Death Touch Chapter 6

So, as you may have guessed, I've decided to just serialize Death Touch in its entirety. So, enjoy Chapter 6 and the rest of your night.

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First Chapter

Previous Chapter

Mia

How familiar this place felt. Mia was no stranger to cells. She had been in several for polishing her pick pocketing skills, but even her own bedroom had the look and feel of one. So, despite the fact that she was there for trying to kill a prince, she actually felt quite at home. She had been left there for several hours undisturbed after the spellwarriors discovered the starling tattoo on her right hip. Even they knew that interrogating her would be pointless, but they knew enough. The Scarlet Starlings had arranged an attack against the royal family.

If Mia had any reason left to feel despair, this was it. Her beloved guild mates were all in danger now. All because she had made such a stupid mistake. She expected to be executed at some point and was surprised to realize that she didn’t mind. Better to die first than witness the death of her comrades, who had all seemed so invincible to her. She knew the Hem Order was better. In a straight fight, she believed a Starling could kill the average spellwarrior without much trouble, but the Hem Order had numbers on their side and the blessing of the queen. The Starlings would have to fight from the shadows knowing that they were hopelessly outnumbered. For the first time she could remember, Mia wanted to cry.

But she was a Starling and Starlings don’t cry. They sing. So, with a mournful sigh, she began to mumble the words to an old folk song.

“Compared to what lies ahead,

death is but a gift.

Better to be dead,

than face the coming rift.”

Mia had, like everyone else that she knew of, forgotten what Song of the Rift was about, but the opening words had always stuck with people. And they seemed so appropriate in her case. They were the words of hopeless despair in the face of something one could not hope to overcome. Here she was, prepared to die knowing that something much worse was going to happen. When the Starlings were exterminated, justice itself would die with them.

“I think you’ll actually want to stay alive for the next part,” a familiar voice crooned from within the darkness.

“Mario!”

Mia wanted to sing again, so happy she was to see her fellow Starling. But that would have to wait until she found out what he was doing there. For Mario, whom Mia had always looked up to as an older brother, to be there might very well have meant that her failure had been so monumental that the Starling she loved most had to be the one to kill her.

“Keep your voice down!” Mario hissed impatiently. “The guards are unusually alert up there. Do you want us to be caught?”

“I’m already caught,” Mia grumbled petulantly. “So why are you here?”

“I’m here to get you out,” Mario said, as if surprised that she would ask. “What did you think?”

“I think I screwed up big time. The spellwarriors know I’m with the Starlings.”

Mario nodded grimly. “I know. But we’re all okay. We all went into hiding before they could find us. It’s almost like Lady Dinorah knew this was going to happen.”

Mia couldn’t believe what she had heard. That the Starlings were safe had only barely registered. Had Dinorah truly expected her to fail her mission? True, a royal assassination was hardly the best choice for a first assignment, but Mia had figured that Dinorah simply had that much faith in her. Could it be that she was set up? No, that doesn’t make any sense. Why would she intentionally endanger the guild? If she was going to be able to wrap her head around this, she needed to talk to Dinorah herself.

“What’s the plan?”

Mario shoved Mia’s backpack through the bars and began to work on picking the lock. “When I open this door, give me a few minutes to get clear, then you’re going to fight your way out.”

Mia didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Seriously? That’s the best you could come up with?”

Mario shrugged as the lock clicked and the door swung open. “Dinorah’s orders. She’s given you permission to make as much noise as you need to. If you survive, she’ll be waiting for you at our hideout in Solan. If you sense you‘re being tracked, you‘re to wait in Freedom‘s Reach instead. And stay on our side of the border. I‘d personally rather deal with spellwarriors than Galeon’s HDL troops.”

Mia sighed as she took her pistol in hand. If the Starlings were already made, there wasn’t any point to hiding her attempt to escape. After she nodded in acknowledgement, Mario slipped away like a black cat in the night. She waited for several excruciating minutes, she loaded her weapon and crept through the dark stone halls of what she assumed to be Beldor’s jailhouse. It didn’t take long for a guard to spot her as she slid around a corner. Here we go. She fired a single shot, which pierced his neck before he could even raise his crossbow.

“You spellwarriors and your primitive weapons,” she said calmly as a fire began to build up just under the surface. “I hope your brethren find the ability to combine magic with their crossbows worth it because it didn’t help you much.

Wasted words. He was already dead before she had even finished her sentence. But the sound of her gunshot had already echoed off of the walls, alerting others to her presence. Like the good soldiers they are, they clustered together on either side of her, boxing her in. But she was armed with more than a knife, gun, and garrote. Using her fresh kill as a human shield, Mia jammed her hand into her backpack and pulled out a thick copper ball with a dial on it, holding it up for everyone to see.

“She’s got a chaos grenade!” One of the guards shouted, close to panic.

Another responded with, “Why didn’t anyone search her belongings?”

A good question, Mia thought as she turned the dial and threw it toward the phalanx to her right. The guards began to scatter as the ball began to glow red hot and explode. Hoping that the path she opened would lead to an exit, she sprinted past the bodies of the poor fools that were caught in the explosion into a haze of black smoke. Covering her mouth with the sleeve of her left hand, she ran blindly through the hall until she stubbed her toe on what turned out to be the bottom step of a staircase. Almost there.

