God of Nothing

Rayse's group returned to a peculiar scene. Aleph was surrounded by children, loudly ooh-ing and ahh-ing at something or other. That in itself wasn't anything strange. He had always been good with children. No, the strange thing was–

"Wahh!" The children screamed, as something came flying out from underneath the ground. It was one of those floating gauntlets from before. A second one followed, firing at it with wisps of blue energy. The children followed it with awe, cheering and giggling at the display. They moved freely, taking turns chasing one another and firing, some hitting, some not. Aleph wove a tale of two impossibly fast ships out at sea, maneuvering and angling for every advantage they could get.

"The firing abated, and the two ships faced each other once again. Their captains stood at the bow, determined to finally dispose of their lifelong rival." 

Aleph's tone was mesmerizing. At his word, the hands 'stood' upon the bracers, completely detached from them now, making obscene gestures at each other from the top of their 'ships'. The children got a kick out of that. Rayse and the others sat to watch their show. Brandon started a cookfire on the spot.

The atmosphere grew festive as the smells of roasting meat melded with the sounds of laughter and Aleph's performance. It even drew the rest of the squad over, though that might have just been the dinner. Regardless, Aleph wove his tale masterfully, pulling the children along on a swashbuckling adventure. Rayse smiled and laughed along with the rest of them. His master could tell stories on par with any old bard. Eventually though, any tale must end, this one was greeted with groans from the crowd.

"Thus ends the tale of our noble hero…" Aleph saw the reaction from the children and looked Rayse in the eye.

"But what's this? There is one who wishes to challenge him?"

Rayse took that as his cue, and decided to play along. He walked up to the front, made a show of thinking for a bit. Then, he raised a section of the land to create a stage, before squaring up to the floating gauntlets. Aleph walked over to him, saying something in a low voice.

"...What are you doing?" He asked.

"Just trying to give them a show, master."

"By getting beat to a pulp? Make a smaller platform. We'll just be arm wrestling."

And so the bonus event commenced. The children cheered as Rayse locked hands with the disembodied hand, and cheered even louder when he lost. It was an epic bout. 

Rayse really tried. He even activated Dark Haste, but lost anyway when the gauntlets started to glow too.

"See!? Stinking mages stand no chance against the captain!" A kid was saying, as if this was a completely expected result. 

Rayse exited the stage to a round of boos. He didn't mind, he was happy to play the villain role for the children. He rejoined his fellow disciples below as Aleph replaced him on the stage he created.

"I was pretty good, no?"

"Yes, yes, well done playing the role of loser." Lacey teased. Rayse sneered at her, coming over to Bran by the cookfire.

"Hey Bran, is that thing done cooking? I'm starving."

"Pipe down, pipe down. It should be done in a few. Had to make a bigger batch to serve all these people."

He was salivating over the stew Brandon was making. He was boiling rabbit meat down with some tubers and berries they foraged in the forest. Rayse picked up a few leftover berries and popped them into his mouth.

"It's good like this, so why do you  need to–"

He stopped mid sentence as a few of the younger kids came to their cookfire. They didn't say a word, but Rayse could tell they were hungry by the looks on their faces. He tried offering them berries, but they were hesitant. Lacey took them off of Rayse and came over, pressing berries into their hands.

They were devoured in seconds. They were more confident after that, sitting right by the fire. Rayse chuckled, giving them some more. He also started to roast some of the leftover potatoes they had. Luke and the rest of the squad ambled over to the cauldron, as if they sensed that it's almost ready.

"Whoah, a line's forming. You better finish up, Bran, or else… Hey, who's that?" Lacey said. She pointed in the direction of the town, whose gates were conspicuously open. A group was stomping towards them, clearly very livid. Iona intercepted them, but they tried shouting her down. They argued back and forth, eventually culminating in one of them coming right up to Iona and raising a fist.

"Yikes, that won't end well." Luke said from the front of the line. Rayse understood what he meant, and rose up from his seat. Iona's smart, but with what happened with Eric as well as the state of the war, she'd been a bit high strung. And a mob threatening violence sounds like just the thing that could set her off. 

