Tomb and Fire || Benji & Yoa
“Yoa Woard and Benji Hannai are send deep within the enemy lines to investigate its numbers and strength. They must ensure their own getaway.”
That was the message on the piece of paper delivered to Benji. Lena had given it to him, after she had probably received it, and the missions their other group mates were supposed to fulfil in one bunch via raven. Missions from the Demonlord, or at least, so were they told. The feeling of duty was more prevalent when one thought it was the Demonlord himself who wrote them, though Benji was pretty sure it was actually one of his assistants, or anyone else, really.
Benji hated getting missions - going into battle and putting their lives on the line pretty much ever fucking day was already enough, without specific things they had to do, sometimes even on top of it. Yet at least - at least he was doing this together with Yoa. They had probably learned he didn’t do well with others by now, all these failed missions later.
He was circling his shoulders stepping out of his tent, where Yoa was already waiting for him. She wore a similar leather armor as him, only that hers was probably fire-proved, at least Benji had never seen it burn. His own leather creaked when he stretched his arms, but he smiled, walked over to Yoa and laid his arm over her shoulder like he liked to do, if only to pull her close to him in a kind of side hug he secretly wished was full on. But fuck no - not with all those people around them. Nobody deserved to see how gently he treated Yoa.
“Alright. Time to not get ourselves killed another day.”, Benji said grinning at his friend and loosening up a little by casually jumping up and down, “Just gotta kill those Knights before they do!”
Some people warmed up properly before battle, did some exercise, got some magic flowing into their hands or other specific parts of their body. For Benji, and Yoa running after him, sprinting through and jumping over the various tent ropes had to be enough. Full-steam ahead, always. Out of the corner of his eyes, Benji thought he had seen Juvion, but whether or not it actually was him, with a step that was just a little rougher on the ground than his others, not losing speed, that person fell on Benji’s sweet, sweet, beloved ground.
They slowed down when the last defense rows of Cold North soldiers came into sight, and went over into a jog - the Fields were vast, and Yoa and Benji would run along the flanks, so they might have to go steady for quite a while before they would find something they could spy and take notes from.
Looking over at the battle happening a good hundred meters or more away from them, it seemed… unreal almost. Yesterday he was right inmidst the fussy chaos, tomorrow he would be again. In there, just like the Mancers one could guess their locations of - whenever a huge fireball burst into the sky, or a particular large crowd seemed to scream their last words at once. Benji turned his head away, although he wasn’t quite too sure why.
Maybe it was to look at Yoa, whom his eyes fell on when he changed his view. Whom his eyes fell on all the time, if he was honest. Out of a crowd of a hundred people, Benji was sure he’d find her immediately. Even in midst of a mission, prepared for battle always, Yoa looked stunning, her silky hair, her calm demeanor. He loved her. It was times he wasn’t quite sure in which way, there were other times when he knew exactly how.
Screaming and the screeches of metal on metal got louder - they were now on line with the heart of the battle. Where blood soaked the ground, where everyone died who stayed there for longer than they needed to.
“Just look at those bastards.”, Benji said and slowed down again, eyes darting over the chaos that as Knights and Mancers clashing together, “Enemy line starts from here on, right? Maybe we should, not sure, start counting? You’re the brain, got a plan, Yoa?”
Yoa was glad for Benji’s gaze, she had been close to adverting her eyes to the battlefield. She knew there would come a moment - soon - that this would be asked of her, but right now she choose not to see the death and destruction that ascended some hundred meters away. Her biggest regret was not the sight, but the reminder that she was here while friends were being slaughtered.
The one thing keeping her from drowing in insecurity and regret was her best friend: safe and sound by her side. His life she knew was alright.
The sounds of battle were drowned by his voice, calling her back to earth. She smiled at him, but as the subject of his question came through, that smile made way for a grin. ‘Of course I have a plan,’ she said, and choose a new page in her notebook. The pencil was on its last legs, but it would do for this mission.
She pointed further behind the line. 'We have to get behind to the enemy line to see better. If we go up the hill towards the Goodland camp, we have a better look on the valley.'
Benji agreed to the plan, though wary of getting away from the heat of battle and towards the enemy.
They made it within ten minutes, still covered by the trees, no one had yet spotted them. Beginning of the battle was always a chaotic moment for both parties. They could clearly see the camp from here, and had a right look on the forces that fought down the hill. Yoa had opened the notebook and started writing.
