Chapter 15 - The Wraith

Fise pocketed both Emergency Boxes and went over to Ann's tent.

"Ann, we need to go."

"Wait, why-"

"There's a wraith. Come." Fise opened the tent and Ann got out. Fise grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes, which he had to tilt his head a bit to see.

"Promise me you will close your eyes."

"Sure." Ann closed her eyes. Fise went over to the other tent and picked up Instructor Srap the same way Seah did. He then went and grabbed Ann, who put her hand over her eyes, by the wrist and began pulling her into the forest. He used his other hand to get his emergency box and talk to Andrew.

"Where's the wraith?"

A response came 10 seconds later.

"3 o'clock of our camp is the river, the wraith is upstream that, towards 12 o'clock."

"Is 12 o'clock Ann and Seah's tent?"

"Yeah. Go downriver as much as possible and we'll meet up. We need to fight it." A chill went up Fise's spine.

"What the hell?! No! Get away from it, you can't beat a wraith!'

There was no response.

"Andrew this isn't a joke! I know you still haven't healed!"

There was no response.

"Shit."

"They'll be fine, Seah will make sure he won't die."

"Yeah..."

They walked in silence. Fise wasn't thinking about anything as they kept walking. Worry spread throughout him. Yes, he knew Andrew and Seah are strong, and yes they did come out from fights unscathed, but he still worried. He worried because he wasn't there. Everytime Andrew was attacked to Fise's knowledge, he was there, and same with Seah. He never sat on the sidelines and watched. Should he leave Ann and Instructor Srap and help Seah and Andrew? 'No, you f*cking idiot!' he answered himself immediately. Seah and Andrew can handle themselves, Ann and Instructor Srap couldn't, at least not as much especially since one is unconscious and the other is susceptible to shrouds. Fise suppressed a shiver thinking about them. The shrouds left them alone at night when they were getting to Incip, since they offered nothing to give them but a quick death. But he remember having nightmares wake him up in the night of him getting hit and killed by a wraith. Fise shuddered remembering the power of the wraith he met before. He did not want anyone to fight something like that, Guarded or not.

'They will be fine.'

Andrew looked down at himself, seeing the branches and splinters stuck in him z blood pouring out. He wasn't fine. He lay in the crater with shattered trees laying around. He saw Seah throw some aura punches that only annoyed it and then her barely dodging a large swipe from it. The wraith seemed to roar. It had one giant eye at the top, and the tentacles that looked like arms sticking out opposite sides of the body. Shrouds strode around the woods near it. It sometimes absorbed some and the visible damage will dissappear. Andrew began standing up, feeling the shattered ribs stab out of his skin and his legs roar in pain to protest their movement. Andrew stood up. His aura was weaker from sending continuous aura punches and trying to burn the wraith. Shrouds felt like clouds when he attacked them, but wraiths only felt like that for a bit before it began getting more and more solid until nothing could get through it. The bottom of it was spilled on the floor, breaking and eating anything it traveled over.

Andrew coiled aura around his legs and leapt. He needed a way to damage it and he only had one idea. Black flames began to surround him as he descended onto to the behemoth. He crashed into the bottom of it and sent flames into it, along with his aura. It burned it as fast as it did aura. Andrew realised something, laying on the forest floor, after talking to Fise, probably the only person he could trust here, and that was his ability wasn't it the opposite of auras. Auras were in some way related to creation magic, Andrew realised after witnessing Ann's ability. He felt that the magic was familiar, his aura reaction to it. Shrouds were the opposite of creation.

They were made to destroy, and only by taking someone's power or soul or whatever did they get stronger, and then by mixing together. His flames weren't the opposite of creation magic, it was the absence of any magic. When auras and therefore creation magic interacted with shrouds they both got destroyed, total annihilation, just like when matter and antimatter touch. But when his flames touch something made from creation or destruction (as he decided to name what shrouds were made of) magic, they ate away at it, even multiplying. His flames was the absence of magic, his flames were devoid of any creation or destruction, his flames were like an endless void, nothing was made there, but nothing was destroyed either. As to where the objects go, or even people, he likes to think they die, to make it better to think about it.

The flames burnt and ate at the wraith. It had no way to stop it and it let out another roar.

