Oh, your back! Well where was I? There! So there I was as I held my claymore as tight as the mechanism in my hands would allow me as my anger drove me to be very prepared for combat, actually to be very prepared to swing my sword at the rough man. Though I didn’t charge into combat, I have a policy you see, I only attack when my opponent strikes first (I made this policy to control myself from badly beating up school bullies that come for me, don’t wanna be known as a kid the beats up other kids. I take care of my reputation as a good kid so yeah), and so I waited. It was the man who asked me to look after his people that attacked, he lunged at the bandit and swung his sword at him like an angry berserker or something, and that strike actually pushed the man to take a step to catch himself.

The man in white continued his powerful attacks and send the man stepping back as he did. Left, right, up and down along with some diagonal swings really became a hindrance for the rough man, he also can’t shoot a counter out because every time he tires to, the fine blade of the man in white would come and force him to block.

As I watch, I was shocked at how the guy that’s fighting the bandit became so strong and fast even in his state which is not really great to begin with, that was when I noticed that his body was producing embers and that his sword glowing faint red from heat; he was once again using Magic and I‘m guessing he’s using some kind of a buff for himself.

But he was not able to continue on with his barrage for long. He was stopped when a small part of ground around the bandit became cracked and after a moment, shattered. The broken pieces then launched themselves upwards aiming for the man in white, he was on mid swing when the fragments became shrapnel and shot towards him, out of nowhere, his body ignited and then a surge of flame shot outward in a small radius from him which pushed the projectiles away from his body, though he was still grazed by some of the stone shrapnel that was able to overcome the flames. That made the man in white winch in pain and that’s all the rough swordsman needed so that he escape and head towards me.

Still seething with indignation for the man, I readied myself to meet the blade that he will swing at me, not really aware that my body positioned itself to a fighting stance that I don’t even remember using in my entire short life. It’s like my body is doing things that it remembers from its memories. The moment that the blade came swinging towards me I intercepted it with my own blade which send its wielder skidding back again from the force of the parry I made.

Getting more frustrated because he can’t land a hit on me, the man charged again and swung at me multiple times, each time I met his attacks with a parry strong enough to push him back a couple of feet away from me. I on the other hand didn’t move from my position and continued to fight with only my torso and still functioning arm moving.

His frustration piled up with his irritation towards how I am just casually fending him off and it soon hit a limit, being so pissed at me, the rough man raised his blade high with both hands holding the handle of his weapon, he then brought it down towards me with all the strength he can muster, aiming to cut me in half vertically (which wouldn’t probably even work even if it hit at full force because I am literally made of metal). Though once again, I moved my rusty blade to parry, but the moment that it made contact with the cleaver of the rough man, it snapped in two.

His blade continued its travel and manage to hit my head, the force of the slash send me stepping back but aside from a small dent that was left, I received no other damage. On the other hand, the man’s blade has a visible fold on the edge that hit my head. The force of his attack also rebounded back to him also sending him stepping back. Now seeing that he can’t damage me, he snarled at me and tried to once again push forward and try to attack me again but then the man in white came and intercepted him, though he is now more ragged than before, definitely wasn’t something .

Left with a broken sword, I did not attempt to run after the bandit, instead I left him to the man in white, on the other hand, I decided to check on the two injured people that I protected. I checked on the Elf first; her having the worst injury than the Beastman, thankfully her wounds have now stopped bleeding and are now healed enough to that she’s not in any mortal danger anymore. Heaving a sigh of relief, I moved on to the Beastman who shocked the heck out of me; he was practically swimming in his own blood and I can see that he’s pale as a corpse!

Now panicking like crazy, I hurriedly turned his body from laying facedown and tried to assess his current condition. He was breathing short fast breath and have a pained expression on his face, though he’s incredibly still conscious, that’s when I noticed that he’s trying to heal himself with his Magic; his wounds were flaming but the flames where small and feeble. Not really knowing what to do, I froze again; kneeling on the Beastman’s side, as I was staring at the bloodied person before me, I felt a movement behind me, I didn’t know how but I knew that it was the bandit that I knocked out.

I quickly turned around and saw the rough man awake again though still in a small daze, but as soon as he spotted the Elf that was left unconscious on the ground; her back leaning on the wall, he grabbed his short swords and tried to stab her; his face contorted in an ugly angry expression. Without my conscious input, my body moved and I found myself in front of the bandit, I then parried the attack with my broken sword which is still surprisingly still in my hands, the force of the parry was too much for the bandit and he was forced to let go of his blade that flew into the ceiling and embedded itself there.

