THE BEACONS (Pt. 2-3 & 5)

Last Part

The shimmer of light faded just as quickly as it came, and suddenly Sorano and Hoshi would find themselves on yet another strange island. It seemed that the teleports that the Magic Council had programmed into their little seals had worked after all, and they were off to their next target. Strangely enough, as the letter mage did a quick checkover of herself and everything on her, it seemed that they had renewed supplies of magical energy. To her surprise, it seemed that even the wounds and scratches she had received on Shadow Island had mysteriously disappeared, leaving the mage feeling fresh as a daisy and ready to go. Glancing over to her companion, Hoshi seemed to feel the same way, fluttering her wings experimentally before flashing a smile at Sorano. “Everything’s great over here!” With that positive comment, the two would get going. Thunder Island was yet another dangerous place to be – apparently there was an eternal thunderstorm raging overhead, and as such, the trees were largely barren and black, charred down by the strikes of lightning that were common here. The constant rumble of thunder could be heard growling overhead, as the mages trudged over the moist, muddy land, similarly blackened as the trees. A light drizzle fell upon them from overhead, the rain splashing miserable on their heads and shoulders as the young mages tried to figure out how to go about finding their next target.

“Well, this is miserable and all, isn’t it?” Hoshi commented dryly after the catching Sorano from tripping and falling into a charred pit. They’d been walking along for quite some time with no sign of life – it seemed that nothing and nobody desired to live in a place as desolate and constantly dangerous as the barren island. According to what she remembered from her readings, the cause of the lightning problem was due to some sort of failed experiment. If it were so, what mage could have possibly been strong enough to cause so powerful a spell? It was admirable, in a way, despite the horrible consequences. Either way, they’d have to move on and see what had caused the disabling of this particular beacon. Could it be linked to the lightning problem, perhaps? They’d have to make their way to the center of the island then, if that were the case. After all, that was where all the lightning strikes were concentrated, no?

Explaining her theory to her companion, Hoshi nodded approval, and they went off towards the center. This time, the exceed did not dare to fly above them. With the abundance of electricity in the air and the light drizzle, getting closer to the clouds would be far more dangerous than staying right here on the ground. They trudged through the peatish dirt, shoes soon getting coated with mud, and Sorano erected a quick sort of invisible umbrella around them, trying to keep them as dry as possible so as not to catch a cold or anything along those lines. Fighting dangerous monsters with a runny nose was not how they wanted to operate, and it was so simple a spell that barely any ethernanos was needed, anyways.

Making their way up a slope, Sorano would suddenly blink in surprise as a bright spark suddenly snapped against her skin, and she hissed in pain, pressing her hand on the spot. Only a moment later, she blinked in surprise. Her ethernanos storage had briefly been drained, leaving her with just a bit less than before – not enough to be life-threatening, but enough that she could acutely feel the loss. A moment later, another one of the sparks appeared as well, snapping her on the leg with the same energy-draining phenomena occurring. How strange, whatever were these? They were harmless enough, but it seemed that getting zapped by these floating balls of electricity too many times could result in great ethernanos deficit. They should probably be quickly eliminated. A sharp yelp from Hoshi at her side would confirm the existence of three separate sparks, and Sorano thought quickly for a moment before writing out a wind spell to act against the sparks. The clash of sky magics would hopefully be effective in giving her the upper hand here.

It would evidently work, the powerful wind pushing the sparks back and dimming their light briefly before they returned, this time much weaker than before. One would push up against Sorano, but the zap was so weak she barely even felt the movement of ethernanos particles. They were quickly ended with a quick flash of fire from the letter mage, dissipating and disappearing from view with the casting of a simple spell. They were not dangerous, but tedious to deal with. In the end though, the task was necessary, as little sparks stealing their magical energy would not be a fun thing to deal with on top of having to fight a potentially powerful enemy later.

