Faris's blade came down with fury and judgement, the shade widened its eyes, it had made light of Faris's entrance, the human's horse had raced in somehow from his blindside, he hadn't sensed either of them with his sense of smell, hearing, sight, or even through magic. They had slipped in through the only gaps in his senses, so quickly he had barely the time to recognize what was attacking. Then the shade recognized interloper as a human boy, and felt no power emanating from it. He humorously raised his hand to catch the blade and burn the child alive, only to be cut off as the child's arm moved supernaturally, cutting of his hand from the elbow. The shade screamed out in fear and pain, his body overlapping in dark energy as it began to fade in and out, he held himself integral as he prepared to lob a spell at Faris, only to be assailed by an unnatural level of mental force.
Don't give him time to recover! Tartarus warned. Faris almost scoffed, he didn't need Tartarus reminding him, he swung to his left, so quickly he could not recover, instead using the blade's momentum to hit the shade with a spinning back fist then kick. As the shade fell back Faris thrust his blade into the shade, who batted the sword away, as he did he raised his hand to cast a spell, but wordlessly screamed as Faris drilled into his mind, harder than before. The shade growled, it lacked the concentration to reach into the back of it's mind to pull out magic, so it simply charged at Faris, blade at the ready as they swung at each other. Even with Faris's temporary boost, it was a losing battle, the shade was faster and stronger, the only reason Faris still alive due to his masterful use of the blade and his body. The shade struck hard, knocking the sword from Faris's hands, Faris responded with a headbutt to the shade's nose, breaking it. Faris began to strike with his mind in an even more frenzied state, he struck and turned, and speared through the shade's mental defenses, tearing into and removing what he needed, he eventually delved deep enough that he could make an attempt.
"Hah!" Faris screamed, a mix of vicious desperation and anger as he attempted to hold the shade down with his mind alone. It involved attempting to completely overtake the shade's mind, alongside the constant input of messages to his mind to confuse the shade's brain, by giving it the commands to move and not move, run and crawl, sleep and awaken, all at the same time, with many more of either opposite or incompatible commands, forcing his mind to be unable to send reliable messages to the body, rendering the shade immobilized. As the shade cocked back its arm, it suddenly collapsed as the overloading of information combined with the constant mental attack Faris released finally overwhelmed its defenses, without a hint of hesitation Faris charged forward, aiming to bring his blade down on the shade's chest, the shade screamed out words in desperation, causing the ground beneath them to shift just as Faris was bringing the blade down, which instead of stabbing through the monster's chest, got it in the neck. Faris frowned as the body burst into smoke, he had never felt a shade like that before, it was… odd…
That was no shade… Tartarus began, It felt… similar to one, but it lacked the completeness of the emotions, the connection, even its mind felt… off…whatever possessed that body was not of my kin... He quieted a bit before continuing, You're bleeding. Faris finally felt the pain as the adrenaline wore off, the shade had aimed for his eye, barely missing, but hitting a blood vessel above, he quickly took out a bandage and first aid kit, treating his wound before finally turning towards the girl before him. She was maybe 6 or 7, and covered with dirt and grime from head to toe, she had a wild, almost feral appearance to her, she looked at Faris fearfully, but also hopefully. He sighed, taking out more bandages he made his way over to help her, she backed up, scared of him.
"Hey… hey. I'm not dangerous." The girl looked into his eyes, and nodded, as she did Faris noticed she didn't at all seem to flinch when Tamera approached from behind, only panicking when she saw his eyes look up from tending her, and relaxing when she saw the horse behind him. "Are you deaf?" He asked, feeling a bit foolish as if the girl was, she wouldn't be able to understand him anyway. To his surprise she nodded as she looked at his mouth, so she had been able read his lips. Faris treated the girl with expert care, cleaning the dirt and mud from her wounded areas and applying clean bandages. Eventually, the girl at this point began tugging on the hem of his shirt, pointing in a direction, Faris began to extend his mind towards that direction, finally detecting dead trees and animals, and dead people, their cells crying out in alarm as they slowly shutdown. From what he could tell, they had been stabbed and crushed with weapons, and burned with magic. He couldn't spread his consciousness further, for fear of alerting whatever could have killed them, so he turned to the little girl. He looked her deep in her hazel eyes, before closing his, and gently reaching towards her mind, to his surprise, she offered no resistance, opening her memories towards him. He moved gently and quickly to protect her privacy, but he noticed her shiver as his minds tendrils perused smoothly through her memories, causing her whole scalp to tingle. He began looking into her memories in reverse order, slowly piecing together her story.
