Situation on the Surface

My scythe cuts through the massive thing's arm, but my strength isn't enough to fully cut it off. It's literally dangling, but it's still on. The ogre clenches its other fist, and prepares to punch my head off. I hear the cries of help from some of the injured adventurers around me, and I summon more strength.

As the ogre goes to punch me, I jump up over it, and swing my scythe in a downward motion, hitting it right in the throat with the sharp point. I yank it out and kick the ogre in the chin to knock me back onto the ground.

It's holding its neck with its one good hand, desperately trying to stop the breathing. It'll be dead soon anyway, so I run over to the injured adventurers while it dies. They're surrounded by goblins who all start yelling at me. Proteus, I'll be borrowing some power from you here, so uh, yeah. "Constant Flux!"

All the goblins try to hit me but I dodge and weave all of their attacks, all while slicing them to bits with my scythe. There were… seven goblins, but I'm counting six corpses. All of a sudden one of the more injured adventurers gets a knife held up to their throat. One of the goblins is trying to hold him hostage.

I kneel down and place my scythe on the ground. "Portal." I say as I place it down. Sure enough a pitch black portal appears on the ground next to my scythe. I reach into it as secretly as possible and grab a small knife from it.

"Spatial Awareness." I say, under my breath. I can't afford to mess this shot up. As I feel everything around me, I decide on my target. As I feign surrender I throw my knife right at the goblin's wrist. I managed to throw it without hitting the adventurer it was holding hostage, but thanks to "Spatial Awareness" I know that I missed the tendon. It'll still be able to use that hand.

I keep it in mind as I charge the two of them. I run around the adventurer and strike upward with my scythe, cutting a huge hole in the goblin from its stomach up to its chest. That was a fatal wound, so I turned my attention to the adventurers.

"Hey, are you all alright?" I say. There's three of them. One man, two women. One of the women appears to be unconscious, but the other two seem in a good enough condition to walk.

"My ankle got sprained, I have bruises all over. He's fine. She's poisoned. She's still alive, but I'm not sure how long she can hold on for…" The woman that's awake says. Well, so much for being able to walk.

"Can you walk?"

"Not fast."

"You," I look at the guy "take the unconscious one back to the encampment. Miss, you try and follow him the best you can, I'll try my best to cover you."

They both nod their heads. The woman tries her best to stand up, using a longsword to support herself, while the man tries to pick up the unconscious woman. I'm about to follow them, but I hear loud footsteps.

I turn around and there's three treants and two ogres, as well as a hobgoblin. They're all so massive? How did they manage to sneak up on me? The biggest out of all of them is one of the treants, probably about 15 feet tall. The other treants come up to a bit less than that, but they're still huge.

The ogres are both probably around 7 to 8 feet tall. The hobgoblin is the size of a large body builder, and is covered head to toe and thick iron armor. In one hand, it's holding a huge round shield, in the other, it's holding a greatsword about as long as I am tall. This isn't going to be an easy fight at all.

"You three, get out of here as fast as possible! I'll hold them off!" I yell.

I begin to charge those six monsters, and the hobgoblin goes to swing its sword at me. Before either of us can get a single hit in, I hear some demonic sounding screech that makes me feel fear in my muscles. I stop there dead in my tracks. For some reason that one noise made me too scared to move.

That would have been really bad if the monsters I was about to fight were also able to move. They got it worse than me, though. As I hear the screech, the hobgoblin, the ogres, and the treants all stop in fear like me. But as the screech happens, red claws appear inside and all over their bodies, ripping them all to shreds.

The treants are reduced to large wooden chunks that keep falling apart, the ogres practically explode into blood and gore, and even the hobgoblins armor is ripped into pieces like paper. The treants appear to still be clinging to life, but the ogres and the hobgoblin are definitely well past dead.

I quickly adjust to the situation and try and cut up all those treants as well as possible so that they don't stand up again. This would be impossible for me, normally, but luckily those claws did most of my work for me. The treants are pretty much dead soon enough.

"Kiaran, what's the condition of those three?" As I'm just finishing up, I hear Inell's voice above me. I look up and he's flying above me. I'm just now realizing I should really be questioning where those claws came from.

"Inell? Did you see that?"

"Yes, that was me. I was the one who tore them all to pieces. Now what's the condition of those three?"

What? He says that like it's perfectly normal. It's probably because he wants to know the condition of those three as soon as possible. Still though, I'll have to ask him about it later. I also have to remember to never make Inell angry.

"The man is healthy, the woman has a sprained ankle, and the unconscious one was poisoned, I don't know how."

"OK, come with me. You'll be on watch while I'm working."

