Chapter 47 - Overdraft

“Don’t stop! Keep running!”

The whole forest around them seemed to buzz with a sea of hisses and clicks that came from all around them.

“We’re getting surrounded. Which way?” came Leena’s ragged voice.

“Damn it, they’re herding us in! Forget it, look for a defensible place where we can make a stand. We definitely can’t outrun them and this way we’ll only keep losing strength.” Leon's firm voice reflected his decisive choice when confronted with the brutal reality laid out before them.

“Make a stand? There’s hundreds, maybe thousands of them,” Leena pointed out helplessly.

“We’ve been trying to get away from them for the past hour but we’re only getting more deeply entangled by them. If this continues, soon we’ll be exhausted and attacked from all sides. Now move!” Leon didn’t even dare turn around, snarling over his shoulder as he threw yet another firebolt.

After throwing so many firebolts, Leon’s efficiency had risen considerably. This time, the explosion caught the legs of three different spiders as they skittered forward on those abominable eight legs. Each spider lost several limbs, but only one lay incapacitated on the ground while the other two were able to hobble forward with renewed violence. The one that couldn’t get up was soon trampled under the claws of countless of spiders following close behind.

Leon bit back a curse as he prepared another firebolt in his hand. Briefly risking a glance over the first few ranks of the pursuing spiders, he couldn’t help but feel like a hand had reached up from the pit of his stomach to constrict his throat. An entire sea of sparkling green shells as far out as he could see relentlessly skittered forward in hot pursuit.

Biting back another curse, he fumbled in his pocket for yet another elemental crystal. Drawing upon its essence energy, Leon’s other hand blurred into a complex set of runes so quickly that they were simply blurs of motion to the naked eye. Immediately, a glowing ball of fire sprang into life within his palm, but then something went awry and the ball flickered instably for a moment.

Leon’s vision momentarily lost focus as he stumbled, just barely managing to catch himself against a nearby tree before he could fall to the ground. Leon bit his tongue and the pain made his eyes water as his numb mind swiftly regained focus. His dimming vision looked down to find the ball of fire in his hand flickering as though it might go out any moment. The young fire summoner did not have to look to his wrist to know what he wold find. Already, he could feel the painful throbbing of veins swollen many times their normal size. The color would be so dark they would resemble lines of charcoal running underneath the skin of his arms.

“Leon, you..” Leena gasped in alarm. “You’re overdrafting, you can’t possibly-”

“I can and I will. Keep moving!”

This was indeed a consequence of overdrafting his elemental veins. His elemental veins were being scorched into ruins by his own reckless abuse of essence. While throwing bolt after bolt of fire, Leon had barely managed to keep the army of giant spiders off his back. Every time he blasted one away, five more instantly jumped forward to take its place, all the while hissing and clenching their hideous two foot long twin fangs as they relentlessly pursued their prey.

Had he known there was a whole colony of these accursed beasts, Leon would have avoided using his fireblasts. More’s the pity, after the first five spiders he had slain, eight more had shown up only ten minutes later. While only mildly concerned at first, Leon had proceeded to slaughter the spiders with ruthless efficiency. After all, although they were agile, their shells were surprisingly weak to fire and their movements easy to read once he became accustomed to them. It was only after a few more fireblasts that Leon had finally realized the nightmare he had fallen into.

At first it was only a slight tremor, but it had gradually risen in intensity until the entire forest began to rumble as more and more hissing noises had reached his ears from the trees all around him. It was only then that he realized he had awakened a whole army of the damn things.

Now the beasts were nipping at their heels, and each fireblast only drained more of his power without any visible effect on their foes’ numbers. Thus they had no choice but to run and keep running. Now, over an hour into this bloody, agonizing chase, they were running out of options.

Leon had been fully cognizant of the fact that he would almost certainly die in his vain quest to save Skyle. Still, he had hoped to at least battle against a great hunter of the forest, a colossal beast. Better yet, a glorious final battle against the very same beast that had snatched his only friend away. This was an ending he could still accept.

