Under the Light of the World at War: Early Chapter 22

Hello! I am adding a new story into my Patreon, Under the Light of the World at War. If you haven't checked out this story before it was in my snippet thread on SB, but today has graduated to a full fic! Here is the SB thread so you can read if you are just starting. https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/under-the-light-of-the-world-at-war-warcraft-gamer-si.1276796/

Also on Ao3, in the snippet thread there. https://archiveofourown.org/works/57686020/chapters/146801035

“You can’t catch me!” Kimi squealed as I chased after her. Stupid long legs! I even gave her a +2 Agility Rabbit cloak and now she was too fast! Cheater!

Kimi was right, I hadn’t seen her in a while and taking a break to play, just playing around doing silly stuff was something that had a value you couldn’t put onto a stat sheet.

“Oh look!” Kimi stopped instantly and I had to break and nearly dance around just to avoid smashing into her.

“Oh it’s a bird. I’ve never seen one like that.” Kimi said and I looked up and looked at the very bright hawk.

What a weird…

“Kimi… Is that bird painted?” I asked, and she tilted her head as she looked at it.

“Hmm. Yeah I think it is!”

“Kimi, can you call the bird, get it to come down. We can’t let it fly away. I need to get Mama, or Liennar.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Just do it please. For me?”

“Okay… Hmm It’s a bitey bird, so food should do it… Let’s see. Hey pretty bird you want some jerky?I bet you doo~” Kimi called, holding out a piece of Jerky and the bird locked onto her.

Good. I turned and jogged off, being nice and calm before breaking into a spring once I was far enough away.

Why does this keep happening!

Mama wasn’t here. She was running, but Liennar was. I ran to his house and pounded on the door. 

“Liennar!”

“Hey! What?” It wasn’t Liennar it was Cal. The grumpy teen looked like he had just woken up and was glaring.

“A hawk! Painted. Not a bird native to the woods.”

“Kim’Jael. That’s a spy bird!”

“I figured! Kimi is trying to distract it.”

“Show me.” He demanded and we both rushed off, after he grabbed his bow and a quiver.

Racing back across the town, we were almost there when we heard it. The shriek of a hawk, and a scream of pain.

“Kimi!” I roared rushing forward, did a Troll catch up to her!?

But the noise of flapping wings above me made me look up. The Hawk was flying away, a piece of jerky in its mouth. Then a Twang.

The bird fell from the sky, an arrow through it.

“Nice shot!” I called out behind me, but didn’t stop, coming into the clearing to see Kimi sitting in a slump and crying. Her arm bloody.

“Kimi!” I roared charging forward, catching up to her as she looked at me, eyes full of tears as I saw the gashes in her arm.

My hands lit up with Holy Light. I got this. I could handle this. She was okay. Just some slashes. Nothing serious.

I cast the spell, watching as the light closed the cut marks, even with all the blood gushing out.

Not enough. Cast again.

I jumped to the second highest power I could and this time the wounds completely closed.

“Doooraaaah!” Kimi cried as she slammed into me, bawling into my shoulder as she still clutched her arm.

Yeah it’s gonna still hurt, and Kimi wasn’t good with pain.

“It’s okay Kimi, you're okay. The pain will fade.” But she just kept crying as I held her.

“She alright?” Cal asked, and Kimi’s sniffles didn’t quiet at his voice.

“She is. She got scratched by the hawk. I healed it.”

“Good thing you can do that… You both should go home.” He said, the most serious I’d ever heard the teen act, I looked over. In his hand was the hawk dead, but the fact its wings were painted? That wasn’t elven paint, it was gritty and rough, and looked nothing like symbols we would use.

I nodded, and he turned heading to do what he needed to do.

“Come on Kimi, let's get you home. We can put some ice on your arm to make it feel better.” I urged, tugging her up which she didn’t really resist, but didn’t help me with, and soon I walked her back to her home.

Thankfully her mother was home. The woman took one look at Kimi and scooped her up into a hug looking over her, obviously searching for all the blood.

I took a moment to get some water and made some ice cubes and wrapped them in a towel, as Kimi was sat down.

