“Can I have a cookie?” I asked, stooping down. He pulled his cookie away, unwilling to part from it. “Didn’t your parents teach you to share? Didn’t they?” I tackled him and began tickling the daylights out of him.

Tacari laughed like a madman, saying “no” every now and then, trying his best to survive my devious onslaught. We roughhoused so much the cookie was nothing more than crumbs and dust after a while. He was not happy about it, but I placed my hand behind my back and winked at him, conjuring up an even bigger one. “Keep it a secret from mom, okay?”

“Thanks!”

One of the servants came around from their quarters to see what the commotion was about. “Master, you’re back! Welcome home,” she said. “Will your guest,” she swallowed after getting a good luck at Steyza’s height and beauty, “stay for lunch?”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” I gave the elf a coy smirk, “will she?”

Steyza sighed, “She will, if the food is any good.”

The servant’s eyes glared daggers at her, making me believe that she was the chef of the bunch. “I think, you would find it, quite palatable, ma’am.”

I took a step back and smiled. I could see the sparks between them already. We continued walking toward the master bedroom, “So, would you like me to gather everyone first and introduce you? Or would you like to meet the head of the house first?”

Steyza looked at me strange, “I, dislike crowds.”

“But you were a teacher…”

“Students are different.”

I shrugged, unable to grasp her concept. So, we had lunch, and one by one I introduced her to those in the household. Aaralyn, being the big-sister type, smiled and welcomed her nicely. Bianca, being the annoying type, mentioned something about cheating. Let’s not go there. My mom, being my mom, also welcomed Steyza. My dad did the same, then pulled me aside afterward to bump fists, nodding in agreement. I could only smile and nod as well; Steyza was a curvaceous one after all.

Finally, my wife, Anjali returned home. “You’re back!” She almost screamed and dropped her files, running and jumping onto me. Thank Hydra’s ass for Aug’s strength enchantments. Speaking of ass, I sank my fingers into Anjali’s and kissed her.

“Did you miss me?” I teased.

She pushed some hair behind an ear and grinned. “Hmm, after jumping up on you and in total elation to see you again? Nah, I wouldn’t say I missed you.” The sarcasm was dripping from her tongue. “So,” she turned to Steyza, having to look up at the pointy-eared elf, “who’s this fine lady?”

“Does she turn you on?” I whispered to her.

“Eric!” she scolded, pinching the life out my cheek. Once again, thank Hydra’s ass for Aug’s durability enchantment.

Steyza’s ears wiggled a little, “Salutations. I am called Steyza Rilas. I hail from the Tyrr, the land of elves and magic. It’s an honour to meet you.”

Wow, that’s a long intro.

“Likewise, Steyza.” Anjali extended a hand to Steyza and she took a second before remembering what a handshake even was. “I’m Anjali Archibald, director of K&A, and this man’s wife.”

Oh, director?

“She was more like an operations manager before, right?” Donna questioned.

Yeah. Must’ve finally hired people like I told her to. No wonder she doesn’t look exhausted.

“So, what are you to Eric?” Anjali questioned. I just let it happen.

“I’m, er, his, really, close friend.”

“Is that so?” Anjali smiled. “It’s good to see him making friends.”

Donna came out at that point, “I’m also his ‘friend’. We do friend things all the time, like hot steamy sex.”

Anjali put a hand to her mouth in a gasping horror.

“Okay, well, I’ll just let you three have fun. And Steyza,” I cast Levitate and planted a kiss on her, to which she tried to escape from at first in light of Anjali’s presence, “you can calm down. It’s alright.”

~

“Hol’ up…” August stopped me, putting a palm up. He cut his hair, having it a couple inches high at the top and shaven at the sides and back. His drink bothered him, so he rested it on the table and leaned forward to really digest the information without any hindrances. “You’re tellin’ me, that you found a world of elves, shagged one, and brought her back to your wife?”

