by CY Jones
“But, Master...”
“Enough, Archer!” I shout in my head.
“What will it be, pretty?” the spirit speaks, interrupting our inner argument.
“What exactly do you want?” I ask hesitantly.
“I find the spirit world boring. I have been looking after this meadow where my homeland once stood for decades, but I now find myself uncontent. If I give you the answers you seek, I want you to make a promise in blood that you’ll invoke me again with a willing vessel to possess.”
“Are you crazy?” I shout. “I’m not going to bring you someone to possess. What kind of mage do you think I am?” Un-fucking-believable. I should have known its request would be unreasonable. It's not like it’s a nice spirit.
“Don’t act self-righteous with me. I can smell the blood on you. You’re a killer like the rest of your kind. Drenched in the blood of those weaker than you. My request is small compared to what you’ve already done. I only seek to possess for my usage when you have killed and taken many souls from this world. That is a far greater offense.” Its words hit their target, but I will not show it weakness. Yes, I killed, but if I hadn't, I’d be the one dead, so the alternative was well worth it.
“Think what you want about me. I will not give you what you request, so we’re finished here. Be gone, spirit. I beseech you. Return to the world in which you belong. Be gone, spirit, I beseech…”
“Wait!” the spirit bellows in a panicked voice. Almost desperate.
“Well,” I pause. “What is it?”
“What if I were to give you a little taste? You don’t have to bring me a person per say, just something I can use to ground me to the mortal world. The quest you’ve been thrown into is a hard one to travel alone. You’ll need my help if you plan to survive.”
“What’s a taste? What can you tell me?”
“Until you, there has been only one other capable of manipulation. I’ve tasted both your blood and it’s the same. May I dare say of close relation.”
Mother, I immediately conclude. I had already suspected as much. The spirit’s answer just confirmed my suspicions. This power had to come from somewhere and my real mother is the only unknown, but just like it said, this is only a taste to tease me into actually considering its request. I have many more questions. My mother is dead. My father does not have the knowledge to teach me how to control this power and I can no longer hide it now that I’ve tapped into it and released it.
“Why don’t you take time and think about my request?” I hate the smug tone in its voice. It knows it has me intrigued. “I’ll leave now, but beware, I sense other mages in the meadow with the power to wield powerful beings much like the one you have with you.”
Shit. It’s either Zion and his band of murderous friends or word of mouth has spread quickly and the mages from the other academies are here to kill me. ”Archer, can you sense any threats in the area?” I ask.
“I sense three nearby, all with Champions.”
Crap, that’s not what I want to hear right now. With haste, I send the spirit back to the spirit world where it belongs and close out my hexagon, making sure to properly seal it with a white sage and rosemary stick. I may be in a hurry, but I have no intention of being responsible for setting that crazy pants spirit loose.
“Archer, find an advantage point and take out those who attack from long distance, but be careful. Depending on who it is, they may have their own Archer.” I feel his nod of agreement as well as the brush of magic as he rushes past me. At least with him out of sight, I have the advantage of surprise on my side. It doesn’t matter if they know I have an Archer or not, if they can’t pinpoint his exact location.
Going back to the trunk of the tree, I sit down on the grass cross legged and close my eyes, pretending to meditate. In my head, I hum my attack song. For now at least, I’m not out to kill anyone until I get a sure read on the situation. Foolishly, I’m hoping they’re just here to feel me out and won’t attack.
Right now, the meadow is peaceful. Besides the natural sounds of nature, I don’t pick up on anything foreign or out of place. Their Champions may be able to walk on soundless feet, but the mages that control them cannot. A cool breeze blows past, disturbing the leaves in the trees, causing my hair to flutter around me. It’s in that moment when whoever it is after me decides to make their move, and I roll out of the way just in time to avoid being impaled by a deadly, sharp five point star. With a dull thud, it imbeds itself in the tree trunk, right where my head just was. More sing through the air and I dodge, flipping like an acrobat before landing flawlessly on my feet. Something black whooshes past before becoming corpal in front of me and lashes out at me with sure deadly strikes.
