Manifest War: The Weapons Within

They arrived just outside of Sprain Town, located at the southern edge of Olun territory. The sun was beginning to rise in the east just as they touched down, causing them to squint at the sudden light.

“Awesome, looks like it worked!” Carmen exclaimed, happy that her plan was off to a good start. The group made their way towards the town, hoping to get some supplies before heading off to the Boundless City.

Once they entered the town, they noticed that a multitude of the buildings were trashed and burned, as though there had been a major battle here. The Boundless had extended their clutches to this town and the wake of destruction was evidence of this.

After shopping at a few open stores, the trio were ready to make their trip. Just as they exited the last shop, someone familiar spotted Carmen from their hotel window.

Caleb Ravenfell had been in Sprain Town the past few days, conducting some business on his father’s behalf. The Inn he was staying at happened to be across the street from the supply store.

He stretched from his night of rest and looked out the window, following his typical morning ritual. As Caleb glanced down, a girl with silver hair caught his eye as she ran down the street with two others.

“Carmen!?!” He thought to himself with great surprise and confusion, shocked to see her all the way out in this region. Upon further inspection, he noticed that the other two individuals were Sarah and Rivell.

“I wonder what they’re doing here? They seem like they’re in a hurry as well.” He quickly closed his window and got dressed, packing a light travel bag in the process. Caleb peeked his head out of his room and looked in both directions, making sure the coast was clear. He then masterfully snuck past the Melspire guards accompanying him on this trip and made his way outside.

Caleb quickly followed after Carmen, trying to see what was going on with them. The group exited Sprain Town and rushed into the woods, following Sarah’s map closely.

“This route should take us straight there. I’d say we should reach it before nightfall.” Sarah said with a determined, yet fearful expression. As they continued to move forward, Rivell couldn’t help but feel uneasy about this situation.

“Guys, don’t you think it’s kind of weird that they would give you a map, detailing the exact location of the Boundless?” He asked, clearly still not wanting to be here.

“I don’t know. How else would I be able to find them?” Sarah replied, shrugging off his concern.

“But..” Rivell was abruptly cut off by Carmen suddenly stopping her sprint. She looked around and glared at the nearby trees, sensing that something was watching them.

“What’s wrong?” Sarah asked, not sure why Carmen is on high alert.

“You can stop hiding! I know you’re following us!” She yelled out, looking toward a row of bushes a few meters behind them. Rivell and Sarah stepped aside and prepared for an attack, ready to summon their Manifests. The bushes rustled and out walked Caleb Ravenfell, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

“Caleb!? Why are you here??” Carmen exclaimed, surprised to see him again. Caleb approached while sighing, annoyed he was noticed so easily.

“I saw you guys rushing out of Sprain Town. It seemed like there was some kind of problem, so I followed you all to see where you were going.” He replied, showing concern for their situation.

Sarah and Carmen explained their situation to him and after careful thought, Caleb agreed to help them out. They continued their mad dash through the woods, trying to pick up the pace.

After a few hours, the clouds above began to turn incredibly dark and the wind fiercely howled as it gusted violently.

“Looks like it’s about to storm. We should find some shelter.” Caleb said as he felt a few droplets of water sprinkle onto his face. Everyone quickly agreed except for Sarah.

“No, let’s keep going. We don’t have time to waste.” Sarah continued to sprint forward, showing no regard at all for anyone else. Everyone reluctantly advanced, despite the growing turmoil in the sky. Minutes later, a torrential downpour of heavy rain cascaded onto the group, soaking them from head to toe.

“SARAH!! We’re stopping!!” Carmen yelled out, holding her bag over her head to block the rain.

“It’s just rain, we can keep-.” Sarah paused just as a massive strike of lightning blasted a nearby tree, producing the loudest boom of thunder they’ve ever heard.

“Shelter, NOW!” Caleb shouted as he pointed toward a small cave just off in the distance. Sarah annoyingly looked at the cave and then at the sky, taking note of the streaks of light rippling through the clouds. “Tsk.”

Everyone piled into the damp cave, trying to get out of the violent thunderstorm happening outside. Sarah threw her bag down before taking a seat, clearly upset by something. Carmen glanced over to see Sarah pouting and staring deeply at the ground, tormented by her thoughts.