“Uh…” I tugged on my shirt’s collar as if the place was hot. “It sounds bad when you put it that way.”

“Hydra’s ass, buddy! You’re a lucky, lucky, dude!” He leaned back finally and interlaced his fingers. “So, Phoenix’s dead, huh?” he brought the topic of conversation back to my old friend whilst peering at my enflamed hand. I nodded my head.

“Yeah… Well, let’s not brood on that too much. I’m back in town and–”

“For how long?” he cut me off.

“Hmm? What ya mean?”

“Your calling is to explore, man. No doubt about that,” he said, befuddling me even further.

“Where you goin’ with this, mate?” I took a sip of the light draft.

He grabbed his beer and stood up, gesturing me to follow, so I did. Melissa was in the living room decorating something, so she gave him their daughter, Tara, to take care of. The three of us entered his workshop and I showed Tara a hodgepodge of silly faces, only straightening up if August tried to look back at me.

“Stop trying to win over mine and get your own. Anjali’s probably dying for one, y’know?” August pointed out.

“Hey, you can’t rush perfection. Isn’t that right, Tara?”

He had something encased in a black cloth in the cellar of his workshop. When he took it off, I realised it was a staff. The body of it had a brushed silver finish. The tip of it was like an arrowhead. Surely though, the most bizarre design about the staff was the five gemstones floating around the top of the staff in a circular arch. They were white uncut gemstones about the size of an average human hand, barring the hand had no fingers. Despite having sharp edges all around them, their general shapes resembled an elongated spheroid.

It was a beautifully crafted staff. But, a staff? This wasn’t Tyrr. We weren’t elves. No one in Methelia needed any mana conduction devices. “You want me to deliver this to someone or something?”

“It’s for you, jackass!” August snapped, with a roll of his eyes, then immediately began apologising to Tara. “Aw daddy’s sorry, Tara. Uncle Eric is an idiot, isn’t he?”

“She knows better than to believe her alcoholic dad. Anyway, dude, I never told you about mana conductors, did I?”

“Mana conductors? Uh, well, no.” He continued playing with Tara, throwing her up a bit.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“August, stop.” I told him to get his attention. My tone totally shifted. “Why did you make this staff?”

“I, don’t know. I mean, I do know, but, it’s hard to explain. One night, I had this dream. It was the realest dream I ever experienced. My memory of it was near perfect as well. That made me believe it wasn’t a dream, but some sort of magic at play. Someone, or something, told me to make that staff for you. That’s the only part of the dream I don’t remember – the identity of that person.”

“That’s some obscure shit, man.”

“Hey, wording, buddy!”

“Ah, damn. My bad. So, did you enchant this baby or what?” I asked, looking at the staff that was basically taller than me.

“Just an ownership enchantment. Once you run your mana through it, it will recognise your magic signature as its master. You can then summon it from anywhere. Don’t ask me why the gems are floating. I still don’t understand how I forged it.”

“Well, dude, thanks. I get a feeling I know who made you forge it.”

“Yeah, figured you would. Go check out the Order when you got time. Volt wanted to talk to ya,” he said, leaving the workshop. “By the way,” he peeped back in, “the official name for it is ‘Scien’. No, I don’t know what it means.”

“Wonderful news!”

After visiting August, I returned home only to be put to work remodelling certain parts of the house to accommodate Steyza’s height. Anjali had her first taste of Steyza that night. Donna made sure it happened and I certainly welcomed the effort.

The next morning, I focused on something I’d been dying to focus on since coming back to Methelia – space magic. Zanthia, the goddess of life taught me two spells in that little encounter. Riftwalk and Riftshear. To simplify their uses, Riftwalk teleported the caster and Riftshear teleported multiple objects. Its actual explanation and usage though, was a bit more complicated than that.

