Zerine woke, bolting up in bed as her door burst open as Gary appeared in her room. A surprised peep made Zerine smile as Varino popped up next to her pillow.
“Morning Trainees,” Gary said with a grin.
“We are trainees!?” Zerine said, still trying to awake up.
Meanwhile, Varino made a cheery whistle and waved at Gary, whose smile grew. One of his lower hands gave a small wave back.
The words sunk in and Zerine was suddenly wide awake. It was her first day of training!
“Get dressed and we will head out. I still have to wake Naro,” Gary said, then left, closing the door.
Zerine hurriedly got dressed. Varino whistled a question.
“Of course, you're coming! And it’s our first day of training. We will get stronger from this…hopefully,” Zerine said.
Varino excitedly ran in a circle. Once Zerine was ready, Varino used a blast of air to launch herself and land lightly on Zerine’s shoulder.
“Nice! Hopefully, someday, I’ll be able to do something like that,” Zerine said.
Varino patted her cheek with a reassuring burble.
“Aw thanks Varino. Someday, I know, but are you excited for today? I’m just glad you're staying with us!” Zerine said.
Varino jumped happily, chiming brightly, making Zerine smile.
“We are going to have lots of fun.”
When they exited her room, they waited in the hall for a minute till Gary came out of Naro’s room. Zerine burst out laughing as Naro was under one of Gary’s four arms.
“Didn’t want to get up?” Zerine teased.
Naro was grinning sheepishly. “I was hoping just a minute longer.”
“A minute he didn’t get,” Gary grumbled.
“Is that an elemental spirit?” Naro said, ignoring Gary’s comment.
Varino did her usual greeting, a cheery whistle giving Naro a wave.
“You were too busy, but your sister befriended that spirit last night,” Gary said.
“What? How?” Naro said, craning his head to keep the sprit in his line of sight as he and Gary walked by.
“This is Varino, our new family member,” Zerine said, ignoring Naro’s question as they walked along behind Gary, who filled almost the whole hallway with his bulky frame. Varino made a trilling flute note.
“That’s right, your new home,” Zerine said.
“You can understand that?” Naro asked, trying and failing to look behind him.
Zerine shrugged. “I don’t know exactly how, but I can.”
“Can you even bond a familiar?”
“Nope. Varino is just a new addition to our family, isn’t that right?” Zerine said, glancing at the spirit on her shoulder, who happily chimed.
“I-I don’t understand any of this,” Naro said. Gary laughed as he headed down the stairs.
“You don’t have to, just go with it,” Gary said.
“Can I bond with-” Naro was saying, but a sound like breaking glass clearly showed what Varino thought about that.
“That was a no,” Zerine added with a grin.
“Yeah, I got that much,” Naro muttered.
“The nerve of some people meeting a spirit for the first time and asking to form a bond. How rude, isn’t that right, Varino,” Raith said, grinning. She was waiting near the end of the stairs. Raith wore her normal mage robes, but this morning her red hair was in a ponytail.
Varino made an agreeing chime, which got Zerine and Raith to giggle.
“Sorry Varino,” Naro called as Gary carried him towards the door to the courtyard.
She responded with a teasing whistle.
“She accepts, but added you have to work on your pitch, or you will have to hope you learn how to summon a familiar,” Zerine teased, which got Gary to snort a laugh, while Raith rolled her eyes.
“Hey, did she really say that?” Naro asked. as they entered the courtyard.
“Yep,” Zerine replied with a nodding Varino, but Naro couldn’t see.
“Morning-” Ava said before she spotted Naro. “Trouble getting ready quickly, I see.”
“Gary used magic to make move faster,” Naro complained.
“I waited till I heard Zerine’s door open before I went in. This one,” Gary hoisted Naro higher, which got a laugh out of Naro. “He was barely ready, so I used some wind to speed him up.”
“Hmm, Cal has had to do that some mornings too,” Ava said, shaking her head.
“Shara says I am not a morning person,” Naro defended himself.
