Skies of Fyir Box Set

by Gabriela Voelske

  Sakura thanked Ferdan and rushed back out the door, startled demons watching her as she went.

  Already the snow had started to lie heavily, hiding the dangerous ground below. Although she knew the path towards her house well, the greatly reduced visibility was hindering her, limiting her ability to climb from tree to tree. She carefully moved across the ground, using the tree trunks to guide her way. Their bark was starting to become slippery, though, causing her to slip more than once and grind her sharp fingers into the trunk, trying to keep herself from falling.

  As she progressed, a strong feeling of being watched overcame her. Stopping still, she drew her blades, warily scanning the area around her. Nothing was visible, but even a dark bodied creature could remain hidden during conditions like this. Her hearing would have to make up the slack. Trees rustled violently in the constant assault of the blizzard, creating an environment of constant noise. She listened intently for a second, picking up on a shuffling sound coming towards her. The culprit was still not within sight, however.

  Quietly, two dark sets of claws grabbed onto a tree, as the creature peering its head from around a tree trunk. Five barbs lay set at the back of its head, and its extended snout was covered in small pointed crystals which glowed pink-purple in colour. The creature almost appeared afraid of her, but in this case, she had been the prey. What suddenly made it change its mind? She had no intent to trust it, however, considering the attacks she had suffered previously. Two wings emerged from its hiding place; they were branched flat plates, it was dubious that it could even fly, without being able to support the creature’s weight. They remained staring at one another for a moment before Sakura ran forward, seizing the first move, driving her blades at the creature’s hands. As she dug the blades in, she saw the creature flare its crystals, but nothing followed as it slipped back, separating one of the hands clean from its body. Seeing the lack of retaliation she pushed in again, aiming straight for the revealed head this time. It watched her come but did not move; it just emitted a short laugh as she came closer and closer, bearing down on its vulnerable head. Her hands gripped tightly on the hilts as she impaled the creature, through the face and cleanly through the neck, returning her blades to her side. She watched the creature collapse onto the floor, breaking into shards with a firm follow-up kick. Satisfied that the target was deceased, the demon shifted her direction, intent to carry on down the correct path.

  The tree in front of her suddenly warped and shot murky crystals into her skin, ripping her chest into holes through the thick leather. Pain seethed through her body, causing her to collapse to her knees, gripping at the shredded leather. It appeared a relatively petty attack for the creature to sacrifice itself over, it could have easily caught her more than once in a drawn-out battle.

  Slowly, the burning faded to be replaced with a more consistent, stinging pain. She examined her wounds more closely; the skin had been punctured, but the damage was less than the pain had led her to believe. Blood dripped down her front slowly, gradually enough that she would be able to continue what she was doing before it weakened her substantially. She sheathed her blades and carried on, keeping a keen eye out for any other unwelcomed guests.

  Not long after she arrived at the lone house and went up to the door, trying out the lock. Unsurprisingly it was open, her father had arrived this far. She let herself in, closing the door behind her. Although the house had not been warmed, it provided a welcome relief from the prevailing winds. It was oddly dark, however. If her father were around still Sakura would expect to find at least some lights flaring.

  “Is anyone there?” Sakura shouted to the darkness, listening to her voice echo through the closed walls. No one responded to her call, to her distress. Walking to the end of the corridor she rested her hand against the far door, watching as a familiar magical seal appeared and unravelled itself. Sakura could not use magic herself, so Amnur had set the seal up to respond to her mana signature. All beings still possessed mana even if they are incapable of utilising it, in her case, it was because the mana levels in her blood were too low. It was something that had always puzzled Amnur, as her mother was also a mage she too should have possessed high levels of mana, instead it was much lower than even a low standard.

  The door opened itself and revealed its contents; an expansive room stacked full of different books and symbols and a carved, angular table that sat in the middle of the room. Any worthy mage would have a similar table within his or her chambers; the item was most commonly used for enchantments or small scale magical experimentation, the deep runes carved into the wood or stone provided a stable base for such spells to function from.

  There was no sign of her father within the room, but on closer inspection, she did notice the book Ferdan had mentioned to her to be missing. Sakura knew that her father had already left if he was not present within this room, the question remained, however, of where he had wandered to on the trek back. She strode back out of the house, although it did now come over strange that he had not locked the main door if he had already left. Something came over peculiar to her, his departure from the house had appeared very rushed as if he had been driven away.

  Snowy winds still came on viciously, stinging her wounds and sapping the heat from her skin. She knew, however, that she would need to search around the outside of the house for anything that indicated Amnur’s current whereabouts. Abnormal marks on nearby trees attracted her attention, so she decided to investigate with blades drawn; she knew not what sort of stunts the strange creatures could pull.

  Closer inspection told her that it was burn marks she was looking at, such a thing was the result of Amnur blasting something with spells as opposed to the opposite. Her father was pronounced in his mastery of the fiery element. For her to be seeing such a thing indicated her father had been in trouble, the burn marks were still fresh and slightly warm to touch. She followed the trail, running as fast as the cold ground would allow her, furiously blinking the freezing snow from her eyes.

