28 The Queen's Journey, pt. 8

Eliara's POV

A little while earlier.

The snakeman Ker'Tallen had just saved her and her mother.

It was a reality that on any other day, she'd regard with a scowl, but today, she reacted to with shaking hands.

The battle was raging around them, it had not taken long for things to turn brutal.

Within the cart, Eliara could hear the beastmens death cries, how Theresa and her friends were already struggling.

Would the Saviors not do as they were supposed to? She wondered. Actually, without them this battle would have been over before it began.

But, already she and her mother had come close to death.

The reality of the situation sunk in, how hopeless this fight was.

And how she was powerless to salvage it.

A hand wrapped itself around her right wrist.

Eliara, surprised, looked up to find compassionate, amethyst eyes staring back at her.

"You know, I nearly cried the first day you trained." Cerena said.

Eliara raised an eyebrow.

"It's true." She continued. "I thought back to all the days I spent in Nova's slums trying to scrounge up some money to feed myself with. How I had learned to fight to avoid being abused by the more, shall we say, desperate citizens. And in your eyes, I saw myself several years ago. I hated it."

"Oh, okay?" Eliara wasn't sure what to say. Either that, or she was too busy focusing on her impending doom.

"But, at some point, I remember seeing you and thinking 'wow, my daughter isn't half-bad'." She gave Eliara a melancholy smile. "I know you grew up resenting some of my actions, but everything I did, I did because I thought it would be best for you. And that's what I'm doing now."

From nowhere, Cerena pulled an elegant sword made of royal white steel.

"M-Mother?"

"I… I do believe that our time has come, sadly." Cerena said. "So, in preparation, could we not have some fun before going out? Would you like it if you died without so much as one bead of blood spilt in return? I don't think you would."

With that, Cerena held Eliara's hand and squeezed tightly. But, Eliara looked away.

"But… I can't do anything." Eliara said. "Last time, with the terreth…"

"That's not true. I don't think I've ever said this, but I'll say it now. You are a prodigy, my dearest daughter."

Eliara's eyes popped open and for a moment she couldn't hear the battle outside.

"You've known me your whole life." Cerena said. "You know I do not lie. My court mage has acknowledged it herself. You are the best, young mage in all of Nova. And now, it's time we prove that right."

Cerena kicked open the cart's side door, while Eliara was still trying to compose herself.

"Wha, what!?"

"Look around!" A strange intensity had entered Cerena's voice. "Our enlisted, these adventurers who signed on to give their lives for a pair of royal strangers, they need us. They need you."

Finally, as Cerena stepped off the cart, sword in hand, she turned once more and placed a soft hand on Eliara's shoulder.

"Be their light. Be their strength." With that, dressed in a silky white dress no one would dream of fighting in, Cerena charged forwards into a small group of Griffins.

"My que-, Cerena!" Theresa yelled from behind. Eliara turned and saw that Theresa was currently fighting someone who could only be the leader of this small army.

Someone she should not have turned her eyes from.

The large wolfman, with a scar running down his left eye and black coated arms thick as tree trunks slashed Theresa's shoulder with his half-moon blade.

"Aagh!" Theresa stumbled back, instinctively firing off a ball of flame that staggered the man, but he had her right where he wanted her.

Until a strange, green beam connected itself to Theresa. Both of them looked at the source, and found a single, determined looking girl staring back at them with her arm outstretched.

With a smirk, Theresa rose back and called out.

"[Healing Stream]!" She yelled.

"Right!" Eliara spun as she changed spells, making sure no Griffins were on their way to her.

Not needing to see Theresa to maintain the spell, she frantically searched the ground until she found a half-moon sword lying there.

She had never used this weapon before, but anything was better than fighting bare-handed. All she needed anyways was to block any incoming attacks, long enough to retaliate with a spell.

Theresa fought strongly. Cerena had once told Eliara that the blonde elf was capable of being a Savior herself if she wanted.

That claim was proving true, as spurred on by a surge of healing and stamina, she pushed the wolfman back.

"Alright, I've got this, go help the others!" Theresa said.

Eliara spun in place, looking around the crazed battlefield.

Decena was in the distance. She had accumulated a large number of scrapes and cuts, a busted lip, a swollen eye. She was in bad shape.

Eliara was by her side in an instant.

Again, the stream of yellow light, changing occasionally into green surprised both Decena and her enemies.

"There ya go." Decena muttered before lunging forwards, stabbing one Griffin, using his body as a shield and stabbing another.

"Agh!" To Eliara's left, a snakeman's voice cried out. Ker'Tallen had been pushed onto the ground and was about to be crushed underneath someone's warhammer.

Eliara gulped. She hadn't used this spell before, but now was the perfect time to test it.

[Push] She recited in her mind, and after pulling her arm back, she threw it forwards launching the incoming Griffin into the air. With that, she could feel she was beginning to go lower, and lower into her magic reserves. But she didn't care.

She connected a [Healing Stream] to Ker'Tallen before searching for someone else to aid.

