Weathered ruins II

Erinara

Dawn broke as Jin and I finished our first meal of the day. We went through our usual routine of packing our supplies and enhancing our stamina with magic before making our way to the decrepit city. Jin seemed to be getting more nervous with every step.

“Hey, Jin”, I turned to my right to look at him, “Are you feeling alright?”
“Ah, sorry Erinara. I didn’t mean to worry you. Truth be told, I am worried that Fyor might also become another addition to the list of things I thought I knew but actually don’t”, Jin replied.
“Do you not have faith in your master?”, I asked.
“No, quite the opposite. I trust his every word. I feel like my fear is simply irrational”, Jin reasoned.
“I would hardly say that your fear is unreasonable. As you said, all your knowledge you gained during your entire life was effectively invalidated within the span of a couple of weeks. If anything, your fear is justified”, I tapped his shoulder with my hand, “I’m right here with you.”
He exhaled heavily and smiled at me, but remained quiet.

“Hey how about this”, I said, “we can’t predict the future, but we can talk about the past to pass time. How was your time with the legendary hero?”
Jin began explaining how he had trained with Fyor:
“I was enlisted in the barracks after the mystics told me of the prophecy. It was there that Fyor noticed me and took it upon himself to train me. He took me under his wing when he realized I didn’t shy away from his training methods. Apparently wearing armor that you can hardly move in, and going through a deathtrap of an obstacle course, was too much for other apprentices to handle.”
“No kidding? Who would have thought”, I said jokingly, then more seriously I added, “how was the obstacle course set up?”
Jin seemed to regain some of his energy talking about his past, I was very glad to see him in higher spirits.
“Oh it was amazing! You should have seen it. There were weapons swinging everywhere and attacks coming from all angles. It was common that I had to evade one thing and parry another. Safe to say my reflexes have been sharpened to an uncanny degree. I even had to learn to predict attacks from my blind spots, such as to keep myself safe from potential magical attacks.”
‘Wait, magic attacks from a blind spot?’, I thought.
“Can you elaborate on that last part please?”, I asked.
“Oh, sure! Fyor had set up traps that would train me against unexpected attacks. For example, one pattern was similar to the runic attack the simulacrum used, where tiny noises made it predictable where an attack would come from. And then there was traps that would shoot arrows at me from behind, which I had to learn to dodge as well”, Jin explained further.
That couldn’t be right. His master knew about magic to a degree that he could emulate a trap spell which was a common strategy of warlocks to use it if they needed an extra moment to prepare for the next interaction. However, to be attacked from behind…
“Jin… most warlocks are entirely unable to cast a spell that specifically targets an enemy’s blind spot. Only the executives themselves and their top disciples would be able to achieve such a feat. And if they took the combat that seriously, a sneak attack would be the last thing you’d have to worry about, their powers head-on would be the issue. In comparison, the trap magic you talked about is a very widespread basic combat spell. The discrepancy seems unusual to me. Can you tell me more about the attacks to your blind spot?”
He furrowed his brow in thought.
“The course just attacked me from behind with arrows every so often.”
Jin went silent. His face had turned from confusion to shock to understanding.
He spoke in a quiet tone: “The only time I’ve been attacked from behind, with an arrow no less, was by the enforcers of the royal council.”
I nodded my head slightly.
“It appears your master had the foresight to prepare you for more than one battle.”

I could imagine that Jin’s head had to be racing right about now.
After a couple of minutes, he broke the silence:
“At this point I’m starting to wonder if Fyor can actually see the future.”
Jin’s words carried awe, but were rooted in confusion.
“I can confirm from a warlock’s point of view that future vision is not a real magic type. Which makes his ability to consider every option and plan accordingly all the more impressive.”
Jin nodded his head in agreement.

By now, we had gotten very close to the ruins. The walls surrounding the city had either been partially shattered, punched through, or crumbled to the ground. Only small bits stood defiantly, showing the original city’s defense.
Jin looked at the rune covered feather, which was emitting powerful waves of light toward one of the houses inside of the ruins. Not a single house had more than three walls still standing, and even those were rare. The entire city looked like something razed it to the ground in blind rage, not stopping until everything in its way had been destroyed.
I tapped Jin on the arm. He looked me in the eyes.
“Sorry, I’m going to use shadowy concealment again.”
“Of course.”
I pulled my hood over my head. A curtain of darkness fell from it in the next moment.

Jin waited for the brief amount of time it took me to finish my spell, before taking the lead, closing the distance between the house and us.
We peaked around a corner, spotting Fyor Eaglecrest.
“Master, is it really you?”, Jin asked. He stepped into the house from where one of its walls should have been. Jin had taken out the folded letter from his chestplate.
The man looked up from the chair he was sitting on. His face lightened when he recognized Jin walking towards him.
“Jin, my boy! You’re alive! I was so worried”, Fyor’s rough voice was softened with relief.
“I am, yes. Though in honesty, if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be”, he gestured at me. I walked out from behind the wall.
“Greetings, Fyor Eaglecrest. I am Erinara, the only disciple of Ebiron. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance”, I introduced myself.
Fyor looked me up and down for a moment. A brief silence covered the land. Then, Fyor began quietly laughing to himself, before getting louder and louder as his laughter turned into a guffaw.
“Now Jin, I have thought you capable of many things, but this”, Fyor threw another glance at me, “This is beyond what even I saw as reasonable. Erinara, was it? I thank you for helping out my pupil. How did you two find me?”
I held out the feather in front of me. “I used runic enchantments to pinpoint your location using your mana.”
The older Eaglecrest looked between me, the feather and Jin. A look of understanding briefly swept over his face.
“I see”, he smiled.
“Master, may I ask what happened? Why are you here of all places? Where even are we?”, Jin asked.
Fyor’s expression became serious.
“I assume we are going to meet with Ebiron soon?”, Fyor asked. I nodded in response. He continued: “Right. Then I will postpone the first question until everyone is gathered. As for where we are, this is the kingdom of Bearcrest. What remains of it at least. Have a seat, this might take a while.”
Jin and I sat down next to each other on a broken wall, facing Fyor.
“Bearcrest? I have never heard of that name before”, Jin stated.
“Of course you haven’t. Their fall was long before your time. Wolfcrest and Bearcrest had been at battle, and we are sitting in the aftermath. I used to enter the tundra as a means to sharpen my skills when I was younger, you see. Even then, over twenty years ago, this city had already been in ruins. In the past, battles like that had been extremely commonplace. Every lineage of named crests exclusively fought for themselves. It wasn’t until the great war with the land of warlocks that crests worked together. The last three remaining lineages are simply the ones who survived this infighting the longest.”
Fyor’s explanation was grim, but if nothing else I already knew the crests to be warmongers. Jin nodded his head. “I understand.”
“You’ve become quite quick in accepting new knowledge now, haven’t you?”, Fyor asked.
“I have Erinara to thank for that as well. She’s the reason I can be strong now”, Jin replied.

I was very thankful for my shadow concealment in that moment, as otherwise my face would have completely betrayed how flustered I was at Jin’s last sentence.