The World of Strife

We did not have to wait for long before Emrum arrived with the order to continue our march ahead. The shaper's magic must have finished carving out the next section of the trenches. We stuck together like before and pushed ahead in the loose formation that we were able to keep in the narrow, zigzagging tunnels.

I was very impressed by the amount of earth and therefore the amount of magic power the shaper had to utilize for creating such a large scale defensive structure. The fact that he even had the spare time to counter the occasional siege magic launched at the soldiers or the walls beyond us was but the icing on the cake.

Still, I worried that if things continued with their current pace, he will very soon run out of mana, even if he was utilizing external mana storing devices similar to the mana gems I bought.

I gently touched the three gems hidden safely in my coat's inner pocket. My nerves felt soothed somewhat as my shaky fingers felt out their shapes through the thick textile material. It would be a shame to lose them now, wouldn't it?

I took a quick look around, my eyes meeting with the sharp blue ones of Aria. The tanned elf raised a questioning brow, noticing my look. I hesitated for a second, then asked her what I wanted. No matter our recent arguments and hostilities, Aria was still one of my closest allies. She was also someone who proved herself to be trustworthy. Even if that trust came with certain reservations, and a shit ton of nagging, sigh…

It was already a lot more than I could reasonably ask from a person I barely knew for several weeks. She practically sees me is a clueless child so that last part is understandable. All thanks to my apparent lack of common sense…

I stepped closer to the elf and looked up at her with a serious face. — "I need your help. I want to search for the enemy mages, but I need to focus my mind to actually look for them. Could you, I don't know, cover me for a bit? It shouldn't take long…"

Hearing my request, Aria immediately nodded. — "Alright, go ahead."

I did not need further encouragement. I closed my eyes and started channeling my magic through my conduit with the vague hope of reinforcing the effectiveness of my inner eye. The sounds of battle, the flying arrows overhead, the shouting soldiers and the distant explosions and curses, followed by the occasional sound of metal scraping against metal, became duller until it slowly faded into the distance.

The world smoothed into complete darkness, then a handful of lights blinked into existence. A dozen or so white flames flickering in the distance, some even stronger than the others.

When I tried to focus on them with the sole intention of locating them, I felt a sharp pain scraping through my skull. The darkness that served as a template to find the lights lit up with a burst of blinding brightness and I was violently thrown out of my meditation.

"Gah, argh!" — I fell to my knees, breathing heavily as cold sweat run along my skin.

Aria immediately kneeled down beside me, looking over me in a sense of confusion and panic. — "What happened? Are you alright?" — She questioned drawing the attention of a few nearby soldiers who glanced in my direction.

"Is the girl fine? Did something hit her?" — Asked a somewhat familiar voice.

I didn't care about that at the time, since I was struggling with a painful headache and a disturbing sense of dizziness.

Aria, on the other hand, answered the man's inquiry. Explaining in a burst that I cried out in pain before collapsing, after attempting to locate the enemy spell casters. To which the man only grumbled something incoherent before stepping in front of me and, to my absolute horror, grasp my face while lifting my chin to look upward. The gesture in itself wouldn't be much of an issue, while certainly questionable, moving my head with such carelessness while I was suffering the worst migraine of my life was a different matter entirely.

I instinctively attempted to pull away from the man's grasp, but that only caused more pain to jolt over my head, causing me to open my mouth in a silent cry. As if he was waiting for this moment, the man stuck the open end of a small phial into my mouth. Before I knew any better, my mouth was flushed with the disgustingly vile and extremely sour taste of a liquid that resembled the raw mix of various fungi and medical herbs.

My first instinct was to spit it out the way it came in, but since the moment it entered my mouth, I could feel the pain in my head and my general sense of dizziness dissipating.

I slightly parted my eyes and looked up at the dwarf. Oh, I knew that I have heard that voice before. The man standing in front of me was none other than the shaper, whose name I was yet to learn.

I decided to swallow the potion with considerable effort. The strange miracle drug immediately started to dull the horrible pain coming from my head as it hit the pit of my stomach. Still, the sour aftertaste lingered in my mouth like a haunting memory. I bristled, shaking myself in a vain attempt to get that taste out of my head.

"What did you give her, master shaper? She looks like someone who was forced to swallow a living slug." — Chuckled the man from before still wearing that horned helmet, his name was Crom, if I remembered correctly.

