The war in West Fabarol had left the Kingdom of Hulda in a busy state; due to their many victories against the local people groups and other nations, Hulda had been given a boost in their economic output. Because of this, the everyday worker or salesman began working extra hard to take advantage of Hulda's sudden rise.
But it didn't mean all work was ethical, as slavery, a law still legal in some parts of Zeroth, had now become one of the biggest industries in Hulda. One of these slave traders was a Huldian warrior, who in the war, personally took many people who were living in tribes and villages. One of them was a white-haired boy.
Tuck, a young boy no older than fourteen, had seen his small village burnt down and his people's history and legacy erased from the map. Now, with a cold metal clamp around his neck, he had accepted his dark fate. Due to his hair color being the rarest sort around Zeroth, the slave trader knew he would be a big catch in the market.
So when it was time for Tuck to finally be sold, many betters wanted to buy the unique-looking boy. The trader had specifically not whipped Tuck, so that he would be more appetizing towards the betters. As the boy stared down from the betting stand, cold as his bare body was hit by the frosted air, he stared lifelessly at the crowd below, "This is my life now huh? Nothing more than a… a…. Object," As that last word entered his mind, he couldn't help but feel a bit choked up. He didn't want to cry, or better yet, he didn't have any more tears to cry.
But suddenly, smoke began to fill the area, covering everyone's sight, "WHAT'S HAPPENING!?!" The trader yelled as four hooded figures brushed past him.
"YOU IMPULSIVE BRAT!! WHY ARE WE DOING THIS!?" A voice yelled as Tuck was picked up, his body covered by cloth as his kidnappers began to run with him.
"WE ALREADY FREED MOST OF THEM!! WHY NOT ANOTHER ONE?!" A more cheery voice replied, leading Tuck to wonder what was happening.
"I swear, I should've stayed in the castle," a girl's voice came from the figure carrying Tuck, sounding scared and worried. Below her hood, Tuck saw the girl's anxious expression, with her short brown hair falling down her face.
"You'll get used to it soon enough Frieda," remarked another voice, but as Tuck turned to see who it was, he saw that their figure was smaller than the other three.
Tuck was both confused and scared, he had been taken before, and this time it looked like he was about to be taken again, "L-Let me g-go," Tuck muttered, but his cracked lips and dry throat produced little sound. But someone heard him, no, everyone heard him.
"Don't worry kid, we're not going to hurt you," the angry voice from before spoke again, this time his voice was softer. And behind the hood, Tuck saw his green nose.
The boy carrying the more cheery voice ran forward and jumped to see Tuck. Despite his bright golden eyes and messy purple hair, the first thing Tuck observed from the boy was his cheery smile, one that was a contrast to all the scheming grins he had been seeing all his life; it reminded him of the smiles of the people in his tribe. "Hello, my name is Dyrin," remarked the young boy, "This big guy over here is Ja'Klei, the small person over there is Verti, and the person carrying you is our new recruit, Frieda."
As her name was called, Frieda turned to Tuck as he did to her, their eyes met as Frieda tried to spark up a conversation, "H-hello~" But no response came, and Frieda saw why, "Oh my! Your lips are cracking." Quickly she brought out her drinking water, and gently poured it into Tuck's mouth.
As the four continued to run, Ja'Klei turned to see a group of people chasing them, "WE'VE GOT TRAILERS!!" He yelled as he brought out a wooden staff, "VERTI!!" As if they had done it so many times, the halfling cast a spell, shooting water at the people, and at the same time, Ja'Klei cast a fire spell, creating a cloud of steam.
"To the alleyway," Dyrin commanded as the four swiftly turned and entered a crack between two houses, the four then hid behind some barrels, lying there as they heard the crowd pass by them, "That was close, we're near the forest, so let's wait a few minutes here and head out."
As Ja'Klei and Dyrin were making up plans to escape, Frieda covered Tuck with the cape she was wearing, "We're going to walk through the city now alright? They didn't see us so it's fine if we don't have something to cover us up, but you have to wear this okay?" She instructed, leading Tuck to nod. Frieda scoffed at the boy, he was small and frail, and looked to be no older than ten, "Such savages, selling kids like you, how old are you if I may ask?"
Tuck was regarded in his tribe as a short kid, so the comment really didn't impact him, "F-fourteen, I think." Frieda's eyes widened as he said this.
"YOU'RE ONLY A YEAR YOUNGER THAN ME!?" But her mouth was quickly covered by Ja'Klei.
"Shut up you idiot, you're going to get us unwanted attention," he warned, making Frieda feel a little embarrassed. Tuck was still confused, he didn't know these people and their intentions, but they at least looked pretty friendly.
Dyrin, who just finished talking to Verti, turned his attention towards Tuck, "Hey, what's your name? We really didn't get to fully introduce ourselves earlier."