She climbed the stairs as quickly as she could, only just now realizing how hungry she was. Well, that would just have to be the second appetite she would sate. She drew a second grenade as she neared the top of the stairs and chucked it into the next room. A smile of cruel satisfaction twisted her face as she heard the resulting explosion and the shocked cries of whoever had been in the room. She stepped into the din with a cold calm and noticed a window just over the black haze. Freedom! With her wire uncoiled, she leapt over a desk and gripped the edge of the window. She smashed the glass with her pistol and peered outside. She noted that she was on the first story of the building, not far from the main entrance. Also, it was still dark. Mario had been quick to rescue her. She jumped down and dashed toward the stone wall that surrounded the jailhouse.

The wall was too high to climb and running for the gates would be suicidal. She didn’t like the plan that immediately occurred to her, but now was not a good time to think about it. She drew her last grenade and fastened her wire to the dial. Mia then heaved the grenade as hard as she could, relieved to see it sail over the wall and yanked the wire, which she hoped would pull out the dial. Surely enough, a third explosion tore through the wall and crumbled part of it a flurry of dust, shrapnel, smoke, and pebbles. She hadn’t quite managed to make a hole in the wall like she had hoped, but she was able to climb over it now.

Safely on the other side, the obvious choice left to Mia was to don another disguise and slip out of town, but as she prepared to leave, she felt something nagging her. As if something else were controlling her movements, she found herself wandering back toward the park where she had been captured. Mia felt a twinge of irritation as she found Johnny sitting on that same bench as if nothing had happened. His guards may be good, but they wouldn’t be expecting a repeat performance from the supposedly captured assassin. It became clear at that point that she couldn’t leave without finishing her job, but she’d have to take care of the spellwarriors first.

She peered hopelessly into her bag, wondering what, if anything, she could use to take care of the guards. She was out of grenades and wasn’t about to charge in with her pistol without being able to see them. It was then that she remembered Dinorah’s advice. An assassin’s greatest asset is her eyes. Be patient and you will spot your opportunity the moment it arises. Mia was in no position to be patient, but other than abandoning her mission, she didn’t have any other choice. Johnny Clark was still going to die that night. She only needed to wait for the opportunity to present itself.

The escaped jailbird couldn’t afford to wait for long, though. As soon as word of her breakout had reached Johnny, she knew that the guards would be on even higher alert and might perhaps even actively seek her out. It was as she considered that possibility that a wonderful idea occurred to her. And so, she set off to work.

Minutes later, a gunshot rippled through the park, missing Johnny’s left ear by inches. For the second time that night, Johnny’s drunken daze was rapidly overwritten by seasoned alertness. As Mia had anticipated, both of the spellwarrior guards reappeared and sprinted toward the source of the shot with pulsating vermillion barriers to protect them. They were definitely prepared for battle, but there wouldn’t be one for them. All they would find is a pistol pinned between the branches of a tree with a wire wrapped around its trigger.

Before she could pounce on her seemingly vulnerable prey, however, she would need to make sure there wasn’t anyone else who stayed behind to protect him. After all, counting on her inconceivable luck hadn’t worked out so well for her earlier. Unfortunately, all she had left were her disguise props and dagger. She removed the weapon from her bag and threw the backpack as hard as she could at the slob prince. Miraculously, no one showed up to protect him. The bag full of books hit Johnny squarely on the head and knocked him unconscious.

For the first time that night, Mia was certain that everything was going as it should. Both her doubt and nerves were gone and this time, as she crept up to her prey, she was firm in her intent to kill. Quickly, before the guards find out what I’m up to! She knelt over the unconscious royal and pressed the tip of her knife just over his heart.

And true to her word, she truly enjoyed carving into his chest and effortlessly partitioning his heart. What a wonderful knife.

Next Chapter

The Fadalians

In Comalan, every culture is influenced by the world's heavy theology, which follows the whims of higher lifeforms known as the kilgor. Their full nature is mysterious, but what is known is that the kilgor were once an advanced race who were driven to near-extinction. Most of those who remain have settled in a sacred city called Fadal, which is why the people of Comalan refer to their gods as The Fadalians. If you, dear readers are going to fully understand Comalan, you must know:

Chaos

Given the name Ragos, Chaos was the last god to accept his new moniker from the mortals who aspired to translate their names into modern terms. He is known as the God of War and he leads the Fadalians as their King. He is one of the planet's creators, having used his own strength to give the land its form. He governs fire and battle magic, as well as the Summer season. His will is laid out in the Doctrine of Power, which essentially encourages strength, courage, and self-reliance.

Crane

His original name is Intala, but the God of Knowledge has taken easily to his new name. Crane is Chaos' younger brother and the second of the two creators. Using his intellect, it was Crane whose designs form the many complexities of nature. He governs wind magic, as well as the mental magics of Clairvoyancy and Foresight, and the Autumn season. His adherents follow the Doctrine of Knowledge, which emphasizes rigorous study, critical thinking, and exploration.

Serenity

Serenity, also known as Pacil, is the Goddess of Tranquility. She is the Matron deity of all elves since her rescue of their race from the relative savagery of Crane's biological testing. She governs all earth magic, encompassing the manipulation of both plants and minerals as well as the Spring season. Her personal beliefs compose the Doctrine of Tranquility, which encompasses calmness, pacifism, forgiveness, and protection.

Salica

Formerly known as Torma, Salica is the Goddess of Storms and the elder sister of Serenity. As the Matron goddess of all emotion, she governs the magical art of Empathy as well as the emotionally-charged discipline of Storm Magic. In addition, she has a strong affinity with water magic and the Winter season. Her will is enshrined in the Doctrine of the Storms, which empowers people to maintain a strong grip on their feelings and remain sensitive to those of others when making decisions.

