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CHAPTER SEVEN: BATTLE

I walked—rather, I ran—down the stairs of the library, tucking the book I had stolen into my pack and looked around the corner towards the gate. The city guards were running around doing their best to prevent the wall from falling. I shifted my position to get a better view of the events: there were around ten guards reinforcing the main gate with stone, as well as guards running up the wall with simple guns to attempt to kill the attack force, or even weaken it. I looked at some of the other platforms of the gate and saw something very peculiar. What’s this? Is that an elemental user on that platform? I saw a brief flash of light as several fireballs suddenly formed from a nearby lantern and orbited him. In a few movements, he directed the fireballs at the force I could not see from this side of the wall. This can’t be good…if there is one elemental user—especially a fire aligned user—there are bound to be more…which means that the Rebels may not be able to take the city easily…or at all.
Knowing the strength an elemental user had versus normal humans that were not warded against their magic; I felt I had to act. I ran up to the gate and leaped onto the ladder leading up to the platform the man throwing fireballs was on. Stopping along the way up, I pulled my knife out of its sheath and put it between my teeth, then continued climbing. As I neared the top, I slowed and made my approach subtle. I climbed onto the top of the platform, and as I had desired, the man did not realize I had joined him. With a quick movement, I brought my knife to his throat and whispered into his ear, “I am sorry, but I will have to ask you to stop trying to prevent the Rebels from entering this town.” The man continually struggled to get free, but I had pinned his two arms to his back with my other hand. “Oh, and it would be such a help to me if you stopped struggling.” A wry smile formed on my face as I saw the fear in his eyes. Out of pity, I ended his suffering right then as I slit his throat. He made a faint gurgling noise and fell to the ground, with blood pouring out of his mouth. His eyes had rolled back into their sockets and his hands loosened themselves. I chuckled to myself… Worthless man; I killed him with no trouble whatsoever… if this is the real power elemental users possess, I shall take over the Elemental Islands by myself. I looked down at the man’s neck and saw a ruby pendant glowing faintly around his neck. Ahah! I see he was attempting to amplify his strength…it didn’t work very well. I suppose I will just take this. I imagine it will be worth quite a bit with the Rebels. The wry smile returned to my face. I positioned his body so that it lay there with his face up, his feet straight, and his arms crossed across his chest. I took the lantern from its stand, opened it up, and tossed the burning oil onto his hands and his legs. Almost immediately, a ring of fire surrounded each of his limbs, and when it finally touched his blood, the red liquid ignited and traced back to his neck. When the flames reached his neck, his entire body combusted into garnet-red flames.
I looked off the platform at the Rebel attack force, and suddenly realized the truth in Jonathan’s words. There must be at least 5,000 troops at this main wall, and about a third of them were armed with mortars, grenade launchers, fire cannons, and other explosives. I stared at the troops for about thirty more seconds when suddenly the gate exploded in a mass of liquid fire, smoke, and wood. I looked onto the town side of the gate and saw almost all the guards who were attempting to keep the gate up crushed and burning under the destroyed gate. The first squadron of troops ran in spraying an odd liquid onto the flames, immediately extinguishing the flame but also burning through the debris of the gate like acid. As they took their positions on either side of the gate, the main force of the Rebels marched in. The front line was armed with two and a half foot long swords and a small pistol. The flanks and middle of the force was armed with daggers and rifles. By the looks of it, the ammunition in the rifles was Grade B., Flame Iron Shells. I realized this as one of the men in the force saw a fleeing guard and shot him from twenty meters. When the man crashed into the ground, his clothing was already burning, but there was only a small amount of blood coming from a small, shallow hole in his back. As I stood there, a group of soldiers saw me and pointed their shots at me. Realizing their intentions, I tried to find cover, but they fired too quickly. Well…they are skilled in marksmanship alright… At that point, I expected to be hit by several bullets in the chest, have my skin combust, and have my stunned body fall back into the flames still raging on the man’s body, but instead, the glowing ruby pendant I had retrieved from his body flashed, and the flames from his body flew towards the pendant and circulated around it, forming a thin disk. I then saw the bullets hit the disk and explode on contact. But instead of creating a large explosion, the fire created was immediately drawn into the disk and controlled there. I barely heard the order from one of the men to hold their fire as I was so surprised by the effects of the ruby pendant.
