Child of Light

Across the capital city of Gar spontaneous fights raged, buildings burned, and citizens died. In response to the summons for reinforcement against the Destroyer the remaining four Royal Rangers, Gelian's prized and feared military elite had rushed back. Yet, as they prioritized speed over safety, never expecting any danger in their hurry to face off against the ancient threat they found themselves running straight into ambushes. A Royal Ranger armed with his badge is a frightening sight to criminals while their Hex Cutters made them formidable military forces. But caught off guard and heavily outnumbered, they in the end were only men. Of the four rangers rushing to answer the capital's call for aid against the destroyer three were already slain. The fourth still lived though only barely. Ever the paranoid one he'd been harder than the others to catch off guard even so close to home. But even prepared he was out numbered and against a foe equipped specifically to fight a ranger.

Thus, Graja the oldest of the rangers stumbled into the refugee camp. His salt and pepper hair was long and ratty smeared with sweat, grime, and blood. With his uniform cast away and his Hex Cutter hidden he looked no different than many of the other wounded refugees. An older woman, presumably a healer by the stern look she wore and a countenance unphased by the screams and crying around her, pulled him aside to triage him. When she opened his cloak and peeled back the make shift bandage she tsked the wound. "Surprised ya be walkin around. Looks to have bleed out more than most men have!"

"Poisoned blade. Lucky as a Hunter I keep a few antidotes on me or I might have run out blood to bleed. Can you stitch me up? Any word on how things be? What is even going on?" Graja might be a wounded ranger but he was still a ranger.

"Calm down old timer. You sound like you be eager to get back out. If you are still breathing tomorrow you be needing rest." Already the woman was busy giving orders to a younger healer with what was to be done before making to move to the next.

Angered by the woman calling him old timer when he was certain to be younger than her, Granja caught her arm in a vice-like grip. "I need treatment and information." Locking her in a fierce gaze he pulled out a small pouch that jingled slightly. With a tsk, the older healer sent the woman to cover for her triaging new patients.

"Fine, but gold can't buy miracles." Granja snorted at the woman's words.

"Information and healing will be all I need." Looking around the room as the healer got to work on his wounds he hoped the Kingdom could last just a bit longer.

**********

Rachel's heart was racing as she tentatively grabbed the doorknob. When nothing happened she slowly gripped it tighter until she was mostly sure it was safe. Glancing back she found D half crouched behind her as if shielding himself from an explosion, behind him Larian was using D as a shield with the girls using the mage in the same manner. Scowling she asked "Really? If you were that worried why did you let me touch the door?" She turned the knob out of habit and the door started opening silently.

"Wasn't worried a bit! Not at all, I knew you'd be just fine. Right D?" Larian stood up straight and stepped around D towards the door. "Well coming?" Larian motioned for Rachel to finish opening the door, still not willing to touch it himself. She sighed giving him an exasperated look before complying. From within the room, a soft pale blue light shone bathing the scene before them in a mute light. Raised on a pedestal was a glass canister easily four feet in diameter and twice that in length. Floating within it appeared to be a child, their skin and hair were so perfectly devoid of pigment that they appeared to glow in the soft light. Curled up in the fetal position they looked to be sleeping as they floated within the container, yet there appeared to be no liquid inside. Curled up as they were it was impossible to tell if they were male or female.

"She looks like she is made of light!" Pena whispered almost in awe.

"How do you know it is a she?" D squinted at the luminescent figure.

"Well duh, no boy can be that beautiful to look at." Pena's tone was serious.

Shaking his head D examined not the child, the capsule, or the pedestal. Instead, he focused on the massive amount of complex wards in the room. Everywhere he looked there were layers of wards so thick and complex he wasn't sure where one ended and another started.

"What is this?" Jane whispered feeling like that was the only way to speak in the room.

"That my child is a god! Well, almost a god. They don't seem to be quite fully developed yet." He was pacing around the capsule eying it up and down. "Damn you Gelian's are paranoid. D you are going to have to smash it." Larian stepped back, then gauging the distance between him and the pedestal took several extra steps back before erecting a magical barrier.

"Smash it?!" Rachel managed to cry out in shock just a moment before Jane and Pena did.

"Well yes. We can't get them out of here while they are in that." He motioned to the floating child of light while adding another layer to his barrier. "D if you would please."

While the girls looked ready to argue when D moved they darted behind the mage instead. Studying the wards D finally shrugged. It would take days if not weeks just to sort out one of them. Taking a wide stance he reeled back before slamming his fist into the container. Behind Larian the girls flinched yet there wasn't even a crack in the glass. Rachel felt her stomach churn and her eyes go wide in horror when she looked to D. He holding the charred stump where his hand had been.

"By the nine choirs! Your hand!" She started to move past the mage to help him but felt her heart skip a beat as she watched his hand start growing back. "YOUR HAND!"

Larian pulled her back behind him and shook his head. "You are going to need to put some real effort into it, but don't worry you end up getting through in the end." Larian hunkered back down behind his barrier.

D looked at his regenerated hand then up at the glowing child then at Larian. "Why am I doing this?"

"Because you want your easy life back. Correct? If we don't get her out of here, not only will the prosperity of the kingdom end but things will get much worse MUCH worse!" Larian cleared his throat looking embarrassed for the first time in his life. "Just trust me, my boy. This will work out well for you in the end."

D sighed so used to Larian's wild schemes he didn't even bother debating them anymore. Swelling up in size as scales spread across his flesh until he pushed his robes to the absolute limit. Even then as he winded back his right arm continued swelling and growing as it ripped apart his sleeve. Bone plates formed around his fist and up his forearm. Slamming forward his fist bounced off the glass that warbled wildly as the blue glow dimmed slightly. Most of his fingers were missing yet he'd suffered far less damage than before.

Larian cheered on D from behind his barriers while the partially transformed boy waited for his hand to regenerate completely. Again, he repeated the previous performance winding up even further back causing the glass to warble around and the lights to dim almost completely. D skid back across the floor to glare at the glass from behind the bone mask covering the top of his face. As the light continued to dim and brighten the silence of the room was broken by the sharp crack sound as a single crack formed on the glass. More and more cracks spread out from there like a spider web before with a shattering sound they exploded outwards. As the light flickered and faded the child seemed to lose their luminescence and started to drift down.

Stepping forward D cradled the child who freed of the container looked to be a girl of only a few years younger than himself. Shrinking in size he moved around to the others. Jane watched the way he cradled the girl, his eyes never seeming to leave her face, and felt her heart pound. That pounding skipped a beat when he leaned forward and sniffed her hair. "STOP THAT PERVERT!"

D blinked a few times before looking up. "But she smells so nice."

"Really? Nice, how? Do you feel hungry? You did change back." Larian stepped forward back to his old self. "Even an immature goddess should be hard to kill, maybe just an organ or two wouldn't hurt!"

Hearing Larian's words and after seeing D's transformation Rachel stepped forward and pulled the girl from D's hands trying her best to cover the naked girl up. "You two…. I… I don't even know where to start!"

"I wasn't going to eat her." D grunted. "She just smelled… nice."

Larian pulled off his fancy jacket and offered it to Rachel for the girl while speaking to D. "Really? No cravings at all? Interesting. I still wouldn't mind…." He spotted Rachel glaring at him and moved closer to D to whisper. "...you know, doing a few tests. Maybe just a nibble here and there."

D shook his head at his benefactor. "Can we go now?"

Larian straightened up and looked towards the door for several long moments before shaking his head. "Yes, I guess we should. Come along, best not to be late even for this."