Return of the Fallen Volume 2 Chapter 1
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch1
“Lift with your legs and not your back you dumb worm.”
“Yes sir!”
“And you three, if you don’t get off your lazy asses and get back to work your wages for the day, will be cut in half, do you understand?”
Two men and one woman were standing around having a chat but as soon as they heard their boss’s voice, a chill went down their spines. The three walked over toward a large slab of stone, nearly 30 feet long and 6 feet wide. Pointing their staffs at the stone slab, they each willed their power forth.
One wielded the earth element and with a wave of her staff, she reduced the weight of the stone slab by almost a fourth. The two men next to her both wielded the element of wind and unleashed a powerful as well as a controlled torrent of wind, which in turn reduced the weight of the stone slab even further. The man that had been struggling to lift the slab before, now with the weight reduced to 5 or 600lbs, picked the hefty slab up and carried it longways on his back. The man looked back at the three Mages and apologized profusely.
“I’m sorry about that. Were I a bit stronger, the foremen wouldn’t have chewed you guys out like that.”
One of the Mages was about to agree with him when the female Mage heavily elbowed him in the side, shutting him up on the spot. With a gentle smile, she nodded.
“No worries, we were taking it far too easy. Just hurry up and deliver that slab, we’ve got a few more to go and then we can hit the bar.”
With a nod, the coolie headed off in a certain direction with steady steps.
After walking for a while, the man turned down a certain street and the mood shifted from easy breezy to downright gloomy. The houses and businesses along this street were all empty and abandoned. There were no kids playing, no wives out and about shopping, and no traders or vendors hawking their wares. The only people who traveled up and down this street were other day laborers who similar to him carried massive stone slabs on their backs.
Some had damaged ones and returned from whence they came but for slabs like his, that was cut to perfection, he would make 2 whole Zeni per every slab that he delivered undamaged.
For a poor coolie such as himself who only earned a few silvers a month, to make 2 gold Zeni just to deliver a single slab was like a fortune falling from the heavens. Today alone he had already earned 40 Zeni and when the day was done he would possibly have 48 or more. This was enough money to last him almost 3 years, 4 if he lived modestly.
He could understand why the mood on the street was gloomy though. It had been a little over a week since the disaster and people were still suffering. The houses and businesses along this street, for example, had been affected. A few days ago this place was lively but a deadly phenomenon had swiftly killed several hundred people in this vicinity.
They had been going about their lives as per usual when out of nowhere many had just dropped dead. People that went to try and help them, as soon as they got near, they too would fall to the ground dead. Everyone panicked and ran away which had been the only reason they survived. Only after Master Garn arrived and performed his miracles did the place become safe once more.
After traveling for nearly thirty minutes, the coolie came to a large clearing in the middle of the city. 3000 feet in front of him, there was a large cone-shaped ditch that stretched outward for a few miles. At the tip of this cone-shaped ditch was the remnants of the palace.
The King had yet to publicly address the people as to what had happened. The only thing people got were rumors. Some said it was a Magic Beast that somehow snuck into the city and attacked, while others say it was a Mage testing some secret taboo magic.
Either way, thousands of houses and hundreds of businesses, anything and everything that was in that cone-shaped ditch had completely disappeared. Not even a pebble was left behind. If that wasn’t bad enough, a large fire had broken out that night as well and burned a few thousand more homes. The devastation and loss of life, at the moment, was estimated anywhere between 15,000 to 17,000 people.
People throughout the city were scared and uncertain about the future and many were unsure of what to do. At the moment the people needed reassurance and support but King David had not said a word nor had he appeared since that night. All the people could do was pray, hold their families close to them and go about their lives one day at a time.
The coolie came to a certain spot and unloaded the huge stone slab. A man was already there and took note of the brand placed atop of the stone slab, confirming which company the coolie worked for. Scribbling a few more things down, the man confirmed everything was correct before handing over two gold Zeni to the coolie.
The coolie held the money to his chest in excitement and smiled. Looking at the hundreds of men and women delivering more and more stone slabs, the man couldn’t help but grow curious and ask the other guy who confirmed his delivery.
“Um, excuse me but can I ask you a question?”
The man who was jotting stuff down looked up at the coolie.
“I’ve already informed your foreman that I have counted all inventory from his shop and once everything has been delivered he will receive a separate payment afterward. If you or anyone else ask me about money, I swear to the gods above I’m gonna start confiscating every Zeni I’ve ever paid out, you got that?”
The coolie gripped his money in fright and stuffed it into his chest pocket as fast as lightning. Nodding his head in agreement, he swore inwardly.
(Never ever ever, will I ask this man about money.)
The man looked back down and jotted a few more things on some paper but he could see out of the corner of his eye that the coolie still stood there. Adjusting his glasses he looked back up with annoyance.
“What is it?”
Swallowing hard the coolie asked.
“I don’t mean to be putting my nose where it don’t go but these slabs, what are you doing with them?”
(Oh that’s all he wanted to know.)
*Haaa*
“I suppose there’s no harm telling you. Look over there, do you see those Mages?”
