NOVEL NEXT Book 3 chapter 42
Amethyst's body buzzed with static as the world around her came into focus, her eyes locked with the tall elven man before her; his bright blue eyes seemed to fade as she watched his face slowly go slack.
A trickle of blood rolled out the corner of his mouth, catching her eye. She traced it as it fell, rolling down his chin and falling onto the glimmering silver of her own sword that was buried into his neck. She would never get used to how easy it was to kill someone, her sword gliding into the man's exposed throat with such ease that, if not for the height difference, she would have severed his head completely before realizing it.
In slow motion the man's mouth opened as if to speak and she found herself wondering what he could have said at this moment. What excuse could he possibly think would have made this ok? To abduct a woman, her friend, in the middle of the night. What could he have to say for himself?
Does it really matter? The thought crossed her mind like a cold breeze. A few years ago, the cold indifference would likely have bothered her as she watched the man’s mouth flap open wordlessly. But now, she couldn’t find the energy to care. She had made her choice, her declaration to the world itself and this man had gone against that very vow.
She had done everything right, had tried to be nothing but kind and courteous to the elven people from the moment she arrived; all but thrown herself at the elder to try and form an alliance with him and for what?
Her eyes drifted to the unconscious form of her friend slung over the man’s shoulder, the flat of her blade pressed against Himari’s thigh so closely Amethyst found herself suddenly worried she may have cut her. The anger inside her flaring as she turned her glare back to the man who carried her friend, all her thoughts of wonder vanishing as without a sound, she reached out with her free hand, grabbing onto the unconscious woman’s waist, and vanished; the sudden void in his throat filling with blood in the blink of an eye as he took a single staggering step. A heartbeat later the light left the man’s eyes as his mind desperately tried to piece together what had happened.
Unsurprisingly, Hecatolite hadn’t moved when Eryl had tried to stir the twins, having peered out the window after receiving Overseer’s warning she had planned on waking the two and formulating a plan.
What had happened was Hecatolite slapping Amethyst and muttering a single, “I told you so.” Before Amethyst nearly broke out of the room, slamming into the rotting shutters before vanishing into the darkness.
Before the splintered wood could even fall, Amethyst reappeared in the middle of the room, dropping an unconscious Himari into her now vacant spot in the bed and knocking Hecatolite to the floor. Though from where Eryl stood it almost looked like the sleeping woman had rolled out of the way a moment before impact…
With a loud yawn Hecatolite sat up from the floor, looking around the room before pointedly looking at her sister’s hand that was resting on Himari’s back side. Well, her fingers were curled around the hem of Himari’s pants but that didn’t stop Hecatolite from pumping her eyebrows suggestively, “You both have a weird thing for sleeping, don’t you?”
Amethyst’s glare did nothing to dampen her sister's smile, though the surge of power that flooded off the young woman did cause Hecatolite to laugh.
Even Eryl had to step back as she took in the strange sight before her. Amethyst stood over her sister, body glowing as violet veins pulsed across her skin outlining dozens of divine marks that shown through her clothes, power radiating off of her in a steady rhythm as each wave grew in intensity. The fur on the back of Amethyst’s neck stood on end, a deep purple light pulsing down her spine as she stood, her eyes locked on Hecatolite.
The glowing glare of the young Deity would likely have caused even the gods to cower, the time-worn room around them groaning in protest as the dry walls strained against the thick air. A pit formed in Eryl’s stomach as the mana swirled around her, the all too familiar feeling of a divine soul asserting their authority, forcing her to stiffen. Forcing her own mana throughout her body, Eryl was able to counteract the oppressive aura building around Amethyst and yet Hecatolite simply laughed.
Looking up at her sister, Hectolite’s smile grew. Black tentacle-like veins danced across Hecatolite’s porcelain skin, pulsing in time with Amethyst’s waves of power. The bands on her arms flashed a rainbow of colors as Hecatolite’s tail danced behind her in an almost hypnotic rhythm, the movements becoming more erratic with every growing wave of power before with a faint pop both bands went dark. Cracks webbed across the bands as Hecatolite’s own aura joined her sisters, matching the rhythmic waves; though where Amethyst’s flowed like a soft current, starting slow and building, Hecatolite’s power thrummed like a pounding drum, blasting off of her at the peak of each wave.
