Flavia was far more attentive to the noises of the rubble-city surrounding her and her master. Aelius’ attention was focused on the group of three Qe’Dreki soldiers walking towards him, taking time to loot individual buildings. It seemed after each door was kicked down, the subsequent house raided, the group seemed to expand. With the numbers increasing, any sense of dread already inside the half-blood was growing. A distant crash could be heard faintly, the following blood-curdling cry of anguish that followed sent him and his caracal’s eyes upwards to the smoke-dashed sky. A shiver went down and up the spine of the half-blood, giving him pause as his eyes slowly lowered to refocus on the approaching group of now five Qe’Dreki.
Another door, seemingly standing out in the desolation with its stubbornly cheerful green, caught his attention. It, too, caught the attention of the Qe’Dreki, for the lot stopped in front of it. Coming to the front of the group was a large man. Though Aelius was taller, this man was heftier, both his build and armor complimenting one another. Aelius, dressed in cloth, was nowhere near as intimidating. The stillness retaken by the air following the Volareon’s dying call was disturbed again by the crack of the steel greave against the wooden door. The cheerfulness was knocked away, the door sailing back and slamming inwardly. Dearly, Aelius hoped the building was empty.
His stomach fell into a pit as his hopes were dashed. The white eyes he possessed noticed the sailing dagger as it spilled forth violently into the street, ripping past any of the potential Qe’Dreki targets to clatter on the ground. An act of self-defense, as much was evident to the half-blood. He took a ragged breath, tilting his head down to peer at Flavia, who had managed to wriggled between her master’s legs and the wall, her own head peeking down the road. An uneasy meow came from below him, his white eyes meeting the golden orbs of his feline as she judged the situation with gravity. The gravity of it was indeed immense, enough for the animal intuition to beg its master for action. Flavia knew if they stayed on the sidelines, waiting for something to happen, they would potentially be discovered and, backed into this corner, they were going to die. They could act, Aelius thought.
Happening in the matter of a second, Aelius’ gaze instantly returned to the distant and battered-in doorway as the clanging of metal grew louder. Obviously there was some form of altercation, the Qe’Dreki soldiers funneling inside the opened door, pursuing. Aelius’ dark brows furrowed, forming a crease just below his forehead. Muffled shouting could be heard, a mixture of panicked peoples and aggressive soldiers. His mind flashed back to his own savior, the bearded man who gave his life to defend Aelius. Wouldn’t it only be right and proper to perform the same action for another? At the cost of his own life though? The answer to that, he did not know.
The answer did not come either. What did was another meow from Flavia, drawing Aelius forth to the present once again. With no time to think through on action, not without people suffering further or dying at the hands of the Qe’Dreki. His inaction could cost lives; he was bright enough to realize that. Another breath worked its way through his system, loosening the hold the ground and buildings had on his body, letting him stand and force himself out of the crevice he was hiding in. He was not brave enough to put himself in the middle of the road. Darting across with Flavia in tow, he hugged the bank of buildings opposite the side of the street his alley was on and approached the apartment complex.
Attached to the leather belt holding his breeches up was his conduit, the magical device charged with a spell long awaiting its release. An altercation like this had been long anticipated by the Seeker but this one’s scale was far greater than anything he imagined. The doorway was barren, abandoned by the Qe’Dreki as they followed their lead brethren inside to start a rampage through the two-story tall complex. Constantly checking behind himself as he crept, Aelius hurriedly scampered alongside the buildings until he came upon the kicked in green door, the cheerful thing nearly hanging off its hinges. He poked his head into the hallway, the shouting and clanking movement inside becoming all the abler to be heard.
He showed restraint, not calling upon his conduit in that moment. He decided to reserve the saved spell for a great emergency, when his life would be in immediate danger. With no other weapons to call upon, he called upon the knowledge of his magic and his teachings at the hands of the Seekers. He was taught to show focus and uninhibited determination. As hard as it was to show those two in the passing seconds before entering the apartment complex, he fought to show some inkling of them.
Chaos was apparent as he rounded the corner into the building. To his right was a staircase leading up to the upper floors of the complex. Directly before him a short distance was the door leading to the hall containing the first-floor apartments. That door had been knocked off its hinges as well, and it was where he was initially going to go until the cry of a woman from upstairs caught his attention. At first, the five soldiers who came into the complex were unable to be seen, but as he travelled up the stairs the telltale sounds of clanking armor and blue steel betrayed the soldiers’ whereabouts. The cry from the woman came again and Aelius almost hurriedly broke up the stairs, turning to view down the hallway where three of the four doors were already broken into and one other were well on their way.
A young woman, no older than Aelius himself, was running down the hall in search of an escape. Coming out of the same apartment as the woman was the pursuing soldier, not noticing Aelius there at the end of the hall until the woman was throwing herself past the half-blood. Aelius shrunk against the wall to allow the woman past and the soldier continued to barrel forth at him and his feline. Flavia acted first, placing herself between the coming soldier and her master, lowering herself threateningly, the hair on her back standing up, her tail erect, and her usually kind golden eyes turning to that of a staunch defender. The hiss that spewed from her mouth was enough to send goosebumps up Aelius’ own back.
The soldier hesitated, if only for a moment, before raising his sword to strike at the feline. Dutifully, Aelius moved to counter the attack, raising his hands and jerking them back towards himself. The magic exuded sent a small pulse at the back of the soldier, throwing off his balance in the slightest way, enough for his strike against Flavia to fail. In the next instant, Aelius shifted his foot position, stepping forward as he rushed his hands forward as well, the action subsequently sending another arcane pulse at the man. The force of the Push was much powerful than that of the Pull. It rippled through the air visibly, warping the air around it as the ball of energy collided with the soldier’s breastplate. The power dented the man’s coverings and forced him onto his back, his armor sending a large pale thud ringing throughout the complex.
Darting out from another one of the already broken into side rooms was another soldier. He came out, looked to see his ally on the floor of the hallway, then looked up to see Aelius standing at the end of the hall breathing heavily. The little magic he did use sent a familiar sensation through the young mage. His breathing was clear and unimpeded, each breath turned cool and sharp as they filled his hot lungs. His eyes, white as they were, burned whiter still. Flavia retook her position directly in front of Aelius, giving off a mixture of harrowing growls and hisses, daring the next soldier to advance.
“Hey!” the soldier bellowed through the hall and to his looting allies, “There’s someone out here!”
He advanced next, a battle cry coming from him as he charged towards Aelius with his sword drawn over his head, ready to deliver a devastating slash once he reached his target. Aelius steadied himself there, using his position at the opening of the hall to his advantage. He waited until the soldier was upon the fallen Qe’Dreki, and when the soldier went to leap over the already-fallen Qe’Dreki, Aelius struck. Another pulse of warping energy erupted from his hands, counteracting any momentum the man had in his jump and throwing him onto his back as well, though he fell on his fallen ally instead of the floor.
Aelius breathed out. His fingers were beginning to tingle with the power he was tampering with.
