by V. A. Lewis
Aria was still stepping back when a large maul came swinging at her. She barely managed to put up a quick barrier of air to block the attack, when a lightning arrow, flying parallel to the ground, came straight at her and shattered it. The maul then continued in its downward trajectory and struck Aria across the chest, sending her through the walls of another house.
Aria crashed through multiple walls before finding herself in a bedroom, coughing out blood and lying prone on the side of the broken wall. The Inquisitor with the maul was already walking in after her when she pulled herself off the wall and on the ground. She was still prone when she heard a quiet sniffle to her left.
A little girl was hiding underneath her bed clutching a pillow, and crying. She had short blonde hair and blue eyes, and looked to be around six years old. In short, she was nothing like Aria’s daughter. Yet, when Aria looked at her, she only saw her daughter.
Aria saw a pair of silver eyes staring up at her. Silver eyes that showed no fear of the unknown, but instead curiosity of what could be. Aria saw a little girl filled with an eagerness to learn, and with a determination to love.
But when Aria looked at the ground and saw the blood on the floor, she imagined her daughter, terrified like the little girl hiding underneath her bed. She saw her daughter, crying over her dead body. And when Aria saw that, she remembered why she came here. So Aria stood.
She had no choice. It was a mother’s love that made her go into hiding. It was a mother’s love that made her keep the truth from her daughter. And it was a mother’s love that made her stand.
No matter what happened— even if this were her home— she would fight. She could not run. She tried to run. But it was never an option. She had to fight.
So Aria stood, dodging the maul coming at her. She stepped into the Inquisitor's guard, facing his challenge. And then, she walked over his dead body, towards the rest of the fight.
***
I am dead.
Or at least, I might as well be.
I have died before, but I honestly didn’t remember much about it; I did remember what it was like to get hit by a 25,000 lb truck traveling at over 60 miles per hour, but not the act of being dead itself. That was the only thing I could not remember— everything else, I could never forget. But, if I was pretty sure this was what being dead felt like.
I could not move, I could not speak, and I could not sleep. Well, I actually could do all of those, but moving hurts, I had nobody to speak to, and I was not sleepy. I was so bored, and it had not even been half an hour. I knew I sounded like a kid right now, but that’s because I was a kid!
I could be fussy, grumpy, and jumpy, and I could just blame it on me being a literal 10 year old. But I did not do that. I let my mom go do her job, even though I really wanted her to stay by my side, because I was such a good kid. But being a good kid didn’t mean that I did no’t feel a little bit lonely being by myself, especially after I almost died. Slowly, I sighed.
I really almost died, didn’t I?
I carefully sit myself up on my bed, and look down. The pain is much more bearable now that I spent some time awake getting used to it. Gazing at my half naked body, I assessed the extent of my remaining injuries. My ribs were still bruised and purple, my legs were still wrapped in bandages, and my ruined clothes were still ruined. Healing paste had to be applied every six hours to these injuries, though by the looks of it, I’m sure it was applied quite recently.
At least I’m still alive. I smiled to myself.
As the thought crossed my mind, I heard what sounds like small explosions nearby. To me, it sounded like a muffled version of those small firecrackers, though that did not put me at ease at all. I quickly threw my blanket away, and hopped out of bed.
I groaned as my legs crumpled on the wooden floor, still heavily injured from the burns; I did not spend too long on the ground, as I immediately forced myself up, limping to grab new clothes to wear.
As I was about to get dressed, I heard what sounded like a huge explosion, even from however far away it was. I grabbed a shirt and quickly put it on, since only my upper body was exposed by the Chimera, and immediately ran out of the front door. Whatever those explosions were, I knew it was not a good sign.
I limped my way towards the village, only taking a quick glance at the smoke rising above the treeline. The first thing that came to my mind was Inquisitors. The second, was the man I met in the forest, but I quickly dismissed both thoughts. Whoever it was, I couldn’t let my mom deal with it alone.
