Otherside Ch. 03

Ollys nearly laughed, though her gaze stopped him. "An insurgence? Like a rebellion." Laughable, almost.

"Yes ma'am," the girl said, walking smoothly down the rocky tunnel ahead, leaving the three to struggle to keep up. Ollys grunted and continued supporting Liric, though his muscles aches and his legs wobbled. It would be a miracle if they made it through alive.

"Who would rebel against an academy?" Ollys nearly slipped on a rock, but Opal caught his arm, righting him. "They against education or something?"

The girl laughed, her cute voice chiming through the air. "Not the academy. Avandria."

Ollys nearly tripped again, though for a different reason. "What? All of Avandria?" He didn't know what he looked like - he could hardly feel his face - but he imagined he was leering in disbelief. Who could succeed in throwing out all of civilization? Besides, there was nobody outside of Avandria. Is this lady a creature... the though dawned on him. The first thing that popped into mind was what she might look like under her clothes as a non-human, though he quickly forced that thought from his head.

She turned to face him this time, causing him to flinch. She raised one lithe eyebrow. "There is so much more to this world than you could possibly know, child. And we do not have the time to discuss it." She turned around and continued striding down the craggy tunnel.

Ollys squinted. "What..." He looked over at Opal, but she just shrugged.

The next few minutes were ones of silence, as Ollys and Opal stumbled after the faster woman. Ollys kept coming up with questions - who was this girl? What did she mean? Who would rebel against Avandria? - but he had no answers for himself. He began to feel frustrated at this woman. Maybe it would have been better to return to the surface.

He saw images of valleys filled with corpses of students, professors and insurgents alike, and he quickly came to the conclusion that following the crazy woman was probably smart.

"Dor!" The woman ahead called after a dozen or so minutes. "Dor! You made it."

Ollys looked down the tunnel but couldn't see far. He began to hear voices as the walked deeper though, a few faint voices which grew to collections of curses and complaints.

"Luce!" A gruff but thin voice responded. "You're alive." A man came into sight. He had long light brown hair woven in a braid, with a mustache to match. He wore a dark grey tunic of similar color to the woman, but also wore a long sleeve silver-and-maroon jacket on top with only one sleeve - the other presumably blown off in the fight above, as well as a silver cloak hanging off his shoulder. "Thought you'd died. Risky stunt, you pulled."

The girl - Luce, Ollys supposed, though it was an odd name - grinned, punching the man. "You doubt. I had it in my hands. None of the sunditzs noticed a thing."

The man laughed, his voice raspy. "Good, good. And these are the captives, I presume?"

Ollys slipped his arm from around Liric and pulled his glove tight. "W-what do you want with us?" His voice once again failed him. He doubted he could do much against full-fledged warriors after all, especially if they were successfully fighting all of Avandria.

The man Dor grinned at Ollys, raising slender arms. "Don't worry brother. Ain't here to rape ya." He didn't bother explaining though, walking towards the clamor with the girl. Ollys refused to think about what their relationship might be, forcing himself to focus on the situation.

"An insurgence," Liric muttered weakly. "The hell is going on?"

"Unlikely," Opal said. "Probably a gang or something." Even that thought was troubling though. Ollys had never heard of any gang or any form of organized crime at all in Avandria.

But they followed further down the tunnel. What else could they do?

Within a few moments, the tunnel they were passing through spilled out into a much larger cavern, the source of the noise. The huge cave, probably 40 feet tall and several times longer, was packed with dozens, probably more than a hundred, of the insurgents. They all seemed to be talking at once, causing the massive amount of noise echoing everywhere. The echo caused people to talk louder, which created more echo. Ollys restrained the instinct to cover his ears, though he doubted it would do much. Most of the insurgents wore cloaks and tunics that were worn above, probably the offensive force, but there were others who didn't, those tending to wounds, cooking and serving food, or cleaning the caverns - as ironic as it sounded. A half dozen or so stood at a table in a corner, which was raised up a few feet above the rest of the mass by flattened rock. Probably their leaders, Ollys noted. He wondered if he could take them out himself, but quickly discarded the idea, as images of the massacre above committed by the insurgents and the academy flashed through his mind. Wouldn't stand a chance.

"This one's injured," Luce said to the mustached man, jabbing her thumb towards Liric. "Get him to a physician."

"Of course, Your Excellency," Dor said, bowing so deep, Ollys couldn't believe it was anything but a tease.

