Rising Kite - A story from the world of HWFWM

Heron’s mind was split; one part falling back on her training in the situation which had been so abruptly changed from their plans, while the other was seething with frustration at the young man who had come storming in during the last possible moment, his mix of mana draining and dispelling effects grating on her nerves as he constantly broke her rhythm.

To make matters worse, he had brought allies. Heron had barely been left with a moment to spare to properly take in the battlefield, but she had seen Spike tangling with some kind of glowing threads while Sclera was exchanging blows with their target’s familiar. The three-headed mutt was bleeding from several injuries, but paid them little heed as the trio of heads gave as good as they got through fang and flame.

Heron tried one of her flickering special attacks, wings appearing once more as a barely visible blur, already closing in on the young adventurer as they appeared. But once more, he seemed to be ready, having saved that damnable dispelling defense once more. Heron was glad that the impulse to scream out her frustrations had been beaten out of her early in her training, as she did not care to debase herself so due to mere emotion.

But said detachment did not entirely shield her heart from the pang of loss as Spike, apparently finding his situation untenable, decided to activate Destruction’s Gift. It was something which Heron was intimately familiar with; the same awakening stone being part of her soul since iron rank. She did not know how her mistress had gotten them, or what she had paid in return, but carrying such a stone and being willing to use its power had been something that had been part of the deal from the beginning. The mistress did not uplift the four of them to become liabilities, and Destruction’s Gift was the perfect solution.

As it was a divine awakening stone, they had all known what would come of it. The god had made sure of that. Heron and her three fellow ‘weapons’, as the mistress called them, all had the same power; a special ability to sacrifice health to further boost the powers of attacks. But this one had no limiter, no protections in place. Instead, it was very possible to use it all at once; to go out in a blaze of glory where the user destroyed themselves to ensure the destruction of their target. Mutual annihilation, if used correctly. And the whispers of Destruction which had been with her ever since absorbing the stone had constantly urged them to use it.

Heron thought she could almost hear the god’s pleased rumbling in the detonation as Spike was no more. “As a proper weapon should.” she intoned silently, even as part of her heart ached.

But then, reality pressed in on her once more as her foe projected another one of those unseen attacks towards her. Heron had started to get a better sense for them, but sometimes the annoying bastard used them from such a distance that noticing the flicker barely mattered. Warding off further attacks with more razor feathers, Heron persevered. The fight was now down to three on each side, and Sclera should be able to persevere against the familiar. In the end, it was only a glorified monster. As if to punctuate her thoughts, the creature gave off a pitiful pained whine as another of Sclera’s piercing finger strikes landed.

However, Heron’s mirth was short lived. Just after delivering the blow, her fellow weapon of the mistress was suddenly caught up in a materializing bubble of water as a small fish suddenly made its presence known, floating out from a bottle on the adventurer’s belt and darting off to the cerberus’ aid. From the bronze-rank aura, and a surprisingly potent one at that, the little carp was more than just a shimmering accessory. And another moment later, a ray of white force was unleashed as yet another familiar made its presence known, this one a floating set of symbols. The beam struck Sclera while she was stuck in the conjured water, eliciting a stream of smaller bubbles as she cried out in pain from the hole punched in her shoulder. The familiar then immediately fired another beam, forcing the captured woman to become a blur, water scattering everywhere as her most potent defensive option was used up. And against mere familiars too.

With the assistance, Heron’s companion found herself on the defensive, and from the frustrated grunts emitted by the spear-wielding Huntress, she was not faring much better. Even as Heron went through more exchanges with the adventurer, she started the process of acceptance; that they would not win as things stood. Not without using their gifts, as they had sworn to do.

That was why Heron felt pride mixed into the emotions welling up as she recognized the glow of Destruction’s gift starting to emit from Sclera. The martial-artist had become more beleaguered with every moment since the pesky fish had arrived, constantly trying to snare her with entangling water while the cerberus tore into her with abandon.

“Take them with you, sister.” Heron thought. “Show them the truth of Destruction.”

But to Heron’s surprise, the young man in front of her did not stand idly by or try to escape. Just after delivering a strike which dispelled one of her boons, he too seemed to notice what was about to happen. With a burst of speed, he suddenly turned and leapt towards Sclera, even as the woman’s glow started to intensify where she stood immobilized, one arm stuck in a different pair of the cerberus’ jaws. Heron even managed to land a glancing strike against the adventurer’s back before he left, but was content to watch the ensuing carnage from afar.

