Chapter 47: Chapter: 48 Blademaster

* Fuse Magic selected 

Polyblade fused with Jade Fire and a sword sheathed in green flame appeared in my hand. Without a moment’s hesitation I lunged at the Master’s exposed stomach. 

There was a flash of sparks and the sound of steel rang out. Blood blossomed across my cheek and sprayed into my eyes. I blinked and through blurry vision I saw green flames dancing on the sand and the Master facing me with a sword in his hand.  

“Who are you?” I shouted.

The Master flourished his blade and said, “Do you even need to ask?”

He was right but how did he know that I could scan him? I concentrated on him and a status message filled my vision.

*

Name: Gavriel Talos 

Race: Human

Class: Sword Saint

Level: ???

Health: ???

Skills: 

- Heroic Insight 

- Sword Master Tier 9

- Fearless Fool

- ???

- ???

- ???

- ???

Resistances: Fear 

Status: Threatening

*

“Gavriel--” 

As the words left my mouth the butt of his sword hit me in the chest sending me flying backwards head over heels.

As I hit the sand I saw blue waves of energy radiating from Gavriel. I looked around and saw Ahri, mouth open and frozen in mid stride and a few perfectly round blood droplets hung suspended above my head. I touched a droplet and it split in two and slowly drifted away from me. 

“What’s going on?” I asked. My words sounded hollow like I was speaking into the void.

The Guild Master Guts, no- Gavriel strode through frozen flames. The sand his steps kicked up floated up like bubbles and hung in mid air. 

“We need to talk,” he said in a deathly calm voice.

“You’re Gavriel the god killer,” I stammered. “You’re the whole reason I'm in the mess. If it wasn't for you Ahri wouldn't have brought me to this shithole world.”

“Is that what your pet goddess told you?”

“You know who she is?” I asked.

Gavriel stabbed the end of his sword into the sand and said, “I met her a thousand years ago. She wouldn't recognize me. I've changed my appearance so many times that even I don't remember what I looked like before.”

“Are you the one that kicked her out of her realm?”

Gavriel laughed and said, “If gods could be kicked out of their realms I would have booted them all out centuries ago and forced them to clean up their mess while I was at it.” 

Gavriel drew a binding card and twirled it between his fingers. The light glinted off of the gold card and split into a prism of colored lights which flickered across the sand suspended in mid air. 

“The binding cards they give out as birthday presents have corrupted this world,” he said. “They were meant to give everyone an equal chance but they’ve made the gap between the rich and poor- the powerful and the weak- that much wider.” 

“You’re the masked man,” I said. “The one who instigated the riot in the city hall. Look at the damage you have done. You can blame the gods all you want but your actions have led to death and destruction.”

“What if a spell could grow crops in an instant,’ said Gavriel. “Or send or withdraw the rain or summon creatures to mine the ground for minerals. There would be no jobs left for the common man. Would the king feed the unneeded and unemployed?” 

I didn't need to shake my head, we both knew the answer was no.

Gavriel smiled sadly and said, “The rich tax the poor and steal their binding cards, keeping them from ever growing strong enough to support themselves. The system is flawed, it keeps a handful rich and powerful while the rest are stuck in abject poverty- completely at the mercy of the rich.”

It was true. I had seen the bullshit caused by the supposed gift of the gods. I’d seen places where kids were raised as cattle for their binding cards. And those who did not pay were hunted and killed. He was right, the system had to end. 

Gavriel stopped beside me and held out his hand. This man was a killer and the reason Ahri had brought me into this world. I couldn't trust him just because he said a few truths. But there was something I’d seen in his status message, something I’d never seen on any other person before.

“You have the Heroic Insight ability,” I said. “Does that mean you are from another world?”

“Yes, I'm from Earth just like you Talasin. We were both brought here against our will at the whim of a god.”

This man knew what I was going through. He understood the pain of being abducted and brought to a completely unfamiliar world against your will. And worst of all having precious memories of home erased day by day. I was slowly forgetting it all. 

Who will I be when the last memory fades. What happens when the only memories I have are the ones from the last few months I’ve been in this world? I’ll be a child again, an orphan.

I took Gavriel’s outstretched hand. He gripped it firmly and pulled me to my feet.

“What does this all mean?” I asked.

“You have been lied to, Talasin. I'm sure in Ahri’s mind she thinks she’s doing the right thing. But she has an agenda and I'm sorry to say that you are just a pawn in a much larger plan.”

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She’s cried in my arms, she’s almost died to save me. No, I can't believe that it is all a lie. She’s just not that good an actor.

“She saved my life?” I muttered.

“What did she ask in return?”

“Well, she wanted me to kill you.”

Gavriel laughed and said, “They never wanted you to kill me? No offense, but you would have to live another thousand years before you could even hope to scratch me.”

