Magistry: An Ancient Evil

Chapter 1

The tavern was full of voices from the many patrons drinking and having a good time while music plays from radios scattered throughout the establishment. Behind the bar sat another radio, instead of playing music, however, this one had the news broadcast at the request of the two sitting there. One of the two, a young man, listened intently while sipping his drink. The other, a young woman, reading a book while drinking water.

“We will now go to our special report on the current state of the world.” The voice from the radio announces. There is a momentary pause before another voice begins speaking.

“Nearly 50 years ago we first discovered that few people among us had the ability to channel and use a strange energy source that could heal wounds. We called this mysterious energy Magistry. We used Magistry to improve the lives of people all over the world. 2 years later a new power was discovered, one that was more destructive but still from the same source. It was from this discovery that we split the two powers in two groups. The restorative magistry, Aertha, and its wielders, the  Torvens; and the destructive magistry, Exis, and its wielders, the Sendra’s.”

“Magistry brought us into a new age of prosperity as a civilization while also bringing with it a new set of problems and changes. The first of these being strange new beings, dubbed deamons, that threaten our lives and are immune to conventional weaponry. Sendra’s and Torven’s were our only defense against these beasts and they performed this duty well.”

“The other change brought upon by Magistry was our world itself change form. Continents moving together seemingly overnight; mountain-ranges and lakes forming where none were before. Deserts became dense forests and most modern technology slowly became unusable. In the midst of all this change a new group appeared, The Guild.”    “We are the Guild, and from this day forward you will not have to cower in your homes.” A woman’s voice came through the radio. “We will take any and all Sendra’s and Torven’s and give them shelter and training. We will even take normal citizens who wish to assist in the fighting. Together we will fight back against the deamons and bring our new world to a point of safety for all. As guildmaster I give this promise to all of you in this world.”

“That was the speech given by the guildmaster.” The original voice returns. “So far they have delivered on this lofty promise of theirs and we have entered into a new era of prosperity as they assisted in the harnessing of magistry into weapons for common citizens and protections for larger cities. The guild has expanded into many branches across the world and while the deamons have increased in number so have the members of the guild.”

“All in all, with everything that has changed in the world the guild has been here for us. Humanity can only move forward from here and make our mark on this new world.”

“In other news…” The voice continues with a different report.

“They’re really hyping us up Mira.” The man says as he downs his drink.

“Well, Riken we are essentially a form of saviors to those who can’t defend themselves.” Mira says as she continues reading. “Besides, you know how much the guild has done. I would be surprised if the guild wasn’t “hyped up” as you put it.” Mira forms quotations with her hands as she says this.

“Yeah well, I don’t need the hype, I’m good without it.” Riken says in a bragging tone.

Mira rolls her eyes and closes her book. “Either way, we should be heading out soon Riken, we still have a mission to accomplish.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Riken reaches into his pocket and pulls out a few coins. Doing so reveals his arm, which is covered in runes from shoulder to wrist. The barkeeper takes notice of this and asks.

“Hey, you’re part of the guild right?”

“Yup, Riken the Sendra in all my glory.” He gives a small bow. Mira lets out a small groan.

The bar keeper laughs, “Well, you certainly are confident. Either way, I have a special rumor to tell you about if you have the time.”

Riken raises an eyebrow, “I would be interested,” Riken leans against the bar staring at the barkeeper intently.

Before the barkeeper can begin the front door slams open and a panicked man steps in. “A massive deamon has been spotted heading toward town.” Everyone in the tavern stares at him.

Riken sighs, “I’ll have to get that info from you later. C’mon Mira.” Mira nods and they approach the panicked man. “What direction was it seen approaching from?” The man gives a vague direction and Riken pats him on the shoulder. “Sit down and have a drink, there is nothing to worry about.”

Riken and Mira leave the tavern and into a crowd of people, half of which are panicked, the other seemingly unaware of the coming danger. The pair make their way to the edge of town where the deamon in question can be seen off in the distance. Though the deamon is still far from the town, its large stature is very apparent. The giant carried with it a cleaver half its size and was running toward the town. Its thunderous steps cause the ground to shake.

Riken stretches out his arm toward the giant and closes his eyes, causing the runes on his arm to begin to glow a fiery red. He then curls his hand into a claw shape and pulls it to his chest, the runes continually glowing brighter. “Mira, I need you to give the signal once it's close enough.” Riken commands, his eyes still closed.

“Are you sure you want to use that spell? The range on it puts the village at risk if its unsuccessful.” Mira replies, a tinge of worry in her eyes.

