by Aaron Oster
She hadn’t really looked at anyone in those sorts of terms, seeing as she’d been too busy fighting for her life. But now that she thought about him in that way, she had to admit that Roy was quite handsome. Not only that, but he would be the leader of the entire Herald clan one day. For someone like her, there literally couldn’t be a better match.
“Can I say no?” Marrie asked.
“You can,” Duncan replied.
“But…?”
“But you will only be part of the second family if you do, and a junior member at that. You will still have many privileges and be able to choose your own husband when you’re ready. If you agree to marry Leroy, I will make the betrothal known to all of the family heads and place you under my personal protection. I’m sure I don’t have to explain what that means.”
It meant that he would be publicly legitimizing her and solidifying her position as one of the clan's most powerful members. Overnight, she would go from being an outcast to the betrothed of the heir and the daughter by marriage to the head of the clan.
“Where’s Roy right now?” Marrie asked, looking around for him. She wanted to know his opinion on this.
“Somewhere safe,” Duncan said. “Somewhere where the others won’t be able to get to him.”
Marrie looked down, debating for a few more seconds. There was still so much she didn’t know about all this. She’d listened to Roy’s story and knew that he’d never actually been part of the Herald clan.
“Will you tell me how he ended up here and why he was raised in a different clan?”
“I can tell you the story on our way home,” Duncan replied, “if that is what you wish. As a member of my immediate family, you will have the right to know.”
“Fine,” Marrie said. “I’ll agree to the engagement. But only under the condition that Roy agrees as well.”
“He will,” Duncan said, extending a hand.
This time, Marrie took it without hesitation. Never in a million years had she thought that something like this would happen, but Roy had kept his word in the end. She would have to make sure to thank him when she saw him again, and although she still wasn’t sure what he would think about their plans to marry, she could be stuck with a lot worse than him.
1
Roy felt the hand, both strong and soft, clutching his own much smaller one. Looking up, he could make out the shadowy outline of a woman, her features distorted and obscured, even when she looked right down at him. The one thing he could see as clear as day was her smile, bright, warm, and comforting. She smiled, despite the danger he knew they were in. He could hear them crashing through the undergrowth and calling for their blood.
“Come on, dear,” the woman – his mother – said. “We need to keep moving.”
“But I can’t,” Roy said.
He was tired, out of breath, and his feet hurt.
“Would you like me to carry you?” she asked, reaching down.
Roy lifted his arms and felt her hoist him up, pulling him close. He pressed his face to her shoulder as she started running again. Her grip was firm but soft, and he felt safe in her arms.
There was a splintering crack as one of the trees to his right exploded, a blade of water ripping through the trunk as easily as it would if it were made of wet parchment. His mother ducked, letting out a light scream as woodchips showered over them. Roy was scared, but so long as he was with her, he knew he would be safe.
“Mother, who are these men?” Roy asked, looking over her shoulder.
“Bad men who want to hurt us,” his mother replied, digging in her heels and turning hard to her left. “But don’t worry, Mama won’t let them hurt you.”
Mama. It was what she’d always wanted him to call her, but he never had, no matter how many times she called herself that. He didn’t know why, but it had never felt quite right. Then again, his mother was from a far-away land, or so Father had said.
Father…
“Why isn’t Father here?” Roy asked. “He can chase the bad men away, can’t he?”
“Father is far away,” his mother replied, ducking as another tree shattered next to her. “But don’t worry. I will protect you.”
Another tree came crashing down, blocking their path, and his mother swerved, jumping over the line of the tree as she tried to go around. Four men, their faces obscured in shadow, came pounding out of the surrounding trees, letting out whoops of excitement as they moved to intercept her.
She spun, running back the other way, but more men emerged from the forest on that side. Running back wasn’t an option, and the tree blocked her path forward. His mother set him down, placing herself between him and the attackers.
“Stay behind me. I’ll keep you safe,” she said, turning to face their attackers.
Roy tried to cling to her robes, scared of the shadowy men, but his mother pushed him back.
“You gave us quite the chase,” one of the men said, approaching slowly. “We’ll have to make your death nice and slow for that.”
Roy felt his blood run cold when he heard that. The bad men didn’t just want to hurt them. They wanted to kill them!
“Mother!” Roy yelled, but his mother pushed him back.
“Stay behind me!” she commanded, raising her hands in defense.
“What are you going to do with that?” one of the men – Roy couldn’t see which – asked. “You’re hardly a Yellow-Belt. Do you really think you can take us all on yourself?”
Laughter followed his proclamation, and Roy pushed himself further back into the tree as the men began to close in. As the first man reached for her, his mother’s body was suddenly shrouded in a dark light. There was a horrible crunch as one of the man’s arms was torn free.
Roy’s eyes went wide as it fell to the ground next to him, the fingers still twitching. The scream of pain that followed tore through the air as the man voiced his gut-wrenching agony for all to hear.
The men cried out in alarm, all backing away after seeing something so violent and horrific.
“Calm yourselves,” another voice said – one that Roy hadn’t heard before. “She’s only one woman. We can take her.”
