If I told you that this world as you see it is objectively wrong, would you believe me? Probably not, I suppose. You are too consumed by petty ideas on what the world is, that the world can't be changed, or that it is filled with too much evil for it to go on. While the world is stubborn in the face of new ideas, that does not mean that it will not accept them. And though it is filled with evil, it is necessary for the good to know the difference between them. It is necessary for the revolution to come.
Soon this world's greatest evils and greatest goods will balance out. All the world's leaders will notice and try to hide from the evil and good that will clash. Others will join the fight and all of them will eventually be caught up in it. All of this will have been orchestrated by the members of the Huld and me. The war that is coming, is one I hope nobody but the mages will die from.
You would probably never guess from the way that I act and speak now, but I was once meant to be the leader of the Völsung Clan, the most powerful clan in marra history.
Many clans grew from the realm of the marra, since the dawn of time, marra have been put into clans to distinguish abilities and weaknesses. Not that my clan has any, though. But it was important to know in case the mage scum attempted to wipe us out.
For most of my young life, I was hidden from all the other people of the clan. As there was always one looking to usurp the leader to seize my father's position as the head. As a result, my mother and I were hidden away from the world and I never saw my father until I was sixteen and prepared to take the reins as leader of the clan. My mother and I held a special bond, beyond that of mother and daughter, beyond that of the strongest of friendships... her love for me was beyond anything the world could ever understand.
But of course, being the rowdy kid I was I took it all for granted.
"What are you doing, mama?" I asked, walking up to the chair she sat in and leaning on the armrest, though, I was not yet tall enough to tell what she was holding in her hands. I jumped high enough to see what was in her slender hands; it was a small brown book with a million scribbles that I didn't understand. "What are you doing, mama?" I repeated.
"I am reading, älskling," she replied, turning her head to me. Though I had been in classes for a few months, I had little understanding of my language, and could not understand anything in the book. She must have realized this, and she picked me up and placed me on her lap. "Would you like for me to read to you, älskling?"
I nodded my head vigorously.
She picked up where she left off, reading a tale about a marra who fell in love with a mage, told from her perspective. She followed him around long enough for her to figure out that he spent his entire life hating the marra and making enemies. When she finally stopped stalking him, she asked him why he hated marra and he said he didn't know. She still loved him anyway.
She read it to me every night after supper and before I was to be ready for sleep. Then in the morning I would eat breakfast and listen to my tutor talk about history, math, language, and the like. I would have lunch, play then repeat.
One day, we finished the book and I began to cry. The book ended with the mage getting into a fight with one of his many enemies, and the marra girl jumped in front of the mage and took the shot for bim. I did not wish for her to die. I cried loudly, and my mother reached to me to console me. She stroked my head with love, caressing my cheeks, and wiping the tears out my eyes. "What is wrong, min älskling?"
"Why did she have to die? He should have died for that!" I sobbed.
She caressed my cheeks, just as she did before. "Nobody should have died. The mage was careless and got into a situation where he could have died, and his assailant, the marra, should not have succumbed to rage and attempted killing him. But it was not the mage's fault she died. He was simply part of her death, just as a tree is a witness to the things that occur in a forest. The marra girl reacted on her instincts, she lived and died for love. There was nothing that could be done to avoid that."
I did not hold the same sentiment. The story stayed with me for the rest of my time as a child. Though my teacher taught me the same teachings the marra world taught - to hate the mages - there was a hint of rage I felt beyond that. History only gave me a reason to justify it. By that point I knew that the mages kept me from seeing my father he had been forced to keep them from hurting us, they kept me from my world by destroying the land they came across, and they tried to wipe my bloodline out, which was why I had no grandparents. The bastards were terrible people, no question about it!
The only thing that kept me from acting out on these ideas was my mother, who taught me that it was better to live for love than to die for hate. I held to this belief of hers and held to it as long as I could.
Everest stood over the bed, staring at Fritha for a moment before he leaped out the window, shooting a gale wind under his feet and, and landing on a nearby rooftop. He glanced back at her a second time, but he knew he would not regret this decision, Fritha could wait for the time being. He needed to find the boss.
He stared at the world around him. Green lights were shining all over the town, in every window and on every street. The marra had begun the plan to take over the town. He let the wind take him to the skies, pushing him through the clouds and toward the forest. He saw a few marra begin to pursue him.
"Don't worry, Trolberg. This will all be over soon."
When I became a teenager, the conflict within me only became more taxing on my mental state, and this caused my teenage years to be filled with illness and fatigue. I was frail and weak at the time, becoming worn out by even the most simple of tasks. And this was also when the great war between the marra and mages reached its peak. We moved often, to keep as far away from the battlefield as possible. Clan relations grew strained as well, most of the marra put their trust in us, yet we were being killed by the thousands day by day. While the queen tried to keep the Völsung Clan protected from harm, she knew there was little that she could say or do that would keep us alive. Soon, the mages came to attack my clan, yet they were not looking for our soldiers. They were searching for us.
My father frantically searched for a place to hide us and found a place north of where we already lived. We immediately started packing, and we set off that night toward the ruins of a castle. I had been particularly unhealthy that week and could not go unaccompanied. So naturally, my mother went along with me. We hid in the cargo area in case the mages did find us, my mother was a great rider so she could drive the wooden carriages if need be.
We ended up being attacked by them anyway, and they quickly saw through the plan we made. Killing half of the maids, butlers, and other marra being carried with us before getting to me and my mother. The rider stopped us, deciding to play it safe and wait them out. Despite this, the carriage was knocked over by a heavy hit to the side, which caused the rider to drop his lantern and blow out the only light we had.
The sound of blood splattering filled my weak ears. I panicked and began to pull my body across the floor of the carriage, hyperventilating as I did, but my mom grabbed me and shushed me. "They're right outside, be quiet!" she hissed in a hushed voice.
