PART TWO - SURVIVORS IN A RAVAGED WORLD

April 5th

Year 2120

Southern Mountain Range

Kingdom of Fergahn, Gartaena

Kayline’s body moved on her own, without her controlling it, and she blocked Sir Grendar’s strike with her own swords, saving the Transmutator’s life. Her swords instantly began to crack, and Sir Grendar roared.

“What are you doing, Kayline?!”

“I’m doing what’s right,” she replied, and after a few seconds of intense sword lock took a step to the side, unsure what to do next.

What would they do to her now? Arrest her? Kill her too? But then, when she looked at Sir Grendar’s eyes, she didn’t see what she had expected to see. She didn’t see anger. She didn’t see hate. She saw sadness.

“How could you…?” he whispered, too low for anyone else to hear.

Kayline looked at him for a few seconds that felt like ages, then felt someone grab her from behind. She looked to see the Transmutator falling backward, pulling her with him. They both fell into the abyss below, and Kayline yelped. They spiraled down, the pressure suddenly kicking the air out of her lungs.

What the…? Did the Transmutator have any sort of plan for this? But when Kayline looked at him, he didn’t even seem to be conscious. If he had ever had a plan, he wasn’t going to execute him anytime soon. And they were falling fast.

There were several holes and crevices on the cliff wall, but none big enough to fall into or anything. Still, she would have to make do with what she did see. She probably wouldn’t be able to stop the fall completely, but even slowing down a little would be better than plummeting to their deaths. Letting go of her cracked swords, she grabbed the Transmutator’s remaining arm with her left hand and reached out with her right arm towards the nearest crevice.

Fortunately, she was able to hold on to it, but the sudden stop pulled her arm hard. It didn’t seem like it had dislocated or anything, but it still hurt terribly. She hadn’t been able to grab the crevice properly, though, and her hand soon started to slip. But as her other hand was busy holding onto the unconscious Transmutator, she couldn’t relocate her grip on the stone. Besides, the Transmutator was a full-grown man. He was very heavy, but letting go of the Transmutator wasn’t an option either. She couldn’t let what she had just done go to waste. There was nothing she could do. At least she had slowed down their fall and stopped their momentum.

Kayline tried to keep holding on, but after a few seconds of her fingers slipping through the stone, she completely lost her grip and they kept plummeting down. They almost immediately hit the curving side of the mountain with incredible force and started rolling down it, getting their bodies increasingly bruised and cut with each passing moment, until they finally came to a stop at the bottom of the cliff.

She just lay there, breathing heavily and clenching her teeth, trying to ignore the pain flowing over here. She was almost certain she had broken at least a few bones, and the overall pain was bigger than anything she had ever felt before. But the Transmutator was even worse.

Aside from all the fall damage, he had a deep stab wound in his right shoulder, an arrow sticking out from his back, and his left arm was completely gone from the elbow down. He hadn’t regained consciousness. He’d bleed to death if she didn’t do something, and quick. It was her fault he had gotten his arm chopped off. It was her responsibility to heal him now. She got to her knees with effort to get a better look at his injuries. At that moment, Kayline saw what the Transmutator actually looked like for the first time in their three-week-long chase.

The Transmutator was a bit taller than her, with a slim but strong body. He had wild golden hair that went down a little farther than the height of his chin, and was wearing black clothes with a long black jacket folded over the front that had a long rear tail flowing down and a high neck. She couldn’t see his eyes, though, as he had them closed at the moment. He seemed to be the same age as she was.

She removed his jacket and ripped it into several pieces, which she used to first of all cover the Transmutator’s remainder of his left arm. It took about half the jacket and several layers of cloth to stop the bleeding, but after a while, she finally managed to. Of course, that was just a temporary solution, and the adventuring jacket was far from hygienic, but that was the best she could do with what she presently had. She then also tended to his remaining injuries and her own wounds, and then laid down once more, waiting for the Transmutator to wake up and trying to think of the best course of action.

