“What’s all this?” The one who gave the order earlier turned to a blood-red robed magus.

“Presumably a spell to produce smoke.” The middle-aged magus guessed. Smoke-type spells existed within the four elements, but none of them had an effect such as this spell. Somehow, the mist from this spell was dark enough to prevent light from shining through it. It was almost as if all that were afflicted by this spell were struck blind by it! The magus was also extremely surprised to see that the mist wasn’t able to be dispersed, magically or naturally.

Chanting, the magus thrusted both palms forward and erected a barrier. Encompassing every single bandit, the barrier managed to prevent the mist from seeping in and affecting them.

No longer threatened by the mist, the magus took a while to study it. “It doesn’t appear to be affiliated with any of the four primary elements.” He declared.

“Rumors say that Madoshi is on his way to Karth. Perhaps this magic is his work.”

“Who’s Madoshi? What four primary elements?” A heavily bearded man demanded.

The man was rather boorish, the magus would say. Between liked or disliked, this man was most definitely in the latter. If not for the mission entrusted to him, the magus would’ve gotten rid of this man a long time ago—he’d rather not speak with imbeciles who knew nothing of magic. It couldn’t be helped in this case, though. Having a powerful magus in the enemy’s ranks was dangerous and required everyone knowing just a little bit more about magic for their survival.

Simplifying the matter took a great deal more energy than the magus liked, how was he supposed to explain to a musclehead like this one on something as complicated as magic?

“Water, wind, earth, and fire. Those four elements make up the major schools of maguscraft and provide a foundation for our understanding of magic. Magic isn’t limited to those four primaries, other forms exist such as the ones granted by the Gods: Divine and Light magic. One who has sufficiently observed the souls of others can utilize animancy; some magi are even capable of bending space to their will.”

Seeing that only a few members understood what he was saying (not like he cared which one of them did or didn’t. A muscle headed brigand was in the end, a muscled headed brigand), the magus continued to explain.

“The majority of magi fall under these four elements, myself included. Light magic is something limited to only priests and monks, and space magic is used explicitly in barriers, magic arrays, and formations. Practitioners of divine magic are exceedingly rare. To my knowledge, only our Archiereus and Madoshi from Sovereign are capable of it. Madoshi was said to be attempting to study a near-forbidden God, Lachdir Skraneus. Of all the Gods to have been blessed by, the Abyssal God grants the most power. It is of my opinion that the magus protecting them is Madoshi.”

“What if that’s Madoshi’s student? A magus of his power wouldn’t have sent this few knights out. Their arrangement looks more like an advance scout than anything else.”

“Unlikely. I’ve never heard of Madoshi having any student. Anyone capable of divine magic would be unable to learn anything else. No magus would study that branch of magic without reason. The magic bestowed by Lachdir Skraneus is forbidden, Madoshi has his own reasons for learning such divine magic. I heard he was oathbound to never divulge the magic either.” The magus refuted.

“Then what if another has independently divined the Abyssal God’s magic?”

“Were it that simple then we wouldn’t have so few divine magic practitioners. Madoshi was an archmagister in the past. His worship of the Dark God meant having to renounce all his achievements. The regular magus has no hope in emulating his path.”

“Then what’s Madoshi doing? A magus like him could give us the runaround in a snap, why run with the knights? He can’t be thinking he can take us all at once? Only Archmagister Kebrilio stands a chance to wipe our numbers out.” A bandit asked.

“It’s possible. The Abyssal God oversees the death of a soul. The spell “Abyssal Mount” would enable a magus to run faster than they could fly.” The magus replied.

“How was our ambush discovered then? What happened just now seems more accidental than a reverse ambush. I don’t see why he’d save the lives of those knights still if he could escape by himself at any given time.” Another magus asked.

The high-ranking magus and the leader of the bandits glanced at one another. The two of them had the very same thought:

“He’s protecting someone.”

“Sounds ‘bout right. The prince could masquerade as an ordinary knight and pretend to be an advance scout. They’d be safe while we’re attacking the empty convoy behind them. It’s a smart plan. Very smart.” The bandit leader nodded.

“Hehe, we’re in luck then. Our original plan to attack the bodyguards would’ve been a failure, even if we defeated them. How cunning the Sovereignians are. The god of luck looks down upon us today. We’ll meet them again somewhere in this wasteland.” The magus smiled.

“But first we need to get out from here. Do you think you’d be able to handle that Madoshi?”

The brigand’s words caused every magi there to stare blankly at him.

An archmagister wasn’t an opponent the magi could deal with, even with their numbers. Especially if this archmagister was bestowed power by Lachdir Skraneus. None of the magi dared say they’d be able to stop Madoshi. The bandits were still stuck in the dark mist for crying out loud.

