Kindles of War

by Nicol Terra

  “Does Magic beat Aura?” She asked.

  “Yes. Magic can enchant Objects to block and reflect Aura.” She explained. All of this sounded simple, but the more Illevetar thought about it, the more it sounded complicated.

  “Wait, why not just use all three?” She asked.

  Alexia laughed, wiping the Holocubes presentation away. “You know, I once asked that Question.”

  “Really?” Illevetar inquired.

  “Yeah.” Alexia said bluntly. Illevetar, still young took a few minute pause as she pressed her finger to her lip.

  “Well did you learn all three?” She said.

  She shook her head. “No. I couldnt.”

  Illevetar took a pause. “Why couldn’t you?”

  “To answer your question, it is talent.” Alexia said, swiping a flame with her right hand. Illevetar always flinched as soon as she did it, she always felt her flames were powerful, dangerous and horrific. It gave her a small spark in the deepest pool of her eyes.

  “I am…not talented.” She said.

  Illevetar blinked. “I am sorry?”

  “I couldn't use Crystals, and My Body isn‘t fit for Aura. I am too weak.” She said, looking at her hands for a moment. “Everytime I use Aura for a long period of time, my body starts to break apart.”

  “But…you are a General.” Illevetar said.

  “Yeah, and I can only use Fire.” Alexia said.

  Illevetar's smile faded as she looked down at the Holocube. Talent.

  “How did you do it?” Illevetar asked.”Become a general I mean.”

  Alexia's eyes turned hollow as she bent over Illevetar, waltzing around her and inspecting her.

  “I trained. I trained and trained. I broke my body and even then, I learned three abilities that I trained even more. I challenged my body, and it responded. I can do things with fire; some may consider..unnatural.”

  “What do you mean when you challenge your body?” Illevetar asked. Alexia looked her in the eye, giving her a simple smile.

  “When you yourself are about to break, you get a world of new and strange properties that even Gods can only dream about.” Alexia answered.

  Illevetar got it now. She had a purpose. Her bloodied and splintered hands, her numb feet all communicated the same thing. She wanted to help Rachel, no matter what. I believe in her. She is now a friend. She climbed, dangling Rachel on her side. Her Aura, which formerly started to slip and waiver began to intensify in strength. Her Green Aura stopped leaking as she started to become faster and faster, each whack becoming quicker and quicker as she rushed to the top. She continued to adapt, as her movements became quicker and precise. Her body ached, her muscles started to twinge and cry in pain. Illevetar felt her heartburn, and her eyes burn harsher. Her face was splintered cold, frozen, her eyes no longer open and simply ‘exposed’ to the elements. Aura guided her. Her body guided her up. She continued to the top. She felt a blue Aura flush into her eyes as it guided her. One last whack as she climbed up the peak. The Blue Aura disappeared instantly as Illevetar laid there, panting and exhausted as the snow cushioned her and Rachel’s body. She was greeted by five humans, all of which rushed to their side. Her eyes started to close.

  “Oh no, this one is bad. She is near death.” A man said, picking up Illevetar.

  “This one is wounded, her crystal is reforming, and she needs medical attention. She might die if left untreated.” She said. Illevetar jolted up, grabbing the mans arms with her frozen flesh.

  “No matter what, you can’t let her die. She is my friend. Please save her.” She said. The five men nodded as she collapsed into unconsciousness. She saw a black void of nothing. She looked to see her arms fuzzy, releasing a red aura. She saw a single mirror appear in front of her. She stared into it as she saw her ‘soul.’

  Her soul was a ball of flames and the ocean, wrapped around in a ball and ready to burst at any moment. Then, the blackness finally took her.