Inell proceeds to fly away, and I run after him. We stop at where those three adventurers ended up. They didn't get very far before they collapsed from exhaustion.

"What happened to her?" Inell says, as soon as he flies down.

The man and the woman appear to recognize Inell and are surprised at first, but the woman forces herself to calm down.

"She got hit with an arrow, and she collapsed like this not long after."

"What was the arrow from?"

"A goblin."

"That's good then."

The man and the woman look confused at first, but Inell tells them to let him see her, and they comply. Inell places his palm just above where the woman's boobs are, and mutters something to himself. I hear a low growl and red lights appear around the woman's body.

The sleeping woman suddenly sputters awake, gasping for breath, surprising everybody except for Inell. The man and the woman run up to her, crying because of just how happy they are that she's alive.

"You three shouldn't move from this spot. I didn't remove the poison, I just had you conjure enough of your strength to fight through it. It is your own strength though, so if you move at all, you'll die quicker than the poison would have killed you otherwise."

"We can't just stay here though. This is a monster's encampment."

"It won't be for long. I'll be clearing them all out, and this will be the new forward base. Kiaran, you guard them while I work."

Inell just casually says that he's going to wipe all the monsters here, and he's said it in such a way that I actually kind of believe him.

"Alright," I say. "I'll make sure none of them get hurt."

><><><><

There were a lot of bodies. All laid out on the field in rows on blankets. It's like something out of a tragic movie about some sort of disaster. I can't help but think that these are the rows of the dead. Many of them are dead, but most are still alive. Although, for most of them, if they don't receive any sort of help soon, they'll join the dead.

That stench is still all over the air. This would be a horrible place to die. The sun's nearly set now, but this horrible disaster is far too distracting to look at the sunset. Freware's doing the best she can to heal whoever she can, Inell's meeting with some bigshots, Aubrey's still fighting right this second, and Cesre is resting, waiting for her mana to return.

I'm just left here, looking at all the dead bodies, and the people begging for their pain to end. Some people are missing limbs, others are cut open, some are poisoned, a few are just far too exhausted to move and wound up getting stuck here. There's nothing I can do. I'm literally watching people die, and I'm standing here, because I can't figure out just what I could possibly do.

This is the third day that Azariah's been gone, and I couldn't do anything there either. Azariah's still gone, these innocent people are still dying, and I'm being useless. I don't think I've ever hated myself before, but I can't help but get the feeling now.

><><><><

Everybody was exhausted that night. Freware was covered in blood and filth, Inell seemed to be incredibly stressed, and Aubrey was just about to collapse from exhaustion. We were all staying in one of the campsites that got set up by the adventurers.

We were meeting in the large tent that we were using for our entire party. All of us except for Aubrey were standing up as we were talking. Aubrey was laying on his side, down on the blankets that we had been using for sleep. I haven't seen him get up, did he actually collapse from exhaustion?

This isn't too far from where all the dead and the injured are laying. All the adventurers tried to put them all under tents. I even helped with this, but there were too many bodies to fit under all the tents.

We even started burning all the dead bodies. There were quite a lot of them, so we had to carry them into piles and burn them that way. I also helped with that. I want to help wherever I can, but some of the jobs that need done aren't too sought after. This entire thing is a disaster, I'm sure everyone else agrees with me.

"I'm supposed to head northwest first thing in the morning. Along with a bunch of other extremely high ranking adventurers. I'm not allowed to say why." Inell says.

"Yeah, of course you are…" Aubrey says, still laying down.

I'm not entirely sure if he can even get up right now. He's been fighting a lot longer and harder than I've been during this whole thing.

"Don't start anything now, Aubrey. It's important." Inell says.

"Ha, as if I could start anything right now. I'm just about at my limit. Hey Freware, can you spare any mana? I just want to be able to sit up."

"Sorry, but I don't have a drop left. I'll make sure you can still fight tomorrow, but for now you need to rest."

Huh, I guess Aubrey really can't move. He was here when I got here, so how he got into bed is kind of beyond me. Well it's less of a bed, and more of a sleeping bag.

"So now that I'm going to be gone, what are you all going to do?"

"As if that's even a question. I'm going to keep fighting like hell so we can look for Azariah. That goes for Freware and Cesre as well." Aubrey says.

"As for me, I'm going to continue doing my best to heal the injured, as well as making sure the guys that want to keep fighting are able to keep fighting."

"I'm with Aubrey, I'll be sure to keep using my magic to obliterate everything, as I've been doing."

"What about you, Kiaran?" Inell asks me.

"For me… I think… Hey, Freware? You use that connection with Diana to use your healing abilities, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"I also have a connection with Diana, so can you teach me to heal?"