I tried it, in attempts to go from inside my bedroom to outside in the hallway. My feet ended up in the flooring. Sure, the matter that was my foot and the matter that was the floor didn’t mix up in some grotesque hybrid of a foot-floor monster, but it proved that even though I knew the spells, experience was still important. It took extreme concentration. It wasn’t a channelling spell, but there was no way one could cast it whilst moving.

Thankfully, it seemed that the spell cleared space to ensure that the objects being teleported aren’t lost. It prioritised the preservation of those objects. That’s why I still had feet after my first failed attempt but the floor had holes where my feet were. After I repaired it, I envisioned inside my room once again, this time creating a space for myself that was an inch or so above ground. After the mandatory ten seconds of casting, the space I created and the space I was in now were linked to each other, allowing me to teleport the object – myself – to the other space designated for me.

Worked like a charm. Gravity reclaimed its inch of space to the ground, but that was not an issue. The real issue was ensuring the created space wasn’t going through anyone. So, I created a clone and tried teleporting into him. Thankfully, the spell simply failed. It was murder-proof. But man, a ten-second casting time and the amount of focus required made it impossible to use as an escape during battle.

When I was done with it, I took a few minutes on the veranda, looking out. I had Scien, the staff August forged for me enchanted with nothing more than ownership enchantment. Every time I saw it, I was reminded of the Apostles of the Crescent Moon that visited me. They were trying to barter the witch’s old staff for my knowledge on spells she never taught them.

“You wanna find it?” Donna asked me, but I wasn’t interested in it. I figured – just like this staff I had – Emily’s would also have an ownership enchantment, making it useless in someone else’s hands.

I stretched, finally prepared to start the day. Bianca, the edgy sword girl from Ulanos got a job as a reserve battlemage and trainer. Aaralyn, a former Sword Paragon worked as a freelance bard. Although, both of them were free to quit any time they wanted.

“We ready?” I asked. Flynn was hurrying outside, trying to catch us before we left. He wanted a free ride to the Order of Mages without having to use Windsail; Bianca and August taught him. Steyza and Anjali were already waiting outside.

I set Flynn a path to the Order with a zephyr. Another bird would carry my three women and I to the capital, Endathal. Anjali had some business to see about, and Donna wanted to see her daughter, Gabrielle.

Of course, I hung out with Gabrielle a while before casting Riftshear to teleport Steyza and I to the Order. It seemed like the place became even more popular ever since the Ulanos invasion. A lot more mages were in the making. Ingen orcs were more common now, especially since they were quite effective against Ulanos soldiers.

I toured Steyza around a bit, until it was time to meet the rank six leader of the Order, Volt. “Just like the teleporters home,” Steyza muttered, then we were teleported to the front of the councilman office.

Volt’s office was another room behind a glass wall and door. He raised his head from whatever document he was reading after I knocked on the glass, then his eyes widened at the sight of Steyza. At that point, I knew he was immediately curious, and I wondered if the thought of having elves be a commonplace in the Order was going through his mind.

The Ingen orcs I didn’t mind supporting. Compared to the entire country of Tyrr, Ingen’s populace was somewhat manageable in terms of becoming a representative for them to join the Order. Being a representative for the elves however, was a whole other story. And until I knew the five big families a lot better, I’d rather not have a bunch of elves within the Order. Truth be told, elves were the most peaceful beings I’d ever seen.

Volt motioned us inside his room. Besides the glass wall and door, nothing changed about it. “Eric,” Volt extended his hand, “it’s good to see you again!”

“Pfft,” I threw an arm around his shoulder and brought him in, “what’s with all the formality, dude?”

He chuckled, “Forgive me. I’m getting too used to this position. How’s it been adventuring without us?”

“Aww,” I faked my sympathy, “getting bored, are we?”

“It’s torture…” he hung his head low.

