I’ve always known that people like me weren’t meant to last. Not when more important people’s lives are on the line. That’s why when the hero walks into the courtyard, I’m there.
I’m standing in the center of the area, flanked by dead trees and a fountain that spews inky black water. My pink bangs shift across my face as a gust rolls through. I tug at the collar of my cloak and level my dagger.
Any second now.
My master is a man called the demon lord. He’s ruled this nation since before I was born. It’s his rightful place.
But a few years ago, the hero came. Some people say she came from another world. Some say she was brought about by the people’s very wishes to see the demon lord killed. It didn’t matter to me. All I see in her is an enemy to my master’s dream of world domination.
She’s spent the last few years accumulating a group of women who are loyal to her. All of them are insanely powerful, but only the hero is a threat to my master.
That’s why he ordered me to meet her here. He’s given me a seal that will activate when she gets within a certain distance of me. When it does, the both of us will be trapped in frozen time.
“For the next hour,” my master had said. His hand was flat against my chest. My skin sizzled as the magic was written against it. Lines that formed words only he could understand. “The two of you will be split from the flow of time. It will likely feel like days for the two of you. But only an hour will have passed.”
In that time, my master will be able to annihilate all the hero’s measly allies. And I will probably be killed. But I’m more than fine with that. As long as my master’s will comes to fruition.
The hero has cropped white hair and wears heavy armor. Her eyes gleam brightly as she approaches. There’s a broadsword sheathed at each of her hips. I’ve seen what she can do with those swords. I’ve seen her destroy armies of my master’s undead; all without being touched.
Now it’s me, and it’s her. For one hour.
She stops walking.
“Aerida,” the hero says. Her voice is smooth and deep. “I don’t fight women. You are well aware of this.”
I am. Any time she’s had the chance to slaughter me in the many battles she’s waged against my master, she’s always chosen to restrain or ignore me. Her allies had no problem trying to kill me, though.
“I am loyal to the demon lord,” I say, fighting the quiver in my voice. “I won’t let you reach him.”
“The war is over,” the hero says, placing a hand on one of her hilts. “Your master has no power left. There’s no point in this.”
Ten feet. How far away is she? I look from her feet to my feet, trying to gauge the distance. I count the bricks between us on the path. About eight of them.
The hero looks strangely at me as I do.
“It’s not over,” I say, taking the dagger with both hands. “Not until my master’s will has come to pass.”
I rush at her, compressing mana at my feet to propel myself forward. She doesn’t even move. She knows I’m no threat. But she doesn’t know about the seal.
The second I’m within range, something shifts. There’s no flash or any noise at all. It just goes quiet. The world seems slightly duller around us. The air is a bit lighter.
It worked. It had to have. This is it.
I stumble to a stop, face to face with the hero now. She looks around.
“Time magic,” she laughs. “Seriously?”
I thrust the dagger at her face. She catches my arm and yanks. My head slams into her chest plate, and I collapse at her feet. My head spins. The knife clatters nearby.
“You don’t think you can beat me, do you?” The hero crouches in front of me, tilting her head slightly.
I raise my head, scowling up at her.
“Your women will be killed,” I spit. “Time has been distorted. You will be trapped in here for an hour of real time. We both know none of your women are strong enough to match him, even in his weakened state!”
The hero pales.
I laugh, starting to get up.
“Moonlight Tranquility,” I declare. Golden fire ignites along my arms. “It doesn’t matter if I can beat you. My job is already done. This is just—”
The hero is gone.
I whip my head around, searching the courtyard. Something slams into my back, and I topple forward. I plant a hand and propel myself into a flip. Mid spin, I thrust a hand at the hero who’d appeared behind me.
Golden flames plume from my arm, rocketing towards her.
The hero draws her sword and cuts through the flames. The flames are absorbed into the blade, leaving the steel glowing.
Mana stealing.
The flames dance along my arms as I land.
The hero swipes her glowing sword, painting an arc of light in the air.
“I trust my friends,” the hero says, leveling her sword at me. “They’re stronger than you think they are.”
‘I trust you.’ It was the last thing my master had said before vanishing into shadows. His skeletal hand had caressed my cheek, leaving my heart dancing.
I clasp my hands together. The fire gathers over them, blazing brighter.
