'Cling! clang, shling!'
My grey blade clangs and slithers across Rider's large two handed sword, I am only just able to deflect his surprisingly strong attacks
With each one of his slashes, he moves his whole body with it, pushing and twisting every part into a swift motion
I can see his muscles tense as he braces for a strong swipe
The sword glints in the midday sunlight as it swings towards me at a blinding speed
Just as the gleaming sword is about to cut into my arm, I will my mana out, creating a thick sheet of ice, but it was not enough. The edge shatters the ice and bounces the edge towards my face
Rider's eyes widen at this, he twists his body, driving the tip of the sword downwards at the last second
"Great Rider! Nice control, now, again!" Ms. Rhea yells out
I start coming towards him
"Chilled cut and smashing freeze, manifest a tool for my aid!"
A pair of small, icy stilettos manifest, rotating around my left hand as I start running towards Rider
With a finger gun, I fire the spinning blades towards him
He easily cuts them away with a circular twirl
But as his blade brushes the ground, I bring the butt of my own to push it further down
Catching him off guard, my plan succeeds. His weapon catches the ground, I begin to try to drive my sword into his side
But as I do, I look triumphantly at him, look him in his eyes… But I hesitate
I can see a slight glimmer of fear in them
Just what am I doing to my friend?
It has been…Gods, has it already been a year? The years had passed at a snails pace before, but I guess having a friend does make things easier. Maybe I have been having more fun than I realized
Our Mother's must of have started to catch on, because a few months ago, we started training together, alternating between Mother and Ms. Rhea leading for that day. Today was Ms. Rhea's turn, she usually commands us to verse each other in close combat until one of us falls to the ground from exhaustion first.
Rider takes my moment of empathy to deal a counter
I get the wind nocked out of me as he punches me in the gut, sending me crumpling into the ground
It may be a different opponent, but the results are the same
Just how many times am I going to get nocked on my butt in this dusty arena?
"And… That's game, good work you two" Ms. Rhea says, now marching towards me "Jace, you still have some work to do, work on your close qu-"
But the rest of her speech just gets muddled in my mind, just qualifying the noose hanging around my thoughts
"Alright! That was awesome! Did you see that? You made your ice, I really thought I was gonna loose with that, but then it was like 'Kerrash!" Rider joyfully exclaims, making an hacking motion in the air as he does "And I shattered it, and those little knives? Whoa, Awesome! Magic is so cool! I Just see new and new things from you and your ice every day! Can you show me how you do that! C'mon Jace, please? Please?!"
His puppy dog eyes look at me pleadingly
"Oh, right, here you go" Rider drops his sword, it clatters to the ground with a clang. He reaches out his hand to help me up
"Another time, sorry" I say shakily
"Oi, you two should get some rest, tomorrow' Ms. Rhea says with a, kind of scary grin "you'l both be facing me tomorrow, so go, go have fun"
That… Is definitely not scary… Not at all
"Hey" Rider says to me, putting one arm around my shoulder, stealing me out of ear shot of his mother "I was thinking of getting some more food for Ms. Eve and the others, I was thinking of some beef this time"
I brush his hand off me shoulder
"Another time Rider, I uh… I'm gonna… Go, sorry…"
"Oh, ok… I'll come with you"
"No, not this time, sorry"
Rider begins to look a little down "Ok then, see you tomorrow Jace" He then begins to walk back to his mother
I want to call out, apologize, but some invisible hand grabs that thought and pulls it back
I walked through town, my mud caked shoes sloshing through the brown sludge
Though the sun was high in the sky, it was a dark, grey day, probably from all the rain yesterday. It was the first time it had rained all day here, it makes me think of a story I read
Long ago, the god of the rain, Garp, was a merry sailor who fell in love with a mortal priestess, a worshipper of his mother, Aqis "The Pure", god of the ocean. They fell into a deep love, and went onto sail the seas together
But Aqis became furious, furious to get a priestess stolen from her, and furious that her son dared to lovingly look at another. In her rage, the seas boiled and churned, she killed the priestess, drowning her with a massive tidal wave and "purified" her
Garp cried, wailing into the night, his tears feeding weeks of a torrential down pour in the material plane, and became known as Garp "The Mourner"
But his father, the god of the wind, sad to see his son's tears, took pity on him. He plucked the lightning of his sky, and sparked life back into the priestess, resurrecting her as a demi-goddess, Jun "The Storm Bringer"
The two divine lovers reunite at last, Garp finally ending his torrential cries.
