Trio of War - Chapter 10 - Kneel to the power
By the time I woke the next morning half the camp was already packed up, and by the time I left my tent soldiers were starting to dismantle it. I wondered why they were packing up the smaller tents when Gilder's main tent was still standing tall less than a metre away from me. I stood for about a minute watching the soldiers rush about before I looked over to Gilder's tent and saw Kora leaving, looking relieved.
I called him over and asked him why he had seemed so happy when leaving the tent
"Things are getting pretty heated in there" he told me
"Forlon?" I asked, figuring it couldn't be anyone else
"Yea," Kora said, seeming depressed at the sound of his name "he's far too rash for any sort of debate"
"Welcome to my world" I said and headed into the main tent. I knew that the tent was in a state of violence from the mood in the air when I entered, but just incase I didn't realise it, a sword that embedded its self in the floor next to my left foot was a big enough sign.
I saw instantly that the sword had come from some general's hand after he'd tried threatening Forlon, a mistake he only realised after Forlon had disarmed him and put his sword to his throat. The tent stood in silence, no one daring to make a move. To get things moving I decided to pick up the sword and stab it into Gilder's chair, managing to pass everyone in the room stealthily without giving it too much effort.
Everyone looked round and Forlon sheathed his sword. The general caught my eye, silently asking if he should retrieve his sword, to which I shook my head.
"What's got everyone so worked up" I asked pleasantly
"A simple misunderstanding" Gilder told me. Forlon scoffed and spoke up
"This idiot thinks we should split up-"
"I only advised it as a possible option to lead multiple units, it was never issued as an order, barely even recommended" The general chipped in. He made a silent decision not to speak anymore when Forlon stared at him until he looked away/
Gilder told him he was dismissed and I threw him his sword, but told him to be careful who he pointed it at. Kora re-entered the tent and caught my eye, he seemed to have sensed the mood in here and obviously didn't want to spend anymore time in here then he had to. He observed Gilder for a second then spoke
"We'll be ready to move out in five minutes" He told him
"Good" Gilder replied, not wasting anytime to move out of the tent. Kora didn't waste anytime following him and leaving the three of us to work something out.
"An overreaction to a simple suggestion don't you think?" I asked Forlon
"Not at all," he readjusted his sword belt "I needed to teach him to say things like that"
"What's with the kid?" Reshka asked me, bypassing the scene in the tent entirely
"Kora?" I asked "just an ally"
"He thinks highly of you," Reshka calculated "He looks at you for lead, despite being in a position of leadership himself"
"The guy can't be much older than we were when we went to war. He needs a role model, and if it wasn't me then it would've been Gilder, and how hard would it be when his secret came out? When Gilder tells people of his power he needs his second in command to at least have a clear mind, and thats not going to be very likely if he looks up to Gilder" I reasoned
"I doubt it'll settle well with him anyway," Reshka retorted "but I guess thats as good a reason as any. Just remember, Makto, he's an ally, not one of us. His life is to be saved as any other soldiers, but not at a high cost."
I nodded in reply and used the shadows to take me to the edge of the camp, a small distance that would've taken no more than a minute to walk, but I wasn't really feeling to clear-headed and didn't want to spend any time alone with my thoughts. I rushed over to the soldiers packing up the last of the supplies and gave them a hand. I stopped when I recognised Gilder's navigator, and went to his side as he finished a fairly menial conversation with a regular soldier. I told him that he should go confer with Reshka and draw up some predictions as to when we would next be encountering our foe, and he rushed off to do as I asked of him.
I worked my way down to the river to the south of the camp and sat where I had the previous night. I sat there for half an hour and listened to the sounds of the rebellion moving on and stayed there for about five minutes after I could no longer hear the sounds of the mobilising army and their departure. Then I stood up and walked onto the lake, came off the other side and gathered the shadows the trees to send me to the army.
I appeared next to Reshka who was walking and talking with Gilder at the head of the rebellion, telling him we'd encounter some resistance sometime within the next two hours, but when in that time he didn't know. I joined his pace as he sent Gilder to convene with his navigator. He didn't even peek my way until after he asked
"Have a nice time, Makto?"
