Duke Seaborn and his wife had been personally invited to the event, not that they would’ve missed the birth of a new archmage, and with that the change the recruit them to their side.

The waitresses used telekinesis to carry the drinks and food.

“My, I knew that it wasn’t a particularly hard magic to learn, but to think that even the wait staff can use it. Perhaps I will have a tutor for our servants.”

“It would make the Wavestriders green with envy once they see it.”

“There is only need for one duke along that coast, and I shall prove it to all of them.”

Many of the others, from barons to dukes, to even the other archmagi who attended, found some novelty in these commoners being given magic to make the job easier and show off the might of the academy.

Even the king had arrived and remarked about it, though they did not know his intent.

“Remond, I didn’t know you would be here.“

“Well, since I am, I guess that only means one thing.”

He resisted the urge to ruffle his hair like a child, this wasn’t the time to make Harlan remember he was still just his nephew no matter the name he was given.

“Remember, you taught Autumn, she taught me, all of this is possible because of you.”

It should’ve been a compliment, but soon enough those words would be a pit that ate away at his nerves.

“You would’ve figured it out anyway, Little Shadow.”

“Did you hear that from someone else, or was that just an instinct thing?”

He didn’t have an answer, which was worrying.

“I know the look, don’t worry, nothing strange is happening, unless you consider the idea of my title as champion being implanted as an innate idea which surrounds me and is planted inside of all intelligent life strange.”

“Don’t get start with magical ramblings, we are having a party.”

Blackstone gave Redmond a kiss.

“I tend to get long winded when things bother me. I don’t really know how to feel about that whole thing with languages. Godgiven is outside of anything that I can make sense of.”

“So do what most people do, ignore it and pretend that we don’t all have it forced on us from birth. Not that such a thing is wrong, after all, Imagine how much longer it would’ve taken to incorporate the north into the kingdom if they held onto a useless language along with the rest of their traditions.”

She leaned in closer to him.

“Do I get to know your title before the show starts?”

“I didn’t even tell my fiance.”

She stood tall again.

“Understandable.”

“When I say it, it will be unforgettable. Have you seen the waiters?”

“Oh yes, what fun to see them shuffle cups of wine and juice and water around without trays.”

“I haven’t made them yet, but, if I made golems that could teach common people magic, would you want some?”

“Well, that depends on cost and risk.”

“Yes, think of the cost of not doing it, and the risk when I start teaching people and you refuse to do so.”

Harlan held his hand up, not wanting to hear her reply.

“And by that I mean, it would look very good for you to let them learn, and I think that the good which comes out of more people knowing basic magic far outweighs the cost to make them, so I want them to be free in limited quantities.”

“You really must work on your phrasing. Do you spend too much of your day thinking about threats?”

“I’m a little mixed up right now, I need to force kindness.”

She scoffed.

“Don’t be so dramatic or you’ll start believing yourself.”

Across the room Autumn and Jaramis met with her parents.

“When did you get a baby? And why haven’t I heard about him yet.”

“I’ve had my hands so full with him that I barely had time to get all of the chores and practice Harlan gave us done and take care of him. And about a month now. His name is James.”

“Hello there, Little James.”

“Don’t give him a nickname like that, it’s bad luck. Do you want to hold him?”

“Of course. Dad can take Alana, I don’t want either of them running around with so many people around. Looks like half the nobles in the country are here.”

“Well, your brother wanted a big show for whatever reason.”

Harlow and Aida were tentatively repairing their relationship, and the tension between them was clear, well, more like the tension towards him, Harlow didn’t seem to think there was much of a problem.

“Oh no.”

“Don’t be like your mother, have a little faith in your brother.”

“Did Amber tell you what happened to him a few days ago? His face and arms were gone when they carried him out of that lab, and then he went back in a few days later like nothing happened.

Harlan is… intense, and after the attack, well, are we sure that he is all there? Where did James come from?”

“Harlan was going to train one boy from the village, but, he happened to be the one who opened the gate when the attack started. He wanted to get his brother from the orphanage in Radin, and Harlan considered it a debt to be repaid, since Isha normally opens the gate for people.”

