87 Chapter 87
Although Devito was there the next morning looking at Aaron with puppy eyes, Aaron steeled his heart and did finally leave.
As he expected, the next town was a really small place. It served to be an outpost to the considerable stretch of unhabitated lands. This was also the longest part of his journey on road. The next town was on the other side of the grassland.
He never really understood how the gates were placed in the mage association. They had no sense to it and it seemed they were placed in a haphazard way.
The gates on the other side were fewer in numbers but were quite well placed.
What Aaron didn't think about was this side of the world was much older and the growth wasn't well planned. It just happened. While the other side grew under the watchful eyes of the mages who planned most of it. Plus the gates which were used by all in the past were distributed amongst the families and the mage association now.
Once the town and the residential section came to an end, Aaron saw a never ending grassland with marks of a road spiltting it into two parts. It could be seen that the traffic on such roads wasn't much, but the narrow road still provided Aaron some sort of direction to follow for his next destination.
As Aaron was accustomed to by now, he bought out his hover board. This part of his journey was rather enjoyable.
He liked the feeling of having wind on his face as he travelled over the grassland. The lush green grass below him, fresh air and feeling of flying. It provided a perfect scenic journey for Aaron.
Time to time he opened his gates to hasten his journey.
Aaron did wonder what would it be like if he had such a mode of transportation in the desolate region? It would definitely be much safer and faster and certainly less tiring.
He had attached a mage stone to his board to keep it afloat. He used his own magic to move though. He hadn't figured out how to incorporate movement by using mage stone. If he could figure that out, he could have an army of atomic daggers attacking someone.
He played the whole scenario in his head and it sent chills down his spine. It would actually be a terrifying attack. Imagine hundreds and thousads of daggers attacking you. Aaron was pretty sure that if such an attack was possible, no one could defend against it.
He also had another question, if such a thing was possible, why wasn't it being used by the mages at the border? Or was it being used and Aaron didn't know about it? With lots of answered questions, Aaron kept moving ahead.
As Aaron continued his journey, the scenic route soon turned out to be very boring. Aaron didn't have a sense of direction other than the lone road which he was following. He just hoped that it was the right path and he wasn't lost.
Aaron couldnt sense any sort of life other than a few small animals he found hidden in the grass, which turned to be source of his food.
It was on his 5th day of journey that Aaron found the first signs of human life. He didn't expect to meet humans in this way though.
As he came out of a gate calmly riding his scooter, he heard shouts up ahead.
He lowered his scooter and moved up the gentle slope. Once he moved a little further up, he could see a small carriage.
At the moment the carriage seemed to be facing some attackers.
He got rid of his scooter and decided to hide in the grass and see what was happening.
A young looking handsome man suddenly stepped out of a carriage. He wore a rich looking robe signifying that he was a mage.
"I am Diviere Johnson of the Johnson family. If you are bandits, I ask you to leave right now and I would forget that this ever happened. " The man said with a loud and clear voice. He obviously didn't put the group of attackers in her eyes.
"Who we are is if no concern. We were asked to avoid needless killing. So, it would be better if you leave with us willingly. Else, we would do whatever we need to do. "
The man who seemed to be the leader of the four people attacking group said.
"You are looking to kidnap me? Which family sent you? " the man seemed to lose his confidence a bit. He wasn't afraid of normal bandits. But if this was group sent by a mage family, they must be a strong enough team.
"Who we are is of no concern to you right now. You will know it when you need to. For now, come with us peacefully. "
Diviere knew he was in trouble. If the people were from the mage families, this wasn't normal kidnapping. The families didn't resort to such things in the open. If he was kidnapped, there wouldn't be no ransom demands. He would be killed. That was how the families operated against each other.
But the question he had in mind was why? Although he was of the direct lineage, but his branch didn't hold any sway in the decision making. He was just a small time scion of the family. Nothing much. Why go to such extent for a minor character like him?
He knew he couldn't submit. He would be better off fighting for his life. With the decision being made, he directly made conjured a wind blade and attacked the leader of the attackers.
Aaron was surprised by the quick action. He understood the importance of such a quick action. In the past he had always hesitated to attack. But seeing such a resolve opened doors for him too.
The attackers were expecting such a reply though.
As soon as Diviere conjurned the wind blade, roots gathered in front of the leader of the attackers to shield him.
Aaron was familiar with such magic. He immediately thought of the anti mage association mage he fought against. Was such mages a common thing.
The attackers were fast though. They immidiately took action and roots shot from the ground like spears and killed the 4 people who looked like were there to protect Diviere. Two of them were mages.
Aaron decided to help the fellow. This action was just too brutal from the attackers.
He opened a gate and fired a dagger aimed the person who seemed to be controlling the roots and another one which opened next to Diviere.
His attack was useless though. Just like before, the dagger went through the mage, but he was already healing the injury by the time Aaron stepped out.
Diviere turned to look at Aaron who had just arrived.
"A newcomer? You were definitely not a part of this group. But bad luck to you. If you don't leave now, don't blame me for killing you. " The leader didn't waste time before he issued a threat to Aaron.
Aaron though was decisive this time. He had decided to not waste time arguing. He knew these people would kill him if he didn't act. He directly opened a gate below Diviere and transported him a little away from the range of the vines.
He also pulled out a few daggers and faced the attackers.
He knew the vines would be coming at him now. He had already faced such an attack before.
He had already opened a gate below him by the time the opposition mage had made a move.
The attackers were surprised at the evasive action of Aaron.
"It looked like you have fought one of us before. "
"Johan go get our man. We will hold this guy here. "
Johan turned out to be a space mage as well. He quicky opened a gate and appeared behind Diviere with a dagger pointed at his back. He took a clue from Aaron and slowly opened a gate below them to take them out of the scene. The whole process took a few seconds at max.
Aaron was left alone now facing the attackers. He cursed. He had appeared like a hero trying to save the man. But the man was still kidnapped. And to put salt to his wounds it was a space mage who did it.
Meanwhile Aaron was being attacked non stop by those vines. He hardly got any time for breathing and attacking.
Plus his attacks didn't have any effects on the attackers. He missed having his sword at hand. He should have kept it outside instead of keeping it in the ring.
The space mage had returned after a while.
"We will leave you here mage. Next time I will make sure to get even with you. "
The space mage opened a gate and the attackers left one by one while Aaron could only watch them leave. He felt helpless.
He sat where he was standing. He felt like a fool. The whole thing didn't even take a few minutes.
He saw four people lying dead. He couldn't leave them like that. He decided to at least bury them.
But as he got up, he heard a sobbing sound. He turned around to look at the carriage.
Was that sound coming from the carriage? Was there another person here?
