Arriving in the snowlands is always an adventure in itself, hard work rewarded by walking into a frozen wasteland, where everything is likely to kill you.
It took three days for us to finally reach people, even if said people were sitting on horseback and surrounding us with weapons.
“Halt, who are you that you trespass into snowborn territory, and what makes you think you are worthy of passing by our lands, do you have money to buy passage?” He asked, making me grin.
“We are students of the Academy of Arcana, and we want to talk to your highest leader, I hoped he might be available now.” Preparing to fight is important when dealing with the snowborn, and when one of them stepped forward, so did I.
“Then I challenge you to earn the right of passage the way any true fighter would have chosen. Defeat me in battle, and we will let you walk north.”
“So be it.” I agreed, and focused on every advantage I had.
His body was refined, his stature twice my size, and his weapon big enough to crush me whole, it was quite interesting to watch, geos circling through his body, hardening his skin as rune after rune began manifesting.
I started this fight by casting a single spell.
‘Control move’
I did not speak, as I assumed control over my opponents body, making him stab himself.
This spell required access to four runes just to complete, and most focused on the other Arcana, and only learned null when absolutely necessary.
He should have expected magic like this, but as his own blade plunged into his heart, everyone stepped back.
“Is this enough power to meet the High King?” I ask, Sine already going to heal the wounded man.
“Yes, though we will inform him of your dishonor, we are quite sure he will still want to see you, especially given your apparent age.”
Another five days of walking through Ice Almost made us go mad, to the point we sang marching songs and told ghost stories whenever possible. It was hard to Imagine that most of us were around twelve years old, with Sine probably a lot older, and me being around eight years of age.
We wondered where our target was, searching for just about anything that could help us remain conscious, and every night, we would collapse, a single stone I inscribed with runes our only protection.
It felt weird to watch the mountains draw closer each day, and when we finally arrived there, many walls greeted us, separating us from the goal we crossed twelve days of travel to reach.
We ascended the rudimentary stairs, and I made sure to guard us against the wind by creating a barrier of spatium, the path not as hard as the way there, until the first stop.
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“We came to discuss matters with the High King, they are extremely confidential, and they will bring glory to your people.” With those words, we passed the first three gates, the fourth, however, became a problem.
“Everyone wants to meet the High King, but no one is willing to tell us why their visit is important, and why we should help you.” I quickly looked at the group, and decided to begin.
“First of all, your people have a different approach to magic, and we are curious how this works, and willing to do an extensive exchange of knowledge. Second, I want to preach to him the calling of Ragnar, an entity I am sure the High King will be pleased to know about. Lastly, I want to discuss long term plans to protect his heritage.” They laughed, before letting us through, the high king sitting before us on a throne of Ice, probably not much older than me as I stepped before him.
“You step before me ready to teach and learn, most only want one thing.” He said, his gaze like steel as it burrowed into me. He was similar, but different. His heart was beating ice through his veins, and his soul was only open to the two Arcana. It was almost pathetic to see him stand before me, thinking himself my equal.
“Your highness, why are you so weak? Aren’t you the epitome of your peoples power?” I ask, trembling as my plans collapse before me. “I had a perfect plan, but you disappoint me.”
The guards were upon me in a second, and I was upon their leader at the same time, teleporting and shoving my forked tongue into his eyes, memories and understanding flooding me. I had some access to Geos from the Titan, and the wannabe hero had given me access to a hint of Vita, but within him, those powers were much stronger.
My brain nearly froze to death as I absorbed his blood and brain, while multiple questionable growths expanded as I absorbed the Vitus from him.
His soul was of the second refinement in both those areas, and I gained his understanding of these arcanas, even as I replanted the power I had just taken from him, channeling my necrotic nature to make sure he stood tall before anyone else came to harm. I imprinted him with his previous memories, while my other seven undead followers died to the guards blades, sacrificing themselves to protect my friends, and refilling my soul.
“Do not harm these people, their leader is a strong warrior. We exchanged all our knowledge, and I feel obligated to share it with all of you. You can spend the next three days recovering and reading.”
It was funny, he only knew that being nice to me was keeping him alive, his body returning to life, even after I replaced his soul with my own. He was going to be himself, only that I could kill him with a thought, and was capable of transferring knowledge whenever possible.
Absolute power feels great, and as I understood the urge of Vitus to grow, and the urge of Geos to be stable, a new plan formed within me.
Why wouldn’t I just eat the professors? It would advance me beyond any reasonable persons ability, I would have a much easier time killing the headmaster, and even if I somehow messed up, killing the space mender and the Necrotic one would ensure that I could hide in the space between.
If those two were dead, and their knowledge was mine, Immortality was certain.
Some would warn me that ambition only leads to suffering, and so far, it always did, but this one would be different, I knew this deep within my heart.
I just had to prepare accordingly.
A few hours later, my companions and I were in a visitors room, guards standing near our door, Nemo lounging on a table, and Hannibal lying right under it, everyone else seated around it.
“So, why did you attack the guy you were so hopeful in talking to?” Sine asked, and Ember answered for me.
“Because he was weaker than El hoped.” He explained, Noel staring at my chest as he gave his own answer.
“Because El now has the Vitus and Geos affinity, it took me a while to understand this change, but unless he finds some way to achieve the fourth and fifth refinement, his runes will be incredibly shallow and widespread.” I nod at both of them, smiling as I stood up.
“Each of you willing to sign a pact of silence can do so now, I did already. It will bind our souls eternally, so consider this a warning. Everyone who signs will get a proper explanation.” Slowly, everyone read through the contract and signed, Shade was relaxed in her seat, having signed the contract already. Everyone wrote their true name, the runes sinking into the stone, so none of the others could know them, not even me.
“I am kind of related to the demon lord, currently leading member of the deathgate order, I can eat souls and memories, to a degree replacing skills when I do so. My goal in life is to become immortal, and the High King of the Snowborn is now an undead puppet, controlled by a copy of his own soul. Is anyone having questions?” I ask, Noel the first to raise his hand.
“Why are you still alive?” His question filled me with an unbelievable warmth. “Because the next calamity is approaching, and you can’t permanently kill the demon lord, unless you have one of his own kin ready to absorb the aftermath. Next?” Skulk raised his hand, the timid boy still pondering the question he was going to ask.
“Any specific banner your followers are gathering under? I bet this kind of ambition and heritage draws servants to you.” My answer was started with a small nod.
“You are right, there is a cult I accidentally started, they call themselves temple of Ragnar, and are generally split into socialists, a death cult and a group of anarchists, if I understood that right.” The overall confusion implied I had just made way for a lot more questions.