The combined force of the two threatened to destroy the entire inn as the walls began to bow with each pulse of power, the soft protesting groans of the wood giving way to sharp snaps as Eryl was sure the building was moments away from collapse.
Hecatolite’s crystal red eyes glimmering with a strange mix of pride and joy as she gazed up at her sister, her eyes flashing inky black for the briefest of moments before her teasing smile split into a wide toothy grin, her dagger like teeth glimmering in the light radiating off her sister, her soft laugh giving way to a full blown fit of laughter that caused the small woman’s shoulders to shake.
The laugh, the fit of girlish giggles that hung in the air chilled Eryl’s blood as the cacophony of shouts from outside grew. It wasn’t the cackling of a mad woman, the chortles of insanity, or even Hecatolite’s usual enthusiastic chuckles. If ever asked, Eryl would say the sound was so much worse, the childlike laughter, the giggles of innocence that reverberated in her chest, much like a kid who knows they just told a particularly bad joke Hecatolite laughed; as the world shook around them she laughed in pure joy.
The pit in Eryl’s stomach only grew as the two seemed to have a silent conversation, neither of them blinking as the entire world seemed to slow. The distant shouts giving way to panicked screaming as neither of them moved. Then,what felt like an eternity passed before Hecatolite finally spoke, her distorted voice breaking through the fits of laughter, she asked a single question. “I could step out, if you want to keep petting your priestess that is?”
Hecatolite’s words were filled with mirth yet dripped with a threat that caused Eryl’s knees to go weak before Amethyst, taking a deep breath, replied. “No,” her own voice soft, yet Eryl could hear the faintest hint of something more, a distortion like a faint echo that followed her every word. “You told me this would happen, and I ignored you.” Slowly Amethyst looked down at the unconscious woman between them, “I… I will judge them.”
With blinding speed Hecatolite shot up and slammed a hand down on her sister's shoulder, the force causing several of the floorboards to crack as she nodded, “I’m all for cleaning up after yourself, but not if you’re going to be all gloomy about it.” She spun Amethyst so she was facing the window, and with way more force than necessary, slapped Amethyst on the ass causing the girl to nearly stagger out the window. “Go, have fun. Eat that guy’s hands by the way, that will teach him to keep touching things that don’t belong to him.”
“I’ll leave the hand eating to you, if that’s all right?” Amethyst replied, rubbing her now sore back side, though a faint smile broke through her serious expression.
“Even better!” Hecatolite hauled back, swinging at empty air as Amethyst vanished leaving a stunned Eryl to watch as Hecatolite flailed wildly into the windowsill, slamming into it with a thud that cracked the wood.
“They grow up so fast,” Hecatolite said with a smile that faltered ever so slightly. For a moment, Hecatolite’s grin fell, her face flashing with a melancholy that Eryl could only describe as ancient. An expression Eryl had no words for, a timeless sadness that caused even her own immortal heart throb; one she had seen before, only once during her training in a history lesson.
An image of Darkness standing in the middle of a war torn battlefield flashed in Eryl’s memory, the same pained look in the woman's obsidian eyes as a dying sun bathed the world around her in flames… The loneliness of eternity, that was what it was, the images named, a memorial to Darkness’s first victory over Light.
“Not quite yet though.” Hecatolite’s mouth did not move as the barely audible whisper seemed to form around her. And then, she was smiling again, as if the strange sadness had never existed, she pointed at Eryl.
“Since this is all your fault, you can watch over sleeping beauty here.” Hecatolite’s tail patted Himari’s back as spun to face the window, “worst buddy ever.” She muttered as she summoned Iris and propped it up on the now cracked windowsill.
“Stand your ground!” Astari bellowed as another wave of strange power shook the air. The handful of guards he managed to bring already started to come apart as he tried to rally them.
