Harlan found himself in an open field, and in the distance smoke could be seen rising into the sky.

For most of his life, a desire to help others had driven him, not just his mind, but also his magic.

This wasn’t the first time that he ended up in some place he didn’t know, drawn to a tragedy already happening or would soon happen.

But now he felt as if he had come here on purpose, he felt that tugging on his soul by this magic beyond his understanding, and he went there.

The mana didn’t speak with him again, but he felt some manner of intent, both of them wanted him in this place.

He walked softly into the village, the people known to him before he entered.

The residents hadn’t noticed him at first, he was like a ghost to them, he let out not an ounce of hostility, but when they did look up from their work or out of their windows, they realized he shouldn't be there.

Still, they had one simple question before they acted.

“What are you?”

The Fomorian warrior held his spear to Harlan’s neck.

“Brothers, sisters, please, lay down your arms.”

The man narrowed his eyes.

“You are not a Fomorian?”

He wanted to deny it outright, but couldn’t be sure what Harlan was.

“I am half-Fomorian.”

“Your mind, what is wrong with it?”

“My empathy has evolved, my path is clear, and I will be your mercy.”

They couldn’t feel that he was planning to attack, but that hadn’t stopped them before.

Yet the moment the warriors tried to attack, hands came from below.

They hadn’t seen anything happening, Harlan had made no signs, he had spoken no words, but the powerful limbs trapped them in place.

The forms that came from below bore the faces of their victims, and the Fomorians struggled with all of their might to escape.

Outside of the nightmare, Harlan looked at the writhing people.

They screamed for help, the others tried to do so, but the moment they made contact the memetic virus crossed over to them.

The children were those least affected by the spell, for they hadn’t had the chance to be the monsters that their parents were.

So, it fell on them to attack Harlan.

It was no shock that their spears failed to scratch his armor or his flesh.

“There is no need for violence.”

He raised his hand, telekinetically splintering the shafts before bringing the heads to him.

They next attempted to put their hands on him, using soul magic to destroy him.

Yet even if they were masters among the Fomorians, which they weren’t, they would’ve stood no chance of causing real harm due to both his soul defenses which he learned at the academy and then enhanced and continued to develop beyond what was taught alongside the sigil.

“We should settle this with speech, not spears.”

He tapped one of the children on the head and the boy fell to the ground, his eyes swirling with white energy.

The others ran away, and Harlan sat, waiting for those who fell to his mental attack to wake.

The first of them crawled towards him, tears in his eyes, the weight of the world on his back.

“What have you done to me? Why do I feel like this?”

He gently held the chin of the man and looked deeply into his eyes.

“You can’t change what you are, so I must.”

The man’s head felt like it was going to split as everything he had done began to hurt him as it had hurt Harlan; he screamed without end.

In an hour, the Fomorians all woke, but not one of them had wished to do so.

In their dreams, they would be plagued by nightmares of what they had done, and in the waking world they would find no relief.

They begged on their hands and knees for an end to this suffering.

“Please, what do we do? How can we be healed?”

“But I have healed you. You were broken by culture, by the idea of racial superiority and a right to conquest, that the world was owed to us because we helped to save it. I have rescued you from apathy, now you feel how I feel, I’ve pointed your moral compass back to true north.”

They wept uncontrollably, if this was life, then it was not worth living.

When the first of them pulled a dagger and tried to plunge it into his heart, Harlan stopped him, his hand felt gentle, but it was quite impossible for the man to move.

“There is nothing to be gained by taking your life. Only now that you can feel can you understand how to work towards fixing what is wrong with the other aspects of what it means to be Fomorian.

If you help others, the guilt will fade, be a better man, and a better life shall be yours.”

“I can’t be forgiven for what I did, why? Why would you do this to me?”

“Before, I would say that the only mercy would be death, that a culture that cannot be changed must be destroyed completely and utterly. Now I see that I have a new path, that mercy is to lead my people into the darkness, to the uncharted lands of peace.”

Harlan made a large meal for them, something that they rarely got the chance to have even now that they could leave their lands.

And while they ate, Harlan went to deal with the other guests.

He hadn’t realized where he was, not until Minoan soldiers arrived in full plate, axes in hand.

Behind them were battle mages, ready to raze the village to the ground.

They saw him rise above the village, then his chest glowed and white flames covered his body.

The sword in his hand soaked in the merciful fire, then he began to slash, and their novas were devoured by the waves he released.

