Icarus stared. The masked man had been blown away by a flash of light. He looked in the direction it had come 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 beastman's 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, and 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, 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 than us, so that's why you didn't spend as much time in the cages."
Icarus looked back at 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. Icarus realized this, but they had already gotten 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, and 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 had 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 were like a drop of water falling out of a 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 any names, boss."
Icarus sighed in return, "well I need to do 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 too hard, though.
Fred beamed, "Really? This is an honorable name! Even we slaves hear tales from others about Fred The Righteous!"
Icarus waves him off, "yeah, yeah. You reminded me of him, so that's why." Icarus picked his ear and sighed. He had no clue who Fred the Righteous was, but was happy for the coincidence.
He turned to Lyra. He had just noticed she was particularly attractive, supposing that he had not noticed before, due to the whole life and death scenario thing.
"Is there anything you want me to call you?"
Lyra frowned and 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.
.
.
.
The mage stood above a masked corpse, buildings were destroyed, and people cried all around him. He had questioned this one, but he did not respond at all. He took off the mana mask, and his eyes widened.
People of the coastal cities have very identifiable features: bleached hair, tanned skin, and freckles. This man was clearly one of them; the pupils of his eyes had a strange look in them, they spiralled like poorly filled-in circles, and it was evident to these people what this was.
"Madness..."
This was not an attack by another country.
There was a chain leading down the man's neck. The mage reached down and pulled it off. The locket hung in his hands, and he stared.
It was a strange shape, its color was so dark it was hard to make out.
As he stared and focused, the pendant grew larger and larger. 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, its dark beak filled with endless rows of jagged, rotting teeth.
It's expression some grotesque smile, filled with blood and centuries of Decay, its form surrounded him and the area, it's dark-Abyss like eyes filled his gaze.
Its black wings were skeletal and decomposed, and patches of its body were pink and cracked with black, foul pus seeping out of it.
The man gained comprehension of this being, old as time itself, that stood before him.
"Iniquitous... Depraved... Bird..."
The bird's eyes stared at him, all around him, the survivors' eyes stared at him, their eyes dark black beads, and the dead stared as well, with the same expression as the bird.
That dark twisted smile, the mage's 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