Pride(6)

Aeolian sounds wafted across the field, bringing the turbulent atmosphere into a sudden bout of silence. No one dared to move, not the lingering crowd, nor the parties in mention, not even the birds of the air. Crimson blood trickled slowly down the spear of ice, it traveled along making its way downward until it fell on the hard stone floor.

Porter's body lay limp like a rag, in his hand was Riza's intel bead, that slipped easily through his weakened fingers.

*Tak* *Tak* *Taktaktak*

It bounced along merrily until it rolled to a subtle stop near the pooling blood that spread. The bead reflected clearly in the pristine mirror of blood.

Riza's eyes were wide, she took in the sight of Porter's limp body as it lay impaled in a large slab of ice.

'W-what just happened?'

Riza had no way of knowing. She could only recall the faint sight of a swift projectile slicing through the air as it neared Porter. However, he evaded it albeit barely, for she saw his eye being sliced as he dodged. Then, just as he was about to retaliate, a sudden slab of ice burst forth impaling Porter instantly.

Riza's eyes caught sight of the arrow that lay embedded in the ground not too far from the spear of ice.

It was clearly Jean's arrow, but how had he invoked ice when he was coreless?

'Does he have another rune stone perhaps?'

No, that would be impossible, Runestones were manufactured in masses but actually getting a rune stone was almost considered impossible for commoners. At most, a commoner may be lucky enough to only have 1 Runestone, and most of the time those were either given or earned through efforts. Earlier, she sensed the magi-toms of healing from Jean, so Riza believed he had a low-level light rune stone on him.

Riza's eyes widened further when she saw a light blue paper that slowly began to disappear. She gasped in shock.

'It's a…... Rune Charm!'

An outdated method of rune technology. Yet no one has seen rune charms in years nor were there many people alive today to be able to create such charms in the first place. Riza was so dazed that she had not noticed that her body was now free from Porters' spikes of water.

Her dazed mind did not come too until she heard frantic cries of children.

"J-JEAN HANG IN THERE PLEASE!!!"

"A-AH!"

Riza flinched, whipping her head to the source of the voice. 3 familiar young children crowded around Jean, frantically calling out to him.

'RIGHT JEAN!!'

She had no time to be worrying about such matters now that was inefficient at the moment. She immediately grabbed the bead and with haste she quickly dashed forward, ignoring the burning pain that sparked through her like lightning as her legs moved. She crashed on the hard pavement and quickly tore open Jeans clothing, revealing his bare skin.

"!?!?!"

The wound looked horrible. Blood soaked his chest like a puddle and a boring hole could clearly be seen exposing the delicate organs that lay beneath. The light affinity had done nothing to ease his wounds, if anything it did nothing at all.

'That's impossible' Riza felt a whirlwind of anxiety. Though it was a low leveled light affinity and it may not have been able to heal his wound entirely, but it could have stopped the bleeding at most, yet for it to not have done nothing just how weak was the runestone?

'Ah!'

Riza remembered the rune charm from the arrow. Jean must have used a light rune charm that is the only possible conclusion she could come up with. Rune charms were not liable in a sense. At the start of use, they can have bursts of energy exceeding even the greatest of magic power but just as soon as it activates it weakens all the same.

'There was also a sense of unpredictability with charms'

Not all rune charms had that burst of energy though, it was because of the material in which runes were used for, sometimes it could not handle its full power and would simply douse itself out upon activation.

Riza frowned. She took the bead and whispered a quiet message into it. The bead shone a dark red before shooting up in the sky like a missile exploding into a mass of sparkles.

'Help should be arriving soon, until then'

Riza quickly took off her jacket and pressed on Jean's wound. His body felt cold and clammy.

'It's a miracle that useless scrap actually lasted so long' Riza scrunched up her uniform shirt and pressed on the wound, careful as to not touch any part of his body.

Beside her lay the boy and his siblings who were his traveling companions. "I-is Jean going to be ok?" The young boy asked. Riza did not respond. She simply focused on pressing on the wound.

'This won't due...heat I need to warm his body up'

Riza closed her eyes, A soft red glow surrounded her body like a thin film. her body began to permeate with heat She pressed further down on Jean's wound, allowing the heat to transfer into the cloth and into Jean's body.

Riza knew this wouldn't do much, Jean lost way too much blood. Riza felt dizzy with regret as she firmly pressed harder. 'I need a blood solution potion but….' Blood solution was a concoction that was sold in caldron shops and passing merchants. It helps to reform lost blood cells in which an injured person loses upon injury.

The light affinity, or rather the healing spell, was a rarity in the world, therefore not many people can become reliant on them if things get deadly in many situations. This is why potions and rune charms were created to step in during these situations.

Time was ticking as fast as the sweat that trickled down Riza's forehead as she concentrated. But, no matter how much heat she pumped Jean showed no signs of waking up, his faint heart was only becoming fainter.

Riza felt her heart sinking, panic slowly began to set in. She knew this, She knew this wouldn't do much, but she couldn't stop her heart from the burst of fear.

'Come on please….please...I just need you to hold on a little longer…' She pleaded with all her might, hoping by some miracle, that Jean could hear what she was thinking in her head.

Riza wasn't the only one alight with worry, Sorren shifted around uncomfortably. He felt nauseous from seeing so much blood, anxious and scared. Never before had he seen such things, they were all so new and unfamiliar.

'Why..why is this..happening'

First, his parents were taken from him, his village, all his friends and neighbors, and now the only person he had left, the only guardian he could connect with was lying here dying, eyes closed and coated with blood.

Green eyes slowly turned until it was met with the body of the one who caused all of this to happen.

'Bastard….'