"Will she be alright now?" — Aria asked, leaning over me and taking in my pale expression.

"Oh, she should be." — Chuckled the shaper. — "She must have run headfirst into an illusionist barrier, while attempting to locate their magical signals. Common enough mistake for someone not used to battle illusionists. While the experience is quite undesirable, I assure you it's no cause for concern." — The man explained patiently, his face was covered in dust and sweat with equal proportions. His breathing, while carefully measured, showed unmistakable signs of strain.

"Regarding your question, Crom, I am afraid it was nothing so potent. It's merely a herbal mixture… of a simple healing concoction which I bought at the alchemist a while back… Quite cheep but very effective against headaches, and other… more mundane pains, like the one in my knees."

The man twirled the empty phial between his fingers with a tentative look in his eyes. — "The taste, however… suffice it to say that distilling it in tea with a lot of honey makes it somewhat bearable."

As if reminded to a horrible memory, I grumbled under my breath. — "It's horrible!"

My reaction caused a soft chuckle to travel through the group. The shaper nodding to my words, acknowledging them with a snort. — "Quite so…"

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Aria, in the meantime, helped me up to my feet, offering me a shoulder to lean on while the rest of my dizziness went away. She also pointed a sharp question towards the shaper. — "If we can't locate the enemy mages because of this barrier, then how will we find them?"

The man thought about Aria's question while cleaning off some sweat and dirt that accumulated over his forehead. He looked back at Aria, as if taking in her appearance for the first time, which was likely the case noting the circumstances. — "Wait… you are a wood elf. Ah, you must be with the witch girl then… likely a spear dancer, too. Didn't expect the Thorns to already get wind of a white elf survivor, how fascinating…" — Then, as if catching himself in some grave misgivings, the man's eyes widened, then he straightened his posture.

"Oh, but where are my manners? I am yet to introduce myself. I am called Second Shaper Voznin Coinmantle." — He bowed lightly, then continued. — "To answer your question, we can't locate them, not magically, as your young protégé already demonstrated. I am afraid we are bound to use more mundane methods for hunting down our enemy. I guess we are fortunate that they aren't exactly hiding." — The man chuckled with a flicker of sarcasm, as he added teasingly. — "Unless, of course, one of you is a blood mage, since that would make finding them easy… Then again, I would be forced to kill you afterwards."

Hearing those words made me, Aria and the surrounding men stiffen up unnaturally. Seeing our reaction, master Voznin burst out in a loud bark of laughter. — "Ah, don't fret, I was merely teasing you." — With that said, master Voznin turned on his heels and headed back towards the front line.

I glanced up at Aria, who was staring daggers into the man's back. Then, as if sensing my thoughts, she slapped the back of my head.

"OW?" — I exclaimed, my previous headache yet to be completely healed.

"Don't even think about it." — Aria warned me with a serious tone that didn't tolerate any backtalk.

I blinked and said. — "I wasn't…" — But I was cut off by the older elf.

"Don't lie. You are pitifully bad at it." — With that said she walked ahead waving for me to follow her.

I stared after her for a second before begrudgingly deciding to do as she demanded.

~oOo~

Our forces lurched ahead one more time, but this time, our momentum quickly dissipated as our troops came to a sudden halt.

While it was expected that the enemy forces will not continue to watch us gaining on their position forever. Especially not after realizing that their long ranged attacks were ineffective. I mean, of course, they sent various troops to slow us down, but those goblins could hardly count as genuine obstacles for our numbers. They were only meant to slow us down while they decimate our lines with their magic and arrows.

Their plan so far have largely failed. Which was more the reason why my hair stood on end from the sight that played out in front of me. It wasn't something that I will soon forget.

With a fiery explosion followed by a roar of flames, several dwarven man was thrown back or entirely consumed by the raging fireball engulfing the forefront of our troops.

Screams of pain and terror echoed through our lines as everyone tried their best to keep away from the deadly flames.

When the roaring fire finally abated, and the men attempted to gather their wits, nobody could notice the large dashing shadows moving beyond the thick layers of smoke. Not until those black armored shapes crossed the still freshly scorched ground and jumped through the thick veil of smoke.

I caught a glimpse of a tall, and by that I mean huge! At least 2 meters tall, muscled and armored creature swinging a stupidly sized axe that practically split a bewildered dwarf in two with a single hit.