"Didn't exactly thrill me, but it was peaceful" I replied "Encounter any danger?"
"We saw a shadow stalker as we left the camp but it disappeared when some of us drew the drew weapons, but I don't believe for a second that it was scared of us. I tried explaining that to the men, but they barely listened to me, they think that they can kill a shadow stalker as easily as any regular shadow warrior." Reshka told me
"Well at least it didn't cause any trouble" I said optimistically
"I wouldn't say that just yet" Reshka said bluntly
"Why not?" I said, readying myself for a possible fight
"The forrest to our left," Reshka said as I looked into it "I can't see anything at the moment but I saw a number of shadow stalkers there and a creature that I presume is a shadow beast, i'd say we have a mini army in there, ready to ambush us if we run into any resistance up ahead"
I left Reshka to create a plan to get us out of the predicament we were most likely in, I didn't doubt for a second what he thought he saw. I didn't like putting the lives of so many people in his hands but there was nothing I could do, I could create a good battle plan, but not on Reshka's level, he'd look further into the future than I could and predict a way to counter whatever danger faced us. I met with Forlon who was frightening some soldiers into working faster, although it baffled me what they could be working on, considering they were just walking. I told Forlon what Reshka had told me and he told me that the only plan he could think of was simple, I use my shadow magic to deal with the shadow stalkers (he didn't know how i'd sort that) while he dealt with the shadow beast (which we were both confident he could beat).
I tried telling him that his plan lacked true structure and logic but since I didn't see a better plan on the horizon I had to agree it was what we'd try and do, should I not be able to confer with Reshka before a battle took place. I marched with Forlon and talked unimportant matters for thirty minutes before attempting to return to Reshka's side but getting delayed by Kora, who needed a quick morale boost to deal with the upcoming enemy. I decided not to let loose the information that we would most likely be ambushed if we got into a fight, I doubted it would raise his spirits. I also decided to tell him that I wasn't completely sure that shadow stalkers could only be killed by shadow magic, though I didn't really believe that, and I told him not to fight them, on the likely chance the information was true.
I returned to Reshka's side about an hour and fifteen minutes after I last talked to him and his plan was mainly the same as Forlons, fight as best we could. We just kept walking for the next twenty minutes and just waited for the enemy to come in sight, and eventually and inevitably they did. Gilder shared a look with Reshka and then led his army to the shadow warriors up ahead. Me, Reshka, Forlon and Kora looked at each other then broke for the forrest. Kora caught up to me and asked me why we were running from the enemy and I told him the truth. He looked scared but didn't back down, I didn't know him very well but he made me proud to know him.
Just beyond the edge of the forrest we saw our enemy, a grand total of twelve shadow stalkers and five shadow beasts, none of the shadow beasts had riders but I highly doubted that would stop them killing us. Reshka drew his bow and notched an arrow, he let it loose and I used magic to turn the head into living shadows, dismantling a shadow stalker as it hit. Kora flanked to the right and scaled a tree in seconds, flipping off a branch and onto a shadow beast, as he drew his sword, ready to stick it into the beasts head I extended my magic and turned the blade of his sword into arrows, and the same with Forlon's as he charged a shadow stalker, turning it into shadow wisps. A quick enchantment on Reshka's bow turned all his fired arrows into shadow capable of killing shadow stalkers.
I jumped into the fight and summoned dual swords to my hands, coated in shadows. By the time I reached the enemy only eight shadow stalkers remained but all five shadow beasts remained, but Kora had one battered and bruised and was closing in for the kill. I narrowly side-stepped a sword strike by a shadow stalker and treated in to my boot. He took a step back and I took his head. I got slammed in the face by a shadow beast knocking me as it took a fist to the face from Forlon, officially the only man I knew who can stand toe to toe with a shadow beast using only his hands. I recoiled and fell onto a shadow stalker who was taken down by an arrow to the the small of its back.
Forlon narrowly missed losing his head by a shadow beast but before it had a chance to follow up it had a bolt of magical thunder strike it, straight from my hands. It was about to turn to me and rip my head off had Forlon not recovered his sword and slashed its head, I then slashed its leg with both my blades and stabbed in through the chest and it lived no more. Kora was done with his beast and took the life of a shadow stalker as he rolled past its side, swept its legs from under it and casually stabbed it through the chest as he looked around for a new foe.
