Chapter 22- Farewells and Reunions

At the entrance to a town stood Roen and Eliana. Both had grown immensely in the time they spent together. Eliana was now an aura user, a person who wielded a great amount of power and authority. Roen had amazingly grown to be a handsome 16 year old boy and amazingly his usual clothing grew with him.

"Thaolos kingdom capital is down that path over there about an afternoons journey and you should see it."

"I see, then I guess this completes your task you are free to follow me or go back to your home."

Eliana stared at Roen as he said those words. She looked as if a knife had been pierced through chest. Tears welled up in her eyes. She already had prepared herself for this moment, but she wanted their time together to last longer.

"Could, could you wait for my return?" Eliana said very weakly and stifled her sobs to present a coherent sentence.

"Wait? No I cannot wait. However Engil said that the Lands of Sorcery is only a years travel by foot from here."

Eliana was crushed by Roen's comment at first, but after listening to the whole statement she nodded her head. She resolved herself and turned back towards the caravan they rode with.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes...I was only stopping by..."

Eliana replied to the caravan leader in a distant tone.

A couple days later at dawn, the caravan stocked up on supplies and people and was finally ready to head out. The warrior group that fought with Eliana had stayed at a nearby inn, so to make sure they went with her caravan.

Roen watched the wagons slowly leave. His expressionless face concealed his emotions, and he turned around, heading back into the town.

"ROOOOEEENNN!!!"

A shout from a familiar voice made Roen perk his ears up.

"ONE YEAR FROM NOW AND DON'T YOU FORGET!!"

Eliana's shouts carried themselves across the town, and through the cries of disgruntled sleepy voices Roen walked back to his inn with a slight skip in his step.

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Five days later Roen was outside the town sitting on a white throne facing toward the forrest. He propped his head up with his left hand and the other was lightly tapping the right armrest. One could easily see the impatience in his expressions. Suddenly his eyes locked onto movement between the trees.

"Took you slow servants long enough."

After his voice laced with annoyance played out into his surroundings two figures appeared. One was a large silver back wolf with a backpack strapped onto it's back and the other was a man with green eyes, hair, and tanned skin in silver armor without a helmet or weapon. They were Tyor and Engil.

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"Sorry master this dumb wolf got us lost thinking he smelled a treasure."

"I've said this before I swear I saw an elf from the legends. Hooo~ you know if we caught one they'd give us three wishes."

"Stop your lover's quarrel we need to move. Right now time is of the essence."

""Lover's quarrel?""

The two's thoughts came to a unique unison to Roen's choice of words. However before Engil could come up with anything to say, Roen's serious countenance shut his mouth. They quietly followed Roen till they reached the capital.

They reached the capital before the sun went below the horizon, and the sight they saw was breathtaking. The entire city was as if it was torn out of a picture. The fading light highlighted the incredible ramparts that stood an impressive 50 feet tall. The whole Capital was at an uphill slant that rose above the ramparts as it reached the center. In the middle of it all was a castle unlike any others. Instead of stone it was made out of an eye catching shiny black material that had runes plastered over it's surface. Three towers erected themselves out from the monstrous building that seemed to overlook the surrounding kingdom. The oddest thing was that four spider like appendages jutted out from the bottom of the castle and buried themselves into the nearby ground.

"So that's the Sage's Castle." Engil suddenly spoke with a hint of awe as he gazed at the sight greedily taking in the picturesque moment.

"Don't just leave us wondering about it. Speak."

"Haha well my uneducated ducklings, the Sage's Castle is that giant thing that is currently serving as a royal family living quarters was said to be an insane weapon of massive proportions."

"Can we use it?"

"I don't know."

Engil wanted to say no, but looking at the determination in Roen's eyes he consented to a vague reply. They calmly walked towards the entrance awaiting for Engil to be detained because of his wolf body. However the expected didn't happen, and for some reason the guards didn't even spare them a glance as the three passed through the gates. Tyor and Engil wore perplexed expressions while Roen's grew increasingly grimmer.

"Master if I may ask about the details of the plan now?"

"We go to the king."

"That's it?"

"Simple is better no?" Roen's tone threw Tyor through a loop and set Engil's nerves on fire.

"Oh all seeing master of mine, we have our lives on the line! With such a simple plan can you guarantee them?"

"There are no guarantees."

"Yes yes philosophy is fine and all, but I prefer life over philosophy!"

"Well it already knows were here. It's been watching us through these marked ones." Roen said an awfully ambiguous statement while pointing around himself.

"You've been say stuff about marked ones this and marked ones that can you now explain to us what exactly those are?!!"

"Calm your tone when you're talking to master."

"Shut up movable garden! This is my life on the line! I still have things I must do!"

Engil's temper rose by the minute. The tense situation was taking it's toll on him and he couldn't find a step on this slippery predicament.

"Marked ones or marked souls are basically sacrifices. They hold no will when it comes time for them to become the sacrifice because it is inevitable at that point."

"So those guards and everything that we've been killing till now are just sacrifices?!"

"Yes, however it's not just the guards it's this entire kingdom."

"Wait wait let me guess. Said being that takes these sacrifices becomes stronger for each one right?"

"For once you are correct."

"Damn, I hate my genius."

The three walked in silence taking in all of Roen's words and understanding the gravity of the situation.

It wasn't until the sun had set long ago and the chill of night settled in till they reached the gaping hole in the that was made for the massive doors that protected the castle. However the doors were wide open at the moment and guards lined the hallways with blank faces and black markings spread throughout their bodies. A chill ran through the hallway that invaded the people to the very bones and bombarded their flesh with it's icy presence.

Roen did not falter, stepped through the open doors and into the castle. Engil and Tyor looked at each other and quickly chased after him.