‘Damn this blasted horse!’ Complained Ovia, of course, she doesn’t dare to say it out loud, but for a mage like her, who’s used to warp gates and luxurious carriages, a trip on top of the saddle seems like torture. ‘I have to endure! For myself!’ She resolved.
Indeed, she was ordered by her current lord, Vedas Agis, to go to a mining village and assist the Commander of the Shining Beacon, Erling Havenlight, in his mission against the Kog’zul.
‘Do this, and we may see about a reward.’ Vedas had said to her.
And for that, she’d do much worse than burning a couple monkeys to a crisp.
In Irearith, people don’t realize the exalted status an Arch level practitioner has over magic users, she grew up on legends of men like her lord, teachers to great heroes, crafters of wonderful wonders, and of course, combatants capable of matching the best of them.
She saw an Archmage at work once, at the Magic Towers – her home-, and she wouldn’t forget that day even if she tried.
The Magic Towers are known as one of the three great magic organizations, along with the Magic Guild and The Academy, they are famed as the only one of the three counting as a country, as they are simply a magocracy, a place where you stance in society depends entirely on your magic abilities.
‘In here, they treat Vedas like another lord, if this was back home…’ She mused.
Vedas was, after all, not an Archmage, but an Archwizard, wizards depend on their knowledge the most, and they are actually famed over others for one thing above all, their ability to teach.
Their knowledge allows them to impart the necessary knowhow to a plethora of professions, having an Archwizard at your side doesn’t just mean having a formidable combatant, but having the ability to develop generations of skilled mages, warriors, enchanters, and/or alchemists.
Kings and Emperors housing Wizards treat them better than their own kids, because it simply means that even if they were to suddenly disappear, they always do so leaving the place more prosperous, more powerful than it was.
Ovia would know better, after all, the Magic Towers were founded by an Archwizard, it was through his vision that such an international powerhouse was born.
She glanced at the banners at her side, a golden star on a black background. ‘And now, the youngest humanoid Archwizard is also a lord dedicated to his lands, what a terrifying prospect.’
“My Lady, is everything fine?” A concerned knight asked.
“I’m fine, just not used to such conditions.”
The man nodded in understanding. “Aye, but these are unfortunate circumstances.” He was the leader of this contingent, so he was naturally informed of the situation. “This is a Great Tribe we are dealing with.”
She wasn’t familiar with these lands, but it is only normal to study their conditions.
The Kog’zul were a scourge upon Irearith since before its founding, before the days of Duke Gunther, the warriors of this land were used to periodic invasions from the infernal beings. They were much more organized then, much more savage.
But they were thought to be broken at the hand of the Grey Scourge, ever since he won against the corpse of the Devourer, strengthened by dark magic powered by thousands of innocent sacrifices. The Iron Duke cemented the end of their terror, still leading a never ending campaign in their lands, vowing to end their threat once and for all.
Their tribes ended up getting scattered, some went even deeper into the mountains, while others searched for better pastures elsewhere.
‘And a Great Tribe saw fit to attack Agis Lands.’ She thought. ‘Poor, unfortunate, monkeys.’
It was after a couple of days of travel, that she, along with 200 hundred knights and twice as many footmen were greeted by the burning silhouette of the village. The sounds of battle echoed to great distances, and she could see the many soldiers defending valiantly against the attacking Kog’zul.
She took out here far-eye, as a mage, her body wasn’t empowered enough to see anything at that distance. And through the magnifying lenses, she observed the enemy forces.
They surged from the thick mountains in organized groups, and once a group retreated in order to recuperate, they would get replaced by another.
“They’re trying to tire them out.” The knight at her side commented. “This should have been happening for more than today, we don’t know how long the settlement could have lasted, even with Sir Erling there.”
She wordlessly nodded, she wasn’t a strategist, but even she could recognize the classic tactic. She shifted her gaze even deeper into enemy camps.
And suddenly, she saw it, a Kog’zul shorter and thinner than his counterparts, he(or she) was covered head to toe in black garments, and they held a twisted staff of black wood.
“Shit, they have a shaman.” She swore.
“Fuck.” The man at her side seemingly agreed.
They fell into deep silence, Ovia was prepared to order the men to help the town when she was interrupted by one of the knights. His face was unfamiliar so she asked. “What is it?”
“I think I may have an idea, my Lady.”
It was highly unprofessional to pipe up like that while ignoring his commander, but she couldn’t fault some youthful exuberance and sought to indulge him.
Things changed once she heard the plan, a small mischievous smirk crept on her face.
“What did you say your name was, young man?”
“Jason, my Lady.”
“Thank you, Jason, for your contribution.” She finished.
She chuckled, the young truly have the best ideas.