This was clearly some kind of trick, a ploy to break their ranks; it would surely subside soon, and the group would attempt to run during the chaos. This however was perfect, there is no way that creature will be able to sweep this aside. Even Eryl won’t be able to cover for it after disrupting his town in the middle of the night.
All he needed to do now was wait until whatever they were using to create this mana storm to run out of power and keep his men in line to subdue them once they made a break for it.
His eyes landed on the unmoving form of the fallen man, still trying to piece together what had happened. Somehow, they removed the human woman, killed his guard, and retreated without a sound… It had to be that girl, the sister, he vaguely remembered someone reporting that she was a space mage; but could a simple space mage manage to do all that so quickly?
He knew a few space mages, though they were rare among the elves, and though they are capable of teleporting amazing distances it is normally a very time-consuming mana intensive ordeal. Even short distance movements were supposed to be difficult, weren’t they? Requiring time to plan out one’s movements, and was it even possible to do it consecutively like that while carrying another person?
His thoughts were answered moments later, a wave of power that shook the very ground sending one of his guards sprinting away. Turning to yell at them Astari barely saw the flash of silver in the corner of his eye, one of the men beside him staggering back as the sound of scraping metal rang out followed by the faint muted popping sound he had heard before. And just like that it was gone again.
“What in the holy mothers name was that!” the man who had barely managed to deflect a sword cried out in surprise. The blow caused him to stagger as he hadn’t actually seen it coming, it was more his sword had gotten in the way of the strike than anything.
Another wave of power followed by another dull popping sound and the man beside Astari fell, screaming as his sword arm dropped to the ground but this time Astari had seen it.
The creature's “sister”, dressed in a near see through shirt with a single obsidian black gauntleted hand holding onto a shining silver longsword, glowing in the darkness as purple markings played across her skin. She was there for only a moment, gauntleted hand held out as if completing a strike before, as if she were consumed by the very darkness that surrounded them, she vanished again.
The man's screams split the air as he clutched at the severed stump of his sword arm only for the process to repeat itself. Another wave of mana, a muted pop, she reappeared this time with a matching gauntlet on her other arm, and the screaming man fell silent as a razor clean cut appeared across his throat.
Astari watched in horror as the remaining two men with him succumbed to fear, both turning to run as another wave of mana washed over them, he was sure the fleeing men were about to perish only for the strike to never come.
Another wave and… nothing. For several tense minutes he stood, trying to come up with a plan, anything that could help him.
It was clear now the girl was using some form of stealth ability, hiding her movements in the mana waves but why hadn’t she attacked again? Has she run out of mana? That was a possibility, given what he knew about space mages that was actually the most likely explanation.
So, if she was going to attack again she would need to come at him a different way? But she had been glowing when he saw her, the fact he couldn’t see where she kept retreating too was suddenly a lot more alarming when he thought of it. Could she have a high level stealth skill as well? That would explain why he was unable to identify her and being able to hide her true power.
That was simple enough to deal with though, even in the dead of night taking care of a stealth skill was an easy task for him. Tightening his grip on his staff he began pooling mana into it, only to stop when he had another thought.
What if they had already fled? Leaving the enchanted item that created these mana pulses behind as a distraction?
Turning his eyes to the decrepit old inn, looking up into the dark windows his entire body seized as a feeling of inescapable dread washed over him. Two tiny red orbs met his gaze, peering at him, through him as the abomination waved at him through the open window.
He shook involuntarily as it grinned at him, its toothy grin causing his stomach to twist in knots. The creature’s eyes flicked to his side. The warning was barely enough, the glimmering longsword carving deep into the wooden staff as he moved without thought.
Regaining control of himself, he locked eyes with the girl before him, relieved they had not fled only for his previous fear to return as he looked down into the glowing amethyst eyes of the girl. Her glowing skin now covered in blackened armor leaving only her face bare aside from a strange large-brimmed witches’ hat that flopped to the side. Glowing markings painted her face contrasting the deep purple glow of her eyes as she glanced up at him. Her eyes that had been filled with tentative fear before, were now replaced with a cold indifference that caused a shiver to work its way down his spine.
Then he felt it, that inescapable dread again as a wave of energy blasted around the two accompanied by… cheering?
