My mind couldn’t really process it. Why did this come as a surprise for me? I pondered. Did I let my guard down because I viewed him as an ally?
The void faded, and I returned to the corporeal plane. Apothea had long since stabilised Melissa. August and Kar’thuz knelt beside her, their worries vanishing as time went by.
Drak’ka stood near the door, and at my appearance, she gasped. “Who are you?” she questioned with a mixture of shock and fear on her face.
“My name’s Eric Archibald.”
She folded her arms, clearly dissatisfied with such a literal answer. “That half demon possessed great strength. According to Melissa, he was a full demon when he came back out, which meant he failed to retrieve his soul. With the power he already had as a man, then the power he gained as a half demon, and now the power that a full demonic awakening gave, he was without a doubt, the strongest being in this world. My question, Eric, is who are you to be able to defeat him like that?”
“You already know that, don’t you?”
She exhaled defeatedly, rubbing along her temples in frustration. “While you were in here, we distributed the soul well’s power and freed the being held at the top of the tower. A clone of your friend is guarding it outside Hellsnare Fortress. Melissa here also had her closure. Tell me, what will you do now, mage?”
“I-I’m going home. I’ve had it with adventures, chasing revenge, seeking balance, getting involved in political affairs and power struggle and all the other things. I just need a break.”
She walked closer, gazing at Melissa, then at August. The blacksmith then returned her look, “Relax, he doesn’t bite unless bitten.”
Drak’ka’s carmine eyes fell upon me.
“Fuck am I? A dog? I’ll bite you!” I threatened August.
“Ooh? Kinky!” he grinned.
Our playful banter was cut short when Drak’ka upped and asked me to take her along with us. “It’s imperative that we find another way of stopping Apollyon! Please! I beg you!”
“Hmm, not really feeling the demon lord vibe from the ‘I beg you!’ line,” I jested, and turned on Mana Perception. “Drak’ka,” the tone in my voice shifted, “are you dangerous?”
She shrugged, “It depends on who’s on the receiving end.”
True. Guess I’m asking the wrong questions. “Will you put anyone in danger or attack anyone if I take you to my world?”
“Only if I need to defend myself.”
“Is there anything demons biologically require that may harm anyone?”
“Nothing,” she dismissed.
Hmm, then I guess the last thing is… “Yraz the Tormented will be with us. You must accept that he is no longer your subordinate and therefore, you cannot command him. Are you fine with that?”
She shrugged, “I never really ordered any of the elites around in the first place. Their only duty was to protect Hellsnare Fortress.”
Her intentions were clear and she only chose to come along in order to convince me to stop Apollyon. Well, I’d probably have to find a way at some point. I recollected the murals and the prophecy. What about an army, like the demons? I thought, pulling my clone and Yraz out of the void.
Maybe it’s the only choice. Realistically speaking, it would be damn stupid to go it with just me and August. But, Methelia’s battlemages and the Order of Mages? Ugh, the gap between them and us are just too huge. Well, I’ll think of what to do later. For now… I began casting Riftshear to get us home.
Thankfully, there was no random mob protesting and trying to kill any of my family members this time. We appeared right in the living room. Not a soul was there. Really, the only person to come greet me would be an ecstatic Celosia. She flew in from the corridors and crashed into me, wrapping a warm hug around me; I almost toppled over. “I missed you too, firebug,” I patted her head. “Do you know where everyone is?”
She shook her head and shrugged. Ah, the more I saw her in her humanoid form, the more she reminded me of Phoenix.
One of the servants came running from the corridor, apparently trying to keep up with an excited Celosia. Looking outside, I could see it was around noon. No one would be home except the servants and the kids. And this servant looked rather tired. She had a children’s book in her hand that Hawk Eye confirmed to be about teaching kids the basics of reading and writing.
“M-master Archibald, you’re back!”
“Yup. Looks like they’ve been a handful, huh?” I teased her. “How’s your brother?”
“He’s over at the housing estate doing a bit of maintenance. He’s more tired than ever now.”
I raised a brow, “Just tell Anjali to hire a replacement for him then, so he can focus on being a landlord.”
“Y-you do realise she’s my boss, right? I can’t just tell her to hire or fire people!”
I palmed my face, “I thought you guys were more like a family by now.”
“We are, but I still know my place. So,” she put her hand on her hip, “aren’t you going to introduce me?”
So, I did just that, and afterward I asked Drak’ka and Yraz who they’d like to stay with between August and I. Yraz chose August, of course. August now had the two kids that Yraz was so protective over. Apparently, they were from another world and were to be used as fuel in the soul well but he hid them away and protected them up until the Dark faction found out and almost killed the kids.
