Trio of War - Chapter 11 - I regret turning a river to ice
Drok was a fast learner. Whatever spells I taught him he had an adequate grasp on when he first performed them. I taught him some of the more menial tricks i'd began to take for granted (such as rushing forward with the power of the wind). We trained for the night and then he asked if he could test out his new abilities in a fight, so reluctantly I agreed to spar with him.
His skills with a sword were as sharp as when we fought earlier in the day and his magic was charged with more power than i'd ever seen him use. His only problem was that he put great amounts of energy into every swing of his blade. With that technique he'd get himself killed easily. It didn't take much power to strike down a shadow warrior or shadow stalker (if the weapon in question was charged with the shadows. The only positive things I could say about his technique was the it made me make sure to use two hands to defend his strikes and that it showed raw determination.
I personally thought I was doing a good job of teaching and he a great job of learning, I didn't address the sword issue he had, I figured i'd give Forlon something to shout about the next day. Everything was going surprisingly well until it all (not so surprisingly) fell apart in one moment. The exact same moment he asked me when he'd be embracing the shadows. The sentence in itself was a problem, he'd said 'when' not if, showing that he did expect to become a Shadow-Wielder, a title I was comfortable with as it is. It was never a problem for me to drive down the part of me that the shadows stirred in. The part that told me to give up freewill and gain godlike power through the shadows.
Yet overtime my shadow magic strengthened or I learnt a knew power that involved the shadows I felt that part of myself rising up and trying to claw its way to the surface. I didn't know whether or not Drok would be able to fight it down, and if so would I be able to continue to ignore it with the responsibility of teaching it weighting on my shoulders. Drok asked mid-spar when he'd be embracing the shadows and, seeing as I had no answer at the current time, I lunged at him, when he blocked I hooked him in the face and used the air to send him flying backwards.
The move at least gave me twenty or so seconds to think and prepare an answer. He sent his sword into the air around him in a miniature flash as he walked back towards me, one of the first tricks i'd taught him, and still one I found extremely useful. He hadn't learnt how to rush forward using the air as fluently as he'd learnt some of the other tricks i'd taught him so when he tried doing it to get back to me he ended up about a meter further away from me than he anticipated.
It wasn't a bad effort and I suspected he was a little disorientated from the crash to the ground, and from what i'd be told I threw a pretty mean left hook. He came up to me and repeated the question he'd asked in battle, and this time I had an answer
"Not in the foreseeable future" I told him
"Why not" he asked, sounding disappointed. I turned and walked back to camp and he followed at my side
"The power of the shadows is complicated" I started "I feel its tug every day and at times wish I hadn't taken on the power, but I know it was necessary to stay alive. That isn't the case for you. Although having you learn the way of the shadows would be a big advantage it could be just as much of a disadvantage"
"How" he asked, curiously
"I don't have the knowledge to teach it and to get such knowledge i'd need to access the shadows within me, loosening my control on them but increasing the power. This would make me much more likely to lose my freewill to the power of the shadows. Plus you learning the way of the shadows makes you likely to be corrupted too. It's highly tempting and without Forlon or Reshka I doubt I would've embraced the shadows without being corrupted, who do you have to stop you becoming corrupted?" I asked the last question rhetorically but he answered
"You" he said
"Please, Drok" I told him "I'm hardly a role model"
"You're a hero to these people" he retorted
"Because I can do things they can't" I told him "You want my advice?" I asked
"Any you can give" he replied
"Learn the least amount of skills you can, and the moment this war ends go home. Just go home and stay there" I told him firmly
"Is that what you plan to do?" he asked, walking in front of me and turning into my path, standing face to face with me
"Yes" I replied honestly "When I see Soul Eater's life drain from his body and make sure he can't restore it i'll focus all my power onto finding a way home and spending my life as a hunter or a lumberjack in my village"
Drok seemed slightly shocked at my words and spent his time replying as I walked past him. Eventually he spoke
"Well what if some of us want to help re-establish this world when the war is over"
"To say you started your journey with the rebellion by challenging their hero to a fight to the death I wouldn't have counted you as that 'some of us' group" I replied. We made our way back to camp and Drok started to understand my views behind living a peaceful life but doubted i'd ever be able to with the skills I had. In the end we agreed to disagree and Drok headed to the tent i'd had Gilder setup for him. He went to rest and regain his magical energy, while I headed in the general direction of my tent but didn't expect to get there without running into someone who wanted to talk.