Reshka let lose an arrow straight into the eye of another shadow beast, it threw its head back and I used the air to push myself forward and kept the momentum as I delivered an uppercut with my right hand to the half-blind shadow creatures head. It threw its head back again and as it came forward I thrust one of my swords into its snout and the other claimed its other eye. Yet somehow being blind didn't stop this creature putting up a fight, it threw me away by shaking its head, leaving one of my swords in its snout and the other flashed in bright light and disappeared in mid air as I lost grip on it. It must've had a good sense of hearing as it knew directly where I was as it charged at me. I dodged right and gathered thunder in my hands.
It tried to charge me again and I let lose the thunder, pushing the sword in its snout further in until it reached its brain. I was about to retrieve it as the creature turned into a shadowy coloured pool of acidic liquid before I was pushed back by darkened air around me. I looked as I fell and saw a shadow stalker closing in on me. I utilised the shadows around me and as soon as I hit the ground I rolled onto my feet and transported behind my assailant, covering my fist with shadows I delivered a right fist to its gut, sending it into the air as wisps of shadows. I looked around and only one shadow stalker remained, along with two shadow beasts.
The shadow stalker was about to mount to the shadow beast when an arrow struck it in midair, it was moving to fast and was only hit from the side, meaning the blow wasn't fatal but it landed on the floor with a thud, as it regained its balance on its feet Kora leaped from a tree and knocked the stalker to the floor. He then smacked the arrow with the smooth end of his sword, sending it further through the stalkers arm and into the chest, sending the shadow stalker into the air around it. Forlon narrowly missed hitting the shadow beast in its head and backed up. As it charged I sent a ball of fire into its face which misdirected it and sent it crashing into a tree, where Forlon claimed its soon liquidated head.
Reshka whistled from outside the forrest and Forlon shared a word with Kora then they both ran to the aid of Gilder's army in the main fight, behind Reshka. As Forlon departed he looked back and stared at the remaining shadow beast and called to me
"You can have that one, Makto, but you owe me". I did feel a little disappointed that my comrades had left my side but I knew it was for the best, and I had little time to dwell on it.
The beast charged and I used the air to levitate my sword in the pool of shadows now sinking into the ground and bring it to me, stabbing the beast in the front right foot on its way. As I retrieved the first of my swords the other one flashed into existence in my other hand and I used the air to flip over the beast. I stuck my swords into the ground beside me as the beast charged again and pumped my muscles with magic. As the beast neared I crouched under its attempt to bit my head off and used both my hands to pick it up, over my head, and sent it back first into a tree. It laid there for a second as I retrieved my swords and threw them, flanking to the trees right and left, using magic to direct them to the back of the tree, bring it down on the beasts head. I stared at the destruction the four of us had caused and used magic to bring one of Reshka's shadow tipped arrows to my hand.
I used the shadows and sent myself to a position in front of Reshka, Forlon and Kora running. I stood there as they ran past me and joined their pace.
"Thanks for leaving me, guys" I said sarcastically
"No problem" Kora chuckled
"You can handle yourself" Forlon told me, which was probably the best I would get. I threw Reshka the arrow i'd collected as we neared the enemy and he notched it in his bow. The enchantment on Reshka's bow was dwindling my magic, as was the enchantment on Forlon and Kora's blades so I removed them as they were no longer needed.
Reshka fired the arrow and I coated its shadowy tip with thunder as it flew towards the enemy. The impact was monstrous, it found every beast without a beating heart in a massive radius and destroyed them, shadow spread first, paralysing everything without a heartbeat and then thunder followed a fraction of a second later, turning them to dust. Gilder let loose a smile as he saw us rushing to the head of the fight, beside him, but let it fall again as he thrust his sword into an enemies chest, turning it to shadowy dust.