  Yukari raised her blade and closed her eyes. She felt a sharp, blue energy field rush around her body. She felt the environment, the empty room. The room had a single wooden floor, and four white light spheres floating above her. She slinked her sword to her side. In this single movement, Yukari felt her body rush with energy. Like a boxer ready to punch with his weight, her energy had weight to it. She felt her hearing and her heart rate slow. She heard nothing, and she felt nothing. She was blind. She then coated her body with a thin, Red light and then coated it blue and then yellow. She saw briefly in the future, hundreds of outlines of her, raising her sword in various angles. She ‘followed’ one outline, slinking her sword up above her head. She then danced in a half circle, raising her blade downward to slice at nothing. She finally finished the loop by raising her sword part way, twisting the blade and slashing diagonally left. This was ingrained in her, repeating this motion billions of times, due to her speed of finishing the sequence. She used to take seconds, now she took close to a tenth of a microsecond. This was the power of Su, slowing time by increasing your space as fast as light.

  Yukari was a master of four of the eight colors of Aura; Blue, White, Black, and Yellow. While she can use Red and Orange, she preferred not to use it unless it was for exploding something or making herself briefly unscarable. She always was told by her colleagues and her superiors those colors of Aura were rare and powerful. She smirked, she felt a shadow envelop her body, looming over her. She saw a black shadow behind her with a black blade. She smirked to herself as she coated her blade with purple light and then Black Aura. She followed the same circle. She raised her sword to her head, then danced around in a half circle to slice, finally lifting her blade back up to slash diagonally and completing the circle. She opened her eyes, and she felt the white lights illuminate the brown wooden floor. She finished the complete cycle in less than a second, only for a loud buzzer above to envelop the room.

  “Come in.” She said.

  She saw the door in the back swing open; she gave a soft smile. It was Ryo. He wore a black suit and a white vest shirt underneath. He had a gun strapped to his right-hand side, his weapon of choice.

  “Aww, my Yuka is training so hard!” He squealed.

  She blushed for a moment as her head dropped to the ground, her face searing warm.

  “S-Stop it. I told you not to call me that!” She mumbled to herself.

  He waltzed over to kiss her on the forehead as he rolled his eyes.

  “You also told me not to wear this suit and to get that new Colt Sunstriker, which I haven’t done.” He raised.

  She slinked her sword to the side, leaning her back to the wall.

  “Sorry, I was just brushing up on my swordplay.” She said.

  “Well, I can see that.” He said, rolling his eyes. “Don't you have time to talk to your boyfriend?” He asked. Yukari rolled her eyes.

  “Yeah, I do. I am just focused.” Yukari said.

  “On?” Ryo asked.

  “My powers. I need to be at my absolute strongest.” She said, grumbling to herself as she stared at her blade

  Ryo blinked and sighed patting her gently on the shoulder.

  “How about you take time off?” Ryo said.

  The hallway to the back of the airship was tediously long. All of the soldiers in the Behemoth were asleep, drinking, talking or eating with one another. The hallway was bare, the training rooms even more so. She grumbled to herself, the idea of soldiers not training for war and wasting time with fraternization disgusted her. Behemoths were large beasts, capable of housing a million soldiers, with each having a personal room not much larger then an apartment. Behemoths usually range to ten miles long and tall, with the large balloon and sails guiding through the sky with a computer. The ideal transportation of Alatorem was train, but when you needed to cross continents, the Airsail was preferred. Ships lost their use after too many of them were sunk by Leviathans.

  Ryo flicked the switch upward, with the ‘door’ disappearing as a red portal popped out in front wher
e the door once was. Yukari walked in, Ryo following shortly after that. His Airship instead had tens of people, walking in and out of their rooms. The mile-long hallway was cluttered with hundreds, maybe thousands of people trying to rush place to place.

  “General.” One of the soldiers smiled, waving his hand.

  “Sir.” He said.

  One more of them looped his hand around Ryo. Before Yukari could respond, the man smiled

  “Boss! Ol Jim got too drunk and passed out in his Holocube!” One of them said.

  Ryo smiled as he let out a small groan and rolled his eyes.

  “Tell Jim to wake up or else I won't get him drinks tomorrow!” He said. Yukari felt her jaw drop, one of the Two Generals in the entire Zynthian Army gets drunk with his soldiers?

  Yukari and Ryo walked down the infinitely long hallway, every hundred feet stopping to say hello to another soldier.

  “Ryo, How ya doing?” One of them asked.

