Fun Fact: Sitting at a whopping size of ten million square kilometres, Surone is the largest country in the world.
An urban jungle filled to the brim with technomagick, the country is characterised by its distinct purple colour of Arcani, a testament to how much magic men have imbued in the environment.
Formerly a country with many provinces, the Suronian Empire finally united the country after countless civil wars.
The capital, Surone City, was renamed after the brightest constellation visible at night, Sirius.
~ ~ ~
The Guardian raised a finger to her lips, although Parthena seemed disinclined to scream. Her body was shaking, however, presumably from both fear and shock. So, she covered her mouth to hide her ragged breaths.
Kleopatra clutched her rifle tightly, feeling the ground rumble under the sheer weight of the Abomination’s footsteps. She felt it stop for a moment before suddenly turning in their direction.
Crap.
She ushered Parthena along as the girl scurried over to their next cover. Sure enough, the monster looked over the broken window a few seconds later. It groaned in apparent frustration and lumbered away from the devastated office room.
“Hey. Hey, look at me!” Kleopatra whispered urgently, shaking the girl whose eyes were still glazed over. “Gaius came with you, didn’t he? Where is he?”
Parthena’s lips trembled, but she remained silent.
“Answer me, dammit!” Her voice grew increasingly desperate. “Parthena!”
The Soothsayer yelped, touching her face where Kleopatra’s palm had grazed her. She whimpered as pearly tears rolled down her face.
“I’m sorry,” Kleopatra muttered. “Are you awake now?”
Parthena nodded meekly.
“Gaius… he told us to leave,” she said. “He was supposed to hold the monster off, but… I don’t get it— I don’t understand why it’s still here.”
Kleopatra’s stomach lurched, and her mouth turned dry instantly. Gaius had always been the type to risk his own life to protect others, sometimes even when it was not necessary. If the Abomination had managed to get past him, then he must have…
“Don’t worry. Gaius is skilful enough to take care of himself,” Kleopatra said, more to herself than to Parthena. “Where was he?”
Parthena pointed into the darkness behind them.
The two girls crept out of the room and made their way deeper into the building, trying their best not to make any unnecessary sounds. Kleopatra took the lead, rifle facing forward, while her mind focused on whatever little information Parthena had told her along the way.
“Keep it down, will you?” she hissed impatiently.
“I’m sorry. I’m trying, I’m trying…” Parthena winced as another glass shard cracked under her feet.
Kleopatra, on the other hand, was moving with enough precision and furtiveness to match even the most professional of covert operatives. Cleric Elpis Nerva had prepared her for much worse situations while she was still a Guardian trainee. Elpis was a good teacher, no doubt about that; even when she turned out to be a hyper-religious nutcase.
They turned a corner, only to face yet another room. Kleopatra’s heart raced. If Parthena had described the building’s layout accurately, they should already be fairly close to the church’s main room by now.
Unfortunately, there was still no sign of Gaius anywhere. Kleopatra whispered a silent prayer, hoping that Gaius was skilled enough to shake off an Abomination.
The Guardian raised a closed fist, but Parthena bumped into her anyway.
“Something’s wrong.” Her rifle darted around. “It’s too quiet.”
“What—”
Rubble crashed into Kleopatra as a scaly claw put itself through the wall beside her.
Flashes of white burst out. She ducked on instinct, narrowly dodging the sharpened bones that lodged themselves in the wood just above her. Adrenaline flooded her veins as Kleopatra panted in shock, reeling internally at how close she had just got to being killed.
Mustering her courage, the Guardian let loose a hailstorm of energy pulses at the red points of light still hiding in the darkness. Shrieks were heard, but they were not sounds of pain. Another claw burst out in retaliation, striking Kleopatra savagely in the shoulder.
She screamed as blood spurted out from her wound. Fresh waves of pain shot through her body as the claw dug into her flesh. Kleopatra struggled vainly as the monster finally moved into the dim moonlight, slowly dragging her body towards itself.
The Guardian raised her weapon at it, but a huge insect-like leg simply swatted it away. Despair twisted her guts as the rifle clattered to the ground. A choked gasp croaked from her open mouth as more skeletal appendages wrapped around her and began squeezing the air out of her lungs.
A beam of light narrowly missed her head, putting a hole in the ceiling. Rubble dropped onto the Abomination’s head. It roared in irritation.
What the hell, Parthena? Put that rifle down before you hurt yourself—
Kleopatra screamed as the monster tossed her at Parthena, who was still knocked over by the weapon’s massive recoil.
Air burst from her lungs as both girls tumbled along the ground. Kleopatra pushed herself up groggily, while Parthena seemed to still be shaking the dizziness out of her head. The monster was preparing to pounce on them. They were both screwed.
“Kleo, no…”
Kleopatra looked up at the source of the voice: A figure with a glaringly bright orange aura. Is… Is that—
A breeze hit Kleopatra as the figure darted past her at an incredible speed, charging straight at the Abomination.
“You…You FIEND! I’ll destroy you!”
The monster leapt towards the figure in response but was promptly sent flying back by a backhand. Kleopatra furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Was that Gaius? Since when did he possess such prodigious physical strength?
“You think you can hurt my friends?! You’re nothing!” Gaius was smashing the monster’s head on the ground repeatedly now, sending tremors along the floor with every hit. “You’re nothing but a pathetic little boy!”
The Abomination screeched as Gaius ripped all its limbs off with his bare hands and flung it through a wall. He roared like an animal and leapt out of the building as well.
Kleopatra rushed towards the hole in the wall, looking anxiously for Gaius. Why would he even do that when he couldn’t fly—
“What the…” she breathed in both shock and disbelief.
Gaius was hovering in the air, apparently propelled by some sort of magic peeking out from his feet. That was a new trick.
