Chapter 1: a merciful and yet impactful choice
Ellie laid on her bed as she again reads a book telling about the origins of the world and it's legends; it makes not only her but also her younger brother think about it: "are the all mages of this shattered world really needed to be exterminated like if they are not only pests, the scum of the world and all bad stuff despite that most bad things happened because of them; like the militia cults, the shatter, the near extinction of the bards and the lost of their respective homeland; the increase of the misunderstandings between magic users and non-magic ones specially the barbarians, the empire, the chaos…" but something tells her that not all wizards are jerks and considering that 3 mage gods created the world and as well accept to some rumors regarding both the origins of the "noirmagus" race and its non or sometimes not so magical variant the "noirmelins" (both hers and her brother's race) in their image or the image of one of them;
as well that it's been 10 years since their parents got ambushed and killed by militia cult members when both of them were teenagers like Ellie were 16 and her brother 14 when they died; and because of it they had been sent to be raised by their aunt who is their mother youngest sister and her husband and their children who gladly took both of them in and their aunt and uncle comforted them and told them that despite what happened not all mages and gunmancers are evil despite everything, at that time they were starting their mage slayer training and both of them successfully just had fulfilled their teachings recently but still not only the words of their family specially their uncle and aunt's words comes back from their memories but also the tales regarding the origins of the world makes them once again reflect "is this really necessary"?, "our parents will never come back to life even if the last mage is killed, and neither the mistakes done by the mages including the shatter will be undone"… "what mom and dad will REALLY say and react that we are going to kill many magic users to avenge what happened to them, other non-magic users and the world itself? If we remember them they won't be very happy about it" and "this is so wrong"…
As the world's history and its legends say: "
• Anyone (or anything that can think and reason) can become a wizard with the proper amount of dedication and focus.
• Wizarding requires a curious mind, attention to detail, and a love of experimentation.
• Wizarding has been around since the creation of the world, when the god-wizards Magus, Solus, and Alchemi wandered the world with their creations.
• Magus, the god of creation magics, lived among his people in the Vale and gave them magics to cultivate the earth.
• Solus, goddess of destruction magics, lived among her people in Koleye teaching them the art of war but kept to herself the secret of magic. Her gift to them was the Kolbara tree, whose roots stretch the sands of the wastes, sheltering her people and feeding them with its fruit.
• Alchemi, the god and goddess of transformation magics, lived among their people in the anarchistic plains which would eventually bear their name, teaching them the process of science and research that underlies magic.
• The origin of magic is the Word, but the power of the gods to speak things into existence was lost to mortals after the gods departed.
• Instead wizards rely on the the magic innate to all of creation left behind by the Word: Arcana.
• In the past, wizards would consume reagents to channel the arcana innate to them. This process was a dangerous one, since it often meant consuming poisonous substances.
• After the world broke and the Wizard's Empire broke, the secrets of wizarding were lost.
• Several hundred years later, in the plains of Alchemi, a young wizard invented the art of Gunmancy, combining arcana and magical reagents into devices that could safely channel and direct magic: guns."
Just reading this makes not only Ellie and her brother Jacob reflect and be way more hesitant about their new job, but they needed to get some bounty since they also moved away from the house of their aunt, uncle and cousins and both of them are living in a shabby old abandoned shack and they needed money from the bounty as well loot some stuff from the dead bodies of slain gunmancers and any monsters and possible unfriendly people who won't hesitate on killing them as well the hostile and world destroying chaos who is rampant and sell the loot they got from them or keep it for themselves so they can have cash, food, and conditions to fix make the life in their shack more bearable so Ellie braided her fiery red and gold sunset hair into pigtails like usual and grabbed her hat, coat and gun and comes to her little brother Jacob who is already waiting for her with his own gun in hands too "let's go brother, guess that we really don't have a choice for the sake of our survival and to get some respect from the other mage hunters unless there's some others who think the same way as us" "me too sister and something still tells me that dad and mom won't be very happy to see what we are doing just because they got killed by those magic user cultists and vengeance will never bring them back and neither stop the end of the world and undo all mistakes the mages had done…" "me too brother but we need to do this it's been 3 days since we moved here and we are already running out of food, water and money, but I swear that if we get the chance we may spare one or more wizards lives depending on the situation unless they are cultists if we have the chance" "I agree with you big sister, we must keep going I will check on the woods near a tower that just got burnt to the ground" "and I will be going to the plains nearby let's go"!
