The Savior [Feb Short Story] Frith Chronicles

Hey peeps!

Spoiler alert! If you haven't finish Grandmaster, this probably won't make sense.

Here is a story about Calisto becoming more of "the Savior." 

Enjoy!

Shami

Savior

Above all else, I had to protect my younger sister. Mia was all I had left, and there was nobody left to shield her from the dangers. It was just me.

So, when soldiers came into port, and the neighbors started yelling, I knew we had to hide. I was only ten, and Mia had just turned five—what were we going to do against enemy soldiers? Nothing. I had no rifle, no sword, no weapons, and everyone knew the soldiers of Mawlis, under the rule of the new Immortal King, were ruthless cutthroats. They would kill me. And Mia…

Something far worse would happen to Mia.

I ran to the kitchen and pulled on a few floorboards near the cupboards. Our father had built our pantry into the floor, going out of his way to hide the handle. It made for the perfect hiding place since Mia and I were so small.

“What’s happening, Thiago?” Mia asked. “I’m scared.”

“Everything will be fine, ya just have to get in here. C’mon. With me.”

I grabbed the sleeve of her long dress and pulled her toward the pantry entrance. It was just a cubby built into the ground. Cold and slightly damp—our father had never gotten around to building the walls, so everything was just packed dirt. I lowered Mia into the pantry, my panic building with every shout and scream I heard outside.

The soldiers were close.

Mia pushed some of our fish jerky to the side and sat down in the dark dirt. She wore a white dress, and I knew she hated to get messy, so she frowned and tried not to lean against the dirt walls. I stepped down next to her, my hands shaking. My brown pants and beige tunic were already soiled, so I didn’t care if I rolled around in the dirt. I took a seat next to my sister, ducked my head, and then closed the pantry door overhead.

Small slivers of light streamed into the pantry through the cracks between floorboards. Bits of dust danced through the small space, visible in the pillars of light but nowhere else. When Mia took deep breaths, the dust swirled around us.

I found it difficult to breathe.

With all my concentration, I listened to the commotion outside. There was a lot of shouting, but I couldn’t make out the words.

The front door to our house burst open.

Mia flinched, her eyes wide. I reached out and grabbed her hand. Although I said nothing, I squeezed her knuckles, letting her know I was here for her.

Mia was smart. She knew not to say anything—to hold her breath. As long as we weren’t found, we’d be okay.

Men stormed into our house and stomped their way through every room of our tiny house. The clink of their armor echoed. I tried not to think about their weapons and their tyrant of a king.

When they reached the kitchen, both Mia and I froze. She stared me dead in the eyes, and I stared back, neither of us blinking. The soldiers walked across the pantry door, and the wood betrayed us by creaking so loud, the neighbors surely heard it.

One soldier stabbed his sword into the wood. The blade came within inches of my face. I didn’t yelp, or cry out, but when the soldier pulled his weapon up, the pantry door went with it, revealing our hideaway.

Soldiers dressed in red and black grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the pantry. I flailed my arms and attempted to punch them, but another soldier kicked me in the gut. It hurt so much, I lost control of my body. I couldn’t even breathe. I slammed to the floor, my body shaking. Without any thought, I curled in on myself, the agony so intense, it was difficult to see.

Mia was dragged from the pantry by her hair.

“Thiago!” she shouted, reaching for me. “Thiago!”

I tried to stand.

But I couldn’t. Even my body had betrayed me.

The soldiers got me to my feet, though. They yanked me across the kitchen, and then out the front door and onto the streets. I blinked back the smoke and embers as my sister and I were taken to the road.

The whole village was on fire.

There weren’t many of us who lived here, but we had a port and traded fish. Now… it looked like hundreds were dead.

The Kingdom of Mawlis was our neighbor across the sea. They were small—that was what my father had told me—and their king was gentle. But that was a long time ago. The new king, who called himself immortal, wanted to conquer every nation that touched our sea.

I guess that meant he needed to burn down our village.

