Note to the reader: *.......* means he's saying that in his head.

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Sorry if these last few chapters felt a little short cause they have been by about 400 words including this one. I've come to the end of each chapter a little earlier than expected these last few times and I didn't want to change how I planned to end them. Again sorry.

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Chapter 16

******************Aelisia POV***************

Humans can be the weakest and the strongest of all the races. Since we're born without a unique magic we can choose a god to follow. Once baptized by a holy priestess we gain the elven, beastmen or dwarven unique magic. Most knights pick to follow Haarus and we get the beast races aura magic.  Aura magic can be used for many different things, but it's main focus is usually stealth. You can hide your presence or sense others presence. There are other ways to sense a persons presence, but aura magic is the easiest way.

I was one of the many knights who picked aura magic. Everyone's presence feels different so you could use this to identify who your enemy is before they get to you, but that only works if you've already meet this person and remember his presence. If you can master aura it is also one of the best suits of armor you will ever have. The possibilities are endless with aura magic. Most knights abandon it's sensing abilities and focus on strengthening it's uses as invisible armor.

During my stay at the palace I memorized what everyones presence felt like. I was a little interested in the fact that the princess was running around the palace, but what I was currently feeling was an unknown presence sneaking over one of the defensive walls so I went down to investigate.

If I wasn't an expert with aura magic this presence would have been seen as a small animal. Which would have been ignored by the few that did train their sensing. Small animals make their way into the castle all the time. Animals usually have more chaotic presences like this one, but it felt different. It was more like a bunch of different presences condensed into one. I never would have noticed it if it were in a crowd of people.

Gideon would probably be the only other knight to realize that presence didn't belong to any normal animal, but he was out right now. I completely masked my presence and went down a corridor where I found Felix almost naked. He was probably looking for the princess, but he was way off. She was already on the other side of the palace. I sighed.

*If you would have trained your sensing than finding her would be easy.*

Felix:"Where the hell did they go!"

I was walking a few feet behind him, but no matter what I did he wouldn't even realize I was here as long I masked my presence. We crept closer and closer to the aura.

******************Becket POV***************

Standing right in front of me was Felix wearing only his briefs and that chain with the white stone on it. Out of reflex I punched him in the face. He was immediately knocked out and fell to the ground like a ton of bricks.

Becket:"Hm. He was pretty easy to find."

His nose was smashed in, but he was still alive. I had expected more from our next confrontation so this left me feeling a little let down. I crouched beside him and took the necklace off then placed it around my own neck.

Becket:"I'll take this."

I took his silence as an ok.

Becket:"Now what? Should I kill you?"

I came here to kill him, save Aria and Gene then possibly get my armor back. If I had to abandon it I would since I could always remake it, but I felt a little attachment to it. Currently I had no clue where the two of them were, but Felix probably did. The information I got from the man at the inn suddenly popped into my head.

Becket:"That guy said Gene was in a cell."

I didn't know what the typical layout for a castle would be, but when I thought of cells the first thing that came to mind was the basement. This became my destination and since I wanted insurance I tossed Felix over my shoulder to bring with me. I wasn't sure if anyone else here had a trinket like this necklace Felix gave me so I decided to continue stealthily.

I was worried I would get caught a few times by patrolling knights, but I found rooms to hide in. Luckily there was no one else in them. I had a weird feeling the whole time I searched for the basement. The thought crossed my mind that this place might be haunted. A few times I jumped into a room to hide when there weren't even any knights. It was a very eerie feeling like someone is watching you.

I came out of the room I was hiding in and continued my search. In the last area I searched I found a set of stairs that led down so I followed them and found iron bar cells. There were so many that counting would've been to much of a hassle. I was standing at the bottom of the stairs looking towards the long corridor with cells on both sides.

There was a single knight guarding the area so I quickly strangled him with a choke hold. His armor hitting the floor made a loud clank, but no one seemed to have heard it. Now all that was left was to find Gene.

Aelisia:"He's in one of the cells near the back."

I was surprised by the voice and immediately pulled out a sword with my one free hand then pointed it towards the voice. I could tell it was a woman, but for some reason she was out of focus.

Becket:"Who are you?"

Aelisia:"I'm Aelisia."

She pinched the tip of the blade with her index finger and thumb. The sword snapped in half. I dropped the broken sword and jumped a few steps back.

Aelisia:"You're not going to be able to hurt me with that kind of weapon."

I dropped Felix and pulled out my other sword along with a dagger.

Aelisia:"I'm not planning on fighting you. I don't believe in bullying the weak."

Becket:"I think you've misjudged me."

Aelisia:"I don't really care. Do whatever you want, but if you get spotted by anyone else then I might have to kill you."