Roy huddled back as the men attacked again, closing his eyes and trying to block out the horrible sounds around him.
Screaming, crunching, and squelching.
Soft thumps and loud cracks.
Trees fell, and hot liquid spattered over his face. The sounds continued for several minutes before finally tapering off.
He finally forced himself to crack his eyes open and saw a scene out of his worst nightmares. Bodies lay everywhere, covered in blood and gore. Limbs were twisted the wrong way, heads crooked at odd angles, and some bodies were torn to pieces.
His eyes traveled, moving down to the prone form lying on the ground before him. Her body was covered in blood, and she wasn’t moving.
“Mother?” Roy asked, moving forward and shaking her shoulder.
She didn’t move, didn’t stir. She just lay there.
“Mother, wake up,” Roy said more insistently, shaking her harder.
There was a low snarl, and he looked up to see a man pulling himself to his feet. His body was covered in blood, and his face was twisted in agony. Deep lines furrowed his brows, and his eyes, bright green, locked onto Roy.
“Mother, wake up!” Roy shouted as the man staggered forward, his face coming into sharp focus, unlike the shadowy and blurry faces of the others so far.
“She’s not waking up, you little brat!” the man snapped.
Shouts came from the forest behind him as the man approached, and Roy looked past him to see several more figures emerging from the tree line. He didn’t recognize any of them, although he could still make out their faces.
“What the hell happened here?” one of the men asked.
“The woman was more dangerous than we were led to believe,” the bloody man said, pulling a sack from the inside of his robes.
“What about the kid?” the other man
asked, slowly stepping over the bodies.
“We can’t kill him,” the man replied. “But if he’s half as tough as his mother, he’ll be an asset in the future.”
The man’s voice began to fuzzier as he closed in on Roy and a rough sack was thrown over his head. The voices were undistinguishable now, and Roy felt something shaking him insistently…
***
“…your turn at watch. You need to get up.”
Roy’s eyes snapped open, his mind still groggy with sleep and having a hard time making sense of his surroundings. The forest was dark, and something warm and fuzzy was all but smothering him. A dark, furry hand was draped over his chest, and when he saw that, Roy’s mind finally caught up with reality.
Looking up, he saw Aika’s familiar face, illuminated on one side by the bright moonlight filtering in through the trees. Her expression changed from exhaustion to worry as soon as he met her gaze.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, leaning in a bit closer, her almond-shaped eyes coming into sharper focus.
“What do you mean?” Roy asked, reaching down and pulling Ferry’s arm from his chest. She’d taken to sleeping practically on him again now that they’d been reunited.
“You’re crying,” Aika said, crouching and reaching out to wipe at the wet spots on his face.
Roy, who hadn’t even realized it, reached up to feel as well. Sure enough, his cheeks were wet, and tears were still flowing from his eyes. The dream came back to him then. He couldn’t remember it all, but some parts were quite distinct. It was distracting enough that he didn’t feel embarrassed at the way Aika was treating him or how close she was.
“It was a dream,” Roy said, extricating himself from Ferry, though she tried to hold him tighter as he did. “It was about my mother.”
Aika backed off as he rose, heading a few feet away from the humanoid ferret before sitting back down.
“What happened?” she asked as he placed his face in his hands and tried to still his whirling thoughts.
“I only remember bits and pieces,” Roy said, still keeping his eyes closed. “We were being chased, I think. Then my mother was lying on the ground. After that, I saw two people from the Shah clan. The first I didn’t recognize, but the second was definitely Korgo, the leader of the clan.”
“What do you think it means?” Aika asked, sitting down next to him.
“That we’ve been sitting on our hands for too long,” Roy said, finally looking up.
The sense of great loss he’d felt after waking up was quickly fading, but he was sure it hadn’t just been a dream. He’d seen something similar, though in less detail, when facing his last Belt test. Roy knew it had to be some sort of sign.
“Does that mean you’re ready?” Aika asked.
They’d arrived in the Waterwood over a week ago, and despite wanting answers to his many questions, Roy had been reluctant to confront his old clan.
After the battle with the Scion and the weird way his Belt had been acting, Azure had offered Roy something he couldn’t refuse. But after stepping through the portal and into the Waterwood, Roy was reminded of what this place had once been and what he’d endured here.
After silencing the Martial Artist that had spotted them and hiding his body, he, Aika, and Ferry had retreated to the far side of the Shah’s territory.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Roy replied, finally looking up to meet her eyes. “I have no idea what connection there is between my mother’s death and my Belt constantly shifting color, but if anyone will know about the former, it’ll be the people who captured me in the first place.”
Aika gave him a half-smile, then reached out to touch his arm.
“Hey, don’t forget that we’re all looking for answers. I also have no idea what connection Doragon would have with this place, nor how his betrayal of my father factors into all of this. But what I do know is that no matter what happens, I’ll have your back. We’ve been separated too many times already, and I don’t plan on losing you again.”
Roy felt his face grow warm at this and noticed Aika’s cheeks coloring a light pink as she spoke.