Tuck's mouth moved before his mind could register, for the years he was a slave, no one asked for his name at all, and that urge of wanting to be known bursted like an explosion. "TUCK!!" He shouted the loudest he ever did in years, "TUCK SON OF TUCIAN!!" But his loud voice got the attention of the crowd that was following them around.
"THERE THEY ARE!!" One of them yelled as Frieda picked Tuck up again and the four started running.
"YOU IDIOTS!!" Ja'Klei yelled as Frieda screamed with fear, a contrast to Dyrin and Verti who were dying of laughter.
"Well Tuck," Dyrin began, turning his head toward the frail boy, "As I said earlier, I'm Dyrin, and these three are helping me fulfill my purpose in life." As Dyrin talked, rain began to fall from the skies as the gray clouds became darker, but still, Tuck was in amazement as even with the chaotic situation they were in, and the dark skies looming over them, Dyrin's smile felt like a sun in his life full of storms, "I ask you Tuck? Have you ever seen a blue sky?"
Years later, in the central lands of the Empire of Zan, an adult Tuck along with the halfling Verti, entered the battle in the Dark Swamp. Their presence was a sigh of relief towards the champions and soldiers of Dyrin; the battle had gone on for almost fifteen minutes now, and the champions had consumed about a quarter of their total mana.
But having fresh strong champions meant the advantage was with the army of Dyrin. Instantly Verti dashed toward Helga, her presence causing Sevi and Alex to get a little worried. They had been getting pressured by Helga and the champions, but they knew they would have won eventually; but with Verti's presence, it was guaranteed they would lose, "Well well well, look who it is?" The halfling taunted, her eyes pointed at Alex.
To put on a bravado, Alex scoffed, pointing her wand towards Verti, "Make sure you won't run away this time." But as Verti was assisting Helga, Tuck decided to fly towards Ivor, his hands swirling with wind, ready to clash with the swordsaint.
But the swordsaint had seen him in the corner of his eye, so as Tuck was about to hit him, the swordsaint turned to trade with Tuck. But his blade met Ivor's hammer, clashing with such power it stopped Tuck in his tracks, "DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE SWORDSAINT!!" Ivor remarked, barely being able to hold back the swordsaint's blade, "GET THE ARCHER ON TOP OF THE TREES!!" Just as Ivor said this, an arrow was fired toward his shoulder, causing him to grunt in pain, "GOO!!"
Tuck immediately tried to follow where the arrow whizzed past, figuring out the general direction of it. But due to the darkness below the canopy, he couldn't see anyone, and even with his Perception, he couldn't find any mana clusters around. Ja'Klei, who overheard Ivor telling Tuck to attack the archer, decided to help the wind mage out. Finding a calm in his battle with the Zanian swordsman, he turned to where Tuck was facing, "SPARK BURST!!" He cast, sending a small spark towards the trees, and after a few seconds, exploding, dealing no damage to anyone, but showing a cloaked archer on top of the trees.
Ja'Klei opened his mouth to tell Tuck to attack, but before words could even leave his mouth, "Wind burst." Tuck hands produced a powerful gust of wind that sent him towards the archer.
Leena's eyes widened as the wind mage approached her dangerously fast. Immediately she moved from her position, trying to hide in the shadows, but due to her moving, her Concealment magic art was not working anymore, letting Tuck figure out where she was going to go.
As Leena moved back, her vision began to darken, and the battle's lights began to fade away. Using her Perception, Leena began to fire arrows at a cluster of mana coming at her; Tuck began to dodge, but as an arrow hit his shoulder, he realized something. Leena was not using mana in some of her shots, lessening their power, but making them basically invisible. Fearing this, Tuck descended down the swamp, masking most of his mana.
Leena could only see a blur, the same as the fishes below the waters, but she knew where Tuck was going, but as it fizzled out slowly, Leena finally realized. Tuck, before going down, cast a spell in a direction, what Leena thought was Tuck was actually that spell, so as Tuck began to emerge below her, it was too late for Leena.
"Forceshot." A surge of wind came from Tuck's hands, sending Leena flying up on the canopy, with some of her ribs broken. As Leena recovered, Tuck met her on top of the canopy, "I heard you gave my wife a few scars?" Tuck remarked, his voice a bit upbeat even with the subject he was talking about.
Leena weighed her options before her mouth opened, "They must be almost there by now," she told herself, standing up and preparing her bow; a chuckle left her mouth as she finally opened it, "Yeah, sure am, but now I'm about to send her husband back with a little more than a few."
Tuck smirked at her threat, "Is that so?" Leena had her bow ready, but as she blinked, Tuck disappeared, "Let's see if your arrows can catch me," the wind mage taunted, directly behind Leena, "Splitting Gale."
Tuck swung his arm at Leena, sending out a cutting wind, but before mana even came out of Tuck's hand, Leena was already behind him, "You think you can outspeed me?" Leena replied, sending a thundering arrow towards Tuck's head. The wind mage barely dodged it, but the arrow still went into his arm. Leena thought she had the advantage, but a pulse of wind hit her stomach, causing blood to come out of her mouth. But not dismayed, Leena pointed her entire hand at Tuck, and as she turned it into a fist, she cast, "CRACK!!"