What would she do now? Would she accompany the Transmutator in his journey? Kayline felt guilty for the Transmutator trying to rescue his partner without having his left arm, and besides, it wasn’t as if she could just go back to the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team and act as if nothing happened. They wouldn’t forgive her that easily this time. They probably wouldn’t forgive her at all. There was no going back now. But, what would happen to her family now...?

Kayline was pretty sure her last pay would last for at least a few more weeks, especially considering they now had to feed two mouths instead of three. But she had no idea what they would do after the money ran out. Even if Kayline somehow managed to solve the Transmutator problem and she returned to her family, no one would give her any legal jobs anymore. She was now a traitor to mankind, after all. She would have almost no way of getting food for her family anymore.

But, as Kayline pondered about her endless stream of problems, she suddenly came up with an idea.

This guy’s a Transmutator, she thought, looking down at the injured man lying several feet away from her. If he lives up to the legends, he should be able to Transmutate anything into anything. Following that logic, he’d be able to create infinite food or plowing fields given the necessary resources! If he’s a good person, he’d have the potential to diminish world hunger enormously. And if he’s not a good person, in the state he’s in, I’d probably be able to defeat him easily.

Kayline kept waiting and thinking for the next half an hour, until she heard a groan to her left, and the Transmutator slowly opened his black eyes.

Merdilen woke up.

Where… am I? He was lying down somewhere hard, as if on a rock, and his left arm itched a lot for some reason. He remembered everything hazily, but then his memory gradually started to come back to him.

He hazily remembered he had been fighting the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team, and losing, and then he had fallen off a cliff. He had been looking for something… He had been looking for someone…

“Alvoren!” he then remembered, suddenly sitting up. Pain surged through his body because of the sudden moment, making him groan in pain.

“Hey, hey, be careful!” someone called out to him to his right. A girl’s voice.

Merdilen looked to the stranger confused, his mind not fully awake yet. It was a girl slightly shorter than him, with long red hair flowing down to her back and black eyes. Her adventuring clothes were covered in blood, although it didn’t seem to be hers.

“You are severely wounded,” she told the still confused Merdilen. “Don’t do any sudden movements, or else the improvised bandages will fall out and you’ll bleed to death.”

“Oh.” Merdilen tried to raise his left arm to brush his hair to the side, but he for some reason wasn’t able to touch his hair at all. In fact, his arm was completely missing from the elbow down.

At that moment, the details of his defeat hit him like a punch. He had been about to die. His left arm had been severed from the elbow down. A girl from the killer’s had saved him, and he had tried to escape but had passed out in midair. Then, that meant this girl right now was…

“...You’re one of the killers?” he asked her, although he already knew the answer. “Why… aren’t you killing me…?”

“‘The killers’? Well, I guess you could say that…” the girl muttered. “But the team’s officially called the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team. I’m not killing you because it’s not right. You’re not evil, right?”

Merdilen felt the question was dumb, as no one would actually admit being evil, but he answered anyway. “...Of course not.”

“I thought so. Coming to think of it, I think we’ve never been formally introduced. I’m Kayline Sherdaine,” said the girl, trying to sound optimistic and stretching out her hand.

“...I’m Merdilen Arthenmon,” he answered, stretching his hand and awkwardly shaking the girl’s.

But as he did, his shoulder wound hurt even more, and he slowly lowered his arm, wincing.

“Be careful,” Kayline Sherdaine told him. “I bandaged your wounds, but they’re still far from healing.”

“Thank you, I can take care of that,” Merdilen said, and started to slowly heal himself using the Transmutator. He started with his severed left arm, and although he wouldn’t be able to get his arm back, he was able to heal the wound.

He wouldn’t be able to get his arm back. The realization hit him like a kick in the gut. He looked at it. Would he have to live the rest of his life with just one arm...? How would he fight now?

Merdilen kept healing himself, until all his wounds were closed, several minutes later.

“Y-you can heal people?!” Kayline exclaimed surprised.

