The Centurion

A Brewing Storm

Centurion Servius growled in annoyance while looking down at his tactical map, chips representing various squads scattered upon it. His scouts had been bringing him reports frequently, trading horses each time they did. His century had finally gotten a grip on their subject, though not before two squads had been slaughtered to a man, and another with only two wounded remaining. At twenty two dead and two injured, nearly a quarter of his century's strength was depleted.

Despite that, his scouts reporting determined that the five of his remaining seven squads had the subject surrounded. They had kept mobile alongside the subject, harrying his movements, but not engaging, and now had the target pinned down on a hilltop.

To most, this would sound like the perfect situation, but Servius was still angered by the loss of so many men, and he suspected more would fall before the day was up. To him, the losses were an embarrassment. His century was known for completing missions with abnormally low casualty rates, and now here he was, three squads down.

As he was seething he felt a plop on his forehead. Reaching up, he felt a touch of water. And, now, of course, it seemed the grey clouds that had been looming threateningly the entire day were going to make good on their promise of storms.

Servius waved to a couple of the men in his personal guard. “Clean this up and prepare to set out.” He pointed to another guard. “See that the squads on standby are ready to go.” Then he turned to his century mage, Caius. “Can you see this monster?” Like all century mages, Caius had some capabilities in remote viewing, but his efforts had been stymied thus far. Their target was slippery in more ways than one.

“Shall I attempt a scrying once more before we set out, Centurion Servius?”

Servius considered for a moment. “No, I suppose not. We shall see him eye to eye soon enough. He took the reigns of his horse from an attendant, and mounted up, Caius doing the same next to him. The two of them fell in behind a scout and left the camp as the reserve squads were forming up.

As they were trotting through the low hills, a light rain had settled in, dampening Servius' hair, cloak, and mood. He would much rather spend rainy days such as this on the covered terrace of his townhouse alongside his wife.

Sensing his foul mood, Caius spoke, “We'll be finished quickly, sir. The only reason he has done so much damage thus far is because he has caught us by surprise. We have him surrounded now.”

Servius glanced up. “I suspect things are not going to be so simple.”

Wisely, Caius fell silent for the rest of their ride. They reached the hill upon which they had trapped their target, and the Oct — or squad leader — of the nearest squad approached them.

“Centurion, it is good that you have arrived. We have the subject locked down on this hill. We have reached an uneasy calm. The squads are coordinated on keeping him up there, though we suspect he is cooperating for an unknown purpose.”

“Thank you for the report, Oct. I will be taking charge from here.” The man nodded his ascent. “Have you made verbal contact?”

“No sir. Do you intend to do so?”

“Yes. Please have mine and Caius' horses looked after.”

“As if they were my own children, sir!” The Oct took the reigns from Servius and Caius as they dismounted, leading the horses back to his own squad.

Servius began marching towards the base of the nearby hill, Caius beside him and his attendant guard falling in around the two of them. Servius could see a figure on the hill, and as they approached, the figure came into clarity. He was knelt on the ground, sitting on his heels, back straight enough to please any drill sergeant. He wore a loose shirt and pants that Servius almost mistook for a robe. A bright blue sash circled his waist, popping brilliantly against the grey of the rest of his clothing. His head bent towards the ground, long hair obscuring his face.

Servius called out, “Hello! You are the one known as the Monster of Lightning, are you not?” The man made no acknowledgement of Servius. “If that title belongs to you, you are wanted for unauthorized use of magic. Make things easy for all of us and turn yourself in.”

At this, the man looked up. Servius was taken aback by how delicate the man's facial features were. He looked serene, as if he had just woken from a nap. The sight passed quickly though, as the man focused his gaze on Servius. His features hardened and he rose to his feet, tucking a long, curved, scabbarded blade into his belt sash.

“If you seriously believe I am coming quietly, then you are more gullible than you look,” the man called back to him. He gathered his long hair, and tied it into a knot atop his head. “You are aware of the reason I have been given the moniker Monster of Lightning, yes?”

“It is due to your unauthorized use of lightning magic,” Servius responded, confused by the question.

“You sound really official, calling it unauthorized,” the man said, a chuckle in his voice. “But that is only part of the reason. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. “Shall I show you?” He took a stance, holding his scabbard in his left hand, and the hilt of his blade in his right. As he stood poised, the rain slowed and then stopped.

Servius felt his heart begin racing as the noise around him dampened, going quiet. He could hear his pulse pounding in his ear. Whatever this man was going to do, Servius knew his life was in danger, as sure as if he was beneath the headsman's axe. He threw himself to the ground as lightning flashed and a peal of thunder split the air.

