Ethria- the Pioneer

by Aaron Holloway

  The last goblin jumped atop the warg in what was an obvious attempt to escape. As it kicked its erstwhile mount, the creature let out a deep throaty growl. The goblin kept kicking the creature as it stalked towards my friend, still affected by his ability. Finally, the frantic hobgoblin stabbed the beast in its side with a small dagger as it pulled the rains that looped through the wargs nose.

  The warg snarled and shook trying to dislodge the Hobgoblin, after a moment, the rider fell. The beast turned and savaged its would-be master. Tol’geth took the opening and struck, chopping down in a powerful overhead swing. The creature ignored the pain of the sword as it bit into the wargs flesh, and broke several ribs as it finished off the hobgoblin. The beast, now, bigger somehow, lunged at my friend.

  Ailsa who had been attacking it with force bolts and other spells the entire time fell silent for a moment and joined me in watching, as the beast leaped atop Tol’geth, biting his arm and shaking our friend like a rag doll. Tol’geth didn’t cry, he didn’t scream like the creatures, other victims. After a moment of struggle he bellowed his anger and rage and punched the beast in the face. It did little to dissuade the best, but the barbarian kept up the barrage of hammer-like blows.

  I knew the force of those punches, I knew the kind of damage they could do, and as I watched them shatter the creature's bones, the damage was quickly healed. The bones reshaped after every hit with sickening sounds that churned my stomach. Amazed and horrified at what I was seeing, I analyzed the creature savaging my friend.

  Name: Unknown, none given.

  Race: Warp Warg

  Class: Warp Warg Mount

  Level: 16

  Height: 6’5 +

  Hair: Brown speckled with white

  Age: 4 days

  Affiliation: Rider, Master

  Alignment: Half trained, half-tamed

  Disposition Towards You: Enraged, Confused

  HP: 487 / 798

  Defensive Characteristics: Unknown, Skill Score Too Low

  Offensive Characteristics: Unknown, Skill Score Too Low

  “Ailsa!” I shouted, “What’s a Warp Warg?”

  “What? Why are you asking me about those now?!” Ailsa went quiet again, before screaming at me. “Don’t cast any more spells! We’ve been making it stronger! Warp Wargs eat mana!”

  I groaned, I don’t have anything else! And then a memory that had taken place in that strange magical experience from the book at Lo’sar, came to mind. Another mage, who had gone insane and who had a similar power to the warp warg in front of me now, had gone on some kind of rampage. The knowledge of the mages crime was lost to me, perhaps the myth rested even now in some dusty crypt deep under Lo’sar, or hidden in the back of some long-forgotten shelf in its grand library. The particulars of the memory where unimportant really.

  But the knowledge I glimpsed from this incident taught me much about the nature of fire and fire magic. Most other magic used substance that already existed. Spells added mana into that matter in order to manipulate it, form it, grow it, empower it and shape it. Mana that the mage, that the warg in front of me now, absorbed to grow more powerful.

  Each force bolt cast might have injured it, but it also infused it with the very mana that gave the spell form, mana the mage in the memory could put to any purpose, and the warg seemed to instinctively use to grow larger, stronger, and heal from damage sustained. That was Force magic. Fire, well, fire has a mind and a life all it's own. To fire, there were only two things in the world, fire, and fuel. And the warg was fuel. And so was the mana in my fire spells.

  I began pulling mana and as the world grew red around me, I felt light-hearted mirth at the situation in front of me. Fire, fire was powerful. This creature, that mage? They are nothing. Nothing but fuel! Fire will consume all! And for some reason, that thought was unbelievably funny!

  As I formed the spell I found myself laughing. My body shaking with mirth I positioned myself to the side of my friend as his arm became a bloody wreck as I stood there, working the spell. Ailsa darted in occasionally, aiming for the creature's eyes, trying to blind it with the spear she regularly trained with. Aside from the occasional snarl she elicited from the ward to warn her off, she had little effect. Every time she blinded the beast, its eyes regrew in seconds thanks to its mana glut.

  I raised my hands, blinked, and I found the world coated in a far thicker red haze then I had ever experienced before. “Haha, haHAhAh AhAHAha!” I laughed as I reveled in the passion of the magic, and I let the spell fly.