The girl shook her head slightly, the corners of her mouth twisting into a small smirk before she shifted her weight. Gripping the hilt of her sword with both hands she stepped forward, forcing the silvery blade the rest of the way through the heavy wooden staff passing just centimeters from his nose as he staggered back.
Thankfully the sudden release of the girl’s sword seemed to surprise her just as much, her arms extending way off to the side giving him a small opening. Even with poor footing, and being off balance he was certain the size difference in the two of them would be more than enough as, with a grunt, his fist shot out only for two things to happen at once that both surprised and annoyed him.
The first being the girl vanishing again, the same dull popping sound filling the air as her body was engulfed by darkness. The second much more alarming thing was the sudden dull pain that radiated from his arm as a small glowing ball slammed into his wrist, the impact causing his strike to veer off course as he staggered forward.
Hissing through gritted teeth he righted himself, now sure the girl was using some deception skill. Why else would she bother to deflect a blow that would have missed her?
Looking down at the now broken branch of the Great-tree he wielded, he quickly started to form a counter offensive. Even broken his staff still had more than enough conductivity to work as an effective weapon, channeling power though himself he quickly wove a spell to buy time.
Grinding his teeth he waited, years of training told him this was likely the worst possible situation, but it wasn’t hopeless. Standing in the middle of a large empty area, at night, fighting someone dressed in black armor with a stealth skill left him with only one option.
Once he felt the mana wash over him, he reacted, slamming the end of his half-staff into the dirt he drew on his own magic to cast a simple spell. Pulsing mana though himself he ripped the dew from the surrounding plants, pulling as much water from the damp earth around them as he could and drawing it to himself, forming a paper-thin swirling curtain of needle-like raindrops around himself.
It wasn’t a glorious way to go about it, but to fight an enemy one cannot see the best option is to simply make hitting you as hard as possible. No, the water wouldn’t defend him, but with him pouring mana into it the raindrops would deter anyone from approaching. The razor thin needles of water wouldn’t do a lot of damage, but they would draw blood if one were to carelessly step into the growing vortex. that along with surrounding himself in his own mana formed a image of the world around him in his mind, like his senses had extended beyond his body everything within his area was clear as day to him, his own little aura forming a bubble several feet around him that would be impossible to sneak into.
It was moments later he felt it, the break in his new curtain, slamming into his mana sense before his ears even registered the sound of raindrops slamming into metal followed by a quiet curse in a language he didn’t understand. With the advance warning he had more than enough time to dodge the strike, turning around to see the girl glaring back at him with a fresh new cut adorning her cheek before fading back into the darkness.
Great, now he had time to breathe. That’s all he really needed, time. Time to think, formulate a better plan, a way to deal with this inconvenience.
Dodging around the girl was simple enough, wait for her to break the curtain that acted as his early warning system and simply dodge away from the strike. The little orbs of light that kept whizzing around him were annoying, but they were merely inconvenient as they interrupted him every time he tried to counter the girl with a strike of his own.
Then he saw them, a relieved hope blossoming in his chest as Rilitar along with his entire platoon of soldiers appeared coming up the empty street. Finally, a solution to this madness! With a platoon of trained armored soldiers, he could be rid of this pest, cage that damned creature, and arrest Eryl for disrupting his town. Even if he didn’t agree with Astari, Rilitar would still have a duty to restore the paece and getting rid of this annoying girl and the thing she calls a sister would be the first step, after all they did create a massive uproar in the middle of the night, unleashing whatever it is creating these mana surges and killing two of the towns’ guards. Surely Rilitar, as a soldier of Felnnor, cannot let these actions go unpunished.
As he held his hand up to call to his nephew, he remembered it, an important detail he had ignored up until now. There are two of them…
Atari’s stomach as she appeared, as if descending from the heavens themselves she slammed into the ground in a massive spray of dirt that obscured his sight momentarily and the world froze. Slowly, she stood, her large tail dancing around her as she propped herself heavily on a rifle that was nearly as tall as herself, she casually began… talking…
Astari was forced to look away as he dodged another sword strike.