Fise heard a roar and turned towards it. It was close. He began to walk faster, Ann holding the same pace even blind. Fise began to hear the river and started to think. Where was he going? He left to get Ann and Instructor Srap away from the wraith, and they had to cross the river, since going in the complete opposite direction of the wraith will mean it could only catch up easier. But where was he going? Just going away from the wraith wasn't enough, since it had the same problem as heading directly away from it, and crossing the river, especially with someone blind and another unconscious, was going to take time. Fise looked up and saw the hills in the distance. That was his destination. He had to get to steeper ground, just to lose the wraith or even slow it as they waited for reinforcements from base. He walked towards the river.

They got to the bank and Fise looked at it, trying to see any place where they could cross easier. He saw some stones sticking out and and placed his hand into the water. It was shallow, but the water is fast and it must be deeper in the middle of the river than near the banks. The wraith roared again. They didn't have time. Quickly, Fise dragged Ann into the water, fighting the cold of it. She yelped as the water touched her.

"Its damn cold!" she exclaimed.

Fise kept going. The bank on the other side was only 10 meters away by his estimate. The water was just above his knees, and he was close to the middle. They will make it.

The wraith barely missed Andrew, its arm digging into the ground and upheaving the earth, throwing it down the river. It brought its arm back again, the other one keeping Seah at bay. Her ability allowed her to protect herself but it didn't have much effect on the wraith with its immense strength. It swung again and missed, Andrew diving down from the tree he was standing on, now gone from the wraith's hit. He dashed forwards and pushed into its base. fire burning. His lungs where breathing quickly and his throat was making a scratchy noise as he breathed. Sweat poured from his forehead and drenched him. He had to kept moving, fearing if he didn't, he would just collapse.

Seah couldn't keep this up much longer. Her left leg was impaled by a branch launched from one of the wraith's shots. She was running out of aura, and Andrew seemed to be doing the same. They were scouting the area for danger when Andrew called for help on his Emergency Toy. Seah rushed over to find him downed, and engaged the wraith. After only a few minutes of fighting and she was at the end of her ropes. They needed to hold the wraith off long enough for Ann to get far enough away to not attract it, then they will run. But she didn't know if they would get the chance to run. There was an explosion of black flames and Andrew landed next to her.

"I got a plan."

Fise, Ann and Instructor Srap kept going. Fise and Ann ignored the sounds coming from where the wraith was and tried to get to the other side. Fise then saw them from the corner of his eye. The water was waist deep now, reaching closer to his chest, so he turned slowly. He sent an aura punch to the rocks tumbling through the river towards them, all bigger than a car. It only cracked one, which made it crash into the other, but the 3rd on got by unscathed. It was gonna scrape by them.

Time Stopped.

The rock was right next to Fise, about to take out his and Instrictor Srap's left arm. He delivered a few punches to the side, putting as much aura into them as possible.

Time resumed.

The rock cracked slid by them, only a hair away from taking their arms with it. The Fise felt its gaze on him and had a shiver rattle his spine as it roared. It noticed them. It began to move, the ground splitting, and the trees snapping like toothpicks. Fise started to try and get to the other side, remembering how the other wraith had destroyed the orphanage hallway in mere seconds. The haste made his feet slip and he fell, the waves dragging him down, Ann coming down with him. He quickly placed his feet on the bottom of the river again and brought Ann above water quickly. She coughed out water and choked a bit, but kept her eyes closed, maybe because the water got in her eyes. Fise looked and saw the wraith come down the river. The flow of it weakened and with it any courage that Fise weakly held to get to the other side. But only for a second as he heard Ann cough again. He need to make a choice. And that was decided the moment after he asked himself it.

"I'm sorry." Fise pushed off.

Ann was confused.

Instructor Srap floated down the river.

Andrew didn't like where this was going. They planned to keep attacking hit and the finish the fight off before running, but now it seemed to have senses Fise and Ann. At best, they'll lose a member, their glass cannon. At worst they'll lose 2 members and their instructor. At the worst of worst they all die. Andrew needed to do something and he made eye contact with Fise. He got it. Andrew took out his Emergency Toy and spoke into it.

