The Wind Blows

Gilderick stood confidently as he held out his longsword to the side. The smile he held seemed to unnerve the invaders as they started to back away apprehensively. Hennet however remained unmoved, staring at Gilderick without fear.

"Ah! You must be sir Hennet!" Gilderick exclaimed, "Your reputation does precede you."

"And so does yours." replied Hennet, his voice calm and composed.

"But unfortunately for all of us here today, we aren't here to exchange pleasantries, are we? I do see you've done a number on my men."

Evran glanced at the fallen bodies strewn about. What Gilderick said was an understatement. The only people that remained were him, Dyrk and three other soldiers. They had been lucky to survive the fight.

Gilderick's voice suddenly grew menacing, "Well let's even them out, shall we?"

With that, he raised his hand at the invaders. Hennet's calm expression broke as he yelled out, "You all move back now!"

Hennet's order fell on death ears however as the invaders started choking abruptly. Faces contorted in panic and hands clawed desperately at their throats as they struggled to breathe. One after another, each of the remaining enemies dropped to the ground in agonizing spasms.

Surprisingly, a syrn woman resisted the attack from Gilderick and stood defiantly at the midst of convulsing invaders. Her face twisted in anger as she glared at him. She pulled out a longsword and sprinted forward.

Gilderick's eyebrow raised in amusement, "Oh?"

As she reached him, she swung down hard with her weapon. But before it touched his body, he raised his sword and blocked the blow with ease. But before the attacker could react further, he leaned in close to talk to her, "Yes, we knights are more resilient to external factors. But that just means one has to use a little bit more effort to overcome our defences."

She growled angrily, "Shut up!"

She tried to pull back and attack again but found that her blade was stuck in place. She tugged and tugged but it wouldn't move at all. She cursed and decided to abandon her sword but then gasped as she noticed she was frozen in place too.

Gilderick smiled. "It was a mistake to charge at me recklessly."

Her eyes widened in horror as she realised, she couldn't get free. All she could do was watch helplessly as Gilderick raised his sword to her neck.

"Sayen!"

Hennet charged this time. Rain swirled around him in an orb as he ran forwards.

"Hmm? Guess I can't ignore you either eh?"

Gilderick smacked the woman aside and stepped forward to meet Hennet's assault. The rain around Hennet changed into sharp shards of ice which he sent flying at Gilderick with searing speed.

With a wave of the hand, the icicles stopped just short of hitting Gilderick, hovering in mid-air instead. Hennet scowled at the failed attack but followed through by sweeping his sword through the icicles and into Gilderick.

Gilderick jumped up and grabbed hold of Hennet's wrist. With one swift motion, he brought his foot down hard upon Hennet's chest and pulled hard on his arm. A loud pop filled the air as Hennet howled in pain. Gilderick had dislocated his arm.

Hennet's sword fell to the mud as he clutched his shoulder. He stared up at Gilderick, who for some reason stayed up in the air.

"Are you really this easy to beat Hennet?" Gilderick asked mockingly, "I really expected more from a knight who had reached realisation."

He looked at the sky and glared. "Damn you. I'll show you," Hennet spat as he picked up his sword with his good arm. "I'll show you alright."

A moment later, rain droplets began floating in front of him. He stepped on them and brought himself higher into the air. He manifested more and stepped on them again bringing himself closer to Gilderick.

"Oh, you want to chase me? Then come get me."

Evran watched the fight with a newfound respect for Gilderick. He had known that he had to be strong, but he had never seen his mentor in a serious fight before.

He looked over to where the other soldiers stood. The three soldiers, a man and two women, were crouched and huddled around someone. It took Evran a few moments to realise who it was, and he rushed towards them. He almost slipped in the mud from his exhaustion but managed to catch his balance. When he got there, he saw that Dyrk was lying in the ground unconscious and bleeding severely from several wounds. The male soldier, who was a fairly beefy and hairy man, held a bloody rag tightly against the gash in Dyrk's shoulder.

"How's he doing?" Evran asked.

"Not well." answered one of the female soldiers, "He's lost a lot of blood, if we don't find medical help for him soon, I'm afraid he'll die."

The third soldier nodded. "We've been trying to keep pressure on the wound while we wait but—"

Suddenly, a black object flew past them and struck the soldier right in the eye. Her head snapped back violently as the black object penetrated her eye socket. Her head then exploded, sending brain and blood everywhere.

Evran turned to see what had done that and saw that the female syrn from earlier, held up a hand in the direction of them.

