005 (1/2)

“…there were four moons in the sky. The four daughters of the sun G.o.d, Azrakh. Red coloured, Eranth; the blue  Olynth and Silann the white, fairest of them all. Valaren the black, favored by her father adorned the sky by his side at day along with Eranth.  On midsummer each year, the sisters would come together and celebrate the birth of…”

– Extract from the Igniz Ras’pell, A human epic, ~6000 B.C.

I tried for the umpteenth time. Smoke curled up from my fingers but no fireball came out. I was trying to cast magic after learning from the magic books  lent by grandma. I did ask her how I could do magic, but she simply said that she never learnt it formally. She tried and tried and finally did it. It seems to be a matter of feeling.

According to the book, Sangraal was suffused with a mysterious, invisible particle. Known as Aurora particle, it was everywhere. Theories were numerous about its origin, but no conclusive evidence was found for any of the theories. Whenever magic was used, Aurora particles would be utilized by the caster and transformed into magic. However, the aurora particles didn’t disappear but merely trans.m.u.ted to what they called Exhausted Aurora particles which make up the magic.

Theorists proposed that the Exhausted Aurora or EA underwent a cyclical change to replenish the Aurora otherwise they would be exhausted. Anyway, Humans used magic by absorbing the available Aurora in the environment and trans.m.u.ting it into magic. What the book doesn’t tell you is that it’s b.l.o.o.d.y difficult to do.

Apparently, every species on this planet had an inbuilt magic circuit in their heart. They could use that to issue commands to the Aurora particle, or AP entering their body to trans.m.u.te into the type of magic they wanted to cast.

I don’t know if I even have a Magic circuit.

That’s what I had thought until I  had tried to chant the magic. Nothing had happened at first few tries but my palm had grown hot. After about a hundred failed chants, here I was with some smoke puffing up my hands.

I sighed. “Harharl Infigare!(1)” I shouted, exasperated and desperate.

Nothing happened. Of course not. It was just an anime.

“Rigel! Stop! What are you doing!” Arin shouted from behind me and ran towards me. She dropped all the herbs she was carrying and broke into a fast run in panic, her face ashen.

Why was she panicking so?

“Err…fireball mag..” I was cut off  mid-reply.

“That’s not what I am asking. Why are you trying to cast without a conduit?” she demanded while inspecting my hand.

“Conduit?” I asked.

“You asterhunkel, why didn’t you read properly? The Aurora converts right after you let it go out of your body, so what do you think happens when you are not casting long distance magic?”

Oh s.h.i.+t. I would get burned.

My eyes went wide when I realized. Arin guessed that I understood the implications so she just arched her eyebrows at me.

“Seriously, are you really 4 years older than me?” She chided. “Even kids know this”.

“How do I get a conduit?” I asked.

“For you…you have to buy it” she said after thinking a while, “Lets go to the river while I treat your hand”

We started walking. Now that I notice, my hands did sting a bit. The attempts had burnt off a thin slice of skin from my palm.

Today was another of my rest days. I had come to collect herbs with Arin, as usual on my free days. I got a small compensation every week for becoming a village guard, so I thought of paying some back to grandma for taking care of me. However, I knew she won’t take anything, so I usually bought groceries and stuff without telling her first and presented  it. Grandma Wa.s.slia did object when I brought stuff home, but she was happy too.  She would kiss my head every time I did that, as if her own grandson had done something nice.

I was really lucky to meet someone like her when I came here.

Arin and I sat on a boulder beside the stream. The said stream flowed under the hill, with its origin somewhere in the Ishkal mountains in the north. The stream was called Natril and was rich in fish and other river life forms.

Arin dipped my palm in the cool river water, was.h.i.+ng away the soot and grime. Then she mashed up some herbs growing beside the river and applied on my hands.

“Keep the herbs in the place with your hands. I am not going to tear up my robe to make a poultice”  Arin instructed me.

“Hai hai, Ojou-sama” I replied jokingly. She looked at me with suspicion in her eyes at the Ojou-sama.

“You don’t know how to compliment a lady properly, do you?” She said.

“If I see a lady, I will” I replied with a straight face.

