CH 17 - The Ruins of Order

Dainn

The best part about Orange magic? The transportation hacks. A normal trip, and by that I mean by horse, to the Ruins takes about three days from Vatica. For me? We'll be there by noon tomorrow.

The spell is simple enough. Just cut out a disk of earth from beneath my team, lift it out of the ground with us still on it, and then beeline via the sky towards our destination. I learned from Oko the basic premise behind it. Apparently, it is a common trick for vertical travel up mountainous terrains. That being said, it was meant to be used in short bursts, not for hours on end.

My mana allowed for it, though, so may as well take full advantage. I wasn't certain why my mana was so great, but I had theories, based on my magic studies over the last seven years.

Theory one: I had a Blessing of some kind. From what I understood, Blessings were bestowed at birth. Most of the time, Blessings are identified by the church, though from what I can tell, it wasn't anything too accurate. You see light magic also heals? Well, we have a Blessing for that. Golden flames? We've seen that before.

So I tried looking into known Blessings, and found an encyclopedia on it. However, after purchasing it and waiting on delivery, I found a big heaping helping of nothing. I did gain a database of information on Blessings, though I've yet had the opportunity to test its validity.

Theory two: much like the Ruins, I may have been born in an overflow. I hadn't written to my parents, or even visited them, in my time with the Hera family, though I am considering asking them where exactly I had been born. If it wasn't in Asylum, like I have always assumed, then maybe I could discover something important about myself. Like something concerning my Black magic. Like maybe a teacher who could guide me. Learning solo was taking far longer than I wanted.

Theory three: I was something called a Miracle. Apparently there have been eight in the last nine hundred years. It began with a monster called the Demon Lord and its armies causing havoc, and so the world was trapped in an apocalypse. Apparently a girl was born, the first Miracle. More than that, she was also apparently the first mage, wielding Gold magic.

She killed the Demon Lord, which apparently freed the armies of demons and they became the first of the demonkin of Salem.

Then, a hundred years later, a man was born who created the first Kingdom, Tartarus. He was a conqueror, wielding the first Silver magic.

It followed a pattern like that, a person of immense power and skill, and each one granted a new school of magic. Some were heroes, others villains. It always happened every hundred years, until a century ago.

I found nothing on any Miracles being born during the Imperial War, though it seemed that martial fighters around this time were the first to reach the rank of Demon. It was possible that this was the form the Miracle took during that century, but I wasn't so sure.

All of this to say, it is possible I am a Miracle. The time frame lines up, if you ignore that leap century. I did possess a previously unseen form of magic, and my mana reserves were off the charts, and didn't seem to be slowing in its growth. It adds up, in my mind.

The problem is, I kinda don't care about being a hero, not to the world at large at least. I certainly don't want to be a villain. I just wanted to be Dainn, ward to Lord Hera, knight to Emilia Hera. I am content where I am at.

Content to be here, on a flying disk of earth soaring through the sky, with a thirty something year old elf, a thirteen year old panther girl with a big knife, and the Lord's daughter who didn't comprehend personal space one bit.

Even now, as I stand at the front of the disk, focusing on keeping it straight and level, she is right at my side, redoing my braids.

Eifa and Cass are chatting about various rumors from the city. They range from new monster sightings, to housewife gossip, to excited whispers about a new bathhouse addition to the Guildhall.

Occasionally a monstrous bird tries to make prey of us, and Eifa will pause her conversation, or Emila will stop whatever she is currently doing to me, and handle it.

Eventually the sun starts to set, and right as I am starting to get tired. We had gone all day, skipping a lunch break and bathroom breaks. It is surprising to know how appreciative they are knowing I am able to form bathroom stalls for them. I even create a cavity in the disk for the waste to go.

I tell them I keep it there until we land, but in truth, I dump it the second we aren't over any roads or settlements. I am not going to hold bodily waste in my magic taxi. It is just too gross, even if I am not actually touching it.

I look around for a spot to land, spying a cliff overlooking a large, open field. The field stands out to me, because while the grass for miles is a luscious green, there is a large patch of gold amidst it, a ring about the size of a small town.

"I'm setting down. It's time to rest."

