Victory and the Fallen

If a person tried to tell the story of what was happening, it would seem like a joke. Three young mages doing battle with an experienced mage while another apprentice hid away. Elder sorcerers rarely failed, much less flinched, against neophytes. It was one thing against those with at least a year under their belt and another against those barely a month in study. Holding back alone wasn't a believable or acceptable enough excuse for such a monumental failure.

Faxon took a deep breath to ease his pain. "I don't want to put you two in danger but someone needs to distract him, so I can stab him a couple more times."

"Leave it to me!" Timur rushed forward.

"Two hands are better than one!" Ameyalli joined him. "Keep up, Fax!"

Scoffing, Faxon began sprinting. "Please!" He glared at their enemy. "I should be saying that to you!"

The stranger concentrated on the center of his palm, causing it to visibly glow. Their charge faltered when they caught sight of the red flickering, remembering what he did to the spear. He was too busy trying to keep himself on his feet for a proper, fatal magical attack, but they didn't need to know that. His lapsing concentration also kept him from using his Illusion abilities for a quick escape or fast read of their minds. At the very least, he could stop Faxon from landing another crippling wound. It was unwise to let them get too close yet it was impossible to neutralize any without that happening. Feinting an opening and attacks were his best course of actions.

Timur squinted at the man's posture. "He's off balance." Focusing on his left, he circled around. "Pincer attack!"

"What?" Ameyalli asked.

"I go left; you go right!"

She followed his advice, pivoting to his right flank. "Of course I knew that!"

"Idiot," Faxon, rushing his front, muttered beneath his breath. The stranger's focus didn't shift away from him or his makeshift weapon. He jumped in and jumped back from a fiery swipe, leaving him open to Timur and Ameyalli.

Without any weapons, there wasn't much Timur could do. It was a matter of size difference. He wasn't instructed to combat the foe though. There were many different insults across the cultures of the world but some were universal. He leveled his head at his upper body, cleared his throat, and spat in the stranger's eye. The retaliatory kick was something he saw coming from a mile away and stepped back from.

A familiar cold, hard feeling ran through the stranger's stomach. Eyes widening, he looked down to see red bleeding into his clothes. His predicament made him on edge and susceptible to his emotions. One single mistake was all anyone needed to make in combat to lose or even win. Things were anything but fortunate in his case.

Ameyalli held her sides and laughed. "I can't believe that actually worked!" She looked across to her roommate. "Nice thinking, Tee!"

"I told you my name is Timur!"

"Now is not the time!" Faxon yelled, preparing for another attack.

The stranger lit both his hands ablaze and swiped a ring of fire around him to force them back. He had little options left at that point. They were going to kill him if he kept fighting on their terms and surrender would've been a fate worse than death. Letting himself fall down, he focused as much as he could on mustering another orb of pure fire, just as he did before. It bought him some time, but he didn't know whether to actually use it on them or force them to run away. Hitting the foliage would cause a fire that'd surely consume him along with their surroundings.

"He's bluffing!" Ameyalli scoffed.

Timur shook his head. "A man caught in a cage will do anything to escape, even if it may cost his own life!"

"Is there some kind of Destruction ability that lets you reflect blasts or something?!" Faxon stared at the orb while the three of them regrouped a few feet away from their fallen foe. "If so, that'd be pretty convenient right about now."

"Fighting fire with fire literally only creates a bigger fire."

He furrowed his brow. "Wow, I didn't know that! Thank you very much!"

"You are welcome."

"Instead of fire, what about lightning?" Ameyalli proposed, rolling her eyes at their bickering.

"That's..." Faxon blinked. "Actually, that might work."

Timur pursed his lips. "Lightning is a more complex destructive force."

"Then we'll just all group up and do it, like we did the spear." Ameyalli looked about. "Uh?" Putting her hands into a cone over her lips, she took a deep breath. "Quiet Girl! We need you!"