Surely enough I ran into Kora not too far from my tent. We had a fairly menial talk about his duties and how he was attempting to handle them. Eventually I managed to brake off the conversation and head to my tent. As soon as I reached it and settled down Gilder turned his hand and every high ranking member of the rebellion was forced to come running to his needs. I had no idea what Gilder wanted and I didn't believe it was important until the first words came out of his mouth.
"Soul Eater" was all he said and the room shifted "he's free and undoubtedly wants revenge on someone particular for turning a river into ice around him" The chuckles that spread around the room were enough to tell me i'd done a good job. Gilder continued spreading warnings about Soul Eater when the man himself appeared next to him and spread a blast of wind through the tent. He eyed me warily, I was obviously the one he wanted and let loose a red stream of energy at me. I ducked out of the way and kept his attention. He was about to let another stream loose when Kora was beside him and took him to the floor. Soul Eater's stream went through the top of the tent and out the other side. He used the air to fling Kora aside and Forlon stomped on his face as he tried to get up. Drok entered the tent and I sent him a look that told him to gather Kora and Gilder's influence and get the rebellion moving.
I was getting tired of ordering retreat from Soul Eater but had no other choice. While Drok, Kora and Gilder got the rebellion mobilised I placed a hand on Soul Eater's shoulder and Forlon and Reshka put a hand on each of my shoulders. I brought the shadows around the four of us and sent us far away from the camp. Soul Eater transported himself to a position further back and regained his footing. I looked and Forlon and Reshka respectably and we all shared the same thought, we missed fighting together, just the three of us with no backup. We all appreciated the help the rebellion gave us but missed having only each other to rely on, somehow we all thought it was safer…even against Soul Eater.
I would've have Drok join us but as we teleported with the shadows I read Soul Eater's thoughts and my suspicions were correct, Soul Eater had no idea of Drok's magical potential. That meant the rebellion had somehow racked up two secret magicians, which seemed slightly ironic as Soul Eater needed magic. But I had another suspicion, that draining Drok would give him nothing. Drok's magic came directly from Soul Eater's kingdom of evil, meaning that it was originally his power, meaning that Soul Eater would not gain anything from draining him, but I didn't want to put that to the test.
Soul Eater spread his hands wide and I knew something strange was happening. He grew in size and Reshka fired an arrow that bounced off him as he transformed. He went down on all fours and kept growing, turning into a frightening beast that definitely made me think twice about trapping him under that river. The beast was easily triple the size of me and nearly ten times as wide, from first glance anyway. It charged straight at me and received an arrow in its face. I leaped onto its back and helped Forlon to the same position.
We hacked away at the creatures back and Forlon got thrown off as the creature tried to shake us both loose. I used magic to secure my footing and it continued to try and take me off it. That gave Forlon free space to work with Reshka on its head, arrow after arrow and slash after slash while I distracted the beast and kept up the attack on its back. Despite the sheer force and frequency of our attacks the beast showed no signs of pain or tiring.
Eventually the thing that was once Soul Eater learned that he couldn't shake me off. Unfortunately that meant that he focused on my comrades. As he tired to use his massive head to take Forlon to the floor I jumped off his back and give him both my feet, charged with electricity right between his eyes. Finally the beast showed some sign of pain, although all he did was take a step back, but it did give us all a moral boost and we all increased out efforts of attack. Arrows flew faster from Reshka's bow and Forlon's strikes had so much power in them it was as strong as if i'd charged it with magic. I kept the beasts attention by using the shadows to teleport around it while send bolts of lightning and balls of fire into its face.