As if on cue, the girl kneed him in the thigh, causing the man to curse. "Learn how to take a joke," he muttered, though he grinned at her. He straightened himself before walking towards Ollys. "Let me take him," he said, nodding to Liric.

Ollys didn't move or let go of Liric, looking warily at the larger man.

The man sighed, and gave Ollys a knowing look. "Hey, I get it, brother. Bunch of insane criminals kidnap you, then try to separate you. But..." he clicked his tongue. "Just trust me. Gonna take good care of the boy. He needs medical attention."

There was something in the man's eye, a sort of earnestness, that pushed Ollys. He hesitantly moved, letting the man support Liric in his stead. Opal let go too, giving Ollys a tired look. "You do anything to him, and I'll..." He couldn't even think of a threat.

Dor grinned. "Don't worry. Anything happens to him, I'll give you my left ball." Not giving him time to think about the promise, he walked away, briskly bringing Liric across the room. The boy's face was plastered with complete exhaustion, and Ollys wasn't even sure if he was conscious at all.

"You two," the girl said suddenly, walking up to them, a hand on her hip. She had a glint in her eye, as if amused. "With me. Ups want to see you."

"Ups?" Ollys asked, trying to keep up as the girl walked briskly through the masses. "Like higher ups or something?"

"More or less. They run the place, give order to this mess of hormone and anger," she said, gesturing to the motley of different peoples around them. "They'll explain things, probably. Better than I could, anyway." She ducked past a couple of beefier men, who were arguing about some sort of shellfish platter they had between them.

Ollys looked at Opal, who shrugged. The girl looked exhausted. Ollys imagined he looked the same. Probably just wasn't sane enough to feel it yet.

He and Opal continued to pursue the girl Luce, trying to keep up with her as she lithely skated through the crowds. Eventually, she led them to the corner table, stepping up on the elevated shelf. Ollys forced his eyes away from her ass as she did.

Ollys stepped up on the ledge, noting the council before him. There were seven individuals on the chairs, including Luce, and one empty chair, possibly for Dor. They were pretty split down the middle in gender, and they all had varying features and complexions, except for one man and women who looked quite similar - family, maybe.

One woman smiled formally at Ollys and Opal as they cautiously walked towards the table. She had dusty blonde hair, like Liric, and was one of the younger in the group, maybe just a couple years older than Ollys. "Hello," she greeted, her voice a mellow alto. "Sorry for the... abruptness of this morning. Can't imagine it's been what you expected when you woke up."

"Was expecting my beef wrap about this time today," Opal said sarcastically. "Didn't expect to get kidnapped into a cult."

Despite her witty bitterness, most of the group laughed amusedly. "If it's the food you're worried about, then trust me, we have much better than beef wraps for food here. And apologies about the, ah, bluntness of the welcome. Lucy isn't the best at being polite." Luce just looked at her fingernails and clicked her tongue. Or, Lucy.

"But first, I am Sori, temporary head of this operation. This is Pol," she said waving to her right, where a slim, swarthy woman stood, looking exhausted as Ollys, "financial advisor. We have Lucy, Dor, who I assume you've met, then Orem, Maeo..." she went across the table, giving off names Ollys immediately forgot. "And myself. We lead this hasty group," she said, waving her hand off to the room haphazardly. "A rebellion of sorts."

Ollys sighed. Rebellion. "Against what?" he asked.

As if the universe wished to prove his arrogance wrong, a huge blast shook the ground as one of the cavern walls to the left broke inward, chunks of boulder crashing across the room, causing yells of alarm to pierce the room. Ollys instinctively pulled his hands over his ears this time, looking at the cause of the explosion. Individuals equipped with Avandria milita cloaks, as well as swords and spears, spilled into the room, swiftly attacking anyone near them. A handful turned into dozens as the well-trained army poured into the room. The messy insurgence quickly lost dozens of members as the troops slew mercilessly, not giving the rebels time to ready themselves.

And yet, within seconds, the insurgence was fighting back, having formed an organized line of resistance against the Avandrian guards.

"Dammit!" The woman Sori yelled. "They followed us. Maeo, organize the legion. Lisl, evacuate the medical wing. Rest of you, get out."