From her hiding place, Mei stood straight. She wasn't sure what to do. Destruction was her worst school, and she lacked the same combat abilities they did. It was humiliating as much as it was terrifying to be the only one incapable of putting up a fight. This was her one chance of redeeming herself yet she doubted her addition would make a difference.

"Coward," Timur spat.

Faxon narrowed his eyes at him. "If this doesn't work, we could die here!"

"All of us do at some point or another. What matters is how we face it, and she is more than lacking. Even if you think my words are cruel, you know it's the truth."

"He hides being a jerk behind telling the truth all the time," Ameyalli said.

Faxon clucked his tongue. "I'm familiar with tha–" His eyes shifted to his roommate stepping out and walking over. "Mei, are you ready for this?" He smiled when she nodded with an uneasy yet determined look on her face. "Then do whatever it is you Destruction mages do."

Ameyalli laughed as she held out her hands. "You should really take it next year."

"It is a far more noble school than Necromancy, at the very least." Timur joined his alongside hers and looked to Mei. "Do not fail us now, or you will forever have dishonored yourself." He nodded his head when she, glaring at him, threw her hands in with theirs. "Now focus."

While they prepared their Destruction magic, Faxon stared the stranger down. There was a glimpse of fear in his eyes beneath the facade of a stoic foe. He heard being burned alive was one of the worst ways to die, and that was what the man was dooming himself as well as them to if he fell through with his attack. It was why he was still laying there with the ball of fire in his grasp and not firing it. None of them questioned why he hadn't said a word, but it was irrelevant at that point.

Fire was the most basic destructive force the Destruction school had to offer. The truth of the matter wasn't that one willed it into being but a user of Destruction willing a great amount of heat under their command. Results of successfully concentrating the appropriate amount of warmth, however indistinguishable, weren't exactly flames. It was just that throwing it at anything would set it alight.

Lightning, in comparison, was nowhere near as simple: it took a great amount of focus to control the shape and direct. Their Destruction teachers described it as holding back a rabid animal. When given examples of what the most basic ranged use of it looked like, it was a simple bolt between two points. None of them could even concentrate a charge into the palm of their hands without giving their all, which was why it was taking three of them to build up the attack.

"I'd read your mind, but your skill with Illusion is obviously beyond mine if you can turn yourself invisible," Faxon said. "Guess from how you haven't said a word, you can't talk more than you don't want to. Trying to convince you to give up obviously won't work at this point, so this is probably it for you." He shook his head at the man's defiant gaze. "I have no idea what you have against us or why you're here, not that it matters anymore." Glancing away, his lips thinned into a line. "Relax, take a deep breath, and close your eyes." The stranger only narrowed them, making him frown. "I tried." He looked to his other mages. "Fry this prick."

They concentrated on a point between all their hands and on the man. Instead of focusing on generating heat, they willed a charge at the two different spots. None of them knew why, but they attracted each other, releasing a far greater amount of energy. Every second they focused increased the magnitude of the attack they would make. A few seconds after Faxon gave his command, they had focused more than enough. One wouldn't be mistaken if they called the blue flash released from their hands a miniature bolt of lightning.

The stranger's eyes widened at the crackling running through his flaming orb and into his being. His nerves fluttered with signals not directed by his will, shorting out his concentration. Just as quickly as it appeared, the ball of fire dissipated into nothing. He convulsed for a couple of seconds before falling limp fully to the ground. Every half second or so after, his body twitched.

"Wow…" Faxon swallowed a lump in his throat. "That was brutal."

Timur smiled at their fallen foe. "It did the job."

Ameyalli began jumping. "Come on! It was awesome!" She put a hand on Mei's shoulder, which hovered over and slammed down to her discomfort.

"I don't think we should celebrate just yet," Faxon said.

She gestured with her other hand for Mei to join her. "Why not?!"

"Because if he killed Valerian, we're going to be stuck here until someone notices he's gone."

"Oh!" She stopped hopping and blinked. "...Oh no."

