Altair's body followed the same path that she remembered taking before on that night. She followed closely behind Maxwell as they snuck through the forest towards the outskirts of the town. Krinn had already gone ahead of them before and had sent word through his Whisper Magic.
Even now Altair didn't quite understand how his Whisper Magic worked. Krinn would only ever tell her that it was a unique way of using Wind Magic to send his voice over a long distance. So long as there wasn't too many things obstructing the sound they were able to get messages from him in a one-sided fashion.
It was an invaluable Magic for infiltration purposes. Krinn was always excellent at finding ambushes by going ahead of the team. Thanks to his Magic, they had managed to avoid many dangerous situations in the past.
Altair didn't know what other Magic Krinn could use. She just knew that he was extremely skilled with Wind Magic. Of course, everyone could use Body Reinforcement Magic to some degree and, at the time of that mission, Altair's skills with it were shoddy at best. She was only able to use it on parts of her body instead of being able to completely envelop herself. Other than that, she also had her Shadow Magic. However, she could only use it to create objects at the time. She still lacked sufficient knowledge to be able to use it for creating knights and other creatures that could fight as well.
Oaras was a master of using Ice Magic. Altair still remembered how beautiful it was to watch her practice shooting arrows created from frozen air. The arrows weren't brittle by any means and were capable of punching holes through even trees. She could also use her Ice Magic to create walls and separate enemies during surprise attacks or to block the path of pursuers. Her main purpose was to do that during their infiltration missions. She, as well, was invaluable to the group.
As Altair was reminiscing about the Magic of her team, her thoughts turned to Maxwell's Magic. In her mind, she was sure she was frowning because she didn't remember ever seeing him use any Magic that would affect the surroundings. She only ever remembered how he could dance across a fight and, before she knew it, everyone would be dead around him.
Altair watched as her body followed Maxwell in a low crouch-run into the town. The silence around them seemed to amplify the sounds of their own footsteps on the dirt. There was no light to be found in the town at this time of night. There weren't even any patrollers on the street. It was just complete darkness from house to house, which had no effect on them as Demi-Human's.
However, with how much more experienced Altair was now, she could easily tell that it wasn't right. This was a fortress town. There should always be patrollers moving around even in the dead of night. It would be a horrible mistake on their part to miss any signs of intruders, as they were clearly doing then. Altair was sure that Maxwell noticed as well, probably.
He was the one who taught her these things at first, after all.
She tried to focus her attention on him while they were moving around but her body seemed to be looking at other things instead. Her body was currently looking towards a fountain in the center of town. The water the trickled down from the statue was the only other sound in the area. It had a somewhat calming effect on people and Altair remembered staring at it because she was slightly nervous on that night.
She mentally cursed her younger self again for not paying proper attention to her surroundings.
They didn't stay near the fountain for long. Maxwell quickly led Altair out of the surrounding town and towards the fortress proper. The large stone walls stood at least twenty meters high. There were some lights coming from the top of the wall but they were scattered across its length. There was even a small mote around it for added defense and it was obviously man-made.
They came to a stop and Maxwell looked behind Altair towards Oaras.
'Ah,' Altair thought to herself, 'I remember this. This is when Oaras took our climbing rope and flew up to the wall so we could climb up the wall. She would snipe a couple of the guards in darkness and we would climb up in peace. And then we… huh?'
Altair tilted her head in her mind as Oaras took the rope and started to silently ascend into the air. She didn't remember what happened next. She could have sworn that she was narrowing her eyes in concentration but, no matter how hard she tried to remember what happened next, her mind was blank.
'What does this mean?' She couldn't figure it out as her body started to climb up the rope hanging down the wall.
At some point, when she was lost in her thoughts, she had already crossed the mote with Maxwell and was now climbing up the rope underneath him. Krinn would be scouting out their escape route right now and Oaras should be keeping watch from the air for suspicious movements.
'Well,' Altair told herself, 'I'll see it with more own eyes soon enough.'