Handing over the ice to her mother, the woman knew what to do, and soon Kimi was less crying and more sniffling as the cold helped reduce the phantom pain from healing.

“What happened? Kimi-bear?”

“The bird was bad!” She sniffled out. Causing her mother to look confused. 

“A Hawk… Painted. I… I think it was a Trolls.” I whispered, the last part, not that either wouldn’t hear me.

The woman's eyes widened and then feared, nodding.

“Thank you for telling me. We’ll have to do something about that.” 

“Cal got it, so it won’t be back.” I told her, without really saying it was dead. Kimi was sensitive about birds after all.

I looked down, realizing my hands were shaking.

—--

“It was the Trolls, yes. They train birds sometimes as scouts… They can see through the animals' eyes.” Mama said bluntly and I hissed.

That meant no matter what… They knew where the village was.

“What… What do we do?”

“You? Nothing Dorah. My Light. You can relax. That’s what I am here for.” Mama said with a wink, even if it was more strained than normal. Her not being here when this happened had caused her a lot of anxiety.

“But they know where we are.”

“They’ve always known Dorah. Trolls have been attacking us for centuries here. No this was a scout to see what the village had in it. Not to find the village.”

“We… What defenses do we have? Should Papa and I make some enchantments or something? Maybe traps? Or-”

“Dorah.” Mama bent down and pressed a hand to my forehead. “The Village is safe. We have defenses, and three Rangers, even if Cal is young. The Trolls know to avoid us.”

“Only until they decide to attack with enough that it doesn’t matter.”

“That would be very foolish. El’Tela may be old, but Trolls coming here would not last long.”

I frowned, because I don’t think that was enough. El’Tela was powerful, but… I knew the Trolls attacked, and I knew they pushed the High Elves hard. All the way back to the Ban’dinoriel. And what good would that do us when we were days away from it?

Mama just smiled and stroked my head like I was a child afraid of the dark.

I wasn’t afraid of something that wasn’t there, I was afraid of something that very much was.

—--

“El’Tela. I think… I believe the Trolls are going to attack us.” I said the next morning, while she sipped her tea, she looked up, laid her teacup back on the plate and looked at me.

“The Trolls are always trying to attack us. It is a minor issue.”

“We had a scout in the village yesterday.”

“I was informed. The bird. As well as the injury and that it was killed. Such isn’t unusual. They enjoy harming us whenever they can.

“They are getting closer to the village, and are scouting us.”

“They have done so in the past, and their attacks end as they always do. In fire.” She looked me over. “Why are you so frightened?”

“Because I can see that we all underestimate them. I don’t. They don’t need magic to harm us. Just to throw enough of themselves at us.”

“That is impossible. The Trolls hate each other almost as much as they hate us. I have a book on their ‘culture’ perhaps some reading will help?”

“I don’t think it will.” I told her, and she frowned but nodded. 

“Very well. The best way to regain confidence is to know you have nothing to fear… We will learn a new spell today.”

“A new spell?”

“Yes. One that will show you there is nothing to fear.”

She continued to eat then, leaving me sitting there, and… New spell? Awesome great! I love new spell! Yay!

But that wouldn’t make me feel safe. It wouldn’t make everyone in the village safe when the Trolls came.

It might be time to start preparing some things just in case.

What could I do? No, stop thinking about helplessness.

I was a Mage. A Wizard is only as powerful as the time they have to prepare. So I would just have to be powerful.

First, defense. Everyone knew an offensive spell, but getting a few casts would be all most of the villagers could do.

Could I change that? There were ways to store mana, Mana Gems, and potions, but I didn’t know either of those.

So… Weapons? Can’t be a sword, I don’t even have one… Sharpened stick for a spear? 

No that’s stupid they wouldn’t even want to use that, they’d want magic… Wand.

I could make a bunch of wands, for use in an emergency. I had the essence, and I wasn’t really using it anyways.

Okay, that’s good, that’ll give everyone a bit more to defend themselves with. Now… Walls? Traps?

Don’t have either of those, Couldn’t exactly dig a pit around the village, nor could I raise a wall.

