Private - Operation Save the Little Ones | Page 2

The Faerin clenched his teeth staring at the bandit, he needed to get rid of him fast so he would be able to help his comrades- Once again the bandit charged and tried to cut off another Ghast's tentacle, but Hanno dodged and slammed the shield on his side, smashing the man against the wall.

The bandit could only yelp in pain, feeling his broken ribs as he tried to grasp for air. Hanno looked back, seeing that Rumblehide apparently had everything under control. The Faerin began walking back to the door- But the fallen bandit still had one trick in his sleeves, pulling out a handbow and aiming at Hanno.

When the handbow shooted a bolt, Ghast hastly deflected it with one of it's tentacles- And to the horror of the bandit, the Gargantuan Shield stared intently with a vengeful look in it's eyes.

Hanno just looked outside of the house, noticing that the taunts of @B.P. Rumblehide were successful at calling other bandits attention, and that @Daedalus were able to control the situation with his frightening phantom. Looking back at the worthless outlaw, the Faerin turned to his shield, giving a small nod. "Kukuku..." It chuckled darkly.

DISSONANT INTERFERENCE

Scared, the helpless bandit tried to crawl away from the shield's gaze, but suddenly he felt a stretched out tentacle grappling his legs. "N-NO-!"- Ghast stared at the man's eyes intently, and it was almost as he could hear an 'YES' from the enormous nemesis.

Dragging the bandit by force, Hanno charged toward the enemy reinforcements. "EAT THIS!" He braked his run and twirled to swing his Shield as hard as he could, throwing the bandit like he was a ragdoll toward his own allies.

The man flew toward the bandits and slammed at them like a canon ball, knocking a few of them down... The Faerin stared carefully, noticing there were even more bandits incoming, all of them determined to keep fighting for their villainous cause.

"They really don't learn, right?!" Hanno growled at the bastards, he wasn't going to let any of them go- He blasted off toward the enemies, aiming his shield forward and increasing the speed.

Confused, the bandits didn't know how to react as the enormous Shield got closer looking like a truck- In a fit of despair, one of them dared to attack directly, being rewarded by getting ruthlessly trampled by the Faerin. "BE GONE!" His feet stomped the bandits that were being trampled one by one.

 

"EEEEEEEEEEEE-"

The Screamer immediately began its work as soon as the advancing bandits crossed the invisible boundary that set it off, a horrendously piercing scream worming into the ears of the unfortunate men like a thousand nails on a blackboard. An icy deluge of fear doused their hearts simultaneously and they all halted in place, clutching their ears and crying out in horror, trying to shut out the hellish noise.

"Okay, here goes..."

Taking a deep breath, Daedalus widened his stance and put his hands out in front of him, beginning to chant words of power that seemed to vibrate in the very air around them.

“Spirits and fate, align...fabric of all existence, collide...”

The Screamer chose this moment to consider its rage sated, and sank below the earth again, leaving the bandits disoriented and confused, until one of them noticed what Daedalus was doing.

"Hey, the midget's casting a spell! SHOOT HIM! SHOOT H-"

"GIGA GEAR GRIND!"

Before any of the brigands could raise a crossbow against him, the air around them solidified into a majestic panorama of spinning, spectral gears. Gasps of shock barely made it out of their mouths before the gears locked suddenly and began grinding in the opposite direction, bludgeoning torsos and crushing limbs as they spun madly without relent.

Daedalus, seeing that his job was done, made to escape the scene. That had been the first time he had tested Giga Gear Grind out on a living target, and though his energy reserves were running almost empty, its effect had been worth seeing.

Ducking into the bush, he put a finger over Liri's lips to silence her before she could say anything, panting heavily as he tried to work off the exertion of the spell.

 

All around her, bandits emerged from their hiding spots; but the faerin's two companions (and that monstrous shield) had them under control. Rumblehide's grip remained tight on the haft of her great axe, her eyes scanning the ruins around her for signs of another attack that would never come.

