Capítulo 126: - The Remains of a Broken Bond
The blast of lightning was small, small enough that it only would have left a small patch of burnt grass and dirt behind its strike. The only problem for the salamander ws both its size, coupled with the mucus it had spread over its body, making a wet surface for the electricity to amplify itself over its body.
However, the thing that killed the monster in the end was the two metal weapons still protruding from its head that created a channel for the electricity through its brain and skull. The salamander was dead on impact.
The time that followed after the salamander's death was filled only with silent huffs of breath and small goans of pain and soreness. Lia especially could feel the exhaustion weighing down on her like a bolder. All the mana had been sucked from her body and left her mana pool empty.
It was not a pleasant feeling.
Lia watched as the farmer and his wife treated Lance and Rian, both of whom had sustained minor injuries from the attack, as Abigail sat down next to her on the grass.
"Are you alright?"
"Me?"
Lia turned her arms over to show that she had only small scars from the attack, mostly from rolling around on the dirt and rocky ground.
"I think I'm fine. Just at a loss of man right now."
Abigail's eyes were filled with a lingering look of suspicion as if she didn't believe that these small scars were everything, at least that was what Lia believed she was suspicious of. Until she spoke.
"Lia of Endless, I don't think you realize how special you really are?"
"Huh?"
"Not just anyone can do something like that. The whole reason people have summoned warriors in the first place is because we as humans can't use mana."
Lia frowned, since this was all things she knew and had heard of before. Humans were not capable of achieving feats with mana nor were they able to use mana the way summons did.
But she had only used a spell Cain had given her on the brink of losing her battle against the salamander. Normally summoners would be able to do that, if they earned the trust of their summons.
So why did Abigail look at her with such an empty gaze?
"Lia, humans aren't born with mana pools. We don't have them, so we are incapable of using mana, period. The fact that you were able to use a spell while your summons was still in your rune circle is a feat only heard of in stories."
"It can't be that impressive. I've read books on the -"
"Books, Lia. Books. Have you ever heard of someone doing something like that, or seen it with your own eyes? Even Bluey can't use magic because he's a Class 4 Beast summons. He is incapable of magic."
"Yeah, I know. Only wizards, witches and sorcerers have that capability. But Florence is a wizard - or sorcerer. Honestly it's too hard to tell the difference between the two types."
The conversation still didn't strike a cord in Lia, despite how hard Abigail was pushing to make her understand that what she just did is a rarity.
'You'll know when you see a sorcerer.'
'Is that a hint for my future Cain? A possible sorcerer in my army?'
'More like your enemy if you aren't careful. Just make sure you don't empty your mana pools so effortlessly next time, otherwise you'll be out of the fight before it even begins.'
'All right, I get it. I can now summon a lightning bolt so I do suppose I need to be careful when using it.'
Abigail grabbed Lia's shoulders, snapping her out of her conversation with Cain, the girl's eyes filled with shock but also anger.
"Lia, humans don't have mana pools! You should never have been able to do that!"
"Okay, calm down. So what if I performed a spell without my summons out? I told you I've read science books above things like this."
Abigail still shook her head, their conversation attracting the gaze of Shawl and Lukali, who were discussing amongst themselves a little ways away.
"You don't get it! Lia, you have a mana pool, that isn't in human biology! Only summons have mana pools and we can cast magic through them with their mana. Until they are summoned out, you can' cast magic!"
"...so what does that mean exactly?"
Abigail scoffed, holding her head in her hands as she tried to process all the thoughts going through her head like a stampeding bull.
"Well, you might be the first human in history to have a mana pool for starters! I don't even know how to process this?"
Abigail began pacing as Lia looked on in a little bit of shock but also worry as she began to realize the weight of Abigail's words.
"Look, I even bought this necklace from you so that I could channel magic through blue and amplify it!"
Holding up the purple necklace that Lia had sold her, Abigail began throwing her hands up in the air, frustrated.