I’m not exactly well educated in Champions, but if I had to guess, I’d say this one is an Assassin. He’s dressed head to toe in a black form fitting ninja outfit. His lower face is covered, but his eyes shine like molten silver. This isn’t one of the Champions from the summoning, which means I was right. The others did rat me out. A pang of hurt stabs at my heart, but I don’t have time to dwell on it. If I want to live, I have to fight.
He’s a blur of movements, advanced in the art of martial arts. He attacks with quick sharp strikes. On the offense, I can only block and dodge his blows, twirling and flipping out the way. The smart thing would be to put some distance between us because obviously, he’s stronger in hand-to-hand combat than I. Dropping low, the Assassin sweeps my feet and I fall hard to the ground with a loud oomph. Rolling to the side, I nearly avoid getting stomped on. With a wide arched kick, I get back to my feet, blocking another one of his strikes with my forearm. He’s a lot stronger than me and I hold back a scream from the pain of blocking him. If I live through this, I’ll definitely have bruises if I’m lucky, broken bones if I’m not.
Reaching into my pocket, I pull out another one of my velvet pouches. This one full of black powder. Blowing it in his face, I mutter ambustum and hit the deck before he has a chance to move out of the way. Taking a direct hit he shrieks in pain, clawing at his face as the powder activates and burns away at his flesh and mask, uncovering his face. But it’s a short lived victory when the ground shakes as a barrage of arrows surround my left side mere millimeters from hitting me. Fuck, there’s an Archer after me too. Who knows where in the hell he’s hiding and where the fuck are the mages these Champions belong to? They’re a bunch of cowards if they think they can just hide in the shadows while their Champions do all their dirty work. I swear, if I get through this I’m going to kill those bastards for outing me.
Yanking out two strands of my hair, I use them as deadly whips as I twirl and move around, avoiding my enemy. This is truly a dance to the death, one open to multiple partners. Assassin is good, too good. It also doesn’t help having to side step deadly arrows projected right at me. I should be pissed at my own Champion because it does truly seem like I’m on my own, but if I had to guess, I’d say Archer is on the search for the Archer after me.
When I take a kick to the gut, I cry out as I fly through the air before tumbling to the ground. Digging my fingers in the grass, I use what strength I have left to push, pulling myself to unsteady feet. I hate to admit I’m no match for Assassin. My movements are far too slow compared to his. I’m barely steady when he strikes at me with a dagger aimed at my heart. He’s too fast. I will not dodge in time. Defeated, I close my eyes so that I don’t have to see my death. This will be the blow that finally kills me. I should feel honored that it’s a Champion that kills me in the end and not a mere mage. It’s an honorable death. One my father would be proud of.
Just when I think it’s over, a loud battle cry snaps me out of my reverie and I open my eyes in time to see an arrow knock the dagger out the way, sending it into another direction and Zion’s Champion swoop in between us, blocking me from my attacker and runs her sword straight through Assassin, and he explodes in a flash of sparkling light before disappearing completely. Well, fuck. I did not see that coming.
/> Looking around, all I see is chaos. The other guys are here, all except for Zion, but he must be close by if his Champion is coming to my rescue. They must have showed up while I was busy fighting Assassin, but why? It’s their fault I’m getting attacked in the first place. Are they here now because they feel guilty? Giving me a cheeky grin and wink, Kirito and his humongous snake fight with a mage with bright red hair and glowing green eyes. Milo’s Reaper is nothing but a blur of black smoke, holding onto that wicked scythe as it slices through the air with sure strikes and clashes with what I believe is the enemy’s Lancer. The twins are also fighting, double teaming some chick taller than all the guys with a shaved head and muscled body builder body. Adding to her androgynous look is a wicked jagged scar down the side of her face that makes her look sinister and dangerous. Seriously, what the fuck is going on? This shit is pure madness. I don’t see Milo, but he has to be in the vicinity. Maybe he’s off on a killing spree close by.
Another arrow launches right at me and I flip through the air, avoiding it. One of the twins takes a punch to the gut from the body builder chick and goes flying through the air before crashing into me and we both go tumbling to the hard earth with him landing on top of me.
