Chapter 3: 3 – Power

Ruith froze.

He stopped breathing and his blood pounded in his ears. How had it noticed him from all the way down there? 

The Voidborne could easily jump right up here and kill him before he knew what happened. With the power it had just displayed, what was a few hundred feet to it?

But it did not do that. It turned around and dashed back into the forest.

Ruith let out a breath and gasped for air, sweating from the fear of staring into that creature's eyes. Knowing that he was utterly helpless if it chose to come for him left a sick feeling in his stomach, he hated how powerless he would be against the Voidborne.

He knew the requirements to join the Sanctum Knights, and one of them was to have at least a gray core. The 17 men that now lay dead on the grass would have all had a gray core, and Ruith wouldn’t be surprised if some had a white core.

What could he possibly do with his black core? Each one of those men could have killed him with a flick of their finger, and they had been slaughtered in barely over a minute.

He needed more power. 

There was already a will in him like a massive fire to become stronger after what had happened to his father, but now that fire was like a raging inferno.

He had gotten lucky that the Voidborne didn’t attack him.

Two men appeared almost as if by teleporting. However, the truth was that they moved at insane speeds. A strong gust of wind blasted their surroundings due to the sudden stop.

They looked around at the mangled corpses, frowning. 

“Another one. Just wait until I get my hands on that fucking abomination…” One of the men spoke, his deep voice filled with fury even reaching Ruith on top of the wall.

The man was bald and quite skinny, wearing only a pair of brown pants. His skin was a dark chocolate color. He carried no weapon meaning he was likely a mage, a person who had chosen to use their ability at a long range instead of close combat like warriors.

The tall man next to him said nothing, looking in the direction the creature ran. In his hands he held a simple looking wooden staff that was taller than himself. He raised it up a bit, and something almost imperceptible flowed down the man's arms and onto the staff, slightly warping space as it moved.

Ruith was shocked. The ‘something’ that moved was the tall man's mana. Ruith’s core was only black, only at the next stage would he easily be able to see the mana in the world. 

Just how powerful was this man for his mana to even be visible to someone who was essentially a normal human?

From the tip of the staff what looked to be normal dirt shot into the sky, forming into a small needle. Ruith could barely see it, luckily the sun was still providing some light.

Ruith thought that was all, but then the stream of dirt just kept going and going. It didn’t stop for almost a minute, and yet…the needle gained no size.

The boy realized. That man had compressed an insane amount of material into something that tiny.

WHOOM!

It blasted in the direction of the forest, presumably at the Voidborne.

BOOM!

Ruith saw several trees get blasted into the air more than a mile away, a cloud of dust rising. A small tremor even reached him.

‘Holy shit, that power is insane…’

“Tch. Missed it.” The tall man finally spoke.

The bald man scoffed.

“You really need to work on your aim, Vordan.” 

Vordan rolled his eyes, turning around to where they had come from.

“Whatever. I’ll report this to His Majesty, you find someone to gather the bodies.”

Before the other man had a chance to say anything, Vordan was gone.

“Now, what are you doing?”

Ruith jumped to his feet, stumbling backwards.

To his side, the bald man stood.

‘What the hell? I was just staring at him!’

“How…” 

The man chuckled. “Sorry for scaring you. Me and my brother noticed you as soon as we arrived here.”

“You aren’t in trouble, however, since you witnessed what happened here I need to ask you a few questions.”

He had a light smile on his face, which helped calm Ruith’s nerves.

“I am Teran…”

“R-Ruith.” He stuttered, still very surprised.

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Teran stuck out a hand, and Ruith shook it.

“Now, let’s go somewhere else to talk.”

The man grabbed Ruith around the waist, and soon they floated into the air. 

“Hold on tight.”

WHOOSH!

The speed was so fast Ruith felt as though he could barely hold on, and when he looked down the Bastion was far below them. He could see the line where the slums ended, and in the middle of the Bastion there was a small lake that supplied water for all the citizens.

They were very high in the air and Ruith looked at the wilderness surrounding the Bastion. To the North, he could just barely see a long mountain range rising into the sky.

‘Huh, I never knew there were mountains over there.’

 In an instant, the two had traveled from the North side to the South side of the massive city.

To Ruith’s shock, they kept traveling until they were nearly a mile into the Southern Wilderness. It was the safest side but there were still some Voidborne, definitely enough to kill him.

‘Well I guess he’s here so there's nothing to worry about?’ Ruith thought, glancing at the man.

Their speed slowed as they descended into the trees below, and soon they stood on the ground.

As soon as Teran let go of Ruith, he crumpled to the ground, immediately throwing up. Once he recovered, he sat up, looking at the man.

“God, flying is not as fun as I thought it would be…”

Teran laughed. “Oh sorry about that, maybe I should’ve slowed my speed a bit more,” the man helped Ruith onto his feet. “Let’s go inside now.”

“Inside?” Ruith looked behind himself where Teran was walking. 

A large, two story wooden house sat in the clearing, surrounded by tall trees. A porch wrapped around its whole upper level, and a smaller porch was built around the front door. Smoke faded into the sky from a chimney.

Ruith stood and followed Teran. Stepping inside, he was stunned for a second. Never in his life had he entered an actual house. Everything was clean and organized, and a fireplace made the room pleasantly warm.

In front of the fireplace there was a long couch, and through an open doorway he spotted the kitchen.

Compared to Ruith’s previous living conditions, this was like heaven.

Teran motioned for him to follow, opening a door across from the living room. Inside was a large desk with papers scattered messily around. A large bookcase stood on one side of the room, hundreds of books lining its shelves.

‘So many books…’

The man pulled out a second chair, placing it on the other side of the desk.

“Sit, this shouldn’t take long.”

Ruith sat down, and Teran sat across from him.

“Now, tell me everything that you saw. Don’t leave anything out.”

Ruith began explaining everything. The Voidborne’s appearance, how it fought, and how it had stared at him before leaving.

By the time he was done, Teran had a grim expression on his face.

“I suppose it’ll be fine to tell you, since this will all be announced to the public anyway,” Teran took a breath before continuing. “This has happened a few times before. Luckily either me or Vordan were able to sense the creature quickly, resulting in it retreating before it could kill many Sanctum Knights. The problem is, according to how you and others described the Voidborne’s appearance, there are at least three of these monsters.”

Not realizing what this meant, Ruith had a confused look on his face. Teran spoke again.

“Me and Vordan are two of the three people capable of fighting these Voidborne alone and winning, although it would be a very hard battle. Unless the King himself makes a move, we will be overwhelmed.”

Ruith frowned. “So why doesn’t the King do anything?”

“Trust me, he wishes to do so. However, him revealing his power may cause the Voidborne to send something even more powerful our way. We know that those monsters currently assaulting us are nothing compared to the being that destroyed the three other Bastions. Though the King may have the power to defeat that being, he would be severely injured. It is likely the only reason humanity has not been completely annihilated is because the true strength of our King is not known to the Voidborne.”

Ruith’s eyes widened in horror.

‘A creature with that kind of power…I would be like dust in the face of that thing. I really do need more power, and fast it seems.’

“Alright Ruith, I think I’ve told you more than you need to know at this point. I’ll take you back to the Bastion tomorrow, tonight you may stay in the guest room.”

They both stood, and Ruith thanked Teran for allowing him to stay in the house. Just as the man was about to show him to the room, the front door opened and the voice of a cheerful girl reached Ruith’s ears.

“Father! I’m…home.” 

The girl hesitated while speaking, staring at Ruith.

In the doorway with a confused expression on her face, stood Vaeri.

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