Chapter III - An Unwelcome Visitor.

Bang bang bang!

"Knights of The Aria Empire, open up!"

"..."

Ayame immediately realizes the reason for their coming. For a few seconds, silence fills the air, but suddenly, the knights begin to break down the door.

"Gasp!"

She looks around the room for a moment and then finds what she is searching for.

Step step

Swoosh

She hastily picks up the short fancy knife and inspects the handle, looking for something. The knife is the same as it had always been, faintly glowing red gem included. After a quick look, she puts the knife down where it was.

"It's still working, so how did they find us?"

Bang!

The door won't last much longer! What should I do? Should I try to fight them? Or should I try to run? No, I won't be able to outrun their horses while holding Haru.

"Agh!"

Step step step

Bam!

She slams open a door, runs into the room, and grabs her bow and dagger.

Tap tap

Swish

Ssh.

Click!

While running to the door, she stores the dagger in its leather scabbard.

Swwish

She raises the bow, points it towards the door, and fully draws it.

"Huu."

Thwump

Splurt!

She fires the bow straight through the door, hitting the man on the other end in the chest.

Fshhh

The arrow immediately ignites and rapidly engulfs his body in flames, burning part of the door together with it.

"AAAAH!"

He screams in agony as he writhes and squirms in the fire.

Creak

She opens what's left of the door, dagger drawn. When she does, a man who appears to be the commander steps forward with no care for his knight who is still on fire.

"I fucking knew it. So you really were hiding in the wildlands."

"What do you want? Are humans really so stupid as to hunt down an enemy they cannot beat?"

"No, no, of course not. We're here to help you!"

The man's gesture doesn't affect her. Instead, she grips her knife tighter.

"In what way?"

"We'll help you be useful to Banura for once in your life! By offering you to them, then killing them all!"

When the man finally reveals the humans' plan, a wicked grin forms on his face.

"You psychopath."

She raises her dagger and gets into a combat stance.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you! The captain's on his way, and I'm sure you can't protect the kid in there while fighting him, especially not with an injury like that. You can comply and let us take you, or we can fight right now. I wonder what'll happen to him when the rest of us get here?"

Seeing that the man appears to be serious, Ayame slowly sheathes her dagger.

"You won't lay a finger on him."

"I promise. Tie her up, boys. See, that wasn't so hard, now was it?"

One of the knights in the back picks up a rope off the back of his horse and ties her to a tree.

Witnessing my mother being tied up, I run out of my cover behind the doorframe towards the knights.

"Mom? What's going on?"

"Nothing, Haru. Mom is just going on a vacation with these nice knights."

"Yeah, kid. Your precious mommy is going away for a very long time."

"D-Don't go! Stay here with me!"

Sigh

"This is why I hate kids."

Wham!

He runs up to me and punches me in the face, knocking me back onto my butt a few feet away and blood pouring out of my nose. The movement was so quick it was as if he teleported to me.

"Waaaa!"

Shit, that hurts like hell! I need to stop crying and help her... But how can I do that?

"Ma... shi.."

Where is that voice coming from?

"Sir, backup is almost here!"

I don't think they can hear it…

"You... special."

I can understand some of these words now, but they just make no sense! What is it saying about me being "special"?!

"Do you.. seek strength?"

Oh god, this is dumb. Yes, I need strength! I need to be strong enough to protect her!

"Let's make a... pact."

A pact? What kind of pact?

"You get.. power. In return... body."

You want... My body? I can't give that to you.

"Not you... that."

When it says that, the necklace on Mom's neck lights up.

You want Mom's necklace..?

"Yes."

Cough, cough!

Forget about getting her necklace, I can't even stand up, let alone walk over there.

"Repeat.. after me."

Um, okay.

"Ei..."

The sentence that follows is strange. It sounds like gibberish, but the words have a profound weight and feel powerful. Not knowing what is happening, I repeat the words that it speaks, hoping that it could, in some way, help me.

"...Ha!"

FSH!

Instantly, all the strength in my body drains out of me. A moment later, a large spinning ball of flame appears before me. The brightness is blinding.

Boom!

After a few moments of it growing and changing colour, the flame shoots forward, engulfing the knights, Ayame, and the tree to which she is tied.

"No! Mom!"

"Aaaagh!"

The flame burns away the knights, cooking and charring them together with their suits of armour. The part of the tree hit by the fireball immediately disintegrates, and the ropes on Ayame burn. However, she appears not to be injured by it at all.

Crash!

The remnants of the tree smash into the ground.

"Haru! Are you okay, baby!?"

"Yeah, Mom.. are you?"

As the smoke dissipates, I catch a small glimpse of Ayame. She is unharmed but frightened.

She's running this way... Why is she running to me?

Thud!

Huh? Why am I lying down? Wait, my arms. Why are they so burnt up?

"HAR–"

I lose consciousness as she runs towards me and yells out my name.

Clip clop clip clop

"What happened here?"

The man riding in the front of the group hops off his horse to inspect the remains of the knights that came before them.

"All that's left is ash... Whatever it was burned straight through their armour, flesh, and bone."

The man to his southeast breaks out of the wedge formation to walk up to him.

"Sir, it appears the origin point of the explosion was that house."