“Well, I can heal myself, not anyone else,” Merdilen said, uncomfortable with the sudden exclamation. “At least for now.”

“Could you, say, heal a chronic illness?” she then asked, her heart skipping a beat.

“On myself, maybe, but I don’t think so. But I am headed somewhere. And in that place, I should gain enough power as to heal any illnesses on anyone,” Merdilen declared.

“You mean Morkilen Farenthar’s fortress?”

“You know about that?!” asked Merdilen, surprised, but thinking about it, it wasn’t that strange. He already knew the killers—whom the girl Kayline had called the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team—had access to a lot of information, and they had probably needed that information to track him accurately. “Well, yes. If I get there, I’d be able to heal and help more people than anyone else in this world. I tried to tell you during our second fight, but you were too busy trying to kill me—no offense.”

“None taken,” Kayline answered, her mind racing. So this Merdilen would be able to heal her mother?! If Merdilen healed her mother and gave them a proper place to live, all their big problems would vanish permanently. Their life would be completely fixed. And, to save her family’s life, all she needed to do was get this Transmutator to Morkilen Farenthar’s fortress. True, Merdilen could still become a threat, but she was willing to take that risk.

“I have made a decision,” Kayline told Merdilen with determination. “I will make sure you arrive at Morkilen Farenthar’s fortress alive and will help you on your journey. But with one condition. You will help my family with your powers.”

Merdilen considered it for a few moments, surprised, then finally said, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have another fighter with us. And I’ll gladly help everyone I can. So, welcome to the party.”

“Thanks.”

“But there’s something I need to do first. You see, I have a partner, Alvoren Vandmorn, who was recently captured by bandits as what I think is a bait to lure me to them and collect my bounty. I need to save him.”

“Okay, I’m going with you,” Kayline said. “I doubt you’ll be any good in battle with just one arm. But, are we just going to spring the trap? They’re bandits. There are probably at least ten guarding your friend and another hundred roaming around the mountain.”

“Yes. And we’re going now, when it’s nighttime. That way, it’ll be easier for us to evade the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team while we climb and we’ll have better odds of reaching Alvoren.”

“Okay. It’d be better to eat something first to regain our strength, but I lost my backpack when I left the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team, and it is too late to go hunting now…” Kayline muttered.

“That won’t be a problem,” Merdilen answered, pressing his right hand against the ground. “Remember, I’m a Transmutator.”

With that, he started Transmutating the ground into cheese, nuts, bread, and the like. He couldn’t Transmutate to or from liquids or gases though, at least not yet, so he had no way of making water. Luckily, his waterskin had survived the fall, as it was made of flexible leather, so he Transmutated the ground into another similar waterskin and split the water into equal parts. He handed half of everything to Kayline.

“Sorry, I can’t Transmutate anything that is or once was alive, so meats, vegetables, and fruits are out of the menu,” said Merdilen. “Still, this should be enough to keep us on our feet for now.”

“No, no, it’s amazing!” Kayline commented. “You’re an infinite food source!”

“I guess so. But when I get to the fortress, then that’ll be amazing. But let’s focus on the present. It’s getting late. Let’s get going.”

“Yeah,” agreed Kayline, swallowing the last of her improvised dinner and getting up.

But when she got up, pain erupted in her back, and she barely managed to hold back a scream, gritting her teeth.

“Are you okay?” Merdilen asked.

“Y-yeah, I think so… no, not really,” she corrected herself. “I-I think I broke a bone or two during the fall.”

“Oh. I… think I may be able to do something about that,” Merdilen answered.

“Hadn’t you said you weren’t able to Transmutate other living beings?” Kayline asked, frowning.

“Well… I can’t Transmutate anything big. I need to get to the fortress to heal anything big on someone else, but I guess I’d be able to mend a few bones,” he explained. “To be honest, I have never really tried. Sit back down.”

So, with that, Kayline hesitantly sat back down, and Merdilen pressed his hands against her back. She tensed at the touch of his hands, and Merdilen closed his eyes.

