Both Damien and I turn around at the same time. We see a slim, tall figure standing behind us, with long black hair, fair skin, and a very serious look on her face. She is wearing leather pants, a long sleeve white blouse and a green hoodie. She appears to be in her early twenties.
But that's not all to this lady, I can also sense a strong magical energy all around her. Energy that couldn't possibly be coming from a female. Could she be... a Cortana?
My heart starts beating rapidly. That night from fifteen years ago is coming back to me. I can see it clearly, and I can still hear the laughter. That sinister, high pitched laughter.
I take deep breaths as I try to calm down. This woman can't be a cortana. The feeling I'm getting now is too different from the one I got back then. Does that mean she's a mage? No that's impossible. And yet...
Damien: Jòn, don't be afraid. I know white magic. I can cleanse her.
Damien must have also sensed the magic coming from the woman and concluded that she's been possessed by a cortana. Cortanas are parasitic spirits that need to inhabit bodies in order to survive. They usually spend a few weeks inside a body in a dormant state before taking over. During this phase, the host may gain magical powers. Once a cortana is in full control of the body, they say she has awakened. The only way you can save the original host once she's been possessed by a cortana is to use white magic to purify her before the cortana has fully awakened, which basically means killing the cortana without harming the host.
However, the purification technique operates on the assumption that a woman cannot have magic powers of her own. They call it purification but all the technique does infact is to completely eradicate the energy that gives off the strong magical vibe, with the purpose of also elimination the cortana along with it. On the other hand, if the magical energy does not in fact belong to a cortana but to the woman herself, the purification would be nothing short of a death sentence.
JÒN: No wait. Listen to me! This woman isn't a cortana.
Damien: So what, you're suggesting that she's a mage then? Jòn, women can't be mages. There hasn't been a single recorded case of a woman mage in all of our history. Every time a woman's developed magical powers, it's always been because of a cortana. Every single time.
JÒN: Don't you think I know that? But this one is different. If you try to purify her, you may as well end up killing her!
Damien: How can you be so sure?
JÒN: Because I've met a cortana before. Up close. Have you met one before Damien?
Damien: No
JÒN: You just said you trusted me enough to tell me your greatest weakness. I'm asking you to trust me on this too. Can you do that Damien?
Damien gives me one long look and then sighs deeply
Damien: Alright. We'll do it your way. But I'll be keeping an eye on her and I swear Jòn, if it turns out you're saying all of this because of her looks, I'm going to...
Lady: Would you guys mind telling me what you've been whispering about for the past minute?
JÒN: We were just finishing our discussion from earlier.
She's eyeing me suspiciously as she doesn't appear to believe me. But she decides to drop the subject for now and addresses Damien instead.
Lady: You didn't answer my question, I asked if you are Damien, the healer in armor.
Damien: I am indeed. What business would you have with me?
Lady: I... require an escort. I am not certain I can survive this tournament by myself. And I've heard all your deeds of valor and all your legends, so I thought that maybe...
Damien: Say no more! I will grant you my protection for the duration of your quest. From what you say, I suppose that you're not actually trying to win the tournament?
Lady: No... I'm not. I'm looking for...a friend. And I have reason to believe that she's somewhere on this continent. But I don't have any specific leads just yet. For now I just need to stay alive.
Damien: Then you can join us! We were just about to leave! We're way to out in the open right now.
Lady: Us? You're planning on traveling alongside this stillborn? You can't trust him.
Damien: Actually he's not a stillborn, he's just a normal human
JÒN (to himself): Great, I'm wondering if he plans to blow my cover to every single person we meet from now.
Lady: Is that what he told you? And you believe him? He's just trying to get you to lower your guard.
JÒN: Why me? Why can you trust Damien so easily, but not me?
Lady: Because his reputation antecedes him! Few are those those that haven't heard of his bravery and outstanding morality! You on the other hand come from a race filled with mass murderers.
Damien: Whoa, whoa! Let's all calm down! Listen, I may understand your concern, but this man saved my life and I intend to repay my debt to him. If you're looking for an escort, then it's going to be the three of us traveling together. I'm not accepting any other alternatives.
Lady: Very well, if that's the way it has to be, then I'm forced to comply. But know that I'll be watching my back. I'm not easily convinced as you, healer in armor.
Damien: Great! Now that we've got that settled, let's be off! Adventure awaits!
