Dodge: Serial 93

Against the crack of lightning, two forces emerge for their final battle. Losha the Wolf of Sventa challenges Govan the Barul Lion.

Serial 93: The Lion - II

March 22nd, 33 S.D.        13:02        Tafren Plains, Henron

    “Honestly, I have no idea how Vitna can stand to use this contraption,” Liveta frowned to herself. With both hands, she carefully steadied a specially crafted periscope designed for battlefield use. It was the same model Vitna had employed during the Battle of Lake Lada. The Tafren Plains, much like the area near that lake, flattened out far and wide. Ordinarily, a fuller view of combat operations would have proved impossible at her current elevation. All she could see from the ground were crowds moving left and right. The periscope, however, allowed her to peer over the landscape with ease. Kal, Vitna, and Delri had ones as well; perhaps that much would give them an advantage over Govan... Personally though, she found these devices difficult to keep upright. Unevenly balanced, the scope teetered forward before bounching back up, only to sway and swivel moments later.

    “Shrieks,” she cursed lowly.

    “Let me help you, Ver Liveta,” said one of her subordinates, one of the female grunts. She used her free hand to prop up the long shaft.

    “Ah... Thank you. Now let me see...” Scanning the horizon, she slowly examined the raging warzone. Before her flashed a number of bloody scenes. Bodies lay scattered at random; a number of these corpses were left with weapons stuck into their wounds. Pools of mud began to mix darkly with crimson streams. A seemingly endless array of horses had perished on the plains, for so many of them sat there, upturned, torn, and mutilated. By all accounts, the fight was not in their favor. Liveta only needed a moment to find out why.

    The glow of those force-fields was not something her eyes could miss, even as the rain fell vigorously around her. It were as if she stared into the light of a thousand burning candles. The whole stage was illuminated in a sort of halo. At first glance, she had no idea what she was really looking at, but as she saw Govan’s troops in action, she knew exactly what was happening. Every attack that came into contact with that light was quickly deflected, as if the aura itself were a shield. None of her soldiers, no matter how courageous, could ever hope to pierce that barrier.

    Losha was another matter entirely. She threw aside any who dared to block her advance. Her servai moved about, biting into its victims without the slightest hindrance. As swift as the wind, she cut down entire squads, shattering Govan’s light and splattering seras up into the air. She didn’t stop; she kept on pushing herself deeper and deeper into their territory. Liveta noted a strange brilliance covering Losha as well, an outline the color of her seras. Was she protecting herself like the loyalists were? The Core Lead hummed at the Wolf’s cleverness but soon scowled silently.

    “That is not what we discussed, Losha,” Liveta murmured lowly. She was supposed to wait for the allied army to whittle Govan’s forces down so she could have a direct approach to the Prime Lead. It appeared that she was making her own trail to the target. To be fair, Liveta never expected to come up against nearly invincible soldiers, so the plan had already suffered setbacks at any rate. For now, she’d have to trust the serialist. The Wolf had yet to disappoint anyone, after all. In the meantime, Liveta still had to lead her people.

    “I believe that is enough,” Liveta said to her helper as she lowered the periscope. Lightning flickered in the sky; close behind thunder rumbled both heaven and earth. A wash of water covered her face as the storm intensified. Sheets of cold, blinding liquid slapped against her eyes. She wiped herself with her sleeve, but as her coat was already sopping wet, it did her little good. Liveta could but stand there drenched to the bone, doused inside and out. None of that mattered, she told herself, forcing the weather out of her mind.

    “Think, Livi, think,” she muttered, cupping a hand over her mouth. There had to be a way to deal with the strategy Govan had devised. All their previous matches here had been draws, on paper at least. She believed she had the knowledge to fight evenly with him here. As she postulated, formulated, and calculated, the answer came to her suddenly, however, it proved quite unlike anything she’d ever expected.

    From above, a dazzling beam of light branched towards the fields. Lightning struck the Tafren Plains with an ominous boom, blasting the very land upon which they battled. Liveta winced at the jagged line as it hurt her eyes. Turning away, she felt a ripple ride straight through her as the air exploded as loud as any cannon. In all her life, she’d never been this close to such a force of nature. Peeking back at the war, Liveta noted something odd...