A crushing feeling welled its way upward from the pit of his stomach all the way to his beating heart. It pulsed until it felt as if it was burning. Sorren gripped at his shirt, his knuckles tightening until they were a bleak white.

'I'll kill em... I'll kill em..' With that mantra, Sorren slowly turned and stood. He grabbed Jean's bow, its body was heavy as he dragged it, the heavy sound of iron scraping against stone echoing.

Riza turned her head and spotted the boy, slowly walking towards Porter. 'What does he think he's doing?'

The boy stopped just beyond Porter's body, he gripped the bow tightly before using both his hands to raise it up.

Riza's eyes widened.

"H-HEY BOY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOURE DOING!" Riza cried. With her concentration disturbed, the heat was no longer channeling through the cloth.

'C-crap' Yet she found herself constantly turning her head to face the boy.

"It's all his fault….IF IT WASN'T FOR HIM JEAN WOULDN'T BE DYING HERE." The boy screamed loudly and tried to lift the bow once more.

"BOY DROP THAT BOW NOW!! KILLING HIM WON'T SOLVE ANYTHING" Rza shouted. Yet the boy refused to listen.

"Jean took care of us...he would never harm anyone and yet…" tears fell from the boy's eyes. "We lost everything, our village, my mom...dad….Jeans the only person we have left"

Riza listened and a sense of recognition accented her.

'These are..the half-bloods. Which means they were from the recently destroyed village Wheatonville' The boy before her must be the oldest. She felt a sense of guilt, a young boy who just about reached the age where his memories were firm. This would no doubt scar him.

'He's just a child, it's best to go about this cautiously' Riza affirmed this as the best course of action.

"What's your name boy.." Riza called out to him soothingly, it was best to be calm in this situation. She knew that right now the boy was confused, with so much happening at once, it's no mistake he'd gone insane.

The boys sniffled in silence for a bit before finally speaking.

"Sorren"

"Alright Sorren, my name's Riza and I'm an old friend of Jean"

This got the boy's attention, light green eyes met with hers. Riza felt that the boy's eyes were beautiful like jewels.

"It's ok Sorren, I know he was a bad man, he said some disgusting thing to you and your siblings and even tried to harm you" Riza tried to cautiously direct the boy's attention from Porter. If she let the boy kill him, the repercussions would be devastating, no doubt death of the highest degree would count.

"I know he's a liar as well. But if you attack him with that...you'll truly become what he said you were" Green eyes constricted in shock, pale fingers trembled, and a look of pure hesitation embarked the boy's little face eagerly.

'One more push'

"You have siblings don't you Sorren, what would they think if their big brother goes on a rampage like the scary man over there" Sorren flinched his eyes glanced at his siblings who were huddled together still focused on Jean.

After a long while, Soren finally dropped the bow. Riza sighed with relief.

'He's a smart kid.' The boy understood that being selfish at this moment would be bad for his siblings and himself.

"Sorren, don't worry, help is coming soon. Jean will be with you once more" Riza gestured for Sorren to come forward.

Just as Sorren took a step forward.

*GRAB*

"!!!!"

"!?!?!?"

A cold bloodied hand gripped Sorrens leg tightly.

"U-UWAAAH" Sorren screamed as his body was dragged to the ground, his body hit the stone pavement.

Riza quickly jumped up, severing the heat from Jean's body.

'How is he still..'

Porter slowly raised half his body upward revealing the large gaping hole in the side of his stomach, his left eye was closed and bleeding furiously.

"DISGUSTING...INSECTS..I-WILL KILL...ALL OF YOUUU"

Porter lifted a hand while dragging Sorrens body toward him. Sorren gripped at the stone floor, trying desperately to get away. Water swirled

"O Water...come forth and harden thyself..'

With every chant the water glowed brightly, pulsating with power. It began to take shape into a long sharp object.

" encase thyself into a freezing imprisonment of cold resentment'

Small crystals of ice slowly begun to spread on the glowing blob of water, crystalizing into a hardened encasement of frozen water

Frozen particles burst revealing a pristine smooth frozen stake of ice that games brightly in the sun. Misty frost swirled around it slowly, attesting to its frigid temperatures.

"W-WHA"

Porter was utilizing the remaining mist in the air for water, however, having enough magi-toms to execute a freezing spell was not possible. Riza so heavily believed so.

' Ice is the next advancement of the water affinity, but Porter should not have enough magi-toms to execute it regardless' Riza kicked off the ground and reached out to grab the boy.

"Don't you dare move," Porter growled. He flicked a finger

*Crrrraaack*

A large chunk of ice broke apart from the frozen stake and broke into various sizes. They were then flung swiftly into Riza's direction in a hurricane of frozen debris.

'C-CRAP' Taking those things head-on would be suicide. Riza reached for her sword, only to realize that she no longer had it on hand.

'WHA?' Her eyes scanned her surroundings only to spot her sword lying far away from where she was running. She didn't have time to get it. Her top priority at the moment was getting the boy out of there or else Porter would definitely kill him.

Riza skidded to a halt and chanted a spell, fire erupted into a small sparse of flames, barely clinging on to life. Riza clicked her tongue as dizziness accented her.

By then a barrage of ice rammed its way onto her body. "A-argh" she ducked and cradled her head, as her body is barred by large chunks of ice big and small.

While Riza was preoccupied, Porter returned his eye to the boy he had in his grasp. He dragged Sorren closer.

"N-NO STOP" Sorren kicked Porter's hand repeatedly, but it didn't do much as Porter paid no heed to it.

"Hehehehe" Porter Laughed maniacally, his face twisted and warped, The tip of the stake shone brightly ready to impale its target upon command.

"DIE YOU BRAT"

The stake of ice swung down powerfully. Sorren closed his eyes tightly.

*STAB*