I woke up to the feeling of someone trying to examine my tonsils with their tongue. Cracking my eyes open as I responded to the invader, I found Eris' red eyes staring into my own. I felt her smirk against my lips, before the tight, wet heat enveloping my cock shifted and she loosed a quiet sigh into my mouth as she worked herself slowly back and forth as she rode me. My hands came up and found her hips, trailing up and down her sides and drawing a little shudder and an appreciative hum from the redhead.
Pulling away from my mouth, she murmured, "'Morning."
"Good morning," I smiled up at her, thrusting up to meet her and match her rhythm, earning a quiet gasp as she bit her bottom lip and her eyes went half lidded.
A look around showed we were alone, but I knew Sylphie had joined us at some point after we finished last night. "Sylphie's getting breakfast for us. Mm. I asked her to, ah, give us a few."
Reaching up, I squeezed the girl's budding breasts, rolling her nipples between my thumb and forefinger and gently squeezing them, drawing a muffled moan from her lips as she tried to contain herself. "We can, mm, do this more later, right?"
I nodded, pecking the redhead's lips. "Much as you want."
"What if I want a, ahn~ What if I want a lot?"
Chuckling quietly, I reached up and grabbed her by the hair at the back of her head, gently but firmly pulling her head back and exposing her throat for me to kiss, bite, and give her hickies. Eris whined as I nipped at her throat. "Then I guess we'll do it a lot," I murmured against the soft skin of her neck.
"Every, ah, day!" Eris grunted, picking up the pace of her grinding against me. I wasn't stupid, so I wasn't going to argue with that request. "Can, mm, can we find— Mmf! That's nice. Ah, can we get someone else like Ghislaine? Another beast-kin, hmf, our age?"
"Fine with it," I grunted out. "But ask Roxy and Sylphie first."
"I know, unf the rules. Oh god," she panted. "Gonna, gonna come."
I wasn't using touki at the moment and was getting close myself, so I picked up the force of my thrusts into her and stopped holding back. Eris mewled as she came, her cunt clenching down around me and sending me over the edge. The girl wrapped her arms around me as she shook, her lips finding my own as her movements slowed. "Mmm. It's all hot inside me," she moaned against my lips.
I ran my hands up and down her back, petting her as we lay there. "We should get up. Get cleaned up and ready for the day."
"Don' wanna," Eris grumbled. "Comfortable."
My hand went lower before I raised it and smacked her ass once, drawing a squeak from her as her cunt clenched around my deflating member. "You're just making me want to stay with that," she admitted.
I let her stay there for a bit, enjoying the closeness for a while as we shared a moment. Eventually though, I decided one of us had to be the mature one here or she really would stay in bed all day. I eased her off of me, to a pout from Eris, and sat up. Telekinesis brought me a towel and a fresh change of clothes. Seeing her disappointed look, I rolled my eyes. "If you go get your clothes and a towel in the next two minutes, we can shower together. And maybe fool around in the shower."
Eris jumped up, gathered her things, and streaked naked out of my room down the hall to her own. Laughing quietly, I put on a set of underwear and left the room, only to freeze as I caught sight of three beast-kin maids. All three wearing knowing looks, and who just happened to have been dusting or cleaning things in the hall at the moment.
"Good morning, master Rudy!" they called, and I felt like a piece of meat as those gazes took in my mostly nude form.
"Ladies," I nodded to them, walking unhurriedly to the bathroom with as much dignity as I could muster. Which was actually a good deal, considering I didn't care if they knew about what happened. The fact that they were here told me they'd likely sussed something out, either from Ghislaine or someone hearing us go at it last night, or this morning.
Giggling followed me to the bathroom and I rolled my eyes, putting my things away and waiting for Eris. The redhead burst in a few moments later, casting a lusty look back over her shoulder, likely at the servants. "Eris, no."
"But—"
"No," I denied. "Not sharing sloppy seconds, thirds, or however manyths with Phillip and Sauros."
Eris wrinkled her nose. "Ew! Yeah, no. Gross." Turning a glare on me as she put her things on the shelf with mine, she said, "Just for that mental image, you owe me!"
Flipping on the water, I waited for it to warm up before gesturing for her to join me. "Well, come on then."
