Arrival Of Winter

The once rough sea was calm today. The sound of the waves clapping on the harbour wall crept up into the ear of the Coast Guard. Even he had fallen in love with the strange music of the waves.

Hebrew Jankins had been the coast guard of Rasper harbour for a decade now and never in his tenure had he ever seen the sea so calm. The waves were so gentle that even he could swim today and he wasn't even a proper swimmer.

He was a coast guard who didn't know how to swim properly and still got the job. The only reason he was allowed to become a coast guard was because his father was a noble.

He gazed over the horizon trying to spot a big ugly looking ship; he had been on ot for the past three hours and still no results. He was instructed by the Guild that today the Cargo ship would arrive and he was supposed to look out at it along with the Devil's spawn and his team of trouble makers.

The only reason he obliged to even work with that wretched being was because he was promised to snatch the goods before the others and also the pay was high.

He took out his sextant and adjusted it towards the horizon it was then he saw what he had been waiting for. The image was bit blurry but nevertheless it was the ship he had been waiting for.

"Ring up the bell" he commanded the harbour master. "It's time for work. Where are those brats anyways I told them not too be late"

Hebrew adjusted his cap and straightened his robe as he walked towards the platform where the ship was supposed to dock. He couldn't wait to see all the expensive good that was soon going to become his.

Approximately twenty miles away from the harbor sailed the AMS Federica carrying not only the goods for the island but also corpses.

The bridge of the AMS Federica was decorated in red of blood, on the wooden floor laid dead sailors, everyone had their parts of body torned off, underneath the helm the white robe of the Captain was drenched in red as his head no longer attached to the body was at the corner of the room.

Ship was no longer being controlled by the Capital; at the helm stood a grinning man. His face covered in blood and green eyes filled with amusement as he glanced at the emerging island.

"It's time to play!" He said to no one particularly. And laughed evilly.

On that day Rasper experienced hell.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The sound harbour bell invaded the cozy Café. Aryan's eye widened as he realised it was time to get ready for his job.

Ahh here I go again; man they can atleast show up on time.

He stood up and stretched, his arms up in the air as he let his body get ready for the tiring and boring job yet again.

"Time to leave huh…" the owner asked. He was cleaning the Demitasse cup in the counter.

"It seems so." He said looking around just in hope that his teammates might show up. But they didn't.

"So alone again?"

"What can I do." He said while glancing at the clock. "They will join me in another thirty minutes or so."

He put on his robe. The black fabric went up to his legs and had cuts on either side for using his arms freely. The design was well made even in the case of hand to hand combat. The symbol of Rasper (a snowflake) was engraved at the back.

For a Mage his robe is a symbol, a message, a statement, a way of life.

Aryan took a deep breath, fingers grasping the fabric of his robes as he adjusted it.

"I will be back soon." He said with his eyes closed. " Keep an eye on the scrolls until then"

The owner nodded.

Aryan reached for door knob. It was then when the explosions begun. His heart hammered in his chest as leaped from the door, over the counter pushing gramps down with him and away from the window. An instant later, fire tore through the reinforced glass and incinerated most of the wooden chairs and his Scrolls.

HIS SCROLLS!!!

"Damn it!" Aryan swore under his breath. He was absolutely not going to be the one to redo those assignments or explain to Serena why her assignment was now little more than ash.

Aryan glanced at the owner, his eyes were closed but he was breathing. Most probably he fainted because of the sudden outburst.

Aryan peaked over the charred remains of the ornate counter that had served the Café since its founding. A shame, truly, made of warm brown wood by Gramps. It would be missed. Beyond the counter was nothing but air. A nice, if large and windy, window into the harbour. He could see the clouds, a little dark and heavy with rain, far ahead. Aryan preferred them white and fluffy. In the distance a wave of liquid fire consumed a restaurant Serean liked.

A wave of liquid fire consumed a restaurant Serena liked. Someone had just bombed the Harbour.

Logic and reality caught up with him. Aryan found himself breathing heavily and clutching at his chest. He ordered himself to calm down.

