Elara Fors
"What a pain."
The words escaped me as a torrent of flames spilled from the tip of my staff, incinerating the Darkkin rushing toward us. Beside me, Aifa moved with sharp focus, her fingers dancing as she loosed arrow after arrow with lethal precision, each finding its mark. Ahead, Tavian, Blake and Ashar carved a path through the swarm, steel and mana moving as one. Erik raised his arm, and a group of the creatures was violently slammed together, crushed into nothingness by his magic.
From a side tunnel, another swarm of Darkkin came pouring out like a black tide. Before I or anyone else could react, an invisible force struck them, hurling them back into the tunnel. Then, I watched as my little Sieg leaped forward, a shimmering blade of mana forming over his hand. He swung his arm in a wide arc, and a sharp, brilliant slash tore through the air, bisecting the group of monsters before they could even hit the ground.
I watched him, my heart skipping a beat in sheer astonishment. From when could he do that?
"Young lord!" Blake called out to Sieg, catching his eye and offering a quick thumbs-up. Sieg mirrored the gesture, a bright, triumphant smile lighting up his face despite the grim surroundings.
Now that I think about it, he and Tavian took over teaching Sieg the way of the sword over Silas. Huh. It looks like they are much better teachers than Silas.
The battle raged for several more minutes before the darkkin finally stopped spilling out from the tunnels.
"Finally over…" Erik let out a long breath as he walked toward me.
"How long can we last like this..." Aifa said softly, her voice carrying a trace of exhaustion as she slung her bow over her shoulder.
She was right to be worried. This is the fifth swarm we have faced, and we have already navigated through four different time periods. There had been no sign of Valka, not even a lingering trace of her scent for Faux to follow. Everyone's mana levels were steadily dropping under the constant strain of battle. Even Sieg, with his incredible mana pool, might not be able to keep these walls glowing for much longer.
I turned my gaze toward my grandson. He and Faux were whispering to each other, likely comparing notes on the last skirmish. "Sieg, how much mana do you have left?"
Truthfully, he possessed one of the largest mana pools in our entire group, second only to Valka and Erik. Even so, maintaining such a spell should have been draining him heavily. He should have been down to fifty, perhaps sixty percent at most.
Sieg looked uncertain. He glanced at Faux, then closed his eyes, his expression tightening as he focused inward. After a few seconds, he opened them again.
"Around eighty percent… maybe. It's hard to tell."
"Eighty percent?" My voice rose in disbelief.
Sieg nodded, though he still looked a bit unsure of the numbers himself.
"He's right, Ma," Erik said beside me. "His mana pool is as large as mine."
Talk about unbelievable. I always knew Sieg's mana pool was bottomless, but this was venturing into the realm of the insane. Erik had reached the Epsilon stage; his manapool had been expanded many times over through years of growth. For Sieg, who was only at the Gamma stage, to match that volume already... I guess that much is needed to carry the fate he is destined to shoulder. The gods do not give such gifts without a heavy price to follow.
"Lady Fors." Tavian emerged from one of the tunnels. "This path leads to a dead end."
A few minutes later, Ashar returned from a different passage, his skin pale in the glowing light. "This leads to a nest of large, worm-like monsters. I don't recommend that way unless we want a very messy fight."
"Agreed. If Valka were there, she would have crushed them already." I had no desire to deal with more slimy, unpleasant creatures.
Then, right after him, the boy Blake returned. He stood silently for a moment before speaking. "...Path splits in two. One on the right leads nowhere. Left leads forward."
This boy truly is a person of few words. He has been like this ever since he first arrived at the barony. Perhaps it's because he is the youngest among his peers and finds it hard to mix in, or maybe he simply finds talking unnecessary, a waste of precious time. I have met such people before in my long life. They were always the hardest to read, and even harder to deal with.
"Left it is, then," I said, leaning on my staff. "Let's hope this 'forward' actually brings us to her."
