Chapter 105 - First Encounter (Patreon)

Mayalyn Aloyhee

- South of Mortan: Eastern fortress city, Finlest Empire -

Cameron’s hand flew past her face, embarrassment coloring his emotions as he startled Mayalyn by moving faster than he meant to. He gripped the cloak that hung over her shoulders, his mana fueled a burst of Forming that rapidly created a large hood which he pulled over her head, hiding her ears. He stepped back and asked her something, but she shrugged, not understanding enough to piece together his meaning.

He sighed, rubbing the back of his head in a way that reminded her of Jiran. He motioned her to follow and together they walked down the steep road after Olive. They found her several minutes later, conversing with a dozen men and women in matching uniforms. Mayalyn caught a few words of their conversation. One word in particular stood out and she knew she had heard before, Mogradin. She pulled out the book she used to translate their languages and flipped through the pages.

Olive finished talking to the soldiers and hurried back to their side. She fussed with Mayalyn’s new hood, tucking a few strands of her bright blue hair out of sight and making sure the cloth was low enough that none could see inside. Satisfied, Olive grabbed Mayalyn’s hand and pulled her to the side of the road and then stood there, seemingly unsure of what to do next.

The long trail of imperials started moving south again. Only a few of them were soldiers, the rest terrified mothers and fathers pulling their children along behind them. They were disheveled, dirty, and terrified. They carried few supplies, making Mayalyn wonder what they were doing out here in the middle of nowhere. She could taste Olive’s fear and fury, the emotions strong enough that the blond girl was barely coping with the situation. It didn’t take Olive long to make up her mind about whatever was causing her indecision. With a firm nod, the princess began walking in the direction all the people were coming from.

Mayalyn followed behind, Cameron protectively walking between her and the line of people. She rapidly flipped through her pages of notes for that word. It wasn’t just the soldiers and Olive who said it, more and more of the people they passed were also muttering Mogradin in hushed, private conversations that her sensitive ears easily overheard. Finally, she found it and the memory of Jiran’s voice saying it flooded into her thoughts.

She said the word aloud in her own language and it slid off her tongue like rotten oil, “Graymin.”

Jiran of Feylon

“Hide or run?” Despite being dozens of Kilometers away, Jiran had to focus on maintaining his aura so it could block out the rumbling of millions of tons of collapsing rock.

“Hide? No way! Only a tier seven or higher could destroy a mountain that quickly. Which means they have manasight. If they saw your ice, hiding in the middle of nowhere is not possible. Our only chance of hiding is getting to a city and blending in with a large enough crowd.”

“Manasight? That’s a thing? Why didn’t you mention that earlier? I wouldn't have stopped us so close to the temple!” Niya glared at him before rushing away from the collapsing mountain as quickly as her aura could pull her through the air. Jiran took one last look at the hypnotic sight of a natural disaster happening right in front of him before catching up with her.

Damnit, if Lenton had let me read more advanced books, I would have known about manasight already. Doesn’t matter, I need to focus! I doubt we'll be able to outrun a tier seven using only our auras since they’re going to have teleportation.

“Do you know what the cooldown on teleportation is?”

“Depends on the tier. Five seconds is the fastest I’ve ever seen and that was Lenton. Tier six is about two minutes.”

“Okay, that decides it.”

“That decides what? What are you-ahh!” Niya squawked as Jiran wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug, locking her arms to her sides.

“Hold still, since you’re not fully healed, this is going to hurt,” Jiran easily batted her clumsy attempts to overpower his aura aside. He tipped them forward until they were parallel to the ground before blasting forward like a rocket. Niya screamed until she ran out of air. Her desperate attempts to swallow more oxygen were all she could manage as the acceleration continued to escalate.

The scenery blurred as their passing ripped a trench of destruction across the ground. Jiran angled them steadily higher until they were flying far above the clouds and the sky darkened. Niya drooped in his arms, having lost consciousness during the climb. The empire stretched out beneath them, his new vantage revealing even the lands beyond the borders of his interface map.

When his mana dwindled to thirty percent, Jiran cut off the acceleration and glided with wings of aura toward the northeast and Mortan City. Originally, their plan had been to travel together to meet the tier seven Duke Reihnhardt. He could only hope that was where they chose to go after leaving the peoples cavern early. If they weren’t in the city, he only needed to find enough food to refill his mana and ask Daughter. Not only that, if what Niya said about getting lost in a city was true, then they had all the more reason to get there in a hurry and it was the closest large city.