“Look Sarah, I know you’re worried about your family, but we can’t get to them in this kind of weather. Just relax for a bit, we’ll get going again as soon as the storm passes. Okay?” Carmen softly said, trying to calm her down.

“Sure... Whatever.” Sarah replied, crossing her arms and shifting her body away from the group.

Carmen, Caleb, and Rivell went to the opposite side of the cave to give Sarah a bit more space, hoping that would help lift her mood. As they took a seat, Caleb posed a question for Carmen.

“I think it’s commendable that you all want to help Sarah out, but.. Do your sisters know you’re out here doing this? I find it hard to believe they would just let you out of their sight so easily.” He asked with a slightly concerned expression. Carmen nervously laughed at his comment and shook her head.

“Yeaaaah, about that… We kind of just left without mentioning anything. There’s no way they would agree to let us go, so we had to do this on our own. If things go according to plan, we should be back just as they start to realize we’re gone. Don’t worry.” She hoped this would reassure the Crown Prince, but he wasn’t fully convinced. Caleb shook his head in disbelief at what he heard, shocked that Carmen would do something so careless.

“Oh.. I see.. Well, in any case, we’ve got to be careful going forward. I’ve heard it’s gotten really bad out here lately.” They agreed with Caleb’s statement and talked about various stories they’ve heard regarding the Boundless situation.

“Melspire has gotten rather lucky. We’ve only had a handful of Boundless attacks, but even those didn’t result in many casualties.” Caleb said with a slight hint of surprise.

“Really?? Volaire has been getting hit all over. We’ve pretty much taken the brunt of their assault and Azhane can’t seem to figure out why. The atmosphere around the castle is getting really tense. It’s suffocating.” Carmen replied, recalling all the horror stories she had heard surrounding the Boundless attacks.

“Yeah, my Father finds it rather strange as well. He wants to provide assistance, but for some reason he seems hesitant to do so. Said his involvement could have repercussions, whatever that means. It’s rare for my Father to be so vague about political matters.” Caleb sighed as he looked out towards the cave entrance, staring at the heavy rainfall.

“Scary times we live in, that’s for sure.” Rivell chimed in with a sigh of his own, feeling more fearful of the future as time passed by.

The trio continued to chat for a bit longer and when they realized that the storm wasn't passing, they decided to get some rest. Caleb stretched as he leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes while crossing his arms. However, just as he got comfortable, he felt something touch his arm.

He opened his eyes and noticed Carmen napping on his shoulder, her silver hair now draping down his arm. He lightly chuckled and smiled, finding this moment to be rather adorable. Caleb leaned his head over top of hers and he quickly fell asleep, getting some rest on this stormy afternoon.

A couple hours went by and the two were awoken by a brash yet familiar voice.

“Hey lovebirds, let’s get going already.” Carmen and Caleb opened their eyes to see the sun bleeding into the cave, lighting up Sarah’s face. They glanced over and noticed that their bodies were extremely close, causing them to blush from embarrassment.

Caleb and Carmen quickly separated with awkward swiftness, unable to look each other in the eyes. Rivell softly laughed as Sarah rolled her eyes at the sight. They gathered their things and left the cave, ready to continue this journey. The group silently walked for a while longer, hoping to arrive at their destination soon.

“According to this, their location should be about ten more miles south from here. Shouldn’t be much longer.” Sarah said, breaking the silence as she pointed down at her map. After her statement, everyone was startled by an unfamiliar and grizzly voice coming from behind them.

“Just where do you think you kids are going?” The group quickly turned around to see a tall man with pale skin wearing a silver helmet. On his back was a large, intricately shaped battle ax garnished with black runic symbols. Standing next to the mysterious man was a young girl with purple hair and empty, sad looking eyes, gripping a skull amulet necklace.

“Who are you!?” Sarah shouted, immediately taking out her Manifest to defend herself. The man chuckled as he glared at his measly opponents, not feeling impressed by them at all.

“I am Trion, one of the four Boundless Generals serving under Lord Briddle. You children are trespassing on our lands.” He replied while crossing his arms at their unwelcome appearance. Upon hearing who the man was, Carmen, Sarah, and Caleb all stepped forward, fully preparing for an altercation to take place.

