Elpis

by Aaron McGowan

  He unsheathed his sword and dove for Delkol, prepared to kill him by any means possible.

  A flood of Shire soldiers stormed into the city. Borely readied himself for the moment he could jump into the fray.

  Hold them off until Terico gets the full Elpis, Borely thought. And then...

  He still wasn’t quite sure what he would do next. Trying to persuade the hundred-year-old vampire woman to pay him back for his boat had turned fruitless. She kept saying she had payed him back by saving his life on the Brotherhood airship, but Borely argued that he wouldn’t have been on the airship in the first place if he hadn’t lost his boat.

  No use expecting her to cooperate, Borely decided. She is a vampire, after all...

  He forced himself to forget about Areo. Now was the time to focus on the approaching Shire soldiers. Borely wondered how many he could defeat by the time the battle ended. Beating down some enemies would help him blow off some steam, Borely decided.

  The front lines of the Shire troops were taken down by the repeated volleys of Fiefs archers. A number of Brotherhood members leaped over the corpses and activated tan Nexi stones, forming a barrier from the next series of arrows fired. Fiefs swordsmen rushed in to hack away at the barrier, followed by lancers who took down the Shire soldiers slipping in from the sides. Several red Nexi were thrown over the wall of dirt, sending tens of Fiefs soldiers bursting into flame.

  The Shire and Fiefs armies converged upon one another, and the area around Borely turned into a battleground littered with the dead and dying. The air filled with the clanging of metal, the whooshing of arrows, and the sounds of glowing Nexi stones. One Fiefs soldier ahead of Borely was knocked back by a jet of water, while a Fiefs soldier to Borely’s right ran a lance through the side of a Shire soldier wielding an axe.

  Borely found an opening and powered the orange Nexi stones embedded in his fists’ metal knuckles. He knocked a Shire swordsman in the side, sending him flying into the back of another. Hearing the growth of Nexi vines, Borely turned and shot away the approaching plant appendages with the blue Nexi in his metal headband. A Fiefs archer shot the enemy, allowing Borely to turn and block the attack of a large Shire swordsman. Borely nudged the blade to the side and landed a Nexi-powered punch on the man’s face, knocking him out cold.

  With a few seconds open to breathe, Borely looked to where Kitoh was positioned atop the city wall. The eigni boy didn’t have his special Nexi raised in the air anymore, implying he had stopped controlling the phoenix he summoned. Borely wondered if Kitoh lost control of it, or if the phoenix had somehow been killed. Neither situation sounded likely, but there was no way for Borely to find out from here. He resumed fighting the nearby Shire soldiers, careful to watch for their weapons and Nexi elements.

  An especially tall Shire lancer shot off a stream of swamp substance from a brown Nexi embedded in his spear, but Borely managed to deflect it with the water of his dark blue Nexi. With an extra push of energy,

  Borely directed the water into the man’s stomach, flinging him back a few meters.

  All at once, a dozen or so Brotherhood members charged into the area, assisting their fellow Shire soldiers against the Fiefs troops. A particularly fast Brotherhood fighter with long, thick blades attached to his arms sprinted through, slashing apart every Fiefs soldier he passed. Borely positioned himself and timed his punch for this masked man.

  “Eat this!” Borely powered his punch with an extra boost of energy, but instead of connecting with the man’s head, Borely got him in the shoulder. There was an earsplitting snap of broken bones, but the Brotherhood fighter didn’t react in the slightest. Instead he swung a blade for Borely’s head, completely taking Borely by surprise. Borely turned his head and activated his dark blue Nexi at the last moment, pushing the man’s bladed arm back.

  The man stumbled back a bit, and a nearby Fiefs swordsman blasted him with a fire Nexi. The Brotherhood fighter charged for the swordsman, completely disregarding the flames enveloping his body. The Fiefs soldier was stabbed with both blades, and in seconds the masked man was leaping back toward Borely.

  “This is just wrong!” Borely yelled. This man was on fire, but was still fighting with the tenacity of a ravenous wolf.

