《Fallen Star》
01 Prologue
The man crashed through the bushes, the sharp blade slashing aside branches and leaves that seemed to reach out for him. The magical blade burned away all life in its path, reducing the plant matter into a powder. The blade flickered and pulsed as it absorbed their life to power itself, the field of elemental water destroying all traces of structure behind it.
It was close, the man knew. The light had descended over the mountains and everyone had rushed out to take a look but never found it. He was on the other side of the mountains at the time and had seen it swerve to one side at the last moment before burying itself into the green hills.
Another swing of the drain blade reduced a startled racer to dust. The man snorted and stepped over the corpse, crushing the mewling kits underfoot. Damn all of this, all these... these animals! All these happy families should just explode!
If it was for her, he could do it. But that handsome knight was always hanging around, ready to take her away. If he couldn''t find this fallen star and give it to her, he was sure that Aril would slip away, drift away like a leaf on the wind. And they had grown up together in such bliss! He had always thought they would get married eventually but she just got more and more beautiful each day and soon Aril was beyond him, courted by true knights and lords.
His thoughts took a darker turn as he headed through the light forest, a trail of dying plants in his wake.
The dance party at the Academy was the final straw, the time when he noticed that Aril was finally beyond his reach. Those flies buzzing around her throughout the dance were the cream of the duchy. Even the lord himself asked for a dance with her, right in front of his wife! All he could do was stand to one side as people powerful enough to execute him with a word took their turn with the Flower of Sant Arcia.
And when Aril came to him after the party, she had even mocked them. Laughed in their faces at how stupid the dance was. Of course she knew her own worth, it was above all of them in both magic and beauty. And he knew it. That was when he realized that he was never going to be worthy of Aril.
The rest of her conversation had passed in a blur. She noticed that he wasn''t talking and eventually they had parted ways uncomfortably. Of course she knew what he was thinking, they had grown up together after all.
He would have to do something about that. Something big enough to make him famous and powerful enough to win over all those lords and ladies.
Something like giving her a fallen star.
Presently, the forest gave way to a clearing. No, not a clearing. The land was scorched by some otherworldly heat, burned into mere stumps and black ash.
He hurried forwards, heart beating loudly. Only the star could have done this, a flame so large that it could burn away this circle. Not caring about tearing his gloves and shoes, he scrambled forwards towards the center.
And there it was!
A gleaming white egg lay in a crater the size of a castle. A huge crack in its side opened a gaping maw down which no light shone, as if some monstrously huge bird was going to hatch from it. Other than the damage, there were no obvious features on the outside. Not even dirt.
.... come...
He shook his head at the voice. What was that? It had come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. He raised his drain blade warily.
... to us...
The voice seemed to be weak, a mere whisper amongst the lonely devastation around him. Was it coming from the star?
He scrambled down the side of the crater and looked up at the egg again. The distance had played a trick on his eyes, the egg was far bigger than a house and it towered over him.
As if drawn, he walked unsteadily towards the gap, still looking for some clue about the nature of the thing. It was far too big to put on a chain for Aril.
"Hey!"
The voice jerked him out of his trance and he looked back down. A young woman had walked around the side of the egg and noticed him.
"Hey there!" the woman shouted again and came over when she got his attention.
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"I found this thing here, and it''s just crazy!" the woman said when they were closer, "I mean, look at it! I can''t even tell what that shell is made of!"
He pointed at the dark gap questioningly.
"Oh, well, I''m not going to go in there, who knows what''s inside that thing?" the woman chattered, "I should call a bunch of knights out here, then perhaps we can take it back to the capitol! I can''t wait, I might even get a reward!"
He sniffed and walked forwards, heading towards the gap.
"Hey! Isn''t that going to be dangerous?" The woman scrambled along behind him.
"You''re seriously going in?!"
He stepped into the darkness, the blade raised in front of him with a tremble of nervousness.
The inside was a mess. Strange metal cylinders ran from place to place, a tangle of bent steel and damage. Clearly the inside was in far worse condition than the outside.
... come...
The voice was definitely coming from inside the tangle. He moved forward a step then the woman brushed past him with an angry look.
"Hey, I found this first," she said defiantly.
He narrowed his eyes. This egg contained the fallen star, of that he was sure. A star that spoke to him. The woman didn''t even seem to notice the voice.
"Aren''t you going to talk?" the woman asked, "come on, this is my find!"
With a glance beyond her shoulder, he made up his mind. A blue glow just around the corner was surely the star he needed.
"I think I''m going to have to ask you to- guh!"
The woman stared down wide-eyed, at the drain blade that struck her squarely through the chest. The blade pulsed once, breaking open the natural dams into the magic of her life itself.
Then before it could absorb her, he jumped backwards in alarm. A wisp of magic floated out from behind her, obviously from the star, and began to... feed. That was the best way he could describe the process. Her lifeforce was sucked out through the hole his blade had made and into the interior.
The corpse collapsed to the floor in a growing puddle of blood. Somehow, his first kill didn''t feel like anything at all, despite what the stories always said. It was necessary, for his star and for Aril.
... ah, much better... untasteful, perhaps... but much needed...