"Damn!" Evran said as he held up his sword. Whatever Gilderick had done to her was wearing off.

He turned to the last of the soldiers, "You two, take Dyrk and get out of here! Go find someone who can bandage him up!"

"But our comrades have been slaughtered by them, we must avenge them." protested the burly man.

Evran shook his head, "No. This isn't your battle anymore, leave."

The woman raised her voice now, "But we are soldiers, we can still fight-"

Evran cut across her with anger, "Oh shut up, will you? While you two are here arguing with me, Dyrk here is bleeding out in the mud. I don't care if you want to fight, you two are useless here. You aren't essence users, and you certainly aren't knights. Now go before I lose my temper."

The Man glared at Evran for a few moments before he nodded and scooped up Dyrk. The woman for some reason saluted at Evran before they dashed away together.

Evran turned his attention back to the syrn woman. Gilderick had called her a knight before, so he was wary of her. He had no essence left so he would probably lose in a direct fight if he didn't kill her while she was incapacitated. He raised his sword and approached her ready for any surprise attacks.

The woman's loathing eyes bore into his as he stood before her. She seemed to be seething with anger. This in turn made Evran even angrier.

"You're mad? Well, you should be since you had the gall to attack us."

"Damn you. Why would you fight for the enemy you traitor?"

"It's not like I wanted to fight for these people. It's just that I don't care if I do."

Her angry face contorted into an even angrier expression, "You don't care? You would if you watched your family and friends be killed just because they were syrn. These murderers need to die."

Confusion momentarily washed through Evran's face. The woman must have caught it since confusion also crossed her own features.

"You don't even know what happened do you?" she asked. "Are you stupid? Why would you fight in a war without knowing all the details?"

Evran tried to stammer out a reply but couldn't. The woman was right. Why hadn't he asked at least Gilderick about what these people were fighting for? Well, the truth was that he had only cared about becoming stronger.

Evran swallowed his pride and asked, "So, why do you guys want to kill each other?"

The anger that had disappeared from her face returned in full swing.

"Fifty years ago, the mariin empire enslaved our race. We fought tooth and nail to free ourselves from their tyranny. In the end though, we failed. For thirty long years, we suffered under the yoke of slavery. Then twenty years ago, together with humans who sympathised us, we slew the emperor and overthrew the empire. The people that remained from the empire banded together and fled."

Evran stood there for a second and digested the information she told him.

"Alright. But if they fled, why would you still want to come after them?"

"You think we still wanted to continue the fight?" she said as she raised her voice, "Milfsilla, that damned woman! She won't let this go! She sows lies in the common people and paints the syrn as dangerous! We have a hard time managing the country because of her, the common people hate us. If we don't get rid of her, more and more people will take up arms against us!"

Evran was grasping for straws now. He didn't really want to think ill of Milfsilla.

"But she let me join her. That proves that she doesn't want to wipe out all of us, doesn't it? Maybe if I talk to her, I can dissuade-"

"You fool! That woman's course has been set already! nothing you say or do will change anything!" The woman was practically shouting now, "We've tried damn it! We've sent envoys, offered peace, and even gone as far as to open the gates of our new city to them. But no. The death of us all is the only thing that would satisfy her. So, we decided to kill them instead. This won't end until one side dies. But damn her, damn her for making us do this! And damn you too for joining her!"

Evran's sword quivered in his hand. He had lost all will to fight and all he could feel now was shame and guilt. He could see the pain and anger in the woman's face. He lowered his sword and looked down at the ground.

"I'm sorry." Is all what he managed to say.

Wham!

A loud noise caught the attention of both Evran and the woman. They glanced over to where the sound came from and saw Gilderick standing over a battered and bruised Hennet. There were bloody cuts all over him which almost dyed his green coat in red.

Gilderick turned to look at the woman. The smile he had on earlier was replaced by a serious frown.

Had he heard the woman's shouts?

"Hennet!" shouted the woman, she stood up slowly with the help from her sword. Then she stumbled over towards where her ally was. Gilderick didn't even move to stop her. If anything, he moved out of the way to let the woman kneel next to the man.

Hennet was sputtering out blood and coughing violently. His breathing sounded ragged and laboured.

Gilderick sighed, "Look, there has been enough bloodshed today. I'll let you both live if you leave right now."

The woman looked up at Gilderick and narrowed her eyes. A moment passed before she nodded.

"Come, let's leave Hennet, we have lost this fight."

"No."

Hennet sat up warily and pushed the woman away gently. He stared up at Gilderick with hate filled eyes.

