“So, I like the new look. Is that big thing shooting fire everywhere out there with you?” Rolwen said, breaking the ice in regards to all the changes that seem to have gone on with Tia.
“His name is Tadalin. He’s a Zu I tamed over in the nearby swamplands.” Tia said.
Wait… did she just say that was a Zu? That sounded very familiar… wait!
“We just heard about the Zu!” Levin said. “The mages here told us they couldn’t be tamed because they were half divine or something like that!”
“Yes. You won’t be able to tame them without having divinity in your bloodline yourself.” Tia explained. “Since I am a higher order of divine beast than them, and I also managed to pick up the Hidan bloodline, it was no trouble at all for me to tame him. Although, he hasn’t exactly learned subtlety yet. He’ll destroy everything if I let him fight in the city, so he’ll be messing with the gnomes in the watchtowers while we’re on the move.”
“I found Asa earlier and coordinated with her.” Tia continued. “She seems to be their primary target, so she’s going to be acting as a shadow support for us. We won’t be meeting her directly. In the meantime, I’m supposed to be with you two. So then, with the little details out of the way, what’s the full story with this kid here?”
Terlu seemed scared stiff when Tia motioned in his direction.
“Well, it’s complicated.” Rolwen said. “I’m sure you already noticed he’s from Earth like us, otherwise you wouldn’t have been ordering him around in English. He’s with the demons under duress. They have a friend of his as a hostage, apparently also from Earth.”
“Dur-ess? I don’t think I know that word, but I can guess the meaning.” Tia said. “Anyway, I see what you mean by him being ‘sort of’ a friend.” After this, she directed her gaze toward Terlu and her features suddenly turned threatening.
“Well then, in deference to Levin’s and Rolwen’s judgement, I guess I shouldn’t take any action against you. I will be taking some of your blood though. Earth is the only element I don’t have a sub-elemental tier bloodline in yet.”
“Whah?!” Terlu squeaked as Tia roughly grabbed his arm and then bit into it.
After taking a good mouthful of blood, Tia immediately dropped him.
“I have a power that can heal you, but I won’t be using it. Given your situation, you are far better off being left injured. This way, you won’t look suspicious, and you can also have an excuse to keep away from the front lines in the events that are about to unfold. And I do very much suggest that you keep away. You ought to be able to enter the underground by going straight down through this crystal wall, although you will probably weaken it in the process. If you don’t want the other demons getting mad at you, perhaps you could go through one of the bare earth inside one of the houses. It should be a little tougher, but still not as bad as going through that carpet of spirit grass Asa planted. But, whatever you do, do not leave the perimeter of the wall. Tadalin will kill you.” Tia said in a direct and very crisp manner with the air of a commander.
“Levin, Rolwen, let’s go! I will explain the rest of the plan on the way!” Tia barked and then walked out of the crystal tunnel and into the city, leaving Terlu to cradle his bleeding arm. She’d really done damage with that bite. It looked like she had stopped just shy of actually pulling out a chunk of flesh along with that blood.
Levin gave Terlu a long uncertain look, while Rolwen approached and patted the injured boy on the shoulder.
“Sorry about her, but, she’s right. If what you told us is true, she probably just did you a favor.” He says.
Terlu just grunts and shakes his head.
“Don’t worry about it. This isn’t the first time I’ve had something like this done to me by someone who’s supposed to be an ally. Things get pretty fucked up down there in the underworld. I’ll be able to recover.” He said, sounding somehow more courageous now, injured and getting left behind, than he did at any time in their interactions before now.
“Heh. Right. Well, trust me on this one. Things are really not all that much better up here. I mean, they are better, but not by a lot.” Rolwen said and then started to walk ahead after Tia. “Come on Levin.” He said in a strong voice as he also marched out of the tunnel.
Levin gave Terlu one last pained look, before scrambling after the other two.
By the time the two of them caught up with Tia, they saw her in a battle-ready pose. By the time they located the red-robed figure who was the target of her attention, Tia was already appearing at the location over a hundred feet away as though she had teleported. A half second later, there was a powerful BOOM that rocked the houses around them and echoed off the crystal walls several times as they heard the reverberations bouncing back at them.
The red-robed gnome was sent flying through the air by whatever Tia had just done, making a direct line toward the wall on the opposite end of the city. The man hit the wall with so much force that the crystal shattered. A cascade of fragmented red gemstone cascaded down to the ground below in an avalanche.
The gnome’s body had not penetrated all the way through the red crystal, but a fairly large chunk of the inner layer had been sluffed right off and had become a pile of rubble on the outskirts of the town near the waterfront.
Immediately after this, Tia crouched down as though she was in pain.
Levin and Rolwen looked at one another for a moment, and then took off at a run. Tia was visibly clutching one arm which lay limp by her side as she knelt to the ground. As they got close to her, it was clear it was mangled and appeared to have several new “joints” where joints did not belong on an arm.
“Oh shit!” Rolwen cursed and then crouched down next to her.
“I’ll recover.” Tia grunted. “We need to get to cover. Between that just now and the noise Tadalin was making outside the wall, they’re going to be all over this area soon.”
As she was talking, Tia grabbed her own wrist, just below one of the places where her arm had cleanly snapped, and pulled at her arm.
*Girk!* Tia grunted and stiffened as she manipulated her broken bone.
“Here, I’ll help! I’m trained in emergency field medicine.” Rolwen said as he scrambled over and knelt next to Tia. He brushed Tia’s hand aside, and then grabbed locations immediately above and below the break, and then pulled them apart, allowing him to straighten the alignment of the bones into the proper shape an arm is supposed to have. “Do you, need blood or something?” He asked.
“You can take mine.” Levin eagerly volunteers.
