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"These Falser Lights"

POV Bodey

It had been several hours of intense physical labor, and I still hadn't even made a quarter of the way across Rescuer's Lake. Ugh. Who ever knew that the simple act of paddling could be so utterly exhausting?

Granted, I was moving pretty quickly for traveling in a mere one-person birch-wood canoe. All these fierce years of training under my father and Uhruan's regiment had done far more than enough work to make this an easy plight for my biceps. But I wasn't taking a leisurely boat ride across a lake so renowned for its vast scope of deep blue waters and pretty cliffside shores to find a nice island to picnic at. I was on a mission. An important mission that the queen herself had sought me out for. I couldn't let her down.

I'm tired...can I please stop? Please?

No, no, no! Stop being such a wimp. You're better than this Bodey. You are strong. You are a warrior. Any foe that dares challenge you will find himself no longer standing in one piece, but in two!

But I need a break...

No you don't! Shut the hell up and paddle.

Ok...

I kept paddling until eventually the sunset was upon me and the darkness of the lake and gusts of incoming weather indicated to me that I needed to pull off of the water and take a rest.

I found a nice little island in what appeared to my eyes as the middle of absolutely nowhere. I heaved the canoe up and carried it onto the rocky shore, then took what few belongings I had with me and plopped myself down under a nice tree to sleep.

As a soldier, I was used to sleeping in an uncomfortable environment with little to no resources available to me. Unfortunately, night one of the trip gave me the unusual fortune of being restless. Maybe something was on my mind, or maybe the sounds of mosquitos and nature were bothersome to my ears. Or maybe I was cold and wet. Oh wait a minute, I am cold and wet! Why am I cold and wet?

Oh, because a storm rolled in and I'm sleeping underneath heavy downpour on a small island being cascaded by massive waves. That's why.

Wonderful.

It couldn't have been too far past midnight when I woke up to that. My cloak was already completely soaked through. I thought for a moment that it would probably be smart if I were to stand up and make sure that my boat hadn't taken off on me, but I decided that I would rather stay where I am and lie in a depressing pool of soaking wet undergrowth and wanting to die then waste the energy on something that was fairly important to the success of my mission and my own survival.

Wow. This is great! I have such an amazing life.

I experienced many more interesting things as the night continued. Rain, ear-deafening cracks of thunder, more rain, and some kind of small rodent that kept crawling out of it's hole and trying to get into my bag. Among many other things, of course.

Sleep was not an entry on that list.

Yay.

I woke up the next morning (and by waking up, I mean I became consciously aware of it being morning) to the dim light of the sun peeking through my eyelids.

I got up and took a look around. It wasn't very big, so there wasn't much to see. A couple of the already few trees that stood upon the small mass of land had been knocked over. Thankfully, I found my canoe to be in one piece, although filled to the brim with rainwater.

My fur was soaking wet and I was freezing cold. I gathered what semi-dry wood I could to create a fire, which took about an hour. What little food I had initially brought with me was now soaked and remained as not much more than a soggy, almost liquidy substance. So I settled on some cooked rat instead. It took an additional hour to successfully capture my evasive meal, and another hour to gag over the disgusting taste before I finally finished soothing my famished appetite.

Take that, you little fucker.

By that point, I had probably wasted enough hours. Disgusted in how inefficient I had been so far, I quickly took my boat into the water and set off once again. As I paddled, I took some time to think to myself.

For what it was worth, that pretty little island wasn't half bad. I think it needs a name...how about "Fuck you" island?

Perfect.

POV Aiko

I opened the door slowly, cautious as of whether anyone was inside. The "Inn" sign on the door swayed from side to side as I pushed it open, as it only was attached by one nail. I saw that the lights inside were dim, the entire ground floor illuminated by a mere one torch. However, there was in fact a man sitting behind the wooden counter in front of me.

"C'mon in, kid. It's gettin' late."

I walked inside and closed the door behind me, then walked up the man and handed him a few silver coins.

"A room for the just the night, please." I asked.

He looked down at the money, obviously taking note at the fact that it wasn't enough, but then grunted and put the money away before handing me a small, silver key and picking up the book that he had been reading before I came in.

"Go up and you'll be the first door to the right. Be careful not to wake anyone."

"Alright" I responded. I walked towards the stair on the opposite side of the room before getting distracted by a map that hung on the wall, depicting the town and the surrounding area.