It angered me, because I wanted to fight back, but…

The Mawlis ship tied at our dock was one of the largest sea cruisers. Soldiers from all parts of our village were dragging women and children onto the deck. All the men—and all the elderly—were dead in the streets, their crimson blood forming puddles that stained the walkways.

“Let us go!” I shouted as soon as I had my breath back.

The same soldier kicked me in the side. I had never known such pain. It nearly blinded me. My legs refused to work after that. I collapsed, shuddering, and the soldiers laughed.

“Thiago!”

My sister reached for me again, but the soldier holding her by her long brown hair allowed her to escape.

“Looks like I finally found him.”

The statement entered my perception like a dream. Who was speaking? I held my side, my stomach twisted. It felt as though I would vomit at any moment. Somehow, I managed to open my eyes long enough to see a lone man walking into our village.

The main road—the largest road that went along the sea coast—wasn’t far from our house. This man stepped off the road with confidence, and it wasn’t difficult to see why. He was large. No—huge. Tall and muscled, he looked like a warrior straight out of a gladiatorial arena.

He frightened me.

It was midday, and fires raged across the roofs of nearby houses. The light flickered off the man’s copper hair, but it also reflected in his almost-dead eyes. He looked like someone who couldn’t be shaken.

The man had a faded arcanist mark on his forehead…

The mark of a manticore.

An evil man, then.

He wore a long black coat, with matching black shirt and pants underneath, and boots that went to his knees. Nothing about him seemed inviting. Nothing.

This man even frightened the soldiers. For a short moment, no one moved. When my sister kicked her captor, it reminded all the soldiers that we were still here.

“Who’re you?” a soldier shouted.

The man with the icy gaze half-smiled. “Your death.”

The soldier drew his sword. I thought this strange man would have to fight them all with his bare hands, but that wasn’t the case. The man held up his hand…

And a blaze of flames so hot, it scorched the street, tore through the area. The inferno was a mix of white, red, and blue fire. It was painful to look at for longer than a second. My face practically burned from the ambient heat, and while the soldiers were shocked into frozen silence, I dove in front of Mia to shield her from the blaze.

The man closed his hand, and the fire ended in an instant.

Was he an arcanist?

The mark on his forehead…

It was faded. His eldrin was dead. How could he use magic? I stared at him with wide eyes, unable to look away.

The soldier he torched was nothing more cinders.

The other Mawlis soldiers seemed so stunned, they didn’t know what to do. When the man turned his icy attention to them, they grabbed me and Mia and took off down the street.

“An arcanist!” one of them yelled. “An arcanist!”

They were too strong to fight against, so I didn’t even try. And why would I? If the soldiers had left me and my sister with that monster, he would’ve just burned us alive as well!

The soldiers took us all the way to the small docks of our village. The boat was almost full of women and children, and most had been chained to the deck.

The sea waters around the vessel stirred.

Something was in the depths.

A man walked off the deck of the ship. He wore a long cape that dragged along the gangplank behind his steps. It was a purple cape that had seen better days. Blood stained the hems, and the Mawlis insignia—a bird with its talons out—had been stitched into the back.

“My king!” one of the soldiers shouted. He pointed to the main road. “An arcanist attacked!”

The king…

The Immortal King.

His arcanist mark was a seven-pointed star with a rotting whale wrapped around the points. That undead whale was the bake-kujira. A demon of the sea. And I knew this was the Immortal King, because…

His arcanist mark glowed a bright white.

He wore steel half-plate armor and carried a pistol and sword, but nothing on his person was as unnerving as his sinister smile. The king seemed to delight in his conquest. We were just a small village… Did he really get that much enjoyment from an easy target?

In a deep voice that came from the very depths of the man’s gut, he asked, “What arcanist? Under what flag does he fight?”

“I don’t know, my king,” the soldier holding me said, his panic in every word he spoke. “The man came from the main road! He attacked one of our own. Burned him alive.”

“Fire, you say?”

“Yes. Flames as bright as a pyre.”

The Immortal King stepped off the gangplank and strode across the small dock. He didn’t have to go far, though. The strange arcanist with the faded mark headed straight for him, not a concern in the world.