"'Kay!" Eris chirped, leering at me as I pulled off my underwear and climbing in first.
I yelped when she pinched my ass as she hurried past. "Really, Eris?"
"What?" she asked, the picture of innocence.
By the time we made it down to breakfast, Sylphie was finished with her own and waiting for us. "Oh, you're up!" she greeted, getting up and giving us both a hug and a kiss. That last one was new, since we usually kept that sort of thing behind closed doors, but since no one else was in the small side room where we usually took our meals when not eating with the rest of the family, I waved it off.
"So, what are we going today?" Eris asked.
"I'm going to visit my mom. I need to ask her some things," Sylphie explained.
I raised an eyebrow. "Anything I can help with?"
Sylphie blushed and shook her head. "Girl stuff!"
"Ahh," I nodded, digging into my breakfast. "Have fun."
Yeah, I wanted absolutely no part of that conversation. If she felt I needed to know or wanted my advice for something, she knew to ask by now. If Sylphie was going to her mom and not, say, Hilda, Ghislaine, or even Eris then I'd say it was personal, private, embarrassing, and firmly not my business.
Sylphie left soon after while Ghislaine joined us. We finished up breakfast before I made my way towards the lab, Eris and Ghislaine in tow. Eris didn't seem to want to be more than three feet away from me and kept reaching out and touching me occasionally, but I didn't really mind the attention or the freshly de-hymenated girl being a bit touchy-feely or clingy.
I settled in and got to work. Eris watched for a while before growing bored. "We never do anything normal."
"Define 'normal,'" I retorted on automatic, not looking up from my work. At the moment, I was modifying the keys to the various bikes to add small magic stones and enchanting summoning spells to each. Mostly because Ghislaine couldn't use the summoning spell and Eris was… iffy at times.
Eris huffed, and presumably crossed her arms over her chest, legs spread, shoulders back, head tilted back. Tsundere defiance pose number one, basically. "Let's go have a picnic!"
I considered it for moment as I finished Ghislaine's key and started on Eris'. "Why? That's not a no, I just want to know why."
"Because you spend too much time cooped up in here." I waited, having a feeling there was more. Sure enough, from the corner of my eye I saw her body language change to something a bit less sure of herself and she looked away. "And I kind of… wanted to spend some time together out of the city."
"Like a date?" I teased.
Eris' eyes bulged. "Psh wha— No! Not at all like a date! Just a picnic! Besides, Ghislaine will be there! It's not like I want to spend time with just you or anything!"
Oh, that's fucking adorable. We had sex last night and most of this morning and she was fine, but mention a date and she loses her cool. I bet I could really set her off with some lewd handholding.
"Mhmm." I finished up Eris' key and tossed it to her, pocketing my own and Ghislaine's. The key for Phillip and Sauros' shared bike could wait for now. "Alright, let's go."
"Yes!" Eris cheered, pumping her arm. "I'll go get everything together!"
I turned and met Ghislaine's gaze from where she was watching from beside the door, an amused look on her face. For just a moment, the woman's smile shifted into something slightly more predatory, before smoothing out.
Ghislaine seemed pretty casual about everything and I didn't feel any need to chase after her, ask about her feelings, or any other classic mistakes a man can make—especially with a woman who, putting it bluntly, thinks like a man. I was comfortable with what I had and she wasn't making any sort of big deal about anything. The only real difference was the occasional smirk on her lips or distracted and aroused look—pretty much exactly what you'd expect from someone after a particularly good lay.
That, and the knowledge that if one of us was in the mood, the other might just be up for some fun.
No, the problem wasn't with Ghislaine. It was with the servants, starting with the ones this morning.
Apparently, every beast-kin in the house could smell it. And now that they knew that I was 'on the market' so to speak, they had started to up their antics in trying to get my attention. I'd come across more than one beast-kin servant scrubbing the floor or bent over to pick something up, her skirt pulled tight over her ass, riding up, or in one case just plain flipped up to expose her ass, tail, and panties as she wagged her hips invitingly while she pretended to work.
And all that was just in the walk between the bathroom and breakfast, then to the lab.
