Paragon of Destruction

"How did you do it?" Negin asked, her eyes narrowed as she glanced at Arran.

"Do what?" Arran replied absently.

They were on the very edge of the battlefield, where the barren ground already showed the occasional signs of a cataclysmic battle — gaping wounds in the earth, hundreds of paces long and deep enough to fully hide even a tall man.

Yet while the sight was striking, Arran's attention was fully focused on his Sense.

This close to the battlefield, the roar of unbound Essence was strong enough that it was beginning to interfere with his Sense. More and more, it was beginning to crowd out his ability to detect anything else, overwhelming his Sense like the rumble of a raucous crowd might overwhelm his hearing.

His sword, however, fared much better. Unlike Arran, it was somehow able to distinguish between all the different sources of Essence it detected, and it welcomed them with an eagerness that almost seemed giddy.

"You defeated a Ranger," Negin said. "How is that possible?"

In the aftermath of the battle, she had been too excited to ask any questions, instead vacillating between joy at defeating her opponent and shock at having killed the young man. But now that she had finally calmed down, she was starting to ask the questions she had ignored earlier.

"I imagine there are many people in the Imperium with the strength to defeat Rangers," Arran replied with a shrug. "It shouldn't surprise you that some outsiders can do so, as well."

"But you don't have any of the Imperium's techniques," Negin insisted, clearly unsatisfied with the answer. "And you aren't a mage, either. How can you be so strong?"

"You'll find that the world holds many strong people," Arran said. "Compared to some of the people and creatures I've met, I might as well be a common farmer. If you want to witness true strength, you should see what a dragon can do."

"You've met a dragon?" Negin looked at Arran with wide-eyed astonishment. "A real one?"

"More than one," Arran replied. "And one of them was a real monster, strong enough to crush entire mountains to dust. Friendly enough, though. For a few bottles of brandy, he'd help you with just about anything you needed. He even let me ride on his back."

Negin scowled at Arran in annoyance. "You're making fun of me."

"Maybe," Arran said. "But my point stands — the world is filled with hidden strength. You'd do well to remember that."

The girl did not reply, though a thoughtful look appeared in her eyes. Even if she didn't believe Arran's stories about Crassus, it seemed his defeating a Ranger had given her cause to reconsider her view of the world.

They continued onward for several hours, with the landscape around them steadily showing more scars of battle. And as they traveled, the pressure of Essence grew stronger, too — strong enough that Arran knew Negin must already be having trouble enduring it.

Indeed, barely an hour after he had the thought, she came to a halt, her expression suggesting that she was struggling with the pressure weighing down on her.

Arran made an effort to look as if he was affected as well, though, in reality, the effect was still far from having any discernible impact on him.

"We should take some pills," Negin said. "It won't be long now before the magic becomes harmful to us."

Arran nodded thoughtfully. "What about our belongings?" he said. Although he already knew the answer, he was curious to find out how she planned to handle the matter.

She looked at him uncomfortably. "We'll have to leave them behind," she said. "Our bags and our clothes…"

Seeing her pained expression, it was all Arran could do not to burst into laughter. Yet he suppressed his amusement, and asked, "The bags with the pills, too?"

Negin shook her head. "They're made out of leather that comes from creatures with a resistance to magic. As long as we don't go too far inside the battlefield, they'll withstand it."

Arran nodded. "What about our weapons?"

She didn't have an immediate answer to the question, and a frown crossed her face. "They're made out of metal," she said, though her voice sounded doubtful. "I think they should be fine?"

"All right," Arran replied. In truth, he knew the girl's weapon would be anything but fine if they went far inside the battlefield — even in Uvar, the Essence had been violent enough to damage normal metal. And here, the unbound Essence would be far stronger.

Yet his own weapon would only benefit from the harsh environment, and he had no intention of leaving it behind. But as he considered how best to keep its power hidden, Negin's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Turn around." She looked at Arran with an uneasy expression, and her face was slightly red.

"What? Why—" Arran stopped mid-sentence. "Oh."