After that, my remaining arm then positioned itself in preparation to stab the man in the heart, and not long after it was done angling itself, I saw it thrust and plunge the broken claymore deep into the rough man’s chest. All the man was able to do was let a low squeak of pain, he wasn’t even able to follow how the broken blade is now in his chest. Using the last of his strength, he looked up to my face and into my eyes, it’s as if he was begging me to save him, to help him not to suffer. It was the look of pure terror in the face of death.

My shock from the sudden movement of my body was then melted and was replaced by incredible anger; in my mind, I asked the man how can he beg for help when he took pleasure in inflicting harm. Tightening my grip on the handle of my claymore, I proceeded to pull it out of him and kick the stumbling man away, after he hit the ground he stopped moving completely. Again seething with anger (I don’t how many times that my blood boiled by now, that is if this body has something that can be considered blood), I directed my gaze to where the man in white is fighting.

The fight was once again turning into the bandit’s favor; his strikes that his opponent parries is pushing the man in white back, it seems like his wounds are starting to really weaken him, that’s when I also noticed that the embers that was trailing from him were gone and that his blade is now back to being just silvery instead of glowing red from heat. Realizing that the man has reached his limits, I didn’t wasted any second and charged in in their fight.

I tried to blindside the rough swordsman with a diagonal downward swing but he was saved by his instincts and jumped back before my blade can hit him. Not wanting to give him a space to breathe I continued to press forward, with my sword not having its previous range, I stuck close to the bandit and pushed him away from where the man in white collapsed on his knees. Sparks and small shards of my blade flew into the air as we continued our dance of death, my anger have made me focus solely on finishing the man, as he continued to struggle it didn’t took long for him to run out of stamina from parrying my swings.

Seeing this, I continued to press him and wait for a chance to finish the fight, and it didn’t took long for the chance to present itself; after parrying a diagonal slash from me, the bandit was forced to catch himself so that his blade would not carry him with its momentum and send him rolling on the ground, though even this effort was in vain; catching himself from falling to the ground face first has also increased the time he needed so that he can properly recover and raise his blade to block or parry, and that cost him dearly; with such opening presented to me, I didn’t hesitated and grabbed it, I swung at his open chest and cut him diagonally from his left shoulder to his right hip.

My blade didn’t cut cleanly because of its chipped and jagged edge, and because of that a screech of pain echoed in to walls of the cave in where we are, I can’t imagine how painful that would have been, it actually made me shiver a little even in my enraged state. The bandit was also thrown to the wall behind him as some of the force of the slash didn’t transformed into a cut but instead into a hit; his blood stained the wall of the cavern the moment he hit the wall, and there he stayed put and unmoving.

Having done what my emotions and body practically dragged me to do; I stood there with the broken claymore still in my hand looking blankly at the corpse that I just ended, the realization that I have taken two lives slowly creeping into my mind. I am not naïve enough to think that I can end every encounter in friendly terms and I understand that if I would have to incite change I would be fighting and a fight for change sometimes ends up with one losing their life. Though even with this knowledge, the lives that I took still stuck to me and bothered my humanity and my conscience.

As the thoughts of what I’ve done run in circles in my head, I saw the man in white walking shakily towards where the Elf and Beastman is, that reminded me that there is someone currently dying on the ground. In response to this thoughts and also having hope that I may be able to balance out the scale, I also turned around and tried to walk back to the Beastman on the floor, but then my knees buckled and I was forced to catch myself and kneel on one knee, not really understanding why I lost my strength on my legs, I looked down and saw them shaking, the rattling sound of metal plates and mechanism reaching the thing that I use to hear (just remembered that I don’t have ears).

As I watched them for a second I noticed that it’s not just my legs but my whole body was shaking; I was trembling like a leaf. That’s when I realized that my body is reacting to my shaken psyche, my deed of killing for the first time. I also remembered that I am just a normal boy a few moments ago that lived in a relatively peaceful environment, killing someone were not really a high possibility in my mind and not really something I needed to necessarily prepare for. Now understanding why, I tired to stand up again, I didn’t have any difficulty though my body still continued to shake.

Having nothing that can possibly help with that, I just tried to ignore it, me thinking that it would probably pass. After all that, I heard a feminine voice calling out for the Beastman, that’s when I came back to the reality of the situation around me, I hurriedly ran to where the cry came from and kneeled down beside the injured man who’s still on the ground, though now his breathe are slow and weak, atop of him crying on his chest is the Elf and lastly the man in white doing what he can with his magic; his hands outstretched as the body of the Beastman burned with the same kind of fire that he covered the Elf with before.

