The World of Strife

After I introduced Alita's head to a heavy dose of healing energies, the girl's cheerful attitude immediately evaporated. It's place taken by a horrified expression that quickly morphed into embarrassment and shame. Which, in normal circumstances, would have worried me, but I suspected that the reason for her mood change wasn't in parallel to the state of her injuries.

The young woman's face snapped towards me. I could see the panic in her eyes, but before she could begin her predictively long line of apologies, I decided to cut her off. — "It's fine! There was no harm done, besides you saved me from that crazy bitch, which I am yet to thank you properly, so thank you!"

She opened then closed her mouth. A variety of expressions crossing over her features in quick succession. — "Oh, Selora, I am so sorry you had to endure that! If only I could have helped sooner, I think, I-I was unconscious for a time."

She scrunched up her nose, trying to remember something. — "Ah! Yes, I managed to cut down that elf with the crossbow. Right after he hit Camilla, then I was overrun by a bunch of goblins appearing out of nowhere… One of them must have clobbered me in the head with something… everything turned dark afterwards." — She chuckled with a darkening expression.

"Taken out by a bunch of goblins, can you believe it? The bastards likely thought me dead already… It turns out they didn't hit hard enough! Not that I am complaining…" — She shivered.

My eyes snapped open at the mention of Camilla's name, being so engaged in trying to stay alive, then concentrating on healing Alita's horrendous injuries, I completely forgot about my other companion. I shook my head. I need to focus on the present before worrying about Camilla. I placed my palm overflowing with the rejuvenating energies against Alita's ribs, who immediately sighed in relief. — "Uh-huh… that feels kind of nice?" — Alita commented on the side. — "I think I can breathe normally again, thank you so much!"

I nodded, based on the amount of magic power that particular injury drained from my reserves it wouldn't be farfetched to say she had several broken ribs. Not even mentioning the occasional wheezing sound the girl made when speaking. I wasn't a doctor as I have already mentioned, but that sound made the hairs stand straight on the back of my neck. The amount of pain she must have endured from that injury alone would likely made stronger man delirious.

I shook my head. I needed to stay focused, and perhaps look for Camilla. After all, Alita will be fine now, but who knows what happened to the other girl?

"Now that you mention it, where is Camilla?" — I asked while making a quick check on the surroundings. I didn't see any other survivor, but fortunately I didn't spot Camilla among the fallen, either.

Alita slapped her forehead in startling abruptness, making me flinch and turn towards her, leveling the other girl with an unamused glare.

"I remember now!" — She exclaimed. — "She said that she will bring us help, before she run away, which was fortunate since she likely draw away all the goblins. They must have chased after her, instead of continuing to clobber me to death." — She giggled, making me uncertain if my spell had its expected effect on brain injuries as it did with more mundane ones. — "It turns out that I am quite lucky after all." — Alita laughed, while I subtly nodded to her explanation, silently deciding to check on her head one more time after finishing up with her ribcage.

In the meantime, I directed a mournful glance towards the four dead dwarfs laying among the motionless shapes of goblins and dark elves.

One thing was certain: we were indeed lucky.

I turned my attention back to the sole surviving dwarf at hand. Asking her in a soft voice. — "Alita, how are your ribs? Is there still pain, or that lingering sense of suffocation you mentioned before?"

She thought for a while, then hesitantly she started to move her upper body, bending it this way, then that, with growing confidence. — "I-I can't believe it, the pain is gone! Thank you, sister!"

She grabbed my free arm and pulled me in for a tight hug. Her unexpected gesture took me by surprise, but it was not an unwelcomed one. I found that my body easily gave in to it, savoring every bit of the momentary respite.

No matter, if the hug in itself wasn't really comfortable thanks to Alita's battered plate armor, but the gesture itself held a lot of meaning, which I deeply appreciated.

After we parted our brief embrace, my previous worry still lingered in my thoughts. I narrowed my eyes at Alita, asking one more time. — "Are you sure? You just called me your sister… how is your head injury, then? Do you need me to check it once aga-.." — She laughed out-loud, waving at me dismissively, which made me stop.

