M.D.Syl
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Chapter 100 colorless
🕑 Added 2023-07-25 16:27:56 +0000 UTCAuthor notes:
This chapter is dedicated to Counter of Kills for reaching a hundred kills and adding another lightsaber to his collection… um… I mean… for helping me with various questions, giving me a few good reads, and some really useful advice and edit suggestions for my work. Thank you! <3
Chapter 100 Confrontation.
The past is set.
The future is ever-changing.
But the present is when you live.
Or die.
Tiyadi, the Silver Lord of Time.
Myrsha <Pull> I attract a wooden shield from the dead archer at my side. “Kalidor!” <Circle!> The shield settles between me and Janara's projectiles, shielding my head and upper body from the hail of pebbles. “Myrsha kalfit.” <Gravity lightweight.> I run up the stairs, trying not to trip on the pebbles hitting my legs as my weight is gradually reduced.
As the pebbles and bricks come flying, multiple vines grow out of the wooden stairs and wall.
“Latsa ni!” <Lift me!> using the 'Jump' spell I jump off the side of the wooden stairs into the city, avoiding the vines that are growing out of the wall. The jump carries my lighter body to a nearby thatch rooftop. I pass above a small field of flailing vines on the ground below the stair case. Janara anticipated that I’d be forced off the stairs, but not my wide jump.
I take out a bronze arrowhead with my mind, lift it above my floating wooden shield and aim at Janara’s head: “Ritsa!” <Repulse!>
I wince when she ducks under my shot, her lips moving.
I am very low on mana, I’ve drained all of my necklace… I have half a pool left in air and water, full pool of wood, and barely anything left in light and fire... gravity got emptied before the battle even started... playing a catapult was a waste of mana…
Focus! I still got my gems left, I’ll drain them… but I have to be careful, I’m nearing my limit here, I have to finish this fast… If push comes to shove I can try drinking both my mana potion and lightning body potion and hope for the best… I’ll most likely die… I shouldn’t be so stupid…
I can’t stay grounded, she controls the earth with these vines!
As if she’s reading my thoughts, the wooden walls holding the touch roof sprout vines. I sigh and drain mana from my gems. “Latsa ni!” <Lift me!> I jump to the next rooftop.
“Anfero!” <Ignite!> Janra calls out from the street below. A spark floats upward and the thatch I land on is set alight the hems of my skirt catching fire.
“Latsa ni!” <Lift me!> I jump to the next rooftop. My skirts fluttering in the wind, and the bit of fire snuffs out with my violent movement. 'Ignite' is only a spark, if I don’t let the fire build up it won’t have to worry about burning.
Most of this roof is missing, a boulder collapsed into the half destroyed house below.
“Kushgari yefa!” <Metal fly!> Janara screams, using my own spell. Unlike my use of it—shooting one or two arrow heads—she looses at least eight of them at once. My orbiting shield jumps into place, blocking the incoming hail.
A copper bolt punctures my shin. It exists halfway from the other side, and slides down against the back of my leg, leaving a warm trail of blood. Burning pain blooms all the way to my knee and forces me to drop to one knee. Another bolt whistles near my ear. The rest of the bolts knock on the shield like rain on window shutters, one of them even penetrates the wooden board, but loses its momentum and falls off my chest without hurting me.
I let myself fall into the hole in the roof, collapsing on my wounded leg. The wooden walls hide me from the angry woman outside. I know I'm gaining very little time with my temporary cover.
A young man is stuck under the boulder that crashed into this house. His legs are flattened under the heavy rock. A middle aged woman who I assume to be his mother is holding his hand in tears. She snaps toward me in alarm, holding a frying pan in my direction. “D-don’t come any closer!”
I ignore the two and gulp a potion of pain tolerance followed by a healing potion. With my broken hand, it’s the only thing I can do for now, a lesser healing potion does nothing for bones. I can't cast 1st level spells anyway with my broken hand, I don't need a lot of focus for cantrips. Maybe I should try anyway, if I could just fly...