“Yes, I’m sure. It's the only spell that will take it out in one shot. Besides, it won't fail.” 

“Very well.”

The two of the wait as the giant grows closer, its steps causing larger tremors as it grows closer. Riken’s runes continually grow brighter as his loose closing begins to flutter around him as if he were in a windstorm. The giant takes one more step before leaping in the air and raising its cleaver above its head, intending to slam it down.

“Riken, angle upward and release!” Mira shouts.

Riken opens his eyes and adjusts himself before thrusting his arm forward and shouting, “Flaren!” A small ball of energy shoots from his hand toward the giant. There is a moment of silence before the ball expands into a large explosion which strikes the giant in the chest and throws it onto its back with a large crater in its chest. Its body begins to dissolve into a black sludge.

Riken breathes heavily as white smoke rises from his right arm as he drops to a knee, clutching his arm to his chest. Mira wordlessly kneels down next to him and places her hands near his arm. A faint green glow envelops his arm and the smoke soon stops. 

“Thanks Mira, you always got my back.” Riken says.

Mira blushes slightly, “Yeah, of course.” She offers him a hand and they both stand. When they turn around they find that a small group has formed behind them, who had been watching the events unfold. The group lets out a cheer at the defeat of the giant. Riken and Mira move through the crowd with a few give thanks for what they had done. They return to the tavern and are met with a loud cheer as the patrons inside thank them for saving them. Riken basks in the praise while Mira merely rolls her eyes at Riken’s ego. He approaches the bar and speaks to the barkeeper.

“So, you had some info for me?” Riken asks, curiosity burning in his eyes.

The barkeeper chuckles, “Yeah, anything for our savior. Anyway I’ve heard a couple rumors about people changing shape.” This statement pique’s Mira’s interest and she listens intently.

“Changing shape? What exactly does that mean?” Riken asks.

“Well, they way I’ve heard it, they were becoming things less than human, like humanoid reptiles and things like that.” Riken and Mira both look at each other with interest and confusion.

“Do you have any locations where we might look into this?” Mira asks.

“I hear that the port town of Gilvegu is where most of these changes are happening.”

“Gilvegu, alright thanks, we will look into it.” He grabs a small pouch on his waist. “How much for the info?”

The barkeeper waves his hand toward Riken. “Free of charge this time, it's the least I can do after you took out that giant.”

Riken returns the pouch to his belt and smirks. “Thanks.” Riken and Mira leave the tavern and head out of town. They pass by the corpse of the giant deamon, it has mostly dissolved into a black sludge though some parts of the deamon remain. Riken and Mira stop and harvest those parts and put them into a pouch covered in runes. After they have finished they start heading toward a structure off in the distance. 

Chapter 2

Upon nearing the structure they are able to observe a few small deamons milling about the area. The structure is mostly crumbled but still has the vague shape of an arch with a section that heads underground.

“Looks like we have a few implings and a kevo.” Mira says.

“Yeah, just a bunch of weaklings, this will take no time at all.” Riken says as he steps out into the clearing. As he does one of the implings notices him and lets out a small screech, causing the others deamons to notice him and begin charging toward him. Mira steps in front of Riken extends her arms and a green dome of energy forms around the two of them. The daemons run into the dome and are stopped by it and start scratching at it. Riken raises his arms into the air and his runes start to glow a fiery red.

Riken holds this pose for a short time before shouting, “Flame Swathe!” Mira quickly lowers the barrier and Riken waves his hands in front of him and a wave of flames spreads out before him. The deamons are swept up in the flames and screech in pain as they are turned to piles of ash. Riken lets out a small sigh and Mira looks at him with concern in her eyes.

He smiles at her, “I’m fine, a small spell like that doesn’t affect me very much. I can handle a few of those easily. It’s the bigger spells that take their toll.”

“Okay Riken, just try not to overdo it. You tend to over-exert yourself to show off.”

“When you’ve got great power like me you have to flex it sometimes.”

Mira rolls her eyes, “Let’s go explore the ruins you idiot.” She heads toward the broken archway, beneath it is a set of stairs leading downward. Riken comes up beside her and looks down the stairs. Halfway down is enveloped in darkness, making it impossible to see. Riken looks at Mira and she nods and she makes a circle with her finger and a small ball of light is formed, she flicks up and it hovers over her shoulder. Riken summons a blade into his right hand and slowly heads down the stairs with Mira close behind him.

