronard agrees with it. No one wants that fort to fall.”
“No one except Rajash.”
They’ve stopped by a pond to rest for a moment. Although the Life Elementi can provide physical enhancements, it won’t change the fact that humans need nourishment and rest.
Get going.
“Oh birdie, we’ll get going in a moment,” Lou teases.
Do you want me to become your enemy?
“We’ll get going at once.” Threatened, Lou stands up, fearing that the raven may lose its patience.
Chapter Eleven
Battle of Tereon
Three hours until the sunset, Lou, Ion, and the raven, who claims to be the Void, finally arrive at the outskirts of Tereon and its fort. They won’t enter the city. Lou has a plan to nibble at the Rajash army from the wilderness. Part of the plan includes the reinforcements from Hantor.
If her estimation is correct, the Order will be there in two hours. They have horses, after all, so catching up with Lou and Ion shouldn’t be that hard. However, they won’t unite with them, as they aren’t their allies. More like, the Order is merely the enemy of their enemy.
This will be intriguing.
“How come?”
Hundreds will die, hundreds to harvest.
“Harvest? What do you mean?” Lou asks.
The Void is death. I collect the fallen, erase them from existence.
“Uh...”
That is part of me.
The raven enjoys Lou’s shoulder more than it’d thought. Lou finds it disturbing, though. She can’t calm down when there is such a powerful being so close. She doesn’t want to shoo it away either. An angry deity is the last thing she wants to deal with.
They are setting up a small camp in the woods, a mile away from the city on top of a small hill. There is a vast lake nearby. It was named after the founder of the city, so it’s called the Lake of Tereon. Half of it belongs to Rajash, the rest to Poer Haem. On the other side of the water, the Rajash army should appear at some point.
The lake is halved by a bridge from the middle—nay, it’s not a bridge. It’s a piece of land that separates the lake into Western and Eastern side. Rajash is in South, whereas the Fort of Tereon is on the Northern shore.
Suddenly, a certain someone appears out of nowhere. “Great, just great. The perverted raven took you here. Fuck sake!” The devil is in a bad mood.
“Perverted raven?” Lou has no idea what she means by that.
“I told you to wait, and here we are...! I’ll seriously pluck every fucking feather off that crow!”
To fill in, I am a raven, not a crow.
“Yeah, yeah, get over it, crow!” She stops for a moment as if she were listening. “Can’t you hear this perverted bird? Huh!?”
“Sadly, no,” Ion replies.
“Yeah, I can’t hear a thing.”
“Fuck, he is talking to me in a private channel. Damn it! I’m growing sick of this crow! I’m not a %!&#¤, you know!? I’m an innocent, little girl, you hear that!? INNOCENT!”
Silence follows.
“Shut up! I won’t, and if you even try something like that, I won’t stop at plucking your feathers!”
Lou and Ion can only watch and be amazed. Just what is the raven saying to her? It has to be something really strange.
“Okay, that’s it! Come over here!” The devil girl lunges at the raven, who is perched on Lou’s shoulder.
The raven flies off, most likely to escape the butchering of its feathers. One more thing to add to the list of Things Gone Awry, Lou thinks.
“And do not come back!”
Once she finds an opportunity, Lou asks the devil. “Just what is it saying?”
“Nothing. Ab-soooo-lutely nothing.”
Lou rolls her eyes. She decides to pay her no mind. Lou needs to plan her strategy in advance. What terrain will she use and how? Ideally, she wants the Rajash to use the bridge. It is a straight path to the fort, but thanks to the narrowness, it serves as a trap as well.
“You didn’t want us to come here, right?” Ion chats with the devil girl.
“Yeah, kinda. I mean, you could have waited for Wraithian in Hantor. The Titan would’ve erased him in the ideal world.”
“Ah, so Lou rushed here all for nothing?”
“Not necessarily. This is one of the outcomes I had in my ken.”
“In what?”
“Nevermind. You need to get ready for the battle you decided to take head-on. In your case, Ion, I’d sleep. That’s your forte anyway, isn’t it?”
“It wasn’t until the Titan made up its mind to start the end of the world.”
“Even after all this time, I can’t figure out how you can sleep so soundly while knowing there are three destroyers of the world on a rampage,” she wonders aloud.
“May I ask, why are you swearing so much?” Ion shifts the topic, curious.
“Because of the shit I’ve been through!”
“Right.”
Is she there? Ion hears such. The raven is talking.
“Yeah,” answering the question, Ion blurts.
“What?” The devil inquires, “Is the perverted crow coming back?”
Tell her that I am not.
“Probably.”
Why...? The raven’s voice is frustrated.
***
Like she has suggested, Ion is napping. Lou is watching the land over the lake, waiting for the Rajash army to come. The reinforcements have arrived. Lou saw them ride into the city.
The last light of the day is about to die out. The evening becomes night.
Lou has several plans. Depending on the Rajash army, she’ll act accordingly. However, there’s a thing she hasn’t grasped yet; she and the raven have a different plan they haven’t told about just yet. Lou wonders what they have in store. They’ve declared cease-fire for the sake of the battle ahead, and now, the raven is perched on Lou’s shoulder once again. The devil girl is watching the sleepy Ion for no apparent reason.