It's nothing serious. Everything's going to be all right…like hell it's going to be all right. I need to think quick or something bad will happen.

He jumped over the counter and dashed outside. The once shopping area of harbour was reduced to rubble; most of the building was now gone leaving only dust and debris.

If Aryan had to sum up the condition then it l was chaos. Pure and simple. Explosions and fire did that to people who, for some of them, had never seen a true battle before. For others, it was a reminder of the harder times. A reminder of the Sixth War.

"Shit." He curse under his breath. He needed to think fast. Another wave of projectile rained into the already burning shipping district.

The cargo ship. It was the only ship supposed to dock today and the harbour bell rung which means… either Rasper has been targeted by Pirates or the cargo ship has been compromised.

Another projectile falls; even though the initial impact missed him by a handful of feet, but he felt the strike connect all the same.Like he had run face first into a wall of stone. The force of it rattled his bones.

"Ugh.." Aryan pushed himself up. The impact had caused his vision to blurry and a loud ringing voice echoed in his ears. It took him a minute to regain his composure.

The pathway that led to the harbour was filled with rubble and fire; there was no way to reach the other way around. Almost all the people had evacuated from the destroyed area but there were people trapped on the other side.

At the harbour. He didn't know about the situation they were facing but he was damn sure that they were up against some kind of attack. And if he didn't act fast people would die.

"Think you stupid moron!" Aryan screamed, his voice echoed through the burning shipping district. He was running out of time.

It was at that moment when he heard the painful battle cry; seconds later a strong shockwave passed through the entire shipping district shaking it violently accompanied with a strong gust of wind.

The blocked path cleared up into dust and mist. All the trapped people started to run away from the harbor.

The rubble cleared itself! No way that's possible. Ugh no time to think about it I need to help everyone evacuate

Another explosion rocked the, and saw people running everywhere, Aryan realized that his first priority was to evacuate the harbor and then find the source of all this destruction.

He tried to guide everyone safely from the shipping district or what was left of it. But everyone just pushed him aside screaming at his face.

"You wretched Devil spawn! Why can't you leave us alone."

"All of this would have never happened if you weren't alive"

All of a sudden, Aryan heard cries of a kid. He ran towards the noise, and saw a boy of around 4 years old on the ground, unable to get up because of a piece of rubble that held him down.

He moved to remove the rubble and help him up. As, he went to pick the child up, he was pushed aside by a woman with frightened eyes.

“Stay away from my son, you black eyed monster,” she spat at him, and picked her son and ran away.

Aryan stood frozen at the spot for a minute, until he heard another blast from the harbor. He had no time to sulk on his demise.

A painful scream came from the harbour. He ran towards the harbour only to find it destroyed. He jumped over the debris using the chunk of rocks as jumping pads; the flames spewed all around him.

There was nothing left of the harbour; except of fire an debris and ruins of the crashed cargo ship. The century old harbour bell now burned just a few meters away from him. He slowly averted his gaze towards the now destroyed harbour cabin.

Aryan stopped, eyes wide, with a cold, roiling fear in his gut. It was so visceral it was as if he had been stabbed in the gut with a sword of ice. Hebrew Jankins laid there his coast guard uniform covered in blood, eyes wide opened as he breath slowly. Aryan's eyes slowly travelled sideways where Hebrew's legs were supposed to be;but there was nothing but a chunk of heavy metal.

His lower body was crushed. But he wore a smile in his face, he was happy cause at the very end he tried to save his home even though it didn't work out. Aryan stood their in horror unable to move forward to save him.

Aryan would never forget what happened in the next few minutes.

Hebrew painfully stretched his arm and pointed his fingers towards Aryan and slowly murmured 'Save our home'. And then he was gone; his arms and head decapitated as his blood splattered all over the broken ground.

"It's time for you to come out Princess" a dramatic sing a song voice came from the now crashed ship. On the top of the broken mast stood a grinning hooded figure, his arms stretched out as his fingers were coiled with white thread his green eyes scanning the destroyed harbour like a maniac.

