The Tempest

"Character counts most when duty calls."

Serilda was visiting the Magic Council in Era quite often these days, it seemed. Between all of her work both with Sabertooth and the Fairy Tail jobs she tagged along on with Mythal, she’d become somewhat of a regular face at the headquarters on top of the hill. Many of the lower ranked council workers that she saw every time she passed through the building waved to her or stopped to say hello as she made her way out. She had just come back to Fiore from Minstrel to deliver the last bits of official paperwork regarding the dark wizards that had tried to kidnap some nobles there for ransom money. The council had been quite pleased with her work, and Serilda accepted the praise graciously.

With that final task completed, her work on the mission was over. She walked through the halls at a comfortable pace, not in any hurry. There were no jobs currently awaiting her attention back at Sabertooth, and Mythal hadn’t contacted her for anything work related recently. Xiuhcoatl trotted at her, obediently keeping pace with the Voidwalker’s strides.

“You are making quite the name for yourself, Lady Serilda.”

Stopping at the sound of a familiar voice, Serilda turned and looked at the woman who had spoken to her. She was of average height with long blonde hair that covered one half of her face and hung loosely about her shoulders. Her eyes were a cold gray color, and she had full pink lips set beneath a delicate nose. Even though she wore no uniform, no one that saw her would ever mistake that the woman had once been a Rune Knight. Her attire was pressed and trimmed, she had a saber sheathed at her hip, and she carried herself with a confident air of control and discipline that matched, if not exceeded, Serilda’s. Which was fitting, given that this was the woman who had trained the Voidwalker in combat.

Serilda approached her calmly, her demeanor as calm and professional as ever. “Aster. It’s been quite some time. I did not expect to run into you here.” The ladies exchanged a handshake so formal that anyone passing by would hardly be able to guess that this woman had practically raised the wizard. There were no hugs or even smiles, though both ladies understood that the other was thoroughly overjoyed to see one another.

“I’ve actually been here for a few months, now,” the older woman said. “The training master for the Knights was recently put on an extended medical leave as he healed from a recent fight with some dark wizards. While he is recovering, they have asked me to step in and continue training the new Knights. I’ve been watching you come and go for a while. You’ve been doing good work. Your family should be proud.”

“Thank you, ma’am. They have expressed their pleasure to me over how well I’ve settled in with Sabertooth.”

“As well they should.” Aster turned her attention downward to Xiuh, who sat patiently at Serilda’s feet waiting to be acknowledged. “This is your hound, I take it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Aster knelt to the ground and held out her hand for Xiuh to come smell. Serilda felt the flare of curiosity in the wolf through their bond, and Xiuh tilted her head a bit to the side as she looked at Aster with her dark eyes, but she did not move. “Excellent discipline,” the former Rune Knight remarked. She had been testing the creature to see how obediently the hound would keep to her duty. “How far along is she in her training?”

Carefully, Serilda rolled up one of her sleeves and showed Aster the still healing bite marks on the flesh. “Completed.”

The other woman raised a brow. “Already done? She is not even a year, yet, if I were to guess.”

“Xiuhcoatl is quite intelligent, even for her breeding. She is eager to work and enjoys her training exercises. She has also accompanies me on several guild missions so far that have challenged her beyond what traditional hunts would entail. A quicker promotion was to be expected.”

Serilda made no attempts to brag, for while she had been the one to train the hound it was truly Xiuh herself that had pushed herself enough to complete her bond process before she was even a year old. Aster seemed more than satisfied with the answer. “May I be acquainted with her?”

“Absolutely. Xiuhcoatl.” The wolf snapped her attention to her mistress, recognizing the tone that usually came before an order was given. “Allieret. Til Lethed.”

Xiuh wuffed quietly and finally wandered over to Aster, sniffing the woman’s hand along with anything else within easy smelling distance. Her bushy tail wagged softly, and Serilda sensed the happiness in the pup who thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people. Aster gave her a solid petting once the hound had gotten her fill of her scent, and then she stood back up. “Walk with me.”

The two women fell into line with one another and began to walk idly through the Council grounds, Xiuh returning to her place at Serilda’s heels. “How have you been?”

