4.

Alaric stood within the forest along with one of the twins, the one called Anteros. They had been separated to train. Florian went with Eros while Ashe went with Priest Able. They had been told that it would be six months until they got to leave the island.

"What are we doing here?" Alaric asked. He hated how Anteros looked at him.

"This shall be your home until you are ready," Anteros said motioning toward the forest surrounding them.

"And the rest?"

"Just as you, they will spend their time gathering strength." "You were foolish to not accept a weapon."

Alaric shrugged. "I do not need to wield a weapon. I will not kill anyone."

"Your enemy shall not think twice to slice off that wise head of yours," Anteros warned.

"I don't need to be lectured on the cruelty of the world."

Anteros laughed loudly.

"You look just like him, act like it too sometimes."

The anger pent up within Alaric.

"Don't you dare say that ever again!"

Anteros just laughed once again. Alaric just gave him a deadpan look.

After a moment Anteros walked over to Alaric and handed him a few parchments.

Alaric had tried to read the letters on the parchment but he couldn't make anything out. There had been many strange symbols, words not written in any language he had ever seen and a few symbols that looked like a pair of hands gesturing in a variety of ways.

Anteros suddenly spoke up.

"The Rixa emulates the energy that exists naturally within a caster. Essentially transforming a mysur into a caster."

Alaric glanced at his amulet. Where did they get this?

"It is an immensely rare item. Banned from the land of Hominus, it can only be bought from specific...characters." Anteros explained noticing Alaric's glance.

Alaric's discomfort showed on his face allowing Anteros to laugh.

"Why does my amulet shine a different colour to the rest?" Alaric asked.

"That displays your type of casting. Before we get ahead of ourselves, shall I explain the fundamentals of casting?"

Alaric nodded.

"There are four requirements to begin casting." Anteros raised one finger.

"Firstly, to cast one needs stria. Stria is the energy that flows within all casters, the amount differs from caster to caster. It flows like the air we breathe, all around us. It is the only difference between us, mysurs, and them. The Rixa provides us with the energy we lack."

"Is there no method mysurs can use the stria that occurs naturally?" Alaric asked.

Anteros shook his head. "Not at least on Hominus, there are reports that Drakenskav has found a way to utilise it. That is not important though. The next requirement is stamina. Casting is energy-draining, therefore the best casters are always physically fit. Something you have to work on."

Alaric hated the way Anteros analysed his body.

"Is the stamina usage fixed or does it drain depending on the specific cast?" Alaric had been fascinated with the mechanics of casting for a long time. He had often made up many different theories while he sat in his room.

"The more complex the cast the more energy is required. Not that you would be able to cast anything other than beginner casts."

Alaric had been fed up with the insults that were being hurled at him and just started walking away.

Anteros ran after him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Where are you going? The boss doesn't like rebellious retainers. You should know all about that." Anteros cupped Alaric's face with one hand then proceeded to knee him in the gut. Alaric fell over and began heaving heavily.

Anteros smiled strangely at Alaric.

"Back to the lesson. The third requirement is material. This could be anything from the ground we stand on, the water that exists in lakes or even the natural existing stria. I am sure you saw the casters using the gravel to slaughter the villagers. They used gravel as the material. The material differs depending on your surroundings, I suggest sticking to using the earth and natural stria."

Alaric was in immense pain but got back on his feet trying to hide his discomfort.

"And the fourth," Alaric asked.

Anteros pointed at the parchment Alaric dropped to the floor.

"The fourth requirement is an incantation of some sort. The language you find on that parchment is known as Heinzidal Text. A language that is known only to casters. The incantations can be done in many different forms. It can be spoken, it can be drawn as a rune, it can be carved onto special items or it is performed via a series of hand gestures. As you are a Phen type, you would only need to learn runes and hand gestures."

"Phen type?"

Anteros pointed at Alaric's amulet.

"There are three types of casters. Sio, Phen and Ilium. Each offers a different aspect. Sio is the type that consists of offensive casts. Phen consists of defensive casts while Ilium casters use supportive casts."

"How'd you know which type I was," Alaric asked.

"The colour of the Rixa. Yellow is usually linked with Phen type caster. Your friends however are both Ilium casters. Phen casters are quite rare, so you should be happy."

"Is it possible to be able to cast two types?"

Anteros shook a finger at Alaric.

"That is impossible. Many have tried, alas one type of caster cannot even comprehend another type.."

Alaric picked up the parchments that lay on the ground.

"We will be cycling between combat training and studying the text until the day of your departure," Anteros instructed.

Klink-Klink. Godric walked down the hallways of his palace. It had been a week since he had received the unsettling news. He had called for the Great Lords to meet and today had been the day. The Great Lords were currently gathered in the palace. It was a rare occurrence for the Lords to be gathered under one roof. At least it hadn't happened since the last King's Rite. The thought made Godric rub at his scar. He arrived at his destination. He motioned for a servant to open the doors for him. The room was eerily quiet. Five figures sat around a table. Dalton stood next to a chair that was placed at the head of the table. The room had been rather large. Large bookshelves lined the walls. The room had been well lit by many candelabras as well as a flame that engulfed the arm of one of the figures. With Godric entering, the number of people in the room was now eight. Godric sat down. He scanned the others at the table. Three sat to his left and two sat on his right. The Figure on the far left spoke up first.

