Draconic Testament

by Zac Atie

  “What did he do?” Glackan asked.

  “The girl fell ill. At first, it was a mere fever. Then, as the days went by, it got worse. She began to puke out all sorts of fluids, eventually leading to her own stomach. Later, she died in hospital. The doctors told the eldest brother that it appears that she was killed by some sort of subtle poison in her food and medicine. Of course, the eldest brother had the idea that the younger brother may have somehow been involved. When the eldest brother searched the younger brother’s room in their grand, majorly enhanced airship, he found empty bottles of Jindo poison, the culprit. So, the elder took the younger away from the ship for a ‘talk’. You can guess about what. The talk got heated, and even though they were brothers, they fought one another. Shockingly enough, close to the end of the fight, the elder restrained himself from continuing the fight, but the younger cut him down. There, he held his brother, weeping and swearing that he never did anything.” Draynar said.

  “It was a trap, wasn’t it?” Glackan said.

  “No. No it wasn’t.” Draynar said. “Ivorian appeared before them. It turns out that he had paid one of their trusted cleaners to poison everything that was supposed to be served to the elder’s beloved. The pair wept with anguish before the eldest died in his brother’s arms. The last thing he heard was Ivorian laughing maniacally as he walked away, entertained by the whole scenario.”

  “The monster... He didn’t kill the youngest? Why?” Glackan asked.

  “Because he loves drama, I suppose.” Draynar said. “That, and he’s an evil bastard. The thought of pitting loved ones against one another excites him. That’s why he interests me. That’s why he’s feared. Add that to half the rumours you’ve heard, and well... You get someone you don’t want as your enemy. Never fear, Glackan. I have faith that he’ll bring good results.”

  Chapter Seven – Friendship before reason

  Sebastian Slater

  A whole month had passed since Bastion’s sparring match with Varnis, and Veronica’s prediction was correct. There was no more big reveals in place for Bastion, there was just relaxation, and the training allowed all the things he had learned to sink in quite nicely, although he never said anything about the Pureblood in the assembly hall, at Veronica’s command. Before, so much information was entering his head. The weeks that came to pass were filled with knowledge, and progressing in magic was definitely what he had needed. He was allowed to settle into the environment and adapt nicely. The addiction to the Haven made sense to him now. The portal site is a site of mana, which is rare on the surface of earth, and there he had unknowingly tapped into magic, and that magic hid his Aura from Veronica. The “addiction” was actually his instincts, telling him to go back and continue letting the protective shield around his aura recharge, so nobody could detect him. The fact that he won practically all of his fights throughout his life was thanks to the protective instincts of his magic, and according to Veronica, it’s a miracle that he hadn’t killed anybody. If it wasn’t for Bastion’s discovery of the portal site, the unfortunate, scary resolution would have been death for both Veronica and Bastion, which is something that they were both thankful for. He had cut ties with his instincts, and had learned many different techniques from the Magi. He had had much practice in fighting with magic, learning how to pull the water from the air and crystallize it, and turn harsh winds above into thunder. He learned the proper names of all the base spells. There was Odin, which was a lightning strike that Bastion had come to love, Ifrit, which was a fire strike, Shiva, which was ice, Ava, water strikes and Aether, air strikes. Through reading the books that the Magi had, it had become apparent that the names of the spells had come from gods of many religions on earth, spanning all over the world. This was obviously due to the fact that the Cazrians had taken many races, not just one, and converted them into sorcerers. He had talked to Yaevinn, the Ispii who was playing the flute in the town square, several times, though most of them were short. Yaevinn was extremely nice, perhaps too nice, and promised that he’d talk in detail with Bastion one time. About a week into his training was the time that the two had talked in depth, and Bastion learned quite a bit about Ispii lore from him.

  About a week into his training, after becoming very fast and reliable with shields, Bastion went back up to the surface and was cooling off and taking a sip of water when he heard someone call his name from behind him. “Bastion!” Yaevinn shouted from behind him, approaching him at a distance. Bastion met him halfway and shook his hand “Yaevinn, how’s it going?” Bastion asked.

