The First War Mage: Skyline Trials

It didn't take long for me to start sprinting again after defeating the girl who used wind magic. Not because I felt reinvigorated by any means, but more so because I could hear the echoes of other fights near me.

The sound a forest made while being torn asunder was second to nothing else in the world. Trees being uprooted screamed like homes shattered, the pounding of wildlife scattering left behind a silence only desolation could equal.

Yet I was able to gain distance from those sounds—Not entirely because of my speed—But instead because so many of them were distracted with each other. Those who managed to escape the fray followed a similar path to myself, we all avoided everyone around us. It was a silent, mutually beneficial agreement to get a head start.

Soon enough those sounds of chaos were left well and truly behind me. Inside of the silence that the distance brought, I found myself to be well and truly alone. Or, at the very least as alone as I could be with Akemi still by my side.

"I missed this…" I sighed out dreamily while slowing my pace. The wilderness and the tranquility it brought—I had missed it for so long without even realizing it. But now? I felt closer to home, whatever that meant, than I had in years.

—

"I thought you said we'd be on them by nightfall!" Gerald's utterly grating voice ground against O'Neill's ears. The sound was so infuriating that the commander was clearly grinding his teeth together.

"Yes, and we should have been on them by nightfall two weeks ago," O'Neill's words came out like a hiss through his grinding teeth. Every other man in the squad backed away from their commander, their hands raising in defensive motions in case the impetulant man managed to make him snap. "This beast is clever, and it's leading us somewhere. I haven't the faintest clue where, but we've now entered into Ferilian lands."

"Well then—" Gerald's complaints were cut short as Frederik stepped up, speaking in a far more assertive voice.

"Sir, do you think it could be leading us around?" Frederik's genuine concern was the only thing that stopped O'Neill from berating Gerald. It was plain and visibly true to all the others around him, other than Gerald at least.

"I think it's a certainty at this point," O'Neille sighed out with a shake of his head. "I think it's about time we accept that this beast is smart, and we're more than likely running straight into a trap." With a wave of his hand, the group of soldiers once more followed closely behind O'Neill.

"We're just going with that?!" Gerald whined out.

"If you're too damn scared then fuckoff somewhere else." O'Neill barked out angrily—Subsequently receiving a scared whimper from him in return.

—

By the time I stopped moving the sun had long since set into the horizon, casting shadows so intense across the forest that it became all but impossible to keep moving without tripping over innumerable hazards.

Even with the assistance of a continued arc of electricity jumping between my fingers, the forest simply proved too dense. The violet light the electric surges cast out was swallowed by the ravenous shadows, leaving me in the oppressive darkness.

"Guess I forgot how dark the forest can be at night…" My thoughts were accompanied by a low huff. The sound was almost deafening in the absolute silence that the forest brought to bear under the moon's gaze.

It was a painful few minutes of walking in the darkness until I found a slight clearing—One just large enough for me to place a few gathered brambles and dried leaves together. It wasn't hard to start a fire with just the jolt of electricity anymore either, my control over my magic had long since increased from incinerating the leaves and brambles into ashes. No, it was easy to place my hand at the base of the small bonfire, sending a spark into it that ignited the brambles into a low glowing ember.

"That's better." I spoke aloud with a satisfied smile across my face. As I went to sit down next to the warm embrace of the fire Akemi hopped off of my shoulder, finding her own spot to rest next to the warm embrace of the light.

"Wonder how far we got today…" I muttered under my breath while reaching to scratch Akemi between the ears.

"Not very far." I jumped to my feet as an unfamiliar voice answered my question. My eyes flickered around the forest, searching intently for any motion whatsoever. Akemi followed suit, jumping to her feet. Lightning jumped between her trio of tails while a series of high-pitched barks broke from her snarling lips.

"Wh-Who's there?!" I called into the forest while utterly failing to hide the trembling in my voice. I hadn't noticed it at first—I probably hadn't noticed it all day now that I thought about it—But there was an oppressive, almost fiery aura pressing down upon me. It was like the heat of confidence being exuded to a degree so intense it could be felt.

"Mmm, would you believe me if I said I was the boogeyman?" The voice spoke again as a figure stepped into the glow of the firelight. Taut, pinkish skin was the first thing that caught my eyes. His flesh was almost stretched over the bones of his body like an imitation of skin, while his body was covered with an ornate red and black suit.

The man was tall, he was nearly the same height as Levi, easily being near seven feet. The sclera of his eyes were a deep black while the iris reflected a brilliant, golden coloration. His head was decorated by white hair, speckled with hundreds of black spots like burn marks.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

It was only when he parted his lips, showing twin rows of sharpened teeth that realized how much I had been staring.

"M-Maybe?" My voice—No—My entire body was shaking in his presence. It was overwhelming, a heat that wasn't just in the world of mana, but physical too. Smoke rose from his feet, spiraling into the air with a series of twisting whisps.

"Mmm… And here I thought this was more approachable," The strange man raised his arms into a careless shrug as he walked forwards. His golden eyes didn't even so much as look towards me as he sat down in front of the open flame, one hand outstretched to take in the heat.

