Lily froze when Olivander said the man's name. She knew who he was. Lily had never been one to feel emotions too deeply. That had always been Olivander's nature, and the area he was more like their father. They both felt deeply.
Lily, on the other hand, was even keeled with all things. She had worked hard to become powerful, as her parents had pushed both of their children. She focused on that throughout much of her life, never really enjoying the parts of life that other people seemed to be drawn to. Love, excitement, romance, thrills — all of it was just something that other people enjoyed. She did feel, but she was content with what she had and didn't look much deeper than that.
That had begun to shift when she was thirty-two years old, when she met Baelish. He was a man who took things as seriously as she did. He rose to power quickly, though not as quickly as she and Olivander had.
She hadn't really paid him any mind at first. They worked together on the council of High Magi for a time, and she thought of him as a sensible and honorable man, but nothing more. When he and Olivander became friends, she ended up spending more time with him. It had been incidental at first, but after they spent time together outside the strict procedures of the council, she found herself slowly becoming attached to the man.
She didn't know what to do with her new and unfamiliar feelings. That was until Olivander confided in her one night that Baelish was in love with her, but he would never presume to approach her with this while they worked on the council together. Such relationships were frowned upon, and he did not want to make her choose between her passion and him. Olivander had seen the truth of it. He had always been able to read her like a book.
Lily resigned her position as a High Magus at thirty-four, and she and Baelish were engaged shortly after that. In the years since his death, she regretted the long engagement. Regretted that they had never been wed. Regretted that she didn't force Baelish to resign with her. Most of all, she regretted that she had not been with him in the end.
When she learned of his death from Olivander, she had been broken. Her brother helped keep her together in the following weeks and months. It was even worse than when they lost their father, though that had been a foregone conclusion.
Through all that, she knew of her fiance's murderer, but she hadn't thought of him much. She had pushed away that deep angry feeling that stirred within her. Through the past ten, nearly eleven years, she had given up on anything like revenge.
Now that the man was on the ground before her, a fragile wall she had constructed in her heart and mind shattered. She hadn't even known it was there. A hot rage and a deep, soul-crushing grief rose up within her.
"You didn't think you could win alone, Casumus? Had to run to your sister?"
"No. I wasn't sure if I could win in a fair fight. But this won't be a fair fight, and you won't be fighting me at all."
The Bloodhunter leapt to his feet and laughed. "Ha, you expect this woman to be a match for me?"
"Lily?"
Lily couldn't speak. Her throat was all but closed completely. The ache in her heart was slowly fading, overwhelmed by that hot rage. This man killed her dear Baelish, stole his power, then presumed to come here, insulting her, her brother, and Baelish's memory? She wouldn't stand for it. That he had been allowed to live this long was her own failure.
"Leave us," she said with an icy voice that belied the fire of her anger.
A rift in the air opened next to Lily — her dimensional space — and her staff floated out. It looked like Olivander's wand — solid obsidian, but with a faint white glow instead of the blue and orange. The rift closed, and then her grimoire appeared. Unlike Olivander's, which was a deep purple and covered with chains, Lily's grimoire was a dusty gray book, covered with bones.
The Bloodhunter drew his blades.
Olivander looked between them and then opened a portal. He appeared in the stands of the abandoned arena. He looked on with a pensive expression and his arms resting on his knees with balled fists. Lily knew he was asking himself the same question she had often asked herself. Was he doing the right thing? She didn't know if this would provide catharsis, but she knew her vengeance was long overdue.
* * *
Olivander hadn't always looked back on his childhood with fondness, but the competition between him and his sister was always something remembered with a smile. The two prodigies of the Casumus family. They had always pushed each other to great heights and leaned on each other when they pushed too high.
Olivander's path had been more focused on research. He wanted the secrets of the world, and pursued his scholarship with ambition and a moderate amount of focus. Lily was no less lacking in the area of ambition, and her focus was considerably more consistent, but she directed her efforts into one area exclusively. Combat.
Before Baelish died, Olivander had remarked that they were most likely the two strongest combatants within the Magi, aside from the crones. That was only true because his dear sister had resigned the year before.
Lily held out a hand, and a dozen narrow bone spears manifested in the air around her. As the Bloodhunter came at her, they launched, spearing straight through him. He didn't bother trying to dodge. The bloody holes they left behind quickly filled with blood and began to heal.
