The First Cultivator

Azura didn't bother with the smuggling tunnel. It would take too much time. Instead, she went toward the nearest wall and ran up it, much like before the great food fight. She would have to trust the rat-kin to protect the other kin. She had to get to Toren and Gerald before it was too late. Once atop the wall, she leaped, clearing a dozen houses before she broke into a run. The mages weren't here, nor were there any kin. She was too late.

"Toren…" Azura sped toward his home. She would check at Gerald's home and back toward Hamal's if he weren't there. She came to a stop just outside his house.

"Toren!" She yelled. She would have broken down the door, but that had already been done.

Inside, it looked like a small hurricane had ravaged the home.

"No…" She was too late. Hamal said they were taking the kin as slaves. That must mean he was with the others. Once they found out where he was, she could save him.

Azura stepped outside, getting ready to race toward Gerald's. She only took a single step. That was when she saw the body. At first, she didn't even recognize it as a body. It looked like a collection of shredded flesh held together by rags. The gruesome sight held her attention as little ticks began sounding alarms in her mind. More connections were made and then rejected because she refused to see it. It wasn't until she noticed the severed ears lying next to the corpse that it started to become real.

"No. No… No…" Azura shook her head, her body trembling. It must be some other half rabbit-kin. Yeah, that must be it. She almost laughed. That sure gave her a fright. It couldn't be Toren. Not her Toren. Not the kin who'd enjoyed coming up with playful pranks with her. Not the Toren who'd had fantasy adventures with her on the rooftops as children. Not the Toren who kissed her. Who… loved her…

No! It was definitely not him.

She would prove it. She would take a closer look, and it wouldn't be him. Just some poor, unfortunate kin. It wouldn't be Toren… She just had to turn the body over. Yep, that's all. Then she would see it wasn't him. Really, this distraction was taking too long. She knew it wasn't him. It couldn't be him. Her hands trembled so violently that she fumbled at the body before rolling it over. Part of her mind had already reached the conclusion she was denying.

She looked down into Toren's half-ruined face.

"AAARHHH!" Azura screamed into the night. She screamed her denial. Her acceptance of reality. Her loss. Over and over, Azura screamed as she cradled the body to her chest. Tears flowed like a river, and all was misery. She kept screaming until the mages came.

Attracted by the noise, a group of five mages came across her. They were a mixed group. Four of them were human, and one was an elf. Two ran up to her. One had blue hair, and the other had greenish-yellow hair.

"SPECTRAL CHAINS!" The blue-haired mage said. Chains shot from his hands, wrapping Azura up. She let it as she lowered Toren's body to the ground before standing. Azura stood unmoving, looking down at the body.

"She's a pretty one," the blue-haired mage said as he drew closer. "I think we should have some fun with this one." The mage chuckled as he gave the chains a pull. Azura didn't move. The mage frowned and tugged again. The others laughed.

"Can't move a girl?" Scoffed a mage further away, standing next to the violet-haired elf.

"Move it girl!" The mage snarled, getting right up to her face. Azura slowly turned her head in spasmodic motions toward the mage. Her eyes were wide. Far too wide for her petite face. Her pupils looked small in those oh-so-wide eyes. A frozen snarl on her face. The mage nearly lost bowel control. Never had he felt such an intense burst of absolute terror. Somehow, he knew that he was about to die. The mage started to step back when Azura flexed, shattering the magical bonds. Her hand shot out at impossible speeds, seizing the mage's jaw. She tore it off with a single, swift motion. The mage would have screamed, except his vocal cords had snapped, and his tongue flapped around like a necktie. Tendrils of shredded flesh hung like a twisted beard from the remains of his face. Her next blow went through his chest, demolishing his heart.

The other mages gaped at the bloody fist that exited the mage's back. The fist retracted, and the body collapsed. Azura regarded the dead mages before her. It wouldn't be enough. It would never be enough. However, it would be a fine start…

***

The elf Trenton had been alive for nearly two hundred years. He was an accomplished melee spell caster recognized many times over. He had achieved the rank of high magus before his fiftieth birthday and grand magus twenty years ago. Among elves, he was considered a prodigy. So, the fact that he was confused about what had just happened said a lot. The kin had broken the spectral chains. That wasn't special. He could have countered with any number of spells. What was shocking was the fact that he didn't feel any magic. Nor did he when she ruthlessly killed the mage. His mind raced as the other mages reacted in predictable ways, launching the spells they were most familiar with. Trenton did none of these things. Instead, he analyzed the situation. The only explanation he could come up with was a 'Superior Strength' spell or better. But such a spell was beyond most human mages, let alone a kin. A kin! There has never been a kin mage that he knew of.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"FIRE LANCE!" The mage closest shouted, hurling the burning missile. The kin slapped the javelin of fire out of her way with contempt. Trenton gapped.

That shouldn't be possible. A barrier or similar spell was required to block such an attack. Or a counterspell. Not just… hitting it. The kin appeared unconcerned as she walked toward them, twitching each step.