I continued to panic, but I quieted myself, listening to the slow steps of the mages walking up to the wrecked carriage. I remember the conversation almost entirely, "Should we check it?"
"Of course, we have to be thorough with this, or else..."
"Ugh, I just don't think we need to burn every part of the damn forest to get to these two. I think we've done enough damage. We went through all the cargo and personally rammed this carriage, let's get to camp."
"We have to kill them..."
The other mage mumbled something, not audible to me.
"If you won't then I will."
The mage tore off the roof of the carriage with a blast of wind, exposing the two of them. There was a short silence as my mother covered my body with her own and stared the mages down. "Please, don't!" she called out to the mages. "Please, don't hurt us!"
The first mage glanced to the other, more grizzled veteran mage. The veteran raised his hand as it became enveloped with flames. "The marra must die!"
"Stop! You don't need to do this!" The other mage grabbed him by his arm but the veteran pushed him off viciously.
My mom turned to me, "Listen, Kallan! You need to run! Use all your strength and fly away! Please!"
"No, mama!"
"Run away! Run away n-"
Her blood spattered across my face as she screamed in agony. The heat of the fiery slice instantly dried the blood and sweat on my face. My mother's shoulder was split in half, her arm had fallen off and hit the ground. "RUN!"
"Die!" He shouted, cutting his hand through the air a second time. The fire turned her into a heap of burning flesh and blood.
"Mama! Mama! MAMA!" I screamed.
"It's your turn, little girl." He said, raising his fist to me.
"You're monsters..." I muttered. "MONSTERS!"
I stopped, staring at their stunned faces with immense malice. My world began to change into that of a hellish landscape, I no longer felt my ailments or illnesses holding me back, my rage set free a new power within me. My Völsung blood had awakened.
"Ack!" The veteran fell backward, clutching his chest. His body sank into the molten lava, melting the skin off of his body, next it began burning his bones to ashes. Though it wasn't real, he sensed it, his body felt it, and his brain reacted to it. Even if he told himself he was just fine, the pain would cause him to pass out. But I didn't allow him that luxury. I wanted him... needed desperately for him to die in that exact moment. The molten lava lurched upward revealing a monster, a grotesque monstrosity almost like that of a dragon. "Ah! Stop! STOP!" I didn't listen to his pathetic screams. The monster grabbed him and ripped him from his lower half, he stopped screaming after that and he died.
The world returned to its normal shape. The veteran had died from the pain, and the other mage was still in shock from his partner's death. After the world returned to normal, I began to pass out. As I did, I stared at the burnt corpse of my mother, crying for her. "Mama..."
I woke up in an unfamiliar place, but I knew it was a doctor's place. The bandages were wrapped around my head, and I had a cold cloth on my head. I could hardly remember anything that occurred the night before, nonetheless, I knew that my blood had been awakened. And whatever scourge had been upon me had been quelled. A new power was running through my veins, beyond that of the marra that protected me my entire life. As fatigued as I was then, I felt even more empowered then than I had in my entire life.
Two men walked in. One was as tall as the entryway he walked in, nearly hitting his head on the top of the doorway. He had blond hair just like me, strong green eyes, and a massive build. The other was smaller, frailer, and had a long coat. They both stopped at the foot of my bed, each pulling up a chair. I shuffled nervously in the bed, attempting to run away, but the bigger man was quick to calm me down. "It's okay. It's me, your father." He flexed his arm, rolling up his sleeve to show the mark that indicated who he was. He sighed just as I did, and rolled his sleeve down. There was a long silence between us before the man with the long coat began speaking. "I am the town doctor, I took care of you while you were unconscious. You had a fever, chills, and had multiple bruises, cuts, and contusions. I fixed you up and there won't be any major scars, but..." the silence returned.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Your mother... we found her... remains at the wreckage..." my father placed his face in his hands. At that moment, I remembered everything. My mother. The mage. My awakening... but most importantly, I remembered the rage.
The doctor must've noticed that I had become irritated and grabbed my shoulder in an attempt to bring me back to reality. It worked, however, that feeling still lingered bringing a strong numbness in my mind. My father pulled his head from his hands and looked at me in the eye, in the moment he did that, I saw that he was hardly keeping it together. As frustrated, angry, and hateful as I felt...
"How are you feeling?" He asked, carefully.
I paused taking a short moment to let everything sink in. Seeing my father for the first time, and only when my mother had died. The numbness grew in my mind for a moment, but I let go of it for another second to talk to my father without either of us breaking down in tears or screaming in anger. "Better... physically at least."
"That's good," he said, his hand wiping at his face slowly. "That's good."
"Do you want to talk about it?" the doctor asked after placing his coat on a nearby rack and washing his hands. He was intentionally leaving the question open for my father to speak as well.
"What is there to talk about? My mother dying? My father, who I'm seeing for the first time? The fact that my bloodline has awakened and now I'm expected to use it in combat?" I knew how these things worked. Once I showed any potential, the war leaders would pick you up and draft you to fight. And if you were a sick one like me, it didn't matter that I was Völsung, I was dead meat to be fed to the dogs.
"No, I personally disallowed any drafting of any survivors of this tragedy... who lost any family. " the doctor announced. "At least not until they have proper time to grieve and recover."
"Yeah..." my father sighed, putting his hand on the back of his neck. "I won't let you go out of here until you are ready. Okay?"
I scanned both of them, before nodding slowly.
"Besides, now that it's awakened, I will train you personally in the Völsung's powers. Once you're properly healed by tomorrow you will be brought to a place where we can train in peace." he opened the door and began to leave. "I'll see you then."
"Wait! We're leaving tomorrow? Isn't that too little time to recover?" I asked. My father didn't answer, he continued and walked outside. The doctor proceeded.