  The jets of flame sprang from my hand and directly onto the creature's side turning its fur, skin, and saddle, alight. While the creature's body healed fast enough to extinguish the flames, the beast couldn’t devour the mana that had produced them so hot were the flames. The mana burst quickly, and the jet of fire didn’t go further than a few feet from my hands before going out. I got two notifications then. One I auto-minimized as it was a combat notification and I had my settings adjusted to minimize them unless they were vital. The other was a spell notification that sprang to life in front of me.

  “Congratulations! You have found a Spell Augmentation to Jet of Flames 1, named ‘Devouring Flame.’ This is a General Augmentation for all aerosol Fire-based spells. Devouring Flame: Can be applied to all aerosol fire spells. Flames are reduced to 1/3 size of any area effect and duration of the spell. The fire burns three times hotter. This prevents mana drain effects, and increased damage by *3 for the spell.”

  Not having time to read it all, and seeing the effect first hand as the fire burned hot enough to get through even my fire resistance, as sweat beaded my forehead, I minimized the notification. I’ll read it in full later, I thought to myself as the mini-inferno in front of me drained my mana at three times the rate of Jet of Fire 1.

  The saddle made of leather, metal rivets and thick fur carpets of different beasts lit aflame and stayed that way. The saddles leather straps restricted with the heat, hardening and hindering the wargs ability to run.

  The warg released my friend's arm, and let out a great howl that tapered off into a pitiful whimper. I released the spell Jet of Flames 1, and let it die out as the creature shook, then ran a few feet before stopping and falling to the stones and biting at the still burning and tightening straps to no avail. Whenever the goblins had made those straps out of it seemed resistant to warg teeth.

  After a minute or two of this, and a liberal dosing of additional unaugmented flame each time the saddle almost went out due to the creatures thrashing, the warp warg laid down and whimpered. It covered its face in a sad attempt to stop the fire from reaching its nose and face.

  “There is no need for this, no creature deserves this death.” Tol’geth, who had spent the last couple of minutes being healed by a frantic Ailsa and guarded by a couple of the brave but terribly overmatched militia members, said. He pulled his sword from the sheath at his hip and started forward.

  “Hold on, I think...” I said touching the large man's arm to stop him. “I-I think its shrinking.” Disbelief filled my voice at what I was watching, as the massive creature slowly went from the size of a small bus to the size of a horse. Another minute, and a dousing of more flame later, and it shrank to the size of a fully grown wolf, and then a dog, and then… I let loose a force bolt that hit the large now white-hot buckle that held the saddle in place and rushed to the warg.

  I kicked the saddle off the now small creature and grabbed it pulling it roughly from the flames. I wasn’t burned in the slightest, but the, puppy, was whimpering. Its body was devoid of hair, its eyes blind, its tongue burned from its mouth. The little puppy was grotesque to look at, but the sounds it tried to make were terribly tragic.

  “It would be kinder to end the pups life,” Tol’geth said as he extended his hand to me.

  I shook my head. “No, wait and watch,” I said and I sent mana into the four-day-old creature. Just a trickle and I kept a firm grip on the thread as I allowed it to trickle into the warm warg. “It is only f
our days old, not old enough to be away from its mother. Let alone be fully trained and used as a mount by some, goblin. Poor thing needs a home...”

  “That is not how warp wargs work…” Tol’geth began but stopped when I shot him an angry glare.

  “It’s MINE!” I said with vehemence. The large barbarian looked taken aback. He was not used to people meeting his eyes, let alone speaking to him with such passion and vigor. It was probably some vestige of the magic I had been wielding so often that day, but honestly? Had he tried to take the puppy, I would have bitten him. Had he kept insisting, I would have lit the man on fire. And probably laughed while I did it.

  Ailsa and Tol’geth both looked at me, concern clear in their eyes. “I don't know why,” I said to them as I turned my gaze back to the puppy in my arms, and the anger that had arisen from my protective instincts ebbed. “But I want it. The puppy is mine now. Under my protection. Understand?” I asked looking back at my friends sternly.