As their life essence weakened, Yraz pulled a fast one and used necromancy to make them his minions. Because they didn’t totally die, it meant their souls couldn’t be extracted, so the Dark faction decided it was better to use their skills instead of putting Yraz and the kids to death. Messed up, I know.
Drak’ka picked me, and my servant gave me the eyes of disapproval. How do I convince her it wasn’t what she imagined without Drak’ka surmising the rest? I just chose to keep quiet. Her real reason for choosing me wasn’t my dashing good looks and charm, but to persuade me to do something, anything, about the coming of Apollyon.
Later that day, we had dinner at August’s. Luckily, he had a stupendously roomy dining hall and apparently eating over was something they picked up whilst I wasn’t here. Mom surely looked happy about it. I pondered about how I’d tell her about Flynn and Sven, One ritual, Madam Jelly, and all the things in between. A sigh escaped me.
After the dinner, I got a little space away from everyone outside on a bench and simply looked up at the stars.
“Hell of a journey, eh?” August sat with me and dropped a mug of mead on the table at the side of me. Our backs leaned on each other.
“You know, Aug, I’m really worried.”
“Yeah? About what?”
I held the mug with both hands and looked down into the swirling golden liquid. “Everything. Do I continue asking you to come on these adventures knowing you have a family to return to? How do I guarantee your safety? How strong is Apollyon? Would just you and me be enough to beat him? Who’s this second successor and am I really needed to bring balance to the realm?”
“Hmm,” I felt a low grunt from the vibration off his back, “so you’ve been thinking about that stuff too.”
Such a simple line. He didn’t even finish what he wanted to say, but it was like he said everything he needed to with that one sentence. I wasn’t alone. I learnt I wasn’t alone in all of this. Maybe the answer wasn’t me to begin with. Guess I’m just a catalyst for the real saviour of the worlds? It made me think, that what Drak’ka was doing was right. The prophecy was right. We needed an army. I wasn’t the great and powerful witch; I was nowhere close to her. So, I had to compromise and lean on other people for help. What good would come of underestimating Apollyon?
“Thanks, dude,” I said, taking a big gulp of that refreshing mead.
“Didn’t even finish but, looks like ya found the answer, eh? Don’t be a stranger when the time comes around.”
“Always plotting something, aren’t we?” Dawn came out of Invisibility.
“Hydra’s–”
“Ass!” she continued for me. “Why don’t you summon her? I miss her.”
And I did. We spent the night playing games, chatting, and ultimately making sure the young ones were exhausted enough to sleep as long as possible.
When I woke up the next morning, there were very few life essences in the house. Aaralyn, Dawn, and Bianca had already gone to work. Mom didn’t stick around either. It was basically just three servants, the kids, and Anjali. “Let’s go shopping today,” she said after a good morning kiss. And who was I to deny the wife my time after travelling my ass all over the place?
We freshened up and got dressed. It felt nice not wearing a robe for once. We said our goodbyes to a crying Tacari and indifferent Aviana. Unfortunately, Celosia would have none of the abandonment and rekindled herself as a fire around my hand. I was a little worried she was acting too dependent but I left it at that for today. Anjali had the head servant prepare a carriage and horse – I have no idea why – and we were off. “Did you forget your husband can teleport?” I posed the very obvious fact.
“Shut up! Today is our day and that means I get to do what I want!” she barked.
“Is that how it works? ‘Our’ my ass!” I teased her.
We eventually arrived at the capital, but thankfully the ride felt short because we got wrapped up in conversation. Endathal soon stole my attention away from Anjali. “Hydra’s rounded ass! What happened?!” I poked my head out the carriage’s window, in awe at the architectural overhaul Endathal went through. Instead of being the one with an awesome estate that was better than everyone else, it felt like I was now behind everyone else.
“The elves really did a number on the designs,” Anjali explained. “Many of our builders felt unsafe with all the floating stuff that Tyrr incorporates in their work, so they came to a compromise and only had floaty things on major buildings.” She kissed me on the neck whilst I was distracted and I flinched.
“You sneaky little–”
“Let’s get some breakfast!” She held my hand and dragged me out the carriage. We entered a bit of a fancy place, though it was still very accessible to the masses. Soon after the waitress ushered us to our seats, a handful of young women suddenly appeared.
They really did approach, huh? I heard their excitement and heard my name called a few times in their conversation at another table, but I pretended not to notice.
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They greeted me and Anjali as politely as they could, and quickly asked for my magical signature. “I-I’m really sorry, ladies, but I’m–”
“Stop being such a grouch!” Anjali roasted me.