"I am certain the mages of The Six-Pointed Star value the lives of their comrades too much to so easily forget us, much less a settled member of their community," Timur said.

Faxon shrugged, turning in the direction where Valerian was. "We don't even know if he's dead yet." He began walking.

"Our enemy underestimated us because he saw us as children rather than combatants. I doubt he attacked him with the same restraint."

"Timur…" Drifting off, he raised an eyebrow at the stern young man following. "Were you a soldier?"

"Yes."

Ameyalli scoffed. "No way."

"Believe whatever you want," Timur said.

Faxon hummed while Mei shot Timur a doubting look. "I believe you: you moved too well."

"And you moved like a child playing with a kitchen knife."

"Speaking of the 'kitchen knife,'" Ameyalli said, glancing at Faxon's dripping bone blade, "are you going to put that away?"

"I don't think I can." He lifted his hand and grimaced alongside Mei at his makeshift weapon.

Timur, on the other hand, ogled it. "A decent price to pay for our lives. I'll have to try the same some time, just in case."

"Wouldn't recommend it but feel free to go ahead."

It didn't take long for them to reach their fallen chaperon. Valerian's eyes were closed, and his entire body was limp. Faxon couldn't reach into his mind to check if he was still there. While he dismissed it as his lacking Illusion expertise, Timur crouched down and put his ear to the man's heart. He was in the position for a few seconds before rising and shaking his head.

Ameyalli's eyes widened while Mei covered her mouth in shock. "Wow... I know I said I wish he was dead, but I didn't really want him to be."

"He was just doing his job," Faxon said, shaking his head at the waste.

Timur looked the body over. "I don't see a killing blow, but it could've been some magic." He stroked his chin and tilted his head.

"You're far too calm about this."

"Like I said, everyone dies." Focusing on his slack face, he murmured. "Too late to see if he died well though."

"So, what do we do now?" Ameyalli asked.

Faxon sat down in the grass and looked over his bladed hand. "We wait until help comes."

"For how long?"

"How would I know that?"

"A day at most," Timur answered, sitting by the fallen Valerian.

Ameyalli groaned as Mei frowned. "This place is way too boring to be stuck in for a day! That guy probably came here alone!"

"Do you prefer death over boredom?"

"Eh." Plopping herself down, she tilted her head from one side to another. "I can take it or leave it."

"You two are both crazy, but I'm glad we were set up with you two than anyone else," Faxon said.

She shot him a look. "The guy who used his own bones to create a weapon is calling us crazy?"

"I didn't have anything else on me! What was I supposed to do? Create another spear all by myself while he throttled you two?"

"Even if we were in the same position, I doubt we could accomplish that," Timur said. "I am ashamed to say I would've never thought of Transmuting my own body."

"That's…flattering?" Faxon laid down on the grass. Mei joining him drew a smile on to his face. His voice hushed to a whisper. "To be honest, I felt like I had to do something because of you." Her blink made him chuckle. "I saw you and saw Raya." He frowned when she did. "Don't you have any brothers or sisters?" To his confusion, she froze. "Uh? Not on good terms with them either?" Her lack of response made him wince. "Sorry."

While they rested, the stranger's body stirred. He lost much feeling, but his mind was still intact. Destruction, Illusion, Alchemy, and Necromancy were his schools of study. The wounds left on him faded with every second. It was nowhere near a true master's level yet sufficient enough to keep him alive and back in traveling condition in time. A part of him wanted vengeance but a greater part knew it was wiser to cut his losses and move along. What they accomplished was worthy of respect, even if it humiliated him. As soon as he could stand, he began limping away.

The four would-be delinquents were relatively quiet. Occasionally, the three that did talk bickered about one thing or another. All conversations would veer off into nothing, the reality of what they survived sapping all tension and motivation. It was a story they could tell for the rest of their lives, but it wasn't something they quite believed themselves.

After two hours, Tamara popped into existence. "Okay, Valerian, what's th–" The sight of the four children lounging about her limp colleague made her blink. "...Valerian?"

