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"The Empress rewarded the fairy handsomely, and she became famous throughout the continent as the 'Bane of Jubba'. For the next hundred years, the fairy traveled throughout the continent, working both as a hunter and a conservationist before retiring as a wealthy baron. She did not pick up her weapon again for another hundred years, but that is a story for another time," Shirva finished and glanced at Blaze.
At some point during her story, Blaze had nodded off against her cheek. She looked at him with a somber smile and continued to brush his hair.
***
Blaze was jolted awake when Shirva jumped out of the crevice and shot straight up into the night sky. He looked around and spotted a patrol in the far north. However, they did not seem to have noticed them. And, if they did, it was likely that they thought it was a big bird; Shirva's camouflage made it really difficult to make out her visage.
The moon was directly above the cloud that they were heading for, and it cast a dark shadow over the ground. Soon, the two angels were inside the cloud. This time, they simply hung by the base, watching for the ideal moment to shoot towards the ridge.
"All of this seems kinda orchestrated, somehow. How often can we get so lucky with the clouds?" Blaze asked.
Shirva snickered. "It may appear that way, but throughout this journey, I have been very flexible, constantly tweaking my plans and where we were headed. Our final destination was dependent on how the weather behaved and how the landscape provided us cover. However, I cannot argue against being lucky, tonight.
"Hold tight and do not move. This is our final stretch. If we do not get spotted, we will have our sniper nest."
"What am I even here for?" Blaze sighed. He had been nothing but excess baggage.
"You will learn that soon enough," Shirva answered, seriously.
In a few minutes, the cloud reached the rocky projection that hung off the mountain. They immediately dived towards it.
After they landed, as Blaze lay flat against the snow, Shirva quickly dug out a hole. When the hole was large enough for two, they lay down inside it and covered themselves up with the dug-up snow.
Once they were settled in, Shirva pulled out her rifle and placed it over the snow ledge that she had created.
The fairy was a lefty, and since Blaze was on her right, he could fully appreciate the weapon. It was a three feet long custom-made rifle, whose shape somewhat resembled a bullpup rifle from Earth. However, unlike Earth's rifles, the barrel was relatively short. It sported two large nonstandard energy stones, one socketed underneath the stock and the other inside the butt of the rifle. Below each energy stone was a groove in the weapon's frame, which allowed for the user to channel energy into the stones.
"No offense, but getting here seemed like it could be done by anyone, once they get used to it," Blaze said, as Shirva laid her sights on Fort Chinka, which was a little more than a yonder away from their position.
"You think it is easy, do you?" Shirva smiled. "I have killed 2729 demons over the course of the past eighty years. That may seem like a large number, but it is miniscule if you count the number of days in all those years.
"The fact is, most of my ventures end in failure. Most snipers are fine with bagging ten a year, though they are more prolific during wartime. If it were easy, they would not have such a poor performance, and I would not be so famous.
"Just because it appears easy does not mean it is. We were lucky to have made it this far on your first mission.
"And, even if we have made it this far, it is not guaranteed that I will be successful. I may be capable of killing a weak demon with a single shot, but for most, I need to wait until their energy defenses are down. Sometimes, I am not even positioned for a good shot. When that is the case, it is best to leave without being noticed. It took my teacher and I two weeks to find my first kill."
Blaze nodded, and another question popped into his head.
"How do you retain your angelic nature when you have taken so many lives?"
"I do not see it as taking lives. For every demon that I have killed, I believe I have saved as many angels or more," Shirva answered, calmly. There was not even a hint of remorse in her voice, and Blaze did not know how to feel about it.
He waited in silence as Shirva surveyed the fort. Fort Chinka was a relatively small fort that was mainly used by the demons as a supply station for their border patrol. It housed a few cannons, but the fort could in no way handle a focused attack by the angels. The demons had similar forts all along the border, but they served more as watchtowers and waystations, rather than defensible structures.
After a few minutes, the fairy pushed her weapon to him. "Take a look," she said.
Blaze took the weapon and felt its weight. It was heavy but felt good in his hands. He placed his chin over the butt and peered through the scope.
