Chapter Five: This is not my home.

I awoke with a cry, pain blossoming within my chest. So blinding was this pain that I could do nothing but curl up on the ground and grit my teeth, hoping for the agony to subside.

This was worse than The Angelis carving it's way into my chest. Worse than that cursed dagger plunging into my heart.

I could only lay there and take it.

After a time, what seemed like hours but was most likely minutes, I managed to push myself to my feet. The pain had dulled enough that I was able to scare it to the back of my mind, though it still flared up like a dragon breathing fire inside my heart.

The first thing I felt was the cold. A cold that chilled me to my core and made me shake. I wrapped my arms around my body, my teeth chattering as I finally managed to get a good look at my surroundings.

I was shocked to say the least.

I was standing on the plateau. No my Plateau. The place where I had met my end at the hands of Marwenna and Valant. I was relieved, I thought that Vitriss would send me to the ass end of nowhere. Thankfully that didn't seem to be the case. As I scanned the familiar site of the valley hidden within the protective embrace of the cold shear mountains I couldn't help but feel a sense of peace. I was home, truly and completely, after what felt like lifetimes.

A smile crawled across my face and I opened my mouth to let loose an enthusiastic roar. My voice echoed off of the nearby mountains and spread into the valley below as I did a little dance on my favourite site on the continent.

My joyous display stopped however when my eyes fell upon the city I had spent my long life building.

Ellai was a ruin.

Even from this distance, my newly enhanced eyes could clearly see that the city was in tatters. The once shimmering towers were now dull and grey, I could see the large gates that served as the entrance from where I was. The twenty foot tall solid metal doors were pummelled, ripped apart by something. What it was I couldn't even begin to guess. I had overseen their construction myself and had fortified them with my own magic. It would have taken an army to break down those gates and as the forest was relatively untouched I can only assume that an army had not passed through.

Panic began to fill my heart.

What had happened?

Was everyone dead?

Abhor?

Cinder?

Marwenna?

With a roar, I released the fury that I had been holding in for so long. Fury at Vitriss for taking me away. Fury at Marwen for not knowing better. Fury at myself for being so careless.

With a cry, the pain in my chest forgotten, I began to drag mana into my body from all directions, even as I made my way to the edge of the plateau and threw myself over the side.

I dropped like a stone, The ground coming closer and closer as I continually drew in more mana, thoughts of my friends, my allies, my family lying dead and me being unable to save them ran wild through my mind.

When I was about thirty feet from becoming red paste. I released the mana within myself. Using an air magic spell, I sent a swirling tornado towards the ground that ripped it apart, crushing the very rocks and tearing apart the earth itself. The backlash of such a spell was so strong that it pushed me back upwards into the air, killing the momentum the fall from the plateau had given me.

I hit the ground at a much gentler speed and rolled once before I was up and sprinting forward with madness shimmering in my eyes. I cast another spell called Aspect of Air, this ability allows one to gain the lightness and speed of the very wind itself, and immediately took off like a demon. Aspect of Air combined with my new elf like speed almost made me fall over but, thanks to my new senses, I immediately righted myself and pushed to run faster and deeper into the forest.

I needed to know if they were alright.

* * *

After what felt like running for eternity, I finally managed to arrive at the front gates of Ellai.

I brought myself to a stop at the wrecked wood and steel and turned off my mana flow, killing the effect of Aspect of Air.

Running a hand through my hair I could only stare at my crushed dream. Ellai, the city of the free, was destroyed.

As I walked through the front gates of the citadel I took everything in. From the crushed shop fronts to the beheaded towers. From the homes that had been burned to the cobbled streets that had been ripped up and blasted apart.

A sense of numbness fell over me as I saw all this. We had all worked so hard. Against the church. Against the very nature of the races themselves. It was all for naught.

As I felt a mind numbing despair fill me I noticed something. Well two things to be precise. The first, there were no bodies. Not a single one. There were bloodstains on the ground from what I can only presume was fighting but there was not a single body.

The second, and much more disturbing, thing was that everything looked... old.

It was as if the damage was done a long time ago.

Plants were growing out of the earth between the cobbles on the road, the wood of the doors was rotting and falling apart. Everything was covered in a heavy layer of dust.