Just as Altair reached the point where her memories of the time ceased to be, her surroundings completely changed.
Fire lit the night air and the smell of charred flesh assaulted her nose instantly. The dying screams of people echoed from the distance. The roar of a fire and the heat generated by that flame hit her in a sudden wave and her brows furrowed immediately.
Her steps faltered mid-step as she happened to be moving at the time and she looked around in confusion. It was disorienting for her surroundings to change immediately but she was still somewhat used to it due to her own Teleportation Magic. But this was still a jarring experience as she had no idea it was coming.
She went from climbing on a rope to running in an instant and she appeared to have complete control over herself again.
Her surroundings were on fire. There were tents and small shacks built out of scattered wood that could be obtained from the nearby forest. They were packed fairly close together and bodies littered the ground in various states of death. There was a single, larger building in the distance that was circular shaped. That building was currently engulfed in flames.
Altair's eyes widened in horror as she looked to her left and then her right in quick succession. She then darted off towards the building in the distance as fast as her legs could take her. She instinctively reached in to burn some Mana to quicken her pace. However, she only got the feeling of a vast hole inside herself that she thought she had left behind. Her expression turned to one of concern but she didn't stop running towards her destination.
This was the Coalition's base camp. It was obvious to her that it was under attack, otherwise why would everything be on fire? There was no other possible reason.
She dashed between tents and leapt over bodies on the ground. Not once did she see any Humans or anything else attacking the place. Yet, she still heard the screams of people dying nearby. There was just no sign of actually seeing them die. It was like it was just background noise and nothing more.
She ran until her lungs burned and her legs shook but she didn't seem to be getting any closer to the center. She remembered that it should have only taken four or five minutes to reach the center of camp even if she was running at her child's pace. Yet, after what seemed like half an hour, she still wasn't a step closer to her destination.
She leaned over and put her hands on her knees as she gasped for air. She looked up towards the center and muttered, "This is impossible. How… How am I not any closer?"
An egotistical voice came from a few paces behind her, "Ah, there you are."
Altair glanced over her shoulder and her expression turned foul. It was that beast of a man she had to run away from last time. He was eyeing her with the same perverted gaze he did last time. He was wearing white clothes that were stained red from the blood of his victims, likely from the battle that was taking place somewhere nearby here. It was the blood of her people.
Altair took one last deep breath before she straightened herself up and turned to face him. She glared at him with open hostility and disdain written across her face. She then spoke with as much venom as she could muster, "It's a shame you aren't dead yet, Human."
The man didn't seem bothered by what she said at all. Instead, he had an indulgent smile on his face as he motioned with his arms towards their surroundings, "Do you like what I've done with the place?" He then pointed one finger at Altair as he continued, "I did it to free you, you know." He crossed his arms and added, "Now you have no reason to not become my slave. I can't wait until I see your bulging belly." His gaze went distant for a moment as if he could already see it happening before his very eyes.
Altair shuddered involuntarily. She was completely disgusted with this Human last time she met him and it appeared he had gotten even worse in their time apart. Her heart burned with the desire to tear him limb from limb and feed him to a Borras so that he wouldn't he have a grave for his family to mourn.
She just couldn't. She had no Mana, which meant she had no power. She didn't even know how she was going to get away from him right now.
The emptiness that Altair felt within herself right now as different than before. She could still sense her Mana that was locked away from the Mana Sealing Poison then but, right now, she couldn't sense even that. It was like her Mana was stripped from her body. Like she was just a normal Human child, and her physical capabilities right now matched that as well.
The man grinned at her with a vicious light as several impossibly beautiful women walked out from the peripherals of Altair's vision and surrounded him. They clung to his body as if they wanted to melt into him and gazed at him with eyes filled with love.
Altair's brows furrowed as she noticed a familiar face among the people gathered around him. It was Oaras, who should have been dead, and yet she saw her with her eyes glued to that filthy Human.
For a brief moment, Altair imagined herself doing that.
