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—--
The flavour of the air shifted.
From a relaxed post-battle debrief and conversation, it shifted instantaneously the moment Aldric felt her eyes linger.
And so, in turn, he did as well.
Her pale skin was made even paler by the cold, her blue arctic eyes gleaming with intent. Her figure cut sharp edges yet was soft in all the right places. And her lips were a deep natural red. A heat traversed through his body.
One thing he never knew was just how much his libido would spike as a master. At the lower ranks, it was a manageable difference but it was now amplified in heated moments. He wondered just how everyone else handled it.
A flash of gold entered his mind but he pushed it back.
Ever since the return of Nephis, Aldric had seen Cassie less and less often. At the start, he could understand it but it reached a point where he had to see the writing on the walls. That Cassie shared a unique bond with Nephis that made them inseparable. That made Cassie put her life on hold to attend to Nephis.
But he knew that was not the real reason. That Nephis was only the distraction that allowed Cassie to get away from him and their newly formed bond. To what end he did not know.
And with that, she was out of his head. Out of sight, out of mind.
Focusing on the beauty before him, he continued their conversation.
"Sunny never really spoke about you; we should get to know each other once this all blows over. Maybe a dinner."
Aldric threw the invitation over casually, no strings or expectations attached. Desperation is the loudest insecurity of a man after all.
And she bit.
"Definitely, we just need to both survive."
She said with a chuckle. Carrying on, she spoke.
"Yeah, that one has a weird way of showing his gratitude. I was surprised he refused to come to Antarctica; I guess he must have really bonded with Changing Star."
She sighed deeply.
"But I don't blame him at all; he does not have the same drive that I had, and it was my fault for projecting that onto him."
Her deep-blue eyes portrayed a deep confliction.
"Why would he fight to save a world that treated him like scum before he was an awakened?"
Aldric listened to her vent. Nodding along as he understood what she spoke about.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he makes it here somehow; he seems to always be in the thick of things."
Aldric said half-heartedly, losing interest in the conversation.
"Well, I have to go before they notice I'm gone for too long. You know what to do."
Aldric spoke, a finger rising to hover over his closed lips cheekily.
And her smirk spoke for her response.
—
A few days later
The evacuation of Central Antarctica was coming to a head. The final contingent of citizens had just arrived and were being docked at the port. They were made of 45,000 civilians and a dozen awakened that conquered the first nightmare recently.
With the chain of nightmares nearing its total domination of Antarctica, there was no other option but to leave for the rest of the world.
"So what is the plan after this?"
Skytide asked Aldric.
They both stood on the highest point of the central tower of Falcon Scott, overlooking the wave of humans docking and about to pass through the gates.
"Try to find a way to avoid the nonsense between the two clans. With joining the Song Clan, this was my ticket out of that bullshit.
It was my fault for listening to your advice on the chainbreaker."
Aldric sighed and spoke sarcastically after remembering that one conversation. He was honest without care. Knowing enough of Tyris' personality and character, he was at ease.
"How about you? When do you reckon they do away with the Masters and start bringing Saints into the war?"
The Saint was silent for all but a moment until she spoke.
"Not anytime soon. We are both their greatest resource and their strongest weapon. If we are deployed, then it will be when a winner is ready to be decided."
With her mysterious words, she went back to remaining taciturn. With each breath that she drew, more of her soul essence was revitalised as the world itself beckoned her existence. Spirit essence derived from the atmosphere is what filled her core.
With nothing to do, the conversation continued. After all, within the next two days, the evacuations were to be completed.
This time it was Tyris that spoke.
"You are doing more than any Master had done before. The day I met you at the academy, I did not take you for an altruist. What is your purpose here?"
The stormy blue eyes glistened in the snowy backdrop.
Aldric's face went through many microexpressions, but it solidified into a unique one.
His left hand raised to rake through his curls as it shook, a look of shyness, confusion and acceptance formed on his face. A half smile with teeth showing, with his head tilted downwards.
"I… I just want to leave a mark, I guess. To be able to say to myself that I changed something."
Pure honestly without filter. A cathartic moment for a man confused by his role in this world.
She stayed silent for a moment, and then just as she was about to talk, her breath stopped in her mouth.
A chilling breeze interrupted their talk.
One that the Saint was intimately familiar with.
Noticing the shift in the air, Aldric turned towards Saint Tyris.
Tyris tilted her neck forward and upwards, looking directly at the sky. Looking towards the south of the city, away from the port that had just moved thousands of people through.