Blake guided us onward. It took only a few minutes before we reached the intersection. Without exchanging a word, we turned left, the path narrowing until it opened into another of those black passages that led to a different time period.
"Ma, what should we do?" Erik asked. It wasn't just him; every eye in the group moved to me, waiting for a decision.
"... We just follow what we have been doing. It looks like Valka is not here. Let's move to the next time period."
They nodded in agreement. Erik and Tavian stepped forward, preparing to enter first. I turned to look at Sieg. "Stay behind me."
He nodded, his hand already clasped around Aifa's.
He seems to be getting a lot closer with her, holding her hand every chance he gets. It was a curious sight. He shows zero reaction or interest toward the girls his own age back at the barony... Does my grandson prefer older women?
No. This was not the time for such foolish thoughts. I forced them aside.
"Tavian! Move!!" Erik's shout tore through the air. I turned just in time to see Erik shove Tavian backward into Ashar's arms as something crashed out of the black veil into the stone where he had been standing, the impact rattling the ground beneath us.
"Everyone, back! Back!!" Erik shouted. He raised his hand. An unseen force lifted us off our feet and hurled us farther away from the tunnel mouth. Erik leapt back as well, landing squarely in front of the group, his eyes fixed on the black void.
"What is that?" Tavian asked, straightening up and shaking off the shock.
A large, clawed black hand gripped the edge of the cavern wall, and a massive golden ring slid into view through the veil. The sight of it sent a chill through me.
"Darkkin?" Aifa said, her voice tight as the group drew their weapons. Before anyone could move, the golden ring began to glow with a malevolent light.
"Damn it!" Erik hurled his axe. It struck the ring with a heavy clank, and an inhuman scream echoed from nowhere and everywhere at once. Erik jumped toward the creature just as a sledgehammer swung out from the side. He ducked beneath it and plunged straight into the Time Veil, disappearing into the blackness along with the monster.
"Erik!" I called out, my heart hammering against my ribs, but no reply came.
"We need to go after him," Ashar said. He, Tavian and Blake rushed the veil and vanished inside. I stopped before the veil and turned back. "You two. Wait two minutes before entering."
Sieg looked like he wanted to protest, but I didn't give him the chance. I jumped into the veil. The dizziness and the world-twisting sensation came as always, but I ignored the nausea. As my vision cleared, I found myself in near-total darkness. The only light came from Ashar's floating flaming orbs and the frantic sparks of metal clashing against metal.
"Everyone, stay back!" Erik's voice echoed from the gloom. Ashar and Blake immediately shifted his position to stand in front of me.
Leaving Sieg behind was a mistake. He is in a different time, so the walls here aren't glowing.
A ripple of wind brushed past me. "Is Tavian fighting as well?" I asked.
"Yes," Ashar replied. "This Darkkin is far larger and stronger than anything we have faced."
"Forget me. Go help them." I said, gripping my staff.
Ashar chuckled softly. "That was always my plan, my lady."
I noticed the heat intensifying around his arms as he prepared a spell. He unleashed a concentrated beam of flames that pierced the dark like a spear. The light revealed the Darkkin, it was broader and more towering than any we had seen, clutching a massive sledgehammer. Ashar's beam struck the creature's side, destabilizing its heavy stance.
In that moment of vulnerability, Erik leaped from the shadows. He brought his axe down with a devastating, singular motion, cleanly severing the towering Darkkin in two from the middle.
"Erik, are you alright?" I asked as the light from the Ashar's attack faded and the thick, heavy darkness returned to the cavern.
"Yes. I am unharmed." He and Tavian walked closer, their faces illuminated by the flickering glow of the fireballs.
"Where is the young lord?" Tavian asked, his eyes immediately searching the shadows.
"He and..." Then, as if on cue, the entire cavern was bathed in a brilliant golden light. I turned to see Aifa and Sieg jumping through the veil.
Sieg and Faux both shook their heads vigorously from left to right, clearly trying to fight off the lingering dizziness from the temporal jump.
