The world was full of various types of elements. Not just the ones which could produce only ice and water but there were elements even powerful enough to manipulate one's thinking and even space time. Species like humans evolved around those elements, learned to wield them and made their everyday lives easy with that.
Not only that, human mages were powerful enough to shower anything with boundless destruction which dared to stand in their way. Obviously not every mage was capable enough to wield magic to such an extent.
The fact here was, if humans could learn to use their surroundings according to their will, what could've stopped the other species from doing the same? Therefore there were species apart from humans capable of wielding elements as well. And with magic everything depended upon the mastery of it, regardless of species.
By using elements, other species had also made themselves strong enough to fight their predators. So the prey became stronger and the predator became even more stronger.
Beasts were the common occurrence along with the humans which used the elements mostly in physical defence. To make themselves stronger. Some species of beasts used to increase their size and some evolved hard stone-like skin. Well, these were the information about known beasts since many species of them remained unknown to mankind till date.
Somewhat far from the nameless town, in the boundary met with the southern woods. Which happened to be the home to many beasts, monsters or who could tell even creatures. August was having a fine day until he saw Shelly coming his way.
No, more like he was going her way? Well what does it matter anyway. He was chilling and came up with a silly plan to startle her by hiding in the bushes. And what do you know? His plan worked like a charm. August felt satisfied.
For a short moment at least until a reptilian beast rumoured to be roaming around decided to show up. Well, the beast was of a lesser rank. Or so it was rumoured to be.
But August begged to differ. Before him a tall lizard-like beast towered like a giant. Blocking his sight of the beautiful veil of clouds above. And to make matter worse, they were quite far away from the town for anyone to come to their aid.
The giant reptilian beast was gazing down at them with its black beads like eyes. A ton of saliva or it felt like that dripping down from its gigantic maw. Its bright azure scales exuded a vibrant and at the same time dark and hungry vibes. Its long tail spread across the whole place behind itself, making it impossible to gauge the true length of the grotesque beast. Its four thick limbs ended with sharp razor-like claws, each.
From the look of it, the beast wasn't some pitiful one who happens to forget its way home. If anything, the monstrosity seemed completely opposed to that idea. It seems as if the beast was here just to hunt some humans and help itself to some of the human meals.
The kind which cannot be left to wander around a human town because of its murderous frenzy.
August looked at the beast and cursed the person who called this rumoured beast as a lesser one.
'Rumours are rumours alright.'
Well, the beast was indeed of lesser rank the reality was even the lesser ones were not to be taken lightly. The proof was before him.
August took a defensive stance, ready to counter any sudden movement from the beast. He pulled out his sword from the sheath. It was the time to put all what he learnt about swordsmanship to use. All that training, all that teachings of his father. August was going to test it out today.
It wasn't like he hasn't faced a beast before. He did one time in the past. But that was more of a practice fight that was also in the guidance of his father. August managed to take that small lesser rank beast down in no time because that was already very weak.
He completely gave up on magic after the trial class incident. When August found out how much he could hurt people around him under the influence of echoes he tried his best to keep the elemental magic out of his brain.
The thoughts however kept coming back again and again. So he dedicated himself to meditation in order to suppress the desires of using magic as well as the echoes. By stabilizing his mind with total concentration, he was able to put up a resistance against his child-like desires.
From then, he dedicated himself to swordsmanship. Changing his mind from wanting to become a mage to a warrior wasn't an easy path. He had to shift his perception from mana to physical movements. He had to resist his desire to use magic with a sword like his father used to do. He had to give up so many things in order to not repeat his past mistakes again.
But it wasn't like echoes had left him alone or his perception of mana had not tried to distract him. In these four years August tried his best to divert his attention from a mage to becoming a magicless warrior. He does need some skills to remain safe in this world after all.
August shivered as the gigantic lizard let out an audible hiss. The air shifted as it pulled its thin, two-sided tongue out to feel the surroundings. Even though he was a good swordsman now, facing a lesser beast wasn't an easy feat at all. This time his father wasn't around to ensure his safety. August felt nervous, the sudden movements of the beast's tongue sending chills down his spine.
There it was, the fear of facing a beast, the fear of being its food, the fear of …death.
August however didn't back off. He didn't run. He knew well he had to deal with the beast here and now. It will be too late if he runs off to his mother or father.
Also he wasn't alone. Shelly and the vendor were here too. He wasn't worried about Shelly though. She was obviously powerful enough to battle this abomination. With the wind magic added to her strength, she could wound the beast gravely even if she fails to kill it. Vendor wasn't a fighter obviously. So he could run away.