  Something caught her foot, and she went tumbling over it, crashing headfirst into the snow. With a curse, she shook herself free and rolled back onto her front, taking a look at just what she had fallen over. Another of the strange creatures lay pinned to the floor, impaled by charred pieces of wood. It was yet again a new variety to those they had seen so far. Two ridged wings spread out from either side of its thin body, connecting from just below the head to just above the tail and the semi-buried feet, with yellow tips poking out from the edges of the wings. Angled, purple-tipped spines flanked a pale yellow band down the middle of its body, spines that she appeared to have narrowly missed during her fall. Its head was buried in the snow, but from its squirming, she knew it to be still alive. The lifeblood that was their crystal veins lay in full view, nestled behind the spines. With quick, uniform movements she split one vein and then the other, rending the creature lifeless in the snow.

  “Dad?” she shouted, but her voice was rapidly lost in the bitter wind. A bloody mark on a nearby tree caught her eye. He had been injured, but how badly she did not know. She slunk over to the tree, cautious of any other unwanted guests that may be hanging around and peered around the trunk.

  What she saw caused her to immediately sheathe her weapons and break her cover. Amnur laid collapsed against the tree, clutching the leather bound book tightly, with a single wound was evident in his abdomen. She was unsure how long he had been there, but there was a fair amount of blood. Feeling around the immediate area was not warm or wet, however. He had possibly used his magic to burn the wound shut, before collapsing down. Sakura gently slapped his face, trying to elicit a reaction from him. When that bore no results, she softly pushed her fingers against his neck, trying to feel a pulse.

  He was alive, but his pulse was weak and his skin cold; he had been collapsed down exposed like this for a decent period of time and would need medical attention. Sakura removed the wing cover from her back and tied it around his front in an attempt to keep him w
arm. The distance back to Linlake could prove fatal if she didn’t give him anything. However, she was well aware that she was going to struggle to carry his weight, not that she had much choice. Leaving him to die was not an option. Pressing his wings into his body, Sakura curved one arm around his back and the other under his legs and heaved him off the ground, trying her best to keep him held tightly. The last thing he needed was for that wound to reopen, judging by the blood alone she knew such an event would prove fatal for him, more so when they were still some distance from help.

  Winds savaged her now exposed wings, making her body scream with pain. Gritting her teeth she bore on, she had to get back, regardless of the cost to her own body.

  * * *

  Ferdan was sat next to Ciel around a sealed stone fire pit inside what he had taken to be Crono’s home. It was sufficiently sizable enough to house him as well was Drake while remaining with plenty of spare space for Ferdan and the others. Makeshift beds had been erected around the property, causing it to look rather disorganised; a fact which irritated Crono. The demon was overly keen on keeping the place clean, often complaining when someone actively made a mess. It came over an odd habit to Ferdan, for such a huge demon to be irked as he was over it.

  The major difference in the anatomy of Crono and Drake also interested him, despite them being of similar builds they varied greatly; Crono still had the usual humanoid legs of a demon and wasn’t nearly as stocky as Drake, despite being only a few feet shorter than him. Ferdan had been closely observing them since they had arrived here. It was rare for a human to be so close to such demons on an apparently friendly basis, he was utilising this opportunity the best he could, while still focusing on the pressing issues on hand.

  His attention changed to Ciel when he received a slight nudge before the demon leant in towards him. “Where’s Sakura and Amnur?” he asked quietly, trying not to pull the attention of the others. Despite what had happened they were in good spirits, he didn’t want to break that yet.

  “They went to check something, they should be back soon,” Ferdan smiled. Ciel knew he wasn’t telling the full truth to him. He wanted to go look for them, to ensure they were safe but he did not know the area, meaning he would just be a liability if he wandered off. Even if he was not Linlake’s leader he felt responsible for their well-being. His father had not sheltered him from what leading a race entailed. He knew from a young age his responsibilities to the race if he ever came into power, whether it temporarily or a more permanent basis. Amnur had been surprisingly welcoming to him, although he knew part of it was down to the situation that had been thrust onto them. They were willing to help, and that’s all that Amnur cared about. Sakura had just carried on as if their blood relations meant nothing, often opting to talk to him or Drake over any of the other demons that lived there. Her bright yet fierce personality always managed to cheer him up, making jokes about the terrible situation or the seemingly pointless banter she tossed at her father who threw it right back. They argued for the fun of it, nothing bad ever came of it.

  Ciel sighed. He worried for his own father and those who had become his close family. It would come as a surprise if these events were limited to the West.

  Ferdan patted the demon on the shoulder, comforting his increasingly worried state. “They’ll be fine, don’t worry,” he assured Ciel, obtaining a small smile from him.

  A loud thump against the door gathered their attention. Ciel signalled Drake, and they cautiously approached the doorway, Ciel taking the left with Drake on the right. With his dominant hand resting firmly on the hilt of a blade, he threw the door open and recoiled in shock. Sakura stood before them, still desperately carrying her father. Her front was saturated with blood, her wings fell limp and ripped, and raw fingers gripped tightly to her father’s lifeless body. On seeing them, she collapsed down. Her body would respond to her no longer, and her consciousness was fading fast. Ciel rushed out and caught her while Drake stopped Amnur’s limp body from hitting the floor. The onlookers merely stood there in shock, trying to take in what just happened.