This fire arcanist didn’t wear armor or carry any visible weapons, yet his stride betrayed no fear. It spooked me. Like this man was walking death.

“Ah, it seems the arcanist has come to greet me.” The Immortal King held out his arms and motioned to the burning houses. “This village was obviously too small to hide in.”

“I don’t hail from this village,” the man said. He brushed back his red copper hair and scoffed. “I don’t hail from anywhere around here.”

“Then business do you have attacking my soldiers? You have a death wish?”

“I do. But that’s not why I’m here.”

When the man reached the edge of the dock, he stopped. He glared at the Immortal King as he gave the monarch the once-over.

“Wait,” the Immortal King muttered. “I know you. That mark… You’re the Dread Pirate Calisto. The once-feared manticore arcanist. From what I heard, you died fighting the world serpent.”

With a forced chuckle, Calisto replied, “Oh? You didn’t hear the fun part of the story, then. You’re in for a surprise.”

“Hm.” The Immortal King stroked his chin, massaging the small beard he had growing. “I don’t understand why a blackheart, like yourself, would be in these parts. What do you want, pirate? This is a war. As the ruler of Mawlis, I intend to conquer these shores. This has nothing to do with you.”

“I’ve got bad news.” Calisto snapped his fingers and then pointed at the king’s ship. Then he motioned me to the people aboard—and even to me and my sister. “The people of these shores requested help. I’m here to answer that plea.”

“You? A dread pirate?” The Immortal King laughed. “Fighting as a knight for a nation?”

The soldiers didn’t join the king in laughing. A terrible tension filled the air. I couldn’t stop shaking. This pirate said he was here to help, but that couldn’t be true. His expression… He didn’t look like a nice man.

“I don’t know what insanity you’re playing at,” the Immortal King finally said, “but you’re a bigger fool than I ever thought. Leave. They don’t call me the Immortal King for no reason. Whatever magic you have is no match for mine.”

Calisto gestured for the king to move closer. “Your magic is epic? Sorcery for the ages? Show me. I’ve grown bored with the brigands and sea thieves I’ve been hunting lately.”

The Immortal King’s glowing arcanist mark was impressive. It meant he had a true form eldrin, or so my father claimed. His magic was bolstered by the true form of the bake-kujira. His soldiers claimed he was unstoppable.

“Let me show you my sorcery,” the Immortal King practically hissed.

With a wave of his hand, fog appeared in the area. Thick, cold fog.

I shivered as it spread across my burning village. The frigid mist blanketed the flames, killing them within seconds. A bake-kujira arcanist evoked the coldest and most heinous mists, it seemed. Mia reached for me. The soldiers holding her were barely paying attention. I grabbed her hand and squeezed her knuckles.

Perhaps, during the fighting, we could find a moment to escape.

“Is that it?” Calisto asked. He huffed a laugh. “My old boat created fog scarier than this.” His mirth died in an instant. “Don’t hold back. You’ll regret it.”

The thickness of the fog only intensified. It made everything difficult to see. It even blotted out the sun, casting us all in a shadowy prison of gloom.

A ripple of power went through the air, and I worried that Mia and I would soon perish. I didn’t want to get caught in the middle of an arcanist duel.

“Have you ever seen the aura a bake-kujira arcanist can create?’ the Immortal King asked, his tone mocking and mused. “Our red tide aura is a sight to behold.”

The waves of the sea crashed against the docks, the water clearly agitated. I held my breath, the cold fog hurting my nose and throat. When the waves crashed a second time, they lapped over the wood of the piers and rushed onto land.

Not normal water…

Scarlet water.

It reminded me of blood, but I knew the difference. The red tide was a terrible event where the creatures of the ocean turned on themselves. Fish died by the thousands. Was this the same thing?

No.

The bake-kujira’s red tide was clearly much worse.

The scarlet waters rotted away part of the dock. When the waves washed by my feet, I thought I would be hobbled. Fortunately, the water moved around the soldiers holding us. The corrosive, rotting red waves actuallyavoided touching the soldiers of the king.

Because the bake-kujira arcanist could manipulate the waters.

