29.

Ashe was awoken by a voice that appeared inside her head.

People of Adhu Aqua. My people. I, Great Lord Jerial, have returned to take my place as the ruler of these lands.

Ashe jumped out of the bed at the sound of his name. She opened the door to see that it was guarded by two soldiers. Ashe tried to struggle past them but they stopped her.

"Let go of me!" She yelled.

"We have orders to escort you to the Great Lord after he is done with his announcement. Please wait in your room." One of the guards said.

Ashe stopped struggling and returned to her bed.

Do not be alarmed. You thought me dead but my death was just a ruse. King Godric attempted to assassinate me but I was much smarter you see. For on my deathbed I created a new cast. Giving up my physical body and transferring it into my son. Now, here I live in Alaric Burchard's body. I may be in his body but I have kept my strength. This is because my son and I are of one mind, we both have the same goal. To bring glory and honour to Adhu Aqua. We have spent sixteen years training our body and with the advice of Ivo, we have returned. Now rejoice, my Aquians for I have returned.

Ashe could hear people yelling in praise throughout the castle. It caused an uneasy feeling to appear in her gut. She was certain that the voice she heard in her head was lying.

Do not be alarmed by the barrier that our talented Phen casters are putting up around the city. This is just to protect us against the wrath of the Meinspir army that are surely going to try and invade. You have no reason to fear because I will protect each and every one of you. Our city will not be ravaged by those savages.

More cheers rang through the castle.

The speech in her head went on for a while before the voice inside her head cut out. The door opened and one of the guards entered.

"The Great Lord will see you now."

Ashe went to grab her spear when the guard spoke again.

"No weapons."

Ashe reluctantly let go of her spear and allowed the two guards to escort her. They led her to the highest floor. There were barely any guards on this floor. She found herself looking at the paintings on the wall. Most of them were of a chiselled man that looked quite similar to Alaric, perhaps just more hardened. Instead of Alaric's blue eyes, he had light brown eyes. He was dressed in thin black armour. He kept a black robe under his armour that shot out the bottom of his chest piece. The paintings were portraying him to look like a hero. One painting caught her eye. It was of the same Alaric looking man but next to him stood a beautiful woman in a white dress that contrasted the black armour the man wore. Her eyes were painted blue and she held a baby in her arms.

She was dragged in front of a large door. Col stood in front of the door glaring at her. He did not say anything. A few moments later, two guards escorting Florian arrived. At his arrival, Col opened the door. It revealed an empty throne that sat against the wall opposite the door. The throne was made of some sort of blackened metal. The rest of the room was bare except for a table that was oddly placed on the right side of the room. There was a balcony on the left side of the room and it forced light into the darkroom. Col walked into the centre of the room, Ashe and Florian followed. The guards stayed outside. A figure emerged from the balcony. A familiar figure. Dressed in the black armour she had seen in the painting. The only difference was the crimson blade that was strapped to his back. He was damp from the rain. His short hair stuck to his forehead and his armour had been shining in a metallic gleam. It was Alaric, it looked just like him except for the eyes. His eyes shone a bright purple instead of the usual blue. Alaric had been smiling at him. A devilish smile that she had never seen on his face before.

"Alaric, what is the meaning of this?" Florian asked.

"You will not speak to the Great Lord in such a manner!" Col exclaimed.

He was quickly silenced as Alaric raised his hand.

"You may take your leave now, commander," Alaric ordered.

Col hesitated but turned to leave.

"I believe you have heard my speech this morning?" Alaric walked towards the throne and sat down. Florian and Ashe walked closer.

"What is happening, Alaric?" She asked.

Alaric glared at her. "Alaric is no longer in control. You shall call me, Great Lord Jerial."

Ashe's eyes widened. Florian began laughing next to her.

"What is so amusing, boy?" Jerial asked.

"Nothing, it is just slowly making more sense," Florian said. "You killed those casters on Diable Island." "You caused his weird actions. I always thought he knew more than a regular person should."

At the accusations, Jerial chuckled. "Diable Island, the damned place I hated living there but it was a forced venture. But yes, I killed those casters. At first, I forced my son to watch the soldiers rip the villagers into pieces, then I used these hands, not his hands, to strike down the rest."

"Sorry, Alaric. I was being pretty terrible to you weren't I?"

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Ashe couldn't keep up with so many revelations. "Where is Alaric?" She pleaded.

"You are looking at him, his body at least." Jerial pointed at his chest. "His soul however is somewhere in here fighting desperately for control. Poor thing really believed that I couldn't take control whenever I needed to."

Ashe did not realise that she was crying. "Give him back!"

"I'm afraid I cannot do so. I have plans to fulfil. I don't expect to give him control ever again."

Florian walked up to him, his fists balled in anger. Jerial snapped his fingers and Florian stopped dead in his tracks. Florian had been holding his head. His face showed that he was in pain. Ashe rushed to Florian's side.

"I can kill you with a flick of my wrist. Do not try anything stupid." "I called you here to be polite and tell you that you are no longer welcome in my castle. Leave Adhu Aqua, this place has no use for you."

"Where are the others? Everard? Savia?" Ashe asked.

"The boy escaped early in the morning. The beautiful lady too. A real sneaky one that girl is."

"You will not get away with this." Ashe cried.