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He fell on the enemy like a blue comet, his sword cleaving three nagas in one fell swoop.
‘Women, nice.’ Theodore thought.
That thought wasn’t provoked by misogyny, but though to the fact that Naga women=Magic users.
He still had the majority of his aura, but not an insignificant amount of it was spent on shielding against the gunpowder explosion, and to keep his legs from breaking from the landing.
‘Nothing that can’t be compensated by some naga blood.’ He mused.
He capitalized on their shock by blitzing toward their leader, cutting down more enemies on the way.
‘Seven women, four men. That’s a nice spread.’ He thought.
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Already he has killed half their magic users through this ambush, if this was a fair fight, they would just retreat into the sea and pepper him with projectiles. This attack has already proven to be successful.
Catalina proved her experience in defending against ambushes, as a fast torrent of water surged from the ocean, headed straight to Theo’s back of the head.
But a master’s instincts aren’t to be underestimated, as he dodged the strike in an almost imperceptible blur. He had to halt his charge though, so he wasn’t able to capitalize on the ambush to the fullest extent.
‘That was fast casting, almost instantaneous.’ He thought. ‘She may be a journeyman, but with the ocean, her spells are equivalent to a master’s.’
Indeed, as a mage, Catalina’s power is very much dependent on the element of her affinity, and with the sea at her back, not only does she not have to conjure water for her use, the power of her spells and the control she holds over them increases as well.
Catalina obviously thought she had the upper hand, as instead of retreating back into the sea, she opted to attack him instead.
Theodore thought on the matter, is she doing that because she’s overconfident? Or does she have a plan?
“____ _ ___ ___ _ __ _____ _______” The oversized naga spoke in a melodious language, urging the apprentices next to her to also follow up while the males attempted to skewer him with their weapons.
He easily dodged their blows, they may be mundane people, but it is always the best choice to evade when one can.
‘They’re chanting. An incantation?’ Theodore thought.
Incantations are what most magic users use In order to cast spells, much like runes, they can strengthen the powers of spells to a greater degree, and most magic users depend on them heavily to be even able to use their power.
Theodore could remember his lord disdaining them ever since his childhood, the memory bringing a slight smile to his face.
‘Incantations are for plebs!’ He used to scream. ‘Who waits for minutes to cast a single spell?!’
But Vedas was always eccentric like that; in fact, Theodore wagered that whatever spell Catalina is preparing would be equivalent to siege spells.
‘The issue here is if it is a joint spell between her and her apprentices, or if they are preparing their own spells.’
Theodore came to a decision in a split second; there was no way Catalina would leave both herself and her apprentices vulnerable to an attack for such an extended period.
‘She must be waiting for me to target her.’
And so he didn’t, and in a moment he was standing amidst the male soldiers, and in the other he had already cut the first apprentice’s head.
‘Nine to go.’
Indeed, his hypothesis was correct, as the moment he reached their perimeter, each of the women sent a decently sized water projectile his way.
‘She does enjoy her tricks huh…’
The projectiles were fast enough that if he hadn’t seen them coming, he wouldn’t have been able to dodge them. Each one of them was compressed to a decent degree, and if even a third of them hit then he would’ve been out of aura.
But he did see them coming, as the sand burst from the strength of his feet, propelling him into the direction of the next apprentice and allowing him to dodge at the same time.
‘That took a bit of aura.’ He thought, his blade piercing another woman’s chest.
Catalina’s regally annoying face twitched in annoyance, but her incantation wasn’t to be stopped, lest she faces the backlash of her own spell.
But while their leader was disciplined, the others were not as they scrambled to escape from his grasp, to no avail.
They threw even more projectiles his way, but in their panic their focus was scattered, so they were slow and powerless to stop him from taking their life.
And at last, it was but him and Catalina.
“____ _ ____!” Just In time for her to finish her incantation, too. “Die! You fucking vermin!” She spoke in common.
The nature of the spell was unveiled in a torrent of water surging from under their feet in both his right and left.
The water took the form of two formidable waves, headed toward him at the formidable speed.
‘She’s trying to at least submerge me.’ He stared at Catalina’s face through the narrow path created by her spell.
If the spell didn’t manage to kill him, then he would be submerged along with the naga anyway, giving her a greater advantage in this battle.
But he wasn’t submerged yet, and even if this was a master level spell, she wasn’t a master.
He expertly covered his body in aura, strengthening it beyond its limits.
He sped up, the sound of his body moving creating a whistling sound in the air. The water crept on him fast so he just took advantage of it, his feet drifting atop the liquid like a surfing board.
He sled through the water at incredible speed, traversing the narrow water tunnel a split second before the waves crashed into each other with a resounding crash.
And with a single mighty blow, he cut her head.