With enough determination, no matter how experienced he is, a Transmutator can do anything. Merdilen remembered once more his father’s words. He’d still need the head start found in Morkilen’s fortress to do greater things, but he thought he’d be able to do this. He needed to do this. There was too much at stake. If he didn’t succeed, they wouldn’t be able to save Alvoren. If he didn’t succeed, the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team would hunt them down and kill them all for good. If he didn’t succeed, the world would never recover from its wretched state. There was too much at stake.

He focused, feeling the power flow like a golden stream from his veins into Kayline’s body. He felt the cracked bones, and slowly, they began to heal. After about a minute, she was as good as new.

“Done.”

Kayline looked at him surprised, moving around and testing her healed body. “...Thank you,” she muttered. She was now more determined than ever to get this Transmutator to Morkilen Farenthar’s fortress and save the world.

“I’d say there are fifteen bandits in that platform,” Kayline said, crouching behind a rock next to Merdilen.

They were looking at the bandits’ lair in the mountains, after about an hour of trekking. They had arrived with no problems, and they hadn’t encountered the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team either, as they had probably gotten down from the mountain long ago, in their infructuous search for the pair. The bandits’ lair was a big complex high in the mountains made of massive wood platforms sticking from the side of the mountains interconnected with rope bridges, like some kind of treehouse, but tens of times bigger.

They were pretty sure Alvoren was at the platform they were looking at, for although they couldn’t see what was inside because of wooden roofs and walls obstructing their view, they could see the edges of makeshift cells inside it through holes in the walls, so it was safe to assume most prisoners, including Alvoren, would be there.

Kayline led her hands to her longswords, ready to unsheath them. Although Merdilen didn’t know if it was because of guilt, a sense of justice, or something else, Kayline seemed very determined to save Alvoren, especially considering they had never met each other before.

“Let’s try not to kill anyone,” commented Merdilen, breathing in and tensing his muscles.

“Of course. I was going to tell you the same thing,” Kayline answered, looking at him curiously.

“Nice. Okay, let’s go.”

So, with that, Merdilen jumped down stealthily towards the nearest rope bridge, ready to fight and act according to their plan.

He started running along the rope bridge towards the platform Alvoren was on, Transmutating the rope bridge behind him into sand as he ran to separate their platform from the rest of the bandits and platforms. Merdilen quickly got to the platform and Transmutated part of his Transmutation glove’s sand into his sword. Fortunately, he had had his left arm cut off, so he would still be able to swordfight, as his sword arm was the right one. As for Transmutating, he could Transmutate with his whole body now. He could just Transmutate with what remained of his left arm. He’d just have to get used to shorter range.

Merdilen took a deep breath and kicked open the door to the platform. Just as Kayline had said, there were fifteen bandits inside it, all of whom stood up surprised at the stranger’s arrival.

Lined up on a wall, there were several cells with people in them, in one of which Merdilen saw Alvoren. He was bruised in several places, and his lip was bleeding, but aside from that, he didn’t seem severely hurt.

“Merdilen!” Alvoren called, surprised.

“Hold on a little,” Merdilen answered. “I’m getting you out of here.”

With that, Merdilen slashed at one of the bandits with his sword, throwing him to the ground, and then at another one, making him stagger several feet backwards before collapsing to the ground, breathing raggedly.

“The Transmutator!” one of them exclaimed, before twisting his mouth into an evil grin. “He fell for the bait. Get him!”

At that moment, all the bandits rushed him, having prepared their weapons, and Merdilen prepared to counterattack. He stretched his left foot towards one of them, and pressing it against the ground, Transmutated. The wooden floor turned into sand below the bandit, and he fell, yelping and coming to a stop a short distance down the mountain, but without having any way of going back up. Another bandit slashed at him, but Merdilen grabbed the bandit’s sword with his hand, turning it into sand. He then Transmutated his Transmutation glove from leather to steel, punching the bandit with tremendous force, throwing him down the hole in the floor and on top of his partner.