Ann heard the box go off but couldn't focus as she felt the river slow. Fise stopped moving for a bit, before he stepped forwards, letting go of Ann's wrist.

"Ann, how much power can you use to accurately hit something around 100 metres away that is around 10 metres wide? Let's away you hit a log, like a part of a trunk of a tree?"

Ann felt a chill go up her spine at the question.

"I can put around half my mana, and that break the wood, but has a good chance to hit."

"Good. Use a quarter of your mana and hit this log, right in front of you. I pulled it out of the water." Ann heard something move in front of her.

"Aight."

She pulled her fist back, and opened her gate, letting mana flow in, before concentrating a quarter of it into the attack. Creation Magic crackled around her fist, before she struck. Her eyes widened behind her hand when she hit the log. It wasn't round, but flat, and it felt soft. The bullet rore through it and into the wraith. It made a hole a mtere in diameter, the creation magic destroying the destruction magic of the wraith. It stopped it in its tracks.

'No, no, no, no, no, no.'

Ann had hit wood before, and she knew how it should feel like. She gets that wood can get softer or harder, but wood never leaked something like this before, never dripped something thicker than water that was warm.

She didn't want to think about it.

"WHAT THE HELL?!!" she heard Andrew shout, even from there. She didn't want to look but...

She moved her hand.

In front of her stood Fise, back to her. The left side of his abdomen was mostly gone, blood oozing out, streaming into the water, staining it red. He couldn't find a log, he couldn't find anything bigger than a twig in the water, and no way was he using Instructor Srap. He put his hand there, not feeling any pain, and looked at it, covered in blood. He turned to see Ann look at him, eyes wide and he smiled a bit.

"I couldn't... find anything else." He then started to sink into the water. It went up to his chest, then his neck then he was submerged.

Andrew looked on to see Fise sink, and his stomach did the same. But he didn't have time. He put aura into his legs, so much as when he jumped it split his muscles. He shot out from the tree he was standing one, breaking it.

He got onto the wraith, flames covering him and crawled and clawed and climbed on it to the hole made by the shot. It was slowly closing but he made there. He took a deep breath. And jumped into it. He spread his arms and shoot black flames deeper in, burning the wraith. He went in deeper, burning his way deeper and deeper.

The wraith screeched more than shouted, and it seemed to fit what Ann was thinking. She got over the shock, then, and clenched her teeth. She plunged her hands into the freezing water, feeling it bite at her hands, and pulled Fise back up by the armpits. He coughed up blood and water, his aura gone. Ann decided not to think about the fact Instructor Srap was gone, and began swimming and walking her way towards the bank. She looked about and spotted it. Fise opened his eyes and looked at the night sky. He felt Ann pull him through the water and felt the power leave him. Will he die here? No, Ann would get him to ground and then they could stop the bleeding somehow, he hoped. They would then continue getting away. Ann stopped. Fise waiting thinking she needed to re-adjust her footing, thinking about how good a nap would be as the cold of the water suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a cozy warmth. But then he realise she wasn't moving at all. He stood up, or tried, but his legs gave out the moment he got them on the floor. She didn't move. He willed them to stay and his legs did so. He looked back at Ann, at what she was looking. His eyes widened and he put his hand over her eyes, the shroud on the river bank giving him a stare. Ann fell limp, and the river pushed Fise down. They floated downstream. Fise looked at Ann who he held by the collar of her blazer. Hey eyes were diluted and seems to be staring into space. She was out. Fise couldn't do much as they hit rocks and were scratched and then couldn't do anything as they began going downhill, gaining speed. He could see the rocks at the bottom, ready to knock them out and make them fated to drown. They kept being pushed by the river and got nearer and nearer when suddenly they were stopped. Fise wondered if this is what death was, has he hit the rocks and had already drowned? Was this the afterlife? He sacrificed Instructor Srap and then himself to get one shot in and then made Ann look at a shroud, making them go to their deaths. He shouldn't have done that, he should have had a different plan, if only he did. Fise opened his eyes and saw something to his left. It was Instructor Srap holding them.

"Sorry I have been out this long, recruits. Kind of embarrassing." he looked at Fise.