Satisfied that she was alone for the time being, the Battle Princess walked over to the bandit whose spine she crushed.

"Mala'k," she called out, her right hand glowing a soft pink. "See if you can't get the other one to shut up for a bit."

Soft wisps of bubblegum smoke grew off Rumblehide's body, drifting off and forming into the shape of a woman. "Yes, my princess," Mala'k spoke with a nod as the ghost floated towards the bandit missing half his leg. Understandably, he started babbling frightened nonsense and tried to crawl away, ineffectually swiping at the healer the entire time.

"It's okay," Mala'k cooed as she knelt down next to the man, her ghostly knee resting in the puddle of dark blood oozing from the wound. "Rumblehide gets carried away sometimes. I'm sure she didn't mean it." The faerin spirit rested her hand on his wound, and before he could scream his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he hit the dirt.

Thankful for the quiet, the barbarian turned her attention to the second bandit. Kneeling down in front of him, blocking any chance of escape he might have had if he could claw at the dirt fast enough, Rumble adjusted her skull mask slightly.

She immediately cut to the chase. "Where are your friends?"

 

Hanno kept trampling every bandit that was on his way, until he slammed his feet the skull of the last one remaining from the bunch he was charging at. Only a few bandits barely remained alive, stunned and paralyzed by the pain of having their bones crushed by the merciless stomps of the shield-wielding Faerin.

The Shield's tentacle wiped some blood that spilled on the bottom of it's carapace, with it's eyes darkly turning to check if there were more preys. The Faerin also looked out for more enemies, only to notice that another group of bandits charged toward his comrades-

Three bandits branched out to attack the bush where @Daedalus and Liri were hiding, while another bandit charged toward @B.P. Rumblehide in an attempt to interrupt her interrogatory and save his ally.

Hanno growled and blasted off in an overwhelming speed- "YOU WON'T-!" He stared at his shield, starting to spin it as if preparing to fling it. "DAEDALUS- WATCH OUT!" The Faerin yelled, throwing his spinning shield at one of the bandits-

Ghast spinned midair like it was a boomerang- Even like that, it's eyes were able to keep track of it's target as it gave the 'poor' bandit a frightening death stare. "What-?!" The man widened it's eyes as he turned to see the gargantuan shield stretching it's tentacles out and slamming powerfully at his face as both of them fell on the ground.

The other bandits turned their attention to the monstruous shield, that stretched out his tentacles again to grappled at the bandit's arms and legs. "H-HELP ME, YOU IDIOTS!" The desperate man yelled at his comrades, that charged at Ghast and slashed a blade to cut off one of it's tentacles- "KUUU..." It's eyes widened in a grim rage, and in a fit of hate it's tentacles stretched the grappled bandit like it was a rubber until he snapped in half-

"What the fuck is this monster?!" The bandits helplessly saw their ally's guts spilling all over the ground, as they completely forgot about the Tinker Faerin that was hiding in the bush.

Meanwhile that, Hanno charged toward the solo bandit, striking a tackle at him with all his might- "ARH?!" The man groaned as he was knocked down along with the Faerin. Hanno stood over the bandit, shoving a strong punch on his stomach that made him grasp for air. "Sorry! But my friend there is doing some questions-" He grinned.

The bandit growled and headbutted Hanno, trying to grab the Faerin's shoulders to get over him-

Feeling the pain of the headbutt, Hanno shook his head and dodged the man's grapple. He pulled back his arm, threatening to punch the bandit's face, making the man do a defensive move with his forearms blocking his face. The Faerin chuckled as the bandit fell for the trick, and he turned down his arm to slam the elbow as hard as he could on the man's thorax.

"Goodbye!"

With a painful yelp, the bandit coughed blood as he dropped his guard- Hanno didn't wasted a second to swing his left fist to strike a final blow on the man's temple- instantly knocking him out.