"Samara!" At least, that's what she thought the woman said, Samara would never know fully, she was deaf, but she had by her fifth summer understood how to read lips, especially those of her mothers, there was a way her mother's brows creased, her eyes twinkled, how she stood, that let Samara know when her mom needed or wanted her. She ran over to her mom, smiling. "Samara, honey…" She believed her mom to say. "You can go and play with your cousins today, but be careful alright?"
The little girl nodded excitedly, hugging her mother as she ran back inside, picking up a tiny coat, then running towards the rest of the village. In the village center, her elder cousins, a girl and a boy, 8 and 9 respectively, led a group of kids. Samara was the youngest of them, and the odd one out in most things due to her size and disability, but she still did the best to play with them. Today, they had decided to play a game of hide and seek, Samara was pretty good at this game, before, when she was younger, she'd always mess up, moving too much, but she realized she had to be absolutely still when she found the perfect hiding spot, and she was always good at that, the forest surrounding their little village of Mushroom Rock was a relatively peaceful place, the biggest predators to litter its lands were the occasional bobcat, and even then, Samara had learned to look for the signs of the predator. She ventured deep into the forest, careful to keep track of and avoid signs of snakes. Hidden as best she could, then suddenly, she felt a sharp pain at her arm. It was bruised as she spied the rock used to hit her, just as another one hit her in the stomach. She looked up to see a few of the kids had followed her into the forest, yelling names, and throwing stones all this while. She turned to run, tripping herself up and tearing her coat, the kids gave chase, laughing and taunting her all the while, though she only saw that when she turned her head back once, which was a mistake, she crashed into a tree. Crying in pain she fell as the kids came towards her, she could see their faces, twisted into sneers, as they called her names, she didn't recognize all the words, but she could understand one. It was a word many of the adults used for her.
"Freak"
She teared up, both from their words, and from the pain. She saw the kids turn pail, turning to run, at first she was confused, then frightened, in all her confusion she only turned too late to see a viper sink its fangs into her leg, and she collapsed…
She came too in the middle of the night, she was in a dirty, smelly looking shack, almost pitch-black, but due to her lack of hearing, her other senses were enhanced, and she was able to make out a figure in the dark. Whoever it was, they were a hulking bruiser of a man, at least 7 feet tall when standing. The living giant was however hunched over, breathing in and out deeply, as if asleep. Samara stared at the man fearfully for the longest time, then looked at herself, she was, unharmed, the snake bite, gone, the pain from venom, gone, her legs were intact, and even her bruises from the rocks and the cuts and scrapes were healed, the only reminder of what happened was the torn rags that used to be her jacket, and the gash in her left arm sleeve. Eventually, she stood up, as she did so, the being stirred, she held still for the longest time, and finally, whoever it was in the darkness opened their eyes, glowing red, like luminescent blood, like the dying sun at the end of a day, an ominous, cruel color, accenting eyes that looked at her neither with hate or love, lust or disgust, but merely curiosity, a sterile, alien, curiosity. She ran, not taking the time to understand where she was heading, she ran and ran until she realized she was hopelessly lost, when the realization overcame her, she broke down, crying for the first time in years. It hadn't been the first time her cousin's friends bullied her, but it was the worst time ever, and now, she was trapped alone in the forest, with a shade of all things. The bushes in front of her began to rustle, and she ran again, fearful of the shade. As she ran, she felt sharp claws dig into her back, bobcat. She screamed pitifully as the animal bit into her shoulder, crying out for any help, for her mother, for the villagers, for god, to help her.
As the cat prepared to sink its fangs into her, she felt it's weight get removed, as a massive something separated it from her, she didn't hear it, but she could feel the force as the massive something smashed the creature into the tree, killing it almost instantly. Her eyes looked upon the huge feet, followed by equally large angles, massive legs, leading to an impressive torso to huge, broad, muscular shoulders, leading up to the thick corded neck as the huge shade looked down towards her….
"It's Atlas?!" Faris did not hide his irritation as Tartarus interrupted the delving into the memory, Faris returned back into it, slipping in….
