Return of the Fallen Volume 1 Chapter 49
[previous_page]
[next_page]
Author: Blue_Rat
ch49
Garn had only flown for a few hundred miles but already the Mirian Swamp had become chaotic. The ground shook and the skies trembled in all directions. All the powerful figures hidden away within the Swamp had been watching Garn’s battle and had witnessed what had happened.
With two of the strongest Sky Beasts in the Mirian Swamp now dead, a power vacuum was leftover and a shift in power was now at hand. Within the Mirian Swamp, there were about a dozen or so Sky Beasts and they immediately began battle with one another. Those that waited might miss their opportunity entirely.
Mountains began to collapse and whole forests were raised and uprooted. Not only did these Sky Beasts do battle but their followers as well. Tier 1 and Tier 2, hundreds of Limit Beasts and dozens of Earth Beasts clashed with one another, slaughtering their way to the top of the totem pole.
*BOOOOM!*
Garn heard a massive explosion from the direction he had come from.
(That was…A Beast Core.)
Garn had just recalled the Wind Beast he sunk into the lava. With everything that had happened, he had actually forgotten that the Wind Beast’s core was still filled with power. With nothing to contain it, it exploded and caused massive devastation. The pure magical power within would very quickly contaminate the ground, allowing nothing to grow, pollute the air, choking out the life that breathes it, and poison any nearby water sources, for years to come.
Garn shook his head in disappointment.
(This will affect many lives, forgive me.)
Garn had no time to deal with any of that though. Right now his only concern was the young heroes and his pupil Alice.
(I should be close but I still can’t sense anyone’s power.)
Garn stopped in his tracks.
(I don’t have time for this.)
Floating high above the clouds, Garn waved his hand and hundreds of floating crystal orbs appeared in front of him. Filling them with power Garn’s eyes glowed with golden light and he roared.
“Go!”
The hundreds of orbs mimicked the golden eyes and shined a beam of light in many directions. Separating in many directions, each one then shot away like a meteor. Garn could use these orbs like hundreds of eyes and see exactly what they saw.
Garn didn’t have to wait long as one of the orbs relayed images of Kazuki and the others fleeing for their lives, away from a swarm of Lodian Wasps. Garn sensed exactly where that orb was and found their location, just as he was about to go save them, another image appeared within his mind.
(Alice!)
Garn ignored the young heroes and flew with his fastest speed to a certain location. Landing hard on the ground, Garn came upon a Scron cub, dead and a small body wearing his apprentice’s clothes. Garn shakingly approached the body and gasped when he got a close look.
Seeing the ring he had given her long ago as well as her staff lying beside her, Garn knew in his heart it was Alice.
Garn’s knees grew wobbly and he collapsed to the ground.
“Al…Alice…This can’t be true. This can’t be, this can’t be, this can’t be.”
Over and over those words echoed within his mind. This can’t be. Garn sat there for several minutes before he once more got another image. Garn’s eyes widened in disbelief at the person he saw within his mind.
(Rust, how?)
Garn stood up, his mind filled with confusion. Rust was not only alive but in the image, he had no apparent wounds. Rust couldn’t use any healing magic but had been attacked by one of the Sky Beasts, yet he was perfectly unharmed.
(Alice is dead and Rust managed to survive. How?)
Garn looked at Alice’s body before a thought occurred to him. Turning his head, he looked at the Scron wolf which was nearly 20 feet away.
(How could this beast kill her from so far away.)
Garn approached the Scron wolf and sensed where it’s beast core was. Extending his hand, he formed a blade of lightning on it and cut the beast core out. Examining it closely he could feel small undulations of power.
(Yes, this power and this element. This creature was only a limit beast with earth elements, it couldn’t have killed Alice. She would never have taken the risk to lower her barrier around it nor land on the ground and fight it head to head. So then who killed her?)
Garn properly stored the beast core before his ring flashed once more and a small box appeared within his hands. Opening it up a green slimy fleshy creature covered in sticky tentacles lumbered forth. With a human-shaped face that looked as though it had swelled from several bug stings. The human features it had missed one important piece, which was a nose. Because of this, a gaping hole was in the middle of its face. Looking in, one could see several beating and pulsing parts. This Mind Frey was the epitome of disgusting.