“No lunch for you today”, she was incensed.

We sat at the bank, watching the river flow by. It was relaxing. The sound of the river mingled with the sounds of RiverSong sh.e.l.ls in Arin’s hair. The girl and the river watched each other silently, as having an invisible dialogue between themselves.

I had  always wondered , but Arin became uncharacteristically quiet whenever we were at the river. She would stare at the river without getting tired. I wondered what she was thinking.

“You know, Rigel, I feel like I can be at peace when I am near the river” She suddenly spoke up. She s.h.i.+vered while speaking, “After my parents…died, I had no one to talk to. The kids made fun of me, hated me while I kept crying all the time”

Arin’s voice had become heavy with emotion, quavering. “ This is where I escaped to when I remembered my parents and cried a lot. No one saw me crying here. The River didn’t demand from  me to talk, it was happy to talk to me, flowing by me while I watched”

I could only manage to listen in silence. This was the first time she had spoken about her parents. I wouldn’t have guessed that Arin hurt so much underneath.

“I talked to myself all the time to stave off the loneliness, but this river gave me peace.” Tears glistened on her red cheeks.

Before I could do something, Arin wiped her tears and collected herself, “Sorry for saying all these. Rigel, I am glad I met you. You remind me of the river, always listening to my ramblings” she said with moist cheeks and glistening eyes.

I stood up and walked away from her. I could feel her eyes following me. A few white flowers bloomed on the bank, a little away from us. I picked one and returned. It was the same flower that I had unintentionally given Arin on the first day.

I crouched down beside her holding the white magnolia like flower in my hand. She seemed to understand my intentions and tensed a bit. After just a moment, she seemed to relax and turned her head, a shy smile on her lips. I planted the flower on her black hair and plopped down beside her, leaning on the boulder.

I couldn’t say anything. So, the girl with river in her hair and the boy who dreamt of death sat side by side, looking at the river. No words needed to be said. Because their conversation was one of silence. A silence of three parts, the boy, the girl and the trickling river.

I found out the problem about why I can’t cast. I couldn’t control and properly channel the Aurora particle inside my body yet. Grandma scolded me when she heard my reckless attempts. It seems that uncontrolled AP could sometimes invoke magic inside the body, causing the spellcaster to die. She had heard of a mage whose AP had run rampant inside his body, invoking the spell for fire. His whole right hand had carbonized from the inside. He lived, but lost his hand.  I decided to concentrate on AP channeling for now.

The magic for humans in this world seemed to be divided into Elemental magic and Soul magic. Everything that had to do with elements was cla.s.sified as former and rest of the magic like summoning or healing as the latter. There was no cla.s.sification like Light or Dark magic. It all involved on the intention of the caster. The same summon spell was used both when conjuring undead and when conjuring holy beasts like the Unicorn.

I continued studying magic while I improved my swordsmans.h.i.+p. I was finally green-lighted to go on subjugation and extermination quests with the village guard corps to suppress the monsters.

Gustaf divided the 15 members into 3 groups of 5 each. We were going to suppress a mob of monsters known as Kivalas, a group of four legged dog like monsters. They had a reddish brown s.h.a.ggy coat of fur and razor sharp claws. What made them really dangerous was their tendency to roam in packs and call out for reinforcement when faced with danger. More than a few villagers had fallen prey to their vicious fangs.

I didn’t know what Gustaf expected by putting me and Karro in the same group.

Was he expecting rivals-turn- friends shounen s.h.i.+t?

For today, we were given actual swords and weapons instead of the blunt training ones. Everyone was eager to earn some reputation for themselves. The three groups walked at a brisk pace, separated from each other by 50 metres in an inverted arrowhead formation. We were walking towards the Nurengraz forest, located on both sides of the road that leads to the next town, Haven.

We were walking through the forest when suddenly Gustaf put up his hands in a fist, signaling us to stop. He conveyed by the hand signals that were drilled into us everyday that he had detected some enemies. Sounds of metal clanking softly could be heard as everyone readied their weapons. I unsheathed my sword and unhitched the unadorned s.h.i.+eld made of thick wood covered with leather. It was okay with fangs, but bad at blocking metal weapons.

