The fire arrow hit the wall with a loud bang. It didn’t cause much damage but the singe on the plaster suggested otherwise. Gustavo rejoiced with his new achievement, holding Tomás by the arms and smiling broadly. Tomás smiled back and looked at Silva, who was watching the scene with a stern look on his face. The Sergeant nodded and came closer to the duo, raising his arm. Gustavo gulped, not knowing what was to come.
“Nicely done, lad!! You are a proper rocket launcher now, no need to lug the thing around anymore!!” he said, holding the soldier in an amicable neck lock.
The Guide had been right, Gustavo and Olivia were, in fact, capable of using Magic. Tomás had just to find a way to bring that talent fourth without sounding like a complete lunatic.
During his experimentation, Tomás discovered his proficiency in the manipulation of his Presence, being able to strengthening himself and the objects he touched. By now, he was sure that this was what the Guide described as ‘Aura’. He then hastily assumed that, if he couldn’t manipulate the objects around him with his Aura, then someone who could manipulate ‘Mana’, the other energy described by the entity, could. He was partially wrong.
Before testing that, Tomás explained the experiments and its results to his wide-eyed team mates: the meditation, the achieving of Concentration, the manipulation of the internal energies, the coating of objects, the strengthening of the body, everything Tomás was already able to apply to himself he passed on to Silva, Gustavo and Olivia. The Sergeant, just like Tomás, showed proficiency in the manipulation of Aura and grasped it quickly, coating himself and his combat knife in his Aura. But Gustavo and Olivia, although capable of manipulate their Presence internally, weren’t capable of wielding much results when the Presence left their bodies. After some rounds of testing, Tomás almost gave up in the task, as nothing they did showed much results.
What changed that was when Tomás started a flame when Gustavo was Concentrating. The boy flinched, noticing a stir in his surroundings, but, when he pressed the Presence of the fire inside himself, he achieved it: his hair caught fire. Silva threw some water in the boy’s head, breaking him out of Concentration. But from there, the path was clearer: they just needed to find the object’s Presence and try to absorb it.
As they found out, Gustavo wasn't being able to absorb the Presence of objects made from wood, plaster or plastics simply because of a matter of compatibility. Apparently, the only Presence he could manipulate was Fire. After the first time, it was like a dam being opened as he doesn't need the Presence of the Fire to start a Magic anymore, he simply pressed his Presence out with the characteristics of the fire and he would throw a fire ball.
It was limitless though, as Tomás noticed that Gustavo's Presence became dimmer and dimmer every time he conjured a fire. With this, he instructed Gus to accumulate more Presence and keep trying to master the Magic's nuances. It was now a question of what was Olivia's affinity.
With the discovery of Gustavo's affinity being a complete accident, for Olivia, Tomás had to think outside of the box. Water? Nope. Air? Nope. Morning wind? Also, nope. After another multitude of tests, Tomás and Olivia sat on the ground and tinkered. What had them not tested yet? It was then that Tomás eyes stopped on one of the residence's electrical sockets: Electricity. He instructed Olivia to get in Concentration and got to work on the socket. He checked for power on a light switch and was surprised to find the supply to be intact. He turned off the main switch of the house and exposed some of the residence's wirings. When turned the supply back on, an electric current was visible between the tips of the exposed wires.
And with that, Olivia's affinity was discovered: the moment she recognized the Current's Presence, her hairs stood up and she emitted small lightnings from her fingertips.
Gustavo and Olivia practiced a little after the discoveries, with Tomás and Silva sparring with each other to familiarize with their new found powers. By now, it was way past six in the morning and they would have to move back to base. Tomás looked Silva in the eye and the man understood.
"Alright boys and girl, it is, unfortunately, the time for this field trip to return to school," he said. "I tried to contact both the rest of our unit, the main unit and the base. I was only able to speak with the base and explained our little predicament. They instructed us to move back and resupply. They are now aware of those fools' desertion; may God have mercy upon their souls."
