by Pirateaba
“Something’s—”
And then she saw someone standing in the cart’s way. Instantly, Ksmvr let go of Erin and reached for the blades at his side. The Horns of Hammerad leapt off the wagon, the genial atmosphere of moments ago forgotten. There was danger, and here was someone who had not been standing there a moment ago.
“Teleportation? Ceria, how bad—”
“Ceria?”
“Bad! It’s—we have to retreat.”
“I will attack first. Please, withdraw if I am slain.”
“What’s happening? My [Dangersense]—wait, is it coming from him?”
A confused babble of voices broke through the ringing in Erin’s head. She managed to make the sound lessen, and stood up on the cart as the horses neighed, sensing the alarm around them.
A man was standing in the middle of the snowy road. He shouldn’t have been there. The roads were practically deserted in the wake of the Goblin armies roaming about, and what travelers there were didn’t dare move alone unless they were Runners.
And this man—was no runner. Erin’s eyes widened when she saw him. He stood over six feet tall, a giant. He was powerfully built, imposing, with the body that every man probably dreamed of having. He looked like a superhuman athlete, and yet he was old. He had a white beard, white robes that were brilliant, made of some incredibly rich fabric that seemed brighter and cleaner than the snow itself—
And two eyes of mismatched color. Cerulean and heliotrope. Blue and violet, shimmering colors like celestial bodies shining forth from his pupils. Erin hesitated because she thought they looked so familiar…
But he had not been on the road a moment ago. He had appeared and that was terrifying in itself. One second the road was empty, and in the moment between looking elsewhere and turning back, he was there, as if he’d been there all along or he’d been in the peripherals of your vision and you hadn’t noticed until now.
And on the [Dangersense] in Erin’s head blared. It was telling her of danger, immediate and pressing. She stared at the man as he stood silently in front of the wagon. Danger. Danger. Danger. It was a cacophony of ringing alarms.
The message was clear: do not fight this man. Run away. Do not fight.
You will die.
And yet the Horns of Hammerad formed a semicircle around the cart, weapons raised. Yvlon had no armor, Pisces and Ceria had only the magic that shimmered around their palms. Ksmvr held weapons in the three arms she possessed. They were shouting.
At Erin?
“Get through the door, Erin! You too, wagon driver!”
“You there. Identify yourself.”
“Don’t attack! Not yet! Pisces—”
“Through the door, Erin! Now!”
Erin wanted to move, but she wanted to stay as well. It was just an old man. True, one that looked like—well, looked like no actual Human being she’d ever seen but—was he dangerous? How could he be?
The old man was just staring at her. Her, out of all the others. He was looking up at the blue sky, around at the snowy landscape, the empty road, at the wagon, and then at Erin. As if he was taking in the sights. But he seemed to be annoyed by all the shouting. He raised one hand.
“Silence.”
And there was. Because everyone was waiting to see what he was going to do next. Erin saw Termin trying to soothe his horses. She looked at the door, and knew she could seize the handle and be in Octavia’s shop in a moment. But what about her friends? And couldn’t he follow them?
“Greetings, Human.”
Ksmvr spoke in the silence, ignoring the annoyed look the man gave him. He lowered the short sword and daggers in his hands as he nodded to the old man.
“We are Silver-ranked adventurers. The Horns of Hammerad. May I ask why you have blocked our path?”
“I wish to speak with her.”
Erin felt a jolt as his finger pointed straight at her. The reaction of her friends was immediate. They closed ranks in front of the wagon.
“May I ask why?”
“It doesn’t matter, does it?”
Ksmvr seemed to freeze up as the multi-colored stare swung towards him. And then Erin saw another aspect of the old man. He stared down at Ksmvr as if he was, well, a bug. He looked at Ceria, Yvlon, Pisces, all clearly adventurers, with the same casual disdain for their existence. Only Erin he looked at with…
“Move aside, adventurers. Or I will move you.”
That was a threat. Erin felt herself shiver. Ceria’s voice was very serious as she held a hand up.