“That is just a mindset, and you will get used to this. But work hard you three. Cal will come by to check on all of you,” Ava said. She patted Naro’s head, then hugged Zerine and patted Varino’s tiny head with a finger, getting a happy burble.
“The queen is having an emergency meeting due assassination abroad so keep them safe,” Ava thought to Raith and Gary who nodded. With a crack of thunder, Ava vanished.
Varino chimed a question.
“Raith, will Varino be able to do that?” Zerine asked for both of them. She really wanted to know because long distance teleporting was the perfect ability for adventurers. Teams fight over two types of mages, healers and distant teleportation mages. If they could get both, it would be perfect. A team with both could take on more jobs and quickly move around, ensuring the team was well stock, paid, and healthy. Zerine hoped one day her own team would have such abilities.
“Hmm, not at her current power, but in a few years, it could quite possibility be one of her abilities,” Raith replied.
“I got to find a familiar or hope I can summon one that can do that,” Naro said.
“You sir, have to learn about both those topics before you can bond or form a contract,” Raith said, which got a groan.
“But let’s get going,” Gary said.
With no more words, shadows swallowed the group.
They appeared on the same beach as the night before. The crisp morning air was invigorating for Zerine and even more so for Varino, who cheered and lept off Zerine landing lightly and began exploring the area.
“Right, so we will start with some stretching and calisthenics. Then we will go for a run,” Gary said and so began their first morning training session.
When they started running, Zerine thought it would not be that bad, but running in the sand was far harder than she thought. She had long given up on keeping up with Naro and Gary, who were far ahead of her and Varino. Speaking of the little spirit, she ran for longer than Zerine thought before Varino used her wind magic to land on Zerine’s head to rest. She would chime encouragement as Zerine’s endurance flagged. The encouragement helped keep Zerine going. Raith had Willow float along, monitoring them, while she went off to do something that Zerine guessed would be part of their training later.
At this point of the run, Zerine was struggling to keep a steady breath and had fallen further behind Gary and Naro, who were now far ahead on the beach doing some sort of work out waiting for her to catch up. Gritting her teeth, Zerine pushed herself to keep going even if it she was slower than she started.
And I thought this would be fun, Zerine thought.
“You know,” Zerine panted, “Varino, you should run too.”
Varino whistled.
“You, did, great at the start.”
Raith suddenly was midway between them, and where Gary and Naro were doing jumping jacks. She was grinning, tossing a golf ball size orb.
“Varino,” Raith called, “You make it to the end. You can start to absorb this natural treasure of storms.”
With an enthusiastic peep, Varino jumped down and began to run next to Zerine. One step of Zerine’s equaled eight of Varino’s. When they finally reached Gary, Naro was doing push up. Zerine put her hands overhead, breathing hard.
“Good job, you two,” Gary said. “Now, Varino and Raith have some training of their own. So, you get to do what Naro was doing while you were still running here.”
“Really!?” Zerine gasped.
“This is what it takes to get you to catch up,” Raith said, appearing in a puff of darkness. “You have gone through mediation training and had some minor physical training, but this is going to train your body. You three will master your mind and body over the coming years. It’s time to show us the type of mages you will become. Will you do the bare minimum and never truly progress? Or-” Raith’s aura leaked out. Naro fell to his stomach in surprise and awe as his aura was suppressed, while Varino fell to her knees.
Zerine’s legs were shaking already, so when the aura pressure landed upon her, they nearly collapse, but she clenched her fist and dug in her feet. She was at the bottom of a squat struggling to stay on her feet. The core of her varying being felt like a rock trapped in the middle of a raging river as Raith’s aura roared, suppressing her aura. Then suddenly the pressure vanished, and Zerine realized she was on all fores and hadn’t stayed on her feet at all. She was breathing harder than she had after running.
“Or will you rise and keep taking a step forward even if it’s small, even if it feels insurmountable, you take that step and then the next one overcoming whatever is your way,” Gary said.