Aryan quickly hid behind the destroyed store house. His hands on his mouth as he stopped himself from shouting in horror. He couldn't believe what he had seen.

It happened in a flash of second but he still saw it vividly; a strange white coloured thread had coiled around the half dead coast guard's arms and head, and then the next thing he remember, was that the coast guard was decapitated.

Aryan's eyes widened as he felt another presence; he dared to peek a glimpse of the burning harbour. His eyes widened as he saw the entire burning place turn into a field of ice in just a few seconds. The unbearable heat abruptly changed into fierce cold; the temperature was now in negative and still falling.

If Aryan wasn't wearing his enchanted robes he would have become frozen meat by now.

"Negative Zero" a shrill voice murmured.

What's with this immense Mana!! I can't even move my body the pressure itself is so heavy.

Aryan glanced towards the source of mana; his body shaking in fear. What he saw was just a glimpse of white hair and lilac eyes and then the entire 'War Zone' or the harbour which was a war zone was covered in snowy mist.

Calm down and think. This is nothing it's just you usual lost pirates or maybe terrorist who took Rasper for a military base or something. Yeah that's it!!

His mind ordered itself. Just like he was taught in the academy 'In the time of crisis always take a deep breath calm down and use your head'.

His pulse started to become normal as he took deep breaths; his brain now functioning properly as his thoughts got in order. He knew what he needs to do in this situation.

Step one: identify the attackers. He glanced upward. Not at the clouds—at the bow of the crashed ship. On it stood the enemy wearing his evil grin his green eyes filled with amusement as he tried to read what was happening inside the foggy mist. He was wearing a black robe which had the symbol of half Massaro etched in it.

Massaro? Wait those symbols are only used by the Eastern Kingdom. If that's so, then it means the alliance between the eastern Kingdom and Azrestria has dissolved or wait it could be something else… No no I am missing something. Eastern Kingdom honor their culture they will never use such a symbol with just half of it on display... So it wasn't a declaration of war. So who is it??

After the Sixth-Intercontinetal War got over a lot of Kingdoms joined hands together and became allies to protect their long fought peace and the Eastern Kingdom was one of them. They were the neutral party during the War and only supplied weapons to Azrestria and that was until Azrestria attacked it nearly four decades ago.

A lot of wars have occurred between them since then but now in this new era the two Kingdom had decided to forget the past and join hands together. And that was the sole reason why they couldn't attack Rasper.

Step two: gather more information. He wished he had time for that.

A shrill scream passed through the frozen harbour; Aryan's black eyes quickly looked above at the source. It was the white haired stranger who had just turned the entire place into a Meat storage. The person was falling mid air, her eye lids closed and blood flew upwards from her wounded arm.

It was at that moment Aryan Krisglow's mind went blank. His body moved on it's own he climbed over the destroyed wall and dropped over the frozen ground. His right leg a few steps ahead of his left as his body jerked downwards preparing for the jump.

His black pupils locked on the falling girl. Only one command went through his brain.

Save her.

"Lightning nature: Raitōn Burst" he chanted his signature spell.

His entire body erupted into waves of blue lightning as the Mana present within him accumulated at his legs and then he leaped. His body looked as if it was just a streak of blue lightning trying to reach the clouds. His body sailing through the air as the lightning screeched in his ears.

His arms were stretched as he approached the falling girl. Just a few meters and she would be in her arms, he was almost there only a few hands away just a bit more. And it was at that time he felt something coiling his left legs and then it went numb.

A jolting pain possessed his body, he felt a warm liquid trickle down his left but he didn't dare to look downwards as he still focused on saving the girl. He dived downwards using the gravity to reach her.

I have to save her I won't let anyone die again on my presence.

He had almost grasped her this time when a Demonic voice invaded his mind.

'Give up. You can never save anyone afterall you are the Devil spawn'

An unbearable pain passed through his skull for a moment he felt as if he was going to drop unconscious but he didn't. His left eye burner as a single bloody tear rolled down his forehead as his his pupil turned red. His vision started to get blurry.

Am I going to fail again

'You will always fail! You are a failure Devil spawn'