William had just left the Dungeon. He had actually managed to make a really good find in there. The World Tree Mage hadn't been nervous- it was nothing but a simple survey mission, not an all-out battle against powerful enemy Mages. But being so close to the border of one of their enemy Nations had him on edge. William started on his way back home when Patry suddenly spoke up: "hold on William, don't move" the Elf ordered. The human Mage stopped instantly, eyes and Mana scanning for any nearby threats. He could sense two weak Mana signatures and one powerful one heading their way. 'I don't think the weak Mana sources are any kind of threat, but that powerful signature-' William felt a shudder go through him, "I know, I can sense it too. That dangerous feeling- and something else, something familiar-" Patry began, before pausing.
"Let me take over William. I have a really bad feeling about this". The human nodded, giving control of his body over to his brother. No sooner had he done so, than an urgent rustling sound alerted Patry to the fact that they were about to have unexpected company. Two small figures burst out of the bushes next to him, revealing two scrawny human children wearing tattered and filthy clothes. At first, they didn't seem to take any notice of the Elf standing right in front of them, as the girl- the pink-haired girl who's Mana was instantly recognisable to the Elf- collapsed to the ground, gasping desperately for air. The boy instantly turned back to his friend, "come on Fana! We have to go, quickly! Or he'll catch us!" he cried; terror clear in his voice. Patry's eyes widened, it really was- "you two, get over here, quickly!" the Light Mage called. The two children gasped, gazes snapping over to the Elf, intense fear on their faces. "That's an order!" the Elf barked as he felt the terrifying Mana getting closer to their position fast. In an instant, the boy, who had short, light purple hair and pink eyes, helped Fana to her feet and pulled her over towards where Patry was staring into the forest tree's with an intense look on his face.
The owner of the powerful Mana Signature stopped just out of sight, and began moving towards them slowly, like an animal stalking it's prey. The two children trembled in terror as they hid behind him, "M-M-Mister, please, be careful! That person chasing us is-" Fana whimpered, not wanting to see another person die in front of her again. "He's evil!" the boy continued when it seemed like the young girl couldn't bring herself to continue, "we have to get away from here, it's not safe!" he begged, holding Fana close to him, in either an attempt to comfort her, or an attempt to calm himself. "From what I can tell, you two have been chased by this man for a long time. Even if we ran now, he'd still keep chasing us," Patry began seriously, pulling out his Grimoire. "I made an oath a long time ago, that I would never allow innocents to die in front of me again. I'm not about to betray my own convictions so easily. I'll handle this, you two just stay behind me, understand?" the Elf asked. "Y-Yes Sir" Fana replied, trembling. Then the unknown human stepped out of the shadows. He had black hair and steel-grey eyes, cold and hard, completely devoid of mercy. He was silent for a moment, staring the three visible people over with seeming nonchalance.
However, Patry knew- without a doubt- that this man's seemingly calm and uncaring attitude was nothing but a mask. A mask used to hide the monster within. When his gaze swept over the two children behind the Elf, the man's lips rose into a smile. A terrifying one. Fana and the boy gasped in utter terror, whimpering and trembling. Then the cold eyes returned to Patry's face, taking in every detail. Patry could tell, just from that single scrutinising gaze that this person was not only powerful and terrifying, but also intelligent. "Good Evening. My name is Kyle. I'm with the Diamond Kingdoms tracker force. My job is to hunt down deserters, and to see to it that they are properly punished for their crime," the now named Kyle glanced down at the children again, "those two deserted the Diamond Kingdom's Trainee Army and ran away from their Kingdom. I have been ordered to capture them. Please hand them over peacefully and I'll be on my way" the human explained pleasantly, but the threat was nowhere near hidden. Patry felt a shiver go down his spine but held his ground. Suddenly he felt a light, hesitant tug at his pants, "d-don't fight him! Please, he'll hurt you!" Fana begged desperately. The Elf had to fight down his instincts that were screaming at him to either just accept the man's offer and hand the kids over, or to grab them and run. He had Light Magic, surly he could outrun one human, right? He also had to try and ignore the trembling of his body.
This human, whoever he was, was not normal. Patry had never been so afraid of a human before except for Reesha, who always seemed able to overpower him and torture him with his own sensitivity. But this was different. Everything was screaming at him to get as far away from this person as fast as he possibly could. 'No, I will not run anymore. If I could fight Zagred in the past, then I can fight a singe human. The only unknown factor is if I can win' Patry thought. "I'm sorry. But I don't abandon people who need me. I swore that I never would. So it looks like we'll have to agree to disagree" he replied, pages of his Grimoire flipping furiously. But he wasn't fast enough. The moment Kyle's Grimoire opened was all the time he needed: "Sound Magic: Piercing Wail" the human called calmly. All of a sudden, the highest pitch sound he'd ever heard in his life exploded within Patry's head. His eyes widened impossibly large, a single moment of processing time was all he was given before he screamed in utter agony, tearing madly at his ears and head. The pain was agonising. The sound pierced through his sensitive ears, echoing inside his head without mercy.