Now the Bloodhunter was practically on top of her, he swung his blades in furious strikes. Each one was met by either a spear of bone that suddenly jutted out of the ground, or the black staff that Lily spun before her. Olivander could see the surprise on the man's face as he expected her block to be battered away.
Bone grew along her skin and enhanced her physical toughness and strength. Olivander knew an opponent should never close in on the Bone Magus. They shouldn't stay at range either. Honestly the best option was running away.
Her grimoire opened, and the bones on the cover spilled onto the ground behind Lily. They arranged themselves into the shape of the ritual inscribed on the page.
Unable to get past the Bone Magus to disrupt the ritual, the Bloodhunter pulled back, distancing himself. He was obviously expecting some attack. Clearly, he had never seen Lily fight. All he had done was give her a perfect opportunity to seed the field.
"Bring forth the long dead, the quiet dead. Summon Boneyard!"
The ritual magic spread out over the arena, and bones rose out of the ground, scattered all over the field. Lily could conjure bone weapons and cast many bone related spells, but her manipulation of bone was her strongest attribute.
She used silent spells to animate skeletons and launch small projectiles from all around them. The skeletons shambled towards the Bloodhunter. Whenever they drew close, he broke the skeletons apart and swatted away bone projectiles, but he was focused on conjuring spears of blood.
The Bloodhunter unleashed his combination technique for battlefield dominance. Olivander was familiar with the spells — Blood Fury and Blood Domain.
----------------------------------------
Blood Fury
* Spell
* Cost: 150 Mana and 150 Health
* Cooldown: 30 seconds
* Enemies in line of sight are attacked by their own blood, dealing massive damage.
* Reduces resistance to your next Blood Manipulation
----------------------------------------
Blood Domain
* Spell: Aura
* Cost: 25 Health per second while active
* You manipulate any beings with blood within a wide area. Weaker beings can be completely dominated, while stronger beings can only be weakened.
* The lower the health of the victim, the more likely they are to be dominated.
----------------------------------------
He felt the Bloodhunter's power rebound off his own ward, damaging him slightly. The power reached his sister a moment afterward, followed by four massive bolts of blood.
Lily didn't have wards like Olivander. The power sank into her, but the Bloodhunter's mastery of one internal aspect of the human body paled in comparison to Lily's own. Though they affected different things, blood and bone, the powers clashed. A few superficial cuts appeared on her skin and started to bleed, but more bone armor grew over them, and she was otherwise unaffected.
She battered away one of the blood spears, conjured a bone shield to catch two more, but the fourth slammed into her. She flipped back through the air, catching herself with mana manipulation to land on her feet.
The Bloodhunter took the opportunity to gather his power for another transformation. Olivander could tell this was different from the one he used earlier. It felt more controlled and less brute strength. His blind rage was the only reason he had been caught in Olivander's trap, so it made sense that he didn't trust it again.
Instead blood coated his form, and a pair of wicked wings burst from his back. He looked like a massive gargoyle made from blood. He was nearly double Lily's height now. His blades changed size to match his new form.
This time when he attacked, Lily was on the defensive, watching for any new tricks that might catch her off guard. As she led him in a retreating fight around the arena, Olivander was impressed by Lily's situational awareness. She didn't fight too often anymore, but she was as skilled as ever.
Unlike when Olivander had lured the Bloodhunter around, there wasn't a zone Lily was trying to leave. Instead she moved him in a circle and used her mastery of bones to rearrange the bones scattered all around them, drawing out a massive ritual. It was one Olivander had helped her develop.
When they were both back at the center, her grimoire glowed brightly and Olivander could feel a spike of magic drawn into their world. The entire ritual flashed as Lily spoke.
"Crown of the Bone Monarch!"
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
The ritual flashed, and all the bones that make up the circle flew together above Lily's head. They collected into a crown, and it fell onto her head.
Then it was her turn to transform. She grew into a massive skeleton warrior, now taller than the Bloodhunter. The huge black staff she had been wielding now looked like a simple rod in her bone hand. The crown glowed brightly, and she began swinging at the blood gargoyle.
Lily now had the upper hand in strength and reach. Plus she had removed all of her blood by transforming. The Bloodhunter would need to outlast this form to have any chance.
That was made much more difficult by the constant beating he was taking.
