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Sages of the Hidden Lights

Arki Darkwater

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-Chapter 7-

Bodey

Rescuer's Lake

I had already endured countless hours of intense physical labor, and yet I still hadn't made quite as much distance across Rescuer's Lake as I had hoped to. Ugh. Who ever knew that the simple act of paddling could be so utterly exhausting? I pondered drowsily.

Granted, I was moving at a fairly brisk pace for traveling in a mere one-person birchwood canoe. All those fierce years of training under my father and Uhruan's regiment had done more than enough work to make this an easy plight for my biceps. But I wasn't taking a leisurely boat ride across a lake so renowned for its vast scope of deep blue waters and stunning cliffside shores to find a nice island to picnic at. I was on a mission. An important mission that my father and the queen herself had sought me out for. I couldn't let them down.

I kept paddling until eventually the sunset was upon me and the darkness of the lake, coupled with the brooding gusts of incoming weather, served as a fair indication that I best pull off of the water and hunker down for the duration of the night.

I found a nice little island to stay at, far away from the shoreline. Surrounding me on each side was nothing more than a perpetual landscape of waves and water, its dark blue hue glowering malevolently under the sky's encompassing darkness. My kind of luck, finding myself in such a serene and hopeful situation.

I heaved the canoe up and carried it onto the rocky shore, then took what few belongings I had with me and plopped myself down under a nice tree to sleep. From a pouch holstered on my belt, I pulled out a yellow fleece blanket--a gift, sewn by my late mother, something I always kept with me--and wrapped myself up in it.

As a soldier, I was used to sleeping in an uncomfortable environment with little to no resources available. Unfortunately, night one of my trip gave me the unusual fortune of being restless. Maybe something was on my mind, or maybe the sounds of nature and buzzing mosquitoes were bothersome to my ears. Or maybe I was cold and wet. Oh wait a minute, I was cold and wet! Why was I cold and wet?

Oh, because a storm rolled in and I was sleeping underneath heavy downpour on a small island being cascaded by massive waves. That's why.

Wonderful. Just bloody wonderful, I thought.

The time couldn't have been too far past midnight when I opened my eyes to that. I was already completely soaked through. I thought for a moment that it would probably be smart if I were to stand up and make sure my boat hadn't blown away, but I ultimately decided that what I actually wanted was to stay where I was, lying in a pool of soaking-wet undergrowth and depression, pondering what it would feel like to simply die, rather than waste energy on something that was fairly important to both the success of my mission and my own survival.

Oh, Bodey, I thought to myself, you're quite the optimist, aren't you?

I experienced many more interesting things as the night continued. Rain, ear-deafening cracks of thunder, more rain, and some kind of small rodent that kept crawling out of its hole and trying to get into my bag. Among many other things, of course.

Sleep was not an entry on that list.

Yay.

-Chapter 8-

I woke up the next morning--and by waking up, I mean to say I became consciously aware of it being morning--to the dim light of the sun peeking through my eyelids.

I got up and took a look around. The island wasn't very big, so there wasn't much to see. A couple of the already few trees that stood upon the small mass of land had been knocked over. Thankfully, I found my canoe to be in one piece, although filled to the brim with rainwater.

Just about everything was wet. My blanket and all my clothes were thoroughly soaked, not to mention my entire mop of striped fur had absorbed enough water to make me feel a good few pounds heavier. And I was freezing cold.

I gathered what few pieces of semi-dry wood I could find to create a fire, which took about an hour. The food I had initially brought with me was now rendered unsalvageable. So I settled on some cooked rodent instead. It took an additional hour to successfully capture my evasive meal, and yet another hour after that to gag over the disgusting taste before I finally finished soothing my famished appetite.

Take that, you little fucker.

By that point, I had probably wasted enough time. Disgusted in how inefficient I had been so far, I quickly took my boat into the water and set off once again, paddling into the morning horizon.

