Stray Elf: Lost in the System

IX.

“Nameless, come.”

I heard myself addressed more times in these last two days than I have in the past month. It was the mage calling me over this time, surprisingly. The twin suns were out, bringing whatever this world’s version of the Spring season was and the temperature up to just underneath balmy, which was why we were out here. I heard a loud splash as a body got flung into the ocean and sighed.

I approached the meditating mage under the tree nervously as if he was a tiger. He was a Cyclops, however, so the comparison seemed remarkably worse than a simple large house cat. I remembered that he had spoken to me about learning the ways of magic. I should have asked him about the tuition fee of learning magic, but it was too late now. A splash was heard again, followed by Yokgu’s hollering.

The hollering stopped and I heard the orc’s heavy footsteps approach. I noticed as he stomped along, the body bubbled up to the surface and remained motionless. Did he know any other volume besides loud? The mage grumbled something, but ultimately did not mind the annoying orc’s presence.

“What are you doing?” Yokgu asked.

“Hold my hands,” the mage raised his hands, palms facing towards me. I hesitated, but this guy did not seem like the kind to pull tricks on people. His hands were rough, and I felt bristles on his cold palms. I realized that the static feeling between our fingers was magic energy. “How does magic energy feel?”

“Cool,” I guessed. The feeling was alien and slightly uncomfortable as it traveled through my body, but before I could ask why we had to hold hands Yokgu shouted.

“Holy shit! Hey!” He was trying to get everyone’s attention! You damn orc, I groaned collectively with the cyclops. “Hey, Sam! Check this out!”

The body that Yokgu tossed in the ocean stirred at the mention of the name. Samuel popped his head out of the water and swam towards us. Was playing dead in the water a game or something? I shook my head. Sitting cross-legged in the shade, intertwining fingers with a cyclops was not something I had in mind on our day off, but here I was for the orc to make fun of once again.

“Why are they doing that?” Samuel asked. I was just about to ask the same.

“Who cares!” The orc shouted. “Holding hands is cute!”

I gave him an irritated look, but he merely laughed.

“I am transferring magical energy into her,” the cyclops explained with a sigh. The eye beneath his veil turned its gaze at me. “And if you mind catching her magic in the face, I’d avoid carrying on with your annoying gawking.”

Yokgu simply dragged out a log and sat down to watch the show, with Samuel soon to follow, dragging his own log over.

“My magic, though,” I tried to tell him before about what those Lunarists told me. “It’s quite weak, despite being attuned to Dios and Reaver.”

The veil shakes his head. Did he know more than those monks in St. Kueyo? Or is he simply a snake oil salesman? Either way, I debated on wriggling my hands free. I felt like a car battery being jumped.

“It’s true that most do not possess two attunements. When one is like me, their magic gets split,” he went on. I looked up at where our belongings were and noticed his dual colored robe. “But the truth is you were using magical energy all along. Your Power skills use magic. The way you took a hit from that knight and got back up. All magic energy. How else would you be able to destroy that beast man with a fiery spell so easily?”

My throat tightened into a gulp and I felt oddly embarrassed. Everyone saw me fooling around and setting the place on fire when the truth was I did not know how to turn my magic off.

“There’s nothing magical about getting hit in the face,” I groaned. The cyclops chuckled.

“Then let me explain,” He breathed deeply. “Long ago, before we rose from the surface, the Goddess of Man and the Moons had a war. Now, it is believed that Skills come from the Goddesses and Magic from the moon. Since we came along, they have set their differences aside some ages ago. Yet, we can use skills from Ack’Sa as well as magic.”

I stared at him blankly.

“Careful, man,” Yokgu slapped his knee, cackling. “She only understands hitting things like me!”

He was not wrong. I zoned out after the cyclops tried to share more of this world’s lore to me. However, based on how many times the Commander could use his Power Axe Skill, I could safely assume monsters had significantly more magical energy than a human. Even the Crowned knight I defeated seemed to have a limitation in how many Spirits he could control. The mage looked above Yokgu’s stupid face at the moons hanging over where the statue used to be. The shattered moon, Folly, hung at the top, which meant the red Reaver moon was going to fall soon. A week has already gone by. Perhaps the mage knew this, which is why I was currently stuck here holding hands with him.

“So how long are we going to do this?” I questioned.

A shocking sensation jolted through my fingers and an alert window popped up suddenly.

Notice: Stat INT has been temporarily increased to D from E. Time left: 2 Minutes.

Huh? I supposed that Stat truly was linked to magic. I nearly groaned at my previous misconception. It appeared my actual intelligence did not matter when it came to magic. The more I learned, the more confused I got but there was no use worrying over it. The cyclop’s warm hands squeezed mine, then let go.

“How does that feel?”

