Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Evin found his hand reaching for his pocket to absorb mana from a lodestone. Immediately, two accelerators began to take shape nearby, while the rest of the Seyethe energies went down to feel for invisible mages.

"Those invisible mages are coming!" Evin said to Ssatsko.

<How many are there?> 

<I\'m not sure.> Endra replied, but the answer changed fast. <One mage- no, three mages flying up.>

"Shit!" Evin cursed and brought out the stone bullets. He almost dropped them, panic and sickness catching him off guard, but Endra managed to catch the bullets and started firing down below.

Some distance away, two clanging sounds ringed and Evin managed to see one of them flying off to the side. Thankfully, it was still far away, but Evin knew they were going to come soon enough.

<They\'re using some kind of barrier on their bodies!>

<I have eyes too fucker!> Endra said.

There was sudden urgency in Endra\'s words. It worried Evin.

Evin turned to the others and found Lora, Theor and Sasha huddled together in a corner of resting point, Lora\'s hands hugging Sasha\'s head. Ssatsko stood protectively in front of them, his eyes darting around to find these invisible enemies.

<Take full control over me,> Evin offered.

He didn\'t trust himself to function properly being sick and addled. It would be best if Endra was the one piloting his body.

<Fuck off with that weak shit!> Endra said. <I need my full attention on spellcasting!>

Endra sounded like he wanted to say a great deal more things, but he was already too busy with dealing with the incoming enemies. But soon, Evin\'s face turned grimmer and grimmer, and Endra\'s voice was turning more and more desperate. 

Endra tried everything he could in the span of thirty seconds it took the mages to ascend. He decided on the metal bullets after the stone ones, feeling no need to hold back. But those too, bounced off harmlessly against the invisible barrier. There was still only the harmless clanking sound, without a hint of a crack.

Then he tried the World of Weight to push down the mages. This worked, but the mages seemed propelled by something and whatever that was, it just worked harder to make up for the increased weight. 

Next came the explosions. These worked to a certain degree. The three mages did not look like they wanted to take them head on and retreated slightly. Endra\'s explosions chased them, but the three mages suddenly split, each maneuvering through the sky in ways Evin thought impossible. At times they dashed, they zig-zagged, randomly stopped, never allowing Endra\'s explosions to hit them accurately. 

The explosions were powerful, but Endra needed to gather air in a spot at first, meaning he couldn\'t spark explosions near enemies immediately. There was a delay between them.

Endra then tried creating an illusion of him flying up the Cataract, while making themselves invisible. The best thing to do was to grab Lora and the rest and fly up. Maybe even create a portal above, but Evin\'s mana-core was too spent to do something big like that. It was too late to escape. A hastily made illusion was the only alternative at this point. But…

<They didn\'t buy the illusion,> Endra said, tone grim. 

Evin slowly walked back to his family, eyeing a spot near the edge of the resting point. There was nothing there, but Evin could feel the Seyethe energies outlining the three mages\' shapes. 

"What do you want?" he shouted at them. He clutched at the knife he was holding in his pocket.

He expected no answer, but one mage\'s figure shimmered into existence. A lean man appeared in Evin\'s vision, his whole body covered with dark-brown clothes and wearing some alien contraption of a mask on his face. It was black in color, had glass circles for eyepieces and two cylinders on its cheeks. 

There were two more devices on the man\'s body. One of them was the illusion-creating device they found three days ago, while the other was some device, which looked responsible for creating the unbreakable barrier covering the man\'s body. His boots also seemed to serve some purpose, as it was made of metal and had numerous tubes connecting to a cannister on his back.

<What the fuck is going on?> Endra murmured.

There was disbelief in his voice, but there was also a hint of familiarity.

<What is that? Do you know them?>

Evin\'s question was cut short, as the man spoke. "Where\'s the cloaking device?" 

It was in accented Imperial, though it definitely wasn\'t a Western, or Northern, or Eastern. The voice was also husky, seemingly coming through the cylinder on the man\'s cheeks.

"Cloaking device?" Evin asked back.

"This thing," the man said, pointing at the illusion-creating device on his body.

"Mel… A- a mage from the kingdom took it to the capital!" Evin shouted.

He did not dare to act brave and honorable. 

"And who is this mage?" the man asked.

"Melayn! A twenty something female mage, with red hair and uses Irratas mostly!"

He needed to survive and if that required snitching on Melayn, then so be it. 

"Hmph, honest enough," the man said, sounding like he already knew the answer to his own question.

\'He was testing me?\' Evin thought. \'Why?\'

"What do you want from us? Why do you keep targeting my family?"

"It is not yet time to learn that," The man\'s expression was a mystery, but a bored tone filled his voice. "But know that you are piece of a grand plan, one you shall participate in one way or another."

The man approached Evin and whispered to his ear. "You should\'ve taken Lyudvik\'s bait. Snapped and snarled like any normal person would." The man paused. "You shouldn\'t have killed the man on the ground. Shouldn\'t have sniffed around… should\'ve stayed oblivious and blissful like any normal person would." He paused again. "Look where being special got you."

The man sighed and looked at Evin\'s family. "Truly a shame." 

A chill went through Evin\'s spine. Something bad was going to happen. He felt it. 

His knife clutched hands suddenly swiped at the man, but it harmlessly bounced off the barrier protecting him. 

"Admirable efforts, but you\'re not strong enough," the man said. "Don\'t feel too bad though. Few mages in this world are strong enough." 

<Shit, shit, shit… How can this be happening?>

The ever-reliable Voice was now a babbling mess in Evin\'s head. 

<Do something!> Evin found himself shouting.

The man walked past Evin, knowing he wasn\'t a threat. His gaze was stuck on Sasha as he approached the four. Ssatsko tried tackling the man, but upon contact, the man\'s barrier created a powerful shockwave. 

Ssatsko went flying to the wall, dust and rubble falling around his body.

The man ignored Lora\'s wails and his hands reached for Sasha\'s shoulder. 

<Fucking shit!> Endra screamed. 

Evin felt the air stir, then gather around him en masse.

<You\'ll kill us all!> Evin screamed, fearing Endra went mad somehow. 

But Endra did not put fire to the amassed oxygen, instead, started hoarding them. Not allowing them to move freely through the resting area. The man\'s sudden chokes helped Evin realize what was happening.