Life, Death & Magic

Feeling a tightening in his chest, Filbert opened his eyes startlingly while taking short heavy breaths, as if he had just stopped after continuously running a super long marathon. Slowly pulling his upper body up, he looked around to take a grasp of the situation.

The air was heavy, and the smog was making it difficult to breathe. The faint moonlight, which filtered down the fog, showed the terrible condition of the surroundings. Through the hazy atmosphere, Filbert could see numerous unmoving bodies lying on the still-hot sand of the beach in strange positions while the ash was piling upon them, and the cold air was tingling his nose with the smell of burnt.

Trying to move his legs, he saw the back of a familiar person lying on his lap.

"Oy, Rumi. Rumi!" shaking her shoulder, he tried to wake her up. Rumi, his party member, had the knowledge and expertise of many different categories of spells. So, she used her best barrier spell to protect themselves when the party failed to escape towards the water before the giant fireball hit.

Getting no response from her, he slowly turned her body to face up. But her face... was not complete anymore. One side of her face had charred, leaving only bones and ash.

The unreal scene gripped Filbert's heart and mind. He opened his eyes wide in vivid horror and grief. Tears streamed down his face, and involuntary sobs leaked from of his throat.

Woken up by the low wailing cries, Rody, his third and last party member, found his right hand severely burned. As he looked around for the source of the scream, he saw Filbert's back a few meters in front of him. Slowly, he mustered up the remaining strength in his body and crawled towards his childhood friend.

As he neared Filbert, he gripped his shoulder from behind and saw the corpse of his other friend on his lap. But the terrible reality was way more devastating to him than anyone else. His throat dried up immediately, his chest creaked in pain, and his hand trembled.

Holding her head with his left hand, he burst up in tears. Filbert hugged him as well, and both of them cried in low muffled voices for a few minutes.

Suddenly, Filbert caught the figure of a shadow moving in the fog. It was short and thin but confident and was moving towards them with small steps. The faintly glowing blue eyes on its head reminded him of the undead monsters, and he immediately stood up, holding his sword. "Rody, get up. We have to leave now." He whispered to his friend.

But when he turned his attention to his friend, he noticed that Rody had fainted, probably due to the smog. "Ah, good God!" He quickly picked him up on his back and ran towards the cliff-climbing-point. And after running for about 15 meters, he shot a fireball at the corpse of Rumi, setting it on fire, to make sure that his dear friend does not become an undead monster. Also, it would act as a diversion against other monsters allowing them to escape.

---

A few meters to the north, Ryan woke up to wailing cries. But the situation was not any different for him. Mylisant, who tried to protect him by sacrificing herself, was lying motionless on top of him; her back completely charred. Ryan looked at her dazed, his mind was completely blank. Suddenly, a small sound in the distance caught his attention, and he saw a fire crackling some meters away. Little shadows were moving in the fog also. One of them looked menacing with blue, glowing eyes on its head. Fear crawled up his spine, and he shivered.

And then the last words of Mylisant, "Stay safe," crossed his mind, and involuntary urges of running away arose in his mind.

Then, his body moved on its own. He quickly stood up, took some things from Mylisant's small pouch on her belt, and escaped into the forest.

----

Near the water, Balcro was washing the wounds of Louis. Suddenly, he felt someone approaching them. He gathered mana in his fists and took a stance to intercept the approaching shadow with blue, glowing eyes.

"It's alright, Balcro," Louis said with a low groan. "It is no monster, but Kenny."

Coming out of the fog, Kenny said, "My Lord. I have carried the defense-less to safety. Though I failed to save all and some perished out of my expectations."

"It's okay, Kenny," said Louis with fatigue in his voice. "It's okay." Kenny then helped Balcro to clean up the burns of Louis on his left side. Before the fire fell, Kenny approached them to help. But Louis requested him to help others instead, who had no way of protecting themselves while protesting himself that he will be able to handle the intense fire with his advanced barrier spells.

Louis held out well during the hell-fire. Though in the last moments, his mana ran out, and his left side was burned to the bone by the intense heat. Balcro suffered from burns as well. But his self-healing kicked in and quickly closed his wounds.

