Asuna stopped thinking for a moment and looked around. The mages were now long gone but Kotaro didn't yield his speed. However, she knew that they were in a desperate situation and didn't argue with him or demand to be released.
Asuna couldn't help but mutter the irony to herself, "Five hundred years from home, and no time to waste…"
Kotaro looked down at her and smirked to himself, "You know, you should consider this. Look around you…we're in the sixteenth century!"
"Yeah, I kinda know this, else wise we wouldn't be trying to make it home."
"No, really consider it I mean. We are in the sixteenth century! Look around you! This forest won't be here in our time. The village that we're going to be sneaking through might not be there when we pop out in a hundred years. You're seeing lives pass you by without even thinking about it. We are making history."
Asuna couldn't help but look at him with curiosity and then smiled her evil little smile, "You've been hanging around Yue too much."
"Yeah, I know."
There was a bit of a silence afterwards until Kotaro piped up.
"I remember Paru…was it? Wasn't she training with you guys at Eva's resort?"
"Negi and I were considering that too," Asuna replied quickly, "but I don't think she was moved through time like we were. Either she was dropped off in a different time, or she just wasn't pulled in."
"What d'you mean by that?"
"The way Negi sees it, since you were initially transported here with us it's possible that Haruna ended up switching places with you before the magic overload caused the Cassopedia to react."
"Hold on for a second…you mean that because I went to Eva's resort at the same time you were coming out, Paru-nechan ended up switching places with me in the jump?"
"It's only one of many possibilities."
"And you, Asuna," Kotaro added in a sort of sarcastic tone, "have been spending too much time around Negi."
Asuna stuck out her tongue for a moment and returned her gaze to the forest. She hated to admit it, but Kotaro was right. She had seen things that no one else had seen; living through times that only Evangaline had lived through. She wasn't just seeing the past…she was living it.
It only took a few minutes to catch up to Negi and the others, but there was no time to chat. The group checked to see that Kotaro and Asuna were fine and continued their flight, this time with Asuna leaping across the treetops.
The group traveled for hours across endless fields of pine, not even taking a moment to look back. There was no point in looking back…it was all the past to them, and it was something they could only hope to never see again.
It was nearly midnight when Kotaro issued his comrades to stop, hoping to pass through the bird tribe village unnoticed.
"I didn't realize the bird tribe once inhabited the Mahora grounds," Konoka whispered to Setsuna.
"It was a bit more complicated than that…" Setsuna replied, "It isn't just the Mahora grounds that the bird tribe controls. At this specific point in time the bird tribe controls most of Northern Japan."
Asuna, Konoka, and Nodoka looked at Setsuna with fear in their eyes. It had been a hundred years earlier that the group had assisted the bird tribe in taking back one of their territories.
"Are you saying that we were the cause of this?" Asuna questioned.
"It wouldn't surprise me," Setsuna replied, unwavering.
"But," Kotaro began, interrupting one of Konoka's comments, "This isn't anything we of the magic world didn't know about."
The three looked at Kotaro now, still slightly puzzled.
"Now I don't know the finer details," Kotaro continued, "Remember, I didn't get much of an education, but nearing the end of the fifteenth century, after regaining much of their land, the bird tribe went on an offensive. The killed hundreds of mages and warriors and burned every village along the way. However, it was in the beginning of the seventeenth century that the real war began."
The group watched Kotaro with the same commitment they had show Negi during their school classes, unwavering and completely absorbed.
"It was nearing the middle of the war that things began to turn for the mages…with the…" Kotaro stopped, white faced.
"With what?" Konoka and Nodoka whined at the same time, apparently completely absorbed.
"With nothing…don't sweat over it…" Kotaro finished almost in a whisper. Yue couldn't help but notice that he was staring directly at Setsuna.
With one swift motion, there was a book floating in front of both Yue and Nodoka.
"Don't read his mind," Setsuna stated sharply.
Nodoka looked stunned; so did Asuna…she had never seen Setsuna lose her cool that fast. With a flash, Nodoka's book returned to the pactio card she had made with Negi.
"Oh no…" Negi muttered to himself, "This is NOT going to end well."
Nodoka and the others looked to see what Negi was talking about; at first they were delighted that the World tree was actually glowing, but then they saw what had dashed Negi's hopes. Members of the Bird Tribe had surrounded the tree, apparently guarding the select few that were closest to it. Nodoka began to ask what it was they were doing when she felt it: a rush of power. These birds weren't admiring the tree, or protecting it from outsiders; they were casting high level magic, using the World tree to amplify it.
Negi got a serious look on his face and looked down for a moment.
"Don't think about it…" Kotaro stated, standing up and taking a few steps forward.
"Just do it!" Yue finished before Kotaro got a chance. He gave a glance and a smile back at her, and he leapt on top of one of the huts.
Negi turned his glance to Asuna and the others, only to find them doing the same thing: slowly sneaking their way through the village to the World tree. He couldn't help but admire their resolve; only ten years ago, they had been his students…now they were on par with him in several ways, and more decisive than he ever was.
It only took a few moments before the group discovered they had no need to sneak around; the village was empty. It appeared that the place was composed of only warriors and mages and that there were no families at all. It was more like a barracks than a villa.
As they reached the outskirts of the barracks, they quickly realized they were being watched. The warriors surrounding the World tree had all drawn their weapons and were converging on a single point: their location.
