* * *
Amnur had explained the whole situation to Crono, down to every last detail. It had been weighing on his shoulders for too long, but it was also because he needed help with something. Crono remained silent for a while, digesting what he had just been told. He sat down in a chair, resting his arms on his knees, staring blankly at the floor. Even sat down Amnur still had to look up to maintain eye contact with Crono; Amnur was about on the taller side of average height for a new blood demon, standing around twelve feet tall, Crono, however, stood around twice his height.
“Is there any evidence that whatever attacked Wintergate has moved out of the Commons?” Crono enquired, breaking the long-held silence. A threat like that was the last thing he wanted to hear about with winter approaching.
“Aside from the missing persons’ reports and strange sightings, I have no physical proof. Sakura dealt with the one we encountered, that doesn’t mean there isn’t more, however,” Amnur replied. Both humans and demons went missing around the end of summer even in a normal year. Those who get overzealous could find themselves slipping into bogs, as well as those who just decided to up and leave while the weather is favourable.
The commotion attracted their attention to the outside. Crono dreaded opening the door after what Amnur had revealed. Taking a deep breath, he opened it, instead of deadly monsters he saw two demons and a human that was unknown to him. The residents of Linlake were gathered around them or specifically gathered around one demon. He walked towards them to see what was happening, Amnur was following closely behind him, keeping himself camouflaged.
Crono was taken aback when he saw who they had gathered around. Before he could mutter anything to Amnur, it had become evident that he had already seen. Now fully visible he pushed past Crono and walked up to the group, unsure how to respond.
Her leg had now been cleaned of mud, and the full wound was clearly visible. Streaks of blood blended in with her dark skin as it flowed from the now liberated wound. Sakura glanced up at the newcomers and flashed them a weak smile, though it did little to relieve the look of shock on their faces. She knew the swamps well, such a wound would have not had come about in a normal situation, the fact she had it meant that something much worse had happened.
Amnur crouched down and took a look at the wound. It was fairly deep and roughly cut, it would take a while to heal naturally.
Ferdan took a look at the demon that had crouched next to him and jerked away, one hand firmly planted on his staff. Ciel and Drake were stunned at his reaction, it was the first time they’ve seen him react so violently to anything.
“You’re Amnur,” he stated angrily, the demon was well known within the Magi Council; he was a powerful mage and dangerous one, and he had long been thought dead. Ciel recognised the name, even if he did not recognise the demon that was crouched in front of him. His father had told him about Amnur multiple times, never was it pleasant the things he heard.
Amnur just glared at the mage, unwilling to be distracted from his injured daughter. Ferdan, however, was equally unwilling to drop the subject and threw a conjured icicle in his direction. Amnur counted simply by putting up a fiery barrier, turning the ice to water as it collided with it.
It went on for a few attempts, Ferdan throwing different spells at his opponent, only for it to be countered completely. Amnur remained unmoving the whole time, not saying a word.
Agitated from the pain in her leg, Sakura got increasingly frustrated watching the display. “Will you stop it!” she shouted, receiving the attention of both mages; a scornful look from Ferdan and a surprised look from Amnur.
“He will only harm you!” Ferdan yelled back. His comment, however, did not pull the attention of his adversary.
“He is my father!”
The comment produced a stunned silence from Ferdan, Drake and Ciel. Amnur idly scratched his head, waiting for the mage to respond. Or anyone to respond, for that matter.
“I guess that’s that,” he chuckled, not making eye contact with any of them.
One of the Linlake residents moved in awkwardly and began wiping Sakura’s wound with a creamy salve, but the three remained in stunned silence. Drake looked around nervously. He had not heard much of Amnur and didn’t grasp the full seriousness of the situation; he did, however, remember Ferdan’s statement that he would heal Sakura’s leg.
“You did promise to help with that wound, at least,” Drake spoke up over the quietness. He felt it was best not to say Ferdan’s name so openly, even if Sakura could just tell her father later.
Ferdan snapped out of his trance, glancing at her leg. It would be unfair to leave her wounded, as she had been injured helping them through the swamps. He would, however, have to report on their existence to the Magi Council, a choice that would condemn them to death and not in a pleasant manner. What he had picked up on though is the Linlake residents did not look startled. Amnur must have been living with them for a while, and they accepted it without issue, which surprised him more. Somehow he had the feeling that he would not be allowed to leave alive, not unless he conveniently forgot the events that had occurred here.
Once the demon had finished applying the salve to her leg, Ferdan slowly mended the wound without a word, unwilling to look at Amnur. The demon mage was watching him closely, making sure that it was only healing that was occurring, periodically gazing up towards Ciel.
“You look familiar,” Amnur spoke after a while, seeing Ciel panic as he spoke to him. He was unable to respond, revealing who he was could turn Amnur against him, or possibly all of the Linlake residents. Noticing his discomfort, Amnur regarded him more closely and noted the stature of Drake. They were the spitting image of two others he knew. It was not a coincidence either, he knew that for certain. “You must be Ciel,” he began calmly, “and you must be Kaiser’s son, although I do not know your name.”