Trenton readied himself.

"GREATER STRENGTH."

"GREATER HASTE."

"ORICHALCUM BODY."

Trenton was a close combat mage specialist. She was a fool if this kin thought to fight him hand-to-hand. He was particularly proud of his mastery of Orichalcum Body. That spell alone took him nearly five years to master. Unlike iron skin or steel skin, a body spell affects the exterior and interior. His muscles and bones were all reinforced to be as strong as Orichalcum; well, it was more of a rank of the spell, rather than any relation to the strength of the metal.

Trenton was not alone in his castings as the kin approached slowly. The two human mages near him were spooked and casted barrier spells. The one who used fire lance went on the offensive.

"FIRE SWORD!" A sword of fire appeared in his hand. It was an impressive piece of conjuration. He charged the half cat-kin. He made it four steps and crumpled. What was left of his body floated four feet off the ground in a roughly spherical shape two feet in diameter. It was like some unseen force had grabbed him, applying pressure from all sides, crushing him like a soggy piece of bread. The sphere fell to the ground with a wet thwack. It rolled downhill, leaving a crimson trail in its wake.

Trenton felt real fear for the first time. He sensed no traces of magic. This was dangerous. Trenton reached for the ambient mana, attempting to refill his pool. He recoiled in shock. The mana was thin, almost gone. Of course, the mana here didn't compare to his homeland, but this wasn't right. He tried to grab what he could, but all of it slipped out of his grasp. A greater force was pulling it elsewhere. Trenton swallowed and activated his mana sight. The world's magic showed brightly before him… or would have if there was any significant amount. The only sources of mana were himself and his two human comrades. The dead mages were leaking their mana to the environment. That mana, and all the ambient mana, was swirling around the kin as she kept walking toward them. She was a void whirlpool steadily draining the area of mana. Yet, there was none in the kin. None at all. The mana was just… disappearing. That was impossible. All living things needed mana. Even nulls had mana, although theirs was sluggish and unresponsive. This girl had none. She shouldn't be alive.

"EMPOWERED DEATH LANCE!" The red-haired mage next to him shouted, confident he was safe in his bubble. The other mage closed his eyes, channeling all his mana into a single spell.

The kin moved. Trenton didn't see her move despite his 'Greater Haste' spell being active. Some type of short-range teleport spell? That must be it. She appeared next to the barrier and punched it. A shockwave tore the barrier apart. The mage inside was reduced to a fine bloody mist and splattered pieces of meat.

Trenton leaped at her, pushing his body to its limit. He swung a knife-edge chop at her neck. She caught his wrist lazily as she regarded the mage, still gathering his mana. Trenton readied another chop with his free hand when the cat-kin squeezed.

His 'Orichalcum Body' spell should have protected him from most harm. Indeed, he hadn't been seriously hurt since he had mastered the spell. He could take a blow from a twenty-pound warhammer and not even feel it. He felt this. The flesh and bone of his wrist flowed like clay, squishing between the cat-kin's fingers as his hand fell toward the earth.

"AAAHH!" Trenton screamed as he took several steps back, looking at his stump in disbelief.

"SUN STRIKE!" The other mage shouted. All his mana was expelled in a single blast of light and heat. The beam hit the cat-kin, and Trenton lost sight of her, blinded by the attack's radiance. That was a potent spell. The spell itself wasn't that complex, but the vast amount of mana the mage had put into the spell would have melted through a city wall and combusted anything behind it for some distance. The kin had to be dead.

The mage collapsed to his knees, vomiting as his barrier dissolved. His mana was depleted. He wouldn't be recovering anytime soon due to the lack of ambient mana. The spots faded from Trenton's vision.

His world stopped. The cat-kin was still there. However, the spell appeared to have finally affected her. Her clothes were gone, charred to ash. That was the most significant damage. The girl's skin was red in places. Like she got a moderate sunburn. That was all.

The mage trembled as the cat-kin appeared next to him. The girl's fists were clenched together above her head. The blow fell. The mage was liquefied below her like pancake batter.

"TELEPORT!" Trenton shouted as the cat-kin turned her murderous gaze toward him. Her reaching hand passed through his body as he left the madness behind.

***

Azura snarled. The damn mage got away. She winced at her burns. She hadn't believed they could hurt her. Foolish. She'd just been so angry that she wanted them to suffer. It had overwritten her better judgment. Around a third of her ki had been exhausted, protecting her from that attack. The burns weren't significant. They were already healing, and by the time she returned to the cave, no trace would be left. The mages dealt with, she returned to Toren. Azura closed his one good eye and gave it a small kiss. Her rage was unsated. She wanted more. Killing the mages hadn't been enough. Not nearly enough. However, she pushed that aside for now. She had work to do. She went inside Toren's home. There, she found fresh clothes that fit her well and a large blanket. She took the blanket, wrapped his body, and left Deepmere. She promised that if she found any mages on the way, she would kill them. She would kill them all.