Leyla had simply accepted Kallio's explanation that the danger was too great to allow her to accompany them. She did, however, require that he swear to come back. The Warlock had done so and patted her head as she sniffled back a few unruly tears. Her sadness passed quickly as she became excited about the prospect of going somewhere new and Kallio had made a mental note to get her out of the Tower more often.

The child had been through such a shock at the news that she hadn't even noticed his partial regeneration until he'd finished patting her head.

“You're fat!", she had laughed with delight as she immediately assaulted him with a hug.

The rest of the day passed quickly with the preparations and before the girl realized she had eaten breakfast the next morning. She stood within the ziggurat soon after with wide eyes, two large chests of belongings, and clothing stitched with masterful runes of warmth courtesy of Zeptik, despite his acidic mumblings at the task.

Kallio was the last to exit the tapestry as they returned to the Tower after Leyla's cheerful goodbye. The Warlock had almost expected tears or begging but instead Leyla had simply darted right in front of Emeriss and asked her what she had done to get such an amazing tapestry. Kallio had snorted with laughter at the expression on the Woman's face as she ignored the question entirely in order to introduce both herself and the two attendants that were assigned to her as servants.

The girl had waved happily from Emeriss’ side with the arm not holding Iskra when they had departed. Leyla was already pestering the ancient undead with questions about the runes forged into her armor before the connection severed and the gateway closed.

“That was easier than I thought it would be, honestly.", Zeptik remarked in a vaguely approving voice.

“You regret leaving her behind?", Mirriana's voice was disbelieving and skeptical as she reclaimed her usual spot to the Warlocks right.

“What? No. I thought she was gonna throw a fit or something and we'd waste more time than we already have. She'll be fine. I already made a deal with her to swap what they teach her for more of my stuff later.”

The imp’s smile practically devoured his own ears with wicked glee as he busily counted unhatched eggs and imagined the possibilities. Mirriana rolled her eyes as they moved through the Tower in the Warlock's wake while he declined to comment on their bickering. Within minutes they had reached his chambers while the doors opened soundlessly before him as the Great Eye beheld the Master's approach and undid the room's defenses. Kallio swept into the space, staff in hand, to begin his preparations while dispatching Zeptik to gather the necessary tools to execute their plan as he went about his work.

The circlet was collected first and placed upon his brow with a casual manner despite the sudden strobe of emerald light as he lowered it down. He then turned and crossed the dark stone floor to a podium of thorns that grew from the center of the room and retrieved his Grimoire carefully, tethering it with a dense knot of mana to his hip. The tome floated perfectly in sync with his movements, neither bobbing nor drifting as it maintained a rigid position at all times.

Kallio turned to sweep his gaze across the rest of the objects he kept for his personal use, though his eyes lingered briefly on a long unused bed in the corner of the room. He then quickly returned his attention to the sparing but carefully curated collection of weapons set upon the altar that dominated the far wall.

As Mirriana stood in the doorway and looked on he selected two of the items. A curved scabbard of deep purple leather capped at the end with a tassel of dark cloth was threaded through his belt and disregarded immediately after. Kallio then extended his hand to a dark red orb that floated quickly into his outstretched hand and rested comfortably in his grip. He squeezed and the orb burst through his boney fingers like liquid before soaking itself into the bones of his hand and up his arm, malevolent red runes crawling up to vanish under his dark metal bracer and sleeve.

“I trust you do not require anything, Mirri?", Kallio asked lightly as he turned to face her, a faint green glow visible within the gem upon his brow.

“No Master, I do not believe this requires any weapons you would allow me to utilize. My role is well defined and I can provide weapons enough for that.”, she replied with a bit of eagerness in her voice.

He nodded and strode out of the room, staff still in hand as he entered the gateway set into the onyx walls of the Tower. He emerged from the wall in the Storeroom to observe Zeptik marking the lid of a chest and mumbling to himself as he worked. The crystalline coins glittered in the light as the imp finished a complicated set of runes before he turned back to the Warlock. He quickly hopped across the floor and climbed Kallio’s robes to take his place on his left shoulder before speaking.

“Got everything we need to break the seal marked for summoning when we need it. Oh man I bet Barthalas is gonna be pissed when we let him out. Virax was, remember that? Poor fuckers.", the imp finished his report with a nasty snicker while Kallio simply turned and waited as Mirriana opened the gate that led to the foot of the Tower.

The sun was just settling into the sky and the air had not yet warmed as Kallio strode out of the Tower and stood before the Gate, enormous red Eye looking down at him obediently as Mirriana followed behind and the rectangular portal into the Tower vanished.

“Allow no entry and conceal the Tower.", Kallio commanded the Eye. It blinked in acknowledgement and then slowly closed.