Hopefully, thirty percent of my mana is enough to fend that person off if they catch us. If I don’t hold back my mental images, I wonder if I can match what they did to that mountain. Maybe if I still had my custom channels.

He kept glancing behind and below them, sweat dripping down his back despite the frigid, high-altitude temperatures. He didn’t think whoever collapsed that mountain was following them, he knew they were. Foresight had been maintaining a steady low-key buzz in his neck since he started flying. It wasn’t growing any stronger, but with how quickly a higher-tier ascender could move, he might not get a more solid warning before they suddenly teleported before him.

At least I know where I’m going. Glad I marked down all the towns and cities from Olive’s map after getting a peek at it. Manasight huh? That implies being able to see mana in the air. Wouldn’t I need to actually use my mana to leave a trail then? I shouldn’t assume things will be that convenient even if it does make the most sense. Hopefully with how fast we’re going and how strong the wind is, whatever traces of mana they’re following are faint enough they lose us.

Even though Jiran’s aura was shaped in the most aerodynamic form he could imagine, their speed continued to gradually slow. Thinking it was worth at least trying, he banked slightly, sending them a bit north of their previous flight path. After thirty minutes, he realigned them with Mortan.

An hour passed and their speed dropped to less than half of what it was before. Niya was still asleep, comfortably wrapped in his arms and swaddled in aura as they glided well above the clouds. Far in the distance, he could see a black splotch on the horizon. He examined his map again, assuming the stain covering a vast swath of the terrain was their destination.

An explosion shattered the landscape to the south, startling Niya awake. She groaned in pain as Jiran searched for the source of the noise. A tiny speck blasted forward, just above the ground. A rocky outcropping atop a nearby hill shattered from the force of its passing. Wherever the tiny dot of a person traversed, a long furrow was ripped through the ground, sending dirt, trees, and wildlife hurtling through the air.

Jiran gulped, his nervous sweat returning with a vengeance. So far, their pursuer had failed to see them so far north of their original trajectory. All he could do was hope it stayed that way as he angled their flight to put more clouds between them.

Why aren’t they flying higher in the air? If they were following my mana, they shouldn't be so close to the ground. Maybe they lost us when I stopped using mana and assumed we dropped down to hide. Now they’re combing the ground while continuing in the same direction.

“Niya,” Jiran whispered, startling her from the gradual progression of waking up. “Do you know how manasight works? If I used my mana to reflect light to make us invisible, would that person see the reflection, or my mana?”

She held her side, whimpering for a minute before responding. “Wha? Oh, uhm. No? I don’t think it's worth the risk since they haven’t spotted us. You might light us up like a beacon. If they do see us, try your light trick then.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too, figured I’d ask though. Any idea what tier they are? I can’t see them well enough to get a read from here.”

They watched together as the speck blasted forward again, shattering the landscape anew as they increased in speed. He felt Niya trembling and saw through his aura as her face morphed between emotions, settling on grim acceptance.

“Either that is a very powerful tier seven or a low tier eight. If that’s the ‘Duchess’ those fanatics were talking about, then there’s a good chance it’s Ravenna Le’Morothin. Her city is the closest to that temple and rumors put her at tier seven. She’s old, Jiran. Like, Lenton old. She’s not someone we want to mess with.”

“Little late for that.”

“Yeah. What a fucking mess,” Niya sighed. “Well, turn us around. If we hide in that cloud, we can probably double back without being spotted.”

“No,” Jiran shook his head.

“Excuse me? What do you mean, no? You have a better idea than the cloud? I thought you weren't going to use that light thing unless you needed it.”

“We’re going to Mortan. I have to check in on Mayalyn and the others and there should be plenty of crowds for us to blend into.”

“Have you lost your mind?! You managed to lose the trail of an ancient tier seven! That’s not something you throw away. We need to get out of here!” Panic was seeping into her voice so Jiran gave her a reassuring squeeze before he released her from his arms so she was only supported within his aura.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about manasight while you were asleep. Mayalyn was packed full of my mana the last time I saw her. If this duchess can see that, she’ll be in danger if they meet. I’m going, you don’t have to go with me. I can find you later the same way I found you the first time.”

Niya’s eyes met his, desperately searching for some sign that he wasn’t serious. Finding only steely resolve, she bit her lip and furrowed her brows. Jiran let her think while maintaining their flight. A minute later, she seemed to have come to a conclusion as she punched him in the shoulder.