    Through a brief gap in the fighting, Liveta saw a large lot of Govan’s units caught beneath a network of sparks. By the dozens, soldiers coursed with electricity for a few seconds. In time, the surge evaporated, but so too did their shields. Some of them made it out unscathed, yet others were completely paralyzed. Either way, a portion of Govan’s order now stood vulnerable. Liveta paused for a moment before breathing. It was not immediately apparent to her, yet what she witnessed here was only the beginning.



    Losha cried aloud as she jumped forward, sweeping her servai horizontally in front of her. Four soldiers gagged noisily as they passed out. Stricken with weakness, having lost their seras in the blow, the enemies fell to the ground. She stood upright, dashing across their bodies as she continued her plunge into the conflict. Locked on to Govan’s seras frequency, the Wolf had already disabled near four hundred on her own. Even so, more and more remained in her way. Easily, at least a few thousand obstructed the path to the Prime Lead. They must have realized her little plan, for they staunchly defended the route.

    “Do not let her pass!” someone screamed. “I do not care if we are outmatched. Believe in Ver Govan! Believe in Ver Heigon!”

    Out of resolve, they packed themselves tightly together. At her current progress, she’d exhaust herself before ever reaching her objective. She couldn’t swing her servai around forever, and even maintaining the weapon cost seras. She had to do something, find a better tactic. Ultimately, there was no need, however; the solution arrived on its own. A great whiteness overtook her, shutting out her vision. Barely a fraction of an instant later, an incredible sense of pressure cast her off her feet. At the same time, her ears went deaf save for the sound of ringing. Before she understood what all had happened, she felt herself getting tossed backwards.

    For a brief while as she rolled over, she wondered if a bomb or something had detonated. Her own force-field was largely untouched. She only realized later that it must have been lightning when she turned on her side. Propping herself up, she saw a blackened patch of grass steaming gently as the rain peppered it. A number of Govan’s soldiers also stumbled after the strike; they were just now coming to their feet. Losha frowned to herself, knowing all too well she’d been dangerously close to the spot.

    Disorientated, nevertheless, she pulled herself up. Shaking her head, bending over to pant a bit, the Wolf inadvertently glimpsed to the side. There on the ground - or rather in it - she saw something most peculiar. Starting with the head, a person, a woman, began to rise from the depths below, materializing without the slightest sound. Up and up she climbed, guided by unseen wings. She levitated a good 3 or 4 meters, holding her arms to either side at a downward angle. She faced away from Losha and instead looked out over the scores of soldiers westward. The woman had long, black hair that draped down her back, but every other detail was obscure.

    Losha took up her servai, balancing it steadily in front of herself. Who was this person? Was she an enemy? She swayed her head left and right, but she couldn’t get a decent look without approaching. The most alarming thing to Losha, as a serialist, was the distinct lack of any seras frequency coming from the woman. She prepared to take a step closer when all at once the mysterious lady began to light up. The glow she produced was very different from anything Losha had every encountered. It was radiant on the outermost layer, yet dark as it reached the core. What was going on here?

    She didn’t have to wonder for long. A raspy, indistinct voice echoed out loud, like a whisper amplified. The soldiers curiously seemed oblivious to the woman’s presence. The unknown figure tensed up, pulling her arms and legs behind as she tossed her head back. A fresh bolt of lightning crashed down upon Govan’s forces. Losha covered her face as quickly as she could. This time, however, no clap of thunder followed. Confused, she looked up only to see that electricity spun its way around a handful of troops.

    It ensnared each of them, wildly snaking over their parts. They all convulsed without control, shuddering violently as the current ran through their limbs. After a few moments, the sparks vanished; Govan’s shield disappeared as well. One after another, handfuls of loyalists fell forward. Against the cooling rain, their backsides hissed but slightly. Yet there was more; further lightning strikes occurred all around her, zapping hundreds all across the battlefield. Losha braced herself with her servai, as if that small measure could protect her. She had her kinetic barrier, but she had no idea how that would defend her from the voltage.

    The sky brightened as if daylight were restored, but in that brief instant, no less than 50 streaks of purplish-white shot down from the storm. The massive burst spread lightning to nearly every corner of Govan’s troops. Still, no thunder rolled. Losha closed her eyes tightly as a reflex, yet she forced herself to open them shortly thereafter. She trained her gaze on the woman, holding her weapon ready in both hands. Slowly, she moved towards the person; her boots made soft footsteps in the slick grass, sinking in at times into a bit of water.