“Tingly, I guess,” I resisted the urge to wipe my hands off my pants, but gave in anyways. The mage chuckled as I could not clean the feeling off my hands and then continued his lesson.

“To cast a fireball, recite this: Revar Ecrit!” he held his hands together in a prayer, then as he opened it a small sphere of flame floated above his palm. I was amazed as Yokgu and I stared at it. I chuckled. What did we look like facing this shiny thing? Children? “You do it now.”

I breathed in, clasped my hands together, and eyed Yokgu. The orc snapped out of his mesmerized gaze and fled behind Samuel. Bastard!

“You wouldn’t hit a kid, right?” His frame overshadowed Samuel by quite a bit, so I simply recited the spell.

“Revar Ecrit!”

A small orange sphere manifested before me above my palm, just like the mage’s spell. I aimed the spell directly at a terrified Yokgu, but it went as expected. The fireball sailed through the air at a leisurely pace, then fizzled out before it even reached halfway to Samuel. Whatever or whoever I was calling upon, did not answer my prayer. Tch!

Both of them laughed, but I received an alert.

Alert: Temporary Stat increase’s time limit has expired.

Of course, but I speculated that it would not have made a difference to the spell’s power. I wondered if my Unique Skill’s Intelligence stat worked differently even with the moons’ influences. The way my spear burned that fight with the beast man had to do with the Reaver moon, right? I was tempted to say the phrase again, but the cyclops cleared his throat.

“Hmm, you’re not lying about your magical energy limitations,” the cyclops noted as the pair of boys laughed. I shrugged. “Perhaps it is different for Nameless. I am not attuned to Dios, so I cannot help you there. There is a slight problem with possessing such a small fire attunement, however.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“You get to light the campfires at night,” he chuckled. I groaned. I recalled several battle mages of the human army had staves.

“What about those… sticks the humans have for their magic?”

“It is difficult for me to tell,” the cyclops stroked his chin. “It is dangerous for us to call upon the things in the Cosmos. For if the Goddess of Man does not respond to us what will? The Unleashed lies out there. And gems for their magic are hard to come by. I don’t know if the Nameless Goddess you are born under would reach you from way up there with those trinkets. We should procure you one for further... experiments.”

He eyed me, underneath that cloth of his.

“I must say,” he added. “You look much more beautiful when you’re not covered in blood and mud.”

“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes, but spotted Nanishtar’s glistening body resting on a rock above the shallow waves. She was sitting by Silmil, so I decided to take my leave from the boys and sit on the rocks with them.

“Oh? Had enough of the boys, darling?” Nanishtar smirked.

“Yes,” I replied plainly, sitting down and admiring the view.

“I knew you would come around to this,” Nanishtar lay seductively naked while Silmil and I sat in plain commoner clothes. I sighed. There was not a single thing about a succubus that was normal. “I heard you rejected a certain knight, didn’t you?”

“You rejected Vastil?” Silmil blurted. I shrugged and watched the boys resume throwing Samuel further out into the ocean.

“Yes,” I stare off blankly. How did she know? Nanishtar looked relieved, but I did not know why. “What?”

“Oh, nothing, love. I have eyes. Everywhere,” she giggled. “I’m just surprised you thought of me that way.”

“I don’t,” I said coldly, but explained before the demoness got too sad. “I don’t believe in having relationships with co-workers and especially bosses.”

“That’s what you say,” Nanishtar cooed. “What about you, Silmil?”

“I have no one,” she responded, though she watched Samuel get flung into the waters again. Something odd struck me in the head. Is this the so-called boy talk? I shook it off, since it was Nanishtar’s instigation.

“What about Samuel?” She asked, smirking at her. Silmil shrunk, but groaned. “What if I were to—“

“If you lay a finger on him again I swear I’ll bite it off!”

A figure suddenly splashed us from the waters beneath the rock we rested on, making both of them scream. I prepared for a fight, but realized the small form emerging was Samuel! He was peeking on us, while Yokgu laughed his head off. I was right about one of us when we were mesmerized by the mage’s flame spell: One of us was truly a child.

Samuel remained there gawking at us, despite the fact that he should have ran away. Instead, I seized him. Yokgu’s idea or not, someone was going to have my anger taken out on them.

“Wait!” The orc called out to me, splashing towards me as I winded up my throw. Samuel was too weak to free himself from the consequences.

“Peep somewhere else!” I raised him over my head and hurled him as far as I could. Yokgu stopped his shouting and together we watched the boy soar much further than Yokgu threw him. Silmil glared at me, but said nothing. The silence was interrupted by the small whimper of a splash when Samuel landed.

“You think he’ll make it back?” Yokgu scratched his head. I shrugged.

“Probably,” I guessed I took my anger too far.

Someone fast suddenly made a noise on the beach, gathering the Tusks that were resting further where we were. Trees were crashing down as they were pushed easily aside, groaning and snapping in their wake. It was the Commander. Those who were not thrown into the ocean saluted him.

