And hello once again to the next Chapter of 'Daylight's End'! I hope you guys had a good day so far and didn't over-exert yourselves yet…but seriously, senior-year is a pain in the ass.
Hana: "True thing! In the times where I actually work-"
Barely, I guess?
Hana: "At least I do my work…for a change. But still, doing too much of it at once is not really a good thing, so my body can relax again~!"
Oh yeah, 'G' wanted his privacy for once. So, how was your free time? Anything enjoyable to tell?
Hana: "Ah…not too much! Met most of my friends so far, some at the bar, some over while they were at work and some in their houses!"
That actually sounds really nice- …wait a minute…something isn't right in there.
Hana: *Blinks innocently* "Oh, nah! Everything went fine there!"
No, no, not that. I could retaliate though that you went to all of your friends…say, Hana? How many of them got informed of your visit…beforehand?
Hana: "Uhm, they're called 'surprise visits' for a reason, duh!"
…Alright, that's fair. And…how many did you interrupt?
Hana: *Starts counting on both of her hands* "Let's see…3 of them had been in an important discussion (job-related), 2 wanted to drink in silence at the bar…some guys that betted once against me were introducing a beginner at his new job position…which he might have quitted after I talked to him."
*Facepalms* Please tell me you d-
Hana: *Continues counting* "5 of them had been on their free day and proceeded to kick me out. One might have even tried it multiple times, but I stopped counting from there!"
…I'm sorry, but let me summarize that. You broke into your friends' personal houses…
Hana: *Nods*
…They probably led you out of them, or maybe threw you out…
Hana: *Nods again* "Yep~!"
…And you broke in…again…after they clearly showed their feelings towards your actions…
Hana: "Uhm, yes? Any problems with that?"
Hana: "Fire?"
…Just…please do the disclaimer, alright?
Hana: "Sure, sure…whatever!" *Turns to the audience* "You guys and girls know the drill! The rights of the OC-characters and the story belong to that party-pooper over there." *Points behind her at Fire*
OI!
Hana: *Groan* "Just get onto the story already, I have stuff to do!" *Throws hands into the air*
Sheesh, fine! So, since we don't have much time left to spare:
Roll the next Chapter!
...
CHAPTER 14 – OF A TRUCE AND WISHES
After the 'little' hissy fit of Sietta and an hour long rant of both her and Yorc that I shouldn't make such rash and stupid decisions again ended, I finally got to relax. Well those weren't the correct words (which originally included dozens of swearwords and insults targeted at the twins that (to their bad luck) stood behind me when that happened) but our group calmed down for now. Since every injured person in the camp had recovered…to a certain extend…we packed our stuff and loaded some of our goods into the carriages.
The trip itself was resumed, and we were already behind our schedule. Get this, Sietta and Lindheim had planned for us to travel to 'Colossus Mountain' and prepare the assault in 2 days. We are currently at day 4 and had traveled only half of the distance! This gave the Dark Guild more possibilities about our whereabouts and our plans, given that anyone else caught onto our schemes. And since almost the entirety of Loeyur had bidden us farewell, there must have been some counterspies involved somewhere.
Sietta, me and the others defiantly knew what this would mean for us. Since they must have had the time to actually prepare a defense, or worse…a counterattack to finish us off, they'll defiantly have all forces mobilized and ready at their disposal while we are stuck on our original group of village-watchers. 'Well, not quite, child.'
Oh, right! I managed to drag Fujimaru and Matsuri, the twins that go under the codename "Kirin" plus being 2 of the strongest mages of 'Full Blood' into my idea of joining forces for a probably temporary alliance and are got them to travel with us at this moment. I'm not going to lie, it took a lot of convincing from myself and even more calming down on my and Yorc's part to get Sietta onto our side, but it was worth.
With these two joining our small group we might actually sport a chance to win this! But everything is possible right now, so I'll keep my hopes high and realistic…
...
...
...or not.
Okay, I'm even lying to myself! I currently pray to whatever being that looks over everything here that I'll not get myself murdered! 'It's a logical thing to do, so don't dismiss your actions as a negative matter.' 'Alright, true. Still, what do you think about this situation Luna? Think that you can beat them with your 'Abyssal Void Magic'?