I didn't take my eyes off her, but she just vanished. I spun around in a circle searching the room for her. She was no where to be seen so I cautiously made my way to the cells in the back. I found Gene beaten to a pulp inside one of the cells. I first tried to pick the lock with my dagger, but that failed like I thought it would. The tip of my dagger broke off so I tossed it to the side. The only way to get through the iron bars would be with a sacrifice. I took out my sword and got ready. With two quick slashes I had severed parts of the bars. It was a small opening and the sword I used was sacrificed to do it, but it worked.

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I leaned Gene up and he tried to see who I was, but he couldn't even open his eyes.

Becket:"Gene it's me."

He didn't say anything back and only tried to smile or at least that's what I think he was doing. I didn't know healing magic, but I did know something that was probably close though I hadn't used it to heal injuries yet. I transferred some of the stored vitality I had over to him. I got a little pissed and dropped him back onto the floor when he stuck his tongue in my mouth.

Gene:"Ow. That hurt."

He was completely healed and even looked a few years younger.

Becket:"What's wrong with you! Don't go trying to play twister with my tongue!"

Gene:"Sorry I was a little delusional. I woke up to what I thought was a beautiful woman kissing me. What would you do?"

Becket:"I feel a little violated."

Gene:"Sorry sorry."

The two of us climbed out through the small opening.

Becket:"Stay close to me. We still need to get Aria."

Gene:"Do you know where she is?"

Becket:"No, but he probably d....."

Felix was gone.

Becket:"Shit!"

I ran over to the knight I had killed earlier and found that his sword was gone. Since Felix had been so large during our first fight I still wasn't sure how strong of a swordsman he was. If I fought him right now with only the one dagger I currently had I wasn't sure if I could win.

Becket:"Watch your back Gene."

The knight still had his dagger so I picked it up and gave it to Gene.

Becket:"Just in case."

I went first and we started up the stairs. They twisted around so I couldn't see more than a couple feet ahead of me. When we made it all the way up the stairs I relaxed a little.

Becket:"Maybe he ran?"

Gene:"Of course he did. You're to much of a badass for him."

Becket:"He abandoned this pretty easily."

I held the white stone up and looked at it.

Becket:"I wonder how it works?"

It kind of looked like the title stone before it absorbed some of my blood. I brushed those thoughts aside for now since becoming a giant while still indoors would likely crush me.

******************Aelisia POV***************

Watching Becket was much more interesting than stopping him so after talking with him I pretended to leave. I almost started laughing during the battle of tongues.

*I had no idea he swung both ways.*

Felix had been awake ever since Becket dropped him onto the ground so I was waiting to see what he would do. He disappointed me though when he stole the knights sword and ran off. I decided to follow him now while keeping track of Beckets location with my presence sensing.

Anyone who had originally sensed his animal like presence already forgot it was here, probably. Felix was running like a mad man. It was likely he realized his artifact was gone. He really couldn't do much without it. A few generations back Felix's family held commoner status, but that changed once they found that artifact. Artifacts can be powerful and hard to get so his family gained fame then they were promoted into nobility. With each generation the family became more power hungry and now one of them was close to becoming the next king.

He was running straight for the throne room. I could tell the king was inside with his royal guard so I didn't stop Felix. He ran right in still wearing only his briefs.

Felix:"My king! Becket is here and he's taken my families artifact!"

King Francis:"What! This is the worst possible timing! She's on her way to the throne room as we speak!"

Felix:"Lend me one of the royal artifacts so that I may rid the world of his existence."

King Francis:"You fool! You lose your artifact and expect me to hand a new one over to you!"

Felix:"Please my king!"

King Francis:"Silence!"

Felix went quiet. The king seemed to be putting a lot of thought into this and after a few minutes he spoke up.

King Francis:"Very well. I'll lend you an artifact, but if you fail I'll have your head."

Felix:"Thank you my king."

The king gestured towards one of his guards who came up to him and leaned over. The king whispered into his ear then the knight ran out of the room. After a few minutes Felix decided to break the silence.

Felix:"Which one is it my king?"

Before the king could answer there was a knock at the throne room door. Everyone stiffened up.

King Francis:"Enter!"

The doors swung open to reveal a beautiful woman probably in her early thirties. She had long black hair and wore a long purple dress. She looked almost exactly like the princess only older. A squadron of knights followed closely behind her.

King Francis:"My darling Sylvia."

Sylvia:"Quiet Francis."

The king shut his mouth. The knight from before came back into the room holding something wrapped up in a cloth. He took his position in the line of royal guards.

Sylvia:"I've heard some interesting things about what's happened while I was gone."

She began walking down the long red rug that led to the throne. She stopped right next to Felix and gave him a look of indifference. He was still in his briefs. She continued looking at him while she spoke.

Sylvia:"I also just ran into my daughter Evalyn."

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