"Is everything over?" Aifa asked, her hand resting on her bow as she surveyed the empty, quiet cavern.
Before any of us could answer, a deep, guttural groan echoed through the ground, and the whole cavern began to shudder violently.
"Ugh, I am feeling too dizzy, it feels like everything is shaking," Sieg said, rubbing his temples.
"Fuuuaaaa." Faux let out a shaky voice of agreement.
"Come to your senses. Everything is actually shaking... Move back!" Erik's voice was like a whip-crack. He turned toward the only other tunnel connected to the cavern.
Pain throbbed through my temples as a violent surge of mana erupted ahead. A torrent of mana spilled from the tunnel, so dense it pressed against the air itself.
"Behind me!" Erik shouted.
We rushed behind him as he stepped forward. Erik raised his arms, and the incoming attack split into two directions, diverted by the sheer pressure of his spell. Even shielded, I could feel the intense, suffocating heat of the mana.
The mana eventually ceased, and Erik let out a tired, ragged sigh. I looked around at the devastation; the stone ground surrounding our safe zone was charred and smoking.
Then came a sound of grinding, or perhaps a heavy slithering. I looked forward again, and in an instant, a monstrous creature spilled out of the tunnel, towering over us with a terrifying presence.
The creature rose before us, colossal and serpentine, its form wrapped in overlapping scales of black and gold that jutted outward like jagged blades. Its upper body widened into a distorted humanoid shape, thick arms ending in brutal claws formed from the same obsidian armor.
Where a head should have been, a perfect golden ring hovered, radiant and intact, its sacred glow clashing violently with the monstrosity beneath it.
Its long coiling body anchored it to the cavern floor, every movement heavy with ruin. In its right hand, a black and gold greatsword took shape, , the blade split slightly at the tip like a jagged fang.
"Just... what is this?" The words left me as cold sweat formed on my forehead. This pressure is unlike anything we have faced. It feels like the air itself is trying to crush us.
The monster raised its massive sword and swung it down in a devastating arc.
"Shit!!" Erik shouted. He gripped his axe with both hands and leaped to meet the blow. The weapons crashed with a sound like a mountain splitting, creating a shockwave so violent we were all sent stumbling back.
Erik landed hard on the stone, his breath hitching. The greatsword came raining down again, but Erik deflected it sideways using his axe, the blade burying itself deep into the ground. The monster's other fist came down. A crater formed beneath Erik's feet as he caught the blow with his bare hands, his muscles bulging under the strain.
"We are moving in," Tavian declared, pulling his sword from its sheath with a sharp ring.
The others followed his lead, drawing weapons and beginning to chant their spells.
"Jump!" Sieg's voice rang out. I turned my head just in time to see the monster's serpentine tail sweeping toward us.
I poured every ounce of mana I could muster into my old legs and leaped. Everyone else mirrored the action, narrowly dodging the scythe-like strike. "Graah!" Ashar's pained cry echoed before we could even touch the ground. The tail had snapped back, this time much higher, catching Ashar mid-air. I began to frantically weave a defensive spell, knowing I wouldn't be in time to help, when a hand curled tightly around my wrist. I was swept high into the air, looking up to see Blake holding me fast while Tavian held Blake, using wind magic to keep us aloft.
"Sieg!!!" I looked back in terror to see the tail slamming into Sieg and Aifa, sending them flying upward with terrifying force. Ashar was sent rolling across the floor.
"We are fine," Aifa's voice cut through the dust. As it cleared, I saw them wedged into a small hole high in the cavern wall, a faint shimmer wrapped around them.
Faux's barrier! Thank the Aethelhum for that little spirit.
"Granny! Ashar!" Sieg's voice pulled my attention toward the corner where Ashar lay crumpled where he had fallen, breath ragged, one arm trembling as he tried to push himself up.
I looked up at Blake, who was still holding me aloft. "Throw me." He nodded, swinging his arm with calculated strength before launching me through the air.