Hecatolite could barely contain her excitement, her tail rhythmically tapping on the hard wooden floor as she watched Amethyst cross swords with one of the guards.
“I’m a bit surprised he managed to block that,” She muttered as she pointed IRIS at the man only for Amethyst to appear beside him and, in a single swipe of her sword, cleave the man's arm off at the elbow. “Oop, she got him.” The smile on her face grew as she watched Amethyst finish the man off.
The feeling of pride washing off her wavered slightly as she watched two of the men running away, “Well it is her first time after all.” She mused, sighting one of the running men only for Amethyst to appear beside her. Humming to herself she tracked one of the men, labeling him in her mind as fodder number three, she caressed the trigger.
“I guess you want to let them go if they run?” She mused firing at Fodder number three, the bullet carving into the dirt in front of him causing the man to stagger as she laughed.
Amethyst sighed, pulling her chest plate out of her storage. “Do you think they will come back?”
Hecatolite hummed, “I don’t think so. Three and Four are super scared. Number two was really the only one I think would have come back but you got him good.” She turned her eyes back on Astari, “Grabby hands however, he’s not going to run.”
“Number two?” Amethyst asked, pulling her armor on over her thin shirt. “The man I just stabbed?”
“Yea, was a bit violent actually.” Hecatolite hummed as Amethyst prepared. “You, ok?” She asked, glancing at her sister as she pulled her armored greaves on.
Amethyst took a deep breath, “Yea... It’s hard to explain… When I looked at him, something about that man felt… off. Like he was bad…” She struggled to explain the deep feeling of guilt she got from the man, like he had committed some kind of heinous crime and needed to be punished for it.
Hecatolite just nodded, “He felt bad to me too. A lot like Mr. Handsy there. Probably for the best you took care of him.” With a smile Hecatolite inspected her now armored sister, “Are you forgetting something?”
Amethyst cocked an eyebrow as she looked down at herself only for Hecatolite to bonk her on the top of her head. “Ow, ok, I’ll put it on.” She grumbled putting on the large floppy hat before her sister could strike her again.
With a nod Hecatolite pointed back to the bed where Eryl was still carefully feeling a growing lump on the back of Himari’s head, “now go get yourself a good luck pat and get back out there.” She laughed, turning her eyes back out the window only to meet Atari’s gaze.
Inspecting the man Hecatolite could only smile as his soul filled her sight, the large blue elven form with water cascading off it reminding her vaguely of her father’s flaming soul. The man felt too prideful, something about his soul made her stomach turn, she just knew she would never be able to trust this man.
Well, no big deal, Amethyst will take care of him soon. She giggled, waving cheerfully at the man.
Feeling her sister vanish from behind her, apparently satisfied with her assessment of Himari’s condition, Hecatolite couldn’t help but glance beside to the spot she thought Amethyst would appear.
Hecatolite didn’t have a way to track Amethyst while she teleported, but she could feel her sister, maybe it’s because we are so close! That must be it! sisterly love! That was definitely it, not that she had trained with Amethyst and knew how she fought, or that her sister was somewhat predictable in her movements.
Joy overtook her as Amethyst and the elder clashed, the pride swelling in her chest threating to explode out of her. Hecatolite couldn’t hold back her cheer as Amethyst pushed the man back. Her own power flaring as one of her forgotten skills activated only for her to ignore it when the man tried to retaliate. “Oops, that’s my bad.” She spun the cylinder on her rifle, knowing she had only loaded a few bullets she shot the man in the arm.
“Whew” She mock wiped her brow as the mana bullet deflected his arm. Not that she would have cared if she hit him with a bullet, but Amethyst had said she would take care of it and Hecatolite wasn’t about to be accused of stealing her sister's prey!
After that though the fight got… Well boring from Hecatolite’s point of view. The man had erected some kind of barrier that kept Amethyst from appearing right beside him, and he was annoyingly good at dodging. Sure, Hecatolite could have just gone down there and smashed the man’s head, or even shot him with one of the bullets she still had loaded but…
Eryl appeared next to Hecatolite, apparently finally done healing whatever had happened to Himari. Hecatolite grunted glancing back at the sleeping woman, “She will be fine. They cracked her skull, but her own power healed the worst of it by the time Amethyst brought her here. I just healed the lump and… well I tried to ease some of her pain.” Eryl replied watching the fight drag on. “You’re not going to help her?”
