Like last time, Bruno created a staircase made of ice, and the two of them ran up it, dropping down on the other side, in order to avoid the toll gate.
She had no idea where Trent or Nev was, and part of her hoped they got caught since that would mean Ash also got in trouble.
They didn't live in Lotus City. Bruno, herself, Ash, Nev, and Trent all came from a little village called Fri. It was a small backwater village up in the mountains that only existed to trade with Lotus.
Just to get to Lotus, a villager would have to climb down the mountain and go through a forest, and there they would find the bus stop and the only road that led into Lotus, though the bus in question never actually ran, so people from Fri would have to simply walk the entire way to the city since they couldn't get their car through the woods.
Lotus was the only residence nearby that had a magic school, though, so everyone from Fri was forced to do it. It was completely free to attend a magical academy for six years straight, which is what she had done, but once a mage turned eighteen, they'd have to start paying if they wanted to take other classes and lessons. The system was in place so a mage could train and learn their magic and go into a type of field, but then if they later in life changed their mind or wanted to get a better resume, they could pay to take extra classes and advance themselves further.
Since she was flat broke, though, that meant she wouldn't be able to go back even if she wanted to, so there was no way to get any extra combat lessons for her. She was so poor, in fact, she had been wearing Bruno's uniform, minus the skirt, which she swiped from another girl at school when they had been in the bathroom.
Even at free school, the uniforms cost quite a lot of money, and most people from Fri could just barely afford to send their kids to the 'free' school.
Indeed, it could be said that nothing significant would ever come from Fri. It wasn't even found on most maps and was as backwater as backwater could be. Maybe that was why the current generation of kids who came from it fought so hard to be important.
"Who was that Davi guy?" Bruno asked. He twirled his wand, creating several shards of ice, keeping the branches away from him and Olivia as they made their way through the forest.
Olivia shrugged and pointed the flashlight she always kept with her out in front of her. "Don't know. Never seen him before." She mostly leaned on Bruno, still recovering from the blood she lost. "He's not from our village, I can tell you that."
"Well, yeah, I know that," Bruno said, huffing. "I don't think he's from Lotus either, though. We head there all the time, and I haven't seen him before."
"Maybe he came to see the Arcane Knights like we did," she suggested.
Bruno just hummed. "Maybe. How are you holding up?"
"I'll manage." She wanted to say more but didn't know what she could or should say. She had lost to Ash yet again, which meant Trent had another embarrassing video to upload. How many times did that make it now? Again and again, it seemed like no matter how many times she tried to fight him, she always came up short. What was worse, Ash wasn't even the strongest person in her village. That honor went to Bruno.
The only saving grace she had was that Trent was a total nobody even on the internet, so the only people who watched his videos were Ash, Bruno, Nev, and like two other people somewhere out in the world that were likely bots.
"It's got to be rough having blood magic," Bruno said sadly. "Most mages use mana and stuff to cast their spells, but you have to use your own body, and humans are so frail."
"Tell that to the Arcane Knights." Olivia giggled, and her mind went back to the golden-haired woman who had been holding the lance. "Sweet Haru, it was incredible seeing them all."
"It was." Bruno nodded, agreeing with her. "It got my blood seriously pumping. Can you believe it? We're at the point where we can finally take the test and become real Arcane Knights!" Bruno cheered. "We just need to convince my dad to let us go take the test!"
"You better do that soon because the test will be happening next month," Olivia said, shooting her friend a look. "If you miss it, you'll have to wait another year before you can retake it. I don't know about you, but I don't think I can handle spending a full year on the internet watching the Knights go on adventures, knowing I could have been one of them."
"I won't miss it," Bruno promised. "I will become an Arcane Knight. I'll be the first from my village to do it." His look softened, and he turned to her. "I assume you're going to try as well?"
Olivia nodded, her face growing serious. "Yeah. I'm going to give it my best shot. I'll prove that I'm not useless."
"You don't have to listen to Ash; he's a stuck-up ass. The only reason I'm friends with him is because he's the only other kid besides Trent and Nev in our village."
Olivia shook her head and gave a somber look. "It's not him who I'm trying to prove wrong." Her sad smile vanished once she and Bruno stepped out of the forest and found the path leading up to their village. Something was wrong. Up ahead, the trail grew less dense and soon became a winding path that led up to the mountainside village they called home. Already from where they were, she could smell the smoke. Thick black clouds were rising into the air.
A fire had started.