"What do you see?" Shirva asked.
Blaze carefully analyzed the fort before answering. "Eight demons. Four over the ramparts and four below. There may be more inside. They seem alert, so they probably have their body reinforcements ready. There are two cannons facing this direction, so we must be wary of them if we fire a shot."
"Very good. What would you do now, if you were a sniper?" she asked.
"Um, pick a target and shoot? They all seem like regular demons. I am sure you could kill any of them with a single shot."
"But you are not me, so you wait. Until you find the most opportune moment that guarantees a kill. Even I would wait in this situation. We are not in active war, so I do not care about regular demons. That fort has at least two archdemon officers, and I have found myself a good spot, so I will wait until I have a shot at one of the archdemons," she explained, pulling out a spyglass.
For the next hour, Shirva kept watch on the fort through her spyglass, while Blaze imagined various scenarios of him picking off the demons with his sniper rifle. Almost all of them ended with a "Boom, headshot!"
"Looks like we have found your target," Shirva suddenly said, breaking his fantasy of storming the fort, together with the fairy.
"That ivka?" he asked, spotting the young demon who had appeared on the ramparts, serving some beverage to the demons on guard duty. Blaze couldn't accurately judge her age from the distance, but she didn't seem to be more than seventy.
"Yes."
"But, she is not even a full adult," Blaze said in consternation.
"And you, are only a child," Shirva responded.
"You want me to kill her?"
"Yes. Have you never considered killing a demon?"
"Yes, but-"
"Charge the weapon," she said, in a tone that told him that it was an order.
Blaze pressed his fingers against the energy stones of the rifle and began to transfer his energy. There were two types of energy stones: The naturally-formed ones like the ones Shirva used in her rifle could be charged really quickly, but their energy retention over longer periods was poor. The second type were the modified ones which were used in day-to-day life, and also as ammunition for army-standard rifles and guns. These had to be charged prior to battle, but they could retain their energy for much longer.
"That should be enough," Shirva said, after a minute. Blaze had used up more than half his energy reserves. "Take aim."
Blaze looked through the scope and set the sights on the ivka, who had begun to chat with one of the demons. He wondered why she couldn't have simply left after serving the beverage.
"She may be an ivka now, but in a few years, she will be fighting alongside the other demons. What if she is a talented young demon? What if, in the future, she fights against one of your friends and kills them? That Aranyan who follows you around. Imagine her being that demon's victim.
"Take your time and shoot. It is not like you are guaranteed to make the shot."
Energy shots did not have the same limitations as bullets. They were not as affected by gravity, wind, or the Coriolis effect. However, since he was shooting from more than three miles away, even a tiny discrepancy while firing could make him miss. The chance of him making this shot was extremely low.
However, the mere idea of pulling the trigger made his fingers tremble. The weight of that demon's life pressed upon his heart; her desires, her ambitions, the effort she put into reaching the place she was now, the love she received from her loved ones, the love she gave back, the effort that was put into raising her, and the things that she might accomplish if she was allowed to live... A single pull of the trigger was all that was needed to extinguish all of it.
What was worse was that he was not even giving her a chance to defend herself. He also did not know anything about the demon. Maybe she was in the army merely to feed herself. If she were attacking him with the intent to kill, Blaze felt he would not be as conflicted. But this, did not feel right.
"I can't," he muttered, weakly.
"Shoot the demon, soldier," Shirva said, harshly.
If someone had told Blaze earlier that he would hesitate so much to kill a demon, he would have told them that he was not that weak. However, having the ivka in his crosshairs and having the power to dictate her life or death made everything more palpable.
"I won't," he said categorically, pushing the rifle back to Shirva. He could not believe that a few moments ago, he had been drooling over the gun. Now, he felt disgusted by it.
"We are done here," Shirva sighed, putting the rifle in her space-ring.
She grabbed Blaze by the waist and sprang into the air to head back to Fortress Mirian.
As they flew, Blaze looked at Shirva's face, in search of a reaction, but he found her expressionless.
"Are you disappointed?" he asked, softly.