“So he passed him off to you guys. Well, that makes sense, I love him being around my children, but I don’t think he is anywhere near ready to be a father.”

“True, but he was willing to do it, which is the first step to being one. I mean, your mother and I didn’t plan-”

Aida elbowed him hard and took Alana away.

Ximena and Claude were growing closer, they did spend quite a bit of time alone since they had one free period together every day, but were both unsure if they were just misreading the other.

“So, clearly he has something big planned, any idea what it is? Does his title give a hint?”

“Sorry, he said that I shouldn’t say anything, it would ruin the shock and awe of the whole thing.

His words, not mine.”

Both of them found his phrasing ominous, but he had been very strange, which was in a sense, normal for him, in these last 2 months, but he was being an different kind of strange. Harlan had always been one that did not shun human contact and bonds, being alone did not bother him much, but he knew that it wasn’t healthy for him, yet everyone else read his intentions differently than him.

Earning back trust was hard, and his outbursts in the past were known. Him not wanting to talk about what he was feeling and instead throwing himself into work put a lot of people on edge.

“This isn’t going to blow up in his face, is it?”

“Gods I hope not, I didn’t see it, but I heard what happened a few days ago would’ve killed nearly anyone else. They have no idea how he survived, even with the armor, his body should’ve just turned to a pile of gore.”

“Please, don’t talk about him like that. Adina was very upset about the whole thing and I had to hold her for the whole night.”

“He must’ve rubbed off on me. Sometimes I think that he tells me things just to gauge my reaction before other people.”

Ximena groaned.

“I know the feeling. I try not to call him out on it, since most of the time it is benign stuff about Adina and other ‘girl’ things, but I don’t like being treated like a measuring stick.”

Both of them had a laugh and reminisced about their talks with Harlan, the tension was gone, both of them were sure what they were feeling, at least as sure as anyone going into adulthood could be.

Their conversation was broken up by Claudia and Liat pulling them apart, but for different reasons.

“Don’t get any ideas.”

“What?”

“We are linked, I know how you felt, and I’m sure that everyone who saw both of you together could see it. Don’t think about having a fling with some girl who is unavailable.”

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“She is not ‘some girl’ her name is Ximena, and I know you know it because you have your little gossip spies all around the school, dear sister.”

Claudia could only roll her eyes and speak through their connection to avoid having an open argument in the middle of the party.

Liat had her arm around Ximena’s shoulders and was leading her away from any other Golden as she put up a veil to hide their speech.

“Go for it.”

“What?”

“Come on, we both know that you like him, and he likes you. After academy, you either won’t see each other ever again, or you will both be as free as you can be. You wallflowers can make a beautiful bouquet, or you grow apart, either way it works out perfectly.”

“I can’t think about leaving our people.”

“I’m going to do it. I know that I’ve been worried about the whole thing even if I looked confident, but I’m really going to do it. After the party, I want to ask Harlan to hire me as security, a maid, a gardener, doesn’t matter what. He’ll pay me well enough that I can leave and have my fun across the country. I also know that a Golden adventurer has a nearby village as a homebase when she isn’t working.”

“Does Yara know?”

Liat had a contrite face about the matter.

“She’ll be fine. Look how much stronger her character has become after meeting everyone else.”

“You know that you need to tell her, sooner rather than later.”

“Sure, right after you confess to Claude, or he confesses to you. Just, think about leaving, because I don’t think you can really go back and have some arranged marriage based on magical talent.

You’ll leave one day, I know you will. Harlan’s talks about not being caged have rubbed off on you, on all of us really.”

The two of them had their argument in as much privacy as they could with soulspeak.

Balor, Lugh, and Ava were in a three way conversation.

“Did you find out who joins in when I talk to Harlan sometimes?”

“No, you’ve met most of his teachers at least once, Lugh has met them all, and nobody sounded like her. Why does it bother you so much?”

“Because something about it felt wrong.”

“Harlan doesn’t know that many people… I don’t think he would have someone that none of us knows, who he would have around for a private conversation with Ava.”

“Maybe he has secrets from both of you? Is the idea of such a thing really such an issue.”