We kept up the attack and watched as the beast started to stagger around, showing our efforts were not for nothing. As victory edged closer to us the beast let loose its secret weapon…magic. Apparently Soul Eater was still a magician in any form he took on. He opened his beastly mouth and let loose a magical scream, knocking me to the floor. The beast came closer to me and I sent the ground upwards beneath me and used the air to carry me further when the ground sank back down. I spread my arms and headed down to the ground again. As I passed above the beast I summoned an avatar that landed in a crouch on its back and started doing damage. I landed softly and advanced with Forlon, summoning another avatar who flashed into existence and sliced the beast in the face, driving it back.
The beast sent magical lightning through its body, destroying the avatar mounted on its back. The action somehow made my other avatar angry and it fought with renewed vigour. Me and Forlon continued to advance as the beast backed up under the torrent of power my avatar, who was fighting like a monster. It lunged at with his sword which the beast caught in its mouth. As the beast applied pressure to the huge sword my ten-foot avatar did something i'd never think someone on ten foot could. The sword disappeared into the air with a smashing sound and the beast received an uppercut to its face, then the avatar struck again but in a surprising way.
He jumped into the air, swinging its foot up as it went and did a three-hundred and sixty degree turn, swinging its foot straight down as it came over the beast. The beast roared in obvious pain and stood on its hind legs. It summoned an axe the size of my avatars sword and stood on its hind legs they were about the same size. The difference was unmistakeable though, the avatar was obviously quicker and the beast stronger. Me and Forlon didn't stop running and eventually we reached the beast. I stopped in front of it and summoned a magical shield to protect the three of us as the beasts axe swung. I held my hands above my hand to deflect the strike at a safe distance from us, but I was confident it would hold…maybe too confident.
The axe hit the barrier and it flashed red at the tip as it struck my barrier, an enchantment. The barrier held but the pressure drove me to my knees and the barrier faltered and eventually blinked out of existence. As the beast readied its weapon for another swing my avatar struck. It gave a punch to the gut but didn't even make the beast flinch. It followed up with a right hook to the face and got a reaction. The beast swung again and I waved my hand, summoning a sword and shield into the hands of my avatar. It ducked the swing (not an easy feat for a ten-foot warrior) and drove for the beasts chest. The sword struck its target and I used magic to increase the power of of the stab, making a massive hole in the beast's stomach.
The beast stepped back, receiving a smash in the face from the avatars shield. As it reared its head back I saw Forlon, scaling the creatures back. As the beast's head reared I saw his sword fall from his grasp and he let out a curse, keeping his grip and climbing onwards. The beast directed magic to the hole in its chest and healed it in an instant. That was the problem with transformation, not only could he use his magic but if we killed Soul Eater in this form he'd only turn back to his old self, the form we physically couldn't kill. I didn't know if I could knock him out again if needed. Another arrow slipped from Reshka's bow and landed in the snout of the beast, which was soon followed by another slice to the snout from my avatar. Reshka shouted my name and I instantly knew the problem before I turned. He was out of arrows. I waved my hand and his bow shone in the daylight. I'd placed an enchantment on it, meaning that overtime he pulled back the string an arrow would appear.
He seemed pleased (or as pleased as you can be fighting something like we were) and fired faster with the easier loading system. Forlon reached the top of the creatures head and was unnoticed. He shot me a look and I used the air to take his sword up to him. He turned it backwards and held it in both hands, ready to strike straight down into the creatures brain. I spread my magic and tipped the edge of Forlon's blade with the shadows, a small, concentrated amount. About enough to take down a tree trunk in a single slash if spread all over the blade. Forlon got positioned and the avatar advanced, keeping the beast's attention. Reshka's arrows fired frantically and I summoned the shadows to the beast's eyes, clawing away at them, forcing the creature to kick my avatar away and drop its weapon, clearing the shadows from its eyes.
That's when Forlon struck.
My avatar regained his footing and covered his eyes with his shield and dropping to one knee, Reshka took the message and half turned while I sent magic to my eyes, shielding them from anything that was to come.
