ULTRAMagic Eon 1 - Chapter 18
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After Aureolus told his father, Barna, about what had happened at the guild hall, he went over to Blood-Wraith’s house. Drusa and Vexation were there, stating Blood-Wraith was in his room pouting. Aureolus figured as much and headed upstairs to find that the bedroom door was unlocked. Thinking about how he wanted to approach the situation, Aureolus focused and took the form of a young adult version of himself (and figured he would stay like that, wanting to act his age). Opening the door, he saw Blood-Wraith scrunched up against the wall on his bed. Aureolus went over to the desk, sat down, and began fiddling with one of Blood-Wraith’s stress toys.
“I’m working on that apology, Aureolus…” Blood-Wraith mumbled.
“Really? Kind of looks like you’re pouting to me…”
Hearing the older, more mature voice immediately brought Blood-Wraith out of his funk, causing him to get up. “Aureolus, is that you?” His best friend looked a lot older, with even his magic armor having had altered itself to fit him. “What did you do?”
“Oh I just figured I’d grow up a little. I am turning 18 soon enough after all.”
Blood-Wraith took a breath and got off of his bed, straightening out his uniform. He then began organizing some of the mess on his floor. “Is Will alright?”
“Don’t know, as I came here to check on you. Turns out Rostislav was waiting outside the conference room the entire time…”
“I’d say I wondered why he waited, but I guess I have to apologize to him too.”
“It wouldn’t hurt. Look, Blood? I don’t mean to be blunt, but what you said to Will was pretty mean. At no point during our mission did I view him as a killer. A little gungho? Sure. And given that he’s a special operative of The Liger Brigade, I think he feels conflicted at the moment, with the golems giving him an outlet for his aggression.”
That notion caused Blood-Wraith to think, recalling something he had been told about four months prior. “I guess I’ve been adhering to Dunja’s words a little too much as of late… but I don’t want us taking an innocent life, you know? I mean, I’ve had time to think about the difference between Dunja and Milosh, and it makes the distinction even more important. Does Will understand that?”
“Well he is a soldier…”
“What kind of soldier though?”
Aureolus paused and nodded. “A fair point, but it sounds like Captain Briggs instilled the right values in him. Blood, I get that you’re a knight and have a duty to uphold, but you need to trust people. Your Leif’s successor, and he was able to trust other people.”
Blood-Wraith felt a pang of longing nostalgia tug at his heartstrings. “Yeah, he would have… Alright, I’ll give it a shot.”
“And let Tiberius work with him. I bet he’ll fix Will’s issue in no time.”
That warranted a chuckle as Blood-Wraith felt a little guilty. “No doubt Drago told mom and dad about what happened, so I’m probably going to get a talking to,” he remarked as he opened the door. “Come on, let’s head back to the guild.”
With a quick trip on Golden Dragon, Blood-Wraith and Aureolus were back at the guild hall in no time at all. Strangely Blood-Wraith sensed a portal going outwards, but thought nothing of it. Everyone was a little surprised to see Blood-Wraith back so quickly, and shocked by Aureolus’ mature stature. The two were led to the main hall, where Tiberius stood on the stage. His back was turned to the rest of the hall, with it clear that he was deep in thought. Blood-Wraith, Aureolus, Dragoslava, and Deimos walked up to him, with Tiberius turning to address them with a subtle smile on his face.
“Tiberius, I’m sorry about the snowball,” Blood-Wraith apologized. “And everything else…”
“Apology accepted, Blood,” he said as he got down to give him a comforting hug. “You’re still a child and have a long way to go, but this is a step in the right direction. Stay the path and you’ll become a truly spectacular knight one day.”
“And I'm going to stop interfering. You guys are meant to run the guild, not me.”
Deimos chuckled. “Very grown up of you, Blood… ha, just like Aureolus here!” This made Aureolus chuckle in return.
“I remember back when Mind-Wraith first joined the guild,” Tiberius recalled, the nostalgic feeling warming his soul. “He was quite the whippersnapper himself.”
Dragoslava patted Blood-Wraith on the back. “Haha, no need to worry, bro. It’s all good. Just save the snowballs for winter break.”
“Is dad upset with me?”
“Nah, but he does want to talk to you later… also I think he’s secretly proud of you.” This made everyone laugh.
“Ready to go see Will, Blood?” Ludwig asked from one of the tables. He was accompanied by Rostislav.
“Yup… oh, sorry, Rostislav.”
“No worries, laddie, I’ve been through worse,” Rostislav replied as he and Ludwig got up. “You should meet my dad sometime. He always has something useful to say in situations like this.”