“Harlan hid a lot from us, but hiding some woman? It is too mundane, which is how I know it isn’t mundane. I mean, he told us about meeting Marigold, the mother of magic herself. But he failed to mention this woman who he is apparently close enough to that she speaks to him about his closest worries along with me. How about this, why doesn’t it bother you?”

Balor rolled his eyes, though it was an awkward motion for him.

Rosewell and Relly were there along with many of the other royal children, but for the sake of politeness, they failed to find a time to speak with Harlan, instead they were tied up with conversations with important people.

Harlan went backstage.

This room was a theater, concert hall, and a ballroom, depending on how it was arranged through the use of shifting stones.

There was a reason that the budget hadn’t been balanced in a few centuries. Each headmaster wanted to leave their mark on the school, which meant vanity projects; Harlan was happy to have this massive room, the only place he could compare it to was the king's own ballroom with its spatial distortion magic.

Adina brushed a few loose hairs off of his jacket with minor cleaning magic, which was deceptively complex as a class of spells using multiple elements to either clean or cover up smells and stains.

“Alright, do I look good?”

“Remember what I said before? But, if it calms your nerves. Yes, you look handsome and fierce in your new clothes. Very befitting of an archmage.”

“Before I go out and tell everyone. I want you to hear my title, you deserve it.”

“I’m not upset that you told Claude first, it really doesn’t matter since I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Yes, but I do mean something by this.”

He gave her a kiss and said his title, the first making her blush and giggle, and the second making her a little wary.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Try not to make an enemy of everyone.”

“Not everyone, just half the country and most of Reino. Not sure how the Beastkin are going to feel about this one.”

Before she could rebuke him he locked arms with her and stepped out on stage where Hirum, Sepul, and Yggdra were all waiting. Along with a Ragnite War Golem and a waiter.

Hirum introduced him.

“I am certain that the man before you needs little introduction, his name has reached every noble, saint, and councilor across this world which we live in, but for those who have never tied the name to the face. Sir Harlan Fomoria. And, new to you all, Archmage Changeling.”

There was an uproar at first, which Harlan relished.

Then Yggdra raised his hand, quieting everyone without an ounce of magic or artifacts, he was simply a man with presence.

Harlan stepped forward, leaving Adina standing behind him, to his right was the golem, and to the left was a waitress.

“I ask that anyone sensitive to violence, and young children, please cover their eyes, or for your parents to cover your eyes. I will showcase why I am an archmage now.”

After a few moments Harlan clad his hand in armor, and severed the head of the waiter, splattering blood against the barrier on the stage.

“What do you believe I have done?”

The room was silent, nobody had actually been told about this part of the event, the plan and speech Harlan gave to Hirum was a flat out lie.

“Have I killed a woman? No, because that statement is full of lies. This is not human, nor is it dead.”

Though it was unseen by them, Harlan activated the sigils carved into the bones of the Flesh Golem, and it pulled the blood back inside of itself, knit its own head back on, and then the real show began.

The skin of the woman lightened and thinned as soft flesh was replaced with an exoskeleton of sorts.

Its head deformed and elongated until it fused into 8 tentacle-like appendages covered in a hard shell like its now shriveled body.

The form before the crowd was inspired by Zella, as Harlan knew well how useful her hair really was, but had to settle for the large arms as he didn’t understand how it worked and he felt it would be too invasive for him to attempt to perfectly replicate her unique curse.

On the ends of each tentacle was a pseudo-hand with 6 hard ‘fingers’ which would normally cause it to slip and slide on the polished stone, yet a rather simple spell gave more friction to them to prevent this.

“Now, this, this is a golem, one made not of steel, but of flesh and bone. It is not a body taken from a human, it is flesh which I have shaped into the form I have desired, one which is not alive, but is living. Saptiant, but not sentient. It feels no pain, it cannot disobey an order from me, for instance. Remove your own head.”

The creature did as asked, its body limply falling to the floor.

“Now put yourself back together.”

Everyone was too shocked to even be outraged at whatever this was.