“Well, damn. I can’t complain about getting knocked to the ground by a girl if you’re my pillow.”
“Maybe more fighting and less flirting,” I retort, pushing him off me, just to grab him and roll us both to avoid getting hit by an arrow.
“A little help here,” his brother calls as we both scramble to our feet.
Running toward them, I take the strand of hair I was able to hold onto and flip over the beast of the girl, wrapping the strand around her neck as I fly past. When I land, I crouch low, pulling on the hair hard as I bend backwards in a complete arch and send her flying. Giving another hard yank, the hair slices through her neck like it’s made of butter and her head falls to the grass and rolls away. Just like with Assassin, Lancer explodes in a bright blinding light and disappears now that his Master is dead. Getting to my feet, I’m breathing hard, my chest heaving with exhaustion.
“Since arrows are no longer raining down on us, I take it your Archer took care of the other one,” Milo drawls.
“Probably. I hope so,” I reply. “Are you okay, Archer?” I check just to make sure.
“Yes, I’ve taken out the other Archer, but I sense a threat nearby I’m investigating.”
“Okay, stay safe,” I murmur, conflicted. Archer said he’s special because his class has independent functions. I don’t need to worry about him like a mama bear if he goes off on his own, but that doesn’t keep me from doing so anyway.
Taking a good look around, I expected to see bodies scattered everywhere. I certainly feel like I just fought an army, but I only see the headless body of the chick laying on the grass with her head not far from her body and Kirito’s snake, who has a suspicious looking lump in its body, the size of a human being.
“Did Razz eat that mage you were fighting?” I ask incredulously.
“What? He was hungry,” he shrugs, flashing me a dazzling smile. I’m starting to think Kirito doesn’t take anything serious.
“What are you guys doing here?” I ask, narrowing my eyes. My face is full of accusations, my body taut and on alert. Just because they helped me doesn’t mean anything.
“Isn’t it obvious? We came to save you,” Milo answers in that bored tone of his that makes me want to wring his neck. He just appeared surrounded by smoke and shadows, and I take a step back, annoyed he got the drop on me. A fucking shadow bender. I should have known.
“How nice of you, especially when it was you guys that put me in danger in the first place,” I spat as sarcastic and angrily as possible. “Do you really think I’m that stupid? I know it was you that ratted me out. I told you I didn’t want anything to do with this war, yet you threw me in it anyways. Why?” I hate the hurt tone you can hear in my voice. The betrayal you can clearly see in my eyes. I hate them for showing me their true colors and proving I was right about them all along.
“You have a Champion. Like it or not, you were always going to be part of this war. Your identity would not have stayed secret for long,” Blondie comments.
“So you thought you’d speed up the progress and then swoop in to save the day like a bunch of false knights. What exactly did you think you’d accomplish? I’m not joining your side. I’d never be able to trust you.”
“I thought this would happen. In fact, I told Zion as much, but I get his point behind going to such extreme matters to bring you in. We needed to see for ourselves if you could handle this war and you’ve proven that you could,” Milo states.
“What the hell!? Putting me in danger. All of this was just a test,” I shout.
“Yes,” Milo answers simply.
“You know what? Fuck you. All of you stay the fuck away from me.” With that, I turn, stomping away. Putting distance between us is the smartest thing I can do right now. If I stay, I’ll attack and that’s a fight I cannot win. Not now anyways.
Chapter 18
Kirito
“I knew this was a bad idea. I fucking knew it,” I growl, watching my fearless kitten stomp away. Most of the time, I’m okay with letting Zion and Milo call the shots, content on being a foot soldier, but not this time. If I’m being honest with myself, I haven’t been content with my role since she got here and I first laid eyes on her in the dorm’s kitchen. I should have objected more in the cave or put my foot down. Angelica is not stupid. I knew she’d see past the sham of this battle and immediately know we were the ones behind it. Now, she’s royally pissed at us and I can’t say I blame her. If the tables were turned, I’d gut the ones that betrayed me or feed them to Razz.