On the other side, Elric was somehow still on his horse. His entire body was trembling with pain and his arms were practically without sensation, making it a miracle how he was still holding onto the reins. It was so bad that Jack had to maneuver himself near Elric’s horse so he could grab onto his belt to stop him from falling off.

No one dared to stop, not while they were so close to the bandits. There wasn’t a safe place to hide within this wasteland, let alone escape.

As knights, the group hadn’t any intention to head back in the direction of the main group. Like the knight who ran off in a different direction before, they were honorbound to do what they had to for the safety of the others. Elric wasn’t a knight, but even he could understand what the others were thinking.

So the group continued onward. The repeated beating of the hooves on the ground was all Elric could hear as they traveled. It was only when the sun had at last disappeared beyond the distant horizon and the horses were far too tired to run did the group take a break.

Their maps had another campsite marked nearby, so that’s where the group decided to travel to. Given how heavy their armor was, the knights decided to walk to their destination so the horses could rest. Only Elric was given preferential treatment and allowed to continue on horseback.

The very first stars shined brightly in the night sky above. A faint moonglow basked the wasteland below in a soft light. Finally at the campsite, the knights and Jack had Elric situated in a place untouched by the wind while they busied themselves with their own respective tasks. Some knights were assigned as sentries while others were tasked with taking care of the horses. It was fortunate that this campsite had a well to draw water from. In a situation like theirs, water was an extremely important resource to have right now.

The tired horses were the first to drink this precious water. As warhorses, it was essential that they regain their strength as quickly as possible. As knights, they all knew how important it was to have the horses be treated promptly. Only Elric was given the chance to drink before the horses.

Later that night, Elric found himself relaxing on the hillside and staring at the night sky. In one hand was a canteen filled with water—supplied to him by one of the knights. As he took a swig from it, Elric began to think about life. How in the world did he, the son of a grocer from a nowhere town, end up in a life-or-death chase like this?

If he had to point the finger at somebody or something, he’d definitely point it at Victor. Everything started the day when Victor stumbled into town. Now that he thought about it, what was Victor even doing right now?

He laughed. What else but drinking and sleeping? What else was Victor even capable of besides those two activities? He’d drink til he knocked out and sleep til it was time to drink again. Elric was sure his teacher wasn’t capable of anything else.

Thinking about Victor soon brought Elric to memories of his father. A man of principles, his father was. The man basically lived life on a detailed but routine schedule. Every day once he woke, he’d prepare the store for opening. He’d work until closing—which was also always at the same time—and then he’d go home and prepare to sleep. Influenced by his father’s habits, Elric thought himself to be pretty similar and set in his ways.

And yet here he was today. Sleeping under the roofless sky without knowledge of when danger would strike next. And who was responsible for him being here?

It was most likely his other teacher, the high and majestic Princess Crazy. If not for her, would he really be caught up in an affair like this? Just thinking about her pained him and made him restless. The time he spent suffering in that laboratory of hers sent shivers down his spine and soul.

He shifted his thoughts elsewhere. Jack was here now with two blankets in hand.

The first blanket was unfurled onto the ground so Jack could carry an exhausted Elric onto it. The second blanket was then gently draped over Elric.

The fact that he was given two blankets confused Elric. He knew that the earlier panic meant there was a shortage of supplies. Him having two blankets definitely meant one knight would definitely be without one tonight. “What about you guys?”

“Relax, we’ll manage. The others insisted I give you an extra one anyways. You’re the reason why we’re alive, so it makes sense that everyone would treat you well like a patron saint.”

He stared wistfully at the other knights. “It’s on you now to save them from this forsaken land.”

Jack turned to walk away, but not before saying a few more words. “It all depends on you now.”

It wasn’t spoken loudly, but the silence of the night made it so his voice stood out particularly amongst the rest. Some of the nearby knights had been within earshot and were already turning to look at Elric.

The darkness of the night made it impossible for Elric to see the faces of the knight, but he could at least sense the amount of confidence they had in him.

Confidence by itself isn’t a bad thing, but confidence also brought unwanted pressure. Something Elric didn’t want right now. He turned his attention back to the night sky to think.

It all depended on him? Elric didn’t even think he had the power to help himself, let alone others. He wasn’t even as skilled as an apprentice. And these were knights, how was it all on him? Their confidence in him would surely lead to their deaths if Elric didn’t have the power they thought he had.

For the first time in his life, Elric began to wish for more power, power that was entirely his own to use for the sake of others.

The pressure was rising, but something new was also starting to well up inside of him. It was like a calling. It was his responsibility to grow stronger.

And so, under the blanket given to him by Jack and the blanket of stars in the sky, Elric began to fall asleep.

Perhaps tomorrow would give him an answer to all his problems.