His lighter tone calmed Ciel a bit, he had been expecting to be shouted at. Ciel stood tall for a new blood demon with short, thin horns surrounded by sleek shoulder-length hair, which held many different dark hues. The demon’s body was well toned from years of training, covered by light leather armour decorated with metal plates. In all ways, he was his father, just without the burden of rule.
Drake threw Ciel a worried look, his friend appeared rather traumatised at the edge of the campfire. Amnur tried to keep himself calm, however much resentment he held for his family, Ciel had not done anything worth damning, not yet anyway.
“What happened out there anyway?” Crono spoke up from behind them, turning the subject of the conversation. It came as a welcome relief for Ciel, who could see Amnur’s distaste for his blood relations across his face.
They spent the next half hour explaining the fight and answering all the questions regarding the strange creatures. Ferdan even spoke up and mentioned the strange immunity to non-physical magic, a fact that worried Amnur greatly. The tension lightened as the conversation continued, only to be replaced with anxiety as Amnur relayed his findings in the town of Wintergate. News that Lauri had potentially pulled herself out of the situation perked up Ferdan, though it had confirmed the others were indeed dead.
As they talked, the absent members of Linlake started to return, bringing a menagerie of items with them. Although it was strange, Crono offered for them to stay for something to eat, with Sakura ensuring them that it wouldn’t be poisoned. It might, however, be rather different to their usual tastes. They hesitantly accepted the offer. Despite what had happened earlier, the demons were friendly to them.
Amnur had left after the conversation to help his daughter over to one of the houses to change her clothing, as her current attire was bloodied and torn from the fight.
Not long after they left, Sakura was now clad in a fresh set of body fitting leathers, and it showed off her slender form beautifully. Ciel ended up finding himself blushing, which he quickly hid. Still exhausted, she had to lean on her father for support, and she was limping slightly. The only problem wit
h standard magical healing was that the mind was not as quick at picking up on its effects. It still believed the leg to be wounded, thus responding with pain as she bore weight onto it.
The day progressed quietly, Amnur remained silent while sat next to her. Even without words, they knew it was a warning. As the background chatter filled the air, something attracted the attention of the mages to the north-east, back towards the Isthmus. The others turned and looked but could see nothing, curious as to what had drawn their attention. A bright flash of light flew through the air, originating from the Commons and heading off into the distance, but it appeared to do nothing. Ferdan and Amnur, however, were very apprehensive. Where the bolt had travelled through the air, the aetherial mana had become warped. This was not a natural occurrence.
Low rumbling became audible in the air, garnering worried looks from those present. Rumbling turned rapidly to the sound of the ground creaking and breaking; the demons huddled in close together, weapons ready, looking out for an opponent.
The horizon twisted in a demented way as massive crystalline structures rent the ground apart and burst into the sky, their perverted aura twisting the clouds into vicious black abominations that writhed with corrupted mana. Thick waves of smothering cloud expanded out from the spires, heading in the direction of the waiting demons.
The village stood dumbstruck, unable to comprehend what they were seeing. Something was twisting the very mana of the Isles to its whim, perverting it so despicably from its pure nature.
Something very dangerous, that fact was clear.
Chapter 6: Creeping Chaos
Nearly a week after the emergence of the crystalline spires, the state of the swamp had started to rapidly decline, and the twisted mana that spilt out had welled up into a colossal blanket of cloud that extended as far as anyone could see. Small flecks of snow had begun to fall as the temperature continued to drop. They knew it would not be long until it worsened. Their supplies would not survive such a brutal storm, as the swampland would soon yield its resources to a thick covering of snow. So far no further attacks by the unknown creatures had been reported. A temporary saving grace at best, it had given the West time to shore up its defences.
Messages were constantly being relayed between the stranded towns, with offers of sanctuary being passed to the human towns for them to bolster the defences of the swamp settlements. They would last better actively working together, the human settlements were out in the open, something that could be easily exploited. The boggy swamps offered some protection, although evidently some of the creatures could actively utilise the bog themselves, it was assumed more were unable to use the bog than could.
It became agreed that the humans would join up with the three demon villages. However, the problem arose of actually getting their populations over to the destination. Moving a lot of civilians would prove difficult. If they were attacked, they would be slaughtered, losing the whole population of the town they were trying to save. Knowing that the weather was not going to become any better began to force their hand; decreased visibility, increasingly treacherous terrain and bitter winds were not conditions they wished to put themselves through.
Eventually, they had decided for themselves to leave when the snows came in heavier. The treks towards the demon villages had been rather uneventful, save for a few snow-covered bog incidents. Why it was so uneventful was a worry, however. Was whatever that was controlling the whole thing just waiting for them to be all gathered together before choosing to decimate them all? Or perhaps, did it wish to play games with their lives, enjoying the panic and suffering that was going to occur if it went on for a long period of time?
Ferdan wished he knew. For the last few days, he had been unsuccessfully trying to contact the Magi Council. Amnur offered to help channel the small communication pendant with mana, in an attempt to provide it with enough power to reach the other side. After a few more failed attempts Ferdan had conceded to his offer. The two of them tried together for a while but still obtained nothing. It had, however, felt to be going further than it had when he tried by himself.