"What's the course, then?" asked Gustavo.
"We go directly to base, no detours," said Tomás.
"Yes. And, apparently, the Drakes are leaving the city's premises and the Armored Brigades are giving them chase. The fighting is fierce in the highways towards the countryside. We shouldn't run on them anymore," said the Sergeant. "The focus now should be on search and rescue of the civilians."
"Should we do that on our way to the to the base?" asked, Olivia.
"Absolutely," said Silva. "And keep your eyes peeled for those nasty Goblins. We don't want to run into them like yesterday."
The group prepared, picking up all of their supplies. Tomás took some time to cover Jonas' body with some debris, building a makeshift grave for the poor man. They paid their respects and saluted the fallen comrade, with Tomás wondering if he could have done something to save the man, a great sadness washing over him.
With their goodbyes said, the group turned north and headed back to the army base.
Tomás was feeling himself naked. His group was now crossing the dilapidated and dangerous streets of S?o Paulo's suburbs and all he had in his hands was an axe and a pistol in his holster. If anything with more range than him appeared, his only options were for him stand behind cover and hope for the best, or to charge at the enemy and hope for the best. He didn't like both prospects. Even with all the new talents he got, the reckless advance at enemy lines was a bad idea on its own and staying under enemy fire was also a death sentence.
But, by his own wish and against his best judgment, Tomás was in front of the group, making his way between abandoned cars and destroyed buildings, checking for civilians and hostiles. He was on edge, with cold sweat running down his brown and back.
Silva was checking the radio every five minutes or so, changing tunes and raising anyone on the other side, hearing nothing but static. He hoped that any survivors that could hear his calls would come to them. Tomás was less hopeful, as the chances of a civilian owning a radio in all of this mess was pretty slim, and that of any of them hearing any of the short-wave calls was even narrower. But, in that, what worried him was the noise: he was afraid of Silva alerting any potential threat of their arrival.
The battle with the Goblins was still vividly fresh in the Corporal's mind. He was checking every dark corner of his vision for any movement, any silhouette that could remind him of the little humanoids. He hoped not to encounter the things, not from fear, but simply because he was still very tired from his last battle.
They were halfway distance to the base, now being able to contact it more reliably. This raised a worry in Tomás' mind: 'what if their discoveries were not to be seen in good light?' The man wondered if what they could do now would be seen as dangerous or even rejected upon. It was true that the abilities could come in handy, but they still have to test them for shortcomings and side effects. He decided to consult the rest of the team, making them shoulder some of his doubts.
"Guys, to you think we should tell command about this Magic thing?" he asked, without looking back at them.
A long silence followed. Tomás was now sure the other thought the same way as him. Experimentation, torture, incarceration, outright execution. A multitude of the worst possibilities passed on Tomás’ mind, making goosebumps flow throughout his body. He breathed to keep his doubts in check, calming down a little. Tomás was having a hard time mentally because of the uncertainty of the death of his family and now these possibilities didn’t come to help. He needed reassurance, and he sought it in his squad mates.
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“I think we should, especially now,” said Olivia, what surprised everyone. “Even if they react negatively, we can simply run away. It’s not like they would waste people to find us, right?”
“Yes,” said Silva. “But I don’t think they would waste the chance to be able to use these powers, they are not that dumb. But…” the Sergeant cut himself short as to draw everyone’s attention.
Tomás turned to look at him, a sly but reassuring smile forming in the corner of Silva’s face.
“… we don’t have to tell them everything, right?” he said. “Let’s check the waters first. If there are piranhas in this river, we cross the cattle somewhere else.”
Tomás thought about that. He didn’t want to run away, not this way, not in a situation like this. He didn’t wish to lower himself to the likes of deserters, but the prospects that crossed his mind weren’t the most pleasant either. Tomás looked down on his axe, examining the thing.
“Let’s stop for a while,” he made his decision, hoping it would not bite in the future. “I will radio Command.”