A moment later, Ollys was being dragged down yet another tunnel by Lucy, followed by Opal and another person - Orem, was it? - sprinting hastily down the rocky crevase in the cavern wall. Ollys nearly fell a dozen times as Lucy yanked him down turn after turn, only keeping his balance out of sheer instinct. He managed to wrench himself from her grip, causing her to turn around in alarm, but he kept following her. She looked forward again and ducked around another corner.

Ollys nearly crashed into the woman as he rounded the corner. Lucy was crouched behind the corner, a short sword in her left hand. Left-handed, some carnal, excited part of him muttered, but he shoved that aside hastily. He crouched by her in the small nook in the wall. Opal squeezed next to him, and the tan hulk of a man Olem sat across from them.

Ollys opened his mouth to ask what was going on, though he could already guess the answer. Olem put a finger to his mouth before he could ask, shutting him up. The man scared him.

They sat tensely for multipled minutes without moving at all except for the man Olem to pull out a pair of thick daggers. There was still shouts, magic effects, and the clang of metal-on-metal from down the tunnels, and yet Ollys barely dared to breath. After probably half a dozen minutes, the clamor died down to almost nothing except for a few distant clashes and a few orders yelled, though he couldn't make out what was being said. Had the insurgents lost? Had the Avandrians been driven back?

He didn't dare ask though. He started to gain night vision, but the few lights there had been earlier were now taken or put out, blocking out all vision. He thought he could hear his own heartbeat thrumming, and wondered if the others could hear. It was louder than a war gong. Not sure if I know what a war gong sounds like, he noted, considering this is the first time I've even heard of conflict happening in my life time.

The sound of soft footsteps nearly made Ollys jump from his daydreaming. The soft scraping of hard leather on the rocky cavern floors made his heart race and his hair stand up. The footsteps seemed to come and go, as if the ebb and flow of the blood of some ancient beast from fairytale. Ollys had never been a particularly weak fellow, he had always thought. But in that instant, he felt no older than a four year old, looking outside and noticing for the first time that the scarecrow looked an awful lot like the devil himself.

The sound of loud scraping assaulted Ollys' ears, making him slip and fall into Opal. But the scraping came from where Olem had crouched. The hulk had leapt out, and Ollys could hear the sound of steel thumping into flesh, followed by a body hitting the ground.

Opal exhaled beside him, and Ollys did the same hesitantly. Had Olem killed the stalker? He nearly voiced his relief before a flash of light burst from before him. A beam of red glowed suddenly, and a man stood behind a flaming sword - not Olem, but a man wearing Avandrian colors. The grin was one that instilled Ollys with a sense of horror so deep, he doubted his remains would be recognized even if his parents were looking among the dead.

Until the man sagged over. Lucy stood crouched there, her short sword a fist deep in the man's chest, right over his right lung. The man coughed briefly before losing his strength and collapsing on top of Lucy. She gagged and tossed the man aside, leaving her sword with him.

She stood up. "We have to keep moving," she whispered. "They definitely heard that." She walked back into the hall, giving the mound that was Olem a solemn look. She nodded to the man before turning deeper into the hall.

Ollys looked at Opal, who looked as horrified as he did, before scrambling to follow Lucy. She moved quicker this time, and there was less light. Ollys struggled to follow her. Every minute he seemed to lose her, but just as she disappeared, she would pulse a glow from her fingerprick light, telling them where she went. He and Opal stumbled down the halls after her for what felt like an hour, if not more.

Just as Ollys was about to give out from the immense pain in his thighs, he stumbled into Lucy sitting in a cave, next to a pond of trickling water. "This should be far enough," she said tiredly, her lead leaned back against the wall. Her eyes were closed shut, as if too tired to even open them.

Ollys sighed and fell to his knees, breathly deeply the fresh air, which somehow smelled cleaner with the small pond of water. Opal sat next to him, her back against the wall.

"What the hell... is going on," Ollys said weakly between breaths, more stating his frustration than asking.

Lucy opened her eyes and grinned at him somehow. She's probably used to this, he thought, not sure if he was more irritated, wary, or impressed. "Avandria wants its captives back, I suppose."

"You mean, us?" Opal asked. She looked too exhausted to display any emotion.

Lucy nodded, pulling out a small knife, to begin cleaning underneath her fingernails. "You're bystanders now. You know Avandria isn't what it seems."

Ollys wanted to react upset, to defend Avandria. But she was right. As much as he didn't want to accept it, something wasn't right here. He had at least been lied to about Avandria's security his whole life. And all the students who had been killed for being witnesses. "The hell is going on... what is this insurgence about?"