Bruno opened his mouth to say something when he noticed it as well, but he was cut off when Olivia ran past him. Her blood loss had been forgotten. She was sprinting as fast as her legs could carry her to the village, and it took him a moment to run after her. Fri had a small wooden wall awkwardly placed around it, but that wall was now knocked over, and the smell of ash was heavy in the air along with burning flesh.
The village didn't have many buildings; fewer than a hundred people lived in Fri, and it was more like a hamlet. The few buildings they did have were made of wood and hay and were highly flammable.
Olivia ran past the gate, and instantly, she saw it. The cattle pen was on fire, and most of the pigs and cows were already dead, turned into blackened meat as red-hot flames danced across the wood, devouring everything. She was almost relieved that the stench of flesh came from them and not any of the villagers.
A few dozen or so villagers were running back and forth with buckets of water they had gotten from the local well, and they were doing their best to put out the fire, but it wasn't fast enough. Already, the fire was starting to spread to a nearby building. Another villager was holding his wand out, waves of water blasting out of it as he used his magic, and next to him, three people had grabbed extinguishers and firehoses, attempting to help the mage.
"It's not working!" The water mage shouted. His water was splashing down onto the top of the house as he attacked the fire from above, but the fire was growing too fast, and the others weren't able to get enough buckets to put the fire out from below in time before it would restart. "What do we do?"
The fire was starting to spread and had started to climb across the wall, around their village, and was now eating away at some power lines, sending sparks everywhere.
Olivia stood there stunned momentarily before suddenly shaking her head and readying herself. "Bruno!" She yelled out. "Form a barrier around it!"
Bruno was just as dazed as she was, but came to and nodded. "Right!" He pointed his wand out and focused. "Row Ice Wall!" His ice sprang up and formed a barrier around the fire, but it wasn't enough to stop or even slow the flames down. "This must be some sort of magical fire or something," Bruno said, shocked as he watched his ice wall rapidly melt and the fire devour his water. "A magical beast must have caused it!"
"Bruno!" A voice called out, and the dark-skinned boy turned and found his father. "Together!"
Bruno nodded, flicking his wand out. "Row Ice Wall!" They declared putting up another wall, with the water mage joining in, trying to slow the fire down, but even that wasn't working.
Olivia narrowed her eyes and looked around. "There he is." Off to the side, staring slack-jawed, were Nev and Trent. Both boys were totally useless. Lying on the ground face down was the unconscious Ash. She ran over to the boy and slapped at his face.
"What are you doing?" Trent demanded.
"Waking him up!" She reached down and grabbed both of Ash's nipples through his shirt and twisted them. The boy screamed out with a girlish yelp and shot up with wide eyes, breathing heavily. He glared at her but then stopped when she pointed at the fire. "Ash! Use your magic!"
"Are you insane?" Ash gave one of his trademark sneers and picked himself up. "My wind magic will just make the fire rage more."
"Listen to me!" Olivia gripped him by his shirt and dragged him over to the burning building. "Form a large dome of air around the building and suck all the wind up to one part!"
"Huh?"
"Just do it!"
"Okay, okay!" Ash raised his wind and took a deep breath. His skin seemed to glow for a moment, and he felt his mana start to bubble up. He flicked his wrist and cast his spell. "Row Wind Barrier!"
The wind formed a large dome around the house, taking on an almost silvery color. The air twisted, and it was like a tornado had taken on the shape of a bowl, roaring around the house. Sweat began to drip down Ash's face, and he gritted his teeth and clutched harder on his wand as the wind started to rotate rapidly. It got faster and faster, and he was trying to take all the air inside the dome and force it away, shoving it all into his barrier. With one final push, he loudly yelled and snapped his arm up, the barrier consuming it all.
In an instant, the fire went out. Trent's eyes were wide, and he blinked rapidly. "Whoa! How'd you do that, Ash?"
Ash shot a look at Olivia, who looked smug. She folded her arms and nodded her head. "He spun the air around so fast and pulled it all out of the center where the fire was. This meant there was no oxygen. Magic or not, without oxygen, there can't be a chemical reaction, so the fire had no way of maintaining its form and couldn't stay lit! Science!"
"I never would have thought of that," Ash muttered.
"I watched a famous Arcane Knight do something similar to that in a video the other day," Olivia admitted a little sheepishly. "It was awesome."
Ash looked like he was about to respond, but the boy didn't get the chance to say anything else, and a second later, one of the villagers clapped him hard on the back. "Ash! Way to go! You put out the fire!"