"Yeah," Ameyalli said, looking down at him, "he's g–" A look from Faxon and Mei cut her off.

She crouched down and put her ear over his heart. "No, no, no, no." Her voice broke.

"I'm sorry; there was nothing we could do," Faxon said, hanging his head with Mei.

Timur beat a fist against his chest and kept it there. "He died warning us of the enemy's presence, and we avenged him."

"What enemy?!" Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Over there." He pointed where they left him. "It was a difficult battle, but we won."

She squinted her watery eyes at his burned hands. "You're hurt."

"And he's dead."

Ameyalli raised an eyebrow. "Is he? We didn't check the body." She blinked as the rest of them did. "Oh no."

"You guys shot lightning into him: he should be dead," Faxon said, raising his bone blade hand.

"What happened to you?!" Tamara grabbed him by the wrist and looked over his limp digits. "This is one of the most irresponsible and self-destructive uses of Self-Transmutation I have ever seen."

"Didn't have much of a choice."

"We'd be just as dead as Valerian is right now if he didn't," Ameyalli said, attracting a few looks.

Timur nodded while Mei patted Faxon on the back. "He, however reckless and inefficient, was integral to our victory."

"Everyone, gather around me," Tamara said, closing her eyes and bringing together her hands.

All four, realizing her intent, obeyed. It was one thing to teleport oneself somewhere and another to transport an entire group. They were there for about a minute before the red forest turned into the increasingly familiar sight of her disciplinary office. She vanished, leaving them and Valerian's body where she normally denounced their various unruly behaviors.

The atmosphere went tense when Set, Morgan, Zhao, and Typhon appeared a short while after with a man they didn't recognize. He teleported away with the body, leaving them alone with just half the Magic school heads and the Archmage. Each, save Morgan, had a displeased look on their faces. It made the children's skin crawl from the sheer pressure alone.

Zhao stepped forward and grabbed Faxon's Transmuted hand. "Grit your teeth." When the boy did, the finger bones and ligaments were set back into place within a single second, making him scream. "Refrain from doing such a thing again if possible." He stepped back while Morgan took his place.

"I see." She glanced at the open wound on his knuckles, his broken rib, the burns on Timur's hands, and the bruises on Ameyalli. "You've fought hard." A single lift of her finger made all their wounds disappear.

"Now," Typhon said, voice tired and dire, "tell us everything."

And they did. They went from arriving at the forest, to Valerian's scream, their creation of the spear, the initial exchange of blows, Faxon's creation of his bone weapon, and the finishing blast of lightning. Set and Zhao looked impressed with their feats. If Morgan and Typhon were, it didn't show on either of their stoic faces. What they endured was unacceptable, whatever the case.

Typhon hummed. "The four of you have done well. You may recuperate from your ordeal in your rooms."

With those words, they went from the office back to their dorms. Mei, finally away from odd strangers, whimpered. She turned to Faxon with tears welling in her eyes. It was the greatest stress she ever had to endure and one of the worst a human being could. Everyone lived with death looming over, not with it throwing balls of fire at them.

"It's alri–" He froze as she embraced him. "...It was really scary, right?" Wrapping his arms around her, he held tight. "All it would've took was one bad move." She cried over his shoulder, nearly bringing him to as well.

The next day went by eerily the same as the one before. Several of the teachers were in a sullen mood, something the students noticed yet knew better than to speak of. What happened didn't seem like the type of event any of the leaders would broadcast for everyone to hear. It would instill panic in irrational young adults already dealing with the angst of youth. After their classes were done, they found themselves in a room with Bulut, Rumen, and their yesterday allies.

"My friends!" Bulut held out his arms and blinked when he caught sight of the two strangers. "Who are you?"

Timur looked from Faxon and Mei to him. "Timur." His eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

"My name's Ameyalli!" She nudged her roommate with her elbow. "Never mind Tee: he's that way to everyone."

