Lance Aya
"We should be arriving soon; I can sense mana signatures up ahead." Lance Bairon said, as we flew through the tunnels of the Sand Grotto. Veer, and all the other soldiers better be okay. "There." Lance Bairon pointed, and the squad came into view. Their numbers were drastically low.
"I'm only counting nineteen, weren't there over sixty?" I asked him, I might have been wrong.
"Yes, there were." He said as we landed, and the squad was standing in front of a giant silver door, inside eight people were using spells on the sand on the ground, like they were trying to dig something up. "Where is Commander Jagger?"
"Lance Bairon, Lance Aya, what a pleasure it is to have you here, but may I ask why?" The man known as Commander Jagger said, and all the other soldiers bowed to us. I didn't sense any mana beast. I could see a mage shooting wind into the ground, digging at it.
"There is a company of Alacryans here, around a hundred of them, we are here to aid you in a fight against them, but it doesn't look like you have the numbers for that." Lance Bairon looked at the men and women, then looked inside the doors, where the eight other mages were. "What are they doing?"
Commander Jagger scratched his chin, and his attitude got sorrowful. "There was a S Class mutant, and it swallowed multiple people in the sand." He paused and gave us a weary look. "The one was the boy known as Veer." Both Lance Bairon and I gave each other worried expressions.
"No." I said, and I launched myself over to the group. "What are you doing?" I asked them, and they all turned to me. A man with reddish hair, shook his head and started to walk away from me, like he was sad. They all had tears in their eyes, they must know Veer, or someone else that died here today.
"Veer." A woman dropped to her knees. "What were you thinking?"
"Lance Aya, I'm sorry, we aren't in the right state of mind at the moment." Another soldier told me as she bowed. "We mean no disrespected."
Lance Bairon came flying over, and landed next to me, I shook my head at him. "You are all friends of Veer?" I asked them, and they all turned to me, even the woman on the ground. The red head was standing outside the cavern now.
"Lance Aya." A woman with tears streaming down her eyes said. "Save him, please." Her blonde hair was a mess, filled with sand.
"The brat is a moron, he has to be down there still, he covered himself in ice to destroy the core." The man bowed to me. "I am Callias Fleet, his teammate, I can't sense him, but I bet you can."
Lance Bairon and I stared at the sand, and what I felt wasn't Veer, but worse. "Lance Bairon, are you sensing what I am?" I asked him, getting even more worried. "I think we found the company of Alacryans."
"I think you're right." Lance Bairon responded.
"A company?" The woman on her knees, sniffling and crying stood up. "I'm Helen, leader of the Twin Horns, and the person that was supposed to be Veer's guardian." She bowed. "You are telling me there is a force of Alacryans down there?"
"It appears that way, but none of them are moving anymore." I said questioningly. "Lance Bairon, let's get them out of here, and head down." I turned to him. "Do you agree?"
"Yes, we can take them on by ourselves." Lance Bairon walked to the center of the cavern. "We'll find out if he is alive or not, get out."
The seven people, all who seemed to be crying, nodded, and backed out. "I'll handle this, Lance Bairon, I don't think you lightning magic will get the job done here." I started to conjure wind. "Move off the sand, I'm going to form a hole to the bottom."
"Okay." As Lance Bairon said that I used the wind I formed and made a path to the bottom of the pit of sand. At the bottom were stones, I kept the wind up around the sand, and we jumped to the bottom. "I'll break through."
Lance Bairon pulled his spear out, and formed lightning around it, then smashed it into the ground, destroying it, and opening a path toward a new cavern, which was even bigger than the one above.
"What the hell?" Lance Bairon said as he started to glide down, I followed him, and I was thinking the same thing. "They are all dead." We landed on the ground and looked around at the battlefield before us. "What happened here?"
I started to sense for anything living, I froze as we walked on. "Oh my god." I said, and Lance Bairon and I stared at the boy standing upright with a smile on his face, drenched in blood, propped against his sword. "Veer?"
The boy turned to us. "Oh, hey." He fell over and Lance Bairon launched himself over to him and caught him before his body hit the ground. I followed up, and I looked around the cavern, making sure there wasn't anyone left. "They're all dead, all one hundred." I turned back to him laying in Lance Bairon's arms. "All look at that, Lance Bairon you're being nice to me." His eyes started to drift shut.
I knelt down and ran my hand through his ashy brown hair. "You did good, Veer, take a rest." He smiled at me. "We'll get you back, you're safe now." Lance Bairon had a shocked expression on his face, one I didn't think I'd ever get to see on him.
"Alright." Veer smiled, and his eyes shut. He passed out in seconds.
We knelt there and Lance Bairon and I made eye contact. He shook his head and looked around. "He slaughtered an entire company by himself." He looked at Veer. "This boy, killed one hundred mages by himself, Lance Aya."
"I-I know." I rested my hand on Veer's head. "He pushed himself to stay away until someone found him, that's also impressive."