Eyes still glowing their bio-luminescent red. He opened his mouth to speak the ancient language, eyes brimming with light and power, but instead of the pain of fire or the sword the girl was expecting, she felt her cuts and bite marks heal away. Before the girl could protest, the shade began pick her up, she began to scream, hitting and scratching and punching the shade, doing little if any real damage, as she did, Atlas opened his mouth, likely asking where the girl's home was from, but she was too distraught to read his lips, sighing, he extended his mind into hers, much like Faris did, but a bit rougher, after a few seconds, he found her home, and sprinted through the forest, barreling through trees and bushes without a second thought, shielding the girl with his body until they reached the entrance to the girl's home, after which he promptly plopped her down and left. The girl turned, curious, but still frightful, but the shade disappeared from her vision. She turned to her home, and to her waiting mother and had a tearful reunion.
The weeks passed by quickly, she didn't play with her cousins after that time, spending her time reading and helping her mom. Her father was a farmer and seldom spent the afternoon home, instead working the fields, he was nice enough but always seemed uncomfortable around her. Something hurtful, but somewhat understandable on her part. Eventually, she ventured out into the forest to play by herself, always avoiding the place she first encountered the shade, but her own morbid curiosity would often lead her close, before fear overtook her. One day, she decided to venture further in, and encountered the shade, on the floor, a sickly look on his face, clutching his stomach. After a few seconds, she ran back home, but not to report of the shade, but to take one of the loaves of bread her mother cooked, looking left and right, she snatched it, sprinting back into the forest. She had no trouble finding the shade's hiding place. Coming across the little shack once again, she tentatively stepped inside. What was before her was the shade, doubled over, as she came closer, she saw what looked like brown mushrooms with a bright orange circular center. The shade looked up at her, face twisted in pain, his eye flicked towards her hand, holding the bread. She backed up a bit fearfully, but seeing as the man made no moves towards her, she approached cautiously. The mushroom was obviously poisonous, but she couldn't say it, she didn't know how to talk, she tapped the shade on the shoulder. He looked up to her in confusion, then looked down to the mushrooms as she pointed to it then began shaking her head and crossing her arms vigorously. After a bit he slowly nodded. Satisfied, she kicked the mushrooms away and dropped the bread at the shade's feet. She turned to leave, but felt a presence in her mind,
"Thank you…" The shade imprinted that one message.
She didn't fully understand the words, but she could empathize with the feeling of gratitude. Samara quickly ran home after that. The months went buy, occasionally , Samara would sneak food over to the shade, and teach him which plants and animals were safe for consumption, in return he'd skin animal pelts for her to return to her mother, she was worried at first, but seeing that her daughter was unharmed, and happier, she didn't question how she came across these animal pelts, and put two and two likely that the food was traded for them. This went on until recently. Her mother discovered Atlas, she had followed her daughter to the forest, and attacked Atlas, causing him to lash out in defense, injuring Samara's mother.
Faris felt tears blurring his face as he was hit with the brunt of the girl's guilt, anger, and fear over that scene and moment. He collected himself best as he could, and continued on, delving further.
Atlas stood over the girl and her injured mother. Regret on his face as he approached them, Samara screamed at him, hit him, bit him, anything to keep him away from her mother, even when she realized he was healing her, she attacked, lashing out, she blamed herself for trusting him, for giving him food, her mom was hurt because of him. Her mom who loved her, fed her, taught her how to read, and how to read people's lips, her mother who loved her unconditionally, and yet she decided to endanger them, even though she knew, deep inside that the Shade, that one at least, wasn't a bad person, she screamed at him and pushed him away. Atlas disappeared back into the forest, and when Samara's mother came to, they fled. The villagers scoured the forest for Atlas, but could never find him. Samara tried to forget Atlas, but couldn't fully, he hadn't really done anything wrong, but he scared her mom because of what he was and what he looked like. And… like the village kids attacked her, her mom attacked him first.
This haze of melancholy was broken when 5 beings, tall and wispy , came to the village, they were led by a shorter man in the middle, wearing a black cloak and holding a staff with a carnivore's skull on it, adorning the eye sockets were two polished cut black gemstones that twinkled an ominous light. He took over the village, taking women and food as he pleased, when the villagers attempted to fight back, his 5 would subdue them. That was until a squadron of soldiers led by a mage arrived from one of the northern cities, they fought against the mage and his 5, who revealed themselves to be shades, one of these shades being the same one Faris just subdued. They slaughtered the human soldiers and captured the mage woman, then they came down on the villagers hard, doling out cruel torture, the last straw was when the man took an interest in Samara's mother, and Samara herself, her mother told her to run, and she did, not looking back, one of the shades gave chase, toying with her.