I raced towards the village as fast as I could while limping. The entire time I did, I prayed. I didn’t know who I prayed to, but I just prayed. Whether it was the fake god or this world’s Goddess, it did not matter, I prayed to them all. I just hoped that whoever it was, they would answer my prayer.
Please don't let my mom die.
Chapter 8: Fall
Aria felt the mana flowing through her right hand. A violet magic circle, about the size of her open palm started to form over her forearm. Thousands of lines began to weave into an intricate design within the circular shape as she stood up.
The Inquisitor charged at her, raising his maul over his head as it doubled in size. Stepping to the side, Aria dodged the attack as the man swung it down towards her, destroying the wall, and bringing down the roof over their heads.
Aria ignored the whimperings of the girl hiding under the bed, and stepped within arms reach of the Inquisitor. The mystic circle on her arm shifted, it morphed from a two dimensional circle into a three dimensional blur as the lines continued to intersect. The Inquisitor pulled his maul back, trying to catch Aria from behind as he immediately tried to put distance between the two, but it was already too late.
The spell was complete. Aria felt something in her hand. She pulled, and the magic circle vanished. A large scythe, longer than herself, appeared out of thin air. She held it high above her head, the curved edge pointed downwards in a hook, half the length of its body. The head was translucent and glowed pinkish white, completely spectral in its form, while the shaft took the form of a curved charred wooden pole.
Aria swung the ethereal scythe down vertically at the man, slicing him in half and ignoring his armor. The man split into two parts from the head down, but did not separate inside of his untouched suit of armor. It looked like someone took some red paint and drew a line straight down his body. He was dead in an instant.
Aria was about to walk over the body, when she heard a strangled cry from behind her. Finally taking pity on the girl, she grabbed the dead Inquisitor by his plate armor, dragging the corpse behind her as she exited the house. She took a step out of the hole in the wall, and was immediately ambushed by the rogue.
Aria swung up, parrying the rogue’s black dagger with her very own scythe’s darkened shaft. The rogue’s face turned to a grin, fully expecting the woman’s weapon to decompose. But that did not happen. Instead, as soon as his dagger came into contact with the scythe, it burst into flames. He recoiled, dropping his weapon on the ground as it was eaten away by a crimson fire.
The rogue was left unprotected for a moment. Aria saw this, and was about to bring the scythe back down on him, when a greatsword came at her from behind. She barely managed to block the attack with the dead Inquisitor's body, as the sword sheared straight through the corpse’s armor. The red haired Inquisitor immediately followed up with another swing as she allowed the rogue to quickly retreat. Aria grinned, as the Inquisitor got caught in her trap.
Aria let go of the body. It gave her back the freedom of movement, allowing her to duck under the greatsword. She did not even look at the follow up strike as she turned and chased after the rogue, putting her in between both Inquisitors.
The rogue looked like he wanted to strike at Aria, but he knew that with his dagger’s ranged enchantment, he could hit his ally, so he did not. The red haired Inquisitor took a step towards Aria, when she saw the ground beneath Aria’s feet begin to glow. She took another step forward and
called out.
"Don’t let her escape—"
She didn’t get to finish her sentence. The corpse behind her exploded. The redhead was blasted into the air, her body landing on the ground in a bloodied mess. A voice from a distance away screamed.
"Fria!"
It was the Saint.
***
Saint Theron could not suppress the cry that came out from his mouth. He spent a moment taking in the body of Fria, clearly distraught. He was not sure if she was dead, and that unnerved him.
Fria was new. A recently promoted Inquisitor. She showed great promise with how young and talented she was, so eager to prove herself she even went as far as to volunteer for this mission. Theron promised her that he would protect her, and now she was probably dead.