At breakfast, a pretty rabbit girl with her maid uniform's top cut so low that when she bent over to set the drink tray on the table, I could see her nipples and straight down the valley of her breasts to her stomach was the one to serve us. And she made sure I got a good, long look at what she had to offer. Then, the little minx had the gall to ask that old line (a bit modified, because they knew my drink preferences by now). "What else would you like, master? Juice, tea, or… me?"
I'm pretty sure that the fact that I managed to be so collected in my response of, "Juice, please," just further encouraged her. Eris didn't even get that far.
I think it was worse because it was Ghislaine and Eris, as opposed to one of the maids.
I knew Sauros, Phillip, and Hilda all helped themselves to the help. I'd even caught Eris eyeing them contemplatively occasionally, since puberty struck the girl. That I treated them respectfully and didn't leer, stare, or take advantage had just spurred them on, as Ghislaine had told me last night. But going after Ghislaine and Eris confirmed, at least in their minds, that I wasn't sexually disinterested due to age and that I had no problems sleeping with beast-kin.
If it had been one of the maids, I would have just been another Greyrat and things would have likely settled down. Now? It seemed like they felt that they had something to prove.
Before we left the castle, I asked, Eris, "How far are we planning to go?"
"Just outside the city. But we'll take the bikes!" She paused, thinking for a moment before adding, "Oh, but I want to walk through the market first. I called Sylphie when I went to get our stuff and let her know, but she's going to be with Sylvia most of the day."
Nodding, I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulders by force of habit, just in case I came across something I wanted to buy. I snagged Aqua Heartia on the way out from where it was leaning beside the door, next to my unnamed bladed staff.
Well, I suppose this is our weekend for free time. I don't mind spending it with Eris is she's feeling like she wants attention. Especially after last night.
We made our way through Roa, stopping at a few stalls here and there as they drew our interest. I found one selling exotic spices, herbs, and seeds and made a few purchases, stowing them in small containers in my bag. I wanted to try my hand at a few new recipes and I had permission to use the kitchen, since everyone loved hamburgers. The fact that cinnamon, cocoa, and black pepper (let alone red pepper) were exotic hurt my heart.
Part of the city was blocked off by the guard and a crowd, so we had to go around. As we went, I heard snatches of conversation that painted a worrying picture. If the rubberneckers were to be believed, someone had broken into a certain building last night and made off with some things in a cart. A building with a water wheel attached. I knew of a few of those, but asking around confirmed that it was probably the building where our printing press was turning out books. Some of the people who worked there were also unaccounted for. I'll have to ask Phillip for confirmation later. Wonder what they stole, though.
Once we had made it out of the city, we summoned our bikes and followed Ghislaine to a small hill overlooking Roa. "How did you find this place?" I asked as we parked and Eris began setting out the blanket.
Ghislaine shrugged. "I train out this way sometimes."
We sat down as Eris opened up the basket and began pulling out food. I wanted to ask who she'd pestered to make it, but I resisted the urge to tease. For now.
Magic created a tea pot and cups. I pulled a sealed MRE labeled 'Tea' from my bag, taking one of the small packets and dropping it into the pot before resealing the bag and replacing everything. A little fire magic heated the water and from there, all we had to do was wait for drinks.
"Looks good," I said, looking over the spread and taking a few slices of ham, sliding them between the halves of a roll I had cut open, followed by cheese, lettuce, and tomato slices. Ghislaine and Eris followed suit, each loading up their own sandwich and eating. I noted that there was a jar of brown mustard I had made for the house in the basket, so I slapped a dash of that on my sandwich.
"We should do this more often," Eris said around a mouthful.
"Say it, don't spray it," I chastised, and the girl actually had the decency to blush. "And you're right. It's nice. Sorry, you know how I get when I'm working on something."
"We know," Eris and Ghislaine said at the same time, Eris rolling her eyes.
Looking at me with a surprisingly contemplative and worried look, Eris asked, "Rudeus, what are your plans for when you're finished teaching me?"
"That's a good question." I had given it some thought since the confrontation with Paul and after speaking with Phillip last night. My best bet there was to follow through. "I'll probably take Sylphie, go collect Roxy, and go labyrinth diving for a few years before heading to Ranoa College of Magic."
"O-oh," Eris muttered, looking away. "I see."