The two trudged on, moving through the rain that had begun to lighten up a bit. Even now, there was no sign of life as far as the eye could see. Occasionally, the tiny tip of a sprout could be seen poking its head cautiously through the blackened dirt, protected from harm by a fallen tree or something, but they were rare. While burning a forest to the ground was supposed to help new growth, constant burning was definitely not a good thing to apply. Instead, all new life was quickly burned to a crisp. Even now, looking over the horizon, Sorano could see a giant lightning bolt slam down into the center of the island, sending electric shockwaves out all over the place. The plant hiding beneath that fallen tree trembled in place, the thin, fragile leaf barely managing to hold on as it shook with the shockwaves. Sorano and Hoshi were protected by the shield that the exceed quickly put up, protecting them with a solid earth wall from the tiny sparks of electricity that flashed up against them. They would continue to be safe for now.

Moving on more cautiously, after the warning the strange weather here had given them, they approached the center of the island. In here was a giant, charred black crater with, strangely enough, a single hut sitting in the very center. It was equally charred and black as everything else, but obviously still standing, meaning it was built out of something that was resistant to the thunder and lightning. “That must be where the beacon is, yea?” Sorano mused out loud, eyes narrowing at the spot. It was the only logical place it could be, protected from the elements from this magically enhanced hut. However, even as they approached, a hunchbacked, elderly-looking man would wobble out of the building, scowling up at the sky while leaning on his gnarled cane. What? Their first sign of moving life, and it was some old guy living out here? Before Sorano could decide whether to greet him or not, the man would walk up to them, raising an eyebrow. “Good grief, they sent a kid here to unlock the beacon? Well, good luck, cuz a brat like you will never get rid of me!” He hacked up a mocking cough, before suddenly disappearing in a burst of electricity, only to reappear behind Sorano, slamming a powerful kick into her gut.

“Now, I dislike hitting girls – especially little girls as much as the next person, but Magic Council rats could die for all I care!” Sorano choked and gasped in shock, having just had the wind knocked out of her. This man was not a weak fighter. “You’ll be screaming out the name Eibon – that’s me, kiddo – in your worst nightmares!” The triumphant “brag” would be in vain, of course, as Sorano rarely dreamed – and when she did, they never involved emotion. But alas, it was obvious that this man was the key they had to defeat in order to able the beacon again.

Reacting with a burst of sound at a torturously high-pitched tone, a dome of sound would be erected to protect the letter mage and her companion, while another layer would pulsate outwards instead, slamming into the old man and knocking him off his feet for a moment, hands fumbling to grasp at his ears. Already, Sorano had noticed that the man was not really the one behind this. A simple narrowing of her eyes brought about the two overlapping auras that made up Eibon. His true aura was frightened and despairing, hidden and oppressed behind the aura of some sort of demon or other unnatural entity. Made sense – it didn’t seem very likely for a martial arts expert to want to get involved in political stuff like this, no?

She had little time to ponder the issue, however, for in the next moment, the man suddenly transformed into the possessive spirit’s true form. It would seem that the demon thing that had possessed the old man was a lightning spirit, and it had now incarnated itself to utilize its full power. Instantly, lightning began slamming down all over the island, except for where the fighting was occurring. This was obviously not an opponent to tamper with – it was dangerous to enrage something so volatile as this. The old man’s body, meanwhile collapsed onto the ground, convulsing briefly before passing out, and probably dying due to all the sudden changes that had affected him recently. Bolts of lightning would be shot at the two mages, one of them scorching a hit into Sorano’s leg and causing her to stumble backwards, falling down before throwing out a spell of her own. In response, she would write furiously out a powerful spell, something to end the spirit as fast as possible. Instantly, fifty ice bombs catapulted themselves at the lightning creature, icing over and clashing horribly with his electricity form, and contorting it into some sort of weird experiment. In a shriek of anger, the lightning-ice figure would quickly burst apart in a huge wave of lightning and ice shards alike. Hoshi had to hastily throw up her earth shield again, and even then, the top of the barrier crumbled under the force of the explosion, leaving the girls that have to stumble backwards in shock. But the beacon in the hut would suddenly begin to glow again, the reassuring golden glow visible even from here. The old man laid there, seemingly dead, but little could be done. The girls glowed with a bright light, and disappeared.