The unnatural expression of Luna's visage in my mind turned into a thoughtful expression before she spoke her results.
'While my magic could incapacitate and possibly defeat a big number of enemies in a single second, I fret that my abilities are rather reserved-' 'Unless my own capacity increases, right?'
'That's correct.' I had a bit of fear in me of that theory… 'My own magical energy is close to limitless while you used your own amount of magic in your body for…a little bit over a week. I don't mean to insult your abilities to fight with spells but you lack in that department by quite a lot. Luckily for your sake the capacity had actually increased after you completely emptied it with our two spells. It isn't a lot right now, but…maybe you can use up to 3 spells now, excluding the transformation itself.'
That is good to know, since I am fairly strong so far, yet useless in this world. Thanks to Luna in her unreleased form as the 'Holy Moonlight Sword' I so far survived this world. But our limit is really small. A spell used from her magic can potentially deal great damage and render other powerful enemies useless, but once I use up all of them that's basically it. Last time it happend I collapsed from the exhaustion (if you don't include the 'Kirin's' counterattack) and needed said 3 days to recover completely. The results of such a circumstance occuring again are basically a random chance by now.
ANYWAY…while we still traveled to that huge mountain chain in the distance, Matsuri happily took the side next to me while Fujimaru was silently watching from the back. The bubbly mage had her hands behind her head and hummed a carefree song to our footsteps.
The tune itself gave us a sense of tranquility that was very much appreciated before our big fight. The others behind us stayed silent while traveling, but they didn't seem to protest either, so I guess that we all seem cool with it. 'There is also quite a bit of irony there…Matsuri is a Wind Mage and her humming before our fight…it's like the calm before a storm…quite fitting.'
"So…anything you might want to tell me?" The Lightning Mage coolly gazed at the now 'friendly' red-head of the group and their leader. When he first spotted her, he tried to stay polite and keep her from interfering. But somehow he managed to put her into a fit of rage for unknown reasons. The blonde boy wasn't sure if he accidently insulted or her if she was just protective of their mage, but he understood from their short conversation 3 days ago that she wasn't having a liking towards the callout 'Miss'…he decided to only call her with the mentioned forename to avoid future aggression.
Lazy azure-blue eyes watch intently at his ally who kept a passive glare on her features. He could comprehend her attitude to some degree, given that they both attacked almost everyone from their group and injured them at some point in-between. Their relationship could be used to freeze anything standing close to it.
He was pondering on her question and tried to be as honest as possible. He wasn't technically obligated to tell them anything about their Dark Guild, but Fujimaru defiantly wanted to support Jessica, seeing as she was the only person in their group besides Yorc who didn't judge them for their acts.
"There were…quite a lot of Members in the hideout when we left. It wouldn't surprise me if our numbers weren't sufficient." He spoke in a slow voice and waited for any reaction of Sietta, who surprisingly copied his neutral expression. She didn't reply to him, so the girl was probably waiting for more intelligence to be revealed.
'Why must this be so difficult? *Sigh*' "Besides ourselves, the master and his advisor or tactician there aren't really any mages left. There is this one bulk, however, that has a tendency to use 'Armament Stone Magic'. I personally don't know what spells he can use, but the guy's pretty dense. If you can make him think hard enough, he'll probably collapse the instant he does so." That seemed to raise an eyebrow on his conversation partner. Since he didn't want to talk much more, Fujimaru decided to elaborate again.
"He'll rather rush in first and blabber some random stuff afterwards. Strong build, pretty buff guy all around, be he never really thinks when charging in. You'll notice him soon enough." And with that he finally turned his eyes onto the road again. Silence took over the two as they listened to the sounds of wilderness around them with the occasional happy squeal from Matsuri was coming from the front. It seemed like hours passed as the sun had started to descent from the sky. The male twin had a melancholic smile plastered on his own face.