"Why do you ask? Did you have something else in mind?"
"N-no!" Eris squeaked, before crossing her arms over her chest and glaring.
Chuckling, and earning a bit more force in that glare, I sent an inquisitive look at Ghislaine who simply shrugged. Turning back to Eris, I said, "You know, if you wanted to keep up your magical studies after my term as your teacher is up, I wouldn't mind. I'd have to adjust my plans a little. We'd have to talk to your dad, too. But… I think there'd be room for one more on a trip. Maybe two, since I doubt they'd let you leave the house without Ghislaine, even if I'm the one you're with."
Eris perked up immediately. "Really?! I could really go?!"
"I wouldn't mind, but like I said, we'd have to talk to your dad. I think it'd be fun."
The redhead was practically vibrating where she sat. "Mm! Really fun! I've always wanted to travel and explore labyrinths. You already helped me become an adventurer, so why not go all the way? We've got two swordswomen, a mage, and a magic swordsman already, so if we get Roxy that's a second mage."
"So, did you have anything planned for yourself once I left?"
Eris shook her head. "Not really. Father had been talking about marrying me off before you came, but he's stopped since then. Mom wants me to marry you. Father probably agrees."
I wasn't surprised about Hilda, considering what I'd learned from Phillip last night. The man was looking at me as a weapon he could use against his brother, after all. Hilda was most likely just looking out for Eris. Standing, I gathered up the basket and made my way towards the bikes. Walking around them, I strapped it down to Eris' bike where it had come from. "How about we head back and ask—" I looked up to make the suggestion to Eris, only to freeze at what I saw.
Ghislaine was the first to react. "Rudeus?" she asked, sensing my sudden wariness as I stood there, studying the sky intently.
"What is it?" Eris asked, standing as well and following our line of sight. "What is that?"
That was the sky turning a strange color over Roa. Grey, black, purple, and yellow. It was a color I was familiar with—after all, I saw it every time I summoned or sent something. Ghislaine confirmed my suspicions when I suspect she used her demon eye. "It's mana. A lot of mana. What's it doing?"
"I think it's summoning magic," I answered absently, casting about for my staff. I found Aqua Heartia where I'd left it leaning against my bike. I hadn't had a chance to test it before now, but I felt more comfortable with a physical weapon in hand. What I was seeing was… unnerving, to say the least. The mana required for that size of a spell was immense, to the point that I could feel it from here now, brushing against my own mana like wind. That's King-, no Emperor-level magic, at a minimum. What kind of fucking idiot uses that inside a city? If it were miscast you could de—
It suddenly occurred to me exactly what kind of idiot would use something of that scale in the city. More importantly, where it was most likely coming from. "Ghislaine! The orb," I called, and the woman twitched at the worry in my voice. "Do you think it's an attack?"
"I'm not sure—"
A beam of light fell from the sky, painting the sky white and striking the ground, creating an expanding half-dome of white light preceded by a visible pressure wave.
It should surprise absolutely no one familiar with Earth post World War 2 that the first thing my mind jumped to was the only other phenomena I had seen on this scale, with similar effects. Given where I was though, I made the most obvious leap in logic. Magic nuke.
I took in its speed as the pressure wave shattered windows, the light approaching behind it. The mansion disappeared in the light as it swallowed up the city. Sylphie!
I couldn't do anything for her. She was gone. Eris was here, though—if I couldn't save Sylphie, maybe I could do something for Eris.
She stood between myself and Ghislaine. Ghislaine was just beginning to turn, mouth opening to shout. Bikes between us. Send!
The bikes disappeared as I channeled touki to my body, simultaneously casting Air Running and channeling a Shield. The ground exploded under me in a gust of wind and dirt. There was no time to be gentle. I could heal her later, assuming we lived.
I slammed into Eris as Ghislaine disappeared into the light. I pressed Eris flat to the ground, dumping mana into a Barrier over us. Not enough.
Casting blindly ahead, I tried to put a physical barrier between us and the oncoming blast. The earth shook violently under us as a mountain rose up in the path of the blast—a King-level spell's worth of power causing the earth to explode outwards. A sea of water solidified into ice locking it down. A hurricane's worth of wind squeezed into a hundred yards of ground to brace—
It meant nothing at all as the light swept it all away. I closed my eyes, pulling my mana back into the Barrier as the light swept over us, hoping against hope that what I had done would deflect enough of the energy to survive—
The world went white.