At the bottom of the stairs they enter into a moderately sized room. Scattered throughout the room are books and papers, damaged beyond repair. The rotted remains of a desk sits on the opposite side of the room from them along with a few destroyed tables and chairs. A doorway with only one door of the supposed two left leads into a room beyond the current one. Riken and Mira take a quick look around and find nothing so they move on through the doorway. Riken gently pushes the remaining door but it falls off the hinges and slams to the floor with a very loud bang. They freeze for a moment, waiting if the noise attracts any deamons within but after a minute of nothing they continue. 

A long hallway stretches before them, with the end shrouded in darkness. They are able to see doorways on either side of the hall, all spaced out evenly. They peek into one to their left and find mostly the remains of a bed frame, desk, and a bookshelf. All of it made a wood with most of it rotted away, giving the entire area a musty smell. They move down the hall looking into each room but finding most of the same in each until they come across a room near the end of the hall. 

On the bed lies the tattered remains of a blanket spread across the bed with a few lumps in it. Mira slowly approaches the bed and gently moves the blanket, upon doing so she jumps back with a yelp and falls over. Riken rushes in, ready to fight, when he sees her on the floor he looks to the bed. On it are the remains of a person, or at least what once was, now just a pile of bones.

“Well, luckily there isn’t any smell from this or you would be puking right now.” Riken says as he helps Mira up.

“Sorry, it surprised me.” Mira replies looking embarrassed.

“I’m just glad it wasn’t a deamon,” Riken says, returning to the hallway.

Mira nods and joins him.

The hallway ends into a large room, Mira reaches up toward her light and makes an expansion motion with her hand and the ball grows while lighting up more of the room. Upon doing so she lets out an audible gasp, strewn throughout the room was human remains most of which gathered into the two farthest corners of the room. 

“This must have been some kind of bunker the ancients used. I don’t know what they could have been hiding from though.” Riken states.

“My goodness, all these people, I feel so sorry for them. I can feel the fear in the air here, their last moments must have been horrible.” Mira says, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

A doorway leads out of the room but it has collapsed preventing them from moving through it.

“Well shit, no going through there it seems.” Riken states, looking at the doorway, “Might as well get out of here Mira.”

“Y-yeah,” Mira says.

As they move to leave the sound of rattling chains fills the air and the room grows cold.

“Shit, that’s not good, we need to go now Mira.” Riken grabs her hand but before they can leave the room the doorway is blocked by chains. Moaning begins to fill the air and Riken swears under his breath as he turns around to find a large spirit floating in the air. The spirit is wrapped in chains and its face is obscured by a hood, though its clawed hands are fully visible. 

“Riken, what is that?” Mira asks, her fear apparent in her voice.

“A revenant, the manifestation of regret from those who have died in unnatural ways. I should have figured one would manifest here, with all the bodies here. They are incredibly dangerous so we need to be careful while we fight this one.” Riken scans the room, “I can’t use flaren here either, the explosion is likely to bring the place down.” He holds his blade in front of him and places his hand on the flat of his blade. “I’ll have to go this route. Magisblade: Crackle!” His runes glow with a blue color as he runs his hand across the blade causing electricity to surge on the blade. “Mira, back me up.” She nods and he lunges toward the revenant and swipes at it. His blade passes through the spirit but the electricity surges from the blade and strikes it.

The revenant lets out a screech as it attempts to swipe at Riken, he uses his blade to block  and as the revenant touches the blade it is struck again by the electricity and it recoils in pain. It then retreats and swings its chains at Riken which he dodges and strikes back again. It screeches once again and quickly wraps its chains around Riken’s blade. He struggles against the chains while the revenant goes for another slash. Mira jumps in and creates a barrier to protect Riken, touching the barrier brings the revenant pain. The revenant slams both of its hands into the barrier causing a ripple to form and causing Mira to wince in pain. The revenant continues this barrage and cracks start to form. Mira drops to a knee as she tries to hold the barrier together. Riken struggles against the chains and the revenant does one final blow on the barrier, shattering it and causes Mira to fall to the floor dazed. 

“Mira!” Riken shouts as he frees his blade and jumps in front of Mira as the revenant slashes at her. Riken takes the blow in his chest and retaliates by stabbing the sword into the form of the spirit. “Burst!” At his command the energy stored within the blade is released in one massive attack, which causes the revenant to dissipate. His sword disappears from his hand and he breathes heavily.