Dying after being run ragged by a bunch of overgrown bugs, where was the honor in this? Where was his last glorious battle? Was he to be torn into pieces by insignificant trash he could slaughter by the dozens, buried under the sheer weight of mountains of their useless carcasses? What’s more, even dragging a helpless girl and little boy to their graves as well? No matter that he did not care for either of them, he had still tacitly accepted them into his care when he allowed them to follow after him in the aftermath of the first encounter with the spiders.

Now, he stared long and hard at the most abysmal failure of his entire life. His friend gone, likely devoured by a feral beast. His charges soon to follow a fate even worse, for Leon truly looked down upon these damned bugs. But fall they would, simply because they could not possibly keep running much longer. Then Leon would fall, last yet most culpable of all. He would die an abject failure. He, who had never allowed himself to fail. He may stumble, he may fall, but he would not fail. Not again.

Not after losing Skyle.

Leon Draxas shall not meet his end like this.

With a deep growl, Leon pushed himself off the tree and clenched his right hand into a fist so hard he couldn’t keep it from trembling violently. Power. He needed power now more than ever. Power to burn the whole world down until nothing was left but ashes. This power, he gathered it from even the most minute part of his body. He channeled every last drop of this power into his trembling right fist and then with a great roar, he squeezed.

Cracks could be heard from the bones in his hand, but he was beyond caring. Pain was inconsequential, only failure was not allowed. Summoning all of his arcane training, all his martial discipline, and even tapping into the last vestiges of his savage pride, Leon Draxas squeezed until his whole body wrung out every last drop of elemental essence into that one hand.

When he finally spread his fingers open, a radiant ball of golden sunfire roared into life within his grasp.

Leon didn’t stop there, but rather reached into his pocket with his left hand and brought out four essence crystals. Then he once again squeezed. One after the other, the magical crystals shattered into fine powder as they were swiftly drained of all elemental essence. Leon recklessly allowed it to flood into his entire body. Liquid fire coursed through his every vein as they instantly went from empty to bursting. Leon felt himself dancing on the razor sharp edge between agony and ecstasy as he grasped power beyond any he had known - and he had known power. He was acclaimed as the most gifted fire summoner in the past hundred years.

But there was power, and there was power.

Now this was true power.

Leon slowly breathed out, and he could feel elemental currents sparkling within the very air he exhaled. Looking down at his left fist, it shook uncontrollably as he continued to exert all his power to concentrate the purest essence of fire into a singular point. When he finally spread his fingers apart, he was not disappointed. Cradled within lay an orb of the purest crimson fire. It flared wildly with each breath he took.

“I am Leon Draxas,” he began, each word strained as if he were bearing an unimaginable load but in his eyes an indomitable fire blazed brightly.

“I summon thee, Fifth Flame, the Bright Star, the Final Scorch..” As he continued chanting the words of the spell, both hands rose above his head, each grasping an incandescent sphere of fire of different colors.

“I am Leon Draxas!” Shouting these last words, Leon forcefully brought both hands together and both orbs of fire merged together in a blinding flash. A resounding blast of energy immediately followed, sending shockwaves of power spreading in waves all around Leon. The insane clash of energy from each ball of fire seemed to repulse each other at first, threatening to destabilize the whole structure of the spell. The consequences would be catastrophic, and he could well imagine that he would directly be blown into ashes with this much elemental essence running rampant.

This, however, was not his will.

“Lord of Fire and Summoner of the Everflame..” Leon chanted, as his mind willed the two conflicting essences to merge together while his hands sent wave after wave of reinforcing energy seals. The key to this spell was not to seamlessly merge the two flames together. Such a task, even if it were possible at all, was simply beyond the scope of Leon's skill. Instead, it was to manipulate both the natural binding power of the fire element and the intrinsic repulsive properties of both spheres of fire in his hands to create a self-sustaining cycle. As both flames reinforced each other, they would continue to feed both on themselves and any other flammable matter in their surroundings.

