Resilience

Cas charged at Aelius while feeling nothing but a blood-boiling rage at him. Aelius smugly drew his own cutlass blade and parried the sword attack. Cas repeatedly swung his sword with all the force he could trying to slash Aelius open multiple times. But Aelius knew better, he simply used Cas' power right back at him and parried his strong blows away. The swords exchanged hits so often, it was as though they were intertwined with each other and Cas could not land a direct hit despite his swiftness while wielding a blade.

"Are you really the most talented knight of your kingdom? Tsk, tsk. Feeble apprentices over here show more potential than you. Maybe it's because none of them have quite a glaring weakness that you do."

"Shut your damn mouth already!" Yelled Cas. He continued to strike at Aelius but could not land a hit no matter how hard he swung. He was not sure how long he could keep fighting, his energy was nearly spent. As the situation appeared to be looking hopeless and the stalemate became even longer, Cas decided to distract him for a split second with a feint and go for a vertical slash, managing to put a real cut in Aelius' left shoulder. This caused Aelius to turn his head, focusing on the blood that Cas was able to draw, he then turned his head back at Cas and looked at the piercing he made with his sword on Cas' right shoulder. Cas jumped backward, his hands both leaning on his sword handle. He was not able to land a finishing hit like he wanted to, but that meant nothing to him anymore. Cas smiled. "Brother, I'm sorry… This was all I could do… Evan, Greyhart sir, Diane, Brya, everyone in Narrowind, Arianne, I'm so sorry you have to see me go like this." Cas was biting his lip but that did not stop the tears from flowing down his eyes. "I tried… I really did, why couldn't I… Why can't I be more than a failure of a knight?" Cas sniffled as tears began to fall down along with the raindrops, making them practically invisible. Cas then fell forward on the ground, his hand still clenching his sword. He felt as though he had been trying his whole life to make up for all the failures and mistakes that he made, and yet it was to no avail.

"I have to admit, you surprised me with that last hit there. You are pretty clever! " Laughed Aelius. "Not bad at all, you certainly held more of a fight than that miserable whelp of a mage your brother was. You actually left a scratch on me, color me impressed!" Aelius turned around once more, somewhat satisfied with the fight he just had. Until, he heard the sound of a boot scraping against the stone.

"Back for more huh?" Aelius asked with his back still turned. "I never took you for the stubborn type, Cas-" As he looked back, Aelius was astonished to see Clement standing up once more, except, something felt off. His feet were levitating off the ground slightly, his face still looked to be unconscious, and he felt a significant dark aura surrounding him.

"You clearly don't know him that well." Clement spoke in a frightening tone, his voice sounded like his regular way of speaking alongside a horrific voice beckoning from the deepest pit of despair and darkness. Aelius had already dropped his sword after hearing that voice, it compelled him to freeze in an instant. The sweat he still had left turned cold and his mouth became dryer than a desert.

Clement's eyes opened up, he was startled at how he was already standing up. He could not feel the surface of the ground he had previously walked on either. His mind felt as though he were locked into a dream. He looked around, and saw Cas lying on his stomach with a large open wound in his shoulder. He wondered if what he was seeing was reality or not "This can't be happening, right? He would never lose. That isn't like him. Unless…" His focus then immediately became locked onto Aelius who was still standing there in terror. Something about him felt very different. "That's right… that thing, it… asked me if I wanted to…" His mind was foggy but within his heart he felt the strongest and deepest desire.

"That's right!" Clement said aloud. Him speaking alone was enough to make Aelius' expression look even more frightened. "If you think me or my brother are such weaklings, then how about you show me your strength now!" The fear he could sense in him after every word made Clement all the more excited, he could get used to it. Without even thinking of it, Clement held up his staff. And spoke slowly but with a booming intensity, the words of a spell "Limitless… Lightning raid!" That name was unfamiliar, he could not remember ever naming a spell like that. Suddenly a loud crackling noise could be heard, and a giant ball of lightning appeared in front of him.

"Hope you enjoy." said a voice, sounding similar to the one he heard in his mind. Clement's conscience began to become clearer.

"Wait a second, something's not right." He told himself, then it clicked. Clement knew that if this powerful spell hit anyone, they would die instantly. "No… stop it! Stop now!" He yelled. He no longer wanted to accept the gift the strange voice offered him.

"I… I don't want to kill him!" He cried, but the energy kept building up and the lightning grew more powerful. The spell was released on its own, running off into the distance and obliterating all that was in its path. Clement kept his eyes closed, too scared to witness the death he had caused. Finally he began to slowly open them, only to see Aelius still standing there unscathed. He was amazed, he somehow was able to make the blast go somewhere else.

"It's now or never, farewell." He heard the voice call out one last time. Clement looked at Aelius, He was still frozen with fear and disbelief at what he just saw. Still, he could not let this opportunity pass itself.