Since that day, when ever there is a significant loss in the world, Garp mourners for the worlds loss, his tears feeding heavy rains
I have never been to a funeral before, not in this life or before
But I get a sort of sense of Déjà vu, a sad little rock in my chest when I see it rain now
I just...
I don't know
Suddenly, a chill goes down my spine, a familiar sense of unease and nausea
"Oi! You little shite! C'mon here!"
I pass by an alley
This scene feels weirdly familiar
As I peer in, I can see a burly man rustling with a familiar looking kid, wrapped in tattered grey and black smock in the middle of the alley
It seems like one of those kids Rider and I keep steeling the food for got caught herself
I'm sure stuff like these happens often enough in this world
"Not my problem" I whisper to myself
What can I do? I can not even make a little mud to save my life
"Someone! Please! Help me!" I hear her scream out
"Shut up! No one's gonna help a hollow like you!"
Hollow?
I can hear the sounds of a struggle
She seems quite a few years younger than me
There has to be someone around here who hears this, right?
"Aw, fuck me"
I grab the piece of grey cloth that I have been using as a mask for Rider and I's "Heroic Escapades" and wrap it around my face, leaving a slit for only my eyes to be exposed. Then I grip the hilt of my short-sword tightly
"Hey!" I yell as I approach "Let her go!"
"And the hell's do you think you are kid! Some little shite that fancies himself a hero?" The man says tauntingly
The burley man grips the girl by the scruff of her smock, and throws her to one side, banging against the wall of a building
I guess Rider is rubbing off on me a little
"I am the grand Boreas" I say, unintentionally puffing out my chest a little
I drop to one knee
"Cool, slow and sliding: Tundra!"
My hand familiarly feels sucked to the ground, this time, the icy tendrils quickly shoot out of my hand, much faster than last time. Each one with their own tendrils coiling out from them, their icy fingers multiplying exponentially across the muddy road. Mabey I put a little more juice in this one than I intended
They grip and grow onto the mans legs, holding him in place as he struggles against the ice
I rush over to the girl
"This damned hollow is not worth the sweat boy, I'll make sure you disappear with them skanks!"
I can see his nose flare out like a bulls
"warmth in the icy blizzard, a flame to survive:Heat!" He snarls
His body begins to glow a faint orange, I can feel my lips begin to chap
My icy grip on the ground begins to melt, I freeze in my step, the girl is practically in arms reach
He stomps towards me, and pins me, throwing me up against the nearest wall
I try to unsheathe my grey blade, but he grips and twists my wrist, causing me to drop it, sticking up hilt first in the mud next to us
I see the girl get up and bang her fist against the mans side, but he just kicks her in the gut, sending her to the ground
"Now that I get a look at you" He forcefully grips my face "you're the Bell brat, aren't ya?"
He turns his head and spits onto the ground
"Well no matter, the hunt is coming, we'll purge all you people, especially" he look down onto the girl "Their filth from this town"
He releases my face
"Congratulations number two, you'll be the second person to die on our conquest, I'll get to number three" he kicks the crumpled girl, who lets out a painful moan
"In a minute"
He crouches down to pick up my short-sword, bringing it towards my throat
Fuck fuck fuck fuck!
what the hell?
Something, anything
I frantically look around
Um
Um
Uh?
Something
Anything!
My mind is racing
Searching
I can feel my heart beating through my chest
I'm too close to cast anything
I'm still a fuckin child, can't over power this fat ass
And why the fuck do I still feel like I am gonna puke my guts out!?