Samara ran, ran as quickly as she could, she wanted to find Atlas, to apologize somehow to beg him to help, to save her mother, but when she arrived at the shack, he was gone. That's when the shade giving chase grew tired of the game, and he cut off Samara's left leg. He stood over her now, smiling cruelly as he raised his blade to cut her down, that's when Faris leapt, out of nowhere severing the shade's hand from his arm. She stood, dazzled as he moved with almost superhuman speed and grace, overwhelming the shade with fast, flowing attacks without giving the creature chance to retaliate the shade landed feet in front of her, mouth releasing a scream she could not hear, but could feel as the boy plunged his blade into the shade's neck, severing it. Then the boy went over to her, treating her wounds, she then felt a presence at the corner of her mind, as if on cue, she opened up, surrendering to the prob, but instead of Atlas…
"Well, crap!" Faris looked at the girl, who was tearing up a bit, now that he looked around, he could see the familiar area, this was wear she had been cut down, moving through the brush, he found it. Quickly covering it in a poultice and dry cloth, he wrapped her leg up tightly, he needed to find Atlas quickly. The girl tugged on his arm sleeve.
"...Mah…" He looked in surprise, she couldn't hear, but she could say that?
Then again… He pondered to himself, she could also read, even in this post war climate not too many farmers could read, yet here she was, a deaf girl even.
What's the big deal? Tartarus asked. Faris had picked up Samara, putting her unto his horse, he was leading them towards the footsteps, hopefully they could catch up to Atlas, and he didn't travel too far away. Tartarus asked again. What's the big deal if she can read?
The common tongue for humans in this world, is phonetically based, they write and read based on this phonetic language, much like most western languages are phonetic back on earth, the ancient language is also phonetic when written, as it is when spoken. A deaf person, even in my world with vastly better education, would have trouble reading, as it would take longer for them to pair what would before just be useless scribbled gibberish to real words, with real ideas behind those words. Her mother would have to read to her, whilst also showing pictures of the words, so that the girl could read her mother's lips, associate them with the words, and associate the words with the pictures. Yet from her memories, I learned the girl was able to read at two. And she doesn't think of words the way I do. She thinks of them in a more conceptual level, which allows her to avoid mistakes someone who reads and spells phonetically would normally make. He looked down at the girl, who stared ahead, a bit more hopeful than before. She's a genius to learn so quickly, and so thoroughly, in such a limiting environment, and she'd also be a savant with the ancient language when it comes to magic, due to it being very conceptual for intricate magic.
Pity she was born in such a poor environment then. Tartarus said, rather flippantly. Faris didn't respond. They continued down the forest, and he spread his concious out again, searching, searching, for any sign of Atlas. Instead he was alarmed, two of those shades-but-not-shades were heading quickly towards them, crashing through the trees, they'd be upon them in seconds.
"Hi-yaah!" Faris urged Tamara to begin to sprint away, they moved recklessly through the dense foliage, doing their best to keep the distance from their pursuer, Faris began to feel the shades probing his mind.
I'll handle this… Tartarus let his consciousness be known to the shades, and the three of them began to battle it out, freeing Faris to continue his search, the trees and bushes showed signs of something moving through the area, the animals had fleeting memories of it's form, and the microbes could taste the being's sweat. The foliage in real time was a blur.
Samara was held tightly by this strange boy who had bandaged her wounds. Much like the shade had, he had probed her mind to find out who she was. He had put her on his horse, and began riding, gently at first, but at an alarming pace, the desperation in the horse's movements, mixed in with his alarm was all she needed to know that they were in danger.
Faris got the impression he was getting closer. Then his horse screamed as a red bolt struck her on the side. He grit his teeth, gripping the girl tightly as he took the brunt of the fall with his shoulder, bouncing and crashing through the undergrowth, Tamera's screams of pain were met with cruel laughter as their assailants came towards them. Faris put Samara in the base of a tree, and covered the area with bushes, putting a finger to his lips he got up, sword raised and launched his minds at his assailants. Tartarus had been a powerful mind combatant, as most spirits normally were, but the best of humans and elves could defeat him even in in his prime, and the attempted self-destruction had weakened him greatly, even then, he had to marvel at Faris's mental strength, the boy had spent the year in introspection, training his mind to protect himself himself from even the most powerful of mage's mental attacks, not just in simple defense, but in counterattack. He had spent that time trapped in the confines of his own mind, meaning to attack, he'd have to invite the opponent in, this vulnerability was the impetus for his mental training, and he could now seamlessly integrate mental combat to his everyday life, no matter how stressed he would normally be. The laughter stopped as Faris attacked the shades mentally, by this point they were almost upon him and he had little time, without skipping a beat he pulled out his Urgal Horn bow, he had grown in size, enough that the bow was now only slightly longer than he was tall, and he had trained himself to draw it back at full force, he pulled back the arrow, waiting.
