But the sight that greeted him was less than comforting.
“Dad!” Wesley’s eyes teared.
His father was sprawled over his desk, a metal spike pierced through his abdomen, his face scrunched up in pain. His mother stood over his father, frantically drawing seals.
As someone born to the Lumient family of the Reiniad Kingdom, Wesley’s mother was an adept user of light magic, which focused on shielding and healing
Infusion of Healing!
This seal was moderately difficult to draw and control, but in the hands of a skilled user like Patricia, it could save people from the brink of death.
Having finished writing the seal, Patricia patted Dean’s head and asked, “I’m about to pull it out. Ready? Try your best to not clench or flex as that will make you lose more blood. It’ll be alright, dear.”
With a grimace, Dean nodded and prepared himself. Meanwhile, Wesley walked up behind Patricia with his eyes wide at the gorey sight.
Patricia pulled the metal spike out of Dean and focused her energy into the finished seal. Instantly, the spell began to work its magic, first by repairing his innards, then mending his outer skin.
At the same time, she whispered to Wesley. “Wesley, don’t make any noise, okay sweetie? We’ll be fine here.”
By this time, the fighting outside had stopped. Only a few loud bursts of fighting out here and there, while many faint footsteps echoed through the main courtyard.
After a while, the footsteps stopped, and a low voice sounded out from the courtyard, where the carriages had been waiting.
“Have you counted? Have we gotten them all?”
Another voice sounded from the same location. “Sir! We’ve been unable to locate about ten or so members of the Gia family. Of the elder two generations, only two are missing, which leaves eight in the youngest generation.”
“Hm… with that, the Gia family is no longer a threat… but I’d still prefer to tie up as many loose ends as possible. Search all of the houses and make sure there aren’t any in hiding. Let the client know of the situation, and keep track of people who leave the city for the next week.”
“Yes sir!”
Footsteps spread throughout the estate.
Wesley looked toward his parents. What could they do?
His father’s wound had mostly been patched up, but he was still weakened and would need time and rest to fully recover.
His mother was exhausted, having used a powerful and advanced healing spell. She wouldn’t be able exert herself much further either.
As for Wesley… he was but an elementary mage, who hadn’t even learned how to draw seals. The invaders had even fatally wounded his father, so how could a mere child like Wesley hold them off?
After a few seconds of panic, Wesley’s parents glanced at each other, and nodded. Dean grabbed Wesley and lifted the small boy over his shoulder.
“Let’s sneak over the back wall.”
They quickly sneaked out the back of their house, away from the main courtyard. In seconds, they’d reached the back wall that separated the Gia estate from the rest of the city. Vaulting over it, they sped toward the city walls. Only when they were far away from the city would they finally be safe!
Unfortunately for them, their pursuers were no amateurs. Although they had sent the majority of their forces into the Gia family’s estate, they had delegated a few sentries to patrol the surrounding area.
It was precisely one of these sentries that had spotted Wesley and his parents escape. He briefly closed his eyes and muttered a few lines, then trailed his targets from the shadows.
At the same time, Dean, Patricia, and Wesley had made it to the wall that separated the first ring of Blue Wind City from the second and third rings.
In the process, they passed a tavern by the name of “The Apple Hut.”
Inside the tavern sat what looked to be a middle aged man, drinking his sorrows away with the bottle of wine in his hand. As the trio of Gia family members sped past the tavern, he cracked open an eye, then groaned to himself.
“That idiot…”
A few seconds later, he disappeared and the bottle of wine crashed to the ground.
“Eh?” One of the waiters in the tavern scratched his head. “Wasn’t someone sitting there?”
Just moments later, Wesley and his parents made it to the city wall, but the gate was closed. Dean adjusted his hold on Wesley, then he and Patricia both jumped high into the sky and flew up and over the walls, landing shakily on the other side.
Despite having escaped the city, Dean and Patricia didn’t dare to rest. After all, while it was dangerous to be in the city, to be outside the first could be even more dangerous. Here, the assassins wouldn’t have to worry about any passerby or city guards getting in their way.
Unfortunately, their only hope for survival was to escape far, far away; they couldn’t be sure if the Gia family’s allies within the city had been compromised as well.
Even as Dean and Patricia sped away from Blue Wind City, fifty assassins quickly tailed behind. Soon, the chase entered a forest.
As the trees engulfed the hooded figures, the leader lifted two fingers, then pointed them forward.
Instantly, twenty assassins surged forward from behind him to cut the escaping trio off.
Moments later, the rest of the assassins caught up as Dean, Patricia, and Wesley, unable to break past the initial wall of assassins now surrounding them, could only stand and await their fate.
Dean and Patricia stood back to back, facing away from each other, with Wesley protected between the two. The situation couldn’t look any worse. Their pursuers hadn’t left any openings, as even the sky was covered, with many of the assassins perched up in the trees.
At this crucial moment, Wesley’s mother made her move.
Light!
It was most basic of basic spells. For a mage who specialized in light magic, this spell didn’t require a seal; one could quickly channel and release a surge of mana to cast it. However, at this time, the spell’s effectiveness was invaluable!
