Kindred Foes

1

I moved aside to avoid the rush of villagers fleeing the residential block.

What the hell happened to the guildmaster? How the hell was any of this going to save the village? And what the hell was a spirit core?

In truth, I already had a good idea what it was. Yin had been after the same thing we were. Was that the true name of Yunha’s treasure?

Maybe the headquarters at Keslahir was right to oppose the Yorutei branch. Guildmaster Yin was absolutely insane!

I grasped the hilt of one of the blades under my cloak. I really hoped we didn’t see any fights tonight, but I couldn’t just let the Everdark fiends hurt any of the villagers.

Guildmaster Yin and a few of his lackeys stood in place, completely unperturbed. Meifan and other guild members rushed to shield and evacuate the people. The ones who faced the Everdark fiends were primarily the village guardsmen in their white armor and spears.

Three of the guardsmen had the spider monster pinned on the ground, but the long-necked one had fallen on part of the crowd. One guardsman stabbed at its neck with their spear, while two others and a guild swordsman tried to help people get away.

Another fiend appeared in the hole—another long-neck with larger claws. Its bulbous head turned to look around as if surveying the residential block before it fell into the stage.

Dammit, did Kazha and the others get away?

I was tempted to jump in and help, but with the large amount of people still running around, I’d more likely hit somebody by accident. I—

A hand caught my arm.

Suddenly, I was face to face with Jennifer. We both stared at each other, wide eyed and in shock. I was so happy to see her that I pulled her into a tight embrace.

“Where the hell were you!” I shouted. “What took you so long?”

“That damned kimono took forever to put away and—what is going on here? Why is the guildmaster doing all this?”

“I don’t know. He just walked in here and started spouting nonsense.”

“I caught that part, but—”

“Jennifer, I think the spirit core is—”

“The same thing we are after, I know.”

We slowly let each other go and looked towards the direction of the stage. Tori and Dak, bless their hearts, were blasting the newly arrived fiends with magic.

“Have you seen Allen?” Jennifer asked. “I saw him for a split second before the village chief parted the crowd, so I knew he got away, but other than that…”

A villager fell down ahead of us and we both rushed in to help before the poor fellow got trampled.

“T-Thank you!”

“Just keep running towards the plaza, sir! And be careful!”

The villager nodded his head repeatedly, then continued running.

“I’ve been waiting in the exit the entire time,” I said to Jennifer. “No sign of him yet.”

We decided to help the crowd filter into the exit while we kept waiting for Allen to show up.

I saw Meifan tell the guardsmen to go back and bring white lanterns into the block, which they hesitated to comply at first, until a fourth fiend appeared from the hole. This nightmare wasn’t going to end until that ceiling was sealed.

Think, think, think.

Would my engineering knowledge help here? But this place was another world. Wait, magic. Earth magic constructed this place. Maybe if—

And then it occurred to me.

Yin said the fiends were created to destroy the spirit core. If that was the case, then—

“Stop interfering!” the guildmaster screamed. “Hyah!”

When I looked up, I saw him blast Tori with his red lightning. The fox-eared woman was sent flying to the wall of the stage like a rag doll.

That piece of shit!

The crowd thinned significantly as most of the civilians had gone through the exit. I left Jennifer to help with the remaining people and decided to confront the old guildmaster myself. I didn’t care who he was or how powerful he could be. My blood boiled with rage and my armor gleamed with dark energy beneath my cloak.

Just as I was about to reach Yin, however, one of the long-necks suddenly blocked my path. It had gone on a rampage, slamming its bulbous head on two guardsmen and throwing them aside. I unsheathed my blades and summoned my power.

I didn’t want the fiend to ignore my presence, so I made sure to raise my blades on both sides and glared at it.

“Come at me!” I yelled.

The Everdark fiend tilted its head at me, then swung its neck like a whip. But I was faster. I ducked to avoid the blow, dashed forward, then pierced my blade at the base of its neck. I sliced through it like butter, searing through flesh and bone. Its bulbous head fell on the ground in a loud thud.

I searched for the guildmaster, but he headed towards the stage where three guild members united to stand against him.

I hesitated between leaving the old man to them or if I should strike him in the back in one quick move.