Such a delicate balance, of course, was easier said than done. Let alone being able to summon even a single source of fire of such high purity, to bind two of them into a reciprocal connection with enough speed that their chaotic energies would not begin to run amock and melt every spell structure Leon had erected, it was simply a gargantuan challenge.

"I.. command you.." Rivulets of sweat ran down Leon's face, yet the fire summoner seemed not to notice. After a few final breathless moments of struggle, Leon slowly spread his hands apart and a surging maelstrom of fire flared into life above his head. This was a massive whirlwind made entirely of violent streams of fire so potent and concentrated, it looked like a turbulent river spinning around at dizzying speeds.

“A high third cycle spell..” Leena breathed, completely aghast and unconsciously stopping to stare wide-eyed.

“BURN,” Leon flung his hands forward as he snarled the last word. Immediately, the flaming vortex heeded his call as it soared high above Leon’s outstretched hands with a great, deafening roar that sent a visible ring of energy rippling in a great circle around it. Numerous leaves and twigs flew into the air, straight towards the growing tornado of scarlet flames where they instantly caught on fire and flashed briefly before turning into ashes. As it howled on its way to meet the oncoming tide of monstrous spiders, it continued to feed on everything in its path and kept growing larger still, as though it were a titanic monster with an insatiable, terrible hunger.

“How did you-” Leena began, but was swiftly jolted into action as Leon shoved her forward.

“I said move!” Leon growled hoarsely, glaring.

Leena shook her head as she seemed to come to her senses, and rapidly began to march again.

As soon as Leena began to move, Leon staggered sideways and his whole body began to tremble uncontrollably. A thin line of blood trailed down his chin before Leon decisively wiped it away. There was a fierce snarl of defiance on his bloody lips as he willed his numb legs forward. Slowly but steadily, step by shaking step, they obeyed.

Meanwhile, the ground rumbled as though in protest, and the air howled painfully in Leon’s ears in an unnerving prelude before the first wave of explosions reached his ears with a series of muffled thunderclaps. Each burst of fire was followed by a shrill howl of agony as hardened shells melted like butter and greenish blood instantly evaporated. All giant spiders within range of the devilish vortex of flame couldn’t muster even a single moment of resistance before they invariably flared into a brilliant, ghastly pyre of dark, hellish flames. Confronted with the brutal slaughter of dozens of giant spiders in mere moments, even this great horde of monstrous beasts couldn’t help but beat a temporary retreat.

Staggering step by step, Leon did not even look over his shoulder at the holocaust of blood and fire unleashed upon the nightmarish horde of creatures at his back. It was nothing unexpected, after all.

Leon Draxas, Fire Lord and Summoner, had called for his fire, and thus they burned.

It was as simple as that.

***

“Leon.. you..” Deep concern was etched into every line of Leena’s face as she called out hesitatingly. After a brief pause, she couldn’t even continue, and instead bit her lips.

“Fine.. Moving..” Leon coughed out, flecks of blood staining his lips.

“Your face,” Leena whispered, though she couldn’t even meet his eyes and was instead looking down at her feet as though consumed by guilt or shame.

“Run.. be right.. Behind,” Leon growled, scowling fiercely towards Leena.

The young girl seemed to struggle with some deely buried emotion for a moment, but then it was gone. With a deliberate nod, Leena bid Leon a silent farewell, then she turned around and left at a swift run, all the while holding little Emil’s hand. As the corners of his vision began to black out, Leon could barely make out the blurry outlines of their retreating figures in the distance before they were lost among the trees.

