Voren was rather frustrated with the current turn of events that had transformed his masterful assault on house Tenerin into a bloodbath. It had taken the intervention of the most skilled soldiers in his employ to halt the lone young servants' advance. But not before she had slaughtered over two dozen men with as little effort as one chopped vegetables. It seemed the warmasters of Tener required excellence in even their lowest servants. Sadly the woman had killed herself before she could be captured the moment she saw his face. Which was uncalled for frankly, though at least she knew her place scrubbing the floors for great men.

The now burning manor was quickly falling to pieces with untold treasures waiting deep inside for their new owner. Not that it mattered; his true objective was taken from him by children fleeing in the dark. Grinding his teeth he slid past a flaming support beam, protecting himself with a barrier of magical force. He’d broken this bad habit years ago and now here he was aggravated beyond belief by children and the heir of the house no less. Yet another pretentious spoiled highborn brat who believed they were entitled to the fruits of their ancestors simply for existing. He forced himself to calm down, now was not the time to lose one's head to rage and foolishness. He focused on his surroundings and nodded appreciatively at the tongues of flame greedily devouring the once opulent hall.

Another beam began to fall and he burned more mana to escalate his magic and relieve the pressure on the ceiling. He would not allow the room to cave in while inside so he activated his bindings and the hall pulled itself back together if only temporarily. Continuing on Voren came to what would have been a young woman's room and with an effort of will ignored it despite knowing what could be found in such a wondrous place. He came to several more rooms before finding the one he needed at the end of the hall. Entering inside was an absolutely decadent study that was surprisingly still intact and not on fire.

Bookshelves substituted the walls with numerous intellectual texts, journals, and fictions. A rug of some slain animal he couldn't determine sat beneath an impressive oakwood desk covered in papers and framed items. Stepping behind he sneered at the crude drawing of a child and their family displayed proudly in the center. In big scratchy letters at the top of the drawing marked its maker as Zoel. Several family members dotted the drawing and one child even had purple hair for reasons he couldn't fathom.

Turning away from the desk he searched the bookshelves for any hidden mechanisms and found nothing. Voren wiped his brow, the heat now increasing exponentially as hungry flames ate at the Essence wards. He had run out of time in the manor and the Tenerins would know of this attack within the hour. He blasted a hole in the far wall to make an exit. Pressing through said hole he made his way back out of the raging inferno that once resembled a manor. Coming to the main doors he found them blocked by fallen rubble and the doors themselves.

Voren sighed and released his mana, sending a wave of pure force to remove the debris. The sound of crashing wood and flame brought a semblance of a smile to his face before the manor came crumbling down. He erected a shield of force to block the rubble, dust enveloping what remained of the area. A quick expenditure of mana cleared the dust exposing the once pristine ruin. Long strides brought him outside to his spare forces who were in the process of bagging their small gains. A strange thought that was, the royal house of Tener not being obscenely wealthy given their status. He banished the idea from his mind and signaled his men to begin activating the gateway.

The artifact he recently obtained that allowed for such advanced Essence Sculpting had been fairly difficult to procure. His limited funds betrayed his tactical mastery, preventing his ability to affect larger towns. Though doing so would bring down the hammer of the military on his relatively small force. And that would be a tragedy of epic proportions, he smiled at the fact that such a thing would be impossible to occur. He turned towards his men expecting to see a burning white gateway that led to his headquarters. Every single one of them was dead, blood gushing from their expertly slit throats.

Appearing before him was a strange woman who wore light navy blue robes that blended in with the moonlit sky. The full body coverings prevented him from determining any notable features. She was relatively slim and stood a few inches shorter than himself and her bearing was completely relaxed. As if the world around her posed no danger and in fact served her every whim. A foolish notion he thought as he pulsed his aura of domination to make her beg for his favor.

The woman startled, clearly taken with his magnificence and brilliance, but she did not drop to her knees and beg his forgiveness for killing his men as he demanded. She stared at him with an intensity he rarely saw in women that stayed in his presence. Although most women were on their knees by this point in the conversation so perhaps he was a bit biased. After another minute of uncomfortable staring the woman finally spoke, sending shivers of dread down his spine.

“A potent aura of domination, some form of force discipline, and several unconfirmed affinities. That checks out with previous reports of your activities, wouldn't you say so Voren.”

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Voren simply refrained from speaking, this woman must have watched his assault on the manor from the beginning. The idea that he was setup in any way rankled him, though that would explain the lack of wealth and servants. He had been tipped off to this vulnerability by a reliable source so he had no reason to doubt it. Then again Gadri had been acting rather strangely since the attack on Tulo. Voren had put it up to nerves, but he thought that time would alay them.