JÒN: Wait, you still haven't told us your name
The woman looks at me while pondering on my question, after much consideration she finally answers
Lady: It's Leah. My name is Leah
With those last words, the three of us leave the clearing and head into the forest, in the hopes of finding some place away from the ongoing battles that are being fought across the lands.
As we march through the forest, I hear few beeps coming from my right pocket.
Damien: Jòn, what's that sound? I know that sound. Don't tell me you brought a fortune teller's bauble all the way here. Are you planning to tell us our fortunes, Jòn? (He says sarcastically)
A fortune teller's bauble. That's what most people call this device nowadays. But very few people know what they really do, and how they actually work. My research has led me to believe that these devices harness their energy from the magic all around them. The more energy they harness the more effective they become. Since mages are usually spread far apart from one another and they don't really have any reason to cast powerful spells one after the other, the effects of this device is mostly trivial.
But imagine the amount of energy it could gather in a place like this, where powerful mages are constantly at brawl with each other
I pull the device out of my pocket. It looks much like a toy with buttons and a screen. As I press the buttons different letters magically appear on the screen, forming words and showing me numbers. The device calls these my 'STATS'. It consist of various physical attributes such as super strength, speed, reflexes, hearing, toughness, observation, but there are also others like combat style and premonition (vision).
When the device harnesses enough energy, it alerts me by beeping and it then allows me to invest a limited number of points in my stats. All my stats are zero at the moment because it's newly bought, so I guess I'll have to start leveling up from scratch.
Investing my points in stats is actually supposed to enhance my real attributes, as long as I keep the deice close enough to me that it connect with my magical energy.
Damien: Jòn, don't you think that there are more important things to do than play with that toy?
I put the device back in my pocket as soon as I finish investing all four points I got into my reflexes stat thereby maxing it.
JÒN: This isn't a toy. And I think you should pay more attention to where you're going rather than lecture me, because we just ran out of forest.
Leah: Quiet, both of you! We've got company.
She's right. Looking all around us, I see there are fallen trees everywhere in this area, and quite a few dead bodies lying around. It seems there was a battle here and the victors were in the middle of looting the bodies when they noticed us.
There's three of them in total. One is considerably well built for a mage. He has a very long black beard covering his face, he seems to be in his mid forties, he's wearing heavy armor and carrying a large battle axe. The other two are a bit younger and wearing chainmail vest instead, but they are holding no weapons
The bearded mage shouts to Damien
Bearded Mage: Quite the team you've assembled there, healer in armor. A healer, a cortana, and an ordinary human. It's like you're dying to lose this tournament!
Leah was clearly affected by the cortana comment as her eyes twitched and looked towards the ground subconsciously.
JÒN: Mind your tongue fool, who you calling an ordinary human? Have you not heard of stillborns?
Bearded Mage: Hah! Stillborns are legends and nothing more! I don't know what you were trying to achieve by joining this tournament, boy, but soon it won't matter.
Damien: Why? Why have you done this?( As he points towards the dead bodies). Nobody told us we should start killing each other! They told us there are no rules until we are given our first task. We don't even know if there was going to be any fighting involved. Why did you have to kill all these people?
Bearded Mage: Because there are no rules, which means we can do whatever we want. And what we want is to eliminate as much competition as we can before the main events start. (He grins) My son's and I were a little worried at first that we weren't ready for the big leagues! But here we are! (As he raises his hands and takes a victorious stance). But enough talk! We all know what's coming!
Damien: Jòn, get behind me
Bearded Mage: First rule of combat....
Suddenly one of the young mages that was standing next to the bearded mage vanished and appears right behind me, with a dagger in his hand.
Bearded Mage: ...Always kill the weak ones first.
The young mage slashes his dagger at my neck, but Damien reacts just in time and uses his shield to take the blow.
Bearded Mage: Hah! You left the woman undefended! Classic mistake.
As his second son makes a dozen swords appear out of thin air, floating in front of him and sends them all flying towards Leah
Just as the swords reach her, Leah's left arm get covered in a large, thick block of ice, made in the form of a shield. She puts it in front of her and all of the swords get stuck into it.
Leah: Left the woman undefended? So which is it, then? Woman?.... Or Cortana?
She lowers her left arm to reveal her face, as she looks at the mage with a black beard. Her eyes full with fury
Leah: MAKE UP YOUR MIND
As the whole forest goes silent from the echo of her voice.
The bearded mage seems to be a bit
terrified as he should be, because Leah's killing intent is so strong that it almost seems touchable.
Leah: I see backstabbers and sword throwers, and you call yourselves mages. Come! I'll show you real magic!