He concentrated and the blade in his hand turned into a flat shield. Whatever that thing was, he would have to be on his guard.
... come, we need more power...
The tendril came again and he made ready to strike it but it floated just out of reach.
... her life was already compromised by your hand, do not fear us for we do not kill unnecessarily...
If that was just its ploy to get him to lower his guard, no, he wasn''t going to fall for it.
"Are you the fallen star?" he asked.
... words are hard... but we think we understand... we are the star you seek... and far more besides...
He waited but there was no reply for a while. Then just as he was about to step forwards again, the voice spoke.
... you seek the star for one girl, but we can give you more than that... take us, give us power, feed us...
Wait, how did it know about that!? He looked around then realized his folly. There was another tentacle touching his ankle from behind him, and it burrowed straight into his own lifeforce! He tried to summon his magic but the voice resounded in his mind, driving him to his knees on the hard metal floor.
You desire power too. And we know how to get it.
Come, let us grant your wish, Batho.
02 Aril
Aril hurried along the stone corridors, magelight flickering in her wake.
Whispers of wind words muttered at her from all directions, so many people were trying to tell her things or ask something from her that she tuned them all out.
"What is he thinking?" she sighed and complained to the air, "I don''t understand Batho anymore. "
She burst out into the open courtyard where a circle of hangers on were surrounding what was clearly the start of a fight. Good, she had got here in time.
The angry man in the center was facing down one of the knights. Aril recognized him as the one who had been overly pushy at the ball. As the Flower, she had been forced to accept all dance requests and this man had taken advantage of the privilege to the extent that she had to politely but firmly avoid him. The knight, Rethas, was also one the better fighters in this country and the lords tolerated his attitude for that reason.
And now this. After disappearing without a word for two weeks, Batho had returned and before even talking to her, he was picking a fight with Rethas.
Batho snarled at something the knight said. Rethas sneered down at him.
Then as Aril fought her way through the gathering crowd, her heart leapt into her throat. They were separating now, counting out measured steps away from each other.
An unofficial duel.
"Don''t do this!" Aril shouted, but she couldn''t make herself heard over the din of the crowd. There was no way Batho, with his poor command over magic, could win against Rethas, a full knight with a bevy of accomplishments. All that awaited him from this duel was humiliation, and Rethas knew that. He wasn''t even bothering to draw the sword at his waist.
"Your magic is simple. Almost too simple. "
The star whispered to him in his mind. Batho mentally shrugged, that was all he could manage.
"Like we practiced, let us control some of your magic," the voice said again.
His drain blade appeared in his hand, the best spell Batho could produce. Rethas sneered again and summoned a bubble of disruption magic, then beckoned for Batho to come at him.
Batho charged across the stones, even if he knew that a mere drain blade was nothing beside the full defensive bubble, but this time it would be different. He had the star inside him and the star seemed to know a lot about magic.
The drain blade struck the disruption shell and stopped, Batho''s magic clashing against Rethas. All was as expected, it turned into a contest of power, one that the weaker Batho could not win. Rethas''s sneer seemed to get deeper and Batho''s anger mounted higher.
Then something twitched in his lifeforce, the magic surging out of control. For one moment, Batho was tempted to clamp down like he was taught to then he relaxed and let the star do its work.
The drain blade moved suddenly, like a living thing instead of magic. It bent back then hammered at the shield viciously before coiling on the surface, magic fighting against magic. Rethas''s eyes widened then his sneer returned as the shield stayed intact and unchanged.
"It''s not working," Batho thought.
"It is. We have found a gap. "
There was another surge and Batho tried to hang on to his magic for dear life. Gods, the pain! The star drew on his lifeforce without care for safe limits, drawing down on Batho''s power without asking at all. His legs quivered and his eyeballs felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets.
The effect was instant though. The spike of power concentrated itself into a single pinpoint spot on the shield, cracking the uniform shell and pouring into the interior. The blade reformed on the inside, connected through the keyhole to Batho on the outside of the shield, and flowered outwards faster than the eye could see. The magic connection from Rethas to the shield was cut and his magic fluctuated wildly out of control.
Then in the short gap before Rethas could reassert his will, the drain blade turned on the shield itself. Batho hadn''t even gotten over the backlash when he felt a new spell connected. It was Rethas''s shield. The star had somehow coopted it.
The power inside was so far beyond Batho''s full power that he could hardly imagine what couldn''t be done with it. Rethas might be able to tear down entire city walls if they weren''t enchanted! And Batho knew that Rethas hadn''t even exerted himself.
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Rethas recovered admirably quickly and tried to blow away the shield that was now his prison. The burst of magic in all directions tried to clear the shield but the star folded the shield into itself, absorbing the magic and refusing to contest it. Rethas''s omnidirectional dispel exploded onto the courtyard while the drain blade faced only a tiny slice of the blast.
The blade was humming with energy, far more energy than Batho had ever controlled.
"I see you''ve learned some tricks," Rethas snarled, finally drawing his blade. The entire encounter had happened so quickly that the crowd was still wondering what happened.
Batho saw the man''s magic flash across his body and tried to distance himself. But Rethas leapt meters into him in one bound, driving the blade downwards. A last minute twitch from the star flung Batho aside and no doubt saved his life.