A moment later, the adventurer landed just as Sclera looked to pass into Destruction’s embrace. But instead of striking, he slammed his forearms together, his bracers suddenly emitting a deep resonant sound. Sclera’s form received the brunt of what impact the attack had, armor partially disintegrating beneath the resonating force. And then, just before glorious detonation, a second pulse hit her. The familiar, having suddenly released its vice-like jaws just a moment before, seemed to look quite pleased as Sclera’s body was suddenly and violently thrown away, leaving a glowing trail in the air as she flew across the courtyard, impacting a wall with a crunching noise. Then, she detonated, blowing a hole in the stone wall and scorching both the garden and interior of the nearby house alike.

“Curse you. Destruction will have his due.” Heron hissed, not managing to stop the outburst out of pure frustration. Her fellow weapon, her sister in all but blood, had just been denied her end having a purpose. But this would not stand.

“Pinions of shadow, hold them fast!”

While the spell’s completion felt like it was dragging on longer than it should have, completed it was. Dark feathers rained down all around Heron, covering the courtyard. They did not seek out her opponents, their incorporeal form passing harmlessly through flesh, but instead found their true targets; shadows. Each shadowy feather pierced into her enemies’ shadows, pinning them to the ground as if they were a physical thing. And their owners were equally affected.

Suddenly restrained, all of her foes had to struggle even further to simply move, the young adventurer once more proving a frustrating exception as he seemed to shrug off the restraining effect, turning towards her.

“But you will not be able to intervene this time.” Heron thought. Her spell was not an all-encompassing paralysis by any means, but for Heron’s plan, it would do. “Huntress!” she called, the spear wielder seeming to understand. Once more, Heron felt proud over her fellow weapon’s instant show of dedication, lighting up from within. The young master, their target, stood stuck in front of her, blades whirling to destroy the restraining feathers while the other young man began running towards his immobilized ally.

But Heron would not let him. With a dash and flap of reconjured wings, she leveled a vicious attack against him. While the response was predictable, his staff appearing to once more dispel her wings, Heron thought it a worthwhile sacrifice as it also forced the man to stop in his tracks.

“Now watch Destruction claim him!” Heron called to him, seeing his chagrin as he counterattacked. From their earlier exchanges, the man had not shown any teleportation powers or other readily available means of expedited motion, and Heron felt confident in at least keeping him engaged for the final heartbeats. And the young adventurer did open his mouth to speak. But not in the way of a reply.

“Void!”

Abandoning caution, Heron whipped her head around to look behind her. She had felt the amount of mana leaving him, proving the short incantation to herald a much more powerful spell. Huntress had just started her final step, hand descending towards the stuck young master, as something appeared between them; a dark gate, like a hole in reality with seemingly infinite depths. Huntress’ hand struck it, the woman unable to stop the motion. There was a brief moment of impact, the bronze-ranker's hand being torn asunder before she too detonated. The burst of power, roiling with potential, scorched everything around her except for what was in front of her, where the dark rift instead greedily swallowed it all.

The void seemed infinite, but Destruction’s power would not be denied. Half a heartbeat later, the edges of the dark aperture were becoming unstable, and as the beat in question finished, the gate disappeared. But what remained of the momentous burst of power was little more than a scorching wind, obviously painful and damaging as it washed over the young master, but nowhere near lethal.

That was when Heron accepted that they had lost. Until that dark gate appeared, she had at least held hope of her and her fellow weapons of the mistress succeeding in their task. Maybe even at one of them escaping. But apparently, that was not to be. The young master, ignoring the pain of the blast’s remnants, was soon done with freeing himself from Heron’s shadow feathers. Heron tried getting closer, but the supreme annoyance of an adventurer would not let her, weapons appearing out of nowhere to strike at her with precision and keep her in place. And Heron’s mana was down to dangerously low levels, all her powers used adding to the drain already inflicted upon her by her foe.