"I mean, sure I can only cast small level spells like [Bear's Fear] that scares away small animals or [Nature's Speech] that lets me communicate with them, but I can cast literal lightning bolts from the skies! Even if you have an S rank summons, that is impossible!"
Lia stood, placing her hands on her shoulder, trying to calm Abigail down from hyperventilating.
'Cain, you wouldn't happen to be out right now, would you?'
'Uh…'
'You f*cker. You've just screwed me! How do I explain this now?'
'Make up a lie?'
'How do I make up a lie more believable than telling her I have three summons!'
'Neither of them sound believable-'
'I know that!'
As Abigail continued to argue with Lia, in disbelief at the very thing she had just witnessed, Rian stood up and began walking away. His injuries - despite being thrown into an already crumbling barn - were far smaller than Lances who took the frontal assault of the monster and still lived to tell the tale.
Rian knew that Lia most likely had used Cain to channel her mana into the spell - for he knew something about summons and summoners - but he didn't want to wait around and hear Abigail's yelling, while Lia tried to explain herself. He had something else he needed to see.
Walking around the farm Rian looked over the different broken bits of the wooden barn, some steel and iron bent and broken in several pieces and places. The large wooden beams that once held up the heavy wooden roof now lay shattered into splinters.
The land around the barn had been torn up, thrown around in piles of dirt and rubble, an after effect of the salamander's arrival. Something he could still picture as the beast tore through the front of the barn.
Towards the back end he passed the garden where he and Becka were once chatting and he fondly remembered his attitude then. Rian didn't know whether it was the close frontal assault against death, or if it was the fact he was no longer in his bad mood having been ordered into a position he did not like, by a man he liked even less.
Rian didn't know what it was, but he felt that he was too harsh to Becka then, especially since she was trying to make amends and was trying to apologize.
"Haa…Rian, why must you be such a d*ck all the time."
He silently mumbled to himself, brushing his hand over his shaven and bald head, his eyes passing over his many tattoos that decorated his arms.
Suddenly a voice rang out startling him.
"Maybe because you don't know how to handle women."
"What! Who!"
Rian twisted around, left and right, searching for the owner of the voice, yet he found no one around him.
"Look down you doofus."
Rian did as the voice told him, and found the owner of the sweet and smooth voice. Becka sat on the ground, shaded by a small remaining bit of the barn's wall, leaning against it.
"Becka?"
"Ah, so you remember my name."
She smiled a bright and beautiful smile that even made Rian's heart skip a beat as she urged him to sit down next to her.
"Here sit. Though I don't know if you want to or not, I would prefer the company."
Rian got an odd feeling in his chest as he quickly skimmed over Becka's body, looking for any wounds or obvious signs of bleeding. However, he could only see some small cuts and bruises, a trail of blood flowing down her cheek from a scar on her forehead.
Seeing that he had nothing to lose and that Becka didn't have any bad intentions, he sat some distance from her, to the point that Becka would have to lean to her side if she wanted to reach him.
"Cautious?"
"Careful. What do you want to say anyways."
"Nothing much, I just thought that I could see the company seeing as how I'll be stuck here for sometime."
Rian frowned, reminding himself that he saw no wounds on Becka's body, but the thought of imagining her body didn't sit well with him as he felt his face getting hot.
"Why do you say that?"
Becka shrugged, her loose clothes shifting and blowing in the wind.
"I'm not much of a fighter. Sword dancers are just dancers really. In a battle one on one against another person, yeah we can be dangerous and deadly, but against a monster like that…"
"You can't do much?"
"Yeah. Especially when I'm in a group next to one of the best archers I've ever seen, a knight with immeasurable strength and courage and a summoner, who speaks for herself mind you. I won't contribute much to a battle anyways."
"That shouldn't stop you from trying. You claimed you were a good fighter, so why hide in the dark?"
Becka's eyes widened but soon subsided as she realized Rian had seen through her like glass and water. She hugged herself, turning her eyes towards the ground in shame.