Like Olivander's wand, Lily's staff had a powerful spell contained within it. It also was capable of channeling other sorts of magic. An observer would have no idea about either of those, as Lily used it as a club exclusively. Each time the weapon slammed into the Bloodhunter, his form contracted a little, huge chunks of blood flesh ripped away with the savage blows.
He finally gave up trying to fight head on and took to the sky on bloody wings. When he was out of reach he began gathering his power for a formidable spell.
"Blood Dragon Strike!"
Blood coalesced from the air around the man, and a massive blood red dragon burst forth. Its mouth open, it would swallow Lily whole when it reached her a moment later.
The skeleton that was his sister met the face of the blood dragon with a bone fist.
The dragon detonated, blood sprayed all over the arena.
"You may think you have me, but this is nothing! I'm going to pull you apart and then drain you just like your dear pathetic fiance," the Bloodhunter said. Olivander suspected the man knew he was in a great deal of trouble, so he tried to get under Lily's skin. Into her bones? He would have to work out the analogy later.
"You don't deserve to speak of him, monster," she replied, her normal voice magically projected from the skeleton.
"No? Why not? I have his power. In the end, I was more him than he was."
Lily screamed at the still airborne Bloodhunter. He in turn pulled out another item. It caught Olivander's attention because it felt familiar somehow.
When he tossed it down to Lily, she jumped back. It was a book.
The Bloodhunter laughed. "Your brother interrupted me! I couldn't quite wrestle control of the blasted thing, but it's still bound to me. Do you recognize it?"
No, Olivander thought. Baelish's grimoire.
Lily bent over, skeleton hands trembling.
When she had nearly touched the book, it vanished.
"Not so fast. If you want the grimoire, you're going to have to trade for it."
Olivander thought that was rather smart of the man. He had acknowledged he couldn't win, so he tried to make a deal for an escape.
Lily roared in fury.
Her grimoire flipped open and flashed with a bright light that he couldn't even look at.
In a panic, Olivander crafted a series of wards in front of himself. Then he plugged his ears and curled up into a ball.
Through his plugged ears he still heard the one word his sister spoke that was so filled with anger, grief, and raw command that he feared it would overwhelm him.
"BREAK!"
From where he was curled up, he could still hear the crack as every bone in the Bloodhunter's body broke at once. His own wards crumpled, and he felt one of his arms break, but he had stopped the worst of it.
He looked up in time to see the bloody wreckage of gargoyle crash to the ground.
Lily ripped off her bone crown and shrank. She put hands to her eyes as she wept. Olivander opened a portal and stepped through. He ignored the throbbing pain in his arm to wrap her up in a hug
"I'm sorry, Lily. I brought this to you without thinking. I had long hopped to give you a chance at the closure you deserved…but I think I now realize this isn't it."
"You can take care of him, Olivander. I…I just need to be alone for a bit. Can you send me home?"
"Of course."
He opened a portal for her, and she pulled away from him.
"I appreciate the sentiment, Olivander. We can honor Baelish when you finally come home," she said with a sad look back.
She walked through the portal, and Olivander let it close.
He sighed and made a quick ritual to heal his broken arm. As his bone became whole, a familiar voice spoke to him from behind.
"You just wanted to watch her beat on some sad excuse for a villain? Maybe if you give her what you think might be closure that you'll finally stop blaming yourself for what happened?"
"No, mother. I'll never forgive myself for that."
Olivander turned to find a wizened old woman with a cane standing behind him.
"I've been patient with you, boy. But I didn't expect this."
"And yet, you sent Lily here?"
"Because I knew you were going to come here, boy. Not because I knew you would be bringing that thing here."
"So once again, I'm in the wrong? Is that not ever the case, mother?"
"Maybe if you used your head for once, I wouldn't need to lecture you at every turn."
The Bloodhunter groaned, his body slowly coming back together as his regeneration struggled with his extensive wounds.
Muriel scowled at the lump of red flesh. A black grimoire manifested beside her. It opened to a page with a ritual that made Olivander's skin crawl.
"Feed."
A dark void opened next to Kevek Bloodhunter. A sickle struck out from the void, stabbing into the Bloodhunter. He screamed as he saw into the void, and the monster that was pulling him in. It pulled him back, dragging him through the void before it vanished.
