The Storm King

The ape-centipede thing, which the weaker guide had called a ‘black hunter’, screeched as Leon summoned silver-blue lightning and struck it repeatedly. Befitting a creature that called the Redspark Forest home, his lightning wasn’t as effective as Leon had hoped, but it still blasted the creature out of the branches.

As it fell, Anna moved next, drawing a glass tube filled with some glowing red-orange substance, and whipping it before her. The substance was ejected from the tube and ignited in the air, covering the black hunter in it as it hit the ground. Now covering the black hunter’s chitinous form, it burned with extra ferocity, and the monster screeched in fear and pain.

From its aura, Leon judged it to be equivalent to a ninth-tier mage, though it didn’t display much of the intelligence that such power might’ve implied in another creature. Instead, it flailed as Anna’s substance burned on its body, its dreadfully long tail whipping around with Davin still impaled upon its stinger.

Leon wasted no time in blasting it with additional bolts of lightning. The rest of his party responded as well, with Valeria and Maia in particular tearing it apart with blades of ice and a water dragon, respectively.

The whole ‘fight’ lasted a matter of seconds, and the black hunter was left little more than bloody pieces. However, glinting through the bloody remains was a soft, reddish glow.

“See to Sir Mauris,” Leon ordered Alix, pointing to the giant whose body hadn’t fared well after being covered in the creature’s acidic spit, and his former squire jumped to fulfill his command.

Meanwhile, Anna and two other Tempest Knights were already seeing to Davin, who barely clung to life with the creature’s stinger run through his chest.

Not wanting to get in the way, Leon turned his attention to the glow coming from the black hunter’s corpse. He could sense a significant amount of power coming from it, and his heart beat with excitement at what he guessed it to be.

With his elementless magic, he easily ripped through the gore to find a marble-sized bead of glass-like substance, shedding red light from within.

A monster core, the mana from within the creature’s soul realm that crystallized upon its death. Such a thing wasn’t unheard of, but rare. Even rarer was the color—Leon could sense that it was lightning magic within the core, but lightning’s color was gold, not red. Red was usually the color of fire…

Yet, he supposed, the Redspark Forest was aptly named, as it reminded him when several red lightning bolts struck nearby trees. Despite these bolts having all the fury of normal lightning, the trees remained intact, seemingly unaffected by the strange-colored lightning of the eternal storm raging around the forest. In fact, Leon thought he sensed the trees absorbing the magic in the lightning, nourishing them as sunlight would more normal flora.

The core of a ninth-tier monster was a valuable thing, but not so much that Leon would’ve gone out of his way to get one. This one, however, he wondered if it contained the power of the Redspark Forest rather than normal lightning. He decided to keep the core. At the very least, he could give it to the Jaguar for study, as the lightning of the Blood-Thunder Jaguar was a similar shade of red.

When he finished examining the core, he found that the giant who’d been covered in acid had been pulled into Alix’s soul realm.

“That bad?” he asked her.

“Frame’s fucked,” she reported. “Thunder wood amber core was untouched, so Mauris is unharmed, but it’ll need a new body once we get back home.”

Leon nodded in acknowledgment. “Mauris will get more than that for such a show of bravery and valor.”

Next, he turned to Anna and the healers tending to Davin. The guide had fallen unconscious from pain, shock, and blood loss, but the healers had managed to get the stinger out of him. His chest looked like little more than bloody meat, but light magic pouring from the hands of the knights and Anna’s spells, along with salves and potions Anna pulled from her soul realm, was knitting flesh together at a noticeable rate.

“Prognosis?” Leon asked.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Not good,” Anna grimly stated. “He’s unlikely to live.”

Leon frowned in thought, and the second guide cried out, “You’re not going to leave him to die, are you?!”

“Relax, kid,” Leon said to the young man. “I’m not the sort to leave people behind. Davin’s given us good service thus far; we’ll do what we can, and even if we fail, we’ll still bring him back to Redspark.”

The second guide calmed, though he didn’t look entirely reassured by Leon’s words.

Regardless, Leon monitored his people in their attempts to heal Davin and even pulled his tau pearl from the remnants of his armor to add its power to theirs.

It took nearly ten minutes for Davin to stir, but by then, thankfully, his chest more resembled that of a man’s rather than that of an assorted meat platter. He announced his return to consciousness with a sudden deep, rattling breath, the sound of which made clear that there were still holes somewhere in his respiratory system.

“W-What…” he gasped.

“Stay down,” Alix firmly instructed, pushing him down as he instinctively attempted to rise. “Do not make me tell you twice.”

Her authoritative tone pushed him down more than the knights’ hands on his shoulders, and Davin sank back to the ground. He lay there for several seconds before attempting to speak again, though he wasn’t foolish enough to attempt to rise again.

