Episode 10: Bond and Break

  Chapter 032 - Run

  Vynelor shook, already sensing the danger from unwanted guests. Despite not knowing who, the rustles and voices left no doubt of the threat. His hands had gone cold. His spine grew uncomfortable. He grabbed Wallan’s hand like it was the only thing keeping him standing.

  The silence said it all. The crackle of leaves. The echo of armored boots. The voices in the distance. One wrong move, and it’s over.

  But they had to move.

  Wallan scooped the child up in one clean motion, placing him onto his shoulder like a soldier hoisting a carcass. His grip was secure and tight. His eyes glowed faintly, and lines of pressure surged down his legs.

  Quick Speed ? Lv. 30

  And they vanished.

  The forest became a blur of greens and shadows. Wallan tore across the terrain with quick but silent speed, dodging trunks, leaping over dips in the roots, and never stumbling. Trees bent in their wake, their branches brushing past with light rippling over the leaves and the bark like water. Vynelor held on as tightly as he could, his eyes barely able to process the speed Wallan was going.

  Wallan ran and ran.

  And yet— It wasn’t enough.

  The pressure behind them was growing.

  They were coming closer.

  Wallan had to hide again.

  He spotted a break beneath a great, ancient tree. It was hollow, where roots arched high. Dirt had eroded underneath, forming a dark cavity. The space was big enough for two.

  He dove inside.

  The two landed with a thud, leaves springing upward and the roots rattling briefly. Vynelor bit down hard on his hand to avoid crying out. Wallan hit the dirt shoulder-first and rolled, curling his arms around the boy. They froze there, pressed into the earth, and wrapped in shadows and roots.

  Neither moved. Wallan’s heart thundered so loudly in his chest that Vynelor could feel it pounding, overlapping with his. And the man felt Vynelor’s hand trembling against his ribs. Both felt like prey.

  And then footsteps approached.

  Two soldiers whipped across the field, stopping nearby. Their boots crushed dead leaves and kicked aside fallen branches. One of them crouched low.

  “We felt a magic surge,” he muttered. “It was heading this way.”

  The other turned, slowly. “Then it’s most likely still here.”

  Then, Xollor appeared. A pulse of wind lagged behind him, and the gust caught up, brushing their hiding spot.

  Without speaking, he simply walked forward. His armor gave off no sound, but his boots left deep footprints. His sword hissed faintly in the sheath, as if vibrating, ready to swing when needed. Then… he stopped.

  His boots planted directly above the tree, above the hollow. Dirt fell. A small clump landed on Wallan’s shoulder, crumbling silently down his collar.

  Wallan didn’t move from that spot. Vynelor did likewise. Neither of them mustered a deep sigh or a faint heartbeat. If they raised their heads, they’d see the bottom face of the shoeware, just above them.

  Xollor was staring outward, into the trees. But slowly, unnaturally slowly, his head began to tilt. His chin lowered. His brow furrowed.

  Down.

  Right below them. And he grabbed the hilt of his sword.

  “Found you.”

  Wallan’s arms tightened protectively around Vynelor, just slightly. Just enough to shield. Not enough to shift dirt.

  Xollor’s blade shifted in his hand. His eyes narrowed. Then, he gripped the hilt tighter.

  He lifted the sword—

  VYNELOR

  Telekinetic Magic ? Lv. 26

  The ground heaved.

  Cracks shot out in violent arcs. Roots burst free from soil like snapped tendons. The great tree above them lurched upward, ripped from its bed alongside boulders, clumps of dirt, and shattered stone. The explosive burst of power held mid-air, suspended in a dance of frozen shrapnel.

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  Thousands of pieces hovered in place, strands of raw telekinetic magic webbed through the debris, holding everything with restraint. It was beautiful. Terrifying.

  The soldiers lost balance, tumbling over roots that moved like tentacles. Xollor’s head snapped toward the source. He began to retreat, but the cracks had already reached him. The earth slipped under his boots.

  He slid and lost his balance. Roots caught at his feet. Stones hammered against his armor. Leaves rained down. In that distraction, there was a quick burst of power from ahead.

  WALLAN

  Quick Speed ? Lv. 30

  Wallan was already gone.

  He surged through the trees, a blur of tension and speed. His breath was sharp. Controlled. His focus unbreakable. He barely missed the roots about to trip him. But he managed to dodge them, even ducking under roots at the last second. His reaction time was honed by sheer necessity. He couldn’t afford mistakes.

  But dread pulled at his legs like ankle weights. No matter how fast he ran, it wasn’t fast enough.

