Beckoning Fates, page 23
“H-He was here… when we reached this cavern. I still remember the way he looked at us. Those scarlet eyes—” She let out a trembling breath, then continued.
“My team and I… no one knew what the monster was, so we did what our instincts told us to do. We raised our weapons—that was our first mistake. I can still picture it so clearly. His pale gray skin. His face… it was beastly, yet it looked almost… human. He looked at us and smirked, exposing his sharp fangs. What threw us off was when he talked…” Her voice fell into a whisper.
“Mm,” I responded, just to let her know I was still there.
“He wasn’t even surprised to see us there. Vritra, he… that thing—just looked at us before…”
“Before?” I asked, sitting upright.
“He gave us two options.” Weakly, she raised her left hand and wiped at the blood running down her face as if cleaning away unwelcome tears.
“He looked straight at me, as if he knew instantly that I was the leader, and told me he’d let me walk out unharmed if I—” She choked back a sob, her remaining hand clenched into a red fist. “—if I dismembered each of my teammates, one by one, in front of him.”
Such an offer would have infuriated anyone, but looking at the state Alea was in right now, I couldn’t say with confidence she had made the right decision. Maybe her teammates would have wanted her to kill them quickly instead of being tortured the way they were.
“What was the other option?” I asked, gently wrapping my hands over her clenched fist.
“He just scoffed at us and said ‘…or you can try and fight.’”
Unable to find words to comfort her, I just kept my hands wrapped tightly around her fist. Moments trickled by, only the sound of the running water and Alea’s quiet sobs breaking the deathly silence.
“We didn’t… stand a chance,” she whispered, hiccupping.
“I hate to make you relive the scene, but I need as many of the details as possible, Alea.” I gently stroked her hand to try and calm her.
“He had one horn in the middle of his forehead… it curved backward sharply.” She said, forcing herself to speak calmly.
“One horn?” So there really was more than one of the horned demons. Was it a clan? A race?
My heart began racing uncontrollably, just imagining a whole race composed of horned demons—and a single one of them could wipe out one of the Six Lances and her entire team.
“Yes. My strongest single point attack only managed to create a small chip in that horn.” Alea seemed like she wanted to ask me something but her breath was getting shorter, so she continued.
“He… It—Vritra was able to use magic, magic that seemed to defy common sense. It wasn’t like any magic I’ve ever seen.” Alea’s forced calm cracked, and her lips began to quiver.
“What kind of magic did he use?”
“Metal. Black metal. He was able to instantaneously conjure metal spikes, blades, any sort of weapons from the ground… from himself. I don’t even know how to describe it properly. It was over too quickly. Half of my team was dead in the first wave of attacks he unleashed… with a simple flick of his wrist. When the ones that were still alive attacked him, he didn’t even bother to dodge—plates of black metal materialized instantly and blocked whatever attacks managed to get near him.”
I felt my face tense as I tried to visualize what powers Vritra, and possibly his entire race, might possess. It seemed to be conjuring but on a completely different level. The way she described it made it seem more akin to manifestation, or even creation of a certain phenomenon, rather than influencing mana particles that already existed.
How was that even possible, though? Were they capable of just skipping steps in the fundamental laws of magic in this world, or were they simply more knowledgeable, able to do this through a special skill?
At the sound of coughing, my head immediately turned toward Alea. It was worse than before; she was coughing up blood.
“Vritra… He left after doing this… to me. I’m not sure if he knew someone was going to come, but the last thing he did was to tell me his name… and to say that Dicathen was going to become a warzone.” Blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth as she turned her head toward me.
“This may sound preposterous, but can you do me a favor?” Alea gave a faint smile, revealing bloodstained teeth.
“Sure, anything.” I expected her to leave me with an item or message, perhaps for her family or a loved one back home.
“… hold me?” she mumbled.
I leaned in closer. “Sorry. I didn’t quite catch that.”
“I always thought I didn’t need anyone… as long as I was strong enough. I never had a family or lover… to depend on… but you know? I-I really don’t want to die alone right now.” Alea bit her trembling lower lip. “Can you hold me?”
Without saying a word, I gently wrapped my arms around Alea’s fragile neck and waist, leaning her head against my chest.
“I’m scared,” she muttered. “I don’t want to die.”
I stayed silent, gritting my teeth. As before, I was unable to find the words to comfort her. I softly stroked Alea’s hair, and felt her breathing become weaker and weaker.
Moments later, she passed away in my arms.
TurtleMe, Beckoning Fates