  “Look…” Ailsa said softly as she floated up next to me and the puppy who was still whimpering. “It's taking your mana and healing.” And it was, over the next two or three minutes as we walked among the militia members, healing wounds and helping load cargo for the evacuation, the puppy slowly regained its fur, its eyes, its tongue, and then the pads of its feet.

  Behind us, the last few families began to board the skiff. I heard mothers calling out to their children, and fathers for their wives. One child attempted to make a run for it nearly getting past the line of militiamen, but her mother was quick as a whip, grabbing her by the arm and hauling her back towards the boat. The brown-haired little girl, blue ribbon in her hair dancing in the wind, giggled at what she thought was a game. “Come here Isabella, we must go!” As the woman hauled the child away, a sack of something tucked under her other arm, our group's attention returned to our discussion.

  “So, where is Salina?” I said. “That device was supposed to take us within a few hundred feet of her. I don’t see her anywhere.” I held the puppy and watched the others load large crates of food and supplies onto the last fishing skiff. All of the women and children had or were currently going, to the safe area on the other side of the river.

  “When we are done here, we should look for her.” Tol’geth proclaimed as he lifted the last of the massive crates on one shoulder and walked up the plank and onto the tiny skiff.

  “Do you mean the elf in white? The one that closed all of the portals the goblins were coming through?” The wounded militia captain asked. He was standing next to me, supervising and ostensibly guarding the dock against stragglers while the others worked.

  “Yeah probably,” Ailsa said as she kicked her feet back and forth sitting on my shoulder. Even in the middle of a battlefield, my fairy friend was more carefree then I think I had ever been. Or, that I could remember.

  “She saw to our defense, slew a few of the goblin shamans with spells I had never seen before, instructed me to organize an evacuation, and then left towards the lord's manor.” He pointed west, up what must have served the town as its main thoroughfare. In the distance, just barely peeking over the two-story buildings that seemed ubiquitous, was a tall tower with a proudly waving flag atop it. The flag was a white field, trimmed in blue, with a lighter blue trout breaking the surface of the water.

  “A few of the people who’ve trickled in since she left, and before these bastards attacked” He kicked the body of one of the dead hobgoblins. “Said they saw Lord Traser leading his guard in the defense of his manor. No tale of the elf though my lord.”

  “I am not a lord.” I protested as Tol’geth walked up behind me. “But I am a wizard. Thank you for your help… uh... “

  “Dazin Traser, wise one, the city lords bastard. No noble blood in me, but I lead the city watch. Or, use to.” His expression fell in a way it had not when he had acknowledged his illegitimate status, a mix of pain, guilt, and resignation. “As far as I can tell they were nearly wiped out when we tried to counter-attack the portals. The men I have left are with the refugees.” Dazin dropped his gaze, before looking towards the opposite shore.

  “Best go yourself Dazin, your people still have need of a capable watch commander. The skiff is about to leave.” I said as I leaned on my staff, the puppy cuddled softly in the crook of my arm.

  The brave bastard nodded at me, collected the few militia members left on this side of the river, and boarded the tiny skiff. The boat was loaded to the rafters with cargo and people, but It looked more stable than some of the previous trips that it had undertaken. It would make it to the other side safety, I decided and turned to speak with my companions.

  “Alright, let's go find us a white elf woman.” I grinned, so did Tol’geth, but Ailsa tisked.

  “What about the puppy?” She asked concern still evident in her eyes. Whether it was for the creature, or for me, I didn’t know.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.” I cast around me and found a small satchel that one of the Hobgoblins had on their body. I took it, sized the strap for me, emptied it of the hardtack and, are those fingers? Yeah, okay, that's cool. Dang goblins. I emptied it of the hardtack bread and human finger trophies it had held and placed the warg pup inside leaving the flap open. “Better?” I asked.

  Ailsa nodded “Yeah, but what about you?” She asked as she floated above me. Tol’geth, arms folded in front of him, nodded his agreement.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Remember how I said you had to be careful not to use too much magic too quickly? Well, you’ve been slinging spells left and right since this day started. First with training, then at the encampment, then the caravan with that insane fire elemental thing you summoned, and then just now. Dude…” She raised her arms into the air in frustration as she stood on Tol’geths shoulder. She had been picking up mannerisms from Earth, and ‘dude’ was the newest addition to her lexicon.