But I didn’t really need that. I just needed a way to slow the Trolls down. Together we would be safe, but they would be fast…

They were fast in the forest, but they were big, they couldn’t squeeze into places…. They didn’t use mounts… Right?

Fuck I don’t know, maybe. How do you stop mounted trolls?

Well… I guess the same way you stop mounted anything. Terrain they couldn’t get through… Caltrops.

Did I have a spell that could make Caltrops? Well… Yes, actually. Ice cubes. Shit if I hated Zo’Talana, I could have used spiked ice cubes on him during our duel, heh. The look on his face would have been hilarious.

Okay… So I make a Caltrop spell, but it’s ice. Can’t store that. Need another-

“If you wish to stay here and stare at the table, that is a choice.”

“Huh. Oh yes. Sorry.” I stood up and followed El’Tela. She led us up and into the library and there she walked over and pulled a book off the shelves, this time needing only a moment to find it.

“Page ten. Learn the spell, do not damage anything in my home. It is not a toy to play with. If  you harm someone with it, you had better have harmed them because they deserve it.” She handed me the book and I opened it up.

It wasn’t a book I recognized but the spell was.

“You know, I tried to bribe Sav’Kinara to let me learn this spell when she got it from Ma’Rika.”

“Did you now?”

“She refused, I was really annoyed by that.” I explained. Mana Bolt. A very basic, very minimal Arcane attack. It was no Fireball, it was no Ice Bolt.

But, it was an offensive spell.

“Hmm. The girl is wise then. Aim at the dummy, do not hit the walls, the windows, or not even Anar’alah Belore will save you, and especially my carpets!”

“Yes Magistrix.”

“Good.”

I looked at the spell. Simple enough, gather mana, convert to Arcane, the Arcane would hold an edge, basically acting like a cutting wedge as it hit. Simple, nothing complex. 

Sitting down I looked over the spell structure, it was new. I’d never seen some of the flows and swirls in this spell, which meant, new ideas get! But focus, this was an offensive spell, something that could save me from a Troll.

Time to buckle down quickly.

I cast Arcane Intellect the full version on myself, sighing as my Mana pool increased. It was getting close to another level up.

Then I just placed the book down, and brought my hands together, gather Mana, run it through the correct structure, the mana would shift into arcane, the spell would form, and then I just throw it.

Carefully.

It fought me at first, but the first time I tried the spell flew from my hand. Anemic and a bit wonky, it hit the combat dummy. It knocked it back a bit, but it easily regained its ‘footing’ and then waited.

[Spell Learned: Mana Bolt]

I checked the sheet, as the slight changes to the way I had formed the spell slotted into place. 

[Mana Bolt 1/10]

Time to grind this.

I cast it again, and it cracked against the dummy much more solid. Good, that would actually do a bit of damage against a charging Troll.

—--

“Hey Kimi!” I called out as I waited for Kimi to get out of Class. She looked up, and was obviously morose, but she walked over.

“Hey Dorah.”

“How are you?” I asked, nudging up close to her.

“I’m okay.”

“Does it still hurt? I can heal some more.”

“No. The pain is gone.” She said sadly. “I’m okay.”

“Okay, want to play some games? I have all afternoon.”

“Mhmmm. Okay.” She said perking up a little, but I could tell she was still down. We ended up flying flowers around one of the fields. Some of the flowers that grew around the village were excellent toys. If you rolled them in between your hands, the flower would catch the wind and fly up into the air a ways. So Kimi and I flew flowers around for a while, and eventually I relaxed, as she was giggling and having fun.

But then when we took a break she was frowny and down again.

“Kimi?”

“The bird attacked me.” She side quietly, as I sat down next to her. “I was just trying to be friends with it. I’ve never had a bird attack me before… I thought birds liked me.”

“I… It might not have been the bird Kimi.” I answered, leaning in and rolling the flower just in front of her face so it blew a bit of wind at her, she giggled a bit at the feeling.

“What do you mean? It was… The Hawk.”

“Mama told me, the Trolls use birds as scouts, they can see through their eyes and stuff… And control them. So it might have been a Troll.”

She gasped as she sat up.