Faxon laughed. "She's not joking." He gestured from his month long friends to his new ones. "Bulut and Rumen, Ameyalli and Timur; Ameyalli and Timur, Bulut and Rumen. All of you are tough and like to play rough."

Bulut crossed his arms at Ameyalli while Rumen raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"I was just about to ask the same thing," Ameyalli said, stepping forward. "Are you?" She lifted her knee between his legs and punched at Rumen's groin.

Rumen barely managed to block catch her wrist while Bulut intercepted her knee with his thigh. "Ah, cruel women. My father warned me about you." He brought his fists up as she jumped back.

To everyone's surprise, Mei stepped between them with her arm held out as barriers. She'd seen them fighting for far too long. Everything that happened the day before was changing the way she saw it. They saw and treated fighting like a leisure activity. Bulut and Rumen came from lands were such a thing was common, and Faxon was open enough to indulge them. Something needed to change.

"I kno–" Faxon was knocked back by a solid punch square to his face from his roommate, to the cries and cheers of all but Timur.

"When you punch, do not put so much of your shoulder into it," He said. "Your enemy can grapple your hand because the over-extension makes it slower to take back."

"So you do know how to fight!" Bulut cracked his knuckles.

"More than any of you."

Rumen and Ameyalli scoffed. "Care to prove it?"

"By all means." Timur balled his hands into fists.

Faxon, wiping blood from his nose, widened his eyes at Mei puffing her chest out. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Her fierce smile made him laugh. "Think I get it." Making fists, he lifted them up. "Let's see who's still standing when we're all sent to the detention office!"

"I like how you think, Fax!" Ameyalli yelled, jumping in excitement. "Let's do this!"

In that relatively cramped room, one of the fiercest battles to ever grace The Seven-Pointed Star took place. It was wild free-for-all with no winners or losers. There was blood, broken bone, and bruises in the end. When the disciplinary officer teleported in to break them up, the damage was done. Mei managed to pick herself up before it happened, so she was one of the 'winners.' Everyone else standing too made it meaningless.

Tamara buried her head into her hands when they teleported into her office. "...Have you really learned nothing after yesterday?"

"We were just having fun," Faxon, waving his knuckles and a broken finger, said. He laughed when Mei, massaging her bruises, nodded in agreement. "See?" He flinched when Tamara twitched.

Bulut checked one of his loosened teeth. "What happened the other day?"

"It's a long story." Ameyalli popped her shoulder back into place.

"You weren't told it for a reason," Timur said, wiping his bloodied nose. "Maybe in time."

"Why not tell us anyway?" Rumen covered his puffing eye.

Tamara took a deep breath and sighed. "It was a mistake for me to say anything. You'll be sent to the nurse's office, healed, and sent back to your rooms." Looking down, she looked over some enchanted papers. "Really think about your lives and if this is what you really want to do. Few people ever get to know when it's going to end."

Faxon, Mei, and Ameyalli grimaced while Timur stayed stoic. Bulut and Rumen scrunched their faces in confusion before sharing a look. They were teleported into the nurse's office, healed, and put back into their rooms. Both were felt an odd, sullen feeling. Yesterday was like a dream or nightmare too easily forgotten, especially since no one else was talking about it. Someone died and they almost did yet the world moved on regardless.

"I guess… She was close to him." Faxon frowned while Mei pursed her lips. "Maybe I judged her too soon: she has a point." Her questioning look made him blink. "Not what she said about you encouraging me to fight, which you kind of are now, but we should think about what we're doing with our lives." He hummed, drawing her to do the same. "I only ever really thought about it when I heard The Six-Pointed Star wanted me to join them and the day after orientation." He walked over to his bed and laid down. "All of this here is something I want to take a slice of back home." Raya came into his mind. "Life in this room alone, even if we never left, is better than most outside."