It took long to convince the higher up of his story and doing that over radio didn’t help, but Tomás was able to in the end. He explained the theory behind achieving Concentration, what he knew about his own Presence, the strengthening with aura, everything he knew except for what he discovered about the usage of Magic and the eating of the Drake’s meat.
The superior who heard Tomás was a Major with a tired voice. He asked very meaningful question and even tried it himself with the Corporal’s assistance over the radio, saying that ‘he thought he was getting it, but the lack of sleep troubled him in his focus’. In the end, he sounded convinced.
“If what you said is true Corporal, you should come back to base as quickly as possible,” said the Major. “I want every soldier capable of achieving what you just described on the field by tomorrow.”
“Affirmative, sir. We are on our way,” said Tomás.
“Good,” the officer said. “But there is a more pressing matter at hand, and I think you could use it to test your mettle.”
“What is it, sir?” said Tomás, now with worry in his voice.
“A civilian came to the base not much time back, saying something about a group of survivors being cornered by some green monsters,” the Major said.
“Goblins,” Tomás cut him. “Those things are called Goblins, sir.”
“Don’t correct me again, Corporal,” the Officer said, a stern tone in his voice.
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”
“Good. Go there and kill those ‘Goblins’, as you called them, and rescue the civilians. The man said they were at XXX Street, in a school, not much far from where you are right now. Expect a vast number of hostiles, but don’t expect any reinforcements. That’s all. Godspeed, Corporal,” the man said, and, even before Tomás answering, had already cut communication.
“Sir, yes, sir,” Tomás said, sighting and turning to Silva. The Sergeant simply shrugged.
“That’s not so bad, he just basically sent us to our deaths. In normal circumstances, anyways,” Gustavo said, lighting a small blaze in his index finger.
“Yes, but it will not be easy. We barely have any ammo left and I don’t fancy myself in doing the barbarian tango like our friend here,” Olivia said, slapping Tomás in the shoulder.
“But we will not leave those civilians alone,” said Silva. “Let’s share ammo between ourselves,” he said, gesturing to him, Gustavo and Olivia. “Tomás, I think you should ditch the machinegun and stick to the pistol and axe.”
“What a lovely proposition, Sarge,” Tomás said, not attempting to hide his irony. He checked his pistol ammo, with just two magazines left. “Let’s get close to the place and then we talk about me dropping my weapon and running to the lovely embrace of a Goblin.”
----
Josef was panting. He was holding a door closed while the inhuman shrieks coming from outside made his head throb with discomfort. For the last two hours, he and a group of survivors were getting sieged by a group of monsters that made their last moments a living nightmare. The group of now eight civilians took cover inside the abandoned schoolhouse after, noticing the absence of the dreaded Drakes, they started venturing out of their shelter just to find the streets occupied by a new, somehow meaner, monster.
From the moment their demise started, the group had lost twenty people: the first ones, jumped by the monsters the moment they saw them, were devoured by the creatures on the spot. Josef watched in horror as the monsters ate the fallen survivors while they still fought for their lives. Then, the group then scrambled, some going in the direction of the Field Base of the Army while others took shelter in the corridors of the school.
Behind the school’s main doors, the group now piled chairs and tables over the windows and exits and forced themselves on the door to try and keep the monsters out. The survivors, now Josef, two other men, two women, and three kids, were terrified of what was about to come. Josef prayed to Alah for salvation, keeping a low preach under his voice ever since the monsters’ attack started. He could see through a gap between the doors the sheer numbers of the creatures outside in the street. His hopes were getting crushed by the moment.
“Mommy, I’m scared,” said one of the little girls.
“Me too. Those monsters are going to get us,” said the other, crying.
“Now, don’t say things like that my darlings,” the mother said, clutching them closer to her. The woman seemed absolutely terrified to Josef, saying nice words just to tranquilize the children. “Those things will simply, uhh, go away. Just wait and see.”
Josef hoped that was true too, but he wasn’t sure the monsters would simply relent in their predatory advance. The shrieking continued and the children gasped in fear.
