Chapter Three: If Only To Save One

This was it for Samari. Her life will end before it even truly began. Goodbye to the things she never saw and will never do. All for nothing, though she had tried. She would die before doing a lick of good.

At least she saved one man. That was enough for her, even if she couldn't save them all.

No. No! It won't end like this! I have to do better, I have to make more of a difference!

She forced herself to stay conscious, though bits of black crept into her vision. Her hand slide into her bag in slow, undetected movements. Gasping the first thing she felt, she just so happened to be just what she needed.

Oh, beautiful blue sparkling dust, so pretty as it iced over his hand. The cold burned her blisters as she smeared it over him, but she withstood it as she watched him wither in pain.

With screaming yelps, he let go, gripped the blackening area around his wrist. The girl fell to the ground in an awkward heap, but she took in greedy gulps of air without a second thought.

She had stopped him, but she would not win. Her head spun as the pain slowly tingled over her, growing as she came back to life.

The psycho had recovered by now, though he was not at all happy. The part of his arm she froze was now glowing with a strange symbol she didn't recognize. An actual mage, she realized in dismay. Yes, she was done for, but she could wear him down a bit.

"Good try, girlie, but you should not hurt what you can't kill," he said bitterly.

He raised a hand to slay her, finishing quick and easy. He must be too annoyed to make her pay, but it was better for her anyway.

Right as he was about to strike, he was gone. Rather, he was cast aside by the force of someone tackling him. Or perhaps they had been thrown onto him. Yes, the latter was more accurate.

Samari's eyes were fixed on the two dazed men for but a moment before turning to see who had tossed him. Far away, standing in the shadows like a ghost, a man stood firm. He stared right at her.

His gaze bore into her as he approached, one dreadful step at a time. The thick darkness swarmed around him, slipping out of him and following him. She could see no details on him, but he was terrifying enough without needing to see him.

He walked past her, stopping when she was behind him. "Get in my way, and any harm done to you is on your head," he said. His voice was cold and thick, freezing her where she sat.

Everyone could sense the power radiating off him. The fighting slowed to a stop as it encased the area, blocking out the sun. That knew as well as she did that he was one you didn't want to upset. She could only barely see the figures in the looming darkness, watching with eager eyes as she was too afraid to run away.

The man he had thrown like a rag doll backed away, trying not to be seen. The other stood to his feet, cracking the kinks out of him. He did not seem phased one bit by the shadow master, only fueled by the chance to play with a real opponent.

"It seems you finally found me, Shadow Knight. Don't think I haven't seen you tracking my every move, watching the effects without being able to do anything," he snarled.

His words were meant for the attacker alone, but Samari was close enough that she could hear it as a whisper.

The Shadow Knight, she now knew her savior as, spoke once again. "You have gone too far, Viper, and your actions cannot go unaccounted for."

Samari was a bit shocked that they knew each other. From their soft words, she thought that they had no intent in making a spectacle of their exchange. Their fight was personal.

Every inch of her screamed for her to run, but she couldn't. No, more like she would not move, as though something inside her told her she needed to be here, to see this. Perhaps it was her curiosity, wanting to see a mage fight up close. Mages, deadly and already angered, about to enter a fight, yet she did not want to leave her place at the edge of the ring.

All at once, the air seemed to explode. Mere ripples of the power surging between the two pierced through her. When she regained her balance, she saw that they were head-to-head. They were battling, both with flesh and ticon.

This was the first real ticon power she had ever seen. In her village, there were neither any mages nor any real knowledge of them, only that mages held amazing power, and few could use their ticons well enough to be considered a mage. Mages were the most powerful of people: the soldiers, the lords, the rulers, the greatest minds; all mages. To face a true mage was the definition of a fool.

It was her dream to be a mage, but it would never come true. To be a mage, a dixon must control their ticon. How can she control something if she didn't even know what it is? So, instead, she was determined to be the strongest non-mage person in the country, but that was just as great a leap. She had studied so much of all sorts of things, whatever she could find a book for, but it was hardly anything, she knew. Using dust would be the closest she ever got to true power, although it had nothing on the raw power of a dixon like what she saw before her.

Seeing their power in motion, she was glad that she had stayed.

The level of intricacy left her breathless. They moved too fast for her to follow, but she caught bits and pieces. The mages lashed out with flesh and ticon as one, moving in sync with the strange power they controlled. A fury of strikes and shadows intertwined into one powerful force.

She could not see what Viper's ticon was. He was moving quickly to dodge the attacks, taking every opportunity to land a hit. They were evenly matched, pushing the other back only to be sent back themselves.

A gasp escaped her as Viper pinned down Shadow Knight. "Try as you might, you'll never save them all. They'll always be more people in danger, more enemies to fight," he growled.

"I can still fight. I can save these people right here," Shadow Knight retorted.

Viper laughed at his prey. "You will die by my hand this day!"

"If only to save one, I would gladly give my life."

In a simple flick, Shadow Knight kicked out of his grip and shoved him off. He sent out a blast of darkness to him, but it was deflected by his own ticon. The two mage's ticons built up in powerful streams, an array of black and red clashing together like two oceans. The collision exploded, sending everyone in the circle flying backwards.

Viper charged forward, launching himself at his enemy. Shadow Knight called the darkness to his hand, and it condensed into a shield, which he used to block the powerful attack. The scum landed on it, jumping back while Shadow Knight pushed him off.

It happened almost too fast to see. The challenger dashed forward, his shield morphing into a sword he thrust at his opponent. Viper dodged, but Shadow Knight wasn't finished yet. His sword dove straight into the ground, which he used to balance his hands on as he swept his legs to land a blow that made a nasty crack and sent him to the ground.

As Viper attempted to stand, shadow tongues burst out of the ground to grab at him. His movements were sluggish as he nimbly jumped away from their reach, proof that he was injured.

Shadow Knight chased him, riding one of his shadows to fly effortlessly. Suddenly, he halted, staring into Viper's cold eyes as a wicked grin lit up his face. The shadows also ceased, allowing the assailant to escape from the peril of the clearing.

Why? Why did he stop when he is so close to catching him?

Samari looked around frantically for clues. Did someone else put up an invisible barrier around him? Is Viper's ticon a paralyzing gaze? What is happening!

Then she saw it. Over a dozen people scattered amidst the crowd, Riverites and Gruliers alike, held a weapon to their own throat. No one near them noticed them, everyone else being too occupied with the battle to see.

Fear was in their eyes, terrified for their life but unable to move. Some of their arms were shaking, almost as though they tried to drop the weapon but had little control over themselves.

That must be it. Some way, somehow, Viper was holding these citizens hostage. Shadow Knight could do nothing to stop him, so he instead gave up the fight. Let Viper escape, and they live; catch him and they die. So he walked away.

At the edge of the clearing, he looked over his shoulder. She could see but a sliver of his pale face beneath the shadows. Is he looking at me?

The darkness retreated from the area, soaking back into Shadow Knight as a veil around him. The sun was swiftly revealed as if it went from the dead of night to late morning, causing her to squint in the blinding light.

When her eyes focused, her hero was gone without a trace.

The crowd was settled, shaking themselves as if awakening from a daze. The hostages dropped their weapons, collapsing with relief to their knees. Not a single one was hurt. Samari suspected that the fighting everywhere would cease. She sneaked away from the area, wishing to avoid being present where the authorities arrived.

Thoughts of what occurred swirled in her head as she retreated to the other side of the port city. There was too much unknown to formulate any definite answers to the questions bubbling up inside her.

Where there are questions, someone knows the answer, and where there was a tavern, there were gossiping merchants with information.