Mei plopped herself on her own bed. She never thought much about her life. Many things in her future were decided before she was even born. It's not that she was resigned to it: none of them were in particular unpleasant or cruel. There was nothing she really wanted to change or do. The incident made her want to protect herself so she could see that future. Her roommate helped her realize that and through that ordeal.

Faxon yawned. "Weird to feel so tired this early." He mumbled as Mei stirred. "You're not tired?" Raising his upper body, he saw a familiar bag in her hands. "Oh!" A marble of deliciousness flew into his mouth while she put one in her own. "You have to tell me what these are sometime." He fell back down and enjoyed the treat. "They're really good."

None of the mages that went to the forest and investigated found any trace of the stranger. Valerian's body was the only physical proof of his existence, other than the wounds he left on the children. It was the first time in a long time a mage of The Six-Pointed Star was murdered on business for the tower. Many elders had questions, and those close to Valerian were asking for answers they couldn't find. While the forest was known to have the occasional incident, there were few Alchemists in existence that could slay an experienced mage.

Laying in a makeshift camp shelter, the stranger stared into a small fire illuminating his darkening surroundings. He wasn't fully healed yet, but he would be by tomorrow. There were new strategies he had to think of, ones not involving fatal means of neutralizing others he didn't want to hurt. Getting caught in another situation like that would be too big of a blow to his ego and killing children was absolutely not an option in his eyes. If that were the outcome, The Six-Pointed Star would already have found and made an example of him.

"Hey."

He looked up at The Six-Pointed Star's Head of Mysticism. Eyes widening, he conjured the power of lightning into his hand. A bolt streaked from his palm through Set's being, literally. It passed by as if he wasn't physically there. He stood up, grabbed his supplies, and turned to run just for his enemy to teleport in front of him. There was nothing he could do and nowhere for him to run.

"What were you thinking?" Set shook his head while the man backed up. "Do you have any idea what you did?" He scoffed. "What am I saying? You thought you could actually hurt me: of course you have no clue." Glaring, he grit his teeth. "I could send you to a place where hordes of savages would take turns breaking your bones one by one before leaving you to die, you second-rate bogman." The stranger's confused look made him cluck his tongue. "Two of those kids were my responsibility." He snarled. "My wards!" His scowl turned into a smile, to the man's terror. "I'm actually super proud of them! They really did give you a fight." He twitched. "You do remember what I said, right?" A vein on his forehead bulged when he nodded. "Kill Valerian! Not anyone or everyone with him; not any witnesses: just Valerian!" Holding out his hands in exasperation, he shot him a look. "How do you mess that up?!"

Hanging his head in shame, he avoided eye-contact with the Master-Wizard. It was a spur of the moment caused by adrenaline and panic. All he intended to do was render them unconscious, so they'd forget ever seeing him. What he didn't account for was the four working together to fight him back and nearly kill him. The Six-Pointed Star knew they had someone coming for them now.

Set took a deep breath and sighed. "I really should just kill you or send you somewhere no one would ever find you, but it's not like I know any other second-rates quite like you." He patted his shoulder, making him jump. "From now on, you follow my orders to the letter." Looking up at the darkening sky, he tilted his head. "Now I'm starting to sound like someone responsible. How great. Thanks, second-rate." His eyes narrowed. "Just know, if you try to weasel your way out of this or tell anyone, I'll show you what lays beyond the boundaries of this world. You'll wish I just killed you or left you to die after that." He stepped back, looked down at the shivering ant, and smiled. "We good?" The stranger's nod made his smile morph into a grin. "Leave everything to me, man. The two of us are going to change things around here, over there, and maybe everywhere." It died, leaving his lips in a thin line. "If you don't mess it up, that is."

The stranger swallowed as he nodded. He already made his bed, and when the time came, he would lay in it. Even if he wanted to, there was nothing he could do. A head of The Six-Pointed Star was far beyond his ability to even scratch, especially one versed in Mysticism of all schools. His chances of making it out alive their arrangement alive were slim yet somehow that was one of the better outcomes.

Interesting times lay in wait.