Preoccupied with practical matters, he hadn't yet considered the implication of their clothes being unable to resist Essence. But now, he realized that if they were to leave their belongings here, they'd have to travel the rest of the way naked.

He gave her an awkward nod, then turned around and began to disrobe.

Some moments later, her voice sounded again.

"We should take some pills."

Arran turned around again, trying his best not to stare. He only partly succeeded at this, and as his glance passed Negin's body, he could not help but notice that her clothes had hidden more curves than he realized.

Yet he forced himself to focus on her face — and found that she'd fared even worse at trying not to stare. But her eyes moved up to his a moment later, and red-faced with embarrassment, she quickly reached for the bag in her hand, then took two pills from it.

"Two should be enough for now," she blurted out, then quickly handed Arran the pills before turning her eyes away from him.

Arran gave the pills a brief glance. Then, moving his hand toward his mouth, he instead let them disappear into his void ring. He had no intention of taking pills whose effects he didn't fully know, and for the time being, he had no real need for them.

For the next few hours, they traveled in silence. Arran thought the pills were helping Negin withstand the increasing pressure of Essence around her, though, with the embarrassment that still lingered in her expression, it was hard to tell.

His eyes wandered a few times as they walked — perhaps more than a few times — but he didn't feel too bad about this, since he caught Negin stealing glances several times as well.

Still, most of Arran's attention was focused on the area around them. The earth was torn and cracked from the battle that had been fought here long ago, and he was wary enough of any unexpected threats that he did not let himself be distracted by the naked girl at his side — not too much, at least.

More hours passed as they continued toward the center of the battlefield, with the pressure of Essence around them steadily growing stronger. Negin took another two pills to withstand it, and Arran hid another two of the pills in his void ring.

"I think we've gone far enough," Negin said eventually, casting a studious look at the ruined landscape around them. "We should begin searching."

"If you say so," Arran replied. He already knew that she was wrong — while his own Sense was useless here, his sword told him that there wasn't a trace of starmetal nearby.

But he could not tell his companion about this — not without raising her suspicion — and so, he dutifully pretended to search the area around them for a good hour.

Eventually, Negin let out a disappointed sigh. "I don't think there's anything here," she said. "We'll have to go deeper into the battleground."

In the hours that followed, they stopped twice more to search the area, but each time Arran knew that the search was doomed. If there had ever been any treasure here, it had been looted long ago.

When night fell, they paused to rest, with Negin taking another four pills to get her through the night. Arran, for his part, surreptitiously stored his pills in his void ring — while the unbound Essence here made his Sense all but useless, it was still far from enough to cause him harm.

The next morning, they awoke at dawn. Negin quickly took another few pills that were clearly needed — by now, her bare skin was red from the violent force of the unbound Essence.

"We should travel for at least half a day before we stop to search," Arran said. "This close to the edge of the battlefield, other recruits are bound to have looted anything of value."

He was unwilling to waste any more of their time searching for nothing, and he had decided that if his sword did Sense something, he'd simply suggest they stop and search.

Negin hesitated, then nodded. "I think you're right," she said. "But we can't go too far — the pills' protection is limited."

They spent another day traveling further into the battlefield, only stopping twice to search — and then, only because Negin insisted on it. Because Arran already knew there was nothing to be found.

When the light began to fade in the evening, Negin turned to Arran with a worried expression. By now, if she still felt any embarrassment at their state of undress, the pressure of the Essence and their fruitless search far outweighed it.

"Maybe we shouldn't move any further toward the center tomorrow," she said, her voice troubled. "I don't know how much more of this we can take. We can search along the outskirts, instead."

Arran briefly feigned hesitation, then shook his head. "We'll have to go deeper," he said. "So far, we haven't found a trace of anything useful."

He already knew that searching here would bring no results — neither starmetal weapons nor the true treasure he hoped to find. If they wanted a chance of finding what they wanted, they would have to enter the more dangerous parts of the battlefield.

Negin sighed. "I suppose you're right," she said. With a forced smile, she added, "There's no reward without danger."

"Don't worry," Arran said. "I have a good feeling about tomorrow."