Roxy frowned from the balcony of her room, looking at the strangely colored sky. She recognized the colors, of course, just never on that scale. The amount of mana required to cast a spell of that size, and the fact that it looks to be coming from the Asura Kingdom… Rudy, what are you doing?
Worry had her reaching into a pocket of her robe and pulling out the magical tool Rudy had sent her. Like Rudeus himself, it was impossible and had the potential to change the world, but the boy just brushed it off as something he had made so he could keep in touch with her and Sylphie, before Sylphie had joined him in Roa. Tapping at the screen, she spoke to the spirit residing within the tool. "Call Rudy."
No signal.
Reading the words on the display, Roxy's eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?"
Summoning magic connection to hub node lost.
Attempts to reconnect fail.
"Why?"
Speculative: high concentration mana interference. Large scale summoning/sending spell in use. Mana disruption.
"Your guard is down!" an unfortunately familiar voice called from behind her and Roxy sighed. A gust of wind knocked the 7th prince, Pax Shirone to the ground. "A-attacking a royal is punishable by death!"
"I've told you before, I am betrothed."
Standing up and dusting himself off, the prince demanded, "If you don't leave your fiancee and become my woman, I'll send assassins to have him killed!"
Turning away from the window, Roxy considered Pax as amusement pulled at her lips. "Does your highness have a servant capable of infiltrating the borders of the Asura kingdom?" Pax nodded.
"Who can sneak into the Citadel of Roa, past the guards, then into the mansion belonging to the lord of the Fittoa region and his son, the governor of Roa—both of whom are members of the Boreas Greyrat family?" A slightly less sure nod this time, and a look that said he clearly didn't recognize the name despite his lessons having covered them as one of the four feudal lords of the Asuran Kingdom.
"Then, either evade or eliminate Sword-King Ghislaine." Pax blinked, a confused and worried look crossing his face. That name he at least recognized.
"And finally, once they have passed all of that, eliminate a master magician of—at a minimum—King-level, capable of silently, instantly casting spells and who is currently training under Sword-King Ghislaine."
"Urk." Pax made a choked sound.
"I don't believe such a person exists in the Shirone kingdom, your highness." Something flashed and she turned back to the window, eyes widening at the sight of a bright white light where the gathered mana had been, before it faded to nothing. Ignoring the prince, she hurried into the room and quickly gathered her things, packing away her luggage neatly and efficiently.
The prince followed her with his eyes. "What are you doing?"
"Leaving," Roxy answered distractedly, making sure she didn't leave anything behind. Especially her panties.
"You can't—"
The blue haired mage ignored the boy's—no, man's protests as she left. She didn't even bother to let the king know she was going. Her contract was to teach the seventh prince until he became an adult. He had turned fifteen recently, so as far as she was concerned, her contract was fulfilled and any more time she spent here after the fact had been at her own volition in order to save up some money.
As she went, she gave orders to Sprite. "Sylphiette has a phone. Try calling her."
No signal.
"Try Eris. The Boreas Greyrat manor. All of them. And keep trying."
If someone answered, she would have her confirmation that they weren't dead. If not… it was a six month journey back to the Fittoa region to find out what happened for herself. She found herself wishing she had agreed to let Rudy send her a bike, but she had been worried Pax would do something to it. Now, she was stuck taking the slow way.
Please be safe.
Ars, capitol city of the Asuran Kingdom, was the largest and most populous city in the world. Its seat of power was the (misnamed) Silver Palace, a white palace set in the center of the citadel city and considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world. Yet, despite the beautiful exterior, Second Princess Ariel Anemoi Asura loathed it with every fiber of her being.
She hated the way the beautiful exterior hid the corruption and decadence of the royals within.
She hated the constant power struggle, the backbiting, lies, backroom deals, and the constant knowledge that should her guards fail her life would be forfeit—or worse.
She hated the royal family, the nobles, the minister, and the clergy—degenerate filth, the lot of them.