“Anyway, this gorgeous lady is Steyza, a magical elf from a far away land! She is a magic instructor at a magic school.” I presented her like a mythical creature and I could feel Volt’s expression of disbelief, but interest. If it weren’t for her height and pointed ears, there would be only disbelief and no interest. “And Steyza, this serious-looking fellow is…” I pointed at him and took a moment. “He’s…”

“You don’t even remember my name,” he said, not disappointedly but piteously, then turned his attention to Steyza. “You can just call me Volt. Are you the reason he carries a staff around now?”

She shook her head, and only then did she pay particular attention to Scien in my hands. “Pleasure to meet you, Volt of Methelia. And no, I have not caused him to do such a thing. Why do you have a staff?” She questioned me with her eyes glued to mine.

“My buddy made it for me, but even he doesn’t know what it does. I don’t believe it’s a mana conductor.”

Those words perked Volt’s ears up, “Now what would that be?” he inched closer. “Actually, don’t tell me. I’m afraid it would derail me off the reason I called you here.”

“Oh yeah. So? Why am I here?”

He got serious all of a sudden and asked that I had a seat. He rummaged through his drawers and finally pulled some papers out. “These are reports from several officers. They claimed to see a monster that appears in the night.”

“Monster? What’s it look like?”

“They say its akin to a lizard. A colossal of a reptile that’s found its home deep in the centre-most regions of Inferno Desert.” He leaned back in his chair and somewhat wore a dreary expression after handing us the papers.

“And this is of concern because?”

“No one that’s come back from seeing it looked like they were in their right mind. It’s like they went crazy. No one’s been able to figure out just what the hell has happened to them. Some of their families are blaming the Order for sending them there, and I can’t help but think them right.” His palm comforted the other.

“What do you want me to do then? Kill it?” I shrugged.

“No, no. We can’t be sure they’d get better after defeating this apparition. See the men first. They’re being held in the spell-training part of the library for now. If you cannot discern anything from them, I want you to go to Inferno Desert. I know I’m a shitty leader for asking this of you, but logically speaking, there’s no one I know better equipped. Please…”

This was becoming less of an official request and more of a favour. It felt like something he couldn’t let the public know about. I studied his demeanour closely, those quivering shoulders of him proved how much this desert monster had gotten under his skin. “Volt,” I caught his attention, “where is Pyro?”

He looked up at me with a pitiful expression, one where he tried his earnest to mask. His head shook side to side with closed eyes.

“He, died?”

“Heavens! No. His mind was also afflicted. He isn’t even himself anymore. I can’t make sense of what any of them are saying!” he complained. “Eric, if you agree to do this, I’ll owe you. If you succeed, well,” he looked down at his table, “I don’t know if there’s anything I can possibly give you that you don’t already have, bu–”

“Relax, man. Pyro’s my friend. Besides, if I found out some other way, I’d do it whether you wanted me to or not. I won’t leave things as they are.”

He finally breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to himself. With that, I dismissed myself. I gave Steyza a clone to keep her company and got down to business right away. Whilst trekking through the labyrinth that was the Order of Mages’ library, I pondered on the staff and its floating gemstones, and also glanced at my enflamed hand every now and then. I must’ve looked rather unique – not in a good way – with a blazing hand and staff.

Finally, I opened the door to the training room once the rank four Officers standing guard outside let me through. There were around eight mages lazing around, not even looking as if their minds were in the present. Pyro’s usually fiery head of hair was a bit faded and his dark stubble grew unkempt. They were chained to the walls of the room, unable to touch each other and unable to cast forth magic; the manacles made sure of that.

I stooped, an old habit resurrected whenever I was deep in thought about a dilemmic issue, “Hey, buddy. It’s me,” I tried to get his attention but failed. Suddenly though, he’d prove me wrong. He jumped up on his feet and eyed me like a hawk, then his head jerked backwards as if nabbed by an unseen force. It hit the wall pretty hard and startled me. He then dropped to the ground, lying down flat on his stomach and turning his head upward at me in the most uncomfortable position I’d ever seen. “Hethekk sees…” he said.