Sighing deeply, Leon glanced down at his arm with a resigned air. Bulging veins of deepest obsidian stretched his skin taut, pulsing with agonizing pain that increased with every breath he took. He didn’t need to look at his face to know that the same dark lines would have spread all across his body. Furthermore, he felt thirsty beyond belief, yet he knew it was a thirst he could not bear to quench at the moment. Even though Leon could feel his elemental channels were completely drained, he did not dare consume even a single additional drop of essence from his crystals.

If he said he had overdrafted, it would be the understatement of the century.

Blessed with the highest order of elemental constitution seen in ages, his whole life he had felt as though his elemental veins were the rivers of an inexhaustible world, wide and deep beyond measure. Even when strained by the highest order of spells he could cast, his exhausted elemental veins still felt like a vessel of the finest mithril, soft like silk yet stronger than the sturdiest steel.

Now they felt as brittle as the thinnest crystal, stretched and swollen to the point where the gentlest breeze could shatter them into dust. Even his breath had grown hot and uneven, an obvious sign that oversaturated elemental essence had broken through fractures in his elemental veins and contaminated his body.

This was one of the greatest taboos for any wielders of the elements. Each person had their own limits in terms of the amount of essence they could safely wield within a specific amount of time. It was like any muscle within the body. If you exerted your elemental power conscientiously and deliberately, it would continue to grow to a certain degree. However, overuse would result in damage.

This excessive channeling of elemental essence was overdrafting.

If a person overdrafted slightly past their safe limits, their veins would swell up and their body would accelerate its functions in order to cope with the increased energy consumption required to accommodate the added expenditure of elemental essence. However, there came a point of no return past which irreversible damage would be inflicted upon the abused elemental veins. Swollen elemental veins were the initial symptoms, followed by fracture lines and scorched vein linings. Once a wielder of the elements reach this level, he would begin wasting his talent away. It would burn away until finally, the overstressed veins finally collapsed into dust. Thereafter, even the strongest elements wielder would forever remain a cripple.

Was this what had happened to Skyle, Leon now wondered in the back of his mind. He felt the changes within his own elemental veins but there was an odd calm within his heart. Leon had well known the consequences of casting that Third Cycle spell. It had been a mere theoretical problem when he had memorized it, as he had known no adept level fire summoner, even one as mighty as he was, would be able to gather enough elemental essence for such a mighty spell, let alone deal with the complexities required to cast it. One would have to be at the Mortal level or at the very least the High Master stage in order to wield a High Third Cycle spell.

Now, Leon found that his vision was fading to black and his whole body felt numb. His feet were moving forward only through a sheer exercise of will, but he knew he would soon fall. Then it would all be over, and Leon Draxas would meet his end in this unknown patch of forest. At the very least he would be accompanied by a veritable mountain of the damned spiders.

He had no recollection of how long he stumbled forward for, but finally he reached his limit. Without any warning, Leon’s legs finally gave way. He was barely able to utter a cry as he felt his knees turn to water, but before he could crash into the ground a firm pair of hands swiftly moved to steady his weight from his side while something soft supported most of his weight under his arm.

Blinking dazedly, Leon was able to make out the blurry outline of Leena peering up at him in obvious concern. As soon as his eyes swept towards her gaze, however, she bit her lips and swiftly avoided his scrutiny.

“Girl, I told.. Run..” Leon mumbled, feeling like his tongue had become leaden.

“We did, Leon. Just lean on me. We have a little farther to go.” A barely perceptible tremor ran through the undertones of her voice, but her steps were surprisingly steady as she half-pulled, half-carried Leon’s massive weight with her tiny frame. Leon was beginning to realize he had underestimated this seemingly frail girl.

“You.. you..” Leon began, but broke off coughing.

“Hush, conserve your strength. I found a chasm nearby, we might be able to seek shelter within. If not, we will have your last stand.” Surprisingly, there was little grief in the girl’s tone, and no fear whatsoever. Only calm resignation and a quiet sadness.

