| Tor | [no title] | Level ?? | ||
| Endurance: – | Strength: – | Dexterity: – | Magic: – | Spirit: – |
| Souls: N/A | Essence: N/A | Mana: 88.67% | ||
Tor clung to the chimney of a three-storey house while Koren sat on the ground next to the building. She needed to rest her leg. They were trying to get closer to the town center where everyone was gathering, but their progress had been really slow so far.
Tor had suggested to stay where they were. Their shack was on the other side of Bildy, away from the Western Woods—the direction all the monsters were coming from. Moving to the town center meant moving closer to those scary giants. But Koren had told Tor that there was no guarantee that the monsters wouldn’t circle around the protective shield. Because most of the guards were gathering on the other end of Bildy, Koren and Tor would have been in trouble if even a single monster got through from the other direction.
In the end, like most of the time, Tor listened to Koren’s advice. He agreed to move, but that didn’t mean he liked this plan at all. He could see how much pain Koren was in as she walked, even though she was using a crutch. Her leg still wasn’t healed completely, so it required a great effort for her to move. Tor was also at risk to be recognized as the thief who caused that ruckus a few cycles ago, though he had to admit that it was probably the last thing people were thinking about in this situation. Disaster was close, and it was anyone’s guess how it would pass.
The number of guards facing this calamity wouldn’t be enough, that was for sure.
Tor couldn’t see everything from his spot, but he was fairly certain that no matter how many guards and guardian golems were lined up for the town’s defense, they were no match against the tentacled giants. Even the tallest golem was half the size of the smallest giants!
One of their hopes was in the runes. Even now, each and every one of Bildy’s mages who practiced Runecraft was drawing lines rapidly onto the ground. It was too far for Tor to see, but they probably went for quantity over quality. Tor didn’t know much about rune crafting, but he thought that most of the runes they were drawing would explode when the baddies got near. Fire and light were the easiest aspects of Runecraft, so it made sense that detonating traps could be mass-produced like that.
There were other mages out as well. Tor spotted Old Kont as he marched thirty or so skeletons across the streets. As far as Tor knew, he was the only one in Bildy who was any good in Necromancy. Out of the Four Corners of Magic, Necromancy required the most work put into it to master, and even then, it was considered the least useful of the four. That was why Bildy didn’t have any other necromancers apart from Old Kont. Or was it because messing with the dead was considered to be unethical? After pondering on this a little, Tor came to the conclusion that it was probably a bit of both.
The guards who were adequate at using Blood Magic were beginning to chant now. They were the ones who would be the actual front line, after the monsters got through the runes. Each of them had a mana crystal hidden under their armor, which would power their own little protective bubble. Blood Magic wouldn’t be good against opponents with weapons, but against monsters they were pretty effective. The only thing that those guards needed to fear were the trees that the tentacled giants were using as clubs. Of course, their bubbles could become overwhelmed and their mana depleted, but it was much more likely that the monsters would just avoid them and go for easier prey.
Last but not least, there were the golems. Big and sturdy guardian golems, but even smaller ones created for labor. The guardian golems were controlled by mages who had learnt Golem Craft, but several citizens of Bildy had volunteered to puppeteer the rest. The simplest golems could be handled by anyone who had average mana control, and even the smallest help was welcome in a situation like this.
Among the guardian golems, there were five elites. They weren’t mass-produced things like the rest: all of them were unique, beautiful, and utterly dangerous in their own way. Even from this distance, Tor’s pulse quickened whenever he looked at them. This was what people called love at first sight, he was sure. He could barely refrain himself from running ahead and leaving Koren behind just to inspect those golems. He fervently hoped that they wouldn’t be destroyed in the upcoming fight, or if that couldn’t be avoided, at least they would get destroyed near him. He would snatch some of their components to study later.
Some of the townspeople also armed themselves, though they were staying back for now. If the monsters got through, they would have plenty of opportunity to fight, anyways. There was no where left to run. The people tried to organize some kind of last line of defense, in the form of crystal-powered domes. Not Blood Magic bubbles, just simple domes created by warding: condensed mana anchored in one place, much like the large barrier that the Core was providing. These smaller domes would become essential when the Core’s barrier finally got destroyed. There were wyverns flying up above, and there were nowhere near enough archers to kill each of them. There was, however, one more element that was quite unpredictable, but had higher chances dealing with the flying monsters.