  Borely shot a jet of water at the man, who dodged and slashed a blade toward Borely’s chest. At the same time, a nearby Shire lancer jabbed his weapon at Borely from the side, but Borely dodged him while stepping back from the Brotherhood fighter. In one quick movement Borely grabbed the lance from the Shire soldier and slammed the end of it into the Brotherhood man’s neck.

  The Shire soldier immediately lifted a tan Nexi stone and flung a large rock at Borely—one bigger than his head. Borely turned and landed a punch on the stone, shattering it with the force of his orange Nexi. Before the soldier could attack again, Borely ran at him and knocked him out with a punch in the face.

  “Lynx!” a boy screamed, probably about ten meters east of Borely. The voice sounded familiar, and Borely caught a glimpse of an elf with long turquoise hair rushing toward the area where Borely was fighting. It was Lanek, one of the elves who ran the airship that took him to this city.

  A figure stood up directly in front of Borely. It was the Brotherhood fighter he had stabbed through the neck with a lance. The man ripped the weapon out of his throat and jabbed it toward Borely.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Borely yelled. He bashed aside the lance, knocking it out of the masked man’s grasp. Not only was this masked man still on fire, but he was fighting with a shattered shoulder and a hole through his neck. And not even crying out in pain!

  Borely repeatedly blocked the man’s swinging bladed arms, waiting for a good opening to beat him down. The man was fast though, and didn’t seem to grow tired at all from his rampage.

  The Brotherhood fighter swung both his blades inward, straight for Borely’s neck. Borely grabbed both blades with his metal gloves. Before the enemy could push away, Borely fired his dark blue Nexi, shooting the man directly in the face. The man’s head tore off entirely, the neck already cut up from the lance earlier.

  Borely turned and found Lanek releasing a blast of purple Nexi energy, knocking away a couple Shire swordsmen in his path. The elf rushed toward a Brotherhood member—one wearing a mask with a smile painted across the bottom of it.

  The Brotherhood member released a stream of brown Nexi substance. Still charging, Lanek used his purple Nexi to push away the swamp material. Borely had to dodge a large glob of it, while the Brotherhood fighter used an earth Nexi to block the majority of the swamp substance.

  “Die!” Lanek screamed, quite louder than Borely imagined him capable of. As he blasted aside a Shire soldier with Nexi energy, Lanek unsheathed a long, thin rapier. He connected his purple Nexi stone atop the small circular handle, charging the blade with loose energy.

  Just as Lanek was upon him, the masked fighter called Lynx brought up his sword to block the attack. Lynx’s sword shattered into several pieces, one of them flinging back into his right arm. Like the man Borely fought, Lynx didn’t cry out in pain or even seem to notice the injury.

  Some of the Brotherhood fighters are experimented on, Borely remembered. Perhaps some were capable of fighting at full strength, even when suffering life-threatening wounds.

  Before Lanek could jab his rapier into Lynx’s chest, Lynx slipped back and fired another jet of swamp material. Lanek avoided the attack, but the opening gave time for Lynx to grab a sword from a fallen Shire soldier. Lynx charged it with orange Nexi energy and rushed toward Lanek.

  Borely turned at the sound of screaming coming behind him. A Fiefs soldier was yelling for everyone to fall back, and it took a few seconds for Borely to find the source of the screaming. He stepped back upon sighting several Fiefs soldiers in the distance flying several meters into the air. At least a dozen vines were zipping through lines of soldiers, picking out those from Fiefs and tossing them in random directions.

  It was Augurc, assisted by a num
ber of Brotherhood members and the endless masses of Shire soldiers continuing to push their way through the gates. While Fiefs soldiers fought against the Shire armies, Augurc would control all the vines running out his arms, picking up several Fiefs soldiers at any given moment. Borely watched from a distance as Augurc picked up swords and lances from the ground and began impaling the Fiefs soldiers he held entangled in his vines. Once they were impaled, Augurc swung them around the battlefield. The blades sticking out of the soldiers’ bodies slammed into the heads of other Fiefs soldiers, preoccupied with the Shire soldiers they were already fighting.

  Several Shire soldiers gathered together and simultaneously activated fire Nexi toward Augurc, hoping to catch his vines on fire and guide the flames to his body. Augurc raised his right hand and instantly formed a cloud of frozen air around him, and even managed to harden it into solid ice. The massive wave of fire melted away at the ice, but there was just enough of it to defend himself. As soon as the fires dissipated, Augurc sent all his vines for these Shire soldiers. With the assistance of a couple Brotherhood members, they were all killed in seconds.

