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2024-10-29 19:42:56“Interesting,” Palan said as he spun a silver orb in his palm. A bloody skeleton lay on the ground beside him next to a torn white dress. He glanced at a half-eaten wolf skeleton next to him. “It’s no wonder why this fellow didn’t run away.” A single line of lightning snaked up Palan’s arm from the metal orb. He tucked the orb away in the leather sack by his waist and stood up. Bloody metal armor jangled as his body moved.
Palan flexed his bicep while opening and closing his hand. He raised his leg and rotated his foot around his ankle before stomping down on the road. The stones split and fractured in a web-like manner. “I feel stronger, but only the female angel improved my strength; I wonder why.”
Palan sighed and glanced up at the yellow moon. “So the rumors were true after all,” he said. “That’s where Andrea is.” He shook his head and glanced around the field.
Palan stepped over corpses—wolf and angel alike—as he headed towards the forest. His forehead tingled and he narrowed his eyes. He walked next to a young wolf’s body and kicked it, causing it to let out a yelp. It scratched at the ground, uprooting clumps of grass as it scrambled to its feet. It lowered its head and rolled its eyes upwards to glance at Palan while tucking its tail between its legs before it started to whimper.
Palan raised an eyebrow and squatted in front of the slightly charred wolf. He held his palm out in front of its mouth. The wolf licked his palm and rolled over, revealing its belly and throat. Palan rubbed his chin. He scratched its belly, causing it to tense, and said, “There’s no need for me to kill you since you can’t talk and I don’t have any gluttons to feed.”
Palan frowned as Andrea’s image came to mind. He continued to rub the wolf’s belly and mumbled, “Why hasn’t the plague affected me? Is it not contagious?” The wolf tilted its head and relaxed its body as its tongue popped out of its mouth. Palan shook his head and stared into the wolf’s eyes. “You wouldn’t happen to know who Sariel is, right?”
The wolf blinked at him and pawed at his hand.
“I wasn’t expecting you to anyway,” Palan said and headed towards the forest, turning his back on the wolf. The wolf rolled back onto its feet and glanced around at its fallen companions. It let out a whimper before following after Palan who disappeared into the sea of trees.
***
A carriage ground to a halt on the road and five armored men stepped out. “What happened here?”
The men stepped forward in a triangular formation, approaching a mass of dead wolves and five skeletons near a golden carriage. The head guard’s eyes widened. “This is Lady Menyel’s carriage!”
“Is this her dress?” another guard asked and pointed at the discarded cloth with his spear.
“Clear the corpses,” the head guard said. “I will report back.” He turned around and walked back towards the carriage he came from. A teenaged girl with light-red skin and blue eyes stood at the entrance with tears in her eyes. Her white hair stopped mid-neck and she wore silver metal armor that left only her head exposed.
“How could this happen?” the girl asked, her voice quivering. “So many lives, gone.”
The head guard sighed. “The men are investigating while unblocking the road. The carriage belonged to Lady Menyel and most likely contains supplies that were meant for the border.”
The four other guards finished moving the bodies to the side of the road and placed the angel corpses inside of the abandoned carriage. They left the carriage in the middle of the road and headed back to regroup with the head guard.
“Do you know what happened?” the girl asked, turning her head towards one of the men. He was shivering and his face was white.
“Hey!” the head guard shouted and thumped the back of his hand against the man’s chest, causing a clunking noise to ring out. “Lady Raea is addressing you.
The shivering man raised his head. “They were eaten,” he said and clenched his spear. “Lady Menyel was eaten. Her guards were eaten. Not even their organs remain.”
Another guard spoke up, “One of the wolves was half-eaten. Lady Menyel must have fought with the wolves and then a third party intervened at the end, killing and eating everyone.”
“A third party?” the head guard asked and frowned. “I suspect the king of the forest is behind this. We must make haste to the border and inform Captain Ishim. Lady Raea, none of us are able to drive Lady Menyel’s carriage except for you.”
“I understand,” Raea said and wiped her eyes before handing the head guard a silver orb. “You will drive mine.” She stepped off her carriage and headed towards Lady Menyel’s.
“You three,” the head guard said and singled out three men, “accompany her.”
“No need,” Raea said and raised her right hand, signaling for them to stop.
“But—”
“I said there was no need,” Raea said and raised her voice while whirling around. Her eyes were tinged with red. The three men stopped in their tracks and turned to face the head guard who sighed. The head guard nodded and entered Raea’s carriage with the four other men in tow.
Raea boarded Menyel’s carriage and smiled. The surface was golden and shone brighter than Raea’s silver carriage. She touched the carriage walls, ignoring the six bloody skeletons loaded inside. After a moment she slapped both her hands against her face. She muttered to herself, “Stop thinking thoughts like that. This is why Dad sent you to the border.” She turned towards the corpses and lowered her head. “Sorry for your loss. We will give you a proper burial soon.”
Raea sat in the driver’s seat of the carriage and spread her palms on top of a rectangular plaque which had a semi-sphere groove in the center. She closed her eyes and a rush of blue light flowed through her hands and pooled into the groove. The carriage’s wheels shrieked and started to roll forward.