I tried summoning my swords to my hands but when I couldn't I realised that they must still be in the forrest. Letting out a curse I gave a magically enhanced right hook to a warriors face, watching as his form crumbled. I then moved back and mingled in with the rebellion. When I was deep in allied soldiers I concentrated and directed my magic to the forrest, a second later I could vaguely make out the form of two swords flying of of the forrest, above the trees. I used the air to send me upwards and snatched the swords out of the sky. As I landed I softened the ground to cushion my fall. I headed back to the frontline and saved some soldiers life by pushing him out of the way of a fatal sword slash, I then tripped up the warrior and left him for the soldier i'd helped to finish.
I ducked a bow from a warrior to my left and used my blade to slice open his chest, gave a fatal stab to a warrior to my right, and had one in front of me snatched away by a deadly arrow, I presumed that was Reshka's doing. I made a weak shield around skin, not enough to stop serious damage but it would make a fatal blow less deadly, possibly saving my life. I claimed the head of another foe and kept working my way through the army, I needed little magic and stood side by side with Forlon most of the fight. Swinging wildly taking countless foes down and nearly being killed a dozen times. When the last of the foes were all but gone I turned the air shadowy and knocked them onto their backs, me and Forlon started to walk away as the rebellion prepared to take them down. That's when they just disappeared.
Everyone was in a state of confusion as they reappeared standing on their feet again a few metres ahead of us. Everyone rushed forward as they all blended together and mutated, into a flickering form of someone I never wanted to see again…
Soul Eater.
The evil magician stood there an observed us all as soldiers drew their weapons and tried to slash him down. Then his form stopped flickering and the blades no longer went through him but bounced off him, thats how I knew he was in the flesh this time. He greeted us all as the soldiers stopped trying to kill him. I knew we wouldn't get the best of him so easily this time and was trying to formulate a plan inside my head of how I could take him down, but was enjoying no success. As his mouth opened and I presumed he was about to tell us all why he had appeared but I had no intention of listening to what he had to say.
I turned the shadows around me into a fist of darkness and sent it straight into Soul Eater who didn't see it coming and recoiled. He turned the ground upwards and sent it straight at me. I summoned a strong field of magic which dissolved the ground before it could hit me.I shot Reshka a look and he quickly conferred with Gilder and got the rebellion moving forward. Soul Eater sent a beam of red energy into my chest which sent me all the way back intuit he forrest. He appeared next to me, too distracted by me to deal with the fact that the rebellion were moving quickly. I rolled to my feet as a tree came tumbling down crushing the ground where I laid. I scaled another tree and jumped to one adjacent as that too came tumbling down.
I crouched still on a branch and found Soul Eater in a clearing. He looked around and didn't seem to be able to find me. I sensed his anger and used magic to render myself invisible. Then Soul Eater lost whatever sense he had and started dismantling the forrest, bringing down trees every way he could to try and flush me out. When he, inevitably, brought down the tree I was on I rolled on the ground and used the shadows to send me up another tree. As it came down I leaped off it and got rid of my invisibility spell as I fell from above. Soul Eater stopped using his magic to bring down the forrest long enough to sense me falling from above, but not soon enough to stop me. I put my feet together and landed firmly on his face, setting my feet on fire before it connected.
I backflipped off him and used the air to pick up a fallen tree. As Soul Eater recovered he received a fully formed tree trunk straight into his chest. He fell back again and I saw his eyes roll back in his head. I summoned one of my blades in an explosion of light and drove it towards his chest. Just as it would've pierced his heart it bounced away instead. I powered the blade with every drop of magic I could and it still wouldn't pierce his heart or take his head. I tried to use the tree trunk to crush his head but it still wouldn't harm him. In the end I decided I wouldn't be able to kill him and instead decided to delay him. I grabbed his arm and used the shadows to take me to the river i'd walked on. I walked upon it again and chucked his body in it (not before i'd punched him in the face though). I scanned his thoughts and found nothing interesting, he couldn't drown due to his magical protections but that wasn't my intention anyway.
I knelt down on the riverside and placed my hand on the river and coated it with ice. I knew a village was further up the river so I only turned a cube of the river into ice, it stretched as far as I could see up and down the river. I tested my magic against it and didn't make a scratch, from my best predictions searching Soul Eater's mind it'd take him a good ten minutes to break out of the icy prison, as well as how long it took him to wake up (a good few hours I predicted). I sat there for a while wondering how we'd ever take town an enemy who I couldn't kill with all my power available. I let the shadows float into the ice, turning it pure black, hopefully it would disorientate Soul Eater for a little extra time.