"The situation must be dire for the King to summon us."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Quite dire, Umbra," Godric said.

Damiana the Umbra had been the youngest at the table. She was a beautiful woman, she had long auburn hair with green eyes. She was dressed in noble clothing opting to not wear armour.

"Oooo-To have the great King Godric quivering in his boots. This will be quite enjoyable." Damiana said with a large smile.

The rest sat in silence.

Godric glared at her.

"There is no time for your games, Umbra." "Hominus has thrived under my rule. The Nixum has been constrained within the Nix and the Sku'al has been made subservient and possesses no threat. We seemed poised to invade Ysgafyn at the turn of the new year."

"And the Scaev?" A figure to his left piped up.

"Under control, Ivo," Godric answered.

Ivo the Eyes had been dressed in similar armour as Godric but instead of blue accents, his had been green. He had unruly black hair. His eyes had been the most standout feature. It looked like his eyelids had been burnt closed. Large burn scars covered both his eyes and a bit of his forehead. The scars seemed to glow with a tinge of red. Behind him stood a woman in the same armour as him. A mace had been attached to the back of her armour.

"Have you just called this meeting to gloat?" Damiana asked, rolling her eyes.

"Great Lord Damiana, it would be preferable if you would let King Godric finish." Dalton interrupted.

Godric lifted a hand. Dalton noticed it and offered a quiet apology.

"A new threat emerged on Diable Island. A powerful caster took out all of my men. You should all be familiar with him."

The Lords watched Godric with intrigue.

"Jerial the Merciless has risen from the grave," Godric announced ominously. The discomfort clearly showed in his voice.

All the Lords were stunned. Ivo specifically was hysterical.

"Lies...you speak lies. My master died sixteen years ago. We all saw the body. You have to be mistaken." Ivo had been banging his fists onto the table. The armoured woman attempted to calm him down.

"Ivo, my men said he told them his name and let them go. Jerial is out there and sent a message to all of us. We might not know what he is planning but whatever it is, it threatens the current state of Hominus." Godric explained.

Ivo seemed to calm down.

"Adhu Aqua...it is his home he will most probably show up there first," Ivo said.

Godric nodded.

"Ivo, I know he was the man who gave you everything. However, do not let nostalgia take over your common sense. Kill the bastard before you are killed by the bastard. Adhu Aqua is your city, he no longer has any hold on it." Godric added.

Ivo slowly nodded. The armoured woman behind him placed a hand on his shoulder.

A couple of hours after the meeting concluded, Ivo sat in his darkened bedroom.

"Cressela?" Ivo called.

An armoured woman entered the room.

"Yes, my Lord?"

"Once we arrive home, have the soldiers search West Hominus for a man named Alaric. He should have black hair and blue eyes. He should be twenty-one years old."

Cresselia looked unsure.

"My Lord, we have tried to search for him already for years. What makes you so sure he will pop up now?" She asked.

"I am not certain however if my master is still alive, there is hope. Alaric was a smart kid, I will not believe he had simply died that day." Ivo answered. Despite being blind Cressela could feel Ivo had been staring at her.

"Yes, my Lord. I will have my men search all of Hominus if they have to."

Alaric's clothes had been in tatters. His shirt ripped to shreds hung loosely over his body. Over the last six months, he had become very muscular. Gone were the days when he would rely on Florian to do some heavy lifting for he was too skinny to lift anything remotely heavy. These past six months have gone extremely quickly. I cannot believe we get to leave at dawn. His hair grew and he had a messy beard. Anteros told him that they would meet at the house at night, so he had the rest of the day free. There had always been one thing bothering him while he lived on Diable Island. So he had set out to try and resolve it. This was how he found himself on the southwest edge of the island. The townsfolk rarely went to this part of the island but one event occurred here that stood out to Alaric. This was the section of the island where Ashe claimed to have seen a gigantic spider. Alaric himself had never been to this part of the island so he did not know exactly what he was looking for. After a few hours of searching, he noticed a small entrance to the cavern. Strange, no one ever spoke of this.

As he approached the cavern, the ground beneath him shook vigorously. Alaric hopped a few paces backwards.