3,477 / 12,000

The light swelled on yet another island, and the mages stumbled onto yet another piece of land. Instantly, it became quite obvious which island they had arrived on. The large curving mound that made up the island with smooth, curving hills that dotted its surface were all qualities that could only be found in one place in Fiore – the magnificent Sphere Island, reknowned for the strange spherical geography that could often be found all over the piece of land. Slipping already on the smooth, rounded lump they had landed on, Sorano stumbled, and barely caught herself, awkwardly righting herself up and catching her balance as she made her way down the slope. Hoshi hovered behind her, checking her arms and energy stores, only to very happily find that she had full stores of energy again. Whatever the Council had managed to program into their little teleportation system, it was extremely useful for these little escapades. “Alright, Hoshi, we’ll have to find the person acting as the key to this beacon now. From what we’ve seen so far, it seems like there is a malefic spirit or person in every place we’ve gone to so far – they’re probably ultimately connected, but right now the most important thing is to defeat them. We can inspect later if the Council asks us to.”

The exceed nodded at her companion’s statement, and the two moved along the valley between two spherical hemisphere-like hills in an attempt to maneuver the tricky terrain. This time, Hoshi could fly above, and as such she remained unaffected by the strange geography. Sorano on the other hand had a quite difficult time, edge through and between the curved surfaces that were excruciatingly difficult to climb. Crumbles of rock and dirt laid around them all over the surfaces, with a few hardy plants sticking up here and there. Occasionally, a burst of dust signified the presence of what were probably a few hardy rodents who managed to make this place their home. Sphere Island was considered one of the largest islands around Fiore, which meant that their slow pace really was not helping. To the letter mage’s dismay, it appeared that the island wasn’t going to help them in any way. Turning a corner at last, the letter mage would find that a sudden burst of earth energy rolled up, filling in the path ahead of her. Wherever she went, it seemed that the strange natural energy was intent on keeping her behind and unable to proceed, quite the frustrating prospect. With a groan dropping from her lips, the letter mage dropped to the ground, looking calmly up to the sky with strands of bangs sticking to her forehead. It was difficult to figure out how to proceed in a situation like this, after all.

Even as she sat there, a ditch would suddenly drop down in the ground next to her, that mysterious energy doing everything it could to impede her progress. Glancing up into the sky in search of her exceed companion, Sorano tried to reach out for her mind, connecting them in a telepathic relationship. “You see anything, Hoshi?”

The message was successfully transmitted, and in a moment, Hoshi responded in kind. “It’s hard cuz the island’s so big, but there seems to be one particularly giant hill a few hills away from you. It seems to be shifting ever so slightly, so I think it may be of importance. Let me get closer and I’ll check it out.”

The exceed cut out of the transmission, and dove down with a flutter of white, feathery wings to inspect the mound. As she drew closer, more details would appear. The thin, hairline marks in its otherwise smooth and weatherworn surface were part of hexagonal patterns that caused it to look like a tortoise shell. Three deep cracks were seen elsewhere on the shell, and as she drew closer, she noticed that the rocky boulders that made up the shell would shift every now and then. Could it be an actual giant tortoise sitting here? The exceed carefully landed on a mound nearby, peering over the edge to try and see if the tortoise too possessed legs or a head of some sort. Even as she peered down into the darkness beneath the shell, a sudden rolling orb of stone revealed a dark, reddish eye that glared out at the feline from the depths beneath the shell. A squeal of fear rose up from the exceed, and she stumbled backwards, grasping roughly at Mother Earth’s power. The tortoise was so many times larger than her though, and made up of earth magic. Would the deity that supplied her power even allow her to fight this great creature?

Meanwhile, back at Sorano’s ditch, the letter mage would frown after receiving no response from Hoshi, standing up and brushing off her skirt in preparation for moving forward. She should probably try and find the location of this large mound, shouldn’t she? Pulling out one of Kagayaku, the letter mage inspected the dot on the handle that represented Hoshi. The blade marked the location of everyone nearby that it had drawn blood from, and while it was an excellent tool for tracking down enemies, trying to find missing friends was also an excellent way to make use of its abilities.