With that I utilised the remaining shadows and sent myself to the rebellion. Matching the pace of Kora, Gilder, Reshka and Forlon. Forlon was first to notice me and asked me what had happened
"I managed to incapacitate him and keep him imprisoned for the next few hours." was my reply "When he escapes, which he will, he'll head back to his kingdom and re-plan. But we should march as far and fast as we can until deep into the night, we'll encounter no resistance with Soul Eater unable to conjure up any foes. This is our chance to gain some real ground"
Gilder nodded and spoke with his army, the marching pace upped rapidly. When he returned I told the group of how I was unable to take Soul Eater's life and that I didn't know how to improve my magic so that I could. Forlon seemed fairly confident that if he kept slicing Soul Eater's neck he'd lose his head eventually. Reshka just trusted we'd find a way, while Gilder and Kora just told me that we'd find out the answer eventually. I wasn't so sure that we would but I didn't really have any other choice than just continuing onwards so I kept my feelings to myself.
Night fell and we continued to walk. Eventually we set up camp as the moon was high in the sky. The rest of the night was fairly uneventful, we setup a small camp, sat down to eat and then headed to our assigned tents. Before I went to mine I found Gilder and asked him if he'd be calling us all into his tent tonight, he said he wouldn't and I got a fair amount of sleep, not too bad to say that i'd gone toe to toe with an evil magician who was almost as strong as a god. However when I woke up I didn't have the pleasure of an enjoyable morning.
My first clue that something was wrong was when a sword planted itself into some supplies inches from me as I got out of my tent. That's when I saw a thin, tall me with dual black blades in a suit of black armor. He'd obviously thrown the blade as a warning shot and was intent on telling me something. I walked over to a wide space at the edge of camp as people gathered around, bows and arrows aimed at his head. He seemed surprisingly calm and eyed me as I approached. Reshka and Forlon stood at my flanks as the tall man spoke.
"Kneel before the power of Soul Eater" he said and an arrow was stopped by a magical forcefield he erected around him.
The army let loose arrows as Reshka shook his head. Every arrow was stopped by the magical field except for the occasional one that missed. When all arrows had been fired and the archers were reloading he threw his swords into the ground next to each other and looked at me, he waited until the archers had notched their arrows before speaking
"I challenge you to mortal combat" he said, never taking his eyes off me. Everyone looked at where he was looking and couldn't help but smirk. They thought the idea of someone who they viewed as a hero and who had fought Soul Eater and lived to tell the tale (word spread quickly) was laughable.
"What's your name" I asked the man
"Drok" he replied
"No surname?" I quizzed
"I could ask you the same question" he replied "as for mine, it is a mystery to me as well as you"
"Why do you serve Soul Eater?" I asked him
"I do not" he replied "I just see how his victory is inevitable, resistance is futile"
"I can tell we haven't met" Forlon chipped in
"I know each of you by name and will take all three of you down, in turn" he replied, unfazed by Forlon's killer stare
"Why start with me?" I questioned
"Look around" he gestured "this rebellion views me as a joke, I will prove my point"
I summoned one of my blades in a blast of light at took up a fighting position
"How did you obtain magic?" I asked him "Did Soul Eater create you?"
"No, I snuck up to his fortress and into his castle, he placed a stone at the door, I touched it and landed in my home village. With magic" he finished
"You owe him nothing then" I reasoned "fight alongside us and we can win" he looked away from me and into the sky.
"Makto," he said, his gaze returning to me "if you prove to me that your cause is true, that you can honour the challenge I have made, a fight to death and manage to keep your own life as well as someone who those around you despise at this moment I will join your cause without a shred of doubt. Not one inch of my body will think about anything other than Soul Eater's demise"
"Hold a sec" Kora intervened, making his way to the front of the spectators "you're saying that if Makto can end your life, thus ending the fight to the death you caused, and have both of you alive at the end of it, you'll join us?"