Still, to see the Commander in modified swim trunks was quite a sight. His tail looked fat, and dwarfed his scaly legs. The appearance of an upright serpent taller than the trees made for a jarring look, no matter what he wore. Yokgu cracked up, but I elbowed him to shut up. Ake paced and slithered, flicking his tongue as he counted heads.

“We move out now, to Perigree Fort,” he instructed us. “Get ready and regroup us.”

The convoy was loaded up by those slave soldiers, while I slipped on my armor. It was hot enough to dry off, but it did not matter to me what state I was in when I had my armor on. I was bound to be covered in all kinds of dirt and fluids. So soon, I sighed. Such was being the one who causes suffering, I too, must suffer to earn my pay. I was about to pick my sword up, but I caught Yokgu trying to inspect the small bag I carried beneath my plating.

I could still sense the lantern and its powerful Phoenix feather trapped within it. I wondered if the dumb orc could feel its power as well. He quickly turned to me, and I stared with my hands on my hips.

“They say thieves have their hands cut off,” I tap where they did it on my wrist. Yokgu waved me off.

“It’s not like that, sheesh!” He grunted and his concerned face fell upon the Black Blade. “It’s that blade! What did they make it from?”

“I dunno,” I shrugged. “It was free, at least.”

“Cheap ass,” Yokgu sighed, but he stretched his arms as if he was going to lift a log or a fallen pillar. Was the blade really that heavy? “HRAAAGH!”

“Lift with your legs, man,” I groaned. That was the first thing they told you in safety meetings, I thought to him furiously. Yokgu shifted his legs in a better position, properly bending his knees and wiggling his grasp underneath the sheath. By now, Caspan and the Cyclops gathered around to watch the show.

“HRAAAAA URGH!” Yokgu’s veins bulged, and his feet dug small imprints into the grassy forest floor.

Surprisingly, the blade still rested squarely on the bag, completely unbothered by the apparent amount of effort he put into it. He released it and stepped back, flicking his wrists. I sighed. Perhaps the sword had magical properties that were registered to me? It did not matter. I moved over and scooped it up unperturbed with one hand, quickly recovering the bag. Yokgu huffed.

“What the shit, man,” he wheezed. “You some kind of freak?”

“Maybe you just haven’t leveled up yet,” I scooped up the halberd and the rest of my things. “Perhaps you should do some more exercise?”

“What do you think, Caspan? She’s a freak, right?”

“Hellforged,” the Birdman noted. “Flakes of a Deep Circle metal like that sword is made out of were loaded on the ships. Took twelve men to move each container onto the deck.”

“So she’s a freak, or not?”

The jargon hurt his head probably more than my own. What was so heavy about this sword? A magical barrier simply meant uncharted science to some, though, during wartime and this age science did not appear to be a valid field of study yet, I guessed. Or the blade’s Hell metal or whatever material it was crafted with truly was that heavy and my Skill was doing all the work. With a scoff, I started to head towards the others. I did not want to know what the vote results were. This sword seemed like it exuded an energy of some kind, but I seemed to be able to control it to some degree or otherwise ignore its heaviness with my magical energy.

The A rank in my Strength stat seemed much more powerful now than even that wall I knocked over. Was I unstoppable now? If I were to level up, would it be acceptable to ignore promoting that Stat? I felt a new pair of eyes resting upon me.

“You want to try carrying it for me?” I grinned. Samuel was still soaking wet from the ocean, but Yokgu was excited that he was back.

“Hey man, you made it!” The orc smacked him on the back.

“I don’t think I can hold that sword,” Samuel admitted.

“Right? This Nameless is a freak, right?”

You started throwing him first, though. I sighed. Who’s the freak now? We made our way to the front, where Nanishtar and the Commander were. Silmil was on top of one of the wagons, overlooking the roads. We were surrounded by trees, perfect for an ambush from either side. I did not know if there was a good tactical reason any of those archers and scouts were posted on the wagons with the drivers, but I did not ask.

“What should we expect with this fort, Commander?” Yokgu asked. “Any of those bastards give you information?”

“Little,” Ake admitted. “The human General escaped, with the King of Sarwitz to this Fort. That should explain plenty. We’re getting close to the battlefield, just beyond this hill and we’ll be out of the forest.”

Plenty was an understatement. I realized that was the reason the Royal Guard was here playing mercenary work. That and no recognizable signs of the adventurer guild showed in Moonwatch. This was their last stand, though I realized something was missing. I glanced at Nanishtar, who seemed to be upset over something. She was normally annoying.

“You sense anything wrong, Nanishtar?” I asked. The succubus’s lips were stern and silent, nor were her hands reaching for mine.

“That King!” she hissed, then let out a scream of anger. The caravan beasts were alarmed, by both her scream and the coming smell of death settling upon our skin like sticky spider webs. “How could he do this to my sisters?!”