Players.
Just now, a team of nine Players in matching colors had come out of the Core. Tor could see this clearly, because people were avoiding the Core’s vicinity entirely. The structure was emanating such a high concentration of raw mana that standing near it was outright deadly. That is, if you didn’t have a black collar around your neck. It was quite inconvenient. The town center was getting more and more crowded by the moment, and the Core reserved too large of a space.
The first three of the group of Players where holding large shields, with some kind of bird painted on it in golden color. In their other hand, each of them were carrying a long pike as if it weighted nothing. While those three Players wore plate armor, behind them the next three were clad in lighter protective gear and carried huge bows. The last three of the group were wearing even lighter armor: they looked like simple garments, really. The whole team looked really striking in their gold and blue colors, though Tor’s admiration quickly evaporated as the Players began pushing through the crowd. Their method was simple but effective: the first three slammed their shields on the ground next to each other, and began to push. No one stood a chance. Slowly but steadily, they progressed forward without faltering. They didn’t stop when an old man fell to the ground in front of the shield. They didn’t stop when a carriage was in their way. They pushed everything and everyone, and it was none of their concern whether the people managed to get out of the way.
Tor was still gawking at the squad when the next Player emerged from the Core. This one was alone, a tall man in flowing red robes. After taking a few steps he stopped and spread his hands wide, then suddenly huge, fiery wings erupted from his back. He flapped them once, twice, and then—he was flying. Tor almost couldn’t believe his eye, but the Player was soaring through the air like a bird. He shot upwards with incredible speed, then stopped when he reached the light green dome that protected Bildy.
“Tor, come down!” Koren shouted up to him. “We should move on!”
“Just a second!” Tor replied. The flying Player had been looking around from his vantage point, but now he suddenly focused on something. Tor followed his gaze, and saw that there was some kind of commotion. Not in the west where the giants were still pummeling the barrier, but in the northern part of Bildy. There was a lot of shouting, people running and… who were they fighting?
It didn’t make sense. The barrier was still standing! Why were so many people fleeing in panic?
“Koren, I have a bad feeling about this,” Tor said as he hurriedly climbed down to her side. “Lots of people are running this way. We should find shelter before they get here. I don’t want you to be caught up in the crowd with your leg like that.”
“My leg this, my leg that,” Koren griped. “Don’t be such a worryheart, I’ll be fine. Let’s move. The more people between us and the edge of the town, the better.”
“No, you don’t understand, this is—” Tor suddenly stopped as the screaming and shouting got louder. People were running past them, but not from the direction Tor had expected. These were coming from the south. Koren tried to ask some of them what this was all about. The funny thing was that they didn’t even know exactly. They said that the monsters killed someone. Most of them was just fleeing because they saw others fleeing too.
“What the hell is going on?” Koren mused, but limped on. They soon found themselves in a mess of bodies, as the people fleeing from the north and the others from the south crashed into each other. Tor tried to keep an eye on his sister, but it was very difficult. He had to avoid being bowled over and trampled on, and he also had to make sure not to lose his creation that he was carrying on his back.
“Koren! Over there!” Tor shouted as he spotted one of the narrow alleys. Tor knew it was a dead-end, but it was still better than being crushed by the crowd. They pushed and nudged and elbowed their way to the entrance of the alley, then sat down behind a stack of empty crates.
“Idiots,” Koren muttered. “They don’t even know what they are doing, just following the rest, like sheep.”
“Sheep?” Tor asked curiously.
“It’s just an old saying,” Koren said. “Sheep is an animal that is stupid, I think.”
“Isn’t every animal stupid?”
“Dunno. Maybe sheep are extra stupid.”
“Huh.”
Tor watched the screaming people worriedly. Now that he listened carefully, he could make out other, inhuman screeches as well. He looked up at the sky, but the green barrier was still there. Something apparently got through it somehow, and the guards didn’t deal with them. Tor had to prepare for the worst.
“Help me put these on, please,” he told his sister.
Koren looked at the mechanical arms that he had been carrying all the way here from their shack.