Mirriana's dark scales glittered in the morning sun as her wings beat the air several times in happiness before folding neatly around her shoulders. Kallio regarded the horizon for long moments in thought, tattered robes swirling about his legs as hot wind began to sweep in from the wastelands towards the tower.

“I liked it better as a swamp.”, Zeptik remarked from Kallio's shoulder, "Whoever burned it all down was a dick. Probably Thius."

Kallio responded evenly as he released his staff and directed it to float before him, “It has been a long time. It would be a trivial thing to regrow the swamp but unworth the effort. We are ignored here, and that is good enough for the moment. The Tower can be moved if it becomes a triviality.”

As he finished speaking he extended his right arm forward, his hand a claw as light swelled within his fingers. The Darkstaff began to awaken, runes and connecting arrays flickering to life up the length of the weapon as Virax fed upon the energy and quickly converted it for use in the spell his Master required. With a final pulse of energy to the tip of the staff a black flame glimmered in the air, no larger than a firefly. Kallio twisted his hand slightly and the Darkstaff zipped into it with a solid sound as the Warlock immediately fired the speck of flame into the air a dozen feet away.

“Listen well, both of you.”, Kallio spoke ominously, "You will both carry out your tasks immediately upon arrival. Zeptik, absolutely no fucking around. Mirri, you know what to do. I expect a report by moonrise.”

Zeptik swallowed at the rare mundane cursing from his Master as the fleck of black fire suddenly began to burn larger. It swelled in the air, greedily devouring itself as the nothingness within its center grew larger. It expanded steadily for a moment before collapsing with a shriek of fear and flattening into a smoking disk. Barren stone and shifting gloom filled the Rift as they gazed through Virax’s gateway. The Riftwalker extended a tendril of dark energy from the weapon through the air into the portal and sent a pulse of ugly purple mana to the other side. The landscape wavered oddly and a path spread out below the portal and stretched off into the fog.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Come, we begin."

Kallio stepped through the portal with staff in hand and Mirriana followed close behind. After a few moments the portal shattered like glass, fragments of reality evaporating before they struck the ground as they unwove. The Tower began to waver as it faded slowly into a mirage, becoming merely a smear against the horizon from a distance.

Silence returned to the desert as the wind blown sand quickly erased their tracks.

_____________________________________

It was still dark as Blackstone was awoken by Selda when she tapped his arm gently a few times. He cracked his eyes open and blinked groggily as the dwarf returned his tired stare with one of her own and motioned at the moon above the trees to indicate it was his watch. Blackstone yawned and sat up carefully before he climbed out of his bedroll and quickly shook out his boots. He pulled them on before he stood and stretched, moving stiffly as he took a few sleepy steps. Selda punched him in the leg gratefully before turning to stump over to her own bed and quickly climbed inside, not bothering to remove her boots.

Blackstone snorted to himself at the sight but sympathized with her all the same. He collected his weapon and shield, belting the blade on quickly as he stooped once again to snatch his water skin from beside his makeshift bed. The man uncorked it and took a few long swallows before inserting the stopper once again and walking over to the large stump Selda had previously occupied and sitting down.

“Hey.”, Gaius’ voice was hushed as he approached from the small cluster of sleeping figures to Blackstone's rear.

“You don't sleep much, do you?”, he replied in an equally quiet voice, barely above a whisper.

Gaius smiled as he leaned on his staff, eyes flicking out into the trees as he nodded his head in acknowledgement.

“Not when I'm nervous, no. Plus I brought enough elixir to kill a herd of mules. I'll just drink my sleep for now, thank you.", the willowy looking magus answered truthfully, “I only really need a good nap now and then. Until I run out, anyway. I'll save some for emergencies of course."

Blackstone nodded along as he spoke, silently grateful that he could simply trade mana for energy as long as he had enough to eat. Elixir was terrible stuff; Blackstone had heard the flavor described as ‘a bottled fart boiled in the dogs bathwater’ by a soldier once and couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly. He still had a few vials of it himself, but refused to touch it unless it was an emergency for that reason alone.

“You want to take my watch for me then? Us mortals need sleep oh mighty Archmagus, I implore thee extend thy mercy.”, Blackstone begged dramatically as Gaius smothered a smile at the unexpected humor.

“What do you think it's gonna be?", Gaius asked suddenly, “A city, a fortress, a temple? Some ancient weapon set within a crystal altar surrounded by statues? The Warlocks lair?”

Blackstone paused as he made to reply, his eyebrows furrowing into a deep frown. He was intensely uncomfortable at the idea they might be jogging straight to Kallio's front gate but knew exactly what he would do in that situation. The man even took a moment to carefully prepare his words in advance of the unforeseen potentiality and then replied.

“If it is the Warlock’s lair I will throw down my weapons and apologize profusely before surrendering."