“Fret not children, good people will come through that door and save us,” said the other woman. "A brave warrior will slay these monsters."
She was an odd one, thought Josef. She wore a now extremely dirty white dress and had small cuts all over her body. Her skin was white like snow but what grabbed attention was her eyes and her hair: Josef could swear that, when he looked at the woman with the side of his vision, her eyes were golden and her hair were of a metallic silver, but, when he turned to look directly at her, the eyes turned to brown and her hair to a corn straw yellow. She kept to herself and appeared to be in pain and in deep sorrow, with tears rolling out of her eyes occasionally. Josef felt sorry for her but couldn't relax in her presence.
"How do you know that, miss?" asked the other boy, who hugged one of the other men, who appeared to be his father.
The woman opened her eyes and gave a faint but reassuring smile to the boy. "Because..." she paused, now looking at the door.
The shrieking stopped. Josef, looking through the gap in the door, was staring in awe as the monsters stopped banging at the door and turned to meet an approaching man. He brandished an axe in his right hand and had a pistol in his holster, his tattered clothing denoted that he was a member of the Army, but his unusual equipment made Josef doubtful. Besides, this man was completely crazy in his opinion, as he was calmly walking towards the crowd of monsters alone and willingly.
"... they already arrived," the woman finished saying, staring directly to the man position outside.
As the man got close, the group of monsters started forming a half circle around him. They started screaming, shrieking and, those who had it, banging their weapons against their shields. In their warring stupor, one of the monsters, this one slightly taller and muscular than the rest, clad in some semblance of armor, stepped forward, banging his club on his shield, apparently calling the man to a duel.
The man shrugged and obliged, breathing hard and brandishing his axe with both hands, with the thing now appearing to emit a faint glow as the man assumed a charging stance. The two started measuring each other and the other monsters simply silenced themselves. The first to move was the man. He charged with a low stance, slowly bringing his body and axe up as he gained speed, telegraphing a blow that would hit the monster from above. The monster simply brought his shield up and swinged his club to hit the man's knee when the two would meet.
The world slowed down in Josef's mind as he watched the scene unfolding. He prayed for the man's soul because of his attempt to help but didn't saw any chance him winning the fight. Even if he killed the monster in front of him, there was more than fifty others to take its place and Josef didn't saw any chance of victory if it come to that, too. He simply closed his eyes when the axe was about to meet the shield.
The world resumed its pace and Josef turned his head to not see what happened next. A grunt of pain came and the monster screamed.
'So, this is it? This is how I die?' Josef thought. He gathered some courage to look at his would-be savior. He was surprised to see the man unharmed and the monster now armless, with its shield and amputated arm now laying between it and the man.
The monster hugged his would with his one good arm and still stood its ground in the duel. The other monsters stood in utter silence around the duel.
If Josef were with his eyes open, he would see the man destroying both the monster's shield and arm in the same strike, as well as the monster's attack bouncing off harmlessly of the man's knee. But now, all Josef could do was stare in amazement of the man's feat.
The man simply raised his left hand and gestured to monster, calling it to him. The monster, enraged by the provocation, ignored its grievous wound and charged the man.
Surprising Josef, the monster jumped way over the man's height and motioned to attack the man from above. The soldier simply raised his axe to meet the falling monster, making the top of the axe head connect with the monster's belly, almost skewering the thing. The monster stopped mid-air and fell to the side, directly in the soldier's hand. The soldier grabbed it by the rags it wore and raised it. The monster then tried to break free with his one good arm, but the soldier simply changed his hold of the monster to its head, holding it like an oversized doll and covering the thing's face with the palm of his hand.
The monster struggled, trying to break free again, biting and trying to hit the man with its club. In response to this, the soldier simply closed his hand and crushed the monster's head, killing it instantly.
Tossing the monster's limp body to the side, Tomás shook his hand in an attempt to clean the gore and brain matter out of it, disgusted with his own act. He stood there, staring at the Goblins, waiting for the monsters' reaction.