“Hmm, no need to show such aggressive faces. Simply surrender yourselves to me and this will be over quickly. Does that sound good?” Trion quipped, not wanting to waste his time with a fight against younglings.

Carmen immediately summoned Graviton’s Eclipse as she glared back at him, showing no signs of backing down. Trion looked deeply at her rapier and sensed the energy coming from it, intrigued by what he felt.

“This girl has an affinity to Dark? I wonder if she is the one Moku mentioned in his report a while back. Hmmmm, maybe I should capture her.” He pondered the thought deeply as he carefully reached for the handle of his ax.

As soon as he fully wielded the weapon, he quickly swung his Manifest with no warning. The ax fired off a slash of dark energy towards the group, barreling through the air with great speed. Everyone leapt out of the way to dodge the assault and watch as the black, pulsing slash connected with the trees behind them. The trees curiously withered and shriveled up from the attack, as though their very life force was siphoned away.

Caleb summoned his Glacial Rend after he helped Carmen to her feet and the duo charged towards Trion, weapons fully aimed at him. Sarah took a position at the rear to provide them with cover fire, shooting a barrage of wind arrows at every opening she saw. The group's formation was near perfect and it showed just how much improvement they had made over the past few months.

Caleb and Carmen picked up right where they left off during their fight at the Summit Festival, completely in sync with each other's attacks. When Caleb struck from the right, Carmen immediately followed up on the left, comboing their rapier slashes in rapid succession.

Trion could barely keep up with the coordinated assault and to his surprise, these teenagers had him completely on the ropes. He couldn’t get an opening to counterattack and had to play fully defensive, blocking their volley of rapier pierces with his Manifest.

Caleb leapt back and pointed his Manifest at Trion, firing off a large, sharp icicle towards him. It connected and broke Trion’s defenses, sending his arms upward and leaving his abdomen exposed briefly. Carmen quickly followed up with a forward thrust of her rapier, sending out a massive burst of gravitational energy. Trion was blasted backwards into the trees, barely missing the young girl that accompanied him.

“Just what is happening?? Why are they so coordinated and strong?” Trion thought to himself as he pushed a collapsed tree off of him. He had grossly underestimated the abilities of these kids and Trion now realized he needed to get serious. As he slowly stood up from the foliage and debris, Trion turned his attention towards the young girl before yelling out.

“Hey Priscilla, a little help here would be nice!! Useless child!” Priscilla flinched and backed away slightly, looking scared and unsure of what to do. Annoyed by her lack of action, he walked over to her in a rage. Trion raised his fist and punched her in the stomach, completely knocking the air out of her. Priscilla gasped as spit flew out of her mouth and she fell to her knees, clearly in pain.

“How many times must we remind you little human, you are our tool and you need to do your job. Don’t make me report this to Lord Briddle!!” Trion exclaimed, getting incredibly irritated by her lack of assistance in this fight.

“Hey! Why did you do that?? Stay away from her!” Carmen barked back, surprised someone of his size would hit a kid like that. Priscilla’s eyes went wide with fear as she slowly stood up, not wanting her hesitation to escalate things further. She took hold of the amulet around her neck and forced her Core Energy into it, causing the air to feel incredibly heavy and still.

Suddenly, Priscilla’s shadow increased in size and out of it came a large number of shadowy looking soldiers, their total being seventy. The group was stunned by all of the soldiers that had now surrounded them, surprised this young girl could pull off such a feat.

“What the hell?! Look at them all!” Sarah exclaimed with slight fear in her voice. “We’ll just have to fight through them! Get behind me!” Carmen replied, preparing to activate her Manifest’s special ability. Just as she raised Graviton’s Eclipse into the air, the group heard Trion’s voice from behind the crowd of soldiers.

“I don’t think so, little miss.” He said with a deep and guttural tone.

The whole area became shrouded in a thick fog, engulfing the soldiers and the group. Carmen tried to activate her gravity field, but to her surprise, nothing happened. She and the rest of the team felt their energy leaving them, as though something was siphoning it out. Shivers began to go down their spines while they awaited the outcome of this terrifying fog.