"Yes," Shirva said, without hesitation. "But I think I would have been as disappointed if you had fired that shot."
"What do you mean?"
"There was no glorious end to this mission, Rhyka. That is often the true nature of war. The only positive is that you get to retain your innocence for a little longer."
A demon patrol spotted them and began to give chase. Blaze fell into silent contemplation as Shirva picked up her pace. They were in no danger of actually being caught.
The demons came after them until they reached Jinshanling, before turning back. The angels at the fortalice reacted, but once they realized that it was Shirva, they let them through.
"Tonight," Shirva began speaking once they were inside the safety of Xian, "you had the freedom to make a choice, especially because of your station. A regular soldier cannot afford to do the same. She can most certainly not go against the orders of a superior."
"I understand," Blaze said, quietly. He always thought that he would not make a good soldier, and now he had the evidence.
"No, I do not think you do," Shirva continued. "Queens and princesses can choose to not take lives with their own hands. However, if a soldier kills on the orders of a superior, the life taken is on the superior. As such, it is the rulers who bear the ultimate responsibility. You may escape the trauma of physically taking a person's life, but you cannot run away from your ultimate responsibility."
Blaze simply nodded, and Shirva chose to not say more.
Once they reached Mirian, Shirva took him to the General's quarters. Wu Mei took one look at Blaze's forlorn expression and asked him to retire for the night.
"Thank you," Blaze said to Shirva, with a small bow, before leaving.
"Live well, Rhyka," Shirva told him, with a gentle pat on the cheek.
oOo
Blaze spent the next couple of days in the gloom caused by his first on-field experience. However, Wu Mei's final lessons took his mind off things, while the anticipation of meeting his friends brought him some cheer.
On the morning of the 27th, Blaze visited Wu Mei's quarters to bid her farewell. He had already informed and thanked the other officers and the friends he had made over his stay, the previous night. They had all given him a cheerful goodbye, although they did not yet know his true identity.
Blaze found Wu Mei in her nightgown when he entered her simple yet comfortable-looking room. There was not much decor except for the elaborate maps hanging from her walls. She made him sit down and offered him some tea.
"Thank you for everything, Mon Wu Mei," he said, with utmost sincerity, after taking a sip from the freshly brewed Anyin tea. The tea leaves, unraveling in the cup of hot water, gave off a stimulating fragrance that cleared his mind and removed any lingering drowsiness. The tea also had a hint of refreshing cinnamon and a citrusy scent.
"You are welcome, Bruì qí . You have been a great student, and it has been a pleasure to teach you. I truly hope that this will not be the last time you seek my guidance. I believe these old feathers of mine have a lot more to offer," Wu Mei gave him a smile that reached her eyes. It was the type of smile that could mellow the harshest of angels.
"I will. However, I do think I need some time to soak in everything that you have taught me," he said, picking up the sugar and cinnamon-coated biscuits that she provided with the tea.
He munched on a few biscuits and finished the tea before removing an object from his space-ring.
"This is for you," he pushed the disc-shaped object towards Wu Mei.
It was about ten inches wide with eight slots in a symmetrical arrangement. A rotatable wheel with a knob was mounted over the disc, and eight tiny lights in conjunction to each of the slots were placed in a circle at the center. The lights and slots were both numbered.
"What is this?" Wu Mei asked, picking up the device and playing with the wheel.
"I have been working on improving VPs. Trying to simultaneously entangle more than two VP stones."
"Have you succeeded?" Wu Mei's eyes widened.
"Unfortunately, no. I made this device on the side. It is not much to look at, but it is functionable. I plan to make improvements in the future. You can slot in up to eight VP stones, and when any one of the slotted VPs ring, the corresponding bulb will light up. You will then have to turn the knob to that slot to turn it on. Then, you just transfer energy to the device and speak into it, normally.
It has an energy stone inside, so you only have to activate it once. You can also push the knob towards the center to connect to multiple VPs at the same time. But I advise against it, as there will be a lot of interference. I am trying to solve that problem. Anyway, I hope you find some use for it. I wished to give you something that I made as a token of my appreciation for your tutelage," Blaze explained.