Still not knowing what I can do to help, I directed my gaze at the Elf who woke up and is now in grief as she watches her comrade slowly leaving the world of the living; her ice blue eyes are drowning in tears. Not being able to endure watching someone in pain, I turned my gaze at the man trying to save the one on the floor and asked him what I can do to help; “Is there anything I can do?” I asked, ready to do whatever it is that he says. “He lost a lot of blood, I would need to close all his wounds for him to have any chance of survival, if you know any Spell that can do that or if can conjure one, then please provide me with your assistance.” Came the reply of the man in white.

That hit me like a truck (yes it’s a bad pun), I don’t know how to use Magic, at least not yet and that placed me in a pinch. Slowly I started to panic inside, I have no experience whatsoever of casting Spells or feeling any Mana because of course I was born from a world without Magic. And because of that I am again swallowed by the feeling of failure, in my head I started thinking: ‘How can I succeed in the Mission given to me if I can’t even do the things required of me the first day?’ Though even with this panic in my head, I still desperately tired to think of a way how I can help.

That’s when I recalled the words of Amulon: ‘Magic requires the wielder to shape the Mana that flows around them into a form in which embodies the thoughts of the wielder, as it does this, it also Reads the Elemental Affinity of the wielder and takes its basic properties. Then whatever the command would be, the Mana that has been shaped and formed would fulfill it.’ Remembering the Angel’s words, the feeling of failure in my heart was lifted a little, but then another dilemma came crashing to me; ‘What’s my affinity?’ realizing that I still haven’t uncovered that detail for myself, I again began to panic.

But before I can put the panic into full throttle an image flashed in my vision; it was a icon of fire and lighting. At first I didn’t understand but then I read the words above these image: ‘Elemental Affinity’. Not really having time to doubt the things that popped up in my vision, I just started to try and cast a Spell according to the steps that was stated by Amulon the Angel. Recognizing what my Affinities is, I quickly picked the fire Affinity and thought of a mental image. I imagined a flame that gives warmth and comfort to those that respect it and use it wisely; an image of a small campfire that guards the people around it as they rest their weary bodies from the day before.

After that I let go of the claymore that I still have in my hand, I then raised my hand above the injured man in front of me and gave the Mana that I have molded a command: “Heal.” I whispered. After I have said that, I felt something flowing through me, flowing like a gentle breeze, though this gentle breeze literally feels like its using my body as a conduit to flow to where the Beastman is. Then as I was feeling all this, the flames that engulf the Beastman surged with new ferocity though it didn’t hurt the one inside the flames and the crying Elf atop his chest.

Amazed at what I have done, I gave more of my focus and effort in maintaining the Spell that I have casted, as I do so, I saw the wounds of the Beastman closing faster than that of before, but then he suddenly grabbed my only hand with his own and looked directly into my eyes (I still don’t really know if I have like actual eyes. The image in my vision was kinda simplistic so I still have no idea if I have actual eyes), he then proceeded to speak. “Please, look after Elia.” came his request. I didn’t understand why he chose me, like, his other companion is right beside me, why ask me? Though I was not able to think about it further, numerous voices suddenly came to our ears, voices of people searching for someone.

As these voices sounded in the cavern where we are, the man in white turned his gaze to the big hole on the wall opposite from where we were facing, and to add more information, the hole that I didn’t notice until now. The man in white turned his gaze back to me as if asking if I can handle it on my own and I gave him a nod. He then shakily stood up and half ran half limp to the natural looking hole but as that was happening, I saw the bandit with squared sword smiling at us, his eyes wide with insanity and his back only supported by the cold stone wall, shivers ran through my spine as I saw the very wall that he’s leaning on glowing green, and not only a small part of it.

Moving by pure reflex and not really knowing what would happened, I stopped casting the Spell and stood up and spread my single working arm to my side. Then it came; the wall behind the supposedly dead man cracked and exploded into a million sharp fragments, each flying with the speed of a bullet. I felt the chunks of rocks hitting me, though it didn’t hurt like hell like how I expecting, it still stung nonetheless. Then after the fragments stopped raining down on me I heard some more cracks above me but I was not able to do anything else, the ceiling above me collapsed and it buried me with big chucks of rocks.

In the ensuing crash, I lost my consciousness for a bit, I didn’t know how long, but sounds of crying and mourning woke me up. In a daze and with the things that happened hazy in my mind for a second, I tried to stand up but again I felt that something is hindering me to do so. That’s when I remembered that I actually got buried under tons of rocks that was formerly the ceiling, hoping that I would be able to get out of the ruble, I started pushing the rocks that’s pinning my arm away.

To my shock they actually budged and moved, seeing this, I proceeded to push the rocks off me and after I pushed the last one off, I stood up and directed my eyes to where the crying is coming. I saw the Elf and the Beastman in the same spot from before the crash happened relatively unscratched. Wanting to see how the Beastman is doing, I started walking towards them but then it felt hard to move, I also noticed that my body feels sore and limp, though I disregarded all of this and continued to where the Elf is crying, the moment that I reached them, I prepared myself to redo what I did to cast the Spell from before.

