by Tj Dixon
Rin, Hermes and Midori are in the centre of our forces where it is safest. They weren’t too happy about it but they followed my suggestion. More of an instruction really. If they are safe then I can listen to their complaints later, but if they die I’ll never forgive myself. I got them in this mess after all.
Not that I had any idea quite what we were getting ourselves into when we entered this foul place. I figured or at least hoped we could rescue Hilda and whoever she was with and then get out of here without fighting more than a few goblins. Getting embroiled in such large scale battles was not what I had in mind.
I also didn’t plan on Midori’s stealth magic becoming unusable whilst we were in here. I am grateful to Midori, because without her help we couldn’t have gotten to the prisoners and it clearly took a lot for her to maintain the magic. I don’t want to doubt her, but I can clearly tell that she is hiding something from us. Everyone has things they’d rather not share though, so I can only pray it isn’t something that will hurt us or just as importantly that will hurt Midori.
I’m just a few feet ahead of the Contractian mages and a few feet behind the Kuroneko’s human followers. The catmen are resting a few feet ahead of that. The Kuroneko’s followers, humans and catmen, are sitting cross legged and seem to be meditating.
The Contractians are mostly sitting, though the front rank and rear rank are standing alert and ready in case of a surprise attack. Hilda leaves the other Contractian mages and walks up to me. She looks worried.
“Peter, I have a favour to ask of you.” Hilda says sounding very serious.
“What is it?” I ask a little nervously.
“You seem able to remain hidden. I want you to fly on ahead and see what the enemy has prepared to deal with us. If we know what to expect we can counter it much more effectively.” Hilda tells me and it makes sense.
“I can’t guarantee that I won’t be spotted but I should be able to make it back safely even if they do notice me.” I tell Hilda.
“So you’ll do it?” Hilda asks with a relieved smile.
“Of course.”
“Thank you. We already owe you for freeing us and now we will be in even greater debt to you.” Hilda tells me and bows deeply.
“Don’t worry about it.” I tell her, more than a little embarrassed.
“Just come back alive.” Hilda tells me seriously.
“Don’t worry. I will. Was there anything else you needed?”
“No.”
“Be ready to act when I get back.” I tell her and she nods.
“Of course. Good luck Peter.” She tells me.
“Thanks.” I smile confidently and then jump into the air. I hide my presence. Since it is just me I should be able to keep myself hidden against goblins, but after our last battle I suspect the enemy will have prepared more than just goblins to face us.
I fly ahead of our forces not only keeping my presence hidden but keeping my senses as wide open as I can. The earlier I spot the enemy the better my chance of getting away from them even if they do spot me. The tunnel seems empty though. I fly for a while without meeting anything and am considering flying back and advising that we continue on.
All of a sudden I notice an aura directly above and behind me. It feels demonic and is darting straight at me. I twist and spin to dodge the attack and send a blast of lightning at my attacker. My lightning is easily shrugged off and thrown right back at me, but I easily dodge it.
The aura splits into two and then four before continuing to attack me from four different directions. I find myself desperately dodging the auras with almost no opportunity to counterattack. I am grateful that I can sense auras though, because other than the four auras I can’t sense my attackers’ presence at all. As a fifth and sixth aura appear I decide to stop dodging and start shielding instead.
My shield flares up bright blue where each aura hits it but it isn’t using that much mana. I focus on one aura and send a wind slice right through it. The aura just splits into two though and I find myself with an extra attacker.
Next I try freezing one of them and this actually seems to slow it down. As I intensify the freezing magic the aura fades and disappears completely. Relieved the tactic works I target all of the auras and freeze them. Sure enough they fade and disappear too, though it is odd that nothing appears where the auras were.
“You’re not bad.” A man’s voice chuckles from a few feet away. I consider just attacking but he can clearly sense my presence and he revealed his presence to talk so I reveal my presence too.
“Who are you and what do you want?” I ask him bluntly.
“You’re male… Surprising for a Contractian mage…” He chuckles.
“You didn’t answer my questions.” I tell him pointedly.
“What I want is your head. It has a decent bounty on it thanks to the work you did on our gobbos.” He laughs.
“So why reveal yourself?” I ask suspiciously.
“To see if you were foolish enough to do the same.” He chuckles and the air around me presses down hard on my shield. His presence is gone too.
I change my shield from a pure magical one to a wind shield, which easily throws the air back. Then there is a sharp pain in my back as if pierced by a dagger. Actually not just as if, because I sense that a black metal dagger covered in flames is truly buried in my back. It has an aura similar to the auras I was just fighting and it causes waves of agony to flow through my body.
My windshield drops as I lose focus. A green haired, purple eyed man is standing above me grinning down. He kind of reminds me of Midori but he is the enemy and the agony racing through my body is proof if I needed any. I send a massively overpowered ice shard straight at him despite the agony shooting through my body. He has no time to react and is skewered. He is of course instantly dead.
I tear the dagger out of my back and use water magic to stop my blood flowing out. I take a vial of healing potion from my shorts and quickly pour it down my throat. The effect is instant and a huge relief as the pain is gone and my body healed. I’m glad I listened to Rin and kept a healing potion with me, because without it I’d have been dead long before I got back to her for one.