Altair's body followed the same path that she remembered taking before on that night. She followed closely behind Maxwell as they snuck through the forest towards the outskirts of the town. Krinn had already gone ahead of them before and had sent word through his Whisper Magic.
Even now Altair didn't quite understand how his Whisper Magic worked. Krinn would only ever tell her that it was a unique way of using Wind Magic to send his voice over a long distance. So long as there wasn't too many things obstructing the sound they were able to get messages from him in a one-sided fashion.
It was an invaluable Magic for infiltration purposes. Krinn was always excellent at finding ambushes by going ahead of the team. Thanks to his Magic, they had managed to avoid many dangerous situations in the past.
Altair didn't know what other Magic Krinn could use. She just knew that he was extremely skilled with Wind Magic. Of course, everyone could use Body Reinforcement Magic to some degree and, at the time of that mission, Altair's skills with it were shoddy at best. She was only able to use it on parts of her body instead of being able to completely envelop herself. Other than that, she also had her Shadow Magic. However, she could only use it to create objects at the time. She still lacked sufficient knowledge to be able to use it for creating knights and other creatures that could fight as well.
Oaras was a master of using Ice Magic. Altair still remembered how beautiful it was to watch her practice shooting arrows created from frozen air. The arrows weren't brittle by any means and were capable of punching holes through even trees. She could also use her Ice Magic to create walls and separate enemies during surprise attacks or to block the path of pursuers. Her main purpose was to do that during their infiltration missions. She, as well, was invaluable to the group.
As Altair was reminiscing about the Magic of her team, her thoughts turned to Maxwell's Magic. In her mind, she was sure she was frowning because she didn't remember ever seeing him use any Magic that would affect the surroundings. She only ever remembered how he could dance across a fight and, before she knew it, everyone would be dead around him.
Altair watched as her body followed Maxwell in a low crouch-run into the town. The silence around them seemed to amplify the sounds of their own footsteps on the dirt. There was no light to be found in the town at this time of night. There weren't even any patrollers on the street. It was just complete darkness from house to house, which had no effect on them as Demi-Human's.
However, with how much more experienced Altair was now, she could easily tell that it wasn't right. This was a fortress town. There should always be patrollers moving around even in the dead of night. It would be a horrible mistake on their part to miss any signs of intruders, as they were clearly doing then. Altair was sure that Maxwell noticed as well, probably.
He was the one who taught her these things at first, after all.
She tried to focus her attention on him while they were moving around but her body seemed to be looking at other things instead. Her body was currently looking towards a fountain in the center of town. The water the trickled down from the statue was the only other sound in the area. It had a somewhat calming effect on people and Altair remembered staring at it because she was slightly nervous on that night.
She mentally cursed her younger self again for not paying proper attention to her surroundings.
They didn't stay near the fountain for long. Maxwell quickly led Altair out of the surrounding town and towards the fortress proper. The large stone walls stood at least twenty meters high. There were some lights coming from the top of the wall but they were scattered across its length. There was even a small mote around it for added defense and it was obviously man-made.
They came to a stop and Maxwell looked behind Altair towards Oaras.
'Ah,' Altair thought to herself, 'I remember this. This is when Oaras took our climbing rope and flew up to the wall so we could climb up the wall. She would snipe a couple of the guards in darkness and we would climb up in peace. And then we… huh?'
Altair tilted her head in her mind as Oaras took the rope and started to silently ascend into the air. She didn't remember what happened next. She could have sworn that she was narrowing her eyes in concentration but, no matter how hard she tried to remember what happened next, her mind was blank.
'What does this mean?' She couldn't figure it out as her body started to climb up the rope hanging down the wall.
At some point, when she was lost in her thoughts, she had already crossed the mote with Maxwell and was now climbing up the rope underneath him. Krinn would be scouting out their escape route right now and Oaras should be keeping watch from the air for suspicious movements.
'Well,' Altair told herself, 'I'll see it with more own eyes soon enough.'