Servius rolled to the side as the thunder echoed, pushing back to his feet. He felt a spray hit his face, and he touched it instinctively. Looking at his hand, he saw that his fingers were dyed red with blood. The rain resumed as he blinked, and Servius felt the blood running down his face.

Whirling, he saw that the man had crossed the distance between them, a sword slash removing the right hand and leaving a deadly gash across the chest of one of his personal guard. His blade was clearly foreign, long, slightly curved, and single edged.

Two others of his guard had leveled spears at the man, eyes wide and fearful, but the rest had begun to flee. Servius joined them, though he withdrew carefully, drawing his own sword — a gladius — and shield. He noted, while retreating, that the man was panting heavily. Whatever he had done took a lot out of him.

“I see!” Servius called out, hoping to distract the man even a little. “You strike like the lightning. That was an interesting bit of theatrics there, waiting for the lightning strike.”

“It wasn't theatrics,” Caius murmured in Servius' ear. “I'm not certain, since it happened so fast, but I think he used energy from the lightning strike to fuel that attack.

Servius nodded appreciatively. “It clearly took some substantial effort too, based on his breathing.” As Servius spoke though, he could see that the man was already recovering his breath. “He is clearly very tough. I hate to say it, but we will likely have more casualties. Is there anything you can do to counter his magic? That may keep loss to a minimum.”

“I'll see what I can do,” Caius said. “Can you keep him distracted?”

Servius grimaced. “I'll see what I can do.” He looked around, noting the positions of his personal guard. They were his most elite soldiers, so having one of them cut down so easily was disconcerting, but he still have seven others. The two contending with the man were fairing well enough. “Guard, keep the monster contained! Squads, prevent any escape attempts!”

Servius advanced on the man alongside his guard. As they approached, Servius called, “Rotate!” Two new guards stepped in to attack the man, giving the two that had been fighting a chance to step back and regain their breath. After a few moments, Servius called, “Increase!” and two more men stepped forward.

While the man's sword technique was able to handle fighting defensively against an opponent on either side, it seemed four would be too many for him. The man began to give up minor hits, small slashes and stabs where he was unable to dodge completely, or where his blade was unable to turn aside a spear.

Then, Caius cried out, panicked, “Back off!” His warning came too late, however, as the world flashed again, and lightning struck. The man had held his strange blade pointed towards the sky, channeling the lightning into it. The resulting blast threw all four men away from him, and left his blade sparking with energy.

The man took a deep breath, facing Servius. “Just leave me alone,” he said, his voice sounding annoyed. “I would rather not have to maim your entire army.”

“You think you could beat all of us?” Servius asked. “You may be doing well so far, but you will tire eventually. And besides, if you keep using magic like that, a voidling will show.”

The man grimaced. “If and when that happens, I'll deal with it too.”

“Servius! I have something for you,” Caius called. “It isn't perfect, but it should help.” Servius felt a spell take effect on him and wasted no time in advancing on the man. It had been quite some time since he had dueled anyone this proficient, but Caius also couldn't throw spells around. Throwing a voidling in the mix seemed a bad option, so Servius had to take care of things himself.

As he closed the distance, he could see those of his guard still standing pulling those caught in the blast back, away from the immediate combat zone. Servius put them out of his mind for now. If he wasn't successful here, there would certainly be more casualties.

Servius took a moment to circle his opponent, sizing him up. His sword was shorter than the man's curved blade, but Servius also had a shield and the standard issue Centurion armor. The man was clearly going to wait for Servius to strike first, preferring to regain his energy.

So, Servius obliged, quickly switching his circling direction before stabbing at the man's left, hoping to bypass his guard. The curved sword turned Servius' gladius aside, and a jolt of energy tingled through his hand before bypassing him and striking the ground nearby. That would explain Caius' spell; it seemed it would redirect much of the energy put off by the man's lightning attacks. Hopefully it would even the playing field enough.

Servius began further probing the man's defenses, using stabs, slashes, and feints liberally, hoping to find a hole. Once, he was able to catch the curved sword on his shield, breaking a hole long enough to leave a slash on the man's side, but the man danced away before he could be hurt more seriously.

“Look, just give up,” the man said. “I have no quarrel with you. Let me go and you will never hear from me again.”

“I can't do that,” Servius replied, taking advantage of the lull in the fight to catch his breath. “You are wanted and dangerous. If you bring a voidling somewhere it can't be dealt with, it will cause untold destruction.”

“You think I don't know that?” the man grumbled. “If I make a mess, I clean it up.”

“Why didn't you seek a license?” Servius asked, now curious. “You don't have any other charges. You could easily be a high ranking member of any of the empires' militaries.”