"Do not tempt me, girl. The only reason you are let go is because I have a little sympathy for my boy. I could break him by killing you but where is the fun in that, I love watching him struggle." Jerial laughed.

Florian seemed to recover and grabbed her wrist.

"Let's go," Florian whispered.

"But-" She tried to fight it but he dragged her out of the room.

"There is nothing we can do. We have to recuperate and then strategize. That is what Alaric would want us to do." Ashe noticed that he had been crying too.

They were led back to their rooms.

Ivo was a bit frustrated. He was sent a personal request for him to visit Isern and search for any evidence that his previous master had been there. His master had been dead for sixteen years. A man whose remains still exist in Adhu Aqua. After hearing nothing about his revived master for six months, he had assumed that the intel the king got had been false. He wondered why the king sent him to Isern specifically until he arrived in the small town. He usually left this land to be governed by a man known as Chapman. A good friend of King Godric, that was enough for Ivo to steer clear of him. Isern had become chaotic. Chapman had been dead and so had most within the metal factory. There had been a weird massacre in a building on the northeast edge of town. A building that Ivo assumed to be a brothel for the weird smells he found there. The town had been in a power struggle. Many people fought for control of the town, at the forefront was a timid stablehand who had more sentz than one in his position should have. The soldiers did not know how to handle it. That's when they looked to Great Lord Ivo to solve it. Ivo had become a Great Lord at nineteen, a feat that no one had ever done before. A feat that was only possible because he had been the only pupil of the greatest Ilium caster of his generation, Great Lord Jerial. A hero that had great intellect. His inventions had changed Adhu Aqua for the better. Many noblemen from all over Hominus sought his wisdom. He was not eager to share, however, usually kicking them out. The only thing greater than his intellect was his combat capability. He was a hero for stopping the biggest civil war the Zidal Empire had ever faced. Impestra had been unhappy with the compensation they received for their imports, so they marched their army to Arstutia to send the army through the Eastern teleporter. Only to get wiped out by Great Lord Jerial and the Adhu Aqua army. It came out later that they had been hired by the Great Lord of Arstutia at the time. Regardless, his deed at the time was written in legend. The man who had defeated the strongest army in all of the Zidal Empire. Ivo had seen his strength up close. He had been given a part of that immense strength. He had been a cruel master, especially to his son. Ivo sighed.

"Are you okay, Master Ivo?" The voice next to him said.

"Just thinking, Cressela."

Cressela was his second in command. First Commander of 'The Eyes', a group of the strongest casters in Adhu Aqua. The name is ironic because he was blind. He was particularly fond of Cressela, she had been by his side ever since he was put in his position. She had gained quite a reputation for her stoicism. She had been a beautiful woman, before he became blind. Blind was a strong word, he could see just not in the way a regular person could. The familiar protective aura that he saw her now was very disappointing, he wondered if she was still beautiful as before. They had been wedded for a few years, a secret only known to a few despite the many rumours of their relationship. Ivo sat at Chapman's desk while Cressela was looking through parchments and explaining them to him. It had mostly been documenting merchant trades from villages around the Gwyn River and a few trades made to Meinspir. Nothing special. A few did catch his eye however, Chapman made strange deals with a woman known as Gwenllian. The documents did not go into much detail on what they had been dealing with, however. They had asked around about the event that occurred a few days, the only lead they got was that a group of black-robed adventurers cast a huge tidal wave to take out all the soldiers in front of the factory. A huge tidal wave…Ivo understood why it might intrigue the king, a strong caster and so close to Adhu Aqua. All things led to Jerial.

"What are we going to do, Master?"

Ivo sighed. "We will go back home. I will order the Hughes family to take control of this town and send a small group of soldiers to at least keep it stable. It is clear that he is not here."

"Very well." Ivo heard the chair move to his right. Cressela grabbed his forearm and he stood up as well.

"We will find him," Cressela said.

"Which one?" Ivo chuckled.

"Lord Alaric, of course."

"You know me well." His smile turned into a scowl. "Do you think I am cruel to wish that my former master is dead?"

Cressela went quiet before answering. "I do not think you are cruel. You have told me the stories."

"But he had given me everything. All that I have is because of him." Ivo countered.

"That may be true but one's good deeds do not necessarily outweigh the bad."

Ivo chuckled at her comment. "You will never let me win, would you?"

"Not as long as I am by your side."

Ivo pouted, causing his beloved to chuckle.

He allowed Cressela to lead him out of the factory. Outside the factory, he heard a familiar man speak.

"Heinzidal's balls! This town stinks!" A man spoke.

Ivo chuckled. Drustan Drucker was the fifth commander of 'The Eyes'. He was quite young when they recruited him but he had shown great potential. Despite not knowing what he looked like, Ivo found his rash tone and humour amusing. Much to the chagrin of Cressela.

"Would you not speak such profanities before the Great Lord, Commander Drucker," Cressela stated sternly.

"I will once the Great Lord tells me to, O Great Protector."

This happened on occasion, the two commanders always seemed to get on each other's nerves. After a few moments of bickering, Ivo stepped forward and put a stop to it.

"Commander Drucker, we shall be heading back to Adhu Aqua. Gather the men." Ivo ordered.

"Finally, I would not have survived another day in this place."

He heard Cressela sigh next to him and he gave her a little nudge.