Geos

Geos is the eldest son of Chaos and Serenity, and is known as the God of Time. His existence was anonymous to Mortals until late in the Second Age, when he led an uprising against the Fadalians' followers in Resta. He appears to have reconciled with his family and now guards the Reservoir of Time, a mystical pool that governs the flow of ages and allows time travel.

Maula

Maula is Geos' twin sister. For reasons related to Geos' initial disappearance, she carried a grudge against her family that manifested in the mass killing of millions of mortals. It is for this reason that she has come to be known as the Goddess of Death. Following her defeat at the hands of the Champions of Resta, she has reconciled with her family and now her followers exist to educate mortals about the truth of death.

Kerun

Kerun is the youngest son of Chaos and Serenity. By the time of his birth, Maula had already begun to rebel against the Fadalians. Thus, his upbringing conditioned him to be the opposite of his sister in every conceivable way. Where Maula spited her family for destroying mortal life, Kerun honored the family by creating life. This is how he came to be known as the God of Life.

Nidarys

Nidarys is the youngest of the deities, having been born in the Third Age. Instead of a natural procreation, however, she was biologically engineered by Crane in an attempt to save their species. She is an amalgamate of ten-thousand of history's most pivotal figures, from warriors to thinkers. She was designed to have strength that matched Chaos and intellect that outstrips Crane's, so that she can tip the scales in the Starlight Crusade.

Erdas

Erdas is the mysterious antagonist of the Starlight Crusade. Not much is known about him besides his propensity for causing suffering. He has managed to gather enemies of the Gods and brought them to bear against mortals on two separate occasions, one of which ended with a shocking betrayal of the Fadalians by one of their trusted Avatars.

Karas

Next to nothing is known about Karas, though ancient accounts of theology suggest that he may have assisted the brothers Chaos and Crane with their creation of Comalan. While all of the Fadalians encourage mortals not to think of him, Chaos and Crane actively deny his existence, which make his nature both a subject of lively debate and a taboo to even mention.

Eione Astersong, Adjutant of Crane

Eione Astersong, the Adjutant of Crane

Eione Astersong, current Adjutant of Crane and sister of Salica's avatar, Atunis Astersong, is one of the more controversial figures to be given the title. She has a checkered past and, in the eyes of many, has built herself a reputation for being untrustworthy and unpredictable. Nevertheless, the Avatar of Crane, Tir Apollo, decided to put her trust in the fallen priestess, perhaps believing her to be capable of redemption. Some say her curiosity and cryptic motives will lead to an inevitable betrayal, while some, including Tir Apollo herself, believe that focusing her intellect, drive, and insatiable curiosity towards a higher purpose has the potential to make her a vital asset to the Avatar's goals.

***

Eione was born on Iris in the seminary that was run by her and Atunis’ mother and father, two priests of Serenity. As a small child, she frequently misbehaved, teasing her brother, running off alone, and exploring in places that she should not. Living amongst disciplined, pious priests in training had an influence on her, and she soon learned how to act in a manner that pleased her family.

Though at a glance she seemed to be a pious priestess of Serenity, the temptation to explore and learn of things unbefitting a young girl in her position persisted within her. She remained in the seminary for many years before she seized the opportunity to escape the life that was so unfulfilling to her. A particular human mage, Yann, visited the isle in search of magical artifacts. Eione, already being a gifted potion maker, disguised herself as his apprentice and left the island with him, traveling all the way to his far away tower in the desert edge of Galeon. 

Of course, it was not long before her protective brother managed to track her down with the help of his friends. She refused to leave with them, however, and Atunis resignedly left her with the mage, where she continued to study her craft, soon outgrowing Yann’s teachings and leaving his tower to explore. In her travels, Eione met several members of and was recruited into the noted mercenary troop, the Phoenix Blade. Eione moved to the Phoenix Blade headquarters, developing close relationships with several of the members and proving herself an integral part of the team. She encountered her brother once more on a mission with the Phoenix Blade. As usual, he disapproved of her decision to participate in something so dangerous, but knew he could do little to change her. 

She also developed a more secretive relationship with a member of a dangerous cult, and began contemplating joining the group to gain knowledge of the arcane secrets of Comalan’s darker forms of magic. Soon, she began to juggle her two lives, managing to keep her affiliation with the cult secret until a Templar commander who was investigating the cult, Venaticus Desmond, realized she was helping the cult evade the authorities. After the Templar wound up dead, it was discovered that Eione had conspired in his murder.

At trial, Eione was granted mercy due to her close familial relationship with the Avatar of Salica, and was sentenced to live under the custody of the Avatar of Death, Aennin Moonstep, who she has reluctantly served ever since.

Death Touch Chapter 5

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

Clint

“She’s awake now.”

Alexis had broken Clint’s pensive silence with this statement and he looked up from the floor for the first time since his arrival at the village infirmary less than an hour previously. He had been at a loss about what to do since then. The patient’s injury had kept both Alexis and Dr. Clark busy the entire time. On top of that, he was still extremely exhausted, both from his date and the strain of carrying that other woman all the way here.

What had been foremost in his mind the whole time, however, was the dream he’d had. It seemed all the more relevant when he had found out that the person they’d saved was a member of the clergy. He had no reason to think that fact was connected to his experience, but the timing seemed hard to shake off. Now that Sara was awake, Clint supposed now was a good time to try to figure that out. But what good reason did he have to talk to her besides this indescribable feeling that she was connected to him? Yeah, I’ll bet asking to see her would go over well with Alexis.

Instead, Clint simply replied. “I’m glad to hear it. Are you going to be ready to go soon?”

