Zell spent the rest of the day with his family and dear friends. They played a card game called Escape, in which players gather equipment and spell cards to escape a dangerous dungeon. He rested, ate as much food as he could during dinner, and in the evening Rin began giving his meditation lessons.

“So I’m supposed to just not think about anything?” Zell as always oversimplified her lecture. They were in Rin’s room sitting cross legged on two sheepskin rugs.

“No. The point is to be able to detach from your thoughts and merely observe them in such a way that you are free to examine each one without compromising your calm or becoming entrapped by them. Meditation is the act of being a better navigator of your own mind. Once you have mastered the technique you will be able to influence parts of yourself you normally don’t actively control. Such as your heart rate, and to a degree the capacity and generation of your mana.” Rin tried to explain it better.

Zell looked alarmed. “What if I accidentally stop my heart?”

“You won’t.” Rin sighed and battled both the laughter and frustration welling up inside her.

“First begin by watching your breath-” She started to say.

“I can’t see my breath even with my eyes open.” Zell interrupted without a hint of it being a joke.

“It means to be aware of your breathing. Study it as you take the air in, allow your lungs to fill completely and then release it without force. The more you know your breath, the deeper your calm will become.” Rin patiently clarified.

“Ohh. I see.” Zell said determined to try his best.

The look on his face was so intense as he did the exercise that Rin couldn’t help smiling. He was completely missing the point of course, was attacking this task like every other task. The desire to force success in this case was the one thing standing in the way of succeeding.

“I’ll leave you to work on it. I’ll be here reading if you have questions.” Rin moved to her desk where a heavy leather bound volume sat open.

“What are you reading?” He asked.

“Questions about meditation.” She corrected. “Don’t get distracted. Close your eyes, breathe, and stretch the time between your thoughts.” She added before turning to her book.

Zell did his best to do just that. His hyperactive imagination wasn’t helping. It sounded so simple to just sit around and pay attention to breathing but it turned out to be one of the most difficult things in Zell’s young life. In the next hour, Zell achieved all of three minutes of actual attention to only his breathing.

“That’s enough for tonight, go get some rest.” Rin finally said, marking the place in her book.

“Right, thanks Rin.” Zell was frustrated but he did actually feel a little better physically after the session. Must be all the air. He thought to himself. That was enough breathing for a whole week.

He looked in on his father and sister to say goodnight before heading to his room. Agitha was there, wearing a set of armor Zell hadn’t yet seen. It was a dark, form fitted leather jacket and pants with shiny black studding on the torso. It was complete with a dark hooded face mask. Her new exotic looking sword was sheathed down the center of her back. Her eyes shined from the darkness beneath the hood.

“Awesome outfit!” Zell said with stars in his eyes.

“Thanks, my friend made it for me. It’s really comfortable.” Agitha’s voice was somewhat muffled. “Trying it out tonight, we finally located Middle’s lab. It’s way less protective and doesn’t seal my strength so I have to be kinda careful.” Agitha noticed Zell was no longer paying attention and was looking behind her with even wider eyes.

“Merc matches!” He squealed dashing over to the armored dire wolf. “So cool!”

Agitha enjoyed his excitement and watched him touch and fiddle with Merc’s new armor.

“Someday you’ll have a set of your own and we won’t leave you behind.” She promised without the usual hard edge in her voice. “Don’t let it get to your head but you’ve been doing very well in your training. Work even harder and you’ll be fighting beside us sooner than you think.”

Zell was overcome with joy at the compliment. He made two fists and smacked them together in front of his chest. “Just try to stop me!” He growled.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Well wish us luck.” Agitha moved toward the door with Merc hot on her heels ready to go to work.

“If you needed it I would.” Zell replied. “See you when you get back, hope you have fun.” His confidence in them was absolute.

He watched them leave and sat on his bed, determined to master meditation. Within twenty minutes he was snoozing sitting up in bed.

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As Zell drifted off to sleep, Agitha, Merissa, and Merc watched the door of a plain building from the shadows across the empty street.

“Sense any large mana sources?” Agitha asked quietly.

“With you this close it distorts what I can sense.” She explained in reply. This is the right place I’m certain. There are several powerful wards placed on the door. It could take hours to unravel them.” She concluded.

“Just the door is warded?” Agitha asked.

“Yes...?” Merissa didn’t like the question, and liked the fact that Agitha was walking calmly up to the building even less.

