hi. sorry i forgot i was supposed to be late and accidentally finished it on time
[Part 3] — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — [Part 5]
Chapter 7
Ire
Cain arrives at the Silent Ire, and parks his rowboat next to the spire surrounding it. He hops across the other rowboat to the stones, leading up to the main island. He climbs up the small cliff face, finding the small island. Compared to Redwake proper, this one was a natural island, with actual grass and trees. A small stone path led to a training area, with a campfire nearby, as well as a small house.
As Cain begins to follow the path, a figure emerges from the house. A man around his age, with light brown hair tied into a ponytail and kept out of his blue eyes. He looked somewhat similar to Gaius, wearing a ragged white cape over a brown tank top and maroon pants. A notable exception was the anklet that wrapped around his left leg, made of some type of gold and spiraling around his ankle, up to his calf.
“Who the hell are you?”, the man asks.
“I’m Cain. Anthimos sent me to train.”
“Hah! Yeah right, someone like you??”
The man lunges forward with a kick, forcing Cain to back up.
“I’m telling the truth! It’s for the war..!”
“I can sense your magic, idiot! You’re a Veridian Army soldier, aren’t you!”
“I defeated one, why would I-”
“Enough! I’ll show you my power, and take you out for Uncle Anthimos!”
The man begins to charge his energy, a strange blue aura surrounding him as he runs toward Cain.
“Fine! If I have to beat sense into you, I will…!”
Cain fires a blast of Explosion magic and jumps to the side, drawing his blade. The strange man stops in his tracks and jumps up high, launching himself off the spire, attempting to hit Cain with a flying kick. Cain moves to the left and tries to slash at the man, but he recovers in time to duck it.
They engage in a close quarter brawl for a moment, the man using his fists and legs while Cain dodges and uses his dagger. The man fakes him out, and is able to land a knee to Cain’s gut, following up with a strong kick that knocks him back. Cain coughs a bit, before looking up with determination. He lunges at the man with a piercing stab, then whirls around to slash while the man attempts a counter, catching him off guard and slashing his cheek.
The man backs up slightly, and scoffs. “Lucky shot. You aren’t bad, for a Veridian mutt! Now, how’s… This!”
The man charges up a strange blue energy as his anklet glows, then kicks at Cain, hurling a blue blast at him. Cain summons his magic, and quickly launches his own blast of magic to clash with it, cancelling each other out.
“What is that power…?” Cain thinks to himself.
He evades another blast, throwing his own in retaliation. The man runs toward him and jumps up again, but Cain predicts it by sending a blast to the sky, landing it and charring the man. Cain then capitalizes off of it with a quick burst of speed, slashing right through him.
The man returns to the ground and stomps, summoning five orbs of energy, then goes in for a punch. Cain dodges to the right and watches the orbs carefully, seeing them begin to fly toward him. He runs to the side, having them collide with a tree. The man dashes quickly toward Cain, and attempts to kick him, but Cain slashes at his leg, clashing with the Gilded Anklet.
The Anklet holds up well, without sustaining a single scratch, allowing the man to kick away the tanto and land a followup kick straight to Cain’s chin. As Cain stumbles back, he notices the dagger embedded in a tree. He summons a magic circle and aims it at the man, causing him to pause his advance. Cain then launches the blast at the tree instead, sending the dagger flying toward him.
Cain catches his dagger, and rushes the man down. The man follows suit, straight toward Cain. Before they are able to clash once more, they are cut off by a massive curved sword being thrown between them, causing the two of them to back up and the ground to crack. Both Cain and the man notice the blade, and who it likely belongs to. A kopis, carved from the bone of a massive creature, with red wrapped around the handle. The owner rushes toward the blade from the sky and grabs it, spinning around to look the two younger men in the eyes, sighing heavily.
Chapter 8
Kindred
“What the hell are you two dumbasses doing?!” Anthimos yells.
“Uncle Anthimos! I was teaching this Veridian Army idiot a lesson!”
“Really? Because this man just woke up from a coma, and seems to be doing rather well against you, Emilios!”
“I-I, well, I.. It’s magic privilege, sir…!” Emilios responds, a bit embarrassed.
“Uh huh. You say that, wielding a power that’s far rarer than magic.”
“I… Ugh…”
“I tried to tell you, ugh…” Cain sheathes his dagger and catches his breath.