"You made the correct choice; if you hadn't let me go I didn't know when I was gonna wake up. Now, let's get you both on land and I'll patch that injury up. Number 2 seems to be out of it, must have stared at a shroud to show them who's boss."

He easily picked both of them up, surrounding them with his aura, and picking them out of the water. Fise closed his eyes an tried to think about something, anything, but the warmth of sleep dragged him in. A light slap on his cheek awoke him. He was leaned on a tree with Instructor Srap over him.

"Stay awake, you lost too much blood, if you pass out now you could die. Focus your aura on the wound. You don't have to worry about anything."

Fise looked at him his vision kind of blurry.

"Shrouds... Ann..." He managed to get out. Instructor Srap looked at him before nodding.

"Stay awake, she'll be fine, she's on your right. You don't have to worry about shrouds, or the wraith anymore, recruit." he turned away and began walking. "I got this." Suddenly his aura burned vigorously, and then blasted outwards. It washed over Fise, who activated his aura, concentrating on his wound, and Ann like a warm breeze. It stretched out almost as much as doctor Verto's and any shrouds near were instantly erased. It washed over everything like a wave, before it stopped. The instructor was gone.

Seah stood back, waiting for Andrew's plan to pay off. She had to at least recover some aura, because in the case Andrew's plan failed, or went wrong, which it had too high of a possibility to, she will have to fight or run, and she wasn't leaving Andrew if he wasn't dead. And even then, she was making sure of it before leaving. She hated leaving someone behind. He was gone from view, though some of his flames reached the surface of the wraith as they burnt like oil on fire, really hot, very fast and considering how much "oil" there was, probably for a very long time. She decided to wait it out. Andrew's plan was simple, the start being the only hard part. He gets in and burns the wraith from the inside out. The only problem was that he couldn't get in, but that problem was solved by Ann's shot. One breath in, one out, 30 times. Andrew has been in there for a minute now and the wraith started clawing at its sides, like trying to scratch an itch for around the same amount of time as well. But now it sent a wild haymaker that obliterated trees to its sides and sent boulders the size of cars tumbling. Seah saw him then, walk effortlessly against the river as his aura burnt brightly around him. It was so powerful, that the water was pushed away from touching instructor Srap. The wraith noticed him too and stopped scratching to send a direct punch at him.

His aura expanded quickly, enveloping the wraith's hand 30 meters away from its target. It whittled away at the arm, burning it and destroying it. By the time it reached the instructor it was smaller than a human one, and he caught it, holding it firmly. He squeezed and it squished, devoured by his aura, the rest of the arm imploding and getting eaten the same. Instructor Srap never stopped walking. The wraith screeched, and it sent a right hook, aiming to take the instructor out from the left side, crashing through the literal forest of trees and rocks towards him. The instructor only stuck out a hand. The arm snapped off at where the elbow should be like a twig, the place which hit the instructor. The cut off part of the arm was immediately engulfed by aura. Then instructor Srap disappeared. He moved so fast he was a blur to Seah's eyes. He ran up the Wraith's arm, burning it up along the way, before making it up on its shoulder and behind its head, where he jumped. He came down with such force the ground cracked and collapsed. The left side of the wraith was destroyed, cut and then slowly devoured. Black flames shot out from the injury and instructor Srap turned towards them, before smiling. He ran in front of the wraith, which was now trying to reform, smaller, human sized arms reaching out and weaving together to form it, and he jumped up. His aura only reaching a meter away from him when he was eye level with the wraith. He punched it and its head was blown off.

Before he could go flying, his aura gripped him to the wraith and he slid down its back after flipping onto it, burning a line down it. His aura barely surrounded him at the bottom. The wraith's body moved around, more arms trying to reform from it, before a streak of black fire shot out like steam from a tea pot. Then another and another. The whole wraith bulged. And as instructor Srap got next to Seah, she thought it was going to explode and began backing away, when it began to revolve around as if something was spinning it, then black fire tore through it. A giant fireball, 10 meters in diameter roared into existence, spinning and swallowing what remained of the wraith, before popping open like a balloon and revealing a bloody Andrew, blazer and shirt ripped with blood pouring out, his aura barely covering him and no black fire to be seen within 5 meters, before small embers of the eruption fell from above and scorched the ground before disappearing. They travelled through the air, some devouring some bits of the wraith before disappearing whole others just floated until they were also gone. Andrew stood still, arms outstretched in opposite directions and his feet shoulder width apart. His aura shook and then faded. His arm fell to his side and his chest heaved. He swore and then buckled to his knees, holding himself from falling with his hands, or tried to before they also buckled and he sat with his forehead on the ground, sweat drawing a picture of the sea below him mixing with blood.