After washing his burns, Balcro passed a high-grade healing potion to him, which quickly closed up the wounds. He drank two more potions, and vitality finally returned to his face.

"Shall I carry you?" Kenny offered.

"Don't worry about us, Kenny." Louis took out a metallic cane from its case and stood up, clutching it. "We should be fine now... until 'that' decides otherwise," he said while staring blankly into the fog towards the South.

Unsurprisingly, Kenny looked in that direction too and said after a pause, "I shall do something about that... Please escape before things get nasty."

"But. Kenny boy, it will be... "

"Please don't worry. And get to safety, quickly," said Kenny while turning to look at Louis, his eyes glowing brighter.

"...okay then. Don't push yourself, my boy," said Louis and began walking briskly towards the cliff-climbing-point with the support of Balcro, leaving Kenny with the words, "Remember. The one who survives the battlefield is the true victor."

----

'Aisyn - the bright' is an ancient dragon, as he has lived for more than 50 thousand years, since the age-of-the-Gods. In his earliest days, he was very active and witnessed or created many historical events. But now, he seldom comes out of his shelter at the top of the Aster Mountains.

He spends most of his time collecting the necessary energy from the ley-lines and wisdom from the ancient earth spirits dwelling there. And when he is not doing so, he is either hibernating or sleeping in a state of suspended animation, some time for more than 5-10 years.

Recently, he has been woken up by a familiar presence coming from the northern foot of the mountains. The presence lasts for only a minute or two at times and is weaker compared to the actual owner of the presence.

The unique magic presence was definitely not coming from any grave under the ground as it was moving on the surface towards the east. So, the most probable explanation was that somebody or something was carrying the remains of the owner.

Some days later, he felt a stronger presence at the southern shore of the lake of Alison. Heightening his senses, he surveyed the situation. He was surprised to find that a weak human child was carrying the remains. The child was also using an artifact to mimic the magic presence of the actual owner.

Willfully mimicking the magic presence of a dead person is a great disrespect, until and unless he or she is an inheritor of the person. Enraged by the mistake of the human child, he decided to go down himself and confiscate the remains from him and also etch a fear in his mind, so that he never repeats the mistake again.

But when he got there, he was surprised to find a whole group of people, with enough preparation for an expedition, repelling a group of undead. They were probably heading for the East, like the many other explorers in the past. So now, he has another reason to scare them away.

Sometime later, the battle ended because of the help of a strange creature in the form of a human boy. But his attention was caught by the foolish human boy with the artifact, who used it once more.

Irritated by him, Aisyn released a 'dragon roar' and swooped down to pick him up. But the pitiful human child tried to attack him with archery. Aisyn decided to ignore the arrow to show how deplorable his situation was.

But surprisingly, the arrow easily penetrated his defenses and struck his shoulder. Foreign mana rushed towards his heart, trying to paralyze him. He screamed in pain. It was then when he realized his grave mistake. The arrow-tip contained a piece of charged 'Soul Crystal' and was slowing eating him up.

Ignoring the pain, he concentrated on diverting the crystal shoots away from his brain and heart while fervently trying to expel the foreign mana. At last, he managed to achieve full-body-enhancement by using up all his mana, and the weaker soul crystal lost its control over his body.

He looked down on the ground and found the group of people looking down on him in pity. His anger flared up, and he used up his remaining mana to form one of the most potent fire spells he knew, 'Star Fall.'

----

After the fire fell, Aisyn flew down to the southern cliff-top to take some rest while recovering his mana. He was observing the people on the beach as well.

The unusual creature was rescuing the vulnerable and carrying them to safety. That creature was unharmed. But the other people, left on the beach, were severely affected by the intense heat, while few have even lost their lives.

Sometime later, he saw the strange creature moving towards him. A small shadow was gradually growing distinct in the fog, his eyes glowing as bright as ever, as he was releasing his full magic presence, not trying to hide anymore.