The world rolled and bounced, his bones felt like they were breaking as he tumbled across the hard stone. Somewhere in there, the star shot most of his magic upwards and missed Rethas. Rethas tried his leap again, sending Batho into another desperate roll to avoid the thrusting sword. Rethas being serious now, if Batho wasn''t trying his best to avoid it, the blade might have taken a limb off.
"And we have won," the voice said in Batho''s head.
The magic of the drain blade that everyone thought had missed deployed into a vast diffuse layer far above them. Sensing the change, Rethas leapt back warily, putting up another disruption shield. The voice chuckled and sent a magical signal upwards.
Batho was still groaning sorely on the ground when a good portion of the sky seemed to dim. As the courtyard plunged into dusk, Rethas was surrounded by a bright glare that threw off heat like a furnace. His scream of pain as every portion of his body burst into flame instantly echoed off the walls of the castle.
While Rethas was still trying to fight off that attack, the remanent of the drain blade in Batho''s hand shot forward and pierced Rethas''s head. The flaming body tumbled to the ground mutely and the drain blade spell swung back around to return to Batho.
The light bending spell above them faded away, the leftover magic also collecting down into the sphere floating above him.
Only silence was left in the courtyard.
What... how...
Gibbering thoughts whirled around in Aril''s head at the impossible sight of Rethas''s charred body. He had died too quickly for anyone else to react. By all accounts, Rethas had been winning, and then suddenly he was dead. Batho was still lying on the ground though and she threw aside all the other thoughts and finally rushed out of the ring of spectators.
"Batho!" she said, dropping to a hurried kneel next to him. Cut and scrapes decorated his body everywhere, even more bruises revealed themselves under her trembling palm. The right wrist was also dislocated, painfully. But that mattered less than the state of magical exhaustion, his lifeforce was going haywire.
And no wonder! He had burned almost his full power in less than a second when he broke Rethas''s shield. He groaned in pain as the backlash made itself felt.
"Batho..." she muttered unconsciously as she flexed her own power, sending herself into him, stabilizing his drained magical pools and resetting distended vessels, all symptoms of forcing too much magic at once out of an untrained soul. Had he wanted to win so much that he could endure the pain? It must have felt like being burnt alive.
Aril paused as her probes touched something. Something foreign sat in his left hand, tied directly into his lifeforce. Then with a suddenness, she was thrown out of his body, her senses cut and the lifeforce spreading through his body that was part of her burned back with searing magic.
Gah! She rocked back onto the hard stone ground, blinking at the second impossibility. What was that? No patient had ever thrown a healer out of their bodies in quite that way, even when they resisted the... darker skills of the magic healer. And Batho was definitely not capable of doing this.
Then she was aware of the crowd above her, chattering away. There was six knights running over now. Oh. Aril''s heart sank as she realized what was going to happen now.
After all, duels weren''t supposed to kill, even unofficial ones.
03 A Talk
This was completely his fault. Batho hit the grey stone walls around him again. The stone yielded not at all. With the star, he didn''t need to obey those stupid knights and their stupid rules about unofficial dueling. Rethas had needed to die. Once Batho was stronger than him, the only conclusion was obvious.
What did the knights know about Batho''s suffering? What did they expect him to do? Grit his teeth and put up with the abuse? Well, they could forget it!
He huffed and sat down in the middle of the cell. Aril had wanted him to cooperate with the investigation, and in the confusion and pain of his injuries, Batho had simply let it happen. And now he was stuck in a holding cell.
"Can you hit the wall again?" the voice asked.
"What good will it do?" he replied with another question, "the jails come with reinforced walls and a monitoring system. Even trying to break out will be detected. "
"We wish to examine it, physical contact will allow us more bandwidth," the voice said, "do not mind us. "
Batho sighed and shuffled over to the wall. It wasn''t like there was anything else to do in here.
"If you''re bored, we know a few training exercises that can help," the voice said, "we should improve your power. More power never hurts. "
He sat up straight and got a chastisement for breaking contact with the enchanted walls. Batho absentmindedly put a hand to the stone and listened to the lecture.
A soft knock on the door brought him out of the meditation.
"If you''re going to punish me, then get on with it already," Batho snarled.
"It''s me," Aril''s voice said from the other side.
"Oh," Batho deflated then got up from the floor. She had come to see him? He walked over to the door and put a hand on it.
"I just wanted to tell you that the knights are investigating your case now," Aril said.
About time, Batho had been in here for hours already. "I see," Batho said, "did they question you?"
"They will, eventually. But first, I need to know what happened," Aril said.
Did she suspect something? Of course she did, Batho would never have been powerful enough to defeat Rethas in a duel. He regarded the door warily.
"You disappeared for two weeks, without telling me anything," her voice seemed to stab daggers into him, "what happened to you? Where did you go?"
She knew. Clearly she knew what had happened. "I was looking for something," Batho said, "I intended to give it to you, but that can''t happen now. I''m sorry, but I shall prepare a suitably fitting present for you. "
"A present for me?" Aril sounded confused, "for what?"