It was unlike anything the soldiers could’ve expected, and they called for reinforcements as they dug in and waited for a counter attack.

Yet the glowing man floated to them, all of their small spells splashed against his flames and vanished, their larger ones were hit with counter magic as they were formed.

“Please, stand down.”

Harlan’s voice was calm and low, but it reached far.

When he was within striking distance a long mace reached over the shields in the front and smashed down, but Harlan’s skin grayed with earth imbibing and he crossed his arms to block it.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Violence isn’t the answer here.”

He pulled his hands together and cut the head from the axe.

“RAGNITES HAVE NO RIGHT TO ENTER THE BORDERS OF MINO.”

“I am only here to help these people.”

“BY ORDER OF KING ARCHON, ALL FOMORIANS WITHIN THE BORDERS OF MINO ARE TO BE CAPTURED AND TURNED OVER TO EMPEROR FOMORIA.”

“That I can accept. But I will not leave until I see them safely transported.”

“YOU HAVE NO-”

Harlan breathed deeply and let out more white fire, melting away the shields and armor of the soldiers, sapping their strength, but otherwise leaving them unharmed.

“I do not take threats lightly, I will do everything that I feel is needed to protect them until they are safely away from here.”

Those who lived in a world dominated by power understood that there were many times when they must suffer humiliation and follow orders or die.

The Fomorians were gathered and transported to a central location in Mino for Fomoria to pick up, and while he normally only did so bi-weekly, a special call had to go up the chain before Harlan would leave.

As the people were put together with the rest of the Fomorians, the virus spread; more and more of them collapsed in hallucinations and nightmares about what they had done.

Fomoria arrived after some time, and he felt it spreading, but did nothing to try and stop it.

“What exactly is this?”

“They will feel what I feel, and they will need to better themselves to alleviate the guilt.”

“You are using empathy to overwrite-”

“I have no interest in a lecture from a man who would just kill them otherwise.”

“If they are forced into being better, it is hollow, their hearts haven’t been turned good by their own will.”

“If I used it against you, what effect would it have? Would you feel guilty over what you’ve done?”

“It would do nothing.”

“Would you care to prove it?”

“Of course.”

Harlan joined hands with Fomoria, and to his dismay, nothing changed.

Fomoria tightened his grip, Harlan’s bones began to crack and he started to wince as he went to a knee.

“I am in a clear state of mind, thank you for confirming that. But don’t think that your sigil evolving like it has changes anything.”

Harlan breathed in and his body became engulfed in his white fire, so Fomoria did the same.

The void and mercy flames clashed, but everything that Fomoria had, outside of the blade stolen from the soldiers at the research base, was made from him, and Harlan’s fire became confused about what to do.

Fomoria let go, feeling that the lesson had been taught; Harlan couldn’t move his hand, the flames had severed its connection with his body.

“I will not be taking these Fomorians, whose minds you’ve raped, take responsibility for them or I will put them down to ease their suffering.”

“I will do what you can’t.”

“What I won’t do. To have your mind replaced, changed like this, it is a death worse than death, for you are forcing them to live and breathe knowing that their thoughts are not their own.”

Fomoria left through a void gate, his footprints burned into the stone floor of the prison.

Harlan had to now deal with the 90 Fomorians, and the best he could do on short notice was to bring them home, not his home, but Balor’s home; their arrival didn’t go unnoticed.

“Sir Fomoria, how can I help?”

“I’m sorry, who are you?”

“I am one of Sir Balor’s village aides. I see that you have brought people here.”

“I need a place for them to stay for a time while I set up more-”

“We have vacancies in local hotels where they can stay. But I will need his direct approval before I can grant you permission to build a village for them.”

“Alright, I’ll just call him and-”

“Sir Balor said that he cannot return for at least two weeks.”

“Then I will just approve the-”

“You gave these lands over to Sir Balor, under Ragnite law, he owns them, and any new villages need to be approved by him.”

“But these are Fomorian lands, he is under me.”

The woman thought for a moment.

“Yes, I suppose that is true.”

“How long have you been in charge here?”

“It’s been a few months.”

“How often have you met him?”

“My work is mostly handed down from-”

“Never then?”

“When I was first suggested for the position, I met with Sir Balor.”

“I am going to pay for the rooms, just for a day, and I am going to have golems build a small village away from this one for these people. Are you needed here? Or could I ask that you help these people to adjust to their new homes?”