Mira recovers from her daze and sees Riken before her. “Riken, are you alright?” Riken collapses to the ground, blood beginning to pool around him. “Oh no, Riken!” Mira rolls Riken over and begins healing his wound. The revenant's attack left a large gash from his left shoulder diagonally down to his stomach, it bled heavily but Mira’s healing slowed it quickly. She continues healing until the wound is closed and she helps him stand. Riken is barely coherent and Mira does her best to get them out of the tomb. Mira’s face is stained by tears as she fears for Riken’s life.

Chapter 3

Riken awakens later in an unfamiliar room, and lying in a bed. He looks around and notices Mira sitting next to him, her head on the bed, sleeping. He attempts to sit up but instantly winces in pain as a jolt is sent through his whole body and he lets out a pained grunt. Mira wakes up at the sound of him waking up.

“Riken!” she exclaims, “You’re awake, thank goodness. I thought I may have been too slow to heal you, I didn’t know if you would wake up. I was so scared that you had died because of me I would have never been able to forgive myself if that happened.”

“Mira,” Riken says, interrupting her, “I’m alright, just really fucking sore. Where are we?”

“A small village that was near the ruins. I got you here thanks to a merchant group that happened to be traveling through the area.”

“That is really lucky, guess we got something looking out for us huh?” Riken lets out a light chuckle.

Mira is silent for a moment. “Riken, that revenant left a large wound, if I hadn’t been there you would have easily bled out.”

“Yeah, and if I hadn’t taken that hit you would have died.”

“That may be true but, you can’t keep taking hits like that. What if we come to a fight and you take a hit that I can’t heal? What would happen then?”

Riken smiles, “That would never happen, because you’re the best Torven I know.”

Riken’s smile and compliment cause Mira to blush and tears begin to well up in her eyes. “Riken, you absolute idiot, I was the reason you even took this hit! All because I was too weak! I could barely hold my barrier against it and that is my main purpose in battle! If I can’t even hold a barrier when it matters then what am I even traveling with you for!?” Mira has begun crying heavily at this point and her tears fall onto the bed.

Riken is silent for a moment before gently placing a hand on Mira’s cheek. This causes her to flinch and pull away. Despite this Riken responds to her. “Mira, you’re not weak, far from it. I’ve only gotten this far because of you, because you always had my back. I’m as reckless as I am because I know that you will be there to pick me back up no matter what blows I take. You’ve been the best partner I have traveled with and I wouldn’t trade you for anyone.”

Mira continues to cry, “R-riken…thank you.” She gives a faint smile and her tears slowly stop. After a moment she regains her composure. “You still need some time before you are ready to fight again. You will need to stay in bed for a bit longer. So please, for your sake and mine, relax for a bit.”

Riken chuckles lightly, “Yeah, alright.”

Riken spends a day resting until he is able to sit up without pain. He takes it easy, per Mira’s request, and merely walks through the village with Mira. Once he has fully recovered the two of them decide to begin the journey back to their guild hall to report on the ruins they explored. Before heading out, Riken looks himself over in the mirror.

His chest is fully healed, without even a scar. “Damn, I knew Torvens were great healers but you even managed to erase what would have been a nasty scar.”

“Did you want to have a nasty scar across your chest?” Mira asks.

“Well no, I was merely stating how crazy it is that Aertha can do things like this.”

Mira sighs, “Yes, it has improved the lives of many,” She turns her head, “And worsened the lives of others.” she says under her breath.

“What was that?” 

“Nothing Riken, whenever you’re ready we can head out.”

“Ready when you are.”

The pair head out of town and take the road toward home. During their journey they encounter a few minor deamons and deal with them easily. When night hits they set up camp slightly off the road. Mira pulls a small crystal out of her pouch and tosses it in the air. “Engage.” She says and the crystal emits a light and a bubble forms around them. 

“There, our shield is set up, we’ll be safe for the night.” Mira states.

Riken creates a campfire, “Thanks Mira, I’ll get our food going, shouldn’t be too long.” Riken prepares some meat for them both. He roasts it over the fire and slowly cooks it. The smell wafts through the air causing a few deamons to investigate. They attempt to enter the bubble but are stopped by it and are caused immense pain. They flee off into the brush.

The two of them enjoy their meal, “You know Riken, I never thought that I would enjoy meat cooked this way but you manage to do it so well. Where did you learn how to do it?”

“Mostly self taught honestly, it was something I had to pick up. Believe me when I first started I burned a lot of meals. It was not a pleasant time.”

Mira chuckles, “Oh, so the mighty Riken wasn’t perfect at something?”

“Yeah yeah, have your laugh.”

Mira continues chuckling while she finishes her meal. Once the meal is finished they both make preparations for sleep and let the fire burn out as they sleep.