"Yeah! We wouldn't have been able to do it without you!" Another villager agreed.
"Even Rosco and his son were struggling! Maybe you're the best mage in our village after all? It might even be possible for you to go on to become an Arcane Knight! I'm rooting for you!"
Ash shook his head and tried to find Olivia in the crowd of villagers, but didn't spot her. "No? I didn't come up with that—"
"You're the best, Ash!"
Olivia pushed her way through the crowd, making her way to the back where Bruno stood. He grinned, and she smiled back at him, fist-bumping her friend.
It took more time than any of them would have wanted, but they did manage to get the fire out, thanks to Ash. By then, however, the stable had been burned down, leaving almost nothing behind but the blackened frame and the smoldering corpses of the animals. The second building hadn't gone up, though it was slightly burned on one side. Ultimately, no one was dead, which was a mildly good sign. Another one of the villagers with earth magic formed large clumps of clay and covered the tiny sparks still scattered around.
Most of the villagers were around Ash, praising the boy, but Olivia was looking somewhere else. Her eyes focused on farmer Jermy. He was an older man, cursing up a storm, smashing his shovel onto the ground as hard as he could. It had been his stables, which had burned down along with all of his livestock. The entire village watched as the man's life's work was snuffed out.
"What could have done this?" A villager muttered once all of Ash's praise dried up. Somewhere in the village, two more buildings had been burned to cinders. One was a large chicken coop, and the other was a stable for horses. Most of the animals were either dead or missing.
"Whatever it was, it's bold." Another villager growled. "I didn't get a good look at it. The damn thing tore through our wall, and by the time any of us heard it, the fire had started, and there was so much smoke it was able to get away. Bastard practically killed all our animals!"
"What happens if it comes back?" Someone asked in a scared tone.
"I imagine it'll come for us." Another villager responded. Silence hung in the air for a moment.
"Rosco, you can stop this, right?" Someone asked, shooting a look at Bruno's father.
Bruno's dad was a tall, muscular, dark-skinned man. One of their village's best mages, and like Bruno, Rosco was a master of ice magic. If not for the fact he had blown out his knee at an early age, he most likely could have become an Arcane Knight, but those days were long behind him.
The dark-skinned man shook his head as his grip on his wand grew tighter. "A couple of the boys and I tried. Didn't get a good look at it because of the smoke, but I know I hit it with a spell or two, and Jermy here shot at it with his rifle, and he's a pretty damn good shot. We hit it as hard as we could, but that bastard didn't even flinch. Ice doesn't even slow it down. Whatever it is, it's huge and very, very dangerous. It ain't no normal animal, I can promise y'all that."
A magical beast. It was obvious that that was what was attacking their village. Where it had come from and why was anyone's guess, but if one was here, then that was very bad. Magical beasts were powerful monsters who wielded magic, just like humans did. They came from something known as a dungeon, and some believed they were from another world, sent here as a curse on humanity for the sins of its past. They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and some could be extremely deadly.
Murmurs went through the crowd as dread filled the air. "If we don't know what it is, then what do we do? We can't even come up with a plan?"
"I—I know what it is!" The crowd went silent, and all turned to find Olivia standing atop an old, broken-down truck, pointing up to the sky. "It's a dragon! I've read about their kind in an audiobook! They're monsters that breathe fire! They devour cows and things like that! I'm sure that's what it is!"
"Don't be stupid." Nev palmed his face and let out a loud snort. "A dragon is the strongest magical beast out there. No way a dungeon holding a dragon suddenly appeared out here. I guess leave it to useless Olivia to come up with a bad solution."
"I—It is a dragon! I'm sure of it!" Olivia shook her head. "I just know it is! It's a great beast that can blast out fire! Not only that." She reached down, and without warning, she pulled out her phone, lifting it to the sky. "I know how to slay it!" The moment might have been more epic if not for the fact that, instead of getting the audio she wanted, another ad for a weapon shop started playing. "Damn ads!" A second later, laughter filled the air, all centered on her. Olivia felt her cheeks turn a little pink. "I'm not lying! I read about how to kill dragons! I know its weakness; just wait for this stupid commercial to end!" She tried tapping on the skip-now button, but it wasn't working, and instead reset the ad. "Damn it!"
"Look, even if it is a dragon, what use is knowing that?" One of the villagers snickered. "And even if you do know how to kill it, I hope you aren't suggesting that you be the one who kills it?"