***
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Palan’s vision focused on the brown ceiling above him. His eyes flickered, and he saw an armored figure in the corner of his eye, standing with its back to him in front of a door. He tried to turn his head, but found that he couldn’t. His forehead, neck, chest, arms, and legs were restrained by metal chains.“He is still unconscious?” a feminine voice asked.“It seems like it.” The armored figure’s back rustled. “It can be hard to tell because his eyes are always open.”“You can take a break,” the feminine voice said. “I will watch over him.”Palan refocused his eyes on the ceiling and steadied his breathing. The armored figure stepped out of the room and an angel with short white hair sat on a seat next to the bed he was strapped to. A wolf barked from somewhere at the foot of his bed and chains rattled. The angel extended her hand and waved it over Palan’s face.The angel sighed and sat back against her chair when she got no reaction. She pulled out a silver orb from a sack undernea
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“My sister’s a glutton. When she was born, I fed her five full pouches of goat milk before she went to sleep, only to have her wake up an hour later begging for more food,” Palan sighed and shook his head. “Do you know how difficult it is to get enough goat milk to support a glutton when you’re only ten years old?”“Your parents did not help?” Raea asked and tilted her head.“My mom died during childbirth and my dad was too scared of his own shadow to leave the house,” Palan said. “I raised her by myself, fed her at least ten beasts a day until I was able to hunt the larger ones.”“I see. My condolences,” Raea said. “I—”“No need. They deserved what they got,” Palan said. “It’s quite normal for people to be raised as orphans or slaves where I’m from.”Raea frowned. “That sounds terrible,” she said.Palan tried to shrug, but the chains on his body prevented him from doing so. “You get used to it,” he said. “It’s every man for himself.”“But you took care of your sister,” Raea said and
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“Are you sure this thing can support two people?” Palan asked with his brow furrowed. He sat behind Raea with his arms past her waist, grabbing the cantle with his hands while his feet were underneath Raea’s in the stirrups.“Yes,” Raea said and pat the horse’s neck. “My magic can cure other creature’s exhaustion.” The troop of cavalry advanced at an even pace down the dirt road with Emergency Victuals running alongside Palan and Raea.“If you say so,” Palan said and glanced at the wolf running beside him. “Why are angels killing off lizardmen? I heard that angels were benevolent and loved everything. At least that’s what the demon who claims to have been here said.”Raea tightened her grip on the reins. “That demon most likely only visited the capital then,” she said. “All the angels that live in the capital possess no sin. They would help send a demon home, unlike other places in Div’Nya.”“That doesn’t explain why you’re killing off lizardmen,”
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“Why do you want to know how to make contract papers?” Raea asked and furrowed her brow.Palan ignored the glares Tuic was sending him. “To make contracts,” Palan said.Raea sighed. “Let me rephrase that,” she said and pursed her lips. “Why do you want to form contracts? You can’t form a binding contract with another angel since you have me, you know?” Tuic made a face and looked at Raea.“Just tell me,” Palan said and snorted. The army proceeded deeper into the forest, following Elrith’s tracks. They approached the river where Palan found Raea.“Alright,” Raea said as she leaned over and whispered. Her warm breath tickled his ear, sending a shiver down his spine.“That simple?” Palan asked. Raea readjusted her posture.“Mhm. You can’t tell anyone else though,” she said. Palan nodded and rubbed his chin before glancing around.Tuic frowned as he looked at Raea and placed his hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention. Raea stiffened. “Should you really have followed his demands and t
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“We were unable to locate Pyre,” a soldier said to Michael as Raea and Palan were returning with their new armor. “General Elrith’s attendant has also gone missing.” Michael frowned and glanced at the Raea who wore a blindfold.“Do you know where Pyre went?” he asked.“I think I saw him when I ran out the gate,” Raea said and furrowed her brow. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”Michael frowned. “Pyre is just as important to me as Elrith is,” he said. “I refuse to leave without him.”“But we can’t delay any longer,” Raea said. “Elly’s out there all alone with a broken arm. What happened to marching immediately?”“General Elrith is an archangel; he can take care of himself,” Michael said. “Pyre is barely a greater angel with no combat skills. If something happens to him….” He shook his head and looked at the gathered army. “Find Pyre and Elrith’s attendant. They must still be in the camp.” Michael turned around and gestured towards the soldiers at the gate.“W-wait,” Raea said towards
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“Stop trying to eat me, you stupid noodle,” Cleo said and smacked Palan’s tail as she tried to crawl away. “It’s a good name!”Raea sat on the ground by the fire, her clothes still wet, and watched Cleo’s futile efforts. A smile was on her lips, but her eyes still seemed sad, threatening to wet themselves at a moment’s notice. Palan frowned as he stared at Raea and lifted Cleo fifteen feet into the air with his tail, causing her to scream bloody murder, scaring away all the birds in the nearby vicinity. The clasp on her bag came undone, and objects began to pour out: Raea’s discarded cocoon, Palan’s rotting severed hand, a necklace with over thirty teeth, multiple orbs borrowed from Pyre, a smaller pouch containing hundreds of essence crystals, a clump of musky wolf fur.Raea gaped as more miscellaneous objects continued to pour out of Cleo’s bag. “How do you even fit all of this inside that tiny bag?” she asked. A cloth object fell onto Raea’s face, blocking her vision. She removed i
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Cleo squealed as she leapt over the wreckage of a collapsed building from the previous trebuchet bombardment. “You can’t have it!” she said and scrambled to the side of the road. Her eyes lit up when she saw a rapidly approaching figure dressed in white. “Raea! Save me!”“I can give you extra limbs! Four more arms and two more heads! Maybe even a beam of light that shoots out of your eyes!” a raspy voice said from behind the orange lizardman. Pyre climbed over the wreckage, gasping as he placed his hands against his knees while hunched over. “Just give me half of that cocoon.”Cleo waved her hand over the road. “Rae”—a tear dropped on Cleo’s face as Raea ran past her—“a….” Cleo whipped her head around and stared blankly as the running angel’s figure disappeared behind a corner. More thudding sounds came from the direction Raea just came from. Cleo’s eyes lit up again as she ducked and avoided Pyre’s lunge. “Palan! Save me!”Palan raised an eyebrow when he saw Cleo scratching Pyre’s ar