Just as Altair reached the point where her memories of the time ceased to be, her surroundings completely changed.
Fire lit the night air and the smell of charred flesh assaulted her nose instantly. The dying screams of people echoed from the distance. The roar of a fire and the heat generated by that flame hit her in a sudden wave and her brows furrowed immediately.
Her steps faltered mid-step as she happened to be moving at the time and she looked around in confusion. It was disorienting for her surroundings to change immediately but she was still somewhat used to it due to her own Teleportation Magic. But this was still a jarring experience as she had no idea it was coming.
She went from climbing on a rope to running in an instant and she appeared to have complete control over herself again.
Her surroundings were on fire. There were tents and small shacks built out of scattered wood that could be obtained from the nearby forest. They were packed fairly close together and bodies littered the ground in various states of death. There was a single, larger building in the distance that was circular shaped. That building was currently engulfed in flames.
Altair's eyes widened in horror as she looked to her left and then her right in quick succession. She then darted off towards the building in the distance as fast as her legs could take her. She instinctively reached in to burn some Mana to quicken her pace. However, she only got the feeling of a vast hole inside herself that she thought she had left behind. Her expression turned to one of concern but she didn't stop running towards her destination.
This was the Coalition's base camp. It was obvious to her that it was under attack, otherwise why would everything be on fire? There was no other possible reason.
She dashed between tents and leapt over bodies on the ground. Not once did she see any Humans or anything else attacking the place. Yet, she still heard the screams of people dying nearby. There was just no sign of actually seeing them die. It was like it was just background noise and nothing more.
She ran until her lungs burned and her legs shook but she didn't seem to be getting any closer to the center. She remembered that it should have only taken four or five minutes to reach the center of camp even if she was running at her child's pace. Yet, after what seemed like half an hour, she still wasn't a step closer to her destination.
She leaned over and put her hands on her knees as she gasped for air. She looked up towards the center and muttered, "This is impossible. How… How am I not any closer?"
An egotistical voice came from a few paces behind her, "Ah, there you are."
Altair glanced over her shoulder and her expression turned foul. It was that beast of a man she had to run away from last time. He was eyeing her with the same perverted gaze he did last time. He was wearing white clothes that were stained red from the blood of his victims, likely from the battle that was taking place somewhere nearby here. It was the blood of her people.
Altair took one last deep breath before she straightened herself up and turned to face him. She glared at him with open hostility and disdain written across her face. She then spoke with as much venom as she could muster, "It's a shame you aren't dead yet, Human."
The man didn't seem bothered by what she said at all. Instead, he had an indulgent smile on his face as he motioned with his arms towards their surroundings, "Do you like what I've done with the place?" He then pointed one finger at Altair as he continued, "I did it to free you, you know." He crossed his arms and added, "Now you have no reason to not become my slave. I can't wait until I see your bulging belly." His gaze went distant for a moment as if he could already see it happening before his very eyes.
Altair shuddered involuntarily. She was completely disgusted with this Human last time she met him and it appeared he had gotten even worse in their time apart. Her heart burned with the desire to tear him limb from limb and feed him to a Borras so that he wouldn't he have a grave for his family to mourn.
She just couldn't. She had no Mana, which meant she had no power. She didn't even know how she was going to get away from him right now.
The emptiness that Altair felt within herself right now as different than before. She could still sense her Mana that was locked away from the Mana Sealing Poison then but, right now, she couldn't sense even that. It was like her Mana was stripped from her body. Like she was just a normal Human child, and her physical capabilities right now matched that as well.
The man grinned at her with a vicious light as several impossibly beautiful women walked out from the peripherals of Altair's vision and surrounded him. They clung to his body as if they wanted to melt into him and gazed at him with eyes filled with love.
Altair's brows furrowed as she noticed a familiar face among the people gathered around him. It was Oaras, who should have been dead, and yet she saw her with her eyes glued to that filthy Human.
For a brief moment, Altair imagined herself doing that.