Lance Bairon nodded. "Yes, but what impresses me, is that there isn't even a cut or wound on him. He took them down without taking a single hit, look at that man." Lance Bairon pointed at a man with a sword wound in his throat. "He slid his sword into that man's throat, what? Where the other ninety-nine soldiers just watching."
I shook my head, not knowing the answer, but what we did know, was that Veer killed them all by himself. "This is unbelievable, a kid shouldn't have to do this."
Lance Bairon picked Veer up, and we both looked around at the bloody battlefield, Veer was completely covered in Alacryan blood as well. Veer was a very nice kid, I enjoyed training him, what he did here though, was something I didn't think he was capable of. He took down one hundred trained soldiers by himself.
"He shouldn't have had to do this." Lance Bairon gave him a meaningful look; one I pictured as sorrow. "His older brother, pains me to say it, is supposedly our savior, Virion probably wants to be just like him." He shook his head. "Reminds me of Lu---." He cut himself off. "One of us should stay here and investigate, the other should return Virion to the Floating Castle."
I immediately went to grab Veer. "Let me take him, he is my student." I held out my arms, so that my fellow Lance could hand him over.
"That's fine with me." Lance Bairon slowly gave me the fatigued Veer, and I held him closely to me. "I'll search around here, inform Commander Virion and the council on what happened, they should know what Virion did."
"I will." I nodded to him and took a step; my white boot got covered in blood. "Is his blood magic really this powerful?" Veer is the only Blood Deviant in existence, so there was no comparing him to anyone. "And you say that he wants to be like his older brother, but he hasn't even done anything like this."
"I'm just saying in general; he wants people to look up to him as an adult, and not just a child." He gave me a weary look. "After today, after what I've seen, he should be considered an adult."
"Maybe you're right." I started to conjure wind. "I'll see you back at the Floating Castle, Lance Bairon." I shot myself up and made my way back to the cavern with the sand in it. Veer was out cold in my arms, and when I landed the people who were crying for him came running over to me. "He's alright." I told them before they could say anything.
"Veer." The woman I remembered as Helen said. "What happened down there? Why is he covered in ---?"
She was cut off by the man Callias Fleet. "Blood, he is covered in blood."
Behind them the other members of the squad were staring at us but couldn't hear us from there. However, I formed a sound barrier around us so no one could hear what I was about to say.
"What's wrong?" A blonde asked.
"This information doesn't leave this bubble, is that clear." They all looked at each other, then at Veer, then nodded. "Veer. slaughtered one hundred Alacryans down there by himself, they are all dead by his hand." All their eyes were wide. "He isn't injured, just tired, but he killed the company of Alacryans by himself."
"Holy shit...." Multiple of them said, shocked by this knowledge.
"All one hundred?" The red head asked, and I nodded. "That little demon."
"Yeah, you may be right there, he was acting strange this entire dungeon run." Callias spoke and gave the red head a meaningful look. "Smiling and laughing, felt like he was losing himself."
I dispersed the sound wall. "I'll be taking him back now, I assure you, he will be fine physically, but if you are correct, he might need some help mentally."
"I'll meet you there." Helen answered. "I want to clear everything up here, make sure Rey, his father knows that, please Lance Aya." She bowed to me again.
"I will." I started to walk away. "It's good that Veer has people who care for him." I continued holding Veer close to me, as I began to glide down the tunnels of the Sand Grotto.
It only took me about fifth-teen minutes to get back to the Floating Castle, and as I did, I was not met by anyone. They didn't know I was coming back, so it made sense. The guards gave Veer, and I confused looks, but they all bowed to me.
"Go give word to Commander Virion, that Veer Leywin is back and okay." I ordered a guard, and they ran off. I decided to take Veer to a healer first, just to make sure he was okay.
I made my way toward a medical room, and I saw the only healer I knew, she bowed to me as I approached. "Lance Aya, jeez, what do we have here, we have an opened bed in here."
"Pearl, this is Virion Leywin, it's not his blood, he just needs rest I believe." I told her, as I placed Veer on the bed. "There are going to be a decent amount of people here eventually."
"Alright, I'll take care of it." She started to wipe the blood off of him with a wet towel. "He seems fine like you said, he just needs some rest."
"Thank you." I told her as I sat down next to Veer. I was going to wait here until his family showed up. I didn't want to leave him alone, he's like a younger brother to me.
"May I ask what happened?" Pearl asked me.
"He was in a fight." I turned to her. "That's all I can say."
"Oh, I hate to see the other guy." Pearl cleaned his face; the towel was covered in blood now. "There is so much blood."
The door opened, and the commander walked in. "Virion, are you okay, what happened?" He stood at the end of the bed.
I got up and gave him a bow. "Commander." I turned to Pearl. "Can you give us a few minutes alone; he should be fine?"
"Certainly." She threw the towel she was using into a basket. "I need more towels anyway, he's drenched." Pearl smiled and walked out of the room; it was now the Commander and me.
"Whose blood is it, Lance Aya?" He walked alongside the other side of the bed.
"Commander Virion, we found Veer in the middle of the Alacryan company." His eyes widened as I paused. "They were all dead, sir."
"What?!" He exclaimed.