"Does there need to be a reason?" Batho smiled in the darkness with no one to see.
"I... see? Never mind. " He could almost see Aril shaking her head. "Why did you challenge Rethas?"
What was with all these questions? Wasn''t she going to ask him how he had won? Even if the question was going to pose some problems, Batho had expected it. "Rethas was harassing you," Batho explained, "I saw him. At the ball. "
"He also looked down on you," Aril said accusingly, "was that why you fought him? You killed him. "
What? Why was she saying this? "Aril, Rethas was not a good person," Batho said.
"But you killed him. He was not so bad that you had to kill him," Aril said, "I saw that battle. You knew you were going to win. "
"Of course I would," Batho clenched his fist on the door, "I wouldn''t fight him unless I knew I could win. And I did kill him, I had to. Rethas was oppressing us!"
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"All he did was a few pranks! That''s not a reason to kill him when you could have won another way!"
"You don''t understand, Aril. I-"
"I do understand! Who do you think he harasses all the time?"
"Then you do know that I had to kill him," Batho stated flatly. The crime of touching Aril had no other penalty.
"There are others who bully you too," Aril said, "will you kill them too?"
"If need be. " And if they dared to abuse Aril''s kindness, definitely.
There was silence from the other side of the door for a long while. Then Aril''s voice continued, much softer. "You... You''ve changed, Batho," Aril said, "the last few months, you''ve avoided me. And now you kill someone! I don''t even understand what you''re thinking anymore! What happened to you?!"
The sniffles from the other side seemed to stab into him. Of a time long ago, when he still had the strength to be her hero. "Aril, do you remember the time when we were young? When I played at being a hero and said I was going to protect you?" Batho asked, "I never forgot what you said to me. I found the strength to protect you now, I''m just sorry that I took so long. "
Aril''s voice lashed out through the door, driving him back with a raw emotion that stung his eyes. She was hurting! "I asked you to always stay by my side! Not to do this!"
Aril''s sobs came through the door, silencing all possible response. What was he to say?
"We are done analyzing the network," an unexpected voice cut in, the uniform cheerfulness cutting through the heavy atmosphere without a care, "there were some interesting innovations but these simple barriers are nothing before us. "
"Be careful about the monitoring system," Batho warned the star.
"Already done, the network is ours," the star said, "our curiousity is sated, it is time we left. "
"Give me a moment," Batho requested and said to Aril, "it''s all right Aril, I have found a strength. You will see that even these cells cannot hold me. "
Instead of his own magic, a bright spark popped out next to his hand where the star was embedded. "What is that?" he asked it.
"It is the existence you call Rethas," the voice explained.
"Is that his soul?!" Batho blinked, "but Rethas is dead! How can his soul be here?"
"Your drain blade is so inefficient. A life contains much magic, yes, but a trapped life will regenerate its magic. Rather than drain it for power immediately, we find it more efficient to keep souls around. "
"Then he is watching us?!" Bathos glared at the spark of magic tunnelling at the door enchantment. Perhaps he could torture Rethas some more?
"Of course not," the voice sniffed, "there is no reason to keep extraneous functions. We reshaped everything for magical power generation. Besides, your word construct for soul implies indivisibility. That is not true, it would be easier to think of this as an external pool of power. "
Batho laughed, what a fitting end for a bully like that man. Now he was just a battery to be used.
The door swung open and Batho walked out. Aril was nowhere to be seen, probably she had run away after breaking down and hadn''t even heard his last line.
"You will see, Aril," Batho whispered, "I will give you everything. "
The enchantment on the prison folded in on itself, the magic drained into the dense ball above Batho''s hand. Then quietly the ball disappeared back in.
"Time to go. "
04 Harvest Time
The man appeared in the courtyard, face shadowed by the setting sun. Wandering knights paused at the sight, apprentices halted mid-stride. No one ever left the prison block without being let out of it. Every one of the apprentices and knights who had been trained here had put their magic into the walls of the castle and prison during each grueling practice. It was impossible for one single person to break out.
And to do it without tripping the monitors? That was even more impossible.
"Halt!"
One of the knights had the presence of mind to recover quicker and he challenged the man standing at the main door.
"Why should I?" the man asked.
"You are being held for the murder of Rethas in an unofficial duel," the knight said, "I don''t know how you got out but now I''m here-"
The man interrupted the knight, "I have done nothing wrong, Rethas was the person who issued the challenge. "
"That is still under investigation. "
"Then I shall await the result at my own leisure," the man said calmly.
"You will do no such-"
"And you will be the one to stop me?"
The knight unsheathed his sword, "if-"
He never completed his sentence. Before anyone could even react, a magical blade shot out of the ground from underneath the knight''s feet and pierced his body from below. It swept through the body and condensed back into a ball of magic above the prisoner''s hand.
The whole action took less than a second, and the knight collapsed to the ground bonelessly.
"You didn''t kill him?" Batho asked the star mentally.
"No," the star replied, "like we said, we do not kill unnecessarily. He''s just drained of power. "
"Well, it seems that every single knight in the place is coming for us now," Batho observed, "you have a plan to get out of this?"
The star radiated agreement.