I gave her a sceptical look, “Well, I was doing it to respect your time but if you’re fine with it…” I gave a shrug and returned my attention to the fangirls. “So, where do I put it?”
One of them took it on her forearm, a couple of them on their upper arm, and the last one. Whoa! The last one pulled her clothing down a bit to show even more cleavage than she was already showing and made a really bold attempt. “Here,” she said.
I froze, feeling Anjali’s stare behind me. “I may be a strong mage and whatnot, but my wife,” I subtly emphasised that word, “is still very much capable of killing me. How about a place that doesn’t warrant my death?” I smiled gently.
“Do it. It’ll be fun,” Anjali encouraged.
What the fuck is going on here?! It feels like I’m signing my own death! Is this a trap?! Then again, it’s just a magic sig, not like I’m physically touching any of them. Eh, should be fine, right? And so, I gave the fan what she asked for, and the group thanked Anjali more than they thanked me, then left.
We had our breakfast, and Anjali was normal about it. “What was that about? Were you really okay with that?”
She tilted her head, a bit confused. “Oh! That!” A chortle escaped her, “How many women do you have, now? You think a boob signature is gonna bother me? Speaking of women, let’s go visit Dawn today!”
Well, that was a big relief. I survived, somehow.
We did some shopping, mostly amulets and trinkets, souvenirs and clothing. I got August this fancy-ass beer mug made of thick glass. It was apparently made by a Silverport glass smith. I chocked all the stuff we bought into my inventory, earning a look of surprise from Anjali the first time I did it. She quickly shrugged it off though and didn’t even ask.
Around noon, we went to the Order of Mages. We opted to use Skyer instead of teleporting. I was a child coming to the mall for the first time. The Order of Mages was expanded past Aquan’s walls and you could very clearly see elven designs in the new parts of the Order. The area in land that the Order now took up was probably an entire district. There were Kynhall Bridges in a few places in the Order. “Are you kidding me?” But wait, this actually makes sense. Aquan was even more developed – albeit smaller in size – than Endathal was, because the first Kynhall Bridge was created in the Order.
Skyer landed at the side of the compound, where there weren’t a lot of people. I chose to quickly make my escape to the chambers where Volt would be. I figured he’d know where Dawn was located – don’t get me wrong, I already knew where she was, but I made it an adventure for Anjali anyway. However, walking through the halls to get there, I found the place was a bit noisier than I remember.
I soon came to realise that the place had been remodelled into dormitories. Wow! You guys really outdid yourselves, huh? Now, how could I find this guy? We decided to make our way back down, only to notice flames streaming out of Pyro’s feet to have him levitate.
Our eyes met, and he literally tackled me. “You fucker!” he cussed, mounted on top of me. Suddenly, his excitement died down, and he got off of me, helping me up in the process. “We know you left because of your father’s death. Did you find what you were looking for?”
I eyed him for a longer than expected time, tripping over a few answers. It was all so much. “Yeah. Yeah, I did. Thanks man.”
He rested a hand of comfort onto my shoulder, “Good. Healing and closure are the best things we could look for after stuff like that. So,” his tone switched to a more upbeat one, “to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing the most powerful woman?” his eyes gestured toward Anjali.
“Pyro, flattery will get you nowhere, but still, thank you. We’re here scouting for one Dawn Pendulum. Have you seen her around?”
“Oh, she’s training a group of medical students,” Pyro proudly reported and tilted his head in a direction to follow him. His blazing-red hair was certainly an eye-catcher, so it was quite easy for people to spot us as we strolled through the Order’s premises. We used a teleportation pad and appeared at the newly constructed area which breached the walls of Aquan. “This area is designated for practical stuff. Dawn does advanced classes on the water element, and basic classes on lightning. Right now, though,” Pyro pointed at a frantic medical student. He was having trouble saving an injured bird. “Looks like she got caught up in training a bunch of newbie medics. There’s supposed to be a new hospital in Ingenaar.”
“So that’s why half of them are orcs. Interesting,” I commented. Dawn had them doing some spell conditioning by constantly maintaining a wheel of water in the air.
“Impressive!” Anjali complimented.
Dawn looked around, baffled, “Anjali! I sensed Eric, but it’s a nice surprise to see you here.” Without waiting for either of us to reply, she clapped twice and gained the trainees’ attention. “Alright, gather around. Let’s observe a real expert, shall we?”
Dozens of footsteps drowned out the cry of the injured bird. I looked at Anjali, and Anjali rolled her eyes at me. “Well? Go,” she nudged her head.
I walked forward, “You owe me ice-cream for this,” I threatened Dawn and conjured enough water to cover the bird.