"Exactly" Drok replied
"Good luck with that then" Kora replied sarcastically
Drok took up a fighting position and used magic to pry his swords out of the ground, he took one up in each hand and charged. As he did so I sent mine back into nothingness and turned each of my hands as hard as steel, batting away a slash of each of his swords with my strengthened hands. He tried to sweep my feet but I delivered a punch to his gut with my still hardened hands and he doubled over. I picked him up with the air around me and sent him backwards a fair way, meaning that collateral damage to the rebellion would be lessened.
He rolled onto his legs and threw his sword from his right hand, running behind it as he did so. I batted the sword away and ducked another sword, but this one he'd set on fire. As his sword returned to his hand I commented on his magical prowess but he didn't reply, he just sent lightning at my face. I didn't know if it was his lack of social skill in a fight or repeatedly trying to kill me but something got me annoyed. I caught the lightning and he drove his sword towards my chest. It would've pierced my heart had I not sent the lightning in my hand to the spot his sword hit. Sparks flew and lightning travelled down his sword, it would've shocked his hand but he disarmed it with his mind before it caused damaged.
He set his swords on fire and drove them towards my head, but by the time they were near me i'd used the shadows to travel far away. He saw me in the distance and began running towards me. That was when I used the shadows to appear beside him and uppercut him as he ran, using his momentum to take him to the floor. He pushed on the air and sent me onto my back but I rolled and got up before he caused damage. He lunged at me and I brought my swords to my hands, parried his attack and slashed his upper arm. He didn't show any sign of pain but he fought with new ferocity. He had great magical potential but he obviously hadn't practiced too much.
He sent fire at me followed by a stream of thunder. I dismantled his magic with the shadows and closed the gap between us. When he lunged at me again I caught his sword with mine and sent my other one away in a flash of light. He tried to take my head with his other blade but I caught it in my hand and looked into his eyes. He didn't say anything to me but I didn't need him to. I looked up to the sky then back into his eyes and said
"Look behind you, Drok" this could have easily been a trick but after holding my gaze he decided it wasn't and turned around in time to be smacked square in the face by my newly summoned avatar.
He fell to the floor and took his time getting back up, the only reason way he was still conscious was because of the magical potential he contained, any other person would've been knocked out cold. I released my avatar and trapped Drok in a barrier of air and levitated him above the ground. He didn't have enough magic to break free and I pointed my sword to his heart.
"This is where our fight ends, Drok" I told him
He somehow managed to get free and lunge at me, I caught his sword with me free hand, twisted myself so we were back to back and then released his sword, turned around and sent a blade of shadows towards his neck. He saw them coming and widened his eyes but didn't have enough magic left to summon a strong barrier, and thus the shadows took his head from his shoulders. Thats when my brain went into overload. Seven seconds till brain death, he didn't have enough magic to repair himself at his current skill level and he was probably panicking out of his mind anyway.
I used the air to press his body and head together and sent all my magic coursing through his severed neck to try and reattach his head. I felt like passing out but kept the magic flow coursing. After nearly six seconds the flow stopped and excess magic flowed back into me but I still had to fight to keep myself conscious. Drok sat up, retrieved his dual swords as I sent mine away and he spoke
"I was dead?" he asked
"Yes" I told him "Ending our fight to the death. If you want to initiate another one go ahead, but I won't be able to restore life to your husk of a body again. So if you plan on honouring your words and joining us do it now, before you get taken down and stay down" Drok stared at me a while then nodded
"Good" I told him, turning and walking away "familiarise yourself with the rebellion leaders, Forlon, Reshka, Gilder and Kora especially, then drop by my tent and we can teach you some rudimentary magic"
"Sure" Drok said, putting life into his dead morale like I had his body
"Oh, and Drok?"
"Yes?"
