THE VURHAN FROM THE EAST

She couldn't even get her feet to move, much less keep her hands from shivering. There he was, the former commander of all the sovereign nations, the proclaimed liar, standing in front of her with a massive mug overflowing with steaming green tea and meant for drinking alcohol. Her voice was hampered by the fear coursing through her entire body, and all she could do was choke up on her own words.

Lisa dashed over to him and snatched his hand, pulling him over to Alicia, who was frozen to the ground. Alicia had the chills as she saw the queasy disfigurement of a scar running over his forehead. It had never worried her before, but she was terrified at the time; everything about Slejj terrified her.

"Hey, Gramps! Look, I met a state guard today, shes just like Lora!"

"Hey, Gramps! Look, I met a state guard today, shes just like Lora!"

Lisa yanked Slejj's hand as she pulled him closer to Alicia, and he continued to giggle.

Lisa let out a cute high-pitched laugh. Slejj felt a rush of icy wind slap his neck as he raised his head. He fixed his vision for a clearer view, and when he glanced down, he saw the sword's silver blade inches from his trachea, begging to be impaled. Alicia had eventually broken out from her trance and drawn her sword.

"Don't take another step closer, or else..."

"Or else what!" said the man next to her, sternly.

Alicia wished she could punch the man in the teeth. She saw a blue wave of light flashing from the guy's general direction out of the corner of her eye. She cocked her head slightly to see what the guy could have up his sleeve that might tempt him to intimidate a state guard. The blooming chromatic light came into focus as she curved her head

It was continuously blinking, emitting bluish embers, like a firefly. It took Alicia a while to figure out that the light was emanating from the guy's hand. He was specifically pointing his hand at Alicia's forehead. His irises, like his side, began to turn blue. Alicia was certain it wasn't a light show. She was very knowledgeable about all of the gifts.

Except for flame-based and light-based gifts, she knew basic gifts weren't all that devastating. The guy's gift, oddly enough, lacked any characteristics of either of the two, despite the fact that flame-based gifts' auras were typically red and orange in color and light-based gifts were white. Although the blue lights emanating from his side were unlike something she'd ever seen or heard about, so she had to be cautious.

"Calm down everybody, I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding, and we can work things out without resorting to violence," said Slejj

Slejj said it gently, as if it wasn't all as bad as it seemed. Lisa was perplexed as she stood there, unable to understand the unexpected turn of events.

|You! I should kill you right now!"

Slejj grinned a bit, as cool as the waters of an untouched pond even as he stood on the brink of being decapitated.

"You should be more careful about your language because you are aware that we have a small child in our midst.

You're messing with my old foot face! You will be held accountable for your actions! I'm going to..."

"Step away from him right now if you know what's good for you!" the man next to Alicia said, leaning in closer and still pointing his hand at her.

Who the hell is this guy who is threatening me in this manner? Is he blind to the robe and armor?! When she turned her eyes towards him, Alicia thought to herself. She could sense the fire radiating from his hand in waves as her face grew closer to it. The light surges became sharper as if the guy was preparing for a blast. A surge of heat slammed into Alicia's face, making her feel as though her skin was melting away. She leaned back a bit because it was so intense.

"You keep away from this; preventing a suspect from being apprehended by a state guard is a simple motive for treason! You will be harshly punished..."

"You heard the girl," Slejj said, "stand back and let her do what she came here to do."

"No, not before she puts down the blade," the guy said hesitantly. Slejj gave him a long stare as if to say, "Trust me, boy, I've got this." The light faded as the man slowly retracted his shoulder.

"Good, now sit back and don't you dare try to mess again, mere light magic won't work against me!" Alicia said as if to pound it home.

What was so amusing that Slejj laughed again?

"What's funny foot face! You believe I'm too frail!"

"no..not entirely, I think you're too naive and always jumping to conclusions, and you're also the way in over your head."

"Listen up, liar...

I'm not going to stand here any longer listening to the words of a murderer like you! Now either concede or I do it the hard way, which I would like!"

"Really, and without a sword, how are you going to do that?"

"What do you mean you don't have any wea..."

Alicia's arms were light, as though she wasn't holding the blade, or whatever was left of it, she had gripped under her hands. She saw the blade split in half vertically around the whole blade, all the way up to the handle. The wooden handle was all she had left.

"wha...what in the heavens did you just do to my sword.."

"Of course, you're referring to my blade, as I built it. You cannot fool a magician with his own tricks. I know everything you don't know about it. Small girl, there's more to it than hits the eye."

Alicia let go of the handle and clenched her fingers, preparing to smear someone's face with her fists. She swung her fist at Slejj, intending to break his head into smithereens, only to see her hand slash through the air and collapse back to her. She obviously forgot, so how did she do it? She tried again, just to get the same outcome, except this time she was much worse off.

"Ugh, you fiend, don't resist detention!" She sounded like a little child trying to reclaim her sweets from someone who was taunting her with it.

"You know, assaulting an innocent civilian isn't an arrest!" Slejj retorted by weaving his head and body through the air while deftly avoiding Alicia's haphazard blows.

"What exactly is it?! Don't tell me you can't reach a feeble old guy like me, a well-trained state guard like you?" Slejj sneered at her. Alicia was out of breath after a few punches. Her legs were then violently bumped by tiny hands. Lisa was hammering her tiny fists into her left leg as she glanced away.

"Put a stop to it! Please don't injure gramps. I thought you were my friend!"

Alicia could see the tears streaming down Lisa's cheeks as she lifted her lip, and another ripple was forming under her eyelids. Lisa was terrified of her once more as she felt a terrible feeling.

"Listen up, Lisa...that guy is a bad person! You have no business hanging out with him!"

Slejj never had a niece, but she would have known if her memories had served her well.

"But Gramps came to my rescue! He was instrumental in saving my life!"

"saved you?"

Alicia began to relax, and she realized that keeping Lisa around was a positive thing.

"It's a lengthy story. Why don't I finish what I came here to do and then we can talk about it after I'm done?"

"through with what? Illegal selling of weapons to the army?! Yeah, I'm aware of your actions after your escape, old man! You may have fooled these people, but you can not fool me!"

The man was so quiet the whole time that it was as though he wasn't even there. He came back into view all of a sudden. He was sniffing for something with his face turned upwards, like a puppy. He crossed the tents on the other side and sniffed once more. Alicia stared at him, puzzled, as though she didn't understand what had happened to him. He abruptly turned to Slejj and spoke to him in his sluggish-toned accent.

"It's here!"