Or, at least that’s what should have happened, in reality, a rotating shield of water manifested in his path, stopping his blow from landing. The shield got destroyed with a crack, and Theodore noticed a necklace on Catalina’s neck glowing for a split second.
‘A shield artifact, of fucking course.’ He thought.
With the destruction of the shield, the Naga was also blown back away from him, so he was forced to swiftly charge again before he could finally strike her down.
“You vermin!” Exclaimed the half-serpent.
A tendril of water surged from the ground, and before he could cut her down again, she had already dragged one of her many victims in his way, planning to use them as a human shield.
‘Despicable.’ He morosely thought.
Due to his inhuman reflexes, Theo was able to narrowly evade hitting the unfortunate man on his way, and deftly maneuvered his sword, finally hitting the flesh of his enemy.
“Aaagh!” She let out an agonizing scream, her arm falling to the ground with a splash. But she didn’t stop slithering.
Nagas can move pretty fast in dry land, the slippery surface of their tails allow them to slide quickly on flat surfaces. However, once their unique appendage is submerged, they showcase their natural abilities by almost surging through water like an arrow.
It was that advantage that allowed Catalina to outspeed a master like Theodore, even with his aura actively enhancing his body. And so while his ambush wasn’t totally successful, he had managed, by himself, to kill all but one of their spell casters, and had grievously wounded their leader.
He turned back to observe the battlefield, only to find his men mopping up the rest of the enemies. Some of them naturally managed to escape, but with 200 aura users, let alone the mundane footmen, they have managed to win their engagement with low casualties, leaving their enemies bleeding on the beach.
Meanwhile, the royal navy contingent led their ships to the stationary naga ships in order to recover slaves, loot, and gold. And he could see their ships already returning toward the dock, leaving the huge, sail-less ships to sink to the bottom of the sea.
‘I guess our work is done here.’ Theo turned to the cannon that sent him flying. ‘It was quite fun, flying for a few seconds…’ He thought.
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Vedas was holding court, for once, in the great hall of Agis castle.
He thought the fact that a lord had to sit here for hours on end doing something that –while important- can be done by others burdensome, but it is his duty, and he has to put up with it.
Xavier seemed oddly saddened by the fact that he wouldn’t be the one doing so in his behalf, so Vedas thought it better to have him observe as an advisor.
Right now, he was solving a dispute between a angry farmer and the guilty young man who accidentally killed his mule.
“I can’t till the fields without ma mule, milord! I have a family to feed! How can I feed them if I can’t farm!” The farmer complained.
“T’was an accident, I swear!” Begged the young man’s aging father. “My son didn’t mean to do this!”
Vedas turned to Xavier. “What do you think?” He asked.
“I believe, my lord, that the aggrieved family should be compensated by that young man, it may have been an accident, but it doesn’t change the fact that he put the farmer’s livelihood at risk.”
The Archwizard let out a hum… “I agree, but since the young man’s family cannot pay, we’ll acquire a mule for our farmer friend here from our own coffers.”
“Thank you, milord! Thank you!” Exclaimed the farmer.
“The debt will be repaid from the young man’s monthly salary, until such day that it is fulfilled. That is all.”
He made to mention for the next courier to approach, only to be interrupted by his trusty butler Richard.
The man approached Vedas, whispering into his ears. “We have a guest, my lord. A diplomatic envoy from King Jevius.” He said.
Vedas waved to the blocky knight at his side. “Xavier, you are to supervise the rest of this session.”
Xavier nodded. “Yes sir.” A slight smile at his face.
“Take me to them.” Said Vedas to Richard.
They walked through the halls of the castle, discussing the situation.
“Is it anyone of import?” Vedas asked.
A grave look made its way into Richard’s face. “Yes actually, his oldest daughter and heir, Princess Josephine Keston, she came with a modest retinue, along with a master level mage. My Lord.” He answered.
“A princess, huh?” Vedas commented.
“Yes, and doubly so. Not only does her father claim to be a King, but her late mother was the Princess of the Dwarven Makragh Kingdom, she is practically untouchable.”
Vedas gravely nodded.
The Makragh Mountain range is named after the royal family of the Kingdom that inhabits him, it is the largest collection of mountains in the world, and it spans almost a quarter of the continent north of the Irearith Sea, along with the northern reaches of the Irearith kingdom.
It may be inhabited by dark beasts and Kog’zul this side of the sea, but on the northern continent it is only known as the territory of the biggest dwarven country, known for its rich ores and abundant resources.
And while the princess that mothered Keston’s daughter may be of minor import –Their royal family is famed for its numbers, after all- but that still makes her a technical princess of their people.
“Alright.” With a wave of his hand, the door to the guest room opened in front of Vedas. “Let’s meet this princess.”