Ahrden was standing in front of his parents' grave with a large bouquet of freshly picked flowers in his arm. He had learnt several spells that prevented the weed from overgrowing the graves or the lichen to set foot on the stones. Ahrden liked coming here to remember, and he always brought fresh flowers. These wards, which he always renewed and the flowers he enchanted to stay fresh for longer, ensured that his parents' graves were always the tidiest no matter when he came out.
Ahrden placed the new flowers on the ground while he leaned in and collected all the old ones, which were withered but they still defied their actual age. Once done, he carefully arranged the fresh flowers on the grave, and when satisfied, he stood up and examined his work. He thought about spreading out the blue lilies a little more when he felt someone approach him from behind.
These were calm and measured steps, which didn't indicate anything good but also didn't mean trouble. The steps stopped at a respectful distance and waited. Ahrden turned around, guessing which soldier was standing behind him.
'Greeting's Ahrden, I'm lieutenant Serden, and I came to deliver a request. I don't want to disturb your peace, but I came with a message that cannot wait.'
Ahrden knew Serden, but only by his name and look.
'Greeting's lieutenant, proceed?'
'I'm going to be straight with you. At dawn, my men and I will head out on a dangerous scouting mission that has already claimed several lives. There were no survivors or bodies from the ones sent on this route before, so we are not sure how they perished, but we know it was from Velintenal hands. Unlike me, my men would like you to be among the group when we enter the region overtaken by the Velintenal nation. If you care to come with us, we head out at dawn from the barracks.'
Serden was already walking away when Ahrden was still trying to get over how he was treated by this lieutenant. He wasn't sure how he would decide, but he wanted to have the option open.
'Soldier!' Ahrden shouted after Serden, and merely from how he stopped his walking, he could tell that the way he addressed him infuriated the lieutenant dearly. 'When will you enter the occupied area?'
Serden blinked a few times before composing himself enough to respond.
'Early afternoon.'
When Serden turned away again, Ahrden knew that no matter what else he said, the lieutenant wasn't going to stop for him again. Ahrden cast a locating spell on the leaving warrior and turned back towards the graves. He wanted to enter the peaceful and grieving state of mind he had been in earlier, but all he could think of was how could this message not wait when the soldiers wouldn't leave for another half a day.
--
Ahrden deliberately materialized relatively far from where he felt Serden to be. When he arrived, he covered himself with several cloaking spells and went after the group of soldiers. With the spells that hid him and teleportation to aid him, he caught up to them undetected and followed them on their path.
Not much time had passed when they stopped to have a short lunch break, which was what Ahrden was waiting for. When everyone settled down, he picked a branch that hung over the group. He carefully sat down and listened to the quiet conversation between the group of soldiers.
'I really thought he would show…'
'Me too.'
'Well, you aren't the first he had disappointed,' Serden said, clearly happy that Ahrden did not come. 'And we are better off without him. He would just be a distraction with his clumsy and untrained movements.'
'I don't know; I'd feel more comfortable with him on my side.'
'What he does is not natural, but at least he would use it against the enemy.'
'Are you that willing to sell your soul for his abnormal sorcery?'
'I'm also glad that he did not have the nerves to come.'
'So am I.'
'My wife told me not to go unless he comes with us...'
'Well, you did good to listen to my words instead of hers, warrior,' Serden scolded his honest subordinate.
'What can he do anyways?'
'I've heard he can teleport.'
'Me too, and that…'
'That is enough!' Serden stopped the conversation from going any further. 'Stay focused; we are nearing the region that was taken from us. You all better focus on what awaits us than a mage who didn't dare to show.'
Ahrden was glad to have had the chance to eavesdrop in on such conversation. Now he felt the time to be right to reveal his presence there. He cast a spell at Serden, which prevented him from making a sound through his mouth and right after that, he wrapped his power around him. Slowly he started lifting him off the ground in the sitting position that he was in. He felt his initial resistance, which turned into panicked kicking, but the lieutenant could do nothing as he helplessly floated in the air.
Gasps spread through the other soldiers, and some even moved to help their leader, but no one was too eager to. Ahrden dropped his cloaking spells and started talked before the situation would go any further.
'I hope you all fight better than you travel,' Ahrden talked while everyone looked up at him with awe and astonishment on their faces. 'I'm here to help, not to do your job. When you all finished eating, I'm ready to move on.'