The three made their way to the Future Squad’s quarters where Ludwig knocked on the door several times. “Will, aufstehen… Will?” They waited for a moment with not a sound coming from the room, not even the television. “Okay then, I mean he could be taking a nap. It’s not beyond him…”
“Will, you okay, buddy?” Rostislav said as he opened the door and looked around. “Uh, guys? I don’t think he’s here…”
“What!?” Ludwig exclaimed as he barged past Rostislav and searched the room.
Blood-Wraith then noticed a note on the table and read it, causing him to worry. “Guys? I think he went to spy on Valerie…”
Ludwig zeroed in on that and took the note from Blood-Wraith’s hands. “Schieße! That loose-ARGH, we should’ve brought Captain Briggs along!”
“Oh jeez, what are we going to do?” Rostislav questioned.
“Go get him, obviously!!” Ludwig snapped back
“Should I come too?” Blood-Wraith asked.
“No, stay here for now just in case things get out of hand, we’ll be back in a second. Come on, Private!” Ludwig ordered as he and Rostislav ran out the door.
Ludwig was not sure what was going to happen, but he did not want to take any chances with the Flow of Time. He barreled out of the guild hall in his true form, a winged dog demon, flying up into the sky. Normally he obscured himself in thunder clouds, but now was not the time for that. Rostislav was close behind, with two, giant bat wings having sprouted from his back. To say the mission was growing more complicated by the minute was an understatement. And the funny thing was that Ludwig already knew this was supposed to happen, but he had lost control to his instincts.
Will was struggling to fight back against Eloise. Yale was frozen inside a popsicle-like block and Will’s limbs were encased in the frozen ice cream. His torso was also partially encased, making it incredibly hard to move. Such a predicament would have been no problem had Faustus been there. Having had enough of messing around with Will and making puns at his expense, Eloise enlarged her gloved hands to the size of refrigerators and slammed him in between them. The result was the mage being frozen in a slab of ice cream, with his body partially emerging from the tasty-looking prison. As Eloise celebrated her success, she panicked when she noticed Ludwig and Rostislav running up.
“Oh shoot!” she exclaimed as an ice cream golem picked Will up. “Just borrowing him for a little bit!”
“Hand him over, Eloise!” Ludwig demanded.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way!” Rostislav warned as they got closer, smelling like brimstone.
Eloise nervously glanced around as she had to think quickly. “How about the chocolatey way!?” She tossed out two chocolate orbs that exploded into pillowy clouds of sweet-smelling dust upon reaching their targets. This left Ludwig and Rostislav encased in immobile, chocolate statues. “Wow, I didn't think that would work…” Ludwig then shook back and forth, startling her. “Aiyee! Let’s skiddaddle, golem!” They then slid down the mountainside, making a clean getaway.
A moment later Ludwig’s shell exploded off of him, with him looking utterly infuriated. Searching around, Eloise was nowhere to be found, meaning she had got away. Unable to hold in his frustration any longer, he roared in an anger that had lost its patience a long time ago. A lightning bolt struck the hillside and the loud thunder crack that accompanied it made Eloise hurry her pace back into the castle. Growling and snarling, Ludwig went over to Rostislav and slammed him on the ground, breaking the upper half of his chocolate shell.
“QUIT SLEEPING ON THE JOB, PRIVATE,” Ludwig barked.
“OW, HEY! That chocolate was damn strong, Fido!” Rostislav then hardened some lava around his fist and freed his legs. “So I guess she got away then?”
“What do you think!?”
Rostislav groaned. “Alright, jeez… bloody dogs…” He then noticed a brick of frozen ice cream, picked it up, and melted it. Yale was trapped inside.
“WILL, WATCH OUT!” the fairy yelled once his head was freed. “Will!?”
“Sorry, Yale, but she got away…”
Yale went bright red with anger and flew around like a swarm of wasps. “I told him this idea was dumb!!”
“What’s the verdict, Captain?” Rostislav inquired. “Shall we pay Valerie a visit?”
Taking a breath to soothe his nerves that quelled the thunder around them, Ludwig picked up Will’s Liger Binoculars and looked through them. “Schieße, someone’s rallying the defenses already. Let’s fall back for now…”
“What?!” Yale protested as he got in Ludwig’s face. “We can’t just leave him behind! Captain Briggs would…”
“Yes, Captain Briggs would consider going after him, but I am not Antares. We lack the means to stage a rescue, we are falling back. Besides, I trust Valerie.”
“But the timeline?” Yale put forth in a defeated tone.
