81 General

Everyone limped out of the forest, coughing the smoke out of their lungs. Their skin had turned red from being exposed to the flames for so long. Pieces of ash covered their clothes. Frey was happily and ignorantly snoring as Doevm and Wade carried him. Oliver's hood was thrown over his head as he sulked. They stopped a mile out from the fires to catch their breath and drink water. Everyone they came across were bodies. The mage squad had torn through the forest, leaving no one alive. The smell of burning flesh assaulted their noses.

"What happened," Frey asked as he stood up and held his aching head. "I think that I blacked out after reaching for my spear. Why do I feel so tired?" He opened his eyes. Seeing the billow of smoke hovering over the forest, he staggered back.

"You nearly died," Doevm said. "Ashtehar landed on you and crushed your bones. If Oliver hadn't healed you, you wouldn't have made it out with us."

"Then Ashtehar is dead?" Frey lay on the floor and relaxed his limbs. "That's good. I never liked him anyway. He even killed Marcus. I'm glad we avenged his death." Just like back at the medical wing, every part of him was tired except for his mouth. "So where's Hopi?" He looked back at the three with an innocent curiosity.

Wade stepped forward and put a hand on Frey's shoulder: "He…didn't make it."

Frey blinked. His eyes widened until he looked down in contemplation. To Doevm, it felt like a thousand years passed while he waited for a response. "How did he die?"

Oliver hugged his knees to his chest. From under his hood, he mumbled, "I could only save one. My mana was limited."

"I understand." Frey stood up even though his legs were wobbly. Doevm tried to support him but was shoved away. "I just…I need a second." He walked deep enough into the forest until he couldn't be seen. He could still, however, be heard.

"Damn it." Doevm heard a soft thud of flesh hitting wood. Frey's sobs were like knives to his ears. As the minutes passed and the fire slowly died down, Doevm, Wade, and Oliver waited for Frey to get out his emotions, or at least enough to function.

When he came back, his eyes were red and swollen. He trembled as he said, "Three weeks. That's how long this war had left. He was so close to going home. It's not fair." He slumped down and closed his eyes, having yet to recover his energy from being healed.

Wade and Doevm picked the giant up and resumed their walk to somewhere recognizable. Oliver lead the way with a map he barely had to use. It was silent except for the sound of their dragging feet. After a couple hours, when they neared the base, Doevm felt mana signatures.

"Oliver, watch over him," Doevm said as he drew his dagger.

"What are you guys going to do?" Oliver asked as he tended to Frey.

"Just take out some anger in memory of Hopi," Wade said as he held out his spear, which had been slightly burned by the fires. "We'll be right back."

Before they could engage the mages, they heard a loud snap in the forest. The mages looked in the direction and backed away by a few steps. Standing less than a hundred feet away from them were ten men all dressed in plain clothes. The tallest one, who stood out among the others in the line, pointed his sword at the mages. "Stand down or die." Those words earned a fireball flung straight at his chest.

He held out a hand. When it and the fireball collided, a shroud of steam engulfed him. With a single swing of his sword, enhanced by copper life essence, the mist dispersed. His hand was fine. He drew a second sword with it and held them together. "It's death then." All ten men rushed at once, each one perfectly synced with the other. As various spells flew their way, they either dodged or cut straight through them.

'They're not even using magic,' Doevm thought. 'That was all life essence. How did he do it? What tricks can I pick up from watching this battle?' Even as he tried his hardest to watch, it was like the mages stood there as mannequins. One second, they were fine, and the next they were dead. The men wiped their swords off. The tallest man ordered the rest to clean up while he approached Wade and Doevm.

"Hi there," he chuckled. "I see you guys were enjoying the show." He glanced over their shoulders at Frey and Oliver. "That was one hell of a signal fire. My men rushed right over to find our own mages and the enemy mages attacking our troops. I see your mage friend isn't with the others. I will still need to take him in for questioning though. I can't give the king another reason to be on my ass. He's already trying to replace me as general. That impatient jerk."

Before Doevm and Wade could decide on a course of action, the general already knocked Oliver unconscious and slung him over his shoulder. In his other hand were two papers that Marcus had given Frey and Doevm. "Looks like Marcus promoted two of you to captains."

He put the two pieces of paper in his pocket and exchanged them with tiny black tablets. He handed both to Doevm. "You'll just use these to enter into the tournament to gain admittance to my academy. Hold onto the second one until your friend there wakes up."

He turned to Wade: "I remember you standing next to Marcus as an advisor, is that correct?" Wade nodded. "Is Marcus dead?" Another nod. The general sighed. "He wasn't the best man, but he was a good man. You go tell everyone they can go home now. The war, for everyone under Marcus, ends early. Welp, my job here is done." He vanished in a copper blur as Doevm thanked his luck that man wasn't an enemy.

They instead looked at the nine other men, who were walking around at the speed of a sprint. Dark blue condensed life essence sprouted from their bodies. They picked up all the pieces of the mages and stuffed them into spacial rings. One man in the back had a slight injury on his shoulder. He condensed his life essence over the wound and it disappeared.

'What the hell are these people?' Doevm thought. 'They're not using an ounce of magic. I've never seen life essence used like this.' As questions floated through his mind, he looked at the black tablet in his hands. 'Their techniques were foreign to me. While I'm not an expert in life essence, I should have at least seen something like that in my Undead life. How much has changed in a hundred years? What more will I learn when I get to the academy?'

After his burst of curiosity, he remembered he was allowed to go. This war no longer had any purpose to him. If he stayed, he would most likely never see battle. While he had been promoted to a captain, it would take too long to assemble squads under him. He stowed the two tablets away: "Wade, let's go home."