"So you now know. You know how much of a coward I am. Go on and tell Lance he should dump me as his swords, pick up someone better and whatever else he can think of."
"I won't do that."
"Yeah, sure you won't. You hate me inside, I can see it in your eyes. You hate me for what I said last night. "We could have cleared that mine easily" - gods how stupid can I be! I'm over here hiding from a monster I'm terrified of and yet I have the gall to say something like that when people died."
"People did die, but most died out of fear, not courage."
Becka stopped, frowned and turned to Rian.
"What does that mean? You're letting me that all those people who died in the mines died for fear? Despite throwing themselves against all those spiders?"
Rian shook his head, calm and careful with his words as a man would be to his wife when soothing her anger.
"They fought out of fear. Fear that they would die and their children would be the ones to take on their mantle. Fear that they would die and their families would be left with nothing."
"But then why throw themselves to their deaths -"
"Because they were afraid of losing something more important. They knew the people around them would all die, and they would all close the families they cared so much for. So they fought in hopes that some people would survive, that some people could go home and live to wake up in the morning with their families, even if they couldn't."
"..."
"Save some, even if you can't save them all."
Rian's voice was filled with a deep and imposing sadness that took hold of Becka like a dark shadow that loomed over the last light of the night, waiting for it to fade out and die.
"How can you live like that? How can you live without being haunted by those dreams, those memories?"
"I am. Every night I see the same dark tunnel, the same blood that spills my vision, and the same friends I lose every night. I still can't go in another tunnel. If I ever see another mine or cave again, I'll lose myself."
He held a hand to his face, his own voice shaking in fear as Becka realized that Rian wasn't the strong man she had mistaken him for. He was broken, like a shattered mirror, but he didn't let the pieces go to waste.
Silently, she whispered and murmured to herself.
"I wish I could be as strong as you."
"No you don't. Strength comes from fear. Fear comes from courage, and vice versa. To have fear, you must have courage first."
"I don't even have the courage to face my fears."
"Why is that?"
Becka grew silent, watching the wind push against the grass, shimmering in the sun's bright rays of light.
"When I was a girl, my town was attacked by a monster. He was huge, tall and mighty. A stone giant is what they call them. He tore through my town and killed many people. Even though my family survived, I will never forget how I felt at that moment."
"Like a lake swallowing you in the depths of its darkness."
"...yeah. I haven't broken my fear since, and I know it seems stupid of me to become a Hunter if I fear monsters. But I honestly thought that having such strong and courageous people by my side, I would be able to overcome my fears."
She placed her head in her hands, her voice breaking as Rian could already tell tears were about ready to fall from her face.
"I'm worthless."
Rian silently watched her, careful to search for the right words to console her, but he found none. Instead, he found his body moving closer to her, until she was embraced and silenced in his hug.
"So you want to be like me?"
"...like you? Yes. Yes! You don't let fear control you like it does to me. It holds me and it's cold, so cold. It hurts every time I breathe…"
"If you want to be like me. Then I will teach you."
"How…w-what?"
Rian broke the hug, standing up as he offered a hand on Becka.
"I will teach you how to walk with your fear, rather than be led by it."
Becka didn't know what had overcome her in that moment, but despite all the things she felt swarming her heart and soul, she felt the overwhelming urge to take his hand as she wiped away the tears on her face.
But, she sadly couldn't.
"Rian. I'm sorry but I can't."
"Why not?"
"...my leg. It's broken."
It was then that Rian saw her broken leg, cursing himself for having not seen the odd angle her knee was facing. She would be bedridden for months. But, he sucked in a deep breath, and gave himself courage.
In one swift motion, surprising Becka whose face turned from sadness to one of surprise and embarrassment, Rian picked her up in his arms and carried her.
His strong muscles bulged underneath her legs and back as he moved swiftly around the barn's side, a strong feeling overcoming Becka as she looked down at her own hands.
Before she could stop herself, she found her head resting against his warm chest.
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