The enchantment on the prison walls was connected to the castle''s and ultimately the city''s walls. A weak point anywhere could be shored up by magic from another section. The automatic distribution network was what made Arc''s defenses impregnable. That scheme backfired now.
The star drew heavily on the compromised network, and as the powerful shield around Batho turned aside and absorbed spellfire from all directions, the network automatically refilled the shortage in the prison. The star drank it all, like water down a drain.
Batho laughed, the storm of magic around him was futile, futile! For all the knights'' trying, not a hair on his head stirred. Inside the bubble generated from the defense of the city itself, no number of knights would be able to penetrate.
At last the storm subsided, revealing a much emptier courtyard. The few knights still trying to attack him were rapidly running out of steam and Batho''s shield was... stronger?
"Let us go, we have to look for a place," the star said.
"Aren''t you going to retaliate?" Batho asked.
"Why?" the star seemed to be amused, "why should we strike those who were kind enough to donate their magic for our gain? And now with this much magic, there are much better sources of lifeforce than a few puny knights. "
They left the prison unopposed. A few fireballs and gale blasts were not real opposition after all.
The star led him out of the city into the forest. It was heading towards a mountain on the other side of the city from the crash site.
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"Don''t we have enough power yet?" Batho asked.
"No, we do not," the star said.
"But we just drained the entire Arc defence enchantment!" Batho exclaimed, "how much power do you need?"
"More. The defence enchantment is but a drop compared to the sea we require. "
Batho staggered over a root, trying to imagine what the star needed it for. And how they were going to acquire it. The power contained in the deceptively small ball in his left hand was already beyond imagining, enough to demolish whole cities. And the star wanted more?
"Um, I thought you wanted power? Why are we heading this way?" Batho asked, "the city is to the north, if you want to get the magic, we should head there. "
"People are not the only source of power," the star explained, "and people bring trouble. Like the knights. Weren''t they troublesome?"
Batho could only agree.
"Wouldn''t it be nice if we could work without their interference?" the star asked. Was it actually trying to tease him? Batho shook his head, there was no way the star would do that.
The star ignored his stray thoughts and guided him deeper into the forest, "look around you, Batho. Sense the magic. "
Batho looked obediently but there was no magic to be seen. "What do you mean? I don''t see anything from my magic sense. "
"Look deeper," the star said. Then it took control of his lifeforce again, and unconscious filters seemed to drop away.
It was like looking at the world with new eyes, seeing things that he noticed before but paid no attention to. Every tree, bush and fern was glowing with magic. Through the soil, he could see the roots that shot downwards into the earth, the fine mesh of tiny roots broken through with the massive spikes of the tap roots. Amidst that, dim wriggles of earthworms and the lights of small creatures dotted the surface.
The star showed him more, as his magic sense continued to sharpen. The soil glowed with a faint cloud and tiny sparks floated by in the air, showering down from trees that were like columns of light shooting up into the sky. Batho looked down and saw his own hand, pulsing with the beat of life, echoing the riotous cacophony of lifeforce all around and under him.
Another last layer dropped away, the life around him building into an intolerable glow. But beyond the trees and soil, another even fainter ocean of magic became visible. For all its feather light touch, it was vaster than the thin layer of foliage clinging to the surface of the ground. Amorphous clouds of unshaped magic danced through the sky, condensed streams flowing beneath the ground and far below, the pulsing of the greatest concentration of raw mana. A long and slow breath like the lungs of a giant that took months to complete a single ebb and flow cycle, and it promised power.
Then the star retreated, leaving Batho kneeling on the mundane forest floor, his magic sense wavering after the overload.
"Is that what you see? All the time?" Batho whispered. He couldn''t help but feel like an ant after that revelation, having had a glimpse of the forces around him.
"Indeed, it is what we see," the star replied, "and indeed what we have in mind. We are near the mountains and should be far enough. It is time to begin the harvest. "
05 The Measure of a Hero
The four men clambered down from their horses at the sight. One of them reached out but stopped when the leading man raised a clenched fist.
"Be careful," the leader said.
The other man nodded then took out a knife to scrape out some crystals for examination. The leader looked back out at the landscape, so different from what they expected.
The report had said that the forest was dying, somehow the entire forest was dead and not even rotting. All the trees still stood, all the grass still waved, but no animals moved, no birds sang and nothing had any life in it. Something had killed it all. Something powerful.
They had seen that very phenomenon in the last hour, dead trees and dead rabbits huddling in crumbling holes. The leaves were slowly falling around them, a shower of green and red. Everything was dead. The leader had guessed it was most likely a beast with a powerful poison breath.
And now he was reconsidering his naivety. In front of them spread a different scene. The dead forest had suddenly changed, as if someone drew a line in the soil.
In front of them, a coating of colourless magical crystal was growing over the trees and the land. And at the center of the lifeless crystal land, a gleaming tower that seemed to scrape the very sky.
Batho sat on the crystal chair in the crystal room, watching the crystal display on one wall show the four figures slowly picking their way through the crystal forest.
"Are you insane? Attack them now!" Batho cried.