“Truth be told it probably was nerves though anyone would be nervous about taking on the divine house of Tener in such an overt manner. Now are you going to stand there and do nothing as I end you or will you put me on my knees as it were.”

She spoke with easy confidence as she drew a large curved knife from her waist.

He took a battle stance preparing his mana for her assault as she calmly strode towards him. The woman sighed and attacked faster than he could process bringing her knife to bear against his force shield. Expecting the attack to bounce off he moved to pivot to her left and lunged for her then exposed side. What ensued shocked him to his core as her knife cut through his mana, his gauntlet, and his arm all while she tripped his grounded leg. Before he could counter a second smaller knife landed in his ribcage . Voren hit the ground air escaping his lungs, rendering him unable to so much as vocalize his pain.

In desperation he activated his personal gate via the amulet around his neck. Voren blinked and he was in the infirmary of one of his many safehouses his healers immediately scrambled upon seeing his bleeding form. They brought him to a bed having already begun their treatment of his arm and chest. He thought of that strange woman and promised himself that one day she would be on her knees.

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Jessica was furious with herself for letting that depraved scourge get away from her. She had seen the amulet flare to life and attempted to halt the essence flow to no avail. For the third time in five minutes she calmed herself, and waited for Rael to finish cleansing the manor of any lingering mana. Jessica noted that thought and banished any foreign thoughts from her mind that may have been affecting her. The moment she did so the frustration vanished and she could think with perfect clarity. The idea that someone with so little power could affect her like that was both worrying and enlightening.

Jessica was Pinnacle and effectively immune to any mental affliction without another Pinnacle mortal putting enough Mana behind it. There were several reasons she could think of that would allow Voren to do this, though none were easy. Given the facts available to her she could make an educated guess but that would go nowhere. She would have to do some research and reconnaissance and then bring the report to Sindy. Although one potential explanation was rooted in her mind and refused to be removed. Silencing the thought Jessica shifted her attention to the head maid of the manor.

The young woman who Voren saw commit suicide stood off to the side coordinating the staff off the manor. Karis no longer wore a stereotypical maid outfit, and now bore a simple navy blue blouse and pants with gold accents. Karis turned away from the staff and approached Jessica with silent grace, her footsteps not even rustling the blades of grass as she passed. Her small almond eyes shone with cunning, reflected off the Mana light held in her palm. She sent the Mana light ten feet above where it illuminated the doused courtyard.

“A list of the resources claimed from the bodies as you requested my lady” Karis said, handing her an Essence slate filled with numerical values.

Jessica ran her eyes across the slate searching for anything of note before returning it “have it liquidated and spread amongst the staff.”

Jessica spotted Rael exiting the remains of the manor and sighed with relief that she could go home and sleep for a few hours.

Rael was a lovely young woman of impressive height and build with toned muscle and calloused hands. Her auburn hair tied behind her head exposed her sharp features and electric blue eyes with golden sclera. Rael stepped into the light with an eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip.

“Finished moping auntie Jess because I cleared out the manor already."

Rael's sweet yet teasing tone hid her concern, which Jessica appreciated and accepted graciously.

“Yes Rael I’m fine, although my pride has certainly taken a blow.”

“I’m not surprised, I mean when was the last time someone got away from you”

Jessica pondered that statement with several theories passing through her mind before getting stuck on one particularly nagging thought.

“He was in possession of a potent domination aura, one that lingered on my mind with a subtle air. Almost as if his mana was on par with mine which isn't possible given how he was barely arcane when I revealed myself. And the way he charged that amulet, ugh i'm rambling i'll have to talk Sindy and report in to Oscar. In the meantime Karis go get Viel off his backside and start tracking down artificers capable of crafting gate amulets.”

Karis nodded though a slight rosiness graced her cheeks as a gateway opened up behind her. As she disappeared through it, Rael shouted after her “make sure to give my brother a kiss.”

Karis simply flipped her off and closed the gateway leaving them both in the dark with nothing but smoldering embers to illuminate the surrounding area.

Jessica glared at the young woman before opening a gateway of her own to a different location. As she turned to step through it Rael called out with a concerned voice “Has Zoel’s transition started yet.”

Jessica paused, speaking over her shoulder “exactly one month ago and you know why you weren't informed so go about your business and you’ll see him in three years.”

With that Jessica strode through her gateway into her personal chambers intentionally not looking back at Rael. Once the gateway closed she simply flopped onto her bed and began to drift into dreams. Though thoughts of Zoel’s situation kept her awake for a few minutes, they weren't enough to prevent sleep from taking her. Before her mind succumbed to rest she wondered how he was doing. She smiled, wherever he was he had good companions watching his back and she was sure Zoel was fine.