 

Just when he thought everything had calmed down, his Astral Eye revealed more bandits charging their position, yelling in rage as they sought revenge for their injured companions. Crouching lower in the bush, he dug around in his pockets for anything useful he could throw at their attackers.

"GET THE MIDGET! MAKE HIM PAY!"

"Grab the girl too, don't forget what we're here for! CHARGE!"

"Oh crap...how many of them are there?! Get down, Liri..."

Standing up to his rather unintimidating full height of four feet tall, Daedalus sprang out from the bush to face the bandits, setting Liri at his back to shield her as best as he could.

"Don't you come any closer! The girl is under my protection, and -"

Before he could finish his grand protector's speech, Ghast had come spinning through the air like a horrifying cross between a boomerang and an octopus, and grappled the leading bandit with its tentacles. The other two attackers halted in their steps, forgetting the lesser threat as they brandished their blades hesitantly at the living shield.

Seconds after the grappled bandit screamed out desperately, Daedalus knew what was going to happen and clapped a hand over Liri's horror-widened eyes.

"Oh god. Don't look, Liri."

The bandits fell back with a distressed cry as their now-deceased companion showered them in viscera, perhaps even more shocked with fear than when the Screamer had exerted its supernatural influence on them. One of them, either the braver or stupider one of the two, recovered enough to steady his blade and charge at the shield with a defiant shout.

"THIS IS FOR ROB, YOU FUCKING...OCTOPUS!"

Daedalus had seen enough. It was time to leave. Scooping Liri up in his arms, he quickly left the two bandits in their hopeless fight against the sentient shield, making for @Hanno Futaba and @B.P. Rumblehide, gesturing at the downed bandit they were interrogating.

"Guys, we're not safe here! I say we grab this one and get out! Interrogation can come la-"

A steel-tipped crossbow quarrel whizzed past Daedalus' arm, drawing a red line of blood across the beige fabric. Looking back, he could see a ranged squad of bandits emerge from the distant treeline, undoubtedly reinforcements. He grimaced in pain, but turned forwards again and kept moving determinedly.

"You're going to be okay, Liri."

 

Rumblehide heard the tinkerer loud and clear over the shouts of the incoming group of bandits. The fae looked up to see a number of men, shabbily dressed, aiming crossbows at the party.

Ah. There they are.

As she considered whether to heed Daedalus's calls or charge the line, one bolt buried itself into the dirt at her feet and another whizzed over her head. They helped make the decision for her.

"Mala'k," she called out to the spectral healer, "We're leaving!"

The ghostly fae glanced up from the bandit she was tending to, uncertainty etched on her face. "I-I'm sorry?"

"Let's go," the Battle Princess shouted. Mala'k winced, and then rose to her full height before dissipating into a cloud of pink smoke before returning to the barbarian's side.

Rumblehide wasted no time following Daedalus's lead, staying behind the boy in case he managed to lose hold of Lili during their escape. A flurry of arrows zipped through the space she previously occupied, their tips missing the bandits' injured cohorts by mere inches. As she ran, she could hear their angry shouting at their fellows for their poor sense of judgment.

 

Standing up and getting away from the knocked out bandit, the Faerin instantly turned to see if @Daedalus and Liri were fine... And for his relief, they were able to run away from the bandits as Ghast were distracting them with it's frightening presence.

Unfortunately for Ghast, the Shield was too slow and immobile while not being wielded by it's master, which gave him a bad disadvantage-

"I will just get my shield back- You three go! Keep both of them safe, Rumblehide!" He warned to @B.P. Rumblehide.

Cracking his knuckles, Hanno blasted off toward the two bandits that were trying to fight against the Gargantuan Shield. As he got closer, the Faerin slowly bent his body forward, increasing aerodynamics, though making him reach a position he would soon fall to the ground. But that didn't matter-

The intention was clear as he got close to one of the bandits and threw both of his fists toward him, smashing himself with all strength against the bandit while his fists impacted on the man's ribs- Those would tremble and partially break, piercing his organs deadly. Both of them fell on the ground- The bandit groaning feeling an unsufferable pain, and Hanno already getting to recover from the fall, grabbing the wounded bandit's leg and charging toward the other bandit.