“We don’t want…to fight. But unless you tell us why you want to speak with Erin—and we’re sure you don’t intend her harm—we can’t let you do anything, Human.”
“I intend to explain nothing to you, half-Elf.”
There was no compromise in his voice. Erin saw Ceria tense.
“You don’t have a choice here. Tell us why you want Erin.”
“Otherwise?”
The question caught everyone off guard. The old man looked at Ceria. She hesitated.
“What—do you mean?”
“Otherwise, what? If I refuse, what will you do? Will you prevent me from speaking with this girl?”
“If necessary. If you refuse to cooperate, we will have no choice but to fight.”
Yvlon called that out. She was holding the sword in her hands without a sign that the metal in her arms was bothering her. And her gaze was intent on the old man’s face. She sensed it too, Erin realized. Whoever this old man was, he wasn’t—normal.
For a moment the old man sighed. He looked impatient, annoyed—but not the least bit intimidated. He cast his gaze towards the sky, thought for a moment, and then…nodded.
“That would be the quickest way. Very well.”
What happened next was too fast for Erin to follow. In the moments afterwards as she ducked and Termin yelled in fright beside her, Erin realized what had happened.
The instant the old man had said that, Ceria had acted first. She’d raised her skeletal hand and fired a spike of ice straight at his midriff. It was a killing attack, but it hadn’t touched him.
Instead, the spear of ice had shattered midflight, filling the air with shards of ice that bounced off the wagon. Erin dared to peek her head up and saw the Horns of Hammerad staring at the old man.
He hadn’t moved from that spot. He’d only raised his hand. Erin saw three fingers pointed at the spot where the [Ice Spike] had been shattered by something.
“[Stone Dart]. A low level spell, but all I am capable of here. However, it seems only ah, Tier 2 spells will be necessary here at any rate.”
That was all he said. Erin felt the Horns of Hammerad pause—and then Ceria raised her hand and attacked and the battle began.
“[Ice Dart]!”
Erin had never seen Ceria fire so many ice darts so quickly. They flew at the old man like a rain of missiles—and he blocked them. His hand moved up, caught and shattered a piece of ice flying towards his face, one towards his chest—
So quick! How was he doing it? Erin saw the old man step backwards casually among the hail of missiles. Then he raised his other hand and spoke.
“[Mud Slap].”
A splash of dark brown liquid spattered across the distance between him and Ceria. Erin saw her friend cry out, but it was just mud. In her eyes. But it made the rain of darts stop and then Erin saw what the old man had been blocking them with.
A rock. Just a flat stone. The old man tossed it on the ground.
“[Call Object]. Next?”
He had only a moment to say that. From his left and right Ksmvr and Yvlon came charging at him, blades swinging. The old man nodded, swept his hands out. A flurry of snow blew at both warriors.
“[Frozen Wind].”
They ran through it, half-blinded, but still ready to strike. But then something happened. Erin saw Yvlon and Ksmvr both go down, crashing to the ground but she didn’t see how. And then Pisces—
He was raising the dead. Termin cried out
and his horses tried to drag the wagon around as eight skeletons burst out of the ground. Pisces grinned as they tore themselves out of the earth—
“[Stone Dart]. Bludgeoning type.”
The old man pointed and eight stones appeared and struck each skeleton. Not in the head or ribs, but at their spines as they attempted to form themselves. The stones shattered bone and broke the delicate assembly process. Each skeleton collapsed onto the ground, the animation spell failing in an instant.
“Pisces! I’ll—”
“[Stone Dart].”
Another bit of stone struck Ceria in the head as she wiped the last of the mud from her eyes. She crumbled, and the old man sighed.
“Do modern mages not know any protective spells? Or are you truly untrained amateurs?”
He turned to point at Yvlon who was getting to her feet—
And leaned backwards as a burning sword nearly ran him through. Pisces drew back the rapier in his hands as magical flames danced along its length. Erin gasped—she hadn’t seen him move, but he’d covered the distance between him and the old man in an instant!