    The woman didn’t seem to notice her as she cautiously crept forward. Was she a threat or help perhaps? Whoever she was, her body relaxed now. Despite Losha’s sneaking, the woman turned around for only a passing second. Losha captured a glimpse of her smiling face; her eyes were very pale, like those of the blind. An epiphany rushed to her head, speeding and smashing into her senses with a gasp.

    “Suvla!” she said.

    As soon as these words left her mouth, another line of lightning raced across the distant air. In that flash, there was now no one before her. For a while, Losha still raised her servai as if anticipating an attack. Eventually, however, she lowered her stance. She blinked harshly, wiping her face.

    “Focus, Losha,” she said to herself. “Real or not, just focus on the task at hand.”

    Her attentions fell back to the fight. Only a few soldiers around her were left standing, the lucky ones who’d managed to outlast the electricity. They stumbled along, posing no real danger or challenge. To the left and right flanks, portions of the loyalists still had seratic shields; they’d dodged the bolts altogether. Overall though, a majority had lost their glow. Most importantly, right down the middle, a pathway had cleared out. It went towards the heart of Govan’s encampment, towards the Prime Lead. For a fleeting moment, she searched the downpour, looking back at where she thought Suvla had been.

    “No,” she told herself. “Do not question it. You saw what you saw. Whatever happened simply happened. It is time to end this.”

    She took off running, using extra care not to step on the many soldiers who were left immobilized on the floor. With hurried legs, she raced over the fields, homing ever closer to her goal, her wish for peace. As she sloshed through rain, she knew the hardest part was yet to come.



    Govan saw the lightning as well. Upon impact though, he neither closed his eyes nor faced away. It was his duty as the highest officer of his people to shrink away from nothing, even the wrath of the world itself. He expected the weather to get rough, but to actually hit the place they stood on was something he’d only considered shortly. The unlikely event did not immediately trouble him, but he noticed that the light of some sections of the front dimmed. He frowned and walked forward a bit. He did not have any periscopes that Vitna seemed so fond of, but he did have a pile of crates nearby. This served as an observation deck for the Tafren Plains. Govan himself was a large man, so upon these wooden containers, he could see most of the combat.

    Pulling up a pair of binoculars, he stared ahead, panning the lenses back and forth. As he had suspected, some of his fighters had lost the protective layer he’d given them. It seemed that those who were now exposed were also the same ones approximately within the lightning strike. Had they been affected somehow? He had only just asked himself this when a series of electric arrows fell from high above. They ran down to the earth, spreading rapidly among his soldiers. Afterwards, he saw sections collapse as their shields simply dispersed. Govan growled to the wind as thunder shook the scene. Something was wrong.

    Lightning, as the Gandians were fond of saying, never hit the same spot twice. Astens had their own phrase: the world was vast, and bolts were small. To have a number of these strike the battlefield in such a short amount of time and only touch his soldiers was no coincidence. The allied army was over four times as large as his own, yet none of them suffered. More lightning fell, and just as before, it went after him. Was this some kind of hidden weapon Liveta had managed to develop? Was it the work of the Wolf? Scowling as he tore the binoculars away from his face, Govan heard someone scampering up to him.

    “Prime Lead!” Doctor Sansat said; his face flushed as he puffed in short breaths. “Prime Lead, you have got to stop using those shields!” He slipped and slid, smearing his side with mud. Nevertheless, Sansat grabbed one of the crates and pulled half of himself up.

    “What are you talking about?” Govan demanded. The doctor looked up, holding up his hand, gesturing quickly, shakily.

    “That, that thing you did... Before the battle, the shield. It has to stop!”

    “Why?”

    “You saw it too just now? The storm is turning against us. It has to do with the shield. It seems to be causing large amounts of ionic imbalances in the environment.” Sansat rummaged through one of the pockets of his coat, cursing as he realized the object he needed was on the other side. In any case, he pulled out a small, rectangular device no bigger than his hand. It had curved wires at the top and a dial on the front.

    “Whatever those shields are doing, they are also causing unintended ionic interference. In short, it is agitating the weather. Everyone has essentially been converted into lightning rods.”

    Govan leaped down from the platform, landing right beside the doctor. “What? How is this happening?” he asked as the doctor fully came to his feet.

    “How exactly remains a bit of puzzle. Remember, the serasword lets you manipulate seras on a high-level. You do not worry about the finer details. Consequently, we do not know enough about seras to say what is happening on a fundamental level. We are still trying to understand the science behind serialization. Had the Wolf of Sventa cooperated with us earlier, we would likely have a different story to tell. As it stands now, however, all I can tell you is that whatever you are doing, it is getting everyone out there electrocuted.”