“What the hell happened here. When did it happen?” I addressed the air as I spoke, my voice holding no emotion.

My mind was working in overdrive as I thought back to what Vitriss had said before I left the Ever-Garden.

“forgive me for not telling you the whole truth”

The words that had seemed innocent at the time now held a darker tone to them. It was as if Vitriss was trying to tell me something.

“Ya look a little lost there, mate”

A nasally voice echoed from behind me.

I cursed myself, I was so absorbed in the destruction of my home that I had allowed someone to get close.

I turned to the face the owner of the voice.

A man stood in the middle of the decimated road, just in front of the wrecked front gates, as if to bar my escape. Bandit, the word jumped into my mind before anything else, the man personified the title.

Dressed in patchwork leather armour that looked like it had seen a few years of use and with what appeared to be a rusty short sword held loosely in his hand, the man was baring his yellow teeth at me as what was left of his hair fluttered about in the wind.

I was surprised there was someone here at all, Ellai appeared to be long abandoned, but that seemed to not be the case.

“So, would you care to be telling me what's someone as young as you is doing in a place like this” The half snarl, half smile never left the man's face as he took a step forward.

The man was a fool. He should have attacked instead of standing about trying to look intimidating. Now that my senses were once more under my control I extended my hearing out to the surrounding ruins.

It appears the man was not alone. I could hear no less than five heartbeats scattered around him, obviously hidden within the debilitated buildings. I silently thanked Vitriss for these enhanced senses that would usually take advanced magic for me to use in my old body. Using magic now would only serve to alert the bandits and I had intention of doing that until I got some answers.

“Can't you hear me boy!” the man shouted as he waved the small blade threateningly in front of him.

I made my face impassive as I placed my hands behind my back and stared the bandit down. I saw him stumble mentally under my gaze. A hint of unease entered his eyes.

“I am merely passing through.” I spoke easily and began to walk towards the bandit, whose eyes widened in panic as he again began to threateningly wave his sword around.

“Stay right there if you don't want to get stuck!” He hissed.

I obliged and stayed where I was, I had no intention of kicking them out of my citadel just yet.

“If you would be so kind, sir, what exactly happened here?” I waved a negligent hand at the ruined city around me. I had seen enough arrogant nobles in my time to be able to play the part with relative ease.

The bandit seemed confused by my question and dumbly looked over to towards one of the buildings, where one of his cohorts hid. I can only assume that he was looking at his leader for advice. Idiot.

“Sir?” I asked again, more forcibly this time.

The bandit turned and stared “How can you not know what happened ere? Are you stupid or sumthin?”

The irony of those words were not lost on me but I managed to hold back my condescending laugh.

“No I am not, I just have no idea what happened to these ruins and I was wondering if you would be so kind as to inform me.”

The bandit gave a small laugh and stared at me with squinted eyes.

“Fine, I'll tell ya, but you gots to give me all your gold after I've finished.” The bandit unconsciously licked his lips in greed. I had no doubt that he would try and kill me regardless, but I merely nodded and motioned for him to continue. The man cleared his throat and smiled.

“These ruins ere mate are called Ellai. Ancient city of the King of the Rebel Court.” The man threw his arms wide and smiled broadly, as if that fact somehow gave the city another sheen.

But only one thing he said had any effect on me.

“Ancient?” I asked, mostly to myself but the bandit took it upon himself to answer.

“Yeah, kid, this place was in use till the Rebel King croaked. Nearly four hundred years ago that was!”

The bandit continued to speak, but I could no longer hear him as a sense of vertigo hit me. It was all I could do to remain on my feet. Four hundred years? Four hundred years since Marwen put that dagger into my heart? How was that possible? How could it be possible?

How long was I in the Ever-Garden? Could it truly have been four hundred years. Of course, I wasn't going to take the word of a mere bandit but, why would he lie? He has no reason to. And as that realisation hits me, I almost fall to the floor. Vitriss had been keeping secrets. She never told me that the result of my death and subsequent resurrection would take four hundred fucking years!

I slammed my fist into the wall I was standing beside and a multitude of cracks broke out over the surface as my hand nearly caved in the dilapidated stone.