Aisyn slowly rose his head and spoke in a low growl, "Hmm. Mana and features like that of the Sprites. Though you do not seem to be one of the living. Quite an extraordinary creature, aren't you?"

The peculiar being in the form of a human boy halted, seemingly surprised by him and said, "A talking Dragon. Aren't you a special beast as well?" His voice was gentlemanly adult-like, which didn't match his young face at all.

Aisyn chuckled with his cracked heavy voice and finally stood up, having regained some mana. Then he jumped down the cliff.

But halfway through, his body glowed and deformed, creating a vicious ball of slime, which again took a different shape as soon as it touched the ground. When the glow receded, a tall young man appeared, with waist-long silver hair, long elf-like ears, and sharp golden eyes. As for his clothes, he was wearing leather armor made of unknown materials, decorated with white scales.

"I am Aisyn - the bright, an ancient Dragon. This is my humanoid form," said the handsome faced man with a clear voice, utterly different than before.

"I am Kenny," said the boy in return. And both of them stared at each other with an impassive show.

Aisyn broke the ice once again and asked the boy, "Do you resent me?"

"I think it will be foolish to resent anybody for the unfortunate chain of events. The explorers from MoonHarbor were not at fault for trying to reach out to the unknown. And the monsters, they were not wrong in defending their territory as well. It is tough to seek justice without taking a side."

"..."

"But, Ryan was definitely wrong and selfish. " He paused for a second and continued, "And, you were guilty too. You attacked the innocents and killed many."

"That is correct," said Aisyn. "However, I as well will be taking a side here. Those foolish people are blameworthy in my eyes."

"Then, I ought to stop you."

The golden eyes of the ancient Dragon glowed brighter after hearing that. "Well, then." Saying so, he took a stance like a martial artist and gathered mana in his arms. "The one who survives shall do as he please."

Kenny took a similar stance, and both of them locked their eyes, trying to find a slight opening in their opponents. With a slight breeze as the signal, both of them ran towards each other with unimaginable speeds, and a violent and destructive battle began in the distant sandy shore of the lake of Alison.

----

The southern part of the beach gradually became dotted with large craters and charred ground. But the action has now shifted to the northern region. From a tremendous explosion of magic, a small body flew out like an arrow and hit the tall wall of the cliff, gouging out a large part of it.

Immediately, another young man with a bloodied face jumped out of the smoke, and spew out a beam of fire from his mouth aiming at the boy struck on the cliff.

Noticing the incoming attack, the boy quickly straightened his body and ran away from the spot escaping the beam. His opponent predicted his movement and followed him on the cliff with his laser-like attack.

The boy ran fast on the cliff wall and launched off to the sky. Seconds later, a volley of mana arrows rained down on the handsome man. But the agile man easily evaded most of the bolts and deflected the remaining ones with his fists.

But that was not the boy's real card. As soon as the arrows stopped, bolts of thunder seized up the young man from his back. Somehow deflecting the attack with magic shields, the young man traced the attack, and upon reaching the boy, he counters with fire arrows at point-blank range.

The boy ignored them as if nothing and focused on the other incoming attacks of his opponent. A side punch parried; a return kick to the waist evaded with a backflip; followed up by a thunder attack; blocked with magic shields; an instant uppercut, landed; a roundhouse kick, perfectly hit and this time it was the young man with long hair who took to the sky.

After shooting up for about a hundred meters, a pair of dragon wings sprouted from his back, and the handsome man hovered in the sky. Of course, those wings were mana-given-shape like before.

He then slowly flew down to the ruined beach and picked up a rusty double-edged sword from a crumbled undead monster. And as he passed mana, the sword glowed up from within like glass, and the edge shined white.

The young boy unsheathed his own sword and took a stance after charging it up with mana. And so began the second round. Though it ended sooner.

----

After one more fierce eyes lock, both of them ran parallel towards the cliff and stood there on small footholds still glaring at each other. The rocks crumbled and rolled down, and that as a signal, both charged towards each other. The battle which followed was a fierce competition of speed and techniques, but on a scale completely unimaginable.