Perhaps most of all, she hated having to pretend. To hide who she was. To put on a mask and pretend to be one of them when every fiber of her being screamed at her to just let it go and burn them all down…
"Princess Ariel?"
Ariel smiled, a tinkling laugh leaving her lips. The one that the common people, the normal folk just going about their lives and the soldiers loved so much. "I'm sorry, I was daydreaming. What color were they, Luke?"
"A brilliant pink, with a tinge of orange."
Even this, she hated. Listening while one of her guards, Luke Notos Greyrat prattled on about his latest conquest and the color of her nipples. She would much rather join Derrick Redbat, her more reserved magical guard, in scowling at the topic but that would out her as something abnormal—a person with decency and morals, in a hive of scum and villainy.
More than that, she hated what she would have to do next. "I prefer them a perfect cherry pink, standing proudly from atop mounds of pure, porcelain white."
If she didn't play along, didn't pretend to be as deviant and perverted as the rest of them, word would get out that something was wrong with the second princess—something her siblings would capitalize on immediately. In order to blend in, to look like one of them, she had to act like one of them—say the things they said, do the things they did. Which meant that she had to establish a sufficient cover, a false identity. This lead to Ariel being whispered of as a bit of a sadist, in the way she 'played' with the female servants. She gave up her first time with a woman in order to establish the 'fact' that she liked women and dissuade some of her male suitors, or at least slow them down.
She worried, not for the first time, that this place was changing her. I barely even recognize myself any more. How much longer will I last, before the only face I see in the mirror is Ariel and not—
Derrick gave a nod, excusing himself for the facilities as Luke carried on. "So, you like them inverted?"
Not that there was anything wrong with innie nipples, she liked them just fine either way. I can't believe I even have preferences for that sort of thing! …And it hurts to admit that I feel cheated out of all of my firsts, from the first time around.
"What about Sarisha, the new maid?"
And so it went. She carried on the conversation with half a mind, paying attention to her surroundings, wishing she could be anywhere else—doing anything else. I want to practice magic.
Magic!
Right there at her fingertips. All readily accessible and available from a simple book! Well, not all, but a lot. Up to Advanced-level in the book she had found. But like so many other things, it was something she had to keep secret. No one could know that she hardly needed a magical guard when she could protect herself, even if she didn't know any healing spells yet—but Derrick was a good man and having at least two guards was the bare minimum she would allow herself. Or that she had spent so many late nights practicing that she could cast her spells without chanting.
Like staying up to learn magic even begins to compare to cram school. One of these things is not like the other. Learning magic is fun and rewarding. Cram school was hell.
"Princess Ariel!" Derrick yelled, drawing her and Luke's attention to him as he pointed, running their way.
Turning her head to look, Ariel took in the form striding out of the Hibiscus Forest, part of the White Lily Garden where she liked to hold these little discussions so she could at least get some privacy from the other nobles. Or at least the illusion of privacy. All of the maids and butlers reported her words and actions back to a variety of people. The walls had eyes and ears.
It was a boar. A giant boar, walking upright on two legs. She recognized it from her studies as a Terminator Boar—a D-ranked threat by themselves, but their tenacity and the fact that they tended to travel with a pack of other monsters under their direction bumped them up closer to high C-rank or low B-Rank.
But we're in the castle, in the garden. There are guards all over—unless someone paid them to let it in, or an enemy mage summoned it.
An assassination attempt. It made perfect sense. This was likely a move by one of her siblings.
Ariel and Luke stood as the boar charged, Luke moving to intercept the beast while Ariel moved away. Her dress caught under one of her heels and Ariel fell, left sprawled on the ground as Derrick arrived in time for the board to bash Luke aside and turn its attention to the mage. With no time to cast, the mage put himself between Ariel and the boar. Had he been a second slower, he would have lived, and Ariel would have thrown her secret away to save the life of one of the very few decent people she knew.
Instead, Derrick got his chest caved in by the boar's fist for his trouble. Luke rejoined the fight, giving Ariel time to scrabble madly away and check on Derrick. I'm pretty sure that's lethal, the girl assessed, gritting her teeth in frustration as she watched Derrick drown in his own blood. "Cleric! Medic! Man down! Someone bring a healer!"