"Why are you actually doing this?" His gaze didn't break the sight before him, but he could barely make out the red-head's expression. She didn't held much malice in her gaze anymore, but it was replaced with thoughtfulness. The question surprised him a little while he had to admit that he expected their 'one-sided' talk to be finished. But…this time he didn't need to think for minutes to actually speak up. For him, the answer was as clear as the sky, filling the air with her voice and giggles.
(For more Intensity, play from 'JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency OST – Not Alone')
His gaze turned from the dusty road to his sister, who was idly chatting with Jessica. She seemed to talk a bit about their own travels and the happy experiences that they made during these. The younger mage was listening intently to her tale and sometimes asked a question when she didn't understand something to which his sister happily complied and explained their meaning. Of course she didn't include why the two traveled around, but it seemed to bother no one.
"…And then there was this very nice lady who let us stay overnight in her house! She shared her food and her home for us while telling stories from her own hometown! And the cake, it was soooo delicious~!" Even the other members of the village listened quietly while walking ahead. He could see the brewer look fondly to the young girl, and he could have sworn that he saw the 'Second-in-command' sharing an unnoticed smile of his own.
"As I already said it before…we never wanted to join the Dark Guild's ranks. But we had no choice in that matter. I would have had no problem staying with those people. My sister though is a literal well of sunshine. I couldn't stand the thought of something…anything to harm her. I swore to myself that she'd deserve the chance to live a regular life one day. And after Jessica gave us this chance…who was I to reject such an offer?" The silence in-between took over again while they looked to the happy, blonde girl. She was still telling about their chronicles of them meeting a friendly librarian in an old town a few years ago.
"She…really means a lot to you. Doesn't she?" Albeit her features weren't visible, she could still feel the shift of tension in the air into something much more comfortable. The quiet nod had sufficed to feed her curiosity and probably answered her last question as the two spoke stayed silent once more.
With the hours passing after a while the world's canvas got immersed into a glowing orange, the sun disappearing slowly into it. Fujimaru had mostly brushed aside the other people's presences and solely focused onto the road before them while quietly thinking to himself. 'This seems so unreal. I…really wanted to offer Matsuri a way out, and now we an opportunity just placed before us?'
What he didn't expect that moment was a firm hand to grip his shoulder and tugging on him like a mother would with her child. He mentally scolded himself for dropping his guard that easily before azure-blue eyes gazed at maroon ones. It was Sietta that interrupted his movement, but this time around she had dropped that neutral façade. Now, she showed a very tiny smirk of herself. When a few seconds passed, the red-head broke eye contact and shouted towards the front:
"Everyone! We're close to our rendezvous' location! We'll open up our camp for tonight ahead, understand?" Soldiers and mages alike gave their own confirmation as they gained a slower pace from today's efforts. When they all agreed to her plan Sietta turned again towards the blonde male.
"What do you think…Fujimaru? Want to help me oversee those monkeys later on?" It seemed surprising for the Lightning Mage. After a single talk that took a slightly deeper turn than acceptable for him, the girl had almost completely dropped her suspicions towards the twins. He was around the other members of the Dark Guild long enough to distinguish real emotions from blatant fakes. Oh, how often did those jerks try to hit on his sister when he wasn't looking…? It didn't matter currently, seeing as the chief's expression was actually genuine.
Yet she seemed to have misinterpreted his surprised look as she took a somewhat frustrating breath in and looked into his azure-blue orbs with feelings similar to…'Is that…understanding in her eyes?'
"Okay, look! I know that I and the other people of my squads didn't like you very much in the morning." That was an obvious understatement. "But can you really blame us? After that stunt you pulled on us, we had to delay the plan to free our village by over double the calculated time." Fujimaru had to hand it to Sietta. The blond mage thought that they simply hated the twins due to the information of them being 'Full Blood's' aces, but everyone being simply aggravated on their mood due to time pressure? Surely a fact that he encountered very rarely.
"I'll be blunt about this…we're sorry for treating you and your sister so badly. It took us a while to figure out that you're divided from the other bunch that everyone encountered so far. But now we can see that you're not that different from us than our forces expected you to be. We have the same goal, so we might as well lend each other a hand, eh?" Sietta loosened the hold that she kept on his unarmored shoulder as she took a step forward, stare still in place.
