Chapter 146

Kosha

Double Crossed

Kosha’s face burned from where she had been punched. She had failed her awakening ceremony. Only the new boy Marsh had shown her any sympathy.

“Just hold out a little longer. Hope will be waiting for you.” The boy said, before he was forced away. The boy was of course impressive, strong muscles and already noted as exceptional by the gods.

He had been listed as a Healing Mage. The two skills he started with were also impressive, Master Sneaking Expert, and Master Agriculture Adept. He was to be a rare healer who could breathe life into lost fields, along with the people tending the fields. A miracle, worse, he was an outsider.

He had been shoved into line right in front of Kosha, meaning he had stolen her destiny. At least that was what she had wanted to believe when she heard her destiny.

“Don’t worry. Ajimal the Great has a plan for your kind.” The guard said.

Hearing those words, a pang of fear ran through Kosha’s mind. She had heard about what happened to women in war conquered villages. To take advantage of a child who didn’t have a class was a sin punishable by death, but nothing was said for a man who sullied a woman who had gained their class.

This was the first step in awakening her class, she didn’t know what the guards had in store for her. But the looks and anger that her own family gave her sent shivers down her spine. She had been pronounced as evil, as a sin upon the land, a Null.

She knew what that meant, she was to be captured and thrown out into the woods to die. But there was a bit of confusion, as there were two sets of guards those with old and new orders. The orders of course conflicted with each other. In the end, the older guards with seniority were given sway. Their verdict was final, abandon the Null to nature that was denied to them.

Like anyone threatened with a chance at making an escape she ran. The new guards provided a distraction, letting her make her way out. But it had all been for naught. She was soon captured, worse, she had been an embarrassment to her family who only looked on with pain filled glances, as she was dragged away. There was nothing worse for her.

No, the worse part came when the new boy, the one who had taken her place in society watched with calm eyes. He even had the audacity to smile at her. That really caused her blood to boil with rage.

“Look. Kid. Calm down. People will be here for you shortly.” The first guard said, once the last of the villagers was out of ear shot.

“What? What do you mean?” Kosha asked.

“It is simple. We don’t know what Ajimal does, there is some new program that he is creating. We think it is something evil, that is why we kept you away from him and his men. Trust us, you don’t want to go there.” The second guard began.

“That said, there is a program for children like you. They follow us in the woods, at a distance of a few days. We leave, they come by grab the lost lamb and bring them to the fold.”

“Wait, are you telling me that you believe in the Cerusian?” Kosha said, a condescending tone to her voice.

Hearing that the first guard looked around as if she had called forth the very devil himself. But everyone knew where Ajimal was, he was over at his new capital.

“Look, you can’t say that word. But yes, effectively.” The second guard said, his eyes too looked around.

“Now go on. We will have to kill you if you come back. But just keep going in a straight line, they will find you and bring you into the fold.” The first guard said, giving Kosha a gentle push on the back.

Rustle.

There was a blur of action as glowing red eyes appeared out of nowhere and lunged around and past Kosha.

Woosh!

Wind whipped around Kosha as she felt the aftereffects of a being moving incredibly quickly. She felt her heart racing at the fact that her mind saw and registered the danger almost instantly.

Thud.

Thud.

In two seconds, two bodies fell to the ground. With a start, Kosha realized the two bodies were those of the experienced guards, the ones that chased her down and punched her in the face.

The monster whirled. While he carried a staff in his hand, it was clear he only used two fingers to make precision strikes to different parts of the guard’s necks.

Then the monster that had been moving so quickly moments slowed. Then turned its glowing red eyes on her.

It was a demon.

“Eeep!” Kosha yelled. Though her yell was little more than a squeak as she felt the wind being forced from her lungs.

“Shh. It’s okay.” Gentle hands from someone her own height came and grabbed her. The girl, no short woman, was beautiful olive skin, with a heart shaped face. Her glowing dark hair and vibrant eyes gave her an ethereal beauty that was hard to deny. Just seeing her, Kosha felt like an angel descended from the heavens.

At the angel’s touch, the fear that Kosha had been feeling suddenly abated.

“Are you here for me?” Kosha asked.

“Yes.” Brenna said. Then she turned to the male, “now calm down and introduce yourself. Can’t you see you are frightening her?”

Hearing that the man who had been staring around the woods with glowing red eyes, suddenly shook himself. Then as if he had been wearing a war mask of some kind, his features shifted back to normal. Within a second, he too had the face of the ethereally beautiful.