"Veer, killed them all, every single one, all dead by his hand." Commander Virion stared down at Veer's sleeping body. "Lance Bairon is there looking for anything useful, but I doubt there is something there."
Commander Virion was silent. "He killed one hundred trained soldiers by himself? You're joking?" I shook my head no. "Shit."
"I also believe he helped kill the S Class mutant beforehand, sir." I didn't know for sure, but they said he jumped into the sand.
"I thought this kid couldn't surprise me anymore, but he just did." He started to chuckle. "The kid killed one hundred men by himself, holy shit." I could tell he was still in shock; I was still shocked. "I already had a guard inform his family, but they shouldn't know about this."
"That's for you to decide, but I think they should." I paused and thought back to Callias Fleet's words. "The members of his team told me something concerning, they said he was smiling and laughing as he was fighting against the mana beast."
"I've been worrying about that, constantly being out there in the field is probably putting a lot of stress onto his mind." I believed that, Veer was a nine year old. "We will need to figure something out, some way to anchor him down to reality, or he will break."
"I agree, sir." That may be harder said than done. "Do you have any ideas? He could follow a Lance and help them out." That was my only idea, I wouldn't mind taking him under my wing again during missions.
"That could work, but I doubt he will want to be taken out of the dungeons." As he was thinking the door swung open again.
"Veer!" His mother exclaimed, and ran in. "Why are my boys always coming home with blood on them!" She ran past me and sat on the edge of the bed.
His little sister did the same on the other side, Commander Virion and I just watched. "Is he okay?" The little girl asked us.
"He is." Commander Virion told her. "He's just tired." He turned to Veer's father. "He was involved in a fight, he's just tired." He put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Your brother will be fine, Rey, can we talk."
"Of course." Commander Virion started to walk out, as Veer's mom and sister cried slightly. I decided to leave as well, not needing to be in here anymore.
I closed the door behind me as I left, and we all stood in the hall. "Was he involved in the fight against the company of Alacryans?" Rey asked Commander Virion and me. He knew about the company?
"Well, he was involved in the disposal of the company." Commander Virion said hesitantl. "Rey, he killed the company himself, your son, killed one hundred Alacryans without taking a hit."
I watched as Rey's face went from worried to absolutely stunned, his jaw went slack, and he just stared at the Commander. "Lance Bairon and I found him standing in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by the dead." I added. "I'm sorry we didn't make it there in time, maybe he wouldn't have had to do what he did."
"It's not your fault, Lance Aya." Rey finally spoke. "But you guys are telling me, that boy in there killed one hundred humans by himself." We both nodded toward him. "Wow, I'm gonna need some time to think about this."
"Take it." Commander Virion told him. "For now, I suggest you don't say anything to Alice and your daughter."
"I won't, they don't need to know what he did for his continent." I don't know if they could handle him going back into the field, let alone what he did. "Thanks for everything again." Rey bowed to the both of us. "I owe you both."
"No, at the moment, we owe you, Virion has done something for the continent without being asked." Commander Virion put a hand on his shoulder. "Make sure to give him some love when he wakes up, we are concerned he may be losing himself, Rey."
"You're concerned?" Rey seemed confused by this. "What do you mean losing himself?"
"I was informed, when he was fighting against the mana beast, he was laughing and smiling as he killed them." When he heard this Rey's face went to an emotionless stare, like he was lost in the meaning, or didn't believe it. "I wouldn't talk to him about it, he may deny and be annoyed by it, so just care for him while he is here."
"I will." Rey began to walk into the room, and as we did, I sent him a smile. I cared for Veer and wanted the best for him. I only knew him for four months, but we spent almost every day together, so he grew on me.
As the door closed behind Rey, Commander Virion spoke up. "Lance Aya, I would like to speak more about what you saw; we also have to inform Aldir, he's probably in the council room."
"Grandfather!" The young Princess shouted as she ran down the hall. "Is Veer back? Is he okay?"
"Calm down, child, he's fine." The Commander pointed into the room. "His family is with him, why don't you give them some time." When he finished, the Princess barged into the room. She must care for the boy as well. "Never mind, let's go, Lance Aya."
That gave me an idea, as we walked, I started to talk. "Do you have any intentions of allowing Princess Tessia to join the war?"
"I know she wants too, why do you ask?" He turned my way.
"If we are looking for a way to help Veer out, maybe making him stay with the Princess will benefit them both." I paused for a second, letting the idea process. "She would be there for him mentally, keeping him sane, and Veer would be there with her, which means no serious harm would be done to either of them."
"That isn't a bad idea." The Commander thought it over. "The issue with that is that Virion likes his current team, taking him away from that might be worse." I didn't know his current team, I know that Callias Fleet and him were pretty close, at least it seemed that way.
"I met Callias, a member of his team, they seem pretty close." I chimed in. "Now that I think about it, he won't leave his team, but you could always place him in the same location as the Princess."
"Possibly." We turned into the council room. "We'll figure out something, no one wants that boy to breakdown." I wouldn't allow that to happen, Veer was strong, there was no way he would lose himself.