Reaching Avantia was faster this time than the first time when Clair brought me. We weren’t sightseeing and it wasn’t a tour. Our March was swift and purposeful.

Distant blasts of powerful magic shook the earth as we approached the city. He—I didn’t know who he was—must’ve broken from his box by now. If what Zidg said was true, I assumed the man was once a cursed mage and now he had become a cursed beast. Having lost his mind, he would attack anything in sight.

That was phase one of Amara’s plan. Phase two was already under way. While the cursed mages were busy fighting off their future, we would ambush them, making sure to stay clear of the beast.

There were several homes near the edge of town that looked deserted except for a few guards stationed outside. Our force was too large to hide, that was the purpose of the diversion. Before we fully emerged from the trees the guards turned and ran, shouting as they went and firing spells into the air.

The three guards only made it a few yards before a bolt of lightning struck the path ahead of them. Appearing where the bolt landed, Lady Amara raised her sword. An electric blue light enveloped the blade as she pulled it through the air. With a single slash her blade glided easily through each of the three men’s neck.

Their bodies began to fall but before any of them actually hit the ground, bolts of lightning ripped through them, leaving nothing behind.

A young woman, who was stepping out of her house, hurried back inside slamming the door. An old man in the road crouched down and covered his head with his arms. There were other elves outside, some holding weapons but even they began to tremble and cower.

I was surprised to find any elves still living in Avantia—more surprised still to see them continuing on with their lives. There weren't many, probably less than a quarter of the original population. I sympathized with them only in understanding that they feared the world outside of Faerelle. For eighteen years elves had lived cut off from most of the world. Before that they lived in fear of a kingdom with ever expanding borders. King Darious Tessiam lived for conquest—that’s what the history books said anyway.

They had reason to be wary, but one bad king doesn’t define all of humanity. Rather stay here serving the evil mages that invaded our home, they should have fled.

Most of the elves seemed scared and weak—too weak to run when they saw us and too scared to stand and fight. Those with weapons mostly threw them down, but any who resisted were quickly flanked by four or five holy knights and killed.

I shed a tear for them. These people weren’t mages. They had no real power and no leadership. They were surviving. I didn’t want to see any of them killed despite their apparent betrayal, but they should have known better. To be content with the state of things…these elves chose their fate and I wasn’t going to stand in the way of their choice.

Amara spun toward the castle and shot off in a flash of light. A handful of other knights followed after her, using some kind of light spell to zoom from place to place.

I tried, but even using mana to enhance my vision and focus, I couldn’t understand how the spell worked. It was another thing I’d have to ask about once we were back in Sunder, safe, with Lila.

Most of the knights either couldn’t or didn’t use the spell and instead used something similar to the burst technique I learned from Vorlin. It was mostly the same concept, just channeling a constant stream of mana for a sustained effect. It was mana intensive to keep it up, probably why Vorlin only used it for bursts of speed. He had to be sparing and wise with his mana, but I didn’t.

There were only a small number of guards in the city, most of them not even mages. We raced through the streets, like a punishing tidal wave, until we reached Taryn’s bridge.

Cursed mages stood in rows along its length, armed with long swords and crossbows. When we approached, they raised shields above themselves which blocked our view until they fired arrows into the night sky. These projectiles exploded seconds later, raining down a spray of shrapnel.

Some of the light bearers blew streams of fire toward the falling projectiles, but many of the tiny fragments got through. A handful of knights fell, blood spilling from multiple holes in their armor.

I gritted my teeth. Time slowed and my heart rate doubled as the black soldiers prepared another volley.

They weren’t supposed to be organized. The package Lumia delivered—or rather the beast inside it—should have plunged them into a state of chaos and panic by now. Even if they had subdued him, they should have still been recovering from his assault. Yet here they were standing strong against our attack.

I couldn’t help but worry that this was a mistake. That we acted too hastily. They must have known we were coming, there would be no other reason for them to guard the bridge so heavily. Instead of this being an ambush, we ran headlong into a trap.