"I know what I called you, and you can expect more to come! We are sisters now, as far as I am concerned, battle bound sisters!" — She smiled at me with such radiance that I couldn't bring myself to not smile back, even if it was a thin and tired smile. I have been healing Alita for quite some time now. Healing magic drained magic power like no other, and I blasted a large amount on Alita's skull even before I started to repair her ribs.

If I kept this up for another two minutes, I will effectively burn through all of my mana for a second time today. I was feeling tense and woozy from the strain that blowing through my resources twice placed on my body, both mentally and physically.

I guess, even if you have a hundred mana stones, you can't cast magic endlessly. The sheer strain it placed on you would not allow such. It was like eating more food to gain energy. It obviously helped, but no matter how much you eat or drink, you wouldn't get your energy back without giving it rest and time for the nutrients to get absorbed into your body.

"I am starting to worry about Camilla." — I admitted. — "What if those goblins caught up to her?"

Alita laughed at that, waving off my worries. — "Unlikely, if her initial speed was anything to go by, those goblins had no chance of ever catching up to her. It's a lot more likely that she is about to get back to us with that promised help."

I nodded absentmindedly, staring towards the other side of the trench. — "I hope that you are right about that." — I turned back to Alita and asked. — "Do you think you can manage if we encounter more of those goblins?"

Alita moved her neck, shoulders and legs, probing them once again. — "Huh? Healing magic is really something else…" — She mumbled, a disbelieving expression plastered across her face.

"I think I can take that as a yes." — I said.

To which she smiled toothily. — "You can, I am as good as new…" — She said trying to jump up, which move quickly turned into a wince. Then she added hesitantly. — "Almost…"

"Don't strain yourself before you need to." — I scolded her lightly, but overall acknowledged her statement. Feeling relieved by those words, I quickly cut off the mana supply to the spell. In the meantime, I briefly hovered my hand over my left breast, using the last of the spell to soothe the worst of the swelling I suffered.

A relieved sigh parted my lips in the process.

This battle, just like the previous ones, were not going my way. I was not cut out for this being a woman on the battlefield stuff. Then again, if I wasn't a woman, I would be dead at least two times by now. My eyes briefly hovered over one of the dead dwarfs, his chest pierced by a dark elf's sword while his own axe was deeply embedded into his killer's neck. Two rigid corpses, laying dead beside each other. Locked in a deadly embrace for eternity with their hated foe. I shivered from the sight, perhaps I shouldn't complain about my fate. While being raped was not necessarily better than death in my current book. Being almost raped was still a lot better than dying.

Hurried sounds of incoming footsteps reached our ears. Both me and Alita tensed, turning towards the source of the noise. Thanks to the intense sounds of fighting in the distance, my ears couldn't seem to notice those steps sooner, or perhaps I was just too lost in my thoughts.

Either way, that didn't change our situation. Grasping my staff, which I previously collected along with that empty green mana gem. Both me and Alita stood, ready for another battle to the death. This time around, I was determined to use everything I have for survival, even if it meant to rely on blood magic. It was still better to be captured by dwarfs than to be captured by dark elves. I suspected that the dwarven people would at least offer me a clean death.

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As we waited for the appearance of more enemies around the corner, I reached into my pocket, draining half of the magic power from another one of my mana stones. Just when I finished channeling the fresh mana into my core, the ragged and bloody form of Aria appeared at the bend in the trench lines.

Our gazes met, haunted silver eyes locking with sharp blue ones. I immediately lowered my staff. — "Oh, it's Aria… We are over here!" — I waved towards the forest elf, my ears bobbing with happiness.

A happiness that quickly dissipated as Aria continued to march up to me with the same momentum. I had a bad feeling about this…

The sharp sound of a slap echoed through the cave, my vision blurred for a second, followed by a spike of pain, which turned into a burning sensation covering my left cheek. My face whipped to the side from the force, but before I could hesitantly chance a glance forward with a dazed expression. My body was engulfed in a suffocating hug.

"What were you thinking?" — Aria whispered into my ears, her voice filled with emotions, accusation, scolding, worry, anger, helplessness and fear mixed into a deadly concoction, still I was engulfed in her warm, almost possessive embrace.

