Tale of Four

After a few days of travelling, Alice couldn’t help but groan, seeing that the potion she would take to knock herself out had run dry. It had been terribly boring for her along the journey: the rides spent sleeping, knowing the two would never stop, and the nights dragging on after they had decided to stop in places where there was nothing that could tempt her. At some point she had been tempted to run off and leave, only kept in check by the knowledge that only by travelling with the two could she ask the red iris what he meant by a second.

’It’s impossible to think there is another. But Chesh was right. No one is as good as me. Whatever gave me the instruction must have created an antagonist for me. It’s the only thing that makes sense.’

A deep sniff broke Alice out of her thoughts, and looking to the large man, she saw him closing his eyes and sniffing the air, his brow furrowing and unfurrowing. ”Elva.”

”Yeah, I smell it.” Closing her eyes, Alice took a deep sniff and furrowed her brow when she didn’t notice a difference in the air. Yet the two seemed certain, bringing the horse to a stop. ”Magi, sit with Randolf for now.” Alice did as told, jumping off the horse and taking her place on the large man-horse, making herself comfortable. Free to ride alone, the scarred woman reached for her gear. Flipping open the flaps of two bags, she lifted an arrow out of one, checked it and nodded. Reaching to the other side of the horse, she pulled out a small crossbow and stood up, aiming and making herself comfortable before easing up.

”Do you see anything? The man asked, looking into the distance. Alice looked at where the two stared and shook her head. To her, there was nothing, but the two were so sure she wondered if maybe she was wrong. Taking out her glasses and slipping them on, she activated the magnification rune and looked into the distance. Scanning the land, she smiled when her worries were confirmed.

”I didn’t see anything.” The two ignored Alice, looking into the distance. Sniffing the air, the scarred woman pulled out a narrow. Unlike a normal one, it didn’t have a tipped end; rather, it was a small pouch tied to it.

”Firing.” Aiming the crossbow up into the clouds, she waited a second, silently counting before pulling the lever. Instantly, she reloaded, pulling back the shaft and placing a new arrow of similar design. The arrow flew into the clouds, and Alice quickly lost sight of it. Yet its effects were clear. A large explosion echoed throughout the land, and the clouds broke apart. Following it, numerous other explosions, much smaller than the first, echoed, coming from numerous random directions surrounding where the first came from.

’Whoa.’ Staring at the aftereffects, Alice tried to sense the arcane and found nothing. ’No arcane. Impossible. How did they make the explosion then?’ From the dark clouds left behind, the first body fell, followed by another and then another, until nearly twenty fell from the sky, bloody, black and broken apart. As the dark clouds cleared and the sky was now revealed, Alice saw what was smelt.

A flock of birds flew in the sky, a ravenous swarm, tightly compacted together, looking like a black shadow in the sky dancing, collapsing and expanding from itself. The scarred woman didn’t hesitate, firing another arrow and then another. The clusters of explosions went off simultaneously. Their horses started running, travelling at a speed they hadn’t before; the scarred woman, expertly balancing herself on the horse, fired arrows into the sky, causing numerous explosions as tiny black bodies fell from the sky.

Staring up in fascination, Alice didn’t notice when the black swarm above began to move, circling them instead; she was too busy trying to figure out how to replicate soemthing like that, and a flash of inspiration hit her.

Within her hand, a ball of fire formed, and trying to fiddle around with it, she wondered what she needed to add to get the same as the arrow. ’I can’t just add more to this; otherwise, it will be unstable. No, fire is the wrong chain of thought.’

Aiming it towards the sky, she let her spell fly and watched as it tore through the swarm, causing a pitiful amount of damage before disintegrating. ’No, it’s wrong. Even if I condense the flames and have it explode on the target, it won’t have the same cluster effect.’ Staring at her hand, she had a new idea. Atop each individual finger, highly condensed white flames appeared. With her other hand, she wrapped them in a ball of pure arcane power and threw it towards the sky. The arcane barrier around the five small flames burnt away in the middle of the flock, and once it fell, five explosions went off. Although it was closer, Alice frowned, once again feeling it was off, not having the spread of the scarred woman’s arrows, instead just making a bigger explosion in one section. Although it was more effective than her first spell, it was still inadequate for her.

’No, it’s not possible to have such a cluster effect without having an unstable spell that wouldn’t work. No, what I need is to use the arcane power in the world to sustain it, if anything. That would be the only way.’

Staring at her right hand, Alice created another ball of fire. Condensing it until it threatened to collapse, she began adding attributes to it. ’Like runecraft, you can’t overload it and must have the correct materials. Explosion....combustion, oh no.’ Quickly, Alice wrapped the ball of fire in her hand in a barrier of arcane power and threw it, feeling it was about to explode the moment it touched the open air.

The barrier disintegrated once again under the heat of the flame inside, entering the centre of the swarm. An explosion went off, and Alice stared, her lips curling up in excitement as she heard another and another going off, until the sky was littered with tiny but effective explosions. Activating the magnification rune again, she watched as the explosion spread across the air, forming new ones. After a minute of explosion, with bodies falling from the sky, the spell finally died, whatever it was using as a fuel source having been sucked dry.

Hundreds of corpses fell from the sky; the swarm thinned under the joint assault of Alice and the scarred woman. ”Wait.” Before she could make another spell, the woman’s strange voice called out to stop her as the swarm of black birds flew off into the distance, running away. With a sigh of relief, the two slowed down their escape and returned to the leisurely stroll they had been taking.

”How many?” The man asked, and the woman quickly checked her pouch, nodding in satisfaction. ”

Only six arrows. If we see more of those swarms, it will be fine.” The man sighed in relief and looked down at Alice in front of him.

”You did well. I’m surprised you could use such a spell. I thought Magi didn’t bother learning such destructive things.” The large man kindly said with a thin, acknowledging smile.

”Most don’t, I think,” Alice said, looking down at her hand, satisfied with the results. ”But her arrows are far more interesting. Even when I tried to copy them, it took me a few attempts. What are they? I didn’t sense any arcane power, nor did I see runes the other day when you checked them.”

The scarred woman pulled one out and fiddled with it between her fingers. ”It’s something from Lord Eversight’s territory. Inside are numerous orbs; I don’t really know where they find them, but anyway, once they hit the open air, they react and explode. The covering around it is weak, just used to hold it together. When fired, it will tear the moment it hits soemthing, allowing the reaction to begin.” Carefully putting the arrow away, she smiled. ”But it ain’t too useful for most things, just those fuckers in the sky.”

Alice nodded, begging with her eyes to be given an arrow to play with. Choosing to ignore the look and turn away, Alice eventually sighed in defeat and looked ahead. ”How much longer do we have?”

”A few weeks, Magi. Every time you ask doesn’t speed up the journey.” Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Alice looked down at her hand.

’That dead guy was right. Everything is runecraft. Before, I only tested with spells to see, but that finally confirms it.’ Within her hand, she formed an orb of water. Staring at it, she slowly tried to add properties. ’Ignite-’ Instantly, the spell collapsed, the two properties failing to merge. ’So simple. Why did the teacher or anyone else try to make it so complicated? It’s just a matter of adding things, without overloading it.’