"Welcome to the rebellion"
"Thanks"
I told Reshka to show Drok around and introduce him to important people, not that I knew many of myself, I didn't give the duty to Forlon as he had an army to scare and I didn't trust him to not harm Drok. Drok was only seventeen and the boy was tapped of magic and energy, that's what dying will do to you, and I didn't like the idea of him being around Forlon while he was defenceless and wouldn't last five seconds. I made arrangements with Kora to teach Drok some basic manoeuvrability in battle (a little like he'd done with me, but without the fancy flips) the next day. I doubted Drok could take that much today after dying, and I planned on giving him little rest in our magical session, so I decided to leave Kora's training until tomorrow. I'd also planned some planning in battle from Reshka the next day and, from Forlon (though I hadn't informed Forlon yet) some sword skills for battle, but from what i'd witnessed he had decent skill with a sword anyway. I imagine Forlon knew that to but he'd never tell anyone, not even me or Reshka.
I helped out Forlon with training the rebellion so he was able to shout at the ones he thought were doing best privately (although everyone in the camp could still here him) and I have no idea what I said but I got Forlon to agree to train Drok in some sword skills, I imagine it was for his own benefit in battle, not Drok's, but I took it and ran, knowing I wouldn't get any better. With arrangements made for Drok's training I headed to my tent and got some rest. Soon after I woke Drok entered and I welcome him. He sat down and I began to walk out of the tent, when he asked me what he should do I told him to rest and he did. I went about getting Gilder to notify the troops of Drok's new devotion to the cause and making sure he had a tent setup for the next place we would be stopping.
I also asked how long we'd be staying in this particular spot and was told we'd be moving out at the crack of dawn. With nothing to really do I headed to Kora who I found sharpening his skills alone at the opposite end of the camp to the main trainees. He seemed to prefer to be alone when he wasn't with people he knew too well. He smiled as he saw me approaching and made a mental not of what to teach me. I let him believe that I needed his long explanation on what I was learning, to boost his charisma mainly, didn't want him breaking down if he gave a speech to the rebellion. After a fairly challenging lesson with Kora we sparred for a little while then sat down as Kora became tired.
He seemed fairly gloomy so I inquired about his mood, not that I really needed to, when I saw the look on his face I read his mind and found out what he was thinking of. When we came to a standstill in a fairly menial conversation I just came out of the blue
"Yes" I said
"What?" He asked
"I can read your mind, you know, and the answer is yes. If you died and I had the magic within me to restore your life I would. I don't know wether i'm offended that you think I wouldn't or curious as to why you didn't ask me in the first place" I told him
"It's not exactly the nicest thing to talk about" he argued "I don't usually think about things that will happen when I die"
"You should have kept it that way" I told him "trust me, it makes it a lot easier"
I left Kora to speak with Gilder and Reshka about whatever it was they discussed most of the day, but I did tell Kora to watch out for Gilder's planning table if he'd repaired it yet, i'm sure that someone would lose it if the table went down again, but i'd probably be too busy laughing to notice who it was. Drok came to me as I was pondering where about to go and practice my magic. I told him that he still needed something to eat before we trained, I didn't want to push someone who'd died in the last twenty-four hours too hard. He nodded to me and went off to watch Gilder and Reshka decide what we'd be doing next, I doubt he'd understand any of it but it would be good for him to watch.
I practiced some shadow magic and learned a few new tricks with the elements, I also worked on resizing some objects, useful for multiple purposes. When I got tired and my magical reserves were depleted I went for a wander around camp, I got asked a few times about where Drok's allegiance truly lied burt I did my best impression of Forlon's 'scare away soldier' look after I told them he was with us. Other than those occasional disturbances I didn't have any other distractions, a general did ask me for orders at one point and I pointed him in Forlon's direction, probably not the smartest idea but even the best of us need help at times.
I raised the ground and made a chair from the risen ground, a neat little trick that required little magic. I sat down and stared into space, spending time with my thoughts until it was time to eat. I sat next to my usual comrades and watched Kora confidentially take his seat next to Gilder, getting a distrusting look from a general at the other side of Gilder. Kora caught my eye and I gave him an ego-boosting smile. Drok came and sat opposite to me, clamping Forlon's mouth shut and making Reshka take a moment away from his thoughts to give Drok a casual scan. After a few seconds of that he seemed satisfied but didn't take his eyes off Drok for a second.