Ghast kept fighting against the focused bandit, that didn't even notice his comrade get attacked behind him. The tentacles of the shield whipped the man's leg, that yelped in pain and retalliated by slashing off the attacking tentacle- The Shield frowned it's central eye, staring intently at the bandit's sword- This wasn't looking good.

The grabbed bandit could only helplessly try to hold himself to avoid more damage, but it was all in vain- Because as soon as his nemesis got close to his ally, the Faerin held his other leg with the other hand, swinging the bandit with all his strength to slam his head on the other bandit, both were now knocked out.

The Faerin ran and wielded his Shield again- "Now we need to run, Ghast-!" CLANG! Hanno's head protection shaked when it was hit by an arrow and the Faerin tilted in a soft stun- "Waa - RUN A FUCKING LOT-!" He yelled and started to run as fast as he could- Trying to dodge the shower of arrows that endlessly tried to pierce him.

"Damn damn - shit SHIT SHIT! FUUUUUUUUU-" He desperately screamed at every arrow that tried to finish his life while dodging them by jumping, stumbling, dashing to the sides and having Ghast to deflect the arrows with it's protective tentacles.

Though his high speed and the fact that his allies were being slowed down by Liri's small legs were enough to make him slowly catch them up.

 

As the team of adventurers and their ward raced away from the reinforced bandit forces, Daedalus heard @Hanno Futaba call for them to move on as he would retrieve his shield. He was about to shout for Hanno to leave it for now, since Ghast would probably be able to fend for itself for a good while (and it was a shield, how does one kill a shield anyway?) when he looked back and saw that Hanno was making short work of the bandits surrounding Ghast with his bare hands.

Seems like he's got that down.

"Alright, Rumblehide, let's keep going! Take our guard!"

Calling to @B.P. Rumblehide and motioning for her to take up the rear guard as bolts and arrows rained down around them, Daedalus muttered some words that reverberated in the air for a few moments, words that unraveled the very fabric of reality for a few seconds and revealed to him the paths he should take to avoid being turned into a pincushion.

COSMIC CROSSROADS

​

A white arrow in his greyscale field of vision blinked and flashed, indicating a path into a thicket of trees off the road from the village.

"Come on, that way, let's go! You know what, Liri, lemme just..."

Turning sharply where the Cosmic Crossroads stated he should, Daedalus scooped Liri right up into a rough bridal carry, using the arm and back strength he'd obtained from dragging and lifting around his massive tinkerer's pack all the time.

Once everyone was further into the thicket and safe from the bulk of the arrows as the foliage blocked out any lines of direct sight, Daedalus would look back and check if Hanno had followed them or not, then set Liri down and check Rumblehide for any wounds.

 

Hanno finally caught up with the group, following the lead of @Daedalus and his foretelling skill- He took a small glance behind him, the bandits didn't look like they were going to stop. "Crap, I'm not sure if hiding will be a good idea-" But it wasn't time to question anything, it was time to move!

Walking through the harsh path of the woods, the Faerin hide with them behind the foliage.

"Th-Thanks Mr Daedalus..." The girl was clearly nervous about the situation, but she also was doing her best to stay strong.

While they tried to recover, the sound of bandits screams could be faintly heard on the background. Hanno frowned, turning to everyone. "We need to get out of here, otherwise they will keep following us forever." He said standing up and attatching Ghast on his back.

The barbarian Faerin narrowed her eyes, clearly looking uncomfortable about something. "Rumblehide?" Hanno looked at her with a concerned expression.

"Hmph." Rumblehide stood up, stepping out of the foliage as she adjusted the skull on her head. "I can't let these scumbags go away without getting what they deserve. You guys go and save Liri's family- And I will avenge them."