"Where are ya headin', boy?" the dark brown bear asked from behind the counter, his gaze still focused upon his light reading.

"I'm headed up to Hakúmo. I'll be crossing the river tomorrow morning and heading up from there."

"...are you insane?" he asked, keeping a surprising calm tone but looking up at me from his novel. "Kid, it's a warzone. You'll get killed."

"I can fend for myself. I have personal business to attend to" I said, not allowing my gaze to stray towards him.

"Whatever you say, kid." he responded after a pause that was surely fueled by disbelief, the turning back to his book. I walked upstairs without another word spoken.

I slid the key into the door and opened it, revealing a small and cozy room. I plopped down on the bed, throwing my bag to the ground beside it. The comfort of an actual bed, however low the quality, far surpassed the experience of the previous few nights of sleeping alone in the middle of a cold and barren nowhere.

Thank the gods that I don't have to wake up to the sounds of those damn forest wallowers again.

My exhaustion set in within minutes of laying down, and before I knew it I had drifted off to sleep.

I woke up the next morning rather tired, but the light from the window wouldn't allow my eyes to remain shut. Knowing that it was about time that I got on the road, I got dressed, grabbed my things and left.

I strode down the stairs into the ground floor of the inn. The innkeeper from the previous night was mysteriously vacant from his post.

Ahh, no big deal. That big 'ol fluffball probably just left to go attend to other matters. He's got customers leaving, so he'll be back soon...but I suppose that it'll be fine if I just leave the key on the counter.

I did so and exited the old, wooden building before strolling off down the street. My first impression was that it was awfully quiet for as late in the morning as it was. The sun was out, beaming overhead and as far as I could tell, there was nobody out at all.

Huh...that's strange.

I continued to walk down through the northern end of town, taking careful note of the architecture around me. Many of the buildings in this part of the world had a renowned beauty. But the wood-chiseled craftsmanship of the structures didn't distract me at that moment. The apothecary, the blacksmith, the library; every shop that I walked by still had a "closed" sign hanging on the door from the previous night. All the blinds were closed, all the doors were closed, and still not a single soul roamed the streets. The silence was frigid as it hung in the air; even freezing the birds in the middle of their cheerful, chirpy songs.

This isn't right.

A movement stirred, from my five o'clock. Just outside of my peripheral vision. I rotated my head ever so slightly to see what it was, but the noise had vanished from sight.

This definitely is not right.

Again, more movement, this time from seven o'clock. I was cautious this time and didn't make my move, knowing that the eavesdropper wouldn't be there anymore.

This is a trap.

Movement, now dead in front of me. Four imperial soldiers came out from the alleys in front of me, dressed in Agu Morra's dark blue and grey colors. My ears perked up at the sound of many more of them coming out from behind me; by the consistency of the clutter, I estimated at least ten. From the front of the crowd, one more figure emerged, although this one had a familiar face attached to his dark blue general's coat; a much more intimidating set of apparel then his light brown clothes from the night before.

"Out to play, are we?" spoke the innkeeper, his voice as thin and cold as ice.

"A little wolf like you shouldn't be getting his paws into business that he doesn't belong in. Or perhaps" he said, taking a few steps towards me, slowly closing the large gap of space between us. "...or perhaps he does!" he said, as he held up a book; one with a leather cover and scarlet red lacing tying it together.

Impossible.

I slipped a paw back into my bag and felt around. Without the presence of a single spellbook, the bag still maintained enough weight for the difference to be not much more ominous than the missing weight of last night's dinner.

Dammit! He...he must of searched my bags during the night, when I was asleep. And of all the spellbooks he searched through, he found the...oh, no...he knows.

He looked me in the eyes; a stare that send shivers straight to my soul as he uttered his next words.

"Kill him."

Immediately, every single guard in the proximity sprinted towards me, swords and spears raised in an overhead, poised position, ready to strike me down where I stood.

Try me.

I tossed my bag to the ground, discarding the unnecessary weight. I usually would have prepped myself for a combat situation beforehand; but in this case, it came upon me rather unexpectedly.

With the flick of my hands in the correct pattern, a bright blue flare of light formed from thin air and rocketed towards the nearest soldier: a dark grey timber wolf approaching from right in front of me. It hit him square in the chest and knocked him backwards; his armor made a heavy clunking sound as it made it's sudden contact with the stone pavement.