Merdilen felt a sudden urge to kill the bandits, as that would make the whole fight easier, without the need to hold back, but he stopped himself. Even though it would be more efficient, it would go against everything he believed to be right. He couldn’t allow that.

The remaining eleven bandits rushed him, raising their swords and preparing to attack. Merdilen would probably be able to survive a while longer against all of them, but he wouldn’t be able to properly fight them alone. Luckily, he wasn’t alone.

The bandits were now distracted, and Kayline used the distraction, according to the plan. She came up behind the group, from the entrance at the other side of the room, her longswords both raised high over her head, and slashed down. She cleaved onto two of the bandits, and after kicking the wounded men to the side, thrust one of her blades onto one bandit, and slashed towards another one, taking both of them out of combat. All in a matter of seconds.

The bandits turned around, shocked at seeing their men falling from behind, and Merdilen attacked them once more. Kayline also attacked from the other side of the group, gaining an advantage by flanking their opponents.

Seven bandits left. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Zero. After a quick battle, Merdilen and Kayline defeated all of the bandits. None of them were dead, but neither were they in any position to fight anymore. And they weren’t able to get reinforcements either, as Merdilen and Kayline had cut off all rope bridges leading to the platform they were on.

They stood there for a few seconds, gasping and catching their breath, and Merdilen headed for Alvoren’s cell. It was locked, but Merdilen just Transmutated the lock into sand, opening the cell. Alvoren stumbled out, hurt, but raised a hand to greet him anyways.

“I knew my loyal companion would come for me,” he said, grinning. He was just as cheerful as he always had been.

“Are you okay?” Merdilen asked him.

“Yeah, they’re all just superficial wounds,” answered Alvoren. “They weren’t able to make the great hero Axerhos feel any pain!”

“Nice. Oh, I forgot to tell you. We have a new party member.”

“Hello,” Kayline said, sheathing her swords behind her back and approaching them. “My name is Kayline Sherdaine.”

“If Merdilen trusted in you, then I trust in you too. You will be one of the few chosen ones to know my real identity. My real name is Alvoren Vandmorn, but the rest of the world knows me as… the great hero Axerhos!” With that, he crossed his arms in front of his face, trying to strike an epic pose, and Merdilen cringed internally.

“...Can I just call you Alvoren?” Kayline asked, and it was Alvoren’s turn to cringe.

“...Sure.”

Meanwhile, Merdilen examined the other cells. Most of them were empty, but the occupied ones all had tough-looking prisoners, with scars on their bodies and scowls on their faces. They didn’t look innocent. Merdilen pondered whether to release them or not, but then Kayline called out to him, making the choice easier.

“Hey, Merdilen! We have to get going, now. This place will be swarming with bandits in a few minutes at most.”

“...Right. Let’s go.”

So, Merdilen, Kayline, and Alvoren ran towards the exit of the platform, and even though there were no bridges leading out anymore, Merdilen just walked straight out through the air. Right before jumping into the void, he grabbed a long wooden plank. He jumped and let it fall below him, one end still touching the platform. He then Transmutated it with his feet, turning it into a full-fledged stone bridge. Alvoren tossed him another two wooden planks, and he repeated the process twice. They ran out through the makeshift bridge as bandits shouted at them from the other platforms. But that was all they could do, and the trio dodged the few arrows that were shot at them.

They got back to the mountain and started running away. But then, most bandits jumped to the same mountain from their respective platforms, and started running after them. There were easily fifty bandits, all closing in on them. Even though Alvoren had already retrieved his weapons from the platform, there was just no way they’d be able to fight all of them.

“You guys keep running,” Merdilen suddenly told them. “I’m trying something.”

“What-?” Alvoren started, puzzled.

“We’re not leaving you!” Kayline called out to him, unsheathing her longswords. “Whatever you’re doing, it better work. And quick.”

“...Thank you.”

