The ashes before Strife

Episode 13 : school runner ; 2

Excitement filled Lupra's voice as she spoke "yes papa!"

A group of people then appeared behind us "there he is, don't let him escape!" They shot several different spells which barreled towards me as I jumped to go through the window.

I crashed through the window realizing we were on the top floor. I could see the sun up in the cloudy sky, as I looked down I could see a large group of children as well as adults

"hey look up!"  One person spotted me looking up as I flew through the air then everyone followed suit.

A powerful explosion then blasted my back pushing me forwards, away from the group chasing me  "thanks for the boost idiots!" The group that shot the spells looked through the remnants of the destroyed window angrily, standing on the ledge.

They shot several spells at me but they were weak enough to just get kicked away with my mana aura covering me.

Peering down to see the ground I realised it was closing in on me as I fell to the earth with great momentum.

I really need to work on flight spells! I trapped myself in a spongy ball made of shadows to lessen the impact of striking the ground. When it had its initial bounce I immediately dispelled it and called Lupra out to start running "Lupra! Now or never!"

A large pure white wolf jumped out of my chest landing further than I, we began running together and I slowly began closing the distance on her.

I sensed an attack coming at us, aiming for one of Lupras forelegs. I sacrificed my gloved left hand taking on the bullet of wind destroying my glove covering my hand in bleeding gashes.

Wincing from the pain I clasped my bleeding hand

"papa!"  Lupra cried out for me worriedly

Ignoring the pain I jumped onto Lupras large back "go east! Don't worry about me just yet!" I was confused on how that attack broke through my protective mana aura as it wasn't strong enough normally but pushed the thoughts aside as I infused mana into Lupra giving her a boost as she ran away from the scene.

After an hour I looked back expecting people to at least try and chase after us but no one was in sight. I stopped infusing mana into Lupras muscles allowing her to slow down and relax myself to address my wound.

"Well, that was a new experience."

"You're telling me. It was almost like a prison break, shame there was no real destruction though." Thorn and Ronik jumped out onto Lupras back as I took my necklace out of my pocket and disappeared the disfigured version of my mask.

I took out some bandages and wrapped my bloodied hand with several cuts on it as I also looked at the tattoo of the three beasts covering it up.

"Your hand going to be okay?" Thorn looked at it strangely concerned for once.

"It'll be fine. Just a few cuts is all. Though I'm still concerned how it broke through my aura defense."

"Ah! I believe I can answer that master." Ronik then approached my right arm and pulled off a small circle that changed from the color of my skin to black. "I sensed something stifling your mana output greatly master. I believe it was these limiters of sorts doing that."

I was surprised at how I didn't even notice but then I realized it was because I was using attrium mostly making it seem like I was using my normal strength making up for the lack of mana.

"There any more on my arms?" Ronik nodded and pulled several more off with his wooden claws. "Take em off for me then, please. They'll only serve to damage my circuits since the lack of mana was being replaced with attrium instead, hurting me."

Laying down onto Lupras white furry back as she kept running into the distance Ronik pulled off the remaining limiters on my arms.

"Thanks for getting us out of there Lupra." I rubbed her back slightly and I could feel her happiness flowing. "Keep going until we find a road or sign leading to a village. We'll sleep somewhere comfortable for tonight." I tightened the bandage on my left hand then stuck it in place with a little ice magic.

"Cayde, it alright if I shoot you a question?" I looked at Thorn who was acting differently from his normal sarcastic self acting more benevolent than he ever has

"shoot away" I was worried for him but thought that answering his question would turn him back to normal.

"When you said you were from the abyss... you were telling the truth, weren't you?"

I grew surprised that he could tell I was telling the truth "well... I lived there as a resident in it but Lupra was genuinely born in it I think. Regardless though, according to my master, I'm now a resident that was technically born and raised there until I left three years ago."

Thorn was surprised to learn this information "okay, now just what exactly does it mean for you to be born in the abyss? And how did you even know you were there? Also, why does Lupra still have life in her eyes compared to you?"

"I knew I was there because my master verified that the nightmare I had when I crossed the abyssal corridor by mistake was my test to enter. If I failed the test I'd be an insane monster right now. Adding onto that, a resident of the abyss can protect someone who entered it from having the test but they shouldn't stay more than a day. Lupras eyes aren't dead either because the abyss has no interest in beasts for some reason."

"Okay, but how did you know it was the genuine abyss and not some strange mind fuckery from the forest?"

I picked myself up sitting crosslegged now on Lupra's back staring into Thorn's curious red eyes. "I knew because the abyss is chalked full of blank mana that I used to form my protective layers on my circuits. I also know because the further I ventured the more I felt the life getting sucked out of me. It's part of why my eyes are so dead, not all of me left that forest in the end."

"You ever thought of going back? To get that part of yourself that you lost?"

"I have thought of it but the part of me that was taken away was also replaced with something better arguably." Thorn looked at me wanting me to answer "what I got was a cold-hearted wake-up call to not dwell on my past. I still get these nightmares of my last life every now and then that reminds me of my pain from before. I feel like it's because the abyss is trying to tell me something but I can't make sense of it."

"Okay. Now try explaining the abyss itself to me." Confusion filled his scaly face making me smile slightly

"In the words of Dendra my master. The abyss is a being that is neither alive nor dead and can be viewed as dark pits in the world. It seeks to find out what having emotions means, so it sends fragments of itself into the realms for people to fall through and taste all of their happiness and regret. Taking a piece of people away in exchange for "abyssal enlightenment" so to speak."

"Sounds tragic."

"It is kinda."

"...so you really are just a necromancer's puppet aren't you?" I chuckled slightly now that Thorn had his regular sarcastic tune back

"I guess so."

"Papa there's a village!" I turned around to see wood houses in the distance "alright well stop here then."