I greeted Drok as I would any other friend and asked him how he was feeling
"Quite confused" he admitted "planning isn't really my comfort zone"
"Well you better be ready to come out of your comfort zone tomorrow" Reshka informed him, as genuine advice, not criticism
"I'll try" Drok promised "just don't go expecting me to be spending my days drawing up maps" Reshka chuckled and informed him that planning and navigating were different things, which made Drok chuckle too
"Why are you here?" Forlon asked sourly
"Even you're not that dumb" Drok answered with venom. Forlon's eyes widened at the sight of a kid answering back to him, but in that moment I saw Drok was no fool. He'd seen people like Forlon before, demanding respect and never showing any in return, even to their heroes. He knew the only way to get to Forlon was to stand out, to stand up
"Good kid" Forlon said, backing down, I imagined he was breaking Drok in easily. I checked his mug for some sort of magical spell, Forlon wasn't known for his kindness
Drok seemed a little pleased with himself but didn't go overboard, he stayed humble. We discussed his current magical limitations and what paths of magic he had explored, his experience was very limited but open to great boosts of power. The one question that was on my mind I hadn't yet asked, because I hadn't decided wether or not I wanted to teach it. Would Drok become a Shadow-Wielder?
He already knew my ability with the shadows when I used it in our battle, covering distances wouldn't be something he'd forget, and even if he did, I highly doubted that he would forget the type of magic that removed his head from his shoulders. Although I did surprise even myself with the ferocity of the shadow magic I used to take Drok's head. The only thing i'd decided about Drok's training was that i'd start by teaching him some emergency healing magic. I wouldn't be able to teach him the magic to bring himself, or others back to life, even my abilities on that subject were limited. If i'd driven a hole in Drok's heart instead of taking his head I doubted that i'd be able to bring him back. Surprisingly healing a lost head was one of the easiest fatal injuries to repair. But if Drok was to learn that it'd need great practice on his part in his time and instinct. I could teach the basics but he'd need to gain skill in them and use them on instinct to have the slightest chance of tricking death.
After teaching him some healing I thought teaching an avatar to him was the way to go. He admitted that after he got hit in the face by mine he had a headache, up until the part he could no longer feel his head. After that i'd probably teach him more of throwing fire and streams of thunder, possibly some magically enhanced strength, then he could practice those for a few days and rely on his skills from Forlon and Kora for other methods of defence. If Drok asked to learn the path of the shadows i'd first teach him some basic shadow magic that didn't require embracing the shadows and then, if he showed promise teach him how to embrace the shadows. But there was no mistake in my mind, if I thought there was any chance that Drok would become obsessed by the magic of the shadows and get corrupted I would place a magical block inside his mind, rejecting the shadows upon any attempt to embrace them.
I knew Drok respected me and trusted my judgement but I wouldn't rely on his trust in me to stop him gaining near limitless powers from corruption of the shadows. I had to admit that it was tempting in itself to accept the power of the shadows but the one thing that stopped me was the simple fact that I wouldn't feel it. To achieve such power i'd have to fully embrace the shadows and become corrupted in my soul by them. Power that I wouldn't know wasn't worth my very essence the only advantage i'd get was the freedom of feeling nothing till my heart finally stopped beating. A prize worth abandoning everyone and everything I knew, I didn't believe so. Added on to that, if Drok embraced the shadows i'd have to put him down, and although I didn't have full confidence in my abilities as a teacher I was sure i'd be teaching him some magic worth a great fight against any opponent (excluding maybe Soul Eater) and added to the skills he would be taught by my friends he would be a tough opponent to face.
All these reasons in total meant that, unless it was necessary and I had complete faith that he wouldn't abuse any power upon gaining it, I wouldn't be teaching Drok how to embrace the shadows. The meal ended with a touching speech by Gilder, although I wasn't paying too much attention to it. For once Gilder didn't depart after his speech and instead mingled with the soldiers not sitting at the top table (which included us). He greeted Drok and sized him up, obviously thinking about where his allegiance stood, but Drok used a clever combination of accusations being made by him, accusations about him and overall emotional speech to win Gilder's trust. I doubted Gilder would take an arrow for Drok but he'd certainly attempt to block it or alert him, which was a victory in my book.
With that the meal ended and I went out to the edge of camp where I fought Drok earlier in the day to begin our first magic lesson..