Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 123: The Mist

Except it didn't. The mist seemed to move on its own, subtly avoiding my scalding fire, then surged back into place once my spell puttered out.

This is Elshire Mist, Aurora said over our tether. I do not know how this Rat has gained access to such mana arts, but for now, it is irrelevant. You must escape this covering. It will continue to rob you of your senses. And– my bond cut off, then quickly spoke again. Duck, then counter to your right!

Following her instructions, I dropped, then threw a sound-clad fist toward my right side. Another mist clone was disemboweled as my hands traveled through it.

I thought you could only sense what I do, I thought, my eyes darting around the mist. It seemed endless.

That is true, my bond's voice said against my ear. But I know to pick through the contrast and spot things you may have missed.

"You claim to be better than the Doctrination," Karsien's voice resounded around me. "Yet you do the exact same as them. Drawing in other powers. Using the authority of someone beyond you to justify it. Claiming it is all for those beneath you."

I spat out a wad of blood as the damage to my jaw healed over. My eyes searched through the mist, but it was as if I was a manaless human again. Only my sense of heartfire remained fully intact, and even that was flaky and uncertain.

Elshire mist, I thought with apprehension. The same mist that had covered the Elshire Forest for millennia; protecting the elves within from expansionist humans. Its abilities to thwart perception and disrupt the senses were legendary.

Karsien had improved. Maybe even advanced one of his emblems.

I felt tempted to fall into my First Phase. I had no doubt I could rip this spell apart if I did through sheer might. The phoenixes were the ones to plant and nurture the Elshire Forest in the first place. And under the guise of my Will, I knew this challenge would offer no struggle.

Above and to the left! Aurora said through my mind.

I pivoted on my feet, feeling a flash of lifeforce from the direction she indicated. The Rat dropped in, swinging a dagger of solid mist. I unsheathed Oath in a flourish, imbuing it with a heated edge.

I parried the Rat's precise cut. I felt more than heard as his dagger cracked from the sparking impact; my own magic and better weapon overpowering his own. I then tried to counter with a point-blank fireball. But not soon enough: my quarry simply melded back into the surrounding fog.

"You respond to strength with strength, Lord Daen," Karsien's mocking voice came from all sides. "How do you expect to help the people that we care for when you employ the same methods as those you fight?"

My hand tightened on my saber. I felt anger rising in my stomach at the Rat's goading words. The accusation that I was no better than my enemies stirred something dark in my stomach. I felt my intent rise to match it.

"You want to know how the djinn maintained our peace?" the dying words of J'ntarion said over and over in my head. "It begins with understanding. And you are already on that path."

I raised Oath high, inspecting the red-patterned metal in the barest light. Orange runes flashed near the hilt, inscribed with utter precision.

I could engage my Phoenix Will and rip this veil apart in an instant, I thought with clenched teeth. But then I would be exactly what Karsien accused me of being.

It was true that I'd begun to default on my personal strength more and more as I grew in power. The route of threatening others into submission was simple and effective; if brutal. And I knew, deep down, that I could not ignore the reality of this world. I wanted to institute change, but as my most recent charade with that Jasper bastard showed, it would be a long, long road.