“Do these even work?” she asked. Tor looked at her indignantly, so she quickly apologized. “Sorry, sorry. I’ll help. But don’t do anything reckless with them, okay?”
Tor nodded, then began to set the straps of leather across his torso. The mechanical arms would be fixed under his real arms with a series of clasps and straps, some of which going over his shoulder too. It was the best he could do, for now. This was the weakest point of his creation, since he hadn’t really figured out a good way to attach them to his body. If he hit something too hard, his ribs would feel the feedback.
Truth be told, he hadn’t created the arms for situations like this. He had made them just because it was challenging and fun. They were longer than his real arms, reaching all the way down to the ground as he stood. It was a good thing too, because this way he didn’t have to support all of their weight on his own.
Each fist contained a mana crystal. Tor had to make them well-plated, so that the crystals wouldn’t get damaged accidentally. He had to work only with the materials he could scavenge, so they looked rather mismatched… but at least they were sturdy. Contrary to this, the upper arms had basically no protective plate attached, and some of the power lines were completely exposed. That was what Tor had been working on before the monsters came.
“Right arm in place,” Koren announced as she fastened the last buckle behind Tor’s back. Tor took hold of his mana inside the arm, and made a series of movements with it. His control wasn’t very good, but he wouldn’t need much precision here. The elbow moved amazingly smoothly and the wrist was good enough too. He didn’t swing the arm yet, because with only one of the two attached he would overbalance immediately. These things were heavy.
“Hurry up with the left one,” Tor said. Strangely, there weren’t as many people running around as before.
“We should just run,” Koren said, but kept working on the straps. Tor tried to help with the parts he could reach, but most of the time it was up to his sister to fit things in place. Making these arms easier to equip was one more challenge that Tor was eager to solve in the future.
“We could make our way through the crowd easier with these arms,” Tor said.
He looked out to the street, but for some reason it was almost deserted now. A shrill scream rose over the background noise, and Tor snapped his head towards the sound just to see a big black insect with eight legs. It had no head, no eyes, but when it moved its antennae around, Tor had a distinct feeling that it was looking at them.
“Sis? Get behind me,” Tor said with shaky voice. He had seen different kinds monsters on those few times he had been in the forest, but this… this was something new. Something he really-really didn’t want to face. But Koren was behind him, clutching his unattached left arm. He had to protect her. There was nowhere left to run. This wasn’t anything like he ever did before. He was no fighter. He was no fighter, but today he would become one.
“Tor…” Koren whispered behind him. “Don’t make any sudden movement, but… there’s another.”
Tor looked up slowly and warily, then tensed when he saw the second insect climbing down on the side of the building, right above them. Sensing Tor’s momentary distraction, the first creature chose this moment to lunge at him, front legs extended.
Tor barely managed to bring up his mechanical arm in time, deflecting the blow. His legs buckled under the weight of the arm, and the impact with the creature made him topple backwards. He landed on his back, but had enough composure to grab one of the spiky legs with his metal arm. He didn’t think, didn’t aim, just flung the creature away as quickly as possible. The momentum of his arm flipped him to his other side and his head hit the wall. He hoped that he had a few more seconds to get his bearings before the creature attacked him again.
“Hyaa!” Koren screamed, and Tor saw her swing his mechanical left arm around, trying to fend off the creature. She was only partially successful. As the monster jumped at Koren, she clubbed it across its beak, but not before it cut a deep gash into Koren’s good leg. Koren’s battle cry turned into a cry of agony. With no uninjured legs to support her, she fell to the ground alongside with the monster. The only difference was that the monster wasn’t wounded.
“KOREN!”
Tor get to his feet so fast that he almost stumbled over. The monster jumped towards Koren once again, and Tor swung his metal arm just in time to punch it before it could reach her. The creature’s spiky legs raked across the metal plating, but didn’t do any real damage. However, the force of the punch threw the monster backwards and slammed it into the wall.
Tor fell to the ground as well, but regained his footing much faster than the monster that was on its back. It had difficulties flipping over, and Tor didn’t give it a chance to do so. He approached the wiggling monster cautiously, then slammed his metal fist repeatedly into its belly. After a few good punches he heard a crunch, and the creature stopped struggling. Koren was whimpering on the ground, clutching at her wound with both hands, trying to stop the bleeding. It looked bad, but at least that was the only wound she received, and the other— the other monster!