"O flames."
Fire answered my call, propelling me through the air. I landed hard in front of Ashar, boots skidding against stone. From the corner of my eye, I caught Tavian and Blake dropping from above, blades flashing as they carved across the monster's hide. The monster screamed, the sound grinding against my ears.
Seeing the opening, Erik pushed back with every ounce of his strength. "Repulsion!" he roared, hurling the colossal monster across the cavern until it slammed into the far wall with a shattering thud.
I turned my focus entirely to Ashar. He was struggling to breathe, his face contorted as he tried to push himself up.
"Do not move," I commanded, pressing a hand firmly on his shoulder. I use my Arcana. [Master Alchemist: Analysis IV]
My mind was flooded with a detailed diagnosis of his internal structure.
I was surprised to find that only the bones on the left side of his body were cracked. He must have managed to coat himself in a dense layer of mana at the last possible second. Luckily, there was no sign of internal bleeding, or things would have spiraled beyond even my capabilities.
"Lady Fors... I..." Ashar's voice was a ragged whisper.
"Shut up and drink this." I pulled two vials from my satchel. One was a potent pain reliever, and the other was a concentrated draft to accelerate cell regeneration and mend shattered bone.
I helped him sit up against the wall, ignoring his groans of agony as I forced the potions down his throat. As the medicine began to circulate, I placed my hands over his torso and started the delicate, exhausting process of stitching his bones back together with my mana.
Focus. Every second counts while the others hold that monstrous Darkkin back.
Another inhuman roar pierced my ears. I looked over my shoulder to see the monster was rising under Erik's crushing gravity. It leveled its sword, and a searing golden beam of mana shot out. Erik leaped sideways, the beam scorching the air where he had been standing. Suddenly, dozens of glowing lights ignited around the monster like malevolent stars.
No. No. No.
I threw up my free hand and summoned a wall of flame just as the golden lights poured down like judgment.
My wall of fire was shredded in seconds, the power of the barrage too much for my diverted focus, but an emerald barrier snapped into existence in its place with a defiant "Fuaaa!" I looked around to see these translucent green walls sheltering everyone.
Erik leapt past the wall, weaving through the rain of attacks with incredible speed. He lunged at the beast, but the monster was deceptively fast. It swiped its massive tail in a lethal arc, but instead of dodging, Erik braced himself and took the hit head-on, his feet sliding back into the stone. "I have had..." He gripped the tail with both hands, his fingers digging into the tail as he pulled with everything he had, "...ENOUGH!!!"
The rain of golden attacks ceased as Erik began to spin the colossal creature, the sheer momentum of it creating a howling wind. With a final roar, he hurled the monster upward. It slammed into the ceiling, the impact shaking the entire cavern and sending debris raining down.
Erik immediately began concentrating a terrifying amount of mana into his fist. As the monster began its descent, he punched upward. "FORS FIST!" A giant, spectral fist erupted from his strike, slamming into the monster and shattering its armored body. The beast's lower half was completely obliterated, the remaining mangled torso slamming into the ground and rolling like a discarded stone.
It's over.
"Wow. That Fors Fist is on a completely different level." Sieg said, his voice filled with awe as he landed lightly near me with Aifa.
Fors Fist... it's ironic. Because of Valka, it has become the most famous spell associated with our name, yet it doesn't even utilize Fors lineage's Force magic. It's pure, raw mana compression.
"Ashar, how are you?" Aifa asked, kneeling down beside us with a look of deep concern.
Ashar gave a dry, raspy laugh that made him wince. "I've had worse days. I've also had quieter ones."
"If you are capable of joking, then you must be fine," Tavian said, walking toward us alongside Erik and Blake.
"Apologies, Captain," Ashar managed to let out, his voice still strained.
"Ma, how bad is it?" Erik asked, his eyes tracking the soft light of the healing spell flowing from my hands into Ashar's chest, stitching the broken structures back together.