“You may think that you have won, but know that our cause is inevitable. The old blood will crumble.” Heron gave herself the words as a bit of a gift, to at least leave a promise behind as she felt her vitality starting to accumulate within herself, a faint glow starting to rise from within. She had little hope that the adventurer would recognize the gravity of her words, but at least they and their methods of extractions would not make her spill her mistress’ secrets. She felt the pain mounting, the growl of Destruction rising to a roar in her ears, rising to something nearing a crescendo.

Then the young man’s palm struck her chest. And the roar in her ears simply winked out.

“Wha-”

As the rising destructive glow of the woman was dispersed, Kite couldn’t help but let out a breath he had forgotten that he was holding. It had worked. His magical perception had only picked out the glow as an essence power, but he had been unsure if his disrupting strike would be able to cancel it. Neither of the earlier ones had presented an opportunity to test it, the first one occurring as the dispelling special attack had just been used, and thus unavailable. He still thanked Fortune that the only partially charged bracers had been enough to knock the martial artist away before detonating. And as for the one coming for Vista, he might have been able to pull it off with a projected attack, but did not dare to chance it, instead going for the reliable dark gate.

But now, it had worked, the winged woman in front of him just standing there looking at him, stupefied. Kite didn’t know why she was so surprised, having seen the special attack before, but did not question it. Instead, he capitalized on her inertia with another attack. The chiming head of his staff impacting her side, further draining her mana, seemed to snap her back to reality. But from the frantic darting of her eyes, not all of her discipline seemed to have returned along with her wits.

Another blast of razor feathers had Kite conjure his personal barrier again, but this time the woman did not follow it up again. Instead, she turned to flee. Wings once more appeared on her back and she attempted to leap from the ground and take flight, only to be caught in a restraining bubble of water. And Kite chose to add yet another layer of hindrances.

“Wall”

Before the last of the would-be assassins could break out of the restraints, the cage of force walls appeared to box her in with Kite as her only companion. And he still did not remain idle. Instead, he once more charged at her, thrusting out the head of his staff, the weapon shimmering with the crackling blue of his empowered mana-draining special attack. The winged woman attempted to interpose her wings, but the globe of water made the motion too slow. Kite’s staff struck her stomach, blue cracks creeping deep into her form even as the impact launched her out of the bubble. She impacted the closest force-wall, and from her jerky movements Kite knew that her mana-reserves were all but empty.

Even as he started to pick out movement in his expanded vision, feeling powerful auras breaking through whatever had been shielding the walled garden and enveloping the space, Kite let his momentum carry him into his foe, pinning her against the wall now eagerly helping with the mana drain.

Her eyes were unfocused, barely holding onto consciousness as she seemed to stare over his shoulder.

“My mistress- will never be- be touched by the likes of- of you. She will already be g-gone. You may as well… as well be chasing the setting sun.” she whispered, slurred words carrying just a hint of defiance. Then, she fell limp. Her words meant little to Kite, only hinting at hidden truths. But they did give him an idea.

Kite released her to slump down to the ground as he let his barrier disperse, turning to face the new arrivals. Members of the Relentless family had swarmed into the garden while still clad in their finery worn to the festivities, already forming a defensive perimeter around Vista as one of them with healing powers had started to send bolts of green light into the young noble.

Others were standing arrayed around Kite, weapons and powers at the ready. At their head stood Vista’s father, the current head of the Relentless family.

“Stand down and submit.” master Relentless commanded tersely, his silver-ranked aura already bearing down on Kite. Had he been alone, Kite would probably have been able to hold out for quite a while, but with the rest of the gathered guards and family joining in, Kite found his aura swiftly suppressed.

“Now, is that how the Relentless family treat those who come to their aid?” another voice called, a slight commotion at the edge of the garden soon leading to a sliver of flames snaking its way to stop beside Kite, quickly coalescing into the form of branch director Dobrazza. The smolder woman was clad in a fine dress of a foreign make, a lot more revealing than Hua-Xi fashion. Kite had to admit that it did an impressive job in highlighting the director’s powerful physique as she now stood beside him, an eyebrow raised as she stared down the tense master of the house. Her aura seemed to have little difficulty pushing back alongside Kite, once more creating equilibrium.

There were other observers as well remaining at a distance, Kite recognizing some of the other silver-rankers present at the festivities. While they were probably not invited to witness these proceedings, there were few present with the power to stop them in any meaningful way without causing quite the commotion.

“Director, you overstep-” master Relentless began, eyes staring death at the smolder, but Dobrazza casually interrupted him.