Forlon's sword went straight through the beasts skull and deep into its brain. Forlon was threw off the creatures head and I (being the only one able to see where they were going) used the air to rush myself forward and drop him safely on the ground. I saw that he had his eyes tightly closed, he obviously saw Reshka and my avatar do the same thing. As the light started to fade and my comrades opened their eyes I dispelled my eye-barrier. As visibility came to the others I felt magic flow into me and I knew that my avatar had been destroyed by the explosion. Where the beast had fell lay a face down and very unconscious Soul Eater.
He had steam coming rom every pour of his body. We all converged over his unconscious body in a triangular formation. Reshka was the last to converge as he went about picking up arrows that had popped out from the beast as I removed the enchantment from his bow. Thats when Soul Eater awoke. We were all thrown back but I felt the weakness of the magic. The transformation had obviously taken most of his magic, what he had left was barely enough to shield himself, he'd have to run or go purely physical. I didn't know much of Soul Eater's sword skills but I highly doubted he could best Forlon and I myself wasn't too bad with a blade. As well as me and Forlon, Reshka (though his 'true weapon' was the bow) knew some basic sword skills, more than enough to best a basic soldier if needed, and I highly expected him to be able to best Soul Eater if needed.
All four of us rose to our feet quickly and looked at each other. Reshka's bow let loose an arrow as me and Forlon charged, intending to end this. The arrow was deflected and as Soul Eater turned I sent a wall of shadows rushing into his side. He was knocked off balance and Forlon struck for his heart, his sword bounced off like steel and he swiped Soul Eater's feet instead. Soul Eater fell to the ground and realised he was beat and, if he kept going, he'd run out of magic and be killable. He turned himself into steam and rose towards the dark clouds. Reshka shouldered his bow and looked annoyed and cheated (a rare sight of emotion from him) and Forlon let out a curse. As I watched the steam trickle into the air anger rose inside me.
I had made extra care to keep my emotions in check since embracing the shadows to stop any brake outs of dangerous magic but i'd had enough. I let my anger infuse with my magic and brought it to the surface. My first thought as I started to use it was that I was right in the first place. This power I felt was amazing but intense. I knew instantly that if I kept this up for more than a few minutes i'd succumb to it and lose freewill. I stretched out my hand and the Soul Eater-steam turned back into the man. Apparently his steam form gave him a bit more magic and he utilised it to soar into the clouds. Forlon and Reshka looked at me differently as I let out a chuckle and performed a trick i'd never tried before, mostly for fear of succeeding then falling to my death. I flew.
I flew faster than Soul Eater since I had more magic to spare. I caught him halfway to his kingdom of evil and flew alongside him for a second. After I was satisfied with the amount his eyes widened I used the momentum of the speed i'd gained to stop in front of him and deliver a gut-wrenching gut punch. He stopped mid flight and I swiped his legs, even in mid-air he fell on his front. As he fell towards the ground I grabbed the back of his head and started flying as I had before, but this time straight towards the ground. I let go just as he impacted and hovered there for a few seconds.
I touched down softly when the smoke had cleared. He raised from the hole, keeping himself conscious with magic (I presumed he'd know what would happen if he let himself fall unconscious, he could feel the magic inside me, enough to brake his defences). I scanned his mind for how much magic he had left and unfortunately he'd gained a lot from becoming his clouds, the darkness within them was magic itself. As he climbed out I chuckled. I'd found a lot of useful information in his head and had just finished clearing it out. I saw everything he remembered from his life. His family, his master, the way he'd felt when he drained his first magician, the construction of his kingdom and the inside of it, in great detail. He hadn't a secret to hide from me, I knew everything. I scanned his thoughts next to my own and found a good form of attacking. I extended my magic to the air and reached out to the darkness within the clouds and brought them down in a funnel.