When I regained my senses, I found myself standing on the gate platform before an impressive looking man, which I assumed to be the General of the force. “State your name,” he ordered.
“Raphael Kenson, I am here on business to—“
“Raphael! I have heard about you, son. You are here in Gyric researching an alloy believed to have been created and developed here. In addition to researching it, you were to find the recipe for creating it, isn’t that right, son?”
“Yes sir. I assume you are the—“
“The General of the Beta Fire Battalion, yes I am.”
“Good. May I have a word with you on the ground? I need to discuss with you my findings on the alloy I was sent for…”
“Let us find a more suitable place to discuss it first,” he replied. I nodded as he started down the ladder and headed to an inn.

CHAPTER EIGHT: CONTROL

“So, the town of Gyric is now being infiltrated by the Rebel troops, correct?” I asked the General.
“Aye, and for the record, just call me Kane,” he replied.
“Very well, Kane. I did not manage to find anything on the alloy, but I did find several things in the library including a notebook of findings in the mine in Faseak and several books on the elements. If we can train our troops to be versed in the arts of the elements—“
“—we can finally even out the playing field for this war,” Kane finished for me.
“Correct.”
“But what would be needed for such a mass training?”
“I do not know. If you noticed, I found a ruby pendant around one of the Imperial elemental users, so perhaps those have something to do with teaching people to use the elements? It is just a thought, even though the man seemed proficient in casting—although not so much in protecting one’s life—yet he still wore it. Perhaps it is used as an amplifier?”
“I do not know, son…we will have to assign researchers onto the job. But keep in mind the fact that, generally, people are raised in an area that is dense enough in the radiation and end up being able to use the elements. I believe the age when the radiation becomes strong enough to control is ten. If we would have to expose our men to the elements for ten years, not only would the time frame put us at a vulnerability, but it would also be difficult to keep a settlement going in one of the stronger places, seeing how all the food must be grown and eaten there,” Kane said with a doubtful tone in his voice.
“True, Kane, but perhaps we could use things—“ I picked up the pendant and showed it to him. “—to amplify or quicken the exposure time. By finding a source of the element that radiates somewhere, finding a way to capture and hold it, then use the crystals in such an apparatus that it amplifies the surrounding air. Perhaps we can create a machine that will send accelerated particles into a man’s skin, augment the radiation to the point that it enters the bloodstream, into the heart, infuses with the heart, thus the heart providing a stable supply of the radiation—just as it happens naturally.”
“Respectable theory, Raphael. But, remember that we are limited in our resources, both time and materials. Not to mention we would have to acquire a large amount of the elemental crystals. I don’t know about you, but I have no idea as to where we could obtain these—save for finding a way to rob the Imperial cities or finding enough elemental users to kill and steal the pendants from.”
“Hmm…maybe this city has some form of the apparatus we are looking for. If we can find something similar, modify it to our needs, and then attempt to infuse our troops, it would save the time of learning how to build and actually constructing an apparatus.”
“Aye, sounds like a good idea to me.” He motioned for one of his lieutenants. “You, send out a search party for anything that seems to have to do with the elements. Destroy nothing in your search; just because it looks useless to you does not mean it really is. Report back to me in three hours. If you do not return, I will assume you are dead or captured. You are dismissed, soldier.” The man saluted and walked away. I could faintly hear him calling out to a squad of troops and giving them orders. About a minute later, I could hear them talking amongst themselves as they walked away. Kane turned back towards me and said, “Rank is a powerful thing, Raphael. Commit yourself, and it will become a useful weapon against your enemies. Mind this though: an enemy sees who is giving the orders, you are worth more in kill points, you understand?” He laughed to himself.