The decision was made for me when a spider-like fiend rushed a guardsman—Misha—far to my right. She met the monster with her spear, swiping at two of its legs, but the monster spat acid in retaliation.

Misha barely managed to dodge, and the acid melted part of her shoulder armor.

I raised my blades as I rushed the fiend from behind, signalling Misha. I saw her nod, then she gathered the monster’s attention with her spear. I took that opportunity to swipe off three of the monster’s hind legs with my blade. It fell to its side and that’s when Misha jumped to stab the fiend’s head directly into the ground.

“Your guildmaster’s insane!” she shouted at me.

I didn’t know what to say, so I searched for the old man again. In the short moment I spent dealing with the fiend, he already dispatched the guild members who confronted him. They all lay battered and bloody around the stage.

“He’s attacking everybody!” Misha shouted.

“Focus on evacuating the villagers and think of a way to seal the hole,” I shouted back. “Can any of you use earth ma—” I stopped myself when I remembered none of the people here could actually use magic.

“I’ll try and get some lanterns,” Misha said. “You probably should go a—look out!”

When I looked up, a massive Everdark fiend jumped from the hole directly towards me. Its proportions were wrong, having a large torso and a small head, but it almost looked like a person. It had a face and tufts of hair, and its teeth were like mangled fangs.

I raised both my blades to block, summoning more dark energy to protect me, but it was probably too late. I braced for impact when—

A bright flash of white fire zoomed over my head and burned the Everdark fiend midair. The magic pushed it hard enough that it came crashing on the ground before me.

Jennifer rushed to my side. “Are you okay? I only have one of my bracers left, but I can still fight!”

We faced the burning fiend as it rolled around, smashing the chairs the crowd used to sit on during the performance.

“Go!” I said to Misha. “We got this!”

The guardsman raised her spear in thanks, then left immediately.

“Allen?” I asked.

“Still nothing,” Jennifer replied. “My hope is that he already ran with the crowd.”

“Yeah… that might actually be a bad thing.”

“Why’s that?”

“Yin said the fiends are attracted to the gemstone, so they wont stop pouring in from that hole until they find it. Well, that’s assuming the fiends don’t get distracted by anything that moves.”

We dodged on either side as the human-like’s burning arm came crashing down between us. The ground thundered, splashing bits of stone and debris.

I charged one of my blades with energy then stabbed straight into the arm. The monster roared angrily, mouth wide open, so Jennifer fed its face with a buffet of ivory flames.

“Arrrgghh!” I yelled as I sliced through the monster’s muscular arm, cutting it cleanly from the shoulder.

The fiend writhe in pain, swatting away the fire from its head and body with its remaining hand. Eventually it stopped moving completely.

That’s another one. I looked up at the hole and saw more fiends lurking outside. This wasn’t going to end unless something was done about it.

“You!” I heard a voice yell from across the room, then realized we finally attracted the guildmaster’s attention. “Dogs of Keslahir! I knew you’d come to sabotage me as well!”

Far behind Yin, I saw his lackeys finally take action as well. There was a tall brute with claws on both hands, an old woman in a yellow kimono with a flaming stick, a hunched over man with bone-shaped armor and horns on his helmet. Heck, even Lakas, lance of the heavens, was on his side, looking ever so gallant in his blue armor.

I couldn’t fathom how anybody could stay loyal to Yin after what he started, but I was glad most of the people I recognized had sense. Dak and Hesina. Meifan. Even Sachi with her bladed fans and Soren with his round shield. Both were part of the guildmaster’s negotiating group, but they could clearly tell right from wrong.

“You’re sabotaging yourself, asshole!” I shouted back at the guildmaster. “How the hell is getting the spirit core going to save anybody? Are you planning to destroy it?”

“Destroy it?” The guildmaster laughed hysterically. “Why would I…”

The old man paused, then his eyes widened. “You know where it is.”

The hell…

“Don’t think I didn’t know you and that woman had been snooping around the village,” Yin said, his face twitching in anger. “I let it slide, curious what your masters at Keslahir bid you do. Did you take interest in the treasure because of me? Or perhaps you’re…”

Instead of charging his magic, Yin’s shoulder pauldrons, the ones with the large lightning and fire gemstones, flashed once, spreading a glimmer across his dark-red armor like scorched lava, until it coalesced into his left hand, summoning a silver katana hissing with smoke.

