Native Fray Chapter 1 : Timidity’s Veil
It felt like it was just yesterday, everything did at this point. All the battles, decisions, deaths felt as if they were yesterday. Time felt different in war, for him it did. He stood with his back to the sun hoping to feel the heat contact his neck but got nothing. The usual sunny blue sky was caked with a melancholic mass of gray smoke and the scent of burning flesh. Not ideal but it’s what he got. He turned to look at the sun’s absence as it was enveloped by the smoke and hyper fixated on where it would've been. Nostalgia hits as he remembers when it was there, a better time. The bright sun shone on the grassy battlefield as both sides advanced on each other. As both grew closer a silhouette occupied the sun. Its shadow would be broadcast across the entire landscape, a shadow that instilled the fear of God into the enemy, even into him. The shadow would raise its hand and in an instant an invisible storm would brew, you could only hear it. The enemy would hear and begin to retreat immediately as fire and lightning vaporized them in seconds. The screams of the war were only drowned out by cotton swabs he kept in his ears, they did him wonders.
“GENERAL GEOFFREN, YOU ARE NEEDED AT THE CENTER REGIMENT’’ screamed a young soldier attempting to get his attention. The cotton swabs just barely silenced the young man’s perilous yells as he kept trying to re-immerse himself. His continuous calls were met with a tranquil silence. The young man, finally growing tired, ran up and yanked at his arm like a child. He stood there with his eyes closed trying his best to ignore the young man as he persisted. He eventually let out an annoyed groan as he gave up ignoring him.
“Why do I have to clean up now?” He thought as he turned back to see an occupied battlefield, full of dead grass and fighting. He began following the soldier into the hellscape. Their slow trotting turned into full sprinting as they began closing in on the regiment. As they passed through he saw men missing limbs, ripped in half, headless. His visceral reaction reached everywhere but his face, his poker face was immaculate.
“Are you able to enlighten me on the situation at hand?!” he yelled trying to drown out the explosions.
“No time, just follow!” The young soldier responded. Geoffren’s face drooped with impatience hearing his response. The pair kept running until they were cut off by a mounted colonel. He stared down at them from his high horse with a stare of indignation. The stares of silence drowned out the gunfire.
“Uhh..yes?” Geoffren asked to break the silence.
“2 hours. 17 minutes..” The colonel said in a graveled voice. “..Is that an important amount of time of some sort?”
“YES ITS IMPORTANT! THATS HOW LONG YOUVE BEEN MISSING IN ACTION!”. His spit filled scolding continued for what felt like 2 hours and 17 minutes as Geoffren tried to tune him out. He sighed, avoiding eye contact. The young soldier stared in terror, he’s never seen Colonel Ephraim this angry.
“Are you ignoring me??” The colonel asked as he got off his horse, closing the distance. The two held eye contact for what seemed like even longer than the rant. One’s eyes filled with emotion, the other completely void of it.
“Where was he, Doltein?!” The colonel screamed as he focused his anger towards the young soldier.
“W-When I found him he was–staring at the sky..sir.” He replied shakily. The colonel’s neck snapped to look back at Geoffren.
"You fucking shirker. I’ll deal with you when this is all over. I can make sure you’re behind bars! Men are dyin’ and you're just daydreamin’” He said.
“Are you done, Ephraim? I’ve been waiting for you to tell me what your problem is, not what I did wrong.” Geoffren said, staring blankly.
“MY PROBLEM?! MY PROBLEM IS YOU, GEOFFREN!” The colonel screamed as his eyes widened with rage. The two held their gazes until Geoffren broke, looking at Doltein to hopefully give him an answer. The colonel sent a wrathful look Doltein’s way aswell.
“Oh no. Please dont..PLEASE DONT PUT ME IN THIS SITUATION!!’’ Doltein thought as his stomach turned. Someone he respected, and someone he feared, stared at him awaiting his response. Doltein stuttered in utter agony as his mouth refused to form the words.
“DOLTEIN GET OVER HERE WE NEED YOU!” Screamed another young soldier not too far away.
“Oh thank God!” Doltein thought fleeing the situation. The two stood there in silence until Ephraim let out a tired sigh.
“So, are you going to tell me how to fix your problem?” Geoffren calmly asked for the final time.
“Our entire left wing is completely frozen, It’s definitely some type of manipulation being used? Possibly acceleration? I don't pay attention to that wizard shit. It’s causing our men to stand completely still as if they're frozen. What I do know is that you need to go in there and stop this nonsense. You–” The colonel continued before being interrupted.
“I don't need to do anything, I will do it because I fix the problems you cause.” Geoffren said in a snarky tone. The colonel’s eyes drooped.