"Let them come in a little more, have a look around," the star said nonchalantly, "we''ll take their magic and let them go. That big one in front is powerful too. "
The star had switched to using sound, claiming that there was more than enough power for some luxuries. It had originally made the walls vibrate but after Batho claimed it gave him a headache, the star switched to using a vibrating stick.
"Powerful!" Batho laughed bitterly, "that''s the Hero! The four horsemen! The scourge of evil! It''s Arc himself!"
"We are not familiar with them," the star said, "but we note you appear to attribute special significance to them. "
"That man standing there is the worst possible scenario for us," Batho said, teeth and fists clenched, "Arc is the most well-known hero in all the lands! With unstoppable magical power, top tier martial arts and three companions nearly as strong as him! He could kill all those knights we fought outside the jail without any batting an eyelash!"
"Our power has grown exponentially since then," the star said, "four people cannot do anything. This Arc you speak of, judging from their actions, they are nothing special. "
Batho blinked in surprise. Nothing special. He sighed and wondered what ''something special'' might be to the star.
"Observe," the star said.
The four knights on their horses suddenly looked up and a magical shield popped up around them, outlined in the display for magical power. A puff of crystalline soil leapt up beside them.
"They have good reactions for being so unguarded," the star mused.
Another attack lashed out at them, throwing up a slightly bigger puff. Then the leader, Arc, seemed to point at the display screen, and a massive bloom of magic consumed the field of view. The display suddenly switched to a viewpoint much higher and further away.
"Interesting, their magic is crude yet effective. Now we shall see their close combat ability. "
Batho looked at the vibrating stick incredulously, the star actually sounded amused! He paid attention to the screen again. The heroes were beset on all sides as the crystallized trees uprooted themselves and lumbered forwards to attack them.
Arc leapt off his horse and flew at the nearest enemy, sword drawn. The hero was practically flying over the glassy soil, his steps as light as a feather and as fast as a bird. A flash of his sword and a crystal treant was cleaved in two, another flash and another tangle of crystal branches fell to the ground. The treants tried to swing their branches but he was untouchable, weaving a path through the flailing strands of crystal with flawless perfection, a deadly blade singing and winking in the sunlight.
As the crystal trees converged, a salvo of magical bolts shot out from his companions, still on the horses. The wave of magical force shattered crystal and blasted back the living forest around him. Shards of crystal slammed futilely into the dome shaped shield, supported by the woman at the center. Arc dashed from one end to the other, destroying the treants that pushed their way into the circle.
Truly their teamwork was flawless, Arc and his companions moved as if they could each other''s minds. Batho gripped the chair tighter as the marching crystal petered out, leaving the heroes standing amidst a field of shards.
"That was a good harvest of magic," the star said, "truly, the Hero is just as naive as the rest of the knights. "
What.
"They revealed their defenses. The limit to their magic. They did not even notice that the crystal trees were absorbing their power. Observe," the star said.
With no warning, the view screen lit up with a single glaring streak of light that lasted for a mere instant before blasting into the party of the Hero. Dirt and crystal dust exploded skywards in a plume of debris, a visible shockwave rolled outwards along the ground from the impact.
"You see, there is naught to worry about," the star said, "our judgment is perfect, your Hero has survived. He shall return with more magic. "
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Batho gaped as the Hero and his party dug themselves out of the crater. They were not dead after THAT strike?! But to his relief, one of the four seemed to be heavily injured and the Hero was already making preparations to retreat. The star did not seem to mind him going.
"I don''t understand," Batho said, "clearly you could have killed them at any time. The Hero is more dangerous than even Rethas and you let them go, but kill Rethas. "
The pulsing swollen globe of magic far below the tower could not be recognized as human. Lifeforce, the star had explained, was efficient at trapping raw mana, given the proper techniques. Rethas''s soul was stretched and engorged with mana distilled from the air and ground, distended and stretched to fill an ever growing cavern at the confluence of the tower''s foundations and the massive twisting underground tunnels. It was beyond any recognition as a human soul. Batho realized that Rethas had truly died in the duel, what was left was just another magical construct.
"A favour we pay to you, for the loan of your body and knowledge," the star said, "your enemies destroyed and power beyond recognition. You hold no animosity towards the Hero, that is mere jealousy. The one called Rethas, you had condemned him in your soul. "
Batho sighed. There was no point arguing, star could read his mind and had its own strange idea of morality.
"This morality you think of, we still do not understand," the star said, "we have a parallel of the concept you call death. It is not to be inflicted lightly. "
"Isn''t that morality already?" Batho asked.
"You think of it in emotions. You have... aversion to causing death, except where it would suit you," the star seemed to be disappointed in him, "such a heuristic is inelegant and is not an optimal strategy for your success. That we do not understand. "
"What is there not to understand? Killing people invites others to kill you. " Batho paused, something the star said prodded at him. He asked, "do you feel anything? What about your family? Do you truly feel nothing when you kill someone, not even a shred of guilt?"
"The concept of family does not exist in our knowledge," the star said reproachfully, "and your guilt for killing the woman at the reentry vehicle is too small to be noteworthy. No, in your terms, we feel nothing. What we do not understand is why have you not replaced your faulty heuristic? We can propose a number of more optimal strategies. "
No. No no no, the star was proposing to modify Batho''s emotions?!
