As the three young mages continued following Ezekiel, he whispered to his two friends with some concern because he started seeing more and more skeletons join the group.
"This mage must be powerful if he commands such a formidable army of skeletons."
Ezekiel kept on looking as he whispered.
"Fuck this!"
Cardian thought in his mind as he was getting scared for real.
Leyla's gaze darted nervously from one skeleton to another, her voice trembling slightly as she replied, "
We need to be careful. We don't know what we're dealing with here."
Ezekiel and Cardian looked at Leyla with judging eyes.
They did not need these words at all. It was clear that they needed to be careful.
Cardian's brow furrowed as he assessed the situation.
"We can't afford to back down now or show weakness of any kind; we are dark mages, and we are dealing with a strong, mysterious dark mage."
"It is more than likely that other parties have evil intentions."
As they thought, they kept on walking.
The skeletons followed them; they did not know, but they were already in a circle. That is blocked by the skeletons. At this point, there was no escape.
As they cautiously approached the entrance of the Dark Archive,
Archvel, observing from a distance, couldn't help but overhear their conversation.
. "They're just kids, inexperienced and unaware of the dangers."
Archvel was aware of the fact that he was not that experienced in the mage world, but this does not mean that he was inexperienced in real life.
He believes that Earth has its own evils, and there are many things that one can learn from experience that may very well work on this world too.
In the end, they were both worlds that had humanity inside of it.
Archvel's gaze remained fixed on them.
Ezekiel, Leyla, and Cardian took a collective deep breath.
The sight of the imposing entrance before them sent a shiver down their spines.
As they stepped closer, Archvel watched with interest.
"They possess a certain bravery," he murmured, acknowledging their courage despite their naivety.
Finally, the mages reached the threshold.
The sight of the skeletons surrounding them was both awe-inspiring and intimidating.
Ezekiel called out to the skeletons.
"We seek an audience with the master of these skeletons."
The skeletons, motionless and silent, seemed to regard the mages as objects with no life in them. The skeletons did not have enough mind on their own to judge the other individuals.
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The air seemed to hold its breath as the silence stretched on, each passing second fraught with anticipation.
The mages and the skeletons stood in an uneasy stalemate.
Suddenly, a deep, resonating voice resonated.
"Step forward, youngsters."
Ezekiel, Leyla, and Cardian exchanged a glance, their eyes reflecting fear.
With a shared nod, they took a collective step forward, crossing the threshold and entering 2 km of the border Dark Archive. They were on a great plain, leaving the forest.
----------------------------------------
As Archvel stepped forward,
The young mages were impressed and starting to feel real deep fear from the very depth of their soul.
His black mask, adorned with the symbol of a black book, added an air of mystery to his figure, while the imposing skeletons flanking him sent a clear message of power.
"I believe this mask should add a more mysterious aura around me; I found it in the Dark Archive, so it should be useful."
Archvel's voice was firm yet calm as he addressed the three mages.
"I am Archvel, a necromancer who lives in these lands. You were in my area and destroyed one of my skeletons."
Cardian spoke up with a hint of remorse in his voice. As he was the one who destroyed, he felt the real danger compared to his friends.
"We apologize for our actions. We didn't know that the skeleton belonged to you.”
Ezekiel and Layla nodded in agreement.
"We're truly sorry for any offense we've caused," Layla added, her voice sincere.
As they spoke, they both looked at Cardian with evil eyes.
It was clear that they were swearing at him in their minds.
Archvel studied them for a moment, assessing their words and intentions.
His tone softened slightly as he asked,
"Which organization do you belong to?"
Ezekiel answered,
"We belong to The Tower of the Black Sun.”
Archvel's mask hid his emotions, but he was not that surprised.
“Closest organization in these lands that has power and dark mages is the Tower of the Black Sun, so it is not that shocking to hear them to be members of it.”
"So, they belong to an organization that I know; in the majority of cases, this would make them my friends, and so they should not be killed or harmed."
"Instead of this kind of behavior and execution, I can talk with Jareth in this matter. So they will need to pay me to let them go."
"This is better for me; in the end, they all know that we are all dark mages, and no dark mage is a good individual at all."
Ezekiel, Leyla, and Cardian exchanged a glance.
Ezekiel took a step forward and spoke with sincerity.
"Master Archvel, as my friend said, we are really sorry about entering your domain and attacking one of your minions."
"If we knew—"
Archvel cut off Ezekiel and started talking with a condescending tone.
"It is just common sense if you knew you would not be attacking my minion. The lesson you have to learn from this encounter is not to act before thinking.”
Ezekiel gulped and did not know what to say.
"Let's see if they know Jareth." Archvel thought as he asked.
"So, you people belong to the Tower of Black Sun; do you guys know Jareth?"
The young mages exchanged glances; it is easy to see that they were happy to hear the name of “Jareth.”
Cardian, his voice filled with hope, responded,
"Master Jareth is one of our teachers, especially when it comes to magic practice and theoretical black fire elements."
Archvel nodded, acknowledging their words.
"Go back to him and tell him that he owes me thirty gold coins for the life of you three; also tell him everything that happened between us."
"If you guys lie, I will find you."
"I have connections with your organization, and these connections are good."
Ezekiel, Leyla, and Cardian exchanged smiles and nodded.
Ten gold coins per person is a good result of this encounter.
Ten gold coins is not a huge amount, but it is not small either.
Usually, student mages are paid one gold coin per month if they regularly perform weekly missions.
A mage like Jareth would be paid five gold coins per month; basically, what Archvel wanted was a yearly salary for themselves and six months salary for Master Jareth.
Considering that on the other end there was a chance to lose their lives, this was not something they could refuse.