"Cracked bones along his left side. The potions and the spell will have him steady in a few minutes. How about the rest of you? Is anyone else injured?" I looked at each of them in turn, my gaze finally settling on Sieg, who was already absorbed in the spellbook Kaelen had given him.
Then, a sickening, grinding sound echoed through the cavern. All of us snapped our heads toward the mangled remains of the monster. To my horror, the creature was dragging itself forward. In an instant, the cracks webbing across its obsidian body vanished. The lower body we had just watched disintegrate surged back into existence, scales knitting together in a blur of black and gold.
"Be ready." Tavian shouted, his hand flying to his sword.
"Damn it!" Erik didn't wait. He rushed toward the beast, and the Darkkin mirrored his aggression, lunging forward. Both raised their fists simultaneously. The Darkkin's blow arrived first, but Erik ducked beneath the massive arm and drove his own fist into the beast's torso. The impact blew a jagged hole clean through the monster's chest, spraying dark essence everywhere.
But the beast didn't falter. It grabbed Erik with its clawed hand and slammed him violently into the wall. I watched in disbelief as the hole Erik had just created began to seal itself. Erik flexed his entire body, muscles tightening like coiled steel as he tore himself free from the beast's grasp, landing firmly on his feet right in front of the regenerating Darkkin.
"No choice…" Erik's voice reached me, quiet and heavy, as I struggled to divide my focus between the battle and Ashar's recovery.
Then, the very atmosphere changed. I felt Erik's mana surge outward, saturating every inch of the cavern and my attention snapped fully to him.
Don't tell me…
"Spellfield, Open!" For a heartbeat, a translucent dome of mana covered the whole area before vanishing into the air, leaving only a distorted ripple in its wake.
The Darkkin's massive fist came whistling toward him again, but Erik didn't even flinch. The fist struck, yet there was no impact, no sound. It hit a pocket of empty, absolute space just inches before Erik's face, halted by an invisible force.
Erik slowly raised his hand, his fingers splayed as he pointed at the monster. "O unseen threads of the world..." The Darkkin's body stiffened, its joints locking as if it were suddenly encased in iron. "Crumple."
Erik began to slowly curl his fingers into a claw. The beast's body started to twist and buckle, its obsidian body groaning under a pressure that was being applied from every direction at once. It fought back, its clawed hands pushing outward against the air as if trying to break out of an invisible cage. The pressure only intensified, the air itself screaming with the strain. The Darkkin let out one inhuman shriek after another, a sound of pure agony that chilled me to the bone.
All of us watched in silent awe as Erik's power reached its peak. He finally squeezed his hand into a tight, absolute fist. In an instant, the beast was crushed inward. It didn't just break; it disintegrated, its body turning into a thousand jagged shards before vanishing into nothingness, erased as though it had never existed.
Erik stood there for a moment longer, his chest rising and falling heavily. The cavern settled into silence once more, broken only by distant echoes and the crackle of fading mana. We took a few minutes to gather ourselves. Erik lowered himself against the wall and drank the mana recovery potion I handed out to everyone.
To think he actually used his Spellfield... the strain on his crucible must be immense.
"So... what was that?" Sieg asked, his voice bubbling with excitement as he turned to Aifa. The two of them were sitting together. "That Spellfield thing?"
I kept my focus on Ashar as I answered. "How far have you reached in Advanced Ways to Master Magic?"
"Hm. Volume eight." Sieg answered, glancing at me with a hint of unease.
"No surprise. It is in Volume 10. You have been skipping your studies a lot lately!" I couldn't help but frown slightly, giving him my best stern grandmother look.
"Ah…" Sieg curled in on himself, pulling his knees up and half hiding his face between them as he looked at me with wide, pleading eyes.
Just look at him acting all cute when he's in trouble... Completely unfair.
I sighed and began to explain it to him. The Spellfield is an advanced magic technique where the caster expands their presence, forcing the ambient mana in the air to acknowledge them as the dominant will. Mana still belongs to the world itself. But inside that field, it listens to you first.