When he spoke, his breath came a little easier, though it still rattled disturbingly. “I… I apologize… King Leon…”

“For what?” Leon asked. “Are you going to try and take responsibility for the actions of a beast? This hardly seems like it’s your fault.”

“No…” he rasped. “I… can’t… lead you… further…”

“We shouldn’t move him, yet,” Valeria stated from the side. “He’s lucky to be alive. At this rate, it’ll be hours before he’ll be on his feet again.”

Leon frowned deeply. He’d rather not wait that long if he could get away with it…

[Leave him,] Maia neutrally stated. [We have our objectives. He did his job. Let us continue.]

[He aided us in getting here,] Leon said back to her, a little surprised. [You would have us abandon him now?]

[No,] Maia responded, a little affronted. [But we are pressed for time, aren’t we?]

A glance at Valeria told Leon that Maia was speaking to her, too, and the silver-haired woman didn’t look like she liked what she was hearing.

Responding to them with darkness magic, Valeria said, [I don’t support leaving him behind. Loyalty and service should be rewarded in kind.]

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Maia rolled her eyes. [Again, I’m not suggesting we abandon this human; he could still be of use. I’m saying we should proceed without him. If he can’t be moved, then don’t try.] �

[That… I don’t get what you’re trying to say,] Valeria said in confusion.

[There is another guide, isn’t there?] Maia said with an almost derisive glare sent the other guide’s way, who withered under the weight of her judging eyes. [Have some of the knights stay here to watch over this one, and let us keep going with the other one.]

[Davin’s the more experienced guide,] Valeria pointed out. [Waiting a few hours for him to get back on his feet may be the key to getting to where we need to go.]

Maia turned her lake-blue eyes northward, to the silvery glow in the thick fog that filled the space between the trees. It was impossible to see that far even on this side of the stormy shell surrounding the forest, yet Leon knew exactly what direction the Stormborn Oak lay in despite that. The power and light of the thing was clear even with the greater part of a dense forest in the way.

[Leon,] Valeria implored, sensing Leon’s temptation to press on with all haste, [don’t leave him behind. We may need him. And besides, what would it say about us to use him like this?]

[You speak as if I am a monster,] Maia said. [I do not deny this, but again, I reiterate that I do not want to abandon this human.]

[You would still have us continue with a younger, less experienced guide, and fewer knights to watch our backs,] Valeria pointed out.

[Greater haste in the wild is a boon all of its own,] Maia said. [Those in the dark may see our hesitation and take it for a sign of weakness. Staying here until he’s back on his feet could invite further violence.]

[As it may if we leave him behind with only a few swords to watch over him, or are you saying that monsters and beasts don’t target weak members of a herd?]

Maia sighed and didn’t respond, merely returning her gaze to Leon and waiting for his decision.

Leon made eye contact with both of his ladies, then expanded his senses to absorb all he could from their surroundings.

The earth was soft and rich, the wind spilling off the storm shell whistled in the trees not unlike it had during stormy weather in the Forest of Black and White, and Leon’s eyes couldn’t penetrate farther than a couple hundred feet in any direction, both from the fog and the dense foliage between the trees.

In short, he was starting to feel at home in the forest, but it wasn’t just the environment that triggered that feeling of familiarity, it was also the feeling of having eyes pressing against his back, of having the attention of predators and carrion feeders in the dark. Opportunistic creatures just waiting for an opening to strike, as the black hunter had foolishly tried when his party passed through the windy shell of opaque fog.

Time was certainly of the essence, but he sided more with Valeria in this case. The black hunter was not alone in the forest, and he felt like darker things still lurked beyond the range of his senses, watching and waiting—he hadn’t forgotten the warnings that the previous expedition had gone missing in the forest, and that they counted a werewolf among their number.

[We’ll wait,] Leon decided. [A couple hours won’t hurt, will it?]

Maia frowned slightly but didn’t argue. Valeria, meanwhile, breathed a sigh of relief.

It was a while before Davin was back on his feet, a time in which Leon was more and more aware of how long they’d been waiting with every second that passed. He couldn’t help but think of Artorion and how they were faring. With time to stop and think, and with Artorion now out of sight thanks to the storm shell, he wondered if Nestor’s shield had failed, if even now, Terris’ forces were marching through the rough, artless, temporary streets of his city…

He'd been in constant contact with Elise and Cassandra since leaving, and they assured him that Nestor remained at the shield generator, ensuring that the city remained protected. But without the city in sight, Leon’s mind couldn’t help but wander…

When Davin finally rose, he was pale and clearly weak, but a look of indescribable relief and gratitude was on his face. As he opened his mouth to speak, however, Leon raised his hand and asked, “Are you feeling fit to continue?”

“Yes,” Davin said. “I gotta return the favor for savin’ my ass…”

“Think nothing of it,” Leon said with a wave of his hand. “Just take us to the Stormborn Oak.”