As she talks the air all around us seems to be getting colder. So this is what it feels like to be in a tournament with the most powerful mages in the world.
The bearded mage seems to have grown a little composure
Bearded Mage: Your mild tricks won't save you a second time, wench. I don't care if you're a cortana or not, none of you are leaving this place alive!
He shouts and rushes towards Damien with his battle-axe. As he approaches I realize that if I don't do something quick Damien would be forced to fight both younger and older mage by himself while also protecting me and there's no way he can do all at once. Since the younger mage seems to be much focused on me, I'll lure him away from Damien and try to avoid his attacks for as long as I can, until Damien finishes off the older mage.
Leah seems to have gotten the sword throwing mage's undivided attention. He is constantly sending swords from every direction her way, as she creates walls of ice to block his attack.
As the bearded mage reaches us, his battle-axe clashes loudly with Damien's sword.
Bearded Mage: I see you've enchanted your weapon well healer. But how long can you last against a hardened warrior as myself?
He shouts as he presses the axe harder against Damien's sword.
As the two of them fight, I dash away towards the forest. As expected, the mage with the dagger is coming right after me.
Damien: Jòn wait!
He attempts to follow but chooses not to as he can't take his eyes off the bearded mage for even a second.
In the meantime, the mage fighting Leah has managed to surround her with floating swords, aimed at her from every direction. He sends them all at her as to manoeuver her defense, as she surrounds herself with a sphere of ice which once again stops all the swords. As she dismisses the ice all hundreds of swords drop to the ground while making a clinging noise.
My plan to lure the younger mage seems to be working more than I'd hoped. The mage keeps teleporting after me trying to catch me off guard, but every time he thinks he got me where he wants, I simply dodge his strike with ease. I knew that stat bauble would come in handy, but I never would have thought in any lifetime it would be this useful. I feel like I could go on like this all day.
Bearded Mage: Boy, what do you think you're doing? Stop messing around and finish him already. He's just an ordinary human!
Leah seems to have gone on the offensive as she throws ice cones towards the other young mage and he's now forced to use his sword to cut them down. Leah attacks have become more and more relentless as it doesn't take her long to start sending hundreds of ice daggers his way. The mage doesn't seem to know how to use his abilities to defend against such simultaneous attacks. All it took was an error on his part for the fight to end quickly, as one of the daggers stabs him right through the heart and another in the eye, killing him on the spot.
Bearded Mage: No, it's not possible
The bearded mage shouts when he sees what happened to his oldest son. Taking his eyes off his opponent was a fatal mistake, as Damien didn't hesitate to drive his enchanted blade through the man's armor into his chest. The bearded man gave one last gurgle before drowning in his own blood.
Terrified, the young mage tries to teleport into the forest and escape, but his spells range appears to be limited and it only teleports him halfway there. He tries to make a run for it, but Leah snipes him from a distance, with an ice cone through his throat, which killed him instantly.
It was a ghastly show, but at this point all I care about is that i somehow managed to make it out alive.
As he's healing his wounds, Damien looks straight at me.
Damien: Damn it, Jòn! That was too close. We are gonna have to think up some strategy incase of anymore fights or we won't last much longer.
JÒN: Yes. I think you may be right.
After finishing his spell, he walks over to Leah.
Damien: Leah, please explain something to me, because I don't get it. With the way you were fighting back there, why would you ever ask for an escort?
Leah: Everyone has their weaknesses, healer... Judging by how much you struggled in this fight, I would assume that ironically, you are weakest against other weapon enchanters such as yourself. But just because I handled these thugs with ease, doesn't mean I won't have any problems against other enemies. No one can survive this tournament alone.
Damien: Well, I suppose you're right... Very well, let's keep going
I start following him, but Leah stops me and grabs my shirt. She has that very serious look in her eyes again.
Leah(speaks in a low tone): Stillborn, I saw you fighting back there. You may have managed to convince Damien and that bearded fool that you're an ordinary human, but I'm not that easily deceived. I don't know what your game is, but I'm going to keep my eyes on you.
JÒN: I'm not...
Leah: Listen to me, stillborn. I'm not interested in hearing your lies. I just wanted to make sure you were clear on what I think of your little charade. Now, are you clear?
JÒN: Crystal
Leah: Good (leaving my shirt), now let's be off we need to catch up with Damien.
We decide to follow the path that leads to the mountains, in the hopes of finding a cave to provide us with some shelter for the night up
>>>End Of Chapter 2<<<