Arablest/ Prototype

I stared at the army speechless, but Lenora quickly took action. Before I realized what happened Lenora already had our soldiers scurrying around our encampment.

She then almost dragged me to the commander’s tent, where everyone else was waiting.

“What in the world? Our scouts saw no sign of an army this close.” General Ira said, looking worried. “I didn’t think it would be possible to make armies appear out of thin air, or to even teleport an army of such size. Even one person requires a lot of energy to teleport. How can this be possible?”

There was an eerie silence as we all thought what to do. Apparently our army had quickly gotten into formation fast enough that the enemy’s element of surprise didn’t work, and if I was right, the armies were currently staring each other down.

“Is there really no possible explanation?” I asked. “I don’t know very well how this world works, so don’t look at me expecting an answer.”

That was when we heard a short scuffle, and a shout. Tomer, Garrett, and Joseph leapt to their feet, weapons ready to be drawn, when it stopped. Then,

“Generals? We caught someone trespassing among us. He has requested permission to speak with all of you.”

It seemed that one of the soldiers on guard had caught someone. I was interested to find out who it could be, but at the same time I didn’t want others to know I was here.

General Garrett and Joseph looked to the others, who nodded. They walked outside together with General Ira, and I decided to follow but stopped near the entrance of the tent to peek outside. Tomer joined me to watch, as well.

Outside there was a young man wearing a spectacle and a dirty cloak. He was holding a few books, perhaps tomes. I couldn’t tell which.

“The name’s Harza. I’m… a researcher, you could say.”
“And exactly is it that you research?” Ira asked.
“Well, we—no, I— I researched in… magic.”
“Which branch?” she asked suspiciously.
“Well… how should I put it… the more chaotic side of magic.”
“You mean you study the very magic that had been banned from all countries? All countries had agreed to ban dark magic, so you cannot be an exception. What do you want with us, before I decided to throw you in prison?”
“Dark magic!? Do you know how biased that is? But either way, your enemy is using it, and I thought I could help end this nonsense.”
“What? Our enemy is using it?”
“The nearly limitless number of soldiers you’re fighting. Surely you’ve noticed it by now? They’re using the very magic I research to animate corpses.”
“I thought it was impossible to reanimate a corpse.”
“No, it’s not, but it’s very difficult. That’s why they’re animating the corpses, not reanimating. They’re just making lifeless corpses move, instead of putting life into them. And when they get killed some of the energy is returned to them.”
“And you know all this because…?”
“I told you. I research in elder magic, which shouldn’t be called dark magic.” He said, emphasizing that last point. “But that also means I should be able to counter it. Let me fight on the battlefield with you if you want; I can take care of myself.”
“I’m not sure what that would do to the morale of our soldiers, recruiting a stranger who can use banned magic. How can we trust you to fight instead of turning on us?” asked Garrett, finally joining the conversation.
“Look. What they’re doing isn’t natural; they’re not even letting a corpse rest peacefully after battle. Elder magic shouldn’t be used in this way; in fact, elder magic was banned because of the way many abused it. I believe Elder magic isn’t bad or evil in itself, but the user.”
“Well, if that’s the case, explain how so many users got corrupted by the magic before it was banned.” General Ira shot back.
“Because, of all the branches of magic, elder magic is the most powerful, destructive, and the least predictable, hence also why it is called the chaotic side of magic. When given with so much power one can easily fall to greed and become corrupted. My siblings have been corrupted already; perhaps I may too someday. But until then, I had hoped to make elder magic helpful, but now this infernal war is doing the opposite. Your enemy is using it, so I thought to help by countering with elder magic of my own. ”
“And you, all by yourself, can match them?” Ira asked.
“No, but I can more easily counter them, especially since I’m much closer to the target. You, as Thrycia’s Sage General, should know that the longer the distance between you and an object, the magic required to manipulate that object will increase if you want to have the same rate of control over the object.”
“Of course. The distance is directly related to the amount of magic required.” Ira replied.

I could see the confused faces of some of the people around us after he said that, but I understood. It did make sense, too. You need more magic to control an object the farther away it gets. Simple as that. Did researchers always have to find a more complicated way to say things? At least he wasn’t speaking in formulas and equations, because then even I would have been lost, being unfamiliar with how magic worked here.

“Since I am closer to the enemy’s soldiers, I will have an easier time controlling them, even if they are controlled by multiple people. Not only that, I the magic required to reverse their control over the corpses is quite low, so I shouldn’t have much trouble.”
“You bring up a good point. Give me a moment to discuss this with my fellow Generals, and we will decide your fate.”

After signaling the soldiers to watch the man, Ira, Garrett, and Joseph made their way back inside, causing Tomer and I to get out of the way. We all got back to our seats, except Ira, who stayed near the tent flap in case anything happened.

She then initiated a silent conversation in our minds, and explained everything to those who didn’t understand. The conversation was not as clear as Durand’s ability, but it was clear enough.

Outside, we heard the clash of metal, which meant that the battle had already started.

The decision was quickly made at that point: Let him in. It was unanimous. The risks were quickly questioned and put down, since we all though General Ira could keep him under control if he started attack us.

Well, we all thought so but me, and perhaps anyone else who had lied. I didn’t actually say anything in the conversation except that I would leave the decision up to them, so technically I didn’t lie. I just had doubts, since this ‘elder’ magic had been banned. Who knew what it could do? Would Ira really be able to stop someone who can use a magic she didn’t know very much about?

I kept these thoughts to myself, though.