Though it was a simple question, it was not difficult for the wizard to determine the deeper meaning behind the question. The last time Serilda had seen Aster had been a few years ago, and during that time Serilda had still been having trouble coping with Hugo’s death. “I’ve been managing. Getting better, though, I think. Getting out of Clover Town and focusing myself on working with Sabertooth. Some days are still harder than others, but I am ready to move on.”

Aster nodded her approval. “That is good. You are still young. You should not waste the rest of your life away in grief over Hugo’s death. He would not want that for you.”

“Thank you,” Serilda said a bit quietly, recognizing the compassion in her former master’s words, even if the tone was cool. The two of them walked along and chatted for some time, catching up on life over the last couple of years. It was a pleasant time, but it did not last.

Shade suddenly set over their faces through the nearest windows, stopping the conversation and forcing both women to look outside -- along with everyone else in the hallway. They moved closer to the window, frowning as murmurs of concern broke out around them. It had been a bright day without a single cloud in the sky nearly the entire time that Serilda had been in Era, but now there was a massive thunderstorm outside. Black clouds blotted the air and shut out the sun, leaving the whole town shrouded in a dark, ominous haze.

The air was thick with magic to the point where Serilda could feel it. The hairs on her body stood up, and even Xiuh was making a sound between a whimper and a growl. A noise rose up in the distance, and the Voidwalker frowned. “Do you hear that..?”

Both ladies cocked their heads and listened silently. “Screams,” Aster finally concluded. “Go. I will have the Knights rounded up and we will meet you down there.” The woman turned and ran down the hall, pushing people rudely out of her way if they didn’t move to let her by.

Serilda wasted no time. Signaling to the hound, Xiuhcoatl jumped into her mistress’s arms and the mage phased them through the window into the outside world. She quickly flew down into the heart of the city where the pandemonium seem to be at its highest. Touching down onto the ground, she set Xiuh back on her own feet and drew her scimitar. A few Knights that had already been posted in the city appeared to be fighting civilians, and apart from those Knights Serilda seemed to be the only wizard present.

“You there!” she said, calling to the nearest Knight as he frantically kicked back a woman that had tried to bite him like some kind of animal. “What is going on?”

The Knight took one look at the emblem on her outfit, where the Sabertooth crest proudly rested, and did not hesitate to enlist her help. “I don’t know, ma’am! I was keeping my post one minute, and the next this storm came out of nowhere. People starting appearing out of thin air on the streets and attacking anyone they see, but the weird thing is they’re like… clones or something.”

Serilda frowned at the last statement, backhanding a man that had run at her in a frenzy and sending him sprawling to the ground. “How do you mean?”

The Knight pointed at another man that was unconscious on the ground wearing the Rune Knight robes. He looked exactly the same as the very Knight she was currently speaking to.

“Alright. Round up the people that are trying to flee and get them someplace safe. Sir Aster is gathering up the Field Marshal and the rest of the Knights and will be down here shortly. In the meantime, leave the fighting to me.”

He looked at her incredulously. “But ma’am, there’s so many of them..”

She turned a stern eye on him and he cringed back under their icy stare. “Do as you’re told, soldier,” Serilda commanded him. Technically she had no right to issue him commands, even as a noble, but it was obvious he wasn’t used to make decisions himself in the field and needed some direction. “These clones are still little more than civilians, with none using any kind of magic that I can see. I can handle them. Just get the innocent people to safety.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

He took off without wasting time to salute her, rounding up his fellow knights and pulling civilians out of the main square toward the less populated areas. In the meantime, Serilda focused her attention on picking out the clones that seemed to be trying to hurt others. Despite their almost ravenous natures, they were not very difficult to deal with. A single strike from her fist or foot or the flat of her blade put them out of commission. The Voidwalker moved through the city square, pulling the civilians out if they got caught up in a wave and shoving them toward where the Rune Knights were working.

The hardest part about the fight was the sheer number of clones, particularly when they started focusing their attention. She was the one taking the majority of clones out and it hadn’t gone unnoticed. Before long, there was a group of what had to be about twenty of them coming at her from the front. Wizard or no, those odds were going to be troublesome if she let them overwhelm her. Serilda raised a hand above her head. “Empty Chill!”