  “Great.” He said. She felt a sense of peculiarity from this environment. The entire Legion on board was smiling. Each of them active, walking freely to the training room where they sparred amongst each other. She felt her head drop for a moment.

  “Your soldiers love you.” She mumbled, entering the captain's room at the end of the hallway. Ryo simply shot her a smile, walking inside with Yukari as he nodded.

  “Of course. I try to talk to them as much as I can.” Ryo said. “Well, I also try to get drunk with them as much as I can.”

  She rolled her eyes. “They aren’t stressed?”

  He shook his head. “Why would they be?”

  “Is this ship normally this busy?” She asked.

  He motioned to answer, only for a quiet beeping in the back of the ship echo in the room. Ryo blitzed past her to the captain’s cabin as Yukari followed closely behind. The captain’s cabin had tens of steam pipes and valves wrap around the top ceiling. Wooden planks and the plastic dash smelt like it was freshly made only weeks ago, which was true. After the War was announced a week ago, new Behemoths and Leviathan Class Airships were built as a result of the new Budget Surplus, which only lead to more Airsails being developed to fill the new ones with. This was likely the newest ship in the fleet, although Yukari rarely fretted on such details. On the dash was a Red Holocube that had a document for Ryo to read. Moments later, his face turned white.

  “Oh goddammit.” He yelped. She turned over to him, a frown emerging.

  “What?” Yukari said.

  “They changed the battle plans for us.” He said.

  She raised a brow. “Oh?”

  He shook his head. “It doesn’t apply for your rank, only Vice-Generals and higher.”

  “That didn’t answer my question.” She retorted.

  “What, do you wanna spy on what I do for my job?” He said.

  “It would be a welcome change of pace.” She swooned to the side.

  He let out a small smirk and then a giggle. Yukari always felt that Ryo had a beautiful smile. He was her opposite, yet his smile and laugh strangely appealed to her.

  “Fine.” He said, swiping the image to the right. Yukari felt her Holosphere beep inside her pocket. She raised it, the image popping up immediately.

  Dear High Ranking Officers

  All Vice-Generals or higher in rank are to be instead deployed in Erus, the city next to Agall.

  All orders of command will be delegated to Legion Commanders and lower rank.

  It is to be expected we attack the city of Agall in five weeks

  Yukari raised a brow. “Five weeks? What kind of attack is this?” She leaned freely on the glass, fumbling her Holosphere around her hand.

  “It is supposed to be a surprise attack.” Ryo fidgeted and shook his head. “I guess I can’t win them all.”

  “Well, you get the jump on Erus. We will probably conquer the walls of Agall without you.” She smirked.

  He let out a devilish grin. “What, you think you can conquer the city without your boy toy with you?”

  “How about this, if I take Agall first before you take Erus.” She waltzed over to him, running her finger up his chest as she gave him a small, gentle glare. “You pay for the next date.”

  He took a step back. He blushed and shook his head. “Come on, don’t hold that over my head.”

  She let out a single breath and tilted her head to the side. “How about if you take it, I pay for the next date.”

  He grumbled to himself, looking away. “Fair.”

  Yukari and Ryo walked back outside to Ryo’s room. His room was near the deck, about three doors down. His place was littered with books and pieces of paper. Books were half open or closed on the floor, the paper laid partly ripped or trampled. Yukari noticed a desk next to his bed, which had bottles of vodka neat in a row. A single shot glass laid on the counter, full, with another one laying on the ground empty.

  “Aww, your drinking problem is cute,” Yukari said dryly.

  “Hey, it is only a problem when I run out!” Ryo retorted.

  “That’s what they all say.” Yukari rolled her eyes.

  “You should drink Yuka, heard you might need to loosen up a bit.” He said.

  She stomped her feet on the ground and she puffed her cheeks. “No I don‘t, and I think I will pass.”

  “Well you said the same thing about Coffee, and who won that one?” Ryo said.

  “Well, I do admit without Coffee, I will likely be asleep cuddling a pillow.” She grumbled. “But that is different! I can still maintain control.”