“Tell me, Ryota Rutherford. Jennifer Watson.” Yin raised his blade as if to taunt. “What do I look like to you?”

The hell was he on about?

“A mad man,” I said.

My armor felt hot. I could feel dark energy burn inside me, so I channeled it from my arms and into my blades. My cloak rippled with power as darkness radiated around me. I assumed a low battle stance and felt Jennifer’s presence slowly inch closer to me, her sun magic radiating from her as well.

The festival had quickly gone to shit. It was probably the best distraction we could ever get for our daring escape, but innocent people were getting hurt and we have the ability to stop it.

We, the villains who came to steal and destroy the village treasure, was about to fight the lunatic screaming he was going to save it.

2

Allen stood with his back on the wall. He clutched the bag containing the medallions he stole tightly to his chest.

It was so exhilarating. The original plan was to simply jump mid-performance and destroy the gemstones, which was a pretty wild idea on its own. But to put on a costume, say a few lines, and do a sleight-of-hand switch? It was as if he was a hero in a heist film!

And now that hero was surrounded by two Everdark fiends—two spider-like monsters with massive limbs, crab claws, and a crazed obsession to chase him. The monsters were bad enough outside the forest, but here they were rabid.

Allen was thankful the guildmaster started making a fuss, which let him scramble around to escape, but then the man blasted a hole through the ceiling! Allen looked past the monsters and saw the exit in the distance. There were less people rushing to it now, but the chance of him even getting there was scant.

If only I had my weapon with me!

One of the fiends crouched low… then jumped at him.

Allen spun around to protect the bag he was holding. He waited for the monster to bite but then—

Crunch!

When Allen turned back to look, Hakan’s shiny bald head was there. He grinned at him, then continued piercing the monster from the back with his sword. He kicked the dead fiend aside, then lunged at the other one. “Where’s the fire in you, Allen?” the man’s booming voice echoed. He unleashed a flurry of slashes at the second fiend, completely overpowering it. He ended it with a clean stab through the monster’s face.

“Hakan!” Allen shouted. “I—I don’t have my weapon with me…”

“I bet,” the man said. He eyed Allen, then offered his hand. “You’re busy guarding that medallion, eh? That the spirit core the guildmaster’s yapping about?”

“Huh? W-What core?”

“I saw everything. I was up there singing with you, my friend.”

Allen did not take the man’s hand and stood on his own.

“Relax, man, we’re on the same side.” Hakan turned around, summoned his shielding magic, then readied his sword to look out for other fiends. “I used to work out of Kazmah, but I was also sent here by the Keslahir main branch. Long before you three were. I did not understand what you were all scheming, but now I do. You really wanted to undermine Yin, eh?”

Allen was quick to put two and two together. Hakan misunderstood something, but technically him, Jennifer and Ryota were out here because of some directive from Keslahir. Allen could take advantage of this and have the swordsman help him.

“I need to find Ryota and Jennifer,” Allen said. “We need to take this thing away from this village. It’s… what our mission entailed.”

“I’m afraid it’s too late,” Hakan replied. Another Everdark fiend loomed closer to them. A big one that looked like a gorilla with leathery skin and tusks. It was looking directly at Allen. “Whatever you have planned is pointless now. After this stunt, the guild will have no place in Yunha. I imagine it’d be tough to even hold Yorutei at this point. Besides, your friends are about to face the guildmaster. There is no way out.”

Allen swallowed nervously, his eyes shifting to the stage on his left, then at the guild members fighting in the distance.

There was no way out? Ryota and Jennifer decided to fight?

Of course they would. The people of this world were no different than the ones back on earth. They laughed, they cried, they worked their darndest every day to live.

Allen would help too. But he had no weapon, and he was the target of the fiends because of the medallion. The village treasure. The fiends wouldn’t stop coming unless he—

What if…

An inkling of an idea began to spark in Allen’s mind.

