THE AURELIAN CHRONICLES SHARDS OF DAWN

Chapter 10 The Price of a Choice

The giant serrated spear zipped through, slicing the night air. Its whistling sound was deafening. Time seemed to stop ticking in Arthur's eyes. His brain processed every millisecond happening in front of him with crystal clarity, but his body could not be moved at all. Zero percent stamina. The system locked all of his muscles like a stone statue.

At the end of the spear's path, Lyra could only sit frozen. The girl was too exhausted to even lift her hand. Lyra's eyes widened, staring at the black iron tip ready to tear her heart out.

Arthur opened his mouth wide to scream, but no sound came out of his dry throat.

Right when the spearhead was just a hand's span away from Lyra's chest, a shadow jumped from the side.

It was Finn.

The cowardly chubby kid who had just been cowering and trembling while crying the whole time. Finn did not hold any weapon other than a broken piece of wood.

His face was wet with tears and snot. Fear was painted clearly on every inch of his face. But with the last bit of strength he had, Finn threw his entire body weight at Lyra.

"Move Lyra, wtf," Finn shrieked with a cracking voice.

Lyra's body was pushed hard to the side until the girl rolled across the rocky ground.

Squelch.

The sound of thick flesh being forcefully torn open by rusty metal exploded in the middle of the silence. Arthur felt like his heart stopped beating.

It was not Lyra who took the deadly attack. The giant spear, the size of a street lamppost, slammed squarely into Finn's chest. The force of the monster General's throw was so strong that Finn's chubby body was lifted off the ground. The serrated spear pierced through Finn's ribs, shredded his lungs, and exited through his back, embedding itself firmly into the stone courtyard.

Finn was pinned to the ground like an insect skewered on a collector's needle.

"Finn," Lyra's hysterical scream tore through the night. The girl scrambled frantically toward her friend.

Arthur was still frozen. His eyes were opened to their absolute limit. He held his breath. The system screen in front of his eyes blinked a brutal red, flashing fatal warnings that he no longer cared about.

The giant spiked general stepped forward casually. The Iron Assassins around him parted, making way for their leader. The general stared at Finn's body thrashing at the end of his spear. He laughed out loud. His laugh sounded like rocks being ground into dust.

"A very stupid sacrifice," the monster General mocked. "This pig meat is not even fit to dirty my weapon."

The giant monster grabbed the hilt of his spear that was stuck in the ground. Instead of pulling it out cleanly, he intentionally lifted the spear into the air along with Finn's body still skewered on its tip.

Finn struggled weakly in the air. Fresh blood gushed heavily from his mouth. The chubby kid's trembling hands tried to grip the hot spear blade piercing his chest. There were no heroic last words coming out of Finn's mouth. There was no final message like a hero in a storybook. Finn just sobbed. His innocent eyes, filled with pure terror, stared straight at Arthur.

That look seemed to ask, why does it hurt so much.

"Help me Arthur," Finn whimpered quietly as black blood spilled from his lips. "It hurts wtf. It hurts so bad."

The monster General smirked sadistically. He twisted the spear shaft roughly. The sound of Finn's ribs shattering to pieces was heard very clearly. The monster then swung his spear to the side and flung Finn's body until it slipped off the iron blade.

Finn's body was thrown like a broken ragdoll and landed with a thud in a pool of blood, right in front of Arthur's feet.

"One pig down," the General laughed again, pointing the blood soaked tip of his spear at Arthur. "Now it is your turn, human anomaly."

Right as the monster stepped forward to cleave Arthur's head, a blindingly bright white light exploded from the second floor balcony of the canteen building. The cold night air instantly turned scorching hot, as if they were inside an iron furnace.

"Get back, all of you bastards," Headmaster Alaric's voice boomed to every corner of the academy. His voice was amplified by magic, making the ground shake.

Alaric stood at the edge of the balcony, his red robe violently flapping. Both of his hands emitted pillars of white fire that connected straight to the sky. The skin on the old man's face looked cracked, radiating a bright light. He was sacrificing his entire life force and the academy's magic core in a single

suicide attack.

"Ignis Absolute," Alaric roared, releasing his magic.

A wave of dense white fire shot down from the balcony like a tsunami of light. The wave crashed into the front lines of the Iron Assassins, instantly incinerating their armor and flesh into ash in a matter of seconds. The giant General growled in anger, crossing his massive arms to block the magical attack.

His monstrous body was pushed back dozens of feet by the incredible heat pressure.

The battlefield instantly dissolved into chaos. Enemy troops scattered, burning alive. General Valerius, who was in the back lines, was forced to create a blue energy shield to protect himself from Alaric's heatwave.

