Icarus stared, the masked man has been blown away by a flash of light, he looked in the direction it had came from and saw a man floating, his arm outstretched, he saw there was a staff in his hand with a large yellow gemstone at its tip.
Just then, explosions erupted back in the city, the magicians who had already destroyed the harbour had moved into the city and began attacking, the man did not even glance at us and flew towards the city.
"He didn't notice us?" Lyra questioned, Icarus turned, "he either didn't care or was satisfied that we were safe, neither matters. We have to go."
The beastman nodded, "I agree!" He picked up the two of them in the blink of an eye, Icarus' eyes widened in surprise and the beastman transformed.
His hind legs morphed into those of a beast, he stood upright but his muscles grew more pronounced and his head became more beastlike.
Icarus supposed this was around 75% of a beastmans transformation, it was still unclear what animal the man was but he looked like a canine or maybe some type of bear.
They left at incredible speed, the city was out of sight behind trees and hills in moments and the view opened up, strange animals that somewhat resembled earth animals scurried away, the largest Icarus saw being a massive moose with the mane of a lion.
Icarus focused on the strange creature with awe, he was broken out of his focus by a lurch, he looked back and saw they were now flying through the air, or rather falling.
The beastman had jumped, seemingly from the top of some mountain, he let out a shout and they fell, their fall was somewhat cushioned by tree branches and saplings.
They crashed to the ground, the beastman took the full impact with a squat and let them off.
Icarus turned "what the hell?" The beastman stared back panting, steam rose from his back and his muscles decreased in size and his fur receded.
"You said there was no time right?"
Icarus frowned "I'm not your master am I? You don't have to take everything I say literally."
The beastman frowned "what!.." his expression grew more confused "if you're not then what are you?"
Icarus stared back dumbfounded and looked to Lyra "you didn't think the same did you?"
She shrugged "I thought you were a slave but higher ranked then us so that's why you didn't spend as much time in the cages."
Icarus looked back to the beastman "well then! Let's take a walk to look for a road and then maybe we can talk more about this."
The beastman nodded and they walked for a while, the forest was thin, and at the base of this mountain was the road we had taken into the city when we first got here.
We walked for about 15 minutes, the pace slowing slightly over time, eventually Icarus realized this but they had already got out and arrived at the side of the road.
He heard a 'thud' sound behind him and turned, the beastman lay face down on the ground, Icarus quickly realized how had still been following commands the whole time and had collapsed after completing the latest one.
"Shit, let's make a fire, we don't have food but I can make water."
.
.
.
It had taken the rest of the day to set up a camp, mostly due to Icarus' nearly depleted Mana.
Icarus had made a fireplace that they sat around, he had also flipped the beastman over and surrounded him in earth to prevent him from helping anymore.
Icarus released the earthen shell and filled a rock cup he had made with water he had produced with a simple thought.
His mana and imagination were pretty exhausted after the day, the second fireball taking most of it since he has used a Grimoire as a catalyst he has been able to exert about 175% of the capacity of his gate without destroying it, although he was still exhausted as channeling that much mana through a gate safely was intense on the body and mind.
However simple spells like this was like a drop of water falling out of cloud, it was simple and stressless for Visualizing Magicians.
Once they drank, the beastman was able to sit up, he turned to Icarus "anything I can do boss? Anything at all?"
Icarus frowned "no it's fine...well, I guess you could tell me your name."
The beastman sighed "I would have, trust me boss, but I was born a slave. And we don't get no names boss."
Icarus sighed in return "well I need to you something, how about Fred?" This had been the name of his first pet, not a dog though, Fred was an iguana. Icarus wasn't thinking to hard though.
Fred beamed "really? This is an honorable name! Even us slaves hear tales from other about Fred The Righteous!"
Icarus waves him off "yeah yeah. You reminded me of him so thats why." Icarus picked his ear and sighed, he had no clue who frws the Righteous was but was happy for the coincidence.
He turned to Lyra, he had just noticed she was particularily attractive, supposing since he was in a fantasy world, now that he was finally free perhaps he could have some fun, a lecherous smile crept across his face "is there anything you want me to call you?"
Lyra frowned abd curtly responded "No."
Icarus' smile faded, he felt tired and shrugged, "alright, I'm going to sleep, try not to wake me up unless there is something urgent."
Icarus fell backwards and conjured an earthen blanket for himself, staring up at the night sky.
He saw a brilliant star flash across the sky, it reminded him of that magic that had destroyed the mage that seemed nearly invincible to him, 'just what type of magic was that...'
His eyes slowly shut with exhaustion and he fell asleep almost immediately.
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.
.
The mage stood above a masked corpse, buildings were destroyed and people cried all around him, he had questioned this one but he vs not responded at all, he took off the mana mask and his eyes widened.
People of the coast cities has very identifiable features, bleached hair, tanned skin, freckles. This man was clearly one of them, however the pupils of his eyes had a strange look in them, they spiralled like a poorly filled in circles, it was evident to this page what this was.
"Madness..."
This was not an attack by another country.
There was a chain leading down the mans neck, the mage reached down and pulled it off, locket hung in his hands and he stared.
It was a strange shape, it's color was so dark it was hard to make out.
As he stared and focused the pendant grew larger and larger, suddenly he felt a cold breeze pass over him and his flesh grew cold, his eyes filled with water but he could not move to wipe them.
Wings unfolded it stared at him, it's dark beak filled with endless rows of jagged, rotting teeth.
It's expression some grotesque smile, filled with blood and centuries of Decay, it's form surrounded him and the area, it's dark-Abyss like eyes filled his gaze.
It's black wings were skeletal and decomposed, patches of its body were pink and cracked with black, foul puss seeping out of it.
The man gained comprehension of this being, old as time itself, that stood before him.
"Iniquitous... Depraved... Bird..."
The birds Eyes stared at him, all around him the survivors eyes stared at him their eyes dark black beads, the dead stared as well, with the same expression as the bird.
That dark twisted smile, the mages face contorted and twisted, his teeth strained and cut through his gums, sharp as razors, his eyes filled with dark black pus and he stared back, in oneness with the bird