Blinded by the sudden flash of light, many of the assassins instinctively covered their eyes and turned away.
However, the assassin leader was less than impressed and quickly began drawing a magic seal.
Seeing this, the subordinates who could still see immediately followed.
Before the trio could escape, the leader had finished drawing his seal, and a metal cage formed around the Gia family. After a few seconds, the Gia family still hadn’t been able to escape the enclosure, and the various assassins had completed their magic seals.
A flurry of spells flew toward the trio as they resigned themselves to their fate. Dean and Patricia were hit almost immediately by several spells, but just before the first spell could reach Wesley…
*Ahem*
In an instant, everything in the area froze in place. The assassins, their spells, Wesley, and even Dean and Patricia’s falling bodies paused in the air.
A middle aged man slowly emerged from the shadows of the forest into the center of the conflict and looked down at Wesley.
“I didn’t really think I’d have to help you so soon. Let’s see…”
He looked around and shrugged, then reached down and grabbed Wesley’s head.
“In return for this help, you will have to make a slight sacrifice.”
With Wesley’s head in his hand, he muttered a few words, then withdrew his hand and walked back into the darkness of the forest.
A few moments later, everything began moving again. However, all of the spells directed toward Wesley and the metal cage surrounding him had disappeared!
Furthermore, the kid who had been too scared to make a sound was suddenly yelling at the top of his lungs. The ground beneath him began to frost over, and the surrounding air turned frigid.
One of the assassins was starting to get cold feet. “Sir, what do we do?”
“Shut it!” The leader was somewhat nervous, as he’d
never witnessed such a situation before.
“…If nothing happens for a few more seconds, just kill the goddamn kid the old fashioned way.”
One...two…
On the third count, Wesley suddenly went silent.
A mere second later, snowflakes began to softly fall on the forest floor. Moments later, it had transformed into a harsh blizzard accompanied by giant stalagmites of ice that sprouted from the forest floor to form a defensive wall around Wesley.
As the temperature in the area continued to drop and entire chunks of ice crashed down from the sky, many of the assailants were forced to retreat to safety. Even so, several of the assassins were impaled these shards of ice.
Even their leader, who was close to breaking through to be a King-class magician, fled from the scene with his tail between his legs.
“Shit!” The assassin leader cursed. “This… power is near the peak of the King-class. We didn’t get paid enough for this. We’re leaving!”
Seconds later, Wesley was the only person left at the scene, with his father’s frozen body on one side and his mother’s on the other.
As the last of the assassins disappeared into the darkness, the blizzard subsided, and the ice in the area slowly began to melt. Wesley, who hadn’t moved ever since he’d stopped shouting, suddenly stirred. He patted the ground around him and slowly stood up.
“Mom?”
“Mom?? Dad??? Where are you?”
But try as he might, he couldn’t find his parents.
The world before him was black.
It was all black!
Chapter 3
Wesley stood up and tried to orientate himself, but try as he might, he still couldn’t see anything.
“Brrrrrrrr.” Wesley’s teeth chattered as he reached around him to feel his surroundings.
“Why is it so cold?”
Suddenly, a scene appeared in his head, disorienting him. He was no longer surrounded by darkness, but was instead standing on a mountain peak, far above the clouds.
The sky stretched on far beyond what he could see, and the landscape below was filled with rivers snaking between the mountain ranges in the distance and luscious green valleys spread beneath him.
Just below the horizon, a few temples were scattered across the land, but other than that, the surrounding area had no signs of human life. It was… peaceful. Wesley took in the view for a few moments, then sighed and raised his hand.
He drew some symbols in the air, then some circles around them. Why did he do that? How could he do that? He wasn’t sure. He felt elated, freed from the confines of his body, as if some other mysterious force was controlling his movement.
Then, he swiped his index finger across the seal he’d just drawn, and calmly uttered a single word.
“Cast.”
Then, after a few seconds, the world in front of his eyes began to blur, and everything went dark again.
The ground below him was icy and slippery again, although the air around him started to heat up, melting the ice into slush.
Slowly, Wesley stumbled his way forward. He didn’t know where he was going, but knew he had to go somewhere. Anywhere.
Wesley clumsily navigated the forest for hours, until his entire body had been covered in scratches from branches, trees, and vines.
Although Wesley walked cautiously, he was unable to notice that time and time again, he had been approached by various dangerous beasts that even proficient magicians would have run from.
However, for whatever reason, none of these creatures attacked him. Instead, they simply watched as he slowly crawled past, then crept away as unnoticed as they had arrived.
After what seemed like an eternity, Wesley, tired and hungry, felt soft, dewy grass beneath his feet, instead of the tree branches and rough dirt that he had become accustomed to.
“Where am I?” Wesley muttered, then started. He hadn’t heard anyone speak during his painful crawl through the woods, and after remaining silent so or long, he’d been frightened by the sound of his own voice.
He shakily straightened up, then fell down to his knees. After a few seconds of not moving, his stomach growled.
“Urgh… I’m so hungry.”