A tornado of pure darkness descended on Soul Eater as he tried to raise defences. But the sheer amount of magic I pumped into the tornado was too much for him and he was sucked in. In that moment I felt the pure hatred he had for me. He hated Reshka, Forlon and Gilder but he loathed me at amounts I didn't think possible. I didn't return his feelings in such strong amounts but I certainly didn't have any sympathy for him. I set my hands on fire and sent endless streams of fire to the tornado setting it on fire. I stopped the tornado and the fire and readied my magic. I needed this ending quickly before the magic sucked me in forever, though in my current state of mind the thought wasn't completely terrible.
He landed on the floor in a heap and he rushed at me in a flash, intending to drain my magic. He got his hand to my shoulder and let a smile spread as he felt the magic flow through me, this was how his spell worked, it got inside you and came back to him with yours. He kept like that until he called the magic back…and it didn't respond. He started at me in horror and tried to remove his hand but couldn't, I wouldn't let his magic back into him. I sucked out the remainder of his magic with the supply he'd given me and sent him flying backwards, drained of magic.
He got up, scared of being finished off and I moved in for the kill. Shadow beasts flew out the ground with each step I took but as they touched down they dissolved without me even needing to look sideways at them.
I closed in on him and his end seemed inevitable. That's when Gilder appeared at his side. I presumed he'd sensed the end of Soul Eater and used his hidden magic to transport here but I had no idea how wrong I Eater seemed shocked to see him and uttered a curse after saying
"You"
Gilder thrust his hand at me and I didn't have time to raise any defences. He grabbed Soul Eater and he was gone. I stood up and felt the magic stir inside of me, baying for blood. I knew it wasn't me and I let my anger fade, the magic locking back inside of me. I knew that the magic was to be scared of. I didn't plan on letting out again unless it was the last option.
I was about to use the shadows to get back to Reshka and Forlon when I decided to see how strong I was by myself. I crouched down and jumped into the air. It carried my weight and I flew. I kept below the clouds, they were Soul Eater's way of keeping tabs on where things above the clouds were, although nothing but Soul Eater travelled above them now, and that was rare. I saw Forlon, Reshka and someone else…Gilder. Soul Eater wasn't by his side and I saw his hand behind his back. I sent magical senses forward and found that he was charging magic in that hand and prepared to blast Forlon to dust and then take Reshka's head. I had other plans.
I sped up and let out a scream of frustration. The three of them looked up at me and Gilder let the magic lose in a thunderbolt, but I raised my hand and it faded to nothing. Forlon rushed forward to attack Gilder but I was quicker. I charged into his chest and tackled him to the ground. Dragging him along it with me on top. He pushed me off as Reshka and Forlon advanced, weary of who to trust. Reshka figured i'd let my anger fuse with my magic before and he was curious as to wether or not I had let it out or let it control me. Forlon was itching to help me but Reshka reasoned with him and he held back.
Gilder got to his feet and swung his sword near my head. I ducked and gave him a punch to the gut, this issue was too personal to involve magic. This was a physical matter. He recoiled and I swung at his face. He crumpled to the floor and as he sat up I kicked him in the chin, his jaw covering itself in blood. He used the air to send me to the floor and as he drove for my heart I grabbed his sword and pulled him down next to me. He hit the ground with a thud and I hooked him in the nose, breaking it on impact. I rammed him over and over until he laid down, not unconscious but in too much pain to move. I stood up and spat on him, joining my comrades a few paces away.
