Aether Beasts

"Is it over?" I muttered to myself as I gazed out at the silent battlefield or at least a much more silent battlefield. The sounds of fighting had faded as had the sounds of steel on steel. The sound of screaming had lessened, but it was still there, alongside groans and moans of pain from the injured and dying.

We'd won after long hours of fighting, we'd defeated the twin horn. In the end, the twin horn's reliance on low-level arcanists had been their downfall as they just hadn't been able to match up against the arcanists of Orton and the steel heart, which was saying something. Their quality had been even worse than I'd thought. Their tactic of overwhelming numbers hadn't worked when the numbers had evened.

They had tried to retreat at some point, but it had been useless, especially after elder Hyphen had torn the head of one of the twin horn elders, and propped it atop a spear. That had sent a ripple through the army of the twin horn and the death of their leader not a few minutes later at the hands of another two elders had sent them running. In the end, it had just made the killing easier, although when the elite of army was done for and the chance of resistance was futile, the steel heart and Orton arcanists had allowed for surrender and had stopped the bloodshed.

It was a gruesome sight, far more gory and horrifying than anything I'd ever seen.

"War usually is," Zirani commented.

There were bodies everywhere. They covered the ground like a blanket and their blood-soaked the earth. The land was quite literally painted red, and wherever I looked I saw a corpse or mangled body part or gore.

What made the sight even worse was the fact that every now and then I'd pass a twin horn arcanist begging for help or weeping. Seeing them like this, especially the low-level arcanists made my heartache. Most had probably signed up to get a better life or to get stronger and discover the outside world, and yet all they'd met was force servitude and slavery.

And for what?

To die out here? In a war that wouldn't have benefitted them even if they'd won. For the higher-ups? They all had families, siblings, no doubt some had children, wives, and husbands. All dead for a sect who'd been obsessed with greed and power.

My heart seemed to grow heavier along with my glaive which I placed back in my ring and my eyes blurred every now and then, but it was when I stumbled across the scene of a teenage girl and her father that I began to shed silent tears. They were embracing each other and there was a clear resemblance on their faces. Their wounds? That of a glaive.

" Don't look away," Zirani said. "This, Aiden, this is war. Never forget that, no matter how good the cause or reason, war is never a good thing. It may be needed at times, but it is never a good thing."

"I know," I whispered. "I know…"

As I walked I saw more scenes of death and sorrow. A weeping twin horn arcanist that looked on the verge of death, crying out for his mother. A young-looking boy no older than fourteen curled into a ball as he bled out. I leaned down and he flinched as I touched him.

There was the sound of footsteps close by and I looked up to see a steel heart arcanist approaching me. It was an older man, and the first thing I noticed was his clean robes and an odd badge upon his chest. His lack of blood painted him as someone who hadn't fought.

"If you could move aside please." He motioned to the curled-up boy. "I have a patient to help."

"You're helping him?" I asked in confusion. "Isn't he an enemy to you?"

The healer shook his head. "Lad, I can tell this is your first time at war so let me tell you something. Things like this are often common. Most of these arcanists joined the twin horn under false pretenses and through coercion or lies. Most were forced to fight and die. We know this, look around, I'm not the only one helping them."

I followed his hand and saw that steel heart arcanists carrying the injured and as I looked closer, I saw that it wasn't just the steel heart they were tending to, but also the twin horn, mostly the low-level arcanists.

"Of course, some are evil and cruel, but even they most likely did not start out like that," the healer said as he placed a hand on the curled-up boy. "An environment like that of the twin horn, well a place like that fosters cruelty and ruthlessness. Now ruthlessness, that is something common for arcanists to a degree, but cruelty, and a desire to torment others? That is to put it simply plain evil, of course when I saw evil, I mean the common definition of evil. Some in the twin horn no doubt though their actions good and justified, as sickening as that is to think about."

"I see."

His words eased my tension and some of my sadness faded away as I once again reaffirmed my decision to have joined the steel heart. They truly were a one-of-a-kind sect.