Are you ready to do anything to save this pitiful city?
Lou talks back in her mind, Shouldn’t you show some respect? I’m risking my life to save your ass, Void.
Then, are you, Milady, ready to defend that city at all costs?
For some reason, Lou smiles. Yeah. I’ll defend it at any cost, as long as it serves the end she has planned.
Good. The raven’s voice is as calm as always. You are ready.
Of course I am.
If Lou knew what the raven is truly implying, she wouldn’t say she’s ready. No one is ready for the thing she and the Void have planned in advance.
The sunset is gone soon enough. The dark of night is making it difficult to see, but it doesn’t matter. The land on the other side of the lake is plain, so it’s possible to make out the silhouette of an army in the dark.
Lou hasn’t had enough rest recently. She could use some of those potions her foster father used to brew.
She never met her parents, but she was told that they died because of a disease. The alchemist, whose name was Orwyn, was an acquaintance of her father, so that’s why he adopted Lou. However, when the Order found out that Lou became an Elementalist at an early age, she was taken away. Lou doesn’t know if he is even alive anymore.
Normally, becoming an Elementalist happens around early twenties. Only the people who despise the Void E
lementi can become Elementalists. However, it’s possible to become a Void attuner by using the other Elementi for sinister purposes. That is the phenomenon people are afraid of. In essence, the Elementi abandon an attuner when they are using the gifted powers for grotesque reasons. An attuner’s existence becomes unstable in the process, and the body starts rotting. In other words, one cannot live without the Elementi’s blessings, not even the commoners. Similarly, the Void sustains its attuners. The legends say that whoever attunes Void turns into a monster.
You won’t look like a Demoni. The raven points out.
Huh? Are you reading my thoughts?
How do you think I can converse with you in the first place?
Baffled, Lou thinks no more. She eyes the darkness intently, waiting for the Rajash army to launch the assault, though she begins to suspect that the enemy may have changed their plans.
But then, she can see something very strange. A bright ball of light travels over the lake, landing in the city. From the looks of it, the projectile causes great destruction. The fort is unharmed, but the civilians are in danger; a fire is spreading there now.
Lou curses the foolishness of the person in charge. He should have evacuated the city earlier. She is guessing pride has something to do with the decisions made in the city. As long as they start evacuating now, Lou will forgive them, not that she feels any sympathy for the lives of the citizens. If they can defend the fort with their lives, then so shall it be, Lou reasons. They will die anyway, by the Titan’s, Dragoni’s, or the Void’s doing.
Looking carefully, she can see movement on the plain on the other side of the lake. “The Rajash is here!” Lou shouts, waking up Ion.
He rushes over. “Where?”
“On the field. They fired a flaming projectile at the city.”
“Should I cast an Arcane Flare?”
“What’s that?”
“A very quick flash of light that’ll be enough to reveal the Rajash.”
“And the Arcana consumption?”
“High, but not enough to tire me out.”
“Fine. Do it. The people defending the fort will find it easier if they can see the enemy, even if it’s just a flash.”
Without any uttering or waving of a hand, Ion casts the spell. Above the field on the other side, a bright flash lights the land temporarily, giving away the location of Rajash army.
“Found you, Wraithian!” Lou exclaims proudly.
Go get him, the raven urges.
“No, not yet. We need to reduce his numbers to something we can take head-on along with Wraithian himself.”
You have the power...
“Yeah, I’m an Elementalist, even a dual attuner, but there are hundreds of Mages in that army.”
The raven says no more.
“Just screw them up fast and nicely. I want to go back to Hantor.” She doesn’t sound too happy.
“Let’s wait for them to launch the assault on the fort. Right now, they’re just poking the sleeping bear. Once clawed by the beast, surprising them from the rear or side will be easier,” Ion shares his thoughts. “However, now they assume there is a Mage in the fort, which is me. You see, there is no Mage who doesn’t know what’s a Flare spell.”
“But our advantage is that they think we are somewhere in the fort or the city, right?” Lou speaks.
“Exactly. But once we surprise them, that cover won’t hold.”
***
The Elementalists in the fort are bombarding the enemy army randomly, though not aggressively. ‘The beast is stirred,’ that’s the current state of the battle. They are shooting Molten arrows from the wall.
The army led by Wraithian is dividing into multiple groups. That way, long-range artillery won’t inflict heavy damage to their formations. Their greatest weakness is the row of catapults. They are immobile, slow, and heavy. The problem is, however, that Rajash siege engines are small but powerful. Hitting them in the dark is difficult when they are firing from afar.
The distance from the Northern shore to the Southern bank is only five hundred yards, and the empowered onager catapults with wheels have the range of a thousand yards. A normal one without a magical enhancement is weak in comparison, having the range of roughly four hundred yards. As a side note, the lake is ten miles wide, so going around it isn’t an option for the enemy, especially since the terrain is rough in the West and East.
