Follow the Leader

"Ugh." I sighed out a raspberry. "It's so fucking boring."

"Boredom is a good thing, Issac." I heard Jaimess say from behind his camp. More so a house blended into the tree and brush.

"No, Issac's right! It's fuckin' borin!" Bazz grunted from the other side of the outcropping behind my camp.

Grunting contemptuously, the stony-fleshed being that was Corundum strode before my door, if only to give her opinion before she walked away.

"If you're bored then go hunting or find some other challenge."

"Not everyone enjoys passing the time by getting beaten to a pulp." I sneered.

"And how do you pass the time, Issac?" Vlorlyn asked from far off to my left, yet her voice trickled through the forest like water down a mountain.

"Brothels."

I stood and walked away with a sigh. Each step made Bazzric's overbearing laughter more distant until there was just… nothing. A cold silence.

My heart pounded in my chest and I wheeled around. Saw nothing. Felt nothing besides a pervasive cold that carried disembodied whispers through my ears.

Then, I felt something kick at my back. Or rather, I felt something grab hold of me rip me through the darkness for an endless instant.

And then it stopped.

"Bazz!? Lyn!? Jaimess!?" I called. But heard nothing but the whispers until a beacon appeared above. A warmth that leveled a fear I hadn't known accumulated in me.

I turned to it and first thought it was the sun. Vibrant and bright and yellow and warm. But in the wrong place. It was high above me, almost directly overhead. And bright. So bright that I had to shield the light with my hand and tune my eyes with mana to see it for what it was.

A man. Illuminating the space like a lone torch dispersing the fog on a lone road.

When the light spread, the night fell and time seemed to slow. In an instant, it crept to a near-standstill. Immobilizing my body while my senses remained on high alert.

I saw rolling hills of green spread below me and a wide platform of stone looming above me. And all around me were bodies. Bodies of my teammates that brought a sense of relief. Bodies of lesser-known individuals who brought a sense of foreboding.

Bodies that reminded me of the nightmarish tales I heard as a child.

And then it hit me. The realization was nearly formed into a thought before it became a reality.

And then came the words. Echoing in my mind.

'I'm falling.'

The rolling hills that were the treetops rushed up to meet me at once. With it, came a tide of panic that swept in from the other side. A swelling of mana among the likes of which I'd never felt before. Or perhaps I had.

Almost without realizing, I felt mana flow into a wedge shape that remained in place before me as I fell into the canopy. They slapped and panged against my spell without relent. And then the finisher came. The ground. Which smacked into me like a boulder released from a summit.

My heart panged and my chest heaved fire through my blood. Prying my eyes with an almost primal force that grew into a panic upon seeing the world canted onto its side.

I scrambled. Clawed myself to my feet and saw three squared off to face me. Two with massive fireballs held overhead, the slave and a shadow with glowing blue-green hair, straddled the dragonborne as he leaned back and roared out a cone of oppressive fire.

I sent out a roar of my own just as the slave and shadow pushed their fireballs forward, one red and one an intense blue that churned with the other attacks to make a wall of fire.

'Shit. It's true!' The words raced through my mind like my attack through the wall of flames. A pillar of energy that came and went without much notice from anyone.

I managed to switch magics, but it was too late. My flesh and hair singed and burned before the protective shield enveloped me. But I retreated at once, using small bursts of energy to maneuver through the trees as I assessed the situation.

Utter chaos.

Members of all parties were mingled with the dead, both shadow and traditional alike. Everywhere except above, where a bright sun shone beneath a toiling cloud of black and blue lightning and above a sea of fire.

"Holy shit!" I muttered. "That was him!"

The light bloomed and I suddenly felt the cold ground against my body, accompanied by dull pain. My spell faltered as I scrambled back as quickly as I could. Then I froze when I saw an impossibly black boot arcing towards my face.

Light bloomed again and my world spun. Bringing about a pervasive cold that crept through my feet and hands like venom injected into a bloodstream. I felt myself shiver, and through that, noticed the cold darkness sweeping over my eyes.

And then… silence.

***

"Finally, you're awake."

My eyes fluttered open with haste, expecting a visage I'd hardly seen in months. Only to see a thin-framed boy with unkempt hair looking down on me with half-lidded eyes. Beyond him, nothing but darkness.

"What are looking at, Slave?"

"Watch your mouth." Winston spat to my left.

"What?" I turned. Tried to, only to find myself bound to a chair. "You of all people are sticking up for this trash?"

"Shut up, Issac!" Winston spat again.

"Why should I?" I spat back. "Status means nothing here. The Headmaster said so himself."

Winston pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. "If that's the case, why do you insist on calling him that?"

"Because it was YOU who told me to!"

"Yes." He calmly nodded. "And now I'm telling you to stop."

"Or what? Your slave friend will get his feelings-"

"I said shut up!"

Winston flung himself at me with a fist coated in the all-too-familiar energy and drove it into my cheek. But I was prepared with my own magic and felt the dull impact of his paltry attack slide off my jaw. Though it toppled me onto my side.

"Goddammit!" Winston thrashed his hands up. "The fact that I was the one to teach you these things makes this all the more depressing! But listen closely! Because I'm teaching you now!"

Keeling down, he gently pulled me upright and grasped my shoulders with both hands. Then leaned close enough to almost make our noses touch. "People. Are. Not. Property!" He forced the words through his teeth and held his gaze for a long moment. Then pulled away to turn a slender finger in the slave's direction.