The goal was to save the villagers. But also to accomplish their mission from the arbiter as this world’s very survival hinged on their success.

The two weren’t mutually exclusive. In fact…

Way out. They needed a way out.

3

I made the first move.

“You always start a match this way,” Ilyana’s voice echoed in my ear. I could almost see the disappointment in her face. “I know you like playing rushdown characters, but your game plan is always so obvious. Want me to give you a few extra pointers?”

I rushed to meet Yin head on. Our blades clashed, and unsurprisingly, my dark energy did not slice through his katana. It wouldn’t be that simple.

I jumped back, then rushed in again with a low stab using my left blade, dark smoke trailing.

Yin blocked the move with his katana, spun it around, then went for his own stabbing blow laced with red lightning sparks.

I dodged his attack, but the magic tore my cloak to shreds.

“Ah, that’s right, you’re a Dark Knight,” Yin muttered. “An interesting practice, specially here in the Everdark. That reminds me… I think I sent a group of your kind to these forests long ago.”

“You think you did?”

I jumped back again, then ran in a half circle around Yin. Once behind, and with a great distance, I shot him with my blade. It extended forward, shooting like a spear. It hit the man’s back, and he staggered forward, cursing.

“Yes, yes… this is what you can do.”

Yin spun and grabbed hold of my blade with his bare hand. He pulled me in.

I could see his hand burn by touching dark energy, but he endured the pain to make me fall. He laughed, then lunged at me with his katana.

I blocked the blow with my right blade, but the attack sent shivers across my entire body. Yin’s katana charged with red lightning and—

White fire. Jennifer shot Yin from the side. He groaned in anger, then let me go. He charged his free hand and shot red lightning towards Jennifer. I scrambled to tackle him, so he missed.

“Get off me!” he screamed.

I pushed Yin then readied my blades again.

But that’s when a giant Everdark fiend appeared out of nowhere. It was another human-like monster… and it charged at Yin.

The guildmaster turned his katana towards the fiend and shocked it with red lightning. The fiend stumbled, so he shot it again. And again. And again. After the fourth time, the fiend was barely recognizable anymore.

Dammit. Yin was toying with us. He could probably end all of us here if he put his mind to it.

“Find the spirit core, you dull monsters!” Yin shouted. “Go to the other blocks! Go to—” Yin paused. His eyes widened, then he looked around as if looking for something.

It was the best opening I could ask for. And I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Jennifer charged her bracer with power and sent a sword of light in the direction of the guildmaster. On my part, I charged my right blade with as much dark energy as I could, then shot it towards Yin from the other side.

Magic and blade hit the man in an explosion of black and white.

Yin came out of the smoke looking really pissed. “You pests!” he screamed, then he threw a few shots of red lightning my way.

I dodged two of them, but the third hit me so hard I flew backwards, spinning in the air. My armor was supposed to take magic damage pretty well, but that didn’t seem to matter in the face of the guildmaster.

I eventually hit the ground, tumbled around like a stringless puppet, then finally came to a stop, face on the floor tasting dirt.

Shit. My body ached everywhere. Dammit.

I struggled to turn my body around until I saw the ceiling with the massive hole on one side.

And then whiteness.

As if the sun rose in the village of Yunha, the ceiling was bathed in flames of gold and silver.

4

Jen burned with white-hot rage.

Magic in this world was automatic. Despite how low the technology level was, their craftsmanship of gemstones had seen advancements that would rival earth’s greatest inventions. Jen learned of the science and the math involved. Though she couldn’t explain it, she understood it. She knew that bracers like hers, or staves, or medallions, or even the lanterns of Shusui and Yunha had such sophisticated circuitry that it allowed magic spells to be syphoned out of gemstones painlessly and stress free. But they also regulated their power.

In the past, this world’s mages did not have such luxury or limit. They used to chant and say words to coax power out of stone, earning themselves names such as gemstone singers. And Jen, despite not being from this world, was a member of a prestigious magic academy in the east given the title Sun Singer.

So, Jen sang.

It was an ethereal sound she couldn’t truly replicate if asked directly, given her earthly consciousness, but she knew the words—the hymns—that woke her gemstone. And so, letting her subconscious mind carry the burden, she kept singing.

