Warfare is very different when Ethereans are involved. Tell me, what good is one hundred men when a single powerful enemy can slay them all? This isn’t to say that those hundred men don’t have their uses, but it’d be foolish to not meet such an overpowering force without an equal one to match, or as close as is possible. If I were to make a comparison, I find warfare with Ethereans more akin to chess. Only the key to victory is not simply in capturing the king, but all the strongest pieces. Take them out of the game, and the remainder becomes mere canon fodder.

  -Zareb Aleksi Barus

  Galen’s mind was working in overdrive as he and Tufani stood back to back, facing numerous enemies on both sides. Far too many for them to feasibly escape from.

  “Void!” Tufani hissed under her breath. “If only I could fly like my mother could… I’d be able to take us to the air and flee…”

  “No sense in lamenting what could have been…” Galen whispered back. “We gotta focus on what we can do now…”

  “And what exactly can we do?! We’re surrounded on all sides, completely outnumbered, and… winds I’m pretty sure many of these soldiers are stronger than us…”

  Redian gave a confirmation of that assessment to Galen, further whittling away his hope of escape.

  “We… we need to buy time…” he suggested.

  “For what?!” Tufani questioned.

  “For Aleksi to find us,” Galen swallowed nervously. “It’s our only option…”

  “Last we saw him, he and Lusha were fighting those two Shadows. I’m pretty sure he has his hands full at the moment.”

  “Perhaps… but it’s not like we have any other options…” Galen scanned the area, looking at each and every soldier that surrounded them.

  Their enemies knew they had all but won, as indicated by the relaxed and borderline lazy demeanor many had. The lack of discipline they were showing would have given Galen’s grandfather an aneurysm.

  Come on… give me something… ANYTHING that I can use to buy time…

  Time felt like it was grinding to a halt as his adrenaline pumped into overdrive. He scanned the faces of the soldiers, trying to find something he could use to his advantage. It was then that he began to see something in each one he looked at.

  A look of hunger.

  But for what, exactly?

  Galen recalled the words of the lieutenant just moments ago, “We’ll be lauded as heroes of the Dominion for not only retrieving the Champion, but for slaying the spawn of that demon!”

  He glanced back to the lieutenant in question, looking him in the eyes. He saw it then. That same hunger he saw in the other soldiers. Only greater.

  A hunger for glory. For prestige. For recognition. Ambition to rise to greater heights.

  Now, how can I use that..?

  “This shouldn’t be too hard,” the lieutenant muttered. “Neither of you two seem all that strong. Remember men, don’t hurt the Champion if he surrenders. If you do I’ll have you flogged! But if he resists, feel free to get a little rough. Just don’t take it too far! We’re to take him alive and as unharmed as possible.”

  “Wait, wait!” Galen called out, as the soldiers began to advance on them.

  The lieutenant raised a fist, signaling for his men to halt.

  He raised a bemused brow at him, “What is it, Champion? Have you seen sense and decided to come willingly?”

  An idea formed in his mind. One so wild and crazy that it just might work.

  He gulped and took a deep breath, “I want to make a deal.”

  Tufani sharply looked at him, eyes wide with surprise and alarm.

  He gave her a look, and hoped she could see the unspoken plea in his eyes, “Trust me…”

  ***

  “I want to make a deal,” Daxton said.

  Aria felt immediate alarm as she gave him a bewildered look.

  Is he going to turn on me?! she thought, more out of panic than anything.

  She looked into his eyes, and saw something in his brown orbs. An unspoken plea.

  “Trust me.”

  Did she trust him? COULD she trust him, especially now, in this moment, when their backs were against the wall?

  She mentally slapped herself. Stop being stupid and stubborn, you fool! If I couldn’t trust him, I’d be dead or captured long ago…

  Having calmed down a bit, she made the conscious decision to place her complete trust in him.

  She dared not even nod lest their enemies see the movement. Instead, she hoped he saw in her own eyes the faith she’d decided to place on him.

  Daxton returned his gaze to the leader of these soldiers.

  “You want to make a deal?!” the man echoed, a bit of disbelieving laughter in his voice. “Champion, forgive me for any rudeness on my part, but there is no deal to be made here!”

  “Yes, there is,” Daxton insisted. “You all will likely be greatly rewarded for bringing me back to the Dominion. That is true. But! How much more would you be rewarded if it is known you all convinced me to return willingly? How much greater the honors?”