“Is that why? The hawk came down and he was a gentle bird at first, and we were looking at each other and then he just attacked me!”

“Yeah, it sounds like your bird powers were definitely working. But I don’t think Trolls are part of that.”

“It’s not bird powers Dorah! That’s silly! I just… I like them.”

“I know. Sorry that it hurt you… I didn’t know it could, or I wouldn’t have left you with it.”

“It’s okay.” She nudged into me, and then stood up. “I’m not gonna be sad anymore I’ll just be such a good bird friend that even the birds controlled by Trolls will love me more!”

“That’s a good dream Kimi.” I said and she grinned and then reached over and poked me right on my nose.

“Boop! Tag!” Then raced off laughing as I gawked for half a second.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” I roared as I chased after her. The two of us frolicking in the field of flowers until the sun dipped down.

—--

It was going to happen eventually, and I’m glad it did.

I was working on refining Mana Bolt when the level finally ticked over.

Spell Refinement wasn’t done, which was awesome. I could keep making my spells even better with the knowledge I gained at the level up, but Arcane Focus?

That was something entirely new, and as I brought my hand up, I looked at the flowing Mana, and shifted that mana into Arcane…

It was sort of weapon specialization except for magical power. In this case, I knew how to bypass Arcane resistance. Spells were amazing, but sometimes people could just blow through a spell, their own magic countering mine.

Arcane Focus would help stop that. It meant my spell would hit, and damage, and I wouldn’t waste my time on spells that were shrugged off.

Useful. Very useful.

But interesting it wasn’t just something I did to my spells while casting, but something I had to prepare in advance. 

It was a method inbuilt as part of the refining process. 

A metamagic. An alteration to my Arcane spells. So it meant I needed… To remake all of my arcane spells… Again.

“Euugh.” I slumped over looking out over the village. Kimi was doing family stuff this afternoon, and I’d spent all morning working on Arcane Bolt with El’Tela. It was leveling fast, and she was  kinda right.

Even with all the other ideas I’d had that day with the hawk, having actual combat magic did make me feel better. My room was a bit of a mess. I’d been transforming all the Essence I had into wands, they were stacked up on the desk for now.

I had more to do, but I was tired. I’d been doing a lot recently. Not that I minded fun grinds, but… The anxiety of the trolls kinda ruined it. I wasn’t grinding just for fun, I was preparing. Like games with a time limit only I didn’t even know what the time limit was. 

But then as I lay there looking at my room, at the sunlight shifting slowly, as the sun fell… I could put up with it. I would keep grinding, and keep getting stronger, because someday, I would need it to protect my home. 

I sat back up. I had a few more wands I could make, and then I’d practice Mana Bolt some more.

Might need to make a shield as well. I could probably figure out something again. I’d made my own shield once, I could do it again.

And just as I was whittling down another wand, I heard it. The sound I’d always dreaded!

“Dorah!” My heart shifted as I jumped up clashing the Wand back onto the desk and running downstairs.

“Mama!?”

“Alah’Dorah!”

“I didn’t do it!” I cried out as I rushed downstairs sliding to a stop as Mama in her Ranger gear, just getting back from a range, was standing there straight and tall. “It definitely wasn’t me this time! I swear! I haven’t touched it!”

“Touched what?”

“Whatever it is that I didn’t touch!” I nearly shrieked as mama looked on, my heart beating and Papa looked confused…

Papa looked confused with a funny little hat on his head…

What?

I looked at Mama and noticed her holding back laughter.

“You’re messing with me!”

“I am! Because you deserve it! How could you?” She asked, leaning over and pulling me into a hug.

“Uhh… Whatever it is, it wasn’t me?”

“How could you forget your own birthday!?” Mama said laughing as she pulled me off my feet and flung me around.

“Birthday?”

“Ah, I forgot too… I’m Sorry, my Light. I didn’t even realize what day it was.” Papa said, as Mama swung me around, and he actually sounded a bit distraught about it. The silly little hat Mama had no doubt put on his head made it really funny though.

“It’s my birthday?”

“Silly girl!” Mama said laughing.

I guess it was my birthday. Huh. Who knew?