Alexis nodded while finally showing some ghostly signs of fatigue. “Doc is having a talk with her now. I’m going to check back to see if they need anything, then maybe we can go. How are you boys getting along?”

Clint looked up at the bed in front of his chair. There, Seth continued to lay dormant. In truth, he was no less worried for his friend than he had been an hour ago, but the mystery of Crane’s message seemed to trump his presence. For all the notice he had taken of the young spellwarrior, he might have been a fixture in the room he happened to occupy. But he wouldn’t dare to tell that to the man’s sister.

“Great! I just told him that joke about the nymph and the floral sprite. He thought it was so funny that he woke up and laughed himself back into his coma.”

That may have been a little much, Clint thought. Alexis seemed to enjoy the joke, however, if her chuckle was any indication. She kissed Clint on the forehead and smiled over her brother. As she began to leave, she replied. “I hope you get a chance to tell him that joke for real soon enough.”

And so, Alexis left them alone again. But before long, Clint found himself joined by Anthony Clark. A tall man with a model physique, Dr. Clark found no shortage of admirers within the village. What’s more he was the youngest brother of Queen Penelope, making him of prince of Resta. Why a member of the royal family would study medicine or relocate to the kingdom’s far southern reaches was beyond him, much like everything else about the good doctor. Still, he was a kind and intelligent man who was worthy of anyone’s respect. It’s too bad he’ll probably never be king.

Dr. Clark smiled jovially to Clint and looked down at his patient. “Good evening, Clint. Shadowing my bright young nurse again?”

Clint nodded absentmindedly. “Something like that.”

The doctor held a hand over Seth’s forehead and stared intently into his face. Clint knew without even being able to sense that the he was employing magic somehow. It was likely some exploratory spell meant to allow him to see into the patient’s body without any special equipment. It was truly a miraculous thing that this infirmary even had a medical practitioner who employed magic because it had almost none of the very equipment he had foregone.

Moments later, Alexis had returned. When she had stepped into the private room, Dr. Clark looked up. “I might have some good and bad news for you two.”

“Well don’t keep us in suspense!” Alexis shrieked impatiently. “What’s the good news? No-no-no! Bad news first!”

“Well, the bad news is that the infection seems to have spread. I am finding wild source matter throughout his body and it seems to be rising to his epidermis. But it doesn’t seem to be interfering with his body at all. In fact, he seems to be regenerating unnaturally quickly. His bone fractures are almost completely healed and I don’t see any signs of bruising whatsoever.”

“My gods,” Alexis murmured as she stared at her still unmoving brother. “He might just pull through this after all!”

Clint grinned. “I knew he was made of tougher stuff than that! Bunch of thugs take Seth Midas down? Not bloody likely!”

Dr. Clark nodded gravely before adding. “It’s still too soon to be certain. I don’t know if you’re aware, but source matter is dangerous stuff. We’re talking about one of the primary components of chaos grenades, after all. Its effects on the human body aren’t widely understood. Still, his recovery has been remarkable. If we could assume those effects are benign, I’d see no reason he won’t be up and out of this bed by tomorrow night.”

Alexis’ eyes lit up. “Really?”

The doctor shook his head. “Don’t hold me to that. Physically, he’s fine other than his infection, but when he wakes up is something that can only be determined by him.”

Alexis rushed forward to hug Dr. Clark. “Oh thank you, thank you, doc! He has a real chance because of you!”

The doctor disengaged himself from his nurse with a look of discomfort. “Please, don’t thank me. All I’ve really done is keep him alive. His recovery is one-hundred percent his own doing.”

Alexis nodded, a little embarrassed by her outburst. “Still, that’s wonderful news. I had to share that with somebody.”

“Then you should share it with your boyfriend,” Dr. Clark said with a smile aimed at Clint. “You two have been through all of this together. Truly, Clint’s done more for you and your brother than I have.”

Clint didn’t know why the compliment had embarrassed him, but he could feel the heat of blood rising to his face. “That means a lot, doctor.”

Alexis took note of Clint’s blush and hugged him. “And he meant every word of it. You’ve been amazing.”

Clint didn’t see the point to patting himself on the back, especially since Seth was still in a coma. “I’m sure I’ll feel that way too when he wakes up. How’s the girl we brought in?”

Alexis looked taken aback by the sudden change of subject, but answered, “You mean Sara? Just a minor concussion and a fractured radius. As soon as we brought her to, she was able to heal her own injuries.”

“And she did so extraordinarily quickly, now that I come to think of it,” Dr. Clark added. “Her faith must be powerful.”

Interesting. “More powerful than yours?” Clint asked.

Dr. Clark chuckled. “Possibly, but that is neither here nor there. Our abilities are similar, but my training is in medical mysticism.”

Clint suddenly realized that he had lost interest in talking. So powerful was his eager curiosity that, without a word, he wandered out of the room into the open ward. He searched the room carefully, but could find no trace of the cleric. Dr Clark and Alexis followed him out moments later; the latter looked annoyed.

“Clint, what’s the matter with you? You’re starting to worry me.”

Clint did not seem to have heard what she said. “Do you know where she went?”

Alexis‘ eyes narrowed with barely contained rage as she exclaimed. “I believe I asked you something first!”

Clint squeezed his eyes shut and began to rub his temples. Why didn’t she understand how important this is? Okay, I have some explaining to do. I must look like a pig to her right now.  With a deep sigh, he added. “When we were alone earlier and I… fell asleep, I had a sort of… religious experience. Then, immediately afterward, we found her. I don’t know why, but it feels connected somehow.”