Howls reverberated through the trees and the underbrush rustled. By the howls, there were at least five Kivalas. Sweat trickled down my temple, as I tightened the grip on my sword. All at once, the Kivalas bounded into view, leaping up from the thick bushes. The battle had started.

Gustaf barked orders and the inverted arrowhead expanded it’s wings, allowing the Kivalas to run inside the middle of the V. Though they were pack animals, they did not have much intelligence to gauge the trap. The men surrounded the Kivalas and bore down on them with their weapons.

Our group of five had taken the left flank. Two Kivalas bore down on us, snapping at the vanguards me and Shayn. We two used s.h.i.+elds, so we took the burnt of the attack, the Kivalas slamming against our raised s.h.i.+elds. These dogs were strong.

The monsters snapped their jaws, their razor claws trying to break the s.h.i.+eld. The monsters tried to jump over the s.h.i.+elds by climbing it. Karro and Grant swung their swords, trying to disrupt the Kivalas. Karro’s sword went through the right flank of one of the monsters, warm blood splas.h.i.+ng down on my face and hands.

The hurt Kivala howled, it’s ferocity increased to manic levels. Illya was trying to poke out the eye of the other Kivala by his spear. The monster easily dodged it and jumped up at him, using Shayn’s s.h.i.+eld as a springboard. My blood went cold. Shayn screamed.

“Karro!” I shouted. He looked at me and understood my intention in a flash.

“Crazy f.u.c.ker”, He mumbled, “Go”. I slammed my s.h.i.+eld up at the chin of the Kivala in front of me, that was trying to climb over the s.h.i.+eld to get to us. The Kivala made an odd sound as blood and spittle went flying out of its maw when I slammed the s.h.i.+eld under its chin. Then I got up and ran backwards to help Shayn, while Karro held off the Kivala.

The Kivala was eating Illya’s hand as he screamed. His eyes had gone white as he howled with all his might. The Kivala just continued to chomp on his arm, as sounds of bones being crunched emanated from it. Illya hadn’t been able to block the Kivala when it had  come too close for the effective range of the long spear. The Kivala had simply slammed the wooden spear aside and clamped its jaws on Illya.

I ran and slammed against the Kivala’s flank with full momentum. The s.h.i.+eld was put up near my face, not letting the Kivala attack me. It went flying and slammed against a tree trunk. I walked over Shayn, setting up a defensive posture in front of him. The Kivala jumped at me using the tree trunk for leverage. I put up the s.h.i.+eld and it slammed against it. I used my sword to reach around and pierce it’s flank. The monster let out an enraged howl and jerked violently. The sword went flying away due to the momentum. My hands went numb and I gulped.

f.u.c.k. f.u.c.k. f.u.c.k.

The Kivala, enraged beyond anything, bit at the wood s.h.i.+eld. It’s sharp fangs pierced the wood and…stopped midway. The Kivala had snagged its teeth on the wooden s.h.i.+eld. I held the s.h.i.+eld with all my might as the monster shook it violently, trying to dislodge it, while I  took out the hunting knife Grandma-Wa.s.slia had gifted me.

I slammed down the knife on the Kivala’s eye and held it there, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g it in until it reached the brain. Warm blood spurted out of the wound, splas.h.i.+ng my face again, the salty blood smelling of iron.

“f.u.c.k you” I shouted as the Kivala spasmed while taking its last breath. A strange pall had come over me as I felt intense bloodl.u.s.t within myself. It didn’t have anything to do with revenge or defence. I wanted my enemy dead as I bathed in its blood, simple as that. I wanted to dominate, to have their fates in my hand. My body trembled and I took a deep breath. Then I charged.

While I rushed past, I noticed that Karro and the others had finished their Kivalas. I jumped into the fray at the other flank of the formation. Only one Kivala remained. It was proving to be troublesome as it shook off the weapons that had pierced it. I jumped down in front of it and slammed my s.h.i.+eld on its skull. I kept slamming and slamming till it had deformed, grey matter oozing out of its ears.

The battle was done.

Everyone looked at me strangely. Gustaf came over and punched me on the gut. “What the” I managed to groan as I keeled over.