“You’re one difficult bastard to work with, you know that..I-..every single thing I ask of you comes with an argument or some form of low-level mutiny, you never just give me what I ask. It’s like I am begging you just to do your damn job each time I see you. All I ask for is respect. Your shitty attitude alone is one of the things prolonging this war.” The colonel said in an aggressive yet revealing manner. Geoffren turned away ready to leave.
“My parents were married..” Geoffren says softly as particles of dirt begin to rise around him. The others watch as the air quickly rushes towards him, it thins as it seemingly is taken from them and given to him. Visible gusts of air form around his feet in a loud distorted sound until..nothing was heard. *BWOOM* A pressurized expulsion of air bursts from his feet launching Geoffren hundreds of yards into the air. The shockwave knocks the colonel off his feet covering him in a blanket of dirt.
“I’ll get you...you prick.” Ephraim thinks to himself. He soars across the battlefield hectically searching for the colonel’s problem until finding it. He gives himself another kick, barrelling towards the ground at high speed. As he closed in on the area, the problem made itself known. His eardrums gushed with blood as a piercing ringing followed. “Fuck! I’m cramping up!’’ is the only thing he can think as he begins to feel his body stiffen. Losing air plummeting in a paralyzed free fall.
“Shit! I’ll die if I dont land right! Think! Think!” were thoughts rushing through his head as his heartbeat drowned them out. His eyes do nothing but fixate on the ground as it begins filling his point of view. He cuts through the air as tears are stripped from his eyes. The wind fights to hold him up. The horrid stench of war punched him in the face once again as he became closer to the ground. He chases logical thoughts but they evaded him, he can’t think while staring into the void.
“Why?! Why do I have to die here? With this terrible smell, this terrible view, this terrible way, these terrible people. It could've been different” he thinks. His heart and stomach were dropping faster than he was as he began accepting his fate until one last moment of clarity.
“My ears. Plug my ears!” he thinks as he struggles to reach into his shirt pocket. All the strength in his body went into his arms as he fought to grip the cotton balls and bring them up to his ears. Each inch felt like a mile with will power being the fuel to close the distance. Uncertainty filled his brain as he was mere feet from the ground. In the last second, his world went silent for a few reasons. The fear clouding his mind, his heartbeat filling his head, and the cotton swabs reaching his ears. In an instant the paralysis wore off and he scrambled to break his fall. He projected an enormous burst of air at his feet just before he collapsed crashing into the ground. He groaned as he got up, dazed and nauseous. He looked around with blurred vision noticing dark blue blobs
ahead of him. He slowly began to rise, regaining his balance, vision clearing. The dark blue blobs were revealed to be his allies, completely paralyzed by the tone.
“It’s like a stagnant ant colony.” He thought while sneaking around the frozen soldiers and unloading one of the soldiers' muskets. The warranted calm was interrupted by the blood splatter of the soldier’s head.
“Damn, I missed him” An enemy soldier said, starting to reload his weapon. Geoffren turned and lifted his fingers. With one motion of his hand he sent an instantaneous gust of air to snap the enemy's neck and send him flying. The other enemy soldiers noticed this and began to rush Geoffren. Before they had the chance to raise their weapons they were flying through the air in various directions. With his hands he would move each enemy towards him then suddenly send them flying every which way as far from him as possible. In his spree he used multiple directions to rip them in half. After a minute of fighting, it seemed to have died down.
“There's gotta be more.” Geoffren thinks as he rushes through the crowd. In the fraction of a second an enemy pounced from behind one of the still soldiers with a bayonet. Geoffren used the air behind him to float away from the attack and blast him with air.
“I let them get too close!’’ He thinks as another circles around to shoot him with a revolver. Geoffren grabbed the barrel and pointed it downwards letting the shot fly into the ground. In the moment he was distracted the enemy stabbed him in his lower back. In retaliation he lifted himself off the ground to kick him in the face. Still in the air he readied his hands to blast the others away. His brain moved at blistering speeds to count his targets.
“11” He thought as they raised their weapons. The enemy were all packed together, but all were close to his allies as well. Quickly he analyzed the situation, contemplating hitting them individually. But with little time, and a look of little care, he sent a blast of air killing all in his line of sight. It wasn’t the plan to kill his allies, but it happened. Kneeled down exhausted he looked over to see his own men’s corpses killed by his hand. He held a dead stare, just thinking. Once he got up he gathered the musket balls and began to search for a specific soldier. He looked through the crowd until finally finding him. He plugged his ears with the musket balls and watched as his face reanimated to a large bright smile.
“GENERAL!! YOURE HERE!!” Raygal screamed in excitement.
“IVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO HELP US! I KNEW YOU WOULD COME IM SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!” He added. Geoffren watched blankly as he screamed, unable to hear him. Kind of happy he couldn’t hear him, Geoffren began using impromptu sign language and word mouthing to communicate with Raygal.
“*We need to plug our allies’ ears, and find the source of the sound*” Geoffren communicated. Raygal watched closely, nodding his head attentively. Geoffren used his hands to play out their plan like a puppet show, at the end, mimicking an explosion. Raygal smiled as he made eye contact and nodded.
“*Follow my lead and wait for my signal*” Geoffren conveyed as they both got up beginning their parts. Raygal began collecting musket balls to plug the soldiers ears and Geoffren
took to the skies one more time to draw attention and scout. He quickly began maneuvering as the enemy fired on him. Bullets wizz past him while he readies his hands to retaliate. He uses a powerful vacuum of air to yank multiple soldiers towards him, letting them drop to their deaths. He uses another to crush the soldiers into the ground. The enemy soldiers readied their canons and began blasting at Geoffren. Dodging each cannonball, Geoffren gathered a ball of air on his palm to grab one mid-flight and blasted it back at them. It smashed into the ground sending enemy soldiers flying and creating a massive cloud of dust and dirt. He rocketed down toward the dust cloud and landed inside it. He closed his eyes and sent an omnidirectional blast of air to spread the cloud and blind all the soldiers in its vicinity. With this, he began his spree. He pulled two soldiers with incredible speed and slammed them into each other. The others began to fire randomly, hoping they’d hit Geoffren in the dust cloud. He maneuvered through the gunfire and blasted a few enemies trying to secure the area. He pulled a bayonet from the ground and hurled it into an enemy’s throat then threw a few of them into the air and slammed them back onto their allies. He killed and killed hoping to dwindle down their numbers but nothing was changing, they just kept coming. His spree was interrupted once again as multiple enemy soldiers arrived preparing to shoot. Geoffren was able to blast them all away, making them drop their weapons. “I'm running out of energy, I can’t exert enough force to instantly kill anymore, plus I need to conserve my energy for the plan.” He thinks as he pushes more soldiers knocking away their weapons. The numbers grew and they began advancing on him. Before they could, Geoffren let out one last push to send most of them flying and disperse their dropped weapons. One enemy recovered quickly and tackled Geoffren beginning to wrestle him. In the struggle, Geoffren fought to get back onto his feet, but the enemy soldier was able to get the cotton balls out of his ears. Geoffren elbowed him and knocked him out before the paralysis began.
“GODDAMMIT!” He thought as his joints began to lock. Everything started to move in slow motion again as he noticed the enemy soldiers beginning to recuperate and reach for their weapons. That terrifying ringing filled his head as he fought to move his arms. He lowered his hands into his coat pocket. He gripped his revolver and began bringing it to his head.
“If I die, it won't be to any of you” He muttered through gritted teeth and a locked jaw. His gun traveled all the way to his temple with his finger on the trigger. The enemies had prepared to fire their weapons as soon as they got up. Finding himself in another standoff, Geoffren did not hesitate. A shot fired off, Geoffren had shot next to his ear, blowing his eardrum out to deafen himself from the ringing. In the second the paralysis wore off he fired another in his left ear. The ringing he now heard was a different kind of ringing, one that let him know he was alive. He sent out another blast of air in all directions to hinder the enemy one more time. One of the enemy soldiers was able to hold onto his weapon though and line up to shoot. Geoffren didn't notice in time and the enemy pulled the trigger, luckily, the barrel of his musket exploded in his face, killing him. Geoffren realized what had happened and smiled. He turned around to see Raygal and his allies charging forward into the battle. The two sides began a fire fight of gorey proportions as blood and limbs began flying around the battlefield. A scene that was the epitome of war.
Raygal charged in with his bayonet, gunfire whizzing past him. He screamed as he slammed the bayonet into an enemy’s throat and pulled it out to open fire on more. He aimed down at his next target, a mounted cavalry officer, and blew a hole in his chest. Raygal threw the musket aside and pulled out his revolver, beginning to fire more upon the enemy. He fired one shot into an enemy, the bullet exploded as it entered him, igniting his body. He jumped onto the horse from the officer and fired from atop the horse. Body after body exploded until he ran out of ammo. He picked up a sword and continued his attack. He ran through slashing and impaling. The blade was cutting through bodies as if they were warm butter. An enemy soldier began to rush at Raygal with his bayonet, only to have the barrel cut in half. Raygal perked his eyes as he aimed for the enemy’s neck, he dodged just in time.