Um
Uh
I manage to begin to spurt out an incantation
"The waters of purity, frozen in time. An aegis-"
He looks at me confused as I chant
"-against the coming storm. Sheets of ice to protect the bosom of strength. Douse those in the-"
A light of recognition appears in his eyes
"-howling syzygy of snow with spears of ice: Silt Cloak!"
I can feel my body go numb, my throat becomes dry
Spiderwebs of frost cross my body, each one of our now heavy breaths forms sparkling strands of ice Infront of
My head becomes light from the strain, but I push through
I grip his arms, trying to keep my own blade as far away from me as I can. I can see the freezer burns form on his now reddened skin
The strands of frost spread onto his arms, slowly creeping up it
I start to kick him, each one feels sluggish
My mind feels like each thought is being drowned by a dense snow
I can hear he man begin to grunt in pain
I try to tighten my grip, to rip his arms off from my neck, to keep one of my only birthday presents from this world from skewering me
Horrifyingly, the arm holding my blade begins to crumble, the skin now a stark white
I can hear the sounds of ice shattering and snapping, as his wrist falls off from his arm
Where I had been holding has crumbled away in shards of pale and red
"whaahaaAA!" the man screams out in pain, gripping the stump of his arm, releasing me from the hold
I can see rage burn in his eyes "Damned brat! I will have you're head on a pike! I will be back for you two!" He begins to back out of the ally in the opposite end "I will hunt you and your family to the ends of the earth and shite on your corpses you damned Bells!"
He leaves the ally, trailing red as he does
I feel like I am going to pass out as I drop to my knees
I grasp around the ground until my fingers reach the leather bound hilt of my grey blade, horrifyingly, a little of hand still trying to grip on
Gingerly, I return it safely to it's sheathe
There is an impossibly long minute of silence
"Hey, are you okay?" I finally ask
I can see her heaving body as she cries
I get up with a groan, before squatting in front of her
Silently, she crawls onto my back, locking her hands around my neck
She feels impossibly light, unhealthily skinny
She continues to sob as I carry her out of the ally and into town
I could take her to the church, it is around the corner, they have skilled holy magic users and healers there. But that feels like it could have some problems or something
I think I heard about a clinic. It should be a fare distance away I think, I don't know how far away exactly, but I have to
I can barely think straight, every muscle in my body screaming, as if they each have been put through an insane workout
I can see towns people look on at us, some look worried, with fear in their eyes. Others, very few, look on with disgust. Either way, no one comes to help us
Time feels like it is moving at a snails pace, our town has never felt bigger.
After what feels like forever, I can finally see a small wooden building with a thatched roof, a hand painted-wooden red cross hanging above the door way
I guess some symbols are universal in every world
My body begins to give out, one leg at a time as I fall to my knees
Just as my vision is about to go black, I can see the body of a woman, wearing a long white gown, walk towards us
————————————————————
"Ah, there you go, morning; how you feeling?" There, leaning over me is a contrastingly soft smile of a rough looking man.
He is a young man(?) with crimson, almost scaled skin. A singular, goat like horn, twisting out of the right side of his forehead, peeking through his thick black hair. His blacks nails contrasting with the sleeves of his long white coat a he twirls a pair of vials between his fingers
He pokes my arm
"Hey, you hear me?"
"Um, I'm…"
But as I look at the pale linen sheets of the cot I am in, I can only help but feel… Just tired,
I would have imagined I would feel sore and beaten, feel some kind of pain that would have been masked by my adrenaline. But I feel
"I'm ok, tired, still really nauseous but ok"
My voice feels weak and groggy
"Where am I?"