“Well we’re still here, aren’t we?” Rostislav pointed out. “Didn’t Zal and Schwarzes say that everything that happens going forward is meant to happen, Ludwig?”
“I hope so, Private…” he replied with a sigh.
Yale flew over to Rostislav as they began to leave, with Rostislav picking up Will’s pack. “This doesn’t feel right. I’m supposed to be watching him.”
“And you’re doing a good job, Yale,” Ludwig reassured. “It’s just that Valerie is clever and this is out of our hands at the moment.”
“Don’t forget Eloise,” Rostislav reminded. “Now we know where Eliza-Rex got all of her smarts from.”
Yale buzzed a little with a slight growl. “But we can handle it, can’t we?”
“Yale, this is a complex situation,” Ludwig asserted as they continued down the mountain trail, past the one leading to Blood-Wraith’s tomb. “Right now we need to allow for the circumstances to be in our favor again. Valerie is currently preparing for us, which would lead to more defeat. You don’t just fly head first into enemy territory unless you can secure victory right then and there.”
“Read The Art of War, Yale,” Rostislav suggested. “Lord knows Fido made us memorize it to Hell and back…”
“Terrain 31, Private.”
Rostislav groaned as they kept walking. “Sun Tzu says ‘hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.’”
That seemed to calm Yale down, as it sounded like the two knew what they were doing. Of course another question popped into his head. “Hold up, I thought you two were special ops for the M.A.I.G. of your universe. What gives?”
“You think we don’t get deployed into active combat, given what we dealt with back home?” Ludwig asked in response.
“I guess you’re right then…”
“This isn’t our first rodeo, Yale,” Rostislav reassured. “And we have done rescue missions and hostage negotiation before… doesn’t mean we’re not nervous, however.” After a moment of further walking, he realized the elephant in the room and kicked a stone off of the path. “How are we going to break this to the rest of the guild, Ludwig?”
“I’m… aware of that, Private,” Ludwig answered slowly in contemplation.
Yale grumbled. “Either way Blood’s going to get a piece of my mind for what he said to Will…”
“If it’s any consolation, Yale, he is sorry for the outburst,” Rostislav clarified.
“Oh, really?”
“Indeed,” Ludwig replied. “He apologized to Tiberius and even Rostislav.
“I see…” Yale glowed a pinkish red. “Well, I’m still going to speak to him about it.”
Next: Chapter 19
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
After Aureolus told his father, Barna, about what had happened at the guild hall, he went over to Blood-Wraith’s house. Drusa and Vexation were there, stating Blood-Wraith was in his room pouting. Aureolus figured as much and headed upstairs to find that the bedroom door was unlocked. Thinking about how he wanted to approach the situation, Aureolus focused and took the form of a young adult version of himself (and figured he would stay like that, wanting to act his age). Opening the door, he saw Blood-Wraith scrunched up against the wall on his bed. Aureolus went over to the desk, sat down, and began fiddling with one of Blood-Wraith’s stress toys.
“I’m working on that apology, Aureolus…” Blood-Wraith mumbled.
“Really? Kind of looks like you’re pouting to me…”
Hearing the older, more mature voice immediately brought Blood-Wraith out of his funk, causing him to get up. “Aureolus, is that you?” His best friend looked a lot older, with even his magic armor having had altered itself to fit him. “What did you do?”
“Oh I just figured I’d grow up a little. I am turning 18 soon enough after all.”
Blood-Wraith took a breath and got off of his bed, straightening out his uniform. He then began organizing some of the mess on his floor. “Is Will alright?”
“Don’t know, as I came here to check on you. Turns out Rostislav was waiting outside the conference room the entire time…”
“I’d say I wondered why he waited, but I guess I have to apologize to him too.”
“It wouldn’t hurt. Look, Blood? I don’t mean to be blunt, but what you said to Will was pretty mean. At no point during our mission did I view him as a killer. A little gungho? Sure. And given that he’s a special operative of The Liger Brigade, I think he feels conflicted at the moment, with the golems giving him an outlet for his aggression.”
That notion caused Blood-Wraith to think, recalling something he had been told about four months prior. “I guess I’ve been adhering to Dunja’s words a little too much as of late… but I don’t want us taking an innocent life, you know? I mean, I’ve had time to think about the difference between Dunja and Milosh, and it makes the distinction even more important. Does Will understand that?”
“Well he is a soldier…”
“What kind of soldier though?”
Aureolus paused and nodded. “A fair point, but it sounds like Captain Briggs instilled the right values in him. Blood, I get that you’re a knight and have a duty to uphold, but you need to trust people. Your Leif’s successor, and he was able to trust other people.”
