Camas turned white, nodding furiously.
“Now go,” the voice said as Camas’ lackeys mysteriously reappeared from the ground. Alive, and seemingly unharmed. “Tell no one of what transpired tonight. If you do…”
“Y-yes. We won’t. T-thank you, Ash Guardian. Thank you!” Camas said, scrambling away on all fours like a prana gopher. Only later did he realize he could walk.
The bully and his lackeys sprinted off into the night, leaving Sajan alone.
Alone with the demon of the night.
“Don’t let them bully you,” a voice said from behind him.
Sajan nodded, not daring to turn around.
“Don’t join them.”
“W-will you take my life?”
“Not tonight. But if you cower before them again…”
“I-I understand. I won’t. I won’t do their bidding. I swear to you!”
“And the next time you see someone in your position?”
“I’ll help them! Even if it costs my life! I’ll stop their bullying.”
“Ensure you do…”
“W-who are you?” Sajan asked, finally mustering the courage to sneak a peek behind him.
But his eyes found only a dark, dirty alley. He was alone.
Soon, a rumor blossomed within Brij—a demon lurked in its depths. A demon that only came out at night, who guarded the weak.
Days later, when Mina’s spies learned of the rumor, they found nothing. Only villagers and their idle gossip. After interrogating the kids, they did learn of an individual who leveraged the powers of shadow to accomplish superhuman feats, which they promptly reported to their liege.
But when Mina learned Vir’s trail had gone cold, all she could do was scream in rage. The crippled princess was forced to scour northern Hiranya for a ghost that was no longer there.
Meanwhile in Brij, the legend of the Ash Guardian spread like wildfire. First among the children, then by the adults. Of one who defended the weak, who protected those in need. The legend of the Ash Guardian would make bullies shiver in their shoes for years to come.
All thanks to the tireless efforts of Sajan of Brij.
3SQUAD LEADER MAIYA
(PART ONE)
Maiya donned her handmaiden’s dress with an efficiency she wouldn’t have thought possible a month or two ago. She strapped her thigh holsters over her pantyhose, brewed her tea—which had improved so much, even the head handmaiden gave her compliments these days—and left her room with confident steps.
Gone was her insecurity and clumsiness. She strode boldly. She looked her peers in the eyes. Warriors and handmaids alike nodded in respect as she passed through the halls of the Kin’jal Three Garrison.
When she’d first been posted here, she was sure she’d never return, having only heard stories of the Ash Beasts. Mythical creatures from the Age of Gods, who relied on the Ashen Realm’s enormous prana densities to survive.
Beings that could level entire cities on a whim.
While the Ash Beasts that ventured into the human realm tended to be less powerful—weakened by the relative dearth of prana—they nonetheless proved to be the most terrifying things Maiya had ever seen.
It wasn’t just their fearsome Balar Ranks, or their primal screams. Every Ash Beast Maiya encountered was… crazed. Deranged in a way that warped their impressive strength into something horrific. Something straight out of the worst nightmares.
One never knew when a beast would randomly go on a suicide mission to chomp a warrior in two. The image had kept her from sleeping for days.
And yet, even nightmares can become routine if encountered often enough. Today was yet another day of fending off Ash Beasts. An average day killing mythical monsters who’d make most people quake in their boots.
It was only thanks to Vir’s techniques for manipulating prana that allowed her to progress so rapidly. Ever since he’d shown her how to control her body’s prana so many months ago, creating a prana ‘suction’ in her hand, she’d practiced her magic religiously, continuously honing her prana manipulation. She’d even experimented with variations to enhance that effect. It was an agonizingly slow process, but every mejai she encountered considered her growth abnormally fast.
Even so, she knew Vir must have far outstripped her by now with his considerable knowledge of the workings of prana.
Maiya entered her squad’s room to find the five in various states of readiness.
“Ready inspection!” Maiya shouted. Her squad immediately lined up, their hands behind their backs in a parade rest.
Each were Kin’jal Balarian Elites, and each had grown with her, becoming the hardened veterans they were today.
“Back straight,” Maiya commanded, pointing to one of her squad as she looked each of them up and down.
“Dress your armor, it’s slightly off,” she said to another.
“Yes, ma’am!”
Each warrior wore black gambeson under their plate metal cuirasses, gauntlets, and pauldrons. And yet, gaps remained between their armor. Her squad prioritized mobility over sheer protection—a single swipe from an Ash Wolf’s paw could ruin armor, and a Phantomblade’s spike projectiles could penetrate even plate armor.
The best defense against an Ash Beast was to never be hit—the armor was there mainly for emergencies.
It was why only two of her squad wore shields—circular bucklers strapped to their forearms. Her shield bearers used spears, while the rest sported polearms. All had talwars at their waist.
Except for her. She was stuck with her concealed daggers. To this day, she felt it was pure challing idiocy to send handmaidens out against Ash Beasts with only daggers, but Maiya had made the most of the situation. Her magic meant she rarely needed to come close to one of those beasts; her squad wielded long weapons for a reason. To get close to an Ash Beast was just begging to be maimed.
“Alright, listen up. We’re patrolling Section D today. There’s been an outbreak of Ash Beasts in this area recently, so expect to engage.”
“What will we be up against?” one of her squad asked.
“Mostly Ash Wolves. Possibly some Phantomblades and Raptors.”
“Shredders?”
Maiya shook her head. “We haven’t seen any. But if we do encounter one, we’ll retreat. Stay tight. Stay alert, and we’ll get through this just fine. Move out!”
Section D was a half hour Ash’va ride away. Owing to the danger of their mission, they each rode with a tender, who dropped them off and left them alone. Ash’va were too vulnerable against Ash Beasts. Keeping them anywhere near the front lines all but guaranteed their deaths.
It also meant that if Maiya needed to retreat, she’d have to send a signal flare and wait for rescue, which could be a half hour away. An eternity for a squad in a crisis.
The great Ash Wall loomed before them in the distance. The wall was built exclusively to keep Ash Beasts at bay, but these creatures defied reason. Some jumped over the walls, while others seemed to pop into existence behind it. The Ash Boundary looked like a gash in the earth—like a liquid metal mirror that ringed the Known World, extending up into the sky for as far as the eye could see. Crossing that Boundary put one into the Ashen Realm.
But the opposite was not true. When Ash Beasts crossed into the human realm, they appeared in a range of locations. Most appeared on the correct side of the wall, but there were always anomalies that got through. Maiya’s squad’s mission was to take them out, lest they escape and wreak havoc in a town or city.
It was a thankless, dangerous, never-ending duty that all countries that bordered the Ash had undertaken for millennia.
“Look sharp. We’ve got incoming!” Maiya shouted, eying a pack of four Ash Wolves who’d scaled the wall.