The monster, on the other hand, had managed to halt its tumbling and was attempting to regain its bearings. Unfortunately for it, the Sorcerer was having none of that. Gaius swung his hand forward as orange tendrils burst out from his body and grabbed the Abomination firmly.
Kleopatra’s mouth hung open. Where the hell did those come from?
Gaius roared again as the tendrils slammed the monster to the ground, burying its head in the gravel road before it could make another move.
Kleopatra watched in slight terror as the boy slowly descended towards the monster like a dramatic villain. A huge blast of energy burst out from his entire face, vaporising the Abomination on the spot.
Gaius hovered for a few more seconds before dropping to the ground abruptly.
“G— Gaius…? Are you… alright?” Kleopatra approached the boy, reaching a hand to him cautiously as though he were some kind of wild animal. He turned around without warning.
It took all her willpower not to jump back in shock.
Gaius’ orifices were replaced with the energy she had seen him throw out so many times before. His skin was cracked, as though still struggling to keep the light from bursting out. His shoulders were heaving with every raspy breath he took, and turbulent Arcani was swirling around him like an uncontrolled river current.
Kleopatra took a small step back.
“I’m alright, I think…” Gaius sucked in a deep breath, and his facial features began covering up the glowing holes in his face.
“What happened to you?”
“I guess I lost control of my emotions. My magic was never stable, and this corrupted air must only be destabilising it further.” Gaius looked more like a human again, although Kleopatra could still sense a storm of Arcani thrashing in his body. “But with this power, I felt different. I felt… so strong.”
Orange flickered in his eyes.
“I like it.”
Kleopatra opened her mouth to voice her concern, but a shimmer of light on the floor caught her attention. She walked over to pick up the strange tear-shaped crystal sitting where the Abomination was.
“A B’javiar tear? What’s this doing here?” she muttered to herself.
The B’javiar tear was a natural shape that occurred only at dense Arcani spots such as volcanoes. Why would it appear in the middle of a mild-mannered town?215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pvOtjtswu
“Kleo, I think we gotta get Parthena back to the refugee camp.”
Right, almost forgot about her.
She spun around. Jealousy bubbled within her at the sight of Gaius holding the limp girl up, but she quickly pushed it back down. There would be plenty of time to fight for the boy later.
“What’s wrong with her?” Kleopatra asked nonchalantly, drinking a healing potion to seal her wounds from that terrifying encounter.
“Physically, nothing. But emotionally, she’s close to death.”
“Do you still have that healing potion with you?” She prodded Gaius. “Could you give it to her?”
“What are you, deaf?” the boy snapped as his eyes flashed orange again. “I said she’s physically fine, didn’t I?”
A chill ran down Kleopatra’s spine at the animalistic rasp in Gaius’s voice.
“Besides, it’s mine. You gave it to me, remember that? I had to use it after cutting off my arm when it was turning me into an Abomination.”
He almost transformed?
“You used magic?” Kleopatra exclaimed. “We need to get you checked out by the Clerics! There might be some remnant corruption in your body—”
“I already told you I cut off my arm before the corruption could spread, didn’t I? I feel fine. Why do you even care so much?”
“Because— Ugh, forget it. Well, if you say so,” she said behind gritted teeth. “Anyway, this is no place to be having a casual conversation. We have no idea if there are any other Abominations roaming here. Let’s head back.”
Gaius turned and walked away without another word.
~ ~ ~
Felix yawned. The journey to the southern outskirts of the country had not been a particularly smooth airship ride, and its eternally frosty reception was not the most gracious of hosts.
He leaned against a freezing windowpane. The icy winds howled, almost as if they were protesting the Guardian Council’s unwelcome arrival. Not like there were any town guards left to chase them out, though.
According to his history textbooks, a Tier Five Cryokinetic Meta had frozen this place over when he released all his power in some sort of dramatic suicide after losing his family in an accident.
Apparently, it was powerful enough to fundamentally alter the weather patterns over a three-hundred-kilometre radius. And thus, this place had turned into a snowy biome separate from the rest of the country.
“Here, drink this warming elixir.” Felix offered a tincture to Aglaia, who was still shivering despite being wrapped in a puffy coat that practically doubled her size. “This ought to keep you nice and toasty for the rest of this mission.”
The cabin doors opened, and the reconnaissance party walked out briskly, accompanied by the Guardian Council leader. Cybele signalled, and the main guard hurriedly picked up their weapons from the floor.
Felix took another swig from his elixir flask, watching the Guardians scurry off in search of survivors. That should take them no less than three hours. More than enough time for him to do what he came here for.
“Aglaia, I need you to do me a favour.” His eyes glowed as he held the girl’s hand, projecting a psychic signature into her mind.
“I can’t connect to other minds without physical contact, but you can. Lock onto these people, and search for their whereabouts.”
“B— But… aren’t the Guardians already searching for survivors?” Aglaia blinked her eyes in confusion.
“This is the first time the Guardian Council has done anything like this,” Felix replied. “I can’t trust them to be thorough enough. I made a promise to someone to find his family. I need to do this myself.”
“Felix, Leader told us to stay here in case their communications system breaks down. I have to stay and coordinate movements; I can’t leave.”
“I’m not asking you to leave.” Felix gave a small smile to the flustered girl. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back before anything happens.”
“Okay…” A warm blue light shone from Aglaia’s eyes as she concentrated hard. A small image formed in Felix’s own mind as well, and its location gradually got clearer and clearer.
“Got it.” The psychic boy let go of her hand, severing the connection between their minds. “Thanks, Aglaia. Oh, and if anyone asks, this never happened.”
He leapt out of an open window.
ns18.117.80.241da2