Giving her call, the barbarian gave a goodbye nod to the group. A bright and frightening blue light glinted out of the holes of the barbarian's skull helmet, and she charged toward the bandits. "HERE'S ONE OF THEM!" One man's yell could be heard from far.

"Damn it... It's time to go!" Hanno said to his tinker comrade and to Liri, waiting them to run first. The Faerin would give a last glance at his barbarian comrade...

With a growl escaping from her throat, Rumblehide charged toward the wave of bandits carrying her axe, the girl moved smoothly toward them- Dodging all their attacks without effort as she swinged her weapon, ruthlessly cleaving their flesh with an vengeful brutality. A fool tried to attack her from behind, only to fail miserably and get rewarded with an axe blade cutting him diagonally in two pieces. Another attack would come from her sides, and the barbarian would twirl holding the axe behind her back, cutting the attackers like they were butter- It was a blood bath, guts and blood spilled on the battlefield as the one army-Faerin fought a one-sided battle against the endless bandits...

Truly, Rumblehide made her title worth- She was the Battle Princess.

Hanno gave a weak smile at the sight, his friend... She would be alright. "I hope to fight beside you again, comrade." He whispered, giving a nod and turning to run with the other two Faerin. With Rumblehide's cover, the group would easily be able to run far enough from the danger... Being able to go back to the small town of Finweald.

The Faerin breathed heavily, trying to recover. "W-Well. I call for a small pause... We need to figure out what we discovered until now." He said, looking at the others.

 

As Daedalus finished checking up on Liri and Rumblehide, he wiped his brow in relief; nobody had been hurt by the bandits just yet, save for the crossbow wound across his own arm. As @Hanno Futaba caught up, he waved and jerked a thumb behind him, signalling that they should get moving as fast as possible. Grinning as the shieldbearer arrived unscathed, they began trudging on, towards safety.

They threaded through the forest quickly with Daedalus flicking his head back every few steps, paranoia evident in his features as the shouts and taunts of the bandits got ever closer. Ruffling Liri’s hair when she thanked him, he said nothing but gave her a weak, reassuring smile in response. To be truthful, he wasn't so sure how they were going to get out of this one.

In a split-second decision, he turned on his heel and faced Rumblehide and Hanno.

“Hey, guys, we can’t just keep running like this. They’re going to catch u-”

But before Daedalus could even begin his rousing speech, Rumblehide had already taken the initiative well in hand and dashed into battle with the advancing bandits, carving a bloody path through the brigands in a gambit to keep them safe as they retreated. Speechless at the sheer brutality and skill of her murderous rampage, all Daedalus could do was, once again, turn Liri away from the bloodbath erupting behind them and rush them onwards.

“C’mon, the town...it’s just ahead...”

Following the arrow dictated by his Cosmic Crossroads spell, Daedalus instinctively knew they were heading in the right direction to get to Finweald. The spell faded soon after, conveniently as they neared the edge of the town border. The bandits, if they had not been wiped out by Rumblehide’s berserk killing spree, would surely recognise that the area was well within the patrol of the town guards, and stay away. So he stopped as well, leaning against a tree, to answer Hanno.

“Well...we have a ransacked village and a whole load of bandits who waited in ambush for us, it seems…beats me as to what exactly’s happened here, but they seem to have known what we were doing and when we were arriving...”

 

Manya was sitting by a tree, leaning against the branches as he hummed softly to himself. He had been walking for quite a while, and Finweald was just ahead, perhaps another ten minutes. He could see the woodsmoke and the buildings in the distance and smiled at the sight. His journey was nearly about to be over!

Astorea was such a strange place, but he heard that it was a nation for player characters. Manya was obviously most interested in such a thing, with the only other thing that'd pique his interest, even more, being a Faerin settlement - he wanted to see what kind of place would have more of his kind!

He was sitting, cross-legged and his hands up as energy crackled between his fingers. Almost all the time, Manya tried to practice his magical skills, trying to stay on top of his game whenever he could! So far, he had a basic grasp of Spellbane and White Magic, and he was glad. But Black Magic...