“Only if you ask nicely,” she smiled.
After gaining insight on the things physically abnormal about the poor bird, I knew what to do. Hmm, just a messed-up wing. With some arcane-weaving, I put it to sleep, then slowly repaired the damaged wing. I suddenly stopped. Hmm… he’s not well. A young man, maybe sixteen, had a very erratic life essence. Yeah, I used Life Perception before I began healing the bird; it’s a habit.
I stood up and simply walked over to the teen. He looked to be in the worst shape after doing some spell-conditioning. It also made me check his mana. It was stiflingly small. Well, let’s just fix… Wait. “Hey, there. What do you plan to do after learning? Do you have anything in mind for when you grow older?”
“Y-yeah. I wish to be a healer and adventure with my friends,” he said, as if finally admitting it.
A girl laughed at him, “You? How’re you gonna do that when you can’t even cast spells that children can?” She earned the laughter of the rest of the class. The boy’s fist clenched, and I could see he was frustrated, but I didn’t become a hero and instead let it play out.
“Is that how the rest of you view him?” I questioned the entire group. Some didn’t answer. Some shrugged. Some nod their head slowly, as if afraid to earn my wrath for picking on the weak kid. He hung his head in shame, afraid to make eye-contact with anyone. “What about you?” I asked the person in question.
He didn’t answer at first, but I let the silence sink in. Some others in the group continued mocking him. But still, I stood and waited.
“Isn’t that eno–”
“No,” I stopped Dawn from defending him, “I want him to tell me what he thinks of himself.”
“What does it matter?!” he snapped. “You’ve been talented from birth! You had strong friends and teachers! You’ve never had to go through what I went through! You don’t understand! You can never understand!”
I said nothing in response, I simply continued observing his body language. Quite inward, quite unconfident, and probably fearful as well. Eventually, he walked off, his pace increasing as he retreated. I pulled him back with void manipulation and it earned quite the cachinnation from his peers as he struggled to get out of my magical grip.
The minute he came within range, he swung a left at me and socked me in the face. I looked down at the bird and released the spell, “Demonstration’s over. Excuse us for a few minutes,” I took that moment to slip into a void plane with the guy. I made chairs for both of us. I welcomed him to sit with me, but I was pretty sure he was furious at me for doing what I did and basically singling him out. “My name is Eric Archibald. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Might I ask for your name?”
“I know who you are,” he contemptuously dismissed me. “What do you want from me?”
“Your name,” I answered simply.
“Saeryn of Aquan. What’s it matter?”
“Why don’t you have a seat, Saeryn of Aquan?” I offered once more and he slowly obliged me. “You’re an abandoned orphan?”
He clenched his teeth and what little mana he had flared up. I hit the nail on the head. “I guess the ‘of Aquan’ part made it obvious.”
“I’m gonna be frank here, Saeryn, and in return, I want you to be frank with me. But I’ve gotta get something out of the way first. Do you know why you suck at magic?”
The question clearly irked him and he took quite a while before he answered. “Why? Well, because I have no talent, unlike everyone else. What’s with the stupid question?”
I laughed, conjured up some ale and hovered his share over to him. “Someone, probably the person who abandoned you, wanted to hide something from you, or perhaps protect you against something. Saeryn of Aquan,” I pointed right to him, “You have several seals on your body, seals that suppress magic. That’s a very ancient technique that was said to die out many years ago. So, it isn’t that you have less talent than everyone else.”
“What the… What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, there’s something about you that needs to be hidden, or protected. I can release the seals, but not until I know their purpose.”
He was speechless. He could hardly believe what I was telling him. “For now, take this,” I handed a high-grade mana potion over. “You can use that until we figure out what’s up. I’m gonna place a Light Link in you. It will allow me to track your location, and it will allow me to heal you over long distances. If you infuse mana into it, I will know, so you can use that as a way of summoning me if you need help or if you find anything about the seals.”
Before he could properly answer, I brought us back into the corporeal realm. “Pyro, have the Order supply him with enough high-grade mana potions for all his training here; health potions too. You can simply charge K&A.”
“You’re doing something ridiculous again, aren’t you?” Pyro accused.
“Perhaps,” I grinned slyly. “So, I turned to Dawn and Anjali, where were we?”
~
Sometime after Dawn’s class finished, we gathered at The Big Boar for lunch. Anjali and Dawn were talking, a lot, but I was zoned out, thinking about that Saeryn fella. A seal on a living thing? Hmph.
“Strange. Even I find it weird,” Donna commented.
“A seal?” Dawn intervened between Donna and I.
