Pandemonium (Part Two)

Why are you people here?

What are you doing here?

Why must someone always come along and ruin everything?

No.

Don't.

Don't take it all away again.

The wounds on Gust seem to be very slowly closing, yet before they're able to fully heal, Marble collapses.

She isn't a healer, let alone a real caster. At most she uses magic in her day-to-day life, and from what I've learned from Blaze, it seems that magic capacity doesn't increase for adults as it does for children.

Gust can barely stand, and the rest of the warriors are struggling to keep up. Well over a hundred monster corpses can be seen, yet the monsters of the horde are still running rampant in the village. Most of them actually seem to have died or run away, yet those most violent are still attacking the warriors and the rest of the village.

No. Please, please stop.

Suddenly, Blaze seems to be hit by something. Hard. As his body comes cascading through the air, slamming into the ground a mere ten feet from our house.

As he lands, another warrior who was fighting the monsters looks back, and an Obsidian Cerva takes his distracted head clean off.

Four warriors remain against over twenty assorted monsters. Not to mention the monsters standing outside the hole, lying in wait.

Suddenly, a warm, sensual, and confident deep voice begins to sprout in my mind. It sounds almost familiar.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺. The voice says, almost directly into my head.

No. I can't. I'm not nearly as strong as Gust or any of the fallen warriors.

𝗡𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲, 𝘄𝗲'𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵. 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵.

How? I don't even know any magic above Dominus tier that I can use safely. I would just end up holding them back.

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼, 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱. 𝗚𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱.

Following along with the now dominant voice in my head, I walk out of my house, keeping low to the ground.

Making my way over to Blaze, I try not to look at his corpse as I take his illustrious staff, made of deep blue wood and boasting a purple gem the size of a fist at the top of it.

𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱, 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱. 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺. 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁?

Yes. I need to save the village. My village. My home.

𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁. 𝗦𝗼, 𝗜'𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲.

Strange wording, but nevertheless, I'll listen to my own consciousness.

Following the voice's instructions, I begin the incantation.

"I call upon the wicked cold, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗹𝗱. I call upon the winter sleigh, the spirit who steals night from day. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆, 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽. I call upon the wicked Shepard, come and reclaim your wicked sheep. 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘁."

As I finish, I can feel an enormous amount of mana begin to funnel into the staff. Even though I've spent every day since I arrived here expanding my mana pool, I feel at most I could cast three of these spells before passing out, and that's with the staff's assistance.

What a dangerous amount of mana cost.

As the mana finishes siphoning out of my hands and into the staff, as the staff touches the ground, a surge of pure white emanates from my core. It envelops everything I can see in a cold, blinding light.

Opening my eyes, it's as if a blizzard had passed through in a mere moment. Yet, something horrible has occurred.

Everything is frozen.

Every monster, the adventurers outside of the village, even the smaller objects throughout the village are turned into nothing more than ice sculptures.

But that's not the important part.

That's not the horrible part.

As I look towards the group of warriors, my family, my knees collapse.

I did it again.

It happened all over again.

The entire village is frozen solid, it seems that everything the light touched became no more than ice. The villagers, monsters, adventurers, warriors, all of them. They couldn't brace or prepare for it, they couldn't evade nor defend against it.

This was a sneak attack. The whole point was that I would be able to catch the adventurers off guard.

I was supposed to stop the monsters and the adventures behind them.

That's not what happened at all.

Most houses in the village had a door or window or hole opened in them, and a simple glance tells me that everything inside any of those houses is frozen solid. People included.

Everyone, everyone in the village is gone.

I'm sure that no one survived. It's the most powerful spell I've ever cast, and not a single person had any time to use any defensive magic or techniques. All I wanted to do was help.

All I wanted to do was be of some use, to give back to the people who took me in.

I didn't do anything.

All I did was fail.

I don't even know that spell. How did I cast that spell?

I've never even seen that spell.

All I know now, as my body collapses and I fall sobbing into the now snow-filled ground, is that I failed. Again.

The spell didn't do what I wanted it to, and I ended up doing exactly what I've spent so long trying to avoid.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻? 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱, 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁? The voice said again, in a foreign, yet familiar, smug matter of a fact tone.

So what if they're dead? So what if they're stopped? The village is gone! The people are gone! The one thing I wanted to do is now flushed down the toilet! Why would I even begin to think something like that!

Suddenly, it dawns on me.

These aren't my thoughts.

These aren't things that I would ever think. Especially the mysterious spell that I have never learned and never known.

This isn't and hasn't been my consciousness.

It took me a moment to recognize, but I recognize that tone now.

I recognize that matter-of-fact way of speaking.

That voice that I can see the smug, assholish, obsidian shit-eating grin.

𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝗺𝗲, 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱?

Ego. Of course, it's you. This has always been some part of your wicked plan, hasn't it?

𝗔𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗲. 𝗔𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗜 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲.

Great, that makes me feel so much better.

Just as that thought hits my brain, I feel a familiar feeling. The feeling of falling, as my consciousness begins to fade.