  “I’m worried you might have mana madness.”

  “What?” I asked confused, hands gripping the satchel a little tighter, instinctively fearing I would have to stop them from taking it for some reason. I shook my head, clearing it and crushing that line of thought.

  “You know, what I told you about magic influencing your mental state? Here.” She pulled up a screen and examined it. “Yup, I thought so. Pull up your auto minimized prompts.” I did as instructed. There were hundreds of them. I cleared out the damage dealt notifications, and the spells cast notifications. Finally, there where only a handful of them left. I scrolled through and found what I thought she was talking about.

  “Emotional Stability check failed. Failure: Fire, Minor. The magic you have summoned into the world will coat your understanding of events. Fire magic will not dictate your actions, but be careful as you may now be prone to bouts of rage, feelings of innate superiority and dominance, and irritability.”

  “Okay, I get it. You’re worried about me going nutso with the magic. Yeah? What was it, the laughing? Yeah, I failed an Emotional Stability check but look” I motioned to my screen as I read it knowing she could read it too. “It says it didn’t dictate my actions. Those were all my own, it just, sorta, nudged me. Right?” She nodded. Tol’geth looked very uncomfortable standing there with Ailsa hovering above him.

  “I do not like this” Tol’geth said. “Among my people, magic users of all kinds must be trained from the moment they come into their powers to control themselves. The stories my people tell of untrained arcanists, or dark druids, are” he paused as if looking for the right word. “bad.”

  Insightful one isn’t he, I thought with an internal roll of my eyes. “Okay look. As you say” I motioned to Ailsa. “I’ve been slinging spells all day. This was my first episode, right? I’m alright. Just, keep an eye on me okay? You see me doing anything, or saying anything strange during battle, just let me know afterward once everything died down. Sounds good?” I looked at my friends. Tol’geth seemed a bit more at ease with my explanation, but Ailsa still looked concern
ed.

  “Well, you’re coherent and stable now. So, it's not mana madness. Alright, I'll go along with this for now.”

  “Good, now let's go. The manor awaits.”

  We turned and jogged down the road leading directly away from the river and the now-empty docks behind us.

  ---

  “Well, crap,” I said as I looked through the shop window on my knees, as Tol’geth and Ailsa crouched down out of sight. “There have got to be nearly a hundred goblins out there.”

  “Any wargs?” Ailsa asked.

  “Yea, maybe, I don't know, fifteen? All with riders with long spears. It looks like they’re intended to be some kind of shock cavalry.” I took stock of anything else out of place. “Wait, there's a shaman. Or at least a goblin dressed like one.” I whispered. “He’s carrying a staff like the one I killed at Winters Quarters, so I'm pretty sure he’s a shaman.”

  “I could kill them myself” Tol’geth started to stand and I put my hand on his shoulder.

  “What are you doing?” I said, “If there are more warp wargs, like this one's mother.” I motioned to the puppy in the satchel that hung by my hip. “Then they have probably been buffed by that stupid shaman. On purpose this time.” Tol’geth thought about it and settled back down.

  “Then what do we do?” He asked looking to me for a plan.

  “I don’t know,” I said thinking about the situation. We were in a small tavern that had access to the street that lead directly to the manor. The manor, with the exception of the tower that was about five stories tall, was no more than three stories. Not much taller than the surrounding buildings, but sprawling with what looked like hundreds of rooms in multiple wings of the manor. I drew a small map of the area in the dust on the floor.

  “Here is where we are,” I said pointing at the tavern at the mouth of the courtyard in front of the manor. “Here is the manor, in the middle of this large semi-circle, with the town walls behind it.” I drew the line behind the box that I had designated the manor to denote the wall. “There are two other roads off to each side of the manor, that run along the wall.” I drew those as well, they ran directly with the wall and provided the towns guard and the lords soldiers the ability to get to any wall breaches quickly. It also meant that when the enemy was inside, they had that same access. It was a risky design, but one that was usable by a mid-sized town like this.