Lucy turned to him, tilting her head. "Mind trying your magic for me, friend?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What, have you seduced my magic away with your little hands-on-hip thing?"

She grinned. "Oh, so it worked on you?" She eyed his pants.

Ollys blushed and glared at her, crossing his legs. But he reached out into his Trance. He entered the state easy enough; he lost physical awareness but became hyper-aware of everything else: of Opal and Lucy, and everything around them.

He left, raising an eyebrow. "What? Nothings wrong."

"Dimwit. Try doing something with your magic."

Ollys wanted to complain and tell her to do it herself, but he quited his pride and entered his trance again. He looked at one of the clouds in space - the Puffs, he called them - and tugged.

Nothing happened.

Ollys opened his eyes in surprise. He looked at Lucy, who grinned smugly at him. He shut his eyes again and entered the trance, once again focusing on a Puff. He narrowed his focus and really tugged on it.

It only shifted a tiny bit. With that much effort, he could usually create a tear easily. Fear slipped down his spine, and he glared at Lucy. "What did you do?!"

Lucy just shrugged, looking back at her clean nails. "Nothing. You can thank Avandria for that." She lifted a finger, like she did when she produced her pinprick of light. It only flickered this time, and she planted it on the wall. The light flickered, like the other on the wall.

Ollys looked at Opal. She looked as confused as he did, with agitation in her eyes, though she tried to hide it. "Can't use mine either. Explain."

"You know where most magic emanates from?" Lucy asked.

"Uh, the Arboream, of course." Didn't everyone know that?

Lucy nodded. "Avandria likes to teach that. It's a lie though." She looked at Ollys, a tint of danger dancing through her eyes. "It's more of a bottleneck."

Ollys raised an eyebrow. "Now that's a bold claim. How come magic is stronger near the Arboream?"

"Because, as I just said, it's a bottleneck." Lucy drew her gaze away from Ollys, towards Opal. "When the One God gifted magic, it was universal. Magic isn't locational, never has been." Ollys knew that much. "But, the old nation of Avandria was jealous. They wanted all the power. Like any kingdom, they wanted power over their enemies.

"So, they created the Arboream. Which straddles all magic through it, requiring any access to magic to pass through its stems. The closer you are, the more power. So, Avandria would have the most superior access to its power.

"Ironically, this prevented them from growing much, as going too far would also prevent them from accessing it," she said, grinning at the joke, "but that doesn't stop them."

"That can't be true." Sounded more absurd than a fairytale, Ollys noted. "Why would Avandria lie about such a thing?"

Lucy shrugged. "Power. Control. The same reasons they've done anything."

"I hate that," Opal muttered. "I hate that it sounds reasonable."

Ollys looked at her in disbelief. "You're kidding."

She shook her head. "Never have liked the king and his people much."

He looked back to Lucy. Behind her mischievous countenance, he saw a sliver of sadness, maybe pity. "Dammit," he said. "And if I don't believe you?"

"Got some proof," she said. "Your friend, Liric was it? He is a frostkin, right?"

Ollys nodded, not bothering to ask how she knew.

"Frostkin's powers aren't disabled by the Arboream. They were discovered after it was created."

She was right. Liric's powers seemed universal. When they played near the edge of the city, where Ollys' powers were weak, Liric's had always seemed undiminished.

Lucy saw in his eyes his realization. "There's one more thing. Something Avandria never tells you about, though for good reason."

Ollys tilted his head. "You ever seen a girl nude, Ollys?" Lucy grinned wickedly.

He blushed. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Sounds like a no," she said, laughing. "Today'll be first for you then." She stood up.

Ollys paled further. "Um..." Lucy slipped the robe off her shoulders, which fell to a pile at her knees, revealing her tunic, baggy slacks, and sandals. She slipped off her sandals before untying the knot in her tunic, letting it fall off her shoulders.

Beneath her academy tunic, Lucy wore nothing but an ornate chest wrap. Consisting of a single piece of lavender silk-like material, it wrapped around her back and over her sizeable tits, connecting to a choker around her neck, which was made of a sterling silver. Her shoulders were slim and smooth, her clavicles seducing visible. Her abdomen was equally as slender, with very subtle abs showing beneath her prominent ribcage. Much undercleavage was shown off from her breast wrap, her boobs round and soft, and slightly tanned. A single freckle dotted the underneath of her left breast. She was absolutely stunning.