The morning in Oakhaven stank of yesterday's rain. I yawned powerfully, stepping outside the tavern. I stretched my stiff muscles. My shoulder popped with a dry crunch. The air tasted of smoke from nearby chimneys. I ignored the stench. I adjusted my coat collar.
My gaze immediately drifted toward the Spire looming on the horizon. The stone tower towered over the eastern district like a rotting tooth. Yesterday's rot in our basement was utilized, but this structure still pulsed. Remnants of dirty energy flowed from there into the city's underground weaves. It was an open source of infection. An unclosed gate. Sooner or later, more trash could crawl through it.
I had no intention of leaving open gates in the city.
Instead of playing with gestures, I focused my eyes on the stone foundation in the distance. I opened the valves of my own Vessel. I released a short, dense pulse from my fingers. Sapphire mana struck right at the Spire's contact point with the earth. I crushed the invisible roots of the building with destructive energy.
A hollow crack reached us from afar. It resembled ice breaking on a frozen lake.
The air around the tower rippled violently. The sapphire glow faded irretrievably. The remnants of the dirty aura shattered into nothingness. The structure physically still stood, but energetically it became just a pile of rubble. I cut off the power.
At that exact moment, one alien word appeared in my head. It sounded quietly. It vibrated with an echo that did not belong to me.
"Aldora..." I muttered under my breath. I scratched my neck. I tried to locate the source of this sudden phenomenon.
Shnee twitched violently. She stood right behind me. Her shoulder hit the doorframe. She drew in air through clenched teeth. Her diamond eyes widened. Her hand instinctively tightened on the rapier hilt.
"How do you know that name, Dave?" she whispered. I heard genuine surprise mixed with religious anxiety in her voice. "She is our Queen. No one besides us should pronounce it this way."
I looked at her. I shrugged. My Brazen chill did not waver.
"No idea," I answered truthfully. I looked once more at the dead tower. "It crossed my mind exactly when I cut off the Spire. Weird. Doesn't matter. We won't rack our brains over this. We are going to the outskirts."
Thousands of miles away, in the heart of an ancient forest, Aldora froze on her throne made of a White Tree trunk. Her slender fingers tightened on the armrests. The grate of straining wood echoed in the monumental throne room. The Queen's statuesque face tensed with absolute attention.
A sapphire resonance rolled through the weaves of the world.
It was just a fraction of a second. A short echo. For her, however, its purity was impossible to mistake. An intrigued smile bloomed on the Silver Queen's beautiful face. The golden rings on her fingers clinked quietly. She slowly put her vessel down on the carved table.
"Now that is interesting..." she whispered softly.
The vast halls fell silent as if struck by lightning. Her generals exchanged uncertain glances. They were shocked by the ruler's sudden mood change. Aldora closed her eyes for a moment. She read into that distant pulse.
She knew this blue for a long time. He was always a force breaking every encountered barrier. And this resonance simply entered politely into the structure of a miserable core.
"Since when do you care about the rules?" she muttered to herself with clear amusement. "You put on chains. You voluntarily suppressed the roar to a mere whisper. You want to fit on this board."
She opened her eyes. Her silvery glow swept over the advisors.
"My Lady?" asked one of the commanders cautiously. He rested his hand on his sword hilt. "Should we send scouts to the south?"
"No," she replied calmly. She lazily played with the rim of her goblet. "This blue just joined the game. For some reason, he hid behind invented rules. He pretends to be something much smaller. If he wanted to, he would have burned that continent with his mere appearance. He preferred to enter quietly. He locked himself in a tight box."
She stood up slowly. Her silk dress rustled on the floor. A powerful aura lazily spread across the hall. The generals had to bow their heads.
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"Send the Shadows. They are only to observe him from a safe distance. No interference. I want to watch. We will see how much time passes before this small box simply stops being enough for him and he tears it apart with a roar. Our paths will cross eventually anyway."
We left the tavern behind. We headed towards the ruined outskirts of the city. I wanted to find a quiet place. I shooed away a pesky fly with my hand. I walked at a leisurely pace. I kept my hands in my coat pockets. Shnee walked shoulder to shoulder with me. She was predatory. Her hand rested on the rapier hilt.
We stopped a few meters in front of the guard captain. I knew him. Vargos. A burly guy in tin armor. His face under the helmet looked like wet parchment. A tight squad of crossbowmen lined up behind his back.
"What's up," I threw loosely. I yawned. "Who are you waiting for so anxiously?"
The captain growled. The tip of his spear drew small circles in the air. His muscles trembled.
"For you!" he shouted. He tried to give his words the weight of authority. His voice broke. "By order of the Council, you are detained for murders. Surrender, or you will die on this trail!"