Tia was quiet for a moment, before she finally responded. “You will need to set all of the breaks first.” She said.
“Alright.” Rolwen said. “I’ll work quickly. We will be able to move faster if you are back in full health. This is going to hurt.”
Tia just grunted in acknowledged. “Guess my fresh high-level earth bloodline was not enough to get my physical body to the same state as these enemies who have lived with it all their lives.” She observed bitterly as Rolwen set about his rough medical work.
“How did you move that fast anyway?” Rolwen asked as he was working, probably wanting to provide a distraction as much as he wanted information.
“It was a spell Terri came up with.” Tia explained. “He called it sub-light move. It, gah! It… it moves you at a fraction of the speed of light.” She explained between grunts of pain. “It… it is very physically damaging to the person who uses it. The body is not meant to move that fast. I just used the deci-milli setting. That was… one ten-thousandth of the speed of light. I thought the earth element I just picked up should let me handle it… well, it actually did, but my fist met something that was just too hard for me to be hitting.”
“Heh, yeah. I’ll say. Is there a micro setting?” Rolwen asked.
“*tssst!* Ahh… yeah.” Tia grunted.
“Well, maybe you should stick to that one next time. Another one-hundredth slower. Doctor’s orders.” Rolwen quips. “Ok, this is the last one.” He says, and then straightens the last point where Tia’s bones are broken and badly displaced, to a similar amount of pained grunting on her part.
“Alright.” Levin said and quickly thrust his wrist in front of Tia, who doesn’t even hesitate to bite down on it.
Levin grunts in pain, but Tia quickly stands and pulls a bit of blood from her mouth on a finger to feed back to Levin, instantly closing his wound and erasing the very blood-loss he’d just experienced.
“Jeez! You had really messed yourself up! I swear, the only reason none of those bones broke the skin is because your skin is just so damn tough!” Rolwen said in exasperation after finally completing the job.
Tia gave a test-flex of her arm and seemed satisfied.
“Alright, thanks for the help. We have to move now.” Tia said, raising to a standing position.
“Right.” Rolwen nodded, similarly shaking off his own frayed nerves at the grizzly work he’d just been doing.
Levin made no complaint or comment and simply followed the two of them.
***
[Thank you, Eirlathion. It looks like Tia has made a move, and mother is safe in the center. I would like for you to stay here while I continue to distract them. I can’t stay here long or else they will most likely attack here, so I will be going.]
I spoke with Eirlathion on board the large ship that was in the middle of the cut-off section of water. It seemed the ship was owned by a number of human mages, and they had some interesting information to share. Most important among that information was the fact that they’d actually met Levin and Rolwen. In fact, they were even aboard this ship as the walls were coming up.
The mages seemed rather interested in me after I had boarded as well. Eirlathion had apparently let slip that I was the one who taught Levin and Rolwen the more unique aspects of their magic knowledge, and that my lessons came from a magic tradition on Earth where I was from. Going by the way they looked at me, I would say the only reason they weren’t all over me and twisting my arm to go to their academy was due to the demons chasing me. I’d gotten the impression that, if not for that, even my grey-elven heritage would not have gotten in the way.
[Asaren.] Eirlathion called to me as I was turning to leave. [I know you are capable, but… it really is not right for you to be the one out there fighting while I am here in a place of safety. I would like to help in any way I can.]
[You can help by keeping safe.] I told him, giving him a very hard stare in the face. [I can move faster and remain undetected alone, and if you are with me then it is likely they will use you as a hostage. I am the target. They will not kill me. However, they will have no hesitation to kill you. The only thing that would even slow them down is the thought that they might be able to hold you against me. Staying here really is the single best thing you can do in order to help me.]
I sighed and looked out over the side of the ship. I was still short enough that the guard-railing was higher than my head, but I could still see out and glimpse the tallest buildings or those on higher ground by being a few steps back from the side.
[Eirlathion. I know you are old enough to know the wisdom in my words. Please. I know you are a good person. You are the one who reached out a hand to protect us from the entire village back before you even knew we had memories from a past life. That… was very special to me and Tia… Tia actually called you father to us once before she left, you know?]
[Asaren, I…]
[It is because we think so much of you that it will be a weakness if you put yourself in danger!] I turned back and looked him hard in the eye. [Eirlathion, I need your word that you will stay right here on this ship!]
Eirlathion sighed. [Very well, Asaren. I swear I will prioritize my own safety in the interest of not allowing myself to be used as a weapon against you. I swear that I will keep myself safe, not moving to act in a way that will place you in danger. I swear I will remain upon this ship so long as it remains the safest place for me to be, because I know that my being in danger will in turn endanger you.]
I looked up in surprise and appreciation after hearing the thrice-sworn oath. To a fey, this was effectively an unbreakable oath. And proving his wisdom, he even modified the oath to follow the spirit of what I was really asking him to do while providing himself with the wiggle room to abandon this ship if following the letter of my request to him would suddenly place him in danger.
I couldn’t help it after hearing something like that. I walked to him and wrapped my arms around his mid-section, having to reach up just to do so due to my small stature.
[Thank you, Eirlathion. This truly puts my mind at ease. I will be able to fight a lot more effectively now thanks to this.]
Eirlathion gently stroked my hair in response, and I looked up to see him smiling.
[Asaren. I only swore that oath because I knew the truth in the words you spoke. In return, I need you to understand the other side of that oath. It was made with the understanding that you will also be doing the best you can to keep safe as well.]
[I understand.] I said. [And, Eirlathion.] I gave him a serious look as I separated from the hug. [I agree with Tiaren. You really are a father to us. I have begun to think the same of you. I swear, I will also keep myself safe.]
Patreon