"You weren't informed of all the Völsung secrets. Most of us go through a point in our lives where all we feel is illness and pain, and by succumbing to that pain we awaken our bloodline. I'm sure you've sensed it yourself, maybe like a weight lifted off your body? Or like you were cleansed of all sicknesses?" I nodded at this. He untied a few of my bandages as he spoke. "Yeah, we all go through this, at some point or another."
"You're a Völsung marra, too?" I asked, he turned his face to me, his eyes showing a weariness I hadn't seen before. He didn't answer immediately, instead choosing to redress my wounds and place more ointment on them I hissed in response. Once he was done, he put his coat on and began to leave, but he turned his head to me.
"There's some bread in the cupboard next to the medicine cabinet. You should be fine until morning. I'll redress your wounds again then, but for the most part, get some rest." he sighed. "You asked me if I was a Völsung marra, right?"
I nodded.
"I was for a long time. I trained your dad and your mother, but now all I can do is heal people. During the time I trained them, I... fell away from the teachings." he explained. "You don't have to listen to everything the Völsung creed tells you. The path we are meant to take is a self-destructive one."
I went silent for a moment but then, I looked up at the doctor. "I'll take whatever path..." I gripped the hem of my skirt fervently. My eyes glowed a vicious and powerful green. "...whatever path that ends with the death of all those damn mages!"
"You'd rather die for hate than to live for love?" He asked me with a blank expression. I was quickly rattled by his words, they were the same words as my mother's. "I knew her. She always talked about living for love, she would never have wished for her child to live and die for something as petty as revenge. They may have killed your mother, but only because people like you keep hate as your drive."
I opened my mouth to refute but found that I was stunned speechless. He saw this reaction and decided to leave me alone to assess what I wanted to do. "I'll leave you alone, but this is something you must decide now. The path you want leads down to a dead end. Good luck."
And at that point, he left me alone to think.
"So, what will we do if we can't find him?" Raven asked, nervous whether they would find this mage fast enough. "Is he even powerful enough to hurt someone from the Volsung clan?"
"He's our only hope. I know that he scared her enough to have me monitor him for two weeks or so. If he can't do anything, then doing that would have been pointless." Ashley explained. "First, we need to find him, then we need to find either the boss or Hilda."
"Why's Hilda so important to this?" he asked. "Why is she so important that she decided to hide her away from us?"
"I don't know why... but I have an idea of what she's planning and the role that she may have in it." she elaborated. "What she's planning to do is pull as much power from nightmares and use it to awaken some ancient power in Trolberg."
"And what does Hilda have to do with that?"
"She may use her to awaken the power in Trolberg..." Ashley stopped flying. "I think I know where Hilda might be.
"Uh, wherever it is, I think we better hurry!" Raven exclaimed, pointing his beak at the marra that had noticed their arrival in Central Trolberg. She was preparing to fly herself, but then he leaned his wing down for her. "We'll go faster if you get on my back!"
She agreed and walked upon his wing and onto his back, and he burst forward at astonishing speeds. Her hair flowed with the wind, and she closed her eyes to keep the air and dust particles from getting in her eyes. Honestly, how did he slow down so much for her?!
By the next day, I still hadn't had the slightest inkling of what I wanted to do. My father took me away to a hidden place in the castle of the queen, one which only we two Völsung were permitted to. By the time we got there, night had already fallen, however, you could still see the castle. It was a humungous, magnificent construction. Pretentious as all hell though, and unnecessarily grandiose. But it seemed to serve its purpose of protecting her. He pulled a torch and we walked down a spiral step, my father led and I followed. We walked into a massive room, filled with weapons and an open floor.
He focused on me, "This will be where you will train. From here, you will become the greatest Volsung marra this clan has ever seen. At night we will sleep upstairs, and during the day, you will train here."
I nodded tentatively. "Okay..."
They came at him all at once. Turning into a ghastly green mist form and speeding at him. He dodged each of them, twisting and turning, then ending in a backflip launching into the sky. He raised a fist to the sky and allowed it to be enveloped in pure white fire. Just as the marra began to come upward, he hurled a small fireball from his hands down at them, exploding outwards and launching them all back. "That takes care of that." He said, landing and dusting his hands off.
"We aren't done yet!" One of the marra burst forward and cut his chest. Following up with a few more slashes to the head that he dodged deftly. "Come on, show us what you've got!"
"Marra can shape their energy in any way they want..." he recited. "They can do blasts, slashes, and-" he evaded another attack, this one slamming into the ground, causing the ground to come upwards on either side of her. She turned and snarled at him. "...powerful hits." He did multiple hand signs and threw his hand on the ground. The earth came up and tree roots came out like ropes and wrapped themselves around the marra girl and attempting to do the same with the others, but they all flew into the sky out of their reach. Everest glanced at the marra girl and gripped her forehead. "What the hell are you-?!" She couldn't finish her sentence as she suddenly slumped forward in unconsciousness. He looked back to see the other marra coming at him faster than normal people could even see. He backpedaled allowing one to slam into the ground in front of him. He leaped into the air while creating a sword made of violet and black energy. He kept himself airborne by allowing two small cyclones to wrap around his feet and let him hover in midair. Quickly holding it at his chest and blocking another attack. He spun and struck the hilt into her spine in one fluid motion.
They continued coming, however, he flew over two coming at him from opposite angles, allowing them to slam into each other. Another marra tried to ram into his chest, the energy surrounding her forming to a point. He flipped ninety degrees, allowing him to shoot a gust of wind out of his feet, stop her momentum and blow her back. He returned to his upright position to intercept another marra coming at high speeds with his shadow energy sword. She slashed at his chest, attempting to cut him, but he blocked and parried, slamming his knee into her stomach and hitting her in the temple with the hilt. Four more prepared to come at him all at once, aiming for his head with sharp points. He attempted hand signs, but he was nearly shot at for it, narrowly avoiding a green blast to the chest. The barrage continued from all angles. He spun in a circle, a fiery dome being generated from his hands. With a loud grunt, he pushed it outwards in a massive, blinding explosion.