It was an ability that was very hard to pinpoint, like finding a cat in the dark. It both represented change and destruction, whereas White Magic was about birth and sustenance. Such diametrically opposed schools might seem not to work together, but that was where one was wrong. Each was only part of a whole, and only when they were brought together could the spectrum be completed.

Suddenly, the sparks fizzled. Manya was startled, watching the bluish energy turned dark, shifting into black. And a whispering from within, like a voice. It sounded like his own, as if an echo, but of words that he didn't speak...

He leaned in, his ears perking up as he tried to listen to what they, he, it was saying. A bit closer, and then some more...

And the energy violently burst outwards. Manya screamed as white-hot pain shot through him, his hands instinctively going to clutch his face. The dark energy had violently deconstructed, and the resulting energetic reaction had burned his eyes. Tears streamed down his face as he clutched his palms to his eyes, groaning as he scrambled to his feet, his Faerin ears twitching as he blindly stumbled through the forest. In his grimoire, a single spell revealed itself, inscribing itself into the book.

Corrupt Thunder

"Guh...hah...huurgh..."

He was panting as he could feel the cool, shady atmosphere of the forest yield itself to a clearing. The roads? He could feel his feet taking more solid and clearer steps now, so perhaps he was on the main road to Finweald! He needed help...someone!

He was muttering spells and counter-curses, anything that he thought would help to heal his eyes or alleviate the dark energy around it. It was like his skin blackened and petrified, cracking open. He kept his eyes shut closed, barely able to make out shapes through tear-filled slits. But he couldn't see. Not one bit.

And by chance, or perhaps an instinctive gravitation towards the source of speaking, Manya stumbled upon a group of people. Were they allies? Enemies? He could only hope they were well-intentioned folk.

"Please...help me!" The temporarily-blinded Faerin gasped, his hands covering his eyes, teeth gritted to bear the pain.

@Daedalus @Hanno Futaba

 

The Faerin sighed at @Daedalus words, the bandits were able to predict they coming and decided to retaliate- Apparently they didn't expect to their plan backfire so hard, which was what basically happened since the bandits were probably exterminated by now.

Still, bandits normally didn't care on disrupting investigations, which was normally one of their major weakness since it was easy to pin point where their plans and bases would occur.

Rubbing his chin, Hanno pondered once again. "Daedalus, I don't think we are dealing only with bandits. There's probably someone... Or something bigger taking care of it." As far as the Faerin knew, it could be something entirely bizarre or just some asshole tyrant. After waiting for his Tinker comrade opnion, Hanno would open his mouth to answer- only to be interrupted by a thunderous sound.

"W-Woah..." Hanno widened his eyes turning to where the sound would come from, something really bad was going on. "Uh- Let's continue this after checking out what happened." The Faerin suggested, but as soon as he turned to run- he could see a Faerin boy walking toward them. 'Wait... Is that Manya?' He thought while narrowing his eyes, giving a nervous smile as he remembered his time crossdressing in the Curry House. Then, he caught himself realizing something... How he knew the boy's name? 'Uhm, I don't remember he introducing himself.'

Shaking off the thoughts, Hanno as soon as he heard the desperation and the pain of the white mage's expressions. With a concerned expression, the Faerin held the boy. "Calm down, calm down. We are here." He said gently, looking at the boy's hand that was covering his eyes.

"Excuse me." Hanno said, holding and pulling away the boy's hand, seeing the gruesome and necrotic sight. "That's bad! We need to take care of it now-" The Faerin exclaimed seeing the effects of dark magic crawling inside the mage's eyes.

"Rest your body, Manya. We are going to take care of this." Hanno looked back at Daedalus and Liri, giving a small nod and laying the boy down on the grass and lending his lap to rest the boy's head on it. "Daedalus, help me on this for a bit. I will focus on removing the curse and healing his vision, and you take care of the physical injury that whatever that did this caused."