My face pressed against the woman's leather cuirass. I crunched up my nose as the smell of sweat, blood, and dirt filled my nostrils. The sting of the slap pulsing through my reddening face as a reminder of my own stupidity and carelessness.

I sniffed, any semblance of anger after being slapped like that evaporating under the pressure of those raw, almost motherly emotions the older elf was radiating towards me. I felt completely defeated locked between her arms. — "Ugh… I guess I deserved that." — I admitted to Ariawyn.

She separated our brief but intense hug, still holding me at an arm's length as if afraid that I will run off the moment she lets go of me. — "Is that some measure of self awareness I see there? I swear if we weren't in the middle of a battlefield, I would slap you until you start crying! Why did I and Emrum repeatedly tell you not to leave the middle of the formation!? That Camilla girl too, I am going to slap her a few more times after this! She better not complain!"

I perked up at that. — "Did Camilla find you? Is she alright?" — I asked, worried about my friend's wellbeing. My previous sense of guilt caused by forgetting about her still lingered on my mind.

Aria, noticing my genuine worry, softened her features to a degree. — "She is fine, as fine as someone with a crossbow bolt stuck through her arm can be. I run into her not far from our soldiers. I was already looking for you girls using the necklace's magic. She said you needed help, I rushed here having to cut through a group of goblins to get to you. They were likely tracking Camilla, but lost sight of her. One thing I can admit, that girl can run, which is hardly a surprise after seeing her keep up with our pace back when we had to escape from that dark elf camp. Quite a notable achievement for a human, not that I would ever tell her." — She said with a ghost of a smile that almost immediately evaporated.

"That aside, I will give you your punishment when we get back to the city." — She said without humour.

My hands instinctively went to cover my cheek as I gawked at the woman. — "Are you serious? I am not a child, you can't treat me like that!" — The absolute incredulity on my face must have been very amusing to the older elf. — "Look, I am sorry that I disobeyed your orders, but I needed a place from where I could use my magic to make an actual difference!"

"You are not a child, you say, while being this incredibly irresponsible? I am sorry, girl, but if you act like a child, I will treat you like one! Maybe that will get through that thick skull of yours." — Aria shouted, some of those intense emotions she was struggling to suppress coming to the surface at last.

She stared me down, then flicked her hands to the side, waving towards the dead bodies around us. She took a few deep breaths, attempting to calm herself. — "Is this the place from where you can make a difference?" — She grabbed the bridge of her nose for a few seconds then continued. — "Look, Selora, nobody expects you to win this battle on your own. While you are undoubtedly a talented witch, you are also incredibly young and foolish."

I flinched, hearing her criticising tone, then slumped my head, having no argument against it.

Why did I have to go alone with Camilla? We should have asked for a couple of soldiers to follow us. We shouldn't have acted alone. Is this some sort of main character syndrome I am still suffering from? Am I believing that I am some sort of chosen one, all because of my unreliable connection to Axis, a mad god, that wouldn't even intervene on my behalf when I was about to get fucked? I keep thinking of this whole thing like some sort of messed up video game getting myself into ridiculously dangerous situations. There is no way I can reload a previous save, for fuck's sake! Am I really this stupid?

Aria sighed, seeing my conflicted expression. — "Fine, I understand that your magic is powerful, likely better than anyone else." — I winced at the clear hint mentioning my forbidden knowledge. — "However, like it or not, girl, but you know nothing about warfare. This fact is especially true regarding magical battles. Do you seriously think that after almost being killed by a mob of goblins and not even half dark elves, you have a chance facing against a noble of their kind? They would eat you for breakfast!"

"Ugh… you are right… I didn't think this through… I-I am really sorry…" — I lowered my face, completely overcome by shame, but my mood bounced back quickly as if bolstered by an inner power I didn't know I had. — "It's just, I know that I have the potential to help, it's what my presence here was meant to be!" — I said with a lot more emphasis that I originally intended, causing the older elf to blink and narrow her eyes at me suspiciously.

"What do you mean by that?" — She questioned watching my reaction like a hawk.

I faltered hearing her accusing tone, realizing my mistake, I quickly tried to back out of it. — "Ugh, I, nothing?"