    “Perhaps if I simply made their shields even stronger, then not even the lightning would faze them,” Govan wondered, holding up the serasword. “There can only be so much fury in this storm. Surely the power of this sword could outmatch it.”

    Sansat cast a wary look to the side. “I... would not recommend that, Prime Lead,” he said, fidgeting with the device in his hand before finally putting it away. “Remember, the serastone does not produce seras; it releases what is stored inside. It really is not all that different from a battery. It simply acts as a container for energy. Waste it, and it becomes useless. You could fight the lightning, but it would not be a small cost.” Another barrage of lightning showered the plains, as if on cue. Sansat turned his head behind him but switfly snapped it back.

    “Please, hurry. Make a decision,” the doctor insisted. Govan glared up at the sky but shook his head as he raised the serasword.

    “Ksh!” By his command, with a wave of his weapon, he erased the light that surrounded his order. As soon as this was done, he turned around and grabbed a Range Lead by the shirt.

    “You! Stop whatever it is you are doing. Contact Lisk. He is to gather everyone near this camp. The shields have failed us, but the enemy will surround us. At that time, I will show them no mercy, just as it was with those foolish Sventa.”

    “Right away, Ver Govan!” The officer saluted, then took off.

    “I do not wish to take such lengths just to win, Liveta, but you leave me little recourse. If you corner a lion, you can well expect him to roar,” Govan said to himself.

    “Govan,” Sansat said, but the Prime Lead ignored him. “G-Govan!” he stammered, sputtering a bit.

    Though the doctor had proved indespensible throughout everything, Govan had to admit that he was generally not fond of dealing with the man. He’d pushed aside any feelings like that out of politeness and professionalism, but in the heat of his greatest battle, he let his dissatisfaction show as he delayed his response.

    “What is it, Sansat?” he asked without facing him.

    When Sansat gave no reply, the Prime Lead whirled around in a huff. At once he saw a young woman standing in their midst. She wore an azure veil while carrying the fur of a wild beast. Losha the Wolf of Sventa presented herself before Govan the Barul Lion. For a time they merely exchanged looks. It were as if the sounds of the battle around them grew muted in the hush of the rain.

    “So, you are here now,” Govan said.

    “Stop your soldiers and surrender, Prime Lead,” she said, holding her servai erect. “This war has gone on long enough.”

    “Hmph, I should think not,” Govan said, throwing his arm to the side, then slowly gripping his serasword in both hands. “After all, I have yet to have my share of this fight. As far as I am concerned, our struggle will last until either side is vanquished and not a moment sooner. I will not dawdle with further words. Let our actions ring true and prove who is the victor. Now, come Wolf! You want to end this war? Face me then, and let us begin!”

Author's Note

In the reaches of Aste, deep within the grasslands of the Central Plains, 14 warring clans mount constant warfare against one another. Through endless bloodshed, the people are forever rooted in a cycle of conflict. Returning to the place she once called home, Losha leaves Palostrol to go back to her family. Yet in their embrace she finds a world teetering on the brink of devestation. As King's words echo through her mind, she must decide if serialization holds the answers to peace. But are the consequences of failure are worth it? The path of the Continent's greatest struggle has only just begun. The Age of Serialization starts now.

The next installment comes October 21th, 2015. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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* Suvla returns yet again! She was supposed to have died quite a while ago, but she's still floating around (ha ha, literally...) Once again, a level of ambiguity surrounds her appearance. Losha was blasted by the lightning strike, so it's completely believeable that she's seeing things as a side effect. Given that she had just talked about Suvla before the battle actually began, her subconscious could well be playing tricks with her eyes while she's disoriented. What appears to be Suvla aiding Losha from beyond is explained by Sansat later on. However, Sansat admits he doesn't know how exactly Govan's serasword is attracting the lightning; Suvla could have had a hand in it, if readers still believe in her ;)

* Regarding Sansat and the lightning, let's just pretend that stuff like ionic interference and all that jazz can actually happen, and that the handheld device he has can detect it. This is fantasy, so I should think I'm allowed to gloss over real science every now and then for a good read, you know? :D

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Any feedback is welcome. Just writing because I like it. Always wanted to make a weekly series, so I'm doing it.