'How many in camp?’ She asked Benji, as she kept staring at the field, the sounds of battle almost inaudible.
'About a hundred guarding and the edges, most tents look deserted. Only the medical tent… Yoa look!’ Yoa stopped her scribbling, and she turned to see what Benji was carefully pointing at.
The medical place was stocked, more soldiers than there were guards were resting around and within the tent. Yoa had a certain idea who could’ve left such sloppy work, a cunning large green animal loved to leave rampage where he went. And there were few other Mancers too who dealt more with inflicting damage than killing.
One man sliced away from the crowd and towards the field, he wore simple armor and held a binder. He was looking around, and scrolling through the pages of what lay in his hand. Yoa wasn’t sure, but something in her gut told her that that binder was important.
She nudged Benji, who had already been looking. 'We need what he has.'
Benji eyed the situation. 'That is going to be difficult, do you have a plan?'
The Fire Magician nodded, and whispered into his ears. Meanwhile she kept her eyes on the battle. The neat lines with which everything had started, had dissolved. Smaller battles were waging all around, a few soldiers running in between. That was the way of battle.
Yoa and Benji had to have that binder.
Silently the two came out of hiding, sneaking towards their target, who hadn’t noticed a thing until one of the guardsmen called at him. He turned to the Mancers, who had covered half the distance already.
Benji put his foot down and the man was send flying, the ground launching him.
Yoa started running, and was just in time to push the man back onto the ground, his body protecting the binder. She tried to get him on his back, but the man struggled. Benji soon appeared to help her. They had to act hastily, the guardsmen were alarming each other. Good thing they had already established that the Goodlands had no Dragons here.
Benji had pushed the man on his side, sand and dirt covering his torso to keep him in place, while Yao snatched the binder away. She flung to her feet and looked through the pages.
This was golden. There were numbers scribbled on neat pages everywhere. They had hit the jackpot.
'Time to get out of here!’ She said to Benji.
Mission accomplished, which was great, but the commotion behind them grew greater. Both Yoa and Benji began to fear what would be there when they turned: the Fire Magician grabbed her friends hand, forcing him to look behind with her.
There it was. They had been terribly focussed on getting the binder that none of them had paid attention to the large group op soldiers that would soon stand on their doorstep. One of them rose their hand to generate a waterfall that rushed into the with full force.
Yoa pulled Benji along away from the attack, and urged him to flee. But they are too late for that. Two soldiers had veered around them and cornered back to attack. Yoa pushed one of them away with a blast of fire, while Benji moved the ground to send the other flying. Then more were upon them and they were pushed back to the watery ground.
Yoa received a cut to the knee and limped at the side of her best friend as she took out her enemies.
Benji's forehead was bleeding from the hilt of a sword, but his attacks were equally coordinated as before.
They didnt want to accept how dire their situation was, adrenaline pumping through their bodies, blood coursing through their veins. The world was a rage of blood, fire and dirt.
Water plashed against Yoa's backside and gave her the chills, she looked at her side, where Benji kept standing against the current. By now both of them had taken out ten men, but the situation did not allow for them to finish them off, which meant they could keep coming. The binder had gotten wet and all their hardwork had been for nothing now ink was flowing off the pages. Yoa cursed under her breath.
'We need to take out the Knight!' Benji warned.
She agreed, turning they left their attackers behind and sprinted at the Watet Magician, which seemed to startle anyone but the water magician.
The person swept water across their limbs trying to get a hold of them, but they used their own Magic to crush through it.
Yoa suddenly gasped loudly, and turned in reflex. A soldier had plunched a spear in her back, and was making their way back. 'Benji, protect your rear!' She called.
The Ground Magician too had been taken by surprise, an arrow was smashed into his shoulder, so close to his neck that Yoa knew that had been the target. 'Yoa!' Benji ran to her side, and with strength that easily scared anyone who had not seen Torque, he ripped stone from the ground, sending three pillars to the aky. High and mighty they stood until they collapsed to form a tomb of solid rock, not even the Water Magician could penetrate through it.
Free from attackers, the two fell to the ground, holding each other in a tight embrace. This was where they would die. Inside a tomb, lighted from the inside with the smallest flame. Until their strength would fade away, and they would be welcome in Out of Time.
THE END. (sort off, could be made longer)