The strikes of the man with bloodied faces were simple but perfectly timed and placed. One attack followed up the other in such a way that the young boy found it extremely difficult to evade or block.

Slowly he was being pushed back. But he had another card he could play. The young boy used his sword as an electrode to entirely direct his thunder attack from point-blank range.

Then, a rapier stab to the left shoulder, evaded but hit by thunder, screamed; a sweeping slash at the belly in return, avoided by bending the body; followed up by cross slashes at the face, blocked by shooting wind spheres from mouth; more wind spheres, easily blocked; a sweeping kick, jumped and attacked with more slashes to the body; blocked the fatal ones and retreated; kicked a rock to the face, evaded; followed up by stabs, parried but few managed to hit; insane breath attacks at point-blank range, somehow escaped with great difficulty.

But one of them managed to hit the shoulder and burned the boy to the bone. Dense white fumes emerged from the wound, and seconds later, bluish-white blood flowed down his left hand.

The ancient Dragon stared at the young boy with great interest. "Pureblood. A High Wraith... no, you are a natural-born High Undead, aren't you?"

"...no one is supposed to know that," said the boy. "I shall kill you now."

"I understand your circumstances. But I have my reasons as well. Now, come." declared the ancient Dragon taking a stance.

And as soon he heard that the young boy attacked the Dragon with even higher speeds, violently slashing with hit-and-run tactics. For a moment there, it seemed like it was difficult for the Dragon to completely block all the attacks, producing a window of opportunity for his opponent; then a swift slash from the blind spot evaded with acrobatic movements; thunder attacks to the legs, a distraction; a swift kick to the belly and the Dragon was blown away to the skies. The boy made a jump and chased him in the air; a slash to the chest, the Dragon used his wings and climbed higher; followed up by another thunder attack, the left leg burned.

But the ancient Dragon maintained his composure and immediately transformed into his Dragon form. With a low laugh, he faced the boy and said, "High Undeads are weak to strong 'Dragon Breaths.' And, you don't know any barrier spells."

And it was then, the young boy realized his mistake, that he has been played and entrapped. Everything led up to this situation, and he has no way to evade or block.

The Dragon opened his mouth wide and fired a massive 'Dragon Breath' from a very close range.

And his vision went white.

----

Or so was supposed to happen. Just before the strong 'Dragon Breath' could reach the boy, another legendary creature jumped towards him, seemingly out of nowhere, and caught the boy in its jaws carrying him to safety.

It was a mythical 'Celestial Fox.' And her name is Mica. On her back was riding Lady Mary, the Snow Princess.

----

Sometime later, Kenny opened his eyes only to find himself on Mary's lap once again. But this time, instead of jumping away in surprise, he gently stared at her and smiled.

"Thank you, Miss Mary, for saving me again," he said, slowly reaching out for his wound on his shoulder, only to be surprised that it has been completely healed.

"Please, don't worry," she said. "I have healed your wound." And gently caressed the spot. "And it is not me that you should thank first," she continued in her lovely soft voice. "It was Mica. She heard about an unusual being from her son, who was playing near the Red Forest. And when she talked about him, I immediately realized that it was you, Kenny. Then I came with her to see you again, only to find you in a precarious situation."

Kenny slowly turned his head to look at the majestic creature which was peacefully resting on the beach. Her beautiful golden coat of fur was emitting a faint shine, and her jade eyes seemed more precious than diamonds.

She made a polite bow and said, "Hello" in a gentle voice. Although charmed by her sweet voice, Kenny remembered another legendary creature who was about to annihilate him just a moment ago.

Raising his upper body, Kenny tried to feel his presence. "Where is the Dragon Aisyn?" he asked, while confused.

"Ah, that stupid old geezer! I broke his bones and chased him away," said Mary with a satisfied and happy smile.

Listening to such eye-watering revelation, the pale face of Kenny paled out. Forcing a dry smile, he corrected his position and sat in front of her.

"So, Kenny, tell me everything that happened, okay," she asked with a firm voice. And Kenny repeated the events and situations as seen through his eyes.