  “Control of what, your obsessive personality?” Ryo said.

  “Ryo Sin, I will give you five seconds to apologize.” Yukari said, her eyes fuming.

  He rolled his eyes and shot her a smile. “How about I just say nothing and look at you.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Not working this time.”

  Silence. She slowly turned her head to the side to see Ryo looking at her. He had a gentle, warming gaze. His eyes were a solid blue and were wide like a cat. His frown was droopy and depressing, his cheeks puffy. She took a step back.

  “Oh for the love of god, stop looking at me like that!” She blushed.

  He snapped his head back, his eyes back to his happy gaze.

  “I guess I win that one.”Ryo cooed.

  “You win that one.” She smiled.

  “You know, I worked on that face for six months.” He said.

  “Was it the same six months after I said ‘No’ and you ignored me?” She asked.

  “Might have, not sure. I am pretty sure I was drunk.’ He said.

  “Of course you were!” She scoffed.

  “Oh no, I was not drunk on alcohol. I was drunk, on love.” He said, winking at her. Yukari merely rolled her eyes as she felt the blood rush to her face for a moment as Ryo inched closer.

  She felt her cheeks turn puffy and red, her heart racing. “Come on, no need to be sappy!”

  “Six months on my frown and when I asked again.”

  She moved over to grab his head as her blushed loosened.

  “Then, I said yes.” She smiled. Ryo was the one of the few that understood her. Him and Rika, her sister. Which as soon as she said that fact, she shot her gaze downward.

  He smiled. “Of course you did.”

  She felt her body go cold for a second, and she marched her gaze to the ground as she shuffled her feet together.

  “Our class are now in high ranks, many of us are still Legion Commander… but..” She said.

  She felt his hand wrap around hers, a warm and gentle hold.

  “Rika is still missing, your sister.” He said.”She said nothing. She had nothing to say. She felt her heart turn stone cold. She sighed once, releasing her anxieties from her body. She looked over to Ryo, his smile turned into a frown. She wanted to ask him, and she felt the question rise in her throat.

  “Am I good enough to replace her?” She asked herself, but she held it in.

  She smiled and shook her head. “I still hold
hope; she is alive. "Do you think we will find her, on Siphor?”

  He said nothing and kissed her forehead. She saw the sunset in the distance, the light in the room parting into two halves of light and darkness. The yellow and orange tint creating a deep shadow that split the two in half. They wrapped around each other, their lips touching. She held on close to him, kissing him passionately. For a few minutes, they kissed, and there were no worries. There were no anxieties. She heard her Holosphere beep in her pocket. She pulled away, her eyes gazing on the floor below.

  “I have to go.” She said.

  He nodded. “I understand.”

  She walked over to the door and opened it.

  “For the record, I do. I do think we will find Rika. I will search the entire continent to find her.” He said. She nodded, pushing her emotions to the back of her head.

  A smile, and then the door shut behind her. Then a beep from her right pocket as Yukari jumped back up, continuing her walk down the hall. She reached for her holosphere as she saw a message greet her.

  I had a bet on my ship

  That you can’t beat me in a fight.

  I agreed, and now my legion wants to bet that you know they are right.

  How about that duel, three days from now?

  Or are you scared, that your philosophy is full of crap?

  Yuki signed the message. Yukari smirked to herself, instinctively grabbing on to her sword.

  “Yuki, out of everyone in our class, I always felt like the person who needed to be taught about order, it is you. Be careful what you wish for.” She thought as she marched back. “You might just get the worst experience of your life.”

  A felt the frigid wind brush harshly on his head. The mountain range stretched as far as he can see. He saw one of seven mountains, each thousand of meters tall. The ice-capped mountains all seemed to be shrouded by permanent snowfall. Clouds wrapped around them and his vision obstructed by a faint gray cloud. Ahn continued to march forward, trekking past the pain and numbness he felt. The wind blasted through his Aura, as he grew weaker and weaker by the moment. He started to flash Orange Aura regularly, trying to minimize the frostbite on his limbs and fingers. He had no feeling in his hands, lost to the wind and snow.