I hide my presence quickly and fly straight back to everyone else. I can’t get that man’s face out of my mind. His features truly were so similar to Midori’s that I can’t help wondering whether Midori really is from this empire we are fighting. Even if she is though, I am certain she is on our side. To my relief I am not attacked on my way back.
“How did it go?” Hilda asks.
“I was attacked by some sort of elite bounty hunter, but I didn’t meet any enemy armies. He used some sort of flying dagger and managed to injure me, but I killed him. We should probably continue onwards, but remain as alert as possible. I can fly slightly ahead, but it probably wouldn’t be wise to go too far on my own.” I tell Hilda and wonder to myself how easily I can say that I killed a man without an ounce of guilt.
“Good work and I’m sorry to have put you in danger like this. I agree that we should continue on. I’ll talk to our allies and then we’ll continue to advance.” Hilda tells me.
Hilda then heads over to the Kuroneko’s followers, who seem very happy to continue on now that they have had their fill of goblin flesh and meditated enough to get their power back. I make sure to get another healing potion from Rin and avoid going into details about how I used the first one. It isn’t long before we continue advancing through the tunnel.
I am just ahead of the catmen with my senses wide open and my presence hidden. We advance for a while without any trouble. I notice the Kuroneko’s followers stop walking and start chanting even though I don’t sense any enemies. The voice in the back of my head seems to be getting louder though. Then I sense a lot of very small auras up ahead. Much smaller than goblin auras. More like rats, except after a moment I recognise demonic energy in their auras. The Kuroneko’s followers finish chanting and the auras up ahead simply vanish.
The
Kuroneko’s followers just continue advancing as if nothing happened so I continue onwards and try not to worry too much. I don’t see anything on the ground where the auras were. Were they demons that got sent back to the hell they came from? The Kuroneko’s followers are monks and I did sense demonic energy, so it would make sense.
“This is where the forge was.” Hermes tells me through the queen’s gift. I am glad she reminded me through the mind stone, because I had forgotten about the forge we were meant to be dealing with. I quickly fly back down to where Hilda is.
“There’s an enemy forge around here, through an illusionary wall. The enemy were building a huge and powerful golem in it.” I tell Hilda. Then Hermes pushes her way past the mages behind to reach us.
“It’s over there.” Hermes tells us, pointing just ahead of where the catmen are.
“Everyone stop!” Hilda calls out and everyone obeys. The catmen look eager for another fight and seem to have sensed the illusionary wall too now.
“I’ll check it out to see what their defences are like.” I tell Hilda who frowns for a moment before nodding nervously.
I hide my presence and fly quickly to the illusionary wall. I fly slowly through the wall and find ash and bones on the ground. The forge itself is cracked in half and the golem is completely gone. There is not a living thing in here. The prisoners here must have already been sacrificed. I quickly return to Hilda.
“The golem’s gone, the forge is broken and the room is filled with ash and bones.” I tell her.
“Then we’re too late, but a golem shouldn’t be that big a problem no matter how big it is.”
“It was highly magic resistant.” Hermes tells Hilda who frowns.
“Just how magic resistant?” Hilda asks.
“Enough to resist almost any magical attack and it was physically strong too so it could shrug off most physical attacks.”
“Even so, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Even if it is something to worry about, if it is gone we can’t do anything about it now.” Hilda says quite pragmatically.
“I suppose you’re right.” I say, unable to stop worrying.
“Continue onwards!” Hilda calls out.
“Get back to the centre, Hermes.” I say very firmly.
“Fine, but be careful.” Hermes tells me reluctantly and pushes her way back through the ranks towards the centre of the formation where Rin and Midori are.
I continue to scout just ahead of the catmen but we advance for a while longer without encountering any enemies. The tunnel begins to narrow again as we get closer to the exit. We can now hear the waterfall though it is still very quiet.
I know we fought a lot of goblins, but we certainly didn’t face all of the goblins that were down here. Other than the one man I killed we’ve not met any human enemies either and we definitely saw more than just one human on the way in. I am both relieved and very worried. Thousands of goblins don’t just conveniently disappear.
The tunnel narrows right down and the exit is in sight. Dim daylight shines in to the tunnel and the sound of the waterfall is now a deafening roar. I can’t sense anyone outside, but the waterfall would certainly make it easier for the enemy to hide their presence and the narrow exit would be ideal to defend with a small elite force.
I fly out of the exit ahead of our forces, weighed down heavily by trepidation. I fly past the deafening curtain of water and see a field of ash and countless small shards of bone. There is now also one presence. It is both scary and a great relief to feel her presence.
It is the Kuroneko and she is sitting in the middle of the field of ash and bone in catgirl form. The last rays of daylight are shining on her as the sun sets. She is covered in cuts and burns with her fur completely gone in places and blood trickling down from her wound. One ear is missing and the other looks badly damaged. She is only the size of a small girl right now, but even so her presence is intimidating and she has a huge grin on her face.
“Sky Lord, it is good to see you here.” The Kuroneko purrs.
“I’m sorry I’m late.” I tell her nervously.