At that moment, Merdilen crouched, and pressing his right hand and both feet against the ground, prepared to Transmutate. Even though he had completely healed his wounds, his missing left arm still provided a disadvantage in battle, but luckily, that didn’t affect the Transmutation. It all depended on the power of one’s mind. And earth and rock were great conductors for the Transmutation. Still, this would be the biggest Transmutation he had ever done. But he could do it. He had to do it.

Focusing, he Transmutated part of the mountain, rising it and making a massive wall all around the group of bandits chasing them. The stone wall rose, high and high, until the bandits wouldn’t even be able to fire arrows precisely over it. The Transmutated wall rose around the whole group of bandits, trapping them completely inside the ring of rock. The bandits yelped and screamed at the sudden construct, but their cries were quickly muffled by the layers of rock. Besides, the rock was completely obstructing the way to the bandit camp, so the rest of the bandits wouldn’t be able to get to them either. He had done it.

Merdilen stood up, but as he did, his head hurt terribly, the landscape spinning and merging and duplicating in his vision. He stumbled towards the others, and Alvoren grabbed him, throwing Merdilen’s right arm over his shoulders.

“Great work, man!” he congratulated Merdilen. Kayline just kept looking in silent awe at the massive Transmutated rock wall.

“Okay, let’s go,” Merdilen whispered.

With that, they started the trek down the slope, carefully but with no rush anymore. After about forty-five minutes, when they had left the bandit camp far behind them, they arrived at what seemed to be a good place to camp. As they were still in the mountainous zone, it was still just rock, but this one had a decently-sized tree hanging over it, which would provide cover from any onlookers from above and shadow when the daylight arrived.

Merdilen Transmutated that section of the ground into soft and fresh grass, and they all laid down.

“Thanks for the save, guys. I was in quite the tight spot back there,” Alvoren told them, his arms stretched out in the grass. “But, where did you come from?” he then asked Kayline.

“Oh, I, umm…” she hesitated, not sure what to say.

“She was from the killers’ team I told you about,” Merdilen bluntly explained. “But she’s good now.”

“Wh-what?!” Alvoren exclaimed, suddenly getting to his feet and striking an exaggerated defensive praying mantis stance. “Why should we trust her?!”

“I just saved your life,” Kayline pointed out calmly, not intimidated at all by Alvoren’s stance.

Alvoren relaxed his praying mantis stance but didn’t lay back down. “W-well, I guess you’ve got a point, but still…”

“Kayline saved me too,” Merdilen said. “I was about to be killed by the killers—or, the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team, I guess—when she stopped the man’s blade, saving my life. She also tended to my wounds after we escaped so I didn’t bleed out.”

“...Okay, I’ll trust her,” Alvoren finally accepted. “But don’t try anything funny, or you’ll pay for it.”

“Of course, of course,” Kayline said. “I made a deal with Merdilen here that he’d heal my mother once we got to Morkilen’s fortress, so I need him too.”

“Is the fortress still far?” Alvoren asked.

“I believe it is a few weeks south of where we actually are,” answered Merdilen. “It is hard to calculate the distance with this old map, but we should get there eventually.”

“That’s enough for me.”

So, after that, Merdilen Transmutated some dinner, and they ate in silence, pondering about their quest. Merdilen reached out with his left arm for food several times, only to remember he no longer had a left arm, after which he reached out with his right one instead in frustration. The same thing had happened to him during their most recent battle. He had tried to attack and Transmutate with his left hand several times, as he still felt as he had it. ‘Phantom limb syndrome,’ he believed it was called. Although he had already healed it completely, it was really strange, as he still felt it itch terribly, but it just wasn’t there. It would get some time getting used to it.

With those thoughts in mind, he looked at his allies, and then at the stars up above. He reached out to them with his missing left arm, imagining it was still there. Everything would be harder from now on, as he would have to fight with one arm less, and they would probably encounter shadow monsters every day now as they kept going south. But he couldn’t give up. Not now. Not when two people’s lives depended on him. He couldn’t give up anymore. He would get to Morkilen Farenthar’s fortress along with Alvoren and Kayline, and they would win.