The gemstone in her right bracer unleashed a power so raw it engulfed the guildmaster from every direction.

Yin slashed at the gold and silver flames, but even his red lightning could not extinguish it.

“Everyone of you!” he screamed. “Why do you keep getting in my way!”

You started this, you piece of shit!

Yin eventually saw an opening between Jen’s songs. With speed assisted by his red lightning, he closed in on her point first with his katana.

Jen managed to dodge at the last second, but the man’s blade sliced through her right cheek. Goodbye modelling career.

Instead of jumping away or moving to the side, reflexes she did not have as a magic user, Jen stepped in instead. This caught Yin by surprise. Suddenly they were face-to-face, mere inches apart. Jen raised her hands and clung to the man’s armor.

“What are you doing?” Yin said, face shocked in confusion.

This!

Jen unleashed her flames and, with a fountain of fire gushing out like steam, burned—no, melted—the armor she held onto.

Yin screamed, then struggled to push Jen away from him. With magic assisted force, he planted his knee on her stomach, then tore himself apart from her.

But not with his right pauldron, the one bearing the fire gemstone. That one Jen held until it melted into a useless slab of metal and fell to the ground with a hiss.

5

A familiar healing spell washed over me.

I breathed deeply, stood up, then looked behind. In the distance, Tori was sitting against the stage with Hesina by her side. The fox-eared woman didn’t look particularly well but she still sent healing magic my way. I gave her a quick salute then turned my attention back to Yin.

The old man was battering Jennifer with more of his magic spells, which she blocked with a wall of gold-and-silver fire.

For some reason, Yin’s lightning wasn’t red anymore. It looked weak and less intimidating.

I summoned dark energy and surrounded my entire body with it, until every inch of my armor gleamed and hissed with black smoke. Then I ran. I dodged a spider-like monster that passed me by and lunged at the guildmaster. He was taken completely by surprise. My left blade sliced through his shoulder armor, which he only had one left, but my right blade was blocked by his katana.

Even after fighting for a long time, Yin was still fast. But I couldn’t lose this momentum. No matter how many times Ilyana advised me to change my game plan, at the end of the day, I liked mashing buttons. So, I put on the pressure.

My blades, his katana. Our weapons sang with a flurry of slashes and thrusts.

I was surprised how well I dodged his attacks. A large part of it was me giving in to my fake identity as the Dark Knight. I sliced through most of Yin’s armor, and once even cut him in the cheek. On the other hand, he cracked my chest plate, bruised my left jaw and zapped my armor many times with his lightning magic.

And then there was the fact that Yin was distracted. When we broke apart for a quick reprieve, he was breathing heavily but still looking around the room.

Jennifer and I looked across from each other, also out of breath.

Then more Everdark fiends appeared.

Guild members and guardsmen fought to hold off the monsters that poured steadily from the hole. Even the few loyal to Yin had no choice but run or fight alongside them, lest they get taken.

Jennifer blasted a long-neck fiend that had gotten close to her.

This fight was going nowhere. How would this end?

And then… Yin found what he was looking for.

I finally saw Allen. He was running towards us clutching a bag in one hand, and one of the guardsmen’s spears in the other. He and Hakan had been fighting off fiends, based on the heaps of monster corpses behind them, but they were getting overwhelmed.

I knew Yin was after the same thing as us. Perhaps we could work something out.

“We can end this, Yin,” I said, breathing heavily. “I know what you want. But first, you need to destroy all these fiends you unleashed. I know you can do it. How the hell are you going to save this village if you allow it to be destroyed?”

“Tell me, Ryota,” Yin said, eyes in the direction of Allen and Hakan. “What do I look like to you?”

“What?”

Yin was a grey old man with wolf-like ears. His dark-red armor was mostly broken, so he slumped forward as if he carried the world on his shoulders.

And then I noticed something odd. Yin was looking in the direction of Allen, sure, but his eyes kept darting to the upper right corner, as if looking at something there.

I did the same… and saw my timer.

Yin charged his lightning and blasted the Everdark fiends chasing after Allen and Hakan. It wasn’t as strong as before, but it still blew the beasts backwards like leaves in the wind. He listened.