"Fifty…sixty…" Kotaro muttered, using the slight bit of telepathy he had.
"Give up counting…" Yue stated flatly, "You make their numbers seem like everything."
"But there's a whole lot of'em…" Kotaro muttered, rubbing the back of his head.
"We have to stop them no matter what," Negi stated decisively.
"Oh, what about the timeline?" Nodoka asked, hoping that Negi was sure of his decision.
"For all we know, this was meant to happen," Setsuna responded in his place, "There's no time to guess about the future. This is here and now, and if we don't fight now, there won't be a future. This is life and death…on the battlefield, it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, an adult or child, it you choose to fight, you must fight with everything you've got…"
"There's no time to worry about tomorrow…" Negi finished.
The enemy quickly spanned about, surrounding the group on all sides.
"Kotaro!" Negi shouted, "Setsuna! Asuna! You know what to do! Give Yue and Konoka time to cast!"
The group of four formed a square formation around the three mages. In the blink of an eye, the enemy was on them. For each opponent the warriors felled, another two appeared in its place; for every strike that was meant to be dealt, there were four more left to parry. But this was nothing new to the group…they had been hardened by many battles thus far, and had been forced to defend themselves on many different occasions already…it was almost routine.
Asuna threw a powerful blow and, as the attack collided with several enemies, she felt the flow of time seem to slow. All of the bird tribe members stopped their attack and stared at the middle of the congregation. Even Asuna and her allies turned to look; it was as though a forced recognition spell required them to stop and watch in bewilderment.
Nodoka was floating in midair, at least ten feet above the ground. There were now several of her books surrounding her, each three feet from her body, moving around her in a sort of orbit. When she opened her eyes, her body seemed to glow, and she sang out a haunting melody:
"Hush now my children, don't say
a word,
I come from the Garden of E-den.
Still now young
children, don't fear the sound
My voice, it protrudes from the
heavens.
Come forth Queen Mab, we wish you to stay
Oh mother of
magic and rea-son
Bring forth Mor-phe-us, the king of our
dreams
Please bring forth the Garden of
E-den.
Bring…Us…Time…For…rejoicing your life and the
sea-sons
Come forth Queen Mab, please bring us your song…
That
comes from the Garden of E-den."
Everything was silent for a moment until, very slowly, the enemy fell to their knees and hit the ground…out cold.
Negi was tired…ridiculously tired; it seemed that Nodoka's spell was more powerful than even the anti-magic barrier that Yue and Konoka had erected. Everyone had been affected by the spell save, of course, Asuna and Nodoka.
The two left the party behind to gather their senses…they would need them for the trip, and they knew that there was no longer any threat from the bird warriors. It would be days before any of them would awake.
"A songstress and her partner?" one of the bird mages piped up and the two approached the World tree, "I didn't realize it was now orthodox for mages to partner with the same gender. I guess we did more damage that we could have hoped to too your forces."
"I'm not her partner," Asuna replied arrogantly, "But I would suggest that you abandon your posts right now and return to wherever it is you came from."
The bird mage sneered, "Not a chance. We're almost done here…and when we are, your pathetic race will become and endangered species!"
Asuna slowly walked towards the group of mages and summoned her sword.
"That won't do you any good. You think something made of metal can break through our barriers? You'd be lucky if one of your pathetic little mages could even land a single spe.."
The mage's voice was cut off by Asuna. She held him in the air by his throat.
"But my…cough…barrier?!"
"I'm not her partner," Asuna repeated, throwing the mage at his companions, "I'm not affected by magic. I have absolute magic cancelling ability."
Asuna quickly made her way through the magical barrier the birds had erected and walked to the center of the circle. She stared down at a pentagram…not a magical one, but an iron one…attached to a piece of twine. In one swift movement she grabbed it up and the circle faded.
"It's done, no more…" one of the mages spoke up, "We'll leave…please, allow us to live…"
Asuna motioned them to leave, and they took to the skies, leaving their sleeping allies behind.
She turned her head to make sure that there were none left and saw the party walking towards the world tree. As they reached Asuna, she reached out her hand handed the pentagram to Negi, which he quickly recoiled from.
"What was that about?"Asuna asked.
"There's a huge concentration of magic in it…" Negi responded, "They were probably summoning as much magic into it as possible…sucking it out of the World tree to use for combat later."
"You can do that?" Asuna asked, shocked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, and anyone who wears it would have an unlimited supply of magic, or at least near unlimited. Considering most magic only requires a slight bit, the amount of magic pouring from the World tree would be more than enough to turn a small flame into an inferno. It could easily make just a single mage the most powerful warrior on the battlefield."
Asuna picked it up and made to hand it to Negi again, but he quickly refused it.
"Whoever uses that amulet will undoubtedly become a powerful spellcaster…but it's dangerous. And to top it all off, it's painful to use. Even touching it burns."
Asuna looked at him flatly.
"Okay, it would burn anyone that wasn't you, Asuna."
She shrugged and made to throw it away when Setsuna stopped her.
"It would be wise for you to hang onto that and drain the magic from it…" she stated, releasing Asuna's arm.
Asuna thought about it for a moment; Setsuna was right. If anyone were to get a hold of the amulet, it could cause some serious problems. That kind of magic could make even a novice spellcaster the ace in the hole for a battle. Asuna grabbed the two edges of twine carrying the amulet and tied it around her neck. If anyone was going to try to steal it from her, they were going to have a damn hard time doing it.