The man, suddenly thrown off his game, stopped talking and stared at the crack I had made. A crack that no normal man could possibly cause. He turned to look at me, fear now much more evident within his eyes.

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“what... what was that!” His voice became a husky whisper as he took three steps back, his sword lifted, shaking and aimed towards me.

I gave a heavy sigh. I couldn't control myself and now the bandit had seen what I could do, if only a small part of it.

“Finish your story!” I snarled, not in the mood to deal with the man's continued idiocies.

“No, no, no,” the man kept muttering the word as he backed away. By now he could probably feel my magic seeping out. When my emotions get the best of me the mana around me surrounds my body,giving me more strength. It's how one mage can identify another, mages can see when another begins to draw in mana.Even if they consciously are not pulling any in there is still an aura that lets one know they are a magic user. I, however, could keep the mana away and appear to be a normal human, I was even capable of this in my sleep. But when the mana does begin to gather... Even beings incapable of magic can see it. A result of my high level of mana absorption.

Tired of the man's continued ramblings I lifted a hand and released the gathering mana in the form of air magic.

The man was gripped in a fist of wind and began to scream, trying frantically to escape, to get away. But he did not, for I did not will it.

I moved him easily over until he was directly in front of me, making sure to pay attention to his comrades in case they made a move to save him. They did not, the only difference was that their heart rates had increased and began to beat incredibly fast. I had heard those sounds before. Fear clung in the air.

I turned my attention back to the screaming man and, with a thought, he became unable to use his mouth as the wind snapped it shut. Now all that could be heard was his muffled shouting.

“I will ask the questions. You will answer them.” I did not phrase it as a question, for he would do as commanded, nothing more.

Immediately the man began to nod, tears in his eyes as he frantically tried to agree with me.

I gave him a slight nod in return before I released the magic that surrounded him. He fell to the ground like a bag of bones.

“Anything, ma lord! Please don't kill me!” The man frantically grovelled at my feet.

I felt a slight disdain at my actions. This is not who I am, I don't go around and terrorize people with my power, even if he is a bandit. But I must persevere.

“What is your name?” I asked, leaning down and glaring at the man.

“Bartu, ma lord, ma name be Bartu.” The man said, his body shaking almost as much as his voice.

“Well, Bartu, I would like to know what exactly you and your friends are doing here?”

Bartu put on an expression of feigned ignorance and tried to stare at me blankly, but his eyes kept shifting over, as if looking behind him.

“Friends, ma Lord? Bartu has no one and nothing.”

I raised my hand and allowed my mana to manifest as fire that ran around my open palm. Bartu upon seeing this immediately tried to back track.

“Forgive me Lord! Me and ma buddies were here just to take a few things from the pilgrims that come to see the Rebel King's grave! That's all Lord I swear!” Bartu was shouting now, raising his hands to protect himself from the blow that he felt would soon follow his words.

At his confession, his 'buddies' immediately began to shift in the background. They knew they were facing a magic user and weren't stupid enough to believe they could win.

As they broke cover, the five men ran full tilt towards the ruined gates of the city, never looking back once. I let them go.

“Some friends you have there, Bartu” I said with a faint smile on my face. Bartu, too, watched as his friends ran away, leaving him to die.

“Wretched good for nothing louts! Come back and help me!” Bartu cried out, tears beginning to gather at the corners of his eyes.

I merely stood and watched the snivelling man for a few seconds. No honour among thieves it seems.

Eventually, Bartu began to calm down and turned to face me, trying to appear put together, but I could feel the despair and fear that radiated off of him.

“Now Bartu, let us continue our discussion. Your friends will not be coming to save you and you are now completely at my mercy.” I spoke plainly, I needed the man to understand that there was no way he could escape. For then, he wouldn't lie to me.

Bartu snivelled “Yes, Lord, I understand, I won't try anything, honest!”

I gave a brief nod and lifted the distraught bandit to his feet with one hand. In that one pull, Bartu could feel my physical strength and knew there was no way to overpower me.

More tactics to ensure his continued cooperation.

I then turned my back on the bandit and began to walk further into the ruined city, motioning for him to follow

.

As we walked I had time to get to grips with Bartu's previous statement about Ellai, all while the man silently cried as he obediently followed.

