Chronicles Of Yositania: Of Demons And Men

Chapter 11: A Knightess' Return

Winda coated her blade in spiritual energy- making it cackle with lightning. She had one last chance to win this fight. After this attack, her spiritual energy would be depleted completely- no, after this, her spiritual energy would most likely be drawn past its utmost limits and she, would most likely die. This, was her gamble; her bet.
Her opponent's blade was now engulfed in dark shadows- signifying the end of his preparations for his final strike. It was finally time, to end this.
She pulled up her shield, and sharpened her focus to its absolute limit.
And then, he charged.
'Well, let's see- we go on expeditions in the woods, train with Master, study at our school and....... that's it!'
She waited until the instant before he swung his sword; and once he had- intercepted it with her own cackling one.
'You guys have a....... really nice life.'
Without a second's delay, she ducked past the swords and bashed him with her shield; forcing him to lose his footing.
'Yeah, we sure do!'
She instantly extended her spiritual energy across his sword; ultilizing his momentary vulnerability, and then- absorbed all of it into her sword in a yellow flash of lightning.
'My life, well......... its a lot more grounded than you guys', a lot less free.'
In one swift motion; she pulled back her brilliantly gleaming sword, spun on her feet and jabbed it through his chest. He immediately burst into innumerable pieces of shadow; just as he had done for the past 30 minutes.
'Then, why don't you change it?'
She released her spiritual art- yelling, "Aerien's Scream!"
A bright wall of pure lightning burst forth from the sword; encompassing all of the shadow pieces and the entire piece of the corridor around them. And then, before they could move even an inch; it exploded into a billion small bolts of lightning.
'What?! I can't just change my life like that!'
The glasses in the windows shattered, the walls cracked and the man yelled in unbelievable pain.
'But you aren't happy right now, are you?'
And then, the bolts disappeared- revealing the severely burned body of her opponent on the ground.
'Well.......... no. But happiness doesn't matter; only survival does! And my current life provides me with everything I need- food, shelter, clothes; my life, doesn't need to be changed.'
His mouth hung wide open and his pupils had disappeared into the whites.
'You are lying to yourself.'
He was........ not going to wake up for a very long time; if he did.
'No I am not! I never lie!''
Her knees collapsed and she slowly tumbled into the ground.
'But you are right now, and you know it. If you keep lying to yourself like that, you'll never change your life.'
But just before she was about to hit it; someone caught her.
'What........'
And before she could make out who it was- everything went dark.
'So, stop lying to yourself.'
-x-
Winda was drowning through a pool of deep green water. Her mind was strangely clear; well, clearer than it ever has been before at least. And she knew exactly where she was; why she was drowning. The answer to both qustions, was one and the same; and, it was a bit bleak.
She was dying. The last attack had drained her core beyond its absolute limits and it couldn't recover from the damage done.
She also knew, beyond the slightest of doubts, that it was far too late for her. She wasn't going to make it.
And.... she was quite fine with it. She didn't know why; she just was. It was oddly comfortable- the feeling of not caring about the fact that she was just about to die. She wasn't restless, worried or even scared- she was just patiently waiting for it to all be over, for her to finally pass on.
And as she slowly desended deeper into the pool; memories, her own memories started to flash by before her eyes, on the pool water.
Fighting against her owner to earn her freedom, applying for knighthood, being appointed as both a maid and a knight-in-training, getting through her training, becoming........ one of the Trinity.
She had come so far in her life- from a slave to one of the Trinity. And maybe that was why she wasn't feeling restless or scared. Maybe, she didn't really want to go back. Maybe, she just wanted to move on. After all, her dreams had all been achieved. And she was about to die a victorious death. What reason could there be for her to go back?
And then, the memories changed.
Helping Claudia with her first grade homework, reprimanding Ryu about his constant flirtuous advances, sparring with Cronos, putting a blanket over a sleeping Wun- she couldn't help but crack a smile as these memories flashed by. These memories, all of them, were ones she was incredibly fond of and cherished deeply. But even amidst the immense satisfaction that they brought her; she felt a bit sad. Why, she didn't know.
But before she could contemplate on her feelings, they changed again.