  That gave the leader and his men pause.

  Aria could almost see their minds at work, greedily imagining what Daxton described.

  The leader seemed a bit hesitant, however, as he called out, “And just how would we go about convincing you, Champion? What are you playing at?”

  “The deal is simple. Spare Tufa- I mean, the elf girl, and keep her by my side. Do that and I’ll go with you willingly,” Daxton explained. “I’ll explain to the Shadows that you all convinced me to come along of my own will. That you all showed me how greatly I’ve been deceived.”

  Aria stared at him, completely incredulous. THAT was his plan?

  The leader seemed to mull over his words, “And why should we take this deal, Champion? Particularly when we can simply take you by force?”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Because I will struggle, and I WILL fight,” Daxton promised. “Yes, you will eventually take me. However, what if something were to happen? A stray blow striking a lethal area. What if I were to die before you could heal me? Or… what if I were to take my own life?”

  That last threat made every single soldier present hesitate.

  The leader narrowed his eyes, “You wouldn’t.”

  “Are you sure you want to risk it?” Daxton challenged. “I’m a rather sore loser, I’ll have you know.”

  The tension grew as Daxton and the leader stared each other down.

  “Look,” Daxton tried again. “You’ve already won. Let’s not complicate matters, alright? What’s the harm in taking my deal? It’ll mean even greater rewards for even less work. Everybody wins.”

  “You do realize that the Shadows will likely execute that tree hugger with you, regardless of your wishes? ESPECIALLY if she is who we believe her to be,” the leader pointed out.

  “That’ll be for me to worry about, and if they do wind up executing her, what do you care?” Daxton responded. “You can just say you took her alive so that the Shadows and perhaps Athanasius himself could deal her punishment.”

  “True enough…” the leader stared for a very long time at them.

  The only time Aria had ever felt more tense than she did now was when she was seeing her mother battling Arawn and the Shadows. She was ready to start fighting at a moment’s notice, her hand clenching her sword’s grip so hard it nearly broke the skin.

  “Very well!” the leader said. “We accept this deal, Champion. Men! Surround them and guide them to our camp.”

  The soldiers began to move eagerly.

  Aria tossed Daxton a glare, “I hope you know what you’re doing, Daxton! You’ve all but tossed us to the wolves.”

  She hesitated upon seeing the genuine smile on his face.

  Why is he… she wondered right before he spoke.

  “Remember, Tufani. This was to buy us time, and I have bought us enough. More than enough, actually.”

  Her confusion only grew as she listened. What was he on about-

  She froze, a powerful feeling of pressure blanketing over her and the entire area.

  A shadow fell over them, and Aria sharply tossed her head up to see someone flying through the air. The soldiers appeared to have noticed as well, as they all looked up and began to point and shout in alarm.

  She followed the figure as it fell and landed before her and Daxton.

  “Well now,” Zareb Barus spoke to the soldiers, looking specifically at the leader. “I’m afraid I can’t let you take the lad and lass. Not after all the work we put in to keep them from you lot.”

  The leader stared, aghast at the Rebellion general’s appearance.

  “You!” he hissed, “Zareb Barus?! One of the heads of the Rebellion?! Here?! Now? Don’t tell me you defeated the Shadows?!”

  “After a fashion,” Zareb answered cryptically. “Now, I give every single one of you here a choice! Flee… or perish!”

  The leader and his men all began to slowly laugh and jeer as the threat registered. “Why would we do that?!” the foolish man questioned. “Why, this day just keeps getting better and better! First, we find the Champion and the spawn of the demon that destroyed Ignis! Now we have one of the heads of the blasphemous Rebellion in our hands! Oh, the rewards we’ll receive will be great indeed! Perhaps I’ll even be elevated to the First Circle after today!”

  “Greedy fool,” Zareb sighed. “Is that your answer then? ALL of you?”

  “Of course we won’t flee, you imbecile!” the leader spat. “Men! Kill him! Take care not to harm the Champion or the tree hugger!”

  “Very well,” Zareb pointed his sword directly at the commander. “You die first.”

  “I’d like to see you try-”

  The man was cut off.

  Literally.

  Aria had blinked, and found Zareb was no longer in front of her and Daxton. Rather, he was now before the commander of these soldiers, blade extended diagonally upwards and glowing white hot with heat. The commander in question had been split into two at the waist, in spite of his armor. The parts that had been cut through were glowing and melting slightly from the heat.