The pain fades. I drain the mana of my gems, and move my hands in the gestures. It’s near impossible to cast with a broken hand, but I don’t have time for pain, that’s what the potion is for. I grit my teeth and do my best to cast my flying spell, forcing my broken hand to move in the correct gesture with my ‘Minor Telekinesis’.
Despite the pain tolerance potion, my vision turns dark for a brief moment. I wobble in place as the numb pain assails my wounded arm. With the odd numbness in my head, it’s impossible to weave this many mana patterns, much less concentrate on the correct chant.
I open my eyes to see roots sprouting from the broken section of the wall, flailing and growing in my direction. The middle aged woman snaps at the roots, screaming and hitting them with her frying pan, mindless rage etched on her face.
“Get out of here!” I call out to the woman. “Out!” she ignores me.
I raise my voice to a scream. “Janara! There are bystanders in here!”
The ground beneath the house rambles. Great… I just gave her my position like an idiot… If this stupid woman doesn’t want to save herself, it’s not my problem anymore!
I press my healthy hand on the wall behind me. “Myrsha ritsa!” <Gravity repulse!> Wooden shrapnels fly everywhere. I climb through the hole in the wall, and collapse on the ground outside.
A rocky pillar rises from the ground below the house I just left, crumbling the fragile wooden structure entirely. I can hear the woman scream underneath the rubble as I limp away to hide behind another house.
The pillar disappears into the ground and raises again with Janara on top of it, her green eyes searching for me in the destroyed house. Her pillar is only growing taller and taller.
Janara can’t see me. The pillar grows vines, and they wrap themselves around Janara’s waist and legs, anchoring her in place. “Inara, you coward! Stop hiding like a boggart!”
As you wish. Felul felik! <Wind airblade!> I aim a surgical windblade at her throat from my hiding place. A group of vines snap into place, getting partially cut instead of her throat.
“Rod’ena!” She screams and points at me. Vines wraps tightly around my legs and pull me down like ropes. Along with the pressure on my still wounded leg, I find myself kneeling before I know it.
My last chance! Nim <water> Ri rinim <stop to ice> I create a small blob of water, turn it to ice and float it to my mouth, cooling it.
“There you are, you little cunt! Think you can get away again?!” The vines wrap themselves around my waist.
I struggle, but to no avail. Felul <wind> I control the breeze, pretending to be defeated. Only when the vines tie up my hands, does Janara leaves her pillar and gets closer.
“You fucking half-blood cunt! If you think I’ll just forgive…”
Janara shouts in Toml'a. I shut her voice out, waiting for her to draw closer. Once she stands right in front of me, I form the patterns with my mana for the cantrip. Shanim rial <Vapor cold> I breathe out the cloud of vapors, making sure they head her way with my wind.
“Myrsha samir!” <Gravity protects!> Janara shouts in a panic.
A ring on Janara’s hand flashes purple, and a solid blue bubble forms around her. This is the fifth rank version of “Kinetic Defense” spell, it’s three colors higher of what I can cast. A spell that's capable of stopping objects entirely and should last for a minute unless canceled, a first level spell. This rank is even capable of stopping temperature.
Frost gathers up on the blue bubble, Janara watches it with hateful eyes. I keep breathing the vapors, hoping that her shield will drop. The blue of the shield flickers and the bubble turn green, Janara shivers and steps back, patches of ice forms on her green dress, but the shield doesn’t disappear.
Only once I’m out of breath, Janara removes the shield. “You think you can just…”
I take a deep breath, draining more gems through my neck-pool. “Tans fiuak!” <Loud badsound!> I scream at her. A shrill scream amplified by magic.
Janara winces and covers her ears. Blood trails on her wrist out of her ears, and a little trickle down her nostril.
A vine enters my mouth, cutting my scream. I gurgle and bite the vines, struggling to eject the invasive bitter greenery that twists in my throat and pins my tongue down.
Another vine strangles me as I choke for another desperate breath. The vines pull me backward to the ground, forcing me to lay down on my back with my legs bent under me awkwardly.