The one August was worried about was himself. He didn't have the strength to wound the beast and obviously couldn't command elements to his aid. But even then, he stood firm. He had a thing for running from responsibilities but when he did however take one on himself he felt inclined to see it through no matter what. In this regard he was both responsible and irresponsible.
— — —
August held his double edged sword with both of his hands making the grip on it even tighter in nervousness. Beside him Shelly shifted and closed the fingers of both of her hands in fists.
….what?
'Fists?'
"What?" August shouted purely from reflex, "Where is your weapon? You maniac."
"Weapon?" Shelly raised a brow making one corner of her lips curl upwards in a smug expression, "Can't you see these hands Child?"
'She's lost it. Yes definitely. Afterall it has happened. Today of all times'
"Oh!" August turned his head towards the beast. A mixture of emotions written on his face worry, anger and …pity, "May gods help us."
One emotion however, never dared to display itself on his face around Shelly's vicinity. Surprise.
Yes, he became immune to that, around that mindless girl. No one, even the gods —could discern what Shelly would say in her stupidest and wild stories. So, surprise was all that was in those stories. Like who the hell goes eating around a whole sack of rice. Yes, rice. Raw at that. She ate that when she was a kid. She is at present also but the wildest part is she remembers that crazy incident all too well.
So if she wanted to beat this seemingly lesser beast with her two fists. Who was he to stop her?
August looked at the terrified man holding two full buckets of milk, sighed and braced himself to face the reptilian beast.
— — —
August waited for a moment to strike the beast but Shelly didn't, her excitement was way too over the board to practice patience. She conjured a gust of wind beneath her feet and used the push to lunge at the beast. Despite its huge size the beast was very quick in movement.
Dodging the punch to its face, the beast completely moved out of the way and struck Shelly with the quick movements of its huge, thick tail. Throwing the girl far into the woods.
'Damn, that moron'
August followed behind Shelly's attack, not giving the beast any more time to react. With his quick reflexes and years of precision with the sword, he tried to slice its tail. Or to wound it at least.
August was quick, but the beast was quicker. Saving its tail on time the beast tried to crush the boy beneath its gigantic claws. The ground shook when the huge beast's claw landed on it leaving a huge footprint on the wet dirt.
Surprisingly August managed to jump out of the harm's way in time. Panting at a distance he tried to shake the fear of a near death encounter off. As it turns out it wasn't that easy. August rushed forward at the beast with a roar despite the resistance of his body.
His double edged blade met with the razor-like claw of the reptilian beast for a moment at least. Because it turned out the force behind the beast's attack was too much to handle for a child like him. Using the momentum in the opposite direction, he pushed himself away from the reptile. Now holding the sword with one hand as his other hand was busy pushing the bleeding shoulder wound he got from one of the beast's claws.
Somewhat far away from the battlefield winds shifted, Shelly lunged at the beast with full force aided by winds. She held the horn-like projections on his head tightly making the beast scream in pain and agony. Locking her legs around its neck she started to hit the beast at its head continuously with her fist.
Not only did Shelly excel in physical combat naturally, her core element– wind also aided her in boosting her strength unconsciously. Therefore her excellence in commanding the element consciously didn't matter much. She wasn't that bright in magic.
Who the hell wanted to command an element if it was making her invincible already. And that also without her doing anything.
Shelly showered the beast with her fists again and again making it almost lose consciousness. The beast however shook its head vigorously, not letting the girl above regain her footing. Resulting in throwing the young girl on the ground.
Without wasting a second August dashed forward with both of his hands on the blade. His black clothes tattered around the wound and drenched in his own blood. Ignoring the pain he moved his blade against the raising claw of the beast and struck it at the soft spots. The skin between claws, which was not protected by the hard keratin-like material.
The blade sliced without having to encounter much resistance. The dark red blood flowed from within the sliced wound painting the ground beneath in its dark shade. A corner of August's lips curled upwards in a faint smile as he uttered under his breath,
"Got you"
Huge claw of the gigantic beast went limp, making the giant lose its balance. However it didn't fall on the ground as August expected it to. The three claws of the beast were in perfect shape after all. Not to mention its enormously long tail which was stuck to the ground this whole time.
Even with its continuously bleeding wound, the beast didn't seem to be losing. If anything, this small act pissed off the beast more. Earlier the emotion in his eyes which seemed to be of hunger now was replaced with cold murderous intent.
The reptile hissed, as its vibrant azure scales shone bright in the grey light of the cloudy day. August looked at the annoyed beast with nervousness.
'We're so dead'
— — — — —