  Fiefs numbers were dwindling fast, and though Borely was managing to hold his own against the Shire soldiers that came against him, he knew he wouldn’t last long against more of the Brotherhood fighters. And having seen Augurc’s power on the Brotherhood airship, Borely was reluctant to go against him.

  I didn’t come here to fight a war, Borely thought. I just need to survive. Just get out of here...

  As soon as he thought it, he felt a twinge of guilt. People were dying at the hands of the two Shire brothers. Borely couldn’t just abandon this city and let the Shire armies destroy everything.

  And besides, wasn’t this the sort of adventure he lived for?

  He took a deep breath and ran forward, grinning.

  A lance flew just to the left of Areo’s head—she had heard the weapon thrown at her and knew to not move her head at the last moment. As soon as the lance passed her, Areo tore her claws out of the Shire swordsman she had slain and leaped at the lancer a couple meters away. Upon slitting the man’s throat, Areo turned and found a Brotherhood member shooting a large rock at her. Areo quickly took her tan Nexi and fired a similarly-sized rock at it. Once the two stones collided and deflected out of her path, Areo sprinted for the masked fighter.

  She sunk her claws into the man’s chest, but he responded by lifting his tan Nexi and activating it again. Areo shoved him aside, causing his torrent of hardened earth to pass just to Areo’s right. She slipped behind the fighter and stabbed him in the back. He immediately slammed his elbow hard against Areo’s face, not even crying out in pain from his injuries. Areo ignored the bruise forming around her black eye and tore her claws out either side of the man. Though she knew she had cut apart his lungs and heart, Areo took a couple steps back just in case the man would get back up again. To her relief, the Brotherhood fighter stayed dead this time.

  Seeing she had a couple moments to spare, Areo sunk her teeth into the man’s neck. Once she had taken a few gulps of his blood, Areo let the corpse drop back to the ground. Filled with a renewed vigor, Areo hurried toward one of the stairways leading up to the wall, taking down a couple Shire soldiers along the way.

  Kitoh was still where Areo had left him, guarded by the archers who continued to fire upon the Shire armies below. Areo had asked Kitoh to wait a bit before turning into a dragon, worrying that Delkol would seek out Kitoh just as he had the phoenix Kitoh summoned. There were now tens of Shire soldiers fighting their way up the thin staircases. Most were taken down by the Fiefs troops stationed on the wall, but the continual pressure of the ever-growing number of Shire soldiers was wearing them out.

  Areo rushed up the stairway, clawing away at any Shire soldiers she came across. Once atop the wall, she found Kitoh helping man a catapult with ice Nexi. She turned at the sound of vines. Tens of vines worked their way up the wall, grasping onto nooks. Areo looked down to find several Shire soldiers sliding upward, forcing the taut vines into their green Nexi stones. Before they could bring themselves up to the top of the wall, Areo tore apart each of the vines with her claws. Most of the soldiers managed to reactivate their Nexi’s vines to grab onto footholds, keeping them from falling all the way to the ground.

  A few dozen meters away, Areo saw at least twenty other soldiers in black working their way up the wall. There was nobody there to stop them from climbing onto the wall—the Fiefs soldiers there were killed in arrow fire. Areo looked the other way and found even more Shire soldiers using vine Nexi to ascend the wall. A number of Fiefs guards used red Nexi to burn down the vines, but several more vines would appear every time they managed to burn one down the entire way.

  It was only a matter of time before the walls were overrun with Shire soldiers. Areo needed to get Kitoh out before they were overwhelmed. She ran to the boy and informed him of the situation.

  “I can join the battle,” Kitoh said. “Terico is fighting Delkol, and I’m needed now.”

  Areo looked down at the swarms of Shire soldiers pouring through the broken gates. With her heightened vision as a vampire, she was able to spot a number of individuals very quickly. Lanek was fighting a member of the Brotherhood, and Borely was rushing toward a number of Shire soldiers. Just past them was Augurc Shire, the man Areo and Borely had to escape from back on the Brotherhood airship. Augurc was flinging soldiers around with the vines coming from his arms, taking out dozens more with each passing minute.