"Your highness," the man choked out, blood foaming at the corners of his lips, "too.. late."
Ariel took his hand, finding her own shaking as she held it. "No. No, don't. You can't—"
She fell silent as he pleaded with her between shallow gasps. "Please, become queen… Make Asura great again."
Derrick fell limp as he exhaled a quiet rattle and breathed no more, his eyes stuck on Ariel, pleading. Turning to the boar, Ariel watched it approach with the gleam of malicious intelligence in its eyes. "I hate this world," she muttered, fire building in her hand and shifting from red, through orange, to white. "You can all just d—"
"aaaaaa—"
The boar stopped moving, its ears flicking as it turned its head this way and that.
"aaaAAA—"
Ariel looked up. The boar looked up.
Falling from the sky, wearing tattered clothes, was a white haired angel.
That's not a scream, Ariel realized as the caught sight of the 'angel's' face, and its look of absolute righteous fury. That's a war cry.
Lightning lit the sky of Ars as Ariel's avenging angel touched down lightly on a gust of wind, ruffling its—her!—hair, before the angel turned red eyes on her.
Two thoughts ran through Ariel's mind.
Red eyes, take warning!
And,
Beautiful.
"Sylphie?" her mother asked, rocking Elin in her arms as she looked out the front window.
"Hm?" the girl hummed, looking up from where she had been helping make lunch. Following her mother's gaze, she saw a few people standing in the street outside their front gate. Putting down the knife, she followed her mother out of the house and onto the lawn—actually larger than the one they'd had in Buena Village. Looking up, she saw a strange light in the sky.
"What is that?" Sylvia murmured, clutching tighter to Elin in worry.
"I don't know. It's magic, but it's huge. There's only one other person in Roa who could cast something on that scale, but I don't know why Rudy would. Hang on." Fishing her phone, she asked, "Sprite, can you call Rudy?"
Sprite's small form materialized, staring up at the sky as well. "No signal," the spirit reported, before pointing up. "That is interfering with the summoning/sending spells that connect my other terminals."
"Eh?"
The world went white. Reflexively, she cast a shield—the biggest shield she could manage, around herself, her mother, and her sister. The world went black as she lost consciousness.
Sylphie woke to the sound of wind roaring in her ears—a terrible feeling of vertigo assailing her as she felt like she was spinning. Opening her eyes, she watched the sky tumble past, then the ground, then sky again. "Eh?!"
She couldn't hear herself over the sound of the wind. Clenching her hands in fright, she found that somehow, she was still holding onto the crystal phone. Sprite clung to the phone comically, screaming in a tiny wail as they tumbled. "Eee!"
Quickly, she stuffed the phone into her pocket, praying it wouldn't fly away. Then, she thought back to her lessons with Rudy. When they danced across the sky, and he taught her what to do if she ever lost control—how to recover from a fall and land safely.
Stretching herself out slowed her fall a little and slowly righted her spin until she was laying face towards the sky. Twisting around, she faced the ground.
'Change direction and slowly bleed off speed. Don't try to stop all at once or you'll hurt yourself.'
Channeling the Air Running spell, she kicked off, feeling the stress on her knee and ankle as she did. Too much!
She changed the angle on the next kick, bounding back the other direction. The change in motion was gut-wrenching, but not nearly as painful as the first attempt had been. So she did it again and again, until she was simply using Air Running normally and could focus on her surroundings.
Where am I? Sylphie wondered, turning in the air as she looked around. Beneath her sprawled a huge city. Around the city, miles and miles of farmland and countryside. And far in the distance, a fading light…
Air Lens let her see into the distance and what she saw made her heart crawl into her throat. There was a perfectly circular patch of nothing but dirt.
Trees? Gone. Houses? Gone. Grass? Gone. People? Go—
Movement between her and the blank space had her refocusing the telescopic spell and she gasped as she watched a person fall, and fall, and fall until they hit the ground with a small explosion of gore. I think I'm going to be sick.
She lowered herself towards the ground, using Rudy's flight spell now that she had herself under control and could hurry. She had to get back home. Summon her bike and ride back to Roa. She had to find her mother and sister. Even, yes, her father—as angry as he made her, she still loved him and hoped he would come around. I can't let the last words I spoke to my father be in anger—
A scream from below drew her attention to the garden she was descending into. Two men, barely more than boys, were trying to protect a pretty blonde girl from some sort of walking boar monster. She watched as the swordsman was knocked away, then the mage's chest was caved in. The boar advanced on the girl.