"No." he said more firmly this time, "This isn't finished yet. Not until Milfsilla dies."

He stood up shakily and limped forward to stand toe to toe with Gilderick.

"You leave Sayen. I want you to at least survive." Hennet said, not even taking a glance at the woman.

"But sir, you're hurt. You'll die if you fight him again."

"Then so be it. But mark my words, I'll at least take these bastards out with me."

Sayen raised her voice to protest again but Hennet averted his gaze from Gilderick and fixed his eyes solely onto her.

"Please Sayen, go home. It's better this way, please."

She shook her head.

"If you stay, I'll fight with you. I won't leave my commander-"

"Sayen!" snapped Hennet, "As your commander I order you to go back! I won't say it again! Now leave!"

His tone left no room for argumentation. Her eyes glistened as she took one last gander at him.

"Fine."

With those words, two huge, black feathery wings, sprouted from her back. She flapped them sending gusts of wind swirling around them.

"Goodbye Hennet."

And then she was airborne.

Hennet watched her soar into the sky. As soon as she disappeared from view, he turned back to Gilderick.

"You should've left with her." Gilderick said his tone serious, "You'll die."

"Oh yeah?" Hennet said while he smiled, "So will you."

A sudden burst of grey essence burst forth from Hennet, sending Gilderick flying backwards. He skidded across the mud and stopped right next to Evran.

The essence around Hennet continued to grow bigger and bigger eventually turning into a huge pillar of grey light.

"What's he doing?" Evran asked.

Gilderick had an apprehensive expression on his face, "He's using it all. His finite essence. He's going to do something big."

After a while, the pillar of essence began to fade and disappear. Hennet staggered backwards and collapsed onto the muddy ground. He was still.

"Is he..."

"Yes, he's dead." answered Gilderick.

They both stared at Hennet's lifeless body for several moments. Finally, Evran broke their silence.

"What do you think he did?"

Gilderick shrugged.

"Don't know. Guess we'll find out soon enough."

They did indeed discover that answer quickly. A massive shadow fell upon them from above. Both of them jumped startled. When they looked up, their jaws dropped open.

A boulder, big enough to encompass the entire camp, loomed overhead. Its shadow covered everything like a giant dark blanket.

"What the actual fuck..." Evran said dumbfounded. "I-Is that real?"

For the first time, Evran could see fear on Gilderick's face.

"It is. Damn, that's going to destroy the whole camp."

"What are we going to do?"

"Well, I have to stop it."

Gilderick raised his arm and released a torrent of golden essence from his body. He gritted his teeth as he tried to stop the massive boulder from falling. But the essence he had didn't do anything at all to slow its descent. In just a few seconds he was panting heavily and sweating profusely. The boulder grew closer and closer to smashing down on top of them.

"It's too big... I can't stop it..."

"I... I think I can stop it." Evran said grabbing unto Gilderick's shoulder.

Gilderick looked at him in disbelief, "No offence, but how would you manage that?"

"Give me your essence."

"What?"

"I want you to give me your essence. Since we syrn can absorb essence, then maybe with your essence I might have enough to do something about that rock."

Gilderick thought it over and finally said, "No. You'll also have to at least some finite essence to stop something as big as that. I don't want you wasting your life."

"Gilderick, if I don't do something, we'll all be dead anyway. If the price to pay is some of my life to stop that, then so be it."

Gilderick sighed, "Alright fine. I know you're right."

Gilderick outstretched his arm to Evran and released all the eternal essence he could muster. Evran, now filled to the brim with golden essence, absorbed it and infused it with his own. At once he felt more powerful than he had ever before. He outstretched his arm to the boulder and willed it to change.

In an instant, he felt himself become incredibly weak. The essence he had, left him quickly. All he could feel was pure exhaustion. Yet the boulder was still the same hulking rock looming up above. He gritted his teeth as he used more and more finite essence. He used as much as he dared until finally, he saw the fruits of his labour.

The boulder that had loomed overhead, vanished in an instant. The shadow it had produced dissipated leaving behind only the daylight to shine down.

"How?" Gilderick asked, stunned by what Evran had achieved.

"I... changed...it into...air..." Evran panted, barely able to speak.

"Air? Wait, it will still come crashing down! Brace yourself Evran!"

All at once, Evran felt a wave of air crash down on top of him. His head smashed the ground as he was pushed down. Then suddenly, he was flung high up into the air. With the combination of losing his life force and smacking his head, he felt himself go unconscious. The last thing he saw were the buildings being torn apart under the impact of the wind. And then darkness took him away.