Blood-Wraith felt a pang of longing nostalgia tug at his heartstrings. “Yeah, he would have… Alright, I’ll give it a shot.”
“And let Tiberius work with him. I bet he’ll fix Will’s issue in no time.”
That warranted a chuckle as Blood-Wraith felt a little guilty. “No doubt Drago told mom and dad about what happened, so I’m probably going to get a talking to,” he remarked as he opened the door. “Come on, let’s head back to the guild.”
With a quick trip on Golden Dragon, Blood-Wraith and Aureolus were back at the guild hall in no time at all. Strangely Blood-Wraith sensed a portal going outwards, but thought nothing of it. Everyone was a little surprised to see Blood-Wraith back so quickly, and shocked by Aureolus’ mature stature. The two were led to the main hall, where Tiberius stood on the stage. His back was turned to the rest of the hall, with it clear that he was deep in thought. Blood-Wraith, Aureolus, Dragoslava, and Deimos walked up to him, with Tiberius turning to address them with a subtle smile on his face.
“Tiberius, I’m sorry about the snowball,” Blood-Wraith apologized. “And everything else…”
“Apology accepted, Blood,” he said as he got down to give him a comforting hug. “You’re still a child and have a long way to go, but this is a step in the right direction. Stay the path and you’ll become a truly spectacular knight one day.”
“And I'm going to stop interfering. You guys are meant to run the guild, not me.”
Deimos chuckled. “Very grown up of you, Blood… ha, just like Aureolus here!” This made Aureolus chuckle in return.
“I remember back when Mind-Wraith first joined the guild,” Tiberius recalled, the nostalgic feeling warming his soul. “He was quite the whippersnapper himself.”
Dragoslava patted Blood-Wraith on the back. “Haha, no need to worry, bro. It’s all good. Just save the snowballs for winter break.”
“Is dad upset with me?”
“Nah, but he does want to talk to you later… also I think he’s secretly proud of you.” This made everyone laugh.
“Ready to go see Will, Blood?” Ludwig asked from one of the tables. He was accompanied by Rostislav.
“Yup… oh, sorry, Rostislav.”
“No worries, laddie, I’ve been through worse,” Rostislav replied as he and Ludwig got up. “You should meet my dad sometime. He always has something useful to say in situations like this.”
The three made their way to the Future Squad’s quarters where Ludwig knocked on the door several times. “Will, aufstehen… Will?” They waited for a moment with not a sound coming from the room, not even the television. “Okay then, I mean he could be taking a nap. It’s not beyond him…”
“Will, you okay, buddy?” Rostislav said as he opened the door and looked around. “Uh, guys? I don’t think he’s here…”
“What!?” Ludwig exclaimed as he barged past Rostislav and searched the room.
Blood-Wraith then noticed a note on the table and read it, causing him to worry. “Guys? I think he went to spy on Valerie…”
Ludwig zeroed in on that and took the note from Blood-Wraith’s hands. “Schieße! That loose-ARGH, we should’ve brought Captain Briggs along!”
“Oh jeez, what are we going to do?” Rostislav questioned.
“Go get him, obviously!!” Ludwig snapped back
“Should I come too?” Blood-Wraith asked.
“No, stay here for now just in case things get out of hand, we’ll be back in a second. Come on, Private!” Ludwig ordered as he and Rostislav ran out the door.
Ludwig was not sure what was going to happen, but he did not want to take any chances with the Flow of Time. He barreled out of the guild hall in his true form, a winged dog demon, flying up into the sky. Normally he obscured himself in thunder clouds, but now was not the time for that. Rostislav was close behind, with two, giant bat wings having sprouted from his back. To say the mission was growing more complicated by the minute was an understatement. And the funny thing was that Ludwig already knew this was supposed to happen, but he had lost control to his instincts.
Will was struggling to fight back against Eloise. Yale was frozen inside a popsicle-like block and Will’s limbs were encased in the frozen ice cream. His torso was also partially encased, making it incredibly hard to move. Such a predicament would have been no problem had Faustus been there. Having had enough of messing around with Will and making puns at his expense, Eloise enlarged her gloved hands to the size of refrigerators and slammed him in between them. The result was the mage being frozen in a slab of ice cream, with his body partially emerging from the tasty-looking prison. As Eloise celebrated her success, she panicked when she noticed Ludwig and Rostislav running up.
“Oh shoot!” she exclaimed as an ice cream golem picked Will up. “Just borrowing him for a little bit!”
“Hand him over, Eloise!” Ludwig demanded.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way!” Rostislav warned as they got closer, smelling like brimstone.