Tor turned around sharply, preparing to dodge— just to see a black-haired young man kneeling on the monster. It was already dead, the hilt of a dagger sticking out from the base of its armor. When the man pulled out the dagger from its body, Tor’s eye went wide in fear. Not because he spotted the black collar around the man’s neck. No, what he saw was much more frightening.
Tor recognized the dagger this Player was holding. It was exactly the same weapon that he had stolen a few cycles ago.
The Player looked up suddenly, his green eyes meeting Tor’s. They weren’t especially cold or scary eyes, but Tor’s whole body shook nevertheless. Now that he had a better look at this Player, he also remembered that he was the original owner of the dagger.
“You seemed to have forgotten about this one, so I decided to help you out,” the Player said, slightly out of breath. “I hope you don’t mind.”
Tor tried to say something, but no words came out of his mouth. He just stood there, trembling. He would have stood there like that for a while longer, if a melodious voice didn’t shake him out of his stupor.
“That was really cheesy, Randel. How long have you been thinking on that line?”
The woman who appeared behind the man was a Sylven. At least, that was what Tor thought. He hadn’t been this close to any Sylven before, but the blue skin was unmistakable.
“Hey, that’s not true,” the Player, probably named Randel, protested. “I think it sounded cool. And it was improvised. Improvised coolness.”
“I’m sure it was,” the Sylven woman said, then looked at Tor. “I’m sorry kid, could you let us through? I have clean linen with me. We could help to treat her wounds.”
She hadn’t even finished speaking before Tor was practically scrambling backwards to stand behind his sister. The Sylven came closer and crouched down to Koren.
“W-Who are you?” Koren asked.
“My name is Devi, pleased to meet you. I’m sorry but I don’t have any healing ability that would help you, but I could help bandage that—”
“Wyaaah!” Tor let out a girlish, high-pitched scream. A furry, reddish-colored animal rushed past him, jumping up to Randel’s shoulder. It looked like a regit, only much smaller. But regits had an insatiable hunger for blood, and that little fellow perching on Randel’s head seemed way too friendly for that.
“Don’t worry kid, he’s with me,” Randel said. “He won’t hurt you.”
“I w-wasn’t worried,” Tor said. “Just startled.”
Tor didn’t understand what was happening. Why was this Player reassuring him? What were they doing here in the first place? It didn’t seem like Randel came to take revenge for stealing his dagger, and maybe he didn’t even remember. Tor hoped fervently that Randel wouldn’t suddenly recognize him. It felt like he was sweating buckets. How did Randel get his dagger back anyways? Was it the same weapon at all? It looked unique, but maybe he had a spare. Or maybe he had some kind of weird Player-magic that let him find it. If so, Tor was lucky that they got rid of the dagger so quickly, even if they hadn’t received any money for it. He cursed his stupidity now. What did he think, stealing from a Player? Their magic was too unpredictable, and he now saw that it was sheer luck that he hadn’t been caught.
“It’s alright kid, she’ll survive.” Randel said, misunderstanding the source of Tor’s nervousness. “Her injury isn’t too serious.”
“T-Tor,” Tor said.
“Hmm?”
“My name is Tor, not kid.”
“Alright, Tor,” Randel said, then glanced down to Koren. “And she is…?”
“Koren, my half-sister.”
Koren looked up at Randel, her cheeks are streaked with tears from the pain.
“Why do— why do you care anyways?” Koren asked between gasps. “What does— it matter to you— if we live or die?”
“Players are humans too, you know,” Randel said. Devi cleared her throat and looked at him pointedly.
“Players are humans and Sylven and sometimes other things too, you know,” Randel corrected himself. “But my point is that we can have the same motivations and feelings as you guys do. We were nearby and we could help, so we did. We also tried to help others, but you are the first ones who didn’t run away.”
Koren laughed bitterly. “It’s kind of you, I guess… but sadly it doesn’t matter. I thank you for saving Tor’s life, but all you did was prolonging my suffering. I’ll be dead soon enough.”
“What?!” Tor exclaimed. “No, you won’t!”