“That crystalline mass must be blocking it, creating some form of barrier,” Amnur noted, drawing a resigned sigh from Ferdan. The one he felt he needed the help of now was the Magi Council. It sounded impossible that such an event like this had not been seen before, even if it was on a much smaller scale. “You felt it go further, though, so I would guess that it’s not impenetrable.”
The demon was deep in thought, it would require a massive effort to even punch a hole into the barrier, which then could just seal itself up again. Ferdan glanced over at him, picking up on what he was possibly suggesting but to what end? They still had nothing tangible to fight against. The creatures had no evident master yet, although the signs pointed to one existing. “How much do you know about chaos magic, pray tell?”
Amnur’s question was almost rhetorical, the implications of his statement put Ferdan into a stunned silence. Chaos magic was a devastating element, comprised of pure disorder; it could be used to twist other elements into abominable versions of themselves and drive men to madness.
It sounded like exactly what they had been observing over the last few weeks, Ferdan realised.
“Short of the observations we’ve seen, do you have any other proof?” Ferdan enquired, as much as Amnur’s suggestion had made sense, the ramifications of such a potent chaos mage were not something he wished to think on.
“I’ve been observing the sky at night. It glows a deep purple, sometimes changing to pink; the pattern changes wildly,” Amnur remarked. Each element had a recognisable colour when used. Purple and pink matched none of the other elements, it was the indicating factor of chaos elemental magic.
“The Council put the only known chaos user to death a few years,” Ferdan responded vaguely. The acts were not common knowledge even within the Magi Council itself; if it became known that they routinely committed such a thing there would be an outcry, the process was hardly humane. It was the same fate he would be condemning Amnur and his daughter to. Ferdan could, however, suffer the same if he chose not to tell, insubordination was not taken lightly.
“What if they didn’t die?” Amnur spoke after some deliberation. It was not a thought Ferdan wanted to consider if somehow he had survived that…
He would resent everything, even possibly going as far as exact revenge on the ones who tried to take his life. The fact the creatures were resistant to magic supported the argument, what better way to make those who wronged him than to leave them to suffer a painful and terrifying death?
Creating life from the ground up was nearly impossible, however, more so for the element of disorder; the creatures he was using had to be pulled from somewhere. “The origin of these creatures would be a good target to find more information about,” Ferdan said. If they could cut the supply from the source, it would greatly aid them in future efforts. Finding out such information would be difficult, more so when the largest libraries existed on the other isle.
Amnur was still deep in thought, trying to recall things he had read from his private collection. He had many old tomes, some of which Ferdan would raise an eyebrow at. Small, slow flaps of his wings indicated his frustration as he clenched his eyes shut, still reeling through the troves of information. His memory turned back to a roughly bound leather book; it was bulky, battered and written in a demon-tongue older than the one that was used in the present era. It contained details about many oddities, from the original angels to strange tales about monsters.
“I recall something about a place referred to as the Nether Plane.”
Amnur’s mind had managed to recall those words, but nothing else regarding it. Ferdan regarded him curiously, another plane that could support life was an interesting titbit. Judging by the strange body structures of the creatures combined with the overwhelming amount of mana that had been strewn into the world, the plane must be rife with aether, several times more concentrated than on Fyir. “
The book in question is back in my house, which is unfortunately about half an hour’s walk from here.”
It had been too good to be true to think the item they wanted was within arm’s reach, but the existence of such a tome was good news. “I will go fetch it, send someone after me if I’m not back within a few hours,” Amnur quickly remarked and set off in a westerly direction before Ferdan even had time to respond.
* * *
Soon after Amnur had left a fierce blizzard began to lash the swamp, causing demons and humans to go running towards their houses and temporary accommodation. Tents had been set up to house the human evacuees, built in the shelter of the huts upon hastily constructed wooden platforms to keep the bottoms dry. A few were still unaccounted for, mainly scouts and those who still braved the wilds for resources. Not long after the rest started to file in, shivering from being caught out in the sudden onset of cold, blasting winds.
It had been a few hours, and Ferdan was starting to worry, something that surprised him in a way. Sakura had just walked in from performing a scouting round and was looking rather dissatisfied with the weather. Her armour glistened with snow, as did her wings and hair. He pulled her aside for a second to relay his concerns to her. With the onset of this weather, he knew Amnur had not been wearing anything thick when he had left. She was rather concerned, and her body had been chilled thoroughly, though. Ideally, she needed to warm up first. Sakura knew, however, the longer she left her father outside the worse it would get. If he had been injured the cold would be continuing to sap his strength.
Taking a strange furred cape from a hook on the wall, she brushed the snow off her body and tucked her wings in tight before dragging the cape over her shoulders. It tied together in many places, slowly dragging the warm cape over her wings, eventually covering them completely. Due to the stretched, thin membrane of a demon’s wing they were capable of losing heat very quickly, even as far as having the skin splitting into cracks if the conditions were bitter enough. Such a cover would keep her wings warm and protected but immobile. She would have to navigate without them for now.
Skies of Fyir Box Set Page 26