With that, he ceased his spells and let Serden fall to the ground with a dull thud.
---
Serden made Ahrden walk in the middle of the group, not trusting him to defend himself or be of aid when needed. Most of his men wanted him there, but the leader was still firmly against the idea of asking Ahrden to come along for aid. Their current mission was a particularly dangerous one, but still only because more and more scouting parties were disappearing lately did he agree to ask Ahrden to come with them, while still hoping that he wouldn't come. None of this was official, of course, and Serden didn't dare to mention it to the higher-ranking officers either, but general Ferdan was among the very few who knew about the invitation beyond his party.
Ahrden was indeed not trained to travel through the forest efficiently, but now he was forced to do so. He quickly realized that this could not be kept up for long, but he didn't want to raise the subject since at the beginning he failed to do so and now they were already in hostile territory. He did make more sound than the others, but since they were warriors themselves, the difference wasn't much especially since Ahrden had a few spells to aid him. The marching drained him greatly, but with great effort he could keep up with the warriors for the next few hours.
Maybe it was the illusion of being safe amid the friendly soldiers or just the lack of focus after the hours of tiresome marching, but Ahrden did not see, hear or feel the arrows coming only when they already hit their marks.
The first arrow entered his right shoulder and dug into it with ease, only stopping when it hit his bone. The second one went straight through his side, luckily missing the major organs as it slipped through the ribs on his left side. The bleeding was intense, which was only rivalled by the pain and agony Ahrden felt caused by the sheer damage the arrows did. He had felt pain before, many times in fact, but this seemed different, more intense and pulsing, almost to the point that he was about to lose his consciousness from it. Slowly but it dawned on him that the arrows carried poison which was now cursing in his veins and was sure to make quick work of him if he did nothing.
With a brief glance around, Ahrden saw that most of the soldiers were hit as well, and they were falling to their knees or already rolling on the ground, being affected by the same poison that was killing him. The remaining soldiers were trying to get their shields up, but they couldn't locate the direction that the attacks came from, nor could they see the attackers, so they were clueless about where the next round of arrows would come from. Looking back to the wounded soldiers and then back towards the thick foliage, the unharmed warriors could provide little aid against the coming slaughter.
Ahrden had enough in him to teleport away to safety, where he could have focused on saving himself from the poison, but that would have surely meant the end of all the soldiers he was with. He decided to stay.
Ahrden cast a protective shield around all the soldiers who by then were clustered in a tight circle around him and fed energy into the arcane dome. The shield itself was quite transparent, with occasional shimmers and ripples on the surface, only flaring up when it was touched from either side. Ahrden fed as much power into the shield as he could so that it would remain active after he was no longer feeding it with arcane. Left alone the shield wouldn't be able to last for too long, and its defensive qualities would rapidly decrease over time, but since no magical assault was expected come at it, Ahrden hoped that what he could channel into it would keep away the steel of long enough. He sank to the ground when he was done. He pointed his palm to where the head of the arrow was in his shoulder, crumble the metal head of the weapon with a spell and yanked it out with another.
The attackers didn't fully understand why their arrows weren't hitting their targets anymore, but they kept firing nonetheless. The soldiers around Ahrden could see that something was preventing the attacks from coming through. Still, their lack of understanding of the reason behind it caused them to not cancel their defensive position and aid the wounded and rather prepared for when the arrows would again start coming through. The ones hit were helpless and unable to do anything about their coming death, which all of them felt approaching. Serden was shouting orders, others screamed from the pain, and some even turned towards Ahrden, suspecting that he was the one protecting them and possibly the only one able to save them now.
Ahrden closed his eyes, concentrating on his wounds and the poison spreading in his body, which would surely kill him shortly if he did nothing. He started chanting a spell that drew out the venom from his body in fine lines surrounded by faintly glowing blue arcane energies. A few soldiers around him looked at him with astonishment as the tiny pools of bloody poison travelled through the air to then merge together and form one small liquid ball that floated before them. As Ahrden did that, he studied and learned what he could of the poison. When he was done, his chanting stopped. He extended his arcane around him, seeking out everything that surrounded him. When he did, he could locate the lying soldiers, who were dying on the ground from the poison. He could feel the peculiar toxin surging through them. Once he felt everything, he restarted his chanting with renewed strength.