Koren looked at Randel, ignoring Tor’s outrage. “My other leg is still recovering after it has been broken. I don’t even have to wait and see if this wound I just received gets infected or not. I can’t move with both of my legs injured, so I’ll just have to lie here and wait for more of those creatures to find me.”
“No you won’t,” Tor protested. “I’ll carry you! And I’ll get a healing potion for your leg, I promise!”
Koren smiled sadly at him. “You know you can’t carry me, not even with those metal arms. And if more of these creatures find us, we wouldn’t be able to escape. No, you have much better chances without me.”
“But—”
“As for the healing potions,” Koren cut him off, “How do you plan to find any? After this is over, there won’t be a single drop left in the whole town!”
Tor was speechless. Why was Koren behaving this way? As long as she was alive, there was hope! Did she really think that Tor would just leave her here?!
“So you see,” Koren said, turning to Randel and heaving a big sigh. “Your help was in vain. But I thank you nevertheless. You gave me a chance to have my last words with my little brother.”
“Hmm,” Randel said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Devi stood up and walked over to Randel.
“I hope you know that she is trying to make you help her some more,” she said. Her voice was low, but it was still loud enough for everyone present to hear. Tor glanced at Koren and saw her body tense. For once, her expression of sadness and pain gave way to something else: fear.
“Yes, I noticed,” Randel said. “But I think we should help them anyways.”
“Oooh? I wonder why,” Devi said with a smirk, circling around Randel. “Do you find her pretty?”
Randel’s eyes twitched in annoyance.
“Is that all you can ever think about?” he asked irritably.
“I think about a lot of things,” Devi said. “Humans are such fascinating species. Ruled by their emotions, much like Sylven, but those emotions and the reactions they cause… they seem so strange sometimes.”
“Tor, is your sister’s leg really broken?” Randel asked, ignoring Devi.
“I-I would never dare to lie to any of you!” Koren spoke up hurriedly, just at the same time as Tor gave a tiny nod.
“Alright,” Randel said. “Well, I happen to have a healing potion in my storage.”
“Y-You do?” Tor asked, suddenly feeling hopeful. “B-But… I thought Players can’t use them.”
“We can’t, that’s why I left it in the Core,” Randel said.
“He bought it accidentally,” Devi chimed in. “He didn’t know back then that it didn’t affect Players, and the merchant didn’t correct him.”
“Thank you Devi, you can shut up now.”
“So… What do you want in return?” Koren asked, batting her eyelashes at Randel. “I mean, if you decide to give me that potion…? I’m terribly sorry but we don’t have any money.”
“It’s okay,” Randel said. “You can have it for free.”
Koren’s face suddenly became blank.
“No, seriously,” she said. “I don’t like this. Feels like you aren’t telling me something. Why do you care about us at all? Why us of all the people?”
Randel sighed. “If it makes you feel better, we have a quest to defend the Core and protect the people. I’m hoping that by helping you, we’re fulfilling the latter requirement. Is this explanation good enough for you?”
“Yes, that’s more like it,” Koren said with a nod. “Alright, you can help me.”
“Why, thank you for letting me save your life! I promise you won’t regret it!”
Despite his words, he was looking at Koren exasperatedly. Tor had the suspicion that this was what people called sarcasm.
Devi poked Randel’s shoulder. “I take this means we are changing our plans about visiting Imaya?”
“Yes,” Randel said. “I was fine with it while the barrier was up, but now we know that it isn’t worth much: some of the monsters already got through. It would be wiser to meet up with Heda and the others now.”
Devi crossed her arms disapprovingly. “I hope you aren’t saying this because you don’t want to see Imaya.”
“No,” Randel hurried to answer. “I’m saying this because she can handle herself… probably. She is not stupid— well, not too stupid— I mean, surely she has thought about going to the Core and getting help from other Players, right?”
Devi just glared at him in response.
“Fine,” Randel relented, “If we don’t find her at the Core, we make an effort to find her, okay?”
“Alright,” Devi said, then gestured towards Koren. “Now get on with this… playing the hero or whatever you were trying to do. How do you plan to carry her?”
“Actually, I thought that you’d carry her.”
Devi looked at him in surprise. “Really? That’s not very gentlemanly.”
“Aren’t you the one who put twenty points on endurance recently? I only have twelve points on it.”
