Rine’s rapid breathing slowed to its regular pace after resting for a couple of minutes. ‘Thank Aria it’s not back.’ He thought as he ripped a piece of his sleeve off. Wincing in pain, he wrapped his bleeding arm with the cloth. Soon the blue robe was dyed red with blood ‘But it will do for now.’
Having done what he had to, he sat back down and began to think about his options. On one hand, he could return to Phentar which would be the safest thing to do; on the other, he could return to the battlefield to help Silva and the others. Rine’s heart swayed towards the latter despite knowing of the burden he could be placing on Silva. ‘But am I really still a burden?’ He looked at his uninjured hand as he thought back to his last attack. He could still remember the feeling of the wolf’s teeth scraping against his arm as he shoved his fist down its throat. The feeling of having a desperate, last-ditch effort plan come together brought shivers down his spine.
“Maybe, just maybe….” He muttered to himself. “I may be able to make a difference.” He stood to his feet.
Just as he was about to leave, he was blindsided by the appearance of an impossibly bright pillar of light off into the distance. Rine’s eyes widened in awe. “Wow.” He said subconsciously. He wondered what type of spell could produce such a result. Even the druid’s pure light spell would need massive amounts of Origin to mimic that pillar.
Rine snapped out of his daze as he thought ‘I don’t have time for this, I need to set off.’
He ran back towards the battlefield he deserted.
…………………………………………
The transparent old man yawned as he gazed at William lazily. “So you’re the first late-stage Core Refiner to visit my tomb huh? Well if you’ve got questions, go ahead and ask. It’s not like I have anything better to do.” Even though he was talking to William, the old man’s eyes never left Triste’s long and slender legs.
William, having seen all of this, pretended to not notice it as he continued calmly. “Sir is absolutely correct, I am in fact a late-stage Core Refiner. Thank you for the opportunity to ask questions.”
“Mmmmm.” The old man nodded as he kept looking towards Triste.
“How did sir die?”
“Old age.”
“Oh…….”
“My second question then sir. At what year did you die?”
“227th year of Carnak’s calendar.”
William's face stiffened greatly. Disbelievingly, he asked “You’ve been buried for over 400 years?”
The old man’s head turned as if on a swivel, as he finally looked towards William for the first time. “What nonsense are you spouting kid? What year is it?”
“It’s the 267th year of the prosperous era.”
“Prosperous Era? Who the fuck named it that? How many years have passed since Carnak’s lineage?”
A vein popped on William’s forehead. “Great king Albert who is the father of Jonathan, the current king of Verlau, started the blessed era after killing the final descendant of Carnak during the 382nd
and final year of their era. It was also king Albert who named the blessed era.”
The old man looked stunned as he heard William's words. “Albert, that brat reached the creationist stage?”
“Of course, every king of Verlau has to be at the peak of magic, as only such an individual is fit to rule,” William said with pride.
The old man did not reply and simply stared off into the distance as if to contemplate a troubling matter.
“On to my final question.” William’s tone suddenly turned sharp as his eyes gleamed dangerously. “Under whose faction do you belong?”
The old man turned back towards the magician. His eyes grew hazy as if remarking on the vicissitudinous nature of time. Now more than ever he looked like a wizened old man. “So we are still asking that question huh?”
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing.” Looking at William, the old man sighed. “Go home kid, hunting the resistance is… well, it’s just sad.”
William’s smile did not change as he began to rile up his refined origin. The atmosphere around him grew solemn and noble.
“late-stage core refinement, impressive for your age.”
“Thank you, sir. But for the record, that method of strength determination is outdated, these days we mainly use the grade system.”
“Must you do this?” the old man stroked his beard.
“It is my mission.” His energy was soaring wildly now, the usually invisible energy began to glow faintly from the sheer amount of it.
“Alright then. I’m sure you know that normal spells are useless against me.”
“Of course, sir is a spirit and thus he must be dealt as with as one” William said as he touched the ring on one of his fingers. A faint light flashed briefly as a book appeared on top of his hand. The book's cover was black, and with the stark lack of a title or words of any kind, it gave off an eerie feel.
Placing the book flat upon his palm, William spoke pleasantly “Well. It’s been fun speaking senior. Thank you for your guidance.” The book, as if moved by an invisible hand, began to furiously flip through its pages. The book stopped upon reaching the center of its text.
“Gonna need something stronger than that kiddo.”
The book flipped a single page forward as William maintained his amicable smile.
“Cheeky cheeky…” The old man murmured as he began to stare off into the distance.
William knew that the old man was bluffing. Having fought numerous spirits before, he knew that they were powerless. While yes, they could not be affected by spells or physical force, they were also incapable of inflicting these forces on others. In short, they were tough to finish off but easy to deal with.
William began to chant the incantation beneath his breath as his energy churned according to the model. He was at first unaccustomed to using models and spells, as he had lived his entire life without them, but he grew more familiar the more spirits he banished.