“She needs practice,” Hecatolite shrugged, “People keep raising barriers and she needs to learn how to deal with them. But” She glared at Eryl out of the corner of her eye, “How did Handsy down there know how to counter her?”
Eryl shook her head, “Large area spells are a common tactic to deal with people you can’t track. It’s usually used against invisible enemies, but it is also apparently very effective against space mages as well. It is how Valor was able to force Ashmit into a battle after all.”
Hecatolite’s brow furrowed as she hummed thoughtfully,“Then Amethyst really should learn how to deal with it. If even a goat can do it then I am sure a lot of people can do it too.” She fired another pot shot at the man, more out of boredom than any actual hope of hurting him.
Eryl’s ears drooped slightly, “You do know he isn’t… you know what, never mind. Yes, most combat-oriented mages are capable of at least shrouding the immediate area in some form of defensive spell, though they rarely use it given the amount of energy it wastes.”
“Can you help Amethyst learn how to get around it?” Hecatolite asked, watching her sister get stopped again by the vortex of water.
“Honestly Amethyst should be able to deal with this quite easily now,” Eryl cocked an eyebrow, “Astari is a water mage stuck inland right now, he isn’t exactly fighting at full power given your constant interference whenever he tries to gather mana.”
Another shot from IRIS rang out, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I am sure.” Eryl replied bluntly, “But her best option for now would simply be to whittle him down. It will take a while but with Amethyst’s mana pool and her regeneration she can simply whittle him down.”
“Yeah, but it’s so bor…” Hecatolite’s eyes went wide as her attention snapped to the side.
She couldn’t help but scowl as she glared at the gathering platoon of armored men, their filed marching ranks a clear sign of their training as they marched in already formed groups of four. “What’s Clipped ear doing here?” She hissed, the young elven man felt like a good person to her before but if he was here to help Handsy then she will have to deal with him.
Amethyst was powerful, and more than a match for a ragtag group of kidnappers even if they had a single high-powered mage with them. But that wasn’t what was making their way up the street. She wasn’t ready to fight an entire group of trained soldiers, even if none of them were particularly powerful, their numbers and clear training would make up for that.
“Eryl,” Hecatolite leaned forward in the window, “Watch over Himari.”
Eryl cocked an eyebrow, watching as the black veins that webbed across Hecatolite’s legs pulsed with power suddenly growing too thick vines that pulsated with power. “You are really worried about her?” She barely managed to stop herself from adding the word surprisingly to her question.
Hecatolite scoffed, but not in offense, more like amusement. “Well of course, she is my prisoner after all.” With that Hecatolite vanished from the window in a spray of wood, her departure opening a basketball sized hole in the floor.
“I can’t help but feel… I misjudged you.” Eryl said out loud as she gazed into the hole beside her. She had known Hecatolite was unstable, dangerous, and overly protective of those around her. But as she watched her slam into the ground before a group of armored elves, ready to do exactly what she had feared when they arrived; prepared to go to war with the entire nation… Eryl couldn’t help but feel… calm. Like it would work out somehow, she found she didn’t even worry about Hecatolite’s ability to destroy souls as some small part of her realized that she…
Do… Do I actually trust her to not simply destroy them?
Eryl’s thoughts confused her as she watched from the window, Amethyst’s struggle against the elven elder forgotten as Hecatolite propped herself up against her rifle and addressed the elven soldiers. After all, as Eryl had said, Amethyst would exhaust the man's mana pool long before her own; That fight will be over soon. If it were Alaster Lapidary there may have been a chance for a comeback on the elder’s part, but the man simply didn’t have the physical prowess to meet her head on. With his focus on his water curtain he will have a hard time forming another spell while bei1ng attacked and if he lets his defenses falter Amethyst will cut him down before he can bring them back up.