“Sorry for his hastiness, Cain. I probably should have realized he wouldn’t believe you…”
“It’s fine… You’re pretty strong, man.” Cain walks over, shaking Emilios’ hand.
“Cain, huh..? Sorry about that. We don’t get many magic users, y’know? The names Emilios. Emilios Alaric!”
“Nice to meet you. You’re the other pupil, huh?”
“Yeah! Uncle Anthimos is finally letting me train, despite my father’s reluctance…”
“What exactly IS that power of yours? It’s not magic?”
“It’s Spirit Energy. Very few people are able to control it, but I can! I’ve had this anklet for as long as I can remember, and it lets me attack with spirit energy, just like your magic.”
“Woah… That’s cool! Can I use it??”
“Hah! Sorry, but I heavily doubt you’d be able to control it.”
“According to the legends… Only descendants of gods are able to control their own Spirit Energy. Though with a Relic, like Emilios’ anklet, it’s possible for common folk to use it as well.” Anthimos explains.
“But he’s able to control it…? You mean he’s…?”
“Yep! Apparently, I am! Though I don’t care much for who my ancestors are. Or my real family, either. Gaius is my father, that’s all that matters!”
“He is?!”
“Well, sort of. I was rescued on his grand crusade, during the Wrath of the Gods. He liked me, and apparently saw my potential… So he started to teach me! I mostly learned about navigation and such, but he’s recently let me train with Anthimos for the war!”
“Ohh… So you’re kinda like me, then… I lost my memory, and my way during that time… I only know my name through this sword…”
“Huh… So we’re like kindred spirits, then!”
“I guess so!” Cain smiles.
The two young men share a fist bump, initiated by Emilios. Anthimos nods, seeing the bond between them.
“Alright you two, let’s have some food, shall we? I got some meat from the food merchant. Then, we can start your training.” Anthimos says, walking over to the campfire, pulling out a pouch.
The trio share a large meal consisting of some meat and fish. Upon eating and feeling refreshed, the trio begin their training, with Cain and Anthimos using wooden training swords instead of their respective blades. Cain and Emilios learn a bit more, and fight together rather well. Cain additionally learns to wield more types of weapons apart from his dagger.
As Anthimos watches Cain and Emilios begin a sparring session, he notices a rather crucial flaw in Cain’s strategy, or lack thereof. The more Cain fights, and the more magic he uses, the more the gaze in his eyes shifts. Some of it can be explained as his memories of battle returning, but past a point, it gets different. Manic. In his travels across the sea, he’s seen it a few times. Those consumed by the power that the gods have granted them… But never in someone this young. There was still time to save him. Or perhaps, even teach him to harness it in a safer way.
Anthimos jumps into the fray, commanding their attention to attack him. He fills himself with energy, bolstering his speed as he zips around the island. Cain summons a magic circle, creating an explosion to knock him down, and Emilios follows up with a powerful kick that nearly causes Anthimos to stumble.
Anthimos summons three magic circles, and sends beams of wood toward the duo, causing them to disperse. As the wood strikes the ground, short lived flowers and vines begin to sprout, releasing a poisonous mist around them that splits the two up. Anthimos claps his hands together, and two blasts of his Nature Magic are sent toward Cain and Emilios. Due to the slow speed, they both dodge out of the way, and regroup in the center, beginning to rush Anthimos down.
Anthimos summons a barrier of Nature Magic, testing the two. Cain shoots three blasts of Explosion Magic, and Emilios throws a blast of spirit energy, before pausing. The barrier disperses, and Anthimos comes out with three strong kicks, before realizing that his students passed the test. Even so, he ducks the incoming kick from Emilios, and snaps Cain’s training sword in half with a precise kick of compressed air, launching the young man backward.
“Hah! I hope you two didn’t actually think you had me there. Nevertheless, well done. You two will need much more practice to fight General Arvid… But for now, that’s enough. We’ll focus a bit more on speed, tomorrow.”
The three share a meal together once more, then retreat to the small shack, getting some rest. The night is quiet and still, until midnight. The calm waters are disturbed as a woman docks her cutter ship at the edge of a nearby spire. She swims over to the island and climbs onto it, lowering her energy. She sees the house ahead and the three rowboats docked nearby.
“That blade will be mine…”
ok bye. thank you for all the support on the last one. next part in 2 months and 20 days