"Hmn, hmn. I get it," Mary replied after he finished. "None of it was your fault, Kenny, as currently, you know nothing!"

"Ah, hahaha!" Kenny scratched the back of his head. "I am very new here."

"I know," she said with a gentle smile. "And I think it is time to tell you a few things."

"..."

"First of all, it is good that the expedition stopped at this point. And no one will probably venture out this far again after the news of the dangers spread." She continued, "You know Kenny, beyond the lake, there is a city of beings which are denoted to be 'evil' by the other people of this world. So, it should remain undiscovered until the right time comes."

"Ah, is it alright for me to know this?" Kenny asked.

"Yes, of course. Cause' I believe in you." She smiled again. "Now, the ancient Dragon, Aisyn - the bright, is protecting a very sacred place at the top of the Aster Mountains. Though it is not restricted to anybody, it is challenging to reach by weaker beings. Well, I think you should pay that old geezer a visit sometime and reconcile with him. I am sure he will forget his anger by then."

"Okay. I shall do as you say when I get the opportunity."

"Hmm. That should be okay. Let me tell you another story, Kenny." She cleared her throat. "Once upon a time, there was a handsome young prince, who was a brilliant and kind man. One day, when he was hunting in a nearby forest, he met a beautiful little girl. But, take heed that she was no ordinary forest girl. The purest of blood, she was the child of Eden itself. Now, it is said that both of them fell in love with each other at first sight. The prince brought beautiful flowers and exquisite artifacts for her every time he visited. And she used to cook delicious food for him using all of the blessings of nature."

"Woah!!!" exclaimed Kenny, acting like a kid being told a story by his mother.

And she gave a sweet motherly smile. "And then, they would walk around in the beautiful flower beds near the forest and whisper sweet words of love in each other's ears."

Kenny was listening with sparkling eyes, and Mary continued. "One fine day, the prince was crowned as the new king. By then, the little girl of the forest had grown up to become a fine lady of unparalleled beauty. So, she was invited by the new king to his beautiful kingdom, and they got married."

"After their marriage, they traveled to far and distant kingdoms by riding dragons during their free time. But the young queen was surprised to see the difference in the prosperity between their own kingdom and other kingdoms. So, she asked the reason to her beloved king. And he explained to her that their kingdom had flourished to this degree because of the numerous discoveries and artifacts made by him."

"Oooh! Is this story about the being called the 'Guardian' who is mentioned in the tales of the Old Gods?"

"Wow, Kenny, you are very quick to catch," she said with surprise. "Yes, this is the story of the legendary Guardian, the first of the Godly beings known to have ever walked on Eden. His strength and knowledge were unparalleled. Under his reign, his kingdom was ushered in an era of development and prosperity."

"He discussed all of his ideas and visions with his beautiful wife, Rose. And she was wonderstruck by his dreams of a Utopia."

"With her identity as the child of Eden and the truest of blood, she tasked him to spread his knowledge and creations far and wide to help the people of this world live a better life."

"Wow! The 'Guardian' was a fantastic person. But why isn't this found in the standard history books?"

"That is because most of the records of him were lost during the Great War. Nowadays, only a few long-lived people like us know these stories." She took a deep breath and continued. "Now Kenny, as an inheritor of some of his powers, you are a strong Godling. So, the first and the foremost thing that you should always be aware of is to never allow your powers to be misused. Then, you should try to follow His ideals in your everyday life, spreading your knowledge far and wide, and, if possible, help the needy with your power and wisdom."

"I give my words, Miss Mary."

"Thank you, Kenny." She continued. "And if you are ever in any trouble, I will help you."

"You have my gratitude."

"Hahaha... Don't be so formal, Kenny." She giggled. "Well anyway, Alison is an old and remote town. So, I think you should head out to the big cities for a fresher outlook at life and, more importantly, at yourself."

"And yeah, don't forget to have fun." She said with a sweet grin. And Kenny smiled as well, absorbing all the warmth in her gentle eyes.