Helping Claudia with one of her new dishes, attending Ryu's recruitment ceremony, reading Cronos' first mauscript, arguing philosophy with Wun, helping Claudia with her spellcrafting assignment, reprimanding Ryu for slacking off during duty, criticizing Cronos's fifth manuscript directly before him, arguing about 'love' with Wun over a cup of milk, frantically searching through scrolls with Claudia for her spiritro-chemistry assignment, reprimanding Ryu and his two subordinates for playing games in the office, talking to Cronos about his seventh manuscript, arguing about 'hate' with Wun over a cup of tea, baking a special cake in celebration of Claudia's outsanding Year Finals results, commending Ryu for defeating an entire bandit syndicate with just his two subordinates, being blown away by Cronos' ninth manuscript, sitting by the gravestone with Wun and sharing a bottle of cold milk with him- and the memories vanished; leaving her alone in the pool again.
And now, the feeling that was emanating within her............ was not a comfortable satisfaction, but a deep melancholy; a longing melancholy. And this time, she knew exactly why she was feeling like this- these  memories; no, these treasures had allowed her to finally understand.
She wanted to be with them. She wanted to see them grow into amazing adults. She.............. wanted to go back.
Claudia was only a single Year Final away from becoming a full-fledged mage. Ryu's Blades have just taken off. Cronos was only a few months away from graduating as a Scholar of History and Literature. Wun's coronation ceremony was just a few weeks away.  All of them were about to enter the next stages of their lives. And she was going to miss all of them.
She, who had been with them since their childhood, had taken care of them at all turns, had essentially grown up with them; was going to miss their transitions into the next stages of their lives.
She will never see just how much of an awesome mage Claudia was going to become, just what a great Leader Ryu will turn out to be, just what a mindblowingly amazing laurete Cronos was going to develop into, and lastly, just what a grand king Wun will present himself as.
She was just going to die here. And there was nothing that she could do about it.
And just that thought, hurt more than any pain she had ever felt in her life. But she didn't have the remedy to make that pain go away. She was completely powerless before the grand finality of death.
A single teardrop rolled down her cheek.
She wanted to go back again, to live again................... to see them again; but she, just didn't have the power to do so. She didn't have the power to defy death. She was going to die, and that was all there was to it.
She was....... never going to see them again.
And at that instant, something inside her broke free. A force, born from her intense desire to go back. A will strongther than any she had felt before.
The water around her began to glow brightly. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.
The surface shimmered an endless distance away. But to her, it only seemed a few strokes away.
She was going to see them again, no matter what.
She was going to see her family.............. by defying death itself.
-x-
Cronos took a deep breath, and tried to calmly analyze the situation before him. Within the span of a single second, he realized that he just couldn't.
Their home was crawling with enemies, all the predictions that they had made before barging into the castle had immediately been proven false, all of his siblings were busy fending off a completely unrelenting and unpredictable barrage of invaders, their one and only general had been taken captive, and one of his own family members was dying right in front of his eyes. How could anyone, anyone be calm in a situation like this?
His right hand began to tremble even more violently; forcing him to hold it down with his left. Even if it was nigh impossible, he had to stay calm. Wun was depending on them, on him. He was risking his life for them; they all were, for each other. So he had to calm down, focus and figure a way out.
The trembling in his arm faded away, and his thoughts became clearer; much easier to focus. Even in this despairing situation, he felt a bit relieved. Now, he could finally work towards finding a way out of this.
The first step of solving any problem, was to identify it first. And the problem in this predicament, was the rapidly deteriorating life force of Winda. The second step, was to identify the cause. And the cause was quite simple; she had overused her spiritual energy to the point of shuting down her spirit core. The third step, was to concote a primary solution by utilizing the identification of the problem and its cause. And the primary solution in this case, was restarting her core. The fourth and final step, was to determine a way to achieve the primary solution. And there is only one way to restart a shut down core- to supply a surge of spiritual energy from the outside.
So far, the solution process had progressed smoothly. But this is where it got difficult.
The energy required to restart a core was not a small amount. And he was certain that if he tried to provide that much energy at his current state; he had a very high chance of killing himself in the process. And that, was not an option. But so was letting her die. Wun needed all of them alive, and aside from that; Cronos would never be able to live with himself if Winda died right before his eyes. So, killing himself was not an option and letting her die also wasn't.
Just how was he going to progress from here?
The urgent remainder that the clock was ticking fast barged into his mind; and he let it stay there. He needed the extra boost.
He could use her spiritual pathways to somehow force to start, and minimize his own loss. No, that most likely wasn't possible and even if it was; it posed too great a threat to her already declining life force. But, he was definitely on the right track here. If using her own body as a vessel and his unaltered spiritual energy wasn't a choice; then what if an altered and enhanced version of his own was used? And that was it!