  “We need to get down there,” Areo said, pointing toward Augurc.

  Kitoh nodded and took out his transformative Nexi stone. It was all he needed at this point, he had explained.

  Areo held a hand atop of Kitoh’s fist. She looked sternly into the eigni boy’s eyes. “Are you sure you wish to do this?”

  “My people expect me to,” Kitoh said. “This is what my parents want me to do.”

  “Are you sure you wish to do this?”

  Kitoh looked up into Areo’s eyes a few moments before nodding again.

  “Let’s go, then.”

  After scoping out the area a bit, Kitoh leaped off the wall, jumping toward the battlefield within the city. Areo jumped after him, and as Kitoh fell he transformed into a large blue dragon. Areo landed atop his back just as Kitoh spread out his wings, causing himself to lift from the ground just in time. He glided straight down the cobble-stoned street, letting his long, batlike wings bash against Shire soldiers. Kitoh had enough control of his dragon form to keep from hurting any of the Fiefs soldiers in his path, to Areo’s relief.

  “Take me to Augurc,” Areo said. She kept her eyes on Borely, who was fighting off a couple soldiers at once. He was being way too reckless, far too rash.

  Not that this came as a surprise to Areo, of course. But did she have to keep saving his life like this? She considered just leaving him to fend for himself—after all, they weren’t in this together anymore. But then she remembered that evening spent on his ship. His boorish attempt to win her over through a fish dinner and sentimental conversation.

  He’s an idiot, Areo thought, but he doesn’t deserve to die.

  She leaped off of Kitoh and slammed her claws through the neck of a Brotherhood fighter about to fire a red Nexi at Borely.

  “Thanks for dropping by,” Borely said before turning to punch a swordsman away.

  “I just happened to be in the area,” Areo muttered. She tore her claws out either side of the Brotherhood man’s neck, nearly beheading him.

  Areo glanced past Augurc, watching Kitoh land atop a couple Shire archers. The dragon was quick to bash away the remaining archers with his long, bony arms, keeping them from firing their arrows at him.

  There were still a couple more Shire soldiers accompanying Augurc, who stared toward Areo and Borely with the same emotionless face he maintained back on the airship. He dropped the dead, impaled Fiefs soldiers his vines carried, then turned away to face Kitoh. Augurc’s vines each ripped out a sword or la
nce from one of his dropped corpses, effectively arming himself with at least a dozen weapons. Kitoh meanwhile charged through a group of Shire soldiers, batting them away with his wings and stomping on those that fell over.

  One soldier ran to Borely while the other charged for Areo. Borely was quick to blast away his enemy’s sword with a brief jet of water. As the man fumbled for a Nexi stone, Borely slammed a hard punch in his face.

  Areo faced her opponent, who wielded a couple hand axes. He charged both of them with orange Nexi energy and leaped toward Areo. Blocking with her claws would be futile, and so would forming a barrier of earth. Knowing that her enemy would know this, Areo used her tan Nexi to create a wall of earth in front of her. As the soldier hacked straight through the hardened earth, Areo dashed around the back of the wall and slid her elongated claws into the man’s neck. He fell to the ground, gagging.

  Areo considered getting more blood, but Kitoh was already turning to face Augurc, who walked toward the massive dragon with an air of indifference. Kitoh breathed a torrent of fire directly at Augurc. The man placed his right hand over his face just before the giant waves of flames engulfed his entire body, as well as the bloody corpses of soldiers piled about the vicinity.

  The fire flowed all around Augurc, covering him entirely. Areo hoped this was the end of him, but waited to see his melted or charred remains lying on the ground.

  After a few long seconds of this, the fire passed and the smoke cleared away. Augurc stood right where he had been, covered in water and bits of ice sliding down his body. He had continually frozen himself as the dragon’s flames enveloped him.

  Borely charged after Augurc from behind. Augurc heard Borely’s stomping and turned around, utterly disinterested. Augurc raised his hand and charged his light blue Nexi stone. Areo ran to Borely and pulled him back before he could be engulfed in the massive burst of frozen air Augurc released.