  With a strong hit from his wing, Ciel slammed the door shut before turning his wings inward to cradle her freezing body, trying to grab back her consciousness. “Hey, hey, what happened?”

  Her eyes locked onto his but she managed no words. He could tell alone from the dullness of her usually bright eyes just how exhausted she was. Crono barked an order to the other demons that were inside the cabin to bring blankets, but it was unnecessary. They had already sprung into action, bringing every piece of cloth, leather or fur they could find.

  Ciel and Drake needed little recommendation to bring the injured pair near to the fire, where Ferdan rushed over to Sakura’s side. She saw him and weakly tried to indicate to her father, managing only to vaguely look in his direction. Ferdan appeared to recognise the indication though and changed his attention to Amnur.

  Horrified by what he saw, Ferdan quickly set to work healing up his wounds. It was a delicate process with such a sensitive target area.

  “He only just managed to survive. The area he sealed was starting to reopen,” he spoke aloud to the nearby crowd, stepping back now he had done the needed work. Crono walked up to Drake carrying a small bucket of warm water and a rag. The blood on Amnur’s body would have long since gone cold, and he wished to remove it. Seeing his close friend covered in blood was not an easy thing for him. Drake held him steady in the nook of his arm, and Crono set about softly wiping the blood from Amnur’s skin, a deeply pained expression held tight to his facial features.

  Once he had finished, he discarded the rag and bucket and fetched another set. It was purely a precaution, whatever had attacked them may have had venom or other toxins at its disposal, using the same dirtied rag and bucket could spread it to both of them. A towel and some blankets had been handed over to Drake which he used to dry and then wrap Amnur up into, before settling down beside the fire.

  Meanwhile, Ferdan had seen to Sakura’s wounds, the punctures on her chest had not hit anything notable, so it was a simple task to heal them back up. Her wings, however, were a different story, the membrane had become too cold and contracted, and it caused splits in the skin that ran up from the bottom. Until the skin warmed back up again there was little he could do to repair the damage, all he could do was soothe the raw cracks with salve. Her fingers were only slightly scraped and bruised, but the bitter conditions had made them frost nipped, and they would need to be warmed up quickly but gently. The armour on the top half of her body had become nearly frozen due to the blood that had seeped into it. It would be best to remove the piece to allow her to heat up.

  “We’ll need to remove her top,” Ferdan noted. The thought embarrassed Ciel. He was not keen on removing her armour without her permission, but she had since passed out, forcing the choice onto him. Ciel teased at the leather straps that kept the armour bound together, freeing them from their fastenings. Due to their wings, demon armour had to be made in a specific way; it was fastened at the sides and down the arms with thick thread or straps. Elongated slits in the back allowed the wings to be unhindered, but it left a vulnerability where the slits ended at the bottom of the armour, so a bottom set of straps were added to cover this problem up.

  Once he had loosened all the fastenings, he hooked his fingers under the ridge at the top of the wing slit and lifted the back piece free, before carefully removing the front piece.

  Her body was covered with two thick cloth straps that formed a cross-shaped pattern across her chest, it too had blood over it, but it was not yet frozen. Ferdan opted to let her keep it on, as he was not keen to face her anger over it being removed, nor did he want to make Ciel any more uncomfortable than he already was.

  Crono came over with the fresh bucket and wiped her chest clean of the blood, noting Ciel’s deeply worried look. There was more there in the boy’s expression than just worry for a friend, he actively felt for her. It was a strange one to pick considering the bad blood between th
e two families. He gently dried her body and handed Ciel some blankets, before turning to go and discard of both buckets and rags properly. Ciel wrapped her tightly in the blankets, laying her wings against her body before settling her in against him as he sat by the fire. He caressed her smooth and yet sharp face and let out a sigh. It was going to be a long drawn out night.

  Chapter 7: Unusual Alliances

  The East fared slightly better in the wake of the spires as the fierce storms rolled out slower across the wide plains, blanketing the horizon with a growing black mass. Far villages had decided it best to flee as soon as the threat emerged, causing a refugee crisis within Aelburn and Eriden. Shadekeep’s close settlements were enclosed within its sheltering forest; the situation had not yet deteriorated enough to require them to abandon their homes in favour of the solid walls of the keep.

  As the snow started to spread across the now fortified cities, strange creatures had started to emerge near to the enclosed walls. The attacks, however, were not immediately aggressive. It appeared that the creatures were testing the response and defences of the cities, trying to locate a hole to exploit. Where possible, they were dispatched where they stood. There had been a period of trial and error to discover effective weapons and strategies. The fact of their specific weak points and immunity to non-physical magic had been noticed quickly and with minimal casualties. To think the attacks would remain so subdued forever was a fool’s hope, but it was a hope they so desperately held onto. So far the creatures that had attacked were fairly easy to locate a weakness on; future opponents may not be so convenient during the heat of battle.