“I am Lykan.” The man said, who no longer had glowing red eyes and looked to be a god wearing the clothes of a pauper.

“And I am Brenna. We wanted to help you.”

Taking a moment to see the two and their weapons, dawning realization struck her. She had seen the two, if only in passing. They were the ones who passed the line cutter boy off to the Wilders.

Realizing who they were, she cocked her head to the side. “You brought in the Marsh kid?”

“Yeah, how did he do?” Brenna asked, her tone concerned in a motherly way.

Hearing her tone, the previous anger she held towards Marsh abated. This would be the same thing as denying her mother word of how she had done, at least that is what Kosha thought of her question. Even the male who had looked like he would carve his way through the pits of hell a moment ago, now looked questioning with the same form of hope. Seeing their expressions, she could only let out a sigh and answer truthfully.

“He did wonderfully. He had the spot right in front of me, so I saw him get the best reading. Healing magic, with two Master level skills that were already at high ranks. He even had high accolades from the gods.” Kosha said, a bitter tone filling her words towards the end.

Hearing the tone, the two rather than looking resentful, instead seemed to have a gleam to their eyes. Seeing that look, especially from the male she felt a slight twinge of panic fill her.

“Would you like to get accolades like he had from the gods?” The man who introduced himself as Lykan asked.

Hearing the words, and seeing the look of determination in his eyes, Kosha couldn’t help but shudder. “No, not that. Not even if it is with…” She trailed off.

“HAHAH!” Brenna was laughing loudly. Her voice was so melodic that it caused Kosha’s own mind to race for a moment.

Once she stopped, Brenna tried to regain her composure but soon stopped. “Oh, sorry. Just the idea of Mr. Modesty here using his position for anything like that is laughable. Stick around with him long enough and you will understand.” Brenna said to Kosha. Then she gave a gentle reassuring tap to the man.

A man who seemed to be some form of demon of battle. Well until he was just a tall stoic man who just huffed and shook his head.

“So. What he won’t tell you. At least not for the immediate time, to give you reason to trust him. Is that he was once in your shoes. The only thing was no one ever came for him. He was left to go out and change his future by himself. Also, why he and I were so interested in Marsh is that he had a far worse start than you did. His entire village had been killed, but Lykan saved him. Save him, killed off the monsters that had taken root in his village. Then got him the accolades that set him apart from all the others.” Brenna said.

Somewhere in the conversation, Brenna hooked her arm into Kosha’s and began idly walking away into the woods as if they were on nothing more than a late evening stroll.

Only once they were well past the village, and all known landmarks were well behind her, did Kosha realize she was at the mercy of these two complete strangers.

Still, she found herself relaxing slightly, Brenna had a motherly nature about her that was hard to deny. And for all Lykan’s quiet oddities, it was clear that he cared deeply about both Brenna and about Kosha.

After seeing the way, he would look at her, not in the creepy way some men would from the town. But in the way her father would look at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. It was that look more than anything that made Kosha decide to trust the two.

“You really are a Null?” Kosha found herself finally asking.

Lykan for his part shook his head. This caused a wave of betrayal to form in her mind. But before she had a chance to act out on her frustration, he continued. “Not anymore. I managed to do several feats that were noted by the gods and minor deities alike. I made enough accolades that by the time I was offered my class, I was offered something truly unique.”

“What class did you get?” Kosha asked, her mind truly wondering about what possible class could exist other than Null.

“I am a Valiant Wonderer.” Lykan said, with a slight bow.

“Valiant Wanderer? How did you get to such a class when you started as a Null?” Kosha asked.

“A lot of work. Well and a lot of failures. Failures that I hope we can avoid with you.” Lykan said.

Then before he could say anything else his entire posture went rigid, as he began scanning the surrounding. For a moment Kosha swore she saw his eyes flash red again. At the same time Brenna too had her eyes go red as she moved like lightning, pulling forth her axe and standing in front of Kosha protectively. She turned back to see that Lykan too had taken up a similar position.

His muscles bulged beneath thread bare clothes that showed off his well-muscled wiry frame. It was clear from their posture that the two were used to fighting together a lot. Their ease of movement and awareness of each other spoke volumes to Kosha, who could only marvel at the way they seemed to glide into place.

Their positions also spoke of their want to protect Kosha. At first Kosha wondered what type of crazy animal would dare come for them. But only now did she notice how unnaturally silent the forest was. All the birds and insects were deafeningly silent, which made the slight rustling of leaves easy to hear over the crisp just turning-night air.

“It seems that you two have something that doesn’t belong to you.” A female voice called out.