Vitriss had lied. Maybe not lied, but she hadn't tried very hard to tell me the truth. A lie by omission was still a lie in my book. But why hadn't she told me? I would have been better prepared, better able to deal with the problems that awaited me. I had been under the impression that I would be returning to the time of my origin. But now I am at a lose. I think of Marwenna and the rest of my Knights. If it has been four hundred years then she could still be alive. Marwen and Farel were elves and aged so slowly they would appear to have not aged at all. Cinder and Abhor had similar advantages as a Vampire and Wolf Kind respectively. Drogna and Heilvol would both be dead. Dwarves live longer than humans but not by much and Heilvol was human. There was little to no way they had survived without the aid of magic, which both were incapable of utilising.

I suddenly stopped walking and buried my head in my hands, trying to hide the tears that had began to form from Bartu, who stood silently behind me.

Drogna.

Heilvol.

I began to shake as the sorrow of their perceived loss seemed to gnaw at my heart. That along with the pain that already resided there from whatever Vitriss did to send me back was almost more than I could bear.

But I couldn't give up hope.

Marwenna cared for both Drogna and Heilvol as much as I did, maybe she found a way to enhance and increase their life-spans without them having to be magic users. There's always a chance.

With a heavy exhale of air I slapped myself hard, I needed to focus right now, and continued to follow the broken road.

“Eh, ma lord? Where are we going?” Asked the timid bandit behind me.

“Be silent Bartu, you will do as commanded until such a time that I choose to release you.” I hissed through my teeth to the man behind me. I felt the fear begin to once again pour profusely from the unwashed robber.

I wasn't actually going to kill him, but shouting at Bartu helped me forget about my current situation, if only for a moment.

As we passed by yet more destroyed buildings, we arrived into the centre of the city. The marketplace, usually full of life, laughter and haggling, was nothing but empty silence.

The large open space that had once been covered with stalls was now just as ruined as the rest of the city. All the stalls had been torn apart or looted, and three of the four large gates that led into the square were closed off with rubble. It appeared that I had walked through the only open entrance way.

I looked towards the sky and discovered that the sun had finally breached the impenetrable clouds, sending rays of light down onto, what had been, my favourite part of Ellai.

I could clearly see something was very different here. Not that it was hard to notice.

In the exact centre of the square as a statue, around twelve foot tall and made of what appeared to be solid gold.

It was me.

The statue held a sword aloft above his head, the sword made of what appeared to obsidian, and was adorned in finely crafted armour. Jeez, they managed to get all the details down to small cuts and slash marks that covered my well used golden plate.

The whole golden plate thing was Marwenna's idea. She liked the idea of her wearing silver and me wearing gold, like opposites I suppose. I shook my head as I examined the face, or lack thereof.

My head was covered by my mask, the one I had worn throughout the majority of my military conquests against the Church.

The strange thing was, that it looked a lot like my actual mask. A gift from Marwen, she called it the Mask of the Hidden Hero. However, by the time I died it was known as the Mask of the Rebel King. Only a few people ever saw my face, not due to me going out of my way to avoid them, but because the mask captured their imaginations so my Knights insisted that I kept wearing it in public. To my allies the mask represented the entirety of the Rebel Court and their King. To my enemies it was a death sentence. I guess some people didn't want to accept that there was an ordinary human under that mask.

The mask itself was simple enough, made of silver and enchanted with Marwenna's magic, the thing was nearly indestructible. It covered my entire head, much like a helmet and held no engravings. Only two eyeholes that were enchanted so that no one could see my eyes. All they saw when they stared was darkness. Marwen had always said that it was meant to help protect my 'pretty face'.

I unconsciously approached the statue and, as I did, I noticed that there were flowers, food and small pieces of paper placed against its base. Some had of it had rotted a long time ago, some looked relatively fresh.

Was this a shrine?

“What is this Bartu?” I asked the man who now stood at my side, rather nervously still holding onto his short sword. As if it would somehow protect him.

He appeared startled at first by my question.

“Forgive me Lord, this ere is the statue of Corus, The King of the Rebel Court. He died in the battle of Ellai, you see, some four hundred year ago.”

I gave a brief nod. So I had died in a 'battle'. How very convenient for Marwen that someone had attacked the city after my execution.