Amidst the chaos, the zero percent stamina warning on Arthur's screen vanished. His system lock was forcibly broken by a surge of pure emotion and adrenaline that shattered the limits of his sanity.

Arthur immediately dropped to his knees beside Finn.

"Finn," Arthur's voice trembled violently. He threw his weapon away. His dirty, blood covered hands tried to cover the massive hole in Finn's chest. "Finn, do not close your eyes, damn it. You hear me, right."

Blood kept pouring out from between Arthur's fingers. The wound was too big. Finn's internal organs were completely ruined. Lyra dragged her body closer and immediately hugged Finn's head. The girl cried hysterically. Her tears fell,

soaking the face of the chubby kid who was already as pale as paper.

"Lyra, heal him, asshole," Arthur snapped in a panic. "You have magic, right. Do something, wtf. Do not just cry."

"I am out of magic, Arthur," Lyra screamed with a hoarse voice. She shook her head in despair. "I cannot. His heart is ruined, damn it. I cannot."

Kaelen ran over after managing to escape the two Assassins holding him down. The Elf prince dropped to his knees on the other side of Finn. He stared at the wound on the human boy's chest with a tightly clenched jaw. His hands balled into fists so tight his knuckles turned white. Even Kaelen knew there were no potions or healing magic in this world that could close a wound that severe.

Bramble appeared from behind the billowing smoke. The weasel's armor was completely destroyed. He looked at the scene in front of him and immediately bowed his head deep. The wild weasel who cared about no one closed his eyes full

of regret.

Finn coughed softly. His chest moved up and down very shallowly. He looked at Arthur and Lyra's faces interchangeably. His trembling right hand slowly reached up, trying to grab Arthur's shirt.

Arthur immediately gripped that cold hand tightly. "I am right here Finn. You are going to make it. We are going to get out of this hellhole together."

"Arthur," Finn's voice was now just a whisper in the wind, incredibly weak. His eyes started to lose focus. "I am so cold, damn it."

"You are not going to die, Finn. Hold on a little longer, wtf," Arthur's tears finally spilled over. The tough teenager who had never cried since being dumped at an orphanage on Earth was now sobbing, watching his friend's life slowly fade away.

"I am scared," Finn's lips quivered, forcing a small, incredibly sad smile. "I just want to go home Arthur. I miss my bed."

Arthur squeezed Finn's hand. "We will go home. I promise we will go home."

Finn did not answer anymore. The small smile on his lips faded. His eyes, which were filled with fear just moments ago, now turned blank and lifeless. The chubby boy's heavily wounded chest stopped moving. His cold hand in Arthur's grip instantly lost all its strength and fell limp onto the ground.

Finn was gone.

The blue system screen popped up again in front of Arthur's face. The screen was not blinking red, but instead radiated a very cold, sickening gray color.

[Target Finn. Death Status Confirmed.]

[Cause of Death: Vital organ destruction.]

[No EXP reward for an ally's life.]

Arthur stared at the screen with an empty gaze. He let Finn's hand slip from hisgrasp. The sound of Alaric's fiery explosion and the screams of the shadow army around him slowly faded from Arthur's hearing. Everything went completely silent.

Lyra hugged Finn's stiff body, screaming the boy's name over and over again. Her voice was hoarse and heartbreaking. Kaelen looked away, unable to watch the tragedy caused by the rottenness of his own kind.

Arthur slowly stood up from his kneeling position.

He looked down at his two palms, which were now wet with Finn's blood. Thick red blood that was still warm. The sadness that was choking his neck earlier evaporated without a trace. The denial in his brain shattered to pieces. The innocence and the remaining humanity of an 18 year old schoolboy died right

along with Finn's heartbeat.

Arthur wiped the tears from his face using the back of his bloody hand, leaving a horrifying red streak across his cheek and eye. The crystal shaped scar on his right palm began to emit an unnatural light. It was no longer the blood red of

Malakor's influence, but rather a pure golden light mixed with the pitch black darkness of pure vengeance.

A new notification appeared on his system screen. It was solid black with glowing white text.

[Warning. Subject's mental stability is at zero percent.]

[Moral limits disabled. Predator Mode ready for use.]

Arthur lifted his face. He stared straight through the blazing white fire toward General Valerius's position and the rest of the shadow army. His eyes no longer radiated fear, sadness, or despair. His eyes purely radiated absolute death,

demanding blood to be paid with blood. Deep inside his head, Malakor's whispering voice stopped laughing. The ancient demon fell silent, as if realizing that the monster just born tonight was far crazier than he was.