  A shadow moved. Ahead, to the side—everywhere at once. And then—

  Xollor was there. An arm’s length away. He was running behind Wallan with speeds matching his own. His hand reached forward to grab the child.

  Vynelor witnessed the large hand reaching for him. The dark and silver glove refused to pull back. It was right against his nose, ready to grab any part of the child and snatch him. But with all the effort Wallan gave to run from the enemy, Vynelor felt the urgency, and he extended his hand—not at Xollor, but on the ground.

  VYNELOR

  Telekinetic Magic ? Lv. 26

  His eyes flared. Panic surged, but so did magic.

  His palm burned with raw, uncontrolled power. Strands shot out in every direction, grabbing at anything they could touch. Trees buckled. Boulders ripped free. Rocks and roots and splinters snapped downward. He yanked anything with his magic to the ground, plummeting all sorts of things right on top of the soldier.

  A tree crashed in Xollor’s path. But he cut it apart.

  Another tree fell. He dodged.

  A third. He incinerated it midair.

  But then the fourth came. Then the fifth. Sixth. And seventh. The paved path was completely blocked.

  His speed faltered.

  He stopped, and he faced a new direction. He bolted around the blocked road.

  Vynelor’s hand pointed toward him. Face clenched. Eyes narrow. He groaned, his palm facing up to the sky. One pulsing vein crawled up his face, his expression fierce with dread and anger.

  At his powerful command, magic dug through the ground, and roots arched from the soil. The trees bent unwillingly. Their roots tore upward, tangling across Xollor’s path like a rising barricade.

  XOLLOR

  Vertical Leap ? Lv. 32

  He leapt and cleared it, soaring high in the air and waiting to fall back down.

  Vynelor roared. His system burned even more. With a mighty scream, leaves ripped from their branches in a storm. They swarmed the falling man, hundreds, spinning, cutting, blinding.

  Xollor’s hand glowed.

  The leaves disintegrated in a burst of red light. A puff of smoke covered his sight.

  But—

  Once his vision returned, he was met with a spike of stone that burst upward beneath him. It wasn’t clean or symmetrical. It was like a needle, the tip carved to be the sharpest point, rushing right at his head.

  For the first time, Xollor’s eyes widened, his body moving desperately. He quickly shattered the stone with Incantation Magic. But it was still inevitable.

  The tip cut his cheek. Blood flicked across the air.

  When he landed, he stomped his feet on the ground. He growled and raised his head. He saw red. Blood seeped from the cut and into his mouth. His tongue licked the metallic taste. He then ground his teeth hard with unrestrained anger. His eyes pierced the boy being taken away.

  Xollor sprinted forward again, vanishing with speed.

  Wallan panted, pushing his body beyond its limits, desperate to put more distance between them and the dangerous man. His feet hammered the earth with every step, but his breath was breaking apart. He panted in shallow, ragged, and burning breaths that hurt his chest.

  And not long after, his system flared, warning him the same thing.

  ● System Interruption ●

  You are hurting your body.

  Bodily Capacity — Overused

  Activating Temporary Decrease

  –0.5 DEX/s

  –1 STR/s

  A searing pulse hit his limbs. Wallan staggered. His mobility drained second by second. Muscles screamed. His core twisted under the stress, tightening in painful, disorienting angles. Sweat flew off his skin, but more replaced it instantly. His legs were going numb. Each step sparked a tingling pain that crawled up his calves.

  Vynelor, still clinging tight to Wallan’s shoulder, could feel it. The slowing speed. The strain. He looked up, alarmed, watching Wallan begin to grow weak.

  But even when they got slow, Vynelor didn’t see Xollor. The child’s eyes darted wildly through the forest. He scanned every movement between trunks, every flicker of motion. But he saw nothing.

  Then, Wallan stopped. He gasped sharply, as if the air had been torn from his lungs. His whole body jolted to a halt.

  Vynelor twisted to look forward. And what he saw froze him completely. His heart dropped. His mouth dried.

  Xollor was standing directly in front of them.

  XOLLOR

  Incantation Magic ? Lv. 40

  The air twisted into blinding light. Wallan saw the incoming wave of magic and shielded the child with his body.

  A beam of magic erupted from Xollor’s hands and stabbed into the earth like divine lightning. It pulsed once, then it collapsed the land. The light tore through the soil, burning all the nearby roots and incinerating them alongside every critter and shrub. Trees were blinded by the ever-growing light, time remaining slow. And soon enough, the light touched Wallan and Vynelor, spewing from the ground just below them.

  Then—

  BLAST.