Zerine struggled but got to her feet. She was a bit embarrassed to find that she was the last to rise as a sand covered Naro was standing, eyes firm, his own aura flaring with determination. Even Varino’s aura was a raging inferno. Their reactions made it even harder for Zerine as their auras pressured her. It was a chore to stay standing, but she fought. The flickering candle did not go out, but was a tiny ember, but steady. She stood tall.
“Good,” Raith said. “Varino, come along. We got some training specific for you. Naro and Zerine keep it up. After a little while, we will have breakfast, then start up the next session of training.”
The other auras around her faded and Zerine found she could breathe freely again. She was exhausted, legs and arms shaking just from the aura’s alone, but she pushed herself. At the end of the first session, Zerine was haggard and ready for breakfast. It felt like it had been forever, but in reality, was only an hour and a half. They, of course, had to jog back to where the meditation stones were, so Zerine jogged, missing Varino’s presence and encouragement. A blinking Willow wasn’t the same, but she appreciated it.
When she finally arrived back at the mediation stones, she found they had turned the long stone into a makeshift table. A gust of wind and a happy chime announced Varino, landing on her shoulder. Zerine smiled as the little spirit began telling her all about what Raith and she had been up to.
Varino’s training turned out to be her learning to absorb natural treasures. She learned magic and some abilities she had. She happily demonstrated by creating a cloud that she gleefully rode around, flying ahead as Zerine took a seat on a stone.
Naro was talking to Shara, who had just shown up with Callahan, who was talking to Gary. She couldn’t hear their conversation, so she assumed they were using an anti-eavesdropping tool or magic to conceal what they were discussing.
“How are you doing?” Raith asked. She was pulling food out of thin air and placing it on the stone. She looked Zerine up and down. Zerine had sand in her hair, a patch on her cheek, all over her clothes. Clearly, she had pushed herself and struggled, but persevered.
“It's hard, but will pay off in the future, right,” Zerine replied, already getting food onto her plate.
Raith raised an eyebrow. She took a peek at Zerine’s aura, normally considered a rude act, but Zerine wouldn’t be able to tell and it would give her a glimpse of how she was feeling. What she found was what she expected. Exhaustion, some self-loathing, but importantly dogged determination.
“I said it would be hard, but and I mean this, you're doing great,” Raith said.
A tired smile graced Zerine’s face. She was about to say something when a giggling Varino zoomed by, laughing on her little cloud.
“Varino, you are going to run out of mana if you keep doing that,” Raith said.
The cloud froze in-front of Zerine and Varino pouted, but jumped, landing Zerine’s shoulder who tilted her head a bit and the spirit hugged her cheek.
“See!” Naro said to Shara, who was curiously observing the little spirit.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Zerine, how did you and Varino meet?” Shara wondered. So Zerine, with some additions from Varino, explained how they met and what they did during the party. By the end of the story, Callahan and Gary had joined them.
During a lull in the conversation, Callahan spoke up. “So, it’s time for some combat, magic, and weapon training,” he said with a broad grin.
“Wait, mom hasn’t let any of us touch weapons,” Naro said.
“Yeah, but we both know it’s time. With you and Shara having your crests, it’s time to start getting you introduced to the basics of magic combat, while Zerine will learn weapons,” Callahan replied.
“Will we get to do the weapon thing, too?” Shara wondered.
“Yes, and no,” Gary interjected. “You all have to get used to your bodies after they were remade. It’s hand to hand fighting and agility that you will be focusing on for a while. But you will learn the basics for a verity of weapons too. It just won’t be your focus till your older.”
“And it will be for me?” Zerine wonder. If she was honest, weapon training sounded kinda awesome. She had always envisioned herself as her mother wielding a blade, lightning arching up and down the edge. It was quite the heroic look, and it washed away her exhaustion from this morning, replacing it with excitement and curiosity. What weapons and fighting style would she settle on? How would she practice fighting without a crest? These and more question filled Zerine’s mind.