  A second after, the man’s blade, cut off from its handle, fell point first to the ground.

  All the soldiers jumped back and gave out shouts of shock and fear.

  When had Zareb moved?! Aria questioned.

  She tried to sense the general’s Ether signature, but only got a vague sense of smothering pressure. It was like… it was just like when she’d tried to sense her mother and HIM when they fought.

  No… the pressure my mother exerted was far, far more intense… she noticed.

  Still, the fact she couldn’t properly sense the general’s power meant that he was just that far above her. It was frustrating, but also immensely relieving.

  Because that power was about to be used against their enemies.

  ***

  Galen gulped at seeing Aleksi cut down the lieutenant in a single attack, one that he hadn’t even been able to register the movement of.

  This world is full of monsters!

  Out of curiosity, he’d tried to reach out his Ether senses to get a grasp as to how strong Aleksi really was. However, he found he couldn’t sense ANYTHING.

  Okay, so he DID feel something. A vague, but intense pressure on his mind. Yet he couldn’t pinpoint his mentor’s exact level of power. It was strange since he could do so with Tufani and the soldiers just fine. But not with him.

  What is going on? he questioned. This pressure feels… familiar? What does it remind me of?

  It clicked.

  The pressure exerting from Aleksi was reminiscent of the pressure Athanasius had exerted on him when they’d met, only Aleksi’s was far, far less intense than the Emperor’s had been.

  “I can explain, boss!” Redian chimed in.

  The Sentient Weapon had notified him earlier of Aleksi’s incoming arrival as he’d been negotiating with the lieutenant. Now, the sword spoke to explain the strange phenomenon he was experiencing.

  “The pressure you’re feeling is something that happens when an Etherean tries to sense another who is several magnitudes greater in power than themselves. Research found that this happens as a sort of defensive coping mechanism. In your case, your brain is actively shielding you from getting a proper sense of Zareb’s power because your senses would be completely overwhelmed if you could get a feel for it without restriction. It would be sorta like getting your brain fried, or like a computer being overwhelmed and overheating from too much data.”

  Galen gulped. So… how much stronger does someone need to be to trigger this phenomenon?

  “Hard to say. It varies from person to person, as some can handle more than others. Anywhere from ten to twenty times stronger? The sense of pressure you feel increases the wider the gap is, naturally.”

  Ten… to TWENTY TIMES?! Galen mentally yelled.

  “DID I STUTTER?!”

  All he could do was chuckle as he broke out in cold sweat, “I was right… this world is full of freaking monsters…”

  He watched as his mentor scanned the many enemies surrounding them. He took a deep breath before bellowing out, “Do you see, soldiers of the Dominion?! Your leader is dead! I give you one final chance. Flee, or join him in the grave!”

  Some of the soldiers did drop their weapons and run away, though Galen noted how most remained, all glaring with hateful defiance.

  The man sighed, “Very well. I tried. At least some of you were wise enough to take my offer.”

  He drew a second sword, and brandished both swords, the blades beginning to glow white hot.

  “Come, then!” he yelled.

  The soldiers all roared in response as they charged at the man, many far, far faster than either Galen or Tufani.

  Aleksi disappeared in what was either teleportation or, more likely, a sheer burst of speed.

  Soldiers began screaming as the man started cutting them down; constantly disappearing and reappearing elsewhere.

  Galen tried to keep track of his mentor’s movements, but found he simply could not keep up. By the time he turned at one group’s dying screams, two or three more sounded off elsewhere.

  He broke out in cold sweat as he realized that this wasn’t a battle…

  No…

  This was a massacre!

  He saw some of the soldiers lose their nerve and run, dropping their weapons as they did. He noted how Aleksi didn’t cut down those who fled.

  He didn’t know how much time had passed as the last of the soldiers screams had tapered off. Seconds? Minutes? The answer didn’t seem nearly long enough to justify all the corpses that now littered the ground in a nauseating, gruesome sight.

  Aleksi was left standing, letting out a deep exhale, blades sizzling as the blood that coated them evaporated from their heat.

  This was Zareb Aleksi Barus. General of the Rebellion and one of its five leaders. A man so powerful he could single handedly massacre more than fifty soldiers, all of whom were Ethereans with many more powerful than Galen and Tufani, in less than a minute.

  Galen tensed, and realized that, for the first time since he’d met the man, he was utterly terrified of him.

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