Tuck had been hit by Ja'Klei's shock before, it was very painful, but with enough channeling, he could take the hit. But this new attack felt as if his body split in half on how painful it was. But as he saw Leena's figure fizzle out, he knew he had to move to survive. The two began to cast spells and shoot arrows at each other, Tuck was still reeling from the spell from earlier, but Leena knew it was only a matter of time before she would lose.
Tuck was fresher than her, and her mana was beginning to go down. As she took another wind blast to the chest, she puked out a river of blood, her broken rib was now starting to impact her a lot, "No, I need to ignore the pain," she tried to encourage herself, gritting her teeth through it. But even with her knowing she would lose, she tried to play it off like she wasn't affected at all, and Tuck fell for it.
"Can she really go this far?" Tuck asked himself, with five arrows lodged into his body; it wasn't like Tuck was unharmed, but he knew he had the advantage, he just hoped to keep it.
Back in the ships, Verti had been overpowering the twins with the help of Dyrin's other champions. Her strength and speed were too much, Alex's defensive ice was being cut and destroyed by Verti's sharp currents, and Sevi's offensive spells came with a risk, for it only took one swing from Verti to cause high damage.
But while Sevi was distracted with Verti, Helga sneaked up behind him. Alex, who was protecting herself from the other champions, turned in horror as Sevi's back was cut open, "SEVI!!!" She yelled, but that moment of weakness cost her. A knife plunged into Alex's stomach, given to her by a wounded champion.
Through huffs and puffs, the champion chuckled, "I GOT HER-"
But as the champion stood still for only a few seconds, Alex's wand was encased in sharp ice, and with one swing, she cut the champion in two. Blood began to pour from her wound, but instantly she froze it as she turned to Sevi, "Frozen land."
The ice on the ground began to thicken, causing Verti and Helga to be slightly off balance. But in those moments, the wound from Sevi's back began to smoke, and his eyes began to look more frenzied. A burst of fire came out from the open wound, instantly cauterizing it; Sevi's hands began to flicker with small sparks, but then in an instant a massive blast came out, sending him towards Helga at such speed she couldn't even comprehend what happened.
But as her body grasped what had just happened, she realized that her left arm was blown off. Helga began to panic, thinking that she was going to die soon, Sevi was unrelenting, his attacks losing all grace they had before, replaced by an animalistic way of movement.
"BLAST!!" He cast, sending it towards Helga. But before it could hit her, an Aegis shield came over her. Helga turned to see who it was, only to see Ivor with his only remaining arm out, his chest pierced by a blade.
But even with his mouth pouring with blood, Ivor yelled, not just at Helga, but to everyone, "FIGHT!!! FIGHT HARD MY FRIENDS!!! FOR TODAY!! WE WILL ALL LIV-" But before Ivor could finish what he was saying, the blade in his chest rose up to his head, cutting the warrior in half.
The swordsaint had killed all the champions pitted against him, but it wasn't a feat without struggles. Clutching his chest, he felt a few of his ribs broken, he was covered in scars, and there were a lot of bloody bruises on his body. Huffing and puffing, but also chuckling, he gripped his blade tightly, "And I call myself a swordsaint, I guess I'll stay bottom twenty for longer."
But as the swordsaint stood still for a while, a hammer hit his head. It wasn't infused with any mana so it didn't hurt too much, but as he turned to its direction, he saw that the death of Ivor, instead of discouraging the Huldians, actually ignited their fury.
"FIGHT OR DIE!!" They all yelled, some even leaving the shield defenses they built up to blindly shoot at the Zanian soldiers from above. The swordsaint could not believe it, but because of the rules, the Huldian infantry had now exposed themselves.
But before the swordsaint could do anything, the body of Bok hit him, causing him to stumble, "Dammit," Bok expressed, quickly getting on his feet as he assisted the swordsaint up, "He wasn't this strong last time I fought him."
Bok and the swordsaint turned to see an orc, with serpents of thunder and fire surrounding him, as gales of wind enveloped his body. His mana pressure was so strong and uncontrolled that it was causing everyone's mana around him to pulsate, a sign of extreme danger. Verti, who was locked in a clash with Sevi turned with awe, Ja'Klei, second in command of Dyrin's troops, stared at both Bok and the swordsaint, a deadly grin on his face as he did so, "I guess he's back," Verti expressed, "The Serpent of the West."
Dyrin and Rapl, who had been beating each other bloody saw what was going on, Dyrin grinned as Rapl scowled, "Well Ashkin, how about that?" Dyrin taunted, throwing a punch at Rapl.
The lesser Lich dodged the punch as he bit his lip, thousands of thoughts were going through his head, but the main thought was, "When are they going to pass?"