It was chaos. Kingston saw the winds around him fade from vision. Butterfly flaps of futures winked in and out of existence as lives were snuffed out one by one by the unspawns. His class had just formed a perimeter around the two courts. They were holding back the attacking unspawn horde when Consort Rubi scrambled towards them, a scarlet rapier in her right hand and a jade coloured buckler in her left.
One of the translucent creatures turned its attention to the coming head of state. Before Kingston could warn her of the oncoming danger, he heard the voice in his head telling him things would be fine. It was the instinct that came with being what he was.
Rubi halted after seeing the attacking monster. With a twirl on her feet, she sidestepped a whip-like tail that slammed down where she stood just seconds before that cracked the land beneath it. Coming out of her spin and using the momentum, she thrust her blade into the appendage of the unspawn.
The creature scrambled and pulled its tail back, but a single ember of flame had already been embedded in its translucent body. The flicker of fire spread, growing like a tree taking roots in the earth. The beast squirmed, desperately doing its utmost to scratch the fire away but to no avail. Within seconds, it was completely engulfed in flames, finally fading away as the minute closed.
The consort continued her rush over to the class, asking aloud, “ Does anyone have any enhancing knowledge?”
Lua raised her hand. “I know some theory.”
“That''s all I need. Come with me and help me connect this machine to the crystals.” She gestured to the hard-light hologram crystals which still glowed with expectant power. From her pocket, Rubi took out a tiny, matte black box and a bundle of cryst wires.
Kingston saw a green wind leading from him to the box. A good omen to heed. He made a gesture to Pempe to close his ranks before leaving his position to help. The green wind connected to Shichi and he tapped his friend by the shoulder for attention to follow.
The two boys approached the two ladies and Kingston asked, “Is something wrong?”
Lua held up the black box. “The Consort wants to wire this...” She looked to Ruby for guidance.
“Radio,” the lady replied.
“...radio to the crystal for a boosted charge. I''ve got the wires attached correctly, I think. But it''s not receiving the power it needs.”
Kingston leaned over. The back of the box had been opened and within the contraption was a otherworldly mess of green, silver, and gold boards and soldering that reminded him of the outlining of magic circuits and the crystal enhancing process. But amongst all of the foreign matter was a familiar gleam.
“That,” Kingston pointed. “Looks like a cryst resistor. My dad taught me about them. It''s probably dampening the power to prevent an overload.”
“What does that mean?” Shichi ask.
“It means that there is probably the limit to the machine. Even if we get enough energy in, it might destroy the thing,” Kingston explained. “I''ll have to remove the resistor to even try.”
Ruby replied, “That''s fine. We just need to get the word out and aid will come. Right now, something''s dampening our ability to communicate. Messengers I''ve sent out are turned around by the forest, as if space itself is confused.”
“I...” Lua began. “I don''t understand.”
“There''s no need to at this time. We just need this machine to work.” Ruby looked to Kingston. “How do we do that?”
Kingston reached over their hands and grabbed the radio. He took some of Ruby''s spare cryst wires and instructed Lua, “Disconnect the crystal. Reconnect them when I tell you to.”
Lua then took the wires in her hands off the projection crystal as instructed. From under his coat, he took out a small utility knife and proceeded to cut the resistor free. Around their focused project, the battle waged on. Only a trickle of minor unspawns remained being hunted down by the combined forces. Some threw their bodies at the wall set up be Class C, only to be disintegrated by their fortified strength. Others paced around, as if searching for an openning to pounce.
“Shichi,” Kingston called. “Give me your hand.”
“What?” Shichi exclaimed, a tone of worry in his voice. “Why? What are your intentions?”
“Don''t be whining,” Kingston derided. “Just give me your hand.”
Reluctantly, the former handed over his appendage. Kingston took it and guided the index finger over the now incomplete part of the circuit where the resistor was.
Kingston began explaining, “When Lua reconnects the crystal there will be a surge of electricity. Shichi, you''ll need to block that energy and I cannot stress this enough, slowly increase the flow of power through your fingers.”
Ruby looked to Kingston quizzically and voiced, “How did you–”
“I have good instincts,” he replied.
She stopped inquiring and instead simply nodded understandingly. It would have taken too long for him to explain his situation to her, so he was glad to have her discernment. He could read the wind in the literal sense. Each breeze carried a tone or a colour or an inflection. Each whisper of the wind held stories of the past or future that he could discern. He could read the wind because aeromancy was not the only magic he could perform. He was also a seer.
“Is this safe?” Shichi asked about his finger.
“No idea,” Kingston turned back and grinned. “Good luck!”
He signalled Lua who immediately reconnected the cryst wires to the crystal and Shichi jerked slightly on his feet.
“Woah,” the latter let out. “It feels like someone''s running a string through my veins.”
“Keep at it,” Kingston encouraged. “Lady Ruby, could you give the device a try?”This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
She did as was suggested and spoke into the radio. “This is Ruby. Can anyone hear me?” A soft grinding noise that reminded Kingston of static electricity reverberated out of the machine. “We need more power.”
He looked to Shichi and instructed, “Slowly.”
His friend nodded and gradually began raising the power he was channelling.
Ruby tried again. “This is Ruby. Can anyone hear me?”
Again, static replied. Slowly, they continued raising the power and Ruby desperately tried to make her voice heard.
After what seemed to be forever with tension rising on them to get things right, the consort yelled,
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inside the barrier! The bad guy is still in the city! Find the bad guys, stop them, save yourselves, save the world!”
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