As a spoiled noble who had never needed to even consider how food would appear on his plate, Wesley would have had a hard time scrounging food for himself in the wild, even in the best of circumstances. Anything short of a rabbit running up to him, then gutting, skinning, and cooking itself, and he would have gone hungry even if he still had his sight.
By sheer luck, he had exited the forest near a road, close to a small village, where he was spotted by the local bard.
“Eh? Why’s there a boy crawling out of the forest? Whose stupid, idiotic, daft child is that?” The bard grumbled to himself.
“Aiiish. Fine, I’ll go see whose child it is. I’ll make sure that they’re properly disciplined. Can’t have the kids sneaking in and out of the forest all the time. Someday, they’ll provoke the monsters inside by stealing their precious baby eggs or something.”
He paused.
“Although, if I were to live through that calamity, I guess I’d be able to spin a story out of it. Heh heh.”
He smiled to himself, slightly lost in his thoughts. However, after walking within a few feet of Wesley, he started, then blinked a few times.
He’s hurt! His eyes narrowed as he stepped forward once more to get a better view of the kid.
He raised his hand to address the child and prepared to speak, when he suddenly noticed that the kid wasn’t looking at him and seemed almost dazed. Curious, he reached forward with his right hand and waved it in front of the child’s face.
No response.
He lifted his leg to step closer. As he lowered his leg, he accidentally stepped on a twig and snapped it.
Crack!
Hearing this, Wesley quickly raised his fists, his senses tingling. Was there something close to him?
At the same time, the bard sucked in a quick breath. When Wesley moved, the bard had caught a glance of Wesley eyes. They were wide with fear but strangely, his pupils were missing.
‘It looks like the boy is blind… furthermore, I don’t recognize him. Where is he from?’
The bard’s name was Gust. Those in the village knew him as quite a capable storyteller, even if he had a rather “unique” personality.
Despite his strange disposition, Gust was still a kind person at heart. He sighed to himself and pulled a bag stuffed with rations and story props off of his back.. He grabbed a piece of bread and tapped the child on the head with it.
“Here, kid. I have some bread. You want it?”
“...” Wesley was a bit scared. He’d never accepted food from a stranger before, so he hesitated, unsure of what to do. However, just the thought of having food in front of him made his stomach growl again.
He shyly extended his right hand.
Gust blinked a few times in surprise, then placed the bread gently into the scared little boy’s hand.
“Damn kid, if you want to get far in life, you’re going to have to be more assertive. Next time someone offers you bread, you gotta take it yourself then demand more, yeah?”
Clearly pleased with himself, Gust laughed and shook his head, then observed Wesley more closely.
Are those… blood stains on his clothes?
Had he been attacked in the forest?!
Gust lunged forward, lifting Wesley up and slinging him over his own shoulder. Then, he started running toward the nearby village.
Wesley yelped in surprise, then started punching Gust with his meager strength.
“Alright, lad. No eating for you right now. I'm gonna find someone to check you for cuts and crap, and then I'll bring you to eat some good stuff okay? I promise it'll be much better than my shitty bread.”
He looked down at the kid in his arms for a sign that his words had been acknowledged, but all he got was Wesley staring forward with his mouth open with drool starting to
spill out.
“Hey! Kid! No drooling on me. Shut your damn mouth unless you got something to say. Speaking of, what's your name? I can't just refer to you as the… kid who drools on his savior.”
Wesley stirred. “My name is Wesley. What's yours?”
“Name is Gust.”
“…” Wesley’s mind had been stretched far too much today, rendering him unable to respond with sufficient poise. “…Cool name…”
After a brief but rushed hike through the forest, Gust reached the edge of the village and began charging through the streets with Wesley in his arms, leading some people to look at him in curiosity.
“Hey, look! Where did Gust get a kid from? He wouldn't have kidnapped the kid, right?”
“I mean… it’s Gust. Probably did.”
It didn’t take them long to arrive at a house that was much larger than most others in the village. It was one of the two buildings in the village with two stories, the other being the tavern.
Gust ran up to the door of the building and rushed inside. “Where's the damn witch? This kid’s hurt! And starving too!”
Chapter 4
Wesley wasn't sure of what had happened after he’d passed out, but the next morning he woke up with a dull stinging sensation throughout his body.
And he was hungry. Very, very hungry.
Then, as his mind cleared, he found more to complain about.
“Ahhh, why is this bed so hard? Are they trying to kill me?”
“Why is it so da-”
Then, he remembered what had happened the previous day. His family, his cousins, his parents, they had all…
Only he had made it out alive… and then he had spent all of those grueling hours stumbling through the forest.
To make matters worse, he was now blind! Why? For all he knew, perhaps one of the enemy’s attacks merely blinded him instead of killing him.
But who had brought him here, onto this most uncomfortable bed? Who had bandaged his hands? And most importantly, did anyone have food for him?
He felt his way around the bed, then slid off onto his feet. He extended his hands forward, groping the air in front of him cautiously, hoping he wouldn’t run into anything.
Memory Seal- Volume 1 Page 5