The trebuchets of Tereon have the range of 1600 yards with Elementi enhancements, but their precision is poor. Thus they can’t fire too aggressively, for they need to conserve ammunition for the time when the Rajash are in optimal range, which is the bridge of land halving the lake.
For an hour, the battle remains as it is. The Rajash catapults bombard the fortress from a safe distance.
***
“Now’s the time. They are ready to assault the fort. We’ll go over the lake to begin our guerilla tactics.”
The devil rubs her eyes. “Ugh, what!? If you decide to watch the battle instead of causing mayhem, then at least do it silently! I want to rest my eyes a bit, damn it.”
“We’re going,” Ion explains.
“Huh? Finally! Great! Let the killing begin!”
“Ion, we’ll dash over the lake. I can make it happen by reducing our weight. A leaf doesn’t sink because it’s light, does it?”
“It does, actually, when it soaks the water. Then it’s heavier than the liquid.”
“But we won’t get soaked if we dash, right?”
“You better enhance us with the Life as well. I can’t spurt that distance without it.”
“Will do.”
They descend down the small hill towards the bank. From their location, the distance to the opposite shore is approximately 900 yards. Since they are West from the fort, the Rajash army is on their left, like Tereon and the bridge. The dark serves as a cover. Even if someone saw them, they’d only see very vague silhouettes that could be anything.
“Ready?” Lou asks Ion as they get to the bank. The raven is flying above them.
Ion nods.
Attuning Life and Force, Lou empowers their bodies. She takes the lead, showing Ion how to do it, though it’s no different from running on a mud field. However, if they trip even once, they’ll have to swim.
They can’t utter a word at the lake, for their voices can be heard from a distance. Lou has done water walking a few times in the past. She doesn’t find it difficult. On the other hand, Ion is struggling.
Just as they’re about to get to the shore, Ion slips and causes a splashing sound every Rajash warrior nearby hears. Lou swears. She was hoping to get to the shore quietly. She can’t turn around to pick him up. Placing her faith on the Elementi enhancements, she ignores him and dashes to the bank she can see. Even if Ion can’t swim, he should be able to float, thanks to the lack of gravitation.
The real threat to Ion is Rajash men. They have troops stationed near the shore, and the noise is attracting them. Lou needs to get rid of them before they find Ion near the beach, struggling to get on the dry land.
“Meh tuak i emmel!” A Rajash man shouts. Lou can’t use Voice to interpret, for she’d nullify either of the enhancements Ion needs to survive.
“Nok unta.”
“Umna orkah.”
Damn it! We’re screwed at this rate. Lou clicks her tongue. She can’t tell if there are invisible Mages nearby. If so, she may very well be dead in a few seconds. She was hoping Ion would handle that part, but now she can only pray.
Upon getting to the shore, eerie wailing can be heard nearby. Shivers run down her spine, for she has heard that wailing only once before, and back then she had to hide or be killed.
Demoni!?
Lou tries to look for a place to hide. The wailings are coming her way from the West. Heart racing, she tries to climb to a tree with the aid of the Force Elementi she is still attuning. Once up there, she hears more wailing, as if there were hundreds of Demoni.
“Nakya! Nakya!” A Rajash man
shouts.
Then, right below, the black monsters pass by swiftly. A pack of Demoni rampages through the woods to attack the Rajash army from their flank, and Lou can only watch in horror as the hideous, dark abominations that were once animals and humans disappear into the dark of night in the direction of the army.
Why so terrified? They are doing a favor, the raven flying above points out.
Having courage doesn’t necessarily mean fear is absent, Lou remarks.
The bird says no more. Lou waits for the Demoni to go away. The chilling cries of dying humans can be heard. The creatures are tearing the Rajash men apart. She can only imagine the Marks of the Void that will spawn, those creepy little eyes that keep staring for no reason.
What are the Marks of the Void? What purpose do they hold? Lou asks.
You mean the Trapped?
If that’s the way to address the eerie little eyes of yours, then yes.
They are the souls of the Claimed. The Void destroys, erases, and reforms. Those who die by the Void are Claimed by me. Their souls keep watching the land in the form of an eye, until they fade and become invisible to human sight. There they remain, just eternally watching, until the world itself is no more. They are Trapped.
Why?
It is a warning to the living; do not waver; do not fail; live and fight; do not become Claimed. However, that is the ancient saying. Now, I do not care what happens to humans.
Forever and ever as an eye, doing nothing but witnessing the passing of time, such a fate claims the Rajash men.
***
An Arcane Flare is shot above the city. As soon as it fades away, the catapults of Rajash start firing more aggressively, the footmen charge forward, and the Mages start bombarding the fort with Arcane Arrows. The catapult projectiles aren’t set aflame, thus their location is still unknown. The Mages, however, are revealed each time they shoot their spells.
The trebuchets of Tereon focus their fire on the bridge. Many of the Rajash men die with each boulder that hits the dry land. Some splash into the lake. Arrows rain down upon the warriors. Battle cries can be heard even from afar.
They repelled the Demoni already? Lou is awed.
I saw Mages devastating them, the raven explains.
Apocalyptic Life (Era Series Book 2) Page 12