It vibrated unrelentingly throughout his body, making his bones feel like they were going to shatter into pieces. Patry fell to the ground, screaming and thrashing desperately, but no matter what he did, the pain only seemed to get worse. "MAKE IT STAAAAAAAAAAP! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! MY HEAD'S GONNA EXPLODE! PLEASE! OH PLEEEEEEEEASE! HAVE MERCY!" He begged, tears overflowing from his eyes at the overwhelming agony. He'd never once in his life cursed the fact that he was born an Elf. Not until right now. Elves ears are extremely sensitive to sound, so much so that they can hear things from far away as young as only 4 years of age, and to the Elf, it was as clear as if it were happening right next to them. But this powerful and acute sense of hearing could also be a debilitating curse, especially in a situation like the current one. Patry screamed and screamed, pleading for mercy, but receiving no such thing from the human Mage. As he thrashed around, the Light Mage saw the two children also on the ground, screeching and wailing at the top of their lungs. Was this why they had been so utterly terrified of being caught? Just how often had this sick, twisted bastard tortured them like this?! Patry began to feel his fury building, but he couldn't do anything but howl in agony.
The longer the sound went on, the more intense the pain seemed to get. Patry was sure his ears would start bleeding soon. He needed to stop it somehow. If it kept on like this, either his head would explode or, if he somehow didn't end up dead, then he would be permanently deafened. Suddenly Kyle was talking again, and despite the sound from his Spell drowning everything else out, Patry could somehow hear the human's voice: "The pain that you're feeling right now? It's nothing less than what you deserve. What you all deserve. Anyone who chooses to try and defy their role in life, can only expect to be punished for it. This is what happens to people who dare to hope for more than what they have, or who try and fight against a power they can't possibly win against. All that hope, faith and effort will crumble to dust before your very eyes. And you'll realise, just how wrong you were about the world". The black-haired human continued to torture his three helpless victims unflinchingly. Patry soon reached the breaking point, 'I CAN'T, IT'S TOO MUCH! PLEASE JUST MAKE IT STOP, I BEG YOU!' He thought in utter despair. The Elf didn't even know who he was talking to, he just knew that if the pain didn't stop now, he was literally going to try and kill himself. After all, he felt like he was dying already, so what was the difference?
What he wasn't aware of was how much his Mana was reacting to the torture. As his pain built, so did his power, until it would likely tear his own body to pieces if he didn't release it immediately. As conscious thought had long been overridden, survival instinct now took over instead. Golden Light Magic exploded out of his body, engulfing the entire area and throwing Kyle far into the distance. Immediately the sonic torture stopped. But what didn't stop were the agonised, uncontrollable wailing of the two human children and one Elf. Eventually, exhausted and pushed far passed the breaking point, Patry fell into the blissful numbness of unconsciousness. However, just as he did, a familiar figure appeared, soon revealed to be Julius as he hurried towards the children. Julius instantly moved to his Son's side as furious tears streamed down the man's face. Tenderly scooping the Elf into his arms, the Time Mage ensured that the Teenager was held in the gentlest way that he could. Looking over at the two young children, who looked to both be around 9-years-old, he felt his gut twist sickeningly. Although he hadn't been able to make it in time to catch the disgusting monster who had been torturing his Son and the other two, he had heard the screams from where he had been on his own mission, he had been able to find all of them.
If he ever came face-to-face with that person, whoever they were, he would personally ensure that he would end up in the deepest, darkest, pits of Hell that he could create with his own hands. And he would never leave, not until he had been made to suffer as much as the helpless children that had screamed in tortured agony before him had at his hands. Because someone as evil as that deserved to suffer as much as the Devil did. The blond Magic Knight Captain shook those thoughts out of his head, and turned his horrified eyes down at the three small forms before him. "Don't worry. I swear, that evil monster will never come near any of you again. And especially not you Patry. I'm so sorry. Patry, William. Why are you always the ones who have to suffer so much?" he asked, choking on the lump in his throat, before gathering up the young boy and girl on the ground, speeding up time to get the three children to the one Healing Mage that he trusted with the secret of his two Son's shared existence. He could only pray to any God who would listen that Patry and the two younger children would be okay.
To Be Continued