The air around the group thinned, the temperature dropping dramatically. The clones slowed as bitter frost covered their bodies. Not wasting any time, Serilda moved through the crowd and knocked them out one by one, smacking the pommel of her scimitar over their heads or punching them in the guts. Clones or no, she wasn’t entirely sure what these things were so she wasn’t going to start killing them just yet -- particularly when any of them could be a real civilian that just got caught up in a mob. But knocking them out seemed to be working well enough.

She was so busy focusing on making sure the small mob had been neutralized that she was unprepared for a ranged attack. A sudden shock burst through her body as a bolt of lightning connected with her. Her body seized so violently that Serilda didn’t even get a chance to gasp in surprise. The agony lasted for only a couple seconds, though it felt like minutes. She dropped to a knee as she collected herself, a charred hole smouldering between her shoulder blades where the bolt had made contact.

Xiuh had placed herself between her mistress and three individuals that had to be mages, growling. Serilda turned an icy glare on them. All of them were male, and young. The most senior of them appeared to be no older than twenty, with blue hair and light clothes. Next was a redheaded teenager wearing shorts and a tank top. The youngest of them had black hair and white clothes. He couldn’t have been older than twelve, and the sparks of electricity that jumped around his arms betrayed that he’d been the one to strike her.

This is going to complicate things, Serilda grumbled silently to herself as she stood to her feet and faced off against them. “Do you things talk?” she asked coldly, buying time some to push herself past the twitching in her muscles from the electricity. They grinned in response and powered up a bit, with the blue haired mage becoming covered with frost while the redhead held a fireball in his hands. Their displays made it easier for Serilda to decide how to proceed, at least.

Focusing on the void particles in the air, Serilda shaped dozens of needle thin pressure points of air above the trio. With the flick of her wrist, the invisible points dropped down and shredded through the clones, who looked about and tried to move out of the way of the unseen attack but could not fully avoid it. “Angribe!” the Voidmage shouted, pointing to the fire mage.

Xiuhcoatl leaped out with a snarl, bounding rapidly toward the bright haired youth and snapping out with bared teeth. The clone jumped back and threw a wave of fire at the wolf with a grin, watching as the animal was wrapped in the flames. Then, the boy’s grin turned to shock when the wolf came out of the flames unharm, the fire rolling off her thick fur. Xiuh’s jaw wrapped around the clone’s arm, her fangs digging deep into flesh and all but locking in place as she dragged the thing to the ground and shook it like a toy. After Serilda’s previous attack, the wolf’s bite was more than enough to take the fire mage out of commission.

Serilda herself focused on the two remaining wizards. The one that controlled ice didn’t worry her too much, since most of those effects wouldn’t even hurt her. The wizard that utilized electricity could be a problem, though. Knowing she had to take him out first, she dropped into the ground where his attacks wouldn’t be able to reach her. Serilda could sense him scrambling on the surface, turning around and trying to locate her. She followed his movements stealthily from below, her body passing effortlessly through the rock and concrete until she was in position. Her sword snaked out from the ground to stab him in the side with a solid blow that brought him to his knees.

But at a cost. Serilda received another shock as her sword conducted the bolts of electricity that had been jumping in and around his body, passing it back to her. Her hand clamped tightly around the weapon, not allowing her to let go of it even if she wanted to. She cried out in pain before biting it back and gritting her teeth. Somehow, she forced herself to have the strength to pull the weapon away from him, cutting off the flow.

As she stepped out of the ground and back into the open, her muscles were still twitching violently from the charge. A wave of frost rolled over her from the remaining elemental wizard, threatening to freeze her in place. Or at least, that’s what the young mage had intended. In reality, the cold was more soothing to her than anything else. It certainly hurt, but not as much as it might have hurt others. It eased the spasms in her arms, at the very least.

Serilda turned to look at the kid with an expression of deadly annoyance, and he actually balked that she was even able to move let alone stare him down with such defiance. Reaching back, she backhanded him right across the face as hard as she could, her strength fueled by her pain and simmering anger. He dropped to the ground, unconscious.