“Your trust is misplaced,” I spit. “One by one, they will fall.”
I can’t win. I know that. But if I’m going to die anyway, I’ll give up everything to do as much damage as possible to her body. When she escapes this trap, she’ll be weakened enough that my master can finish the job.
That is my role. That is my only task.
Unlike the typical mage that draws mana from the world. My mana is fueled directly by my soul. Usually, I limit myself to third-class spells to maintain the shape of my soul. But that risk is meaningless now. I will burn my soul. I will hurt her.
“Heartsworn blade.”
The flames bloom into a jagged sword, engulfing my arm. My robes ripple around me. My skin grows cold. My hair floats above my head, whipping in the growing wind.
“Is that.. a second-class spell?” The hero asks, lowering her sword. “You’ve had power like that this whole time?”
I can’t move. My legs are leaden. A pain blooms in my chest and threatens to bring me to my knees. Is this… my soul weakening? I raise one foot slowly and forcefully before dropping it into a step. The flames of my sword dim and flicker.
No!
My master trusts me. He needs me. I have to fight. No matter the cost. No matter what happens.
I stagger, raising the sword over my head with a shrill battle cry, gathering all of my strength. The air crackles around me, and my fire burns bright once again.
I take a step and propel myself towards the hero. She parries my first strike, and I watch the flames swirl around her blade. She’s stealing it. But my soul is steadily burning. As long as I burn more than she takes, my fire won’t go out.
I plant a foot and knock her sword aside. She turns, reaching for me. I catch her wrist.
“Carnal Haze!” A blaze of golden flames bursts between us. Nowhere near enough to hurt her, but it obscures both of our vision. I let go of her arm and swing straight through the flames with my blade. I feel it connect and drive the blow through.
The hero is knocked back, repelled into a tree. The tree snaps and topples over.
I raise the sword and my arm melts. The limb droops unnaturally from my shoulder, as if the bones are disconnecting from each other.
The hero is up instantly, unharmed.
I have to go further. It’s now or never.
World Class spells are the pinnacle of magic. My master only taught me one and I still haven’t managed to perform it properly. But maybe in this frozen space and with my soul on the line. Just maybe… I raise my hand. It blurs in my vision.
“Heaven Ascent: Masked Haven of Unguarded Love.”
The hero’s eyes widen moments before my mana spreads out over the space around us. She didn’t expect this, that’s for sure. A Heaven Ascent spell from a mere servant like me?
A Heaven Ascent is a mage’s truest self painted onto the world. An exposed soul where your power is amplified and you can nearly manipulate everything within. A personal heaven. Usually, catching someone within it is an instant win. But the hero is far too powerful for that, even if she doesn’t counter with her own Heaven Ascent.
The world around us erupts in golden fire. The flames climb the walls and swallow up the trees. Even the black water is evaporated instantly.
Golden statues emerge from the ground, each wearing masks. Bird masks, human masks, wolf masks, and serpentine masks. They stand ten feet tall and gleam in the flames.
The flames reach me, curling around my body like a blanket. In an instant, I’m enveloped. It doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m alive. I feel the power eating away at my very being. I level the blazing sword. This is it. This is my role.
The hero sheaths her sword. The fool!
“What are you doing?” She yells. “Do you want to die?”
“Come, hero!” I scream the words as I sweep across the golden courtyard. A tidal wave of rolling flames surges behind me. I direct everything at her. All of my anger and all of my power.
I will die. I will disappear. But she will remember me. She will know the true extent of my love and just what it’s capable of.
A moment before everything comes to be; I see a star. I’ve always loved stars. For a moment, I think of home. A pasture of grass rolling in the wind. Faces of people doomed to die. Stars glimmering the dark so high above.
All at once, everything is ripped away. The world is torn open, and a flood of gray rushes in. I’m falling towards the hero, my body emptied of mana. A stark cold rushes through me.
Did she cast a Heaven Ascent? Did she steal my mana with her sword? Either way, I failed. I didn’t put a single scratch on her.
I feel everything coming undone. The remnants of my soul are little more than a spark.
“I won’t let you disappear.” The hero’s voice is distant. “I won’t watch anyone else die. Not when I can do something.” It’s all I hear before the world flickers out.
1Changed 'meters' to 'feet'