***

"Wow! Look at how it glows!" Cass exclaims, and I can't blame her. It truly is a dazzling sight to behold up close. We are down in the field, and as we look around in the light of the setting sun and our campfire, the golden glade glows and reflects the light, giving the area a look not dissimilar to that of being underwater.

"What could have caused this?" Emilia asks, looking at Eifa, our personal adventuring oddities database, at least to Cass. She thinks that just because Eifa has over a decade more experience than us, that that means she automatically knows everything.

Our elf mentor frowns, unsure. "I don't know, but something about this area is bugging me. I remember passing through here a long time ago, but it feels like something is missing.

As the resident scholar, I know very well what is supposed to be here. As such, I decided to speak up. "There was a fort here before. Four towers and a main castle, if I recall. I think they called it Fort Blacknight? No, Blackreign. It was built during the Imperial war."

Eifa snaps her fingers. "Oh yeah! I can't believe I forgot. I stopped here a few times with some old advertising buddies of mine. It was a great place to set up camp, plenty of defenses. But wait? I don't see debris or anything anywhere. It's like the place never existed.. What could cause an entire fort to disappear?"

Teleportation isn't a thing in this world. Nor is invisibility, at least not outright. My mind flashes to a decent horror movie I watched in my old life. It was a remake and retelling of a monster movie classic. The villain achieved invisibility via cameras. I wonder if light could create a similar effect, with enough finesse.

I snap back to the conversation at hand, having discerned the answer thanks to my daydream. Light. Of course.

"The grass is telling us what happened. It's golden now and reflects light. I'm pretty certain this is the work of a Chosen Gold spell. There is one I've heard about that may be capable of vaporizing brick and mortar, and Chosen spells of any school tend to leave behind lasting effects. For example, Orange magic tends to crumble a while after combat has ended. But a Chosen mage could and has in the past created islands that still persist centuries later."

"Oh wow!" Cass and Emilia sequel together. Emilia continues, "So a Chosen Gold spell makes the area it affects always as bright as day?"

I shake my head. "No, as soon as the sun fully sets and we put the fire out, the lights will probably be a lot less intense."

She pouts and purses her lips. "Well, I guess it's still pretty cool."

Eifa laughs, and then calls out to me. She has set up a pot over the fire, and was . "Dainn, sweetie, can you help me with dinner?"

I nod, reaching out with Orange magic to sense what animals are nearby, like a certain blind badass. I pick out three squirrels and two rabbits, smiting them with five simultaneous Student level lightning strikes. Needle thin bolts of electricity fly from my right index finger, finding their targets between the eyes of each animal.

"Thanks, Dainn!"

Emilia and Cass go to grab our meat, while I go to use the last of my mana for the day to fill the pot with fresh water and Eifa starts chopping some of our vegetable rations.

Emilia

We wake up bright and early, have a quick meal, and then take off again.

We travel for a few hours, and after a while, my stomach is growling. "Is it just me, or is eating on the road better than at home every time?"

Cass lights up. "Yeah, I noticed that too! The meat always tastes so delicious! Why is that?"

"Because Dainn hunts without alerting his prey," Eifa says, giving us her best teacher look: eyes closed, nose up, finger raised. "By catching them unawares, they don't release adrenaline, their muscles stay relaxed, and thus, the meat is more scrumptious!"

I smile, and grab Dainn's arm. The disc tilted slightly for a moment, causing Eifa and Cass to let out a shrill yelp. I give an apologetic look before saying flirtatiously, "Dainn is so smart!"

He grunts, and ruins it all by saying, "Huh? I just kill them in the most effective manner. I never thought about preserving the quality of the meat."

I bonk his head, and he winces. "What was that for?"

Cass laughs haughtily and Eifa giggles, while I pout and blush.

"Dainn! You are so dense!" Cass says through her heaving guffaws.

He responds with a confused expression. He doesn't even bother to say anything. I sigh, giving up. He clearly missed that romantic advance altogether.

"Up ahead," he says, eyes narrowing, and we start slowing down. I look at what he is pointing at along with the other two girls.

Their destination is set upon the side of a mountain, Mount Brauron. It is the tallest in Nubia, third in the world. Ahead of them is the Ruins of Order.