Reshka examined me and realised I had my freewill and regular magic levels, not the anger-magic power. He nodded and asked
"What did he do"
"He appeared as I was about to kill Soul Eater" I told my comrades "Then teleported him away, saving his life" Forlon's eyes practically glowed with anger and he started towards Gilder, but was held back by Reshka. Who turned to me as Forlon calmed
"Maybe there's a good explanation" I sighed and sent into their heads what Gilder had been planning before I tackled him. Reshka hummed for a second then said
"That is pretty clear"
Gilder sat up, coughing blood as the three of us made out way to him. Forlon spoke
"I miss this" he said simply
"What?" Reshka asked
"Fighting" he replied. I couldn't hold the laughter back, despite the situation we were in with Soul Eater surviving and Gilder somehow being a traitor to himself
"We fight all the time" I said
"Yeah" Forlon replied "but not just the three of us anymore"
"I get what you mean" I admitted "I was thinking about it earlier, when we fought Soul Eater"
"Would've been better without the big dude" Forlon commented
"The one that saved our life multiple times?" I asked
"Yep" Forlon replied "that one. I was the best fighter in that battle anyway"
"You certainly gave it a spectacular finish" Reshka chuckled
"And I kept you guessing with the magic" I pointed out
"That you did," Reshka said "That you did"
We reached Gilder and he made an effort to attack Reshka, leading to a kick to the jaw from Forlon
"Necessary?" I asked him
"Would you have done any different?" he asked and I couldn't have told him I would. My silence was the only answer he needed and chuckled. Reshka passed us and dragged Gilder to his feet. I placed my hand next to his head and placed a magical tracker (or so I called it). If he made an effort to attack the magic would instinctively go off, it could've killed him but if he did try to attack it meant there'd be something he wouldn't be telling us. So I made sure I only pumped enough magic to knock him out.
"Why'd you do it?" I asked
"You need to know when you're fighting a losing battle, Makto" He replied, blood gurgling in his mouth
"The least you can do is try" I told him
"Ha" he replied "look who is talking. Makto, the least you can do is try, correct, but me? I've led this rebellion for six years and where has it got me? How many of those men know how to fight properly? I'd say about five"
"None" Forlon coughed, receiving a look from Gilder
"I'm tired, Makto. When I teleported with Soul Eater I absorbed some information from him, I can counter his absorption of my magic. He can't get my power now, if he wants yours he knows he's going to have to take the three of you out, for which he needs my help."
I scanned his mind and found he was telling the truth. I set off the magic in my hand and conferred with my comrades. Gilder was out cold and wouldn't wake for hours. We talked for at least half an hour about what to do with Gilder. Taking him back was too much of a risk, people may attack us for his freedom (if they didn't believe us) and we'd need to lead the rebellion, also the camp had proven itself open to Sul Eater and Shadow Stalkers, meaning that we couldn't ensure his captivity or future safety. Killing him seemed like the best option but we didn't want to kill him if he could still be useful. Thats when I had an idea. Make him disappear like my weapon.
Of course he was bigger, heavier and a person but the logic worked the same. Disappear when not needed, appear when called. In the end we decided upon that option, worst case scenario, he dies, the option we decided on if our plan failed to work. I placed a hand on the unconscious traitor in front of me and he disappeared in a flash
"That was easy" I commented
"Can you bring him back" Forlon asked
"Yes" I replied "I can feel him in the air when I concentrate, like my swords. He will reappear if I call him, probably still unconscious"
"Good" Reshka commented
We sat there for a few hours, waiting till nightfall, partly because I didn't have enough magic to fly us to the rebellion camp and no one fancied using the shadows to get there. But the main reason we sat around was because we didn't want to go back. It had felt like ages since the three of us had been able to sit down and talk without hearing the sounds of the rebellion outside. We talked about unimportant things, who'd killed the most soldiers since we'd arrived (we gave in to Forlon eventually) and topics like that. As twilight occurred we took a stroll and saw a bandit camp. We observed for five minutes and Reshka advised we passed with disturbance but me and Forlon did the exact opposite. I summoned up a horn and blew it. The bandits looked at us and laughed. Reshka sighed as me and Forlon ran forward, following at a slow pace, not getting involved in the fight.
As we neared the enemy I used the shadows to take myself to the other side of their miniature camp (just three tents) and then said
"Oops. Magic, you know, hard to control these days" They all gawped and me and Forlon almost doubled over laughing. They figured we were playing with them as I reappeared next to Forlon and they got angry. Me and Forlon slashed all but two down with a minute, never letting our smiles falter. Ad the final two (the chief and some random bandit) got to their knees and begged for their lives me and Forlon laughed so hard that we had to hold our chests.