“My purposes run counter to those of the empires'. I could never reach my goal while working within their confines. Anyway, enough chatter. If you won't stand aside, then I will stop playing so defensively.” The man finished his remark by lashing out, his curved blade stabbing at Servius.

Servius just managed to impose his shield between him and the sword, but the angle was all wrong, taking the stab straight on. It felt as though the man struck with a hammer rather than a sword and Servius felt his left arm going numb. Clearly, the man had not been lying when he said he had only been fighting defensively. His strike was like lightning, and the fight would not last long if Servius couldn't figure out a good counter.

The man struck again, and Servius hopped back rather than take the strike head on. Dodging seemed a better course at the moment. He continued to dance around the man's curved blade, occasionally turning a blow aside with his own sword. His left arm was still numb, rendering his shield all but useless.

After a few minutes, he heard Caius call out, “Centurion, I have a solution, but you aren't going to like it.” Servius knew what that meant, and indeed, he did not like the solution, but he saw little alternative.

“Do it!” Servius called back. A pulse of ether rippled through space

“You didn't,” the man growled. “And after all of your lecturing.” He disengaged from Servius. As he did, space began to ripple behind him, a tear forming in midair. A sickening feeling hit Servius, throwing his stomach into revolt.

He didn't have time to worry about that, though. “Prepare for voidling suppression!” He called, trusting his soldiers to be ready.

Out of the tear ventured an oily black limb. It had four long claws on the end, and between them was a gaping mouth, tongue wriggling to taste the air. The limb itself was bizarrely thin, and very long. As the tear continued, the limb was followed by an immense, featureless head, spherical in shape and rippling as though it was more fluid than solid. The rest of the creature's body was comprised of more of the rippling spheres, each supported by a stumpy pair of legs. More of the thin limbs protruded at random from the body. Some of them matched the first, four claws and a mouth, though others ended in claws reminiscent of a lobster, others were more flexible and had a single eye, still others just came to a sharp point.

Servius swallowed down his nausea and moved to take advantage of their target's distraction. He moved in behind the man, striking hard at his right wrist with his shield. The curved sword fell from the man's hand as he began to turn back towards Servius. Preempting the move, Servius pulled the man into a hold, arm across his throat to cut off bloodflow to the brain. As he pulled the man to the ground, he called out, “Begin suppression.”

A full two squads moved forward, long spears at the ready. These were specially designed with reinforced hafts and strong forward crossguards to prevent the voidling from breaking the spear, or impaling itself further to reach the spear's wielder. The men moved into place, and to Servius' relief, it appeared the spears would be long enough to prevent the voidling from reaching his men with its long limbs. As they jabbed at it, each trying to get a good strike, Servius felt the man go limp in his hold.

Two of his guard moved forward, taking the man from Servius. On a whim, Servius picked up the man's blade as he backed away from the voidling. Caius moved to walk with Servius. “That was a close call,” he remarked.

“Yes, that man is very skilled,” Servius agreed. “That is not general military training. I also find it disconcerting to think that I would rather face down that voidling than him.”

“Agreed, although, our century is well trained for countering voidlings. I have to wonder if he was trained by...” Caius trailed off.

“Yes, likely,” Servius said. “But make no mention of them. We don't want their attention. We just need to do our jobs and stay out of their way. Everything goes better that way.”

Caius nodded, turning back to the voidling. Servius turned to look as well, pleased to see that his men had pinned the creature, and several of them were in the process of stabbing it repeatedly. Servius was not quite sure how voidlings operated, for they did not all bleed. However, he had never encountered one that wouldn't be destroyed by dealing enough damage to it.

Later that day, Servius' century was on the march once again. Servius rode next to their new prisoner, interested in learning more about the man. “I have to say,” Servius remarked, “I am very impressed with your capabilities. You killed or injured nearly a third of my century over the past few days. On the other hand, the voidling we suppressed earlier only managed to injure two, and both will make quick recoveries. I begin to believe you weren't idly boasting about taking on a voidling yourself.”

The man snorted. “No kidding. I told you I clean my own messes. I don't suppose that will get me a pass though, will it?”

“Indeed not. You are wanted. It is my job to maintain the peace, and taking in wanted men like you is a part of that.” Servius held the man's sword up. “I do have to say, this is quite the blade.”

“Hey! Be careful with that,” the man sounded a cross between angry and panicked.

“Oh? Interesting. I did not think anything would disturb your emotional control,” Servius noted. “Well, I am not one for needless torture. I will make sure your blade is well cared for.” The man nodded his thanks. “I am curious, what is your name? We were never given one.”

“My name? Raiju.”