A wry smile formed on my face, “Ah…I take that to mean you’ve been in the sights of an enemy sniper before, eh? Ah, by the look in your eyes you’ve been shot by an enemy sniper as well.”
“You’re quite observant. Aye, I was. Three years back, we were at the battle of Yeio, on the Trade Islands. It was quite an important port to have. If we could own it, we not only controlled a section of the channels, but also could purchase high quality goods from Daliec easily, without having to risk an escort fleet. I was giving orders to the captains of several of our warships when a man on the shoreline saw me through his scope. I imagine they trained for subtlety, but to not hold back when you have the chance to kill a man of importance. Anyways, I was walking up the stairs when I was shot. The bullet hit me in my thigh. I must have been limping for three months, even though they removed the bullet within minutes. I never did like snipers; I prefer the open field where every enemy there is, a man can see.” I laughed to myself. I am the exact opposite of you then, Kane. He saw me laughing and gave me a questioning look.
“Sorry, I was only thinking how I prefer to kill someone quickly, silently, and have very little clean-up. Mind you, I can hold my own on a battlefield—at least when it comes to hand to hand combat—but it’s just not the way I fight.”
“Haha! Sounds like you need some good old fashion training in open combat!”
“Old fashion is rather a relative term now, being that the humans have been around quite a long time.” Kane grinned widely back at me. “Ah, but you are a man who can keep a sense of humor in any subject. That’s a sign of being level-headed and being able to keep his cool in tense situations. You are measuring up to quite a good soldier, Raphael!”
“Well…I still don’t believe that is my—“ A large explosion shook the building we were in, and the shouts of men were coming from outside. Kane and I glanced at each and ran out with our weapons drawn. “What’s going on here, soldiers?!” Kane yelled in a booming voice. A disorganized soldier came running up and saluted us. “Sir! We seem to be under attack, sir. The locals seem to have organized a defense force against us sir. What are your orders?” Kane was obviously not amused.
“Set up a defensive barrier, dig in around the gates. Set fire to the main streets and keep a close patrol along the alleyways. Tell the troops at the front to send grenades at the attacking force, or anything else they can use to repel them, but under no circumstances, do not leave the immediate perimeter! We do not want to have to deal with interrogated soldiers giving away our intentions. Dismissed!”
I cocked my head towards Kane with a confused look. “Would you not want to take the city and eliminate all resistance? It seems like you would want to remove them before they can set up ambushes.”
“Aye, it would seem that way. But remember, you are one that relies on subtlety; you normally pass through defenses quickly and finish your assignment. It is quite a different matter in this case. We were speaking for at least half an hour. In that time, they could have set up preliminary defenses deeper into the city in several places. Among these might be explosives. We don’t have the troop force to be able to risk a minefield on the streets.”
“But Kane…keeping them under control while they are constantly whittling away at us is also bound to create a body count.”
“You’re intelligent, for the experience you have. Even if we did repel them, and follow the remaining troops, they could easily lead us into a trap. Nevertheless, if we hold our position, we can make an easy escape outside the gate if—as much as I hate to say it—they rig the city with explosives and set it to detonate so we cannot remove resources and intelligence from the town. As much as this mission is important to me, I must keep as many of my soldiers alive as possible. I have done my best to keep my Beta Fire Battalion alive over the years: I have had only 500 casualties over the span of two years. That, son, is an accomplishment not many other generals can claim. In addition, we have troops out on an intelligence mission. Having more than two squads of troops on missions out is dangerous unless you have them out for distraction purposes—which I restrain from using to keep my men alive.”
“I suppose you are right…besides, they may want us to follow them. As of now, we have control over the only exit of the city. Which means—“
“—we control the city, correct. If they—“
“—detonate any bombs; it will kill any and all of their people here, citizen and military. In the end, for them, its either we control the city completely—“
“—or suicide,” he finished abruptly.
“Right. We will have accomplished at least one of our missions: destroy the city or extract resources.”