Devi opened her mouth to retort, but then stopped and gave Randel a suspicious look.
“Ah, nice one. For a moment I thought you were serious.”
“I was serious,” Randel said with a shrug. “If you use your clones, technically it’s still you who carries her.”
“It might not work. I hope you know that a clone is weaker than m—”
She cut off abruptly and ducked when Randel threw his dagger over her head. Tor was already trying to make himself as small as possible, but now he positively tried his best to disappear. Even as the dagger sailed through the air towards the end of the alley, Nosy jumped off Randel’s shoulder and growled, Devi’s body began to shimmer, and Koren screamed.
Before Tor’s mind could process what was happening, there were three Sylven women standing in front of him, and Randel was nowhere to be seen. Invisibility and duplication! No, triplication! Tor’s mind reeled at the craziness of what Players could do. Were they going to fight each other? Tor had thought that Randel and Devi were friends, but now it seemed like he was mistaken.
Suddenly, a large crash could be heard from the end of the alley. Tor snapped his head towards the source of the noise just in time to see Randel striking down a second time upon one of those many-legged monsters. The creature tried to escape, but Randel was swinging a pitch-black mace with one hand, shattering the base of the monster’s legs with each strike. When it couldn’t move its deadly front-legs anymore, Randel kicked it to its back and struck the underbelly a few times.
“So what if one of your clones is too weak?” Randel asked as if nothing had happened. “Just create more! Two or three of them are ought to be enough to carry her, right?”
“I suppose so,” all three Devi said at the same time. “Are— Are you alright?”
“Me? Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Never mind,” Devi said. “It was nicely done.”
“Yeah, well… It was actually Nosy who noticed the alutnarat first. I felt him tense on my shoulder. I think he can smell them or something.”
“Or he just heard its scuttling legs,” Devi said.
“Yeah, maybe,” Randel said, then crouched down to pat Nosy on his head.
Tor and Koren exchanged a worried glance with each other. Staying with these Players might be what they needed right now, but there was no denying that they were dangerous. Tor really didn’t want to get on Randel’s bad side.
As Randel walked back to them, Tor’s jaw dropped when he saw what was happening with the black mace. It transformed on its own, as if the metal was molten and someone was shaping it. It shrunk in size swiftly, orange lines appearing all over its surface. In just a couple of moments it looked like the magic dagger that Tor had thought he knew all too well.
“Let’s hurry up,” Randel told Devi. “I want to keep my dark bond running, but I’ll be out of mana in a couple of minutes. We should get somewhere safe by then.”
Tor paled further. Dark bond?! Just what was he and Koren and getting themselves into?
Tor was scared. He was afraid of the monsters, afraid that Koren might bleed out and die, afraid of the Players that rescued them, and afraid that in the end of the day, this would all be for naught if the giants broke through the barrier and killed everyone.
He wished he could be more like Koren. She didn’t look scared, not even when two of Devi’s copies approached her and lifted her up. With her arms over the clones’ necks, her feet dangled just above the ground. She winced every now and then as her legs bumped into the clones, but otherwise her face was stoic, just a little bit pale.
Smaller, light green domes could be seen in the distance. The townsfolk erected them ahead of schedule, most likely because of these horrible insects. Randel called them alutnarats. Apparently he and Devi had already seen creatures like them, because they knew how to kill them. Whenever one of the alutnarat came after their little group, Devi made several copies of herself. The copies then rushed at the monster, and while it usually destroyed one or two clones, the rest always managed to flip the alutnarat to its back. After that, Devi or Randel just had to strike its underbelly quickly.
The most dangerous encounter happened when three alutnarat attacked them at the same time. Tor had to use his mechanical arms to ward off one of them, at least until Randel’s pet came and breathed fire on it. Tor was so surprised by that move that for a moment he forgot that the alutnarat in front of him was still alive. Luckily, Randel finished off the monster before it could charge again.
“We should try to get on a smaller street,” Randel spoke up after the fight. “Here we’re too much in the open.”
“Let’s turn left at the next intersection?” Devi asked. “Before the fight, I saw a few people running off in that direction.”
Randel nodded, then headed that way.