"You fought hard," the healer said. "Why don't you carry this boy over to the rest of the injured. Tents and healing stations are being set up to the west."

"And you?" I asked.

"I've more work to do," he said. "I'm Marvin by the way."

"I'm Aiden," I replied and offered my hand. "Nice to meet you."

He shook it with a firm yet gentle grip "And you too."

With that said he stood and walked away, in search of another to help. I looked down at the now unconscious boy who looked stable and picked him up gently. Marvins words played through my mind as I headed over to where I could see tents and other structures being erected. Once I was close enough a nearby arcanist took the boy off my hands, and I was left with no idea of what to do.

"Aiden, there you are."

I turned in the direction of the voice and found Misty and Sandra walking towards me. Misty had one of Sandra's arms slung around her shoulders, and the dark-haired arcanist was limping.

"Are you ok?" I asked as I ran over to her. "Do you need a healer?"

"We already saw one," Misty explained. "She got hit in the leg and it shattered the bone, and those pieces tore through the rest of the nearby flesh. Elder Kaylin had one of the top healers see to her. She'll be limping for a day or two, but she'll live."

"Elder Kaylin? He's alive?"

"Yeah," Sandra said then grimaced as her left foot touched the ground. "He's fucked up pretty bad, but he managed to make it out of there. The elders he was fighting ran off to help when the Orton army arrived. I guess they assumed he wouldn't be able to make it back here."

"Not surprising," Mist added. "His legs looked squished."

"Never underestimate an arcanist of the steel heart," Sandra said. "That's something I heard when I first joined. I guess it applies now. You look tired Aiden, are you ok?"

"For the most part," I replied. "Just… seeing everything and all those corpses, realizing the truth. It hit hard."

Sandra's eyes lowered and smiled sadly. "Yeah, we never really thought about it because we knew it would make us hesitate when fighting them and we had things to fight for but now… now it's different."

"Makes you hate them even more," Misty said with anger in her voice. "Those in charge of the twin horn that is, or those who were in charge."

"No twin horn elders survived I'm guessing?" I asked

Sandra shook her head. "All those who were at the top or in leading positions of the twin horn are to be executed."

"Brutal," I remarked.

"No less than they deserve." A voice rang out.

We all turned to see Kara limping her way over to us.

"Good to see that you three made it," she said.

"Same to you," I replied. "Did Micheal make it out fine?"

Kara nodded. "He's doing fine, a bit angry he missed everything, though I would've missed this if I could have. No glory or victory to be had here today, just death."

We all nodded silently. Her words were true. There were no cheers of celebration to be had or anything else like that. The weight was pushing down upon us now, that much was cleat. We'd won and we'd get to live as would those we'd fought for, but not without loss, and though they'd been our enemies, we knew for most it had not been by choice. Lies, false promises, fear, and threats, all that which the twin horn had used to enslave, cause harm and bring conflict where none needed to be. I was truly glad the twin horn was no more, and that those who orchestrated this were dead. If there was a hell then I hoped the twin horn leaders and elders were burning in it.

"Anyways, let's get something to eat then we need to head over to Elder Hyphen."

I raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

Kara shrugged. "No clue, but he gave me and a few others orders to bring you three to him when found after you guys had a little break that is. I argued that bit, I knew you guys would need a little rest.."

I smiled. "Thanks, I definitely could go for some food and a few minutes to just rest."

"I'll try and get something down," Sandra said. "But after everything I've seen today don't think I'll be able to."

"I'll have some cake if you have any?" Misty asked. "But I'm saving room for a special meal later."

Her eyes moved over to me when she said the words 'special meal' and I felt a shiver run down my spine. I really hoped Zirani knew what she was doing when she'd had me agree to let Misty drink from me, then again I'd been the one to idiotically blurted it out.

"Well then let's go," Kara said and together the four of us headed to get some food and well-deserved rest.