"An interesting reaction," the star mused, "have no fear, we do not wish to make enemies of you. Your reactions have been informative, perhaps your insight can be useful in understanding the Enemy. "
What Enemy was the star speaking of? Batho wondered but the star did not deign to answer him.
"He must be possessed by the Dark Lord," Arc said, "there is nothing else that can explain it. "
"No!" a voice cut across the murmurs at the table, "that cannot be!"
"I understand your distress, Flower of Sant Arcia," one of the senators said, "but it is the Hero''s judgment, are you sure that yours is not clouded by your connection to him?"
"Batho is still himself!" she hissed, one fist on the table, "I talked with him last when he was still in the cell. The Dark Lord would have been... darker. "
"Or more cunning," the senator said, "where was he in the last weeks?"
"He told he was was searching for something. "
The senator raised an eyebrow, "what if what he found was the Dark Lord''s seal instead?"
"Whatever he is now can be discussed later," Arc said, "the question is what do we do now?"
"That last weapon, the spear of light," the Lord of Swords, the leader of the knight order, spoke up, "that weapon is worrying. For it to nearly kill Rumil even with all four of you defending..."
"He cannot use it often," Arc concluded, "after we were attacked, we were allowed to retreat unmolested even when our weakness was apparent. "
"Even so, if it hits anyone other than you four, it will certainly end in their deaths," the Lord of Swords said.
A wave of glumness spread around the table. Aril suppressed a sigh, trying to think with them.
"Give me five days for Rumil to heal," Arc said, "gather the knights and men. We four will challenge the crystal field once again and draw the weapon to ourselves. When he is vulnerable, the army hiding in the dead forest will charge the tower. "
There was a round of hesitation then nodding. Arc smiled and left the room. No one else moved.
"Will it be sufficient?" the senator asked.
"No," the Lord of Swords said flatly, "Arc overestimates what the knights can do. He thinks everyone is a Hero. With that weapon, Batho merely has to run again and there will nothing we can do. "
"Then we need something to pin him down," the senator said. Aril shivered at the malice in the voice. "Something he cares for," the senator continued.
"A hostage? Any idea what might be something he wants, Aril?" the Lord of Swords asked her.
Aril felt as if large cotton balls were stuffing up her throat. The senator was looking straight at her. The Lord of Swords blinked at him and followed his gaze back to her again. She gulped worried. Surely not...
A pair of armoured hands descended on her shoulders.
06 A Bigger Stick
"How dare they do this!" Batho choked down his scream to something less than earsplitting.
The star spun silently in its pedestal.
"Holding Aril hostage to threaten me?" Batho snarled, "how did it come to this?"
The star spoke up, "I suppose you wish to save her?"
"Of course I do!" Batho yelled, "but they are coming here to capture me and then they have no reason to fulfill their promise to release her!"
"An interesting gambit, if they have the power to uphold their threat," the star said, "there is a way. "
"What way?" Batho asked, abruptly icily calm, "they have her trapped somewhere we don''t know. Probably with guards ready to kill her the moment we act. "
"They are attempting to bargain with you, trading her life for yours," the star said, "so we just need to acquire some tokens of our own. "
The spell flashed out the top of the crystal tower like a blast of flame. The army below cowered amongst the trees but it did not touch them. The huge wave of magic sailed overhead, heading north towards the city.
Faster than a bird, faster than any horse, the magic arrived in a shower, piercing the ground all around the city. Lines of light appeared from the ground where they struck, pillars of magic that rose into the sky. Then from the pillars, flat planes of deadly force ground outwards slowly, giving people time to get away. In less than a minute, the entire city was surrounded by a glittering wall, cutting it off from the world.
Far above, a ominous globe of magic hung in the sky. It could be felt through the walls and roofs of even the deepest dungeon. Even from the outlying farms. The oppressive power that felt like a mountain was pressing down on them. The pitch black ball flickered with dark lightning, blotting out the sun entirely and plunging the land into an eerie twilight surrounded by a circle of day in the distance.
Then an image appeared on the imprisoning walls, an image of the insides of the leading guilds. It was mirrored by similar images on the walls of the rooms of those leaders, all of whom were pinned to the ground with shackles of blue crystal. And one set on the outside of the besieged crystal tower.
"Despite all this power, you have still managed to strike at me," Batho''s voice resounded from a hundred images. He was nowhere to be seen in any of them however. "Unfortunately, Aril is not someone fit for your filthy hands. You thought to capture her in order to threaten me? Well then, hear my terms. Release Aril to me unharmed and withdraw your army. If I do not see her alive and well in one hour''s time, the city of Arc will cease to exist and I shall hunt down every last man, woman and child in the entire duchy and rip them to pieces. Consider your actions carefully and I hope you do not make the wrong choice. "
The blue lines of crystals pinning all the men and women of power in the duchy suddenly faded away, as if laughing at their frantic efforts to cut, dispel or wriggle out of their bonds.
The images were replaced by a single round face of a clock. The hands were set to one hour and began to count down.
Batho leaned back in his seat, sighing after giving the little speech. "What about the army outside?" he asked.