  ”Rather good, how’s your training going? I’ve heard you’ve been making fast progress.” Yaevinn said.

  “Yeah, Varnis said it was actually abnormally fast, which is something that I’m not sure whether I should be worried about or not.” Bastion chuckled, walking with him to the fountain.

  ”Nah, some people are just a natural at it. You’ll find an art that you’re terrible at… probably healing.” Yaevinn laughed. ”Say, we’re practically partners, aren’t we?” Bastion said “I mean, we’re both an individual of our races that have magical potential.”

  ”Well…” Yaevinn said, “It was actually my great grandfather that had the magic. It wasn’t really potential. You see, he was mixed race between Cazrian and Ispii, so he had some magic. Since he only had children with Ispii, our blood began to dwindle as the generations went by. My magic is rather dull, though I trained with shields to the point where I'm practically a master, I'm alright with stonework in case the caverns need repaired, and skill with a sword is average, though my hands are extremely steady to the point where I’d be a great sniper, although I'm not allowed to practice with guns here in Korreal.”

  ”Ah, well…” Bastion said, heading to the town square’s fountain and sitting on it with Yaevinn. “You have a major profession, at least. Plus, you’re amazing with children.”

  ”Yeah, little rascals never leave me alone.” Yaevinn said, obviously joking. It was very easy to tell, since he was very rarely negative. “So, how old are you?” Bastion asked.

  ”22.” Yaevinn said, smiling. “Still young, got a ways to go”

  ”Yeah, yet another fellow magi older than me.” Bastion said

  ”So, you wanted to know about the Ispii, yeah?” Yaevinn asked. “I don’t know a huge amount.”

  ”Anything you know will be of extreme interest to me.” Bastion said, smiling.

  ”Alright.” Yaevinn said. “Well, the Ispii had various religions spread all over their homeworld, Rollysiam. They were extremely technologically advanced, but there was a huge uproar from religion followers when Bio-enhancers came into the industry. Bio-enhancers were basically implants to help precision, improve strength, visibility, etc. At first, it was used for war veterans and their army… but then, little by little, it became available for citizens. Of course, there were many harsh religions, and many attacks on the companies, who were close to shutting down, when the Yopellion Republic, one of the world’s superpower countries, took a stand against religion, and abolished it from their country. They saw Bio-enhancers as a chance to become the world’s biggest superpower, and if they took a stand for the companies, they would be able to have the latest and greatest enhancers for their country. Though, they’d never admit it, my father was convinced.” Yaevinn said.

  ”How did they get rid of religion?” Bastion asked.

  ”While it’s regrettable to say, books were burned, rights were removed, and protesters were dealt with harshly.” Yaevinn said. “There’s a couple of major catastrophic incidents of mass shootouts both from the military, and crazies within the public that ended in tragedy… there were some events that left the military with no excuse, to the points of the protesters being chased and beaten in their own homes. It was rough, but after a lot of that, most religion was abolished, and the country became all the stronger. The Bio-enhancement companies worked from within the Yopellion Republic, where they were safe, and people migrated.”

  ”Sounds l
ike Fascism.” Bastion said.

  ”Indeed… But it gets better. Want to know the amazing part?” Yaevinn asked, building up to something. “About 2 decades later, the Cazrians opened up their portal in the Yopellion Republic, and they sent their missionaries through. Of course, like many of the other races, they were scared at first, then curious and amazed. However, the government had a lot of problems with the newcomers, but the most unforgivable was the fact that they were coming to spread yet another religion. Whether it was a wonder or not, the YR would have none of it, and they shot the four Cazrian prophets down. This, of course, sparked a war, a short war, named the Rollysiam Rejection war. However, outside each portal, are heavy defences and the Ispii ended up running their aircraft and ground combat vehicles into turrets and rockets. The Cazrians invaded, took down their aggressors, and signed a peace treaty. It only went on for about a couple of months. After that, they made a worldwide broadcast, spreading the word about their one true Religion, and another country ended up wanting the portal. They moved the portal to the other country, and all was forgiven.”