Freware's a bit surprised by this. "Well, I mean I could, but healing some major injuries would take quite a bit of experience and practice…"

"That's fine. As long as I can help. I can't bear watching those fields of bodies knowing full well I'm useless anymore. Even if it's just a little bit, I think as long as I'm helping I'll have an easier time dealing with this."

"Um, well, in the morning then, I'll show you around the basics, and then we'll see what you can do from there."

"OK, thank you, Freware."

"Freware, teach me as well. I want to be able to heal myself with my own mana. It should make the toll easier on you."

"Alright then. In the morning I'll teach you two how to heal. Aubrey, you don't have a connection with Diana yet so you have a lot further to go than Kiaran."

"That's fine. As long as I can keep myself fighting with my own mana."

"I guess I'll stick around for a bit and see how you do. I don't have to leave until a bit after dawn, so if you wake up early I should be able to watch."

><><><><

We all got up pretty early the next day. Now it's the fourth day of Azariah being gone. Freware started the day by having me try and heal Aubrey's injuries.

"Imagine your mana flowing into Aubrey's muscles. Tell Diana that Aubrey still has some fighting spirit in him. Give up part of yourself to ignite that fighting spirit."

I try my best to imagine all of what Freware's telling me. I feel my mana flowing into Aubrey's body and healing his muscle tissue, all while telling Diana just how much I want to watch Aubrey keep fighting. With what I know about Diana's personality, I think that this is the best approach.

Eventually I stop. "Well Aubrey, how are you feeling?"

Aubrey begins to stand up slowly. He walks around a bit. He isn't limping or anything, but he doesn't seem to be having a really easy time with it either.

"Freware's better. I can walk and I can move around, but I don't think I can fight in this condition. Well, I probably can, but I'd definitely die."

"This is a fine result, Kiaran. You'll be coming with me to heal the injured. You'll start with the exhausted like Aubrey, and slowly move your way up to worse and worse cuts and bruises. I'll have to leave you on your own soon, but you should be able to learn quickly enough, right?"

"Yeah, I should be able to figure out all I need to know quickly enough. After that, it's mostly just experience I need to work on, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. Now, I'll heal up Aubrey for good, and then we'll work on getting his connection with Diana settled. I think I might have you tutor him while I'm working."

"Yes, that's fine." I say. Aubrey just nods.

><><><><

Aubrey couldn't get a connection with Diana. Freware tried pretty much everything and he couldn't get the hang of it. I gave him whatever tips I could, and that didn't help at all. We even got Cesre involved, the one who has connections to all seven of the Archons, and she also couldn't help at all.

"I'm honestly stumped. At this point I think that Aubrey might just be particularly adverse to magic." Are Cesre's thoughts on the matter.

"I don't think that's quite the case." Inell says, butting in for the first time all morning. "Cesre, try teaching Aubrey to form a connection with Adad or Florian, either one should be fine."

"Really? Well alright then. Aubrey close your eyes and imagine a woman made of pure lightning. Imagine grabbing lightning from her with your hands. Demand it from her. Talk to her like you won't take no for an answer."

Aubrey closes his eyes, and sure enough, it isn't very long before Aubrey's right hand starts sparking. He panics a bit at this though and it stops right as it started.

"Hm… he didn't seem to have any problem forging a connection with Adad… I suppose she would be a much better fit for Aubrey than Diana. I'm ashamed as a mage for not figuring this out earlier." Cesre seems a bit upset.

"Don't worry about it. You were all focused on getting Aubrey a connection with Diana, so it couldn't be helped." Inell says.

"I can do magic, then why can't I form a connection with Diana?"

"It's your affinity again. Neither Diana's more animalistic tendencies, or her aspirations for all sorts of knowledge really suit you all too well, Aubrey."

"Yeah, thinking about it for a bit, that does make sense. I guess I really didn't want to accept that Aubrey was incompatible with my matron…"

"H- hey. I wanted to learn how to use healing magic. How am I supposed to do that if I can't do anything with Diana?"

"There are many more entities you can make connections with than just the seven Archons. If that were the case then Az-"

Inell cuts himself off there. We all know what he was intending to say. He probably just didn't want to remind us, but he accidentally did anyway.

"I'll teach you a spell that comes from a connection with a certain dragon. It should suit you very well."

"Uh- eh?! H- hey, Inell… are you really sure it's OK to be teaching Aubrey dragon spells? Aren't you supposed to keep those secret from normal humans?" Cesre asks.

"There's quite a few spells I'm capable of using that I'm not allowed to teach anyone without permission from Lord Ireon, however this is not one of them."