"There. Problem solved. I don't know why you weren't man enough to do that yourself."
"He's a little harder to catch when he hasn't been beaten to a pulp first."
"So beat him to a pulp. You above all people have access to the tools to accomplish anything and everything you need, and yet you constantly refuse."
Olivander sighed. He really hadn't wanted to speak to his mother. His plan was to bring the Bloodhunter here, and then bring Lily. Of course she had seen he would come. Maybe the venue had been a poor choice.
"You haven't seen me in years, and the first thing you want to talk about is my job, is it?"
Muriel looked like she wanted to send Olivander through her void portal.
"You think the brat you allowed to take the position understands the price we've paid? I know you didn't tell him about it. He probably wouldn't have wanted to become a Magus. He certainly wouldn't have wanted to become Arch-magus."
"Amegnon beat me in a duel for control. You know the rules better than most, you wrote half of them."
"And I know that rule is only enforceable during a time of war. You could have stayed in the capital and argued your case before the council."
"And then what!? You know the burden. You think I could have just stayed there another five, ten years?"
Muriel didn't answer him. She didn't know what would happen. No one did. No other Arch-magus had ever made it beyond a decade.
"What did you really come here for, mother?"
"I came to do what you couldn't. Too long that thing has been allowed to live. He took away your friend and the only love of my daughter's life. If your father were still here—"
"Yes, yes! I know! Father would have hunted the man down and carved off pieces of him until his regeneration gave out, then kept going until the man was too beaten to even beg for mercy. Then he would have hunted down his family and anyone who ever met the man."
"You disrespect his memory."
"No mother, I am just honest about the person he was. Father was never a good man, for all that he tried. He would have pursued revenge above all else. I was hot with it. But I was also ashamed. I'm not so proud to refuse to admit it. That shame kept me from putting down that man long ago. It's a regret I'll live with, especially now. I shouldn't have brought him here."
"At least we agree on something."
Olivander's steam ran out, and he just stared at his mother. Muriel studied him in return.
"Are you going to return to Du'la'melio? What now?"
"I am going back. I've taken on some apprentices, and I've seen some troubling things."
"I saw your personal trial."
Olivander paused at that.
"Did you see what I took out of it?"
"No."
Olivander shrugged. His mother was the foremost expert on divine magic and the gods in the kingdom, maybe the world. She would be very interested in the book he had recovered. But now wasn't the time.
"Do you want to lecture me on anything else before I go?"
"Don't get smart with me, boy. I have a warning for you. I've seen some ominous signs ahead. Imbalance, dark forces arrayed against us. Divine intervention that was not asked for or wanted. I have only seen glimpses, but you should be ready."
"I'm not Arch-magus anymore."
Muriel laughed. "So that means you gave the boy the key?"
Olivander shut his mouth. There were deep secrets that only the highest ranking members of the council, and the Arch-magus, knew. Amegnon held the position, but until Olivander or the crones thought he was ready, he wouldn't hold the secrets.
"I couldn't give it to him. He kicked me out before I could retrieve my dimensional token."
"A convenient excuse to be petty, or a flimsy excuse to keep the power in the hands of someone who can use it? It matters not."
Muriel's grimoire floated over to him. It flashed and a token appeared on the cover. She was uniquely able to craft dimensional spaces and tokens to access them. Since Olivander became a Magus, he had never been able to tolerate being around his mother long enough to learn the spell for his own grimoire.
"You shouldn't be traveling without access to your dimensional space. Take the token."
Olivander sighed, but picked it up.
With a thought, a void opened up in the air next to him. It opened into a spacious room. He went inside and pulled a new purple robe off a rack.
"I'm only taking this because I've been wearing the same three robes for months."
"Tell yourself whatever you wish, Olivander. Find that boy you let wander around thinking he's Arch-magus and knock some sense into him. And don't be an ass; come visit your sister on occasion. I don't know why, but the girl seems to miss you."
Muriel tapped her staff against the ground, and she vanished.
"Thanks mother, it was lovely to see you too!" Olivander said to the empty air. "Still treating us like we're children..."
He changed robes, tossing the refurbished ones into his space before closing it.
"Now, I had best get back...oh, no. I forgot! I still need to find a team to run the dungeon against Gregory and Cooper, just in case. Maybe I can try the guild hall?"
Olivander opened a portal and stepped through.