The shades had slowed down now he could sense, they were deliberating what they could do, even while under the onslaught of his heavy mental attacks they regarded him as a child, a dangerous, unpredictable child, but a child. He was so busy concentrating on them he almost missed the shade he didn't kill the first time leap out of the underbrush behind him. Faris turned quickly he twisted his ankle, ignoring the pain Faris stilled his breath, pulling back just an extra bit and feeling the flexible bow strain in his hand, he fired. The shade's vicious look was replaced with shock as the arrow pierced his heart. Faris didn't turn around to see the aftermath, instead popping two of the pills, leaning on his good foot, and pulling out two more arrows, drawing them both at the same time and launching them into the shades who were milliseconds away from disemboweling him, the first arrow struck the shade in the neck, the second got the other in the leg, both with enough force to knock the shades back. Not missing a beat Faris drew arrow after arrow firing it again and again, the shades, more cautious that before dodged left and right, unfortunately, whilst Faris was strong enough to keep them from using magic, their combined effort was too much for him to attempt to interfere with their movements. He felt growing desperation as they got closer and closer, finally, despite being loath to do so, he tossed his bow and drew his sword, wincing as the shifting of weight sent a spike of pain up his twisted ankle. That spike grew in size and magnitude as the shade bore down, chopping viciously with his giant war axe. Faris angled his blade down, causing the axe to only deal a glancing blow, bouncing off at a lower angle as it rapidly hurtled into the ground, burying itself down to the hilt. Faris winced as he heard the tell tale pop and saw the shade's arm go slack at the shoulder as it popped the shoulder blade. The shade in an ugly jerking motion pulled the axe back up, using that pull to unleash a dramatic upswing. Faris instead of dodging leaned into the blow, using the flat of his sword to block. Bracing himself on the blade, he jumped in tandem with the impact, allowing it to blow him back, the momentum allowing him to barely dodge the second shade's thrust with his spear. Faris grimaced as the shade with the dislocated shoulder popped it back in in a loud snapping sound.
We need to find another angle, they're too strong for you to face head on, and healing that ankle took a surprising amount out of you, you can only keep this up for a few more minutes. Whilst Faris fought, Tartarus attempted to spread his consciousness around, using it, he could glean from the few animals around that one of the shades had angled into Faris's blind spot, thrusting his spear towards his back.
I know… Faris replied, dropping down on all fours, looking up as the spear thrust where his chest used to be seconds before, he kicked out behind him, the shade kicked back, Faris was first, hitting the shade in the shin, he smiled grimly as his heavy steel boots did their damage, crushing the shade's leg, but his elation was short lived, the Shade kept up the momentum of its attack, and the kick launched him forward, into the Axe swing of the other shade. Crap! Faris angled his blade so that it would be perpendicular to his midriff, and prepared to suck in his gut as the shade swung his axe like a baseball, attempting to cut Faris horizontally. It was all he could to remain conscious as the energy of the blow launched him through several trees, breaking them completely, he finally stopped when he bounced off the base of a rocky crag. His ears rang, and his gaze was unfocused as the world spinned around him, everything hurt.
Block! Tartarus's warnings luckily didn't fall on deaf ears, he looked up just in time to see the Shade's spear launched towards him at supernatural speeds, instead of blocking, he decided to dodge, moving out of the way just in time to watch as the spear exploded behind him, knocking him forward. His armor took the brunt of the damage, but a few stones launched with enough ferocity to smash through his armor and pierce his back and sides. That did not even cover all his wounds. Faris had no time to collapse, he rolled to his side to barely dodge the axe aimed to split his head in twain vertically.
I need to get… Faris sprinted back towards the forest, Tartarus, take over.
What?! To say Tartarus was surprised would be a rather massive understatement. Don't you fear me taking over?!
Just shut up and do it!