Eloise nervously glanced around as she had to think quickly. “How about the chocolatey way!?” She tossed out two chocolate orbs that exploded into pillowy clouds of sweet-smelling dust upon reaching their targets. This left Ludwig and Rostislav encased in immobile, chocolate statues. “Wow, I didn't think that would work…” Ludwig then shook back and forth, startling her. “Aiyee! Let’s skiddaddle, golem!” They then slid down the mountainside, making a clean getaway.
A moment later Ludwig’s shell exploded off of him, with him looking utterly infuriated. Searching around, Eloise was nowhere to be found, meaning she had got away. Unable to hold in his frustration any longer, he roared in an anger that had lost its patience a long time ago. A lightning bolt struck the hillside and the loud thunder crack that accompanied it made Eloise hurry her pace back into the castle. Growling and snarling, Ludwig went over to Rostislav and slammed him on the ground, breaking the upper half of his chocolate shell.
“QUIT SLEEPING ON THE JOB, PRIVATE,” Ludwig barked.
“OW, HEY! That chocolate was damn strong, Fido!” Rostislav then hardened some lava around his fist and freed his legs. “So I guess she got away then?”
“What do you think!?”
Rostislav groaned. “Alright, jeez… bloody dogs…” He then noticed a brick of frozen ice cream, picked it up, and melted it. Yale was trapped inside.
“WILL, WATCH OUT!” the fairy yelled once his head was freed. “Will!?”
“Sorry, Yale, but she got away…”
Yale went bright red with anger and flew around like a swarm of wasps. “I told him this idea was dumb!!”
“What’s the verdict, Captain?” Rostislav inquired. “Shall we pay Valerie a visit?”
Taking a breath to soothe his nerves that quelled the thunder around them, Ludwig picked up Will’s Liger Binoculars and looked through them. “Schieße, someone’s rallying the defenses already. Let’s fall back for now…”
“What?!” Yale protested as he got in Ludwig’s face. “We can’t just leave him behind! Captain Briggs would…”
“Yes, Captain Briggs would consider going after him, but I am not Antares. We lack the means to stage a rescue, we are falling back. Besides, I trust Valerie.”
“But the timeline?” Yale put forth in a defeated tone.
“Well we’re still here, aren’t we?” Rostislav pointed out. “Didn’t Zal and Schwarzes say that everything that happens going forward is meant to happen, Ludwig?”
“I hope so, Private…” he replied with a sigh.
Yale flew over to Rostislav as they began to leave, with Rostislav picking up Will’s pack. “This doesn’t feel right. I’m supposed to be watching him.”
“And you’re doing a good job, Yale,” Ludwig reassured. “It’s just that Valerie is clever and this is out of our hands at the moment.”
“Don’t forget Eloise,” Rostislav reminded. “Now we know where Eliza-Rex got all of her smarts from.”
Yale buzzed a little with a slight growl. “But we can handle it, can’t we?”
“Yale, this is a complex situation,” Ludwig asserted as they continued down the mountain trail, past the one leading to Blood-Wraith’s tomb. “Right now we need to allow for the circumstances to be in our favor again. Valerie is currently preparing for us, which would lead to more defeat. You don’t just fly head first into enemy territory unless you can secure victory right then and there.”
“Read The Art of War, Yale,” Rostislav suggested. “Lord knows Fido made us memorize it to Hell and back…”
“Terrain 31, Private.”
Rostislav groaned as they kept walking. “Sun Tzu says ‘hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.’”
That seemed to calm Yale down, as it sounded like the two knew what they were doing. Of course another question popped into his head. “Hold up, I thought you two were special ops for the M.A.I.G. of your universe. What gives?”
“You think we don’t get deployed into active combat, given what we dealt with back home?” Ludwig asked in response.
“I guess you’re right then…”
“This isn’t our first rodeo, Yale,” Rostislav reassured. “And we have done rescue missions and hostage negotiation before… doesn’t mean we’re not nervous, however.” After a moment of further walking, he realized the elephant in the room and kicked a stone off of the path. “How are we going to break this to the rest of the guild, Ludwig?”
“I’m… aware of that, Private,” Ludwig answered slowly in contemplation.
Yale grumbled. “Either way Blood’s going to get a piece of my mind for what he said to Will…”
“If it’s any consolation, Yale, he is sorry for the outburst,” Rostislav clarified.
“Oh, really?”
“Indeed,” Ludwig replied. “He apologized to Tiberius and even Rostislav.
“I see…” Yale glowed a pinkish red. “Well, I’m still going to speak to him about it.”
Next: Chapter 19
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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