  ”Damn…” Bastion said.

  ”We became the first race that the Cazrians mated with, too. I'm sure you’ve heard about Voltrin and his queen?” Yaevinn asked.

  ”Of course.” Bastion said.

  ”Well, those two started a war, and once they won it, Voltrin died… which sort of made it all pointless. Yeah, sad story.” Yaevinn said when he was interrupted by a few loud kids.

  ”Play tag with us, Yevvy!” A small girl said, jumping up and down. A couple of other kids cheered in approval, and began to tug Yaevinn. “Err, guys…” Yaevinn said, embarrassed, looking at Bastion.

  ”Oh, no, it’s alright. Play with them, ‘Yevvy’.” Bastion chuckled “I’ll go check on Veronica.”

  ”Ah yes… Veronica.” Yaevinn said, and began to chase the taunting little Magi.

  Yaevinn and Veronica were the only two people that Bastion really spent time with. Of course, regular text messages were sent to and from Talia and his mother, yet there was no actual contact with Vander. Neither Talia nor Bastion’s mother suspected anything, since Bastion’s lies about going with Vander had not actually been jeopardized. Over the month that Bastion had spent at the Magi settlement, he began to see that Veronica really had a personality, but it was all too obvious that she had been through some traumatic experience. She was not trusting at all, not letting anyone get too close, but since Bastion was actually living in her house, she had to make an exception for him. At first, it was against her will, and she did not like it. Bastion could see this, and had secretly made inquiries about moving underground, but it was full up. If he wanted a separate house, he was going to have to build one, and that was no joke. Because of this, he decided he would resume staying in Veronica’s house, and instead of avoiding her, make her life easier, such as tidying up after her, doing her washing, fishing and gathering food, like a normal human being, but her being looked after was infuriating to her. So instead, they ended up doing the chores that she usually didn’t do together, and this formed a rather tolerable bond between the two. Proper fights were at a minimum, but there was a lot of light arguing between the two. Veronica often debated him over trivial matters, acting as if she was intellectually superior to gain dominance over him, and Bastion would play the part of the fool, often humorously yielding to Veronica’s mighty intellect. Through acts like these, Bastion ended up feeling as if he was welcome by her. Welcome to the point that he would dare refer to the moody, dim eyed girl as his friend, even in front of her, which she accepted, at times betraying her iron-tight seal on her emotions and letting through a slight smile. Though, in her days of bad moods, she’d shoo him away, and he’d brush up on his reading, finding fun, salvaged, and facts about the world of magic. However, there was something that bothered Bastion, something that he was wary to even talk about with anyone. It was the voice that aided him in the fight against Varnis. He had thought often about what had happened, so often that instead of actually asking anyone, in case he looked like a cheat, he decided to seek out knowledge about it in the library. The library had a great deal of interesting subjects in magic and the effects on their user, but there was no mention of an alter ego or magic speaking to somebody. The only things that came close to the subject was mention of high-level soul storage spells that consisted of trapping part of someone’s soul within yourself or an object of mana, and also mention of insanity. He didn’t think he was insane, though, because how would he have known about the structural weakness above him? He had no idea what it was… Eventually, he asked Yaevinn and Veronica, though he did not admit that the problem of the alter ego was his own problem, and they both denied any knowledge of such a case. This bothered him greatly. He often wandered out to the pond at night and stared at himself in the mirror. Was it just a hallucination in the middle of a tiring fight? Was it, perhaps, a side effect of being a rare human sorcerer? Or, perhaps, he was crazy. He always thought he was some kind of freak ever since he found the portal, even though it all made sense now, there were always things that he encountered that brought him back to the depressing conclusion that there was a chance that he was actually different, and that his original thought of him being some freak were actually true. However, aside from that puzzle of his, he loved the village. He didn’t think he’d be able to live here for the rest of this life, but he loved it. The people here were very welcoming, and interesting, unlike the people of the town he grew up in. As for the portal, Varnis had told Veronica and Bastion that the time was nearing for the portal to be investigated, and that an alliance between Red and Blue magi was to be made afterwards. However, circumstances would soon change for the pair, as Bastion was soon to find out.