Okay… jeez. Tartarus obliged, slipping past Faris, who relinquished control, into the the reigns of his body, Faris's eyes began to glow a bright red, though other than that that, the boy looked the same. "I still don't understand wh-" Tartarus ducked as one of the shades leapt over head, barely avoiding the attack, just as he did he realized, Faris had put his entire effort into sensing the world around him. They no longer had the ability to rely on superhuman movement so this was his answer.
We have a 50 foot radius sphere of awareness right now, your job is to make it back to Tamera, and take out the leather box.
Why didn't you equip it?!
The strap is relatively loose, I couldn't risk it snagging unto branches, it's not alive, so I wouldn't be able to turn around and immediately sense its loss, making it extremely difficult to find later as we have no magic, and I couldn't even get it unless Tamara found a clearing to stop in if I dropped it.
Tartarus in Faris's body shook his head, "Cripes, the pain..." as he sprinted across the forest floor, running in an odd, zigzag backtracking way, rolling and jumping at the oddest times, twisting his body as he landed, kicking off trees, leaping on then immediately sliding off branches as he made his way forward, all to dodge the shades who were always milliseconds away from grabbing hold of him and tearing him apart. He danced his death defying dance as he made his way closer and closer to the horse, who was now simply breathing heavily. The girl was still huddled in the roots of the tree, barely sparing her a glance Tartarus made a mad dash forward, ignoring the pain as he felt a gash in the back of his right arm, ignoring how the second shade cut the back tendons of his left leg. Despite trying to ignore the pain, his legs failed him. Won't make it in time! He warned as he saw the shades charge towards him. Ventus, a blur of grey, dove down, scratching one of the shade with his viscous talons and buffeting the second with his sizeable wingspan, the damage was negligible but posed enough of a distraction for Tartarus to stumble forward. As he fell again he rolled forward, grabbing the case and pushing off a dead log, holding unto the edge of it as one of the shades crashed into the log launching him into the air. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, TAG OUT! Tartarus switched minds with Faris, allowing him to take the reigns once more. The shades laughed as they leapt up to kill the boy, who whilst still spinning in the air, took out an odd dark rectangular metal contraption, pointing its hollow barrel end to the closest shade.
"Bang…"
…
"That's the last of them isn't it?" The group of youths sat around the fire, all except the last, who was busy tying up a bandit, the man was incredibly muscular, with a vicious and cruel face, but he was absolutely man-handled by the pretty black haired girl tying him down. She punched him hard once, knocking him out. After which she inspected his face, noting the circular scar on his cheek.
"Yeah, that's the last bandit, the reports and villagers said 30, so we should be good now."
"Thanks Nya." Katya smiled, "You're the master rope user."
Nya sighed. "So! That's mission two over and done with right?!" To her chagrin, Morgan took out the official looking document, and cleared his throat.
"Not quite, we have to take them up to Bullridge." Morgan answered, much to everyone's annoyance.
"Augh…" Nya groaned, "Nothing ever happens up in Bull Ridge, why the heck do we have to do all these missions anyway? Capture bandits, apprehend bridge thieves, find a noble's cat?! We should just skip past Bull Ridge and just go all the way up to Gilead and finally Ceunon to help stop the Civil War, right?!"
Bartholomew laughed, "Each and every one of those missions were important, besides, we're waiting for a group of knights-in-training to join up with us over at Bullridge, so us taking these minor detours is good, besides, they're probably busy doing their own quests, so we aren't' being ostracized. There's no reason to be so mad."
"I wonder how Faris is doing." Seya said absentmindedly, she was cleaning blood off her dagger, a little distance away from the rest of the group, as she did, she observed a wolf pack, stalking after an injured moose in the distance, seeing how they ignored a completely healthy one at a closer distance.
"Hmph, he's probably taking it easy at home, busy farming, or forging, or whatever it is that his father does." Nya turned to Venka, who was meditating. She sat cross legged, eyes shut tightly and brow furrowed as she poured a massive draught of energy into her gemstone. Her friends waited patiently as she stored nearly all of her magical stamina into the gemstone, adding to the already titanic reserves she had patiently swung into the gemstone, in terms of magical power alone, Venka was probably the most powerful non rider in all of Alagaesia. Eventually, she opened her eyes, the afterglow from her magic fading away as she placed on the necklace, then turned to her friends.
"Hmm?"
"I just wanted to know, what does Faris's father do?" Nya asked.