“For you Zerine, we will continue physical training, hand to hand fighting, and weapon handling. Once you get your crest, we will start the magical combat,” Gary replied.
“So, with that said, Varino, Shara, and Naro will stay here and clean up, then we will train magic, while Zerine and Gary will go off and do their thing,” Raith said.
***
Gary, Callahan, and Zerine were in the forest, standing around a large table that Callahan had pulled out of his spatial storage. Gary then pulled out weapons from his spatial storage. At first Zerine thought the weapons streaming out of Gary’s pouch would end, but her shock kept growing as the pile of weapons on the table kept growing.
“Your uncle is a bit of a weapon enthusiast,” Callahan said, patting Zerine’s shoulder. She was staring, mouth open, at the assortment of weapons before her.
“Umm, I don’t know if I can learn or even use most of these weapons. And I think you might have a problem, Uncle. Did you steal an entire armories weapon supply?” Zerine said, which made Callahan crack up.
Gary only grinned down at her. “Back in my homeland, learning and training with weapons was a rite of passage. And the weapon we choose were the ones we would use our entire lives. They represented the path we walk as a mage and an extension of our souls.” He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Although I might have gone just a little overboard. I have been looking forward to this.”
“He asked every year after you turned eight Zerine,” Callahan said.
“Well, I am excited. I just didn’t know there were so many different weapons,” Zerine said.
Gary laughed as his four arms organized the pile of weapons on the table.
“These weapons are from all around the world. But while I organize this, Cal can run you through some basic hand-to-hand fighting,” Gary said.
“Before that, let’s do a little warmup,” Callahan said.
***
“How is Varino so much better at this than us?” Naro complained as Varino played with a pebble wind whirling around it before it shot off, hitting a target.
“She and I practiced a bit earlier, but even if she hadn't,” Raith paused as Shara, who also had wind magic, sent her pebble, but missed the target. “Varino would still be better. Unlike you, she is taking the time to feel her magic and Shara just did as well,” Raith commented.
Naro sighed and concentrated. Meanwhile, Varino bounded up to Raith and burble a question.
Raith raised an eyebrow at her shadow.
“Varino is wondering if she can absorb more from the natural treasure,” came Umbra’s voice.
“Later, remember you’re still young so you can’t absorb too much, or it might harm you,” Raith replied, which got a sighing whistle. “But let’s have you work on levitating with your wind magic. That will take more mana and should challenge you.” That got an excited chime.
***
“Fix your fist and posture, here,” Callahan said, taking Zerine’s small hand in his and fixing the placement of her thumb, moving it from next to her index finger to under and resting it on her middle finger. “Now when you punch out,” Callahan moved, pivoting his body in exaggerated movement and his arm move in a slow punch. “When you punched, you just shot out your fist. That will hit someone, but you're missing out on more power. To add the power, we pivot and move our hips slightly towards the target. That way we throw more weight behind the movement.”
He demonstrated again, and Zerine followed. They had been at this for a few minutes already and before that had gone through some warm-up exercises. She thought she had done it right, but clearly from what her father was doing, she had only gotten parts correct. Concentrating on how her body moved through the punch, she replicated Callahan’s movement slowly. Several slow attempts later, she felt better and began to move faster, even switching hands.
“You got it. Let’s have you try punching this,” Callahan said and held up a book size leather bag. “We will practice punching a few times with this and then we can go over palm strikes and some other movements.”
The next two hours Gary and Callahan had Zerine learn the basics to hand to hand fighting and running drills. If Zerine could describe it in a few words, it would be lots and lots of hitting a leather bag. In between hitting the leather bag, Zerine would do different types of physical training. Sometimes she would do abdominal workouts, pushups, and more exercises, ensuring her every muscle that could be worked, was.
When she had run a cardio exercise, broken up with running through more drills of punches and kicks, Zerine’s entire body had some sort of complaint. Her legs and arms were shaky and her last punch, she was fairly certain, would have felt more like a flick. Her abdominal muscles and shoulders were all complaining. But when she had completed it, she couldn’t help herself from smiling despite being covered in sweat and breathing hard. She had done it and despite being tired, the feeling of success made it worth it.