Following the dagger’s guidance, the letter mage roughly pulled herself up the nearest mound, hissing in frustration as her clothes caught on the scraggly bushes around her. It was going to be a grueling fight, wouldn’t it? Managing to make her way onto the top of the mound, the letter mage narrowed her eyes, shading her face with a hand from the sun as she tried to locate with her eyes where Hoshi could be. Sure enough, in the distance, she could see one of the mounds slowly moving. It was much further off than the exceed had made it seem, though, and the letter mage considered teleporting her way over. It would take far too long to get over there in this slow, dragging method, after all. Carefully writing out the word, the letter mage zapped in a simple spell onto a far closer mound. This mound was much shallower than the previous one, and as such, there were smaller boulders scattered all around it, in a sort of “clearing” amidst the rocks. Before the letter mage could prepare to make another teleport, however, one of the boulders would abruptly swivel around, along with three others nearby. A singular hole was carved deep into each one, each hole pointed directly at the startled Sorano. Instantly, she knew that it was not a good sign, and erected a transparent barrier around her in a burst of magic. If they were going to attack her, she was not about to make this whole thing easy for them.

Sure enough, each instantly spat out tiny rocks, flying at spectacular speeds and slamming into her shield, breaking it instantly. In response, the letter mage whirled around with bullets of her own, these made of water. The letters morphed quickly into their desired form, and she quickly caused each to roll away briefly before advancing again, having a few chunks shaved off their sides.  In response to their next barrage of bullets, the letter mage let herself catch one of them in the arm, wincing as it carved through her flesh, before unleashing a storm, whirling rain, hail, and winds spinning around them all. Sorano watched on in satisfaction even as her arm hung limply at her side as the little orbs were caught up in her spell. A quick healing spell on her arm would cause the rock bit to drop out easily, and her skin to quickly patch itself up. She had to get to Hoshi as fast as possible.

In another teleportation spell, Sorano appeared before Hoshi, who by now had water slashing out from her paws as she vainly tried to fight off a giant tortoise made of boulders, roiling red eyes whirling about with violent clacking sounds as it swiped a paw at the feline in a lumbering motion. From her detection of the malefic energy rolling off the great beast, it became very obvious to her very quickly that this was indeed the key to enabling the beacon once more. Sorano extracted a bow from a mirror hanging off her sleeve in an instant, and pulled back the arrow, closing an eye as she tried to mark the target. Logically, cracks were usually weaker areas, right? It would make sense to make that her objective. The thoughts fired through Sorano’s brain at great speeds before she released the arrow of Fanirvuh, the point slamming neatly home into the tortoise’s shell crack and causing it to bellow out in agony as an explosion wracked the rocky body from where it had hit. Boulders crumbled down from its massive flank, and brief satisfaction instilled itself within the letter mage. But no! It wasn’t enough yet. Instantly, the spherical tortoise slammed his legs into the ground, causing great boulders to float into the air and launch themselves at his new opponent. These were easy enough to take care of, as they had obvious flight paths and were not difficult to avoid with a simple teleport. Dropping to a knee on a mound on the opposite side of the tortoise, Sorano instantly snapped another spell at the hulking beast, slamming fifty bursts of ice towards two of the cracks that were visible from this side. Even more sides of the turtle would now crumble to the ground, leaving it much weaker than before. Suddenly, the turtle went still, and magical energy crackled around it as the creature began regenerating its body.

Horror filled Hoshi’s eyes, and she desperately turned to Sorano, who appeared equally irritated. She brought up a volley of spears, slamming them at the regenerating parts of his body to try and slow his healing process, the spears slamming deep into his shell and causing cracks to spread along his shell. Another ice spell would be tossed as well, with another burst of a couple arrows from Fanirvuh. It appeared that thankfully, these tactics worked, and the tortoise shattered into dust before their eyes. Crumbling away with the wind, a beacon could be seen shining out from where the tortoise mound had been only moments ago. Right as Sorano was about to collapse from exhaustion, the light appeared, and transported them away to another island.