Venka was caught off guard a bit, she gripped her necklace, whilst Faris had made specific tools for everyone else, the necklace was what he, under the guise of "Damien the Dwarf", made for her. It was enchanted to withstand any and all blows, protect its wearer from poison, disease, and any and all magical effects not cast by the owner of the necklace, any and all abilities and the large reserve within could only be accessed by the user, and it even had spells enchanted into it, that Venka could access with key words. The best part was its inability to ever be truly lost, as if she willed it, it could turn invisible and be hidden from magical detection. It was truly a tool for her, who had such great magical ability. As she gripped it she spoke up, "Oh? Why're you interested after so long? You yourself don't like us talking about him…"
Nya shrugged, "Your hometown? It's on the way to Ceunon, and Seya was the one talking about him before…" She frowned, "If we see him there, maybe after all this time we'll get a real straight answer."
An uncomfortable silence filled the area. Eventually, Venka spoke up again. "His father was a smith, if I remembered correctly."
"Cool" Morgan said, "So Faris would be a smith's apprentice? There's nothing wrong with that, it's a respectable trade."
The silence cropped up again as they all sat down, watching the fire. Venka inched a bit closer to warm herself as a sudden chill filled the room. "Yup, respectable…
…
The first bullet shot the shade in the forehead, the second struck the same one in the chest, Faris wasn't able to aim in time for the second shade, only catching him through the hand with his third bullet. Even then the recoil was enough for the shade's attack to completely miss him. Faris landed heavily, wheezing as he felt a rib pop. The second shade landed roughly as well, the shock of the attack, the speed and surprising impact of the bullet were enough to catch him off guard. Even for Faris, it was a reminder to just how loud the weapon could be. The shade looked at him calculatingly, with its partner dead it no longer had the combined mental might to overcome Faris's enough to cast spells, but Faris was also too weak to force his will upon it, and so, as they mentally clashed, Faris slowly got up, body creaking as his limbs protested, the shade bared his teeth in an excited grimace as his hand snapped back into place. The shade charged Faris, dead stopping and leaping in the air to avoid two shots from Faris, Faris shifts out of the way as the shade landed to avoid him, shooting and moving to the side. Faris got into a ready position, then all of a sudden found himself staring at the sky, face exploding in pain. The shade was atop him in that instant and cocked his fists back for a head splitting haymaker.
Faris kept his eyes open, dagger at the ready, but he didn't have enough time to stop him, then the shade was sent flying, hurtling a few feet away into a tree. Faris snapped his head to the right. The little girl, Samara, she was standing breathing heavily, hands trembling. She had been so stressed that she awakened her dormant magical ability, it had been enough to push the shade off of him, but not much more. Faris got up before he could fully process what was going on, but even with his slightly faster point of reacting, the shade was faster still, charging towards the girl to snap her neck. Then Ventus came down again, faster than before, and tackling the shade in the side. A massive crack was heard as the two groups hit each other. The shade ragdolled into another tree, but Ventus collapsed, hollow bones unable to take the pressure, but slowly healing as the magic in the amule worked its way. The shade was in marginally better shape, arm and leg broken, slowly recovering as his magic reset his arms and legs.
Tartarus activated the last reserves of the boost, and in that instant, Faris was able to aim his gun at the shade's chest, firing off 3 bullets. The shade paused, looked down at it's chest, leaking black blood, then back at Faris, eyes wide with hate, it screamed, exploding into darkness. Faris lay there for a bit, body wracked in pain, before getting up, limping towards the girl and Tamara. Samara had collapsed, exhausted from the use of magic for the first time. The horse was in much worse shape, her hind leg had a massive gash that had since clotted up, and her front legs were broken. Broken legs were a death sentence for a horse, even back in his world. He wished he had magic, even a little bit, then… almost as an epiphany he turned to the girl.
…
"Who's that?" The young man looked at Solembum, who was in humanoid form.
Elva smiled sweetly, "He's my youngest brother. He normally doesn't work in the store with my sister and I."
The young man smiled reassuringly turning to the group with him, "see, perfectly safe, just the two sisters and their little brother." Elva smiled brightly as she observed the men.
First was a rather portly, short man, based on the way he stood in the center, slightly in front of the others, and the way everyone else viewed him with nervous apprehension told her he was the leader, at least of their small group.
Goddamn fool, too trustworthy, sees a pretty wench and he'll squeal? Be that as it may, they are pretty things, hopefully things work out, for their sake.
To his right hand, a tall, weedy looking fellow with a hooked nose, his eyes shifted between Elva and Angela and Solembum, the only emotions betrayed were his nervousness and suspicion.