Theron knew of the magic the Fiend just used, or at least, he knew a variation of it. It was one of the powerful spells used by the Demons during the Holy Wars. Magic circles pre-prepared on set locations in battlefields. Traps set to explode when stepped on. Even with armor enchanted, enchanted by a Superior mana crystal, the explosion would still wipe out dozens of soldiers.
But the Fiend’s spell did not work that way. The ‘mines’ used in war always required a physical trigger, even if it wasn’t stepping on it. The Fiend’s spell however, was clearly altered to activate whenever the Fiend wanted it to. And that it did. She must have casted the spell on Leon’s corpse when she was dragging it out. Leon that idiot.
Theron couldn’t help but blame the man for his, and possibly Fria’s, death. He charged in after the Fiend by himself, thinking only of glory. Theron knew that Leon thought he had injured the Fiend, and wanted to kill her by himself, so he ran in without any backup. And he did injure her. She was much more sluggish in her movement when she came out, but she still managed to kill him before they could help. Only a few seconds passed from when Leon entered, before the Fiend walked out dragging his corpse behind her.
Theron gritted his teeth at the thought. He wanted to curse Leon, and curse the Fiend as well for being here, but in the end, he only cursed himself. And he cursed himself even more when he realized that he was distracted.
The Fiend teleported away from where she stood. Theron quickly glanced out of the village, thinking that she was running away again, but didn’t see her there. He turned back, trying to find where the Fiend ran off to, before he found her.
Contrary to what Theron thought, the Fiend did not try to escape. Not anymore. She did not teleport away from the village, but instead towards them— specifically, behind the rogue, Axel. Tina loosed an arrow from where she was, and Theron called out, but it was already too late. Axel was only halfway turned when the scythe cleaved right through his skull and he was dead. The arrow arrived a second later, but the Fiend simply twirled her scythe, blocking it with ease.
Mana began flowing through Theron’s veins as yellow lines streaked across his body. He was furious. Three of his teammates were already dead, and the Fiend was barely hurt. Four glowing yellow lances appeared around him, and launched straight at the Fiend. The Fiend lowered her hand onto the ground, and dozens of pillars of earth began to emerge from the ground around her. The pillars varied in shapes and sizes, with the largest towering over the houses around them, and the smallest barely the height of an average person.
The lances were intercepted by the pillars, and exploded on impact with each one, toppling several of the pillars at once. But there were still many left standing.
Arrows loosed into the jungle of earthen pillars, some exploding, some piercing, and some were just regular arrows. Despite her lowered mobility from being injured, the Fiend managed to avoid them all by dodging and weaving through her artificial stone forest.
Theron opened the palm of his hand to the sky, and felt the heat build up. The glowing yellow lines on his body from his previous miracle were still there. The heat eventually transformed into a ball of golden flames, to which he pointed at the Fiend. The Fiend kept moving, anticipating a ball of flames, but it never came.
A concentrated golden stream of fire flew from the Saint towards the Fiend, incinerating all the earth that stood between the two.. The Fiend kept moving away from the laser beam as it swept across the pillars, while carefully staying out of the line of sight of the archer.
The Fiend ran up to a pillar that was only slightly taller than her, and easily hopped on top of it Theron followed after her, his beam of light never once letting up. The Fiend continued moving from pillar to pillar, until she eventually reached the highest point, and had a view of the entire battlefield.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, she used one hand to throw her scythe towards the Saint, and the other to launch a Grand Fireball at the archer. The miniature sun exploded first, being shot out of the air by Tina, while Theron had to halt his miracles to dodge the ethereal scythe.
As soon as the weapon passed Theron, the Fiend appeared next to it, catching it midair. She swung for his head. It happened too fast. Theron had no time to react. But it did not matter. The mana crystal on his chest shone, and a translucent golden light shimmered across his body, protecting him from the attack. The Fiend’s scythe bounced harmlessly off around Theron, and a lightning arrow flew right past the Fiend, stopping her follow up swing and forcing her to take a step back.