"I am a royal and you are my knight. Yet that man there is far stronger, intelligent, and kind than we can ever hope to be. That man has shown the most growth in our class since we've been here. That man was the first in our party to master Amun's teachings and is one of the top performers among us. That man." Winston almost sobbed. "Has not an ounce of hate or anger in his heart, despite how terrible we've treated him. All over something he had no control over. And the fact that he's all that and was branded a slave makes it all the worse."

There was a long silence in which I just sneered at him until Winston threw me away with a soft shove.

A few more seconds passed. Then the soft creak of a door signaled someone entering behind me.

Winston stepped towards it at once. "Amun. Good, you're here."

"I am." I heard the nod in the amiable voice just behind me, but also all around me. "What's the issue?"

"I have an announcement I wish to make to the three of you," Winston said as he backpedaled into my line of sight. "One day, after we graduate. I will inherit the Epethian crown and dedicate my life to righting my Family's past transgressions. You, Issac; as well as the others, need to change your way of thinking, less you find yourselves as my enemies."

"Is-"

"It's a fact!" Winston stomped forward. "Like saying the grass is green. It's a fact. Whether you consider that a threat or an order is up to you. But I won't wait for you to decide."

"I mean, that's admirable. But." The devil himself came into view, shrugging. He looked the same as I'd seen him before. What I could see of him did at least. His body seemed to flicker in and out of existence as he waltzed past the torches and braziers lighting my cell. But he looked the same. "As they say." His voice entered my ears from all angles, despite him standing just before me.

"Actions speak louder than words."

"What?" I sneered as his gaze settled on me. "You're here to interrogate me?"

"No." He bobbed in place with laughter, a sickening grin spread across his face. "No." He licked his lips. "I don't need to interrogate you. You'll willingly tell me everything I want to know." Still grinning, his gaze lowered to a point below my seat. Then the ripples in his voice swelled deeper. "Won't you?"

I felt… something touch my foot and reflexively flinched. Kicked out and leaned forward to see a hand reaching from my seat. Pale, stubby, and scarred much like mine. Then came an arm, covered in a film of thin hairs that were struggling to grow. Then came a head with short-cropped brown hair. Square, chiseled towards the front like a fat wedge. With broad shoulders and a tanky body that stood 185 cm tall.

In other words, it was me. Just as I was as I sat in the chair. Armor-less and bruised, but standing and smiling at Amun as if I'd known him for as long as I did Winston.

"I will." He- I nodded.

'No…' I felt my head shaking.

"Alright." Amun flicked his eyes towards me. And his grin widened. "What affinities do you have?"

"No."

"I was born with Shield Magic, and was given Beam Magic."

While my face dropped, Amun's brightened like the sun. "Fascinating."

He fell silent after. His eyes darted to and from either side of the room while thought about something for a few uncomfortable moments. Then he turned back to the fake me. "What's your honest opinion of Peter?"

"No!" I muttered again. "Stop it."

"Don't really have one." My false self shrugged. "Don't know him. So." He shrugged again, somehow meeker this time.

"Then why do you pick on him?" Winston stepped forward with an outward thrust of his hands. Though the quivers in his voice spoke louder than his words.

"Stop!"

With a solemn slowness, the traitor turned his eyes toward his master. "Because you do. And." His words trailed off with his eyes, turning towards the object of their- of our conversation. "I want to know how strong he is. I knew he wouldn't try or would be scared if I asked. Making him angry was the easiest way."

"I think I understand you know." Amun chuckled after an eerily short silence. "You're a follower, not a leader."

His and my posture deflated at once. "I am." He- I said.

"Nothing wrong with that." Amun gently shook his head. "The realm would be in chaos if everyone were trying to lead it towards the future."

"Huh." I and my… clone huffed simultaneously. But he was the one to voice my thoughts. "I guess you're right."

"And Winston is your moral compass." Amun continued, causing another wave of panic in me that my clone brushed off at once. "His compass points to something different now. And you're struggling to realign yours to fit his."

"Yeah." I- we slowly nodded. "That's exactly it," my clone said.

"You're a good knight, Issac." Winston stepped toward me. "The others are good people too. But we've done bad things we must make amends for. Our home practices things we know are objectively wrong.

"We are the future." He grabbed my shoulders again. And then I saw it for the first time. Tears. Strewn about his face, welled up in his eyes. Tears. Not tears of despair or sadness. But tears of conviction. Tears of resolve. He was serious about this.

"That's what they taught us, right?" He sobbed, shaking me gently. "We are the future. We're going to bring the change we wish to see in our home."

There was a moment of silence. I knew what it was about, and so did my clone. But it seemed neither of us could find a way to form it into words that held any semblance of tact.

Fuck it.

"It's not that I don't believe you. Nor is it that I don't want to. But." I, my true self, took in a deep breath and steeled my eyes towards Winston. "You know how it is back home. The Guard. The Magistrate. The Archmages. Your Mother. Nothing we say can convince them. And they'll kill us if we defy them. What can the seven of us do?"

"There won't just be the seven of us."

With a final shake, Winston released his grip from my shoulders and moved to stand before Amun with his hand outstretched. A hopeful smile spread across his face.

"I'm willing to make a deal," he said. And my eyes widened. "Not that kind of deal. But, an agreement. I'll join your guild if you help me bring prosperity to my home. If you help me make Epethia like Odissi, where everyone is free. I will join your guild. And if any of my followers are still following me. So will they."

"Deal!" Amun slapped his hand in the most informal way imaginable. Then he turned to me with a childishly eager smile. "The guild will be formed before we return to Maru. Then, our goal will be to breach the barrier and stabilize Ulai."

'Wha-'

"After that, we'll make a sliver of paradise so our people can live freely. Here's how we'll do it."