David, Frida, and Johanna continued their search for Hilda in the rest of the cabins. They had searched a few, but nothing turned up. They were searching in another cabin when a loud bang sounded behind them. Johanna was the first to bolt to the door and see the smoke of an explosion.
"What happened?" the kids called out to Johanna. She went silent for a few moments.
"We better find Hilda fast. This is getting out of hand," she muttered, before running back into the cabin.
"Any idea where he could be?" Raven asked Ashley, hoping to find any directions other than 'just fly'. Just as he finished saying this, they both heard a sound similar to that of a gunshot or firework.
"Well, I do now. Let's go!" she shouted.
He retreated to the ground, his clothes were hot, and the sleeves of his jacket were burning along with the lower half of his left pant leg. He dropped to one knee, knowing that he may have used too much energy on them. He scanned the area, quickly realizing that he was surrounded.
"You're surrounded, mage. You should give it up now." One red-haired marra taunted. He breathed before standing up.
"Maybe you should stop joking around!" he shouted. His hands formed multiple signs in rapid succession. A small thunder cloud formed above him, lightning sparking viciously around it. Everest's hair began to stand on end, seeming to float upward before a flash of light blinded the marra. Lightning struck on his hand, which was outstretched in front of him. The cloud remained above him as he let a feint intimidate them. They flinched, moving back to avoid a lightning strike, but it was fake. The attack came after they realized he had faked them out, the cloud shooting another stream of lightning into his back before he moved at immense speeds and blasted through multiple marra. They all fell unconscious after it hit. He leaned on one knee and looked around for a moment to see if any were still awake or had dodged the attack. There were none.
He let out a sigh of relief before he heard: "Hey!"
He immediately recognized the voice as his coworker from the retail job he had picked up. "Not you too..." he muttered.
"I heard the explosion and I thought you'd be here," Ashley explained. "Listen, there's not much time but we need to-" she was cut off by a fire blast to her feet. "-Gah!
"I guess even you joined them in the end. I won't say that I expected it, because I didn't but I thought you would have been a better person..."
"Hey! I'm not with those bad marra! I'm with you on this! Calm down!" she explained, but he shook his head.
"Maybe I would have let you off the hook a day ago, but now? You'll get exactly what your boss - Kallan Völsung will get!" he shouted.
"Calm down, you mage guy! She's against these marra! She's trying to get you to help fight the Völsung!" Raven stood between both of them, blocking him with his wings. "She's trying to save your co-worker's daughter!"
"What are you talking about?" he inquired, his stance softening.
"Johanna's daughter has been kidnapped by Kallan Volsung! And while you've been throwing accusations at me, she's been getting closer and closer to tearing out the source of this city's power!" she shouted at him. "We need to get to the central gate!"
"She isn't in the Huld, she can't be..." Frida groaned as they searched the next cabin, once again turning up empty. They decided to head back to the main cabin where the boss lived, the marra had left so there was no harm in checking again. David had given up, for the most part, deciding to resign himself to laying on the strangely colored couch. "We've searched everywhere and she hasn't been in any of these cabins."
"We have to keep looking, maybe there's something that we're missing," Johanna suggested.
"No, we looked in all the cabins and we checked the marra's campsite," David uttered, frustrated at her insistence to keep looking in the Huld. "We need to look somewhere else."
"Yeah, I was just about to say the same thing, we should head back try and regroup with Raven and... Ashley, I think her name was." Frida recalled. "Do you have her phone number or something?"
"I don't think she has a phone," Johanna admitted, then sighed. "We should give them some kind of signal if we are going back to the town. Like a smoke signal or something."
"I'll find some wood," Frida announced.
"I'll start the fire," David declared.
"I'll search this place one more time, then we can get moving," Johanna said, placing a hand on the knob of the door to her office. She had been in there only once when the boss had appeared out of nowhere, and she hadn't had the chance to search it thoroughly enough. It had been empty the first time around, but that seemed to be some sort of illusion.
"Alright then...!" she pushed the door open, to see an almost empty room. There was only a desk with a cup of tea on it, a fireplace, empty bookshelves, and a desk to the right side of the room. She looked at the floor and saw that papers had been scattered across the floor and a few books. Only one was labeled.
The Truth of Trolberg
She picked it up and skimmed through the pages. It was a relatively short read, as she knew a fair amount of the secrets. Except one labeled: Amma, and why Trolberg is named after Trolls. She read through it and was shocked as she finally understood why the boss was after Trolberg. And why there were so few mages here. She understood where they needed to be to find Hilda. She rushed outside to find the kids attempting to make a smoke signal. "There!" David spoke, dropping the stick and stone he used to make fire. He blew at the fire and allowed it to grow. Frida faced Johanna, "We left a message here just in case they come here for us."
"We need to go, now! I know where Hilda might be!"
"It seems that they mean to send a message," Everest said as he flew beside Raven and Ashley, looking at the smoke signal that Johanna and the kids made. "Though something tells me that they didn't find Hilda or Kallan."
"That doesn't matter right now. Since we know where they are, we have to just head there and hope we're right. If we are, then Everest will take out Kallan and Raven and I can take Hilda." Ashley explained. "Then this all will be over..."
"What will you do when this is over?" Raven asked. "Since you have no home and all."
"I don't know. I just know that I'll be happy once we get rid of that woman." Ashley said. "I can't believe that I even trusted those people in the first place. Even Harper... even she was part of them. She was never my friend..."