Theron knew that if he gave her even half second to herself, the Fiend would just teleport away, so he pressed her. With a flourish of his saber, he put one foot forward and stabbed. The Fiend stepped aside, and was about to counter the attack, when she noticed the spear. But it was too late.
She tried to dodge to the side, but she was too slow. The spear struck her right shoulder, spilling more blood than it should have. The Fiend limply swung her scythe around, forcing both attackers back, as she made her retreat. It was cut short however, as the ground beneath her shook, causing her to stumble.
The ground shook again, as a man with a large wall shield struck the ground towards the Fiend. A mini earthquake erupted in a 15 foot cone in the direction the shield was pointed at, causing the ground to crack. The Fiend almost fell, barely managing to catch herself by planting the pole of her scythe on the ground, when an arrow struck her uninjured shoulder.
Theron could not resist smiling as he looked at the Fiend. They had her surrounded and injured. He knew that she could not escape and neither could she win, and he knew that she realized that too.
They were going to keep pressing her so that she couldn’t use any truly powerful spells to escape or fight back. They were going to keep whittling her down, bit by bit, and then they were going to kill her.
For Fria, for Leon, and for Axel. For all the people she had hurt and killed. For the world. For the Goddess. They were going to kill her.
He was going to kill her.
***
I ran as fast as I could.
My heart was pounding, my body aching, but still I ran. I wasn’t running that fast, considering that my body was that of a ten year old, and my legs were still injured, but in spite of all that, I was doing good on time.
The explosions in the distance rang in my ears, despite my best attempts to ignore it; I put all my focus on my breathing, attempting to maintain a good rhythm so that I wouldn’t have to immediately catch my breath once I arrived.
To be honest, I was not even sure what I could do once I was there. I could not use magic, and I could not fight. I was only a child that only knew how to use mana tools, without actually owning any. And even if I did have a gun of some sort, would it actually help against whoever my mom was fighting? No. No it would not.
But I had to do something! Maybe I would be able to distract them by shouting. Maybe I would even be able to hinder them with some well-timed rocks. Or maybe, I would just die. Whatever it was I could do, I wouldn’t be able to do it if I was not there. So, I ran.
I kept on running as fast as I could. I ignored the pain, ignored the fatigue, and ignored the fact that I could be running to my death. So what if I die?
I’ve already died once!
I knew that I was probably being fatalistic; I knew that, but I didn’t care. Even if I could lie to myself and hope for the best, I still had to prepare myself for the worst.
I slowly began to deviate away from the dirt path that led from my house to Villamcreek, cutting through the forest to save time. The lumbering trees blocked most of my vision, but I knew that I had finally arrived. I pushed myself through the branches, exiting the thicket, and then I saw it.
My mom was surrounded by three armed men just outside of Villamcreek. She was injured, a couple arrows sticking out of her sides and back, and with gashes on her arms and shoulders. Despite that, she was fighting back. Two of the Inquisitors looked injured as well, though not as badly as my mom was, while the one with a saber only looked tired. The fighting looked like it began inside the village, but was slowly brought out.
It was a battle, but my mom treated it like a dance. She moved graciously. Almost as if she had practiced these moves all her life. Decades of experience separated her from her dance partners, and it showed as she kept them always one step behind her. And yet, they outnumbered her.
My mom twirled, spinning her scythe in a huge arc around her. The Inquisitors kept their distance, pushed back by the attack. She pointed a finger at the Inquisitor with a shield, firing a purple beam of light at him. As the Inquisitor raised his wall shield to block it, my mom dashed forward at the other Inquisitor with the spear. She raised her scythe to strike the spear Inquisitor, when glowing arrows landed on the ground between them and exploded.
The impact from the explosion made my mom stagger backwards, giving the man with the saber an opportunity to take a swing. His attack grazed my mom’s arm, drawing some blood, but ultimately doing negligible damage. At least, by itself. When the man backed up, and the fighting continued, I quickly understood what they were doing.