The star showed him the armed soldiers swarming around the base of the tower, smashing, hammering and climbing. All futilely of course. "That army?" was the star sounding amused? "The tower is beyond them," it said simply, "their struggles will merely feed us. " Indeed, the only thing Batho could hear from his room near the top was the occasional crash when the Hero attacked. Everyone else couldn''t even make a sound as the crystal absorb their power easily.
"So now we wait," he said.
"We wait," the star agreed.
The panic was of course inevitable. There was no doubt in anyone''s mind that the huge black ball was up to the task of wiping them all from existence.
The soldiers hurried through the dark corridors, heading to the dungeon relaying orders.
"Quickly! Get her out!" the commander of the guard shouted, "we have to use her to stop his madness!"
The soldiers rushed onwards.
Down in the dark cell, Aril huddled away from the cold stone, trying to find some warmth in the bedding. Despite being in the depths of the most secure dungeon of the Duke of Arc''s castle, she could still feel the magic far overhead. Even through the supposedly impregnable wall enchantments of the cell.
"Batho, what are you doing?" Aril muttered. But there was no one to hear her. Betrayed by her own people, the guild of adventurers. The prospect of being used as a pawn to fight Batho was not what she had in mind when she became the Flower.
There was a clatter from the corridor outside and the door swung open to reveal the soldiers of the Duke.
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"Get-" was all her jailer managed to say.
The spark of magic hiding in his shoe had descended from another spark in the shoe of his superior. And that spark came from the panicking nobles in the castle above. Hiding amongst clothing, personal objects and small dark spaces, the sparks duplicated themselves whenever they came into contact with another person.
And now it had found its target.
The defensive enchantments on the room wailed in alarm. The alarms had triggered when the enchantments were compromised but the sparks were unforgiving. In a second, before the soldiers could even react, the entire enchantment had been forcibly drained of magic.
A clear bubble of force snapped into being around Aril, and she blinked as her weight seemed to disappear. Then, right in front of the soldiers, she began to float into the air.
"Eh?!" Aril choked back a little cry as she rose towards the roof.
The soldiers rushed forwards without waiting for any commands, but their hands and later, weapons, were simply repelled by the clear bubble of force. Then the bubble reached the roof and... simply continued.
The stone gave way to her inexorable rise, breaking and falling away. The cell in the level above hers rang out in alarm as its perimeters were breached, but a spark darted out and it was similarly silenced. The bubble grew thicker.
Helplessly floating inside, where her magic didn''t seem to work, Aril could only stare at the panicking soldiers and mages that tried to free her or stop her ascent.
Strangely enough, she didn''t feel like she was in that much danger. Aril knew Batho wouldn''t hurt her.
Despite all that had happened, she believed in that at least.
Then she got close enough to the surface and a sudden spear of light descended through the remaining floors and walls of the castle to wrap around the bubble like gentle fingers picking a delicate flower.
Above, the oppressive ball of magic shrank down and disappeared.
"Aril!" Batho exclaimed as she appeared on the screen, still floating in her safety ball.
"You see, it is a simple task," the star said, "one merely has to disturb them enough to make them find her for you. "
Batho snapped his eyes back towards the castle. The place full of people who would threaten her. "I need to make sure this will never happen again," he muttered.
"You have the power," the star said, "we shall let you do this yourself. "
Batho grinned, "I wouldn''t have it any other way. "
Like the star had taught him, he extended his senses through the network of magic it had built. The arrays of magic flexed and twisted under his touch, until the star stepped in and stabilized it. He observed it and concentrated, narrowing down his presence to one thread of magic.
With a thought, the magic converged at the castle, penetrating through the defenses. He scraped away the magic on the walls, ate the magic on their weapons, feeling the small spark of power head upwards to join the thundercloud waiting at his beck and call.
With another thought, a few more balls of force rose into the air, their squirming occupants on screen for all to see.
"The Duke, the Lord of Swords and Senator Itil," Batho said, feeling his voice go out to the linked screens. "Since I retrieved Aril myself, it would appear you did not fulfill your part. "
He paused for a moment to let them bathe in their terror. "But I am kind enough to forgive the city. They have little to do with this. You however, are the masterminds of this plan. "
Batho tapped them with the magic and their lifeforces popped out from their bodies. Like plucking grapes from the vine. He grinned as the tendrils caressed their souls, draining their knowledge. The magic reached down to the castle again. "Next in command was the captain of the Duke of Arc''s guard," he said, as another three bubbles rose into the air, "and two of the Duke''s personal guard who detained her. "
Their souls interrogated, the magic reached down yet again.
After a few more rounds, Batho was satisfied that he had gotten everyone in the entire chain of command, all the way down to the jailer hiding at the bottom of the dungeon.
"Hear me well," Batho said, turning up the volume of the screens, "these were the people who had threatened that which was important to me. Know that I have no mercy for you who would do me wrong. It is simple. It doesn''t matter if you have been ordered. It doesn''t matter if you are threatened. It doesn''t matter if you were tricked. If you help them do this, you die. "
With that, he released the bubbles, letting the limp lifeless bodies rain down onto city below.