Aria stepped closer to me, focusing on my expression. — "What is it that you are not telling me, is this another one of those secrets of yours? You better come clean or I swear I will beat it out of you!"

My face flushed red as I stared up at the wood elf with a scandalized expression. She can't be serious about that slapping thing, can she? I mean, she is crazy enough, but… Oh, who am I kidding? She almost cut off my head just for mentioning blood magic. — "Y-y-you can't! I won't let you humiliate me like that, there is no way!" — Her eyes narrowed at me. It made my insides roar with all the humiliation, pain, and the emotions I couldn't deal with and stuffed deep inside of me. Now they exploded with all their raw power, fuelled by the sense of injustice I suffered. — "For fuck's sake! I was almost raped, woman, can't you cut me some slack!" — I screamed at her, totally losing my shit.

Ariawyn's features paled, as if all the blood was drained from her face. Then she bounced back with her own scream. — "WHAT?! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THAT!?" — She demanded, her features contorted in impotent fury, disbelief and a deeply marring sense of guilt.

I was not done either, panting from the tension and the rippling power of raw emotions shaking my body to their tune. — "Because, YOU just walked up to me and SLAPPED the shit out of me you STUPID CUNT!"

Aria gasped. — "When we get home, I am going to wash that filthy mouth of yours with soap! You better remember that, young lady!"

"I don't give a fuck!"

While our argument continued for a while and slowly turned into a shouting contest. Alita, who so far was watching the argument with great interest, noticed something moving at the edge of her vision. Her face snapped towards the movement, finding herself focusing on one of the fallen dwarfs. — "What the… did that dwarf move just now?" — She questioned loudly to garner our attention.

I paused for a second, turning towards Alita, then looking at the dwarf in question. — "That is impossible, I checked them myself… while I am hardly a healer, I am certain they were all dead." — I said slowly, still panting from the previous screaming session. What I couldn't deny, however, was the fact that I felt a lot better now after all that screaming and shouting with Aria.

The dwarf's arm spasmed.

All three of us exchanged a surprised glance, an ominous feeling starting to form in the pit of my stomach.

Alita next to me had similarly sharp senses as she started to back away from the spasming corps. — "Well, then…" — She started in fake cheerfulness. — "I guess nobody notified that one that he is supposed to be dead. Perhaps you guys just managed to scream loud enough to wake the dead." — She added sarcastically.

I shook my head, deciding to feel out the surrounding mana. The moment I opened my inner eye, a suffocating feeling of disgust washed over me, as if I was dropped into a barrel of worms all crawling over my bare skin.

I instinctively closed off my magical senses and flinched back from the experience. My features paling considerably as I struggled to hold down the retching that threatened to overcome me.

Aria reached out, grasping me under my right arm and straightening my body almost subconsciously at this point. She stared at the spasming remains of the man, before turning towards the rest of the bodies, noticing similar spasms happening to all of them, regardless of their race or origin.

Aria froze, her expression morphing into that of utter terror. A sight that I have only seen on the steely woman, when her throat was literally cut open, and she was bleeding out on the ground.

This realization sent cold shivers through my whole body.

"Necromancer!" — Aria screamed, sending a jolt of alertness through both me and Alita. — "We must run, get back to the main forces! We cannot face the dead here, not when we are stretched this thin!"

"Run? What's with the plan, then?" — Alita questioned, but still started to move.

Aria pushed the hesitant dwarf girl into one of the trenches that headed back towards our main forces before pulling me along as well.

I turned back, giving a last hesitant glance to the battlefield. At the edge of my vision, I caught the empty stare of a woman about to peel herself off the ground in rigid, unnatural movements. Her eyes lifelessly staring in my direction, an otherworldly hunger mirrored in the red glassy eyes.

A sense of terror sparked through my body, hastening my steps to keep up with the others.

We all run in heavy silence for several seconds before Aria started explaining.

"The riders should have already arrived by now, but there is no sight of them. This means they were likely intercepted on their way and are being delayed. We need to decide if we continue the charge as we are, or wait for the riders." — She paused, taking a few quick breaths as we run through the empty part of the trenches. — "Now I suggest that you focus on running, as unlike us, the dead doesn't tire. Don't stop until we reunite with our main forces."