It was only then that she managed to take the time to look at her surroundings again. More Rune Knights had arrived, the reinforcements getting the remaining civilians out of the area and taking down the weaker clones. She could see Aster approaching, carelessly stepping over bodies and scanning the battlefield with a cool eye that even Serilda envied. “Report,” she told her former pupil as she examined the unconscious mages.

“I don’t know why, but this storm is creating clones of the people in the area. These clones were even able to control the power that their originals do, it seems.”

“Hm.” The two of them continued to search around for clues as to what in the world could possibly be going on, but there was nothing that gave any clarity to the source of all this. “We need to find a way to disrupt this storm. If it’s causing all this, then attacking these clones is just treating symptoms and ignoring the illness.”

“Do the Knights have anyone in their ranks that’s capable of doing that?” Serilda looked up at the dark clouds in the sky. She wasn’t aware of any weather mages in the Knights, not that she necessarily knew everyone in their ranks. But still, mages in the Knights usually were more well known than the simple soldiers. Serilda was aware of a few of them, but none that had the right kind of power to fight this.

Aster glared at the storm like it had sworn a blood oath against her and her kin. “There had better be,” was all she said, her dark words promising a world of pain to whomever had concocted this mess.

“There’s no need for that.”

Both ladies turned and were shocked to find themselves face to face with a clone of Serilda. It was a bit disorienting to be seeing her own body in the flesh, rather than just a reflection on a mirror. The clone stood with the same iron rod demeanor, wore the same flawlessly pressed clothing, and watched the two women through ice blue eyes. Besides her stood a hound that so closely resembled Xiuhcoatl that Serilda had to actually look down at the real hound beside her to reassure herself that it was actually a second wolf.

Aster was somehow even less amused than Serilda, who should have been the most offended by this turn of events. “And what exactly does that mean, imposter?”

The clone eyed the former Rune Knight momentarily before answering. “What it means, you arrogant strumpet, is that I’m the only one you need to worry about.”

This time is was Serilda’s turn to be angry. Gripping her scimitar tightly, she took a step forward toward her fake self. “You will mind your tongue or I will cut it from your mouth.”

Aster coolly held her former pupil back with a raised hand. “Explain yourself,” she told the clone calmly, willing to hear the terms.

“I am the most powerful creation of this storm, because she is the most powerful person within its vicinity.” The clone nodded to Serilda, who stared back at her through narrowed, unreadable eyes. “I have come to fight you. Beat me, and the storm will disappear. Lose…” She shrugged, letting them fill in the rest.

It was all Serilda needed. If she lost to this clone, more than likely what that meant was that a fake version of herself would live on to cause murder and mayhem. She could not allow that. Not just for the sake of the people in this town, but also for the sake of her reputation and the name of her family.

“Deal.” Without taking her eyes off Aster, the Voidwalker told her, “You focus on saving the citizens. Let me worry about this abomination.”

“Very well. I have faith in you. Do not disappoint me.” And with that, Aster turned back to the Knights and started barking orders, moving everyone out of the area.

Xiuh growled at the clone of herself, disliking the thing’s scent. The other wolf growled back just as dangerously. “Angribe,” she commanded. Without hesitation, both wolves snarled and charged each other. Though Serilda’s heart ached to know that her beloved companion was lightly pent up against a creature evenly matched against her, the Voidwalker had her own battle to fight.

Calling upon the weightlessness of the Void, Serilda launched herself up into the sky. She did not want to be the cause of further destruction in the city, so it was best to bring both of them as far away from the people as they could. The one bonus was that if this clone had all her spells and skills, she wouldn’t have to really worry about her own magic. Most of her spells were defensive things that wouldn’t really affect her or the clone. No, this battle would come down to the sword.

She could feel the clone following her. Tapping into the empty particles within her scimitar, she dragged them out of the weapon leaving the glowing blade stronger from the tempering spell. “Void Step!” she cried, suddenly turning on a dime in the air and bearing down on her look alike opponent with increased speed. Their blades collided in the sky with a ringing sound that drew the attention of anyone not fighting back on the surface.