It didn't take long before she found Jin, fighting side by side with her own mother surprisingly, in the distance.

She walked over to them, strafing by falling Griffins.

As she connected [Assist] to Jin's body, she began to admire how her mother fought.

She was as elegant in battle as she was in speeches. Like water, she would flow from one enemy to the next, weaving her body between their swords, dodging rather than parrying, like a regular fighter.

Jin, next to her, was shooting arrows. He looked like a machine, wild-eyed and desperate, picking off anyone he saw.

She switched over to Cerena and settled into a calm pace.

We've got this. We've got this! She thought.

There was no way the Griffins could win, even with their numbers. Which were rapidly decreasing.

She couldn't see it clearly, but someone else had joined the battle on the Enlisted's side, finishing off stragglers and ambushers in secret.

When one of the last crowds of Griffins dissipated, Eliara saw Decena standing next to a short, brown-skinned girl with unruly, long black hair.

Eliara hadn't seen her too often, but considering the role she was playing here, that probably spoke more in her favor than against her.

The battle was ending.

After all, this wasn't a full-scale Griffin army, just a platoon meant to take out a small caravan.

They had won. The remaining Griffins would be dealt with swiftly, but for all intents and purposes, they had won.

Or so she thought, until a black monster, like a flying cloud moved through the field, swept past her.

It sent a chill down her spine, how quickly the monster moved.

But that chill travelled all the way throughout her body when she saw the monster's intention.

That red-eyed beast had flown behind Mariana and currently held a knife out, embedded in the little girl's back.

"NO!" Eliara saw it happen and screamed, but her scream did nothing to stop it.

"That was nice, but I have grown impatient. It's time we end you all." It's guttural voice said.

Momentarily, both the Griffins and the Enlisted stopped fighting as they watched Mariana slide off it's black blade.

Decena, who had been standing right in front of Mariana, was staring intently at the fallen girl.

Slowly, like someone spiraling into insanity, Decena cried out, her face turning as angry as anyone Eliara had ever seen.

The monster looked pleased, until she rushed it.

The redhead kicked it back and without sparing a second, started swinging her sword at it.

The other two monsters, who Eliara just noticed, started laughing, but soon began engaging both Griffins and Enlisted alike.

"Goran!" In the distance, Olyneces yelled.

"I know!" The Savior yelled back, as he ran up to one of the two beasts with incredible speed. Olyneces went to do the same.

But, in spite of this chaos, Eliara's eyes went right back to the brown-skinned girl on the floor.

Of all of them, for the youngest to have died. That stung Eliara tremendously.

But, just as she was about to fall over, crying for this girl, she moved.

More gargles of blood emerged from the little girl's mouth. By Charlotte, she's still alive! Eliara thought.

It was on instinct that she ran forwards, running past confused warriors who didn't know who to fight first, reaching Mariana.

[Healing Stream] She thought, knowing she didn't have the magic to do anything better.

However, this action was in vain. The girl would be dead before [Healing Stream] could do any real reparation.

She was done for. Unless…

It was now, that Eliara had a thought. What does it mean to be a prodigy? Is it not an adjective used to describe heroes?

In that case, what does it mean to be a hero? Courage, bravery and, of course, self-sacrifice.

Eliara gulped. She remembered one of her earliest lessons.

…

"Stop shaking." The court mage said.

"I can't help it, I'm excited!" Eliara replied with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah. They always are." The court mage shook her head. "Fine then. You're ready to learn?"

"Yeah!"

"First," The court mage said, "a few rules. Break any of these, and all lessons cease. Understood?" Eliara nodded. "Number one. Only use your magic around me, where I can supervise. I don't want to hear about how you set someone's kitchen table on fire. Number two. Commit to whatever spell you're casting. Spell failure can often result in unsavory accidents. Explosions and the like. I'm sure you wouldn't want that to happen, right? Finally,"

The court mage breathed deep.

"You stop when I say you stop. If you reach 'none', you'll be knocked out. But, if you try to use a spell that requires FAR more magic than what you've got in you, that leads to Magic Expulsion. Your body, in recompense for the lacking magic, offers a piece of itself to compensate. You could end up without an arm, or without your heart and die. So, when I say we're done for the day, we're done for the day."

Eliara looked at the girl, and suddenly, the little girl was looking back at her.

She glanced at Theresa, fighting the Griffin Commander in the distance. She glanced at Cerena, who was on her way to go help Olyneces fight one of those beasts.

No one else was around. No one else could help.

Concentrated, she knelt down besides Mariana, and placed her head on her lap.

"You're going to be okay." She reassured, trying not to think about whether she'd be okay, considering what she was about to do.

Looking down with little to no magic left, she glanced at Mariana, and recited the words in her mind.

[Burst Heal].

Magic Exhaustion, reaching 0M and losing consciousness, hit her first.

She fell back, knowing that when she woke up, she'd have lost something integral to her…

If she woke up at all.