“Yin, I think we could—”

Yin’s eyes darted to the upper right again, then clicked his tongue. He suddenly dashed towards Allen with his katana point first.

I reacted too late.

I heard Jennifer scream behind me.

And Yin… Yin stabbed Allen straight through the chest. He yanked the bag from the man, but not before Hakan raised his sword to stop him from taking it. The bag fell to the ground next to Allen’s body, and the medallions, combined as one, came sliding out.

I immediately rushed to Allen’s side. Yin didn’t just stab the man. He used his lightning magic to… to…

Allen gurgled blood.

No… no!

Healing. Somebody, Tori, whoever—

Allen lifted his hand and pointed at the medallion. He said the words “mission” and “way out”. Then, with the last of his strength, he pointed up.

I looked at the medallion—at Yunha’s spirit core—glowing in silver and gold.

Yin and Hakan clashed swords, but it was clear who was stronger. The guildmaster sliced Hakan’s weapon in half then pinned him on the ground.

Way out.

Hakan grabbed onto the guildmaster’s legs.

Way out, way out.

The guildmaster started kicking down.

I blinked and understood it.

We had a way out.

A way that would get the three of us out of here and stop the fiends from pouring into the village.

“Listen up! Everyone!” I shouted as loud as I can. I didn’t know if anybody actually heard my voice, or cared, with all the fighting that was happening, but perhaps one or two were enough.

To my surprise, however, as if fate intended it, guardsmen came running into the residential block with Misha at the lead, bringing with them white lanterns. Our eyes met.

“I said listen!” I shouted again. “Everyone!”

I took a deep breath.

“We stole Yunha’s treasure! It was us! We did it! And now—”

Yin saw me standing with the spirit core on the ground before me. Beneath him was a bloodied Hakan, still clinging desperately.

Good. Look carefully, asshole.

“And now I will destroy it!”

I slammed both of my swords into the medallion. With the dark energy I gathered into my blades, the gemstones shattered with an explosive force.

“Noooooooooo!”

Yin scream echoed across the residential block. His legs gave out on him, and he fell to his knees.

I looked around myself and saw the stunned expression of the guardsmen and guild members alike.

And so, I rushed to Allen’s side, lifted his body across my left shoulder, then ran to the direction of the hole on the ceiling.

Jennifer saw everything that happened and ran in the same direction I was. Our eyes met and I pointed at the hole. At our way out of this village. The last of our objectives.

The Everdark fiends writhed and screamed, probably because of what I did to Yunha’s spirit core. I was worried Yin would chase after us, but it didn’t seem like he did.

Jennifer and I reunited just beneath the hole.

“Allen?” she asked.

I adjusted the man slumped on my shoulder. “I don’t know, but we need to escape. Not just out of this place, but out of this world. Maybe—”

“The arbiter!”

I nodded. The arbiter managed to heal our wounds last time we came back from our mission, so I hoped the same could be done for Allen. I considered asking for Tori’s help, or any of the guild mages for that matter, but even I knew their magic could only be used for smaller wounds and injuries. If healing magic could fix everything in this world, then it would practically be a paradise.

Jennifer and I looked at the hole on the ceiling. An Everdark fiend fell from it across from us, its body writhing in pain.

“Can you make the jump?” Jennifer asked.

“With the last of my strength, yes. You?”

Jennifer flashed me her bracer with the sun gemstone embedded in it. “I have maybe one more blast of magic in me. But I haven’t used it that way before.”

“You go first then,” I said. “If you fall, then I’ll catch you and push all three of us out.”

Jennifer snorted, but there was no time to argue. She propelled herself with her gold-and-silver flames and had no trouble reaching the Everdark. She vanished on the other side.

I took one last glance at the recreation block and the people we were leaving behind. The Everdark fiends might not cause trouble anymore, but even if they did, the guardsmen were here with their lanterns.

I saw Tori and Hesina in the direction of the stage. I saw Dak sitting near them. I saw Meifan taking a lantern from a guardsman. I saw Hakan crouching next to Yin. None seemed interested in stopping us.

With one last push of power channeled into my legs, I leapt directly into the hole.

And then.

Everything went dark.