For what it was worth though, that pretty little island wasn't half bad, I mused pretentiously.

I decided to name it "Fuck You Island", in memory of my joyous and comfortable stay there. Which I surely won't be forgetting about anytime soon, I noted silently.

-Chapter 9-

Aiko

Tempest, Bælan

I opened the door slowly, cautious of whether anyone was inside. The "Inn" sign on the door swayed from side to side as I pushed it open, as it only was attached by one nail. The lights inside were dim, with just a few scattered torches hanging on the walls throughout the bottom floor of the inn. Despite the late time of night, there was still a man awake at the reception desk. He was a grizzly bear with a fairly husky build, dark muddled fur, and a pair of spectacles loosely balanced on the tip of his muzzle--no doubt the innkeeper. Dressed in comfy, loose-fitting brown robes, he had a book in his paws, and a stern, focused look on his face as he read, not bothering to look up at me when he spoke.

"C'mon in, kid. It's gettin' late."

I walked inside and closed the door behind me, then walked up to the bear and handed him a few silver coins.

"A room for just the night, please," I said.

He looked down at the money, obviously taking note of the fact that it wasn't quite enough, but then grunted and put the money away before handing me a small silver key and picking his book back up.

"Go up and you'll be the first door to the right. Be careful not to wake anyone."

"Alrighty," I responded. I walked towards the stairs on the opposite side of the room, but got distracted by a map that hung on the wall, depicting the town and the surrounding area. I paused to study it for a moment.

"Where are ya headin', boy?" the bear asked from behind his desk, his gaze still not straying from his light reading.

"I'm headed up to Hakúmo. I'll be crossing the Little Mountua River tomorrow morning and heading up from there."

"Are ya insane?" he asked, keeping a surprisingly calm tone but finally pausing to look up at me from his novel. "Kid, it's a warzone. You'll get killed."

"Thanks for your concern, but I can fend for myself. I have personal business to attend to," I replied simply.

"Whatever ya say, kid," he responded after a pause and a lengthy sigh, surely fueled by his disbelief. He turned back to his book. I strolled up the stairs without another word spoken.

Once upstairs and in front of room 2B, I slid the key into the door and opened it, revealing a small and cozy place to spend the night. I plopped down on the bed and threw my bag to the ground beside it. The comfort of an actual bed, however low the quality, far surpassed the experience of the previous few nights, during which I slept alone on the cold, barren floor of the forest.

I thanked the heavens that I didn't have to wake up to the sound of forest wallowers again. Man, were those damn l'il critters loud.

My exhaustion set in within minutes of laying down, and before I knew it I had drifted off to sleep.

-Chapter 10-

I woke up the next morning rather tired, but the light from the window wouldn't allow my eyes to remain shut. Knowing that it was about time for me to get on the road, I got dressed, grabbed my things and left.

I strode down the stairs onto the ground floor of the inn. The innkeeper from the previous night was mysteriously vacant from his post, but it was no big deal. I figured the big 'ol fluffball probably had just left to go attend to other matters. I assumed that it would be fine if I just left the key on his desk for him, and so I did just that and promptly exited the old wooden building before strolling off down the street.

My first impression was that it was awfully quiet in Tempest for the present time of morning. The sun was out, beaming overhead with pride and energy, but as far as I could tell, there was nobody outside at all.

Huh, that's strange, I thought.

I continued to walk down through the northern end of town, taking careful note of the architecture around me. Many of the buildings in this part of the world had a renowned beauty, but the wood-chiseled craftsmanship of the structures wasn't what concerned me at that moment. The apothecary, the blacksmith, the library--every shop I passed still had a "closed" sign hanging on the door, as if the morning sun had never risen at all. All the blinds were closed, all the doors were closed, and still not a single soul roamed the streets. The silence felt frigid as it hung in the air. Even the birds, who would normally be flying about, chirping happily and singing their florid, fanciful songs, were silent and invisible to the eye.

Something wasn't right.