Alexis’ eyes narrowed further into slits. “Do you really expect me to believe such rank rubbish?”

Of course she wouldn’t believe him. The Midas family were worshippers of Ragos. A weakness of their faith was that anything with deep meaning often goes ignored. Alexis did not believe in anything she could not handle with her own fingers or see with her own eyes. Although he would have never believed it before, he seemed certain since his intimate encounter with Crane that this trait went right up to Ragos himself. But that doesn’t mean she can put me down like that, Clint thought.

“I’m telling the truth!” he fiercely insisted. “I felt Crane within me! It’s like we shared a mind. He… I think he gave me a prophecy!”

Alexis looked ready to scream, but Dr. Clark chose that moment to but. “Now hold on. History is full of false prophecies, sure, but everyone knows that bad things happen to those who claim they are the words of the Gods. What did you see?”

Clint was thankful that Dr. Clark, at least, was taking him seriously. He took a deep breath, then began to speak quickly. “I was standing at the base of a black tower with three other people-- a man and two women--but I could also feel the presence of the four elder gods. There was an evil-looking cloud that I’m pretty sure meant death and the four of us are supposed to do something about it and I think Sara might be one of those people.”

Saying it aloud made him feel foolish, but he was confident that no one would see any hint of jest or deceit in his voice. Alexis still didn’t look convinced, but at least she was no longer angry. If anything, she looked utterly confused. A period of silence had fallen on the room, broken nearly a whole minute later by Alexis.

“Say I believe you. Well, couldn’t you just go to a temple?”

“The only temples here are Serene and Chaotic,” Clint grumbled. Well, there’s no way I should have expected this to go well.“But I’m sure she’s part of the prophecy! I need to find her before she leaves town!” I think.

Alexis glared at Clint. He glared back. Finally, when the tension had seemed too much for either to bear, Alexis said softly, “She’s not going anywhere. She seems intent on staying for some reason. Maybe you’ll find her at the temple.”

Clint sighed. He appreciated that she was finally telling him what he wanted to know. He supposed he ought to try to give back.

“Thank you. I’ll look into it when they open tomorrow. I think I can afford to wait that long if I have some time to catch her. For now, want to head home?”

Alexis had accepted the hasty makeup, but she still didn’t seem happy about it. And now that Clint came to think about it, he didn’t feel so great himself. Alexis seemed to think she was simply going to toss her aside now that this woman he hadn’t even had a chance to speak to yet had arrived in the village. He had certainly never claimed to be innocent in that regard, but what the two of them had was passionate and fun. He had never given Alexis any reason not to trust him and he had no intention to. But when the only thing you have to explain your newfound interest in someone is a vague prophecy, what else could you expect your lover to believe?

When it came to that, however, just what was it about this girl that was drawing such urgency from him? He recalled the inexplicable attraction he had felt to the Serene figure in his dream, trying to work out what that could mean for the first time. He had left that part out of his description, but Clint shrugged that fact off. It had been clear, at least, that he’d been sending the wrong message and would have to make up for that later.

So, with further assurances of Seth’s eventual recovery from the doctor, Clint and Alexis left the clinic hand-in-hand. As Dr. Clark watched them leave, an older man with neatly trimmed grey hair and donned in the same burgundy uniform that Alexis wore wandered in. The night shift nurse mumbled a word of greeting to the Doctor and took off for the relative peace of the desk he shared with the other nurse. Before he could settle down, however, Dr. Clark rolled onto the empty bed nearest to the desk.

“Good evening, Albert. Can I get you to give our coma patient some Bloom Draught? I’m ready to turn in for now.”

The nurse, Albert, nodded wordlessly and shuffled lazily to find the required medicine. By the time he finally wandered into Seth’s room with the bottle of lava-colored fluid in hand, he found the patient’s eyes twitching.

Next Chapter

Legend of Bear the Eversprite Hound

The animal life of Tanis is known for frequently falling into a ruthless black market of exotic beasts that spans throughout the world. Of these unfortunate creatures, there is no species that fears poaching more than the Eversprite Hound. These dogs, which resemble over-sized coyotes with thick fur, are native to the forests and known for spawning fey creatures known as eversprites in their stomachs. Since these fey ultimately transform into pups once they reach three years of age, eversprites were once considered the natural offspring of the hound until modern researchers discovered live-birthed pups resulting from natural breeding. 

In truth, eversprites have a symbiotic relationship with the canine that hosts them, in that each cluster of sprites seeks shelter inside the animal while using their magic to protect the animal from the magic of others. When stricken with a spell, the eversprites retreat into the dog with a trace of the magic that they were attacked with. Doing so causes their color to change to one that corresponds with the magic they absorbed and applies the same color to the dog's fur. In their new forms, both the hound and the sprites within develop a powerful resistance to the magic that was previously absorbed.

It is these qualities that make eversprites valuable to scientists and magic-users alike. Since an eversprite is only known to come into the world through the hound's body, the hounds are frequently targeted by poachers. Though the sprites can be vicious in protecting the animal, the dog itself lacks a natural sense of aggression. That was true of a certain eversprite hound that has come to be known as Bear, a dog who was large even for his breed. Given his unnatural strength and his propensity for flight when faced with danger, he managed to avoid capture after many attempts. 

But Bear's frequent escapes had consequences that he could never understand. As he eluded more and more seasoned poachers, he developed a reputation that only invited more to try to capture him. He gained the name Bear for the ursine silhouette he was said to cast to the hunters who trailed him to the darkest parts of the forest. His capture seemed like an inevitability by the time a group of hunters smuggled some creatures of their own to the Tanisian side of the border for the attempt that would finally succeed.