"Hey! Save the depressing thoughts for after this battle," Everest enjoined. "Besides, whether you like it or not, you're helping save this town. This Harper character, whoever she is, even if she was your friend... you're still doing the right thing. And hopefully, once this all blows over, you can show her the right way."
She looked at Everest, showing a small smile. "Thanks,"
"Don't thank me just yet. We've yet to face the true enemy yet, right now, let's focus on how we're going to beat her and take that child back."
"Yeah, I thought we were gonna leave the 'fighting the most powerful marra' stuff to you," Raven said bluntly. "You know... since I'm not very well equipped for battle."
Everest eyed the thunderbird as they entered the city, soaring past buildings, apartments, and streets, heading for the wall. "Does she have any weaknesses that I should know of? Or any strengths?"
"She can transform your reality into whatever she wants. All five of your senses can be overwhelmed by this power and it can kill you if she chooses to use it on you."
"Are there any downsides to this ability?"
"...I don't know, there were only rumors of this ability in the first place, any weaknesses to her ability were never shown. So, I don't know," Ashley explained. "She used it on me once, and there was something off about it..."
"What was it?" he asked.
"Firstly, when she changed reality, she kept herself visible to me. I saw her, still sitting in her office chair when she gave me the vision. But, she wasn't moving an inch. I think she might not be able to move much when she uses it. Secondly, I think it only works if it happens in a specific range or if contact is made. She was close when she first did it with me, and she had touched me before so it would make sense either way."
"Are you sure about any of those explanations?"
"Not at all... according to some of the rumors that I heard, these might not be as accurate. There were instances in stories where people explained that she had shown them her power and she was able to do one, but not the other two. So, this is more of a guess than anything..."
Everest looked ahead, thinking for a moment. "I'll just have to test all your theories out, then. When I fight her, I'll have to keep my distance. You two will grab the girl while I distract her. If she isn't there, then you two get out as quickly as possible."
"Right" "If I have to." they both said.
"Good." Everest sighed, Let's hope I can pull this off.
We trained there for a year. It was apparently a tradition in the Volsung clan to fully develop one's powers before becoming a true member. And my being the heir made this imperative for me. My powers grew more and more throughout the months, but after the sixth month, my ability to alter the perception of reality reached a point where they were above my father's. He was astounded by my progress and showed me the weaknesses of my powers. Mostly insignificant as long as my enemies had no knowledge of them, however, my father wanted me to be prepared, so he taught me marra physical combat. He showed me how to manipulate energy into weapons, sharp edges, and enhancing physical strength.
He also taught me how to share my energy with other marra just in case I needed to work with someone else. That became useful when I joined the Huld.
All of these things I learned did nothing but make me feel even more confused about the world I was going to be put in after I was fully trained. The doctor's and my mother's words still lingered in my mind as I trained with my father, as I trained by myself, and as I slept. There was no place that I could go to escape it, and soon I found myself having to answer the dreaded question of where I wanted to go, and who I wanted to be.
The answer came when the mages attacked a nearby town, despite the war being over by then. My father wanted us to head there so I could see what true battle was. When my father and I got there to check it out, we found the town had been razed completely. Nothing was left except dead bodies, the ruins of former houses and shops, and traumatized children.
I took care of one of them, a little girl named Harper. She had seen her father stabbed in the chest by the mages, her mother had been set on fire, and her sisters had been left to die under her collapsing house. She only managed to escape by the skin of her teeth. As I took her back to the castle, to be put into the orphanage most likely never to be seen again, I saw my answer in her eyes.
I didn't need love. I never did. The only thing that kept me going... the only thing that drove me was hate. It pushed me to a point where I could become better. My hate for the mages had awakened my bloodline, pushed me past my father's abilities, and it would be the reason I joined the Huldrawood.
I had grown up in the years to come, and my father had begun teaching me how to be the leader of the clan. He began to show me the war planning part of the process, however, this devolved into a short quarrel about the mages. I wanted to begin another war, he wanted all wars to end and he was willing to sacrifice his pride for it. That night, my father and I had an argument. He wanted me to stop my campaign to push the marra into another war. I disagreed, knowing that if we entered another war while they were still reeling from the first, we would be able to take them down. This argument continued for some time, with our points flying at each other through our screamed and shouted words. I decided to retreat to my room, deciding that I had enough of this farce.
I grumbled as I laid in my bed and stared outside at the stars. I couldn't sleep that night, so stayed up wandering the halls of the castle. Eventually, I ran into someone, knocking them over onto their back. "Sorry about that," I said.
"Ah, it's quite alright," they said, their voice being slightly deep and holding a warm tone. I helped them stand onto their feet, noticing that they were wearing a cloak over their body. Likely to keep warm from the cold, though, I didn't get a look at their face "You're Kallan Volsung, right? It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Thank you. Mister..."
"Oh! My name is Peter," he said. "If I may ask, what are you doing walking down here so late?"
I paused for a moment but decided to indulge this young man. "Well, my father and I argued, and it left me feeling something I haven't experienced in a long time. Especially toward him."
"What was it?"
"Rage..."
"Oh, that's terrible. What were you two talking about?" he asked.
I continued. "The future of my clan. I wish to take the next steps to defend ourselves from mage dominance. The queen doesn't plan to do anything anytime soon and my father wants to wait, while the mages could be planning their next assault this very moment."
Peter nodded in agreement. "That would be very prudent. If we are to do anything about mage rule, it will have to be when they don't expect it. Why does your father disagree?"
"It must be his emotions getting in the way," I said.
"War veterans, do tend to let their heartstrings pull them instead of their minds. It is terrible that most think this way..."