Tor fidgeted nervously before following them. He really didn’t want to correct them in case they got angry with him, but—
“It’s going to be a dead-end,” Tor blurted out before he could stop himself. “I-I know this area.”
The Players stopped in their tracks.
“Are you sure?” Randel asked. “Then why did people ran there?”
“I-I’m not sure. Maybe they were too panicked? O-Or they planned to hide in one of the houses. It’s full of old buildings that are easy to break into.”
“Okay. If you say you know this area, then lead the way. Try to pick narrow streets that lead us to the Core the fastest.”
Tor nodded timidly. “Does it have to be streets?”
“What do you mean?” Randel asked, furrowing his brow. “If you are thinking about going to the rooftops, I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
“No! No, it’s… I’ll show you,” Tor said, then ran ahead.
It wasn’t exactly running, to be honest. Wearing his mechanical arms, rapid movement was a bit awkward. They were long enough to reach the ground, so he used them as a support—or rather, he used them as a second pair of legs. He knew he looked ridiculous, but moving like this was easier. The weight of the metallic arms didn’t put as much strain on his body this way.
Tor stopped next to a tall house, then looked back at the others. They had been following him without complaint, though they were looking at him curiously now.
“Why did you stop?” Devi asked.
Tor turned his attention back to the building. It had a basement with narrow windows facing the street, but the windows were barred with metal plates to prevent anyone from breaking in. However, Tor knew this place. He had discovered this very basement long ago and already used it multiple times to hide. He ran to the rightmost window and kicked in the plate that covered the opening. It fell inwards without much resistance, and Tor quickly peeked inside. It was dark and empty.
“We can climb through here and come out behind the building,” Tor explained. “We’ll arrive to a backstreet that is always kinda abandoned. After that we can—”
“Watch out!” Randel shouted.
Tor jumped, turning his eye back to the window, which proved to be a mistake. The alutnarat that rushed at him wasn’t coming from the basement, but from atop the building. Tor raised his metallic arms just in time to protect himself. The alutnarat’s claws impacted with his fists, making large dents on the metal and pushing Tor backwards. At the same time, Randel’s thrown dagger appeared in Tor’s vision, but the aim was slightly off: instead of the monster it struck the wrist of Tor’s metallic left arm.
“Shit!” Randel cursed, then appeared on the other and of his dagger. He kicked at the monster and sent it flying, but not before it raked one of its claws across his shin. Devi finished off the alutnarat quickly, and Randel slumped down to the ground next to Tor.
“Damn, it hurts like hell!” he said, clutching at his leg.
“Don’t be such a baby,” Devi chided him.
“No, look at all this blood! Only in movies can people walk off these injuries without a word, it doesn’t happen in real life!”
“What’s a movie?” Devi asked.
“Ah, huh, that’s a story for another time,” Randel said, suddenly losing his earlier steam. He then looked at Tor and asked, “Are you alright?”
Tor had been fighting his tears all this time, but now that Randel asked, it was almost too much. Still, he didn’t cry. Only little kids cried, and he wasn’t a kid anymore.
“N-No,” he said. “M-My a-arm…”
“What?” Randel asked, scooting closer. “Where? I’ll give some of the healing potion too, just hang on.”
“N-Not that arm. My o-other arm.”
“Oh,” Randel said, eyes widening in realization.
Tor’s mechanical left arm was lying lifelessly on the ground next to him. The black dagger had found a gap between the protective plates at the wrist, sinking deep inside the hand. It had cut probably most of the major power cords in the arm, but that wasn’t everything. Tor had been letting his mana course through the arm when the accident happened, and the sudden interruption in the power flow had caused the core to be overcharged, destroying it instantly.
“Uh, sorry about that,” Randel said, then pulled out the dagger from the limp arm gingerly. “I was just trying to hit the alutnarat before it harmed you.”
Tor hung his head. “It’s o-okay. Thank you for saving me.”
“Will you be able to fix it?”
“The core is gone,” Tor muttered. “Without it, I can’t move the arm even if the power cords are repaired. My own mana is not enough to move such a large thing.”
“I see,” Randel said.
“Tor had only two mana crystals,” Koren spoke up from behind. “They were his most prized possessions. He is really talented in golemancy, but unfortunately we don’t have any money to buy the materials he would need… so he’ll have to make do with only a single crystal now.”