“I have every right to intercede when one of those in my employ is being mistreated. You know very well what Kite and the others did here. Save your posturing for when it will actually gain you anything but contempt and shame.”

All hints of playfulness were once more gone from Dobrazza’s voice. There was something dangerous hiding in her aura, giving the feeling that she would gladly take on all of those present here today.

Master Relentless stood glaring at her for a few more tense seconds before he made a curt gesture. Those gathered around Kite and the director relaxed slightly, but remained where they stood.

“I know the society’s so-called rules in these matters, although why the city lady accepts them as law is beyond me. For the sake of future cooperation between us, I will expect the wretch-” he said, nodding at the unconscious assassin, “-to be delivered to us once you are done with your questioning.”

“And for the sake of said cooperation, I will expect something; at least a modicum of courtesy before considering such ‘requests’.” Dobrazza shot back, turning to Kite. “Adventurer Kite, please gather the prisoner and follow me.”

“But director, Braid-”

“Is being taken care of. Alive, if barely.” the smolder replied. “We will bring him with us as well.”

Then ignoring the bristling head of the Relentless family, the branch director started making her way towards the same exit as she came from.

Kite did not know what else to do turning to gather the unconscious assassin, but got unexpected help in that regard as a very familiar swarm of rats made their way over to the prone woman. With a concerted effort, the rats started wiggling in beneath the woman, soon carrying her limp form on their collective backs.

“Thank you, Wander,” Kite said, turning to follow the branch director after giving a courteous bow to master Relentless, the man barely sparing him a glance. But on the way out, Kite found Vista’s eyes, gesturing slightly with his head that he wanted a word. The young master managed to extricate himself from his fussing retainers, approaching Kite as he was leaving.

“Kite, I-” he began, but Kite held up a hand to forestall him.

“May we talk in private? Tomorrow, when things have calmed down?” Kite murmured softly. “I learned something from the last one of them. Something that you will need to know.”

Vista regarded him for a short few seconds, then nodded. “Of course. Heavens keep you until then.” Soon after, he was once more surrounded by the family’s staff, and Kite left the garden-turned-battleground to catch up to the director.

“You were lucky I was here, Kite. I do not think that you would have been in any danger, but it definitely spared you some unpleasantness and me some prolonged political posturing. It is always nice to get such things over and done with.” Dobrazza said, looking at him over her shoulder.

“Meh! It was they who were lucky that we were even present, catching wind of this attempt in the nick of time~.” Wander complained.

“Oh, they are indeed. And the adventure society will not let the Relentless family forget it any time soon.” Dobrazza agreed with a chuckle. “I am most pleased with your intervention, but also equally curious how this came to be. But later, once we are somewhere more private.”

“I agree, director. I too have something we need to discuss. Something very important.” Kite said, once more keeping his voice as low as possible.

“Oh? This should be interesting, then.” branch director Dobrazza answered, eyes twinkling. “Most interesting indeed.”

Withering Lilac’s Resurgence, mistress of the Withers family, arrived at the scene in the garden close on the heels of the master of the house along with most other curious silver-rankers. It had been satisfying to feel master Relentless lose control of his aura at the gathering, having received what was no doubt rather dramatic news. Him storming off immediately had only added to her mirth, but the scene at which she arrived quickly slaked any such positive feelings. Seeing the destroyed garden and damaged buildings, it was immediately clear to mistress Withers that her weapons had failed. The obvious signs of detonations in the shape of small craters was an undeniable sign that three of them had to make use of Destruction’s gift, yet the young master still lived. And the struggling shapes within the cage of barriers were most concerning as well..

“Why hasn’t Heron used her gift?” Wither’s thoughts were accompanied by venomous derision. “Don’t you dare prove yourself a liability.”

But it did seem to turn out that way. Mistress Wither could only watch as what looked to be a mana-draining attack brought low her lone surviving weapon, very much alive. It even looked as if she said something before falling unconscious, but not even Wither’s silver-ranked hearing could pick out the words through the surrounding noise and the obscuring barrier.

Mistress Wither payed this little heed at that moment though, as her mind was working overdrive while leaving only part of her to impose a strict control of her aura. Because Heron being captured meant that her gamble had not just failed, but spectacularly so.