"Oh, sorry" The devil stands up, his thin, pitch-fork tail peaking out from underneath his lab coat
"I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Fallen, Fallen Loyde, welcome to my cli-"
"Can't you tell what a clinic looks like boy?" a women's voice cuts in, firm and cutting. And out steps a women to match
She is a thin, fairly tall women wearing a long, hanging white gown. Her blonde hair hanging loose over the collar, hiding her impossibly pale skin
But what stands out the most is her eyes
Her blood red eyes seem to look at every inch of my body at once, like a soldier, waiting for their opponent to strike or an opening to kill
"And you, Lady Reinhart, should be in bed" Fallen says, briskly walking over to her before stopping in front of her
"Also, don't go talking to him like that, you'll go scaring off my patients! Maybe your the reason I don't get many" He says scoldingly, wagging his finger at her
My body tenses, It's as if I'm watching some pedestrian walk into the lion enclosure at a zoo, I'm waiting for her to bite his finger off
But surprisingly, her face softens a little
"You are right" She turns to face me "I must apologize"
She turns to me "I am sorry" giving a slow bow as she says it
She walks over to sit by the bed
I can see Fallen fumble around with some vials and glasses in a cabinet in the far end of the room, looking for something
"You really got to work on that more, that whole stern thing, no wonder Akari doesn't visit as often anymore, though you did surprise me when you carried him and the girl in… Also, what were you doing outside? I thought I told you to stay here while I was out" Fallen says absentmindedly, now making way to the door of the room
"It was a sort of feeling, I thought it was sunny out, so I went out for a wal-"
Then I finally remember something, cutting her off
"Right! The girl! Where is she? Is she okay?"
I can hear Fallen yelling from another room "Ya, I patched her up, she was pretty beaten up" He pokes his bead back through the door frame " I had to practically peel her off of you"
Then disappearing once more
Sort of frantically, I look around the room, until I spot some movement from under the sheets
I lift them up, revealing the small frame of the girl clinging onto me, now wearing a light yellow dress. Her long, dirtied golden hair laying on her back, obscuring her face. She is calmly sleeping, using me as a pillow
A heavy sense of relief lifting from my shoulders as I let my head fall back limply onto the pillow
I look down at her, I can't help but find her adorable
I was an only child in my past life, I'm still one in this life too, It is quite lonely at times
I was weirdly envious of my friends who had siblings, despite hearing their "horror" stories of them, I couldn't help but wish for one, though that never happened
I would of loved to have someone like her to spoil, there's a deep part of me that just wants to protect someone like her
I think all this while stroking her hair, the women eyeing me suspiciously
"Did you do this to her?" she asks
"No!" I say louder than I expected, catching myself by surprise
"Good" she says, crossing her legs "You may call me Ms. Reinhart or Ms. Misha by the way, none of that lady business"
"Why would I do that?" I ask
I can see a quick glimmer of anger in her eyes, but it is quickly quenched
"Well, you were born a little before I took my leave, I will give you that. That doesn't matter"
She feels weirdly familiar, but I can not put my tongue on it
"So, who did this to you boy?"
"It was... It was nobody" I mutter
"Can nobody break three ribs in this poor girl? Can three ribs make you, a healthy young boy, nearly dead from mana exhaustion? Stop lying boy and tell the truth"
I hesitate to speak
"It was this fat man, he called her a 'hollow' or something said 'the hunt' was coming. He didn't escape unscathed"
She grabs my wrist firmly. I recoil a little
It had stopped stroking the girls hair. It continued to shakily open and close in Ms. Misha's grip
She releases me, grabbing my hand instead, softer this time
"I am sure he did. I apologize for my rudeness, I'm sure you're mother taught you well, I would be surprised if he still had a hand"
I wince as I hear that
"Oh" she says "How interesting, I would of loved to see that"
"Hey! What did I say? No scaring my patients!" Fallen says, coming back in, holding something surprising
He is holding a catheter and IV bag, made out of what looks like animal parts
"Move you" He says to Ms. Misha, using a showing motion with his full hands
She begrudgingly does so
"Alright, this should help speed up your mana recovery. I can't really help with the nausea as long as this little one is clinging onto you. Alright, let's get this thing in you"
Wait, what? what does he mean? I have so many questions
He flicks is hand, with a popping sound, he summons a small steel scalpel
"Okay, chew on this" He says, rummaging around in a pocket before producing a small circular leaf, and placing it in my open palm. He looks at me expectingly
"What is it?" I ask
"Has a bunch of names I think, the leaf of the Para root I think, I always called it numb-mint. What about you Lady Reinhart?"