Seah went over to him slowly, making sure to nor touch any of the embers, and reaching to him so she could grab him nd then meet up with everyone.

"Number 1, I suggest you don't touch him anywhere." said Instructor Srap from the edge of the eruption site, which was barren of grass or vegetation, river water pouring into it. He walked into it and neared them.

"He's got cuts and bruises about everywhere, the way the wraith moved must have racked him, and the insides must have started fighting back. Number 3 will have a minute or 2, and then the pain will set in as the shock wavers off," he leaned to speak nearer to Andrew, his voice a little softer. "He'll tell us when to knock him out so he won't go through it." He then backed away and waved at Seah to do the same. He neared her.

"His wounds won't be fatal, not for now at least. I'll take care of him. Listen, go down river, follow it closely, and find number 4 and 2. One has a potentially fatal injury and I left him alone for too long already." he reached into his blazer and pulled out a roll of bandages, handing them to Seah, "Change his bandages and apply pressure, make sure he stays awake, if he fell asleep while I was gone, he might be gone already." he said the last part heavily, in his more stern voice. "The other took a peek at a shroud and is out of it, and would probably continue to be for another half hour to an hour. I cleared the area of shrouds but those bastards are like ants over honey when it comes to unguarded. Hurry." He patted her on the shoulder and then gave his attention to Andrew, walking closer to him.

Seah shot off down the river, running as fast as she could without using much aura. She ran for a solid half a minute before she saw them leaned against a tree. Ann looked off into the distance, her pupils dilated a little bit too much, while Fise held his side, blood oozing out and a clear lack of anything where he had his hand over compared to the other side gave him a distinct body image. Seah ran over and checked on Ann quickly, before making sure there were no shrouds, then started to work on Fise, who still had his aura on and had a thousand mile stare. His eyes seemed to focus and they registered Seah. Tears formed in the corner of them. Fise coughed and congealed blood shot out as he tried to speak.

"Seah, I thought we were dead..." he said. They , or Fise at least, must have seen instructor lean them on this tree, since Seah began to piece together they couldn't have made it onto shore by themselves. She remembered Ann's shot and how Andrew shouted after it. She assumed he must have been excited to get an opening, or that the wraith had been damaged at all, and then assumed Ann must have found a log or rock to use it to shoot while Fise then proceeded to get them further away. But it seemed there were no logs or rocks, Fise had used himself, and he might die because of it. She unwrapped the old bandages, the blood in them enough to start hardening, and looked at the wound. It was bad. There was blood coming out of everywhere and some digestive juices were also spilling. Seah saw some of the insides seem to be inflamed and starting to swell, and must have been a sign of the bacteria in the guts getting within the wound. That'll slow the healing down. She didn't know if bandages could stop the bleeding, since the wound was so wide and not flat. She decided it was better than nothing. She tolled them around, feeling and hearing Fise take a gasping breath in, the pain making his eyes water as much as the relief of being not dead did. Seah was done and already saw blood through them. She looked into his eyes.

"Instructor Srap saved you."

"He did? So, he's alive then, and awake... take this." he handed something over to Seah. She looked at it as she recieved it. It seemed to be a long strip ripped off his blazer.

"Wrap it around Ann's eyes. She... looked at a shroud."

Seah immediately did. She turned back to Fise, who went back to consentrate on his wound, his breath coming out raspy. He lost too much blood, his aura already weakened. Healing from this and the past injury will take a bit. He can't remember stuff well and is barely conscious. Will he survive. Seah turned when she heard footsteps. He saw Instructor Srap holding Andrew in a fireman carry. He placed him down next to the tree, and looked at Seah.

"Where's is the camp?"

She pointed towards it and he nodded.