The Immortal King was lifting the red waves onto land and rushing them toward Calisto. The scarlet waters broke apart the bricks of the street and killed all the vegetation it touched. When the waters came for Calisto, he took a step backward, but otherwise didn’t seem too concerned. The red water lapped at his boots. The leather began to corrode.

Soon the waters would get to his flesh.

“Rather slow, don’t ya think?” Calisto asked, no fear in his voice.

“We haven’t even started the fight and already I control the battlefield! You can’t see. Fire is useless now that my fog dominates the air. Your armor will shortly become useless. And once the red tide is in your body, you’ll be dead.” The Immortal King smiled. “Your arrogance has cost you.”

“So, all this—” Calisto motioned to the water and fog, “—was just to spook me?” He scoffed. “I gave up my fear of death a long time ago. If this is your best, I’m gonna end this.”

“Hmpf. I think you’re all talk, cur. Show me anythingyou’re capable of.”

The red water around Calisto’s ankles ate through his boots and started at his skin. He didn’t seem concerned. Instead, he lifted his hand and fanned out his fingers.

“You’re going to evoke flame?” The Immortal King chuckled. “I told you. No fire works while the fog of the bake-kujira lingers.”

“Maybe normal flames are snuffed by your magic… But not the flames of a god.” Calisto’s expression hardened to something serious. “You’re already ash.”

A blast of flame washed over the majority of the dock. The fire was so bright—just like before!—I had to look away. The soldiers shouted in surprise and even leapt away from the inferno, dragging me and Mia with them. The sailors on the ship screamed.

The intensity of Calisto’s magic practically burned away the majority of the fog, despite its flame-dampening effects. Was this pirate really some sort of god?

The flames certainly turned the Immortal King into a charred corpse. The body hit the dock as a blackened lump in a matter of seconds. The armor, the cape, the flesh—it was all too destroyed to identify.

The waters returned to their bluish color as the Immortal King’s aura faded from the area. The waves receded back into the sea.

Was that… it?

Was the fight over?

Calisto lowered his hand. “What a disappointment.”

For a long moment, no one said or did anything. But then a rumble went through the ground, shaking what was left of our ruined village.

“Thiago?” my sister whispered. “What’s happening?”

I turned my attention to the waters beyond the Immortal King’s ship. My mouth went dry as I said, “It’s the bake-kujira.”

Out from the depths rose a gigantic monster. It had the general shape of a whale, but it was larger and more sinister. The beast’s flesh was melting off its body, revealing parts of its skeleton. Some of its fins ended in bone claws, and its mouth was filled to the brim with fangs similar to an orca’s. The monster had red eyes that glowed with power, and—unlike normal bake-kujira—this beast had legs that allowed it to lumber onto land.

A true form bake-kujira. A terror that could storm the beach of any nation it wanted.

And it had to weigh a hundred tons. Maybe more.

When it moved, everything shook again. But instead of smashing onto the beach, or even destroying the docks, the bake-kujira turned its attention to the Immortal King’s charred remains. The undead whale then vomited out sea water mixed with bile and blood. The reddish-green liquid splashed over the ship and then washed over the king.

Some of it even washed over Calisto, but he didn’t seem to care.

The soldiers holding me and Mia moved even further away, avoiding all the splash of the nearby magic. For that, I was grateful.

Then…

The Immortal King stood from his place on the ground. The reddish-green liquid seeped into his body, restoring his burnt flesh and mending his wounds.

It mended… even death.

And then I realized how the Immortal King had earned his name.

The man chuckled as the last of his skin, hair, and beard fit itself back into place. His armor and clothing was still blackened, but everything else was as it once was. Strong and pristine.

The Immortal King’s bake-kujira stood in the shallow water, feet above the king’s ship. The people of my village cried out in fear, but since they were chained up, they couldn’t flee. The undead whale towered over them, one of its clawed fins dripping water across the deck. If the monster fell on the boat, they would all surely die.

“You’re not the only one who has given up the fear of death,” the Immortal King said, his voice rusty as his throat pieced itself back together. “The strength of my true form eldrin is so vast, I’ve slayed dragons and their arcanists with ease.”