There was a moment of frozen disbelief following the dreadful sight. Which was quickly dissipated by the appearance of several more such creatures rushing out of the smoke.

A desperate scream echoed through the trench as the two armies clashed against each other in the narrow trenches, which this time hardly favored the dwarven soldiers against those terrifying opponents. — "ORCS! Orcs are incoming! Bring spears and crossbows!"

In the midst of panic, I was shoved aside several times by the rushing soldiers until I ended up pressed against the sidewall of the trench along with Camilla. The taller girl, seeing my apparent struggle, decided to come to my aid, bless her heart. She grasped my hand and, using her taller human frame, started to lead me away from the fighting.

It took us quite the effort to make it back to a wider section of the labyrinthine structure, especially against the flow of rushing soldiers. Still, finally getting there was undoubtedly a relief for the both of us.

I breathed heavily, still tightly clutching onto Camilla's sweat covered hand. The human girl wasn't in any better shape than I was, she too was grasping for air, like there was no tomorrow.

I felt a wave of desperation rising in my heart seeing how more and more soldiers rushed past beside us, yet the sounds of battle only grow more viscious. — "I… thank you… you saved me there…"

Camilla nodded to that, turning her face towards me with an intense look. — "Good… now it is time for you to do the same! I believe that if you have some battle changing hidden spell in your pocket, this is the right time to use it!"

I shook my head, my previous sense of desperation only growing further. — "I can't! How am I supposed to cast anything in this situation, I should have never even been on the front lines! I am a mage, for fuck's sake!"

"The situation is not ideal, it's rarely is in an actual battle! Get yourself together and think! Besides, that is true for their mages as well." — Camilla exclaimed. — "There must be something you can use!"

I laughed at that! — "What do you expect me to do, girl!? Am I supposed to unleash a firestorm or collapse down the ceiling on top of their heads!? I can't even see where our forces are, not even speaking about theirs! Such magic would kill everyone indiscriminately! I can't even sense their casters location because of this disgusting illusion barrier." — I was panting by the end of my outburst, my sense of desperation growing with every word I spoke and the closing sounds of sword clashes and battle roars.

Camilla, however, didn't seem to give into despair. The adventurer girl had a thoughtful expression on her face as she calmly analyzed the situation. — "If I understand the issue correctly, then you only need an advantageous position from where you can cast magic over the battlefield, right?"

I hesitated for a second, but then nodded. — "Yes… but using that would also mean exposing myself to the enemy magic and…"

Camilla rolled her eyes. — "Selora, are you a coward?" — I winced hearing the other girl's cold tone and feeling her fiery gaze on my skin. My heart skittered painfully in my chest as potential scenarios based on my answer played out in front of my mental eyes. — "I… n-no…" — I squeezed out the words at last, simultaneously surrendering myself to the task that had to be done. It's not like we could simply runaway from here. Even if we did, where would we go?

No… we needed to make a stand here.

Camilla's features softened somewhat, seeing my terrified expression. — "Good, because I didn't take you for a coward either. Now, come along, I saw a mostly fine earth tower earlier. The shaper made them to block out magic, but this was only partially collapsed. We can use it for our advantage."

I nodded to that and hurried after Camilla.

The sounds of our rushing feet were haunted by the sounds of the ongoing battle around us. The enemy launched a large scale attack, and the resulting chaos was spreading around the whole battlefield.

I squeezed my staff, my knuckles turning white from the pressure as I thought through any potential spell I could use from an elevated position.

"Come on… come on… girl, you got this… you got this! You are a witch now, remember?" — I whispered to myself, while struggling to not lose sight of Camilla's back.

Breathe, gal, don't forget that either… also, a spell! Right, a spell, I need a spell — "Ah! S-sorry!" — I shouted after a grumbling man who I partially collided with.

Where was I, ah yeah, I need a spell, that much should be expected, after all, I am a witch! However, I need one that is not overboard and I am somewhat familiar with… since I absolutely refuse another blood magic incident… What if I launch some taboo spell again, they will surely crucify me this time… I mean my lessons with Aria and Bella were hardly enough to judge every taboo spell just yet? So what does that leave me with?

My eyes lit up with a fiery glow. — "Ah… yes, that one will work." — It's definitely not something forbidden either, otherwise I would have gotten lynched back in the outpost. Fighting against fire with fire was supposed to be a thing back in my world.