“Then what did they want from me?”

“Your Heroic Insight ability allows you to find someone they have been searching for.”

“You?”

Gavriel sheathed his sword and said, “The harbingers and their spies have been looking for me for a long time.” 

I knew that he was telling the truth. Ahri wanted me to find this guy and her reasons for it were veiled half truths that had never really made any sense to me. 

“What do they want with you?” I asked. 

“It's not exactly me that they are after but something I took from them.”

“What is it? A spell card?”

“It's better that you do not know. I don't expect you to believe everything I’ve said, it would be foolish of you to do that. But I ask that you keep this to yourself until you decide who you can trust.”

I nodded and then I wiped the blood out of my face and looked all around me. The sand continued to drift gently outwards all around us and Ahri and Flint were still frozen in mid stride. I looked up and saw a black bird hanging in the sky high above us. It was clear that Gavriel had great power. The fact that he’d stayed alive for over a thousand years told me that he was equal or greater than a god. 

“Are you the one that's been giving me these visions?” I asked.

Gavriel’s face creased into a deep frown. “What visions?” he asked.

“Sometimes when I lose consciousness I see things. I’ve seen the sky ripped open and chaotic energy pouring out of it and destroying all the nations of the world. And an eye appeared through the rift in the sky. Always searching for something.”

“What was the eye looking for?” Gavriel asked in a low voice.

I felt a tingle run down my spin and said in a low voice, “The eye was looking for me.”

Gavriel let out a deep breath. He stroked his mustache as he thought and then he said, “The final battle is nearer than I’d expected. What emotions do you feel in these visions? Sometimes the emotions give us a clue to who has sent them.”

I strained my mind as I thought back to the visions. “I think at first there was peace,” I said. “But that was soon replaced by a hollow feeling- despair.”

“Not anger? Or fear?”

I shook my head.

“The vision was from a compassionate heart,” said Gavriel. “It could be Belladeon. She was the Elder Goddess of mercy when she was still in Umbra. If the veil between our world and hers has stretched this thin already.” He shook his head. “That would be a bad sign.” 

“Why? Mercy doesn't sound too bad.”

“The harbingers are trying to bring the Elder God of Chaos back into this world. He was cast out for a reason, all the Elder Gods were, including Belladeon.”

He stepped away from me and looked up at the bird above us. He was silent for sometime and I could tell that he was drawing on painful memories. Finally he looked back at me and said, “The Elder Gods created this world and everything in it. But they weren't content with watching us. No, they became obsessed with perfection, with having every person behave exactly the way they wanted.”

He ran a finger down the length of his scabbard before continuing, “It took one hundred of the most powerful mages to push them back into their realm and to seal the gate to this world. If the harbingers open it, it's not just Caladan Krell that we need to be afraid of. Every Elder God no matter how benevolent is a threat to this world and every other world, including Earth.” 

“Where are the hundred mages,” I asked. “Can't we get them to close the portal again?” 

“They became the things they fought against.”

“The new gods?” I asked.

Gavriel nodded.

“Why would Ahri want to bring him back again?” I asked. “It doesn't make any sense. She can be a prized asshole at times but she wouldn't destroy this world, there would be no one left to push around and who would cook for her?” 

Gavriel smiled sadly and said, “I don't believe she does. I think she has made a deal with the harbingers. What that deal is I do not know. You must find that out and see if she can be brought over to the right side before it is too late.”

“How do I do that?”

“You have Heroic Insight,” said Gavriel. “But you can go deeper than that, there is an ability called Heroic Immersion that allows you to enter the memories of your target. I can teach you how to use this ability.”

Gavriel laid a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye and said, “Will you trust me in this? Will you keep my secret  and help me save this world?”

I nodded without hesitation. I didn't want to be a hero, I’d never wanted that but I’d made friends in this world, it was my home.

“Good,” said Gavriel. 

He picked up my sword, threw it to me and said, “Then I am sorry about what is about to come next.”

“What?” I asked as I caught the sword.

Gavriel closed his fist and a loud popping sound filled the air. The bird soared overhead and sand fell all around me. I looked up and heard Ahri shouting my name and saw Flint with a goofy grin on his face running after her.

The sound of steel rang out as Gavriel unsheathed his sword. He flourished the blade and hit the sword out of my hand in one quick move. My sword went flying. 

I was still blinking in confusion when Gavriel dropped into a low spinning kick- sweeping my feet from under me. While I was still falling he hit me in the stomach with an overhand strike- driving me into the ground with a resounding thud.

“What the hell?” I groaned.

Gavriel stepped over me and whispered, “Sorry. I had to make it convincing.”

---

[Level 10 - Progress towards next level: 11%]

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