The words of this tyrant man shook me. He couldn’t be stopped!

But they didn’t seem to rattle the pirate. Calisto stared at the king as though this were all tedious—an annoying chore he had to handle before moving onto something more interesting.

The fog returned.

The water became scarlet once again.

And this time, when the king motioned with his hand, a wave the size of two-story house lifted from the sea and rushed onto land. The soldiers held me and my sister close as the water crashed onto land. The wave never touched us, but I could smell the blood and salt from where I stood.

The wave hit Calisto, washing over him with the fear of a stormy ocean.

When the water cleared away, he was dozens of feet back, his clothing half-rotted from the deadly red tide. Bleed wept from sores across his body, and Calisto rubbed at some of the injuries as he got to his feet.

He removed his coat, and that was when I saw the strange mark on his chest.

It was an arcanist mark… just larger.

A thirteen-pointed star with a hundred-headed dragon wrapped around the points. The mark covered his chest, his shoulder, and even parts of his arm and side. Was that the mark of a god-arcanist? I had only heard stories. Our small village—our small nation—never got involved in worldly affairs.

This pirate wasn’t a god-arcanist, was he?

“Well, at least this will be more interesting than I originally thought,” Calisto said as he stood straight.

The Immortal King motioned again, and another wave answered his call.

Calisto blasted the whole area with fire.

The two forces of magic clashed. Hot steam shot into the air. Mia cried out, and I had to shield my eyes. The red tide rushed onto land, and the massive bake-kujira lumbered forward, probably on its way to join the fight.

But something else in the water emerged.

A… second bake-kujira?

It was a normal one, not true form. It looked more like a humpback whale, but still undead and falling apart. The massive second whale slammed into the king’s true form beast. Taken by surprise, the king’s eldrin attempted to whirl around, but it was so massive, it disturbed all the water near the docks. The king’s ship rocked back and forth, jostled by the waves. Everyone aboard shouted.

Where had this second creature come from?

Calisto and the Immortal King didn’t stop their fighting. As though possessed by a spirit of combat, Calisto laughed as he rushed forward. He clashed with the king, his flames burning everything around him.

A loud chittering sound wafted over the area. It was haunting—maddening—and I covered my ears and shut my eyes. Where was it coming from?

The shouts of the Immortal King caused me to open my eyes again. The king was holding his own ears! He thrashed his head from side to side, as though trying to shake the noise from his head.

While distracted, Calisto smiled and bathed him in flame.

Again, the king’s body was nothing but cinders.

The clash of the two undead whales in the water thundered more than a storm. The second whale had clawed fins, and it used them to great effect, carving slashes into the king’s eldrin. I thought the smaller whale would surely lose, but another beast emerged from the waters.

Some sort of… massive hydra.

The head of a dragon lifted from the red tide, followed by one hundred snake-like heads. It was the same creature as on Calisto’s mark. When the beast emerged, the snake-heads chittered and cackled, creating more maddening sounds that disturbed everyone.

But Calisto.

As the Immortal King reformed, Calisto simply laughed.

“A wet piece of paper granted immortality doesn’t become strong enough to face me,” Calisto said, smiling. “I can burn you all day long. C’mon! Get up! Show me something I haven’t seen a million times before!”

I had to close my eyes and cover my ears again. The sounds… they were becoming too frantic and fevered.

The fighting continued, the crackle of intense fire and the crash of waves swirling all around us. When I chanced a peek, I spotted the multi-headed hydra tearing into the true form bake-kujira. The king’s eldrin was being torn apart from both sides, its undead flesh polluting the sea waters.

“I’ll put the fear of death back in you!” the king roared. He stood from the ground and lashed out with a knife from his belt. The blade glittered with magic, and I wondered what sort of weapon it was that he would turn it against a god-arcanist and expect it to do much.

But as the king charged, his eldrin out in the waters let out a death wail.

It wasn’t strong enough to handle two other powerful mystical creatures.

The Immortal King slashed at Calisto, but the pirate expertly dodged and then washed the man in flame so hot, it burned the brightest white.

This time, however, the waters didn’t rush to reform the man.