“Great job!” Callahan said.
“Yeah, great job kiddo. So, we covered most of the starting stuff we wanted for hand-to-hand fighting. Now,” Gary’s rubbed his hands together. “Now, while you rest, we can look over the weapons.”
Zerine eagerly moved to the table, ignoring the complaints from her legs.
“So, we have staves,” Gary gestured with his lower hand to a cluster of different length wooden staves. “Next, we have polearms and halberds. To be honest, think of these similar to a spear with just different weapons on or near the tip. You can have an axe, curved blades and more,” Gary said, picking up a wooden haft with a large, curved axe at the end.
“Next, a variety of swords. Some two handed and mixed,” Callahan said.
Zerine’s eyes went wide. The sheer diversity of the blades before her was incredible. She saw different styles of blades, ranging from curved blades, leaf style, and straight dual edge. She ran her hands along the hilts as she walked, simply taking in all the different type of swords Gary had. There were too many for her to even begin to figure out what would fit her.
“Next, we have short swords, large daggers, and some miscellaneous weapons,” Gary said.
Zerine paused as her gaze fell upon a small scythe?
“Ah, those were suggested by your mother. I mean, she suggested adding them to the list not specifically for you,” Gary clarified as Zerine looked confused down at the weapons.
“Aren’t scythes unpractical weapons?” Zerine wondered, picking one weapon up. It had a similar wooden haft, like an axe, but had a curved blade sticking out.
“If they were larger, then yes, but those aren’t. They are actually pretty good at parrying an attack when dealing with normal length swords. I am not an expert in those, but they actually came from the Trevel branch in the Dragon Spine archipelago.”
“Why are there Trevels out there?” Zerine wondered.
Gary gave Callahan a disapproving glance.
“You haven’t told them about their extended family?” Gary asked, hands on his hips, while his top arms crossed the pinnacle of disapproving postures, at least for Gary.
“We were going to wait till they were older, but we can tell her some things,” Callahan said, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish smile.
“So long story short, the Trevel family is spread all over the world. They are a reclusive family, but in certain circles are known for being powerful and focused on adventuring. The head questers are here in the Heartstone kingdom. And-” Gary was saying when Callahan spoke up.
“And the rest can wait till you're older,” Callahan said.
“Huh, that’s fine. So, what happens next?” Zerine asked, placing the scythe weapon back down on the table. She made a mental note to read up on her family or pester Bernard or her parents to get the information if she couldn't find anything.
“Next, we have a few things to work on,” Gary said, pulling out a small wooden sword. “You will work with this, a bow, and wooden knives.”
“So, let’s begin,” Callahan said, tossing her a wooden knife, which she caught.
After a very long day of training, the group appeared at the household. The children were all tired, but for Varino, who had boundless energy. She led the group into the large house, skipping, humming happily. Zerine spent the rest of the day reading and chores around the house before going to bed and falling into a deep sleep.
***
“Thoughts?” Ava wondered as Gary, Raith, and Callahan sat in front of a fire.
“Zerine has the mindset to improve. She isn’t naturally talented at any peculiar thing, but she learns quickly,” Gary said.
“Naro and Shara progressed quickly with developing their magic. Shara has a natural talent for manipulating her magic as well,” Raith said.
“Naro excels with anything physical and clearly has already gotten used to his remade body,” Gary said, accepting a cup of tea from Callahan.
“They will work hard and honestly, I can’t wait to see how they will look in a few more years,” Callahan said, which got an agreeing nodded from Raith and Gary.
“That’s great to hear,” Ava said, then sighed, her smile fading away. “Ivron got back to me about the situation in Esteron. There is a storm about to send the nobility there into chaos. Not to mention the fact that tensions are rising all over the world.”