“[Flash Step]. And a variation of [Flame Rapier]. Well, interesting.”
The old man commented as he stepped backwards. Pisces thrust, but the old man raised his hands and ten [Stone Darts] flew from every finger. Erin heard a curse and Pisces seemed to appear several steps away. His robe and the arm beneath it were cut, but he was uninjured.
“Come, then.”
Pisces took a step to run the old man through—
And tripped.
This time Erin saw what had happened. As he moved and his form vanished, a tiny, twisting loop of grass had sprung up in the snow. It snagged his foot as he moved forwards at lightning speed. The grass strands broke, but it sent Pisces crashing and tumbling to the ground.
“[Tripgrass].”
The old man said it belatedly, as if announcing the spell was an afterthought. The old man walked over to Pisces. The young [Necromancer] snarled and raised his hands—
And the old [Mage] kicked him in the head. Erin shouted, but Pisces just fell back unconscious. Not…dead. He couldn’t be.
The old man turned towards Erin. Then he glanced to one side.
“Ah.”
Yvlon and Ksmvr charged towards him, the Antinium throwing one of the daggers in his hands. Again, a precise strike from the [Stone Dart] easily deflected the dagger. But they were closing in. Yvlon raised her sword with a cry, and the man clapped his hands together.
“[Flash].”
This time Erin went blind. She clapped a hand to her eyes and tried to blink to see. She heard shouting, and then a choking sound. When she could see past the spots in her eyes she looked again and saw Yvlon on the ground. The woman was choking. Choking on—snow?
“[Snowball]. Or is it [Create Snow]? Ah, either one works.”
The old man had hit Yvlon in her open mouth with snow. It was filling her throat and she was trying to throw up, get it out. Ksmvr was the only one left on his feet.
“Die.”
He swung his blade towards the old mage’s head. Flames engulfed him.
“[Flame Jet].”
The old man’s voice came from the center of the flames. Ksmvr scythed forwards, but the flames hadn’t just burned him. They’d screened the old man and he walked past Ksmvr on the left, raising his hands again. As the Antinium turned, ten shards of ice pierced his chest. Not deep, but they sent him staggering back.
“Throw down your weapon, insect.”
“Never.”
Ksmvr raised his blade and then a blast of water struck him in the face. It made him overbalance and stumble back again. And a stone was right behind his left foot, hovering there. Ksmvr fell backwards. He tried to roll over—
And couldn’t. Erin saw grass growing all around him, looping around his arms, pulling him to the ground and holding him there. Each blade of grass was weak, but together it enmeshed him so thoroughly he couldn’t move.
The old man walked over to Ksmvr. The Antinium spoke to him, lying flat on his back.
“If you let me live I will not cease until you or I lie dead.”
“Yes, your kind is like that.”
The old man pointed down at Ksmvr. He opened his mouth and then tilted his head sideways. The dagger flashed past his head, missing completely.
Erin gaped. The old man flicked his attention to Ksmvr, and then stepped away from the Antinium. He nodded at the dagger which was now buried in the snow.
“Hm. You have a Skill, don’t you? But perfect aim is meaningless if you allow me time to dodge. Without more Skills you would not be able to strike even a cat with such a throw.”
He sounded so nonchalant. He’d taken apart her friends with basic spells in an instant and—
On the wagon, Erin hesitated. Part of her told her to run, to get away and be safe. Her sensible self rationalized it. He wanted her for some reason. If she ran, the old man might let her friends live.
But not Ksmvr. So Erin clenched her fists. She leapt from the wagon with a yell—
And tripped as something snagged her leg going over the side. Erin had only a moment to yelp before she smacked into the ground hard. She groaned—she hadn’t landed in the snow, only on frozen ground. And falling from a wagon headfirst hurt. If she hadn’t managed to catch the fall on her arms she might have broken her skull, but she felt like her arms were broken instead.
“[Tripgrass]. Again.”