A movement stirred, from my five o'clock, just outside of my peripheral vision. I rotated my head ever so slightly to see what it was, but the source of the noise had already vanished from sight.

I kept walking.

Again, more movement, now from my seven o'clock. I was cautious this time and didn't look to see what it was, knowing that the eavesdropper wouldn't be there anymore.

Something definitely was not right.

Movement, now dead in front of me. Four imperial soldiers marched out from the surrounding alleys, dressed in Agu Morra's navy-blue and gray military uniforms. My ears perked up at the sound of more of them coming out from behind me; by the consistency of the clutter, I estimated at least ten. From the front of the crowd, one more figure emerged. Although I instantly recognized him as a familiar face, he was now sporting a military uniform, a dark-blue overcoat, a short sword sheathed at his hip, and a forage cap atop his head--overall a much more intimidating appearance than that of the relaxed, novel-happy brown bear wearing robes and reading spectacles from the night before.

"Out to play, are we?" the innkeeper cooed deceitfully, his voice as thin and cold as ice. "A little wolf like you really shouldn't be getting his paws into business that he doesn't belong in." He took a few steps towards me, slowly closing the large gap of space between us. Then he held up a book, one with a leather cover and scarlet-red lacing tying it together.

Dammit! I cursed to myself.

The moment I saw that book, I knew I had messed up, and badly. I put a paw over my chest, as if to make sure my heart was still beating. The general saw my exasperated reaction.

And he grinned.

It was a wide grin, showing off rows of sharp teeth that felt as though they were piercing into my flesh, despite the spacious distance between us. This, coupled with his faint, icy blue eyes, which seemed to bore into my spirit with an ambition more vile and malicious than any other, proved to me once and forever that surely, he must have been evil itself, incarnated into a form which so accurately captured its true nature.

I slipped a paw into my backpack and felt around, just to make sure my eyes knew what they were seeing. Without the book, the bag still maintained enough weight for the difference to be too trivial for me to have noticed. It was little more ominous than the missing weight of last night's dinner.

He must have searched my bag during the night, when I was asleep, I pondered. And of all the books he searched through, he found it. The dangerous one.

The general looked me straight in the eyes, giving me a stare that sent shivers down my back as he uttered his next words.

"Get him."

Almost instantaneously, every single Agu Morran soldier in the proximity sprinted towards me, swords and spears poised overhead, ready to strike me down where I stood.

"Try me," I replied.

With the flick of my paws in the correct pattern, a bright blue flare of light formed from thin air and rocketed towards the nearest soldier, a dark-gray timber wolf approaching from my flank. It hit him square in the chest and knocked him backwards. His armor made a heavy clunking sound as it made contact with the stone pavement.

Next up were two soldiers coming from my two and three o'clock. Each of them met their fate with a similar burst of energy as the one that hit the wolf. Unfortunately, my real problem lied with the slower soldiers, who now came upon me all in one mass. I dodged underneath one of them as he swung his long silver blade at me, then turned to fire a burst of energy at another. A darkly-colored weasel made a jab at my legs, but I used my superior agility to jump and avoid his blow, then bolted towards him and swung my fist right into his muzzle. My punch created a burst of bright-orange light as it sent him hurtling towards the ground, face first.

After a few more agile attacks of mine, I bolted away to a vacant area to get a sense of my surroundings. Although I was most prominently kicking all of their asses--my constructive opinion, anyways--the sheer number of them was too overwhelming for just one mage to handle. Sweat started dripping from my forehead, threatening to get in my eyes and obstruct my vision. I swept it away and smirked at the onslaught who came running back to me.

"I guess you guys haven't had enough, have you?" I muttered under my breath. "Well then let me show you what I can still do."

I bolted towards the soldiers, jumping up and rocketing back to the ground with fists burning with my magic, creating a shockwave that knocked several of them off their feet. I sent a few more of them spinning off to the sidelines with some stunning spells.