"Thank you! I quite like it," Wu Mei said, as her eyes lit up like a child who'd found an interesting toy. She immediately pulled out several VPs and slotted them into the device.
Then, she VP-ed her daughter, and some of her officers, making them call her back to test the device. It worked exactly as it was advertised.
"What do you call it?" she asked, turning the wheel to call Xuan Er once more.
"What now, mother?" Xuan Er's slightly irritated voice came from the other end.
"I call it the Multi-Answering Machine. MAM for short."
***
After he bid farewell to the folks at Mirian, Blaze and Brija travelled to the city of Anyin--Brija had been given a couple of days off to escort Blaze around the city.
The Duchess of Anyin lived at her own castle, a few yonders away from the city, so Blaze had free access to her mansion inside the city.
He spent most of the day exploring the city and conversing with its resident. It was late in the evening by the time they reached the mansion, and he decided to use the bath before heading to bed. Though the fortress at Mirian was well maintained, it was not made for comfort, and after almost two months of living there, Blaze itched for a relaxing bath.
The Duchess' mansion housed a grand bath inside a high-ceilinged room, decorated with a mosaic stone floor that gave it the appearance of a bath house. Rugged yet clean marble steps led into a four-foot-deep pool of heated water.
Blaze entered the bath alone and closed the sliding double doors. He left his clothes in the changing room and headed to the wash area to clean himself before entering the pool.
Just as he sat down on the stool, he heard the doors of the bath open. He quickly closed his thighs, thinking it was some overeager maid wishing to help him in some manner. He relaxed when he saw that it was just Brija.
"May I join you, my Lord?" she asked, quickly closing the door behind her.
"You don't have to call me that when we are alone, or when we are outside of Xian," he answered with a sigh.
He had long since accepted that titles were an important part of angelic culture, especially in Xian, and to be honest, he felt a guilty pleasure in being addressed with them. However, he also did not wish to be viewed as a noble or a superior angel.
Yet, as a prince, Blaze represented Xian, and it would be a slight to the people of Xian if he were treated as a commoner. He wished it were not so, but one could not change the culture and minds of people by forcing their principles on them.
"I know," Brija said, heading to the changing room. Blaze filled up a bucket of hot water while Brija removed her clothes, and when he heard her come out, he turned around.
Since the day Brija had sworn to be his knight, Blaze had not made any advances towards her. The uncertain side effect he had on the people who had a physical relationship with him always weighed on his mind. It did not matter much when the only effect was that people did not wish to harm him, but what if it was stronger? What if the reason Brija had devoted her allegiance to him was because of some magical charm?
Regardless, he did not mind appreciating a beautiful view when it was presented to him.
As for him being able to control his urges, he had been getting better at it, though he usually managed to bring someone to help him out on longer trips.
Brija was around seven feet tall, and her time in the army had filled her out a little. She was now more powerful looking, but not in an unattractive way. Her silver-colored hair was still short, and it provided a great contrast against her dark honey-colored skin.
She stood in front of him with folded hands and let him drink in the sight of her. An unfettered thrill coursed through her body as she saw the look in his eyes. She saw desire, a hunger which she felt that no other angel could ever have towards her. Yet, strangely enough, she also felt the same hunger towards him.
However, things had changed since the last time she had experienced his otherness. Blaze was now a prince, one she had vowed herself to, and she could tell from the time she had spent with him that a lot had changed. He was now more formal, more regal, and had walls up that had never been there before.
She would have to be careful in how she approached him, if she were to elicit the reaction that she hoped for.
"May I wash your hair?" she asked.
Blaze quickly swiveled around on his butt and presented his back to his knight in dermal armor. Brija pulled up a stool and sat behind him, reaching for the hair tie that held up his hair.
"You always wear this, Rhyka," she stated, running a finger over the interwoven stones that made up the hair tie.
"I think I like 'Lord' better," he said wryly, before answering her question. "My mother gave it to me. Her nagging is also the reason why I wear my hair long, instead of keeping it short like yours."