Erin had to get up. She pushed herself up groggily and saw the old man looming over her. She yelped, threw a punch with all her strength.
He caught it. It was a [Minotaur Punch] and he caught it. Erin blinked at the incredible strength in the man’s body. True, he looked like he was strong enough for it, but—
He released her, and Erin stumbled back. She stared at him, fists half-raised. She felt like she had long ago, in front of Gazi. As if anything she did would be useless. The old man stared around, and then at Termin. The wagon driver was sitting white-faced in his driver’s seat.
“Will you try to fight as well?”
Termin stared back, paralyzed by fear. The white-bearded stranger nodded, and turned to Erin. She tensed—
And he held up an iPhone.
“You are Erin Solstice, aren’t you? Explain this to me.”
Erin stopped. All processes went on immediate halt. She lowered her hands. Her mind went blank. She stared at the small, metallic object in the old man’s hands. Its screen was glowing, and it looked so familiar to her. But—
She stared at the old man. At the iPhone.
“That’s an iPhone.”
“Yes. It is. And it seems to be malfunctioning, although I copied it completely.”
“That’s Ryoka’s iPhone.”
The world had stopped making sense. Erin stared at the old man while she waited for someone to wake her up from the dream she was having. He nodded to her, impatient.
“A copy. See—this.”
The old man pointed to the small, glowing screen. Erin peered down at the app his finger was pointing at.
“Oh. Safari. That’s an…that’s the internet app.”
“Is it?”
The old man frowned at Erin. He tapped the app and a screen popped up, glowing, white, before the typical ‘no internet’ page flashed on screen.
“You see? I am missing something for it to work. What connection do I need to obtain?”
“Um.”
Erin stared blankly at the screen, and then at the frowning face in front of her. She felt like her brain was trying to work a million miles a second while crawling along at a snail’s pace. She answered automatically as best she could.
“Well, you need internet. But uh, you don’t have internet here. No one in this…this world does. So…it’s not gonna work.”
“I see. That is inconvenient. Well then, am I to assume these other functions do not work for the same reason?”
The old man clicked a button and the iPhone
went back to the menu screen. Erin peered at the iPhone, nodding her head.
“Youtube? Oh—that’s for watching videos. Yeah, it needs internet too.”
“But there are videos on this device.”
“Oh—those are downloaded. Uh, they’re part of it. Youtube needs…the internet.”
“Ah. And the store? This one?”
“Spotify? Yeah. Same problem.”
“I see. How tedious. Is there any other function I may have missed?”
“What?”
“I have listened to every song and watched every ‘video’ on this device. I have solved the riddle of this particular function—”
“You mean the app? 2048? The game?”
“Ah, that’s what they’re called? App. Hm. And yes, it was a quite entertaining game, or rather, logic puzzle. But is there anything else I can do with this device?”
“Well, you could—hold on.”
Erin raised her hand and stared at it. Then she slapped herself as hard as she could. Her head rang a bit.
“Ow!”
“That looked painful.”
“It was. Sorry. Well…you can take notes with the iPhone. See here?”
“Ah yes. And record what is spoken. A useful function, no doubt.”
“And—oh, Ryoka had Triple Town. See—”
Erin found the iPhone nearly snatched out of her hands. The old man stared down at the screen, eyes bulging.
“How did you do that? I couldn’t fathom how I did it once. But you’ve changed the screen!”
“Hm? You didn’t know? You can change the screen since there are more apps. See? You swipe left. Like this…”
“Swipe left. Fascinating.”
Erin stared at the old man as he clumsily moved his fingers across the screen. She felt compelled to reach for the one straw of rationality she had in this moment.
“I’m surprised…Ryoka didn’t tell you how the iPhone worked. Because this is totally something she gave you, right?”
“Hm? Candy Crush? Intriguing. Oh yes, I received this from her.”
“Ah.”
The young woman nodded a few times. The old man was mumbling to himself, mostly along the lines of ‘fascinating’, or ‘yes, this certainly deserves closer study’. Erin stared at him.