Mira awakens the next morning to find Riken’s gear abandoned and Riken nowhere to be seen. She gets up and frantically searches the surrounding area until she hears the sound of fighting. She heads in the direction of the fighting and comes upon a small clearing where she finds Riken slaying some lesser deamons. Each one attempts to strike Riken but he eliminates them in a single swing. Once the group is down to just a few they flee off into the forest.

Riken dismisses his weapon and looks around at the results of his battle. The clearing is now filled with ash from the slain deamons. Mira, seeing that Riken is alright, returns to camp to prepare some breakfast.

Riken returns some time later, “That smells great Mira, can’t wait to eat.”

Mira smiles, “It’s almost done, why don’t you pack things up while I finish cooking.” Riken packs up their supplies and disengages the crystal, handing it to Mira who places it in her pack. Once finished they enjoy a meal and prepare to set off toward home.

During the journey home they come across a few smaller deamons that flee from them instead of fighting. Mira is surprised but is glad at the chance to have a peaceful return home. Riken however, pays them no notice as he remains vigilant for actual threats.

After a few hours of traveling Mira asks a question, “So Riken, this morning I happened to see you fighting some deamons, what was that about?”

“Just getting in a bit of training after my injury, nothing major. Why do you ask?”

“Well, it’s just, I hadn’t seen you do that before, and I was curious.”

Riken pauses for a moment, “Well, it also helps to cull their numbers and keep them somewhat under control.”

Mira becomes confused, “The smaller ones? But why are you so worried about them, I mean, right now they are running from us?”

Riken sighs, “Trust me, let the small ones have the advantage of numbers and they become a problem very quick. Have you ever seen a nest?”

Mira is confused again, “A nest? Like a nest of deamons?”

“Yes, the smaller deamons make nests and populate from there. They don’t get found until they’ve been around for a while usually, and by that point there are hundreds of the little things. At those numbers a single party would be hard pressed to make it out with their lives.”

“I get the feeling that you know this from experience.”

Riken doesn’t respond but stops walking, his face turned to a look of solemn remembrance. “Yeah, you could say that I have experience with nests. First fucking hand experience with what happens when you send a group of inexperienced hunters in to take out a nest.” He clenches his fists tightly as he fights back tears.

Mira becomes incredibly concerned with Riken, “Riken, are you alright?”

“There was seven of us, all of us had just joined the guild, five of us were Sendra’s and two of us Torven’s. They told us it was going to be an easy job, just go in and take out the deamons that had made the place their home so the town nearby would feel safer.”

He clenches his fists tighter, causing his knuckles to turn white and bites his lip. “What they didn’t fucking tell us that the place was a goddamn nest! The moment we saw the walls covered in that shit we should have left and informed the guild. However, a couple of us decided that we had something to prove and thought we could handle it.”

“Riken…” Mira says, placing a hand on Riken’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

“I was such a fucking idiot. The moment we got close they swarmed out of the nests and quickly overwhelmed us. We managed to pick them off slowly but for every one we killed three more took their place. It was hell. The Torven’s tried their best to keep us all alive but it wasn’t long before one of us got knocked down and swarmed by the horde. Before anyone could do anything we heard the sound of his flesh being torn and his bones being snapped as he screamed in pain and terror. This caused us to freeze in terror and the horde took that chance to snatch another Sendra. One of the other Sendra snapped me out of my daze and we attempted to group together to escape. By this point the screams of the other two had stopped so we were trying to get our wits back. We circled the Torven’s to get a barrier up and give us a moment to think. As soon as that barrier went up the sound of claws and fists pounding was deafening. We decided that our best bet was to make a run for it but with the barrier up we had become surrounded completely and with the amount of deamons trying to get in the Torven’s couldn’t hold on for long. One of us offered to be bait so the rest of us could escape, I protested but he was adamant about it. When the barrier shattered the two Torven collapsed, I grabbed one of them and the other Sendra grabbed the other. The third one attempted to clear a path as we ran, I had never run so fast in my life. As I neared the entrance, I turned around to look and saw the Sendra being swarmed and dragged into the horde. The last remaining Sendra fell as a deamon grabbed his leg and he was dragged away along with the Torven. I wanted to try and help but I was still carrying the last Torven so I ran. We were the only two who survived that ordeal, and because of that the Torven refused to do any field work again. I can still remember how empty her eyes looked. I vowed to never let anything like that happen again.”

Mira is lost for words and simply hugs Riken, “Oh Riken, I can’t believe you went through that…”

Riken barely registers her hug, “I never even learned their names…”