“You are learning fast, Raphael. I will see what I can do to put in a good word for you with the commanders. Perhaps you can acquire a rank within the forces.” He chuckled and looked out the window. “The battle is going well…it seems we will have full control over this city…”

CHAPTER NINE: INTELLIGIENCE

Three hours later, the squad we sent out to find things returned. We heard shouting from the inn as we were sitting there, relaxing after the fighting died down. Hearing this, we assumed there was another attack and ran outside. Instead, we saw a ragged group of eight soldiers. Kane ran out to meet them, stunned at how they looked. “What happened?!” he demanded them.
“Sir…” one of the men choked out, “we were…making our rounds when…we were ambushed. The lieutenant saw them first and…” the man coughed again, this time throwing up blood, “he yelled to us to turn around and he started…firing on them. I guess, by the look of his…ugh…uniform, they knew he had some rank, so they…shot…him first. We managed to…kill the ambushers, but only we eight, out of our force of twenty-five, came out alive. It must’ve been—“ the man coughed furiously this time and I realized a bullet hole in his shoulder.
“Get these men a medic!” I screamed out. I heard shuffling of feet behind me as another better off man finished the tale.
“—about half an hour ago, sir. We knew we had to be heading back because of orders, and on the way back we ran into them.”
Kane was a little calmer now. “Well, did you find anything?”
“Well, we really didn’t find much: a few disturbed graveyards, some strange jeweled apparatuses, and records of dead men. Other than that, it was just residential housings and marketplace buildings. Oh, and there are barracks on the northeast side of the city. That is really all, sir.”
“Dismissed soldier, help out your comrades,” Kane finished. The man walked to the medic table and started talking to the men there. “What do you make of it, Raphael?”
“I believe the records, by themselves, aren’t valuable. Secondly, the graves, if they are disturbed as I’d imagine them being seeing how the scouts noticed them, strike a curiosity by themselves. Only the apparatuses seem to be something that we are looking for by themselves. At that, if we were to link the records and the disturbed graves, that would seem to have a mysterious connection. Of all these things, the apparatuses require immediate attention, as we do not know what they are for, or for how long we will have access to them. Kane, your next priority, I believe, would be to form a research and attack force to retrieve or learn more about the apparatuses.”
“You may have a great idea, but what do you expect to do now?”
“Simply, I believe I must make my way to Blueka and research in their library for what I need. Do not forget I am here to save my wife, and that comes before everything else.”
“Well, you are a loyal husband; I commend you on that, Raphael. But with our capture of Gyric, I am afraid there are definite troop movements coming to try to take us out. Get caught by one of those, and your wife is almost never going to be rescued,” he paused, then added, “let alone, be left without a husband to care for her…”
I sighed deeply, then almost glared at General Kane and said, “And you have an important point, as annoying as it may be to me. Very well, I will join the research party when it leaves; I wish to see these apparatuses for myself.”
“But that would be putting yourself into danger as well!”
“Aye, but will I not have sufficient protection? I do not believe in sitting on the back lines and letting my soldiers do the work. I know you do not sit back, but I enjoy greatly being on the very front line. Even so, I am one of the few, as they call them, Elemental Blacksmiths, and since I am, I take great interest in these sorts of things. With all due respect, if you deny me your permission and refuse your men’s protection, I will still go. You will be unable to deter me from it forever. I believe great use can be made of such things, and I will not sit back and let something so valuable be destroyed by anything but my hands, as much as I would regret it. At that, I will take an hour to ready myself; if you choose not to have men waiting, I will leave without them,” I finished in a spiteful voice. I knew that my ending statements would not leave the general very happy, but I said them anyways.