Inside the building, two of Middle’s trusted researchers were conducting experiments on the Mana Lamprey flesh sample. Specifically they were attempting to graft some of the tissue to a human child’s severed hand to see if it would trigger regeneration or perhaps mutation. The restrained subject had long ago stopped screaming and was well into shock at this point. It mattered little if the child perished there were many replacements on hand.

A distant crashing sound was accompanied by vibrations throughout the facility. Commotion broke out and telepathic messages spread like wildfire. The protocol was clear, destroy all evidence and defend the inner lab.

Even knowing the outlandish rumors of the attacker, most in the facility were confident of victory. More than one hundred armored undead, several monstrous undead, and the newest minotaur deathlord were backed up by a score of magic users and Middle herself. No force existed that could conquer this place they believed.

Merissa had no intention of following Agitha and the wolf inside. She had every reason in the world to stay hidden. If she was revealed as a conspirator against the hand then every one of her children would be endangered. But once the section of wall was obliterated by Agitha’s punch, a sound escaped the building cutting through all the chaos. A pitiful wail, the tortured cry of a child reached her ears and she sprinted after them without so much as a thought.

The scene that greeted her on the other side of the blasted wall would haunt her forevermore. Children, dozens of collared children ranging from four to twelve years old were caged, many were missing eyes, ears, fingers, even arms or legs. They were thin, weak, and covered head to toe in sores. A familiar rage bubbled in the pit of Merissa’s heart. She knew what was to come and welcomed it fully.

Agitha tossed the limp body of the man that had been in the room aside by his broken neck. A strange sensation made the hair on her neck stand on end and she turned to a shocking sight.

Merissa was Merissa no more. Her toes were a foot from the ground as she levitated in place. Her hair had changed from dark brown to platinum and was flowing about her as though she were underwater. Her eyes were pools of solid gold, her face was contorted in wrath. A ring of crackling light spun about her and she seemed to be ignoring Agitha entirely.

“By Maiphon’s ugly red ass, you’re a eudaemon.” She scarcely believed the words as she spoke them.

Eudaemons were a rare type of anti demon, a protective entity that loved and was loved by all children. They could dwell within only the kindest mortal hearts and when manifested in defense of children were among the most fearsome things known to exist. Agitha gladly stepped aside for the enraged spirit, content to play support and enjoy the show.

The eudaemon floated past her into the long hallway where a score of heavily armored undead monsters was steadily advancing.

“Zombies, that’s perfect!” Agitha mused as she popped her fingers into her ears with a grin.

As expected the eudaemon unleashed her keen, an inverted banshee wail that outright disintegrated most unholy creatures. The advancing horde was blasted into thousands of pieces in an instant. Agitha heard chanting in the adjacent room and vanished from sight to reappear directly in front of the three robed spell casters.

She offered them no words, no taunts, only extermination. A single horizontal slash of the unearthly sharp Uniri Blade sent three heads with lips still chanting to the floor. She appreciated the new armor as well, the Ultimate Freedom enchantment she had purchased for a thousand gold had taken to Filstag’s demon bone studded leather extremely well. She could now move at full speed without worrying about crashing through walls and such.

She continued to follow the eudaemon, cleaning up side rooms as she went. A few minutes and many bodies later, a massive shadow blocked the hall. Three undead ogres. They survived the keen and charged forward, showing surprising mobility for undead monsters.

Agitha moved to intercept but was too late. The crackling energy around the eudaemon lashed out, arcing from one zombie ogre head to the next, turning their brains to liquid. One more shadow emerged, slightly shorter than the ogres but something about it was far more menacing.

The reanimated corpse of Gorg stepped with unsettling silence and grace. It was covered in thick spiked platemail, and in place of hands had two giant double bladed axe heads. Faint runes crawled and spiderwebbed all across its massive form. This time Agitha didn’t hesitate.

She moved at full speed, too fast to follow. Slashing at the beast’s midsection once again. An axe head intercepted the blow, and the other followed sweeping in to counterattack.

“Impossible.” Agitha muttered, narrowly avoiding the flashing axe head. Her next slash beat the undead’s parry but was repelled by a warding spell that stopped her blade short.

The beast’s next counterattack clipped her on the shoulder, and the force of it sent Agitha flying to ricochet off the wall and land hard several feet down the hall.

A cackling voice echoed from behind the abomination.

“I knew it! Sent flying with one hit!” Vira taunted in triumph.

Agitha quickly recovered. She didn’t answer other than to draw the rune that unsealed her power.

With that, Agitha and the eudaemon advanced on the Living Lich and the undead Gorg.