Bear was alerted to imminent danger on that faithful morning by the silent padding of several sets of feet. The sheer number of footfalls gave him a sense of being surrounded. He had only just decided on a direction in which to flee when he felt a set of fangs sink into his tail. He tried to escape, but he found himself trapped in the grip of a Restan ridgewolf. He stared meaningfully into the fellow canid's eyes for a moment before finding himself surrounded by three other wolves. No matter what Bear could have done, there was no way to escape the small pack. The poachers cautiously approached after the wolves had him surrounded, brandishing nets and snares. He could feel the eversprites fighting to spring from his mouth to defend him, but he held him back, knowing that he could not do anything to protect them this time.

The eversprites and their host were carted into Resta by their captors and put on display in Resta City. There he saw fear and cruelty in the eyes of every human who looked at him. This inspired Bear's first aggressive move. Learning from the ridgewolves who snared him, he began to bite into the bars of his cage. He nearly escaped from between the bent rods of steel that confined him before he was tranquilized. Fearing that he couldn't be trusted inside a large city, the poachers took him back on the road to the estate of a collector of exotic animals. 

But this expedition would spell doom for the poachers, whose caravan found their gruesome deaths at the hands of a roving band of maulans while traveling Flora Field. After the butchering of the humans who held him, Bear found himself trapped between these three of these fey monsters and the back of his cage. The maulans ripped out the bars, savagely savoring the prospect of devouring the traumatized hound. But once the bars were clear, the eversprites sprang from Bear's mouth for the first time that month and swarmed angrily around the maulans. The momentarily distraction allowed Bear to escape the cage into the flowers that surrounded the road.

What followed was Bear's final formative tragedy. In the confusion of the fight between fey, one of the eversprites found itself poisoned with the toxin that all maulans secrete in their spiked tails. As Bear ran away, the eversprites hid inside him once again, but this time, he felt himself sickened by their presence. He stopped in his tracks and coughed up the entire contents of his stomach. With this, his entire cluster of eversprites came out, dying in a pool of the acidic toxin, their skin tainted black. Desperate for water, Bear stumbled toward the pond located in the center of Flora Field. In the water, he saw his reflection, which showed that his fur had turned black; the final effects of his eversprites.

The maulans found Bear as he tried to drain the pool in his extreme thirst. He had no time to mourn the sprites that they killed, so he instead growled as the ridgewolves taught him and charged. He sank his teeth into the neck of the nearest creature, which he was fortunate to discover is a maulan's weak spot. But in his fury, he failed to notice that a second maulan had stabbed the nape of his neck with a tail spike. That should have been enough to kill anything else, but the eversprite magic seemed to have made him immune to the toxin. The confusion with what must have been their first failure to kill someone with their tails, gave them all the distraction they needed to fall to Bear's wrath. 

Leaving all of his tormentors behind, finally free, Bear stumbled aimlessly through the many types of flowers that inhabited this patch of the eastern prairies. He seemed ill without his eversprites, a condition which aroused the pity of the local floral sprites. They nursed him to health and were rewarded for their efforts with the hound's loyalty. To this day, Bear the black eversprite hound wanders through the home of the floral sprites, protecting its fey and plant life with a ferocity not seen in others of his species. He is particularly aggressive toward humans with just two exceptions.

Death Touch Chapter 4

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

Seth

So much pain. Where the hell did it come from?

Seth had been in pain more times than he cared to count, but something was different about the sensation he was experiencing now. He felt now as if his pain was a permanent thing, regardless of his magic or the intervention of any healer. He was powerless, but he did not know why.

He struggled to remember where he was and how he had gotten there, but all he could remember was the disaster of his mission. He and his partner, Luna, had been beseeched by his own village to investigate a strange curse that caused the heraldic instruments of the local temples to lose their sound. They had started at the temple of Ragos… no… Serenity. Ragos? No, definitely Serenity. Nonetheless, the pair had deduced that the source of the curse was a series of fake charms that some of the temple goers had been wearing.

He stopped a pretty-looking girl who had traveled all the way from Karatal City because they lacked a Serene temple there and asked her about it. She had seemed taken aback when he questioned her. He had been warned that would happen. Enforcing the people’s laws came without the divine authority enjoyed by templars, but otherwise came with many of the same social pitfalls. As a result, spellwarriors weren’t very popular in peacetime.

Still, the young worshipper was kind enough to answer, “This? It’s just a prayer charm I bought from a merchant on the way here. Why, is something wrong with it?”

The answer wasn’t clear to Seth and Luna even after they had stared at it for a long time. Finally, as the civilian had gotten impatient with standing for their inspection, she offered to sell it to them. With no reason to believe that the charm was dangerous, Luna accepted without hesitation. She slipped the charm around her wrist and continued to stare at it.

“What do you notice about it?” Luna said; her way of testing the rookie, Seth was sure.

“Nothing. It’s just a piece of colorful junk,” Seth said sourly. “I can’t believe you actually bought it.”

Luna smiled as she continued to ponder her purchase. “Ah, but ‘nothing’ can be just as important as any clue. Do you remember how the girl described it?”

Seth racked his brain for this insignificant detail. “Umm… I think it was supposed to be some sort of prayer charm?”

Luna nodded. “Precisely. A genuine prayer charm, however, doesn’t work if it doesn’t help you link with the Gods in any way, which would require… what?”

Seth rolled his eyes, wondering when he’d stop being treated like a student. “Of course, it would require… oh.”