Next up were two soldiers coming from my five and six o'clock; each met their match with a similar burst of energy. Unfortunately, my real problem lied with the slower soldiers, who now came upon me all in one mass. I dodged underneath one of them as he swung his long, silver blade at me, then turned to fire another burst at another. A darkly-colored polecat made a jab at my legs; but I used my superior agility to jump and avoid his blow, then bolted towards him and swung my fist at him. My punch made contact and created a burst of bright orange light as it send him hurtling towards the ground, face first.

After a few more agile attacks of mine, I bolted away to a vacant area to get a sense of my surroundings. Although I was most prominently kicking all of their asses (my constructive opinion, anyways) the sheer number of them was too overwhelming for just one mage to handle. Sweat starting dripping from my forehead, threatening to get in my eyes and obstruct my vision. I swept it away, and smirked at the onslaught who came running back to me.

I guess you guys haven't had enough, have you? Well let me show you what I can still do.

I bolted to them, jumping up and coming back down to the ground in front of them with fists burning with my magic. Hitting the ground forcefully, I created a shockwave that knocked several of them of their feet. I sent a few more of them spinning off to the sidelines with some stunning spells. A cougar jabbed his sword at me a few times; one of which hit me in the shoulder, created a small incision. I winced in pain but knocked him back with yet another burst of blue fumes. I was panting with exhaustion.

I can't fight these guys forever! I'm gonna need something else.

Thankfully, I was prepared with a little extra backup. I pulled a small spellbook out of my back pocket and opened to the page that I conveniently had bookmarked with a small piece of cloth. I opened it up and cleared my throat, loudly reciting the words that laid in front of my eyes as the hoard of soldiers came running back to me. It was a race against time.

"...and so heed to me, Thitus of the heavenly earth and beautiful land, take my greatest enemies away from your soils! Hiarrvhás!"

With one final flick of my paw, a giant shockwave formed from somewhere deep inside me and resonated in my bones as it rocketed out from my body, contacting each and every soldier and sending them flying through the air; each one headed to whatever stood as the nearest body of water.

"Haha! Take that!"

My victory, however gleeful, was quickly cut short, for there was one more problem that I had almost completely forgotten about.

The innkeeper stormed up to my with large, thundering footsteps. Our eyes made contact, and I could see a cold, icy fire off pure anger and hatred forming.

"You won't survive to see the end of this, you filthy Liaran scum" he spat. Within each of the palms of his paws, light blue, icy textures began to form.

"So" I said, waving my paws in a circular motion that began to concentrate a small shield of energy in front of me. "You're a mage too? I wasn't expecting that."

"I must say, I knew you were one from the moment you stepped into my shop. I just was hoping that you wouldn't be from the descendants that you unfortunately do happen to have" he said, backing up and taking his own stance. "But then I found your "special book" and was thus notified that I would have no choice but to lock the town up and dispose of you."

"Well, I sure as hell wasn't expecting the local innkeeper to be a lowly spy."

"Kid, you've got some serious problems with being too honest." he responded.

There was a moment of silence as I stood my ground, trying to anticipate his first move. I waited for a moment, then lowered my shield and went in for an attack.

Wrong move.

At the split second that I lowered my shield and lurched towards him, he flared up his own attack and sent it directly into my stomach.

"Gg-g-gah!" I screamed in pain as I stumbled over, struggling to keep my balance.

In my confusion, he launched yet another attack, which hit my left leg. This time I tripped and fell. I tried to get back up, but my leg wouldn't bend. It was frozen in ice.

"Dammit!" I yelled.

From my helpless position on the ground, I launch more projectiles, this time at his legs; focused to the left of me. He anticipated my obvious attack, just as I had planned him to, and dodged to the right.

Ha! Got you!

As he moved in to deliver what very possibly could have been a killing blow, I swung my good leg around and kicked the bear right in his stomach; my magic creating a forceful impact and knocking him on his back. I used the momentum of the kick to gracefully propel myself back to my feet.

I knew that my survival would depend on freeing my leg. Without, I could maintain a mere stumble of a walk, at least until it melted; but who knew when that would be? I had to act quickly.

I could ignite my fire spell, but that might take too long to melt the ice, and as it is, my magic is reaching the exhaustion point...what do I do? I can't just stand here!

He was on his feet again. "Say your goodbyes, Liaran!" he shouted as he lunged towards me, his fists blazing a frozen torment as white, crystalline ice shot out in the direction of my face; a cold front that threatened the end of this misadventure and my life with it.

Three...Two...One!

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