The king was dead.

The fighting out beyond the boat stopped, and the waves calmed. No one said anything. Few people dared to blink. The Dread Pirate Calisto was victorious. The soldiers of Mawlis had no commander—no more arcanists.

What would they hope to do now?

As if sensing their impending demise, the soldiers released me and Mia and then threw down their weapons. No one wanted to stand against Calisto.

When the pirate didn’t move to kill them, the soldiers ran off. They headed for the main road, fleeing the scene. I almost ran off with them, but I didn’t know where to go. This had been my home for forever. What would I do if I left? I had to care for my sister, and we didn’t have family elsewhere.

This was it.

So I had to stay.

Strangely, a man emerged from the waters near the boat. He had black hair and darkened skin, and he was as waterlogged as any piece of driftwood. A gray cat leapt from the waves and landed on his shoulder. The arcanist mark on his forehead was just the star—no creature in it.

When I glanced at the sea waters, I noticed that only the one hundred headed hydra was out there. Where had the second bake-kujira gone?

“Took your sweet time,” Calisto said to the man with the cat.

“Xor is slow when swimming through the sea.” The cat-man chuckled as he approached Calisto. He wrung out water from his coat and pants, but he was still soaked to the bone. “Besides, I thought you wanted a good fight? You got your duel, didn’t you?”

“What if this fool had turned his magic on the boat?” Calisto narrowed his eyes. “You harped on me for not taking into account the lives of innocents and this is your reaction?”

The cat-man shook his head. “The great thing about you is that you always demand your enemy’s full attention. Like a bull with long horns, most people instinctively know that if they look away, it’ll cost them. You had this handled. I killed his eldrin. Why are you complaining now that we’ve won?”

“Tsk.”

This strange man from the water was bold enough to argue with a god-arcanist? What a strange pair.

Then Calisto turned his attention to me and my sister. His icy gaze froze me in place. What were his intentions now that he had won? Mia must’ve been concerned, too, because she hugged her arms around my side.

The cat-man turned and followed Calisto’s gaze. In a softer tone, the cat arcanist said, “Why don’t you go introduce yourself? Perhaps we can—”

“What? Walk over and tell them I’m the Monster? No.” Calisto turned on his heel. His clothing was in tatters from the red tide, but he still managed to shove his hands into his pockets. “You handle it.”

“I’m sure the people of this town would want to thank you for helping.”

“I don’t deserve their thanks. Just tell them it was you. Or the Frith Guild. I don’t care.”

Then… The Dread Pirate Calisto walked off. Back toward the main road, never once glancing back. It seemed odd. He wasn’t going to loot or pillage? Or even take the king’s boat as a reward? Ships sold for a lot.

The cat-man walked over to me and my sister. When he smiled, it seemed warm and genuine.

“You’re safe now,” he said. “The god-arcanists with the Frith Guild are here to help.”

I held my sister. “You’re both with… the Frith Guild?”

“That’s right, kid. Come with me. Let’s go get your family off the boat. Then I’ll help with the rebuilding, all right?”

“Our family is dead,” Mia replied, her tone dead, her words cold. That was how she always explained the death of our parents. With no emotion.

“Then don’t worry,” the cat-man said, his voice soft. “Anyone who lost family during the war will be taken care of. Me and… the Monster… have made arrangements. Just sit over there in the shade. I’ll come back to speak with you.”

The cat stared down at us, a mischievous smile on its face.

Before this man could walk off, I held up a hand. “Calisto saved us?” I asked.

The man nodded.

“Then I want to thank him. He said he didn’t deserve it, but… I want to.”

“Me, too,” Mia said.

“I’m sure you’ll get your chance,” the man said. “Just don’t make a big show of it.” With a half-smile, he added, “He prefers to be thought of as a dastardly pirate. Nothing more.”

I thought that was silly, but I didn’t argue. For some reason, I felt safer now than I had ever felt before. This strange cat-man and the pirate god-arcanist had defeated the Immortal King. We were saved.

And that feeling…

It felt amazing. And I hoped Calisto knew what he had given me and my sister. It meant the world.