Then an explosion overhead drew my attention to an approaching hail of metal bits and reminded me that I didn’t have time for such thoughts right now.

The light bearers were prepared this time. Already raising barrier spells or blasting various elemental spells at the volley.

I joined in, raising my hand and generating a small vortex on my palm. Once the rotation was stable I channeled more mana and the vortex swelled in size until the force of the wind started to push and pull the knights around me.

The vortex pulled in the remaining pellets, but also some of the other knights spells. Fire and lightning swirled together intensifying the tornado and shooting out along erratic paths, guided by the wind.

Seeing this, more of the knights directed their magic toward the vorte creating a true storm. I was beginning to lose control so I pushed the twister forward onto the bridge and released it.

Light bearers continued to add to the wind and fire as it tore through the front line of black soldiers.

Men and women were lifted from the bridge, ripped apart in the storm then flung out in all different directions. The vortex made it halfway across the bridge before it crashed into a giant stone wall. The winds broke against the wall's jagged surface. Half the bridge was now clear, but our path was still blocked.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Wrapped in lightning, a light bearer crashed down into the barrier completely destroying it. The force of impact sent tremors through the earth and partially collapsed the bridge. In an instant, the remaining soldiers on the bridge were overrun by light bearers racing between cracks in their ranks.

There was no exchange of blows, just a bloody massacre.

Soon, a path across the bridge was clear and I realized what, or rather who, had opened the way. Lady Amara danced up the path on the far end, slaying black mages one after the other—each exploded in a bright flash of light as she withdrew her blade from their flesh.

I had hoped the holy knights would get me further, but even with Amara and the other elite Light bearers clearing a path, there were simply too many cursed mages. As soon as one was struck down another took his place. Some even stood back up and rejoined the fight after a few moments. The light bearers pushed, but they would take entirely too long to reach the castle at this rate.

I burst to the front of the conflict, barely dodging an ax. As I ducked under the blade its owner pulled it down and struck me in the back with the haft. I stumbled forward, then he was cut apart himself, exploding in a spray of sparks like a firework.

A cursed mage, wearing icy claws over his hands, lunged at me. He struck at my face, but his movement seemed slow. I leaned left and his claws stuck into a woman’s chest behind me. She was in black robes with a flaming serpent around one of her arms and a dagger at my back. When the ice mage touched her, she became an ice sculpture and then a spray of tiny shards as someone’s broadsword swung through her.

Reacting quickly, and mostly on instinct, my sword flew up and stabbed the ice mage through the chest. Guts spilled onto the ground beneath him, and he slumped forward onto my sword. Shoving him off the blade, I shuffled backward. Bile rose from my stomach and brought a hand to my mouth to hold it back as I heaved. I thought I was prepared for this, but the feeling of guilt as my sword slid another man’s chest was far greater than I expected.

He might’ve been a father, or a brother… his arm twitched toward my foot and I knew in that moment he would not have hesitated to kill me. He should’ve already been dead, but I lit him on fire for good measure.

“Silvon behind you!” Someone screamed over the clash of metal.

I swung my weapon around and caught a cursed mage under the chin.

Blood spurted from the wound and he stumbled backward a step, but he didn’t fall. His lips spread into a wide grin as he reached for me with bloody fingers.

My body tensed reflexively as I shifted my weight onto my left foot. The mage launched himself forward and I leapt aside as a blue flash cut through his arms.

He grimaced, shaking his numbs at me. Burnt in blue light, his wounds didn’t bleed or heal. The mage seemed confused, as he examined the ends of his arms. I could sense him trying to cast a spell, but he was struggling somehow.

I took the opportunity to plant my blade between his eyes.

“Keep moving.” Amara said as she pushed me forward. “You’re on your own from here…” With a grim expression she finished, “…don’t fail.”