Delicate tendrils of blue energy formed around the ones still standing, and they all connected into the small ball of poison that Ahrden had removed from his own body. The ones standing paid no more mind to what was beyond the magical wall that surrounded them and just watched as one of their own was doing something none could ever imagine was possible. The breathing of the ones on the ground got easier as the chanting went on. By the time Ahrden was finished, most of the wounded soldiers breather easier as they were being helped by their unharmed comrades. Ahrden could ill afford to examine each, knowing that the danger was far from being over. He used one more spell to swiftly mend his own wounds to the point where they wouldn't hold him back too much in the coming conflict, then stood up.
Not he nor his comrades were fully cured from the effect of the poison, but the immediate threat was gone. He was able to remove all traces of the poison, but its effect still lingered in the weakened bodies. He could function for now, but a more delicate spell or cure from a potion would eventually be needed to have the poison be fully behind him.
The attackers eventually had enough and decided to walk up to the peculiar thing that kept stopping their arrows. They finally showed themselves as they walked up to the dome and stared down their foes from mere steps away. All of them wore face paint that covered their faces but it did not hide their wrath towards the situation. They tried everything they could think of to pierce the shield, but all they had achieved was to ruin whatever weapon they used. After some time, they calmed down and just stood around the small circle, weapons ready, waiting to storm their prey.
Serden and his soldiers were uncomfortable by not being able to control the events in the one area they were the best at. They felt trapped yet dared not to speak to Ahrden to voice their objections.
Everyone present was looking at Ahrden, who stood in the centre of the dome. The enemy, too, had deduced that he must have been the reason behind everything they didn't understand; for example, how were the ones they had hit with their arrows still breathing.
'Soldiers, eyes on the targets. Prepare yourself,' Serden ordered his men, then turned his head towards Ahrden, while keeping eye contact with the heavily built, tall warrior that stood just on the other side of the dome. 'What is the plan Ahrden?'
Only muffled noises escaped the arcane shield, but their attackers heard and saw that orders were being issued. They all lifted their weapons higher, preparing themselves for the impending battle. The masked figures were eyeing the soldiers in the dome, and the soldiers were watching their attackers, each picking one to fight when the time came. They were severely outnumbered because the ones hit by the arrows were in no shape to even stand. Despite this, none of the brave warriors who were still standing seemed to take notice of that, all were eager to avenge this coward ambush that was the end for many of the previous scouting parties.
Ahrden took a deep breath then finally opened his eyes for the first time since he sank onto the ground; they were blazing with blue fire, and his vision was changed too. He saw only what mattered, but of that, he saw everything. Friends and foes both got startled by the unnatural eyes, and no one in either party knew what to expect next. The Velintenal rogues, warriors and hunter lining the dome started inching away, still facing Ahrden with their weapons high and ready but less eager to engage in a battle with him.
'Oh no. You don't get to flee. You only get to die.'
Ahrden's voice was deep and metallic, it travelled through the shield undisturbed and sent shivers down everyone's back. He kept the dome up but didn't bother feeding more arcane into it, knowing that his adversaries will have more pressing concerns than to try to break through it. Ahrden drew Duskedge and fed power into it, making it flare up blindingly. After witnessing the broken sword become whole again from humming arcane, the friendly soldiers stepped back yet again, while the ones on the other side nervously looked at one who must have been their leader. With his other hand, Ahrden wrapped some power around the runed blades on his belt and unhooked many, which then floated around his hand and started tirelessly circling around it. Ahrden eyed the rogue just on the other side of the dome; the one everyone looked at, the one who hadn't moved one step back. Seeing all the things he was doing, the enemy soldiers realized that this wasn't going to be a fight they were prepared for, so they continued backing away, but all were still around the dome, not daring to leave until the order was given. Ahrden wasn't going to let that happen.
Ahrden was sheer focus and determination, every part of him enhanced by magic. He felt one with the arcane surging in him. With one leap, he went flying towards the leader. The thus far impenetrable wall split open as he neared it and closed right back when he was completely through it. Despite the many years that enabled the rogue to lead such an ambush, he couldn't react in time as Ahrden brought down the flaring blade which cut through him with ease.