'Were they treating us really this badly? If so…' He relaxed in front of her as a smirk replaced the thin line of his lips when he took a step to stay besides Sietta and gave her a firm nod. The girl copies his actions when they resumed to walk with the convoy in preparation to free their lives.
'It felt much better than usual.'
(Stop playing 'JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency OST – Not Alone' if you've played it)
I am back into the same void that filled the space around me when I collapsed for the first time in this world. After we settled for the night and ate a big feast to calm our nerves for the upcoming battle, everyone took their preferred spot (either outside or inside the convoy's carriages) and slept for the night. Almost everyone was resting at this time, expect Yorc who took the first watch tonight and overlooked humans and animals alike (rather our horses, but you never know what was waiting outside of the forest). We'll probably wake up to dimmed light, seeing as we were already at our planned rendezvous' point just before the mountains. The sun will mostly be covered tomorrow, but that didn't matter right now.
Luna is happily chatting with me as she explained her magic and her spells for me. Mostly she mentioned the ones that she so far used, those being 'Void Strain' and 'Aurora Arcade Swing'. She also mentioned another spell that was currently usable with my reserves, but after I asked her about it she simply smiles and walks a few steps ahead of me with the imaginated 'Holy Moonlight Sword' in her hands. The tip of the blade is touching the ground…or what could be considered the ground of this nothingness while she kept the hilt on the same height as her waist. She closes both eyes in concentration while chanting the spell.
'O blazing stars which fill our skies and shine through the age of time thyselves! Look past beyond your boundary and embrace his power's flow as you fly through thee heavens! Shake both Earth and galaxies with their might and oppose everyone that doubts thee truth! 'Abyssal Cosmos Magic: Star Gazer'!'
The sword once again shone with the magic that filled its blade as Luna swung it horizontally into the air while said energy discharged. From the magical energy it formed a few crescent-shaped blasts that flew in a high curve until they reached the maximal turning point of their flight (I'm somewhat grateful for those math-lessons that I took…) where they changed directions and headed for the ground before us in the distance. Mid-flight they reformed and took the form of huge arrowheads as they descended onto the bottom of the void. They flew down with much more speed while the air around them seemed to be visibly pushed aside from sheer intensity.
Before they could collide however, Luna appeared behind me in a fraction of a second while keeping a firm, yet relaxed grip onto my shoulders. My own eyes were fixed onto the artillery-based attack until in connected. As it did, I was really glad that Luna was standing behind me.
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
My interpretation of artillery seemed to perfectly fit the description, because the spots that got hit got lighted in a holy flash of aurora-like light! Even from afar I could feel the shockwave created by the blast pushing me back! If it wasn't for the grip on my shoulders I'd probably have fallen down by now. Everything around us was shaking like a pretty bad earthquake that appeared out of nowhere…and then the sound…
Kids, if they ever tell you to wear earmuffs for safety reasons, you might as well comply to their request. Why? I might have turned deaf after the blast dissolved mostly, with the small fume of smoke trailing into the equivalent of up in this void being my only evidence. Well that, and the ground not viciously trying to throw me down anymore.
'My apologies…I…might have gone a little overboard with the spell's power…' "A 'little' overboard? I felt the blast from that attack from here!" To admit, her attack was very powerful, but the spell mostly consisted of her magical capacities, which seemed over a thousand times bigger than my own reserves. She explained that to me already, but an hour ago (or what feels like an hour in this realm, hard to tell if there's nothing to orientate your senses…) there was another explanation centered on the balance of our magical amount used within the spells themselves.
True to the experiences I had before, Luna's personal capacity was so huge that my own flimsy one drowned in hers. She was after all an entity that lived for a few millennia at minimum and thus has more than enough time on her to prove such strength. Basically to ensure the spell's power, there has to always be a magical amount sufficing said spell. If you don't pump enough into the spell, it will probably disappear before it completely channels. If you use too much, there'll always a slight…chance of the spell backfiring into one's own face if you don't possess enough control. Hence why most beginning mages always start training their own magical reserves for a steady amount and personal control before actually attempting their first magic's spells.