Leon wanted to ask a myriad questions now that he seemed to have achieved some strange rapport with this mysterious girl, but at the moment his breathing failed him. It was all he could do to put one step before the other.

Numerous howls of agony could still be heard rising constantly behind their backs, and in the background the great roar of the fire vortex Leon had summoned seemed to only rise in intensity. There was still time, it seemed. A little, at least.

Leon’s consciousness was beginning to flicker in and out, and his memories grew foggier as he was gently set down upon the ground.

“Where are we?” Leon blinked his eyes disorientedly as he craned his head to study his surroundings. He felt cool stone underneath, and it brought a hiss of relief as his boiling hot skin was able to obtain at least momentary respite from the unbearable heat.

“A small cave we found down the side of the chasm. Fortunately, it was unoccupied when we first found it. Then I immediately rushed back to bring you here while Emil gathered some rocks to block the entrance.”

Block a cave with rocks? Leon wanted to sneer at the idea of foiling the pursuit of that endless army of giant spiders with mere rocks, but he had neither the energy nor the pettiness to do such a thing. As for gratitude, he had saved them countless times, so in his eyes it was merely a transaction. Likely, they also hoped that he would be able to continue to protect them after he recovered.

If so, they were bound to be disappointed. Leon knew that even if he survived the imminent collapse of his elemental veins, he would be a complete cripple thereafter. His days of blazing gloriously across the sky of Aeria were done.

Ah, who was he kidding. The moment he stepped back into the red zone to go after Skyle, he knew he had signed his own death warrant. Strangely, there was no regret that accompanied such a decision. Regret that he had failed his friend, yes. There was a surprisingly deep sadness that he would die at such a young age after only briefly knowing his friend. However, death while struggling to rescue or avenge this friend, Leon felt, was definitely worth such price.

“Leon? Leon, please listen to me,” Leena pleaded, and only now did Leon realize that his mind had been wandering off. The girl now knelt beside him, holding his hand in an earnest grip while she gazed imploringly into his eyes.

“Huh? What?” Leon murmured, utterly confused by the change in Leena’s demeanor.

“Leon, how well do you know Skyle?” The words were enunciated clearly and deliberately, and this only left Leon even more dumbfounded.

“I.. What do you mean?” He blurted out. Of all the things to ask now that they were trapped and wounded, waiting for a swarm of vicious man-eating spiders to slaughter them, why would she ask about Skyle? Wasn’t he just as dead as they were? What was this sick obsession?

“I need to know. Please, this is more important than you can possibly imagine. Who is Skyle?” Leena’s eyes were dead earnest, and as Leon looked into her eyes he could see that she had finally lowered that veil of impassiveness she had been holding up this entire time. She really thought this was important. But why?

“I, I know he’s a farmer, but I’ve only known him for the past few days at most,” Leon trailed off. He was just now beginning to realize just how little he knew about the person he had been willing to die for all this time. It was both shameful and deeply inspiring in some way, that he could learn to care so deeply about somebody else with both so little time and information. Maybe he was not as jaded as he had feared.

Great disappointment instantly spread across Leena’s features as her shoulders sagged down. She had obviously been hoping for far more. Still, it wasn’t Leon’s to give, so what could he do?

“Why do you ask this? I.. at this point, I deserve an explanation,” Leon said with as much calm as he could muster.

Leena’s gaze flickered towards the bulging black veins scattered all across his body, and with a final shudder, she relented.

“You’re right,” She nodded slowly, then whispered something about forgiveness to herself before continuing. “This is far greater than just the three of us here. Regardless of whether one or all of us will fall, at the very least I must do what I can to accomplish my mission. After all, the fate of the entire world is at stake.”

“The World? Why? Wait, what mission are you talking about?” Leon felt lost and frustrated, as Leena still seemed to be speaking in riddles.

“Leon Draxas, you have been found worthy and thus will be made privy to one of the greatest secrets of the realm of mortals. Have you ever heard of the Shadowblight?”