Can't let the lord know about this, it's already tough enough trusting all these slovenly farmers, but any more hands held out and mouths to feed and people to try and delegate and…
The last of the group was a rather muscular man, large deep beard, and hollow, sunken eyes. He spared nary a glance at any of them.
Just let me kill that bastard lord and his son already, they promised me my son would be avenged. That if I joined this foolish meeting I'll get the tools to burn them, and watch as they lose everything.
Angela smiled slightly. "We heard that there was a growing movement, poised to depose the lord system, and create a better system, for the people."
Elva rolled her eyes as the men all swallowed subconsciously, Angela was using her "bewitching perfume", which clouded their judgement, it worked very similarly to Blohdgarm's musk, if not in intention, then in its effect, as it attracted men much the way Blohdgarm's musk attracted women. This attractiveness was also mixed with a light sedative that made their movements and interactions a hair's breadth more sluggish and simple. The longer they were in her presence the stronger the effects would be, to the point where eventually even without direct exposure to the pheromones if they were near her their minds would recreate the aphrodisiac effects. She had tried it once but found it not to her liking, while it made interactions easier, it at times reduced the pain and anxiety others felt, while she had ultimately looked for that quiet, she could not trust her senses if not even the mundane aches of living could no longer plague those she interacted with. Angela herself hated making or relying on the potion, only using it for a situation like this, where she needed to infiltrate an area surreptitiously. Be that as it may, her potion was working, and soon the leader relented, walking them through the once busy paths of Aberon. Eventually they came upon a tavern. Elva sparred a glance at it's title, written in now rusted metal attached to a simple wooden placard that through weathering looked more like driftwood were three words: THE BLUSHING BOSSUM
"Tasteful name…" She commented quietly, waiting patiently for the door to be opened to them. The tavern was completely normal on the inside, save for the fact it was empty, with only one or two candles illuminating the place. The short portly man waddled over to a side door, rapping three times in slow succession, followed by three rapid taps, then two loud smacks. There was the sound of shifting gears, then sliding metal as a thin strip of wood slid away, revealing a pair of eyes, they observed the 4 men, two women, and boy before them, before closing the slider and opening the door. Awaiting the other side Elva kept from widening her eyes, it was that girl, the one maybe a few years younger than Eragon, the one who accompanied the female sword master who had gotten her fortune read. Though girl wouldn't be an appropriate word, it had been fifteen years, she had grown into a strong looking woman, two swords with well-worn hilts lay against her hips, and her hands were scarred and calloused. The woman looked at their group, but took little interest in Angela or Elva, instead, she looked to the portly man.
"New faces…"
"Yes." The man began, face perspiring from nervousness. The perfume wasn't enough yet to override how much he feared that woman. Elva kept silent, taking care to observe the entire conversation.
"Did you verify their papers?"
"Of course I did… why wouldn't I?" He was lying, Elva realized, but he was a good liar, none of the normal tells were reflected on his face. The woman narrowed her eyes a bit, then turned suddenly, shrugging. The man breathed a sigh of relief then turned to Angela grandly, she graced him a cordial smile, which made him beam, and the other men sour. Elva sighed to herself, pushing past the boy who supposedly 'liked' her and made her way down…
Faris hobbled over to Samara, helping the tired girl up. "Samara." He spoke gently and slowly, enunciating his words so she could correctly read his lips. Her eyes were glazed with exhaustion, and it took a while for her to notice his expression, then concentrate on his face. Eventually, she looked at him. Faris closed his eyes, and extended his mind gently once more. He searched through the girl's memories, unto the part where the soldiers came to face down the skull faced man and his shades. The villagers had been fleeing the battle, he searched Samara's memories until he caught a glimpse of the woman, he had seen her once before, a pretty blond woman wearing a white robe with blue trimming. Faris pumped his fist excitedly, startling Samara.
Shit?! What's with you? First you were all depressed now you're excited?!
That woman, she's one of the people who had been sent to try and rescue me, she belongs to the Protectors of Life Guild. She can heal Tamara.
Yeah, but she was defeated by these monsters, 3 of them you could barely defeat, and two more are left, you're in no shape to go out fighting them.
"Yeah Yeah…" Faris muttered. "I've got this gun, as long as I strike first it should be-" He quieted as he looked out into the forest, 3 powerful, familiar signatures made their way towards him. Without saying another word, he took out the gun, cocked it, and aimed forward...