The idea for this particular mission was brought up by Cain. The reflections had been sparring against each other when he announced it.
"That's all for today, guys. Now rest up, you'll need all your strength tomorrow", he said.
"What's happening tomorrow?", they asked in unison.
"Special field training", he replied with a wide grin on his face.
And now three days later, Rio and Thomas found themselves standing outside a creepy forest all the while being assaulted by whispers.
"Special training my foot", Thomas said feeling salty.
"Let's just get this over with", Rio sigh. He placed his hand on his counterpart's shoulder, suddenly both of them vanished out of sight.
"It seems they're starting. Would you like to bet on how long it they would need to clear it?", Cain joked. He and Seth had observed everything that happened before.
"I'd rather not bet on the life..or rather lives of my nephew", Seth replied.
"You're no fun... that's why you're still single", he muttered earning him a look of disdain from Seth.
"Don't mind me", he hurriedly said.
*
*
*
Two identical individuals materialized in a world engulfed by mist. Deformed trees stood as twisted remnants of the life that once existed here, which only added to already dreadfully chilling atmosphere of this dead forest.
"It's disgusting.", Thomas spat.
"What do you mean?", Rio asked as he surveyed the area they appeared in. There was nothing but fog, dead trees.....and bones.
"Everthing....this entire forest..is dead".
"Yeah, it is but that's not all, the forest itself is giving me a creepy sensation.
I can't imagine what you must be feeling".
"Let's get this done quickly", Thomas said then drew out his weapon. His blade was a standard katana forged from pure refined steel. In terms of uniqueness, it was a far inferior to Reaver- the silver glove in Rio's possession. But most weapons didn't need special properties to complete their tasks. A weapons no matter shape or form were all tools of combat after all.
Thomas tightened his grip on his blade, tapped its tip on the ground then stood motionless....all this took no more than three seconds.
The Cursed mirror split Rio into three distinct individuals each possessing an ability of the original. Thomas inherited Rio's affinity to sound and with House Darce's nature as weapons mages, the katana is the designated weapon to bring out his full potential.
The moment he tapped the ground with his blade....he had already activated his ability.
How does sound magic work? How does a person control or manipulate sound? It's something you only understand after looking through the background activities of the world.
Sound is merely a result of vibration, meaning that all sounds begin as vibration. When an object vibrates, it pushes the particles around it which in turn create pressure waves, those waves then result in sound. This underlying activity of vibration and waves usually goes undetected in everyday life.
However, since his awakening after his encounter with the mysterious endless, Thomas, could perceive and understand the basic mechanics of sound and even manipulate it to an extent. Using this understanding, he developed a handful of sound magic techniques....one of which is 'Echo'.
The moment the tip of his blade hit the ground, waves of mana expelled from it in a spherical pulse. Subtle waves that passed from him through his sword, spreading out in all directions...the cold air of the forest, the dead trees, the bone littered ground, reaching far and wide.
The principle of Echo was simple, using his sword as a medium, Thomas sent out waves of his mana in every direction which in turn bounce back upon contact with any object or matter. He, then reads the returning waves to get a vague understanding of his environment.
"We are surrounded", Thomas said plainly.
"That was quick, I thought we'd had to go looking for them", Rio added with a smirk.
"How many?", he asked.
"I'm not sure. I still can't read all the information relayed back to me but I can confirm one thing....the things we're to fight have no physical bodies", Thomas said his voice grim.
"Well, that sucks. No physical bodies? That's rather vague. There are quite a few things in the world that don't require flesh and blood to function.", Rio said with a sigh.
"The only ones I can mention off the top of my head are shadow creatures and wrai-", Thomas never finished his words because something lunged at him from behind.
The creature was quick, precise and slightly intelligent, it chose to attack from the blindspot of the two individuals aiming to cut down the one with sensory abilities.
"These things seem pretty smart but they're quite dumb. Attacking a sound mage who's in tune with the basics of vibration and waves is the same as ringing a doorbell to announce your presence", Rio teased.
"They probably weighed the pros and cons but still ignored it due to their nature. Wraiths do tend to ignore anything else for the sake of their malice towards the living", Thomas lectured.
"Who's the nerd now?", Rio jeered sticking his out tongue at his counterpart.
"Be quiet", Thomas said then turned to see the creature frozen in place behind him.
All he could see was blackened mist that had some semblance of a human skeleton, covered in a tattered robe made of the same mist. Even though it was trapped in place, Thomas still felt his mind assaulted by wails and screams, it's bony mist arm remained outstretched in the same way it had attacked.
"How long do you think this forest has been like this?", Rio asked.
"About a year or so, I guess. Cain picked it off the quest board at the guild we stayed at a week ago. Apparently, it been quite a problem for the adventurers of the town", Thomas replied.
"I hope we get paid. Ooh...I suggest you move away from that thing....fast", Rio said lazily. Thomas reacted fast, quickly jumping to Rio side, the wraith that had been frozen in place vanished.
"Three minutes. I can restrain wraiths at that level for only three minutes. It could be longer if I use distortion", Rio stated.
The force that had held the creature in place was a result of Rio's abilities. While Thomas had inherited the sound affinity and nature of the original, Rio however, had inherited the dual soul affinity of space and chaos from him. That also meant this version of Rio was of the berserker class.
He straightened up, closed his eyes then snapped the fingers of his right hand....the hand where he wore the silver glove-Reaver.
Thomas was the first the notice the change, the air rippled, the vibrations from his skill-Echo felt wrong...the continuous information he was receiving in his immediate surroundings were false. According to the readings from the vibrations, the person right beside him was actually two steps behind him, the trees around him were much taller than they had been before, that he was submerged in water instead of standing in the open areas of a forest.
"Calm yourself, Rio", he said.
Rio sighed, then everything went back to normal. The abnormal readings were caused by the activation of Rio's skill- Distortion.
Distortion is skill born from his training as a sorcerer with dual affinities of space and chaos. The nature of this skill prevailed within an initial range of five meters where perception, flow, force, behaviour and even structure are under his control.
Sticking his hand into one of the several pockets of his trousers, he pulled out nine marbles then tossed them into the air.
The marbles didn't fall rather they floated towards the edge of the five meter domain arranging themselves in a ring like formation.
"Who's going to tell them we're ready?", Rio asked.
"I think they know....the vibrations feel off. We stick to the plan, your marbles will handle the bulk at the edge of the domain while I'll cut down those that get through".
"Let's try not to get killed afterall the mission was to survive for at least an 30 minutes", Rio said.
As the two stood calmly at the center of the clearing they had earlier appeared in, the forest went quiet. The mental assault of whispers died down, the dead tree branches stop moving as the air grew still. They knew that this was merely the calm before the storm, the silence before the madness erupts....and they were right.
Shrieks assaulted them from all directions and ghostly figure of black mist emerged from all sides aiming to tear them limb from limb, devour their life essence or even take possession of their bodies. Perhaps, it was just one of those things or perhaps it was all of them...there was however one unmistakable thing, the wraiths approaching them reeked of nothing but malice and killing intent.
The two individuals instantly blurred.