He looked down at the charm once more. A colorful piece of junk indeed. This supposed prayer charm did not have an ounce of magic in it. He had sensed this without any difficulty, but he was still too slow in making the connection.

“If people are bringing these useless trinkets into a temple and praying onto them, that would be considered an act of blasphemy,” Luna explained with a shrug. “I’m willing to bet that enough of these things could build up to a nasty curse.”

Seth sighed as he glanced toward the temple doors. “Blasphemy, huh? Sounds like the Templars’ department.”

Luna shook her head furiously. “There is no way in hell we’re letting the Templars in on this. Do you know any templars, Midas?”

Seth shook his head.

“Well, templars are fucking awful. I know you’ve heard about our… professional rivalry back in the Academy.”

This time, the young spellwarrior nodded. “For as long as our order has existed, we’ve been at odds. But still, it’s their job to crack down on acts of blasphemy, isn’t it? We’re just peacekeepers.”

Luna sighed and pressed her palm to her forehead. “Good grief. Listen, kid. We keep the peace by enforcing the queen’s laws, right? Well, it’s illegal to sell fake divine relics. And since someone has chosen to disregard that law, the peace of Palon’s temples has been disturbed. One thing you’re going to have to learn sooner rather than later is that we have to use any means possible to justify our role in a case. If we let the Templars get ahold of this, they’re just going to make a bloody mess and call it a day.”

Seth listened to his superior’s lecture thoughtfully before replying. “If they’re so bad, why do people respect them so much?”

Luna struggled to avoid rolling her eyes. “They’re not exactly bad. It’s just that their methods are different from ours. They think that respecting the Gods is a given and anyone who doesn’t can go fuck themselves. If they find whoever is doing this, they’re just going to beat whatever suspects they find senseless and throw them into a dungeon. If they even survive. But what if the suspect is innocent? Or if they’ve been collaborating with someone else? It’s our job to really get into the minds of people in order to get to the truth. In my opinion, Templars should just stick to protecting pilgrims and temples and leave crap like this to us. We‘re clearly better at it.”

Seth supposed that made sense, but if he were being honest, he would have done exactly what the templars would. Maybe that’s why I’m still being treated like a kid. It was clear to him that he still had a lot to learn. He had thought that life would be smooth sailing after his graduation into the ranks of the elite, but he was still very much ignorant of the ways of the Hem Order. But Luna would soon learn that Seth was a quick study.

“So, we should probably case the roads between here and Karatal to find this merchant, right? If we can at least figure out where they’ve been, they should be simple enough to track.”

Luna smiled appreciatively. “They should, huh? I suppose you had high marks in tracking?”

Seth nodded a little awkwardly. “I did okay. I’m trained mostly in the close combat school, but I never had an absolutely terrible subject.”

This was stretching the truth of his middling performance in school. Still, Luna appeared to have bought it, because she then reached into her pocket and drew her summoning horn. “Well, I hope okay is good enough, because I’ve always been damned miserable at tracking. After you.”

Seth fumbled for his own horn and, together, both spellwarriors blew an echoing tone. As a result, two oversized wolves leaped out as though an unseen door had opened in the space between them. Luna’s horn had summoned a shaggy copper beast, who stooped forward without hesitation so that she could mount him. This left Seth to mount the sleek, black wolf with an air of uncertainty. He still hadn’t gotten used to his lupine companion.

“What a beautiful creature!” Luna remarked. “What’s her name?”

Inkfang. No one seemed to like the name Seth had given his wolf, but as he had spent so long coming up with it, he defiantly insisted on calling her that. But when he told Luna the name, she smiled.

“Clever. Better than ‘Brute,’ anyway. Let’s hope she rides as well as she looks.”

Seth doubted that she would. Inkfang was quick, but far more willful than he could manage most of the time. As they set off on the northeasterly trail to the coastal town of Karatal, he found that his wolf had been perfectly content to match Brute’s pace, thus he only needed to avoid falling.

It was nearing sunset as Inkfang suddenly came to a stop along the road. She stared searchingly across the verdant plains, forcing Luna to stop Brute with a loud whistle. The two of them doubled back to where the black wolf had been standing and the elder spellwarrior was visibly upset.

“What are you stopping for? We’re never going to find these guys in the dark! We need to move!”

Seth had been trying the whole time to coax Inkfang to move, but she stubbornly remained still. “I think she senses something.”

The wolf companions of the spellwarriors had long been known for their ability to see what their masters could not. But why had only Inkfang stopped?

Luna slid off of Brute’s back with a sigh. “Well, it couldn’t hurt to take a look around. We’re nearly to Karatal, so if we don’t find them on the road, we’ll have to wait until morning to search the city anyway.”

Luna began to do just that while Seth dismounted. Something felt off about this, but he couldn’t be sure what was making him so uneasy. He leaned into Inkfang’s neck as he was wont to do when he struggled to understand her. But the wolf remained still and Seth could hear her abnormally rapid heartbeat. Something had spooked her. He stroked the wolf’s head reassuringly, coaxing her to return his attention for the first time since they set out.

“What’s wrong, girl? Is something out there?”

Inkfang’s muscles tensed and she began to growl. Just then, Luna called out, “Midas! I just found some blood!”

Seth turned toward Luna and dropped from Inkfang’s back. Upon rushing over to his partner, he found that the ground had indeed been sprayed with blood, which seemed to mingle with a thin, caustic amber fluid that had already begun eating into the grass that bordered the road.

“What is this stuff?” Seth asked of the mysterious liquid.

“I wouldn’t touch it, but that’s about all I can tell you. It seems to be some sort of… acid.”