“Go on and get some rest,” he said, tilting his chin in Ferry’s direction. “It looks like we’ll be setting out first thing in the morning.”
Aika gave him one last smile, then leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Roy felt his face burn where her lips touched, but she moved away before he could say anything. He imagined he could see the back of her neck turning as red as his face, but then again, he could be seeing things.
Reaching up, he felt at the spot where her lips had touched, all thoughts of what the next day might hold having been driven completely out of his mind.
2
“Can you feel that?” Geon asked as the sun began to peek over the horizon.
“Feel what?” Roy replied, rubbing at his eyes and looking over to the sleeping forms of Aika and Ferry.
They would be getting up soon – well, Aika would be. They would have to shake and prod Ferry to get her awake. Roy tried to keep his mind busy until then.
“The Dungeon,” Geon replied. “I swear, your weird increase in power isn’t making you any smarter.”
“There’s a Dungeon nearby?” Roy asked, ignoring the Core’s insult.
“Obviously,” Geon said. “Why do you think I would tell you there was a Dungeon nearby if there was no Dungeon nearby? You humans are weird.”
“How close?” Roy asked.
“Well, I can’t go telling you everything,” Geon retorted. “How else would you learn?”
“Geon…”
“Roy.”
Roy ground his teeth in annoyance as the Dungeon Core sitting in his chest tested his patience once again. Geon had a habit of doing things like this, and though he should have become used to it by now, one simply did not accept the endless buzzing of a fly in their ear. Geon also had a very special way of getting under his skin.
“Why mention a Dungeon if you don’t plan on telling me anything about it?” Roy asked, trying a different tactic.
“I was just making an observation, much as you do,” Geon replied.
“Except I answer when you ask me questions,” Roy said. “Why do you insist on being so difficult?”
“I’m not difficult. You are. You and your squishy brain, and your weird face.”
“My face?” Roy asked.
“Yes. Your face.”
Roy sighed, giving up, and tried to sense the world around him on his own.
The Belt sitting around his waist, a solid, shining blue ever since his fight with the Scion, flickered, turning purple for a moment, before settling back again. Roy hardly noticed the strange flickering anymore. His Belt had been acting erratically ever since his advancement to Green, going so far as to advance him a full Belt without him even needing to take a test for it!
The Spirit of Power – his Path of Advancement – had assured him that facing a Scion was more than enough proof of his strength, but Roy wasn’t so sure. That was why he’d agreed to come here, instead of waiting back in the Windblight for Hermit and Herald Duncan, his real father.
His training sessions with Aika had shown him that he was a true Blue-Belt and wasn’t an imposter. The amount of Qi he was able to output at once showed them to be roughly on the same level power-wise, although she’d since achieved her 1st Dan, putting her ahead of him by a slight margin.
His Core felt full to bursting with Power Qi, though pushing for an advancement felt all but impossible, as it continued to expand, no matter how much he put in. It was strange, having felt the power and capacity of a Purple-Belt during his fight with the Scion and now not being able to call on that same power. His Core hadn’t shrunk after, and his massive reserves just kept on growing, but pulling out that same amount of force at once just wasn’t possible.
Geon thought that it had had something to do with his fight with the Scion, while Aika thought that it had had to do with the color of his Belt at the time.
&n
bsp; Roy shook himself, his eyelids squeezing shut tighter as he tried to block out the noise. He was trying to sense a nearby Dungeon, and all of the whirling thoughts were distracting him from his goal.
His Spirit Sense flowed outward, now powered by his Qi and his Core-Body, which had been achieved at his advancement to Green.
The world around him lit up in shades of blue Water Essence, black Darkness, white Light, and brown Earth. Traces of golden Power and silver Weakness floated near the ground, while small traces of red Fire hung above the trees. The green of Wind was all around as well, drifting between the others and giving them what they needed to breathe.
In a forest like this, even one that contained more Water Essence than anything else, all of the others were still present, showing that life was all around them. It was very much unlike the Windblight, where Light, Wind, and Earth were the main elements with no Water at all. Roy hated the place and was very glad that he was no longer stuck there.
He breathed slowly, feeling his Qi loop through the pattern in his chest, pushing his senses ever outward. It spread quickly, blanketing the forest for over four miles before he began to feel some strain. He continued pushing until his senses would spread no further, which was once he reached the six and a half-mile point. At his maximum, the world was fuzzy and indistinct.
Roy could sense nothing. Aside from the odd Beast and the abundant – non-threatening – wildlife, he couldn’t sense so much as a hint of a Dungeon.
“When you said a Dungeon was nearby,” Roy asked, “how far away did you mean?”
He knew he was taking a risk by asking Geon again, but the Dungeon Core was fickle and may very well decide to just tell him.
“Nearby,” Geon replied.
“I’ve stretched myself to my limits and don’t sense anything. So, it’s obviously not,” Roy snapped back.
“Sure, it is,” Geon said. “It’s right near the center of the Waterwood. I don’t know why you can’t sense it. Probably that weird squish—”