The coolie looked in the direction the man pointed at and he indeed saw several dozen Mages all standing around a bunch of slabs. Every few seconds a stream of lightning or fire would spark up in front of them and land on the slab before them.
“Those Mages are inscribing some sort of spell into those slabs. You haven’t forgotten those weird and sudden deaths a few days ago, have you?”
The coolie shook his head.
“I don’t know too much about magic but apparently this huge empty space is the cause of it and those slabs are meant to deal with it somehow.”
The coolie’s face went as pale as a sheet of paper and he pulled his shirt over his mouth and nose and almost shouted.
“Wah, is…is it safe to be this close, what if it gets us?”
The man with glasses almost burst out with laughter but controlled himself.
“You fool, if it wasn’t safe, do you think anybody would be around here?”
The coolie cautiously lowered his shirt and looked around at the empty air.
“I…I suppose.”
“Hmph, you suppose right. Just look over there, those Mages are getting real close to that empty space right now and they appear to be fine.”
The coolie looked near that huge ditch and indeed a few Mages were lifting several stone slabs with magic but what neither of the two men could see, is that these Mages had covered themselves with invisible barriers.
Every step they took was actually fraught with danger. As they drew closer and closer, small high pitched screeches were heard as the saturated magic kept tearing tiny pebble-sized holes into their barriers. The Mages had to repair these on the spot for if they were exposed for more than a few seconds, they could immediately drop dead. Were that to happen, the Mages around them could be affected as well.
The overwhelming amount of magical energy would seep into their bodies like a poison and corrupt their Mage cores. With all of that excess energy, their body would instinctively try and burn away all that power causing their magic to go out of control. Whatever their main element was would lead to their death. If they used fire, their body would burst into flame. If they used earth then maybe the gravity around them would increase by 10 fold and it would crush them, there was no telling.
Mages would suffer greatly but it was no better for non-Mages. Those that had no Mage core, regular humans, were all that energy to enter their bodies, it would be like a million tiny blades shredding them from the inside out. Muscles would rip, bones would crumble apart like leaves and blood would boil. In that scenario, the only thing you could hope for would be to die faster.
Not only did these Mages have to constantly repair their barriers but they would also have to maintain a barrier around the stone slabs while at the same time transporting them near that empty ditch. A distance of a few hundred feet should only take Mages a few seconds to cover but because of the concentration and focus it took to maintain two barriers whilst also carrying the stone slab, the time it took to reach a certain spot spanned nearly 10 minutes.
The Mages all extended their staffs at once and made the slab float vertically. At a width of 6 feet and a length of 30 feet, they took this stone slab and with their powers combined, they stabbed it down deep within the ground at their feet. The stone wall sunk 5 feet into the ground but that wasn’t enough. One of the Mages barked at the others.
“Again!”
And so once more they hammered the slab down and it sunk another 5 feet.
“Again!”
The Mage yelled and they all complied. This repeated a few more times until only about 4 feet of the slab remained unburied. The mage’s all stood around this stone slab and placed the tip of their staff onto its surface. With one last push of power, they activated the stone slab together.
*boom boom boom*
A sound similar to a small drum pulsed continuously from the stone slab. One after another, the Mages took a few steps back and released their barriers from the stone slab. Beneath the surface, the stone slab glowed a dull grey and a torrent of energy began rushing into it from its surroundings.
The mages all sighed in relief.
*Haa*
“With this one installed, it should last for a few hours until the excess energy causes it to fall apart and we have to replace it.”
One of the mages complained.
“Sir, how many more times do we have to replace these before we’re done? If this goes on for too much longer I don’t think I can hang on.”
The Mage in charge looked around this large cone-shaped ditch. He could see several thousand stone slabs similar to the one he had just put into the ground surrounding the perimeter of the empty ditch. They had been working day and night to put these slabs into the ground but every few hours, the overbearing energy would destroy them and they would have to be replaced.
“Look around the perimeter. We’ve been working for over a week and we’re only a fifth of the way there. Add the fact that we have to continuously replace these slabs and you’re looking at at least 2 months until it’s at least stable.”
“Sir, why can’t we make better slabs then, instead of these stupid flimsy pieces of crap.”
The Mage in charge shook his head.
“We have to use these for now. They cost almost nothing and can be made in about 10 minutes. If we want something permanent the cost would be astronomical and the time it would take…”
The Mage shook his head again.
“I just don’t know.”
The Mages left the dangerous area and finally, they lowered their barriers and took a breath of fresh air but just as they went to sit down, a coolie came over and laid another slab at their feet. The Mage that was in charge sighed bitterly and slapped his thigh.
*Haaa*
“Back to work.”
While people were busy with the after-effects of the disaster day and night, a young woman walked into a large room and came before her King and knelt down.
The King had his eyes closed and was focusing on a problem within his Mage core when he sensed the woman’s presence. Opening his eyes, although the expression he wore was subdued, the woman felt a dominating air pressuring her.
“You have something to report, speak.”
The young woman gulped hard before she bowed.
“Yes Master Gar…Er, I mean your Majesty. It’s about the city of Sekou.”
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