Leaning the hand close to Manya's eyes, Hanno calmly muttered for a spell.

RADIANT HOLY BLAZE

A bright holy fire covered the Faerin's finger tips, and he calmly rubbed it on the boy's eyes that slowly made the black magic remains fade away and the necrosis disappear... Now only having the damage on the skin, that the tinker would probably provide his help to avoid leaving scars.

 

“Not just bandits, huh. You don’t say...”

Stroking his chin, Daedalus thought about @Hanno Futaba's words. A conglomeration of bandits with organisational and planning skills, led by an actual central leader...he’d been in close contact with things of a similar sort before, but that had been a relatively small organisation that he and a few close friends had been able to diffuse successfully. Letting a heavy contemplative sigh out through his nose, Daedalus grumbled to himself, thinking aloud.

“This though...these numbers, it just doesn’t make any sense…who could possibly...”

He was, however, interrupted in his thoughts by a thunderous crack that caused all three Faerin to look up, alarmed. Nodding at Hanno’s words, he put a protective arm around Liri, and advanced towards the sound along with Hanno.

“Stay close, Liri, and you’ll be okay. Now, what’s all this -”

Eyes darting around, his gaze fell on the stumbling, blinded figure of @Manya Boole, and then immediately followed onto the crackling necrotic energy eating away at the boy’s face. What the hell had he done to himself?! It looked like he had deliberately fired a bolt of dark magic into his own face, but...how, and why?

Rushing forwards with Liri in tow, Daedalus stopped and recoiled as Hanno peeled the boy’s hands away from his face, revealing extensive damage, though thankfully it looked very fresh. That was good, a recently inflicted wound was much easier to heal than an extended one, in any case. Daedalus patted himself up and down as he closed the gap to the injured mage, feeling around for the healing salves he always carried around.

“Alright, set him still, Hanno. Okay, uh, Manya, was it? This might sting a bit. Hold still, it’s going to be just fine...”

Pulling out a round potion bottle of Panacea, Daedalus pulled the cork out with his teeth and spread as much as he could across his palm, rubbing it thoroughly into the remaining flesh lesions on Manya’s face. As the last of the injuries cleared up, Daedalus corked the bottle again, stowing it into his pockets again. Crouching down next to Manya, he gently cups the young mage’s face in his hands and turns it over, checking for any lasting magical damage.

“Nice job, Hanno. Now, kid, the hell were you doing, and what did you do to yourself?”

 

He felt hands take him, gentle hands, as he was lead along. When his hands were taken from his eyes, he winced at the pain of the breeze on his face - it felt like daggers were cutting into his eyes. All he could see through tear-stricken and lidded eyes were two figures...no, three figures. He could not recognize them, though. But they seemed to recognize him.

One of the voices sounded so familiar and had it been another chance meeting in better conditions, he'd have made the connection and understood who it was. But right now, he couldn't. All he could do was go along with their ministrations, feeling his head lay down on the familiar figure's lap.

Daedalus...one of the people were named Daedalus. He tried to look at who that was, but then his eyes were covered by hands.

A bright glow, the comfortably soothing and mellow sensation of White Magic ran through him, but this was stronger, several times more potent than his basic understanding. And while the Black Magic taint and damage were greater than normal by some inexplicable reason, it was still weaker than the White Magic, which dispelled it, burning away the darkness. Now, the formerly dead skin merely looked burned and scarred.

Then, he felt hands spread some kind of paste on his skin. It stung, and it hurt, but that was so much lesser than the former pain - it was like comparing the pain of lemon rubbed into a wound against the sensation of nearly having your skin flayed off; downright calmative.

He closed his eyes, resisting the urge to rub it as he gave the two (three?) strangers time and space to work on him. Suffice to say, their efforts were a resounding success, and Manya's eyes and face were back to normal if slightly scarred and 'weary' if you could call it that.

He didn't open his eyes immediately, but he breathed in and out, catching his breath. "T-thank you...I wasn't sure what would happen next..."