“I can’t ask you to help someone important to me and not do the same for you. Since you’re basically a man-sized baby, you’re going to need me to keep you out of trouble! This is more idiotic than jumping into an alacronch nest but I’m not going to leave you to do it on your own.”

Jiran grinned, his cousin's support filling him with a soft, tingling warmth. “Thanks, Niya. Try not to worry too much. Now that I’ve seen how fast she moves, I’m confident I can outfly her if we’re spotted. So long as we’re careful, we should be fine.” Niya punched him in the arm several times harder than before. “Ouch! What was that for!”

“Why would you say that?! Are you trying to curse us? You of all people should know tempting fate like that will only make Madra more inclined to challenge you.”

Jiran’s retort died on his lips as Ravenna’s distant figure suddenly stopped flying and fell to the ground. Seeing his concern, Niya also looked in that direction and gasped. Her entire body locked up in shock as she pointed a shaky finger at the distant horizon.

“Graymin,” She mumbled, barely a whisper. Had they not been within his aura, he never would have heard her.

Jiran looked again, not seeing anything at first. Then it struck him, that black mass wasn’t the city. It wasn’t the ground either. It was bodies, an army millions strong, stretching from the walls of Mortan to the mountains far in the north.

“Let go of me! We need to land right now!” Niya squirmed to free herself and Jiran let her go. He almost left without her as a spike of panic shot through his chest thinking of his friends surrounded by so many beasts. He was barely able to force down his impatience after hearing the need in Niya’s tone. She had struggled against him so hard, as if she knew flying a moment longer was the same as death.

Don’t panic and run headlong to your death, Jiran. It doesn’t look like they’ve taken the city yet. Besides, after seeing it under attack, Olive probably turned them around. There’s no way they would have rushed into that… right?

He followed Niya as she pulled herself toward the ground as quickly as she could—far surpassing terminal velocity. She didn’t stop until she crashed into the woods below them, Jiran hot on her heels. “What’s happening? Why can’t we fly? We need to hurry!”

“Nobody flies over a Graymin army, nobody. Mother above, you’re so damn ignorant. Please tell me you’ve at least heard of their rooks?”

“I think so. Something about rooks to rocks and rocks to ruin. Isn’t that a rhyme we used to sing?” Jiran racked his brain, trying to dig up more memories. Even with his increased mental attributes, he couldn't recall anything more specific while his mind was overwhelmed with concern for Mayalyn.

“Wow, if I didn’t come along, you’d probably already be dead. Yes, rooks throw rocks and yes, they will absolutely kill anyone below tier seven if they so much as graze you. Even Ravenna wasn’t willing to fly closer to that army.”

Niya watched him with narrowed eyes as he tried to find a spot where he could see the army through the thin trees. She growled and kicked the ground. Jiran flipped around, startled, thinking they were under attack. Seeing Niya merely venting her frustration, he started to reprimand her but she beat him to it. “I can’t believe I agreed to do this! I’m completely dry, getting anywhere near that army is suicide and there’s a lunatic tier seven after us. Are you seriously still planning to go?”

“Of course I’m still going. If there’s even a chance Mayalyn is in there, I’m going. Besides,” He shrugged, ”I’ve been through worse, probably.”

“How reassuring,” She drawled, ”If you want my help, we’re going to need some mana. I won’t be able to help at all in breaking through that many Graymin without a full load.”

“Are you sure? Have you fought them before? I thought their average tier was three and four. That should be pretty easy to handle with our auras alone.”

Jiran and Niya both froze as they heard the soft shuffling of feet taking tiny steps. A moment later, the perpetrator entered the range of his aura. The humanoid beast moved with a shambling gait. It wasn’t in a hurry, stumbling along as if it were a child lost in the woods.

Wiry, power-packed muscles lay dormant in its arms and legs. Jiran could tell by the shape of its long limbs that if the beast saw them, it would drop to all fours and charge. Its hands were tipped with fingers and claws of varying sizes as if evolution had grown confused about what the end result should be. Spikes jutted from its shoulders, an obvious sign of how deadly the creature's eventual charge would be. Its skull was smooth and made of thick bone, appearing hard to pierce with a spear thrust. Everything he could see about the creature backed up the description that Identify gave him.

[Graymin Pawn: Linebreaker (Tier 4) (1150/1150) A variant of the Graymin Pawn purposefully designed to break through defensive lines and fortifications. Graymin Pawns pose little threat when encountered alone. They are never alone.]