As I walked out of the inn, I nodded towards the guards outside and left the Rebel controlled area to go to the inn I had stayed at. While walking down the path, I started thinking to myself. What are you doing? Kane is only trying to protect you and keep you alive for your wife. And you just storm out of his area of the city after you accepted his kindness? I stopped. I only did what my trade and knowledge would require me to do. He cannot fully understand the lust I have to learn whatever I can. Not many do know that feeling. Mostly the ones who take part in my craft or similar ones are the ones that know. I clenched my fists and continued walking. Knowledge or power or anything; Kane has every right to refuse you after your little stunt! I looked around for anyone who might notice me and walked into the inn I slept in. So be it! If he does, I will simply turn around and—
The innkeeper saw me walk in and kindly said, “Hello, I remember you. I am sorry, things are getting a little dangerous, and I am going to leave the inn closed for tonight to stay in the barracks. I’d suggest you stay there as well so—“ I flung my blade at him and impaled him through his neck, and the rest of his sentence was silenced as he fell onto the counter and blood poured out of his open mouth. In only seconds, his face drained of color, almost reminding me of snow. I meandered towards the counter and lifted the man’s head up to get a better look. “Now, now, don’t look so sad. You can see all of your friends who have died in the attack on this city now,” I said menacingly to his lifeless face. I patted the top of his head good-naturedly and removed my dagger from his bloody throat. Looking disapprovingly upon the blood on the knife, I wiped it clean on the man’s coat hanging in the corner.
As I was saying—rather, thinking—I will just leave his headquarters and search for it myself. As long as I don’t encounter more than three men at a time, I will survive easily. At the bare minimum, I can remove the jewels from the apparatuses and be on my way to Blueka. Perhaps when I am there, I can learn of a way for increased exposure to the elements to gain domination over them, especially with the jewels I gained.
I passed the hour quite quickly: I spent twenty minutes arranging my armor on me to provide the best mobility and protection, then I spent another twenty minutes making sure my blade was both sturdy and stable in its configuration. After making sure of its strength, I checked for its sharpness. In fulfillment to my expectations, every inch of the blade’s edge cut through the spare leather I found in the inn with the ease of a fish swimming through the sea.
The final portion of the hour, I spent rereading the theories I had found in the library. The concept of using lesser crystals for the same amplification or modification effect would both cut costs and possibly speed up the process. I have to test that theory out when I get my next chance. Soon it had became time to meet back up, so I stepped out onto the empty, stone street and began my journey back to the temporary base.

As I turned the corner on what I expected to be a calm, expectant base, I nearly dropped my small pack of supplies I had been carrying. General Kane’s men were frantically trying to form a blockade to stop a large force of men attempting—and succeeding—to break through and retake Gyric. Damn, they got here fast. I gathered myself and ran to the men’s help. As I was running to help them, I saw Kane out of the corner of my eye. “Kane! What is happening here?” I called out to him.
“They used a distress beacon! It just so happened a branch of the Royal army decided to stop by and give us a little—“ He grabbed a sword off of a rack nearby him and thrust it threw a man’s chest who had gotten through the barrier. “—visit. I don’t know how long we can hold them off.” As the words escaped his mouth, the first line of men behind the barrier combusted into a brilliant flame, incinerating their bodies until they were small piles of ashen waste on the ground. “Son of a—forget it. Raphael, you’re going to have to go research what you need by yourself,” Kane said as he reached into his cloak. “Here, take my signet and tell them I died trying to keep Gyric.”
“But, Kane…”
“Don’t worry about me, son. I made a vow to my men that I would die with them if something like this ever happened. It was meant to be this way. Just tell the men in charge at the Rebel base when you finally make it back that I died with my men. Oh, and here, take this.” Kane reached for his belt, and pulled an elegant sword in its sheath out and presented it to me. “It was my fathers, and his fathers before him, and his father crafted it out of all his family’s money in order to prevent paying the taxes to the king at the time. He was…killed for treason, with the court stating he must have given the money to another tyrant wishing to gain power. I am sure you can get someone with the Rebels to explain, now, go!” He shoved me off quickly and turned around to help his men, only to be impaled with a lance from one of the men coming from the now-overwhelming forces bursting over the barricade. With one last glance towards Kane’s lifeless body, I turned the corner and began heading in the direction of the buildings the men found based on their descriptions of directions.
I only hope that I am not caught before I can escape with my research.