“Could you be any more shameless in trying to guilt-trip me?” Randel asked, but Koren just smiled sweetly. Tor watched her in confusion. Why was she smiling? Tor didn’t understand what his sister was trying to do, but he would have liked it very much if she didn’t antagonize Randel further.
“Can we move on?” Devi asked. “Chat somewhere else.”
“Devi, how much mana do you have?” Randel asked.
“Enough for a few more clones, but I admit that I’m running low.”
Randel nodded. “And I’m completely spent. How about we rest for a while in this basement? It seems easily defendable. Getting Koren her potion is important, but we’ll never make it if we rush too much.”
“Don’t ask me, ask Koren.”
“I’ll survive,” Koren said. “A little break would be welcome anyways. My arms are getting tired from clinging onto these clones.”
“Alright then,” Randel said.
He was the first to enter the basement, then turned around and helped Koren through while Devi held her from the other side. It took quite a long time to get her in, but Tor was scanning the area constantly for any sign of danger.
Once all of them were inside, Randel put the metal panel that had covered the window back in place, plunging the basement into darkness. But not for too long: his collar lit up and projected some kind of transparent image in front of him. It was a full-bodied picture of himself, surrounded by a bunch of runes and signs… but the important thing was that it gave off enough light to see by.
“Aha!” Devi exclaimed, pointing at the projected image. “See Randel? According to your collar, the injury on your leg is just minor. It’s indicated by the green color.”
“So what? I didn’t say it was a severe injury, only that it was bleeding a lot and hurting like hell. Which it still does, by the way.”
“Ooh, such a poor baby!”
“Laugh all you want, but I’m still entitled to complain occasionally.”
“Really?” Devi asked, clearly amused. “I’ve never heard about such things. Where I’m coming from, real men don’t complain about scratches like that.”
“Well, then maybe I’m an unreal man,” Randel said with a grin. “Either way, I’m immune to your expectations about manly men. Your meager opinion about my personality cannot stop me from complaining whenever I want! Mwuhahaha!”
“Ugh, that was a terrible fake-laugh.”
“Yeah that’s right, divert the subject before you lose the argument!”
“Lose?! What are you talking about?”
Tor crept closer to Koren while Randel and Devi were… speaking? Arguing? Anyways, they were quite distracted so Tor decided to ask Koren what she was thinking.
“Do you think we can trust them?” he whispered. “Because if you want, you can stay here and I’ll go out into the crowd and try to stea—”
“Shh!” Koren hushed him. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” Tor asked, still not reassured. “How’s your leg? I’ll try to pick the fastest route to the Core, but people have already put up those smaller barriers. We would have to skirt around them, and I know some shortcuts that could work, but there are also some that probably don’t, and—”
“Tor, stop!” Koren hissed, but then her expression softened. She reached over to Tor and ruffled his hair, then adjusted his eyepatch. “I know you’re worried about me, but try not to agitate yourself too much. You’re overthinking things. We’ll rest here for a bit, then climb out on the other side of the building and you’ll lead us to the Core. I’ll receive the potion and we’ll hide at one of your super-secret hiding places. We’ll survive the invasion, and when it’s all over we will start our life anew. It’s as simple as that.”
“That’s not simple at all,” Tor said, and Koren flicked his forehead.
“Just go and think about something else then. Think about what kind of golemancy project you’ll do next.”
Tor nodded, then fell silent. He didn’t want to annoy Koren further, but it was impossible for him to think about anything else now. He was afraid of what would happen to them. Even more so, because he would be responsible for the route they chose. This part of Bildy had several smaller streets, but they weren’t very organized. A lot of them ended abruptly, or curved unexpectedly in one way or the other. To top things off, there were all those selfish people who gathered into small groups with a bunch of mana crystals. Not only would they be blocking the way with their barriers, but they probably also attracted the monsters towards them.
But Tor tried his best to convince himself that they could do this. He had done it almost every day. Moving stealthily, choosing the least-used paths, hiding from everyone that would harm him. Sure, now he had Koren with him and had to watch out for those many-legged monsters, but in its essence this task wasn’t too different from what he was already used to.
He could do this. He had to.
Fantasy Fiction Factory 