Ahrden cast his signature spell, and the enemy's movement slowed as he moved between them. Few were even able to get their weapons up before meeting their swift end by the glowing sword. Ahrden worked his way around the dome killing everyone in his way. The first three soldiers fell from his sword, and in that state, he only needed one hand to wield it. After the initial shock, the rest of the ambushers could organize themselves, which made his job more challenging but nothing he couldn't handle. He started shooting the runed blades at the oncoming enemies then teleported behind another to pierce them all by calling the blades to him. All the while dodging, blocking and striking at anyone near him. Although most of the painted soldiers had bows on their back, no one could use them on Ahrden because the dome still stood, so the ones on the far side could see all that was happening but could not join the fight unless they went around the dome and faced him in close combat. Ahrden could see and sense those who were waiting for him to move into the right angle for the shot, but he was always prepared for the arrow.
The enemies were falling fast, and the ones still standing started fighting more desperately. As they turned more reckless, they neglected their defences, putting everything into their offence, which made Ahrden's job that much harder to stand against all that was coming at him. This recklessness resulted in some moves he couldn't counter not even with his spells. Soon, Ahrden was bleeding from new wounds, wounds made by blades dipped in the same poison as the arrows had been. Once the poison entered Ahrden's system again, the pain returned and he started feeling his physical strength seeping away from him as his body started becoming more and more reluctant to obey his commands.
The desperation made Ahrden focus even harder, fuelling his attacks and spell with even greater power. His eyes had not lost one bit of their glow and a hint of purple also appeared in them although none came close enough to witness it. His body was dying, but his arcane might was only growing. His sword, Duskedge, got so sharp that he could cut through the enemy's weapons as he swung it. Time slowed even more for him enabling him to evade all the attacks that came towards him and counter them with his own strikes.
This powerful but short-lived state enabled him to finish the last enemy before the poison fully took control of his body. Unsteadily, Ahrden stood for a moment, making sure that the only threat reaming was the quickly spreading poison in his system. He didn't bother gathering the runed blades, but he did sheath his sword before turning to the soldiers in the dome.
The sheer awe and astonishment on their faces spoke infinitely more than any words could have. The proud looks would have meant a lot to Ahrden, but he felt his life escaping him with every heartbeat, so he had no time to enjoy the moment. With a thought, the dome disappeared.
'Gather my blades.'
Ahrden was long past the point where he could cure himself the way he had before, and as he teleported, he wondered whether this last sentence took away too much from him to complete the spell the way he wanted to. He knew that if he didn't arrive precisely where he wanted to, he would die. He hoped that the spell would be accurate as he travelled between realms towards his destination.
When Ahrden materialized, he came crashing down onto the countertop of Felinda's shop. The furniture let out a loud crack before his unconscious body would tumble to the floor. The shop owner was immediately at his side, but the concern on her face was greater than it usually was. She immediately recognized that Ahrden was dying from poisoning, but she had no idea what kind and finding it out would take far too long. The old potion maker was nervously searching through Ahrden's body, his clothes and his wounds, looking for any type of clue that would tell her what poison it was, but she found nothing.
Felinda was examining the wounds, searching for information there, but all she could find was coagulation and dark blood. She knew that the poison was a potent, deadly one, and thus the antidote of it would be equally strong too. This meant that she couldn't just give Ahrden every possible potion that could render the deadly toxin harmless because the wrong antiserum would simply kill him. This prevented her from giving him anything but the correct potion, which tied her hands because that she didn't know.
Her eyes started to fill with tears as the slow realization began to sink in that her beloved Ahrden was going to die in her hands while there was nothing, she could do to save him. When she rubbed the tears out of her eyes with the sleeve of her dress, she saw something from the corner of her eyes that had evaded her attention so far. Looking in that direction, she saw a small glowing blue ball that she immediately knew was Ahrden's doing, although she had no idea how it was possible when he was not conscious. Felinda quickly examined the object and saw that it was a mixture of blood and something that was a deep purple shade. She tried to touch the floating liquid, but the spell immediately dispersed, and the liquid fell on the floor.
The harsh rusty odour combined with the deep purple colour was more than enough for the experienced potion maker to know what Ahrden was poisoned with. Despite everything, when she rushed to the shelf for the right potion, she could not help but smile at the genius of Ahrden.