Given that the clone’s weapon didn’t break in half or even crack, Serilda could only assume she’d cast the same spell. She reached in with her magic to try and sunder the weapon, only to find no empty particles within the blade to disrupt. The clone kicked out with her foot, but the limb went right through Serilda’s body. She tried to use the brief opening of the clone’s lost balance to stab her, aiming to slice her across the belly, but only found herself at the receiving end of the same effect.

Then, the clone spoke a word and threw a point blank bolt of lightning at her body. For the third time in the last few minutes, Serilda seized in agony, a pained cry forcing it way from her lips. You have got to be kidding me, she thought to herself, trying to fight her way past the pain. The clone capitalized on the moment, striking at her with the copied scimitar and landing a large hit across Serilda’s bicep.

Pushing herself away from the clone to get some distance, the Voidwalker glared at her copy and gasped for breath. “Either you’re cheating, or you know something about my own powers that I don’t,” she growled, talking to buy some time for her convulsing muscles to calm down.

“I didn't say that beating me would be easy. Besides, you and I both know I’m not actually you. Just an upgrade.”

“I’d hardly call someone with that kind of an attitude an upgrade.”

Once again they flew at each other, Serilda still benefitting from the speed of her prior spell. And while the clone did share her ability to let some physical attacks pass right through her, the real Voidwalker knew all too well that the ability didn’t have a one hundred percent success rate. Before her speed wore off, she was able to land two strikes on the clone, one along her wrist and the other on her hip.

As soon as she was able to cast another spell, she quickly dropped a large bubble of Dead Space around them. All sound in the world was shut out for them, and nothing they did within the radius of the spell would emit any noise for the world below to hear. It would prevent either of them from casting any spells with verbal components. Serilda didn’t have many of those, but the ones she did have could easily cause her to be overrun.

They came at each other again and again, finding it more and more difficult to land blows on either one of them as their bodies periodically ignore the swipe of their blades. The plus seemed to be that whatever magic the clone had access to that wasn’t Serilda’s required her to speak, which she couldn’t do in this space. Serilda needed to end this fight now, before the silence wore off.

With the flick of her wrist, she created a few dozen more invisible needlepoints of air and threw them at the clone. Then, Serilda found out the hard way that the clone had done the same. Both women found their bodies shredded in places were flesh ripped from the pressure, the two of them screaming in agony though the confines of the silence spell did not allow anyone to hear it, even themselves.

But Serilda refused to give up. She couldn’t, not like this, not to some monster like this. She threw her scimitar at the clone who easily batted it aside, but the attack had been a ruse. By the time the clone had finished her parry, she found herself face to face with Serilda’s fist. She punched her right in the nose, following it up with a knee to the stomach. Her second hit passed through the clone’s body, and pain erupted on Seri’s side as the fake scimitar carve her flesh from hip to ribcage.

Serilda ignored it stubbornly and struck again, grabbing hold of her clone’s sword hand so she couldn’t use it again. The two of them struggled in the air, fighting for control. The Voidwalker landed another hit on the clone’s face, snapping her jaw right out of its hinges. The clone leaned forward and violently butted her head against Serilda’s, causing her to swoon with dizziness and pain. Her vision blurred and she held on, gripping the clone’s wrist to keep herself grounded.

The fake Voidwalker managed to rip her hand free, lifting her weapon above her head for a killing blow. With a gentle flick of her wrist, Serilda’s scimitar smashed through the clone’s back and buried itself to the hilt, the blade poking through the front of her chest. The clone hovered there in shock so long that the silencing spell faded.

Directing it with her hand, Serilda twisted the blade, causing all the more damage and ensuring the battle was over before ripping it out and calling the weapon back to her hand. Blood spurted from the clone. “Well played,” she said, her tone exhausted. “Prepare yourself for next time. You won’t be so lucky.”

And with that, the clone dissipated into dust and disappeared. The same happened with all the clones back on the ground, and the battle came to a halting stop. The black clouds in the sky stretched apart and were gone as quickly as they had come. The fight had been won, for now. The clone had given her much to think about with her final words, but for the present the danger was over. Serilda carefully flew back down to the ground to check in with Aster and see to Xiuh, glad to finally be done with this mess.