"I don't need it!" He screamed as he rushed forward and dropped his magic staff. Aelius, finally beginning to collect himself again, looked to see Clement on his feet again running towards him.Clement landed a clean left jab to his stomach, then two more jabs on each side of his face, then a right knee to his stomach again, then a fast right uppercut. Finally, Clement grabbed Aelius by his shoulders and headbutted his forehead with all of the force he could muster. Aelius was knocked out cold, a dark cloud above him seemed to vanish, the fight was done.

Clement, breathing heavily, fell down on his knees. Exhausted would not begin to describe how he felt at this moment. Finally, he let out a sigh of relief, the rain had stopped at last. The sky was looking to clear up a bit. Clement caught a glimpse of the first light of the dawn, it was the most beautiful view anyone could dream of. The ocean was not too far away. Clement thought of visiting there some day.

"You're okay, magic boy!" Said a more familiar voice, it was Greyhart, Evan, and Diane, riding on top of Donovan.

"'Okay' is a bit generous." He mumbled.

"Yeah, it couldn't be further from the truth! He's bleeding." Evan said seriously.

"And Cas looks like he is in a worse state, he lies over there." Diane spoke.

"This is bad, who's in worse condition?"

"Leave the kid to me." Greyhart walked over to Clement and by just touching his shoulder, Clement felt his injury heal quicker than ever.

"Greyhart…" Clement looked at him with awe.

"It's nothing really, why don't you stand up?"

"Right." Clement hesitantly got up "Ow!" He felt a sharp pain as he tried standing up properly.

Greyhart laughed. "As expected, your body is still exhausted from all you've been through. You're gonna need a lot of rest. Healing magic isn't everything after all!"

"That's enough of your teases, Greyhart. I'll need some help carrying Cas, he's still unconscious." Evan said.

"Ah, right. Come on now, bring him here." Greyhart carried Cas and lifted him over to Donovan and carefully placed him down. "Alright, everyone listen up! What happened on this day will surely not be forgiven or forgotten very easily, I'll need your help to do anything we can to rebuild Obselok's trust in us once more. Got that?" The three nodded their heads. "Great. Now Donovan, buddy, we need you to transport us carefully and safely back to Prismont." Donovan let out a chirp in agreement.

Flying back home, Clement had suddenly realized how this trying time had finally come to a close. The sunrise had finally brought him peace of mind knowing that he no longer had to fight for a while.

It was a brand new day. Clement carefully rose out of bed and gently put on his mage robes. He felt the warm sunshine against his face that brought him a nice and pleasant feeling. He crept out of his room and then heard a slight knock on the door. He rushed over excitedly and opened the door to see Cas. His radiant smile matched well with this perfect day.

"Ah, there you are Clement!" He said joyfully.

"You look as energetic as ever, brother."

"Come on, the festival is gonna start soon, let's help set up!"

Clement nodded and ran with his brother down the green hill, over to Narrowind, the brightest and jolliest town in the kingdom. Nothing could compare to the always high spirits over there.

It had only been five days since the battle of Obselok, and yet so much has changed back at the kingdom. Both Clement and Cas had received many flowers from Brya, in hopes that they would make a speedy recovery.

News had quickly spread about the Narrowind division and their escapades, and they were now regarded as the new heroes of Prismont. It felt odd to Clement how different life was after the battle and yet he already felt a fondness for it. It felt so much easier to appreciate the small things.

No one else appeared to be significantly injured other than the brothers, and everyone from Obselok seemed to evacuate because there were no spotted casualties. Clement received a letter from Diane, and Cas received one from Evan. Both of them expressed how glad they were when they found out about the brothers' recovery. And yet, despite all the good news, not a word was heard from Arianne.

. . .

"So you're here." Greyhart said as he looked across a dark alleyway.

"What do you want?" Said a cold voice.

"Just thought I'd check in with you, would be sad if you disappeared or died."

"Aw, how sweet. Now lay off, old man."

"I will after you answer this one question, Arianne: where will you be going?"

Arianne paused for a moment, she looked down at her feet before deciding to come clean and tell the truth. "I'm going to turn myself in."

"Really?" Greyhart said, genuinely surprised by her answer. "Well I'll be, that's quite different from the Arianne I know. Don't worry I won't pry into your business, but you do realize you'll most likely be executed if you admit to what you did.

"I… I've accepted it. Now go, get out of here. Don't worry about someone as pathetic as me."

Greyhart said nothing. He looked to the sky, and then turned around and left Arianne, he felt regretful on how he looked after the poor girl. Even so, he had no choice but to respect her decision.

The celebration in Narrowind was about to begin. Cas and Clement had done a lot to help out with setting up. The noon was especially bright, everything felt right. Suddenly, a massive rumble could be heard. Cas looked toward the central area over by the castle town. Out of the ground emerged a large serpentine creature. Screams and cries for help could be heard even from afar. Cas could not just ignore this now.

"A dragon has risen from the earth!" Shouted someone watching the scene.

"Dragon? But that's impossible!" Clement replied. He looked over at his brother, who was reaching for his blade. "Brother, you're gonna fight that?"

"You bet. Let's go!"