Finally done with the casting, he pointed towards the spirit and uttered “{Banish}!”
Concentrated amounts of origin began to collect around his finger. The atmosphere around them seemed to dim as a grating sound assaulted their senses, it resembled the sound of heavy chains scraping across the floor.
Suddenly, the sounds stopped as silence blanketed the group of magicians and a spirit.
The old man maintained a calm smile throughout.
Without warning, heavy black chains burst from the ground as they violently made their way towards the old man. The sound of wind ripping issued from the chains as they neared their defenseless looking target. They grew to resemble fangs more than they did chains, and they finally made contact with him.
Just as a certain chain touched the old man, his calm face flashed with a hint of annoyance as he swatted the air in front of him in a manner resembling how one would kill a fly.
Miraculously the heavy chains shattered as if made of thin glass, and the atmosphere returned to normal almost instantly
“Impressive” William said plainly as he wiped the blood off his mouth. “Forgive me for underestimating you. Allow me to rectify that.” The book began to furiously turn once more before stopping on the final page.
“I’ll have to trouble you two slightly,” William told Triste and Amy, who began to funnel most of their origin reserves towards him.
Unlike the previous spell, no notable change occurred to the surroundings.
“Ooh, quite an impressive spell you got there boyo. Though I must remind you of how bad the backlash is going to be when I dismantle it.”
William’s face stiffened slightly as he heard the old man’s nonchalant words ‘Where does he get the confidence from?’ He knew the old man was sufficiently strong during his life as evidenced by the fact his spirit was able to so easily destroy the previous spell. ‘At least ninth grade, or maybe even the tenth.’ The Spirit Rending book he carried in his hand was a relic of ancient times, an era where the dead roamed freely on the living’s land. This book was made for the specific purpose of dealing with lingering spirits and lost souls ‘Yet he so easily overpowered it. Could he be…? No, preposterous. If he was he would definitely be an esteemed character and would not be buried in some unmarked grave.’
The spell neared completion and William chose to not dwell on the matter further ‘I’ll know soon enough.’
Abruptly, William’s soaring aura disappeared. Behind him, thousands of needles sparkled under the moon's light. “{Banish}” William said softly to himself.
All the needles pointed their tips towards the spirit in unison. The sight of that many needles moving in tandem would send shivers down anyone’s spine. Slowly a single needle separated from the group as it made its way towards the spirit.
The spirit stared at the sole needle with amusement as swatted the air next to him. The sound of glass breaking sounded as the figure of a needle appeared and disintegrated in an instant. “Extremely amusing spell, but I can’t be bothered to deal with the spikes individually.”
For the first time in a long time, William felt panicked. ‘No no, he can’t be. What is he doing here? No, I won’t accept it. NO!’ His hands glowed with a mystical light as he began to gesture towards the spirit. All the needles disappeared simultaneously ‘I’ll disorientate him with numbers.’
“Nice try.” The spirit waved his hands with a bit more force, and a gale exploded forth from his hand. The wind swiped away the broken needles like a summer wind carrying freshly cut grass.
As the commotion died down the old man struck the air beside him one final time, and a needle revealed itself.
“Dammit!” Blood gushed from William’s mouth as he felt the recoil from the spell’s destruction. This was the price that had to be paid for using specialized magic types. He attempted to compose himself to no avail. He had about one-twentieth of his origin left. “We’re leaving. Triste, the spell.” He told the female magicians.
Triste began to chant a spell as wind gathered around the three magicians.
“Going so soon? Unfortunately, I can’t let you do so.”
“And how do you intend to stop me, spirit? Even if you were once a Creationist level magician, you’re nothing more than a spirit now.”
“Who said I’ll be doing anything?”
The sound of an explosion suddenly emanated from the surrounding trees and William felt a sense of danger. Hastily he used his origin to manifest thick walls that surrounded him quickly.
After a few seconds, he noticed that nothing touched his walls and thus he dispelled them. Finding the matter odd he turned to face the female magicians “Did you two notice any-“ But before he could continue he noticed the odd look on Triste’s face as she stared at Amy’s chest ‘She should not be able to show any emotions. Did my word binding run out?’ But he found an answer to his question as he stared at Amy. Dead center on her chest, a bloody hole was suddenly carved. Amy’s emotionless face was pale as she struggled to stay standing.
“What a waste of talent. She would have been a very beautiful woman if given the chance to grow.” The spirit said with genuine sadness.
As William was preoccupied with trying to discern what happened, he felt gusts of wind buffet against his face “Triste, no!” But it was too late as she activated her spell and sped away in a flurry of wind. She headed towards the direction of the booming sound.
William stood in a daze as he attempted to process what just happened. In an extremely short amount of time, things turned from a standard spirit hunt into a complicated mess.
“Senior is so cunning, to be able to set up such an elaborate trap.” His once calm and soothing voice now dripped with venom.
“So tell me, senior, what does a Creationist level magician want with a humble parsonage such as I?”
…………………………………………