  ”Helloooo? Veronica? Bastion? Anyone here?” A familiar voice coos from the front door. It was Yaevinn. Yaevinn let himself in to the house, hearing no objection and detecting the lazy moans of Bastion, stirring from his sleep. He enters the living room, where Bastion was lying down on the couch dreaming of all sorts of madness. Yaevinn shakes Bastion, who opens his eyes lazily. “Wha- what are you..., what time is it?” Bastion says, pulling himself to an upright position. ”It’s 11AM, not too late in the day to wake up. I’ve had worse.” Yaevinn chuckles.

  ”What’s up, what’s going on?” Bastion yawns, rubbing his eyelids and getting off the couch. He slept in some odd male Victorian pyjamas, and wore their daytime clothes as well, but he often covered it up with his sleeveless trench coat. “Well” Yaevinn said “There’s a mission for us. Me and you, it’ll be your first.” He says.

  ”Shall I go wake Veronica?” Bastion asks.

  ”No… No, actually, she’s specifically not invited.” Yaevinn said, and he answers Bastion’s imminent question that he could indentify by his frown. “He didn’t say, he just made it very clear.”.

  ”Alright…” Bastion said, slipping his clothing on “Lead the way.” Yaevinn and Bastion made their way out of the door, across the grass to the town, through the town square and into the chapel, where they descended down to the caverns. On the way down, they had their usual banter. However, Yaevinn felt a certain topic was coming up. He was very good at analyzing when somebody wanted something, so he decided to tackle the subject head on. “You’re worrying about Veronica, yeah?” Yaevinn said.

  ”No, it’s just… you don’t like her do you? From the time me and you have hung out, I’ve sensed that you don’t like her. It seems like nobody does.” Bastion said, with a hint of spite in his voice. This was the first time he had brought up this subject. There was no direct cause for him to defend Veronica, and it drove him mad.

  ”It’s not that I don’t like her…” Yaevinn said “It’s that I don’t trust her. I get hints that everything she says is a lie, and that she’s hiding something. Besides, the fact that nobody talks to her doesn’t mean they don’t like her… she’s just anti-social.”

  ”You haven’t tried to make friends with her, though. Haven’t got to k
now her…” Bastion says.

  ”Seriously? This IS Veronica we’re talking about. Have you had a taste of her attitude? Talking to her is like stepping on a viper.” Yaevinn said. “Have I told you of when she was found? I was only a kid when she was brought into the village, but she was covered in blood when she was found collapsed outside the village. My uncle, who was a magi, often took me outside to see the world beyond the gates of Korreal, before I grew my horns and rarely left. However, that one day, when we were scouting, I had to go pee. Nature calls. I was shy, and didn’t let my uncle come with me into the woods, so he waited outside… however, when I was finished I heard somebody walking around. I thought it was my uncle, who often wandered off, but after investigating I found a woman dressed in a beat up rag, bloody from head to toe… It was like something out of a horror movie. She was walking like a zombie, breathing heavily. I screamed, but she didn’t even turn towards me… I didn’t know it at the time, but she was weak and frail, from not drinking blood for a while, although she was covered in it… Also, she had… well, I think she had an Arcana… she threw it and dropped to the ground. My uncle took her back to the village…” Yaevinn explained

  ”That’s why you don’t like her? You saw her like that as a child?” Bastion asked

  ”No, weren’t you listening?” Yaevinn said “I said I don’t trust her because she lies! She said she had come from a village with Blue magi. That’s all well and good, but there’s one not that far away. Why would she be suffering from bloodlust? Why did she run? Why was she wearing rags? Oh, and why did she have an Arcana?”