Then they go in their ways to hunt down mages; as Ellie was walking across the plains she spotted a wizard it appears that they were on a hurry as if they are fleeing and looking for someone who they know and searching for somewhere where they can take shelter "must be the resident of that tower who got burnt" she thinks as she spotted some ashes, soot and the smell of a burning building on them; then she surprises them and points her gun towards them who quickly draws their gun and shots down magical destruction bullets with electric magic as well fire, ice and poison ones and she quickly dodges them and fires back but they also avoid all her attacks as eventually both of them run out of bullets after a hour and then both she and the gunmancer she is pursing started to physically fight as they punched her in the left cheek and right eye causing to it get purple and she also throws a fist towards their face causing to bleed a little where their nose is located; and she grabs her gun and hits them hard in the stomach and left ankle and they furiously threw more punches towards her belly and right cheek and kicks her legs and she holds their hands and they also holds her arms as they glare daggers at her with their yellow eyes and she also does the same with her blue eyes.
Little they know is that they were about to fall down a cliff with a hills on it and both of them roll out as both of them hit a tree close an abandoned old tower, a hour later both of them slowly wake up but still tired from the fighting and Ellie takes the opportunity to grab her empty gun and prepare to hit the gunmancer with the butt of it then bring their scalp or their whole head as a proof for the bounty and loot their dead body but then Ellie saw what made her heart sink the gunmancer was terrified, scared and crying and placing their hands in a way to protect them from being hit when she saw in the eyes the true feelings that they don't want to die and want to be left alone as tears of real sadness, despair and fear run through their face still covered in soot as well the sobs and by the noises and paying attention towards she thinks "they seem to be a guy probably around my age or close to it" but also "I can't do this, I don't want to do this, I neither want to keep doing it, look at HIM! Look at ME! this will never bring dad and mom back and neither undo all the mess in world as well it's end! i can't! i will spare his life!" then she slowly lowers her gun in sign of mercy, a minute after she does it the gunmancer unexpectedly quickly gets up and pushes her to the tower's wall, both his hands gripping her arms as he furiously glares at her panting, his enraged and tired golden yellow meeting the tired, surprised, scared, terrified and now crying and pleading aqua blue eyes of her, then his expression softens and he thinks "she spared my life, and it seems that she doesn't want to do and neither keep doing this! i-i… can't" then he let go of her arms glares at her and yells at the top of his lungs "get the hell away from me!" And he runs out limping away from her but as he as running away from her, the injuries from the fight including the impact against the tree started to act up at point that it brought the young gunmancer man to his knees in intense pain and exhaustion, seeing this Ellie gets desperate and makes the other decision which is the quite opposite of her job to quickly run towards the blacking out and in pain gunmancer, gently take him on her arms as she runs towards inside the abandoned tower thinking "that's it! i hurt him! now i must do the opposite of my job, save him!" when she gets inside with the now unconscious wizard she finds a room a bed big enough to fit 2 people and gently places him in there, she opens her backpack and gets some first aid kit and does it first on on herself bandaging her knees, left cheek and right arm then she makes the hard and awkward decision of stripping the injured and knocked out unconscious gunmancer guy in front of her to his underwear then clean him up and bit since he is covered in dirt, sweat and still in ashes and soot.
First she takes off his pointy amber yellow hat with a green feather on and clearly sees his face and identity as she sees his species: he is a noirmagus the closest related species of her own the noirmelins so close that it's 100% biologically compatible despite with some few biological and physical differences bedsides one is a natural magic user and other is not or barely, as she grabs a bucket full of water and a cloth rag cleans up his face which ironically like her he is also an void looking creature with shiny eyes under the clothes and hat like every noirmagus and noirmelins, he is very good looking and has an straight, silky, soft and fluffy midnight blue longish medium hair tied up in a low and tight ponytail, and she also unbinds it letting it down so he can be more comfortable on the pillow, then she carefully and gently removes his gloves exposing his black hands with also solid black toe bean like palms with small near human like sharp claw nails then his boots and socks exposing his feet which are the same thing as his hands and also pitch black as the rest of the body except for his hair, then the scarf around his neck and slowly and gently removing his coat, then she unbuttons his white long sleeved shirt and slowly and again carefully removes them, then she unbuckles his belt and prays that he is wearing underwear under his pants and pulls down his pants and she gives a sigh of relief on seeing that he is wearing underwear in this case a pair of white boxers and she separates his clothes to wash and fix some possible holes and tears on it, and she verify if he is still alive and checks for any vital signs first with his heart by hearing it on his now bare chest then his pulse on his wrist and she is relived to hear that his heart is still beating, she heard his breathing and he has a pulse so he is alive, then she grabs her first aid kit and first cleans up his wounds specially around the chest, stomach and right shoulder and warps with bandages, takes care of his nose injury and places a small bandage on it, examines his ankle which is the one she had hit with force with the butt of her gun and realize that it's sprained and thankfully is not fractured so she makes an cast on it, she also bandages some parts of his left arm, right cheek, and the knee of his right leg; she grabs some blankets and gently puts on him.