“Done? Fuck!” Janara kicks my ribs violently. “This is for Purson!” I cough without a voice, it feels like the vine in my throat is reaching all the way down to my very lungs. I’m going to die!
She stomps my chest. “This is for Oshi!” I can’t breathe! I CAN’T BREATHE!
She knees my head and my mask cracks against my forehead. “And this is for me!” The vine around my neck tightens up, and the one inside my throat pushes even deeper. My vision darkens, I can barely see through the blood that fills the eyeholes of the mask. NO! I’M NOT DYING HERE! I CAN’T!
With a cold breeze, Janara’s body freezes solid. Turning her into an icy statue.
Zoe… phew…
The vines gets pulled out of my mouth by a pair of hands I can't see.
*Cough cough* “Thanks, Zoe…” I don’t finish that sentence, I violently puke my guts out on the muddy ground. My body and ribs cramp with each torrent of puke. At least there's no pain...
*Clack* something clicks around my neck. “Gatchya!” A metallic collar strains against my nape, a strong hand pulls it upward, pulling me up to my knees.
“I’m sure you missed me terribly, ladies.” A tanned man in blue regal robe circles me. He’s followed by a group of soldiers in blue. His mocking grin is something I can never forget. King Luard, the man who took Lezere from me. No… he’s not having me as his prisoner! He’s…
“Snake it, Luard. Tiara is still alive and my army is still out there,” Janara says hatefully. Only now do I notice that her head is unfrozen, and she has a similar iron collar around her neck.
“Look around you, Phoebe, your army is destroyed. As for that Tiara girl, we both know she’s no match for me. You’ve lost, both of you! And I’ve won!” He wears a mad smile on his face.
My teeth are chattering, I don’t know if it was due to fear of what Luard is going to do to me, or the cold air coming from Janara’s frozen body. No! Where is Sharla? And Jerro?! Wasn’t Berthold supposed to notify me before this guy comes back?! What the hell happened to them?!
I glance around, I count at least ten soldiers in blue near us, forming a circle that keeps most of the melee away from our spot. There are more of them pouring into the city, fighting my orcs and Janara soldiers alike. A three way chaotic melee ensues around us, men scream and curse, metal clings against metal, and blood pours across the muddy ground. I gasp as a large female orc grabs a human soldier by the helmet and removes his head with a quick swing. I'm not dying like that!
“What about you, Inara? You must be wondering what happened to your little spy girl.” He laughs, almost dancing with glee. “You sent me such an excellent wife. I enjoyed nailing her so much that I nailed her to a road stone. She screamed, begged, called out for you. She was such a delicate thing. I really enjoy spies, they have a little spice, don’t you think? Ah yes, you were asking what happened to her... She died, horribly, lost too much blood, and I’m going to do the same with you soon. I’ll nail you, I’ll brand you, and then kill you, slowly…”
I’ll not scream! I’ll not struggle! I’ll not give you the satisfaction… Apathy… this is just a nightmare… none of it is real… I do my best to keep my apathetic expression, it’s rather easy with a mask on.
“No screaming? No begging? This can’t do!” He tugs my hair and punches my face violently, shattering my mask to sharp bits that pierce my skin.
Yet, I don’t make any noise, I don’t even feel the full extent of the pain, only a ghostly numbed version of the pain. My pain tolerance potion is still in effect of course. This weird fact sneaks into my head at such an odd time.
He drives a broken piece of my mask and scars my already mutilated face. He pushes the sharp piece deeper, the corners of his mouth rise in a sickening smile.
He grabs my face forcefully and leans closer, his eyes glow blue a centimeter from mine. “You took away everything I had. EVERYTHING!!!" He yells, spittle hitting my face. "I want you to suffer!" he says through gritted teeth. "And believe me, you’re going to suffer. I’ll be playing with you for days. I’ll nail you! Get used to hot branding metal on your skin. I want you to know that. And I want you to know that there’s nothing you can do about it.” He lets my face go, and the world turns white for a brief moment when he punches me again.