He might have stumbled into a wolf pit. He might have fallen off a ravine. Or walked into trees and gone around in circles for days, lost in the woods. But thankfully, he was helped. Nay, he was saved. He tried for a weak smile and managed.

"I...I don't know. I was just practicing my magic alone, and..."

And what had happened? His mind drew a blank. The last thing he remembered was arcs of black and white energy between his fingers, a miniature light show which he had found delightful. And then...blank. Nothing, until he heard the voices of others who had helped him.

"...I don't know..."

He tried to open his eyes. His vision was blurry and faded, but that was a temporary effect - he'd live through it and recover fully, given time and care. "How did you know my name?", he asked curiously, looking up at the person whose lap he was on. He could see a bit clearer now - azure hair and Faerin ears, familiar features but also not unique features. His mind barely touched on the answer...but then it slipped through his fingers. Again, 'twas just a side-effect of the Black Magic. He looked up, looking from @Daedalus to the still-unrecognized @Hanno Futaba and smiled. This time, it was gratefulness in his eyes, not tears.

"...I owe you for this. I really do. My gratitude is...immeasurable."

It was a close brush with true danger and death. There was nothing as terrifying as blindness. Not monsters nor death, but the prospect of a life without seeing anything made him feel a bottomless pit in his gut. That was true fear.

 

Both Hanno and Ghast looked intently at the wounded boy that was clearly in pain even while they were treating him, sure that was a hell of a magical accident, however it happened, was something that shouldn't be messed with. The Faerin reminded himself of times that his white magic didn't go well, and as much as getting holy fire burns weren't exactly something that you would call pleasing, they sure were something less harming than that.

Looking at @Daedalus, he was finally able to see how that 'Panacea' worked. And Hanno was pretty impressed about how fast it worked, even though he was treated with the potion before, he never had the opportunity to see it working with his own eyes. "Thanks, you also did a good job- This thing you use is really useful, you know." Hanno patted his cheek that was almost destroyed by a firebolt before Daedalus healed him, just as a mere emphasis.

The Faerin girl, Liri also stared at the whole situation with an amused and perplexed expression. These adventurers were sure something different from the usual, like the rumors between the NPCs said.

"All of you are able to use magic so casually, and Mr Daedalus can even create these amazing inventions... This is incredible!" The girl said with sparkles in her eyes.

Hanno chuckled, scratching his head. "Well yeah, it's sure something incredible if you think about. If you have a lot of perseverance, you can learn all that too!" He said with a smile, though a lot of perseverance in learning something was exactly the reason that accident happened in first place.

Saying that, he turned back to focus and looked at @Manya Boole. The boy seemed to finally coming back to his senses. After the boy got himself in his senses, Hanno payed attention on what he had to say- After all, the Faerin was also curious about what happened. But apparently the mage had no idea of how everything happened, which only made Hanno frown with a perplexed smile. "At least you are okay now, just be more careful next time."

The boy asked how they knew his name, and Hanno could only scratch his head in confusion as the Faerin himself didn't knew-

'Í̵t̨ ̨͏̧w̢͟às̕͢ ͞͏̧me̵!͘ ̢Han͜n͠a-̢͝c̸̛ḩa̛n̸҉!̵ ̶̸̨H̛e͠ll̵͟͡ó̴ ҉̨M͜҉an̵ya͢-͘k҉́u̢͢͞ú̷͢u͏ń̕҉!'

For a few seconds, Hanno felt like something dark and eldritch crawled in his heart, seeking to say something outloud. He shivered a bit, probably a side effect from dispelling a such strong Black Magic? 'Who knows... I will make sure to check this later.'

"Um, it's a long story, I just felt you were Manya because of... Someone? Anyway I'm Futaba, Hanno Futaba." Hanno smiled, then pointed at the Faerin girl. "This is Liri. And this is..." He looked at Daedalus, giving him room to introduce himself.