"I can!" Olivia tightened her hand into a fist and lowered her phone. "I've read all about them and know how to kill one! Arcane Knights always slay the dragon with a sword by piercing its heart! That's how it goes in all the videos I watched! If I wanted to, I could kill the dragon!"
"Most things die when you stab them in the heart; this isn't a fairy tale. Also, you're not an Arcane Knight." Someone said in a blunt tone. "You don't have what it takes to be one of them, so there's no reason for you to try and take this beast on."
"You're wrong!" Olivia felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes as she glared at the other person. "I can, too, be an Arcane Knight! In fact, I'm going to take the entrance exam and become one this year! Then who'll be laughing?"
"Oh, please." Farmer Jermy sneered. "You're a nobody, just like all of us. No one here has what it takes to become an Arcane Knight." He didn't just glare at her, but at Ash and Bruno as well. "We're all nobodies, got that? Though I guess you're worse than a nobody. You don't even have a strong magic ability. I bet that's why you were dropped off here, unwanted by your father—"
"That's enough!" Rosco's yell cut the village off. He had an angry look on his face, and he gently helped Olivia off the truck she had been standing on and took her place, looking down at the crowd of villagers. While he did that, his son Bruno placed a hand on Olivia's shoulder, who now had a hurt look on her face. "Look, we're all mad, and we're all on edge. This is my fault for failing to slay this beast when it first came to our village. Maybe it is a dragon, maybe it isn't. It doesn't matter, though." Rosco drew his wand and looked at it. "I can't kill it. None of us can. This beast defies human nature. If it must be hunted, it must be done by the hands of a warrior who specializes in slaying monsters like this."
"What do you mean?" Farmer Jermy made a face as it suddenly clicked. "Rosco, don't tell me that you—"
"As the leader of this village, I'm going to call and make a request for an Arcane Knight to save us." Rosco declared in a booming voice. "A powerful one at that."
Murmurs went through the crowd of people, and they all stared up at the man in shock, who had a smug grin on his face.
"That'll cost a lot, and in case you haven't noticed, our economy is basically screwed, with the death of all our animals." Jermy hissed. "Besides, who knows how long it'll take for a Knight to actually get here?"
"Unless you think you can kill the monster, then this choice is final." Rosco folded his arms and stared down at Jermy. "I'm the mayor. What I say goes. I say we do this." He glanced out across the crowd, and for a moment, his gaze settled on Olivia. "Don't lose hope. We're going to make it out of this. I promise you all! The Arcane Knights will save us!"
The bit of despair bubbling up began to fade, and a few people cheered or looked relieved. Finally, it seemed as if something would stop this curse that kept burning down all their houses. One person didn't look happy, though.
Ash balled his hand into a tight fist. "I'll do it." He whispered. "I'll be the one to slay it." He felt a bit humiliated. He had to be told what to do in order to save the village. He hadn't been the one to come up with the plan, yet he had still followed through and gotten all the credit. His pride had been wounded, and so he knew of only one way to regain it. He was going to be the one to kill the dragon.
Unknown to Ash, though, someone had noticed the look on his face. Olivia stared past the crowd at the other boy. "What are you looking at?" Bruno asked.
"Nothing." She shook her head and turned away.
Bruno nodded. "You're not really going to try and fight the dragon, right? No offense, I think you're stronger than people realize, but a dragon is… Well, I don't even think I could beat it."
Olivia let out a low snort. "No, you're right. I got heated in the moment and let my emotions get the best of me." She shook her head. "Don't worry, I don't have any plans to do anything stupid."
Bruno nodded, a little relieved. "Thanks. I don't want you to give me a heart attack. You're my bro, after all, and I'd hate for you to get killed by a dragon, bro!"
"You know I'm a girl, right?"
"Yeah? Well, you're still my bro, bro!"
Meanwhile, unknown to the villagers, at the edge of the forest outside of Fri Village, a tree branch snapped as a figure stepped forward. One that wore ebony armor that covered them from head to toe. The kind a knight would wear.
"A dungeon is nearby. Is this where you ended up?" A soft voice came from beneath the helmet that the figure wore. Carefully, the figure took their helm off, revealing the face of a young man with shadow-colored hair. "Looks like I've finally had a lucky break. Stay where you are, Dragon. You and I have unfinished business." Davi Hawker gently rubbed the scar across the left side of his face.
It was time to go hunting once more.