Garn cut into the beast’s earth armor until he exposed the flesh of its neck. He then sent a bit of magic power into the base of the beast’s neck and the Mind Frey seemed to grow excited. The creature as though sensing this energy began to sniff with the gaping hole in its face causing the hole to expand and contract repeatedly.
Once it was released from the box, the Mind Frey didn’t hesitate. It sprung itself forth with its tentacles and attached itself at the base of the Scron wolf’s neck. Opening a mouth that wasn’t really noticeable before, sharp and jagged teeth pointing in a spiral sunk deeply into the beast’s neck.
The eyes of the creature began to glow blue and projected an image of the Scron cub’s memories. The memories played out at an incredible speed, yet Garn was able to catch every single one of them. What would take a normal lifetime to live, was watched in less than a minute. Soon A particular memory stood out to him. The Scron wolf was made to wait outside and not disturb its father the Fire Beast.
The Scron wolf grew impatient and just when he was about to enter, his father the Fire Beast came out, laughing. Next to the Fire Beast was the Wind Beast who also seemed to be in a good mood.
The Scron cub ran up to its father and asked excitedly.
“Father Father, so what did the king say?”
The Fire Beast mood turned sour and he slapped the Scron wolf cub away.
“Stupid son, keep your nose out of adult business, got it?”
The Scron wolf cub’s earth armor quickly repaired itself and he got back up excitedly.
“Hahaha Father, can’t you please tell me?”
The Fire Beast and Wind Beast both grew angry before the two chased the young cub away. After that memory not even a day had passed and the Scron cub was called upon by his father.
“Father, you wanted to see me.”
“I have something I need to be done, and you will do it. Understand me, boy?”
The Scron wolf jumped up and down in joy.
“Anything father, just say the word.”
“We have a few guests arriving today. You will find these guests and keep them in the Swamp.”
The Fire Beast then went into great detail as to what Kazuki and the others looked like, shocking Garn to the core.
“You may not kill a single one of the six I just described to you but anyone else you may do with them as you please. Do you understand?”
The cub grew more and more excited as it nodded its head repeatedly.
“Yes yes yes, keep the 6 here and I can play with the rest, got it.”
The Fire Beast seemed annoyed with his son but continued anyway.
“Wait for my signal and then go, after that…”
The Fire Beast went on about a few more unimportant things. Finally, the memories showed what happened later that day. It’s initial tracking of Alice and the others and its fights with them as well. All the way until Alice slew it with a lightning strike through the sword on its back. That’s where the memories faded and turned to black.
Garn had gone through every single memory from the cub’s first to its last in less than a minute and what he discovered left him shaken to the core.
(So I didn’t mishear the Fire Beast’s final words before I killed it, he really did mention a king. Even his son knew that there was some type of talks going on between them. The Fire Beast even described what Asuna and the others looked like in perfect detail. They knew we were coming. Someone told them but for what purpose. Why kill me and keep the heroes? Which king are they referring to?)
The Mind Frey fell off of the Scron wolf’s neck and shriveled up into a dry husk and died. The sound of it shriveling brought Garn back from his thoughts and he looked at Alice’s body.
The way she died, so gruesome, who could be so cruel.)
Garn had now confirmed that Alice was not killed by the Scron cub but that left him with more questions.
(If it wasn’t the Scron wolf then who.)
Garn thought about Rust. Asuna and her group were only a few miles away, while Rust was even less than that. Garn thought about the lightning strike that had brought his attention this way in the first place and the amount of time it took him to get here. It had only been a few minutes. He had just missed the culprit.
(The person who was in charge of security, the person who knew exactly where we were going. The person who escaped from a Sky Beast completely unharmed. Rust, was this your doing, why?)
Once more, Garn looked at Alice’s body.
(Rust, did you kill my Alice?)
[previous_page]
[next_page]
Comment (0)