The voice came from the side, but oddly enough neither Lykan nor Brenna turned to face the voice. Instead, they kept their positions. Even in the setting light, Kosha could only think of just how big the two weapons were. They were long enough to easily cover her and provide complete protection around her.

Crunch, rustle.

The sound of multiple people moving in from all sides could be heard.

“I will give you one warning. Back down now and leave with your lives.” Lykan said, his voice a low roar that spoke of calm carnage.

He didn’t yell, he didn’t need to. It was as if the power of his conviction alone was enough to send the words forth to their intended targets.

Shivering.

Kosha felt a shiver run down her spine, but then she noticed that the same feeling of fear was also being exhibited by a few of the men that had surrounded them. Looking at the men, Kosha instantly saw the insignia of Ajimal’s army. The sign was a common fixture in the north. Kosha realized they had either come to investigate the two guards who had been subdued by Lykan, or to capture her anyways, or both. Regardless she did not want to go back with these men.

Shuffle.

One guard forced a trembling step forward.

“So be it. Brenna.” Lykan shouted. Then he was off.

Woosh!

Air rustled, her dress flapped like a flag in the wind. Then he was gone.

“On it.” Brenna shouted, as she took a measured half step to the right, opening her stance slightly.

Shuffle, shuffle.

A guard charged forward from the right, forcing Kosha to turn her gaze there.

Whoom!

Air fluttered around Kosha, as her hair was blown about wildly. By the time her hair had time to drop from her eyes, the guard she had turned to look at was falling to the ground in two halves. The cut was so smooth that for a second blood only seemed to pour out from the wound as if it was a slight cut. Only after the next step forward, and the top half of the soldier’s body began sliding away from the lower half did blood begin to spray in great streams.

It was like a blood fountain coming to life.

Spirt.

Another sound of shooting water came from her left. She turned to see another body. Then another splashing sound, only to turn to see another body spraying blood around her. Yet, despite how many bodies, none ever seemed to spray blood towards her. An act Kosha was immensely grateful for.

The attacks were so quick and efficient that no one could cry out.

Kosha looked to see that several the guards further away, the ones with bows, crossbows, and rifles all had their heads bashed in. Many of the deaths were so clean and ruthless that Kosha’s young mind had a hard time processing everything that she was seeing.

Then just as quickly as the violence had begun, it was over.

“Close your eyes.” Brenna said, gently.

Hearing the words, and feeling the world spinning around her, Kosha did as instructed. Then she felt a cool breeze as she felt a moment of weightlessness. She opened her eyes to see that she was in the strong arms of Lykan. A quick glance around showed that the tops of the trees were clearly giving way to a nighttime sky.

Dizzy.

A wave of vertigo befell Kosha as she made the mistake of looking down.

“Don’t worry. I’ll put you down shortly. I just want to take them off our trail for a bit.” Lykan said.

Badump. Badump.

She was close enough that she could hear his heart beat slow, like a drum would depict the hour.

“What about Brenna?” Kosha asked.

HAHAHA! He laughed.

“Don’t worry, I would never leave Brenna behind.” He said, as if she was the most important person to him in the world. Not for the first time, Kosha wondered about the odd relationship between the two. Were they star crossed lovers? A demon and an angel who fell in love with each other?

Just as such a thought hit her, she felt herself begin to descend. Instant panic hit her, as she found herself grabbing hold tightly of Lykan’s shirt. Her fingers easily tearing a hole in the threadbare garment.

“Oh, sorry.” Kosha said.

“It’s okay, we finally have spare cloth we can use to create more.” Lykan said reassuringly.

They landed in a clearing not far away. Then a few moments later a charging Brenna broke free and found her way to the two. Upon seeing them, a bright smile formed on her face, and she made a beeline towards them. At first Kosha felt elated that Brenna would be so excited to see her, but soon realized her mistake when she saw Brenna run up and passionately kiss Lykan.

Kosha was about to say something, but then turned her head away in embarrassment. That’s when she felt the atmosphere once more shift. As a strange energy began to form around Kosha once more.

“It seems we didn’t go far enough.” Brenna said, once again pulling forth her axe from her back as she readied for combat.

With a glance Lykan too had pulled forth his metal staff and was in a defensive stance, his breathing and posture seemed relaxed. But the killing intent rolling off him spoke volumes about his current mood.

“Show yourself.” Lykan said coldly, in that low tone that once again demanded respect. Respect or death, that is what this tone of voice meant, at least when it came from Lykan.