"Right? And..." we continued talking all night until the sun came up the next day. We talked more in the next few weeks. Whenever my father said something, I talked it over with him. Eventually, we went to meetings with those who were dissatisfied with the leadership just as we were. He had told me of his clan's same predicament and some of the other clans having a similar problem. So he and some others decided to create the Huldrawood pseudo-clan as a sort of opposition. Instead of gaining our power from dreams like most marra normally did, we gained our power from nightmares. It was a much more primal and powerful energy. It grew enough that marra all over the world were joining and they needed to split it into separate branches. The last leader had stepped down, and he offered me the position to be voted as the next leader.
Seeing this as my opportunity, I accepted and became the leader of the Huldrawood. It was at that point where I hatched the plan to pull all our power from the nightmares, and share it with me. At first, it required us to make contact with all the humans of the town, and make sure no mages could watch us. I shared my energy pulled directly from the dreamscape with them at first and when the plan would eventually be fulfilled, there would be no opposition as I peeled the buildings and structure of the land like a bandaid and awakened the power lying beneath. More followers came to my aid. Including the poor unfortunate girl I had seen before, and a friend of hers. Peter left the Huld after he gained his position in his clan and my clan refused to accept me as their leader. Though, I didn't care. My dream...
it was so close I could feel it on my fingertips.
"Well, it seems you've found me," Kallan muttered, standing atop the wall. She held Hilda under her arm. She turned her faded green eyes to face the ground. "I should have known that pathetic marra wouldn't hold you for long... mage."
Everest faced her calmly, holding his hands clenched in fists at his sides. "I don't want to fight if I don't have to. Just let the girl go, and tell your marra to stand down."
"Like I would do something like that for a mage!" she hissed, gripping the blue-haired girl tightly in her arm. "Besides, it's too late for any second thoughts or pity. I already have enough power to take down a giant with one hand tied around my back! If you wanna stop anything, you'll have to go through me!"
Everest sighed, getting into a battle stance. "So be it," he said, just loud enough for her to hear. "Get the girl!" he shouted to Ashley and Raven as he shot off toward her. She did the same, launching at high speeds to intercept him in mid-air. Ashley and Raven flew at different angles, to get around her and to Hilda.
"Heh, it won't be that easy," she said as she clashed with Everest. He pushed off of her, attempting to keep his distance from her and avoid an attack. She launched forward, creating energy around the palms of her hands, turning them into sharp knives, and stabbing at him. He evaded carefully, a few stabs being too close for any kind of comfort. She was clearly aiming for his head to end this as quickly as possible. He shot a fiery wave at her, forcing her to move away. He saw in the corner of his eyes that Raven and Ashley had gotten Hilda and escaped. He underwent a brief moment of relief, before moving away again. "Eyes on me, mage!"
They engaged in a short fistfight, before Everest caught her fist and spun on his heel, taking her off balance and throwing her into the ground, breaking the earth beneath her. He flew toward her again, flinging a fiery fist into her chest. She dodged the next strike with a tilt of her head. She blasted him in the chest multiple times. He growled and moved backward, grabbing his chest in pain. "You...!" she leaped out of the crater and began her next assault.
She kicked upward, aiming for his face. He pulled his face away just in time for her to follow up with a second, even faster kick, hitting him in his cheek with her heel. She continued, leaping off the ground kicking him once more in his chest. Everest fell back, leaning on a nearby tree. "Come on, mage! Don't tell me that's all you've got!" she blasted him rapid fire. He ran away as she continued destroying any nearby trees, grass, or small houses that were in the line of fire. He took back to the skies, responding with counter fire. Literally.
He shot fireballs at immense speeds, forcing her to move away from the ground and follow him into the air as well. "Heh, I've still got a few more tricks up my sleeve." he performed multiple hand signs and held out a hand. "Hellfire!" a wall of fire came out from beneath her. He breathed heavily, knowing that he was losing steam.
"Come on, weakling!" She slammed into him like an American football player attempting to reach the endzone. Everest was sent spinning backward, trying his best to bring himself upright, until she followed up by flying behind him and blasting him with an energy shot to the chest. The blast pushed him into the wall, cracking it with the velocity he was fired at. She was prepared to continue her onslaught with more energy blasts, but he dissipated into the wall under a shadow.
"You can't hide forever, mage!"
Ashley and Raven heard Everest's cue and sped toward the blue-haired girl. They flew past Kallan and attempted to grab Hilda and escape, but she had different plans. She left her fight with Everest and stopped between the two of them and Hilda. Ashley was quickly stunned, but Raven, however, continued. He rammed directly into her, but she was not fazed and used her energy to fuel her muscles and lifted him into the air and back onto the ground, knocking him unconscious. Ashley realized just what was happening and she attempted to withdraw, but she found herself in Kallan's sights next.
She grabbed her by the arm and lifted her off her feet and hurled her into the wall. "Gah!" she gasped as her body reeled from the hit. Ashley coughed, before looking up to see Kallan standing over her. She felt her foot hit her stomach, if nothing on the last hit broke anything, then this must have. Her vision began to blur, and her mind began to wander. "Ugh..."
Kallan grinned above her.
"We're... in your reality, aren't we...?" she asked, frowning heavily. "Even... Everest...?" she looked to where the mage once was.
Kallan's grin never faltered as the world returned to its true form, she dissipated with the fake reality. Ashley tried to stand up, but she found that though the reality had faded, the pain had not. She looked to the leader of the Huld marra and saw that she was standing still atop the wall, holding her hands out concentrating on the illusion Everest was seeing.
"You're a... smart one, you know that?" she said, strain clear in her voice. "Even... when you know nothing... you know everything. I wonder, though... where the hell was intelligence when you were working for me?"
"So you can't move, you just make it seem as if you are..." Ashley thought, beginning to stand up fully. "You lie, even when you're fighting. Just like when you lied to me."
"I never lied to you... because I never told you anything. I only said what... needed to be said." she spat. "The mages, even him! They're all evil!"