I remained silent for a moment. I processed this nonsense. I looked at them with predatory curiosity. They were a logical error.
"Are you retarded or are you just pretending under those tin cans?" I asked calmly. My voice was washed of anger. It was pure pragmatism on pure logic. "I slaughtered your guild. You should be aware of my capabilities. What tells you that this mission will end in success?"
Shnee snorted quietly.
"Logic apparently went to sleep," she added with icy amusement. "They don't see the difference between duty and suicide."
The captain's jaw twitched. Fear turned into blind fury.
"Shoot! Kill them!" he screamed. He lost the remnants of his composure.
"What a moron..." I sighed heavily.
Bowstrings snapped. A dozen steel bolts shot from the walls. They cut the air with a loud whistle.
I made no dodge. I didn't take my hands out of my pockets. With one short yank of will, I took control over their flight. My telekinesis acted immediately. All bolts stopped exactly one meter in front of me. They hung motionless in the air. They hit an invisible wall of solid glass.
The guards' gaze got stuck in the void. Paralyzing terror appeared in their eyes. Physics refused to obey them.
I nodded my head carelessly.
The projectiles returned exactly where they came from with doubled speed. I didn't aim at their faces. The arrowheads drove straight into the oak shields with a loud crack. The momentum threw the guards to the ground. Groans of broken ribs filled the street.
I moved forward. Vargos tried to thrust with his spear. I locked his joints with raw will from a distance. He took a dive. He crashed face-first straight into the thick mud.
I approached him. He whimpered in the muck. He tried to get up on his elbows. He looked at me with absolute terror. Instead of casting spells, I hit him with an open hand right on the side of his helmet.
He fell unconscious in a fraction of a second. The sound of struck metal echoed all the way to the battlements.
"Shnee, let's go. It's a waste of time on such small fry," I threw. I passed the moaning guards without a single glance back.
The trail transitioned into a dense forest. The smell of the city gave way to the scent of rotting leaves. We reached a sterile clearing. I stopped. I dropped my coat on a fallen trunk.
Shnee drew her rapier with a quiet hiss. Her diamond eyes scanned the surroundings. She was looking for an entrance to the underground. She mistakenly assumed a hunt.
I laughed shortly under my breath. I walked over to the bushes. I broke off a thick ash stick. I stripped it of leaves.
"Dungeons are a brutal test," I said indifferently. I stood opposite her with the stick in my hand. "We lack the proper gear. Going in there blindly now would be pure stupidity. Pure logic says stop. Today we will deal with your foundations."
Shnee blinked, confused.
"Are we going to train my ice magic? Awaken the soul?" she asked.
"Absolutely not," I cut off firmly. I entered her zone. "Leave magic alone. Your organism is ruined. You wore a collar. You starved. Your body lacks mass. Arm-wrestling with me would end with torn tendons. We focus on fencing. Balance. Precision. You will be my blade. Attack."
The elf hesitated for barely a fraction of a second. She closed the distance. The silvery blade rushed towards my chest. I blocked her thrust with an ordinary piece of wood. I infused the stick with a bit of kinetic energy. Hard steel couldn't cut it in half.
"Bad stance, blockhead," I threw in a relaxed tone. I parried her weapon to the outside. I pushed her shoulder lightly. I knocked her off balance. "You expose your side. Your center of gravity is way too high. You slip on the moss instead of digging your feet into the ground."
Shnee clenched her teeth with visible irritation. I bruised her pride. That was exactly my point. I wanted to tear away her false confidence. She renewed the attack. A series of thrusts. A dodge. An upward cut.
I parried every blow with Brazen chill. I repelled steel with wood. I pointed out every slightest mistake in her posture. I didn't impose brutal force. I forced her into pure technical effort.
Her breath became faster. Sweat beaded on her forehead. Her forearm muscles trembled. She struck at my perfect guard. Her talent, however, was gigantic. Her brain rewrote mistakes on the fly. She corrected her stance. She lowered her position. She caught a fluid balance. She learned at a terrifying pace.
After an hour of murderous dance, she executed a fluid feint. The tip of the rapier brushed my shirt collar. She bypassed my stick.
I smiled broadly.
"Much better. Exactly like that," I praised her sincerely. I lowered the wood.
Shnee stopped. She was losing her strength. She panted heavily. She rested her hands on her thighs. She gasped for oxygen. A murderous pride from a job well done shone in her eyes.
"The body remembers..." she whispered hoarsely. She sheathed the rapier with a quiet click.
"And it will only get sharper every day," I summarized. I picked up my coat from the trunk. I dusted my hands off splinters. "That's it for today. We return to the base. Time to load carbohydrates. We still have a city to clean."