***
“Josue!” a man shouted, bursting into an opulent furnished office. The man was short and a little rotund with beat red face. Valgrath searched the memories had taken from Josue and found that Josue mainly referred to this human as a father or fat bastard.
“Ah, father-” Josue said, but was interrupted.
“The Lord of our city is asking me where thousands of gold coins have gone,” the man shouted.
Valgrath had to fight back from gutting the waste of space where he stood.
“I was going to pass the reports along, but it seems there are people embezzling money. These papers should point the Lord to direct his anger to the culprits,” Valgrath said, handing sheets of paper. The culprit was, of course, him, but he had used some of the funds to make it appear as if it were a combination of a rival noble faction and several of the Lord’s own family. To be precise, he made it appear as if the city lord’s youngest son was working with the rival faction of nobles. A hot headed, prostitute beating, and easy to manipulate of a son who had actually played into his very hands by making contact with several of these nobles.
Josue’s father looked over the documents, flipping through the pages. To his credit, the man could read incredibly quickly, having something to do with him acculturating it with some magic that Valgrath could care less about.
“This is-” Josue’s father paused and looked up at him with a predicatory smile, “exactly what we need to get him off our backs and to give us a better position. Are there primary sources, then just your summary reports?”
Valgrath grinned. “Plenty, if the lord goes looking.”
“Perfect! I can’t believe it was them all this time, but it makes sense,” Josue’s father said, his complection finally turning to a normal color than the bright red it had been before. The man laughed. “You know, I had at first thought the worst and that it was somehow you, but here you are unraveling the scheme. Great work. I must go and present this to the Lord.” Without another word, the man trundled off with a gleeful smile.
And there is that settled for the time being, Valgrath thought, leaning back in his chair with a satisfied smile.
He pulled out a plain wooden box and opened it, revealing a dodecahedron glowing with green light. Taking a deep breath caused green tendrils of energy to flow into him. He sighed happily. After all the hunting he had done over the years, he had gotten strong enough to fight with this world’s gold-rank mages. Massacring twenty golds gave quite the power boost and now he had his hands on a mythical catalyst. The only problem was that the catalyst was pure energy, so he couldn’t absorb it like the inhabitants of this world. He could only corrupt a small amount of the energy each time he tried. It did irk him that he only fought mid rank gold mages. The truly powerful golds had gotten away from him. Hunting had also barely added to his strength, so he guessed he would have to start his other plans, which meant it was time to make two sides fight one another.
Valgrath waited till it was dark and left his town house. He swiftly moved along the rooftops. There were two major factions in this city, the ones that backed the city Lord and those that were backing the merchant class, meaning controlled by the merchants. Merchants that he just so happens to control now. There had been feuding families amongst these noble factions for some time now. It had started when two hunting parties attacked one another while hunting a mysterious gold rank monster. Several died along with the monster. After that incident, several fights broke out between the two, which made the feud fester and last through the years.
Valgrath smiled to himself. It was a simple plan just create a spark and everyone else does the rest. Granted, tonight would start a bloody battle that should help his family gain even more power, which was needed for the next phase.
Valgrath peered down as he now flew hovering far above the Viola family compound.
He landed on a balcony and entered the room. He had tracked two young twins from this family here and they would be the spark to bloody fight. Casually, he slit the eight-year-olds throats. Then he mutilates their bodies to sell the plan. It would send a message that everyone was fair game. After he was done, he moved to the main courtyard, leaving behind a horrific scene. Two heads were on spikes, their bodies dangling by their entrails from the ceiling. Blood pooling under the bodies. His next target was the stables used for familiars, which he set a blaze. Before the flames were seen, he blasted the hinges off the gate to the compound. He created copies of himself, making it seem like a full raiding party was attacking.