“I need to start withdrawing my assets and consolidating what I can. At least the investigation should take time, which should allow for a clean withdrawal. I wouldn’t even be the only one on the board not acting openly. The damage there might be able to be at least mitigated.”

Silver rank had brought a great increase in cognitive speed, plans being made and picking out contingencies to activate with great speed. But it all came to an abrupt halt as Wither’s hearing picked up softly spoken words.

“May we talk in private? Tomorrow, when things have calmed down? I learned something from the last one of them. Something that you will need to know.”

The young adventurer- one of the members of Vista’s entourage, Wither realized- had leaned in and spoken the words to the young master. Wither doubted that few but the silver-rankers would have been able to pick it up, the young man apparently underestimating the hearing of his betters. But the words themselves also had mistress Wither’s memory rewinds, once more seeing Heron’s lips move before she fell unconscious.

Outwardly, mistress Wither remained detached and aloof, watching the aftermath of the fight as something more akin to an idle curiosity. But inwardly, her mental processes had all gotten another focus; to find out what the adventurer knew. And to eliminate him before he could spread it further. They -no, she- had to act fast.

“Apparently, sometimes you have to do things yourself if you want to get something done in this world.” Withering Lilac’s Resurgence thought, looking at the retreating backs of the local branch director and the young man. “Fortunately, I have just the right thing in mind. Expense be damned.” Making the connection to who he was, she had also remembered his name. “Kite Flown in on Winds of Fortune. How sad that you won’t live up to your name for much longer.”

“I still cannot believe you would do such a reckless move.” Phiona chided Kite, irritably pacing back and forth in the common area of the Gellers’ suite. “Do you know what a target this might put on you? The dangers-”

“I am sorry, teacher, but I saw a chance and I took it. Nothing may come of it, but if it does, it might be the adventure society’s best chance at revealing more of those behind the attack. And besides, the branch director approved. She is retrieving the stone as we speak.” Kite protested.

Dusk was gradually transitioning to evening outside their window, and Kite, Braid and Wander’s intervention at the Relentless manor was hours behind them. It had felt rather strange to return to something so normal as his room after suddenly having found himself enveloped in the complications of assassination attempts and politics just earlier that very day.

“Nona, relax. He even made sure that we could join in and watch his back. Maybe even cash in some nice rewards should something actually happen.” Rachel called from where she was still relaxing on one of the couches, her reaction quite different from Phiona’s as Kite had told the Gellers about his impromptu plan.

“Rachel, you should know the dangers as well as I do. The kind of resources even middling factions can bring to bear is often too much for a single individual to handle-”

“But now it isn’t a single individual, Nona. We’ll be here too. And as Kite said, the branch director is already mobilizing. As soon as the delivery comes, he can start traipsing around town, looking all alone and vulnerable. And then we and the teams from the society nab whatever comes out to grab him.”

“If something even comes of it. I’ll-”

Both Gellers looked at Kite who had suddenly frozen, looking a bit disoriented.

“Kite? What is the-”

Rachel had barely uttered the words as the young man’s eyes widened again, looking up at them.

“It’s-”

Then, with a rush of air and a ripple of mana, Kite was just gone. In his place, another silhouette hung suspended in the air for but a heartbeat before crashing down on the floor of the Geller’s room along with a very distressed Glint who suddenly found herself resting on empty air rather than inside her bottle. Both of the women had instantly readied themselves, staff and hydra heads further frightening the very much normal-ranked man who looked up at the fierce women shivering with fear as he clutched a bag of cabbages to his chest as if his life depended on it.

Both Gellers looked at the man in stunned confusion, before turning as one to look out their window, just in time to see a robed and veiled silhouette standing on the roof of another tall building a few city blocks away. The person in question had just reached out and touched a hand to the disoriented and very familiar bronze ranker which suddenly stood next to it, and with another flash and a clap like thunder, the pair was then gone. The only trace of their passing was slightly charred roof tiles and the glittering residue of some kind of object disintegrating, catching the light of the setting sun.

The Geller cousins both turned to run for the door with all the speed they could muster, glimmering carp zooming along in their wake, leaving the very confused man still laying on the floor of their suite. That’s why neither heard his confused murmuring.

“Where am I? What happened? What did she mean with ‘Exchange your fates’? And why did she say it twice?”