“I… I will ask my supervisor.”

“When Balor gets back, I will work out the rest of this, until then, thank you.”

It was clear that the woman was nervous, and though she had come to figure things out, it was certainly a matter of her having been right there to see them be brought in.

Finally he returned home, and went back to Ava’s room.

“You can teleport now?”

“What? No, I just… did I teleport? Let me try that again.”

He listened to the mana, felt the hum of reality, and decided that he wanted to be somewhere.

Then, he was there, no gate, no wait.

So, he repeated it a few dozen times.

As best he could figure out by just the feeling, he was using skip and gate in conjunction with one another and cutting out the time when he would be both stepping through the gate and the time where he was waiting for the spell to be ready to use again.

He returned to Ava’s room.

“Yes. I am capable of teleporting. Sometimes I wish that I understood the academy method of using gate, as right now I can use it and teleportation, but I am doing it only by feeling, and I don’t need it.

What were we talking about before I left?”

“Uh, Kass, I said that I wanted to visit.”

“Did you speak with mom and dad about going back home?”

“Yes. I’m going back just as soon as you can send me.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

“First, I need to know what you were doing.”

“I went to a Fomorian village.”

“How many did you kill?”

“None.”

“I’m not angry, I just want to know.”

“I didn’t need to kill anyone. I just made them feel what I feel, and understand the pain they cause other people.”

“I can’t think of a worse fate for monsters than to think like you. You’re strong, I know you are even if you don’t feel that way. Those people are going to fall apart, you know that, right?”

“They are judging themselves, and if they cannot pass their own judgment, then that is their own fault.”

“You can’t even pass your own judgments. Can you take it back?”

“I don’t even understand what I did, I just listened to the mana, I just did what felt right.”

“Great, now you are listening to voices in your head that aren’t just the ghost of your mother.

You can’t just do things like that, you need to think instead of act.”

“Funny coming from you.”

“I’m not the one who-”

Ava took a deep breath to calm herself.

“I know that your friend’s death is hard to take, but you can’t do shit like this.”

“I… perhaps I may have been hasty.”

“You go on about free will or whatever else, so take a week, a month, just calm down and think about this.

Maybe… maybe you could go along with Breken and I, handle some low level threats.”

Harlan thought for a moment.

“Low level threats… I have another idea.”

Ava was sent to Redwall, and Harlan decided to stay, yet he wasn’t the only guest in the Redwall house.

“Marigold?”

“Oh, you evolved your sigil. Unity or death?”

“Unity.”

“Very nice, I expected as much from you. Fomoria went with death of course. What are you now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you have something that perhaps no other person has ever had before. First you had to have that variant of the weapon sigil, then you had to evolve it through unity instead of death, and then you had to have some revelation about what you wanted to be. Fomoria became wrath, something I’ve seen before. So, what are you?”

“Mercy.”

Marigold cringed at him.

“Is that bad?”

“Wrath is simple, mercy is complicated. There is a chance that if you ever take a life that you cannot completely and totally justify as unavoidable, your powers could turn against you.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

“In the worst case, you could instantly fall over dead, best case, you would just feel the physical pain you inflicted on them.”

“Alright then. Why are you here?”

“I came to visit Autumn.”

“Do you often do that?”

“Sometimes. I asked that she not tell you.”

“If I asked why, would you tell me?”

“I wanted to play with the children and see if I really did want to have more of my own.”

“Well?”

“No. There is never really a good time to have a child, but with everything in motion, I can’t justify having one now.”

“What is in motion right now?”

She shook her head.

“Can’t say, we aren’t sure yet what is or isn’t going to happen. If I was certain that something terrible would happen, I could have a child without any worry, but something might be happening.

The Darkness has said that there is an unknown threat, that all timelines end when she looks far enough. Now she has a timeframe.”

“And that is?”

“Don’t worry about the future, live for now, and when we are certain of when things are going to go bad we can tell you then. Now, your niece and nephew have been staring at us, so let’s go play.

Oh, why don’t you ask your parents to come? I’d like to speak with them; just a casual chat.”

----------------------------------------

‘You were right that offering him a challenge in the form of fixing them lowered his guard.’

‘Of course, my profile on him has been greatly fleshed out recently. If he holds up his end of our little bargain, handle Seraphallen.’

‘But I believe I could convince him to go along with this.’

The cursor on his screen blinked, once, twice, three times.

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