Immediately alarm bells went off and defenders rushed towards the courtyard. An all-out magical brawl erupted. Valgrath split a man into with one of his claws, basking in the shower of blood that rained on him from the sheer force of the strike. Several of his clones were defeated, but he had made it appear as if a suicide spell would go off, hiding the fact that the clones’ bodies simply turned to dust as explosions rocked the surrounding area. He and his clones tore through the defenders. Gut spilled, blood sprayed, and spells blasted the once pristine compound apart. They easily got to the children’s floor before anyone would have had time to escape.
“Assassin scum!” came a time the weather shouted.
An old man wearing leather armor stood at the end of the hall. He clearly tried to suppress their aura, but it didn’t have any effect. Valgrath smiled under his mask.
Gold rank. Must be the old great warrior I heard mentioned. This will do, he thought.
Valgrath blasted down the hall as his clones spread throughout the building. The old man swung his sword. Valgrath’s sword met the old mans. The impact from the two blows destroyed the surrounding rooms. The old man’s gaze went down the hall two the twins’ room and Valgrath grinned.
All too easy, he thought. They exchanged several blows, neither one landing a hit. Valgrath acted like they were equally matched to sell the man’s victory. To Valgrath’s surprise, the old man kept getting stronger as the fight progressed. With a surprised grunt he was kicked with such force that he smashed through the wall of the building, landing in the courtyard below. The old man didn’t give him time to think as he appeared, his blade glowing green with power.
Lancaster Viola, had been enjoying his nightly routine, drinking tea and reading a romance novel. Then the night had become a war zone.
Blast those fucking Medishi nut cases, he thought, summoning his armor. This would be the first time they had attacked a core location of their families, but he guessed it had only been a matter of time.
“Grandfather,” Vinessa, his youngest granddaughter, said, running to him carrying her new baby in her arms. “The twins’ rooms are in the direct path of these attackers. And no one has seen them.”
Lancaster stiffened. “Go to the safe room. I’ll get them.”
He blasted through the halls and sure enough; the assassins had gotten far. He knew these attackers were assassins, as he found several high-ranking staff dead along the way, with evidence that an explosion had taken place.
Gods damn suicide spells, he thought, his rage building as he entered the hall to the twins’ room.
When he and the cloaked and masked being fought, he wasn’t afraid. They were equally matched. Except Lancaster had one advantage, an ability that for every strike he parried, his strength and speed would increase. With an angry snarl, he kicked the figure through a wall, sending them flying into the courtyard. He wanted to get their fight away from the twins’ room.
With a blast of flames under his feet, he launched himself at the assassin, who blocked his strike. The force of the strike created a crater around them, blasting air out, fueling the flames in the stables which roared, reaching the main building.
He blasted a torrent of flames point blank at the assassin who barely managed to dodge. The assassin flicked its hand out. Lancaster thought he successfully dodged the attack getting out of range of the strike. It was only a palm strike after all. But his eyes went wide as long claws suddenly extended in a flash. Pain shot through him. He roared and smashed the being with his fist still holding his sword, but all he wanted to do in the moment was hit the assassin. His strike landed, launching the assassin like out of a cannon, blasting him out of the compound and into the darkness.
Lancaster fell to his knees and looked at his left arm. He was missing everything from just above the elbow down. He looked around and didn’t see his arm, meaning he would have to pay quite a lot of money to have it regenerated.
Fumbling at his belt, he pulled out a pill and swallowed it. Warmth flowed through him, and he felt the bleeding soon stopped. He headed to the twin's room, trusting that the rest of the guards and staff would handle anything else. There were still sounds of fighting, but it was fading. When he entered the twin’s room, he fell to his knee once again. Tears streamed down his face into his beard.
“Forgive me I-I was too late,” he sobbed.
Several household staff found him still on his knees in the doorway. They rushed to get a healer, seeing his condition. The one that stayed behind looked into the room and ran but gave in and retched. The sounds of the staff member being sick stirred Lancaster. His aura rushed out; his pure rage palpable to everyone in the city as his gold-rank aura washed over it like a tidal wave.
Valgrath sat happily on a roof. He grinned, feeling the aura wash over him. Now to go after the Medishi family in a few days and the pieces will start falling into place.