I clench my teeth, trying not to make any noise. Even with my potion it hurts, it’s bearable, but it hurts. He keeps punching me, over and over. Blood pours out of my painful nose, and I swallow a tooth before he finally stops. I’m going to kill you the moment I get the chance!
If I ever get the chance… I’m all alone now… Sharla, Berthold, and Jerro are probably dead or this wouldn’t have happened… Kolag is either dead or imprisoned, or Janara wouldn’t be attacking… Zoe, Salik and Ryon are the only ones left… I hope they’re alive at least…
Enough… I need apathy if I’m going to survive this madman…
The world turns dull, and none of it seems real anymore.
*~*~*
Interlude 100.1
Zoe.
Zoe wipes the vomit from the edge of her mouth. She pants heavily, gasping for air. She watches the men in green, frozen in place. She did this. She had never killed before today, cockroaches maybe, but never humans. She did this. She shouldn’t have entered the city, she should’ve waited for the orcs to do the killing.
But she has to know, she has to know if they’re ok.
Two more streets, only two more streets and she’ll know.
The streets are littered with corpses, men with arrows and crossbow bolts sprouting out of them. Men with their guts spilled on the mud. Men without their heads or missing limbs. Someone crawl on the ground, it’s a man wearing green, this is one of the men who brought war and madness to her home.
Both of his legs are missing, he’s leaving a bloody trail in the mud. “Water…” he gasps at her.
She takes a deep breath. Nothing justifies this, but the man is dying, she’ll give him his dying wish. She is a good sorceress after all. “Nim.” <Water.> She summons a few blobs of water, she still have some mana left for this at least.
She kneels near the man, floating the blobs of water to his mouth, he gulps down with a sigh. “Thank you…” he passes out, head resting in the bloodied mud.
Two streets and she’ll know. Only two streets. Two streets of corpses and madness. She’ll have nightmares about this for sure.
Only two streets, only one street. She’s home. Her heart stops beating.
Grandma is on the floor, her guts form a long bloody snake across the living room. Eler is impaled to the wall. And Sima took her own life, bloodied knife still in her hand. Two men in green are mutilated besides them. The world stops, nothing matters anymore. Zoe heads for the nearest seat, her legs can’t carry her anymore.
“Mina?” Her sister sits on the couch, breastfeeding her baby as if the bloody scene isn’t there. She doesn’t react to her name. “Mina!” Zoe shakes her.
The brown dead eyes of her sister focus on her for the briefest moment, then roll back as Mina faints. Zoe reaches for little Olsan, catching him just in time.
She cradles the baby. Everything matters! Zoe will do everything she can to protect her sister and her baby! She will make sure they make it! She has to! For everyone’s sake!
*~*~*
Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 73
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 11 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 22 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 16/17 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 33 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 5 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 11 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 46/50 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield II. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.
Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.
Spells known:
Light: Rika's Electric Channelb1
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.
Focus capability: 17 patterns.
Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Shaman of the Twin Moon Tribe. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.
Personal Wealth: 1665 Magic Gems. 136 Diamonds. 1420 Golden Peas, 45 Silver Scales, 32 Copper Bits.
Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
1 potions of Lesser Healing.
4 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
Fresh rose petals, 6g
Fresh lavender petals, 10g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 26/100
Present Companions:
Luard the King.
Janara of Winemaker Village.
Languages:
Toml’a <People’s tongue> Fluent
Sinteo <Speech> Fluent
Myrsha <Gravity> 8/10
Felul <Wind> 1/10
A'arkalu 1/10 <wolf tongue>
Injuries and scars: Melted skin; face, upper chest, chain scar. Left wrist broken. Bruises. Cuts on the face. Broken ribs.
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Kingdom’s treasury: 8,438 gold coins.
Kingdom’s citizen: 5,898 humans, 2,251 human children ?. Twin Moon Tribe: 1,243 orcs. 294 orc children. 164 sheep-slaves.
Kingdom's army: ?
Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder
Jolla SilverQuill
Talbot Bookkeeper
Marasi Chef extraordinaire (spymaster.)
Old Gardner Tiom