“Thanks to that I have had my fill of goblin souls and so have my people.” The Kuroneko shrugs happily. I sense her followers behind me. They must have sensed the Kuroneko so they didn’t wait for me to tell them it was safe. The Contractians are starting to emerge too now, having seen the Kuroneko’s followers pass through the exit safely. The Kuroneko stands and looks at me seriously. “We will talk in private.”
“Ok.” I say, not really knowing what to say to this impressive and intimidating god, but I’m sure there are much better words I could have chosen. I am suddenly in a forest grove in front of the Kuroneko and her body is fully healed. It didn’t feel like a port but I can still hear the sound of Heaven’s Fall and sense the distant presence of everyone leaving the tunnel.
“Contractia have broken their promise twice now, so I owe them no loyalty.” The Kuroneko tells me calmly but her words do not instil calm in me. Far from it.
“Contractia is not your enemy either though.” I tell the Kuroneko nervously.
“That remains to be seen, Sky Lord of Ishki. I may not owe Contractia anything, but you owe Contractia a great debt of vengeance. Break the chains of alchemy and I may side with you against Contractia.” The Kuroneko says and the demonic voice in my head grows louder to the point that my head truly hurts.
“What chains of alchemy?” I ask sounding a little rude, because the pain in my head makes me forget politeness.
“The Heart of Alchemy that binds your souls to that mortal body.”
“Wouldn’t I die if I unbound my souls from my body?” I ask dubiously.
“That is not your body. If you unbind your souls you can easily recreate your body.” The Kuroneko tells me.
“Would I even still be myself?”
“You would be yourself again. The memories that have been bound would be freed. You would no longer be forced to forget who you are or what you are.”
“What am I?”
“If I tell you that your recent memories will be stolen so you will forget as soon as I have told you. Even if you remember on your own you will forget, unless you break the Heart of Alchemy.” The Kuroneko tells me and from her aura I can tell she is not lying.
I think of the date that I apparently went on with Hermes. It makes me angry to think that my memories have been intentionally stolen like this. That was a precious memory and who knows how many other memories have been lost or might be lost in the future. My memories returning is a scary thought though, because who knows how it would change me? The thought of losing more precious memories and the thought of being chained like a slave even though I thought myself free… That really makes me angry.
“How do I break this heart?” I ask the Kuroneko.
“You would not believe me, so ask Rin. She will lie, but from her lies you will find the truth.” The Kuroneko tells me. I blink in shock and disbelief even though I cannot sense deception in the Kuroneko’s aura. As my eyes reopen after just that momentary blink the Kuroneko is gone.
After a few moments trying to calm down I port back to the base of the waterfall. There will be time later to think on the Kuroneko’s words. The Kuroneko’s people are gone but the Contractians are still leaving the tunnel. Mages have taken defensive positions and other mages have started porting people. Perhaps back to Beach Town?
If the enemy are all defeated why is there still a port barrier around the goblin tunnel complex? Hopefully we just missed a few goblins and nothing more serious. There isn’t a port barrier outside so we are able to port to safety from here.
With my current mana I can just port us directly to Utopia Camerona. Actually it will have to be just outside, because given the current situation there will certainly be a port barrier up. I just need to wait for Rin, Hermes and Midori to get here. I suppose I should wait until everyone has gotten to safety first.
As I wait I consider Midori’s secret and now Rin’s. Perhaps
the Kuroneko was just wrong about Rin. I should have more faith in her. She wouldn’t lie about something important like that. I should have faith in Midori too. I may not have known her as long as Rin and Hermes, but Midori has proven herself to be one of my most loyal friends.
“Peter, are you ok?” Midori asks and I realise that I was so lost in thought that I completely missed my friends’ arrival.
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m glad to see you all got out ok.” I say with a slightly forced smile.
“You’re in pain.” Midori says with a frown.
“My head hurts a bit. I’ll be grateful when I’ve used some of this excess mana porting us to Utopia Camerona.” I admit.
“You have enough mana left to do that?” Hermes asks.
“I should still have plenty left too.” I tell her with a smile.
“Should we take some of the people we freed with us?” Rin asks with a frown.
“We could end up taking them onto a battlefield if we do that. We’ll have to port outside the city and it is probably under siege.” I tell Rin.
“We’d better not then.” Rin says, sounding both relieved and guilty.
“Given that so many enemies were just killed and that they have a lot of their mages back I think Beach Town should be safe unless the enemy seriously target it. I doubt they will, given that it isn’t exactly strategically important. They’ll be mainly focused on the cities and especially the capitals.
“Regalia will be their biggest priority because if they captured that all of Contractia this side of Portalis would be vulnerable. Having already lost the other half of Contractia to the Fallen Angels it is hard to see how Contractia could win the war if Regalia falls.” I tell Rin who now looks relieved and worried, but not guilty.
“Regalia would never fall though, right?” Rin asks nervously.
“I don’t imagine Contractia would let it fall. No matter the price it takes to defend it.” I tell Rin who seems a little reassured. Of course the enemy know how valuable it is too so just as Contractia will throw everything it has, other than the queen, into defending Regalia the enemy will throw everything they have into taking it from us.