Arthur's Point of View

Kandma’s Memories

The Old Capital

Black tendrils burst to life from underneath Graham. His shadow quickly morphed and took shape into a familiar form. The tendrils instantly made the situation worse. They killed Robert, whose hammers were above his head. Well, it wasn’t hard when it was twisted off his upper body.

Mara, Arceana, and Elincia were restrained by his tendrils while soldiers finally attacked. It did little to help. Graham was a little bit stronger than an Ancient Demon and not quite at the level of a Demon Lord. Tor, however, was unlike anything they could’ve prepared against.

Even with Mara being a prodigy, there was too large a gap, and she knew it. Reluctantly, she stood down. If her glances toward her sisters were any indicator, it was in the hopes she could save them.

“Thank you.” Graham said as he stretched out.

Arceana and Elincia didn’t give up. In their anger, they ignited their magic. This was a mistake. While Elincia was able to break free, which resulted in her falling on the floor. Arceana was able to hit Graham with a spell, but both were unable to challenge the two Demons. Tor growled in annoyance at best.

“Children…” Tor grumbled.

He immediately wrapped around Elincia before swinging her like a ragdoll into the ground over and over. Arceana was cut all over her body before being thrown through the nearby battlements. Dust and debris rose in the distance as her body disappeared from view. Kandma backed away into the wall as Elincia screamed in pain.

“Stop!” Mara cried out.

Teleporting out of Tor’s grasp to help her sisters was pointless. “Princess, Princess, Princess.” Graham taunted as he appeared in front of her. “The Capital has fallen, as has its leaders.”

Even in the memories, I felt my blood boiling as he hit her into the castle. What played out was a girl trying to save her little sisters. It was more painful than I wanted to admit. In the end, Elincia looked exactly how I remembered her on the mountain top in Klasteris, while Mara was even worse.

Mara’s breathing was hoarse as blood poured out from under her. “Where’d the other one go?”

Tor had let them all go as the entire area was on the verge of crumbling. “It matters not. We only need one to cull The Anomaly.” He opened a portal of sorts and dragged Elincia into it. “I’ll also take this one back to the castle. Perhaps the Queen will want to use her corpse.”

Graham merely chuckled. “This was fun. Do you think we should go to the Queen?”

“No. We have our orders. She wants no disruptions in her examination.” Graham rolled his eyes as another portal opened. “We are done here.”

The two disappeared soon after as I was left seething there. I could almost feel my pulse through my entire body echoing in my ears. My face felt like it was on fire as I stared at the spot where Mara disappeared from. I was only snapped out of it from the shifting below me. Kandma had moved forward and looked around.

After a moment, she set off through the gate and passed the battlements. My body was forced to go with her. It was confusing, but I figured she realized there was no point staying in a destroyed castle. So, she ran. Kandma ran through the town of survivors screaming and into the forest. Part of me was sad. Another part of me knew she was still just a child.

However, what surprised me most is that she wasn’t running away but instead found Arceana’s unconscious form. The stone bear immediately began trying to help her by clearing away debris. Whines could be heard from Kandma in the hopes that Arceana would awaken. She didn’t, and the memory abruptly ended.

Arthur's Point of View

Deep Forest

“What happened!?” I asked as I felt my mind shift violently.

“Apologies, but we have guests.” Kandma told me suddenly as I groaned.

Looking across the fissure as I struggled to get my bearings, an overly large wolf stood on the other side. It howled for only a moment before several hundred other wolves appeared. The same fucking wolves that stole my fucking book. Given that I wasn’t in a pleasant mood, my hand instantly grabbed my sword. A growling from beside us grabbed our attention, and I turned to see a single wolf standing off to the side of us.

It bared its teeth. “The one known as Arthur Pendragon will be removed from the forest.” She sounded female.

I blinked in a small amount of surprise before I stepped down in front of it. “I’m not in a good mood, and as interesting as this is, I don’t give a shit about some mangy mutt. Fuck off.”

Snarling, along with the hundreds of others, it replied. “You tamper with things you do not understand.”

“You speak surprisingly good English for a literal bitch.” Then I gestured back to Kandma. “Now, I’m in the middle of something. You can either fuck off, or we can continue from last time, and I finally get my book back.”

“That book is beyond you, monster!”

“Careful, pup.” Kandma warned. “Whatever your purpose here, do not insult him in front of me.”

“A mere magic beast from the wastes of Aridia has no place to speak here. You are but a fraction of a completed whole.” The wolf then looked back at me. “Leave, or you will die.”

Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly. “Thank you.” I said honestly, which got the wolf’s attention. “After what I just saw, I really needed this.” Readying Defiance, lightning shot across my body as the wolf snarled and attacked me. “I’m gonna euthanize every last one of you except for one!” Slapping it into the crevasse with ease, my transformation was complete into my sleeker form. “The last one’s going on a leash to lead me to where you put my fucking book!”

Floating into the air above Kandma, I poured some of my energy into her as she roared, ready for battle. Many leapt across the canyon, which was surprising, but the ones that piled out of the forest behind us were even more so. It didn’t matter though. I was far stronger, and I had Kandma.

So, lifting her in the air with a single Gravity Pillar and tossing her, she slammed into the ground with purpose. A shockwave that flattened the surrounding area emitted from beneath her as I watched from above in almost ecstasy. Chunks of the cliff crumbled while I slashed across the air to send out waves of energy to slam into the other cliffside.

Kandma roared once more before I bellowed. “You all picked the wrong day!”

I don’t think the wolves were expecting such wrath from me. Nor were they expecting Kandma, a literal mountain range, to be so fast and destructive. Live and learn, I suppose. My companion also seemed to be enjoying herself as she rolled over hundreds of wolves. Her size alone made her a threat, but combined with my energy… Even thousands of these wolves didn’t make a difference.

My real concern was the fact that all these wolves were all comparable to Ancient Demons, were numerous, and had little to no care that they were dying left and right. Even in this form, despite being able to kill thousands of them, if they kept coming like this, I would run out of energy. Why were they so desperate? Thankfully, I had two thoughts in my mind.

I mumbled before I moaned. “Where the fuck is my book?” And “God, I needed this.”