I expected this. It was all part of the plan—the cursed mages weren’t supposed to be ready for us, but other than that. In theory, we should have at least reached the castle courtyard before I broke away, but that was only a dozen yards away anyway.

Hearing her words, the weight of my tasks settled heavily over me. I wasn’t sure I could do it, but everyone was depending on me.

Amara, the light bearers, Lumia…even Lila. If I failed, then all of this was for nothing. Lila might die, or worse… she could suffer a fate similar to Vorlin’s.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded.

As I channeled mana into the wardrobe collar, my armor changed. The white armor of the light bearers flowed with bright light. When the light faded I was wearing armor that matched the armor worn by cursed mages. The suit—taken from him before he was sealed in a box and dropped on Avantia—fit better than I expected.

It was flexible and lightweight, but also comfortable and sturdy. It was almost like the armor was made just for me. Some kind of magic in the black steel flowed into me, making me feel several times stronger. The effect of my curse seemed to be amplified as well; immediately I found myself thirsting for a drink from a strong mana core.

“Amara,” I called longingly as I stretched out my hand toward her.

A blue flash carried her away before I could grab her. I was left alone with a pile of useless corpses. Their cores were either damaged, empty, or already leaking mana.

The light bearers were retreating rapidly, chased by a new wave of cursed mages and soldiers. A whole battalion of cursed soldiers rushed down the hill from the castle; they were mostly just grunts. Their mana was weak and impure. None of them were worth noticing.

They rushed by, ignoring me completely as I also ignored them.

Holding positions outside the courtyard, three cursed mages stood at the ready. I couldn’t sense much from them, but their mana would have to do.

I turned towards the gate, giddy at the feast I would soon have. Then a hand closed around my ankle. It was the man Amara helped me kill.

He was focused on my leg as a black vine twisted up and around my ankle. I had no idea what he was trying to do, but the vine fell away harmlessly. Then his eyes widened with shock.

The man tightened his grip and another vine twisted up from his arm, but whatever he was doing it didn’t work. The vine fell again, melting into the air without any effect.

Then I noticed his core. It was bursting with mana, more vibrant and full than Amara’s. I smiled.

“You’ll make a nice meal.”

My tether slipped easily around his core, tightening until I knew he felt it. I hadn’t taken a drop yet, but he looked up to meet my eyes. At first there was only fear, then there was a sense of recognition.

He released my leg and slid back along the ground, his eyes filling with tears as he began to babble. “I didn’t know it was you. I swear I—”

He was frightened, but more than that, it seemed like this mage knew what was about to happen. I stepped towards him, unconcerned with his words.

“I didn’t mean to… pl…please have mercy!”

Mana flooded into my core, filling every fiber of my being with pleasure. He continued scooting away until I finished sucking out his mana. That should’ve been it, once his mana was gone the spell should’ve ended, but there was more…

The man was weak, his body was probably in shock from being completely dry of mana. Most would’ve passed out, but he continued to plead. “I’m sorry L—” finally he choked on his words as I continued to siphon him.

His flesh darkened and tightened around his bones. The muscles beneath his skin withered and his arms no longer had the strength to hold him up. With nothing to hold them in place, his eyes rolled forward dangling out of his skull by tendons that soon snapped. His jaw fell open then his body went completely limp.

I didn’t stop until there was nothing left. His body crumbled into dust, leaving nothing but his robe and mana core behind.

My tether faded away and on a whim I stored the man's core before turning back to the courtyard gate.

For the first time in a long while I felt fully content and satisfied. There was a sort of rush as I watched the man’s body shrivel into dust; although now that my mind was clearing, there was a sense of regret and guilt at what I had done. In part it was why I collected his core.

I hadn’t planned on using the spell, but it did make getting into the courtyard easy. When I started up the path toward the gate the guards, who had seen what happened, parted to make way.

Each placed his left hand to his chest and said “Sir!”

Ignorant of the appropriate reply, I thought it best to just ignore them and keep going.