"Come here," she beckoned and asked him to lay on her lap once again. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, and she ran her fingers in his hair. With the gentle sound of waves near the shore and the beautiful moonlight creating an envelope of tranquillity, it was no wonder Kenny fell asleep.

----

"Ken......... Ken...nny. Oy... Kenny." Slowly opening his eyes, he saw Mimosa's face next to him.

"Good Morning, Mimosa." he greeted.

"Good God, Kenny! If you had returned, you should have woken me up. And why are you sleeping here, outside?" she rumbled after getting up, with her hands on her hips.

Looking around him, he found himself in the beautiful flower bed of the High Gardens. "Aa, I was exhausted last night." He said with a dry smile and sweat bead on his head.

"Good grief." she sighed. "Now come. Let's have breakfast." He slowly got up and followed her.

"Was it fun?" she turned her head and asked with a gentle smile this time.

And, gazing at her, Kenny's expression softened as well. He gave a satisfied smile and said, "Yes, it was fun. I had an amazing adventure. Do you wanna hear about it?"

----

It was sometime past midnight, and the waning moon was peeking from behind the scattered clouds. Occasionally, the moonlight would illuminate a tall figure walking in the dark, seemingly aimlessly.

*gulp gulp* He goggled up the remaining ale from the bottle in his right hand and then jumped down a cliff instantly appearing in front of a large cave on the other side of the gorge. "Oh! Such a big entrance," he exclaimed with delight and entered the cave.

After walking straight for some more meters, he approached a large metallic door. "Aha! A sealed dungeon. Guess' Kenny was right!" And as he was about to touch the door, he felt a presence approaching him.

"Fortunately, I didn't forget my wand this time." Saying so, he pulled out his strangely shaped wand from inside his long coat.

The approaching figure immediately came out from the shadows with his hands raised up. "Wait. Professor. Agusthus. I. Mean. No. Harm."

"Oh! An intelligent lower undead," he exclaimed.

"This. Dungeon. Leads. To. The. East. So. We. Sealed. It. Off."

The prof. replied with a smirk. "But, this seal looks old, though."

"Actually. The. Seal. Was. Made. By. Lady. Snow. Princess. Using. Ancient. Spells." The undead continued, "And. Today. Too. I. Was. Sent. By. Her. To. Remind. You. Of. The. PROMISE."

"Yare yare, the Lady sent for me herself. Aah!! I'm soo happy..."

"Remember...." leaving the echoing word, the undead ran out of the cave.

The High Elf remained there in silence for some time, now completely sober. "Now then, I shall return home quickly. Or Mimosa will fry me up."

----

Today, the fog was absent in the southern shore of the Lake of Alison, and a fair beauty in a lovely one-piece dress was gazing at the twinkling stars with her pearl-like blue eyes.

A teardrop slowly prickled down her cheeks from her moist eyes, though she was smiling. Actually, if someone were to ask her the reason for her tears, she would definitely say that they were tears of joy.

"Good times are coming." The sweet words leaked out of her mind. "Now then." Turning back to face the beach, she loudly clapped her hands once.

And as if someone had pressed a button, all of the corpses on the beach slowly began to move. With a white light in their eyes, they walked trotting towards her.

This time, with a snap of her fingers, they stopped, and the white light from their eyes vanished. Then their eyes glowed with similar red light, a proof that they have become normal undead monsters.

So now, livelier then before, they made loud noises and ran towards the water disappearing into the lake.

The fair Lady, now alone again, decided to take a stroll on the beach.

Along the way, she picked up an odd capsule-shaped artifact from the beach. Taking a closer look, she passed mana into it, and the white capsule quickly dissolved into thin air, leaving a small piece of bone fragment atop her palm.

As she neared the water, she stopped and stared at the bone fragment held between her fingers with the moon in the backdrop. "Dragon bone. It would have been really dangerous if they had not mistaken it for the real thing." Then the bone fragment evaporated similarly, disappearing into nothingness.

She lowered her hand and smiled again, this time gazing directly at the slightly deformed moon. "O boy, your Mary will be waiting for you..."