He was right, of course, because in the next instant a gust of wind made the newcomers step back a couple steps. That didn't deter them though, and began to throw rocks at her, cursing at her all the while. Aleph was already before her, somehow beating Rayse to the punch even though he moved first. He raised a hand, making the incoming rocks float harmlessly. That didn't stop the crowd from trying, though.

"Cowards!"

"Give us back our children!"

"Come here to finish the job, have you!?"

They were shouting insults now. The jeers when Rayse was up on stage was nothing compared to what they were saying now. It sounded like they blamed them for something, but the crowd wasn't calm enough to clearly lay out their grievances.

"Children." Aleph called out, his voice cutting through the shouts clearly without raising his voice. "Your parents are here to pick you up."

Something in his voice stilled the crowd's anger. Perhaps it was the reminder that their shameful display was being seen by their children. The incident ended with gloomy children following their parents home, as Rayse and the others wondered what the heck went on here before they came.

__________________________________

"That wasn't like you."

"Yeah, well, I don't exactly know what I'm like these days." Iona mumbled. They sat away from the squad, having taken a bowl of Brandon's stew.

"Those men bear the burden of loss, and it's made them irrational. Regardless, you seemed quite eager to go confront them."

Iona sighed, continuing to pick at her food. Aleph continued to speak, cutting through the awkward silence.

"Noone is at fault here, Iona. Based on their insults, the army abandoned this place when the demons came. And they tried to take it out on us."

Aleph looked at the town once again. It was dark now, but that didn't hinder his sight. It was already as good as anyone's, but it got better and better as he cultivated the magic of this world.

He looked at the scorch marks, cracks and missing chunks of it, trying to picture what happened here.

"It seems they fought until the battle grew too fierce that they had to leave. A sensible plan, if they thought to share it with the townsfolk."

They sat in silence after that. Aleph was glad Iona ate at all. No matter how depressed one was, Brandon's cooking had the allure of the goddess. Eventually it ran out though, and Aleph didn't leave. He felt Iona needed to get something off her chest. He didn't have to wait long, though, as a filling dinner had loosened her lips.

"This post isn't my choice, you know. If it were up to me, I'd leave this stupid horn at the capital and go back to the frontlines."

"Why would you and Carrack even leave? There can't be very many soldiers of your caliber out there."

"Yeah, well, it wasn't really by choice. We had to flee with Deceit's horns so it couldn't retrieve them, and we figured we could use them to strike back somehow. The king wasn't having it, though. We lost the crown prince in the operation, as well as a lot of our elites."

She spit at the ground, surprising Aleph. A consummate patriot disrespecting the monarchy like that didn't mix well in his mind.

"They demoted us on the spot. Lord Carrack got knocked down to captain, and Brig and Luke lost their place as Scoutmaster and Raid leader respectively. I was a captain before, but now I'm back to a lieutenant. I'm more suited for wide scale combat, not small raids like these."

Aleph simply nodded. It was true. From what he heard, Iona performed well leading the army back at the battle for Hios; it was these smaller skirmishes giving her trouble. Perhaps motivations play a factor? He surmised.

"...and the reason why you stayed behind when Vaynard returned? That man could have restored you all into prominence. He spoke very highly of you."

Iona sighed once again, grabbing a flask from her belt. She took a swig of it, before offering it to Aleph. He declined the gesture, knowing full well her particular tastes.

"Honestly? Carrack asked me to try and recruit you. Or at least your disciples."

Aleph sat straighter at that. What did he have to do with this?

"You're strong, sure, and we really value that. You have maybe a tenth of my mana right now, but you overpowered an emissary even with even less. Most importantly, you are a free power. No nobles lay claim to you, no banner you fight under. Such a man could swing the tide of this war, but more importantly, it could shape what came after. Your freeing Vaynard only solidified that fact."

"Tell me plainly. What do you have in mind?"

Iona stood, looking down at him from above. His eyes made out her shape, standing valiantly in this no name town. He saw her eyes burn with heroism, a fierce desire for… something he couldn't fathom. When she spoke, she did so with as much conviction as he ever heard from someone on this planet.

"Aleph, we want to turn you into a hero."