“What happened here?” Seth asked, but before Luna could answer, Brute let out a wailing howl.

The spellwarriors rushed to find Brute and found him poking his nose through an overturned cart whose wheels had been reduced to splinters. Piled throughout the ground immediately surrounding it were the unassuming trinkets they had been searching for and more of the disturbing combination of blood and acid.

“I’ll tell you what happened,” Luna growled, clearly struggling to maintain her composure. “Someone or something got to these guys before we did and… well, now I wish the templars had found them.”

“What could have done something like this?” Seth asked, nearly whispering now.

“I don’t know, but I’m not in any hurry to find out,” the veteran replied, and as she did so, Seth could tell that she was afraid as well.

“Well, we can’t just leave this be!” Seth exclaimed as if Luna had said something scandalous. “What if whoever did this is still out there, preying on other travelers?”

Luna turned to glare at Seth. “Listen, you stripling brat! There are procedures for unknown threats like this. We need to wrap up our case and report this to the Elders. They’ll decide how to handle it.”

Seth could hardly imagine caring any less about these trinkets than he did at that moment. “We can just let the templars dispose of this crap. If we don’t do something, more people are going to die!”

“If we rush after whoever did this and we end up in way over our heads, we’ll die.”

“We’re supposed to put our lives on the line for the safety of others!” Seth barked. “If you’re seriously telling me that we’re supposed to just run away, then maybe I made a mistake in joining the Order!”

Seth could tell that had landed. If there was just one way to hurt a spellwarrior, it would be to insult the pride of the Hem Order. Luna continued to glare at Seth for a moment longer before letting out a sigh. She stared pensively into the pools of gore and pressed her hand to the cleanest bit of ground within her reach. Seth could see the magic flowing into her hand as a glowing red orb formed underneath her palm. She lifted her hand and the orb floated with it. When she released it from her grip, it continued to float two feet above the ground, pulsating urgently. This emergency beacon, Seth recalled, would get the attention of any nearby members of the Order as well as the scryers back at the academy.

“You make a good point, but if we follow these guys, you are to follow my orders exactly,” Luna said, her severe voice somehow sounding more serious than usual. “We are only going to scout the target for now. Just stay close to me and don’t even speak unless I tell you to.”

Seth nodded his agreement and with that, the two climbed back onto their wolves.

“Well, Midas. Let’s see you put those tracking skills to use,” Luna said with her usual patronizing smirk.

Next Chapter

The Festival of Autumn

At the end of each harvest season, it is common to see a flurry of pamphlets circulating the cities of both Resta and Galeon which detail many points of physics, microbiology, zoology, botany, and agriculture. While the point of this is lost on travelers from other countries, the adherents of Crane's Doctrine of Knowledge recognize these as signs of the yearly Autumn Festival, also referred to as the Festival of Crane. It is at this time of the year that people are encouraged to learn more about the world around them and mortalkind's place in it. The Autumn Festival is both a celebration of a successful harvest and a reminder of the consequences of ignorance.

The festivities center around a science fair catered by a seasonal feast of the year's harvest. Pumpkin, cranberry, and apple dishes are the main attraction, as well as the proteins of farming livestock such as chicken and beef. In Resta, the fair takes place in the capitol Courtyard, like any of the four seasonal festivals, where science projects are put on display between the food carts. These projects are judged by a panel of Crane priests and, in Resta, the monarch awards the most enlightening and insightful presentation with the Royal Boon. This immeasurable honor, which also is awarded to combat tournament winners from the Summer Festival, allows the recipient to make any request of the current ruler of Resta which falls within their power provided that such a wish does not pose a detriment to the royal family or Resta itself.

The Galean version of this festival, however, is wildly different. For starters, the festivities take place in every city rather than a single capitol. Furthermore, while they remain committed to the agricultural roots of the festival, Galeon's citizens have instilled a sense of progress into the festivities by also focusing on technology as a tool for mortalkind's improved relationship with the planet. There is some debate as to whether this is a good thing, as marvelous feats of engineering often overshadow the hard scientific work of other participants. Finally, the award for the best project carries less weight, as the people of Galeon are more motivated by curiosity than Restans.

The traditions of the Autumn festival date back to the early Second Age, not long after Resta's founding. The Blackstone family farm was struggling to rebuild after the plague that ravaged the merging lands of Necros and Coronos. It had already suffered through three consecutive harvests with disappointing yields. As a result, they struggled to even produce enough to feed their animals. They prayed to every god they could think of to keep the bellies of their livestock and countrymen full to no avail. This led the family matriarch, Lara Blackstone, to critically examine the land and their techniques. Through her efforts, she had discovered a residual pathogen from the plague that had crippled the land and killed their plants. This began a long winter of digging up every patch of land on the farm and treating the earth with a chemical that was known to render the pathogen harmless. 

The following year, the Blackstone Farm had its first truly successful harvest in a decade. As the Blackstones and all of Resta celebrated this new bounty, Lara gave a message to her people that informs the spirit of the Autumn Festival. The Gods gave life and form to the planet, but they cannot manage every aspect of people's lives. Instead of praying to the gods for sustenance, it falls to the people to develop an understanding of the workings of their world so that they can solve their own problems. As the Doctrine of Knowledge demands intellectual improvement, this message resonated with its adherents in particular. The party that followed is known as the first Autumn Festival, a tradition that is repeated every year in which there is a successful harvest. Since then, the applications of science to the continued survival of mortalkind has become a more and more critical focus of Autumn. So it is that Fall has become a season of study and reflection on the failures of those who waited for the Gods to bless their problems away.