I took a deep breath. I have to accept that it wasn't Marwen, not really. It was Vitriss. She had planned the whole thing. But it was still a hard thing for me to swallow.

“What was the result of the battle?” I asked the shivering man.

Bartu looked at me oddly then, as if it was common knowledge. I merely raised a hand and summoned another dancing fire show. He immediately raised his battered sword to cover his face.

“I'm sorry Lord! It's just that every kid's told about the battle of Ellai. Ma momma used to read it me fore I went to bed.”

“Bartu, just assume that I have no idea what happened to this city. Explain it in the greatest of detail that you can manage.” I said, rather exasperated.

The bandit nodded.

“Well, sir, it is said that the Church of Vitriss' forces attacked the city and somehow managed to bring down the gates with magic that had never been seen before. The Rebel Court's army, the King and the Six Knights fought heroically and managed to push back the enemy... But then the unthinkable happened, The King was struck a fatal blow by the sword of one of the paladins of the order.

Bartu, caught up in his story, stepped up in front of the statue and turned and splayed his hands wide.

“It was ere that they were caught you see sir. The last of The Rebel Court, stood on this very spot, awaiting their end as the dogs of the church closed in on all sides!”

Bartu then dropped his voice to harsh whisper.

“But in their moment of darkest need, a saviour arrived in the nick of time to pull em from the fire.”

The bandit raised his voice as he continued, raising his sword high.

“It was Valant! The former hero of the Church now turned follower of the Rebel King. Together they fought tooth and nail, knocking back the church with Valant leading the charge with the six Knights in tow.”

Bartu finished with a flourish, and stood rather awkward for a moment as he realised he may have gone a bit far with his flashy display.

“Well, after that ma lord, they pretty much killed everyone the church sent. Breaking their power and winning the war that had gone on for centuries.”

Bartu gave a smile at his well told story, even I have to admit I was impressed.

“You should have been a story-teller Bartu” I said dryly. At that the bandit smiled.

“Thank you Lord, the others always said old Bartu tells a good tale.”

As Bartu thanked me I tried to hold in my anger.

Fucking Valant, the 'Saviour' of the Rebel Court. Are they fucking insane? The bastard had been responsible for killing me.

I gritted my teeth and asked Bartu if there was any more to the story.

He scratched his head "Sorry sir, I gots no idea. I know that The Court won and that Queen Marwen returned to Vermalia, the Elven Homeland, and-”

I raised a hand to cut him off.

“'Queen' Marwen? What is she Queen of?” I asked dubiously. Marwenna was a princess of the Elven Empire, but the Elves had long been brought under the heel of the church and the Empire itself was merely a puppet organisation. Marwen's father was King last time I had cared to check. The fucker didn't even help us against the Church, so I had no time for him, Marwen hated him even more than I for his subservience to the Head of Church, Gorvo Nali.

Bartu blinked once again, before a smile crossed his face.

“Oh! Yes sir, forgive me, Queen Marwen took over for her Father after he died at the end of the war. Now she rules over The Elven Empire of Vermalia with King Valant at her side-”

“King Valant” I said blankly as Bartu nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes sir, Lord Valant and Lady Marwen married soon after the war was won-”

Bartu would have continued if I hadn't interrupted him, so I suppose that was my fault.

I had destroyed most of the still standing buildings in the square, magic poured out of me like waves of pure destruction. Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Every offensive spell I could imagine. I unleashed upon the city I had once loved.

King Valant

.

I send shock waves through the Earth that shattered what remained of the wooden doors and stalls that littered the ground.

King Valant.

Fire, hot enough to melt metal, raged around me in a torrent as I threw wave after wave of Inferno into the surrounding walls of rubble.

King fucking Valant!

I roared at the sky as the clouds grew darker. As if having a will of its own, my magic drew on all the elements and began to change the weather itself. In an instant heavy rain pelted the city as lightning bolt after lightning bolt quickly followed, starting fires around Ellai that the rain quickly put out. The raging storm above grew even darker with my rage and the torrent of lightning bolts increased ten fold.

All while this happened, Bartu hid behind the statue shaking and staring with open awe at the destructive power he was witness to.