Hirum shut his mouth, knowing that if he admitted that this was unplanned that he would just look like a fool. After all, it wasn’t like he could stop what had already happened.

“Here, this golem is standard for the military. Tear it apart.”

It clicked its fingers together and constricted the golem which tried to fight back before its core was torn out.

It then held these pieces with telekinesis, suddenly more than a few people understood something was wrong.

“Tanik, I see you in the crowd, surely you understand the significance of this?”

“Golems cannot use telekinesis, it just isn’t possible, it requires an aura, which only living beings generate.”

“Yes, you do get it. Yet these golems, which are not truly living, can use it.”

He raised his clawed hands and put them down more than once, having not a single idea of how this can be.

“The generation of aura is something that is locked deep inside the soul, and it is something that should not be played with. I am certain many of you have spies who have already reported my near death a few days ago. That was simply what happens when aura activation goes poorly. So while some of you might now think that you can do this, it simply isn’t possible for normal people. Oh, and you can uncover your eyes, little ones.”

Next Harlan brought a crate of meat to the stage, he dumped it into another box which had pre-carved bones in it, and then the golems built a body just out of sight.

Horror filled the room when a new golem stepped out of the box.

“Yes, I can see my presentation is having the right effect. These things can make more of themselves with nothing but meat, bones, and knowledge that I can give them. If I unleashed them on the killing fields after a battle, well, you’ve seen what they can do to a normal golem.”

At some point Xol had shown up, but he was just sitting in the corner, nobody could take their eyes from the stage.

“Any questions?”

Taren raised his hand.

“Yes, Wardhold.”

“Does this require soulsmithing?”

“Of course, and as shown, these things can soulsmith.”

The more that was revealed, the more people realized exactly what the threat was.

Harlan had just unveiled an army of self-sustaining golems, which could not only turn any bodies into more of themselves, but could also soulsmith things.

It was known that Harlan had trees which acted as golems, and that fact meant that no forest could ever been seen as more than a possible deathtrap with thousands of troops that would be nearly perfectly invisible, the army could literally miss the forest for the trees and end up in an ambush that stretched miles.

As frontline fighters, these things were dangerous, but it was clear the body was weak and they still had to speak and move their hands to conjure magic. But they were far worse as sabotage units, able to change their faces, mimic human speech, and they had no idea what else.

Skinwalkers were known as horrors because of all of these reasons and more, these things were, in essence, artificial Skinwalkers.

Harlan clapped his hands, and each and every one of the waitstaff turned into more of these things.

Harlan saw the flashes of fear, the people ready to fight, mothers shielding their children.

It was time for his biggest display, he just needed to follow the rest of the speech he planned, strike fear so deeply in these people that they never dare to stand against him again.

Everyone waited with baited breath for his next words.

“And so… so… And so these golems cannot be allowed to exist. Disintegrate yourselves with void.”

The golems did so without question, the food and drink that they held fell to the ground as their bodies turned to dust.

“I wish to wipe the slate clean, too long has violence and revenge grown like a cancer in all of us.

To my enemies, I forgive you, and there will be no more returning of hate from me.”

Sepul and Hirum were doubly confused, this was not part of his fake script, and it didn’t at all match everything he had said and done up until this point.

“Should this country fall into civil war with the death of His Majesty, King Yggdra the 15th, I will remain neutral, I will fight defensively to protect kith and kin, but that is the limit of my involvement. These things which I have made, they are not something which should exist in this world with so much killing already. They represent a perfect circle of hate. They kill to make more of themselves with their only goal to be more killing. Peace is still an option, so do not let yourselves believe it to be nothing but a lie. Now-”

A Reinoan Zealot stepped forward holding an odd wand in his hand.

He aimed it at Adina and Harlan jumped to push her out of the way.

The beam it unleashed pierced the wards like they were paper, even burning a deep hole in the enchanted walls of the room.

His head was gone from his neck, blood began to pour from his stump and cover her.

The man from Reino was detained in an instant, his Fae gifted wand, an artifact of the old empire, turned to cinder in his hand.

Before things could turn worse, Hirum turned on every array and ward in the room, not even the king could move an inch.

Then Harlan began to come back together.