"You can't say that! You don't even know him!"
"I don't need to... it's in their nature. They all have such immense capability to... to..."
...hurt us.
Everest was being whittled down, ever so slowly. Soon he wouldn't have enough stamina to even run from her. But, for now, while he did have some energy, he was running like a rat would run from a hungry feline. He hid in the trees attempting to get his energy, recuperate, and return to the fray. Kallan wouldn't allow him that luxury, though. She let off a powerful beam that cut the upper half of the trees and sliced open part of his shoulder. The scream of pain he let out showed where he was.
She shot a massive energy blast at him, sending him into the ground, writhing in pain. He wouldn't quit, though. He stood with a groan and faced the marra walking slowly toward him. His torso was almost bare, excluding what was left of his stained white shirt and part of his jacket. Kallan walked up, standing a fair distance away from him. "So, ready to die?"
I'm not sure about this... but I have to try. He slowed his breathing and stood perfectly still. His hands showed a purple and black viscous liquid fall over them, then he held his hands out for her to see. "Shadow..." the liquid slowly dripped off his hands, onto the ground in front of him. "What?" he said, confused.
"What a waste. You're pathetic," she taunted before her hand became an energy claw. "Die!"
Everest was stunned for a moment before he gained a determined look in his eyes. "This is an illusion isn't it...?!" he said, as Kallan passed through him. She slid across the ground, turning to face him with a vicious lour.
"Heh, it doesn't matter now. As long as you're here, there's no way that you can stop me." she rushed forward and cut him across the chest. "Tell yourself that this pain isn't real, but while you're in this nightmare, this pain is as real as I make it!"
Ashley had managed to gain enough energy to stand and try to stop Kallan from using her powers on Everest. She made an energy fuel fist and turned it toward her. Kallan turned her head to the young marra and created a small illusion, Hilda leaped from beside her and attacked Ashley. Though, she couldn't keep it up long enough for her to be anything but startled. She landed on her back, groaning at the mental attack.
"I understand that you think that you're... doing the right thing, but you're actively going against the entire marra realm..." she growled. "You may defend them now, but ngh... they'll kill you and the rest of your family! We'll all die because of you!"
"Yeah, well... these humans will die because of you!" Ashley snapped back, "The path I'm heading down... is one of... clear conscience. What about you? The people you lied to, the people you've pushed aside to get here, the hope and dreams of so many marra are on your shoulders. And you still want to continue this selfish war! You want them to die! When are you going to wake up from your arrogant dream and realize there's more at stake here than if the mages live! This war will kill so many marra!"
Kallan spat out a wad of spit and blood, fazed by her words. She turned to her, a vicious scowl on her face. "It's a necessary sacrifice."
"No, it isn't! It's unnecessary! If all of them die for your own selfish dream, there would be no point in sacrificing them at all. You never wanted to free the marra, you've only dreamed of revenge. For all that I don't know... I do know that this ends in the death of those Huld marra. All for a selfish dream. You're more pathetic than the mages you consider scum!" Ashley stood up as Kallan stared at her, shaking in pure anger. She released the hold on Everest, instead, leaping toward Ashley, her hands reaching for Ashley's neck. "Gah!"
She slammed her head into the wall, choking her viciously with her bare hands using her enhanced marra strength to crush her windpipe. "They killed my mom! They killed her without empathy or a second thought! And once I'm done with you - the whole lot of you, I'll do the same to them! So they can know my pain!" she squeezed tighter, as her breath constricted and she slowly went unconscious.
"That's enough!"
KRAKOW!
A beam of light shot into Kallan's face, knocking her onto her back. Ashley turned her head up, to see Johanna and the kids standing atop the wall, Johanna holding a small light gun, typically used by the Trolberg Safety Patrol. "Kids, get Hilda. I'll handle her."
They both hurried over to Hilda, tending to her, "Hilda! Hilda, wake up!" though she was breathing, she wouldn't move an inch. As weak as she was now, Kallan must have still been controlling her.
"Release her, right now!" Johanna demanded, aiming the light gun at her head.
"Heh... you think that little gun is going to hurt me? Please... if you hadn't caught me off guard with that last one, then I would have been completely unharmed." Kallan replied, grinning.
"Yeah, well maybe if I turn it from stun to kill, it'll leave something more than a scratch this time." Johanna threatened. "Let her go, and I let you go."
"I've still got enough gas in the tank to kill all of you right now!" Kallan snapped back. Johanna shot her in the head before she could advance. Her head remained, however, the shot had rattled her skull enough that she fell unconscious.
"Damn..." she muttered under her breath. She walked over to Hilda, seeing that she was still in the eternal nightmare. Johanna picked her up slowly and walked over to Ashley, placing them side by side. They all stared at Hilda for a moment. Johanna turning her head to Ashley, seeing her beaten and bloodied. She sighed, wishing that this all hadn't come this far - so close to the marra destroying Trolberg. "At least it's finally over..."
"Heh, you're all fools... if you think this is over!"
They all turned their heads to face Kallan, who had managed to stand up and create energy claws from her fingers again. She was breathing heavily and struggled to stand up straight, but she was ready to kill one of them. "I'm gonna kill you... I'm gonna kill all of you!" she burst forward, her right hand outstretched and plunged into flesh, allowing blood to spurt out the wound and onto her face.
"I... won't let you... hurt anyone else!" Everest said between gritted teeth. Her fingers had stabbed into his shoulder, viciously rending into flesh and muscle. Time seemed to have stopped for her. Her eyes widened as she saw the mage's face. "Gah!" he sent a powerful wind toward her, knocking her off the wall and tearing out the claws from his wound.
There were always small gaps within my memories, things that I didn't remember, things that I assumed I had forgotten. The truth was that I just didn't want to remember. I had become so consumed with my hate, my lust for vengeance, that I had forgotten the true nature of the people I had seen. The mage I fought that day, did something that opened my meager eyes.
