The fire danced with a sickly movement. All around Quantum, dull orange flames blazed. Not spreading, they burned continually, low moans emanating from all sides. Like the damned crawling from hell.
The cries of birds and forest creatures died away, being replaced by the hissing of a strange flame, and the silent stares of many adversaries.
Quantum took a good look around him. His vision had been dampened, blurry at the corners, constantly shifting. Throught it, he could see white clad men-and a woman- surrounding the flame in a five meter radius. Many other men stood behind them in formation, their stances steady, swords sharp. The shady clearing glowed dull orange.
It had happened fast.
Nhea's cry still echoed painfully in his mind. Her amber eyes blared as one of the Erref run off with her. The back of Nekea's head was met with the pommel of Roe'nika's dagger. She fell into Roe'nika's arms, struggling to regain consciousness.
Nekea could have done major damage to the Erref. Roe'nika had known this.
Roe'nika's eye locked onto Quantum, blocked by a wall of fire.
His calm eyes demanded for answers.
Roe'nika had none to give.
Hauling her Mistress onto her shoulder, she had followed the Erref into the forest.
Quantum sighed.
Looking up, the branches of trees were splayed out like many arms, their leaves drifting with the billows of the flame.
Ahead of him, a lone Erref woman stood.
Through the flames, her eyes screamed a deep-rooted determination. Standing by her side was another Erref.
He glared viciously at Quantum, his sight like piercing knives.
The heat of the fire ring complemented his viciousness.
Quantum stared at the flame ahead of him.
It was the only barrier before him.
Outside it, he could even choose to avoid the Erref altogether and chase after Nhea and Nekea.
Tails of fire licked the air, growling and hissing, attacking the silence.
The fire was no ordinary one— Quantum could see. The way it danced, resisting air currents, it was alive.
A creature on its own.
Quantum studied the flame, wondering how he could beat it. Roe'nika's image flashed in his mind, dancing painfully on his heart. As he pondered, the man standing next to the woman lowered his sword. Grinning, he spoke.
"Rahiel, you sure don't look happy now…"
His voice tore across the flames to Quantum.
Quantum's eyes locked onto him.
"Oh come on," he began. He paced slowly about the ring.
"Where's that smirk you had when we first met you?"
Ut'ia turned her gaze to him. Her brows furrowed all the more.
"Sek'en."
Sek'en stopped in his tracks, turning slowly. The sickly flame barely brushed his armored chest.
"What is it, Ut'ia," Sek'en asked, annoyed.
The other Erref eyed him silently, their swords holding steady before the billowing flame.
Ut'ia stared at him. Her eyes spoke greater weight of words than her lips.
Sek'en hissed, returning to her side. Drawing close, he whispered,
"He needs to know his damnation."
Sek'en drew away, his deep voice resonating in Ut'ia's mind.
She gave him a quick glance.
"Do what you must. Just don't go too close," she said.
Sek'en's grin reappeared.
"That's my boss!" he said, his tone risen.
Ut'ia didn't spare him a glance. She adjusted her shoulders. Her eyes were locked on the entity before them.
"The big, bad, murderer…", he said, his sword on his shoulder, as he walked towards a nearby tree. Sek'en leaned against the tree, sticking his sword in the earth. His grin ever persistent, he continued.
"Did you think this day would never come?"
Sek'en's question made the flames billow all the more.
There was a pause, as Quantum turned to him. Nothing about Quantum showed that he was in distress. It ticked Ut'ia off to the bone.
"What day?" Quantum asked.
A smile drew on his face.
Sek'en's grin cracked.
"Don't feign ignorance, you pitiful vermin."
Quantum, seemingly amused, pressed.
"What ignorance? I don't know what you speak of."
Ut'ia's eyes narrowed. Rahiel pulsed with a danger she couldn't comprehend. He wasn't normal, at all. A strange fear began to ooze into her heart. As though she were reaching into the forbidden.
She took a deep breath in. A drop of sweat streaked down her face.
"Fine, you damned fiend," Sek'en snarled.
"Those lovely flames will be your demise. I'm sure you've noticed."
Quantum's suspicions had been confirmed.
Sek'en continued, sneering.
"Do you remember what you said, when you first met us? You said we were pitiful. A joke. That our light was 'actually darkness'. How silly."
Sek'en's dark smile spread over his face.Turning to Ut'ia he pressed on, his mockery ringing in Quantum's head.
"It's amazing how every year or two, we get a bungling idiot dressed in rags, claiming to have some vague connection, overdosed off…off what? Ut'ia…remind me, the last one, what was it?"
Ut'ia shot him an annoyed glance. Sighing she muttered, "Veilroot."
"Aha!", Sek'en exclaimed. "Fucking Veilroot!"
The soldiers around broke into laughter. The corner of Ut'ia's lip turned up, as she recounted.
"Its tea, for Calor's sake. Tea! I remember my grandmother used to take a sip every morning. Well if she followed that guy's advice she would have died a very happy woman!"
The soldiers laughed all the more, some slightly breaking their stances, readjusting quickly.
"Crazy, that one. He claimed to be the 'Chosen One' from the gods…to lead humanity." Sek'en said, bending his voice and making silly gestures.
The forest rang with the laughs of men.
"Oh my, the shit we deal with...," Seket laughed.
Quantum stood silent.