He points to the house and shows the extent of damage is more significant the further away it gets until it reaches the remnants of a tree next to them, approximately twenty feet from the house. It is shaped as if whatever it was got larger as it got farther away.

"You three, stay here and investigate the explosion. The rest of you are with me."

Three of the knights dismount their horses and begin searching the vicinity.

"Charcoal? Was the entire bottom half of this tree burnt?"

The four remaining knights trot towards the door, and the commander kicks it open.

Bam!

When he breaks down the door, he spots Ayame wrapping up Harue's burnt arms.

"Well, what do we have here?"

"!"

She audibly gasps at the sight of the knight commander, whom she had met as a child during her parents' peace discussions.

Ssh

Knowing she can't win in a one-on-one fight against him, she sets down Harue and surrenders.

"Smart girl. You two guard her while I check on the others. Everyone else, guard the perimeter."

"Yes, sir!"

Step step step

The commander walks back outside and meets with the group which were investigating the scene.

"Report."

"Sir, it appears a high-tier fireball spell was used here, the kind only they know."

"Only them? But why would one of them be way out here, much less work with someone like her? I know fire magic is her specialty, but even she can't fire off something that old."

He slides his hand across the charred tree before shaking the ashes off his hands.

"And how do you know it's high tier? They wouldn't need a high tier to do this."

"Well, sir, the residual mana matches up with one, but it appears whoever attempted it did not have nearly enough mana reserves."

We caused quite a commotion. If someone strong enough to use a spell like that is in there, they wouldn't be hiding. So who used it?

He looks in the direction of the house and spots Harue.

Those arms... It couldn't have been the kid, right? If he had been hit by that spell head-on, there would be nothing left of him.

Silence fills the room as the knights check the house while keeping an eye on Ayame.

"Haa."

"Man, do you think now that we've caught her we'll finally get a break?"

"Maybe, I could go for a vacation right about now. Hey, the commander's pretty busy with the others. I doubt he'll realize if we have some fun of our own."

"Good idea."

The two knights walk toward her and are about to grab her when a voice interrupts them.

"What are you doing? I told you two to check the rooms."

"Oh! Yes, sir! The house is empty. Only these two are here, sir."

"... The captain will be here soon."

The commander stands by the door and waits for backup.

"Tch, you're lucky."

The knights whisper their protests as they walk to the commander to hand him her bow.

"Sir, we found this in one of the rooms."

He grabs the bow and inspects it.

"Ah, yes, It's that bow."

Thump

He throws the bow out the door to the other knights but as he does, he notices something on a table.

Tap

"Hm? What's this?"

He picks up the small knife and examines the runes engraved onto it.

"Barrier runes? So this must be how she hid so well."

He places the knife back onto the table after checking the other side.

Ssh

While the knights are preoccupied, she slides her dagger into his pocket.

Mwah

"It'll be okay, Haru. Mommy loves you."

She puts her necklace around his neck and tucks it under his shirt.

Clip clop

"Captain's here!"

"That's your call, get over here."

Step step step

The two knights lead her out the door as the leader arrives.

"This is her?"

"Yes, sir."

He stays silent for a moment as he examines the woman standing in front of him.

"Get on."

She hops onto the horse and gets restrained.

"What about my son? He won't last for even a day here without me."

"..."

He pauses momentarily and then gestures to one of the knights previously guarding the house.

"Where is he?"

"Inside, sir. He is injured and unconscious."

"You, go get him. We are taking the kid with us, he could prove useful."

"Yes, sir!"

Clunk clunk

The knight's armour clanks as he runs into the house. He returns seconds later, Harue in his arms.

Shiff

As there is no space left on the captain's horse, he places Harue on the back of the commander's horse.

Clip clop

"And what happened here?"

The commander briefly inspects the damage before asking for a report.

"Sir, It appears a high-tier fireball spell has been used here. However, due to the user's lack of mana, it could not reach its full potential. This, in turn, resulted in a weaker blast with a smaller magnitude."

"Have you found the caster?"

"We.. believe it to be the child, sir."

"Are you crazy? A kid can't shoot a spell that strong, not even the son of a princess."

"I apologize, sir, you are correct."

"Get ready, everyone, we're heading out now!"

Continent of Lomas

The continent of Lomas is a large, diverse landmass housing over 50,000 unique species, including humanoids, monstrous creatures and still many unknown beings. The large continent splits into four countries: the Aria Empire, the Banura Queendom, the Quara Marshlands, and the Trading Nation of Durre. Other than these four, the Bloodfang Mountains span the northern horizon, and the wildlands form a 'U' shape at the southernmost tip. While the Banura Queendom is home to the elves, the Aria Empire is mostly home to humans, with the exception of slaves and courtesans. However, the Trading Nation of Durre is equal and fair to all, often being a haven for escaped slaves needing housing or protection, and the Quara Marshlands is the home of the neutral lizardfolk clans. While all of these inhabit creatures, which, at the very least, are slightly humanoid, the other two are different. The Bloodfang Mountains inhabit the dragons, an ancient race which has ruled over all others as the strongest for thousands of years. The Wildlands, however, are not as safe. The Wildlands house terrible monsters which prey on anything they can sink their teeth into, a horrible eat-or-be-eaten land.