Two black gooey appendages erupted from the ground. The two appendages stood taller than Alaric but they hadn't been wide. The entire monstrosity lifted itself out of the ground. The gooey monster stood many heads above Alaric. It had eight legs and eight red eyes. It had not only looked like a spider, in all aspects this should be a spider if not for the black goo that dripped off of it. Alaric had heard only fairy tales of such monsters. A Nixum. One so close, how had nobody seen this? The spider charged towards him, lifting its two front appendages to strike Alaric. Alaric panicked trying to remember his training. He then lifted both his hands and then performed a few gestures. The ground before him arched upwards and into a curve protecting Alaric. The spider's appendages struck the lifted ground and stopped moving. A wave of exhaustion ran through Alaric. It is a lot stronger than me. I cannot keep blocking. Alaric stopped his hand gesture and the ground returned to normality. The spider got ready to strike again however Alaric had expected this and rolled out of the way. He began to run underneath the spider. The spider did not move to face Alaric. It had pointed its romp towards the ground, black goo started to drip onto the floor. Alaric was not bothered by the black goo as he tried to sprint towards the cavern. The black goo began to morph into many smaller spiders, with each spider looking like an identical copy to the large one. Alaric froze dead in his tracks as the smaller spiders walked towards him. The larger spider had begun to turn around. The spiders had almost been upon Alaric when he decided to move. He had sprinted towards one of the large appendages of the spider. He grabbed the appendage and began to scale it. The gooey consistency made it difficult but he made steady progress. Halfway up the appendage, he felt a tingling feeling on his skin. He noticed the black goo on his hands and body formed many tiny spiders. The spiders below him had also begun scaling the large spider. Alaric ignored the spiders on his body and began to scale faster. The spiders began to bite at his skin. Once Alaric reached the top of the spider, it began to move vigorously attempting to throw him off. The black goo hadn't had the best grip but it held as Alaric was swung wildly from one side to the other. He could feel a thousand pricks on his body while he tried to find balance on the swaying spider. Let's hope this works. He steadily made his way towards the spider's face. The red eyes watched him carefully. Alaric looked behind him and saw that the smaller spiders were almost upon him. He then commenced stomping on one of the spider's large red eyes. The spider screeched. So you can get hurt. Alaric kept his foot on the spider's eye and began to perform different hand gestures. A yellow translucent barrier formed around Alaric, the barrier cleaved a large portion of the spider's face along with all eight of its red eyes. The spiders lost their form and turned into a puddle of goo. Alaric stood on top of the spider, took a huge fall and landed back first onto the ground. Alaric lay on the ground heaving. His exhaustion outweighed his pain. He watched as the black goo puddle transformed into grey flakes and floated away with the wind. After he had regained some energy Alaric got up, he wiped off the grey flakes that plagued his body. He then began to move towards the cavern. As he got closer he could see that the cavern had been lit. People have been here. The cavern hadn't been very deep, it had also been lit by a series of lamps. When Alaric had reached the end of the cavern he froze. The room was small, a simple pedestal stood in the middle of the room. Around the pedestal, was the reason Alaric froze. Decomposed corpses lay stationary on the ground, all dressed in blue robes. Casters? And so many of them. Alaric scanned the room, and he found a large carving on the wall behind the pedestal. A symbol had been carved into the wall, a symbol he had recognized.

It was a symbol that was found in his home as well as every house on the island. Able never told them what it meant.

What happens on this island?

The evening had come and Alaric found himself standing in front of his cobblestone home. He could hear some commotion inside so he decided to open the doors. Once he entered everyone stared at him. Ashe and Florian both smiled at him as he entered. They looked much neater than he did. Ashe's hair had been longer than usual while Florian's hair was still a curly mess. Florian had a similar messy beard as Alaric. He made his way to them and embraced them.

"I am glad to see both of you well," He said.

"Compared to you, we both look in perfect condition," Ashe said.

"I had one hell of a day but I will tell both of you about it once we leave this island," Alaric whispered.

They nodded at him.

"Never thought I would ever get to see a muscular Alaric," Florian teased.

Ashe chuckled.

"Do not let me order you guys to do chores again."

They both visibly paled. The group laughed.

Anteros, Eros and Able stood towards the back of the room seemingly discussing something. Alaric noticed the symbol on the altar that stood at the end of the room. The same symbol as in the cavern.

As the night went along, Able and the twins went upstairs, they had stated that they needed to discuss a few matters. Alaric stood behind Ashe trimming her hair.

"I apologise for hiding things from you both," Alaric blurted out.

"You are probably hiding a million more issues from us. But it doesn't matter anymore." Florian said. He had been cleanly shaven.

"Florian is right, you may be smart but most of the time you are dumb. But that is who you are." Ashe added.

"Hey, you better watch yourselves." Alaric chuckled.

"Cursed child or not, you are still Alaric who grew up alongside us here in this village," Florian said.

Alaric's smiling face slowly turned sombre.

"I had wanted to die that day." He stated.

Ashe turned around and watched him.

"Why?" She asked.

Alaric shook his head.

"Just promise me that when I need saving you will be there to help me."

Florian and Ashe nodded at him.

"That needn't even be addressed. We shall always be there for you." Florian stated.

Alaric had finished trimming Ashe's hair and went on to cut his hair before they retreated to their quarters.

Before heading to bed they had each noticed a new set of clothes set out in their room.

The night passed by quietly.