Ms. Misha gives him a look before answering, "we used strength, not tricks"
"Ok than" Fallen mutters under his breath
I put the leaf in my mouth and chew it. Fallen's name for it is very literal, it tastes sort of like mint tooth past, the heavy duty kind dentists use, where the flavor is very over powering
But as I chew, it tastes like the mint keeps getting stronger and stronger, almost making me want to gag
"Is it strong yet?" he says beginning to tie a cord tightly on the upper part of his arm
"Uh, ya"
"Okay, now swallow it"
As I gulp down it, I can feel as it travels down my throat until landing heavily in my stomach
"Can you feal this?"
"Uh, no. What did you- Ahhh!"
The fuck?!
Looking down to my arm, I can see the scalpel stabbed into my arm, standing straight up
"Uhaah, what the hell did you do to me?"
"You didn't feal it right? See" He flicks it with a finger, causing it to sway back and forth
"ghu, don't do that!"
"It's fine" he tries to reassure me "The roots, is a powerful paralytic, do you know what that means? it can cause your body to go limp. It's leaves, luckily, is much weaker, only removing pain, and making you bleed less, up to a certain depth in the body at least. letting me do my work"
As he says that, I notice that I can't feel a thing, even the little girl sleeping on top of me. I can still move my arms, but I can no longer feel the sheets on my legs and feet
He begins to enlarge the cut a little made from the scalpel sticking out of my arm, sliding the open end of the tube of the catheter into my arm. Using a small clear thread, he ties up the incision and sucres it to my arm.
"All done, see?" he says, placing the bag on a hook on the wall, above my head
"Wow"
"I know right? I would like you to stay for another day, let my 'magic' really settle in and work"
And with that, he stands up and begins to leave the room
"wait, what do you mean?" I hastily ask, trying to stop him in his tracks
"What? OH! you see, the root uses your circulatory system to get to the nervous system, which then num-"
"No" I interrupt him "About the nausea thing"
"Oh, you hadn't noticed? She was born as an 'Anti-mag"
"What do you mean?" I ask, setting my hand back on the little girls head
"You really don't know boy?" Ms. Misha asks me "I would of Imagined you stumbled on this by now"
"Well, you see" Fallen sits on the edge of my bed "Our mana originates from a man called Mithris 'The Mad', our lovely god of magic. You see, he likes to experiment with things: Lycanthropy, Vampirism, the Eldritch parasites, hell, even the entire category of monsters known as aberrations. All were formed from his mind and power" Fallen says, tapping his forehead
"One of which, was the Anti-Magic curse. You know how we all posses some amount of magic right?"
"Right"
"Everything has it, us, beasts, monsters, even rocks, all have some amount of mana. He was able to curse the birth of some people, turning them into unique creatures. One of his greatest experiments was this curse, creating things born with zero mana, unable to cast, or be affected by magic, including healing magic, so it was a good thing you brought her here instead of to the priests. That unease, well, nausea for you, is because of that. Luckily, it gets better the more your around them, so I imagine you should be fine in few days as long as she keeps clinging onto you like that"
He gets up again
"It's strange, I thought the last anti-mag's that lived here left a few years ago, though I don't know why, many people hate them just because of that unease by being near them, so it's a little surprising to see her"
"wait!" I call out again "why is it good I came to you? You didn't use magic?"
"Nope, I'm an apothecary, trained to study the body and take care of it without magic. Now shut up, sleep. You don't want to wake her up do you?"
"Ok" I sheepishly say, bringing the blanket back up to cover us
"Get some sleep, Especially you" Fallen says, now pointing accursedly at Ms. Misha "How many times do I have to tell you, you shouldn't even be on your feet, out!"
Ms. Misha lets out a "hmph" with a frown, before exiting the room, fallen closing the door behind her
I lay in the creaky bed in silence, trying not to move, now hyper aware of my current status as "Pillow"
My mind is racing, there is so much I want to think about, so much I feel like I HAVE to think about, but my head still feels a little foggy
But along with my body, I feel like this is a strange opportunity to fully-for the lack of the ability to think about about another word in this scenario-numb
With that final thought, I fall into a deep sleep