5,230 / 12,000 words

Next Part

Last Part

This time, the light sent them tumbling down the side of a mountain, scrambling and grasping blindly at the rocks around them in order to try and stabilize themselves and settle into some sort of a landing. Yelps and grunts of pain and discomfort could be heard from Sorano and Hoshi as the bodies ground to a halt in motion, managing to plant themselves firmly into the earth at last. The letter mage let out a huge gasp of relief, puffing out her cheeks as she brushed leaves and dirt from her hair and clothes. It seemed that Hoshi felt similarly disgruntled, as she let out hisses of irritation, licking her fur back down flat and picking bits of debris from between her claws. Whatever praise they had given the Magic Council’s little teleportation trick before had disappeared from their lips. While it was pleasant to have their magic back, particularly after that last battle, it was still a very uncomfortable position to have been dropped into. Having finished roughly tidying herself up, Sorano would stand up, gazing around them to try and gauge their position. The letter mage made her way from the dark forest, and walked up to a small cliff where the trees cleared away, allowing her to look out from the mountain they were on to observe the rest of the island. Staring out into a strangely familiarly shaped bay, Sorano thought for a moment that they had somehow made their way back to Crescent Island.

It would be proved differently, however, when she took a closer look at the crescent-shaped island, noting the much darker, sinister vibe the place gave off as opposed to the popular vacation island they’d been at only moments ago. Instead, this place gave off a sinister, wild vibe, as though there was some sort of secret or darkness lurking within that would spring out and surprise you any second. Instead, this was probably the well-known Galuna Island. While closed off to typical citizens of Fiore, she had been informed upon the start of the job that the island was actually inhabited by many friendly, civil demons who resided on Earthland. It was an interesting discovery, and one that had caused the letter mage to put the island on her to-go list. Never had she expected it would happen so soon, however. Stretching out her arms and relaxing her posture as she got ready for all the travelling they’d have to do next, the letter mage relayed her information to the exceed as well.

“According to the Magic Council, this island is home to many different types of friendly demons. Obviously something’s wrong here though, so we should be prepared to fight unholy creatures with strange magic.” Even as she said this, the letter mage carefully hooked her Kagayaku to the strap of the bag that was slung across her body. They would come in handy if she needed a tool, and fast. Nodding at the exceed where she stood, dusting out her wings in the fresh forest air, the two made their way to a clearing and sat down upon the rocks available. Sorano popped out one of her knives, and Hoshi instantly soared into the air, looking for signs of the beacons. From their experiences before, Sorano staying in one place and Hoshi doing her thing in the air seemed to be the most logical course of action. The exceed could fly much faster without the burden of having to carry someone else, and Sorano could keep track of the situation as well as avoid bumping into any other enemies that might put them into more danger. After Hoshi took to the air, the letter mage would easily track her progress through the air on the blade of her wishsteel kunai, following the dot as it maneuvered around the metal, tracing patterns of Hoshi as she flew through the air.

Remembering one of her newly learned abilities, the letter mage reached out with her mind and slipped into Hoshi’s thoughts, sliding into place within the swirls of colors and emotions ever so present within her brain. Sending a stream of words at the exceed, they could communicate telepathically, Hoshi detailing the landscape below her as Sorano asked questions, the two working together with Sorano’s arsenal of knowledge and Hoshi’s bird’s eye view. As they conferred over this mental link, Sorano raised an eyebrow at the general direction of the woods all of a sudden, realizing that something had appeared. A young woman had walked into the clearing, and now was frowning over at the girl sitting by herself in the middle. Hostile intent radiated from her, causing the letter mage to instantly be on guard. Hoshi would be sent a quick message of explanation, before Sorano stood up to face the woman. Instantly, she could detect that same strange energy the other island’s monsters had roiling off her in waves, and without hesitating, she hurled the knife in her hand at the woman.