Yokgu was unnerved already by the roaring Nanishtar who took to the hills, but we moved to retrieve her. Something dead was on the path ahead of us. Lots of something. As I ran, I saw Nanishtar’s normally slender form slipping off in a burst of red ribbons like silken and wet underwear, revealing a gargantuan swollen and muscular fiend underneath. Her slender fingers turned to claws, rivaling Ake’s towering size while she stood in her true form, retching and chittering curses to the moons.

“Hells,” Yokgu turned his eyes to the grisly scene before us. “There’s hundreds of them.”

As we looked past the screaming monster that was formerly Nanishtar, both our throats and eyes burned from the sight of thousands of crucified women dotting the countryside before the massive fields between here and Fort Perigree. Their bodies were broken, used to every capacity until their blood flooded the streets of the village ruins. There were halves of humans, beast people, and demons alike. Each body was disemboweled, and spared the ground nothing besides rivers of sludge. Everyone stood appalled at the sight, which was surprising to me. Several Tusks barfed, while I remain with anger seeping into my soul. I knew deep down I would find that King, and he will not be spared any mercy.

Ake snapped his finger, and a large cage was brought to him as he prepared to pin the monstrous Nanishtar down. He tackled her, which worked, but she was quite powerful and I could tell his grasp was slipping. A useful tool for war when we make it past all these mutilated women, but containing it was the challenge. Yokgu hesitated, but I simply rested my weapons and prepared to have a rodeo.

With a powerful kick, Nanishtar knocked Ake into several of the corpses, signaling it was my turn. I lept on the beast after a head start, wrangling her down with mostly my strength. Her flesh was soaked in a viscous substance, while each of her limbs clawed feebly at my armor. A loud clunk of winding metal sounded somewhere over the pile of limbs. The cage!

“Down, girl!” I growled. The creature’s four jaws burst apart with fang-filled petals blooming in response, and a foul gas nearly singed my helmet off. “You’ll get your dinner later.”

My feet connected to the bloodsoaked earth as she flipped me, but I remained steady. She broke away from me, regarding me as if I was food. There wasn’t a trace of a sexy succubus in that thing anymore, I guessed. I heard these types of monsters existed and even large platoons had trouble subjugating them. However, I also knew they were thin at the waist despite all the flailing limbs attached to it. She charged at me defiantly and I dug my feet into the ground. As we collided, I reached for something and eventually my arms connected around the struggling creature. Now! I flipped her backwards into a suplex, hearing the satisfying crunch of the sniveling former Nanishtar. I always knew in my heart that I wanted to do this to the girl anyways. She fell like a ball of wriggling, wet blankets strewn out into the blood. The crunching of her bones would not be an issue, but the window of time was quickly closing! Amidst the claws scraping my armor, I caught Tusk soldiers gesturing towards the cage with ropes and chains.

“Git, kennel!” I dug my feet into the earth and bent my knees, bringing her easily into the air. A proper lift into a proper kenneling! I hurled her, ignoring the slobber and scratching from the monster as she flung into the metal wall with a thud. That was a safe lift form at its finest, I wiped my hands. The creature was contained and out of commission for now. There were devices meant for restraining the ogres placed upon her, but that unfortunately meant our healer was also gone within that metal cage.

After Ake recovered, we were on the move as if the creature within the wagon swelling with rage and chittering did not exist. Like the bodies in that city, we got over the grossness quickly. It simply was in the job description to see gruesome things, although I wish it was not. Rain and lightning began to flash above us, like white spines within a dark and bony carapace. I thought it was just the blood and the severed body parts that left this land forsaken in red at first, but the large Reaver moon descended upon us as we made it through. The path was straight forward, and I was careful to avoid looking at any of the corpses’ faces. Yokgu plugged his nose and scoffed.

“Tasteless,” He growled. Perhaps these could change his mind about destroying his women prey? “Let’s get this battle over with, eh Nameless?”

“Yeah,” I chuckled wryly, still wiping off whatever juice or thin flesh sluiced off of Nanishtar onto me. I’ve fought battles before, been ankle deep in rivers of blood and took over a hundred souls by now. Stepping over limbs and naked corpses was sometimes what soldiers like us were forced to do. Yet I never fought an ally on the battlefield, I thought. Was that the strange feeling about the monster formerly known as Nanishtar?

I had a sinking feeling about this fight. As I peered over the palisades and witnessed the soldiers digging deep trenches amongst the battle, the spiral of moons gleamed ominously over the fort with the Reaver moon dominating the land. The conditions seemed to be worse and the battle far too grand with little known factors that I knew of. Yet, sinking feelings and missing details did not pertain to me. I did not have a right to know about such things, we were all simply supposed to live or die on this battlefield tonight.