The caster spreads their mana outward to create a territory where their spells become ten times stronger and respond almost instantly. Within that area, enemies find it nearly impossible to cast their own magic, and counter-spells become useless. It allows the caster to launch attacks from any direction at once, manifesting spells behind a target or even inside an enemy's own magic to tear it apart from within.
"Do you understand?" I asked after finishing.
I turned to look at him and found Sieg deep in thought, his chin resting on his hand as his eyes scanned the empty air. He looked as though he were mentally deconstructing every possible outcome.
"Hm… I understand the concept behind it," he said, more to himself than to me.
Of course you do. Understanding was never your problem. It was the way his eyes held a piercing intensity, the way he could grasp concepts that should have been impossible for an eight-year-old to even perceive. He didn't just listen; he dissected information, trying to understand every bit of it.
"All done," I said, finally pulling my hand back and wiping the beads of sweat from my forehead. The tension in my shoulders began to uncoil, though my heart still raced from the intensity of the mending.
"Thank you, Lady Fors..." Ashar said, tentatively straightening his back and testing his range of motion. "I am sorry for causing you so much trouble."
"You sound just like your captain," I replied, glancing toward Tavian who sat a short distance away. He promptly turned his face aside once he noticed my look.
Ashar gave a small, awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "He has been giving me nothing but angry looks this entire time."
"I am perfectly capable of hearing you," Tavian's voice drifted over from his spot, sharp but lacking any real bite. "And for the record, I was concerned about your well-being, not angry."
"Ah, my apologies, Captain. You looked quite fierce, so I must have misunderstood. Thank you for your concern," Ashar replied, a genuine smile finally breaking through his exhaustion.
Aifa walked over, her eyes scanning him carefully. "So, is the arm alright?"
"Yes." Ashar rotated his shoulder and flexed his fingers. "See? No pain at all. Lady Fors has worked her usual wonders."
"Good. Then we should continue. We've lingered in this time period long enough." Tavian walked over, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade as he looked toward the tunnel ahead. I pushed myself up from the cold floor, feeling every one of my years in my aching joints.
"You can move properly, right?" I asked, wanting one final confirmation. Ashar gave me a firm nod and stood up, his balance steady.
"Are you alright?" Sieg's voice reached me and I turned my head to see him standing directly in front of Erik, who still sat with his head pressed back against the cold wall, eyes tightly shut.
"...Yes, I am fine," Erik said, finally pulling his eyes open to look at his nephew. The fire in his gaze was dimmed, replaced by a heavy, leaden exhaustion.
"Erik, we are moving," I called out softly.
He gave a slow nod, pushing himself up from the floor with a grunt and walking over to join the group. He looks so tired. He has been taking the brunt of every engagement, throwing himself between us and danger time and time again.
"Then, Blake and I will scout a little ahead—"
"Captain." Blake's voice, uncharacteristically urgent, interrupted Tavian. Every head turned toward him. He was standing at the threshold of the tunnel.
"What is it?" Tavian asked.
"There are multiple mana signatures ahead," Blake said. "They are weak. Not human."
Detecting specific mana signatures within a time dungeon is notoriously difficult due to the temporal interference. If the boy could sense them from here, then something was very wrong. I closed my eyes and cast out my own mana detection, pushing past the static of the dungeon's walls and focusing deep into the tunnel. The dungeon resisted me, its interference gnawing at my perception, but I felt it. Distant and Fading.
Multiple mana signatures... they were thinning, being drained or extinguished piece by piece. Whatever lies ahead has to be strong if the mana can be felt through all this interference. I opened my eyes slowly.
"They're disappearing," I whispered, the weight of the unknown pressing down on us.
I looked at the others, seeing the same flicker of doubt reflected in their eyes.
"No," Erik said as he moved forward. "They are dying. There is another familiar trace of non-living mana..." Then a smile spread across his face. "It is her weapon."