As she awaits to him to wake up she had removed her hat, coat, pants and boots, gloves and socks leaving her on her lavender and white colored short sleeved dress and she decides to examine her surroundings on the tower, she notices the 2 big looking ancient machines that seem to be broken and/or lacking something as well the huge mechanical magical hand as well and some other stuff like something to stash arcana and lots of shelves with very old books; she decides to go get her hat, coat, pants, boots and gloves on and decides to reunite with her brother and bring him with her to the tower since it looks way much better than the shabby old shack they are living as she makes her way back home, then she gets a surprise as she reunited with her brother: in his arms is an unconscious gunmancer and by the looks it's a female noirmagus and she has medium length purple hair some red dress like robes with a shawl with a tiny bell amulet on it, she looks 2 years younger than him and she wears a pointy blue hat with a ribbon on it, Ellie hears her concerned brother desperately yelling "Ellie where you had been?! i spared this gunmancer's life and i want to help her, before she fainted from the injuries i inflcted on her, she mumbled something about that she got separated from her older brother who is like her but he but he has yellow eyes longuish dark blue hair; after their old home which is that tower in the woods that got burned down by militia cultists from the cult of the steel, she urgently needs my help to find him"! Then in a shock of realization she says "I guess that I found her brother and he is alive, let's say that I… also hurt him unconscious and I left him on an old abandoned tower on a bed and treated his injuries"? "Ellie you… you too?! and you found him? is he ok?" "Yes he is and by the soot and ashes as well the smell of smoke he had in his face and clothes which are the same ones she also having and by judging her hair color I wouldn't be surprised that she is his sister and both of them used to live on that tower until the cultists burnt it in a attempt to kill them; now let's quickly move out from this shabby shack and go to the tower where I left her knocked out brother in and live in there with him and her" "wait what? We are moving away again?" "Yes Jacob brother, let's get all of our stuff and this knocked out unconscious gunmancer girl to the abandoned tower that I found, despite the current state it is, it seems bigger and way much better than this shabby shack we are living in and at least we are reuniting her with her brother and we owe both this gunmancer siblings for sparing their lives and they don't seem to be jerks since they are also victims of the militia cults like us" "Ellie sister you are right they both are victims of this cursed cultists too, the ones from the very same cult who killed our parents 10 years ago, the cult of steel, so I am gathering all of our stuff and her and we are moving out, tell me where it is" "ok, did you get everything and you are carrying her?" Then her brother comes with all of their belongings gives the things that belong to her and he gets back and gently also carries the unconscious gunmancer he had spared her life in his back "yes" "good, let's go"!
Then both siblings go to the tower make it as their new home as well as her brother goes to other room to nurse the female gunmancer and she comes to help him, after both of them did the necessary care and thankfully she didn't got any too much bad injuries neither burn marks showing that like her brother she made her way without a scratch, then after Jacob tells his sister Ellie that he is staying with her female gunmancer waiting for her to wake up, Ellie agrees and tells that she will do the same thing with her sibling as she goes to the room where she left him and he is still unconscious and sleeping deeply and she makes herself way comfortable again by removing her hat, bandana, then gloves, boots and pants; leaving her in only her dress as she grabs an chair places it close to his bed and sits on it as she reads a book while waiting for him to wake up, she looks at him as she hears him make small cute snores while he deeply sleeps in his unconscious state "guess that not only me but also Jacob are going to explain a lot of things, but also make amends with both of them; guess that uncle and aunt are right after all, not all wizards are evil and jerks and some of them are victims too and it's true".