Yeah, that kid has a seal on him. Something people put on failed magical constructs or ones that has served their purpose and are marked to be destroyed or something. It’s so that other people won’t harm themselves trying to operate them. But, that kid, a living being, has a seal on his magic. It doesn’t make sense!
“It’s pretty old though, sealing magic. Nowadays, magical constructs are made with a very specific way to deactivate them, so seals are no longer required because there’s no lingering power in the constructs in the first place.”
“Ugh, okay, okay.” Dawn got a bit of a headache, “I’m sorry for asking complicated things. I’ll just talk with Anjali.”
Anjali looked a bit puzzled by our period of silence. “Well? What do you think?” she asked.
“Huh?” I raised my head, “About what?”
“Marrying Dawn! Were you not listening all this time?!”
My eyes widened, and Dawn fidgeted. Oh boy, a touchy topic. But… I slowly rubbed my glass with my thumb, looking into the grape’s blood. In truth, I’d long expected this day to come. Not a day of marrying Dawn and my other women, but a day where they would know my true thoughts on the matter. Because I’d been so busy with learning new worlds and magics, I’d neglected my domestic duties. “Alright, now’s as good a time as any to speak on this.”
I breathed slowly, deeply. “I don’t want to sound narcissistic, but it feels like you’ve,” I spoke to Dawn, “been dealt a really bad hand by fate. And you,” I turned to Anjali, “was given everything. It was something that always bothered me.” Dawn was a bit confused. I’d learn to hide my thoughts after dealing with Donna all the time, so there were a few things even the both of them weren’t privy to.
“What do you mean? Just be Eric and speak straight,” she encouraged.
Another deep breath had to be taken, because I felt like the incoming words would send ripples through us. It also wouldn’t do me good at the time like this to have my mind bogged down by regrets because what I had planned would come to be the biggest and greatest thing I’d ever done. I needed clarity of mind for the very near future, but it seemed that might’ve been impossible.
“Dawn, when we met Anjali, you accepted her. Let’s both be honest here, there is a subtle power dynamic in relationships, and you held the most of it in ours. But, then Ulanos happened. You died. I mourned, I hurt, but I couldn’t be so selfish as to let you hold the power even in death. Anjali had to be given a fair chance, else I couldn’t possibly be a good partner to her. However, Light Resurrection brought you back. Your consciousness and body became as one living thing again. That,” I periodically inspected the wine, “brought with it a new problem. Should the power be returned to you or should Anjali keep it? Again, I placed myself in both of your positions and thought about things, and decided to the best of my ability that it should be Anjali who keeps that power. Dawn, Donna, Steyza, Scadia, Sek’hana, none of you are my first priority. My priority and the largest chunk of my attention goes to Anjali. No, it isn’t because she bore my child, and it’s not because she’s the one I’m married to. It isn’t because she’s the one I love the most. It’s because I feel that it’s my duty to give her that above all of you.
I guess what I’m saying is, I don’t want to give any of you false hope that one day you might be the ‘one and only’. I think you deserve to be someone’s one and only, and not to be treated as you are now.” I saw the tears in her eyes, but I chose to continue. “I want you to have happiness. I don’t have to be the start and stop of your romantic life. That being said, I’m not saying no to marriage either; I’d gladly marry you, Dawn. I just wanted you to know these things before we make vows like that.”
She wiped her tears away and gave a weak smile, “I see,” she murmured. “You’ve thought a lot about it, huh? And what if I left? How would you feel if I went with another?”
“I’d immediately regret it. Hell, I didn’t even want to tell you any of this. I’d miss you and want to stop you from leaving. You’re my first love, you know. Just thinking about it makes me want to take back all the stuff I just said.”
“You love me?”
“Yeah, I love you. Always have, always will.”
“Then I don’t care if I’m tenth on the priority list,” her hand tightened around the base of her glass. “Let’s go, right now.”
“Huh? Where?” I questioned.
“To get married, silly!”
“How are we gonna have a wedding so randomly? We need to get food, and drinks, and a venue, an–”
“The only thing we need to do is sign our names on a dumb piece of paper and a couple people to see us do it. I don’t think Donna and Anjali has an issue with being witnesses.”
“W-wait, are you okay with this? Don’t you want some grand ball in the evening with wine and fancy things?”
“Sure, I do, but that’s something I can have anytime,” she shrugged. She eventually just rolled her eyes and dragged us along. Part of me wondered if she chose to be wed like that because of my adventures. Shortly after, Donna joined us as a witness.
And it happened, just like that. I was, really happy, although a bit disappointed I couldn’t pull all of the stops for her. Still, to think that she’d choose to do what she did despite the situation really concreted that Dawn loved me. In the end, that’s all I really needed.