Claudia had given him a set of Spiritual Refill Tomes, and if he used those to jump-start his own core into an overdrive state, and then use its new and improved (but temporary) supply of spiritual energy to restart her core- it just might work! And this way, the chances of killing himself would also be reduced significantly! Well, it wouldn't nullify the threat completely; but now wasn't the time to think about that!
He quickly took out a pair of refill tomes, and plastered them onto his right arm. A spiritual refill tome can actually be used to two effects; despite its name only giving the idea of one. A black patch was formed on both as he forged a pair of connections from his core to the two. Well technically, it only actually performed a single function; that of restoring an entire stock of spiritual energy. He placed his free arm on her armpit, where the armor only consisted of a thin layer of cloth and through careful precision; drilled his way into her core via multiple small tendrils. But a tome actually used two secondary functions to fullfill its purpose- a surge to the core to instantly increase its size, and a shot of spiritual energy to refill it; and due to the increased consumption rate granted by the sudden increase and the immediate "feeding", the core was filled in the blink of an eye; the "enlargement" effect nullified almost as soon as this was achieved. Both of these functions could be overrided by a number of means; and Cronos was going to use just that to save her life.
The preparations had been completed. And now, only the execution remained.
He took a very deep breath, and after three repeated chantings of, "This is going to work," initiated the operation.
He activated the first tome, and waited just until it had "surged" his core- as soon as it had done that, and using the small modulating tendrills originating from the intial connection; he stopped it right before it was about provide the shot of spiritual energy, and immediately formed a black spirit bridge between it and its brother; simultaneously activating the second one as he did. This redirected the activated shot into the second tome; overriding the receiver's "enlargement" command and due to the activation command cued right before this override; the spritual energy from both tomes accumulated into one and rushed into his "overdrived" core. Without wasting a single second, he redirected all of the newly received energy directly into his left arm, and through its tendrills; straight into her core.
-x-
Winda swam furiously for the surface; but the glistening, brilliant surface stubbornly stayed out of her reach. She peddled her arms and legs with all that she had, with every single fiber of her being; all to no avail- the surface continued to cruelly smile at her from its immovable throne.
Those four were waiting for her. She couldn't give up here; she wouldn't give up here. Every single particle within her pushed her forward. Those four were, waiting for her. Her limbs were on fire. Those four were; waiting for her. She had to get out of here. Those four were... waiting for her. It hurt. Those four were........... waiting for her. It hurt so much. Those four were................. waiting for her. Pain rang through every inch of her desperate body. Those four were................
A red carpet began to violently vibrate before her eyes as she desperately tried to keep her eyes open- to go forward. And yet, it continued to descend over her eyes; clouding most of her vision. Was this how it all ended? No, it couldn't end like this! It mustn't end like this! She had to see them again, didn't she? She had to meet them again, didn't she? Was she going to miss Claudia's ascension, Wun's coronation, Cronos' graduation and Ryu's grand accomplishments? Of course not! She had to help Claudia with her assignments again, she had to read Cronos' manuscripts again, she had to reprimand Ryu again, she had to share a bottle with Wun again- she had to see them all again! This couldn't be the end! This couldn't-
The red carpet covered up the entiriety of her vision; and she finally realized that it was all over.
It all happened in the span of a second.
A hand made of pure light manifested before her; blowing away the red carpet and immediately grabbed her by the shoulder. Before she could even comprehend what had just happened; a flash of an incredbly bright light blinded her.
And yet just as she was blinded,  a feeling of profound relief resonated within her. Somehow, she knew that she was going back.
-x-
Her eyes sprang open and stared directly at those of her spiritician. His operation............. had been a success.
For a second, they both stared at each other. And then, without warning; she lunged at him, entanging him in a tight hug in the blink of an eye.
But he didn't resist. Both of them deserved this hug.
And slowly, he too, hugged her back.
-x-
"Sir, is this the place?" asked one of the soldiers excitedly.
The red-haired leader replied, "Yes, it is." His tone was filled with cold glee.
The red jewel fitted right at the centre of the two closed doors glittered omniously. Finally, he was here. Now, to open it.
"Gentlemen, I believe your reward is long overdue," he said as he slowly gripped the hilt of his blade.
"Sir, we do not require any rewards; only your satisfaction," replied one of the pests with a rigid bow.
"Oh, no no; I personally want you to take this reward," he drew his blade. "And I will be so very satisfied if you take it." The anticipation of what was just about to happen forced him to crack a smile; a cold, cruel and evil smile.
"Master, is everything alright?" asked one of the pests in a weary tone.
"Yes, everything is very  alright," the smile became a grin. A maniacal and twisted grin.
Oh, how he loved to slaughter humans.