Mind you, before you ask: "Why didn't your spells backfire in the fights?" That one's simple. First, my boots may give me the ability to deal increased damage with kicks / travel a short distance in an instant, but that isn't my magic, so to speak. Hana's creation takes the personal magical energy used by me and redirects it into the silver symbols on the outer sides of the shoes (And given their proper names, they aren't just a design choice). Those are actually made out of compressed 'Letter Magic', the same type used of Freed Justine…I don't know how my guardian angel got her hands on that, but as they say…"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
There was one more thing she mentioned though: When I and Hana talked about Luna (in her released sword-form), there was a tad bit of information that she dropped…
"There is also one symbol carved into the side of your sword, but it's concealed by the cloth that's strapped around it. So don't worry too much about it. You might get to see it soon enough."
Since Luna is said sword, she could easily tell me what the symbol was used for. Let me tell you the following example…
Imagine yourself another person standing next to yourself, grabbing an important object that you hold dear like a credit card or the keys to your personal home. Think of the person as a random stranger with no relevance to you or your loved ones at all. Said guy/girl tries to use the object for himself…only to have it blowing up in his hands.
Crazy, no? 'I swear that there had to be some inspiration from another sword of a certain Daywalker in there…if you don't know what I'm talking about, simply watch 'Blade'.' Summarized, there is an implied short circuit inside the handle that will register the user's magic on contact. If anyone holds onto the 'Holy Moonlight Sword' without my consent and attempts to use it, then Luna will use her own powers to overload the mentioned circuit, creating a magical explosion after a couple of seconds.
The explosion is non-lethal, yet it will render the victim of the blast injured to some degree. Additionally they'll lose a big portion of their magical energy when her spell goes off. But anyone who should ever get caught inside one of these, it'd be their own fault if they should fail to feel the burning tingling of sparks emitting in their grasp…just saying.
Back to reality! Luna was now standing before me as the void started to turn more…uneasy. Her other form had disappeared back into herself as the ghost-like entity gave me a small smile. 'Seems like our private time is close to an end…' Rather than a dream, it will feel more like a memory of my own when I leave said void, according to her. For the first time around it was weird getting adjusted to the sudden change in scenery, but once my senses calmed down, I felt at peace in this…realm.
'Now then, Jessica…is there anything else left for me to assist you in tonight?' With her full figure being visible I could make out some…specialties from her. Rather than trying to tower over my small 4 ft. and 3 inches caused by my tender age of 13…*pouts*...I think that she is angling her own knees under her flowing dress to make herself seem less intimidating. She looks at me with kindness in those ghostly, aurora-green eyes and even lets her signature magical flow calmly flow around the two of us.
Speaking of her magic, I was thinking of it as something beautiful! It fits her so well and is so powerful when she uses it with me! I wish that…
"Say…Luna, could you maybe…teach me your magic?" Could I really request this from her? I mean, sure…I am her holder so to speak and she didn't seem to be stern or anything. But asking for her mentorship in a magic art that was basically undiscovered in like…ever? That seems like too much, and judging from Luna's eyes shadowing over this seemed bad of me to reque-
'It will probably take a lot of training and a regular schedule to train properly…' A small ghostly hand was ruffling my short black hair that was visible because of the missing wool-cap…It felt quite nice, even if there was this awkward blush forming already…'But I promised you to give you guidance. If that is what you seek to strive forward, then I'll help you mastering my own magic as your own.' 'Or not...'
Goddamn I couldn't be happier today! I am really going to learn magic from her. I'll get trained by the entity known otherwise as the 'Holy Moonlight Sword' in mastering her own 'Abyssal Void Magic' to my capabilities. Somebody please hold me…
The void turned even darker as my smile faded from the confusion building up. Luna put a silent finger in front of her lips as I could feel her magic circling around me. 'Time's up…'
'Well, you'll have to go back into the lands or reality once again. Until next time, Jessica…and good night.' And with those final words the magic around me glowed brightly as I woke to the sound of war drawing close…
(To be continued…)
(Fire Me): And she actually gets Luna's magic for the future! Nice! Well, I'll keep myself VERY short once more and until next time…
The Sir's out!