It would be easily caught in one hand, her green-skinned face crumbling in rage. Flashing powerful, sharp teeth at the girl before her, the demon charged Sorano down with eyes cold and void of emotion, black and all-consuming as she ore down on the letter mage. Transforming midway, the demon would burst into its full form, wings sprouting from its back and razor sharp claws and talons sprouting from where their limbs were before. Blades burst from the creature’s elbows as well, and it transformed into a whirling machine of slicing limbs and flashing knives. The letter mage barely choked back a yell as she teleported away, hand stumbling briefly on a letter and almost messing everything up for a moment. Instead, she awkwardly reappeared on the other side of the clearing, summoning a whirl of energy to surround her body. Extracting a rope of energy from the snake, she pulled out a whip of the material and lashed it at the blades, stumbling backwards instinctively as the demon drew close once more. This time, one of the energy whips managed to slice off an elbow blade, but didn’t do much to keep the demon back. A few flashes of metal, and the nergy ribbon was slivered to pieces. Magical blades, huh? She’d have to try harder.

Reacting with another rope, Sorano gave it a nice slap in the face, shoving the demon backwards with a solid thwack from the whip. It flew further this time, allowing the letter mage time to recuperate briefly before reacting to the attack with a complicated series of wrapping and twisting attacks from the stream of energy she pulled out next. This one wrapped around the momentarily dazed demon, and hurled it into a tree, headfirst. With her final stream, Sorano hurriedly sliced off the razors of the demon’s feet, leaving it with only three left. Flying upwards from its collapsed position, the enraged demon flew at her again, forcing the letter mage this time to dodge out of the way, receiving several cuts from the edges of the deadly blades. Still, it bought her enough time to slam a bolt of lightning into the creature from the sky, blasting apart the trees around them and blowing the demon to smithereens as well. Wiping blood and gore from her face with a crinkle of her facial muscles, Sorano hurried through the woods. The explosion from her lightning bolt had not been small, and she knew that someone would be coming along to see what had happened.

Reaching out to Hoshi, the exceed was frantic with worry. “Don’t worry, I took care of it. What’s next?” Calming down the frenzied feline, she then asked whether the beacon had been found yet. In response, the tabby took a few deep breaths, then directed Sorano’s attention to the top of the giant mountain they currently stood upon.

“There’s a lot of strange creatures swarming in and out of the hole at the top of the mountain. I’d assume that something’s going on down there – it’s as good a bet as any, right?”

Sorano nodded, agreeing with the exceed’s sentiment. Making her way to where Hoshi was, the feline picked her up, flying them both over to the top of the mountain. Floating into the gaping hole at the top, they descended into a dark cavern. The further they descended, faint lights could be seen, magically produced and set along the sides of the chamber. Spiderwebs began to appear, thin, intricate lines that could barely be seen lining the edges of the chamber, until it was so thick Hoshi did not dare fly. Instead, Sorano would be settled onto a rocky ledge in the corner, peering down into the silky swaths below them with a raised eyebrow. A sudden tap on her shoulder though, caused her to whip around in shock. There stood a human woman, black dress and heels with spider legs coming out of her back. So…maybe not so human. But there she was, the key to the beacon. “Looking for somebody?” She intoned with a small smirk.

Sorano reacted instantly, by now knowing the drill. Slamming herself back as far as possible, she blasted out a circle of darkness around her, dealing damage quickly to the spider lady while healing herself thoroughly. The spider lady reacted with shots of sticky web out of her wrists, slamming into the wall behind Sorano as she barely slipped out of their reach. In response, the letter mage blasted the spider lady with a freezing shot of ice, following it up with a barrage of spears that sank deep holes into her body. With the damage taken, the woman transformed into a giant black widow, suddenly much stronger and intimidating than before. Flashing teeth at the girl before her, the widow lunged, plunging teeth into Sorano’s skin. Instant nausea filled the letter mage’s mind as she lost energy, and she became disoriented as she scribbled out another lightning spell to deal with the arachnid. T almost missed, careening off the walls of the chamber as it slammed into the spider woman, shocking her severely and finally bringing her to her knees. A quick shot from Fanirvuh before Sorano lost consciousness would be what finished the black widow off, as golden light surrounded the woozy Sorano and exhausted Hoshi, whisking them right off to the next destination.

8,792 / 12,500 words

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