The ruins themself is in reference to the Temple of Order. It was nothing too special in and of itself, clearly having been no larger than your average church. It was now nothing more than a few walls and one small portion of roof held up by a lone surviving pillar.

It is the courtyard outside the temple that sets it apart. While the worship would have happened inside, the holy rituals certainly took place in the courtyard.

Amidst the two dirty pools that surely once held crystalline waters, and the cracked and burned stump of a once great tree, stood the only thing still perfectly intact: a thirty-foot tall set of scales.

I know from Mother Michelle that such a structure is used to judge criminals. The accused stands on one side, the accuser the other. It supposedly tilts lower for whoever the god Order judged guilty, and the priests would carry it out.

Around the ruins of the church and in the courtyard itself, are dozens upon dozens of draconic bipedal creatures. Most wear nothing and carry crude, stone age weaponry. Others wear and wield the damaged equipment of fallen adventurers.

Similar creatures are perched atop the ruined building, wings the size of their bodies growing from their backs.

Kobolds. At least forty to fifty, maybe more. Their object of worship, the drake, is laying on the left scale, sleeping as it sank practically to the ground, despite the other side holding a small horde of treasure. Likely the loot gathered from the various kobolds groups as they made their way here. It may have come from dungeons, dead adventurers and merchants, or even from the Ruins themself. Either way, I was looking at a damn good payday.

"Oh my gods! Look at mama's new sword fund!" Cass exclaims. She is literally drooling. "Oh my, there's probably enough down there for all of us to get kitted out in fresh gear!"

I smile, imagining all the bows available back in Vatica. Daddy makes me pay for everything myself, so it will be nice to be able to splurge for once. I might even look into specialty arrows! But first… "That's great and all, but we gotta clear out our targets first. Dainn, how are we on mana?" I say 'we' because he is our one and only spellcaster. He was our frontline, backline, and healer, all in one.

"I'm about a third of my reserves burned. Should be enough to get through this, but we might want to rest here for the day."

I nod. "Eifa, have you determined your position yet?" She is our sniper and air coverage. She will handle the flying kobolds and then join in picking off the weaker ground troops. She tends to let us take the lead, saying she is more an observer than anything else, despite her being far more experienced.

"Yeah. Right over there, on that section of still standing roof behind those two flying ones. I'll start by picking them off and then I should have the high ground on the rest. It'll be easy to take out most of the remaining fliers before they are any the wiser."

"Okay. Cass, have you found your targets?" She is a skilled swordsman, but she has her flaws. She is far more capable against single targets, not so much against groups. Dainn will cover for her in that regard.

Monsters tend to act with similar patterns, at least the low ranking ones do. The strong monsters, like chieftains or commanders, have a sort of pseudo-pride, and like to honor duels in combat. Meanwhile the weaker troops, the grunts, don't have any such mentality, and will recklessly swarm opponents like Dainn who can take on large numbers at once.

"I think so." She points out seven larger kobolds on the ground. They wore scavenged armor and carried bigger weapons. "Pretty sure those are chieftains. The rest followed those seven. I'll challenge them, and I'm pretty sure that one is going to take me on first." She points to a heavily scarred, red scaled lizard man. He carries a large battle-axe, and wears a scarlet breastplate with claw marks across the front.

"Okay, yeah. I'm seeing it now. Okay we got this. Dainn, I want to fight from there, so is it too much to ask for both an opening volley and for you to give me a platform to stand on?"

He looks at where I am pointing. It is above the center of the horde, higher even than where Eifa planned to be. I expect the drake to wake up pretty soon once the challenge is issued, and I doubt it plans to stay grounded.

It is an orange drake, so it needs the earth to properly utilize its magic breath. Being in the air, even on a stone disk, would be preferable to being on the ground, and since I'm the one that plans to hold its attention…

"Depends, what kind of opener do you want?"

I know the answer. They need something to clear space enough for Dainn and Cass to enter the mix, while also guaranteeing to strike fear into the kobold's heart, throwing them off. For zealous creatures like kobolds, there is really one spell that will do the trick.

"Dainn, smite the heretics!"