A space of clear sky spanned over Falcon Scott. A Falcon Scott that had not once seen a clear sky since before the great wars of the past. And circling that space of null was a storm. A storm not of wind or lightning but cold. Frigid and desperate cold that clung to any source of heat and consumed it.
That rigid boundary began to collapse as a gigantic swarm of ice began to form into a shape. A harrowing titan of mist began to descend slowly, gradually picking up speed in its descent as it gained more and more mass.
Skull first, the beast widened its mouth as its semi-corporeal form descended onto Falcon Scott like a nuclear warhead.
BOOM
A singular explosion of death and cold bled over the south of the city. Wiping out any sign of civilisation. The shockwave traversed through the city and expanded outwards.
Like an avalanche, the pillar of ice containing the force of thousands of war heads traversed towards the contingent of refugees and the rest of the evacuation army. The fifty soldiers and five awakened that were stationed as garrisons had not felt pain as their body and soul were sealed in a coffin of ice.
In but an instant, Tyris shifted into her transcendent form and flew straight into the approaching explosion. Without an ounce of fear in her heart, she extended her source element and manipulated the wind currents to battle the oncoming blast. Knowing of their disparity in strength, she created a wind tunnel that could focus her strength over a shorter distance.
'It was not meant to be here at all! Fuck! We killed the rest of those bastards. Bloodwave killed LO49 in its damn nest, and I killed the rest of them. So why is it here so early?'
The heat of his exhale turned to white vapour before him.'
A feeling of dread filled him.
THUNDER
A crisp and instantaneous bolt of lightning descended.
Turning around instantly, he looked right at the gates of the city, and a lone shape cast a shadow in the snow.
Citywide sirens blared within an instant.
The Winter Beast was here.
"--South and West garrisons have been wiped. General, respond! I repea–"
Accepting the communication, Aldric interrupted with a singular question. Keeping his eyes straight ahead.
"How long until the total evacuation of all civilians and soldiers through the gate…"
Within ten seconds, Aldric got his response.
"Eighteen minutes, sir… It would take eighteen minutes for everyone to be evacuated."
"You have twelve…"
His apostle shifted to make that a reality.
Cutting off his connection, Aldric began to move ahead.
Walking steadily along the walls of the city, waves of darkness flooded the path as it began to overflow and cascade over the wall. Reinforcing the wall, should Tyris' attempt fail, this defence should stand tall.
As Aldric walked ahead, the darkness at his feet began to pool around him and cover his form. Like a cocoon, webs of darkness engulfed him layer by layer.
'Rashomon'
Around the [Mantle of Darkness], a suit of living armour covered him. Pulsing and shifting, he still carried on walking.
Gusts of air whipped around him and pushed his hair backwards, yet he still walked onwards.
DROP
Falling straight down the tower, the Master stood tall as gravity pulled his body downwards like a meteorite.
Falling and falling, Aldric tilted his body to slide along the walls and pushed off the surface with all his might. Shattering the reinforced alloy, he was in hot pursuit of the growing figure that was patiently waiting for him. Manoeuvring through the frozen city.
As the two titans clashed in the cold sky, the master walked towards the entrance of the city to meet this calamity.
All of a sudden, Aldric sidestepped and shifted his body back. Repositioning almost instantly, he drove his blade covered with a capacity most lethal through the cervical spine of whatever dared to attack him.
The little figure whimpering in death. For the first time in its life, it was unlucky to have stumbled upon the one person that luck did not have a grasp over.
"A good test subject if anything."
Aldric spoke as he walked away before the corpse even cooled. The darkness suffocating the ground behind him engulfed the nightmare creature like quicksand as though it were alive. Departing to the unknown.
As he walked, hordes of civilians and non-combat personnel were rushing through the gates formed by Amon. Each gate widened to its maximum while attempting to process as many humans as possible.
Yet that was not the glaring feature of this moment. It was the coldness that engulfed the tens of thousands of people.
The stadium-like structure that housed the gates was overfilled, yet each person moved too slow for the current moment. For only an imminent death awaited them if they stayed a second longer. Hundreds had collapsed already and were being carried by whoever was nearby and capable.
It was a catastrophe. Humans outrunning the concept of a blizzard while the air they breathed froze their lungs.
Walking past that site with a hardened face, Aldric spoke.
"In the throes of faith,
an infinitesimal horizon renders within the dawn of flame,
For why should life be tethered,
If only to be spent.
I offer what I am.
To what I will become.
Origin, Bear Witness, Collapse.
—
Falling
Star
"
***
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So I recently got relocated to a different country for work so life has been hectic. But I had some time to think and I've decided that I want to take this more seriously. More stories, more chapters and more engagement with my readers. And this is the first step.
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