Though before I was able to start, I noticed something dreadful; he’s not breathing anymore. Despair filled me for the third time but this time, there was no escape. A certain heaviness came to my heart as a thought formed in my head. ‘I failed to save a life in my first day…’ Came the words that swirled in my mind. Realizing that my fear just a few moments ago actually coming to reality, I joined the Elf in her mourning, I hanged my head low and looked at the ground cursing myself for not being able to do anything, for wasting time unconscious rather than healing the Beastman that seems to be very important to the Elf. Though my mourning was disturbed, as I was sinking myself in this emotions the Elf directed her gaze to me; a gaze full of desperation and anguish as if she would break any minute and turn into dust.

Those pained blue eyes made me despair more, for me it was a sign of my failure, a failure of heavenly magnitude. As those eyes stared at me, it pierced my soul, I then turned my face away, not able to face the one that I have failed, but her words called me back to face her and despair more. “Sir, please heal my friend.” Came her words. She hasn’t still accepted it, and that made it hurt more. I looked away again not knowing what to say to the broken girl in front of me, but that made her more desperate. “Please good sir,I beg of you! Heal my friend!” After those words she grabbed my shoulders with both of her hands and once again looked into my eyes.

“Please sir, he’s the only thing I have left! I… I can’t lose him too…” Came her desperate plea. I can see it in her eyes; the pain that she had gone through, the suffering that she had borne, and how this Beastman before me lifted that up, but I can’t fulfill her request, and that made me despair even more. It was like the world is determined to remind of monumental failure in my first day in this new life. I again averted my eyes away from her desperate ones and that triggered her again, she shook me with her small arms but it did little to move my metal body, that’s when she started asking “Why?” I won’t save him, “Why?” I am wasting time.

Those words drilled into me until I can’t take it anymore and it made me snap, my own emotions once again taking control away from me; The words that I dreaded to say because it’s the mark of my failure. “He’s dead!” I shouted. The Elf flinched at my hostile reply and also because I forced her to see reality again. More tears then steamed down on her cheeks when she heard me. Her determined but desperate eyes that insisted to look at me before, now pulled their gaze away from me, her hands though, it never left my shoulders they stayed there. The Elf’s grip was equivalent to her pain and because of how hard she was grasping my metal shoulders, her fingers started to bleed as the nails on her fingers were driven into her flesh.

She stayed like that until she drained herself of tears and strength and fell asleep in that position. I didn’t know how long she cried and how long we were like statues in there, but the moment that I sensed that the Elf has fallen asleep I moved her to the wall and leaned her there in a sitting position for more comfort. After that I once again kneeled down near the body of the Beastman and looked at his face; he looked like he was in peace when he passed, but that didn’t do anything to help me feel better.

As I again contemplated on what happened, the wall just behind me exploded, good thing that I laid the Elf far from that wall or she would have been injured, again I was hit by rocks but it didn’t do a lot of damage this time; the explosion being in the weak side this time. Shocked and alerted by that explosion, I quickly reached for the claymore on the ground beside the Beastman and prepared myself, me expecting that a new enemy would come out of the new hole. Though what came out of the dust cloud was something I was not expecting; it was a girl in blue nice looking robes. Her long silky hair was brown in color her eyes green, her appearance not really suited for a cave like the one we are right now.

She looked like a princess of some country that decided to take a stroll in her garden; and that impression was only reinforced when two knight looking individuals also came out of the hole, their armor covering their whole body. Those knights actually made me realize that I lowered my guard down, and so I readied the broken claymore in my hand and also readied myself for a deadly fight (I actually readied myself to die again, I can’t fight them in my condition so I actually said my prayers).

But again, I was bombarded with something that I did not expected, the girl spoke to me; her voice soft and actually glad for some reason. “We finally found you, the Prophesied One.” Came her words full of gladness and assurance. As she was saying that, she walked towards me with such glee in her expression that it’s like the air around her started to glow, when she reached me she placed her right hand to my left cheek and caressed it like I was a long lost child of hers which actually kinda creeped me a bit.

“We have waited for your coming, Hero of the Vanguards.” She added. Her face beaming with a smile so bright that it could have blinded me if that smile actually produced light. As she caressed my cheek, I felt something in the back of my mind, its like its telling me that somehow, this girl in front of me is related to me in some ways and that she’s not what she looks like. When I took my gaze away from her and looked at her knights I felt the same way, because of that I ask the girl for conformation. “Are you like me?” Came my question, without much reaction, she answered after she stopped caressing my cheek. “Yes we are. We are like you, a SiegFrame.”