Gaius himself frowned at that while they both stood in silence for a time and observed different sections of the forest around them. Guide had sworn up and down this glade was a protected and safe area to camp for the night, citing ancient folklore. He was so confident in his belief that he'd simply unrolled his bed, stuffed his bag down into it between his feet and gone to sleep instantly. Still, things sometimes approached to the edge of the clearing, staring hungrily with eyes that gleamed in the darkness as their only trace.

“You believe he would let you live?"

“Yes. We are absolutely no threat to him. Worst case scenario I would run, but it wouldn't help and none of us would get very far if we tried.”

"Is he truly so powerful?”, Gaius asked bluntly without any malice in his voice.

"My…my Great Grandfather was an Archmagus. A Barrier Archmage, wielding an artifact of great power that shielded our kingdom for almost one hundred and fifty years. He was slain in a single blow after being allowed to conjure his ultimate defenses. It was my Great Grandfather's work that brought us here, Gawin was his assistant since I was a child."

Gaius fell silent at this for a moment before reaching down to clap Blackstone on the shoulder in a brotherly way as his large hat flopped about with the movement. He squeezed once in sympathy before releasing him and turning to walk away back to his bedroll. He mumbled something Blackstone didn't quite catch but puzzled out meant he would think about it and to stay warm.

The man sighed a bit to himself as he listened to Gaius go and continued to scan the treeline as occasional eyes peered brightly back at him before vanishing again into the dark pines. He turned every so often in his seat, swinging his gaze back at his comrades and behind to ensure nothing dangerous had penetrated whatever defenses the glade seemed to have. Blackstone wasn't a wizard but he decided he would bet it had something to do with the large flower that Guide had been so pleased to see.

“What are you, I wonder?”, he whispered under his breath as he swung his gaze in its direction.

He turned to face it where it stood in the middle of the clearing, thick stemmed and bearing huge white petals that drank in the moonlight and radiated faint healing energy. Blackstone had extended his senses towards it several dozen times since they arrived following pulses of healing from the flower. They were mild and didn't serve to repair anything other than the most superficial damage. What interested Blackstone was the hundreds of smaller seeds he could sense underground, resonating with the pulses from the flower.

“Something from the Warlock's era, no doubt, if you can keep the things in the forest at bay just by growing here.", he addressed the flower directly on a whim as he had nothing better to do for a moment, “I doubt you’re just some simple thing either. Thank you for providing this haven for us tonight.”

His eyes widened when a soft golden light not unlike his own spellwork danced across the petals of the flower in front of him for a few heartbeats after he finished speaking. His jaw dropped open as energy glided through the network of tiny seeds in the soil and gathered a short distance in front of his boots as the dirt began to break apart from below. A thin green shoot rose to the moon as the stalk pushed upwards and rapidly swelled into another of the beautiful white flowers. It almost resembled a rose, he thought, except for the length and number of the petals, both of which were much greater than a rose could ever hope to manage.

The flower slowly bent towards him as it opened under his eyes in the moonlight, moving with a slow grace. As it extended its petals fully it grew larger, growing level with Blackstone's face while he sat on the stump and rapidly began to grow concerned. He was about to stand or perhaps simply attack the plant when it sent him a tiny wisp of mana, rising like an insect from the center of its petals and drifting towards him slowly. He extended his senses and found intent, strange and alien but not malevolent or aggressive. It almost felt like…

“You're…grateful? For me…thanking you?”

The flower almost seemed to nod as it bobbed in the wind and thankfully did not move further or grow any larger as it released another mote of mana that he quickly examined again. Even more puzzling this time, almost all of the intent and emotions utterly inhuman, but with enough similarity he eventually figured it out again.

“A gift? You want to give me a gift? Because…my healing Talent? Have I gone mad?"

There was no mistaking that this time the flower shook in positive, then abruptly a negative as he finished speaking, its head swinging back and forth minutely as it leaned closer. The plant did not do anything else after it deemed itself close enough, and simply waited. He sucked in a breath through his teeth and considered the consequences of offending whatever it was that he now realized controlled the little territory they now occupied. Guide had been quite reverent with the flower when he had found the glade, stating seriously that he would attack with intent to kill any that harmed or destroyed it, even by accident.

He was reasonably confident that if it had wanted to harm them it would have already, and he made a leap of faith as cautious optimism filled his eyes.

“I accept then, should I–”, Blackstone was cut off as a vine shot from the center of the flower and arc’d around his ear to piece the flesh of his neck slightly behind above his earlobe. Before he even had time to react his body locked up in agony as what felt like a thousand thousand needles exploded into his neck through the vine as his vision went white.

He was vaguely aware of his own screaming and he felt the vines spreading throughout his body as the world tilted and he fell heavily off the stump.