He showed that he was ready to sacrifice for love. Not a superficial love, the kind that was only masking hate for something, someone... it was a love that was true and powerful. He was ready to die for Ashley. Those three children. That Thunderbird. That vicious woman. All of them, though they did nothing to deserve it.
It is better to live for love than to die for hate.
I remembered the day my mother died. After expending so much energy on killing the mage who killed my mother, I collapsed. I faded in and out of consciousness. My breathing becoming ragged and slow, I felt my fever returning. As I thought I was going to die, I was picked up. And we walked down the path into the next town. I weakly opened my eyes and saw the other mage tasked to kill me. He dropped me by a traveling carriage, in hopes they would see me. They did, and as they did, he disappeared. Nobody noticed except me and I disregarded it.
I remembered the day after when my wounds were redressed, I asked the doctor about what happened to him to make him fall away from the teachings.
"I fell away because I realized that my potential wasn't just for hate. I was more powerful when I felt love rather than hate. I found someone to help me realize that, a woman like no other." he explained, his eyes becoming glassy with tears. "...Your mother. She was a unique woman wouldn't you agree?"
I remembered the time I spent with my father, training. I listened as he told me stories of the war, all the people that he had to tell about their dead children and family. But I never stopped to think about the contradictions of his words and my memories, I never stopped to think of the massive lies that we were told to keep us thinking about the mages in a hateful manner. By then, my mind was set on killing them. By then, I had forgotten it all. I was so deadset on revenge, that I had let these realities fall into my subconscious.
As I fell into the ground some of it returned to me, a faint inkling of doubt in my own motives. I smiled for a moment, maybe the doctor and my mother were right all along.
"Everest!" Johanna called out, grabbing him as he fell back. More blood spurted on her jacket, she quickly ripped off a piece of it and wrapped it around his shoulder wound.
"Oh, hey. You're Johanna, right? Thanks for catchin' me." he smiled, feeling slightly dazed from the amount of blood he lost. Though he was clearly released from her illusion, the pain still lingered. He managed to stand up with Johanna's help and put pressure on the wound. "How's the girl?"
"She's still under the spell. Can you break it?" Johanna pleaded, walking him over to Hilda. She dropped him in front of her, allowing him to kneel down and touch her head with a weak hand.
"I can try..." he said, closing his eyes.
Hilda had been drowning in a pool of bubbling molten lava for a while now, and the pain had begun to weaken the further she went into it. Once she was fully submerged, she hadn't felt anything at all. Her sight faded to black as she watched the liquid reach her head and stop. At a specific point, she fell out the other side, her body landing on a flat surface. There was nothing but the void, as she looked around. She walked for a few minutes until she heard sobbing. She looked around for a moment, walking up to a crying child who appeared to be no older than eight years old. "Are you alright?"
She turned her face to reveal blonde hair and faded green eyes, just like the boss'. She was muttering to herself. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
Hilda walked up to her, looking at her in the eyes. "What?"
"I did this to you... I did it to everyone... I-I just wanted my mama..." she whispered. Hilda looked at her with mixed feelings running through her. "...I just wanted my mama back."
She leaned down, grabbing her hands. "It's okay," Hilda wiped away the tears in her eyes. While spending all this time in the nightmare, she remembered something that her mother said to her.
"Hilda... all I care about is your safety. That's all I care about. Just tell me if you're going on another one of your adventures. I want to make sure you don't get hurt."
"I don't think she would want you going this far for her. Whatever happened to her, she would want you to be safe above all else, she would only want you not to get hurt, or hurt other people for her." Hilda explained. "Wherever she is, whatever she's doing, she'll always love you. And you should try to love her just as much."
The child looked up at her, before grappling her in a tight hug. She returned the hug for a moment, letting the child savor the moment. Hilda looked to the side, seeing an adult Kallan standing there. Hilda looked back at the child, seeing that she had disappeared. Then, the adult had disappeared too. Hilda was thoroughly confused before the sky itself began to split open and a man appeared in it. He grabbed her with a massive hand and pulled her into the sky with her.
She woke up after that.
"Huh?!" Hilda shouted, realizing that most of what she saw a dream. She saw the group of people around her, her friends, family, and Everest. They all had been staring at her for sometime before they all pulled her into a group hug. They all were different measures of dirtied, bruised, and bloodied. "What's going on? What happened?"
"I'm just glad that you're back," Johanna uttered, smiling a massive smile. "I'm so glad you're back."
"Me too," Frida muttered.
"Me too," David said.
"Frankly, I'm just happy that, for the most part, this is over," Everest said, still gripping his shoulder wound. "I still need to go to a dang hospital though,"
"What... happened?" Hilda asked, still hardly able to breathe because of all the hugging.
"The boss, Kallan, sent all of the marra to the town and had them invade their homes and give them nightmares since those nightmares gave her power. And she was going to awaken an ancient power in Trolberg. We stopped her while she was preparing to do that. We're still working on the marra attacking the people in the town part..." he said.
"What are we going to do about them?" David asked, separating himself from the group hug. "We can't just sit here and do nothing..."
"No, we have to this time. There's nothing more we can do," Everest explained. "This time, before I found Ashley and Raven... I called in the cavalry."
Suddenly, their view of Trolberg became obscured by light. Portals appeared all over the wall of Trolberg. People began stepping out of them, striding onto the wall, each wearing different types of clothes and a specific uniform.
"Who are they?"
"Who are they? They're the people I work for. The royal guard of the mage realm." he announced, frowning slightly. "And over there," he pointed to the dark-skinned woman in the unique looking garbs.
"That's the queen of the marra."
A/N: Hopefully you've been paying attention to this story. Because everything is going to come together in the next one.