"Wh-Who are you? Wh-What do you want even?" I internally cringed at my words. I somehow managed to sound even more terrified than I was, and it really didn't help that Akemi hadn't stopped her barking.

"Could you tell the mutt to shut up?" His tone wasn't aggressive, it was almost concerningly lax. Akemi of course didn't listen, letting out another defiant bark alongside an arc of electricity jumping from her tails into the ground.

"Yeah-Yeah, I don't give a damn if you say you're not a mutt, till that ninth tail grows in you're just a mutt." I blinked in confusion as he spoke to Akemi, his words solicited another, even more irritated bark from her.

"You can understand her?—She's saying things?" The question escaped my lips before I could even think about it. It was a mistake I deeply regretted when the man's gaze turned from Akemi towards me, his golden eyes with a judgemental gaze.

"You're telling me you've bonded with a so-called magical beast, and haven't even bonded with her to understand what she's saying?" His words were filled with suspicion, his eyes moving slowly from me to Akemi, then back to me.

"I—"

"Don't ask stupid questions girl," He cut me off before I could even begin to speak. "Magical beasts like your little mutt there can bind themselves to others of compatible elemental alignments. No, I won't tell you how, figure it out yourself. I ain't no damn teacher."

My teeth audibly clicked as I closed my jaw.

"Wh—"

"Didn't I just say don't ask stupid questions?" The man sighed, throwing his arms up in exasperation. "You know who I am, now could you ask something worth answering?"

"Why—" I stopped myself before asking the question, expecting the strange man to cut me off again.

"Go on," He insisted while waving his hands impatiently.

"Whyareyouhere?" I forced the words out so quickly that it sounded closer to gibberish.

The man paused for a moment, raising a hand to his chin as if he was thinking over the question in detail. He sat in place like that for a few moments before raising his shoulders into a shrug.

"Dunno honestly." He answered with a grin finding rest across his lips.

"You… You don't know?" I could do very little to hide the bewildered tone in my voice—This man, whoever he was, gave off an aura so powerful that I had little doubt he was stronger than even Levi and Daedrik.

"Well I do know, but it's more fun to watch you guess," A chuckle broke free from his grinning lips while he gestured to the empty space across the fire from him. "Now stop standing around. If I was gonna kill you I'd have done it by now." Despite his attempt at a reassuring tone I found it hard to relax enough to even move—Let alone sit down.

It took an incredible amount of effort to get my nearly paralyzed legs to move, guiding me slowly to sit on the other side of the fire. Akemi wasted no time to hurriedly move to my side, nuzzling her way under one of my arms.

"That's better," The man spoke with a much more believable smile finding its way to his face. "Now… Why was I here?" His voice grew almost distant and foggy, even as he gazed into the fire.

"That can't be right… No, that is right, maybe?" His words quickly turned into muttering rambles. "Where am I?" Hee finally asked, looking up towards me with a near delusional expression.

"You're in the forests—We're between Avernus and Ferilis?" I offered the answer to him, my tone growing more concerned with each added word.

"Ferilis? Why am I?..." He blinked several more times, looking away from the fire and towards the empty, black sky. "Right, that's what it was. Something smelled strange," His eyes suddenly snapped onto me. The momentary grayish cloud disappeared, if only for a few moments while he spoke with unnerving determination. "Girl, what's your name?"

"K-Kirin?" I offered my name after only a moment's pause.

"Your full name, you damn pig-skinned ape." His words snapped out in an aggressive manner that made me reflexively recoil. Alongside his words the pressure of his mana increased, weighing down upon me like the heat of a furnace.

"Vulender—My family name is Vulender." I wasted no time to give him my family name. Much to my own relief his mana receded, if only mildly.

"Hmm… that's… is it?" He tilted his head to the side, once more losing himself into his thoughts. "Sounds familiar… but not quite—What are the names of your parents, grandparents?" His next question gave me pause for several moments. I thought I knew my parents' names, if only as a result of my recent dreamlike memories, but I had no clue about my grandparents.

"Uhm… My mom was called Hibiscus, I think. My dad was Alexander?" I offered what I knew as truthfully as I could. While at the same time I desperately hoped that it was enough. "I don't know my grandparents names… I don't think I ever met them."

"Hmph… not enough," The man said as he pushed himself to stand, his gaze casting down towards me derisively. "I'd put that fire out if I were you, I could sense others on my way over here." Without saying anything else, he turned about and strode into the darkness.

I was left sitting there, dumbfounded and utterly horrified still by his presence. Even with the coaxing from Akemi pawing at my lap, it took quite some time before I could breathe clearly enough to calm my racing heart.

"Who… Who was that?" I asked no one in particular once more. I halfway expected the man to show back up, scream some obscene answer and leave again—But thankfully, that never came about. "And… what did he mean when he said 'bond' with you?" This time I directed my question to the Kitsune curling up in my lap.

Akemi unsurprisingly answered with her own confused yip. If she did know what he was talking about, then she was just as confused as I was.

With a heavy sigh I stood up, kicking dirt over the open flame before pulling my bedroll free from within my ring. I certainly didn't want to sleep now, but I had little other choice if I wanted any chance at winning this race.

"Maybe Carmine will have some idea of who that was…" I thought hopefully as I gradually drifted off into sleep.