Davin nodded, and while he remained a bit shaky on his feet, he set a relatively quick pace into the dark forest, the other guide remaining in his place at the rear of their formation.

On this side of the shell, there yet remained a thin path cutting through the forest, but it was clear to Leon’s eyes that it had been carved by fewer feet than the path outside of the shell. It seemed that considerably fewer people made it inside than those who didn’t.

They stumbled across evidence of those fewer people as they advanced, however—thankfully without further trouble, as Davin conjured another candle to put in his silver lantern that emitted a truly horrendous aura that made Leon want to retract his magic senses for the rest of time. It wasn’t harmful, Davin promised, but it would keep most of the beasts of the forest off their back.

His words proved true enough by the time they entered a clearing in which tents and other such traveler’s accouterments were still set up. The camp was large enough for about two dozen people, but not large enough to fill the entire clearing.

Concerningly, many of the tents were little more than ragged cloth on sticks, the camp looked utterly ransacked, and Leon could smell a faint hint of blood in the area through the pleasing stench of lightning that inundated the forest.

“Ulthric’s party,” Davin identified, his voice trembling with fear.

“Who’s Ulthric?” Leon asked.

“My mentor,” Davin stated. “He was the guide for… the last expedition to pass through these parts…”

Leon suppressed a grimace. This was the camp of the party escorting their werewolf friend to the Stormborn Oak, hoping for a cure to their lycanthropy. While Leon could smell the blood in the air, it wasn’t fresh, and neither could he see any sign of it on the ground. Neither could he see any sign of corpses around the camp.

His practiced eye swept over the camp, his magic senses ensuring that he didn’t miss a single detail. He saw tracks in the dirt, signs of a struggle, deep furrows in the earth carved by vicious claws.

The only tracks he saw leading away from the camp were from something decidedly inhuman, with large paws and long claws. Those particular tracks, he noted, didn’t quite follow the path, but did head off into the forest in a direct line for the Stormborn Oak.

He thought back to those days in the Bull Kingdom so long ago, to his brief experience with other werewolves, and the few days’ worth of education he’d received in the Knight Academy about how to deal with such creatures. A glance Valeria’s way told him she was doing likewise, though she didn’t have the same experience he had dealing with the monsters, even as limited as it was.

Going off memory alone, he identified the tracks as being larger than he would’ve expected. Werewolves were not small creatures, but the tracks in the dirt he could see were large enough to rip the doors of a barn with ease. The monster attached to those claws would have to be quite large, and with the tracks showing him where to look, Leon was able to see more evidence of something passing through the dense foliage—scratches on nearby trees, trampled bushes and flowers, and more furrows in the dirt. If he had to guess, he didn’t think that the creature who left these tracks was all that concerned with leaving a trail.

It wasn’t hard for him to leap to a conclusion. “The werewolf they were escorting,” he said. “Or something of a similar size. That’s what destroyed this camp. And then it made for the Stormborn Oak as quickly as it could, not slowing for anything.”

“How can you know that?” Davin asked.

“Look around,” Leon said. “I think it’s clear enough.” He exchanged a look with Anna. “Do you have anything at all that’ll help with locating this thing, just in case we stumble across it? It may not be following the path, but I think our destinations are the same…”

“Assuming Davin’s lantern doesn’t keep it away…” Anna said in thought before conjuring a small ceramic orb. “If it gets close, I can try this. Might make it think twice about attacking…”

“What is it?” Davin asked curiously.

“Powder,” Anna replied impishly. “Breath it in and you’ll wind up coughing up a lung. Stronger version than some stuff that the B—that the beastmasters where we live use to control their war beasts.”

“Interestin’…” Davin whispered. “I… I suppose I ain’t surprised it was a werewolf that tore up this camp. But where’d all the bodies go? I ain’t seein’ any blood or nothin’…”

No one had any answers; Leon couldn’t even see evidence of powerful magic, let alone any blood or bodies left behind. He supposed a corpse wouldn’t last long in a forest, but he was a little confused that he could only see evidence of the werewolf on a rampage; he couldn’t see any signs of the other mages in the party fighting back.

Davin sighed and ushered them through the remains of the camp. As they returned to the path, he cast one last, forlorn look at the camp before refocusing on the task at hand. Leon appreciated that professionalism even as he sympathized with the loss of his mentor. He didn’t let such thoughts distract him, though—it seemed that after seventy years, he had another werewolf to deal with.

Hardly a great challenge, he figured, but risky nonetheless. Even a single drop of cursed blood could spell doom for anyone it landed upon. He’d have to be extra vigilant to ensure no one in his party was struck by this beast.

A task made harder by the thickening fog filling the forest. Soon, it became so thick that as he walked behind Davin at the front of his party, he nearly lost sight of the second guide at the back.

And all the while, the sensation of being watched increased as between peals of thunder and the howling wind, he heard the calls and growls of the forest’s residents engaged in their daily struggle for life and death.