“Why was the air from that swing so warm??” the enemy soldier thought as he reeled forward. Raygal rotated his wrist preparing for a second swing but the enemy soldier threw his gun at Raygal, sending him to the ground. Before he could get up the enemy soldier tackled him back to the ground and they began to wrestle for the blade. The two were stepped on and over as they battled for the blade. The enemy soldier was able to get a punch to Raygal’s face and take the sword from him. Raygal was able to kick him off and regain his footing. With no hesitation the enemy began rapidly swinging the blade. Raygal steadily dodged each swing until being grazed on his shoulder, his skin singed as he grunted in pain.With each swing the blade grew hotter as its frightening red glow brightened. The hot air surrounding the blade suffocated them as they both gasped for breath. The enemy went for a downward swing only to have it caught by Raygal, this was his chance.
Caught in a deadlock with the enemy, Raygal used all of his strength to face the end of the blade toward him. The heat burned their hands as they both gripped the sword. It remained stagnant, suspended above their heads in the deadlock. The enemy stared at the motionless red hot blade in fear. It’s lack of movement somewhat comforted him, though not for long. The blade began to slowly grow closer and closer to his eyes, yet he didnt feel his arms moving. His thoughts began to spin in confusion as it closed in on his eyes.
A feral shriek more fit for an animal instinctively exploded from his lungs. His fingers felt a burning liquid on them as he grasped his face in pain. He began searching the ground for a weapon, just to be interrupted by Raygal, who shot him in the head. Raygal had smelted the blade onto his eyes during the deadlock. He held the butt of the blade as a metallic liquid ran down his wrists like blood. He winced in agony, but felt comfort in his victory.
Raygal felt his hair being pulled by the wind as he looked back to see Geoffren floating above everyone. He pointed in a direction seeming to be southwest. It was angled towards Raygal’s left where he was pointing his finger aswell.
“The signal.” Raygal muttered. Raygal began to signal the other soldiers to retreat back towards them while he started building energy. Their energies combining led to their brains synchronizing and an immediate connection.
“Raygal, you got me?”
"Yes, general”
The air grew thinner by the second as Geoffren pulled all of it towards him. After gathering enough he released it in the direction he pointed as a massive force, in the second it was conjured the air seethed and combusted creating an explosion large enough to wipe out 4 miles of land in front of them. The scorched corpses of the enemy laid upon the flaming ground in front of them. The flames roared with the victors as they rejoiced about their win in battle. Raygal looked to Geoffren with a determined face and removed the musketballs from his ears, there was no ringing.
“We got him, General!!” He screamed as Geoffren removed his cotton balls.
“Genius plan, General! I never doubted you.”
“Thank you, Raygal. It sure is a–uhh, pleasure to hear your voice again.” Geoffren said, walking away. In the midst of celebrating, faint movement caught Geoffren’s eye. A body among the flames and corpses began to move and sit up. Geoffren quickly pushed through the crowd and ran towards it. It was a young man holding a trumpet. He was covered in burns and coughing up blood. Geoffren stared at the trumpet and back at him.
“That ringing, it was you, right?” He asked. The boy stared in fear before answering.
“Yes, sir. They made me.” The boy replied, quivering. He pulled out a white handkerchief and held it out to Geoffren who paid it no mind. Raygal ran up shortly after and assessed the boy too.
“Your ability to alter sound and choose who can and cannot hear it is incredible.” Raygal chimed in.
“The enemy didnt wear ear plugs didnt they? Impressive” Geoffren said, staring intensely at the boy.
“Please, let me live. They just used me for my ability, I have no qualms-”
“How old are you.” Geoffren asked sternly.
“16, sir.”
“16 and that powerful? That’s a problem” Geoffren continued. The boy's eyes filled with tears as he began to plead.
“They made me sir! I didnt want to do it. They just weaponized me. I dont care about this stupid war! I just want to go back to my family and take care of my little sister.
“Hes just a kid, hes so scared, hes like an animal.” Raygal thought as he stared at the ground avoiding eye contact.
“General wouldn’t, he couldn’t..” Raygal began telling himself. As the hot smoke splashed against his face his stomach dropped. He looked to see the boy had been shot right between the eyes through the clearing smoke. Geoffren’s revolver smoked as he put it back into his coat pocket. Raygal stood in shock, speechless.
“Why would he-- how could he?” His thoughts raced. Geoffren began walking back to their allies as if nothing had happened. Raygal stared at the body in confusion, his mind had to come up with an answer.
“He–” Raygal began.
“He isn’t a bad person. He would know best.” He thought as he looked back at Geoffren. “It’s war..this is war anyway.”
“Raygal. You comin’?” Geoffren said, turning back. His eyes gave a faint gray hue as he stared at Raygal.
“Yes, sir” He said as he followed slowly after.