What if mother, Elin, and father lived, but wound up somewhere dangerous? What if they're being killed by monsters even now? What if Rudy fell, but didn't wake up? He just… hit the ground and he's just laying there somewhere, splattered… N-no, I—No. No!
Sylphie saw red.
Lightning answered her call and for a brief moment, the world went white again, and the sound of thunder nearly deafened her.
The boar exploded in a shower of blood and burned chunks of meat and fur. Panting, she landed in the garden and allowed her wind spell to die down. After making sure the boar was dead—Not that it could be anything but, when it's been reduced to little more than the burned stumps of its legs—she turned to check the young woman and the mage.
Her eyes found those of the blonde—clear, sky blue, unlike Roxy's aqua blue.
"Beautiful," the blonde murmured, staring—her fireball dissipating at her side.
Sylphie ran towards the downed mage as the swordsman pushed himself to his feet. Sliding to a stop beside the young man, she reached out and touched his neck to check for a pulse as Rudy had shown her. Finding nothing, she tried a healing spell anyway—sometimes, if it was soon enough, she had learned that she could revive someone who had died. Or at least, that was how it worked with insects and small animals like the mice and rabbits she caught using earth magic, or the mice in Rudy's lab—she had never tried it with a person before.
"Who are you?" the boy demanded, and she felt the steel of his blade rest on her shoulder. "Did you set that monster loose?"
Perhaps the Sylphiette she had been before meeting Rudy would have answered differently. Her father was right about one thing—she had changed. And yes, maybe Rudy was responsible.
'Don't ever start a fight you aren't sure you can win, especially when you could just as easily talk it through. On the other hand, if someone starts a fight with you, end it, and make sure they'll never start another.'
'If someone throws a spell at you, if they bare their blade at you, assume they mean to kill you. At that point, the fight's already started. Unless you want to die, you'd better be ready to kill them first.'
Lightning crackled and the swordsman made a quiet 'Urk!' before falling over as she channeled electricity through his sword and up his arm. Turning around, Sylphie kicked the sword away and channeled another lightning spell, aiming at his head.
"Stop! Please!" the blonde called. "Both of you! Luke, it's okay, she saved us. She was, she was checking Derrick to see if there was anything she could do for him."
The boy on the ground glared up at her as his body twitched weakly. Sylphie kept one eye on him and one on the blonde. Slowly, the young woman approached, until she was within arm's length. Reaching out, the taller girl placed a warm hand over the one Sylphie was using to pin Luke but didn't put any weight on it. "Thank you for saving me. Please, it's okay. He's my guard, it's his job to protect me. That's all he was doing—making sure you weren't a threat to me. I'm a princess, you see—Princess Ariel Anemoi Asura. This is the Silver Palace, in Ars, the capitol of Asura. Where did you come from?"
"Fittoa. In Roa. Something happened. There was a light in the sky over Roa. Then a white light and I was suddenly in the sky, falling," Sylphie explained quietly, allowing the lightning spell she was holding to dissipate. Ariel slowly pushed her hand down and Sylphie stopped resisting. "I saw—" her breath hitched, but she forced herself to speak normally. "I saw someone else fall to the ground, not far from here."
Luke finally righted himself and managed to get to his feet. "Oof, that really hurt." Stretching himself out, he added, "What you're describing sounds kind of like a teleportation trap."
Ariel considered Sylphie and Luke, her eyes straying to the corpses of Derrick and the boar, before she finally said, "Let's get inside. In case there are any more surprises. The… the healers will take care of Derrick when they arrive." Taking Sylphie's arm in her own, she pulled the smaller girl along. "What's your name?"
"Sylphiette. I need to get home—"
"Yes," Ariel agreed, before bulling right over whatever else Sylphie was going to say. "But Fittoa could be dangerous right now. You're in one of the safest places you could be at the moment. I'll send some scouts to investigate and we should have a report within the week. Until then, please, allow me to thank you for saving my life by putting you up."