We'd forgotten how fun it was to fight such easy opponents after being in war so long, we'd been in war a total of five years plus the week or two we'd been here and we were glad to have fun back. As Reshka's footsteps stopped an arrow found its way between the eyes of the random bandit begging for his life
"Oops" Reshka said in explanation and joined the laughter. He'd obviously forgotten the fun too. The bandit chief just kneeled there, staring at us. As his life probably flashed before his eyes he shed to cry, it didn't happen to many men in the face of death but he obviously wasn't cut out for leadership, especially of bandits. I could see he didn't like the fighting which made me despise him a little. To steal from people and kill while the fight was easy was al good and well but to just give in when the end seemed inevitable was a sign of weakness. If Soul Eater had done that earlier I would've had his life. If Gilder had given in when we had him beaten I would've most likely taken his life to.
Forlon looked at him and said
"Oh hell, he's crying" and continued laughing. His laugh stopped before long along with mine and Reshkas
"Welcome to the war" I said sternly "don't worry. You're only six years late" Then I fried his brain and he went down thinking what any fighter should, thoughts of his killers. We feasted on the bandit's food and supplies for a while and at about midnight we headed into the sky and located the rebellion camp. We flew and landed outside the main tent (our tent was still next to it) as a cremation was going on. We headed to the camp outskirts and folded into the ranks. The cremation was of four, all without bodies. The three of us and Gilder.
Kora led the ceremony and spoke about us all, when he talked good about Gilder the anger rose again but I surprised it. He gave the order to light the wooden resting beds without bodies in our memory and we stepped forward
"Did we miss the invite?" I asked as Kora's face lit up. The soldiers put out the fires on the four resting beds and I walked over to Gilders and stared at it
"Where is Gilder?" Kora asked
"I killed him" I replied (this was the story we'd agreed on) as the rebellion drew weapons. I raised my hand and sent Gilder's resting bed to shrapnel and into the air as I began to tell the rebellion why i'd ended his life.
Kora stood silent for a minute at the end of the story and looked downwards.
"You did the right thing" he told me "i'm sure finding out he was a magician was shocking enough" (we didn't say that the three of us knew his secret before hand) "but that he working for Soul Eater too. He deceived us to long. It's time for a new rebellion" The troops unionised with a roar of joy.
"A new rebellion needs a new leader" Kora shouted and pulled Gilder's sword from his belt "Gilder left his sword and took a training sword when he left. This sword goes to our new leader" The troops rallied with another shout. Kora dug stabbed his own sword into the ground beside him and I thought he was about to take up the mantle of leader, as was his right. He rose Gilder's sword into the air and held it with two hands in front of his face. He walked away from his own sword and walked tot he front of the rebellion soldiers
"I believe we are all in agreement to who is to be our new leader" he shouted and the rebellion responded with a shout of their own.
He walked to me and my two comrades and dug the sword into the ground in front of the person stood in the centre of the other two…in front of me
"Makto, hero of the rebellion. You are to be our new leader, should you accept the duty" Kora finished and I stared at him blankly then at the pure gold sword in front of me. No, not Gilder's sword, my sword. I placed my right hand upside down on the sword hilt and sent my magic to the air. It came back down in a bolt of lightning landing on the ball-ended hilt of my sword and I pulled it out of the floor as it did and raised it to the air.
Reshka nodded his head behind me and Forlon gave a slight chuckle. Kora stared proudly and I noticed Drok at the back of the crowd leaning back against some crates, smiling at me. I looked into the air and realised the duty i'd undertaken. The rebellion now had a leader who they thought could face and beat Soul Eater toe-toe. What they didn't seem to understand is that he was weakened when I fought him I was overpowered with anger. But they didn't care, ignorance was bliss to them. They believed I was a hero and I couldn't (though I didn't try too hard) to change their minds.
I was a leader and I didn't think that Gilder's rein was much of one that needed a lot to live up to, considering how it ended. But I was determined to try my best regardless who was leader before me, be that Gilder or some soldier I didn't know, it mattered not. I lowered my sword from the air and pointed it to the rebellion and issued my very first command
"Dismissed