A nearby cougar made a leap for me, jabbing his sword at me a few quick times. I dodged most of his thrusts, but I wasn't quite fast enough, and the feline's final strike sliced into my shoulder. I winced in pain from the incision but knocked him back with yet another burst of blue fumes.

At this point, I was panting with exhaustion. I couldn't fight them like this forever. I needed something to fall back on, pronto.

Thankfully, I was prepared with a little extra backup. I pulled a small spellbook out from my back pocket and opened to a page I conveniently had bookmarked with a small piece of brown cloth. I cleared my throat and began reciting the words on the page as the hoard of soldiers came running back to me. It was a race against time.

"...and so heed to me, Thitus, god of the heavenly earth and beautiful land. Protect me from this most dire situation, and vanquish my enemies from your soils. Et Al'vbet íl Mulla!"

With one final flick of my paw, a massive, pulsing energy formed, emanating from somewhere deep inside me. I could feel it resonating in my bones, just before it released itself in the form of a crippling shockwave, rocketing outward from my body. One by one, the soldiers were hit by the shockwave and sent flying through the air, hurtling towards the nearest body of water.

"Haha! Take that!"

My victory, however gleeful, was quickly cut short, for there was one more problem that I had almost completely forgotten about.

The innkeeper stormed up to me with large, thundering footsteps. Our eyes met, and in his, I could see a cold, icy fire of pure anger and animosity.

"You won't survive to see the end of this, you filthy Liaran scum," he spat. In the palms of each of his paws, light-blue icy textures began to form.

"So," I said, waving my paws in a circular motion. A shield of energy began to form in front of me. "You're a mage too? I wasn't expecting that."

The general smirked and replied with a curt nod. "I was suspicious of you from the moment you stepped into my inn. Your motives seemed odd, and your arctic heritage heightened my curiosity as well. So I went through your belongings while you slept--that's my procedure, as I'm sure you can understand--and discovered your spellbooks. So I knew right then that you were a mage," he explained, backing up and taking his own defensive stance. "But then I found your 'special book' and was thus notified that I would have no choice but to put Tempest on lockdown and dispose of you."

"Well, I sure as hell wasn't expecting the local innkeeper to be a lowly spy and a Seeker."

"Kid, you've got some serious problems with being too honest," he responded.

There was a moment of silence as I stood my ground, trying to anticipate his first move. I waited for a brief time, then lowered my shield and went in for an attack.

Wrong move.

In the split second that I lowered my shield and lurched towards him, he flared up his own attack and aimed it directly into my stomach.

"Gg-g-gah!" I howled in pain as I stumbled over, struggling to keep my balance. In my confusion, he launched yet another attack, which hit my left leg. This time I tripped and fell. I tried to get back up, but my leg wouldn't bend. It was frozen in ice.

"Dammit!" I yelled.

From my helpless position on the ground, I launched more projectiles, meticulously focused at his right side. He anticipated my obvious attack, just as I had planned for him to, and dodged to his left.

"Ha! Got you!"

As he moved in to deliver what could have easily been a killing blow, I swung my good leg around and kicked the bear right in his stomach. The forceful impact of my magic sent him plummeting to the ground on his back. I used the momentum of the kick to gracefully propel myself back onto my feet.

I took a short moment to think. I knew that my survival would depend on freeing my leg. Without it, I could only maintain a mere stumble, at least until the ice melted. But who knew when that would be? I had to act quickly.

I could've ignited my fire spell, but that might've taken too long to melt the ice, and as it was, my stamina was fading away. I was so physically exhausted, I could hardly breathe. But the general was already back on his feet. I can't just stand here! I thought frantically.

"Say your goodbyes, Liaran!" he shouted as he lunged towards me, his fists blazing in a frozen torment of white, crystalline ice, a cold front that threatened to end my misadventure and my life along with it.

I felt a sharp pain. His fist was the last thing I saw before I blacked out.