"I can't accept that. You've already done so much for me. I couldn't possibly let myself be any more in debt to you."

"Oh, now you're worried about owing me back? I don't want anything in return for this. This spell honestly fits you too well not to teach it to you. Also, it isn't quite a healing spell, but it should give you what you want."

"What do you mean?"

"The spell I'm going to teach you gathers more strength from deep within you. It should be able to keep you fighting if you really need the energy. Be careful though, overuse it and you'll really hurt yourself."

"Will I be able to cause any permanent damage?"

"Permanent damage? As long as there are healers of Cherilyn's caliber permanent damage doesn't really exist for normal humans like us. Hm? What's with that reaction?"

Aubrey looked a bit shocked when Cherilyn got mentioned. Careful Aubrey, I really thought that we didn't want anyone figuring our secret out? Them realizing we've met Cherilyn will definitely get suspicion thrown on us, right?

"Never mind. Just teach me the spell."

"Alright, close your eyes and keep saying the name "Frighin" in your head. Imagine an angry, feral dragon as you chant its name. Demand strength from it."

Aubrey starts to shake, and from his face he looks to be in pain.

"Ignore it. Keep demanding strength. Now imagine a surge of mana from deep within your soul flowing into your body, strengthening your muscles."

Aubrey looks like he's gotten the shaking under control, but it looks like he's desperately trying to keep on pushing through extreme pain.

"Imagine that strength swirling around you. Hold it… keep holding it until you can't anymore… and the release."

I hear a low growling noise, and see red lights swirling around Aubrey. I recognize this spell, this is the one Inell used on that poisoned woman. After he does the spell, Aubrey looks extremely relieved, like he just got done with a particularly intense workout.

"It gets easier to cast the more you use it, trust me. Now just remember what I said about it earlier and everything should be fine."

Aubrey walks around a bit, doing a bit of stretches all while looking at his arms and legs.

"I feel… I feel completely fine…"

"Yeah, that's the point of the spell. Now be careful not to overdo it. Now if you excuse me, I really have to go."

Inell leaves after that. The next day continued as normal, with Freware continuing to introduce me to healing, and Aubrey and Cesre continuing to fight to the best of their ability.

><><><><

Another day passed, and things continued as normal, just without Inell. By the end of it Aubrey was exhausted again, Cesre and Freware were both out of mana, and I had both problems.

Aubrey was bed ridden again, while Freware and Cesre decided to head to sleep early. Even though I was tired, I just sat outside of our tent petting Shirley. I've been having her put some woodwork I made of crutches and other medical stuff in her pocket dimension. Petting her is the least I can do.

I feel the wind blowing past me suddenly. Way too strongly to be natural at all.

"Hey Kiaran. Have the others already gone to bed?"

Inell slowly flies down to me. What? Inell? What's he doing here? Is he already done with whatever he was doing?

"Um, yeah. If it's important though, nobody should be asleep yet. We only just headed to bed." I say.

"Alright, that's good."

Inell finally lands and walks into the tent. I pick up Shirely and follow him. I didn't notice it before, but he seems really stressed for some reason. What is he worried about?

"Guys, wake up, it's important." He says.

Freware and Cesre seem legitimately surprised to see him. Aubrey groans as he tries his best to sit up. He looks kind of annoyed more than anything.

"Inell, what are you doing here? I thought you had something oh so important to do?" Aubrey says, the sarcasm clear in his voice.

"I need you all to be quiet. I'm not allowed to say this, but I figured you all deserved to know."

Inell's aura is completely serious. Freware and Cesre seem to get the message, since they both tense up. Even Aubrey looks like he's suddenly ready to hear Inell out. You almost never see that anymore.

"We found a large number of Vincent Boreas' followers. At this point, he's pretty much confirmed to be behind this."

The meaning behind those words hits us all like a truck. This isn't exactly something you'd joke about and the way Inell said it also makes that pretty clear. Cesre looks scared, Freware looks like she's trying to put on a brave face, and Aubrey looks a mix of angry and concerned.

I'm not sure what to feel. I know practically nothing about this Vincent Boreas guy. Yet Memento was an assassin working for him, and I can never forgive anyone who caused the amount of death this monster congregation has caused. Who are you, Vincent? What are you trying to do? What could possibly be worth all of this to you?

"Azariah is still missing. How do you guys want to handle this?"

"We'll stay. We'll hurry up and get this stupid quest done and over with as soon as possible, then we'll look for Azariah. Are there any objections to that?" Aubrey says.

He says it in a way that seems impossible to refuse. Nobody says anything, but everyone seems to agree. Jeez, this is about to get a whole lot harder…