Sek'en approached the ring of fire. Ut'ia's eyes darted to him. He stopped just as Ut'ia was about to warn him, flicking an understanding eye to her.
"Youre done for. You insulted our god's men. Laid waste to hundreds of our people. Ha! A nobody like you! It's all the same when it comes to your kind. You always end up dying in a gutter, your ideals carried away like the scum and liquid stool of the sick children."
He glared at Quantum.
Quantum's eyes barely twitched.
"I've seen that act many times, fiend!" Sek'en roared.
"You will die miserable. And when you're gasping and choking on your own blood, you'll remember who exactly is pitiful. Adrel will cut off your head and drive his sword through it. And all the world will know of your destruction.Vermin."
The forest was still for just a moment, holding its breath.
Quantum turned, and began approaching Sek'en.
He stood tall, his sword till in the ground near the tree. Cross-armed, his brown eyes attacked Quantum's. Quantum stood right behind the flame. His eyes peered into Sek'en's soul. Sek'en sneered.
Drawing his hands forward, Quantum reached past the flame for Sek'en's face.
There was a ghostly scream as the flames lurched at Quantum. Ut'ia's eyes broke into sudden alarm, as she watched Quantum struggle with the flames.
Roe'nika was right.
Rotzeshel was a success.
Quantum staggered, thrashing and slapping the flames frantically.
Sek'en's laughter burst past him in numbing waves.
"Who the hell is this one supposed to be?! No way, Rahiel…" Sek'en roared, clutching his stomach as he laughed.
The flames latched onto Quantum's arm, digging deep like mad praying mantises.
They seared Quantum's arm, bits of his flesh falling to the grass. With a quick sweep of his cloak, Quantum removed them from his arm. The little flames fell to the grass, dying out shortly with light screeches. Bright orange faded into whispers of ash, as Quantum breathed heavily.
Sek'en grabbed his sword once more, moving to Ut'ia's side. He drew close to the ring of fire, watching Quantum.
Quantum looked down at his arm.
It had been seared significantly. Wounds like the bites of large ants littered his arm. The fabric he wore hadn't burned. Rather, his flesh had been eaten into and burned. It struggled to heal, sizzling slighty.
Besides the stinging pain, Quantum could still move his arm. He looked back at the flames, Sek'en laughing with the rest of the men.
For the first time in a while, his eyes had opened wide.
Very wide.
Quantum began to laugh. His laugh grew, and he clutched his cloak, removing it in one swoop. It sounded across the clearing. He tied it around his seared arm, a wide grin on his face, his mouth open.
"Sek'en."
Sek'en had stopped his mockery. He stared at Rahiel, not knowing what to feel.
"Those 'bungling idiots' you dealt with…"
Quantum's voice creeped over the entirety of the clearing. Absorbing the little light that fell within it, it infected the minds of the men.
Ut'ia's glare tightened along with her grip on the hilt. She corrected her stance once more.
"…Did they laugh like this?"
Quantum's voice was neither a roar nor a scream. It was power.
Sek'en's eyes widened. The same fear that dripped into Ut'ia, began seeping into him.
"You claim many things Sek'en. You say my ideologies may rest in filth. You dare compare me to a mere heathen."
His laugh shook the forest.
"I am much more, Sek'en. Much, much more."
Quantum's voice was in his usual tone. But it carried a deafening effect with it. Their bodies didn't hear his voice. Their spirits did. And they screamed for dear life.
Sek'en growled, his eyes burning with defiance.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
"Ah, I needed this," Quantum exclaimed, as he moved towards Sek'en.
His feet made the grass submit, even before his boots touched them. They were silent swishes, yet they rung loudly in Sek'en's ears. His cloak swayed with the motion of his feet, hanging from his damaged arm. It barely touched the grass.
"I am the guardian of this world's creator. By her own hands, I was made. I hunt her grief. I thrash it and dissect it. In my face, it shall not stand."
He moved closer. Sek'en's resistance grew wilder. Half-against him, his will pushed him forwards.
"Sek'en!" Ut'ia yelled.
No answer.
"Whether trust falls or stands? No matter. Her will shall be done nonetheless. And so, Sek'en, I reecho; pitiful sinner, bow down to the voice of the creator."
Quantum's voice bellowed through the forest. Many hearts pounded, resonating with the essence of life. Power flowed from within the ring.
Ut'ia wondered, her heart pounding.
'Who is she?'
Rahiel was no man.
He was an entity in the form of a man.
A packet of energy, rising from level to level.
He was Quantum.
"Sek'en move!!!" Ut'ia screamed.
In a sudden motion, Quantum threw the hanging end of the cloak at Sek'en.
Sek'en stalled, Quantum's order battling in his mind. He saw the black tunic flying at him.
Sek'en stepped back, raising his arm.
Ut'ia bolted towards Sek'en, her arm stretched out to rescue him.
The tunic wrapped around his arm, as though it had a mind of its own.
He felt a great force cancelling out his baxkward motion, and pulling him into the ring.
Horror flashed on Ut'ia's face as she saw Sek'en being pulled into the flame.
Surprise washed over Sek'en as the flames screamed around him.
It was painless for a while.
Ut'ia missed him by a hair.
Rahiel pulled him with the strength of a bear. Sek'en felt his shoulder dislocate.
The pain stung.
It hurt even more as he landed on the ground.
His mind shook with the impact.
He looked up and saw the eyes of a beast.
Then there was blood.