“It had to be done,” Milo retorts.
“No, the fuck it didn’t. We could have gone about it another way and not put her in danger. Now, we have lost her trust. Zion’s stupid plan failed. Trust is everything. There’s no way she’ll work with us now.”
“The girl will come to us. Something is coming for her. Something dark and evil,” Oliver’s creepy Champion murmurs. Her eyes are nothing but white murky orbs. She’s blind as a bat, but through her magic, she sees everything. Even things that have yet to happen. She’s a mystery. A deadly one and despite her handicap, she functions as if she has all five of her senses. I wouldn’t even know she was blind if Oliver didn’t tell me. Just in case someone was watching, we did not want to reveal our full deck to our enemies so she did not fight with us, but was close by, just in case we needed her.
“What’s coming?” Oliver asks.
She doesn’t answer. She just stares with those empty eyes of hers. Either she’s conversing mentally or she doesn’t know. I want to shake the answers out of her. I need to know what’s coming for my girl so I can stop it. She may have lost her trust in me, but I’m not giving up on her. Never.
“Well?” Milo asks in his condescending tone.
“She doesn’t know. Whatever it is it won’t reveal itself now,” Oliver answers.
“At this point, it could be anything. Other Masters, her family, even another mage here at the academy. She’s quickly working her way up the ranks, making tons of enemies along the way. Hell, even her brother could come after her. He’s not exactly what you would call sane and wouldn’t be the last in their family line to go mad with power,” Ryker comments.
“I’m sure you don’t think that’s true. You’ve seen the way he is with her. He’d rather cut his own dick off than hurt her,” Oliver objects.
A rumbling growl starts low in my throat before exiting as a hiss through my lips. I have seen the possessive way Quinn acts towards his sister and I don’t like it. The way he acts isn’t sibling adoration, but a man head over heels in love with a female he considers his. Oliver and Ryker are twins too and are very close. They hate to be separated, but even still they are not obsessive with one another like Quinn is with Angelica. She’s just as close, but still, you can tell t
here’s a line she won’t cross when Quinn would gladly abolish it with a frightful smile on his face.
For mages, it’s not uncommon for siblings to be together. We’re not humans. We don’t have the same issues or hangups. Fucking a family member and bearing a child will not cause the child to be born defective or with some kind of deformity. By not mixing bloodlines and keeping them pure, we strengthen the family’s ties to their line, which keeps their powers strong, which is why more and more mages from older family lines have arranged marriages with siblings. I wonder if that’s the case for them. Were they raised with the knowledge they’d be together one day? I’m doubtful, but with that family, who knows.
“What should we do about him? Has it been confirmed that he has Berserker?” I question. I’m hoping they say he does so I can kill him for thinking he has a claim over what’s mine.
“No, nothing has been found out. Either he does have Berserker and has gone into hiding to avoid us or he’s missing for another reason. Our spies report that not even his sister has been able to locate him,” Ryker answers.
“I don’t like this. When the fuck is our fearless leader supposed to come back? He’s the one who caused all this trouble in the first place,” I growl.
“He told me he’d be back tomorrow when I last spoke with him,” Oliver answers.
“Well, let’s hope he does so he can fix this mess he’s made,” I gripe.
“Come on, man. I know you’re pissed with him, but you know how he feels about his father and what his father is capable of. He put himself in danger to go home without his Champion for her. You’ve more than made your feelings known about Angelica, but I think he cares for her too. If not, he wouldn’t have left his Champion behind to protect her and gone out of his way to find answers for her.”
I look away from Oliver as I think over his words. I hate being lectured, but what if he’s right? What if Zion, the world’s biggest jerk, actually has feelings for my girl? Then what? She may loathe him now, but feelings change. If he finds those answers she wants so badly, what’s stopping her from growing close to him? And the others too? She has affected us all. We’re brothers. Despite the odds and how people told us a truce wouldn’t last between us for long, we are still friends. Together, we formed this unbreakable bond, but can I share her with them or is she the catalyst that finally breaks us apart?