Harza was escorted to the battlefield, now carrying a staff, where both armies where already in fierce conflict. The staff had some sort of skull on it, but I wasn’t sure which animal it came from. I stayed back as usual, trying to make sense of what I saw. It was… chaotic out there. It was difficult to make sense of what was going on; clearly, there was fighting, but any more than that I wasn’t sure. dead bodies littered the field, and one thing for sure: It wasn’t glorious.

War isn’t glorious. I knew that from the start, but this was my first time actually seeing a full-scale battle of men fighting each other to death. Perhaps the epic tales of battles warriors always tell are meant to glorify the better parts of war, to romanticize it.

Harza, now on the battlefield, had surrounded himself with some sort of dark energy. No, elder magic; wouldn’t want to offend Harza. But seriously, the magic appeared dark, almost evil. Chaotic, even. Perhaps that was why it was called dark magic by others. He sent the energy pulsing into the ground, where the ground appeared to absorb it.

He did that for about a short while, without any apparent effect on the battlefield. Behind me, I could hear Lenora whispering: “What is he doing?”

The other generals had already joined the battle, which they probably should have done the second the enemy began advancing on us. Only Ira was not in battle, for she was standing with me, watching Harza for any attacks indicating betrayal. Lenora was not allowed in battle, as risking her death was something many agreed on. Leona protested at first, but somehow despite everyone else’s failure, I managed to convince her not to. Raymond stayed out of battle too, only watching like I was. Even if I was the tactical advisor, his word held dominance over everyone elses’s.

And as for me? I was supposed to be watching the battle and relying any tactics that should be done to Durand, who would relay the message to whoever he was going to relay them to. But I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing, I was distracted by Harza. Not that it mattered; my tactics would probably get us all killed.

Not too long later Harza raised his staff, and on the opposing side the same energy that Harza sent into the ground earlier came rising up in waves, massing and convulsion among the enemy army. Many of the enemy soldiers suddenly collapsed, some falling to pieces as if they were nothing but empty suits of armor. Did there used to be people inside them, or were they just suits of armor being controlled by the enemy? Perhaps I would never know.

Our own soldiers stopped and stared in shock. The use of banned magic, or even one that looked so evil, must have scared just about everyone on the field; no one, except our generals, could have predicted that, and even the generals themselves probably wouldn’t have known how the magic would have worked.

For me, however, I was in no more awe than seeing any other magic and impossible thing here. Just about everything I was seeing for the first time, so restrictions or not, everything just became less and less surprising. Perhaps later I would see something unexpected and not be surprised at all, perhaps not.

In minutes the battle was over; much of the enemy army was decimated by Harza’s attack, leaving the few remaining men to be easily routed after the shock passed. Considering the unlimited amount of soldiers the enemy seemed to have, taking prisoners was becoming too costly, and was only done if necessary. At least, that’s what Garrett told me recently.

I myself left the battlefield quickly after it was over, since I had no reason to stay there any longer than I had to. I couldn’t stand seeing all the blood everywhere, nor could I stand the screams of the injured soldiers who were now being tended to. Not that I could escape them much; no matter how far I went the image and the sounds would always be there.

Leona quickly followed after me. “Jeremy, what’s wrong?” She asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I stood still for a moment, resisting the urge to brush her hand off. I liked it better when no one touched me, but Lenora was a friend, I suppose, so I should treat her that way either.

“It’s nothing. The battle is over already, so I decided to leave. I have nothing else to do there.”
“Jeremy, you’re not fine. You’re shaking a little. Tell, me what’s wrong? Don’t you trust me?”

She noticed, it seemed. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. Despite having seen multiple battles here before, I still shook. Shook from what? Nervousness? Terror? I didn’t know.

Lenora was fine, though. She always seemed all right after battle. Perhaps she was more used to it than I?

I stood there silently, thoughts racing through my head as I stared aimlessly off into the horizon. If I refused to answer her question, I may as well say that I don’t trust her in her face, but if I did, well, I had no wish to tell anybody how I felt, because then I may also have to explain more about where I come from as well as explaining more about myself.

“It’s just that…” I started, and trailed off.
“What is it?” She continued to pressure me into revealing more than I wished.
“Every battle is just so unpredictable, you know? I feel nervous about the outcome of all of them, especially with all this responsibility placed on my shoulders.”

Not a lie, but not also the real reason why I shook. This I was willing to say, since everyone knew already anyways. The only real problem is that by saying this, I would get more vocal support about it, and it was getting annoying at times.

“Come on, Jeremy, you’re a great tacti—“
“Yeah, yeah, everyone tells me that! But I feel otherwise. It can’t be possible; I’m not the best person available to use as your tactician! I’m not—“
I fell silent as I realized that I had just interrupted her, and then yelled at her. She had taken a step back, surprised.

I had lost my temper, even if momentarily. I took another breath. The only person I’ve ever raised my voice to here in Lehrail was Durand, but now I had just done so to a friend.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you. I… I just… I just don’t feel like myself today,” I apologized. I hated apologizing, but it couldn’t be helped. “Could you give me some time alone for a bit? I need some time to think to myself.”

Lenora smiled weakly. “I understand.” She turned away, downcast, and walked off.

“Wait.” I called out. She stopped, and turned her head to look back at me. “Actually, why don’t you accompany me?”

I don’t know what made me say that, but it gladdened me just a bit to see her brighten up again. She ran over, and we walked off side by side to who knows where.

And for once, the company of another in this strange place was comforting.