Carcinos, the red star, had fallen. A cloak of astral black tailed the vanquished light, killing sight and sound alike as the trees whispered and danced to a sinister song. Elisious stopped running, taking in a couple sharp breaths of the icy air to look around. He'd seen the final light. Faint and quick as it died, and he certainly felt the tingling of energy in the air. He should've been right on top of it by now... or close.
He looked around for any figures in the towering black trees. Mystral ran out only twenty minutes before he got the news. Twenty minutes deeper in the foreboding black of night, and twenty fatalistic minutes lost in the forest chasing a shade of a rumour come to life.
Somewhere in the wall of trees, her only child had run out. Deep into the forest that had seen more blood than rain for weeks.
"Rastastrill," he said as he formed a brilliant ball of light in his cupped hands, illuminating the unholy surroundings. Before he could scour the dancing shadows there was a snap, and he instinctively grabbed for the hilt of his sword. "Who's there?"
Silence answered, even the soft breeze stopped whispering in his ears.
"I said who's there?!" he boomed, his voice coming back to him with a mocking chill. He didn't know the forest well, this was the furthest he'd ever travelled from Linavelythas. That, and the thick static of magic in the air was too dense to pinpoint the source, but its malicious embrace was enough to turn his stomach.
Elisious opened his mouth to call her name but was cut off by another bright flash as the ground rumbled.
It was her.
He ran towards the point as more lights lit up the forest, locked in a deadly duel with an enemy too distant to make out. The scene came closer, but the most he could make out were silhouettes through the flashes as they grew in intensity, finally ending with a spell of eerie darkness. He couldn't help but stop in his tracks, the sickly magic still lingered in the air, and the silence was so thick he could hear his rapid heartbeat. A soft glow came from his destination, and a blinding glare as an unnatural screech pierced the air.
She was in danger.
As he took a step to run a burst of turbulence blew past him. Black shadowy tendrils shot through the trees as he slammed the strange substance with a powerful wind spell, easily deterring the thrashing creature that fled into the dark. He shakily drew his sword, wiping the cold sweat from his brow as his feet refused to run. He'd never seen something like that before, and it looked as if she'd successfully fended it off too.
Unless.
Panic seized Elisious as he ran aimlessly in the dark. Mystral had to be somewhere up ahead, but the magic around him was changing. The sickly presence grew grave, like the life had been sucked out of the air and the creatures standing to endure it were about to face an unnatural doom. He'd felt it before, once or twice.
They were definitely in danger.
Elisious ran as a deep hum filled the air, vibrating it like a bellowing speaker until its pitch steadily rose, reaching a note that squeezed his brain with merciless talons. He dropped to his knees, clawing at his ears to numb the agonizing tune.
As the air dropped on him like a bag of rocks the humming stopped and a brilliant flash lit up the sky, so bright it could've tricked anyone into thinking daylight had taken a second to peek in on the strange scene. He shakily lifted his head, only to be thrown back by a massive tidal wave of turbulence.
When he mustered up the strength to move out of the pile of stabbing twigs and leaves, he sluggishly braced himself against a tree, trying to listen for any sounds that were muffled by an overstrained ringing in his ears. He stumbled towards the scene. He couldn't feel any magic in the air, it was as light as a feather. Hauntingly empty.
Elisious moved through the dead air like a mournful spectre. Something was grabbing at his heart to turn back, but he was ready to face what lay at his destination without a flicker of hope. His foot bumped something as he walked, soft and stiff with the toughness of fabric coating it.
Time stopped as his eyes slowly drifted to what lay at his feet, Mystral. He traced up her leather boots to her gently closed eyes, as she rested in what could have been mistaken for a peaceful slumber. But her white coat had been freshly painted red near the stomach, with a snaking trickle of blood escaping her blue lips to taint the few black locks of hair sitting above the tangle of trees and grass. He hadn't notice the signs until he tried to lift her and check for a vacant pulse. The wound was fresh, still warming his hand as he drew back in horror, his head going light with nausea as he choked to utter even a syllable.
There was a shuffle as something moved behind him, a man stepping into the soft glow of night with a cold glare aimed at the trees. His gaze fell to Elisious, vacant of any sorrow or surprise, in stark contrast to the broken silence he received. "You saw?"
Elisious shuffled away from him, frantically reaching for his sword as the man didn't budge. When he drew the blade he stopped, staring wide eyed at the man who didn't make a move to attack. "Wh-what... did you...?" Elisious' gaze fell to her again as he lost the ability to speak.
"That thing, did you see it?" the man continued, his back turned as he stared onwards with an eerie calm. Part of his leather armour had been torn near the shoulder, with his cloak sticking to his backside, drenched with a growing dark stain.
Elisious caught the man's gaze and slowly nodded.
"Good." He turned around, ignoring the horror of his audience as he plunged his sword in the dirt next to her, the red running down it dyed purple in the blue light.
"You..." Elisious stuttered, staring at the man's unchanging glare. "You did this?" His grip tightened on his sword, eyes darting around the bushes for a second body. A child. But the torn ground gave no such sight, and his horror turned to rage. "You filthy liar! Where is he?! What did you do with him, you sick bastard?!"
He raised his sword to swing, freezing as the man held out a small object, a silver medallion etched with runes, one of the ancient artifacts they'd seized from the Novan forces. It slowly slipped from his grasp, falling at his feet. "That's where."
"You killed her..." The sword shook in Elisious' grasp as he weakly held it, facing the remorseless gaze of a man that was meant to care for her. "Why?"
The man didn't say another word, turning with beaten fatigue as he took a limping step. He wouldn't make it far without a medic, not with Novan insurgents lurking around every corner; and that thing.
Elisious didn't care about the wounds, he could've dropped dead then and there for all he cared. All he wanted was answers. Answers he wasn't getting without some force.
"Answer me!" he roared, raising the sword and bringing it down to cut through a black mist that disintegrated in the air, dying off like smoke as the man vanished from sight. His heart skipped a beat as he looked around in terror for his foe, but the forest was silent, and the deathly magical tingle in the air was gone.
The sword slipped from his grasp as he dragged his feet over to her and fell to his knees, cradling Mystral's limp corpse in his arms to quietly sob.
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